April Morning by Howard Fast Book Review Essay

The book April Morning by Howard Fast is a dramatic story of the bloody battle of Lexington set up with a one day structure from the view of a fifteen year old boy turning into a man. In the book we see the life of Adam Cooper changing from child to man in the matter of one day. Each chapter is a different time period of the day telling us what has happened and what the effects were on his life. Adam Cooper is a fifteen-year-old boy living in colonial Lexington, Massachusetts with his family. He feels demoralized by his father, Moses Cooper, but finds consolation from Granny Cooper, his paternal grandmother. When a meeting of the township Committee is called on the evening of April 18th, Adam wishes to attend but his father questions whether or not his son is a man and has earned the right to attend the meeting. Instead of attending the meeting, Adam visits his neighbor Ruth Simmons, a distant relative whom he loves whom he loves and sees himself marrying in the distant future. When his father returns home from the meeting, Adam eavesdrop as Moses tells his wife Sarah and Granny Cooper what happened, as the colonial communities prepare for a possible confrontation with the British army. During the late night early morning, a rider arrives in Lexington, waking up the community with news that the British army is on the march to Concord to take out supplies and ammunition that is being stored by colonists for a possible rebellion. Once the news of the night rider reaches the town the committeemen hold a muster for the militia, and Adam decides to sign the muster book and commit to fighting for the militia. His father is present when he is signing the muster and allows for it to happen. Moses Cooper no longer sees his son as a boy but as a determined man willing to fight for his family and community. Both Adam and his father prepared themselves for the battle and a total of seventy militia men wait for the arrival of the British army. Moses Cooper argues persuasively with the committeemen that the small number of men can’t stand up to the thousands of Redcoat troops they will be greeting alone, and so it’s decided that they will state their case but do no more; they decide to talk it out rather than to fight. However when the British finally reach Lexington, the officers are sneeringly dismissive of the colonists and tell them to leave the common and a mysterious shot is fired causing the British troops to begin firing on the colonists. The British massacred the small militia that stood in front of them, and Adam watched as his father and other men he had known his entire life be shot down. Adam hides in terror and cannot go home because of the British troops in town and it is unsafe. Adam is off to the woods to find the rest of the militia and he is almost discovered by British soldiers, but before they do so are called away to march towards Concord. Adam runs from the British and is shot at by redcoats, only to be caught in the grip of an older colonial man named Solomon Chandler, who helps Adam and provides him with some consolation and food. Adam joins Chandler on his journey to meet up with more members of colonial militias. Along the way, other colonists join the two, also ready to fight the British. Once at the pasture, Adam is greeted by Cousin Simmons and The Reverend, and is relieved that others from the Lexington militia had survived. Though the various town committees and militia have general instructions, there isn’t a single leader chosen to lead the battle. It was a confused time for the colonists fighting and finally Chandler guides them and instructs the men waiting at the pasture to split up into groups according to the firing range of their weapons. Adam and the other men in his group lay under the brush and fire at the redcoats, Adams gun does not reach a far distance so he does not shoot but watches instead; he see the burning of Lexington and the bloodshed of the redcoats. Through the mist of all of the battle Adam seems to fall asleep leaving everyone to believe that he is wounded and dead. When Adam wakes up he finds that the battle has moved to a distant location; he hears Cousin Simmons and The Reverend talking, meets them, and they all agree to go home to Lexington, or what is left of it. Once home Adam is greeted with relief and happiness by the surviving members of his family and others from the town. Adam is now treated like a fully-grown man when he was only recently considered a simple child to everyone. Adam makes peace with his father’s corpse, and then helps to carry the casket to the church. At the church Adam lights some extra candles so his father won’t have to rest in the dark of night. Cousin Simmons makes sure that Adam is aware this battle was only the start, and that he must consider his other responsibilities as the new head of household when deciding if he’ll continue to fight. When Adam returns home his mother is already asleep but Granny Cooper is awake and says she knows he will go back into battle eventually. He puts off the question for the time being, and is relieved to finally go to sleep and end this momentous day. The book is a great and quick read being that it is only 202 pages long. The text gets you involved and makes it feel as if you are there with Adam Cooper through the battles and his day. You feel as if you are standing next to Adam while on the field holding your riffle awaiting the battles. The pressures and emotions that the boy is going through as he transitions into an adult are heartfelt and many people can relate to Adam in some ways. The pressure of becoming a man over night and resuming all these responsibilities he never had to deal with before is a struggle that many can relate too. I personally would definitely recommend this book to my peers as well as to younger and older audiences. This book in my opinion was very good in the fact that it drew me in and kept me wanting to read more as the story went on. I don’t usually like reading and the fact that this book makes me want to keep reading and not stop till it was finished in my opinion makes this a good book. Fast is a great author and knows how to draw in an audience. Overall this was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to all.

Accounting-Pest Analysis-Political Essay

PEST Analysis Political The international IT and electronics industries have been characterized with intensive competition. Electronics and IT companies are constantly reviewing their achievements as well as the competitors’ in order to come up with better business strategies in an effort to best all other existing industry rivals. With the merger and acquisition strategy between HP and Compaq, members of the IT and electronics industry all over the world were threatened with the intensified effort that could result from the integration. Others were surprised because mergers and acquisition strategies may also result to negative implications on the part of the merging companies particularly when differences in the context of strategies, culture and goals fail to be fully integrated. Economic For HP and Compaq, the merger will increase the competitiveness of the previously independent companies in order to outdo the achievements of highly aggressive competitors. Both HP and Compaq sought means to add value to their existing products and services in order to increase the level of satisfaction among their clients and customers which were made possible through the merger. Once satisfaction levels among clients and customers are met, HP-Compaq expect better economic competitiveness within the international IT and electronics industry. Social The existing companies have been on guard when it comes to new market trends, new market opportunities, new customer bases, and technological infrastructure available for utilization. The merger between HP and Compaq will most likely result to better social activities as sponsored by the merged companies. Social and civic activities that were previously independently supported by HP and Compaq will be carried out in new perspective due mostly to the fact that the merger could expose unexpected factors that could make the new company unstable. Technological One of the primary reasons for the merger of HP and Compaq are the companies’ drive towards innovation and development in their products and services. The merger enabled relatively stronger research and development efforts for the  benefit of the new company since it is now characterized with more intensive concerns to come up with IT products and services that will cater to existing as well as new clients and customers thereby increasing the companies’ consumer bases. At present the electronics products of HP have been observed to undergone evolution with the support facilities which were made available by Compaq. Five Forces Analysis Suppliers The merger resulted to review and assessment of the existing suppliers of both HP and Compaq since the integration strategy implied the relatively fewer contracts between companies that provide similar services and raw materials to HP and Compaq. However, the integration likewise resulted to innovation in technology which necessitated new contracts with suppliers that can provide the new services and raw materials needed by HP-Compaq as a single corporation. Buyers With the promised added value on the products and services of the HP-Compaq merger, clients and customers of the company could expect new and better product lines and service offers as one of the primary objectives of the integration strategy. Buyer power will be intensified in this respect since the HP-Compaq will be offering new electronics products and services in order to set new market trends in the international IT and electronics industry. Competitors Competitors of HP and Compaq were somehow divided when it comes to the overall implications of the merger to the international IT and electronics industry. There are those who believe that the merger will result to the continuous weakening of both companies compared to their other stronger competitors in the international IT and electronics industries. While some believe otherwise due to the increased capability of HP and Compaq as a single operating company to build up and strengthen the market positions in the future years that will come. Substitutes Substitute products and services are increasing within the international IT and electronics industry which contributed to the integration decision  between HP and Compaq. With the conglomerate efforts between the new HP-Compaq corporation, it is expected the substitute products and services that competes with the provisions and offers of HP-Compaq will be lessen due to better production and manufacturing processes and technological infrastructures that cannot be afforded by small rival companies. New Entrants New entrant in the electronics and IT industries are confronted with relatively more difficult entry to the international market due primarily to highly aggressive competition between and among large corporations. It is common knowledge that business operations and facilities that characterize both the international IT and Electronics industries are very expensive and sophisticated. Such factors serve as strong barriers of entry to the industries where HP-Compaq belongs. SWOT Analysis Strengths The merger between HP and Compaq will increase the companies’ competitiveness when it comes to the possible new product lines and services that they will offer as a single company to the clients and customers. The integration strategy likewise resulted fewer market competition within the context of large international corporations that also belong to the international IT and electronics industry. Costs will be reduced as expenditures in business operations such as manufacturing and production are now handled and managed as a single proprietorship. The research and development arm of HP and Compaq can now work together as single company with similar technological and economic goals. Weaknesses The integration strategy between HP and Compaq, on the other hand, resulted to the need to lay off thousands of employees since their services will be no longer needed particularly those who have similar functions. Cultural integration within the workplace is also a serious issue since HP and Compaq are composed of different individuals and employees who are used to different working environments as well as career expectations. The Human resource department will be confronted with problems and issues regarding the new members of the company’s workforce. Technical operations will also  experience drawbacks from the changes that will transpire within the business processes of the company. Opportunities The issues and problems that may result from the merger in terms of workforce differences can be perceived as an avenue fro improvement when it comes to workplace culture of the company. The management should be able to device means to exhaust diverse knowledge and skills that characterize the members of the company’s labor force. Operations should likewise be restructured and reengineered in order to come up with better manufacturing and production processes that take into account efficiency and product quality. Threats The failure of the merger strategy is also possible if HP and Compaq are not able to resolve issues caused by differing workplace cultures. The vulnerability of the merged company is likewise exposed since it is only a couple of years since the merger contract was signed. There is still so much to do for the full implementation of the merger strategy and existing competitors will aggressively take the opportunity of the changes that transpired within the new HP-Compaq company. Both internal and external factors may contribute to the challenges and difficulties that HP-Compaq will experience in the future in the effort to succeed in the international market competition. Strengths Hewlett-Packard’s primary strength is its business position. The enterprise has a large amount of cash in hand about $10 billion. Hewlett-Packard is a global enterprise and especially after its merger with Compaq, the company became world’s biggest computer hardware and peripherals consort in the world and has ranked 20th in the Fortune 500 list. Hewlett Packard is operating in more than 170 countries including both developed as well as under-developed. Being a global dealer of computer hardware, it gives HP many advantages like dominating printers market, both laser and inkjet. The company attracts and focuses on consumers from even newly found markets all around the world, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations etc. The company compete both at local and international level. It has increased its competitiveness through policies and strategies that supports free-market economies. This is one of the reasons that make HP a leading  supplier in the growing IT markets. Hewlett Packard is said to have a complete product port folio. Weaknesses The company was in a long term debt for many years which kept it from investing in different growth opportunities. A major problem and complaint about the hardware supplies of HP is its touch pads. The touch pads of the notebooks of Hewlett Packard like the dv series, dm3, and Envy lines needs improvement. These touch pads are either finicky, unreliable, or are difficult to use because of friction. The mouse buttons on various HP supplied machines are said to be clumsy to use, too. Poor shelling life of HP products plagued some mainstream systems and net books. When it comes to Software that HP provides there are also some weaknesses. Some heavy software’s were paired with slow hardware like Touch Smart. The past acquisition of Peregrine made the HP’s portfolio even more diverse and complete but HP Open View’s lack of mainframe management capabilities created several problems. Another weakness was that it did not yet hit a CMDB product that includes discovery and mapping. This cause many customers to switch the brand. Opportunities The recent acquisition of EDS puts HP at a strong position in the computer market and makes it portfolio more impressive. Hewlett-Packard was able to generate large number of revenues and profits from its different deals and raised more than six billion which it can use to pay off its debts as well as invest in different research and development activities. If the products by the company are supplied at reasonable prices, there will be more chances of growth as the demand would increase. The company has formed Customer Solutions Group that helps in selling the complete IT solutions, products and services by HP. Threats Operating in global market means many competitors and therefore, the company has to be at the forefront of changing technologies as well as addressing the changing customer demands and needs. The global economic recession is also a threat for the company’s sales and profits. The prices have also fallen as the stock markets are at historic low positions. Many other competitors including Dell are entering the printer business whereas IBM has  become a market leader.

The Most Powerful Women Rulers of the Ancient World

Nelson Mendela A Promiment Hero Essay - 767 Words

â€Å"It always seems impossible until it’s done.† Nelson Mandela is a renowned African leader and is known for advocating love, peace and unity. Nelson was keen for transforming a model of racial separation and oppression into an open democracy. In his time, Nelson served a significant role as former president of South Africa during the Apartheid era. Before he became a hero, he underwent overwhelming obstacles. Nelson spent 27 years in prison not for a murder or act of genocide he committed, but for standing up to his political beliefs and for fighting for the rights of his own people. Nelson Mandela is unquestionably one of the most prominent heroes to millions of people around the world and in particularly the black people of South Africa.†¦show more content†¦Nelson Mandela was an activist. Because of his determination and adherence to banning racial injustice and oppression, he was imprisoned to 27 years in jail. â€Å"No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.† Mandela was arrested with treason charges and was acquitted. With the banning of the ANC Mandela formed the military wing of the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which went underground after the ANC was banned in 1960. Nelson Mandela wanted to do whatever was possible to seek freedom for his people despite the unfortunate things that happened. Unfortunately, in the midst of his journey with the ANC and MK, his members were arrested by constituting to violence to be able to stop their oppressor. Being that he was the courageous leader of the two groups, Nelson Mandela was also brought to stand trial with them; he was one of eight accused that were sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela didnt kill anyone, nor did he rob from anyone, or even destroy a country with violence; he only was determined to be the guiding bridge to freedom for his countrys oppression and was treated with. Mandela not only fought for the freedom and rights of blacks, but also believed that the whites were also legitimate citizens of South Africa. He believed that South Africa belonged to all South Africans no matter their race and beliefs. Mandela justified his acts of

Cox et al. in 2006 (Cox, 2006) concluded that the...

Cox et al. in 2006 (Cox, 2006) concluded that the perception of crowding in passenger rail is created from an â€Å"interplay of cognitive, social and environmental factors, whereas density refers to objective physical characteristics of the situation.† Similarly, there is enough literature available that establishes the fact that crowding is not just dependent on physical density but also on various physical antecedents, interpersonal factors, individual characteristics and modifiers (Sundstorm, 1978). Culture also plays a role in the perception or tolerance of crowding. Evans et al. (2000) found that residential crowding has a negative effect in terms of psychological distress across different cultures; Mexican Americans and Vietnamese†¦show more content†¦(6) Risk (safety and public health), which is strongly related to the perceived cleanliness of the carriage environment, especially the holds and the seat coverings. (7) Emotion—the perception and toleranc e of crowding is influenced by a passenger’s emotions prior to embarkation. (8) Behaviour of fellow passengers (e.g., loud phone conversations, the odor of unclean passengers, noisy school children, and a general lack of etiquette), which would also exaggerate crowding.† (Zheng Li, 2013). â€Å"With regard to the subjective dimension of crowding, two measures are used to capture it in the literature. (i) How crowded people feel, and (ii) how crowded people rate sitting Factor analysis suggested that two crowding measures are conceptually different, where the feel crowd item (i.e., how crowded people feel) is associated with perceived density, constraint, distraction, and stress, while the environmental rating item (i.e., how crowded people rate seating) is loaded only with perceived density. The former is more sensitive to changes in physical density than the latter† (Zheng Li, 2013). (Mahudin, 2012), developed a 3 scale instrument where rail users in UK were asked the following questions – (1) Evaluation of the psychosocial aspects of the crowded situation—â€Å"How crowded is the train that you are on today?† (2) Affective reactions to the crowded situation—â€Å"How do you feel inside the train that you commute on today?† (3) Evaluation of the ambient environment of the

Innovation and Creativity for Ocean Debris using Osborn-Parnes

Question: Discuss about the Innovation and Creativity for Ocean Debris using Osborn-Parnes Problem Solving Process. Answer: Idea Finding Several but economical and straightforward ideas for the eradication of ocean pollution can include the use of biodegradable kitchenware, strict government regulations on industry production, rules on total plastic ban (Chen, Chung-Ling, 2015) introduction of sewage treatment plants to minimize Biochemical Oxygen Demand of the final product prior to release into ocean (Spellman, 2013), and the spray of chemical dispersants on the oil on water surfaces to support safeguard marine life and the contaminated beaches (Kujawinski et al., 2011). Additionally, since marine pollution is primarily caused by human beings at their discretion, even so, the measure of pollution control can be achieved by creating proper awareness of its side effects (Mac et al., 2013; Barber et al., 2012) and plastic boycott. Furthermore, the sensitivity on environmental issues can be accomplished through creating blogs on preventive measures and negative impacts, use of social media, etc. The implementation of re newable energy sources such as wind and solar power to prevent oil discharges to the sea which kills the aquatic life, innovative use of ocean rubbish and consumer sensitization such as the making of art make sculptures of marine animals and place them in art museums and zoos where they can generate more revenue. Water pollution can also be controlled the use of high-pressure jets to reduce oil pollution (Doerffer, 2013). References Barber, Nicholas John, and Paul Francis Quinn. "Mitigating diffuse water pollution from agriculture using soft?engineered runoff attenuation features." Area 44, no. 4 (2012): 454-462. Chen, Chung-Ling. "Regulation and management of marine litter." In Marine anthropogenic litter, pp. 395-428. Springer International Publishing, 2015. Doerffer, Jerzy W.Oil spill response in the marine environment. Elsevier, 2013. Kujawinski, Elizabeth B., Melissa C. Kido Soule, David L. Valentine, Angela K. Boysen, Krista Longnecker, and Molly C. Redmond. "Fate of dispersants associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."Environmental science technology45, no. 4 (2011): 1298 1306. Mac Berthouex, Paul, and L. Brown. "Pollution Prevention and Control." (2013). Spellman, Frank R.Handbook of water and wastewater treatment plant operations. CRC Press, 2013.

The Effects of Quality Management on the Local and Global Competition

Quality management has greatly developed from a basic business and statistical model that is centered on numerical quality control into a concept that includes a wide variety of subjects and concerns within an organization. This kind of quality management is known as Total Quality Management (TQM) and it dominates the existing generation of quality concepts. Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Effects of Quality Management on the Local and Global Competition specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The core concepts that lie behind TQM and are considered to be crucial in its successful implementation are clearly instituted and include client value satisfaction, constant improvement and complete organizational involvement. Despite this paradigm being very appealing and being used in many organizations with significant positive effects, the practicability of this idea remains questionable especially with the mode rn actuality of global markets and manufacturing entities. Industrialization brought with much opening up of the economic and trade sectors of most countries in the world. The constant progressing in the industrial sector has also lead to merging of neighboring countries to form trade blocks that simplify the trading process. Due to this, the global market has largely opened up in recent years and most companies and organizations have aim to advance their products to a global level. As a result of the large consumer base that the global organizations are expected to serve, their quality management slightly differs with that of the local organizations which have a much smaller consumer base. In this paper, I will use a local electronic company, Sollatek Electronics Ltd to compare the total quality management against a global electronics company, Ametek, Inc. These two companies both deal with the manufacturing of electronic devices and electromechanical instruments such as voltage s witchers, voltage stabilizers and uninterruptible power supplies. Since every company’s goal is to have continuous growth as well as reduce its costs, it is essential to use total quality management so as to produce high quality products at a low cost and at the same time ensure that the customers are satisfied (Janakiraman Gopal 2006). The first point of comparison is the modes of production orientation which are seen to be similar in both companies. However a global company such as Ametek might end up extending their orientation to a point where dysfunctions begin to emerge. This is because it involves all operations and units in all the countries and thus automatically involves an apparently seem less set of potential designs. In addition, if Ametek came to UK and found that the local market is not competitive enough or is incompatible, it will be forced to link with other companies from overseas.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's s ee if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Market orientation is also be similar between global company Ametek and the local company Sollatek, but the diversity of customer necessities across various consumer markets means that customer satisfaction may be more difficult to achieve in the case of Ametek. This is especially so if the resources from the company are inadequate. This is because the perceptions clients in regard to value are likely to differ more widely than in the case of Sollatek whose consumer base is within one country. Cultural sensitivity is predominantly a great contributor to the opinion of customer value. The objective of a global company such as Ametek is to produce goods and services that are developed, manufactured and distributed under a global organization and yet they should be locally acceptable in every country that they have established a branch. Sollatek is rarely faced with such a challenging situation being in its h ome base and with a clear idea of what its clients expect from them. The strategic concepts behind TQM are easily upheld in a local organization such as Sollatek, but in the case of a global organization such as Ametek there is need to enlarge the range to include the concerns of various purposes across numerous countries such as state power, cultural divisions, geography, and tax and currency concerns (Young Ryun, 1995). A successful quality management system in an organization brings the management together in a commitment of producing goods that ensure customer satisfaction. This is very important both in the local and global market as the ranking and dependability of an organization rely on the perceptions of its consumers. Sollatek for example is ranked highly in the local market because of its steadfastness in producing reliable products. Managerial improvement ensures that protocols are being properly followed and the company targets are met on time. This leads to constant company improvement and hence attracts more clients and improves the position of the company in the perspective of its target consumers. In conclusion, for the success of any company, total quality management is required as it acts as sufficient proof of the commitment the company has towards providing quality goods and services to its client base.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Effects of Quality Management on the Local and Global Competition specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Reference List Janakiraman, B.J, Gopal, G. (2006). Total Quality Management Text and Cases. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Young, K. Ryun, C. (1995). Global quality management: A research focus. Decision Sciences, 15, 37-52. This research paper on The Effects of Quality Management on the Local and Global Competition was written and submitted by user Kailynn Reeves to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.