Environmental Contamination Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Contamination - Lab Report Example Detrimental side effects of these contaminants range from carcinogenic effects to liver disease and significant influence on productivity of various plants due to effects on soil (Yan Hai et al. 5). The persistence of these contaminants in the environment should be taken special notice of. 1, 4 dioxane a toxic synthetic petrochemical is a known carcinogen that is common in most household consumer products. The most susceptible products are laundry detergents, hair care products, and cleaning products. It is a byproduct of the reaction between ethylene oxide and other ingredients in the ethoxylation processing of detergents and cleaning products. The ethoxylation process is supposed to reducing the severity of harsher ingredients (Ethan, 2010). It is ironic that the process aimed at reducing the harmful components results in a more harmful ingredient. Most labeling lacks an indication of these products. Steinman in his evaluation of conventional and natural laundry detergent brands reported P&G products to have the highest concentration of 1, 4 dioxane levels in comparison to other brands. Only two of the natural brands contained o1, 4 dioxane though the levels were significant lower than the average concentrations observed in the conventional names. This presents the idea of due diligence in assessing the suitability of various brands both on the part of the user and the regulating body (organic consumers association 8). Of the 80,000 known chemicals, EPA only tests 200 of the probable contaminants. This presents a high likelihood that some contaminants escape notice. Contaminants like 1,4 dioxane has been found to be persistent in the environment especially since it binds to water and relatively hard to remove since small concentration of it have been found in water even after purification and filtration. Most of the water supply has been found contaminated by 1, 4

Global business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Global business - Essay Example Along with this, the level of sustainability of the organization also gets enhanced to a significant extent in the market among other rival players. Moreover, as sustainability is the most essential criterion of any organization, in this age of extreme rivalry, most of the organizations desire to recruit, experienced and talented leaders or managers. This is because; these leaders or managers of the organizations act as the catalyst in developing extremely creative and inventive products or services that might satisfy the needs and requirements of the customers. Along with this, the competitive position of the organization or the entrepreneur also gets improved in the entire market thereby amplifying its brand value and equity among others. As a result, the threat of the contenders also gets reduced thereby amplifying the level of dominancy and equity in the market in long run. Thus, it might be depicted that the generation of idea to develop inventive products or services is entirel y dependent over the mental capability and intelligence power of the leaders or managers. ... Other than this, a leader is an individual, who steps up in challenging situations so as to mitigate it in an effective way. Not only this, he is also responsible for presenting varied types of information and facts to all other employees and staffs so as to analyse their desires and wishes, prior implementing any policy or regulation (Von Stamm, 2008, pp. 389-490). Apart from this, leadership is also described as an ability to maintain a good interpersonal relationship among the employees of the organization thereby reducing the conflicts and clashes. Therefore, leadership might be described as an inherent quality that may not be taught or learned but might be enhanced through various situational changes and conditions. Hence, leadership style or leaders might be stated as one of the most essential requirements of the organizations operating in recent age, in order to tackle risky situations or challenging threats. Role of leadership in corporate organization In order to cope up wit h the changing needs and demands of the market, innovation is the most essential requirement. This is because; invention of varied types of products or services might prove effective for a corporate organization to enhance its dominance and reputation in the market among others. Along with this, the level of profit margin and equity of the organization might also get amplified thereby reducing the threat of substitute products. However, it might be possible, only if the organization or the corporate comprises of an enthusiastic and confident leader. This is because; presence of such type of a leader or leadership qualities might motivate and stimulate the employees or the followers of the organization to develop varied types of value-added products or services in order to cope up

Easyinternetcafe Cafe Essay Example for Free

Easyinternetcafe Cafe Essay This case report addresses the challenges to implement a new logistic system that if well implemented it can improve operations and can convert easyinternetcafe into a profitable company. EasyInternetCafe (eIC)is a chain of Internet cafes with stores in the UK, the USA, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. eIC is part of the Easy Group, headed by the Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The original business model is to build and operate on the principle of ‘economics of scale’ or Yield Management: most stores would be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and each has an average of 350 PC’s. In 2003, with losses continuing to mount, eIc management has decided to radically revamp their operations. In order to eliminate the need for future investments in new stores, the strategy was changed. It has been decided to appoint franchisees for the new stores and also, if possible, for the existing legacy stores. According to the new strategy, the franchisee would be required to bear the costs of the property and the hardware. It was also decided to move from large stores to smaller stores with 20 to 30 PCs. The current logistic situation represents a bottleneck and it is one of the major causes for the ongoing losses at easyinternetcafe. After reviewing different logistics scenarios and providers, I strongly recommend taking a closer look to support the logistic alternative that Ingram Micro is proposing. If we do that, we could benefit in the warehousing, accounting and transportation areas, through all this areas, it will help us reduce the logistics costs and labour per new store, from almost to  £2,000.00 to  £1,357.00, this and the benefits mentioned before, will help us to achieve our overall objective of being a profitable company. This; will be the strategic perspe ctive that will be demonstrated throughout the report. Issue(s) Identification: 1. Yield Management does not work for every company. eIC’s first store opened in June 1999 opposite in London. Soon afterwards, it was quickly recognized that eIC’s yield management had certain characteristics that later affected the business model: elC was offering a highly perishable product: 1 hour of Internet access time, cannot be put in inventory, once that hour is gone, there is no way of reselling that hour of internet access time. Although stores are large, capacity is limited; Internet access demand varies, not only by time of day, day of week, but also across other time and seasonal horizons. Incremental costs are next to nothing: it doesn’t matter whether there is one person or 500 in a store, the bandwidth is already there. By the time the second and third stores were opened, eIC had built yield management into its store management system. 2. Current Logistics System Logistics is not a core competency at elC, but it has become one of the integral activities. Logistics for elc means to supply the new stores with their initial assests, including all of the furniture and PCs. This system is a drag on scalability, efficiency and a bottleneck for growth and the main reason for spiraling high cost and ongoing losses. Environmental and Root Cause Analysis: Aggressive use of yield management is a recognized and admired business model of Stelios. EasyJet was a profitable company after just a few years of operation. However, with EasyInternetCafe profits seem a long way off, the assumption that offering very low prices would increase the demand significantly lead to losses of  £80m- £100m from 199 to 2002. Below are some root causes of the symptoms above: * The stores are too large; economies of scale dont materialize if occupancy is half empty. * Fixed costs were too high due to the quantity of Pcs per store. * Staff overheads were excessive. Assumptions: * Are there sufficient customers who want to use an internet cafe? To-day, most of the homes have internet access, and many others have (free) access at their place of work or at colleges or university. * Are the stores located in the right place to attract customers throughout the day and the whole week? Downtown cafes might attract business people needing to keep in touch, but many city centres are quiet in the evenings and at weekends. By mid-2001, with cash running out a drastic action was necessary: a franchising plan is being developed. It is important that every cafe looked the same, with common signage, furnishings and PCs. The time to sign a contract with a franchise is one week. If the franchisee did not already have space for the cafà ©, eIc would assist in recommendations with locations within 28 days. The broadband internet connection had to be installed by the local telecoms supplier within 28 days. Also they need to Desk installed within seven days. Server delivered and installed 2 days and PCs delivered and installed 2 days. CVM delivered and installed 1 day Signage delivered and installed 1 day. Chairs delivered and installed 1 day. Testing complete system 2 days and also Open for business within one day. So, how much time should it take to open the cafe once the contract is signed? From the predecessors plan we see that average duration of time for all activity. Under bellow we discuss about time of the contract are signed.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Phyu Han and Mu Han North Quincy High School March 24, 2014 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar was formerly known as Burma until 1989 when its military government changed its name to Myanmar (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). However, the United States government has not yet adopted the name (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The country of Myanmar is located in Southeast Asia bordering China to the north and northeast, Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast, Bangladesh and India to the west, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to the south (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar covers an area of around 421,600 square miles which is slightly smaller than the United States’ state of Texas (Myanmar., 2014). The population of the country consists of over 47.37 million people made up of about 135 ethnic groups (Myanmar., 2014). The official language of the Union of Myanmar is Burmese (Myanmar., 2014). Still, the various other minority ethnic groups speaks their own languages (Myanmar., 2014). Sin ce 1989, the capital of Myanmar was Yangon but was recently changed to Naypyidaw in 2005 (Myanmar., 2014). Throughout the 19th century, many Burmese minority ethnic city-states and kingdoms inhabited the country’s present borders (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In 1824, Great Britain conquered Myanmar into its Indian Empire (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar was considered and managed as a province of India until it became a self-governing colony in 1937 (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The country of Myanmar gained independence from the commonwealth of Great Britain in January 4 1948 (Myanmar., 2014). Myanmar’s independence was gained by General Aung San who is now known as the â€Å"Father of Burma† (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In 1962, General Ne Win took over the Burmese government as the first military ruler and self-appointed president beginning the country’s ruling by a military junta (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Until 2011, the military junta held absolute power in the country and began the policies of international isolation (Myanmar Profile., 2013). For over 49 years, Myanmar was a military dominated country full of human rights abuses (Myanmar., 2014). In the multiparty legislative elections of 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD) ran as the main opposing party to the military junta (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). NLD won a landslide victory and the junta placed Aung San Suu Kyi, NLD leader and the daughter of General Aung San, under house arrest for over 15 years (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In 2007, the ruling junta brutally killing at least 13 people arrested thousands in response to protests over increased fuel prices led by Buddhist mon ks, (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Throughout the year of 2008, a series of bombings took place in the country. Many minority rebels and terrorists were blamed for the events (Myanmar Profile., 2013). In November 2010, Myanmar held its first general election in 20 years (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Yet, Constitutional votes and Parliamentary elections held under the junta rule were considered manipulated and flawed by many in the international community (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). After the election, Burmese Parliament met in January 2011 and elected a former prime minister of the previous military government, Thein Sein, as president (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Presently, the president of Myanmar is Thein Sein along with Vice President Nyan Tun (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Since the election, Thein Sein leading the Burmese government has initiated various political and economic reforms directed to the opening of the long-isolated country (Myan mar Profile., 2013). Thein Sein’s reforms consisted of permitting Aung San Suu Kyi to resume her political activities by allowing her to run in the parliamentary election in April 2012 (Myanmar Profile., 2013). As a result, she now currently serves as an elected Member of Parliament and chair of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tranquility (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). For 2014, Myanmar is the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar’s Armed Forces consists of Army, Navy, and Air Force (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In February 2013, the military formed a new task force to deal with forced child recruitment, which reportedly continues (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In Addition, President Thein Sein has released the hundreds of political prisoners, passed laws protecting basic human rights, and gradually reduced restrictions on freedom of the press and expression (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Along with the restrictions on freedom of expression, Myanmar’s domestic media has been strictly controlled since 1962 (Myanmar Profile., 2013). The whole of the media has been censored, ranging from government dissent to most bad news such as reports of natural disasters (Myanmar Profile., 2013). In 2012, Thein Sein lifted pre-publication censorship for the press (Myanmar Profile., 2013). In June 2012, Myanmar declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State where at least 17 people were killed in religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims (Mullany, 2014). This incident began a series of attacks on Rohingya Muslims across the country to the present (Mullany, 2014). The United Nations reported in January 2014 that rampaging mobs in Rakhine had killed at least four dozen people, mostly Muslims (Mullany, 2014). In March 2014, Myanmar government was reported to have denied the Rohingya Muslims citizenship as well as persecuted them (Mullany, 2014). Following the government’s ban of Doctors without Borders (MSF), approximately 750,000 Rohingya Muslims have died in Myanmar as a result of being deprived of medical services (Myanmar., 2014). The Burmese government ordered halt to MSF’s work after some officials accused the group of favoring Rohingya Muslims over Rakhine Buddhists (Myanmar., 2014). Many now hope that along with these new reforms, the decades of international isolation could be coming to an end (Myanmar Profile., 2013). In December 2011, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma to meet both President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar Profile., 2013). This event was seen as a milestone in the countrys history and the country’s return to the world stage (Myanmar Profile., 2013). In 2013, President Obama met President Thein Sein in Washington D.C. offering development aid (Myanmar Profile., 2013). President Obama praised the political and economic progress, but criticized the violence against Rohingya Muslims (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Since the transition to a parliamentary government in 2011, Myanmar has begun an economic repair aimed at attracting foreign investment and reestablishing into the global economy (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). In April 2012, The European Union followed the United States’ lead and lifted all non-military sanctions as well as offered Myanmar more than $100 million in development aid (Myanmar Profile., 2013). With government’s commitment to reform and the following lifting of most Western sanctions, the Burmese economy accelerated in 2012 and 2013 (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The European Union, United States and Canada passed economic sanctions on Myanmar, and China (Myanmar Profile., 2013). The country’s abundant natural resources and young labor force have attracted foreign investment such as India and South Korea in many industries (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar is currently moving past its isolationist policies w ith China as its main ally (Myanmar Profile., 2013). The currency of Myanmar is known as Kyat (Myanmar Profile., 2013). 965.728 Kyat is equal to 1.00 USD (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Due to its under-developed economy and government corruptions, Myanmar is considered one of the poorest countries in Asia (Myanmar Profile., 2013). However, the country of Myanmar is full of valuable natural resources (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The natural resources are petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, and hydropower (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar is an agriculture based country with highly fertile soil growing rice, pulses, beans, sesame, groundnuts, and sugarcane (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). This rural country is also known to be the worlds largest exporter of teak, jade, pearls, rubies and sapphires (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Myanmar’s other exports consist of oil, gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice, an d clothing (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The country’s export partners are Thailand 40.7%, India 14.8%, China 14.3%, and Japan 7.4% (2012) (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar also import fabric, petroleum, fertilizer, plastics, machinery, cement, construction materials, and crude oil from China 36.9%, Thailand 20.2%, Singapore 8.7%, South Korea 8.7%, Japan 8.2%, Malaysia 4.6% (2012) (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). However, little of this wealth reaches the actual population (Myanmar Profile., 2013). Despite these improvements, living standards have not yet advanced for the majority of the people inhabiting the rural areas (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Myanmar remains one of the poorest countries in Asia with more than one-fourth of the country’s 47.37 million people living in poverty (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). The previous government’s isolationist policies and economic mismanagement have left Burma with poor economy and government corruption, which will take great efforts to mend (East Southeast Asia: Burma†, 2013). Works Cited East Southeast Asia : Burma. Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 20  June 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Mullany, Gerry. Report on Unrest Is at Odds With Account of Myanmar. The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Myanmar. News. The New York Times Company, 23 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Myanmar Profile. BBC News. BBC News, 16 July 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

I Cant Stop Raving :: Personal Narratives Music Essays

I Can't Stop Raving It was our Friday night ritual. After school, after work, after the rest of the world started to slow to a halt, we would just be getting started. With our veins pumping nothing but caffeine and sugar, we'd shed our daytime clothes for neon in-your-face t-shirts and nylon pants big enough to hold a compact car. Following the directions on the backs of purple and blue high-gloss fliers, we'd pack the back of a heavily modified Honda Accord and set out in search of music, longing for the sounds of a bass beat. We were young, we were energetic, and we were obsessed. We were party kids. On any given weekend, we would drive anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours to find the best rave. Sometimes we would end up in a warehouse in downtown Atlanta, sometimes in an oversized barn in southern Georgia, and one time even in a large field somewhere in Alabama. But even when the location changed, the scene never did. When we arrived, there would always be a menagerie of brightly colored Hondas, Acuras, and Mitsubishis in the parking lot, and a long line of other party kids waiting outside the venue. The bass usually penetrated the walls, shaking the night outside, and teasing us as we waited to make our way inside. It was midnight, and our night would be just beginning. It was like entering something out of a hazy midnight dream. The rooms were always completely dark, broken only on occasion by the flashing of strobe lights and lasers. Ravers wore glow-in-the-dark accessories and carried glow sticks that would fly through the darkness like maniacal lightning bugs, while smoke machines would obscure all details with large quantities of gray mist. It was all very disorienting; sight became a secondary sense, our ears took over our awareness, and we were left at the mercy of the DJ. In this underground (as in: not completely legit) subculture, the DJ was our Pied Piper. We traveled to hear him spin, and his music put all of us party kids under a spell. On the dance floor the music was so loud, and the bass so intense, they were tangible. Everything else in the world subsided when the throbbing sound waves entered our bones and lifted us away. Bodies packed onto the floor would pulse in tune, unconsciously, lifted by the sounds like spirits in a primal dance.

The Lost Roanoke Colony Essay -- essays research papers

Jamestown is thought by most of our general population to be the first colony in the New World. This is only half true. Jamestown is considered our first successful colony, however it was not our first attempt at a colony. There were a few attempts to colonize the New World before Jamestown and one in particular that is found to be interesting is Roanoke also known as the Lost Colony. It received this name due to the fact that the colonists that settled this colony disappeared very mysteriously. This poses the question of What happened to the people of Roanoke? There are many different viewpoints of what occurred to the colonists and the goal here is to address each one of them. In England, a document signed on January 7, 1587, created a governing body called the Governor and Assistants of the City of Roanoke in Virginia. John White, an illustrator and map maker, was appointed governor. Then on May 5, 1587, eighty-five men, seventeen women, and eleven children boarded the ships heading for the New World. The plan was originally designed for the colony to settle at Chesapeake Bay, however on July 22, 1587, Simao Fernandes, the ship captain of the expedition decided to drop everyone off at Roanoke Island, the site of a previous expedition called Greenville, instead of pushing up the coast to the Chesapeake Bay. John White believed that they would reunite with the fifteen colonists left behind from the previous expedition. Instead he only found the bones of one of the men, ...

Historical Institutionalism Essay

Question 3: How does historical institutionalism envision political change? How does it envision the impact of organizations? Thelen and Steinmo share the common view among institutionalist scholars that historical institutionalism (HI) remains â€Å"sticky† when envisioning political change, even when political or economic conditions have changed dramatically (1992:18). Political change, then, according to Thelen, is centered on the concept of path dependency, or a framework of slow change dependent on the legacy of rules formed and tested throughout history. In order to understand how particular kinds of external events and processes are likely to produce political openings that drive path-dependent institutional evolution and change, Thelen prioritizes an analysis of critical junctures and feedback effects as two key reproduction mechanisms that engender foundations of institutional arrangements and political stability (1999:388-396). Critical junctures demonstrate that â€Å"[c]ausal analysis is inherently sequence analysis† (Rueschemeyer et al 1992:4; Thelen 1999:390) in that sequencing and timing of political and economic development in historical context can influence institutional outcomes. Feedback effects are based on the idea that institutions are not neutral coordinating mechanisms but instead reflect, reproduce, and magnify particular patterns of power distribution in politics. Thus, political arrangements and policy feedbacks actively facilitate the organization and empowerment of certain groups while actively disarticulating and marginalizing others, creating distributional biases in particular institutions that â€Å"feed back† so that â€Å"over time, some avenues of policy become increasingly blocked, if not entirely cut off† as â€Å"decisions at one point in time can restrict future possibilities by sending policy off onto particular tracks† (Weir 1992:18-19; Thelen 1999:394). Thelen discusses four scenarios in which HI envisions political change, with the first three describing change as exogenous, characterized by Krasner’s framework of â€Å"punctuated equilibrium† in which institutions exhibit long periods of stability, periodically â€Å"punctuated† by crises that bring about abrupt institutional change, after which institutional stasis sets in (Thelen 1999:15). Broad socioeconomic changes causing previously latent nstitutions to become salient toward political outcomes, changes in the socioeconomic context or political balance of power producing a situation in which new actors pursue new goals within old institutions for different ends, and changes in outcomes as old actors adopt new goals within old institutions are the three exogenous scenarios of political change. The fourth scenario of political change is endogenous in that political actors adjust their strategies to accommodate changes within the institutions themselves (my emphasis Thelen 1999:17). In this scenario, Thelen advances the â€Å"dynamic constraints† framework for explaining change in that change can be a piecemeal process resulting from the long-term maneuvering of political actors within institutional constraints. HI envisions the impact of organizations by examining how an institution shapes individual preferences within the organization not only by shaping strategies but also the goals that the actors pursue. Because the individual is not completely de-linked from the institution, stasis and ultimately continuity is achieved. Question 8: How is the chapter by Ken Greene an example of historical institutionalism? What light does it shed on the process of democratization in Mexico? To what extent is his analysis specific to Mexico and to what extent (and how) can it travel to other cases? Ken Greene’s chapter is an example of historical institutionalism because it stresses the importance of legacy in political outcomes. One of the main tenets of his argument is that opposition parties were constrained by their own origins, thereby resulting in low appeal for voters to support them despite widespread dissatisfaction with the PRI (Greene 2007:175). As Greene explains (ibid: 175), the main yet subtle effect of single party dominance on partisan competition is the resulting rigidity in the challenger party organization that are slow to innovate in the face of new opportunities. The idea that challengers may fail due to the weight of the past rather than the more blatant aspects of dominant party power is one example of political stasis at work through the reproduction mechanism of institutional feedback. The political arrangements of institutional legacy promote and empower the dominant party while marginalizing opposition parties in a manner that, in this case, results in institutional stasis and continuing PRI dominance. The continuing dominance and institutional stasis of the PRI along with the political socialization of early elite political actors of opposition parties have both contributed to the slow process of democratization in Mexico. Extreme and differing preferences of early elite actors created an extreme foundation of opposition institutions, resulting in both the PAN and PRD’s emergence as niche parties and ultimately their failure to unify around the goal of defeating the PRI with centrist strategies. According to Greene, â€Å"the sequencing of party affiliation created a perverse outcome: early joining party elites created niche parties in their own image that were constrained to the core. (Ibid: 178) Thus, the status of democratization in Mexico at the time of this article’s publication suggests a disconnect between extreme elitist opposition party actors and a body of voters who are presumably unified through centrist preferences. Although Greene’s analysis is founded on country-specific evidence particular to this case, the lesson of PAN’s ability to move beyond its traditional core constituency and overcome its own intra-party rigidities and in some ways can be applied to t he Worker’s Party (PT) success in 2002. Like PAN, PT began as a highly ideological party and resisted the adoption of vote-maximizing measures for a significant amount of time. As Hunter explains (2007: 444), PT leaders were able to revise ideological rigidity â€Å"in light of major changes in the economic landscape and growing institutional strength of the state and party system. † The reassessing of their electoral standing, the PT became more electoral and behaved more like a catchall Brazilian party. The case of strategic adaptation and path dependence in Brazil was exemplified by Lula’s strategy of â€Å"layering,† gradually negotiating innovation â€Å"by placing new elements on top of established ones. Although this strategy bore little immediacy to the party’s electoral prospects, subsequent and focused efforts of engagement in public opinion and marketing Lula’s personal appeal constituted more concerted efforts toward electoral maximization. Question 9: What light does the piece by W. Hunter shed on the relative weight of rational choice vs. istorical institutionalism? Should we choose between them in analyzing a single phenomenon? Does it get too â€Å"wishy washy† to say that both rational choice and historical institutionalism are reflected in the evolution of the Workers’ Party? Both paradigms of rational choice institutionalism (RCI) and HI are important because of their ability to demonstrate a variety political outcomes and also because neither paradigm can individually provide comprehensive explanatory analysis for political change. With the example of the PT’s dynamic trajectory from 1989-2002, Hunter illuminates how political change happens on different layers. Hunter first presents the usefulness of the HI perspective in the nascent stage of the PT, noting the importance of the founding moment of an institution and further explaining founders’ proclivity to â€Å"long-term organization building rather than short-term vote maximization† (2007: 446). Weyland (2002:70) advocates HI framework in explaining institutional origin by critiquing RCI’s inability to explain institutional origin because â€Å"it conceptualizes institutions merely as rules of the game, not as actors in their own right. † Hunter also indicates HI’s overcompensation for continuity instead of change, thus revealing HI’s limitation of strategic flexibility in political parties like the PT during its first years of inception. Later, in explaining layers of political change still oriented within the framework of HI, Hunter traces the economic and political constraints imposed upon members of the PT, and ultimately explains within the framework of RCI ho change happened quickly in order for the PT to implement exogenous mobilization and electoral maximization strategies. Thus, the case study of the PT presents a substantive example of how RCI is useful at explaining quicker and short-term change whereas HI is better at explaining how change happens in slower and long-term layers. We should not necessarily choose between the two frameworks in analyzing a single phenomenon because there is an inherent value in diversity. As Weyland argues (2002:79), there is a need for â€Å"theoretical pluralism and ‘paradigmatic’ diversity† and â€Å"different frameworks make necessary and irreducible contributions to political analysis. † Political outcomes and political change across multitudinous contexts and applications could benefit from diverse approaches given the very complex reality of the behaviors of institutions. This complexity, as Weyland argues, â€Å"cannot be understood from one theoretical vantage point alone (Ibid: 79). †