среда, 30 октября 2019 г.

None Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

None - Term Paper Example These pollutants have migrated off the site which became the basis of the case. In late 2008, families in the small town of Attica, Indiana learned that toxic chemical vapors were entering the air inside their homes.   After getting the bad news, these families turned to The Pollution Lawyers for help.   A class suit was then filed against Kraft Foods Global, Inc. alleging that the volatile organic compounds trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) that was dumped at the manufacturing site by Kraft seeped into the groundwater and traveled underneath over  one-hundred nearby homes (Manzke, 2011).   It was alleged that once these chemicals are underneath these homes, the chemicals worked their way into the indoor air.   This process is commonly known as vapor intrusion (Manzke, 2011).   Vapor intrusion occurs when volatile chemicals from contaminated groundwater or soil â€Å"intrude† into an overlying building. These chemicals contaminate the air, causing a potential health hazard to individuals in the building who are subject to prolonged exposure to the chemicals (Nichols et al., 2011). After two years of litigation, a settlement was then reached. The court approved the amount of $8.1 million out of court settlement of the class action brought by 124 families in Attica, Indiana, against Kraft Foods alleging pollution from a nearby factory contaminated groundwater and caused vapor intrusion in their homes (Stoll v. Kraft Foods Global Inc.,  S.D. Ind., No. 1:09-cv-00364, 5/20/11). Also, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana approved the $2.7 million attorney’s fees that were requested plaintiffs. In addition to the monetary compensation,  Kraft has contractually agreed to remediate the groundwater and indoor air contamination of the site (Manzke, 2011). The $9.8 million ($8.1 million out of court settlement plus $2.7 million attorneys fees

понедельник, 28 октября 2019 г.

Life Is What You Make It Essay Example for Free

Life Is What You Make It Essay Playâ€Å" LIFE â€Å" A marvellous journey, a joyous song; smells of roses but also pricking thorns. A fairy tale or an interesting story long; yes this is life, take it, as it comes along. For a moment one is on success hunches; next day may be in disaster trenches. Reaping today the crops of joy, tomorrow the land may be barren and dry. Surrounded now by madding crowd; big gang of people but don’t feel proud. Later he may be a mourning loner; with none to love in the life fair. Endowed with success, do not go too high; flip of coin and good luck may defy. Also face the challenges with a smile; as even the darkest clouds will pass by. Life is continuity,no buttons to pause; a school but unknown is level of class. It cons you with the problems; but hidden in it are all the keys and solution. No absolutes or formulae for it are known; change is what every day shown. Stocked with loads of energy piecemeal; that fills it with enthusiasm and zeal. It has a few painful separations; but also some strengthening bonds of relation. It has myriad colours and emotions; sorrow and joy in equal sessions. SO†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Share, care and love your dears; no point in clinging on to your fears. For trifling grudges it is too short; do not let the failures you to thwart. Never hurt others, choices might distract; just sincerely follow your heart. Even amidst the agony never fret; do the best with what you get. Do not lose hope, keep learning new skill; march forward, life is a total thrill. Live without inhibition; as life is about surprises and wonderment. Instead of logic trust your intuition; have daily goals be it health or relation. Commit mistakes, you have every right; face it courageously with all the might. Do not envy but live uncluttered; fall in love anytime u want with whatever. First learn to enjoy and use the present; life will be then much more pleasant. So just a small adage to say; life is nothing but a stage play. Live every moment as it unfolds; each day is a new chapter to be told. Inevitable, lively and unpredictable; this trek of life is really adventurous. Nothing ventured, nothing gained is what they say; so go ahead and have your share of play†¦

суббота, 26 октября 2019 г.

Womens Literacy During the Middle Ages :: European History

During the Middle Ages, women were considered to be inferior to men and were not formally educated. It was common for women to be unable to read and write in their own language. Even though some were fortunate enough to be taught how to read, some were still unable to write. Women were not usually taught how to read Latin, the language of male scholars and people of the Church, who also happened to be male. In the later Middle Ages, even most nuns were not able to learn Latin. Partially literate women became increasingly common in the later Middle Ages; but very few women were given the opportunity to learn to read and write. One of the most famous women readers , the Virgin Mary was often portrayed in medieval paintings and illuminations depicting the Annunciation, for example. Illustrations would show Mary before or beside an open Bible, implying that she was able to read. Pictures of the Annunciation were common, and people would most likely come across pictures of Mary reading in their Bibles or payer books. Mary was not the only woman to be portrayed with an open book beside her. For example, a painting by Jean Bourdichon shows Anne of Brittany kneeling before an open book. Another painting by Robert Campin and his assistants shows a woman reading in a painting of the Madonna and child with saints. In the schools of the Middle Ages, reading and writing were taught separately Some aristocratic women were taught to read but might not be able to write themselves. Some of the most famous women during the Middle Ages were able to read. One of the greatest queens ever to rule England was Eleanor of Aquitaine who could read but not write. She compensated for that by have people called scribes to write for her. During her reigns as the Queen of England and France, Eleanor was very concerned about the literacy of people living in Aquitaine . The famous poet Marie de France may have performed or presented her stories to the court of Eleanor and her second husband, Henry II. Marie wrote fables and lais for a living, and her stories became so popular during the Middle Ages that her works entertained both the French and English courts and were translated into many different languages. Throughout the Middle Ages, nuns were taught to read portions of the Bible, and many of them were able to write as well.

четверг, 24 октября 2019 г.

Interaction Between Teenagers and Their Parents Essay

In my opinion, there is not enough interaction between teenagers and their parents these days. I think it is true because of career of their parent, modern technology, and distance between them. The first reason is the career of their parent. The parents always hope their children were life in the best condition and were taken care in the best services. So they try to earn more money in order to pay for the fee of education of their children. It make them word harder, and they lost the time for talking and playing with their children. Therefore, more and more children feel familiar with butler than their parents. The second reason is the distance between them. Their parent attempt to get promote in their work so they work more than another coworker. They make more money and their children have better teacher, life condition and the butler who take care the children replacing their parent. The children grow up in the butler hand so the children feel familiar with butler and sometimes think butler is more important than their parents. Finally, the modern technology is a big trouble made increasing the distance between them. Nowadays, there are many modern technology staff to children enjoy such as, the computer, PlayStation, and entertainments. The children have many friend online and they spend much time on internet with friend instead of helping their parent do housework or get actually experience from their parents. In short, interaction between teenagers and their children is less and less so the parents need care their children more and make them become a useful and responsible person. The children need to be grow up in loving.

среда, 23 октября 2019 г.

Government Spending on Healthcare

Government Spending on Healthcare Talia Oliver 10/22/2012 HCS/440 Donna Lupinacci, MSN The article I read was written by Margaret Cuomo, M. D. and it focused on health care costs and how the government is doing unnecessary spending in health care. According to the article, the government has spent about $750 billion dollars on medical care that was not needed. Some of the areas where the author believes that the money has been wasted have been in unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, inflated prices, prevention failures and fraud.The issue is that this spending is not actually contributing to the improvement of patient health. The author the author had stated that â€Å"Flaws in the current system of cancer treatment contribute to unnecessary spending† (Cuomo, 2012). There is so much money being spent on the blood tests, diagnostic scans and other medical procedures that deal with cancer and it is costing about $200 billion every year. With their being so much unnecessary spending on healthcare, Cuomo discussed how a group called the IOM committee was able to come up with ways in order to cut the spending and be able to continue to provide quality health service.Government Regulation on Media in AmericaThe article discusses that the IOM believes that â€Å"Eliminating wasteful spending for just one year ($750 billion) would be equal to more than 10 years of Medicare cuts† (Cuomo, 2012). This wasteful spending according to the article can’t continue to happen and it is important that we understand where the money is being spent and how the excessive spending can be changed. My opinion of the article is that there is too much money being spent by the government on healthcare that is not contributing to ensuring the improvement of patient health.When you look at the unnecessary medical care, there are services that are not needed but the money is being wasted when it could be spent somewhere else. Cancer is a serious issue and I believe it is important for patients to get assistance to help treat cancer. However, there are times that some patients are a bit paranoid and believe they have cancer and request tests to be sure. This is not necessary if the patient shows no signs of having cancer and the money can be saved. I believe that the article is very valid with saying that a lot of the spending is going to unnecessary things.The reason why I believe this is because there are those patients who are able to afford care and can’t get covered for care due to the fact that there is not enough funding available. The article is also valid in identifying ways that the unnecessary costs can be cut without disrupting the quality of care given to the patients. The ability to save money by cutting the unnecessary spending can help the money go to services like Medicare. I believe that the spending discussed in this article is way too much on unnecessary services that are not helping to improve patientâ€⠄¢s health.There is no reason that $750 billion is being wasted and it could go to services that can help those who can’t afford healthcare and those on Medicare. I believe that the government could focus that money on prevention methods that would help to avoid patients requiring more care. Prevention efforts are important and yet the government doesn’t invest enough money in it. The article had stated that recently â€Å"The House of Representatives voted 236 to 183 to repeal the Affordable health Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Trust Fund† (Cuomo, 2012).Instead of trying to prevent the spending on unnecessary services and issues, repealing this act just ensures that there will be more costs to come due to the fact that prevention efforts are not being taken seriously. In conclusion, this article talked about the fact that a lot of the government spending on healthcare is being wasted on unnecessary services. The government is spending money on healthcare that can be cut in order to spend money where it is needed in healthcare.If the government focused more on being able to cut costs and provide quality care, $750 billion can go to Medicare services or even to state agencies that are trying to help uninsured patients get proper care. The government spending on healthcare should be spent on ensuring the improvement of patient’s health. References Cuomo, M. (2012, September 25). Margaret I. Cuomo, M. D. : The Truth About Health Care Costs. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2012, from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/margaret-i-cuomo-md/health-care-costs_b_1901742. html

вторник, 22 октября 2019 г.

History of television an its effects on soceity

History of television an its effects on soceity Credit can not be given to one single person for the invention of television. Its development was fueled by many different inventors working on individual projects. Many of these inventors where not trying to produce a television at all but their achievements were applied by others to help make image transmission possible. One of the first major breakthroughs was made in 1884 by Paul Nipkow. The "electric telescope" that he created used rotating metal disks and had the ability to transmit images over an electric wire with 18 lines of resolution. In 1906 Boris Rosing would further the technology by combining it with the Audion vacuum tube, and a cathode ray tube to produce early methods of electronically scanning and reproducing images.In 1925 American Charles Jenkins and John Baird from Scotland, each demonstrate the mechanical transmissions of images over wire circuits. Baird would become the first person to transmit moving silhouette images using a mechanical system based on Nipkow 's disk, and Jenkins would receive the first television license from the Federal Radio Commission in 1928.Vladimir Zworykin demonstrates electronic televisi...By 1929 another inventor Vladimir Zworykin uses his kinescope invention to demonstrate the first practical system for both the transmission and reception of images. John Baird opens up the first television studio but the quality of his transmissions were poor. Iowa State University began broadcasting television programs in 1933, there were only around 200 television sets though to exist in the world at this time. By 1937 CBS and the BBC would also begin broadcasting black and white programming. The demand for color sets was answered by Peter Goldmark in 1940.His television created all other colors from using a color wheel dived into red green and blue and could produce 343 lines of resolution. Many people were now enjoying the modern convenience...

понедельник, 21 октября 2019 г.

Free Essays on Piracy Crackdown

Piracy Crackdown It is estimated that $11 billion in software revenues have been lost due to piracy according to . Thanks to file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Gnutella, Morpheus, BareShare, iMesh, Audio Galaxy Satellite, Direct Connect, Kazaa lite, Grokster, LimeWire, and others it is made possible and easy to pirate software. There’s something very wrong with this. Not only is it computer fraud but, the amounts of file-sharing software available leads you to the fact that it is incredibly way too common. In an annual study by it is believed that more than one-third of applications are pirated copies. Maybe because it is sometimes quicker to download software on a file-sharing program than it is if you were to drive to an electronics store and physically buy it. Although file-sharing programs have allowed users to freely distribute illegal copies of software it is not entirely their fault. Then who’s to blame? If software companies were more serious about piracy, then shouldn’ t there be higher tactical measures to prevent piracy from occurring? It isn’t a common everyday thing that someone would steal software from Fry’s Electronics. Yet it is 3 clicks away via internet. If software companies would spend more time on their security features there would be less pirated software. In an article published today by Lisa M. Bowman of CNET News.com, it is said that, â€Å"The U.S. Naval Academy Has Seized about 100 student computers that are suspected of containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.† It is good that they are doing something about piracy on college campuses, but that’s 100 out of several thousands of college users pirating software. That also does not mean those 100 students will stop from pirating once more. In the article it explains how universities restrict ways in dealing with file-sharing programs such as using bandwidth management tools to block or restrict file swapping. This is a bad way to pre... Free Essays on Piracy Crackdown Free Essays on Piracy Crackdown Piracy Crackdown It is estimated that $11 billion in software revenues have been lost due to piracy according to . Thanks to file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Gnutella, Morpheus, BareShare, iMesh, Audio Galaxy Satellite, Direct Connect, Kazaa lite, Grokster, LimeWire, and others it is made possible and easy to pirate software. There’s something very wrong with this. Not only is it computer fraud but, the amounts of file-sharing software available leads you to the fact that it is incredibly way too common. In an annual study by it is believed that more than one-third of applications are pirated copies. Maybe because it is sometimes quicker to download software on a file-sharing program than it is if you were to drive to an electronics store and physically buy it. Although file-sharing programs have allowed users to freely distribute illegal copies of software it is not entirely their fault. Then who’s to blame? If software companies were more serious about piracy, then shouldn’ t there be higher tactical measures to prevent piracy from occurring? It isn’t a common everyday thing that someone would steal software from Fry’s Electronics. Yet it is 3 clicks away via internet. If software companies would spend more time on their security features there would be less pirated software. In an article published today by Lisa M. Bowman of CNET News.com, it is said that, â€Å"The U.S. Naval Academy Has Seized about 100 student computers that are suspected of containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.† It is good that they are doing something about piracy on college campuses, but that’s 100 out of several thousands of college users pirating software. That also does not mean those 100 students will stop from pirating once more. In the article it explains how universities restrict ways in dealing with file-sharing programs such as using bandwidth management tools to block or restrict file swapping. This is a bad way to pre...

воскресенье, 20 октября 2019 г.

The Two Types of Titans in Greek Mythology

The Two Types of Titans in Greek Mythology Often counted among the gods and goddesses, there are two main groups of titans in Greek mythology. They come from different generations. The second generation is probably the one youre familiar with. They are depicted as humanoid, even if giant. The earlier ones are even bigger - as large as is visible to the naked eye - so its no wonder titanic signifies exceptional size. This page introduces both, provides mates, and spheres of influence. First Generation Titans of Greek Mythology The titans in the first generation are the aunts, uncles, and parents of Zeus and company - the well-known Olympian gods and goddesses). These titans are the 12 children of the primordial personifications of the earth (Gaia) and the sky (Uranus). (Now do you see why I said the titans were really big?) Female titans may sometimes be distinguished from their brothers as titanides. This isnt perfect, though, since there is a Greek ending on this term that should be reserved for the children of the titans rather than female version of the same. Here are the names and areas of first generation titans: Oceanus [Okeanos] - the ocean(father of nymphs)Coeus [Koios and Polos] - questioning(father of Leto Asteria)Crius [Krios, probably Megamedes the great lord [source: Theoi]](father of Pallas, Astraeus, and Perses)Hyperion - light(father of sun-god, moon, dawn)Iapetus [Iapetos](father of Prometheus, Atlas, and Epimetheus)Cronus [Kronos] (aka Saturn)Thea [Theia] - sight(Hyperions mate)Rhea [Rheia](Cronus and Rhea were the parents of the Olympian gods and goddesses)Themis - justice and order(Zeus second consort, mother of the Hours, Fates)Mnemosyne - memory(mated with Zeus to produce the Muses)Phoebe - oracle, intellect [source: Theoi(Coeus mate)Tethys(Oceans mate) The titans Cronus (#6 above) and Rhea (#8) are the parents of Zeus and the other Olympian gods and goddesses.​ Besides the Olympian gods and goddesses, the titans produced other offspring, mating with either other titans or other creatures. These offspring are also called titans, but theyre the titans of the second generation. Second Generation Titans of Greek Mythology Some of the children of the first generation titans are also referred to as titans. The major second generation titans are: AsteriaAstraea (Dike)AstraeusAtlasEos (Dawn)Eosphorus (or Hesperus)Epimetheus (see Pandoras Box)HeliusLetoMenoetiusPallasPersesPrometheusSelene As for most aspects of mythology, Carlos Parada has an excellent page on the titans. Also Known As: Ouranià ´nes, Ouranidai Examples Dione, Phorcys, Anytus, and Demeter are sometimes added to the list of 12 titans: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. Youll find titans in the following stories: The castration of Ouranos,The creation of man,The fight with the gods, known as the Titanomachy, but often mixed up with the story of the gods battle with the giants, andThe imprisonment of the titans in Tartarus.

суббота, 19 октября 2019 г.

Bonuses for senior executives in the banking sector should only be Essay

Bonuses for senior executives in the banking sector should only be paid for genuine excellence - Essay Example For example, a Sales Director will earn bonuses if turnover targets are met and exceeded (Nkomo, Fottler and McAfee, 2010: 85-93). Recent years have been characterized by an outcry against paying of bonuses to senior corporate executives. This is mainly due to malpractices by top executives to ensure they earn high salaries with little regard to how the company is performing or stockholder value. These malpractices include accounting fraud. Bonuses remain popular with firms because in today’s world of heightened competition and reduced profitability, bonuses represent a variable rather than fixed cost (Murphy, 2005: 110-117). It is also widely believed that bonuses create motivation, which leads to organizational performance. Bonuses help to attract and retain managerial talent and motivate executives to perform to the best of their abilities and prevent executive dissatisfaction. It has been argued that rather than incentivizing executives to raise shareholder returns, bonuses have been turned into rent-seeking avenues by self-interested executives. This defeats the main logic behind paying of bonuses, which is to tie executive pay closely to organizational performance (Kieff and Paredes, 2010: 44-49). At the same time, it has been argued that executive bonuses affect firms negatively. Performance-based bonuses foster individualism, business aggression and uncertainty. Bonuses create competitiveness among the executives which hurts cooperation. Bonuses encourage executives to take unreasonably high risks and make short-sighted decisions that may not be good for the firm’s long-term prospects. It is also argued that senior executives spend a great deal of time and focus on their past and expected bonuses than on the returns of shareholders. Bonuses also foster bad relations and resentment between the executive and the lower ranking staff (Marchica, 200 4: 8-15). Bonuses are rooted in two theories; the Expectancy theory and Agency

пятница, 18 октября 2019 г.

Social Process Theories Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Process Theories - Research Paper Example The expansion of the theory of social control through the concept of Social Bond Theory that combines various kinds of bonds such as attachments to friends, family and siblings, commitments to one’s career, success and goals, involvements in sports teams, community services and religious groups and beliefs in honesty, justice and morality, together and justifies why an individual may observe law and order in spite of a variety of illegal activities offered by today’s society. IV. Labeling Theory: An Explanation of the concept of Labeling Theory, its prevalent practice and the corresponding negative consequences of this practice. V. Dramaturgy: An Analysis of the method of Dramaturgical Interviewing, its fundamentals and specifications. Also, a brief description of areas of its application and the criticisms leveled against it. VI. Conclusion: A concluding synopsis of the whole paper. Abstract The objective of this study is to understand the meaning of the term ‘so cial process theories’ and analyze some of the most important types of social process theories like the Social Learning Theory, the Social Control Theory, the Labeling Theory and the concept of Dramaturgy Interviewing. ... All in all, an endeavor had been made in this research paper, to paint an accurate picture of the prevailing social process theories, in the light of their analyzed meanings and their social relevance. Introduction â€Å"Social Process Theories, in Criminology, examine how social processes in the lives of humans influence their criminal behavior.† (Grana, 2010, p.70) These theories stresses that relationships play a vital role in deciding how an individual interacts with the world around him. It is sometimes due to these relations that people commit crimes. The learning of crimes is no different than any other kind of learning and it usually takes place in intimate and closed groups wherein the trade and tools of crime are learned. There are a number of social process theories, some of which we will discuss in detail in the following paragraphs. Social Learning Theory The concept of Social Learning is based on the view that a considerable amount of learning occurs through the observance and imitation of other people’s actions and the resulting consequences of those actions. There is no awareness about whether learning a certain act or trade is positive or negative, it is a non-judgmental process of learning from another being. Research suggests that this imitation of behavior is achieved without much Trial-and-Error processes. A person may imitate another flawlessly in the first chance itself . The person who is being observed or imitated is called a ‘model’ and the process of imitation is called ‘modeling’. Parents, elder siblings, peers, celebrities, all of them and more can serve as models to any given individual. Two individuals showcasing the same kind of behavior implies a common history of

Urbanization essay 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Urbanization 2 - Essay Example and the modern, bustling city of Toronto, has earned it a tourist destination reputation not only among nearby Canadian provinces but also to people outside the national boundaries. Through the years, the attractions offered by The Beaches has developed it into an urbanized neighborhood characterized by its highly diverse cultural structure, moderately dense population and its proximity to the rest of the city. According to the 2006 statistics released by the Social Policy Analysis & Research Section in the Social Development, Finance and Administrative Division of the city of Toronto, the Beaches has a total population of 20, 420. Furthermore, the statistics show that a large component of its population belongs to the working age, viz., 25-64% (see Fig. 1). Thus, a visit to The Beaches, especially its more busy areas like the Queen Street East strip, during the daytime on weekends reveals this evident demographic constitution: couples in their mid-forties, and middle-aged individuals can be found packing its numerous restaurants, diners and cafes and skimming through shops and grocery stores. There is a comparatively lesser presence of teen-agers and the younger set except for the occasional little children and babies in strollers out on the side streets with adults hovering over and walking with them. As a matter of fact according to the same statistics, only 10% of the population belong s to the age group 15-24, while children from ages 0 to 14 constitute 17% of it. Compared to the rest of Toronto, The Beaches has lower number of individuals in the age group of 15-24, higher number of children from ages 0 to 4 and lower number of children in the 5-14 age group. On the other hand, individuals whose ages range from and up constitute just a mere 9% of The Beaches population lower by comparison to the rest of Toronto. Looking at the gender distribution in The Beaches neighborhood, no one sex group seems to dominate the neighborhood as there is an equal number,

четверг, 17 октября 2019 г.

Local Ecology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Local Ecology - Term Paper Example Most of the plants are either fruit or vegetable plants. This is our way of promoting an organic lifestyle! There is a pomegranate tree, an apricot tree and two apple trees. We have also planted garlic and tomatoes. There is a crowd of electrical wires upon the street at the level of the street light. Normally, they remain covered with insulation tape, but a couple of times, crows have been electrified when they tried to sit over the wires while it was raining. On the street, one can often find wild dogs chasing cats, and wild cats chasing mice. Most of the people in my area are pure vegetarians and there is a culture of growing vegetables within the homes. List of factors distinguishing between my local ecology and environment and those of the nearby towns: The factors are as follows: Cultivation of vegetable and fruit trees Intense electric wiring across the roof Dense population Houses made of stones and bricks Occasional outburst of heavy smoke generated by the burning of rubbish heap Frequent rainfall Wild cats, dog and mice wandering around Temperature significantly lower than the nearby towns because my town is at a greater altitude. The effect of human activities on the local ecosystems: The ecology and environment of my locality was considerably different two to three decades back than what it is now. â€Å"Human activity such as farming, building dams and clearing for development can also change the characteristics of land cover, which in turn affects how an ecosystem operates† (Hartman, 2010). Human activities have also caused a lot of changes in the local ecology and environment. Since my town is at an altitude, it used to be one of the greatest attractions for the local and foreign travelers. That is why, one can still notice a lot of rest houses in my area. It is basically a hilly area. About twenty years ago, it used to be very green. There were pine trees everywhere. One could not locate one brown spot in the whole depth of valley. Everyt hing was green. There were very less houses. It was like a forest. â€Å"Close to 1.6 billion people – more than 25% of the world’s population – rely on forest resources for their livelihoods† (FAO, 2011). Likewise, the people of my town used to earn by entertaining the travelers with the folk tales, local dance, selling fresh fruits and vegetables from the forest trees to them and renting their houses. As more and more people started to dwell here, they cut the trees to make fire. Within a decade, trees were greatly reduced in number. Accordingly, tourists lost interest in coming here. This impacted the businesses of hundreds of local people. They became jobless and moved to the cities for jobs. The temperature of my region today is generally 5 to 6 degrees higher than what it used to be twenty years back. Today, we can not see any sea-gulls flying over the sky unlike in the past. Twenty years back, many people kept cattle and would eat their meat. But t he gradual shift from this area to the city reduced the trend of keeping cattle and more people became pure vegetarians. Comparison of the effect on my local ecosystem change with other areas: In comparison to other areas, my local area has suffered from a greater change of ecosystem because of the fact that it is a hilly area has been the greatest tourist attraction for many years in the past. Today, one

Paul's Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paul's Case - Essay Example Indeed, many a times, the cheerful exterior hides the treacherous thoughts and conflicts that could lead to dangerous outcome. Cather’s characterization of Paul as a deviant personality is highly intriguing. It raises pertinent questions of adjustment of the same within the parameters of social controls like family institution and educational institutes. Paul’s disdain towards these social institutions is serious in its content. The main reason being the authorities fail to understand the reasons behind his continued misdemeanors. Despite the threats of expulsion from the school, Paul exhibits a careful indifference for the rules. When he is called to the Principal’s office for explanation, all the teachers come together against him. Indeed, Cather’s observation that the stoic demeanor of Paul forces the teachers to be ‘humiliated to have felt so vindictive toward a mere boy’. The author’s portrayal of Paul encompasses diverse human emotions that are difficult to understand by the people, especially by his teachers. Indeed, the inability to reform a ‘mere boy’ is not only frustrating for the teachers but it also shows a decisive lack of will to understand the complex nature of Paul. Paul’s relationship with his father and sister is also not very cordial. The confined environment of his home and conservative attitude of his father are shown as major issues. Through Paul’s story, the author is probably trying to show how the society tries to manipulate the characters of the young people and suppress their natural inclinations. Paul is hugely attracted to the imagery lives of artists. he portrays the surrealist of the character through his role of ‘usher of the theatre’ where he imagines himself in the company of the artists and celebrities. Interestingly his make believe world becomes his only medium of being happy. When Paul’s lies and deceit are revealed, he is taken out of the school. But Paul, as the

среда, 16 октября 2019 г.

Local Ecology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Local Ecology - Term Paper Example Most of the plants are either fruit or vegetable plants. This is our way of promoting an organic lifestyle! There is a pomegranate tree, an apricot tree and two apple trees. We have also planted garlic and tomatoes. There is a crowd of electrical wires upon the street at the level of the street light. Normally, they remain covered with insulation tape, but a couple of times, crows have been electrified when they tried to sit over the wires while it was raining. On the street, one can often find wild dogs chasing cats, and wild cats chasing mice. Most of the people in my area are pure vegetarians and there is a culture of growing vegetables within the homes. List of factors distinguishing between my local ecology and environment and those of the nearby towns: The factors are as follows: Cultivation of vegetable and fruit trees Intense electric wiring across the roof Dense population Houses made of stones and bricks Occasional outburst of heavy smoke generated by the burning of rubbish heap Frequent rainfall Wild cats, dog and mice wandering around Temperature significantly lower than the nearby towns because my town is at a greater altitude. The effect of human activities on the local ecosystems: The ecology and environment of my locality was considerably different two to three decades back than what it is now. â€Å"Human activity such as farming, building dams and clearing for development can also change the characteristics of land cover, which in turn affects how an ecosystem operates† (Hartman, 2010). Human activities have also caused a lot of changes in the local ecology and environment. Since my town is at an altitude, it used to be one of the greatest attractions for the local and foreign travelers. That is why, one can still notice a lot of rest houses in my area. It is basically a hilly area. About twenty years ago, it used to be very green. There were pine trees everywhere. One could not locate one brown spot in the whole depth of valley. Everyt hing was green. There were very less houses. It was like a forest. â€Å"Close to 1.6 billion people – more than 25% of the world’s population – rely on forest resources for their livelihoods† (FAO, 2011). Likewise, the people of my town used to earn by entertaining the travelers with the folk tales, local dance, selling fresh fruits and vegetables from the forest trees to them and renting their houses. As more and more people started to dwell here, they cut the trees to make fire. Within a decade, trees were greatly reduced in number. Accordingly, tourists lost interest in coming here. This impacted the businesses of hundreds of local people. They became jobless and moved to the cities for jobs. The temperature of my region today is generally 5 to 6 degrees higher than what it used to be twenty years back. Today, we can not see any sea-gulls flying over the sky unlike in the past. Twenty years back, many people kept cattle and would eat their meat. But t he gradual shift from this area to the city reduced the trend of keeping cattle and more people became pure vegetarians. Comparison of the effect on my local ecosystem change with other areas: In comparison to other areas, my local area has suffered from a greater change of ecosystem because of the fact that it is a hilly area has been the greatest tourist attraction for many years in the past. Today, one

вторник, 15 октября 2019 г.

Fashion in History - Bridging the Gap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fashion in History - Bridging the Gap - Essay Example The essay "Fashion in History - Bridging the Gap" gives a review of the article of McRobbie and discusses it. She says that consumption by many is considered to be a feminist character and the different aspects regarding it are left untouched by many writers. The fact regarding the production of the goods of consumption, the money which accounts for the consumption are all missed when talking about it. That is there is no reference to the difficulties women have to face for the consumption of goods. The fact that the females actually consume goods not only for themselves but also their children and their house is not seen. She says that consumption is a wide topic and that females are considered to be the main consumers just explains one part of the consumption process. The ethnicity, gender and class are also missed upon when consumption is talked about. The problem of how poor females cope up with issues of consumption, the link between consumption and production is not considered. Thus McRobbie argues that a lot of major issues are overlooked and for a proper understanding of the consumption phenomenon, all criteria and facts regarding it should be seen. Many writers like Pumphrey, Felsky and Reekie have discussed regarding the fact that consumption has been dominated by females and Pumphrey and Reekie have analyzed the issue of consumption a bit ahead but again not all aspects have been viewed. With an advance in education, the issue of consumption started to get discussed in the late twentieth century.

понедельник, 14 октября 2019 г.

Gold Mining in South Africa Essay Example for Free

Gold Mining in South Africa Essay The critical issue facing the mining industry according to Zoli Diliza chief executive, chamber of mines is ensuring that the mineral policies of South Africa aligns with the highest standard of administrative justice, promote an internationally accepted level of security of tenure and invariably promote an enabling environment that will attract investors into south Africa, hence, improving her competitiveness. Gold’s rarity, beauty and durability have ensured its use as a medium of exchange as well as astore of value There has been a power crises issue in South Africa which has led to the shut down temporarily of major gold operations. This is a serious problem that in that there is limited capacity to bring the mine workers of the enclosed spaces in the mine due to ventilation breakdown. Continues power outages which have resulted in disrupted operations in the goldmines obviously have a significant impact on world gold supplies mine, this is one of the reasons South Africa is taking the backseat as the world’s largest producer of gold with china taking the front seat. Lawrence William) (2008) It was recorded in 2010 that gold production was down to 200 tons. Despite the substantial increase in the real price of gold in recent years, there has been a continuous decline in gold production , unless substantive new capital investment in new mines is attracted the decline in production is likely to continue. There is also a decline in engineering and manufacturing activities associated directly to the gold mining industry. Inorder words, the consequence of the decline in gold production in south africa has been the loss of major sectors of South Africas previous substantive heavy engineering and manufacturing capacity The gold industry in the early 1990s experienced a tight profit squeeze and voilatility in prices, that period was also seen by rampant inflation. The pressure that generated the profit squeeze was as a result of workers demand related to their salaries as awell as housing, health and safety. Another important cause was due to stagnant prices which reducesd reserves amd discouraged exploration of mines. And as expected, the profitabilitu constraint led to retrenchment of workers as a management mechanism for the mines. The gold industry in SA faced a tight profit squeeze in the early 1990s. The gold price was kept at a constant nominal rand value by the Reserve Bank from 1988 to 1992 despite rampant inflation. The 1987 great mineworkers strike was the highpoint of employment numbers. Profit margins were under severe pressure both from worker demandsrelated to wages as well as housing and health and safetyand from stagnant commodity prices which reduced reserves and discouraged new exploration. In addition to profitability constraints, retrenchments were a weapon of mine management to reduce the effectiveness of the National Union of Mineworkers as it recovered from the strikewhich had seen the dismissal of many union leaders. There was common cause that the industry needed to restructure in order to extend its life. The article put forward proposals from a labour perspective.

воскресенье, 13 октября 2019 г.

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II

Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II) and Its Adaptation for Iranian Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability Bakhtiyar Karami, Mojtaba Gashool, Shoaib Ghasemi, Hamid Alizadeh Abstract The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II)in a community population in Iran. The Iranian version of the MESSY-II was administered by interviewing care staff of all children and adolescents (n = 355) with administratively defined intellectual disabilities (IDs) living in Tehran,Esfahan, Karaj Kordistan. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of the subscales as well as the proposed two factor structure of the original MESSY-II. The present study demonstrates that the three subscales are highly similar constructs across different language and cultural settings, and that the MESSY-II is applicable in research on populations with varying mental functioning, diagnoses, ages, and living arrangements. Keywords: Social skills, Assessment, MESSY, Rating scale, Factor structure Introduction The development of social skills is an important process in young childhood and adolescence. Deficits present in childhood that are left undetected and/or untreated can lead to increased problems into adulthood (Greene et al., 1999). In addition, impairments in social skills may be related to larger problems such as developmental disability, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, antisocial behavior, and other mental health problems (Davis et al., 2011; Lugnegard, Hallenback, Gillberg, 2011; Mahan Matson, 2011; Matson Wilkins, 2009; Worley Matson, 2011). Social skills deficits may occur as a result of these disorders or as part of the disorders themselves. As a result, identification of social weaknesses is essential for providing treatment and improving prognosis and quality of life. Identifying social strengths is also important for treatment and can guide clinicians to use assets that the child already possesses to help improve the areas of defi cit. The assessment and training of social and adaptive skills is important for a number of reasons. First, social and adaptive skills deficits can compromise successful transition from institutional to community living (Jacobson Schwartz, 1991; Doll, 1953). Second, deficits in these areas may contribute to the etiology of psychiatric disorders and behavioral problems (Borthwick-Duffy Eyman, 1990; Matson Sevin, 1994). Finally, social and adaptive deficits often persist in living areas where the philosophy of care consists of passive learning rather than active treatment (Matson Hammer, 1996). The MESSY (Matson, 1988) was developed in 1983 for assessing the social skill deficits of children aged 4 to 18. The original normative sample at the time was based on 744 typically developing children in Northern Illinois (Matson, Rotatori, Helsel, 1983). The initial items included in the measure were based on a review of standardized measures, including items that addressed social behaviors. Two independent raters then selected the items believed to fit the definition of social skills. These 92 items were then administered to 422 children (self-report form) and 322 teachers (teacher-report form) twice, at a 2-week interval. Test-retest reliability was conducted and items with Pearson’s correlations greater than .50 and .55 for the self- and teacher-report versions, respectively, were retained. The results yielded 62 items for the self-report form and 64 items for the teacher-report form. Original tests of reliability and validity indicated strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability andadequat convergent validity (Matson et al., 1983). The MESSY has been translated into nine other languages and researched internationally: Spanish (Mendez, Hildalgo, Ingles, 2002), Chinese (Chou, 1997), Japanese (Matson Ollendick, 1988), Dutch (Prins, 1997), Hindi (Sharma, Sigafoos, Carroll, 2000), Hebrew (Pearlman-Avnion Eviator, 2002), French (Vertà ©, Roeyers, Buysse, 2003), Turkish (Bacanli ErdoÄÅ ¸an, 2003), and Slovakian (Vasil’o (Bacanli BaumÄÅ ¸artner, 2004). In addition, the MESSY has been researched with various populations, including children with hearing and visual impairments (Matson, Heinze, Helsel, Kapperman, Rotatori, 1986; Matson, Macklin, Helsel, 1985; Raymond Matson, 1989) , intellectual disabilities (Matson Barrett, 1982), anxiety disorders (Strauss, Lease, Kazdin, Dulcan, Last, 1989), depression (Helsel Matson, 1984), bipolar disorder (Goldstein, Miklowitz, Mullen, 2006), and autism spectrum disorders (Matson, Stabinsky-Compton, Sevin, 1991).2222 However, there is still no agreement about which factorial structure best explains the data because the results of former studies showed a different number of factors and different arrangements of items. Thus, the objectives of the present study are to examine the psychometric properties of the MESSY for the first time in an Iranian sample and to compare the results to foregoing studies with the MESSY in other socio-cultural contexts. 1. Method 1.1. Participants Thirty hundred and fifty five 355 (223 male, 132 female) participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. Their ages ranged from 3 to 26 years, with a mean age of 11.34 years (SD = 3.87). According to clinical practice in Iran, the participants were classified into having a mild (40.8%), moderate (47.0%), severe (11.3%), or profound (0.8%) level of mental retardation. The most frequent diagnoses were Down’s syndrome (53.8%), autism (20.8%), mentally retarded (16.9%), and 8.5% of the individuals were reported to have other disorders. 1.2. Measures Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters-II (MESSY-II; Matson et al., 2010). The MESSY-II is a social skills measure for a broad range of children, ages 2–16, based on observations of both appropriate and inappropriate social behaviors. This measure is a renormed version of the original MESSY, which was designed to assess social skills in children ages 4–18 (Matson, Rotatori, et al., 1983). The original scale had two different forms: a self-report form and parent/teacher report form consisting of 62 and 64 items, respectively. At present, the MESSY-II only has one form, which is a parent/caregiver report form. During the renorming process it was decided that social skills would best be examined through parent/caregiver report as opposed to self- report due to difficulties with poor insight in the populations frequently administered the MESSY. Also, since the measure’s  utility has largely been clinic and community focused, there is a decreased need fo r a teacher report form. The MESSY-II has 64 items identical to the original MESSY parent/teacher report form, which are each rated on a Likert-type rating scale from 1 (‘‘not  at all’’) to 5 (‘‘very much’’). Recent studies indicate that the scale has strong psychometric properties including internal consistency, and convergent and divergent validity (Matson et al., 2010). Although the original MESSY parent/teacher report form yielded a two factor structure (i.e., Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness scale and Appropriate Social Skills scale), the factor structure of the MESSY-II has yet to be established. 1.3. Procedures The participants for this investigation were recruited throughout the children adolescents who enrolled in exceptional children schools. We first select 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan randomly and then separate a list of exceptional children schools in this 4 state. After permission from authorities (Misinstry of Education in each city), the head teachers were contacted in order to coordinate the data collection processes. Then, after training the head teacher about MESSY-II in an agreed date teachers were asked to complete a paper and pencile version of the final draft of the Iranian version of MESSY-II for each student while one of us (AMo) was present in the agreed school for any possible help or inquiries. Data collected in about 1 month. 1.4. Data Analysis In order to determine the factor structure of the MESSY-II, an exploratory factor analysis with Principle axis factoring was used on the 64 items of the MESSY-II. Given the likelihood of correlations among the underlying constructs of the factors, an oblique promax rotation was used (brown, 2006). The optimal factor structure was determined via examination of the scree plot, and comprehensibility of factors (zwick velicer, 1986). Items with factor loadings greater than .30 were retained for each factor (kline, 2000). Internal consistency of the factors was examined using Cronbach’s alpha (Cronbach, 1951) and the 0.70 criterion for adequate reliability (Nunnally Bernstein, 1994). 2. Results Exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor solution for the MESSY-II. The total variance accounted for by the two- factor model was 41.43%. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness factor accounted for 29.37% of the variance. Appropriate Social Skills factor accounted for 12.6% percent of the variance. The correlation between two factors was moderate r= .410. Two items (i.e., item 20: Is afraid to speak to people; and item 46: Feels lonely) did not meet the criteria of .30, and were removed from the measure. Table 1 lists the factors and corresponding items. Next, internal consistency was examined for the two factors of the MESSY-II using Chrobach’s alpha. Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness had an internal consistency of .950 (M=70.58; SD=24.87), and Appropriate Social Skills had an internal consistency of .952 (M=75.64; SD=24.91). corrected Item-total correlations were considered for each of the retained factors to determine if the removal of additional items was warranted due to coefficients below 0.30 (Field, 2005). Item total correlations of Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness subscale ranged from 0.42 (item 15) to 0.70 (item 9, 17, and 52). item total correlations of Appropriate Social Skills subscale ranged from 0.37 (item 19) to 0.77 (item 41).since no item on any of the scales had a correlation of less than .30 and, therefore, all items were retained following the two items that had been removed during the exploratory factor analysis. 3. Discussion Impairments in social skills are a defining aspect of developmental disabilities, and deficits in these skills can affect the ability of children, adolescents, and adults to progress in other areas across the spectrum of development. Furthermore, social deficits are major risk factors for challenging behaviors (Farmer Aman, 2009; Tenneij, Didden, Stolker, Koot, 2009), and similarly, they can compound problems of psychopathology (Brim, Townsend, DeQuinzio, Poulson, 2009; Matson, Dempsey, Rivet, 2009; Niklasson, Rasmussen, O ´ skarsdo ´ ttir, Gillberg, 2009; Rose, Bramham, Young, Paliokostas, Xenitidis, 2009). For these and other reasons, the development of measures of social skills is very important (Matson Boisjoli, 2009a, 2009b; Matson Dempsey, 2009; van den Hazel, Didden, Korzilius, 2009). The purpose of this paper then, was to determine the factor solution of a measure used to assess social skills, the MESSY-II in Iranian population (Matson et al., 2010). The original MESSY was initially developed nearly three decades ago, but recently renormed (see Matson et al., 2010). Exploratory factor analysis of the MESSY-II yielded a three factor solution. Two of the factors were consistent with inappropriate social skills while the other consisted of items relating to appropriate and adaptive social skills. The data were collected as part of an epidemiological research program including all children adolescents with administratively defined ID living in 4 state – Tehran, Esfahan, Alborz Kordistan. Overall, the results showed that the internal consistency of the Iranian MESSY-II is in line with previous research on the MESSY-II and that the proposed two-factor model had an acceptable fit. This study showed satisfactory cultural adaptation, reliability, content validity and factor structure for the Iranian version of MESSY-II. However, considering the study limitations, the findings should not be generalized. In general this instrument will be a valuable teacher/parent reported measure for the evaluation of social skills (Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Appropriate Social Skills) among children adolescents with mental retardation in Iran and other Persian-speaking countries. Table 1: Factor structure of the MESSY-II Item no. Factor 1: Inappropriate Assertiveness/Impulsiveness Factor 2: Appropriate Social Skills 1 Makes others laugh .484 2 Threatens people or acts like a bully .770 3 Becomes angry easily .688 4 Is bossy (tells people what to do instead of asking) .541 5 Gripes or complains often .638 6 Speaks (breaks in) when someone else is speaking .702 7 Takes or uses things that are not his/hers without permission without permission .535 8 Brags about self .576 9 Slaps or hits when angry .753 11 Gives other children dirty looks .677 12 Feels angry or jealous when someone else does well .615 13 Picks out other Children’s faults/mistakes .561 15 Breaks promises .464 16 Lies to get what he/she wants .537 17 Lies to get what he/she wants .734 21 Hurts others’ feelings on purpose .587 22 Is a sore loser .601 23 Makes fun of others .616 24 Blames others for own problems .619 29 Is stubborn .703 32 Thinks people are picking on him/her when they are not .517 35 Makes sounds that bother others .548 36 Brags too much when he/she wins .526 38 Speaks too loudly .532 43 Always thinks something bad is going to happen .427 48 Gets upset when he/she has to wait for things .450 52 Gets in fights a lot .736 53 Is jealous of other people .467 57 Stays with others too long (wears out welcome) .529 58 Explains things more than necessary .376 60 Hurts others to get what he/she wants .746 62 Thinks that winning is everything .483 63 Hurts others’ feelings when teasing them .759 64 Wants to get even with someone who hurts him/her .717 10 Helps a friend who is hurt .672 14 Always wants to be first .585 18 Walks up and initiates conversation; .470 9 Slaps or hits when angry .340 25 Sticks up for friends .608 26 Looks at people when they are speaking .759 27 Thinks he/she knows it all .316 .493a 28 Smiles at people he/she knows .586 30 Acts as if he/she better than others .675 31 Shows feelings .659 33 Thinks good things are going to happen .474 34 Works well on a team .834 37 Takes care of others’ property as if it were his/her own .767 39 Calls people by their names .607 40 Asks if he/she can be of help .811 41 Feels good if he/she helps others .839 42 Defends self .598 44 Tries to be better than everyone else .741 45 Asks questions when talking with others .671 47 Feels sorry when he/she hurts others .589 49 Likes to be the leader .381 .468 a 50 Joins in games with other children .767 51 Plays by the rules of a game .812 54 Does nice things for others who are nice to him/her -.362 .712 a 55 Tries to get others to do what he/she wants .354 .368 a 56 Asks others how they are, what they have been doing, etc. .579 59 Is friendly to new people he/she meets .713 61 Talks a lot about problems or worries .312 .433 a References Kline, P. (2000) an easy guide to factor analysis. Routledge,: London. Nunnally J. C. Bernstein I. (1994) Psychometric Theory. McGr59aw-Hill, NewYork, NY. Zwick, W. R., Velicer, W. F. (1986). Comparison of Five Rules for Determining the Number of Components to Retain. Psychological Bulletin, 99(4): 432-442. Brown, T. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York: Guilford Press. Field, A. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: Sage Publications Inc Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334. Davis, T. E., III, Hess, J. A., Moree, B. N., Fodstad, J. C., Dempsey, T., Jenkins, W. S., et al. (2011). Anxiety symptoms across the lifespan in people diagnosed with autism disorder. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 112–118. Lugnegard, T., Hallerback, M. U., Gillberg, C. (2011). Psychiatric comorbidity in young adults with a clinical diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 1910–1917. Greene, R. W., Biederman, J., Farone, S. U., Wilens, T. E., Mick, E., Blier, H. K. (1999). Further validation of social impairment as predictor of substance use disorders. Findings from a sample of siblings of boys with and without ADHD. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 28, 349–354. Mahan, S., Matson, J. L. (2011). Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders copared to typically developing controls on the Behavioral Assessment system for children, Second Edition (BASC-2). Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 230–236. Matson, J. L., Wilkins, J. (2009). Psychometric testing methods for children’s social skills. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 30, 249–274. Worley, J. A., Matson, J. L. (2011). Psychiatric symptoms in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder: An examination of gender differences. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3, 1086–1091.

суббота, 12 октября 2019 г.

sept 11 Essay example -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As you probably know September 11, 2001 was a very grim day in American history. Four commercial airplanes were hijacked. Two of which went on a suicide mission into the Twin World Trade Center towers in New York City, which killed over 4,000 innocent civilians and hundreds of policemen and firemen. The third plane crashed in to our Military Headquarters, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth airplane which was hijacked by terrorists, which there were unconfirmed reports that it was heading toward the White House, was taken back in to control by passengers on the plane, but it fatally crashed in Pennsylvania.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This led to a Military retaliation against those responsible for the attacks on our great country. Osama Bin Laden a known terrorist took credit for the attacks on the United States. In this paper I will show my point of view on how I feel that the United States’ Military Action in Afghanistan and the Middle East is Justified to take a stand against terrorism and to fight for freedom world wide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These mass murderers were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But the mission failed: our country is strong.† (President George W. Bush, September 11th 2001). The President is right we will not stand for this sort of thing and I believe that our country is right in whatever military or other action that we take against those responsible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Those thought responsible are Osama Bin Laden the leader of Al Qaeda and Mohammed Omar the Leader of the Taliban who have joined forces to bring terror around the globe, particularly on Americans. According to Encarta.com (2002) the word Taliban means student and Al Qaeda runs terrorist training camps through out Afghanistan. It is thought that they have been training for the September 11th attacks for sometime, which makes it premeditated and precisely planned out acts of terror and mass murder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  G.W. Bush (2001), President of the United States of America also stated that the United States is not only fighting the Taliban in the mountains of Afghanistan, but we are trying to fight t... ...orld-wide and their children as well. That is why we need to bring those responsible to justice. Why our Military Actions in Afghanistan are Justified By John Neville English 102.10 February 12, 2002 References Gramamone, Jim . Rumsfeld Says No Evidence Bin Laden is Dead. (Jan 20, 2002). Retrieved January 22, 2002, :http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2002/n012002_200201202.html. Karl, Jonathan, and Snow Kate. Source:’ 100-percent chance’ of another arrack Lawmakers caution there’s no specific threat. (October 5, 2001). Retrieved Jan 21, 2002.from the World Wide Web: http://www.europe.cnn.com/2001/10/05/ret.terrorism.threat/ Lacavo, Richard. The Deadly Hunt. Which appeared In Time Magazine Vol. 159 No. 2. (Jan 14, 2002). Retrieved January 16, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,190938,00.html. Taliban. (2001). Retrieved January 22nd 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti+761588418 What is the War on Terrorism? Retrieved January 17, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.whitehouse.gov/response/faq-what.html   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

пятница, 11 октября 2019 г.

International approaches to learning Essay

E1. Provide an explanation of three different international approaches to learning. One international approach to learning is Forest Schools. A Forest School is an outdoor education in which the children who attend get the opportunity to visit forest and woodland areas and develop different skills such as, personal, social and technical skills. Forest Schools offer children and young people the opportunity to develop their confidence through hands-on learning in a woodland environment. Forest Schools are also a unique way of building independence and self-esteem in children and young people. â€Å"Forest Schools aim to develop a greater understanding of their own natural and man-made environments, a wide range of physical skills, social communication skills, independence and a positive mental attitude, self-esteem and confidence.† Carolyn Meggitt, 2012, Childcare and Education, London, Hodder Education Another international approach to learning is The Maria Montessori Approach . The Montessori Approach is an educational approach created by a woman called Maria Montessori. Montessori education is focused on a motivated aim: To aid the child’s development into a complete adult human being, comfortable with themselves, the community and everyone around them. The Montessori Method to education is a child-centered educational process based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. This approach values the human spirit and the development of the whole child – physical, social, emotional, cognitive. â€Å"Montessori education offers children opportunities to develop their potential as they step out into the world as engaged, competent, responsible and respectful citizens with an understanding and appreciation that learning is for life†. http://amshq.org/Montessori-Education/Introduction-to-Montessori/Benefits-of-Montessori Another international approach to learning is The Steiner Approach. The Steiner Approach to education was formed by Rudolf Steiner who was an Australian philosopher. When it came to education, Rudolf Steiner believed in developing the whole person. â€Å"The education approach differs from mainstream education in several ways. For a start, Steiner schools put a strong emphasis on the important of spiritual values and social skills and the teaching method is based on a balance of intellectual, practical and artistic teaching†. Physical skills is considered as important too and they use dance to help the children’s development. Steiner as considered color as important especially for helping the children with their imagination skills.  In Steiner Schools, children tend to have the same teacher from the age of six or seven until the age of fourteen and in each class there will be a mix of different age groups. E2. Choose one international approach from E1 and give reasons for your choice. The international approach to children’s learning which interests me the most is the Forest School approach. The reason I have chosen this approach is because E3. Explain the background to the approach you have chosen and write about it. Philosophers, naturalists and educators in Europe and the UK such as Wordsworth, Ruskin, Baden Powell, Leslie Paul, Kurt Hahn, Susan Issacs and the Macmillan Sisters all laid the foundations for what is known as Forest Schools today. Forest Schools were originally based on a rich heritage of outdoor learning going back to the 19th century. Forest schools originated in Sweden in the 1950’s as a way of teaching children about the natural world. Denmark adopted the idea of Forest Schools and it became an important part of early year’s provision. The Forest School concept was then brought to England in 1993 by the staff of Bridgewater, Somerset after an exchange visit to Denmark. Forest Schools have had a huge impact on children within the UK. Forest Schools have made differences in children’s confidence; the children have the freedom, time and space to learn and develop independence. Seen differences in their social skills; the children have learned to gain awareness of the consequences of their actions on other children through different activities, for example sharing tools and playing with one another. Differences have been seen in communication; the language development has been supported by the sensory activities children have been taking part in. Seen differences in their physical skills; these improvements were characterized by the development of physical stamina and gross and fine motor skills. Also, differences were seen in their knowledge and understanding; the children and developed interests with the environment and natural surrounding which meant they were willing to learn more and they gained respect for the environment. E4. Describe the key principles of your chosen approach. Forest Schools have six main key principles. The first one is ‘A Forest School is a long-term process of frequent and regular sessions in a woodland or natural environment, rather than a one-off visit. Planning, adaptation, observations and reviewing are integral elements of Forest School.’ This means that the same group of learners should ideally attend a Forest School at least once every other week and continue to do so for a long period of time. A Forest School programme has a structure which is based on the observations and joint work between learners and practitioners. This will show progression of their learning. The early sessions of any programme begin to form physical and behavioural boundaries as well as making their first observations on which to base future programme development. The second key principle is ‘Forest School takes place in a woodland or natural wooded environment to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natu ral world’. This means that the woodland area is ideal for the Forest School practice and the individual needs of learners as it provides them with space and the environment in which they are able to explore and discover. This links to The EYFS – A unique child – play and exploration. Forest School aims to develop relationships with nature through regular personal experiences in order to develop long-term practices in staff and learners and the wider community. Also Forest Schools uses natural resources for inspiration, to enable ideas and to encourage key motivation. The third key principle is ‘Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners’. Holistic development means to develop everything†¦ their physical, social, cognitive, verbal, emotional, artistic, creative skills and spiritual aspects as well. The Forest School leader/practitioner will also try a link Forest School experiences to the children’s home and school life. The fourth key principle is ‘Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to th emselves’. This means that the Forest School leaders provide the children with sharp tools and allow them to build fires when under supervision; this allows the children to take safe risks and learn how to use these tools properly providing them with lifelong skills. Any Forest School experience follows a Risk–Benefit process managed by the practitioner and the child that is personalised to the developmental stage of the child. This also means that  Forest School opportunities are aimed to build on the individual’s motivation and positive attitudes and interests of the children. The fifth key concept is ‘Forest School is run by qualified Forest School practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice’. This means that a Forest School must be ran by practitioners who hold a minimum qualification of Level 3 Forest School qualification and also must hold a Paediatric First Aid qualification which include outdoor elements. It means that there must be a high ratio of practitioner/adult to children. The Forest School leader must have working documents which have all the up to date policies and procedures which are required to run a Forest School and which have the correct information for all the roles and responsibilities of the practitioners and any volunteers. Also the Forest School leader is a reflective practitioner and sees themselves as a learner too. The final key principle is ‘Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning’. This means â€Å"A learner-centred pedagogical approach is employed by Forest School that is responsive to the needs and interests of learners.† http://www.forestschoolassociation.org/full-principles-and-criteria-for-good-practice/ Also, play and choice is an essential part to the Forest School learning and play is seen vital to the learning and development of children at the Forest School. Forest School provides motivation for all learning preferences and dispositions. Also reflective practice is a key feature of each session to ensure learners and practitioners can understand their achievements, develop emotional intelligence and plan for the future. Practitioner observation is an important part of Forest School pedagogy. Observations link into ‘scaffolding’ and adapting experiences to learning and development. Scaffolding links to Jerome Bruner and his theory on Scaffolding. â€Å"A ‘scaffold’ ensures that children aren’t left to their own devices to understand something. The support is removed when the student is ready, like the scaffolding that supports workers who’ve been constructing or repairing a building, which is removed when construction is complete.† http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/jerome-bruner-scaffolding-and-constructivism-theories.html#lesson E5. Describe the materials and resources that support the children’s learning  in your chosen approach. E6. Provide information on how these materials and resources are used to promote learning. E7. Explain the role of the practitioner in supporting learning in your chosen approach. In a Forest School, the role of the practitioner to boost and develop self-esteem and self-belief and confidence by suggesting small, manageable tasks and ensure that they have time and freedom to learn at their own pace without pressure. This supports the children’s learning because they are At a forest school, the role of the practitioner is to constantly model suitable behviour and encourage the children to develop better awareness of their own and other’s emotional needs. The role of the practitioner is to complete all health and safety and risk assessments. They must follow all policies and procedures. The role of the practitioner is to administrate first aid when needed and maintain a first aid it at all times. The role of the practitioner is to count the equipment in and out as well. All this is done to make sure the children and kept safe from any kind of harm and to maintain the safety and welfare of all the children. The role of the practitioner is to always take into consideration the specific needs of a particular group of children or an individual child and will ensure that every child is respected as an individual, that bullying is not tolerated and that the rules and guidelines are followed. In the event of an emergency they will direct the group to safety. Another role the practitioner must do is complete child observations. This helps the practitioners to understand how individual children learn and play. Also helps with planning so the practitioner can tailor activities to meet each child’s individual needs. The role of the practitioner is to make sure that they complete planning, ensuring that all the children are getting the best out of their experience and by making sure it is a stimulating and inspiring experience for all children and meet the individual needs of all children and the developmental stages of The Early Years Foundation Stage. The role of the practitioner is to maintain the Forest School site. Ensure environmental considerations are being met by making sure the site is kept clean and tidy after every session at the Forest School.

четверг, 10 октября 2019 г.

Coloplast Case Essay

Executive Summary Coloplast has been in operations in Denmark for nearly 60 years. The company specializes in producing medical devices such as disposable ostomy bags, antifungal cremes cleansers and moisturizers. For 42 years, all Coloplast operations were contained within Denmark, however 97% of its revenue was generated by exporting its products beyond its national borders. In 1999 the company changed its philosophy and began to investigate off shoring its production facilities. In 2001 the first Coloplast production facility opened its doors outside of Denmark. The expansion took place in Tatabanya Hungary. This location was chosen because of cheaper labour and land rates, as well as a more favourable tax rate. The city is located in the Western region of the country which provided better infrastructure. Coloplast had no blueprint to navigate through the expansion process, and had to learn and develop best practises by trial and error. By 2004 the management team in Tatabanya had advanced the production system to the point where it was outperforming the longer established Danish facilities. In 2005 Coloplast revealed an aggressive plan of Strategy 2008. In this plan the company states it will strive to achieve a profit margin of 18% while maintaining 10% organic growth. A key pillar of this plan is the continued relocation of volume production to Hungary and further expansion to China. Coloplast is at crossroads, it needs to decide if it has learned enough from its first international expansion that it can duplicate and improve its success in new locations, or if it should delay new locations and focus on fine tuning its operations in Denmark and Hungary. Issues Coloplast’s expansion into Hungary was executed with no prior international expansion experience to draw from. Eventually over time, it proved to be a successful operation which surpassed quality levels of its Danish facilities . The company believes it can successfully take the lessons learned in Hungary and apply them to other international locations. Coloplast also believes that the Tatabanya operation could still be fine tuned and improved to improve its results even further. Some of the problems that need to be improved upon are. Knowledge sharing / Communication styles The production expansion in Hungary has revealed to Coloplast that decentralized approach to knowledge sharing may not work in all situations or locations. The old configuration in Denmark had most facilities and staff within a 30 min drive from each other. This allowed for more direct contact between facilities sharing processes, best practises, policies and ideas. This approach was not as successful in Hungary, Tatabanya is far from Danish headquarters and needed to have a much more direct approach. The decentralized system actually put the Hungarian operation at a disadvantage as there was a lack of manuals and instructions for them to work with in any language, not just Hungarian. Accounting procedure – Danish Kronner currency 93% of all products created by Coloplast was exported outside of Danish borders, this allowed the company to reach much larger markets then just its small domestic population. When an order is invoiced it is done so in the Kroner, the local Danish currency. This forces the company to exchange currency on the majority of all its transactions, exposing a currency risk if not managed carefully. It was estimated that currency exchange contributed up to 2% of overall loses in 2004. Outsourcing jobs negative impact on Danish workforce Coloplast has a large knowledge pool of its existing workforce in Denmark. With its volume production facilities shifting to new markets it is finding it challenging to maintain its Danish workforce in their existing roles. The company would like to be loyal to its Danish workforce and keep them employed, maintaining high morale. Coloplast would like to avoid expensive severance payments and negative public relations of reducing staff in Denmark while expanding operations internationally. Analysis Coloplost needs to continue to expand and grow it business. Internal estimates indicate that by 2010 the company will require double its current product volumes. At the same time they have set aggressive profit margin and growth goals. The international production expansion strategy is an important part of its goals. Coloplost hopes to meet the growing demand of its customers and achieving revenue goals by expanding production facilities in countries with lower operating costs One of the lessons learned by  Coloplost after the expansion in Hungary is the importance of the transfer of knowledge and communication between all segments of the business. This area needs to be improved prior to further expansion to China. During the last expansion management was so busy dealing with communication issues that they failed to fully take advantage of local sourcing opportunities, instead importing more expensive options. Management in Denmark must also decide how to properly utilize their dom estic workforce, when many of their current production positions are shifting to new countries. This will be a very important decision as these employees hold a high level of tacit knowledge of the company that it does not want to lose. The reporting of sales/conversion back to Danish currency represented a 2% loss. Continued expansion into new markets in both production and sales will make this issue even larger then it currently is. It is in the companies best interest to retain its Danish workforce when possible. These employees have the best understanding of the operations and can contribute to the companies success in training and perfecting best practises instead of focusing on production. Coloplost is still in a growth phase and redeployment/training of these people will save on severance costs and maintain a positive image for the company. Recommendations By improving the Hungarian operation and exploring further expansion opportunities such as China the company is demonstrating how essential expanding into low cost markets is to its overall long term strategy. A presence in the Asian marketplace will expose Coloplost to a massive consumer base to build its sales. This international market diversification will reduce the company’s dependence on its traditional European customers who’s health care systems are under reform and potentially not as profitable as before. A new strategy must be formed for the changing European markets, by expanding revenue streams, it provides the company time to assess reality of the new market conditions. Another benefit of having operations in Asia is increasing logistics options for the Coloplast. A Chinese distribution point could also be created providing better coverage in Asia and potentially shipping to North America as well. The Danish location will continue to ship to Hamburg and exp ort to North Europe while the Hungarian facilities will by pass by-pass Hamburg and ship directly to Southern  Europe. This plan will streamline the shipping process cutting costs for the company. The decentralized approach employed by the company while it was only operating in Denmark does not work on a global scale. Communication between all locations the company must be improved and two changes should be made immediately. First all processes and procedures needs to be documented in written form in all of the languages of the countries that the company will operate in. Coloplast has a large workforce in Denmark that will be shrinking in size due to the off shoring process. The company should select their most experienced and specialized staff to work on this project, providing new employment opportunities while reducing costs of retraining and severance fees. Second, the company should invest in a knowledge management system that will allow for file and idea sharing between all locations world wide. Coloplost should adjust its accounting procedures and no longer invoice in Danish kroners, instead they should invoice all sales in Euro’s. This will reduce the need to perform a foreign exchange transaction on all sales. If the company must later convert the currency to Kroners, they can do so when the exchange rate is in their favor. To further protect themselves from foreign exchange risk, they should hedge their transaction and purchase an option contract of swapping Euros for Kroner. Further shifting of volume away from Denmark is forecasted to reduce the Danish workforce by approximately 600 jobs over the next 5 years. It is best to get ahead of it and continue to offer early retirement and retraining packages to its employees. By utilizing its most knowledgeable employees to assist in training and manual creation, Coloplast hopes to retain the assets in its workforce that have the highest amount of the knowledge of its processes and production. This will help keep staff reduction to a minimal. Alternatives Delay further expansion – focus on improving Hungarian operations This option will make it difficult for the company to reach its long term goals. Make it possible to rotate management staff in different international facilities to help spread knowledge and share best practises among all operations Create a strong emphasis in using top Danish production workers as trainers to help develop new operations. write training manuals, proven to work well with Danish employees in the past. Development of a team from experienced staff  to assist in trying to source products locally may be a win win scenario. Keep Danish staff employed while reducing costs for the company. These employees would know systems best. Creation of secondary distribution points to better serve new markets. China could handle Asian and North American markets, Hamburg (Danish port) could handle traditional Northern European markets and a new distribution point could be created to funnel Hungarian supplied prod ucts to Southern Europe and beyond

Discuss The Impacts of Taxation

When a firm faces new investment opportunities (or to keep its functioning) which have positive net present values, financing needs come along. The options range from using cash generated from operations to simply forego the projects. If the company wants to take its projects, when its cash is not enough, it can raise new funds from equity or debt. This combination of equity and debt which a company decides to use is known as its capital structure. This paper is about how a firm ought to establish its debt/equity ratio, focusing in the advantages and disadvantages of taxes’ impact on this ratio. Capital StructureWhen referring to the capital structure of a firm, it is impossible to avoid Modigliani-Miller’s (MM) influential paper â€Å"The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment† (1958). Later, they published several â€Å"follow-up† papers discussing these topics. MM set the foundations of the modern theory of capital structure. MM first hypothesis was that, under certain assumptions, the firm’s value is invariable despite relative changes in its capital structure, thus â€Å"a firm cannot change the total value of its outstanding securities by changing the proportions of its capital structure. † (Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe, 2001.p. 401).This is known as MM proposition I. In a general way this proposition is saying that a company cannot do something for its stockholders that they cannot do by themselves. The MM second proposition implies that the use of debt for financing increase the expected future earnings, but this increase is coupled with an increase in the risk to equity holders, thus the discount rate used to value these future earnings also increases. As Fabozzi and Patterson state â€Å"the increased expected earnings have on the value of equity is offset by the increased discount rate applied to these riskier earnings. †(2003)Mathematically the propositions can be stated: Pro position I: VU=VL where VU is the value of an unlevered firm and VL is the value of a levered firm. Proposition II: rs = r0 + B/S (r0 – rb) where rS is the cost of equity, r0 is the cost of capital for an all equity firm, rB is the cost of debt and, B / S is the debt-to-equity ratio. But these hypotheses rely on a â€Å"perfect market† assumption. When imperfections are present into a certain market this hypothesis is misleading. Changes in a firm’s capital structure could change the firm value. One of the most important market imperfections is the presence of taxes.Capital Structure and the Presence of Corporate Taxes In the previous sections is stated that the firm value is unrelated to its capital structure, i. e. it does not depend on its debt/equity ratio. But when taxes are incorporated into the analysis this affirmation is not true, â€Å"in the presence of corporate taxes, the firm’s value is positively related to its debt. † (Ross et al. 2 001. ) Thus, the use of debt has an advantage over financing with equity. The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) â€Å"allows interest paid on debt to be deducted by the paying corporation in determining its taxable income† (IRC code 1963 qt.in Fabozzi and Patterson. 2003. P. 598) This benefit is known as Interest Tax Shield, due to the fact that â€Å"interest expense shields income from taxation† (p. 602). This is TaxShield=(TaxRate)(InterestExpense) Now is necessary to value this shield and see how this changes the firm value. Taking account of the expression above it can be said that whatever the taxable income of a company is without debt, the taxable income is now less in an amount equal to the Tax Shield in the presence of debt. This idea is also based in MM ideas.In other words, the firm value is: Firm Value = Unleveraged Firm Value + Tax Shield Value Going deeply, this statement implies that all companies should choose maximum debt, something that can not be seen int o the real world. This is due to the presence of bankruptcy and other distress related costs that reduce the value of a levered firm. As a firm increases its leverage position these costs increase. There is a point when the present value of â€Å"these costs from an additional dollar of debt equals the increase in the present value of the tax shield.† (Ross et al. 2001. p. 432)This is the debt level which maximizes the firm value. Beyond this point the distress associated costs increase faster than the firm value due to additional debt. Therefore, there is a trade off between tax benefits and the financial distress costs. There is an optimal amount of debt for each firm, and this must be its debt objective level. Presence of Personal Taxes In presence of personal income taxes could decrease, or even eliminate, the advantage of corporate taxes associated with debt financing.Despite this, if the yields due to debt and stocks cause taxes at the same rate that the personal taxes, there is still an advantage coming from corporate taxes(Van Horne, 1997). Merton Miller proposed that, in presence of both, personal and corporate taxes, the decisions about capital structure of a firm were irrelevant (Miller, 1977). Despite this, personal taxes have different rates; therefore, with constant risk, individuals who are in the lower rate bracket must prefer debt and those who are at the upper part of the scale must prefer stocks.Fabozzi and Patterson summarize this point as follow: 1. If debt income (interest) and equity income (dividends and capital appreciation) are taxed at the same rate, the interest tax shield increases the value of the firm. 2. If debt income is taxed at rates higher than equity income, some of the tax advantage to debt is offset by a tax disadvantage to debt income. 3. If investors can use the tax laws effectively to reduce to zero their tax on equity income, firms will take on debt up to the point where the tax advantage to debt is just offset by the tax disadvantage to debt income.The bottom line from incorporating personal taxes is that there is a benefit from using debt. (p. 603) Small Literature Survey In this section it will be summarized some opinions and findings about capital structure decisions and taxes. Panteghini in a work about multinationals capital structure found that â€Å"optimal leverage is reached when the marginal benefit of debt financing (which is due to the deductibility of interest expenses) equates its marginal cost (which is related to the expected cost of default).A strategy used is â€Å"Income shifting† which â€Å"raises the tax benefit of debt financing, thereby stimulating debt financing, and delays default. † (2006) Verschueren research about Belgian companies strategies showed that â€Å"The hypothesis that firms for which the tax advantage of debt financing is higher have higher debt tax shielding ratios gets only meager support: more profitable firms have lower debt ta x shielding ratios. † She found â€Å"no indications that avoiding agency conflicts of any type plays a significant role in the determination of debt tax shielding. † (2002, p.22)She states that these results are quite close to international research also. Graham and Tucker found a similar result â€Å"Firms that use tax shelters use less debt on average than do non-shelter firms. † There is also a potential problem which is that â€Å"under-levered firms may have â€Å"off balance sheet† tax deductions that are not easily observable, and which are therefore often ignored in empirical analyses. † (2005 p. 1) Irina Stefanescu arrives to a comparable conclusion â€Å"There is a general consensus that significant tax incentives are associated with corporate borrowing.Nevertheless, many large and profitable companies with a low risk of financial distress have relatively low debt ratios. † (2006) Stewart Myers, explaining Miller’s paper â⠂¬Å"Debt and Taxes†, theorizes about why firms are not â€Å"awash in debt†Ã‚ · An interesting point he states is that Miller’s model â€Å"allow us to explain the dispersion of actual debt policies without having to introduce non-value-maximizing managers. In the other hand he states also that â€Å"Firms have good reasons to avoid having to finance real investment by issuing common stock or other risky securities.They do not want to run the risk of falling into the dilemma of either passing by positive NPV projects or issuing stock at a price they think is too low†. (1980) Conclusion It seems that several researches have been performed in capital structure decisions. Although not all of them arrive to the same conclusion it gives the impression that the tax shields have positive impacts on firms value; and the presence of personal taxes do not eliminate this fact.In the other hand, findings that companies have not larges amounts of debt indicates that t hey might obtain some advantages from other sources, e. g. off balance sheet benefits. After 48 years since Modigliani and Miller’s paper appeared, it can be said that â€Å"however, much remains to be done before the cost of capital can be put away on the shelf among the solved problems. † (Modigliani-Miller 1958)

среда, 9 октября 2019 г.

Key challenges and pitfall to virtual team performance Essay

Key challenges and pitfall to virtual team performance - Essay Example Companies also face the challenge of training and updating the technology used by the virtual team members. Defining the best task technology fit is another challenge that influences virtual team performance. Organizations face the challenge of scheduling meetings since the virtual team members live in different geographical areas with distinct time zones (Kirkman, Rosen, Gibson, Tesluk, & McPherson, 2002). Companies/individuals require complex technological applications to enhance virtual team performance (Ebrahim, Ahmed, & Taha, 2009). Moreover, virtual team performance experiences decreased control of activities since it involves virtual members. Mistrust and communication barriers also depict pitfalls in virtual team performance. Virtual team members develop divergent thoughts subject to cultural and functional diversity experienced in virtual activities Ebrahim, Ahmed, & Taha, 2009). Moreover, effective virtual team performance requires special training and motivation of virtual team members. The members are invisible and virtual meetings are seemingly ineffective since they do not involve physical interactions and personal feelings (Robb, 2014). Virtual environments do not offer detailed analysis of salient issues (Robb, 2014). Moreover, the members face the problem of working in different time zones that is very confusing. Kirkman, B., Rosen, B., Gibson, C., Tesluk, P., & McPherson, S. (2002). The Seven Challenges to Virtual Team Performance: Lessons from Sabre, Inc. Retrieved from:

вторник, 8 октября 2019 г.

Wal-Mart v. Dukes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wal-Mart v. Dukes - Research Paper Example The case passed through the district court, ninth Circuit, ninth Circuit en banc and finally to the US Supreme Court in which the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the ninth Circuit en banc on numerous grounds which attracts vehement support on my part. 1. Arguments in favor of the Supreme Court decision There are numerous reasons for the correctness of the decision of the Supreme Court, which may be found on the judgment itself as passed by the Supreme Court, and summed up as follows: I) There must be a common mode of exercising discretion which should be present throughout the company and the respondents in this case were unable to show it. It was unbelievable to conclude by the justices that all the managers would exercise discretion in a common way without any common direction. (Wal Mart 15-16). II) The statistical evidence which was provided by the respondents was insufficient to prove their theory on a class wide basis even if it is taken that they were correct prima facie (Wal Mart 16). III) As per Rule 23(a) (2), it was to find out whether even a single common question existed between the class in order to determine commonality for a class action and found by the court that as the respondents could not provide any convincing evidence to show that a companywide discriminatory and promotion policy existed, the existence of any common question is not established (Wal Mart 19). IV) The respondents also provided anecdotal evidence in support. Respondents submitted about 120 affidavits, which is equivalent to 1 for every 12,500 members in this case. Half of the reports are concentrated only on six states and half of all the States have only one or two cases of sexual discrimination. 14 States have no anecdotes. Even if all the accounts are taken to be true it does not show that the whole company operates under a common policy of discrimination (Wal Mart 18). V) If the plea for monetary relief of the respondent under Rule 23 (b)(2) Civil Procedure is take n into consideration ,it was not correct as Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2) is for injunctive or declaratory relief and not for monetary relief (Wal Mart 20). VI) Commonality requires more than an alleged common violation of the same law (Hyman). The mere claim that they have suffered a Title VII injury won’t be enough to give rise to class action; they must have some common contention in addition (Wal Mart 9). As such the respondent’s action under Rule 23 was not proper. 2) Impact of the decision on future cases Despite the legal accuracy and justification of the Supreme Court decision the decision may have some bad impact so far future cases on the same issue are concerned. The impact may be summed up as follows: I) The court’s decision of reversing the case can harm the enforcement of civil rights and employment discrimination laws. The Supreme Court’s decision of decertifying the Dukes class action may make it hard for other plaintiffs to bri ng class actions depending on the court’s reasoning (Wal Mart v. Dukes 10). II) The fact is that in the instant case the Supreme did not rule on merits of the plaintiffs claims and this may be the reason that Wal Mart may face thousands of individual or multiple-plaintiff lawsuits alleging that a particular manager had discriminated against women (Murray 2). III) It will be difficult for the plaintiffs to obtain class certification in all cases. After the decision on this case, it