Saving the Mentally Ill: Ethical Judicial Reform

The plights of the mentally ill have been seen across various cultures throughout the historical tale of humanity. The imposed consequences of society on individuals demonstrating deviant behavior, often considered to be mentally ill, range from punishments as light as a ticket or fine and ranging to incarceration or even execution. The question remains for society today, are extreme punishments such as incarceration or execution rational solutions in regard to the treatment of mentally ill people who break the social norms of safety? Figuring out how best to deal with the fringes of society often called criminals but better termed mentally ill people is question which has no doubt been with humanity for a very long time. However, it is a justified opinion to state that mentally ill people are indeed worthy of better treatment than incarceration or execution. Despite the sometimes harmful behaviors of mentally ill individuals, there are better actions to take in the bettering of human society than to punish the most tormented and fragile members of society. A very important positive aspect of allowing mentally ill offenders to engage in the care of psychological treatment rather than being locked into the government judicial system and jails is simply being able to look at an offender with compassion and the hope of recuperation rather than with scorn and the desire to maltreat the offender. Jailing and execution, even minor fines, is simply an evil act in response to an evil act. The basic lesson that two wrongs don’t make a right is an ethical foundation that most people learn in their toddler years—to treat a neighbor as one would like to be treated. In punishing the mental ill, sometimes to the extreme of murdering them through execution, humanity only demonstrates a desire for revenge and a lack of patience. Although some states, for example Virginia, bar the execution of the mentally retarded, there is still widespread resistance to barring the execution of the mentally ill, and currently only Connecticut prohibits this act of injustice (Slobogin). Clearly, there is still widespread resistance to both understanding the sick actions of individuals as well as working cooperatively to try to aid these poor people. One has to wonder where the line is drawn between the mentally retarded, the mentally ill, and the insane, and what these terms mean in regard to aiming to define civil justice. Although some states have prohibited the execution of mentally retarded people, the Supreme Court has barred the execution of insane persons, but not of mentally retarded persons (Miller). In psychological diagnoses of mental illnesses, there is no concrete wall drawn between the mentally retarded and the mentally ill, and the term insanity is not even used professionally. Although psychosis may be what the courts refer to in regard to insanity, there is still no hard and fast line drawn between people exhibiting psychosis and those exhibiting neurosis. These people are all considered to be mentally ill. However, in considering the idea of just punishments for any individual, healthy or ill, it is important to not the hypocrisy and paradox involved even in the term just punishment. Is there ever a good maltreatment or a necessary evil? A rational person would have to say no. Forgiveness, understanding, and comprehensive rehabilitative treatment are necessary for all offenders. Society should offer this to the offenders precisely as an example of what it means to not offend, an extension of humane wisdom and goodwill. In viewing the experiences of the mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated, it is disquieting to note the extreme punishment received in modern jail settings. As if being forced to live in a tightly enclosed and barred setting for multiple year or even lifelong sentences were not enough of a crime against humanity, many mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated or on death row experience further injustice in jails by the high rate of occurrence of injury and death, the inappropriate use of force by personnel, and the release of mentally ill people from jail who have received little to no psychological treatment (Erickson & Erickson). On a smaller and perhaps more easily identifiable scale, it’s like experiencing a puppy who chews furniture and deciding to kick the dog or put the dog in a cage rather than allowing the puppy the natural environment of a caring owner with a yard or countryside for free roaming. The offender may need to be enclosed in a safe area, but the treatment administered to the offender for humane recuperation would not be physical torture or a tiny cell, it would be person centered health care in an environment tailored to meet the sensitive needs of the sick individual, helping them wholeheartedly on the short or long path to better living. In regard to changing the way courts view mentally ill people when they commit offenses against humanity, it is important to note not only the voices of judges, psychologists, and lawyers in their aim to provide the best situation for the offender, but to value the wishes of the offenders themselves. Luckily there is an increasing interest in mentally ill people as well as their clinicians to choose their own health care plans and service providers. By viewing mentally ill offenders as needing social help rather than punishment, society can also offer these individuals choices in the steps toward their recuperation. In allowing for a mediation process by which the offender and societal representative, such as a government counselor, social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist, can come to an agreement about the terms by which the mentally ill individual will engage in a process of ongoing health care, the court system may be able to reduce the need for more formal and expensive court process and reduce the costs associated with involuntary care (Fleischner). It is also valid to consider the desires of the offender who wishes to be released without care. In truly believing that two wrongs don’t make a right, it may be prudent to invest consideration in the option of allowing for the immediate release of offenders who wish to be freed without treatment. Although this action may endanger society, it very well may not. The power of forgiveness is highly underestimated in many cases. In aiming to administer justice, society has to consider what is just in every case, not only in some. If murder is wrong, then murder is wrong, not only in the case of the victim being murdered, but also in the case of the offender being murdered. If enclosing a person in a tight dark box is wrong for a parent to do to a child day after day, then it is also wrong for the government to do this to social offenders. Anyone any person commits a crime against humanity, then the person committing the crime is sick, mentally ill and not thinking or behaving logically. When viewing the ill actions of offenders in a judicial process, one must also honestly view the ill actions of the judiciary. So many crimes are committed by the mentally ill, and many of the mentally ill people are not the ones receiving the sentence, but people who are ordering the sentences or standing on the sidelines in support in injustice. Only when humanity opens its heart to all people in forgiveness and a sincere attempt to right wrongs will humanity be clean and delivered from her sins. No person deserved to be tightly jailed, left without health treatment, or cast out of society by even harsher means such as death. Ostracizing the weakest and most needy members of society only results in a crumbling of true ethics and suffering in hypocrisy. Democracy is empty without ethics, and arbitrating law means nothing when the law is empty of morality and goodwill.

How Did the 19th Amendment Change the United States

Period : History Ashley Stanton Subject: How did the 19th amendment change the United States 4-23-2013 The 19 th amendment gave women the right to vote. It was proposed on June 4, 1919 and ratified on August 18, 1920. The impact of the 19 th amendment was enormous it gave women the same power that men had.It created a strong influence and created a huge cultural impact. It gave the women of the era more confidence and a sense that they could accomplish and do more. The life style changes in the 1920's showed how big and important the impact of the nineteenth amendment was. Women had become much more confident and wanted to use this â€Å"power† in other areas, too.They gave up a lot of the † controlling† aspects of the Victorian age, from the long and buttoned up clothes to new outlooks of personal freedom they started to live outside the confines of being a house wife and home maker women got job outside the home, they started playing sports, they shortened their dresses and bobbed their hair and had fun !! The Roaring Twenties was a new age, and an age where women first started enjoying more freedom and influence. This has continued on to this very day and in my opinion there is still work needed to do to level the space between men and women.Mr. Barack Obama president of the United States signed the Lilly LedBetter Fair Pay Act, which would guarantee the right of women to sue for equal pay for doing the same job as men. Even though women are still underpaid , they get paid 77 cents to every dollar made by men. Women hold a value of 17 percent of the seats in Congress. There are only 6 U. S governors as women. No major party has nominated a women as president. Today after 90 years have passed women still lag behind men.

Succubus Revealed Chapter 15

It was easier said than done, and once Hugh and Roman gave me some space, the full impact of what had taken place really and truly hit me. Seth was Kyriakos. Kyriakos was Seth. Even after witnessing what I had with my own eyes, I don't think I would have believed it if something inside me . . . some gut instinct . . . hadn't told me it was all true. Not that I'd ever suspected it. Not that I'd ever dreamed it. The draw that I'd felt to Seth had been strong, no question, just as the draw to his other incarnations had been. I'd always felt there was something special about Seth in particular, though, and wondered now what might have set this life apart from the rest. Did some part of me – or some part of him? – recognize that this was the last chance for us to be together? Was that where the urgency was coming from? Or was it more about the passage of time and whom I had become? Recent years had made me more jaded about life as a succubus, and I wondered if perhaps that was what made him and our love so precious to me at this point in time. Our love, which had just blown up before my eyes. I called in sick to work the next day, something that didn't really go over all that well. It was Christmas Eve, one of the busiest days for Santa and his mall team, but I didn't care. There was no way I could face that chaos, not after what had happened with Seth. I was told curtly that if I didn't come into work, then I shouldn't expect to be rehired next year. I almost laughed and only barely managed to cling to some shred of professionalism, as I gravely informed my manager that I'd take that risk. Next Christmas, I'd most likely be in Las Vegas. Even if I wasn't, I was pretty sure I could manage to get by without minimum wage and my foil dress. Finding Seth proved trickier. He didn't answer my phone calls, and when I went to his condo, no one answered. Neither his nor Margaret's car was parked out front, leading me to believe they were either doing last-minute Christmas shopping or visiting Terry and Andrea. If it was the former, I had no way of locating Seth easily. If it was the latter, I certainly wasn't going to barge into Terry's house and demand Seth speak to me. The situation might be dire, but I still had my boundaries. It would've been so easy to use these obstacles as the means to dodge talking to Seth altogether. Despite my assurances to Hugh and Roman, I really didn't want to see Seth. Well, the part of me that was in love with him did. That part was in agony every moment we weren't together. But the rest of me didn't want to face that expression again, that terrible hurt on his face. I didn't want to confront the reality of what I was. Despite agreeing to see Seth, I really hadn't been able to truly convey to Roman and Hugh just how agonizing the thought of facing up to my sins was. I hadn't been able to handle the wrongness of what I'd done then; I could barely do it now. I'd sold my soul, blighted away the memories of all those I'd loved . . . all because I didn't want to accept the responsibility of what a terrible thing I'd done. You'd think after almost a millennium and a half, that fear and self-preservation would have changed. I guess it hadn't. Or maybe it had. The fact that I was trying to find Seth now was proof that I had changed a little, enough to attempt another conversation after his adamant rejection of me. â€Å"Kincaid?† I glanced behind me. I was standing in line at a coffee shop Seth occasionally patronized to sit and write. Coming here had been a long shot, and I hadn't been all that surprised to see he wasn't around. Last I knew, he hadn't been here in ages, especially with everything going on in his family. Apparently, this place had other patrons I hadn't known about. â€Å"Doug,† I said in surprise. I quickly placed my order for a white chocolate mocha and then waved as Doug strolled over to me. He'd just come in, and fine drops of water covered his black hair. â€Å"What are you having?† I gestured to the barista. Doug looked a little surprised but only hesitated a moment before ordering an inhumanly sized cup of drip. â€Å"Thanks,† he told me, when I handed it over to him. â€Å"You want to sit a minute?† I asked. My original intention had been to grab the mocha and go. I didn't know what Doug's plan was, but some perverse urge made me want to try to get a moment with him. â€Å"Sure,† he said, looking a little uncertain. â€Å"But just for a minute. I've got to be at work in an hour.† â€Å"We don't want you to be late for that,† I agreed, settling down at a small table that gave us a fine view of the sleet outside. Seattle wasn't really known for white Christmases. â€Å"All those last-minute shoppers trying to get their boxed sets.† The ghost of a smile crossed his face. â€Å"You know it. I'm surprised you aren't at work. Is it true? I heard you were, uh, working elf duty at a mall on the Eastside.† I grimaced. â€Å"Painfully true. But I quit today.† His eyebrows rose. â€Å"On Christmas Eve? That's cold, Kincaid. Think of the children.† â€Å"I know. But, well, something came up. . . .† I glanced away, unable to meet his eyes as all my troubled feelings threatened to surface. â€Å"Yeah, I can tell,† he said. I dared a look back. â€Å"What do you mean?† Doug shrugged. â€Å"I don't know. Just this vibe I always got off of you when you were feeling blue. You put on a good face for most of the world, but when something hurts you, your energy changes. Christ.† He took a big drink of coffee. â€Å"Now I'm sounding all New Agey and shit.† â€Å"Well, whatever it is, your instincts are right.† I reconsidered. â€Å"Though ‘blue' is kind of an understatement. More like navy. Or even black.† â€Å"Mortensen?† he guessed. I shook my head and glanced away again. â€Å"You don't want to hear about that.† Although, perhaps some part of him would be glad to know Seth and I were through. It'd be vindication after what we did to Maddie. â€Å"Try me,† said Doug. When I didn't answer, he sighed. â€Å"Kincaid, I don't hate you. I'm not happy about what went down, but in some weird, twisted way, I do still care about you. If something's wrong, you can tell me. Did Mortensen hurt you?† â€Å"No,† I said. Then: â€Å"Well, yes, but not without cause. I hurt him first.† â€Å"Ah.† I dragged my gaze back to Doug. His eyes were dark and serious, no trace of enjoyment in my suffering. â€Å"I've been trying to find him today . . . trying to get a hold of him. But I think he's avoiding me. No, I know he's avoiding me.† â€Å"You'll patch it up,† said Doug. â€Å"I don't know. I don't think we can this time.† † ‘This time,' † he scoffed. â€Å"Kincaid, the first moment I saw you and Mortensen together, there was something there. I don't know how to describe it. I was always surprised you guys never went out. I was surprised when he started going out with Maddie, though they seemed happy enough until . . . well, you know. Until he figured out he should be going out with you.† He paused, thinking. â€Å"Anyway, I talk a good talk about love in my songs but really don't know shit about it in real life. From what I do know, though, I feel like it's going to take more than whatever argument this is to keep you guys apart.† â€Å"Thanks,† I said. â€Å"That's nice of you . . . but you don't know. What I did was pretty terrible.† â€Å"What you guys did to Maddie was pretty terrible,† said Doug. â€Å"But I've forgiven you.† â€Å"You have?† I asked, startled. â€Å"Yeah.† He seemed a little surprised by the admission. â€Å"I mean, it helps that this neurosurgeon asked her out last week. I can forgive a lot if it means having a doctor brother-in-law. But in all seriousness? I know you guys didn't mean to hurt her, just like you didn't mean to hurt Mortensen here. What you did do is screw up majorly in the forthcomingness department.† â€Å"Forthcomingness?† I repeated. He waved me off. â€Å"Whatever. It's a word. If you guys had been honest with yourselves and with her, you could've saved everyone a world of hurt. Keep that in mind now.† â€Å"You're a regular relationship guru,† I said, earning me another scoff. Yet, as wise as his words sounded, I still didn't think there was any way to fix this thousand-year-old hurt. Before I could muster another comment, my phone rang. I looked down at the display in surprise. â€Å"It's Seth.† â€Å"You better answer it, then,† said Doug. With a gulp, I did. â€Å"Hello? Yeah. Uh-huh . . . sure. Okay . . . I understand. Okay. Bye.† I disconnected and Doug gave me a questioning look. â€Å"That didn't sound all that warm and fuzzy.† â€Å"Seth wants me to come to Christmas dinner tomorrow,† I said disbelievingly. â€Å"Well, that's a good sign,† said Doug. I shook my head. â€Å"I don't think it is. He said he doesn't want to create more upset in the girls' lives and just wants me there for appearances, to make them happy. He made it clear that nothing's changed, nor does he expect it to.† â€Å"I guess it's more of a lukewarm sign, then,† said Doug. I sighed, and Doug gently chucked my chin. â€Å"Cheer up, Kincaid. You wanted to talk to him. Here's your chance, no matter what he said. Don't waste it.† I mustered a smile. â€Å"How'd you get so wise, Doug?† He finished his coffee in a gulp. â€Å"Fuck if I know.† Doug's words were the kind that you hear in movies and books, the kind that power the against-all-odds comeback we love to see. It was my one chance, my chance to break through Seth's walls and surmount the insurmountable problems between us. But Seth made sure I never had the chance. I arrived on my own, laden with presents, and was immediately directed to entertain the girls. Seth made the request, since he and most of the other adults (except Ian, who only marginally counted as an adult anyway) were dug in inside the kitchen, and it seemed very reasonable. Normally, I wouldn't have minded either, except I had the gut feeling Seth was purposely keeping us far apart and constantly surrounded by people. So, I played with the girls, only half-listening as they excitedly told me about what they'd gotten for Christmas. The only time my brooding thoughts shifted from Seth was when Brandy remarked about how more presents had shown up under their tree this morning than could be accounted for. â€Å"No one will own up to having gotten some of the presents. Mom and Dad think Uncle Seth did it. He thinks Grandma did it,† Brandy said in a soft voice, so the littler ones wouldn't overhear her. â€Å"What kind of presents?† I asked. She shrugged. â€Å"Just toys . . . but lots of them. Like, Mom and Dad got Morgan some Princess Ponies. But this morning ? There were some Power Prism Ponies there too.† I vaguely remembered Carter and Morgan discussing those very ponies. â€Å"Maybe Santa came by,† I said. Brandy rolled her eyes, looking skeptical. â€Å"Maybe.† When dinner came, there was no avoiding being near Seth. Everyone expected us to sit together, and he could hardly ask to move somewhere else. But again, with so many people around, it didn't matter. I wasn't going to bring up any dangerous topics in the middle of Christmas dinner, and Seth knew that. Both of us were silent, simply listening as the others talked excitedly about the day and how happy they were that Andrea was feeling better. When dinner ended, Seth was the first one up and made a big deal about how all the guys should do dishes tonight while the ladies of the household retired to the living room. Everyone was pleased with this idea, except for Ian and me. â€Å"What is it with you guys and Christmas?† asked Andrea conspiratorially. I was sitting with her on the loveseat watching as Kendall directed Morgan's ponies into an epic battle to the death. â€Å"Huh?† I asked, glancing away from the battlefield. â€Å"You and Seth,† said Andrea. â€Å"I remember last Christmas, you guys were the same. Isn't this supposed to be the happiest day of the year?† I repressed a grimace. Last Christmas, I'd found out that Seth had slept with Maddie in an effort to â€Å"protect me† from a relationship with him. Yeah. That hadn't been a great holiday either. â€Å"We've got nothing against Christmas,† I said bleakly. â€Å"Just . . . some issues to sort out.† She frowned. â€Å"Is it about his tour? I figured you'd be for that.† â€Å"What tour?† â€Å"His publisher wants him to go traveling right after New Year's. Seth had originally refused because of . . . well, me. But I've felt so good lately, I told him he shouldn't waste the chance.† I hadn't known about that. I wondered if it was something that had just come up in the last day or if Seth simply hadn't told me beforehand. The tour would fall before my Las Vegas transfer, and I wouldn't have put it past Seth to decline it in order to maximize his time with me. Well, at least before things went bad. â€Å"That's not it,† I said after several seconds, when I realized she was expecting an answer from me. â€Å"It's . . . complicated.† â€Å"It always is,† she said wisely. I looked past her, toward the kitchen, where I could just barely see the Mortensen men moving around with the dishes. â€Å"For now, I'd just settle for a few moments alone.† She made no comment about that, but later, when the guys returned to the living room, she said very casually, â€Å"Seth, would you mind going upstairs to get my red cardigan? I left it on the foot of the bed.† Seth was about to sit down – far away from me, of course – but sprang up instantly at the request. As soon as he'd disappeared up the stairs, Andrea nudged me with her elbow. I turned to her, startled, and she jerked her head toward the stairs. Go, she mouthed. I glanced around, saw no one was paying much attention to me, and hurried after Seth. I found him in the bedroom, staring around curiously for the sweater that most likely didn't even exist. When he saw me in the doorway, he sighed heavily, realizing he'd been tricked. â€Å"I don't have time for this,† he said, attempting to move past me. I put out my arm to block the door. â€Å"Seth, please. Just listen to me. Just for a few minutes.† He stood there, only a few inches away, and then backed up. Since he apparently didn't want to push past and risk touching me, he must have decided distance was better, even at the risk of being trapped in the room. â€Å"Georgina, there is nothing you can say. Nothing that can change what happened between us.† â€Å"I know that,† I said. â€Å"I'm not going to try.† He eyed me suspiciously. â€Å"You aren't?† I swallowed, all words and thoughts fading from me as I stared into his eyes. There it was – that look. That same look of hurt and utter devastation that Kyriakos had worn so many centuries ago. It was looking out at me through Seth's eyes. I nodded. â€Å"We need to know about your contract. We just want to know some details.† â€Å"To help you?† he asked. â€Å"To help both of us. From what we've gathered, Hell violated my contract when it wrote yours. And that makes the conditions of yours contradictory. We might be able to get them both invalidated . . . but we need to understand yours better.† Seth leaned against the wall, eyes staring vacantly ahead as his thoughts turned inward. â€Å"I don't even understand the details of my contract. I barely remember it. . . . I mean, I do and don't. What went down . . . with the hypnosis . . . it's real and it's not.† I started to take a step forward, wanting badly to touch him and comfort him since he was clearly distraught. Caution held me back. â€Å"You have to try. Right now, if you don't, then you're going to go to Hell when you die. Doesn't matter if you become a saint before then. That contract brands your soul . . . unless, well . . . we're not sure if there was some condition that if you and I got back together, then you'd be free. That's what we need to know.† â€Å"Does it matter?† he asked. â€Å"Seeing as that doesn't look like it's going to happen – doesn't look like it was ever going to happen, if all those lives were any indication.† â€Å"Well, I mean, yeah . . . it matters in that the more information we have, the better our case.† â€Å"Can't you just have Hugh look it up?† I shook my head. â€Å"Not without raising attention. It'd be better if we can get the details from you.† â€Å"Well, sorry, then. I don't remember anything more than what I told you. And honestly? I don't care.† â€Å"How can you not care?† I asked incredulously. â€Å"It's your soul we're talking about!† â€Å"I'll take my chances,† he said. A spark of anger permeated the sorrow that had clung to me these last couple days. â€Å"There are no ‘chances.' It's a done deal. Your soul belongs to Hell. Nothing's going to change it.† â€Å"Does it really matter? You gave your soul to Hell.† â€Å"For you!† I cried. â€Å"I did it for you. To save you. I would do it a hundred times over if I had to.† Seth scoffed. â€Å"Why didn't you just not cheat on me one time?† â€Å"I was young, and I was stupid,† I said, amazed at how levelly I could acknowledge that. â€Å"I was scared, and I felt like you were so far away from me. Like I wasn't part of your priorities anymore. It was all about work and music for you.† â€Å"And you never thought about talking to me about any of that first? You know you can always bring anything up to me.† I sighed. â€Å"To you, maybe. Not to Kyriakos. He . . . you . . . may have meant well but wasn't always so easy to get through to.† â€Å"But I am him,† argued Seth, though he sound a little unsure. â€Å"Er, was.† â€Å"Yes and no,† I said. â€Å"Look, I'm no expert on reincarnation, but from what I know, even though the soul and some parts of the character are constant, there's still, like . . . evolving taking place. You grow and change. That's the point of reincarnation. You're the same person, but you aren't. You weren't perfect back then. Hell, you aren't now. Maybe you – Seth – can handle talking about this . . . maybe after ten lives, you've developed enough relationship maturity. Back then? I'm not so sure. I obviously didn't have it either.† â€Å"Obviously,† he repeated. His gaze held me for a long time, and this time, I couldn't tell what he was feeling. At least there was no overt hate or anything. Either that, or he'd simply learned to conceal it. Finally, he said, â€Å"I meant it. I don't remember the contract details. . . . Just that I would be allowed to keep finding you.† â€Å"That's it?† I said. â€Å"Nothing else? If there's anything more . . . I mean, the stakes here are huge, Seth. I know you said you'd take your chances, but remember when we're talking about your soul, we're looking beyond the scope of one human life. We're looking at eternity.† â€Å"There you go again,† he said, with a small, rueful smile. â€Å"Making an argument for the sanctity of the soul, a soul you threw away.† â€Å"And I told you before, I'd do it again.† â€Å"So you wouldn't have to face me and look me in the eye after what you'd done.† â€Å"In part,† I said. â€Å"But also to save your life. To give you a chance at happiness. Because at that moment . . . that was more important than my eternity.† Seth took a long time to answer, and I again wished I knew what was happening behind those brown eyes. Whose thoughts were stirring in there? His or Kyriakos's? Or any of the other men I'd had turbulent romances with? â€Å"You didn't want to face me then,† he said at last. â€Å"But here you are. Why? To save your own soul?† â€Å"To save both our souls,† I said. Seth straightened up from his slouch against the wall and moved toward the door. â€Å"I can't help you. I mean it – I don't remember anything else. Now. If you'd please make some polite excuse to the others and leave, I'd really appreciate it.† He came to stand in front of me in the doorway, and for a half a second, time stood still as we studied each other, only a few inches apart. A thousand feelings warred within me, powered by a thousand years' worth of lifetimes. With a slow nod, I yielded and let him walk past me. He didn't look back.

Social Performance of Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Social Performance of Organizations - Essay Example However, some of the producers refused making the De Beer to flood the market with products that were similar to those who refused to join it and it afterwards purchased all the products that were produced by the rivals thus controlling the market prices (Edward, 1982). The company is involved in mining activities in various countries. For example, in Botswana De Beers mine through the company referred to as Debswana. In South Africa, De Beers Consolidated Mines is responsible for the mining activities. As far as business structure is concerned, De Beer has two major shareholdings which include Botswana government owning 15% and Anglo America Company that owns 85%. Other related companies that are involved in the De Beers diamond value chain include Diamdel, Namdeb, De Beers Canada, Diamond Trading Company South Africa and Namibia Diamond Trading Company. As an international company, De Beers can be affected by two main external environment factors. First, the custom duties and quota s imposed by countries may make the company demand for its products to decrease. This is based on the government’s policy to lower the importation of foreign products in order to enhance domestic consumption. Secondly, the stiff competition from other companies in the mining industry may result to decrease in the prices of the company products. This may be due to the other companies’ intention to face off the companies in the international market. One of the major stakeholders of De Beers Diamond Company is Diamond Trading Company (DTC). DTC main duties include selling and distribution of the company products. By selling approximately 75% of rough diamond in the international market, DTC is able to generate high revenue for De Beers an aspect that has made the company to effectively expand in the international market (Martin, 2007). The second important part of the stakeholders is the employees. With more than 20,000 employees, the company objectives

Case Study Analysis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analysis - Case Study Example At the end of the analysis, recommendations are provided as to how such types of situations can be avoided. Carl Robbins was a new employee in the organization with just six months of enrollment in the firm. According to my analysis, Carl Robbins had taken up a huge task that was not for him to be conducted at this early stage. He was new to the organization and therefore needed more time to get acquainted to the practices of the firm. Major and crucial tasks that should have been addressed earlier were neglected by Carl Robbins and were pondered upon at a later and late stage. Carl Robbins lacked time management skills, planning skills and proper organizing skills. Carl Robbins works for ABC Inc as a new recruitment officer of their campus. He is a new employee in this organization with just six months of work experience. In such a short work time duration, Carl conducted recruitment process and in April 15 trainees were recruited. Monica Carrolls is the Operations Supervisor of ABC Inc and she contacted Carl on 15th May about the briefings of the orientation sessions and also about the paper work issues. She wanted to ensure that all the documentation work of the new trainees such as drug tests, schedules, policy manual and other such documents were ready for the orientation session. When about two weeks were left for 15th June, Carl realized that many aspects were not completed. The manuals and policies were not prepared and also he found out at that time that the training room had been booked for computer trainings for the whole month of June. The new trainee orientation session planned by Carl would have to face delays due to his mismanagement of the event preparations. It was too early for Carl to take up such a project or task. Key problems were that the training schedule was not planned, the policy booklets and manuals should have been ready, Carl did not ensure about proper documentation

International Business College Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Business College - Case Study Example With the help of the current value of the possible future cash flows, the market values for interest and foreign currency exchange risk are found out. However, the information according to the sensitivity analysis will not necessarily signify the real changes in fair value that IBM would face in case of normal market conditions as, due to practical confinements, all variables except for the particular market risk factor are held constant. Coca Cola Company makes the use of derivative financial instruments mostly to lessen their exposure to unfavorable fluctuations in the foreign currency exchange rates and in interest rates and commodity prices involved as market risks. The company does not go into derivative financial instruments in order to carry out trading. In fact, risk by hedging and primary economic exposure is reduced by all their derivative positions. Owing to the high connection between the underlying exposure and hedging instrument, reciprocal changes in the value of the underlying exposure is used to counterbalance fluctuations in the value of the instruments. Practically all of Coca Cola's derivatives are simple, over-the-counter instruments with liquid markets. If the firm has borrowed on a floating rate basis, at very reset date, the rate for the following period would be set in line with the market rate. The firm's future interest payments are therefore uncertain. An increase in rates will adversely affect the cash flows. Consider a firm, which wants to undertake a fixed investment project. Suppose it requires foreign currency financing and is forced to borrow on a floating rate basis. Since its cost of capital is uncertain, an additional element of risk is introduced in project appraisal. On the other hand, consider a firm, which has borrowed on a fixed rate basis to finance a fixed investment project. Subsequently inflation rate in the economy slows down and the market rate of interest declines. The cash flows from the project may decline as a result of the fall in the rate of inflation but the firm is logged into high cost borrowing. 2.1 IBM As compared to an increase of $18 million on December 31, 2005, there would be reduction in the fair market value of IBM's financial instruments of $113 million, which would be a result of a 10% reduction in the levels of interest rates on December 31, 2006, keeping all other variables constant. On the other hand, as compared to a reduction of $8 million at December 31, 2005, there would be a hike in the fair value of IBM's financial instruments of $96 million, which would be a result of a 10% increase in the levels of interest rates, keeping all other variables constant. Alterations in IBM's interest rate profile and amount and debt maturities have

Cultural dversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural dversity - Essay Example One of the demographic changes in United States organization is the increase in immigration. The United States has a higher incidence of immigration than any other country in the world. For example, in 2002 alone, over a million people moved into the U.S from. Of these, the biggest percentage came from Mexico with China closely following. It is important for any organization to understand the effects of immigration. Immigration has the ability of changing a countrys demographic composition, thus affecting the culture. For any organization such as The American Red Cross, immigration serves to increase the amount supply of labor especially for less-skilled occupations. With the increased labor supply, the organization wages and salary policy is affected. The company would therefore, offer lower wages for employees in low-paying less-skilled occupations. Because of the job competition brought about by the immigrants, it is not a surprise to see the less educated workers having a negativ e view of the immigrants hence conflicts in the organization (Mankiw, 1998). Increase in the birthrate would also affect the organization in various ways. Currently, the US is experiencing a low birth rate across all races or ethnic groups. In recent decades, especially from 1990, the birth rate has registered a decline. For example, the birth rate for a Latina woman dropped from 3.0 in 1990 to 2.4 in 2010 (Lerman and Schmidt,1999, p.2). The other racial groups show similar results over the period. A future increase in birth rates will lead to an increase in population growth. A proportionate increase in the supply of the labor force accompanies such rapid population growth. This implies that the rate of job creation should match the rate of labor supply in United States. However, the rate of labor supply outstrips that of job creation. This shows that the quantity of individuals looking

Legal Aspect of Transsexuals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Legal Aspect of Transsexuals - Essay Example At the turn of the century where egalitarian mentality provoked social change and global recognition geared towards the recognition of transsexual rights saw the greater acceptance in the concept of sexual orientation. Sexual change that was deemed unacceptable and unthinkable is now legally accepted. It is understood that in the human rights activist cry for equality, a collective recognition is acceptable for all and not merely censored on a few singular groups. The potential for random discrimination in relation to their legitimate acceptance although currently under legal protection of laws has still raised compelling questions that can never be dismissed. We cannot deny that there are still the so-called moral activists in adherence to old conservative theories who utter a different lament against these sexual minorities. There is an even greater chance that the social change may take its toll and be delegated to the far recesses of one's imagination unless the laws that protec t the identity of transsexuals are recognized and properly implemented particularly in the society and their legal rights upheld where common complaints of gender inequality are often heard. With the passing of certain laws that govern sexual discrimination acts, the seemingly simple question on the legal recognition of transsexuals in terms of thei... When the European Convention on Human Rights recognized individuals other than the traditional gender classification of male and female, a ground breaking law was heralded. In the field of sexual orientation the protection of transsexual rights of gay and lesbian under Article 8 of the European Convention has been interpreted "to extend to an adult's right to participate in private, consensual homosexual activity". In Cossey v U.K.1, lodged with the Commission was Miss Cossey's complaint of the fact that under English law she cannot claim full recognition of her changed status and in particular is unable to enter into a valid marriage with a man. The applicant challenged the government to change her birth certificate to reflect her new gender and the basis of denial dwell on the substantial administrative burdens imposed on the birth certificates. Whilst the government desires to keep the accuracy of its records, the Government argued to maintain the privacy except on the "position o f third parties (e.g. life insurance companies) in that they would be deprived of information which they had a legitimate interest to receive". As a matter of interest, insurers have the legitimate interest in knowing the actual gender reassignment surgery. The Insurance laws has its ways and means of protecting that interest and the insured party's obligation lie mostly by providing material facts and empowering the insurer to nullify the contract if it appears that the insured has withheld such vital information.Nobody would imagine protecting insurers by insisting that everyone enters all medical treatment in a public register and besides it will take up

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Reading response - Essay Example Craft is a very important component that helps people to be creative as well as promotes culture. Craft has been narrowly considered based on what is cute and what is not. The perception that craft entails ugly, old-fashioned and things made by some old man or woman is misplaced and does not hold any water. Craft is supposed to be more of creativity and use of ones hands to facilitate that creativity. The scope of craft is unlimited; it can range from simple things such as developing a picture frame to complex aspects such as decorating huge structures. The objective of doing all these things is not solely to make a place look cute and neat but to add some reasonable value to the place. What matters is the creativity that has been utilized. Eliminating the view that craft is some big and complex thing that should be done for the sake of competitions and embracing it in daily activities can help save. Handmade craft is cost effective and it helps an individual customize their environment depending on what they are pleased with. However, it should not always cost effective; sometimes it may be necessary to develop a less costly product after destroying a more costly one. The bottom line should be, what is it that pleases an individual and they are able to afford it. Taking care of individual taste is very beneficial since it dives a personal satisfaction as well as promotes longevity of use. It is difficult to judge a piece of crafted based on any parameters. The first thing is that craft has a lot of biasness depending on the individual. For example, the â€Å"Craft Wars† show is biased because it relies on the judgment of two or three judges who give their own personal view. To eliminate this biasness, all the participants can do a vote on such a show so that the will of the majority prevails. It is not right to narrow down the works of craft on the perception of a few. Craft is very beneficial and every person should attempt to develop some work of

Spanish Civil War Essay Example for Free

Spanish Civil War Essay Did the Nationalists win the Spanish Civil War because of their strengths or the weaknesses of the Republicans? The evidence that supports the idea that the Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War because of their strength is abundant. The unity of the Nationalists was obvious and meant that there was both great organisation and co-ordination, meaning there was no ambiguity in the goals set by those fighting for the Nationalists. Franco’s plans for a long term war meant that he was able to ensure the defeat of the Republic by slowly squeezing the life out of the Republic war effort, which already was heavily reliant on Soviet aid, by securing Republican strong holds throughout Spain. The contrasting lack of unity on the Republic as well as they heavy reliance on foreign aid are the reasons why many feel the weaknesses of the Republic were the reason for its downfall. The reliance on foreign aid does not just relate to the aid received from Soviet Russia, but the lack of aid from Britain and France due to non-intervention. The absence of this aid was extremely influential because as Soviet aid shrunk the Republican cause was exposed as weak and it slowly became a question of when rather than if. However, the strengths of the Republic must not be underestimated, and the reliance of foreign aid came from both sides as it could be easily argued that the initial Nationalist uprising would have failed without help from foreign sources. In fact, the aid received by the Republicans from the Soviets was superior to that being supplied by both Germany and Italy to the Nationalists. The militia victories in both Barcelona and Madrid were a huge morale boost for the Republicans, while also showing the Republic would not just lie down. The International Brigades, although not effective as fighting force, were a symbol of international solidarity in terms of the fight for the maintenance of democracy in Europe. The depth and passion of the working class support that was present for the Republic was one its greatest assets, and it is this passion of the working class and the militias that they formed that kept both Madrid and Barcelona under Republican control in the early stages of the Nationalist uprising. The organisation of the working class through organisations such as the CNT and the UGT was originally seen as an advantage, but it would quickly become apparent that even this organisation would not stop the divisions of the Republicans and of the left from crippling the struggle against Franco and his Nationalists. The main divisions came from the various communist parties as well as the anarchists, none of whom could fight alongside the other; such was the extent to which their ideologies differed. The PCE, who had very strong Soviet backing and were heavily influenced by Stalinism, frequently clashed with both the anarchist CNT and the PSOE. The main differences was the want of a revolution, the communist PCE thought that the priority should be to win the war in order to secure the Republic’s power, and then lead the communist revolution, where as both the CNT and POUM felt it was necessary for the revolution to happen if any hope of defeating the Nationalists was to remain. These tensions would boil over in the â€Å"May Days† of 1937 where fighting would break out on the streets of Barcelona, and many historians dub these actions as the Civil War within the Civil War. The feeling of the CNT and the POUM that the PCE was too moderate still remained, as too did the concern that the PCE were merely agents of Stalin and were not genuinely concerned about the future of Spain. There had already been clashes on the French frontier with between the CNT militias and the Government forces sent to take over from them, due to the Communist influence in the Government. This resentment carried over into May and over a span of four days, 200-500 people were killed as a result of clashes between the CNT, POUM and the PCE. Even though the CNT and POUM had a common enemy in the PCE, they were at a massive disadvantage due to the fact that they were unable to unite together as they too had ideological differences that were so vast that they could not be ignored. This crisis was a turning point for the Republic which saw the influence of the Communists vastly increase. The main political casualty of the May Days was Largo Cabellero, who had always been opposed to the Communist interference, especially when it had been influenced so heavily by Stalin and the USSR. So great was his hatred of the Communist interference that he once famously sent out the Soviet Ambassador, Rosenberg, from a Cabinet meeting as he tried to impose the will of the Soviets in January 1937. After the events of the May Days Cabellero had little choice but to resign, and give way to Negrin, who some historians argue was a mere pawn of the wishes of the Communists. Even if this was the case, the Republic became more unified under Negrin, even if the underlying ideological differences still existed. With Communist influence in the government, Stalin was still willing to send the aid that was essential to the survival of the republic, while the Popular Army also emerged from the fighting in Barcelona as it was finally accepted a well trained force was needed; no longer could the Republic rely on the scrappy little militias to fend off the advances of the Nationalist forces. Although this move was damaging for the morale of many revolutionaries it was a necessary step that could not be put off much longer.. As a result of this, it could be argued that the clashes on the left went some way in to helping the Republic re-organise and gain a properly trained military force, although the lack of co-operation would remain a fatal flaw for the rest of the war. Where there were clashes on the Republican side, there was unity on the Nationalist side. Following a series of convenient plane crashes, in the eyes of Franco anyways, there was only one leader for the Nationalists to follow, a unified idea for the whole of the Civil War to from behind. There were three events early on in the War that showed the priority of the Nationalists to gain unity and their success in gaining it The first was â€Å"Instruccion reservada no.1† (25th May 1936) which was a meeting called by General Mola to determine the overall leader of the Nationalist cause. Although Mola originally saw Franco as unfit to lead the Nationalist cause, his connections with Italy and Germany were priceless, he was a man with very few enemies as he had no major involvement in politics before, on top of this he also had the support of the Fallange which was vital. Although he did not like the decision, Mola conceded and the Nationalist cause had its one leader. 15th August saw the Feast of Assumption and the selection of the Nationalist flag, although a small fact or it once again showed the unity of the cause. The Day of Caudillo (1st October) was also integral, it saw Franco officially sworn in as Generalisimo of the Nationalist Army, and so he could carry out his plans for a long term war without questions from his Spanish counterparts. This unity meant orders were easily carried out and co-ordination between battalions was to a good standard, vital for the long term war of Franco. It was much easier for those with Nationalist sympathies to support the Nationalists because of their clear intentions and aims, and so it was much easier for those capable of giving aid to send it. The political strength of the Nationalist cause came from its unity, a fact that cannot be understated, and it is this strength that was integral for laying the foundations of a successful campaign. Although both sides were fighting for completely different versions of Spain, the reliance on foreign aid is something that is common on both sides. There is sometimes a misinterpretation of this aid, namely that the German and Italy aid was the most superior throughout the war, but it was actually the Soviets that provided the better aid in the first few years of the war, and it was this aid that helped the Republicans hang on for so long. Although initially favouring non-intervention, Stalin made the decision to send aid to the Republicans after it became evident that both Italy and Germany were supplying aid to the Nationalists. Stalin’s aim was not a Communist Spain, but the protection of France, as if Spain became facist, they would be encircled by a bloc of Fascist regimes. This being the case it would seem Hitler would be able to concentrate his expansionist policies eastwards into Russia, and eventuality which Russia was not yet able to fend off. The first load of Soviet aid arrived in October 1936, just in time to be a serious factor in the defence of Madrid, a key victory and stronghold for the Republicans. November saw the arrival of 500 Soviet advisors in Spain, to help with the organisation of military actions, these are the advisors who would help organise the Popular Army which was yet another key part of the Republican war effort. The influence of the Soviet aid cannot only be seen when it is being supplied, but the fall out after the point at which it was withdrawn. By 1938, after the exclusion of Russia from the Munich Conference between Germany, Britain and France, from which Neville Chamberlin returned with his famous piece of paper declaring â€Å"peace in our time†, it became clear that there would be no additional aid for the Republicans, and so the Soviets did not feel like they could continue an already faltering cause. This forced the Republicans onto the open market where weapons were often overprice d and so they simply could not afford to maintain the war effort much longer. It could be argued that the Soviet aid prolonged the war, and the Nationalists could not win the war while the Soviets were still involved, and so the Nationalists had to wait for the Republicans to weaken before they were able to secure victory. As well as showing the Soviet influence, the events of 1938 also showed the impact of non-intervention had on the war. The horrors of the Great War and the impact of the Great Depression had forced Britain especially into a policy of appeasement; they were desperate to avoid European war by any means possible. Although France were initially in favour of supporting the Republican cause, Leon Blum was forced to follow a policy of non-intervention divisions domestically in French politics, at one point there was concern there would be civil war in France as well. The Non-Intervention committee was also created to try and enforce the idea of non intervention. Its members included Germany and Italy so the sincerity of this committee has come under question by some historians. The only notable success of this committee was its restriction of Italian arms shipments to Spain, which considering Italy was on the committee, does not seem too impressive. The policy of non-intervention was a great help to the Nationalists, who continued to receive Italian and German aid, as it simply meant the Republicans did not receive the help they so desperately needed. Another form of international help came in the form of the International Brigades. These were an important propaganda tool and morale boost. It showed the solidarity of those who believed in democracy worldwide, and showed there were people who were willing to fight for this, even in a country in which they did not live. Although a good morale boost, they were not effective in battle and their influ ence in many of the battles that they were involved in is questionable. The support received by the Nationalists from both Germany and Italy was influential not just because of its sheer quantity, but because of both its timing and quality. From the very beginning of the war this was clear, after the quick takeover of the Moroccan colonies by the Nationalists, it was vital that the troops of the Army of Africa made it to the mainland Spain to help the push North. This would not have been possible to do without the help of the German Luftwaffe, who provided air lifts to provide the service of transporting the Army of Africa. Without this Franco would not have been able to capture the town in the South he did with such efficiency. The Condor Legion, 10,000 strong, was sent to Spain to help the Nationalist cause, and they were lethally effective in providing the support needed to the Nationalists. The bombing of Guernica in 1937 showed just how powerful the German influence was, if used to its full potential it could decimate any Republican stronghold or ci ty in the country. This was not the limit of the air dominance provided by the Germans, although the upper hand initially went to the Republicans due to the quality of the Soviet planes, the introduction of the ME109s shifted the balance of power in favour of the Nationalists. This air dominance would be key during the final push to Madrid in the final days of the war. The Italian aid must not be underestimated either, they provided 60,000 troops, a monumental amount considering it is a war being fought on foreign soil for a foreign cause. On top of this Mussolini supplied bombers, transports and regularly shipped arms and ammunition to Spain to aid the cause. As the war progressed, the strength of the foreign aid did not diminish, significantly strengthening the Nationalists war effort, it could be argued that it would have been difficult to stop the Nationalists with this level of aid. The start of the Civil War had seen members of the army forced to choose their allegiance, while many senior officers stayed loyal to the republic, the Nationalists were able to win over many of the junior officers. This, as well as Franco’s plans for a long term war meant that the military tactics of both sides contrasted greatly, where as the Nationalists believed in the a very attack heavy strategy, where as the Republicans adopted the strategy of â€Å"to resist is to win†, taking a much more defensive stand. This made a lot of sense for the Republicans as they were the legitimate ruling power and the belief was that if they could hold on for long enough, the Spanish Civil War word turn into a European war of Ideologies and so the Republicans would be able to hold on to power. Considering the Republican cause only failed mere months before the start of the Second World War shows that the tactic does not seem so ridiculous, and could have worked if a few things had g one differently. The root of the problem for the Republicans once again came from their political divisions. The lack of centralisation means there was no co-ordination in the Republican ranks, which would cause genuine problems while trying to organise a war effort. Those based in Basque would not listen to those in Madrid, who in turn would not listen to those in Barcelona and vice versa. The Republican war effort was initially reliant on the workers militias which had seen them retain both Madrid and Barcelona in the early days of the war. These workers militias were extremely effective for morale, and in the short term they were very successful. However they could not be relied upon in the long term to fight a full scale war. This is where the Popular army, formed in 1937, became important. Formed with a significant amount of help from the Soviets, the Popular Army was the professional fighting force of the Republic. Although it was very unpopular, especially among those in the militias who felt that the comradeship of those in the Republic would be strong enough to carry them through the war, the Popular Army was a necessity for the Republic if it stood a chance of surviving. The creation of the Popular Army could not mask the fact that Republican military numbers had fallen by 25% by 1937, or that many soldiers deeply mistrusted the senior officers who had stayed loyal to the Republic, believing they were merely plotting to overthrow the government from within. This paranoia would just deepen divisions within the Republican cause and just further hinder their plans. The republicans should not just be counted out however as their valiant defences of both Madrid and Barcelona proved, they weren’t just simply going to lie down and hand Spain over to Franco. As discussed earlier, one of the main strengths of the Nationalists was their unity and their willingness to fight under one leader. Franco insisted that if a sustainable ruling power was to come out of the war, the consolidation of power was vital, and so he believed in a long term war strategy. This strategy would, of course, have to be a very offensive one as the Nationalists were the revolutio naries. This involved the capture of every town and village on the way from Seville to Madrid. There was pressure for Franco to simply push on directly to Madrid, especially from the Germans, who were not convinced by the idea of a long term war. Franco did not give into this pressure which was extremely important as it would soon become apparent that the long term war was the only way to win the Spanish Civil War. By securing every town and city on the way to Madrid, it meant that the Republicans would be under serious pressure due to the amount of Nationalist territory surrounding Madrid. Franco’s obsession with Madrid slightly prolonged his advance North, as he was desperate to secure the capital. By 1937, Franco had realised he was not yet able to capture the capital, and so he continued North to continue his policy of long term war. By the end of 1937 the Nationalists controlled the Basque country, Asturias and Santander. The Nationalists now controlled two-thirds of the Spanish population and resources. Many of Spain’s key resources, Coal, Iron and steel, were to be found in the North. This would cripple the already struggling Republican war effort. The true effect of the long term war could be seen when the Republicans launched their offensive main offensive of the war, during 1937. An initial success at Brunete in July quickly ground to a halt as the Republicans suffered 25,000 casualties. December 1937 also saw the Republicans take Teriel, but they would quickly lose this in February of 1938. The major reason behind this was because of the consolidation of power that Franco had followed throughout his campaign meant that even if the Republicans started an offensive on a different front, it would not be long before the Nationalists were able to send support to a struggling or captured, such was the extent of the Nationalist dominance of the land. The pivotal moment of the campaign for the Nationalists was the capture of Castellon, by which point the Republican zone was split in two and so Barcelona and Madrid were isolated from each other, seriously weakening both cities. This tactic by Franco showed his military prowess and was yet another example of how strong the Nationalists were in this war. There is no question that it was the strengths of the Nationalist tactics that gained them the final victory, and not the comparative weaknesses of the Republican military str ategy. In conclusion, it is very difficult to state that it was purely the weaknesses of the Republic that saw the Nationalists win the Spanish Civil War. The passion and drive of the workers’ militias showed the desire within Spain to keep the country a democracy, while the International Brigades showed the international solidarity of the cause. At the beginning of the War, the Soviet aid was vastly superior to that being supplied by either Germany or Italy, and so in this respect the Republic was in fact strong. As well as receiving the superior aid, the Republicans controlled all the major cities of Spain, with the exception of Seville, meaning that they had a strong grasp on Industry and Communication. However the political divisions of the Republic would ultimately be the cause of its downfall and can be argued to be the root of a majority of the problems that arose for the Republicans. It is these divisions and the eventual rise of the PSE as the dominant force in Spanish politics that was a major factor in the non-intervention of Britain and France, as neither country could be seen to be supporting a Communist regime. Without aid from Britain and France the Republican war effort quickly declined which would lead to the loss of Soviet aid as well. Although the Nationalist aid was not at first superior, it quickly became so, but this was not the only Nationalist strength. The unity of the Nationalists meant co-ordination was excellent and decisions were much easier to make. Although the length of the war could be used as an argument to state that the Nationalists had to wait for the Republicans to become weak before they could secure victory, it had always been the plan of Franco for the war to carry on in such a way. He was aware of the importance of securing every town and village if he wanted complete control of Spain, by doing this Franco was slowly sucking the life out of the Republican cause. So to an extent, it was the weaknesses of the Republic that ensured the Nationalist victory, but it is because of the strengths of the Nationalists that caused the weaknesses, especially in the final years of the war, to become the deciding factor.

Toyota Philosophy of Kaizen

Toyota Philosophy of Kaizen In the bend of the seventies, the scientific management (Taylorism and Fordism) appears in gap growing, out of step with the new standards of the society. Henceforth markets require diversified and reliable (even individualized!) products. That implies flexibility, reactivity, innovation. These constraints require the implication, the motivation, the versatility, the initiative and the ability to react from the employees, to the detriment of strict submission and obedience. A new logic of production (adaptation of the productive system to the requirements of the market) was required: Toyotism appeared. Toyota Motors Corporation is today the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world. Toyotas success is due to two mains techniques created by Taiichi OHNO (1912-1990), a former president of Toyota in order to compete with the American car industry (Ford particularly). He invented the TPS: Toyota Production System, also named Toyotism and the JIT: just in time. This model was implemented by Toyota since 1962. Those working organization forms were then broadcasted to the USA and Europe. First we will define what is Toyotism, then we will study the evolution of the Toyotism forms and finally, we will see how Toyotism lead to Toyotas management today. About Toyotism Major principles Toyotism has two major principles: the just in time system and the autonomation system. The just in time system which means production in just in time conditions contributes to eliminate inventory. Indeed, stocks are very expensive for the company because it is necessary to conserve goods in perfect shape in huge buildings. Indeed, some goods require a special preservation system which can also be very costly. You also need to pay for storage building. Moreover, the produced goods have generated costs (especially in a country like Japan were space is limited), that are not compensated by sales. More precisely, inventory reduction relies on the Kanban method that consists in producing when demand manifests itself. We start from the command sent to the company to go back upstream to the fabrication level. Thus, it is the final consumer that launches production. Production is then said to be in tight management or in tense flows, contrary to Fordism. Indeed, thanks to just in time (the approach of continuous and forced problem solving via a focus on rapid throughput and reduced inventory), products or raw materials necessary to production arrive when and where they are needed. No more waste and no more delays, so it reduces costs! Thus, the JIT production helps reducing cost by eliminating waste, removing variability and improving throughput. Autonomation (= autonomy + automation) or auto-activation is the second Toyotism principle. The kaizen perfectly describes the principle of continuous improvement of the system. The kaizen is the principle of empowerment of the teams to define standard durations of production and to divide up the diverse manufacturing operations of a product, in order to work more effectively and faster. Empowerment is based on the despecialisation and on the flexibility of the workers. For instance, simple and cheap stop devices are equipped on machines, which allow the supervision of several machines by the same operator. In case of a breakdown or a defect, the worker stops the assembly chain and tries to solve the problem himself. Thus, the employee has to be versatile and qualified enough. Machines are more automated and workers are more autonomous! They improve the human aspect of autonomation. A new working organization form Through those two innovations: the just in time system and the autonomation system, Toyotism aims at obtaining the 5 zeros, also qualified as Lean Production in USA. The Toyotism method consists in reducing production costs, avoid overproduction, reduce delays and produce the best quality possible. So the five conditions are: 0 delay (Just in time production. This method consists in waiting for the commands before producing but they need to be very reactive.) 0 stock (No overproduction so no inventory cost.) 0 paper (No intern paperwork and hierarchy weakening.) 0 default (No good has to be faulty, so as to avoid reparation costs and to satisfy the client) 0 weakening (Thanks to a regular and rigorous maintenance, machines have no defect.) Any activity or decision that does not add value in the customers mind  is considered a waste. Indeed, it is the customer who defines the value of the product. Waste reduction is an effective way to increase profitability. Therefore, Taiichi Onho identified seven categories of wastes: Overproduction (as seen above, overproduction requires inventory  which is a waste of money) Waiting (idle time, storage and waiting are wastes: indeed, if an employee has to queue for his material to start working, you pay him at doing nothing but waiting! Also if a good is neither being transported nor being processed, it is waiting and a good kept waiting is a good that is not being sold, so its a good that does not generate revenue.) Transportation (every time you move a product, you take the risk that it can be damaged or lost or delayed. Moreover, transportation is expensive and it is a real cost that does not add a special value to the product.) Inventory (inventory represents an outlay because your raw materials, work-in-progress (WIP), or finished goods are not producing any income or added value.) Motion (unnecessary movements of equipment or people) Defective products (new extra costs are incurred when your products are faulty: you have to face returns, warranty claims.Sometimes you are also obliged to change all the components or to reschedule the whole production! Defects are a waste of time and money.) Overprocessing (doing work that adds no value in the eye of the customer, or using very precise, complex and expensive manufacturing machines when they are not necessary, is a waste.) To sum up, Toyotism principles are the continuous improvement of the processes (kaizen) by the engineers of production and by the operators themselves, and a production running downstream. Indeed, the buyers orders are given to the production center then executed. It authorizes a lot of flexibility and eliminates stocks; the production that is made in tense flows. Toyotism combines the principles of versatility and autonomy of the operators to improve the productive efficiency. Toyotism seems to reconcile productivity and efficiency, and considering the human factor, to propose richer and more developed tasks. But all these aspects require to produce quickly very diverse cars of excellent quality. Thus, it is important to determine a work organization that can reconcile speed, flexibility and quality. Indeed, despite of its evident successes, Toyotism is today disputed by the workers themselves. It seems that productivity gains in the Japanese factories were obtained by a stress management, it is to say by a tension, a permanent pressure from executives and engineers on the workers. Finally, the employees implication and motivation is obtained by stress. Evolution of Toyotism Toyotism dissent Inquiries on the working conditions have highlighted that the application of the Toyotism, far from leading to self-fulfillment of the workforce, was, on the contrary, translated into work intensification. Indeed, the work is often less repetitive than in the past and certain painful physical tasks were able to be mechanized, but other constraints have appeared. The production running downstream means that the production has to react to the requests of the clients. In a company such as Toyota, these requests are obviously indirect: they express themselves through the variety of the production in answer to the demand of the distributor. As an example, Toyota factories can build eight different models on the same production line and the company proposes 60 different models in Japan, without counting the specific versions in the production units outside Japan. The subcontracted parts, such as seats are ordered to the supplier once the car has entered the production line, and are delivered in a few hours. So the deadline constraint is intensified by the production in tense flows. Previously, the operators negotiated their rhythm or their working time with the Direction. In the new organization, it ensues from interactions with the clientele. A commercial constraint is added to the industrial constraint. The impact of the work organization is increased by the use of information and communication techniques which deepen the commercial constraint. For example, the devices of traceability allow the customer to know at any time at what stage is his order is, and who deals with it! More and more employees have standards and deadlines to meet, in order to answer quickly to the demand requirements. Besides the extension of the work under cadence, we observe an increase of the repetitive work. The versatility consists, for an operator, to perform several successive elementary operations of a manufacturing line. So the versatility remains confined in elementary tasks: the worker must be able to adapt himself to the new simple and repetitive tasks imposed to him. It corresponds more to a flexibilisation of the tasks than to an enrichment. The polyactivity doesnt imply an important increase of the qualification of the operator: the autonomy is to be put into perspective. Furthermore, the part of the individual decision-making in the daily activities of the operator remains very limited. All these arguments can explain why the workforce quickly contested Toyotism: improving this new production logic was imperative. New forms of Toyotism In order to answer and react to the growing dispute and to be more productive, Toyota developed and improved new working organization forms. These innovations are implemented differently depending on the production site. Quality circles Quality circles are meetings held outside working hours and on a voluntary basis, to solve certain problems and perfect the production process. Its a workgroup consisting of operators and executives, established around the kaizen activities, which covers questions of quality, maintenance, safety, cost price. Besides, it allows to defuse conflicts, which are sources of losses for the company. By favoring the communication between the employees, through regular meetings, the mobilization and the motivation of the employees are increased, and the quality of products improves. The post rotation It consists of a workforce rotation on the various posts of the same assembly chain, to break the dullness of the work. However, the rotation did not really become widespread, probably because not so much needed by the company. The task extension It consists in grouping together various tasks for the same workstation. The task extension contributes to limiting the horizontal division of the work. The task enrichment It consists in improving the workers motivation by augmenting the interest of their work, by adding for example tasks considered more developing such as the control, the maintenance The tasks enrichment contributes to limiting the vertical division of the work. The participative management It consists in associating the employees to the process of decision regarding the organization of the daily work, the evolution of the results The management by objectives The superiors assign objectives to their subordinates, without defining precise modalities, and they will be evaluated on the difference between the objectives and the obtained results. The semiautonomous teamwork It consists in constituting a group of workers whose members are in charge of defining by themselves the working modalities allowing them to reach the company objectives. This mode of organization relies on the auto-organization and the self-regulation of the group, because the group is collectively responsible for the production. During the 70s, Toyotism was seen as the key to assert in competition. Indeed, the decline of costs, the productivity and quality improvements were more organizational innovations than technological innovations. But the functioning conditions of Toyotas productive organization cannot be pushed farther, in particular as regards the tension on the flows of supply and on the working strength: the intensity of the work cannot be any more increased! Management in Toyota today Management development and learning organizations Since the 80s, the set up system meets certain limits (seen above) and, confronted with new elements such as the decline of the dollar and the increase of the yen, as well as the sourness of the international competition, Toyota had to opt for new strategies. Thus, Toyota adopted an offensive strategy but also a defensive strategy. The defensive strategy consists in favoring a policy of internationalization of the production. Major principles are that products, production centers and management must be adapted to the working local conditions. Furthermore, the local profits must be reinvested locally. Nowadays, Toyota really focuses on understanding the consumer needs and his wants. As an example, today, most of Toyotas plants are outside Japan. They implanted their manufactures where the demand was, in order to better to satisfy it and to reduce transportation costs. Moreover, transportation does not add any value that the customer is eager to pay for. Instead, the customer is willing to pay the product less, whereas, because of transportation, the price increases. This is a concrete example of Toyotas new management. Toyota can easily satisfy the demand because Toyota is where the demand is. The offensive strategy consists in looking for a diversification in production. As an example, a branch of Toyota dashed into Research Development and into electronic production (integrated circuits). In the book Toyota Way written by Jeffrey Liker, 14 management principles are identified. According to the author, those principles make Toyota the worlds greatest manufacturer. Become a Learning Organization is one of these principles. Its possible to summarize Toyotas learning organization in three key elements:   Identify root causes and develop countermeasures. By asking the question why as many times as possible, Toyota determines the root cause of a problem. Use Hansei: responsibility, self-reflection, and organizational learning. Hansei is a concept that Toyota uses as a practical improvement tool like Kaizen: improvements are fed back into the organization and then disseminated. Utilize policy deployment (Hoshin Kanri) This method consists in fixing strategic goals, measuring todays success and planning the future: Toyota wants measurable and concrete objectives. Toyota has well understood that the learning by the practice (learning by doing) allowed every car to be more effectively produced than the previous one. The learning by the practice is the increase of the knowledge bound to the exercise of the productive activity. The continual evolution of the organization is justified for any complex process because the problems and the ideal solutions do not appear immediately at the stage of the conception of the process of production; it is also the consequence of the adaptation to the market. Toyotas culture: the Toyota way The Toyota Way describes the promoted values that comprises Toyotas culture and guides the daily decision making of its employees. It rests on 2 fundamental pillars: Challenge: seeing problems as challenges will help improving the global performance. Kaizen: continuous improvement which is embedded in the belief that employees should come to work each day with the goal of becoming better than the day before. Genchi Genbutsu: going to the source to find the factors that can help make the best decisions, build consensus and achieve goals. As an example, a solution is easily built around arguments based on facts rather than relying on hearsays. Respect: expressing different opinions in ways that respect others, emphasizing everyone for their skills and knowledge, trying to understand and listen to each other, building mutual trust Teamwork: sharing knowledge, maximizing individual and team performance, putting the firms interest before individual interests. The goal of such an organization is to match people with tasks that inspire them and that best utilize their abilities. It is also to design tasks and strategies that can cope with environmental demands and opportunities. The firms culture should reinforce these efforts. One of the reasons Toyota has been so successful for so many years is the alignment among these aspects. Toyotas culture is very strong and it is a real strength for the company, the Toyota way will hopefully help sustain their success in the future: until today, no other company could have the same specific culture. Toyota tries to combine adaptation and quality within an organization leading to qualification. Conclusion Toyota was a formerly small company that outwitted bigger competitors to become the worlds largest automaker, thanks to the philosophy of continuous improvements. The expectation of this philosophy is that empowered employees will work with a committed management to build systems that respond to customers with ever-lower cost and higher quality. Their current success in not their final achievement, they are never satisfied and always want to improve their actions. Toyota wants to discover and improve better alternatives, rethink their accomplishments, investigate future possible successes: they commit to improve continuously!

The Semiotic Characteristics Of Religious Symbols

The Semiotic Characteristics Of Religious Symbols Abstract: symbols ,which are meaningful and imaginative, are widely used in western religion. Actually, religious symbols are not only signs, but also a picture which contains thousands of meanings. Semiotics gives us a channel to achieve our aims reading the thought of our ancestors. Key words: semiotics, religion, religious symbols, signs I.Introduction The origin of the religious symbols The brain, which is always interested in the environment, distinguishes us from ordinary animals. Humans always ask some questions about the world: who we are, why we live on this plant, where we go to after we dead, what the meaning of raining, flood, thunder, meteor is. Thousands of years ago, humans can not answer some of these questions scientifically. So it makes us to believe that there is a kind of powerful force controlled these things. Actually, to some extent humans create a belief system which can answer these questions by themselves. Humans derive an integrated symbol and sign system, which is used to represent our thought about the universe, from the belief system. Also the religious symbols belong to it. Actually, the origin religious symbols are totem. Lu Deping has give a very comprehensive definition in his paper Semiotic Interpretation of the Primitive Totems Totem is the marker for the primitive people to identify their social affiliation consciously. It also acts as the means for the primitive groups to define their existence from the empirical continuum or the environment mingled with them.(Lu Deping , 2004) Most of the totems are abstracted from the natural such as animals , plants, mountains and so on. The Chinese dragon, which is associated by more than ten kinds of animals, is a typical totem in Chinese history. Totems rate high in mythical discourses, religious rites, and some primitive paintings . Totems are treated as symbols which can connect humans with the mysterious power which is controlling the world. With the development of human society, thousands of years latter, the threaten and worship for the mysterious power promote us to trust that there are God or Buddha in the world. Then everything that we can not understand looks logical. God or Buddha can save us from disease, disaster and anything bad. Then totems change with the passing time. They become much simple and easy to be drawn or identification such as (Christian Cross), (Star of David), (Lotus Flower), ( Taiji). B. Difference between symbol and sign In our daily life, we always try our best to distinguish symbols and signs apart. However, it is hard to do this sometimes. In linguistics, semiotics and psychology, symbol and sign are equal with each other at most times. Symbol needs sign to allege itself, and also sign means the symbolic sign. In Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English (Sixth edition), it give us a definition of sign and symbol: sign is a mark which used to represent something, especially in mathematics. Also it means an event, an action, a fact that shows that something exists, is happening or may happen in the future .(A S Hornby. P1626).Symbol is defined as a sign, number, letter, etc. that has a fixed meaning especially in science mathematics and music.( A S Hornby.P1791) As you see in dictionary, symbol and sign almost have the same meaning. They can also mean something that indicates that something exists or may happen, but a sign is usually something that you may find or see, while symbol is usually insinuate. It is much more meaningful. For example, sign always gives us something simple and direct. it means enter forbidden. it means no turning left. On the other side, symbol is image or the underlying meaning behind the sign. For example , fire is the symbol of the sun and the male power, the spring flowers represent a new birth and new life. When we observe the world with symbol, maybe you feel that life become much more colorful and meaningful. In academic field, the argumentations about sign and symbol have never stopped . In all of which Saussure and Pierce are the representative of symbol in semiotics. Saussure position of symbol and sign is not definite. But in his Course in General Linguistics, he think that the word symbol is sometimes used to designate the linguistic sign, or more exactly the part of the linguistic sign which we are calling the signal.(Ferdinand de Saussure, 1986,p.68). But Pierce point out that everything is a sign. It defines three roles encompassing (1) the sign, (2) the signs subject matter, called its object, and (3) the signs meaning or ramification as formed into a kind of effect called its interpreting .(Charles Sanders Peirce by wikipedia). Peirce think that symbol belongs to sign . We can conveniently explain the semiotic phenomenon. For example, the shop signboard is a sign, The words or symbol is sign. The shop which represents is the object. At last ,the information of the words or symb ol is the interpreting. II.The relationship between religion and religion symbols No matter which kind of religion it is, in its early iterations, religion is expression by symbols. Before Gandhara time, there is no Buddhist Statue in Buddhism. People use the symbols such as the big banyan tree, pedestal, dharma-cakra and footmark and so on to represent some meanings. The same with Buddhism, the early Christianity also use a symbolistic way to extend its doctrines. For example, the Christian Cross represent Christ, The palm tree stands for a martyr. Fish is the symbol of Jesus. Peacock means this eternal soul within the body of every living entity is immortal; Interestingly most of the religions choose plants, animals, or abstract symbols to symbolize its doctrines. Religious symbols are also changed with the development of religion. Until now, the cross is often shown in different shapes and sizes, in many different styles. It may be used in personal jewelry, or used on top of church buildings. A. The importance of religion in western peoples eyes As we know, religions have a wide-ranging influence on social life in western country. They are concerns about law, politics, art, economy and science. It is a long time that law and religions have the same element: observances, traditions, authority and generality. Before the Middle Ages, or in the Middle Ages, in Rome the Church almost have control the country. Church has its own canon law. People are not only protected by the Natural Law, but also observe the canon law and be committed to the church, or they would be punished by the canon law. The canon law is formed by Bible, resolution of church meeting, Popes edict and Roman law. In the world of art, the religion have a far-reaching effect. One of the most famous painters, Da Vinci has painted some famous paint such as The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man, The Baptism of Christ and so on. Even though Da Vinci is regarded as a Christian. The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Perhaps you have known a best seller book named The Da Vinci Code . In the book , the writer has given as a new side to understand The Last Supper . He thinks that there is a big secret hidden in The Last Supper. It is about the Holy Grail which is an argument in Christianity. The writer also says Da Vinci incorporated in many of his Christian paintings hidden symbolism that was anything but Christian-tributes to his own beliefs and a subtle thumbing of his nose at the Church (Dan Brown,2003,p50) Although the viewpoint is not agree with most pursuers ,but I think Da Vince can not draw these works with any effects of religion. If you are a careful person or a politic enthusiastic, you may notice the inaugural speech of the USA. Almost all the presidents of American will say God bless you, God bless the United States of American . at the end of the speech. It is regarded as the most obvious example of the effect religion in politics. The incumbent president, Obama in his inaugural speech says We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. You can find that the disciples of religion are also the important source of votes. And the church also has a lot of social capital. Church can provide a lot of volunteers for community work. The church holds the non-governmental organization such as hospital, orphanage, and a homeless centre together. In fact, most of primary school in American are hold by church. Religion has a far-reaching influence in western peoples life. Ninety-five percent Americans are blamed he believes god. They may go to church every week and tell the god what they have done or what they want to do next week. Even more remarkable, Christian would pray before their meal in order to thank god for his mercy. When they face some problem or difficulties, they may beg god for power. Most Christians believe that they will go into heaven if they do something good., or they help god to punish evils. In western countries, there are also some festivals connected with religion. Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day are known by us. Christmas is the birthday of Jesus. It is the most important festival in western countries. The important use of the religious symbols during religious activities When we talk about religious symbols, we must understand what it is. In the front of my paper, I have given you the definition in the dictionary of symbol. But I think religious symbol have a little different with it. Religious symbols are a mark used as a token of something invisible. Religious symbols have a perpetual connection with the significance. They must respect a concept which is hard to deeply understand and hold in the round. As the understanding of religious symbols, Here, I want to point out three important use of them in religious activities. The first one is conveyance. In religious activities, religious symbols are treated as a paper. On the paper, the wish of us has been written . Colors have considered as a religious symbols. There are two groups of color in Christianity. The first group is red, white, green and blue. They are used to explain the hope of life, pure, peace and beautiful. The black, brown, grey and yellow are stand for danger, death and unclean. So you may find that in western countrys celebration of a marriage, the bridal dress must be white, and the pastor should wear a white or red shawl to bless the new couple. But in the funeral, the pastor may wear a black shawl to make a memorial speech. The religious symbols have been used us a way to send some information to others. Actually, the cathedral is not only a place for prayer, but also a symbol of religion. People prayed to god to keep their family from harm or forgive their crimes. Here god show his mercy to all of us. Then the cathedral has been tr eat as a refuge of our soul. It convey the order of the god to us and point out the way forward. The second is connection. During the religious activities, we often see the Christian to make the sign of the cross over so as to sanctify or devotion. Exactly, they think it is a way to communicate with god. When they make the cross, the soul is connecting with god. They will get the message from the god. On the other side, the cross is considered as the symbol of god. It is the God incarnate. They pray before the cross in order to inspire from the god and clean their soul. The third is decoration. The Christian Cross is often used on the top of the church. Firstly, it symbolize it is a church and its awfulness. But the second is decoration. Actually, religious symbols are widely used in religious building and arts. Cross, Rose and four colors which I have introduce to you in the front of my paper, are three kinds of common elements in Christian building. When you walk into a church, you may observe the window carefully. There are a lot of pictures on the window. Most of these pictures describe a story between pope and his knights. You can easily find that cross is used on the shield of knight and his cloth. Of course, most of pictures can not get through with color. Christianity likes to use white, blue, green and golden to decorate these pictures. There is one important plant in Christianity. The vines is to Christianity what lotus is to Buddhism. In Bible, there are a lot of story mentioned the vines For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. (Matthew, 20:1) So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. (Matthew, 20:8) And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?(Judges 9:13) There are some other place mentioned vines such as Isaiah 5: 1-7, Mark 12:1, Luke 20:9 and so on. That is why vines can be use on the wall of churchs building and the martyrs tomb. III.The semiotic characteristics of religious symbols In the front of my paper, we have analysis the religious symbols through the cultural semiotics and general semiotics. Actually, Semiotic has been divide into linguistic semiotics, general semiotics, cultural semiotics. Religious symbols are various in forms and rich content. They are full of or characterized by semiotic meaning. A. The characteristics of semiotics We should analysis the status and influence of contemporary semiotics in two aspects: surface and substance. On the face of it, Semiotics has been not an independent subject. The achievements in scientific research are not noticeable and some of the achievements are lack of quality. Judging by substance, semiotics has been widely used in most of the humanities. More and more celebrated scholars be engaged in semiotics research. The phenomenon reflects the exuberant vitality of semiotics. In Li Youzheng book-Introduction to Theoretical Semiotics, the writer introduce the complex of Semiotics. Mostly ¼Ã…’my opinion is also based on this book.In Introduction to Theoretical Semiotics, the write definite the semiotics like this Semiotics is a subject which analyzes sign, semiosis or the function of sign. (Li Youzheng, 1996.p.2) and symbol is belong to its study. So as far as I am concerned, Semiotics has three marked characteristics. Firstly, Semiotics has a long history. Posner has divided it into six types: Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient and Middle Age, Middle Age western semiotics history, the modern western, the contemporary western, The concept of non-Western notation history. (Historical and Theory, a Journal Chinese, 1988.P116-117). The history of semiotics is tracked back to 3000 B.C. But until the 60th age, the semiotics is treat as an independent discipline, which emerges in French, American and Soviet. Secondly ¼Ã…’Semiotics is a complicated and broad science. Li Youzheng also divides the semiotics into three parts: linguistic semiotics, general semiotics and cultural semiotics. Linguistic semiotics has used linguistic, phonemics, semantics, stylistics and rhetoric. Linguistic semiotics must use coordination of several subjects to explore the meaning of symbols or signs. Compared with linguistic semiotics, perhaps general semiotics is a little simpler. But it also involves various theories such as Morrices conception of theory of sign system, Ecos typology of signs, Peirces Typology of signs, Non-Strcit code systems. These theories are all important and never be neglected in the semiotic history. Lastly ¼Ã…’the cross-cultural research is extremely difficulty. The most obvious point is the understanding of a symbol à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  In most influenced by Buddhism, people think that à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  respects constancy and auspicious indication. But in World War 2. Hitler chooses it to be the sign of Nazi. Hitler consider the Aryans is the best race all around the world. à ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  is the symbol of Aryans. Another is color. In western country, rose is the symbol of love, and red symbolize the passion, but sometimes it refers to scarlet woman. As I know, red always refers to pure love and happy in China and India. Chinese bride always wears a red dress. So we can easily find that different cultural take different understanding of symbols and sign. When we are going to analysis the meaning of a symbol or sign across culture, it may take a big problem to us. The characteristics of religious symbols The same as the semiotics, the religious symbols have a long history. At the beginning of my paper, I have introduced the original religious symbol Totem to you. Religious symbols almost have the same history of humans civilization. With the development of religion and civilization, religious symbols also have different forms. is the symbol of Islam named star and crescent. It standard bright and perfect. is a special symbol. There are many ideas about the symbolic meaning of the Star of David. Some Kabbalists think that the six points represented Gods absolute rule over the universe in all six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. They also believed that the triangles represented humanitys dual nature good and evil and that the star could be used as protection against evil spirits. The structure of the star, with two overlapping triangles, has also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents us here on earth. Yet others have noticed that there are twelve sides on the triangle, perhaps representing the Twelve Tribes. Until now, people still have an absolute meaning of the Star of David . A lot of religious symbols have an obscure meaning. You can not only understand it by its structure or shape. For example, lamb in Christianity means the resurrection of Christ from the death. Can you say it means meekness and prettiness? Absolutely not! The connection of semiotics and religious symbols After the analysis of characteristics of semiotics and religious symbols, we can find that religious symbols have a much longer history than semiotics. But symbols as the research subject, we have analysis by the systematization of semiotics. Semiotics can explain the meaning of symbols by different aspects and draw a correct conclusion. Although symbols are a complex and changeable system, semiotics always gives us an rational sublimation. Symbol also accelerates the progress of semiotics. It is hard for me to find a suitable metaphor to describe the relationship between them. But I think if symbols is water, the semiotics must be fish. The fish can not live without water. Without fish the water will never be vibrant. IV.Conclusion Haviland said Religion can be seen as an organized series of supernatural powers belief or ceremonies.(William A. Haviland, 2005,p.392).Religious symbols are a part of our belief. Semiotics is a tool of investigation. It may be not consummate and comprehensive, but it has afforded us a direction to analysis our belief system. Also that is the point we need to work for. Modern semiotics is a new branch of knowledge. It has been neglect for a long time. Its popularity must take a brain-storm in research of symbols.