Financial regulation, law and compliance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Financial regulation, law and compliance - Essay Example The paper will also discuss why trust is considered inevitable in the financial services industry. Finally, different methods that have been put in place/are proposed to restore trust will be evaluated. A healthy financial system is an integral part of a healthy economy as it helps the business sector to invest and grow; to deal with daily transactions and manage risks; and to underpin activities in every segment of the society. According to the Confederation of British Industry, the UK’s premier business lobbying organisation, the UK financial services industry plays a significant role in enhancing the country’s business growth and overall economic development (PWC, 2012). The products and services offered by this industry represent a crucial part of the UK economy and constitute one of the country’s few world-class sectors. A well performing financial services sector is very important in the modern economy to develop a competitive and resilient financial system which is free from taxpayer support and is co-ordinated globally (Ibid). The UK financial services industry employed nearly 1.2 million people in the 3rd quarter of 2012, representing approximately 4 p ercent of the UK workforce. In the financial year ending 31st March 2012, the industry paid and estimated  £63bn in taxes, accounting for around 11.6% of the total government tax receipts in UK (Ibid). Despite the crucial role that the UK financial services industry plays in the growth of the country’ economy, consumer trust and confidence in the UK financial services industry is very low currently (BBC News, 2014). According to an annual survey conducted by the public relations firm Edelman, â€Å"less than half of the public trust banks do what is right, making financial services the world’s least-trusted industry for the second year in a row† (The financial brand, 2014). Since the global financial crisis 2008-09, the consumers’ trust and confidence in the banks’ ability to do

Satyam Computer Services Essay Example for Free

Satyam Computer Services Essay In early 2009 the chairman of Satyam Computer Services admitted publicly to a fraud taking place in the company. Satyam reported in the financial statements billions of dollars in profits and cash assets that never existed. The public auditor’s responsible for auditing the financial statements of Satyam Computer Services at the time was PW India, an affiliate of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The Securities and Exchange Commission determined that Satyam was able to commit the financial statement fraud due to the negligence of the audit team. The audit team tasked with auditing the records of Satyam failed to confirm cash balances in bank accounts which were grossly over represented. Later it was determined that the more than one billion dollars Satyam claimed to have was actually no more than sixty-six million. During the audits of Satyam Computer Services, the audit team at PW India never sought confirmations for the cash balances that management asserted which is a clear violation of auditing standards. The SEC, during the investigation, determined that many audit teams in PW India accepted cash confirmations directly from the management of their clients and almost never questioned the reliability of the confirmations received. It was also revealed that sometimes the banks would send statements directly to the auditors even though they weren’t directed to do so. Even though the bank statements showed different balances then those given to the auditors by management, the audit team never questioned the differences in amount. Procedures, for reviewing audits, were put into place to assure that all audits are completed with the highest degree of professional care. The Satyam audit team was warned by a partner from a different Pricewaterhouse Coopers firm that their cash confirmation procedures were deficient, but nothing was done to correct the deficiency. Due to this deficiency the Satyam fraud was not uncovered. As a result Satyam Computer Services was fined 10 million dollars by the SEC for fraud and PW India was fined 7. million dollars by the SEC and PCAOB. The critical issue in this case is that PWC India did not act in accordance with PCAOB or AICPA standards and codes of professional conduct. The critical factors are as follows: * The auditors did not act with due professional care. * The auditors did not appropriately assess the risks of material misstatements. * The audit team did not exercise professional skepticism. * The auditors did not act with integrity or in the best interest of the users of the financial statements. Due professional care, as required by the PCAOB, require the auditors to maintain professional knowledge and skill at the level required to ensure that clients receive competent professional service and to act in accordance with professional standards. This is the most vital part of the audit process to make certain that the audit will be handled with, ultimately, the users of the financial statements best interest in mind. PWC India, in their audit of Satyam, had completely disregarded this fundamental requirement of auditors. By relying on the confirmations given to them by management, the auditors did not provide the users of the financial statements with the skill and professionalism they are trusted with. As a result, they completely missed an obvious fraud taking place at Satyam and if the executive of Satyam hadn’t admitted to the fraud PWC India’s controls would have never caught the overstatement. Another relevant issue here is that the audit team did not appropriately assess the risks of material misstatements which resulted in the fraud. Before an audit, in the planning stage, the audit team should have identified accounts, transactions, and disclosures that could affect the financial statements significantly if they were materially misstated. The auditors at PWC India did not properly identify that the risk that the assertions of management about the cash accounts would result in a high risk of material misstatement. Cash accounts regardless of industry should require a special attention during an audit. The professional judgment of the auditors was lacking in the audit of Satyam’s cash balances. When evaluating the risks of certain accounts the auditors should have asked themselves whether there is a risk of fraud, whether there is subjectivity in measuring the financial information, and whether there is any unusual balances in the accounts. The answer to these questions should have all been yes in this case and there is no reason why they shouldn’t have properly confirmed the cash balances. One of the many requirements of an auditor is to exercise professional skepticism. The auditor must take what’s given to him with a ‘grain of salt’ and also question and confirm the existence, occurrence, and accuracy of account balances. In the audit of Satyam, the auditors acted with no professional skepticism whatsoever. If the auditors are not doing their due diligence, the audit risk will rise due to the increase in detection risk. Management took advantage of the fact that the auditors procedures of detecting material misstatements were lacking. This article’s relevance to the auditing profession is enormous. From here, auditors should learn to not take anything for granted and to always question what is put in front of you, unless it is from a completely objective source. The auditors at PWC India did not follow the basic requirements of an audit engagement which resulted in a major fraud. Even when the banks sent account confirmations directly to the auditors, despite not being requested to do so, the auditors still did not question the discrepancies. The gross negligence in this case should be an example to all auditors; do not take anything for granted. The quality control review also failed in this case. Auditors need to heed the advice of the review team. Here, the audit team ignored the recommendations of the review team to confirm cash balances with the banks. Quality control reviews are very significant to an engagement and auditors should not take recommendations without due consideration.

Teenage Suicide Essay -- Teenage Suicide Essays

Teenage suicide has become a critical, national problem the extent of which is mind boggling. From 1980 to 1992 the rate of suicides involving persons from the ages of 10-14 years old has increased by 120 percent, and has increased 28.3 percent when involving persons from the ages of 15-19 years old (Suicide 451). More recently in a poll of 3,210 high-school honor students, a stunning one-quarter have seriously considered suicide (Eaton 15). Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among teens, falling second only to accidents (Roberts 45). This data, however, may be inaccurate, being that deaths labeled accidental may have actually been teen suicides. Also, many families may not want to report suicides or suicide attempts for the fear of embarrassment. Nevertheless, there is extensive proof that suicide attempts and/or successes are on the rise among teenagers, and numerous groups have devoted themselves to establishing a cause to this epidemic. The one si milarity that all of these different groups seem to agree on is that there is not one single theory that explains the growing phenomenon of teenage suicide. However, a number of factors seem to be common among â€Å"at-risk teens,† factors that, if given the right set of circumstances, could put them in jeopardy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of and seemingly the most common of these factors is depression. According to the National Association for Mental Health, nearly 20 percent of those who receive care for depression in hospitals and clinics are under the age of eighteen (Leder 31). Everyone has different reasons for being depressed and the extent of that depression will also vary from person to person. Some common causes of depression that have been found to lead to suicide attempts are not feeling loved and/or understood, the feeling of rejection, trouble with friends and family, or the feeling of being â€Å"no good.† A loss, (as in the death of a loved one, divorce, or the breakup up with a boyfriend/girlfriend) Has also been found to link depression and suicide (Leder 34).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychologists and doctors have also realized that having numerous psychological problems, known as â€Å"conduct disorders,† causes teens to have impulsive behavior. This impulsive behavior can cause them to act violent... ... a sense of identity is often pretty shacked and fragile during adolescence, feelings of not being worth much in one’s parents eyes won’t help a young person’s self-esteem. In extreme cases the adolescent may look upon himself, as being despicable and worthless, and learn to hate himself, when he is unable able to reach their goals (Hafen 95). The Youth Suicide National Center feels that â€Å"few of them [adolescents] have found ways of dealing with the lack of self esteem and when these feelings overwhelm them, they believe there is something very wrong with them.† (qtd. in Hafen 23).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reading numerous books and articles, the plain, but simple truth is that no one knows exactly why teenagers kill themselves. Psychiatrists have, however, reached the conclusion that in a society where adolescents have been exposed to many adult pressures and stresses, they may not be able to cope. Some of the most common causes of stress revolve around family situations, social problems, depression, developmental factors, and other factors associated with adolescents. It is this unbearable stress that leads them to the act of suicide.

Mass Media Filling the Moral Void Essay -- Morals Ethics Television En

Mass Media Filling the Moral Void A walk down the streets of D.C. provides more than just exercise and scenery. It is a journey through the stages of Mass Media. The first newsstand one spots is full of every newspaper one could possibly want to read. A couple more steps down the sidewalk, and one can see the televisions flashing through the windows of ESPN Zone, and one is bombarded by the blaring sounds of radios from car stereos and stores alike. It is almost impossible to escape the claw of Mass Media, because there are very few places to which media influence does not extend. Through the beginning of Mass Media during the 1400’s to the present, television, radio and video games have become a large part of every child’s life. With media surrounding more than one’s immediate family, it is hard not to be influenced in everyday life. Experts continue to debate the influence that Mass Media has on the youth of this generation, and whether it is vital to growth or an impairment on a childâ €™s education. The first step when taking a look at Mass Media and its influences is to find out how clearly it can be defined. Mass Media are the mediums or channels through which images, information, and entertainment are sent. As defined by Professor Lawrence Grossberg of Communication Studies, Mass Media is exactly that: media generated from a single point to a large number of points or from a single source to an audience of many people (Grossberg 8). Media can best be explained as communication through television, radio, newspapers or the Internet. Since Mass Media is transported from a single source to multiple sources, it is hard to realize how each person will perceive it. Indeed, the sender of media has little or no contro... ...on, is a topic that will be continually discussed. In any case, no matter which kind of media it is, someone with always find it entertaining. Works Cited: Baker, Karen. "Kick the TV habit for a week." Times-Picayune. 22 Apr. 2004. Lexis Nexis. 13 Feb. 2005 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>. Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella, and D. Charles Whitney. Media Making: Mass Media In A Popular Culture. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Inc., 1998. Guernsey, Lisa. "Tuning Into a Problem." The Washington Post. 9 Nov. 2004. Lexis Nexis. 14 Feb. 2005 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>. Raymo, Chet. "Bach on the Wing." The Boston Globe. 3 Oct. 2004: 34. Lexis Nexis. 13 Feb. 2005 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>. Scheibe, Cyndy. "Television in the Lives of Children." CRETv. 15 Feb. 2005. <http://www.ithaca.edu/CRETv>.

Being Self-Employed vs. Working for Someone Else

Being self-employed vs. working for someone else Self-employment and working for someone else has many of the same benefits and disadvantages. Although self-employment will allow a person to be his or her own boss and have endless financial possibilities, it also can be harder than working for someone else. Just because a person is able to work for their self, it does not mean that it will be any easier than working for someone else or even be more successful. Self-employment allows individuals to create his or her own schedule, allowing flexibility in the time that will be spent working.The flexible schedule of a self-employed individual is a good benefit. However in order to be successful at it, a lot of time has to be invested in it. If time is not put into the job, it will be difficult to maintain it. Having a flexible schedule allows the individual to have more time at home and also enable’s the person to work the hours convenient for their schedule. People normally find it easier to be self-employed because they feel that the freedom of working whenever they want or feel the need to may make the individual feel like they have power and authority they would not have working under a supervisor.However, good time management is essential to for self-employment. It is imperative that a person who is self-employed manages their time wisely and maintains themselves organized. It may take some time to get organized properly, but if the person practices how to best maintain organization with time, they will eventually come up with a work routine that best fits their work. Discipline is the key to being self-employed. If not, they run the risk of disorganization to the point where they will no longer be able to run their business or continue with their work.Without discipline and disorganization, the chances of financial success will be slim. Self-employment can be a financial success. There is the possibility of living very well when owning a business or si mply just work on your own. It also depends on what type of business or career path the person chooses in order to work for them selves. A person must consider that there are sometime’s many cost’s in initiating a self-owned business. Maybe start-up materials, hardware and financial management software to keep track of finances will often be needed when a person is self-employed.Organization and financial responsibility is crucial when owning a business or being self-employed. If the person that is self-employed does not manage money well, they run the risk of losing their business due to mismanagement. This will be a great disadvantage because not only is the person not able to be self-employed but they might have been out of the work field for a long time and did not gain much experience in a field that they would go out and try to work in after they figure out that working for themselves is not going to work for them.When the person tries to find a job and the hirin g manager sees how long they have been out of work and not enough experience, they may be hesitant to hire the individual. Working at a place of employment for someone else also has many benefits. For the most part, the employee will have a set schedule weekly and the employee will have to follow that schedule. Normal business hours are 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. unless of course the person works part-time, they work at a restaurant, a retail location, or maybe just a job that will schedule the employee when they are needed.In this case however, the employee does not set their own schedule, their supervisor, or boss will be responsible for that. There is not much flexibility with the schedules at a place of employment. While working for someone else, he or she is normally working under someone that they need to answer to and flexibility is very rare in the corporate world. A supervisor however, will take any time off needed as in vacation time, personal and sick time. Employees are en titled to the time off when working at a place of employment.Depending on the work field and if the individual is a full-time or part-time employee, the time off will be paid by the employer. The rate of pay at work place may not always be what the employee needs or is looking for. It could just be enough to make ends meet but it can also be exactly what the individual is looking for. Many companies require college degrees in order to make what the individual needs or should make with regards to their salary. Along with having a college degree, experience is absolutely necessary to earn top dollar.A degree does not necessarily mean that a person will be the most qualified to do the job but it does give the hiring employer that the employee they are considering has a sense of discipline, responsibility and knowledge that comes from a person with a college degree. Without the requirements, it will not be easy to obtain the type of salary the person wants. There are instances where eve n if the person meet’s the requirement’s needed to obtain a high or decent salary, some small companies are not able to pay these high salaries even if they wanted to.That is when individual either settle for what they are offered, continue searching for a job that meet’s their expectations, or become self-employed. Being self employed vs. working for someone else has many of the same advantages and disadvantages. To be self-employed, an individual needs to make sure they are organized and are prepared for the overhead cost’s that come with either owning a business or possibly just providing for your self and not having to answer to someone else. Working for someone else is not bad.A person has to be prepared and make every effort they need to in order to be successful at their place of employment. People in life have to make choice with regards to their careers. Do they work for themselves or do they work for someone else? In the end, he or she must choo se what makes the most sense and what he or she will know they can handle or not. Just because someone works for themselves, it does not necessarily mean that it will be easy. It can be just as hard as working for someone else.

ERP Application essays

ERP Application essays Increasingly, corporations are recognizing the strategic role of the operations function. These organizations are discovering that a focus on customer needs is effective only if the operations function is designed and managed to meet those needs. From acquiring raw materials to fabricating parts, to assembling products, to customer delivery, a total systems perspective can enable us, in the ideal, to fashion an operations function like the inner workings of a finely tuned machine. That operation can be fine-tuned by using modern information systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems provide comprehensive management of financial, manufacturing, sales, distribution and human resources across the enterprise. The ability of ERP systems to support data "drill down" and to eliminate the need to reconcile across functions is designed to enable organizations to compete on the performances of the entire supply chain. (Welti) To utilize these capabilities managers have to lea rn how to manage processes in the ERP environment. Just what is ERP? It doesnt live up its acronym. Forget about planning-it doesnt do that-and forget about resource, thats a throwaway term. Keep in mind the enterprise part. That is ERPs true ambition to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto one single system. Modern day ERP systems, Material Resource Planning (MRP) and Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) are the primary business systems installed in thousands of manufacturing companies around the world. These systems appeared shortly after the advent of the computer and were simplistic in nature compared to todays modern systems. The idea behind ERP is that the software needs to communicate across functions. The financial module can cut accounts payable checks as soon as the loading dock clerk confirms that the goods have been received in inventory. Similarly the accounts receivable can generate ...

Examples of Ionic Bonds and Compounds

Examples of Ionic Bonds and Compounds Here are examples of ionic bonds and ionic compounds: NaBr:Â  sodium bromideKBr: potassium bromideNaCl: sodium chlorideNaF: sodium fluorideKI: potassium iodideKCl: potassium chlorideCaCl2:Â  calcium chlorideK2O: potassium oxideMgO: magnesium oxide Note that ionic compounds are named with the cation or positively-charged atom written before the anion or negatively-charged atom. In other words, the element symbol for the metal is written before the symbol for the nonmetal. Recognizing Compounds With Ionic Bonds You can recognize ionic compounds because they consist of a metal bonded to a nonmetal. Ionic bonds form between two atoms that have different electronegativity values. Because the ability to attract electrons is so different between the atoms, its like one atom donates its electron to the other atom in the chemical bond. More Bonding Examples In addition to ionic bond examples, it may be helpful to know examples of compounds that contain covalent bonds and also compounds that contain both ionic and covalent chemical bonds.

Prejudice & Discrimination essays

Prejudice & Discrimination essays On February 11, there were two reports regarding the proposed ban on gay marriages in Massachusetts. The first is an interview with CNN's legal analyst, Kendall Coffey (interviewed by Carol Costello, while the second was reported by Wolf Blitzer. Both reports were conducted in a way that did not suggest any prejudice on the parts of the speakers themselves. However, there are obviously many different viewpoints regarding this Two groups can be distinguished in this debate: fundamental Christians, and gay people, along with those who advocate gay rights. Two distinct viewpoints are also highlighted during reporting. One viewpoint concerns equal rights, while the opposite focuses on the right of people to vote for or against gay marriage. If a court were to decide which law to pass, the latter group claims that democracy and the right to vote hold no Another interview by Daryn Kagan with Sandra Scham from "Archaeology" magazine on the same day is also close to the heart of the Christian community. This interview concerns the historical accuracy of the film "Passion", starring Mel Gibson in the role of Christ. The interview focuses mainly on the ability of archaeologists to determine the exact environment of Christ's world, and therefore prejudice is not truly the However, the beginning of the article does suggest that the film, being centered around a Christian issue, tends to be discriminatory against other religious groups, including Jews. Furthermore the film suggests that Christianity is a great spiritual movement above all others, as well as being the only laudable spiritual "truth". The interview does center around the issue of truth to some degree, as its purpose is to determine the historical accuracy of the world created for the film. According to Scham, very little evidence is available to archaeologists to determine the ...

Controlling the Cyber-conduct of Young People Essay

Controlling the Cyber-conduct of Young People - Essay Example t monitoring and controlling the cyber-conduct of young people regularly is an irrational proposition, this work claims that regular monitoring is an essential element of real-life society and that both online and offline activities of young people require regular observation and control due to various social, psychological, and biological factors. To begin with, the opposition claims that it is necessary to keep observers away from the activities of children. To illustrate, Bristow opines that â€Å"Allowing children their freedom means keeping the regulators out of what is, after all, Their Space† (par. 8). This claim highlights the fact that monitoring the activities of children online will negatively affect their freedom, and hence, development. In addition, there is the argument that restricting children’s internet access has a negative effect, as it will adversely affect their decision-making abilities. For example, Paton claims that â€Å"Restricting pupils’ access to websites may actually impair their judgment, making them more vulnerable to pedophiles on-line† (par. 1). This argument supports the view that internet observation and controlling will deter children’s ability to judge and act independently. Moreover, Bristow points out that â€Å"Just as the stranger at the swimming poo l is highly unlikely to abduct our children, mobile phones are not about to lure them into the great unknown† (par. 3). Here, the claim is that internet does not pose any more threat than real life does. In total, the opposition seems adamant on the argument that observation and control of children’s activities on the net is an irrational proposition. Firstly, young people’s brain is not fully developed to facilitate rational and cognitive thinking every time, and hence, are more vulnerable to err when there is freedom. For instance, American Psychological Association points out, â€Å"Neuropsychological research demonstrates that the adolescent brain has not reached adult

Toyota Final Simulation Bus310 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Toyota Final Simulation Bus310 - Essay Example Here, the case study puts emphasis on the three organizational environments and how each contributed to the technological development. The success of every organization is highly dependent on such an organization’s resource composition and how best they mobilize those internal resources. The invention of the simulator portrays Toyota as an organization which mobilizes its internal resources: finances, natural and human resources to better satisfy their customers (Liker & Meier, 2006). With the final simulation at hand, it is predictable that Toyota is destined to gain a huge internal environmental support since, whenever an organization comes up with a new landmark invention; such an organization is always motivated to do even more. A motivated human resource, for instance, is always characterized by creativity and innovation as well as working towards the achievement of the organizational goals. Toyota is one organization that can highly be credited for how it has matched its internal environment to its external environment. The near external environment is always characterized with those factors that an organization has little influence over as opposed to the internal resources (Liker & Meier, 2006). The vital factors in the near external environment include the customers and the suppliers whose contributions are essential to the success of any organization. For most entrepreneurs, it is the customers and the suppliers that a company should hold dear to their activities. It is very logical that an organization that does not pay attention to their customers have no future. In coming up with the perfect simulator, it is predictable that Toyota fully exploited their near external environment. The customers for instance influence a huge amount of organizational decisions depend highly on the feedback such an organization gets from its customers. In fully implementing the driving simulation technology, it is

Detailed specification and costs of a mobile computing device and a Essay

Detailed specification and costs of a mobile computing device and a desktop machine - Essay Example Computers do many different things by using the same hardware (all the solid stuff in and on the case) but using different software, programs which tell the computer what to do and how to do it. Computers come in three basic types: desktop, laptop and palmtop. The desktop which usually consists of a box, a screen, a mouse and a keyboard can usually do more than the others. The laptop, sometimes called a notebook or subnotebook PC. These machines are all-in-one packages with the computer, keyboard, mouse and display screen all together. They are generally not as powerful as a desktop and the desktop costs less for the same features, because the portability is expensive. Palmtops are really small subnotebooks, not much bigger than your hand. However, to qualify as a palmtop computer it has to have all the same attributes as the others: it must run different programs which you can buy and install, it must have an input device, a processing unit and the ability to output to a device. A PDA is a Personal Digital Assistant. It has many of the functions of the computers, but very limited capacity and power, partly due to its small size. The high end PDAs include word processing, email, calculating, databases and Internet access. Some come with simplified accounting software as many users need them to make entries into expense accounts. Mapping and GPS is a very popular function on these devices, and a few, called smart phones, have a cell phone, possibly a camera and Bluetooth and edge wireless technology built in. Most newly manufactured PDAs will accept external memory cards to expand their capacity. Most PDAs will connect to your computer in order to synchronize information, such as contact lists, to-do lists, and calendars. They can also move music, photo and video files back and forth between the machines. (Gookin, Dan, 31-44) So let’s look at the components of these devices and exactly what they do. Once thing they all share is

Choose one topic in the attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Choose one topic in the attachment - Essay Example The saying on regret mentioned above is the best way to sum up or describe the plot and story of this movie. In this movie, every person is related or their story is linked and connected with the other person. Therefore, every scene and story of every individual in the movie consists of complex situations which get along very well with each other. "Magnolia" is a film of sadness and loss, of lifelong bitterness, of children harmed and adults destroying themselves. (Magnolia Movie Review & Film Summary (1999) | Roger Ebert) It is said that Magnolia is not one of those movies which could be understood by every viewer. Even when Magnolia was released worldwide in 1999, there were many viewers and those who reviewed the movie, their responses were quite conventional regarding it. They believe that it is a representation of emotional vulnerability. Therefore, due to these reasons, this movie can be looked through various aspects, perspectives, and prism as it includes a religious world an d dimension. After releasing the first trailer of this movie, it demonstrates that the movie about love which is either lost, gained, given, or withheld according to different situations. Basically, the religious aspect which is given in this movie shows the action of trapping the conflicted sinners and miscreants due to their wrongdoings in past relationships of reprobating. As it is clearly shown that this movie does not really have a plot but it conveys a very strong message as well as some great views and points. As this movie is about the lives and doings of 9 to 11 individuals, it is really hard to have a specific plot on which a movie had to be directed but the least a good movie can do is to motivate and spread out a strong message to its viewers. Not only the movie brings forward the shortcomings and fear but also sexual and emotional abuse. It is said that the people and viewers who call this movie exemplary are â€Å"actively dodging the social gravity, the psychological resonance, and the emotional poignancy of the conflicts mined in the film’s sensitive writing and talented ensemble acting. Most of the Magnolia’s characters have hit a crisis point at the start of the story. (Lane, 2) Anderson’s (the director) only philosophy was that bigger is better which was proven right with the help of this movie. However there are certain points in the movie where the director has shown inability to create a good film. It would be one thing if Magnolia offered multiple points of view, but Anderson is really only concerned with his own: a heavy-handed, self-pitying indictment of bad parenting and its sorry effects. Anderson expands his timeworn theme with a motif about chance and destiny (MAGNOLIA) As this movie is basically based on 9 to 11 people’s lives who are faced with regrets, his biggest failure in this movie is technical failing. As from every person to the stories and scenes, everything is linked and correlated. Therefore , switching the stories and making right decision at the right time is a difficult task. Therefore, the narration and writing of this movie is very complex. He has not perfected it yet that the way he crosscuts and switches from one scene to another which eventually is not the match of temporal relationships. For instance, there was a scene where a couple breaks up at one second, and the next moment the whole movie is switched Stanley who was the genius boy, deciding to put a stop at playing the tawdry game show. Even

1.3 Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

1.3 - Movie Review Example Precisely, he does what he thinks is right without thinking whether it’s right or wrong but he has standards. Dexter is a very strong, intense, and straight forward person as he does only what he feels is right. He is living a double life which is hidden from his colleagues at the police department, his sister, and even his girlfriend. He is complex and very different from other single-headed ‘good’ heroes out there. However, the serial killer side of Dexter is not bad or evil as he believes he has standards and he would only kill those who ‘deserve it’. He leads the life of a ‘good’ serial killer and believes that he should use his skill to do something good which is killing the bad people. Dexter has an adoptive sister who also works in the police department. She doesn’t know about Dexter’s serial killer side and thus she trusts him and loves him. Dexter believes that she is the only person in the world who actually loves him. His both adoptive parents have died but his father lives in his mind and guides him though everything that he does. Dexter feels haunted by these thoughts sometimes as they conflict with what he thinks. However, he values the teachings of his dad who taught him a code according to which he kills. His dad was the one who instructed him and taught him how to avoid getting caught and gave him the values to only kill those who deserved it. Dexter’s psychological analysis would seem to be pretty disturbed. Even though he turns out to be complex and strong, he can be perceived as depressed and confused. He doesn’t know what he is doing but he wants to do everything the right way. He keeps his father in his thought process and loves his sister; he also doesn’t kill children as he believes he has some standards. However, despite this he is very complicated and difficult to understand in the first attempt. The episode consists of certain moves such as killing of the child which Dexter refuses, the

Choose one topic in the attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Choose one topic in the attachment - Essay Example The saying on regret mentioned above is the best way to sum up or describe the plot and story of this movie. In this movie, every person is related or their story is linked and connected with the other person. Therefore, every scene and story of every individual in the movie consists of complex situations which get along very well with each other. "Magnolia" is a film of sadness and loss, of lifelong bitterness, of children harmed and adults destroying themselves. (Magnolia Movie Review & Film Summary (1999) | Roger Ebert) It is said that Magnolia is not one of those movies which could be understood by every viewer. Even when Magnolia was released worldwide in 1999, there were many viewers and those who reviewed the movie, their responses were quite conventional regarding it. They believe that it is a representation of emotional vulnerability. Therefore, due to these reasons, this movie can be looked through various aspects, perspectives, and prism as it includes a religious world an d dimension. After releasing the first trailer of this movie, it demonstrates that the movie about love which is either lost, gained, given, or withheld according to different situations. Basically, the religious aspect which is given in this movie shows the action of trapping the conflicted sinners and miscreants due to their wrongdoings in past relationships of reprobating. As it is clearly shown that this movie does not really have a plot but it conveys a very strong message as well as some great views and points. As this movie is about the lives and doings of 9 to 11 individuals, it is really hard to have a specific plot on which a movie had to be directed but the least a good movie can do is to motivate and spread out a strong message to its viewers. Not only the movie brings forward the shortcomings and fear but also sexual and emotional abuse. It is said that the people and viewers who call this movie exemplary are â€Å"actively dodging the social gravity, the psychological resonance, and the emotional poignancy of the conflicts mined in the film’s sensitive writing and talented ensemble acting. Most of the Magnolia’s characters have hit a crisis point at the start of the story. (Lane, 2) Anderson’s (the director) only philosophy was that bigger is better which was proven right with the help of this movie. However there are certain points in the movie where the director has shown inability to create a good film. It would be one thing if Magnolia offered multiple points of view, but Anderson is really only concerned with his own: a heavy-handed, self-pitying indictment of bad parenting and its sorry effects. Anderson expands his timeworn theme with a motif about chance and destiny (MAGNOLIA) As this movie is basically based on 9 to 11 people’s lives who are faced with regrets, his biggest failure in this movie is technical failing. As from every person to the stories and scenes, everything is linked and correlated. Therefore , switching the stories and making right decision at the right time is a difficult task. Therefore, the narration and writing of this movie is very complex. He has not perfected it yet that the way he crosscuts and switches from one scene to another which eventually is not the match of temporal relationships. For instance, there was a scene where a couple breaks up at one second, and the next moment the whole movie is switched Stanley who was the genius boy, deciding to put a stop at playing the tawdry game show. Even

Climate Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Climate Change - Research Paper Example This issue is extremely important because it can cause a lot of damage to human beings if nothing is done about it in the future. It can have life-threatening ramifications should nothing be done about it immediately. Methane is another very important greenhouse gas, large quantities of methane is produced by domesticated animals which again directly affects the environment. Coal mining and oil drilling are other activities which produce methane in abundance; these activities are done on a daily basis producing unimaginable quantities of methane. These important things must be understood to be really able to restore the normal climatic conditions, there is a lot of pollution everywhere these days, the most populated countries like India and China release alarming amounts of harmful gases each day, this must be put to an end soon to ensure that there are no calamities in the future. â€Å"Electricity is the main source of power in urban areas. All our gadgets run on electricity generated mainly from thermal power plants. These thermal power plants are run on fossil fuels (mostly coal) and are responsible for the emission of huge amounts of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.† (Causes of Climate Change) â€Å"Much of the world’s economy is underpinned by carbon – the ‘fuel’ in fossil fuels. ... Deforestation is certainly one thing which we must refrain from doing, there are other activities like mining, running air conditioners the whole day and so on, these activities release harmful gases into the environment which in turn cause climate change. It is high time to reduce these activities gradually so that we do not face the wrath of Mother Nature. ii. Carbon dioxide emission can be drastically reduced by using solar energy and LPG, LPG is being used in some countries and some others use solar energy but it is important to cut down the carbon dioxide emission otherwise it is all doom and gloom for us. iii. The most important thing is to ensure that Co2 emission is reduced drastically, the next important thing is to ensure that no deforestation takes place. Cutting down on methane is also very important. Other things include cutting down on wastage like running air conditioners for fewer hours so that it emits harmful gases for a limited hours. These things can bring about a lot of positive changes. iv. â€Å"Climate change may result from both natural and human causes. The importance of human causes has been increasing during the past few decades.† (Global Warming Facts) Global warming and climate change are very closely related concepts; the depletion of the ozone layer is expected to cause a lot of damage. Skin cancer is one of the biggest fears should the ozone layer be depleted further. â€Å"Livestock lead rice-growing, gas-flaring, and mining in global emissions of this highly potent greenhouse gas. Options for reducing methane emissions go beyond reducing beef and dairy consumption. These mitigation strategies also include reducing methane emissions from mines, gas production facilities, and

Pre-Marital Sex Essay Example for Free

Pre-Marital Sex Essay I would like also to say thank you to the chair, Asst. Prof. Pimonpan Isarabhakdi, Ph. D. , and the external examiner, Prof. Surasak Taneepanichskul, M. D. , Ph. D. This thesis will not have been possible without their excellent support and effort. I would like to express my gratitude to all Ajarns of IPSR and guest lecturers for their valuable teaching in their expertise fields as well as their guidance to improve my knowledge. A special acknowledgement to Mrs. Luxana Nil-Ubol for her endless efforts. A lot of thanks to my office Badan Kependudukan dan Keluarga Berencana Nasional (BKKBN) for granting me this prestigious fellowship which made me possible to carry out this program. I would like to express special thanks to Mr. Eddy Hasmi, Mr. Dora, Mrs. Yuyun and all friends in BKKBN for their helpful supports. Then, I would like thanks to my parents â€Å"bapak Donny S. M. Situmorang and ibu Theresia Lauretta Hutabarat†, my brothers â€Å"Freddy and Christian†, and my girlfriend â€Å"Henny Pakpahan† for supporting me mentally and physically, and encourage me during the study period in Mahidol University. However, this issue should be given attention because the rate increased from 5% to 6. 4% between 2002 and 2007. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to analyze factors influencing premarital sexual intercourse among in-school late adolescents in Indonesia. This study uses secondary data from the research of the Indonesian Young Adult Reproductive Health Survey (IYARHS) 2007. The study population of 6,792 in-school late adolescents aged 15-19 years was selected from a total of 19,311 unmarried Indonesian young adults that were interviewed. The findings illustrate that 2. 4% of the in-school late adolescents have engaged in premarital sexual intercourse. Evidence indicated that sex, age, place of residence, knowledge of sexual reproductive health (SRH), knowledge of contraceptive methods, source of SRH information, attitude towards acceptance of premarital sexual intercourse, relationship status defined by having a boyfriend or girlfriend, risky consumption behaviors, and peer influences have a significant association with in-school adolescents that have experienced premarital sexual intercourse.

Leadership In Contemporary Organisations Management Essay

Leadership In Contemporary Organisations Management Essay Leadership is considered to be the key enabler of organisational performance and competitive advantage by the organisations these days (Burgoyne, 2008). The job of a leader is to lead his/her team to achieve the goal set by the organisation. James MacGregor Burns argues that leadership is one phenomenon on earth that is most observed and least understood (Paul, 2002). The views about a leader and the definition of leadership vary among different people. Daniel Goleman (2000) says that an effective leader sets strategy, creates a mission, motivates his followers and finally builds a culture in the organisation. Ken Wilber argues that an integral leader is a man or woman who supports people aspiring to move forward. They have to make their own integral map that covers all the area that humans have to deal with (Volckmann, 2005). The concepts of leadership have been developed years ago though the word is reported to have appeared in English language recently. An effective business leader is one who is well informed of the latest research which impacts upon leadership and who is also capable of applying this to their own organisation with in an ethical framework. I personally agree with this statement as it is important for the leader to move along with the changing organisational conditions. He should be updated with the latest trends in the organisation in order to effectively lead his followers. Further part of the essay will explore the research that supports my argument. PHASES OF RESEARCH ON LEADERSHIP As mentioned, the concepts of leadership, leader and the follower has emerged years and years ago. Even Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristofle have written about leadership in the period between 400 and 300 B.C. As years progressed, the focus on leadership research has undergone a dramatic change. In the earlier years, leadership research focussed on differentiating leaders and non-leaders by identifying their traits. It then focussed on the behaviour of the leaders and in the later phase focus was on the importance of situational factors, thus giving birth to the contingency approach (Paul, Costley, Howell Dorfman, 2002). The contingency approach, when compared to the previous two phases of research, is more theoretical and hence denies the notion of effective leadership traits and behaviour. Today, in modern leadership, Charisma has become a major underlining concept and the term has different meanings that overlap. The word charisma has been used to represent different conce pts through out the phases of leadership. In a business leader perspective, it is the personal quality of a leader to gain the attention of a group of individuals. EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP RESEARCHES An effective leadership requires a combination of cognitive, behavioural and personality factors (Kets De Vries, 2002) and it is necessary for him or her to keep learning. It is important to see the relationship between the leadership style of a leader and the context in which they operate. The range of behaviours of a leader is categorised as goal oriented, involving and engaging. The goal oriented leader sets a direction and plays a significant role in directing the followers to achieve the goal. The next two categories, involving and engaging are less leader-centric. From a study conducted in ten organisations, it is reported that, a leader-centric and directive style is found to be inappropriate in a changing organisation context but are common and dominant in a straight forward context. Many behaviourists stated that the leader can change his style according to the organisational strategy but Fiedler (1964) came up with the contingency theory and disagreed to it. There can be le aders who are task motivated while others are relationship motivated. There is even socio-independent leaders who are neither task nor relationship motivated (Dulewicz Higgs, 2005). This implies that the leader should choose the situation that better match his/her leadership style and avoid situation that is against their style. After a few years, House developed the path goal theory and argues that leaders behaviour can be adjusted to adapt to contingencies and thus find a suitable style for a particular situation (House, 1999). The basic idea of this theory is to support the subordinates and help them to achieve their own goals as well as the goals of the organisation. Four kind of leadership styles have been proposed in this theory: Directive, Supportive, Participative, Achievement-Oriented leadership. An effective leader is the one who knows which style is to be adopted and when (Silverthorne, 2001). Directive leaders tell their subordinates, what is expected from them and give the guidance by enforcing certain rules to fulfil those expectations. Supportive leaders would be friendlier and gives attention to the needs of their subordinates. The participative leaders lead their subordinates by involving them in making decisions and finally the achievement-oriented leaders set high standards and will be con fident on their subordinates in achieving these standards. According to the path goal theory, it depends on the nature of task for the leaders to decide upon which style to adopt and hence according to the requirement, the leader should be task oriented or relationship oriented (Silverthorne, 2001). If the nature of work is unclear, then the leader should be task oriented by giving proper direction and guidance. As the knowledge and practice of leadership change with time, many researches mention about the transformation of leadership. Earlier, the businesses tried to keep up with their rivals in the competition but today, the intentions have changed and they try to blast their competitors out. As far as business leaders are concerned, they would be left behind if they dont accommodate themselves to these changes. John Ralph, the deputy chairman of a leading Australian management company has expressed his views on transformation in leadership style while speaking about the changing culture of the organisation as, leaders should encourage their followers instead of commanding and should act as a coach rather than bosses. Ray Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic expressed his vision of new leadership style emerging in the United States as a moral commitment where the leaders and employees should work as partners in achieving the goals of their organisations (Sarros Santora, 2001). Trust on the employees is most important in this. Lot of researches establish the validity of the concept, transformational leadership which brings change and movement in the organisation. Many researchers define transformational leadership as one that motivates people to create change, by distinguishing it with transactional leadership that uses the power and authority that exists in the organisation. Transformational style is denoted as leader of innovation and transactional style as manager of planning and policy (King, 1994). Transactional style depends on the current structure in the organisation while transformational style creates new pathways (Mink, 1992). An effective transformational leader should have a clear sense of goals to guide their organisation in to new directions (Burns, 1978). They should have the capability to foresee the change to a long term. The interaction among the people in an organisation and the flow of information gives rise to the need for change in the organisation. A fresh look at trends and feedbac k from frontline people becomes the catalyst for change (Herrington, Bonem Furr, 2000). Transformational leadership also influences the culture of the organisation. If the culture of the organisation itself is cultural, then the growth of individual and the organisation becomes more effective (Bass Avolio, 1993). The cultures of people in and beyond the organisation are also influenced by this. However, transformational leadership have potential dangers associated with it if the leader doesnt rely on a strong ethical and moral foundation as the danger lies in the leader-follower interactions. Such kind of behaviour is defined as pseudo-transformational leadership. From the year 1999 to 2004, there has been a considerable increase in the research on servant leadership as a result of emergence of certain servant leadership models developed by several researchers. Trust is a common factor in all the research conducted on servant leadership. Servant leaders generate and sustain trust through their communicative and supportive behaviour (Tschannen-Moran Hoy, 1998). Servant leadership begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first and then conscious choice brings them to aspire to lead, who is sharply different from one who is leader right from the beginning. Listening and understanding, imagination, acceptance and empathy, intuition, foresight, the ability to persuade, healing and serving, the ability to build community etc are some of the other attributes of a servant leader (Greenleaf,1997). It not only builds the trust between the leaders and the followers but also among the followers themselves and is thus established as an important variable in the development and maintenance of organisational trust (Joseph Winston, 2005). Studies indicate that servant leadership has the potential to improve the organisational satisfaction, productivity, safety practices and financial performance. There are numerous researches being conducted on job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Both are at times linked to each other as the employees become less committed to the organisation if they are dissatisfied with their job. Many researchers came up with a suggestion that leadership and organisational culture has great impact on both job satisfaction and commitment. Employees job performance, behaviour and expectations vary with the nation they belong to, and the way organisations are managed reflects the national culture. There are significant differences between the way firms in east and west are managed as a result of difference in national culture. Goal setting, performing the task and decision making are directly influenced by the culture of the organisation. The researchers on organisational culture has come up with different types of organisational culture but the people working in an organisation have their own values, beliefs and attitudes which are part of their national culture. Depending on those values and beliefs the organisation can have a bureaucratic, innovative or a supportive culture. Most eastern organisations have a bureaucratic culture while western organisations have innovative and supportive culture. Leadership plays a major role in the success and failure of an organisation. The relations between leadership and performance of an employee have been explored in various researches. The attributes of transformational leadership such as empowerment and clear vision can bring greater satisfaction to the employees in their job and this leadership style works well with western organisations. The leadership in eastern organisations are based on seniority, position and authority and the leader can gain commitment of the employ by their personal relationship. There have been only a few researches done on the leadership in organisations having two or more cultures also called as multicultural organisations. In a study conducted in an organisation with Australian and non Australian workforce, it was indicated that both the work groups wanted different transactional and transformational behaviours from their Australian supervisors. Hofstede came up with four dimensions of cultural values in h is research. They are power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/feminity. Out of the four dimensions, Hofstede states that power distance and individualism/ collectivism are the most relevant ones and these dimensions were applied in the organisation where the study was conducted (Lok Crawford, 2003). An effective business leader has to be aware of the researches on the organisational culture as he is directly linked to the success of organisation and if unaware, the whole organisation can fail due to his/her actions. Team building is an activity that a leader must concentrate on to continue to be effective in his/her operations. The leaders will have to modify their leadership style according to the changing needs of employees and also the organisational change. All the books and research papers on team building clearly differentiate groups and teams. Managers seem content with group performance while leaders always lead teams which are more productive and bring improved profit to the company. Team centred leaders are visionary and they inspire team work and mutual support. Effective leaders should have the ability to get their team members involved and committed. They communicate openly and mediate conflicts before it turns destructive (Maddux Wingfield, 2003). EFFECTIVE LEADERS ACT IN ETHICAL FRAMEWORK It is the nature of most human being to enter corruption when they gain power and control, or in other sense people tend to misuse the power they have. This possibly becomes the negative side or unethical side of leadership. In transformational leadership, charismatic leaders may develop lot of enthusiastic and honest followers who will even fail to notice the negative traits of their leader (Stone, Russell Patterson, 2003). Power with in a leader even tends to create politics in the organisation which can be called as the darker side of leadership and can weaken the leader member relationship. Organisational politics leads people to become reluctant in assisting their co-workers and hence there will be a decline in the organisational commitment. These are the times when personal interest of the leader gets dominant and they may even manipulate conflicts in order to achieve self goals instead of organisational goals (McGinley, 2009). As viewed by Rost, ethical framework of leadershi p must make individual leaders and followers accountable to their ethical responsibilities as human beings (Rost, 1993). An effective leader is the one who is aware of how and where to use the power of his/her position or personal power. Using positional or personal power in the organisation with out hampering the organisational ethics and thus maintaining a strong relationship with followers is the quality that leaders should possess to make their organisation more productive. CONCLUSION The essay has described about the evolution of leadership and the various researches conducted on it. The role of an effective leader in most of the leadership approaches have also been explored in the essay. Its been argued that learning latest studies on leadership keep leaders away from work due to information overload. But considering the changing organisational culture and change in the needs of people, it can be suggested that the leader should always keep in track with the researches. Leaders face challenge in applying the latest studies among their followers in the organisation. Effective leaders explore these studies only by following the organisational ethics, morals and leadership principles. The outcomes of unethical approach to leadership studies have also been described in the essay. It is said that negative traits of charismatic leaders are overlooked by their followers and hence they are utilised by the leaders to achieve personal goals. But this always results in wea k leader member relations and reduced organisational commitment. From this essay, it can be concluded that leaders should keep themselves updated about the researches and also should act according to the ethics and principles to make their operations more effective and thus improve the productivity of their organisation.

American Indian Wars :: essays research papers

American Indian Wars   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is perhaps a tendency to view the record of the military in terms of conflict, that may be why the U.S. Army’s operational experience in the quarter century following the Civil War became known as the Indian wars. Previous struggles with the Indian, dating back to colonial times, had been limited. There was a period where the Indian could withdraw or be pushed into vast reaches of uninhabited and as yet unwanted territory in the west. By 1865 the safety valve was fast disappearing. As the Civil War was closed, white Americans in greater numbers and with greater energy than before resumed the quest for land, gold, commerce, and adventure that had been largely interrupted by the war. The besieged red man, with white civilization pressing in and a main source of livelihood, the buffalo, threatened with extinction, was faced with a fundamental choice: surrender or fight. Many chose to fight, and over the next 25 years the struggle ranged over the plains, mountains, and the deserts of the American West. These guerrilla wars were characterized by skirmishes, pursuits, raids, massacres, expeditions, battles, and campaigns of varying size and intensity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1865, there was a least 15 million buffalo, ten years later, fewer than a thousand remained. The army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs went along with and even encouraged the slaughter of the animals. By destroying the buffalo herds, the whites were destroying the Indian’s main source of food and supplies. The only thing the Indians could do was fight to preserve their way of life. There was constant fighting among the Indian and whites as the Indians fought to keep their civilization. Indian often retaliated against the whites for earlier attacks that whites had imposed on them. They often attacked wagon trains, stage coaches, and isolated ranches. When the army became more involved in the fighting, the Indians started to focus on the white soldiers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1862, when the north and south were locked in Civil War, Minnesota felt the fury of an even more fundamental internal conflict. The Santees, an eastern branch of the Sioux Nation, having endured ten years of traumatic change on the upper Minnesota River, launched the first great attack in the Indian wars. Eleven years earlier the tribe had sold 24 million acres of hunting ground for a lump sum of $1,665,000 and the promise of future cash annuities.

The Great Mystery of the Pyramids Essay -- History, Building and Const

The Great pyramids of Egypt are undoubtedly one of the most recognized and admired landmarks in the world. Built to pay tribute to gods and pharaohs, the pyramids were of great importance to the Egyptians, and the mystery of their construction continues to amaze us today. Many theories pertaining to how the pyramids were built have been suggested, however, none are as well supported or intelligible as the heave-ho method of quarrying and cutting limestone. Joseph Davidovits’ theory disproving this, in which states the pyramids were moulded, is not plausible. Substantial physical evidence which is consistent with the Egyptologists’ portrayal of the heave-ho method has been found. The entire process of building a pyramid with this method is possible, as demonstrated by thorough experiments and analysis of the Egyptian culture. Indisputably, the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed by quarrying limestone, and the use of ramps, sleds, and cutting tools, owing to the inge nuity and strength of highly organized Egyptian workers. Joseph Davidovits, a French chemist, has proposed that the pyramids were formed using a special concrete mixture, and then poured into wooden moulds where it hardened (Alt. theory #3).While Davidovits claims to have explained aspects of pyramid construction which the heave-ho theory could not, the mould theory has many faults, rendering it weak and improbable. Firstly, the stones used in building the pyramids were of diverse shapes (Article 5). The shape of the stones would be uniform if they were created in moulds of exact dimensions. If each stone was created in a uniquely fashioned mould, it would account for the diversity in shape. However, building thousands, or even hundreds, of moulds would have been e... ...gods they worshiped. In spite of the efforts of other theorists trying to refute this process, there is a very low number of faults in the heave-ho method. Most of the improbabilities and doubts can be explained with proven experiments, as well as examining the Egyptian lifestyle. In conclusion, the heave-ho method is the strongest and most practical theory of pyramid construction, due to the weakness of other theories, significant physical evidence, and how possible it is to achieve. This method irrefutably shows how the hardworking and inventive Egyptians used abundant resources to create magnificent pyramids, by working in highly organized teams, and using tools and machines such as chisels, hammers, and ramps. The actual process of how the pyramids were built may never become known to us; however, the heave-ho method is the closest idea we have to the truth. The Great Mystery of the Pyramids Essay -- History, Building and Const The Great pyramids of Egypt are undoubtedly one of the most recognized and admired landmarks in the world. Built to pay tribute to gods and pharaohs, the pyramids were of great importance to the Egyptians, and the mystery of their construction continues to amaze us today. Many theories pertaining to how the pyramids were built have been suggested, however, none are as well supported or intelligible as the heave-ho method of quarrying and cutting limestone. Joseph Davidovits’ theory disproving this, in which states the pyramids were moulded, is not plausible. Substantial physical evidence which is consistent with the Egyptologists’ portrayal of the heave-ho method has been found. The entire process of building a pyramid with this method is possible, as demonstrated by thorough experiments and analysis of the Egyptian culture. Indisputably, the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed by quarrying limestone, and the use of ramps, sleds, and cutting tools, owing to the inge nuity and strength of highly organized Egyptian workers. Joseph Davidovits, a French chemist, has proposed that the pyramids were formed using a special concrete mixture, and then poured into wooden moulds where it hardened (Alt. theory #3).While Davidovits claims to have explained aspects of pyramid construction which the heave-ho theory could not, the mould theory has many faults, rendering it weak and improbable. Firstly, the stones used in building the pyramids were of diverse shapes (Article 5). The shape of the stones would be uniform if they were created in moulds of exact dimensions. If each stone was created in a uniquely fashioned mould, it would account for the diversity in shape. However, building thousands, or even hundreds, of moulds would have been e... ...gods they worshiped. In spite of the efforts of other theorists trying to refute this process, there is a very low number of faults in the heave-ho method. Most of the improbabilities and doubts can be explained with proven experiments, as well as examining the Egyptian lifestyle. In conclusion, the heave-ho method is the strongest and most practical theory of pyramid construction, due to the weakness of other theories, significant physical evidence, and how possible it is to achieve. This method irrefutably shows how the hardworking and inventive Egyptians used abundant resources to create magnificent pyramids, by working in highly organized teams, and using tools and machines such as chisels, hammers, and ramps. The actual process of how the pyramids were built may never become known to us; however, the heave-ho method is the closest idea we have to the truth.

New Historicism

CO-TEXT: A historical document which is contemporary with and studied alongside a literary document. COMEDY: A play or literary composition written chiefly to amuse its audience by appealing to a sense of superiority over the characters depicted with a (usually) happy ending for the leading characters. CULTURAL MATERIALISM: – A critical practice that concentrates on the interventions whereby men and women make heir own history and situate the literary text in the political situation of our own (and not of its own day as New Historicists do). It reads the literary text in a way as to enable us to â€Å"recover histories†. – It uses the technique of close textual analysis but often employ structuralist and post-structuralist techniques. – It works mainly within traditional notions of the canon. EMPLOTMENT: The process by which a text is organized into a plot. EMPLOTTED: Organized into a plot. EPIC: A long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heros in a grand ceremonious style. EQUAL WEIGHTING: A combined interest in â€Å"the textuality of history, the historicity of texts† (L. Montrose) FICTION-MAKING: The historian bestows a particular significance upon certain historical events and then matches them up with a precise type of plot. MAINSTREAM LITERARY HISTORY: : Old historicism, dominant historical scholarship, monological, earlier historicism, single political vision, internally coherent and consistent, the status of historical fact, a stable point of reference. NARRATIVE: – A set of events (The story) recounted in a process of narration (or discourse). – A telling of some true or fictitious event o connected sequence of events, recounted by a narrator. NEW HISTORICISM: – A critical practice that gives equal weighting to literary and non-literary texts. – It insists on the textualization of reality (from Derrida) and the premise that society is governed by the collusion between discourse and power (from Foucault). – It places literary and non-literary texts in conjunction and interprets the former through the latter – It looks for manifestations in text and co-text of State power, patriarchy and colonization. PLOT: – A particular selection and reordering of the full sequence of events (story). The pattern of events and situations in a narrative or dramatic work. ROMANCE: – A fictional story in verse or prose that relates improbable adventures of idealized characters in some remote or enchanted setting. – A tendency in fiction opposite to that of realism. SATIRE: A mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. STORY:  œ The full sequence of events as we assume them to have occurred in their likely order,, duration and frequency. In modern narratology, the sequence of imagined events that we reconstruct from the actual arrangement of a narrative. – In the everyday sense, any narrative or tale recounting a series of events. TAILORING: Adapting the facts to a particular story form. TRAGEDY: A serious play or novel representing the disastrous downfall of a central character, the protagonist. VALUE-NEUTRAL: Historical events acquire narrative value only after the historian organizes them into a specific plot type. VERBAL FICTIONS: A construct which is made of words and based on invention rather than reality.

School Annual Day

This is a request to the entire guest, please get settle down in few minutes, we are about to start our function. We will start our function with national anthem. Kindly stand out at your places. On behalf of **** school family, I welcome you all with great pleasure, for this Annual Day Celebration. It’s an honour to call our Chief Guest†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day. I'm sure, all of you present here, must have heard this song performed by michael jackson.Children are the future of every nation across the world. It is today's generation which can go ahead and make the world a better place. Children are our tomorrow – our future. Bright faces that you are going to see here today, while performing on stage, showing their talents and receiving prizes will be the citizens of tomorrow who are going to make a difference in our society. I hope you all are going to appreciate them, as well as to teachers also, who have putted lot of efforts.Thank you XXX Sir, Good afternoon to all of you, as we all know today we are gathered here to celebrate our Annual Day. Nowadays, only academic excellence is not enough to make any child as outstanding performer. They should be good at extar- curricular activities also. From this prospective our teachers have putted lot of efforts with the little brainees for all the performances. Wishing them luck we will start†¦.. School Annual Day This is a request to the entire guest, please get settle down in few minutes, we are about to start our function. We will start our function with national anthem. Kindly stand out at your places. On behalf of **** school family, I welcome you all with great pleasure, for this Annual Day Celebration. It’s an honour to call our Chief Guest†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ We are the world. We are the children. We are the ones who make a brighter day. I'm sure, all of you present here, must have heard this song performed by michael jackson.Children are the future of every nation across the world. It is today's generation which can go ahead and make the world a better place. Children are our tomorrow – our future. Bright faces that you are going to see here today, while performing on stage, showing their talents and receiving prizes will be the citizens of tomorrow who are going to make a difference in our society. I hope you all are going to appreciate them, as well as to teachers also, who have putted lot of efforts.Thank you XXX Sir, Good afternoon to all of you, as we all know today we are gathered here to celebrate our Annual Day. Nowadays, only academic excellence is not enough to make any child as outstanding performer. They should be good at extar- curricular activities also. From this prospective our teachers have putted lot of efforts with the little brainees for all the performances. Wishing them luck we will start†¦..

Exam Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Exam Case Study - Assignment Example Later to follow are the recommendations to overcome the stated problems and improve company’s performance. Problems faced Primary problems faced by Sunshine Shirts come under the category of delivery delays and bottlenecks in quality. Delays are attributed to factors like large number of inspections, inventory and warehousing issues and lengthy production cycle of shirts. Also, type and volume of orders in the three categories also contribute to delays in deliveries. For quality concerns, even large number of inspections is not proving beneficial since printing is not getting appreciated by the customers. Faulty shirts are also getting in the orders which are resulting in increased number of complaints and reduced customer loyalty. Delays in deliveries and quality pitfalls cumulate to rising costs but no increased profit margins. Thus, an indirect offshoot of the above mentioned problems is an urgent need for cost-cutting campaign which can not be realized unless careful and m eticulous strategic planning is undertaken. Following next are specific instances which have led to the above mentioned problems of faulty planning, delays and quality concerns. Sources of problems Superficially, problems seem to be very generic, trivial and operations based. However, upon careful observation and deep analysis, the sources of these problems vary from strategic planning to inventory management, quality management and even setting up of performance measures. Detailed breakdown of sources of problems is given below: Strategic planning Strategic planning is a wide concept covering numerous operations within a specific business. From human resources to operations, production to management and even after sales, strategic planning entails setting up of standards, crafting plans according to those standards and measuring actual outputs to find out deviations. At Sunshine Shirts, planning has not taken a serious form. Various loopholes exist in different functions and domain s. Opening sentences where it is mentioned that the company budgeted for but still reported losses is a clear example of poor planning. Next for example, the problem of delivery delays can primarily be attributed to planning glitch. Before actual inventory management, it is the work of planning to ascertain the flow of raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods. Faulty planning has led to faulty warehousing and chaos at factory space. Secondly, customer complaints have increased at Sunshine Shirts due to printing issues as ink on shirts peels off. This might be due to wrong supplier selection of printing inks which is again a function of strategic planning in a company. Further, regarding costs, company officials and heads of various departments are suggesting different solutions- reducing number of inspections, outsourcing, and charging premium price for better quality and even enter women shirts market. However, consensus cannot be achieved in finalizing a solution. This i s because the company does not know whether its competitive advantage lies in low cost or better quality. As such, direction of its strategic planning is not focused on one of these dimensions, leading to disadvantages and losses in both. To cut costs, managers are recommending outsourcing some of the activities to nations where production costs are lower. However, they do not see that expenses incurred on its three types of customer segments outweigh the returns yielded by these. Thus, even customer profitability analysis is not

Immigration and Asylum Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Immigration and Asylum Law - Essay Example There comes a point at which, for some prolonged and unavoidable separation from this group seriously inhibits their ability to live full and fulfilling lives† (p89). Considering the psychological nature of human beings, the above statement affirms that human beings often interact as they live in sociable settings.2 As such human beings develop close relationships with each other to a point of desiring uninterrupted privacy of their persons or property. In the same light, humans derive a sense of belonging from their family members including spouses, children and other close relative. Therefore, anything including removal or deportation that threatens to separate such close family ties will be deemed to interfere with the victim’s right to enjoy private or family life. This paper therefore seeks to examine the relevance of the above mentioned statement with respect to immigration and asylum law. Besides, the paper provides critical arguments and practical circumstances u nder which the immigration and asylum law broadens its understanding to the reasoning of Lord Bingham. To that end, the arguments herein shall add to the archives of knowledge practical applications of the immigration and asylum law beyond the corridors of justice. 2. The statement was alluded in delivering the verdict in Huang and Kashmiri v SSHD [2007] UKHL 11 as depicted by Harvey, C 2000, Seeking Asylum in the UK: problems and prospects, London: Butterworths. The concept of Immigration and Asylum According to Hayes, Humphries and Cohen (2004, p162), immigration refers to the movement of persons from one state to another for purposes of seeking employment, visitation or temporary residence. In additions, the... From this research it is clear that immigration refers to the movement of persons from one state to another for purposes of seeking employment, visitation or temporary residence. In additions, the idea translates to the entry into another country other than the country of origin regardless of the protocol followed. As such, immigration could either be legal or illegal. With respect to the legality of movement, nations have developed amicable structures defining the procedures and circumstances under which the immigration relations apply. Moreover, the need to have a common method of handling foreign nationals has also necessitated the instrumentation of the immigration law in line with international standards of justice, protection and interaction. Druckman and Stern posits that people who travel to other countries for reasons outlined in the immigration law are termed as immigrants. Such people may have to apply for work permits and travelling documents to allow their movements and operations within the country of immigration. It is therefore a matter of convention to accord all immigrants necessary protection and assistance to ensure that they have full access to means of livelihood, family relations, propriety of justice as well as free movement and association for the entire period of their stay. While the country enjoys the right of admission, it confers reasonable expectation of protection and assistance to its immigrants in return for their allegiance. In the event that such mutuality is breached, the admitting state reserves the right to expel such individual and their persons. It is then that the concept of deportation emanates.

Discuss the implications of globalisation for both rich and poor Essay

Discuss the implications of globalisation for both rich and poor countries - Essay Example United Nation Development Program (UNDP) is concerned that inequalities and poverty level have increased in poor countries. UNDP indicates the major cause is global trade and finance system (World Bank, 2000). Another implication of globalization for the rich and the poor countries is that there is increased global protest and chaos. For instance, global trade means that investors from different countries have access to rich or poor countries thus increasing the chances of insecurity and drug trafficking. Security is important to poor and rich countries. While most countries join together to improve trade, in some cases insecurity is experienced. Likewise, illegal transactions have been reported for example importing of guns and elephant trunks which is mostly done by the residents of the countries (David, 2001). Drug trafficking like cocaine among other hard drugs is a threat to the countries residents especially to the youths since in most cases the drugs are sold to the youths thu s making a country lowers the economic status. This is based on the fact that young people support a country with the required output in the factories and in plantations among other areas. The rules and ideologies of globalization are that free trade is allowed, deregulation, privatization and structural adjustment which has left the poor countries residents to be homeless, landless and hungry. Since investors from other countries look for cheap labor, no training when recruiting new resources making the matter worse in poor countries. This means that access to health facilities, education, water, sanitation among other things is not easy thus resulting to negative effects on the productivity in such countries (Pritchett, 1998). On the other hand, the rich countries are not affected but rather they keep on increasing their wealth. For example, from 1986 to 2000, the total US wealth that was controlled by people increased from $7.2 trillion to $27 trillion. This

Information Systems Quality and Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Information Systems Quality and Testing - Essay Example Therefore, in a bid to see this effected, the company has contracted Eclipse Web Solutions to steer the website project that will see the company develop a new website that will help in promoting their products and services (Rubin & Chisnell, 2008). The company is the major stakeholder of this website project as it is the one involved in its development. Therefore, the man aim of the company in suggesting this project is to see it join its competitors in using the latest technology available. Those in the company who are set to benefit from the project include the following; human resource manager, business development director, marketing manager, area manager and finance manager. The other stakeholder who will also be involved in this website project is Eclipse Web Ltd. This is the company contracted to manage the website project by Simply Events. The other stakeholders are the customers who the company is targeting with the use and adoption of this new method of business promotion. They are set to learn more about the company concerning its products and services in order to purchase them. Successful development and implementation of the business is set to improve the performance of this company. This will be achieved through discarding the old ways of doing things and adopting the new and innovative technology. Therefore the website is going to be of value through the following ways; increasing awareness both locally and internationally, improving the long and time wasting manual operations and finally earning the company a position in the global platform as it strives to deliver and satisfy their customers (Harrison & Waite, 2006). Human resource department will benefit from the website project due to cost reduction. Currently the department has been publishing or advertising job vacancies in the local newspaper which has

Brand management Hoyts Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brand management Hoyts Cinema - Essay Example This study looks into the Hoyts Cinema Company that is capable of distributing independent film shows to Australian cinemas and broadcast high quality modern blockbuster movies. Hoyts cinemas had been independent by the beginning of the 1990s later merging with big companies like 20th Century to boost its profits and increase their target market. The society’s trend to appreciate films is rapidly growing towards identification with popular production companies that are mostly recognized as the prime producers of excellent films. Hoyts realized this opportunity and increased merger with other large Hollywood based film industries by 2002 to attract a larger market that appreciates quality productions. There is also importance in increasing comfort in the cinema environments and improve the service that consumers are willing to pay to achieve entertainment. Excellent service delivery and customer satisfaction goes greatly in improving brand popularity and improvement among its c onsumers. Most businesses and service providers offer increased incentives and adjustments to improve their brand quality and overall marketing of their services. Brand audit aids in reviewing the changes needed to improve the overall service structure of a company and increasing its identity in the competitive market. Through the application of various processes entailed in brand audit process, Hoyts cinema is capable of identifying areas of improvements. The brand auditing process identifies the weak areas of the brand improving on its overall performance and increasing its competitiveness in the market. ... Brand Auditing Jelsema in his article explains six factors considered when undertaking a successful brand audit process. The overall positioning of the brand, its market segmentation, differentiators, internal environments of the company, overall brand positioning, personality and brand metrics help identify a company in the competitive market7. These factors are the developmental strategies applied by a company to check on errors limiting development and its advancement when considering growth. In addition, areas of improvement are highlighted and adjustments made according to the overall requirements8. In general, a company’s brand will be defined by its overall outlook, name used or logo that stands out from the other brands9. Brand Culture and Image The culture in the brand is the image that has been drawn on the consumer’s image for prolonged period often articulated to the ability to memorize it by name or image. Hoyts Cinemas have been in the Australian markets f or decades establishing its dominance among other film providers in the state10. The ability of the company to deliver modern films that the audiences often require in the time of their release has led to the growth in its marketing11. Consumers would recommend other users to seek their services through mentioning its name and its signature logo. It is vital for the management and the staff to depict the overall culture of the brand to adjust into serving the long time clients who may be used to a particular routine in service delivery12. To understand this concept better, businesses often apply the use of a service triangle that puts the customer, the employees and the overall

Damage That Has Been Done to Children of Divorce Essay Example for Free

Damage That Has Been Done to Children of Divorce Essay When a marriage is not working, there is a breakdown of communication, common goals, or trust, and often this ends in divorce. A divorce is a very painful process with detrimental effects on children that are involved (Wienstock 5). The general trauma of a divorce and the level of severity it has on a child are mainly due to the childs age when a divorce takes place. The psychological effects are normally considered long term and the hardest to deal with for children involved (Persons 1). The easiest of all effects of a divorce is a child is behavior outburst normally displaying aggression and a feeling of not caring about anything or anyone anymore. The general effects of a divorce can affect everyone involved, but often the children will show the stress and emotions of a divorce more openly that an adult would. The fear of abandonment and losing one of the parents is devastating on a child (Wienstock 3). How a children perceives their homes normally sets the level of damage children are going to have to cope with through out the divorce and thereafter. If a child perceives the home as stable, they may handle a divorce well, but if a child perceives a home as freighting and scary place, they may try to avoid dealing with it at all. The trauma that a child endures will probably be worse than a child in a stable household environment. The most important issue that affects the level of perception and a level of damage is the age of a child when the parents divorce (Wienstock 3). Younger children will normally take a divorce of their parents more personally and handle it worse than an older child would. The psychological effects are more categorized as long-term effect that leave the children feeling responsible and blaming themselves for the guilt of a divorce everyone going through. Most children exercise a sense of loss during a divorce that can only be compared to as lost of a loved one (Children of Divorce 4). Feeling of rejections and loneliness normally confuses a child to the point of depression and some times suicide. The struggle as a child trys to keep in contact with the absent parent without  offending the parent that they are still are with becomes stressful and some times damaging to a young child (Wienstock 4). The deepest of all emotions is anger, and it is the easiest to recognize in older children that are coping with a divorce (Persons). The anger is normally turned toward both parents and sibling in the household (Wienstock 4 5). The behavior change in a child is almost immediate after the announcement of a divorce. The behavior outburst and disruption in a childs life are signs that a child is having a hard time dealing with the idea of parents splitting up. Academic problems with school activities and grades and physical displays of anger are the first of behavior effects to be seen in a family that is falling apart (Wienstock 5). Older children and even younger children are turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the emotional stress of losing one of the parents in the household . Girls tend to become sexual active with older partners, as they long to find a father like figure to replace the parent that is no longer a direct part of their lives (Wienstock 5). Boys tend to have shorter relationships refusing to get close for fear of being rejected again as they might have felt when their mother left them with his father as a child during a divorce. These children are just trying to find someone that they feel will not abandoned them as they feel their parents have done to them. The painful process that is broken into stages is navigated by a child and adults alike that have been subject to a divorce. The loss of the other parent is compared by most specialists to a death of a loved one. In therapy, the psychological effects in children are normally over looked as a child grows up and into adults themselves. These children typically are found to have poor relationships and an unbalanced social life as they struggle to find where they belong in this world. The physical effects that affect everyone are the choices that children make while thinking that they will never survive the divorce. Drugs, alcohol, and the sexual behaviors of the older children are just a few effects that a divorce can have on the children. The poor decisions of the current generation to enter in to marriage lightly at such a young age, leaves our society open for a generation of emotion basket cases of parents to raise the our future  generations..

The Evolution Of Corporate Espionage Business Essay

The Evolution Of Corporate Espionage Business Essay Espionage is the use of illegal means or deceptive practices to gather information. It is also commonly referred to as industrial or economic espionage. Industrial Espionage (or Economic Espionage) is the clandestine collection of sensitive, restricted or classified information. This information by its very nature is not openly accessible and can only be obtained through covert collection means. Industrial Espionage might include the theft of sensitive or restricted competitor information (such as financial data, restricted manufacturing processes, customer accounts, etc.), covert recruitment of sources within a competitors firm, and other such methods. Each and every day covert activities are being conducted for the purpose of obtaining information that can create value for another organization, be it a business or another government. Corporate initially meant united in one body (1398, from L. corporatus or corpus which means body  [1]  ). However, in due course of time the term the connotations attached with it finally paved way for the new age definition which is pertaining to a corporation or a group come together for a common goal. Moving onto Espionage, it means the systematic use of spies to get military, political or industrial secrets (1793, from Fr. Espionage  [2]  ). Corporate Espionage basically suggests impregnating a corporate system or structure with spies or systems so as to facilitate leakage of information which could in all probability mar the growth, financial stability the prospects of the victim organization to have sustained development in future. Corporate Espionage would cover illicit activities like theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail technological surveillance. And with developments that followed in the recent years, even attempts to sabotage a corporation may be conside red corporate espionage. Basically there are three primary motivations behind corporate espionage. First, an individual corporation may use corporate espionage to advance their goals towards maximizing shareholder value. Secondly, state-sponsored corporate espionage is an essential ingredient of modern day economic warfare or military application of the intellectual property. Thirdly, special interest groups may conduct corporate espionage to gather data to further their cause (i.e. environment interests). There are also instances where the distinction between legal and illegal intelligence gathering activities is blurred. Probably the most notorious case of corporate espionage that has been dealt in this study is Proctor and Gambles attempt to find out more about Unilevers hair care business by hunting through their garbage bins. Distinction between corporate espionage and competitive intelligence The difference between competitive intelligence and industrial espionage, is significant. By definition, industrial espionage refers to illegal activities which range everywhere from outright theft to bribery and everywhere in between. Conversely, competitive intelligence collection is governed for the most part by adherence to corporate and professional ethics which preclude the use of illegal means to obtain information. Moreover, the distinction between the two is in terms of modus operandi. At bottom, the competitive intelligence process consists of collecting information as elements which when legally, ethically but rigorously collected and analyzed, can provide the same kinds of information as might otherwise have only been available through such illicit means as theft. Burglary, outright theft or bribery might be some of the ways that criminals would resort to in order to obtain what a competitor may need constituting an act of corporate espionage. The evolution of corporate espionage over decades and the rationale behind its use The history of corporate/industrial espionage probably dates back to the sixth century when Justinian, the Byzantine emperor hired two monks to visit China. He wanted them to gain an understanding of silk production in China and to smuggle silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds out of that country to break its worldwide monopoly on silk production. The monks smuggled these eggs and seeds out of China in hollow bamboo walking sticks. Subsequently, in a few years the Byzantine Empire replaced China as the largest silk producer in the world. Over the centuries, industrial espionage practices continued to play a major part in the development of many countries. In the 18th century, alarmed by the industrial and military supremacy of Great Britain, France sent its spies to steal the latters industrial secrets. Corporate espionage gained more attention in the last few decades. Some of such instances are mentioned herein: In 1999, one of the most famous cases of corporate treachery, a Taiwanese company head was arrested as he was convicted to have paid an Avery Dennison (U.S. Label manufacturer) employee $160,000 for the secret formulas for the companys pressure-sensitive adhesive. In 1996, General Motors sued Volkswagen, charging that GMs former head of production had stolen trade secrets turned them over to Volkswagen. In 2000, Oracle Corporation head Larry Ellison had hired an investigation firm to dig out embarrassing secrets about Bill Gates headed Microsoft. In 2001, FBI arrested two employees from Lucent Technologies for conspiring to steal lucent trade secrets sell them to the Chinese government. In 2003, Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari charged Toyota with stealing the design for its Formula One racing car. Looking at the recent trend it becomes clear that corporate espionage cases have been increasing by leaps and bounds. The reasons for this can be attributed as: -advent of the information age with its tools and technologies has made it much easier to gather information and analyse intelligence. -Trained intelligence analysts can easily ferret out deeper information through masqueraded phone calls, purported interviews of the victim companys employees, going through their garbage, creating e-relationships with employees or joining use nets frequented by them. -The second issue that places most companies at risk is lack of employee awareness and education. At times, the management is to blame for the myopic approach that IT security should safeguard its intellectual property. The misplaced over-dependence on technology to protect the companys intellectual property is ridiculous, given that, even in the most digitised companies, over 70 per cent of critical information is still in non-digital forms. -Companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in firewalls and PKIs (public key infrastructure) forget that over 15 per cent of their employees are talking to prospective new employers (or competition) at that very moment. Or that several third parties and temporary employees are swarming all over their organisation with complete access. -The single factor that makes corporate espionage devastating is its transparent nature. Physical assets when stolen get noticed and things can be attended to rapidly. But a company could be getting robbed of intellectual property or competitive advantage for years and might still not know what exactly is going wrong. Thus what began as that innocuous glance at what competition is doing, just to keep oneself abreast of the latest developments in the business one was in, is now taking the ugliest forms of ethical and legal violation. And this includes the entire gamut of wrongdoing: the selling of technological knowhow, product design, research papers, client lists and other trade secrets by loyal employees, infringing intellectual property law, teams resigning en masse from a company, taking along with themselves upscale, lucrative customers to the new entity, selling defence secrets in the lure of monetary kickbacks, and what not. In fact, corporate espionage has moved far from within the confines of the corporate sector to foreign nations, with many IT expatriates and even foreign employees with acquired citizenship acting as a conduit for the flow of confidential information from one corporate to another, from one nation to another. Cross border businesses and employees, remotely located custom ers in an era of E-Commerce, telecommuting contractual employees-all these are adding to the ease with which these acts of malfeasance are being committed. It is interesting to examine the Annual Report to U.S. Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, FY 2008, it brings out the following:- The threat to the United States from foreign economic intelligence collection and industrial espionage has continued unabated since the publication of the Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, 2007. Economic espionage cases went up slightly and nearly every day brought reports-in the press and in the classified world-of new cyber attacks against US Government and business entities. Additionally, the increasing use of new modes of communication and social networking provided uncharted opportunities for transferring information and spying on the part of enterprising foreign intelligence services. According to evidence amassed by the US CI community, a wide variety of foreign entities continued to try to illegally acquire US technology, trade secrets, and proprietary information. With companies encouraging outsourcing of research and development (RD) and establishing foreign bases of operation, foreign entities had more opportunities to targe t US information and technologies and mask their collection activities. As a result, it was increasingly difficult to measure fully the extent of their espionage and illegal acquisitions. Nonetheless, the CI community assessed that the cost in FY 2008 remained high, given the number of legal cases, investigations, and technologies targeted. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The FBI opened 55 new cases and pursued 88 pending cases during the reporting period, slightly more than reported in FY 2007. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ ICE made 158 arrests in FY 2008 and achieved 187 indictments that resulted in 143 convictions for export-related criminal violations, more than any other Federal law enforcement agency. These efforts-similar to the previous year-significantly contributed to preventing sensitive US technologies, as well as weapons, from reaching terrorists, hostile countries, and violent criminal organizations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ DOC/BIS participated in more than 792 export investigations. This resulted in 40 criminal convictions, $2.7 million in criminal fines, over $800,000 in forfeitures, 56 administrative cases, and $3.6 million in administrative penalties. Wide Ranging Group of Actors According to information compiled during the reporting period, businessmen, scientists, engineers, and academics, as well as state security services from a large number of countries, continued to target US information and technology. The bulk of the collection activity, however, came from a core group of countries. Enduring Acquisition Methods While the most frequently reported collection methods remained the same during the past year, requests for information (RFI); exploitation of open-source media; and requests to purchase or share technology were often used. Some reports indicated an increase in the use of multiple methods in single contacts. General techniques included: RFIs Collectors used direct and indirect requests for information in their attempts to obtain valuable US data. These types of approaches often included requests for classified, sensitive, or export-controlled information. Solicitation or Marketing of Services Foreign companies sought business relationships with US firms that would enable them to gain access to sensitive or classified information, technologies, or projects. Acquisition of Technology Collectors continued to exploit direct and indirect acquisition of technology and information via third countries, the use of front companies, and the direct purchase of US firms or technologies in 2008. Conferences, Conventions, and Trade Shows These public venues offered opportunities for foreign adversaries to gain access to US information and experts in dual-use and sensitive technologies. Official Foreign Visitors and Exploitation of Joint Research Foreign government organizations, including intelligence and security services, also targeted and collected information, frequently through official contacts and visits. Statistics on visits and assignments to DOE facilities indicate that the number of visitors remained relatively stable compared to 2007. The statistics also show that visitors made multiple visits to individual facilities. China and Russia accounted for a considerable portion of foreign visits to DOE facilities during FY 2008. Cyber Attack and Exploitation Cyber threats are increasingly pervasive and are rapidly becoming a priority means of obtaining economic and technical information. Reports of new cyber attacks against US Government and business entities proliferated in FY 2008. Several adversaries expanded their computer network operations, and the use of new venues for intrusions increased. Threats against mobile telephones rose as well. Blackberry and iPhone-essentially general purpose computers-are susceptible to malicious software, according to opensource reporting. Foreign Targeting of US Travelers Overseas Foreign collectors also targeted US travelers overseas. Collection methods included everything from eliciting information during seemingly innocuous conversations to eavesdropping on private telephone conversations to downloading information from laptops or other digital storage devices. Targeted Information and Sectors Foreign collectors continued to seek a wide range of unclassified and classified information and technologies. Information systems attracted the most attention; aeronautics, lasers and optics, sensors, and marine systems were other top targets. Where as in case of India a report by Leslie DMonte Sapna Agarwal / Mumbai  February 10, 2007 from Business Standard (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/corporate-espionage-goes-undetected-unsolved-in-india/274229/) highlights the existing state of affairs , in that Corporate espionage virtually goes undetected and unresolved in India. The arrest of a VSNL employee for allegedly leaking information to a competing company is one of the few cases of corporate espionage to have come to light. However, a majority of corporate espionage cases go undetected. If detected, very few complaints come to light. And in the few cases that complaints are registered, hardly any action is taken. Only 20 per cent of corporate espionage cases are detected. Of this, a mere 20 per cent get reported and only 10 per cent can be solved, says Raghu Raman, CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group. Moreover, there have been very few convictions in India till date for corporate espionage or data theft, while not a single case has been registered under Section 66 of the IT Act 2000 the recent online ticket booking fraud cases where airlines were duped, is a case in point. In data theft cases, proving the crime is difficult. Besides, it could span across countries, under different jurisdictions, making it more difficult for law enforcement agencies, explains Vijay Mukhi, president, Foundation of Information Security and Technology (FIST). Every company I meet knows they are victim of some or the other form of data theft, but are not aware of how to deal with it, he adds. Any corporate leveraging intellectual property rights (IPR), offering cost-effective solutions or innovative or ingenuous solutions and not taking structured measures to protect its IPR, loses 5-10 per cent of their revenues to data theft, corroborates Raman. We get at least one or two cases every month, besides many inquiries; our clients ask us for specific information from their competitors or send dummy interviewees to find out salary packages, says Sunil Sharma, CEO, Authentic Investigation, Delhi. Ajay Jugran, Partner of law firm, Lawcombine, says, This malady is deep-rooted. Its prevalent when PSUs call for bids. Trading in bidding information is rampant. Companies are even using annual maintenance (AMC) contractors to plant surveillance software in rival firms. The software gives a daily log of the data via e-mail. Corporates have not woken to this fact despite the fact that the law (unless for national security purposes) does not permit this, explains cyberlaw expert and Supreme court lawyer, Pavan Duggal. Corporate Espionage has risen to epidemic levels. Espionage strategies range from illegal to merely seedy. In most cases, the best defense is employee awareness. The current organisational focus on risk management, governance, and compliance has, for some, blurred the responsibility for ensuring the security of an organizations assets. Corporations have to reconsider the effectiveness of their overall security programs, given the current threat of corporate espionage. Comprehensive security programs should address this threat. Though espionage cannot be eliminated, implementing multi-layer safeguards will at least minimize losses. What Can Companies Do? As competition in the global market place increases, so will the instances of corporate espionage. Therefore, companies both big and small need to take steps necessary to protect themselves from becoming a victim. Here are four necessary steps to help protect valuable data from falling into the hands of competitors. 1. Companies must identify what information is sensitive and classify it as such. Information such as RD processes and innovations or new market strategies are easily identified as sensitive. However, other information such as personnel files, pricing structure, and customer lists are often overlooked and left unprotected. 2. A company should conduct a risk assessment to identify vulnerabilities, and the probability that someone will exploit those vulnerabilities and obtain sensitive information. 3. Establish, review and update security policies and appropriate safeguards, both procedurally and technologically, to thwart attempts to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to valuable company data. 4. Train all employees. Users, managers and IT staff all need to be trained in what business information needs to be safe guarded, techniques that can be used to gain access to sensitive data, and what procedures should be taken to report compromises or suspected attempts to solicit sensitive information. Government Involvement in the Espionage Threat Countermeasures -The government must conduct a threat assessment to determine risk and External / Internal flaws in the security the major corporations both private and public sector undertakings so as to prevent any possible attack of espionage. This would help protect such information as is necessary for keeping the economy of nation on track and preventing from it from any derailment by the financial loss that might be caused due to espionage activities. -There is a need of initiative on the part of government to make policies and procedures that would help in controlling the rampant increase of espionage activities. Such policies and procedures must be in writing and easy to understand and should be accessible easily. Further it is also needed that such regulations passed by government must be disseminated so that it becomes friendlier for the victim of corporate espionage to take recourse to the measures provided under this. -The government must also stay updated with regard to various developments that take place in the corporate world. For this revision of such policies and procedures is required from time to time. Such policies must also be updated annually so as to keep in touch with the latest technological developments. -The government must also take care of its assets, its people, its information, and its property so that it can utilize all these resources properly without any threat of being espionage by enemy organizations. -The government while handling various public sector undertakings must take care of its human resources. There must be Proper Position Descriptions of all the employees which must be accompanied with Pre-Employment Investigations about their background. It must be followed by Periodic Investigations so as to check any change in the behavior of a disgruntled employee. -The government must also advocate for the publication and release of Audits and Investigations. There must be regular audits of all areas, as this would help in investigations of losses and investigations of violations of policy. After doing this the government would be successfully able to check corporate espionage.