Is Performance Related Pay a Proven Path to Improving Employee Essay

Is Performance Related Pay a Proven Path to Improving Employee Performance and Job Satisfaction - Essay Example Based on this research performance related pay pertains to such a system that relates the rewards extended to an employee to the overall performance of the organization in which that employee serves. The purpose of performance related pays is to motivate the employees. The other big objective behind the performance related pay is to synchronize and align the performance of the employees to the overall aims and objectives of the organization in which they work. Though, the performance related pay is mostly financial, but sometimes it could also happen to be non-financial. The payments made under performance related pay schemes are usually in addition to the actual pay that an employee gets. This makes the employees appreciate the fact that the rewards one gets for ones performance are not invariable and rather tend to be variable and separate. Many a times the augmentation in an employee’s annual basic salary could also happen to be related to one’s performance. Performa nce related pay helps the organizations retain the employees who have attained the top rank in relation to their pay scale and are still accruing an outstanding performance. In the present context, when the organizations are getting much flatter, the organizations are bound to abound in the employees who come under this category. Further, the opportunities for extending promotions in the flatter organizations happen to be much less as compared to the multi layered organizations of the past. Hence, the performance related pay is one viable method of improving employee performance and extending job satisfaction. Common Types of Performance Pay Over the last two decades, there has been a considerable rise in the performance related pay systems (Beardwell 1996, p. 148). Though the performance related pay system was more common in the private sector, there is no denying the fact that many public sector organizations are also evincing a gradual shift towards performance related pay system s (Beardwell 1996, p. 148). The best thing about performance related pay systems is that they link the payments made to the employees, to the group, individual or organizational performance (White & Druker 2000). The organizations resort to a wide array of performance pay systems, yet, the primary assumption behind all such systems is that the opportunity to get an enhanced pay will motivate the employees to work better and will positively impact their productivity (White & Druker 2000). Piecework is the oldest form of performance pay system which links the payment made to an employee to the units of output produced by one (Bassett 1993, p. 3). This motivates the employee to work harder and better, as the production of optimal number of high quality productivity units is bound to be reflected in one’s pay slip. A payment by results is one other major performance pay system, where the

Kill the creature Essay Example for Free

Kill the creature Essay The last chapter in the book is very moving. Victor begins his pursuit of the creature, and he is eventually marooned on an ice-craft, and he finally sees Waltons ship. He asks Walton to swear that, if he should die, Walton should, if the opportunity presented itself, kill the creature.  Victor dies whilst persuading Walton to take on his quest. Later, Walton finds the creature lying over Frankensteins body; the creature is full of grief, horror and self-reproach. The creature responds to Walton with an explanation of the anguish that he has endured, That is also my victim! In his murder my crimes are consummated: the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! Oh, Frankenstein! Generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed all thou lovedst. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer me.  Rather strangely, considering what Victor had done to the creature, the creature still admires and esteems his creator. The creature shows great remorse for what he has done. This attitude from the creature seems to echo that of Waltons. The creatures speech emphasises that his monstrousness is no different from that of society. The way that the creature planned his death in the blazing fire in the ice, is a parody of Waltons dream of finding a tropical paradise at the pole, and also reflects Victors attempt to animate a cold corpse with the fire of life. Shelly is showing the reader that such dreams will only end with destruction. Shellys novel creates great problems with the notions of monstrosity and humanity. If the creatures appearance is a visible warning, it is a warning of Victors personality, as it was he who decided on the appearance. Although the creatures exterior may be horrific, he is, at least initially, certainly not frighteningly unnatural; he is far more natural and humane then the father who has rejected him, the villagers who stone him, the ungrateful father who shoots him. The creature only resulted to monstrous action when he himself was a subject to them. It was only when he was exposed the viciousness of human society that he himself began to demonstrate violent behaviour. The creature was not born evil. It was his surroundings that leaded him to do what he did. This links in with the theory of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who said that if a child was born and left in the countryside, with no interference from man, he would have no evil inside him. One of the themes that Shelley uses in this novel is that of the double, which is a frequent motif used in the Gothic genre. When Victor refers to the creature as my own spirit let loose from the grave forced to destroy all that was dear to me Victor provides a very clear expression of the notion that he and the creature are doubles, with the monster acting out Victors own aggressions.  The creature has a monstrous appearance, however he on the inside he is clearly humane. He doesnt start to become evil until he is rejected by society, and isolated from the world. His actions of violence are simply retaliations to his rejection. The fact that he is mistreated, stoned, rejected and shot by the humans actually portrays the human society to be monstrous. Walton, who is very similar to Victor, in his desire for knowledge, does have monstrous qualities. However, he is saved from falling into the trap of becoming a monster. He is saved because the influence of his crew, that provide him with a sense of realism. Also his meeting with Victor prevented him from becoming monstrous, as he was shown what he may have become.  In my opinion Victor is the real monster in this novel. He creates nearly all the suffering and misery in the story. He creates the creature which suffers because of disfigurement; he makes his family suffer misery when he doesnt acknowledge their constant support and love for him and most of all, he makes himself suffer huge amounts through his own unplanned and unthought-of actions. Also, by usurping the role of God, he is performing the biggest sin: trying to play God. By creating life himself without a woman is against the rules of nature, this can easily be seen as a monstrous act. This could have only brought pain, misery and destruction for everyone, yet Victor was blind to these possibilities. Victor has all his loved ones taken away from him because of his own actions, simply because he failed to father his own creation. Frankenstein had an overwhelming desire to be recognized as a medical genius. This desire to satisfy his own ego grew into something that made him a monster.

The Development Of Womens Football

The Development Of Womens Football England is known for the home of football, however, womens football still receives very little public recognition. Unlike countries such as Norway, Germany, and the USA, which are considered to be some of the leading womens football nations, Womens football in England receives much lower status, popularity and recognition. This essay will look into the history of womens football, how womens football is exposed to the media, the relationship between womens football, government and economics and finally the impact that womens football has on society today. The first English womens football team, The British Ladies, was founded in 1884. However, the real foundation stone for womens football was laid during World War 1. By the end of the 19th century, there was a multitude of new jobs for working class women who were called up to work in factories and who played in organised teams to raise money for the war effort. Dick Kerrs ladies went on to be one of the most successful ladies football teams in the 19th century. Pfister et al (1999) explained that The development of Dick Kerrs ladies exemplifies that the standard of womens football had risen considerably since its early years and players now trained regularly and systematically not only in order to improve their condition but also to refine their ball skills and practice tactical moves. In 1920, Dick Kerrs ladies were appointed to become Englands national football team, the popularity of womens football continuously progressed and by 1921 there were 150 womens football teams in England. As a result of the growing popularity of womens football, it was seen as a threat towards the domination of football by men. This led to FA campaigning against womens football. The FA lead false accusations towards the womens game, accusing them of misuse of charity money and poor financial management as well as having opinions on medical and moral factors that should prevent women from playing football. The following resolution was adopted; Complaints having been made as to Football being played by women, Council feel impelled to express their strong opinion that the game is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged (Williamson, 1991). In December 1921 womens football in England was finally banned. They were banned from playing on FA league grounds and any officials, trainers and clubs were suspended for being involved in womens football. Between 1921 and 1972 the womens game was forced underground and the women continued to play without a league structure. As a result of the England mens team winning the world cup in 1966 the renaissance of womens football started to begin and on the 1st November 1969, the Womens Football Association of England was founded as the successor of the English Ladies football association. In 1985, the womens England team triumphed in the Italian Little World Cup and then won for a second time in 1988. However in 1991, due to the rapid growth of participation, the increased administrative requirements, and the strong tradition of volunteerism, the downfall of the WFA began. In November 1993, the FA merged the WFA. As a result womens football began to improve under the FA. For example, Umbro and Adidas began to supply womens teams with equipment, players started to receive a daily allowance of  £15, and the leagues became more structured. In 1993 when the FA took over there were approximately eleven thousand registered female footballers. Today, there are over 100,000 registered female footballers. Yet despite this rise, it still lags behind countries such as the United States where there are 7.8 million players. For a country which claims the beautiful game as its heritage, why is it that the US women are more revered to womens football than our own? (Dhaliwal, 2005) One of the main issues with womens football is the lack of media exposure. One of the most influential elements of the mass media is Television, however it has generally denied power to women through its exclusionary approach, in particular it has neglected women by its failure to televise womens team sports. In the womens football season 20011-2012, only 5 league games were shown on ESPN and the FA Cup final which was shown on Sky Sports. Controversially the FA cup final which took place on 26th May 2012 between Birmingham City Ladies and Chelsea ladies was cut short as Sky Sports chose to switch from live transmission of that match to the build-up for the League One play-off final. A scheduling blunder by Sky meant that when Birmingham City Ladies scored a late equaliser in extra time to take the match to penalties meant that it would clash with the build up to the Mens League one playoff final. The mens league one play off build up was deemed to be more important that the womens FA cup, which in mens football is one of the biggest competitions in English football. The Liverpool Ladies captain, Vicky Jones (2012) expressed her views questioning Would this have happened for the Mens FA Cup Final! Another issue with the media in womens football is the lack of female presenters. Woodhouse et al (2005) maintain that skys live coverage is too important to be given up to female presenters who may fracture the strongly masculinity and technocratic discourses set up by the ex-players and current stars who provide the background debates to live matches. Men here are simply assumed to be experts. It was only in 2007 where Jacqui Oatley became the first ever female commentator for the BBC. However, again there was controversy when Dave Basset (2007) a former footballer and manager declared i will be changing channels when Oakleys voice comes on air because in order to commentate you must have an understanding of the game and tactics, and in order to do that you need to have played the game. In 2011 a similar incident occurred when Richard Keys and Andy Gray had made sexist comments made about female referee Sian Massey. They had later been sacked from sky for these comments. Sexism has always played a huge part in football in England ,this is because football has always been seen to be a typical mans game. On the other hand in many other countries such as Italy, Sweden and the USA womens football is accepted and football is seen as a national sport that is not male dominated or controlled. Jackie Bass (2012) Regional Club Partnership Manager of football stated Sexism in football is like its the final discrimination act that not only exists but is deemed acceptable to exist. Newspapers- female journalists, how much is published? Currently, the womens football premier league main sponsorship is Tesco, and the main sponsorship for the FA Cup is Eon. The national team receives their funding from primary sponsors such as Umbro which is shared across the senior, under 18 and under 16 teams. As a result on the FA being responsible for the funding of all areas of English football, it is hard to find specific funding on womens football. However, head of the national game Kelly Simmons (2012) stated; FA spends approximately six million a year on England, FAWSL pyramid, FA Womens cup and talent development. Sport England receives the funding from the lottery good causes scheme. Approximately two million pounds a year is provided for the centres of excellence, however they have also invested 25 million over four years into grassroots which is for both boys and girls. The FA invests 50m a year into childrens and grassroots and its all boys and girls and therefore impossible to split out. The Government also gives Football Foundation 10m a year for grassroots facilities. Again this is very difficult to divide out as it mainly goes to big pitch sites and school sites where all men, women, boys and girls play. Although the English FAs financial support for the womens game has increased over the years (from 150,000 in 1993,  £310,000 in 1995,  £530,000 in 1997, and estimated up to a Million will be funded in 1999), this amount is still one hundred and thirty times less than the FA sends on mens football. (Lopez, 1996) Some womens football teams also receive great support from mens clubs financially, however some clubs are not as supportive offering little help other than with provision of team kit. One of the most supportive clubs is Arsenal FC, they not only provided great financial support but also enabled the womens team to have access to good facilities, the mens training grounds and occasional use of the Emirates stadium. Faye White (2006) recognised the financial commitment from the mens club as having been very good over the years and always improving, which had been a factor in the teams success. On the other hand there are a number of mens professional clubs such as Manchester United and Fulham FC, which have withdrawn funding from their respective womens teams. Minister of sport, Hugh Robertson (2006) believed clubs which were in a position to pay high wages and which benefited from substantial funding from sponsorship and broadcasting rights deals had a bit of social responsibility to share some of those proceeds with womens football clubs Government initiatives In October 2012 the FA launched a new initiative for the development of womens football called The Game Changer. This is due to the incredible year of womens football that has driven t a lot of interest into the sport. The GB Womens football team made their way to the quarter finals in the Olympics. in addition to this the England Womens team qualified unbeaten for the 2013 UEFA European Championship Finals in Sweden, with the final two home games broadcast live on terrestrial television. Finally, the second season of The FA WSL was completed. FA Chairman David Bernstein said; Womens football is the area with the most potential for growth in the nations favourite game. The FA will make these key commitments such as Creating an Elite Performance Unit (EPU) and appoint a Head of Elite Development, the EPU will develop the best young players via the talent development pathway of 31 Centres of Excellence, 29 player development centres and elite performance camps. The game changer will also Deliver a new commercial strategy for womens football For the first time in FA history there will be a distinct commercial programme for womens football to help the game have a clear identity and become financially more sustainable. The commercial rights for England Women, The FA Womens Cup and The FA WSL will be sold separately from rights for the mens game to establish a clear identity in a crowded sports marketplace. Finally, more broadcast coverage will be secured and strong commercial partnerships forged to elevate the profile of the womens game. Another of The game changers goals are to expand the FA WSL. To do this the FA will introduce an FA WSL2 in 2014 to enable promotion and relegation, expanding a competition format. Finally the game changer will aim to Grow Participation. FA Chairman David Bernstein (2012) expressed that he wanted womens football to become the second largest team sport (currently fourth behind mens football, cricket and rugby).after mens football by 2018 based on independent Sport England research, with 253,600 women playing football each month .

Hamlet and King Lear - Edgar and Lear :: comparison compare contrast essays

Hamlet and King Lear:   Madness  - Ophelia in Hamlet and Edgar in King Lear  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In both Hamlet and King Lear, Shakespeare incorporates a theme of madness with two characters: one truly mad, and one only acting mad to serve a motive. The madness of Hamlet is frequently disputed. This paper argues that the contrapuntal character in each play, namely Ophelia in Hamlet and Edgar in King Lear, acts as a balancing argument to the other character's madness or sanity. King Lear's more decisive distinction between Lear's frailty of mind and Edgar's contrived madness works to better define the relationship between Ophelia's breakdown and Hamlet's "north-north-west" brand of insanity. Both plays offer a character on each side of sanity, but in Hamlet the distinction is not as clear as it is in King Lear. Using the more explicit relationship in King Lear, one finds a better understanding of the relationship in Hamlet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   While Shakespeare does not directly pit Ophelia's insanity (or breakdown) against Hamlet's madness, there is instead a clear definitiveness in Ophelia's condition and a clear uncertainty in Hamlet's madness.   Obviously, Hamlet's character offers more evidence, while Ophelia's breakdown is quick, but more conclusive in its precision. Shakespeare offers clear evidence pointing to Hamlet's sanity beginning with the first scene of the play. Hamlet begins with guards whose main importance in the play is to give credibility to the ghost. If Hamlet were to see his father's ghost in private, the argument for his madness would greatly improve. Yet, not one, but three men together witness the ghost before even thinking to notify Hamlet. As Horatio says, being the only of the guards to play a significant role in the rest of the play, "Before my God, I might not this believe / Without the sensible and true avouch / Of mine own eyes. (I.i.56-8)" Horatio, who appears frequently throughout the play, acts as an unquestionably sane alibi to Hamlet again when framing the King with his reaction to the play.   That Hamlet speaks to the ghost alone detracts somewhat from its credibility, but all the men are witness to the ghost demanding they speak alone. Horatio offers an insightful warning: What if it tempts you toward the flood, my lord, Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea, And there assume some other horrible form Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness?

Was the Vietnam War Winnable

Was the Vietnam War Winnable? The war in Vietnam waged by America was unwinnable through the type of warfare that was used by the US . If they had concentrated on certain key aspects they may have prevented the spread of communism to South Vietnam and achieved their ultimate goal. Americas inability to obtain the â€Å"Hearts and Minds â€Å"of the Vietnamese led to a continual supply of fighters. The US was unable to fight against an ever-increasing civilian army. In Vietnam the US relied tremendously on their advanced and superior firepower to defeat the Vietcong and the ARVN.There technology and training was inadequate in the foreign Vietnamese terrain. The Vietnamese were allied to other communist nations, if their defeat was too humiliating they may have escalated the cold war to a hot war. America was not supported by the people of Vietnam in their efforts to rid South Vietnam of â€Å"evil’ communism, even before the war began. This is one vital area the Americans fa iled. Their â€Å"Hearts and Minds† operation that begun years before the official beginning, of the war, was short-lived. The People of Vietnam considered â€Å"U. S. Diem is using fascist violence to provoke war, contrary to the will of the people and therefore must certainly be defeated† ( Le Duan, 1956). The hatred Vietnam had of outsiders trying to control them was spurred by years of colonisation by the French before the War started. This became a major setback as it was not corrected before the US attacked the communists. The angered civilians refused to cooperate with the Americans and this was one of their largest setbacks during the war. American soldiers entered Vietnam believing themselves to be fighting for the Vietnamese people protecting them from the â€Å"evils† of communism. he Vietnamese resisted the Americans believing them to be disrupting their peace. This infuriated the solders causing them to lash out at the locals. They had â€Å"raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan†( Kerry, 1971). The civilians retaliated by aiding the Viet Cong eventually joining them. This continued over the span of the war thereby creating an ever-increasing number of People fighting against the Americans.Americas inability to attain the â€Å"Hearts and Minds† of the Vietnamese population led to a constantly growing opposition ensuring that for every one â€Å"gook† the Americans killed there were always 2 more to replace him. No matter how many casualties USA inflicted on Vietnam the continuous supply of people would eventually beat the policy restricted US. ‘You can kill 10 of my men for everyone I kill of yours, but in the end I will win and you will lose†. American did not have the people of Vietnam backing them. To t he Vietnamese they were intruders who murdered their families forcing the people of Vietnam to fight back.The Vietnamese’s refusal to cooperate with America prompted backlash from the solders. The Vietnamese’s responded with even more resistance to the US. This chain reaction fuelled the hatred the Vietnamese had for America. The USA was extremely vain when going to war in Vietnam. They had extreme firepower. With a few weeks notice at the time, had the power to turn Vietnam into a region of radioactive glass. The US’s strategy of search and destroy conflicted directly with the Vietnamese’s strategy of hanging onto their belts (caplan,2012).Unlike previous American victories against Japan and Germany, massive American bombing of enemy cities and use of heavy artillery would not be as effective. The Viet Cong used a guerrilla warfare which did not allow the use of American artillery and bombs to kill them. The dense jungle fighting created low visibility f rom the air, which made it hard for the United States to utilize their far superior weapons. America dropped seven million tons of bombs on North Vietnam and the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia United States air forces only dropped 2. 2 million tons of ordnance in the largest war in history, WW2 .America dropped over ,three times more bombs, but it was still not effective enough to defeat North Vietnam. The US strategy of destroying enemy troops and supplies faster than they can reproduce them was not a viable strategy. The Vietnamese who had been fighting for independence for hundreds of years and were not about to give up. The US, at that time relied on their extremely advanced technology to combat the Vietnamese. This failed as the Vietnam is covered in dense jungle which rendered the Americans fighting style useless, they were accustomed to fighting in larger open areas instead of dense jungle and narrow city treets. Vietnam not only had an almost infinite number of p eople but also was supplied by both the Soviets and the Chinese. The Chinese were essential in North Vietnams eventual unification of Vietnam. They provided military experts to advise generals in decision making large amounts of military equipment and eventually solders to aid their war efforts against the South. This not only supplemented their strength but was also a separate major threat for USA. China and the Soviets being communist aimed at spreading communism around the world directly clashed with USA’s policy of preventing the spread of communism.The most successful part in America’s strategy was operation â€Å"Rolling Thunder† which was a large amount of bombings over Vietnam. This was the most successful of all American tactics. It incapacitated their enemy around 1972. Even though the most bombs in history, were dropped over Vietnam, America still feared the Chinese’s. If they hit too hard with the bombings on Vietnam their communist allies may involve themselves turning the cold war that they fought through Vietnam and other smaller nations into a hot war with Mutually Assured Destruction for the entire world.Had they continued the routine bombings and adjusted their fighting styles accordingly they may have triumphed in this conflict. The Vietnam war may have been winnable if the United States had focused more on re-educating the local people of Vietnam had adjusted their stratergy to fit the type of warfare and terrain in South Vietnam. They would have had to defeat the communists subtley to avoid humiliating the Chinees ans Soviets. Unfortunately the Americans â€Å"plunged boldly into the thick† of Vietnam without careing to attin the hearts and minds of its people.They fought against the natural terrain instead of adapting to it which was highly advantageous to the Vietnamese as it his them for so long. The USA is not known for being for being subtle and enjoy going full out into wars. By disgracing other com munists states they would turn the cold war into a hot war annihilating much of the planet. Therefore using a stratery that depende of heavy firepower and without the support of the locals the Vietnam war was unwinnable, if they had won the war and left Vietnam in a state of disgrace theywould have turned the cold war into a hot war. The perpose of the war was to atop the spread of communism and

Essay on Military Tuition AssistanceEssay Writing Service

Essay on Military Tuition AssistanceEssay Writing Service Essay on Military Tuition Assistance Essay on Military Tuition AssistanceMilitary Tuition Assistance has been a topic of discussion this year. Military Tuition Assistance is a public policy that provides government benefits to service members of all branches of the Armed Forces. This public policy has been developed to provide effectual help to service members with the cost of military tuition. According to this policy, military spouses have the right to receive Military Tuition Assistance under MyCAA. The amount of Military Tuition Assistant is different in different branches of service. As the policy making process begins when a problem that is identified and placed on the policy making agenda, Military Tuition Assistance policy helps to solve a wide range of problems associated with education of the military service personnel (Peters, 2012). For example, for Air Force service members, â€Å"Tuition Assistance typically covers up to $250 per credit hour with a fiscal year cap of $4,500† (Air Force (Active Duty, Reserve National Guard) Tuition Assistance, 2014). In this paper, the policy problems will be identified.Actually, the policy problem is concluded in the complexity of the application process, including the effects of recent eligibility requirement changes for different branches of Armed Forces. Military Tuition Assistance Updates, FY 2014 provide considerable changes in eligibility requirements. Some of these changes include the following:GoArmyEd will not be responsible for funding any courses to complete some professional degreeThe Military Tuition Assistance policy does not allow soldiers serving in the Army and flagged for APFT and Height/Weight being fully enforcedMilitary Tuition Assistance for Coast Guard service members guarantees paying for only one undergraduate degreeBesides, Military Tuition Assistance does not guarantee any beneficial effects on retention. According to researchers, â€Å"Military Tuition Assistance had little to no benefit in attracting Marines to s tay in the service†( Murphy, 2007, p. 46). Thus, the Military Tuition Assistance public policy has its disadvantages that lead to the problems in application process.

Social, Physical and Personal Qualities Essays

Social, Physical and Personal Qualities Essays Social, Physical and Personal Qualities Essay Social, Physical and Personal Qualities Essay Definition Many experts, especially in social and human scientists including psychologists and philosophers, believe that a place may not be as objective as people think it is(Rollero De Piccoli, 2010). They believe that a place is more subjective being that it is controlled by the individuals perception and conception (Rollero De Piccoli, 2010). These and many more aspects within and in the individuals environment affect his/her reality in that the person will lack direct access to it. Despite all the factors surrounding the individual and the place, social scientists still believe that there exists an attachment between the person and a place(Anton Lawrence, 2014). The experts believe that the person creates two bonds with the place including place attachment and place identity(Qingjiu Maliki, 2013). Therefore, place attachment is an emotional tie one develops with a particular place. Raymond et al. (2010) identify and integrated model towards addressing place attachment. These include th e natural, personal and community connections. It is a multi-disciplinary field that involves social, physical, and psychological aspects. It is therefore as Casakin, Hernndez, Ruiz (2015) explains psychosocial in nature that has its foundation on positive attitudes and emotional or affective ties towards a given local environment. The process is further characterized by social interactions, which are intense and dynamic. It has a close relation with neighborhood attachment which most studies reveal to be a feeling of satisfaction and belonging for ones residential area whose development is through frequent interactions with neighbors. Lewicka (2008) brings out the place to be an essential component of the environmental branch of psychology. The author believes that there can never be a precise meaning and definition of the place and its differences from space. Despite the lack of a measurement tool for the bonds individuals have towards a place, she believes that there exist these relationships including, place identity, attach ment, dependence and much more. Place attachment is, therefore, the bond a person creates with places (Pretty, Chipuer, Bramston, 2003). There are three components of place attachment including behavioral, cognitive, and affective. However, much emphasis is often on the emotional aspect of the place attachment (Lewicka, 2008). There are numerous studies on place attachment about ages or sex but limited evidence on studies related to gender (Raymond, Brown, Weber, 2010). Therefore, the paper will mainly focus on gender and its relation to place attachment. The importance of place attachment Place attachment dictates an essential part of the individuals well-being. As Joffe Smith (2016) indicate, prosperity will depend on various factors including physical and social aspects, which will determine their place attachment. Through a study they conducted in two major cities in Britain Joffe Smith (2016) identified that these elements are dominant in the views of those who dwell in the towns and what their feelings are of an appropriate city of the future. The responses of participants were also indications of the reasons why people develop attachments to particular places. On the physical aspects, the researchers identified issues such as the appeal of facilities including the municipal, social, retail, and cultural. There was also the aspect of nature where they viewed green and blue to signify health and open spaces and parks to signify places to escape. Transport, well designed and beautiful cities and big vs. small cities were also some of the aspects that came out dur ing the study. On the social side, there was safety and a sense of community (Joffe Smith, 2016). Alarasi et al. (2016) develop a paper in which they aim at the incorporation of children in the development of cities. Various factors within the towns will determine the attachment a child creates with the place, and thus the researchers work on revealing the importance of capturing the perception of children in urban development (Boga, 2009). The needs of children have often been ignored despite the fact that they have the ability to recognize various issues within a place and give suggestions for solutions (Alarasi, Martinez Amer, 2016). The researchers move further to identify that the qualities of any childs environment are often four. They are the physical or social and the positive or negative. Their paper identified various positive social conditions to be secure tenure, cohesive community identity, freedom from social threats and a habit of community self-help. There were positive physical qualities, which included freedom of movement, from physical danger, places for, peer gathering, green area, availability of essential services and a variety of settings for activities (Alarasi, Martinez Amer, 2016). They further identified adverse physical qualities to be litter, heavy traffic, and geographical isolation, lack of basic services, limited gathering places, and limited activity settings (Alarasi, Martinez Amer, 2016). The participants in the study further identified various negative social qualities, which included boredom, fear of crime and harassment, social stigma and exclusion, political powerlessness and racial tensions. von Wirth, Grt-Regamey, Moser, Stauffacher, (2016) identify Place attachment as a concept that has three dimensions including the personal characteristics, place characteristics, and psychological processes. A number of studies including Joffe Smith (2016) and Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016) only include the social and physical qualities, which is an indication of the limited literature on personal qualities in relation to place attachment. Therefore, the study will incorporate social, physical, and personal qualities in explaining place attachment to ensure development of an inclusive literature. Emotional ties in place attachment Place attachment has a solid foundation on an individuals emotionality (Raymond et al., 2010). The bonds develop because of the affect one expresses towards various aspects of his/her environment. Raymond et al. (2010) develop an explanation of what place attachment comprises of. They believe that the concept is in two components, which include place identity and place dependence. Place identity as the researchers explain it is a composition of the various dimensions within the self. They include a mixture of feelings and emotions towards different aspects that are physical. They include different symbolic connections that give a precise definition of the person an individual is (Raymond, Brown, Weber, 2010). Emotions are often because of physical stimuli that people experience. An active stimulus will produce emotions like joy or love. Various neurotransmitters experience alterations within the brain leading to a psychological reaction in ones mind a specifically through the expres sion of a particular emotion. The negative stimulus will also result in unpleasant emotions including anger, sadness and much more.; It is, therefore, clear that emotional ties have an influence on place attachment. Initial and frequent interaction with a place affects the worldview the individual creates towards the environment (Raymond et al., 2010). Aspects like security and social acceptance will change the type of attachment one creates and in which case the attachment becomes positive (Rollero ; De Piccoli, 2010). Negative stimuli during the interaction of one with the place like social isolation will lead to the development of negative emotions. In most instances, the type of emotionality one attaches to something will affect the individual;s overall view. Therefore, place attachment is a human process that depends on emotional ties to a given level. The study will therefore also focus on the influence of emotional ties on place attachment.; Place attachment and place identity Evidence indicates that the relationship between place attachment and place identity remains to be fuzzy. Many researchers will even use the two terms interchangeably (Hern;ndez, Carmen Hidalgo, Salazar-Laplace, ; Hess, 2007). However many of these researchers recognize the importance of place identity as much as they do place attachment (Chow ; Healey, 2008). Place identity often stems from the very essence of the place and has an intimate relationship with place attachment. One could say that as an individual develops place attachment, the creation of place identity is inevitable. As Casakin, Hern;ndez, ; Ruiz (2015) explain place identity is a significant part of one;s identity of the self and is evident through individual values, ideas, preferences, and objectives that are always relevant to the place. Place identity also manifests through how the person comprehends and understands the place. Hern;ndez, Carmen Hidalgo, Salazar-Laplace, ; Hess, (2017) find an intrinsic motivation to place attachment and place identity. They explain that place identity forms an essential part of one;s identity and thus affects the type of attachment on develops with a place. Place identity, therefore, becomes the procedure through which an individual describes him/herself as being part of a particular place through a continue interaction with that place (Hern;ndez, Mart;n, Ruiz, ; Hidalgo, 2010). The researchers, however, identify the issue lack of clarity to the relationship that exists between place attachment and place identity (Qingjiu ; Maliki, 2013).; ; The concepts may appear similar, and in some instances, people use them as synonyms. In other cases, the attachment is operationalized regarding identity. Some individuals may view one component as including the other for example place attachment may be recognized as an element of place identity. However, in a broader sense place attachment is regarded as a multidimensional construct that includes dependence on place, place attachment and many social bonds (Rollero ; De Piccoli, 2010). The study therefore, will, work on defining conceptually and critically the relationship that is present between place attachment and place identity. The formation of relationships with the environment Lewicka (2017) recognizes the presence of various aspects within the place an individual is attached to. They include neighborhoods, region, country, continent, open vs. closed, open vs. gated, the type of social place and capital, preferences that are individually differentiated and much more. All these concepts are part of one;s environment, and they often work as determinants of the type of relationship the individual creates with his/her environment. About this, Joffe ; Smith (2016) talk about personal preferences of future cities, and this stems down to the environment. Personal well-being is dependent on the environment, and negative environmental factors like carbon emissions affect the quality of one;s well-being. Therefore, it is safe to say that people will create relationships with the environment; it is the whole essence of place attachment. However, the type and quality of the relationship that develops highly lean on various aspects within and outside the environment.; About the environment, Lewicka (2010) recognizes various factors that surround the formation of bonds with ones environment. These include the scale of the place, the neighborhood, the home, or dwelling and the city or district. They are pillars of an individuals environment and the relationship created is dependent on various factors within these pillars including social ties, family and socio-economic status and much more. Alarasi, Martinez, Amer (2016) take a different look at the issue of relationship formation with the environment. Their focus is on children and the environment not only the physical but the emotional too. They believe that those children from urban areas suffer neglect especially when identifying factors to consider for city construction and development. Their emphasis is more on understanding various behavior settings for children than just a general look at their personal characteristics. It is essential to get a precise picture of the environmental preferences of children to enable them to develop healthy relationships with particular environments they interact with. It calls for the inclusion of what they prefer especially in urban area environments throughout the construction and development process. It will ensure that they do not feel like outsiders but can easily identify with the particular environment. The current study will, therefore, analyze the formation of relationships with the environment and put into consideration individuals of all ages and not just adults. Gender differences in cities Gender variations are often strong determinants of various preferences individuals have. Place attachment, especially in the towns, is no different as it also varies according to gender. In a study carried out by Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016) on the perception of cities by children, they identified that though not so significant, there existed differences in preferences between boys and girls. One of the major differences was in the language use especially adjectives where male children would use terms like friendly while girls used pretty. Gils also had their opinion that differed with that of the boys concerning the city centre. The found it unfriendly because they were uncomfortable with the unwanted attention that was present in some areas they accessed. It was an indication of the difference in perception of safety between the boys and the girls. The boys had a higher sense of security in general compared to the girls. Generally, women will care more about safety and therefore create a place attachment to areas they feel their security is guaranteed. The social identity theory indicates individual preferences for what members of a similar group prefer. People find motivation in finding self-esteem, which helps in the achievement and maintenance of a social identity that is positive. Gender divides individuals into groups that people identify with. The preferences will differ from one group to the next, and a group will always go for what works on the development of individual self-esteem and what makes them get a sense of belonging not only to the group but also within the environment. It is a social psychology precept that indicates a form of in-group favoritism. Therefore, city identification and evaluation will get a positive relation based on the concept. It is an indication that if individuals from one gender affiliation identify with a given city, their assessment of the city will be active. Gender also determines particular emotionality with female individuals being characterized to more emotionally reactive than males. The characteristic will also trickle down to the preferences the two groups have of the cities they choose. The various gender characteristics also affect the differences within cities. Both males and females will have a town they prefer over another and in an instance where they go for a similar city; there are certain aspects of the city that men would prefer more to women. The significant difference presents a gender impact on personal choices. It is the reason why the study will introduce the issue of gender and various aspects of gender. It will go further to determine its relationship to place attachment and place identity. The study also aims at understanding the perceptions of place attachment within gender. The current study All these factors and much more, necessitate a rise in the need to explore a gender-focused research on place attachment specifically on the social, physical, and personal qualities. The study focuses on identifying the various perceptions of place attachment within gender. Various issues lead to the research including the lack of clear definitions of place attachment. Numerous studies are available on place attachment on neighborhoods. It is the primary unit where researchers deem appropriate to identify place attachment and all its precepts. Up to seventy percent of the current studies focus on neighborhoods (Raymond et al., 2010). On the other hand, research is limited on place attachment within gender of cities. Evidence indicates that studies on cities only total up to ten percent of the papers on this area (Morgan, 2010). The study also aims at taking a focus on gender. There is still limited literature focusing on gender and place attachment. Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016) con duct a study on the preferences of children, and their research focuses on the choices the participants make with relation to their gender. Most studies dealing with people demographics often focus only on age and sex. The study concentrates on various qualities including social, physical, and personal while leaning towards gender. It, therefore, adopts the framework of the study carried out by Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016) which contains the gender perspective for the study. The study employs the use of the QGIS mixed-method approach, which is appropriate in identifying different aspects of the constructs under study. The current study will, therefore, identify the social and physical qualities using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. There is also the incorporation of personal qualities within the study. Therefore, the paper aims at also adopting the format by Joffe Smith (2016) who employ the use of the Social Representations Theory (SRT) framework to develop personal qualities in reaction to place attachment. Therefore, the study will integrate both structures to ensure that the results generated are efficient. The study adopts the tripartite theory in its explanation of the available data. The theory proposes three dimensions of place attachment including person, place dimensions and psychological process (Gifford Scannell, 2017). These aspects work together and individual in place attachment. One concept will contribute to the stability of the other. The central research question for the study is what are the perceptions of place attachment within gender? An exploratory study will focus on developing literature on gender about place attachment within cities. It is a new area of research within place attachment, and there is limited evidence to indicate the association between the two concepts. The study, therefore, focuses on exploring the issue of gender to develop new literature. The research adopts the methodology used by Joffe Smith (2016) and Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016) in their studies on place attachment. The study utilizes the data available in these studies, which were acqui red through carrying out interviews with the participants. Gender, age, ethnic groups, and social, economic classes all at an equal level selected the members. The current study adopts and uses social and physical qualities from the coding frameworks developed by Joffe Smith (2016) and Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016). The research goes further to develop and incorporate a third dimension on personal qualities. The study adopts transcription and coding frameworks for both the Joffe Smith study and that by Alarasi, Martinez Amer (2016). Both coding frameworks will ensure that all aspects the study is trying to develop are incorporated including the social, physical, and personal qualities, which are present in both studies. References Alarasi, H., Martinez, J., Amer, S. (2016). Childrens perception of their city centre: A qualitative GIS methodological investigation in a Dutch City. Childrens Geographies, 14(4), 437-452. Anton, C. E., Lawrence, C. (2014). Home is where the heart is: The effect of place of residence on place attachment and community participation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 451461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.10.007 Boga, C. (2009). Place attachment in a foreign settlement. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(2), 267278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.01.001 Casakin, H., Hernndez, B., Ruiz, C. (2015). Place attachment and place identity in Israeli cities: The influence of city size. Cities, 42, 224-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2014.07.007 Chow, K., Healey, M. (2008). Place attachment and place identity: First-year undergraduates making the transition from home to university. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(4), 362372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.02.011 Hernndez, B., Carmen Hidalgo, M., Salazar-Laplace, M. E., Hess, S. (2007). Place attachment and place identity in natives and non-natives. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27(4), 310319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.06.003 Hernndez, B., Martn, A. M., Ruiz, C., Hidalgo, M. del C. (2010). The role of place identity and place attachment in breaking environmental protection laws. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(3), 281288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.01.009 Joffe, H., Smith, N. (2016). City dweller aspirations for cities of the future: How do environmental and personal wellbeing feature?. Cities, 59, 102-112. Lewicka, M. (2008). Place attachment, place identity, and place memory: Restoring the forgotten city past. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(3), 209-231. Lewicka, M. (2010). What makes neighborhood different from home and city? Effects of place scale on place attachment. Journal of environmental psychology, 30(1), 35-51. Lewicka, M. (2017). Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years?. Retrieved 8 February 2017 Morgan, P. (2010). Towards a developmental theory of place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(1), 1122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.07.001 Pretty, G. H., Chipuer, H. M., Bramston, P. (2003). Sense of place amongst adolescents and adults in two rural Australian towns: The discriminating features of place attachment, sense of community and place dependence in relation to place identity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23(3), 273287. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(02)00079-8 Qingjiu, S., Maliki, N. Z. (2013). Place Attachment and Place Identity: Undergraduate Students Place Bonding on Campus. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 91, 632639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.463 Raymond, C. M., Brown, G., Weber, D. (2010). The measurement of place attachment: Personal, community, and environmental connections. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 422434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.08.002 Rubin, M., Badea, C., Condie, J., Mahfud, Y., Morrison, T., Peker, M. (2017). Individual differences in collectivism predict city identification and city evaluation in Australian, French, and Turkish cities. Journal of Environmental Psychology. Scannell, L. Gifford, R. (2017). Defining place attachment: A tripartite organizing framework. Retrieved 8 February 2017 Rollero, C., De Piccoli, N. (2010). Place attachment, identification and environment perception: An empirical study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(2), 198205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.12.003 von Wirth, T., Grt-Regamey, A., Moser, C., Stauffacher, M. (2016). Exploring the influence of perceived urban change on residents place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 46, 6782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.03.001

French Revolution

French Revolution French Revolution Terror has been commonly used through history as a device that controls. Many times it has been used for the greater good of man, other times it has been used to destroy. The French revolution was one of these periods of time in which terror was used with a positive intent, but had many negative consequences. Following the demise of the monarchy in France, moderates had control of the government, but the Jacobins soon purged the moderates from the National Convention.Terror in revolutionary France was first brought onto the Nobles, and upper class. This was done many times to appease the masses. But later the peasant class was significantly targeted outside of France. Louis Antoine de Saint-Just gave a speech in front of revolutionary supporters claiming that the greatest misfortune that was taking place was that a certain fear of the concentration of authority was necessary to save the state (Doc 5).Napoleon Bonaparte in the coup d'Ã ©tat of 18 Bruma...The most im portant of all Napoleons achievements was the formation of the Bank of France; this generated positive interest in the French economy and encouraged investment in France.The coup d'etat was an act by Napoleon and Emmanuel Sieyes to overthrow the Directory. The Directory was a new form of government that was established in 1795. It consisted of five members that were elected by both houses of the legislature. This form of government was proved even less effective than the Legislative Assembly and the national convention. Within the Directory there was incompetence and corruption that was putting France in a major debt. It didn't do much to solve the financial problems and military problems in France.Attacks on the republic and other conservatives increased. Rising prices and disrupted production drove some groups...

Capital Gains and Losses Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Capital Gains and Losses - Research Paper Example Other than inventory items, companies may end up in selling other assets. If the ‘other’ assets generate gains or losses, they are referred to as capital gains or capital losses (Hammer, 2013). A capital gain is, therefore, the profit realized by an investor from selling an asset at a higher price than he bought it.1 Companies may also decide to exchange assets in the absence of tax-free exchange rules. In such an exchange, capital gains or losses may be incurred. Capital gains receive a more favorable treatment compared to other types of income. According to Weltman (2011), tax law is more favorable on all incomes categorized as capital gains. Tax law also provides a special treatment for capital losses. Capital gains and losses are realized from capital assets. All property except inventory accounts receivable from the sale of inventory, depreciable property such as telephones, U.S. government publications, and real property used in the business are treated as capital assets. Most properties that one owns and uses for personal purposes or investments are considered to be capital assets. Examples of capital assets include cars, furniture, stocks, bonds, and houses. During the transfer of assets, if the amount received for the asset exceeds the adjusted basis of the property, a gain is recorded. If the amount received from the buyer is less than the adjusted basis of the property, a loss is recorded (Weltman, 2011). In order for the company to record either a capital gain or a capital loss, an exchange must occur. Though it may take hundreds of pages to define the tax code and limit what may be accounted for as capital gain or loss, the basic idea is simple. A capital gain is the increase in value of a capital asset. Cordes, Ebel & Gravelle (2007) define capital gains as the changes in value of capital assets such as real estate, business interest, or corporate stock. Gains and losses can either be

Homosexual male couple wants to adopt a child. What will Rousseau, Essay

Homosexual male couple wants to adopt a child. What will Rousseau, Benedict, and Aquinas argue. What is your view Explain - Essay Example Others feel that adults have a right to express sexual preference, that it is a private choice and not a moral issue at all, but that children need a mother and a father which, by definition, a male homosexual couple cannot provide. Still others feel that children need parents to love and guide them, and that sexual preference is not pertinent. Rousseau claimed that individual freedom comes from sacrificing personal liberty to the â€Å"general will†, so that the common interest (not necessarily the majority vote) can be legislated and everyone is protected by the community’s will (Philosophy, et cetara). In the case of conflict, arising from diversity, Rousseau claims that the common interest is what benefits all members, so minority interests are protected from being exploited. Individual rights become collective rights. The general will can never take away individual rights because individual rights are not of practical use to the community or common good (Philosophy, et cetara). Given this argument, relative to the issue under consideration, it is an individual right to become part of a couple and to raise a family. The general will can only be given an opportunity to overturn this right if two conditions are met. The first is that there is found sufficient and overwhelming evidence that there is danger or developmental threat to children from male homosexual parents. In this event, it can be said to be in the common good to protect the children of the community, who are all innocent and good (Doyle and Smith), from threat. The second condition, which must also be met, along with the first, is that the general will leads to legislation protecting all children of all parents from all threats of any kind. This condition is necessary to meet the requirement of equality under the law. As these conditions do not currently exist, then Rousseau

Microcosmos Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Microcosmos - Essay Example The orders which are presented in the Microcosm film encompasses dragonfly, grasshoppers, rhinoceros beetle, praying mantis, moth, cutworm, ant, dung beetles, wasps, sacred beetle, bee, climbing caterpillar, wriggler, swallow-tail butterfly, 3rd instar larvae hatching into butterfly, black ants, spiders in their spider web, cricket, pavement ant, ladybird with seven spots, great peacock moth and a mosquito. In addition, cabbage looper caterpillar is also depicted.The behaviors exhibited include geotropism which is seen in the growing plant tendrils. In addition, insect pollination is also exhibited. Also, a bee is portrayed sucking nectar from a full blown flower. In addition, black ants are seen feeding on excretion materials from the thrips. Also, lady birds are seen mating. Caterpillars are also seen depicting mimicry and camouflage to evade predators. In addition, the slug is seen gliding in a moist environment covered with green grass. Slugs are also seen mating. One of the most surprising bit about the film is the bit a caterpillar is seen breaking out of a cocoon and then feeding on it afterwards. Furthermore, the film shows a spider which abruptly pounces on a grasshopper and stops it from escaping by deploying its spider web to tie them up. It’s fascinating to observe how insects are trapped in a spider web and later fed on by the king spider. An additional intriguing observation is made on how preys are trapped then wrapped by a spider web to paralyse them to enhance the liberty of the king spider to feed on them.

The role of innocence in the exoneration process Essay

The role of innocence in the exoneration process - Essay Example However, this is not always to be, and there is always the likelihood that an innocent person is convicted2. This paper attempts to explain ways that people wrongly convicted get proof of their innocence. The causes of wrong convictions are wide ranging and comprise all features of the pre-trial and trial stages of the criminal justice process ranging from false allegations, incompetent police investigation, police misconduct, erroneous forensic science and evidence, and poor representation from criminal defense lawyers. Once an alleged victim of an unjust conviction has lost their appeal, there is a slight opportunity that the courts will be in a position to stop the conviction3. In these cases, victims of wrongful convictions are likely to have exhausted the legal aid unit and it will be up to them, their friends, supporters, families, pro-bono lawyers and voluntary groups to uncover the evidence of innocence and present it to the relevant authorities such as the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). 2Investigating a suspected wrongful conviction is a long and challenging process. Cases of high profile injustices like the Cardiff Newsagent Three and Sean Hodgson show that it can take several years of investigation before the evidence that leads to the quashing of the conviction is found4. Many projects that attempt to exonerate innocent people out of prison have come up. One such project is the Innocence Network project founded in 1992 whose principle objective is to get as many innocent people out of prison as possible and turn the experience of these people into a learning experience that could help repair the systematic failings in the criminal justic e system5. The project exonerates people by use of post-conviction DNA where the DNA from the crime scene is tested against the DNA of the accused. Often, people wrongly convicted of serious crimes like homicide or abuse has

Health economics Charles e phelps,, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health economics Charles e phelps,, - Essay Example A risk premium is the average expected loss. Ua represents the utility function of an averse person showing the level of satisfaction at income level Ia. X is the risk premium. The graph above represents the levels of satisfaction of two individuals with different levels of income. Io is the expected value. From the graph, Ia is less than Io meaning that the averse person receive a low income and consequently has a utility level that is lower than the expected utility. In the expected benefit calculation, where â€Å"m† is the medical treatment, Pm is its price, f is the probability that an event will occur and C is the co-payment rate, why does it matter that M depends on C? This is because co-payment helps in the reduction of medical care consumption costs. Without copayment, an individual may not be able to access and afford medical treatment. Copayment is also important when it comes to covers relating to medical services since it helps an individual to prevent unwanted expenses. Therefore, when calculating an individual’s expected benefit, all expenses and benefits incurred or gained on medical services have to be considered. Copayment has to be considered since it covers an individual’s medical expenses and that is why M depends on C during calculation of expected benefit. This is the trend of individuals with risky lifestyles or jobs to acquire life insurance. It can make the insurance company face screening and signaling problems. Insurance is always more likely bought by individuals who are prone to higher risks than those with low risks. Insurance firms try to reduce the adverse selection problems of having those who insure big risk buying their product. They do this through adjusting prices and measuring risk. Consequently, life insurance firms need medical documents and will not give policies to individuals who have long term illness.

Edward Joseph Snowden and the National Security Agency (NSA) Assignment

Edward Joseph Snowden and the National Security Agency (NSA) - Assignment Example The amount of disclosure availed by Snowden has been termed as immeasurable. And has been in terms of files and email accounts of many key individuals. Moreover, the areas covered the range from uninformed surveillance, security details, and what the NSA terms as very sensitive for the operation of the security affairs of the state. Snowden’s actions instigated debates over government’s secrecy, the extent the government can go when it comes to surveillance and the rights of the public to the privacy of information (ONeill, 2013). It was clear that the government was snooping on civilians and would tap servers of major Internet companies for emails and documents without the public’s consent (Dickson, 2013). This would leave the public perplexed especially this being a government it had trusted for long and was aware of the laws and what the constitution deems as unalienable with the people, that is their right to privacy. The matter had some moral implications in general. Edward Snowden revealed a dozen of things that the government was doing behind our back. Taking our information without our involvement and in a secret way was a violation of rights considered inseparable from the people and deemed as so by the constitution (ONeill, 2013). The data collection is unconstitutional and happens to be an infringement of the right to privacy (Cohn, 2014). Every democratic society considers privacy as a human right that is fundamental to the liberty of the people. The government has no right to commit arbitrary interference with privacy, as that would constitute a constitutional attack. It insults people dignity and autonomy. The government has termed such encroachment on privacy as modest yet it felt the need to perform it undercover, an element that suggests that there could be more to hide (Dickson, 2013). Snooping calls with no intention to listen to the conversations would be

The role of innocence in the exoneration process Essay

The role of innocence in the exoneration process - Essay Example However, this is not always to be, and there is always the likelihood that an innocent person is convicted2. This paper attempts to explain ways that people wrongly convicted get proof of their innocence. The causes of wrong convictions are wide ranging and comprise all features of the pre-trial and trial stages of the criminal justice process ranging from false allegations, incompetent police investigation, police misconduct, erroneous forensic science and evidence, and poor representation from criminal defense lawyers. Once an alleged victim of an unjust conviction has lost their appeal, there is a slight opportunity that the courts will be in a position to stop the conviction3. In these cases, victims of wrongful convictions are likely to have exhausted the legal aid unit and it will be up to them, their friends, supporters, families, pro-bono lawyers and voluntary groups to uncover the evidence of innocence and present it to the relevant authorities such as the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). 2Investigating a suspected wrongful conviction is a long and challenging process. Cases of high profile injustices like the Cardiff Newsagent Three and Sean Hodgson show that it can take several years of investigation before the evidence that leads to the quashing of the conviction is found4. Many projects that attempt to exonerate innocent people out of prison have come up. One such project is the Innocence Network project founded in 1992 whose principle objective is to get as many innocent people out of prison as possible and turn the experience of these people into a learning experience that could help repair the systematic failings in the criminal justic e system5. The project exonerates people by use of post-conviction DNA where the DNA from the crime scene is tested against the DNA of the accused. Often, people wrongly convicted of serious crimes like homicide or abuse has

Edward Joseph Snowden and the National Security Agency (NSA) Assignment

Edward Joseph Snowden and the National Security Agency (NSA) - Assignment Example The amount of disclosure availed by Snowden has been termed as immeasurable. And has been in terms of files and email accounts of many key individuals. Moreover, the areas covered the range from uninformed surveillance, security details, and what the NSA terms as very sensitive for the operation of the security affairs of the state. Snowden’s actions instigated debates over government’s secrecy, the extent the government can go when it comes to surveillance and the rights of the public to the privacy of information (ONeill, 2013). It was clear that the government was snooping on civilians and would tap servers of major Internet companies for emails and documents without the public’s consent (Dickson, 2013). This would leave the public perplexed especially this being a government it had trusted for long and was aware of the laws and what the constitution deems as unalienable with the people, that is their right to privacy. The matter had some moral implications in general. Edward Snowden revealed a dozen of things that the government was doing behind our back. Taking our information without our involvement and in a secret way was a violation of rights considered inseparable from the people and deemed as so by the constitution (ONeill, 2013). The data collection is unconstitutional and happens to be an infringement of the right to privacy (Cohn, 2014). Every democratic society considers privacy as a human right that is fundamental to the liberty of the people. The government has no right to commit arbitrary interference with privacy, as that would constitute a constitutional attack. It insults people dignity and autonomy. The government has termed such encroachment on privacy as modest yet it felt the need to perform it undercover, an element that suggests that there could be more to hide (Dickson, 2013). Snooping calls with no intention to listen to the conversations would be

The Sugar trade Essay Example for Free

The Sugar trade Essay Oh the wonderful sweetness of money and sugar. What drove this so called sugar trade, you ask? Consumer demand, return on investment, and slavery were all very important aspects to the making of the historic events in which were the sugar trade. Consumer demand is the product of the addicting compounds which make up sugar, adding it to about everything sugar gradually became a very important aspect in the 1500s normal lifestyle. Return on investment is when you put money into something and get a profit or get your money black plus some, thus making a business out of something. Slavery was a huge part of the sugar trade, they are what made the sugar trade possible, they worked and worked constantly to provide enough sugar for familys in the New World. Consumer demand is one of many parts of the sugar trade but crucial to the survival and thriving love of the product. Sugar consumption approached nearly 10% of overall food expenditures for familys in the 1700s. After 1660 sugar imports always exceeded over all colonial products, that means that they had and wanted more sugar than any other product that was being shipped in from foreign countries. The sugar was shipped in something called a Hogshead, it was a big barrel weighing between 700 and 1200lbs, children loved to lick the remaining sugar left in the barrel after it has been emptied. People love the way sugar tastes, we have for longer than the 1500s, as a matter of fact sugar was cultivated and grown in New Guinea some 9000 years ago. The more slaves there was the more sugar was produced. Slavery is what dramatically helped the sugar trade happen and proceed for so many years before slavery became illegal and machines replaced their jobs. Slaves could be traded for many goods like powder, bullets, brass pans, tobacco pipes, and many other things. At 14 pence a day a laborer in England in the early 1700s earned about 18 British pounds a year. For instance the Hibbert family owned 1,618 slaves in 1833, that year they made 31,120 pounds. In modern day english money thats about $48523, back then that was worth a lot more than it sounds. Familys who could afford to buy slaves to start a sugar industry always made a profit and thrived at what they did. Even if you werent in the sugar trade its self you could buy and sell trades to people who were in the business and still make huge profits. The cost of slaves went up through the years of 1748-1768. Return on Investment, money in slave trade in British Caribbean doubles their money in the sugar trade. Bought slaves for 14 pounds and sold for around 32 pounds, they typically made a good profit depending on where they bought the slave and where they sold the slave. Gives England a trad position. Owned trading system, bought for cheap sold expensively. This system was called a Mercantile system or Mercantilism. This is how the system worked, the English would buy raw items for cheap and refined or made them into finished goods, in this case they would buy sugar cane and refine it until it was white refined sugar, this series of laws began in about 1660 the Parliament in England approved a entire series of new laws taking care of colonial shipping. In conclusion that is what drove the sugar trade, the financial advantages of making money influenced many familys mainly consisting of the rich to enter into the sugar industry and most if not all did very well with their business. Slavery is another huge part of the sugar trade, without them it might not have happened, people might not have made as much money either. Consumer demand, however, is obviously the most important part of what drove the sugar trade. Peoples addicting affection for the sweetening substance got greater with the increase in population and slaves. Sugar is still a huge part of our daily lives, Its branched out to many different countries now, Weve enjoyed sugar even as far back as 9000 years ago and still continue to love it today.

Characteristics Of Good Readers

Characteristics Of Good Readers I can remember those days clearly. As a student in English Teaching major, I always had problems with English literature and it was hard for me to finish reading an English story like elephants like white hills without trouble and difficulty. Once our literature teacher was asking students comments and suggestions about English literature and it was a good time for me to talk about my horrors and troubles with English literature. Whenever Im reading an English story or poem, a sense from deep inside my heart tells me that give it up! You dont have to shoulder this heavy burden! I said. While he had a smile on his face, our dear master answered me: have you ever seen people who are waiting for sunrise in a dessert to see the beauty of twilight? Do you know that their tolerance is rewarded by the most beautiful scene they can have in whole their lives? This statement was so masterly stated that forced me to think of the hidden part of the iceberg! So instead of giving up this beauty of twilight, I tried to get familiar with different reading skills and different processes affecting it and manage the hard task of reading. In fact, reading is a complex skill and good readers should approach reading from three major points of view: From teaching point of view, from different strategies needed, and from different processes required for the selection of materials. Primarily, reading is a skill which is mostly required in academic institutions. To analyze reading from teaching point of view, you should have a clear definition of reading. Different writers and different researchers have different definitions for reading. Christine Nuttall (1996) has given three groups of ideas for reading definition (p.2). The first group deals with reading as a decoding, deciphering, and identifying process. The second one sees it as an articulation, speaking, and pronunciation. The third one has some ideas like understanding, responding, and meaning for reading. We can see that this group of ideas deals with some loaded cognitive processes for reading and it is somehow related to the definition of reading by Perfetti (1984) who defines reading as thinking guided by print (qtd. in Chastain 216). Some people think that reading is a passive skill, because there is no production from the readers side, but Chastain (1988) is against this kind of definition and oppo ses this groups ideas by stating that: Referring to reading as a passive skill perpetuates a misconception that can only mislead students and harm their perceptions of what their rule in their reading process is. Reading is a receptive skill in that the reader is receiving message from a writer. In the past various writers have also referred to reading as a decoding skill. This terminology derives from the idea of language as a code, one which must be deciphered to arrive at the meaning of the message. Although this term points out the active role the reader must play in reading describe the reading process in a way that implies active reader intent upon using background knowledge and skills to recreate the writers intended meaning (p.216). Sengupta(2002) in her longitudinal study tracing conceptual change in developing academic reading at tertiary level has given an interactive model for academic reading in which the readers background knowledge, his risk-taking, and meaning making through this interaction are of primary importance in academic reading. Figure 1 clearly illustrates this relation. H:M.A1st sem researchtahririindex_filesfigure1.gif Undoubtedly, in order to be able to read in a foreign language, before anything, one has to be familiar with the signs and sign systems of that foreign language. Like the children learning their first languages signs, a person who wants to read in a foreign language has to know for example what an X sign stands for. But we should have in mind that children go under several preparatory processes before being able to read a text or a story. To get familiar with some of these multilevel processes, Smith and Elley (1997) conducted a study on teaching reading for children in New Zealand and they reported that: Children are prepared for reading at an early age by listening to stories, being read to, and interacting with adults and others about the stories they hear. This is done not with the main purpose of preparing a child for reading but as a way that parents and others interact with, show affection for, and entertain and educate children. The interaction involves asking questions about what is going to happen in the story, getting the child to complete sentences in a known story, talking about the interesting and scary parts of the story, and generally having fun (qtd. in Nation 3). As you can see in this example, children primarily pay attention to the meaning the sentences have and the form and pronunciation of the sentences may be of little concern for these little children. This awareness of sentence meaning and the techniques used to teach reading makes this kind of reading interaction largely meaning-focused and Nation (2009) states that it includes shared reading, guided reading and independent reading. In shared reading, the learners gather around the teacher and the teacher reads a story to the learners from a very large blown-up book while showing them the pictures and the written words. The second type is Guided reading which can be done silently or with a child reading aloud to a friend, parent or teacher. Before the reading the learner and teacher talk about the book (pp. 3-4). Several researches have shown the effectiveness of this kind of reading. One of them is the research done by Wong and McNaughton (1980): Research by Wong and McNaughton (1980) showed that for the learner they studied, pre-reading discussion resulted in a greater percentage of words initially correct, and a greater percentage of errors self-corrected. The teacher and the learner look at the title of the book and make sure that all the words in the title are known. Then they talk about the pictures in the story and make predictions about what might happen in the story and talk about any knowledge the learner already has about the topic. Important words in the story are talked about but need not be pointed to in their written form. So, before the learner actually starts to read the story, the ideas and important words in the story are talked about and clarified. Then the learner begins to read (qtd. in Nation p.4). The third kind of meaning-focused reading is the independent reading in which the learner chooses a book to read and quietly gets on with reading it. During this quiet period of class time, the teacher may also read or may use the time as an opportunity for individual learners to come up to read to the teacher (Nation, 2009, p. 5). As you saw, learning to read in the first language seems quite easy, but the way in which you learn reading in second language has its own problems. Taken from Nation (2009), some of these problems are illustrated in table 1(p.7): Table 1.1 L1/L2 Differences for an Individual Beginning to Read Characteristics General effects Particular effects L1 beginning readers already know a lot of the language they are beginning to read (sounds, vocabulary, grammar, discourse). L2 learners do not. Learning to read an L2 involves a great deal of language learning. L2 learners need very controlled texts. L2 learners need a greater amount of pre-reading activities. L2 beginners can already read in their L1. L2 beginners have general cognitive skills. They have preconceptions and attitudes to reading. They have language specific skills. There will be interference and facilitation effects between the L1 and L2 L2 beginners do not need to learn what they can transfer from the L1. They may need to change their attitudes to reading. Learners may have to learn a different writing system. L2 beginners are usually older than L1 beginners. L2 learners have greater metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness It is easy to transfer L1 skills. L2 learners can use more explicit approaches and tools like dictionaries. This table has been kept simple by focusing on only one learner who is just beginning to read. It is more complicated if you have several learners with different L1s, different L2 proficiencies, different L1 reading proficiencies, and different motivations for reading. Reading also requires having different strategies. These reading strategies are grouped into different categories, according to the preference of their writers. For example, www.readinga-z.com (n.d), has given the list of following strategies: Making Predictions Visualizing Asking and Answering Questions Skimming and Scanning Retelling and Summarizing Connecting the Text to Life Experiences, Other Texts, or Prior Knowledge Word-Attack Strategies The first one is making predictions. By making predictions, you can make the reading more interesting. Incorrect predictions can signal a misunderstanding that needs to be revisited (www.readinga-z.com). In making predictions, you should have these points in your mind: Look at the pictures, table of contents, chapter headings, maps, diagrams, and features. What subjects are in the book? Write down predictions about the text. During reading, look for words or phrases from those predictions. While reading, revise the predictions or make new ones (www.readinga-z.com). The second strategy is visualizing. In visualizing, the reader uses his mental power effectively and using shapes, spatial relationships, movement, and colors can benefit greatly from this strategy. This strategy also requires having the following points in mind: Imagine a fiction story taking place as if it were a movie. Imagine the characters features. Picture the plot in time and space. Imagine processes and explanations happening visually. Use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to create pictures, diagrams, or other mental images. Use graphic organizers to lay out information. Make sketches or diagrams on scrap paper (www.readinga-z.com). Lets go to the third strategy which is asking and answering questions. Using this strategy you have to ask different questions from yourself while reading and then by answering these questions you can direct your reading. Like the guidelines given in the previously mentioned strategies, readinga-z.com gives the following guidelines to us: Before reading, think about the subject based on the title, chapter heads, and visual information. Make note of anything you are curious about. While reading, pause and write down any questions. Be sure to ask questions if there is confusion. Look for the answers while reading. Pause and write down the answers. Were all the questions answered? Could the answers come from other sources? Then we come to the skimming and scanning. Lindsay and Knight (2006) give credit to these skills by saying that: the ability to read something quickly and efficiently is an important skill for learners to acquire. Skimming and scanning are two of this (p.71). They define skimming as the reading for gist without trying to understand everything in it. In this process, you read through the text to get a general idea of what it is about, while in scanning you want to find out about something specific, for example get a particular piece of information from a text (Lindsay and Knight, 2006, p.72). The next reading strategy is Retelling and Summarizing during which you have to paraphrase the written materials and summarize it and be able to discriminate between main ideas and minor details (readinga-z.com). In this strategy, readinga-z.com recommends us to pay attention to the following points: During reading, note the main ideas or events. Put a check mark in the book or write a note to point out a main idea. At the ends of chapters or sections, review the information or story. Note main ideas or events and the details that support them. After reading, retell or summarize the text. Focus on the important points, and support them with relevant details. Refer to the book to check the retelling or summarization. The last point to mention in the reading strategies refers to the use of word-attack strategies which help students decode, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words. They help students attack words piece by piece or from a different angle (readinga-z.com). Using word-attack skills, you can reduce the difficulties of reading process. Reducing the scale of the problem by ignoring inessential words is the first step. Next, students must require strategies for dealing with lexical items that really block comprehension (Nuttall, 1996, p.69). Here we shall discuss three kinds of them: the first is the interpretation of structural clues by looking at the position of a word in a sentence, inference from context is the next which is a skill we have in our L1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and for less fluent students conscious use of it is valuable. By using it, they can get a meaning not necessarily completely accurate, but enough for their purpose (Nuttall, 1996, pp.69-72). Using a dictionary is the last skill the use of which is both discouraged and encouraged. It is discouraged because of the usual tendency to use them far too often (Nuttall, 1996, p.76). I think there is no need to explain why a dictionary is encouraged. For using a dictionary, Nuttall (1996) emphasizes the implementation of the following steps: The first step towards using the dictionary as a tool instead of a crutch is to decide which word to look upand to accept that they should be as few as possible. Having decided to look up a word, we want to do it quickly and to make the best use of the information in the dictionary (p.76). It is necessary to have continual insistence on the use of this skill. This means you should make frequent use of the dictionary in class (even though it is quicker to give the meaning yourself); and that it should be the student who select the appropriate definition (Nuttall, 1996, p.76). Among the others, Krashen and Terrell (1983) outline the following communicative reading strategy: 1. Read for meaning 2. Dont look up every word 3. Predict meaning 4. Use context (qtd. in Chastain 225) Finally, we come to the selection of materials for reading. Selection of appropriate reading materials is a crucial component in the establishment of a productive reading program (Chastain, 1988, p.231). Defending the place of the selection of the materials, Doff(1988) has given some factors for the selection of materials to consider: In normal life, we do not normally read because we have to but because we want to. We usually have a purpose in reading: there is something we want to find out, some information we want to check or clarify, some opinion we want to match against our own, etc. We also have a purpose in reading when we read stories for pleasure: we want to find out how the story develops, what happens next (p.170). As we can infer from the given text, it is the learners interests and needs which initially shapes the selection of materials, so the first factor to consider in the selection of the appropriate reading materials can be the interests and goals of the learner. Chastain (1988) emphasizes the importance of this point more than linguistic complexity by stating that: With the advent of the concept of reading as taking place within the readers head as he interacts with the words on the page, the readers willingness to continue the process of recreating meaning until the authors message is understood becomes central to reading process. Thus interest in the content rises to a level of importance higher than that of linguistic complexity because no reading will take place if readers are not interested enough to continue reading. However, if they are really interested in knowing what author has to say, they will make every effort to understand the reading (p.231). Here Chastain (1988) raises a question: students interests cover an enormous range of topics, trying to satisfy all would be impossible (p.231). Then, what would we do in selecting materials while at the same time we are going to consider the students interests? The answer is so simple. We can use a variety of procedures to select the reading materials from among the students interests. For example, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they (the teachers) can choose readings with which students have some familiarities, or they can use prereading activities to generate interest and even enthusiasm for the content of selected reading. They can even survey the students interests later in the course and attempt to incorporate into the course reading on some of the mentioned topics (Chastain, 1988, p.231). The second factor in selecting the reading materials is the factor of readability which is determined through linguistic analysis of the authors language (Chastain, 1988, p.232). Nuttall (1996) defines readability as combination of structural and lexical difficulty and further explains that since the language of a text maybe difficult for one student and easy for another, it is necessary to assess the right level for students you teach (p.174). It is obvious that if the text would be beyond the readers power of comprehension, soon he will be frustrated and he may put it aside and, like what I did with the the hills like white elephants! So the text should be analyzed through the factor of readability before being processed by the reader. Readability of a text can be analyzed from many ways. For example computer programs and the way they process the data you when you give the sample from the text. Some readability indexes like Harrison 1980 and Chall 1984 are frequently used to calculate readability (Nuttall, 1996, p.175). As you pay attention to the level of readability of the text, you should also be aware of the other detriment of reading comprehension: Syntactic simplicity. Bernhardt (1948) points out that syntactic simplicity may decrease text cohesion and thereby hinder comprehension (qtd. in Chastain 232). Now, we shall go to the last factor in selecting the reading materials which is the use of the authentic materials. Nuttall (1996) comments that they can be motivating because they are proof that the language is used for real life purpose by real people (p.172). Chastain (1988) defines authentic materials as follows: Generally, any text that an author writes to be able to communicate some message is authentic because it has an authentic purpose and it conforms to authentic language use (p.233). This definition of the authentic materials is different from the definitions given by some other authors who define authentic materials as those texts written for use by the foreign language community, not for language learners (Nuttall, 1996, p.177). Byrnes (1985) clearly explains the reason why some people only label the texts written by native speakers as authentic materials: Due to the problems students have with such texts because they are unfamiliar with the culture, one may think of material written by native speakers for language users as being authentic (qtd. in Chastain 232). Chastain (1988) comments on which types of authentic materials are good for L2 readers specially for students and which types are not by stating that: Supervisors and teachers of language courses may choose more academic types of reading such as articles, essays, short stories, plays, and novels, and these works certainly are important. One purpose of education is to expose students to high quality writing and to stimulating intellectual ideas from the cultures writers. However, never being exposed to some of the more common types of reading that they do in their native culture such as advertisements, notices, TV schedules, bulletins, manuals, programs, newspapers, and menus may result in students who are unable to read things they will need most to be able to read in the foreign culture (p.233). In this paper, we looked at reading from three major viewpoints and the impact they could have on improving the reading. I often use the reading strategies just mentioned in this paper, but whenever a story like elephants like white hills wants to irritate me, a sense from deep inside my heart tells me that give it up!

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and the Pure Food and Drug Act Essay

Upton Sinclair’s â€Å"The Jungle† and the Pure Food and Drug Act Upton Sinclair’s â€Å"The Jungle,† gave the most in-depth description of the horrid truths about the way America’s food companies, â€Å"the only source of food for people living in the city,† are preparing the food they sell. â€Å"The Jungle† describes the terrible conditions of a Lithuanian family that moved to the US, and had to work, live, and die for the food companies in Chicago. â€Å"The Jungle† spurred a movement in the American people to do something about the problems facing the American food supply. Because of the growing concern about the quality of food in America the government took action to prevent further problems. Thus the Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed to fix the problems. The Food and Drug Act was a true example of how the people of our nation influenced the government to take action, to solve a growing problem effecting the American people. â€Å"The Jungle† talks about a couple who move to an area of Chicago, â€Å"known as Packtown,† from Lithuania. Packtown is the center of Chicago’s meat packing industry. It is a hard, dangerous, and filthy place where it is difficult to find a job. Some relatives of the couple and themselves get a house, but find out it is a swindle. Expenses increase and forces the children of the family to find work like the adults. Jobs in Packtown are back-breaking , unsafe, and have no regard for individual workers. The oldest of the family gets a job, but it is to difficult for the old man and he quickly dies. The man of the couple, â€Å"Jurgis,† is forced to work in an unheated packing house during the winter. Jurgis is injured and cant work for three months receiving no pay. One of the children dies of food poisoning. Jurgis joins a union and slowly begins to understand the way politics and bribery that control Packingtown. After attacking the boss of his wife for making her sleep with him, Jurgis is put in jail for a month. While in Jail the family has been evicted from there home and is living in a run-down boardinghouse. When Jurgis returns home he finds his wife in premature labor, and in the process of giving birth the child and her. Jurgis disappears on a drinking binge. With the help of a wealthy woman who takes and interest in the family, Jurgis finds a job at a steel mill. He is renewed in hope dedicating himself to Antanas, â€Å"his ... ...lightly to violating its new laws. From respectable authorities on the subject, and the 1906 Food and Drugs Act itself, gave paticual understanding of the events effecting that time period, a understanding of certain points in the novel â€Å"The Jungle†, and how the government went about solving the nation’s going problem, has lead myself to agree that Upton Sinclairs’s â€Å"The Jungle† had a major role in moving the government to clean up the food supply. Which by the approval of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act, the government succeeded in solving the problem. â€Å"The Jungle† showed to the nation the scam of biblical antiquity, that was effecting there very lives. It rallied the people to make the government find a solution to prevent further sicknesses and deaths because of greedy capitalists. The government set forth the Food and Drugs Act of 1906 in response which regulated and examined products developed by food and drug companies. Upton Sinclair provided the motive, and the government supplied the solution. Because of the these two forces we, in our day in time, can rest assured that our food and drugs are of the very top quality, and purity for human consumption.