Mastring Management 4330 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mastring Management 4330 - Assignment Example The management team is normally on the ground, and therefore; may have their new ideas and plans, which they may want incorporated. Hence, leaving out the managers in strategy and plan formulation will result in the new ideas and plans not implemented in a timely manner. Persuasion is one of the power and influence strengths that I will bring in the new company. The use of reason allows other employees in the company to see why the new proposed ideas make sense. Consequently, this will determine whether the ideas will be implemented in a timely manner or not. In cases whereby the ideas will not be implemented, the use of intimidation will become necessary. Since the managers still report to their former line managers, it is important that managers adjust to the new authority. In addition, applying pressure on the management team will increase productivity and reduce absenteeism (300). Introducing an open door policy increases the interaction between the subordinates, management and the vice president. In turn, as the vice president, I will know what is happening on the ground, which is important in decision making and increasing power and influence. In the case of absenteeism on the production floor, the retribution strategy will be effective. The managers on the production floor have a close connection with their subordinates, which prevent them from taking any action on their absenteeism. This has led to decrease in productivity. Putting pressure on the manager responsible, threatening him with sacking, will make him act on the absenteeism. Reciprocity strategy will be effective in tackling the issue of decreased productivity. Offering incentives and rewards will motivate both the managers and employees to meet their set targets. Successful implementation of the new ideas, strategies and plans will require the managers to understand them. Using the reason strategy, the values and set targets and achievements

Censorship on Huckleberry Finn, Argument and Counterargument Essay Example for Free

Censorship on Huckleberry Finn, Argument and Counterargument Essay Time and time again art has been criticized for being too vulgar and expressive, Mark Twain was one of these individuals who participated in art, he was raised in the generation where slavery was common and racial slurs were frequently used. So to criticized and censor his work for writing what he grew up knowing would be like punishing Huck Finn for stealing things from others when he was told it was borrowing all his life by his pa â€Å"Pap always said it warn’t no harm to borrow things if you was meaning to pay them back some time; but the widow said it warn’t anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body would do it† (Chp. 12 Pg, 49). I strongly disagree with the fact that people want to ‘update and improve’ the classic â€Å"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn† because it uses a term that is found offensive frequently in todays generation. My problem with this posse that wants to change the wording of the book is that, their biggest concern to why they want to change the word â€Å"nigger† to â€Å"slave† is that they’re doing for the children, trying to make it more comfortable for them to read and protecting the youth from frowned upon terms. If this is their concern then why are they singling out books and classics from decades ago, why not focus on the books being published now with the terms â€Å"whore† â€Å"slut† or â€Å"trailer trash† in it? To me those are equally offensive terms. John Foley once said that he thinks â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† Harper Lee’s classic about racial inequality in the Deep South, and John Ste inbeck’s â€Å"Of Mice and Men†(Source A) should be removed from the curriculum for similar reasons† all because they show the reader the time gap between the setting of the writing and the present of today even though in the beginning of all books they tell you what time frame the story is held in â€Å"SCENE: The Mississippi Valley; TIME: Forty to Fifty Years Ago† (Page 0). Now I can see why some might want these books (Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill a Mockingbird) removed from curriculum, yes I do believe that Twain used the term â€Å"nigger† a few times to many, â€Å"the N-word appears 219 times in Huck Finn† (Source C). Children or even young adults should not be exposed to the vulgar terms and racial slurs that were used in the past. Isn’t the whole point of evolution is to change over time? What good comes from exposing our youth to the past that we all know America is not fond of? Don’t we want our youth to kn ow that these terms are not acceptable in today’s society or the future? When these books make it sound like it was just a little friendly nickname. This is why I feel like students and parents should be given the choice as to whether they want them to read books such as these. We do it for movies at the beginning of every school year, why not do it with books also?

The Parallels Between Arthur Millers Life and His Play, The Crucible E

Few people are willing to stand up to the overwhelming power of authority, especially during a time like the Red scare. Hardly any authors are able to recognize meaningful similarities between the present times and an event that happened many years ago—and write about it effectively. Only one has had the courage and intelligence to do both. Arthur Miller was an American author who wrote plays, essays, and stories and has published works dating from to 1936 through 2004. The Crucible, one of his most famous plays, premiered in New York on January 22, 1953 (InfoTrac). It is a historical-fiction story set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The witch hunt described in this play is similar to the Red Scare, an anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that lasted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s (Broudin). During both time periods, most people respected high authority while a few dissenters challenged conformist views. The public was censored in what they could say because of the fear of being accused of witchcraft or communism. The hysteria of the times triggered a mob-mentality to emerge among the citizens, which influenced nearly everyone to join the terrible movements. Miller presents all of these ideas in The Crucible using his own experiences as influences. He incorporated many of his own traits into the characters’ dispositions. He also described many situations in the play that were similar to the ones he was in, including how he was censored by the Red Scare. Many people will often conform while only a few will challenge authority, will use censorship to prevent others from expressing their views, and are easily affected by hysteria; these characteristics influenced Miller’s life and are reflected by him in Th... ...y I Wrote The Crucible, â€Å"that I could easily be accused of skewing history for a mere partisan purpose.† Miller’s life paralleled The Crucible in many ways. The characters in the play had many traits that resembled his. He and the people of Salem were censored by the frenzy of the times they were living in. The hysteria and the mob mentality exacerbated the anticommunists’ and the witch-hunters’ philosophies. The Red Scare affected Miller in the same way the witch hunts affected the people of Salem. As long as there are people with authority in the world, there will be challengers of authority. Censorship will always be used to make others conform. A majority of the public is and always will be easily influenced by hysteria and the mob mentality. Miller used his own experiences to write The Crucible, a play that describes universal behavior and the human condition.

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Seventeen

â€Å"That was amazing! Seriously,† Bonnie said happily, skipping along with her hand in Zander's. â€Å"I am, like, the Queen of Quarters. Who knew I had this hidden talent?† Laughing, Zander threw his arm around her shoulders and pul ed her closer. â€Å"You are pretty awesome,† he agreed. â€Å"Drinking games, visions, astrology. Any other skil s I should know about?† Snuggling against him, Bonnie frowned in mock concentration. â€Å"Not that I can think of. Just be aware of my general wonderfulness.† His T-shirt was soft and worn, and Bonnie tilted her head a bit to rest her cheek against it. â€Å"I'm glad we got our friends together,† she said. â€Å"I thought Marcus and Meredith real y hit it off, didn't you? Not romantical y, at al , which is good since Meredith has a super-serious boyfriend, but it was like they shared the same secret jock language. Maybe we can al hang out in a group again sometime.† â€Å"Yeah, Meredith and Marcus real y bonded over their workouts,† Zander agreed, but there was a hesitation in his voice that made Bonnie stop walking and peer up at him sharply. â€Å"Didn't you like my friends?† she asked, hurt. She and Meredith and Elena had always had what they privately cal ed a â€Å"velociraptor sisterhood.† Cross one of them and the other two would close in to protect her. Zander had to like them. â€Å"No, I liked them a lot,† Zander assured her. He hesitated, then added, â€Å"Elena seemed kind of †¦ uncomfortable, though. Maybe we're not the kind of people she likes?† Bonnie stiffened. â€Å"Are you cal ing my best friend a snob?† she asked. Zander stroked her back appeasingly. â€Å"Sort of, I guess. I mean, nice, but just kind of a snob. The nicest kind of snob. I just want her to like me.† â€Å"She's not a snob,† Bonnie said indignantly. â€Å"And even if she was, she's got a lot to be a snob about. She's beautiful and smart and one of the best friends I've ever had. I'd do anything for her. And she'd do anything for me, too. So it doesn't matter if she's a snob,† she concluded, glaring at him. â€Å"Come here,† Zander said. They were near the music building, and he pul ed her into the lit alcove by the front door. â€Å"Sit with me?† he asked, settling on the brick steps and tugging her hand. Bonnie sat down, but she was determined not to snuggle up to him again. Instead, she kept a distance between them and stared stubbornly out at the night, her jaw firmly set. â€Å"Listen, Bonnie,† Zander said, pushing a long strawberry blonde curl out of her eyes. â€Å"I'l get to know Elena better, and I'm sure I'l like her. I'l get her to like me, too. You know why I'm going to get to know her better?† â€Å"No, why?† said Bonnie, reluctantly looking at him. â€Å"Because I want to know you better. I'm planning on spending a lot of time with you, Bonnie McCul ough.† He nudged her gently with his shoulder, and Bonnie melted. Zander's eyes were so blue, blue like morning on the very first day of summer vacation. There was intel igence and laughter with just a touch of a wild longing in them. He leaned in closer, and Bonnie was sure he was about to kiss her, their first kiss at last. She tilted her head back to meet his lips, her eyelashes fluttering closed. After a moment of waiting for a kiss that didn't come, she sat up again and opened her eyes. Zander was staring past her, out into the darkness of the campus, frowning. Bonnie cleared her throat. â€Å"Oh,† he said, â€Å"sorry, Bonnie, I got distracted for a minute.† â€Å"Distracted?† Bonnie echoed indignantly. â€Å"What do you mean you – â€Å" â€Å"Hang on a sec.† Zander put a finger to her lips, shushing her. â€Å"Do you hear something?† Bonnie asked, uneasy tingles creeping up her back. Zander got to his feet. â€Å"Sorry, I just remembered something I have to do. I'l catch up with you later, okay?† With a halfhearted wave, not even looking at Bonnie, he loped off into the darkness. Bonnie's mouth dropped open. â€Å"Wait!† she said, scrambling to her feet. â€Å"Are you just going to leave me here† – Zander was gone – â€Å"alone?† she finished in a tiny voice. Great. Bonnie walked out to the middle of the path, looked around, and waited a minute to see if there was any sign of Zander coming back. But there was no one in sight. She couldn't even hear his footsteps anymore. There were pools of light beneath the street lamps on the path, but they didn't reach very far. A breeze rustled the leaves of the trees on the quad, and Bonnie shivered. No sense in standing here, Bonnie thought, and she started walking. For the first few steps down the path toward her dorm, Bonnie was real y angry, hot and humiliated. How could Zander have been such a flake? How could he leave her al alone in the middle of the night, especial y after al the attacks and disappearances on campus? She kicked viciously at a pebble in her path. A few steps further on, Bonnie stopped being so angry. She was too scared; the fear was pushing the anger out of her. She should have headed back to the dorm when Meredith and Elena did, but she'd assured them, gaily, that Zander would walk her back. How could he have just left her? She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and went as fast as she could without actual y running, her stupid high-heeled going-out-dancing shoes pinching and making the bal s of her feet ache. It was real y late; most of the other people who lived on campus must be tucked into their beds by now. The silence was unsettling. When the footsteps began behind her, it was even worse. She wasn't sure she was real y hearing them at first. Gradual y, she became aware of a faint, quick padding in the distance, someone moving lightly and fast. She paused and listened, and the footsteps grew louder and faster stil . Someone was running toward her. Bonnie sped up, stumbling over her feet in her haste. Her shoes skidded on a loose stone in the path and she fel , catching herself on her hands and one knee. The impact stung sharply enough to bring tears to her eyes, but she kicked off her shoes, not caring that she was leaving them behind. She scrambled up and ran faster. The footsteps of her pursuer were louder now, starting to catch up. Their rhythm was strange: loud periodic footfal s with quicker, lighter beats in between. Bonnie realized with horror that there was more than one person chasing her. Her foot skidded again, and she barely caught her balance, staggering sideways a few steps to keep from fal ing, losing more ground. A heavy hand fel on Bonnie's shoulder, and she screamed and whipped around, her fists raised in a desperate bid to defend herself. â€Å"Bonnie!† Meredith gasped, clutching Bonnie's shoulders. â€Å"What are you doing out here by yourself?† Samantha came up beside them, carrying Bonnie's shoes, and doubled over, panting for breath. â€Å"You are way too fast for me, Meredith,† she said. Bonnie swal owed a sob of relief. Now that she was safe, she felt like sitting down and having hysterics. â€Å"You scared me,† she said. Meredith looked furious. â€Å"Remember how we promised to stick together?† Meredith's gray eyes were stormy. â€Å"You were supposed to stay with Zander until you got home safely.† Bonnie, about to respond heatedly that it hadn't been her choice to be out here alone, suddenly closed her mouth and nodded. If Meredith knew that Zander had left Bonnie out here by herself, she would never, never forgive him. And Bonnie was mad at Zander for leaving her, but she wasn't quite that mad, not mad enough to turn Meredith against him. Maybe he had an explanation. And she stil wanted that kiss. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Bonnie said abjectly, staring down at her feet. â€Å"You're right, I should have known better.† Mol ified, Meredith swung an arm over Bonnie's shoulders. Samantha silently handed Bonnie her shoes, and Bonnie pul ed them back on. â€Å"Let's walk Samantha back to her dorm, and then we'l go home together,† she said forgivingly. â€Å"You'l be okay with us.† Around the corner from her room, Elena sagged and leaned against the hal way wal for a moment. It had been a long, long night. There had been drinks, and dancing with the huge shaggy-haired Spencer who, as Samantha had warned her, did try to pick Elena up and swing her around. Things got loud and aggravating, and the whole time, her heart hurt. She wasn't sure she wanted to navigate the world without Stefan. It's just for now, she told herself, straightening up and plodding around the corner. â€Å"Hel o, princess,† said Damon. Elena stiffened in shock. Lounging on the floor in front of her door, Damon somehow managed to look sleek and perfectly poised in what would have been an awkward position for anyone else. As she recovered from the shock of his being there at al , Elena was surprised by the burst of joy that rose up in her chest at the sight of him. Trying to ignore that happy little hop inside her, she said flatly, â€Å"I told you I didn't want to see you for a while, Damon.† Damon shrugged and rose graceful y to his feet. â€Å"Darling, I'm not here to plead for your hand.† His eyes lingered on her mouth for a moment, but then he went on in a dry and detached tone. â€Å"I'm just checking in on you and the little redbird, making sure you haven't disappeared with whatever's gone sour on this campus.† â€Å"We're fine,† Elena said shortly. â€Å"Here I am, and Bonnie's new boyfriend is walking her home.† â€Å"New boyfriend?† Damon asked, raising one eyebrow. He'd always had – something – some connection with Bonnie, Elena knew, and she guessed his ego might not be thril ed to have her moving past the little crush she'd focused on him. â€Å"And how did you get home?† Damon asked acidly. â€Å"I notice you haven't picked up a new boyfriend to protect you. Not yet, anyway.† Elena flushed and bit her lip but refused to rise to the bait. â€Å"Meredith just left to patrol around campus. I notice you didn't ask about her. Don't you want to make sure she's safe?† Damon snorted. â€Å"I pity any ghoul that goes after that one,† he said, sounding more admiring than anything else. â€Å"Can I come in? Note that I'm being courteous again, waiting for you out here in this dingy hal way instead of comfortably on your bed.† â€Å"You can come in for a minute,† Elena said grudgingly, and opened her bag to rummage for her keys. Oh. She felt a sudden pang of heartache. At the top of her bag, rather crushed and wilted now, was the daisy she'd found outside her door at the beginning of the evening. She touched it gently, reluctant to push it aside in the hunt for her keys. â€Å"A daisy,† said Damon dryly. â€Å"Very sweet. You don't seem to be taking much care of it, though.† Purposely ignoring him, Elena grabbed her keys and snapped the bag shut. â€Å"So you think the disappearances and attacks are because of ghouls? Do you mean something supernatural?† she asked, unlocking the door. â€Å"What did you find out, Damon?† Shrugging, Damon fol owed her into the room. â€Å"Nothing,† he answered grimly. â€Å"But I certainly don't think the missing kids just freaked out and went home or to Daytona Beach or something. I think you need to be careful.† Elena sat down on her bed, drew her knees up, and rested her chin on them. â€Å"Have you used your Power to try to figure out what's going on?† she asked. â€Å"Meredith said she would ask you.† Damon sat down next to her and sighed. â€Å"Beloved, as little as I like to admit it, even my Power has limits,† he said. â€Å"If someone is much stronger than me, like Klaus was, he can hide himself. If someone is much weaker, he doesn't usual y make enough of an impression for me to find him unless I already know who he is. And for some ridiculous reason† – he scowled – â€Å"I can never sense werewolves at al .† â€Å"So you can't help?† Elena said, dismayed. â€Å"Oh, I didn't say that,† Damon said. He touched a loose strand of Elena's golden hair with one long finger. â€Å"Pretty,† he said absently. â€Å"I like your hair pul ed back like this.† She twitched away from him, and he dropped his hand. â€Å"I'm looking into it,† he went on, his eyes gleaming. â€Å"I haven't had a good hunt in far too long.† Elena wasn't sure that she ought to find this comforting, but she did, in a kind of scary way. â€Å"You'l be relentless, then?† she asked, a little chil going through her, and he nodded, his long black lashes half veiling his eyes. She was so sleepy and felt happier now that she'd seen Damon, although she knew she shouldn't have let him in. She missed him, too. â€Å"You had better go,† she said, yawning. â€Å"Let me know what you find out.† Damon stood, hesitating by the end of her bed. â€Å"I don't like leaving you alone here,† he said. â€Å"Not with everything that's been happening. Where are those friends of yours?† â€Å"They'l be here,† Elena said. Something generous in her made her add, â€Å"But if you're that worried, you can sleep here if you want.† She'd missed him, she had, and he was being a perfect gentleman. And she had to admit, she would feel safer with him there. â€Å"I can?† Damon quirked a wicked eyebrow. â€Å"On the floor,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"I'm sure Bonnie and Meredith wil be glad for your protection, too.† It was a lie. While Bonnie would be thril ed to see him, there was a decent chance Meredith would kick him on purpose as she crossed the room. She might even put on special pointy-toed boots to do it. Elena got up and pul ed down a spare blanket from her closet for him, then headed off to brush her teeth and change. When she came back, al ready for bed, he was lying on the floor, wrapped in the blanket. His eyes lingered for a minute on the curve of her neck leading down to her lacy white nightgown, but he didn't say anything. Elena climbed into bed and turned out the light. â€Å"Good night, Damon,† she said. There was a soft rush of air. Then suddenly he whispered softly in her ear, â€Å"Good night, princess.† Cool lips brushed her cheek and then were gone.

Executive Power Concerning Essay

While the President has power under his right as the Commander- in- Chief, he is still subject to the interpretation of what is legally right based upon the laws of the Constitution. Such laws allow him the right to detain and try prisoners of war/ enemy combatants based upon military statutes and political authorizations. U.S. citizens hold certain civil liberties, one in particular being the right to know the charges brought against them in the event that they are detained for any crime. This civil liberty is commonly known as Habeas Corpus, and is extended to citizens who feel as though they have been wrongfully imprisoned. In times of constant conflict like todays War on Terror, one might wonder of the application of such rights to detained individuals. The title of President of the United States may mean reserved powers both appointed and implied but it does not mean exemption from constitutional separation of powers or complete subordination to the same. The President may hold the right to detain and try these prisoners, but he/she should not be allowed to abuse given powers by implementing means that will withhold the rights of Habeas Corpus whether the accused is a U.S. Citizen or not Habeas Corpus dates back to the early 14th century, debuting with the formalization of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. American colonist sought this act as a means to evade wrongful imprisonment by the British government, and due to the common suspension of this right, the early framers ensured that â€Å"The Privilege of the Wirt of Habeas Corpus† was incorporated into the Constitution, to include that such rights should not be suspended except in cases where Rebellion, Invasion or Public Safety requires it (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). Since then, habeas corpus writs have evolved in American tradition, dating to the Lincoln and  Roosevelt Presidency and as recent as the George W. Bush Presidency. Many texts even show how these Presidents regard the writ of habeas corpus, with the greater conflict of executive power against this right lying in the actions of President Bush and his stance on detaining captured enemy/suspected enemy combatants. Levin-Waldman (2012) illustrates the actions taken by earlier presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt, suggesting a trend in presidential abuse of power when it comes to suspending habeas corpus writs. During the Civil War, President Lincoln took action against the accused, John Merryman, by having union soldiers stop his petitioned writ from delivery to the federal Marshal. Later on during World War II, President Roosevelt convinced the Supreme Court to defer to his wishes in the case of â€Å"Hirabayashi v. United States in 1943†, under the stance that certain Japanese- Americans who frequently contact family in Japan â€Å"might constitute a security threat† to America during a time of war. Hirabayashi’s violation of the in place military curfew at the time, which was determined by the Supreme Court as a â€Å"legitimate defensive measure during a time of war† landed him in a position where his civil liberty to seek habeas corpus as an American citizen was ove rridden (Ch. 5.7). The trend of Presidential abuse of power concerning suspension of habeas corpus writs continues even to this day. As stated earlier, the ability to petition for habeas corpus is one of Americas basic civil liberties afforded to every citizen, but how does this apply to current situations that involve non-citizens? Take for example the case of Lakhdar Boumediene v. Bush, where the U.S. government classified Boumediene and five other Algerian detainees as enemy combatants in the war on terror (Ozey, 2008). They were subject to indefinite detention at the well-known U. S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. The men petitioned for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, alleging violations of the Constitution’s Due Process Clause which the Courts initially ruled in their favor. But in the end, and thanks to the â€Å"Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA)† spearheaded by President Bush, their petition was revoked and the Courts ruling was overturned because the MCA eliminated the jurisdiction of the federal courts’ to hear habeas applications from detainees who have  been designated as enemy combatants (Ozey, 2008) further illustrating presidential influence in such situations. Classification as an enemy combatant is used continuously to evade allowing detainees access to petitioning for writs of habeas corpus. Calling to question how relevant this writ is to today’s current conflict involving American government and the war on terror. The war on terror is such a broad topic, but one key thing about it that points toward relevancy to habeas corpus rights is that these enemy combatants â€Å"are neither soldiers, as they are not fighting for a nation state† (Levin-Waldman, 2012). Therefore because of the broad scheme of this war, it has the potential to go on indefinitely and because â€Å"enemy proceedings† may be tailored to alleviate their uncommon potential to burden the executive at a time of ongoing military conflict† (Levin-Waldman, 2012), the implementation of habeas corpus would help weed out the innocent detainees from the true enemies of this country if it were allowed and not deterred by the President through acts like the MCA. Overall the interpretation of the Supreme Court regarding who is afforded this basic civil liberty based upon the events of today’s conflict will pay dividends as to how much power the President can exercise in future cases, but that is only if their interpretation is met with open-mindedness rather than be shut down at every turn. Levin-Waldman (2012) tells us that, foreign policy presidents have greater power than domestic policy presidents, and often Congress tends to defer to the President during foreign policy situations. However it is safe to say that the war on terror includes both foreign and domestic considerations, which were affected by the actions of terrorists in the September 11th attacks and numerous other events since then. So what should be done about granting habeas corpus rights to enemy combatants? Looking further into the real situation taking place with detainees at Guantanamo Bay as a result of the MCA, this question is met with much friction. In the Rasul v. Bush case, the Supreme Court interprets the law in a manner that asserted that â€Å"the habeas statute extends to non-citizen detainees at Guantanamo† further relating to Boumediene alleging violation of the Constitutions Due Process Clause (Ozey, 2008). But as  stated earlier, this ruling was overturned by President Bush’s master minded MCA, whose sole purpose is to overrule the opinion of Supreme Court in doing their due diligence to interpret the law. However agitated the situation becomes, one must consider the perspectives involving habeas corpus writs in society as it has evolved from conflicts less complicated than todays. These perspectives include the role of the President as Commander-in-Chief, the Congress in determining when habeas corpus can be suspended, the role of the Supreme Court in protecting these civil liberties and one’s own opinion living in a day and age where the war on terror has made it well into its 13th year. Concerning the Presidents Role, the issue becomes whether he is succeeding his power or not. Ward (1990) tells us that during the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, ignoring the Chief Justices request, by claiming that â€Å"more rogues than honest men find shelter under habeas corpus†. On the contrary, in today’s conflict Foley (2007) begs to differ in that more honest men suffer the suspicion of being affiliated with Al Qeda and other terrorist groups because of the broad scope of the War on Terror, and are detained permanently, rather than the government properly identifying accurate procedures to determine actual terrorist from innocent citizens (p. 1010). This type of dentition gets its justification from an additional measure set in place by President Bush called the â€Å"Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CRST)† (Floey, 2007) which leaves the mind to wonder, how many innocent so called enemy combatants are held at Guantanamo Bay without access to habeas corpus writs? Though it is not clearly stated in the Constitution who can suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and it only states when it can be suspended (Turley, 2012, p. 5), Congresses role in suspending the writ has taken place a whopping three times in American history. Their involvement in determining when to suspend this basic American civil liberty took place in 1871 in South Carolina, in 1905 in the Philippines and during WWII in Hawaii, in varying cases that fell under the constitutional guidelines of rebellion, invasion and public safety (Turley, 2012, p. 6). This lack of participation is attributed to the limitations in the number of challenges a petitioner can  make due to recent statutory changes (Turley, 2012, p. 6), but during the times of involvement, Congress deferred to the President, making way for controversial procedures and increased detention of prisoners accused of affiliation with known American enemies. The Supreme Court on the other hand seems to have had their hands tied concerning the rights of these enemy combatants in relation to petitioning for writs of habeas corpus. Referring to the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case in 2006, the Supreme Court’s ruling in an effort to protect Hamdan’s civil liberty as an American citizen expressed that the â€Å"President’s establishment of military commissions violated the requirements of Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 36(b) and the Geneva Convention’s Common Article 3† (Dealy, 2007, p. 1071). But in doing so, they have been held at bay in their efforts to protect not only detained citizens, but have also been unable to make strides toward ensuring the government applies fair rules in identifying actual enemy combatants due to deferment to the president by congress and implemented rules like the MCA and CRST. With all the facts regarding the rules of habeas corpus and how it has played out in American history, one’s personal opinion of the matter ultimately determines how they view the purpose of protecting basic civil liberties and national security in today’s society. My view of this entire matter is filled with much anger toward the current situation and treatment of detained suspected enemy combatants. I have served on three combat tours while in the Army, and have worked very closely with Kuwaiti and Afghani nationals. I had to learn the hard way that all of these people are not Al Qeda members/ supporters and also that not all of them are out to hurt America and its citizens. My initial bias and clouded judgment based upon what was feed to me through what I though was once a justified approach by my government caused me to enter into an aggressive and fearful correspondence with these people on my first two deployments. It was all about national security and American safety until I learned otherwise, but what truly changed my mind about this vision I owned was the continuous attacks America faced regardless of the constant detention of enemy combatants under the suspicion of being an enemy of America. Foley (2007) put it best when he said that â€Å"not only is there no need to sacrifice civil  liberties for security, but that sacrificing civil liberties actually threatens public safety† (p. 1021). Such is the case in the governments dated approach to granting habeas corpus to enemy combatants and the treatment of these detainees whether they are U. S. citizens or not, hence the continued and progressive battle faced by the country with enemy personnel to this day. The rules that govern this nation are not always clear cut, and the government at times does more good at distorting public views by acting in ways that benefits the points they are trying to make. Every level of government, based upon â€Å"separation of powers and checks and balances† (Levin-Waldman, 2012) has specified jobs regarding protecting American civil liberties and the national security as written in the Constitution. When it comes to protecting these points and its relevancy to habeas corpus, the struggle remains as to how the government will do so as it pertains to the conflicts America is engaged in today. The rights of detainees whether they are American citizens or not, have fallen short of being totally ignored by most citizens, but has had the full attention of executive power for many years concerning how long and for what reasons so called enemy combatants can be detained. Despite the fact that the president’s power to imprison such enemy combatants is justified by the Constitution, it has never and most certainly will never state that there should be a use of abuse of executive powers to justify suspension of habeas corpus rights to these detainees. Regardless of how executive power in regard to habeas corpus writs have evolved over the years, the President should not be able to succeed his/ her power by manipulating the system through implementing a series of well drafted acts to permanently deter from what is written and determined as law in The Constitution of the United States. References Dealy, J. D. (2007). Subordination of Powers: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 126 S. Ct. 2749 (2006). Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 30(3), 1071. Foley, B. (2007). Guantanamo and Beyond: Dangers of Rigging the Rules. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 97(4), 1010-1021 Levin-Waldman, O. M. (2012). American Government. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Oyez. (2008). Boumediene v. Bush. IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. Retrieved from http://www.oyez.org The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (2012). Habeas Corpus. Columbia University Press. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com Turley, J. (2012). Habeas Corpus. The Heritage Guide to The Constitution. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org Ward, G. C. (1990). Lincoln Suspends Habeas Corpus [Series episode]. In K. Burns, The Civil War: Episode 1 – The Cause (1861). Retrieved from http://digital.films.com.

Controlling The Internet Essays - Content-control Software

Controlling The Internet Essays - Content-control Software Controlling The Internet Controlling the Internet Censorship plays a role in everything that is portrayed on the Internet. However, due to the size and its rapid growth, it has become almost impossible to control. In respect to censorship in the Internet, we will be examining the issues of pornography, privacy, security, and the Napster debate. In 1989, the World Wide Web was developed. This new technology enabled Internet users to exchange information on a global scale. With no restrictions on what information could be shared, the Internet has become home to an assortment of web-sites consisting of topics that are shunned from the mainstream media. For example, literature that was banned from high schools and colleges for content that contained sexually explicit, anti-religious or immoral material has been made available through web-sites such as Banned Books On-Line. Over the last decade, governments have struggled to regulate the content of the Internet. For example, in 1996 the Congress of the United States passed the Communications Decency Act, which made it a crime to transmit indecent material over the Internet. Materials such as child-pornography (which will be discussed later) were deemed offensive and thus distributors must be prosecuted. To help catch Internet content violators, organizations such as the Internet Police were created. Internet Police The Internet Police, help to regulate the Internet by; reporting illegal websites, pressuring governments to apply relevant legislation, block illegal material and report attempts by people to access child pornography. In response to the Communications Decency Act, many Internet users, industry experts and civil liberties groups were opposed to such censorship. Websites such as The Electronic Frontier Foundation were created to uphold the rights to digital free expression from political and legal threats. Anti-censorship followers feel the governments actions are infringing on their freedom of speech. When taken to the Supreme Court in 1997, the court was forced to abolish the Act because it was unconstitutional. Internet censorship can sometimes vary depending on the country. For example, in communist countries such as China, Western ideologies conveyed on the Internet are seen as harmful to the solidarity of the Chinese government. As such, all E-mails leaving and entering the country are screened and edited by government officials. Sometimes messages are even deleted if they are seen as harmful to national interests. Recently, the Chinese government has tried to develop its own China World Web which will hope to censor any unwanted western messages. Security Issues Today, the Internet is more like the everyday world, with all of its promises and problems, than a reflection of academia or an island village. While it's become a tremendous tool for commerce and information, the 'Net has also become a home to thieves, terrorists and vandals. The Internet provides concealment for malicious users. The remote nature of the 'Net also creates a false sense of security. Many users log on in blissful ignorance, believing they're okay because they can't see or feel any threats. Even after learning their workstations or Web sites have been broken into multiple times, many fail to understand the threats lurking on the other end of the wire. Routinely are systems attacked from multiple vectors, worms carried in by e-mails, bandwidth consumed by floods of bogus traffic, and workstation CPUs hijacked through some unpatched vulnerability. Case Studies Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN). Under E-SIGN, A signature, contract or other record relating to [a] transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form. For the first time, it's not essential that a physical (wet) signature be inscribed onto paper to bind a commitment. E-SIGN is one of the most empowering ingredients for future e-commerce, especially for financial institutions. Visa International 19 million vendors and more than 1 billion cardholders. (sic) Consumers now want to know what's being done to secure their online transactions. Like never before, online shoppers are receptive to learning about things like smart cards, security protocols and digital wallets. This, in turn, prompts companies to develop technologies and services to meet this demand. Visa is taking a multifaceted approach to ensuring that consumers have the same confidence in the virtual world as in the physical world. In June 2000, Visa launched a Global Secure e-Commerce Initiative

Research plan Essays

Research plan Essays Research plan Paper Research plan Paper In the past six to seven month I have been trying to learn some healthy eating habits and that’s is why I chose healthy eating as my topic of interest. I started by asking myself questions like how can I ask my children to eat their veggies when I don’t. Little did I know that the main question was how healthy eating helps my physical, mental and social health? I first looked into my family history and notice that we have a problem of obesity. When I researched the CDC (center of disease and control prevention) I noticed the high percentage of obesity in America. Obese can lead to so many diseases and can even lead to death. My goal is to educate myself and other on a few easy ways to eat healthy and maintain the habits. What is your general topic or area of interest? Healthy eating. What is it about your general topic of interest that interests you? It is something I am trying to take an approach on for my children and myself. What questions do you have about the topic that you would like to investigate? List them. 1. How does healthy eating affect your physical, mental and social health? 2. How can healthy eating affect one’s health? 3. How can healthy eating prevent obesity? 4. How do I make healthy eating a habit 5. Is healthy eating the same as going on a diet? Would any of the questions you listed about the topic make a good subject for a research paper? Pick or adapt one question and make it into a research question. How does healthy eating affect your physical, mental and social health? Why do you think this research question is appropriate for a research paper? This question explores the main aspects of why we should eat healthy. It will concentrate on physical, mental and social health which are all part of the seven dimensions of wellness. How is your research question significant or relevant to a wider community? 68.8% of adults are overweight or obese; 35.7% are obese. 31.8% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese; 16.9% are obese. What background information provides the preliminary grounds for your research? I come from a family that suffers from overweight and obesity problems. It is also a very unhealthy family many diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. This is something that I have been dealing with for a few months trying to keep myself and my children healthy. What are some expert or authoritative sources of information on this research question? The FDA, Food and drug administration and CDC Center of disease and control prevention What type of materials will you need to review for your research paper? I will do my research online based on the FDA and CDC. Along with personal pieces of information. What procedures will you follow to conduct your research? Gather sources, Evaluate sources, and Utilize sources by writing down quotations, summaries, and paraphrases to use in my paper and keeping track of the sources by using APA formatting standards. Then I will create a full-sentence outline logically organizing the information in my outline to defend my thesis in the strongest manner possible. Gather sources, Evaluate sources, and Utilize sources by writing down quotations, summaries, and paraphrases to use in my paper and keeping track of the sources by using APA formatting standards. Then I will create a full-sentence outline logically organizing the information in my outline to defend my thesis in the strongest manner possible. What difficulties do you anticipate in conducting your research? Personal problems, family member and work

John H. Ostrom - A Profile of the Famous Paleontologist

John H. Ostrom - A Profile of the Famous Paleontologist Name: John H. Ostrom Born/Died: 1928-2005 Nationality: American Dinosaurs Discovered or Named: Deinonychus, Sauropelta, Tenontosaurus, Microvenator About John H. Ostrom Nowadays, pretty much all paleontologists agree that birds descended from dinosaurs. However, that wasn’t the case in the 1960s, when John H. Ostrom of Yale University was the first researcher to propose that dinosaurs had more in common with ostriches and swallows than with snakes, turtles and alligators (to be fair, the heavyweight American  paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh, who also taught at Yale, had proposed this idea in the late 19th century, but he didnt have enough evidence at his disposal to carry the weight of scientific opinion). Ostroms theory about the dinosaur-bird evolutionary link was inspired by his 1964 discovery of Deinonychus, a large, bipedal raptor that displayed some uncannily birdlike characteristics. Today, its (pretty much) an established fact that Deinonychus and its fellow raptors were covered with feathers, not a popular image a generation ago, and one that even current dinosaur enthusiasts have difficulty accepting. (In case you were wondering, those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park were really modeled after the  much bigger  Deinonychus, disregarding the fact that they were portrayed with green reptilian skin rather than feathers.) Fortunately for him, Ostrom lived long enough to learn about the trove of indisputably feathered dinosaurs recently discovered in China, which cemented the dinosaur-bird connection. When he discovered Deinonychus, Ostrom opened the dinosaur equivalent of a hornets nest. Paleontologists werent used to dealing with muscular, man-sized, predatory dinosaursas opposed to familiar, multi-ton carnivores like Allosaurus or Tyrannosaurus Rexwhich prompted speculation about whether an ostensibly cold-blooded reptile could engage in such energetic behavior. In fact, Ostroms student Robert Bakker was the first paleontologist to forcefully propose that all theropod dinosaurs were warm-blooded, a theory thats currently on only slightly shakier ground than the dinosaur-bird connection. ​By the way, he wasnt responsible for either discovering or naming this dinosaur, but the type species of Utahraptor (U. ostrommaysorum) was named after John Ostrom and Chris Mays, a pioneer in animatronic dinosaurs.

Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discrimination - Essay Example Evidences of racial discrimination, as proposed by Wrench and Modood (2000), can be derived from five different sources. These include statistical evidence, discrimination testing, studies on the activities of employment decision-makers (or the so-called 'gatekeepers' who are in the capacity to hire or reject applicants), self-reports of ethnic minorities, and, lastly, the legal action employed by discriminated employees. Generally, the proposed study seeks to determine the impact of racial discrimination to employees and employers during the recruitment and selection process. Specifically, the study will try to provide answers to the following questions: There is a myriad of studies on situations of racial discrimination in the British workplace. Racial discrimination come in numerous forms, including bias in hiring, firing, taunting, joking, etc. (Brief & Barsky, 2000; Deitch, Barsky, Butz, Chan, Brief & Bradley, 2003; Gunaratnam, 2001; Holmes, Marra & Burns, 2001; Mesthenos & Ioannidi, 2002). Likewise, Blackaby et al. (1997) suggest that workplace-related problems that ethnic minorities in the UK suffer can be classified into two major types: higher unemployment rate and lower salaries of non-natives compared to natives. Ethnic minorities have been found to steadily exhibit unemployment rates more than double of whites (Leslie et al., 1998). Evidence indicates that excluding Indian and Chinese men high rates of unemployment are experienced by ethnic minority groups. Likewise, the gap between the unemployment rates of whites and ethnic minorities seemed to rise and fall but showing no indication of a continued downward trend. In fact, the Commission for Racial Equality (2002) reports that comparative position of ethnic minority groups had significantly decreased since the 1970s. Ziegerta and Hangesa (2005) suggest that implicit racist attitudes interacted with a climate for racial bias to predict discrimination. Results of their study partially indicate that motivation to control prejudice moderates the relationship between explicit and implicit attitudes. Taken together, the findings illustrate the differences between implicit and explicit racial attitudes in predicting discriminatory behavior. Consequences of employer discrimination on ethnic minorities tend to be measured in terms of a competitive framework that considers

Criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Criminal justice - Essay Example (socyberty.com/social-sciences 2011). Police presence in any situation, in most cases, is a crime prevention measure. While the police do fight crime, the media does not always depict the police in a realistic light. The police are shown as being in a position to sacrifice their lives to uphold and enforce the law; however, this label is real but an over-emphasized depiction. As police go through the day to day deed of fighting crime, the media does not report the ordinary times between events. (Dantzker, 2003). Events that occur without inflated incident will be less likely to be noted by the media due to lack of interest or drama involved on viewers. (socyberty.com/ 2011). Television plays an important role in the myths associated with police crime fighters. According to Dr. Podlas the overall pattern of television programs that viewers are exposed to cultivates a common perception of reality. (Podlas 2006). â€Å"The â€Å"reality† tends to mirror what viewers see on the TV screen.† He contends that people who watch a great deal of television will see the real world as a match to television. (Podlas 2006). The news media do, in fact, overdramatize crime. (C. Michael, 2009). Examples of over-dramatization are such things as racial and ethnic crimes. Television news stories about drugs show blacks 50 percent of the time and white 32 percent of the time. However, statistics show that only 15 percent of illegal drug users in the US are black and 70 percent are white. Newspapers also focus their attention to white crime victims even though most violent crimes are interracial. (C.Michael 2009). The media manipulates reports through misleading information or bias. They randomly select people to interview who support the reporter’s view. Also, vital information, such as history and background information, is purposely deleted from a crime story. (C.Michael, 2009).

Nyse Vs Nasdaq Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nyse Vs Nasdaq - Essay Example They have websites and so much of the trading that is conducted through them is done through the Internet. Within this context it is interesting to examine the role played by the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in our developing financial world. Few companies illustrate the above situation as well as NASDAQ, the world's first electronic trading company. NASDAQ led the charge away from site-specific bourses and towards a virtual presence where trading is done through software and online. This is the direction many stock exchanges have been going, although most maintain a premier city-specific exchange as part of their brand. With the merger of NYSE and Euronext a few years ago, NASDAQ has a competitor. Both companies due basically the same thing. NYSE Euronext has a massive sweep now that NYSE has a European foothold. It is more competitive with NASDAQ. Both companies continue to purchase stock exchanges. NASDAQ in 2007, for example, bought the Philadelphia exchange. A lot of the m oney now is in mergers and acquisitions among stock exchange companies. Both companies are based out of New York. There are a few differences between the two companies. NASDAQ has been more aggressive and more of a pioneer. Another big difference is how securities are actually traded.

International Environment law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Environment law - Essay Example In order to fully understand the WTO’s legal framework and its policies and practices with respect to environmental protection it is first necessary to briefly examine a history and development of the WTO. By understanding the history and development of the WTO it will be easier to predict the possible outcomes for Agricola in the dispute filed by Machina. The WTO grew out of The International Trade Organization (ًITO) which was an attempt to create and cultivate a structured multilateral trade agreements regime in the aftermath of the Second World War.1 Under the auspices of the ITO the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was implemented in 1947. Its primary purpose was to serve as an interim multilateral trade agreement until such time as the WTO could be implemented and ratified.2 GATT was entirely reliant upon the relative strengths of the participating member states and their respective ability to negotiate multilateral trade agreements.3 The result was a co mmercial and political culture characterized by inequality of bargaining position since developing and least developed nations were unable to participate on the same level as developed countries under the GATT regime.4 Following a series of negotiations between world leaders referred to as the Uruguay Rounds, GATT was replaced by the WTO and signed in 1995.5 The new WTO made a concrete effort to commit member states to a series of new obligations designed to facilitate free and unrestricted trade between member states emphasising the need and desire to accommodate less developed countries.6 By virtue of the WTO’s treaties and agreements member states are required to extend indiscriminate treatment of all member states with respect to cross border trade agreements.7 In other words the WTO has as its primary aim the free movement of goods and services from one member state to another.8 Focused primarily on

A market follower company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A market follower company - Essay Example They with the passage time become market strugglers. It is therefore imperative for all the firms in the competitive market environment to make sure they design an appropriate strategy which is in a perfect fit the external and internal environments of a company so that no conflicts occur in the firm's business operations and smooth business operations are conducted. The marketing strategy that we can adopt is by increasing the frequency by which people use our product. This can be done by either making it convenient for the consumers to use the product or by encouraging people to use it more often. This can be done by making a more tempting ad campaign in which people are asked to use the product more often. Another important thing that can be done to encourage people to use it more often is by telling the consumer that it what they need. Similarly, more persuasive ad making can be done for tempting the consumers. Another marketing strategy could be offering promotional discount that is if the product is bough frequently a certain percentage of discounts can be given. This will encourage people and target consumers to buy the product more often, the one aspect in which our country is lagging behind.

International Environment law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Environment law - Essay Example In order to fully understand the WTO’s legal framework and its policies and practices with respect to environmental protection it is first necessary to briefly examine a history and development of the WTO. By understanding the history and development of the WTO it will be easier to predict the possible outcomes for Agricola in the dispute filed by Machina. The WTO grew out of The International Trade Organization (ًITO) which was an attempt to create and cultivate a structured multilateral trade agreements regime in the aftermath of the Second World War.1 Under the auspices of the ITO the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was implemented in 1947. Its primary purpose was to serve as an interim multilateral trade agreement until such time as the WTO could be implemented and ratified.2 GATT was entirely reliant upon the relative strengths of the participating member states and their respective ability to negotiate multilateral trade agreements.3 The result was a co mmercial and political culture characterized by inequality of bargaining position since developing and least developed nations were unable to participate on the same level as developed countries under the GATT regime.4 Following a series of negotiations between world leaders referred to as the Uruguay Rounds, GATT was replaced by the WTO and signed in 1995.5 The new WTO made a concrete effort to commit member states to a series of new obligations designed to facilitate free and unrestricted trade between member states emphasising the need and desire to accommodate less developed countries.6 By virtue of the WTO’s treaties and agreements member states are required to extend indiscriminate treatment of all member states with respect to cross border trade agreements.7 In other words the WTO has as its primary aim the free movement of goods and services from one member state to another.8 Focused primarily on

Labour Law Group Project ( ADCO ) + WorkSheet + Case Study Assignment

Labour Law Group Project ( ADCO ) + WorkSheet + Case Study - Assignment Example ployment contract with no ‘Probation Period’ but 30 days annual leave, monthly salary of aed 35,000 Free Accommodation and Annual Tickets for Bob, his wife and 2 kids. First of all, ASCONCO must deal with the immigration authorities and ensure that they secure a valid permit for Bob to stay and work in the UAE. After that, the contract ought to be in writing and it must show the commencement date of Bob’s employment and termination date, which will be 3 years from the current period. The wages payable, which is AED 35,000 and other benefits including accommodation and ticket must be stated on the face of the contract. The nature of contract, which is a fixed contract must be disclosed. This will also include the nature of work to be carried out by Bob, the duration and location of employment. This should be signed by Bob and a representative of ASCONCO, which could be Abulaziz or a person in a sufficiently high position and lodged with the labour office at the Ministry. They could fill out a standard form which will be in English or Arabic which is available at the Ministry. However, if they draft their own agreement which has terms they have prescribed, (1) the terms must not be contrary to UAE laws, particularly the Labour Law and it must be in Arabic only before being filed at the labour office. Once this is done, the contract between ASCONCO and Bob is valid. Abulaziz will not need to make an immigration application in the name of ASCONCO for Bob. He will also not need to put the employment contract in writing. This means that he can orally tell Noura that she is hired and there will be a valid employment contract. In terms of enforceability, forms of employment that are not written ought to be in a form that can be proven. Therefore, Noura will need to show evidence of her employment and all the relevant features including remuneration and other terms of the employment. However, the key difference is that it could be unwritten whilst Bob’s contract

Derivative Markets Essay Example for Free

Derivative Markets Essay Last dozen of years are characterized by rash growth of volumes of national and international markets of derivative finance instruments or derivative markets. By opinion of experts, appearance and development of derivative markets is the most important event of economic life within last twenty five years. In the very name of these instruments – â€Å"derives† lays the fact that they appeared and started to develop on basis of floaters and futures almost for all types of exchange products (starting with oil and gas and ending with soy beans and orange juice), and also for exchange index, percent rates, rate of exchange, etc. Presently new types of derivates appeared: on the basis of sea freight rates (London), cost of microprocessors, permissions for environment pollution (USA), etc. To the first generation of derivates specialists relate futures and stock option plans, which are used at organized markets (exchanges) in form of standardized contracts, and also popular at non-exchange market (market OTC – over-the-counter) (William Falloon pp. 26-28) currency swaps, stock option plans and inter-bank agreements regarding forward rate agreement. From the very beginning the main functions of derivates was to provide distribution of risks among participants of business deal, connected with change of stuff price, rates of exchange, percent rates, stock rates, exchange indexes, etc. Nowadays operations with derivates are still the main way of insurance from different risks and risk management. The first signs at derivative markets became successful issue of currency futures in 1972 at Chicago Mercantile Exchange; the second issue of percentage futures followed in 1975 at Chicago Board of Trade. In the first half of 1980-s rapid growth (Remolona, Eli, M., pp. 28-43) of operations with derivates, followed with appearance of more and more new types of derivates. In 1980 appeared New York Futures Exchange; in 1982 London international Financial Futures and Options; in 1986 – MATIF Marche a terme international de France in Paris; in 1988 Swiss Options and Financial Futures Exchanges, etc. At these and other organized (exchange) markets trade is fulfilled by standard (typical) contracts, which are sold or at exchange auctions (MATIF in France), or with help of automatized information systems (for example, Globex). Final calculations for all deals are made by computational (compensational) palates (George Benston and Shehzad Mian pp. 217-246) The first â€Å"legal† operation of currency swap (exchange of dollar to Swiss francs) was made in August 1981 between American company IBM and International Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Market of percentage swaps appeared in the United States by initiative of company â€Å"Sallie Mae†. The major part of swap operations was executed by leading international banks, which in the beginning were present as mediators between participants of currency swaps. In succeeding years banks became to work as active participants of derivative deals, acting at their own cost and in their own interests.   When in the first half of 1980-s derivative market was developing mainly in the United States, in the second half derivative market started to develop quickly in Europe and Japan. Volume of world market of swap operations increased from 200 milliard dollars in 1985 to 2900 milliard dollars in 1990. Such quick growth was stipulated with legal standardization of contracts, development of information systems and means of communications. According to data of questionnaire which was executed by International Swaps and Derivatives Associations, volume of world derivative market for the beginning of 1993 was 5.4 trillion dollars, including percentage swaps – 3.9 trillion dollars, currency swaps – 860 milliard dollars, cap and floor operations – 577 milliard dollars. By approximate estimation of magazine Swap Monitor, volume of derivative markets was much higher – 7 trillion dollars (at the same date of 1993). In the United States only 6 banks control 90% of derivative markets. In France 80 banks act at the market of currency contracts; at option market – 24 banks. Volume of operations with derivates at exchange and non-exchange markets, which make French credit institutions and which are shown at their balance, in 2.2 times exceeds amount of their balances. By information of International Calculations Bank, already in 1991 volume of OTC market was 4500 milliard dollars. From that time its volume significantly increased. Quick growth of derivative market volume in the beginning of 1990-s is connected with increasing of instability and uncertainty at world financial markets, also influenced by such events as was at Persian Gulf, collapse of USSR, crisis of European system of currency, etc. besides, progress in the field of informational technology, which allowed to process big volumes of information almost immediately and great funds, involved in financial turnover, give grounds to speak about existence of real industry of derivates. As we already spoke about, quick growth of derivative market was accompanied by appearance of new and new their types and kinds; this process developed and continues to develop in legal and non-official market. Financial instruments, which represent different combinations of derivates of the first generation, quickly were added to the first derivate generation (for example, combination of percentage options â€Å"cap/floor†, swaptions – combination of swap and option. In the beginning of 1990-s appeared such exotic instruments as swaps for non-typical indexes, annulated swaps, options for options, etc. One of novelties for Parisian exchange was issue of bons doption, which gives right to the buyer for purchase of actions or debentures by fixed price. During the last four years number of diversities of such warranties increased from 15 to 500, they are in easy access to any investor, even those who doesn’t have big amount of money. Appearance of new types and kinds of derivates is stipulated not only by increasing demands of clients in more perfect means of insurance from risks (Ludger Hentschel and Clifford Smith Jr., pp. 101-126), but also by constant perfection of informational technology and equipment, mechanisms of price formation and models of risk management. At the same time legal standards of regulating operations with derivates were developed and perfected; new forms of standard contracts appeared. Operations with derivates started to be used more frequently not only for insurance from risks and risk management, but for aims of speculation, i.e. receiving profit from them. By opinion of experts, nowadays the following subjects take place at the derivative markets: Industrial companies, which can use operations with derivates to reach such aims as: Decreasing of indebtedness burden at the expense of getting necessary financial means by possible cheap price; Increasing of flexibility in management of financial holdings, not limited by usage of debentures or short-term commercial documents; Perfection of management cash balance and regulation of financial flow, connected with cash inflow and cash spending; Fast receiving of necessary funds by relatively low prices in case unexpected needs in financing take place; Perfection and dynamics of process management by liquid assets of enterprise. Although enterprises, which use all enumerated possibilities of operations with derivates, are quite rare, from now on these operations cannot be ignored by those enterprises, who intend to lead dynamic strategy of management by thief financial resources. Different investment funds, which control investment portfolio, use operations with derivates as flexible means of funds management. Special companies or funds (so-called stockjobbers), which make derivative operations to receive profit, because those operations allow even with small expenses to get big profit, indeed, in condition of favorable circumstances for such stockjobber. In such a way American fund Quantum Fund, which belongs to famous financier George Sores, and which is specialized on currency deals, including derivates as well, since 1969 every year increased its income for 35%; today it exceeds 4 milliard dollars. Totally in the United States there are more than 3 thousand of such funds, which manage approximately by 25 milliard dollars, which are used only for speculative operations. There are 23 similar funds, which are legally registered in France. Individual stockbrokers, which make operations with derivates at their own expense. Activity of those subjects, which in the USA are called â€Å"local† and in France â€Å"negociateurs independants de parquet†, assists in increasing of liquidity financial market. Special companies-organizers of the market, including compensational palates, which control execution of contracts and execute calculations, receiving definite commissions. In such a way in France company MATIF received for each operation of purchase or sale of pressing contract 6.25 francs, what allowed to increase own funds to 800 million francs. In 1993 MATIF worked up 72 million of contracts, whereas at Chicago Mercantile Exchange were sold 179 million of contracts. Banks, working in legal and non-official market, receive the biggest income from derivative operations. Supervision instances controlling bank activities (for example, there is Bank Commission in France) are anxious because of uncontrolled growth of bank derivative operations. Operations with different kinds of options, especially related to such indexes, which change quickly, as shares indexes, prices for non-ferrous metals, raw materials, etc. give the biggest concern. Supervision instances don’t limit usage of derivative operations in order to insure credit and market risks (Sanjiv Ranjan Das pp. 7-23), but at the same time they establish rule of paying capacity, in accordance with which amount of own derivate funds of certain credit enterprise should cover credit (risk of unredeemed credit) and market risks. Other aspects of regulation non-organized markets are not developed enough. In all leading Western countries development of those measures is behind the tempo of growth of OTC market capacity, where calculation (compensational) palates are absent and business deals have long-term character. For organized derivative markets the main problems still are guaranteeing security and control. Compensational palates watch timeliness of final calculations and amount of deposits of their members, which operate at derivative market. These deposits guarantee that they will fulfill their obligations: in case amount of deposit is lower than definite level, it should be filled up immediately. In such a way, at MATIF’s accounts are 20 milliard francs, paid-in by its members as guarantee of calculations. Financiers work to standardize contracts for derivative deals in the international level. In such a way, created in 1985 International Swap and Derivatives Association worked out frame contract for derivative operations, consisting of two parts: in the first part there are obligatory common statements (ways of calculations and their regulation, declarations of the parties, procedures of canceling the contract, etc), and in the second part there are statements, which can be changed by wish of the parties. In June 1993 report of 30 leading specialists for financial operations was published, where they formulated recommendations to banks and other enterprises, which lead operations with derivates or are their final users. By opinion of experts, these enterprises should give acces to that market only for professionals. Many experts point at explosive character of derivative market, because there can appear chain reaction of bankruptcy (domino effect). Non-exchange market is more dangerous in this respect, where the business deals are often concluded â€Å"for the word of honor†. Unexpected collapse of one of the banks can cause chain reaction of bankruptcies of other banks. By words of A. Taylor, president of Royal Bank of Canada, derivates represent bomb of delayed-action, which, once exploded, can completely ruin world financial system. Although derivative deals have a lot of risk and can provoke the crisis, you cannot live without them in the modern financial markets, because they assist in increasing of liquidity and effectiveness of financial markets, decreasing of cost for market transactions (deals). As was written in French magazine â€Å"Expansion†, future experts, probably, will examine derivates as financial novelty, which saved world economical growth from paralysis. Works Cited: George Benston and Shehzad Mian, 1995 Financial Reporting of Derivatives: An Analysis of the Issues, Evaluation of Proposals, and a Suggested Solution, Journal of Financial Engineering, September, pp. 217-246. Sanjiv Ranjan Das, 1995 Credit Risk Derivatives, Journal of Derivatives, Spring, pp. 7-23. William Falloon, 1992 How Appetites are Growing for OTC Equity Derivatives, Futures Magazine, January, pp. 26-28. Ludger Hentschel and Clifford Smith Jr., 1995 Controlling Risks in Derivatives Markets, Journal of Financial Engineering, June, pp. 101-126 Remolona, Eli, M., 1992-3 The Recent Growth of Financial Derivative Markets, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Review, Winter, pp. 28-43.

Ulrich Becks Theory Of World Risk Society Criminology Essay

Ulrich Becks Theory Of World Risk Society Criminology Essay This essay seeks to study the explanation of the September 11 attacks through the key concepts of the World Risk Society. It will analyse how the presence of risks in the contemporary society, is driving the governments towards the incessant development of technologies and other sophisticated security systems in order to make their States more secure. However, the issue under discussion is that, is this tendency to get feign control over the uncontrollable(Beck U; The Terrorist Threat; p 41); which is the central point of the world risk society, further adding to or leading to problems. Is this presence of the future in the contemporary society in a way leading to a security paradox? To put it in the words of Keith Spence in World risk society and War against terror, Both domestically in the guise of Homeland Security, and in military engagements elsewhere, the pursuit of war against terror inevitably compounds and reproduces the conditions and anxieties that it purports to address. To deal with these questions, the essay will start with the elucidation of the World Risk Society Theory as conceptualized by Ulrich Beck. Moving further, the essay would discuss the underlying assumptions of risks that are at the ground level of the counter terrorism policies adopted by the World today. Taking the case study of War on Terror and the pre emptive actions adopted by the US administration, it will analyse how safer is the World with the adoption of such polices? Did the zero risk policies and the constant process of modernization help US or made it more vulnerable to such attacks, in other words, made it more insecure? World Risk Society: Calculating the Incalculable Thinking of contemporary terrorism in the context of Becks theory of Risk Society, it can be defined as de-bounded uncontrollable risk characterised by a well connected structure, a continuous potential threat and difficult to trace to a single source. Beck introduces the concept of risk as a modern concept that presumes decision making. He further explains that as soon as we speak in terms of risk, we are talking about calculating the incalculable, colonizing the future. Beck emphasises on the fact that Risk Society has not arisen because of the presence of one or the other threats or dangers in everyday life but because of the de bounding of uncontrollable risks. According to him, de bounding has three distinct dimensions, i.e. Spatial, Temporal and Social Dimensions. By spatial dimension he implies risks or dangers that are not bounded by the nation state boundaries. The Temporal dimension signifies the long term dangers and finally the social dimension implies that the root of the problem cannot be traced back to a single agent, for instance, for problem of global terrorism, we cannot single out a country or an individual or group and blame it responsible for all terror networks. In the words of Beck, Uncontrollable risks must be understood as not being linked to place, that is they are difficult to impute to a particular agent and can hardly be controlled on the level of the nation state. Ulrich Beck further explains that in the World Risk Society with the central problem of how to feign control over the uncontrollable, have three axes of conflict ecological conflict, global financial crises and global terror. To say that the risk is global is not to suggest that everyone would be equally affected. It implies that the risks are unequally distributed; it might cause damage to different countries differently depending on the cultural and political variations. However, even if it affects everyone unequally but the truth, as Beck says, is that it affects everyone. And thus there exists a global problem for which a global solution must be found. This is where the global co-operation fits the picture. In his theory, terror seems to be the midpoint of interaction between other two axes of conflict. The development in technology and the increase in flow of money, in one way or the other increases the extent of the threat from the dark World of terror.( Beck U., The Terrorist Threat, p. 45) A distinction can be made between ecological and financial conflicts on one hand and global terror risks on the other hand. As Beck explains, ecological and financial conflicts are the unintentional side effects that come attached with the production of goods which in turn are the results of the central decisions taken by society. Explicating the shift from accident to intention, Beck concentrates on the axis of global terror. He describes terrorism as an intentionally bad (Beck U., The Terrorist Threat, p. 44) activity which leads to a negative situation that the other axes of conflicts produce unintentionally. This change of accident in the industrial society to intention in the modern society is followed by a further replacement of active trust to active mistrust. As the terrorist threat highlights mistrust and multiplies the risks, it weakens the relationship between the fellow citizens, foreigners and governments. After looking at these characteristics of the Risk Society, it becomes quite easy to understand the basis on which pre emptive intervention policies, detentions and profiling are justified. As Kessler O. And Werner W put it in Extrajudicial Killing as Risk Management, it is justified in the face of rowdiness and unpredictability of the modern terrorist. Also, after the attacks of September 11, the whole World very well accepts the fact that the terror world today has access to all technologically advanced weapons and thus has the capability to harm more people and spread more fear and panic amongst people. The features of the modern terrorism fit the framework of the risk society. Beck suggests that in the World Risk Society, it is increasingly becoming impossible for the States to protect the security of its citizens in the growing atmosphere of multiplying risks and active mistrust. The solution to the global problems of terror, ecological and financial conflicts lies in transnational co-operation. As he admits, this leads to a paradoxical situation for the nation states as in order to further accomplish their national interests, they need to denationalize themselves. The global coalition against terror stands a witness to it. In order to uphold their constitutional promise of protecting the life of their citizens, in this situation specifically from the terror threats, the nation states came together to fight a war against the terror world. this can be attributed to the fact that it isnt possible for nay country to fight the vast networks of terrorism, spread across the world, all alone. Even the superpower like US, which is most developed technologically a nd financially, had to call for the support of the other nations in order to wage the war on terror. Even though as a leader of global coalition it had to make certain policy compromises, nevertheless it went ahead to uphold its constitutional promise. It is shift from accident to intention that is the basis of all the counter terrorism policies. The process of profiling and indefinite detentions has been justified on the grounds of intention. The government has started judging the people on the basis of intention. To quote Mythen and Walklate from Terrorism, Risk and International Security government has taken more restrictive and invasive steps so that it can create an order that can tame the dangers to the detriment of people. Analysing 9/11 and the policies thereafter through the risk society perspective: Precautionary policies and the National security in the wake of New terrorism Responsible Science and responsible policymaking operate on the precautionary principle. Tony Blair (2002) The policies used to approach the global problem of terror are dictated by the logic of risk management. The novelty of this approach, as Keith Spence puts it in World Risk Society and War on Terror, lies in the adoption of pre emptive approach. The adoption of pre emptive approach as a precautionary principle can be described as being based on four interrelated assumptions put forth by Claudia Aradau Van Munster in Governing Terrorism through Risk: Taking Precautions, zero risk, worst case scenario, shifting the burden of proof and serious and irreversible damage. It is the worst case scenario and the thought of irreversible damage that drives the government to adopt zero risk policies. When struck with the 9/11 attacks, it was the thought of further irreversible damage that made the Bush administration come up with the pre emptive policy and the following invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq as States breeding terrorism. The pre emptive approach reminds us of the Henry Kissingers observation that the desire of one power for absolute security means absolute insecurity for all the others (Kissinger, 1961, p. 148; 1964, p. 2). The conduct and outcomes of such acts are not unpredictable but uncontrollable as well. The pre emptive approach adopted to fight terror spread more fear than it actually tackled due to the presence of uncertainty and unpredictability. In the words of Keith Spence, In leveraging sentiments of uncertainty amongst target populations, pre emption like all mechanisms of terror, enlarges the impact of aggression, provoking fear that permeates the culture thereby constituted and reproduced. (World Risk Society and the War on Terror, P.289) The process of pre-emption follows the logic of absolute security. The adoption of pre emption undermined the UN laws and norms that supported use of force only under situations that justified self defence against actual threat.( Annan, K. (2003); Secretary-Generals address to the General Assembly; New York, 23 September 2003.) The pre emption approach on the other hand worked on the principle of eradicating possible threats. To quote Bush from Remarks at West Point: New Threats Require New Thinking, to wait for the threats to materialize would mean that we would have waited too long. The idea of the eradication of potential threats in order to provide absolute security are all significant features of a catastrophic society as explained by Ulrich Beck in the theory of Risk society. The approach adopted, do not disappoint on the point of global solutions to the problems of terror. The solution that it provides again falls in the line of thought of Becks Wold Risk Society by abandoning the conventional norms of time, space and restraint. (Spence, Keith; World risk Society and the War on Terror; p 289) The stated objective of the War on Terror, as stated by George W. Bush in the Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People on 4th of July, will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated cannot be satiated. Instead the approach of the administration leads to the development of more such networks than it actually eradicates. Egyptian President Hosni Mubaraks has aptly remarked in context of the Operation Iraqi Freedom, that instead of having one bin Laden, we will have 100 as a consequence of Operation undertaken.( Black, Ian and McGreal, Chris (2003) Conflict will create 100 bin Ladens, warns Egyptian president, The Guardian, 1 April, p. 4.) The manner in which the US conducts its response to terror would only lead to multiplication of terror networks rather than its eradication. The fact that the initial steps of the policy adoption actually led to the growth of the terror activities in North and East Africa, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the Indian subject-continent and the wider Gulf Region brings to the fore Kissingers cautionary observation of absolute security. Security measures as a part of precautionary principle: Homeland Security The practices undertaken to fight away the terrorist networks under the label war on terror are too vast and discursive to fit into the framework of any theory. From Guantanamo Bay to biometrics and increased surveillance, or from extraordinary rendition to the categorisation of terrorist suspects as enemy combatants, the war on terror has regimented a whole series of practices that showcase the reaction to precautionary risk. (Aradau and Van Munster, 2007; Governing Terrorism through Risk: taking precautions, (un)knowing the future; European Journal of International Relations; Vol. 13, No. 1, 89-115) As a result of the terror attacks, US post the announcement of War on Terror, took a lot of steps in order to be prepared to shield the country from any unpredictable, unknown but inevitable situation. The website www.ready.gov created by the department of Homeland Security is another source for informing the people and preparing America for any emergency. The site discusses the campaign Ready which aims at educating and empowering the Americans to deal with any situation of emergency including natural and man-made disasters. (http://www.ready.gov/america/about/index.html) The Website states Be ready! and carefully places a quote from the founding secretary Tom Ridge, claiming terrorism forces us to make a choice. We can be afraid or we can be prepared! The website goes to the extent of stating three simple steps get the emergency kit, formulate a family emergency plan and be informed to rescue oneself or at least be prepared to face the emergency situation. It warns the people abo ut emergencies that can range from inconvenient to devastating and aims at empowering them by preparing them in advance. The department aims at preparing the people to fight the emergency but what exactly will be the emergency is unknown, the only surety about the unsure situation is its inevitability. The site puts in to place the key mechanism of the catastrophic society which makes the state of emergency institutionally established as a norm. (Spence, Keith; p 291). The states have marked emergencies from green to red and make sure that the drills take place regularly. As Keith Spence rightly remarks, the frenzy created by these drills and the supplementary activities leads to a persistent feeling of anxiety which is further responsible for a feeling of uneasiness and discomfort. (p.293) The adoption of the pre cautionary principle has led to a time where it is not the state which has to prove but the individual has to prove that he/she is innocent. Under such a precautionary principle, the people irrespective of the fact that they are innocent or victim, they are guilty unless proven innocent. To quote Keith Spence from World risk society and War on Terror, Neither the conduct nor outcomes of such acts are fully predictable or controllable, and as war and terror overlap and blur so too do distinctions separating civilian from combatant, collateral from non-collateral, and innocent from other victims. (p. 289) Ardau and Van Munster aptly remark, Among the technologies used to avoid a catastrophic future, war is just one. The war on terror or the consequent war of Afghanistan and Iraq do not speak of a recent rediscovery of militarism, but of a govern mentality that activates all the technologies imaginable in the face of uncertainty. There is an interesting similarity between Homeland and Fatherland. As Keith Spence points out the Jacobin Terror which was anticipated by the declaration of Fatherland in danger on 11th July 1972 was the starting point for the nation state to assert its control and authority. In 1973 when the Committee of public safety was constituted and succeeded the Committee of Vigilance (Spence; p. 291), Danton proclaimed, Let us be terrible so that the people will not have to be. One cannot help but agree with T. Ridge (2003) when he remarks that if War on Terror has been announced for peace then Homeland Security is just another name for the vigilance committee and has been formed in the name of freedom. As Helene Guldberg puts it in Challenging the Precautionary Principle, to take regulatory action on the basis of possible unmanageable risks, even after tests have been conducted that find no evidence of harm. We are asked to make decisions to curb actions, not on the basis of what we know, but on the basis of what we do not know Biometrics: As Ardau and Van Munster put it in Governing Terrorism through risk: taking precautions, unknowing the future, 9/11 has given way to more pro-active forms of surveillance of suspect populations, leading to a surplus supply of data and an over-prediction of threats. To quote Aas K. F from The body does not lie: Identity, risk and trust in technoculture, in a globalised and anonymous world, where almost everyone can afford to cross the closest borders, biological identification seems to be the best solution for states to verify peoples identity. Biometrics is simply the measurement of the most unique parts of a humans body i.e. the iris, the fingerprints, retinas, gait and voice. Application of biometrics in the field of security is just significant of the increasing trend of securitization of identity. The basic principle behind the biometrics is, as Aas puts it inThe body, to eliminate bad by keeping away undesired people. The US VISIT programme showcases the advanced and complex system of biometrics govern mentality i.e. a system of categorizing a person as legitimate or illegitimate with the support of technology collecting data biometric information of the human bodies. The case of Guantanamo Bay: As Keith Spence puts it in World Risk society and War on Terror, apart from the invasion of Iraq the archaic excess is prominently elaborated at Guantanamo Bay, where deterritorialization and pre-emption are materialized in a legally determined limbo beyond the reach of civil and international law. (p 291) Guantanamo existence as a state of exception was made clear by the condition of the detainees of Gauntanamo. As Giorgio Agamben seeks to explain, The detainees of Guantanamo are subject to raw power and have no legal existence.( Agamben G. And Raulff U.; (2004) Interview with Giorgio Agamben Life, A Work of Art Without an Author: The State of Exception, the Administration of Disorder and Private Life, German Law Journal) Implication of the risk perspective to the camp exemplifies dealing with an unrestricted risk in the spatial category. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp has been placed outside the regular US legal jurisdiction but it is not fully immune for this order. . To this extent, C. Ardau in Law Transformed remarks, The Guantanamo bay camp perfectly embodies the necessity of defining a new form of war, which breaks the habits of all previous sets. Guantanamo Bay stands as a perfect example of the aftermath of the conditions resulting from the implication of the precautionary logic of controlling the future in other words tackling something that is uncertain and unknown of. Even though Gauntanamo has resulted in making modern day terrorism as a novelty nevertheless it cannot be tagged as a place without any regulations. To put it in the words of C. Ardau, it has resulted in the creation of a place ruled by the dominant principle of governing the social and taming the future. US itself has become a source of violence it wanted to fight by adopting the harsh policies to fight to it and Guantanamo Bay is just one example of this. The thought of taking over terrorism with the principle of pre-empt rather than dealing with risk often leads to a vicious circle by giving way to exactly what it had wished to extinguish. War against terror and the precautionary steps taken thereafter is symbolic of this phenomenon. Conclusion: To quote Ulrich Beck, September 11 drove home the lesson that we now live in a risk society, a society in which there are uncontrollable and unpredictable dangers against which insurance is impossible and where questions of compensation, liability and harm minimization have lost all their social and political significance. The policies adopted and the measures taken post the attacks of 9/11 just makes this quote a lot more acceptable and suitable to the present situation. Even after taking the precautionary steps and becoming increasingly ready by employing latest technologies for uncertain but inevitable emergency situations, US has not only made itself more vulnerable to such attacks but in a way has helped the terror world to spread across its message of fear and panic. The new technologies employed for security purposes are just new challenges posed in front of the terrorist. They might learn to overtake it in a while. The question that arises then is What steps will US take then? It is really a vicious circle the more it will try to secure itself, the more insecure it will become!

Politics In The Gilded Age Essay -- essays research papers

Politics in the Gilded Age Discuss Politics in the Gilded Age. Include major political events and issues, and the roles of the â€Å"bloody shirt,† corruption, patronage, and reform movements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The term Gilded Age was named for a Mark Twain book. It meant covered with gold, and was applied to this period as a whole. This was a period of corruption in sordid politics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Republicans and Democrats didn’t really have strong opposing beliefs during this period. The Republicans supported high tariffs and sound money. The Democrats supported lower tariffs and expanded currency. Both rural and urban classes supported each party. They worked with spoils and local issues. Both parties worked to please everyone, and to attract voters. Since both parties were so close in strength, it caused the elections to be fought harder.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Republicans used the waving of the bloody shirt tactic. This meant that they brought back the past in order to avoid the real issues. They portrayed the Democrats as rebel traitors. The Republicans were against alcohol. The Stalwarts were led by Senator Conkling from New York and were the hard core machine of elections. Senator Blaine led the Half-Breeds from Maine, and they wanted to be in control of it all. The mugwumps were a group that turned Democrat because of the corruption of the Republican presidential nominee, Senator Blaine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  &nbs...

Alcohol drinking Essay

The last reason of alcohol drinking among the youth in Hong Kong is tension reduction and it is the most common excuse among them. From a survey result conducted in 2008 by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group, about 30% of students increase their pressure index during the beginning of each new academic year. It was found that the high consumption of alcohol is related to the high level of pressure index. And the frequency of drinking depends on how early the students have experienced drinking alcohol. Drinking daily or over consumption of alcohol will lead to a chain of bad impacts. If we drink in a large amount, it will have lifelong negative consequences, including physically and mentally. Drinking can affect thinking capacity and the active attention period will be reduced effecively. Also fatigue may happen easily although only drinking a small amount of alcohol. As a result, it may affect in studies. As we notice that there are many foreign researches about the motivation of drinking but there are only little researches investigate the Hong Kong tertiary students. That means the foreign researches cannot completely reflect the Hong Kong situation due to the different cultural norms of east and west. Also, the education of alcohol management and knowledge are not prevalence in Hong Kong. Therefore, we would like to know about the basal motives of alcohol drinking and the influences of drinking among the tertiary students. And the healthcare stream students in IVE will be our target group. As our target group are studying in healthcare stream, we hypothesize that they are more likely to consider their health and a lower drinking frequency and quantity of alcohol will be found. We also assume that their motivation of drinking are due to peer, environment and social.

Hart Venture Capital Essay

Case study 1 Better Fitness, Inc. (BFI), manufactures exercise equipment at its plant in Freeport, Long Island. It recently designed two universal weight machines for the home exercise market. Both machines use BFI-patented technology that provides the user with an extremely wide range of motion capability for each type of exercise performed. Until now, such capabilities have been available only on expensive weight machines used primarily by physical therapists. At a recent trade show, demonstrations of the machines resulted in significant dealer interest. In fact, the number of orders that BFI received at the trade show far exceeded its manufacturing capabilities for the current production period. As a result, management decided to begin production of the two machines. The two machines, which BFI named the BodyPlus 100 and the BodyPlus 200, require different amounts of resources to produce. The BodyPlus 100 consists of a frame unit, a press station, and a pec-dec station. Each frame produced uses 4 hours of machining and welding time and 2 hours of painting and finishing time. Each press station requires 2 hours of machining and welding time and 1 hour of painting and finishing time, and each pec-dec station uses 2 hours of machining and welding time and 2 hours of painting and finishing time. In addition, 2 hours are spent assembling, testing, and packaging each BodyPlus 100. The raw material costs are $450 for each frame, $300 for each press station, and $250 for each pec-dec station; packaging costs are estimated to be $50 per unit. The BodyPlus 200 consists of a frame unit, a press station, a pec-dec station, and a legpress station. Each frame produced uses 5 hours of machining and welding time and 4 hours of painting and finishing time. Each press station requires 3 hours machining and welding time and 2 hours of painting and finishing time, each pec-dec station uses 2 hours of machining and welding time and 2 hours of painting and finishing time, and each legpress station requires 2 hours of machining and welding time and 2 hours of painting and finishing time. In addition, 2 hours are spent assembling, testing, and packaging each Body-Plus 200. The raw material costs are $650 for each frame, $400 for each press station, $250 for each pec-dec station, and $200 for each leg-press station; packaging costs are estimated to be $75 per unit. For the next production period, management estimates that 600 hours of machining and welding time, 450 hours of painting and finishing time, and 140 hours of assembly, testing, and packaging time will be available. Current labor costs are $20 per hour for machining and welding time, $15 per hour for painting and finishing time, and $12 per hour for assembly, testing, and packaging time. The market in which the two machines must compete suggests a retail price of $2400 for the BodyPlus 100 and $3500 for the BodyPlus 200, although some flexibility may be available to BFI because of the unique capabilities of the new machines. Authorized BFI dealers can purchase machines for 70% of the suggested retail price. BFI’s president believes that the unique capabilities of the BodyPlus 200 can help position BFI as one of the leaders in high-end exercise equipment. Consequently, he has stated that the number of units of the BodyPlus 200 produced must be at least 25% of the total production. Managerial Report Analyze the production problem at Better Fitness, Inc. , and prepare a report for BFI’s president presenting your findings and recommendations. Include (but do not limit your discussion to) a consideration of the following items: 1. What is the recommended number of BodyPlus 100 and BodyPlus 200 machines to produce? 2. How does the requirement that the number of units of the BodyPlus 200 produced be at least 25% of the total production affect profits? 3. Where should efforts be expended in order to increase profits?  Include a copy of your linear programming model and graphical solution in an appendix to your report. Case study 2 Hart Venture Capital (HVC) specializes in providing venture capital for software development and Internet applications. Currently HVC has two investment opportunities: (1) Security Systems, a firm that needs additional capital to develop an Internet security software package, and (2) Market Analysis, a market research company that needs additional capital to develop a software package for conducting customer satisfaction surveys. In exchange for Security Systems stock, the firm has asked HVC to provide $600,000 in year 1, $600,000 in year 2, and $250,000 in year 3 over the coming three-year period. In exchange for their stock, Market Analysis has asked HVC to provide $500,000 in year 1, $350,000 in year 2, and $400,000 in year 3 over the same three-year period. HVC believes that both investment opportunities are worth pursuing. However, because of other investments, they are willing to commit at most $800,000 for both projects in the first year, at most $700,000 in the second year, and $500,000 in the third year. HVC’s financial analysis team reviewed both projects and recommended that the company’s objective should be to maximize the net present value of the total investment in Security Systems and Market Analysis. The net present value takes into account the estimated value of the stock at the end of the three-year period as well as the capital outflows that are necessary during each of the three years. Using an 8% rate of return, HVC’s financial analysis team estimates that 100% funding of the Security Systems project has a net present value of $1,800,000, and 100% funding of the Market Analysis project has a net present value of $1,600,000. HVC has the option to fund any percentage of the Security Systems and Market Analysis projects. For example, if HVC decides to fund 40% of the Security Systems project, investments of 0. 40($600,000) _ $240,000 would be required in year 1, 0. 40($600,000) _ $240,000 would be required in year 2, and 0. 40($250,000) _ $100,000 would be required in year 3. In this case, the net present value of the Security Systems project would be 0. 40($1,800,000) _ $720,000. The investment amounts and the net present value for partial funding of the Market Analysis project would be computed in the same manner. Managerial Report Perform an analysis of HVC’s investment problem and prepare a report that presents your findings and recommendations. Include (but do not limit your discussion to) a consideration of the following items: 1. What is the recommended percentage of each project that HVC should fund and the net present value of the total investment? 2. What capital allocation plan for Security Systems and Market Analysis for the coming three-year period and the total HVC investment each year would you recommend? . What effect, if any, would HVC’s willingness to commit an additional $100,000 during the first year have on the recommended percentage of each project that HVC should fund? 4. What would the capital allocation plan look like if an additional $100,000 is made available? 5. What is your recommendation as to whether HVC should commit the additional $100,000 in the first year? Provide model details Case study 3 Digital Imaging (DI) produces photo printers for both the professional and consumer markets. The DI consumer division recently introduced two photo printers that provide color prints rivaling those produced by a professional processing lab. The DI-910 model can produce a 4†³ _ 6†³ borderless print in approximately 37 seconds. The more sophisticated and faster DI-950 can even produce a 13†³ _ 19†³ borderless print. Financial projections show profit contributions of $42 for each DI-910 and $87 for each DI-950. The printers are assembled, tested, and packaged at DI’s plant located in New Bern, North Carolina. This plant is highly automated and uses two manufacturing lines to produce the printers. Line 1 performs the assembly operation with times of 3 minutes per DI-910 printer and 6 minutes per DI-950 printer. Line 2 performs both the testing and packaging operations. Times are 4 minutes per DI-910 printer and 2 minutes per DI-950 printer. The shorter time for the DI-950 printer is a result of its faster print speed. Both manufacturing lines are in operation one 8-hour shift per day. Managerial Report Perform an analysis for Digital Imaging in order to determine how many units of each printer to produce. Prepare a report to DI’s president presenting your findings and recommendations. Include (but do not limit your discussion to) a consideration of the following: 1. The recommended number of units of each printer to produce to maximize the total contribution to profit for an 8-hour shift. What reasons might management have for not implementing your recommendation? 2. Suppose that management also states that the number of DI-910 printers produced must be at least as great as the number of DI-950 units produced. Assuming that the objective is to maximize the total contribution to profit for an 8-hour shift, how many units of each printer should be produced? 3.  Does the solution you developed in part (2) balance the total time spent on line 1 and the total time spent on line 2? Why might this balance or lack of it be a concern to management? 4. Management requested an expansion of the model in part (2) that would provide a better balance between the total time on line 1 and the total time on line 2. Management wants to limit the difference between the total time on line 1 and the total time on line 2 to 30 minutes or less. If the objective is still to maximize the total contribution to profit, how many units of each printer should be produced? What effect does this workload balancing have on total profit in part (2)? 5. Suppose that in part (1) management specified the objective of maximizing the total number of printers produced each shift rather than total profit contribution. With this objective, how many units of each printer should be produced per shift? What effect does this objective have on total profit and workload balancing? For each solution that you develop, include a copy of your linear programming model and graphical solution in the appendix to your report.