Long Distance Trade for the Roman and Han Empires Essay

Long Distance Trade for the Roman and Han Empires - Essay Example The much famous Silk Road route was properly established during the Han Dynasty (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2014, p. 133). The continually soaring demand for silk from the Roman Empire did intensify the commercial traffic in Central Asia. The Roma traders sailed as far as the Western ports of India to purchase the Chinese silk (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2014, p. 118). When the Han Empire conquered the territories in Southwest China, this did give impetus to the long distance trade extending as far as Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2014, 135). There existed much demand for the silk and gold produced by the Han Empire. Going by the commercial importance and power of the Han Empire, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius did send a trade mission to China to bolster the trade relations between the two Empires (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2014). The Han merchants also carried silk as far as to India and traded it for the Indian spices, gems, gold, silver, cotton, perfumes, incense, pe arls, and any array of other commodities. Long distance trade did play a major role in strengthening the Han Empire and enhancing its prosperity and affluence. The Roman Empire happened to be a big source of goods that were manufactured and mined along the Mediterranean Basin. To carry on the trade with Central Asia and Europe, the Romans built and extensive network of roads which gave an impetus to the long distance trade in the Roman Empire (McNeill & McNeill, 2003, p. 114). The Romans were also good at drafting detailed maps which happened t o be quiet accurate. The ingenuity of Roman business acumen could be noticed by the fact that the Romans did make efforts to connect the road networks with the important sea routes in their domain to assure smooth and hassle free trade (McNeill & McNeill, 2003). The Silk Road happened to be an important bridge that connected the Han and the Roman Empire.

Economics - Supply and Demand of Beef in the United States Essay Example for Free

Economics Supply and Demand of Beef in the United States Essay Imagine a life with no hamburger or milk. How would this make you feel? Do you think you would be able to survive? I know I wouldn’t be able to. Both milk and red meat are important in a daily diet. These two items come from cattle. Cattle and beef in general are a necessity to everyday living. â€Å"The importance of beef cattle in the agriculture of this country rests chiefly upon their ability to convert coarse forage, corn, grass, and other products of the land, wither unfit or not wanted for human consumption, into a valuable and much-desired food. Lets face it, we aren’t going to be eating grass or grain pellets anytime soon. Cattle eat grain pellets, grass, forage, and other stuff that humans don’t consume. The cow has a much more desirable flavor inside. Can you picture now eating a juicy prime rib sandwich? This is just one of the many items a cow produces. Local farmers in rural communities are working hard to produce the high demands for beef. â€Å"Hamburger meat from one steer would equal 720 quarter-pound hamburgers, enough for a family of four to enjoy hamburgers each day for nearly six months. They are looking ways to produce higher quality beef. The cattle producers are now artificially inseminating the cattle with better genetics to help make the quality of beef higher. According to Present and Future Applications of DNA Technologies to Improve Beef Production, substantial improvements in production efficiency and quality of beef and dairy products have been made possible through manipulation of bov ine genetics. Milk comes from cows and that’s what gives you strong bones and lower carbohydrates which are essential for everyone’s daily diet. Also beef is the number one source of zinc in the human diet. The meat is filled with nutrients that help your body get what it needs to stay healthy. It is an excellent way to keep your immune system going strong and not feeling sick, weak, or tired all the time. Being healthy not only makes you look better on the outside, but also on the inside. Being healthy helps with depression, and eating red meat and getting the essential nutrients helps with all of this. Being a cattle raiser myself, I know that there are many factors to consider when producing the cattle that produce the meat. Many people say that cows are wasting the land and that their waste is filling up the land space and causing the manure to destroy the land. This is false. The manure that the cow lets out is extremely vital to the pasture. It is a great fertilizer and gives the nutrients that land needs most. This helps with growing crops as well as flowers and plants.

The Successful Repositioning of Lucozade Essay -- GCSE Business Manage

The Successful Repositioning of Lucozade Lucozade has successfully repositioned itself in the market. Describe and analyse the marketing strategy used by the business to increase profit? A recent report on the UK Market for sports and energy drinks showed that the category has continued to grow at an explosive rate with more than 20 launches and relaunches in that market alone last year. Probably one of the most successful relaunches of the 1990s was the repositioning of Lucozade from a health drink to a sports drink. Lucozade is now one of the most widely recognized brands in Britain, but it has taken a long time to get, so we have to ask ourselves – How did this happen? Lucozade has been around since the 1920s and was originally sold as glocozade glucose based energy drink for sick children. Later it was rebranded as lucozade and again marketed as a health drink, something you would drink when your energy levels needed boosting such as when you were sick or visiting someone in hospital who was sick; again you would take them a bottle of lucozade. However from the 1990s lucozade rebranded and also extended their brand name Lucozade sport and later Lucozade energy, this rebrand happened for a reason and was part of a strategic marketing campaign to coincide with changes in people’s perception of work, sport and general social attitudes. More often than not, it is social changes, technology and science that push a product in a certain direction...

Competitive advantage through employees Essay

Organizations that seek to gain competitive advantage through employees must be able to manage their performance. A 360-degree feedback process is a popular means of managing and improving organizational performance. This method means a person receives feedback from a full circle of other people who work around him or her, which includes peers, subordinates, supervisor and even themselves (Atwater & Brett, 2006). The 360-degree approach recognizes that little change can be expected without feedback, and that different constituencies are a source of rich and useful information to help managers guide their behavior. In a traditional performance evaluation, such as supervisor-subordinate, the supervisor tends to look at a person’s performance from an evaluative viewpoint. In 360-degree reviews, the purpose is more from a feedback viewpoint, which can help the organization to increase or gain competitive advantages by providing feedback to leaders and managers. For instance, a subordinate’s perspective likely will be distinctly different from that of the supervisor. Furthermore, Research has shown that 360-degree feedback can enhance communications and performance (Bernardin & Beatty, 1987). Because it gives a sense to employees that their opinions had been actively sought and heard, which ultimately led to a more open and communicative environment (Carson, 2006). However, misuse of the 360-degree feedback, can lead to hurt feelings, increased anxiety, and even loss of key personnel (Carlson, 2006). What’s more, preparation and implementation of 360-degree feedback is costly as investing time and money. And the process may generate tension between the manager and those who provide ratings (Hautaluoma, et al, 1992). Further, it may set up potential conflict by highlighting the need to be â€Å"different things to different people†. As a result, negative information becomes more powerful and difficult to deny, especially when raters agree; and easy to distort or perceive selectively, especially when raters disagree. In conclusion, regarding to the 360-degree feedback, how it can be used to add great value to organizational effectiveness and development, depends very much on the organizational culture how you implement it and how you can use the results. References: Carson, M 2006, ‘Saying it like isn’t: The pros and cons of 360-degree feedback’, Business horizons, vol. 49, pp. 395-402 Kramar, R, Bartram, T, Cieri, De Cieri, H, Noe, RA, Hollenbeck, JR, Gerhart, B, & Wright, PM, 2014, Human Resource Management in Australia,5th Edition, Mc-Graw Hill, North Ryde, NSW. Lepsinger, R. & Lucia, A.D. 1997, 360 degree feedback and performance appraisal, Minneapolis. London, M & Beatty, Richard, W 1993, ‘360-Degree Feedback as a Competitive Advantage’, Human Resource Management, vol. 32, issue 2/3, pp. 353-372, 20p, 6 Diagrams

How Life Gets Better While People Feel the Same

I’m pretty sure all of us are familiar with the cliche, â€Å"money can’t buy happiness. † In Gregg Easterbrook book The Progress Paradox he tries to understand why a small variances of this cliche is so. The paradox that underlies Easterbrook’s venture is that through out the last fifty years, things have improved in the United States and Europe, by all objective standards. All though during same time, surveys of happiness and satisfaction have not changed since the fifties.Easterbrook’s main question through out the book asking has the objective measures of the well being of man kind increased while overall satisfaction of people and happiness have remained constant? In the three beginning chapters of this book Easterbrook spends a lot of time looking at surveys depicting the various objective measures that show a pretty much steady increase of progress. I found these chapters entertaining to read because it brings to light a huge range of facts a nd statistics that add support to his idea that things are constantly improving.Easterbrook goes on about how the crime rate is falling, the state of the environment is improving, we are gaining intelligence, equality is increasing and economic situations have improved. Crime, both violent and property have been in decline for 20 years. Current crime rates are probably the lowest in the history of the country. The environment has been improving in every area except green house gases. We have the cleanest air since the beginning of the industrial revolution and the cleanest water since Man was a hunter and gatherer. n the statistics discussed, Easterbrook references a 1996 poll that resulted in 52% of the respondents saying the United States was worse now than when their parents were growing up and 60% said they expected their children to live in an even worse country. Only 15% of the respondents believed that overall national conditions were improving (Easterbrook, 2004). In 1997, 6 6% of Americans reported that they believed â€Å"the lot of the average person is getting worse† (Easterbrook, 2004). Easterbrook raises the question â€Å"How is this possible† with the dramatic increase in overall general progress.Along with discussing the statistics of the many surveys, Easterbrook also gives the reader possible reasons for the so-called paradox. One of the possible reasons he gives is â€Å"choice anxiety. † When looking back on the past a lot of people had very few options due to limited income and limited availability of goods and services. But Easterbrook fights that there is flip side to the stress that comes from having to many options, just like not having enough options can be stressful as well.With the constant increase in the range of goods and services available even the easiest choices can become stressful. Easterbrook states this because a consumer can never really be sure if they are making the correct decision causing stress a nd unhappiness. Another possible reason Easterbrook gives is â€Å"Abundance denial. † This means that no matter how much individuals actually have materially, they will never view them as being â€Å"well-off†, which is constantly making people unhappy and stress out. Easterbrook states that a most Americans think of only the rich as being â€Å"well-off. This brings me to my favorite statistic my favorite statistic: there have been around sixty billion people who ever lived, the 600 million who live in western democracies such as Europe, North America, Japan and Australia live better than anyone else in history (better housing, medical care, nutrition etc. )(Easterbrook, 2004). Since my standard of living is considered about average that means that I live better than 99. 5% of people who have ever lived. We are the one percenters, as far as the history of the world goes. Our current one percenters live better than 99. 9% of people, ever. One more possible reason is â€Å"collapse anxiety,† the widespread fear that the prosperity of the United States and Europe may come to an end due to an economic crash, environmental problems, terrorism or some other catastrophe. Even though individuals are better off that constant notion that it is unmanageable leads to people being unhappy and unsatisfied. It’s hard for people to sit back and really appreciate things when they are in constant fear that it could someday end. Lastly he considers â€Å"the revolution of satisfied expectations† as a possible explanation.He refers this to as the uneasiness that follows items that an individual once dreamed of having. Easterbrook states that during the last century western life has been categorized by ever increasing expectations, with each generation expecting to have more than the previous generation. In today’s day and age we have reached a point where people have most of what they need. What Easterbrook is trying to say with this e xplanation is that it is hard to imagine things getting any better than they already are kind of giving individuals nothing to look forward to.After reading this book I had some general issues. First off is the issue of happiness. The beginning of the book deals with objective measures over time that forms a steady increase in progress. To form the paradox the objective facts were compared to the subjective measures of happiness. Of course Easterbrook states that the surveys are not exactly perfect he claims that they â€Å"illuminating nonetheless† (Easterbrook, 2004). However I think this is questionable. The perception of happiness is not constant among individuals at one point in time, let alone over several decades.Each person could have a completely different outlook on happiness. What can be happiness for one person could be sadness or another feeling for someone else. With each person entitled to their own subjective view on what they consider to be happiness, they ar e also entitled to have a subjective perception of what others experienced in the past and what others will experience in the future. So when surveyors asked respondents if they thought their parents would better off or if their children will be better off, it’s not an objective measure but a subjective perception of the past and future.It doesn’t seem clear why we In short, it is not clear why we would assume the level of subjective satisfaction to increase with objective well-being. I feel like Easterbrook was trying to say that in the past it seemed like things were always getting better but now in the future since things are improving so quickly it doesn’t seem like we could continue to progress in the future. It is unclear why people should think that progress couldn’t continue and, therefore, have lower expectations for the future. This question is left unanswered.If you asked, most people would agree that money and material things are not the meani ng of happiness. With this, why would we expect to see a connection between an increase in progress and an increase in happiness? It isn’t clear that the claim has ever been that prosperity and progress will lead to the end of all stress and uneasiness. In the end there are two traits that correlate closely with happiness: forgiveness and gratitude. Forgive those that have done you wrong and be grateful for what you have. †¢Easterbrook, Greg. The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feels Worse. Random House Publishing Group, 2004. eBook.

History of Australia essays

History of Australia essays History of Australia 1901 2000 Between the years of 1901-2000, much occurred in the history of the proud, independent nation. Over more than 100 years ago, Australia fought the battle for federation against England. Australia proposed to be an independent, self-governed nation of six states and territories. Finally, on January 1st, 1901, Australia was proclaimed a federation at Centennial Park, Sydney. Only 6 years later, in 1907, the federal Arbitration Court handed down the Harvester Judgement, a document outlining the concept of basic or family wage. This system was followed through until 1967. In 1915, the soldiers of Australia fought in World War I. The country, as a whole, supported conscription, as many people believed in fighting for England. Many soldiers died in Gallipoli and on the Western Front between the years of 1916-1918. After the tragedy of war, Australias attempt to introduce conscription for service of overseas nations was defeated at referendums held in 1916 and 1917. In the late 1920s, depression struck the world. At first Australia thought that they were safe from disaster, but connections through import/export markets to overseas eventually led to Australia falling as well. In 1933, Australia reached its peak unemployment figures. A third of the nation was unemployed. During World War II, Australia feared invasion from the Japanese. The United States led a counter-offence operation and unified and mobilised troops in prepare for the invasion. When the war finally finished, Australia began a immigration program to strengthen the economy as well as populate the country. Australia became a multicultural society after 1945. In 1949, Robert Gordon Menzies became prime minister in a coalition government, a government which was to remain in power until 1972. During the 1960s, Australia became involved in the Vietnam War. Wide opposition to the war eventually led to the fall of the ...

Lamassu essays

Lamassu essays Lamassu is an Neo-Assyrian Akkadian term used to designate a composite creature, conceived of as a winged lion- or bull-figure with a human head. As protective deities or genii, larger than life-size statue-blocks of lamassi (pl.) were placed on either side of late Assyrian palace doorways and entrances in order to guard against the entry of evil and chaotic forces. As such, they are characteristic of this late phase in the development of Assyrian art (Neo- or Late Assyrian) when sculpture in the round was otherwise rare, compared to earlier periods. Lamassi in sculptural form are usually depicted as "double-aspect" figures, apparently possessing five (5) separate legs (when viewed from an oblique angle). This allows for two simultaneous depictions: 1. standing guard, when viewed from the front; 2. striding forward, when viewed from the side. The hybrid or composite iconography is powerfully evocative of strength (body of lion bull), speed (an eagle's wings) and intelligence (human head). Each monolithic colussus was carved partly in relief and partly in the round from a single block of stone, measuring up to 5.50 m2 in size. Initially carved roughly in the quarry, each statue-block was transported to its final location (often by river), where it would be set in place and be subjected to fine carving. The Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art covers both a lengthy chronological span and a vast geographical area. The collection of more than seven thousand works of art ranges in date from 8000 B.C. (the Neolithic period) to the Arab conquest and rise of Islam beginning in A.D. 651. The works come from ancient Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria, Anatolia, and other lands in the region that extends from the Black and Caspian Seas in the north to the southwestern Arabian peninsula, and from western Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River Valley in modern-day Pakistan and India. Societies throughout the ancient Near East mai ...