The Fall of Rome essays

The Fall of Rome essays The fall of the Roman Republic and eventually the fall of the Western Roman empire are both very important events in our worlds history. There were many different events and problems that contributed to the fall of Rome. Economic depression, high taxes, and barbarian domination are all possible causes of the fall of the empire (Smith 201). These problems, along with civil wars, slowly destroyed the Roman Empire. From 264 B.C. to 146 B.C. there were a series of fights between Rome and Carthage known as the Punic Wars. Three different Punic Wars were fought during this time and they caused some major problems for Rome. Farmland was destroyed and farmers had no choice but to move to the cities to find work. The main problem with this was that most jobs were taken by slave labor, so farmers could not find work. Suitable living quarters The first Punic War was for control of Sicily. It lasted from 264 B.C. to 241 B.C. Rome was victorious in this war (World 144). The second Punic War was instigated in 218 B.C. by Hannibal, a Carthaginian general who wanted to avenge Carthages previous loss. Scipio, a Roman general, devised a plan to defeat Hannibal. Scipio attacked Carthage, Hannibals native home. This lured Hannibal back for a final battle in this war. Hannibal was defeated in 202 B.C. at a town called Zuma. Winning this war was a victory for Romes army, but a defeat for small farmers (Roman). This was the most destructive war of the three Punic Wars. This was the time when the most farmland was destroyed. The third Punic War lasted from 149 B.C. to 146 B.C. There was not really any actual fighting during this war. Instead, Rome sought revenge for the damage Carthage had previously caused to Rome. In 146 B.C., Rome burned Carthage and sold its citizens into slavery. Carthage then became the new province of Africa (World 145). Another problem that...

History of San Juan, The Capital of Puerto Rico

History of San Juan, The Capital of Puerto Rico The capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan ranks high on the list of most historic cities in the New World, with early explorers establishing a settlement there 15 years after  Columbus’s monumental first voyage. The city has been the scene of many historic events, from naval battles to pirate attacks. Modern San Juan, now a top Caribbean tourism destination, embraces its long and fascinating history. Early Settlement The first settlement on the island of Puerto Rico was Caparra, founded in 1508 by Juan Ponce de Leà ³n, a Spanish explorer and conquistador best remembered for his quixotic quest to find the Fountain of Youth in 16th-century Florida. Caparra was deemed unsuitable for a long-term settlement, however, and the residents soon moved to an island a short distance to the east, to the present site of Old San Juan. Rise to Importance The new city of San Juan Batista de Puerto Rico quickly became famous for its good location and port, and it rose to importance in the colonial administration. Alonso Manso, the first  bishop  to arrive in the Americas, became bishop of Puerto Rico in 1511. San Juan became the first ecclesiastical headquarters for the New World  and served as the first base for the Inquisition as well. By 1530, barely 20 years after its founding, the city supported a university, a hospital, and a library. Piracy San Juan quickly came to the attention of Spain’s rivals in Europe. The first attack on the island took place in 1528, when the French razed several outlying settlements, leaving only San Juan intact. Spanish troops started building San Felipe del Morro, a formidable castle, in 1539.  Sir Francis Drake and his men attacked the island in 1595 but were held off. In 1598, however, George Clifford and his force of English privateers managed to capture the island, remaining for several months before illness and local resistance drove them away. That was the only time El Morro castle was ever captured by an invading force. The 17th and 18th Centuries San Juan declined somewhat after its initial importance, as wealthier cities such as Lima and Mexico City thrived under the colonial administration. It continued to serve as a strategic military location and port, however, and the island produced significant sugarcane and ginger crops. It also became known for breeding fine horses, prized by Spanish conquistadors campaigning on the mainland. Dutch pirates attacked in 1625, capturing the city but not the fort. In 1797, a British fleet of approximately 60 ships attempted to take San Juan but failed in what is known on the island as â€Å"The Battle of San Juan.† The 19th Century Puerto Rico, as a small and relatively conservative Spanish colony, did not participate in the independence movements of the early 19th century. As the armies of Simon Bolà ­var and Jose de San Martà ­n swept across South America liberating new nations, royalist refugees loyal to the Spanish crown flocked to Puerto Rico. Liberalization of some Spanish policies – such as granting freedom of religion in the colony in 1870, encouraged immigration from other parts of the world, and Spain held onto Puerto Rico until 1898. The Spanish-American War The city of San Juan played a minor role in the Spanish-American War, which broke out in early 1898. The Spanish had fortified San Juan but did not anticipate the American tactic of landing troops at the western end of the island. Because many Puerto Ricans did not oppose a change of administration, the island basically surrendered after a few skirmishes. Puerto Rico was ceded to the Americans under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War. Although San Juan had been bombarded for a time by American warships, the city suffered relatively little damage during the conflict. The 20th Century The first few decades under American rule were mixed for the city. Although some industry developed, a series of hurricanes and the Great Depression had a profound effect on the economy of the city and the island in general. The grim economic situation led to a small but determined independence movement and a great deal of emigration from the island. Most emigrants from Puerto Rico in the 1940s and 1950s went to New York City in search of better jobs; its still home to a great many citizens of Puerto Rican descent. The U.S. Army moved out of El Morro Castle in 1961. San Juan Today Today, San Juan takes its place among the Caribbeans top tourism destinations. Old San Juan has been extensively renovated, and sights like the El Morro castle draw large crowds. Americans looking for a Caribbean vacation like to travel to San Juan because they don’t need a passport to go there: it is American soil. In 1983 the old city defenses, including the castle, were declared a World Heritage Site. The old section of the city is home to many museums, reconstructed colonial-era buildings, churches, convents, and more. There are excellent beaches close to the city, and the El Condado neighborhood is home to top-notch resorts. Tourists can reach several areas of interest within a couple of hours from San Juan, including rainforests, a cave complex, and many more beaches. It is the official home port of many major cruise ships as well. San Juan is also one of the most important ports in the Caribbean and has facilities for oil refining, sugar processing, brewing, pharmaceuticals, and more. Naturally, Puerto Rico is well-known for its rum, much of which is produced in San Juan.

Are you familiar with the term design thinking If so, what does it Essay

Are you familiar with the term design thinking If so, what does it mean to you and business - Essay Example The suggested working principles, also technically called frames, are analyzed, improved, and evaluated until a satisfying solution is achieved. The best frame is adopted into the business, causes a transformation and is termed an innovation. Businesses use design thinking as a form of differentiation and competitive advantage, to match the customer’s needs with the technically viable solutions to gain higher customer value, create ideas that meet the client’s needs, and broaden their market opportunities. For example, IDEO helped a team of surgeons innovate a new sinus surgery device. One designer quickly built a rudimentary prototype according to the surgeons’ directions regarding tasks that they wanted the ultimate design to accomplish. Eventually, the device, designed with a human-centered mind, improved the patients’ experiences and boosted the nurse’s productivity and job satisfaction. Businesses break away from adopting frames, the current methods of operation, and innovate new ways of satisfying their customers. Design thinking enables organizations to gain a deeper understanding of their customers, increase the relevance and breadth of business ideas, and develop an expert cult ure of innovative, iterative prototyping that strives to make ideas develop to real products. Design thinking, therefore, must be at the center of business strategy development and organizational change so as to develop a customer’s needs satisfaction culture, with emphasis on finding a broad network of possible ideas for achieving desired

GOOD CITY FORMS AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GOOD CITY FORMS AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY - Essay Example In the article, the author argues going back to these basics to make new cities worth living in. A re-examination of the urban planning ideas of Lynch includes efficiency and justice as well. It further appeals to consider city size, future growth, and conservation measures when making plans, as most cities today are also ill and sterile, lacking diversity and vibrancy (Ford 247). In this second article by Y. R. Jabareen, entitled â€Å"Sustainable Urban Forms: Their Typologies, Models, and Concepts† and published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research back in September of 2006, the author who is connected with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Department of Urban Studies, he identifies the four sustainable types of major urban forms, namely: neotraditional development, the compact city, urban containment, and lastly, the ecological city. Any of these urban forms utilizes a combination of the seven main design concepts in terms of environmental planning for sustainability which are compactness, transport, density, mixed-land use, diversity, passive solar design, and lastly, greening (Jabareen 39), which is essentially just an elaboration of the ideas of David Lynch. In â€Å"Urban Development and Climate Change† and published in 2008, an entirely new perspective was drawn based on concerns of climate change as countries grapple with the issue of urban sprawl, and that is how to reduce gas emission by reducing the vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) by using compact development as the role model (Ewing et al. 201). By their estimates, compactness helps to reduce VMT by approximately 20% to 40% because it eliminates long commutes, which in turn reduces the gas emissions by around 7% to 10% as they made some plausible assumptions in their study models, up to the year 2050. For most of local governments worried about global warming, it is a good idea as it

Dementia Essay Example for Free

Dementia Essay I work in a mix residential home for the elderly, some of the clients, Dementia range from mild to severe. The clients are raised in a very different way to how I was raised and it is important that I must remember this and respect their this as we all have personal beliefs and preferences based on our background and upbringing. I have been brought as a Muslim where religious education was compulsory, however we still studied various other religions and were taught to respect all people and there beliefs. Prayers were a daily thing at the end of each assembly and whether or not I wanted to pat attention to the prayer time again I had to respect the people that did. Religion may affect people in many different ways, mainly because we all come from different backgrounds and are taught differently. However, it is important to respect how people honor their religion. I am an atheist however I still make time to talk to my clients about their religion even though my own beliefs it is not some thing that I choose to do as I know it makes the client happy it makes me happy to do this as I know it is some thing that they feel so strongly in and it is amazing at how much I really now look forward talking about it. It is part and parcel of the work that I do and part of showing the clients that we care about what makes them happy and respect their beliefs even if ours are different. It is important to remember that my own personal preferences are different to others and I cant expect others to think, act and feel the same way as I do. For example I like to shower daily and some times twice daily, some of my clients do not like water and some really do not like showers or baths I have to respect there decision if they prefer not to have one and explain if possible that it is in, religion to smell nice and clean if they ignore this is in religion only but what they have to understand its nature to try and stay clean.

Paralysis in Dubliners Essay -- Literacy Analysis

In his letters, Joyce himself has said that Dubliners was meant â€Å"to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city† (55). The paralysis he was talking about is the paralysis of action. The characters in Dubliners exemplify paralysis of action in their inability to escape their lives. In another of Joyce’s writings, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce writes of Ireland: â€Å"When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets† (Joyce 238). The characters of Dubliners face similar nets that prevent them from escaping their lives. Unfortunately, their attempts to â€Å"fly by those nets† are not always present; the characters often do not try to break out of their lives (as in â€Å"Clay†). In the case that they do attempt to break their paralysis, the characters typically fail, or at least such is the case for the time before and during the story that the reader observes. The causes of this persistent paralysis vary between the characters: some are paralyzed by lack of motivation or fear, others by familial or other bonds; by religion, addictions, by simple lack of resources, or misconceptions or misinterpretations of events or words. Most all of the characters in the stories covered in class share fear or lack of will as the cause for their being paralyzed in their lives. To give an example, Chandler from â€Å"A Little Cloud† wants to break free of his dull life to become a writer and explore the world. However, he lacks confidence in himself. â€Å"Shyness had always held him back,† in all aspects of his life, from reading poetry to his wife to enter... ...ple no matter what city they are in. But as Joyce shows us, the possibility is there to break out of the mold; to create a meaningful life from a once dull existence. Works Cited Brendle, Mark. "Paralysis and Epiphany in Dubliners." Web log post. Unabashedly Bookish. Barnes & Noble, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Fairhall, James. â€Å"Joyce's DUBLINERS.† Explicator 43.2 (1985): 28. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York, B.W. Huebsch, 1922. Print. Joyce, James. Dubliners. Ed. Margot Norris. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print. Joyce, James. Letters of James Joyce. Ed. Stuart Gilbert. New York: Viking, 1957. Print. Rice, Thomas Jackson. "Paradigm Lost: `Grace' And The Arrangement Of Dubliners." Studies In Short Fiction 32.3 (1995): 405. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Paralysis in Dubliners Essay -- Literacy Analysis In his letters, Joyce himself has said that Dubliners was meant â€Å"to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city† (55). The paralysis he was talking about is the paralysis of action. The characters in Dubliners exemplify paralysis of action in their inability to escape their lives. In another of Joyce’s writings, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce writes of Ireland: â€Å"When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets† (Joyce 238). The characters of Dubliners face similar nets that prevent them from escaping their lives. Unfortunately, their attempts to â€Å"fly by those nets† are not always present; the characters often do not try to break out of their lives (as in â€Å"Clay†). In the case that they do attempt to break their paralysis, the characters typically fail, or at least such is the case for the time before and during the story that the reader observes. The causes of this persistent paralysis vary between the characters: some are paralyzed by lack of motivation or fear, others by familial or other bonds; by religion, addictions, by simple lack of resources, or misconceptions or misinterpretations of events or words. Most all of the characters in the stories covered in class share fear or lack of will as the cause for their being paralyzed in their lives. To give an example, Chandler from â€Å"A Little Cloud† wants to break free of his dull life to become a writer and explore the world. However, he lacks confidence in himself. â€Å"Shyness had always held him back,† in all aspects of his life, from reading poetry to his wife to enter... ...ple no matter what city they are in. But as Joyce shows us, the possibility is there to break out of the mold; to create a meaningful life from a once dull existence. Works Cited Brendle, Mark. "Paralysis and Epiphany in Dubliners." Web log post. Unabashedly Bookish. Barnes & Noble, 14 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Fairhall, James. â€Å"Joyce's DUBLINERS.† Explicator 43.2 (1985): 28. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York, B.W. Huebsch, 1922. Print. Joyce, James. Dubliners. Ed. Margot Norris. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print. Joyce, James. Letters of James Joyce. Ed. Stuart Gilbert. New York: Viking, 1957. Print. Rice, Thomas Jackson. "Paradigm Lost: `Grace' And The Arrangement Of Dubliners." Studies In Short Fiction 32.3 (1995): 405. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

Mahindra & Mahindra in South Africa Essay

In May 2011, Pravin Shah, the CEO at Mahindra & Mahindra, was evaluating four possible options of company’s growth strategy in the South Africa. Those options included: entering into agreement with the local vendor for the contract assembly of M&M vehicles, investing in its own manufacturing plant in South Africa, using South Africa as a hub for the further export of the other countries and lastly waiting and watching until enough vehicles are sold for the sustainable long term growth. Once those options were evaluated, Shah needed to present the final chosen one to the board of directors for the final approval on the best strategy for company’s growth in the South African Market. 1) Which option should Shah chose? Based on the information presented in this case (and not based on the class discussion and video presented), I would advise Shah to exercise the wait and watch strategy at a given period of time. Shah was faced with this decision in 2011, which was only a few years after the global recession took place. Even though they had an outstanding result in 2010 showing the growth of sales at 24% and making the projections for the further sustainability, that was only one year of the positive outcome compared to the years before that. During the time of the recession and specifically in years 2007 through 2009, an automotive market suffered dramatically. It was mainly due to the flow of credit and the passing of the law by the local South African government to limit further availability of credit. Solely based on the case information, it would make sense to make a projection plan for the next 3-5 year to watch the growth of the automotive market and then take additional necessary steps to further grow the company’s overall expansion in the local market. Even though this option has some negative sides such as higher import duty and losing some of the market share to its competitors, in case of the declining auto market situation it could financially benefit the company. 2) What is your assessment of M&M’s experience with its South African subsidiary to date? To date, Mahindra & Mahindra shows a very strong entry-level presence in the local market. In short 6 years period, they were  able to capture the trust and loyalty of the local populations. Their strategy to manufacture and export vehicles that were suitable for local roads and, at the same time affordable for the locals, made it possible to secure the market share of 1.2% of the SUV and medium range SUV vehicles. Their localization of dealers in nine South African provinces made it possible for customers of all regions to have the direct access to the vehicle inventory. On the other hand the company faced a challenge of losing sales because of the time it took to process vehicles orders from India. 3) How attractive is the South African auto market for the growth and profitability? In the past decade or so, South Africa showed a stable economic growth among the population. Even though the growth rates are somewhat low compared to the other developing countries, it didn’t have any decline. With economic growth, more locals are able to afford to own a vehicle. As research study presented in the case shows, the buying power of the black African consumers, making the largest segment of the middle-income market, was rising. To the benefit of companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, unlike white South African population, black African consumers were more open and inclined to purchase newly introduced brands to the markets. The research showed that they did not trust the local brands rather than preferred any specific European or Japanese/Korean brand. This presents a colossal opportunity for M&M’ to enter the local South African market and continue its growth and profitability by securing the trust of local population. As long as company considers the growing need and affordability of the vehicle introduced in the future, they have a strong potential in further securing the larger auto market segment in the local market. 4) What potential roles can M&M’s South African subsidiary play in the company’s global network? With the globalization growing it is very important for international companies to be able to secure the brand within local markets. In this particular case, a South African subsidiary could potentially mean a large growth for the M&M. They would be able to shorten their delivery time and secure additional market segment by signing with the government. It would also be easier to export vehicles to other locations. The parent-subsidiary operating structure allows for greater diversification  and increased efficiencies, partly because senior management at the parent company does not have to be involved in the operational details of its subsidiary. It would also isolate certain financial risks because the two companies are separate legal entities. 5) What should be Shah’s recommendation to M&M’s board of directors? Shah should advise the board of directors that at the current time it would be beneficial for the company to monitor the growth/decline of the automotive market on the global scale as well as in the South African market. With the reasonable proposal to monitor for the next 3-5 years it would allow company to receive securer results for the industry. Further on, based on the collected results, the company should consider moving on to the one of the other three options: contract assembly, own manufacturing plant or use South Africa as a hub.