E - French Pronunciation of E

E - French Pronunciation of E The French letter E can be pronounced several different ways - such as the schwa sound, a long A sound, and short E sounds. Below are examples of the different sounds and sound files to hear the way theyre spoken. Examples of the Various E Sounds Like the E in angel (like a schwa) - listen. This sound is often heard in single syllable words like le, me, etc.Like the vowel sound in weigh except without the y sound at the end - listen. This sound occurs in the following:E with an acute accent: à ©tà ©E in an open syllable (i.e., a syllable that ends in a vowel sound): trajetthe verb endings -er and -ez: manger, veuillez.Like the E in bed - listen. This sound is found in the following:E with a grave accent: exprà ¨sE with a circumflex: tà ªteE followed by a double consonant: belleE in a closed syllable (a syllable that ends in a consonant sound): septAn unaccented E at the end of a word is called an E muet and may or may not be pronounced. French Words With E Click on the links below to hear the words pronounced in French: le  (the)à ©tà ©Ã‚  (summer)manger  (to eat)veuillez  (please)exprà ¨s  (on purpose)tà ªte  (head)belle  (beautiful)sept  (seven)

The Connotation of Opportunistic

The Connotation of Opportunistic The Connotation of Opportunistic The Connotation of Opportunistic By Maeve Maddox Thanks to reader Rob Wright for pointing out the problematic use of the word opportunistic. He offers two examples of its misuse: 1. A radio advertisement telling listeners, â€Å"now is an opportunistic time to invest in real estate.† 2. A television host defending someone against the charge of â€Å"being opportunistic.† The host argued, â€Å"everyone should be opportunistic because it would be stupid to throw away opportunities.† The problem in both examples is that the word opportunistic is being used without regard to the word’s established negative connotations. opportunistic: Taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit. (American Heritage) opportunistic: Exploiting opportunities with little regard to principle or consequences. (Merriam-Webster) The OED defines opportunistic as â€Å"involving, displaying, or characterized by opportunism.† and opportunism as â€Å"the practice or policy of exploiting circumstances or opportunities to gain immediate advantage with the implication of cynicism or lack of regard to principles.† This misunderstanding of the negative connotation of opportunistic is apparently widespread. An investing site has as its tagline: â€Å"Emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments.† A wrestler preparing for a match says, â€Å"I dont want to think too much in there. I want to be more opportunistic and let it flow.† A headline on another investment site exclaims, â€Å"The Intel of NFC: One ‘Ground Floor’ Stock Every Opportunistic Investor Should Snap Up Today.† Other sites, many of them having to do with antisocial behavior, employ opportunistic in its more usual sense. Bullieslack self-discipline, are egotistic, exploitative,  rapacious, opportunistic, driven, reckless, and callous. (site with the title, â€Å"Coping with Stalking and Stalkers†) Narcissists are opportunistic. They can make a show of being generous but their generosity usually has strings attached. (Support site for people who have family members suffering from a personality disorder.) Several English words having to do with opportunity derive from the same Latin source as opportunistic: ob portum veniens, a term that referred to coming into a port, where opportunities for profit were to be found. opportune: adj.  Appropriate or suitable for a particular action; fit, convenient. opportuneness: noun The fact or quality of being opportune (in various senses); timeliness. opportunely: adv. In an opportune manner; suitably, conveniently. These words lack the pejorative connotation of opportunistic. For example, the radio announcer might have said â€Å"now is an opportune time to invest in real estate.† The television host might reasonably admire people for acting opportunely when a profitable occasion presents itself. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should KnowA While vs AwhileOne Scissor?

High Cost Xerox Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

High Cost Xerox - Essay Example According to Slatter, there are six major sources of cost disadvantage which can lead to a firm having to charge higher prices than its competitors.Let us analyze and apply the six factors illustrated by Slatter, to the Xerox corporation to get a better picture of the negative consequences of high over head costs: Due to staggering assets and international ventures that this long standing company had accumulated over the past few decades, Xerox's cash position had become tenuous. Its liquidity had deteriorated to the point where capital markets froze Xerox out. Cash is king in an economy in recession. like in 2000,and Xerox was crippled with assets without cash flow. High overhead costs piled up due management's obsession with expensive quality control measures during a fairly weak financial position. A perfect quality index while being admirable ,costs a lot of money. The trade-offs associated with 100% quality proved to be too large ,leading Xerox to increase its pricing scheme ,thus creating a negative competitive position. Some international and even local markets were not willing to pay the price for quality especially when Japanese low cost ,high quality products began invading the market. Xerox's biggest weakness proved to be its financial situation, and specifically the heavy debt and the low profitability. The organization was too large leading to huge over head costs.Unlike its competitors who were concentrating on more advanced and diversified technology, Xerox employees were living in the past inspite of Xerox's attempts at diversification.They still were focused on being a copier company rather than a profitable documentation company or a modern information technology company. This resulted in loss of direction .Like all giant companies, it was difficult for talented innovators and entrepreneurs to survive, and instead the mediocrity had taken over and threatened the company from the inside. The once thriving copier division was still too influential and vetoed other innovative projects .(Johan Olsson,january 1996). This made Xerox have weak credibility on the IT-business side lending it a less sophisticated image than its competition. 2. Absolute cost disadvantages which result from competitors controlling strategic variable not available to the firm itself: Let us take the example of the Japanese company Canon,which proved to be Xerox's biggest and cleverest opponent. As a late entrant in the copier market, Canon was forced to concentrate on niches where Xerox was weak. One of these was the low end, which Canon attacked with a series of progressively smaller machines, culminating, in 1982, with the launch of the personal copier. Copiers were notorious for breaking down, a propensity Xerox exploited by charging for service calls. Canon realized that to be successful, a personal copier would not only have to be cheap, it would also have to be virtually service free. Canon's revolutionary solution was to include all the key components - drum, charger,

Minimum wage of USA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Minimum wage of USA - Assignment Example Pluralism thereby enables the coexistence of diverse interest groups. The second component of the theory is neocorporatism which defines the relationship that exists between interest groups and the government. Therefore cooperation between the interest groups and the government provides consistency in the formulation and implementation of policies for example financial policies. The primary focus of neocorporatism is on policies that directly relate to the economy. Negotiations involving various policies involve three parties including the business sector, labor sector and the government. Liaison between these parties must precede implementation of the policies in question. Pluralism advocates for coexistence of various interest groups in relation to inherent competition. This affects the potential passage of the bill in that if there is ambient coexistence amongst the interest groups, the bill is likely to go through especially when the groups are in agreement. Coexistence amongst the interest groups also makes policy coordination easier thereby the bill can be adequately debated by the interest groups on whether or not the minimum wage bill should be passed. This makes the procedure less cumbersome and the bill is likely to undergo passage if the groups are in agreement. On the contrary, if there is absence of pluralism then the interest groups may not coexist. What this means is that the possibility of passage of the bill is subject to various difficulties hence. For instance, lack of coexistence within the groups would mean that the groups cannot discuss and reach an agreement of whether to pass or reject the bill. The reason for this is the fact that, absence of coexistence makes coordination of the different interest groups difficult. As a result, the bill passing process will experience protraction and the passing of the bill is less likely (Stănculescu and Stanovnik, 2009). If passage of the bill reaches the implementation

Compare and contrast two social media websites, for example Facebook Essay

Compare and contrast two social media websites, for example Facebook and Twitter, in terms of use and functions provided - Essay Example The internet has become a major platform for socialization through several social sites available these days. Some of the social sites available include Facebook, twitter, Instagram, whatsapp and 2go. Through these sites, the world has been reduced into a small location where people easily interact and share what they have. Though they are of advantage of bringing people together to share constructive views and news, social sites have been in criticization for bringing up bad vices to the community. Some user may become addicted to social sites and chats until they become antisocial. They are a major revolution in the current century. The information about the social sites and their effects comes from the general understanding of the functioning of the sites and their seen effects on daily human life. The work is a combination of daily experiences with research works from libraries both virtual and physical. A real life example is also an inclusion in the work. The effects analyzed herein are trivial to some extend but they do affect the comfort ability of users and the site’s reputation in general. From the research, it was found and the researchers came to conclusion that Facebook is the most widely used social platform. It has a membership of about 1.15billion users worldwide. The result for this discovery was because Facebook was found to provide more customization options and was less official. During the research, several analyses on the contents from the sites were made and it came to conclusion that more than 2.95billion pieces of information are available for sharing daily on the platforms. Social vices were also in notification during the study. Some of the vices did include cyber bullying and this, as was discovered latter, was a vice mostly from teenagers. Below is a fact box that shows a summary of some of the data and facts that were under study during the research. The current century, always known as the digital century is a time when

Child Labour: Causes and Impacts

Child Labour: Causes and Impacts Child labour is a global issue that is becoming increasingly common in modern society due to implicating factors such as labour law/ employment protection, poverty, and the economy (i.e. supply and demand for goods and services). Child labour refers to the employment of young people in jobs that are considered to be illegal and/or exploitive. Including (however not limited to): agriculture, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, prostitution/sexual exploitation and domestic service. This map in which displays the 2014 child labour index has data categories ranging between Extreme Risk, High Risk, Medium Risk, Low Risk and no data/ not applicable. There are concentrations of extreme risk areas across the entire world, centralized in predominantly Northern South America i.e. Brazil and Bolivia, Central America i.e. Mexico and Guatemala, The majority of Africa excluding anomalies sparsely scattered on the periphery of Africa (predominantly in the extreme Northern and extreme Southern area s) including South Africa, Libya and Gabon, Far East Europe, Northern and Southern Asia excluding central countries such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and random scatterings in South-East Asia. The top three extreme risk counties in the world are located in the Northeastern periphery of Africa (Eritrea), The Eastern North East periphery of Africa (Somalia) and lastly the core of Africa (Democratic republic of Congo). This displays a central clustered pattern of extreme risk areas in Africa on a global scale. High-risk zones are scattered randomly across the globe, including: within the remainder of South America (the areas that have not already been mentioned as extreme risk), Southern Africa, far Eastern Europe and the remainder of Asia (the areas that have not already been mentioned as extreme risk). Areas that are of low or medium risk include Central and Northern North America, Central and Western Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Lastly there are anomalies in which have no data regarding their child labour statistics including but not limited to: Western Sahara and Greenland. This can be as a result of low population and therefore sparse data collection, data censorship, or in terms of less economically developed countries, not enough funding. Overall the pattern is generally clustered in the core, South-western and North-eastern segments of the map with a holistically dense scattering of child labour across the globe. Factors Poverty Poverty can be defined as a state of being extremely ‘poor’, having inadequate living necessities such as: food, water, shelter, money, goods or means of support. The particular factor of child labour has helped to shape the pattern of this global issue as displayed through the relation between their patterns. Concentrations of risk for child labour are generally compliant to that of poverty rate, the relation being that as poverty rate increases, so does Child labour risk. With the exception of certain anomalies, which do not comply with the shared general trend of poverty and child, labour e.g. China. The most prominent concentrations of child labour on a global scale can be found in Africa with the top three worst recorded child labour index’s being centralized in: Eritrea, Somalia and the Democratic republic of Congo. This relates to multiple independent studies on the poverty rate, which suggest that the proportion of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa is currentl y the highest in the world, therefore showing an interaction between the three highest risk areas for child labour, and poverty rate. Other global regions poverty statistics (apart from Sub-Saharan Africa) which are displayed in the graph of ‘Extreme Poverty Falls in Every Region of the Developing World’ include: Asia (excluding India), South-Eastern Asia, Eastern Asia (China only) Western Asia, Latin America (and the Caribbean), Sub-Saharan Africa and lastly Northern Africa. All of the regions mentioned for being of the worst poverty rates in the world correspond directly to the concentrations of extreme risk and high risk (high risk being the minority) child labour regions, therefore finalizing the proof of a relationship between poverty and Child labour. Countries that are considered as below the poverty line consist of families within financial struggle who are unable to obtain a sustainable income and further-more basic living necessities such as sanitation, safe-d rinking water, food, and shelter. This lack of essential human requirements results in a need for alternate finance, which in some cases is then derived from their children. They are forced to expose their children to child labour in order to gain finance to support their families, which shows a direct interaction between poverty and child labour. However there are also other aspects of poverty in which lead to child labour including lack of education. Lack of education being one of the many measures of poverty, which can result in children being used for cheap labour as opposed to gaining an education. Lack of education occurs due to either communal financial struggle meaning that they are unable to fund a schooling system or individual financial struggle in which individual families cannot afford to send their children to school which once again results in their children becoming victims of child labour. Labour law/ employment protection The labour law/ employment protection within a country is a primary contributor to the pattern of child labour risk globally. This is because a country in which has un protected worker rights, is a country that leaves their citizens helpless against employment exploitation such as child labour. There are a number of independent studies that take place with regards to employment rights, one of which is carried out by The Institute of Global Labour and Human Rights. This institute acts to investigate employment protection and rights amongst developing countries. Developing nations are under scrutiny for their labour laws more so than developed nations as less economically developed countries tend to be more prone to seeking out cheap labour due to their still developing businesses and corporations. Still developing in the sense that they are a predominantly primary industry meaning that the profit from their efforts in minimal as they are not selling a final product (which is where the majority of profit is coming in from) and rather are a small part of a larger process. Another reason this study focuses on whether or not less economically developed countries in particular abide by the labour laws in place is because often one of the reasons for a country being less developed is due to government instability which influences enforcement of labour laws. This is because an instable government tends to have less general control over its citizens therefore making them less likely to be able to enforce laws upon civilians and protect the rights of their workers, maximising chance of human rights breach. In the same breath, bribery is also often present within an instable government meaning that corporations often have the ability to use bribery in exchange for the dismissal of their employment exploitation. Less economically developed regions are located approximately within: Latin America, Southern Asia, Far Eastern Europe, and Africa. These regions are all densely c lustered with child labour at both high and extreme risk levels, displaying an interaction between the areas under suspicion for labour rights breach and the areas of high/extreme risk of child labour. This therefore shows the implications that labour laws and employment rights can have on child labour, because (as discussed previously) the areas that are less developed are at higher risk of their labour laws being breached due to the requirement for cheap labour amongst developing nations combined with the possibility of government instability which results in lack of protection for workers. However more developed countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and Canada in which have a stable democratic political leaders, have laws placed with the intent of protecting the rights of workers rights, and they have the ability to enforce these laws. These same developed countries are also included in the low risk concentrations of child labour dispersed globally once again displaying the d irect interaction between a countries labour laws/ employment rights and the pattern displaying risk of child labour on a global spectrum. Economy The economy plays a huge part in shaping the pattern of child labour found globally, the sparsely and densely concentrated areas as well as the general dispersal. The success of a world economy can result in child labour in a number of different ways, such as through supply and demand, and general economic change. The general increase in global economy creates competition between countries in order to produce and sell more goods and services in order to enable economic stability within the country and create more employment opportunities. However this increased magnitude of employment opportunities is one of the factors in which helped to shape the pattern of child labour globally. This is due to the fact that the economic growth occurring in present times in developed countries enhances the demand for goods and services to be produced at a low cost.. The demand for commodities to be produced at a low price is one of the influences of child labour within less economically developed n ations. This is because although goods and services are readily accessible to developed countries, they demand for less costly commodities which is produced through one or multiple different less economically developed countries before being exported to a more developed country which then sells it for a far greater profit than what they initially obtained it for, strengthening the economy of already developed nations and depleting the economy of less developed nations. Less economically developed regions are located approximately within: Latin America, Southern Asia, Far Eastern Europe, and Africa. These regions are all densely clustered with child labour at both high and extreme risk levels, due to the economic factors previously discussed. However, this is not the only trend that has helped form the global pattern of child labour. Urbanisation is a process, which by extension, can result in a higher risk of child labour. This is because within less developed countries, the population is often self-sufficient or work in independent agricultural businesses. However due to peoples perspectives on the gradual improvement of the economic environment, and the benefits of a paying job versus a self-sufficient farming life, urbanisation rates are increasing and people are progressing from being self-sufficient to dependent on an employer and income. However as a result of the ever-changing economic environment, urbanisation is risky as often, due to the fluctuations of economy they risk unemployment, which can lead to poverty and their children being forced into child labour as a result, which displays how the economy with relation to urbanisation, helps shape the pattern of child labour globally. Significance Economic The significance of child labour on the economy is enormous in terms of the affects that it has on the economy. Despite child labour being a form of modern slavery, which is highly illegal and inhumane, it generally has a positive affect on the global economy. This is because regions in which practice child labour have the ability to greaten their GDP as they are generally producing and exporting commodities at a faster rate and a greater magnitude. This allowing for an economic increase within the countries affected by child labour. More economically developed countries also receive economic benefits as a result of child labour as they are able to imports goods at a far cheaper rate than if the commodities had come from a corporation in which pays their workers a higher salary, spends more money on safety precautions, facilities and materials/supplies. This improves the economy, as developed countries are able to spend less money on the imported items and there fore expand to a grea ter profit margin, further developing their corporations and businesses, economic environment. Although the economic affects of child labour are generally positive, there are negative aspects including the fact that because the products are coming from these primary industries in which have few resources and sparsely educated, pre-adolescent staff, the goods are not always of the same quality/ value that they would have been, had they have been made in better conditions by a more knowledgeable staff. The affect of this lack of quality is that some corporations will opt for a more expensive alternative that tends to last longer as opposed to buying the products produced by cheap labour, which would ultimately reverse the positive affects of child labour. However this reigns true only for a minority allowing to conclude the significance of child labour within the economy in predominantly positive. Social The significance of child labour socially in terms of a global spectrum can include aspects such as: Dehumanisation, Breech of human rights, and the promotion of child exploitation/abuse (especially within families and communities). As a result of child labour, socially, we are dehumanising both the recipients of child labour produced products as well as the children who are being exposed to this form of labour. This is due to the fact that the people who are receiving these products are often knowledgeable of its origins, and still choose to purchase it regardless. Also, children who are working in child labour environments are trapped within a form of modern slavery in which they are forced and obligated to complete work tasks in which are out of the normal social guidelines for their age: i.e. getting an education and developing their social skills. This leads to dehumanisation as child labour has changed social regulations in order to make it appropriate to dismiss the compassion and sympathy that humans are meant to feel for each other. Another social implication is the fact that child labour is a clear breech of human rights, as any involuntary act that a person is forced to do is against their right as a human-being, as well as the fact that often they are denied their education, social life, and childhood, which is also a breech of their rights. Lastly, the occurrence of child labour promotes exploitation and abuse amongst families and entire communities. Often child labour is caused by parents who send their children into labour due to the fact that they need the extra salary in order to survive, regardless of this fact, a parent sending their children into child labour is a form a abuse as they are exploiting their children in order to gain finance. The same can be said for a community who allows child labour to occur, displaying the social significance of child labour on a global spectrum. Bibliography: Galli, R. (2001). The Economic impact of child labour. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/dgreports/inst/documents/publication/wcms_193680.pdf Multiple authors from ILO, Child Labour. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/langen/index.htm Srivastava, Kalpana. Child Labour Issues and Challenges. Industrial Psychiatry Journal. Medknow Publications Media Pvt Ltd, 2011. Web. 5 May 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3425238/>. Latest Products and Reports. Child Labour Index. Maplecroft, 2013. Web. 2 May 2015. http://maplecroft.com/portfolio/new-analysis/2013/10/15/child-labour-risks-increase-china-and-russia-most-progress-shown-south-america-maplecroft-index/>. Naeem, Zahid, Faiza Shaukat, and Zubair Ahmed. Child Labor in Relation to Poverty. International Journal of Health Sciences. Qassim University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2011. Web. 2 May 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3533357/>. Varma, Bhakati. Child Labour and Its Impact on Economic Growth. Child Labour and Its Impact on Economic Growth. Slideshare, 2011. Web. 5 May 2015. http://www.slideshare.net/BhaktiVarma/child-labour-and-its-impact-on-economic-growth-9225274>.

Virginia Woolfs To The Lighthouse †Role of Wife and Mother Essay

To the Lighthouse – Role of Wife and Mother Woolf portrays the character of Mrs. Ramsay as a self sacrificing woman and mother as defined through her interactions with men: Charles Tansley, Mr. Carmichael, Paul, Mr. Bankes, Mr. Ramsay, and James. During Mrs. Ramsay's lifetime she is admired by most of these men, and is continually striving to be esteemed by all of them, at any sacrifice to herself. Although there is goodness in Mrs. Ramsay, not unselfishly given, there are also rising questions of this representation of mother by Woolf, primarily put forth through the characters of Lily and Mrs. Ramsay's daughters. In thinking about herself as a mother, Mrs. Ramsay says that, "She often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions."(p.32) She is the person responsible for appeasing the worries of her husband and caring for the needs of her children, not to mention the stray people, mostly men, for whom she cares. In this particular paragraph, she defines what is to be a woman, wife, and mother in England at the beginning of the centu...