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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Five Accounting Unethical Issues Essay

Unethical Methods are performed to manipulate the financial records of a bussiness firm. And following are the few methods: Legal : Misuse of law in case of compensation Statistics : Exaggerating revenue and profits to mislead/confuse Tax : Avoiding to pay actual tax Transperency : Trying to counterfeit/falsifying in case of investigation Exploitation : Misuing funds These issues arises due to competition between the bussiness firms to raise their numbers. Greed to have more money and violate the law. Opportunity makes thiefs when offered the bribery. Individuals who work for a giant corporate company, fails to think out of the box when considering rest of the world. Performing unethical behaviour and claimimg it as ignorance, which is not true. Transparent code of ethic which should be professinally implemented in the firm, and as well as among the employees. Maintaining healthy competition betwwen the firms. Publishing actual financial data. Responsible to pay tax. Awarding the apraisal and rewards for ethical behaviour. Legally there should be strict laws for unethical behaviour. Kimmel, P.D., Weygandt, J.J. & Kieso, D.E(4 Ed) Financial accounting: Tools for business decision making Rajeev, L.L. (2012). Ethical and Unethical Business Practices. Article of Buzzle, Business Ethics. Retrived from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ethical-and-unethical-business-practices.html Oseni, Abubakar Idris. (2012). Research Journal of Finance and Accounting ISSN 2222-2847 (Online) Vol 2. Retrived from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RJFA/article/view/188

Has EU aviation policy failed to meet its overall objective of producing safe, affordable, convenient and efficient services for its customers?

Introduction I don’t agree the EU aviation policy has failed to meet its overall objective of producing safe, affordable, convenient and efficient service for its customer. Mega-policy, according to De (2011, p.22) is master policy that deals with overall goals, certain basic assumption policy instruments and implementation strategies with the aim of typically large scale investments, and is divided as internal and external policy. In the EU aviation industry context, internal policy is meant to govern EU registered airlines whereas External governs non-EU registered airlines. The main aim of EU is to achieve a safe, affordable, convenient and efficient service for consumers. To provide a safe, affordable, convenient and efficient services1. Internal Policyi.Safety: EU established the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) with the goal of ensuring civil aviation safety for its member countries (European Commission, 2009). The agency’s main task is to ensure air transport is safe as well as sustainable. To achieve this important goal, the agency has developed some of safety and environmental rules that must be adhered to by all stakeholders. In addition, it constantly monitors implementation of these standards through regular inspections of member states’ adherence to the rules, as well as offering technical support through training. Through EASA, EU regulates pilot and other crew member training as well as issuance of licences for European pilots. The establishment of single aviation market has been a huge success in enabling the EU agencies to collaborate in monitoring safety policy implementations. For example, European Commission, European Aviation Safety Agency and Eurocontrol have collaborated under the pillar of safe aviation services to the passengers through licensing regulations. Other agencies involved in safety regulation are national civil aviation authorities, and safety investigation authorities, who work to incorporate all stakeholders, including aircraft manufacturers and airline companies, in safety measures. The agencies operate under the common safety rules, which enable them to do random safety inspections at any European airport. Statistics show that, despite the rise in traffic over the last two decades, EU’s air safety initiatives have successfully maintained high standards in terms of aviation safety (EASA Annual Safety Review). It must, however, be noted that despite the raft of security measures, the notion of ‘zero risk’ in aviation does not exist, and occasional cases of accidents may occur. In such cases, EU advises that thorough investigations is the best approach, as studies show that accidents do not occur as a result of single event but a combination of multiple prior events (Ferroff et al., 2012). ii. Freedom to establish & provide services: EU’s establishment of a single European Aviation Market, from the initial 27 national air transport markets all over Europe, has created an atmosphere of success in terms of freedom to all markets. The initiatives were meant to: Increase market access top every European carrier, with no restriction on capacity; Ensure no discrimination in terms of license provision across Europe; Ensure freedom to provide services to the aviation industry Ensure operators’ freedom to pricing their product and services Ensure implement penalties on those who infringe on the procedures The increase in more choices has also seen the number of EU routes increase by 25 percent from 1992 to 2011. The increased competition has led to 420 percent rise in intra-EU routes with more than two carriers over the same period (Zamarreno, 2012). Finally, the EU initiative led to rise in new entrants, which facilitated competition thus the emergence of market for low-cost air services, which currently account for 40 percent of EU aviation market.2. External Policyi. Market Opening The external aviation policy has been an integral part of EU’s strategy in effort towards greater flexibility, consistency and transparency in matters international civil aviation. To achieve these goals, EU has been gradually and consistently making and ratifying bilateral and multilateral agreements with other international aviation bodies outside EU. As such, EU has been carrying out is horizontal mandate of bringing the existing bilateral and multilateral agreements into line with EU laws. They also identified the creation of a Common Aviation Area with neighbouring nations, including United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil and India among others as an important step towards realising sustainable growth. This realisation has led to: Over 117 non-EU states accepting EU designation; Close to 1000 bilateral aviation safety agreements have conformed to EU laws, which have translated into over 70 percent rise in EU air traffic; Some neighbouring countries willingly participate in a pan- European Common Aviation Area e.g. agreements with Morocco (signed in December 2006) and Israel (signed in July 2012) among many other nations; Comprehensive agreements with key partners such as United States, Canada and Brazil, which aims to open partners’ markets, removal of investment barriers, and converging regulations across borders; Increased level playing field through adoption of common rules and standards that ensures greater aviation safety, efficient infrastructure, consumer protection and lower prices due to competition (Zmarreno, 2012). ii. Affordability and Convenience An external policy has meant that EU citizens benefits from reduced prices and more travel offers resulting from competition between EU and international airlines. Moreover, every airline must up its game by offering better services in terms of quality and convenience to withstand competition. The European Union aviation industry employs more than five million people around the world and contributes ˆ365 billion to the European GDP (Sandbag, 2012). In spite of the current economic crisis, it is projected that global aviation industry will continue to experience an average annual growth of 5 percent till 2030. When EU emphasises its commitment to external partnerships through their external aviation policies, their goal is to ensure barriers to growth is eliminated through removal of any limiting factor of investment (e.g. airline ownership). It must be noted that initial ownership of airlines were highly regulated, with governments restricting foreign ownership in what was cited as national security measures. However, the discriminatory approach to ownership was removed, thanks to EU’s raft measures to increase fairness, allowing more openness in market access and competition. For example, EU has a general ownership rule that allows up to 49 percent foreign owne rship of a European aviation company (European Commission, 2009). This is much better than the United States’ 25 percent of voting stocks restrictions to foreign ownership. Arguably, this arrangement has made EU aviation industry more attractive to external investors, hence the region’s benefits from large economy of scale. iii. Environmental Safety Aviation industry is responsible for 2.5 percent of the total global carbon emission (Sandbag, 2012). This percentage rises to 4.9 percent of the total anthropogenic carbon effect if all the radiation components are included. Put to context, this would make aviation industry the seventh largest carbon emitting ‘country’ worldwide. The forecast from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) indicates that by 2036 carbon emissions from the industry alone will hit 300% compared to 2011 levels (Bows, et al., 2010). European Union’s decision to include aviation industry into its carbon market, with the introduction of Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), signalled their desire to protect the global climate. More importantly, EU member countries ensured EU law has primacy over national law, hence giving the union broader power to control any form of environmental destruction that may emerge from a single country’s non-compliance. In December 2012, EU’s court of Justice made a major landmark decision when it ruled out that the decision by the EU to include the international aviation in the ETS did not contravene international law as claimed by many international airline operators (Sandbag, 2012). This meant that the court gave EU authority to implement the carbon emission policy. Although there is still an ongoing row that has escalated into a number of non-EU members joining forces together to challenge EU and its emission policy, the steps towards safer environment is on course, with EU leading the park towards realising this important milestone It is important to note that major EU airlines are in the process of adopting ETS to set pace for their international peers. This is an important step considering that 25 percent of the total aviation emission comes from the region’s airlines (Braun, 2008). Conclusion EU aviation policy has been hailed around the world as one that has achieved success amid the biting economic challenges facing many airline industry players. EU aviation industry has seen tremendous growth and development for the last two decades. One of reasons for this astronomical growth has been attributed to the union’s efforts to provide safe, affordable, convenient and efficient service for its customers. Policy formulation, research and implementation are some of the most important operational aspects of aviation sector the union has embraced. Despite the numerous challenges, some of which are cross-border related, various reports show that EU’s efforts have resulted into some measurable success that is not comparable to any other regional union around the world. The union’s mega policy on aviation, which consists of internal and external, has seen substantial changes in safety, freedom to establish and provide more choices, opening of more markets, incr eased affordability & convenience and environmental safety. These initiatives have also led to affordable pricing by the airlines, convenience, and safer environment. It’s no doubt the reason why EU is considered the world’s largest and the most successful regional market integration with the most liberalised air transport. References Bows, A., Mander, S. Randles, S., and Anderson K. (2010). Aviation emission in the context of climate change: a consumption- production approach. Final Policy Report. June 2010. Braun, M. (2008). The evolution of emission trading in the European Union- The role of policy networks, knowledge and policy entrepreneurs. Accounting Organisations and Society doi:10.1016/j.aos.2008.06.002: 1-19. De, P.K. (2011). Public Policy and Systems. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education. EASA Annual Safety Review: http://easa.europa.eu/newsroom-and-events/general publications European Commission. (2009). FWC Sector Competitiveness Studies- Competitiveness of the EU Aerospace Industry with focus on: Aeronautics Industry. European Commission Final Report, 15 December 2009. Ferroff, C., Mavin, T.J., Bates P.R. and Murray, P.S. (2012). A case for social constructionism in aviation safety and human performance research. Aeronautica, Issue 3, p. 1-12. Sandbag (2012), Aviation and the EU ETS: What happened in 2012 during ‘Stop the Clock’December 2012. Last retrieved on 14 May 2012 from http://www.sandbag.org.uk/site_media/pdfs/reports/Sandbag_Aviation_and_the_EU_ETS_2012_171213_1.pdf Zmarreno, C.M. (2012). EU aviation policy in terms of access market. Presentation for Euromed Aviation II: initial workshop on Market Access, Brussels, 17 December 2012.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Binge Drinking Among College Students

Joel Castaneda August 3, 2011 HSC 421 Prof. Garrido Binge Drinking Among College Students With extreme rates of binge drinking among young adults, college students continue to be a primary focus for a range of alcohol prevention efforts. The rates of binge drinking among college students is nearly double the rates for high school students, which may indicate that the college environment encourages high risk drinking. Many students view heavy drinking as a rite of passage that everyone must go through in life and be looked at as being â€Å"cool. Young adults aged 18-22 enrolled full-time in a college were more likely than their peers not enrolled full time to use alcohol, drink heavily, and binge drink (Cremeens, 1). Half of these binge drinkers who binge drink do so more than once a week. Binge drinking on college campuses has become a recognized activity to do being influences from either other college students or friends, followed by harmful effects on a student’s body eve n resulting death. Binge drinking results from a student's submission to peer pressure, the lack of outside control over the student, and the denial that drinking leads to severe consequences. Binge drinking is defined as five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more drinks in a row for women in about two hours. Many students participate in binge drinking to be socially accepted into a group, but other students find it difficult to make the choice to be the sober. Many binge drinkers realize that there is little immediate outside influence to push them away from the alcohol and they abuse their independence (Norman, 2011). Most binge drinkers do not consider themselves to be problem drinkers; which adds to the difficulty in solving this college epidemic. They associate binge drinking with a good time, but many are blind to the harm it causes, such as failing grades and unplanned sexual encounters which may lead to sexually transmitted diseases or unplanned pregnancies. Binge drinking has become an accepted part of the college experience for many students. Although there are other reasons a student may choose to binge drink, the influence of friends, the lack of outside control and the denial of drinking-related problems are the main forces driving the need to consume alcohol to the point of physical harm. The extreme denial that the alcohol can cause severe problems lies at the root of the college binge drinking crisis. Once students have an established binge drinking habit, they do not want to believe that something that helps them forget their responsibilities could be harmful. In many situations, binge drinking goes undetected because people believe if their friends are engaging in the same drinking habits, they must be acceptable. Women who regularly compare their drinking to men's drinking are more likely to underestimate the severity of their drinking. When young girls start drinking at such an early age, their brain starts developing and it interferes with their brain activation. This can become a problem because it might have negative impacts on concentration and can cause problems when driving, playing sports involving complex moves, using a map or remembering how to get somewhere. Since this has become such a problem on college campuses, many universities have implemented a variety of programs as a means to reduce heavy drinking to try and reduce the misperceptions of college drinking of students. The theory of Planned Behavior is utilized as a framework for predicting binge drinking among young college students. According to the TPB, the cause of this behavior is due to the individual’s intention to engage in the behavior which is determined by three constructs. First, is the individual’s attitude towards the behavior. Second is the individual’s perception of the social pressure from important others to perform or not perform the behavior. Third is the individual’s perception of the ease or difficulty of performing the behavior, which is seen to cover the influence of both internal and external control factors (Norman, P. Conner, M. , 26). Constructs that make up the Theory of Planned Behavior are attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intention, and behavior. The Health Belied Model is another theoretical foundation for researching binge drinking. This model is a value-expectancy theory, meaning everyone has the desire to avoid an illness or get well and the belief that a specific behavior will prevent the illness from occurring. In relation to this study, a parent wants their child to avoid heavy drinking during their college years, and the belief that a parent has some influence on their child behavior to prevent heavy drinking (Cremeens, 3). Constructs that make up the Health Belief Model are perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action. As a model of health behavior, the Transtheoretical Model potentially offers a mechanism to identify and describe processes that are purported to motivate, prepare and assist individuals in realizing behavior change. This model has also had a significant impact on the way the substance use disorders are understood and treated. It has also examined the extent to which the TTM stage paradigm offers an apt description of individuals with substance use problems, and their readiness to change their substance use problems, and their readiness to change their substance user behavior (Migneault, Adams, Read, 438). Constructs that make up the Transtheoretical Model are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. Using the Transtheoretical Model, heavy drinkers might be asked if they are planning to reduce their drinking to a smaller amount within the next six months. Based on their responses they would be assigned to precontemplation, contemplation or preparation stages to see if they do have intent to change their behavior. This model is usually used for behaviors that can be changed in the long run and not immediately. In the other hand the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior is used for shorter amount of time. Along with, the Health belief Model is used as a framework to explore parent-child communication patterns among first-year college students as a mean of reducing heavy drinking (Cremeens, 4). Parents try to talk to their children and let them know what they might expect in college and be aware of the dangers behind it. For example, reminding them of a family member or a good friend of their dying in a car accident due to drunk driving. This will usually help students realize that driving while under the influence is not a fun thing to do. Compared to the other two models, the Theory of Planned Behavior is the only one that deals with the individual’s intention to engage in the behavior. Using the other two, someone else has to influence a person to stop drinking. The individual’s attitude is important, they know that drinking is bad for them so they want to stop drinking and stay sober or at least not drink as much. All three of the models have to do with the attitude being the strongest predictor of binge drinking intentions by not caring about what harm they can cause to their bodies when they drink. Lastly, models and theories discuss that excessive drinking for a long period of time, causes higher levels of temptation to drink and lower levels of confidence to stop drinking. Binge drinking is common and dangerous but is not a well-organized public health program. There are some recommendations that can be done to try and lower the number the number of young adults that perform this behavior. The U. S. Government can promote programs and policies that work to prevent binge drinking. They can also provide states and communities with information and tools to put into practice prevention strategies that work. Along with, they can evaluate programs and policy effectiveness that are already in place and track trends in binge drinking. States can review interventions that are known to work to reduce binge drinking adopted by local leaders. The state can also reduce alcohol marketing to the youth. Most importantly, they can grow partnerships between schools, community organizations, law enforcement, and public health agencies to reduce binge drinking. Furthermore, doctors, nurses, and other providers can choose not to binge drink themselves. They can screen patients for binge drinking and use behavioral counseling to reduce problem drinking. Lastly, they can support community efforts to reduce binge drinking by passing out flyers explaining the dangers and results of drinking. All people can choose not to binge drink themselves and help others not to do it. Not drinking and driving and if you plan on drinking take a sober designated driver. Choose not to drink if they teens, pregnant, or may become pregnant. Talking with a health care provider about their drinking behavior and requesting counseling if they drink too much can be recommended. Lastly, people can participate in community efforts to prevent underage and binge drinking (CDC, 2010). Deciding what role alcohol will play is a choice that every student must make. Having friends who drink, a lack of control from outside sources and the denial of the consequences of binging are not excuses for drinking excessively. Drinking with friends can seem more tempting than studying, feeling stressed out, bored or lonely, but as many students find out, the consequences are not worth the short-term relief. In reality, the emotional regret of an unplanned sexual encounter or failing grades outweighs any temporary negative feelings. Drinking as a result of any of these causes demonstrates a weakness in character and the inability to make educated decisions. References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2010). Binge drinking: what can be done? Atlanta, GA: Retrieved from http://www. cdc. gov/vitalsigns/BingeDrinking/WhatCanBeDone. html Cremeens, J. L. , Usdan, S. L. , Brock-Martin, A. , Martin, R. J. , & Watkins, K. (2008). PARENT-CHILD COMMUNICATION TO REDUCE HEAVY ALCOHOL USE AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS. College Student Journal, 42(1), 152-163. Migneault, J. P. , Adams, T. B. , & Read, J. P. (2005). Application of the transtheoretical model to substance abuse: historical development and future directions. Drug and Alcohol Review, doi: 10. 1080/09595230500290866 Norman, P. (2011). The theory of planned behavior and binge drinking among undergraduate students: Assessing the impact of habit strength. Addictive Behaviors, 36(5), 502-507. doi:10. 1016/j. addbeh. 2011. 01. 025 Norman, P. , & Conner, M. (2006). The theory of planned behavior and binge drinking: assesing the moderating role of past behavior withing the theory of planned behavior. British Journal of Health Psychology, (11), doi: 10. 1348/135910705X43741

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Company Promotion Policies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Company Promotion Policies - Research Paper Example Fron this essay it is clear that if we look at the argument from the company’s perspective, they believe that Maria is a good employee; however, she is loud and aggressive at time in her contact with co-workers and supervisors. Moreover, she has had punctuality issues twice in the past and she gives family problems as the causes. She says that her family needed her help and support and it was her duty to do so. With regard to the accent, it was also cleared out that it was not the company was discriminating her accent, although it was a major consideration. However, it was pointed out that Maria speaks very rapidly and because of her accent, it becomes impossible to understand anything she said. The company says that communication is a very important part of that job description and hence, it cannot be overlooked.This study highlights that  we need to first understand discrimination before we can provide any ruling regarding the company’s promotion policy. We can defi ne discrimination as the bias in treatment that exists towards a certain race, color, sex, nationality. Another explanation of discrimination can be the improper treatment based on unjustified factors. Racial discrimination occurs when a member of one racial group is treated favorably as compared to the member of another racial group. Discrimination in the workplace occurs when there is an unjustified hiring, promotion, job assignment, compensation, or termination of the job... We can define discrimination as the bias in treatment that exists towards a certain race, color, sex, nationality. Another explanation of discrimination can be the improper treatment based on unjustified factors. Racial discrimination occurs when a member of one racial group is treated favorably as compared to the member of another racial group. Discrimination in the workplace occurs when there is an unjustified hiring, promotion, job assignment, compensation, or termination of the job (Blank, Dabady, & Citro, 2004). The law that is most widely used by employees against discrimination is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which states that, â€Å"to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or (2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or appli cants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin† (Garcez, n.d.). The case at hand is that the company promoted another employee based on his evaluation and his aggressiveness for the job and another employee who is in racial minority in the company believes that there has been discrimination based on sex, race, and language ability. There were three major reasons that contributed towards Maria’s retention at her current post: her aggressive and loud behavior with her co-workers and supervisors, issues with punctuality, and her accent, which

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

A Review of London Docklands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Review of London Docklands - Essay Example LDCC developed a master plan and preferred to depend on the market led redevelopment. . Dockland was very close to the city of London which made it an attractive and preferable for establishment of the office as well as it is possible for residential development on the riverside to accommodate single high income households. The approach that applied to the development of London Dockland Area was clear and simple and it emphasized on attracting investment in that area. The LDCC was formed to develop this area. It is due to the initiative of the LDCC the filling of the old dock was stopped and it became most popular and preferable area for the people to invest. The approach that was followed by the LDCC during redesigning of the Dockland area was to improve the transportation. The development of transportation is considered as the key to the redevelopment of the London Dockland. The tenants of the new office desired more efficient transport facility that will link or connect the area w ith the city. In order to fulfil or satisfy the desire of its potential tenants it focussed more on the development of transportation facilities. The first phase towards the development of the dockland was developing the Dockland Railway links. The developers of Greenwich Peninsula also extended their help and support for redevelopment of the area. In spite of various economic and financial uncertainty and risk, these railway links or connections encourages or motivated the commercial tenants to Canary wharf.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Eggsactly LTD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Eggsactly LTD - Essay Example It has two departments viz. the sales department and the production department. Present scenario included the fact that the market had continued with the original enthusiasm exhibited in this machine and continued to demand more and more of such machines. However despite such a robust demand the company was not as profitable as expected due to certain cost considerations. There are two complimentary approaches to improve the profitability of the concern. One is to increase the funds position of the concern by inviting new capital into the company. This would automatically result in expansion of the production base of the company and hopefully, result in the spreading of most fixed costs on a higher production base thus improving the profits. Second approach is to follow careful budgeting process in the concern covering all of its operations. In fact budgeting process has been missing entirely at the concern with reported mismatches in sales forecast and resultant carrying over of the finished goods' inventories. Ideally the concern would benefit the most if the two approaches are taken in tandem as following second approach would not only help control the fixed costs but also the variable costs would be streamlined. In addition, the budgeting system proposed is likely to be responsibility linked budgeting system in which each executive would be assigned the key budgeted figures and be accountable and responsible for variations if significant. Sales Function Merely an over enthusiastic top executive is no guarantee to a successful sales function. This enthusiasm is, in part, attributable to the fact that the product to be sold is a successful product idea in its present form and features and is well accepted by the market and there is not much need to take up conscious advertising and media campaign. Due to this fact, while it is conceded that normal marketing strategy can be reduced to selling function in case of Eggsactly Ltd; even the vanilla sales function needs to be planned carefully and tied up with the production department. This can come through an integrated budgeting system where in the sales budget is linked and integrated with the production budget. The Sales manager would be accountable for key budgeted figures in the sales budget. The Sales Manager can, in turn, pass down, the accountability down the line to his sales executives, who may be assigned this accountability according to distribution of sales targets to them. A s part of individual initiatives the Sales Manager must look into the aspect of high turnover in his department. Some staff retention incentives can be introduced which are linked with sales targets and accountability which would help reduce the high turnover of the staff in Sales department. After this entire budgeting process must be reckoned in all its possibilities for Eggsactly Ltd and end in he choice of the best alternative which suits contextual realities of the concern. Budgeting Process Budgets are drawn to assist in clarifying and attaining business objectives. These objectives can be varied but can be commonly listed as minimizing costs/controlling expenditures, increasing revenues, gaining a higher market share, improving spread/margins (through increased sales), etc. Therefore, a statement of identified objectives becomes important at the commencement of

Monday, August 26, 2019

Nonverbal Listening Patterns exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nonverbal Listening Patterns exercise - Essay Example There are both positive and negative non-verbal behavioral patterns. Leaning towards the speaker, nodding in acknowledgement and making meaningful eye contact are regarded as positive signals whereas non-verbal signals like blinking, biting the lip or nails, playing with the hair or jewelry, and glancing at the watch display negative non-verbal behavioral patterns (Linder, p. 8). The essay makes a probe into the two Nonverbal Listening Patterns exercises that I had with my aunt (with whom I enjoy spending time) and one of my classmates named Joe (with whom I feel less comfortable). It took almost three days for me to complete the review of each of the exercise and no doubt, these exercises provided me with the necessary improvements that I need to display in my non verbal communication. The first non verbal listening exercise reviewed here is my conversation with my aunt who never failed to show motherly affection, love and concern for me. She was always considerate for me and showed great eagerness to know how I performed in my studies. During the conversation I could maintain direct eye contact with her, which very often lasted for more than 10 seconds and this convinced me of the intimacy, interest and honesty of my conversation with her. When she enquired about my studies, I noticed that I was easily making use of spontaneous and natural emphatic gestures and facial expressions with a lot of enthusiasm. At times, I smiled at her showing my pleasure and leant towards her to display my honest interest in her advices.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Personal and professional development for business Essay

Personal and professional development for business - Essay Example As I reflect about my school life and attempt to gain success in professional field, I have understood the massive influence of my education on my present learning. I have historically infused education as a vital part and am currently improving myself through the way of higher education and training. These past experiences and present education will lead me to the outset of developing my personal career interests i.e. to become a gym instructor and to attain a commendable position in Tesco Plc. I desire to proposer my career in the field of fitness industry and retail segment and thus, there is a need for personal and professional development. Through personal and professional development plan, I can utilise my strengths and reduce my weaknesses for gaining better prospect of success in my career. Education and Training From the schooling days, I was quite obsessive regarding the selection of my profession which can provide me better enjoyment and where I can render my complete effo rt. Since I want to become a gym instructor, I have taken training on body building and exercising. I am quite good in workout and also have good physique which is an essential component of a gym instructor. I have also taken education on the subject of physical fitness. On the other hand, I have also the desire to perform as a top-level employee in Tesco. Due to this reason, I have also attempted to gain educational knowledge on business. Presently, I am pursuing BA Honours with specialisation in marketing. Since marketing is one of the vital activities of Tesco, this course will be helpful for me to obtain better understanding about different aspects of Tesco’s operations. I have a strong desire for utilising my learnings from present education in my future professional life. Key Lessons Learned from Education and Training In the past two years, I have acquired enormous knowledge about the basics of body building along with maintaining a good health. Through my training on physical fitness, I have learnt the ideas and principles which are associated with the development and application of individual physical activity plan. I have also gained an understanding about planning, applying, assessing and reviewing routine activities which contribute to health based fitness elements (Education and Advanced Learning, 2013). During by bachelor education, I also have acquired good communication skill which is regarded as vital trait for a gym trainer. This ability will allow me to deal with my clients effectively and to understand their interests and issues. Furthermore, in my educational career, I have also acquired the quality of inspiring other individuals. I have proper skill to guide people for accomplishing specific activities. In past two years while performing as a leader in my educational career, my performance was quite commendable as I have effectively motivated entire team towards accomplishing high performance. This ability would be helpful for me i n order to become a fitness trainer and can also enhance my employability (Lendrum, 2014). Throughout my specialisation in marketing, I have understood the basic ideologies of business, management and marketing. This course has close relationship with the career I pursue, i.e. to reach in a top-level position in Tesco. I was also educated about the problems and challenges of the business world and the methods to deal with them (Narver & Slater,

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Chilhoodhood obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chilhoodhood obesity - Essay Example When it comes to â€Å"Raising Healthy Children† (Purcell 46) parents must educate themselves about childhood obesity. Information on proper nutrition is given to parents, in some cases, at their childs first doctor visit. Parents are often shown the food pyramid as a guideline for healthy eating, and regular exercise is also recommended. Parents should limit buying prepackaged food because of their high sodium and sugar content, but instead should give a variety of fruits, vegetables, and as part of their child’s daily diet to supplement an active lifestyle. Children should be encouraged to try several healthy foods at dinner. Limiting and/or eliminating fast food from a child’s diet will help decrease the amount of unhealthy fat and sodium that are going into a child’s body. Portion control is also important in maintaining a healthy diet. Reducing beverages with high concentrations of sugar (Clabaugh, Neuberger 34.3) is also necessary in preventing child hood diabetes. Eating unhealthy foods and not maintaining an active lifestyle can lead to childhood obesity that can manifest itself as a broad range of medical disorders in the future. Children learn mostly through observational learning. Parents must eat healthy and exercise and the children will follow. Parents can start by having available fresh fruit that can be eaten year-round and eat health snacks. Interactive activity with their children can also lead to a positive self-image as well as a healthy lifestyle. Parents can refer to studies like (The Lifestyle Behavior Checklist:Morawska and Joughin.36.4) to see if their adequately reducing their childs risk of childhood obesity. Since childhood obesity has increased at an alarming rate, physicians are asking, â€Å"Do parents recognize this health risk?† (Etelson, Donald, Patrick, Brand and Anushree Shirali 1362). Children are likely to develop bad eating habits because they are exposed to them as children.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Final Exam - Essay Example Powerful and rich people in the society force the poor to adhere to social order and the weak to fulfill their own desires. An example to show how this happens may be illustrated in the perspective of crime management. According to conflict theorists, both the law and crime are products of power struggle. A few powerful groups like the police manipulate the legislative procedure, and forbid acts that intimidate their interests. For instance, regulations that forbid theft, trespassing, and vagrancy are believed to protect the rich from being attacked by the poor. Despite the fact that laws against actions like rape and murder seem not to be so obvious in a single social class’ interest, the powerless and the underprivileged are much more probable than the rich to be detained if they commit these kinds of crime. In addition, ethnic and class exploitation are basic roots of most of the crimes in societies. Failure of the powerful class to give legitimate opportunities to the poor is what results in high crime rates among the subject class. The criminal justice system demonstrates classism and racism, thus crime can only be wiped out only if exploitation and inequality are eliminated from the society. How lobbyists and PACS work Lobbyists direct their efforts basically at the national level, that is, to congress committees that regard administrative agencies and legislation that are mandated to write or enforce laws. They depend on individual relations with executive branch and Congress members who keep regular contact. They give evidence at committee hearings, offer data to the staff, and quite frequently, write the laws. On the other hand, Political Action Committees or simply PACs raise and issue money to political aspirants. They may be associated with prevailing interest groups like trade associations, though can exist independently. PACs do not often operate differently from interest groups, but rather finance campaigns of a larger lobby group. The act ivities lobbyists and PACs do not meet the needs of the middle and lower classes. It is not clear how their contributions really alter policies. Since the contributions by PACs go to the top officials, it has no direct impact to the common citizen. On the other hand, Lobbyists have busy schedules with little time assigned to consider the desires of the lower classes. Further, the influences made by these interest groups are mostly in favor of the executives, who belong to the upper class as compared to the interests of the middle and low classes. Most key politicians and corporations hire professional lobbyists with an aim to endorse their personal interests as intermediaries. This is of no benefit to the local citizen, who may have his interests but no one to represent him at the top ((Moen, McClain, & Walker 121). The story of Emmett Till Emmett’s visit to Money, Mississippi was a tragic one. He was a 14-year old African American boy who was brutality killed following the a llegations that he flirted with a white woman some few days earlier. His eyes were scraped out, his head shot, and his body thrown in a river. Till was brought up in a neighborhood full of working class people on the South part of Chicago. His mother had always warned him to be extremely careful wherever he went due to his race, but Till took it lightly. While at his uncle’s place, Till was accused of grapping a white woman and consequently murdered by the woman’

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Argument analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Argument analysis - Essay Example Throughout the book Lewis uses very persuasive and precise arguments to make his case. At the beginning of Chapter Two, Lewis examines the problem of pain. The argument is based on some contradictory premises: 1. Because God is good and all powerful, he would want to create a good world 2. The world is not good 3. God is therefore either not good or not all powerful Lewis examines these premises throughout Chapter two and decides the issue is more nuanced. Words like â€Å"omnipotence† are problematic, as is the word â€Å"goodness.† Our words and terms do not really fit God, in all his glory. We cannot be expected to understand the mysterious ways of the universe, Lewis argues. Essentially this is an argument about faith. Lewis seems to be saying: If you don't really understand things, just trust the priests to understand it for you. These premises rely on a number of logical leaps that Lewis uses throughout his argument. For example, he looks back over history and con cludes that religious feeling has always been with us. From the dawn of humanity people have believed in something larger than themselves. At first their knowledge of these phenomena was far from perfect and they mistook all sort of occurrences as signs of divine power. Now nothing is more certain than that man, from a very early period, began to believe that the universe was haunted by spirits . . . It is therefore theoretically possible that there was a time when men regarded these spirits simply as dangerous and felt towards them just as they felt towards tigers. What is certain is that now, at any rate, the numinous experience exists and that if we start from ourselves we can trace it a long way back (15). This is an interesting observation, but it would have been best to explore what a numinous experience really is. Is it an actually transaction with the supernatural? Or is it something physiological? Without an understanding about the reality of mystical experiences it is hard to go much further with this. There are for example, studies which suggest the commonly observed phenomenon in near-death experiences—a white light at a tunnel—is a physiological reaction that can be replicated by cutting off oxygen to the brain. Is this too a numinous experience? He asks us to expand on our definitions of goodness and omnipotence while narrowing the possible explanations for phenomena in the world. Indeed, as Lewis explains: The problem of pain is a problem about the order of the universe. As Lewis puts it, Christianity is not a solution to the problem, but in fact brings the problem into question as it promises something better than pain: â€Å"for pain would be no problem unless, side by side with our daily experience of this painful world, we had received what we think a good assurance that ultimate reality is righteous and loving† (21). So how has Christianity promised any of this? Those who believe pain dominates all, argue that it cannot and that it is a sham. But Lewis does not believe this. The argument Lewis makes can be generalized by saying that humans do have a power over their lives and are not part of a clockwork universe. They choose how to live and who to obey. If they wish to turn their backs on God and ignore him they are entirely capable of doing so. If they wish to behave in a bad manner and injure their fellows and disrespect authority, again they can do so. But this will not make them happy or fulfil them in any way. They have

Supreme Court of the United States Essay Example for Free

Supreme Court of the United States Essay During United States history, the U. S. government, particularly the Supreme Court, has played a major role on our nations society. The decisions made by our nations Supreme Court influenced the way we live as present day Americans. Decisions made by our Supreme Court concerning our rights and freedoms as individuals can limit or impact day-to-day activities. One court case that illustrates the power the Supreme Court has over our daily rights is Brown v.  Board of Education. This case emphasizes the Supreme Courts influence throughout history. From the late 1800s to this case in 1954, public places were segregated for Blacks and whites and was said to be acceptable as long as they were equal. The Jim Crow Laws were set up to support segregation which significantly impacted African American rights. This separate but equal formula had been maintained by the court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which therefore separate bathrooms, water fountains, schools etc were set up for blacks but these public facilities werent equal whatsoever; Black public facilities had a lower quality. Brown v. Board of Education ruled in African American equality and civil rigghts. The supreme court declared segregated public schools was unconstitutional since separating children based on race wasnt right. As a result of this ruling, all schools were required to integrate black and white students but african american students still faced difficulties. This ruling also inspired Blacks to fight against other racial oppressions. Brown v. Board of Education subsequently helped establish a more equal African American society. Another case that spotlights the power the United States Supreme Court has over our daily rights or freedoms is Schneck v. U. S. Since the United States was brought into World War 1, there was a decision to put a draft into place, or demand to enroll into military services from any qualifying person during war time. In 1919, Schneck, an american citizen, spoke out against this war-time decision but was arrested for handing out circulars that encouraged draftees to oppose the draft, which violated the Espionage Act by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment . Schneck insisted that an arrest like this violated his First Amendment Right to freedom of Speech and Press. Ultimately, this case was brought all the way up to the Supreme Court, stating that during a time of war individual freedoms or rights can be limited or shrunken to protect national security. This case formed the phrase clear and present danger. Supreme Court ruled that Schneck proposed a clear and present danger to american society. This is why we cant yell fire! in a movie theater or in any crowded public facility. The United States Supreme Court has a massive influence on forming american society. The decisions made by the Spreme Court played a major role on the Civil Rights of African Americans, First Amendment Rights of individuals and all other forms of american society.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

How The Modern Police Force Has Developed Criminology Essay

How The Modern Police Force Has Developed Criminology Essay This assignment looks at how the modern police force has developed since it was first formed as the Metropolitan Police force and how it has developed to and expanded. Also how the public perceives the police and what they expect from them. In the early 19th century there was very little organisation in the police force, but as London expanded and the population increased the law and order needed to be maintained. Crime and policy came under investigation and in 1828 Sir Robert Peel organised a committee that provided evidence for his new police bill which is the main thing that led to the police force in London becoming organised. The metropolitan police was first organised in 1829 by Sir Robert Peel and Sir Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne are appointed as Justices of the peace who are in charge of the police force. In 1834 the select committee who inquire into how well the police are working within the metropolis area reported that that the metropolitan police force, as respects its influence in repressing crime and the security it has given to persons and property, is one of the most valuable modern institution. In 1836 the metropolitan police take the bow street horse patrol into its ranks. The select committee the n look into affairs of police officers and recommend that the City of London police should be put under the control of the metropolitan police force. In 1838 the select committee recommends that the marine police section and the bow street runners, who were the first organised and paid police force, and the bow street office is also to be disbanded. All of these recommendations came into effect in this year. The dockyard division of the metropolitan police is formed in 1841 and in 42 the detective department is formed. By 1845 the commissioners aim to have one police officer to every 450 people in the population. By the end of the 1840s there was a large scale enrolment into the special constabulary to help the metropolitan police deal with the chartist demonstrations, the strength of the metropolitan police was 5,288 who were able to perform duty and the population of London at the time was 2,473,758. The black marias were used to move prisoners in 1857. In 1862 there was further r ecruitment into the metropolitan police and the X and Y divisions were formed in west London and Y division in the north and later on they patrolled north east London. The standard height is raised to 5ft 8ins except for the dockyard division which is 5ft 7ins. The police strike for the first time in 1872. The police offices at Great Scotland yard are taken into possession on the 4th October 1875 by the detective department. In 1879 Initial rules for dealing with Murder cases, released on 7 June, stated the body must not be moved, nor anything about it or in the room or place interfered with, and the public must be excluded.. there were 13,319 officers in the metropolitan police force by 1885 for a population 5,255,069. The new headquarters are opened at New Scotland Yard in 1890. In 1895 there were certain qualifications that had to be met to join the police which were they had to be over 21 and under 27 when they joined, they also had to be 5ft 9ins tall without shoes, they also h ave to be able to read well and have readable writing, have a reasonable level of intelligence and be in good health. In the last year of the 19th century the metropolitan police force had risen to 16,000 officers to police 7 million people. The finger print bureau started operations in 1901.when the First World War starts in 1914 24,000 special constables were recruited and by the end of the year there were 31,000 and women were also first recruited in this year to police the women who had taken over most of the jobs the men had done. By the end of the First World War there was another strike for more pay and better conditions and recognition of the union. Women started patrolling in 1919 and the flying squad was formed. The police box system was started on an experimental basis. The metropolitan police forensic laboratory is opened in 1935. The 999 system was introduced in 37. In the 60s the police started using vehicles more instead of foot patrols in the form of the panda car. T he headquarters are moved, in 1967, from the Norman Shaw building to Broadway but keeps the name New Scotland Yard. In 1980 the metropolitan Air Support Unit was first formed. In 1997 the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System was installed (N.A.F.I.S). The requirements to join the police has changed drastically since they first came in in 1895. There are no academic requirements, it is open to graduates and non graduates where as before officers had to have good level of reading and writing but because the education system has developed since the 19th century and everyone has to go to school that isnt usually a problem. There is no longer a height requirement for recruits especially know as there are no restrictions on sex or ethnic background to join the police. the age requirement is very broad now as it is 18 and a half -55 years old, where as before it was between 21 and 27 to join. Applicants still have to be reasonably fit and healthy but now have to go through several fitness tests. The entry requirements to join the police now are now more general as it is open to anyone. Police communications started when the telephone was first invented, police phones and boxes were set up in the cities so that police could check in and report crimes. The police boxes were replaced with the police band radio came in several configuration, some had multiple channels, the radio was usually mounted in a panda car and was used to inform and update other officers on patrol. The radio has developed further into the radio system that is used today which is the airwave radio. The airwave radio is a digital and has replaced the analogue radio. There are many benefits of the airwaves radio some of which are there is improved coverage and speech clarity, also improved security and encryptions of communications, national roaming, scope for mobile data applications and improved ability for inter operational communications between the police and other emergency services. The police needed a new radio system because the old one had become out of date and the digital technology pro vides much better coverage and clearer signals. The TETRA technology covers more of the country so there are fewer gaps in the coverage, TETRA can also cope with major incidents when there are going to be many radios being used at the same time without overloading the network. During the Brixton riots the police were not equipped properly to deal with the situation and not only did many officers get injured but they were also forced to use bin lids for protection. The riot gear has since improved and the padded protection covers the body, there are proper helmets with face guards and the shield that are designed to with stand the situation of a riot. Sikhs in the police are not allowed to join the fire arms unit because they cant wear a helmet due to their religious requirements which are the 5 ks. The one that is the problem is the Kesh or uncut hair. Having uncut hair is believed to be a symbol of holiness and strength and is also a symbol of their wish to move beyond concerns of the body. British Police Sikh Association calls on Home Office to develop ballistic material to allow members to join firearms units. Sikh police officers want to have bulletproof turbans made so that they can be in the fire arms unit. In Sikhism men are required to wear a turban but because of the current police safety regulations they have to wear a helmet but they dont fit on top of the turbans and their religion states that they are not allowed to remove the turban. A ballistic material is being developed that would provide a degree of protection when worn so that Sikh police officers can be involved in fire arms operations, although there is an au gment that Sikhs dont have to wear crash helmets when they are riding a bike or motorcycle under the motorcycle crash helmets(religious exemption) act 1976. Research has begun to find the right material for making the bulletproof turban but it needs to pass the Home Offices tests before it can be issued to officers. Tens of thousands of pounds has already been spent to try and find a wear that Sikhs can wear but will also provide an adequate amount of protection, this happened when a Sikh officer applied to join the counter-terrorist operational Support Unit. Police community support officer (PCSO), work on the frontline with the local police force, providing a visible and reassuring presence on the streets and tackling the problem of anti-social behaviour. It is a full time, paid job. PCSOs have different roles in different forces, but they usually patrol a beat and interact with the public, while also offering assistance to police officers at crime scenes and major events. Depending on where they work, they can deal with minor offences, offer early intervention to help stop or slow down people who are committing an offence, provide support to police on the front line, conduct house to house enquiries, guard and monitor crime scenes and provide crime prevention advice to the general public. Although PCSOs do not have the same powers as regular police officers, they still carry a lot of responsibility, and are a critical part of the police force. They do not carry any of the equipment that regular police use like cuffs because they havent had the training and they dont have the right to enforce the law. Police community support officer will work to complement and support regular police officers, providing a visible and accessible uniformed presence to improve the quality of life in the community and offer greater public reassurance. Police community support officers have a unique role that is designed purely to tackle local anti-social behaviour and issues affecting other peopels quality of life. Police Forces continue to support community support officers because they areproviding a visible and regular patrol, unlike neighbourhood wardens, they are employed by the police and have some powers provided by an Act of Parliament to allow them to directly tackle some anti-social behaviour issues. The term moral panics are mainly associated with Stan Cohen, who used it in his book Mods and Rockers in the 60s. Cohens sociology was a mixture of American labelling theory and left wing British sociology which concerns youth and social class. Societies are subjected to periods of moral panic, a condition, episode, person or a group of people can be thought of a threat to a societies values and interests, its nature is stereotypically presented by the media. Sometimes the focus of the panic always around but can suddenly appear in the publics eye and can easily pass on and be forgotten but it can also be of a more serious nature and be kept in the front of the publics mind which can cause changes to be made in legal and social policies. One of the most remembered uses of the term was in Jock Youngs article in 1971 when he talked about the public concern about drug use. Thompson (1998) came up with five stages in a moral panic. One is something or someone that is defined as a threat to values or interests. Two is the threat is shown as a recognisable form by the media. Three is there is a quick build up of public concern. Four is that there is a response from the authorities. Five is the panic recedes or there are results in social changes. Conclusion The police have changed over the years to make them more efficient at their job of protecting the publics life and property. Thing like the new finger print system have helped to catch criminal and reduce the amount of crime. Police cars have made the police more mobile and capable of attending incidences quicker and the radio has made police able to communicate with any other officers with in their force and also they can report incidences and accidents quicker which allow other services to respond which saves more lives and makes the general public feel safer and trust the police with their safety. The police community support officers may not be able to enforce the law like regular officers but they can act as a deterrent because they are someone in uniform which criminals and law breakers would be aware of, they also provide reassurance to they public and can give information to other people making them aware of causes of crime and what the police do to stop it from happening. Th e police are making sure that all the forces have more women and ethnic minorities so that they can relate to the smaller communities who could other wise be less inclined to approach police because they might think of them as racist due to allegations that were made during the 1980s so having women and ethnic minorities working in the police gives the whole police force a more approachable look.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Liquidity Risk And Maturity Transformation In Banks Finance Essay

Liquidity Risk And Maturity Transformation In Banks Finance Essay This research proposal will focus on one of the key area of risk in banking sector which is liquidity risk. There are three definitions which are commonly used for the liquidity. First one is the ease that the financial instruments can be converted in to cash. Second is market concept of the liquidity is the ability to trade the assets or securities without losing its value. The last is the monitory liquidity means the total number or total quantity of the liquid assets which are trading in the economy. (Adrian and Shin, 2008). The purpose of the literature review and dissertation is tried to address the main reasons of mismatching of assets and liabilities in banks. LIQUIDITY RISK. Mismanagement of liquidity can lead to bankruptcy. We cannot differentiate liquidity and solvency in bank. Some time the bank which is illiquid can be insolvent and on the other hand the bank which is insolvent can be illiquid. This is why the capital and liquidity adequacy performance is the major concern of the commercial bank. (Good Hart, 2008). Liquidity and solvency has the strong relationship. In Banking act of 1935 liquidity and solvency practically has become the synonymous terms. (Walter A. Morton, 1939). This is the fact that because of mismanagement of the liquidity the financial market faced some remarkable events in 2007 and 2008. Burnermair presents his view about the crisis of 2007-08. Financial markets experienced extraordinary events in 2007 and 2008. The increase in delinquency rates of subprime mortgages, coupled with the mismatch in the maturity structures of off-balance-sheet conduits and structured investment vehicles (SIVs), led to a sudden drying up of asset-b acked commercial paper and the failure of several banks, including a classic bank run in the United Kingdom. The eruptions in credit and money markets ultimately led to a run on one of the leading investment banks in the United States. (Brunnermeier, 2008). The liquidity cans effects in two ways or it has the two ways impact on the bank. One side is high liquidity ratio send a positive signal to the depositors. This shows that the bank is liquid and it increase the confidence of the depositor and the lower level of the liquidity means the bank is not in strong liquid position and will unable to pay its commitment. But if we see the other side high liquidity shows the inefficient use of the resources. This shows bank will not efficient in investment activities and will lose the profitability. (Gunsel, 2010). This is very broad topic even the word liquidity has many definitions. As Good Hart says in one of his article Unfortunately the word liquidity has so many facets that it is often counter-productive to use it without further and closer definition.(Good Hart, 2008). MATURITY TRANSFORMATION. The key face or side of liquidity which we are going to cover in this research is the maturity transformation which means that the maturity of assets and liabilities in balance sheet of bank. In normal practice bank perform a valuable activity on either side of the balance sheet. On asset side they go for long term investments or make long term loan. They make loan for illiquid borrowers because they want flow of capital in economy. On liabilities side they need liquidity on demand to depositors. There is incompatibility between these two activities. Demand for the liquidity can arise at inconvenient time and can put the banks in trouble. Other activities of the banks can be affected. This is why an army of the regulators always supervise the bank to protect them from their own fragility. (Douglas, 2001). Bank activities are link with all economy and failure of one bank can create a multiplier effect. One of the main or most important reasons for the crisis in financial sector is the failure of the bank because bank failure starts systemic risk. (Douglas W Diamond, 2005). This is why the regulation regarding liquidity and capital requirement has become too much important. REGULATIONS FOR THE LIQUIDITY. There are three main reasons for the regulation of liquidity management. According to Adrian and Shin. First, pure market failures. There are no incentives for banks to hold adequate amounts of liquid assets because: (1) liquidity is costly, especially when competition drives the search for higher returns on equity; (2) liquidity shortages are very low probability events; (3) there is a perception that central banks will step in and provide liquidity support if and when it is needed (the moral hazard argument).Second, liquidity requirements can be seen as a way of sharing the cost of the public good of liquidity and financial stability between the private and the public sectors. This would help and mitigate moral hazard; it would also compensate for other implicit subsidies, such as deposit insurance, granted to the banking sector. Finally, stronger liquidity requirements would reduce the strategic uncertainty affecting banks actions, since they would be able to withstand larger shoc ks. (Adrian and Shin, 2008). Basel committee is working since 1980 to take measures the issue of liquidity in bank. The concern of this committee is to decide what should be the capital adequacy ratio. This mean what should be the minimum level of capital that financial institutions must have to keep. There should be the prior standard regarding to maturity transformation. According to author the standard for the maturity transformation has not been maintained. The proportionate is going to be increased for financing long term assets with short term borrowings. In this aspect what bank do they Conduits financing tranches of securitised mortgages on the basis of three month asset backed commercial paper. An example of this is Northern rock. The important thing which come in our mind who should be responsible to take in to consideration the issue of maturity transformation whether it should be central bank or bank itself. For the case of maturity transformation how long the bank will able to fulfil its commitments just in case the markets on which it relies suddenly dry up. . (Good Hart, 2008). MISMATCHING OF MATURITIES. It has been seen since many years that maturity mismatches in the balance sheet of the bank can lead to liquidity crisis. It was one of the reasons of the East Asian crisis in 1998. (Rajan and Bird, 2001). This is one of the reasons that maturity mismatch and the risk associated in doing this have got the considerable attention in markets. In bank its important is central because banks are in the business of maturity transformation. They take assets and usually repaid on short notice and use these deposits to provide credit facilities to borrower for long period. In simple banks need liquidity to meet the depositor demand or with drawls, to settle whole sale commitment, to provide funds when borrowers draw on committed credit facilities. Under stress condition maturity transformation is quite crucial. Because in crisis it is difficult to raise liquidity from different sources. (Financial supervision commission, 2005). This mean banks need to manage the liquidity but from the above po int of view banks can manage liquidity to give short term loans because banks borrow for short term but this is not so easy. REASONS FOR MISMATCHING MATURITIES IN BANKS. Hendrik explained if the banks go for liquidity preference they will give the short term loans but on the other hand borrowers demand long term loans because they want steady source of debt capital. (Hendrik, 2006). In the same paper Hendrik argued that Economic theory postulates that financial institutions are exposed to a significant interest rate risk which is largely due to their engagement in maturity transformation. Banks set loans on the basis of some standards. Borrowers with low credit ratings bank gives them short term loans and borrowers having high credit rating bank gives long term loan. (Douglas, 1991). So credit rating of borrower is quite considered in maturity transformation. Some time attitude of the managers who are in decision making is really matter in maturity transformation. This phenomena regarding risk is explained by James. He said the idea of risk is embedded, of course, the larger idea of the choice as affected by the expected return of an alternative. Virtually all the theories of the choices assume that decision maker prefer larger expected returns to smaller one provided the other entire factors constant (risk). (Lindley, 1971). In general they also assume that decision maker prefer smaller risk to larger one, provided other factors (expected value) are constant. (Arrow, 1965). Thus the expected value is assumed to be positively associated, and risk is assumed to be negatively associated with the attractiveness of an alternative. (James, 1987). So above argument shows manager risk taking or risk seeking attitude can effect maturity transformation decision. In normal practice during maturity transformation banks prefer high interest or high profit. They mismatch their liabilities and assets means borrow for short term and lend for long term. This practice leads to liquidity risk. This practice of mismatching of assets and liabilities in balance sheets of banks is continued since many years and is the main reason of the liquidity crisis. This mismatching of liabilities and assets has the significant part in East Asia crisis 1997-1998. Bank pays insufficient attention to maturity transformation because they prefer high risk and high return. This self interest behaviour leads to liquidity crisis. It is to reconfirm that liquidity crises can occur in the absence of bail out provisions and can result simply from maturity mismatches that themselves reflect the outcome of self-interested optimising behaviour by commercial banks. (Rajan and Bird, 2001). Bank capital structure also influence on maturity transformation. Some bank have excess capi tal this mean their capital to asset ratio is good. So this thing also affects the lending behaviour of the bank. By considering their capital structure they take the risk and mismatch the maturities of assets and liabilities. (Gambacorta and Mistrulli, 2003). From the above paragraph the different views of the authors come in front regarding reasons for the mismatching of the maturities. Following important reasons have been indicated. Borrowers demand for the long term loan, credit rating of the borrowers, risk taking behaviour, high profitability and banks capital structure. MATURITY TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES BY THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. Most of investors prefer the loan having short maturity or terms. Now the commercial banks have created the off-balance sheet vehicle that converted or shorten the maturities of the long term products. Investment banks now rely on overnight repo markets to finance their balance sheet. So the question is what these off- balance sheet vehicles are. Off balance sheet vehicles are the structured investment vehicle. This means invest in long term illiquid assets and issue short term maturity paper in the form of asset backed commercial paper which have an average maturity of 90days and medium term notes which having the average maturity of one year. Asset backed commercial paper was very popular in 2006. The off-balance sheet vehicles strategy of investing in long-term assets and borrowing using short-term paper exposes them to funding liquidity risk, since the commercial paper market might suddenly dry up. To ensure funding liquidity, the sponsoring bank grants a credit line, or a so-cal led liquidity backstop.3 Thus, the banking system still bears the liquidity risk from the maturity transformation-like in the traditional banking model of banks, in which commercial banks take on short-term deposits and invest in long-term projects. (Brunnermeier, 2008). While transforming the maturities the banks or financial institutions has to see the concern of the investors. Investors are concerned with return which they can obtain on short notice. Because they are uncertain about the need of the funds. So the activities of the bank to provide the liquid investment opportunity. Banks do this through two channels. First bank deposits offer an option to obtain funds on short notice at lower opportunity cost as compare to market. (James, 1987). IMPORTANT OF LIQUIDITY W.R.T MATURITY TRANSFORMATION. Above views of the authors shows that how important is the management of liquidity in banks. No doubt it is important in banking sector because of different reasons but this not means that other sectors not face liquidity risk. All sectors combine to make economy and failure of one sector will affect overall economy of country. Holmstrom has explained in his article that management of liquidity for both real and financial sector is important. If both sector will manage their liquidity need, will be better able to run their operations efficiently and effectively without facing liquidity shortages. (Holmstrom, 2000). Liquidity risk management is important because liquidity shortfall affect the whole system and effect the overall economy. (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, 2008). CONCLUSION. We have discussed the liquidity which means the ease that the financial assets can be converted into cash. Liquidity is very important and mismanagement of the liquidity can lead to bankruptcy. Banks can be insolvent because of the liquidity mismanagement. This is the reason that capital adequacy ratio has the greater concern for the regulatory bodies. Basel committee is working since 1988 to overcome the issue of capital adequacy. Because the stability of the financial institution is the concern of overall economy. In banks how they transfer their maturities means assets and liabilities in balance sheet of banks so that to avoid liquidity risk. Because the reason for the financial crisis in past this maturity mismatching structure of the banks. They finance long term loans with short term borrowings and when the time come to fulfil their commitments they are unable to generate liquidity. Why these institutions go for this mismatching structure because there are different reasons bor rowers demand for the long term loan, credit rating of the borrowers, risk taking behaviour, high profitability and banks capital structure. So the financial institutions must have the proper strategies regarding liquidity. BIBLOGRAPHY. Tobias Adrian and hyun song shin. (2008). Liquidity and financial contagion. Financial stability review-special issue of liquidity. No.11. Feb. 2008. Charles Good hart. (2008). liquidity risk management. Financial stability review-special issue of liquidity. No.11. Feb. 2008. Markus K. Brunnermeier. (2008). Deciphering the 2007-08 Liquidity and Credit Crunch Nil Gunsel. (2010). The deteminants of the bank failure in north cyprus. Journal of the risk finance, vol 11, NO . 1. Douglas W. Diamond and Raghuram G. Rajan. (2005) Liquidity Shortages and Banking Crises. The Journal of Finance, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Apr., 2005), pp. 615-647 Walter A. Morton. (1939). Liquidity and Solvency. The American Economic Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 272-285 Hendrik Schulz, Stephen Simon, Marko Wilkins. (2006). Maturity Transformation Strategies and Interest Rate Risk of Financial Institutions: Evidence from the German Market. Oct 2006. Ramkishen S. Rajan and Graham Bird. (2001). Banks, Maturity Mismatches and Liquidity Crises: A Simple Model Leonardo Gambacorta and Paolo Emilio Mistrulli. (2003). Does bank capital affect lending behavior? Bengt Holmstrom and Jean Tirole, 2000). Liquidity risk management. Journal of money, credit and banking, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Aug., 2000). Financial supervision commission, 31 January 2005. A Consultative Paper on Liquidity Risk Management Policies for Banks. Douglas W. Diamond. (1991). Debt Maturity Structure and Liquidity Risk. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 106, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 709-737 James G. March and Zur Shapira, (1987). Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking Management Science, Vol. 33, No. 11 (Nov., 1987), pp. 1404-1418 Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, June 2008. Principles for sound liquidity risk management and supervision. Paul Sharma, 8 October 2004. Financial services authority speech.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Students Metacognitive Abilities Essay -- Education, Researchers and T

Literature Review Research on the Problem Researchers and theorists have sought the key behind getting students to learn for decades. For every theory placed on the table, there is another waiting to clear it off and replace it. This dichotomy can be challenging for teachers who are searching for the answers to help them reach their students especially when these students are asked to do mundane tasks like memorize. In addition, many teachers struggle to identify the root cause of their student’s struggles with material, and once pin pointed, they often find it difficult to address these causes. What are the exact challenges the students are struggling with? In her research, Nancy Joseph, believes the answer to this question lies in a lack of metacognitive ability in the students. â€Å"Your ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate your performance reveals sophisticated cognitive activity.† (Joseph, 2006) If the students are not capable of reaching this level of cognitive ability, they will not be able to grow with the difficulty of the class material. Each student learns best in his or her own way, and by understanding this â€Å"learners are able to use their academic strengths to develop additional skills and understanding, moving toward greater intellectual maturity.† (Joseph, 2006) Students cannot develop critical thinking skills as it relates to content if they do not possess the skill to think critically at all. The pathway to metacognitive ability begins with self-reflection. At the junior high level, students are unaware that the ability to be reflective is a skill that will carry them through life; not just in their current Language Arts Classroom (Joseph, 2006). Teachers are told almost daily about how important ... ...is difficult, and that they must be creative in finding ways to make easier for the students to understand. If they do not, then they will keep doing what they have always done, and continue getting the same results. I hope to examine parts of the studies that have already been conducted on these issues. I will be looking at the result of connecting games, social interaction, practice, direct instruction, indirect instruction, and to what extent a student’s metacognitive level has on their ability to memorize material such as prepositions. As Ellis noted, â€Å"the results of the research do not afford conclusions that can be readily applied to language pedagogy.† (Ellis, 2011) My attempts will be focused on a more general scope of application in the classroom, and I will try to bridge the gap between the research, theorists, and practical application.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Pillars of Salt, A Woman of Five Seasons and A Balcony over the Fakihani :: Arab Women Culture Essays

Pillars of Salt, A Woman of Five Seasons and A Balcony over the Fakihani Works Cited Missing The most latent component of the three novels: â€Å"Pillars of Salt†, â€Å"A Woman of Five Seasons†, and â€Å"A Balcony over the Fakihani† is the struggle of all the women in them. Theirs is a struggle at all levels, a struggle from the occupation of their land and war, a struggle from the occupation of their bodies or what could be considered a war against their bodies, and a sexual, and a power struggle. The women in these novels survive a fight that is almost impossible to win. They do not even posses their bodies. Some are given away in marriage, but even if they are not, their bodies serve the purpose of giving lineage to their husbands. If they are incapable they are deemed as defective and possibly discarded. Their entire beings serve as trophies in their husband’s list of successes, not just a show of their virility, through lineage, but also a show of their ability to manage their possessions . Their bodies can only be enjoyed by the man they marry. If they are not pure by the time of marriage they are deemed dishonorable and not marriageable. Virginity has to be proved to safeguard the bride’s family honor, not the groom’s. The women of these novels are there only in relationship to their men. They compliment them. It is only during war that the couples become more equal helping each other to survive the larger monster. Then the women are in control, in possession of themselves and in a team with their husbands. But war only brings destruction, and most of the women end up alone having to bring up the next generation on their own. The subjugation of the women begins with their education which for the most part comes from their mothers and their family. The general consensus is that women, girls, are lower than boys, regardless of their traits. Even those who are overall considered good mothers perpetuate this image to their daughters: â€Å"What do you expect? He is a boy. Allah placed him a step higher. We must accept Allah’s verdict,† said Maha’s mother condoning her brother Daffash’s bad behavior. (Faqir 33) The training of little girls to understand their position under men begins when they are small, in their families. The fact that he is a boy gives him an innate position above all women.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Discuss the view that Tony Lumpkin is nothing more than a comic country bumpkin

Traditionally the pastoral genre celebrates the virtues of simple, unsophisticated life far from the city or court, in which the population is stereotyped as unintelligent and fatuitous. Tony is characterised as jovial and carefree through language and form. He is uninhibited and is interested in ‘fun going forward’ without being diverted by any sense of commitment, ‘mother, I cannot stay’, which mirrors the unpredictability of nature and country. Through characterisation, Goldsmith uses Tony’s character as a symbol for the simple, idyllic country life where drinking, enjoyment and singing are paramount. Although Goldsmith challenges this stereotype of the rural population through the character of Tony throughout She Stoops to Conquer and subsequently illuminates the theme of opinion vs. reality. Goldsmith’s nominalisation of Tony Lumpkin initially presents his character as stereotypic of a simple country dweller. ‘Lumpkin’ could be a subtle indication of Tony’s figure. Lump’ suggests that Tony is a stout man, which reflects his uninhibited lifestyle lead in the country; relaxing and singing songs in the Three Pigeons, ‘toroddle, toroddle, toroll’. This mirrors Third Century idealised pastoral life in which shepherds and shepherdesses enjoyed a life of blissful ease, thus presenting Tony as an unsophisticated character who lacks the refinement of a man of the town ‘br ed a scholar’. Moreover, Lumpkin is similar to the word ‘bumpkin’ which is a derogatory term for a simple rustic, further implying Tony’s lack of grace. Goldsmith enhances this depiction of Tony’s carefree lifestyle through the setting of the alehouse. ‘Several shabby fellows’ are identified in this setting which reflects the lower social class facet of society which Tony associates with, the adjective ‘shabby’ suggests that this is a relatively impoverished group of local country dwellers who, like Tony, are content with drinking ‘punch’ and smoking ‘tobacco’. The song sung in said alehouse by Tony perpetuates the fact that he lives the unprosperous life of a country bumpkin. The words ‘nonsense’ and ‘learning’ are juxtaposed in the lyrics to show Tony is uninterested in education, and furthermore that he is a lazy and unambitious character; which is how country folk are presented to behave in the pastoral genre. Nonetheless, Goldsmith establishes Tony’s character as much more than this, as he is able to deceive the town folk into believing Hardcastle’s home is ‘an inn. ’ Tony’s deception is also rather profound as he diverts Marlow and Hastings from the ‘long, dark, boggy’ road which they intended to travel. The numerous adjectives listed shows Tony as a rather manipulative character with more intelligence than was first shown, which is an anti-pastoral presentation of Tony considering country folk were thought to be kind and welcoming. Through this Goldsmith challenges the stereotypes of the country, as Tony, a supposed country bumpkin is able to mislead the town folk with supposed ‘excellent understanding’. This farce encompasses the themes of appearances and stereotypes into the plot and undermines the simplicity of Tony’s character. Goldsmith parallels Tony with the servants and doric characters like Diggory, which the country hosts. The poor grammar of Diggory, ‘parfectly unpossible’, shows his low levels of intellect; supposedly as a result of rustic life. Goldsmith uses Tony’s language and dialect to show his similarly plain and simple life in the country. Goldsmith incorporates malapropisms into Tony’s speech which shows his limited intellect. He frequently confuses ‘genius’ with ‘genus’, which creates a humorous irony since the very word he is using incorrectly, he has used to describe himself, shown through the personal pronoun ‘my genus. ’ This creates comedy as well as reflecting to the audience Tony’s simplicity. Furthermore, Goldsmith utilises the word ‘ecod’ in Tony’s speech, which was 18th century jargon used to express mild surprise, meaning ‘oh God. ’ However Tony’s speech often encompasses this word even in situations which are not surprising or exciting, this suggests that Tony’s life in the country is lacking vivacity and therefore he must find excitement in the most sullen situations, which seldom occupy the life of a ‘bumpkin’. However, Tony often provides witty remarks which entertain the audience but also contradict the interpretation that Tony is just a ‘bumpkin. When acting as witness for the theft of Mrs Hardcastle’s ‘bobs’, Tony says ‘I’ll say I saw them taken out with my own eyes’, which is comically ironic since he ‘got them’ himself and therefore actually did see them ‘taken out’. The dramatic irony of the situation relays to the audience the c omedy and wit of Tony’s conversation. Contrarily, Mrs Hardcastle remains ignorant to the whole ruse, contrasting Tony’s aptitude for the situation, which presents him as superior and separate from the ignorance of the other country dwellers. Goldsmith embellishes this subtle superior presentation of Tony through the utilisation of stage directions. At the alehouse Tony is seated ‘a little higher than the rest’, which presents him as having relative authority over the other ‘fellows’. Furthermore, his song creates a harmony within the group and unites the men, which Goldsmith shows through the unanimous ‘hurrah’ said by ‘omnes’; Latin for ‘all’. Both devices present Tony as a figure resembling a shepherd, protective of his flock. Despite the pastoral connotations this presentation of Tony shows him to have relative power and authority, separating him from the other doric characters and thus suggesting he is more than a comic country bumpkin. Alternatively, Vicki Janik describes Tony as â€Å"the most ignorant of the country bumpkins†. Through Mrs Hardcastle, Goldsmith reveals that Tony isn’t well educated, ‘I don’t think a boy wants much learning. ’ Tony’s lack of education and structure in life; indulged by his doting mother, has resulted in his ‘consumptive figure’ and his occasional lack of awareness. Goldsmith highlights Tony’s flawed character through Mrs Hardcastle’s deception of ‘concealing (his) age’ so that he may not claim his inheritance. In fact it is revealed Tony has been of age for ‘three months’, the absurdity of the situation ameliorates the comedy as well as augmenting the stupidity of Tony’s character, since he cannot even track his own age; complimenting Janik’s criticism. Moreover, considering that in Georgian England, most country dwellers were uneducated; Tony is clearly an accurate stereotype of a bumpkin. Tony’s lack of education, ‘the ale-house and the stable are the only schools he’ll ever go to’, also reflect Tony’s limited horizons which means he’s confined to his country life without hope of improvement; this is shown through Goldsmith’s use of ‘only’. Tony’s small scope of existence illuminates the simplicity of his life and that of a bumpkin. However, Goldsmith shows that Tony does have some degree of awareness of his situation, as he asks his mother ‘let me have my fortin’, demonstrating that Tony is not contented with his current finance and wishes to pursue his inheritance. This drama is recurring throughout the play which shows Tony’s determination to become financially independent and ‘be made a fool of no longer’ since currently he is only able to go to ‘the alehouse so often’ because he has ‘a key to every drawer’ of his ‘mother’s bureau’. This suggests that Tony is not merely a country bumpkin since he demonstrates a certain greed more commonly associated with the town with their ‘vanity and affectation’, therefore not all the qualities of his character conform to the stereotype of a country bumpkin. Goldsmith uses a cyclical structure to further highlight how Tony is trapped in his unambitious, mundane life. In the final lines of the play, Goldsmith identifies that Tony is ‘his own man again’, the use of the word ‘again’ reflects the lack of development in Tony’s character, nothing has improved in his country life; which could indicate the stability and continuity of the uncorrupted country or alternatively it could illuminate Tony’s lack of ambition for self-improvement to embellish his simple nature. This presentation of Tony as a simple, undeveloped character reaches a climax at the end of the play as Goldsmith contrasts Tony from the country and Marlow from the town. Through stage directions, ‘joining their hands’, Goldsmith shows that Marlow has been able to overcome his ‘trembling’ when talking to ladies of high society, through his romance with Kate, whereas Tony, as afore mentioned, remains the same suggesting he is a country bumpkin unable to develop due to his indulged rural existence. Nonetheless, Goldsmith presents Tony’s character as having a level of moral complexity through his relationship with his cousin, Constance. Tony refers to Constance as cousin Con, the shortened version of her name acts as endearment and the indication to the familial relationship shows how Tony is caring and ‘a good natured creature at bottom’. Furthermore, Tony helps his cousin retrieve her jewels; which are her ‘fortune’, so she may leave with Hastings. Tony quickly agrees to ‘clap a pair of horses to (their) chaise’, in aid. This generosity demonstrated through the plot to retrieve Constance’s jewels implies that Tony’s character may be more complex than originally believed to be. Similarly, Tony clarifies that he ‘want(s) no nearer relationship’ with his cousin and therefore Tony’s acceptance to ‘assist’ Hastings and his proposal to ‘whip (Constance) off to France’ can be interpreted as a selfish, anti-pastoral act to be rid of Constance. The rural population are seen to be welcoming and sympathetic, rather than narcissistic and under-handed which is how Goldsmith characterises Tony through the nature of this plot, which suggests that Tony is in fact the complete polar opposite of a country bumpkin. Despite the comedic trait of Tony’s character being indisputable, seeing as he is usually at the heart of the farce in this play. Throughout She Stoops to Conquer, Goldsmith clearly opposes the stereotypes of the country folk through the character of Tony Lumpkin. Initially, Tony is seemingly rather plain and peaceful; mimetic of the country, but his character develops throughout the play into a more complicated personality, so much more than a country bumpkin.

The Barbarian Nurseries

Immigration to the United States of America has been monumental in the development of this great nation. In both The Barbarian Nurseries, written by Hector Tobar, and Summer of the Big Bachi, written by Naomi Hirahara, are centered around two characters that once moved to America from a foreign land, in hopes to have the American dream, the traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity. Both of the characters work in laborious fields and undergo scrutiny and interrogation of unfortunate circumstances that were out of their control.The strain that is put on immigrants from other countries is prominent in both of these captivating novels. In The Barbarian Nurseries, the main character, Araceli, is the one that holds the Torres-Thompson household together, just as she holds this novel together. Araceli came to California after dropping out of art school in Mexico and moved to California and now lives in the family’s guesthous e. She does everything for the family; everything from keeping ants at bay by drawing a line of chalk on the kitchen floors to feeding and caring for the Torres-Thompson children.To Maureen and Scott, the householders who Araceli works for, she is unfamiliar and difficult to understand. Yet to the reader, she is the understandable and recognizable hard working woman trying to support her family the best she can. Araceli takes pride in her work; she sends a portion of the money she earns home to her family. Since she cannot tell her employers how she truly feels about them, her actions and body language convey a message to the reader. For example, at a party, Araceli makes a dish in the colors of the Mexican flag, subtly expressing who she is.Throughout the novel you see the struggle that Araceli goes through within herself. She frequently has internal dialogue that is a mix of English phrasing and Spanish language. Tobar uses this technique to demonstrate the struggle that is going on within her; she is caught between two worlds. Similar to The Barbarian Nurseries main character, Araceli, the novel Summer of the Big Bachi, is centered around a character that has moved to California from Japan. Mas Arai, the main character of the Summer of the Big Bachi, is a 74 year old gardener in living in Pasadena California. This man as been has seen significant struggles in his life everything from surviving the bombing of Hiroshima to the loss of his wife. Now his career as a gardener is beginning to diminish. â€Å"At the height of Mas’s career, he had half a dozen of these customers. Hollywood doctors, actors, big businessmen. But now there was only one. Mrs. Witt†, (Hirahara 40). With the dwindling of his career along with the struggles of his life, all Mas wants is to live the American Dream. With everything that is going on presently in his life, the last thing that he needs is for past circumstances to arise; but that is exactly what happens.Mas finds himself unveiling a mystery of his past. The main character of Summer of the Big Bachi, finds himself in a predicament that threatens the wellbeing of his own life. A long kept secret and his fear of bachi, the spirit of retribution, are awoken when a stranger approaches him. He begins asking him disturbing questions about someone from Mas’ distant past, sending Mas on an urgent search for long-buried truths. Once the truth’s had been revealed Mas has an internal struggle, much like Araceli from The Barbarian Nurseries; for instance, â€Å"Mas could’ve blamed wishbone for not keeping his big mouth shut, or yelled at Mr.Ryan for being ruled by a woman and not honoring a promise made between two men. He could’ve berated Chizuko and Mari for their sniveling, which made him delay a decision on a good deal. But when you came right down to it, it had everything to do with bachi and Joji Haneda† (Hirahara 136). This passage goes into detail the battle th at Mas is going through during this period of his life. Just as Araceli had an internal struggle with defining who she was, he is trying to understand the best route for his situation.Araceli not only goes through internal battles she also battles the justice system because of the mistakes of others. When a brutal argument between Scott and Maureen becomes heated and violent, the children are left in the care of Araceli. She struggles with what to do with the children. Her struggle with this begins when, â€Å"She stood with her arms folded and looked down the street, hoping to see el senor Scott’s car coming around the corner, but the vista never changed from the blank-page seep of wide roadways. He’s not coming home either,†(Tobar 132-133).It is at this point that Araceli realizes that she has been left in care of the Torres-Thompson children. She ends up trying to take them to their grandfather’s house which ends up backfiring on her. Each of these sto ries has similar endings in that they both have positive outcomes for Araceli and Mas. In The Barbarian Nurseries, Araceli is goes through the court process, but because she is an illegal worker, there are added on difficulties with her court case. For example, there had been letters written such as this, â€Å"Araceli N.Ramirez should be arrested and deported no matter what the outcome of the criminal proceedings the County undertakes against her. Illegal Mexican labor lowers wages while demanding entitlements†¦Not to mention they breed like there’s no tomorrow, regardless of whether they can support their children because they know the state will subsidize them† (Tobar 325). Similarly in the Summer of the Big Bachi, Mas finds him being the easiest person to blame, for instance he tells Yuki, â€Å"I have a bad feeling about this. Real bad feeling. The police need someone to blame.They might cut a deal with the Japanese government, and I may be tried over thereà ¢â‚¬  (Hirahara 29). Both of these characters undergo struggles of being the easiest person to blame in the justice system and are attacked because of that, even though they weren’t the problem. However in the end, Mas ends up saving his friends and providing the escape they were searching for; and Araceli was let go and makes it to the desert with Filipe. Immigrants are people that move to a country or region to which they are not native in order to settle there.In both The Barbarian Nurseries, written by Hector Tobar, and Summer of the Big Bachi, written by Naomi Hirahara, are centered around two characters that at one point moved to America in hopes to have the American dream. Both of the characters work in California and undergo struggles in their careers as was as in the unfortunate interrogation of the American legal system. Despite the strain that is put on the two individuals, Araceli and Mas, they overcome the struggles, and in the end are victorious in the trials a nd tribulations they both faced throughout the enticing novels, The Barbarian Nurseries, and Summer of the Big Bachi.