A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

Ani Aivazova Ms. Gharibian Literacy for Success 7 December, 2009 A Day No Pigs Would Die The book A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck, is a classic novel for young adults that signifies the importance of life, family, and traditions. The author of the book, Robert Peck, who is also the main character in the story, wrote about the hardships and happiness of his life. The book has a lot of lessons and advises from Roberts life experience. Even thought he is just a thirteen year old teenager, he has gone through a lot.The book A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck, should not be banned from school because it complements the age of the reader, has important lessons, and is age appropriate. A Day No Pigs Would Die should not be banned from school because it complements the age of the reader. Robert is a thirteen year old teenager who is going through hardships of teenage years. Since the readers of the book are also high school students, it is most likely that they wil l relate to Robs situation. Some of the students may also be going through the same or similar situations.The way Robert takes out of his problems will help the students resolve their own problems. As well as complementing the reader, the book also gives lessons in life. The book A Day No Pigs Would Die should not be banned because it teaches important lessons. Robert has a lot of challenging situations in life. By solving his problems, he gives other teenagers ideas about resolving their problems. For example, when Robert kills pinky he sets and example for every boy out there. Even though Pinky was the only beloved thing he owned, he sacrificed it for his family’s need.Robert did what was necessary, not what he wanted to do. In addition to setting examples, the book should also be kept because it is age appropriate. A Day No Pigs Would Die should not be banned from school because its content is appropriate for any high school student. Some say that the book has too much vio lence, especially in the birth and death of animals. However, that can be interpreted as natural events that happen in everyday life. There is nothing wrong in knowing the surrounding world and how life happens.In the book, the main character Robert tells the story of his life. He shares the happy and the challenging times that he had to go though as a teenager. The book A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck, should not be banned from school because it complements the age of the reader, has important lessons, and is age appropriate. The book should not be banned because it does not have a bad influence on the reader. Furthermore reading the book helps some students cope with their own life situations.

Education at Risk, a Nation at Risk

Education of the young has been part of society’s needs of the modern times. Colleges and universities that offer quality education most often implies high financing.And though our world pushed to modernization, it seems that education has been deteriorating. Despite the fact that education in our country has long proven to be superb, it is not a justification in its dwindling quality. It is affirmed that education of the youth help them in future careers and endeavours but slowly, the education system has become less significant to us.That we have compromised this commitment is, upon reflection, hardly surprising, given the multitude of often conflicting demands we have placed on our Nation’s schools and colleges. They are routinely called on to provide solutions to personal, social, and political problems that the home and other institutions either will not or cannot resolve. We must understand that these demands on our schools and colleges often exact an educational cost as well as a financial one (A Nation at Risk, 1983).The above quoted article from the National Commission on Excellence in Education dates back decades ago and yet, it states a present reality in our society.Though our educational institutions call to educate the youth in academic matters, our society today imparts too many varying demands from these institutions. Education should not begin in our schools and colleges. One’s learning should be initiated from the family and the environment a child lives in. And yet, it is not unexpected that some of us demand these responsibilities from our educational institutions.Personal, social and political concerns that seek to develop each man are solely handed over to school professors and teachers that actually do not have time for each student in class. Truly, these concerns are part of classroom discussions and curriculums; nevertheless, they should first be encountered by the youth at home.Schools and universities only act as guides in a person’s quest for his principles. These schools and universities are not sole educators but are team members in shaping our future citizens. It does not mean that if we pay for the education we get, we will leave all the responsibilities to them. No. they are just our collaborators in teaching the youth the values we wish them to have to face the challenges of career life, nationalism and personal identity.Our increasing dependence on the learning of our youth to colleges and universities must be one of the many causes of the decline in quality of our country’s education. And so, though we have much to be proud of from the history of achievements our country had, we are faced with a predicament which should have been eradicated in advance.Horace MannHorace Mann, an advocate of equality in terms of education, would probably uphold that the various extra demands of our people on these institutions are just fitting. Since he believes in the extended education al curriculum in public schools, he would rather include personal, social and political concerns in the education of the youth. It might be an extra baggage for the educators but it is his way of shaping a person’s identity. Even so, he upholds the educators in high esteem. And though he purges them with great responsibilities, he regards them justly.Mann believes that â€Å"education prevents both the revenge and madness† of society (Mann, 1848). He believes that to prevent tyranny as well as poverty, education should be granted with higher significance. Total civilization comes with education and so, educators should have that sense of significance with the work they do to help uplift man’s development.Educators are makers of civilized men. Thus, it is only fitting that all areas of a man’s identity be taken up by the lessons one encounters inside the classroom. The thought of degradation in the quality ofeducation we have today might somehow depress Ho race Mann in his quest for equality and justice.

Implementing the E-World Essay

Technology in the past years has develop rapidly and has help people learn and develop new ways to do different things that used to take a lot of hard work and time. IT gives business new ways to compete and more tools for employees to get the job done. Nowadays is easier for employees to use IT since everybody is familiar with new technologies such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, software, hardware and networking and many other incredible programs and devices that make our world interconnected and easier to live in. In order to success in today’s world, companies are aware that they need to use the best e-business possible to give customers the best services and products. At the same time, having a portable device means that employees can work 24/7 without even feeling it. IT has help develop products, information and also shortened the time of hard work. Companies have multiple office locations and the presence of high technology has help employees communicate and share data inside the company to work at their best. A disadvantage in the e-world would be the availability of internet. In some parts of the world internet access is not available or is too slow to download data or communicate with employees in the other side of the world. In the other hand, this is changing and is just a small percentage of consumers. These days’ companies join the e-world in order to be able to compete with other companies. IT facilitates work and also helps companies to differentiate from others. With the use of the internet, employees are able to look all over the world for cheaper and better supplies or even learn from others. Definitely, a company without the right technology would not be able to success in todays globalize world. Implementing e-world is a very important task for all of us. It will leads us to better things, improving our ways to communicate and facilitating jobs with many different software, hardware and networks. Businesses would be able to save money since employees would do the job faster and with more information. At the same time employees may be able to work from home or even on their way to a business meeting. E-business helps business promote their product, establish a relationship with customers and inform customers about the company. Customers are more dependent to technology because it simplifies their lives. We live in an e-world because we as customers and owners of businesses depend on technology. In order to compete in today world, organizations must deal with IT. Dealing with IT means that organizations must learn how to manage three types of IT resources; technology infrastructure, human resources and business/ IT relationships (Brown et al. 5). Technology infrastructure involves build, plan and operate computers and software and hardware to share data between units and business alliances (Brown et al. 5). Human resources means that organizations must find the best personnel not only in IT but also have a mix of business knowledge and interpersonal skills (Brown et al. ). Business/IT relationship connects business and IT workers. This means that the IT department is working on programs that would benefit the organization (Brown et al 6. ) To conclude, every well establish company has invest in IT given that organizations are aware that e-business is elemental in today’s e-world in order to compete. Every day the use of internet, portable devices and software is increasing and people are depending more in technology. Managing IT is the key for organizations in order to success.

Case Studies - Tests of controls and tests of balances in audit Essay

Case Studies - Tests of controls and tests of balances in audit program format - Essay Example g the test of controls for cash in the case of The Ourtown Independent School District should have the following questions answered by yes, no, or not applicable. If the answer is no, the next for any of the following questions pertaining to cash receipts for agency should lead us to conduct more extensive test on balances since such negative answer or answers will denote a weakness of the internal control that would affect the materiality of misstatement in the accounts pertaining to the company under audit. The Ourtown Independent School District’s cash disbursements, answers to the following questions s will assist in assuring that all payments are properly approved, recorded, and supported by appropriate documentation as way of testing the presence of appropriate controls. Since internal control includes all the policies and procedures to safeguard the school district’ assets, an analysis of the journal entries should also be evaluated. Accounting realities may provide the special opportunity to make adjustments to accounting records. Although the general journal is used as basis to record non cash items, it is also as important as the other books of original entry namely the cash receipts and cash disbursements journals. Entries made could used to hide the fraud committed on case; hence the answers to the following questions are desirable for the test of controls for cash: Part of good internal control for cash is the existence of trust fund system which requires the practice of establishment and maintenance of petty cash. To ensure the same, the following questions could be used to evaluate whether controls are meant to provide for a timely recording of expenditures of cash in the accounting system: A good internal control for cash requires periodic bank account reconciliation, which is a primary tool for assuring the proper recording and accounting for all cash account activity. To attain the accomplishment of the same the following questions need

The effects of shortstaff on quality of care Research Proposal - 1

The effects of shortstaff on quality of care - Research Proposal Example A motivating environment facilitates output and can be identified by high patients’ utility levels while poor environment leads to poor services and hence poor quality of care to patients. A research to determine association between the level of staffing and quality of services by a care facility identified dependence. Based on the research’s results, insufficient staffing of a care facility increases the number of reported deaths, hinders rescue processes, and increases cases of cardiovascular complications, pneumonia that is acquired within the care facilities and other negative occurrences that could be anticipated from a facility (Agency, 2007). Other factors also exist that affect the quality of care to a patient, measured in terms of achieved results and patients’ level of satisfaction. A patient’s age, type of illness and physiological conditions are other identified factors to overall quality of care (Clarke and Donaldson, n.d). This however induces uncertainty in the proposed association between staffing and quality of care and it is necessary to ascertain the link for nurse staffing policies, and public knowledge towards informed decisions when seeking nursing care. The proposed research therefore seeks to ascertain existence of a significant relationship between staffing and presumed effects of understaffing on quality of care. The proposed research will consider two variables, ratio of number of patients to personnel in a care facility, and patients perceived quality of care. The patients to personnel ration will define the derived quotient from dividing the number of patient by the number of personnel in a facility and will be the independent variable. The ratio will be measured on a categorical scale to be determined. Patients’ perceived and observed factors that are associated with staff ratios at respective facilities will be the independent variable and will be measured

Research methods psychology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research methods psychology - Lab Report Example Although exercises promise vast number of health benefits, addiction may disturb the natural flow of life and create health problems. Scientists suggest chemical compounds such as endogenous opioids and catecholamines produced during strenuous exercise are responsible for auto addiction (Adams & Kirkby, 2002). Some researchers believe exercise addiction is a result of psychological condition related with body image and composition. Anorectic or bulimic individual may develop exercise addiction to reduce their body weight instead of vomiting. People in special professions such as long distance athletes, models, dancers etc., in which the thinness is much appreciated, are more vulnerable for exercise addiction (Cumella, 2005). Since exercises are highly encouraged for healthy living and commonly accepted by the society addiction cannot be identified easily (Cox & Orford, 2004) In our society males and females have opposite views on their body image. Thinness is preferred by most of the females while masculinity is preferred by most of males. Therefore both genders engage in exercises to obtain their desired body image in addition to health benefits. Like some other psychological conditions addiction to exercise may have a gender specific tendency. However research evidence are lacking in this area. Therefore it is important to identify any gender difference in exercise addiction. Apparently healthy 100 males and 100 females who are regular members of a gym and between 20 to 30 years of age are selected randomly from the membership registry. Members who are athletes and who have medical conditions (heart disease, pregnancy, hypertension etc.) which limit the exercises and who are known to have any psychological disorders are excluded. Questionnaire: consisted of personal details such as age, occupation etc. and several psychological questions to identify exercise addiction. These questions have a marking scale and according to the final score and the

The high rate of violence on TV and video games causes the high rate Research Paper

The high rate of violence on TV and video games causes the high rate of depression and sadness in American society - Research Paper Example demonstrates that trauma felt in childhood can often carry over into adulthood, causing distress, depression, and increased violence in the individual. This is true of television as well, and there is definitely a connection between watching television and increased feeling of depression and violence in adulthood. According to psychodynamic theory, something is generally â€Å"missing† from an individual’s life as the cause of depression, and for those that watch far too much television as children. This missing element can often be play with other children or interaction with family (some psychologists have referred to television as a detrimental type of babysitter for families). Studies show that television is an integral part of culture and many families spend more time in front of the television than they do conversing. Hence, this lack of social and familiar interaction can also contribute to the depression present in those that are exposed to too much television, along with the psychological trauma inflicted by violent television. Furthermore, the violence witnessed on television also creates problems from a psychodynamic standpoint and leads to depression. Trauma experienced via watching television in childhood can carry through to adulthood and cause further problems of depression for adults that viewed too much violence on television as children. Like psychodynamic theory states, this â€Å"dynamic† of television is the problem that roots itself in childhood and carries itself through adulthood, causing depression. The first part of this problem comes from the fact that television is in high demand in our culture. Many children and adults watch 21-23 of television per week, and 3 to 5 violent acts per hour ("Media Violence (RE9526)" 1). Many families have taken to watching television while eating dinner, and most families admit that they watch television when they eat instead of having conversations with each other. This can often attribute to

Explain the significance of legal personality Essay

Explain the significance of legal personality - Essay Example Additionally, mentally ill person and minors as well, cannot be allowed to enter into a contractual relationship. The same is applicable to children, who have less reasoning level in comparison with the adults. In the subsequent part of this paper, an explanation of certain aspects of natural and artificial legal personality and limitations on legal personality is included. The nature and extent of natural legal personality Legal personality has multiple dimensions. These dimensions are mostly determined by different social roles, such as employer-employee, voter-householder, and father-husband. However, each role has different legal rules attached with it. And, the legal rules are mostly determined by the law on the basis of sex, age, nationality, income, occupation or any other group characteristic that the law-makers consider as relevant. By this classification, the law allocates certain rights and obligations to each category. When life begins Basically, to determine the beginnin g of life is a complex process. An unborn foetus is not capable of being a legal person. In law, once born alive, a newly born child will own the label of natural legal personality with certain legal rights. When life ends Still, there is no legal term defining death in law. Historically, stopping of the heart beating has been recognised as a point of death. However, due to the recent advancement in the medicine, with the help of machines, heartbeat can be made functional like other parts of human body. However, in R v Malcherek and Steel [1981] 1 WLR 690; did provide a definition for death. Facts A man stabbed a woman. Her brain became dead but she was kept alive with a life-support machine. However, she died and the man blamed doctors turning off the machine rather than his actions killed her. Held In the Court of Appeal, Lord Chief Justice Lane remarked that the definition of death was the irreversible death of the brain stem, which directs the basic body functions such as breath ing. The occurrence of such situation validates the death of a body even if other body parts are made functional with the use of mechanical methods. Legal personality-after death Humans do not have unlimited form of legal personality. This limited legal personality is also applicable to after death. However, a person who wrote the will (the testator) is allowed to ensure that even after his or her death a legal will after death will be enforced according to the wishes of the testator. Such situations occur when the distribution of a property is going to take place. In case of a dispute, the court is authorised to ascertain the wishes of the testator. Additionally, prior death consent must be ensured from the deceased if the body parts are going to be removed from the dead body. Organisations The status of legal personality can be conferred to a company in United Kingdom (Teubner, 1988). Under this condition, the company is defined as having separate and distinct existence in compari son with its shareholders. As a result, the shareholders own their shares not the company (Davies, 2002). Although, the shareholders are owners of the company and they provide capital for it, yet they cannot be sued in case, the company becomes unable to pay for its own liabilities Case law: Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd (1897) Facts: Salomon converted his business into a limited company. Mr Salomon was the managing director and majority

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried Research Paper

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried - Research Paper Example The ambiguity of Tim’s dubious first person narration along with epistemological uncertainties that the narrator’s storytelling raises rather force the readers to rely more and more on the narrator as a guide through the atrocities and cruelties of war as per what to go and view the massacre and where not to. Therefore Tim’s as a narrator exploits the opportunity of being dubious to the readers just to warn them how storytelling can cheat their eyes. Referring to this epistemological uncertainty that the stories render Catherine Callaway comments as following: â€Å"The epistemological ambivalence of the stories in the Things They Carried is reinforced the book’s ambiguity of style and structure† (250) The narrator Tim himself along with his ambiguity renders the narrative an apparently believable continuity between the episodes of the novel, and hereby, sustains a progress, though little about the war, much about the spiritual progress. That is, th e narrator relates more of a spiritual journey than a military one. The surface level expectation, of the readers, that the novel tells the story of a war, is fulfilled through Tim’s effort to let the readers feel the immediate experience of war standing close to the battleground. Yet the war progresses little through these episodes. Rather the tantalizing meaning of the war continually gets developed through the elegiac continuity which exists among the episodes. The narrator, Tim O’Brien himself sits at the center of this continuity as a medium that links between the episodes. His role is more of a spiritual agent who symbolizes the progress, not of the war, but the war’s meaning or reality. Though the episodes of the narrative are not chronologically sequenced and not exclusively military-progress specific, an intangible progress prevails throughout these episodes. Being threatened and subsequently being provoked by the ambiguity and dubiousness of Timâ€℠¢s narrative techniques the readers’ attempts to muster the meaning from these episodic pictures necessarily gives birth to this meaning that war is not something conventionally assumed by the most. The stories told in twenty-two chapters of the novel â€Å"range from several lines to many pages and demonstrate well the impossibilities of knowing the realities of war† (Callaway 251). Sometimes the stories abruptly stop only â€Å"to be continued pages or chapters later† (Callaway 252). Often some stories are told by several characters part by part or randomly. Yet the validity of some stories can be questioned from the very beginning though they are told as if they are true. Referring to the possible motif behind this random fashion of storytelling Callaway comments: O’Brien draws the reader into the text, calling the reader’s attention to the process of invention and challenging him to determine which, if any, of the stories are true. As a result, the stories become epistemological tools, multidimensional windows through which the war, the world, and the way of telling a war story can be viewed from many different angles and visions. (Callaway 253) The episodes narrated by Tim serve as a set of catalysts that raise the epistemological uncertainties about the conventional perception of war. Tim recounts his experiences about the war and oft-repeatedly comments on them. He tells the story of the war when it

Perspectives of Regulation of Complex Financial Institutes Essay

Perspectives of Regulation of Complex Financial Institutes - Essay Example General complaints about a â€Å"lack of regulatory aggressiveness† ignore the realities of actually bringing enforcement actions in a tough environment. Regulatory enforcement in the United States operates surprisingly well given the difficulties of this operating environment, and critics have not presented credible alternatives to the present system. A second perspective is that major financial institutions escape meaningful regulatory constraints because their power and influence overwhelm regulators and because individuals from regulatory institutions give too much deference to major financial institutions and their key executives and staff. This perspective suggests that financial regulation in the United States is broken largely because of this political dynamic and needs fundamental reform. This paper will examine and look into how regulators and firms deal with each other, how interdependent they are on each other and the outcome of such interdependency. What kind of b enefits and liabilities develop due to their strong ties. Financial institutes will be used as the premise of all discussion. Special attention will be given to potential benefits and risks of such cohesive regulatory networks. Regular dealings between regulators and financial institute beyond the regular rule making boost up co-operation. Ineffect transparency takes a toll. Information disparities also strengthen regulatory cultures and bring down the threshold of external pressure need to effect changes within firms. The conditions that bring this benefit impede flow of information and genuine criticism from outsider. As a result performance standards dip and various other problems crop up. The paper looks into various examples of such fraudulent activities and also the circumstances in which these tensions are more likely to manage without damage from these problems. Strong ties that encourage cooperation within insiders have a huge impact on the flow of information. Information disparity arises and outsiders are asked to stop criticism. A lot of problems shape up as a result. A very prominent example in this case would be the SEC, NASD and NYSE when they acted against conflicts of interests in investment banking and mutual funds, immediately after outsiders. In 2003, at a cost 1.4 billion dollars, regulator prosecutors and large securities firms settled charges. The firms had encouraged investment analysts to mask and exaggerate corporation’s investment value while misleading investors in order to win the corporation’s investment banking business. For many years, this was floating around as a secret in the industry while the press and various congressional hearings had focused on it. While the participants were aware of the ethical implications of such a business, they eventually came to terms with it and started living with it as if it was a normal part of the business. The Lehman Brothers came to the rescue and appealed for new synergy by a nnouncing a new model for dealing between analysts and investment banking. This was widely accepted new paradigm for synergy and stated that â€Å"The analyst is THE key driver of the firm relationship with its corporate client base. Analysts need to accept responsibility and use it to expand the franchise and DRIVE PROFITABILITY

Conference Project Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Conference Project Plan - Essay Example and that is only possible when people are abreast to the current and emerging trends in the profession through themed conferences and induction workshops. The conference will also provide a platform for comparing notes and mentoring. Continued fruitful engagements and consultation will be made possible by exchanging contact cards. Being a milestone conference, a lot of activities will be executed in the planning process to ensure that the conference is a success. A team has been assembled to oversee the planning process, and duties have been assigned. The planning has activities such as publicity, correspondences, reservations, logistics and more. Division of roles will ensure that each planning activity is given the maximum concentration it requires, and, therefore, that each activity is a success. The risks listed above have been identified as the most serious and their occurrence may affect the success of the conference in the most negative of ways. Take for instance absentee guests. The planning team has identified five key speakers to grace the conference, two being foreigners from Kuwait and China. All these guests have different presentations to make, and should any one of them be absent for whatever reason, a gap will result that would be difficult to fill. The planning team has created communication channels with those the important guests of the day to ensure that they communicate their likely absence in good time to enable the conference planning team to get a replacement. Another option is for the speaker to send someone to stand in for them, and adequately make up for their absence. The latter option will be the most workable because it will ensure that not many adjustments are made to accommodate a different person. Over-attendance is another risk that is likely to occur, though a positive one. The conference planning team plans to send invites to about 100 persons, 80% of whom are projected to attend. There is, however, a risk associated with

Creating an Academic Budgeting Scheme for Chris Essay Example for Free

Creating an Academic Budgeting Scheme for Chris Essay A student’s entry into a university could entail a lot of things. For instance, it means that a student, in this particular case Chris, would have to live away from his mom and move into a semi-independent environment. It could thereby be considered as a preparation for the new things to come. Chris needs a lot of changes to be able to adapt. He needs to more responsible in this new chapter in his life, bringing along all of the necessary values that he learned upon growing up. He will have needs, mostly academic in nature. Chris has to have a great deal of addressing these needs with little dependence from his mom because he now lives on his own. This entails additional responsibilities which maybe new to him. Chris is not an isolated case when it comes to budgeting in a university. Everybody went through those adaptations and the processes and means involved may vary from person to person. The difference is, Chris is not from an affluent family. He has to budget his resources well, if not, he will end up starving literally. The case gives us that Chris has a quarterly expenses that averages into $1500. The thought of managing his personal finances during his days in college can probably be the most crucial thing for Chris to fully appreciate the concepts that the subjects presents. It is in this time that he could say that he have learned things the hard way. Finding out solutions to his financial dilemmas may serve as a guide for his towards his future decisions. These same decisions will teach Chris to think quite a lot of times before he spend, keeping in mind the practical applications of what he will learn in his days in college. Life has a way of letting us know that things are not permanent and that can be learned in college the hard way. Say Chris has a $500 allowance left. If he spent half of that today, he will suffer for the rest of the quarter. Another concept of financial management which could aptly be applied here is the concept of savings. Saving or rather allocating finances for each day of the week is one thing Chris could effectively do in order to survive (Sebastian United States. Government Accountability Office. , 2006). Taking the bus for instance in going to campus instead of using his car could be a good start. He will then save gas costs. But in any case, those savings most of the times serve as a buffer or a fallback each time he may ran short. Probably one of the most effective ways of managing Chris’ finances is the painstaking task of listing his expenses on one of his notebooks which he could browse over at the end of the day so as to assess his spending patterns. It could really help him a lot in managing the money he has and thereby helps him in spending the next day or so. That don’t mean Chris has to do the debit and credit thing but at least he knows where the money goes. A lot of people can be quite dumb at times especially when it comes to spending allowances from our parents. We have them first day in the week and we live like rock stars spending it like we don’t care. Nothing’s really wrong if we do it, in any case the money is there to be spent but it won’t hurt if we would think twice before spending (Farr, Shatkin, JIST Works Inc. , United States. Dept. of Labor. , 2007). One concept in Financial Management that Chris could apply is the concept of alternatives. Well, some things can not really be avoided when it is in front of us. For example, his academic expenses, Chris could use the library and find it practical than being in an internet cafe. Maybe it is, but what if there is a cheaper one around just waiting for us to notice? For example, Chris may find a house to stay in at half the cost in university dormitories. He won’t find it unless he looks for it. Furthermore, Chris needs to identify opportunities as they arrive in order for him to be able to grasp control of his source of funding aside from the school loan board and his mom (Financial Management Association International. , 2000). As he moves on to his independence, Chris also has to secure a stable source of income. $750 a month of clearance of his accountabilities is a promising remark and that could entail a lot from this lad who is approaching financial maturity. Opportunities therefore are necessary. For instance, since he likes gaming, attending conventions and joining tournaments could be a source of income. If Chris is really good at it, he could well make a living out of it in college. The opportunity cost however should be taken well into consideration as he also has to attend to his academics. This is one thing that Chris must not be able to forget even if he has to work to support himself. As his teacher said, â€Å"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. †

E-commerce site launch bicyclesforyou.Com

E-commerce site launch bicyclesforyou.Com Task 1 You need to do some research to familiarise yourself with the subject area and to gain some ideas about how you can carry out the rest of the project. There are a number of websites that specialise in the sale of bicycles. Use a maximum of 1 hour to review these resources. Bookmark the relevant sites and make notes of information that you can use in your assignment. http://www.avoncycles.com/ http://www.herocycles.com/about.php http://www.gtbicycles.com/are/bikes http://www.atlascyclesonepat.com/ http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/ Bicycle companies having e-commerce sites provide information service related to different product range of bicycles they sell with images and descriptions, which suites all age group and gender. It also updates on latest technology, upcoming new quality of product and manufacturing details related to the product. For building relationship and trust, customer feedbacks are requested for improving the product quality and services. Customers can get information on availability of product from respective showrooms or distributor / dealer located in the region. Promotion offers details are available on the site. The e-commerce works in combination to traditional commerce strategy of selling the product to end users. Task 2 Produce a project plan for the way you intend to complete the rest of this assignment. For planning, use the timescale you have been allocated for this assignment i.e. from the date you start to the date you submit your assignment. Submit a copy of your plan to your tutor BEFORE you proceed further with the assignment. Task 3 Using PowerPoint or a similar tool, prepare a maximum of twelve slides that could be used to form the basis of a presentation to the owner of Bicycles For You. The first part of the presentation should explain how a SWOT analysis can be used to identify potential e-commerce opportunities within a company. The second part of the presentation should address the potential benefits that e-commerce could bring to Bicycles For You. For this you should list and briefly describe SIX benefits that you believe e-commerce could bring to the company, taking full account of their existing methods of operation. The power point presentation copy is enclosed with this assignment. Task 4 Write a short briefing document of no more than 1200 words that describes each of the following marketing activities and explains the role that they can play in helping to ensure the effective promotion of the new e-commerce site: Branding, E-mail marketing, Banner adverts, CRM, Search engine optimization. Branding: A brand represents a distinguish pattern of qualities and behaviour that gives the consumer a strong sense of security. There should be consistency in e-commerce branding. It is how consumer perceives your companys image and differentiates the product from all others in the market. It will help in promoting the newly e-commerce site by extending the existing product range on the web. With brand leveraging, the dominant positions can be extended to other products and services. Transferring existing brands to the web is much easier and less expensive. With clearly communication through right message, impressive visuals and delivering true market values will an important part of promoting the e-commerce site. The companys URL should always be included on product packaging. Integrating the URL with company logo on brochures can also be helpful in getting the work out about the web site. Ensuring that the site appears in search engine listings is also very important. E-mail marketing: E-mail marketing is about communicating to the consumers using electronic mail. It is very powerful element in any companys advertising strategy. For having an effective dialog with their customers on the launch of new e-commerce site, company can use automated e-mail communications. As the conversion rates on requested e-mail messages range from 10 percent to more than 30 percent, which are much higher than the click-through rates on banner ads. This will benefit the company in promoting the existing business through new e-commerce site. The marketing strategy of sending specific information only to people who have indicated an interest in receiving information about the product or service being promoted should be more successful. Email message with hyperlinks inserted will guide customers to the companys website and induce them to stay on the site and consider making purchases. Banner adverts: A banner add is a small rectangular object on a web page that displays stationery or moving graphic and includes a hyperlink to the advertisers web site. Banners ads are versatile advertising vehicles with graphical images which help increase awareness about company web site and its product. Companies use other web sites to display their banner ads through exchange network, place ads on web sites that appeal to one of the companys market segments and pays to those sites to carry the ads, using banner advertising network. CRM: Customer relationship management is about managing companys interaction with customers. Technology-enabled customer relationship management occurs when a firm obtains detailed information about a customers behaviour, preferences, needs, and buying patterns, and uses that information to set prices, add product features. With the existing customer database the marketing campaign for promoting of new e-commerce site can be done through direct email.ÂÂ   The e-commerce site will benefit company by creating and tracking specific web activities that help develop the client relationship. Search engine optimization: Search engine marketing is the medium about promoting the companys website by increasing its visibility on the search engine and improve the ranking of your website. Assigning specific keywords for the new e-commerce site, website pages can achieve higher ranking in search results with help of optimization. Task 5 Write a short report (of no more than 600 words) that defines what is meant by supply chain management and describes how this can be used to develop closer links with suppliers and provide enhanced services for customers. Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service package required by end customers. It is a cross-function approach including managing the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of finished goods out of the organization and delivering to the end-consumer. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and the velocity of inventory movement. By engaging suppliers in cooperative, long-term relationships, companies have found that they can work together with suppliers to identify new ways to provide their own customers with faster cheaper and better services. By using internet, companies simply have better and more far-reaching ways to spend up the information flow process and make it more effective. Continual communication and information sharing are key elements in building trust. Customer service can be enhanced by effective supply chain:- Better product delivery With quality information available across all the major points in the companys supply chain, the performance of the company in delivering the correct product, to the correct place, at the correct time, in the correct condition and packaging, in the correct quantities, with the correct documentation, to the correct customer will increase significantly and customers will be served better. Better responsiveness When the supply chain is running effectively, it becomes easier for a company to provide accurate information to its customers regarding any product or activity because the information is readily available. Better reliability If the supply chain becomes more reliable, the individual member companies (called partners) also become more reliable, at least from a customer service point of view because they tend to give more reliable deliveries and responses to queries. Faster Responsiveness The speed at which a supply chain provides products to the customer and resolves their problems improves dramatically, primarily because obtaining the information that customers need requires less effort and fewer procedures. Without supply chain management, many departments requested information from the partners by placing telephone calls. After the call was made, an employee was assigned to handle the particular query. Responding to the queries frequently involved counting items and retaking stock and other time -wasting procedures. Real time information systems in a well designed supply chain eliminate all these procedures and giving speedier returns. Task 6 Write a briefing note (of no more than 500 words) that lists FIVE main security threats that could pose a risk to the operation of the new e-commerce site. Explain the risks that each of these threats could pose to the site and briefly describe FIVE specific countermeasures that could be put in place to protect against these threats. The five main security threats that will pose a risk to the operation of new e-commerce site are as explained below: Confidentiality threat Confidentiality is the prevention of unauthorized information disclosure. It allows only authorized parties to read protected information. Breaching confidentiality on the internet is not difficult. If any customer login to ‘Bicycle For You website that contains a form with text boxes for name, address and e-mail address. When the required information is entered and the information is sent to the web-server for processing, the captured data and the HTTP request to send the data to the server is then sent. If the customer changes his mind and goes to some other website, the other website may choose to collect web demographics and log the URL from the site which the customer just came. By this way the other website breaches the confidentiality by recording the secret information the user has entered. Integrity threat An integrity threat exists when an unauthorized party can alter a message stream of information. Unprotected banking transactions are subject to integrity violations. Some other website can represent your website as an original, creating havoc on website. Using security hole in a domain name server, perpetrators can substitute the address of their own website in place of your companys website to spoof website visitors. Integrity threat can alter vital financial information of the company and its customers. Availability threat The purpose of availability threat, also known as delay or denial threat, is to disrupt normal computer processing or to deny processing entirely. It involves getting the server to perform a large number of mundane tasks, exceeding the capacity of the server to cope with any other task. Slowing the internet service will drive customers to competitors website. Database threat E-commerce systems store user data and retrieve product information from database connected to the web server. Database connected to your companys e-commerce site contains valuable and private information that can damage the company if it were disclosed or altered. If someone hacks user authentication information, then private and costly information can be revealed. Communication channel threat The internet serves as the electronic chain linking a customer to an e-commerce resource. Weak access points in information infrastructure and security that can expose company information and trade secrets. The specific countermeasures to protect against security threats are:- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) As there is enormous amount of information exchange over the internet, secure socket layer is a protocol which encrypts data between the customers computer and the websites server. With the use of secure socket layer, when the clients sends the request to access the company site, the browser identifies the server as a trusted entity and passes encryption key information back and forth. Server firewall Firewall protects the server and network from virus attacks and hackers trying to access the personal and confidential information. Having a firewall on the newly e-commerce site will block hackers from accessing to any customer information. It ensures that requests can only enter the system from specified ports and in some cases ensures that all accesses are only from certain physical machines. Password Policies Ensure password policies are enforced for customers and internal users as well. Task 7 Put together an outline project plan for the development and launch of the Bicycles For You e-commerce site. This should be made up of TEN key project stages and associated objectives, together with a brief description of each. The project plan should also include the associated timescales for undertaking these project stages and achieving the specified objectives. The project plan for launch of new e-commerce site for Bicycles For You will be executed in different stages as explained below: Benefits With the growing demand for its product range, company is interested in business expansion and increase profits. There is a potential of increasing sales and decrease costs. E-commerce increases the speed and accuracy with which businesses can exchange information, which reduces costs on both side of transactions. Project Scope Define goals for undertaking this project. Specifications about business model which fit for e-commerce site. Estimated time, cost, schedule for launching new e-commerce site. The objective shall be to create and maintain a high revenue e-commerce site which will be one of a kind in the bicycle industries, by developing a new and successful e-commerce business using a combination of e-commerce business models. The site will use business to consumer and business to business models. Research Conduct a research on existing business model and for e-commerce business model. Research on products and services which customer demand. Designing the website and technical requirements Design the website which should be fresh and appealing, caters to the interests and preferences of your intended market audiences. It should develop a smooth user interface, which makes customer experience enjoyable and pleasant. Approach a service provider for website hosting. Regular site maintenance is necessary to update content, perform technical upgrades. Review of risks measure Identify and research possible risks regarding starting up a new e-commerce site, technology costs and marketing / advertising costs. Security control issues for protection and continued operations, if the site goes down due to technical glitches. Testing Several functional testing is required prior to the launch of the website. Checking browser compatibility for accessing the website, testing of java scripts flash and other plug-ins for running the visuals and search functionalities. Marketing Extensive marketing campaign for the launch of new e-commerce site will be carried out. Branding, social media, direct email and search engine visibility will be used means of marketing for the launch of new e-commerce site. Creating a domain name thats easy to recall and resonates your brand, product and services. Post-launch After the launch of e-commerce site, monitor and respond to feedback received from consumer. Updating the site content based on changes in the product development and business process management.

Determinants of peoples attitudes towards immigration

Determinants of peoples attitudes towards immigration This paper analyzes the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration within a group of students that study in UK. We consider three different types of components that influence each individual approach towards immigration. In the first scenario, we assumed that peoples attitudes toward immigration will be influenced by which political party they support. In the second scenario, we assumed that individuals who live in a city will have more positive attitudes towards immigrants than an individual who lives in a town, or a village. The third assumption was that individual which have been outside UK several times are more likely to form positive attitudes towards immigration, than people who have never been outside UK. What we found was that there was not a significant difference in attitudes toward immigration in all three components. Introduction The definition of attitudes is: Attitudes is a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor (Eagly Chaiken, 1993, p1). The term is part of our commonsense language, and everyone understands and uses it to express attitude towards religion, racism, work, politics and many other things. Every day, each of us is exposed to countless stimuli which change and reinforce our attitudes. It is not coincidental, that Allport (1935) thought of attitudes as the most indispensable part of social psychology. A few psychologists even considered the whole psychology as scientific study of attitudes (Thomas Znaniecki, 1918). Attitudes toward immigration vary within every society and there are many factors that play a significant role to that. In a paper examining the growing restrictiveness of late 19th century immigration policy, Timmer and Williamson (1998) argued that economic factors were sufficient to explain the anti-immigration backlash that occurred in the major host countries of the New World at that time. They constructed an index of immigration barriers in the US, Canada, Argentina, Australia and Brazil from 1850 to 1930, based on a careful reading of each countrys immigration legislation. What they found was that the most consistently significant variable explaining the rise in immigration barriers was economic inequality. Rising equality encouraged more open immigration policies, while rising inequality encouraged more restrictive immigration policies. According to Mayda (2004), correlation between pro-immigration attitudes and individual skill, should be related to the skill of natives relative to immigrants in the destination country. Skilled individuals should favour immigration in countries where natives are more skilled than immigrants and oppose it otherwise. The results of her research support her hypothesis. Skilled individuals support immigration whether immigrants are skilled or not and oppose it if they are not skilled. In similar fashion Scheve and Slaughter (2001) conducted a survey to analyze the determinants of individual preferences over immigration in USA. What they found was that less-skilled workers were significantly more likely to prefer limiting immigrant inflows into the United States. Also, they found no evidence that the relationship between skills and immigration opinions is stronger in high-immigration communities. Hainmueller and Hiscox (2007) studied individual attitudes towards immigrants across Europe. What they found was that more educated people are significantly less racist and place greater value on cultural diversity than do their counterparts. They are also more likely to believe that immigration generates benefits for the host economy as a whole. On the contrary, the connection between the education or skill levels of individuals and views about immigration appears to have very little to do with fears about labour-market competition. They also found that a large component of the link between education and attitudes toward immigrants is driven by differences among individuals in cultural values and beliefs. Recent surveys conducted in UK show that two thirds of the people think that UK has immigration problem. The Guardian reports that the British are the only people in Western Europe who want immigration controls at the national rather than the European level, whilst they have little confidence in the UK authorities handling the issue. The poll suggests the British are more anti-immigrant and xenophobic than the rest of Western Europe, blaming immigrants for unemployment, and split over whether to grant them equal social benefits. Given the impact of the recession on employment in the west over the last year, in one of the polls was found that 54% of the people in UK agreed with the statement that the crisis meant that immigrants were taking jobs from the native-born. Also the British thought that immigrants depressed wage rates. Another interesting founding is that Britons wanted to deny legal immigrants equal social benefits, they favoured reinforcing border controls to combat illegal immigration, and they did not support legalising the status of illegal immigrants. This study focuses on students studying in UK. The study that was constructed focused in three primary areas. Firstly, it took into consideration the place that its individual lives or live. The hypothesis was that people that lived in cities would more likely have positive attitudes toward immigration, than people who live in villages and towns. Secondly, it was thought that the political views of the individual will have an impact in his/her attitude toward immigration. In this question, it was hypothesized that people that support the liberal democrat party will have more positive attitudes than people that support the labour or conservative party. Lastly, travelling outside UK was thought that it will have an impact on the individuals attitude toward immigration. In this question it was assumed that individuals that had travelled outside UK several times would have more positive attitudes toward immigration than those that did not. Method Materials The questionnaire consisted of four questions. The first question was what is the general attitude towards immigration? The answer was either positive or negative, and the participants had to tick one the boxes. The next question was which political party best encompasses your views? In this question there were three available answers and the participants had to tick one of the boxes. In this question we assumed that Liberal Democrats will have more positive attitudes toward immigration than the Labour and Conservative parties. Third question was how would you describe the place where you live? Again we have three available answers and participants have to tick on. In this question people that lived in a city would be more likely to have positive thoughts of immigration than people that live in towns and villages. Third question was how many countries have you visited outside UK? In this question we assumed that people who have travelled more abroad would have more positive attitudes towards immigration. Participants and Procedure Twenty undergraduate students at Swansea University took part in the questionnaire (14 female and 6 male) aged between 18 and 28. The participants were given a questionnaire to complete. It was emphasized to them that their results will be treated in the strictest confidence, and that they will not be divulged to anyone in a manner that would allow their identification. Also the participants were told that there is no right or wrong answer to any of the questions and they should give their immediate response to the individual items, rather than having a careful thought out and deliberate response. Results Using Rx C Chi Square Test of association we found that for the political views the critical value was .29. For the countries visited we also found that critical value was .29. Lastly, for the place that its individual lives, critical value was 3.07. Comparing it to the critical value of chi square=5.99 we can conclude that there is not significant difference in all the questions. Therefore, participants attitudes towards immigration were not significant, whether where they grew up, what political party they support and how many times they have travelled abroad. Discussion The results in this study were not significant to support our hypothesis. In all the questions the critical value was lower than the chi-squares critical value, but we have to take into consideration that there were three or more cells that had an expected frequency of less then three which could explain why none of the results were significant. Even though our hypothesis could not be supported while doing the chi-square test of association some of the results could be very useful. In the first question which was about the political party which each individual supports, from the 20 students that participated in the survey ten of them supported liberal democrats, and eight of them had positive attitudes towards immigration. Considering liberal democrats political views this result supports our hypothesis. In the second question where the participants had to describe the place they lived, we found that most of them lived in towns and village and only one in a city. Our hypothesis here was that people that lived in cities would probably have more positive attitudes about immigration since they would have to associate with more immigrants, and they would be more open minded, than they would if they lived in a village or a town. Since only one person lives in a city our hypothesis could not be argued. Nineteen of the participants live in villages and towns and most of them have positive attitudes toward immigration which does not support our assumption. Lastly, in the question of how many countries have they visited outside UK, we hypothesised that the individuals that had been outside UK several times would have more positive attitudes towards immigration than those that had never left the county. Seventeen of the participants had travelled more four times outside UK and twelve of them had positive attitudes toward immigration which supports our hypothesis. In future studies, to provide better results we should have each individual complete the questionnaire alone and not among other people. Some individuals might have given wrong replies because they would not want other people to think that they are racists. Another thing we should consider is where each individual lives. We could argue our hypothesis better if we had equal amount of people living in cities, towns and villages. The same could be said for people that have travelled abroad many times, a few times, or have not travelled at all. Lastly we should have equal amount of women and men to compare if gender plays a role in attitudes toward immigration.

raccoon report Essays -- essays research papers

Raccoon Report GENERAL OVERVIEW   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Raccoons (Procyon lotor) belong to the Procyonidae (those who came before the dogs’ family). This highly intelligent mammal has a rounded head with a short nose, small ears, and a sturdy body with minimum-length, thick, grayish brown fur. Raccoons are easily identified by a distinctive pattern of alternating black and yellowish white rings around a large bushy tail. They are also identified by a unique narrow black face mask with two white patches above the eyes. The average length is 2 to 3 feet long (including the tail) and 12 inches high, weigh 8 to 22 pounds (heaviest in autumn), and live for 10 to 13 years. Females produce one litter per year, numbering from one to six kilts and averaging four to five. SPECIAL FEATURES AND ADAPTATIONS Raccoons have had a long time to adjust and adapt to different surroundings. Raccoons have keen senses of smell and hearing. (Blashfield, 2004) They are strong and agile, hence good tree and fence climbers. Each foot has five long and slender digits, which operate with remarkable dexterity. This was an adaptation developed for living in dense forests and heavy tree populated areas. In the wild, they use their front feet for finding food in water, opening shellfish, and conveying food to the mouth. In urban areas the raccoon has learned to dig through human garbage as a significant food source. In adapting to human habitat, they often apply this dexterity to opening garba...

The Giver :: essays research papers

The Giver - Main Character Jonas, the main character in The Giver by Lois Lowry, is a very strong person, which allows him to go farther in life then the people that surround him. Throughout Jonas's life he has known nothing but "sameness". He lives in a Utopian community where there are no choices and everyone in his world has their lives laid out for them. But, Jonas is given the job of "Receiver of Memory". He alone knows the truths of the world, a world with colors, pain, and choices. What he does with these truths will bring obstacles to his life that will show the readers not only his strengths but his weaknesses as well. Jonas is made to bear the truths of the world alone and is troubled by what he should do with it. Jonas at first doesn't want the memories because after receiving several of them, all that Jonas has known is being questioned and his world turned upside down. 'He is angry and afraid after receiving his first set of memories. Angry because of what has been kept from him and afraid because now he doesn't know what to do. Jonas is uncertain whether the world he learns of is best for his community and if people can be trusted to make decisions on their own. In a conversation to "The Giver" (person passing down the memories) about whether or not it is safe to allow people to make their own choices, Jonas say, "What if they are allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong? . . . We really have to protect people from wrong choices." But, by the end of that conversation he is uncertain about his feelings and about many other things. Jonas is confused because he doesn't know what he should do about it or if he should do anything at all. Jonas finally decides to change the world (at least the one he knows of), but he faces many obstacles trying to do so. Jonas speaks to the Giver about giving memories to the community . He wants to share them with everyone and change the way the community works. He wants to give them choices and show them that there are differences. The Giver says the only way the community will receive them is if Jonas goes to the beyond and loses his connection to them.

Disadvantages of television Essay

TV viewing takes away the time that your child needs to develop important skills like language, creativity, motor, and social skills. These skills are developed in the kids’ first two years (a critical time for brain development) through play, exploration, and conversation. A kid’s language skills, for example, do not improve by passively listening to the TV. It is developed by interacting with people, when talking and listening is used in the context of real life. TV viewing numbs your kid’s mind as it prevents your child from exercising initiative, being intellectually challenged, thinking analytically, and using his imagination. TV viewing takes away time from reading and improving reading skills through practice. Kids who watch a lot of TV have trouble paying attention to teachers because they are accustomed to the fast-paced visual stimulation on TV. Kids who watch TV more than they talk to their family have a difficult time adjusting from being visual learners to aural learners (learning by listening). They also have shorter attention spans. School kids who watch too much TV also tend to work less on their homework. When doing homework with TV on the background, kids tend to retain less skill and information. When they lose sleep because of TV, they become less alert during the day, and this results in poor school performance. TV exposes your kid to negative influences, and promotes negative behavior. TV shows and commercials usually show violence, alcohol, drug use and sex in a positive light. The mind of your kid is like clay. It forms early impressions on what it sees, and these early impressions determine how he sees the world and affect his grown-up behavior. For instance, children who are more exposed to media violence behave more aggressively as kids and when they are older. Kids who watch too much TV are usually overweight, according to the American Medical Association. Kids often snack on junk food while watching TV. They are also influenced by commercials to consume unhealthy food. Also, they are not running, jumping, or doing activities that burn calories and increase metabolism. Obese kids, unless they change their habits, tend to  be obese when they become adults. TV watching also affects a child’s health and athletic ability. The more television a child watches, even in the first years of life, the more likely he is to be obese and less muscularly fit, according to a study by the University of Montreal. Even though your kid does not aspire to be a football star, his athletic abilities are important not only for physical health, but predicting how physically active he will be as an adult. Television further restricts an individual indulging in alternative activities such as reading, sports, religion, and active hobbies. Televisions depiction of horror, crime and violence further anaesthetises an individual from the real life problem. As television competes with other activities and experiences in a child’s life, parents role in providing alternatives are crucial. Moreover their own attitudes and beliefs both about television programmes and about life in general are important determinants of children’s response to television. Television may be a socialising force but it interacts in complex ways with all of the other forces in a child’s life to determine the patterns of socialisation for that child.

Sudan’s Economic Development

Development is something we do to make our way of life more comfortable. If we were not to develop we would still be living in the depths of the jungle feeding on bugs and things. But we have developed to become a more intelligent and happier race. In developing we take things we have and manipulate them into things we can use and sell to help our current situation and in turn make our way of life better. The quality of life is very important. Some factors may be measured but inputs such as personal happiness, a sense of well being or self worth etc., are more difficult to measure because they are subjective. A study of development must contain both measurable objective and subjective aspects. The quality of life can be measured by other factors like infant mortality rate, life expectancy, literacy rate, GNP, and population-growth rate. The quality of life is directly linked to the state of development that a country is currently at. To be developed a country has to have at the very least the basic necessities covered for the human population, e.g. clean water and a health system. To be highly developed a country would have to be up with the cutting edge of technology and health care, plus have a good education status etc. This report will eventually draw up a conclusion of what state of development this country (Sudan) is at. Sudan is situated in Northeastern Africa, the largest country of the African continent. It is bounded on the north by Egypt; on the east by the Red Sea and has Kenya, Uganda, DRC (formerly Zaire), Central African Republic, Chad and Libya. Sudan has a total area of 2,505,813 sq. km. Khartoum is the Capital City of Sudan. Sudan has a maximum length from north to south of more than 2250km; the extreme width of the country is about1730km. Divided into three separate regions, ranging from desert which covers about 30% of all Sudan, through a vast semiarid region of steppes and low mountains in central Sudan, to a region of vast swamps and rain forest in the south. Major features of Sudan are the great Nile River and its head streams the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Sudan has a tropical climate, Seasonal variations are most sharply defined in the desert zones, where winter temperatures as low as 4.4 degrees Celsius are common. Summer temperatures often exceed 43.3 degrees Celsius in the desert zones, and rainfall is negligible. Dust storms frequently occur. In Khartoum the average annual temperature is about 26.7 degrees Celsius; and annual rainfall which often occurs between mid-June and September, is about 254mm. The primary natural resources of Sudan are water. Supplied by the Nile River system, and fertile soil. Large areas of cultivable land are situated in the region between the Blue Nile and the White Nile. Small deposits of many minerals occur. The most important of which are chromium, copper and iron ore. Petroleum was also discovered in the late 1970†³s. The population of Sudan is composed mainly of Arabs in the north and black Africans in the south. Other ethnic groups in northern Sudan include the Beja, Jamala and Nubian peoples. About 58% of the economically active people are engaged in agricultural or pastoral activities; a quarter are employed in services and less than 10% in manufacturing and mining. Infant mortality rate indicates how many infants in every 1000 die soon after birth. Sudan has an infant morality rate of 77 in every 1000 live births. In developing countries the infant mortality rate is usually high and this lowers the overall life expectancy, along with generally poor health among adults. Sudan has a limited health system; it provides various vaccinations for the population but lacks overall medical treatment. Sudan does not have a good life expectancy (52 years); this is probably due to the relatively poor health services. Only 48% of Sudan†s population have access to clean water and there are 11620 people per doctor. (Population projection graph Appendix A) (Sudan population pyramid Appendix B) Sudan†s economic situation is not all that great. GDP/capita is only at $186 US, compared to other countries like Indonesia ($671), Togo ($559) and Costa Rica ($1774) Sudan needs to do a little work to get their GDP up. Sudan imports primary foodstuffs, petroleum products, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, medicines and chemicals at a cost of 1.1billion dollars US annually. But they only export $535 million per annum in cotton (24%), livestock/meat (13%), gum Arabic (food additive in printing material)(11%). This has put Sudan into an $18 billion dollar debt. The education status of Sudan is not very impressive either. An Adult literacy rate of 42.7% and only 52% of children in primary school the population doesn†t get the education it requires to develop properly. About two thirds of Sudan†s population derives its living from crop farming or grazing, but only about 5% of the countries land is arable. Annual crop production in the early 1990†³s included; sorghum, wheat, peanuts, dates, yams and pulses. Cotton is the leading cash crop of Sudan; it is produced in large amounts in the Al Jazirah region. The livestock population in the early 1990†³s included about 21.6 million cattle, 22.6 million sheep, 18.7 million goats and 35 million poultry. The constitution of 1973, establishing Sudan as a one-party presidential Republic, was suspended following a military coup in 1985. Open elections were held in 1986, but political activities in the court were banned after another military coup in 1989. After the 1985 coup a 15 member Transitional Military Council took control. In April 1986 the people elected members to a parliamentary assembly; the leader of the majority party became Prime Minister. This shows that the government up until 1985 the Sudanese government was unstable and needed reform. It is quite clear that Sudan is not a developed country. This shows mainly in it†s economic factors, with the country being $18billion dollars in debt and having its exports much lower than its imports there doesn†t seem to be much hope of Sudan getting into or anywhere near the black. Also the majority of the population works in agriculture and only a limited number of people work in the industries. The health system provides only limited support for the population. Over 11 000 people per doctor and 48% of the population with access to clean water, it is no surprise that the life expectancy is only 52 years. (Basic demographic Indicators Appendix C) Everyone knows that it takes money to make money and Sudan has a lot of its money channelled into the military. They could cut down on the army expenses and divide that money into other aspects like education, health and technology. Sudan can be an ally with neighbouring countries and trade goods; they could combine their forces and become one force.

Accounting Fraud at Worldcom

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom LDDS began operations in 1984 offering services to local retail and commercial customers in the southern states. It was initially a loss making enterprise, and thus hired Bernie J. (Bernie) Ebbers to run things. It took him less than a year to make the company profitable. By the end of 1993, LDDS was the fourth largest long distance carrier in the United States. After a shareholder vote in May 1995, the company officially came to be known as WorldCom. WorldCom culture was dominated by a strong chief executive officer (Bernie J. Bernie) Ebbers), who was given virtually unfettered discretion to commit vast amounts of shareholder resources and determine corporate direction without even the slightest scrutiny or meaningful deliberation or analysis by senior management or the board of directors and legal function was less influential and less welcome than in a healthy corporate environment. Top hierarchy granted compensation and bonus beyond the company guidel ines to a select group of individuals based on their loyalty to them.The company’s human resource virtually never objected to such special awards. Inaddition, there was no outlet for employees to express their concerns. The room four improvement and corrective measures was obsolete, the consequence of all these culture irregularities were the factor to the big disaster for the company. According to Ebber, in 1997,†our goal is to be the NO. 1 stock on Wall Street. †Revenue growth was a key to increasing the company’s market value. Ebbers was obsessed with revenue growth and insisted on a 42% E/R ratio.He encouraged managers to push for revenue, even if it meant that long term costs would outweigh the short term gains. As business operations declined post the 1st quarter in 2000, CFO Sullivan used accounting tactics to achieve targeted performance, accounting principles require companies to estimate expected payments from line costs and match them with revenu es in the income statement,. Throughout 1999 and 2000, Sullivan told staff to release accruals which too high compared to the relative cash payments, without considered â€Å"Matching Principe†.Over a 7 quarter period between 1999 and 2000, WorldCom released $3. 3 billion worth of accruals. Sullivan directed the making of accounting entries that had no basis in generally accepted accounting principles in order to create the false appearance that WorldCom had achieved those revenue targets. As an accountant, one should be familiar with the standards and rules of the position, accept personal responsibilities for the foreseeable consequence of actions, and realize the long-term effect of such behavior on the accounting industry and the citizens.At all times, an accountant should conduct themselves with integrity, dignity, and respect for the position held in society. Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal, sometimes at the hands of the organization or group which they have acc used, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law. | As Terance Miethe explains in his book, Whistle blowing at Work, many people see the whistleblower as a â€Å"snitch,† or a â€Å"a lowlife who betrays a sacred trust largely for personal gain. † In the flip side, whistleblowers are seen as â€Å"saviors† who ultimately helped create important changes in organizations.This approach to whistleblowers as guardians of public accountability is often taken by consumer advocates. I would not consider blowing the whistle. I would rather distance myself after informing my immediate supervisor if any wrong practice or misconduct similar to the WorldCom Fraud is happening in my environment. Public confidence in the accounting profession has been changed by corporate scandals, which created a crisis that affected the reputation and credibility of accounting professionals.The unethical decisions made by accountants can prove detrimental to the public who rely on information from the financial statements to make decisions. Users of financial statements rely on the information purported by an enterprise to exhibit certain qualitative characteristics that are both relevant and reliable. The impact of unethical decisions of both corporate leaders and accounting firms involving financial reporting by U. S. orporations has necessitated a new governmental regulation under SOX Act of 2002. President Bush signed this Act into law (Public Law 107-204) on July 30, 2002. The Act resulted in major changes to compliance practices of large U. S. and non-U. S. companies, whose securities are listed or traded on U. S. stock exchanges, requiring executives, boards of directors and external auditors to undertake measures to implement greater accountability, responsibility and transparency of financial reporting. Accounting Fraud at Worldcom Accounting Fraud at WorldCom LDDS began operations in 1984 offering services to local retail and commercial customers in the southern states. It was initially a loss making enterprise, and thus hired Bernie J. (Bernie) Ebbers to run things. It took him less than a year to make the company profitable. By the end of 1993, LDDS was the fourth largest long distance carrier in the United States. After a shareholder vote in May 1995, the company officially came to be known as WorldCom. WorldCom culture was dominated by a strong chief executive officer (Bernie J. Bernie) Ebbers), who was given virtually unfettered discretion to commit vast amounts of shareholder resources and determine corporate direction without even the slightest scrutiny or meaningful deliberation or analysis by senior management or the board of directors and legal function was less influential and less welcome than in a healthy corporate environment. Top hierarchy granted compensation and bonus beyond the company guidel ines to a select group of individuals based on their loyalty to them.The company’s human resource virtually never objected to such special awards. Inaddition, there was no outlet for employees to express their concerns. The room four improvement and corrective measures was obsolete, the consequence of all these culture irregularities were the factor to the big disaster for the company. According to Ebber, in 1997,†our goal is to be the NO. 1 stock on Wall Street. †Revenue growth was a key to increasing the company’s market value. Ebbers was obsessed with revenue growth and insisted on a 42% E/R ratio.He encouraged managers to push for revenue, even if it meant that long term costs would outweigh the short term gains. As business operations declined post the 1st quarter in 2000, CFO Sullivan used accounting tactics to achieve targeted performance, accounting principles require companies to estimate expected payments from line costs and match them with revenu es in the income statement,. Throughout 1999 and 2000, Sullivan told staff to release accruals which too high compared to the relative cash payments, without considered â€Å"Matching Principe†.Over a 7 quarter period between 1999 and 2000, WorldCom released $3. 3 billion worth of accruals. Sullivan directed the making of accounting entries that had no basis in generally accepted accounting principles in order to create the false appearance that WorldCom had achieved those revenue targets. As an accountant, one should be familiar with the standards and rules of the position, accept personal responsibilities for the foreseeable consequence of actions, and realize the long-term effect of such behavior on the accounting industry and the citizens.At all times, an accountant should conduct themselves with integrity, dignity, and respect for the position held in society. Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal, sometimes at the hands of the organization or group which they have acc used, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law. | As Terance Miethe explains in his book, Whistle blowing at Work, many people see the whistleblower as a â€Å"snitch,† or a â€Å"a lowlife who betrays a sacred trust largely for personal gain. † In the flip side, whistleblowers are seen as â€Å"saviors† who ultimately helped create important changes in organizations.This approach to whistleblowers as guardians of public accountability is often taken by consumer advocates. I would not consider blowing the whistle. I would rather distance myself after informing my immediate supervisor if any wrong practice or misconduct similar to the WorldCom Fraud is happening in my environment. Public confidence in the accounting profession has been changed by corporate scandals, which created a crisis that affected the reputation and credibility of accounting professionals.The unethical decisions made by accountants can prove detrimental to the public who rely on information from the financial statements to make decisions. Users of financial statements rely on the information purported by an enterprise to exhibit certain qualitative characteristics that are both relevant and reliable. The impact of unethical decisions of both corporate leaders and accounting firms involving financial reporting by U. S. orporations has necessitated a new governmental regulation under SOX Act of 2002. President Bush signed this Act into law (Public Law 107-204) on July 30, 2002. The Act resulted in major changes to compliance practices of large U. S. and non-U. S. companies, whose securities are listed or traded on U. S. stock exchanges, requiring executives, boards of directors and external auditors to undertake measures to implement greater accountability, responsibility and transparency of financial reporting.

Econ103 end term paper Essay

1. In your own words and in a maximum of 250 words for each concept, briefly explain the essence of each of the following emerging economic ideas. Imagine explaining them to someone who has not studied economic history. What are they really about? (20 points) A. Perlas’ 3-Folding Concept as applied in Philippine Agenda 21 B. Caring Economics C. Conscious Capitalism D. Natural Capitalism E. Sacred Economics 2. Still in your own words, accomplish the following summary table about the emerging economic ideas studied. Use easily understandable key words/phrases. You may further explain below the table if necessary (25 points): Idea Definition Key Principles/Elements & Framework Key Strategies (How the Idea will be Accomplished) A. Perlas’ 3-Folding Concept as applied in the PhilippineAgenda 21 An action for a sustainable development where the civil society, the government and businesses help each other to reach a certain goal. Cooperation among sectors of the society. B. Caring Economics Caring economics deals with giving importance to human beings and the environment as a part of the society and development. Human rights and other rights should be implemented and punishment among those who does not care for the life of human beings and the environment. C. Conscious Capitalism A type of capitalism where there is no self – interest instead the conditions of others or employees and other people are not being for granted but always take in to consideration. Employees should be given equal rights like the owners and observe right mind setting in making decisions. D. Natural Capitalism  In natural economics, capitalists are being reminded to also invest in natural resources so that there will still be source of raw materials and in times of calamity, the environment would be protected. Restrict and not allow businesses that would not agree on investing a portion of their income for reserving the environment. E. Sacred Economics Sacred economics state that true happiness is not having a lot of money. It is explained that money is man- made and what is more important are those things created by God that can give us real happiness. Having the mentality that above everything else, happiness is what we want and being contented with what we have is already enough. Having a lot of money will not make us very happy. 3. Always in your own words throughout the rest of your paper, compare and contrast the emerging economic ideas you’ve just explained in No. 1. What are their similarities and differences? Discuss in detail. (15 points) 3. Analyze how EACH of the emerging economic ideas fulfill (or not fulfill) the goals and criteria of development according to: I. the Catholic Church’s AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT concept, II. the United Nation’s SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT, and The criteria of development according to the UN’s Sustainable Development concept, Development is the capability to improve without sacrificing or compromising what is there for the future. Development is like having freedom, there is no servitude, a person is able to do something because he/ she knows that he/ she can, there is self-confidence within himself/herself. In addition, development is when there is respect in the society , when there is  sustenance that each person can say that â€Å"I’ve had enough and I am contented†. This criteria of development is somehow like the Sacred economics, there is real happiness when people are contented and live in an environment where there is respect and freedom. III. PEACE AS DEVELOPMENT. Discuss in detail. Use the â€Å"Lenses of Development† lecture file found in the egroup Lectures> Current Material folder (also in http://www.slideshare.net/gracewithfire/lenses-of-development) as well as any additional research you might want to make. (30 points) 4. Given your preceding discussion and analysis, what are your conclusions (CONCLUDING REMARKS) about these emerging economic ideas? (10 points) In my own opinion, the emerging economic ideas would be successful fully if only people especially business owners , the government are willing to cooperate by doing those. Indeed, real happiness is when you can say that I am really happy and contented of what I have. In fact, there is no need for money to be happy but all we need is love, if we have the love of the people around us, we could say that we are happy. The emerging economic ideas are primarily concerned about the real wealth of the society, human beings and the environment. If people would only think of these two things and how will their decisions affect the human beings and the environment, probably there would be no extra expense for them especially for those who are in the government and owners of businesses because if they would only invest in protecting and preserving of the natural resources and environment, there would probably no destructions brought by calamities such as floods and landslides that destroyed their businesses. 5. Please also attach your individually accomplished 21st Century Skills updated survey form at the end of your paper. The form is found in the Assignments> Current Material folder of the egroup, the same folder where this instructions file is found. Format: Letter-sized bond paper, double-spaced, with pagination at the upper right hand corner, 1-inch margins all around, with cover page showing contributing members’ names and individual contributions and class schedule,  and References page (if you used additional researched references) in APA Style , 6th edition. SUBMIT IN HARDCOPY BY OCTOBER 14, 2013, 5PM , AT THE CBA FACULTY OFFICE, VIA THE SECRETARIES. PLS. HAVE YOUR COVER PAGE STAMPED WITH RECEIVED DATE AND TIME BY THE SECRETARY.

Psychology of Sex and Gender Essay

Discuss the claim there is a lot to gain from studying a topic in psychology from more than one perspective. Drawing on our understanding of language and meaning as well as the psychology of sex and gender. Different psychological perspectives lead to different theories providing diverse insights into the same issue i.e. language and meaning. They focus their enquiry in different ways and consequently have dissimilar objects of knowledge. Each perspective asks different questions, use different methods and data and produce therefore different theories. These perspectives can be complementary, conflicting and/or coexisting, whereby each perspective and theory provides a variety of ways of applying their findings to everyday psychological problems. By focusing on the social psychological perspective, this essay will evaluate the contribution of two central issues in psychology: language and meaning as well as the psychology of sex and gender. Social psychological perspectives emphasise the importance of investigating cognition by studying how meaning is created through participation and cultural practices and through language. The evolvement, acquisition and application of language used by humans, to express meaning and pursue goals, have been a topic of study amongst the various perspectives in psychology most notably evolutionary, cognitive and social perspectives. In researching language and the development of subsequent theories, language itself is used as a medium to investigate language. This methodological reflexivity is the source of conflict between social and cognitive perspectives on language when trying to determine to what extent, if any, the necessity of responding in language predetermines what is said. Social psychologists, more specifically discourse psychologists (i.e. Parker, 1992, as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, p. 105), claims that in using language individuals do so in a social and historic context, with an audience and for a purpose. Individuals therefore will make assumptions about the knowledge, understanding and requirements of their interlocutors in an experimental setting which is a primary method used by cognitive psychologists to study the separate cognitive and underlying thought processes language represents in communication with others or dialog with the self. The social constructionist perspective, on the other hand, uses evidence from actual language used in day-to-day communication and therefore appears to have more ecological validity. With the use of discourse analysis, they manage to describe how individuals organise their talk and use particular strategies such as the creation of subject positions or constructions of the world, to achieve particular ends. Wieder (1974 as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, pp. 104-105) illustrated the use of language to determine behaviour amongst newly released prisoners living in a hostel by employing a method called ethnomethodology (the study of how people do things) devised by Garfinkel (1967 as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, p.103). Wieder found that the language used amongst the individuals ‘The Code’ does not explain their behaviour but rather was used by them to actively construct their social world and take appropriate action within it. Social constructionists therefore base their un derstanding of language on the concept that language can be seen as a vehicle for the socially formed and the sustained meaning that operates between individuals, in groups and societies (Cooper & Kay, 2007, p. 113). Although it provides a viable explanation for the use of language, it does not explain how language evolved over time or how it is being processed individually. Evolutionary psychologists (Lorenz, 1952 as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, p. 78) offer an explanation about the evolution of language in claiming that language is an adaptive trait that has been acquired through the natural and sexual selection as well as being characterised by the ability of humans to create meanings through different ways of communication than that of other species. The complex interactive activation with competition (IAC) model devised by McClelland and Rummelhart (1981, as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, pp. 91-94) and other studies (i.e. Moss and Gaskell, 1998, as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, p. 93) is used by cognitive psychologists in formulating their perceptive that language is part of an information processing system that resides in the brain of an individual who creates meaning when hearing others s peak or when speaking themselves. The above three perspectives therefore provide an understandings of language based on their individual analysis being evolution, individual processing or social construction. Parker (1992, as cited in: Cooper & Kay, 2007, p. 105) described discourse as a set of symbolic meanings created through the use of language to construct an event or object in a particular way. This is apparent in the claim by social psychologists that individuals see the world as consisting of two basic types of people – women and men. This is partly accomplished through the social identity processes as theorised in the Social Identity Theory Tajfel (1919-82, as cited in Phoenix & Thomas, 2007, p. 62) whereby individuals develop descriptions which draw from the social group they see themselves belonging to, e.g. male or female. Individuals, according to SIT, then tend to make the most of the similarities to others in the same group (in-group) whilst minimising it with those outside the group (out-group) e.g. the notion of â€Å"opposite sex† (Hollway, Cooper, Johnston and Stevens, 2007, p. 151). Therefore Gender is one of the most important and powerful social categories by which individuals define themselves by. Bem (1981 as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p. 153) proposed in the Gender Schema Theory (GST) that femininity and masculinity are socially and culturally constructed dimensions absorbed by individuals to produce an understanding of gender to make sense of themselves and their behaviour. Social constructionists however, argue that gender is not a set of characteristics or properties acquired by an individual but rather that gender identity is constantly established and re-established by experiences, behaviours including actions on both an individual and group level resulting in ongoing throu ghout the lifespan of an individual. The study of sex and gender is therefore concerned with the complex interaction of nature and nurture in shaping similarities and differences between men and women. In studying sex and gender as a psychological fact (e.g. Clark and Hatfield, 1989, as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007) and biological (e.g. Fitch and Denenberg, 1998 as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p. 138) perspectives, give emphasis to the contribution of nature to the experiences of individuals by examining the biological and genetic structures relating to sex. Social constructionists acknowledge these influences but look at the importance of context and culture in constructing an understanding about gender whilst the psychoanalytic perspective incorporates biological differences as well as the social and cultural meanings. The difference between these approaches is demonstrated through conflict between them in relation to the social roles of men and woman and their personal relationships and behaviour. Biological and social explanations ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ expose a fundamental conflict whereby social perspectives echo the underlying principal of psychoanalysts questioning individual group in claiming that biological explanations, and most recently evolutionary explanations (e.g. Hilary and Rose, 2000, as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p. 172), are extremely deterministic (Hollway et al, 2007, p. 171). Social constructionists explained that historical research underlines the fact that values inevitably underpin all knowledge; however, allowance should be made for new ideas incorporating change and cultural settings such as the role of women in society. Such methods used by various psychological perspectives in studying a specific psychological issue are often complimentary a s opposed to contrasting. In explaining gender social constructionists take historical and cultural situations of human beings into account focusing on the meaning-making activities of humans. In studying differences in the approach of sexual behaviour between men and woman at an American college, Clark and Hatfield (1989 as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p. 146) concluded that women who accepted dating invitations were less prone to accept invitations for private meetings, at the house of a strange in addition to the majority of women refusing such invitations for sexual intercourse. The results were the same when women were first guaranteed of the trustworthiness of the stranger thus accounting for fear of potential danger as a confounding variable (Clark, 1990, as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p. 146). Clark and Hatfield claimed from an evolutionary perspective that the results are consistent with the arguments of evolutionary psychologists about evolved optimal reproductive style through natural and sexual selection processes. The findings of Clark and Hatfield underline from a social constructionist point of view, the notion that sexual behaviour of men and women is filtered through their own individual cultural lenses. Psychoanalytical psychologists (e.g. Benjamin, 1990, 1995, 1998 as cited in: Hollway et al, 2007, p.164) argue that these external influences (e.g. through discourse and discursive practices) are over emphasised by social constructionists and therefore does not explain the capacity for resistance and change by individuals. Each perspective provides a valuable point of view however none is able to give a complete explanation of the findings of the study as each perspective is concentrating on its own theoretical ground when analysing the findings of a study. In conclusion the social perspective has provided a rich understanding of language and meaning and sex and gender. Nevertheless, the focus is only on social influences such as other people and discourses. It therefore lacks a general understanding of a whole topic. In every case other perspectives are needed to see the full picture of both, sex and gender and language and meaning. In addition of the methodology the experimental approach could be helpful to support or disprove the results which are gained from the hermeneutic approach. Overall, in terms of social influences and discourses, the social perspective has contributed to a great body of knowledge which is very important to understand all aspects of any topic. The other side of the coin is that the focus is only on social influences, the social environment and social constructions which limit a full understanding of different processes involved in the same topic, such as meaning-making of language. References Cooper, T, & Kaye, H. (2007a). Language and meaning. In T. Cooper & I. Roth (Eds.), Challenging Psychological Issues (2nd ed). Milton Keynes: The Open University Buchanan, K., Anand, P., Joffe, H. & Thomas, K. (2007). Perceiving and understanding the social world. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix & K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed). Milton Keynes: The Open University Hollway, W., Cooper, T., Johnston, A. & Stevens, R., (2007a). The psychology of sex and gender. In T. Cooper & I. Roth (Eds.), Challenging Psychological Issues (2nd ed). Milton Keynes: The Open University