Financial markets

Financial assets are made up of securities, stocks and derivatives. These are claims to the cash flow generated by real, tangible assets which are the lands, buildings and machineries we use. These pieces of paper are how citizens of highly developed countries increase their wealth. Wealth generation involves risk, for no business activity is certain to provide returns. Financial markets allow investors to participate in money-making ventures without being physically present in the project site.Most risk tolerant individuals prefer stocks, for it has the potential to yield very high returns, while conservative ones go for bonds which provides a steady, fixed income. In this activity, stock trading is the main focus. Objectives Just like any investor, generating cash flow was the primary goal. The amount of cash to be gained from trading should compensate the risk undertaken. The goal was to achieve steady growth. The expected was return is 40%. After setting the required return, a po rtfolio strategy was chosen.Assets were then selected which would comprise the efficient portfolio– provides the highest return for a given level of risk. Fundamental analysis was the method used to pick the stocks. Diversification was another tactic used to maximize return while spreading the risk. Construct a portfolio Portfolio construction was a tedious task. I had to weigh the risk and returns, and sometimes, to trust my gut feel. Stock prices, as studies have shown follow a random walk movement. The approach used was a top-down portfolio construction. A portfolio is basically a collection of investment assets.The type of assets to be held was first determined. It was then followed by security analysis to pick out the stocks deemed profitable. Diversification was one principle used in choosing the stocks. It simply meant that equities from different industries were held in the portfolio so that risk exposure was limited. Shares from the software industry (RIMM, JAVA), ar ms(SWHC), pharmaceutical (GERN), computer (PALM), insurance (HUM), health care(HMA), power (FL), SAM, metals and mining(AUY, AA) ,oil and gas(IEO), index fund(SWPIX), cement(CX),AXP Asset Analysis Fundamental analysis was mainly used in the decisions undertaken.This approach uses earnings and dividend prospects of the firm, expectations of future interest rates, and risk evaluation of the firm to determine proper stock prices. It relies on the company's financial health indicators. The stocks’ annual growth rate, quarterly earnings records, and P/E (price-to-earnings) ratios were measured. Historical data was also used. One such statistic is the EPS, or earnings-per-share ranking. PALM stocks were bought since the firm’s return on investment was stated at 2470. 70%. Also, on the day that it was traded, it was lower priced.Smith and Weson, SWHC had a P/E ratio of 5. 50%, an ROE of 19. 7%. Thus, a total of 4000 shares of SWCH were bought. Alcoa, or AA’s ROE was 16 . 20%. Its EBITDA was 5. 45 B. Meanwhile, its P/E ratio was 11. 60 and its annual dividend was at . 68 per share. Alcoa looks financially healthy, but was expensive, so only 1000 shares were purchased. Similarly, FPL’s ROE was 14. 6%. Its P/E ratio was 12. 7%. Its EBITDA was 4. 47 B. The market values FPL shares highly. But, I found it unsmart to invest in highly valued stocks, because market perceptions fluctuate wildly. Thus, I only acquired 700 shares of FPL.RIMM had an ROE of 30. 60%. Its P/E ratio was 50%. For me, RIMM shares were really costly. In fact, it was has the highest cost per share in my portfolio. But I was attracted to its financial forecast. Furthermore, its 52 week high was at $148 so I found the $80 per share enticing. I thus bought 1000 shares from RIMM. HUM had an ROE of 19. 9% and a P/E ratio of 18. 00. It was quite overpriced, so I only bought 1000 shares. HMA was the lowest priced stock in my portfolio. But, I decided to purchase it believing that dem and for health care services will increase in the near future.CX, compared with its competitor, Heidelberg cement had higher earnings and historically displayed returns higher than the market average. I bought 1000 shares. I also bought SWPIX, an index fund as a comparison for the return of my trading activities. Event Selection One of the most remarkable news was the launching of PALM’s Pre. With the belief that the Pre will be hot in the market, just like Apple’s I-pod, I bought 4,000 shares from PALM. I deem that the future value of PALM will increase more than two-fold once the Pre is introduced. The hype will push the price of its stock.Thereafter, I can sold my shares at a profit. In addition, the popularity of smart phones, or phones which serve more than just talking devices was forecasted to increase steadily in the near future. Aside from purchasing PALM stocks, I decided to buy shares from BlackBerry’s maker, RIMM. News of the global swine flu outbrea k prompted me to purchase HMA shares. HMA , a healthcare provider would have more profits if the flu would become widespread. In addition, Citigroup upgraded HMA shares from hold to buy. Meanwhile, the news on the pending sale of JAVA drove me to sell my 1000 shares.Monster stocks which were identified two weeks in a row included AUY. The information urged me to buy 3000 shares of AUY. Behavioral Finance Even if information processing were perfect, it seemed that investors tend towards irrational decisions. In hindsight, these behavioral biases largely affected how I framed questions of risk versus return. Psychologists have found that individuals blame themselves more when an unconventional decision turned out poorly. Based on regret aversion theory, buying a blue-chip portfolio that declines in value is not as painful as experiencing similar losses on an unknown start-up firm.Losses on the blue-chip stock can be more easily attributed to grim luck rather than bad decision. To avoi d future remorse, I did not include stocks from start up firms. I considered less-well-known firms to be more risky. Even if potential gains can be realized from new firms due to their tremendous growth capacity and often undervalued stocks, I steered clear from such path. Instead, I trudged towards the tried and tested road and concentrated on well-established companies like Alcoa, Smith and Weson and Cemex, and popular companies like JAVA and RIMM.Availability bias is rooted on the concept that people base their decisions on the most recent and meaningful events. The more current or up-to-date the information, the more profound would be its effect on the investor. In the late 1990's, investors got caught up in the internet mania, which caused them to disregard the risks. I suppose that people naturally get lost in the moment. In fact, I purchased HUM stocks based mainly on the news that Humana was named top payer of pay claims. With the positive publicity of Humana, I projected th at its value would also increase in the market, making it an insurance of choice of the public.According to behavioral finance theories, people are overconfident, especially when they experience success. One main source of overconfidence pointed was that, most individuals consider themselves to be above average in terms of skills. This behavior was apparent when even greenhorn investors experienced exceptional growth in technology stocks of the 1990’s. As the stocks continued to climb, investors began to ascribe much of their triumph to their ability to make shrewd investment decisions. Personally, I thought that my projections on the oil and mining industries were more accurate than the foresight of other investors.I thus bought a total of 2000 IEO shares in two different occasions. My rationale was that, oil prices would rise, because it already dipped this year. The same level of smug overconfidence applied to my AUY stock acquisition. In times of crisis, I reasoned, peopl e would splurge on objects which have economic value. In my mind, a woman with money will likely choose a Louis Vuitton bag due to its resale value, than a Prada, even if the former were more expensive. Gold jewelry too, will have high demand, since it can be pawned. Thus, AUY, a gold mining firm was a reasonable buy.Humans have a tendency to seek or interpret information in a way that would confirm one's preconceptions. Conversely, information which contradict prior beliefs would be avoided. This type of selective thinking is called the confirmation bias. With the positive financial data I had gathered about SWHC, I already had a mental picture of its performance. However, since it is mainly an arms company, an industry which I am not well aware of, and less publicized as compared to energy firms, I still had to substantiate my expectations. True enough, the earnings of SWHC grew consistently.The information I needed to verify my previous opinion was made available. I decided to pu rchase 1000 shares at two different occasions. I bought the first share at $5. 68 and the next 500 at $5. 46. My decision turned out bad, since I decided to sell half of my SWHC shares days later, at a lower price of $5. 29. This action of mine is reflective of the loss aversion theory. It refers to the propensity of people to lean towards avoidance of losing a certain amount than gaining the same value. Losses are considered to have heavier emotional impact than do gains.Observing that the price of SWHC is quite going down, I disposed half my shares. I would rather sell at a marginal loss of . 27 per share than wait for the SWHC stock to plunge deeper than lose much more. However, I decided to keep half the shares. Why? Because I wanted to at least break even with my losses, just in case the price goes up, a behavior quite related to gambler’s fallacy. According to the gambler’s fallacy, investors liquidate a position after it has consistently gone up. It is also call ed the Monte Carlo fallacy.It rests on the belief that deviations from expected behavior which occur repeatedly will eventually be countered by opposite movements. For instance, a huge increase in stock price will eventually be corrected by the market, thus the difference should be exploited right away. This belief that high prices are temporary was illustrated in my trading of GERN shares. I bought 4000 shares from GERN at 6. 37 per share. Since the price to book ratio is 2. 02, the stock appeared to be highly valued by the market. But, the return on investment, and EBITDA of GERN is negative, indicating that it is not good for medium term investments.I wanted simply to buy and sell the shares. To take advantage of its high market value, the 1000 shares of the 4000 GERN stocks were sold at $6. 61. In addition, the news regarding the probability of Oracle selling Sun Microsystems prompted me to sell my shares in JAVA. Oracle’s move would mean that JAVA is not performing well. Thus, I had no desire to be part of the lowering of its market value When the news was announced that Palm and Dell lead the technological race,I decided to purchase its stocks. In addition, Palm was about to launch its Pre, a handheld technological device.Palm was a company with huge potential growth, I surmised. I wanted to take advantage of the boom it will undergo once its new product floods the market. Given such information, I bought 4000 shares of the company. Apparently, I wasn’t the only investor clamoring for PALM’s shares. The market over reacted to the statement that Pre is predicted to be the next It thing. This kind of behavior is called overreaction. According to market efficiency, new information should be reflected almost immediately in a security's price. For instance, positive reviews should raise a business' share price.The new share price should not decline even if no fresh information has been released since. Reality, however, tends to challenge this concept. Usually, stock market participants predictably overreact to the most recent information, creating a larger-than-expected effect on the price. In addition, it also appears that this price surge erodes over time. The herding or bandwagon effect simply states that investors move in a certain popular direction. They tend to mimic one another. The huge volume of PALM shares traded enticed me to join in the trend.I had the same mindset with my purchase of IEO shares. The number of subscribers has been increasing since December 2008. Thus, I decided to buy in. Furthermore, on June 1, 2008, IEO was at its 6 month high at more than 900,000 shares. I decided to purchase an additional 1000 shares at $47. 55 . The same theory applied with my purchase of the AUY shares. It was considered hotstock due to its increasing volume in the market. Lastly, the news on CX’s reorganization did not entice me to buy its stocks. It announced that it would restructure its top management ef fective May 15.But, I only decided to buy 1000 shares two weeks after. I did underreact to new information Expected Return I expected a 40% return for my portfolio. But, I was largely disappointed. The portfolio return was a mere 3%. Since the current risk free rate is at 5%, the asset return is 3% and the standard deviation is . 00334, the Sharpe ratio is -5988. 024 . Based on this calculation, I was not successful as an active portfolio manager. I would have done better if I bought an index fund. My trading performance was largely disappointing. I relied too much on fundamental analysis.I could have used technical data more, to incur larger profits. For starters, I depended heavily on P/E ratios. P/E ratios, it turned out are simply market forecasts, but not highly reliable. Also, I should have taken the risk with undervalued, high growth stocks. These start-up firms could have provided me with returns I could have also used the CAPM, where Re=Rf+(Rm-Rf)B. By comparing a stockâ₠¬â„¢s return relative to the market average and risk free rate, I would have a more precise gauge of whether the asset has high yields. Lastly, I wasn’t able to observe the market closely for I only traded at night.

Essay on Mobile Revolution Essay

Mobiles are no more a luxury or a life style product. Mobile phones, which were one of the beautiful possessions of anybody not until a decade ago, have now become a necessity to the common man. The entry of private service providers with CTMA, GSM and of course, 3G technologies has changed the Communication sector in India beyond imagination. Many new competitors have entered the mobile market resulting in reduction of the STD rates and Local call rates. Plans are also on anvil to enable mobile users to switch over to other service providers without changing their number, also called Mobile Number Portability (MNP). The mobile users in India have increased tremendously during the last decade. Youth, both in rural and urban India, have welcomed and accepted mobiles with open hands. The decrease in call rates can be imagined from the fact that it cost around? 16 per minute when mobiles were introduced in India and today it costs as little as 1 paisa per 2 seconds offered by companies like MTS. Even the size of mobile phones has changed to an unimaginable level. They have become very handy today compared to their walkie-talkie resemblance when they were introduced. The immense benefit offered by a mobile has triggered this revolution. With a mobile phone in hand, one can be available round the clock, and can get the up-to-date information on anything. The availability of internet on mobile phones has increased its utility tremendously. It has made mobile phones, to an extent, an essential item for carrying out a business transaction. The facility of sending short messages or pictures enables a person to send the message across without actually bothering to disturb the other person. For traders, it helps them get the price details of any products without even bringing the products to the market. The introduction of mobile banking helps people carry their bank in their mobile. Some people even carry their office in their mobile phones. However, mobile phones also have some demerits as they can be used to detonate bombs. Some instruments which have cameras in them can be used for taking unnecessary photographs. Constant use of mobile phones may create health problems and increase risk of accidents on road. In spite of these demerits, mobile phones are becoming popular day-by-day as their advantages fairly outweigh the demerits. In fact, the mobile revolution has occurred very fast in India. This symbolizes the country’s transformation from an inward looking tentative nature to a confident and resurgent global economic power. The mobile phone service providers have also increased manifold during the years. Some of the important market players are: Aircel, Airtel, BSNL, MTNL, Idea Cellular, Tata Indicom, Tata DoCoMo, Reliance Communications, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, Videocon Telecommunications, MTS India and Spice Telecom. Even in rural India, mobile phone has brought a tremendous change to rural telephony, marginalizing the middlemen and empowering women, strengthened by the formation of self-help groups. It has vastly improved access to information and helped in the explosive growth in connectivity. Even at sea, fishermen in Kerala use the mobiles to keep track of rates for their catch in the market. The improvement in infrastructure and support from the Government has acted as a catalyst for mobiles to make tremendous inroads into rural India. The role of mobile telephones are varied, in that, they help assess the market information, coordinate travel and transport, manage remote activities and increase the remunerative working days. As a result, the rural marketing scenario has also undergone a change. Today, the rural consumer is better informed and price conscious. The total mobile penetration is increasing at a quick pace with companies like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, etc. aving unveiled big network expansion plans and innovative marketing strategies specially tailored region-wise. Some of these companies are using a door-to-door marketing strategy in villages and B and C category census towns. They are involving members of gram panchayats and trained market-feelers to make residents aware of the usefulness of mobile telephony and how the system of pre-paid refills work. Handset manufacturers too are gearing up with Nokia incorporating nine Indian languages on certain handsets to promote sales. Value-for- money handsets priced between 1,000 and 1,400 with a plethora of tariff plans to choose from is also one of the reasons for driving subscription growth in these regions. Handsets are being imported in bulk by some service providers. It is expected that voice short messaging service will become a focus area in future, especially in rural areas and service providers are already planning implementation of the same. The pace at which mobile revolution has occurred in India can be attributed to the easy to understand operations. For an illiterate, mobiles phones were so easy to operate that they needed to understand only two buttons the green button for answering a call and the red button for disconnecting a call. Everything else can be learnt with usage and passage of time. Even today, most of the mobiles are used on this two button principle, which makes it a popular device. Gone are the days when people use to queue up before a Public Call Office (PCO) and wait their turn for an hour, only to end up without connectivity. Mobile phones have also removed the necessity to remember telephone numbers of other people. In-built phone books in the instruments enable a person to call the other person, without ever having to remember the other person’s number. Actually, mobile phones have become an all-in-one tool in the pocket, which has replaced even the old pocket diary. It is also slowly replacing purse, with the introduction of mobile transactions. No wonder, life without mobile phones have become unimaginable and unthinkable to many.

Assess the Significance of the Role of Individuals in Reducing Racial

However, it cannot be disputed that, whatever his intentions had been, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did provide just a glimpse of hope for African Americans; De Jure, the African Americans throughout America had freedom and were able to leave the slavery of Southern plantation owners. Why is it then, that De Facto, the years following the Civil War failed to provide this ‘new hope’ for Blacks and that racism discrimination continued for many years to come? The idea of Blacks developing the mind set they needed in order to fight for their freedom can be categorised as their ‘developing consciousness’. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, it was evident that Blacks had begun to realise that they too had rights and were entitled to the same as the Whites. Through the work of organisations such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and the Harlem Renaissance as well as individuals such as William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B) Du Bois; Blacks in American began developing their identity as a group and using this to fight back against the oppression of Whites. Du Bois was known as a vocal critic of Booker T Washington, being an educated Black- graduating from Fisk University in 1885 and studying history at Harvard University- he became the first African-American to receive a Ph. D. From Harvard. In order to develop Black Consciousness, Du Bois joined forces with the like minded activists of the NAACP. The NAACP’s main focal points were: The abolition of segregation; equal voting rights; educational opportunities for black people; the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Despite the main focuses of the NAACPs campaigns, it could be argued that the main thing they did for the progress of Black Equality was the uniting of Blacks under one force; by 1918 there were around 43,994 members in the NAACP. This gathering of Blacks under one organisation cannot be ignored, for the first time the African-Americans of America were joining together in order to fight for their freedom. One key event which argues against the idea that individuals were significant in reducing racial discrimination is that of WWI; argued by Sander’s- â€Å"The First World War generated jobs and gave blacks soldiers a glimpse of greater equality†. The treatment of Blacks abroad- particularly France- showed the African-Americans that the treatment they were receiving at home was unfair and that they were indeed in a situation which needed to change. It is a hard task indeed to decide whether or Black Consciousness increased due to the work solely of individuals such as Du Bois, organisations like the NAACP or events like WWI. Many would argue that it was not a single one of these factors which led to the increase of Black’s realisation of potential. One argument however is that surely without individuals behind the organisations, the work and impact of the organisation is nothing? Individuals are able to lead, organise and even inspire; something that events and organisations are unable to do. The process of increased black nationalism is certainly one which cannot be overlooked; indeed it may not have achieved solid changes in law, and some go as far to say that it may have even hindered the advancement of Black Civil Rights. Despite this one could argue that the development of black nationalism catalysed the civil rights movement for many African Americans; installing a sense of pride inside the hearts of many which was drastically needed at the time. Before trying to pin any credible progress on the black nationalism movement it is first important to attempt to define ‘Black Nationalism’. A simple definition of it would be that it was an ideology which stresses the desire for separatism of the black race; â€Å"unity as a people, pride in African heritage, the creation of autonomous institutions and the search for a territory to build a nation† (Cone, 1991, 122). However the ideology of black nationalists varies greatly between individuals; a perfect example of this is Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The two vary drastically between their methods in raising black nationalism. The methods and effectiveness of Malcolm X’s campaign for the improved lives of black Americans are up for questioning by many. Indeed his tactics were more radicalised than his non-violent counterpart Dr King: Malcolm X even stated in Washington, 1964 that â€Å"I’m here to remind the white man of the alternative to Dr King†. This statement could be seen to sum up the purpose of Malcolm X; due to the lack of credible change attached to him, one has to question whether his purpose was merely just to show what could happen (increased radicalisation and violence) if the demands of Dr King were not met. This lack of credible, positive actions and change by Malcolm X and his current organisation the Nation Of Islam is an idea which can be- and has been- argued in depth. One could argue that, in terms of De Jure, Malcolm X did not achieve anything significant and indeed many considered him to be irresponsible and negative; Thurgood Marshall even went as far as to say that the NOI was â€Å"run by a bunch of thugs†. Despite this, De Facto, one cannot simply ignore the fact that Malcolm X did indeed draw early attention to the awful conditions in the ghettos and according to the FBI, he was â€Å"The most successful recruiter for the Black Muslims†. This can be credited to Malcolm X being a Zeitgeist; he was able to tap into the spirit of the time and the feelings of the people, using this to draw the huge amounts of support he did for the Nation of Islam. Indeed it may be seen that a radical, passionate individual like Malcolm X was needed at that specific time for the black nationalism movement; it cannot be ignored that Martin Luther King was not at his most successful stage and the fire of black civil rights and nationalism which had been burning brightly was indeed beginning to burn dimmer or some might even say had gone out at the time. After looking at the impact in which individuals had on the civil rights movement and the contrast of events, one can still come back to the fundamentals of the debate; without an individual to start an organisation or instigate an event surely no progress at all would have been made? If one is able to look at the larger picture of the progress made in reducing racial discrimination in the years Assess the Significance of the Role of Individuals in Reducing Racial However, it cannot be disputed that, whatever his intentions had been, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did provide just a glimpse of hope for African Americans; De Jure, the African Americans throughout America had freedom and were able to leave the slavery of Southern plantation owners. Why is it then, that De Facto, the years following the Civil War failed to provide this ‘new hope’ for Blacks and that racism discrimination continued for many years to come? The idea of Blacks developing the mind set they needed in order to fight for their freedom can be categorised as their ‘developing consciousness’. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, it was evident that Blacks had begun to realise that they too had rights and were entitled to the same as the Whites. Through the work of organisations such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and the Harlem Renaissance as well as individuals such as William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B) Du Bois; Blacks in American began developing their identity as a group and using this to fight back against the oppression of Whites. Du Bois was known as a vocal critic of Booker T Washington, being an educated Black- graduating from Fisk University in 1885 and studying history at Harvard University- he became the first African-American to receive a Ph. D. From Harvard. In order to develop Black Consciousness, Du Bois joined forces with the like minded activists of the NAACP. The NAACP’s main focal points were: The abolition of segregation; equal voting rights; educational opportunities for black people; the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Despite the main focuses of the NAACPs campaigns, it could be argued that the main thing they did for the progress of Black Equality was the uniting of Blacks under one force; by 1918 there were around 43,994 members in the NAACP. This gathering of Blacks under one organisation cannot be ignored, for the first time the African-Americans of America were joining together in order to fight for their freedom. One key event which argues against the idea that individuals were significant in reducing racial discrimination is that of WWI; argued by Sander’s- â€Å"The First World War generated jobs and gave blacks soldiers a glimpse of greater equality†. The treatment of Blacks abroad- particularly France- showed the African-Americans that the treatment they were receiving at home was unfair and that they were indeed in a situation which needed to change. It is a hard task indeed to decide whether or Black Consciousness increased due to the work solely of individuals such as Du Bois, organisations like the NAACP or events like WWI. Many would argue that it was not a single one of these factors which led to the increase of Black’s realisation of potential. One argument however is that surely without individuals behind the organisations, the work and impact of the organisation is nothing? Individuals are able to lead, organise and even inspire; something that events and organisations are unable to do. The process of increased black nationalism is certainly one which cannot be overlooked; indeed it may not have achieved solid changes in law, and some go as far to say that it may have even hindered the advancement of Black Civil Rights. Despite this one could argue that the development of black nationalism catalysed the civil rights movement for many African Americans; installing a sense of pride inside the hearts of many which was drastically needed at the time. Before trying to pin any credible progress on the black nationalism movement it is first important to attempt to define ‘Black Nationalism’. A simple definition of it would be that it was an ideology which stresses the desire for separatism of the black race; â€Å"unity as a people, pride in African heritage, the creation of autonomous institutions and the search for a territory to build a nation† (Cone, 1991, 122). However the ideology of black nationalists varies greatly between individuals; a perfect example of this is Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The two vary drastically between their methods in raising black nationalism. The methods and effectiveness of Malcolm X’s campaign for the improved lives of black Americans are up for questioning by many. Indeed his tactics were more radicalised than his non-violent counterpart Dr King: Malcolm X even stated in Washington, 1964 that â€Å"I’m here to remind the white man of the alternative to Dr King†. This statement could be seen to sum up the purpose of Malcolm X; due to the lack of credible change attached to him, one has to question whether his purpose was merely just to show what could happen (increased radicalisation and violence) if the demands of Dr King were not met. This lack of credible, positive actions and change by Malcolm X and his current organisation the Nation Of Islam is an idea which can be- and has been- argued in depth. One could argue that, in terms of De Jure, Malcolm X did not achieve anything significant and indeed many considered him to be irresponsible and negative; Thurgood Marshall even went as far as to say that the NOI was â€Å"run by a bunch of thugs†. Despite this, De Facto, one cannot simply ignore the fact that Malcolm X did indeed draw early attention to the awful conditions in the ghettos and according to the FBI, he was â€Å"The most successful recruiter for the Black Muslims†. This can be credited to Malcolm X being a Zeitgeist; he was able to tap into the spirit of the time and the feelings of the people, using this to draw the huge amounts of support he did for the Nation of Islam. Indeed it may be seen that a radical, passionate individual like Malcolm X was needed at that specific time for the black nationalism movement; it cannot be ignored that Martin Luther King was not at his most successful stage and the fire of black civil rights and nationalism which had been burning brightly was indeed beginning to burn dimmer or some might even say had gone out at the time. After looking at the impact in which individuals had on the civil rights movement and the contrast of events, one can still come back to the fundamentals of the debate; without an individual to start an organisation or instigate an event surely no progress at all would have been made? If one is able to look at the larger picture of the progress made in reducing racial discrimination in the years

Alignment of staffing strategy with organizational strategy Essay

Alignment of staffing strategy with organizational strategy - Essay Example Human resource professionals deal with such areas as employee recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, compensation and benefits, professional development, safety and health, forecasting, and labor relations. Some of the challenges today in human resource management are maintaining a diverse workforce, dealing with major technological changes, keeping up with governmental regulations, handling corporate restructuring and downsizing, and formulating strategies essential to personnel management. As a result, many executives have suggested that effective Human Resources (HR) strategies are one of the most important aspects of successfully implementing organizational strategy within the company. For the past decades, there have been profound changes on how the role of the people in business success has been perceived. These changes have promoted the view that people management is important in maximizing organizational capabilities and should be integrated with the strategic aims of the business. One of these notable changes includes the reinvention of the government, which emphasizes on the need for performance measurement, increased efficiency and enhanced political accountability (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). In the aspect of personnel administration, this change implies the significance of political efficiency and responsiveness as values. Moreover, the reinvention of the government had introduced the need for personnel administrators to work in coordination with other systems, which in turn leads to objective attainment and cost control. Change has brought about many important goals of HRM into view. For An example of which is the significance of labour productivity. Some authors have pointed out that labour productivity should be seen as the major goal of an organisation's labour management (Osterman, 1987). It is the touchstone against which every human resource policy should be evaluated. Thus, in formulating certain HR policies, integrating means that will promote greater productivity or cost-efficacy, should be taken into account. Aside from labour productivity, change has also introduced the need for organisational flexibility. Within this term, the word organisational is used as employers usually seek forms of flexibility that extend beyond, but cover, their employee relations (Streeck, 1987). Within the aspect of organizational flexibility, two related factors should be considered. These are short-run responsiveness and long-run agility. Short-run responsiveness involves financial and numerical flexibility. I t also includes the attempt to employ workers who are multi-skilled or cross-trained. This functional flexibility aids the organisation to maintain lower headcount but cope better with marginal improvements in production processes or product design. Long-run agility on the other hand, is more powerful yet conceptually ambiguous (Dyer and Shafer, 1999). This factor refers to the ability of the firm to learn within an environment that changes rather drastically. Strategic Staffing in an Organization It can be said that human-resource planning is a challenge because the needs of the organization are constantly changing and sometimes do not converge and such challenge can be greater if the Strategic Staffing pool is limited or

Site-directed mutagenesis of gene sequences in cells of plants, Essay - 1

Site-directed mutagenesis of gene sequences in cells of plants, insects and animals can be achieved in situ used engineered zinc - Essay Example It is now well known that there are many naturally occurring zinc finger motifs, the most common of which is the Cys2His2 or C2H2 zinc finger. This particular motif is made up of 2 antiparallel ?-sheets and an ?-helix that are coordinated by 2 Histidine (his) and 2 Cysteine (cys) residues binding a zinc atom (Figure 1). This binding, plus an inner structural hydrophobic core, stabilizes the secondary structure of the protein. Figure 1. The classic zinc finger protein is made up of approximately 30 amino acids where two cysteine and two histidine residues bind to a zinc atom. The zinc finger proteins are known mediators of metabolic interactions including protein-protein interactions and RNA binding. However, the most known are their roles in DNA sequence-specific binding. From early studies on the classical C2H2 zinc finger, it was found that the zinc finger differed in principle from the other DNA-binding proteins because several zinc fingers can be linked linearly to recognize DNA sequences of varying lengths (Klug, 2005). In contrast, other DNA-binding proteins utilize the symmetry of the double helix. Usually, more than one zinc finger domain participates in binding the DNA. Each zinc finger domain binds to three nucleotide (nt) bases on the major groove of the DNA. The ?-helix, also known as the recognition helix, binds to three or more bases of with specific sequences on the DNA. Since zinc finger proteins could have more than one zinc finger motif, the DNA contacts of adjacent or arrayed zinc fingers could overlap (Iuchi, 2005). Regions that are bound by the zinc fingers are usually spaced at 3 – 5 bp apart. The modular design of the zinc fingers allows it to interact with the DNA at different regions, and allows them to be involved in many DNA interaction reactions. Thus, it is not surprising that the zinc fingers are the most encoded motif in the genome and are very abundant in nature. The highly sequence-specific DNA binding property of zinc fi ngers offered a lot of potential as a tool for regulating gene expression or for manipulating the genome. From the initial basic studies arose the design and engineering of zinc finger proteins for binding specific regions in the DNA, and synthesis of zinc finger nucleases for cutting the DNA at target sites and introduction of changes to the DNA (Davis & Stokoe, 2010; Durai, et. al, 2005). Zinc finger arrays can be engineered to bind long stretches of known regions in the genome and with the ultimate goal of finding cures to notable diseases. Some applications of zinc finger arrays are the inhibition of HIV-1 expression (Reynolds, et al., 2003) and the disruption of herpes simplex virus infection (Papworth, et al., 2003). To emphasize the importance of the zinc finger proteins, an online database was established that compiles information on known (naturally occurring) and engineered zinc fingers and zinc finger arrays (Fu, et al., 2009). Zinc Finger Nucleases A zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) is an engineered restriction enzyme that consists of a zinc finger array designed to recognize specific nucleotide sequences in the DNA, and a non-specific nuclease domain. Usually, the zinc fingers in the array have similar motifs as that of Cys2His2 zinc finger protein. The engineered zinc finger is fused with the cleavage domain of the restriction enzyme FokI endonuclease. Since FokI will cut the DNA only

Self Evaluation-Educational Objective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Self Evaluation-Educational Objective - Essay Example To further enhance my skills I would like to get enrolled in the MBA program where I can gain more knowledge and at the same time utilize my practical experiences and contribute to this industry. I got knowledge about it by a friend who has taken part in the MBA program and was satisfied with the curriculum and results of it. I believe that this is the right time to apply for an MBA program as education provides advantages and helps in improving the performance of the person in practical work life. I believe the most important concepts today are globalization, corporate governance and group work. The concepts and theories related to them help a lot in understanding and managing issues which arise. The most crucial issues to be managed are cultural diversity, discrimination and lack of communication skills. I believe that MBA program will be helpful in understanding the ways to tackle these issues and maintain a level of understanding between the group members or employees of the orga nization. I have the capability to work in a group and coordinate with my team members in an efficient manner. This will assist me in coordinating in a good manner with my colleagues in the MBA program and share experiences. The program will at the same time help me in broadening my perspectives with regard to the financial sector.

Operations and Business Systems Management (OBSM) - Business Studies Essay

Operations and Business Systems Management (OBSM) - Business Studies - Essay Example ny prioritizes some competitive criteria, according to market tendencies and concentrates its efforts to get a competitive position relating to concurrence’ (Santos et al., 2000, 2). The above issue was also examined by Rand (1999) who found that one of the most important advantages for a company that operates in the modern market is ‘visibility’ which was defined by Rand as ‘the capability to see and to understand the condition of the revenue-producing process as the revenue plan unfolds; the condition of the process is determined by the products position in the supply chain relative to the actual demand, i.e., the process is in good condition if the product and all of its components can be moved from their location in the process through the balance of the process in time to meet the date the product is scheduled to be shipped’ (Rand, 1999, 97). The above issues have to be considered when evaluating the corporate strategy followed by a company withi n a particular industrial sector. In this paper, Toyota is used as a ‘sample’ firm in order to investigate the level of effectiveness of corporate strategic plan as it is usually structured in most manufacturing companies around the world. The particular elements of the above company’s strategy (i.e. the most significant parts of its strategic plan) are then used in order to test the company’s ability to achieve its targets with a special reference to the ‘process types’ and ‘layout types’ that the company has chosen to use within the borders set by its strategic plan. Finally, the capacity strategy adopted by the organization is identified and evaluated taking into account the company’s internal and external environment and mostly its competitors both in the local and the global market. Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the most significant corporations in the automobile industry. The company was founded in 1894 and has soon become one of the world’s leading competitors in its area of

Analyzing an article Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analyzing an article - Assignment Example It also compares why they make different decisions under comparable political environments. This concept applies to the case of Palestine and Israel. An analysis of the article reveals that the ‘Palestine’ effect has a negative impact on democracy in Israel. It is stated that this influence results in the erosion of skeptical intelligence, moral judgments as well as logical reasoning. Israel is the only Jewish state and has a relatively stable political and economic environment. However, the instability that is experienced in Palestine adversely impacts on Israel. Although the two countries have different political rules the citizens end up making similar decision owing to the ‘Palestine effect’. Furthermore, it can be observed that Palestine attacks Israel as a way of getting the world to sympathize with them. They attack and capture their soldiers knowing very well that Israel’s retaliatory attacks will affect innocent citizens and this gets the world on their side. It can therefore be concluded that the war between Palestine and Iraq has a negative impact on democracy in Israel (Smith 14). Isra el faces an ugly future lest it can a lasting peace

Audi's Strategic Capabilities Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Audi's Strategic Capabilities - Case Study Example Tangible resources are the physical resources such as land and building, man and money and intangible resources are non-physical assets such as knowledge, intellectual capital and reputation. Audi is known by its abundant resources in physical as well as non-physical form to differentiate it from its rivals. A large amount of skilled people with right aptitude is the most significant capital of Audi. In a market of many giant car manufacturers with diverse products and product strategies, the first and foremost weapon of every automaker is to keep itself ahead in producing quality products at minimum cost. The strategic management basically relies on the philosophy that difference creates business. This difference from rivals firms can be achieved in many ways. Firms differ in competencies and resources. Cost reduction and efficient production has been the basis of strategic capability for many organizations. Audi has also been very strategic in reducing the cost of their production without sacrificing the quality of their products. This has made the company to turn itself as one of the most sought after automaker in the world. Competitive advantage of an organization is the unique quality which its rivals firms do not possess. These competitive advantages can be attained in any area such as production, marketing or customer relationship management. Firms that possess these competencies in more fields as compared to that of its rivals are said to have competitive edge over others and they are likely to succeed more in relation to its competitors. As regards Audi is concerned, it has built overtime a highly effective and efficient multichannel customer care center across the world which helped the firm to be effective in individualized marketing campaigns, customer process costs. This has further reduced the lead-processing by more than 80 percent. Discusses how the concept of organizational knowledge relates to strategic capability and how it might contribute to competitive advantage of organizations. Organizational knowledge is the aggregate acquaintance accumulated through systems, routines, and activities of sharing across an organization. As such it is carefully accompanying to what has so far been discussed as the competences of an organization. Organizational knowledge has become so important because of several reasons. In the modern business environment organizations have become so complex and larger, as a result of people need to share their knowledge over wide sphere of activities and departments. Moreover, the information technology has improved dramatically so as to pave the ways for more accurate and real time knowledge processing and sharing. Consider the ways in which strategic capability might be analyzed. First consider the concept of the value chain and value network as ways of understanding which activities add value and which do not. Conclude with a SWOT from the point of view of understanding strategic capability in relation to competitors Strategic capability

The News Media Characteristics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The News Media Characteristics - Research Paper Example The aim of this investment is to furnish free, dependable, faultless, boundless and important data that a vote based system requires. Participatory news coverage is a notch up, with eminent wonder in which there is next to zero publication oversight or formal journalistic workflow managing the choices of a staff. Rather, it is the consequence of numerous concurrent, disseminated discussions that either bloom or rapidly decay in the Web's informal organization. While the eruption of weblogs is a later wonder, the thought of taking advantage of your group of onlookers for new views or transforming book lovers into correspondents or reporters is definitely not. Weblogs or writes as they are generally known, are the most dynamic and amazing type of this support reporting. These individually distributed frameworks have offered ascent to a sensation that shows the markings of unrest by giving anybody with the right ability and vigour the capability to be heard far and wide on the Web. They are redesigned online diaries, with converse sequential entrances and various joins that give up-to-the-moment undertakes the journalist's existence, the news, or on a particular subject of investment. Regularly riddled with obstinate or clear and reasonably objective (Romenesko, 2008) Development of weblogs has been to a great extent powered by more terrific access to transmission capacity and ease, frequently free programming. These basic simple to-utilize apparatuses have empowered new sorts of coordinated effort unlimited by time or geology. The effect is a development of new social examples and means for self-statement. Write like groups like have permitted an incalculable number of voices to take an interest while supervising a social request and furnishing a suitable channel on talk. The exceptional thing about them is that they bring new voices into the national talk on different points, and help construct neighbourhoods of investment through their accumulations of connecti ons. (Sen. Trent Lott, 2002). This raises some imperative inquiries: If participatory reporting has climbed without the immediate help of prepared authors or news industry activities, what part will standard media play? Also are standard media ready to surrender some control and energetically work together with their gatherings of people? Additionally will an educated and engaged purchaser start to edge the news driving force from the grassroots? Furthermore, will reporting's ethics persist? My opinion on the new trend toward participatory journalism is that citizen journalism has turned into a sensation of between participatory news coverage between the normal person and the native media is turning into another rising pattern in gathering and disseminating of news. It is not dependably conceivable for the media to be available all over the place so they search out native columnist with the guarantee of free attention. This association prepares between the media and the normal subje ct gains both ways. ii. Next, after reading the required bibliography, give your opinion of the new trend toward "participatory journalism" which was discussed in this week's bibliography reading. Do you believe that cell phone photography and citizen reporting will catch on in America, and do you see any relationship between such trends and the possibility for real political reform?     

The factors affecting the deflection Essay Example for Free

The factors affecting the deflection Essay The factors affecting the deflection of a cantilever when weights are added onto the end. What I think will happen: I think that as the weights are added to the cantilever, the deflection will increase. I think this will happen because: I think the deflection will increase because gravity will push down on the cantilever and weights while the atoms in the cantilever will be resisting this force: I know that MOMENT = FORCE(N) X DISTANCE This means that the moment of the weights is the distance from the bench (or pivot) multiplied by the number of Newtons attached to the hook. As I know that the moment increases as more weight is added, I can use this to back-up my prediction by stating that more weight (or moment) causes more deflection e. g. I predict that weight is directly proportional to deflection. This could also be likened to a bimetallic strip, which will bend more as it is increasingly heated or cooled. The atoms in a solid are rather like a spring in that if they are stretched, they will try to return to their original position when released (unless stretched beyond their elastic limit). An example is a cube (see next page): When one atom is pulled, any atoms connected to this atom will try to pull each other back into their original shape. The atoms in the cantilever are being stretched so that the beam deflects downwards. The top of the cantilever gets stretched (called tension) and the bottom of the cantilever gets squashed (called compression). A cantilever that has a high cross-section will bend less than one with a low cross-section. This means that as more weight is added to the cantilever, the more tension and compression there will be. I think the atoms at the middle of the cantilever will look like this at first To this when weight is added PLAN To do this experiment, I will need: 1. A wooden meter rule 2. A G-Clamp + small block of wood 3. A Hook 4. 7, 1 Newton weights 5. A small coil of string First fit this equipment up like so: The string is used to attach the hook to the ruler. String is useful for this, as it is thin and can be placed at a measured position with fairly good accuracy. The block of wood goes in-between the G-Clamp and the ruler to stop the pressure damaging the wood. If I were to set-up the ruler without the G-Clamp I could not call it a cantilever, as a cantilever is defined as a projecting structure, fixed in position and direction at one end, and free at the other. In my preliminary experiment I found that there was no way to hook the weights onto the ruler and that using too many weight would snap or split the ruler. I used this information in my primary experiment by using string a certain distance from the bench and also adding no more than 7 Newtons onto my ruler. I have also decided to measure the deflection from the top corner of the ruler, as the bottom corner is 1/2cm away from 0 deflection. I have decided to keep it fair and accurate by changing only one variable. This is mainly due to the time constraint on the practical. I will always use the same ruler, weights and hook. I will take at least 2 readings and use the average in my results. After each reading I will verify it to see if it is near my prediction. If not, I will test it again to check if it was correct. EXPERIMENT 1 As my variable is length, for this experiment I will position my hook at the end to the meter rule: I am leaving 20mm at the end of the ruler so that I can avoid the wear on the ruler that may cause the string to slip. EXPERIMENT 2 Instead of attaching my hook to the end, this time I will position my string 450mm from the bench. Half of what it was before: EXPERIMENT 3 Putting my hook at 225mm would not be a good position as the small results would be harder and less accurate to measure. To stop this I will put the hook at 675mm. This is halfway between my previous positions. RESULTS: My results show that The results show that the bigger the surface area, the greater the amount of oxygen produced in the reaction. As the surface area increased, so to did the oxygen readings e. g. surface area = 4, average = 1. 3, surface area 12 (4+8), average = 2. 5. The 3rd and 4th results increase the surface area less that the 1st to 2nd and so do the averages of them. Also, the oxygen readings fluctuated so taking three recordings and averaging them out was a beneficial idea. My prediction was correct. EVALUATION: The test could have been more reliable if the concentration of acid was kept the same each lesson as this caused higher or lower results depending on which concentration was used. The pieces of potato were overlapping on top of each other in the test tube, which detracted from the accuracy of the result as the experiment was trying to make a correlation between surface area and oxygen produced. A conical flask with a thin mesh just above the bottom would have helped keep as much area exposed as possible. The odd/fluctuating results were mostly due to the acid concentration problem as the overlapping happened every time. I am more certain that my conclusions are correct because I have checked and recorded my results and found no unexplainable anomalies. I could do more research into enzymes and how fast they convert their substrate into the components to enable me to work out the experiment using maths and practical experience.

Sears Case Study Essay Example for Free

Sears Case Study Essay Sears is our nation’s fourth largest retailer. With over 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada, Sears has grown from its humble beginnings. Sears is a leader in apparel, home appliances, home, lawn and garden, tools, automotive repair, maintenance, and electronics. Sears also provides home service, serving 11 million service calls yearly. Richard Sears founded Sears as a mail order company and it grew to be one of the largest retailers. He opened the first department store in Chicago in 1925. Sears found success and by 1928 three more stores had opened. Now Sears employs 249,000 employees and it has grown quickly. In 2005, Sears merged with K-Mart and has helped both evolve and the merger proved to be both successful and positive. Although they have faced challenges along the way they have been able to gain a large market share because of their product mix, quality services, products, and solutions. No matter what difficulties they have faced Sears has been a leader in the retail industry and they will strive to be sure that doesn’t change. Sears has come a long way from its beginnings as a catalog. Sears has many unique attributes that make it a place that people want to shop. Despite their great accomplishment and striving to become one the largest and most competitive retailers, Sears is facing several key issues. Sears must reevaluate their internal and external environment in order to implement the changes and solutions necessary to get Sears back to where it needs to be. Company Analysis Organization and Leadership Sears has an overall good practical structure. This has definitely been key to their success because they are able to tailor their products to their customers needs using an integrated cost leadership/differentiation strategy. Sear is competing in a very competitive industry and if they follow through with their differentiated strategy they will continue to improve. Sears was able to pursue low cost and provide differentiation to their customers. Rosa Corporate Financial Position Sears financial position is currently improving. They are dealing with not only a let down on their fourth quarter losses but the sales have decreased as well in both their department stores and Kmart unit. To deal with their losses they are in the process of selling 11 stores to make up for their finances which has made their stocks go up at 19% (MarketWatch, 2012). If they sell these properties they could earn around $270 million in proceeds. It could go either way though since when sales decrease selling assets may not be the right way to bring in growth in the future. Also if they follow their plan of moving Sears Hometown and Outlet stores they could bring in between $400 million to $500 million of proceeds during the third fiscal quarter (SHLD: Nasdaq, 2012). Sears net income has dropped continually year after year from $235. M to a mere $133. 0m. One reason being is the percentage of sales has been more focused on the SGA (Sales General Administration) costs which has made it go from 23. 69% to 24. 09% (SHLD:Nasdaq GS, 2012). Core Competency The main core competency would have to be in there customer service. They offer great service to their customers which has gave them a comp etitive advantage against competitors. They use this to differentiate themselves from competition. They have built up a good customer base. They make sure they have their best associates available for customers especially through peak hours. Although, things could be a little different in terms of bargaining power from product to product, Sears has the advantage of being a top retailer and leads the way with relative bargaining power. As the number one home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, and home electronics, Sears has established deep roots in their line of business. Sears remains honest with their customers and provides high-quality products at bargain prices. As a result of long, developed relationships with suppliers, Sears has the ability to buy in high volumes and sell for less. With this in mind, the power of suppliers is a similar story within Sears’ industry environment. It varies from supplier to supplier due to Sears’ product variety and differentiation. In the retail industry, suppliers tend to have very little power. Sears has a high standard for quality, especially in its line of household appliances, so suppliers that don’t meet these standards are of no interest. Additionally, Sears has been working with its suppliers for a very long time, so they have gained the right amount of bargaining power to ensure low prices and good quality products and services.

The Solutions And Effects To Prison Overcrowding Criminology Essay

The Solutions And Effects To Prison Overcrowding Criminology Essay The purpose of this paper is to look at the overcrowded prisons that are plaguing the U.S. The prison system that we have is constantly evolving, but seems to circulate through the same prison philosophies. An overcrowded prison does not lend itself to a productive environment for inmates. Many would not care about the environment that the inmates encounter as they feel the inmate has brought this upon himself through his deviant behavior, however not all inmates will stay in prison forever. We will examine some possible solution to curb the overcrowding that is prevalent in prisons today. Solutions to Prison Overcrowding Prison overcrowding has been a problem that has plagued the U.S. prison system since its inception. The solution to this problem for many has been to build more prisons to house the additional prisoners that have been sentenced there. Those who advocate building additional prisons fail to look at what is behind the overcrowding in the first place. Research has found that crime rates are decreasing. It has also shown that prison populations are increasing. Much like the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams with the infamous quote, If you build it, they will come that by building more prisons, we will only seek to put more prisoners into them. To fully understand our current overcrowding issue, we must look at the history of the U.S. prison systems and the philosophies that drove them. Then we must look at the sentencing practices that have increased the number of inmates that are incarcerated. This will include the truth-in sentencing laws, the impact of the war on drugs and the enforcement and the increasing of the length of prison terms for certain offenses. We will also take a look at the cost of building a prison and the daily costs of housing an inmate. Then we will look at solutions for reducing prison populations which include rehabilitation and the release of aged offenders and inmates with minor offenses. The U.S. derived many of its ideas about the prison system from England. In the Middle Ages, prisons were used for housing criminals as well as debtors. Juvenile delinquents also began to be housed in prisons. As prisons developed and emerged, the purpose of them changed as well. Drawing from the ideas presented in Essays on Crimes and Punishment by Cesare Beccaria in 1764 a move towards less physical punishment for crimes was made. Beccaria was also responsible for the idea that a punishment should be severe enough to deter crime, but not too extreme. In 1557, England began the use of workhouses. Initially, they were to remove the homeless and vagrants from the streets during the day. During this time, many believed that most criminals were lazy and committed crimes as a result of that. This allowed inmates to work, however they did not learn any useful skills and were not kept in the workhouses overnight. In 1790, the Quakers from Pennsylvania reformed the Walnut Street jail into a prison. The Quakers drew from their religious background and sought to use the prison as a place for an inmate to perform a penance and to make amends for their actions against society. Also, known as the Pennsylvania System, the prison layout allowed for solitary cells. The inmate was placed in the cell, so that they could think about their actions and gain remorse. Work was completed in the cells as well, so the interaction with others was limited to an hour of exercise a day. Although the prison sought to reform the inmates through solitary work, some prisoners could not handle the solitary times and reform did not occur. There was also a high cost involved in maintaining this type of prison. In an effort to improve the prisons, the Mass Prison Era was implemented in 1825. Also known as the Auburn system after the first facility in Auburn, NY, this prison featured areas where inmates worked in groups. However, prisoners still maintained solitary cells when they were not working. When in work groups, silence was enforced. This was done through corporal punishment to maintain order and obedience as well as a strong code of silence at all times. The Auburn prison was also the first to experiment with solitary confinement as a punishment for not following the rules of the prison. One huge difference which produced negative results when compared with the Pennsylvania system is that inmates were not allowed any exercise and they were not given any work to complete. In this system, many inmates went insane, were suicidal and classified as unfit for re-entry into society. Unhappy with their current prison system, The Reformatory Era was developed next. This was the first to introduce the concept of indeterminate prison sentences in the U.S.. This concept came from two European counterparts. The first leader who emerged during this time was Captain Alexander Maconochie who was a warden at Norfolk Island, a prison off the coast of Australia. Maconochie was alarmed at the condition of the prison and sought to reform it. He developed a system where prisoners could earn an earlier freedom with good behavior. Ultimately, it placed the inmates freedom in the hands of that inmate. This was the introduction of the concept of indeterminate sentencing. Another leader during the Reform Era was Sir Walter Crofton who was aware of Maconochies progress and adapted it to the Irish Prison system. Crofton was able to set up a four stage system. In the first stage, prisoners stayed at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. They were restricted in their activities and movement. In the second stage, they were in Spike Island where they were to begin work. In the third stage, the prisoners were placed in the community on public-service projects. The fourth stage was called the ticket of leave where inmates were allowed to live and work in the community under mild supervision. The response to this was positive until there was an increase in crime which resulted in longer sentences. Crofton did not have the citizens support and could not keep it up. Back in the United States, the indeterminate sentence was introduced by Gaylord Hubbell who was impressed by the Irish Prison system. The indeterminate sentencing was started with approval from The New York Prison Association. Hubbell worked to implement the reformatory practice where prisoners who showed themselves as reformed could earn an earlier release. There were criteria that needed to be met in order to qualify for the indeterminate sentencing: the offender had to be between 16 and 30 years old and it had to be his first offense. Unfortunately, the reform prison era did not last too long as offenders would reoffend. Similar to Ireland, society was not willing to risk the higher crime rates and did not lend its support. It still was the basis for many of the ideas that we hold regarding parole, training and education today. As well as emphasizing the reform of a prisoner over the punishment of a prisoner. In 1890, the Industrial Prison era was sparked. This era brought to light an option to profit from the increasing prison population. There were several systems that utilized inmate work to bring an income into the prison system. The inmate labor systems were: contract system, lease system, piece-price system, state- use system, public-account system and public works system. In contract system, labor was contracted out to private businesses through the prison. Work took place in the prisons, but supplies were provided by the private businesses. In lease system, inmates were taken out of the prison facility and leased out to a private contractor for the day. Piece-price system was similar to the contract system, but inmates produced products that were sold to private businesses. The state-use system had inmates producing products for state offices. The public-account system was a combination of contract, piece-price and state-use systems where inmates produced, managed and sold product s in the free market that was fully run by the prison. Finally, the public-works system had inmates working on roads, highways, cleaning public areas like parks, and restoring other building in the community under the supervision of prison officials. During this time, inmates produced furniture, clothing, cleaning products and other items. The Prison Industry Era was running quite smoothly and making a substantial profit until workers from society like mechanics complained that inmates were taking over their jobs and with cheaper labor. Workers could not compete with them and felt it was unfair. These protests lead to the Ashurst-Summers Act of 1935 where Federal legislation which specifically prohibited the interstate transportation and sale of prison goods where state laws forbade them. (Schmalleger, 2007). This limited the sale of inmate produced products. In conjunction with the Depression, the once profitable Prison Industry ended. The Prison Industries Era lasted for over 40 years and was followed by the Punitive Era. The focus moved back to an age of confinement where the prisoner was to be locked away for their crimes. During this time, larger maximum security facilities were built like Alcatraz. Prisoners who were released from these types of facilities did not receive any education, valuable skills or treatment. The rate of recidivism was high. Luckily, this type of prison systems only lasted about 10 years. The Treatment Era began in 1945. This era relied on treating the inmates like patients versus inmates. Based on a medical model where a therapeutic perspective on correctional treatment that applies the diagnostic perspective of medical science to the handling of criminal offenders. (Schmalleger, 2007) One-on-one therapy was introduced as well as group therapy helped to get an understanding of the emotional and psychological reasoning for crime. There were drawbacks of this era, too. Some inmates fought against being forced to participate in these programs. Prison guards were not properly trained in how the medical model functioned and were also not trained in how to handle the inmates. In 1967, the Community-based Era arrived. In this era, prisons were again faced with overcrowding and coming off of the medical model with the optimistic view that inmates could be rehabilitated. This time they would move them back into the communities where they had committed their crimes to serve their time. The belief was that inmates would not be able to fully rehabilitate in a prison setting. The halfway house was reintroduced and gave the inmates the opportunity to work and reside in the community while being watched at the same time. However, lack of programs caused the inmates to be returned to society the same as they were before committing their crimes. The U.S. watched as recidivism rates and prison populations soared as they entered into the Warehousing Era. Deterred by the crimes that were committed by those inmates who were on work-release or residing in a halfway house, the U.S. decided to limit the liberties that the inmates had once enjoyed. The Warehousing focused on imprisonment for inmates to remove them from society to avoid the possibility of further crimes being committed. In 1970, a new treatment model emerged call the nothing works doctrine which was popularized by Robert Martinson that correctional treatment programs have had little success in rehabilitating offenders. (Schmalleger, 2007). This doctrine helped to implement the mandatory minimum sentencing provision and truth-in sentencing requirements. Calls for truth-in sentencing occurred when the average inmate was serving one third of their time that was handed out by the judge at sentencing. Victims and other citizens were dismayed to learn that the full sentence was not being fulfilled. In the 1990s another popular law was developed called the three strikes and youre out in California and was soon adopted by many other states. The premise for the three strikes law is that if someone was to commit a felony three different times, then the only option was to sentence them to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This has also contributed to a dramatic increase in prison populations. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1985 there were approximately 550,000 inmates in the U.S. prison and this figure jumped to 1,400,000 by 1995 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011) Opponents of this law argue that this law costs too much with the increased number of inmates, that it unfairly targets minority offenders, does not help to decrease crime and that not all who were convicted under the three strikes law were convicted of serious, violent crimes. Besides the sentencing guidelines, there was also a war on drugs that was taking place. Sentences for drug-related offenses became more severe and more of the sentence that was handed out by a judge was actually being served. The current era that we are in is the Just Desserts Era which started in 1995. Prisons had now become essentially warehouses for inmates who were receiving longer sentences for the same crime. Rehabilitation was not working, so the inmates are essentially being held. When we look at the past prison systems of the U.S., it is important to look at the goals that each of the systems advocated. Starting with the Penitentiary Era the focus was on rehabilitation and deterrence. The Quakers utilized their religious belief that time alone would lead a person to become remorseful for their actions. The Mass Prison system focused on deterrence as well as incapacitation. The Reformatory Era was focused on rehabilitation. The Industrial Era reverted back to incapacitation and restoration. The philosophy of retribution was strong in the Punitive Era. Not surprisingly, the Treatment Eras philosophy was on rehabilitation. In addition to rehabilitation, the Community-based Era also looked at restoration. The Warehousing Era looked at incapacitation. Finally, the Just Desserts Era looks at retribution, incapacitation and deterrence. The task before us is to find the right balance for todays society of rehabilitation, retribution and deterrence to decrease our pri son populations. One strategy to reduce or stop the increase in our prison populations comes from the sentencing phase. It is important to know the different goals of sentencing. They are: incapacitation, retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, vindication, and punishment. In incapacitation, the offender is sentenced to a prison with the goal of not allowing them to commit further crimes. In retribution, which was popular in the early ages of history, the goal is to seek revenge against the offender. An example of this is the eye for an eye mentality. Deterrence refers to stopping criminal behavior and there are two types: general and specific. General deterrence refers to the ability stop the criminal behavior by the public. An example, would be watching someone getting their hand cut off for stealing. The hope is that it serves a general deterrent to the public to not commit that crime as you have seen what happens to a person when they commit that crime. In specific deterrence refers to the offen der specifically in order to stop them from committing that crime again. Rehabilitation is means to change a persons behavior, so that they no longer commit criminal acts. Vindication refers to the making and enforcing of the law and punishment that goes along with a criminal act. Finally, punishment is the punishment of an offender fairly and equally. The consequences of the punishment for the offender are not taken into consideration. Currently, the determinate sentence law is used throughout the U.S. This started when the government and citizens gave up on the idea of rehabilitating prisoners. Its goals were to have a punishment in proportion to the crime and eliminate the disparity in the prison terms. There are three levels of a term that is ordered by a judge depending on the facts of the case. The terms are called: presumptive, aggravated and mitigated. Presumptive terms are the middle of the road terms. In an aggravated term, there may things that occurred that made the crime a little more severe when compared with similar crimes. In a mitigated term, the offender may have had a limited role in the crime or the crime was not as severe. Another caveat in determinate sentence law is that there is typically not any parole. Once the inmate has served their time, they are released automatically. Also, inmates may work to earn days off their sentence. Prior to 1970, the indeterminate sentencing law was used. This law felt that rehabilitating inmates was the number one priority. Known for parole which released inmates into the community after part of their time was served in prison, indeterminate sentence law failed in the successful rehabilitation of the inmate. In indeterminate sentence law, judges were handing out a minimum and maximum time for a sentence. Then a parole board would complete an annual review of the inmate to determine if they were ready for release. The process was not consistent which caused many to become upset with the unfairness. Another important factor to consider is what do we hope to achieve with those individuals who have proven that they are not able to follow the rules of society? If our goals come from retribution, then we are not looking at deterrence, reformation and economic considerations. We are only looking at public safety. If our goal is to rehabilitate, then will we risk public safety in releasing supposed rehabilitated inmates. While we have increased our prison capacity we have also increased our prison populations. We have now learned that we cannot hold all these inmates as our prison are becoming overcrowded which is unsafe for the prison guards and staff who run them as well as to the inmates who reside in them. One major contributor to the increasing population is the mandatory drug laws. It is not uncommon to find stories of inmates who received a mandatory minimum sentence for their minimal parts in drug offenses. According to Family Against Mandatory Minimums, there are many stories those affected by the strict sentencing laws that were created during the war on drugs. Here is one of them: Stephanie dated several men who were involved in selling drugs. At times, they would help Stephanie support her family. In exchange, she occasionally delivered and sold drugs and took messages for them. On October 26, 1993, police arrested Stephanie after she was found sitting on the front porch of a house next to a bag that contained cocaine residue. She confessed she had crack in her possession and surrendered it to the officers. She received probation. On November 10, several weeks after her arrest, police sent a confidential informant (CI) to make a controlled drug buy from Stephanie. On November 15, the CI purchased two crack rocks for $120. On December 8, the CI bought $40 worth of crack from Stephanie and several codefendants. After this final controlled buy, officers searched Stephanies residence and found four pieces of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Stephanie was fined and sentenced to nine months in jail. Nearly three years later on August 16, 1996, police raided Stephanies residence after a CI reported that he had seen crack in the house.   Officers found 500 grams of powder cocaine and $13,710 in an attic safe belonging to Stephanies former boyfriend, Michael. In the master bedroom, police found utensils that tested positive for drug residue. Michael had the key to the safe, along with $797 in cash in his pants pocket. He confessed to police that the money, the cocaine and the paraphernalia belonged to him and that the $797 was from 500 grams of crack he had already sold. Later, Michael would testify that he paid Stephanie to let him reside and store crack at her house. At the time of her arrest, Stephanie had no cash, no bank account and owned no other property besides her car, valued at $2,500. She depended on food stamps and welfare to provide for her children. Stephanie went to trial. She was held accountable for 500 grams of powder cocaine found in the attic safe as well as 500 grams of crack that Michael said he sold.   Several of Stephanies codefendants who dealt drugs with Michael testified against her. Because of their uncorroborated testimony, Stephanie was held accountable for an additional 290 grams of crack, for a total of 1,290 grams (about 2.84 pounds). Stephanie received a sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice because she testified that she had no knowledge of and did not participate in Michaels drug activity.   Because of her 1993 drug offenses, Stephanie was categorized as a career criminal, an enhancement which mandates a life sentence. Despite his objections, Judge Roger Vinson was forced to sentence 26-year-old Stephanie to life in prison without parole.    At sentencing, Judge Vinson said to prosecutors: Theres no question that Ms. George deserved to be punished.   The only question is whether it should be a mandatory life sentence I wish I had another alternative. He told Stephanie, Even though you have been involved in drugs and drug dealing for a number of years your role has basically been as a girlfriend and bag holder and money holder.   So certainly, in my judgment, it doesnt warrant a life sentence. Stephanie received the longest sentence of any of her five codefendants. Over a decade ago, the young mother of three was led out of the courtroom quietly crying. She has now been incarcerated for over 14 years. Her children have grown up without her and her older relatives have aged and passed away. Stephanie has been a model prisoner, actively participating in vocational and educational training and working hard at her prison job. She has completed drug treatment and is sober. Unfortunately, the mandatory minimum life sentence prevents Stephanie from ever having another chance (Families Against Mandatory Minimums, 2011). Stories like Stephanies are not uncommon. Like the judge stated Stephanie needed to be punished for her actions, however it seemed extreme to be sentenced to life in prison for such a minimal role. In many of these cases, the person who was more invested in the illegal activities seems to get away with less time in prison as they were able to make deals with the prosecution. The reason that this occurs is that the person with the most information is in a better position to help prosecutors out and may bargain smaller time in prison for themselves while the person who may have had the smaller role is left holding the bag. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics from a report in 2009, crime rates have remained the same or decreased since 1994 in areas of rape, burglary, property crimes, robbery, motor vehicle theft, and homicide (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011) In contrast, the number of inmates in the corrections system which include probation, prison, jail or parole, has increased. The trend remains that prison populations are slowly increasing as well. In 2009, the FBIs Uniform Crime Report (UCR) reported a 1.9 percent decline in violent crimes and a 0.8 percent decline in property crimes reported in 2008. This drop in crime came at a time when the prison and jail growth rates fell from previous years (2008). This data shows that while crime rates were decreasing in contrast the incarceration rates had increased. There should also be guidelines when determining who should be sentenced to prison instead of community service orders. A person should be sentenced to prison or jail if any lesser punishment would depreciate the seriousness of the crime that was committed, imprisonment is needed in order to deter them from crime, and if the person has had other sanctions applied to them. The cost of building a new prison is rather staggering. The estimated cost to build a new prison is $250 million and another $45 million a year to run it. In todays economy, it would be unwise to not consider economical factors when debating the construction of new prisons. It is not a mystery that a majority of inmates that were sentenced to prison will one day be released back into society. It is important to remember that once a person has spent time in prison, the chances that he will return are quite high. In a two year time frame, it was found that 70% of inmates committed another offense and were returned to prison. Since we know that many of these offenders will be returning to society (some for a shorter amount of time than others), it is important to ensure that are prisons provide inmates with opportunities. One opportunity that is a win-win situation for all is prison industries. Federal Prison Industries (FPI) emerged during the Prison Industries Era, but was limited by the Ashurst Sanders Act. Today prison industries are in place making license plates, office furniture and other items. However, they are limited as to who they may sell things to. This seems to be a resource that is not fully appreciated. If we were to implement additional trades to provide inmates with some skill upon leaving the prison system, then they would be better able to make the transition into society. Many inmates have an 8th grade education. If they were appropriately trained, they would be able to pay compensation to the victim of their crime, assist in supporting their family while in prison and build confidence in knowing that they have a skill that would allow them to work on the outside. Some examples of valuable skills would be to teach welding skills, automotive skills, electrical skills, farming techniques and other technical skills. Also, the profit that the prison industry makes could go to costs of running the prison facilities, provide education to the inmates, and other rehabilitative programs. There are those that against the prison industries who say that the inmates are being paid unfair wages, however the inmate is currently being housed, fed and clothed which are huge expenditures by a citizen out in society. It appears to balance out. There are others who dont think that the skills being taught are not useful; however it is a skill that they did not have prior to arriving at prison. It also gives the inmate something to do while incarcerated. Boredom in a prison is not a good thing; it could lead to violence and riots. Lets look at some other solutions or alternatives to building additional prisons. It is clear that in order to avoid building new prisons, the inmate population will need to either decrease or remain the same. An alternative to imprisonment would be day fines. Day fines are successfully being collected in both Germany and Sweden. The day fine process has two steps. First, you need to consider the severity of the crime. For example, the more serious the crime the higher the fine will be. Second, you need to look at the income of the offender. Currently, in the U.S. day fines have not completely caught on. Many times, day fines are not enforced or collected. This is the result of fines handed out that a lower income person could not afford, so they dont put utilize resources in collecting them. The day fine could be used as a better deterrent for someone who is rich as they would feel it the same as a person who does not make as much. For example, if you get a $500 speeding ticket and you are someone like Paris Hilton that will not really deter you from speeding again. Now if the fine was raised to $50,000, it could deter you from speeding in the future. An idea that stirs up great controversy is the release of inmates prior to the term deemed by a judge. However, we should remember the war on drugs and many of the sentences set forth by the judge were mandated to the judge. There are many cases where judges at the sentencing stated their unhappiness with being bound to the sentence. Discretion should be given to judge when making sentences, so that the punishment is fitting to the crime. The judge is present at the trial and has access to the pre-sentence report. Having seen the full picture, the judge should be able to hand out the best sentence for the offender. The mandatory minimum sentence law should be replaced with flexible guidelines. We should also look at the idea that not all who are convicted of a crime should go to prison. There are other alternative besides sending someone to prison for committing crimes. These are often cheaper when compared with housing an inmate in a correctional facility. According to the state of Georgia, it costs $28,936 a year for a minimum security prison to house an inmate compared with $1,434 for an offender with intensive probation (FY2009 Costs of Adult Offender Sanctions, 2008). Community corrections is the when punishment involves more community supervision and activities and less confinement. Probation is one of the most commonly used sentences that are applied. There are two types: general and specific. General probation is just that, these are the rules that many offenders must abide by. They direct that the offender must obey all laws, stay within the jurisdiction of the courts, stay employed, allow access to their homes by a probation officer or police officer and not be i n the possession of a firearm. In specific probation, the judge may add specific limitations and rules that pertain specifically to that offender. For example, if the offense was drug-related perhaps mandate drug tests and rehabilitation programs in addition to the general probation guidelines. Intermediate sanctions or alternative sentencing strategies are sentencing alternatives that cover a variety of options. Split sentencing is usually completed in a jail versus a prison. Then there is shock probation where the offender is sentenced to prison, but serves only a short amount of time, they are then released with probation. The goal of this is to surprise the inmate with a shorter prison term. Shock incarceration has the offender in a boot camp like setting for about 90-180 days to shock the inmate into better behavior. It is more commonly used for young offenders and first time offenders. Community service is a common punishment where the offender must dedicate some of their time to a community organization. Some pick up trash on the side of the road or volunteer in soup kitchens; this is usually reserved for minor offenses. Home confinement is another alternative to prisons. This is beneficial as it allows the offender to remain in his community, has the ability to keep his employment, and with his family. They utilize an ankle bracelet which is equipped with GPS to know the location of the offender. This is easily monitored 24 hours a day. Some monitoring devices are able to detect alcohol in the offenders system which would be useful in settings where alcohol or drug use was forbidden. Today satellites assist with detecting the location of the offender. This technology is constantly evolving and is sure to develop some other useful tools in monitoring large amounts of offenders. These are also done at a lower cost compared with incarceration. The Irish System that was created by Sir Walter Crofton is a good basis for the parole system. Under this system, inmates would be able to demonstrate that they have changed their behavior and are ready to enter back into society. It would be a system where they would have to work to be able to move into the next level and are rewarded with additional freedoms. Communities would benefit from the free labor that they receive from inmates through their trash pick-up and the fixing of buildings that are in disrepair. The ticket of leave inmates could be monitored with ankle bracelets which posse

Portrayal of Women in The Good Earth :: Good Earth Essays

Portrayal of Women in The Good Earth The Good Earth focuses around the life of a Chinese peasant, Wang Lung, who struggles to overcome a poverty-stricken life. The accounts of Wang Lung's life portray traditional China. One prominent aspect of this story is how women were depicted in society. The role of women in China is woven throughout the novel. Depending on their social status, each female character within the novel gives readers a different perspective of a woman's role during this period. In addition to their roles, the author includes the trials and tribulations these women must face as well. As a whole, the importance of these female characters are based upon their contribution to the ego's of the male protagonists and as being providers of support to both family and order in society. In Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, women are depicted to be consistent with the authentic Chinese culture of that period. Paul A. Doyle, a literary critic, remarks that Buck's stories were improbable and simplistic (Chauhan, 1994, 120). He later adds: "In structure, The Good Earth uses a chronological form which proceeds at a fairly regular pace. Buck's stories take the epic rather than dramatic form, that is to say, they are chronological narratives of a piece of life, seen from one point of view, straightforward, without devices; they have no complex plots, formed of many strands skillfully twisted, but belong to the single-strand type, with the family, however, rather than the individual as a unit (Buck 35). As Wang Lung and his father begin this family strand, one by one characters are introduced from Wang's viewpoint. In regards to women in his society, he objectively portrays them for what they are worth. In spite of his smooth surface, the novel shows a complicated feminism. On the one hand, the woman's situation is clearly, almost gruesomely, presented: Chinese village society is pat riarchal, oppressive, and stultifying to women (Hayford, 1994, 25). The clearest illustration of this occurs through O-lan, the wife of Wang Lung. O-lan comes about in the first chapter of the novel. At the age of ten, her parents sell her off to the Great House of Hwang, where the village's wealthiest landowner resides.

the first days of school Essay -- essays research papers

In this first unit of The First Days of School, Harry Wong presents three characteristics of an effective teacher. The three characteristics are: has good classroom management skills, teaches for mastery, and has positive expectations for student success. The effective teacher exhibits positive expectations for all students. Having positive expectations simply means that the teacher believes in the student and that the student can learn. Students will live up to the expectations you set, and to be effective- your expectations should be positive for all students. The effective teacher establishes good classroom management techniques. Classroom Management is practices and procedures that a teacher uses to maintain an environment in which instruction and learning can occur. Effective teachers manage, ineffective teachers discipline; this book guides you in practicing procedures with your students. The effective teacher designs lessons for student mastery. Mastery simply means a student's demonstration that a concept or skill can be performed at a level of proficiency determined by the teacher. Student success in the subject matter of the class will be the result of how well the teacher designs lessons and checks for mastery. You must kno w how to get students to do their assignments, pass their tests, and work cooperatively.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wong states that what you do on the first few days of school can determine your success for the rest of the year. Some of the ...

Lacanian Mirror Stage: Oedipus the King :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

Lacanian Mirror Stage: Oedipus the King The essence of this paper is to determine whether or not Jocasta played a more important role in the rise and fall of the title character. The paper will examine the play Oedipus Tyrannus through the eyes of the French theorist Jacques Lacan. Specifically the paper will focus on the mirror stage of Lacan's theories. As to the criteria that the paper will use, there are some "truths" that need to be established about the Lacanian division of thinking. In Lacan's way of thought, we all have repressed desires, and these desires can never be fulfilled. In language, there are similar"eternal desires" that cannot be satiated. Lacan carries this further in identifying the patriarchal society with which we live in as being founded on men's words. Therefore, women have no voice in this world and cannot be satisfied in their life times. For one to better understand Jocasta's character, one must have a knowledge of Lacanian theory, on which it is based. Lacan's mirror stage, originally espoused by Freud, and its relationship to the conscious and un- consciousness. Freud believed that when a baby looked at an image of him/herself in a mirror, they would at a certain point in their development "realize" that the reflection was him/herself they were seeing. It is at this moment in a child's life that the "ego" is formed, or the formation of a "self-awareness". This ego is present in all people; it serves as a reminder of who we are and where we came from. However, Freud reasoned that to be a fully developed human, we must move on from the simple realization that we are ourselves. We must know or come to know that we aren't the only ones in the mirror. The "child," our selves and our egos, must also realize that our "mother" is there in the reflection with us. In doing so we begin to understand that we are not the only ones in the image, and therefore, not the center of being. Moreover, we "turn" to our mothers and look at them, breaking the egotistic stare. It is the ability to break the primary concern of viewing ourselves that allows us to move into society. We must be able to break that self concerned stare and focus it on our "Mothers" or society as it were. Thus constitutes the mirror stage of Freud's theory.