Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Contemporary Management Approaches Essay

The four contemporary approaches to management are: Sociotechnical systems theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior, and systems theory. Sociotechnical systems theory tries to revamp tasks to get the most out of the operation of a new technology while maintaining the human aspects of the work, such as the employees’ interpersonal relationships. It also touts the use of teamwork and the partially self-governing work groups as important factors for creating efficient production systems (Bateman S. , 2013). The Quantitative management approach focuses on using the quantitative analysis on managerial problems and decisions. Formal mathematical models of the problem are used by managers to make a decision. Managers are not often trained to use these techniques so the quantitative management approach is infrequently used (Bateman S. , 2013). The Organizational approach assumes that employee effectiveness is based on understanding the intricate interplay of individual, group, and organizational processes (Evolution, 2012). Disciplines such as psychology and sociology are used to try and explain the behavior of employees on the job (Bateman S. , 2013). The Systems theory approach to management assumes that organizations are open systems that depend on inputs from the external environment that need to be transformed into outputs that meet the market’s needs for goods and services. Inputs are the goods and services that an organization takes in and uses to create products or services. Outputs are the goods and services that the organization creates (Evolution, 2012). I think the sociotechnical approach is the most important because it focuses on keeping current with the new technology. This approach also recognizes the importance of keeping the employees happy so as to maximize production. References Bateman, S. (2013). Management (M Starts Here series–soft cover), 3rd edition 2013. McGraw-Hill. Evolution, T. (2012). The Evolution of Management. Retrieved from Highered.Mcgraw-hill.com: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/007802952x/970138/bat2952X_Part2.pdf

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

An Analysis of Oroonoko by Aphra Behn Essay

Oroonoko is a short work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn (1640–1689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African inSurinam in the 1660s, and the author’s own experiences in the new South American colony. Behn worked for Charles II as a spy during the outset of the Second Dutch War, ending up destitute when she returned to England, and even spending time in a debtors’ prison, because Charles failed to pay her properly, or at all. She turned her hand to writing in order to survive, with remarkable success. She wrote poetry that sold well, and had a number of plays staged, which established her fame in her own lifetime. In the 1670s, only John Dryden had plays staged more often than Behn. She began to write extended narrative prose toward the end of her career. Published less than a year before she died, Oroonoko is one of the earliest English novels. Interest in it has increased since the 1970s, critics arguing that Behn is the foremothe r of British women writers, and that Oroonoko is a crucial text in the history of the novel. Plot summary and analysis Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is a relatively short novel concerning the Coromantin grandson of an African king, Prince Oroonoko, who falls in love with Imoinda, the daughter of that king’s top general. â€Å"Coromantee people† were Akan slaves brought from present-day Ghana, a polyglot band known for their rebellious nature. the sacred veil, thus commanding her to become one of his wives, even though she was already married to Oroonoko. After unwillingly spending time in the king’s harem (the Otan), Imoinda and Oroonoko plan a tryst with the help of the sympathetic Onahal and Aboan. They are eventually discovered, and because she has lost her virginity, Imoinda is sold as a slave. The king’s guilt, however, leads him to falsely inform Oroonoko that she has been executed, since death was thought to be better than slavery. Later, after winning another tribal war, Oroonoko is betrayed and captured by an English captain, who planned to sell him and his men as slaves. Both Imoinda and Oroonoko were carried to Surinam, at that time an English colony based on sugarcane plantation in the West Indies. The two lovers are reunited there, under the new Christian names of Caesar and Clemene, even though Imoinda’s beauty has attracted the unwanted desires of other slaves and of the Cornish gentleman, Trefry. Upon Imoinda’s pregnancy, Oroonoko petitions for their return to the homeland. But after being continuously ignored, he organizes a slave revolt. The slaves are hunted down by the military forces and compelled to surrender on deputy governor Byam’s promise of amnesty. Yet, when the slaves surrender, Oroonoko and the others are punished and whipped. To avenge his honor, and to express his natural worth, Oroonoko decides to kill Byam. But to protect Imoinda from violation and subjugation after his death, he decides to kill her. The two lovers discuss the plan, and with a smile on her face, Imoinda willingly dies by his hand. A few days later, Oroonoko is found mourning by her decapitated body and is kept from killing himself, only to be publicly executed. During his death by dismemberment, Oroonoko calmly smokes a pipe and stoically withstands all the pain without crying out. The novel is written in a mixture of first and third person, as the narrator relates actions in Africa and portrays herself as a witness of the actions that take place in Surinam. In the novel, the narrator presents herself as a lady who has come to Surinam with her unnamed father, a man intended to be a new lieutenant-general of the colony. He, however, dies on the voyage from England. The narrator and her family are put up in the finest house in the settlement, in accord with their station, and the narrator’s experiences of meeting the indigenous peoples and slaves are intermixed with the main plot of the love of Oroonoko and Imoinda. At the conclusion of the love story, the narrator leaves Surinam for London. Structurally, there are three significant pieces to the narrative, which does not flow in a strictly biographical manner. The novel opens with a statement of veracity, where the author claims to be writing no fiction and no pedantic history. She claims to be an eyewitness and to be writing without any embellishment or theme, relying solely upon reality. What follows is a description of Surinam itself and the South American Indians there. She regards the locals as simple and living in a golden age (the presence of gold in the land being indicative of the epoch of the people themselves). It is only afterwards that the narrator provides the history of Oroonoko himself and the intrigues of both his grandfather and the slave captain, the captivity of Imoinda, and his own betrayal. The next section is in the narrator’s present; Oroonoko and Imoinda are reunited, and Oroonoko and Imoinda meet the narrator and Trefry. The third section contains Oroonoko’s rebellion and its aftermath. Biographical and historical background Oroonoko is now the most studied of Aphra Behn’s novels, but it was not immediately successful in her own lifetime. It sold well, but the adaptation for the stage by Thomas Southerne (see below) made the story as popular as it became. Soon after her death, the novel began to be read again, and from that time onward the factual claims made by the novel’s narrator, and the factuality of the whole plot of the novel, have been accepted and questioned with greater and lesser credulity. Because Mrs. Behn was not available to correct or confirm any information, early biographers assumed the first-person narrator was Aphra Behn speaking for herself and incorporated the novel’s claims into their accounts of her life. It is important, however, to recognize thatOroonoko is a work of fiction and that its first-person narrator—the protagonist—need be no more factual than Jonathan Swift’s first-person narrator, ostensibly Gulliver, in Gulliver’s Tra vels, Daniel Defoe’s shipwrecked narrator in Robinson Crusoe, or the first-person narrator of A Tale of a Tub. Fact and fiction in the narrator Researchers today cannot say whether or not the narrator of Oroonoko represents Aphra Behn and, if so, tells the truth. Scholars have argued for over a century about whether or not Behn even visited Surinam and, if so, when. On the one hand, the narrator reports that she â€Å"saw† sheep in the colony, when the settlement had to import meat from Virginia, as sheep, in particular, could not survive there. Also, as Ernest Bernbaum argues in â€Å"Mrs. Behn’s ‘Oroonoko'†, everything substantive in Oroonoko could have come from accounts by William Byam and George Warren that were circulating in London in the 1660s. However, as J.A. Ramsaran and Bernard Dhuiq catalog, Behn provides a great deal of precise local color and physical description of the colony. Topographical and culturalverisimilitude were not a criterion for readers of novels and plays in Behn’s day any more than in Thomas Kyd’s, and Behn generally did not bother with attempting to be accurate in her locations in other stories. Her plays have quite indistinct settings, and she rarely spends time with topographical description in her stories.[2] Secondly, all the Europeans mentioned in Oroonoko were really present in Surinam in the 1660s. It is interesting, if the entire account is fictional and based on reportage, that Behn takes no liberties of invention to create European settlers she might need. Finally, the characterization of the real-life people in the novel does follow Behn’s own politics. Behn was a lifelong and militant royalist, and her fictions are quite consistent in portraying virtuous royalists and put-upon nobles who are opposed by petty and evil republicans/Parliamentarians. Had Behn not known the individuals she fictionalizes in Oroonoko, it is extremely unlikely that any of the real royalists would have become fictional villains or any of the real republicans fictional heroes, and yet Byam and James Bannister, both actual royalists in the Interregnum, are malicious, licentious, and sadistic, while George Marten, a Cromwellian republican, is reasonable, open-minded, and fair.[2] On balance, it appear s that Behn truly did travel to Surinam. The fictional narrator, however, cannot be the real Aphra Behn. For one thing, the narrator says that her father was set to become the deputy governor of the colony and died at sea en route. This did not happen to Bartholomew Johnson (Behn’s father), although he did die between 1660 and 1664.[3] There is no indication at all of anyone except William Byam being Deputy Governor of the settlement, and the only major figure to die en route at sea was Francis, Lord Willoughby, the colonial patent holder for Barbados and â€Å"Suriname.† Further, the narrator’s father’s death explains her antipathy toward Byam, for he is her father’s usurper as Deputy Governor of Surinam. This fictionalized father thereby gives the narrator a motive for her unflattering portrait of Byam, a motive that might cover for the real Aphra Behn’s motive in going to Surinam and for the real Behn’s antipathy toward the real Byam. It is also unlikely that Behn went to Surinam with her husband, although she may have met and married in Surinam or on the journey back to England. A socially creditable single woman in good standing would not have gone unaccompanied to Surinam. Therefore, it is most likely that Behn and her family went to the colony in the company of alady. As for her purpose in going, Janet Todd presents a strong case for its being spying. At the time of the events of the novel, the deputy governor Byam had taken absolute control of the settlement and was being opposed not only by the formerly republican Colonel George Marten, but also by royalists within the settlement. Byam’s abilities were suspect, and it is possible that either Lord Willoughby or Charles II would be interested in an investigation of the administration there. Beyond these facts, there is little known. The earliest biographers of Aphra Behn not only accepted the novel’s narrator’s claims as true, but Charles Gildon even invented a romantic liaison between the author and the title character, while the anonymous Memoirs of Aphra Behn, Written by One of the Fair Sex (both 1698) insisted that the author was too young to be romantically available at the time of the novel’s events. Later biographers have contended with these claims, either to prove or deny them. However, it is profitable to look at the novel’s events as part of the observations of an investigator, as illustrations of government, rather than autobiography. Models for Oroonoko There were numerous slave revolts in English colonies led by Coromantin slaves. Oroonoko was described as being from â€Å"Coromantien† and was likely modeled after Coromantin slaves who were known for causing several rebellions in the Caribbean. One figure who matches aspects of Oroonoko is the white John Allin, a settler in Surinam. Allin was disillusioned and miserable in Surinam, and he was taken to alcoholism and wild, lavish blasphemies so shocking that Governor Byam believed that the repetition of them at Allin’s trial cracked the foundation of the courthouse.[4] In the novel, Oroonoko plans to kill Byam and then himself, and this matches a plot that Allin had to kill Lord Willoughby and then commit suicide, for, he said, it was impossible to â€Å"possess my own life, when I cannot enjoy it with freedom and honour†.[5] He wounded Willoughby and was taken to prison, where he killed himself with an overdose. His body was taken to a pillory, â€Å"where a B arbicue was erected; his Members cut off, and flung in his face, they had his Bowels burnt under the Barbicue†¦ his Head to be cut off, and his Body to be quartered, and when dry-barbicued or dry roasted†¦ his Head to be stuck on a pole at Parham (Willoughby’s residence in Surinam), and his Quarters to be put up at the most eminent places of the Colony.†[5] Allin, it must be stressed, was a planter, and neither an indentured nor enslaved worker, and the â€Å"freedom and honour† he sought was independence rather than manumission. Neither was Allin of noble blood, nor was his cause against Willoughby based on love. Therefore, the extent to which he provides a model for Oroonoko is limited more to his crime and punishment than to his plight. However, if Behn left Surinam in 1663, then she could have kept up with matters in the colony by reading the Exact Relation that Willoughby had printed in London in 1666, and seen in the extraordinary execution a barbarity to graft onto her villain, Byam, from the man who might have been her real employer, Willoughby. While Behn was in Surinam (1663), she would have seen a slave ship arrive with 130 â€Å"freight,† 54 having been â€Å"lost† in transit. Although the African slaves were not treated differently from the indentured servants coming from England (and were, in fact, more highly valued), their cases were hopeless, and both slaves, indentured servants, and local inhabitants attacked the settlement. There was no single rebellion, however, that matched what is related in Oroonoko. Further, the character of Oroonoko is physically different from the other slaves by being blacker skinned, having a Roman nose, and having straight hair. The lack of historical record of a mass rebellion, the unlikeliness of the physical description of the character (when Europeans at the time had no clear idea of race or an inheritable set of â€Å"racial† characteristics), and the European courtliness of the character suggests that he is most likely invented wholesale. Additionally, the character’s name is artificial. There are names in the Yoruba language that are similar, but the African slaves of Surinam were from Ghana. Instead of from life, the character seems to come from literature, for his name is reminiscent of Oroondates, a character in La Calprenà ¨de’s Cassandra,which Behn had read.[6] Oroondates is a prince of Scythia whose desired bride is snatched away by an elder king. Previous to this, there is an Oroondates who is the satrap of Memphis in theÆthiopica, a novel from late antiquity by Heliodorus of Emesa. Many of the plot elements in Behn’s novel are reminiscent of those in the Æthiopica and other Greek romances of the period. There is a particular similarity to the story of Juba in La Calprenà ¨de’s romance Clà ©opà ¢tre, who becomes a slave in Rome and is given a Roman name—Coriolanus—by his captors, as Oroonoko is given the Roman name of Caesar.[7] Alternatively, it could be argued that â€Å"Oroonoko† is a homophone for the Orinoco River, along which the English settled, and it is possible to see the character as an allegorical fi gure for the mismanaged territory itself. Oroonoko, and the crisis of values of aristocracy, slavery, and worth he represents to the colonists, is emblematic of the new world and colonization itself: a person like Oroonoko is symptomatic of a place like the Orinoco.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Ralph Ellisons Battle Royal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ralph Ellisons Battle Royal - Essay Example "Battle Royal" holds a permanent interest because its underlying themes are human ones, with those being the battle against prejudice and the struggle to find a place in society. On the surface, Ellison's focus is upon the racial prejudices which confronted African Americans during a specific time in history. As that time has passed, the theme should have no continued, relevant current interest. The fact that it does is because racial prejudices are not the only form of discrimination which confront people. Any and all differences are a cause for prejudice and discrimination. In this sense, Ellison addresses all people and in the grandfather's words, provides advice for survival against prejudice. As the grandfather advises: "Live with your head in the lion's mouth. I want you to overcome'em with yeses, undermine'em with grins, agree'em to death and destruction, let'em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open" (Ellison, 1952: 938). While it may have been offered to a young black male in the pre-civil rights era, this advice is valid for all. It warns against confrontation, insists upon the possibility of defeating one's enemy through passivity and, inde ed, provides a strategy for survival.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Assessing Other Educators' Attitudes Toward Students' Families Essay

Assessing Other Educators' Attitudes Toward Students' Families - Essay Example As a parent, I would definitely want my child to improve in studies and as a person. My child cannot enhance his studies, if he does not get proper support from the teacher. I would expect the teacher to enquire to my child, what kind of love and affection he/she is getting from the parents. A teacher needs to understand the role of a parent in a child’s life and both teacher and a parent being mature people need to communicate with each other. A teacher cannot be a one side person as they need to look at a student’s life from all dimensions. Some parents are illiterate, ignorant and abusive and this can affect a student adversely. In such a case, a teacher needs to take initiative from their side and counsel the parents. As a principal it is really disheartening to know that the teacher of our school is behaving unprofessionally. I have lot of hope from my staff and as a teacher it is their duty to understand the role of parent in grooming a child. A student alone cannot mold a student, thy need help and support both from teacher and parents. So as a teacher, it is essential for them to look at how a parent is behaving with a child to keep them in social order. It is not appreciative of this teacher to ignore the obligation in counseling a parent on the proper way to bring up a child. A teacher need not be selfish, as it is a profession which needs a co-operative, warm and selfless heart. As a principal I am seeing this attitude of the teacher as discouraging and selfish. A teacher needs to give attention to a child very closely and needs to analyze them from all perspective. As a principal, I realize that this teacher needs advice and education from me about right professional concept of a teacher. The teacher has not understood that, he/she need to perceive a student as a person and has roots to home and parents. A parent reflects a lot of behavior and beliefs

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Illegal Immigration in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Illegal Immigration in America - Essay Example Therefore, this problem has not started in recent years. It has been there over the centuries. America is referred to as a land of opportunities and because of its generosity to immigrants, more and more immigrants want to live and reap the American dream. However, the issue becomes a problem due to many illegal immigrants into the country who have no documentation on how they entered into the country (Hanson et al.). Illegal immigration to America is a complex issue due to several factors. There have been attempts to control the population of illegal immigrants in the country but still, no answer. The number of aliens residing in the US is not precisely known, hence it has been a problem determining how large and widespread the problem is. It becomes a challenge because we cannot determine where to start while we know nothing about their whereabouts (Haugen and Musser 2011). Therefore, the complexity of this issue is one that needs close supervision so as to come up with new ideas on how this issue can be solved because it has proved that it is a problem on the American economy and the contemporary society. On a sociological perspective, note that sociology is the study of social change, social life and the social causes and consequences of human behavior; illegal immigration is one of the ills of the society today. The population of illegal immigrants grows over 500,000 people every year, which is exploited by criminals involved in smuggling illegal documents as well as trafficking aliens into the US borders. Furthermore, these aliens drain social services because of the conditions they live in, work and thus it becomes hard for them to abide by the law. Thus, they are prevalent to become under class and more so the source of social conflicts (Hanson et al.). Employment opportunities have deteriorated over time, which affects American citizens due to illegal immigrants. These aliens have led to competition for the available jobs with the American

Friday, July 26, 2019

Extended Essay in Business and Management for the IB diploma

Extended in Business and Management for the IB diploma - Essay Example . The moÃ'•t critical iÃ'•Ã'•ue facing adidaÃ'• iÃ'• itÃ'• effort to turn around Reebok. The company bought Reebok for $3.8 billion 2006, a move criticized by many analyÃ'•tÃ'• aÃ'• being too expenÃ'•ive. The company iÃ'• working to change cuÃ'•tomerÃ'• perception Reebok from that of a diÃ'•count Ã'•hoe brand to a premium brand. AÃ'• part of theÃ'•e effortÃ'•, the company haÃ'• Ã'•witched the Reebok wholeÃ'•ale model from bulk pre-order to pay aÃ'• you go. WholeÃ'•ale cuÃ'•tomerÃ'• like Footlocker now order Reebok Ã'•hoeÃ'• aÃ'• they need them rather than ordering them in bulk. ThiÃ'• makeÃ'• it leÃ'•Ã'• likely that larger retailerÃ'• will diÃ'•count Reebok Ã'•hoeÃ'• in order to clear their inventorieÃ'•. AdidaÃ'• iÃ'•, at itÃ'• core, an international company with only 30% of itÃ'• 2007 Ã'•aleÃ'• coming from North America. Moreover, it iÃ'• rapidly expanding itÃ'• preÃ'•ence in emerging marketÃ'• like AÃ'•ia and Latin America. BecauÃ'•e it targetÃ'• the wealthieÃ'•t Ã'•egmentÃ'• of the market the company leadÃ'• itÃ'• competitorÃ'• in Ã'•aleÃ'• in Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, IndoneÃ'•ia, and New Zealand; Ã'•aleÃ'• growth in itÃ'• core emerging marketÃ'• in Latin America and AÃ'•ia have haÃ'• topped 24% in the laÃ'•t Ã'•everal yearÃ'•. By 2010, management expectÃ'• China to be itÃ'• Ã'•econd biggeÃ'•t market. (CooperÃ'• and Lybrand, 2004, 77-84) AdidaÃ'• Group generateÃ'• revenue by Ã'•elling itÃ'• productÃ'• to retail Ã'•toreÃ'• or directly to the cuÃ'•tomer via one of the brandÃ'• concept Ã'•toreÃ'•, factory outletÃ'•, conceÃ'•Ã'•ion cornerÃ'•, or online Ã'•toreÃ'•. Of thiÃ'• revenue, 46% iÃ'• from footwear, 42% from apparel, and 12% from hardware. In 2007 the company had â‚ ¬10.3 billion in revenue ($13.7 billion baÃ'•ed on the average 2007 exchange rate), which waÃ'• a 7% currency-neutral increaÃ'•e over 2006Ã'• revenueÃ'• of â‚ ¬10.084 billion ($12.557 billion). While operating margin haÃ'• dropped overall Ã'•ince 2005, thiÃ'• can be attributed to the coÃ'•tÃ'• aÃ'•Ã'•ociated with integrating Reebok, which haÃ'•

FACTORY LIVES PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

FACTORY LIVES PAPER - Essay Example The working conditions in the factories had become worse as the industrial revolution took place. Workers had long working hours, poor working conditions, and instability of their jobs. There were no effective government regulations to prevent unsafe and dangerous conditions for workers. A great number of accidents used to take place in factories. One such accident is narrated by William Dodd who was a factory cripple. William worked for 18 hours in an English textile factory and was given a job as a piecer which led to great pressure on his right knee, leaving him crippled. He attended his evening classes and was later given the job of a clerk in the factory which made him badly crippled1. Another story is the Factory Girl written by Ellen Johnston telling about her experiences as a child worker in a factory. She writes how she was physically abused and so was her mother. She was a writer but she worked in factories all her life which also lead to her bad health and eventually she had to shift to Scotland as the doctor suggested change of air2. Women and children were made to work for long hours in dangerous conditions that cost people their lives. William Dodd led a bachelor’s life because no woman wanted to marry a cripple. The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Barrett demonstrates the tough working conditions for children as they had to work in mines and manufactories. The factory workers’ lives weren’t just torturous while at work, they struggled with a working life outside factories too. Ellen explains in her autobiography how she suffered physical abuse at the hands of her mother when she tried to run away from the factory work. She also received a bad reputation in the society just because she wanted to run away from the tough factory working life her mother was living. These workers lived a tough life as they had to spend long hours at work, their wages were low, and they had low

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Strategic Situation Analysis of ARM Holdings Coursework

Strategic Situation Analysis of ARM Holdings - Coursework Example Instead of their own cost associated manufacturing of semiconductor business, they licence their own designed technology to other semiconductor manufacturers across the world and they utilise the designs to make innovative low energy chips for modern hi-tech electronic devices (ARM Ltd, 2012). This business report contains an in-depth analysis of some important areas like the current strategic situation of ARM Holdings which includes analysis of the industry or sector which has the key findings of current scenario, opportunities, challenges, future growth etc. Analysis of the organization’s current business strategies like SWOT analysis, value chain analysis, market positioning, product differentiation etc; critical appraisal of these strategies which results the key findings of the important business characteristics like sustainability, competitive advantages and extent of outcome of these strategies with respect current industry scenario will also be discussed in this report. Industry or Business Environment Analysis Companies in the microprocessor industry make hi-tech chips which are the core or heart of many digital electronic products which include but are not limited to computers, mobile phones, calculators, digital cameras, video game consolers and PDAs. First microprocessor which was invented for commercial use was Intel 4004 (Roony, 2012). Some of the top blue chip companies can be found in this industry and they have been continuously producing innovative chips which have brought remarkable results in today’s advanced digital electronics world. ... Effective implementation of extended business model ARM can is innovating additional types of advanced technology, generating strong royalties to the brand from a single multipurpose hi-tech microprocessor. The company’s financial policies and objectives can balance the essential need for continuous investment inflow to generate long term sustainable growth for the company. The value to per consumer is increasing day by day with the spread of digital embedded of devices across the world.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Competitive Strategy in Lighthouse Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Competitive Strategy in Lighthouse - Article Example The analyses highlighted that the hybrid competitive strategy was the most appropriate strategy to follow, and recommendations were made to work closely with other key players in the industry if it was to become a dominant force. Lighthouse is a mobile phone marketing company that seeks to address the needs of advertisers seeking to increase their response rates in the ever more lucrative yet increasingly more competitive task of customer acquisition and retention. Lighthouse will enable subscribers in the region to access government services, maps, directions, tourist attractions and tips, restaurants, museums, entertainment events, news and stock prices from their wireless devices. This enables the local population and tourists alike to utilize technology to enhance the service needs. This technology is also particularly beneficial to the local population, as ownership of devices such as personal computers is low but that of mobile devices is high. This means that the services which the internet offers to other parts of the world are not easily accessible or widely available in the UAE. By providing this service on a mobile device, Lighthouse is making the internet available in the first instance, and it i s removing the need to go to a fixed location to access this information. Lighthouse's target market is primarily based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is considered to have a customer base of 10-15% of the 4.5 million local mobile users. In addition to this, the UAE is a popular tourist destination with approximately 7 million tourists annually, who represent a potential market, especially for tourist related services (Business Plan - appendix I). Therefore the objectives of Lighthouse are to build a platform that enables better response rates to their marketing campaigns, to create a management system and secure funding to expand the business. It is clear that Lighthouse intend to be a dominant force in the market, but in order to do this, it is necessary to conduct a full environmental analysis, so as to determine their options for growth and expansion. External Analysis of Lighthouse An analysis of the external environment helps an organization to understand the environment they currently operate in and how it can change (Johnson and Scholes 1993). An understanding of the environment enables an organization to develop strategies that will ensure their survival within the market place. For instance, Lighthouse is going to clearly take advantage of the tourist numbers; however they also need to consider current external factors that will contribute to the reduction of tourist numbers and subscribers. Likewise, Lighthouse is also capitalizing on the low distribution of personal computers for internet access, another factor which could change in the near future. An analysis of the external environmental is known as a PESTLE analysis and this involves analyzing the political, economic and competitive, social and cultural, technological, legal and environmental/institutional factors that affect an organization (Johnson and Scho

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Management - Essay Example An accountant helps to scrutinize business financial records and analyse them to ascertain profitability, liquidity and financing. The generated financial information indicate whether business has a potential to earn the potential buyer appropriate levels of income or not. Restaurants prepare and serve wide variety of foods, drinks and dessert to customers. In a typical restaurant, the waiters take the orders and bring them when ready to customers. The customers pay for the meals before leaving. It is important to understand that running a restaurant successfully requires the owners to be creative and innovative to gain competitive edge over close competitors especially in a location where there are many similar restaurants. Though both restaurants have good quality meals and good service, Brigham’s restaurant is preferred to Shadracks’ restaurant because it performed better financially. Financial analysis took into account the profitability, liquidity and solvency ratios. Additional financial statements for at least three years are needed. Finally, the report shade light on the additional non financial information needed to make informed purchase decision of one of the restaurants. Financial analysis helps to establish whether the business is financially stable and sustainable. Financial analysis is made easier by use of profitability, liquidity and solvency ratios. Profitability ratios are financial ratios that indicate the capacity of a business to earn a profit (Thukaram, 2007). The main profitability ratios are gross profit, net profit and return on equity employed ratios. The above table indicates the profits, revenue, and owner’s equity as well as computed profitability ratios of the two restaurants. Brigham’s restaurant has higher absolute profits by $1,860, higher gross profit ratio by 1% and higher return on equity ratio by 0.04. Higher gross profit ratio shows that

Monday, July 22, 2019

Nietzsche and the Nazis Essay Example for Free

Nietzsche and the Nazis Essay The word Nazi has been recalled with feelings of regret, fear, horror and the threat of violent crimes throughout human history. However, nothing can conceal or change the reality of the period of Nazi Weltanschauung and its consequences for humanity and culture. It was a deep refreshment of German souls as the Aryan race and a collective movement of intellectuals, writers and social leaders in support of Christian and Protestant society against Jews. Nevertheless, the appealing eccentricity of the growing ideology among anti-Semite writers and thinkers very much attracted the attention of the Nazis. They examined the complex philosophical works of Nietzsche, Hegel, Fichte, Treitschke, and Huston Stewart Chamberlain, and ultimately concluded with the hard philosophy of Nazism, including racist, nationalistic, and anti-Semitic attitudes (Aschheim, 1992, p. 123). It was not very difficult for Nazis to find a way to utilize many intellectuals ideal systems, philosophies and literature as they proceeded in the way that led to the holocaust and racial genocide. For instance, Wagner hated Jews, thus, his operas contained myths, fighting, pagan gods, heroes and demons. As an artist, Wagner had bred the growing hunger of anti-Semitism with his art to a great extent. Besides Wagner, Huston Stewart Chamberlain, the British author who was the composer Richard Wagners son-in-law, deeply influenced Hitler with his fundamentally racist text Foundations of the 19th Century, and understanding this helps to explain why the Holocaust took place (Harms, 2001). Nonetheless, Hegel believed that the state was everything and war was a great purifier. Thus, the idea of restoring the ethical health of people was borrowed from Hegels philosophy by the Nazis. On the other hand, politicians like Georg von Schà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½nerer, a German nationalist and a strong anti-Semite, and Karl Lueger, the mayor of Vienna, supported Nazi Weltanschauung from the heart by their political policies and notions. However, unlike the other cultural icons Nazis utilized, the relationship between Nietzsche and the Nazis developed in an odd, but widely effective manner. Nietzsches influence as a philosopher and a writer was apparently limited to his closest friends and some intellectuals in Austria, France and Denmark (Canada, 1997). His books were not widely read or considered by publishers. However, after becoming insane by the end of the 1890s, his fame immediately spread around Europe and he became a figure of considerable importance in German history. Macintyre states in his book The Forgotten Fatherland (as cited in Canada, 1997) that Nietzsches name started to appear in popular German journals and newspapers as well as numerous books, which collectively promoted him as the philosopher of the time, whose influence is stirring the entire cultural world. This shift in the attitude toward Nietzsche and his work was a bit because of the ideological movement from rationalism and empiricism to romanticism during the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, according to Hintons Nietzsche in German Politics and Society (as cited in Canada, 1997). Consequently, suffering the subjugation of Napoleon as well as witnessing the growing strength of the West, the German population, experiencing a sense of inferiority, attempted to assure itself of its innate superiority by glorifying its history and culture with no doubts, according to the point of view Kohn (as cited in Canada, 1997). At this point, Nietzsches mental death made him a prime target for this German myth-making project. Nietzsche and his philosophys affiliation with the Nazi movement occurred as a product of the need for raw material to build a new valid consciousness for humanity under the unity of a superior nation. Hitler and other Nazi leaders made use of Nietzschean philosophy wherever possible. In other words, Nietzsches philosophy was a blueprint for the Nazis war, and they took Nietzsches logic to drive the atheistic world view to its legitimate conclusion (Krueger, 2001). Nietzschean phrases and themes, such as lords of the earth, the will to power, herd instinct, were most often used in public speeches, and written expressions of Nazi leaders, furthermore, appeared even in Hitlers book, Mein Kampf, many times. Nietzsches open-ended philosophy gave big opportunities to Nazis as a means of support for their war. For instance, in The Will to Power, Nietzsche exclaims (as cited in DeLong, 1959): A daring and ruler race is building itself up. The aim should be to prepare a transvaluation of values for a particularly strong kind of man, most highly gifted in intellect and will. This man and the elite around him will become the lords of the earth.' Ultimately, the idea of superior German nation, the idea of superior individuals overmans, in other words as members of that nation and the idea of exerting extreme power over others that were inferior and weak, emerged as the fundamental codes of Nazi culture, and keywords for their aim. Nietzsche played a key role in the development and preservation of the cultural and ideological foundations of the Nazis (Canada, 1997). In short, in terms of political culture, with his peculiarity; Nietzsche had a significant role in German history by having an important effect on the Nazi movement. As Crane Brinton states (cited in Geib, 2001), Nietzsche called for the superman; Mussolini and Hitler answered the call. Nazis and other anti-Semites perceived Jews as scapegoats in every situation, even for their own personal failings. They never forgave the Jews for possessing spirit and money, and named them as underprivileged (Canada, 1997). This notion was very similar to the one that Nietzsche used to describe his overman in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1967): For that man be delivered from revenge that is for me the bridge to the highest hope and a rainbow after long storms (127). At this point, it is clear that, according to the point of view of the Nazis, Nietzsches open-ended philosophy was working for them and their goal, while making Nazis ideologies concrete and reliable. The Nietzschean overman was the model of the Aryan race, which was destined to conquer other lesser races in the global struggle for racial supremacy (Canada, 1997). Nietzschean heroic idealism embodied the virtues of hardness, masculinity, leadership, courage, power, struggle, and the various other characteristics promoted by the Nazis. By introducing the overman to humanity, Nietzsche advised people to challenge themselves, not to live passively. It was a good reason for anti-Semites to take action and responsibility in the way that led toward creating a higher against reproducing a lower. Having a great willingness to be powerful in order to take possession of the life and destiny of a superior race, Nazis needed the cooperating hand and inspiration of Nietzsches philosophy, and Nietzschean themes and phrases, such as the will to power. Because Nietzsche cried out for the survival of the strongest, thus, a strong world while building his philosophy and creating the overman, at the same time, he supplied Nazis with a strong argument that they later used to reinforce their ideological system and movement. As Nietzsche exclaimed for the masters and slave morality, anti-Semites perceived themselves as the master of the world, commanding the rest as humiliated slaves. They treated people other than anti-Semites as dangerous creatures or obstacles threatening the cultural and racial superiority of the Aryan state. By exerting force on them, Nazis kept themselves safe from the misfortune and curse of declining Jews. They stepped forward in every situation that gave them the chance to realize the Nietzschean slogan: Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger. Moreover, they preferred war and courage to charity, with the illumination of the Nietzschean phrase, Ye shall love peace as a means to new wars (as cited in DeLong, 1959). They fought for years, lived dangerously and tried to become hard in terms of the Nietzschean will to power. War against the lower to attain the higher was a kind of ritual for the purpose of the Nazi movement. Besides all the inner attractive forces of Nietzsches philosophy for the Nazis, Nietzsches Sister Elizabeth (who was a radical anti-Semite), had a vital influence in the affiliation of Nietzsche and the Nazis. She interpreted everything in Nietzsches philosophy as creating a perfect accord with Nazi ideologies and values. In other words, she served Nietzsches philosophy on the ideological plates of the Nazi leaders as the main food of their meal. After the death of Nietzsche, Elizabeth took over the control of Nietzschean ideas and themes, and immediately hurled them upon the Jews with ideal appropriations she could succeed in making legitimate. For instance, as Kaufmann states, Elizabeth published new editions that incorporated her own introductions, which were intended to explain those passages that seemed antagonistic to the pro-German image of Nietzsche she was attempting to create. In many instances, Elisabeth rearranged material and included new passages in her editions of her brothers work (as cited in Canada, 2001). In short, Elizabeth reflected Nietzsche as a German patriot and a heroic warrior in the Nazi movement (Aschheim, 1992, p. 47-48). After all, Elizabeth Nietzsche became an important icon for the Nazis as both the sister and a wonderful follower of Nietzsche. Rosenbergs elaborate funeral service for Zarathustras sister was the best example of Elizabeth Nietzsches importance. On the other hand, anti-Semitism was the mainstay of the Nazi movement, and the structure of the Nazi movement was shaped completely according to the spirit of anti-Semitism. The Nazis built their education and jurisprudence system upon the basis of the Nietzschean philosophy. Heroic idealism and the will to power were the basic themes of the Nazi education system, where they perceived Nietzsche as their teacher (Aschheim, 1992, p.234). In this way, the objective of education was fairly clear: Nazis wanted to manufacture efficient, clever, and brave soldiers and leaders of tomorrows Germany. Under the direction of Rosenberg, Hitlers appointed supervisor of German educational activities, along with Bernhard Rust, the Reich Minister of Education, the Nazi educational system was inundated with Nietzschean literature. Parts from such works as Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, and The Will to Power were heavily integrated into the school system as required reading (Aschheim, 1992, p.245). Too much of Nietzschean strong, meaningful, encouraging phrases and slogans like whatever does not kill me makes me stronger or I have a why of living and can put up with any how were repeated continuously and drawn into the mainstream thought of Nazi youth. Besides the influence of Nietzschean doctrines in the education system, the jurisprudence and judgment system were inspired by Nietzsches philosophy, as well. Hans Frank, the Reich Commissioner for Justice, once commented, Both personally and objectively, it is of importance to me that Nietzsche of all people has become the mentor of German jurisprudence (as cited form Macintyre in Canada, 2001) As in the case of education, thoughts and writings of Nietzsche were altered and appropriated to the Nazis legal and judicial objectives. In terms of these, violent punishments of anti-Semites were understood as being advocated in the words of Nietzsches philosophy. For instance, having experienced life in the concentration camps of the Nazis, Dr. Victor Frankl asserted (as cited in Geib), I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers. As it is clear in the preceding quotation, the educational system based on Nietzschean doctrines was inevitably one of the main points of argument for the reasons of genocide and other violent acts committed by Nazis. Without a question, Nietzsche was perceived by the Nazis as being the intellectual and spiritual pillar of their regime (Canada, 1997). Such a creative policy gave the Nazis an intellectual justification and respectability to their ideology, while being the source of legitimization to their actions as well. Perhaps the most telling explanation of Kohn (as cited in Canada, 1997) concerning the Nazis motivation for appropriating Nietzsche, was that the former were attempting to create a mythical continuity in German history that would serve as a means for legitimizing the Nazi Weltanschauung.. As a result, with the great desire of being the biggest power not only in Germany, but also in the rest of the world, the Nazis made use of everything that would serve their purposes. And building upon a philosophical basis of a very appropriable scheme of Nietzsche, Nazis managed to draw their political culture upon vital foundations of one of the turning points of German history. Bibliography Aschheim, S. E. (1992). The Nietzsche Legacy in Germany, 1890-1990. Berkeley: University of California Press. Canada, G. (2001). Nietzsche and the Third Reich. In Nietzsche [online]. Available: http://student.vwc.edu/~phialpha/%5CGreg.html (December 8. 2001). DeLong, J. B. (1998). William L. Shirers Take On The Relationship Between Friedrich Nietzsche and The Nazis. In Nietzsche and Hitler [online]. Available: http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Nietzsche.html (December 12, 2001) Geib, R. J. (2001) Frederick Nietzsche: Religion, Imagery and Politics [online]. Available: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/nietzsche/nietzsche.html (December 1, 2001). Harms, W. (2001) Bernard Silberman. In University of Chicago Quantrell Award Winner Bernard Silberman [online]. Available: http://www-news.uchicago.edu/resources/quantrell/silberman.html (December 7, 2001). Krueger, D. (1997). A Review of Zachariass A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism. In That Colossal Wreck [online]. Available: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/doug_krueger/colossal.html (December 12, 2001). Nietzsche, F. W. (1967). Thus Spoke Zarathustra. New York: Heritage Press.

Colonization and domestic violence: Strategies

Colonization and domestic violence: Strategies The correlation between colonization and domestic violence is undeniable given the plethora of scholarly and historical data. The main misconception that exists in this area relates to the belief that the violent aspects of colonization and its associated abuse lay directly at the feet of Westerners or other outside cultures and influences. Domestic violence, in its many forms, is forced upon men, women and children from many sources including people in their own society. In addition to the definitions and correlations of colonization and domestic violence, this paper also discusses the colonization, social structure and abuse of Aboriginal Peoples including the Maori tribe of New Zealand, Native Americans, and the First Nation communities of Canada as well as the diseases thrust upon the colonists by the colonizers. Also examined are the relationships between modern abuse related to colonised cultures and its possible prevention. Domestic Violence The United States Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women provides a definition of the various types of domestic violence: We define domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. This includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. (2014) The types of domestic abuse include physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological abuse. Domestic violence is not limited to any particular race, religion, gender, age, educational or socio-economic factors. For the purpose of this paper, domestic violence is categorized as violent behavior that has been inflicted on one culture by another since colonization took place. Oftentimes the victims are the colonists who are subjected to abuse in its various forms by the colonizers but eventually that abuse transfers into abuse between members of the oppressed culture. The reasons for the abuse may disappear but the behavior can last and even accelerate through future generations. Colonization The term colonization comes from the Latin for â€Å"to inhabit†. Colonisation most often refers to an outside group moving into a previously inhabited area. Ever since man learned to travel, he has desired to conquer new lands either by developing a profitable relationship with the indigenous peoples or, more commonly, by taking over the land and other resources through a threat of force or through direct violence. Colonisation can be beneficial if it is done with respect and cooperation of the inhabitants. Some regions, especially underdeveloped regions, may benefit significantly from colonization by an outside culture. These regions may experience in an increase in world knowledge, medical care, economic growth and more. There are instances however, that show the dark side of colonization and the domestic violence with which it has often been associated. History is filled with tales of forceful colonization despite the language used to describe it – exploration, emin ent domain, settlements. More often than not when a territory is colonised without the express permission of the colonists, violence ensues. The violence may come in the form of a direct attack or through cultural oppression. The colonists may be imprisoned, raped or beaten into submission. This form of abuse lasts much longer than the life span of the abuser and abused. It is carried into future generations through culture, belief systems and trauma, often causing particular cultures to be more prone to the violence committed against their ancestors or, worse, become the abusers. Correlation between Colonisation and Domestic Violence People intent on colonizing new lands or infiltrating existing cultures typically held the strict belief that their religion, politics, education and culture were far superior to that of the indigenous people therefore it was common practice for the new settlers to impart, often forcibly, their culture and belief systems on the indigenous peoples. As a result of this effort, the indigenous peoples were required to take on the characteristics and culture of the invaders, usually due to the threat of violence. Because indigenous people were often less educated than the invading population, they were seen – and treated – as an inferior society. This is not to say that the indigenous cultures were perfect before they were infiltrated by the colonizers. Each culture has its own unique set of beliefs and circumstances. The difference may be that there is limited, if any, knowledge or documentation on the culture of these peoples before they were colonised. Colonization and Patriarchy Patriarchy, the cultural practice of revering the male gender as the head of society, including the family structure, can be directly linked to colonization and the mistreatment of the female gender. Historically speaking, cultures with a patriarchal view held little regard for the female gender which often permitted substandard treatment of females. This treatment often led to various forms of domestic violence. A patriarchal belief system is common even in the modern world although great strides have been made to protect women and children from violent males often taught to be dominant by colonizing cultures. While the majority of the invading people held a patriarchal view, that is not without exception. Many indigenous cultures are matriarchal in nature, particularly the Native American and First Nation communities of Canada. The shift in leadership from matriarchal to patriarchal often caused women to be viewed as inferior as men were taught not to respect women as they once had. As a result, women in many cultures were viewed as little more than property allowing the male population to treat the women in any way they saw fit, including a cycle of domestic violence that would remain in place for generations. According to Kanuha (2002), there are several strategies for claiming superiority over another gender or culture. The first is to convince the colonists that their ways are superior. The second strategy is to create a delineation between the colonizers and the indigenous peoples through segregation including the separation of men and women. The third strategy of colonization is to use domestic violence to control the colonists. This may include any and all forms of physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological abuse. The fourth strategy is to take control of the colonists’ economic resources including natural resources. The fifth strategy is controlling the culture and limiting outside resources of knowledge and information. In some cultures they are permitted to see only media images of women that were created by men; images that often objectified women. Another form of control is to prohibit the use of native language and education as well as to deny the colonists the opportunity to decide or vote on their own futures. While patriarchy is undeniably tied to colonization, it must be mentioned that men also suffered from these same issues. While men may have been seen as dominant, the colonists were second to the colonizers and therefore often suffered from the same abuses as women. Colonisation and Disease One form of domestic violence is to deny one appropriate health care. During the colonization of many regions of the world, indigenous peoples were exposed to and infected to new diseases brought by the colonists yet were denied adequate care. In fact, many of the colonizers were often quarantined from the recently exposed natives to protect them from diseases they brought to the region. The belief was that the natives, unable to withstand any number of exotic pathogens, were biologically inferior. It was the development of world trade routes as well as the desire to conquer new lands that encouraged Europeans to cross borders into previously unexplored territories. As a result, they infected entire cultures with disease, namely tuberculosis and small pox, two diseases responsible for killing the majority of Americans and Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries. Additionally, the colonizers tended to bring with them newly domesticated animals which added another level of potential disease to the natives. As the mortality rate of the colonists rose, the colonizers were able to increase their presence and domination over the remaining people and their lands. Colonisation of the Maori, Native Americans and the First Communities of Canada The Aboriginal tribes of the South Pacific, particularly the Maori, have a long and violent history of being colonised by Western Europeans. The Maori were once the colonisers of New Zealand, taking over the island through force and causing the genocide of the island’s indigenous peoples. The Maori began to trade with Europe in the 1700s, bartering fish and land for beads, cloth and other items. When potential invaders attempted to invade New Zealand, the Maori embraced violence and beheaded the infiltrators. They often participated in cannibalism rituals which led to a reputation of the Maori as being brutal savages. The shift toward colonisation began when missionaries arrived in New Zealand with the hope of converting the Maori to Christianity. The missionaries traded goods for land and built New Zealand’s first church. The Maori began to trade in muskets which created an arms race between New Zealand and its neighbors. Violence escalated. Although the Maori and the missionaries tended to remain separate, many Maori began to convert to Christianity. Relationships between Britain and the Maori strengthened. Britain wanted the Maori to pledge its allegiance to the throne in exchange for a guarantee that no one would attempt to rob the Maori of their lands. While many Maori refused to link themselves to the Queen, 46 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, hoping to end the violence. While the Maori as a whole did not willingly shift to British rule, the region began to thrive from the relationship. Eventually, the British established a new capital in Aukland and the country continued to thrive. The history of the Native American tribes is well documented in most school texts. Christopher Columbus believed he had discovered a shorter route to China when he landed in the Bahamas. Columbus, eager to prove that he was a superior explorer sought only three things in his travels – to educate people about God, to gain glory for his explorations, and to gain fame and fortune from the gold, spices and other resources the trip would provide. Due to these factors, Columbus’ arrival in the Bahamas was ill fated for its people. Columbus and his crew pillaged the land and were, in essence, responsible for the deaths of nearly 60,000 inhabitants of the islands over a period of the next 30 years. Upon arriving in America, Columbus discovered that there were people living on this new land. This contact encouraged other people to travel to the New World. The infiltration of Europeans was not welcome by many of the 160 native tribes. While some tribes were friendly with each other and with the Europeans, many were not. Wars ensued. A large percentage of Native Americans were wiped out by the arrival of small pox, diminishing its population by as much as 70%. As the colonisation of the Americas continued, the Europeans began to outnumber the â€Å"savages†, forcing them into more remote areas of the country. Violence continued to escalate between the Europeans and Native Americans. Although it was the Europeans that began the barbaric practice of scalping, the act was solely attributed to the Native Americans who often retaliated in kind. The reputation of the Native Americans as uncivilized savages grew and along with it, any respect for their culture all but vanished. The legacy of the First Nation of communities mirrors that of the Native Americans and, in fact, they are in some way of the same family as their lands were stolen in the name of capitalism and racism. Throughout 100 years of violence between the Europeans and native cultures, the natives continued to be pushed back until eventually the majority of tribes were relegated to reservations. The segregation and loss of their culture created a wider gap between the cultures. Missionaries continued to attempt to colonise the natives by preaching and introducing modern ways into their culture. Domestic violence between factions continued as women were abused, men were beaten and killed. Women and children were also sold into the slave trade as sexual objects. Prevention of Domestic Violence in Colonised Territories It has been stated that the abuse and objectification of indigenous peoples carries with it a dark stain that has permeated generations. In addition to carrying that sense of shame and continued chain of abuse, each individual in the culture also carries with him a sense of being inferior. This sense of inferiority and the legacy of abuse are two of the reasons that indigenous peoples tend to have a higher rate of abuse as well as suicide. The prevention of domestic violence in colonised territories, despite the location, begins with education. In modern society it is known that abuse in any form is morally and ethically wrong as well as being illegal. Still, incidents of abuse occur every day and perpetrators are often allowed to wander free while the abused suffer. Some domestic violence treatment programmes may give special consideration to the history of trauma suffered by a particular culture, particularly those that have been colonised and show a marked increase of substance abuse or number of psychological issues. One such programme, popular in the United States is the Duluth Model in which the abuser is treated based on his history of trauma, beliefs in victimization and power over the abused as well as the shame factor. The programme has been used in the education and court systems to decrease the percentage of abuse, particularly by men. Smith (2006) states: Researchers are beginning to confirm what common sense dictates: that violence between individuals, while influenced by social and cultural variables, is more parsimoniously explained by an examination of individual characteristics, contexts, and functions of behavior. Not surprisingly, empirical research is beginning to identify shame, individual stressors such as substance abuse and trauma history, and personality characteristics as main contributors to violent behavior in intimate relationships. Smith also intimates that while there are many programmes and models that claim to have the best recipe for preventing abuse, it is not clear if one has any superior efficacy. Smith asserts that domestic violence activists and agencies will see the most success when treating the individual ascribed to the abuse. Conclusion The correlation between colonisation and domestic violence has been proven through myriad scholarly articles, texts and studies. Research has shown that the oppression of the colonists by colonisers creates deep inner turmoil that must be expressed. Since the anger, indignation and shame usually cannot be expressed directly at the abuser, the victim may turn those feelings inward which may result in depression, substance abuse, and even suicide. However, some victims will take out those feelings on others that may be weaker than they. In this case, it is often women and children that may suffer from physical, emotional, psychological, financial and verbal abuse. While many social programmes exist to combat domestic violence, they are often not designed to address the underlying trauma of the victim or the abuser. When one culture has been oppressed by another, a sense of inferiority is instilled. The oppressor intends to take what it wants from the oppressed whether it is land, money or even its own women and children. The oppressor often uses whatever means necessary to achieve his goals and will subject the oppressed to various types of violence and abuse. The oppressor may begin to believe that the violence is justified and that belief, that victim or abusive mentality may remain and perhaps even escalate throughout future generations. As women are objectified due to their cultures and perhaps beaten or raped, they tend to believe that the behavior is â€Å"normal† or perhaps even earned. Combatting those emotions and putting an end to domestic violence among the colonised cultures goes much deeper than the formulation of any law or social programme, no matter how valid. The issue must be addressed at the deepest level – the level of one’s belief system. While many pro grammes may treat only the victim or the abuser, it is imperative that both sides of the conflict be dissected and examined. The history of one’s culture can shed light on personal behavior even if the history seems far removed. Learning one’s history as well as becoming educated on healthy forms of communication and interaction are the only ways in which domestic violence can be effectively addressed. Only then is it possible to perhaps not eradicate but at least lessen the occurrences of domestic violence in these and other cultures.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community Research Proposal Ghaida Ayesh Proposed Research Topic: The Effect of Biased Media in the Arab World on the Palestinian Community. Research Question: Why Palestinians believe media even though there are different sources with different opinions on the same topic? Introduction and Purposes: In September of 2013, there were billboards around Bethlehem city attracted my attention saying â€Å"Did you know a 3rd tower fell on 9/11?† and this sentence followed by a website to be checked if someone interested of getting more details, it was www.rethink911.org, I checked the website. It was all about introducing facts about what happened in the 11th September, 2001. And there was a documentary video which presented by agroup of Architects Engineers who try to unveil the truth behind the fell of the World Trade Center Twin Towers on that day, and the surprising thing that there was a third building fell on that day called the World Trade Center Building 7 that didn’t hit by plan and collapsed in free fall 7 hours after the twin towers collapsed, I didn’t remember that on that day I heard about the existence of a third building and no news mentioned a story about the third building. I wondered how could media hide such a thing, why did they do that especia lly the U.S media, who could control all the main media networks around the word for not reporting about the third tower, and why did the audience believe them? While reading several articles about the issue trying to explore some facts, I realised that media coverage followed accusations by government authorities that pointed toward Al Qaeda as the group that carried out the attack on the United States and Osama bin Laden as leader of that group. Those news reports on the attack and the aftermath shaped public  opinion to support the war on terrorism.Other ways to influence public opinion include political advertising.Subsequently I realised that media plays the role of the invisible hand in this universe and controls the audiences’ minds in a strange way, so what makes media’s audiences believe what they hear or see? Therefore, I plan to conduct a research about the media impact in the Arab world, and my purpose of this research is to see how the news reporting now adays by affect people’s opinion toward what’s going on in the Arab world. And how the biased media can control people’s political thinking? It will also aim to tackle issues such as is media report or create news? Moreover who are the parties that control media in the Arab world? Background and Methods: In order to get data for my research, first I will read articles and researched conducted to a related topics, and will conduct a survey that target under graduate university students in Bethlehem University, also a group of people who used to set in Cafà ©s and watch, read and listen to news, so this will enable me to gather relevant information, ultimately giving me the necessary tools to be able to compare people’s perspectives about today’s media, besides what is their relevance source of media, how their believe in media changed in the last years? Also to see if they make sure about the news they read before sharing it with other people in social networks. Further, I will prepare for a focus group of university students with different political views about what’s going on in the Middle East, and during this focus group I will introduce different resources of media with different opinion specifically about the Syrian revolution because I have noticed that th ere are many conflicted opinions in the Palestinian community about it and cannot find group of people have the same political analysis about what’s going on there in Syria, and during the discussions that will arise I will observe how this group of people going to react and comment about the differences in media and opinions. I choose surveys because using this tool will make me able to collect different opinions about media, and the creating of focus group is efficient to see immediate reaction and different opinions about media and this will give me information about what is the source of news that people prefer and trust, and how people evaluate the reliability of the reported news? I think about targeting university students and people who usually set in cafà ©s to watch news when distributing the surveys and creating the focus group; because these types of groups gathers people with different values and believes in one spot. And this will make the data I gather more efficient. Literature Review Watching news, reading newspaper or magazine, or listening to a radio station are one of the main activities in every day’s life. And these media become part of culture. While reading about the media effect and impact on people’s opinion and beliefs I found that there are three main sociological perspectives on the role of media, the first called the Limited-effects theory (1940s-1950s) this theory supports the assumption that people has the control of their own choices and choose what to watch, what believe and what to not; so the studies of the media influence showed that well- informed people relied more on personal experience, prior knowledge and their own reasoning unlike those who are less- informed ones. However for me there is a missing point in this theory that makes me disagree with it, the point is that when someone wants to get some knowledge about something he looks for information through media, if not through media, he will ask other people for informatio n and for sure these people didn’t get this knowledge from nothing, they got it for example, from books, magazines, TV or internet which all considered as media. And another important thing is that this theory was created when the existence, availability and dominance of media was far less widespread which make it out dated (Entman 1994). The second theory is Class-dominant theory this theory follow the postulation that media is owned by a minority elite who controls it, and this elite group is cooperating with each other as a result, they can control what people see or hear, in addition because the main source of income for media is advertising, when a big company that finance large advertising campaigns in media do something unethical this media protect the image of this company because it is not for her benefit to harm the image of the company because this will make the media lose a big source of income (Mills 1956). The third and final theory called Culturalist theory (19 80s-1990s), this theory combined the other two theories and it believes that people interact with media in a way so they create their own meanings out of the images and messages received form media, moreover this theory has two standpoints, the first is how audiences interact with media, and the other standpoint focuses on the producers of media. For the first standpoint because people choose what to watch, how much to watch and may choose to not watch; studies done by sociologists and linguists found that audiences interpretation of what they choose to watch is based on their own knowledge and experience. Therefore, culturalist theorists claim that, while a few elite in large corporations may exert significant control over what information media produces and distributes, personal perspective plays a more powerful role in how the audience members interpret those messages. (The Role and Influence of Mass Media 2013). Several reports and studies showed that the media can influence the audiences’ political view, and voting decision, for instance a study conducted in one of NBER working paper series, the study took the introduction of Fox News into a cable market as a case to analyze its news reporting impact on the federal election, they collected data for 28 states in the United States of America. After that they compared the change in the Republican vote share between 1996 and 2000 for the towns that had adopted Fox News by 2000 with those that had not. And the result showed that Fox News had a significant impact on the 2000 elections. The entry of Fox News increased the Republican vote share in presidential elections by 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points, depending on the specification. Since Fox News in 2000 was available in about 35 percent of households, the impact of Fox News on the two-party vote share in 2000 is estimated to be 0.15 to 0.2 percentage points, 200,000 votes nation-wide. (De llaVigna and Kaplan 2006). Another study find that Fox News watchers were 50 percent more likely that viewers of other networks to believe (erroneously) that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. (Steven, Ramsay and Lewis 2003). These statistics raised in my mind why did people believe median in such a case? Is it because it represents their inner affiliation? Or because the way it is presented is coming straight to the point that interest them? Or is it all about the credibility that a channel may be having? These are another minor questions of what I am looking for, and may lead me to study the case through some focus groups with different affiliation. In addition other studies found that over 70 percent of Americans believe that there is a great deal or a fair amount of media bias in news coverage (Pew 2004). Evidence of bias ranges from the topic choice of the New York Times (Puglisi 2006) to the choice of think-tanks that the media refer to (Groseclose and Milyo 2005). Media bias was even more prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century (Gentzkow 2006). There is another theory addressed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw, which is Agenda- Setting Theory it describes the powerful influence of media by telling what issues are important, they came out with this theory by studying the influence of media on the 1968 presidential election, the study titled 1968 Chapel HillStudy, the conclusion of this study is that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. (McCombs and Shaw 1972). Biased Media: The media is biased whenever it provides fake images or out of context facts to support a certain viewpoint. The media is also biased whenever it â€Å"framing† issues of eventer on a certain way to fake the facts. Many scholars argue that framing can actually decide how we view a situation. (Kuypers 2002). A biased media affects the publics understanding of current events and issues without giving the public all the facts. Opinions based on biased information are not usually the same as opinions based on neutral information. So for the public to make informed decisions on issues and politics, they must be given neutral information. (Kelly and Pax 2004) As shown, media has powerful impact on people’s beliefs, and is controlled by group of people, furthermore there is agreement about the existence of biased media, and most of studies are conducted in western areas. That is why the current research study will be aimed to find out why people in the Arab world, from Palestine, in Bethlehem believe what media reports. Limitation: Unfortunately I will not be able to collect audience’s interaction with the reported news about what’s going on in the Arab world specially about what so called the Arab’s Spring because I have no access to audiences from other countries. In addition I can’t get statistics about what are the news media people in the Arab world watch, read or listen. As a result I am limited to Bethlehem University undergraduate students only. Because of that, I will be restricted to only normal audiences in the Palestinian community. In addition, there is no available technology for media that give statistics about what people watch on TV. And what are the main news TV channels they watch such as Nielsen technology. Bibliography DellaVigna, Stefano, and Ethan Kaplan. 2006. The FOX News Effect: Media Bias and Voting. NBER Working Paper, Cambridge, MA: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. Entman, Robert M. 1994. Reopening the Black Box: Toward a Limited Effects Theory. Political Communication 11 (3): 313 314. Gentzkow, Matthew. 2006. Television and Voter Turnout. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 931-972. Groseclose, Tim, and Jeffrey Milyo. 2005. A Measure of Media Bias. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1191-1237. Kelly, and Pax. 2004. Think on Journalism. July 1. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.jour.unr.edu/think/bias.html. Kuypers, Jim A. 2002. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Conoversial Issues. London: Praeger. McCombs, Maxwell E., and Donald L. Shaw. 1972. The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. The Public Opinion Quarterly (American Association for Public Opinion Research) 36 (2): 176-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747787. Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. NEWS AUDIENCES INCREASINGLY POLITICIZED. Study, Washington, D.C.: PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS. Puglisi, Riccardo. 2006. BEING THE NEW YORK TIMES: THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR OF A NEWSPAPER. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/. April. Accessed January 26, 2014. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/19292/1/Being_the_new_york_times.pdf. Steven, Kull, Clay Ramsay, and Evan Lewis. 2003. Misperceptions, The Media, And The Iraq. Political Science Quarterly 118: 569-598. 2013. The Role and Influence of Mass Media. CliffNotes. May 7. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/contemporary-mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

We All Must Take Responsibility :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

We All Must Take Responsibility "She is a really responsible person." "He doesn't take responsibility for his actions." "She was responsible for the accident." How many times have we heard statements similar to these? A definition of responsible might be accountable, reliable, dependable, or trustworthy. Based on my observations and experiences, I believe many people have a problem translating that into their everyday lives. If something bad happens, it must be someone else's fault, or someone should have to pay. A few months ago, I was involved in my first car accident. I think it's pretty remarkable that this was my first accident, considering that I've been driving for almost thirty years. The accident itself was pretty traumatic. I was at a complete stop behind two cars that were turning left, when a large van traveling at about thirty-five mph rear-ended my car. I was fortunate to escape with only some large bruises and a very sore knee; however, the car didn't fare quite as well. What was more amazing than the accident itself were the actions of the young man who ran into my car. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he lied to the police and to his insurance company about the events that took place. His version was that he was driving behind me when I ran into the car in front of me, then bounced back into his van. Perhaps if he'd had more time he might have been able to concoct a more credible story, one that actually made sense. In the end, the police and his insurance company saw through his lies and everything was taken care of. But in the meantime, my car was towed away and I was left with no car. What's amazing to me is that he never got out of his van to see if anyone was injured, and he never apologized for smashing two cars and causing me the inconvenience of being without a car for five weeks while the damage was repaired. Several months ago, there was a tragic fire near the Quad Cities. Unfortunately, two young children lost their lives when one of them started a fire in their apartment.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Child’s Development is Influenced by Environmental and Cultural Influen

Attention to every stage of a child’s physical, emotional and educative development is â€Å"both critical and vital† (Alison Dunn, 2004). Research shows that the care young children receive has dramatic long-term effects on how children develop and learn, how they cope with stress, and how they react to the world around them. â€Å"Science tells us that consistently positive and stimulating experiences in their early years helps children’s brains to grow† (Frank Oberklaid, 2008); it can also affect how they continue to learn later on in life. This paper will discuss how a child’s development is influenced by environmental and cultural influences as well as parenting styles and education. This will be argued through four topics including environmental factors such as the socio economic environment in which a child is reared into, cultural influences, the effect of the four different parenting styles and how education from both the parent and teacher can also play a significant role. Environmental Factors There are many environmental factors that influence a child's early years of development (George G. Graham, 1972, pp. 1184-1188) For example issues such as the type of physical environment that a child is bought up within can impact on the development of that child. These factors, broadly divided into two areas, include their socio-economic status and state of the physical environment they grow up within. The socio-economic status of the immediate family and the wider community can have either a â€Å"positive or detrimental† (Understanding the Early Years, 1999) influence on the individuals development. For example research has shown that children brought up with parents that are poor and have limited educational qualifications wi... ...le, successful and happy children (Dr. F. Elahi, 2010, p. 16). Whereas the authoritarian parenting style can produce children that are obedient and competent but rate lower in the areas of self-esteem, social skills and happiness, and are more likely to be aggressive. The permissive parenting style does not involve following through with consequences for unacceptable behavior, these children will think they can get away with average effort, can be angry and demanding when they don't get their way. Children of uninvolved parents tend to lack self-esteem and the ability to regulate themselves; as a result, they are less capable and resilient than other children. An education is essential to early childhood academic development. Children who receive schooling at an early age are more likely to stay in school, and those children perform better later with academia.

Essays --

The Hagia Sophia was a former Greek Orthodox basilica church, and later became a mosque, and now is a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It is definitely a architectural beauty. The name means "holy wisdom". It contains two floors centered on a giant nave and has a dome ceiling, with smaller domes that tower above. From 537-1453 it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, except between the dates 1204-1261, where it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 1453-1931. It was then opened as a museum in 1935. There are many original parts of this structure, although it has gone through two fires. The first fire occurred in year 404, when rioters burned the church down in protest. The church took 10 years to be re-built. It was burned down again about 100 years later by the Nica Riots. The church was again rebuilt, but then in 1346 the church faced some damage due to an earthquake (Hagia Sophia: Facts, History & Architecture). The Dome of the Rock is a edifice that is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to Jewish belief, Abraham offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. It has also survived earthquakes. The inscriptions on the inside of the dome glorify and praise Islam as the true revelation of the faiths of Judaism and Christianity. The building is not considered a mosque, but a "scared site". It "enshrines" the rock from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. The Dome of the Rock was the first domed shrine to be built, and is considered a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. It's significance stems from religious traditions regarding the rock, also known as the Foundation Stone, which is considered the "heart" of the structure (About Dome of ... ...as crossed boundaries and tested the limits of arts, and has inspired art to tell stories. Technology has definitely changed the way we view art from prehistoric times to now. For example digital art. Modern technology has transformed from more traditional art such as paintings, sculpting, or drawing, and allows artists to use digital technologies in the production of their pieces. Graphic designers are now able to create images through programs through the computer that can't be done by a simple piece of paper. 3D art looks more detailed, and art can often be flawless with the use of technology and computers. So to summarize what I just said, there are many different factors in the evolution of art throughout the years. Cultural change, new materials being used, values, technology, religion, belief systems, increased freedom have contributed to the change of art.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Corporate Finance Essay

Introduction In 2001, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Williams Company was in financial distress. The primarily energy-industry company was struggling with a shrinking energy trading market, which was marked by distressed entities such as Enron’s broadband unit and Global Crossing. Williams also suffered internally with a floundering telecommunications division and a plummeting stock price. These issues led credit rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit rating of Williams’ bonds to the level of non-investment-grade junk bonds. Amidst all of this uncertainty, the company on January 21, 2002, announced a new CEO, Steven J. Malcolm. Malcolm realized one of the most important functions for Williams moving forward would be raising capital. Malcolm’s four-pronged plan to achieve this goal involved selling assets, reaching a resolution for its energy and trading book, managing and monitoring cash and businesses and â€Å"right-sizing† Williams to reflect the new scope of operations. However, Williams had a substantial amount of short-term and long-term debt maturing in the second half of 2002. In addition, its credit and commercial paper facilities needed to be renewed about the same time. With approximately $450 million dollars of cash on hand and only one undrawn revolving credit facility, Williams sought external financing to help meet its current cash flow needs. One group of investors led by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway along with Lehman Brothers offered Williams a solution with a one-year $900 million loan. Under the terms of the agreement, each lender would loan $450 million to Williams Production RMT, a Williams subsidiary, whose major assets included natural gas properties in the Rocky Mountains. In addition to the repayment of the principal in one year, Williams would pay 5.8 percent interest quarterly and an additional 14 percent of the principal at maturity plus a â€Å"deferred setup fee.† The deferred setup fee would be equivalent to the greater of 15 percent of the principal or 21 percent of the purchase price less RMT’s indebtedness. This would be influenced by any further asset liquidation by RMT. The loan, guaranteed by Williams Company as well as certain subsidiaries, also contained several covenants that Williams must meet to avoid breach of contract. The positive covenants included maintaining an interest coverage ratio of greater than 1.5 to 1 and maintaining a fixed charge coverage ratio of at least 1.15 to 1. Negative covenants limited restrictive payments (including redemption of capital stock) and capital expenditures in excess of $300 million. Thorough evaluation of the terms and lending scenario reveals this loan would create a beneficial scenario not just for the lenders, but for the borrower as well. For Williams, the loan provided temporary relief from multiple short-term debt security maturations and enhanced the company’s ability to secure a credit facility of $700 million. This would likely be followed by favorable market reactions in the form of increased stock price as a result of decreased uncertainty of future cash flows. Also, any Buffett investments in Williams would signal a strong endorsement of the company’s future prospects, likely leading to increases in Williams’ stock price. Likewise, for Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers, this deal should supply high returns on investment. Assuming the loan would be held to maturity, the lenders would divide returns of approximately 34% on this loan. Given that Williams guaranteed the loan, backing it with asset and capital stock, such returns on this risk would be a huge win for both lenders. Although the risk-free rate would be necessary to determine the exact net present value of the investment opportunity facing Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers, sufficient information is available to find the project’s internal rate of return. The IRR for this agreement ranges between 11.87% and 13.01%. The return on investment (ROI) for this particular agreement ranges between 52% and 58%. In either case, the numbers range because of provision (c) listed in the case’s Exhibit 1. The â€Å"deferred setup fee† fluctuates depending on potential sales of RMT’s assets. Terms of the proposed financing Guarantees Those involved in the lending process establish financing terms to protect the positions of all parties. The debt guarantee in Williams’ proposed financing, for example, provided insurance for the repayment of debt. Williams would essentially act as a co-signer for Williams Production RMT’s obligations to Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers. Per the terms, Williams would have to agree to make payments in place of Williams Production RMT if any of the payments were late or not paid. Using a guarantor would allow Williams Production RMT access to a loan at a lower interest rate than if Williams had not secured the loan. The logic behind this is that two individuals or entities promising to pay back the debt means there is lessened risk for overall default. That means Berkshire and Lehman may be willing to accept a lower interest rate in return for less risk of loss. It is quite possible that Williams Production RMT would not have been able to obtain a loan without a gu arantee. Covenants Equity and debt investors have a somewhat adversarial position, though both want a company to succeed. Equity investors want the company to take a certain amount of risk so they have the chance of seeing large returns. Debt investors want a company to be more conservative to protect the issuer and to ensure that the company will repay its debts. Like many other companies, Williams’ top priority, however, is to maximize stockholder wealth. This creates a dilemma in a debt offering. Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers therefore use debt covenants to limit the amount of risk Williams can take in the hopes that the company’s actions will not endanger loan repayment. Collectively, these covenants outline the rights of the lenders and restrictions upon Williams in regards to the loan. When a company does not live up to its debt covenant, it breaches the contract. In theory, such action would trigger automatic payment to creditors. In reality, however, many companies default because they are not in good financial health and thus cannot pay. Therefore, breach of covenant usually means that the two parties renegotiate the terms of the debt, often calling for higher interest rates or other incentives for the issuer to allow Williams more time to pay. Williams’ financial problem During the first half of 2002, Williams suffered a number of financial difficulties. The company’s total cash flow decreased by 680.22 percent as compared with 2001. During the year, Williams’ only net positive cash inflows came from financing, which netted the company $1.061 billion. In contrast to cash inflows, the company’s outflows totaled $1.589 billion from operations and investing. Overall, the decrease can largely be attributed to the decrease in cash flow from operations, which amounted to a decrease of $2.566 billion. Specific to operations, much to blame is the company’s decrease in working capital of $879 million. To adjust for this decrease in cash flows, the company liquidated a number of assets in 2002. The most valuable included the Kern River and Williams pipelines, which generated immediate cash proceeds of $1.124 billion. The question remained, however, as to how Williams would be able to find a way to pay debts of $2.347 billion within the next year and eventually long-term debts of $11.972 billion. In May 2002, the firm sold another $1.7 billion in assets and announced its intention to sell an $1.5 to $3 billion in assets. Previously, in December 2001, Williams planned to cut its 2002 capital spending by 25 percent or $1 billion to bolster its balance sheet. Williams also issued $1 billion in equity-linked securities called FELINE PACS and decided to cut its dividend by 95 percent. While seemingly drastic measures, the negative total cash flow of $619 million reveals that reducing dividend payments and selling off two major sources of operating income was not sufficient for Williams to dig itself out from under its debt obligations without independent financial assistance. Signs of distress It was clear that Williams was in deep. Though the signs of distress were many, the most noticeable was that the company’s cash flows were insufficient to meet its short-term debt. Unless the company continued to take drastic action, it could have found itself entering into bankruptcy proceedings within the next year. Another concerning sign included that in 2002, Williams’ 95 percent decrease in dividend payments and its more than 90 percent decrease in stock price should have indicated that the firm was struggling. Particularly striking was the fact that dividend disbursements had been increasing for the prior 10 years and that Williams Communications stock closed at a mere $0.01 per share on July 31, 2002. Williams also sent strongly negative signals with its 2002 sales of its Kern River and Williams pipelines. Although these netted the company immediate cash amounting to $1.124 billion, the sale was made at the sacrifice of substantial cash inflows, suggesting this was an act of desperation. Investors weren’t the only ones receiving signs of Williams’ distress. Credit agencies also observed uncertainty in Williams’ future, as indicated by the company’s fluctuating credit ratings. With Williams in July 2002 settling at a B+ Standard & Poor’s long-term credit rating, the company saw resulting increases in bond yields. Whereas Williams had bond yields of approximately 7 percent in December 2001, its yields fell just under 20 percent in July 2002, further complicating its situation. Recommendation Williams’ plight left it with few options for restoring its financial solvency, and most were of limited feasibility. Williams could have issued additional equity at the then current stock price of $2.95 per share, though this would dilute the company’s current share base. In addition, most companies only hold seasoned equity offerings when they believe their stock is overpriced. Considering that Williams’ stock price had fallen by more than 90%, Williams should not consider an equity offering. The company also could have issued more bonds. This option was not feasible, however, due to the company’s credit downgrade.With Standard & Poor’s rating the company a B+ in July 2002, Williams would have to issue many bonds and pay a substantial yield amounting to just under 20 percent per annum. Williams also could have sold assets. Since Williams had already sold close to $3.0 billion in assets, however, selling more could damage the company’s ability to generate operating cash flows. Though Berkshire and Lehman presented an opportunity, most lenders were hesitant to provide Williams capital due to the company’s financial turmoil. This large, 35 percent interest loan appears to have the most favorable terms possible for Williams in its last-ditch effort to save itself. The real winner here, however, would be Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers, both of whom would glean a lucrative return on their investment, given it is successful. Williams, on the other hand, should agree to the loan only because it has no other feasible options.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Private Life on Social Networking Sites Essay

companionable networking sites mint be defined as an online platform where people create their avouch pens, look at them with the public, and communicate with new(prenominal) exploiters on the Internet. The increasing popularity of these sites affects our lives in m any(prenominal) aspects and the approximately important one is the privacy bare. It heap easily be observed that hearty networking sites be a real menace for the users personal privacy. starting signal of all, there are some flagellums arising from security vulnerability on well-disposed networking sites. Generally, users tip over a lot of personal development to become a member of these sites and it is uncomplicated to access this nurture for hackers and individualism thieves. For utilisation identity thieves who could gain very privy knowledge such as stock name and date, addresses, phone numbers and alliance status on affable networking sites house verify themselves as being the visibleness owner. Therefore, they behind access the users credit bill of fare number and steal their money easily. Moreover, identity thieves cause not only pass of money but in addition distress of personal respect and proper name.They can use the schooling to communicate with users other friends in ordinance to obtain their training too. Rebecca Sweeny (2011) summarizes that users lack of awareness of communion entropy helps hackers and identity thieves to steal their money and damage good names. (as cited in Acquisti& Gross, 2006) The second threat arising from security vulnerabilities is marketing companies accessibility to users nurture without permission. For instance, spamming the users with unsolicited advertising contents can be annoying in near cases. Furthermore, the companies sometimes obtain personal development and spread them with other companies and individuals in roam to make advertisements more effective.Secondly, people division very private tuition on ki nd networking sites, as Nico Reiher(2009) mentions, If the receiver of the information is not authentic, the user does not need a chance to track or remove this information back into trustworthy hands. causes some serious troubles. Firstly, people melt down to announce where they are at that instant and what they are doing, therefore, they share real-time arrangement based information on social networking sites. To illustrate, people who share their locations and especially pro read others that they are not at plateful on social networking sites such as Foursquare, provide an opportunity to thieves to rob their houses. In addition, Facebook which is the most popular and takered social networking sites, also enables people to share that some(prenominal) private information with the check-in application.Secondly, sharing awkward and embarrassing information or political notions on social networking sites melt down to trouble in peoples social and professional lives. For ex ample, some companies prefer to look to social networking sites in order to get information about prospective employees. According to SNAPR project team, Even forthcoming employers,, may be able to view your posted information and draw circumstantial conclusion about you as an individual, which could bring in the negative effects. Moreover, disgraceful posts on users profile which can be seen also by instructors or bosses will cause injustice of reputation in educational or business lives.Those who are not in favor of this opinion seem to debate that social networking sites are safe and information is inaccessible for the public. They think that there are some restrictive privacy settings which earmark users to specify who can see their information and profiles. Moreover, there are firewalls which help to bar users information from hackers and identity thieves. Although it may be true to a certain extent, this claim is not strong enough, because these settings are not defaul t without users knowledge. Generally, users are not richly informed about privacy issues and share all information without any restriction.In addition, they are unaware of how much information they share to the public. There is not any explanation about the amount of the distributive information. To sum up, the users unawareness of the privacy settings on social networking sites and their insensibility on this issue cause a lot of troubles. In addition, digital informations prosperous accessibility and fast spreading also pose a danger for users privacy. In order to prevent people from these threats, astir(p) the privacy settings and informing them completely should be the major precautions.References Reiher, N.(2009). Privacy on social networking sites and its impact on computer-mediated communication. Retrieved April 9,2012, fromhttp//www.grin.com/en/e-book/154916/privacy- on-social-network-sites-and-its-impact-on-computer-mediated-communication SNAPR methodological analysis p roject team. Dear social networking user Are you at risk? Retrieved April 9,2012, from socialrisk.weebly.com/index.htmlSweeny,R.(2011). affectionate networking sites More harm than good? Retrieved April 9,2012, from http//networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/social-networking-sites-more-harm-than- good/