Property Law College Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Property Law College - Case Study Example Also included in the contract were tools that were in the garden shed as you did not think you would need them. However, you now still have a small yard and need some tools. These are not fixtures and you believe that you are able to take them. You and your partner move into the town house holding the property as joint tenants. Sadly your partner dies some weeks after you bought the property. The house is in contract and the townhouse does not have an island bench in the kitchen and client wishes to take the one out of the kitchen in the sold house and move it to the new one. This would mean damaging the floor. Australian law defines a fixture as: " Items such as hot water systems, built-in cupboards, bath, stove, etc" (Australian Real Estate). The common denominator with the afore -mentioned list is that the items cannot be removed from a property without causing damage. Accordingly, since the floor of the house would be damaged upon its' removal, the island bench is considered to be a fixture. When land is transferred with a house, the value of all the tenant's fixtures is now to be included in calculating the unencumbered value of land. This law reverses the Victorian Supreme Court decisions in the Vopak Terminal case (where substantial storage tanks were sold separately to another party) and the Uniqema case (2004) (but only on the issue of tenant's fixtures). Here, the seller has already contracted the sale of the house. The contract price was in part, based upon the value of the house and its' fixture. If the client wishes to depart with the island, they should either re-negotiate the contract or make a concession for the floor repairs (in the purchase price) that will result from removing the island. Additionally, the seller would be well advised to issue a credit towards the purchase price. In no events may the seller simply take the island. Fixtures, according to the Australian courts become part of the land and as a consequence, the realty, and must therefore pass to the buyer with the sale of the property. Some sort of concession must be made either at closing or before closing in order for the seller to not be in violation of his contract. II. What is the legal position in relation to the curtains A leading case in this area is Australian Provincial Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Coroneo. There the Court addressed the removal of theatre chairs, movie projection equipment and a generator seized from a theatre. The court reasoned that that if a chattel is actually fixed to land to any extent, any means other than its own weight, then prima facie it is a fixture; and the burden of proof is upon the person who asserts that it is not. If it is not otherwise fixed but is kept in position by its own weight, then prima facie it is not a fixture; and the burden of proof is upon the person who asserts that it is. Here because the buyer is looking to have the curtains, which are not actually affixed to the land to any extent, he bears the burden of proof. The test of whether a chattel is a fixture was determined by the court to be whether it had been fixed with the inten

Bill Clinton Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Bill Clinton - Research Paper Example Because she was a widow, Virginia Dell Cassidy studied nursing in New Orleans to fend for her and her son, immediately after her son William was born. She left the baby in her parents’ home in Hope, Arkansas. Her parents, Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, had a grocery store in Hope which gave credit to blacks and whites alike, even if the town was still heavily segregated. Because of this, Clinton’s grandparents heavily influenced him in his political career, especially on the matters of civil rights and racism. Edith was also a private nurse in Hope. As a beautiful young widow, Virginia Cassidy went out with a number of men but finally settled for Roger Clinton, Sr. Clinton, Sr. was the owner of the Buick dealership store in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Shortly after the marriage, the family moved to Arkansas. It was a good marriage at first, and Clinton, Sr. was a good father for young Bill. However, Clinton, Sr. was an alcoholic and abused his mother a lot. When Bill was ten, Virginia became pregnant with Roger, Jr., and young Bill remarked that that pregnancy was the couple’s attempt to salvage their marriage. Bill loved his younger brother and enjoyed being an older brother. However, when he was fourteen, his mother divorced and remarried Roger Clinton, Sr. This proves that the Clinton-Cassidy marriage was on for the long haul and William Jefferson Blythe III legally changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton as a gesture of love for his stepfather (Clinton, 2004). He was an active school leader and an A student. He was always on the top three of his elementary and high school classes. He was also a musician. He attended St. John’s Catholic Elementary School and Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas and it was there that he decided to have a career in politics even if he loved music and biology (he contemplated being a musician and a doctor but knew he would be great as a public servant). This decision was rooted on two important events in

Leadership and Employee Turnover in Hotel Industry

Leadership and Employee Turnover in Hotel Industry With the highest employee turnover rate, the hospitality industry need to encourage employees to voice their opinions, ideas, and any of their other concerns for improving performance and reducing employee turnover. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of different types of organizational culture and different leadership styles on employee voice in the hospitality industry. Hospitality human resource practitioners could modify their organizational culture and leadership style according to the results of the study, in order to encourage their employee voice. The results of this study could also contribute to the literature about factors that influence employee voice. Introduction As according to www.skagitwatershed.org Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. Leadership is a process of getting things done through people. Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because we can never be sure whether we will reach our goal at least this time. The touchdown drive may end in a fumble. The troop may have a bad weekend during the camporee. Or the citys citizens may not be convinced that the mayors policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership (Orans, 1997). Employee Turnover As according to Wood (1992), defines employee turnover as the rate of change in the number of employees of a concern during a definite period commonly a month. In some other ways it is defined as a measure of the extent to which old employees leaves and new employees enter the service of the concern. Whereas in its sociological context employee turnover implies to a process of change in the size of the work force and this signifies the reasons, which cause this phenomenon to occur in any industrial unit. Employee turnover is in fact movement of employees in and out of firms and the main reasons could be voluntary or involuntary. Rationale Through the ages we have learnt that the only way to put the customer first in the hospitality industry is by putting the employee first. The rationale may not be very obvious, but it is certainly compelling. Satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers. Worldwide researches have suggested that employee turnover is among the highest in the hospitality industry. Studies have shown that average annual employee turnover range from around 60 to 300 % (Mehta, 2005). Hotels spend thousands every year for each new employee they must train to replace a seasoned worker who leaves. It is no longer a startling fact that the cost of losing an employee is between half and one-and-a-half times their annual salary. Background There are studies that support the fact that employees leave an organisation for many reasons, but two common causes are the quality of the selection system and the quality of leadership (Mehta, 2005). Arguably hotels support a culture that fosters dependence and relies on the traditional chain of command, and not all supervisors are good managers and good team leaders that leads high employee turnover. In the light of this proposition, the proposed research plans to examine as whether leadership leads to high employee turnover. The research will be conducted with reference to Delhi based hotels. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The proposed research aims to examine as whether leadership leads to high employee turnover. The research is to be conducted with reference to Delhi based five star hotels. The research will attempt to accomplish following objectives: To examine the degree of employee turnover problem in hotels To identify and evaluate the foremost causes employee turnover in hotels To examine leadership role as causing employee turnover in hotels To investigate what are the causes for the high employee turnover in the hotels. To examine are what the consequences of the high employee turnover in hotels. To study how the reduce turnover and increase employee retention in hotels. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Are qualities of leadership foremost reasons of employee turnover in hotels? Is wrong leadership causes high degree of employee turnover in hotels? Structure of dissertation Author has divided the dissertation in five chapters, in the first chapter author has discuss about the aims and objectives of the report, research mythology in which he has used primary and secondary research. He has discussed about the limitations and background of the dissertation in this chapter. In the second chapter author has given a literature review discussing the meaning of employee turnover and its importance in todays world. Author has also explained leadership and employee turnover and how it can make a difference in successful and not so successful businesses. Also the author has shown different ways to measure employee turnover. Finally, the author has explained how employee turnover is making a difference in a hotel industry and their employee. In the third chapter author has done a research mythology discussing sampling techniques and sample size which is been used for a completion of the report. In the forth chapter author has done findings and analysis based on a q uestionnaire prepared by the author. And finally in the last chapter author has done his conclusion on the report. Literature Review This section presents the theoretical concepts in the context of above mentioned research aims objectives and research questions. Employee turnover is the rotation of workers around the labour market; between firms, jobs and occupations; and between the states of employment and unemployment (Abassi et al., 2000). The term turnover is defined by Price (1977) as: the ratio of the number of organizational members who have left during the period being considered divided by the average number of people in that organization during the period. Frequently, managers refer to turnover as the entire process associated with filling a vacancy: Each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new employee must be hired and trained. This replacement cycle is known as turnover (Woods, 2002). Most researchers (Kalliath and Beck, 2001; Kramer et al., 1995; Saks, 1996) have attempted to answer the question of what determines peoples intention to quit by investigating possible antecedents of employees intentions to quit. To date, there has been little consistency in findings, which is partly due to the diversity of employed included by the researchers and the lack of consistency in their findings. Therefore, there are several reasons why people quit from one organization to another or why people leave organisation. The experience of job related stress (job stress), the range factors that lead to job related stress (stressors), lack of commitment in the organization; and job dissatisfaction make employees to quit (Firth et al., 2004). This clearly indicates that these are individual decisions, which make one to quit. They are other factors like personal agency refers to concepts such as a sense of powerlessness, locus of control and personal control. Locus control refers to t he extent to which people believe that the external factors such as chance and powerful others are in control of the events which influence their lives (Firth et al., 2004). Manu et al. (2004) argue that employees quit from organization due economic reasons. Using economic model they showed that people quit from organization due to economic reasons and these can be used to predict the labour turnover in the market. Organizational instability has been shown to have a high degree of high turnover. Indications are that employees are more likely to stay when there is a predictable work environment and vice versa (Zuber, 2001). In organizations where there was a high level of inefficiency there was also a high level of staff turnover (Alexander et al., 1994). Therefore, in situations where organizations are not stable employees tend to quit and look for stable organisations because with stable organizations they would be able to predict their career advancement. The imposition of a quantitative approach to managing the employees led to disenchantment of staff and hence it leads to employee turnover. Therefore management should not use quantitative approach in managing its employees. Adopting a cost oriented approach to employment costs increases employee turnover (Simon et al., 2007). All these approaches should be avoided if managers want to minimize employee turnover an increase organizational com petitiveness in this environment of globalization. Organizations valuable assets are its high performing employees; and when they start leaving, its an indication that the organization is in trouble.   It appears that organizational management does not care much when low performing employees leave the organization.   In other words, the employers have to understand the damages resulting from high performance employees leaving, and the benefits resulting from poor performance employees leaving. (Hong and Chao 2007, p. 216).Employees may stay longer in an organization if they are motivated and rewarded.   Studies show that a motivated employee is a productive employee; therefore, it is the responsibility of organizational leadership to ensure that all employees are productive.   To be productive means supporting the mission and vision of the organization. Employees may stay longer with organizations if they are well paid and motivated.   Management and leadership motivate and reward high performance e mployees in order to prevent them from leaving. Organizational management and leadership pay particular attention to high performance employees and the attention given them has made them less likely to leave.   The negative relationship between performance and turnover appears to be the major conclusive finding, indicating that high performance employees would be less likely to leave than lower performance ones. (Hong and Chao, 2007 p.217).   Losing high performance employees means higher costs of human resources in form of rehiring, training, and placement.   Management action may cause some low performing employees to leave an organization; this is due to the fact that such employees are viewed as liabilities and may not be contributing to the accomplishment of the organizational mission and vision.   In SLT, leadership effectiveness is thought to be enhanced if a manager uses the style of leadership that best matches the readiness, ability and willingness of subordinates and that a good match between leadership style and subordinate readiness leads to a higher level of subordinate satisfaction and performance. The four quadrants in SLT represent four basic leadership styles: high task and low relationship ; high task and high relationship; low task and high relationship; low task and low relationship, The central precept is that as the level of follower readiness increases, effective leader behavior will involve less structure and less socio-emotional support, A leaders task and relationship behaviors interact with subordinate readiness to significantly influence leader effectiveness, which is defined as the extent to which a follower demonstrates the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. According to Hersey et al. (1996), at the lower levels of readiness, the le ader needs to provide direction but with higher levels of readiness, followers become responsible for task direction. There is no one best way to influence people and leaders need to assess the readiness level and then use the appropriate leadership style. Thus, it is the follower who dictates the most appropriate leader behavior. In the high tech hotel industry, a work environment with proper implementation and management of technology is vitally important. Any great manager will agree that human resources still plays the most important role in any successful high tech hotel venture. Employees are the backbone of hotel industry, and they need effective leadership so that they will be motivated to do the best jobs they can do. Today, the high tech industry is beset by several factors that make it difficult to hire and retain good employees. The economy is down and the national unemployment rate is high. Good leadership, however, can inspire employees and motivate them to work harder at their jobs. The question is how. Leadership is not a random event. Rather, it is a dynamic process continually adjusted to an ever-changing environment. A great leader is able to influence the behavior of individuals and groups. Harry Truman once said, Leadership is getting people to do what they dont want to do, and like it. In the past, a leaders personality or charisma was considered key. Leadership effectiveness also was defined in terms of attitudes. The most effective leaders were deemed to be those who placed the greatest emphasis on people and production. Today, this view has been modified. Now the leader needs to vary his style to fit the readiness of his subordinates. A leaders attitude is based on his concern for both his people and their productivity. Leadership behavior also is based on two dimensions: task behavior and relationship behavior. In attempting to lead, an individual always engages in each of these behaviors to some extent. Task behavior involves directing others telling or showing them exactly what to do and how to do it correctly. Typically, direction is characterized by unilateral communication, which may take the form of oral or written instructions expected to be carried out as dictated. Instructions to employees may be explained by saying, This is how you would do this. By contrast, relationship behavior is characterized by more supportive, facilitating actions and by bilateral communication among individuals. Here, direction typically involves dialogue between a manager and his subordinates or between co-workers. The number one reason an employee leaves a company is because of their manager. The leader that employees work for determine who sticks around and who hits the road. Employee turnover costs are substantial ranging from 150% to 250% of an employees annual compensation. That means to replace an employee that makes 100,000 it will cost the company 150,000 to 250,000. If you can reduce your employee turnover then clearly you will reduce your bottom line. Extraordinary leaders make a substantial impact on employee turnover and therefore, the bottom line. How to reduce employee turnover Few things in business are as costly and disruptive as unknowingly having the proverbial revolving door for employees to exit from. While there are many secondary and tertiary items that can influence an employees decision to leave, in this weeks column Ill address the one single factor which constitutes the overarching reason that drives a persons decision to leave their employer. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Leadership Continuity: Great companies have a clear vision, mission, and strategy, which are evangelized by a cohesive leadership team. A crisply articulated vision, and continuity of leadership creates an engaged workforce that understands the business model and key objectives of the enterprise. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A Planned Transition: Outstanding leadership teams set employees up for success and not for failure. They have an established on boarding process which puts forth an initial roadmap for a successful transition by clearly defining key performance indicators, business objectives, and other key metrics. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Compensation: Great leadership teams understand the value of tier-one talent, and are not afraid to pay-up in order to attract it and retain it. While todays column was a bit of an extemporaneous highlight covering only a few critical issues, I hope it clearly portrayed the value of leadership in employee retention and development. Now that so much is being done by organizations to retain its employees, why is retention so important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a definite no. Its not only the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of retaining employees but also the need to retain talented employees from getting poached. The process of  employee retention  will benefit an organization in the following ways: Interruption of Customer Service:  Customers and clients do business with a company in part because of the people. Relationships are developed that encourage continued sponsorship of the business. When an employee leaves, the relationships that employee built for the company are severed, which could lead to potential customer loss. Turnover leads to more turnovers:  When an employee terminates, the effect is felt throughout the organization. Co-workers are often required to pick up the slack. The unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff. Goodwill of the company:  The goodwill of a company is maintained when the attrition rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join the organization. http://retention.naukrihub.com/importance-of-employee-retention.html A career in the hospitality industry can be both challenging and rewarding. The hospitality industry includes restaurant, hotel, and resort positions that cater to serving guests with a smile. However, the staff turnover is high in the hospitality industry, and anyone considering a management position within this segment should understand the reasons people leave their jobs. Common reasons for high turnover include: 1. Seasonality- Many hospitality positions are seasonal in nature. While lay-offs are a necessity for business survival, they are hard for workers who will receive minimal unemployment benefits. It can lead to understaffing during off-peak seasons which has a negative impact on employee morale. 2. Organizational culture Leadership If an organization does not possess a positive culture, the work environment will be unpleasant. With other considerations, this adds to the reasons why employees quit. 3. Labor Pool -The labor pool for the hospitality industry is often untrained, unskilled workers. Higher skilled workers are harder to find, and even those workers are vulnerable as they seek better opportunities. Many employees are young, students, or using hospitality jobs as a fallback or stepping stone to other careers. This increases the chances of turnover. http://www.helium.com/items/1912987-staff-turnover-in-hospitality Five Leadership Fundamentals He then realized that his job as manager became very simple. To motivate high performance and, at the same time, ensure employee satisfaction within his group, he just needed to:   Provide employees with a clear sense of where were going and why. Make sure they have the necessary resources to get their job done. Be attuned to their professional needs and try to provide them with assignments that meet these needs (not always easy but still attainable). Regularly meet with them both formally and informally to give and get feedback on whats going on. Get out of their way and, at the same time, be available when needed. What are the leadership qualities that make all this possible? First and foremost the leadership qualities that build and create a change readiness culture are totally focused on understanding and reverse-engineering the critical disconnects between organizational leadership and management, and the rest of the non-management employees. These disconnects can be summarized as an organizational management and leadership that is detached from direct feedback from the frontline and the human consequences of their decisions. This is all about moving away from the prevalent transactional leadership style with its reward and punishment mechanisms to gain compliance, and moving towards facilitative leadership that engages directly with the informal networks and aspects of the organization. This isnt so hard for organizational leadership to take on board and enact once they realize that in so doing they are dealing directly with the crustacean rock bottom root causes of resistance to change whilst simultaneously unleashing a flood of new innovations and solutions. Implicit or Informal Theories of Employee Turnover Employers and employees share some common causes of employee turnover in India. Among demographic factors, the majority of Singaporeans hold the view that the young and more educated change jobs more often than the old and less educated. Labour shortage (or perceived alternative employment opportunities) and job-hopping among the uncontrollable factors stand out in the perceptions of most people as important factors causing turnover (Debrah, 1993;1994). Further, most Indians consider satisfaction with pay, a controllable factor, one of the most important causes of turnover intention (Debrah, 1994; Koh Goh, 1995). We do not propose any hypotheses on implicit theories of employee turnover. However, we would like to explore to what extent these implicit theories are valid. Specifically, how much of the variance in the turnover model do age, level of education, perceived alternative employment opportunities, job-hopping, and satisfaction with pay explain? If these factors explain a lot of unique variance, we can say that there is a lot of truth in implicit theories on employee turnover held by Indians. METHODS Sampling and Data Collection Data were collected using a questionnaire that contained measures of job satisfaction (satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with nature of work, and satisfaction with supervision), organizational commitment, organizational justice (distributive and procedural), job-hopping, perceived alternative employment opportunities, and turnover intention. In addition, the questionnaire included questions on demographic characteristics of the respondents. The Ministry of Labour, India, publishes quarterly resignation rates by occupations and industries. These quarterly resignation reports provided us the starting point. Both manufacturing and services sectors are important for the Singapore economy. Consequently, we included industries from both manufacturing and services in our sample. Within each sector, we selected one industry with the highest resignation rates and the other with the lowest resignation rates over the last four years. In the manufacturing sector, the food and beverage industry had the highest resignation rates and the marine and shipping the lowest. On the other hand, in the services sector, the retail industry had the highest resignations and the banking the lowest. Employee turnover in hotels has received substantial attention from both academics and managers. Much of this attention has been focused on understanding its causes. Implicit in this approach is the assumption that turnover is driven by certain identifiable characteristics of workers, tasks, firms, and markets, and that, by developing policies to address these characteristics, managers might reduce the occurrence of turnover in their respective organizations. Moreover, Van Vianen, Feij, Krausz, and Taris (2004) distinguished between two motives for turnover; push and pull. Push motives are related to dissatisfaction with ones current work situation, whereas pull refer to available opportunities to improve ones career opportunities on the external labour market. Nevertheless, the job satisfaction-turnover relationship is not stable across different organizations, or that satisfaction may relate more closely to immediate or short term variables such as daily effort, rather than longer term variables such as turnover intention (Ajzen Fishbein, 1977). The research may point out that there are some problems in the hotels in recent years on the employee turnover; generally speaking, employees leave the hotels for some common reasons, such as they are not satisfied with their positions of salary. Pavesic and Brymer (1990) confirmed dissatisfaction with income, mainly in relation to the number of hours worked, to be a primary reason for managers with hospitality administration degrees leaving the hospitality industry. Although the most significant reason is that they want to seize more space for position and trainings. There is unsuitable for the promotion and management system in hotels. Hotels have taken the employee satisfaction system in order to catch up with large scales. While hotels are not marketable enough to compete with other larger scales because of some systematically reasons. In this study, hotels are very cooperative with us, and the management complies with our requirements. Therefore, this research is for the managem ent of the hotel to find out the problems and to solve the problem.

Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt :: The Daily Show Perfect Storm

Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt - How Will These Help My Writing? Apt Pupil Psychological thriller Lack of a conclusion Not enough character development Plot didn't develop Daily Show Appeals to a specific audience Comedy and satire of the news and current events Sensationalism Perfect Storm Use of imagery Believable dialogue Suspenseful situations Believable reactions How to Make an American Quilt Complete characterization Plots independent of each but make an interdependent story Believable events and reactions The four works; Apt Pupil, Daily Show, Perfect Storm, and How to Make an American Quilt are all very respectable in their individual sense. Each work possesses a different style and is different in presentation. The difference in presentation is very important when analyzing a specific work. Television for example can deal with changing current events and issues. The Daily Show is the perfect example. The show thrives off of satire of everyday events and needs changing circumstances to exist. Satire is not restricted to television; it has been utilized in books, magazines, and movies for years. Jonathan Swift is a prime example of a satirist of his times. He wrote novels such as Gulliver’s Travels that criticized his era in a mocking fashion. The main differences between the television and a novel are the interaction. The fact that the dialogue is heard and not just read, seen not just imagined. The spectacle of The Daily Show is not wonderful. The set is very simple but it is functional. The Daily Show is a perfect example of how to make the scenery and set functional and not showy. The Daily Show uses it’s resources to make the best show possible, and it succeeds. A similar form of media is film. Films are dependent on good scripts, dialogue and acting. Acting is essential, even if the script is beautiful, if the acting is horrible the film suffers and vice-versa. Apt Pupil is a film that lacks in screenplay. The acting was great, the portrayl of the characters believable, but the dialogue and plot was not well developed and therefore the movie lacked a sense of completion. The spectacle was wonderful, there was great use of light, objects, angles but the work was definitely lacking essential parts. The literary lesson to learn from this work, is that a few good points of a work do not make up for the lacking parts. A film, television show, novel, or essay needs to clear and concise and complete.

Children’s literature Essay

What is literature? Literature is (a) imaginative or creative writing; (b) distinguish writing, with deep sublime, noble feelings. It includes oral tradition passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth (e. g. proverbs, myths, legends, epic, folk song, etc. ). Literature, as defined by the oxford, etc. , valued as works of art (drama, fiction, essays, poetry, biography) contrasted with technical books and journalism; (2) all the writing of a country (French lit. ) or a period (18th Century English Lit. ); (3) printed material describing or advertising e. g. pamphlets; (4) books dealing with special subjects, travel, poultry farming. Literature is an art expressing beauty through the medium of language; a recreation through language of human situation and experiences, the orchestration of the manifold but elemental experiences of man blended into harmonious and desired patterns of expressions and a faithful reproduction of life executed in an artistic pattern (Del Prado). Why Study Literature? Literature leads to personal fulfilment and academic gains. Separating the values into personal and academic is an intellectual distinction, since both types benefit the students and are all proper parts of a student’s schooling. The distinction is useful, however, since teachers and librarians must often justify the benefits of literature in the classroom and find the academic benefits the most convincing ones for administrators and parents. Enjoyment The most important personal gain that good books offer to students is the most obvious one-enjoyment. Those of you who read widely as students will never forget the stories that were so tragic that you almost cried out, some were so funny that you laughed out, the poem that was so lifting that you never forgot it, or the mystery that was so scary that your heart thumped with apprehension. Such positive early experience often leads to a lifetime of reading enjoyment. Imagination and Inspiration By seeing the world around them in new ways and by considering ways of living other than their own, students increase their ability to think divergently. Stories often map the divergent paths that our ancestors might have taken or that our descendants might someday take. Through the vicarious experience of entering a different world from the present one, students develop their imaginations. In addition, stories about people, both real and imaginary, can inspire students to overcome obstacles, accept different perspectives, and formulate personal goals. The Academic Value of Literature to Student In addition to the personal benefits of literature for yong readers, there are several important academic benefits. Reading Many of you may have reached the common-sense deduction that reading ability, like any other skill, improves with practice. Many teachers and librarians believe that regular involvement with excellent and appropriate literature can foster language development to young people and can help them to learn to read and to value reading. Writing Since people tend to assimilate or adopt what they like of what they read and hear, young people may, by listening to and reading literature, begin to develop their own writing â€Å"voice†, or unique, personal writing style. By listening to and reading excellent literature, children are exposed to rich vocabulary and excellent writing styles, which serve as good models for their own speaking and writing voices. The acquisition of a larger vocabulary through reading offers young writers a better word choice for their own stories. Devices found in books such as the use of dialect, dialogue, and precise descriptions are often assimilated into students’ own writing. Vicarious Experience When a story is convincing written that readers feel as though they have live through an experience or have actually been in the place and time where the story is set, the book have given them a vicarious experience. Experiences such as these are broadening students to stories from many lands and cultures, teachers and libraries are building a solid foundation for multicultural and international understanding. Walking in someone else’s shoes often help students to develop a greater capacity to empathize with others. Students around the world can benefit from stories that explain what life is, for people who are restricted by handicaps, politics, or circumstances or whose lives are different from theirs because of culture or geography. Likewise, young readers of today can relate on a more personal level with the events and people of history. Heritage Stories that are handed down from one generation to the next connect us to our past, to the roots of our specific cultures, national heritage, and general human condition. Stories are the repositories of culture. Knowing the tales, characters, expression, riddles, lullabies, songs, and adages that are part of our cultural heritage makes us culturally literate. Stories based on fact help young people to gain a greater appreciation for what history is and for the people, both ordinary and extraordinary who made history. Art Appreciation Illustration in some literature books (Children’s Literature) can be appreciated both for its ability to help tell the story (cognitive value) and for its value as art (aesthetic value). Picture books are profusely illustrated books in which the illustrations are, to varying degrees, essential to the enjoyment and understanding of the story. For this reason, illustrations in picture books are said to be integral to the story. The illustration in picture books provides actual plot or concept information as well as clues to character traits, settings, and moods. Without the illustrations, therefore these books would be diminished, and in some case the story would make no sense or would be nonexistent.

The Gowanus Creek Canal Superfund Case Study Environmental Sciences Essay

The Gowanus Creek Canal is a canal in the Brooklyn, NY that was late designated as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency. To acquire a full apprehension of the complicated nature of this, I will give a full background of the Superfund every bit good as the Gowanus Creek Canal. What is the Superfund? Harmonizing to the EPA, â€Å" Superfund is the federal authorities ‘s plan to clean up the state ‘s uncontrolled risky waste sites. †[ 1 ]Now the Superfund came approximately as a consequence of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980. What brought about the Superfund? This act itself was a merchandise of the assorted dumping sites including the Love Canal and the Times Beach catastrophes. The Love Canal was likely the biggest catastrophe dirt at the clip. The Love Canal was named for William T. Love, who desired to construct a community between upper and lower Niagara River in 1910.[ 2 ]It failed for a few grounds and by the 1920 ‘s had become a dumping land for municipal and industrial waste. The waste country was covered with soil, and was sold by the Hooker Chemical Company to the metropolis for $ 1.00. The metropolis would finally construct over 100 places and 1 school in the country. In 1978, the NY Times ran an article about the chemicals that were being detected in the country. In all 82 compounds were detected in the country ensuing in legion birth defects numbering 22,000 dozenss of toxic waste.[ 3 ]In fact, in one household a grandma had 4 grandchildren, two of whom were born with birth defects. One kid had a birth defect being an excess row of dentitions and cleft lip, while another had an oculus defect.[ 4 ] In mid 1978 there was an detonation and heavy rain autumn followed. After this detonation, big sum of chemicals began to seep/leek and bubble in the land from all over the Love Canal Community. Citizens developed high white blood cell counts and the metropolis was finally abandoned under province orders. President Jimmy Carter issued an exigency fiscal assistance ( the foremost of its sort outside of a natural catastrophe ) , and finally over 200 households moved and the province purchased the places with about 7 million dollars.[ 5 ]This finally led to series of Acts of the Apostless including The Clean Air and Water Acts, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Pesticide Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act ; all of whom are critical in the defence of the wellness of the state. So how does the Superfund work? Well the Superfund was developed in the 1980 ‘s as a consequence of the antecedently mentioned Love Canal Disaster. It gave the authorities the power to coerce companies that polluted countries to besides clean up the countries that they polluted. The job with this though was that many companies merely did non hold the money or had gone out of concern.[ 6 ]As a consequence of this a revenue enhancement was developed on companies that developed toxic waste and this money was placed into a trust fund. This trust fund was called the Superfund, and was utilized as needed for clean up. The Superfund was funded by three chief beginnings ( 1 ) revenue enhancements on net incomes from crude oil ( oil ) companies, ( 2 ) chemical feedstock revenue enhancement ( a revenue enhancement on 42 potentially risky chemicals ) and ( 3 ) a corporate AMT Tax on net incomes.[ 7 ]Other beginnings of support included ( 1 ) U.S. General Treasury, ( 2 ) cost recoveries from defilers, ( 3 ) involvement o n the fund, and ( 4 ) punishments.[ 8 ]Gas companies were peculiarly angered by the fact that they were forced to pay for 50 % of the revenue enhancement while merely being responsible for 20 % of the contaminated sites.[ 9 ]They were besides upset at the fact that many authorities owned countries were major defilers to superfund sites yet were non being taxed at the same rate. In the twelvemonth 1995, against the wants of President Clinton, the Republican controlled Congress ( reacting to industry ailments ) refused to reauthorize the Superfund Tax ( measure defeated 53-43 ) .[ 10 ]This was a alteration in political policy stance by the Republican Party under whom the Superfund Bill was ab initio authorized and passed ( under Republican President Ronald Reagan ) . By 2003, the Superfund was depleted ( from a high of 8.5 billion dollars ) and so President George W. Bush stated that he would non back up a corporate revenue enhancement to further fund the â€Å" Superfund † .[ 11 ]It was stated that much of the Superfund program is wasted on drawn-out judicial proceeding on finding who is responsible for the dearly-won clean up.[ 12 ] Current Status of Superfund Presently, money that has been directed towards the economic stimulation has been used for the Superfund program clean up sites to the melody of $ 600 million dollars.[ 13 ]The Superfund was supposed to be used in the instance of companies who might hold potentially damaged countries throughout the state were n't able to pay. Many companies charge that guiltless parties are the 1s who are being held responsible, but you have companies like Vineland ( no longer in concern ) , that pay a superfund revenue enhancement of about $ 3million dollars and are responsible for over $ 120 million dollars in harm.[ 14 ]Simply put, if a company goes out of concern should they taxpayers who are genuinely guiltless be forced to pay for the clean up? The statement that all makers should n't be held responsible for the wickednesss of the few is merely go throughing the vaulting horse to the authorities and revenue enhancement remunerators. Industries besides argue that some of the Superfund program si tes are the consequence of landfills and storage installations that were used by local authorities and the armed forces.[ 15 ]They fail to recognize that the authorities does non separate between private and public entities when it measures those responsible for clean up ; so public entities are besides held responsible for clean up. The Superfund is a kind of insurance policy ( which the authorities could coerce all chemical and oil companies to take out as a private insurance ) to forestall issues like the Love Canal Tragedy from reoccurring. When companies like Vineland go out of concern and the authorities has an duty to protect the people. As a consequence, the authorities must do step to guarantee clean up whether it is out of taxpayer money or company pooled money. The industry trade association, the American Chemistry Council, steadfastly believes that the Superfund should non be reinstated and all activities related to the Superfund program including killing should come from â€Å" general authorities gross. †[ 16 ] Recently, there has been talk of re-instating the Superfund revenue enhancement[ 17 ]At least 30 % of all Superfund program sites are orphaned sites where the authorities can non turn up those companies who damaged the environment or do n't hold the fundss to execute any kind of clean up.[ 18 ]New Jersey which leads the state with 114 Superfund program sites[ 19 ], has been a beginning of one of the two measures have been proposed to re-instate the Superfund. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J has introduced a measure, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore introduced another measure ( though similar ) to reintroduce the Superfund Tax. Neither of these measures though has made it past the House Committee.[ 20 ]In the Senate, New Jersey Congressman Frank Lautenberg attempted to present a similar Superfund measure, but this died in commission.[ 21 ]This is being opposed vehemently by the American Chemistry Council, which has retained council to forestall the reenactment of the Superfund program jurisp rudence.[ 22 ] The recent budged bundle has included more money dedicated towards the EPA for killing, while suggesting revenue enhancements on certain industries.[ 23 ]Many industries have brought judicial proceeding every bit high as the US Supreme Court in an attempt to cut down the punishments and costs that might be brought against them for possible clean up.[ 24 ]One such instance, brought by Shell Oil Company, and decided 8-1 in favour of the company limits liability or killing from possible damagers whom had limited or minor duty for the pollution.[ 25 ]General Electric, the company responsible for much of the pollution in the Hudson River, has brought judicial proceeding disputing the Constitutionality of the Superfund jurisprudence,[ 26 ]saying that it does non let defilers the opportunity to dispute the punishments.[ 27 ] The recent BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico has besides strengthened the talk of regenerating the Superfund revenue enhancement for a assortment of grounds. This includes the restrictions that exist as a consequence of the Oil Pollution Act, which was passed in 1990 as a consequence of the Exxon Valdez Spill.[ 28 ]The restriction puts a cap of $ 75 million dollars for things outside of clean up costs like lost rewards or touristry dollars, but all killing costs are still the duty of the defiler. It is thought that the current killing could ensue in over $ 10 billion dollars in lost economic activity.[ 29 ] Gowanus Creek Canal The Gowanus Creek Canal has been called the â€Å" shortest † , â€Å" most of import † , â€Å" busiest † , but best known as the one of the â€Å" most contaminated † canals in the state.[ 30 ]It would gain the name Lavender Lake for the violet shade ( due to the oil movie that rested on the surface and acrid olfactory properties ) . In the early 19th century there was an increased demand for addition moorage and navigational infinite in New York City. As a consequence, the Gowanus Creek Canal began as with the mandate by the NY Legislature in 1849, by intensifying and widening the assorted brooks and recesss. It was carved out of tidal wetlands and brook and completed in 1869. It shortly became a busy waterway for a big sum of commercialism[ 31 ]and built up in 1881 to suit shippers and industrial users north of the Hamilton Bridge.[ 32 ]Standing at 1.8 stat mis the Gowanus Canal was a major finish point for Brownstone based in New Jersey. As a consequence you will see countries around the Canal in Brooklyn ( Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook and Park Slope ) with a big sum of brownstone houses. As a consequence of the Canal, there was a immense addition in the edifice of mills, warehouses, tanneries, coal shops, stone/coal paces, pigment, ink flour Millss, soap shapers, cement production, and fabricating gas refineries. In add-on since 1869, the Gowanus Canal has besides served as dumping land for sewerage,[ 33 ]industrial sewerage, refineries and chemical workss.[ 34 ]It was the site where chemical fertilisers were foremost produced.[ 35 ]Gowanus Bay itself was a fabrication centre for ship building and gas storage[ 36 ]( which may hold helped take to the increased pollution of the Canal ) . During this period edifice grew at a rate of about 700 per twelvemonth. Each required a sewerage system which finally emptied into the Gowanus Canal.[ 37 ] Due to the high degree of industrial pollution, big sum of risky stuff has been stuck at the underside of the country in and around the canal every bit good as significant airborne pollution. In 1890, as a consequence of utmost pollution, the Bond Street Sewer Pipe was constructed to let go of sewerage into NY Harbor ( this finally failed to function it ‘s purpose ) . By the terminal of the 19th century to World War I, the canal had over 6 million one-year dozenss of lading produced & A ; trafficked and was as a consequence one of state ‘s busiest ( and arguably most contaminated ) H2O manner in the state. As a consequence of this big combination of industrial pollution, residential pollution, storm H2O run away and stale H2O a call for a clean up was made. The Canal had to be dredged on a regular basis in order to do it navigable due in big fact to the heavy sewerage that on a regular basis entered the waterway.[ 38 ]The metropolis responded by constructing a 12 pes diameter blushing canal to pump some of the sewerage out of the canal ( 1911 ) . In the 1950 ‘s, with increased changed in transporting engineering, New York experienced a major diminution in their industry. This every bit good as the motion of fabricating off from the New York City country led to the shutting of many mills. Last, the building of the Gowanus Expressway and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel led to competition for the canal boats for local transportation[ 39 ]because of the usage of trucks for transportation.[ 40 ]By the 1960 ‘s, the huge bulk of commercial activity was gone. In fact by the 1970 ‘s over 50 % of the belongings at the Gowanus was fresh and derelict[ 41 ]. The flushing tunnel that was used to pull out soiled H2O was broken ( by a metropolis worker who by chance[ 42 ]dropped a manhole screen into it ) . After this the canal became a dumping topographic point for a figure of topographic points including the Mafia. With the so called â€Å" Brownstone Revival † ( during the early 1980 ‘s ) in which many in-between category households left the suburbs to reenter the metropolis, there was a renewed activism to clean up the country.[ 43 ]After the find by scientists of typhus, enteric fever and a deadly strain of cholera in the H2O, the Red Hook sewerage intervention works was constructed ( 1989 ) , every bit good as the re-activation of the flushing tunnel and pump station ( 1999 ) .[ 44 ]The Red Hook intervention works has had mixed consequences in footings of effectivity ( due in big portion to floods in the system ) . With the re-activation of the flushing tunnel in 1999, the metropolis witnessed the first flow of â€Å" fresh † H2O from New York Harbor into the Gowanus Canal in 37 old ages.[ 45 ]The new pump brings in approximately 200 to 300 million gallons of oxygenated H2O into the canal per twenty-four hours.[ 46 ] Current Physical Condition and Possible Solutions Presently merely one company ( Bayside Fuel ) still uses the canal as a commercial waterway. Therefore every bit long as they are contained farther pollution can be prevented via industrial dumping. The canal was so contaminated that STD ‘s ( gonorrhoea in a H2O sample ) have been found in the Canal ( Typhoid and cholera infected the waterway in the 1970s ) .[ 47 ]The wellness hazards to country occupants has served a hurt to possible investors in the country, which resulted in the deficiency of residential, commercial and lodging in the country.[ 48 ]The H2O quality which has improved greatly over the past few old ages does non widen to the deposit ( which has n't been dredged since 1975 ) which remains extremely contaminated.[ 49 ]Dredging itself is no easy undertaking and requires the motion of dirt to a risky containment site.[ 50 ]Even with the improved H2O quality, the EPA ( even in a preliminary appraisal ) has found taint along the full length of the canal ( including pesticides, metals and malignant neoplastic disease doing agents ( PCB ‘s ) ) .[ 51 ] Current thoughts of clean up have included hot topographic point clean up of contaminated countries, taint decrease steps, the creative activity of more wetlands, methods to better H2O quality, and the change of the H2O flow by utilizing hydrology to better H2O quality.[ 52 ]In add-on it is necessary to clean up the land H2O underneath assorted industrial installations to forestall migration of contaminated dust.[ 53 ] The merchandise of the start of the some of the clean up of the canal can be seen with the find of life within the canal including several crustaceans, fish, worms, and Phoxinus phoxinuss ( although the wellness of these animals has yet to be determined ) ,[ 54 ]which did non be even two old ages ago.[ 55 ]56 The increased community and quasi political activism including the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation ( GCCDC ) , the Gowanus Dredgers and Place in History are opening public cognition of the country. Events such as the Gowanus Earth Day Spring Cleaning, Red Hook Earth and Surf Parade, the Brooklyn Waterfront Bicycle Tour, and the Gowanus Oktoberfest have besides increased public consciousness. Other thoughts have included the creative activity of the Gowanus Canal Revitalization Program which has resulted in the creative activity of the three street end public unfastened infinites ( through the metropoliss Green Street Program ) .[ 57 ] In 2002, the US Army Corps of Engineers entered into a joint attempt with the NYC DEP to join forces on a $ 5 million Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study of the Gowanus Canal.[ 58 ]This survey was initiated to assist to find the best methods to clean up the canal. New York City through all of it ‘s attempts did non take into history ( give an exact estimation ) of how much it was responsible for its contributed harm to the Canal. It did though province that it would wish to hold the money that it has besides used for ( 1 ) the feasibleness survey, and ( 2 ) has already committed $ 150 million dollars towards the betterment of the olfactory properties and forestalling sewerage discharges in the country.[ 59 ]The EPA has gone on record as stating that this was work was complimentary.[ 60 ]They have non though made any kind of statement as to whether or non this would be used to cut down the claim against the metropolis. What we should see though is that the metropolis has in fact profited greatly from the economic activity around the canal including but non limited to assorted revenue enhancements ( including belongings, gross revenues, concern, etc ) . A new fright though has arisen with the planned move of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn and the edifice of the new sphere and next lodging ( Barclay ‘s Center ) . With the new inflow of population and industry comes in inflow of sewerage ( which is frequently disposed into the canal. This along with rainwater has many times in the yesteryear led to floods of the system. So who is responsible for clean up? The EPA has designated nine parties as those who are responsible for the clean up of the country including New York City, the US NAVY, Con-Ed, and six other private companies.[ 61 ]There is besides probes on the manner for 20 other companies in the yesteryear who might hold polluted every bit good.[ 62 ]New York City itself was responsible for holding an asphalt mill every bit good as an incinerator which contributed to pollution in the country.[ 63 ] Political Climate in New York Concerning Superfund Status The Gowanus Canal had one of the worse pollution seen by the EPA in every bit many old ages. Walter Mugdan, regional EPA Superfund Director, was quoted as stating â€Å" Where we usually in Superfund sites may mensurate risky contaminations in parts per million or even parts per billion, in the Gowanus Canal, we ‘re mensurating them in parts per hundred. †[ 64 ]The â€Å" sludge † that was taken from the site was so acerb that it ate right through the heavy responsibility plastic that was used to incorporate it over the class of a weekend.[ 65 ] Now the Gowanus Canal is n't the first country in New York City to be declared a Superfund site. In fact, 197 stat mis of the Hudson River, runing from the Hudson Falls to the Southern Tip of Manhattan, was declared a Superfund site over 25 old ages ago.[ 66 ] New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, admits that the Gowanus Canal needs to be cleaned. He is though against the Gowanus Canal being labeled a Superfund site fearing that it could ( 1 ) flicker of judicial proceeding that could detain clean up, ( 2 ) frighten away developers in an country that the metropolis wanted to rezone for commercial and residential usage.[ 67 ]The thought of making a â€Å" Venice of Brooklyn, †[ 68 ]seems to be a spot far fetched but the thought of one would in fact conveying a possible existent estate roar to the country. The EPA counters that the â€Å" a smelly, foul and unhealthy waterway †[ 69 ]could be more of a hindrance to developers in the country. What the metropolis did n't see is that Bankss consider the environmental conditions of belongingss prior to financing them. It is unfastened and public cognition that the Gowanus Canal is a contaminated country. So the appellation of a Superfund program listing will make a stigma is weake ned.[ 70 ] Litigation is surely a possibility. Many companies merely do n't be any more, and at that place have been a figure of instances where companies have tried to detain or even dispute the monetary value ticket of clean up. GE ‘s current two measure escape path ( one jurisprudence suit with two statements ) via judicial proceeding is a primary illustration of a current company that is seeking to avoid paying or earnestly cut down paying in a local country.[ 71 ] In the yesteryear, some of the wellness hazards have served as hurt to the edifice of residential, commercial and lodging[ 72 ], but by rezoning this may be challenged. This fear though may be ameliorated by the fact that some past Superfund sites in the New York City metro country have become premier illustrations of great development including Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, NY.[ 73 ] Michael Bloomberg states that his alternate clean-up method could take every bit small as 9.5 old ages at a cost of approximately $ 300 million dollars. The EPA countered that the killing and support is based on funding from the Federal Government which may non of all time come ( since the federal financess would necessitate congressional blessing[ 74 ]) .[ 75 ]The EPA counters that its program will take away from federal funding and ensures that the â€Å" defiler wages † rule is applied ( since the metropolis has no power to force defilers to pay and itself a defiler ) .[ 76 ]The EPA provinces that clean up should be between 300 and 500 million dollars and take between 10 to 12 old ages.[ 77 ]The City does hold one strong advantage in footings of velocity of the undertaking. The metropolis would get down clean up of the Canal get downing November of 2010 and entire completion would be by 2020.[ 78 ]The EPA ‘s program would affect the usage of a plan/strategy, which wou ld be completed by 2014, and the clean up would take 10 to 12 old ages from that point. This would ensue in a clean up completion day of the month of 2026. What the metropolis might genuinely be in fright of is the possibility of the Gowanus Canal turning into another Love Canal Tragedy ( which took about 25 old ages to clean up ) .[ 79 ]With a hodgepodge of resources ( the metropolis would come in into an understanding with 10-12 companies and depend on metropolis & A ; province taxpayer dollars and federal appropriations[ 80 ]) every bit good at New York State itself back uping the Superfund appellation ( believing that it could non back up to clean up the canal by itself ) the metropolis faced another blow to an already weak place.[ 81 ] Ultimately, the EPA designated the Gowanus Canal a Superfund program site. With this appellation some of the proposed development such as the upwards of 477 condo and townhouses were instantly placed on clasp.[ 82 ]The undertaking proprietor stated that with the Superfund program appellation it would be impossible to acquire funding for the undertaking.[ 83 ]Second, the selling of existent estate units to a Superfund program site which is synonymous to some people to a barren is virtually impossible.[ 84 ]Third, the trouble in obtaining insurance can be a immense factor in the building in the country.[ 85 ]They besides argued with uncertainness on how long it may take to clean up the country valuable time/money resources could be wasted.[ 86 ]Gowanus Green, which has planned to construct over 774 more lodging in the country plans to go on with its undertaking. It should be noted that Gowanus Green is to a great extent financed by New York City.[ 87 ] In entire until the Superfund program appellation was to look the planned extra lodging was to be around 1400 houses ; although with clean up it is estimated it could lift to 3000 extra lodging in entire.[ 88 ]With such big extra lodging though we must see if the substructure can back up this. Are at that place adequate H2O, sewerage, parking, and educational installations available to back up such an extra population? Merely because the country can be cleaned and there is adequate infinite to construct a population does non needfully intend the substructure can to the full back up this. In add-on there are other considerations that must be taken into history. These considerations include wellness attention costs and possible judicial proceeding if ( 1 ) an unknown agent is deemed to be a cause of a possible hereafter wellness hazard, and ( 2 ) if judicial proceeding occurs that could forestall the EPA from traveling frontward at a alert gait. Concerns of implosion therapy ( which is what happened at the Love Canal and is a existent possibility sing the past events of deluging ) and oozing into occupants back paces is a strong concern. The bead in belongings value and the loss or possible occupations could ensue in the loss of 1000000s of dollars. There is the alternate point of view that the importance of the clean up should supplant any belongings value loss or occupation loss.[ 89 ]This though may be a beginning of judicial proceeding that may decelerate the undertaking of the clean up down well. In other Superfund program sites, judicial proceeding has slowed advancement of Superfund program clean up ( as in the town of Libby, Minnesota ) .[ 90 ]Surveies have farther shown that there does be decreased belongings value listings following a Superfund program listing, but after clean up belongings value does increase ( many times to flush higher degrees that it had originally been ) .[ 91 ] Beginning NYS Dept of Health[ 92 ] Beginning NYS Dept of Health[ 93 ]