Refelction and discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Refelction and discussion - Essay Example While the major decisions and the exercise of accounting prerogatives are performed by the senior accountant, I learnt a lot about the demands of the profession by performing the regular or routine work such as executing the trial balance of the statement of financial condition or reconciling the sales balances for the month. Aside from helping in the preparation of the financial statements for the firm, I occasionally was asked to do some tasks that had to do with the individual projects which the construction firm was involved in. It happens to be a much more difficult accounting for projects rather than for the company in its entirety because projects have a budget that was drawn pursuant to the terms of the contract, and the interpretation of accounts, allocation of expenses, and reconciliation of records and activities pertaining to the project can be difficult while the project is in progress. For a short while I was assigned to other sections to gain a better grasp of the acco unting procedures involved in those areas. While the stay in each section was brief and the work I was asked to perform was only routine, my brief exposure nevertheless added to my appreciation of the manner in which the job was done and the significance of the function of the section in the overall department. There are a number of skills I developed in the course of the program, the most of important of which is the set of people skills which I needed to deal with my superiors, co-workers and team mates, and with the clients who would consult occasionally concerning the progress of the projects. I also dealt on a regular basis with staff from the other departments, coordinating with counterparts in procurement, engineering, and marketing. From this I discovered that the organisation is more than just a rigid structure that governs people. An organisation is a dynamic set of relationships among its members who interact with one another to successfully achieve the organisationâ€⠄¢s strategic goal. As mentioned, I worked under the supervision of a senior accountant. She has been in the profession for several years and with the construction company for almost the same duration. From her, I had learnt that because of the specialised knowledge which our profession implies, we are held to a higher standard of ethics than most other workers in the organisation. This is because we, as accounting and finance professionals, are relied upon by all major stakeholders who deal with the organisation, such as the management, shareholders or business owners, the government and regulators. I learnt in school that the position of an accountant or financier is imbued with trust, but it was only during the internship that I came to realise what this actually means in practice, and it is such a profound responsibility. There are other things about which I had been taught in school, but had only come to fully appreciate during the internship. I had gained a greater self-confid ence during the program and began to trust my abilities and my decisions in addressing the tasks of my job. I learnt to face clients with a greater sense of self-assuredness by understanding that the service was all about satisfying their needs in the most convenient way possible for them. I also learnt the value of team work, particularly where

Business Application Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Application - Assignment Example IT is fundamental in human resource management, firms’ infrastructures, marketing, procurement, technology development, etc. As mining and manufacturing companies extend their operations to the global arena, they have to change operational strategies in order to gain efficiency and competitiveness in the global market. Expansion of operations leads to increase in complexity of operations that pose challenges of managing efficiency of operations.3 Mining industry has unique characteristics distinct from other industries because they are process industries and requires intensive capital investments with heavy plants and equipment.4 Since they are focused on profitability and efficiency, the focus of ERP is to reduce production cost and increase efficiency through maintenance management and effective utilization of production capacity.5 There is a need to avoid idle time by ensuring accurate scheduling and avoidance of the unpredicted breakdown, which can be achieved through scheduling of preventive and predictive maintenance task. The source of raw materials (ore) for the mining industry is obtained internally (from the mine) and involves a lot of uncertainty and an approximation error that are only determined during the production process.6 Furthermore, unlike the manufacturing function mining industry produce for stocking, not for orders. Therefore, the mining and manufacturing companies require the use of ERP for informed decision-making in areas of operation, accounting, human resource, supply chain, marketing, customer, etc. The use of ERP in a mining and manufacturing company helps the organization to integrate information to achieve real time accessibility of information across units and processes using the data created by the company’s technical and operational systems software. Integration of scheduling, material management, production and distribution are the fundamentals of profitability in the mining and

Jacksonian Democracy Essay Example for Free

Jacksonian Democracy Essay The Jacksonian democrats saw themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity. However, were they really all they claimed to be? They did attempt to increase the power of lower classes while decreasing the influence of the rich and powerful. Economically, they benefited from governing during a time of huge advances in transportation, which boosted commerce and helped the common man. The Jacksonian democrats portrayed themselves as saviors of the common people, but this is a controversial subject. They were unusually wealthy, supported equality between white men only, enacted devastating economic policies, and disregarded the capability of the federal government. The Jacksonians saw themselves as guardians but as for the people, only a select few may have seen that. During the Jacksonian reign, numerous advancements sped up the growth of the United States. A market revolution occurred as cash-crop agriculture and capitalist manufacturing replaced artisan economy. Despite the prosperity, a split was emerging between the industrializing, urban north, agrarian, rural South, and the expanding West. The Jacksonians passed the Tariff of 1828, which opened opportunity for western agriculture and New England manufacturing, but was damaging to the South. Andrew Jackson believed that the US bank placed too much control into the hands of a wealthy few (Document B). Therefore, Jackson vetoed the banks re-charter in 1832. In attempt to benefit the lower, working classes, he placed the federal money in pet state banks. This attempt weakened the national currency. Like most Jacksonian economic policies, it failed. Jacksonians tried to assist only the whites through economic policies but failed in that also. Foreign visitors viewed that in America, every man is free and independent (Document D), but there was great division in American attitude. Disturbances and riots broke out across the country by minorities (Document E), because they were not included in the equality efforts of the Jacksonians, which were focused on white males. Jacksons hypocrisy and brutality in his Indian removal practices showed the non-universal  principles held by the democrats. The unconstitutional, uneven power in the three branches of government was revealed when Jackson violated chief justice Marshalls decision on the Cherokee when he forced them out. Resulting in the Trail of Tears(Document G) Fearful of angering Southern voters, Jacksonians veered away from extending equality policies to slaves. Women as well received little betterment during the Jacksonian era. Although viewed as defenders of all common men, Jacksonian democrats shunned minorities and only assisted white men. Andrew Jackson was the first president to fully use the powers of the executive branch and establish it as an equal if not superior branch. Henry Clay viewed Jackson as dictatorial and unconstitutional and tried to make others see that, but Jacksonian propaganda continued to portray Jackson as a common man. Jacksonian democrats did not keep the three branches of government separate and equal, like it says in the constitution. Jacksonians were strict constitutionalists, vetoing things that did not benefit the whole country and eliminating the bank. However, they also participated in the burning nationalism existing at the time. Jacksonians believed in a firm union. In the compromise Tariff of 1832, they reduced the previous tariffs, but also included a Force Bill, which authorized the President to use arms to collect dues in South Carolina, which goes against the Jacksonian belief in states rights and their disbelief in a strong military. Jacksonian democrats were above all outstanding propagandists. They were able to portray themselves as defenders of the common man, while they usually tended to be anything but common. They were wealthy and often thought that common man officials were inefficient and corrupt. They also tried to further reform movements but ended up hurting the economic opportunity. Although often supporters of states rights and individuality, they also were strong nationalists. Jacksonians strived to preserve the unifying principles that the Constitution contained, but acted in opposition of it when they asserted the overwhelming power of the executive branch. Jacksonian democracy did allow more people to vote than ever before and made government more directly responsible to the people. Finally, they established a strong executive, directly responsible to the people, and  increased faith in government. Overall, Jacksonians honestly attempted to help common Americans.

The True Meaning Of Freedom Philosophy Essay

The True Meaning Of Freedom Philosophy Essay Freedom is one of the central philosophic categories in characterizing the essence of man and his existence. In the history of philosophic idea this conception got over a long evolution process- from negative (meaning freedom from) up to positive (freedom for) theory. The philosophy of freedom was the subject of consideration of I. Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, A. Schopenhauer, J.P. Sartre, F.W. Nietzsche, K.T. Jaspers. The range of insights on this notion starting from the complete negation of the free choice possibility (in the conception of behavior science) up to argumentation escape from freedom in the conditions of modern society is quite wide. It is impossible to underestimate the influence of Humes work on world philosophy. David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of the Scottish Enlightenment and Western philosophy. The opinion of David Hume, presented in the book A Treatise of Human Nature appeals to the modern investigations of freedom. Besides, it is considered to be one of the most important books in the history of philosophy. According to the Book II, Part 3, of the Treatise of Human Nature and in section VIII of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Of Liberty and Necessity Hume sets out his views concerning freedom of the will. The philosopher holds to an opinion of compatibilism, by it he states that all human actions are caused and that all people possess liberty of action. Hume endows humans with the other kind of freedom freedom of will, which occurs to be very complicated, impossible to define notion and gives the following explanation: by the will he means nothing but the inner impression we feel and are conscious of, when we purposefully originate any new motion of our body. One more question worth to be touched is the necessity which makes an essential part of causation, an d accordingly liberty by extracting necessity totals the chance. Liberty or chance in its deep understanding are nothing but a demand of determination, and a certain uncertainty we feel in passing or not passing from the idea of one to that of the other. We have a feeling that our actions are mostly regulated by our will and by thinking that our will itself is subject to nothing we make a big mistake, as by denial of will we are provoked to try we feel and it moves easily every way and makes an impression of itself even on that side on which it didnt settle. The image we persuade ourselves couldnt have been completed into the thing itself. Despite all our caprices and incorrect actions we may perform, the desire of demonstration our liberty is the sole motive of our actions, we can never free ourselves from the bonds of necessity. Hume initiates this discussion between the notions of necessity and freedom by proposing that ambiguities in language have kept interlocutors in the disputes over freedom of the will talking past one another. Actually, according to Hume, all mankind, both learned and illiterate, have always shared the same opinion with regard to this subject, and several intelligible definitions would immediately have set the limit to the whole arguing. Hume sets out to clarify what we can best be understood to mean when we talk about liberty and necessity, and to show that so understood, there is no conflict between them. Discussing the necessity, Hume argues that all our actions are first and foremost caused by necessity, and all our operations are caused by a necessary force, in addition to it every natural effect is dictated by the energy of its cause. It is commonly recognized that the actions of people are mostly uniform and the human nature remains the same according to its principles. It clos ely coincides with the events in the natural world that we draw inferences concerning them. Analyzing our interaction with other people and how we reflect on human activities it seems almost impossible to make our own opinion without recognition of philosophy of necessity. When it refers to liberty of human beings actions, Hume discloses that we shouldnt believe that actions have so little connection with motives, inclinations, and circumstances that one does not link with the other. Any such view of liberty would set at defiance of common and philosophical ways of thinking about humans behavior. Contrariwise, the meaning of liberty is very simple as it is determined by power of acting or not taking actions; according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain in the shade, we vice versa; if we choose to move, we also may. Every person who is independent, not a prisoner has this liberty. Hume proves that his opinion on liberty and necessity do not only correspond with each other but also correspond with moral and legal standards. We are too condemning a man for an act caused by a durable trait than a person who behaved under the influence of passing impulsion. And definitely it would be pointless to accuse someone for an action the cause of which lies beyond him or her. Analyzing Humes point on liberty I have come to conclusion we can be free only we have a necessity of determination ourselves in this life. We have a liberty to choose of whether to take actions or to keep out. And in such a way we get our determination, our life principles. Its worth to take into account the opinion of one more eminent philosopher of that time Immanuel Kant. The best idea in Kants philosophy is directed to the study of freedom concept. The detailed research of freedom is given in his book Critique of Pure Reason, the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, and the Critique of Practical Reason. Kant believed that morality is directly connected with freedom. According to his dogmas: To be free is to follow our own rational principles instead of just our desires to follow our own legislation to act on maxims that we will to be universal laws. Resuming all above said to be free is to be moral. In this way freedom and morality are finally the same enigma. His standpoint is opposed to Humes view that both natural and moral actions must be regarded as part of a single chain of causes, effects and explanations. As a matter of fact, if they were regarded in such a way, and on the assumption that we accept natural causal laws as global and d eterministic, there could be no freedom at all according to Kants moral philosophy. Speaking about free will Kant considered that people are able only to accept it. Judging from his principles I have reached a conclusion that we can only be free by in a positive sense as this freedom is controlled by our morality principles. Those principles will never force us to do bidding of our emotions. In the historic development of freedom notion the idea of creative freedom is gradually replacing the concept of liberty from obstructions casualty, fate. There are a number of points on the question of whether freedom exists, namely, whether people possess a power to make a choice, making a selection from several alternatives or when an act of free will is a case of agent-causation: whereby a person generates an event. The concept of incompatibilism was closely developed by Peter van Inwagen who is an American analytic philosopher and the John Cardinal OHara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. His monograph An Essay on Free Will (1983) illustrates the philosophic understanding of incompatibilism about free will and determinism. Van Inwagens central evidence for this view says that If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature and events in the remote past. But it is not up to us what went on before we were born, and neither is it up to us what the laws of nature are. Therefore, the consequences of those things (including our present acts) are not up to us. Van Inwagen gave a profound explanation to what he called a mind argument. It is developed by identifying indeterminism with chance and by debating that if an act that happens by chance is not controlled by a man then it couldnt be completed freely. If free will and determinism co-exist, the n someone has a chance to do something not contained in that one possible future that is connected both with the past and the laws of nature that is the most important argument presented in the Free Will monograph by Van Inwagen. Resuming on Inwagens conclusions I would like to point out that a person can only be free, has free will when he has to choose between two or more mutually incompatible courses of action such that he can, or is able to, or has it within his power to accomplish. It is proved that free will is closely connected with determinism as quite simply the thesis that the past determines a unique future. To my mind, freedom is the present ability of choice from a variety of variants and realization of the event outcome. The lack of such choice and choice realization is equal to the absence of freedom. Analyzing the freedom concept I confine myself with liberalistic approach. In my opinion it implies the deficiency of enforcement from the side of other individuals. Freedom is one of kinds of haphazard manifestation, directed by a free will (purposefulness of the will, recognized freedom) or by the stochastic law (unpredictability of an outcome of event, unconscious freedom). In this sense, the concept of liberty is opposed to the notion of necessity. According to moral philosophy, freedom is connected with the availability of persons free will. The free will imposes an individual with responsibility and imputes his words and actions in a merit. The action is considered ethic if it is conducted by free will, and appears to be a free wills expression of a person. I am fully concerned th at the demand for freedom reveals as a biological response of a humans organism. This point could be supported by the fact that in the whole field of our history people and classes contested against its oppressors without consideration whether there was any hope or not. Properly speaking, the history of mankind turns to be the history of struggle, history of revolution, starting from the liberation war of Israelites against Egyptian people, from national rebellions against the Roman Empire and up to revolutions in the United States of America, France, Russia, China and so on. The hypothesis about a congenital struggle for freedom impulse of a person is supported with the freedom as a background for evolution of all the human abilities, its physical and mental health and, of course, balance. Freedom is the vital biological factor for the persons life, which determines the unobstructed development of the organism. I am upholding to the opinion of Erich Fromm, who considered freedom to be the sense of humans happiness. But if to ponder in the essence of these words, freedom is not a fact, it is surely a process which is impossible without a subject of freedom. If a person does not realize his freedom, he does not possess it. That is why we can be free if we have a choice, an opportunity to realize our choice, when we are independent of the other persons opinion, when we subject to our personal outputs performing a decision making. We can be free when we live our life the way we want and we do not permit anyone else to take a decision in our stead.

Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) :: Botany

Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) The mustard plant has often been mentioned in the Bible, and most of us are familiar with Jesus' parable of the mustard seed. However, there is great debate as to what the "mustard" plant of Jesus' parable really was. Most modern commentators agree that it was the ordinary black mustard, Brassica nigra, but there are still a few who disagree. These others suggested that the mustard in the Bible could have been Salvadora persica, a shrub found in thickets around the Dead Sea, but authorities say that this plant did not grow where Jesus spoke his parables. Also Phytolacca decandra, the pokeberry, was theorized to be the "mustard tree". That too was discounted because it is now regarded as an American plant. One major argument against Brassica for the "mustard" of the Bible is based on the Biblical statements concerning its becoming a "tree", and "the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it". Supporters of this argument claim that the mustard plant never becomes a great tree, and it would not be sturdy enough for birds to nest. In rebuttal, it has been pointed out that we must realize that much of the language in the Bible is figurative, and that indeed small sparrow-like birds perched temporarily on the branches of the mature mustard plant to feed on its seeds. Even today birds are very fond of mustard seed. Guatama Buddha also told a parable about the mustard seed, and in India, mustard is the symbol of reproductive generation. Mustard is a very interesting plant with a lot of history and many uses. It has both medicinal and culinary value useful to man in the past and present. Its many relatives are ever present in our daily lives as well. Black mustard is scientifically known as Brassica nigra. It is of the family Cruciferae. The plant is native of Europe and Asia; it has become naturalized in this country and has escaped from cultivation, so that it is often a troublesome weed. Therefore, it is often found on the roadside, in vacant lots, and especially in grain fields. There has been some success in the use of chemical herbicides in ridding grain fields of mustard. These include iron sulfate and sulfuric acid in the form of a spray. All grasses are resistant to this spray, but the young mustards are killed by it.

1980 African American Education :: essays research papers

1980s African American Education Amount of Blacks in college 1980: Impressive 718,000 1987: Growing more slowly, 855,000 *1988: Sliding back down to 785,000 *In 1988, the enrollment of black men declined, while it increased for women. There were 179,000 black women in college, then black men. Percentage of highs school graduates going to college 1960-1970: Males exceeded women 1980’s: women overtake men and never lost the lead Popular concentration in education in the 1980’s 1981: business and management were the most popular of all black bachelor’s degree recipients. 13,325 blacks earned a bachelor’s degree in business and management (40% earned in historically black colleges). The Black and White Gap "The average scores of black students have remained well below those of whites, and at age 17, the reading achievement of black students was lower last year than it was in 1988—a depressing reversal of the gains made over the previous two decades," Michael T. Nettles, the vice chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, said at a press conference held here late last month to release the results. The independent panel oversees National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) In just about every age group and in every subject, the test-score gap between white and African-American students has grown since 1986, reversing a trend in which the discrepancies decreased from the time the exams were first given in 1969, 1971, and 1973. Since the mid-1980s, gaps in several subjects and age groups have grown by statistically significant amounts. Resegregation occurring again â€Å"Studies finds the causes for resegregation stemming from a number of social and political factors: a series of court rulings beginning in the late 1980s that reversed many of the desegregation orders, the growing isolation of whites in suburban schools, and the increasing segregation of blacks and Hispanics in suburban schools.

Nursing As a Discipline Essay

Is nursing a discipline or just a profession? The term discipline describes the practise of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, so can nursing be placed under this classification? The term profession described as a paid occupation or a body of people engaged in a particular profession, so can nursing be placed under this classification? Yes nursing is a paid occupation, thus allowing it to be placed under the classification of nursing as a profession. However, nursing can also be placed under discipline as you are trained to obey a code of behaviour. Nursing as a discipline has interrelated relationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research and these relationships help to advance the discipline of nursing. Is nursing a profession or a discipline? The goal of the discipline is to expand knowledge about human experiences through creative conceptualisation and research, (Parse, R.R, 1999). The goal of the profession is to provide a service to humankind thro ugh living the art of science, (Parse, R.R, 1999). Through those definitions of the nursing discipline and the nursing profession, it can be seen that the nursing practice can be thought as a discipline or a profession. The discipline of nursing encompasses the knowledge in the extant framework and theories that are embedded in the totality and simultaneity paradigm, (Parse, R.R, 1999). The profession of nursing consists of person educated in the discipline of nursing according to nationally regulated defined and monitored standards, (Parse, R.R, 1999). You can see that nursing is both a profession and a discipline and you can see that there are interrelationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research. In nursing as a discipline you can see that there is an interrelationship between nursing practice, knowledge and research. It has been said that that understanding of knowledge base is essential for judgement and decision-making that occurs before, during, and after the actual tasks are preformed, (Evans, R.J, 2006). This shows that the relationship between nursing practice and knowledge is strong and can be seen in everyday practice. â€Å"An awareness of the relationship(s) between skil ls and other competencies is essential to understanding the complexity of the dynamics of nursing practice†, (Evans, R.J, 2006). This shows the importance of being able to back up the choices made with the knowledge and research. The relationship between knowledge and research is just as  important as the relationship between nursing practice and knowledge. Having that relationship allows for the knowledge to be gained by research and in the overall picture is allows for the interrelationship between nursing practice, knowledge and research to be seen by others that are not in the health care workforce. |A proposed model that builds on work by Benner, (1984), illustrated that nurses moves through a number of phases in nursing, from novice to expert. The authors here propose that the knowledge, skill and judgement possessed by the nurse also pass through the same phases. The skills implemented by a nurse are not performed contextually free. They are always supported by the knowledge acquired through basic and continuing education, experience, research findings, and intuition that nurses develop as they move through Benner’s levels of novice to expert. The performance of a skill cannot stand alone; it is always supported by the knowledge and judgement. The second part of the model revolves around the understanding that knowledge, judgement, and their skills and their interrelationship do no remain static. We believe that the knowledge, skill and judgement that nurses possess and display also change in a similar manner.| (Evans, R.J, 2006). This demonstrates that having this relationship in the nursing profession helps to advance it as a discipline. By having these relationships public within the nursing profession it shows that they know what they are doing. It gives a support when with the patients. These relationships help the families and carers of those we look after. The interrelationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research have helped advance nursing as a discipline but also keeping it within a profession. As the definition goes discipline is training of people to obey a code of behaviour, and that’s what the interrelationships between nursing practice, knowledge and research shows. Having these advancements plays a significant role on nurses and the nursing career as they give nurses a broader role within the workforce, as they are not just looking after pa tients and being there advocates, nurses are now showing their knowledge in their judgements and decision-makings. Overall, the nursing career can be classified as a profession as well as a discipline due to the interrelationship between nursing practice, knowledge and research. They have had a big role in the advancement of nursing as a discipline. Nurses now have the role of demonstrating their knowledge through their judgements  and decision-making within the nursing practice. By doing this they illustrate the large interrelationship between nursing practice, knowledge and research. References: Evans, R. J., & Donnelly, G. W. (2006). A model to describe the relationship between knowledge, skill, and judgment in nursing practice. Nursing Forum, 41(4), 150-7. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.utas.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/195028141?accountid=14245 Bryant, R. B., Foley, E. R., & Percival, E. C., A.M. (2008). The role of RCNA in promoting transcultural nursing as a discipline of study, research, practice and management in australia. Contemporary Nurse : A Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession, 28(1), 3-11. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.utas.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/203177534?accountid=14245 Parse, R.R, (1999), ‘Nursing: The discipline and the profession’, Vol. 12, No.4, PP. 275-276, viewed 8 May 2013, < http://nsq.sagepub.com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/content/12/4/275.full.pdf>