Political science. Palestine and Orientalism Essay

Political science. Palestine and Orientalism - Essay Example In his study Said blended political polemic and literary excursion. He writes: "The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe's greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other" (Said, 1979, pp.1-2) Said claims that Orientalism is an academic area which causes interest in a variety of academic institutions, because all teachers, sooner or later begin to research Orient and apply their knowledge in the areas of their competence. Said holds that since the end of eighteenth century the scholarly and academic meanings of Orientalism have been quite 'politically correct' and the related efforts have been restricted. Furthermore, Said believes that Orientalism reflects Western style of domination and is close-knit with Western mind, usually related to perceiving Orient as a 'younger brother' or 'poorer kin'. Said holds that the antagonistic political relationship between the Sast and the West lies in the earliest development the struggle between Islam and Christianity. According to Said, Orientalism, which presents Christian world as 'higher', is used as a demonstration of European power and is seen as a comparative theory, in which two eternal rivals - the East and the West - make an 'argument' with predicted conclusion which is to sum up that European beliefs and culture are more humanistic and more suitable and more appropriate for harmonious development of an individual. Similarly to other '-isms', Orientalism has been ill-treated from the ancient times up to the present. From the other angle of view, Orientalism is a natural movement, whose toughness is quite sufficient in its universal authenticity. This movement is a product of synergy, which takes place among different studies, accumulated by different followers, who are interested in one of the richest world cultures, and Oriental culture. Moreover, Said's study has itself caused a number of responses, either positive or negative.Lewis attempted to criticize Said's approach -in particular, in his article ' The question of Orientalism', which defended Middle Eastern studies, and in particular, Palestinian studies. On the other hand, Lewis was a newcomer to the United States, and his refutation - a forceful defense of the European and Palestinian traditions (which sometimes converts into an attack) - did not canceled Said's complaints about the problems and complications of American Middle Eastern studies. Lewis, for instance, writes that, in fact, Europe hasn't yet experienced (or probably, hasn't noticed) such considerable influence of Orientalism on its tradition. Lewis's main notes were following: 1) Firstly, it would be wrong to claim that Oriental studies are limited to the study of Muslim culture, while in fact Biblical research is an essential and substantial element or Orientalism. Palestine as the country of diverse religions supports both religious doctrines, so it needs more profound inquiry than Said has done. 2) Secondly, there is no doubt that an identifiable part of Western studies was stimulated by either political or religious propaganda "and appeared throughout the ages with distorted images of Islam, the East and its cultures; however, this movement cannot be termed "Orientalism", rather it is "False Orientalism" (Lewis, 1982,

West side story movies script analysis,comprising it with novel Essay

West side story movies script analysis,comprising it with novel - Essay Example In addition, the movie earned 9 other Oscars for best supporting actors (male and female), best director, best cinematography, best art direction, best sound, best musical score, best editing, best costumes as well as a special award for best choreography (3). The film has received further accolades such as New York Film Critics Award for best picture, Grammy Award for best sound tract, Writers’ Guild Award of America for best written musical, New York Film Critics Circle Award for best film and the Golden Globe Award for best motion picture (3). Thus, the film can be seen as a highly successful venture in terms of its appeal to the common masses as well as the strong impression it has left on both critics and evaluators of the art of cinema. The stage production of West Side Story has been premiered in Broadway during 1957, just four years before it has been adapted for the movie production in Hollywood in 1961. It is needless to mention that both forms of art differ drastically in many ways in their conventions as visual and performing arts. The most significant of such changes primarily reflect in the music composition of Bernstein, who has accurately considered different specific aspects to cater to movie format. The movie’s theme primarily encompasses the issues of immigration and gang conflicts in the US, which have been major social problems for the country for a long time. The movie has also been able to align Bernstein’s music and Robbins’ choreography so seamlessly into the plot as to enhance its intrigue and appeal rather than to distract from it. Another major consideration for the stage show has been orchestration of music scores for obvious reasons. It is needless to mention that stage shows limit the scope for using a wide range of instruments and often cannot permit on the spot corrections. On the other hand, movies

The Function And Principle Of A Circuit Breaker Engineering Essay

The Function And Principle Of A Circuit Breaker Engineering Essay The main of a circuit breaker is to control electrical power in a system by switching circuits ON, by carrying load and by switching circuits OFF under manual or automatic supervision. Circuit breakers are usually in a closed position while carrying load, or in an open position which provides electrical isolation. They are summoned on to change from one condition to the other only occasionally, and to perform the special function of closing on to a faulty circuit or blocking short circuit current only on very rare occasions. Therefore the main property of a circuit breaker is that they must be reliable and work instantaneously to operate any switching operation when called upon after long period of time without movement. During the past 50 years as a result of growth in network size, the severity of duties such as interruption of short circuits has immensely increased. Due to the growing technology in the world, network voltages have risen from 132 to 750kv now in this period experimental network systems of 1000kV are being built. SC ratings have risen from the order of 1106 kVA on networks with low circuit severity factors and associated with ill- defined proof testing techniques, to 50x 106 kVA on networks that involve very high circuit severity factors, also these are associated with elaborate proof testing. Earlier plain break oil circuit breaker designs required a rather variable time of 10-20 cycles to operate their switching functions. But the introduction of arc controlled systems quickly reduced it to 6-8 cycles, improving this technology further many designs have been now made that can operate within 2 cycles. 2) Development of circuit breakers: Oil The most successful of the arc interrupting systems in history was undoubtedly the oil CB which is still used in its principle nature in present day practice. The oil CB uses the properties of the arc by using its energy to crack the oil molecules and generate gas, principally hydrogen, which with properly designed control systems can be used to sweep, cool and compress arc plasma and so de-ionise itself with a self-extinguishing process. But this system was unstable and it became evident that there was a need for circuit breakers which possessed a more positive system of interruption than the forticious de-ionisation associated with uncontrolled gas and oil flow. An early and notable step up was the general electric (USA) H Type CB introduced in 1920s, which employed two metal explosion pots per phase, oil filled and with insulation nozzels through which the moving contacts were withdrawn vertically upwards, the explosion pot had been mounted on ceramic insulators within an air- ins ulated cubicle structure. Later, Slepian (Westinghouse) proposed a deion grid in which the arc was fored to be submerged in the OCB tank, which increased effectiveness of the means of preventing the escape of gases generated in the vicinity of the arc without passing through the arc steam (Baker and Wilcox, 1930). Another approach was to use the arc to generate high pressures within a small insulating chamber immersed in the oil, such as that developed by GE(Prince and Skeats, 1931) in USA, which restricted oil and gas escape to an axial flow surrounding the arc plasma in the throuat of the interrupter; and later in the cross flow interrupter developed by the British Electrical Research Association (Whitney and Wedmore, 1930), which forms the basis of many present day designs. The controlled turbulence and high pressure and resultant rapid de-ionisation in these systems eliminated the erratic operation of the plain break by virtually eliminating the leakage current, but with this it also eliminated the useful voltage damping and voltage control function this current had performed in previous designs, voltage division then reverting to the capacitance controlled distribution. A desirable compromise would be to retain the advantages that leakage current can afford but eliminating the erratic nature of this control. No means of achieving this have as yet been suggested and this may remain in soluble, because of the difficulties of the control problem it creates. For this to take place in a surrounding in which dielectric stress imposed by the network is changing at several thousand volts per microsecond and in which arc plasma conductivity changes approximately a billion times as fast as temperature in the critical range of 1000-3000 K associated with thermal ionization. The idea of a single break carrying out the whole duty however extended too high in voltage in some designs in terms of contemporary techniques at this period, some difficulty was observed in situations such as switching long open ended transmission lines. These limitations were associated with the electrical and mechanical strength of the insulation materials then available, which neither permitted the CN to be designed with the acceleration necessary to ensure restrike free switching, nor to have their jet assemblies restricted sufficiently to prevent the arc, in unfavorable situations, from from flashing through the jets and along the outside of the interrupter, thus by-passing the interrupting mechanism provided. The advances in performance of present day e.h.v. dead tank oil and low oil CB construction have been brought about by using the multibreak designs, but with the added complication of positive voltage control; by reducing the inertia of the moving parts through the use of new high tensile materials or eliminating mechanical linkages by the use of high preassure oil drives; by improved containment of the arc with the interrupter as the result of the grater pressures that can be sustained through the use of materials such as thread wound fiberglass; and by working on techniques for arc control, which include limited forced oil flow pressurizing of the interrupter. The overall complication of low oil circuit isolation switches, made possible by the improved internal dielectric parameters following shorter arc time. The multibreak (Prince, 1935) impulse CB already referred to was a special case as it relied entirely on oil flow produced by a piston driven by external energy. The best known example of this type is the 8-break 287 kV 2500 MVA General Electric Boulder Dam installation commissioned in 1935, which afforded a 3-cycle interruption under all conditions of switching. These CB were also the first to be proved by means of realistic high power synthetic testing using current and voltage supplied from different circuits and synchronized within a few  µSec at current zero, using a system devised by Skeats(1936). These tests were carried out without any sort of failure to an equivalent SC level in excess of 4000 MVA, and it is of historic interest to the world of synthetic testing, on which modern high power breakers rely largely for proof of rating, to note that these CB were still operating successfully, after 35years of service, in a network with a fault capacity of the order of 7000 MVA. The high price of powerful equipment needed to drive the oil in both American and British models of this system discouraged future projects in this area, thus hampering development in this field, at a time when the modular construction of the air blast CB made possible began to be apparent. This together with a change away from oil and it should be considered that even engineering is not free from the influence of fashion encouraged a swing to airblast construction. Nevertheless the difficulties ingerent in deciding on such long term development policies in switchgear are exemplified by the decade or more which passed before the HV irblast CB matched the best oil CB practice in both their performance and reliability. Miniature Circuit Breakers: Miniature CB are only used at LV, mainly in domestic or light industrial or commercial operations. In general they are used in the same applications as semi-enclosed or cartridge fuses and offers an alternative for protecting radial or ring circuits. They are usually only single phase devices and have a typical rated load current range of up to 100A with a maximum SC rating of 16kA at 240V. Manually operated over center spring operating mechanisms are used. MCBs usually employ a series overload coil for rapid SC tripping and bimettalic element for tripping on overloads. All miniature CB operate on the air- break principle where an arc formed between the main contacts is forced, by means of an arc runner, and the magnetic effects of the SC currents, into metallic arc splitter plates. These cause a no. of series acrc to be formed and at the same time extract energy from the arc and cool it to achieve a state called arc extinction. With some design modifications of the MCB this arc interruption process can be so rapid that current cut-off can be achieved in much the same way as described for a current-limiting fuse. MCBs do not provide rapid operation for very low values of earth leakage current. In todays world wiring regulations require that a very rapid operation is achieved in the occasion of an earth fault to subsidize the harms of electrocution. This requires operation for earth fault currents as low as 30mA in a time of 2-3ms. C:UsersMohmed TalhaDesktopdoosanproject report (mid sem)MCB working.jpg Fig 3.1 Working principle of a MCB To achieve this requirement on MCB a variation on the basic construction is done. Such a modified device is known as earth leakage CB. Tripping at such low values of earth leakage current is done by using an internal current transformer to pass feed and return conductors. Resultant flux of the CT core is zero. Under EF condition the feeding and return currents will be of different values, this current difference cause flux to generate with the CT core which produces an output voltage at its secondary terminals. The tripping circuit of the residual current device is energized from the secondary winding terminals. The contacts of the MCB and residual current devices are not maintainable and have to be replaced after a limited number of operations is necessary. This problem is seldom and eroded contacts can be usually detected by overheating which causes unnecessary tripping of the device. Air Circuit Breakers: Atmospheric air is used as an interrupting medium in an ACB. The arc is drawn between its contacts and extended via arc runners on to an arc chute where it is presented with a large cooling surface of arc splitter plates. These break the arc into a number of series arcs. The running principle of an ACB is the same as that of an MCB. Free air circuit breakers are often used in LV and MV applications up to approximately 20KV. A rated current of typically 4000A and also work perfectly in case of a SC current of up to 90kA at 12kV. Fault level, number of operations and types of load are applications of LV switchgears where tireless operation is required. Also due to economic considerations molded case CB have replaced many LV applications where previously ACBs were used. But, ACB still dominate in areas where high performance, long term reliability and maintainability are basic requirements. A very typical application to support this statement is in generating stations LV auxiliary suppl y. The main application of HV ACBs has been in applications where the exclusion of flammable materials is a fundamental requirement. Again a typical application being in a generating stations HV auxiliary supplies, mainly 11kV. But such high rated ACBs are very expensive and are not recommended, thus this is diminishing and the scales are tipping over to the more favorable SF6 circuit breakers. A further application of the ACB is for use with DC supplies, this method of interruption still being the most suitable for d.c. circuits. DC circuit breakers are widely used where ratings of up to 3 kV exist. AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS: These use a blast of compressed air at a pressure of 25-75 bar which is derected across the arc patch to cool and remove ionized gas. Only when arc lengths are short and at first or zero current the air blast circuit breakers perform fast in interruption. Also in the receiver of the CB compressed air has to be stored locally. This local reserve has to be replenished from a local air compressor. Usually a suitable ring main network is used as a central system to feed the circuit breakers. 2 types of Air Blast Circuit Breaker exist: Sequentially isolated circuit breaker recloses after air blast Pressurised head circuit breaker- remains open after air blast SF6 circuit breakers A circuit breaker in which the current carrying contacts operate in Sulphur Hexafluoride or SF6 gas is known as an  SF6 Circuit Breaker. SF6 has an excellent insulating property. SF6 has high electro-negativity. That means it has high affinity of absorbing free electron. Whenever a free electron collides with the SF6 gas molecule, it is absorbed by that gas molecule and forms a negative ion. C:UsersMohmed TalhaDesktopdoosanproject report (mid sem)SF6 CB.jpg Fig 3. Working of an SF6 CB Disadvantages of SF6 breakers SF6 is considered as a greenhouse gas and though it is very efficient in some circuit breakers, laws are being passed which restrict the emission of this gas into the atmosphere in some countries. Also the energy requirement of an SF6 breaker is 5 times that of an oil circuit breaker which is not very economical Fig 3. One type of SF6 rotating arc principle Types of SF6 circuit breakers: Single interrupter- 220kV system Double interrupter- 400kV system Four interrupter- 715kV system Working of the SF6 CB (ref. http://www.electrical4u.com/electrical-switchgear/sf6-circuit-breaker.php) The working of SF6 CB of first generation was quite simple, it is some extent similar to air blast circuit breaker. Here SF6 gas was compressed and stored in a high pressure reservoir. During  operation of SF6 circuit breaker  this highly compressed gas is released through the arc and collected to relatively low pressure reservoir and then it pumped back to the high pressure reservoir for reutilize, Innovation of puffer type design makes operation of SF6 CB much easier. In buffer type design, the arc energy is utilized to develop pressure in the arcing chamber for arc quenching.  Here the breaker is filled with SF6 gas at rated pressure. There are two fixed contact fitted with a specific contact gap. A sliding cylinder bridges these to fixed contacts. The cylinder can axially slide upward and downward along the contacts. There is one stationary piston inside the cylinder which is fixed with other stationary parts of the SF6 circuit breaker, in such a way that it cannot change i ts position during the movement of the cylinder. As the piston is fixed and cylinder is movable or sliding, the internal volume of the cylinder changes when the cylinder slides. During opening of the breaker the cylinder moves downwards against position of the fixed piston hence the volume inside the cylinder is reduced which produces compressed SF6 gas inside the cylinder. The cylinder has numbers of side vents which were blocked by upper fixed contact body during closed position. As the cylinder move further downwards, these vent openings cross the upper fixed contact, and become unblocked and then compressed SF6 gas inside the cylinder will come out through this vents in high speed towards the arc and passes through the axial hole of the both fixed contacts. The arc is quenched during this flow of SF6 gas. During closing of the SF6 circuit breaker, the sliding cylinder moves upwards and as the position of piston remains at fixed height, the volume of the cylinder increases which introduces low pressure inside the cylinder compared to the surrounding. Due to this pressure difference SF6 gas from surrounding will try to enter in the cylinder. The higher pressure gas will come through the axial hole of both fixed contact and enters into cylinder via vent and during this flow; the gas will quench the arc. Vacuum Circuit Breakers: Vacuum CBs do not require an interrupting medium or an insulation medium. The interrupters do not contain ionizable material During the separation of current-carrying contacts, contact pressure reduces real contact surface reduces and the temperature of contacts increases to melting temperature, this produces metal vapors which initiates the vacuum arc, maintaining until the next current zero. Due to the special geometry of spiral contacts, the arc column is kept rotating by the radial magnetic field produced in order to involve a wider surface than that of a fixed contracted arc. Thus, overheating and erosion of the contacts are prevented. So the lifespan of the CB is increased. Since there is no interruption or insulation material in the medium there is definitely no decomposition of gases or particles. Advantages of vacuum circuit breakers: Very long lifetime of the contacts Less maintenance required Less moving parts in mechanism Less force needed to separate the contacts Environment friendly. Since interruption takes place in a vacuum medium, VCBs do not require gas or liquid addition. This reduces the possibility of leakage of gas that can be harmful to the environment. Requirements of a circuit breaker: The power dealt by the circuit breakers is quite large and serves as an important link between the consumers and suppliers. The following are the necessary requirements for a circuit breaker or switchgear It must safely interrupt the normal working current as well as the short circuit current After occurrence of fault the switchgear must isolate the faulty circuit as quickly as possible i.e. keeping the delay to minimum It must have a high sense of discrimination i.e. in systems where an alternate arrangements have been made for continuity of supply it should isolate the only faulty circuit without affecting any of the healthy ones. It should not operate when an over current flows under healthy conditions Circuit breaker Tripping schemes Relay with make contact type Relay with break contact type The make type contact necessities auxiliary DC supply for operation, while the break type contact relays derive their tripping energy from main supply source, they are discussed as follows; Relay with make contact type: The relays are connected in star, while their three contacts are connected in parallel and this parallel unit of contacts is connected in series with breaker auxiliary switch and trip coil to battery supply. When a fault occurs on any of the phase the relay will close the contact this energizes the respective trip coil which opens the CB and along with it auxiliary switch is opened and the trip coil De energized, the supply of current to fault path is stopped and the relay contact comes to normal position. The advantage of the auxiliary switch is that breaking of the tripping circuit takes place only across this switch and arcing, etc. which is harmful to contacts over the relay contacts is avoided. Relay with break type contact: The tripping circuit derives its energy from the main supply source through CTs or PT. The relay elements and the trip coil of each phase are connected in series and are so connected as to form a star connection. Under the normal working conditions the relay contacts are closed and at the same time the trip coils energized. When a fault occurs, the relay contacts open and CB trip coils are energized to open the CB.

Inequality for all Essay example -- Racial Relations, Bigotry, Racial

People of color have been the targets of bigotry, racial discrimination, and oppression since the arrival of the early European settlers. This is evident in the mass extermination of the Native Americans and in the kidnapping and enslavement of African’s in the 1600’s. Although slavery was abolished over 100 years ago the traumatic effects of this injustice is present in today’s society. The forefathers of America built this nation with the hands of black people and despite their contribution to this country they continue to be marginalized. Even though black people have made many strides this long-standing history of oppression has persevered throughout the generations. The deep-rooted contention of inequality and injustice has infiltrated the social fabric of American society and government as black people today experience discrimination on every level. Structured discrimination has been to blame for the many disparities that black people face in America. The m ost obvious are the disproportionate amount of minorities in the United States Criminal Justice System. Blacks make up approximately 13% of the U.S. population, and whites 67% of the U.S. population (Census, 2009); however, of the 2.2 million incarcerated, 900,000 are Black (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011). Brief History of Racism & the Mythology of White Superiority Throughout American history the ideology of racism has been ever-present. The idea of white supremacy and black inferiority was birthed from American nationalism. Ironically, the enslavements of African Americans were necessary in order to free colonial America from monarch rule. As a country founded on the philosophy of individual freedoms the enslavement of blacks’ needed to be justified. Indentur... ...covered that some neighborhoods spend more than a million dollars each year to incarcerate and return these residents, coining the phase â€Å"million dollar blocks† (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2006). To house a prisoner in 2010 it cost an average of $70.56 per day; this number is an estimated $25,754.40 per year. The average cost to attend a public 4-year college is approximately $8,000-$12,000; nearly half the amount to house a prisoner. The oppression of minorities has occurred for generations. Its practices have been made policy since 1705 with the Virginia Slave Codes. Structured inequality has infiltrated the policies that govern this nation. This is evident in the many disparities minorities face. The depth of structured inequality goes beyond changing policy. Not only does policy need to change but also people must be inundated with the message of tolerance.

Assessment ‘Of mice and men’ Essay

Of mice and men is a novel by john Steinbeck about two migrant agricultural labourers George Milton and Lennie Small. At the outstart they are working at a ranch in northern California. The ranch is a microcosm of the macrocosm that was in America at that time in 1939. During this period of failed businesses, harsh poverty, and long-term unemployment, we see how people attempted to survive on the ranch. In this essay I am going to clarify how Steinbeck presents the theme of discrimination in chapter 3. Discrimination seems particularly unpleasant on the ranch because there are lonely, isolated characters, who looking are for friends and an escape from solitariness. In chapter 3 we see discrimination in the form of racism, ageism and sexism. The victims of discrimination in this novel are: Crooks, a black stable buck; Curley’s Wife, the farm owner’s neglected daughter-in-law; and Candy, an old, disabled housekeeper. Crooks, is terribly discriminated against because of his natural skin colour, which he has no choice to change it. â€Å"S’pose you couldn’t go into the bunk house and play rummy ’cause you was black† this illustrates that the migrants on the ranch discriminate against him by having him left out of the gang. Furthermore he lives in a little shack on his own. They don’t treat him equally; in fact it almost feels like as if they don’t see him as human being. They don’t care about his feelings and emotions; nevertheless this isolation has consequently affected his mental and physical well being. Crooks is not allowed to enter the Bunk house, whereas Candy’s dog can. Therefore clearly this shows that they treat animals better than him. Although the dog has someone that looks out for him, crooks has no one except his books. Despite him believing that â€Å"Books ain’t no good†. Crooks had a bright childhood where he could play with white children and socialise with them, but this discrimination against him has affected him deeply. He never accepted this way of life unlike other slaves of his time, â€Å"I got a right to have a light† this shows that he is aware of his rights, even when he is having a simple conversation with mentally ill Lennie, who has no idea about rights not even his. Evidently this discrimination made crooks desperate for a companionship, â€Å"A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody† this demonstrates that crooks has gone to the point where he is dying for a shoulder to cry on, even Lennie with a childlike brain. â€Å"Don’t make no difference who the guy is, long’s he’s with you†, This implies that he doesn’t care if the friend is white or black, furthermore it shows that crooks is not racist. He plays horseshoes all day as an attempt to be liked and be accepted for what he is. Similarly Candy is discriminated against because of his age. As they know that he hasn’t got the physical strength to defend himself or his dog, they take advantage of him and forced him to allow his only friend to be killed. Steinbeck used this to clarify that within the society the powerful ones rule the helpless and no matter what we do there will always be evil around us. â€Å"Why’n’t you get candy to shoot his dog†. This makes candy think that this could be the prospect for him when he gets useless. It drove him to the desperation point of putting his life saving into the hands of complete strangers wanting to escape from the same ending as his beloved dog. The men on the ranch describe the dog as a â€Å"stinking hound† and an â€Å"old bastard†. Candy feels dejected as he says â€Å"I wish somebody would shoot me when I become useless†. He feels left out and not respected because of his age as they killed his only friend, he feels that he doesn’t wish to live without his precious dog anymore. Candy, a lost old man, he’s missing a hand and his most reliable and trust worthy companion. â€Å"i lost my hand my hand right here on this ranch, that’s why they gave me a job swampin'† this worries candy that he will get fired soon because if he can no longer work he will be dispensable. Steinbeck used this character because the older generation would relate to him. Curley’s wife is the only women on the ranch. Everybody makes fun of her; they don’t talk to her as a friend because she’s a woman. â€Å"Aint I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am anyways?†.This quotation shows that she is quarantined from the other migrants just like crooks and candy they are all isolated characters. The men on the ranch don’t give a chance to get to know her personally, they just labelled her a â€Å"trouble maker†, and being Curley’s wife doesn’t do her any favour. As we never hear her real name in the book it shows how belittled she is, she is seen as a property of Curley’s. Steinbeck did this because back in those days men were dominant and women were just seen as house wives. The men on the ranch act on their prejudice calling her nasty names such as a â€Å"rattrap†, â€Å"jailbait†, and â€Å"tart†. Due to this she feels alone and discriminated against, because she is only seeking for attention to make friends, she’s is not what they describe to be. Curley’s wife is desperate for a companion just like candy and Crooks; she wants someone to listen to her because Curley is never around, he never gives her the attention she needs, â€Å"I don’t like Curley, he ain’t a nice fella†, clearly shows that she isn’t happy, she feels trapped and lonely. Due to this she wonders around the ranch looking something to do, someone to talk to. Overall in conclusion Steinbeck carefully used these types of characters, because they each represent different society at that time of the book. Racism was very high and discrimination against women and the elderly were very common. I think the novel has relevance in our culture; it portrays the issues of discrimination and racism. I think Steinbeck wrote this book to show the world that within our society we have a disgusting habit of making other feel down.

Barings Bank’s Failure

When establishments, businesses and organizations are prosperous and very successful, barely anyone anticipates that someday they would fall down. Instead, people tend to envision a more dynamic, booming and more successful business whose position would seem stable that no problem can shake it down. This is exactly the case with the Barings Bank. After its share of success, the bank failed due to organizational architecture.The debacle of the Barings Bank, also called the â€Å"Queen’s Bank† (FundingUniverse, n. d.), became one of the hot topics when it comes to banking, finance, economics and management. The case shows an example of how one powerful company can be ruined by its shortcomings.The Barings Bank achieved success for a long time and was even respected as it was the United Kingdom’s oldest merchant bank (Sungard, 2009). It was established by a team of brothers, Francis and John, in London during the 1700s. During the Napoleonic Wars, the company financ ed military campaigns in Britain and helped France to recover financially.The company was also known for assisting America in buying Louisiana from France. Prosperity also rained down when the bank went into international trade (FundingUniverse, n. d. ). Barings Bank has $900 million in capital, but its share of success suddenly went to a halt in 1995 when it suffered from unauthorized trading losses which amounted to $1 billion (Sungard, 2009). Some experts say that the losses showed the ineffective controls and inappropriate incentives within the company (Hentschel and Smith, 1996).Others think that the demise was a result of financial risk management that went wrong (Riskglossary. com, 1996). For whatever reason, the person responsible behind the bank’s demise was Nick Leeson, a trader promoted as general manager in the Singapore branch. Although he was capable of making millions for the company, he got involved in unauthorized trading activities that initially went unnoti ced because he handled trading and back office functions (Sungard, 2009). Leeson traded and made mistakes which the bank’s management did not notice. The more bets Leeson made, the more money he lost.This indicates that Leeson, who has gained much power and authority, has acted outside the bank’s official authority and worked not in the best interests of the bank’s owners (Hentschel and Smith, 1996). This kind of problem occurs in different settings wherein employees, shareholders and senior management have different interests. It occurs when an agent such as Leeson enjoys private incentives to stray from things that would maximize the company’s value. Also, the structure of the organization can affect employee’s incentives. Thus it can worsen or control the problems.Three facets of organizational architecture that have effects are reward systems, decision rights and control systems. In reward systems, a compensation package must be readily availab le and must have â€Å"strong incentive components. † In Leeson’s case, however, the objective is to generate profits and not to stabilize firm value. Compensation based on the contract’s payoff can have bad side effects. Decision rights, on the other hand, indicate that decision rights must be allocated to treasury employees so that internal controls at low cost will be improved.However, traders and dealers like Leeson have extensive decision rights over their positions. Meanwhile, control systems in the Barings Bank case failed because a difficulty in monitoring within the company existed. The senior management at Barings Bank claimed that they were unaware of Leeson’s activities. To prevent such cases there should be strict control and supervision on business activities. The company could have set position limits so that traders and dealers will not be able to abuse their positions. Another shortcoming of Barings Bank was that it did not separate settl ement and trading responsibilities.Otherwise the company could have monitored all sorts of activities because the separation can facilitate agreement with the set position limits (Hentschel and Smith, 1996). The failure of Barings Bank was attributed to its organizational architecture. Nick Leeson, a trader whose losses caused the bank to go into bankruptcy, worked to generate profits. The power and authority that came with his position blinded him into making bets that he did not win. The bank, on the other hand, failed to make careful control and monitoring over the activities done on its part. References FundingUniverse.(n. d. ). Barings PLC. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from http://www. fundinguniverse. com/company-histories/Barings-PLC-Company-History. html Hentschel, L. and Smith, C. W. (1996). Derivatives regulation: Implications for Central Banks. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from http://www. simon. rochester. edu/fac/Hentschel/PDFs/DRICB. pdf Riskglossary. com. (1996). Barings debacle. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from http://www. riskglossary. com/link/barings_debacle. htm Sungard. (2009). Barings Bank. Retrieved January 8, 2009, from http://www3. sungard. com/bancware/default. aspx? id=4704