Sarbanes Oxley Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sarbanes Oxley Act - Essay Example The degree of disclosure of financial information is also a main reason. Mostly the corporate running bodies do not find them answerable in front of any regulatory body; therefore they keep on trying 'innovative' ideas for which others have to pay. (Maclean, 2005) Financial information in the form of audited accounts can prevent the system slipping into corruption (Sunlight is the best detergent), but it is not clear why, for example, a superior US financial reporting infrastructure did not help us detect Enron. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745 (July 30, 2002), is a United States federal law also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (and commonly called SOX or SarbOx). With the major financial reforms in most of the countries of the world the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in the United states in order to deal with the issues such as establishment of the public company, the level of auditor's independence, proper monitoring of the accounting practices of the company under a board, corporate social responsibility and enhancement in the financial disclosure to the prescribed level by the act. The law is seen as the major reform in the after the New Deal passed in 1930. The act revolutionized United States securities laws. The House approved act with the majority of 423-3 and Senate by 97-0. The act increased the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission powers. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act's requires the companies to make their financial reports certify by the chief executive officers and chief financial officers. According to the act the Executive officers and directors are not allowed to take personal loans. The act prescribed the companies for the extended disclosure of the financial information in order to improve the shareholders and stakeholders accountability. The act also increased the jail sentence duration and increased the fine amount in case of violence of the securities law or misuse. The corporate executives misstating the financial information will also have to face increased sentence time duration and higher amount of penalties. The act also prohibited the audit firms to provide any services additional to that of the auditing to the companies they are working for. The compensation of the Chief executives and other higher executives are also required to be reported. The act also accelerated reporting of trades by insiders and prohi bition on insider trades during pension fund blackout periods. (Wikipedia, 2006) Reference Maclean, P., (2005). Power Play - Robert McCullough was interviewed for an article covering Enron's role in the California power crisis and its aftermath, Portland Monthly, May 2005, Retrieved 05/005/06 from Wikipedia, (2006). Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Retrieved 05/005

Economical and religious repression Essay Example for Free

Economical and religious repression Essay Illustrate from Blakes songs the ways the poet shows that the people of his time were alienated from their natural selves and from society by political, economical and religious repression A major target of Blakes in the conquest to correct the unnatural state of society was that of religion and the Church. Blake was an unconventional Christian. Although clearly religious, as seen in poems such as The Lamb and Night, he abhorred the concept of organised religion and believed it to be an extremely damaging institution which was more concerned with the oppression of the lower classes and the continuance of the unequal status quo than with true religion. Blake believed the moral codes that were extolled by the Church were significantly damaging to society, making innocent concepts deviant and causing bitter unhappiness. In The Garden of Love, Blake conveys his feelings on the repressive qualities of religion. This poem is the basis for Blakes theory on repressive religion, using The Garden of Love as a basis for the damaging effects of religious bans, Blake then goes onto portray how the effects change with different experiences such as love and sex. In the poem, the speaker returns to The Garden of Love where he used to play (which seems to refer to the innocent discovery of sexuality by children) and finds that it has been transformed. Where once children used to play on the green there are now priests in black gowns, and gravestones where there used to be flowers. The speaker has become aware of Church law and its oppressive bans, Blake emphasises the influence of the religious morals by use of metrical technique. The power of Thou shalt not paralyses the poem, with three successive stresses halting the regularly anapaestic rhythm. In the same way that Thou shalt not stops the flow of the poem, the construction of the Chapel stops the innocent play of children. In the design which accompanies the poem children are seen praying over the graves of Joys Desires, which were murdered by the Church. Blake further expands his theory on how repressive religion alienates people of his day from their natural selves in his two poems on sexual intercourse, The Blossom and The Sick Rose. The Blossom is a celebration of what Blake would call completely natural sex, being free from morals and repressive religion it is a wonderful and joyous occasion, so full of emotion that it makes the robin sob with joy. The Blossom is full of positive language, such as happy, merry and pretty and contains a simple and bouncing rhythm that conveys the naturalness of the act and how positive such sex is. The Sick Rose on the other hand portrays sexual intercourse at its most depraved and shameful. The poem is a vision of sex under the influence of repressive religious morals and restricting social conventions; it portrays sexual intercourse under the influence of repressive religious morals. The poem utilises a complicated and lumpy rhythm, with a mix of anapaestic and iambic feet and a disturbing first line which is difficult to scan, the world of Experience is clearly evoked through Blakes metrical technique. The poems imagery of an invisible worm flying at night in a howling storm is full of darkness, violence and depravity. The Rose hides (implied by found out) her sexual pleasure, her bed of crimson joy, which reveals the hypocrisy of female pleasure in this depraved form of sex; the Rose has sexual desire but hides it from the invisible worm. In the final two lines Blake sums up his point of the poem, that this kind of sexual intercourse, this dark secret love, Does thy life destroy. Through his portrayal of love and sex in the Songs, Blake shows the damaging effects of religious repression. Repressive religious morals and laws have led to the body becoming detached from the soul, and sex, which the Church associates with the body, has become a seedy and deviant act. In these poems, Blake has shown that the Church has alienated people from their natural selves. In My Pretty Rose Tree, Blake reveals his beliefs on the unnatural constraints of marriage. Blake repudiated any kind of binding contracts or morals, which might constrain the natural self from its freedom and marriage fell firmly within his sights. As far as Blake was concerned, marriage was a dead institution (as revealed by the marriage hearse of London) and an unnatural social prison which severely damaged peoples natural selves. In the poem, a flower was offered to the speaker, a metaphor for an extra-marital affair, by a woman which the speaker finds attractive (Such a flower as May never bore). However, the unnatural constraints of marriage cause the speaker to unhappily, suggested by the slowing of the rhythm with a double stress in And I passed the sweet flower oer, turn down the offer and return to his wife, his Pretty Rose tree. The artificial boundaries of marriage have led to the speaker giving up the chance of being happy with his sweet flower and to being trapped with his jealous Rose tree whose thorns are his only delight. Blake suggests that without the constraints of marriage that the speaker would have been free to follow his heart, rather than conforming to an artificial law and becoming unhappy. In London, Blake further expresses his attitude towards marriage. In the poem, marriage is presented as a hearse, a vessel for carrying the dead, though with their bodies (their sexual selves) being dead in a loveless and institutionalised marriage which extols the virtues of the soul over the deviant and depraved body. Blake blames the unnatural state of love in society on the Churchs separation of body and soul. The separation has forced the soul to be encapsulated in marriage and the body to be forced to become deviant and turn to youthful Harlots. Sexual pleasure has only two options, either a loveless marriage or buying pleasure from seedy and diseased prostitutes. Marriage, in Blakes eyes, has made all sexual pleasure the kind found in The Sick Rose, depraved and hidden, whereas in a world free from the unnatural constraints alienating people from themselves, people would be able to enjoy the pleasure found in The Blossom.

To Kill A Mockingbird Character Analysis :: essays research papers

TKAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many people in To Kill a Mockingbird that have significant influences of Scout and Jem’s actions. The two that stood out boldly to me, however, were Atticus and Calpurnia. Atticus, being the children’s father, tought his kids many moral lessons. Calpurnia acted as a mother to Jem and Scout. Throughout every chapter these two charactors were making connections that only parents can do. They both inflicted fundamental influence on the children. Atticus and Calpurnia were both essential charactors in supporting Jem and Scouts actions because they represented parental values needed for success in life; as does my father, who teaches me things no one else can.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Atticus was definitely a major role model for both his children because he was a well-mannered father. From the beginning of the novel until the end, his kids were trying to make him proud of them. â€Å"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand† (Pg. 116) is just one of the non-violent, influential lessons he told his children. One of the many ideas he tries to make clear to Scout throughout the novel is to not judge people, which is the primary conflict in the story. â€Å"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it† (Pg. 34) is yet another example. Atticus is the key authority in the lives of his two children. He clearly recognizes their problems, gives them the advice they need, and lets his children handle their problems. He is distinctly there for them everytime they need him. A tticus is an unparelelled charactor in making major impacts upon Scout and Jem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Calpurnia, although not as influential as Atticus, was more of an influence at the beginning of the novel. She loved Scout and Jem like her own children. Cal disciplined them like a mother, and loved them like a mother as well. By taking them to her church and telling Scout she could come to her house, she evidently crossed a barrier from â€Å"housemaid† to a friend or a guardian. â€Å"Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggrevates ‘em† (Pg. 128) something she tells Scout about why she talks different around black friends than how she normally speaks. This is one of the many lessons Scout learned in the book.

IT Business Outsourcing Essay

IT Business Outsourcing involves contracting of specific processes as well as tasks of IT business to a third party or who can provide the service (Gewirtz, 2007). These days a lot of variation can be seen in the business environment, the reason for which is the impact of external factors like changes in the preference of customer. These changes have increased the business pressures in order of performance improvement and competition. Business firms, now days are really facing a lot of pressure to continue reviewing their performance in order to cope up with the current market. Innovation and creativity are the two things which are really very important and highly stress on the improvement of the market position. Hence, to cope with this complex environment, IT business process outsourcing has been as one of the solution in order to improve performance. Outsourcing a process to any proficient company which have ample amount of professional awareness as well as experience can improve the operational efficiency of the business. However all these are based on the amount pf professionalism shown by the company. However, such improvements depend on the levels of professionalism displayed by the third party entity. This means the major emphasis should be given to the level of expertise, time and finances. A third part must have all these qualities to apply as an outsourcer. Problem statement Essential requirement for a business when deciding for outsourcing is adequate information on the assessment of risk otherwise this feature has the ability to hamper your brand image (Sullivan, 2006). Outsourcing should be a result of the organizations decision making capability. Different viewpoints should be taken into consideration with all the important entities like major as well as minor stake holders. External as well as internal environment should also be taken into consideration. Decision should be made on such criteria where you are confirm that the outsourcer have adequate amount of highly professional employee strength and support structures. The objective of this problem study is to find out various variables that a business organization must have to consider when deciding for outsourcing like what are the various risk associated with the business, what type of change management is needed and who all are included in the decision making process, etc. In order to take the correct decision, few objectives are needed to be prepared for better management. Following are some important objectives which should be adopted by every organization thinking for outsourcing. 1. First objective which is very essential is to find out all the most important variables which a business should consider while deciding about the outsourcing of their information processes. It is very important there are lots of factors which can affect the business while outsourcing like finance, employees, amount of profit, geographical location etc. Hence, the main task is to identify the main factors that a business organization should consider. 2. Second objective is to verify if the assessment of risk is making impact on the procedure of decision making when looking for outsourcing the information process. This is very important as without risk assessment, how to know what are the different risks associated with the outsourcing business (Harris, 2008). It gives a clear idea that these are the risk and in order to go for outsourcing you need to cope up with all these. 3. Third thing which is needed to be kept in mind is to verify if the requirement for change management extensively effect the decision about the outsourcing of information processes (Mead, 2005). Change management is basically an organized approach to deal with various changes, from the point of view of organization as well as individual. 4. Fourth objective is to evaluate all the entities required for decision making by a business. These entities are mainly the stakeholders in the organization. It’s very important to involve only those stakeholders who are needed for decision making. Purpose Statement At the time of deciding whether to outsource or not, one thing you should always keep in mind that is do whatever you can do yourself and outsource the remaining. There are many processes that are executed in a company, all of which are not equally important. Except the core process, all other processes are not so relevant. They are just acceptable. Outsourcing IT business process should essentially be the decision of business firm and not an individual’s decision like the top management only. Around 20 industries are taken as the number of participants to complete this survey and the location for study is south East Asia, basically India and Philippines. First necessary step for an organization is to decide whether the outsourcing decision will fit their organizational model and if yes, then why. Even though functioning in same line of business, one company can have ample reason for outsourcing while on the same line; another one can found that reasoning not worth. Making decision is not a very hard process, however, determining whether to outsource or not, what process to be outsourced and what are the objective to be accomplished are some of the important factors to be taken seriously. First variable to be analyzed is the understanding of the core-competencies of the organization because this understanding will help decide what to make and what to buy or outsource. To analyze the quantitative side, all related costs should be evaluated that arise from different task like production, goods delivery or the in-house service. As outsourcing relates to future costs, investigation must be done comparing all the future costs. Now, to analyze the qualitative factor, some issues that should be kept in mind are: Is there some cultural match among company and the outsourcer, can you be willing to share data openly, reliability of the outsourcer, who among both of you has better skills and practices, technology is largely known or not and how hard is this to recruit for the function? One more important thing is that the outsourced process should be core to outsourcer. Outsourcing should provide benefits like cost reduction, flexibility, targeted expertise, benchmark quality and efficiency profits. If these variables are not resulting in positive, then the outsourcer is not the correct one. As outsourcing is very critical for growth of a firm, thus a strong evaluation panel should be setup which should consist of most competent and appreciated employees who will help in deciding on the outsourcing and outsourcer (Wijers,  2009). Decision for outsourcing is entirely dependent on a formula called QCDV which stand for the quality, expenditure or cost involved, delivery at right time, and at last value. in fact, quality as well as the delivery is the most important component for deciding outsourcing as they openly influence your customer as well as businesses reputation and hence sales. In addition, the panel should also judge current regulations, governing bodies and standards of the firm which is associated with the production as well as completion of task in timely manner, that are associated with producing a product or completing a task in a timely manner. The main aspect for evaluation must be the financial saving which outsourcing should provide to the firm. Outsourcing’s main objective should be to save capital. The outsourcer must recognize the firm’s expectations in terms of cost reduction as well as overall performance. Hence, the panel should develop an analysis standard on cost/performance which the outsourcer should have to go through each quarter. This will allow the company to check how much capital as well as expenses are used in the process and if the process is saving money or not.

Problems and Prospects of the Chongming Dontan Ramsar Site

Name: Su Zhelong UtasNum: 144362 SOUNum: 0991340 Word Count: 1846 KGA 378 Long Essay: Pressures, Problems and Prospects of the Chongming Dontan Ramsar Site I. Introduction From the pre-industrial period to post-industrial period, the problems caused by environment deterioration always come with the great economic growth and significant technical promotion. To equilibrate social development and environmental health puzzles people all over the world at present while poverty still affect one fifth of human population after the population explosion and accelerating urbanization.The contradiction typically occurs in the coastal zones, which are under the pressure from population growth, pollution, over-exploitation of resources and habitat degradation due to these areas hold approximately half of the world’s population. In China, the whole country is fueled by â€Å"powerful social and economic forces† that are â€Å"promoting individual development and land reclamationâ₠¬  (Yang, 1999; Yang et al. , 2001 cited in Zhao et al. , 2004). This author focused on the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site as a case to discuss its pressures, problems and prospects in the development dilemma of the changing world.Chongming Island is the third largest island in China(1200km2) and the largest alluvial island in the world that located in north of Shanghai city. As a migratory staging and wintering site for millions of birds and spawning and feeding grounds for 63 species of fish, Chongming Dongtan provides important ecological services with its extraordinary resources. (Zhao et al. , 2004) The essay used SWOT analysis process to evaluate the ecological situation of Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site, therefore, the article discussed this issue from four main aspects: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.II. SWOT Analysis: Strengths The strengths of Chongming Dongtan Ramsar site can be concluded as three respects: geographic advantages, abundant resources and bi ological diversity. Firstly, the Chongming Dongtan is the most large-scaled and well-developed tidal wetland and the mouth of the river. It is located in the easternmost Chongming Island that formed by the sediment accumulation from the runoff of Yangzi River. Moreover, the Dongtan is still increasing in size by about 500 ha annually to the East Ocean through the deposition of sand. (Zhao et al. 2004) This position, the coastal area in the center of Yangzi Delta, is the midpoint along the only way that must be passed of migratory birds in Pacific Asia that many birds stop here to take rest and food when they pass by in spring and summer. Besides, it is also a wintering site for millions of birds because of its moderate climate (Shi et al. , 2001). Secondly, the extensive tidal-flat area and hierarchical distribution make the Dongtan rich in both inorganic and organic resources. The luxuriant aquatic plant and massive plankton provide adequate food for birds and reptiles.As a habitat , especially in winter, the widely flourishingly growing reed is very suitable to perch and hatch for birds. Lastly, the Dongtan site has amazing biological diversity that 63 species of fish including the rare animal which is on the verge of extinction – Chinese sturgeon and 108 species of migratory birds. The total number of the birds aggregates three million which is the tenth of China and quarter of Shanghai area. III. SWOT Analysis: Weaknesses Since 1960s the Chinese, both government and civilians, started to exploit the Chongming Island, the total annual ecosystem service values in Dongtan keep declining until today.Especially after the reform and open, the fast industrialization and economic development accelerate the environmental degradation in Dongtan. Just between 1990 and 2000, the total ecosystem service values had reduced 62%, which was largerly attributable to the 71% loss of wetlands and tidal flats. (Zhao et al. , 2004) According to relative research, the main reasons, also the weakness, of Dongtan are mostly from two aspects: the depletion caused by overdevelopment and inning and the water discharge pollution. From 1964 to 2001, there were more than 20 times of inning activity that occupied over 14198. hm. The inning activities becomes increasingly frequent and large-scaled that result in the wetlands/tidal flats shrunk from 12,432 ha in 1990 to 7915ha in 1997, and 3856 ha in 2000. In contrast, the orchard /plant nursery had increased from 80 ha in 1990 to 3863 ha in 2000. (Zhao et al. , 2004) The detailed situation of land structure changes had been listed in the following tables: Tables from Zhao B. , Kreuter U. , Li B. , Ma Z. , Chen J. & Nakagoshi N. , 2004, An Ecosystem Service Value Assessment of Land-use Change on Chongming Island, China, Land Use Policy, Volume 21, pages 139-148.In addition, the reed regions area fell off from 2039. 78 hm to 810. 17 hm and the salt marsh area decreased from 539. 27 hm to 391. 43 hm. Influenced b y the changes, many birds are forced to leave the original habitat so that the total number of birds dropped with the tidal reduction. These irrational distributions of land use broke up the ecosystem balance and caused high rate of environmental services loss that will bring serious negative ecological consequences in long term. The shortsighted activities will finally limit the development of the area and lead to economically costly outcomes.The other weakness of Dongtan site is the water quality degradation because of the sewage discharge. There are 16 township enterprises use 166. 67 tidal lands to initiate ship dismantlement factories, which produced serious water pollution with waste oil and Toxic chemical substances that make the large-area reed withered or dead. Particularly in the combined concentrated sewage discharge outlets, the water quality of both the intertidal and offshore was polluted by the heavy metal contamination and organic pollution (PAHs and LABs). Shi et al . , 2001) from almost three million m3 sewage per day is discharged to the coastal zone water body. Compared with the industrial centralized sewage discharge, the non-point pollution from urban runoff, agriculture and aquaculture contributes much more significant percentage of the total pollution. Despite these two factors, poaching activities and wetland grazing also wreck the environmental heath of Dongtan site in different degrees. IV. SWOT Analysis: OpportunitiesIn 1992, the Chongming Dongtan had been put in the Chinese Protected Wetland Dictionary while it was brought into The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and other international important wetland lists. The Dongtan sites undertake the functions of environmental damage resisting, environment purifying and maintain the biological diversity. Due to its great meaning for sustainable development of multiple regions, the Shanghai City made decisions of constructing Chongming Island into the largest ecolog ical island in China.The Chongming Dongtan Wetland Nature Protection Area, Chongming Dongtan Migratory Birds Nature Protection Area of Shanghai and Chongming Dongtan Wetland Park had been established in succession. The foundation of these protection areas will effectively retard the environmental degradation in Dongtan site and promote the environmental quality through policy and integrated management. At the same time, in order to lighten the pressure of exploit on the wetland, the government has built a convenient communication network to stimulate the tourist industry and economic growth.The overall plan of Dongtan transport system development has four parts: * Freeway traffic: the G40 line, important part of national highway network that connects East China and North China, will cross the Chongming Island through Shanghai Yangzi River Tunnel; * Rail transit: the subway 9th line will reach the Chengjia Town in Chongming Island across the Yangzi River; * Water traffic: dork constr uction along the south band of the Yangzi River; * Air traffic: the parking apron for helicopter in the International Forum Island, which is in the south of Dongtan Avenue, has been built already.To deal with the water pollution from sewage discharge, the Chongming ecological construction plan states that the wetland sewage treatment project is under building. This project aims to concentrate both industrial and sanitary sewage to purge before discharge to improve the water quality of the area. Three of the 9 programmed sewage disposal works had been accomplished and come into service. The total sewage treatment system includes sewage collection network, preprocessing system and artificial wetland processing system. The treated water can be directly discharge into the farmland or irrigate plants.This sewage treatment system can handle 6 million tons of water per day that is the biggest sewage disposal work in Chongming Island. V. SWOT Analysis: Threats The last section is to analysi s the potential problems or threats to the future development of the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site. As the arguer had mentioned before, the Chongming Dongtan is formed by the sand sedimentation from the water flow of the Yangzi River. Thus the area of the wetland/tidal flats still keeps increasing because the sedimentation process continues to bring solid matter.However, the water conservancy construction in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, like the Three Gorges Hydropower Station and . projects to divert water from the south to the north, substantially diminishes the sediment charge of the current while the water flow does not change. Less sediment concentration slows down the speed of wetland and tidal flats increasing. Corresponding, affected by the storm surge, many coastal areas have been widespread eroded. The problem will become more and more serious if no measures are taken.Every year, thousands of fishing vessels gather from different provinces to Chongming Dongtan t o fish for eels. The massive fishery activity invades and occupies the habitat of birds and brings significant pollution like noise of motor and engine oil. The geese and ducks overwintering has been serious disturbed that they could not foraging and perch safely and peacefully. The frail ecosystem that is lack of unified management has been wantonly destroyed from the immoderate seining. (Yin, Jiang & Li, 2008)In addition, the local plants like scirpus mariqueter and reed provide necessary food and habitat for migratory birds. Notwithstanding, the invasive alien species like spartina is growing in extreme abundance and snatching resources from local plants while these invasive alien species cannot take place of the local plants’ functions. (Yuan et al. , 2003) Therefore, if the reed has be instead of the invasive alien species, the species and quantity of the bird will sharply decrease thus the environmental services of tidal flats are not functioning properly.VI. Conclusion In conclusion, after the SWOT analysis of the Chongming Dongtan Ramsar Site, the author had summarized the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The pressures of the Dongtan mostly come from over exploit, resource depletion and human-made pollution from many aspects especially the sewage discharge. The reduction of wetlands/tidal flats caused by enclose tideland for cultivation and less sediment concentration in water flow of Yangzi River and immoderate seining are the major problems for the protection area.However, a number of measures taken by the government of Shanghai City, for instance, the foundation of three natural protection areas, integrated high speed communication network and sewage treatment works, will make remarkable difference to the present situation. The author considered the poor management of Dongtan site as the primary restriction to limit its development. Thus, applying the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) will be a proper solution to deve lop and protect the Dongtan and its resources.By uniforming a common objective of national and local authorities, the ICZM will promote the way of coastal area using and balance the demands from natural, economic, cultural and social needs. (Shi et al. , 2001) VII. Reference O? Connell M. , 2000. , Threats to Waterbirds and Wetlands: Implications for Conservation, Inventory and Research, Wildfowl, Volume 51, pages 1-15. Shi C. , Hutchinson S. M. , Yu L. & Xu S. , 2001, Towards a Sustainable Coast: An Integrated Coastal Zone Management Framework for Shanghai, People? Republic of China, Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 44, pages 411-427. Tian B. , Zhang L. , Wang X. , Zhou Y. & Zhang W. , 2010, Forecasting the effects of sea-level rise at Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve in the Yangtze Delta, Shanghai, China, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S0925857410001709 [Access at May 15th 2012] Yin H. , Jiang W. & Li J. , 2008, Simulation of Non-Point Pollutant s Evolution in Coastal Plain Island-A Case Study of Chongming Island, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. om/science/article/pii/S1001605808600530 [Access at May 15th 2012] Yuan W. , James P. , Hodgson K. , Hutchinson S. M. & Shi C. , 2003, Development of sustainability indicators by communities in China: a case study of Chongming County, Shanghai, Available at: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S030147970300063X [Access at May 15th 2012] Zhao B. , Kreuter U. , Li B. , Ma Z. , Chen J. & Nakagoshi N. , 2004, An Ecosystem Service Value Assessment of Land-use Change on Chongming Island, China, Land Use Policy, Volume 21, pages 139-148.

Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance

Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance The issue of professional ethics has always been important for the health care workers but with the recent changes in the society, this issue has become especially topical. Financial accountability and reporting is important for meeting the ethical standards within the health care organizations and protecting the patients from the financial burden and unnecessary services.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Financial Reporting Practices and Ethical Standards in Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Planning, controlling, organizing, and decision-making are the four major elements of effective financial management though some researchers do not recognize organizing as a separate component. Still, proper organization is significant for the effectiveness of the whole project, and requires special attention of the financial managers. The planning element presupposes identification of the main objecti ves of a particular project and selecting appropriate measures that need to be imposed for meeting them. The controlling element requires analysis of reports from all the divisions of the organization and evaluation of the existing state of affairs. On the organizing stage, the manager chooses the most effective ways for using the available resources. The element of decision making presupposes deciding between various alternatives after analysis of possible consequences and evaluating the positive and negative sides of every option. Baker and Baker (2010) noted that â€Å"decision making actually occurs parallel to planning, organizing, and controlling. All types of decision making rely on information, and the primary tasks are analysis and evaluation† (p. 5). The field of accounting is of crucial importance for organizing the financial information on a particular health care organization, for making the informed choices after the analysis of this data. Working on the externa l reports, the financial managers should consider the generally accepted accounting principles so that the processes in different organizations could be compared according to similar metrics. These standards depend upon the type of a particular health care organization, and the majority of them is non-for-profit and does not pay income taxes though a number of for-profit organizations delivering health care services increased recently. â€Å"A common misunderstanding is that nonprofits are not allowed to make any money, when in fact they must generate more revenue than expenses to stay in business† (Barker, 2009, p. 210). However, it is important to take measures for handling the conflict of interests and to protect patients from the financial burden, meeting the general financial ethical principles for health care organizations. It is important that the physicians should resist the temptation of providing the unnecessary services, disregarding their financial self-interest.A dvertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More At the same time, the organizational ethics is even more important than the moral of an individual practitioner. Weber (2001) noted that â€Å"the issue here is not so much how the individual behaves as how the organization is managed† (p. 52). Meeting the generally acceptable ethical principles, health care organizations improve the quality of their services and protect patients from paying for unnecessary services. The realities of present day hospital or clinical settings predetermine a number of challenges for nurses and physicians who face ethical dilemmas in their professional practice day by day. The issue of meeting the ethical standards is related not only to personal choices of health care workers and management of organizations but to the state of affairs in the sphere as well. â€Å"In today’s chan ging practice environment, third parties have increasing control in the delivery and financing of care and in treatment decisions† (Povar et al., 2004, Ethics in practice). In other words, there are a number of additional factors which complicate the physician-patient interaction and may become a hindrance for considering the ethical principles while providing the health care services. Thus, even focusing the health care plans on the patients’ interest and disrespecting their financial self-interests, practitioners have to handle the issues of financing their research projects. For example, pharmaceutical companies appear to be one of the most influential third parties. Within the recent decades, the conflicts of interests of physicians and pharmaceutical companies have become widely spread. It is obvious that drug manufacturers are interested in increasing their revenues by selling more medicine. Still, physicians should remain focused on the patients’ interests and the quality of the health care services. At the same time, the importance of cooperation with pharmaceutical companies should not be underestimated because of their support of the research projects. â€Å"The pharmaceutical industry spends approximately $ 12 billion annually on gifts and payments to physicians† (Studdert et al, 2004, â€Å"Financial conflicts of interest†). The physicians’ accountability and procedures of financial reporting are of crucial importance for controlling the health care organizations. â€Å"The financial matters for which [providers are] (or could be) held accountable include the price of services, the efficiency with which they are provided, assurance that services billed for were delivered, and the overall financial performance of the [providers]† (Emanuel and Emanuel, 2004, What is accountability in health care?).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Financial Reporting Practices and Ethic al Standards in Health Care Finance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the changing professional environment, the principles of professional ethics have to prevail and physicians have to avoid providing unnecessary services to their patients. Effective management and financial reporting are important for meeting the ethical norms within the health care organizations and providing high-quality services. Reference List Baker, J.J. Baker, R.W. (2010). Health care finance. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Barker, A.M. (2009). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Emanuel, E.J. and Emanuel, L.L. (2004). â€Å"What is accountability in health care?† Annals of Internal Medicine. Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/709376/what-accountability-health-care?volume=124issue=2page=229 Povar, G.J et al. (July, 2004). Ethics in practice: Mana ged care and the changing health care environment. Annals of Internal Medicine, 141 (2). Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/717640/ethics-practice-managed-care-changing-health-care-environment-medicine-profession Studdert, D.M. (October, 2004). Financial conflict of interest in physicians’ relationships with the pharmaceutical industry – self-regulation in the shadow of federal prosecution. The New England Journal of Medicine, 351.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Weber, L.J. (2001). Business ethics in healthcare: Beyond compliance. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely

Martin Buber’s work What is Man?is a work aimed at unpacking the question asked in the title. The work deals with understanding the question as opposed to answering it. Buber addresses with the question using philosophical anthropology in order to look at man in his most elemental form. Defining man is an immeasurably large task. In undertaking such an endeavor one must look at people collectively and account for difference in every sense(sex, role, age, ethnicity, character type, etc.), but one also must look at man himself. Man must examine how he is different from other â€Å"bearers of consciousness†(64A) like animals. Man must know himself in order to define himself, which is precisely why Buber suggests the use of Philosophical Anthropology. Philosophical Anthropology is not aimed at providing a different view-point on human existence, â€Å"it is solely intent on knowing man himself†(64B). It is a unique area of study because a man is not just the observer, but he is the subject himself, and cannot separate himself and look only at the human race, but he must contemplate himself with respect to all others. Moreover, the philosophical anthropologist cannot consider himself an object of study, but only is truly studying himself from a philosophical anthropological view if he includes his own subjectivity. He must enter completely into the act of self-reflection, and then build all knowledge of man around that core of understanding he gains from himself. Bernhard Graethuysen defines the significance by saying that with Aristotle â€Å"man ceases to be problematic, with him man speaks of himself always as it were in the third person†¦ The special dimension, in which man knows himself as he can know himself alone, remains unentered, and for that reason man’s special place in the cosmos remains undiscovered.†(65B) Mary Midgley’s On Not Being Afraid of Natural Sex Differences discusses â€Å"How far are we essentially the... Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely Free Essays on Martin Buber And Mary Midgely Martin Buber’s work What is Man?is a work aimed at unpacking the question asked in the title. The work deals with understanding the question as opposed to answering it. Buber addresses with the question using philosophical anthropology in order to look at man in his most elemental form. Defining man is an immeasurably large task. In undertaking such an endeavor one must look at people collectively and account for difference in every sense(sex, role, age, ethnicity, character type, etc.), but one also must look at man himself. Man must examine how he is different from other â€Å"bearers of consciousness†(64A) like animals. Man must know himself in order to define himself, which is precisely why Buber suggests the use of Philosophical Anthropology. Philosophical Anthropology is not aimed at providing a different view-point on human existence, â€Å"it is solely intent on knowing man himself†(64B). It is a unique area of study because a man is not just the observer, but he is the subject himself, and cannot separate himself and look only at the human race, but he must contemplate himself with respect to all others. Moreover, the philosophical anthropologist cannot consider himself an object of study, but only is truly studying himself from a philosophical anthropological view if he includes his own subjectivity. He must enter completely into the act of self-reflection, and then build all knowledge of man around that core of understanding he gains from himself. Bernhard Graethuysen defines the significance by saying that with Aristotle â€Å"man ceases to be problematic, with him man speaks of himself always as it were in the third person†¦ The special dimension, in which man knows himself as he can know himself alone, remains unentered, and for that reason man’s special place in the cosmos remains undiscovered.†(65B) Mary Midgley’s On Not Being Afraid of Natural Sex Differences discusses â€Å"How far are we essentially the...

Locate and Identify Black Locust in North America

Locate and Identify Black Locust in North America Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known as the black locust, is a prickly tree within the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family called  Fabaceae and is considered to be a legume with flattened pea pods several inches long. Black locust is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe and Asia. The original range of the locust is in the Appalachian, Ozark and Ouachita range  located in the middle mountains of Eastern North America.  They are now considered an invasive species in some areas even within the natural range. Black locust was introduced into Britain in 1636 where it has slowly garnered a universal appeal to tree lovers. Black Locust Identification One major identifier is the long compound leaves with up to 19 leaflets which present  the typical and unique locust leaf profile (not to be confused with the twice compound leaves of honey locust). The other ID marker is a small stout briar spine  on branches, often curved and in pairs at each leaf node. Late spring to early summer flowers can be showy, white and drooping  with 5-inch flower clusters. These flowers are fragrant with a vanilla and honey scent. The leguminous fruit developing from the flower has 4-inch papery thin pods with small, dark-brown, kidney-shaped seeds. These autumn seeds will persist until the next spring. You will find this tree primarily  in areas where it colonizes open fields and roadsides. Its ability to grow in poor soils, fast growth, ornamental foliage and fragrant flowers make for a favorite tree to plant. More on Black Locust Black locust is sometimes called yellow locust and grows naturally on a wide range of sites but does best on rich moist limestone soils.  Black locust is not a commercial timber species but is useful for many other purposes. Because it is a nitrogen fixer and has rapid juvenile growth, it is widely planted as an ornamental, for shelterbelts, and for land reclamation. It is suitable for fuelwood and pulp and provides cover for wildlife, browse for deer, and cavities for birds. We must recognize that black locust is not an important tree for logging purposes as there is very little timber value and it has little lumber or paper pulp potential. We still need to remember that the tree has and is used  in the United States to be manufactured into a wide variety of products. Robinia pseudoacacia is planted for many specialized purposes. Black locust is used for fence posts, mine timbers, poles, railroad ties, insulator pins, ship timber, tree nails for wooden ship construction, boxes, crates, pegs, stakes, and novelties. Pulp with satisfactory mechanical properties can be made from the tree, particularly by the sulfate process but commercial value awaits  further investigation.

Resume and cover letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resume and cover letter - Essay Example This has made me more capable in handling certain circumstances under extreme pressure. I do realize that many jobs in the business world require a person to have a strong and stable character which can handle a stressful environment. I can do this. I have been attempting to bring improvements into my life since reaching the United States 10 years ago and my educational progress has only been one of the areas that I have found to bring remarkable attributes for myself. Due to the fact that my sister is already an employee of your company I have learned a great deal about the skills that would be required for the position of a ‘program specialist’ with the business. I am aware that I would need to have dedication and a good deal of knowledge in online marketing and with advertising programs as well. My educational training has earned me a degree that covers these various areas so I feel totally confident that I would be an asset to your company, which is my main goal. I also am aware that excellent verbal and other communication skills are a must in order to work for the company and I am proud to say that I have developed my English skills most proficiently and could be viewed almost as a native speaker. Also, I do believe I have a great personality and am easy going, and very willing to work along side others in a collaborative type of environment to achieve the company’s goal. Most importantly for myself, I want to be employed with a company that has longevity and values its employees, which I am certain that your business can do as I have heard nothing but positive remarks about the company. In order to give a better view of my skills and past experiences through the education and employment that I have acquired my resume is attached. I look forward to hearing from your company and am hoping for a

INTRODUCTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS AND Essay

INTRODUCTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS - Essay Example It gives a clearly structure for the enquiry and help me to stay within a defined set of limits. This methodology provides the scheme for sampling, data collection, data analysis and explanation of findings for the research. For the sake of providing the best understanding, it will be appropriate to summarize important elements of the research to make the research methodology meaningful. Silverman, (2004) states that qualitative methods are meant to provide an observation of social phenomenon from a close analysis of facts and trends with a critical review of information to provide an opinion by me This means that qualitative research methods are mainly concerned with the assessment of social events with a view of making critical conclusion . However, Marshall and Rossman (2010) identify qualitative research as a field of enquiry that cuts across disciplines and fields and examines key concepts. Which means it is theoretical and does not really seem to be related to figures. On the other hand quantitative research focuses on figures and trends to provide ideas from experimental studies (Silverman, 2004). This is different from qualitative research which is more theories and ideas. In this research, the primary approach would be more theoretical, making it more of a qualitative research. It would examine patterns and trends in peoples perception towards Art Education at the secondary school level in both Iraq and the UK. Within the findings there would be some elements of statistical analysis to provide a pattern and tone that is quantitative in nature. Sampling is an important element for the study of a representative body to acquire information about a subject that can be generalised over a wider population (Dodds, 2011). In order to understand each of the four objectives, there will be the need to study a carefully selected proportion of the population to come up with findings that would be

Law in Civil Engineering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Law in Civil Engineering - Essay Example In the UK, there are several laws enacted to protect women against this kind of discrimination. Though the laws also protect men from being discriminated against, women are the victims in most cases. Several cases have set precedence of the actions and compensation that victims are entitled to in such cases. The case In the UK, the equality act enacted in 2010 protects employees against any form of sexual discrimination. The equality act is just an extension of the sex discrimination act of 1975. It does not apply only to women but also covers men. The aspects of employment such as recruitment, appraisal and promotion are covered under this law. The terms of an employment contract should provide similar entitlements to both men and women since the nature of their work is homogenous and of the similar value. In drafting its employment contracts, the company should consult its legal experts who will advise it on the implications of each of the contract statements. Eileen could sue the company for gender discrimination, age discrimination, criminal intimidation and unfair dismissal. She is entitled to damages should she win the case or decide to settle. On the first count of gender discrimination, Eileen is likely to be successful if the case goes to court. Her manager’s comments that the company has an unwritten policy for women in their twenties to be promoted are sexist. He says that the reason for this is that they leave to have children. An example would be a case in which a male supervisor at the Deutsche Bank made jokes considered sexist in the office about women. An employee Dr. Swinburne sued the bank for sex discrimination and was awarded compensation of ?40000 (Labour research department, 1988). Another example of such a case was the Crown Prosecution Services vs Maria Bimieh in February 2000. She won a case for sex and racial discrimination case against the firm. Her male supervisor failed to promote her even after her performance reviews showed that she met the requirements for a promotion. She had worked at the firm for 12 years. The company is vulnerable if it does not have any written document on its policy on sex discrimination. If Eileen and other employees bear witness that in her time working for the company, the management did not hold any educational forums to educate its employees on the implications of sex discrimination or have official policies on according each person equal opportunities on promotion and other matters, then the company is liable for the damages. In 2003, a trainee sales representative at a car showroom belonging to beadles group sued for discrimination claiming compensation of ?180000 which she won. The reason for her compensation was that she was forced to quit work by the offensive conduct of a colleague at work. The court ruled that since the company did not make any efforts to deter this behavior from its employees, it was liable for her emotional injuries. The medical evidence presented during the case showed that it would be more than 2 years before she was emotionally fit to work again. Sex discrimination cases do not always go in the directions of the plaintiffs, some have also lost. In Villalba vs Lynch inn 2004, the tribunal found that she had no basis for a sexual discrimination claim in which she was asking for ? 1.7m in settlement. She claimed discrimination for being made to perform the duties of cabin crew as the directors of

Business Data Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Data Analysis - Essay Example The distribution of sales from each customer is analyzed to identify the most important customers. The call times for various calls are analyzed to identify the number of employees that need to be kept. Based on the analysis done, it is evident that company needs to analyze its performance with respect to quarter as well as profit center. The company needs to have 5 employees making sales calls. At the same time, the company was able to identify the most profitable customers on whom it needs to focus on. Introduction Laurel McRae has recently joined Handy Hydraulics for data analysis and strategic planning. In order to analyze the performance of the sales of the organization, Laurel collected the data for the sales for third and fourth quarter of 1990 and first and second quarter of 1991. She also collected the data regarding the machines and the days when they are working and various alternatives to replace the existing system. Number of calls received per hour was collected to anal yze the sales call being made and number of employees that shall be entrusted with the responsibility of handling calls. She also collected data regarding sales from each customer. This data enables Laurel find the company’s most profitable and least profitable customers. ... answers: Answer 1 a.) Histograms and relative frequency distributions of the company’s daily average order size for quarters 1 and 2 In the simplest of terms, histogram can be defined as a series of contiguous bars or rectangles representing frequency of the data in given intervals (Black, 2009). Histogram is a very useful tool to analyze the frequencies of different class interval. The daily average order size can be calculated as dividing the total sales by total orders. The table below shows the frequency table for the organization’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2: Range Frequency Q1 Frequency Q2 220 0 0 Table 1: The frequency distribution table for daily average order size for Q1 and Q2 As can be seen from the table, majority of the frequency is concentrated towards the middle. The frequencies for Q1 as well as Q2 are 0 for all the intervals till the average order size of 59. While there is no daily average order size above 220 for Q1, there is no daily aver age order size above 200 for Q2. The best way to analyze this frequency distribution table is to analyze the histogram. The graph below shows the histogram for the company’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2: Figure 1: Histogram of company’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2 As can be seen from the graph, the frequency for both the seasons can be thought of following a normal curve. For Q2, the highest frequency is in the range of 100-119, while for Q1, the highest frequency is in the range of 120-139. b.) Quarterly charts for the company’s total number of orders per day The table below shows the frequency distribution for the total number of orders

Distinguish Knowledge from Opinion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Distinguish Knowledge from Opinion - Essay Example In Plato’s Meno, Socrates and Meno argue about what virtue is and whether it can be taught. What ensues is an exchange of ideas which lead Socrates to further prove his point – that virtue cannot be taught and is rather simply recalled. For Socrates, â€Å"the soul is immortal† and therefore â€Å"there is nothing which it has not learned.2 The soul therefore only has to draw out from its reservoir of knowledge all the truths that can be known. In order to prove this point, Socrates calls on a young servant boy of Meno’s and begins using the elenchus on him, hoping to draw out the truth from him without teaching him anything. Socrates begins his demonstration of the elenchus by drawing a 2 ft. x 2 ft. square on the ground. This square has an area of 4 square feet and Socrates then asks the boy how to come up with a square double this area, which is 8 square feet. Through a series of questions and answers using a trial-and-error method, Socrates and the __ ________________________ 1 Gladwell, p. 197. 2 Baggini & Fosl, p. 13. boy finally come to a conclusion that double the area of the given square is the square of its diagonal. Many times during the interrogation, Socrates points out to Meno that he is not teaching the boy and rather makes him remember the truth. ... For the French philosopher, the means of finding true knowledge is through skepticism, or the method of casting doubt on all arguments, principles and beliefs until any of these could be proven true. Descartes’ principle of â€Å"methodological doubt† begins when he notices that his senses sometimes deceive him.4 He then proceeds to wonder what is real and what is not. He thinks that everything that he can perceive through the senses may merely be opinion and not the truth for he can doubt the existence of these things. Moreover, the fact that he may be deceived by the senses also somehow makes him cast doubt on the goodness of God, for he wonders why a good God would allow him to be deceived. As this deceptive quality does not fit Descartes’ notion of a good God, he replaces God with an â€Å"evil genius† that possesses the power to deceive him completely.5 With such a powerful evil force, Descartes then begins to doubt everything else, even the verity of mathematics and geometry, and he asks himself, â€Å"What then will be true? __________________________ 3 Baggini & Fosl, p. 16. 4 Ibid., p. 50. 5 Ibid., p. 52. Perhaps just the single fact that nothing is certain.†6 Descartes, however, finally comes up with the conclusion that, despite the fact that the existence of everything can be doubted, he exists: â€Å"†¦there is no doubt that I exist, if [the evil genius] is deceiving me.†7 Descartes then takes it from here and he supposes that the fact that he is being deceived rests upon the fact that it is because he thinks so. With the premise that he as a thinking being now exists, Descartes is able to conclude that he as a thinking being can also doubt, understand, affirm, imagine, sense and perform many other functions related to thinking. Moreover, using

Business Data Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Data Analysis - Essay Example The distribution of sales from each customer is analyzed to identify the most important customers. The call times for various calls are analyzed to identify the number of employees that need to be kept. Based on the analysis done, it is evident that company needs to analyze its performance with respect to quarter as well as profit center. The company needs to have 5 employees making sales calls. At the same time, the company was able to identify the most profitable customers on whom it needs to focus on. Introduction Laurel McRae has recently joined Handy Hydraulics for data analysis and strategic planning. In order to analyze the performance of the sales of the organization, Laurel collected the data for the sales for third and fourth quarter of 1990 and first and second quarter of 1991. She also collected the data regarding the machines and the days when they are working and various alternatives to replace the existing system. Number of calls received per hour was collected to anal yze the sales call being made and number of employees that shall be entrusted with the responsibility of handling calls. She also collected data regarding sales from each customer. This data enables Laurel find the company’s most profitable and least profitable customers. ... answers: Answer 1 a.) Histograms and relative frequency distributions of the company’s daily average order size for quarters 1 and 2 In the simplest of terms, histogram can be defined as a series of contiguous bars or rectangles representing frequency of the data in given intervals (Black, 2009). Histogram is a very useful tool to analyze the frequencies of different class interval. The daily average order size can be calculated as dividing the total sales by total orders. The table below shows the frequency table for the organization’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2: Range Frequency Q1 Frequency Q2 220 0 0 Table 1: The frequency distribution table for daily average order size for Q1 and Q2 As can be seen from the table, majority of the frequency is concentrated towards the middle. The frequencies for Q1 as well as Q2 are 0 for all the intervals till the average order size of 59. While there is no daily average order size above 220 for Q1, there is no daily aver age order size above 200 for Q2. The best way to analyze this frequency distribution table is to analyze the histogram. The graph below shows the histogram for the company’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2: Figure 1: Histogram of company’s daily average order size for Q1 and Q2 As can be seen from the graph, the frequency for both the seasons can be thought of following a normal curve. For Q2, the highest frequency is in the range of 100-119, while for Q1, the highest frequency is in the range of 120-139. b.) Quarterly charts for the company’s total number of orders per day The table below shows the frequency distribution for the total number of orders

Procurement, contracts and strategies Assignment

Procurement, contracts and strategies - Assignment Example It seems to oscillate between adopting a bold and inspirational stance and being timid and accepting. It is caught between the need to encourage as much growth as the local economy can accommodate and the desire to be selective and discerning on the grounds of quality. There is a wide gap between the ambition of being a truly European city and the reality. Those who aspire to be control of urban development in Leeds are more at its mercy than they could like to think or have us believe. Leeds city council struggles to raise the value of their goods and services. This will lead to improvement in the monetary value. The following procurement strategy is mainly focused on the openness and transparency, category management, lifecycle approach the skills and capacity of procurement professionals. This idea is striving to exploit the examples of good practice and skilled with expertise professionals that are within the council’s premises from the local community to the international community. In addition, it also deals with the private sector and the public and responds to the views received through extensive ranging discussion and pilot projects. Recently changes have occurred to the procurements of Leeds city council that are not far related to those of Staffordshire county council. It has been overshadowed that the changes will take approximately twelve months to be fully implemented and function in Leeds city council across all units of the council. This procurement strategy will be checked semi-annually together with the documents set to show the possible changes and lessons learnt from the new procurement. Leeds city council at present spends $1500 million each financial year in terms of revenue and capital. The council acquires a very extensive range of services, goods and works. This includes back office support and the

My Ambition to Be a Software Engineer Essay Example for Free

My Ambition to Be a Software Engineer Essay He stares at me. Look at these sentences, Farmers plough the paddy field. Farmers plough in the paddy field. She speaks English. She speaks in English. This is the way; we form plural verbs into singular. 1. Most of the plural verbs form their singular by adding S to the plural verbs. Ex. Speak – Speaks Come – comes Love loves www. eduLanka. com 1 eduLanka Online English education 2. If a plural, verb ends in [ss,ch,sh,x,o] we form the singular by adding es to the plural. Ex. Catch – catches Wash – washes 3. If a plural verb ends in a Y following a component to the form the singular Y changes into I and add ES. Ex. Study – studies Fly flies But sometimes Play – plays Say says Verb has basically three forms. Some verbs can give below: Base Form Bet burst Cost Cut Let Split Beat Bring Bleed Come Dig Creep Catch Dream Get Light Lose Meet Pay Keep Have Past Tense bet burst cost cut let split beat brought bled came dug crept caught dreamt got lit lost met paid kept had Past Participle bet burst cost cut let split beaten brought bled came dug crept caught dreamt got lit lost met paid kept had ww. eduLanka. com 2 eduLanka Online English education Make Find Leave Mean Run Say Send Sell Be Give Go made found left meant ran said sent sold was gave went made found left meant run said sent sold been given gone Online education lessons From: www. edulanka. com www. eduLanka. com 3 eduLanka Online English education

Asian Popular Culture In Globalization Contexts

Asian Popular Culture In Globalization Contexts Globalization is a process of cultural, economic, politics and religious integration all over the world. Globalization has brought about great changes on the ideologies, communication, and transportation. The Asian popular culture has also undergone great changes under the background of globalization. During the globalization process, the Asian popular culture has played an important and critical role. The Asian popular culture has exerted great influence on the world culture. The Chinese Kung Fu and the Japanese animation are the typical examples which have brought about great impact on the world popular culture. The case of the Chinese Kung Fu in the film industry and the Japanese animation images will be further studied in the following passages. Case 1 Chinese Kung Fu in the film industry In recent years, the Chinese Kung Fu films have been popular all over the world. Many Hollywood films contain the Chinese Kung Fu elements. The philosophy in the Kung Fu such as go with the nature has been wide spread (Royo, 2009). Learning Chinese Kung Fu has become a fashion among many foreigners. The images created by the Chinese Kung Fu actor Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan and Jet Lee have influenced people of several generations. The director Ang Lees film Chinese Kung Fu film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has won the 2000 Academy Award including the Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Original Score, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. The 2008 animation Kung Fu Panda of DreamWorks has again fired a Chinese Kung Fu fashion. In the film, besides the martial arts and the Panda which are of strong Chinese characteristics, other Chinese elements have also been included, such as the chopsticks, Chinese costumes and Shifu(master). In this film, the Chinese philoso phies have also been involved. As a matter of fact, the Hollywood films which take Chinese historical stories as the main theme, or which involves Chinese elements are in a great number. The Chinese Kung Fu has already been rooted in the film audiences minds. Most western film goers believes that if the protagonist in the film has been equipped with Chinese Kung Fu, he is sure to beat his opponent no matter what impediment or unfavorable condition the protagonist is in (Belton, 1996). Due to the influence of the film industry, the Chinese Kung Fu has been widely spread all over the world and become popular. Many foreigners including the westerners as well as those in the Asian countries as well come to china to study Chinese martial arts or Kung Fu. The Shaolin Monastery becomes an ideal destination for the fans who love the martial arts of Bruce Lee or Jacky Chan. The Shaolin Monastery in the Henan Province in china is on the Songshan Mountain which is one of the four renowned moun tains in china. The Shaolin Monastery has a long tradition of martial arts and the monks in this monastery are all master hand in martial arts. The name of Shaolin Monastery has been spread by many films. Every year, the Shaolin Monastery receives thousands of foreign tourists who interested in the martial arts and the Kung Fu lovers who want to study martial arts. The monks of the Shaolin Monastery will put performance every year all over the world and their performance is enthusiastically welcomed by the foreign audience no matter they love Kung Fu or not. The Chinese Kung Fu gradually becomes a part of popular culture with the help of the film and the film itself has been popular enough. The Kung Fu has also becomes popular among the Chinese. Many elements in Chinese Kung Fu have been incorporated in peoples daily exercises to keep fit. Case analysis Chinese popular culture as the bridge between the eastern and western culture under the background of globalization From this case, the Chinese popular culture has played a role of bridging the western and eastern culture. Under the background of globalization, culture diversification is an inevitable trend under the background of globalization. The integration and infiltration of the alien culture and the local culture is an inevitable process for the development of the culture. No culture can develop and evolve through isolation and insulation with the outside world. Therefore, the Chinese popular has played the role of bridging the western and eastern culture through the popularization of the martial arts, a major part of the Chinese popular culture. This bridging process promotes the culture diversification as well as the development of various cultures. In the past, the western people have little knowledge about china and the Chinese has distorted knowledge about the western countries as well as some Asian countries. During the communication and exchanging with the foreign cultures, more fore igners become interested in knowing more about the unique culture of china which they had little knowledge. Due to more direct communication with the outside world, the Chinese know more about the foreign cultures. In the case of the Shaolin Monastery, on one hand, the foreigners come to china to seek the martial arts in their minds, on the other hand, the Shaolin Monastery organize monks to put performance in foreign countries to display the essence of the martial arts in their minds. The Shaolin martial arts therefore become an industry which will bring about profits to the Shaolin Monastery and can provide martial arts teaching service for the public particularly to the foreigners. There are many other labels in Asian popular cultures such as the Japanese animation and Judo, like the Chinese martial arts, they have all played the role of the bridging the different cultures. Case 2 Hello Kitty and Japan Hello Kitty is a world famous cartoon image which came out in 1974 in Japan. Hello Kitty can be regarded as the prime representation of the Japanese popular culture as well as the world popular culture. This simple cat image with bowknot on the head and with no mouth has become popular for almost 30 years all over the world. The image of Kitty can be seen on cup, notebook, cell-phone, toy, watch, computer and etc. Almost on most of the daily utensils, the image of Kitty can be seen. There are 22,000 products are labeled on the image of Kitty and sold to over 40 countries all over the world (Craig, 2000). In the year 2004, McDonald pushed a mini decorative pendent of Kitty. This pendent has become so popular that in Taiwan the lovers took this pendant as the symbol of their love. In Singapore, a commotion happened when people were queuing to buy the happy meal with the theme of Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty has brought about 50 million dollars profits to its copyright owners every year (Cr aig, 2000). Not only kids love Kitty, the adults even the old people loves Kitty. For a child, Kitty is a lovely toy; for an office lady, Kitty brings her back to her innocent childhood; for a father, Kitty gives him a chance to show his love and care for his children who loves Kitty very much. People of different age, taste, style, gender and wish are attracted by this lovely little cat. Unlike Garfield or Mickey Mouse which are backed by fascinating films and books, there are no stories, movies, TV series, books about Kitty but Kitty has become a cultural symbol for it successfully satisfied peoples desire for innocence. Not only Kitty is welcomed by the general public, Kitty and her family members, friends, boy friend are all welcomed by the people all over the world. Many people have a desire to collect a whole series of Kitty products. The scene that people wait in long queue just to buy the newly come out Kitty product can usually be seen. Kitty is not just a successful produc t; it becomes a lifestyle of some people. It reflects peoples inner motives, desires and emotion. It is a cultural product which arouses fierce discussion among scholars and politicians who are blamed to manipulating the image to realize the political purpose (Zoonen, 2004) . Case analysis Hello Kitty, urban syndromes and animation diplomacy The popular of Hello Kitty has two reasons. The first one is that with the acceleration of the industrialization and urbanization, people feel more alienated and lonely. The interpersonally relationship becomes more impersonal and cold. Under the urban culture of strong pressure, depression and competition, people tend to ease their pressure and gain care and love from lovely objects. Hello Kitty is a product which just fulfills the need of the vulnerable urban people with various urban syndromes. Hello Kitty can be regarded as the representation of the lovely culture which exists to ease peoples pressure and satisfy their longing for love under the background of globalization which makes the urban syndromes more severe. The second reason for the popular of Hello Kitty is that the Japanese government has made efforts to promote the Japan image and the soft power of Japan by promoting Hello Kitty and other renowned cartoon images. Thus the further and enduring popularity of Hello Kitt y has close relation to the governments efforts. The promotion of the Hello Kitty of the Japanese government is with the intention to promote Japanese culture and Japanese image all over the world. Some western media believe that Japans overseas image has close relation to the image of Hello Kitty. The fact attests to this saying for in May 2008, Hello Kitty becomes the tourism promotion ambassador of Japan (Desai, 2004). On March 19th, 2008, the Japanese Foreign Ministry held a special ambassador inauguration (Desai, 2004). The animation image Doraemon, a blue machine cat was appointed as the foreign ambassador of Japan which was an unprecedented event. Hello Kitty and Doraemon have both bore the responsibility of improving the image of Japan. This culture diplomacy taken by the Japanese government is regarded as animation diplomacy (Desai, 2004). The Japanese popular culture has been successfully used by the government to improve the countrys soft power under the background of glo balization. Japan has taken advantage of its popular culture to improve its influence on the world. The influence of the Asian popular culture on the flow of people The flow of people and the Asian popular culture is an interaction process. On one hand the Asian popular culture influences the flow of people and on the other hand the flow of people makes the Asian popular culture more diversified and spread in a wider range. As to the influence of the Asian popular culture on the flow of people, before discussing this issue, first of all, the categories of flow of people will be discussed. The flow of people can be divided into the flow within the country and the flow among different countries. The flow of people can be permanent or temporary. The Asian popular culture has exerted influence on both the four kinds of flow of people. Most people migrant with the hope that they will reach a better destination to live or settle down and the image of better destination to some extent is build on the popular culture. For the popular culture is the easiest access to understand the culture of another nation. The Asian popular culture has great impact on the temporary flow of people. The major part of the temporary flow of people is tourists. For example, with the popular of the Chinese Kung Fu film all over the world, people from various countries come to china to find out whether the Kung Fu in the film is real. Thus they go to the Shaolin Monastery to see the monks so as to satisfy their curiosity. Some frantic Kung Fu lovers even stay in Shaolin Monastery to study the martial arts. From large number of tourists from all over the world received by the Shaolin Monastery, it is easy to infer that the popular culture has exerted great impact on the temporary flow of people. In Japan, the situation is quite similar. Large numbers of tourists come to Japan just want to visit the Hello Kitty Museum or to buy the Doraemon products which can only be purchased in Japan. Moreover, within the same country, flow of people can still be caused by the popular culture. Most young people are willing to live in the part of the country where the po pular culture is thriving (McDonnell, 2000). Those young people may try to find a job or travel in those parts in the country, thus the flow of people becomes more frequently within the country. The influence of the Asian popular culture on the ideas The Asian popular culture has great influence on the ideas of people all over the world. A countrys image has close relation to the countrys popular culture. Take the Chinese popular culture as an example, the Kung Fu in the films seem incredible and mysterious to the foreigners particularly the westerner. Thus image of china in the westerners minds are usually mysterious. Besides, with the spread of the Chinese popular culture, the traditional Chinese philosophy is also spread to all over the world. The unique traditional Chinese culture which put emphasis on the harmony between human and nature has greatly influenced the westerners ideas. More westerners begin to learn the profoundness of the Asian culture and begin to have further study on the eastern culture by the help of the popular culture. The Asian popular culture plays the role of the media in spread the ideology of the Asian (Huat, 2004). Another example is Japan. Japan has made great efforts to establish sound national im age through promoting it popular culture. The cute Hello Kitty and other animation images make the image of Japan milder and friendly. The Japanese animation exerts great impact on the ideas of the teenagers all over the world particularly the teenagers in Asian countries. The teenagers will wear like the characters in the animation or wear the ornaments the characters in the animation wear (McDonnell, 2000). The success of the Japanese film Spirited Away has popularize the eastern philosophy all over the world. Its great impact on the ideas of people can be demonstrated by the recognition of this film from the international society. This film has won many prizes including Best Animated Feature in the 2001 Academy Award. The animator Hayao Miyazaki who directs this film is world-renowned and his other works are also welcomed by the people all over the world. Through his works, the Japanese and Asian culture and philosophy has been wide spread which makes the outside world knows more about Asian and Japan (Iwabuchi, 2002). Hayao Miyazakis work is the integration of the Asian ideology and ideologies from other parts of the world. This is a forceful demonstration that Asian popular culture has great impact on the ideas of people from all over the world. The influence of Asian popular culture on the trends In most Chinese Kung Fu films, the masters in the films usually wear the traditional Chinese garment (Tang suit) and the female characters usually wear cheongsam. With the spread of those Kung Fu film, the traditional Chinese garment and cheongsam become popular all over the world. The Chinese costume elements such as red embroidered peony can usually be seen in the Fashion Week in Milan. The fashion industry all over the world has integrated the traditional Chinese costume elements in the trends. The most wanted gifts of the foreign tourists in china are the traditional Chinese garment and cheongsam. The above example demonstrates that the popular culture has exerted even changed the trends and fashion. Moreover, the popularity of the Chinese Kung Fu films also promoted the trends of Chinese study. For a time, learning Chinese becomes a trend and fashion among the westerners. Another example is Japan animation. Not to mention the Hello Kitty that is a trend itself. The large sale an d peoples frantic purchasing of the Kitty products demonstrate the charm of Kitty. Kitty has changed the fashion industry which usually means slim models, glorious ornaments, luxurious brands and dazzling shows. Kitty ignites a new concept that loveliness and simplicity can also be a trend. The trend is as a matter of fact, the reflection of the mind set and metal state of the people (Tay, 2009). The Asian popular culture to some extent changes the mindset and metal state of the people. Moreover, the Korean TV series has also fired a trend in Asian countries, especially in china. The Chinese youngsters, teenagers and even housewives and office ladies become interested in the Korean culture such as costume and food (Chua Iwabuchi, 2008). Their ideas about the country Korean are mostly based on the TV series (Dator Seo, 2004). In conclusion, the popular culture has changes and influenced peoples ideas to a large extent. The influence of Asian popular culture on the cultural products Before discussing the influence of Asian popular culture on the cultural products, the concept and scope of the cultural products should be identified. The cultural products are the products which come out from the culture or are closely related to the culture. The typical cultural products are books, softwares, magazines, computer games, films, TV shows. Asian popular cultures influence on the films is obvious. The Judo, Kung Fu elements in the Hollywood films are welcomed by the foreigners. The computer games based on Kung Fu Panda and Japanese animation figures have been sold all over the world and welcomed by the teenager and computer game lovers. The Asian popular has brought about great profits to the cultural industry. The success of Kitty is another example which demonstrates the influence of the popular culture on the culture products. The Asian Kung Fu film and the Japanese animation are all examples that the popular culture has exerted great influence on the cultural produ cts (Malik, 2009). The western media and newspapers cover large amount reports on Asian culture and tradition and the one of their motivations is to satisfy the westerners curiosity about the eastern culture elements in the popular cultural products such as films and animation. The cultural products are no longer monopolized by the American MTV, MacDonalds and hip-hop. The cultural products have integrated more Asian elements due to the spread of the Asian popular culture which are welcomed under the diversified and internationalized world (Pieterse, 2009). Conclusion This essay has discussed the role of Asian popular culture under the background of globalization. The world under the background of globalization becomes more diversified. The Asian popular culture has adapted itself to the more diversified world and acts as the bridge between the western and eastern culture. In this essay, the cases of Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese Hello Kitty are discussed in detail. The above two can both be regarded as the typical representation of the Asian popular culture. During the process of globalization, the above two cultural labels have interacted with the world culture. They changes the world culture and at the same time be changed by the world culture. They are the promoter of the Asian popular culture and the world popular culture is no longer dominated by the Americans strong popular culture such as Starbuck and MTV. The migration of people, the change of peoples ideas, the various trends, and the cultural products are all greatly influenced by the po pular culture. The popular culture is a major part of a nations culture whose impact can never be ignored.

Daniel Defoe :: Essays Papers

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731), English journalist and novelist, whose work reflects his diverse experiences in many countries and in many walks of life. Besides being a brilliant journalist, novelist, and social thinker, Defoe was an outstanding author, producing more than 500 pieces of literature. Defoe was born in London about 1660, the son of a candle merchant named Foe. Daniel added "De" to his name about 1700. He was educated for the Presbyterian ministry but decided to go into business in 1685. He became a hosiery merchant, and his business gave him frequent opportunities to travel throughout western Europe. An opponent of the Roman Catholic King James II, in 1685 Defoe took an active part in the unsuccessful rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth against the king. In 1692 his business went into bankruptcy, but subsequently he acquired control of a tile and brick factory. He obtained a government post in 1695 and the same year wrote "An Essay upon Projects", a remarkable writing of matters of public concern, such as the education of women. Especially noteworthy among his writings during the next several years was the satiric poem "The True-born Englishman" (1701), an attack on beliefs in racial or national superiority, which was directed particularly toward those English people who resented the new king, William III, for being Dutch. The next year Defoe anonymously published a tract entitled "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters", which satirized religious intolerance by pretending to share the prejudices of the Anglican church against nonconformists. In 1703, when it was found that Defoe had written the tract, he was arrested and punished with an indeterminate term in jail. Robert Harley, the speaker of the House of Commons, gave Defoe his release in November 1703, on the condition that he agree to become a secret agent and public propagandist for the government. During his time in prison Defoe's business had been ruined, so he turned to journalism for his living. From 1704 to 1713 he issued a triweekly news journal entitled "The Review", for which he did most of the writing. Its opinions and interpretations were often independent, but generally, "The Review" leaned toward the government in power. Defoe wrote strongly in favor of union with Scotland, and his duties as secret agent may have included other activities on behalf of union, which was achieved in 1707. In 1709 he wrote a History of the Union.

Dbq: Us Constitution

From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the United States with an effective government. It acted as though a loose confederation, or â€Å"firm league of friendship. † The Articles of Confederation created a weak central government that linked the thirteen states in common problems such as foreign affairs, and a judicial arm. Although, there was no executive branch, which meant no leader to enforce laws. Also, the Congress was weak (it was designed that way), and therefore the government could merely advocate and appeal.The United States faced two main problems: the lack of the central government’s power, and its inability to collect and/or create revenue. Each state was in fact not very coherent with the central government. Nor were the states coherent with each other. The states possessed more control than the central government, as the Articles of Confederation forbade the government to command, coerce, or control. It could not act directly upon the individual citizens of sovereign states. Also, the government could only recommend laws, taxes, and other pieces of legislation to a state.Most often, when the government advocated for a law to be passed in a certain state, the state would reject the recommendation, like Rhode Island had done in 1782 (Doc. A). Moreover, the central government had no power to regulate commerce. This is due to how reluctant the states were to hand over control of taxation and commerce, after they had just won it from Great Britain. Without a central power to control these two aspects of the economy, the states were free to establish different, and often conflicting laws regarding tariffs and navigation. This led states to become only farther apart from each other, rather than more unified.Additionally, despite the weak, unsuccessful government, to make any change to the Articles of Confederation required unanimous ratification. Unanimity was near impossible, meaning that the Articles could ne ver be amended. With a government this weak, people would lose confidence in it, and won’t realize the benefit of the liberty they won from the British (Doc. G). Next, the Articles of Confederation failed to allow the central government to collect revenue. In addition to the central government already being weak, it could not effectively collect taxes.Congress, dealing with a large war debt, could not even pay its own soldiers their promised money (Doc. C). Congress needed some form of revenue to get out of debt, so it established a tax quota for each of the states. It then asked each of them to contribute to their share on a voluntary basis. The government, lacking a president (executive branch), had no way to enforce this tax. Congress was lucky if they received one-fourth of their desired tax amount. Furthermore, Congress could not tax trade or any commerce; as for they did not set the regulations for it.Despite not fully â€Å"paying federal taxes†, states still sc rambled to get money, and some ended up having to foreclose farms of debtors. Events like this in Massachusetts (along with the high taxes issued by the state), caused Shays’s Rebellion. This was occurred when a group of debtors demanded that the state issue paper money, lighten taxes, and suspend property takeovers. Even though the rebellion was crushed, it was a sign that in order for the United States to survive, a new constitution with a stronger federal government must be created.With a government so weak and ineffective, it is clear that the United States could not survive without a new constitution. This is evident through the lack of the central government’s power, and its inability to generate revenue. As time went by, more and more people began to realize this, which soon began the pursuit of the U. S. Constitution. Therefore, it is obvious that from 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation did not provide the United States with an effective government. (Am erican Pageant was textbook used)

Othello and Race Essay

In Shakespeare’s literary creation â€Å"Othello,† the protagonist, Othello, is a high ranking black soldier in a community of white people. Though he had gained his high marks by sheer perseverance and dedication, as it is in the old times, there are the people’s doubts. He was, after all, still a black man. Shakespeare, through this tragedy had shown the stereotypes of our modern times; that being white presents superiority or a sense of control over people of a different race, specifically those of a darker color. Shakespeare, however, did not mean to degrade or discriminate but rather, he seemed to point out the common mistakes of people that ultimately caused racism. Othello’s race and basically his skin color had played a major factor in the story’s main theme, progress and twists. The story mainly revolve on the struggle of a black man and how he found his happiness, but was cut short by other people’s jealousy and deceit. In his fight for love, the fact that he was black was used against him. It was presented to the woman’s father in a sense that generalizes black people as untrustworthy. It was also the main reason Iago used to point out that his wife Desdemona betrayed him for the love of another man, a man who happens to be of pure white ancestry.

Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction Essay

†¢Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction: concerned with the end of civilization either through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in an agrarian, non-technological future world, or a  world where only scattered elements of technology remain. There is a considerable degree of blurring between this form of science fiction and that which deals with false utopias or dystopic societies. †¢ †¢Dark fantasy: a subgenre of fantasy which can refer to literary, artistic, and filmic works that combine fantasy with elements of horror. The term can be used broadly to refer to fantastical works that have a dark, gloomy atmosphere or a sense of horror and dread and a dark, often brooding, tone. †¢Gnome, being of earth (gnomus). He describes them as two spans high, very reluctant to interact with humans, and able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air. [4] [5] †¢Undine or nymph being of water Undines are almost invariably depicted as being female, which is consistent with the ancient idea that water is a female element. [8] They are usually found in forest pools and waterfalls,[9] and their beautiful singing voices[10] are sometimes heard over the sound of water. †¢Sylph, being of air (sylevestris) is a mythological spirit of the air †¢Salamander, being of fire (Vulcanus).

The Existence of Plate Tectonics on Mars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Existence of Plate Tectonics on Mars - Essay Example However, observations of the planet's current state shows Mars at much higher level of deterioration that that of Earth. NASA's latest Mars project, Phoenix, made a successful landing on Mars and spent five months collecting data that has yet to be fully analyzed on the planet's climate, soil, and atmosphere. This mission yielded further proof that there was a type of water on or near the surface of Mars. Soil samples collected prove that there could have once been sustainable life on the planet (Cowing). There have also been findings in recent years suggesting that Mars once had a molten inner core, much like our own. The presence of stripes along the crust layer of Mars, believed to be formed from the crust renewing itself through use of the molten core, lends further proof to the idea that there were once tectonic plates resembling those of Earth (Cain). "The theory of plate tectonics is based on the movement of rigid plates on the planet's surface. Plates are bounded a ridge wher e new crust is created, a trench or subduction zone, where the crust is consumed, and transform faults, along which plates slip" (Connerney, et al. 2005, p. 4). The question as to the existence of tectonic plates on Mars remains a very highly debated issues among scientists. In its current state, Mars is essentially a dead planet, meaning there is no life present and little to no activity on behalf of the planet itself. The lakes and riverbeds have dried up and what is left of the atmosphere is being blown away in chunks by massive wind shears (Cain). Though it is believed that Mars could have once supported life, that seems virtually impossible now. New theories are supported by scientific evidence which suggest that the layers of Mars once greatly resembled the layers of Earth, including a molten core, tectonic plates, and a changing crust layer. It is believed that the molten core of the planet slowly cooled, leaving the stripes currently observable in the hardened crust. Proof of the tectonic plates was recorded by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor in a 1999 (NASA Press Release). While the initial findings only showed the striping of Mar's magnetic field in the southern hemisphere, new data shows that the magnetic field covers the entire surface of the pl anet in a pattern similar to that of Earth (NASA Status Report).(NASA/JPL) Along the striped lines of the magnetic field there are also fault formations and other geographic signs that point toward the existence of a tectonic plate system similar to that of our own planet. As an example of this, the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars are actually aligned in a straight line and it is now believed that, like the Hawaiian Islands, these volcanoes formed over a hot spot in the mantle (Cain). Fault formations, similar to the Martian ones, can only be formed by tectonic plates shifting, pushing new molten crust up from the planet's mantle and changing magnetic polarity of the area as it hardens (Cain). Unfortunately an exhaustive analysis of the geology of Mars has yet to be conducted. Therefore many of the currently accepted theories of the inner workings of the planet are based on what has been observed and studied on Mars combined with what is known about its sister planet, Earth. Whatever plate tectonics previously existed on