NAVAJO CULTURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NAVAJO CULTURE - Essay Example Navajos are known to be semi-nomadic from the 16th century through the 20th century. By nomads, they move constantly in search for pasteur and a place to live. This explains their travel from as far as Alaska, to Canada, to finally settle in Arizona. Their homes are called hogans which were built in traditional fashion until the 1900s. This type of dwelling is made from wooden poles, tree barks, and mud. Due to the way they constructed their dwelling, early historians had difficulties confirming their accurate location and way of life. Their early language was referred to as Athabaskan. This type of language is spoken today by another type of Indian tribe known as the Apache. Details from the Navajo, indigenous people of North America found in Columbian Encyclopedia (2001 – 2007) noted that â€Å"their original language belongs to the Athabascan branch of the Nadene linguistic stock†. Like other cultural people from other parts of the world, the Navajo’s way of life was influenced by a diversity of different races. Since they were formally nomads, traveling from one place to the other, they got to meet different kinds of people: the Canadians, Spaniards, Pueblos, and other Indian tribes. They got to imbibe traces of the other people’s way of life and apply and adapt them as their own. Originally, they were farmers who planted corn and beans. They also hunted animals such as deer, elk and antelope, among others. Intermittently, the Navajos gathered wild vegetables, fruits and other plants for food. The Navajo Indians were famous for their weaving of blankets and rugs. Their blankets were indigenously woven using raw materials which they themselves gathered and prepared. As quoted from the article the Navajo Indian Tribe from, â€Å"no two blanket designs ever are the same†. The uniqueness and intricate patterns produced by the Navajos made them known for their woven

Dyscalculia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dyscalculia - Essay Example Some researchers declared that it is a biological trouble related to brain, some believe that emotional problems are contributing to this disorder; some psychologists declared it, a result of overall low intelligence of children and some say mathematical anxiety is causing this problem. Hence there are a lot of views regarding dyscalculia. A lot of researches have been made to identify the reason causing dyscalculia, yet it is not clear what actually is making it difficult for the children to understand mathematics. Whatsoever is causing dyscalculia; the methods to resolve this problem must be defined and implemented in schools for such children. A person needs to identify whether the problem exists or not before solving it. The first step in helping such children is to examine if the child is having dyscalculia or is it just because of lack of attention and interest. Three methods are defined to diagnose dyscalculia. However one out of those three techniques is considered effective. Two of them evaluate the tendency of a child of solving mathematical problems. These techniques diagnose dyscalculia by considering the errors made by the child and the time taken by the child to solve basic mathematical sums. While solving mathematical problems, a child may be influenced by the environment and other changes. The techniques to diagnose dyscalculia must not be a normal mathematics test as a child may be weak mentally i.e. he may have low aptitude level. The child may be distracted due to some other activity and errors may occur due to some misunderstanding and less power to learn and fathom questions easily. Therefore, the most effective technique is considered to be 'The dyscalculia Screener', which is developed by Butterworth, 2003. This screener is designed to diagnose dyscalculia among the children between the ages of 6 to 14. There are certain mathematical skills that human beings adopt automatically from the nature. For example, a person may easily identify that a set of data contains a numeric value, 6 is less than 7 and counting (2 comes after 1). Dyscalculia is basically designed to carry out if the child is lacking inherent numerical knowledge. This software program is designed with three different groups. The first group is named as dot enumeration, second is called as number comparison and third is arithmetic achievement. The screener shows the weaknesses of a child in the natural human mathematics skills. If a child is performing at a low level in dot enumeration and number comparison and has medium performance in arithmetic then he has dyscalculia. In contrast, if he's perf orming at a high level in dot enumeration and number comparison but performing badly in arithmetic test, he's just bad at arithmetic know-how. Despite of the importance of this screener, it is not considered to be the most successful idea. The price offered to schools is higher than the budget of schools which rely on funds. On the other hand, some schools do not take note of its usefulness and hence despite of having enough finance they do not purchase this helpful and efficient tool. People having dyscalculia are also affected socially because we need

Anti-Spam and Anti-Malware Protection in Exchange 2013

Anti-Spam and Anti-Malware Protection in Exchange 2013 Siddiq Mohammed Siddiq Aburuzayzah Abstract : This article show what are anti spam and anti malware not been changed sins version   2007 ,   2010 and 2013 Introduction : The Exchange 2003 built in Open Relay Filter or Real time Black hole List capabilities and DNS Blacklist And supplemented later Microsoft Exchange smart Message Filter ( IMF ) And to provide Protection of the highest and most powerful anti-spam It used smart screen technology from Microsoft and for this reason he became in 2004 ( IMF )   part from Exchange 2003 in SP2 . With Exchange 2007 and 2010 was able to Microsoft Corp . to develop and improve the exchange of capabilities to fight spam by providing connection filtering , attachment filtering, sender ID,   content filtering , And other features like   sender reputation and IP allow / block lists from out the box , on server edge   or edge server . Also on transport hup server could enabled All these features , With the exceptions of attachment filtering and connection Which means that most start-ups and small organizations do not have the capacity and the means or sufficient volume of e-mail To justify the cost of installation and maintenance of complete network with edge transport hup , and can almost take advantage of the full capabilities of the anti-spam Although it has been providing good protection level and for some reason was never in built anti malware protection . Usually supplemented Features by using third-party software or appliance , or Microsofts own software and anti malware also anti pam . Anti-Spam in Exchange 2013 : Exchange 2013 offers classes ways to curb Anti spam , And also provides filtering   anti spam Through the use of transport agents With built-in transport agents to anti   spam , Without adding any changes in the exchange in 2013 . Anti-Spam Mailbox Agents : When it is not the organization some kind of third party anti-spam or server transport agents Anti spam agents usually enabled on mailbox servers filtering appliance . Enabling Anti-Spam : The following factors anti spam in exchange 2013 It is not installed by default, but are available in the transport service on the Mailbox server , According to Anti-Spam and Anti-Malware (2013) : Content Filter agent Sender ID agent Sender Filter agent Recipient Filter agent Protocol Analysis agent for sender reputation Some organizations have usually proven anti-spam agents in the transport service on the mailbox When all mail accepted without spam filtering , Until that there is exchange of works on messages before they reach your inbox , such as ( the exchange of 2010 ) , Inbox recognize the agents anti-spam X-headers   And which added from   exchange   , Some messages that contain the X-headers Pass without examination . Example : Exchange Online Protection Anti-Spam VS   Exchange 2013 : It is typically used in the exchange of three ways Although he is capable of providing excellent features or capabilities to anti spam and ease of administration Where organizations can buy EOP from Microsoft where they help to protect the mail from intrusion and malicious software : Provide protection for the exchange in the work environment .   Ã‚   Since the Microsoft Exchange portion of the Internet with EOP Cloud hosted online exchange . With the deployment of the hybrid with EOP Messages protect the environment and governed and mail routing There is a mix of cloud and cans workplace . The benefits of using EOP versus Exchange 2013 : Easy configuration Excellent connection filtering Excellent content filtering Conclusion: In conclusion, the fight against spam in the exchange in 2013 did not solve   any real practical changes sins Exchange   2007 and Exchange 2010 until this day   .

American Beauty :: Film Movies American Beauty Essays

American Beauty American Beauty tells the story of one man's search for happiness. The film introduces the audience to Lester Burnham, an ordinary- looking married man and father in his forties. Lester is in a loveless marriage. Lester's wife, Carolyn, is so wrapped-up in her real estate career that Lester often claims that Carolyn doesn't even acknowledge him. Furthermore, Lester's daughter, Jane, is completely distant, often claiming how "pathetic" she thinks her father is. Moreover, Lester has dedicated fourteen years to his occupation, and suddenly, he is in danger of losing his job due to downsizing. All of these factors dramatically effect Lester and culminate into feelings of desperation and vulnerability for him. Lester is therefore in search of an escape and a rebirth. He is seeking the slightest possibility of happiness. Throughout the story Lester is consistently reminiscing on his past; wishing he could have it back. In the beginning portions of the story, Lester, as the narrator, state s that "it is never too late to regain your past." The catalyst to this frame of thought is Jane's friend, Angela. Lester feels excited by the thought that a teen-age girl thinks he is "hot." Lester overhears Angela state that she would have sex with him if Lester would start working-out and build-up his body. This drives Lester to change himself completely. Lester, in desperate search of happiness , finds an escape in Angela. Much like a hormone-driven teenage boy, Lester thinks that if he can "score" with a "bombshell" like Angela, then he will be reborn. Lester's mission for happiness and escape is further perpetuated by his eighteen year old neighbor, Ricky. In Ricky, Lester sees his model for rebirth. Lester calls Ricky his "hero" and is in awe of Ricky's confidence. Lester, then begins a transformation back to his stereotypical understanding of what a teenager is. Lester begins to work-out, smoke pot, and drink beer. Much like a teen, he rebels against responsibility by quitti ng his job and; therefore, bypassing his duties as a provider to his daughter and wife. Furthermore, Lester spontaneously, trades in his Mercedes automobile for a 1970's cherry-red Trans Am sports car. In addition, Lester pursues a job with the least amount of responsibility. He finds that job in a fast food restaurant. All of these actions are deemed necessary to Lester because this is the way to escape and thus achieving happiness.

The Most Important Event in Us History

Most Significant Event in U. S. History: The Louisiana Purchase The United States is not the most perfect country, but it is one of the most successful countries of the modern world. Our country’s vast history contains an immense amount of significant and momentous events that have molded our country into the place we know today. As a country, we have had our fair share of triumph, crisis, and everything in between. But overall, the most important event in the history of the United States is the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson’s purchasing of 828,000 square miles of land in Central America causing the country to double in size.The purchase of this enormous amount of land advanced us politically as we began to make decisions to start expanding and improving our country, our economy improved due to the gain of the Mississippi River and New Orleans trade port, and it diversified America by introducing new races to us, including the Spanish and French. The President at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson, had a great desire for his country’s western expansion. One of Louisiana’s most populous cities at the time, New Orleans, was a popular trading port that sat on the Mississippi River.Jefferson knew American settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains relied on river transport for trading, so he decided to try to gain its control. When Jefferson discovered that he ended up getting ten times the amount of land he asked for a pretty decent price, he was shocked. The land that America now owned doubled the size of the country. Even though the U. S. was not financially in a position to be spending as much as $15 million dollars, Jefferson could not simply pass up this bargain at nearly 3 cents an acre. This large expansion of our country gave us more land to begin to farm and create settlements on.Even though this move was inexpensive, many Federalists claimed it was unconstitutional. Nowhere did the Constitution stat e that the federal government was allowed to purchase new land. Jefferson knew that this was unconstitutional and felt guilty for even going through with the offer, since it went against his strong beliefs for upholding the constitutional rights. But most Americans supported him and his decision, so he decided to stick with it. Jefferson’s risky act of following his dream of western expansion gave inspiration for future presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D.Roosevelt to take strong executive action even when the constitutional laws were absent. Jefferson’s act of near defiance to take the land our people needed is very important to our country and what it is today. The purchase of this large amount of land made America seem threatening to most other countries, since European colonies were no longer present in North America. The Louisiana Purchase was one of the first major actions that began to unify the country, strengthen, and expand it at the same ti me.When New Orleans was still under French rule, American trade was put in jeopardy when Napoleon threatened to block U. S. access to the New Orleans trade port of the Mississippi River. Due to the location of the Appalachian Mountain range, American settlements relied on river transport to trade their goods. So Jefferson made sure he claimed the territory of Louisiana for his country. Once American had access to the Mississippi River and the New Orleans Trade port in time trade was able to flourish. Also, the land purchase included thirteen new states that became a part of our country, which also improved our economy.When Jefferson decided to send out his secretary, Meriwether Lewis and army officer William Clark to explore his newly purchased land, with the help of a Shoshoni woman Sacajawea, it was another plus for our country’s economy. America gained an expansive amount of scientific observations, and many maps and ideas of the land and its climate and regions. We could now create new states, and create new types of farming and agricultural opportunities, now possible with the vast amounts of land just gained. The Louisiana Purchase helped broaden ways for our economy to grow and expand its horizons with advances in trade, and agriculture.The Louisiana Purchase benefited our country in many ways, and one of the most acknowledged advancements we see and know today is the racial diversity we received when the U. S. acquired Louisiana. Even before Louisiana was under French control, it was preciously under Spanish reign. The mix of these races, French, Spanish, and also the African American slaves brought to America gave and still gives New Orleans its assorted culture it has to this day. Before the Louisiana Purchase, the majority of the citizens living in America were either white, or slaves brought over from Africa.The gain of Louisiana gave America the racial diversity it needed to begin to grow culturally as a country. Today New Orleans is one of the most culture rich cities in our country. It has customs all its own. When Louisiana became a state in 1812, it took its French legal traditions with it. Even now, Louisiana has many laws that are quite different than the English common law. The Louisiana Purchase helped diversify our country and was one of the first states that added different culture and races to our country. The U. S. s a country that has been through and abundance of historical events. But by far, the most significant event in our American history is the Louisiana Purchase. It has expanded and improved our country and inspired our country’s future leaders, it introduced new trade and agricultural possibilities, and it gave our country the racial diversity it needed to enrich our country’s culture. The Louisiana Purchase was the breakthrough our country needed to put an end to controlling colonies and to start taking over continents.

James Joyce Background Information

James Joyce Essay: First Two Pages James Joyce, author of â€Å"Araby,† â€Å"Eveline,† and Ulysses, attempts to correct the way of life in his home town of Dublin, Ireland, through his works. He does this through the theme of coming of age and recurring religious allusions in â€Å"Araby†. Additionally, Joyce talks about family in â€Å"Eveline† through the themes of escape and betrayal. In Ulysses, he uses stream of consciousness to depict the importance of a father by rewriting Homer’s The Odyssey.James Joyce addresses many Irish problems of his time through his works: such as, religious issues in â€Å"Araby† and â€Å"Eveline† and social problems in Ulysses. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on February 2, 1882, in Dublin, Ireland (â€Å"James Joyce† 1). His inspiration for writing came from his experiences in this town. For example, James Joyce’s father was a highly regarded tenor singer in Ireland; but being a singer, no steady income existed for his family (1).Adding to this lack of stability, his father was also an alcoholic, so his family never had much money to live on during Joyce’s childhood (1). This situation with his father most likely gave James the inspiration to write about paternity in his novel Ulysses. James Joyce, however, not only wrote about his own family, he also wrote about the entire society in Dublin. When Joyce traveled to Paris, France, in 1902, he discovered a â€Å"liberated city completely opposite that of his native city† (â€Å"The Life and Work† 1). For this reason, Joyce wrote all of his pieces of literature about Dublin.He wrote about Irish politics, which his parents introduced him to; and he wrote about what he thought life should be like in Dublin based on how it is in Paris (1). James Joyce additionally wrote about his wife. His wife, Nora Barnacle, provided Joyce with a person for him to develop his groundbreaking female charact ers, such as Molly Bloom in Ulysses. For Molly Bloom, Joyce actually asked his wife to cheat on him so that he would be in the same situation as the characters in Ulysses (Ellman 58). From his life in Dublin, James Joyce received ample inspiration from the social unrest of his hometown.

Summary of Dell Computer

Summary of Dell Computer Free Online Research Papers Dell Computer is a leader in the e-commerce computer hardware market. It is an established brand that leads personal computer manufacturers in U.S. sales and overall online sales. Its trademark method of selling products to customers, corporate and individual consumers, emanates from the Dell Direct model, a Web-enabled infrastructure that allows customers to customize their PCs and order other products they need or desire. This virtual integration structure eliminates the need to manufacture everything, and instead uses the power of the Internet to share and exchange information with suppliers and vendors to build a truly superior supply chain that keeps inventory turnover low and costs to a minimum (Harrington, 2002). Constantly changing technology directly impacts Dell’s success. The primary method Dell uses in order to achieve and sustain their competitive advantage is a unique, direct to customer business model (Dell, 2007). The Internet is Dell’s key success factor which results in lower costs to customers than other retailers because customers tell Dell exactly what they want and Dell creates products for the consumer without experiencing wasteful resources in production (Breen, 2004). Dell’s supply chain works as follows. After a customer places an order, either by phone or through the Internet, Dell processes the order, which takes two to three days, after which it sends the order to one of its manufacturing plants in Austin, Texas. These plants can build, test, and package the product in about eight hours (Kapuscinski et al, 2004). The general rule for production is first in, first out, and Dell typically plans to ship all orders no later than five days after receipt. Since many of Dell’s suppliers are located in Southeast Asia, Dell has significantly less time to respond to customers than it takes to transport components from its suppliers to its assembly plants. To compensate for this, Dell requires its suppliers to keep inventory on hand in the Austin plant, referred to as revolvers (for â€Å"revolving† inventory). Revolvers or Supplier logistics Centers (SLCs) are small warehouses located within a few miles of Dell’s assembly plants. Each revolver is shared by several suppliers (Breen, 2004). The inventory in Dell’s revolvers is not owned by Dell. It is owned by suppliers and charged to Dell indirectly through component pricing (Kapuscinski et al, 2004). However, the cost of maintaining inventory in the supply chain is included in the final prices of the computers. Therefore, any reduction in inventory benefits Dell’s customers directly by reducing product prices. Low inventories also lead to higher product quality, because Dell detects any quality problems more quickly than it would with high inventories (Pizinger, 2004). Dell wishes to stay ahead of competitors who adopt a direct-sales approach, and it must be able to reduce supplier inventory to gain significant leverage. Although arguably supply-chain costs include all costs incurred from raw parts to final assembly, Dell concentrates on Dell-specific inventory (that is, parts designed to Dell’s specifications or stored in Dell specific locations, such as its revolvers and assembly plants). Because assembly plants hold inventories for only a few hours, Dell’s primary target, in this project, was the inventory in revolvers (Kapuscinski et al, 2004). Dell holds inventory only for the six to eight hours it travels across the assembly line and for the 18 hours it takes for the completed CPU to be trucked to a merge center in Reno, Nevada, where the unit is bundled with a monitor and shipped to the customer (Harrington, 2002). Dell also works the other end of the supply chain the customer to eliminate the evil of inventory. Essentially, its replacing inventory with information. The company keeps a massive database that tracks the purchasing patterns and budget cycles of its corporate customers, and predicts upgrade purchases by individual repeat consumers, which enables it to forecast demand with about 75% accuracy (Kapuscinski et al, 2004). Three times a day, Dell updates its demand forecast for key suppliers on its extranet portal. When Dell misses a forecast which it does from 5% to 25% of the time and finds itself running out of, say, 15-inch flat screens, it runs a one-week special for 17-inch screens. Its direct-to-the-customer model allows it to shift demand to match what its suppliers can deliver. Supply-chain experts call this demand shaping, and Dell has mastered this competitive weapon, too. But while such tactics have helped Dell to almost eliminate inventory from its balance sheet, its sup pliers cannot claim to have done the same (Solis, 2001). Dell’s supply chain management success can be summed up in one idea. â€Å"Supply chain management shortens the cycle between the component, the manufacturer and the end customer. We are allowing them to almost touch each other, (E-commerce)† according to Michael Chong, e-business Technology Manager of Dell Computer Corporation. Supply chain management is the effective and efficient movement of materials from suppliers, through a company and into products, which eventually is received by consumers (Dell, 2007). References Breen, Bill. (2004). Living in Dell Time. Fast Company. Retrieved November 3, 2007 from fastcompany.com/magazine/88/dell.html. Dell.com. (2007) Supplier Principles: Supply Chain Management System. Retrieved November 4, 2007 from dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/sup_prince/en/supply?c=usl=ens=corp Harrington, L. (2002). Industry Week. Retrieved November 3, 2007. The Accelerated Value Chain: Supply chain management just got smarter, faster and more cost-effective, thanks to a groundbreaking alliance between Intel and i2 technologies. Kapuscinski, R., Zhang, R., Carbonneau,P., Moore, R., Reeves, B. (2004) INFORMS – Interfaces Inventory Decisions in Dell’s Supply Chain – Vol. 34 No.3 May-June 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from tmi.umich.edu/dell.pdf. Pizinger, Michael (2004). Retrieved November 3, 2007, Extending DELL’s Direct Model to Product Development via Supplier Collaboration Tools, The Management Roundtable. Solis, Adriano O. (2001). SOME SUCCESS STORIES IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT. Retrieved November 3, 2007 from http://utminers.utep.edu/solis/NAPM%20- %20El%20Paso/Criterion%20Articles/Academic%20Advisor%27s%20Corner%20may% 202001.doc Research Papers on Summary of Dell ComputerBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfOpen Architechture a white paperMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThe Project Managment Office SystemDefinition of Export QuotasGenetic EngineeringNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceTwilight of the UAW

Dothiepin Vs Fluoxetine Mechanism of Action and Pharmacodynamics essays

Dothiepin Vs Fluoxetine Mechanism of Action and Pharmacodynamics essays Comparison Between Mechanism of Action and Pharmacodynamics of Dothiepin and Fluoxetine Mechanism of action and pharmacodynamics Dothiepin is a tricyclic antidepressant. It acts by promoting the effectiveness of several amines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, which is also known as 5HT and serotonin). It functions by inhibiting their reuptake at the terminals of nerve cells, thus leading to their prolonged presence at the synaptic cleft and an increased effect on the neuron.(1) The reuptake pumps for the above amines are responsible for reducing the concentration of these amines. Dothiepin works by blocking the pumps. According to the amine hypothesis, a decreased concentration of the amines and the resulting decrease in amine dependant synaptic transmission is associated with depression, therefore an increase in the above would help relieve the symptoms of depression. (2) Dothiepin has other actions as well. It reduces norepinephrine induced CAMP formation in the brain, as well as inhibiting the uptake of 5HT into platelets. It also has some anticholinergic and antihistaminic activity.(3) Dothiepin begins to take effect after approximately 2-3 weeks. Usual daily doses of Dothiepin range from 75mg to 200mg in the more severe cases. (2) Fluoxetine belongs to a group of antidepressants known as the SSRIs, or Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It functions is similar to that of dothiepin above. It also acts as a reuptake inhibitor, but is highly selective. It only inhibits 5HT reuptake, and lacks many of the less useful functions of dothiepin, such as the antihistaminic properties. (1) As above the result in increase in the presence of serotonin at the synaptic cleft results in a decrease in many symptoms of depression. Fluoxetine does however have some side effects including nausea, tremors, loss of libido and in some cases decreased sexual function. (2) It is also possible that it may have a...

Business Communications Report

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the importance of oral communications within the workplace, as well as to identify the aspects and skills that are valued within the workplace. This report will also give recommendations to the problems it highlights. 1. 2. 3 Questions * Is oral communication really a problem among graduates in the workplace? * Which aspects of oral communication are valued more within the workplace? * Which oral communication skills are lacking in graduates within the workplace? * What solutions could we recommend to the NUS management? 1. 3 Scope The ability to express ideas convincingly should therefore be an aspect to be focused on. 3. 4 Need for Clarity of Content The findings have made obvious that clear content is of high priority within the workplace. This oral communication skill is needed because the content is the crux of the message being sent to others and it needs to be clear and concise to avoid confusion. As such this oral communication skill should be focused on. 3. 5 Need for Confidence in Oral Communications The importance of this skill has been noted in the findings. This communication skill complements the other conclusions, as confidence is something that is required for all aspects of oral communications. Clearly, confidence is a skill that should be focused on. 4. Recommendations Based on the conclusions made above, this report recommends changing the NUS curriculum to involve more opportunities to practice oral communications skills, as well as to introduce a public forum, providing chances for all students to speak publicly more. 4. 1 Change in NUS Curriculum This proposal involves a tweaking of all modules in NUS to accommodate even more usage of oral communications skills than at current levels. For example, module marks could be adjusted to allow for more emphasis on presentations or interaction with the lecturer and the class. This would not only allow students to practice their oral communications as a whole, but also improve on specific aspects and skills, like their confidence and clarity. It is noted that this proposal would be difficult to implement and would also take time to adjust to for the entire university. However, this strategy would help all NUS students to improve their oral communications skills greatly over their time in NUS as they are encouraged to work on their oral communications. Thus this would be a long term solution for the problems stated above. 4. 2 Creating Student Forums The Management should also consider utilizing a key aspect of education in NUS: student life. Through providing a forum for students to speak up, especially about issues that the students have passion for, they will get more practice at oral communications. They would also debate and discuss among themselves about such issues, further boosting their proficiency in key skills like being convincing in oral communications. This suggestion does have certain drawbacks, like difficulty in implementing instantly as students are not used to it. However, over time, and with proper promotion and support from student leaders, it could be a good avenue for students to air their views and practice their oral communications skills at the same time.

Project on leaflet ordering within the workplace Essay

Project on leaflet ordering within the workplace - Essay Example These provide customers with comprehensive information regarding tenancy, ownership, entitlements, neighbourhood plans, safety, security and all supportive systems forming part of the housing scheme. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and effectiveness of changes implemented in the ordering and display of customer information leaflets at KHT’s six offices across the borough. When undertaking changes in any part of an organization’s functioning, the individual, team and organizational levels need to be taken into account. Effectively addressing the issues that require change through relevant management processes, leads to the required results. It is essential to consider beneficial outcomes for customers, cost-effectiveness for the organization, have both vision and pragmatism, â€Å"pay attention to global and local issues, and encourage individual accountability at the same time as enabling team work† (Cameron and Green 2004, p.3). Effective management of change provides competitive advantage, improves enterprise and helps to consistently meet organizational goals. Managing change is a â€Å"complex, dynamic and challenging process† (Paton and McCalman 2000, p.2) involving assessment of the situation, planning tactical, strategic processes, and implementing operational changes. The work profile includes travelling to each of the Knowsley Housing Trust (KHT) offices on a weekly basis, to check whether all leaflets pertaining to KHT and its various benefit schemes, support and services are displayed correctly. A short notice inspection revealed that some of the leaflets displayed were out of date. Secondly, it was found that staff members were not willing to take responsibility towards stock taking and ordering fresh stocks according to the requirement. This resulted in the ordering of excessive numbers of the information leaflets, causing expensive wastage. A

Case study furniture bank Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case study furniture bank - Term Paper Example Though the company is going to incur expenses which have to be given from the cash in hand or go for bank loans. But furniture bank being a charitable organization will also get some rebate in the interest levied on the loan. Once the furniture banking starts building up on the cash, they will also be in a position to spread an awareness regarding their cause for which they are working in the country. Moreover, a further cash of $127000 can be earned from which the expenses of the truck drivers can be borne. Thus, the truck which gets utilized for five days for 90 hours can give more output. Capital Campaign The problem faced by the charitable institution like furniture banking may be that of many other organizations which non profit making institutions are. Being a charitable institution the land acquired by furniture bank was given for free; which is now being taken away forcefully with the intention of building houses at affordable rates. The institution also wants to move to a pl ace which is easily accessible to their entire volunteers who live in Greater Toronto Area. But getting a property there even at a subsidised rate accounts to $1.5million to 3.5million which is almost beyond the limit of furniture bank. Though the institution is having a favourable cash balance yet the rate proposed is beyond their limits because if they go for a property at exorbitant price then the cash required for rendering services will get reduced hampering the cause which is their main motive behind starting of the organization. So in order to get rid of the relocation problem some steps need to be taken like the create more volunteers for the organization, improving fund raising skills and confidence and train the existing staff for making a strong team towards the achievement of the goals. But until a suitable place to set up the institution is found it would not be advisable to shift from the present location under any circumstances (Kihlstedt, 2010, p. 2). Information Tec hnology The information technology is an essential element to run any business effectively, be it profit making or non profit making organization. To track the caller of the furniture bank a proper information system should be built up so that the company can expand more. The cause of the company though a good one is not yet marketed properly so the number of volunteers is a mere 30 members. For a non profit making organization to grow it is very important to spread the cause near and far. This will require more volunteers than presently existing, so marketing through the information technology will not only spread the cause of furniture bank but also do the needful at an affordable cost. Even the records of the institution related to its policies and procedures will be well maintained unlike now. Answering calls will be much prompt than that of now. Customer relationship will also get enhanced. Though the initial cost will come to around $90000 approximately with a monthly payment of $1500 for system maintenance and direct technical support, yet it is advisable to bear with the

Ethics and God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics and God - Essay Example The question here is, â€Å"Who decides the ethical standards for humans?† Certainly, the answer is God Almighty! There are various religions in this world, that differ in their intrinsic concepts, beliefs, trends, traditions, teachings, norms and values. However, almost all religions have one thing in common, what is good is appreciated by all religions and what is bad is condemned by all in general. Religion serves as the standard institution for the followers. The fundamental concept of a religion is that there is a God, or Gods (as some religions may emphasize), who has laid out certain standards for the followers. God clearly conveys through the religion what is good and what is bad. In addition to that, God has also inculcated a sense in humans so that they may differentiate between right and wrong. When people believe in God, they tend to respect ethics because they have fear of God. Thus, ethics cultivates in the society and becomes a standard for the people to abide b y. For example, murder is considered wrong â€Å"not just† because it is against humanity, â€Å"but also† because it is condemned by God, and God has inflicted punishment of burning in the hell for those who kill others (Baumgarth and Regan). If some people do not believe in God, they would still have a sense to distinguish between right and wrong.

Develop a personal view on what business ethics means Essay

Develop a personal view on what business ethics means - Essay Example In the case above, ethical values can be demonstrated where the law suggests that animals are to be given intrinsic value as well as their value of human welfare. It is therefore important to observe species such as the turtles which are known to be scarce thus should not be discriminated. Recent development in North American beaches has significantly reduced the existence of these species as that’s where they breed. Ethical dilemmas are a normal occurrence to many managers. Sea turtles in the US water have been an endangered species for a long time. Due to the growing number of endangered species in the US an act referred to as Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973. This was meant to protect the endangered and threatened animal and plant species. Turtle’s population in America has decreased in the past years as a result of many predisposing factors like beach development on their habitat, killing of females and taking away the eggs, leaking oil in the water basins, water pollution and extravagant fishing. Efforts have been set to protect the endangered species. These efforts include; after the female hatch, the eggs are taken to a protected marine environment where they would hatch, introduction of the TED, increase in the number of hatcheries and regulation of the inshore areas (Cruver 2002). Despite many challenges to save the turtle which included violence against the use of TED device, more efforts were put into place to enhance their sa fety. Anyone who violated the TED was fined depending on the circumstances. The TED device however faced many critics which followed with shrimpers protesting that they were forced to use TED. United States population consumes a lot of turtles and to save them they started importing from China and other countries where fishing of turtles is legal. Such kind of arguments showed that there was need for a law to protect the lives of sea animals and encourage them from reproduction. All

To what extend does Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation Essay - 2

To what extend does Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation standards improves healthcare facilities - Essay Example Therefore, collectivism can be considered the second main factor after that of religion in influencing Saudi culture. On the other hand, one of the cultural issues influencing healthcare in Saudi Arabia is consanguineous marriages. These societies prefer consanguineous marriages for various reasons such as to strengthen family relationships or to avoid financial assets or property falling into the hands of individuals outside the family (Bittles, 2001). Regarding healthcare, according to Al- Abdulkareem and Ballal (1998), consanguineous marriages have been found to be one of the causes of certain inherited blood diseases among Saudis. In 2003, the Saudi government therefore introduced a pre-marriage test to reduce the rate of such diseases. However, a study by Alsulaiman and Hewison (2006) on attitudes to the pre-natal and pre-implantation diagnosis of Saudi parents at genetic risk showed that, out of 30 couples asked, only 50% would accept such a test. In KSA, modern healthcare system and quality management did not exist until 1926. Up until then, health services had been provided by individuals not governmental authority. Healthcare and quality have organised through several stages to reach present day status. However, quality management started to appear in the public and private healthcare sectors, by many workers attracted to the idea of Total Quality Management (TQM). Dale (2007) argues that shifting TQM from the manufacturing industry to the health sector is difficult for a number of reasons: the managerial environment differs from other sectors, consumers in healthcare are different as they use the service as patients, the nature of failure, where few errors are able to be fixed and the complexity of the workforce in the health sector. All these reasons make the implementation of JCI accreditation standards in TQM or continuous quality improvement a challenging

Obama on Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Obama on Family - Essay Example In order to fulfill educational requirements, majority of students in America are working part-time. In most of the cases, this is not their hobby but their need. The children and the family members both dont get much attention from their heads as they're out to work, this leads to communication gap between them, which further becomes the root cause of many problems. Obama also added to this, by comparing his own commitments, professional and personal both, and commented on how he use to keep a balance between his personal commitments, and professional commitments, and consign errands in a more fair way, as Obama and his wife managed and organized their commitments. Obama agrees that this condition is not suitable for the whole family. Yet, he puts the blame on Republicans who, according to his point of view, are not coming up with a realistic and approachable solution to the long-established family structure. Obama has clearly explained that in order to make children well establishe d and firm in the way to progress, they need personal attention and social relationships with stronger and long lasting effect of love and admiration.

To what extend does Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation Essay - 2

To what extend does Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation standards improves healthcare facilities - Essay Example Therefore, collectivism can be considered the second main factor after that of religion in influencing Saudi culture. On the other hand, one of the cultural issues influencing healthcare in Saudi Arabia is consanguineous marriages. These societies prefer consanguineous marriages for various reasons such as to strengthen family relationships or to avoid financial assets or property falling into the hands of individuals outside the family (Bittles, 2001). Regarding healthcare, according to Al- Abdulkareem and Ballal (1998), consanguineous marriages have been found to be one of the causes of certain inherited blood diseases among Saudis. In 2003, the Saudi government therefore introduced a pre-marriage test to reduce the rate of such diseases. However, a study by Alsulaiman and Hewison (2006) on attitudes to the pre-natal and pre-implantation diagnosis of Saudi parents at genetic risk showed that, out of 30 couples asked, only 50% would accept such a test. In KSA, modern healthcare system and quality management did not exist until 1926. Up until then, health services had been provided by individuals not governmental authority. Healthcare and quality have organised through several stages to reach present day status. However, quality management started to appear in the public and private healthcare sectors, by many workers attracted to the idea of Total Quality Management (TQM). Dale (2007) argues that shifting TQM from the manufacturing industry to the health sector is difficult for a number of reasons: the managerial environment differs from other sectors, consumers in healthcare are different as they use the service as patients, the nature of failure, where few errors are able to be fixed and the complexity of the workforce in the health sector. All these reasons make the implementation of JCI accreditation standards in TQM or continuous quality improvement a challenging

Psychological Testing Essay Example for Free

Psychological Testing Essay This paper is all about the uses and varieties of personality and projective tests. It aims to determine which tool is more reliable and valid to use in measuring and predicting the behavior of an individual. Furthermore, this paper discusses the uniformity of two different texts used containing the same stance that personality tests exceed the projective terms in terms of convenience to use, reliability, and validity. Personality and Projective Tests Introduction Personality and projective tests are psychological tests used to measure and evaluate the behavior of individuals in the school, community, and even workplace setting. The tests function to determine the difference of personalities among different individuals (examinees) taking the same test. Upon taking the test, interpretation of examinees’ scores would depend on their respective test results. However, in this paper, researchers of different psychological tests suggest that personality tests are more reliable and valid compared to projective tests. Personality and Projective Tests Albert Hood Richard Johnson (2008), a member of the American Counseling Association, collaborated to come up with Assessment in Counseling (2008), a book which discusses the different types of personality and projective tests. In the text, samples of personality tests include the following: the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory/MMPI2, Jackson’s Personality Research Form (PRF), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R). Further, CPI scale where 16 PF is adapted is recommended to be used for marriage and career counseling, job performance appraisals, and evaluation of management skills in the workplace. On the other hand, the different projective tests include the following: the Rorschach Ink Blot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), House-Tree-Person (HTP), Roter Incomplete Sentences Blank, and Early Recollection. However, the Rorschach Inkblot Test was found to be the most commonly used projective technique to make inference of an individual’s behavior. In addition, Anne Anastasi (Dept. of Psychology in Fodrham University) and Susana Urbina (Dept. of Psychology in University of Florida) (2002), in their book Psychological Testing, suggest that personality tests are far better to use than projective tests since the latter is more complicated to execute and is more prone to erroneous interpretation regardless of the examiner’s years of experience in handling the test. Scope of the Literature Problem and Significance of the Problem The significance of the problem is to answer the question: â€Å"Which is a better tool to predict the behavior of an individual, is it the personality or the projective tests? † Research problem(s) Explored in the Study The two articles reviewed focus on the problem whether personality tests, observation, and inventories are more reliable, predictive tool in measuring the behavior of an individual rather than the projective tests. Hypothesis in the study Hypothesis of this study suggests that using personality inventories or psychological tests are better than using projective tests to assess a person’s behavior. Research Design and Methodology Research design to be used is descriptive correlational. The approach or tool to be used is the Pearson (r) correlation to determine the relationship between the two variables. Conclusion Psychological tests are tools to measure and predict the behavior of an individual. Depending on its purpose, personality tests and projective tests aim to assess personalities in different settings such as school, workplace, and community. In school, the tests serve the college students’ need to be counseled for the career that suits their personality; at work, the tests are used to evaluate which candidate is more fit for the job; and in the community, the tests determine who are mentally healthy and who are not for providing welfare. References Anastasi, A. Urbina S. (2002). Psychological Testing. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Hood, A. B. Johnson R. (2008). Assessment in Counseling: A Guide to Psychological Assessment Procedures. Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria: American Counseling Association.

Criticisms And Arguments Against Transformational Leadership Management Essay

Criticisms And Arguments Against Transformational Leadership Management Essay A person can have many distinctive qualities, leadership is among those qualities, not everyone possess such quality, which made this quality special and extraordinary. In the field of business, a decision often comes down to success and failure, leadership is one of the most important quality for a managerial person to have. As Thomas J. Watson, Jr. had put it: I believe the real difference between success and failure in a corporation can be very often traced to the question of how well the organization brings out the great energies and talents of its people. Leaders that can bring positive or beneficial effect to a group or enterprise are consider as a transformational leader, they are energetic, passionate, not only they focus on the systems and the structure of a business, they also focus on the individual employee to do well and to be successful as well. According to Cox (2001), leadership is divided into two categories: transactional leadership and transformational leadership. The distinction between the two, according to James McGregor Burns work on political leader (1978), are those ones who uses the policy of rewards to motive and earn his/her employees efficiency and loyalty, is called transactional leader; and those ones who gets involve with his/her employee, also possess determination and committed towards success as well as motivates its employees in exchange for their high performance, also their loyalty. However, in this ever changing world, business leaders needs improve his/her skill and ability in order to coordinate wit h the change. In this particular essay, the main focus will be on the transformational leadership and some of the arguments and criticisms against it, as well as some counter arguments in favor of the transformational leadership; along with supporting explanations, facts and various examples. Arguments against Transformational Leadership Theory: Study results shows that Transformational Leadership have its positive effect on organizations, improve its work productivity, performance and as well as the creativities, according to Bass and Avolio (1994), it can be found in every aspect of an enterprise, because sometimes transformational leaders are the type of leaders needed for an company to survive, according to Burn (1978): recognizes and exploits an existing need or demand of a potential followerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower. A transformational leader in an organization often break through its frame of organization culture and thrive, which made transformational leadership one of the most renewed and popular leadership theory in modern days, nevertheless, its resplendency is not without oppugns. There are many criticisms against the theory of transformational leadership, one of the criticism is transformational theory is very difficult to be trained or taught, because its components are too comprehensive; on the other hands, one of the argument against transformational leadership is that supporters might be handled by leaders. Among them all, one of the important key criticisms against transformational theory is accusing it to be only for the selected individuals, which may lead to abusing of power. As Colonel Mark .A Homig (2001) have stated that: Transformational leadership is a double edged sword. Which means that, when a transformational leader over done his part in terms of leadership, his/her innate defect in personality or even later life experience can turn him/her into another type transformational leadership, the one on the opposite side-Pseudo transformation leadership. According to Mark. A. Homig: has a potential immoral and unethical dimension that could be exp loited by an unscrupulous leader inflicted on naive and unsuspecting followers. For example, Adolf Hitler was elected as the leader of Germany, he came into power during Germanys economic inflation and depression in 1920s, he did pull Germany out of its economic depression, however, after first couple of years honeymoon between him and the country, his follower later become so obsessed with him and followed him blindly into his conquest for his so called Lebensraum for Germany, which brought one of the worst disaster to Europe. Other example is Shoko Asahara, founder and leader of Aum Shinrikyo, also known as Aleph, a Japanese cult that is responsible for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. The second key argument against transformational leadership is the un-clarity of its definition and components, since the definitions of the four components (Inspirational, Intellectual, Idealized, and Individualized) associated with transformational leadership are overlapping each other. According to Brayman (1992), the transformational leadership looks more suited to be a set of personality characteristics rather than special requirements. There are other various arguments against transformational leadership as well, like the ones associated with ethics, according to Avolio and Howell (1992), qualities that makes a great leader can lead to unethical act, as the first key point in this section stated, such leader can make his/her follower to make unethical decisions and even commit crimes as well, according to Yukl.G. (1998). One example for this case is Hitler. Within this essay, the focus will be on the above arguments, in the following section, and in-depth analysis will be done. Supports for the Transformational Leadership theory: Two of the key arguments against transformational leadership theory primarily focus on the un-clarity of its concepts, and accusing it to be misleading. However, if we take a closer look at the details and examine the core components of the transformational leadership theory, one can easily notices the arguments against transformational leadership is losing its roots. Based on Benard. M, Bass (2006)s book on Transformational leadership, the qualification of transformational leaders are those who has great personality qualities and the ability to influence others in exchange for their loyalty, it focuses on the processes between the leader and followers. Therefore, those who uses negative examples of transformational leadership such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini to fault the transformational leadership theorys core concept is false, because idea or the overall construction of the theory of the transformational leadership is solid, and does not varies when people interpolate it dif ferently. Arguments such as the requirements for transformational leadership are sets of personality traits, and it cannot be taught or learn, Oscar Arias (cited in blog: leadership, 2010) have stated: More than knowledge, leaders need character. Values and ethics are vitally important. The basics of leadership can be taught. What is desperately needed is more responsible leadership a new ethic to confront the challenges of our day. Based on an interview and commentary essay done by Jonathan P. Doh (, many educators believes that transformational leadership can be taught, in fact all types of leadership can be taught and learned. Here are some of the quoted interviews from that report: Jay Conger (Professor of Organizational Behavior at the London Business School and Senior Research Scientist, Center for Organizations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles) have :Yes, most definitely. Here work experiences, bosses, special projects, and role models, education all play a role in leadership development. Using an analogy with sports, not everyone can become an outstanding player despite coaching, yet most will benefit and improve their game. A few will go on to become stars or outstanding leaders given coaching, extensive experiences, and personal drive. Also from Kim S. Cameron (Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan Business School.) said that: Some people have an inclination to learn some competencies faster or better than others, of course, and some people reflect more charismatic or likable characteristics than others. But many great leaders are not those that appear on the covers of Time and Fortune. They have learned to achieve spectacular results in their own circumstances. Think of parents. Can people learn to become better parents, or are we just born either competent or not? Everyone would agree that effective parenting can be learned and improved. So can effective leadership. Leadership can also be taught, according to Jay Conger, Kim Cameron, and Steve Stumpf (cited in Jonathan P. Dohs interview essay), have all agreed that leadership can be taught, but only to a certain extent. The reason behind this is the three dimensions of leadership: skills, perspectives and dispositions. Just like in school, everything can be taught to students, but there are always some students do better than others, in terms of adapting knowledge, and the ability of applying the knowledge that they have learned. Skills can be taught, and perspectives can be trained, however, dispositions such as ambitions, mental capacity, etc.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.is difficult to teach. Bottom line is, leadership can be taught and learned through education and training. There are a lot of examples of leaders that proved valuable to a company, just to name of few in this essay. Steve Jobs is one of the perfect example, he was fired from apple and later came back, and turned Apple into one of the most profitable technology company in the world. Another example is Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines (merged with United in 2010), and he joined Continental Airlines during its bankruptcy, during that time, company was losing $55 million dollars per month, he, however, not only eliminated the debt they had at that not, but also increased Continental Airlines stock price from $2 a share to $50 a share. Conclusion: In conclusion, Transformational leadership theory have proved its value throughout the modern days, even if there are some criticisms, it still not enough to effect the core concept of transformational leadership theory. Counter arguments in support for the transformational leadership theory, have proved its aptitude in work performance, quality and earn their loyalty. Key arguments have been vindicated in this essay, even though, motive of a leader sometimes is questionable, but this does not change the core construction of the theory; transformational leadership theory or any leadership theory can be learned or taught, only difference is how well one can adapt and apply the knowledge of leadership. Transformational leadership is surely one of the most popular theory, and most likely will become the resolution for todays organization, as todays enterprises facing many tough challenges such as creativity, sustainability, and uniqueness.

Reparations For Descendents of African Slaves in America Essay

Reparations For Descendents of African Slaves in America Slavery has been entwined with American history ever since Dutch traders brought twenty captive Africans to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Slavery in America is a subject with minimal truths and stories rarely told. The public school system excludes the fact that eight of the first twelve American presidents were major slaveholders. Emancipation brought freedom, but not approximation. The civil rights movement killed Jim Crow, but shadows remained. Affirmative Action created opportunities, but racism continues. So why shouldn't the great-great grandchildren of those who worked for free and were deprived of education and were kept in bondage not be compensated? Why should American taxpayers who never owned slaves pay for the sins of ancestors they don't even know? Ask one question and it leads to another. How would the economy be affected? How do you put a price tag on over two centuries of legalized inhumanity? In what form would reparations be paid? How would you establish who is a descendant? Questions start debates. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines reparations as the act of making amends for a wrong. Money paid by a defeated nation in compensation for damages caused during hostilities, is also included in the definition. It is essential to locate the claim for reparations within a framework of law and justice. The following four propositions are truths that attempt to conceptualize a legal framework for the formulation and prosecution of the claim for reparations. First, the evil enslavement of Africans was a crime against humanity. Secondly, domestic and international law recognizes that those who commit crimes against humanity mus... ...ington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Gifford, A. (1993). Legal Arguments in Support of Reparations: First Pan-African Congress on Reparations. Federal Republic of Nigeria. Mazrui, A. (1998). Black Reparations in a Conservative World of Racial Aspirations and Political Realities. New York: Global Publications. Rhone, S. (2000, January 28). America?s debt to blacks. The Post Dispatch, pC1. Robinson, R. (1999). The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. New York: Dutton. Ruble, R. (2000, February 4). Riot reparations sought. The Associated Press, p.B1. Saul, M. (1997, June 30). U.S. legislation could pay money to descendents. The Dallas Morning News, p.C2. Westley, R. (1998, December). Many Billions Gone. Boston College Law Review, XL, 11.

Aftircan American Progress in World War II Essay -- essays research pa

World War II, global military conflict that, in terms of lives lost and material destruction, was the most devastating war in human history. It began in 1939 as a European conflict between Germany and an Anglo-French coalition but eventually widened to include most of the nations of the world. It ended in 1945, leaving a new world order dominated by the United States and the USSR.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  More than any previous war, World War II involved the commitment of nations' entire human and economic resources, the blurring of the distinction between combatant and noncombatant, and the expansion of the battlefield to include all of the enemy's territory. The most important determinants of its outcome were industrial capacity and personnel. In the last stages of the war, two radically new weapons were introduced: the long-range rocket and the atomic bomb. In the main, however, the war was fought with the same or improved weapons of the types used in World War I. The greatest advances were in aircraft and tanks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"For African Americans, World War II was a fight on two fronts. It was a struggle to prevail over the nation’s external enemies and a battle against a familiar home-grown foe: bigotry† (Allen). When World War II began in Europe in 1939, blacks demanded better treatment than they had experienced during World War I. Black newspaper editors insisted during 1939 and 1940 that black support for this war effort would depend on fair treatment. They demanded that black soldiers be trained in all military roles and that black civilians have equal opportunities to work in war industries at home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  African Americans were some of the quickest and most energetic to condemn the risings of fascism in Europe. They instantly understood the risks Nazism and its Aryan doctrines imposed on the world. Some had read Hitler’s Mein Kampf and had taken offense to its unfavorable comments toward blacks. It was also claimed that in 1936 Hitler had refused to treat African American Olympic stars Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalf with common decency in Berlin. Also the knockout of the black idol Joe Louis in 1936 by Max Schmeling had fueled some bitter emotions toward Nazism and it was fueled once again when Louis exacted his complete revenge in 1938.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the beginning of the war Afri... ...seat at the back of the bus. Robinson refused. â€Å"He was arrested and court-martialed for â€Å"disrespectful† conduct and disobeying orders, he was acquitted, but the incident prevented him from going overseas with the 761st† (Allen). Robinson would go on to become the first black baseball player to integrate the major leagues. â€Å"The World War II experience was a watershed for African Americans. Jim Crow remained intact, but the ideological bases of white supremacy and colonialism were undermined by the horrors of the Holocaust† (Earle 87). The war experience gave about one million blacks the opportunity to fight racism in Europe and Asia, a fact that black veterans would remember during the struggle against racism at home after the war. Perhaps just as important, almost ten times that many white Americans witnessed the patriotic service of black Americans. Many of them would object to the continued denial of civil rights to the men and women beside whom they had fought. After World War II the momentum for racial change continued. Black soldiers returned home with determination to have full civil rights. President Harry Truman ordered the final desegregation of the armed forces in 1948.

Princess Regional Trucking Company Essay

Princess Regional Trucking Company has been approached by a client with an opportunity that would require 120 trailers which is about 20 more than we currently own. We are not sure how long the relationship with this customer will last but this deal has the potential for considerable growth. I have a great deal of information for you regarding lease options that Princess Regional Trucking Company may want to consider before going forward with this deal. The first type of lease to consider is the direct financing lease. This lease is used by lessors in capital leases if the collections of minimum lease payments are guaranteed and the amounts of unrefundable costs are known in advance. In this type of lease the bank will buy new trucks and lease them to us instead of Princess Regional Trucking Company borrowing the money to purchase the trucks. The direct financing approach is the same as a loan. In order to arrange this type of lease we must show that the monthly payment will be met every month on time. This can be done by putting up assets to cover the payments just in case we cannot lease what is secured by the direct lease. Eliminating any question or doubt about the ability to cover the lease is the ultimate goal. If you would prefer to go with the Capital lease option then it must meet one of the four criteria according to FASB ASC 840-10-25-1. There has to be a transfer of ownership to the lessee by the end of the lease term, the lease contains a bargain purchase option, the lease term is equal to 75% or more of the estimated economic life of the leased property, or the present value at the beginning of the lease term of the minimum lease payments, equals or exceeds 90% of the excess of the fair value of the leased property. If any of the four criteria is met and also meets both of these criteria’s in that the lease payments have to be reasonable and the costs to be incurred are also predictable the lease is considered to be either direct financing or sales-type (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073526878/588542/Codification_Updates.pdf) The next type of lease to be addressed is a sales-type lease. Just like the capital lease there are for criteria that must be met. If the manufacture or dealer risks profit or loss then this would be a sales-type lease. This would mean that the seller would keep the assets in their inventory while the manufacturer or dealer are still earning profit or taking a loss. Under FASB ASC 840-30-35-22 the lessor must amortize the unearned income on a sales-type lease to income over the lease term to produce a constant periodic rate of return on the net investment in the lease.(http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073526878/588542/Codification_Updates.pdf) Since the important part of a sales-type lease is the sale the initial direct costs of getting the lease is written off when the sale is recorded at the beginning of the lease. This would be noted on the income statement as a selling expense. The final type of lease option would be an operating lease. This type of lease allows use of an asset but does not transfer ownership of the asset. The assets are expected to be returned at the end of the lease agreement. This lease would give Princess the sole right to use the asset however the lessee would retain all risks and rewards of ownership. It would be shown as a rental expense on the balance sheet. It is considered an asset for us and gets depreciated like any other asset. This type of lease is usually short term but it can be cancelled if needed. Thank you for taking the time to review these three different types of leases for the additional trucks we need to satisfy our new customer. Since we are not certain the time frame of this relationship I would like to suggest going with the operating lease since it is more like a rental agreement.

Psychology and Sensation Seeker

Take a look at the material on sensation seeking on page 286 (Ch. 11). Do you consider yourself a sensation seeker? Why or why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your level of sensation seeking? I am not a sensation seeker because I prefer peace and happiness. I am the type of person that likes to see the same people and have a routine to follow which I feel comfortable in. The advantages of my level of sensation seeking are that I am more likely to find peace and happiness compared to someone who has a higher level of sensation seeking.The disadvantages might be people calling me boring and not having as much fun as I should be having. How would you rate your own achievement motivation? Why? In what ways is this an advantage to you? In what ways is it a disadvantage? I would rate my own achievement motivation very high. I say this because I fit all of the descriptions mentioned in the book and I enjoy excelling in the things I do. When I have an easy task in front of me I find it boring but when I have a difficult task I tend to feel worried because I might do poorly.This is an advantage because I know it pushes me to do better in all of the things I do in my life. It is a disadvantage because my self-esteem can be lowered when I don’t do well on something and it might also affect those around me. What did you learn about yourself from reading about the trait theories of personality? I learned that I have the following traits: Openness, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. I am opened to new ideas, self-disciplined, sociable, talkative and affectionate.I am a weird mix because I am opened to new ideas but I tend to like routines and being comfortable with my surroundings. At the same time I am sociable, talkative and affectionate which is kind of weird. To better explain I am a junior accountant at a commercial real estate company who sits in a cubicle all day but I am very outgoing and talkative like a salesperson. I always get complimen ts from people for being so outgoing while being an accountant which is a weird thing. What did you learn about yourself from reading the other theories of personality? List and explain at least three things. ) I now know I am aware of my actions which is something I never really thought about before. I also learned that I am a person who enjoys doing things for the thrill that comes from doing things instead of doing things for the outcome. I also learned that I am self-disciplined which is something I never paid attention to before either. These are great things I learned about myself from reading the theories of personality which I would of never thought of before.How will you use this material on personality to improve your relationships (personal and/or professional)? I will use this information in order to better understand myself and other in both my personal and professional life. I know no two people are alike and now I can manage to speak to them and treat them based on th eir personality so they feel comfortable. I will also use this material to better understand myself and my way of thinking in order to excel at the things I do.

International Marketing Notes Essay

I. Chapter Summary * Due to the high time and cost investment in entering a new market, companies must be very sure that the market they are entering will be successful. Thus, they either conduct marketing research themselves, or hire secondary companies to research the market and possible outcomes for them. * Decisions of whether or not to conduct marketing research based on: time constraint, availability of data, and value for the company (benefits vs. costs) * In-Depth Marketing Research Process http://microlinks.kdid.org/good-practice-center/value-chain-wiki/backward-market-research-process * Problems researchers face in different countries: availability of research infrastructure, availability and quality of secondary data, comparability of data, language barriers, and culture specifics of consumers * Decisions between big international research agencies and local agencies: international agencies have standardized results across many countries, but local agencies can provide more relevant data * Types of Primary Research: * Quantitative: collection and analysis of quantifiable categories and questions; describes current market situation (i.e. multiple choice questions) * Qualitative: analyzes the background of the issue in more detail; explains motivation by using open-ended questions (i.e. focus groups) * Questionnaires: can be quantitative (ordinal and nominal scales) or qualitative (free answer) * Longitudinal Studies: respondent surveys conducted at various points in time, allowing analysis in changes over time (i.e. consumer scan) II. Key Terms and Concepts * Marketing Research: systematic and objective process of generating information to aid in making marketing decisions; concentrates on general characteristics of target market, specifics of marketing environment, analysis of competitors, and tests of marketing strategy * Stages of a Research Process: Problem definition Research designCollection of informationData processing and analysisPresentation of research report * Primary data: new data that must be collected during the process of marketing research; more costly yet more specific to topic of interest * Secondary data: data collected and published before, most often for other purposes than the current research objective; less costly, easier to obtain; (i.e. census) * Consumer scan: study of consumer purchasing behavior conducted continuously on the same sample of responding households * Retail panel: longitudinal research conducted in retail stores; data about changes in store layout, product placement, prices, and other relevant topics III. Discussion Topics 1. What are some advantages and disadvantages of conducting marketing research? 2. Provide a specific example of problems researchers face when they conduct marketing research outside their own country 3. Compare and classify the following questionnaire questions: * How frequently do you go to the grocery store per week? * Why do you go to Walmart? 4. What are the characteristics of a good interviewer? IV. Industry Examples and Questions 1. Example of bad questionnaire: Sociology Research Methods Questionnaire from Wisconsin University http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jpiliavi/357/neuman.pdf * What makes these questions â€Å"bad†? * How can they be improved? 2. Case Study; JD (part of JD Sports Fashion PLC) Market Research Methods: * Exit surveys – carried out face-to-face with consumers as they leave the storepurpose of the survey is primarily to understand the reasons for visit, frequency of visit/purchase and reasons for and against purchase * â€Å"Shopping bag† survey – the JD research team monitors what carrier bags customers entering JD stores are carrying. This helps identify what other stores JD customers use and are spending money in; provides competitor insight and an idea of which retailers attract a similar customer profile to JD * On-site fieldwork – JD’s dedicated Site Research team invests significant time researching new locations. This involves defining the extent of a location’s catchment area, reviewing the presence and quality of the competition and assessing the pitch and visibility (i.e. how busy the area is) of a unit http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/jd-sports/using-market -research-to-support-decision-making/what-is-market-research.html 3. Coca Cola Great Britain’s Market Research Process: * Identify opportunityDoes it fit into existing product category? For what target? desk research * Explore solutionNew product? New design? Product extension? qualitative research using focus groups and in-depth interviews * Measure suitability/effectivenessEvaluate the relative appeal of alternative solutions in terms of meeting consumer requirementsQuantitative research through face-to-face, telephone/internet interviews * Test MarketTry out new product ideas in a â€Å"test† marketQuantitative research from participants in a test sample of consumers who physically live with the test product for a period of days; there are three stages: concept research, product attributes, and volume assessment * Track market performanceTracking the product’s success once it has been launched (i.e. by recording sales figures, numbers of people familiar with the product, etc)Quantified continuous rolling study with consumers and/or analysis of Electronic Point of Sale data http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/coca-cola-great-britain/using-market-research-to-develop-a-product-range/market-research.html * Compare and contrast the marketing research methods of JD and Coca Cola * Can any of the methods work for the other company? For example, Electronic Point of Sale for JD Sports Fashion?

8 keys Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

8 keys - Research Paper Example The arrow pointing upwards represents the market direction while the horizontal arrow is the product. The company needs to make development strategies by using the internet and targeting geographic markets and customer segments that are new. The company can enhance its service delivery by recruiting more skilled personnel and trying to work on reducing the process of their products slightly in order to ensure that it attracts more customers into their products. The management can also think about incentives that are attractive to loyal customers and make proper product promotion. The company can also decide to reduce or cut out some intermediaries in the chain of supply in order to ensure that the structure of their business is conducive and in line with the market place. However, they can also weigh and see if they can consider reintermediation to enhance the chain of supply of their products in some areas. I would suggest that the company decides on countermediation to have a position of enhancing their operation when it comes to e-business. The company has to come up with a mechanism of ensuring that knowledge sharing systems are installed in their appropriate positions and are functioning at all times. Internet connected computers, phones and bells must be installed at every desk and room where operation takes place. Employees must also work according to their qualifications and areas of expertise to ensure that there is free flow of relevant information and perfect instruction following. The management of the company plans for staff meetings three times in a week or any other time that need arises. It is significant to deduce a way of emphasizing the company’s strengths and ensuring that weaknesses are minimized in order to ensure that there is a future in the flow of the entire system. For instance, the company needs to maintain the quality of its products, keep on motivating its workers and staff for

Personal Security and The Internet Research Paper

Personal Security and The Internet - Research Paper Example The 20th century technological breakthroughs could never have been complete without the internet because it has played a significant role in changing the lives of people within this generation. It has enabled people to apply information with ease, to study without difficulty and communicate effortlessly. Apparently, the internet has made it possible to access huge and diverse amount of information without making many efforts as was required in the past. It also facilitates faster intake and processing of information However, the internet has its own setbacks as well. Some of these setbacks are so harmful and have the potential of causing many risks to users of the internet. As compared to two decades ago, today the world faces unique security and privacy issues that were not there before the introduction of the internet. With the escalation of the internet, such entities as advertising firms and spammers that are associated with it have emerged as well. Apparently, the internet has s everal applications such as data compilation, use of tracking and other techniques. The application of these has brought in more weird behaviors like hacking of some sites in the internet. The result is that people have developed some behaviors that are detrimental to the security and privacy of the internet users worldwide (Gralla, 2006). How the Internet influences our livesIt is true that the internet has changed the lives of people who are living in this generation almost completely. Through the internet, communications have become easier as it has facilitated efficiency in communication. Even without a physical television, one can still watch TV online and be able to get faster news. The internet has also made it easier to connect with people from whichever part of the world that they are in. through, emails, text messaging, video charts and the use of the social media like face book and twitter, it is now possible to share ideas, information, pictures, events and videos throug h the internet. In the past, somebody had to write a letter that could take ages to reach its destinations. Besides, the existence of Skype, messenger chats and other applications like Whatsapp has enabled people to have casual conversations with one another. Young people are the most

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

Assumptions - Essay Example Celeste being a loyal wife wants to help her husband as she realizes that the responsibility of her children lies on her shoulder as well in the same way as her husband. She wants to ease the burden put on her husband by working along him and earning for the house. 4. Jim should look for any other job which is flexible with his routine. The job should have a flexible timetable which is according to the demands of the family. This job would also help him to give adequate time to his family. 1. Jims resignation from other jobs would provide him with enough time to spend with his family and it would create good effects on his children and wife. Jim should consider having a leave from his part-time job so that he can check if his resignation from that particular job would matter or not. 2. Division of work would make it difficult for Celeste to give appropriate time to her home and job and hence it would be hectic for her. She should get advices from different working women and work

How do different parts of the 'media' potray drugs and drug users why Essay

How do different parts of the 'media' potray drugs and drug users why do you think this is - Essay Example However, the media may present distorted information to the public regarding drugs and drug users since it might be based on individual opinion and perception. If such information is used in the efforts to curb the abuse of drugs, success may not be accomplished. There are various reasons why people use drugs. Some are used for medical reasons while others are used for pleasure. Those who use drugs for non medical purposes are faced with many problems ranging from health issues to social exclusion and stigmatization. Alcohol is the most commonly non medical drug used especially due to the fact that it is allowed by the law in many countries. The manufacturers sacrifice much of their resources in marketing and promotions, with the media playing a significant role in awareness creation among consumers. Different parts of the media are used to target various market segments of drug users. On the other hand, the media is also used for awareness creation in the fight against drug use. They provide substantial information to the public, which portray drugs as substances that are detrimental to the health of users. Moreover, drug use is portrayed as an antisocial behavior and therefore the users are viewed as posing a safety risk to the public, mai nly due to their association with crime and violent behavior. The manner in which the media portrays drugs and drug users is a significant in determinant of the drugs debate. The society’s perception is based on the information acquired from the media. Most parts of the media give the implication that drugs are dangerous substances that are associated with causing death, psychological disorders, violence, crime and many other antisocial behaviors. For this reason, drug users are portrayed as individuals who exhibit undesirable character in the community. Parrott et al. (2004 p 48) observes that the psychoactive drugs are mainly used for excitement but they may have adverse effects if they are consumed

Hyperthermia Treatment for Cancer Research Paper

Hyperthermia Treatment for Cancer - Research Paper Example We have been able to find out that hyperthermia can become an effective method in the treatment of cancer with a little careful administration because a number of studies have shown that the survival rate and the rate of responsibility towards other drugs of cancer increases when they get combined with hyperthermia. The building blocks of our body are cells. Cancer takes place when there is an abnormal growth of cells in our body. The causes of cancer are generally genetic change or a defect in the chromosome of the genes. When the cell in our body multiplies rapidly and forms a lump it is called cancer or malignant tumor. Even at such an age of advancement, it is still difficult to decipher the true causes of cancer but a variety of research carried out in this field has given some guidance with regard to the causes of cancer and its treatment. (Dollinger et al, 2002, p. 3). Effective cancer treatment needs a combination of multiple medical specialties. The scopes of new capacities in the treatment of cancer are always expanding and the specialists are constantly adopting those techniques to treat the disease successfully. A treatment process should be such that it incorporates maximum benefit in the removal of the disease. (Chabner and Longo, 2005, p.1). The aim of this discussion is to find out the effectiveness of hyperthermia as a method to treat cancer. At the same time, we will also find out as to why hyperthermia is most effective. When the application of hyperthermia becomes most effective is also one of the objectives of our study. Last but not the least we will also look at the limitations which hyperthermia has in the treatment of cancer. This discussion has mostly been qualitative in nature.  

It Is Hard to Possess a Sense of Belonging When We Are Unsure of Our Own Identity Essay Example for Free

It Is Hard to Possess a Sense of Belonging When We Are Unsure of Our Own Identity Essay The journey in finding our identity and belonging can often be a struggle, since we ask ourselves, ‘who am I’ vs. whom do others want me to be? And where do I belong? This point in our live is subjective, because we want to feel accepted in society we deny ourselves of what we really are. It’s hard to have a sense of belonging when we ourselves are unsure of our own identity. There comes a time where our opinions and beliefs are differentiated from those around us, during this time some people may discover where they belong, where as many others do not. We are all different in our own ways no one is born equally some may take their differences as an advantage and some take it as a disadvantage and tries to hide this imperfection in order to fit in. Although we all live in the same world we are all different be it the shape of our eyes, the colour of our skin, the country we were born or the accent that we speak in and to others their sexuality. These are all the traits that come together and create our identity, however this differences are sometimes not accepted in the society that we live in, and the sad part is that even if we know what we really are deep inside, our society tells us otherwise. Shuffling through the book Growing up Asian in Australia, I read a lot of stories that made me feel nostalgic, having flashbacks in my head when I first step in Australia and the feeling of deja vu overwhelms me with emotions, while flipping through the stories I read something that caught my attention ‘My First Kiss’ by Lian Low. Her story is not something I would say that I could relate to completely, She grew up in country where ‘homosexuality is a criminal offence’, and deep inside she knew she was different but her surrounding kept her from being true to herself, â€Å"becoming more ‘womanly,’ I suddenly lost foot of my tomboy world† she denied herself in order for her to blend in. She wanted to be equal with the people around her but the difference can’t hide what she is â€Å"I felt a foreigner whenever I open my mouth. Whenever I spoke my accent betrayed my origins† â€Å"My attempt to blend in failed me as soon as I opened my mouth†. The reason why we are all unique is because we ultimately choose what does or does not impact us in a crucial or unimportant way, we have the choice to accept or deny our uniqueness but whichever we choses influences our form of distinctiveness. Everything and everyone can influence a person’s identity, while some influences can be minor, some can have a major effect on our lives just like Lian Low’s story after concealing and denying her sexuality she finally learned to accept her difference after her first kiss with a girl. She erudite in writing that once became her source of comfort and used to bury herself with, â€Å"Writing and performance have been outlets, `they have let me be myself, express myself and explore my multiple identities: Asian, woman, queer, migrant, Chinese-Malaysian-Australian. † It is not solely one stage of our lives when we are confronted with an identity crisis, but a continuous challenge throughout our lives as we encounter new experience that will alter our thoughts, emotions and perspective on ourselves. We have to learn to love and accept our individuality, In order for us to feel welcomed and accepted by someone or something In fact as suggested by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a psychology theory cantered on human’s innate desire of fulfilment, belonging is a need that we naturally seek in order to feel loved. Whether it’s belonging with your friends’ family or surrounding, we need to embrace our individuality to know what we want, what we are, and what we’re not.

Sin Tax Bills Pros And Cons Economics Essay

Sin Tax Bills Pros And Cons Economics Essay With tobaccos and cigarettes being the major cause of lung cancer death s in the Philippines, advocates are pushing to pass the Sin Tax Bill. Sin tax bill is the tax levied on any products that are notorious to be harmful like cigarettes, alcohol and even activities like gambling. In connection to this, it is said to be effective in reducing behaviour of using such. This thesis paper aims to show the pros and cons of the Sin Tax Bill reforms to the Philippine economy, presented before the Senate and the House. There were three specific sin tax reforms discussed, the Abaya Bill, Recto Bill, and the Santiago Bill. This study accentuates that the approval of the said bill has its great advantages that will help the countrys economy, but its possible disadvantages must not be neglected. Moreover, the ideas written here are not against the bill, but therefore require further analysis and revisions that are deemed helpful to the Philippine Economy. Discussion Introduction According to the World Health Organization in 2009, tobacco is responsible for 12% of male and 6% of female deaths worldwide. The Acting Chief of NCI Tobacco Control Research Brach Chief, Michele Bloch, MD, PhD said that overall around the globe, there are 41% of men that smoke and only 9% for women; also it is estimated that the total number of tobacco-related deaths will rise from 6 million today to 8  million in 2030 (Fromer, 2011). Every day, a person dies from lung cancer in the Philippines. Tobacco or cigarette is the only legal consumer product that kills half of its users when used as directed by the manufacturer. And not only cigarettes, but as well as other socially proscribed goods such as alcoholic beverages, drugs and even soft drinks (in other areas), are considered to be undesirable or harmful, and thus were levied with higher taxes compared to the original by the government in laymans term: The Sin Tax. Sin tax in modern economic terms, are externality taxes, taxes designed to reduce behaviour which is known to be harmful to society' (Gifford, 1997. p.1). It is an excise tax on which its objectives is to make consumers lose interest in buying such by imposing taxes on goods that are known to be harmful and lethal such as cigarettes and liquor or activities like gambling (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2012). Before, a Tiered Specific Tax system based on suggested retail price (srp) was put in place. Until the late Pres. Corazon Aquinos administration in 1986, reforms the tax system by changing the specific or unit-based tax to an Ad valorem Scheme, from where the price is based on the manufacturers, for cigarettes. From then on, sin tax bill was revised many times until the year 2004, where the Congress passed Republic Act No. 9334: an act increasing the tax collection; but this is widely considered to be ineffective and a watered-down law. On its implementation in January 2005, under this law, all brands of cigarettes and alcohol products are mandated to an increase in the excise tax rate every two years, up until the year 2011, where there will be specified varying rates of increases (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2012). The matter on the issuance of the new sin tax bills proposed by different officials, mainly those of Abaya, Recto and Santiago, has caught many people in between two arguments. The Department of Finance wants the sin tax bill to raise P60 billion to fund the governments universal healthcare program, especially for the care of public hospital patients with lung diseases. The bills obvious benefit on its approval is more health-related, but there are still quite a number of critics against the approval of the said bill. Why? Because there are multiple reasons as to why the sin tax bill reform must not be approved and therefore must be a subject for further and more improved revisions. Different types of Sin Tax Bills proposed A data from the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation says, Despite the existence of laws that limit smoking, male Filipino smokers are among the top smokers in the world occupying the ninth spot following India and China among others (Manongdo,  ¶1). In accordance to this, many government officials started passing reforms of different kinds that are to change the current sin tax bill implemented. Firstly, the approved Abaya Bill: House Bill 5727, or the Act Restructuring the Excise Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco Products states that there will be equal taxes rates to be charged to any cigarette brands. With this, there will be competition between cigarette companies. Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya agreed to amend the sin tax on tobacco products from unitary tax system to two tiers. Under substitute bill, there will be two tiers or groups for cigarettes while distilled and fermented liquor will have 3. Tier 1: Cigarette packs priced lower than 11.50php below are meted with a P12 tax on the first year and P24 on the next year; while on Tier 2: Cigarette packs priced 11.50php above are meted with P28.30 on the first year, and P30 on the second year. Indexation or increase will be 8% for every two years, until the year 2025. It has been over 15 years since a sin tax bill made it out of committee meetings in Congress. A landslide vote happened in June, where 210 lawmakers voted to pa ss the amended House Bill 5727, by Cavite Rep. Abaya. But the bill was watered down, since the bill aims to reduce consumption of tobacco and alcohol, especially among the poor, while raising additional revenues, which will be channeled to the governments health care program (Balea, 2012). According to Finance Assistance Secretary Teresa Habitan, amended version will only translate to P33 billion from the original plan of P60billion revenue. Secondly is the Recto Bill by Sen. Ralph Recto. For cigars, the current 2-tiered NRP-based structure shall be retained, but starting March 1, 2013, there shall be an increase to the ad valorem rates by more than 100 percent. Pursuant to Cathy Yamsuans report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer 2012, there will be an increase of 121 percent to hand-packed cigarettes taxes from P2.72 to P6 per pack beginning March 1, 2013, particularly in low-priced cigarettes. While mid-priced cigarettes, a 32% rise from P7.56 to a P10 tax; and high-priced cigarettes, a 17% increase from P12 to P14 tax per pack. Recto, however, presented a committee report that would raise only between P15 billion and P20 billion in additional sin taxes. Lastly is Sen. Miriam Santiagos proposed reform. Santiago said that under her bill, 85 percent of the P60 billion would be used for the government health program while the remaining 15 percent for safety nets that would ensure that tobacco farmers can shift to more lucrative crops like vegetables that have a bigger market than tobacco (Yamsuan, 2012,  ¶12). No more further discussions needed to Santiagos Bill because Juan Ponce Enrile, the current Philippine Senate President, noted that the Santiago bill is almost similar to the governments original position.  Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiagos version of the Sin Tax Bill or the Senate Bill 3249 espouses a single tier excise tax scheme for cigarettes. The version reported out by Rectos Ways and Means Committee pushes a multi-tier scheme, while the House-approved bill is a two-tier system. Advantages There are a lot to mention when we look in-depth to the possible benefits, the country may be subjected to, that will be a great help to the society. Here, there are three main points that are most likely to be emphasized. First are the sin tax bills health-related purposes and benefits. Since the real reason behind the implementation of this law is to discourage the people, especially the youth to smoke cigarettes and indulge themselves to other vices, Department of Health (DOH) said that sin tax bill is a health bill. If this is approved, many Filipino lives will be saved if this law is effective enough after its implementation. As stated by The National Youth Commission (NYC), the number of young smokers in the country had increased. Two of five Filipinos aged 13 to 15 years old consumed tobacco last year. The increase in cigarette prices may thus limit the number of young smokers (Garcia, 2012,  ¶15). On the other hand when the Laylo Research Strategies made a poll survey on ho w will Filipino smokers react if there is an increase in sin taxes, the survey results confirms what the advocates have been saying higher tobacco taxes would accomplish: discourage consumption and therefore reduce the number of Filipinos who either develop diseases or die from smoking. The Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax says higher sin taxes can help save 140,000 to 1.3 million Filipinos. With the pending Sin Tax bill likely to affect cigarette prices, 31% of the regular smokers said they will slowly stop smoking, while 17% will stop immediately (Rappler. 2012  ¶24). In a study on Tobacco and Poverty of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008, the annual government revenues of P23 Billion from tobacco taxes is not enough compared to the conservatively estimated P149 Billion annual economic losses due to expenses for productivity and health care costs of the top four tobacco related diseases: Cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and stroke. (Manongdo, 2012). According to reports furnished, the money the government spends on tobacco-related healthcare issues is more than the revenue it gets from the taxes collected from tobacco and alcohol products. This means that the government is spending more to cure diseases chronic pulmonary diseases, heart disease, cancer, liver diseases etc. that are caused by the consumption of tobacco and alcohol (Garcia, 2012  ¶9). Secondly, with higher sin tax rates means higher government revenues. Lets say theres no existence of the sin tax bill, which means, 0% tax increase. With no tax, the government will only garner 25.4B php annually. But in consideration of the Rectos Bill, with 65% tax increase, there will 37.8B php revenue. While in Santiagos Bill, with 265% tax increase, there will be no less than 68.7B php revenue, which is by the way more than enough for the governments goal of 60B php. According to Dr. Antonio Dans, professor at the UP-College of Medicine, with the approval of 265% proposed tax increase by Santiago; chances are, smoking rates will go down to 26% from 31%.. That drop from 31% to 26% represents more than two million people stopping smoking. If you stop smoking, you will avoid death from 49 diseases that can kill you from smoking like lung cancer, coronary diseases, stroke, heart attack, chronic pulmonary diseases (Antonio, 2012,  ¶). Lastly, international smuggling of cigarettes will be lessened. According to Sen. Pia Cayetano, the Philippines has the second cheapest retail price in Asia (in terms of cigarettes). Even among the cheapest in the world, primarily because of relatively low tobacco taxes. Many other countries levied heavy amount of tax on cigarettes as part of their public health policy. Dr. Aida Yurekli, coordinator of the WHOs Tobacco-Free Initiative, says the nations low taxes on tobacco drive the foreign demand for illegal imports of cigarette from the Philippines.  He once thought the China is the main source of smuggled cigarettes, but he found out that there was a big number coming from the Philippines. Since tobacco companies are paying (low) taxes, they tend to overproduce. And an excess of 2 billion packs from the 5.4 billion packs to be produced this year, from which only 3.5 billion packs will be consumed, makes it suspicious (Merueà ±as, 2012). With the effectiveness of tax increase, Philippine cigarettes would not be any cheaper than before, and thus will discourage international smuggling, since tobacco companies will pay more taxes, and no longer will have rooms for overproduction that may end up as smuggled goods to other countries. Disadvantages Though many people, if asked, are pro-sin tax bill, due to its undeniable benefits, lawmakers, still, remain divided over the sin tax bill. Debaters tend to overlook the possible drawback, the sin tax bill, may offer to the countrys economy. Tobacco farmers are the most affected in the approval of the any bills mentioned above. La Union Rep. Victor Francisco Ortega said that many tobacco farmers were able to send their children due to their jobs in the tobacco industry. It has done more good, than evil, he said in an interview hosted by respected broadcast journalist Rappler editor-at-large Cheche Lazaro (Bisyo: A special report on Sin Tax, 2012). In the interview, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said, The government has not provided a comprehensive program for the support services, subsidy and assistance to tobacco farmers. Tobacco farmers will not benefit from the increase of retail prices of cigarettes increase due to sin tax. Therefore, the higher sin taxes will definitely negatively affect the tobacco industry, which will result into unemployment to huge industries like Fortune Tobacco and the likes. (Bisyo: A special report on Sin Tax, 2012)   In one of the three stated bills proposed above, specifically the Abaya Bill, inequity in pricing the goods may occur. If all brands will be taxed similarly, small scale companies are at a big loss and at the worst scenario, may stop production. Abaya suggested that equality in taxes will create competition between large scale companies and local tobacco companies; but the latter will be burdened more since bigger companies are far more able in paying the demand tax levied to their products. With high taxes means less production, which will end up to less profit by the company, and later on bankruptcy. On a debate, Sen. Ralph Recto said that if they tax too much, it may kill industries, and even the cigarette industry may be burdened too much already. Revenues may be lessened due to insufficient companies producing cigarettes, from where taxes are supposedly to be collected from. Too high taxes may result in less revenue. How? One of the debaters in the senate, Mr. Manos Koukourakis said, When you apply so high tax increases, people will find alternative ways to smoke (Bisyo: A special report on Sin Tax, 2012). Consumption did not diminish; on the contrary, it has increased. At first, sin taxes will give increased revenues for the government, but in no time, it will fall drastically. Why? Because of smuggling. Taxing cigarettes and other sin products will not make people quit intousing it. Its already an addiction and this simple means of increasing retail price is not the answer. Recto said in one of his reports, the solution is not to severely tax the sin products but to ban them completely. When the price of any product rises excessively, smugglers bring in cheaper products. So instead of discouraging consumption, the very high prices actually encourage it because the smuggled products are very cheap (Cruz, 2012, 4 ¶). A House leader from the Philippine delegation warned that if ever the government would not take a second look to these proposed sin tax bills, the signing of the free trade agreement (FTA) with EU or the European Union, may be put in jeopardy. The EU expressed their continuous objection to the sin tax bill. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told the lawmakers that the approved House version and proposed Senate version will not pass the World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance because of unfair taxation (Luci, 2012). British American Tobacco (BAT) Philippines general manager James Michael Lafferty said, The current tax system has worked against the entry of new brands into the market  (Galang, 2012,  ¶46). Conclusion Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, one of the most vocal sin tax bill advocates said, When cigarettes and liquor are cheap, more people will use them- and so this has been the advocates standing point. The sin tax bill had been a controversial debate to the lawmakers. It made Sen. Ralph Recto, the chairman of the Senate committee, resign after numerous opposition from the Senate; he had Sen. Franklin Drilon take over his place after resignation. They even called his proposed bill a watered-down bill or ineffective. In the approval of the Sin tax bill, relations with the European Union may be affected. If ever the Philippines free trade with EU will be cut-off, our economy will lose a lot. And not only that, since Lucio Tan, a renowned business tycoon, is the owner of the biggest tobacco company in the country, the Fortune Cigarette, increasing of taxes to the sin products might be reflected to other major companies under him as well, like those of Philippine Airlines and the likes. All these factors will not increase the governments revenues, and on the other end might be the opposite. Therefore the sin tax bill has defeated its main purpose of raising revenues. Also, the argument of the pro-sin tax bill that higher taxes would discourage smokers is a mere assumption. They have not presented clear provisions and relied on surveys, which is not at all very reliable. Then again, according to Benjamin Diokno, professor of Economics at the School of Economics, UP Diliman and former secretary of budget and management undersecretary for budget operations in the Aquino 1 administration, talking about the threat of smuggling, it is real, and ignoring it would be a monumental mistake. The country has been facing a lot of smuggling cases in other products like rice, oil products, and other consumer goods continuously. And the possible addition of cigarettes to be smuggled would be a lot of work for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which he considers weak (Diokno, 2012). But behind the drawbacks mentioned, there are a lot of other alternatives, other than taxing, that may discourage and lessen the use tobaccos and cigarettes. One suggestion is the proposal of former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral to put graphic photographs of smokers with lung or mouth cancer on the packs of cigarettes, and they believe it should scare some of them into stopping smoking. Though most of the tobacco industries are against it, the Philippine Senate and Congress are also in debate about it. Another suggestion is the prohibition of smoking in the public, from which the Senate lose the case against tobacco companies. In the question of what would be the most effective among the proposed bills. The countries Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos currently part of this worlds emerging economies use ad valorem rates in taxing their products like tobacco and alcohol. These countries must have adopted ad valorem taxation, after learning the best practice from their foreign tax consultants. The Philippines is the only country in the region that uses specific rates  (Diokno, 2012,  ¶7). On the contrary, eeconomist and former Economic Planning Secretary Solita Collas-Monsod at a forum on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 said that the tobacco industry players are disseminating about the possible aftermaths of the proposed sin tax measure on the Philippine economy, from which she considered as all lies. She opposed all the issues discussed and declared that these are just false claims (cited from Fonbuena, 2012). But experts urge the Senate to use the proposed bill of Sen. Miriam Santiago. This, Santiago said, would help avoid the 240 deaths daily among Filipino smokers with P200-billion health costs to government. It hews much more to the actual realities and the actual principles that we want. If everybody is in favor of a sin tax bill, lets start with that sin tax bill, economics professor Solita Monsod commented to Santiagos version of the bill, from where tobacco and alcohol products projected tax revenues will be around P60 billion (cited from Chua, 2012,  ¶3). The author is not against the approval of this bill, but thus, is in favor of the amendment and better revisions of the sin tax bill. People must look not only to the possible advantage it may bring, but one should always be aware of the possible drawback it will take along its process. The benefits, the sin tax bill, will bring the Philippines is undeniable. Health-related and even revenues is a given. But the fact it has taken a long course of almost 16 years of amendment, has a reason. There are multiple reasons as to why the sin tax bill reform must not be approved and therefore must be a subject for further and more improved revisions; and this reasons must not be neglected.