Saturday, October 26, 2019

Essay --

SOCI 201A: Professor Hyslop Francesca Surraco Social Theory Final Exam QUOTE #1: â€Å" †¦[the] worker is related to the product of his labor as to an alien object †¦ the more the worker exhausts himself, the more powerful the alien world of objects which he creates over and against himself becomes, the poorer he and his inner world become, the less there is that belongs to him as his own†. - Marx (Kamenka p. 134). In this quote, Karl Marx discusses his theory of alienation. This quote describes how capitalist the worker becomes alienated from the products they make, which further alienates them from aspects of their human nature mostly due to social stratification (bourgeoisie and proletarians). Their alienated work becomes a routine, mechanical activity directed by the bourgeoisie. The selected text in Kamenka this quote is from discusses the laws of political economy which examine how the â€Å"more wealth the worker produces the more his production increases in power and scope. The poorer he becomes the more commodities the worker produces the cheaper a commodity he becomes†. There was an example spoken in class, I believe of a blacksmith, which highlighted pre-capitalist working conditions. A blacksmith would own his own shop, set his own hours, determine his own working conditions, shape his own product, and have some say in how his product is bartered or sold. However, the prolet ariat under capitalism works in order to earn money to live. Despite the fact the worker puts their life into the product; they are alienated from their product that they no longer own. The capitalist has purchased the proletariat's labor-power in exchange for exclusive ownership over the proletariat's products and the profit made from the products. The pr... ...ident in this quote. In my personal opinion, I do believe Foucault’s argument, that knowledge and power are interconnected, is indeed valid mostly due to the fact that his argument is still relevant in terms of the power relations present in our society’s current institutions. This is exemplified by how the prison system is still run with heavy surveillance of prisoners even more so with the technological advances (Security cameras, computers for documentation and filing, etc†¦) that have occurred since the time period Foucault discusses. This quote ultimately reveals how members of society gain and maintain positions of power and further produce more knowledge by having knowledge, as exemplified by the penal system in our society discussed by Foucault. Work discussed: Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon, 1977. Print.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Bartolomé de Las Casas.. Immanuel Kant, “What Is Enlightenment?” Response Essay

This reading is an account of the discovery of the Americas by Spanish Christians. It tells of the devastation of the many islands around Hispaniola and the mainland of what is now North America for forty-nine years. On the Spaniards arrival the Natives did no harm to them and believed them to be descended from the heavens. That was until the Spanish began to murder and torment them due to their greed for what the Natives had. The choices of converting to the Christian religion or dying were the Native’s only options and anyone showing any sign of resistance were killed. An estimated 12 million Native American souls were lost during those forty-nine years due to the devastation. The motives behind the Spanish’s taking over of the land was supposed to be religious but the killings, violence and theft showed no sign of religion at all. It was all about greed and the Native American’s were treated extremely unfairly. The Spaniards greed kept them from treating the Natives as anything more than beasts. It also makes me wonder how they would have treated the Chinese or Asians, since that is what they were originally looking for on their voyage west. Reading: 18-5 Immanuel Kant, â€Å"What Is Enlightenment? † This reading is an essay by Immanuel Kant going into detail about the lack of enlightenment, explain what enlightenment is and what the public needs in order to be enlightened. Kant explains what dependency is and how it is hard for someone to work themselves out of it and that enlightenment is a person’s emergence from their own dependency. He says that the public can only achieve enlightenment slowly. Freedom is required for enlightenment according to Kant, the freedom to use our own reason on issues. I think that this essay has a powerful message. Kant explains how important it is for individuals to be independent and free in order for the public as a whole to be enlightened. It would seem that these things are common sense to people, because they really are simple and things that we here every day but I have never really thought of it the way Kant explains it. Kant’s words are sort of a guide to what people should strive for in life.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

To What Extent Does Restructuring Transform Corporate Market and Financial Performance?

To what extent does restructuring transform corporate market and financial performance? Discuss using an extended example. Restructuring is simply the reorganisation of a company’s structure to combat external or internal forces that hinder the maximisation of shareholder value. The term restructuring is quite broad an is an umbrella term for any action taken by a firm to maximise shareholders wealth (Wright et al) or a company’s reaction when it’s under pressure (Usui and Colignon, 1996). These actions â€Å"bracket mergers and acquisitions with much else† (Froud et al. , 2002, P. 2).This essay should explain in great detail how restructuring can transform corporate market and financial performance. It will focus on financial, portfolio and organisational restructuring and more specifically the following restructuring actions: mergers and acquisition and outsourcing and off-shoring. In addition Marks and Spencer and British Airways would be used interchan geably as extended examples to further illustrate stated points. Restructuring actions usually occur to revive failing businesses. By delayering or merging with another business firms are likely to become more competitive and more profitable.It is also not uncommon for restructuring to be used as a preventative measure to stay ahead of the game and react to competition. If done correctly and when necessary, it should result in economies of scale, decreased operational costs and easier communication. Financial restructuring refers to changes in a company’s financial structure. It involves managing debts, stocks and shareholder payments. Portfolio restructuring on the other hand deals with products, acquisitions and diversification. Finally organisational restructuring is mainly concerned with the human resources in the company.Mergers and Acquisitions are the most common forms of restructuring. â€Å"In value terms, the merger of whole companies through (often hostile) takeov er continues to be the most important form of restructuring†. (Froud et al P 3). Companies prefer to restructure in this manner as it brings numerous instant benefits and can aid in transforming market and financial performance immediately. Firstly, merging with or acquiring a company gives an instant increase in market share. It is the easiest way to enter into a new market and have a larger customer base overnight.British Airways' recent merger with Iberia has been beneficial to shareholders, employees and customers. According to the airline their corporate market would be transformed as they would be flying to more destinations, own more aircrafts and have more passengers. Thus making it more competitive and strengthening the company's image and brand. In addition, their financial performance would be transformed as they stand to benefit from a significant decrease in costs and benefit from economies of scale the merger is bound to provide.These costs savings can be then pa ssed on to the customer and might enable British Airways to be competitive on price; a luxury it might have not been able to afford prior to the merger. The merger might also help British Airways break into the South American market; a market in which it had no prior expertise or significant market share in. In addition to an increased market share, Kotler’s 8 C framework details how a firm’s market power could be increased through mergers and acquisitions (Kotler et al 2005).Firms gain greater control of every aspect of their products, greater efficiency, greater control of customer experiences and increased buying power if they have links with their competitors, challengers, collaborators, commodities, components, customers or consumers. Despite aiding in transforming corporate market and financial performance to some extent, mergers and acquisitions aren't exempt from critique. This form of restructuring despite being the most common is also the most critiqued. Firs tly, there is the issue of Monopoly and fair competition. The Acquisition of a competitor could instantly make a firm the market leader.Consumers suffer as a result. There might be little product differentiation, increased prices and barriers to new entrants could be put to prevent other smaller companies from entering the market thus giving a single organisation too much power. The government sometimes has to step in to minimise the formation of monopolies. British Airways were hopeful for a merger with American Airlines which would have made them a dominant airline in major airports across the world. The deal was eventually stopped because of its anti competitive nature. In addition to monopolies, a popular critique on mergers and acquisitions is they just don't work. †¦ the Boston consultancy group estimate that 64% of recent US acquisitions actually destroy value for the acquirers shareholders† (Kotler et al 2004) â€Å"rather than increased profitability, mergers an d acquisitions have come to be associated with lowered morale, job dissatisfaction, unproductive behaviour†¦ † (Meeks 1977, Sinetar 1981, Attendorf 1986, Cartwright & Cooper 1993). Three major reasons for the failure of mergers and acquisitions are a clash of organisational culture, human relations dilemmas and abandoning core competencies. Different organisations have unique styles of going about their day to day operations.When a company merges with or acquires another the dominant culture usually prevails however employees from the organisation with the less dominant culture might still carry on doing things the way they've always done it thus causing this clash. Errors associated with clashing cultures could range from minute to disastrous and if this carries on for a prolonged period of time, the opposite of the perceived benefits of mergers and acquisitions is most likely to occur. Employees also tend to feel worried about their job security when any form of restruc turing takes place.Their insecurities are manifested through their actions that usually prove costly for the newly merged or acquired organisation and can eventually drive it to failure. High labour turnover, absenteeism and decreased productivity are some of the actions that could be manifested as a result of job insecurity. A disparity in core competencies is a final reason why mergers and acquisitions are becoming more prone to failure. Hamel and Prahalad (1994) argue that an organisation can never gain long term financial rewards if its core competencies are ignored.Thus merging with or acquiring a company with contrasting core competences isn't likely to be successful. The merger between Daimler Benz (makers of Mercedes Benz) and Chrysler is a perfect example of a failed merger. Due to a clash of organisational culture and contrasting core competencies, the merger eventually ended in failure. There were good intentions behind the merger but finding the balance between Daimler B enz's high end auto mobiles and Chrysler's middle of the road range proved more difficult than anticipated thus Chrysler was eventually sold off.Druckers (1985) critique of mergers and acquisition argued that managers often seek to restructure in this manner to spread risk but it doesn’t guarantee success and usually results in failure. His five rules for successful acquisition give useful steps that managers might want to take into consideration prior to restructuring their organisation in this fashion. Outsourcing is another restructuring initiative used by firms when they find it necessary. Outsourcing aids in transforming the corporate market and financial performance of a firm to a great extent.It enables firms to focus completely on their core competencies as other organisations are hired to carry out activities that aren't directly related to the company's operations. It saves costs, improves efficiency and aids in the implementation of rapid change. In addition, findi ng workers with the necessary qualifications and skill in a specific country required might be difficult, thus offshore outsourcing becomes a necessity (King, 2009). One of the most outsourced operations in the United Kingdom and the USA is Information Technology. †There are more IT positions in the USA than there are graduates† (Morrill, 2009).Mark's and Spencer's indulge in offshore outsourcing to aid with its IT operations. As a result they have been able to focus on areas of more importance to them which is the quality of their products and their customer service. Additionally, offshore outsourcing aids in creating jobs in developing third world countries where unemployment rates are high. Some of the accounting and research operations on Wall Street are outsourced offshore. The companies are usually based in India where the best candidates are selected for the job and would be paid a good wage according to the standard of living in India.However if the very same ope rations were to be performed in New York, the staff may not be as skilled as those in India and would demand triple the salary in accordance to the higher standard of living in New York. All in all, Outsourcing is intended to ensure that the most skilled and most efficient people do the job at a mutually beneficial financial cost. On the other hand, there are so many ethical and political concerns associated with outsourcing. Many believe that it’s damaging to the economy as creating employment offshore decreases employment in the company's home country. â€Å"†¦ utsourcing is a poor alternative to a firm's internal management of Information Technology and services because it is tantamount to selling your ‘birthright'†¦ † (Clark et al, 1995). Also, ethical issues such as exploiting local workers in offshore countries in a desperate bid to keep overheads to a bare minimum and maximise profits have been connected to outsourcing. Numerous companies have be en scrutinised and criticised for this. The likes of Nike and Primark have endured the embarrassment and scandal of engaging in child labour in an attempt to keep overheads unrealistically low.Pisano (2009) argues that outsourcing operations especially manufacturing can provide a leak in information which might enable competitors overseas to hone their skills and possible surpass the skills of the company outsourcing. Other criticisms of outsourcing include quality control, loss of managerial control and hidden costs or the service being outsourced proving to be more costly in the long run. British Airways outsources almost all its operations. Back office operations, finance and accounting and its in-flight retail business are all outsourced.This has resulted in poor employee relations, a breakdown in communication and poor customer service amongst a host of other things. Whilst Marks and Spencer's restructuring included outsourcing IT operations which resulted in some employees bei ng made redundant and other transferred to their outsourced off shore location. To conclude, restructuring transforms corporate market and financial performance to a significant extent. Every firm needs to change especially when it is at risk of failure or it’s not as profitable as it once was.Mark's and Spencer’s restructuring ensured the company was re-branded in the customer's mind and an emphasis was placed on quality. As a result sales soared and market share was gained. On the other hand their restructuring initiatives also led to the company making the strategic decision to close all shops in France; thus bringing about bad press, criticism from trade unions and the French government, law suits and parties calling for consumers to boycott Mark's and Spencer's stores. Restructuring is however necessary if a business is to remain competitive.If competitors are changing and a firm decides to remain stagnant, it is only a matter of time before it becomes irrelevant. The decision to restructure must be dependent on the overall business strategy. â€Å"Strategic management as a discipline is concerned with how firms formulate and implement strategies in order to accomplish desired performance goals. † (Schendel and Hofer 1979). A more aggressive proactive strategy might be better suited for companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions whilst an organisation with a cost saving and value adding strategy might prefer to outsource.Restructuring does transform corporate market and financial performance but should only ever be used in synch with the overall corporate strategy to reap maximum benefits. Bibliography * MN220 Strategic Management: Lecture 18- Restructuring. Sukhdev Johal. 2012 * Restructuring for Shareholder value and its implications for labour. Cambridge journal of economics. Julie Froud, Colin Haslam, Sukhdev Johal and Karel Williams * Bbc. co. uk/business – Why firms bother to restructure. 12 Feb 2003: http://news. bbc. c o. uk/1/hi/business/711722. stm * Caterpillar: Two stories and an argument.J. Froud, K. Williams, C. Haslam, S. Johal, J. Williams. Accounting organisations and societies vol 23, 1998 * Globalisation, shareholder value, restructuring: The (Non)Transformation of Siemens Alexander Borsch * The Psychological impact of mergers and acquisition on the individual: A study of building society managers. Sue Cartwright, Larry L. Cooper. 1993 * Principles of Marketing. Phillip Kotler, Veronica Wong, John Saunders, Gary Armstrong. Fourth European Edition * The Outsourcing of information services: Transforming the nature of business in the information industry.Thomas D. Clark Jr, Rober W. Zmud, Gordon E. McCray. 1995 * An evaluation of the impact of corporate strategy and the role of information technology on IS functional outsourcing. V Grover, M Cheon, J TC Teng * Theoretical perspectives on the outsourcing of information systems. Myun J. Cheon, Vraun Grover and James T C Teng. 1995 * The U. S is outsourcing away its competitive edge. Gary P Pisano. HBR Blog network. 2009 * Offshore outsourcing: Practical and ethical arguments for and against from a small business perspective. Danny King. 2009 *

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Problem Set 4 Essays - Economy, Gross Domestic Product, Unemployment

Problem Set 4 Essays - Economy, Gross Domestic Product, Unemployment Problem Set 4 1. Explain the concept of moral hazard in 3-4 sentences. It is a situation in which one party gets involved in a risky event knowing that it is protected against the risk and the other party will incur the cost. These situations are caused due to information asymmetry ( When both parties have incomplete information about each oth er ), and are ubiquitous. They a re caused due to hidden actions. For example : Taking big bets in a marketplace with your firm's capital because you have limited exposure to the downside but lots of exposure to the upside . 2. Explain the concept of adverse selection in 3-4 sentences. Adverse selection refers to a situation where sellers have information that buyers do not, or vice versa, about some aspect of product quality. In the case of insurance, adverse selection is the tendency of those in dangerous jobs or high-risk lifestyles to get life insurance . To fight adverse selection, insurance companies try to reduce exposure to large claims by limiting coverage or raising premiums. To overcome adverse selection, the following could be done : Signaling - adopting ways to ascertain the quality of the product such as issuing warranti es, third party verification. Screening -make efforts to learn more abou t the product or service . 3. What are the pros and cons of using GDP as a measure of a nation's well-being? Pros: GDP provides a better analysis or measure of economy activity through its growth rate and changes in an economy than any other existing measure. It summarizes a whole range of economic information in and determines the comparative strengths and weaknesses of various sectors. GDP serve as accurate barometer of the business climate, where it provides the government and business useful information to adjust in different kinds of contingency problems like recession and depression. GDP serve as a simple proxy for social and economic welfare. Cons: G DP does not include non-market activities. These activities are based on production and consumption that occur outside the market economy that does not have a price attached like unpaid house workers, volunteer work, barter and the illegal drug trade. It does not include domestic household products or black market. It does not consider how the wealth of a nation is distributed equally. For example , GDP provides an estimate of each person share of the market economy but, in reality some people share of the economy is greater than others. This level of unequal distribution of incomes and consumption and the incidence of poverty cannot be determined by tracking the GDP. Some GDP measured expenditures do not contribute to Economic Welfare. It does not account for any welfare loss or any negative events that results from an event such as a natural disaster environmental cleanup or reconstruction effort contributes to welfare and the GDP. It does not accurately reflect the wellbeing and the living standards of people. The performance of few top companies can skew the GDP figure (It is a mean). E.g. : While India is the 5 th largest economy in terms of GDP, a significant number of people still earn less than $2 a day and lead a difficult life. 4. Please listen to the following Planet Money podcast (titled "How Recalculating GDP Can Help App Designers In Nigeria", broadcast on 5/31/2013): http://wlrn.org/post/how-recalculating-gdp-can-help-app-designers-nigeria and answer the following questions: a. What are the arguments for restating Nigeria's GDP? The current Nigeria's GDP was calculated based on data collected in 1990. T here were significant developments o ver the last 2 decades . Many new industries such as telecommunications have sprung up. T he current GDP model did not capture the contributions from such fast-growing industries . So, they decided to upgrade by rebasing to a new year. This move would greatly help the country to borrow money at a low cost and invest in those sectors that further boost the economy. Further, this would also make Nigeria a target destination for investments. b. What are the arguments against restating Nigeria's GDP? If the GDP of Nigeria is restated, hence updated based on a new base year, Nigeria would become the largest econom y in the

Monday, October 21, 2019

airfield mgmt essays

airfield mgmt essays Airfield and aircraft familiarization are two critical factors that must be understood by rescue/response personnel. Judging by successful attempts to contain and minimize losses, it is readily apparent that crash fire crew knowledge of airfield and aircraft design are interracial parts of perpetual training. Being part of initial response can be an awe-inspiring experience; the initial shock of the situation will hamper normal response behavior. With continued education and unconditional situational awareness we can program our response posture to enable us to approach the scene without delay and armed with a plan. Many aircraft maintainers experience differing aircraft and airfields daily; situational awareness coupled with learned behaviors allows us to tackle this challenge head on. As an aerospace ground equipment mechanic, I feel my actions of querying aircraft personnel helps me in understanding basic blueprints for aircraft function and design. Airfields on the other ha nd are almost of cookie cutter design; I spend more time trying to understand traffic flow patterns than any other facet of an airfield/flightline. A more specific explanation will now follow. Airfields consist of runways, taxiways, marshalling areas, parking spots, terminals, maintenance hangers and structures. Of those items, most if not all service ground vehicle and aerospace vehicle traffic flow on a daily basis. By understanding specific traffic flow patterns, we can almost anticipate suitable response and exiting routes to and from the incident/accident scene. Differing airfields host general aviation, military aviation as well as commercial aviation platforms. During any response scenario you will be concerned with common airfield parking patterns, any hazardous or explosives materials and also oxygen rich environments. Any potential hazard that is defined as routine should be imbedded in your defensive posture. Perpetual training ef...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Most Dangerous Myth about Writing - Freewrite Store

The Most Dangerous Myth about Writing - Freewrite Store Based on the encounters I’ve had as an author and an editor, I’d say it’s rarer to find someone who doesn’t want to write a book than someone who does. Today’s guest post is by editor and author Susan DeFreitas (@manzanitafire), whose debut novel, Hot Season, won the 2017 Gold IPPY Award for Best Fiction of the Mountain-West.       Based on the encounters I’ve had as an author and an editor, I’d say it’s rarer to find someone who doesn’t want to write a book than someone who does. Many dreamers never so much as start. But there are also a whole lot of would-be authors who start writing a book and never find a way to finish it. Some writers lose the thread of a novel because they lack a sense of the big-picture, the story as a whole. Some abandon their writing projects because they lack the discipline to set aside time to write. But there are many writers who fail not because they’re not cut out for writing, but because they are, in as much that they’re perfectionists. But that perfectionism has been misplaced. Which is why I consider the idea that you should revise while you’re drafting a book the most dangerous myth about writing. The Great (Unwritten) American Novel In 2000, the ink on my degree in creative writing was not yet dry, but I was working on the Great American Novel. For me, at twenty-two, this involved working in a bagel shop and spending a lot of time in Coyote Joe’s, my local watering hole- but despite my youthful excesses, I worked steadily at the novel I had in mind. Sure, it was a sprawling epic- and sure, my reach exceeded my grasp (by a mile, at least!). But the book didn’t fail because I lacked vision, nor did it fail because I stopped writing- in fact, I worked diligently on it for the next ten years of my life. That novel failed because every time something seemed off, I went back to the beginning and revised. The Power of Deadlines There is a perennial truth known to grad students and journalists: a looming deadline will make you actually finish a piece of writing, no matter how epic or ambitious your aims with it might be. When I went back to school at thirty-two, I no longer had the luxury of revising ad infinitum, because I had to turn out twenty pages of new work every two weeks. And yet, these were somewhat famous people I was working with, who might just give me a hand up if they liked my work. The incentive to produce polished prose was high. But how could I produce polished work in just two weeks? My solution was simple: I worked twelve-hour days. I hadn’t kicked my perfectionist’s habit of revising as I drafted, I’d just found a way to accommodate it (by eliminating nearly everything else of any consequence from my life). As a result, I did produce some polished work (though I’d scrap a whole lot of it later; see Editor’s Note, below). And maybe, just maybe, I managed to impress someone- if not with my work, than my work ethic. But what I lost, in the process, was my enjoyment in writing itself. Remember When Writing Was Fun? When I was a kid, I didn’t dread the act of writing. Between the pages of my composition notebooks, fantasy worlds came alive and â€Å"imaginary friends† became real. I was always looking for an excuse to play hooky from the rest of my life (especially if it involved homework or chores). After grad school, I asked myself, â€Å"When did writing become something I hate?† I realized this change occurred when I tried to perfect a piece of writing, to finish it, in too short a span of time. But that short span of time- the almighty deadline- was what had finally allowed me to finish in the first place. How could I make writing fun again, while actually producing publishable work? For me, the answer was this: Stop revising as you write. Separate drafting from revising. And reconsider your tools. Part One: Stop Revising as You Write Remember my Great (Unwritten) American Novel? It’s languishing in the back of my hard drive because I could not stop going back to the beginning and revising it. Which, though it gave me the illusion of progress, kept me from doing anything more than inching forward. It can be useful now and then to look back at where you’ve been with your novel and the promises you’ve made to your reader- useful too to remember what the voice of the protagonist or narrator sounds like. But take it from someone who sacrificed years of her life in the service of a failed manuscript: that boomerang that keeps sending you back to the beginning is unlikely to ever give you enough momentum to write your way through to the end. And oftentimes it’s only once you’ve reached the end of your book that you know- really know- the way that it should begin. So no matter how polished your opening pages might be, you might have to scrap them in the end. Part Two: Separate Drafting from Revising When I talk about drafting, I’m talking about the process of creating new work. By revising, I’m talking about the process of improving that work- adding to it and deleting from it, reshaping and improving it. Productivity experts tell us that we’re less efficient when we’re constantly switching between tasks, and it doesn’t take a neuroscientist to tell you that drafting and revising make use of very different parts of the brain. (The former generally involves throwing spaghetti at the wall; the latter involves deciding what sticks.) As a consequence, switching back and forth between these two tasks in the same session tends to be not only inefficient but frustrating- and because it’s hard to do both tasks well, you never quite achieve the effortless state of flow. That’s another term productivity gurus like to throw around. But writers, you know what I’m talking about: The flow state in drafting is when the next word, the next sentence, the next movement of the story, is clear; the flow state in revising is when you can easily tell what’s on and what’s off (and how to address the latter). If you want to work efficiently- and with less frustration- my advice is to separate these two tasks as much as humanly possible. Part Three: Reconsider Your Tools When I decided I was going to make writing fun again, I tried all sorts of process-oriented hacks. Some of them stuck, and some of them didn’t, but one of the most useful strategies I found was drafting by hand. When you open up a Word document, the first thing you see is the beginning of the piece. If you’re a perfectionist- and to succeed at writing, I believe, you must be- it’s difficult not to get sucked in. (What’s a little nip and tuck here and there?) The trusty composition notebook from my childhood, I found, did not work that way. I opened to the last thing I had written, not the first- and in doing so, more effortlessly found the thread (especially if I had made a few notes the last time I wrote, about what came next). Of course, writing by hand is slower than writing on a computer. So if you can find a way to write- via a typewriter, via tech like the Freewrite, or simply via the willpower required to start at the end of your Word document, rather than the beginning- you’ll have the best of both worlds. Editor’s Note Everything I’ve learned in the course of my journey as a writer has been backed up by what I’ve learned in my career as a freelance book editor. At Indigo Editing Publications, we work with authors over the course of three distinct rounds of editing: a developmental edit, a line edit, and a proofread. Which is to say, we don’t cut a comma, question a word choice, or ask to see a single image clarified until the story itself has been nailed down. Doing so would be a waste of the client’s money, and of our time- because the word, sentence, or image in question might not even make the cut for the next draft. Just as writers are best served by separating drafting from revising, revising is best served by separating work on the story from work on the language itself. It can be hard to do, but it is, without a doubt, the most efficient way to work. In Conclusion Certainly, there are exceptions to every rule, and there are some successful authors who meticulously revise as they draft new work (Zadie Smith is a good example). But in my experience, these writers are the exception. Those who succeed in publishing are usually those who’ve learned how to reliably enter a state of flow, in both drafting and revising- and in most cases, they’ve learned to do it by separating drafting from revising. Of course, I’m curious about your thoughts on this. When has writing been the most fun for you? How has perfectionism served you as a writer (or held you back)? And what’s the number one most useful writing hack you’ve found?    An author, editor, and educator, Susan DeFreitas’s creative work has appeared in (or is forthcoming from) The Writer’s Chronicle, The Utne Reader, Story, Southwestern American Literature, and Weber- The Contemporary West, along with more than twenty other journals and anthologies. She is the author of the novel Hot Season (Harvard Square Editions), which won the 2017 Gold IPPY Award for Best Fiction of the Mountain West. She holds an MFA from Pacific University and lives in Portland, Oregon, where she serves as an editor with Indigo Editing Publications.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Estrogen and progesterone ( Advanced pharmacology) Essay

Estrogen and progesterone ( Advanced pharmacology) - Essay Example Pills containing progesterone also act by secreting thick cervical mucus which blocks the movement of the sperm beyond the cervix. There are many different types of progesterones like synthetic or oral progesterone, crinone, injectible progesterone and progesterone suppositories. Before recommending an oral contraceptive pill which is usually a combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) to the client, a detailed clinical history must be taken. The history should cover information like the previous and current medications taken by the client, herbal and over the counter remedies and drug usage. In case of women above 35 years and women with a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, migraines, gall bladder disease and pulmonary hypertension, COCP recommendation should be avoided (Petitti, 2003). The oral contraceptive may either be a combination birth control pill or a minipill. The combination birth control pill contains both progestin and estrogen and different combinations of active and inactive pills which may be conventional or continuous dosing type. Progestin is the only constituent of the minipill. The combination birth control pills may be monophasic or triphasic. In case of a monophasic birth control pill, every active pill comprises of the same quantity of progestin and estrogen, whereas the triphasic combination birth control pill contains three different types of pills that contain different hormones taken for a period of 3 weeks. Other than oral contraceptives, there are also novel approaches available to prevent conception. Ortho evra is a trans-dermal patch that is worn on any region of the body like abdomen, buttocks, upper arm or upper torso except the breasts that delivers progestin and estrogen in an uninterrupted manner into the blood stream through the skin. Contraception is also achieved through depot specific injections. For instance, Depo provera is medroxyprogesterone acetate which could