Where Do I Belong What Makes Identity

One of the most complicated notions in the modern world, identity is the most crucial aspect of a human’s existence. Once losing his/her identity, a human being cannot live the full life and practically becomes deprived of an essence of life. Because of its versatility and the number of issues it touches on, identity must be considered from various viewpoints.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Where Do I Belong? What Makes Identity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Embarking upon this investigation, one should start with the physical aspect of human nature. From a biological point of view, identity is predetermined by the gender of a given person. Indeed, in the clichà ©d society where men and women bear different social roles, the gender aspect is what makes the core of identity. Further on, developing into grown-up, mature people with shaped personalities, we bear certain social role predetermined mostly b y our gender. In addition, the large variety of social roles that we have changed throughout our lives was also intertwined with our genders closely. It is quite peculiar that a child obtains his/her sexual identity at certain age, but not from the day of his/her birth. Thus, it is logical to suggest that the quest for identity begins right with acknowledgement of one’s own gender. An important step in learning one’s identity, the physical aspect makes the foundation of the future searches. Next comes the aspect of one’s religious belief – or its absence. Something that is completely sacred for a human being, religion must be another important part of identity – its core and the backbone of one’s philosophy, moral principles and the world picture. When needing to turn to someone for help, one usually resorts to his/her religious beliefs, which discloses the most secret aspects of his/her personality. This means that religion must be another significant part of human identity. Helping people to find the intrinsic value of their lies and look for the enlightenment that comes with serving God and following His behests makes another important part of one’s identity. Even atheists still have certain religious position – the position of denial. The last, but not the least comes such aspect of one’s identity as culture. In contrast to the previous aspects, this one appears to be the most mysterious one. Unlike the religious beliefs, it can change considerably, being rather subject to the influence of the other cultures. Yet it makes the stem of one’s identity and helps one to define his/her identity. Embracing the experience of the ancestors, with all their traditions and customs, and at the same time involving the novelties that convey the flair of the epoch, culture is another essential notion that identity involves.Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Ge t your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, identity is a blend of one’s cultural background and gender specifics. In his/her search of the identity, one has to consider all the abovementioned spheres of his/her life. Though certain element of scientism in this search might dim the excitement of the process, one still has to admit that identity is the crossroads of all the peculiarities of the given person, from the most essential ones like the nationality and the religious denomination up to the things that might seem complete trifle. Still it is obvious that identity is the blend of the cultural and the natural – the two elements that make a human being. Developing and enriching them every day, one can cognize him-/herself and reveal the places uncharted of one’s own soul. This essay on Where Do I Belong? What Makes Identity was written and submitted by user Raphael N. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Definition of Suburban Sprawl

The Definition of Suburban Sprawl Suburban sprawl, also called urban sprawl, is the spread of urbanized areas into the rural landscape. It can be recognized by low-density single-family homes and new road networks spreading into the wild lands and agricultural fields outside of cities. As the popularity of single-family houses rose during the 20th century, and as mass ownership of cars allowed people to get to homes located far outside of city centers, new streets spread outwards to serve large housing subdivisions. Subdivisions built in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of relatively small homes built on small lots. Over the next few decades, the average house size increased, and so did the lot they were built on. Single-family homes in the United States are now on average twice the size of those inhabited in 1950. One or two-acre lots are now common and many subdivisions now offer homes each built on 5 or 10 acres - some housing developments in the western US even boast lots 25 acres in size. This trend leads to a hungry demand for land, accelerating road construction, and further spilling into fields, grasslands, forests, and other wild lands. Smart Growth America ranked US cities along criteria of compactness and connectivity and found that the most sprawling large cities were Atlanta (GA), Prescott (AZ), Nashville (TN), Baton Rouge (LA), and Riverside-San Bernardino (CA). On the flip side, the least sprawling large cities were New York, San Francisco, and Miami which all have densely populated neighborhoods served by well-connected street systems allowing residents close access to living, working, and shopping areas.   Environmental Consequences of Sprawl In the context of land use, suburban sprawl takes agricultural production off from fertile lands forever. Natural habitats like forests get fragmented, which has negative consequences for wildlife populations including loss of habitat and increased road mortality. Some animal species benefit from the fragmented landscapes: raccoons, skunks, and other small scavengers and predators thrive, driving down local bird populations. Deer become more abundant, facilitating the spread of deer tick and along with them, Lyme disease. Exotic plants are used in landscaping, but then become invasive. Extensive lawns require pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that contribute to nutrient pollution in nearby streams. The housing subdivisions making up most of the sprawl are generally built well away from industry, business, and other employment opportunities. As a result, people need to commute to their workplace, and since these suburbs are generally not well served by public transportation, commuting is most often done by car. When using fossil fuels, transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases, and because of its reliance on commuting by car, sprawl contributes to global climate change. There Are Social and Economic Consequences of Sprawl Many municipal authorities are finding out that low density, large-lot suburban areas are a bum deal for them economically. The tax revenue from a relatively small number of residents may not be enough to support the construction and maintenance of the miles and miles of roads, sidewalks, sewer lines, and water pipes needed to service the scattered homes. Residents living in the denser, older neighborhoods elsewhere in town often need to essentially subsidize the infrastructure on the outskirts. Negative health outcomes have also been attributed to living in suburban sprawl. Residents of outlying suburban areas are more likely to feel isolated from their community and be overweight, in part because of their reliance on cars for transportation. For the same reasons, fatal car accidents are most common for those who have longer commutes by car. Solutions to Combat Sprawl Sprawl is not necessarily one of those environmental issues against which we can identify a few simple steps. However, awareness of some of the potential solutions can be enough to make you a supporter of important change initiatives: Be a supporter of smart growth programs at the county and municipal levels. This includes programs that revitalize development in already built-up areas. Reinvesting in neglected city centers is part of the solution, as is taking care of an abandoned property. For example, an abandoned shopping mall can be turned into a medium-density housing development without the need for new water pipes, road access, or sewage lines.Support mixed-used development. People like to live in close proximity to where they can shop, recreate, and send their kids to school. Building these types of neighborhoods around public transportation hubs can create very desirable communities.Support your local land use planning efforts. Consider volunteering for the town’s planning board and advocate for smart growth. Attend fund-raising activities for your regional land trust, as they work hard to protect prime farmland, working waterfronts, exceptional wetlands, or intact forests.Support sensible transpor tation policies that complement smart growth. This includes affordable and dependable public transportation options, investments in maintaining the existing road network instead of expanding it, building bike paths, and developing programs to make business districts pleasant places to walk. Make a personal decision to live in a less environmentally impactful way. Choosing higher density housing can mean lower energy needs, a more active lifestyle, and proximity to work, interesting businesses, art venues, and a vibrant community. You will be able to fulfill most of your transportation needs by walking, bicycling, or public transit. In fact, in a comparison of the environmental virtues of city vs. rural living,  urban dwellers have the edge.In a paradoxical but very understandable way, many people choose to move to low density, outlying suburban areas to be closer to nature. They feel that these large lots close to agricultural lands or forests would put them in close proximity to wildlife, with more birds visiting their feeders and ample opportunity for gardening. Perhaps this appreciation of nature makes them predisposed to finding other ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Criminal Law (Advise Katarina, Paula, and Jenny as to their potential Essay

Criminal Law (Advise Katarina, Paula, and Jenny as to their potential liability for homicide) - Essay Example There are three ways of commissioning homicide a) killing with motive where one may have the chance of partial defence b) gross negligent conduct causing death and c) dangerous harm that culminates to death (Ashworth 2006). In scenario â€Å"a† referred to as above, is a "voluntary manslaughter". The remaining attempts fall within the ambit of â€Å"involuntary manslaughter†. Mens Rea The intention of crime falls within the definition of Mens rea that deals with the state of mind of a defendant at the time of committing a crime to determine criminal liability. In order to fix the responsibility of crimes of a defendant, mens rea at the time of committing crimes is essential under the criminal act. In other words, motives refer to the reason that compelled the defendant to commit criminal act. Take the examples of Fred and Wilma whose matrimonial relationship last for about twenty years. Later on, Fred began to suspect that his wife was having sexual affairs with Barney, which made him enraged. He bought gun and shot her to death. The case under reference indicates criminal act of Wilma and the intent of Fred to kill her. The motive was very clear (Ormerod 2011). It is to be noted that only motive is not enough to attack a criminal. Other supportive evidences are also required to establish a case against the defendant. Contrary to that, public prosecutor proves that the motive of the defendant was to kill. Therefore, it is not necessary to prove criminal liability.... ves the motive and not the mens rea, there is a strong chance that the defendant must be acquitted by the competent court of law, no matter how bad is the intention. Further if a public prosecutor proves the mens rea with the actus reus, the defendant will not escape from conviction, no matter how noble his motive is (Ormerod 2011). In this respect you may please refer to the cases of Hyam vs DPP (1975), R v Ried (1992), State v. Asher (Ark. 1888). Actus Reus The other way round, actus reus  in accordance with the broader definition of criminal law  comprises all ingredients of a crime other than the state of mind of a criminal.  In a nutshell,  actus reus  may have the following components a)  conduct b) outcome c) state of affairs and d) omission (Loveless 2012). Here we may refer to the cases of R v Miller (1982), R v Adams [1957], Devlin J, Armstrong, R v [1989] Owen J and Cox, R v  (1992) Winchester Crown Court, Ognall J. Coincidence of Actus Reus and Mens Rea A th orough study of Criminal Law: Theory and Doctrine (2010) of Simester and R. Sullivan revealed that according to general rule, the actus reus and mens rea of a crime may have coincidence in terms of behavioural and circumstantial elements with regard to actus reus, which occur at the same time thus satisfying the requirements of mens rea (Simester et al 2010). Potential Liability Holder We have analyzed the whole situation on the mentioned parameters of homicide, which makes Katarina, responsible for the murder of Victor. Her motive for murdering her married boyfriend speaks of â€Å"jealous personality syndrome†. Because said boyfriend refused to spend the night with her since he selected another girlfriend Audrey for having a sexual pleasure in the night. Katrina felt insulted and made up her mind to

The Shays Rebellion and the Origins of Sound Governance in the US Essay

The Shays Rebellion and the Origins of Sound Governance in the US - Essay Example With the cash flow literally gagged, the continental war veterans who had earlier received land as part of their compensation in order to quell their growing discontent with the national government found their only source of livelihoods threatened. Their usual receipt of continental notes, which would have provided them with a reprieve, had lost substantial value that even the government of the day no longer accepted them in form of taxes. The compensation woes notwithstanding, the immediate sealing off of the British agricultural markets right after the war made the situation, even more, worse; large stock inventories piled up, prompting a merchants’ dilemma of the repayment of the hitherto advanced agricultural debts. Unable to settle the outstanding debt with the English creditors, merchants turned on small debtors seizing properties [including land] to service loans. The state’s and the Confederation’s immediate economic remedy of raising taxes to fund the wa r debts stretched the already worse state of affairs even further. With the economy largely reduced into the traditional barter system, farmers and rural artisans essentially owed creditors and the tax man cash that was literally nonexistent. Their [farmers] attempts to petition the Massachusetts legislature to revise the state’s constitution to enable fair taxation, equal representation, issue paper money and/or pass tender laws that would permit debtors to service their loans in goods and services alongside the hard currency bore no fruits.5 A legislature dominated by commercial interests, the proposed reforms never featured beyond the petition. Rather than being sympathetic enough to the protesters’ genuine public concern, assemblymen responded with contempt charging that: â€Å"They, the people, are luxurious in their diet, idle and profligate in their manners, encouragers of foreign manufacturers.†6 As the economy increasingly worsened, they [debtors/farmers] found themselves hauled up in losing court battles with quite a number of defaulters ending up in state prisons; an ultimate fate that was probably imminent for Daniel Shays,

Developing Competence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Developing Competence - Essay Example The work under the review is about the correlation between people's competence and governmental efforts in education of the population. The topicality of the paper is explained by the fact that development of the employee competence is one of the most crucial steps which organizations take in order to safeguard their long term future. The work proves that governments play a very critical role in the development of the competency level of the members of the society. It describes how the UK government has taken some steps in the past directed at bridging the gap between the skill levels, however, these steps received mixed success. The government contribution in imparting the necessary trainings through a solid education system is very critical to not only meet the skill shortages, but also increase the general skill level of the employees besides offering the youth a chance to adapt to the new skills and technologies to better place themselves in the future careers. Various schemes ar e explored in this report besides looking into the initiatives taken by the Government and the private sector employers to bring in the culture of training and development within the UK society. Over the period of time, the UK government has taken some serious actions with not the best results. Unfortunately, the author comes to the conclusion that the schemes initiated by the UK government were not that much effective in their approach to bring in more training, though they developed which is targeted in nature and were well focused on the employees and organisational needs.

Meanings Of Intelligence And Adaptive Behavior Education Essay

Meanings Of Intelligence And Adaptive Behavior Education Essay Meanings of Intelligence and Adaptive Behavior Intelligence refers common mental ability applied by individuals in reasoning, calculating, perceiving analogies and relationships or in learning new information. Intelligence also entails general mental capacity to store and effectively retrieve information, adjust to new information as well as fluency in language use. Therefore, intelligence is the perceived capacity not only in learning and understanding new situations, but also in adapting to those situations and/or environment. Mental retardation (i.e. MR) is a psychological condition characterized by significant limitations in an individuals present intellectual functioning. MR is usually characterized by an intellectual functioning which falls below average. The condition is accompanied with limitations in adaptive skills such as communication, social skills and academic skills, among others (Weiten, 2008). A teacher can use various teaching styles to adapt to the need of the mentally retarded learners. First, the special teacher ought to identify the life skills that the students ought to learn. Life skills are basic proficiency and may include skills such as grooming, dressing and working ability. After skills are identified, the instructor ought to avail a learning atmosphere that will facilitate the learning process. This approach enables the learner to effectively generalize the taught skills into their home environment more quickly. Additionally, the teacher should break the skills to be taught into simple and sequential steps which are measurable. This will enable the learner to gain knowledge of complex activity step by step. For instance, in teaching the basic skill of cleaning the kitchen, the skills should be broken down into possibly; first taking the utensils to the kitchen, turning the sink and finally washing the dishes. Similarly, the teachers should share the skill bein g taught with the learners together with their caregivers so that they can be monitoring the learners progress in practicing the taught skills at home. Such techniques assist in enhancing quick mastery of the skills being taught (Weiten, 2008). Similarly, an instructor teaching mentally retarded students should observe consistency on teaching a particular skill so that the learners can own the skill. This will help reduce stress and anxiety when learning challenging skills. Consistency helps to build the students confidence as mastery of the concept is higher when repetitive teaching is employed by the instructor. Similarly, for the students with mild retardation, the teacher should use over learning to teach cognitive related information. Students with mild retardation are slower in mastering a particular concept than the normal learners. Over teaching will help the special learners to catch-up with the normal learners under common mainstream classes. For students with severe mental retardation, instruction should emphasize on various motion exercises to enhance the adoption of basic skills (Baker Aunsworth, 2004). Assessment of learners with mental disabilities is associated with a variety of problems. First, the assessment instruments have been criticized for ignoring cultural differences in evaluation procedures. Insensitivity to cultural differences may possibly lead to negative labeling and misdiagnosis. Mislabeling has negative effects to the learners being assessed because it usually leads to wrong diagnosis. Additionally, evaluation instruments if not carefully used may affect students self- esteem. In carrying out assessment, special personnel should put into consideration ethical issues that if misused may have detrimental effect on the learner. Individuals with mental retardation exhibit various characteristics depending on the level or the perceived degree of retardation. According to Baker Aunsworth (2004), learners with severe mental retardation usually requires service form the teacher and caregivers throughout their lives. Most individuals with severe mental retardation also have multiple disabilities such as difficulties in communication and mobility challenges. In most instances, mobility is aided by use of wheel chairs while communication difficulties are taken care of by teaching the learners alternative means of articulating their ideas with peers. Learners with severe retardation find complex subjects that require abstract reasoning difficult. Therefore, these learners taught to be basic life skills which are very essential in their normal living. This implies that the learners undertake education for the purpose of gaining life skills because they are incapable of comprehending abstract information. Additionall y, these categories of learners most often than not exhibit common syndromes like down syndrome, which is a big challenge to their intellectual capacity as well (Balla Ziegler, 1983). Due to the perceptible nature in their intellectual ability this category of learners requires special education. Moreover, students with mild mental retardation usually need limited support. This category of learners usually indicates moderate or even mild delays in communications and academics performance levels compared to normal learners. Additionally, the development of children with mild mental retardation is delayed compared to their non-disabled peers. Delays in development usually have an effect in reducing the kids cognitive abilities. Learners under this category usually experience difficulties in grasping complex subjects which require prolonged concentration or abstract reasoning. As such, special teacher or instructor ought to use over teaching to enhance mastery of concept taught. Over teaching requires the instructor to deliberately exercise individualized teaching by giving the needy student more attention than the normal learners. More often, these learners fall between third and fourth grade by the time they finish high school (Balla Ziegler1983). In conclusion, teachers should employ adaptive behavior when teaching students with special needs to enhance effective learning. Employing variety of teaching strategies would work-out to enhance students concentration-span. Similarly, parents and other concerned organizations should partner with special teachers fraternity in helping the learners with severe mental retardation master, practice and perhaps retain basic skills way from school.

Sexual Exploitation of Women in the Developing World Essay -- Sex Slav

Exploitation of Women in the Developing World The modern world today is proud to recognize the equality that has been acknowledged between age, gender, and race. Women are beginning to be treated as equals with men, in new customs, lifestyle, society, and economy. Today, women are freer and are liberated from their traditional roles as housewives, and are pursuing their hopes and dreams. However, this is not the case in many regions of the world. In the developing countries, thousands of females are dehumanized by prostitution and the trafficking of women and children is dehumanizing which serves only to benefit men. It exploits and violates the rights of women in the developing world. Sexual exploitation, which includes sex tourism, bride trade, temporary marriages, and sexual violence such as rape, incest, and sexual harassment, has escalated throughout the 20th century and has become an enormous concern. Today, slavery is defined as a â€Å"social and economic relationship in which a person is controlled through violence or its threat, paid nothing, and economically exploited†¦sex trafficking is a modern day form of slavery† (Bales). The reason why governments do not help the women in prostitution is because the sex industry generates profits amounting to billions of dollars, necessary to pay off the country’s debts. The governments convince themselves, and the public, that they help facilitate women’s employment opportunities and statistics by legitimizing prostitution. Politically vulnerable and economically weak countries were opened up as tourist destinations, and large numbers or male tourists bought sexual adventure in foreign countries as the businesses of the sex tourism were established. The promotion of sex tourism generated generous amounts of income for the sex industry as well as for the government, due to the vacations that people from developed countries take to take advantage of these foreign prostitutes. In some cultures, the established role of females has been long facilitated by the traditional systems of religion, resulting to prostitution. Trafficking is assisted by recruiters (who accompany the woman to the new country), the traffickers, and the pimps who are in charge of the brothels and sex clubs that the women end up in. Although there is an extensive amount of evidence that these people are in charge of the continuation o... ...uld not be tolerated; they have the human right to live freely in a society without turning to prostitution as the only way to survive. Works Cited Bales, Kevin. New Slavery: A Reference Book. California, 2000. Budapest Group, The Relationship Between Organized Crime and Trafficking in Aliens. Austria: International Centre for Migration Policy Development, June 1999. Canadian Woman Studies, Migration, Labour and exploitation, Trafficking in Women and Girls. York University Publication, 2004. Clark, Bruce and Wallace, John. Global Connections: Canadian and World Issues. Prentice Hall, Toronto, 2003. Pearson Education Canada Hechler, David. Child Sex Tourism. New York: Don’t Buy Thai. May 2001 International Organization for Migration, Trafficking and Prostitution: The Growing exploitation of migrant women from Central & Eastern Europe, 1995. International Organizations for Migration Lucky Star Online Casino, Prostitution and the Sexual Exploitation of Women, 2002. People’s Daily Online, Chinese Proposes Efforts to Eliminate Sexual Exploitation against Women, 2003. World Revolution, Overview of Global Issues, human rights and social justice, 2002.

The Enron Managers’ Mistakes

Looking for mistakes is a very difficult thing to do, especially if the case in point is something which is as successful in one point of its existence such as the Enron. Companies such as Enron employ the best managers because work at these levels leaves very, very, very little room for error; unless it was a calculated and deliberate error in the part of the erring managers.If such was the case, then it would lead to the identification of malice and fraudulent motivations in the part of the managers, since no manager wants to commit knowingly a mistake. The identity of the ‘mistake’ shifts now from what used to be as poorly thought-of action plan made individually and independent of other people’s orientation and influence resulting to losses to the general course of action, attitude and mental alignment of some the managers in Enron that made the collapse as something which is highly improbable.Still there were mistakes in general, and still, it will be manager s at the end of the day who will be answerable and liable for these mistakes, from what was claimed as accounting processes that are bogged down by innocent human error, to deliberate cover ups and last minute action recourse that was a minute too late always people are thinking that at worst, it was a well schemed, well planned, internal sabotage. Yes, they made mistakes. And former Enron Corp.Chairman Kenneth Lay himself was among those who ‘admitted to mistakes’ which are by and all bereft of malice as he insisted that despite the mistakes, any wrongdoing in running the energy giant was not part of his activities while servicing Enron (Emshwillerm, McWilliams, 2006). Companies and business management executives adhere to a particular paradigm or accepted practice in the daily undertaking of business and commerce because it is a necessary tool in the check and balance system that guarantees that the interests of the company, the investors and the public are protected. The main idea behind the collapse of Enron Corporation is its managers’ deviance from these paradigms due to fraudulent intentions, and because of this, investors and the public in general placed Enron’s managers and chief executives as the one who erred and the ones who are criminally liable, leading to one of the most controversial debacle in Wall Street history.Enron willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly kept analysts, investors and other people from the business industry outside and in the dark. Some of their actions made them accountable according to the letter of the law while some can interpret the entire fiasco as a mere case of incapable and incompetent managers.The partnership and the role of these partnerships and the failure to see how it will work out in the long run is one of the biggest mistakes of Enron and its managers along with i5ts move to inflate its reported profits and manipulate its profits, and at some extent the managers knew of t hat this move was a potential mistake but the earnings are just to tempting for them not to wager and give it a try, providing Enron suddenly with a way to hide the true amount of its debts through these partnerships with companies who are people and managed by the same executives found in Enron (Rouleau, 2002).The managers’ mistakes are assessed using two perspectives – first, their mistakes that contributed to the downfall and worsening of Enron as a company, and second, the mistakes that they made that lead to the conviction of the criminal charges that were slapped on them. What did they do wrong? Many.Just for starters, Smith (2006) wonders about the foolhardy risk of Enron in booking profits using means which are considered as generally volatile, risky and perfectly lawful and legal; this alongside Enron’s racking up of â€Å"mark-to-market† gains, a steady real-cash influx based model for accounting, as reflected on the company’s trading boo k which do not reflect the use an accounting system which is based on the flow of actual money like the accrual system,CRIMINAL LIABILITIES – The mistakes of Enron’s managers are reflected on their criminal records as their miscalculated mistakes led them from blue chip executive managers to criminal convicted felons, which may have cast light on the guilt of certain crimes of the Enron managers but was unable to bring to light fully other important details.And by 2006, Smith (2006) still considers that it ‘isn't clear how much Enron made or lost off its vaunted energy-trading, energy-services and broadband units’ or the extent of the earnings of Enron over what Smith considers as the exploitation of ‘the California electricity market during the 15-month crisis’ which started in the spring, year 2000 (Wall Street Journal, pA9).And when several business mangers that are all capable and willing to commit criminal acts to the company and its inve stors are housed inside one company, it is the perfect recipe for an impending financial crisis. To be able to analyze the mistakes of Enron’s managers that lead to the collapse of the company, it is important to take a look at two things – the crimes for which every manager was accused of, and for the alleged crime that they made but were acquitted from.The management and the managers were, after all, responsible for letting Enron be ‘dependent on paper trading gains’, which, according to Smith (2006) actually had ‘little real cash attached to them and so vulnerable to credit calls that made it incapable of riding out a crisis’ (The Wall Street Journal, pA9), something which is not very much explored since the trial focused on the liabilities of the leaders and managers who kept on insisting throughout the trial that Enron was merely a ‘victim to a run on the bank’. Smith, A9). Before making a scrutiny overall individual mistakes by Enron managers, one of the mistakes of the board of directors should be mentioned since it was symbolic to the law-bending and law-twisting nature of doing business inside Enron that put them in this mess in the first place.This particular incident which symbolizes the many other similar erratic actions and costly mistakes made by the board of directors is about the time when the board of directors opted to waive the aspect of conflict of interest and allowed Enron's very own Chief Finance Officer Andrew Fastow to head a business that is directly in dealing with Enron since the board of directors may have seen the merit, however temporary, of the strategy that allows Fastow's LJM to acquire by buy out Enron's assets which it considers as underperforming, in truth the company of Fastow is no more than a smokescreen so that the debt of the Enron is shielded and the profit improved on paper. The most significant person and Enron manager who made the most telling mistakes en route t o the downfall of Enron is no other than Kenneth Lay.Others were just a notch lower than Lay’s stature in the mismanagement department, and these include others like Jeffrey Skilling, Greg Whalley, Mark Frevert and Andrew Fastow – they may or may not be included in Lay’s excuse list of what he considers as ‘deceitful underlings’ (Emshwillerm, McWilliams, 2006). For Lay and all the involved Enron managers, their mistake was to wager their career and the future of Enron in exchange for whatever financial gains they experienced resulting from undertaking fraudulent actions and strategies while inside the company and holding key positions in Enron. Lay faced eleven criminal charges as an aftermath of the Enron scandal, all of which he pleaded not guilty.During the sentencing, Lay was found by the jury guilty of securities and wire fraud. This reflects Lay’s two main mistakes which he made throughout his Enron career – the mistakes that he made that caused the downfall of Enron considering that all of the accusations hurled against him are false, and the second mistake, the inability to protect himself for worst case scenario, whether or not he is truly guilty of criminal actions. Another managerial mistake of Lay is his show of support and trust to the operations of Lou Borget, who was later convicted of money laundering. Lay was notorious for undertaking questionable and shady workings that are hardly transparent to those who need to see and understand it.Even before his Enron days, Lay was always full of suspicious and strange actions, like how he still managed to control Internorth despite the fact that it was his small company which the Internorth brought and how insurance companies point to Lay's questionable dealings in foreign countries like Peru where Enron formerly do business in. This resulted to Lay's career being capped with losses, sales of what is otherwise considered as a very profitable operation, emp loyee lay-offs and shady partnership deals which analysts consider as Lay's way of hiding debt. If Lay is synonymous with shady accounts, questionable transactions and strange partnership moves, Skilling seemed to be haunted by a curse which is just as bad as that of Lay – failed business operation. Skilling joined Enron in 1989. Prior to that, his career was inside a banking institution, the First City Bank of Houston, which collapsed as he left.If Skilling’s excuse was that his mistakes were made without malice and as a result of some human error factor, then he was misled and confused at least 19 times, the same number of times he was acquitted for wire fraud and securities fraud. Even with the fact that it is close to impossible for Skilling to have an excuse for such number of instances pertaining to erroneous but not malicious managerial actions inside Enron which can prove that he is innocent after all, his capability as a top tier manager will be put to questio n next, as well as the authority and prudence of those who hired him since Skilling, after all, is close to being moronic with the nature of the job he was signed up to work in, if it is true that he did not have any acts with malicious or destructive nature towards the company for all of the times he was said to have committed securities and wire fraud.This is the case of someone stupid being smart enough to land a position of power, something which is not just convincing and realistic enough as it was plain dumb. Regardless, it is still Skilling’s mistake that burdens him with such load. Andrew Fastow's mistakes was opting to do things which are not designed to answer Enron's brewing financial problem but to provide a mat under which Enron managers can sweep the dirt when business visitors and investors come in for a visit. This is true with the case of Fastow's creation of the so-called off-book entities. Even before Enron crashed, Fastow was already showing the company ho w he is mistake prone. Example of which was the 1996 job that he bungled, described by Barboza and Schwartz (2002) in detail; ‘Fastow†¦ as nearly fired for the poor job he did running a retail unit that aimed to put Enron into competition with local utilities around the country' (The New York Times).The same poor sense of long term outlook despite the innate financial wizardry inside Fastow’s head led Fastow to create an escape for Enron when its Calper’s interests are not being addressed to as planned and expected by Enron his wife's family posing as outside investor and a low level Enron employee who was promised a hefty 10 million profit, the use of Chewco as the hiding place for Enron's debts and as a way to help in the inflation of Enron's profits which were both impossible in the first place, .Again, maybe Fastow was guiltless after all of the crimes stacked against him after the Enron collapse; but the one sure thing is that despite his intelligence, he committed too many mistakes that netted him in a web and be ‘wrapped up in a series of complex transactions that ultimately doomed him' (Barboza, Schwartz, 2002), and the doom that came as a result of his mistakes amounted to an indictment of 78 counts of crimes that included fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. Paula Rieker was one time the managing director of investor relations of Enron. She was guilty of the criminal charge set against her (criminal insider trading charge) as she was guilty of the mistake of allowing herself to join her colleagues in what was called the exercise of self enrichment inside the company wherein managers use the situation at hand to make the most out of one's profit.Former Enron CAO Richard Causey, Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. nd energy trader John Forney were all guilty of securities fraud as he was guilty of the mistake of failing to do what is right for the company or the mistake of failing to act upon constructively using one's sou rces and capabilities to keep Enron alive. OUTSIDE CRIMINAL LIABILITIES- Aside from the analysis of Enron’s managers that led to convictions to criminal acts, a look at the Enron situation without the malice of fraud will also reveal little things that help compound the growing mismanagement of Enron and made the fall a bit faster. The mistakes of the Enron managers can also be stacked together in either of the two categories – financial management failure and poor people management.For now, the idea that the company may have been sabotaged directly behind fraudulent intentions from the top executives will be put aside in the name of management strategy assessment, and also because of the fact that common sense business dictates that no business entity or individual would risk building a blue chip firm that it will take down so hard so fast. The assessment of the errors is based on the fact that the top executives and managers of Enron did something hugely erroneous an d disastrous for the company sans the malice that some economic and business conspiracy theorists are exploring or what the criminal convictions simply proved.Simply said, Enron top brass made big time mistakes particularly because they are running a big time firm, and the paper will try to look at these big time mistakes and how it affected and contributed to the fall of Enron and their eventual conviction. Poor Financial and Overall Management – Despite the fact that companies are indeed legit, it is difficult to prove that 100 percent of all the legit businesses, may it be in the United States or anywhere in the world, operates using strategies and methods that are 100 percent legal. Some of these companies tweak and bend the law here and there, and the reason why some of them are not caught is because they are prudent and good enough that no fall-out in the magnitude of crisis level would result from such law-bending actions.Having established that, Enron and its managers are plainly not good enough to sustain the good financial position of the company and they were not able to balance out with good management maneuver and strategy whatever downside and ill-effect the results of their ‘criminal acts’ has on the company’s performance even before it hit crisis-level. It was just a case of poor financial management. Considering that Enron did not have any fraudulent intentions, the management of the company is still guilty of hiring incompetent individuals which they used to fill in key positions since none of them were capable of salvaging what was left of the fast sinking company. â€Å"Financial fraud is often a team sport. It took a host of banks, lawyers and accountants to hide Enron's problems from investors† (The New York Times, 2007). They are guilty of maneuvering poorly Enron inside the trade and stock exchange landscape with or without the illegal and criminal transactions that they did.They are guilty of sticking to a team of financial executives and their strategies and capabilities even when it appears that these personnel and their strategies are taking Enron nowhere but down, that is with consideration to the fact that again, they did not have any fraudulent intentions in the first place. The fact that Enron was poorly managed is hardly challenged as the proofs are just overwhelming and the tale of the stock price of Enron says it all – before the crisis, Enron shares stood at 90 US dollars; by November 21, 2001 the stock price of Enron is down to just seven US dollars. A week later the price was down to 0. 61 US dollars as the trading day closed along with the withdrawal of Dynegy Incorporated from previous deals with Enron and the awarding of the junk status rating to the company.Adding to these are other happenings that bolstered the claims that Enron was poorly managed before and during the crisis; the debt repayment obligations that amounted to 9 billion US dollars at the clo se of the year 2002, an amount which cannot be covered by the company's available cash at that time, the decimation of five billion US dollars in just fifty days of the amount that Enron borrowed from financial firms and banks which was originally planned for use in buying its commercial paper and other strategies to resuscitate the company's financial standing. Even the pattern of its financial behavior is reeking of the foul odor of poor management – the big third quarter loss followed by the company's announcement that it has actually overstated Enron's earnings in the last four years, and then followed by the making public of Enron's $3 billion obligations to its several partnerships.Questionable Business Strategies – The Enron debacle highlighted not just Enron managers’ poor financial and business acumen; it also showcased the poor people management skills of the managers of Enron reflected by its strategies and its inability to protect the company and its investors from long term and short term losses which they may have failed to predict or foresee in the first place. The only thing it appears they do best is confuse the company, confuse the public and in the end confuse even themselves that even when they wanted to, they cannot explain to the public, particularly to the SEC and to the investors, what is really going on inside Enron.Public Assurance – Credited to the faults of the Enron managers is the fact that the company’s managers were unable to convince the investors in the time of crisis that everything is being done to create or maintain stability. The investors were not waiting to be told that everything at Enron is ok, since they would not believe it if it was said in the first place owing to the fact that the company is not transparent enough to even convince the investors and the public in general that they are even telling the truth. The managers were not able to control the mounting unrest and it was the case because of their refusal to divulge important information that can convince the people about the state of the company.And this attitude is not impossible to think that many of the Enron managers were all in denial on what Enron, their milking cow, their cash cow, has become, ‘Mr. Fastow was reluctant to acknowledge what was happening'(Barboza, Schwartz). Deterioration of Credibility – Another important and noteworthy fault that the Enron managers, particularly Kenneth Lay, committed is that they allow their credibility to deteriorate in front of the public and in the face of the investors. How did they, particularly Lay, do that? Through a lot if different ways that merely exacerbated the situation and compounded the growing negativity of the people towards him owed to his being overly shady and secretive of the many aspects of Enron’s operation and financial status.With the breaking of the credibility of the top management tier of Enron comes the decreasing level of respect the people has for Enron managers, not just because of the result of the impending loss and the financial impact it has on investors some of which has there whole future in it, but because Enron managers themselves are creating inter-personal friction between them and those who are pushing for answers to unresolved questions. This attitude is reflective of how Enron’s top management people like Skilling treated investors who are merely calling for transparency by asking balance sheets and detailed earnings and was instead treated with expletive words over a conference call.Breaking of Ranks – During Enron’s financial battles, one of the aspects that greatly crippled them as an organization is the massive breaking and falling apart of their own ranks. In any battles – corporate or not – it is important that managers and top tier executives show a united front, especially when it comes to addressing the public and providing the assu rance that everything is alright, and that whatever minor problems are being addressed immediately through the unity of the top management brass. In the case of Enron and its managers, it is either top brass people are leaving or they are simply being replaced during the most critical part of the company’s financial battle when senior and long time veterans are expected to hold the reigns and maintain control.

Revolutionary Period essays

Revolutionary Period essays The American Revolution was a time of change. We no longer wanted to be a part of Englands glorious empire, but rather a brand spanking new ideal, and we did not want their king, but most of all, we wanted it done at once. The American Revolution had everything a revolution should. After all, a revolution is 1) an orbital motion around a centralized point, 2) the overthrow of one government and its replacement with another, 3) a sudden and momentous change in the situation, as defined by the dictionary. Literature of the time written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine in his Crisis pamphlets, and in Patrick Henrys speeches, expound and explore the reasons for radical changes to come. There was one central and unifying idea, which united this great country called America to rise up against England. That idea was Liberty! During the Revolution, we rallied around the central cause of liberty and freedom. It is human nature to need liberty, to be free. In the revolution, we fought for liberty, liberty was what we wanted, liberty was frequently denied to us, liberty was everything to us. Nations can be formed in many ways. Geography or climate, ruler or diplomat, cultural expansion or brutal wars-each of these are a force in themselves. America however was unique. America was born of an idea. Freedom. Even today, after the pilgrims, and the revolutionaries, people come to America, risking everything to be part of that force of freedom and liberty. Prior to the revolution, everything was revolving around England, and what the king wanted. Anything you had was courtesy of a tyrannical pig named King George. In America, we wanted everything to revolve around the freedom of the Individual. Some key leaders, now called out founding fathers, played a big part in bringing those ideas to everyone. We had writers that brought those ideas to revolve around ev...

Outline the Operations Processes Relevant to Transformations. Describe and Explain the Impact of the 4’s on the Transformation Processes. Essay Example

Outline the Operations Processes Relevant to Transformations. Describe and Explain the Impact of the 4’s on the Transformation Processes. Essay Example Outline the Operations Processes Relevant to Transformations. Describe and Explain the Impact of the 4’s on the Transformation Processes. Essay Outline the Operations Processes Relevant to Transformations. Describe and Explain the Impact of the 4’s on the Transformation Processes. Essay Outline the operations processes relevant to transformations. Describe and explain the impact of the 4? s on the transformation processes. Operations refers to those ongoing cyclic activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders. Operations includes the conversion of inputs (resources) into outputs (goods and services). This conversion is known as transformation. Thus, operations processes are those processes involved directly with transformation. Operations processes entails different processes relevant to transformations. Sequencing and Scheduling are two essential aspects that assist with structuring and ordering the transformation processes. Sequencing refers to the order in which activities in the operations process occur. Scheduling refers to the length of time activities take within the operations process. The two main scheduling tools are Gantt charts and Critical Path Analysis (CPA). An understanding of both sequencing and scheduling is necessary for operations managers. As well as operations, technology is another aspect of the operations process which is relevant to transformations. Business technology involves the use of machinery and systems that enable businesses to undertake the transformation process more effectively and ef? ciently. Business technology may include a computer, keyboard and mouse, mobile telephones, printers etc. Manufacturing technology includes robotics, computer-aided designs (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Task Design is relevant to transformations as it involves classifying job activities in ways that make it easy for an employee to successfully perform and complete a task. It overlaps the employment relations function of job analysis, job description and person speci? ation. A plant layout is the arrangement of equipment, machinery and staff within the facility (either a factory or of? ce). The plant layout have an impact on the ef? ciency of the operations function. Plant layouts ensure enough physical space for production, effective use of equipment, the use of appropriate technology, and a good work environment, to n ame a few. All operations processes should be monitored for their effectiveness. Monitoring is the process of measuring actual performance against planned performance. As well as monitoring, the main transformational process should be subject to control. Control occurs when KPIs are assessed against predetermined targets and corrective action is taken if required. This requires effective monitoring and focus on continuous improvement. Monitoring and control lead to improvements when there is a focus on quality and standards. Improvement refers to systematic reduction of inef? ciencies and wastage, poor work processes and the elimination of any bottlenecks. Monitoring, control and improv Transformation processes are in? uenced by volume, variety, variation and visibility. That is, the four V? how much of a product is made, the range of products made, the amount of a product desired by consumers and the nature and amount of customer contact. The in? uence of volume has a strong impact on the transformation process. Volume refers to how much of a product is made. Volume ? exibility depends on the increase or decrease on the demand of a product. An example of a business which used volume as an in? uence for the transformation process is the manufacturers of Leapfrog Leapster Explorer. In 2010, the console became available for sale. However, there were more far more games than actual consoles. This meant that retailers had a shortage of consoles in comparison to games. This is a prime example of a situation caused by a supplier with an incorrect perception of volume. The in? uence of variety is the second ? V? that impacts strongly on the transformation process. Variety is the mix of products made, or services delivered through the transformation process. It is sometimes referred to as mix ? exibility. Mix ? exibility is known by customers as product range or variety of change. The in? uence of variety on transformation processes is the greater the variety made, the more the operations process needs to allow for variation. An example of a business that considers variety is Electrolux. Electrolux make Simpson, Chef, Dishlex and Westinghouse brands. These brands are attached to a range of whitegoods such as fridges, washing machines, ovens, dishwashers and dryers. In this way, the company can sell a variety of products made with largely similar production processes. A variation in demand can impact signi? cantly on transformation resources. Increases in demand will require increased inputs from suppliers, increased human resources, increased energy use and increased use of machinery and technology. The fourth and ? nal V that impacts the transformation process is the in? uence of visibility. Visibility is important in the transformation as it is the nature and amount of customer contact (feedback). Direct customer contact may include customer feedback given through surveys, interviews, letters, blogs and verbal contact. Indirect customer contact comes from a review of sales data that is an analysis of customer preferences. As businesses seek to maximize sales, customer contact is essential and ultimately shapes the transformation process.

Outsourcing keeping India and Pakistan in reference Essay

Outsourcing keeping India and Pakistan in reference - Essay Example This research also presents the development and trends in the field of outsourcing. Earlier or later on, every software development organization asks a simple question: â€Å"Is there any way that we can acquire the software and systems we require at a slighter expenditure?† The answer to this query is not straightforward, and the moving conversations or debates that take place in response to this question always direct to a single word: outsourcing (Pressman, 2001). With the passage of time, the fashion of outsourcing is growing in the fields of information technology. And organizations are gaining competitive advantages and saving their resources by outsourcing their needs. The responsibilities of the management increase when they decide for outsourcing (Palvia, 2000) and (Laudon & Laudon, 1999, p. 381). According to (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005, p. 638), organizations have two choices: By outsourcing, organizations can pay attention on their interior business at the same time as letting others with extra expertise to carry out some portion of their business management activities. Some organizations outsource just the software development portion of their IT operation. On the other hand, others outsource more or every part of their IT operations. The reason of doing this is to keep on competitive in this period of incessantly changeable technology (Shelly, Cashman, & Vermaat, 2005, p. 638). All this depend on an organization’s needs, external organizations can handle as much or as little of the IT needs as indispensable or desired. Mostly external organizations can proffer hardware and software. Others offer an assortment of services encompassing Web design and development, Web hosting, customer service, billing, Sales, marketing, and officially authorized support, an Internet solutions provider is a corporation that offers Web hosting services that consist of administration of shopping carts, inventory, and credit card processing

Health Promotion and Health Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Promotion and Health Education - Essay Example Obese children also are at increased risk for dyslipidemia, both increased low-density lipoprotein levels and decreased high-density lipoprotein levels (Leung & Robson, 1990). Longitudinal data from the Bogolusa Heart Study indicates a significant risk for developing type 2 diabetes for obese adolescents (Srinivasan, Bao, Wattigney, & Berenson, 1996). Among those who were obese as adolescents, 2.4% had developed type 2 diabetes by the age of 30 compared to none in the non-obese population. The detrimental health effects of obesity are pervasive and enduring. Strauss (1999) reported that being an obese adolescent predicted early mortality even more consistently than obesity in adulthood. The complications related to obesity in youths are not limited to physical health. Obesity in adolescents also has been associated with fewer years of education, higher poverty, lower marriage rates and lower family income (Dietz, 1997; Maffeis & Tato, 2001). However, evidence for an association between overweight and obesity and low self-esteem are inconsistent. Some studies have found no significant relationship (e.g., Gortmaker, 1993; Renman, Engstrom, Silfverdal, & Aman, 1999), while others find that those children and adolescents who are obese exhibit significantly lower self-esteem than their peers (French, Story, & Perry, 1995). Israel and Ivanova (2002) posit that severity of obesity is related to self-esteem with those more severely obese experiencing the most damage to their self-esteem. This hypothesis has been validated in the findings among clinical populations where self-esteem has been significantly related to obesity status (Rumpel & Harris, 1994). The most consisten tly replicated psychosocial outcomes for obesity relate to negative body image (Israel & Ivanvova, 2002). In addition, clinically significant problems with memory functioning and learning abilities have been found among overweight children. These deficits are seemingly the result of sleep apnea, which has been reported at rates as high as 94% among samples of obese children (Brenner, Kelly, Wenger, Brich, & Morrow, 2001). 5.2 Overview of the proposed program In light of the pressing and prevalent problems posed by obesity, the researcher has proposed a cardiovascular risk reduction program which aims at assessing the health behaviors of elementary school children and impacting changes on both a school level and individual level. On the school level, the program aims to decrease the fat and sodium content of the lunch received by elementary students during the course of the school day while simultaneously increasing the level of physical activity among those students. On an individual level, the proposed program aims to first and foremost decrease the level of cholesterol in the blood of the students while secondarily impacting psychosocial changes through mandatory self-reporting as well as behavior modification for aversive health maintenance behavior. Essentially, this proposed program examines the efficacy of school and home-based interventions in impacting changes in children's behavior and promotes a lifestyle that will reduce their risk of heart disease. This program will target both the