CIPD Diploma (Human Resource Practice Course ) Assignment - 1

CIPD Diploma (Human Resource Practice Course ) - Assignment Example For example, if an organization collects data about worker satisfaction and stores the data without acting on it, it is meaningless. However, is the data collected is accurate and well analysed, it can be of great help to the organization. There are numerous reasons as to why the organization needs to collect HR data. The major reason for collecting data is managerial decision making and action. The management needs to decide on various issues that affects workers and organization success and cannot do so without accurate information. It needs to know what competitors are doing in respect of employees in order to gain competitive advantage; whether workers are satisfied and what can be done to improve their morale in order to increase productivity and other aspects such as absenteeism, labor turnover, and performance levels. Another reason is for legal compliance. The law requires organizations to comply with labor laws such as laws against discrimination, termination and redundancy. To avoid legal litigations for claims of unfair dismissal or termination, the organization needs to collect and record all information regarding workers such as pay, performance levels and disciplinary actions taken to act as evidence in such cases. To avoid discrimination cases, it needs to record information about age of workers, sex, race, religion, disability, pay levels and also recruitment procedures. This data informs the organization whether it is complying with the law and can also be used as evidence in discrimination cases. The health and safety legislation also requires records of accidents, exposure to harzadous substances and training provided to be kept. There are various types of data collected within the organization to support HR practices. Quantitative data such as employee turn over, absenteeism, vacancy forecasts and sales targets are crucial for HR in manpower planning, performance management and

Country’s economy Essay Example for Free

Country’s economy Essay These are goods that cannot be provided by the private sector but are very essential to the development of a country’s economy. They are usually very expensive undertakings with fewer returns or take a long time for the investors to recoup their money back. This makes them to be less attractive to the private sector investors who are mainly driven by the profit motive and would thus be unwilling to invest their resources in such projects. The government has the mandate of providing such goods that are very essential which have indivisible cost with a marginal cost of zero (Kaul, 2006). It is not possible to practically charge the public for the utilizing such goods. The government can therefore, only collect taxes from the public to enable it provide public goods. Public goods in this category include roads and state security provided by the policemen who are paid by the government. There are other public goods that even though, they have high returns and the private sector can be able to invest in them, they cannot be allowed to do so by the government due to the amount of risk involved. Manufacturing or trading of weapons is a risky activity that no government can be willing to allow it to be done by the private sector as it would put the public into a lot of risk since the private sector investors in such an industry would mostly be guided by the profit motive and not whether or not ammunitions will be on the wrong hands or the right ones (Kaul, 2006). The public goods are very important to everyone, including the private investors who shy away from investing their resources in such ventures. It is this importance that makes the government to be under obligation of providing such goods to its people since they are very essential and it is only the government that is best placed to provide them (Kaul, 2006). Reference: Kaul, I. (2006): What is a public good? Retrieved on 17th June 2009 from, http://mondediplo. com/2000/06/15publicgood.

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God Essay -- American History

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among â€Å"savage† Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and â€Å"norms† of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s â€Å"house on a hill†. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time. Mary Rowlandson was a pretentious, bold and pious character. Her narrative did not make me feel sorry for her at all, which is strange since she really did go through a lot. During the war, the Narragansett Indians attacked Lancaster Massachusetts, and burned and pillaged the whole village. During the siege Mary and her six year old child were shot, she watched her sister and most of her village either burn or get shot. She was kept as a captive, along with her three children and taken with the Narragansett’s on their long retreat. The exposition of the story is set immediately. The reader is perfectly aware of Missus Rowlandson’s status and religious beliefs. She constantly refers to the Narragansetts in an incredibly condescending way, to the point that you know that she does not even consider them human. She paints them as purely evil pe... ...e child were given boiled horse feet, and after she ate hers she ate the child’s because he/she could not bite it and was only gnawing on it. I think that this narrative is important for us to read in order to understand the mind-sets of the colonists and the Indians at the time of King Philip’s War. I believe that it is an excellent source, and really allows the reader to get a peak at what life was like during the 17th century. I also think that it is amazing that she is the second â€Å"American† woman to write and publish a book, and it is interesting to see how strong she was to preserve her own life in such an unfamiliar and â€Å"uncivilized† situation. Work Cited Rowlandson, Mary. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. 1682. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. by Mary Rowlandson with Related Documents. Ed. and intro. Neal Salisbury. Boston: Bedford, 1997.

ABO Blood Test to Determine Paternity Essay

The ABO blood test was used in this lab to test which of the three fathers is the blood father of Andrea. The blood test that is closely related to the blood type of Andrea is the respective blood father. Each blood sample was mixed with synthetic anti-A, anti-B, and anti-Rh to test for clotting or not. Father #3 and Andrea were the only subjects tested with Rh positive with all other subjects Rh negative, resulting in Father #3 as the blood father. Introduction Table 1: Possible Child Blood Types Table 1: Possible Child Blood Types The purpose of this lab is to determine which father is the blood father of the child. The mother, Andrea, and three other fathers were tested by their blood type and Rh factor to determine the blood father. The ABO blood test determines the blood type of subjects by the alleles IA, IB, and i. The blood alleles IA and IB are codominant over i, meaning both of the alleles are dominant over the recessive i. The antigen with the Rh factor is determined by D as dominant or d as recessive, with the Rh positive factor as dominant and the Rh negative factor as recessive. In the ABO blood test, synthetic blood samples and synthetic serum of Anti-A, Anti-B, and Anti-Rh are mixed respectively into a blood typing slide. If agglutination occurs as the samples are mixed, then the subject’s blood type is the respective A, B, or Rh factor. The father with the most closely related alleles with Andrea is the blood father by testing June, the mother, Andrea, and all the fathers. Methods The container vials with synthetic blood samples each are respectively the mother, the child, Father #1, Father #2, and Father #3. Each of the respective blood samples are used once ever round in the experiment. One of the blood samples is dropped into the blood typing slide under three labels; A, B, and Rh. After applying the blood sample, a drop of synthetic serum blue (anti-A) is dropped into well A. Synthetic serum yellow (anti-B) is dropped into well B. Synthetic serum clear (anti-Rh) is dropped into well Rh. Using the respective colored toothpicks, each well is stirred and checked for agglutination (clotting). The blood typing slide is washed and re-used for the next blood sample. Results Table 2: ABO Test results In Table 2, only Andrea and Father #3 showed agglutination when anti-Rh was mixed with their blood sample. The June and Andrea both showed clotting with anti-B serum. The child showed agglutination in all of the following serums. Table 3: Blood Group Determination Table Table 3 resulted with Andrea’s blood type assumed as AB negative. Father #3 was the only one with a positive blood type. The Child has a Rh group of Dd containing the recessive allele d due to her mother’s Rh group being homozygous recessive dd. Father #3 had a Rh group of D_ followed with an uknown allele because no known factor can support an exact second allele. Discussion Father #3 is the blood father of Andrea because in accordance to the lab results. Andrea was tested to have a blood type of AB positive and the mother as B negative. The only possible blood types of a blood father from the results are blood types AB positive or A positive. Only father #3 showed a matching blood type to the following possible blood types. The lab results supported the fact that father #3’s blood type was most closely related to Andrea’s blood type. References Q, R. (2010, January 5). Paternity testing using ABO blood types is impossible. Retrieved 2010, from Boston Paternity; The DNA Solution Blog: http://www.bostonpaternity.com/blog/paternity-testing-using-abo-blood-types-is-impossible/ Biology 240 Lab Handout, Lab 4: Multiple alleles and the ABO blood type

Midterm Exam

What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet. Midterm Exam What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet.

One-Upmanship essays

One-Upmanship essays In a society of one-upmanship it falls on us to create an environment which is conducive to harmonious and peaceful coexistence....a Herculean task, not a mean feat to be accomplished effortlessly. In a society where one needs to get noticed amongst a sea of people to be given some credibility for ones merits, one-upmanship is a constant phenomenon governing ones life. Be it the daily mundane cores, to achieve ones own personal end or any lifetime achievement in a larger perspective that of the country, the world or humanity. That then instills in every human being a sense of competition and where there is competition there follows at heels the spirit of ruthlessness, and needless to add in a ruthless atmosphere, there is no place for mutual sympathy or any compassion for the other and the atmosphere is far from harmonious one. Competition is the spirit of one-upmanship and it certainly is not a healthy trend, as many tend to put it, of stretching oneself to reach ones own maximum po tential. On the contrary it simply inculcates the negative feelings of always wanting to outdo the other and in that process end up humiliating the other person, which again, is a total negation of harmony. I guess we can debate for hours whether competition is a natural principle, or whether it is something that is a result of our surroundings and our conditioning. The world is in a bad shape. There are too many obsolete and incomplete paradigms and competition is one of them. We are told that competition is good for us. It is a powerful, deeply entrenched and old-fashioned principle. It is not a paradigm of mutual benefit, but rather of winning and losing. It is incomplete. Take a soccer match, for example. Can both teams win? Dig deep into your imaginations. If the principle were to be "stretch" rather than "competition", both teams could win. The game could always be a draw and each team would try to do better next time. They w...

Maya Angelou is an American author actress civilrights activist poet a

Maya Angelou is an American author actress civilrights activist poet a Sister Flowers by Maya Angelou Maya Angelou is an American author, actress, civil-rights activist, poet, and professor. She has written multiple volumes of poetry and a series of popular autobiographical works, including Wouldnt Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993). This essay is a chapter from her first autobiographical volume, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). Recent books include Phenomenal Woman (2000) and Elder Grace (2000). For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible. Then I met, or rather got to know, the lady who threw me my first life line. Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather, and on the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around, cooling her. She was thin without the taut look of wiry people, and her printed voile dresses and flowered hats were as right for her as denim overalls for a farmer. She was our sides answer to the richest white woman in town. Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like a plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let alone snag her skin. She didnt encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too. I dont think I ever saw Mrs. Flowers laugh, but she smiled often. A slow widening of her thin black lips to show even, small white teeth, then the slow effortless closing. When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her. The action was so graceful and inclusively benign. She was one of the few gentlewomen I have ever known, and has remained throughout my life the measure of what a human being can be. Momma had a strange relationship with her. Most often when she passed on the road in front of the Store, she spoke to Momma in that soft yet carrying voice, Good day, Mrs. Henderson. Momma responded with How you, Sister Flowers? Mrs. Flowers didnt belong to our church, nor was she Mommas familiar. Why on earth did she insist on calling her Sister Flowers? Shame made me want to hide my face. Mrs. Flowers deserved better than to be called Sister. Then, Momma left out the verb. Why not ask, How are you, Mrs. Flowers? With the unbalanced passion of the young, I hated her for showing her ignorance to Mrs. Flowers. It didnt occur to me for many years that they were as alike as sisters, separated only by formal education. Although I was upset, neither of the women was in the least shaken by what I thought an unceremonious greeting. Mrs. Flowers would continue her easy gait up the hill to her little bungalow, and Momma kept on shelling peas or doing whatever had brought her to the front porch. Occasionally, though, Mrs. Flowers would drift off the road and down to the Store and Momma would say to me, Sister, you go on and play. As she left I would hear the beginning of an intimate conversation. Momma persistently using the wrong verb, or none at all. Brother and Sister Wilcox is sholy the meanest Is, Momma? Is? Oh, please, not is, Momma, for two or more. But they talked, and from the side of the building where I waited for the ground to open up and swallow me, I heard the soft-voiced Mrs. Flowers and the textured voice of my grandmother merging and melting. They were interrupted from time to time by giggles that must have come from Mrs. Flowers (Momma never giggled in her life). Then she was gone. She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally. Like women in English novels who walked the moors (whatever they were) with their loyal dogs racing at a respectful distance. Like the women who sat in front of roaring fireplaces, drinking tea incessantly from silver trays full of scones and crumpets. Women who walked over the heaths and read morocco-bound books and had two last names divided by a hyphen. It would be safe to say that she

What Is an AP Test Perfect Score Do You Need One

What Is an AP Test Perfect Score Do You Need One SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you read your local newspaper, you may have seen an article about someone from your area getting a â€Å"perfect score† on an AP exam. But what is an AP test perfect score, and how is it different from a 5? Keep reading to find out what an AP exam perfect score is, what it means, how many students get one, and if it’s a goal you should be aiming for. What Is a Perfect AP Score and What Does It Signify? If you receive a perfect score on an AP exam, that means that you received every point possible on the exam.So you answered every multiple-choice question correctly and scored the maximum amount of points on every free response question. Pretty impressive! How does this relate to the score you get from 1-5? Well, if you get a perfect score you will definitely get a 5 on the exam. But your 5 won’t be worth more than anyone else’s 5. Additionally, you don’t need to get anything close to a perfect score to get a 5 on the exam. In other words, the fact that you got a perfect score doesn’t really increase the value of your standard score on the 5-point scale. In fact, your perfect score is not even reported on your score report- just the 5. When a student achievesa perfect score, the College Board usually informs the school directly in the fall. The school then informs the student. This often seems to lead to a level of minor local celebrity, with perfect scorers frequently being interviewed by local newspapers and having articles written up about them on school websites. As mentioned above, the perfect score doesn’t appear on your score report, but it’s certainly something worth reporting to colleges if it does happen because it is impressive and unusual. A perfect score would make you the slightly different yellow locker in this row of orange lockers. How Many Students Geta Perfect Score on an AP Exam? Just how unusual is it to get a perfect score on an AP exam? It depends on the exam, but no matter the test, it’s a rare feat. The College Board released a document of 2013 AP test perfect score stats, but it doesn’t appear they’ve created a similar document for 2014 or 2015. However, a series of tweets by the College Board’s head of AP, Trevor Packer, reveals all the info about how many students got perfect scores in 2015. I’ve assembled the info into a chart that shows how many perfect scores there were by number and by percentage of test-takers in 2015, as well asthe percentage of test takers who received a 5 in each exam. 2015 Perfect Scores as Compared to Fives Exam # Perfect Scores # Test-Takers % Perfect Scores % 5s Calculus AB 3 302,532 .00099% 24.6% Calculus BC 1 118,707 .00084% 48.4% AP Chemistry 3 152,745 .00196% 10.1% Computer Science A 66 48,994 .1347% 21.3% French Language 1 22,084 .0045% 18.4% US Gov and Politics 3 282,571 .00106% 11.9% Latin 1 6,571 .0152% 13.2% Macroeconomics 18 126,267 .01426% 16.1% Microeconomics 49 78,408 .0625% 15.9% Physics C: EM 1 22,789 .0044% 33.5% Physics C: Mechanics 6 52,678 .0114% 32.4% Psychology 4 276,971 .0014% 18.7% Spanish Language 7 144,561 .0048% 24.6% Statistics 2 195,526 .001% 14.3% As you can see, while at least ten percent of test takers scored a 5 on each exam,the perfect scoresare teeny, teeny, teeny percentages. Microeconomics and Computer Science A had the highest percentage of perfect scorers by a fairly large margin, but even those have minusculecounts of .0625% and .1347%, respectively. There were a small number of perfect scores for the AP Art portfolios, but since those aren’t graded via an exam, I left them off the chart. Otherwise, if a test isn’t in this chart, there were no perfect scores. AP Exams with no perfects in 2015 were: Art History, Biology, Chinese, English Language, English Literature, Environmental Science, European History, German, Comparative Government and Politics, Human Geography, Italian, Japanese, Physics 1, Physics 2, Spanish Literature, US History, World History. In sum: perfect scores on AP exams are a super-rare occurrence. Super-rare like emerald jewels. Is Getting a Perfect Score a Realistic Goal? Given how few students get them, it’s not a very attainable or realistic goal to actively try for a perfect score on an AP exam, even for a test where perfect scores are marginally more common like Microeconomics or Computer Science A. Even if you have total mastery of a subject, just one tiny mistake on test day will prevent you from getting a perfect score. Additionally,you will never know how close you were if you don’t get a perfect score- raw point totals aren’t reported to students.You could get 179/180 points and never know anything except that you got a 5. That makes a perfect score a frustrating goal in addition to a difficult one! The marginal benefit is also not that high- a small level of brief local celebrity and an impressive factoid for your college applications. If you really want to stand out to colleges, there arebetter ways to develop your applicationthat are more within your control and where your work will pay off more directly. In terms of test scores, it makes much more sense to work on getting top marks on your standardized college entrance exams like the SAT, the ACT, and SAT Subject Tests.Any solid preparation work you put in there will pay off in your reported scores, unlike on an AP exam, where you either get a perfect or you never find out your raw score. The truth is, based on local news profiles, most AP test perfect scorers are surprised to have gotten a perfect score and weren’t specifically aiming for one. So, while it’s not impossible to get a perfect score on an AP exam, particularly in a subject you are very gifted in, it’s not really worth your time to specifically aim for a perfect. Aim for a 5, do your best, and it could happen, but don’t stress overit. Reach for the stars! And by stars, I mean a 5. Key Takeaways While it won’t give you any more college credit or show up on your score report, a perfect score on an AP exam- full credit for all exam portions- is an impressive accomplishment. Only a small number of students get perfect scores each year. However, I don’t recommend making a perfect score your goal, simply because the benefits as opposed to getting a 5 are only marginal. You’d be much better served working for perfect marks on the SAT, ACT, and SAT Subject tests. What's Next? Studying for your AP exams? Learn when you need to start preparing for your AP tests to get that coveted 5. If you're taking a variety of tests, figure out whether AP exams or Subject Tests are more important for you. Wondering what the revised SAT format means for you?Or maybe you're taking the ACT and looking for all of our ACT study guide resources! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Crimnal Justice Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crimnal Justice - Coursework Example The two killers also poured hydrochloric acid on the genitals, as well as the face of Frank with the aim of hiding the identity of their victim (Wolcott & Head, 2010). The primary characteristics of the wounds found on the victim were the marks of the chisel used to strike Frank in the head. In addition, there was a cloth that the criminals shoved down the throat of the victim, which led to suffocation that eventually killed Frank. Other primary characteristics included the disfigured face and genitals of Frank, which indicated that a corrosive had been poured on the boy’s body (Wolcott & Head, 2010). The key evidence in the crime scene was a pair of glasses, which belonged to one of the criminals (Leopold). As evidence, the glasses were traced to the original source, which was the seller. The original source was quite instrumental since it was useful in tracing the real owner of the glasses. From the investigation conducted, it was evident that the unique glasses had been sold by one of the stores in Chicago area. In the entire Chicago, only three pairs of such glasses had been sold, with one pair belonging to Leopold (Wolcott & Head, 2010). The motive for killing the victim was to eliminate any evidence and ensure that the criminals cannot be traced. If the culprits only asked for a ransom, and set their victim free, they could be easily identified since one of the killers was a cousin to the victim. The other possible motive for killing was to make headlines. The killers wanted to commit a crime that would attract countrywide and worldwide attention. They seemed to gain satisfaction from being read about in all newspapers about the crime they had committed (Wolcott & Head, 2010). The crime by Leopold and Loeb can be regarded as a homicide that falls under the category of first degree murder. This is because the two planned to kill their victim, Bobby Frank. Their intention to kill the victim and stuff his body

QI Plan Part 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

QI Plan Part 2 - Essay Example The ICT is aimed at increasing quality of care and efficiency by ensuring proper transfer of information because the efficient transfer of information in health care is indispensable. The elderly are more susceptible to chronic diseases and therefore have many physicians and are shuttled to and from multiple care settings. The management of such sophisticated programs needs a decisive action to ensure the smooth flow of management of these utilities. This implementation will also reduce the operation costs of the various clinical services offered by saving time with data processing and by the reduction multiple handling of documents. The use of electronic medical records or electronic health records has been shown to improve access to patients’ medical records, guidelines and medication risks (OECD, 2010). The reduction of administrative costs also comes as one of the advantages of utilization and use of ICT in the health care sector. For example the use of electronic claim processing has been shown to save huge administrative costs as opposed to using paper transactions. On the other hand, ICT will help in the management of information across all the departments in the center (OECD, 2010). The major areas that require risk management in any nursing home and more particularly in this centre include the food services, medication monitoring and contract staffing. Various complain have been experienced in the past about the food quality offered to the elderly in various nursing homes. With the attainment of quality health care, good food quality plays a significant role in ensuring patients and various stakeholders’ confidence with the organization (WHO, 2001). This will be attained by initiating health inspections regularly and ensuring quality control through use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Life safety in the other end is very vital in

The cost of equity capital and the CAPM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The cost of equity capital and the CAPM - Essay Example The three most popular methods include: dividend growth model, capital asset pricing model and the arbitrage pricing model. Dividend growth model Organizations utilize the cash generated for two purposes: they either reinvest it in the growth or new projects of the organization or pay some amount as dividend to the common stockholder. The Dividend growth model is based on this premises that a shareholder of the organization will want both dividend as well as capital appreciation while holding the stock. The cost of equity in this case can be given as (Weaver and Weston, 2004, pg.282): Where, R is the required rate of return Dcs1 is the dividend payout in year 1 Pcs is the price of the stock G is the growth rate in percentage terms One of the most important factors while calculating the required rate of return thru’ the dividend growth rate is the calculation of the growth rate, G. This is an estimated growth rate and hence special precaution needs to be taken while calculating R. The three options to estimate G are: estimation of an internal growth rate, estimation from historical growth rates or by studying the growth rates stated by the management in the annual report. Because of the trickiness in estimation of the growth rate of the stock, the dividend growth rate is rarely used for the calculation of the cost of capital. The model is simplistic in nature which makes it very adaptable to many specific situations. It is a more conservative model as compared to the other two. This model is effective in finding low PE ratios and high dividend yield stocks to be undervalued. Capital Asset pricing model (CAPM) The CAPM approach of calculating the required return of a security is based on the premise that the expected return on a stock is a function of the return of the market and the sensitivity of the return of stock to changes in return of the market. For an individual security the risk of the security can be thought of as a measure of ?. Because of dive rsification, the expected return on a security is positively related to its ?. The expected return on a security in this case can be given as: CAPM is the most widely used method to calculate the expected rate of return or the cost of capital. Some of the key assumptions on which CAPM is developed are: All investors are thinking of the same period while deciding investments Investors choose their portfolios solely on the basis of expected returns and risks Investors can borrow or lend unlimited amount of money at the risk free rate All investors are having homogenous expectations. At the same time, all investors have the required knowledge and information There are no transactional costs, taxes or restrictions on shorting a stock Investors are risk averse While CAPM is quite frequently used, it can be easily seen that most of the assumptions are very simplistic in nature and do not hold true for many cases. At the same time, another problem that the CAPM is suffering from is the cal culation of ?. While the CAPM equation suggests that ? should be forward looking, in reality, it is calculated from historical returns (Gitman, 2006, pg. 47). Still, most of the financial economists consider it as the best tool to calculate the retuired rate of return. Its validity has been proved by many studies that have indicated concurrence with

Emiratisation Thesis Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emiratisation - Thesis Proposal Example By 2005, up to 29,000 nationals had registered in the national  job  seeking  body; among them were those who had never been employed while others had only had high school certificates and no further evidence of higher education.  The government sought to reassure nationals’ priority in the recruitment and hiring processes in the private sector by establishing laws compelling privately owned companies to  employ  nationals in case of any openings.  This move by the UAE government has given nationals an  entitlement  to jobs, which has, in turn, lead to them being unappreciative of their jobs and at the same time, employers do not  take  them seriously (Kerr 24). Imposing the employment of nationals to the UAE private sector has resulted in the nationals thinking possess the right to a job resulting in them becoming unmotivated and adopt a relaxed attitude towards the job.  This has  consequently  compelled  company  managers to  limit  the workload on nationals as the employers  consider  the former as  flippant  in performing their duties. In addition, these private companies have to pay hefty salaries to inexperienced University graduates who  demand  salaries above the more professionally  experienced  and  qualified  expatriates. Further to receiving hefty salaries, these nationals expect to receive  rapid  promotions despite their minimal  work  input  (Al-Ali 369). Such demands  place  company  managers at a disadvantageous  position  as they have to  balance  the company’s need for profitability against the fact that they cannot fire unproductive employees who are natio nals of UAE (Kerr 26). Providing employment to those poorly  qualified  and  inexperienced  is  detrimental  to the performance of companies and the economy as a whole. This is because this move impedes on business’ progress, which may lead to downsizing, compounding the problem that emiratization

Call it what ever you like Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Call it what ever you like - Essay Example It is fighting for the liberation and the difficulties these people went through that made them to be known worldwide. Apart from those who spearheaded everything in the liberation, there are also people who actively participated in the liberation of the Blackman in the US and they are not pronounced as such in the history of the civil movement in the US. This paper considers the individuals who took active role in the liberation movement during the time and they were not captured as such in the conventional history. This reminds that in every epoch, there are those who stands out as the representation of the entire movement, this pairing down of the personalities at some times sounds bias as it does not account for a significant number of persons who played one role or the other during a period. This paper thus attempts to consider those not captured in the conventional history though played important roles in one way or the other-he is a family member. My grandfather was about 45 years by the time America was practicing racial discrimination against blacks and other races that were not Jews and white Europeans. The age is informed by the fact his first born who happens to be my father was already 20 years, going by the registration documents I could gather. My grandfather being an idealistic person did not endorse this tendency of discrimination. In this regard, he got involved in the grass root recruitment of the people during the many public demonstrations that were organized by the civil movement. According to my grandfather, they acted as the agents on the ground and they were used to pass information to the people so that objectives would be achieved. Following his involvement in the agitation for equality at the time, it came to my realization that probably he got intimidation and arrest by the officers more than those included in the history did. I was privileged to gather as

Emiratisation Thesis Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emiratisation - Thesis Proposal Example By 2005, up to 29,000 nationals had registered in the national  job  seeking  body; among them were those who had never been employed while others had only had high school certificates and no further evidence of higher education.  The government sought to reassure nationals’ priority in the recruitment and hiring processes in the private sector by establishing laws compelling privately owned companies to  employ  nationals in case of any openings.  This move by the UAE government has given nationals an  entitlement  to jobs, which has, in turn, lead to them being unappreciative of their jobs and at the same time, employers do not  take  them seriously (Kerr 24). Imposing the employment of nationals to the UAE private sector has resulted in the nationals thinking possess the right to a job resulting in them becoming unmotivated and adopt a relaxed attitude towards the job.  This has  consequently  compelled  company  managers to  limit  the workload on nationals as the employers  consider  the former as  flippant  in performing their duties. In addition, these private companies have to pay hefty salaries to inexperienced University graduates who  demand  salaries above the more professionally  experienced  and  qualified  expatriates. Further to receiving hefty salaries, these nationals expect to receive  rapid  promotions despite their minimal  work  input  (Al-Ali 369). Such demands  place  company  managers at a disadvantageous  position  as they have to  balance  the company’s need for profitability against the fact that they cannot fire unproductive employees who are natio nals of UAE (Kerr 26). Providing employment to those poorly  qualified  and  inexperienced  is  detrimental  to the performance of companies and the economy as a whole. This is because this move impedes on business’ progress, which may lead to downsizing, compounding the problem that emiratization

Job opportunities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Job opportunities - Essay Example Theories are essential d. Determination, perseverance and diligence IV. Importance of training a. Training with good performers b. Training to be observant c. Training to be cautious d. Training with my communication skills V. Conclusion a. Job opportunities b. Emphasis on importance of education c. Emphasis on importance of training d. Continuing studies As a child, I always dreamed of flying an aircraft one day. I often stood in awe looking up to the sky whenever a plane flew by our place and this stirred my desire even more to be in one of the planes that will fly by our place in the future. I have always been fascinated by planes so that whenever my father told me to buy something as a present, I always asked for a toy plane. I remember removing the parts of my toys, studying how they are made, looking into the inside parts to satisfy my curiosity. Sometimes, I have to keep my toy planes because I cannot put back the parts anymore but there are other times that I successfully man age to reassemble my toys and during those times, I always felt good about myself. This further strengthened my dream to someday work with planes. Airplanes always fascinated me from my childhood days until this time. When I grew older, I stepped up from just playing with toy planes to looking up books about planes and reading them, devouring every information like it was the only food that would sate me. I collected pictures of planes because I can compare the different designs. Looking at photographs, I was amazed even more at how large planes could really be in contrast to the toy cars that I have been used to holding. I understood through the photographs that the planes could be a lot bigger than the people who make them and this struck me so much I have spent more time thinking about how people could create an enormous craft that could carry many people and still be able to lift itself higher than the birds which have nothing to carry but themselves. These circumstances helped me to decide to take aviation engineering in order for me to reach my dreams. Luckily, my parents are very supportive of me and I take it as a great privilege for them to have sent me to a good school where they believe I can earn the knowledge and training necessary for me to succeed in my plans. My education is the first that I have considered in the achievement of my dreams because it is very essential. I know that through education, I can gain the necessary knowledge I should possess in order for me to be able to competently perform my duties as an aviation engineer. The theories that are learned in school definitely are better understood with the help of the different professors and engineers who have the wealth of information and experience. This is the reason why I chose to enroll in a respected school because I believe that the school defines the quality of education provided to students. As a student, I am doing my best to learn the theories related to aviation engineering. There are many difficulties presented through the process but I am determined to finish my studies as a product of my perseverance and diligence. I am reading more books than ever to enrich my knowledge and to widen the scope of information I am receiving from my professors. I am working more intently on my mathematical and drafting skills because they are needed in the course and in my future job. Theories are not always enough in learning so as a part of my preparations; I look forward to training with good performers in the field of

Uniform accounting standards produce Essay Example for Free

Uniform accounting standards produce Essay In the last decade, various countries around the globe have shifted towards a uniform accounting standards or the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The main motive behind this movement is to come up with a global language for accounting which will be comparable and understandable beyond the borders of a nation. As of today about 120 countries require IFRS for domestically listed companies, although only about 90 countries have fully conformed to IFRS . While some argue that it is necessary to have a system of accounting that is clear and transparent to global investors and companies, some others are skeptic about it being efficient. Furthermore, some feel that the costs of implementing IFRS can be too high and hence uniform accounting will not be worth the cost. Hence, critically analyzing IFRS and understanding its impact on accounting principles will help us to recognize the costs and benefits of this system. One of the main objectives of IFRS is to increase the efficiency and transparency in accounting. However, the main tension in the model rests due to the non- uniform nature of firms as well as nations. For instance, countries differ on myriad ways such as capital and labor markets, nature of government, involvement of government in the company and so forth. Similarly, firms differ from each other in various ways including size, growth, types of products, geographical location and technological advancement . Therefore, coming up with a detailed accounting system or a set of principles to fit all of these can be challenging. Thus, IFRS uses a principle based system, rather than a rule based system which wi ll allow the companies to apply IFRS according to their situation and prepare their statements. However, this flexibility can itself be seen as a big down- side of this system. This will provide a way for companies to manipulate the statements which in turn can encourage fraud. Trancy Coenen comparing the fraud under the system of GAAP and IFRS says that, As IFRS is largely based on judgment in applying principles, it only stands to reason that the risk of fraud in the financial statements will increase with the change . For example, Fair Value judgment is one of the corner stones of IFRS system of accounting. However, it is unclear as to who gets to value things and how can these figures checked for reliability. Thus, IFRS, which is created to form a uniform and transparent system of accounting can itself lead to non-uniform accounting practices with very little information about who makes the judgment behind numbers presented in  the financial statements. Furthermore, another crucial concern that rises with the implementation of IFRS is the balance between the capital alloc ation benefit of a uniform accounting standard against the social cost of forcing diverse firms to adhere to the same rigid standard says Korok Ray, a professor of Economics from George Washington University . Hence, for a small company the cost of shifting from its current accounting practice to IFRS might be too high whereas for a big company it might be small. Furthermore, the time in which all the companies will have to shift from their old system to IFRS can decrease the quality of the financial statements. Lack of experience in this new system of accounting can also increase mistakes making the system less accurate . Nevertheless, it is undeniable that in an increasingly more globalized world, a cross-border accounting system will immensely benefit firms and investors. This system will lead to investment comparisons between various countries, making investors better off. In fact, Marc Fogarty, a Certified Public Accountant says that the single set of standards will cut down the costs to which foreign companies investing in the U.S. markets will have to adhere. He also believes that, the U.S. GAAP standards along with other strict accounting regulations have long been deterrent to foreign companies trying to raise money in the U.S. capital markets . Small investors will be benefited from this change, as they will have an access to more financial information which can be easily understood. In short, implementing IFRS will lead to easy to understand, clear and efficient financial data which will be made available to the general public. Just the implementation of IFRS does not mean investors are prot ected against fraud or misrepresentation of a company’s financial statement. In addition, IFRS also has numerous short term problems that can have a huge impact on its initial adaption and implementation. However, company’s and investors can protect themselves against risks by learning IFRS which will increase their understanding of the financial statement. This will not only help them to critically analyze the numbers represented on the statement but also help them to better compare and contrast one statement from the other nationally or internationally.

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif: Corruption in the Government

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif: Corruption in the Government Introduction: Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, a known politician, businessman and currently serving as the 18th Prime Minister of Pakistan, he was also elected as Prime Minister in 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999. Sharif is the president of Pakistan’s largest political party known as Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) which has formed government in 2013 (Crilly, 2013). The case which I will discuss in this paper is related to the corruption in government sector. In this case Prime Minister Sharif is the key person who has misused his positions, authority and power throughout his political career. Sharif moved into politics in early 1980’s and in 1985 he was appointed as Chief Minister of Punjab the most populous province (Hindustantimes, 2013), his political career was just started and he realized the concept of getting rich through stealing money from national asset. History evidently says that he used different strategies to add up in his personal wealth which include kickbacks, bribe a nd stealing from public funds, money laundering, tax evasion and misuse of official resources and using them for personal use. All these acts has led Sharif Pakistan’s 4th richest person (Khan, 2013). The corruption: Sharif was already involved in his family business – Ittefaq Industries before entering to politics, but during his political control in Punjab in 1980 and early 1990’s Ittefaq Industries raised up from its original single manufactory into 30 businesses producing paper, sugar, steel and textiles with total $400 million of income, became one of the largest private multinational company in Pakistan (Baker, 2005, pp. 82-83). To enrich his personal wealth first thing he did upon becoming prime minister in 1990 was build a long super highway from Lahore to Islamabad city, the estimated cost of the project was 8.5 billion rupees, the project gone through 2 biddings. Daewoo a Korean company fortify its proposal in secret meetings, the job was done well but the cost of project went over 20 billion rupees. In actual the money over 8.5 billion was in the pockets of both the minister and the construction company. The same kind of scandal was done in wheat deal, Sharif purchased wh eat from a private US and Canada company which were close partner of him and paid $58 million from national asset which were way more than market value. By purchasing wheat from his associate benefits Mr. Sharif and half of the money were kept by him and his partner (Baker, 2005, p. 84). Another major scandal in which Sharif involved was of bribery. He and his fellows were involved in taking bribery. Lt. General Naseerullah Babar, the interior minister had revealed and prove evidence that the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) distributed money to acquire the loyalty of various politicians including Nawaz Sharif to control the elections of 1990 and bring about the defeat of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (another political party). This case is still pending in Supreme Court of Pakistan for the last 24 years (Jhootay Log, 2011). Tax evasion and unpaid bank loans were also the favorite ways for Sharif to get rich. On his loss of power the upraising political party came up with the list of 322 largest loan defaulters representing $3 Billion out of $4 Billion owned to banks. Sharif and his brother was labelled for $ 60 Million, Mr. Sharif was expanding his business and properties internationally by using public funds, 3 in British Virgin Islands by the names of Nescoll, Nielson, and Shamrock and other in Islands known as Chandron Jersey Pvt. Ltd. How things Revealed: In 1994 Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency started looking into financial affairs of Sharif and his family, the inquiry was supervised by Rahman Malik, Director General of the agency, the inquiry took 5 years and they came up with the shocking revelations in 1998. The records, includes signed affidavits from Pakistani officials, property records and bank files and other government document stated that Mr. Sharif and his family benefited from national wealth and all above scandals were revealed at that time. The report in the end state that â€Å"The extent and magnitude of this corruption is so staggering that it has put the very integrity of the country at stake.† (Baker, 2005, p. 84). Rahman Malik in an interview said that â€Å"No other leader of Pakistan has taken that much money from the banks. There is no rule of law in Pakistan. It doesn’t exist.† (Wwiner LeVine, 1999) The consequences: After things were revealed General Pervaiz Musharraf (former chief of army) and other political leaders and legislators convicted Sharif and penalized to life prison, but in 2000 deported him to Saudi Arabia. His wrong actions motivated other politicians to continue on the same track of corruption with the nation as later in 2008 another corrupt politician Asif Ali Zardari (former Prime Minister) appeared and looted the nation the same way Sharif did. The trust of people on politicians flew away as their money was misused by those with power and authorities, patriotism decreased and now people are more interested in personal growth rather than cumulative growth as nation. In addition to this mess in 2013, Sharif again become the Prime Minister of Pakistan and all the charges were cleared by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to let him take part in election , this has showed the nation that money and power speaks more than anything else. (Nasir, 2013) Ethical Issues: The key ethical issues which were violated in the case were betraying to the citizens of the country, misusing and stealing of national assets, theft, taking and giving bribe to accomplish personal interest and unethical use of power and authorities. The Prime Minister in a democratic country is elected by its citizens as they trust them and give the responsibility to use national assets for the growth of country and value the basic understandable principle and ideology of the nation but in Sharif’s case he did many unethical act for which he was supposed to be guilty but somehow he managed to escape and pushed the values and feeling of citizens into stake. His duty and principles ruined the phenomena of ethical politics his decisions in political career were neither systematic, self-conscious, or reflective nor well-reasoned. As it is said â€Å"Ice melt from the top† his acts also let other government officials to escape through the hands of law and continue to work u nethically. Laws are not made to break and in the eye of legislation everyone is equal. But in this case equality has disappeared like smoke in air. What’s greater than a loss of trust from citizens of a country towards it’s appointed leaders, current political condition had made a great impact on a nation’s social ethical dimensions, things that were supposed to be ethically wrong has now become a part of system, adding to this mess lack of literacy has contributed to choose a wrong political leader. References Baker, R. W. (2005). Dirty Money at Work. In Capitalisms Achilles Heel (pp. 82-83). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Crilly, R. (2013, May 11). Pakistan elections: Nawaz Sharif eyes return to power. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10046017/Pakistan-elections-Nawaz-Sharif-eyes-return-to-power.html Hindustantimes. (2013, May 12). Once exiled, Nawaz Sharif makes triumphant return to Pak politics. Retrieved from http://www.hindustantimes.com/: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-feed/pakistanpolls2013/once-exiled-nawaz-sharif-makes-triumphant-return-to-pak-politics/article1-1059015.aspx Jhootay Log. (2011, Dec). Retrieved from http://jhootaylog.wordpress.com/: http://jhootaylog.wordpress.com/nawaz-sharifs-corruption/ Khan, E. (2013). Top 10 Pakistani Richest People. Retrieved from http://www.wonderslist.com/: http://www.wonderslist.com/top-10-pakistans-richest-people/ Nasir, J. (2013, Apr 9). NAB, FBR clear Sharif brothers on charges of tax evasion. Retrieved from http://www.aaj.tv: http://www.aaj.tv/2013/04/nab-fbr-clear-sharif-brothers-on-charges-of-tax-evasion/ Wwiner, T., LeVine, S. (1999, October 21). Former Leader of Pakistan May Face Corruption Trial. New York Times. [Dirty Money of Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif] – June 20141 The South-East of England: Land Development Issues The South-East of England: Land Development Issues Pressure on development land in the South-East of England: The need for sustainable architecture. Introduction Chapter One Literature Review Chapter Two Development Land Chapter Three Sustainable Architecture Chapter Four South-East of England The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss and evaluate the pressure on development land in the South- East of England, and how that pressure relates to the need for sustainable architecture. The reasons for there being pressure on development land in the South-East of England will be described and analysed, as will any differences with the other regions of Britain. The reasons for setting aside or using the available development land and why sustainable architecture should be adopted in the South-East of England will be fully evaluated. As will be demonstrated there are various and competing factors that apparently increase the pressure to make full use of all available development land in the South-East of England. The available development land in the South-East of England is in high demand to be used for the construction of domestic housing, as well as for commercial, leisure, and industrial building programmes. To a large extent central government and local authorities have attempted to control the construction of such new building programmes through systems of urban planning, as well as building regulations that have applied across the whole of Britain. The reasons why the South-East of England should have a need for sustainable architecture will also be examined in depth. The case for making all the new construction projects designed around the concepts of sustainable architecture shall also be examined, to discuss whether more environmentally focused building designs will lessen the impact of new construction programmes, as well as reducing long-term pollution. Introduction Sustainable architecture and the use of development land are closely linked with the practices and theories of what form the basis of urban and rural planning, as well as ideas concerning the necessity for long-term environmental sustainability. Urban, and to a lesser extent rural planning, became more widespread in their application throughout Britain after 1945, when increased levels of central government intervention were experienced in many social and economic fields. Planning was deemed to be the best way of solving Britain’s housing problems (Taylor, 1998 p. 3). Increased levels of urban and rural planning were justified at the end of the Second World War due to the need for extensive post-war reconstruction. The South-East of England in general, and London in particular had suffered from widespread bomb damage, which meant that fully or partially destroyed houses, factories, and retail units had to be replaced by well planned buildings which would be an improvement upon the previous buildings. In the immediate post-war period it was believed that a systematic use of town and country planning would be essential for the reconstruction of Britain, with a much higher standard of building to match higher employment, the welfare state, and the National Health Service. The purpose of these policies and institutions was to prolong life and promote good health throughout the whole population (Meller, 1997 p67). The increased use of urban and rural planning was not intended to protect the environment in an ecological way, or indeed to promote sustainable architecture, rather it was greatly expanded in scope to make the most rational use of scarce development land. However, there would be measures adopted which would conserve large areas of countryside, and give protection despite the need to re-house millions of families in 1945 (Southall, 2000 p. 336). There were groups that wished to conserve specific areas that supported rare forms of animal and plant life, and even groups that wished to preserve old historical buildings, as well as buildings distinguished by their architectural styles (Meller, 1997 p67). When added together such groups did not equate to an ecological lobby that intended to change agricultural, architectural, or industrial practices to protect the environment. These groups however, were able to heavily influence the decision to restrict urbanisation taking over the countr yside. Post-war reconstruction was the catalyst for the largest programmes of publicly funded construction in Britain. Public expenditure was needed due to the sheer scale of reconstruction required, with London and the South-East of England being a major beneficiary of those programmes. Architecture and planning were used for these large-scale programmes rather than just for individual buildings. The involvement of central government in the promoting and funding of large-scale public building programmes and the use of development land was high until the early part of the 1970s (Greed, 1996 p. 35). Such wide-ranging building programmes were not only intended to replace the buildings destroyed during the Second World War. The post-war building programmes were also intended to replace the slums in the inner cities of London, Birmingham, Liverpool, as well as elsewhere. The construction programmes were intended to make the South-East of England a much more hospitable place to live in, just as the rest of Britain was also intended to be like (Sheail, 2002 p. 62). New construction and renovation of existing houses was an imperative, as â€Å"2 million of them condemned and another 3 million lacking in essentials† (Southall, 2000 p. 337). The South-East of England also benefited from the construction of new towns such as Milton Keynes and Stevenage that were planned as entire towns with purpose built domestic housing and business premises. The Atlee government was so keen upon the creation of new towns to solve the post-war housing shortages that it regulated such construction through the New Town Act of 1946 (Sheail, 2002 p. 62). The construction of the New Towns was considered to be essential for both high economic growth and for solving the national post-war housing shortage. The Atlee government regarded the new towns as being highly beneficial to people’s health as they moved away from major cities and industrial areas to places with cleaner air (Meller, 1997 p67). In ecological terms such construction was harmful to the environment as more land was built upon and it meant a greater amount of pollution from traffic emissions, though of course nobody understood such implications at that time. Improvements in transport infrastructure and increasing levels of car ownership meant that the new towns were economically viable, as well as allowing their inhabitants to commute to the major cities to work in them (Daniels, Bradshaw, Shaw, Sidaway, 2005 p. 147). Urban planning was thus considered to be very useful for the progress and development of Lo ndon and the South-East of England, which traditionally has been the most populous and prosperous region of Britain. Urban planning was also intended to increase the prosperity levels of the other regions in Britain to be as high as possible to match the levels achieved in the South-East of England (Southall, 2000 p. 337). Controlled expansion of urban areas into the new towns was intended to solve the immediate post-war housing shortage and revive the British economy, whilst leaving the great bulk of the countryside untouched by new housing construction (Taylor, 1998 p.3). Previous improvements in agricultural techniques meant that farming became more efficient nationally which had quickened the pace of urbanisation in Britain as a whole. Urbanisation in Britain had already had a strong impact upon the environment that went beyond the replacement of the countryside with polluting factories and unhealthy slum housing (Southall, 2000, p. 335). Higher crop yields from less land had the consequence that more land in rural areas became available to be used as development land. The greater availability of former agricultural land meant that is was easier to find enough land to construct new towns or expand existing cities across Britain. Urbanisation was a process that was accelerated by the need of industrial towns and cities to find workers to continue their expansion (Goudie Viles, 1997 p. 5). To begin with, the majority of new homes were traditional style houses that formed large council house estates right across the country, in architectural terms there was very little innovation or thought given to making the new housing stock architecturally sustainable or environmentally friendly. More attention was instead devoted to making all new houses comfortable, clean, and ensuring they were being built to last (Greed, 1996 p. 35). The new homes were intended to be better and larger than the ones that they had replaced. The majority of large cities and the new towns in Britain had millions of council houses built in their areas between 1945 and the early 1970s. However, it was much harder to find adequate amounts of development land in inner city areas which led to the building of high rise tower blocks which allowed a greater number of people to be housed without increasing the total area of the development land required (Sheail, 2002 p. 62). Unfortunately, high rise tower bl ocks constructed during the 1960s and the 1970s in the South-East of England, as well as nationally failed to be an adequate form of long- term and sustainable architecture that allowed people to be housed in safety or comfort. The failure of many high rise tower blocks to be sustainable forms of housing had the affect of increasing the pressure on development land. It has also meant that tower blocks have had to be refurbished or more frequently demolished (Meller, 1997 p. 63). As the picture below shows the 1950s and the 1960s also witnessed the construction of low-rise apartment blocks which have proved to be longer lasting than tower blocks built during the same period of time. The picture is of apartment flats constructed in Ham Common in Richmond between 1955 and 1958 (Frampton, 1997 p. 266). Although the amount of new housing construction was considerable not all the available land had been developed or built upon. Land remained set aside for agricultural purposes, whilst other land was left un-built upon and not always used for farming. The land that was left alone and was set aside and thus not allowed to be used for domestic housing or industrial sites were referred to as the green belt. The green belt was created to act as a buffer zone between urban and rural areas as a means to limit urbanisation (Greed, 1996 p. 82). Central government set aside areas that were designated as green belt zones to preserve the countryside nationally as well as solely in the South-East of England. Although, it was possible to build on green belt land the process of gaining planning permission from central government and the relevant local authority was a long drawn out one which deterred most property developers and construction firms from doing so. Local interest groups have often bei ng highly vocal in their opposition to any schemes that have been suggested (Clapp, 1994 p. 138). Clapp estimated that with national parks and designated green belt zones that in England and Wales â€Å"more than a fifth of the countryside now has stringent protection against development† (Clapp, 1994 p. 140). Therefore, the bulk of available development land was concentrated in urban areas, often referred to as brown field sites (Greed, 1996 p. 82). For central government there are advantages for using brown field sites (Kim Rigdon, December 1998 p. 5). For instance, using such sites allows for economic regeneration, employment creation as well as less pressure to build on green belt land. Recycling land on brown field sites is a method of preserving rural areas being used as development land (Clapp, 1994 p.139). The pressure to use greater amounts of development land has arguably increased significantly in recent years throughout Britain as a whole. The pressure to use development land has risen due to a combination of social, economic, and political factors. For instance, in social terms the demographic changes to the British population have had significant, and it could even be argued, profound effects upon the demand for development for new construction programmes. These demographic changes have occurred as a consequence of the British population ageing, the increasing number of adults who live on their own, as well as the major increase in the number of immigrants who have settled in Britain in the past decade or so. These changes have meant that more people within Britain are seeking a higher number of places to live in. Another reason for the raised levels of pressure upon development land is caused by the potential financial gains from building new houses, as well as new retail or ind ustrial complexes. The level of financial gains that could be made has been boosted since 1979 by the shifting away from the publicly funded housing programmes to a market led approach to determining the rates of new housing construction and the ownership of existing housing (Allmendinger and Thomas, 1998 p. 5). Of course even greater numbers of domestic homes and retail premises has a knock on effect on the amount of infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and roads which are required in Britain as a whole. The building of new forms of infrastructure will only increase the environmental impact of new construction programmes (Kim Rigdon, December 1998 p. 5). A fuller explanation and a more comprehensive examination of the increased pressures on the development land in Britain in general will be presented in the specific chapter on development land. The more detailed evaluation of the pressures upon development in the South-East of England will be presented in the specific chapter about the South-East of England. Not only has there been pressure to use more development land in Britain generally and in the South-East of England in particular, there has been more pressure for new construction programmes to use building techniques and technology linked with sustainable architecture. Sustainable architecture may have been a concept, which started in the United States, yet it could be very important to put its ideas into action across the globe (Kim Rigdon, December 1998 p. 5). The notion of sustainable architecture is in itself influenced by ideas about making or enabling architecture maximise the utility and the subsequent life span of all new construction, whilst minimising the amount of resources needed in the initial construction and the maintenance of buildings. Sustainable architecture, when possible, uses resources that is renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. There are various motivations for adopting sustainable architecture when it comes down to the construction and the completion of all new building programmes. Motivations that include the minimising of development land used, as well as making use of new technology to conserve energy, the conservation or recycling of finite resources, as well as reducing the levels of water consumption. Reducing the level of pollution and attempting to slow down the consequences of global warming are also factors in the promotion and implementation of sustainable architecture (Kim, Rigdon, Graves, August 1998 p. 5). Of course, there is the influence of legislation upon the use of sustainable architecture techniques to reduce the environmental and ecological impact of new construction programmes. Property developers and construction firms have to comply with measures to protect the environment introduced by the British government and the European Union (Hough, 2004 p. 190). As will be shown in the specific chapter about sustainable architecture the majority of methods used to improve environmental sustainability are relatively straightforward to incorporate into the designs of new building programmes, and in some cases into existing buildings. Sustainable architecture could be achieved by using construction materials that are less damaging to the environment, or materials that have been obtained from recycled and renewable resources. Making buildings as environmentally sustainable as possible during new construction projects (as will be examined in greater depth) will achieve the over all objectives of those that practice and argue for the implementation of sustainable architecture. It is most practical to install features or equipment which enhances environmental sustainability during new construction projects rather than afterwards. The pressures to adopt sustainable architecture in many ways are contradictory, yet are also connected with the pressure s to raise the levels of development land used up for new building programmes. Other motivations for adopting sustainable architecture include applying measures that are requirements for gaining planning permission, as well as ensuring that all new buildings comply with all the minimum standards for safeguarding the environment set by the British government and also by the European Union. The British government has set standards for domestic and retail buildings since the 1950s. For instance, to rid London of its previously renowned smog and fog by reducing smoke emissions from domestic homes and factories alike under the auspices of the Clean Air Act. The European Union has taken a greater interest in promoting environmental sustainability since the 1980s, believing that such actions to protect the natural environment on a regional rather than a national basis would be far more effective in doing so (Hough, 2004 p. 190). Chapter One Literature Review ‘Urban Planning and the British New Right’, by Allmendinger and Thomas was primarily used as a source of reference for the ways in which the Conservative governments between 1979 and 1997 altered housing and economic policies in Britain. This book also contained information about the introduction of more extensive government environmental protection policies, which were started during that period of Conservative administration. The book demonstrates the contradictions between the strong Conservative support for free market economics and the increasing understanding that central government needed to act to protect the environment. Brian Clapp’s ‘An Environmental History of Britain from the Industrial Revolution’ is a good source of information with regard to development land and the impact of the green belt zones on limiting building programmes to already urbanised areas. The book provides a useful insight into the establishment and the continued maintenance of green belt zones in modern Britain. ‘An introduction to Human Geography – Issues for the 21st century’ by Daniels, Bradshaw, Shaw, and Sidaway proved a useful source of information about development and the environmental impacts of human activity such as constructing buildings and using fossil fuel in buildings. The book assists in explaining why such impacts on the environment would provide a catalyst for sustainable architecture. ‘Modern architecture – a critical history’ by Kenneth Frampton was used as a source of pictures and reference for information about architectural styles and building materials. There was also a brief section concerning the planning of the new town constructed at Milton Keynes during the early 1970s. ‘The Earth Transformed – an introduction to Human Impacts on the Environment’ by Goudie and Viles was used to obtain information about development land and the impact of unsustainable architecture and building techniques upon pollution levels and global warming. The book contained information about the harmful consequences of global urbanisation and industrialisation. ‘Cities Natural Process – A basis for sustainability’, by Michael Hough was a useful reference book for discussing development land and issues that relate to enhancing environmental sustainability. This book was also useful because there was a greater focus upon Britain within it. The book contained suggestions and examples of how sustainability could be achieved with the help of sustainable architecture. ‘Postwar – A history of Europe since 1945’ by Tony Judt was solely used for information about immigration into Britain in the last decade or so. ‘Sustainable Architecture: Introduction to Sustainable Design by’ Kim and Rigdon is an article which explores the theoretical and practical background to sustainable architecture. It was used to gain information for the chapter, which dealt with sustainable architecture specifically. That information was also for the chapter concerning the need for any new construction programmes in the South-East of England to embrace sustainable architecture. ‘Pollution Prevention in Architecture – Introductory Module’ by Kim, Rigdon, and Graves provides further theoretical and practical insights into the ideas contained within the notion of sustainable architecture. This article contained strong arguments as to why sustainable architecture should be implemented across the world and not just in a single specific region of one particular country. This article proved a sound reference for the chapters concerning sustainable architecture and the necessity of its use in the South-East of England. ‘Towns, plans, and society in modern Britain’ by Helen Meller was used to gain background knowledge of the establishment of a more vigorous and restrictive planning regulatory framework brought into operation after the end of the Second World War. That information was then included within the introduction and the specific chapter dealing with the pressures upon the use of development land. ‘Urban and Environmental Planning in the UK’, by Yvonne Rydin provides useful information concerning the protection of the environment through planning regulations and restrictions. Provides good reference material as to how the British government and the European Union have attempted to reduce environmental damage through restrictions on development land and building or other regulations to cut pollution and enhance sustainability. ‘A History of Britain 3, End of Empire 1776 – 2000’, by Simon Schama was used to gain information as to why the Conservative party did not overturn the extended provision of council houses introduced by the Atlee government until after 1979. The book also had information about the ideological changes that Margaret Thatcher brought into Britain and the consequences of such changes. ‘An Environmental History of Twentieth Century Britain’ by John Sheail was a book, which discussed the developments within the environment of Britain between 1900 and 2000. Sheail examines how the understanding of environmental issues in Britain developed in the latter part of the twentieth century. The book was informative in relation to the development of policies that were intended to protect the environment and promote sustainability. ‘The City – In time and space’ by Aidan Southall was a book used to assist with the description and evaluation of the use as well as the restrictions placed upon the availability of development land within Britain. Southall’s account in particular provided information concerning the effective regeneration of brown field sites within the immediate vicinity of London besides providing an insight into the construction of the new towns in the aftermath of the Second World War. ‘Ecological Architecture: A critical history’ by Steele provided some useful practical and theoretical information about the concepts and the designs of sustainable architecture. ‘Life Cycle Analysis for Automobiles’, by Sulivan and Hu was used solely for the data concerning the amount of energy needed to produce aluminium, polyethene, PVC and steel, comparing the consumption to produce the materials new with when those products are recycled. ‘Urban Planning Since 1945’ by Nigel Taylor was a highly useful source of information with regard to the development and the continuation of planning restrictions as well as building regulations. The information about the uses of town and country planning besides the motivations for the establishment and the continuation of green belt land areas was of great use. Taylor also included some succinct information about environmental sustainability within this book. Brenda Vale’s ‘Green Architecture: Design for a Sustainable Future’ is a good introduction to the concepts and the designs most strongly linked with sustainable development. Chapter Two Development Land Prior to the start of the twentieth century there was very little formal or legal regulation or planning undertaken when it came down to the use of development land. There was in effect little to prevent the construction of new building programmes, let alone notions about limiting the size and the scope of such programmes to protect the environment or promote ecological sustainability (Taylor, 1998 p. 3). Central government by and large did not intervene to prevent individuals, businesses of various sizes, or indeed local authorities from using development land in any way that they wished to do so. The central government was willing to permit any parties to construct new buildings upon such development land, especially if the party responsible for constructing such buildings already owned the land, which was been built upon (Greed, 1996 p. 2). The freedom with which new buildings could be built was demonstrated by the ability of the majority of landowners to choose the style of archi tecture in the construction of their homes, factories, or shops. Landowners had the option of making their buildings as grand as possible or as cheap to construct as possible (Kim Rigdon, December 1998 p. 5). They did not have to consider that their right to build on their land would be restricted by the location of that land in relation to the nearest city or its place in the countryside. Landowners and their architects did not believe that there was any profound need to change what they built or how they built it in order to protect the environment and promote sustainability (Sheail, 2003 p. 2). Those building regulations that did exist were generally very minimalist in their actual nature, and were usually introduced on an ad hoc basis. Architecture and the development of land were more likely to be influenced by changes in technology or improvements in economic development, as well as change in fashion and styles (Meller, 1997 p. 63). For instance, these houses started to have gas, electricity, and water supplies installed. These supplies of utility services were regulated by the central government (Daniels, Bradshaw, Shaw, Sidaway, 2005 p.115). Those services were also supplied to factories and shops, which were increasingly subject to health, and safety standards that were intended to prevent accidents, yet paid no attention to the land that they happened to be constructed on (Sheail, 2003 p. 2). The nineteenth century witnessed a quantum leap forward in the amount of land, which was built upon due to a raising population as well as increased levels of industrialisation . These factors happened to coincide with the development of improved infrastructure such as roads, railways, sewage systems, public hospitals, and schools. The development of such infrastructure required large quantities of land, labour, and resources to be successfully completed, whilst in turn promoting higher levels of industrialisation and the migration of people from the countryside to the expanding cities. Some cities and regions benefited economically from such industrialisation more than others did. In Britain, industrialisation benefited the regions surrounding Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Over all though London and the South-East of England retained their position as the most prosperous region within Britain. Industrialisation came at a cost, namely pollution and greater levels of social inequality (Southall, 2000 p. 335). The development of gas, electricity, and water supplies alongside sewage systems made domestic houses more comfortable to live in an d factories more productive due to having greater efficiency (Daniels, Bradshaw, Shaw, Sidaway, 2005 p.115). Before a system of urban and rural planning were introduced there was no specifically set aside development land. Market forces determined the use of land and what if anything was built upon it. If landowners found that their land was most profitably used for agricultural purposes then it would remain as agricultural land (Taylor, 1998 p. 3). If, however more money could be made from building houses, shops, or factories on their land, then that is what usually happened to that land. Landowners could also be tempted to sell their land to property developers, construction firms, or industrial enterprises if they were lucky enough to own land that those other parties felt in urgent need of developing (Meller, 1997 p. 62). It was market forces that drove the industrial revolution in Britain as well as also promoting the process of urbanisation. The processes of industrialisation and urbanisation meant that cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow greatly expanded in ter ms of both their geographical areas and their total population levels, which led to shrinkage in the size of rural areas in Britain as a whole (Southall, 2000 p. 335). It was also market forces that determined the location, size, and scope of housing, factories, and commercial buildings. There were no limitations to the size, location or scope of such buildings, and absolutely no attention was given to the environmental consequences of these building programmes (Sheail, 2003 p 2). The absence of building regulations and restrictions on the use of land meant that there was a great deal of unhealthy and substandard slum housing, which caused widespread illness. Illness occurred besides reflecting the poverty of those people that were unfortunate enough to have to live in such areas (Daniels, Bradshaw, Shaw, Sidaway, 2005 p.115). Planning regulations would have undoubtedly improved conditions, for instance introducing proper sanitation into the slums or having substandard housing replaced by higher quality houses for people to move into (Southall, 2000 p. 335). In rural areas fears that heavy industry and unsightly slums would eventually over take all the land within their close proximity prompted the foundation of organisations dedicated to the physical preservation of the countryside, the rural way of life, and its wildlife (Clapp, 1994 p. 138). The countryside preservation organisations would eventually have a strong influence on the establishment of the gree n belt zones and the restricted availability of development land in the more predominantly rural areas of Britain (Allmendinger and Thomas, 1998 p. 55). It was after the end of the First World War that the central government and local authorities took a greater interest in the construction of housing and how land was actually being used in domestic housing and industrial or commercial construction programmes. The role of the market in deciding how many houses were built and the location of where those houses were constructed was reduced with the development of council houses (Taylor, 1998 p. 3). The provision of affordable housing built by local authorities and subsidised by central government funding meant that there was increased public involvement in the determination of land usage. The use, abuse, or the non-use of land was no longer solely determined by market forces. The involvement of central government and local authorities was intended to reduce poverty, ill health, and social exclusion. At no point in the inter-war period were measures taken to introduce town and country planning with the intention of protecting the environ ment or promoting sustainability as nob