Significance of the Porch in Hurston’s Novels, Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching G :: Their Eyes Watching God Seraph Suwanee

Significance of the Porch in Hurston’s Novels, Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God â€Å"She took to inviting other women friends to drop in and they all expressed envy of her porch. It built Avray up and made her feel more inside of things. It was a kind of throne room, and out there, Avray felt that she could measure arms and cope. Just looking around gave her courage. Out there, Avray had the courage to visit the graveyard of years and dig up dates and examine them cheerfully.† (Seraph on the Suwanee 234) â€Å"It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. The became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.† (Their Eyes Were Watching God 1) In Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God, the physical structure of the porch serves to both literally and figuratively elevate its sitters, and becomes an arena for exploring the theme of inside versus outside spaces. Avray’s porch in Seraph on the Suwanee is associated with a higher standard of living and is the envy of her visitors. At first, Avray is unsure about this new, â€Å"outside show of ownership.† (234) Avray is uncertain about her right to belong to this class of folk and as a result feels inner turmoil about whether or not she deserves such privilege. Her initial conflift with the porch mimics her desire to â€Å"[brace] herself to glory in her folks† despite her disgust with their old junk, cracked dishes, and shabby house. Over time, Avray found it easier to rejoice in the comforts of her new life. As she reclined further back into the chaise lounges and cushions of her class, her porch became a place of pride and courage. The use of the metaphor that describes the porch as a throne (and hence the porch-sitters as royalty) reinforces the idea of an elevated social status and its implied protection. Similar to Avray’s porch, Phoeby’s porch in Their Eyes Were Watching God is a social place. Those who sit out on the porch feel free reign to pass judgment on those who walk by.

Fitting of Engel Curve

Fitting of Engel Curve: Rural Maharashtra Managerial Economics I: Section D Group 6 Completed Under the Guidance of Prof. Kaushik Bhattacharya September 2011 Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow Submitted on September 5th, 2012 ? Executive Summary This study aims to estimate and analyze the relationship between the monthly per capita expenditure on food and the monthly per capita total expenditure for households in rural Maharashtra. This relation is estimated by using the Engel Curve Model which proves that as the income levels rise the percentage expenditure on food items decreases.The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) conducted an all-India survey of households and unorganised service enterprises in the 63rd round of NSS during July 2006-June 2007. Surveys on consumer expenditure are being conducted once in every five years on a large sample of households from the 27th round (October 1972 – September 1973). For this project Data from the 63rd Round of the Nation al Sample Survey was used as a sample for analysis. The regression analysis was carried out using Linear, Working-Lesser and Double Log Models.The income elasticity was calculated in each case which confirmed the fact that food is a necessity good. Qualitative factors such as seasonality, occupation and social group were also incorporated into the regression analysis using dummy variables. A multivariate regression analysis revealed the prominence of occupation as a relatively more significant factor compared to the others factors. The analysis is subject to certain limitations due to the assumptions made with the most primary assumption being that the total expenditure on all goods is representative of the income of the individual.Other limitations arising out of the content of the survey have also been listed. Contents Executive Summary2 Introduction4 Understanding the Data6 Data Collection6 Data processing6 Function Formulation6 Regression Analysis7 ? Introduction The nature of a particular good can be determined by an important parameter known as Income elasticity which helps us classifying the good as either inferior, a necessity or luxury. This parameter allows us to predict what goods will be determined by a society during various stages of development and provide insights into the behaviour of various sections of society to that good.In today’s economic scenario Income elasticity of food in particular is of major significance. From a production perspective, it is important to determine the relationship between the food expenditure and income. This will help in predicting the demand in a growing economy and thus reduce the demand-supply gap. Form a policy perspective, the income elasticity becomes all the more important as government aims to have an inclusive development. Knowing the income elasticity with respect to food expenditure will help in framing policies which fulfil their aim of better economy.Income elasticity can be estimated empirica lly through Demand curves and Engel Curves. Engel curves describe how household expenditure on particular goods or services depends on household income. The name comes from the German statistician Ernst Engel (1821–1896) who was the first one to investigate this relationship systematically in an article published about 150 years ago. The best-known single result from the article is â€Å"Engel’s law,† which states that the poorer a family is, the larger the budget share it spends on nourishment.Engel curves may also depend on demographic variables and other consumer characteristics. Empirical Engel curves are close to linear for some goods, and highly nonlinear for others. Engel curves are used for equivalence scale calculations and related welfare comparisons, and determine properties of demand systems such as agreeability and rank. Engel curves for normal goods Engel curves for inferior goods The relationship between the food consumption and income on the Enge l Curve has been analysed through various models, each with its own benefits.The three models used in this study are: 1. Linear Regression Model: It assumes a linear relationship between the two variables. It uses the equation: Y = A0 + A1X. The elasticity is calculated through this model using the equation ? = ( X/Y) dy/dx = (X/Y) A1 2. Working-Lesser Model: This model uses the equation Wi=A0+AilnX. Working-Lesser Model is the first empirical model applied in the study of consumption analysis In the Working-Leser model, each share of the food item is simply a linear function of the log of prices and of the total expenditure on all the food items under consideration.Here i represents each food items , wi is the expenditure share of food i among the n food items and x is the total expenditure of all food items included in the model. This model can be estimated for each food item by the ordinary. 3. Double Log Model: This model assumes linear relationship between logarithms of the dep endent and independent variable. The greatest benefit of this relationship is that the coefficients of the income variable directly represent the income elasticity. Its equation is lnY = A0 + A1 lnX.The elasticity is directly available as the co-efficient of the independent variable i. e. ?= A1. Understanding the Data Data Collection The data collected by The National Sample Survey (NSS), during its 63th round of data collection during July 1st 2005 to 30th June 2006, has been used in this project. The survey contained data regarding the expenditure of a on various items such as food, clothing, medical, alcohol etc. It also contains demographic information about each family pertaining to the religion, caste, occupation, age, sex etc. The survey is divided into two samples for data validation.We first analyzed both the samples individually and then combined them to verify the validity of the results obtained. Data processing We calculated the per capita total expenditure on food for 1702 families from Rural Maharashtra. Instead of income, which wasn’t available, we calculated and used the monthly per capita total expenditure for each family to find the Engel Curve. The consumption of food of a family can depend on numerous variables. The variables that we included in our analysis are the social group or caste, occupation and seasonality. The factors which were excluded are__________________________.Rural Maharashtra is fairly homogenous and hence the region or district of the respondent wasn’t considered as a variable. Function Formulation We did a multivariate regression where the monthly per capita expenditure was the independent variable (i. e. X) while the per capita food expenditure was the dependent variable (i. e. Y). The factors of seasonality, caste and occupation were taken as dummy variables as they have only a qualitative and not a quantitative effect. ValuesDummy Variables SeasonalityJul-Sep, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun CasteSC/ST, OBC, Others Occupation Self-Employed, Salary/Wage Earning,Casual Labor, Others Monthly per capita food expenditure = f (monthly per capita total expenditure, dummy variables) This functional form was used to model the various regression models namely linear regression, double log regression and the working-lesser form. Weighted least square method was used to factor in the weights assigned to each household. Regression analysis was carried out for using the SPSS tool which was also used for extracting data from the flat file. A scatter plot of food versus total expenditure was also plotted to prove the Engel’s law. Regression Analysis

Marketing Umpqua Bank

For those and women in business like attire. They don't expect people to be sitting around drinking coffee and chatting. This may cause them to feel uncomfortable and not want to do business with the bank. For young people this would be a very attractive environment. They are not used to the days of old; they may like the informal setting and bring in their friends. This area that I have discussed would be part of the subculture too. Young people generally do not like regimen, rules and regulations, and while these remain intact at Umps, they are semi-hidden in this informal appealing environment.Social class would also be a major influence on who â€Å"shops† at Umps. Although in an informal setting that makes people feel welcome, some customers may feel that they are out of their own class and again feel uncomfortable. Another issue that I see, is that I did not see in the video reference to doing business with ethnic groups such as Hispanics. On the website I did not see a link that would take you to a Spanish page. I was not sure when I viewed the videos on the Umps Bank website on what does local look like that I understood the cartoonist message.Bank like you live: the way we see it Premise was better understood as â€Å"We've never thought of ourselves as being simply a bank. We're really more like knowledgeable neighbors, the kind you invite over for a cup of coffee, seek advice from and chat over the fence. And we're here to help you bank like you live† (Umps. Com). As a consumer of Umps Bank the need recognition is an important factor. It may be as simple as having somewhere to go when you are hungry and tired. Umps Bank offers its guests free coffee and a place to relax and distress.People tell stories about their experience and having a good experience where you bank is a good way to get you coming back. Umps knows that you will likely tell others, and getting referrals from this personal source of information is what that are hoping f or. There are banks and there are banks, and Umps is certainly very unique in this regard. I do not know of any other bank that is emulating Umps, so seeking an alternative may be quite difficult. The Umps Bank website is full of information for the consumer.Whether or not the customer makes a decision to â€Å"purchase† or do business with the bank entirely depends on their experience. â€Å"Generally, the consumers purchase 181). Other peoples experience (such as friends) may influence the purchasing session. If they have had a good experience of the bank the chances are that they will be able to make a decision based on that. After the purchase we have to look at the relationship that develops between the customer and the bank (Postprocessor Behavior Marketing an Introduction peg. 181).If good follow up is made by the bank to the customer, then generally the customer will be happy with his decision to â€Å"purchase†. However the opposite is also true. Lack of foll ow up or seemed unfriendliness may cause the customer to have second thoughts. This negative impact may give rise to complaints and potentially cause mage to the reputation of the bank. Service characteristics include intangibility, inseparability, variability and permissibility. Umps Bank sets itself aside from other banks by providing customers with a sense of quality, not something that can be generally perceived by looking, but rather something that can be felt.The focus of Umps is to have its employees trained in all aspects of the Job and to the same high standards, so that there is no real variability in their standards of service to the customer. The same is true regarding service inseparability. Due to the fact that the customer is present hen the banks services are provided the provider-customer interaction both affect the service outcome. (Marketing: An Introduction peg 250). There may be special offers available for only a limited time which means that when the time has gone the offer is no longer available.This is known as service permissibility. Just how perishable a product or service is depends on how successful it is in its first offering and Just how much demand there is for the product or service being offered. A service provider could either lengthen the shelf life of the product or service if it proves popular, or they may shorten its life if it doesn't draw many customers. The service profit chain comprises of five links. These are Internal service quality, Satisfied and productive service employees, Greater service value, Satisfied and loyal customers and Healthy service profits and growth. Marketing: An Introduction peg 251). The following is part extract and part my own words from Kettle 13th Edition â€Å"Umps Bank† Umps Bank provides very high standards of customer service, from when the customer enters to when they leave. They are always greeted with a smile and a warm welcome. If they are actually a customer then they will b e greeted by name. After the customer's transaction is complete they get a piece of Umps chocolate. Can sit and drink coffee and if they have their laptop. Use the available free wife.Umps bank wants you to stay. Every employee receives six weeks of off-site training about the banks culture and beliefs and about how the bank operates differently. Placing the employee with the customer rather than them sitting behind a desk makes the customer feel even more welcome. To enjoy what you do as an employee is more important than Just what you do. The design of the bank, even though it looks more like a hotel lobby than a bank, didn't actually cost them anymore Han if they had invested in a more traditional setting.

Can You Earn a Living as an Administrative Freelancer

Can You Earn a Living as an Administrative Freelancer Many people have discovered that working as a freelancer on the Internet or in an office provides more flexibility in employment and allows workers to pick and choose the jobs they want to do. Administrative freelancers find that they can also apply their office skills to earn a living similar to an in-house employee. Since most individuals working as administrators have talents in multiple areas, they can choose whether to concentrate on one area, such as bookkeeping, or work in several different areas.How to Start Out as an Administrative FreelancerYou can find work as an administrative freelancer by using your skills. Think about the skills you possess and make a list. Include what you enjoy doing the most and what you are best at doing. Do you enjoy customer service, support projects related to sales or management, accounting, scheduling or other facets of administrative work? Doing job searches in each area widens your potential work base and gives you the opportunity to pick an d choose the jobs you like the best.Finding WorkThe first thing a freelance worker needs to know is where to find jobs. The Internet offers multiple job sites to search for freelance work, advertised by different companies. There are also sites that offer multiple listings from different companies that you can search. TheJobNetwork searches multiple sites for you and sends you the listings as alerts so you dont have to do the job hunting yourself.Write a New ResumeA freelance administrative assistant can target jobs related to his or her skills and experience. However, the jobs you apply for may want someone capable of doing specific types of administrative work. Using a professional template to write your resume can give you a boost by using different formats, layouts and content to apply for particular types of jobs. For instance, if you are applying for a position as a worker who sets up meetings and keeps the daily office schedule, you can write up a resume geared toward that po sition. A job opening for office accounting work can require a different approach.What Information to Include in Your ResumeThe type of information and style you use in a resume depends on your preference. An individual who has been searching for a job for a period of time or who has employment gaps in the work history may not want to include dates in a resume. In addition, a worker with little experience might prefer to leave the dates of employment off. A functional resume of this type can highlight your skills and experience without exposing gaps in the work history.Making a Living as an Administrative FreelancerWhen deciding to take a job, keep in mind that as a freelancer you will be paying your own self-employment taxes and other expenses that might have been taken care of by your boss in a regular job. One way to decide how much you should charge for your services is to look in your area at the salaries offered for that type of job. Include a profit margin, money to pay taxes and health care and other expenses that you will be paying yourself. However, you need to keep in mind that if you are working from home and can set aside space for an office, you may have tax deductions from your self-employment that will lower your net income.Searching for jobs using TheJobNetwork platform makes it convenient to do. Put in your credentials and the type of job you are looking for and TheJobNetwork does the work. It searches multiple sites using your criteria and emails alerts to let you know a job has been located. TheJobNetwork ranks the job so you can tell how closely it meets your expectation.

The Etymology (and Punctuation) of Fathers Day

The Etymology (and Punctuation) of Fathers Day The Etymology (and Punctuation) of Father’s Day Happy Fathers Day! And what better way to celebrate than with a little etymology? A slap-up meal followed by a nap in the sunshine, you say? There’ll be time for that later! For now, let’s look at where the word â€Å"father† comes from and why we use an apostrophe in â€Å"Fathers Day.† The Etymology of Father Our modern word â€Å"father† comes from the Old English fà ¦der, which meant â€Å"he who begets a child.† This is close to several words for fathers in other languages, including Old Norse (fathir), German (Vater), Sanskrit (pitar), and Latin and Greek (both use pater). In fact, the similarities between these words suggest a common source. As such, most experts trace â€Å"father† to a Proto-Indo-European term. And while we cannot know what this was exactly, it may have been something like pÉ™ter-. Fatherhood is tough when your kids look down on you. Pa, Papa, Dad, and More So if â€Å"father† comes from pÉ™ter-, where does this term come from? It may have evolved from the basic noise â€Å"pa,† which we still see in words like â€Å"papa.† The words â€Å"dad† and â€Å"dada† have similar origins in â€Å"da,† and we see these simple sounds in words for fathers all over the world. The main theory for why we see this pattern so much is that â€Å"da,† â€Å"pa,† and â€Å"ta† are some of the first noises babies can make. The same is true of the â€Å"ma† from â€Å"mama,† which becomes â€Å"mom.† As such, when babies start making noises like â€Å"da† and â€Å"pa,† we assume they’re addressing their parents. And over time, this has led to words like â€Å"dad† and â€Å"pa† entering our everyday speech. Fathers Day vs. Fathers Day As a rule, you should always include an apostrophe in Fathers Day. This is the traditional way of writing it, but it also makes sense. After all, you usually focus on your own father on this day. Thus, the â€Å"Father† in Fathers Day is typically one person, even if that person is different for each of us. Writing â€Å"Fathers Day† or â€Å"Fathers Day,† on the other hand, would imply you’re celebrating fathers in general. And while that would be admirable, you’d need a lot of stamps to send a card to every father in the world. All in all, then, you’re probably better off focusing on your own dad for today.

Kant's theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Kant's theory - Essay Example Morality is based on this rule since it is a command that applies to every human being. He says that people should be treated as an end, and not as a means. A prohibited action should not be done even if the outcome of the action yields more happiness or satisfaction (Johnson). On the other hand, utilitarianism theories suggest that there is no rule that dictates what is good or bad. The state of affairs is what determines the action to be taken. They argue that an evaluation of the results of an action is more essential than the assessment of the action itself. This means that one is justified to do anything, whether morally rational or not, as far as the action generates more positive consequences than negative (Brown). In an effort to justify his claims for morality and Categorical Imperative, Kant put forward a critique against utilitarianism. He points out that utilitarianism ignores moral obligations and treats them as unnecessary. This can be described using an example. Giving false witness against a criminal would lead to his conviction by the law. If the criminal is jailed, this would mean a better life to the whole public and people will be happy. According to the consequentialists, such an action is justifiable and morally right. According to Kant, the act is morally wrong, even though it has been done to criminal. This shows that utilitarians render some of the moral duties irrelevant. The utilitarians act in a manner to maximize utility or happiness. This means that everybody is morally responsible for whatever they do and should hence act in a way that will increase happiness. According to Kant, this theory is so demanding. It will lead to people putting a lot of efforts just to achieve the end results, and this would mean sacrificing so much; to the extent of sacrificing own happiness in order to please the large number of people. This, in itself is devaluing the persons to whom it is supposed to be

Precautionary Principle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Precautionary Principle - Essay Example Such specific status of the precautionary principle makes it a very interesting and highly relevant field of analytical inquiry. The formal concept of 'precautionary principle' originated in Germany in the 1930s. Initially, this concept applied to socio-legal practices such as household management: German word 'Vorsorgeprinzip' translated into English as 'precaution principle' (O'Riordan & Cameron 1994, p. 10). By the 1970s the concept of 'Vorsorgeprinzip' developed into an essential principle of German environmental law and was used to justify the actions meant to address such problems as global warming, sea and air pollution, and others. At the centre of early conceptions of precautionary principle was the idea that society should take efforts to prevent environmental damage by careful forward planning, blocking the flow of human activities potentially hazardous for environment or "long term planning to avoid damage to the environment, early detection of dangers to health and the environment through comprehensive research, and acting in advance of conclusive scientific evidence of harm" (LaFranchi 2005, p. 681). Since the 1970s the precautionary principle has proliferated in international and domestic conventions, treaties, and political statements dealing with environmental issues in which the science is uncertain. Thus, the precautionary principle was introduced in 1984 at the First International Conference on Protection of the North Sea; it was also integrated into the Bergen declaration on sustainable development, the Maastricht Treaty on the European Union, the Barcelona Convention, and the Global Climate Change Convention. Sweden and Denmark were the first states after Germany to seriously implement the precautionary principle in their environmental and public health policy (Hanson 2003). Since the late 1980s, the precautionary principle in some or other form has become unalienable aspect of domestic statutes and policies in Australia too. Current Approaches and Definitions Despite relatively long history of use, no universally accepted definition of the precautionary principle has been proposed up to date. Perhaps the most widely quoted definition of the precautionary principle is the one formulated at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development: "In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation" (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992, Principle 15). Although this definition is used more commonly than others it is not universally accepted: there are many alternative definitions. The precautionary principle can also be defined as "... a willingness to take action in advance of