Definitions of Globalization

Globalization is a concept with many differing definitions. Globalization is a process which entails the free movement of capital, goods, services and labor around the world. Globalization is the massive control of the world†s economy by big business, this control transcends the boundaries of state and country. This transcendence across countries makes the subunits of the economy decompose and depend on the larger companies with a controlling interest in most of the capital within a given economy. These companies then form global constituents, they then have a control of a large volume of capital within many countries. This global control of capital comes through the deindustrialization of larger economic superpowers to third world countries for economic gains of these companies. Seeking lower wages and a large unskilled labor force, companies find it in third world countries. These are concrete examples of global companies seeking wage reductions on an international scale. This migration causes a deindustrialization for the larger countries and a industrialization in these developing countries. In a curious fashion they tend to confirm the Marxist view, long thought out of fashion, that the working classes would be kept at subsistence level. Reebok Shoes, and other footwear giants, are forever shifting their manufacturing base to lands of lower wage scales. (This is more easily done in that industry than would be possible in steel or automobile manufacturing. ) From New England to the American South and on to the American colony of Puerto Rico, thence the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand — until the annual wages of the factory are less than the remuneration paid to the basketball star paid to advertise the final product. No, globalization does not mean â€Å"workers of the world unite†. Joan E. Spero, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs stated the issue at hand was one of a formidable size, â€Å"Capital now moves with startling speed around the world. Each day over $1 trillion is traded in a global foreign exchange market that never closes. Technological advances in computers and telecommunications are paving the way for a new information-based economy. † The capital within this globalized economy is not situated as one might have first assumed. The capital is concentrated within the upper management and within the boundaries of the company itself. The growth of the American economy in particular is in no way a direct reflection on the wages and standard of living for most American workers. Large companies set up manufacture of products in developing countries, exploiting the economic need that is present there. Then these companies take this product from this country and bring it back to places like the United States to be marketed. The economic benefits are then reaped by the company. The product was manufactured in this third world country where they were paid small wages and in horrible working conditions. Then the product is taken to the United States where is sold to the American public who played no role in the manufacture of the product thus their purchase in no way supports the circulation of capital within the United States economy and is given specifically to the company. The company then takes the capital and reinvests the money into the company and in foreign industry and the money is not recirculated within the economy that created it. This theory of capital flight is what produces the economic growth of the economy as a whole but the workers and middle class of that economy do not see that growth. The middle class is becoming less and less necessary within the globalized economy. The skilled worker is not necessary due to technological advancements and the movement of industry from the United States to developing countries. The developing countries are used for their large and willing unskilled worker population. The need for specific talent and training is becoming more and more necessary within countries such as the United States. This creates an international division of labor within the global economic market system. The labor market has changed dramatically in the past three or four decades. The unskilled labor work force has shrunk over the last few decades, this change has come due to the expansion of technology within many industries. The worth of those at the highest levels of companies have only gained from this change. The middle management has been almost eradicated from the present economy by technology and â€Å"reengineering†. This â€Å"reengineering† â€Å"combines the skills of specialist clerks and middle managers into software packages that are attached to desktop computers† (Head). The disparities in this competition have become truly obscene. In 1960 the annual compensation of the average CEO of a major US. ompany was 40 times that of the average worker. In 1992 it was 157 times as much. The average CEO of a large corporation now receives an annual compensation package of more than $3. 5 million-their reward for growing company profits by destroying millions of jobs. Over the past 3 years the profits of the Standard and Poors 500 lar gest corporations have grown an average of 20% a year. Stock prices are at record highs. For the most part, these gains went to people who have nothing better to do with their money than gamble on price movements in the giant global casino we call a stock market. During 1995, wages, salaries and benefits-compensation for doing real work-increased only 2. 7%-the smallest rise on record. Thus the role of the middle class has been diminished largely in the new growing globalization of economy. The 1990s have been a prime example of the growth of economy and technology and the massive downfall of the middle class. The advent of technology has left many in the white collar, middle class sector with no jobs or at constant risk of loss of their present one. Over 80 percent of Americans work in the service industry and they practice their own form of the white collar layoffs, they utilize the new tax software that is available, leaving the accountant in the proverbial dust. In strictly economic terms the gap between rich and poor widens and capital accumulates to the point where it no longer quite knows what to do with itself. Rich people valiantly spend what they can on luxuries, but the rich are too few to solve this crisis of overproduction and luxuries are useless to most of the world's people. The remainder of this excess capital swills around in ‘finance houses' and banks getting bored, casting about for something more lucrative to do. That usually means gambling, ‘speculation' on whatever comes to hand: commodities, foreign exchange, bonds, stocks, shares, all kinds of ‘instruments' created for just this purpose. These days, the temptingly volatile 'emerging markets' of the South and former Soviet bloc have become speculative playgrounds. Foreign-exchange transactions, for example, now amount to more than a thousand billion dollars a day, with only a small proportion relating to any ‘real' economic activity at all.

Islamic Economic System Essay

Islamic Economic System implies a mood of satisfying the economics needs of the members of organized society in accordance with is injection of Quran and Sunnah. It’s derived from the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and explained in his Ahadith by the Holy Prophet (SWT). This system continued in this original form till the death of the Second Caliph Hazrat Umar (RA). The system believes in the private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange which are managed and controlled by individuals or groups of individuals for private profit. Islam enjoins investment of money and other resources; it issues clear injunctions on the legitimate ways of investing them. The Jews confused â€Å"Ribā† with trade; they would call â€Å"Ribā† a kind of trade. Unrestricted economic freedom and non-interference of the state in such freedom is another feature of conventional economy. Competition, which is another feature of conventional, leads to t he destruction of minor enterprises and firms. This encourages merger of smaller business organisations into major ones and thus monopolies or cartels are established. The Institution of banking and interest is the life-blood of conventional form of economy. For business, trade and industry especially for big projects and economic ventures, huge funds are required which no individual or firm can arrange. To pay ‘ZakaÌ„t ’ on ones wealth and property is extremely obligatory for a Muslim. AbuÌ„ Huraira has reported God’s Messenger as saying: â€Å"If God gives anyone property and he does not pay the ‘ZakaÌ„t ’ on it, his property will be made to appear to him on the day of resurrection as a large bald snake with black spots over its eyes. It will be put round his neck on the day of resurrection, then seize his jaws, then say, ‘I am your property; I am your treasure.† The only verses which state not mere ethical norms but rather economic rules or regulations are the verses dealing with zakaat (tax on surplus wealth) and riba (usury/interest). Establish worship, pay the poor-due, and bow your heads with those who bow (in worship). 2:43. In Islam there is no conflict between matter and soul, as there is no separation between economy and religion. Its characteristics, value and essence are appreciated by Muslims and the non-Muslims. The over-arching values of Islamic economics lie in the principle that it is an economic strategy that can achieve unity and harmony between the material and the spiritual life of the people.

Conceptualizing a Business

Strategic Plan, Part 1: Conceptualizing a Business Atonio Latu BUS / 475 February 10th, 2013 Sarita Wesley, Ph. D. Strategic Plan, Part 1: Conceptualizing a Business Starting a company such as TL Concrete Service requires strategic plans and the factors that will support the business development start-up stages. TL Concrete is a small company with five employees planning and implementing services. The company provides services on concrete drive ways, patio, and side-walks. The company offers free estimate, low cost, and 5 years guarantee on every job.It is vital for the company to seek and develop the right mission, vision, and values. These important factors will act as a road map to guide and maintain the company’s goals; customers’ satisfaction and profitability. TL Concrete mission statement will define the company’s goals. A good vision statement provides direction and purpose for the company to follow through. Core value identifies the importance of the emp loyees and their behavior toward the company’s goals. Concrete service is a good business because people always need hard driveway surface, smooth walk way outside the house, and a patio for the outdoor activities.The company will estimate, form the foundation or the platform, pour the concrete, and remove dirt and trash afterward. It will cost more to install new surface than to replace the existing one. One of the advantages of this type of service is that concrete is pre-mix or ready mix by another service provider. The same service provider that ‘ready mix’ the cements also deliver and pour the concrete at the requested site. The cost of the cement is including in the estimate. TL Concrete future endeavor is to provide services for commercial buildings and commercial complexes.Another future plan for this company is to obtain public contract on major projects. The company’s strength relies on the experience of the employees to provide services, but als o the experience of the company to conduct business. Strong relations between the company and its customers will guarantee to maintain loyal customers. The company will adjust and adapt to any future internal and external factors that will affect the company. For example, most customers are using regular cement on their driveways and walkways. Now, people are starting to use the stamping driveway which cost twice as much as the standard type.TL Concrete will provide data to those who needs surfaces because everyone else is switching to the new format. It is the company obligation to explain and provide data and explain the benefit and the disadvantage of the new products. We consider our mission statement a promise to our customers, and deliver on that promise (Bill Gates, 2013). A powerful mission statement will keep the company focus on its goal regardless of any changes occur within the business. TL Concrete Service mission statement should read,† We provide customers with the best quality concrete service at low prices since 1990†.The company ensures that these words are not created to decorate the wall plaque; these words are to get across the purpose and the objective of the company. The mission statement identify the most important idea behind the company; best quality service. The year 1990 indicated that customers trusted this company and keep it operational for these years despite the economy downturn. There were many successful concrete company operated prior to 2008, the downfall of our economy. Customers were looking for the companies that provide the best concrete service, money was no object.Customers were paying more that the regular rate to attract better services. The post 2008 changed how companies approached their customers, and how loyal customers approached these companies. Companies filed for bankruptcy and the cements manufactures raised the price of the pure cement which in turn increases the price of the concrete. A missio n statement will keep TL Concrete Service to focus on generating profits and customers’ satisfaction. The vision statement is also vital to the strategy plan of the company. It reveled to the loyal customers and the potential customers the purpose and the tools used to accomplish the company tasks.I enjoy reading the Allstate Insurance because it is short and brings out the purpose of this company. Allstate vision statement reads: â€Å"to reinvent protection and retirement for the consumer† (Bright Hub, 2010). TL concrete should provide a vision statement that indicates the same purpose as the Allstate Insurance, to guarantee how the employees understand the individual tasks as well as the team work. TL Concrete vision statement should read: â€Å"To serve our loyal customers and potential customers’ thorough honesty and respect for anyone we provide service to†.The vision statement indicates the importance of the customers and strive the company to stay focus and the purpose; customers’ satisfaction. The company’s vision also generates the company values because customers deserve respect and honesty for the company. The company should have the value of doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. This attitude generates moral value, ethical standard, and integrity. These are the basic foundation of the code of values created by TL Concrete. Moral values consist of trustworthy, loyal, and courteous.Ethical standard is doing the right thing to provide the best service available to the company and the customers. Honesty is the best policy, and integrity keeps the employees focus on the values indicated by the company. These values will earn the company’s reputation and in turn, attract more customers. The company should value the customers’ feedback and their suggestions of not only what needs to be done, but how to proceed with the work. Mission statement, vision statement and values are thr ee important models that most successful companies accepted.These models create concepts of prospect, directions, values, and opportunities for the company and its customers. These models of strategic plan co-exists, one item cannot exist without the others. I believe there are companies that do not have vision statement. Kevin Clancy, a marketing researcher wrote, â€Å"A few people around the table began to describe the brand’s global positioning strategy, but it had nothing to do with what we would call a vision. It was not even much of a positioning. Eventually a manager from England asked, â€Å"What do you mean by ‘vision’? †(Clancy, 2012).A vision statement brings hope, dreams, and the reason to stay operational. Mission, Vision, and value each presented different meaning to the company’s goals. Mission is the goal, vision is the purpose, and value is what takes to accomplish the goals. References Bright Hub. (12/2010). The hub for the brigh t minds. Retrieved from http://www. brighthub. com Kevin J. Clancy. (2012). Shocking Truth of the Month. Retrieved from http://www. thekevinclancy. com Microsoft Accessibility. (2013). Mission. Retrieved from http://www. microsoft. com/enable/microsoft/mission. aspx Conceptualizing a Business Strategic Plan, Part 1: Conceptualizing a Business Atonio Latu BUS / 475 February 10th, 2013 Sarita Wesley, Ph. D. Strategic Plan, Part 1: Conceptualizing a Business Starting a company such as TL Concrete Service requires strategic plans and the factors that will support the business development start-up stages. TL Concrete is a small company with five employees planning and implementing services. The company provides services on concrete drive ways, patio, and side-walks. The company offers free estimate, low cost, and 5 years guarantee on every job.It is vital for the company to seek and develop the right mission, vision, and values. These important factors will act as a road map to guide and maintain the company’s goals; customers’ satisfaction and profitability. TL Concrete mission statement will define the company’s goals. A good vision statement provides direction and purpose for the company to follow through. Core value identifies the importance of the emp loyees and their behavior toward the company’s goals. Concrete service is a good business because people always need hard driveway surface, smooth walk way outside the house, and a patio for the outdoor activities.The company will estimate, form the foundation or the platform, pour the concrete, and remove dirt and trash afterward. It will cost more to install new surface than to replace the existing one. One of the advantages of this type of service is that concrete is pre-mix or ready mix by another service provider. The same service provider that ‘ready mix’ the cements also deliver and pour the concrete at the requested site. The cost of the cement is including in the estimate. TL Concrete future endeavor is to provide services for commercial buildings and commercial complexes.Another future plan for this company is to obtain public contract on major projects. The company’s strength relies on the experience of the employees to provide services, but als o the experience of the company to conduct business. Strong relations between the company and its customers will guarantee to maintain loyal customers. The company will adjust and adapt to any future internal and external factors that will affect the company. For example, most customers are using regular cement on their driveways and walkways. Now, people are starting to use the stamping driveway which cost twice as much as the standard type.TL Concrete will provide data to those who needs surfaces because everyone else is switching to the new format. It is the company obligation to explain and provide data and explain the benefit and the disadvantage of the new products. We consider our mission statement a promise to our customers, and deliver on that promise (Bill Gates, 2013). A powerful mission statement will keep the company focus on its goal regardless of any changes occur within the business. TL Concrete Service mission statement should read,† We provide customers with the best quality concrete service at low prices since 1990†.The company ensures that these words are not created to decorate the wall plaque; these words are to get across the purpose and the objective of the company. The mission statement identify the most important idea behind the company; best quality service. The year 1990 indicated that customers trusted this company and keep it operational for these years despite the economy downturn. There were many successful concrete company operated prior to 2008, the downfall of our economy. Customers were looking for the companies that provide the best concrete service, money was no object.Customers were paying more that the regular rate to attract better services. The post 2008 changed how companies approached their customers, and how loyal customers approached these companies. Companies filed for bankruptcy and the cements manufactures raised the price of the pure cement which in turn increases the price of the concrete. A missio n statement will keep TL Concrete Service to focus on generating profits and customers’ satisfaction. The vision statement is also vital to the strategy plan of the company. It reveled to the loyal customers and the potential customers the purpose and the tools used to accomplish the company tasks.I enjoy reading the Allstate Insurance because it is short and brings out the purpose of this company. Allstate vision statement reads: â€Å"to reinvent protection and retirement for the consumer† (Bright Hub, 2010). TL concrete should provide a vision statement that indicates the same purpose as the Allstate Insurance, to guarantee how the employees understand the individual tasks as well as the team work. TL Concrete vision statement should read: â€Å"To serve our loyal customers and potential customers’ thorough honesty and respect for anyone we provide service to†.The vision statement indicates the importance of the customers and strive the company to stay focus and the purpose; customers’ satisfaction. The company’s vision also generates the company values because customers deserve respect and honesty for the company. The company should have the value of doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. This attitude generates moral value, ethical standard, and integrity. These are the basic foundation of the code of values created by TL Concrete. Moral values consist of trustworthy, loyal, and courteous.Ethical standard is doing the right thing to provide the best service available to the company and the customers. Honesty is the best policy, and integrity keeps the employees focus on the values indicated by the company. These values will earn the company’s reputation and in turn, attract more customers. The company should value the customers’ feedback and their suggestions of not only what needs to be done, but how to proceed with the work. Mission statement, vision statement and values are thr ee important models that most successful companies accepted.These models create concepts of prospect, directions, values, and opportunities for the company and its customers. These models of strategic plan co-exists, one item cannot exist without the others. I believe there are companies that do not have vision statement. Kevin Clancy, a marketing researcher wrote, â€Å"A few people around the table began to describe the brand’s global positioning strategy, but it had nothing to do with what we would call a vision. It was not even much of a positioning. Eventually a manager from England asked, â€Å"What do you mean by ‘vision’? †(Clancy, 2012).A vision statement brings hope, dreams, and the reason to stay operational. Mission, Vision, and value each presented different meaning to the company’s goals. Mission is the goal, vision is the purpose, and value is what takes to accomplish the goals. References Bright Hub. (12/2010). The hub for the brigh t minds. Retrieved from http://www. brighthub. com Kevin J. Clancy. (2012). Shocking Truth of the Month. Retrieved from http://www. thekevinclancy. com Microsoft Accessibility. (2013). Mission. Retrieved from http://www. microsoft. com/enable/microsoft/mission. aspx

Importance of Education Essay

My father barely finished high school and my mother has only a sixth grade education. I was raised primarily by my mother and because of her limited educational background we faced great difficulties. As a young child I was placed into foster care with two of my siblings because after a fire occurred in our apartment building our mother did not have the resources to keep us from being homeless. We eventually reunited with our mother but not before being traumatized by the separation and the abuse imposed upon us by our foster family. As I grew up and faced many difficulties I realized a large part of our struggles as a family was our inability to progress out of poverty. I believe one of the main barriers to that progression was my mother’s lack of education. She did not have the skills and abilities that would allow her to pursue a career that could improve the lives of her children. As I am writing this essay my mother and younger siblings are currently homeless due to another fire that has happened at their Brooklyn home just two nights ago. Luckily I have my wife as a support system to aid me in assisting my family through this difficult time. I was always considered a smart child but due to a lack of resources in my home life I eventually faltered in school. In High school I became disengaged. I felt alone and disconnected from my family, friends, classmates and teachers. There was no one for me to communicate with and so I started to hate school and life. As I reflect on my past I realize that if I had a mentor or a better support system then I may not have made some of the mistakes in high school that I did. As a black man I am very proud of myself for overcoming the many obstacles I have faced in my life. Five years ago I would not have thought it would be possible for me to apply to University. It is only through hard work, persistence, dedication and a little bit of luck that I am not uneducated, unemployed, serving time or dead like a lot of the people I grew up with in Brooklyn. I am the first member of my family to attend college. I am also the only person from my group of childhood friends to be graduating from college. I think this is a great achievement but one that needs to happen more frequently in minority communities.

Database security in the cloud Essay

This chapter is mainly concerned with providing the research methods and the tools that were used to get the views of the respondents. They contribute a lot in the conclusion of the research. The methods that were employed in this research include sampling, questionnaires, and online surveys. With Web 2. 0 being in full force today, there are more avenues that have made it possible to get views from clients. These avenues include web forums, blogs, and review sites like ZDNet, and ZNet sites. This was a good method that was of paramount importance in this research. Use of interview This method was also a vital component of my research as its combination with other methods like observations and other statistical techniques yields optimum results. I ensured that I maintained the balance of emphasis which kept on shifting with the frame of reference and objectives of this study. Interviews also proved highly flexible especially given the fact that I handled it with care and achieved a considerably liberal atmosphere since questions that were not easily grasped by interviewees were rephrased and/or repeated emphatically and explanations given where it proved necessary. The use of interviews helped me in the study of human behaviour during the process and helped me to secure very intimate and personal knowledge about my study. However, they had the following limitations: the use this tool proved to be time consuming as I had to conduct personal visits to the sample population severally due to some absentee interviewees which forced me to conduct several revisits and some appointments that I made sure to catch up to the required information (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). Records and documentations also helped me in analyzing the legal basis of businesses, their past, current and projected status as regards capital input and output enabling me to deduce the history of ideas, prime philosophies and scientific thoughts that come with the projections (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). Journals were also useful in my research as I got relevant information and used it for my analysis and compilations. Expressive Documents including personal letters; life or case histories in the form of diaries and accounts of small-group processes which created a solid background for sourcing information in this research. 4. 1. 2 Use of questionnaires I employed the use of close-ended questions where I provided the respondents with a variety of choices to pick from that reflected the trends and use of Information Technology and also open ended questions in which I gave the respondents room to formulate their own answers to my questions. Although its use proved to be cost effective, easy to analyze, familiar to most of the respondents and reduced biasness, their use has shown that they have low response rates which is a real curse to statistical analysis and can reduce the reliability of the results (Jha, Merzky, & Fox, 2008). But I ensured a well designated study approach to the use of questionnaires to produce consistent and high response rates. 4. 1. 3 Online surveys/use of the internet The Internet proved very interactive in providing me with relevant information besides being affordable to administer, easy to modify and gave instant results for the study. The tool also had an advantage of making it easy to automate data creation, manipulation and reporting and made it user friendly. Although the use of the internet was efficient, it still had weakness of difficulty in determining and controlling selection probabilities, which is a hindrance to quantitative analysis of data collected (McEvoy, & Schulze, 2008). 4. 2 Procedures The results were from 5 companies which have widely dealt with cloud computing and are concerned with the security of the databases stored in the clouds. These companies have their representatives and program officers who were very helpful in this research. This is because they are the leading in the development and development of cloud computing. Data was collected using SPSS program. The views from the employees of these companies were captured in a questionnaire which was sent online. They were asked how they perceive their achievement of the database security in cloud computing. They were then asked of their personal feel of the extent to which the war against attacks in the cloud has been achieved. In part 1, the respondents were told to give the things they feel are important when one is implementing cloud computing. They were told to give the issues they feel were paramount in implementing security in cloud computing environments. Participants were then asked a series of questions related to database security in cloud computing: the type of cloud computing they wish to implement (attribute vs. consensus), the type of information source (personal vs. impersonal), type of heuristics (independent self-related vs. interdependent self-related), decision speed, consideration set, product involvement, and product knowledge. In part 2, participants were asked a series of individual differences in their technologies they wished to b implemented. In part 3, participants were presented with demographic questions such as age, gender, nationality, race/ethnicity, and cultural identity. Once a participant finished the questionnaire, he/she was thanked and dismissed. McEvoy, G. , & Schulze, B. (2008). Using clouds to address grid limitations. In Workshop on Middleware for Grid Computing (article 11). Retrieved May 19, 2010, from ACM Digital Library database. Jha, S. , Merzky, A. , & Fox, G. (2008). Cloud computing and grid abstraction. Retrieved on May 17, 2010, from Open Grid Forum Web site: http://ogf. org/OGF_Special_Issue/cloud-grid-saga. pdf

Leadership Style and Characteristics of Richard Branson Assignment - 1

Leadership Style and Characteristics of Richard Branson - Assignment Example The music company made him numerous profits in 1973 and has led to the subsequent creation of the other facets of Virgin, including, radio, banking, healthcare, film, internet, commercial spacecraft, electronics, jewelry, mobile phones, music, radio, and retail, among others. The success of the Virgin group is attributed greatly to the personal qualities and leadership style of Richard Branson. This paper elaborates on the leadership style of the entrepreneur that makes his business flourish, having over fifty thousand employees at the moment. For the success of any business, discipline, and style of leadership of the manager is important. Richard Branson is a participative leader. He says that what leadership boils down to is people, whatever the style, technique, you need to trust in yourself (Branson, 2012). He adds that nobody can be prosperous alone, and that one cannot be a good leader without great people to lead. From the statement, it is clear and correct to say that he is t he kind of leader that involves people, and also himself, to ensure the success of Virgin group. In addition, the entrepreneur believes in the delegation. â€Å"I have continuously found in the art of delegation, finding the best people for Virgin, and giving them the freedom and encouragement to flourish, â€Å"he articulates (Dearlove, 2007). He allows people to do some work for him. In fact, when he started Virgin records, he even took a step back, just to let people do it for him. He believes in his staff and needs not be scared on underperformance â€Å"when I set up Virgin Records, I even decided to isolate myself physically from the company, by moving into a boathouse,† he explains (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). Apparently, the entrepreneur possesses an attitude that is unconventional and informal. Due to this, he has managed to gain fame all over the world. Through his leadership style, he turns every failure into success, by creating a campaign out of it.  

E-business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

E-business - Essay Example As a hedge against all liabilities for the company, the manger should develop a plan of insurance that covers the company’s legal costs, as estimated in advance, for middle and extreme examples of corporate liability. This type of insurance coverage will be analyzed by the manner to see to what extent the company remains open to civil and criminal suits for negligent business practices that may occur in the ecommerce operation. In establishing insurance coverage for the company in the case of corporate liability for services offered online, we must purchase the required policy for insurance in all instances of operating liability on the internet. Website security is most important in an ecommerce website, as the customer finds a sense of trust and operability in the existence of a website with secure credit card processing facilities and shopping cart. Secure servers use a type of connection that is different from typical web pages in HTML. The secure pages require a SSL connection which stands for â€Å"Secure Socket Level† encryption technology. The manager will purchase required SSL certificates as needed to operate the ecommerce site with security. For business conducted in England and the United Kingdom, the manager should develop a plan to meet all requirements of the Data Protection Act of 1998. This will require the ecommerce site to have a Privacy Statement and â€Å"Terms and Conditions† page to make clear all company policies relating to the collection of data. (The National Archives, 1998) The manager will be responsible for all third party contract negotiations conducted with foreign and national companies within the relationship of the ecommerce website facilities, logistics, warehousing, and distribution. The responsibility of the manager must override all concerns of the departments to present a clear plan of security that matches with the legal team’s views. Any requirements from upper management and staff

Injectronics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Injectronics - Essay Example Automotive maintenance has undergone radical changes since the introduction of electronics as well as mechatronics in vehicles. Rapid introduction of computer controls to operate engines, steering, braking, suspension and other safety and transmission or comfort functions in today’s vehicles is a huge challenge to both service processes and manufacturing technologies along with failure diagnosis requirements. Many of the modifications in automotive repairs are a result of the initiation of microcontrollers and other electronics in functions within a vehicle. These changes require the remanufacturing companies for such electronic components to improve as significant changes are continually taking place in the industry (Weiland, n.d). Before the advent of electronic controllers, definition of automotive remanufacturing was clear: meaning the renovation of used vehicle parts in accordance with the accepted state so that they can perform similar to new ones. This conventional rema nufacturing may be relevant in future to mechatronics; nevertheless, the definition will be tailored for electronic controllers. ... Currently, vehicles average 35 microprocessors in a vehicle, which are located in various several electronic modules throughout a vehicle and range from simple applications to sophisticated engine controls. The high content level highlights the importance of long-term service plan for electronic control modules. In these vehicles, the service expectations include corresponding electronic modules at least every 4-10 years’ service life with most vehicles lasting 15 years; nevertheless, other vehicles have a high service life of up to 25 years or more. Electronic modules present a difficult service challenge due to many factors such as the fact that microprocessor manufacturers and network manufacturers never have the volume requirements in the service life of a vehicle in order to maintain a production line for producing these service components (APRA global connection, 2009). Market and Competitors Most Electronic Control Module (ECM) utilise four to eight custom-produced micr oprocessors to deter competitors and grey marketers capable of replicating the electronic control module. Therefore, electronic components are often produced in a limited manner and usually the first components to be given as end-of-life production. Remanufacturing of electronic modules is possible through the availability of sold units removed from vehicles or cores; thus, injectronic faces the challenges of maintaining a sufficient collection system that maintains constant return of failed units to sustain the remanufacturing program. Moreover, the core is a failed unit, which has been in use within vehicles for several years; therefore, it is likely that the part is not the latest part since many revisions could have

Japanese-American Internment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Japanese-American Internment - Essay Example The Hawaiian sugar industry attracted many Japanese immigrants in the area in the 1870s and 1880s. By 1900, majority of the Japanese immigrants living in US were concentrated in Hawaii where their work force was much sought by both the farm owners and industries owners. Japanese were primarily hard working than whites, and since the payments depended on the amount of work done, they were better placed than the whites. Their outstanding reputation spread and overtook the whites substantially. The whites saw the Japanese as formidable competitors, and their presence was a threat to them. The Japanese grew more powerful, and in 1941, they attacked the Pearl Harbor; an act that marked a significant traumatic landmark in Japanese-American history (Niiya 11). This attack brought about relocation and internment of the Japanese by the angry anti Japanese community. Japanese-American immigration Japanese migration is significantly attributed to the establishment of sugar plantations in Hawaii . These sugar plantations required massive number of workers throughout the entire process of cultivation, harvesting and processing in the industries. This establishment called for many laborers and importing them was the most convenient way of getting cheap labor. In 1850s, plantation owners imported many Chinese to work in their farms and offered them meager salaries. By 1865, the Chinese immigrants started to drift away from these jobs slowly until there were no more enough laborers in the farms. With the shifting of Chinese to other better jobs, the Hawaiians foreign minister decided to seek laborers elsewhere. This decision compelled the migration of Japanese to Hawaii to replace the Chinese who had quit working in the farms. In 1868, the first ship carrying Japanese immigrants arrived with 148 people in whom 141 were men, 6 were women, and two were children (Hanel 7). The working conditions were harsh and upon the termination of the contract; thus, some went back claiming tha t they were treated with so much cruelty. However, the remaining Japanese were the beginning of Japanese-American citizens at the time. The Chinese exclusion act, which was passed in 1882, prohibited further migration of Chinese and paved way for further Japanese immigration. In the preceding years, Japan and Hawaii signed a contract that allowed whites to import Japanese laborers. More and more Japanese immigrants occupied Hawaii and a group of Japanese ancestry arose. The native born Japanese by 1910 had grown up to one third of the total Hawaii’s population. By 1930, the native born Japanese in Hawaii was numerous and exceeded those born in Japan by a great percentage. They continued to work hard in the farms, and their skills consequently outweighed that of Native Americans bringing a stiff competition. Through their efforts, they were finally able to purchase their own lands, and this challenged the Native Americans who perceived them as a threat. Factors that contribute d to Japanese-Americans internment The internment of Japanese was marked by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The attack sprouted a historical landmark amongst American Japanese (Chin 5). Retaliation by the anti Japanese ran high and brought their internment. This was a painful moment for the Japanese and thousands of them died in the process. Shortly after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an order, to designate military boundaries within the US. Although the order was not targeted at anybody, it became the basis for

Ecological consequences of natural or anthropogenic activities Essay

Ecological consequences of natural or anthropogenic activities - Essay Example Transpiration has become a major part in individuals’ daily life. Several individuals consider different transport options in order to enhance their goals of life. Fast and effective transport options ensure business communications, personal travelling and several other aspects. In addition to this, several automobile manufacturers consider the factor of technological advancement during the manufacturing of automobile vehicles. Most importantly, this transportation has several critical and inadequate ecological consequences in this present era of globalization. Therefore, transpiration can be considered as one of the major anthropogenic activities. Huge amount of energy requires running a vehicle. Electricity and fossil fuels are the major energy sources that are required to run vehicles. It is true that high consumption of fossil fuels and petroleum can help a vehicle to run smoothly. This high consumption level of fossil fuels and petroleum resources are affecting the ecological and environmental balance quite critically. High carbon emission level is the major consequence of high consumption of natural oil and gas resources. High carbon emission level increases the volume of nitrous oxides and particulates in the air. It automatically increases the temperature of atmosphere that causes air pollution. Green house gas emission is the major reason behind this increase of global atmospheric temperature. This is becoming a serious ethical challenge for global environment and ecology. Several serious diseases, such as cancer, respiratory problems, heart problems and other diseases are the major consequences of this global warming and air pollution. People are facing difficulty to take fresh oxygen and water due to growing level of air pollution and global warming (Oshitani, 2006). Moreover, several species are abolishing from ecology due to this issue. Each and every animal has a major role to play in maintaining

Analysis of Pre-school in Three Cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of Pre-school in Three Cultures - Essay Example Teacher and students repeat the date, day and whether aloud which gives them knowledge of their surroundings and time. Thus most of the time a child is doing something himself to learn and practice a new idea which helps to mature his mental modals about various real life phenomena. There is a 120 minute academic session with very little explicit academic instructions and children are supposed to learn by practice. The teacher encourages the children involvement in non-academic activities like singing, telling jokes and stories during these academic sessions. After lunch break the children are allowed to play all around the school where they learn through mutual interaction and cooperation. Teacher encourages unattended mutual resolution of disputes among children which instigate problem solving behavior among children. The teachers at Japanese pre-school have strong believe that problem solving and dispute resolutions, and empathy are important skills that a child learns through ear ly childhood fighting and interaction with other children. Thus finding a solution himself is constructive for his learning experience. Origami, a Japanese art of making shapes by folding paper is yet another way of constructive learning at pre-schools. Children learn the persistence when they encounter problems, cooperate with each other. According to teachers origami is an important tool in constructive learning. At Dong-feng pre-school and day care center in China, the principal thinks that it is good for children as they learn to interact with each other. In classrooms there are several activities like children sing songs and match wooden elements with drawing on a page. At Saint Timothy in Honolulu Hawaii children come and have free play before the school formally starts. The school... This paper stresses that behaviorism aims to bring measureable positive changes in children behaviors through practice and learning. Behavioral disobedience or rudeness are difficult to control and require a lot more methodical approach to address the actual issue behind any such behavioral problem. You may teach them to obey through self example of doing something good and polite repetition of tasks you designed to inculcate some basic learning outcomes in the children. The authos declares that a disciplined and self controlled behavior may help children to learn the skills of self control and disciple in the process. If child has some dispute with other child at play or learning area the American teacher encourage children to express their grievances instead hitting or entangling with each other. While in Japanese teacher encourages mutual resolution of disputes thus instigate problem solving behavior among children. This report makes a conclusion that constructive and behavioral techniques and methodologies in three countries best suit to their cultures. The approaches are hard learned and time tested therefore, more often than not any change is resisted strictly. However, in changing environment of modern societies these methods and techniques are required to be reviewed and revisited constantly to bring about the changes that may help to instigate more practical and applicable approaches towards inculcating constructiveness and behavioral upholding of the children. The best approach is to let children learn through personal experience and a display of exemplary behavior.

Breakfest at tiffanys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breakfest at tiffanys - Essay Example Yet, Joe tries to hide it and mostly is determined to show less of the emotions he feels for another. The narrator even described him as a man who is not easy to get along with; but interestingly, he showed that he cared for Holly like he had not cared for any other although he did not deliberately do so. For a man who is often exposed to the unkind and indifferent parts of the community, it is understood how hard it must be for Joe to demonstrate how he truly feels for anybody. Mag Wildwood. The character Mag, on the other hand, is an example of a complicated woman. She drifts from displaying a certain trait to another so easily. From being a friend to whom Holly agreed to be a roommate to judging Holly of going to bed with her then-fiancà ©, Mag is an unreliable woman as she refused to help her â€Å"friend† Holly from being arrested after she was held â€Å"involved† of a crime a certain Sally Tomato was engaged to. Rusty Trawler. The man Holly was always with in the story except from the narrator, Rusty Trawler, is an example of a fearful man who has allowed the pressures of society get hold of him and the way he lives his life. He almost had everything: money and power. However, he had not been true to himself and his being gay. He used women, Holly included; and pretended that he was a true man. After all the time Holly spent with him, Rusty married for the fourth time and did it with Mag; leaving Holly alone. From being untrue to himself, he also turned out to be selfish. Jose Yberra-Jaeger. The presence of Jose in the life of Holly presents to the readers an instance when a person meets someone he or she would find the things that he or she was â€Å"looking for† but ends up disappointed. Although Jose seemed to be a person who really cared for Holly, bringing along a doctor when she became devastated of her brother’s death and allowing her to pretend like his

Discover How the everyday operations of the press intersect with the Assignment

Discover How the everyday operations of the press intersect with the political system and with government affairs - Assignment Example The contentious issue here is if the data collected is kept in a secure place and not prone to misuse. Also, whether there are substantial laws to guard against misuse of this data (Hicks n.p). In a story by Rosalind Helderman highlights the challenges Scott Walker faces in his ambition of being a presidential runner in 2016. Scott who is the Wisconsin Governor faces two court cases that may undermine his chances in the presidential race. One case is centered on his â€Å"ex-aide’s e-mails† whereby â€Å"questions arise about the extent he encouraged interaction between his 2010 campaign and his official aides†. Even though he emerges victorious in this e-mail probe prosecutors are also looking if his â€Å"successful recall campaign illegally coordinated with independent conservative groups†. Him being able to walk free from these allegations will boost his chances and earn him strong influence (Helderman n.p). In a story by Johnson and Craighill on latest poll opinion on the federal government healthcare bill in the state of Maryland; show that majority of the residents supports the law (55% support). However nationally there are varying opinions. Maryland’s huge support is probably because the number of democrats is high and they strongly advocate for passing of the law. Maryland’s online health insurance has been faced with various technical difficulties and hasn’t been successful as anticipated by the state officials (Johnson n.p). Laura Ingrahm gives an opinion on reasons conservatives should base in rejecting the immigration reform. The statistics show that most immigrants are in support of the democrats thus could not benefit the conservatives at all. Laura stresses on the need of using facts and experiences to weigh the benefits accruing from a new policy instead of relying on sentiments and dreams. Also that the recent politicians are fanatics and trusting them with important boarder laws is such a bad idea. Hence, if

Report (an incident report covering a vehicle accident) Essay

Report (an incident report covering a vehicle accident) - Essay Example The roadway has no median or barrier between the eastbound and westbound lanes on the four lane street, deep ditches on both sides of the road, and the posted speed limit is 40 MPH. Weather conditions at the time of the incident were overcast, windy, and rainy; and the road was wet from the rain. Further, it also had a sheet of water draining across the road from the hill's runoff. Traffic was relatively heavy in both directions, as it was just after rush hour. A red mini-van (Vehicle 2) was driving westbound, and was thus coming downhill into a moderate left hand curve. At point where the curve was the sharpest, Vehicle 1 began a sideways slide that the driver was unable to prevent. The car, which was out of the driver's control at that point, went into the lanes occupied by the oncoming traffic. Vehicle 2 was unable to slow down in time to avoid hitting Vehicle 1, nor was there room for Vehicle 2 to maneuver out of its oncoming path. Accordingly, the front of Vehicle 2 struck the driver-side door of Vehicle 1, sending Vehicle 1 off of the roadway and down into the ditch on the left side of the roadway. Police and paramedic units were called, as was a rescue unit, and the driver of Vehicle 1 had to be cut out of the small car. The driver of Vehicle 1 sustained severe injuries, while the other driver suffered only minor ones. According to witnesses and a report on the accident, both drivers were wearing their seatbelts. Some witnesses said that Vehicle 1 was speeding, while others claimed that Vehicle 2 was coming down the hill too fast. The driver of Vehicle 1 was taken to the hospital via ambulance, and the other driver chose to decline medical attention. Causes of Incident The actual accident was caused by several different factors, with other roadway issues contributing to the severity of the injuries sustained by the driver of Vehicle 1. The most likely direct cause of the accident was that both drivers were operating at speeds too high for the road conditions at that time. During periods of rain and wet roadways, it is easy to lose control of the vehicle; especially on curves (Skidding and Hydroplaning in Rainy Conditions). The driver of Vehicle 1 was going too fast to prevent the car from skidding on the wet pavement, and the driver of the second vehicle was driving too fast to avoid the collision. Had both drivers been operating their vehicles at slower speeds, the accident could have been avoided. The second direct cause of the accident was the condition of the tires on Vehicle 1. Subsequent review of the vehicle showed that the tread depth on the tires was not within safe limits. This tread wear decreases a driver's ability to control the vehicle and increases the likelihood of hydroplaning. Hydroplaning occurs when a layer of water builds up between the tire and the road, causing the vehicle to no longer respond to the control inputs of the driver (Hydroplaning (road vehicle). The less tread a tire has on the road, the more likely this layer of water is to form. If Vehicle 1 had tires with proper tread, the likelihood of this accident occurring would have been much less. Other issues that were

Til Death do us Part Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Til Death do us Part - Essay Example This couple has a healthy and happy marriage. It has not been without conflict, but it is still a successful relationship. According to the model, Martha and Robert have gone through various stages in their relationship. Due to the time period, they probably rushed through these stages much faster than they normally would have. Marriage normally takes place during the bonding stage, which is the final stage. However, Robert was sent away during their first year of marriage. This distance caused them to have to revisit some of the earlier stages. They stayed connected through letters, which allowed them to intensify their relationship. When Robert returned, it was difficult at first. They had to learn how to live together again. The births of their two children so closely together did not allow them to spend much time together. That postponed the integrating stage until their children were grown. It was then that they began spending more time together again. Finally, when Robert retired they were able to enter the bonding stage. Although this was also difficult at first, they found a way to make it work. That they can finish each other's thoughts, and can not imagine life without the other shows that they are truly in a successful relationship. Rudy and Bill's marriage also started out quickly. They were married after only a few meetings, and Bill was sent overseas soon after their marriage began. They probably never left the experimenting stage. It is during this stage that couples find out if they should stay together or not. Had they given this more time they probably would have decided to end the relationship. When Bill returned he was a stranger to both Rudy and their son. Rather than going through the development stages again as Robert and Martha did, they seemed to move to the termination stages. Both seemed to think in terms of "me" rather than "we." This is demonstrated when Bill said he wanted things done "his way" not hers. Rudy was unhappy and wished she could stay with her parents. Bill also began spending more time with his friends and going out after work, without Rudy. These are signs that they were differentiating. The next stage is circumscribing, when communication between the couple diminishes. Certain topics are avoided, for example, Bill's dance partners. Bill and Rudy, though living together, lived very separate lives. Rudy's was home with her children, while Bill's was out with his friends. Eventually they even moved into separate rooms in the house. This is representative of the avoiding stage. The final stage would be termination, but this relationship never reached this stage. Rudy believed that divorce was never an option, and her unhappiness not important. Bill does not seem to see a problem with their relationship. One theory that relates to this case study is Mary Anne Fitzpatrick's Marital Communication Theory. According to this theory, there are three types of couples in a marriage, the traditional type, independents, and separates. Couples can move among these types, but their communication styles will be reflected in their type of relationship. Robert and Martha seem to be traditional in their roles. They share a lot, and each person's role in the relationship is defined clearly. Rudy and Bill, on the other hand, are separates. They do not spend much time together, and live separate lives, even though they are still married. This is reflected in how they communicate. Neither seems to hear what the other is

Nonverbal communication in Crash Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nonverbal communication in Crash - Term Paper Example From the movie, we are able to clearly see the communication difference that exists between people of different cultures (Knapp). The lives of people from diverse cultures in the movie seem to be at stake due to inaccurate perception and ineffective verbal communication. This movie portrays behind the scenes that all humans are good in nature and if they add a little of the good aspects of communication then most of the problems in the society are likely to be solved (Crash. Dir. Robert Lantos). It is clear that the movie under review and analysis is the movie ‘Crash’ by Paul Haggis and the concept under analysis is nonverbal communication and their general impacts in the society. Effective communication is very important not only to the society but also in an individual’s life for the sake of their personal, professional and civic interactions and development. Therefore, it is wise to always create or look for room to develop and learn so that we are better communicators (Wood). From the movie, we are able to see this fact openly manifested and goes further to show us the consequences of not being able to communicate effectively (Crash. Dir. Robert Lantos). Through the characters of the movie, we are able to see the impacts of communication to ourselves. To other people or the public, organization and most importantly we are able to pinpoint the drawbacks of the inability to perform effective intercultural communication as witnessed in most of the movie characters. The movie shows us the clash that exists between the law and ethics due to mishap in communication (Wood). It is ethical for the police or corps to pull the vehicle over yet against ethics to harass and abuse the people in the vehicle. This has come about because of the poor communication exhibited by the police a perception that sets prototypes about some members of the society hence a motivation to act differently in handling issues. Therefore the

Art History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Art History - Essay Example It considered this unbalanced or asymmetrical aspect is a style effect, and called it as â€Å"contraste†. Another subtle similarity could be their love of exaggeration and decoration. Mannerism was inclined to portray anything, especially human form, in an exaggeratedly than realistically; they used artificial colors and unrealistic proportions. In most cased, the figures were exaggerated, placed in unimaginable poses. It was â€Å"unsettling and strange†. Rococo loved decoration, though it did not focus on human forms. For example, Rococo paintings had an element of â€Å"naughtiness or impurity in the behavior of their subjects†, which can be associated with unrealistic nature of the objects of Mannerism. The first difference between Mannerism and Rococo is that Mannerism is not â€Å"natural, graceful† like the high Renaissance art; it uses â€Å"clashing colors, disquieting figures with abnormally elongated limbs, (often torturous-looking) emotion and bizarre themes†, however, Rococo uses â€Å"undulating lines and S-curves prominent in Rococo are the basis for grace and beauty in art or nature; (â€Å"Rococo†, 2009; â€Å"Art History: Mannerism: (1520 - 1600)†, 2009). So Rococo is more akin to Renaissance in portraying the gracefulness in nature than Mannerism. Yet another difference is that Mannerism â€Å"combines Classicism, Christianity and mythology†, but Rococo’s use of curved lines was â€Å"unlike the straight line or the circle in Classicism† (â€Å"Rococo†, 2009; â€Å"Art History: Mannerism: (1520 - 1600)†, 2009). Mannerism was often considered â€Å"technically masterful† whereas the critics of Rococo had pointed out its frivolous nature due to its focus on decorative arts and interior design and the importance it gave to the style component, despite its taste for the complex and intricate forms of Baroque art. Rococo had light hearted themes depicted in a fashionable

Hyatt Hotel Financial Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hyatt Hotel Financial Analysis - Essay Example Hyatt has six diverse brands, which are specifically designed in order to deliver the best experience reflecting high standards of life, luxury, comfort, values, attitudes and aspirations of the clients who are the main stakeholders. The Hyatt hotel is run by a group of talented and highly skilled professionals whose visions and aspirations is to make Hyatt Hotels the leading brand in hotel and hospitality section. The executive chairman is Thomas J. Pritzker; Mark Hoplamazian is the president and also the CEO and Director. Harmit Singh is the chief finance officer. We also have among others Charles Floyd, who is the chief operating officer of North America and Robert Webb who is the chief Human resources Officer. Hyatt hotel has been able to use the latest technology together with high class food and beverage preferences in order to effectively and efficiently meet the growing customer demand. There has been advancement in the establishment of free Wi-Fi, room entertainment, ultra-m odern Jacuzzis and other devices which enhance self service. The major challenge facing the Hyatt Hotel is the general economic downturn which has affected almost all hospitality sectors in the world. The administration is busy launching rigorous initiatives which will rely heavily on information technology in order to improve their marketing objectives and more so the profitability goals. Another challenge s the financial and staffing constraints, the executive management of the hotel have employed strategies which will make use of technology in order to ensure stronger business growth. The major competitors of Hyatt hotel are basically based in North America, Europe and Asia. The luxury hotel industry has actually suffered major competition especially in the major global economic downturn. This has lead to the hotel reducing the prices of its products and services hence reduction in the company’s profit margin. Consequently it has become increasingly difficult to carry out expansion activities of the hotel Analysis of Financials The key items in the balance sheet of Hyatt which is worth the analysis are the inventory, long term investments, long term debt, stockholder equity, cash and intangible assets Inventory- the inventory of the company is seen to be decreasing from the year 2009 to 2011. Decrease in the inventory could be due to increase in the demand of the company’s stock or the management decisions to get as limit of stock. The value of stock for Hyatt hit a record low of $8.77 in 2011 against $18 and $1.337 for 2010 and 2009 respectively (Fridson, 2009). Long term investments for the company increased substantially from $6.085 in 2009 to $6.47 in 2011. The increase in the amount of long term investments is due to the company’s ambitious programs to expand its operations worldwide. The building of spas, luxury hotels and casinos has made the company to improve its long-term investments. The long-term debt has significantly been increased in order to meet the growing demands for financing the long-term investments. The long-term debt as at 2011 was $1.2219 against $714000000 and $8.48 for the years 2010 and 2011 respectively. Long-term investments are very expensive ventures to be undertaken, meaning that the

Strategic Management Analysis of Coca Cola Company Essay Example for Free

Strategic Management Analysis of Coca Cola Company Essay Candle. Three years later Mr. Candler and other associates formed a Georgia corporation named the Coca-Cola Company. The brand name â€Å"Coca-Cola,† was officially patented in the United States on January 31, 1893. The business continued to grow and in 1895, the Coca- Cola product had expanded in all states and territory of Unite State. The Company quickly outgrew its facilities and in 1898 was created the first headquarters building devoted exclusively to the production of syrup and the management of the business. One year later, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, secured exclusive rights from Candler to bottle and sell the beverage for the sum of only one dollar. In the year 1919, the Coca-Cola Company was sold to a group of investors for $25 million. Robert W. Woodruff became the President of the Company in the year 1923 and his more than sixty years of leadership took the business to unsurpassed heights of commercial success, making Coca-Cola one of the most recognized and valued brands in the 20th century. Today, the Company owns or licenses and markets more than 500 non-alcoholic beverage brands, has 3,500 beverage products including sparkling drinks and still beverages and sells 1. 7 billon servings per day in over 200 countries. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and employs 139,600 associates across the six operating groups. Approximately 78% of its products are sold outside of the Unite State. Although 2010 was a hard year for many of the multinational companies due to the economical situation, the Cocal Cola company recorded revenues of $35,119 million, 12% more that in 2009. The increase in revenue was primarily due to increase in sales of unit cases of company’s products from approximately 24. 4 billion in 2009 to approximately 25. 5 billion in 2010, the increase in the price and product/geographic mix also boosted the revenue growth. The operating income of the company was $8,449 million and the net profit was $11,809 million, increasing a 2, 6% and 5, 77% respectively over 2009 fiscal year. Business, now-a-days is vitally affected by the economic, social, technological and political factors. The Coca-Cola â€Å"is a marketing model not just for mega multinationals looking to share best practices from around the world but also a case study for how upstart and mid-size brands, of which Coca-Cola has amassed many, can use creative stunts and strategic partnerships to get a lot done on a smaller budget. †( Zmuda, 2011). The company has been faced the external factors such as: economic, social and competitive that has affected the majority of multinational companies during the last years, creating excellent strategic to find solution for them. The Coca- Cola’ Vision and Mission

Family & marriage Essay Example for Free

Family marriage Essay 1. The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as two or more people living together who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Heterosexual or Homosexual unmarried partners are excluded from this traditional definition. Many people object to the Census Bureau’s definition. The Journal of Marriage and Family, a scholarly journal about families published by the National council on Family Relations, opts for a broader, more exclusive definition saying that a family is a relationship by blood, marriage or affection, where members of the family cooperate economically, may care for children, and can consider their identity to be intimately connected by a larger group. It can include a family of orientation, which is the family that you were born into, and a family of procreation, which is the family that you make through marriage, partnering and/or parenthood. This text also includes fictive kin in its definition of family. Fictive kin are nonrelatives whose bonds are strong and intimate, such as the relationships shared among unmarried homosexual or heterosexual partners, or close friends. Chapter 1, pg 3-5. 2. Regulation of Sexual Behavior: All cultures regulate sexual behavior, including who can have sex with whom and under what circumstances they must do so. A virtually regulation is the incest taboo that forbids sexual activity among close family members. Reproducing and Socializing Children: Each society must produce new members and ensure socialization, teaching children the rules, expectations and culture of society. Property and Inheritance: For much of human history, when people were nomadic hunters and gatherers, families owned little or nothing of their own, and so had nothing to pass down. Agriculture made it possible for people to own property, or to obtain a surplus beyond what was needed to survive, therefore, it became imp ortant to identify heirs. Economic Cooperation: A family is the group responsible for providing its members with food, shelter, clothing and other basic necessities. Social Placement, Status, and Roles: Families give their members a social identity and position. Members find their place in the complex web of status and roles. Care, Warmth, Protection, and Intimacy: Humans need far more than food, shelter, and clothing to survive. Families are intended to provide the emotional care needed to survive and thrive. Chapter 1, pg 6-7. 10. Poverty comes in many different shapes, sizes and colors. Poor families face a higher degree of stress, disorganization, ad other issues in their life.  Poverty is hard on every one, but it weighs especially heavy on children’s physical, social, and emotional health. Poverty puts the health of children at risk in many ways, including a low birth weight, which increases chances of serious chronic and acute illness, along with emotional and behavioral problems. Poverty has a negative effect on the quality and stimulation of the home environment. Poor children on welfare who were between the ages of 13 and 36 months hear only half as many words per hour as the average working class child. Poor children have a higher probability of being abused, neglected, and more severely injured by abuse. On average, poor children have fewer resources for learning in the home, including books and educational toys. Because poor families cannot pay high rent they often live in housing that may lack proper cooking, heating, or sanitation. Poor children live in inner cities where violence, crime truancy, loitering, and a sense of despair predominate. Chapter 2, pgs 63-65. 11. We are all made up of many different characteristics. We aren’t simply male or female, Asian American or Hispanic, rich or poor. A person may be a White working-class female, a Japanese American upper-class male, a Cuban middle-class male, a white upper-class female, or any number of other racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and class combination. We have multiple statuses and they all interact to shape our lives. Our statuses intersect with one another. Sex and gender, race and ethnicity, and social class, individually and together, shape a constellation of privileges and constraints that can affect our goals, opportunity, choices, and experiences. They influence family structure we are born into, the way our parents raise us, our choices and opportunities in intimate relationships, how we parent, and how we age. Chapter 2, pg 67.

Future Directions of Criminology

Future Directions of Criminology Criminology in the Future Change is all around us and happens all of the time. Criminals search for new and expand approaches to perpetrate and bypass crime. The criminal justice system are always adjusting and getting the latest technology to remain ahead of the criminals. Technology and law implementation have gone as an inseparable unit and will keep on doing so in the future. A portion of the ways that technology is the main strength in criminology can be found later when deterring crime and with the continues advance of forensic science. Technology is as sharp as a knife and can constrain in the balance of moral limits. Future Directions of Crime Fighting and Its Role In Social Policy Implication Criminology later on will even now be a major ordeal because of the general population who concentrate the violations that offenders do. Individuals attempt to establish out why individuals act and do a great deal of violations that goes on. A few people concentrate the psyches of culprits to see do the individual have a mind issue and if so what kind. Or, then again did the individual have two guardians raising him or her if so who was it and was the guardians at work a great deal or investing a large portion of their energy with their children. Later on headings of wrongdoing battling and its part in social strategy suggestion with all the new innovation and new updates like radios, tablets to discover where somebody is situated at, Cell telephones and weapons will help the police organizations if fights ever occur. The new innovation the polices have today is extremely useful. Because of them attempting to help secure the natives and attempting to spare lives. Many people dont care for polices and will attempt to hurt them in the event that they feel like the police it not making the best decision at some point. Later on it will in any case be a ton of violations that should be given the correct way. We will dependably require polices since a few people dont know how to deal with things without making a wrongdoing out of it. The headings later on of wrongdoing battling will get more unsafe for individuals who are attempting to do ideal by working and profiting the correct way, dealing with them families et cetera. A great many people today and later on dont generally feel like they can truly put stock in law implementation. By that being said we as a whole realize that everybody must take after the laws or get rebuffed that goes for the present and whats to come. Will keep taking matters into their own hands that will keep transforming into wrongdoing and individuals going to prison, jail or execute. Every one of the parts in social strategy suggestion we will never truly comprehend whats on the horizon. It will go to a period when it will be judgment that is premise of conditional confirmation and conclusions rather. Rather than perception significance investing significant time to discover every one of the fasts to the violations and confirmation. That will make wrongdoing battling later on much more awful the for law requirement and also for the general population who are not in law authorization. Potential For Crime-Fighting Methodologies There are numerous courses for the criminal only framework to extend their strategies. There are present approachs that function admirably and additionally a few philosophies that can be developed. These techniques will make criminal equity framework run all the more viably. The Combined DNA Index System otherwise called CODIS is another term that can be heard being utilized as a part of criminal shows and started in the late 1980s. The databases programming is utilized to house DNA profiles from government, state and neighborhood scientific research facilities. In 1994 the DNA Identification Act was passed and permitted approval of the National DNA Index System (NDIS). This demonstration determined the classifications of information that might be kept up, for example, sentenced guilty parties, arrestees, legitimate, prisoners, legal, unidentified human stays, missing people and relatives of missing people (Combined Dna Index System, 2015). CODIS initially comprised of just sentenced guilty party record and measurable list. In the United States more than 190 open law requirement research facilities take part in NDIS and more than 70 law authorization labs in more than 40 nations us the CODS programming for their own particular database (Codis Brochure, 2015). Cybercrime Spyware is a term utilized for projects that secretively screen ones action on their PC, gathering individual data ,, for example, usernames, passwords, account numers, records, driver licenses or government managed savings numbers (Crimeware: Trojans and Spyware, 2015). A cybercrime is a wrongdoing that is done through the web or another PC arrange. Presently a days cybercrime is ending up noticeably more well known. Many individuals have had their data stolen from individuals having the capacity to hack into their PCs, telephone and store PCs. This is winding up plainly such an issue, to the point that they are devoting a division entirely to cybercrimes. The news reports increasingly how either organization has been hacked or how distinctive stores have been hacked and individual data has been bargained. While some of these violations can be unimportant some can be to a great degree enormous, for example, hacking a countrys network or an administration office. With the assistance of the cybercrime unit they can recognize and see things that those of us with those sorts of aptitudes cant see and stop what could be a horrendous wrongdoing. Evolving Law Enforcement and Forensic Technologies Headways in electronic innovation are changing the procedure of correspondence, recognizable proof, data preparing, information stockpiling and recovery, observation, and ongoing video, just to give some examples. Law implementation organizations need to remain current with innovation as well as endeavor to keep one stage on top of things. Electronic organizations close by of law implementation offices are constantly refreshing their gear with an end goal to advance law requirement and criminological innovations used to recognize criminal exercises. Legitimate utilize and comprehension of present and future innovative devices is basic to law implementation work force, these devices will be utilized to convey successfully inside police offices, enhance GPS beacons, report wrongdoing measurements, biometrics ID, and video confirmation of collaborations between cops and people in general. A future apparatus in the arranging stages is a program known as PredPol, a propelled specialized instrument that is said to be utilized inside a police division to distinguish wrongdoing before it happens. PredPol has appeared to be viable in anticipating wrongdoing in regions based off of past wrongdoing measurements, violations that happen consistently in a territory, and other sociological variables (Kelly, 2014). As of now in testing stage the program will even dispatch officers to a given territory where wrongdoing is in all probability going to happen. The requirement for a wrongdoing avoidance program came to fruition after wrongdoing rates in real urban communities have expanded while procuring of new cops has diminished (Kelly, 2014). Law authorization faculty will have the capacity to view guide of problem areas inside a statistic region, this wont just help the cop on watch, additionally encourage the offices war room. Dispatch screens will have the capacity to arrange pi npoint areas easily with the goal that all group units can see each others assigned regions. Two imaginative specific databases are Facial Recognition Device and Iris Scan, these particular databases can hold huge amounts of data to later recover, with the end goal of recognizing people by method for looking at facial structure, shape and extents, and biometric distinguishing proof. Facial pictures of suspects can be caught and sought through databases to conceivably distinguish known criminals, needed or missing people (Kelly, 2014). Both of these databases will have the capacity to help legal innovations to distinguish people, as well as used to recognize criminal exercises. Distinguishing people in light of physical attributes involved from facial pictures, iris filters, or behavioral qualities will happen with the utilization of these particular biometric databases (Kelly, 2014). These databases will be able to look for facial pictures of police mugshots, as well as drivers licenses, ID cards, online networking system locales, the web, essentially any outlet where a man has posted a photo of themselves. With the utilization of this propelled innovation, it will be almost outlandish for anybody to conceal their personality from the inquiry of these databases. Envision the capacity to have the capacity to distinguish offenders, psychological oppressors, needed criminals, and missing individuals in simply a question of minutes. Civil Liberties and Ethics Violations As innovative advances keep on being produced those headways likewise advance into the law requirement field. Alongside those progressions additionally come the likelihood of those headways to be utilized as a part of both an unscrupulous way and conceivable infringement of rights. Some present headways which have created warmed civil arguments are the utilization of unmanned automaton flying machine. These unmanned specialties are little and exceptionally flexibility and have the ability of being used in regions which already may have been difficult to reach to law implementation. The plain view tenet has been portrayed as The decide that permits a law implementation officer to seize proof of a wrongdoing, without acquiring a court order when the confirmation is on display. Legitimate Information Institute (n.d.) site. With the development of innovations that permit officers to find in spots that they would not ordinarily have the capacity to see the meaning of what precisely plain sight can be extended to include the utilization of such gadgets under any circumstance. The utilization of camera frameworks is additionally an expanded infringement of individual protection. Law authorization officers use reconnaissance cameras which are not intended to record the specific activities of a solitary individual yet do catch people activities. It is likely that individuals have not assented to being recorded by all recording devises that are utilized day by day, even in areas where a man has some desire of protection. The utilization of iris filtering has likewise been executed in certain law authorization organizations Starting in 2010, the NYPD began checking arrestees irises on admission and quickly preceding arraignment. (5 Chilling New Ways Police Violate Your Rights, 2013). This likewise is an issue of the fourth amendment ideal to illicit inquiry and seizure. Is an iris sweep an infringement to a man secured data and protection? These again are question that officials should address later on. Future conceivable outcomes could grow to the utilization of our own personalities. As advancements created it could be conceivable to one day have the capacity to peruse the considerations of people. There is no point of reference to keep the utilization of such musings in criminal arguments and as confirmation against somebody blamed for a wrongdoing. Made a stride promote it could be conceivable to convict people of wrongdoings that they had not by any means perpetrated in light of the fact that they had the mentality to carry out that wrongdoing. Administrators should decide when using a mans considerations is an infringement of their entitlement to protection. There is likewise the untrustworthy question of a law requirement officer utilizing this data for their very own pick up. One could envision an officer utilizing the contemplations of CEO of organizations for monetary profit. The utilization of coercion to keep certain data calm could likewise be misused by individual that were behaving dishonestly. With the advancement of innovations officials need to deliberately investigate the abilities of these advances and deliver the issue in the matter of regardless of whether there is an infringement of rights being utilized. Similarly as new lays were created in the PC age and the infringement of protection that accompanied that advancement so will promote innovations should be taken a gander at similarly. Conclusion Criminology today is beginning to work around innovation. This is just opening the entryways on what the future will deliver. Lawbreakers alongside equity boss will depend on innovation. This will be the genuine test to check whether innovation is sincerely made for the criminal world. Everything in the criminal equity framework as far as possible up to current is put on paper. Innovation later on will be utilized as a part of ways never envisioned. It will appear as though we are too as yet viewing a motion picture about the future however in actuality we are living it. Criminology has made considerable progress and still have a further trip to go. REFERENCES 5 chilling new ways police violate your rights. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2013/01/15/5_chilling_new_ways_police_violate_your_rights/ CODIS Brochure. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis_brochure Combined DNA Index System. (2015). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_DNA_Index_System Crimeware: Trojans Spyware. (2015). Retrieved from http://us.norton.com/cybercrime-trojansspyware Kelly, H. (2014). CNN Tech: Police embracing tech that predicts crimes. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/09/tech/innovation/police-tech/ Legitimate information institute. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/plain_view_doctrine

Research into Truancy: Causes and Effects

Research into Truancy: Causes and Effects Introductory orientation Truancy is about learners who have not been attending school regularly as required by the school, parents and even the authorities. Truant behavior is a problem for the individual, the family, the school and society in general. Free and compulsory education is recognized as a basic entitlement under international standards, including the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950). With the right to free education and the obligation corresponding to this right observed and enforced through a national emphasis on school attendance, The National Statistic Office (Malta) states that in the 2004/2005 scholastic year the figure for school absenteeism accounted for 7.7% of the total number of school days in the reference period or an overall absence rate of 9.2 absent days per pupil that for boys being 10.0 days per pupil and for girls 8.4 days per pupil. As a teacher this makes me fretful about students missing school as this can be associated with subsequent emotional and psychosocial problems in early adulthood and is a predictor of multiple problems (Fogelman and Hibbert, 1990). Truancy may have both short and long term effects on society. There is evidence that truancy is linked to delinquent behaviour and juvenile crime (Collins, 1998; Reid, 1999). According to Jones (1996), ‘Absenteeism is a sign of trouble that often leads to lower academic skills and grades, delinquency, and dropouts. Studies have shown that high school dropouts are twice as likely to be unemployed and on welfare, and overall, tend to be facing a more difficult life than their graduating counterparts. Jones (1996; p.128), All members who form part of any educational institution cannot allow these students to give up on themselves. We as a modern, fast developing society, we cannot afford to let them surrender. It is clearly far less expensive to educate them than pay for a lifetime of welfare and all of the deprivations that welfare represents. These are ominous issues, which imply that the number of students who skip school is rising and that school absenteeism is a new generations behaviour that is today a dramatic social phenomenon. This proposal drafts the intent to investigate and explore realities of how truancy manifests with Maltese youth and also explore the psychosocial world of truants in Maltese schools. Problem Analysis The Pre-Scientific Problem awareness As a supply teacher for these past five years, I have witnessed incidences of truancy in the period 2006 to 2009. One of the common truancy reducation measures used was to lock the school gates during lessons and breaks and open them after school hours (my personal exsperience). Despite the limited impact on truancy reducation, the approach of locking gates is still common and evident in some secondary schools. I found locked gates while visiting some of the schools. Gangsters, to control late coming and to stop learners from dodging classes, locked gates to prevent trespassing, sepecially. Exploring the problem Incidence and nature of truancy Malta Since 1946 education has been compulsory for all children between six to fourteen years and extended to the age of 16 by the Education Act (Malta) of 1971. Maltese law imposes a duty on parents to ensure that their children of compulsory school age receive appropriate education, whether through attendance at a state or independent school. If they fail to do so, without any reasonable excuse and if found guilty, they are liable to a fine not exceeding in previous currency one Maltese Lira (equivalent to â‚ ¬2.33) for each day during which the offence continues, unless the parent fails to give a good and sufficient explanation within three days from the date he or she receives a notice from the Director of Education (Malta Education Act 1988). From January 2001 up to December 2002 there were 8,903 arraignments before the local tribunals in connection with school absenteeism (Grech, 2002). This figure represents only the number of students who were absent from school without a valid reason on more than three occasions in the time frame of a month. It is a known fact that there are a number of students that systematically plan three days off from school each month, just for the sake that they use their monthly absence allowance and knowing that in this way their parents would not receive a citation. Surveys show that the overall absence rate between 25th September 2000 to 31st March 2001 stood at 10.5 days per pupil (NSO Malta, 2001). This figure reveals an increase of 5.2% over 1999/2000 scholastic year (NSO Malta, 2001). Thus it shows that during this period, 657,604 pupil days were lost to absenteeism and authorised absence due to sickness. Indeed, the Clark Report (2005) shows concern for the increase in unauthorised absenteeism with parental consent, particularly in state secondary schools which cater, in the main, for a student population coming from a working- class background. Family problems, psychological problems, illnesses, school phobia and bullying have, significantly, been indicated by the Clark focus group to be the topmost reasons contributing to school avoidance. Some Overseas Countries Most of the research conducted abroad seems to provide information regarding the nature and extent of truancy in secondary schools. Results of a study conducted at a school in London from 1985 to 1987 revealed that 70% of the sampled pupils admitted truanting during the three-year period (Stoll, 1990:22). In the study that involved nine secondary schools, 66% of the 765 fifth year pupils admitted truanting (ibid). Figures on truancy in 150 English secondary schools revealed that 31% of pupils in years 10 and 11 admitted that they played truant or skipped lessons (OKeefe Stoll, 1995:12). Gray and Jesson (1990:25) report about the major national survey results of truancy in English secondary schools. According to this study, 23% of all fifth year pupils were involved in truant behavior and they were less likely to stay on in full-time education. Furthermore, schools facing serious problems of truancy tend to be in the inner city rather than in other areas (ibid). on the other hand, Collins (1998:26) reports that absentee rates vary between schools in the London Education Authority. Munn and Johnstone (1992:4) found that out of a sample of 50 Scottish secondary schools, 18% of the pupils (11% in June and 7% in November) were classified as truants and were mostly form the senior years. These figures exclude truants within the school day, as â€Å"14 schools reported that they did not keep period attendance records† (ibid). Truancy has long been a subject for research in various parts of the USA. According to Nelson (1972:98), 64% of the 591 students surveyed identified themselves as class truants. Learners habitually play truant each day in Los Angeles, Pittsburg and Milwaukee (Black, 1996:33). Bos, Ruiters and Visscher (1992:393) found that the average rate of truancy in 36 schools in the four Dutch cities studied was 4.4% and that truancy increased with the level of the class in almost all schools. Some researchers further indicate that truancy does not necessarily mean missing the whole day of school but found that I could be in the form of missing a part of a day or particular lesson (Kilpartick, 1998:31; Reid, 1999:91). In a study conducted by Malan in South Africa (1972:144), 2,738 out of 69,908 pupils were identified by their teachers as truants. Masithela (Masithela, 1992:33) observed that learners tend to miss lessons during the first and second periods, as well as during the last give periods. The tendency of missing certain lessons towards the end of the school day shows that some form of â€Å"hidden truancy† is prevalent and that pupils can be marked present in the register but fail to attend all lessons (ibid:45). On the other hand, they may come late and be marked absent or be somewhere on the school premises not attending certain lessons or periods, but still be marked as being present on the class resisters. Factors associated with truancy Malta Truancy is about learners who have not been attending school regularly as required by the school, parents and even the authorities. Tyerman (1968) defines the term truant as the child who is absent from school purely on his or her own initiative. Gabb (1994) includes in his definition of truant, that a child who is absent with leave given by his or her parents, or who are actually kept at home by the parents. Hersov (cited in Gabb, 1994) goes still further, dividing from truants, ‘school phobics and ‘school refusers. King (2001) furthermore defines school refusal/school phobics as a difficulty to attend school due to emotional distress, especially anxiety and depression. Fenech (1991) (in an unpublished research) defines ‘absenteeism as ‘being away from lessons for any period of time and for reasons not considered as legitimate, with or without the parents knowledge (p.3). She goes on to include ‘physical presence without any attention being given to a lesson in progress [as well as] masked or selective truancy (ibid., p.3). Fenech (ad. lib.) refers to the latter as ‘skiving off specific lessons or disappearance after registration (p.3) remarking that a number of sources consider absenteeism and truancy synonymous. Sultana (1997), like Fenech (1991), defines absenteeism as ‘staying away from school for reasons not justified by the law (p. 355). However, she goes on to include other ‘less overt ways (ibid., p 355) such as what Willis (1977) calls participating in ‘informal mobility (ibid., p. 355). This includes not entering the class for lesson, intentionally staying in another class, leaving the class without permission, or staying in class without bothering to follow the lesson. Studies conducted abroad When seen from a psychological viewpoint, truancy may be symptomatic of learns who are insecure and have low academic achievement levels and low self-esteem. Lewis (1995:37) states that attendance difficulties my broadly result from a combination of â€Å"pull† and â€Å"push† factors. Pull factors are personal and social aspects that â€Å"pull† a learner out of school. The pull factors may be related to the psychological indices mentioned by Reid (2002:11), such as maladjustment, a lower general level of self-esteem and academic self concept, anxiety and lower career aspirations. Factors that â€Å"push† learners away from school include academic and classroom aspects such as inapproachability of the teaching staff, incomprehensible teaching style and inappropriate classroom management. Other factors relating to the school and the classroom include bullying, the curriculum, boring lessons (Reid, 1999:91), teachers humiliating remarks (Porteus, Clacherty, Mdiya, Pelo, Matsai, Qwabe and Donald 2000:11), poor record-keeping and school organization (Bimler Kirkland, 2001:90; Coldman, 1995:29). According to Pappas (1996:1), truancy is often symptomatic of family dysfunction, since the parents of truants tend to be permissive, undisciplined and unavailable. Some authors believe that truancy is associated with a poor socio-economic background, including poverty, poor housing and unemployment (Bell, Rosen and Dynlacht, 1994:204; Tyerman, 1958:222). Some researchers state that there is a link between truancy and delinquent behavior (Collins, 1998:38; Brown, 1998:298-299; Reid, 1999:25). Truancy differentiated from school phobia There is a need to distinguish between truancy and school phobia. The concept â€Å"school phobia† describes a learner who is unwilling to attend school and stays at home with the knowledge of parents (Wicks and Nelson, 2000:123). A learners problem often stats with a vague complaint or reluctance to attend school and progresses to total refusal to go to school. Blagg (1992:121) asserts that school phobia may be induced by fear-arousing aspects of school, such as fear of failure caused by anxiety about meeting the standards. Fear may also be related to worries about the health and welfare of parents (Blagg, 1992:123). In the other hand, a learner who plays truant misses the whole school day or lessons without the knowledge of parents or caregivers. Furthermore, a truant tends to be involved in various forms of anti social behavior (Blagg, 1992:121). Milner and Blyth (1999:18) acknowledge the difficulties involved in studying the prevalence and pattern of truancy and in comparing current and past school attendance or absence. The difficulties are partly compounded by the variations in the definition of truancy itself (Boyd, 1999:22; Gabb, 1997:2) and the multifaceted nature of truancy (Edward and Malcolm, 2001:1; Reid, 1999:17). The problems associated with studies on truancy should, however, not prevent further research from being conducted. Solutions should be found, or the cause at least eliminated, because truancy is regarded as a serious problem with socio-economic implications. A preliminary review of the literature reveals that truancy is a major problem form schools and society and a most powerful predictor of juvenile delinquent behavior (Van Petegem, 1994:272; Wiehe, 2000). Reid (2002:2) maintains that the amount of money spent on truancy reduction initiatives proves the extent of truancy. Statement of the problem Data on the extent and nature of truancy in schools are often based on information obtained from class registers. This information may be inadequate or almost incomplete and limits the understanding of the phenomenon, thus making it difficult to develop appropriate intervention strategies. More insight on how truancy manifests is needed to provide a base on which to suggest, plan and develop effective intervention strategies. Therefore, further research is needed to enable education officials, schools, parents and other professionals to manage learners with attendance difficulties more efficiently. This study serves to bridge the information gap regarding the nature of truancy and to provide a picture of the life world of truants in Secondary Schools. Aims of the Research The General Aim The aim would be to describe truancy in general as stated in the literature and to conduct an empirical study in order to determine how truancy behaviour manifests in secondary schools and what the life world of truants looks likes. The findings can then be used to inform and guide future practice. The Specific aim The aim of the study would be to gather information that will be used to guide the school (college) community namely the SMT, form teachers, subject teachers, guidance teachers and school councillors, youth workers in school and other stakeholders to help in the interventional approaches and procedures that can be used for reducing truancy. In order to realise the above aims, the following questions are set to direct the research: What is the extent and degree of truancy in terms of the frequency and number of learns involved? What are the patterns, type or nature of truancy? Where do truants go when not at school or in class? What measures are used to monitor and manage truancy? Research Method The study will comprise two methods, namely, a literature study and an empirical investigation. A study of the literature will derive information on studies about poor school attendance and procedures employed to mange or reduce truancy from books, research articles, journals and other resources. A quantitative research design will be used in the empirical investigation. This investigation aims to gather data by means of a questionnaire that will be given to learns in Form 1 and Form 2 in eight randomly selected schools, , incorporating two Junior Lyceums, two Area Secondary and two Church schools. A qualitative research design will be used with guidance teachers, counselors, youth workers, form teachers, Assistant Head of Schools and Heads of School currently working in schools. A focus group and interviews with Heads will help me to investigate what the School community is doing to combat truancy. Such data will be advantageous in that they are ‘the most adequate [tool] to capture how a person thinks of a particular domain (Goldsmiths Collage, n.d.). More over since a face to face rapport with the interviewee, it is induced to continue questioning the subject in order to confirm the hypothesis about his or her beliefs, seeking appraise any underlying meaning in the process. Demarcation of research Due to time constraints, the preset research is confined to then 8 randomly selected secondary schools in Malta. A list of all secondary schools was compiled to allow for the random selection of 8 schools, which will form part of this study. This sample was mainl cohosen on the basis of cost implicaitons and accessibility. Explanation of concepts In this section a number of concepts that are relevant to this research are defined. Truancy Reids (1999:1) asserts that the term ‘truancy is often misused and can be applied both generically and with a local meaning. In the different parts of Great Britain, truancy is known as ‘dodging, ‘skipping off, ‘mitching, ‘skiving, ‘bunking off and ‘going missing, respectively. Whitney (1994:49) defines truancy as ‘absence that has not been authorized by the school and where leave has not been given or approved. Another definition provided by Collins (1998:2), who states that truancy is about pupils who have been registed with a school but identified as not attending school when the law says they should. This definition includes absences from a particular lesson or lessons, known as ‘post-registation truancy (Gabbs, 1994:5; Stoll, 1990:23). Clark Report (2005) identify as truancy when a student is voluntarily absent or not attending school without their parents permission and often, awareness (Anglicare, Werribee Family Services 2000). Truancy is defined as unjustifiable or unexplained absence from school with attempts by the student to conceal the absenteeism. Usually the child avoids home when not at school and the parents are often unaware of the childs absence (Rollings, King, Tonge, Luk, Heyne, Ramsdell, Burdett Martin, 1999). The concept blanket truancy refers to absence from the whole school day, which is usually reflected on the class register, while post-registration truancy occurs when the learner is marked present but fails to turn up at a lesson or lessons (Stoll, 1990:23). In this research, the term ‘truancy is broadly defined as unauthorized absence from school. The definition is adopted with the assumption that absence with the knowledge and permission of the school and parents or guardians does not constitute truancy. Since the study seeks to explore the type of truancy as manifested at secondary schools, both concepts of truancy (blanket and post-registration) are relevant and will be investigated. A Truant A truant is a ‘child aged 6 17 years old who absents himself or herself form school without a legitimate reason and without permission of his or her parents or the school official (Schaefer and Millman, 1981: 335). For the purpose of this research, a truant refers to a learner who, after being registered at a school, absents himself or herself from school or lessons without a legitimate reson or permission from parents or the school official. The traditional or typical truant: Traditional truants tend to be isolated that come from an unsupportive home background, possibly with a tendency to be shy. It is likely that they will have a low self-concept, be introverted and be the citim of their social circumstances. The psychological truant: could be the school phobic (school refusal) case but more othen than this psychological truant miss school for psychological related factors such as illness, opsychomatric complaints, laziness, a fear of attending scholl for any reason (such as dislike of a teacher, a lesson, an impending confrontation or fear of bullying.) The Institutional truant: Institutional truants are more likely to indulge in ‘on the spur of the moment absences from lessons and to be selective about days or lessons to miss. Secondary School A school that admits or registers and educates learners in Form 1 Form 5 is known as a secondary school. Life World In this research, the term ‘life world refers to the psychological context this is made up of elements such as interpersonal aspects, the family, school and the broader community. According to this definition, the life world involves the personal and external world of the learner. The personal word refers to intrinsic factors. The external word is made up of the broader educational systems, the home environment and the community where the child spends his time when not at school. Relevant intervention strategies would be easier to suggest if the contextual issues related to the phenomenon under investigations are understood. Research Program The research comprises give chapters, as follows: CHAPTER 1 In this chapter, the background information in the seriousness and implication of truancy are discussed. The chapter also includes an analysis of the problem, the problem statement, aims of the study, description of the research method and definition of the concepts. CHAPTER 2 Chapter 2 entails a review of the literature on types of truancy and the causes of truancy or contributing factors in different countries, including in Malta. Different approaches that the various countries and schools use to manage truancy will also be discussed. CHAPTER 3 This chapter deals with research designs and methods. A discussion of the research problem, the aim of the empirical investigation, the research tool used in the study and the selection of the sample will be included. Details of the compilation and administration of questionnaires as well as an analysis of data will be presented. CHAPTER 4 In this chapter, the results of questionnaires will be presented. The results will be analyzed to find answers to the research questions. CHAPTER 5 The chapter entails a summary of the research finding, conclusions and recommendations. A summary of the results from the literature study and the limitation of the study will be included. Conclusion This chapter focuses on the background and analysis of the problem, as well as the aims of the study. An attempt will be made to explain the research method used, relevant concepts and planned programmes of the research. The next chapter will contain the review of the literature on the types of truancy, factors contributing to truancy behavior, the rate and extent of truancy and the strategies used to manage truancy. CHAPTER 2 TYPES OF TRUANCY, CAUSAL FACTORS AND APPROACHES USED IN THE MANAGEMENT AND REDUCTION OF TRUANCY Introduction According to Tyerman (1958:217), truancy has been a problem to all concerned with education since 1870s. Approximately 750 children were charged for truancy in England and Wales in 1954 (ibid: 220). This figure could have been an underestimation as it was based on learners who were referred to courts, and therefore represented mainly incorrigible truants (ibid). Furthermore, the figure gives a general picture of truanting children in one country only and without an indication whether it was absence from certain lessons or whole school day absence. Truancy is currently a problem in communities. In Clarks report concern was expressed about truancy among school children. Data presented in this report indicates that non-attendance exists, and has become an issue of increasing concern for schools, educational and student welfare organizations. Non-attendances viewed as being among one of the key problems facing some schools. There is increasing concern for the seemingly large number of ch ildren and young people, who are, for a range of reasons, missing out on the benefits of education and possibly on a better future (Dr. L. Galea, The Times 9th February, 2005). Non-attendance can be the beginning of countless problems for students who regularly miss out on school (Heyne, King, Tonge, Rollings, Pritchard Young,1999). The extent and nature of truancy are best understood in terms of whether it implies absence for the whole day or during a particular lesson. This chapter deals with how blanket and post-registration truancy manifest, the causal factors and various measures of reducing truancy in secondary schools. Blanket Truancy Perspectives in various countries England and Wales Normab (2001:49) states that 50,000 children play truant on a normal school day in England. The number of truants increases steadily with age and most truants are found at secondary school (ibid). This confirms past research findings about the existence of truancy in secondary school in some parts of England. Gray and Jesson (1990:25) gathered information on the incidence of truancy from the youth cohort survey of England and Wales. The result of their survey shows that 6% of final-year secondary school learners reported to have played truant for several days or weeks at a time. Malcolm, Wilson, Davidson and Kirk (2003:50) state as follows: ‘In 1999, the Audit Commission noted that at least 40,000 of the 400,000 learners absent from school are truanting. Scotland In a study done at 50 Scottish secondary schools, it was found that 30% to 33% of learners had been playing truant at least once in the survey week (Munn and Johnston, 1992:38). These schools were requested to provide both the overall attendance rate and the numbers of learners (ibid). Australia Haddon (1996:110), citing a comprehensive study conducted in Victorian secondary schools in Australia, states that 40% to 60% of learners of compulsory school age reported that they engaged in truancy. Cohen and Ryan (1998:12) state that about 10,000 learners in Tasmania play truant at least one day a week. The Netherlands The research done at 36 schools in four Dutch cities indicates that the average level of truancy at all schools was 4.4% (Bos, Ruiters and Visscher, 1992:393). The average percentage of allowed absence was 4.7%, therefore suggesting that learners in most schools are just as often absent with a valid reason as without one. United States of America It appears that truancy is a problem in American schools, although at varying levels. According to Black (1996:33), approximately 2,500 and 4,000 learners play truant on a daily basis in Pittsburg and Mulwaukee, repectively, while 300,000 of the 1.6 million students in Los Angeles are habitual truants. This shows that some learners stay absent without permission every day and that a day never goes by with a recording of 100% attendance. Truancy is so much of a concern that the Department of Education has prepared a manual that gives schools some guidelines on how to reduce it (United States Department of Education, 1996). Malta From January 2001 up to December 2002 there were 8,903 arraignments before local tribunals in connection with school absenteeism (Grech, 2002). This figure represents only the number of students who were absent from school without a valid reason on more than three occasions in the space of a month. It is a known fact that there are a number of pupils that systematically take three days off from school each month just for the sake that they use up their monthly absence allowance and knowing that in this way their parents would not receive a citation. Survey results issued by the National Statistics Office Malta on December 16, 2002 showed that overall absence rate from schools between September 25, 2000 and March 31, 20001, stood at 10.5 days per pupil. That included both absenteeism and authorized absence (such as those due to sickness). During this period, 657,604 pupil days were list to absenteeism, accounting for 8.9 per cent of the total pupil days. This reveals an increase of 5. 2 per cent over the 1999/2000 scholastic year. Absences in government schools stood at 19.12 days per pupil whereas that of government dependent (church schools) and independent private schools was 5.76 days per pupil. The rate of truancy in terms of gender Some of the overseas researchers state that there is no difference in the levels of truancy reported for males and females (Gray and Jesson, 1990:26; Haddon, 1996: 110; Smith, M., 1996:226; Stoll, 1994:36; Whitney, 1994: 59). Recent research on truancy in the seven local education authorities reports that the numbers of learners in secondary school admitting truancy was almost equal for boys and girls (Malcolm et al., 2003:31). Coldman (1995:68) also states that the variation that exists in truancy levels of males and females is slight. It is, therefore, apparent that some research are in agreement with regard to the truancy levels of male and females learners. Earlier research that was conducted in South Africa suggests that more males than females tend to play truant Coldman (1995:68) warns against making assumptions and generalisations about the existence of gender differnce in truancy levels. He argues that observed findings might result from the fact that some schools have more males than females, particularly when one is dealing with a large sample. What the above studies suggest about truancy levels of males and females is that the difference might be slight, if it does exist. Furthermore, observed diffrenences may be incfluenced by other variables, such as the enrolled number of male and female learners in a sample. Truancy rate according to the geographical location of the school Serious truancy is said to be more prevalent in inner-city secondary schools in England (Gray and Jesson, 1990:36; Stoll, 1990:23). Munn and Johnstone (1992:4) also found that the Scottish school with the highest percentage of unauthorized absence was all in the inner city. Coldman (1995:69) asserts that claims that truancy is a problem mainly experienced in inner city schools are disputable, since another survey showed that the truancy level is high even in the suburban, rural and industrial areas of England. It may therefore be purely speculation, without much supporting evidence, to suggest that inner-city school experience higher levels of truancy. Hard evidence needs to be gathered, where possible, in order to verify the claim that inner-city experience higher rates of truancy. According to some researchers, truancy levels also appear to differ from school to school, since they may be more prevalent in schools than in others (Blackm 1996:33; Bos et al., 1992:385; Gray and Jesson, 1990:26; OKeefe and Stoll, 1995:12). It is therefore apparent that the levels of truancy seem to vary from country to country, and in some cases, also in terms of geographical locations within a city or town. The literature indicates that blanket truancy is common in many secondary school and that, in some cases, learners play truant on a daily basis. The levels of blanket truancy can also vary according to regional locations within the same country. In the next section, the evidence regarding the level of post-registration truancy drawn from the literature will be discussed. Post-registration Truancy Very little information is given in the literature about national trends of post-registration truancy in countries where research on truancy was conducted. Most of the studies conducted in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United St Determinants of Health: Area of Residence Determinants of Health: Area of Residence Lisa Theaker The overall health of an individual and of communities can be defined and affected [LF1]by many factors. Circumstances and environment play a massive part in determining whether a Person or Persons can be categorised or labelled as being â€Å"Healthy†. Some of the more common of these determinants are issues such as area of residence- the affluence and prosperity of the general area, the income of the individual or family unit, the levels and standards of education available within the area, social relationships and at the most fundamental level, genetics also play a part. From a social perspective, factors such as access to good quality health services are considered to be a secondary factor and have less of an impact on the individuals’ health than the others. A person’s health is often determined by issues such as their social and economic environment, their physical environment and their general behaviours and lifestyle choices. An individual only really has control over one of these factors – the lifestyle as it is of their own choosing whether they have a healthy diet, if they smoke or drink alcohol. This too is determined to some extent by the level of social, physical and economic factors (WHO, date unknown) (Naidoo et al, 2000). Income and social status or class differences are displayed in statistics from different areas and often show direct correlation to the health of the individuals within them. A better income and â€Å"higher class† proves to be critical in better health. This is due to better quality of diet, access to education and better working environments. Studies have shown that where the greater difference in income between richer and poorer individuals exist, then this is reflected and evident in the statistics of health (Naidoo et al, 2000). Education levels at a lower standard are also linked with poor health. People with a low level of education often have low self-confidence and are found doing lesser paid yet more manual labour in health affecting environments such as factories. This also affects stress levels as well as income. The knock-on effect this produces brings inequalities such as poor housing and unsanitary living conditions in what are commonly labelled as â€Å"deprived areas†. All the factors affecting these communities have a profound effect on the health of not just the individual, but of their families also (BBC, 2008). The physical environment often impacts upon the health of families and individuals [LF2]alike, both in a domestic and workplace. Areas of residence with good quality road networks, decent acceptable housing, safe water and clean air [LF3]are statistically proven to show greater levels of better health of residents than areas with heavy industry, both now and historically. Air pollution is a major contributor to ill health, especially if the individual has an underlying or pre-existing health condition such as asthma. People who live and work in cleaner environments are often generally healthier, or display less health issues than people working within these area of heavy industry. Workers in heavier industries such as coal mining and steelworks have no control over they’re working environment, and although health protection equipment such as dust masks and ear protection are now issued as standard, this has not always been the case and generations of workers have suffered some times horrendous health issues from diseases and conditions associated with working in the dusty, noisy conditions for many years unprotected. Cases of emphysema, a lung condition where essentially the lungs are filled with dust which eventually hardens, have[LF4] affected many generations of coal miners (WHO, date unknown). Social support networks in communities are also proven to show links to improved health. Areas with community support outlets that offer help and advice with aspects covering stop smoking services, job-seeking and educational courses can encourage and offer the means to people within the community to improve themselves both mentally and physically and this has a profound effect on their health by improving their prospects and their self-esteem (WHO, date unknown). The genetic makeup of an individual can also be a major contributing factor to their health and can determine possible lifespan, overall healthiness and the possibility of developing certain illnesses. Personal behaviours of lifestyle can be influenced at an early age, where a parents input on the diet and lifestyle habits are often impressed upon children from a very early age. These attitudes are often carried into adulthood from children having witnessed the un-healthy practices of parents, and assume them to be acceptable and normal. Factors such as smoking and the consumption of alcohol are some of these. General coping skills can be witnessed by the nest [LF5]generation and can often lead to problems with their own coping mechanisms later in life (BBC News, 2008). Access to health services are a fundamental factor too. Good accessible health provision is essential for the maintenance of health within communities – whether the individual chooses to access these available services is down to their general attitudes to their own health (WHO, date unknown). Lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, promiscuity and a balance of healthy diet and exercise are in the hands of the individual. These choices are also determined by the levels of income and area of residence. Deprived areas, even within the same general locality and country statistically show that this is the case. For example – Calton, an area of Glasgow in Scotland, shows a distinctive rise in the mortality rates in males when compared to a more affluent area of Lenzie. A baby boy born in Calton will have an average life expectancy of 28 years less than a boy born and resident in Lenzie. This is explained by Calton simply being less affluent. The population of Calton are generally of a lower social class, and the mortality rate reflects this amongst males of comparable ages. This is not just in Scotland however, similar findings have been reported in areas of London. The life expectancy varies by 11 years from residents of affluent Hampstead to St Pancras, which is c onsidered to be less affluent (BBC News, 2008). [LF6] People from lower classes experience greater levels of sickness and ill health, whether this is from lifestyle choices or work environments (if they actually work). Work and employment levels are a very important factor to consider. The work environment determines income levels and can directly affect the health of the individual. Some work environments are considered to be â€Å"high-risk† because of accidents, hazardous materials or even stressful situations (WHO, date unknown). A very detailed and thorough discussion of determinants of health however this could be strengthened by creating greater links to the models of health. There are more factors to the determination of â€Å"Health† than reviewing and [LF7]considering the technical issues of income, employment, lifestyle and the areas where people live, although these are statistically proven to have a major impact. Many would consider that ill health of an individual comes about as a direct result of lifestyle choices and that by adequate and improves healthy lifestyle promotion campaigns, theses can make a difference and encourage the individual to make changes and be responsible for taking steps to improve their health and that of their family. This is not always the case however, when the truth maybe that the individual has little or no control over the choices to be made. This serves to strengthen the argument that ill health is not in the hands of the individual rather that its roots lie in the social and economic domain. If the means are not available to make the changes, then it is impossible to do so. It is true however that some people do make the effort to maintain their health and that of their families eve on sometimes limited income however the social environment of poor quality housing and the air around where the live prevents them from doing so. The air quality is beyond the control of anyone. These factors are major contributing issues. Regardless of the input of any health promotion campaigns and any amount of income, this cannot be changed – other than to provide the means to move their family to a less polluted environment. Ill health does not occur merely by bad luck. The imposing factors from birth and through the entirety of an individuals’ life, through to their demise are paramount to affecting how these years are spent, whether in good or bad health. Social factors such as class and ethnicity come into play when tied in with the universal factors of age and gender. The gender, ethnicity and age of the individual cannot be changed, however it is possible that the social class can be altered given the right circumstances. Environmental factors such as housing provision, and the quality and area of it are also major factors – the area of residence and the amenities that are offered there, such as leisure facilities and access to health services have an impact upon the health of the residents. Lifestyle factors such as smoking, nutrition, exercise and the psychosocial environment are also major factors. The amount of stress and worry experienced by the individual are paramount to the levels of the other factors. Smoking levels increase in stressful environments as does overeating (Naidoo et al, 2000).[LF8] References BBC News (28th August 2008) ‘Social factors key to ill health’ [online] Available at: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7584056.stm [Accessed 5th April 2014] Health Poverty Action (date unknown) ‘ factors that Determine Good or Poor Health’ [online] Available at: http://www.healthpovertyaction.org/policy-and-resources/the-determinants-of-health/ [Accessed – 5th April 2014] Naidoo, J Wills, J. (2000) ‘Health Promotion – Foundations for Practice’ (2nd edition) London, UK: Harcourt Publishers Ltd World Health Organisation (date unknown) ‘Health Impact Assessment – The determinants of health’ [online] Available at: http://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/ [Accessed – 5th April 2014] Bibliography Health Poverty Action (date unknown) ‘The Cycle of Poverty Poor Health’ [online] Available at: https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/policy-and-resources/the-cycle-of-poverty-and-poor-health/ [Accessed – 5th April 2014] The College of Occupational Therapists (COT) (2013) ‘Social Determinants of Health’ [online] Available at: https://www.cot.co.uk/social-determinants-health [Accessed 5th April 2014] Very good range of sources used. [LF1]Is this the ‘Introduction’ section? [LF2]Is this the ‘Discussion of Findings’ section? [LF3]You are right but need to clarify what is meant by these i.e., give the parameters [LF4]‘has’ [LF5]‘next’ [LF6]Excellent points and use of example/source [LF7]Is this the ‘Conclusion’ section? [LF8]An excellent conclusion – very well thought out! Well done! However this should have been in report format!