Credit Rating Agencies Role in Financial Crisis

1. Credit rating agencies present one of the key problems in reconfiguring the global financial architecture. Why? What are the options? What is the most likely solution? * The rating agencies present one of the key problems because they were behind the rating of the complex CDOs as well as taking an active part in creating these mortgage-related products which created conflict of interest. The ratings given to the CDO tranches did not effectively disclose the true credit quality of the underlying securities which contained a much higher default probabilities. * Options: * More regulations by SEC to control the â€Å"issuer pays† model. â€Å"To correct the competition problem within the â€Å"issuer pays† model, the SEC could place limits on the competition that occurs among the rating agencies. † (Acharya & Richardson, 2009) * â€Å"An alternative structure (†¦) would be for the SEC to create a department that houses a centralized clearing platform for ra ting agencies. † (Acharya & Richardson, 2009) * Another option is to deregulate the industry and allow free-market competition forces to shape its further growth and development which could bring in players like Bloomberg that would offer bond rating as a value-added services to its clientele. Most likely solution: * Although it is a very complex situation and it would require a series of regulatory changes, a regulatory oversight agency that would closely monitor the rating agencies and act as an intermediary in matching the issuers with the rating agencies. 2. Greece is in trouble. Why? Fast-forward 5 years and describe the most likely outcome of the current problems and their consequences for global banking and financial markets. * Greece is in trouble because it has failed to keep under controls its ballooning debt and accumulated a total national debt of over 113% of the country’s GDP. In April and May of this year Greece has to repay a total of $23 billion of its maturing government bonds which raised the question of whether it will be able to refinance the debt at its current financial state. * It has come to light that Greece used a series of financial transactions facilitated by Goldman Sachs to make its financials appear much nicer to adhere to the EU requirements of the member countries having to maintain the budget deficit under 3% of GDP. â€Å"†¦concerns about Greece's high level of debt led the three main international credit ratings agencies to downgrade Greek government bonds in January, so when Greece issued its bonds, it had offer them at much higher interest rates (five percent higher than those offered on benchmark German bonds) in order to attract investors. † (Fleeson) * Depending on how EU deals with the Greece problem, the Euro zone could become stronger in the outcome or it could face a moral hazard when more of the problematic EU c ountries (Portugal, Ireland, and Spain) encounter the same problem as Greece and will expect EU to bail them out. If Greece is allowed to default on its international debt it will put pressure on the entire Euro zone and will make it more problematic for Portugal, Ireland, and Spain, who have â€Å"ratios of debt to gross domestic product that are three times higher than the EU ceiling of three percent†, to borrow in the near future. (Fleeson) * If EU backs Greece, it will be more easier for the country to borrow at favorable rates and it will ease the pressure from the speculators which were betting against Greece and aggravating the problem even more. On a more positive note, the fact that the euro has weakened during the past four months as a result of the situation with Greece has the made the European goods relatively cheaper and export conditions more favorable. * Most likely outcome is that EU will eventually back Greece in some shape or form, once the member countries can agree on the measures, to keep it from defaulting and impose stricter economic rules on the members to adhere to in order to create sounder economic environments. â€Å"†¦analysts say that supportive talk (and even credit guarantees) will probably not be enough to salvage Greece’s finances and that ultimately the country is likely to need a package of loans put together by other EU governments and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). † (Fleeson) * â€Å"As part of the deal being forged in Brussels, Germany and France are demanding that the eurozone rewrite its rule book about economic convergence, including sanctions against governments (such as Greece’s) that deceive their EU partners about their real financial situation. (Maudave) * â€Å"The emergence of changes of this sort, including effective measures of discipline against offending eurozone countries, the new fiscal discipline and beginning of collective economic governance among the eurozon e countries, could be an important step forward to the EU’s global clout. Such progress toward economic coherence and credibility could amount to progress on a par with the Lisbon treaty – and, for the long run, a silver lining to the current economic hardship being inflicted on the EU economies. (Maudave) References Viral Acharya, Matthew Richardson. â€Å"Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed system. † New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 2009. Print Tony Spadaccia. â€Å"U. S. is Resembling Greece’s Economic Decline. † The Breeze, March 18, 2010. Web. Sat. 20 March, 2010 ; http://breezejmu. org/2010/03/18/us-is-resembling-greeces-economic-decline/; Will Fleeson. â€Å"Sovereign Debt Liable to Overwhelm System in the EU’s Five â€Å"PIIGS†. † The European Institute, February 2010. Web. Fri. 2 March, 2010 Will Fleeson. â€Å"Euro Zone Acts to Dodge Greece's Bullet — But More to Come From PIIGS? † The European Institute, February 2010. Web. Fri. 12 March, 2010 http://www. europeaninstitute. org/February-2010/euro-zone-may-dodge-the-bullet-from-greece. html Basil Maudave. â€Å"EU Bail-Out For Greece? Time Has Come, Reportedly, To Do It — With Conditions. † The European Institute, March 2010. Web. Fri. 12 March, 2010 Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr. â€Å"Controlling Systemic Risk in an ERA of Financial Consolidation. †

A Prime Innovator of Intelligence

Alfred Binet is one of the most significant figures in psychology as he redefined the meaning of intelligence. He basically set a new standard in the study of the human mind through his creation of the IQ test, which basically revolutionized how to gauge a person’s intelligence. Even today, several of his major works and ideas are still being used by modern psychologists.Early Life & EducationAlthough Binet was highly successful in his field, he didn’t always thrive well, especially during the early stages of his life. He was born in July 8, 1857 in Nice, France (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). His father was a physician and from here it could be surmised that he was also meant to pursue a career in the medical field.However, his parents separated when he was still young and he and his mother relocated to Paris where he attended law school. Upon receiving his license as a lawyer in 1878, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father in the field of medicine but lat er decided that his interest psychology was more important (Sweet Briar College, 2007).Beginnings & FailuresDespite his contributions to psychology, Binet, ironically, was a not formally-schooled psychologist. He mainly educated himself by studying books of Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill, among others, for several years (Indiana University, 2007).He became particularly interested in Mill’s belief that the processes of intelligence could be expounded by the laws and principles of associationism. However, he soon realized the restrictions of this particular theory, but he was still heavily influenced by Mill’s ideas (Indiana University, 2007).In 1880, Binet published his first paper on hypnosis, which was highly criticized for lack of scientific support (International Bureau of Education, 2000). Subsequently, he began working in Jean-Martin Charcot’s laboratory, where the main focus of research was hypnosis. Binet was heavily influenced by Charcot’s id eas and as a result, he published four papers on animal magnetism and hypnosis.Unfortunately, his Charcot’s ideas were refuted by various scientific studies and in effect, Binet was also discredited for supporting his teacher, which was considered his first major failure (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). Shortly after abandoning his research on hypnosis, he married Laure Balbiani in 1884 with whom he had two daughters, Madeleine and Alice.Important Contributions & WorksOne of the Binet’s first significant contributions was his incorporation of chess into one of his psychological studies that dealt with the cognition of chess masters. In his experiment, he found out that memory was only part of the processes of cognition in the game of chess and that only master chess players could play the game successfully while blindfolded (Internal Bureau of Education, 2000).He further surmised that imagination, memories of abstract, and experience were among the many factors that is required of a chess master. Furthermore, his most significant contribution is the intelligence test. In 1904, Binet and his colleague, Theodore Simon developed a test called â€Å"New Methods for Diagnosing Idiocy, Imbecility, and Moron Status† (Indiana University, 2007).Among the tasks included in the test were to repeat a sequence of numbers from memory and to follow an object with one’s eye (Indiana University, 2007). Binet and Simon conducted the test on 50 children who acted according to their age or level.They would then compared the results to other children of the same age and evaluate the results. Meaning to say, a 13-year old who could complete the tasks that all 13-years olds performed would have a mental age of 13. Similarly, a 13-year old who would complete all the tasks of a 15-year old would have a mental age of 15 (Indiana University, 2007).In 1908, Simon and Binet modified their intelligence test as they theorized that intelligence increased with age a nd included a comparison between the chronological age and the mental age in the new test (Indian University, 2007).However, Binet stressed that his intelligence test also had its limits and that human IQ was diverse and had to be assessed qualitatively and not only quantitatively.

At Any One Moment

Had the story been written in a time where a Tsunami had not occurred for many years it would be a lot harder to imagine and put into perspective the enormity of the tragedy occurring in the story. Judy Allen builds on this idea through the specific language and metaphors used to set the scene and further build on the context. â€Å"It rose up like a mountain, either hiding or engulfing the distant boats†. Through using real locations in the text the reader can see and believe the story. The reader’s context is also used to build dramatic tension. As the water is drawn out before the Tsunami approaches the reader is mostly likely aware of what is occurring due to their context compared to Sherif, his brother and the villagers who were obliviouxs to the disaster about to occur. His brother started to laugh- it was all so extraordinary, a trick played by the ocean†. This situation creates dramatic irony and positions the reader to want to warn the characters in the story to get out of the water. Judy Allen builds and plays on the readers context which is most likely that of a busy Western life. Many people in society are always busy and never take time to thin k about other people. â€Å"Even so, most people are aware only of their own small world, and many believe their own small world, and many believe their own small world is all there is†. Through the structure and the omniscient point of view the author positions the reader to imagine all the things happening in the world right now and how every action has a consequence. Allen then takes the reader down to one specific event which could be happening right now. This structure is especially effect because of Western Society’s desensitised view of disaster. The reader relates to a personal story much more than figures on the news. Allen’s use of emotive language and smilies also creates an environment for the reader to personally react to the story. â€Å"He stared as the vast sweep of water was pulled back like a huge bed cover†. This imagery allows the reader to put themselves in the story and use their own personal context to make meaning to â€Å"At Any One Moment†. Through my own personal context I am able to react to the story and feel sympathy for the characters in it. Although I was not personally affected by the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 I can still appreciate the pain that Sherif goes through. This prose fiction work put the world into perspective for me and caused me to feel grateful for the things I have in my life. It made me realise how fragile life can be, how people can be alive one minute and dead the next. Through all the tragedy in our wold I had become partially immune to the horrors in our world until I read this personal story. I have a strong sense of family and this caused me to react strongly to Sherif losing his brother and probably his mother. I cannot imagine losing one of my family members and it pained me to see that a whole life can be lost in a matter of seconds you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether it is man-made tragedy or natural disaster we never know what life is going to throw at us and often we cannot stop it. At any one moment on this small planet†¦ †. Through the use of structure, point of view and context Allen encourages the reader feel small and insignificant. By allowing us to imagine all the events and people in the world the reader is positioned to feel as though they are helpless to the world around them and can do nothing to stop it. Through this realisation Allen then inspires us to come together as a global communi ty that can make a difference, we are insignificant on our own but together we are much more powerful.

Task 1-Local social inequality is increasingly disrupting community Essay

Task 1-Local social inequality is increasingly disrupting community life and destroying people's sense of belonging. Do you agree with this statement What evidence supports your view - Essay Example Different investors may also have different beta formulas as to how they will determine the activity of a certain stock (Dykstra, 2009), but to keep things simple and so as to not cause so much confusion, we will stick to this formula at hand. If you are planning to invest in Amazon’s stocks, using this simple beta formula will be a good starting place for you. Now in regards to whether or not a company’s earnings has a bearing on the stocks increase or decrease, it is important to understand that just because a company may announce that its earnings has increased, this does not necessarily mean that the stock in the company will increase. There have been many times when a company will announce that their earnings have increased: yet, their stocks have fallen. This is because the actual earnings did not turn out as the market thought that it would (AAI journal, 2010). Whether or not a company’s stocks rise is not based on the earnings of a company; rather, they are solely based on expectations. If the market expects that a company does well, then the company’s shares are going to rise. If the market thinks that the company is going to fall, then the shares are going to fall. Sometimes, the company can do unexpected things, proving the predictions of the market wrong. For instance, if the company earns more than what was expected, then the company will have proven the market wrong. Then there is the case when the company will expect that a particular company will have high earning; however, this is not the case. This happened with the Lehman Brothers investment firm. The Lehman Brothers investment firm was expected to have high earnings; however, this was not the case. The earnings were far lower than the market expected they would be (AAI Journal, 2010). AAI journal 2010, Great Expectations: Earnings and Their impact, Investing Minds, United States, viewed 21 January 2010,

Final Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 9

Final Paper - Essay Example This paper main focus will be on the impact fast food has on the people living in Hong Kong. Fast foods have been known to impact negatively on people’s health considering the main method of preparation of these fast foods is by deep-frying in cooking oils. Fast foods are also considered to have many calories, but limited nutrients such as minerals and vitamins. Additionally, most drinks and snacks in fast McDonald restaurants have a high sugar level. Therefore, Hong Kong residents who consume fast food often take in more calories than their body needs. Once the excess calories accumulate in the body there are great chances of a significant number of individuals being obese. Obesity increases the chances of an individual becoming diabetic as well as getting high blood pressure. It is unhealthy for people to eat franchise on a frequent basis. A worrying statistic is that it takes fifty one days for the body to digest fast-food French fries or chicken nuggets (Watson, 21). Despite McDonald’s franchise making efforts to sustain children with threatening diseases, the diet offered by the franchise contributes to heart disease, asthma and obesity.Hong Kong has been putting in measures to ensure its food industry embarks on activities that promote healthy lives among its people. However, McDonald’s has expanded rapidly which in turn had led to many children being hospitalized from poisoning of fast food. The expansion poses questions to Hong Kong’s policy on health foods since McDonald’s foods are known to lead to a number of illnesses (Schlosser, 123). The corporation’s operations are also tends to be dubious considering unlike the normal fresh ground beef patty found at a local Hong Kong butcher shop, a McDonald’s hamburger patty contains beef from more than a thousand different bulls. The bulls are established in as many as five countries and

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 96

Assignment Example The wind gust will be in the excess of 140 mph. The forecast also predicts an average snowfall probability forecast of 8 inches. There is also a probability 0f freezing rain reaching a minimum of .25 inch. The National Weather Service uses satellites to forecast the weather by analyzing cloud cover and heat waves to predict the weather. They also use radar to forecast the weather. The use of satellites is an extremely accurate method of analyzing the weather. The weather forecast carried out by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s claims that there will be a colder and wetter than average winter season. Currently a storm is bringing hurricane force winds is being felt in Michigan. These strong winds carry the snow and spread this precipitation all over Plains of Michigan. This is due to La Nina, which is accompanied by water temperatures below normal in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. This plays a major role in the winter weather of this area. A type of forecasting methodology used is Forensic & Historical Meteorology that requires specific weather information to forecast the weather. So far, the accuracy of the 2011 winter season has been quite accurate from all sectors. Past forecasts carried out especially for the year 2010-2011 has been very accurate. This forecast was carried out by the Climate Prediction Center, which is a sub-division of the National Weather Service. My own winter season forecast I predict high precipitation of snow and very cold weather. The snow will be at least 8 inches and the temperature about

Comparison and Contrast of Keynesian and Classical Economic Essay

Comparison and Contrast of Keynesian and Classical Economic - Essay Example As the study discusses  Keynes further argued that the level of total spending in the economy could be less to provide full employment. This disagreed with the classical economists who believed that the interest rate adjustments, wages, and prices would help to prevent the unemployment. Keynes said that the full employment happens when the amount of total spending is enough. Moreover, if the spending is not sufficient, then the unemployment will occur.This essay highlights that  Keynes also disagreed with the relationship between saving and investment not being enough to support classical claims that the support full employment. Classical economist described two forces that ensure full employment occurs. Those are the interest rate adjustments and wage/price flexibility. If the interest rate falls as planned and the investors result in little spending, salaries and prices can still support to ensure full employment is reached. When a competitive market occurs, the low demand will lead to falling wages and prices that will finally lead to all outputs being sold and prevent unemployment.  Keynes disagreed with classical assumptions about high wages and prices are not consistent with the real world. Keynes explained that variety of forces prevented prices and wages from adjusting quickly. These forces prevent prices and wages from changing quickly and in a downward direction.  Keynes said that many product markets are monopolistic or oligopolistic.

Institutional Realities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Institutional Realities - Research Paper Example Specific Problem in the Acute Long Term Organization. This will look at research and theories that look at the acute long term organization. This will form a basis of the problems which need to be solved with the current strategic project. Specific Problems Defined. This section describes the specific problem in RHC as well as how this relates to various aspects that need to change within the organization. Strategic Planning Issue. This will look at the one issue that will be examined in terms of RHC and how this will be formulated for continuous planning and change within the organization. Theory of Constraint. Looks at the main problem associated with RHC in terms of the theory of constraint. Process Analysis Theory. This is the second theory which applies to the problems of RHC. Application of Strategic Planning. Looks at the mission, vision, plan and implementation of the strategy while defining ways to approach the main issues. Strategy of Continuous Organizational Improvement. Examines the ways to continuously approve with the implementation of the new strategy and expectations. References. List of resources used for this project. Annotated Bibliography Bryson, John. (2004). Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations UK: John Wiley and Sons. This book describes the strategic change cycle as well as how this is incorporated into non –profits and care systems. Not following this cycle is the main problem of the health care system, specifically because there is the need to respond to trends and to look at the situations that are a part of the culture and the community. Carr, Deborah, Dmitry Khodyakov. (2007). â€Å"End – of – Life Health Care Planning Among Young Old Adults: An Assessment of Psychosocial Influences.† Journals of Gerontology 62 (2). This article is used to examine the different approaches which are looked at in the long term acute care system. It can be seen that psychosocial influences create a spec ific impression about the care which is offered and creates gaps with the market and the desire to be a part of the main care system. This is one of the concepts which RHC needs to look at with the re-engineering of their program, specifically to change the quality care offered. Coleman, EA, C Parry, S Chalmers. (2006). â€Å"The Care Transitions Intervention.† Archives of Internal Care 57 (1). This article is used to describe the way in which care systems need to look at staff and employment training. It shows that a main gap that is associated with the care system is based on the misunderstandings that are a part of the care transition that occurs. Employees are expected to begin understanding the need to intervene and change the approach which is taken toward the long term care. Eskildesen, Manuel. (2007). â€Å"Long – Term Acute Care: A Review of the Literature.† Journal of American Geriatrics Society 55 (5). The article that is reviewed looks at the general issues of long – term acute care and how many are influenced by the specific needs that are in the facilities. Looking at the review of literature helps to define the issues ranging from cost control to the associations that are a part of the acute care. Ford, JD, AD Amelio. (2008). â€Å"Resistance to Change: The Rest of the Story.† Journal of Management 72 (3). This article is used to explain the difficulties with change and change management. The article will be used to

Spirometry and Puerto Rican Children Research Proposal

Spirometry and Puerto Rican Children - Research Proposal Example However, for people suffering from asthma, breathing becomes a difficulty, a disease and condition that limits their activities and significantly reduces their quality of life while being exposed to an increasing risk of death (Bartolomei 2008; Ortega et al. 2002). Puerto Rican children in particular and Puerto Ricans in general have the highest prevalence of active asthma and morbidity among Hispanics (Flores 2002). Despite the fact that experience of poverty and other social- and environmental factors such as exposure to higher indoor and outdoor air pollutants, hazardous waste sites, pesticides, lead and mercury are prevalent among other Hispanic sub-groups like Mexicans, Dominicans and Cubans (Flores 2002). In this condition, wherein asthma prevalence continue to increase and asthma burden persists contributing to reduce productivity and missed school days, it becomes urgent to develop programs that will address concerns pertinent to acute attacks and long term care management of asthmatic children. This is essential in order to check the dwindling quality of life not only of the children who are having difficulty in breathing, but also of desperate parents struggling with their children’s disease. As such, this study intends to come up with a paradigm that will address concerns regarding asthma acute attacks and lay down an educational program that is feasible and authentically geared towards responding to the demands of Puerto Rican children with asthma. At the same time, it seeks to bridge the gap in the literature (Flores 2002). Since, it has been observed that Latinos, in general, are not properly represented in clinical studies and... This is essential in order to check the dwindling quality of life not only of the children who are having difficulty in breathing, but also of desperate parents struggling with their children’s disease. As such, this study intends to come up with a paradigm that will address concerns regarding asthma acute attacks and lay down an educational program that is feasible and authentically geared towards responding to the demands of Puerto Rican children with asthma. At the same time, it seeks to bridge the gap in the literature (Flores 2002). Since, it has been observed that Latinos, in general, are not properly represented in clinical studies and that most literatures dealing with Latinos health condition and disparity are homogenous and fails to recognize the diversity of Hispanic groups (Flores 2002). Although, it has been observed that when it comes to asthma issues, there appears to be a segregation of Hispanic groups in the collected data, however, it still fails to identify the definitive social and environmental factors that contribute to the high prevalence of active asthma among Puerto Ricans (Flores 2002).  In this regard, as there is a necessity to come up with programs and policies that will both address the issues of acute asthma attacks and long-term care management of asthma; the research asserts the notion that lung functions measurement, which are integral part of the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, be integrated in the treatment of acute asthma attacks and be incorporated in the education.

Goal Essay Example for Free

Goal Essay â€Å"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world† (Nelson Mandela) what are my intension to come to college? Nowadays, medical assistant is rapidly increasing. I’m attending college to earn my Associate degree in Medical Assistant. Before attending college, I’ve had too many problems such as the grammar problems and writing in the English forms. I realized that I wasn’t going to get far without education. With my familys support and advises, I decided to go on further with my education to have a better future and a long time career working as a medical assistant. This year, I am enrolled at Kauai Community College since the fall 2012 semester. When I started college, I was majoring Liberal Arts because Im still undecided what career I wanted to pursue in. November 2012, after talking to my counselor I was able to choose what Im pursuing; I choose medical assistant. Their are couple reasons why I choose medical assistant. One reason is that I have the passion to work with other people. And the other reason is that I have a single mother who supported me since I was born and I want to find a career that would pay enough to support me and my family. Receiving my associate degree and becoming a medical assistant will improve my life. I am 18 years old, employed at brick oven (Kalaheo), and still living with my parents. In the past I made a lot of bad choices that made my mother disappointment. Accomplishing my educational goals and pursuing in the medical field will make my family and my mother proud, and it will also help me live independently. My estimated date of graduating the medical field is spring 2015, in order for me to complete my goal; I will set up a meeting with my counselor to organize what I should take each semester. By doing this, so I would know what to expect and not to overload my schedule. Other things that will also help me to achieve my goal is to attend class regularly, take notes, turn in all assignments on time, and do not procrastinate. In conclusion, my purpose for being in college is to have a better future and be able to live independently and support my family.

Is Language Innate or Learned?

Is Language Innate or Learned? How do we learn language? Is it an innate ability or do we have to learn language? Can we find an absolute definition for language? These questions has been asked and investigated by many psychologists, but to date I have not been able to find any concrete evidence put forward to support any of the findings. Using the language acquisition theories of Chomsky and Skinner, as a base, I was able to compare of their findings by applying the theories to actual situations to determine the practicality of the results. As a result of making these comparisons, I was able to determine that each theory on its own had limitations, but I believe that if we took aspects of each and made one compilation, it is possible that we could eventually determine whether language is in fact an innate ability or whether it is developed through learning. Language is an innate ability and is not developed through learning To say that language is an innate ability and is not developed through learning, we need to look at the theorist arguments on language acquisition. One theorist argued that language is an innate ability, (Chomsky,1959), another argued that it is acquired by reinforcement and repetition (Skinner, 1957), another argued that it was part of the overall development (Piaget, 1969) and yet another argued that it is learned through interaction (Bruner, 1975). Although each theorist produced differing views on language acquisition, the debate still remains as to whether language is an innate ability or it is learned. I will be focusing on Skinners (1957) Behaviourist Theory and Chomksys (1959) Innate Theory as the base on this paper. Let us first look at the definition of language. Language, as defined by the Websters online dictionary states that it is a systematic means of communicating, by the use of sounds or convectional symbols. The idea is that language is facilitated and understood by the use of structured elements. These elements are not limited to auditory but also encompass the use of convectional symbols. What therefore are convectional symbols? Throughout the evolutionary process, countries have developed their own method of documentation using unique letters or numerals. They have also created signs which have no alphanumeric symbols but effectively communicate necessary information, for example, a single arrow pointing to the left could mean, left turn only or keep left. Similarly the outline of a man or woman on the doors of washrooms communicate the gender allowed to use the washroom. The symbol may have a definitive meaning, but the interpretation of the symbol will determine the appropriate act ion. Another definition found in the Oxford online dictionary, we see where language is defined as the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and convectional way. It is interesting to note the disparity in the two definitions. Whilst the Websters definition appears generic to any specie, the Oxford definition seems to be specific to communication in humans. Does the Oxford dictionary imply that communication is unique to humans? Based on the research done by the theorists we recongnise that humans talk and all other living species have their own unique method of communicating with each other. It is therefore not appropriate to disregard non-human communication abilities. Looking at the human interaction and how we are able to understand each other, especially as it relates language development in newborn babies, has encouraged many theories. De Villiers J. G. P. A. (1978), in their book, Language Acquisition, the question is asked, What does a child bring into the world with him by way of inherited knowledge or behaviour, and what is the product of the experience? (p.2). It is clear that both genetics and experience play an important part in language development, but the underlying question remains debatable. The arguments continue with Osherson, D. N., Gleitman L. R., Liberman M, (1995) in their book, An Invitation to Cognitive Science: Language, they state that some parts of the capacity to learn language must be innate. At the same time, it is equally clear that language is learned (Gleitman and Newport, chapter 1,p.1) The hierarchy of language, however complex, is influenced by the environment and experiences. In babies we recognise that there is no experience, therefore the development can only be linked or associated with their environment. The direct links that babies have in their early stages are only with their parents or other close family members who interact with them on a daily basis. Babies do not have the capacity to make audible sounds which constitute sentences; however they do have to capacity to make other sounds which can be interpreted as immediate needs or wants. As the child develops, the verbal interaction increases and depending on the appropriateness or the effectiveness of the interaction, the development progress will be determined. This means that how the parent speaks to the child or how often word or sentences are used will determine how quickly the childs language is developed. The comparisons between nature versus nurture have been debated for a long time. The story has been written about the Egyptian King Psammethichus, who in an attempt to determine which race was more ancient, the Egyptian or the Phrygians, took two newborn babies and placed them in isolation. They were kept by themselves in a lonely cottage and no-one was allowed to utter words around them. After two years in isolation the caregiver of the children heard them say the word becos and he eventually reported this to the King. King Psametichus researched the word and found out that the origin of the language was Phrygian for bread. The discovery made the Egyptians yield their position of antiquity and conceded that the Phrygians were more ancient than they were. (Herodotus, De SÃ ©lincourt A., Marincola J. 2003), The Histories). The fact that these children had no verbal interaction at all makes you want to believe that babies are born with some innate ability for language development. Although this story is very old, we can also look at more recent language developments in children who are kept in isolated conditions. Feral children, commonly known as wild children, are children who have been brought up in total isolation. They may have some human contact but they are denied any kind of social interaction with other people. These children have been known to develop their own language as in the case of Genie, who was kept in isolation until she was 13 years old. This is a recent example of language development without guidance. She was not taught to speak and was denied any human interaction whilst in isolation and when she was found and tested (Curtis, 1977), it was discovered that Genie would never be able to master the rules of grammar. Although she had good semantic ability, she could not learn syntax and therefore was not able to form complete sentences. Going back to the theorist arguments, did Genies lack of communicative ability give credence to Skinners (1957) proposal that language can be acquired through a series of habit forming tasks? The experiments he performed were conducted on rats and birds, which were taught to perform various tasks successfully. This theory, known as the Behaviourist Theory, proposes that through repetition and subsequent rewards children learn how to communicate. In his 1957 book, Verbal Behaviour, Skinner argued that language was like any other form of behaviour which is acquired through conditioning. Rewards were given once the appropriate behaviour was achieved. However looking again at feral children, even with repetition and rewards they still were not able to master the rules of grammar. The common diagnosis was that these children had passed the critical period hypothesis, which is the stage before puberty before the brain becomes specialized in it functions. Language functions are assigned to the left brain, however before puberty the language function moves from one side to the next and after puberty this function is assigned to the left brain. Chomsky (1959) published a criticism of this theory. Chomsky believed that a childs brain contained special language learning abilities at birth which enabled them to communicate from birth the Innate Theory. He argued that a child was naturally predisposed to learn a language. This was possible by hearing speech which is interpreted by the brain using its natural ability to apply structures and principles. Chomskys view is that a child is held to be born with the entire set of linguistic universals plus evaluation procedures, built in, and that he somehow uses this set as a grid through which he filters the particular language he happens to hear around him (1968a, p.76). After reading the review it was interesting to note that Chomsky critised Skinner because he used only animals as the test subjects, and as a result the theory was silent on specie restrictions. Ironically, Chomskys innate theory was based on no test subject (human or animal). If we are to accept the innateness of language acquisition then we would have to somehow get into the mind of the child from birth to determine how the brain interpreted the speech it heard. Using the feral children Kamala and Amala, the two Indian girls that were said to be raised by wolves can we apply the innate theory? The missionary who found and adopted them (Singh) tried to rehabilitate them back to their human form. Unfortunately Amala died shortly after being found. Progress was slow and after three years, Kamala had only mastered about a dozen words. The question then is; where does the innate ability surface? Based on the innate theory, these children should have had some ability to understand human language, despite the fact that they were socialized by wolves in the early stages of development. It was several years later that Kamalas vocabulary increased to forty words. Gesell (1940) in his book, Wolf Child and Human Child, stated that Kamalas situation demonstrated just how mentally naked humans are when born and how much we rely on society to shape us. Conclusion After looking at the two theories I am still left to determine which one has more credence than the other. I am almost tempted to conduct my own research, similar to King Psammethichus, the only risk with doing that would be the impending prison time I may have to serve for offences committed against a minor. I am however able to give my opinion on the theories. I do not agree that language acquisition is solely dependent on an innate ability; there must be some learning which takes place during the early developmental stages. Humans may be born with a pre-disposition for language, however there has to be some social interaction that defines the language, grammar and speech. We teach our children language by using a variety of methods, such as visual aids and verbal reinforcements. If we only show them the visual aids, without explaining what they are seeing, they will ultimately create their own description and possibly create their own language. The feral children did not necessarily create their own language, instead they adapted to their environment. In the case of Genie, she had limited human interaction; therefore it is possible that her language development was only based on the few words spoken to her during her isolation. The meals she was served may have just been shoved at her with harsh accompanying words of eat this or here. Applying Skinners theory, the reinforcement may have been the harsh words heard regularly but not enough to develop the syntax needed to form sentences. Here Chomskys theory may have been more appropriate, in that there was some amount of innate understanding of human communication; Genie responded to human speech althou gh she was not taught. In the case of Kamala, who was raised by wolves, the innate theory is not possible. She had to be taught everything as she did not understand anything her adoptive parent said. Skinners theory here is more believable. It was through constant repetition and reinforcement that she was able to develop some kind of vocabulary database to eventually communicate. What is interesting is the length of time it took for her to grasp a dozen words. In a normal three year old child, you will find that they are most communicative and speaking constantly at this age. In conclusion, I believe that the two theories go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. We may be born with some amount of innate ability, but it is through repetition and reinforcement that we are able to communicate effectively. The necessary grammar and syntax ability requires practice and this can only be achieved with being taught. It is my opinion that both Skinner and Chomsky were on the right path but they needed to work together to get the language acquisition theory more credence.

The Worlds Longest War :: essays research papers

The World's Longest War Where We Are Journals practice a laudable self-censorship of criticism of religions. The most vicious devil worship is mentioned with little comment and then only in crime reporting of the atrocities committed. This is a good thing. Religious hatreds are so easily inflamed, and there is so much history of religious persecution, that we are much better off with this self restraint. Furthermore the separation of church and state is spelled out in our constitution and is practiced in most countries of the world, even in the former USSR and China. In democracies it is legal for a political party to yearn for religious domination, but in all democratic countries such parties are very small and never reach the stage of challenging their constitutions. The name "Christian Democratic Party," common in Europe, refers to moral roots, not to theocratic ambitions. The consequence of this separation of church and state is that political contention is not poisoned by religious hatred. There is one exception, Islam, a theocracy which has savaged the world for over a thousand years. Its religious doctrine is that church and state are one and that canon law and civil law are one. It periodically believes that unbelievers must be converted or conquered and that hating infidels is a virtue and killing an infidel is a ticket to heaven. In many of the faithful this religious fanaticism has merged with the secular fanaticism of Marxism-Leninism to make a witch's brew of hate and savagery against Christendom and capitalism. ('America is the Great Satan.') The demise of Marxism-Leninism in Europe does not extend to the Middle East. Russian and Chinese weapons continue to be sold for Arab oil money. During centuries of warfare the western countries have become democracies. Even Eastern Europe is avalanching into democracy. But, except for present day Turkey and some Far Eastern countries which practice a mild form of Islam, the Moslem world is run by military dictators, theocratic oligarchies, or a combination of both. A short list of these contemporary dictators (most entitled "President" or "King") includes: Ghadaffi of Libya, Assad of Syria, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the Mullahs of Iran, Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Hussein of Jordan, and the competing warlords in Lebanon and the PLO. This theocracy has conquered or converted much of the civilized world. It's conquests have been impeded more by internal factional wars, murders, and schisms than by resistance of its victims. It is now on the rising slope of its next onslaught. It can not yet attack the superpowers in open warfare. Israel is a salient of the West in the Middle East so open warfare has been repeatedly

Ethics in The Criminal Justice Profession Essay example -- Morality/Et

Ethics or being ethical is simply based on a person’s capability to choose what is right or wrong or good or bad. Ethics can be defined as the body of moral principles or values governing or distinctive of a particular culture or group. (Banks C. , 2009). Ethics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live our lives; A system of moral principles (Banks C. , 2009). Over all, morality rests squarely on the shoulders one’s early social environment. Ethics or being ethical in any business is very important. Business ethics, especially in retail, usually means three things, avoid breaking criminal law and labor laws, avoid action that may result in civil law suits against the company and avoid actions that are bad for the company image. Businesses are especially concerned with these three things given that it involves loss of money and company reputation. In theory, a business could address these concerns by assigning corporate attorneys and public relations experts to supervise employees on their daily activities. Because at anytime an employee might stray from acceptable conduct, the experts would be there to guide them back. Obviously, this solution would be a financial disaster if practiced. Given that it would cost a company more in attorney and public relations fees, companies save more by having preventative procedures in place. Consequently, companies have established special task forces or special departments to combat company from losses that it more cost effective. Such as, loss prevention agents or specialists, security guards and or special police, etc., to help prevent â€Å"shrinkage†. There are many major issues concerning criminal justice. These major issues ... ...ears, it is has come to light that some criminal justice professionals (decision makers) have sometimes fell short of making the â€Å"right† choices, or have deliberately acted unethically in carrying out their duties (Banks, 2009). Being ethical whether it’s in criminal justice or loss prevention it all has to do with making the right decisions to better the company or job. Works Cited Banks, C. (2009). Criminal Justice; Theory and Practice, 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc.,. Grant, K. J. (2002, December). Ethics and Law Enforcement. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin , pp. 11-14. Kleinig, J. (2008). Ethics and Criminal Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Less, R. D. (2008). Corperate Governance . Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from Code of Business Conduct and Ethics: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=64847&p=irol-govHighlights

Key Events Leading to Revolutionary War Essay -- essays research paper

Events Leading to the Revolutionary War In the 18th century, world advances were made through ones connections. The closer relationship one had with the king, the better opportunity they have. Cronyism allows people with less talent to rise in society. However, living in colonies reduced the influence of cronyism. One could rise economically and socially through hard work and good fortune. In Britain, King George III appointed George Grenville as first minister with responsibility for solving the debt crisis of the Seven Years’ war. The British at home were highly taxed so it seemed reasonable to tax the Americans as well. The Parliament taxing the colonists without representation led to some of the key events leading to the American Revolution. The Stamp Act was a tax created by the Parliament that required people to buy stamps for paper transactions such as newspapers, legal documents and playing cards. The stamps were to be bought only with specie, which was hard to get because it was scarce. The colonists mostly used paper money or credit. This tax affected everyone in the colonies, from the wealthy to the poor, to business owners, to lawyers, and even commoners. Colonial assemblies saw the stamp act as infringement on their power. Not even people with authority in the colonies had a say on these taxes. Other groups saw it as a nuisance and as legislation that could increase cronyism and dependence on political connections. The colonists protested against the Stamp Act; they threatened and attacked the people who distributed the stamps and formed groups to lead protests. The â€Å"Sons of Liberty† was a group who led some of the protests and also organized networks to boycott British goods. In 1776 the Stamp Act w as repealed. The king and the Parliament both agreed that the Stamp Act was a bad idea but still felt that the colonists needed to be taxed. The Parliament then put out the Declatory Act which asserts the right to tax Britain including all of its colonies. Since Parliament felt that the Colonists still needed to be taxed, the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 conceived by Charles Townshend was passed. This was a tax on imported goods such as paint, teas, glass, paper and lead. It also authorized courts to crack down on smuggled merchandise. This tax was not any better than the Stamp act. â€Å"It raised revenue without the approval of colonial assemblies and... ...ed the First Continental Congress. They met to discuss the declaration of their rights, but were not ready to declare independence. They took a militant stance by saying â€Å"Everyone qualified to fight should learn ‘the art of war as soon as possible, and†¦appear under arms at least once a week† (Ayers 143). They also created an economic boycott, ending all trade with Great Britain. The Committees of Observation and Safety was made to enforce the ban on local trade through elected local committees. King George III considered this as a rebellion and took forceful action in the battles of Lexington and Concord. Only 8 colonists died and out of 700 British soldiers, 73 died and 202 were missing or wounded. They were harassed back to Boston and surrounded by militias. Being taxed by the parliament only makes the colonists realize that they don’t need to take orders from the British anymore. Resisting those taxes became a war for independence. They no longer need to have ties to a country that they have nothing to do with. By protesting against the parliament the colonists were finding that they can self-govern themselves, rather than having to rely on the parliament to do it for them.

How Andrea Jung Became Successful

Her parents are both Chinese immigrants that moved their children with the dream of providing them with a better education. Both her parents are very educated people and they set high standards for Jung and expected her to work hard for what she wanted and to achieve as much as possible without losing sight of her heritage and values. She has always stated that she was not a very good student growing up, but her parents would offer something in return for her earning straight As. Every time she wanted something she knew she would have to study really hard to get It and It's because of this that she credits her parents with furthering her resolve and ambition. 1 While In high school she got Involved In extra-curricular activities, specially the student body, she served as class secretary and then president. After high school, Jung attended Princeton university and earned a BAA degree in English Literature. She decided to take a break from school and hoped to attend law school afterwar ds, but she enjoyed her Job so much that she decided that perhaps that was her calling. Jung attended a college career fair and she was hired by Bloodiness's for a management-training program. She had at first figured the experience would come in helpful once she started working on her law degree, but she realized that she really enjoyed working In retail. Her parents TLD agree with her decision of working In the retail business and they saw her choice of career as a waste of a good college education. Jung made a smart move along the way and chose a mentor. Having a mentor was good for Jung as she was very successful and had become the company's first female vice president.Jung knew she could learn a lot from her and she did. Jung learned that men didn't see women executives as strong but weak beings and found that the majority of women in the workplace didn't support other women and it was a tough environment. â€Å"Some people just wait for someone to take them under their wing,à ¢â‚¬  he said. â€Å"Vie always advised that they shouldn't wait. They should find someone's wings to grab onto. â€Å"3 Jung made it a point to become successful and she worked hard at It and didn't let any misconceptions or put downs get In her way or set her back. Jung had other Jobs and as she moved she worked her way up the chain. Junk's outgoing personality was helpful and she made friends and networked with many then she went on to work at Newman Marcus as the executive vice president in charge of merchandising. L She learned a lot along the way, especially the importance off good self image. If she wanted to be successful she had to look successful and she knew how important it was to have a good image. She really enjoyed her work but she was also hungry for a challenge and she found it when she started working as a consultant for Avon.The company's executives really liked Jung ideas as a consultant so they decided to hire her as president of product marketing group for U . S. Operations. L The company found themselves needing a CEO and Jung and three other women thought that they had a good chance of getting picked as they had all worked for the company for quite some time. Unfortunately Avon decided to hire someone from the outside and this was a disappointment because this was a man whom they saw as having no experience in the industry.Not long after though, Mr†¦ Perrine, the current CEO, resigned and opened the door for Jung to step right in. She became Van's ninth president and CEO. 2 Avon has gone through many changes since Jung came onboard, the products have definitely become more updated and they now target a wide variety of customers. You can see anything from dresses, shoes, purses, items targeting children, and of course beauty products. They have products targeting women of all ages and the prices easily beat prices on high stores. One thing that has attracted me to Avon lately is the different campaigns that support important cause s. Breast Cancer is one of them, Jung grandmother died of breast cancer at the age of 63. 2 This was a deep loss for Jung, who recalled, â€Å"It was the early Seventies, and the C-word was forbidden in our house. She didn't want us around her in case it was contagious. There was fear about the subject† (London Times, June 29, 2002). 2 The other cause is called, â€Å"Empower Women Campaign†, this s an important cause because it fights to end violence against women.Jung has worked hard to get to where she is. She was brought up with good family values and has always made sure her family was not affected by the numerous meetings and business trips she has had to attend. Her family is very important and she has said that she has missed some of her children's events, but not the important ones. L Jung was featured in the October 2010 issue of Fortune Magazine and was ranked number 5 among the â€Å"50 Most Powerful Women. † She is a great woman and someone I can ce rtainly say I have learned a lot from.

The effect of occupational fraud and abuse on the company

Occupational fraud and abuse is defined as â€Å"The use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets† (2012 Report To Nations On Occupation Fraud And Abuse, 2012). Occupational fraud entails deceiving employing organization to obtain resources or assets for personal gain and abuse involves misapplication of the resources provided by the employer. Occupational fraud is typically for three types:1. Corruption 2. Asset Misappropriation 3. Fraudulent Statement.Amount these three categories, asset misappropriation, and corruption are the most common types of fraud and abuse. In 2012 total number of median loss of occupational fraud and abuses of all the reported cases was $140,000, and one-fifth of the cases involved losses of least $1 million (2012 Report To Nations On Occupation Fraud And Abuse, 2012).On an average United States organizations incurred 6% of revenue lo ss every year due to occupational fraud and abuse (Scott, A, 2002). Victim organizations not only bear the revenue loss but these types of frauds can also damage its goodwill in the community as well. Large organizations with multimillion turnovers can bear these losses but can have a devastating effect on small organizations. U.S. governmental oversight of accounting fraud and abuse and its effect on the company In the past many companies used the flexibly in accounting framework to modify its financial statements to present the perfect picture to the investors.Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally than introduced some detailed changes in the accounting framework. In addition, it introduced processes to enhance outside auditing, made recommendation to strengthen the audit committee, and encouraged cultural change. SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance is responsible to review critically the financial statements of the targeted companies to ensure that it is new and ex isting accounting rules are being followed and to minimize fraud and abuse using fraudulent statements. Additionally, SEC’s Division of Enforcement is responsible to bring civil  cases and penalties against the companies that attempts to conduct fraud or violets the security acts. Because of this oversight by SEC and government, companies are providing detail disclosures, more transparent financial statements to the investors and users of financial statements.Potential corruption schemes to be aware of in the companyCorruption means misusing the entrusted power or authority against the official duty to obtain benefits. Corruption schemes can be broken down into four categories: 1. Bribery- This entails offering, giving, and receiving anything of value to influence the decision. Official bribery involves providing or offering anything of value to influence the decision of government agent or employee. Commercial bribery deals with providing something of value to influence a business decision rather than decision of government employee or agent. Generally, there are two types of schemes involve in bribery: †¢Kickback Schemes: These schemes are possible because of collusion between employee of the victim company and outside party, typically vendors. In this, vendor submits either inflation or fraudulent invoices to the victim company, and the employee in the victim company makes sure that the payment is made on those invoices.After the payment, employee gets his or her share of payment that is known as kickback. In some cases, employee receives payment just by diverting excessive business to vendor. 2. Illegal Gratuities- In this corruption scheme, something of value is given to the employee to reward the decision. This is different from kickback schemes because benefits are provided as a reward for the decision made not to influence the decision. 3. Economic Extortion- This scheme is different from bribery and illegal gratuities, as in this case em ployee of the victim company demands something of value from outside party, and refusal to pay by outside party may causes loss of business.4. Conflicts of Interest – This occurs when employee has an undisclosed economic or personal interest in a transaction that makes the employee not to think in the best interest of the victim company that ultimately adversely affects the company. Recommendation of types of accounting evidence and methods of gathering such evidence to support the financial status review It is of great importance that every fraud examiner or forensic accountant to have good knowledge of the rules of the court, legal  system, and evidence for successful competition of the investigation. In order to be accepted as evidence, it must be relevant, material, and competent. â€Å"Relevant evidence means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it w ould be without the evidence† (â€Å"Rule 401: Relevant Evidence- TN Court†, 2013).Materiality requires that evidence must prove a point and competency entails that evidence must be sufficient, reliable, and relevant to the case (WELLS, 2011). There are two types of evidence can be used to support the financial status review: 1. Primary evidence: This type of evidence is regarded as the best evidence because of its authenticity, credibility, and existence to prove a point and can value to a case. In addition, it provides direct evidence on the topic under review. These include original documents, accounting records, account statements, interviews, hand-written statements, etc. 2. Secondary evidence: This type of evidence is typically used and acceptable when the primary evidence is not available or destroyed.Every effort should be made to introduce and use primary evidence for better and credible representation of facts. These can include photocopies of the original doc uments, testimony of witness, etc. While doing full financial status review we can obtain information using various sources, such as emails, operating systems, database, accounting records, interviews with different personnel, bank statements, etc. We can also deploy audit techniques such as testing controls, analytical procedures, using substantive procedures, computer assisted audit techniques to obtain sufficient and reliable evidence to support financial review.

Dark green religion and hunting Essay

Hunting and Dark Green Religion with a Twist of Sport Hunting Dark Green Religion and hunting go hand in hand in the traditional sense. According to Dark Green Religion, as exemplified by Bron Taylor, the death of an animal should be appreciated and teach us the ethics of loving and caring for the bounty of our planet. Farm animals are killed all the time with the justification that they are for food. The conditions those animals deal with are explicitly anti-DGR. There are several types of hunting but the main two are hunting for subsistence and sport hunting. Hunting for food is acceptable because since the beginning of time, animals eat other animals, due to our carnal nature. Numerous environmentalists, in accordance with Bron Taylor, agree that hunting is a life function for almost all animals its either for survival or for food, therefore it is acceptable, but the death of an animal should come at a price of great sadness and appreciation. Dark Green Religion and its followers believe that animals have some sort of spiritual value, this leads them to respect all living things whether they are sentient beings or not. Humans are omnivores by nature, so eating dead animals is as natural as it can get, as long as it is not factory farmed. One thought that arises is what is naturally acceptable and what is not? In the wise words of Henry David Thoreau what is wild is good or â€Å"all good things are wild and free. †1 Anything that is untainted by humans is natural, just like killing for food is natural, but killing to show off skill is not because other animals in the wild do not kill for pleasure or thrill. It is either for food or for self-preservation in some rare cases. Through the various DGR literature pieces that are analyzed in this paper there is a spectrum in the environmental literature. 2At one end is the view that hunting is justified only for self protection and for food, where no other reasonable alternative is available. Most writers, in this case Bron Taylor, Gretel Van Wieren, and Priscilla Cohn, also agree that hunting is sometimes justified in order to protect endangered species and threatened ecosystems where destructive species have been introduced or natural predators have been exterminated. Others, especially in western society, accept hunting as part of cultural tradition or for the psychological well being of the hunter, sometimes extended to include recreational hunting when practiced according to â€Å"sporting† rules. Nowhere in the literature as far as DGR is concerned is hunting for fun, for the enjoyment of killing, or for the acquisition of trophies defended. 3 Imagine being an animal†¦ getting chased and shot at by humans for pure enjoyment. It cannot be fun especially if they miss the vital organs and you are in severe pain. Sometimes the hunt will take hours and the animal will drag its mutilated body around trying to die in peace because that is all it can do at that point. Animals can feel pain just like us. In a movie that Dr. Ellard showed to us in class, a man with special powers transferred the pain and sadness of a dying deer to a hunter, the hunter screamed and writhed in pain. That just makes you think what must have been going through the deer’s brain. At what point is it acceptable to kill animals? For instance, killing in self defense is justified only if no effective nonlethal means is available. Some say the thrill of the hunt makes it worth whatever the cost may be. Killing to obtain trophies would be justified and only if trophies are an important nonsubstitutable good, or if some other important substitute good cannot reasonably be achieved by any other means. 4 Others say hunting does have a thrill but it shouldn’t be the only thoughts going through your head. According to Bron Taylor no small numbers of DGR folk hunt. Taylor does not approve of trophy or sport hunting. In his words; although there is nothing wrong in my view with appreciating and enjoying all that goes with the hunt, this is best combined with the feelings of sadness that I hope also comes with the taking of life. Dark Green Religion gives wildlife intrinsic value and a sort of spiritual relevance. Wild life is to be revered, not conquered and made to look inferior. 5 Humans are a part of the whole circle of life, and we should stay within our circle and not go out and destroy it. Bron and I discussed the main reason to which degree hunting should be considered acceptable. I think hunting is justifiable for food, as a philosophical understanding that we are not superior but rather are a part of nature and like other organisms, kill to survive and thrive, and it is also justifiable, sometimes, to promote the health of an ecosystem and the viability of other species populations. 6 According to Gretel Van Wieren agrees with me that there is less harm done in hunting that there is factory farming. In our case up here in the northeast, we have hunted the wolves to extinction in our region. The wolves were the main predators of the deer  population, since all the wolves have been killed; now it is our responsibility to hunt the deer since they are constantly overpopulating the region and devastating the flora of the region along with farmland. Bron Taylor and his colleagues who are mentioned above, joined us in our discussion, agreed with me wholeheartedly thru the lens of DGR. According to Ted Kerasote, avid outdoorsman, hunter, and author, buried in our animal nature lies an important but unstated fact: The drive to hunt and the drive for sex have much in common. Both are primal and both can be thanked for our presence here today. While the drive to hunt is less obvious than the drive for sex, the former probably contributed more to our culture. Sex is accomplished by two, but hunting is often accomplished in cohesive and enduring groups. 7 Before we became hunters, we met our need for animal protein by snacking on insects, snails, fledgling birds and other slow creatures too small to share. But hunting produced large, festive meals too grand to be eaten by any one person, meals which could feed large groups of people who would stay around the carcass not only to be sure of their shares but also to defend the meat from scavengers. 8 Based on the facts presented by Kerasote hunting, therefore, made us social. Since we have evolved and advanced so much that hunting is outdated in most cases, we hunt for other reasons. Hunting has brought us subsistence, and then the social aspect took over and now we are acting in the reverse direction of why we started hunting in the first place. The social aspect has led us to believe that hunting is acceptable just for the social aspect and not for that which it was originally intended. On the other hand, certain people, hold that animals were not put on earth for our use, certainly not so that we can kill them for pleasure. To the various DGR people mentioned in the paper, sport hunting is no more exalted than pulling the wings off flies. What the issue comes down to, then, is this: Now that we have become an industrialized society, should we indulge our instincts at the expense of other intelligent forms of life? That question has been very intelligently addressed in Ted Kerasote’s book called Bloodties. He makes a big a point in his introduction to the book that as long as we hunt locally (so that we don’t burn fossil fuel getting to our quarry) and as long as we eat the victim, we do infinitely less harm to the overall environment than we do by eating ordinary supermarket vegetables. After all, the vegetables are grown by an energy-hungry agribusiness whose pesticides decimate the ecosystem and whose combines fatally batter hundreds of small animals (insects, toads, snakes, ground-nesting birds, mice, voles, woodchucks, striped squirrels, weasels, skunks, foxes) in the course of each harvest. But venison is in dramatic contrast to the vegetables resulting from that harvest, as well as to feed-dependent pork, beef, mutton, chicken and turkey. Unlike agricultural produce, venison requires no pesticide or fossil-fuel to grow, and results in the loss of just one life: the deer’s. 9 Why don’t we all see this? Because to many of us, the little animals in the crops are vermin and the deer are Bambi, yet as Kerasote points out, life is precious to all creatures. This point that he makes shows us how deep this animal harm goes, people who are vegans probably do not think this deep. The land cleared for their food was once a home to animals. That same land is annually inhabited by other animals and every year they get killed or chased away by machinery. Kerasote hunts, probably very well. As a hunter he sounds more like an Inuit or a Bushman (or more like a wolf or a mountain lion, to name two other hunters of the deer) than like the camouflage-clad, beer-sodden macho types with automatic weapons who infest the woods each fall. And because he’s a hunter, Kerasote’s descriptions of hunts are realistic perfection, his detail is very vivid and proves the reader with imagery that makes you want to hunt. The thrill of the hunt is what our ancestors must have followed in order to even overcome the challenge of hunting with stones and on foot. Trophy hunting is the selective hunting of wild game animals. Although parts of the slain animal may be kept as a hunting trophy or memorial (usually the skin, antlers and/or head), the carcass itself is seldom used as food or mostly it is considered useless and thrown away. 10 Sport hunting goes back to ancient Mesopotamia and Persia. Kings would conduct lion hunts from chariots, and would often stock their lands with the beasts for this purpose. One of the oldest legends in history–Gilgamesh–celebrates his killing of lions and other beasts, mythic and real. Hunting–whether for food or for sport–has been directly tied to the extinction of megafauna in the Ice Age 41,000 years ago. The advent of firearms made hunting easier, and hunting expeditions (like the safaris of the 19th and early 20th centuries) became popular. 11 Before conservation laws, virtually anything was deemed fair game: elephants, tigers, rhinos, gorillas, wolves, deer, elk and most other large animals. Most of the animals involved with trophy hunting are either endangered or on the watch list. â€Å"Sport† hunting is a brutal business. It means taking the life of an innocent animal for personal gain. The hunting industry doesn’t like the word kill because it exposes the lie that animals die peacefully after being arrowed, shot, trapped, choked and generally tortured to death. So they sanitize the cruelty of hunting by using euphemisms to describe their evil deeds. 12 To make matters worse, not all of these animals that are hunted for sport are eaten; this promotes the lack of appreciation for their life. It is certainly true that many hunters seek to kill trophy animals which are precisely the animals that the species can least afford to lose: the â€Å"genetically prime† animals. 13 Since hunters look for the prime animals to kill, the stunted and genetically unfit animals are allowed to breed and then the offspring have less of a chance of surviving which further hinders the population as well as the hunters that are still hunting the species. A chief of this would be hunting elephants with big tusks. When the animals with big tusks are poached, the remaining population has to breed with males that would have otherwise lost in fights over mating partners. Since these elephants are genetically inferior precisely due to the size of their tusks, they are less likely to survive because during the dry season they will not be able to dig for water, and their offspring would have to endure the same problem. This would cull the population to the point where there would not be enough healthy elephants to keep the population alive. This just goes to show how such small actions by mankind can lead to such adverse effects for animals. Sport and trophy hunting have other deleterious effects on animal populations, as I discussed earlier in the paper with my example of the deer and wolf dilemma in northeast America. Hunting for sport has obliterated species. The dodo bird’s disappearance along with passenger pigeons’ is attributed mostly to sport hunters, and the historical decimation of the American buffalo from sport hunters nearly pushed that species to total extinction. Big game hunting was a craze in the 1800s, and their effect on animal populations was devastating. Sport hunters of the time were ignorant of issues like sustainable breeding populations, and there were no protected species until the first conservation laws were passed in the 20th century. 14 Dark Green Religion people have made it their mission to let society know of the harm they are causing by hunting for pleasure. If you look at the bigger picture here, anything that humans do for pure pleasure generally has a harsh consequence for the environment. If we paid attention to the devastation we cause we would probably help reduce the amount of damage we cause to our one and only planet. If the â€Å"pros† of sports hunting can be outweighed the â€Å"cons† by so much more it makes an obvious statement against sports hunting. Sport hunting has the direct effect of reducing animal populations; unless it is tightly regulated, this form of hunting can decimate species and disrupt the balance of ecosystems. 15 In many cases sports hunting has already upset an established ecological balance as in the case of the white tailed deer and the wolves. The message of DGR people is quite clear at this point, and we see that in some cases advocacy helps, but illegal sports hunting still proceeds unhindered in many cases and we need to help raise support against it by denying a market for illegal animal products. According to various environmentalists along with Bron Taylor, Gottlieb, and Henry David Thoreau, in order to fix the problem, we need to identify the problem and advocate to the public to the point where the public will be scrambling for a solution on their own. As these various authors are working on advocating the problem, the environment and society are still on a downhill plunge. In some cases we need visceral Dark Green Religion to come in explain why some groups regard wilderness with such reverence. It is because of Dark Green Religion that I even wanted to write this paper. I hope the rest of the world is as understanding as I am and attempt to do as much as anyone can to help improve the situation, because that is the only way change will occur. Bibliography Gunn, Alastair S. â€Å"Environmental Ethics and Trophy Hunting. † Ethics & the Environment. no. 1 (2001): 68-95. Kerasote, Ted. Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt . New York: Random House, 1993. Priscilla Cohn Ethics and Wildlife: Hunting Myths, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1999. Swan, James A. In Defense Of Hunting. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. Tallmadge, John, â€Å"Deerslayer with a Degree,† in Mark Allister (ed. ) Eco-Man: New Perspectives on Masculinity and Nature, University of Virginia Press, 2004, 17-27 Taylor, Bron. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2009. Wade, Maurice L. â€Å"Animal Liberationaism, Ecocentrism, and the Morality of Sport Hunting. † Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. (1990): 15-27.

Has Fast Food Changed My Eating Habits? Essay

Fast food has become more and more popular, and will continue to do so. There are more food chains being built in this area and the fast food restaurants have really thrived because of how many there are. There are plenty of types of food, and locations for you to get it. That is why my eating habits have changed. Eating habits are a struggle for everyone, whether it is how much you eat, or what you eat. It is hard to deny a $4 combo meal that includes, a hamburger, a drink, and an order of fries, especially if it is filling and satisfying your hunger. They are usually designed to reel you in by making it easy to get cheap good food, and that is why fast food restaurants are thriving in this era. The quick drive-thru lines, cheap food, and friendly service are just three of the many ways fast food restaurants are trying bring you and you’re money to their business. That is why personally I find it very hard not to eat fast food. There are four or five fast food restaurants within one mile, or so, of my house. That is why I find myself eating fast food two or three times a week depending on how much money I have. Its cheap, good, and you can almost get it at any time, and anywhere you want. It is not like eating fast food one time will kill you, but eating it two or three times a week for multiple years will. The main thing I keep asking myself is; how long am I going to keep this up? It has been a growing habit that continues to creep up on me. One year I am begging to get fast food because we don’t have it enough. The next thing I know I find myself becoming increasingly tired of it because I eat it way too much. My health plays a big part in what I do for fun, and my hobbies. For instance: How many sports I play, how much I play them, and how well I do while I play them. Eating fast food can’t help me thrive in any of these categories so why do I keep eating it? The main reason though has to be will power, if I simply can’t say no to a cheeseburger on the daily basis then how do I expect myself to change my habits for my entire life the better. A habit can’t be broken in one day, but you can start to break it in one day. Breaking a habit, or habits, cannot be done in one giant step. It takes time, patience, and plenty of fortitude. That’s what it boils down to. How badly do you crave to be healthy? What do you want more, a healthy lifestyle and future, or something satisfying to the stomach right away? Fast food is a great idea for the quick easy meal, but I need to change my habits for the better in order to be the healthiest I can be. My eating habits are holding back my abilities in sports and they need to be fixed.

Collaborative Consumption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Collaborative Consumption - Essay Example The concept of collaborative consumption has been aided by advancing technology and peer communities that reinvents old behaviours of the market on new scale and ways that have not been witnessed before. Examples of aspects that enhance collaborative consumption include: car sharing marketplaces such as Zipcar, huge marketplaces such as Craiglist and eBay, and peer-to-peer communities such as GuideHop (Walljasper, 2010, p. 28). Several studies have shown that collaborative consumption is greatly disrupting the traditional business models, while at the same time reinventing old market behaviours thereby influencing how people consume and what they consume. Since collaborative consumption is disrupting the traditional business models and reinventing old market behaviours, it is conceivable that this new era will require a dramatic re-evaluation of everything that we know regarding improvement of the relationship between the customers and the suppliers. It is no doubt that the extent of re-evaluation would be bigger than even imagined. This is some sort of paradigm shift from â€Å"common consumption† that has been characterized by a number of problems, miscommunication being its biggest problem (Baron and Harris, 2008, p. 113). Collaborative consumption is informed by the theory of collaboration which basically states that collaboration is enhanced among people when the collaborators are expecting beneficial outcome from the collaboration. Price et al (2006, p. 51) argues that this theory holds that collaboration is vital towards eliminating inherent selfish nature of human beings by making them see benefits out of combined actio ns and efforts. Further, collaborative consumption is informed by the collaboration theory assumption that it has a causal outcome; that is, if causal outcome is higher then the collaborators would have higher commitment and participation levels. Even though â€Å"common consumption† is still prominent in the marketplaces, it is emerging that everything is becoming collaborative. The world has in recent times has experienced immense renting and swapping of clothes, homes, and cars through technologies and peer communities such as Airnb, Zipcar, and RentCycle (Walljasper, 2010, p. 57). Collaborative consumption is a theory in itself that holds that people can buy something without necessarily owning it. The view of not owning something after buying it notwithstanding, a person buying it should take responsibility for them, be it clothes, electric, or car. The era of collaborative consumption requires dramatic re-evaluation in respect to both customer-supplier relationship and how we look at the community. This dramatic re-evaluation has to entail the understanding of the resurgence of community, the values in the community, and how members of the community connect to one another. The same re-evaluation should be applied to the customer- supplier relationship. As has been noted, consumers and suppliers in this model calls for more responsibilities; as such, it is critical to re-evaluate the accountability and the responsibility aspects in the model (Holt, 2005, p. 6). Collaborative consumption has been touted as one of the greatest revolutions of our time and may be as significant as the industrial revolution. It has been argued

Information and communication technology in society Essay

Information and communication technology in society - Essay Example de worse by the time limit which makes it difficult for the young people to afford surfing for a longer time than their money would facilitate (Looker et al 2009 p 44). As such, they search for information quickly so as to save internet expenses thus leaving no space to evaluate the information they find. This leads to poor translation which results to cases of plagiarism especially in higher institutions of learning. While searching for information on the internet using the search engines, it is always useful to use key words that would display specific information required. Research shows that young people are poor in this as they most of the time use long sentences that makes the searching process tedious and inaccurate (Luyt 2008). As such, they waste a lot of time before they could find information due to trial and errors. According to research, young people tend not realize that internet is not just the search engines such as Google, but a collection of many providers. This is due to the fact that they concentrate much of their information seeking on these search engines instead of widening their scope (Dresang 2006 p 25). As such, they get limited knowledge on the constituents of the internet, which could provide more valuable and effective information or which could help them quantify their ability to use the internet. Digital divide is the gap that exists within the society due to the fact that not all persons have been able to acquire the skills to use internet technology (Rooksby 2008 p 181). This results from the difference in income generation between various individuals whereby some have the capability to acquire the necessary equipment which facilitates connectivity. According to research, almost 50% of adults in America alone do not have access to internet technology, a situation that is attributed to financial constraints (Warschauer 2004 p 115). It also shows that those with internet connection have a high chance of getting a job than those

Last Hope Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Last Hope - Essay Example The poem also displays the importance of a mother in one’s life and how the loss of such an important figure can lead to a lot of grief and sorrow. Aracelis Girmay writes the poem The Dream  to express her feelings about death and the contradictions that exist within it. It is a poem which shows the irony of living as a human being, some being happy with their lot in life while others remain sad due to their the tragic events, such as death, that happen in their lives. Girmay uses this poem to display the true nature of human life, that nothing is ever permanent and death is ever present to take away the people that we value the most, and leaving behind individuals who are full of grief, sorrow, and mourning. The use of imagery is very extensive in this poem especially when making contrasts between the beauty of life and the abruptness through which it comes to an end. Girmay states that â€Å"below the window, my mother/young, playing with me/at a rock, in some sunlight/falling over us†. This statement can be employed to show what the persona in the poem thought of their mother. That the mother was alive, she was a jovial person who played with her children and was happy with them. However, it seems that death came abruptly since the tone from the poem is one of sadness. The image of night or darkness is used to refer to death as well as the feelings of grief and sorrow that are experienced by the children who are bereaved after the loss of their mother. It can be said that the image of darkness, when contrasted to the beauty of the world before the mother’s death may be Girmay’s way of stating that the world is beautiful just the way it is but it is death which mak es it not to be a pleasant place to live in due to its corrupting influence over it. This image may also be used to show the price which individuals have to pay when they lose their loved ones to death because nothing

Is empowerment a valuable tool for increasing efficiency and Essay - 3

Is empowerment a valuable tool for increasing efficiency and effectiveness in todays organisations - Essay Example The researcher states that in the context of organizational and industrial psychology, employee empowerment refers to the enhancement of employee involvement of autonomy with an aim to increase their ability to make decisions. This helps the organizations to achieve its interests and agenda with ease and effectiveness. It entails giving the employees the necessary guideline and tools to help them acquire autonomy in decision making. This empowerment entails the responsibility and accountability of the employees to make decisions within the acceptable parameters. This practice is then entrenched in the organizational culture. In modern organizations, an empowered and motivated workforce is seen as essential to the profitability of an organization. Employee empowerment has been found to increase workers commitment to the organizational policies and goals. Employee empowerment can be viewed from two perspectives: the psychological perspective and the empowerment climate which is known t o focus on the employee working environment. Psychological empowerment of employees focuses on the strength of the mental capacity of employees at the level of an individual. The empowerment climate tends to place emphasis on the employee working environment. The idea of using structures, practices, and employees in an organization to support employees was introduced by Scott and his friends. He argued that it is essential to create a conducive, working environment for employees for them to feel free to participate in the decision-making process and the goals of the organization. It refers to the work atmosphere and environment directly. According to Blanchard and Randolph, there are three principal practices that are associated with the working environment and the empowerment climate of employees. They include the team accountability, autonomy through boundaries and sharing of information. Organizational climate practices deal with individual behaviors and attitudes.

Poor Customer Service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Poor Customer Service - Essay Example They are after all paid for working for the primary stakeholder, the shareholder to create value and profit for him. It is incidental that for earning this profit, they have to be equally mindful of befitting the secondary stakeholders. Contrary to common belief, there are many stakeholders in the business apart from the shareholder or the stockholder. They are the employees, customers, suppliers, bankers and even the society at large who look for some benefit from the company, and in turn are also its well-wishers. The question is how to determine that the managers are acting in the best interest of the shareholders? One way is to read the annual financial results that reveal the results of their efforts in realizing profit and value for the owners of the company. But this does not reveal their competency level. The various audits and financial data only show that these are results of activities that have been checked for correctness but they do not reflect on what level of competence was exercised. The better and more comprehensive method is through Corporate Governance. The company is a legal entity and therefore has to enter into commercial transactions all the time for carrying on its business activities. These transactions are concluded by the managers on behalf of the company since the legal entity is not a person and needs agents to carry out these duties for it. This ability of the managers to enter into legal contracts and agreements makes them the agent of the company with the liability resting with the company. This situation gives rise to irresponsible behavior on the part of managers who do not carry the burden of any wrongdoing on their part. It is to control this likely misuse of power that Corporate Governance assumes importance. Business strategies and processes have to be tailor-made to serve every stakeholder. Similarly, Corporate Governance rules and processes have to encompass all activities that have a direct or indirect bearing on different stakeholders. It will not be far from the truth to say that the agency theory has little relevance on Corporate Governance. Â  

Key Skills Statement Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Key Skills - Personal Statement Example I did not arrive in the meeting place with only an idea of the project but with a properly-researched topic. The first meeting for example, I already had the idea on what I want and yes, how I would do it. In that way, I did not have a hard time explaining to my mentor my ways and means for the project. More than just knowing what I wanted to do for the research paper, I also had the inkling on what the topic is about and how I would gather facts or information for the project. The advantage for this was that the mentor for his part knew specifically how he would correct me in the plan that I presented. The flow of the conversation was also clear and uninterrupted. The second meeting where we talked of my completion of the gathering of information and my working halfway also became fruitful. He did not expect a totally completed project, however, with the help of a list containing updates on my completed research in word format made it easy for him to critique what I have done and therefore, it also became easier for him to suggest new ways of improving the process. The third meeting where I considered the grandest because it entailed the biggest preparation became a challenge. Of course, I did not come out with unfinished project. I came out with my masterpiece, a presentation of my hard labor with the complete information and explanation on the topic that I chose, that was the sign of my preparation. One of the factors that helped me discuss properly the project with my mentor was proper questioning. It became very significant because that was where my doubts and the unknown information of the next step got answered. I would like to illustrate the meaning and significance of questioning through the exact words of Owen Hargie (2003) from his book entitled "Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory, and Practice" page 116. "The question is a key constituent of the DNA of interactional life. In our communication courses we use an exercise in which we ask four volunteers to come to the front of the class. We then instruct them to carry on a conversation about 'the events of the week'. The only rule is that no one is allowed to ask a question. Two things happen: first, the interaction is very stilted and difficult; second, someone very quickly asks a question." The mentioned statement above tells exactly of the power of questions as the main helper to getting work done. And because questions are mainly any statement that attracts answers, it doesn't mean that all questions had to be said. Some of them can be heard in a simple "hmmm' or a simple pause. This is also called the non-verbal questioning which can be said to be the automatic signal to uncertain questions or simple hesitation to raise questions. During our discussion, nonverbal questions were unavoidable. There were times when I hesitated to directly state my case of doubt on a topic but it sure could be read from my eyes and simple remarks like what I mentioned a while ago. Nodding of the head is another example of these nonverbal acts (O. Hargie, 2003, page 116). But then again, from the discussion that we had, what is certain to have made great advantage was the direct questioning where it addressed specific questions on the technical part of the project. My questions for my mentor were not the only time that I had to use the process. I also had to use it to my interviewees so I could gather information.

Engineer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Engineer - Essay Example People have enabled themselves to travel to other continents in a matter of hours and to communicate instantly with others. The advancement in the engineering technology areas has shortened long distances and enabled humans to have more space and time. A new example of this is the Giant Telescope links to London from New York, underneath the Atlantic Ocean by the Internet Technology. I chose the Engineering program to equip myself with the proper knowledge to deal with the advancement of technology and the new inventions. One of my long-term professional and personal goals is to have my engineering program become my window for most of the advancements and to feed my interests in the science behind the inventions. Moreover, I need to build better experiences and apply what I have learned from my engineering theory putting it into practice at work. It is my aim to work for one of the industrial companies, to gain more experiences and skills and one day develop my own technology and/or manufacture it. Currently, I am planning to obtain my double major degree in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering and work in the industry. After gaining experiences in the professional field, I plan to obtain a master degree in Engineering Management to be able to learn managerial skills. Thus, I will be able to apply the management skills into my own factory in the future. Additional skills and discipline in working as a team member and in managing the time to accomplish tasks on time was gained throughout learning continuously in the school of engineering each quarter. I learned how to optimize my output and my group’s output within a fixed time frame. Moreover, the discipline that has been gained will continue in my life, to learn how to tackle challenges and how to overcome all obstacles in obtaining my goals. I learned how to utilize more than one resource for engineering science, to