The Art of War by Sun Tzu Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Assignment Example Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting† (p. 8) In fact, The Art of War has survived the test of times and it is amazing that the book is still contemporary and considered one of the finest accounts of strategic management. Although, it was meant to strengthen the military forces of ancient China, the doctrines and the policies of war present in this book are compatible with the lives of people in the modern day world. Thus, business entities and their owners peruse through various chapters of the book for implementing these principles for the success of business. War symbolizes competition and rivalry, which is synonymous with the antagonism that exists in the corporate world. The incessant struggle of business owners often lead to war like situations that are to be managed by applying different strategies with precision, aided by the conceptions of Sun Tzu. According to Sun Tzu, there are various ways of conquering battles even without destroying the spirit of the situation or causing any harm to the opponent; in short, destruc tion of the enemy is not the ultimate goal of fighting a battle rather the motto should be to weaken the forces of the opponent as expressed in the quoted lines. During the ancient ages, the armed forces of one nation used to attack another nation in order to establish their supremacy and control; in the modern age, such tactics are used by businesses, and companies appoint strategic advisors for envisaging and forecasting the future of a business. Nevertheless, the lines of attack that are planned by these people have been delivered by Sun Tzu long back when sophisticated approaches were not prevalent. For instance, Sun Tzu has asserted very significant facts about the ways in which the ruler can bring devastation on the armed forces of nation and surprisingly

Environmental Impact of Prescribed burning in the United States Essay Example for Free

Environmental Impact of Prescribed burning in the United States Essay The term prescribed burning refers to a management practice in which fire is used to burn a predetermined area under specified environmental conditions.   Burning in this case is used as a management tool in areas that are vulnerable to catching fire due to the ground cover that acts as fuel load. In addition, burning is considered to be the most environmentally friendly and cheapest method of having woody growth in an ecosystem controlled.   Prescribed burning in the United States is common. In this form of burning, controlled fires are used to burn a specified land area after proper planning which ensures that the present weather conditions are favorable for the burning. When weather conditions are not suitable for the burn, negative impact of the fire in the burnt areas is likely to be witnessed (Dale et al, 2009).   In the United States, prescribed burning is considered to be a very important management tool due to the benefits associated with it.   Both the landowners and the United States National Forest System have been using prescribed burning for many years. According to the United States fire policy in relation to the forest ecosystem, there is need to undertake prescribed burning in order to enhance the growth of commercial forests, prevent wildfire damage and to enhance fire dependent ecosystems.   However, prescribed burning has been criticized for its negative impact on the environment. For instance, prescribed burning results to the clearing of land or use of land for agricultural activities that have negative effects on the environment.   In this paper, the impact of prescribed burning on the environment in the United States will be discussed.   The paper will focus on the effect of prescribed burning on land after it is cleared by prescribed fires.   Land clearing that results from the burning impacts negatively on the vegetation, soil, water and biodiversity. Thesis In the United States prescribed burning is made necessary by the conditions in the forest ecosystems or ranches. The burning aims at preventing wildfires that can damage properly or lead to death of the people if the fuel load on the ground encourages wild fires.   In addition, the United States national forest system undertakes prescribed burning activities due to the ecological benefits that burning gives to the forests.   The national forest system associates prescribed burning to the reduction of wildfire hazards, land improvement, game habitat enhancement, insect and disease management and site preparation for reforestation (Biswell, 1999). Examples of areas that have undergone prescribed burning activities include the California wild lands, Florida Flatwoods and the Southern eastern US National Forest.   It is important to realize that although prescribed burning in these areas has its benefits to the ecosystem and the people; it also impacts negatively on the environment over time. Negative environmental impact of prescribed burning occurs despite the fact that prescribed burning is planned in a manner that minimizes negative effects of burning on the environment.   This has made the issue of prescribed burning to become a subject of debate in the country .While some consider prescribed burning to reduce negative impact of wild fires on the environment, burning can also impact negatively on the environment.   Land clearing that result from the burning has negative effect on the environment. Discussion Negative impact of Prescribed burning on vegetation after clearing of land Prescribed burning results to the clearing of land in a predetermined area as the fire burns the fuel load.   The burning has both indirect and direct negative effects after land clearing by the fire.   Land clearing in turn has negative effects on the vegetation, water, soil and wildlife. The negative impact of prescribed burning in the United States has been witnessed in some areas because prescribed burning has become a very important activity in the country. Every year, hundreds of thousands of hectares are burned. Although various methods of burning are used burn the vegetation cover in the predetermined areas, fires destroy the existing vegetation by either injuring or killing the entire plant or parts of the plant.   This depends on the duration that the fire burns or the intensity of the fire.   Prescribed burning based on the slash reduction method results to the reduction of debris. This method is also used to reduce debris in case of a natural event or road construction.   When management ignited fire is used, the burning of a stand that has been established is done while ensuring that fire does not spread beyond the predetermined area. While small trees are completely burned during the burning, larger trees may survive the fires but some of their trees may be destroyed.   When fires are ignited, the burning forest fuels increase the temperatures which make it difficult for the vegetation to survive. Since when it comes to burning the temperature of the vegetation and that of the air are very important, people who have the responsibility to ignite fires should do it when the air and vegetation temperatures cannot encourage fires that can have adverse effects on the environment.   For instance, prescribed fires in the United States during winter top kill the hard woods while hardwood rootstocks are killed by summer burns. In areas where burning has not been done for a longtime, deep organic layer that accumulates during prescribed burning leads to the cambial damage of trees. Because only little heat is required to destroy the plant cells in growing plants, burning the vegetation kills growing plants. This leads to the short and long term destruction of the vegetation which over time exposes land to changes that impact negatively on the good conditions of the environment. One short term and long term impact of prescribed burning in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks in the United States is the change in species composition (Mary Berth, 2000).   This change alters proper functioning of the ecosystem since it leads to the growth of new species while those that earlier existed and are not tolerant to fire before the fire fail to regenerate. These two parks are located in California’s South Nevada areas.   The parks cover about 864, 383 acres of land and prescribed burning in these two parks was made necessary by the desire to initiate ecological benefits in the parks.   The two parks prescribed fire programs were developed in 1969 and continues to be implemented in order to reduce fuel hazard problem that may result from heavy surface fuel loads.   Though the fires have been used to reduce the damage that may result from severe wild fires, change in species composition due to the clearing of land by fires has over the years been witnessed in the parks. Fires have limited the growth of species that are not tolerant to the fire ignited over a long time.   For instance, the increase in relative density of the giant Sequoia due to prescribed fires over a long time has altered the growth and survival of some other plant species.   The successful fire regimes restoration in the parks has encouraged the regeneration of the species that are fire-adapted at the expense of the species that are less-adapted to fire.   The reduction of fuel load and the restoration of forest structure after the fires alter the number and pattern of growth of plant species.   The parks have conifer forests dominated by the sequoia species. The change in the species number in a forest ecosystem affects the proper functioning of the natural ecosystem and this may lead to bare ground and soil erosion when plants and animals that promote proper functioning of the ecosystem are eliminated from the environment. In ecologically sensitive habitats in the United States, prescribed fires have had adverse effects on the regeneration and survival of plant species.   For example, the riparian areas in a forest system.   A study carried out to determine the effect of prescribed fire on the riparian areas in the Dark Canyon area showed that the fire consumed 90 per cent of the ground fuel, 79 per cent of the riparian zone pre-fire fuel, and 34 per cent of the total surface fuel.   The fire significantly reduced the percentage cover of the surface vegetation (Beche et al, 2005). As compared to the unburned areas, the burned area showed a change in the plant taxa richness after the regeneration of vegetation.   The reduction in plant taxa cover and richness changed the under story riparian vegetation community composition. These changes show that when an area experiences prescribed burning for a long time, disappearance of some species can lead to reduction in the percentage of vegetative cover. In the California Oak woodlands, the Native Americans used fire to have the Oak woodland vegetation altered.   Prescribed fires are considered to reduce the under story woody vegetation and have the tree density is lowered.   After the fires, regeneration may result to growth of vegetation in patches.   Since the settlement of Euro-Americans in the area, prescribed fire ignited in an ecosystem to create land for livestock ranches has removed the vegetation cover and instead encouraging the growth of plant species that are good for forage production. The woody vegetation in the area has been affected.Eventually, reduced vegetation cover has made it easy for soil to be exposed to either wind or rain erosion.Prescribed fires in Oregon’s Mixed – conifer forests of Crater Lake over the years have altered species composition by killing species that are not fire resistant while providing favorable conditions for the regeneration of fire-resistant species (Agee, 2003).   The Crater Lake National park has in the past prescribed a fire program that aims at increasing growth of pine trees and killing of the white fir tree species in the park.   Natural ecosystems can undergo succession to form forests that are dominated by the hardwood. The southeast region in the United States is considered to be the most fire dependent area in the country.   The removal of fuel loads in burned areas impacts negatively on the environment when over time plant species that support proper functioning of an ecosystem are eliminated. This makes an ecosystem to be vulnerable to changes that have adverse effects on the environment.

The Inevitable Spread of Soviet-backed Communism in Eastern Europe Essa

The Inevitable Spread of Soviet-backed Communism in Eastern Europe At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States were principle players involved with reshaping post-war Europe. The region most affected policy changes was Eastern Europe, which includes those states that would eventually fall behind the Iron Curtain. While the camaraderie between the Big Three deteriorated, Soviet-backed communism was spreading across Eastern Europe. The argument during this time was that expansionism was inevitable since Stalin had already decided to establish Soviet power and Soviet-typed systems in the lands his army occupied; resistance was pointless. While nothing in history is inevitable, to a great extent, expansionism was highly probable, especially due to Eastern European political traditions, its political structure after World War II and the West's inactivity in the region which left the area more susceptible to Soviet-backed communism. As George Schopflin states, "Stalin, however ruthless and powerful he may have been, w as not possessed of superhuman abilities" (58). Prior to the war, Eastern Europe did not have a history of strong democratic traditions. Schopflin, who describes the region as "backward and authoritarian" goes on to say, "The bulk of the population was excluded from any significant control over political decision-making and tended to acquiesce in the old, established patterns of rule and deference" (38). From 1918 to 1944, Eastern Europe was dominated by great empires, such as the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, but almost overnight, that structure toppled, leaving a power vacuum. During the years between World War I and World War II, Eastern Europe looked to the West for a suc... ...ge Anglo-Soviet relations and conceded much of Eastern Europe. However, it was beneficial to the British and the Americans to sacrifice the region because they needed evidence to define the Soviet Union and communism as the enemy. Soviet-backed communist expansion was not inevitable, but it was greatly aided by international factors and Eastern European domestic factors. Bibliography Ash, Timothy. "Hungary's Revolution: Forty Years On" The New York Review. McCauley, Martin, ed. Communist Power in Europe 1944-1949. New York: Harper & Row publishers, 1977. Schopflin, George. Politcs in Eastern Europe 1945-1992. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. Seton-Watson, Hugh. The East European Revolution. London: Methuen & Co., 1956. Yergin, Daniel. Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977.

Violence and Sport :: essays research papers

Violence and Sports The lone man to be charged with a felony in the incident was Bryant Jackson. He was the man Oakland County Police (OCPD) say threw a chair into the crowd during the fight. He was charged with felonious batter, according to the OCPD and various wire reports. No, this is not just some random fight that occurred, this was an arrest at a recent National Basketball Association game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. This violence is something that is starting to occur more and more. It seems to be a common theme, and one that does not even obtain a double-take, sports and violence the two seem to go hand-in-hand. Professional athletes such as Latrell Sprewell, Todd Bertuzzi, and Ron Artest have made common names for themselves with the violence they have endured in their respective sports. Some sports are violent by nature. Boxing is the obvious example, where physical attack is the point of the exercise. There has been much debate over the sport with many calling for its abolition. Other sports, such as wrestling and the martial arts, also involve one-on-one unarmed combat. These forms of "violence" are within the rules of the sport and the possibility of injury is well known by participants. Then there is a range of contact sports, particularly the football codes, where there is punishing body contact within the rules but also the scope for borderline or unintentional "violence" such as late tackles, high tackles and tackles on players without the ball. These tactics can be, and are also, used intentionally. However, the use of video replays over recent years has made these tactics more risky for the perpetrators, especially in professional sports where suspension can lead to a significant loss of income. As we enter the year the beginning stages of 2005, one has to wonder if this violence is going to continue or if the leagues, sports and the people themselves will start to gain some kind of control and realize this is sprot and such violence cannot continue. The fans are even getting themselves invovled. One factor in the increase in violence among fans is an emotional disconnection from their own lives. They have difficulty empathizing with others' pain. Some of this is caused by watching violence on television and computer screens. If you watch the reaction of the first base umpire and the second baseman of the Chicago White Sox in the incident you mentioned, you can see that they watch the violent event and don't get involved. Violence and Sport :: essays research papers Violence and Sports The lone man to be charged with a felony in the incident was Bryant Jackson. He was the man Oakland County Police (OCPD) say threw a chair into the crowd during the fight. He was charged with felonious batter, according to the OCPD and various wire reports. No, this is not just some random fight that occurred, this was an arrest at a recent National Basketball Association game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. This violence is something that is starting to occur more and more. It seems to be a common theme, and one that does not even obtain a double-take, sports and violence the two seem to go hand-in-hand. Professional athletes such as Latrell Sprewell, Todd Bertuzzi, and Ron Artest have made common names for themselves with the violence they have endured in their respective sports. Some sports are violent by nature. Boxing is the obvious example, where physical attack is the point of the exercise. There has been much debate over the sport with many calling for its abolition. Other sports, such as wrestling and the martial arts, also involve one-on-one unarmed combat. These forms of "violence" are within the rules of the sport and the possibility of injury is well known by participants. Then there is a range of contact sports, particularly the football codes, where there is punishing body contact within the rules but also the scope for borderline or unintentional "violence" such as late tackles, high tackles and tackles on players without the ball. These tactics can be, and are also, used intentionally. However, the use of video replays over recent years has made these tactics more risky for the perpetrators, especially in professional sports where suspension can lead to a significant loss of income. As we enter the year the beginning stages of 2005, one has to wonder if this violence is going to continue or if the leagues, sports and the people themselves will start to gain some kind of control and realize this is sprot and such violence cannot continue. The fans are even getting themselves invovled. One factor in the increase in violence among fans is an emotional disconnection from their own lives. They have difficulty empathizing with others' pain. Some of this is caused by watching violence on television and computer screens. If you watch the reaction of the first base umpire and the second baseman of the Chicago White Sox in the incident you mentioned, you can see that they watch the violent event and don't get involved.

Confession of a Public Speaker

I have not imagined my audience naked but have imagined my audience of 300 persons wearing a clown's nose which made me smile and helped me control my nerves. Another scenario that Scott mention I can relate to†¦ As the person who creates and assist the senior executives at Atlantis including the CEO, a very funny guy who always pick on someone in the audience to poke fun at and keep his audience laughing throughout his delivery. I made a comment to him about how his humor always keeps his audience entertained and he told me that he uses It to get rid of the butterflies and fear because he gets nervous everywhere he has to speak.Before any presentations all presenters have a practice session which Includes practicing and rehearsing the time to prepare the presenter before delivering their presentation which helps a lot. We also go to the venue and practice with all of the presenter to get comfortable with the environment and to gauge the time it takes overall. One thing that I a lways do is keep a backup remote control and a hard copy of the presentation so that when they advance too many slides and lose their position, (which happens with every presentation), I always get them back on track, and the audience never knows what happened.Also one thing that we do for the presenters is show the count-down timer at the halfway mark and in one minute decline as opposed to from the beginning of their presentation to make them feel uneasy. This book is loaded with Coot's own personal stories and experiences of his speeches. It is also good to hear that even professional speaker uses Powering to assist them with their speeches and it was refreshing to know that even paid public speakers have their moments of embarrassment; it makes them seem more human. The book is packed with tips and advice for speakers from all backgrounds.To me he is a highly paid good story teller who is brutally honest and entertains his audience to get his message across. I do not get paid to speak but have received donations from speaking at a few youth organizations at the end of the event. I the book there Is some profanity which I would have skipped because I do not believe that you need to use profanity to get your point or message across. He did teach me the value of being prepared, how to organize my thoughts and Ideas, delivery techniques to make my content flow better and what to do if you forget what cause most of my audience wants to learn something to take away from my speech.Another good technique that I got from the book is how to deal with difficult people in my class, and how to teach using technology, which I do primarily. Now I now know why most people are terrible at speaking†¦ It's because they do not use the right tools and techniques to perfect their speeches. After applying some of these skills to my real life situations I realize how important communications skills are for a speaker and that anyone can learn once you deliver the correct cont ent using the racial approach. The book teaches how you can perfect the art of persuasion and not making your speech too boring for your audience.This can be effectively done using the proper graphics in your Powering, but not to overdo it. If it is a boring topic I do use pictures and animations to engage and grab their attention. Most people's attention span is for about 10 minutes so you have to find creative ways to keep them entertained so that they do not lose interest in your presentation. Far too many speakers lack relevant content and try to make up for that with fancy Powering presentations. There are some â€Å"does and don't† from using Powering. Many speakers use the wrong style and too much fonts, videos, and graphics.You do not want to lose your message with too much fluff. If you are going to use Powering you should not put your entire presentation on the slides but use bullet points to talk and add more power to the point. Keep in mind that mistakes will happ en but, it is how you recover from your mistakes that matters, and that no speaker is perfect, and to always expect the unexpected. Most mistakes can be controlled if you prepare ND plan your presentations in advance. Remember if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Prepare an outline of what you have to say on paper first and transfer this to your Powering.The presenters notes section in Powering can help you stay organized and focus on what to say next, but do not use them too much. By practicing you should learn your material backwards. Knowing your material helps eliminate blank spots during your delivery and give you the confidence you need to deliver a flawless presentation. You must go to the venue about an hour or two before your presentation to get to now the environment. This is a good time to test and run the Powering or rehearse on the stage to get comfortable with the room.Test the lighting and the microphone and any other audio visual equipment that will be used. The wo rst thing that can happen is equipment failure because you did not take the time to test prior to presenting. Remember that every person in your audience is different and their expectations are different. They all want you to have a successful presentation and get to the end. Use the space in the room adequately. What I did when I had to peak to a staff of 300 even the room could accommodate 500, I had another team member seat everyone in the room.As they came in I had the back and side rows roped off and told the participants that we were only using a certain section due to the recording of the event. Everyone cooperated and was on their best behavior during the presentation because they knew that they were being recorded and did not want to look unprofessional on video. Another reason was because we did not want to have everyone running to the back of the room like most people would do everyone sat close which gave the illusion that the room was packed.You should get to know your audience by arriving early to talk to as many participants prior to speaking as possible. Because I had taken the time to get to know them I knew what their interest were which helped me to be more engaging. I found this assist with working the room, I would find the person that I met before the presentation and used that person to connect with and also helped me to smile at them, by connecting with your audience you feel a lot more relaxed and confident. I also involved them in the presentation by using music and dance.One time during the presentation I had the entire audience dance to a beat that is common in our culture which made them to believe that my performance would be a lot of fun, interesting, and engaging. It gave me a lot of energy to start and set the tone for the rest of the presentation. Just like Scott says in the book, most people are trapped in their seat and will not walk out during a presentation because the focus of attention is suddenly on them. Also you must say what you really feel and not hold back because you over think and ay say the wrong thing to offend anyone.Let your thoughts flow naturally. People have a tendency to speak honestly and from the heart, others say what they mean and mean what they say whether it hurts or not. You do not want to stray of your topic and start speaking about something unrelated this is what is known as eating your microphone, which makes no sense to me, but that's what is referenced in the book. This happens to the unprepared speakers. Do not speak with a rushed tone of voice; this is another way to lose your audience. Always speak clearly and take your mime.That's why it is import to get to your event and start on time. At the end of the event ask the audience if they had questions that you did not cover during the speech. Ask if they need you to explain something that was covered with a different point of view. If I do not have time to answer all questions I always leave them with my contact inform ation that that can use to communicate with me after. Overall this is a good book that I found to be entertaining, full of humor and techniques to assist me with being a better speaker and presenter.

Effects Of Globalization On An Organization The WritePass Journal

Effects Of Globalization On An Organization 1.0 Introduction Effects Of Globalization On An Organization from http://rosalinda.ingentaselect.com/wb/wpaperspdf/3069.pdf Black, Sandra E.; Brainerd, Elizabeth. 2002. Importing equality? The impact of globalization on gender discrimination. NBER Working Paper No. 9110 (Aug.). Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved August, 15, 2013 from www.nber.org/papers/ w9110.pdf Boyer, Robert; Drache, Daniel (eds.). 1996. States against markets: The limits of globalization. London: Routledge. Carr, M. Chen, M. A. 2001. Globalization and the informal economy: How global trade and investment impact on the working poor. International Labour Organization. Retrieved August, 15, 2013 from ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_122053.pdf FAO .2004. Trends and Current Status of the Contribution of the Forest Sector to National Economies, FAO Working Paper FSFM/ACC/07.   Forest Products and Economics Division, Rome: FAO.. Klein, N. 2000. No Logo. London: Harper Perennial. Oxfam America. 2002. Global finance hurts the poor: Analysis of the impact of North-Southprivate capital flows on growth, inequality and poverty. Boston: MA. Ritzer, G. 2000. The McDonaldization of Society. California: Pine Forge Press. Rodrik, Dani. 2001. The global governance of trade as if development really mattered. Background paper for the Trade and Sustainable Human Development Project, UNDP. New York: UNDP. Stiglitz, Joseph E. 2003. The roaring nineties: A new history of the world’s most prosperous decade. New York: W.W. Norton Company. Thomas, F. 2000. One Market Under God. London: Seeker Warburg.

Matter essays

Matter essays Ch.1. The nature of Science; Measurement Systems; Physical - about our physical environment; Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Meteorology Science - a body of knowledge AND a method hypothesis - a tentative explanation; needs testing by a controlled experiment scientific law - important relationship observed in nature; occurs consistently (example: The Law of Universal Gravitation) scientific principle - specific set of relationships (example: The Archimede's Principle) model - gives an idea of the properties of a physical system (example: scale model of the Solar system) theory - a confirmed hypothesis, based on extensive experimental evidence (example: plate tectonics theory; atomic theory) Click on this link to view an impressive voyage through the various scales in the Universe - "the powers of ten" demo from Florida State University. PHYSICA means "NATURE" in ancient Greek. Ancient Greek philosophers were trying to discover the laws of Nature by pure reasoning, based on logic and general philosophical principles; mostly without experimenting. Modern Science began with Galileo's experiments (in 16th-17th century): not just reasoning, but observation -> hypothesis -> checking the hypothesis with experiments. Aristotle's intuitive thinking lead to the wrong conclusion that "heavier bodies fall faster" Galileo's numerous experiments: "all bodies fall at the same rate, reach ground at the same time". Any difference is explainable by air resistance. Newton: the theory of gravity. Not obvious that falling bodies and planets move under the same rules; experimentally proven. Need for objective description of properties; need for standards. Measurements and Measurement Systems (English, SI, CGS) ...