Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 5

Accounting - Essay Example 285). The UK being an active member of the European Union has not been left behind in the adoption process. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has been adopted as a basis for financial reporting by a significant number of countries worldwide. The main of the UK companies adopting the IFRS is to improve the quality of the information on the corporate performance. However, while the advantages of a common set of global reporting standards are recognized, there are a number of implementation challenges at the international and national levels if the objective of an improved and harmonized reporting system is to be achieved (Tosen, 2006, pg. 99). Today, International Financial Reporting Standards has been the main subject of discussion especially among numerous financial experts. The debate has been on how changes in the way the companies can file their financial statements and records can the enforced. Adoption of IFRS has enabled companies to swap from GAAP which depends largely on the size of the company. Transition from GAAP to IFRS has therefore helped companies to efficiently adapt the new regulations (Sale et al, 2007, pg. 114). This in turn has provided a number of benefits to the countries that its member companies have adopted the IFRS. The benefits of the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards can be examined not only from the reporting quality position but also from the economic perspective. These benefits include: The transition to IFRs has provided the companies with many perks. The most beneficial part of adopting IFRS has been consistency. Most companies in the world especially in the UK use this policy because it has high level of consistency and Canada too is in the process of setting up plans so that they can adopt it as well because of this benefit. It is therefore advisable that many countries should enforce this policy because it gives the member

Analyze the significance of professional certification Essay

Analyze the significance of professional certification - Essay Example Florence Nightingale was the first nurse to record graduates for her nursing school. Licensure examinations are necessary as they are the measure of competency. To ensure public safety, â€Å"the international council of nurses passed a resolution that required each state to establish licensure and examination procedure for nurses† (Catalano p.41).Licensure is the major requirement for practicing nurses. It is mainly a state controlled activity that enforces powers to its regulatory board to protect public health, safety and welfare by enacting professional standards. There are some nursing organizations like National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission that accredits the nursing schools and it also ensures the standard of nursing teachings and practice. Another organization called American Nursing Association ensures, â€Å"certain standard yardsticks against which nurses are measured and are held accountable by courts of law† (Catalano 2005, p.48). The ANA also establishes the official code of ethics for professional practice. Nurses play significant role in the evolvement of health care system. They are Primary care providers. Initiation of Licensure and Certification would thus help in upgrading the level of care provided by the nurses. References . Catalano, T. Joseph (2005).

Web Usage Mining for Web Page Recommendation

Web Usage Mining for Web Page Recommendation A Survey On Web Usage Mining For Web Page Recommendation Using Biclustering ABSTRACT The World Wide Web contains an increasing amount of websites which in turn contains increasing number of web pages. When any user visits a new website they have to go through large number of web pages to meet their requirements. Web usage mining is the process of extracting useful knowledge from the server logs. This useful knowledge can be applied to target marketing and in the design of web portals. A Recommender system is one of the best web usage mining Application which reduces the difficulties faced by the users to meet their requirements .It recommends the pages of interest to the user. This report includes the survey of different clustering and biclustering techniques. Also we will discuss the biclustering approach which has some advantages over the traditional clustering approach. Keywords : Web usage mining, Recommender system, biclustering I. INTRODUCTION The World Wide Web store, share, and distribute information in the large scale. There is large number of internet users on the web. They are facing many problems like information overload due to the significant and rapid growth in the amount of information and the number of users. As a result, how to provide web users with more exactly needed information is becoming a critical issue in web applications. Web mining extracts interesting pattern or knowledge from web data. It is classified into three types as web content mining, web structure, and web usage mining. Web usage mining is the most important area of web mining which deals with the extraction of useful knowledge from the web usage data. There are different kinds of datasets on which web usage mining can be performed. They are in the form of log files. These log files can be stored at server side, proxy side and client side. Mostly the server side log files are used for web usage mining. Before the mining process various pre-p rocessing techniques can be applied to the log files, for example, pre-processing, pattern discovery, pattern analysis. The data mining techniques like Association rule mining, Sequential pattern analysis; Classification and Clustering are used to mine the web usage data. The mined knowledge can be helpful in different web applications like personalization of web Content, support for the design, E-commerce, and many other web applications. In this paper we discuss clustering technique of data mining for web usage data. Clustering is one of the important data mining technique to discover usage pattern from the web usage data. The users with the same browsing pattern are clustered in the same group and the others are clustered in different groups. In this survey we consider biclustering algorithm based on genetic algorithms (GAs) for effective clustering. In general, a genetic algorithm (GA) is a search heuristic that mimics the process of natural selection. This heuristic (also sometimes called a metaheuristic) is routinely used to generate useful solutions to optimization and search problems [10]. So, we believe that a clustering technique with Genetic algorithm can provide relevant clusters more effectively. A traditional clustering method clusters users according to their similarity of browsing behaviour under all pages. However, it is often the case that some users have similar behaviour only on a subset of pages. For example consider below example user page matrix. [2] TABLE-1 : USER PAGE MATRIX When all pages are considered users 1, 2, and 4 do not show similar behaviour since their hit count values are uncorrelated under page 2 ,while users 1 and 2 have an increased hit count value from page 1 to page 2, the hits of user 4 drops from page 1 to page 2. However, these users behave similarly under pages 1, 3, and 4 since all their hit count values increase from page 1 to page 3 and increase again for page 4. A traditional clustering method will fail to recognize such a cluster since the method requires the three users to behave similarly under all pages which are not the case [2]. To overcome this problem Biclustering or Two- way clustering was introduced. Biclustering was first introduced by Hartigan and called it direct clustering [1]. Following section describes some of the clustering and biclustering methods together with Genetic algorithm available in the literature. II. LITERATURE SURVEY 2.1 WEB MINING Web mining is categorized into three areas which are Web usage mining, Web content mining, and Web structure mining [6]. Web usage mining makes use of logs that are generated by the Web server to make sense of the user’s behaviour on the Web. The logs captured by web servers are the primary source of data in web usage mining, and it is important as it explicitly records the browsing behaviour of site visitors. The greatest advantage of the web server logs is that they are records of what people have actually done, and not what they might do or thought they did [4]. Web personalization based on Web usage mining involves three phases; data preparation and transformation, pattern discovery, and recommendation. In the first stage, the web server logs will undergo intensive pre-processing stage that will remove all irrelevant information and prepare the logs for pattern discovery to derive the user profile. A previous study used frequency and duration as indicators to represent the interest degree of a Web page to a user in the session. Another separate study indicates that contiguous sequential patterns found in frequent navigational paths are more suitable for predictive tasks, such as predicting which item the user will access next during his navigation. Recent studies on sequential patterns in web log data show that ordered sequence of events can discover web users’ navigational patterns [4]. Web content mining is the process of extracting knowledge from the content of Web documents [6]. One of the challenges in Web content is to extract useful information from the pages. This stage is known as Web content cleaning. A Web page typically contains a mixture of many kinds of information, such as the main content, advertisements, navigation panels, and copyright notices [5]. Web content mining techniques alone is unable to handle dynamic content changes in news sites. On the other hand, personalization based on web usage by itself is not able to reflect the changes in site content, because these changes are not included in the Web logs. As Web usage and Web content have limitations, combining these two areas will harness both of their use for personalization [4]. 2.2 WEB LOG A Web log is a file to which the Web server writes information each time a user requests a resource from that particular site. All users’ web access activities of a website are recorded by the WWW server of the website and stored into the Web Server Logs. Each user access record contains the client IP address, request time, requested URL, user ID, HTTP status code, etc. Web log consist of attributes with the data values in the form of records. The information contained in web logs has been used in many different ways. In various studies, researchers and search engine administrators have used information from web logs to learn about the search process and to improve search engines. Besides learning about search engines or their users, query web logs are also being used to infer semantic concepts or relations [3]. 2.3 DATA COLLECTION There are three main sources to get the row log data, which are namely 1) Client Log File 2) Proxy Log File 3) Web Server Log File Web Server Log File: The most significant and frequently used source for web usage mining is web server log data. This web log data is generated automatically by web server when it services user request, which contains all information about visitor’s activity. The common server log file types are access log, agent log, error log and referrer log [7] Table-1 summarizes each. TABLE-2: WEB SERVER LOG FILE TYPES AND CONTENT[7] Depending on web server, web log file data varies on number, type of attributes, and format of log file. W3C maintains standard log file format however custom log file format can be configured. Many varied format are available like 1.Common log format, 2.Extended common log format, 3. Centralized log format, 4.NCSA common log format, 5.ODBC logging, 6.Centralized binary logging. among all common or extended file format are mainly implemented by web server. [7] Common Log Format (CLF) may contain following fields [host/IP rfcname logname [DD/MMM/YYYY: HH:MM:SS-0000] â€Å"METHOD/PATH HTTP/ 1.0† bytes] [7] 2.4 RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM Recommender systemsorrecommendation systems are a subclass ofinformation filtering systemthat seek to predict the rating or preference that user would give to an item.The most popular ones are probably movies, music, news, books, research articles, search queries, social tags, and products in general. However, there are also recommender systems for experts, jokes, restaurants, financial services,life insurance, persons (online dating), and Twitter followers.[9] Various data mining techniques applied on web recommendation system for the data Pre-processing of web server log data. III. METHODS AND MATERIALS 3.1 BICLUSTER Bicluster Types [8] Different biclustering algorithms have different definitions of bicluster. 1) Bicluster with constant values (a), 2) Bicluster with constant values on rows (b) or columns (c), 3) Bicluster with coherent values (d). (a) (b) (c) (d) 3.2 CLICKSTREAM DATA PATTERN Clickstream data is a sequence of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) browsed by the user within a particular period of time. By analyzing these data we can discover web users having similar browsing pattern. It requires some preprocessing before it is taken for analyse[1]. 3.3 INITIAL BICLUSTERS[1] K-Means clustering method is applied on the web user access matrix A(U, P) along both dimensions separately to generate ku user clusters and kp page clusters .And then combine the results to obtain small co-regulated sub matrices (ku Ãâ€" kp) called biclusters. These correlated biclusters are also called seeds. 3.4 COHERENT BICLUSTERING FRAMEWORK USING GENETIC ALGORITHM (GA) [1] Usually, GA is initialized with the population of random solutions. In our case, after the greedy local search procedure the optimization technique genetic algorithm is applied on biclusters to get the optimum bicluster. This will result in faster convergence compared to random initialization. Algorithm: Evolutionary Biclustering Algorithm [1] Input: Set enlarged and refined seed Output: Optimal Bicluster Step 1. Initialize the population. Step 2. Evaluate the fitness of individuals Step 3. For i =1 to max_iteration Selection() Crossover() Mutation() Evaluate the fitness End(For) Step 4. Return the optimal bicluster Using the above algorithm we can generate optimum biclusters from web usage data which exhibits high coherence between the web user and the pages visited by them. Analyzing these overlapping coherent biclusters could be very beneficial for direct marketing, target marketing and also useful for recommending system, web personalization systems, web usage categorization and user profiling. The interpretation of biclustering results is also used by the company for focalized marketing campaigns to improve their performance of the business [1]. IV. CONCLUSION The Biclustering approach overcomes the problem associated with traditional clustering methods by showing the higher coherence between the web user and the subset of pages visited by them. The result of Biclustering can be used in the focalized marketing strategy like direct marketing and target marketing. The recommendation system will give the website its most visited pages by its all user. It also gives information of the user having same behaviour on subset of pages. So it target on improving the website’s design, information availability and quality of services. Future work aims at extending this framework by using it as a pre-processing tool for the web page recommendation system. REFERENCES

Analysis of Aristotles The Politics Essay -- Aristotle Poetics Politi

An Analysis of Aristotle's The Politics In "The Politics", Aristotle would have us believe that man by nature is a political animal. In other words, Aristotle seems to feel that the most natural thing for men to do is to come together in some form of political association. He then contends that this political association is essential to the pursuit of the good life. Finally he attempts to distinguish what forms of political association are most suitable to the pursuit of this good life. In formulating a critique of "The Politics", we shall first examine his claims as to what is natural to man and whether the criterion of the natural is sufficient to demonstrate virtue. We shall then examine what it is about political association that is essential to the pursuit of the good life. In conclusion, we shall see whether Aristotle's recommended mix of oligarchy and democracy is really suited to the practice of the good life. It seems to me that there is indeed something more natural to man than politics. While it is true that wherever you find men you tend to find political associations, it is also true that not all human associations are political. Aristotle rightly points out the family is a basic form of association that is mostly apolitical. Religion brings people together, as does the economic desire to trade and pursue economic activity. None of these spheres of human activity can be said to necessitate politics. These spheres of human action however, are seemingly found wherever human beings can be found, hence they are more natural in the sense that they automatically arise. Aristotle's account of the formation of the state is pure historical rationalization. He says that the state is natural because it arises out of mor... ...r to preserve virtue in the face of rampant vice than in times where individual virtue abounds in order to maintain stability and justice. The nature of politics is power over material things however, not virtue. Justice and virtue may be the professed functions and goals of politics, but this does not define what politics in fact are. A perplexing question however, is that of how the ideal constitution will be brought about when the virtuous have no interest in bringing it about precisely because virtue is defined by disinterestedness. Works Cited Barnes, Jonathan, ed. The Complete Works of Aristotle. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984 Lord, Carnes. Aristotle: The Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984 Nehamas, Alexander. Virtues of Authenticity: Essays on Plato and Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999

Ethanol as a Fuel Source

Year 12 Chemistry Assessment Task 1| Ethanol as an alternative fuel| | | | Melissa Weber| 22/11/2010| | Overview The commercial production of ethanol fuel in Australia is the use of sugar cane and wheat using yeast in the fermentation process. Yeast is a fungus which can multiply in the absence of oxygen by using enzymes (e. g. zymase) to catalyse the decomposition of sugars. Those sugars are sucrose or maltose. Suitable conditions The conditions that promote the fermentation of sugar are: * A suitable micro-organism such as yeast * Water * A suitable temperature for the fermenting yeast Low oxygen concentrations favouring the fermenting yeast * A small amount of yeast nutrients such as phosphate salt. * Once the ethanol concentration reaches 14-15% by volume, the yeast cannot survive, and the fermentation process stops. Costs Biomass fuels such as rice straw and sugar cane bagasse are being investigated as raw materials for ethanol production but the transportation costs are very hi gh and do not justify their use. Genetically modified crops are being analysed and this could provide a cheap source of biomass fuels for the production of ethanol.Production from Sugar Cane Sucrose extracted from sugarcane accounts for little more than 30% of the chemical energy stored in the mature plant; 35% is in the leaves and stem tips, which are left in the fields during harvest, and 35% are in the fibrous material (bagasse) left over from pressing. Most of the industrial processing of sugarcane in Brazil is done through a very integrated production chain, allowing sugar production, industrial ethanol processing, and electricity generation from by-products.The typical steps for large scale production of sugar and ethanol include milling, electricity generation, fermentation, distillation of ethanol, and dehydration. Replacement for distillation With increasing attention being paid to saving energy, many methods have been proposed that avoid distillation altogether for dehydra tion. Of these methods, a third method has emerged and has been adopted by the majority of modern ethanol plants. This new process uses molecular sieves to remove water from fuel ethanol.In this process, ethanol vapour under pressure passes through a bed of molecular sieve beads. The bead's pores are sized to allow absorption of water while excluding ethanol. After a period of time, the bed is regenerated under vacuum or in the flow of inert atmosphere to remove the absorbed water. Two beds are used so that one is available to absorb water while the other is being regenerated. This dehydration technology can account for energy saving of 3,000 btus/gallon (840 kJ/l) compared to earlier azeotropic distillation. .Diagrams DISTILLATION| | STRUCTURE| FORMULAC6H12O6 ;gt; 2CO2 + 2C2H5OH (ethanol) 180. 00g ;gt; 88. 00g + 92. 00g| Ethanol vs. Fuel Arguments for ethanol as a fuel| Arguments against ethanol as a fuel| It is a clean and efficient use of energy. It is much safer then petrol (Eth anol is biodegradable without harmful effects on the environment) and will greatly reduce the spread of pollution. Seeing that it is not a fossil-fuel, manufacturing it and burning it does not increase the greenhouse effect. Ethanol can reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by up to 100% on a full life-cycle basis. High-level ethanol blends can reduce emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by 30% or more (VOCs are major sources of ground-level ozone formation) * High-level ethanol blends reduce nitrogen oxide emissions| Ethanol is clean but it only produces two-thirds the energy of octane, hence more is needed| It is a much healthier alternative for people: * Sulphur dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions are significantly decreased with ethanol. As an octane enhancer, ethanol can cut emissions of cancer-causing benzene and butadiene by more than 50% * It provides high octane at low cost as an alternative to harmful fuel additives. * Ethanol can be used as an additive i nstead of lead which is a toxic pollutant in major cities. It will significantly reduces harmful exhaust emissions meaning more healthy in urban areas| The increased need for land clearing for crops (sugar cane) has led to huge problems of soil erosion, salination and the over use of water resources e. . Brazil| It is renewable and relatively cheap to produce, whereas oil supplies are limited to perhaps 50-60 years| Oil reserves are depleting but new reserves are being found with sophisticated techniques| Addition of ethanol to petrol reduces the amount of oxygen in combustion and reduces the emission of carbon. Ethanol blends can be used in all petrol engines without modifications| The cost of producing ethanol in 2008 was twice the cost of petrol.Australia has a 10% blend which is competitive at the moment| Ethanol can be produced anywhere in the world (Brazil, Tanzania, Australia) and will reduce the monopoly of Arab nations. As it is easily accessible for each country the diffic ulty and hazards in transporting will be reduced| 80% of the world's transport is dependent on fossil fuels. Changing to an ethanol base will be an economic nightmare| Current use of ethanol Continent| % of energy needs supplied by biomass| Continent| % of energy needs supplied by biomass| Australia| 5%| Oceania| 35%|Africa| 55%| North America| 4%| South America| 26%| Europe| 2-3%| Asia| 38%| former USSR| 3%| Sydney buses have trialled the use of Diesohol. Diesohol is a mixture of 10-15% ethanol in diesel fuel – it has been made possible by the development of a process which emulsifies the ethanol in the diesel. Using Diesohol reduces smoke, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides in the vehicles exhaust. Up to about 10% ethanol can be added to petrol without requiring any alteration in car engines. Cars can run on 100% ethanol, but this requires engine modification.Ethanol does not release as much energy per gram as hydrocarbons do on burning. However, ethanol does reduce pollut ants in vehicle exhaust. This is particularly advantageous when using Diesohol in trucks and buses in large polluted cities. The use of ethanol as a fuel is neutral as far as releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. When ethanol is burned, it produces carbon dioxide, however, this carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by growing plants to produce more ethanol.If crops are grown specifically to produce ethanol by fermentation, very large areas of land would be required. It has been estimated that if Australia used all its cereal and sugar crops to produce ethanol, this would still only provide enough fuel to replace about 10% of its current petroleum use. Obviously, this amount of land could not be devoted to the production of transport fuel rather than food. However, it may be that in the future, with improvements in fermentation technology, plant waste material could be used to produce ethanol.It may be that there are better ways to harness energy from the sun than by growing plants which are then fermented to produce ethanol. Combustion of ethanol only releases about one third of the energy from sunlight which was originally trapped by, for example, sugar cane plants. Ethanol is still much more expensive to produce than petrol. The expenses involved in the production of ethanol include the effort put into growing the plant material, transporting plant material to processing plants and the energy required to separate the ethanol from the fermentation mixture by distillation.Ethanol consumption in an engine is approximately 51% higher than for gasoline since the energy per unit volume of ethanol is 34% lower than for gasoline. However, the higher compression ratios in an ethanol-only engine allow for increased power output and better fuel economy than could be obtained with lower compression ratios Cost of ethanol in Australia Taxation * Domestically produced fuel ethanol is currently effectively exempt from excise tax until July 1, 2011 (an excis e of 38. 43 cents per litre is payable on petrol). From this date, excise will be increased at 2. 5 cents per litre annually until it reaches 12. 5 cents per litre in 2015 Government Support * Federal Government support for fuel ethanol includes a voluntary industry biofuels target (encompassing ethanol, biodiesel, and other biofuels) of 350 million litres per annum by 2010, capital grants to current and prospective producers, fuel excise relief, and an effective tariff on imported ethanol until July 1, 2011. In 2006, the Premiers of both New South Wales and Queensland proposed mandating the blending of ethanol into petrol. Marketing * E10 is available through service stations operating under the BP, Caltex, Shell and United brands as well as those of a number of smaller independents. E10 is most widely available closer to the sources of production in Queensland and New South Wales. E10 is most commonly blended with 91 RON â€Å"regular unleaded† fuel.BibliographyBiofuel in A ustralia. (2010, 11 20). Retrieved 11 22, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Australia Catalyst Teaching Resouces. (2001).Investigating ethanol as a fuel , 1-5. Ethanol from glucose (2010, http://hsconline. nsw. edu. au/). [Motion Picture]. Ethanol from sugar (2010, http://hsconline. nsw. edu. au/). [Motion Picture]. Ethanol Fuel. (n. d. ). Retrieved 11 21, 2010, from Journey to forever: http://journeytoforever. org/ethanol. htmlEthanol Fuel. (2010, 11 10). Retrieved 11 22, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in Ethanol fuel in Brazil. (2010, 10 31). Retrieved 11 18, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil MONCEAUX, P. M. (2008, 08 28).Fuel ethanol production. Retrieved 11 17, 2010, from bioethanol: http://www. bioethanol. ru/images/bioethanol/Fuel%20ethanol%20production%20-%20Katzen. pdf

Positive contributions of the Aged to the community

Group you have studied describe the positive contributions that the group makes to the wider community The Aged make various positive contributions to the community, many which go unseen. Although the Aged are perceived to be a burden to society due to the image in which society depicts, their contribution to benefiting those around them is unending. The Australia bureau of statistics defines the Aged as those who are 65 years and older.As this stage in the lifespan is usually associated with retirement and spare time the elderly find themselves giving back to he community through educating younger generations, participating in volunteer work and providing informal services by assisting in caring for young family. The Aged have much to contribute to the community as they have a wealth of experience and are able to pass on education to the younger generations. In doing so, they are positively influencing society and guiding them to be better people and to live their life to the fulles t.As young people aren't aware of the consequences of some of their actions, the Aged can contribute their knowledge on this aspect of their lives, which minimizes the risks that younger generations are faced with, and In turn prepares them for their future. Many elderly people also devote their time and knowledge to younger generations by being guest speakers at organizations and schools through sharing their experiences, knowledge and skills. This positively Influences and educates the community which leads to not only an Improved relationship between the Aged and society, but also provides guidance and support to younger people.One of the greatest resources that they provide the community with Is their time. Many Aged people devote their time to society by continuing to work, which contributes to the economic growth, or by participating In volunteer work. Once the Aged retire they find themselves feeling lonely and Isolate from society. In order to overcome this many turn to cont ributing to the community by doing volunteer work. Volunteer work has become Increasingly popular amongst the Aged as It provides the elderly with social Interaction with employees, and also those In the community.A study from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that In 1997 older people spent round 30% of their working hours on unpaid volunteer work. The Aged also contribute to the community by participating In fund raising. Even though the Aged are usually characterized with qualities such as deteriorating health and Increased body aches they still manage to give up their time to the community and contribute to the economic growth. The Aged provide an Informal service by assisting with care for grandchildren and other young people. In today's society women are Increasingly focusing more on their careers Instead of child bearing.As this means that but others and fathers are spending more of their time on work, It proves to be very helpful to have the Aged to care for their ch ildren. This not only benefits the community but also allows the elderly people to collapse with their grandchildren and/or family. Positive contributions of the Aged to the community By Kristin minimizes the risks that younger generations are faced with, and in turn prepares sharing their experiences, knowledge and skills. This positively influences and educates the community which leads to not only an improved relationship betweenOne of the greatest resources that they provide the community with is their time. Contributes to the economic growth, or by participating in volunteer work. Once the Aged retire they find themselves feeling lonely and isolate from society. In order to Volunteer work has become increasingly popular amongst the Aged as it provides the elderly with social interaction with employees, and also those in the community. A study from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that in 1997 older people spent contribute to the community by participating in fund raisi ng.Even though the Aged are usually characterized with qualities such as deteriorating health and increased to the economic growth. The Aged provide an informal service by assisting with care for grandchildren and other young people. In today's society women are increasingly focusing more on their careers instead of child bearing. As this means that but mothers and fathers are spending more of their time on work, it proves to be very community but also allows the elderly people to socialist with their grandchildren

buy custom Women’s Rights essay

buy custom Women’s Rights essay The 19th amendment would not have been born if women had not taken a more radical, almost militant approach after the 15th amendment was proposed. Immediately upon the proposal of this amendment, various supporters of womens rights took divergent views, leading to conflicting oppositions when it came to aspects of the strategies to be adopted in the realization of the 19th amendment. It is against this backdrop that women took a militant approach that succeeded in the form of the birth of the 19th amendment. The 15th amendment was made in 1870. Both sections of article XV of the US constitutions were to be changed in order to allow for more freedoms relating to voting rights. The first section of this article made it illegal to deny any U.S citizen the right to vote on account of previous condition of servitude, race or color. Section 2 of the amended article gave congress the power to spearhead the enforcement of article XV through appropriate legislation. The 19th Century history of Women Rights Movements is important in any analysis of the radicalism that resulted in the birth of the 19th amendment. The movement had all the attributes that gave it the potential to address all the challenges that women were facing during this century. The relevance of the womens right movement in political terms could not be ignored although it lay buried for many years in the run up to the entrenchment of the 19th amendment in the U.S constitution. The main reason why the movement was ignored by the political class was because it started in the grassroots where media attention was not highly likely and therefore many observers paid little attention to an in-depth analysis of the sentiments raised. Buy custom Women’s Rights essay

Plot To Steppenwolf Essays - Fiction, Literature, Steppenwolf

Plot To Steppenwolf Essays - Fiction, Literature, Steppenwolf Plot To Steppenwolf THE PLOT of steppenwolf - Steppenwolf opens with a preface by a young businessman, who introduces a sheaf of notes left behind by a lodger in his attic rooms several years before. This young man, the landlady's nephew, describes the eccentric lodger, Harry Haller, who called himself a Steppenwolf, meaning in German a wolf of the steppes, or plains. The narrator finds this an odd but apt description of the shy, lonely wanderer who revealed little about himself but left a haunting memory. The preface recounts Harry's arrival and the narrator's several encounters with him- on the stairs, at a concert and an art lecture, and in a tavern. He has decided to publish Harry Haller's records although he can't say whether the experiences it relates were real or fictitious. Haller's records, subtitled For Madmen Only, begin with a walk in the dusk after a boring day. The walk takes Harry into an imaginary world by way of a flickering sign, an appearing and disappearing little door in a church wall, and a peddler with a placard advertising, Magic Theater- Entrance Not For Everybody. The peddler hands Harry a pamphlet and vanishes. in his room again, Harry examines the pamphlet. It is called Treatise on the Steppenwolf and is a second portrait of Harry, a psychological one this time. It analyzes Harry as inwardly half man and half wolf, two selves in constant conflict. It describes Harry's struggle to be himself, which has resulted only in greater loneliness. It explains to Harry the role of the Steppenwolves- the artists and intellectuals- in middle-class society, and the geniuses who break free and become Immortals. It tells Harry that his wolf is an oversimplification, that he has not two but hundreds of selves. Some day he may see himself in one of the Immortals' magic mirrors, or find in one of their magic theaters what he needs to free his soul. Finally the anonymous authors bid Harry good-bye and cheer him on his path toward becoming an Immortal. Harry, again in the first person, compares what the Treatise says of him with a poem he has written about the wolf. He finds them both true and unbearable. He recalls the successive crises in his life, the despair, and the new self-knowledge he has gained each time at the cost of increased loneliness. He will not go through this again. He will end it, commit suicide. But first, the Magic Theater. After nights of search he finds the peddler, who directs him to a seedy tavern. Here he meets the bar girl Hermine, who introduces him to the prostitute Maria and the jazz musician Pablo. With Hermine as guide, Harry learns to dance and to enjoy sex and the night life of the city. He joins the revelers at a masked ball. Pablo, as master of ceremonies, invites Harry into the Magic Theater. Here, in a series of dreamlike adventures, Harry fights a war against automobiles, makes love to all the women he has ever loved, commits an imaginary murder, and prepares to be executed. Instead, he is con demned to go on living. Pablo rebukes him for messing up his magic with reality. Harry acknowledges that he will go on trying to face his inner self, and perhaps learn to do better next time.

Analysing Public Policy

Analysing Public Policy What is Public Policy? Public policy happens when the government tries to answer a public issue, such as healthcare, education, environmental issues, crime, transportation, foreign policy, and poverty and welfare. Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or what not to do. Whether it is local, state, or federal government they develop public policy by laws, regulations, decisions, and actions. So, behind every decision that is made there is always a process that takes place, setting the agenda, making decisions, formulation, implementation, and evaluation. So, once laws are established they are put into practice in the form of public policy. Public policy affects our quality of life and can also influence the quality of life for those in other countries. In order for public policy to work citizens must participate in the process. A lot of pressure that comes from the outside affects the creation of public policy whether it is for the better of the country or for the worst. Citizens groups as well as commercial groups put pressure on public policy to defend their interest. As lawmakers debate the making of policies and set them in place, it is important for citizens and outside groups to analyze the effects of the policy so that the wrong type of policies are not set into practice. Individuals and groups attempt to shape policy through education, advocacy, or mobilization of interest groups. There are three parts to public policy making: problem, players, and the policy. The problem is the issue that needs to be addressed. The players are the individuals and groups that are influential in forming and implementing a plan to address the problem in question. Policy is the course of action decided upon by the government and public. Public policies are widely open to influence and interpretation by non-governmental players, including those in the non-profit and private sectors. Policies are dynamic, responding to changes in the government and the public in terest. What is Policy Analysis? Public policy analysis is determining which of several alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals no matter the relationship between the policy and the goal. Policy analysis involves a primary concern with explanation rather than prescription. Also it is a sought out search for the cause and consequences of public policies. Furthermore, it is an effort to develop and test general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to continue to accumulate reliable research findings of general relevance. Public policy analysis strives to define the problems addressed by a particular policy, assess the steps taken to address these problems and evaluate the intended and unintended effects. Policy analysis has the greatest potential to improve the policy making process when government decision makers use the results and findings to craft better policy. It occurs in political environment, in which policy makers, elected o r otherwise, makes decisions about the allocation of public funds, power and resources. It requires insight, creativity, and imagination in identifying societal problems and describing them, in devising public policies that might alleviate them, and then in finding out whether these policies end up making things better or worst. It requires knowledge of economics, political science, public administration, sociology, psychology, laws, statistics, engineering, natural sciences, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Policy analysis is an applied subfield of all of these traditional disciplines.

Banking Risk Management in a Globalizing Economy Essay - 1

Banking Risk Management in a Globalizing Economy - Essay Example The second part discusses the linked risks to banking globalisation with reference to the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. One of the obvious reasons as to why banks manage to go international in their operation is their ability to deal with risks. In the age of modern technological advancement, banking technology is becoming an integral component of the decision-making process (Hughes and Mester, 2008, p.1). Information is vital in the decision-making process (Timmerman et al., 2008, p.113). With sufficient information, there is an available tool that can aid in the decision-making activity. In the case of banks, especially those performing in the international setting, they evaluate and manage risks, by simply referring to their databases and online information, making them easily have access to problematic clients, and problems that are non-performance that require immediate attention. Banks are always on the go to measure risks (Angelopoulos and Mourdoukoutas, 2001, p.158). Aft er all, risks are associated with their banking business activity. When banks started to employ diversification process in the global background, prior to initiating it, they have already calculated the level of risks facing them. However, the reason as to why they still go forward to investing their business at the global level is their ability to mitigate the presence of threats. The advancement of technology and their ability to adapt it in their entire working system are the mere advantages they have over the presence of varied risks. In other words, one of the reasons why banks go international in their operation is due to their capability to manage risks. They have vital aid that could support them in times of tough decision-making activity, allowing them to decide what is best for their clients and in their whole business operations.

Architectural Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Architectural Design - Essay Example His designs, are Based on a predilection towards a polemical flow of opposition, interaction, and redefinition. The grid was the organizing principle of Eisenman's earlier work, a series of rectilinear box-like houses in which he investigated and articulated a variety of theoretical ideas, including the notion of deep structure, a proposition that there is a universal, underlying ordering device that is the natural and logical generator of a design. His theories on architecture pursue the emancipation and autonomy of the discipline and his work represents a continued attempt to liberate form from all meaning, a struggle that is at times difficult to understand. Eisenman focuses on liberating architectural form. The House II is a single family house with a flat roof and a having a form of a cube. House II of 10 numbered houses, designed for the family of Princeton professor Richard Falk, was constructed between 1960-1970 in Hardwick, Connecticut as the second house in a series of structures conceived on the basis of a square plan. For this house, Eisenman began to investigate a set of abstract formal propositions as a possible condition of an underlying structure and their initial transformations into a specific environment. Using all rectangular elements, a series of lines, planes, and volumes converge to create a complex spatial arrangement, resulting into a design proposal that exemplifies high amount of rectangularity. The term 'cardboard architecture' in relation to House II Around 1968, Peter Eisenman limited himself to a set of abstract formal propositions as a possible condition of an underlying structure and their initial transformation into a specific environment for the design of House II. The formal propositions are the line, the plane, and the volume. Whilst Eisenman uses a compositional diagonal, all the construction elements are rectangular. The house displays evocative, ambiguous and strongly formal language. Furthermore, the primarily orthogonal and rectangular language of the houses, suggest a welcome degree of complexity achieved through simple means. The house shows a simple geometry that extrudes the square to form a cube or rectangular box. The geometry of the house is made up of its stark horizontals and verticals and large expanses of glass. Every addition to the house after this will be inside this cube or box so that the form will always be the exterior skin of the house, decomposed or not. With the addition of an equal number of planes vertically and horizontally the house splits into sections. With the further addition of interior walls, varying in size, but with a distinct pattern and with the crossing of those planes with perpendicular planes to form a grid. Add a square grid of structural columns. Decompose the existing grid work and columns to form rooms with the addition of the interior walls, floors, and roofs. Punch out forms from exterior walls to make windows and punch out similar forms from interior and exterior walls to make doorways.This describes the simple design process followed by the designer which impart s the building a simple geometry which is made up of planes and lines converging at different points to form different geometries which essentially resemble the functions of a cardboard; not structurally but visibly. The works of these series of houses are hence

Feminist Archaeology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Feminist Archaeology - Essay Example The general field, methodology, and teaching of archaeology are scrutinized from the perspective of feminism and its long-standing critique of the natural sciences. Ultimately the authors wish to see the development of a â€Å"gendered archaeology† which gives to women the role in human history which they have truly had. One example that the authors use to demonstrate that the field of archaeology has begun to change is the increasing studies which have â€Å"[recognized] female labor in a broad range of activities† in what â€Å"were once considered exclusively male domains† (Conkey 415). They stress the importance of â€Å"looking for women† projects which specifically seek to identify the tasks done by women in ancient societies which have erroneously been attributed to men. The specific issue of gender, according to the authors, has begun to give new and added focus on the role of women. Archaeological research into gender varies from an emphasis on class and occupation to an interest into the ways in which the meaning of gender has evolved over time. As well, the authors point to rise in biographies being written about female archaeologists as evidence that the field has begun to change. Interestingly the authors of the article claim that there is a correlation between research into gender inequities and work-place inequities within the field of archaeology itself. The idea that the field is sexist has, in their opinion, given rise to the increased interest and study into questions of gender. Concerning methodology, and its relation to an â€Å"engendered archaeology,† the issue of gender as a social construct is put into perspective. According to the authors, gender has always been viewed as a social construct, though in varying degrees and depending on the given scholar. In their view, a gender-based archaeology would first and foremost seek

Organ sale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organ sale - Essay Example It is time the government legalized the sale of organs. Legalization of organ sales will lower vital organs-related deaths boosting the supply of such organs, eliminating illicit organ markets, allowing access to cheaper organ transplant, and compensate donors, as revealed from the Iranian system of organ transplantation. The demand for organs is overwhelming, and yet the supply is far more muted. Right now, over 85,000 people in U.S. alone are on the list of those waiting for organs (Calandrillo 72). Out of these, a majority (about 60,000) requires a kidney, 17,000 are in desperate need of a liver, 4,000 are hoping for a lung while 3,500 are desperate for a heart. The organs are the most important for the survival of any human being. Any defect in them can shorten a person’s life within a short period. The patients on the waitlist thus urgently need them as they are living on borrowed time. However, the supply of these organs is shockingly far much less. Calandrillo says that the year 2003 saw organs harvest from only 13,000 individuals to facilitate the mere 25,000 transplants in the U.S. (72). It means that the many patients who were not successful to get a required organ sadly died. Ironically, the painful shortage is because a majority of the organs goes to the grave when the owners die. A lack of donation-appropriate organs is not a primary cause. A bumper sticker once read, â€Å"Please do not take your organs with you to heaven. Heaven understands that we are desperate for them here on the earth† (The Economist). Each year witnesses many Americans die in ways that would make it possible for an organ harvest. For example, some die in road accidents, others due to heart attacks and strokes, but organs come from only a few of the possible donors. In fact, about 75% of the Americans are not ready to donate organ upon their death. Hence, the remaining percentage that have opted to offer an

Policy analysis 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy analysis 2 - Assignment Example This resulted to various birth complications during the delivery process. The introduction of Medicaid cover has enable sufficient access to proper medical services by pregnant women in the state thus increasing its birthrate. The year 2013 recorded increase in the number of registered births in the state of Georgia. The figure rose to 133,947 which depict a 25% increase when compared to the registered birth records in 2011. This is as a result of various approaches put into practice by the Georgia medical service council. For instance, the percentage Medicaid maternal cover for all pregnant women was raised from 25% to 40% thus reducing the labour expense by 15%. GORRC (2013). As a result, 53,579 births were covered by Medicaid in the year 2013. This included an approximate 50% (Gutowski et. al, 2010. Pg. 5) outpatient and inpatient lactation consultation fees where a cost per encounter was $250 (Breastfeeding Inc). The approximate medical saving per woman was $27.5 thus generating a total cost savings of $3683543 from the improved infant health outcomes. Women without lactation consultation were also entitled to the Medicaid fee. The improved infant health led to an increase rate of breast finding as women with no lactation consultation rose to 70% compared to 40% in the previous years (GORRC). This notion indicated a positive approach in infant health care increased the number of women who breastfeed to those using powdered milk (NRDC, 2010). Women who breastfeed were approximately 45, 221 while those who do not breast feed their children summed up to 8358. This approach reduced the incidences of Otitis to babies who are not breastfed and women in the stage of breastfeeding. Episodes of Otitis media reduced from 60% in 2011 to 40.42% in 2013 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). Despite the improved infant health care in Georgia, the consultation fee ought to be high for the low income earners in the state. As a result, the figure of

Feminist Archaeology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Feminist Archaeology - Essay Example The general field, methodology, and teaching of archaeology are scrutinized from the perspective of feminism and its long-standing critique of the natural sciences. Ultimately the authors wish to see the development of a â€Å"gendered archaeology† which gives to women the role in human history which they have truly had. One example that the authors use to demonstrate that the field of archaeology has begun to change is the increasing studies which have â€Å"[recognized] female labor in a broad range of activities† in what â€Å"were once considered exclusively male domains† (Conkey 415). They stress the importance of â€Å"looking for women† projects which specifically seek to identify the tasks done by women in ancient societies which have erroneously been attributed to men. The specific issue of gender, according to the authors, has begun to give new and added focus on the role of women. Archaeological research into gender varies from an emphasis on class and occupation to an interest into the ways in which the meaning of gender has evolved over time. As well, the authors point to rise in biographies being written about female archaeologists as evidence that the field has begun to change. Interestingly the authors of the article claim that there is a correlation between research into gender inequities and work-place inequities within the field of archaeology itself. The idea that the field is sexist has, in their opinion, given rise to the increased interest and study into questions of gender. Concerning methodology, and its relation to an â€Å"engendered archaeology,† the issue of gender as a social construct is put into perspective. According to the authors, gender has always been viewed as a social construct, though in varying degrees and depending on the given scholar. In their view, a gender-based archaeology would first and foremost seek

Policy analysis 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy analysis 2 - Assignment Example This resulted to various birth complications during the delivery process. The introduction of Medicaid cover has enable sufficient access to proper medical services by pregnant women in the state thus increasing its birthrate. The year 2013 recorded increase in the number of registered births in the state of Georgia. The figure rose to 133,947 which depict a 25% increase when compared to the registered birth records in 2011. This is as a result of various approaches put into practice by the Georgia medical service council. For instance, the percentage Medicaid maternal cover for all pregnant women was raised from 25% to 40% thus reducing the labour expense by 15%. GORRC (2013). As a result, 53,579 births were covered by Medicaid in the year 2013. This included an approximate 50% (Gutowski et. al, 2010. Pg. 5) outpatient and inpatient lactation consultation fees where a cost per encounter was $250 (Breastfeeding Inc). The approximate medical saving per woman was $27.5 thus generating a total cost savings of $3683543 from the improved infant health outcomes. Women without lactation consultation were also entitled to the Medicaid fee. The improved infant health led to an increase rate of breast finding as women with no lactation consultation rose to 70% compared to 40% in the previous years (GORRC). This notion indicated a positive approach in infant health care increased the number of women who breastfeed to those using powdered milk (NRDC, 2010). Women who breastfeed were approximately 45, 221 while those who do not breast feed their children summed up to 8358. This approach reduced the incidences of Otitis to babies who are not breastfed and women in the stage of breastfeeding. Episodes of Otitis media reduced from 60% in 2011 to 40.42% in 2013 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). Despite the improved infant health care in Georgia, the consultation fee ought to be high for the low income earners in the state. As a result, the figure of

Sweeney Todd Analysis Essay Example for Free

Sweeney Todd Analysis Essay The stage was quite large with a multi-level set. B) The set was dimly lit before the show and eerie music was playing to create a spooky atmosphere. C) Before the show, I could tell that there was going to be a lot of shady actions taking place due to the appearance of the dingy street setting. D) Sweeney Todd took place on a proscenium stage, where the audience was looking in upon the scene as if a wall were missing. E) The space seemed to have adequately met the needs for the production, because the set was very tall and involved several methods of moving from level to level. SCENERY: A) The set consisted of several run-down store fronts with very dim lighting and an early 20th century London feel. The top level of the set held the barber shop near stage right, and a bedroom balcony at stage left. The bottom level housed the bakery and the basement of the bakery, which included a glowing fire oven. B) The age and nature of the buildings hinted at the setting and time of the story. The implied shadiness of the set foreshadowed about the nature of the characters. C) The colors of the set involved many shades of grey and brown, with the inclusion of red lighting at times. D) The designer was very successful in the set design, because it was easy to visualize the intended setting due to the use of area lighting. When a portion of the set was not involved in the scene, it was blacked out making it easier to focus on the scene at hand. E) I felt that the bright red lighting shining from the oven was very symbolic, in that it went hand-in-hand with a shrill sound effect that was played every time a character was killed. The lighting and the sounds symbolized Sweeney Todd’s revenge. COSTUMES: A) The beggar woman’s costume portrayed that she was homeless due to the dirty rags that made up her dress. The style of clothing (length and material of the dress) hinted at the time as well. Pirelli’s costume was very flamboyant which matched his over confident and swindling personality. His personality was often only skin deep, and his costume played perfectly with the front he was putting on. B) The dingy colors of the beggar woman’s clothes fit the homeless role well and also played well with the concept of keeping her identity secret until the end of the show. Her clothes did not make her stand out on stage. Pirelli, on the other hand, wore bright red with ruffles, making him seem bright and villainous at the same time. C) The designer did very well with the costumes, because they fit the characters’ personalities. For example, Mrs. Lovett was a very bold and outspoken woman, therefore her large, fluffy dress represented her well. LIGHTING: A) The lighting was kept seemingly dim throughout the show, which upheld the dreary, somber atmosphere in the scenes. B) The lighting seemed to portray night more often than day, as it only seemed to brighten when the focus was on Johanna. Red lighting was used to show when a character was killed and dumped into the oven. C) The most obvious use of lighting to portray emotion was the red, fire-like light that would emerge from the oven when a character was killed. Also, when Sweeney Todd was intended to appear as a man thirsty for revenge, he was encompassed in fog and the light created shadows on his face. ACTING: A-B) Sweeney Todd was excellent in my opinion. He wore a grey shirt with brown pants and suspenders. His body language was high-strung and motivated but also haggard and aged at the same time. The beggar woman was played with great success as well. The show progressed without much attention being brought upon her until her identity was revealed to Todd and the audience. She wore a bonnet and a dirty dress, and she was usually somewhat crouched to make her seem unimportant. Both of these characters performed well in singing their musical numbers as well. C) The scene where Anthony was serenading Johanna as she sat on the balcony served as an impressive portrayal of the connection between them. Johanna’s singing was very high-pitched. Needless to say it was hard not to notice the significance of this scene. I also enjoyed the murder scenes, simply because of the operational barber’s chair that doubled as a trap door leading to the downstairs oven. D) Every actor gave stellar performances in my opinion. E) The whole team had great chemistry and the show progressed without a hitch. The opening scene involved most, if not all, of the characters singing and moving in unison, and it was virtually seamless. DIRECTING: A) The director was trying to show the audience how revenge can drive a person to do some very crazy things, and the result was a success. B) Everything about the show conglomerated together successfully to create the setting and the emotional atmosphere. The overall uneasy, creepiness was constructed and supported well by the lighting, costumes, and scenery. C) Only the love scenes between Anthony and Johanna strayed away from the eeriness of the story, but even then the audience could sense possible turmoil to come. D) The movement and timing was excellent throughout the show. With bodies dropping down trap doors and synchronized group movements, the blocking was much without flaw. TEXT: A-B) The plot is out of chronological order because it starts with the townspeople burying Todd. He then arises to tell his tale, which consists of the judge ruining his life by exiling him. The plot of Todd’s story involves him meeting Mrs. Lovett and working to seek revenge on the judge and anybody else who stands in the way. The playwright is emphasizing the power that the motivation of revenge can have on a person. C) The conflict entails the judge having custody of Todd’s daughter, Johanna, and Todd’s efforts to retrieve her and kill the judge. D) Sweeney Todd eventually kills the judge, the beggar woman, and Mrs. Lovett, and then he is killed by Toby. This leaves Johanna to be with Anthony. E) As an editor, the only thing I would change about the show would be the length of the musical numbers throughout the show. They seemed longer than necessary and I felt as though some important information was unnecessarily presented in lyrics instead of straight dialogue.

A Story Titled Unbelievable English Literature Essay

A Story Titled Unbelievable English Literature Essay In our world everything is related. Who are we? How did we appear on this tiny comfortable planet? These questions stay unanswered. We can make up different stories for ourselves, but they stay fairytales. I will now tell you a short story, which happened to one simple guy, who was same as me, same as any of my friends. Yet, his life differed from ours from the birth, even though we have own story of ours. This boy was found at the door of the orphanage. He laid in little basket and it looked like life was fading away from him. It was dark around, scary and uncomfortable. Orphanage was empty already, everybody was gone already, and it seemed that nobody was able to help the small dying kid already, even though he needed not much: heat and some milk. Today Natalie Pavlovna had a difficult day, a lot of work, that is why she is late home, but the lady wanted to finish everything fast and go home where children were waiting for her. Under the thought of her Sasha and Zhenya Natalie Pavlovna made a worm smile. She had wonderful kids who loved her and cared for her. It wasnt difficult to take care of them, even though she raised them alone. When her man, nine years ago unexpectedly left her, Sasha and Zhenya stayed the only point of her life. Kids became her friends and helpers. So now she has finished her job and hurries home. As she had passed the hall, she pushed the door with power and stepped in the direction of cold, piercing wind. Sudden sound commanded her to stop and look around. What is this? She saw a small basket. When she saw what is in it, the hair on her head started to move. Newborn child!!! In the basket was a small, newborn, and freezing child!!! The heart of a woman shrinked because of pity! Natalie Pavlovna saved his life, took care of him, gave him his warmth, and after all legal procedures, their family became bigger on one person. Natalie Pavlovna gave him the name Viktor- the winner. That is how Vitya gained family, and who knows is it an accident or not. Vitya grew up like the simple child: kind, polite, and funny. His brother and sister loved him very much; they played different games with him, cooked for him-he is the youngest in the family. When he became seven, he went to school. Studying was giving to him really easy, and sometimes it looked like he did not study, but he knew it and he just forgot it. In general their life was silent and happy! That night Vitya was not sleeping, bad presentiments did not allowed him to fall asleep. It was seemed that even the air from around was very heavy. In the morning his mood was not good, but Vitya put his coat on and went to school as usually did. Only when he started to concentrate on the lesson, in their class opened door and teacher silently started to talk with somebody. Vitya was sure that something happened. When the teacher closed -1- the door, she found Vitya with her eyes. She asked him to leave the class. Vitya went and he understood that some changes are happening in his life. Near the window the director of their school was standing. He slowly came to Vitya and said that in their family had a big grief- his mum has got to a serious car accident, so she is in the hospital, and she wishes to see him. The director took Vitya with his hands, and went with him to the courtyard. They came to his car, and director opened the door for Vitya. The boy has sat down in it, and while they were going he thought of his mum, he recollected the holidays of his family and campaigns in parks, forests, on the lake, and when they were on the Black sea in Crimea. They came to the hospital very quickly. Here is a hospital. The cold, grey, and thick walls in the hospital oppressed. Unexpectedly Vitya started to think of, why are the walls in the HOSPITAL are such grey and thick. In the hospital are people who want something fresh and bright, because they feel very bad, but instead there are grey walls, which are making y our mood bad. And also why do the walls need to oppress sick people? If he could change something, he would change the color of walls. With this thoughts he came to the chamber were his mother was lading. Vitya pushed the door and entered the chamber were his mother laid on pillows and looked at the window. When she heard that somebody came to her chamber, she turned and saw Vitya, she tried to smile but she could not. Vitya came to his mum and he took her hand. The same time he did that, he started to feel the unbelievable pain, and the pain was so hard, that he even had choked. In some ten or even less seconds Vitya understood, that that it is not his pain- he feels his mothers pain. He was feeling the sufferings of his mum. He did not know why is it like this, but he knew that he is not wrong. In horror he ran out of the chamber! He was standing near the window, and he tried to understand what has happened to him. Then he heard the talking of two men, they were talking about his mum, the car accident, that her mum does not have any chances to live, because all of her bones are broken. He understood that it is true and also he understood that only he can help his mum. With true feeling of big love, he entered the chamber, approached to the bed, and looked in his mother face. It looked like she looked at him, but she did not see anything. Uncertainly he took his mothers hand, his body pierced the acute pain, but he did not release his mums hand, and than he suddenly felt that the pain of his mother passes. He stood like that some ten more minutes, and than unexpectedly understood that all terrible things are behind. Lifeless he sat down near his mum, and waited when his mom will wake up. How? Why? Vitya wished to think, but he could not. Could not yet! One man from the corridor came to the chamber, and sat near his mum. He turned to Vitya, and asked to leave for a while; he wished to examine Natalie Pavlovna once again. The boy left and even when he was tired , everything was warm and quiet on his heart. Vitya was sure that now with his mum everything would be good. He could not explain from where he has this confidence, but he was sure that he is not wrong. The doctor went back from the chamber, and the deep expressions on his face make Vitya laugh. But he was shocked of what he saw, that he just started to run to the other doctor. When he reached the other doctor, he said that out of thirty years, which he was working in this hospital, the situation like this was the first time. The woman that had just a half of percent, feels well, and that all her bones are not broken. She wants to go back home with her son. -2- How could it be like this? Can you explain this? -The voice of another was very excited and guarded. No. I do not have any explanations. I think they can go! In twenty minutes Vitya with his mum went from the hospital and went home. In the evening everybody from the family were seating near the fireplace and reading. It seemed like his mother did not remember anything. She told to Sasha and Zhenya that she had a small accident, and some good people put her in hospital, they told her that she does not have any serious traumas, then Vitya came took her and they left the hospital. Vitya listened to her, and he was feeling really good. He knew that today he rescued his mum. The boy could not explain how he did that, but has been assured that it managed to return his mum to life. When everybody came to the different rooms, Vitya lay down to sleep, but his mother came. Thanks sonny! I knew that you are special. She gently kissed him and left. Special?! Vitya was lying on the floor with closed eyes, and many different thought went through out his mind. Special! What else he can do. Slowly he has fallen asleep. He dreamed about the green field. Far there were many trees, and their leaves were bright lilac color. Near him were flying multicolored birds. It seemed like all the colors of rainbow painted even the air. All of a sudden there appeared the woman, which starched hands to him. Vitya wanted to run to her, but all of a sudden the loud voice thundered. Ilona! He is not ready yet! He is really small! The woman lowered her hands and started to melt, some two or three seconds passed and woman disappeared. Vitya woke up. His heart was beating really fast, and he could not breathe normally. The dream did not leave him, it seemed like the voice was in his ears even now. Vitya was lying on the bed, but still could not sleep. The woman has put down her hands and started melting. Several seconds passed away and she was gone. Vitya woke up. Heart was beating wildly in his chest. This dream didnt leave his mind! It looked like the voice still rang in his ears. Vitya lay long time without sleep, but progressively he did fall asleep and woke up in the morning fresh. All events, which happened to him yesterday became a background and werent that amazing anymore. Vitya as always went to school, met his friends and started living like an average eight-year-old boy. Two years flew by. Vitya studied, played. Also. Vitya loved dogs a lot. He wanted to buy a puppy, but his mom didnt allow him. His mom explained him that they show up home rarely and couldnt play with him much. Vitya understood it, but he still wanted it a lot! So once Vitya and his friends were walking back from school through the park. It was spring, nature woke up after hibernating in winter. -3- Suddenly kids heard a horrifying barking. Kids ran at the sound and saw a terrible picture. A gigantic dog attacked another dog. The gigantic dog was scary. From the huge jaws spilled sticky saliva, eyes were shining with red light. Kids were far yet, but felt the awful aroma, which surrounded the beast. Kids were frightened and they have stopped. The monster had slaughtered the other dog, which was defending something till its last breath. But here was its last breath and the victim, bloody, wounded, and scowled last time. The monster didnt calm down! It needed something the dead dog has protected with the value of own life. Very shortly kids saw what was the target of the monster. A puppy! Little helpless puppy! One more second and its tiny body will be bitten in two parts by the filthy fangs of this titanic dog. Vitya couldnt hold it and he screamed! Slowly. Very slowly the monster has turned his horrible face towards the kids. It looked like the dog smiled. Suddenly he turned and sprinted towards kids. Several meters separated kid from the dog, in fear they watched, how the dog was getting closer. They clearly saw the mad, blood filled, eyes. They understood that their faith is what of the killed dogs. Monster ran towards the kids and prep ared to jump. Unexpectedly it started watching Vitya straight in the eyes. It looked like it was trying to understand something. -Go away! Leave us alone! Said Vitya. And suddenly the dog appealed! He turned away and slowly staggered away. Kids in fear watched this furious fight of Vitya against the dog. While Vitya in this time already held the puppy in his arms and walked home. He knew that two never going to be separated. When mother heard the story of Jack, this name Vitya chose for his four- legged friend, she wasnt against the fact that the puppy would stay and live with them. Puppy grew fast. It looked, like him and Vitya understood each other without any words. Two more years past away. Nothing special happened to Vitya. At last here he sees a dream. He is again at the field, but the air smells like something has burned, and Vitya feels pain, someones pain! Again there is a woman in front of him, which he had seen before. She looks at him extremely gently. -Hello Vitya! she doesnt say anything, but Vitya hears her. -Vitya, you were born on this planet. Earth needs help and you were sent there to save humanity from devastation . We are not alone in the galaxy. There are many more planets with life on them and not all of them are kind. Planet Kloakie is full of evil creatures. They have destroyed many intelligent races and now want to destroy people on Earth. They need Earth, because on this planet is very pleasant environment for the life of Kloakans. They are about to bring virus to Earth, which will destroy the humanity. You have a lot of power; you can heal people only with touch. Your goal is to help people and prevent spreading of the diseases. They are going to try to stop you, but you have to save the people. Now you have to learn everything. You still have time. -4- Vitya woke up. He remembered, how he healed his mother, how strange did the monster-dog acted in front of him. He thought about that he always felt special. He thought about his mother, about how strong is his love towards her, towards his brothers. From this moment he had looked at his life values. If hes got faith, he accepts it! Vitya had studied, studied, and studied! Chemistry, physics, anatomy. All these science Vitya studied day by day. Time passed by. Many years passed. Vitya became a doctor. Very good doctor. He cured people, grasped on most hopeless cases. Patients said, that he healed even with his sight, even with his touch. Yet, Vitya remembered his mission every minute, he knew, that major battle for lives of people is to be fought. Once Victor went to the museum. He went there time from time. He liked to spend his time wisely, He liked to discover something new. In the museum he accidentally heard the speech of a man and young boy. -Dad, tell me, why do these monsters appear? Are they scary? I am afraid of them! Son, these are not monsters! These are dressed actors! You dont need to be afraid of them! If i only knew who could show this kind of circus to kids. Victor didnt pay much attention to the speech that time, but when he left the museum, he had a flashback of this speech for some reason. Clearing these thoughts, Victor rested. Suddenly, his attention was captured by two men of about 30-40 years old, wearing the suits and ties, which walked on the road with cars in bold manner, risking to get under the wheels of the automobile. The car had desperately ringed at them. One of the men made a vulgar hand sign and kicked the car, leaving a crack on the wing. When the angry car driver jumped out of car, these hooligans beat him with their fists. The driver jumped back in and shut the door. Two men gave high five to each other and continued their path towards the museum. When they reached the alley, one of them grabbed a rock and pointed towards the museum. While they walked towards the museum they have bullied people on their way. Fights appeared, but even police couldnt bring the justice to the street. People screamed, fought, fell, spill ed with blood. What happened to these men? Who are they and why are they behaving themselves like they are mad? Victor was extremely amazed by the fact, that they had passion to bring pain. Most people did not have this lust to bring pain to people just like selves. Furthermore, their feeling of self-defense was absent. Police with enormous effort finally separated the hooligans from the raging mob. They were beaten hard in this quarrel, thats why the cops brought them straight to the hospital. Victors day, which had such a wonderful start, was hopelessly messed up. Victor thought that he needs to understand the behavior of these men so he headed to the closest hospital. He thought that -5- the hooligans and their victims might be going there and is guesses proved to be right. In the hospital all the empty places were filled with the wounded. While Victor walked the hall, trying to find the hooligans, he had luck to discover something from the parts of speech. These men were famous people; they did a lot of good to the people of the town, especially to kids. Now, they are getting back from circus, which was made especially for kids. Nobody could explain their behavior now. Victor found their room and went inside. Dirty, bloody, men lay at tables, doctors tried to help them. One of them was unconscious. The face of the other one captured victors attention. The eyes of the man went glass, and the jaw hanged. His eyes were dead. Victor decided to talk to the doctor, which helped the man, to find out in what shape was the patient. How can you explain their extraordinary behavior? i dont understand. They dont understand, it looks like they are machines created to kill. We had to give them calming pills,- doctor desperately looked at Victor and continued with the wounded. -What is this? Doctor turned towards Victor. When Victor and Doctor looked at the wounded, they were already dead. With the filling of melancholiness Victor has exit the hospital with numerous questions, for which answers he didnt have. When he arrived home, he relaxed and decided to think out everything calmly. Making himself cup of coffee, he turned on the TV. Instantly his attention went towards the announcement. Young woman told about the strange, unexplained deaths in her town. -Today, his father killed the little child. How did he deserve it?- questioned himself doctor. Blood covered child appeared on the screen. The handle of knife was sticking from his neck. Victor jumped up! It was a boy from museum! What could make father make such a heartless action?- the woman went on.- We are now going to visit the father and we will ask him, what have he done, woman has turned towards the cops, who held the villain. The young guard of law in confusion looked at the camera. He is dead. He has died;-thats all he could say. Victor has turned off the TV and went deep into his mind. What is happening? He couldnt answer this question. He had difficult sleep this night. Some unmatchable thought flew in his mind but he couldnt capture it. Suddenly he woke up. The circus! The hooligans from museum, and the boy with his father went to the circus. Maybe, it was just a coincidence, but vicar felt, that he needed to visit the circus. With such a thought he -6- went back to sleep. To his luck he woke up completely rested. After he ate fast, he went to circus. The weather was bad, rain dropped, freezing wind blew. The circus was built at the edge of a town near the forest. The main part of circus looked sad. Everything was old and breakable. Victor had looked over the audience. Mostly parents with their kids had visited. Moving along the hall, Victor had looked at the artists of the circus. There were a lot of real freaks: the wolfman, snakeman, birdman, who flapped his wings. The main part yet was that Victor felt the pure evil in this place. Evil was everywhere, it ate mind, whispered, surrounded. -Its all my nerves! Thought Victor and looked around. Victor stopped near the dwarf named Echo. -Hello!-greeted him little girl. Hello you too answered Echo with her voice. -Oh mommy he talks like me! Screamed the girl. Victor noticed, that woman gave a fake smile, while in her eyes some strange emotion blinked, she shook her head, like she was trying to get rid of some thoughts. -Whats your name?- asked Victor the dwarf. Victor didnt answer, he was afraid, that the dwarf will hear his voice. His fear was conscious, like with his voice the dwarf could steal his soul. Go away. Go as fast as possible. Thought victor, heading towards the exit with fast steps. At the exit out of circus he was paying attention on the visitors. They pushed each other, moms shouted at their kids roughly. Victor knew for certain, that this circus is evil, and he knew that he will be back here. The shock he had experienced was replaced by cold boldness. He knew what to do. Evil has to be destroyed! Late evening Victor was waiting near the circus already. Only fire can destroy the evil, thought Victor. In his hand he had a canister with fuel. Young man wanted to wait till night, when all devilish artists are going to be asleep, he will combust this cursed circus. Suddenly he felt, how someones ice-cold hand dropped on his shoulder. Turning around he saw one of the actors. He was short, with wide shoulders, almost without no neck. He had short hair and tiny ears. It was senseless to run from him, so victor allowed to capture himself. They went into little room. In the room it was half dark, but he understood, that -7- he was in directors office, the director of this inhumane, cruel circus. The horrifying creature was right in front of Victor. Victor stepped back. This is probably how the offspring of shark and monkey would look. Dark-blue skin, body covered with abs, no neck and ears, two cuts instead of nose, and hands with knife-sharp curved nails. Yellow eyes stared at Victor. The lower part of fish head suddenly opened, and from his jaws sparked razor-sharp teeth, which grew with several rows. Creature has raised on its legs and slowly headed towards Victors direction. -Oh, thats you. Its impossible to hide from you. You visited my circus today. I feel attendance, obstacles. Victor, you cant stop us. In order to stay alive you have to join Kloake. The Earth is doomed. Victor needed all his self-determination, so he could gloriously watch his enemy in the face. -You have to answer now! Life or painful death? You cant save the people, evil is already present and they will kill each others themselves, continued the director. Speedily grabbing the canister with fuel, Victor spilled the fuel at different sides on the floor and lighted the match. The circus got on fire instantly. The soul-piercing howl. Viktor had jumped out of the door fast as lightning. He ran towards the forest. His instincts told him that the monster was still alive. On the edge of the field the sand had moved suddenly and started rising. No, this is not the sand. Its something huge and dark. Director, Victor stepped back and froze on place. His heart was beating wildly. His faith gives him a chance. Viktor has taken out an icon from church. The monster was right above it. Its wicked hand started towards Victor. Victor was defenseless. During his last seconds of life Victor could only make one last pre death scream full of horror and despair. Yet, the malice nails didnt rip his throat. The monster froze. Victor stood up and saw the shiny ray of light. From this ray showed up Ilona and several other people. Their faces were positive and kind. Lady looked at victor and smiled. -You made it, sonny! You stopped the evil and saved the Earth. We never doubted you and always believed in you. Now we take the Kloak to jail, and you have a choice: you can fly away with us or stay on Earth. -I would rather stay home. My home- Earth! Answered Victor. Ilona came close slowly and wiped her hand across Victors face gently. -Goodbye, sonny! People need you, they need your help!- she watched him gently and melted. Soon Victor stayed alone. Slowly he marched out the forest. His heart was light and glad. -8-

Twitter: Protecting User Privacy Essay -- Twitter vs Government Survei

Social media has seen a significant number of stories that bring attention to failures in surveillance policies over the past decade. Time after time we hear about how surveillance technology is digging deeper and deeper into our personal information and is infringing on our rights more and more. It is important however to recognize successes in personal information protection and acknowledge achievements on behalf of the common population. As more and more attention is brought to surveillance the public is becoming better informed. As this trend progresses it is becoming more and more beneficial for social media companies to side with the individual and protect their user’s rights. Twitter is a social media company that has had success in protecting their users rights and working towards an open and transparent information environment. Between Twitter’s involvement with the Do Not Track program and their lawsuit against the United States Justice Department, the company models a successful social media surveillance strategy. In one of the articles I reviewed focused on how Edward Snowden, a United States citizen who leaked classified surveillance information, is a hero. The Edward Snowden case brought the issue of government surveillance to the forefront of American attention. This attention has put surveillance of all varieties under scrutiny from the American public. Some companies have adapted to this changing dynamic by opening up about surveillance policies and information. As the article from class argues, these efforts to provide more transparency about surveillance practices should be received in a positive light by the general population. Social Media sites, which cater to a variety of individuals, are especially interested in being perceived in a positive light by the general population. Practicing and striving for transparent practices and consumer protection are commendable efforts that the public will appreciate. Building a social media site around these efforts should be an effe ctive and profitable business strategy. (Cassidy) Twitter is presently suing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice over surveillance transparency concerns. (Ortutay) Earlier this month Twitter filed a nineteen page complaint with the government agencies that listed the complaints the social media company ha... ...en to be an attractive feature for providers of online services to have. Of course all of this is just steps in the pursuit of freedom from surveillance. As Mr. Frank says; â€Å"Transparency alone may not be enough to restore public confidence, but it’s a great place to start.† (Neal) Works Cited Cassidy, John. "Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. . Hachman, Mark. "Twitter Joins 'Do Not Track' Initiative." PC Magazine (2012): 1. Business Source Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. Nakashima, Ellen. "Twitter sues Justice Department over ability to disclose surveillance orders." Washington Post, The Aug. 0010: Business Source Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2014 Neal, Ryan. "Facebook, Microsoft Release Data On NSA Surveillance; Google, Twitter Demand Greater Transparency." International Business Times 15 June 2013: Business Source Premier. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. Ortutay, Barbara. "Twitter Sues FBI, DOJ To Release More Information On Government Surveillance Of Its Users." Canadian Press, The (n.d.): Business Source Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2014.

Essay examples --

CASE STUDY 1. What are the Inputs, processing and outputs of UPS’s package tracking system? Answer: INPUT: UPS’s package tracking system input is associated with a package that is scan able bar -coded label. The sender scan able label, package destination, the recipient, and the package should arrive Includes detailed information. Users downloaded by UPS or UPS website to access provided by using special software can print their own labels. PROCESSING: Package is raised before, scan able bar -coded label data Mahwah, New Jersey, or Alpharetta, Georgia, one of the centers in the UPS has transferred to the computer and sent to its final destination the closest distribution center goes. Label in the center dispatchers and traffic data downloaded every driver to know that the most efficient delivery route using special software to create, season, and location of each stop. A delivery information acquisition device (DIAD), a handheld computer, the way his or her day Free UPS enables drivers. DIAD also automatically sign users grab information as well as pickup and delivery. Package tracking information from UPS for the storage and processing is transferred to the computer network. At various points along the way from sender to receiver, bar code equipment package label and the progress of the package of Central computer data feed is used to scan shipping information. OUTPUT: UPS computer network information about users to provide delivery information or to answer customer questions can be accessed worldwide. Customer service representatives connected to the central computer, desktop computer, check the status of any package to customer inquiries and are able to respond quickly. UPS, users have their own computers or wireless devices... ...ollection options include receiving payments or can be very helpful and billing options as a business which can reduce the cost of shipping plus any third- party receiver and Shipper billed to other parties (receiver or any other person). Shipper -receiver only shipping costs or any other country in which a third party pays the duties and taxes paid to Shipper pays the duties and taxes are the options for international billing options can reduce the cost of business just for the shipping costs . Transactions with other businesses worldwide to make business easier and to get a business that can target market. Shipping cost analyzes and cost of such reports , management reports and reports as Freight generates reports , the download is available for download business analysis tool is also . This tool for accountants in business a long time and can save a lot of effort

Behaviour Assessment in HRM Why Is Behaviour Assessment A Perennially Troubled Aspect of Human Resource Management?

A better understanding of the topic can be achieved by incorporating into the analysis the idea that â€Å"behaviour assessment† is also similar to â€Å"performance appraisal† and this means that both concepts deal with the assessment of employee performance in terms of what is expected of them and also on its effect on the overall competitive advantage of the firm in relation to its position in the industry.On the issue that behaviour assessment as a standard company policy is giving problems for both the organization in general and Human Resource Management (HRM) in particular can be explained based on the following propositions:1. Behavior assessment and other performance appraisal tools/systems are not clearly understood both for its true meaning, goals, and purpose. 2. Behaviour assessment and other performance appraisal tools/systems do not deliver on its promises to improve overall efficiency and profitability both for the organization and the individual employe e. 3. Behaviour assessment and other performance appraisal tools/systems need to be accurate all the time – there is great pressure on management – very little margin of error for a system generated by subjective human observations/judgements.4. Behaviour assessment and other performance appraisal tools/systems are sometimes regarded as the silver bullet that will solve all problems related to human resources. 5. And finally, these assessment tools are troubling the organization simply because it emanates from a department (HRM) that has weak foundations. It is an understatement to say that behaviour assessment tools are very difficult to understand and are all too complex to be used effectively.This stems from the fact that even HR specialists do not agree on what constitutes a correct performance appraisal system. Confusion abounds in the HRM world on how to standardize systems. Each company has their own version on how to observe and verify employee performance. Wor se, each company devises their methodology based on their needs and uses appraisal systems for varying reasons. The use of HRM behaviour assessments has its advocates and its critics.This polarization adds to the problem as members of the organization would be in a tug-of-war on how to proceed if ever they will decide to use such tools. Advocates of Behaviour Assessment Systems Amy Delpo in The Performance Appraisal Handbook harps on the benefits behaviour assessment tools and she said, â€Å"If you’ve been told to conduct performance evaluations it’s because the people who run your company realize that a performance evaluation system can deliver important benefits and improve the success of each employee, each department, and ultimately, your entire company (2005).She then lists the expected outcomes as follows: †¢ motivate employees to perform better and produce more †¢ help employee identify the ways in which they can develop and grow †¢ increase emp loyee morale †¢ improve respect employees have for their managers and senior management †¢ foster good communication between your staff and you †¢ identify poor performers and help them get on track and †¢ lay the groundwork to fire poor performers lawfully and fairly when they don’t improve.One of the reasons for the implementation of performance appraisal system is the need for building a strong organizational culture and many managers feel that the said appraisal system will guarantee correct data on what and where adjustments must be made to help the company move closer into that place where every employee is aware and always striving to maintain that organizational culture. On this great need, Mathis and Jackson explains the motivation to put in place such a system and he said:Every organization has a culture, and that culture influences how executives, managers, and employees act in making organizational decisions [†¦] the financial scandals in many firms in recent year illustrate the consequences of an â€Å"anything goes† organizational culture. (1989) What ignited the revolution for the use of behavioural assessment tools according Armstrong came from the landmark works of McClelland in 1973 and Boyatzis in 1982.McClelland suggested that â€Å"Criterion referencing or validation is the process of anlysing the key aspects of behaviour that differentiates between effective and less effective performance† (cited in Armstrong, 2003). This was later developed by Boyatzis when he said that competency is, â€Å"A capacity that exists in person that leads to behaviour that meets the job demands within the parameters of the organizational environment and that , in turn, brings about desired results† (as cited in Armstrong, 2003 ). No self-respecting manager can resist the promise of behaviour assessment systems.Advocates of performance appraisal tools based their justification on a theory of change – Force Field Analysis – that was put forward by Kurt Lewin. Lewin’s idea as summarized by Sinclair-Hunt and Simms, is described below: The idea is that a situation stays the same only when the forces for change are equivalent to the forces resisting it. The organization is then in equilibrium. Change happens when the forces for change outweigh the forces for restraint. Conversely, where the forces for restraint outweigh the forces for change, things remain the same.If handled carefully, the driving forces can overcome resistance. (2005) Those who believe in this approach could not be blamed. A case study of British airways â€Å"forceful changes† made on the organization resulted in averting bankruptcy and amazing growth. Sinclair-Hunt and Simms reveal a portion of the revolution that occurred in the said UK company, â€Å"Between 1982 and 1987 British Airways went from a publicly owned company with bureaucratic command culture and huge losses and decreasing mar ket share to a privately owned company with a market and service driven culture and profits of over $400 million.† (2005) The authors (Sinclair-Hunt & Simms) then listed the cause of the change was attributed to the following: †¢ Massive reduction in the workforce from 59,000 to 37,000 people †¢ Training programmes to develop appreciation of the business as a service industry †¢ Profit sharing, a bottom-up budgeting system, a user friendly computer system and the CEO engaging in question and answer sessions – all served to emphasise the new participative management style Many organizations are banking on the above-mentioned statements about change.They are mobilizing their HR departments to apply enough pressure for positive change to occur. Critics of Behaviour Assessment Systems Critics on the use of ill-conceived behaviour assessments asserts that theses procedures contain generally held assumptions and fallacies that if there is an input then there wi ll be an output and if enough pressure is done then change will occur. This idea was debunked by Sinclair-Hunt and Simms using the work of Kanter and associates and they said:Kanter et al. (1992) suggest that Lewin’s model of change is too simplistic. They argue that Lewin’s model is based on the view that organizations are essentially stable and static. They disagree with the idea that change results only from concentrated effort and that it happens in one direction at a time. Kanter et al. (1992) argue that change is multi-directional and ubiquitous – in other words, it happens in all directions at once and at a more or less continuous process.This complexity can help to explain why Lewin’s model may not seem to have much relationship with real lie, where change seems a more confused process. (2005) Herein lays the problem with those relying so much on assessment to encourage change when they fail to include in their system the idea that every aspect of the organization must be considered and all the forces at work in the enterprise as well.On the aversion for the idea that aggressive action will bear immediate positive results, Campbell (1989) said, â€Å"We need reminding that trainees do not just fall out of some great trainee bin in the sky; they probably have rather long and varied organizational histories, which have created certain attitudes, values and behaviors relative to specific training experiences† (as cited in Baldwin & Magjuka, 1997). Baldwin and Magjuka supports the idea of deliberate planning and implementation of organization change and not a one shot fix all scheme as is evident in most HR list of suggested solutions and they said:An assumption common to most training guidebooks is that the learning context can be managed or designed in a way that will affect trainee cognitions and, ultimately, training effectiveness. However this assumption tends to oversimplify the complexity of managing contextual fac tors in organization. We contend that the complexity stems in large part from the difficulty of predicting how employees will attach meaning to management acts, and the reality that, for organization employees, training is not an isolated event or singular activity, but an episode that occurs among many other organizational episodes experienced by those employees.(1997) Problems Encountered in the Real World Clampitt in his book Communication for Managerial Effectiveness shows that behaviour assessment is very difficult to execute properly in the real world. This is because the frailty of human being in terms of their personal agenda and other self-serving interest hinders them from giving an objective assessment. Using the words of Sissela Bok, Clampitt showed what the ideal scenario should be and how far is reality from it:At its best, discretion is the intuitive ability to discern what is and is not intrusive and injurious, and to use this discernment in responding to the conflic ts everyone experiences as insider and outsider. It is an acquired capacity to navigate in and between the worlds of personal and shard experiences, coping with the moral questions about what is fair or unfair, truthful or deceptive, helpful or harmful, Inconceivable without an awareness of the boundaries surrounding people, discretion requires a sense for when to hold back I order not to bruise, and for when to reach out.(as cited in Clampitt, 2005) For his final analysis (Clampitt) on his reservation for performance appraisal systems and the like is partly seen in the following statements: Much ink has been spilled over the issue of performance appraisals, Business journals, periodicals, and books are filled with discussion on how to more effectively conduct the performance review. And with good reasons; there is probably no greater area of employee dissatisfaction. In fact, although most organization maintains a formal performance process, few achieve their objective [†¦] Ot her complaints abound.Unfair rating scales, lack of objectivity, and lack of specific examples to back up the evaluation†¦(2005) Using Baldwin and Magjuka’s insights on the slow learning process experienced by an employee. It is now clear why employees would view such behavioural assessment systems as unfair. Management can be designing an assessment procedure that will look for behavioural changes that are not present. Not because the employee is lazy or has no resolve to change but as pointed out by Baldwin and Magjuka, it is not there yet because the natural process of learning has not yet taken its course.Clampitt adds the following reasons for the infectivity of this HR system 1) managers resist the appraisal process because it is used to accomplish multiple goals that are sometimes incompatible; 2) many mangers feel compelled to inflate ratings in favor of their department; and 3) many managers resist the appraisal process because they feel that they are â€Å"pla ying God† (2005). Goals of Behaviour Assessment The following is the discussion of the generally accepted goals of behaviour assessment and will be used as a basis for understanding the failure of said assessment tools in achieving the following objectives.The first common reason for incorporating such practice of evaluating employees stems from the great need to ascertain how competent a worker/employee is in his/her given position. Background information can be gleaned from the works of Woodruffe (1990), â€Å"Competency is a person-based concept which refers to the dimensions of behavior lying behind competent performance. † Woodruffe (1990) added that competence is â€Å"A work-related concept which refers to areas of work at which the person is competent† (as cited in Armstrong, 2003).The Need for Accuracy This paper propose that one of the reasons that behaviour assessment is a very much troubled aspect of HRM practice is due to the fact that there is no ro om for error on its findings and recommendations. Consider the following documented events on UK’s experience with a failed assessment for correct pay costs as described in Armstrong and Brown’s book Paying for Contibution: Chancellor Gordon Brown (regarding the most publicized UK pay developments in a single month –May 1998- ), saw the UK private sector earnings growth of 5.6 percent as giving serious cause of concern, threatening the competitiveness of the UK economy and the maintenance of price stability; in June the Bank of England cited wage increases outstripping productivity growth as the prime justification for an increase in interest rates [†¦] that rising wages could, destroy the enormous prize of economic growth and stability. (1999) Amy Delpo on the need for accurate and fair appraisal issued the following warning, â€Å"As you may have been told, conducting a shoddy performance appraisal can get your company – and you – into lega l trouble.There is no point in sugarcoating it for you: Writing the wrong things on a performance appraisal or doing the appraisal unfairly or improperly can have devastating consequences if you are sued by an employee† (2005) Promises Are Made to be Broken There is an expectation amongst employees that if they did a fairly good job then management will notice. This is reinforced by the fact that a regular performance evaluation is being conducted by the people from HRM.This leads to the expectation that salary will be adjusted based on competency and the worker’s striving not only to achieve a higher level of performance but also on a higher degree of conforming to what is believed to be as admirable behaviour befitting a model employee. It will be such a disappointment for said employee to discover, or when he realizes after a few years of no wage increase, that the job performance evaluation was worth nothing. Armstrong and Brown explain why promises of performance r elated pay is most often a figment of imagination, and the authors said:The motor industry presents a good example of the competitive pressure which have forced similar changes in pay and working practices across many sectors. The threat in a ruthlessly competitive European market from Far East manufacturers, and the opportunities for an increasingly concentrated set of globally organized companies to shift production to lower cost locations (VW in Eastern Europe), or closer to new markets (Mercedes and BMW in the United States), means that the European firms simply cannot afford to have uncompetitive wage costs which are out of line with the productivity and performance of alternative location. (1999)If this is the case then HR specialist must stop deluding employees that the job performance will affect their pay grade. The truth is HRM needs the evaluation to enforce change and to make personnel related decisions but could not deliver on its promise to the employees for economic r easons; this has disheartened not a few employees. The Problem with HRM After all these things are said and done, the most unbelievable reason perhaps as to why behaviour assessment is such a troubling aspect of management in general and HRM in particular lies in the fact that the department tasked to design such evaluation systems is in trouble itself.Consider the following insights from David E. Guest, UK’s own expert on the study of human resource management, and he said: There has been a rash of studies demonstrating a positive association between human resource management (HRM) and performance, providing encouragement to those who have always advocated the case for a distinctive approach to the management of human resources. While these studies represent encouraging signs of progress, statistical sophistication appears to have been emphasized at the expense of theoretical rigour. (1999) In Australia the problem of HRM is a concern.Graham Andrewartha likes to believe that : [†¦] human resource management is a management specialty that has not yet achieved professional status. Further, because of its monopoly over the people management area, it has diverted other managers from taking responsibility for people issues and unintentionally contributed to the continuing decline in people skills in Australian organization [†¦] HRM has always been reshaping itself, continuously changing and innovating, et not really changing at all. It requires foundation – not innovation – to be effective. (1998) ConclusionThe reason why behaviour assessment has met a lot of controversy in organizations around the world and most especially in Australia is due to confusion on what a correct and beneficial employee-performance-evaluation-system should look like. This is exacerbated by the lack of positive results on the basis of the use of such system for corporate and personnel gain. The answer to the query can be found in all these and more important ly on HRM need to change first before it can expect change from the corporation it wishes to serve. References Andrewartha, Graham. 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