Monday, September 30, 2019

Annotated Bib Gender Roles

Gender Roles in the Workplace: Annotated Bibliography Karissa Roveda Oakland University Rochester, MI Adler, M. A. (1994). Male-Female power differences at work: A comparison of supervisor and policymakers. Sociological Inquiry, 64(1), 37-55. This article spoke of the positions of power between men and women, and how policymakers and supervisors distribute that power to men and women. In the work place, when considering for advancement, employers have undefined criteria such as personality characteristics and potential managerial qualities.These standards become the cause of inequality in authority and power at work place. Jobs that are available for women have low wages and also less authority. Similar research studies have shown similar points, in that inequality is found at the workplace because of such gender based characteristics. Even though women were shown to be more educated, they do not follow the same status. The researcher in this study used methodology to find these ineq ualities at the work place. The study consisted of four data points to test and used 531 women and 619 men for this data.The author collected data for power in wage labor, employment, sample characteristics and occupation by education. The results showed that men achieve higher positions and also showed they have a higher chance at a supervisory level and more authority than women. In the workplace, gender is a major part of determining positions of power. Also, it shows that education is more important to get supervisor positions, which is less effective for women. This study demonstrates the inequality between men and women that makes men more prone to positions of power than women.The data and research clearly showed that women have greatly less access to positions of power and authority at work place than men, and that gender is the key factor in determining those positions. Policymakers and supervisors may indeed make regulations promoting equality but gender bias is still obvi ously exhibited. Carbonell, J. L. , & Castro, Y. (2008). The impact of a leader model on high dominant women’s self-selection for leadership. Sex Roles ,58,776-783. This study had women observe a leader model of either gender model a task they would have to complete. The study looked at effects of ender role model in the decision of high dominant women to be leaders, given a masculine task to complete with a male co-worker. The hypothesis states that women would become leaders at a higher rate when a woman model is given rather than a male. The research took a total of 190 students: 95 women and 95 men. Each individual was given the California Psychological Inventory, measuring: impression, communication, and dominance. This study looked at dominance in particular. Only 15 pairs were exposed to women models. The study observed 2 groups to support or reject their hypothesis.Focused groups were made of high dominant woman paired with a low dominant man with a female model, and high dominant woman paired with a low dominant man with a male model. A chi square analysis showed a correlation between leader model and leader development, â€Å"The results are that 60% of women took the leader role when given a woman model compared to 20% in male model† (Castro, 2008). The study concluded in the presence of a female model, high dominant individual would be the leader. The gender of the leader model did not affect leadership for males. I believe this study shows importance of woman leader models in professional fields.The lack of exposure of woman leaders for women reduces the chances that they will take on leadership roles. Katz, D. (1987). Sex discrimination in hiring: The influence of organizational climate and need for approval on decision making behavior. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11(1), 11-20. Previous studies have caused the idea that equally skilled men and women are assessed unequally when applying for jobs. The present study observes the inf luence from different organizational workplaces or â€Å"the quality of an organization’s internal environment† (Katz, 1987), and society’s need for approval on the notion of biased employees decisions.The study sought out three main hypotheses, if an unfair organizational environment would influence people to hire a male applicant over an identical female applicant. Second, that in a workplace a male applicant would be ranked as a better fit and more likely to stay with the company longer than a female applicant. And third, that those subjects with a high need of approval would match more to the demands of job on the hire and salary assessments than lower approval motivation applicants. The study included 161 male undergrads enrolled in a business class.They were given a booklet which contained experimental materials necessary in controlling organizational workplace. They were also given either a female or male completed application and asked for their judgment s on an applicant’s suitability for the position. Results from the experiment showed that as initially expected, males were favored over females in the unfair environment. The results also showed that males were chosen as fitting significantly better than females, and that men were also offered higher salaries in the same conditions.In my opinion, the implications of this study can establish that the workplace can deeply influence the decisions of hiring workers and lead to gender bias. McTavish, D. , & Miller, K. (2009). Gender balance in leadership? Reform and modernization in the UK further education sector. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37(3), 350-365. The research question that this article attempted to answer was â€Å"Why are few women advancing into leadership positions despite a large number of women being employed into the further education sector? † (McTavish & Miller, 2009).The further education sector employs a high proportion of wome n yet relatively few women progress into leadership positions. The article seeks to provide explanations for this gender imbalance and argues that despite change and modernization initiatives, the further education sector remains gendered in many aspects of leadership, governance and executive practices. The only major difference between male and female academics was that female academics were twice as given to apply for promotion if supported by their line manager, and male academics were twice as likely to apply if there was an opportunity to influence college power.Also female academics were twice as likely to apply if they were obtained feedback through their staff review. There are many conclusions that were drawn from this study. Reform and structural change have definitely led to a larger number of possibilities for women. Changes in organizational policy have led to a friendlier environment for females. Women have to adjust to masculine managerial styles, such as competitive ness. In addition, even though it appears that the reforms are creating gender balance, in reality; women are still going to their stereotypical roles such as teaching and lecturing.Meyerson, Debra E. , and Joyce K. Fletcher. â€Å"A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling. † Harvard Business Review (2000): 127-36. â€Å"Gender discrimination is now so deeply embedded in organizational life as to be virtually indiscernible. Even the women who feel its impact are often hard-pressed to know what hit them† (Meyerson & Fletcher, 127). The authors believe that the glass ceiling will be shattered â€Å"only through a strategy that uses small wins-incremental changes aimed at biases so entrenched in the system that they're not even noticed until they're gone† (Meyerson & Fletcher,128).The small wins approach to change was developed by Karl Weick. The authors emphasize that real and lasting change can be made by small changes, and that these small changes are not threatening to any stakeholders. For example, one firm discovered it could recruit women more effectively simply by increasing the length of the interview time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, which gave female candidates just a little bit more time to â€Å"bond† with their middle-aged male interviewers. Another firm reversed its high turnover rate for female middle managers by bringing more discipline to meetings, ensuring that meetings started and ended on time.This would be a change that freed all employees from the need to be available 15 hours per day. I personally think both strategies are very effective because at least these firms are putting in the effort to make a difference through the gender roles fairness in the workplace. Roos, P. A. (1981). Sex stratification in the workplace: Male-Female differences in economic returns to occupation. Social Science Research, 10(3), 195-224. The study causes the idea that there is a large earning gap between men and women.Ge nder differences in earning are important because it focuses on the gender-based inequalities of power at the workplace. The author of the study used a literature review to explain the gender gap in earning, and it showed that sex segregated characteristics still remain at the occupational level. It shows that women work at low paying jobs and they are less likely to use authority in those jobs. The main reason why there are gender differences in earnings is the belief of human capital theory, and it has a huge concern with the supply side of the market.The researcher used a non-institutionalized English speaking population to explain the data for gender influenced gap in earning. The sample included 959 men and 670 women. The results showed that women are paid low wages, and are in positions of low responsibility. Even when a women reaches a higher level job, their earning is much lower than that of men. The results also show that women’s low income is mainly because of thei r job characteristics, in that men and women are distributed differently across jobs.Men earn more than women, mainly because women are not considered employers. The study demonstrated that the characteristics of the workers create inequality at the workplace; this is also a reason for why there is a large gap in earning between genders. Human capital theory discourages women from working and it presents women as low rent employees. They have less understanding of the mean of production. The characteristics of this research show improvement in the earnings of men and women. Yuping Zhang and Emily Hannum and Meiyan Wang. Gender-Based Employment and Income Differences in Urban China: Considering the Contributions of Marriage and Parenthood. † Social Forces 86. 4 (2008): 156-159. Web. 2 April 2010. This article is based on the income differences and job opportunities of workers in urban China between men and women and why these differences exist. These authors argue that married women and parents receive the biggest disadvantage amongst female workers in China due to their lack of capital regarding education, energy and financially.These particular women are not able to make as many social connections as men do due to their role in the household and so they are at a great disadvantage. In China’s market it is essential to have these kinds of social connections. It is a capitalistic society where everyone is out for his or herself and so people must use other people to get what they want. If these connections are not present then these urban female workers will not be able to make nearly as much progress and therefore will be much less successful.It is these expectations that cheapen the women and set them at a great disadvantage if they ever plan on having a family and household to upkeep. This lack of opportunity in the article is summarized as a disadvantage of ‘time use’ due to being a wife and having children in comparison to those w ho do not. However, if a woman were to decide that she didn’t want a family and wanted to primarily focus on her work this would be frowned upon in society, due to how valued the dynamic of family is in China.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

What is the role of engineering science in solving engineering problems?

Engineering is about ensuring the health, happiness and safety of our planet's future. Engineers are at the centre of inventing creative solutions to address these challenges head-on. Now and in the future, engineers will play a vital role in finding solutions to many of the important issues facing us today, such as global warming, energy supplies, clean water, food shortages, transport, obesity, healthcare and the ageing population.Although engineers use science and math to design or create solutions to real world problems, engineering is not really considered a science. Science is about discovering and understanding the natural, whereas engineering is about inventing, designing and implementing the artificial. Engineering is based principally on physics, chemistry, and mathematics and their extensions into materials science, solid and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, transfer and rate processes, and systems analysis. Engineers employ two types of natural resources, materials and en ergy.Materials acquire uses that reflect their properties: their strength, ease of fabrication, lightness, or durability; their ability to insulate or conduct; and their chemical, electrical, or acoustical properties. Important sources of energy include fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, gas), wind, sunlight, falling water, and nuclear fission. Let us take a moment to think about some things we use in our everyday life: Buildings, bridges, roads, highways and traffic lights, vehicles (buses, cars, planes and water ferries), computers and other electronic devices, none of them came into existence without engineers.We wouldn’t have been able to drive to work, check our facebook status or even use the elevators at our work places. Engineering science is used to solve problems and improve our world Problems like making your alarm go off on time or making sure your toothpaste has just the right amount of chemicals to give you that perfect smile or even ensure the right input to make a ngry birds an addictive game. Now let us look at an aeroplane, they provide a lot of examples of the importance of engineering science.Every bit of a plane has been touched by a whole team of engineers, a mechanical engineer designing engine, a mechatronic engineer designs the controls, the fuel extracted by mining engineers and refined by chemical engineers, the navigation system electrical and software engineer created those. From the Right brothers first 12th sec flight in 1903 to the invention of the jet engine, improvements in the mechanism of control in air frame construction have continued through the 20th century.Now with computers in the cockpit engaged in every aspect, flight electronics are sure to lead innovation in the future of aviation. The automobile change the way we travel but it remains an engineering work in progress so with the advancement of fuel cells and electric powered engines automobiles are certain to maintain their position at the front of technology wel l into the future. High performance materials have made possible some of the century most dazzling technological achievements like aero planes, microchips and lasers.In materials engineering atomic and molecular materials and the nano products they produce may very well make the 21st century the nano age. In the area of household appliances two major engineering innovations, resistance heating and small efficient motors lead to advancements like electric stoves, vacuum cleaners, washers, dish washers that drastically reduce the domestic workloads. A century worth of progress suggest that more innovations in advancement lie ahead. The Burj Khalifa, it is the world’s tallest building at 829. 8m high, it’s also in the world’s hottest environment reaching up to 50 degrees in summer.One of the problems in building the Burj was trying to figure out how to set 45000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete in such extreme weather. The solution was a clever method of pumping iced liquid concrete into the 55000 ton steel frame during the night. The result is a building that is vertically over 800 m high rather than horizontally all over the ground. On Saturday March 1932 the Syden Harbour Bridge was commissioned.The bridge was a marvel of civil engineering and since 1815 people had been talking of building a bridge to connect the two sides of the harbour. The problem was that the harbour was so incredibly wide and how could a bridge span such a width and support its own weight. The solution was the idea the Romans used in the past. The arched bridge works by transferring the weight into horizontal forces embracing them at the ends of the arch. Thanks to 20th century civil engineers the driving public can travel coast to coast by way of the interstate highway system.As traffic grows engineering is working to improve pavements, crash barriers and other design elements and would use new technology to improve traffic flow and safety. As the population of ci ties grew in the 20th century the challenge of clean accessible water was meet by civil engineers who created systems for water treatment and distribution leading to vast improvement in public health. As the need for clean water increases successors in water management will serve to inspire future engineers to face the challenge of improving water supply and distribution in all areas of the world.Chemical engineering and chemistry advanced in the 19th century. Through the development of electrochemistry and spectroscope many more chemical elements could be discovered. Mendelejev and Meyer independently developed the chemical law that states that the properties of all the elements are periodic functions of their atomic weights. In 1869 Mendelejev proposed the Periodic Table of Elements that classifies the chemical elements corresponding to their atomic weights. Based on this table subsequent discoveries of new elements were made which led to the completion of the table.In the 19th ce ntury chemical engineering witnessed an enormous advance in polymer technology and in the 20th century the mass production of polymers became economically feasible. These advances led to the introduction of new material, such as, plastics and fibers. As the demand grew for gasoline chemical engineers discovered a host of useful byproducts of crude oil and the petrochemical industry was born. Throughout the middle of the 20th century petroleum processing technologies allowed petrochemicals to replace environmentally harmful coal tar chemistry but environmentally issues may change the outlook of this industry in the 21st century.Scientist and Engineers learned how to make a transistor, shrink it to a microscopic size and harness it for once unimaginable powers of digital computing, control, communication, detection and display. Today engineers are exploring new architectures for these circuits and experimenting with mysterious quantum effects that might be harnessed for computation. A t the dawn of the 20th century the electric power capacity expanded rapidly while continuous innovation improves the system. As demand for the benefits of electrification continues to grow around the globe, resourcefulness remains a prime virtue.Large scale power grids are being supplemented by decentralized systems in which consumers produce some of their own power through renewable resources such as wind and solar power The first electronic computers introduced in the late 1930s were the size of large room and capable of the most basic tasks. Today PCs, Macs and laptops, I pads and smart phones are such prominent fixtures in our technologically advanced society that it is hard to imagine a future where computers don’t continue to have an increased role in almost everything we do.Beginning as a tool for academia and government and evolving rapidly into the World Wide Web open to anyone with a computer and a telephone connection, the internet has transformed the way we conduc t research, communicate and purchase items. The internet has now been such an integral part of our daily lives that the future could only bring more opportunity for us to connect with the world around us and do business.But what about the future, what problems will the engineers solve next, will we finally have affordable solar power or robots that can perform life saving surgery or a building so tall that your view is of out of space or finally engineering a working hover board. Engineering is solving problems by taking ideas out there and making them possible and when shared with the world it serves to make all of our lives better In summary we can see that throughout history engineers have taken ideas and change them into innovation.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Business Communication Essay Example for Free (#11)

Business Communication Essay His vision to give young, fashion forward men and women a unique way to express their individuality through style resulted in millions of customers worldwide and propelled his designs to the forefront of the fashion industry. It all started in 1990, with a mere $1,100 in his bank account, Madden started crafting shoe designs from his Queens-based factory and the  Steve Madden  brand was born. With a lot of courage, years of experience in the footwear industry, and unique creative designs,  Steve Madden  formed his own successful enterprise. A year later, Madden introduced a redefined version of platform shoes, resulting in one of the most spectacular success stories in the early 1990’s. Inspired by his favorite rock and roll stars of the 1970s, the thick, chunky heel became  Steve Madden’s  signature and a phenomenon in women’s shoes. Madden’s footwear vision is continuously evolving. Steve once said, â€Å"What inspires me is what I see people wearing on the streets of the world from New York to London and beyond. I get my ideas and inspiration from pounding the pavement all over the world. Today, fashion is dictated by individual style. To me, the fashion of the future is anything that a young guy or girl feels good wearing as long as  it’s put together in the right way. † (www. stevemadden . com) Today, the  Steve Madden  brand represents a lifestyle. It is about embracing fashion while still maintaining that funky independence that first defined the brand 20 years ago. Expanding now into apparel and other accessories such as dresses, handbags, belts, sunwear, cold weather, outerwear and hosiery,  Steve Madden  is always looking toward to the future. As 2013 begins, more exciting opportunities are on the horizon including re-packaging, new store design rollout and expansion in global markets. The days when the future did not seem so bright In April 2002, Mr. Madden found that neither his investors nor federal judges take too kindly to stock manipulation and securities fraud. Steve Madden’s talents as a shoe designer helped him build a 240 million dollar empire in his own name. But by his own admission, that wasn’t enough — he was greedy for more. His greed cost him about eight million dollars and control of the very company that brought him such riches. Madden was sentenced in 2002 to 41 months in prison for his role in a stock swindle scheme coordinated by the now-closed brokerage, Stratton Oakmont. His wrongdoings include conspiring to manipulate the stock prices of more than 20 companies, including his own. And, he did it at the expense not only of the public but his own investors who lost more than 100 million. Besides paying restitution, Madden had to resign as CEO of Steve Madden Ltd and leave the board of directors. He is also barred from holding a position as officer for seven years. However, he did retain a creative position until his prison sentence began that fall and will likely fill that capacity upon release later this spring. Meanwhile, those left to keep the company going in his absence quickly started their damage control efforts. A new board of directors was quickly assembled. Among those elected were Madden’s brother and a corporate accounting guru. Once their former leader began repaying his debt to society, company heads began cleaning Steve Madden Limited’s financial house; making sure stock prices accurately reflected the health of the business. The company fully cooperated with the SEC’s investigation and hired an independent auditing company to keep watch over the process. Those days and even today, the company’s financial practices are an open and well-kept book. Anyone could get the latest financial news from the same site by loging on to for the latest shoe designs. After heading off anymore potential legal woes, management began to focus on keeping the business itself walking tall. If the company’s sales reports were any indication, not having â€Å"Steve† hasn’t really hurt Steve Madden Limited. While the founder has been in a Florida prison, the company’s management built on his vision by expanding into other areas. â€Å"Steve† by Steve Madden moved the company from the trendy 16 to 24 year old demographic into upscale footwear for a more mature crowd. The company licensed Candie’s and Unionbay footwear for men. Rather than try and replace or substitute Madden’s design eye, they took what they had and introduced it to new markets. It worked. According to company reports, nearly all of the brands have increased profit margins and inventory levels. In a press release, management expressed hope that their profits would have increased in 2005 as compared 2004 (which actually happened). 2. Corporate Communication after the Bad Publicity But prison didn’t break Steve Madden—or his company. Like so many of today’s celebrity convicts, from Martha Stewart to Paris Hilton, Madden says he emerged a changed person. He served out his sentence, doing yardwork, teaching business classes to other inmates, reading four books a week (from â€Å"The Devil Wears Prada† to David McCullough’s â€Å"Truman†) and pumping iron obsessively. I used to wear this tank top in prison,† he says. â€Å"And I’d stare at myself and flex. I never did that before. † He even got married, to a Madden employee who came for regular visits. And when he was released in April 2005, Madden says, he was â€Å"stronger physically, mentally, spiritually† than he’d ever been. After the return of Ste ve Madden from prison, he decided not to shy away from the imminent release of its namesake founder from prison. The company was promoting the return of its creative leader in a series of eye-catching posters and print advertisements, and is having some fun with it in the process. While the ads do not say where Madden has been, one suggests, in a wink-wink kind of way, that Mr. Madden has not been on a sabbatical, a secret mission or up the  Amazon  collecting snakes: â€Å"A new meaning for the word spring time. Steve returns. Spring 2005. † The company had launched a rather interesting press campaign celebrating Steve Madden’s upcoming release from prison. One features a girl wearing an ankle bracelet and another features an empty pair of shoes with the words, â€Å"There’s one pair of shoes that’s been impossible to fill. Steve returns Spring 2005. Others allude to Madden getting â€Å"sprung† in Spring 2005. Financial Dynamics, the shoe retailer’s investor relations agency, says the campaign is a positive way of dealing with the prison sentence. It makes light of the company’s troubles, sending a message that the board is over it and customers should feel the same way. It’s also a sure fire way t o get people talking about the brand. When it comes to sales, the only bad publicity is no publicity. Once upon a time, a company, particularly one that sold products to the public, would shun publicity if it possibly could when a senior executive encountered legal woes. The idea that a company – especially one like Steve Madden, which sells shoes mostly to teenage girls and women in their 20’s – would actually run ads calling attention to its leader’s prison past would have flabbergasted experts in fields like brand identity, advertising and public relations. â€Å"I love controversy; I love pushing the envelope, but when you have a younger customer you have a responsibility to take the law and authority seriously,† said James LaForce, partner at LaForce & Stevens in New York, a marketing communications agency specializing in fashion and entertainment clients. That was of course before Martha Stewart, whose public image has, by initial measures, seemingly gained in stature after her release from federal prison. A colorful paper flap decorated with a photograph of her cradling a chicken, declaring â€Å"Welcome home, Martha,† was attached to the cover of April’s Martha Stewart Living magazine, published by  Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Companies like Mr. Madden’s and Ms. Stewart’s may also be more likely to embrace their convicted executives, since those executives have plenty of influence in the boardroom. Reticence about an executive’s past also predates a world in which rappers can find the sales of their music increasing in seeming lock step with the severity of their scrapes with the law. â€Å"It’s in now to be out, out of prison, that is,† said Paul Cappelli, chief executive at the Ad Store in New York, an advertising agency that creates campaigns for brands like  JetBlue. â€Å"I could see myself suggesting something like this to a client,† Cappelli said, â€Å"that instead of ignoring the 5,000-pound elephant in the corner, you might as well bring it out into the open and make hay of it. Robert Passikoff, who has been tracking consumer response to the Martha Stewart brand as president of Brand Keys in New York, a brand and customer-loyalty consultant, said that his index of its value had recently risen. The index has climbed to 96, Mr. Passikoff said, compared with a bottom of 62 – â€Å"lower than  Enron,† he said – before she entered prison. (The peak was 122 in May 2002. ) Is the new badge of honor, I served my time? We are not sure it doesn’t ultimately hurt, even if the American public is largely forgiving when people serve their time. The campaign is trying to make him the face of the brand but who wants the face with numbers under it? † Steve Madden is different from Martha Stewart, because unlike her, he was never the brand. He was the label, so a lot of people don’t know who the guy was and didn’t know he went to jail. That has worked to Steve Madden’s advantage so far,, citing the history of the Madden brand index: It was 110 before Madden went to prison and fell only slightly, to 106. However, it is worth mentioning that consumers seem to be more forgiving about men than women. Brian Russak, a senior editor at Footwear News in New York who covers Madden, said: â€Å"It seems like an obvious play to Martha Stewart, but I have to wonder whether that resonates with Madden’s consumers. We often say here the target consumer doesn’t know there is a Steve Madden. † Trey Laird, president and executive creative director at Laird & Partners in New York, an advertising age ncy that creates campaigns for fashion and apparel brands like DKNY and Gap, also drew distinctions between Madden and Stewart. The Madden ads â€Å"are kind of cute and clever, but this is not a Martha Stewart situation, when the whole country is watching because she’s a cultural icon. † â€Å"I don’t feel most consumers know about† Steve Madden’s sentence, he added, â€Å"or if they knew, they forgot about it. † The Madden campaign can be perceived as a parody of Ms. Stewart’s story meant â€Å"to get people talking about the brand,† Laird said, particularly because â€Å"the Madden brand has never been a brand that has taken itself seriously. † For instance, a recent Madden campaign featured caricatures of its customers with comically oversized heads. A statement by Financial Dynamics read: â€Å"Steven Madden Ltd. looks forward to the much anticipated return of the unique talent and creative design expertise of Steve Madden in the spring of 2005. Further, the company believes the current advertising campaign embodies and enhances the Steve Madden brand. † If the rise in Martha Stewart stock is any indication, getting out of prison seems to be â€Å"in. † The publicity generated by Madden’s return could translate into increased exposure and, in turn, increase sales in the future. Plus, having him back at the head of the creative team will bring his company something it hasn’t had in a while†¦ his ability to give the millions of women who buy his shoes what they want. So, If there’s one thing Americans enjoy more than watching the mighty fall, it’s granting them forgiveness. â€Å"You have to go through a process. You made your mistake, you did your time,† Madden says. â€Å"You have to be a little contrite to get redemption. † To judge from the recent performance of his company, Madden’s been forgiven—at least by that segment of the population that favors shoes with animal prints, polka dots and four-inch heels. Sales were $475. 2 million in 2006, up from $375. 8 million the year he was released, while net income more than doubled to $46. 3 million. Madden is quick to admit that he’s made mistakes. But he says he wouldn’t change a thing about his life. â€Å"Everything I’ve done has gotten me to where I am today,† he says. His prison experience has clearly had an impact on his designs. The next offering from the prison groom: wedding shoes, called I Do. â€Å"It’s a huge market,† he says. â€Å"Marriage is sort of back on track. † And so is Steve Madden. . The Crisis 3. 1. Chain of events In summer 2004, Madden’s luck turned when he was indicted for stock fraud and money laundering in both the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. According to the charges, Madden secretly purchased stock on behalf of the principals of two corrupt penny-stock brokerage firms — Stratton Oakmont Securities of Lake Success, Long Island, and Mon roe Parker, of Purchase, Westchester — helping them manipulate 29 initial public offerings, including that of his own company. That same day, the Securities and Exchange Commission came after him with a civil suit alleging Madden had employed â€Å"devices, schemes, and artifices to defraud. † If convicted in either of the criminal cases, Madden would face up to more than twenty years in prison and several million dollars in fines. If he were to lose the SEC case, which was put on hold until the criminal cases were completed, he could be forced to pay millions more. Even worse, he ran the risk of being barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company, including his own. On the day of his arrest, while Madden was busy pleading not guilty to all charges and pledging his East Hampton country house and the Long Island homes of two friends in order to make bail, shares of Steve Madden Limited fell almost 15 percent to $11. 85 before nasdaq halted trading. Two days later, when the stock (which trades under the ticker SHOO) reopened, it fell to $6. 88. Though the stock has traded up as high as $13. 88 due to a recent rally in the footwear sector, it has yet to regain its pre-indictment momentum. â€Å"The story’s sad. It’s a great story. It’s a real American story. My old friends took me public, they turned out to be crooks, and I’m innocent†, Madden has been quoted to say. While the indictment has severely damaged Steve Madden Limited’s standing on Wall Street – there was a consolidated class-action shareholder lawsuit pending against the company, and it has hired Bear Stearns to explore â€Å"all possible strategic options,† including an outright sale — it hasn’t tarnished Steve Madden’s reputation as a design and marketing genius. â€Å"He has some special knack at figuring out what teen girls want to wear,† says Sanford Bernstein analyst Faye Landes. According to teen-market consultant Irma Zandl, who ranks Madden with Nike and Adidas in the top five brands that girls favor, his shoes are popular because they are fabulously over-the-top. â€Å"Steve Maddens are not for the conservative girl,† she says. â€Å"If he’s going to add leopard skin, he’ll do it ten times more outrageously than anybody else. It’s for people who think less is less. † Every week following his indictment, Madden used to get more than a thousand e-mails from his customers, only a handful of which referred to his legal predicament. In fact, the company not only refused to retrench, instead it was aggressively expanding. At that year’s Grammy Awards, the company made a bid for high-profile customers by giving out fluffy leopard-print slippers to special guests. Three days later, at the Western Shoe Association show in Las Vegas, Madden introduced his newest product line at the time: Steve Madden Mens. 3. 2. The players While Madden was working his way up in the shoe industry, his best friend, Danny Porush, was stuck in a rut. After five years at Boston University, he left without getting a degree and bounced from job to job, working for, and starting up, a variety of small businesses, including an ambulance company called SureRide Ambulette. In 1988, while watching his son in the playground of his Bayside, Queens, apartment complex, he met an unlikely mentor: a dental-school dropout and former door-to-door meat and seafood salesman named Jordan Belfort. A short, brash, young Jewish guy, Belfort boasted he was making $50,000 a month selling penny stocks out of a boiler room in Great Neck. As Porush would later testify, Belfort confided the business was â€Å"half a scam,† but the chance to increase his income tenfold was a siren call Porush couldn’t resist. Two days after they met, he closed down SureRide and joined the firm. Using fanciful scripts, the brokers — Belfort’s childhood friends from Queens, Porush’s golf buddies, money-crazed kids recruited from Long Island college campuses — sold and manipulated tiny, high-risk IPOs, according to testimony, by grossly exaggerating their prospects, boasting that they had inside information, and generally saying whatever was necessary to make a sale. Their underwritings encompassed a vast array of low-rent businesses and all had the same trading pattern — the stocks would soar when they touted them but then come crashing down when the brokers unloaded their stakes. In 1992, Steve Madden made a decision that at the time seemed natural enough: He hired his best friend’s firm to be his banker. While Madden knew that the SEC had already accused Stratton of engaging in price manipulation and employing high-pressure sales tactics, he considered it a legitimate company. â€Å"They cleared through Bear Stearns,† Madden recalls, pointing out that Stratton’s link to the giant firm gave it an aura of respectability. Besides, Stratton was not only willing to raise capital for Steve Madden Limited in the private markets, it wanted to take the tiny, unproven company public. Like his friend Porush, Madden was going to enter the big leagues. On December 13, 1993, only seven months after the first (and, at that time, only) Steve Madden shoe store had opened on Broadway in SoHo, Stratton Oakmont took the company public at $4 a share. The most active stock on the nasdaq on the day of its offering, SHOO closed at $8 a share, a huge gain in the pre-Internet era. Just a few months later, it sunk to $3. With only $5. 3 million in sales, a net loss of $900,000, and a boom-bust trading history, the company simply seemed to be nother one of Stratton’s overhyped IPOs. But it wasn’t. In 1994, Madden surprised his critics. With hardly any advertising, Madden increased sales by almost 40 percent. The next year, sales tripled to $39 million, prompting Madden to hire Rhonda Brown, the former merchandise president of Macy’s East, to become his chief of operations. Soon, Madden had celebrity customers — Carmen Electra, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nev e Campbell, Alyssa Milano, Mary J. Blige. By 1997, the company was generating $59 million in total sales, operating seventeen stores, and introducing a clothing line designed for â€Å"a customer who doesn’t break the law — but does break the rules. † That spring, in a lengthy profile in  Footwear News,  Madden compared his company to â€Å"an underground rock-and-roll band that gets its first hit single. † Meanwhile, over in lake success, Porush and Belfort were struggling to stave off failure. While they were still raking in tens of millions a year from stock manipulations, regulators were working to put Stratton out of business. In March 1994, they nearly did: As part of a settlement with the SEC, Belfort was barred from the securities industry for life. But Porush managed to garner a lighter sanction, barred for just one year from supervising other brokers. In the wake of the ruling, Belfort continued to control the firm through Porush. Inevitably, though, the relationship between the partners soured. In January 1997, the company eventually filed for bankruptcy. By that time, Gregory Coleman, an agent in the FBI’s securities-fraud squad at 26 Federal Plaza, had been investigating Stratton for several years. In 1995, under instructions from federal prosecutors, Coleman sent out a flurry of subpoenas to some of Stratton’s clients, including Madden, in an effort to create a panic that would culminate in a race to the government’s door. One year later, U. S. Customs officers in Miami arrested a young French private banker who worked for Union Banquaire Privee in Switzerland. The arrest was made as part of an unrelated money-laundering sting operation, but hoping to win a lighter sentence, the banker began to talk. By sheer coincidence, he had two clients who were of particular interest to the government: Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush. On September 2, 1998, just a few minutes after pulling out of the driveway of his Old Brookville mansion to take his 5-year-old daughter to the video store, 36-year-old Jordan Ross Belfort was arrested for conspiracy to commit money laundering and securities fraud. The next day, 41-year-old Daniel Mark Porush was nabbed down in Boca Raton. Faced with maximum sentences of twenty years in prison, both men came to the same conclusion: After only a week in jail, they decided to flip. â€Å"It was like taking down the heads of a major crime family,† says former assistant U. S. ttorney Joel Cohen, the prosecutor in the indictment. â€Å"But in this case, the organized crime was the brokerage business. † Porush and Belfort secretly wore wires to record their friends and dragged down dozens in their wake: lawyers and accountants, bankers and brokers. 3. 3. Effects For the government, Steve Madden was one of the biggest catches in the dragnet. The shoe mogul had been a focus of the investigation for some time; the SEC had cited his company’s IPO as one of those that had been manipulated, and believed that Madden was routinely getting, and flipping, stock in other Stratton deals. Although some of Stratton’s IPOs had grown into profitable businesses, only Madden’s company had become a significant success. But according to Belfort, the celebrity CEO was also a â€Å"rat hole,† a place to hide stock. Porush, his P. S. 1 buddy, didn’t hesitate to give him up either. Madden, as he recently testified at the trial of Stratton’s former auditor, was â€Å"deep into the fraud with us. † According to the Madden indictments, the designer’s personal connection to Stratton began in 1991, when Madden agreed to secretly buy and sell stock in Stratton deals on Porush’s behalf with â€Å"the understanding that he would incur no risk. (Porush, as a principal of the firm, was restricted in his ability to trade stock in these companies. ) The deal was that Madden would earn a â€Å"predetermined profit on each transaction,† then kick back to Porush a significant portion of the proceeds, either in cash or by purchasin g stock from Stratton that was deliberately overpriced. Once Belfort was barred from the securities industry in 1994, Madden allegedly entered a similar agreement with him regarding the Stratton spinoff Monroe Parker. But according to the SEC, Madden wasn’t only ripping off the general investing public, he was ripping off his own shareholders as well. In early 1993, the SEC alleges, Madden agreed that the IPO of his company would â€Å"be a manipulation similar to previous Stratton IPO manipulations . . . such as Master Glazier’s Karate International. † In exchange for his agreement to â€Å"follow Porush and Belfort’s instructions,† they allegedly promised â€Å"that even if SHOO . . . went bankrupt, Madden would make money on the SHOO IPO. † In addition, as Belfort recently testified at the Stratton auditor’s trial, Belfort â€Å"had a secret deal with Steve Madden to maintain control of his company after it went public. Because Belfort and his partners had financed Steve Madden Limited’s early development, they owned a majority stake in the company before it went public. But the National Association of Securities Dealers refused to list SHOO unless Belfort — then under investigation for securities fraud — dramatically reduced his stake. As Belfort testified, he agr eed to sell his shares to a corporation controlled by Madden to placate the NASD, but it was a bogus transaction. â€Å"Under the secret deal which we had written down and legally signed,† says Belfort, he was the true owner. Belfort exerted an extraordinary influence over the company. Stratton’s auditor, who was a friend of Belfort’s, also became Madden’s auditor. In 1994, after Belfort was kicked out of the securities industry, he even joined SHOO as a consultant. In addition, according to Porush’s testimony, key Madden employees were given stock in Stratton IPOs as part of their compensation. (A Madden spokesperson denies such an arrangement existed. ) As Porush explained, â€Å"Part of the package when we recruited people for Steve Madden was . . . because you’re in with us, you’ll make money on every new issue. In 1997, the Belfort-Madden friendship ended abruptly around the time Belfort asked Madden to sell some of the SHOO stock he secretly owned. Madden refused, and the dispute quickly turned into a bitter lawsuit, during which Belfort produced the deal they had signed. Madden admitted the signature was his but insisted he had been â€Å"manipulated† and â€Å"tricked† into signing by someone he had â€Å"trusted as my friend, business associate, underwriter, and confidant. † According to Madden, the demise of the friendship actually preceded the lawsuit, â€Å"when Belfort started showing up stoned for work. â€Å"I have no intention of allowing Jordan Belfort to ruin SML’s bright future by threatening me or by tarnishing the company’s reputation,† Madden vowed at the time. Ultimately, he settled the suit for $4. 3 million in cash, an outcome that favored his adversary. In the fall of 1999, around the time the government went public with the news that Porush and Belfort had been secretly cooperating, the U. S. Attorney’s Office approached Madden’s personal attorney, Joel Winograd, to discuss its case against his client. Soon, rumors that Madden might be indicted began wending their way around Wall Street. . Assessment As many people saw it, the fact that Madden had an account at Stratton doesn’t mean he knew what Porush and Belfort were doing, let alone that he was in any way involved. Madden â€Å"was buying stock and making money, buying stock and losing money. He made more than he lost, but he didn’t know what improprieties they were involved in. † As Madden himself put it in the course of his lawsuit with Jordan Belfort: â€Å"My strengths as a businessman lie in the design and sale of women’s shoes, and I have never been comfortable with complicated or technical legal or business documents . . . I have always relied on the people around me. † When asked why Madden employed Belfort as a consultant at Steve Madden Limited in 1994, after he was barred from the securities industry, his lawyer replies, â€Å"Steve Madden is a loyal friend and a devoted human being. He didn’t turn his back on Jordan Belfort in his time of need. † And what about the $80,000 cash kickback Madden allegedly gave to a Stratton golf buddy in the locker room of the Engineers Country Club in Roslyn, Long Island? â€Å"It’s totally ridiculous,† says Winograd. â€Å"Cash? The government can explain from here to kingdom come. There is no way Steve would have had that amount of cash, and he wouldn’t have had that in a bag walking around a country club. I think these fellows have watched too many spy thrillers. â€Å"Let’s say Steve was fooled,† Mr. Madden’s lawyer summarizes. â€Å"You can be savvy in business, but you may not be savvy in love and friendship. † In any case, â€Å"Steve will overcome,† he vows. â€Å"His company will continue to have record quarters of sales and earnings, and this will have a fairy-tale ending. † Perhaps. But even if Madden was acquitted in both of his criminal trials, he still lost the civil case and, control of his company. For Steve Madden Limited, such an outcome might be manageable. â€Å"Mr. Madden is extremely talented and a tremendous business partner, and he’s wonderful,† says the company’s president, Rhonda Brown. â€Å"But we could continue to grow our business profitably . . . whether he’s on the golf course, or whatever. † For Steve Madden the man, it could be devastating. â€Å"My life,† he says, â€Å"is my company. † 5. Conclusions Throughout the paper, we have researched and debated both sides of the issue and conversely presented both approaches by those involved or ever taking interest in the matter. Some say that the fashion mogul got what he deserved, bashing him for being a fraud under a publicly endearing persona, while others, close friends and devoted customers alike, stood behind him and helped if not the man, the company itself from disaster. Should a great visionary not content himself with being the image upfront and the genius behind the empire he built and instead take charge of other key areas that make a business successful rather than trusting others, trusted friends or proven experts with managing them? That may be true and perhaps this was where Mr. Madden made the biggest mistake of all. While the case was and still is controversial, the company succeeded in overcoming the crisis and continues to be among the most profitable and booming shoe fashion business in the States. Business Communication. (2018, Oct 18).

Friday, September 27, 2019

Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conflict - Essay Example Confidence is one of the key principles that guide my conflict handling approach. I always try my best to exude high level of confidence in dealing with conflicting issues. The major step towards having confidence is to evaluate the situation at hand, approach it with calmness and composure and have an open-minded approach (Kellett, 2007). While handling a conflict, I always fight the negative overtones to ensure that I do not appear fearful or panicky, while getting ready to compromise in the event it is necessary to do so that to achieve the conflict resolution. Therefore, one of the main strengths in handling conflicts is trying to control emotions and display confidence, which serves to show the other party that one is able to resolve the issues at hand, otherwise one may send out a message of weakness in a conflict situation (Dana, 2001). Another of my strength that works well in handling conflicts is open-mindedness, which allows me to approach a conflicting situation aware tha t there are different ways of bring the conflict to a resolution, and thus prepare for any of the ways. open-mindedness is a crucial approach towards resolving a conflict, since it opens various avenues through which individuals can handle the conflict, as opposed to rigidity, which makes individuals to approach a situation with only one expectation, an aspect that makes conflict resolution even harder, and may even accelerate the conflict, since rigid individuals do not leave any chance of compromise and negotiation (Lansford, 2008). Another of my strength in conflict resolution is the fact that I am considerate. This is an important character in conflict resolution, since it allows me to put into consideration all the issues that the other parties to the conflict are raising, and effectively come up with an agreement that is favorable to all the parties. Nevertheless, there are several areas that I need to enhance, to become well equipped for conflict handling. One such area is to lerance. I have very little tolerance for arrogance, something that can make me react without sufficient consideration. This ends-up creating even more problems. Therefore, tolerance to arrogance is one of the areas that I require to enhance, so that I can react calmly to people who are arrogant, since calmness and tolerance are major milestones towards conflict resolution (Tidwell, 2001). Another area that I need to enhance is patience. Whenever a conflict arises, I have the tendency of seeking for an instant solution, other than giving the whole situation time, and reverting to address it later. This has always made conflict resolution an onerous task for me, since being haste means that the people involved in a conflict will handle it out of their emotional imbalance, thus may not easily come to an amicable solution. While individuals take time to cool off and then handle a conflict, there are higher chances of getting to an agreement, since both parties are calm, sober and willi ng to listen, as opposed to where individuals are handling conflict with feelings of anger, resentment and emotional instability (Wandberg, 2001). There is a great need of taking personal responsibility for ones feelings (Kellett, 2007). This is because, taking responsibility means that an individual is in a good position to control their feelings, while also reasoning and considering other parties’ points of view (Lansford, 2008). This makes it easy to reach an agreement and

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Management Service Quality and SERVQUAL Research Paper

Management Service Quality and SERVQUAL - Research Paper Example SERVQUAL as a quality analysis tool takes various facets of customer expectation into consideration and matches them with the real experience (Kettinger, and Lee, 2010). This can be used as a measure by managers of medical insurance companies to establish the true nature of their customer’s feelings. There has been almost a 60% growth of medical insurers in the Middle East, especially in the Arab Emirates. The competition for this limited market has inevitably been high over the last decade. Therefore, many firms have adopted professional marketers to handle the selling of their products (Burns, 2012). However, the packaging of these policies may not be as realistic as they ought to be because sales agents aim for commission and may add untrue facts so that they excite the customers.The health sector in the UAE has grown over the past decade because of the massive investment, both in the country and private players in general. Both local and international companies have set ba se in the country because of its reputation of being economically stable. There are various factors attributing to the exponential growth of the general insurance in the country. These include the fact that the health sector no longer operates in the conventional aspect where the government had the highest stake. In this day and age, there many countries have adopted the competitive free market. Secondly, the use of marketing tools that the corporate world was previously using in this industry.

The effects of human cloning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The effects of human cloning - Essay Example Human cloning is also faces the risk of being misused, and is shows a lack of respect for the individuals involved as well as respect for the mystery of procreation of human beings. Moreover, it lead to serious psychological problems for both the parent and the child. Other problems have to do with that its long-term effects are unidentified, it poses concerns regarding lack of originality, individuality, identity formation, gender identity, identification, as well as problems to do with cognitive development and social emotional development. Introduction Cloning is a reproduction method that refers to the asexual production of genetically identical organisms either through nuclear transfer, which has to do with the substitution of a nucleus in the egg by another nucleus, or through the division of an embryo. Cloning involves copying or duplicating an individual or a cell from its DNA, and the result is a clone. Cloning in animals is attained through embryonic cloning where a fertili zed egg is split into two or more parts at a very early embryonic stage, yielding two or more identical beings. It is also attained through somatic cloning where identical beings are produced from adult animals’ cells – under specified conditions, an anucleated ovum fertilizes a somatic cell’s nucleus leading to cell division, and it becomes a fetus. For decades, people have done cloning in dozens plants (vegetables and fruits) by deliberately reproducing genetic replicas of parents with desirable qualities as well as quantities. However, the first successful attempt of cloning in mammals is exemplified by formation of a Scottish sheep called Dolly through a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. This grabs the attention of scientists – they thought that if plants and animals could be cloned, there was a possibility that humans too could be cloned (Yadav & Sharma, 2011 and Islam, et al. 2012). Yadav and Sharma (2011) explain that a geneticist kno wn as Joshua Lederberg, is credited coming up with the prospects and promise of human cloning. Today, â€Å"human cloning has become a real possibility† with the rise of reproductive cloning technology – through it, parents are given the ability â€Å"to choose a desirable genotype for one’s offspring† (Shapshay, 2012) or the ability to exercise their control/desires on the identity of the children they want to have. Yadav and Sharma (2011) identify three types of cloning. The first one is reproductive cloning, which produces an individual that has identical nuclear DNA as the parent. Reproductive cloning uses somatic cell transfer process as discussed in previously. The second type of cloning is DNA Cloning or Recombinant DNA Technology, which is done by cell- based technique, a process that involves cutting off DNA fragment from the chromosomal DNA and attaching it to a plasmid. The gene of interests is attached to its vector forming a recombination DNA molecule. DNA Cloning or Recombinant DNA Technology, is also done using polymerase chain reaction technique whereby when all cells divide, enzymes known as polymerases create a copy of the whole DNA in every chromosome. The two DNA chains of the double helix are separated making a copy, each strand acting as a template. This technique is faster and uses a very small portion of target DNA. The third type of cloning is therapeutic cloning, referred also to as embryo cloning, somatic cell nuclear transfer, research cloning, cloning for biomedical research or cell

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Bibical Thelogy of Mission Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bibical Thelogy of Mission - Research Paper Example Biblical (Old and New Testament) Texts That Relate To Mission The theology of missions is wholly a biblical concept.1 A careful and spiritual analysis of the bible reveals a solid foundation for missions. The biblical texts prove that missions are not an afterthought creation of God, but rather an intention emanating from his providential nature. According to Glasser (2003), Missio Dei concept confirms the truth that the biblical mission begins with God.2 In reference to Genesis 3 that describes the fall of man, God is exemplified as initiating a mission to rescue man kind from the bondage of sin and guide him back to His fold. The chapter introduces the aspect of mission that dominates the Old and New and Testament, with God strategizing to reach out to human beings. One of the relevant Old Testament texts that discuss the concept of God’s mission upon human being’s life is Genesis 12: 1-3 that offers the description of the Abrahamic Covenant. The passage captures God initiating a covenant with Abram who later undergoes spiritual transformation to Abraham. God explained to him His intention of making him a great nation, bless him and those that bless him as well as curse those who curse him. While commissioning His mission to Abraham, the passage asserts, â€Å"....and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed† (Gen. 12:3). The fulfillment of this promise is affirmed by Moses in the opening Chapter of Deuteronomy. After looking at the large crowd of people gathered and poised to enter the Promised Land, Moses laments, â€Å"The Lord has increased your numbers today so that you are as many as the stars in the sky.† (Deut. 1: 10). The increase in number is part of the promise that through Joshua, Israelites will conquer the Promised Land; Canaan. The concept of mission is further discussed in the New Testament. A New Testament text that supports the firm biblical foundation for mission is Matt. 28: 19-20. God’s command s the church to continue with the mission of enlightening and converting more people to become believers, â€Å"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost† (Matt.28: 19). The book of Mathew does not account for ascension, but always focuses on the Messiah and his messengers. Another text relating to the mission in the New Testament is Luke 4: 16-30 where Jesus defines his mission on his first appearance in public life. He refers to prophetic Isaiah and proclaims that He is the sent Messiah. The passage, â€Å"†¦This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.† (Luke 4: 21), affirms the fulfillment of the God’s promise; sending a Messiah to save the world from the bondage of sin. The Nature of God In Relation To Missions The personality of God can be explained through focus on His personality and attributes. According to 1st John 4:8, God is described as love. Those committed to p ropagate the course of the gospel are expected to assume this nature; love.3 It is only through acquiring Godly love that one can be encouraged to preach the gospel to the non-believers and destitute. Another personality of God, described by 1 Peter 1: 16, is

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Court Observation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Court Observation - Essay Example In the year 1978, five boys were reported missing and were presumed dead. The suspects that were captured at the time, Lee Evans and his cousin, Philander Hampton could not be held due to the absence of credible evidence. However, as time went by, the court found something to link Lee with the murders of the five teens. The issue that arose during the case was the linking of Lee to all the murders (Henry, p. 20). Questions as to why he would do such an act were asked. The public was very interested in the closure of the case. To this day, the bodies of the teens have not been recovered. Families of the deceased are appealing to the accused to disclose the location of the bodies. This is to allow them to be at peace and have the ability to let go of the memory of their lost ones. Facts reveal that Lee Evans and his cousin led the teens into a vacant house, put them in a closet, poured gasoline and lit it. They then left. It is believed that the teens were forced to the abandoned house at gun point (Henry, p. 22). First, three were taken by Lee then two followed later. When asked the reason he was doing this by his cousin, Lee said it was payback since the boys had stolen his marijuana. The case came to a close as the jury found Philander Hampton guilty of the five counts of murder. This is because he had pleaded guilty to the charges. The case had gone cold and had been put under missing persons. A confession from Hampton helped law enforcement agencies to start the case again. This time they had a witness. Lee Evans still has not pleaded guilty to these charges (Henry, p. 23). There was a plea made by Lee’s defence for a mistrial but the judge, Patricia Costello, denied the motion for the mistrial. If the case was considered a mistrial, then the case would have to start all over again. Beside Hampton, Lee Evans is the only other person who truly knows what happened. This means that the prosecution is heavily reliant on his account of what happened. Since the fire destroyed the credible evidence, the prosecutors have nothing else to go by. Lee’s defence asked the witness why he did not stop the accused from doing what he allegedly did. The answer Hampton gave was that he did not know Lee was going to do it (Henry, 25). He is the one who allegedly gave Lee the matches to use to set the place on fire. The prosecution in this case has a hard time since the evidence produced by their only witness is being questioned. With his tenth grade education, Hampton seemed confused with the account of what actually happened. Hampton, in his testimony, claims he fled from the scene of the crime before it was set on fire. He explained to the jurors in the case how the accused, Lee Evans, led the victims into the deserted building and carried out the actions (Millman, p. 15). Lee acted as his own defence at the beginning but later on, he decided to involve a public defender. The credibility of the key witness was also questioned. This was bec ause of his past criminal record. He had been arrested on several occasions and charged with drug possession. He was also charged with shoplifting. The defence thinks that Hampton was coerced into agreeing to testify against his cousin. They also think that if he is the key witness, why did he have to wait this long to decide to testify (Millman, p. 25). As a witness, Hampton had a lot on his plate. Family members claim that they suspected Lee Evans from the start. This is because, at the time of the

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Nursing research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 62

Nursing research - Essay Example The quantitative designs should identify the potential influences that may affect the dependent variable in relation to the independent variable. The confounders should be controlled to ensure that the analytical inferences apply. The independent variable is the one believed to have an impact on the phenomenon being investigated. All quantitative designs should satisfy the independent variable. The dependent variable is the one that researchers anticipate to make observations. The dependent variable should be specified in the quantitative design because the research idea is to construct a project that brings out the relationship between the two variables. Internal validity focuses on the extent to which the effects reflected in the study represents the reality rather than resulting from the extraneous variables. The threats to internal validity include history, maturation and testing. History represents an event that occurs during the study and can impact on the responses of the part icipants. Maturation indicates that participants become older, wiser, more hungry and depressed. The effect being investigated may also change depending on the number of times the tests are conducted. The design of the outcome research first requires the researcher to identify the perspective on which the conclusion will be arrived. Evaluation alternatives should also be established and ranked depending on their probabilities of occurrence. The probabilities can emanate from expert panels, clinical trial data and literature review (Rezaie and Schwebel 539). A sensitivity analysis is carried once the data is collected and analyzed. These components can be applied in the formulation of the health plans and measuring the cure rates for certain diseases. Outcome research is also effective in identifying the patient functional status and the obligations of daily living and outpatient

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Introductory paragraph and online worksheet Essay Example for Free

Introductory paragraph and online worksheet Essay I am number three of four children in the family line up, the first and only to go to college. My parents always have been supportive of my going back to school because they did not even finish elementary school. My career plan is to become an Elementary School Teacher or a Marriage and Family Therapist. I am currently working on getting my bachelor’s degree in psychology, possibly a master’s degree in education or counseling. University of Phoenix was one of my first school choices, I loved that I could focus on one class at a time and be able to work full time. The tools available to a University of Phoenix student are amazing; build a career plan, do job market research, online library, personality tests, and much more. My competencies helped me to see what my strengths and weaknesses are such as innovating, writing, adapting to change, and coping with pressure. Once I completed the career interest profiler, I was not surprised to see that my results encouraged me to be a teacher or a therapist because I am interested in that.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay

Multinational Company Bmw Economic Essay BMW is the multinational company that I choose for the assignment. BMW is a company that operating in more than 1 country. They are not only operating in their home country (Germany) but they also operate in many countries like: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and etc. Beside that BMW also have manufacture in country like UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa and etc. So BMW is proving as a multinational company. BMW Group is one of the worlds largest premium carmakers and BMW is also the parent of the company of BMW MINI and Rolls-Royce car brands, and, formerly, Rover. BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany. The company slogans in English are The Ultimate Driving Machine and Sheer Driving Pleasure. BMW was founded by Karl Friedrich Rapp in October 1913. Automobiles, motorcycles and financial services are three segments that operate by BMW and they manufactured the first passenger car running by hydrogen. BMW manufacturing is plant in Germany, Austria, UK, USA, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and also Vietnam. BMWs main competitors include Acura, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo all of this are consider luxury brands of the car products. Nowadays, BMW is support by 11different types of series which is: BMW C1, BMW 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 series, BMW X3, 5, 6, BMW Z4, BMW M5, BMW M6, and BMW Z4 M. According to the research, shown that there are 2 new divisions for BMW been introduce in October 1, 2007. Which are corporate and brand development will be lead by the director of corporate planning this is focus on the vital for brand management, corporate planning, and strategic implementation BMW. Second, purchasing and supplier network that headed by Dr.Herbert.Diess. The purpose is to reduce the material cost and expenses factor. These are few of the new management strategy that BMW Company is using to operate the c ompany. 15 Sentence of credit crunch in general are stand for credit crunch make it almost impossible to the lender like bank and investor to borrow the money because they become very chary of lending the money to the corporation. They scared of bankruptcies and defaults, which they drive up the price of debt products for borrowers which result in higher rates. The consequence is drag on of recession, which the shrinking of the credit supply wills happens as a result. 2 Credit crunch overall background is starting with the lender like bank are suffering loss because of their previous lending loans, and this make them normally unable and averse to lend the money again to the borrowers. This happen when the borrower in arrears and the properties underlying a defaulted loan and drop in the value. As in this case the borrowers default, the bank can only foreclose on hypothecate and trying to sell this property to compensate the funds they loaned out. Thereby, if the pricing of the house is decreasing, the bank is considered left selling at the cost. The banker capital position is reducing; when they suffer losses which are reduce the amount that they are able to lend out. The lending institutions are requiring keeping down the minimum levels of capital. 3 The reasons that cause to the credit crunch are first: speculation. Many people go to obtain additional loans with very easy terms for instance no initial down payment because it is too easy to gain the credit from the banks so that all of the peoples and investors think that the price will going to increase also. The rapidity increase in property value make investors to jump into the investment with low and no fundamentals. This situation will make the investors to feel that they are missing out and left behind, in case as many investors going to heap up it will cause increasingly unsustainable to the price of property. Next is lack of the regulatory oversight, the distrustful of loans are make by mortgage brokers and bankers, the underwriters who working in the bank are determine whether the ability of the borrowers is there for them to repay the loans and turn a blind eye to what is going on so that the increasing of the profit can see by the loans that they have written. In addit ional, there are others reasons like Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) and subprime loans, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, Historically low interest rates, and as well as politics which happen because many of the politicians going to say that the higher of the rate of the home ownership for Americans is better, but what would happen to the economy from the perspective of those that cant afford their homes when an inevitable slowdown occurred.4 The occurring of the credit crunch will actually affect the economy of a country and company in few ways. First, the banker will actually tighten up the credit for all types of loans and become more caution to lending the loans. So that this directly affects the small businesses peoples that who are depend on the loans and the credit to fund their day to day operation and become illiquid. Next, unemployment rises is one of the ways that will affect a company and country where the businesses are unable to pay for all the immediate bills and so that they also facing the problem that they cannot pay for the employees salary and so that caused the situation like unemployment increasing in nationwide. The bankers and the brokerage firms are hit by this credit crunch. Apart of that a spiraling domino effect occurs, above these two economies effects of the economies crisis can make the economy of a country going down and than affect the whole country economy and if the economy of a country continues to going downward, it will lead to the difficult to stop the cycle. 5 On year 2008, America was affected by the serious economy crisis, and their economy is actually hit really hard by this economy crisis. We can see through the secondary data that done by research show that BMW also hit by 2008 economy crisis. According to (Chris Reiter 2010) BMW and Mercedes this two world largest luxury car makers was only sold a combine 31,000 fewer vehicles last month because of the occurring of economy crisis and cause credit crunch that discourage the power purchasing of consumers. The percentage of sales are also falling down 8.3% to 113.005 cars and sport- utility vehicles from 123,300 vehicles a year earlier by BMW Company whose are also owns the Mini and Rolls-Royce auto brands. Next, Auto sales in US BMW as a biggest market also decrease 32 percent in October of 2008 to the lowest monthly total since January 1991. They look back to their 2008 profile target on November BMW plans to cut production by 65,000 cars and SUVs according to (Chris Reiter 2010). Chris Reiter (2010) states that BMW is involved in the extremely changeling market and the vehicles sales are decreasing for the whole year because of this. As what Ian Robertson who are the Munich-based carmakers sales chief said: in a statement today, reiterating a forecast released Nov. 4. The retail gains made in our growth markets were unable to fully offset declines in Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. Chris Reiter (2010) also states that BMW posted 12% drop in Western Europe, 5% drop in US and the worst is Japan drop 34%. Furthermore, David Gow (2010) states that credit crunch put brakes on BMW 2008 also when US economy goes down turn and BMW reported that a step fall down in first quarter earnings. The son company of BMW Mini and Rolls Royce said that the pre-tax profits spilled 25% to ( £505m), dragged down by increased risk provisions, tighter credit and the strong euro. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010)[case study 4.2 BMW after Rover], show Rover in Britain worsened and hopeless in early of March 2010 due to the strong pound damaging the exports of Rover. Finally Rover sells to Alchemy. This happened and uproar Britain press and politicians because scaring big number of unemployment in Rover and few supplier are located around the region. Alchemy withdrew from bidding process and sell to Phoenix consortium for  £10. Previous 6 years BMW spent total  £34billion to save Rover but posted big losses. The disposal provoked a political storm in Britain, and BMW bosses were someone parliamentary before this. Britain government furious, Milberg (who took over CEO of BMW in 1999) retorted government slow to get the signals he sent in a phone call before the situation worsened. This criticism infuriated the government again. This shows that government and political mess will also cause a problem to a company. Apart from that, the case stud y also stated that the decreasing and increasing of a currency will also give a huge impact to a company. The pounds became stronger and then give a direct effect to the company and destroy their exports businesses are one of the problem that we can see from the case and this may indirectly lead to the occur of credit crunch as well. 14 David Gow (2010) states BMW a 5.6% rise across its three brands to a record 351,787 despite a 9.1% drop in their biggest market, US. The international financial crisis deteriorates the climate for consumer spending became gloomier, it said, pointing to March 2008 as the peak of the crisis. Before this BMW still expect to beat the last year sales record to 1.5m but the USs economy getting worst and lead to the dropping of the profits. The world largest luxury carmaker BMW have became the victims of the credit crunch on 2008. It took a 236 million euro (S$500 million) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the United States. The move is the provision made of the divinable losses in business area. This move could cause to increased nervousness about the impact of the financial crisis on the economy in Europe, even as most companies report robust first-quarter results. This is what reported by The Financial Times. The Click here to find out more!Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche says that in 2008 may that month the general car sales of US is fall down this year but the growth in emerging in market can expiation it. 6 In addition, research shows that 2008 BMW sons company MINI has declared that axes 800 redundancies in Cowley, Oxford hire prompting protests from unions over a perceived lack of sensitivity towards the rights of agency workers. The redundancy pay will not received by many of the staffs that who have been made the contract through the agency Manpower. At the same time the sales of the luxury cars are drop very ruggedness, so because of that supermini segment has experienced a less severe downturn driven by a consumer shift to smaller and more economical vehicles. Seen from secondary data, clearly we can see the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) January figure, the trend towards the smallest segment the mini or city car segment is growing stronger as the recession deepens, with new car registrations up 40.8% on 2008 figures. At British, Mini was one of the last of the car manufacturers that are continue working through these suffering times, but they are not produce an y cars on that relevant week because of to the significant fall in global demand. Around 20% of these 800 axes redundancies are going to tha manufacture like: Jaguar, Nissan and etc. 7 BMW became the first victim of the credit crunch on 24 of April, that who are the world largest luxury carmaker. BMW took a à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬236m ($369m) charge because of falling prices and rising bad debt in the US are showing through the research. But however the pre-tax level is slightly increased compare with last year. 8 The strategy that BMW use to overcome credit crunch are first: that are one of the reason why BMW and Mercedes are teaming up. There are fewer options for OEM (original equipment makers), consolidations of period have gone through by automobile suppliers and this trend is expected to speedup for the next few years. It becomes difficult for the investment capital because credit crunch makes suppliers harder to fund their business. 9 Many organizations are affected by the credit crunch in UK industry and so BMW. But BMW consider one of the successful from them and six awards are goes to BMW and German manufacturer sales rise and new models bring in new customers. Although BMW also affected but they get the award for best small car with the MINI, best small premium car for the 1 Series and best large premium car for the 3 Series. In addition, The 5 Series took the gong for best executive car and the X5 won best SUV and BMW was presented with the Fleet News environmental award for the EfficientDynamics package. 10 Next, BMW also trying to protect himself from credit crunch by helping some of the suppliers. The stronger suppliers are encouraging by BMW to take over weaker supplier in this case and BMW will pay more for the parts, speedup the payment and as well as they will temporary pay higher price for the parts. 11 Apart from that, in UK, during credit crunch the governments are actually asking to help the car manufacture and government helping a litter bit where we just seem it banking sector. According to the research, on that time if the government is still not aware of this problem and the unemployment will become worst and the number of import export within UK and other country will be reduce and shown that UK government will loss  £110 billion revenue and UK  £146.2 billion tax next couple of year if the government despise this case. 12 However, in Malaysia it will still have at least a litter bit effects because of credit crunch but the god strategy need to be prepared to face the credit crunch. According to Briscoe, he believes that the luxury car like BMW needs to have a better positioned for it to growth in the industry when facing difficulty at the economic side. He also said that: There would be an impact but we feel that the volume-based car segment would be more affected than the premium segment. According to him as well in Malaysia market in 2009, was to provide the right car at the right market at the right time. Extra key are they are now focusing on their credit crunch strategy are introduce more diesel powered cars. 13 This are few strategy that BMW done or the place government done to solve the various problem during credit crunch. But actually they are pro and con for every strategy they used and pro and con as well for the helping from the government, it is just depend on each of us to criticize either each of this strategy are falls into pro or con. In my opinion, as the first point I listed above BMW are teaming up with Mercedes, to invest in the suppliers and the next point that BMW are encourage strong supplier to take over weaker suppliers. It is just a good decision I think because it is not a good decision if we just leave our cars part supplier to facing and suffering alone with the credit crunch without any assisting. In the tough time during credit crunch, if we are not helping each other among supplier even competitor we might just die together because of the wrong decision. We can actually helping each other according to our capability like what BMW and the rest done. Next, the ethical issues are very vital for a company. According to (S. wall, S. Minocha, B. Rees, 2010), an organization must make sure that every decision they make, have a conscious ethical content. If it is an internal problem, it maybe about the labour working hours, or their wages problem. When come to the BMW do à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬international business with other country, company must ensure they does not apply their own ethical norms to the foreign country but is conforms to the local customs, and ethical as well as morality enough when making any of the business decision and also during economy crisis. Although the company situation is worse and worried but any decision making by BMW will be ethical enough; example during credit crunch any methods using to solve the credit crunch problem, it must be with ethical.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Oracle :: essays research papers

Dates in Oracle are stored in numeric format. Each date represents the century, year, month, day, hours, minutes, and seconds. The default date format is DD-MON-YY. Using the SYSDATE function, you can display the current date and time. You can use SYSDATE as you would use any other column name. In order to view the time you will need to use the TO_CHAR function along with a format mask which includes a time format element. For example, you can display the current date by selecting SYSDATE from a table. You usually select SYSDATE from a dummy table called DUAL. All users can access the DUAL table. It is owned by the SYS user. It consists of one column known as DUMMY, and one row with the value X. When you want to return a value - not necessarily a date - once only, the DUAL table is useful. To display the current date using the DUAL table, you use the command shown. And the output displays the current date. Dates are stored as numbers in the database, which enables you to perform arithmetical calculations on them. You can add or subtract a number to or from a date for a resultant date value. You can subtract one date from another to find the number of days between them. You can also add hours to a date and time value. This is performed by dividing the number of hours in the time value by 24. Let's take a look at how you can manipulate dates. Let's say that you want to add and subtract days from the current date. To add one hundred days to the current date, you type the command shown. The result is displayed in the column SYSDATE+100. If you want to subtract 34 days from the current date, you type the command shown. The result is displayed in the column SYSDATE-34. Let's say you want to subtract the hire date from the current date - you type the command shown. The result shows the number of days between the current date and the hire date. Let's say you want to display dates in terms of weeks. To show the number of weeks each employee in department 10 has worked, you first subtract the hiredate from the current date. Then you divide the result by seven. You can use date functions in a similar way to number functions to operate on Oracle dates. The MONTHS_BETWEEN function finds the number of months between two dates. The result is displayed as a numeric value. This is the only date function that does not return a date value.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Frederick Douglas :: Essays Papers

Frederick Douglas Frederick Douglass, a slave in America until the age of 20, wrote three of the most highly regarded autobiographies of the 19th century, yet he only began learning to read and write when he turned 12 years old. After an early life of hardship and pain, Douglass escaped to the North to write three autobiographies, spaced decades apart, about his life as a slave and a freeman. The institution of slavery scarred him so deeply that he decided to dedicate his powers of speech and prose to fighting it. Douglass wrote three biographies about his life as a politician, slave, and abolitionist. However, the historical value of these works does not remain as important as the quality of the works themselves. Frederick Douglass’ writing deserves recognition in the canon of great American authors, because his work meets the chosen criteria for inclusion in a collection of important literature. Douglass influenced many famous abolitionists with his literary works, and this impact, coupled with his desire to write an expose about oppression in America, makes him a winning candidate. Although his published works, mostly autobiographies, received much acclaim from abolitionists, this paper explores the quality of Douglass’s work from a literary standpoint. This paper also details the events shaping Douglass’s impressive life and writing career. By examining the prestigious â€Å"life and times† of this black author, the reader will recognize the widespread influence of Douglass’s writing on other antislavery writers, politics, and hence, the public. In a look at his first and greatest work, Narrative of the Life, the following paper will demonstrate why Frederick Douglass deserves a place in the hall of great American writers. To fully appreciate the impact of Douglass’s autobiographies, we must examine violent period in which he lived. Douglass, born in 1818, grew up as a slave on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation in eastern Maryland. At the time, abolitionist movements started gaining speed as popular parties in the North. In the North, pro-slavery white mobs attacked black communities in retaliation for their efforts. By the time Douglass escaped from slavery, in 1838, tensions ran high among abolitionists and slaveowners. Slaves published accounts of their harrowing escapes, and their lives in slavery, mainly with the help of ghostwriters. Although abolitionists called for the total elimination of slavery in the South, racial segregation still occurred all over the United States. Blacks, freemen especially, found the task of finding a decent job overwhelming.

John Quincy Adams :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lenora Spahn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10/7/00 Presidential Outline I. John Quincy Adams   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. Born- July 11, 1767   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B. Died- February 23, 1828 II. Background   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. Educational- Attended Harvard (1785-1787); Studied law under Theophilus Parsons   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   at Newburyport, Mass. (1787-1790); Admitted to the bar, 1790.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B. Occupational-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Minister to the Netherlands, 1784-1797   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. Minister to Prussia, 1797-1801   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3. Massachusetts State Senator, 1802   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4. US Senator (Federalist-Massachusetts), 1803-1808   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5. Minister to Russia, 1809-1814   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6. Chief Negotiator of Treaty of Ghent, 1814   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7. Minister to Great Britain, 1815-1825   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8. Secretary of State, 1817-1825 (under James Monroe)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   III. Terms Of Office   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. First Term (1825-1829) IV. Prominent Issues of the Election   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. Varied degrees of support for a protective tariff   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B. A federal program of internal improvements V. Opponents   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. First Term-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Andrew Jackson, Tennessee   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. William H. Crawford, Georgia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3. Henry Clay, Kentucky  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   VI. Vice Presidents   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. First Term- John C. Calhoun, South Carolina VII. Political Party- no party labels used VIII. Domestic Events   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. John Quincy Adams becomes the 6th President, 1825.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B. Erie Canal Opens, 1825: links Lake Erie with New York City through the Hudson   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   River.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  C. South Carolina Exposition and Protest, 1828: after an anti-tariff protest was held in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Columbia, South Carolina, delegates from 13 states convened to urge a tariff rise,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  following the denial of a bill concerning tariff increases, after a tie-breaking vote from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vice-President Calhoun. IX. Major Foreign Policy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. Panama Congress, 1826: Adams supported US participation in the Panama   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Congress; However, southern congressmen who feared the meeting might be used to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   condemn slavery, as well as Adams’s political opponents delayed the confirmation of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the US delegates long enough to make it impossible to reach Ranama in time to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   attend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B. Tariff of Abominations, 1828: A high tariff on imported manufactured goods to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   protect domestic industry. Later prompted Vice President Calhoun to draft the SC   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Exposition condemning the tariff as â€Å"unconstitutional, oppressive, and unjust† and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   claiming the right of a state to nullify such laws.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   X. Major Conflict   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A. The Tariff of Abominations proved Adams's reluctancy to submit to political

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Assessing the Level of Environmental Literacy of Teachers

Assessing the level of environmental literacy of teachers in Epe division of Lagos State, Nigeria Fatona P. Olugbenga School of Environmental Health Science Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: [email  protected] ca 08033835621, Akinyele C. Babasope School of Environmental Health Science Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: [email  protected] com 08037221905 & Musah K. Toyin School of Public Health Nursing Ogun State College Of Health Technology P. M. B 2081 Ilese – Ijebu Email: musahk. [email  protected] com 08033708027 Abstract The crucial role that teachers’ environmental literacy plays in realizing the goals of environmental education and its importance cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, this study sought to measure the environmental literacy of teachers who are saddled with responsibility of imparting environmental ideas and knowledge into the school-going population. The tudy employed a descriptive research design and administered questionnaires on four hundred (400) male and female teachers drawn from government controlled secondary schools that were randomly selected from the teachers’ corps in Epe division of Lagos Nigeria. However, three hundred and fifty-two (352) copies were retrieved and analyzed. A self-designed instrument that has a reliability coefficient of 0. 945 was used in gathering data which was analyzed by using analysis of variance (F-te sts and T-tests). Three (3) null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study; two (2) were accepted while one (1) was rejected. The findings revealed a tendency regarding the impact of training of teachers on their environmental literacy among others. Consequently, the study suggested the need for pre-service as well as in-service environmental education training of teachers and that the existing curriculum at all levels of education should be reviewed to richly include environmental sustainability. Keywords:Environmental literacy, education, teachers Introduction The earth is primarily life supporting system. It consists essentially biochemical processes that imbue it with the capacity to sustain life. As an ecosystem, the earth however, has a threshold within which it can effectively absorb or withstand interruptions and radical changes in the biochemical processes that help to sustain life. Unfortunately, development-oriented activities of man over the last century or so have primarily restructured the environment and upset the delicate balance of nature. It has resulted in a number of changes on the planet, earth. These changes are essentially inimical to the continued existence of man and other life forms here on earth (United Nations, 1992). For example, the air we breathe is constantly being overloaded with carbon dioxide and other poisonous material from vehicular emission, exhausts of industrial and power plant etc. Land are stripped bare of vegetation or polluted with oil spills and human waste. The use of ozone- depleting substance such as products with chlorofluorocarbon, halons and methyl bromides (from which plastics and foams are made) allow excessive levels of harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth, resulting in increased rates of skin cancer, eye damage and weakened immune system. There is higher rate of exploitation and use of natural resources and higher levels of waste become a global issue (United Nations, 1992). According to the Council of Ministers of Education (2005) sustainable development is both a goal and a concept. As a goal, it is an idea of a world where people protect the environment as they carry out their daily activities. As a concept, it involves conceptual probing about limits on natural resources, capacities of ecosystem and interactions among social, economic, political and environmental systems. In other words, it works towards a sustainable quality of life, now and in the future. Thus, Noibi and Lawal (1993) sees it as a development strategy wherein the physical assets, natural and human resources as well as available funds are managed in a manner that ensures increasing health and wealth for both the present and future generations on planet earth. The essences of sustainable development is to meet the needs and aspirations of the present generation of man and other living creatures, both plants and animals, without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs and aspirations (NEST, 1991). The United Nations (1992), Uche (1995), UNESCO (1997) and Inyang-Abia (1998, 2001) all assert that education is humanity’s best hope and most effective means for the quest to achieve sustainable development at national or global levels. This may be due to the fact that sustainable development calls for the particular skills, knowledge, values and attitudes regarding the environment, the economy and the well-being of people. Perhaps, in response to the calls by UNESCO and United Nations, education for sustainability has become the norm in most countries of the world in recent years. In Nigeria, there have been some activities aimed at creating awareness and educating the masses on environmental issues. Initially the mass media, various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and government agencies were used to create awareness of the nature of the environment and the need for its sustainability, as Uche (1995) observed. The birth of Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in the 1980’s, the rising interest among policy makers on the need for a sound environmental base for development, launching of national conservation strategy (NCS) in 1986, the natural resources conservation council (NRCC) in 1988 and the ultimate launching of the national policy on the environment in 1989 were all critical steps in the national drive towards environmental awareness and resources conservation. In order to facilitate the education of the citizenry for sustainability, the Nigeria government has infused environmental sustainability topics into the 2003 version of the national curriculum for primary schools (NERDC, 2003). The topics infused include population, pollution, soil management, waste and waste disposal, drugs and drug abuse, etc. The idea is to start education for sustainability from the foundation. While arrangements are made to do the same in higher levels of education, teachers are encouraged to incorporate environmental sustainability issues in their instruction (NERDC, 2003). The potential of environmental literacy as a vehicle to realize the educational agenda of sustainable development cannot be over-emphasized. According to Disinger and Roth (1992) environmental literacy is a prerequisite to maintaining and improving the quality of the environment and life as such. The development and fostering of environmental literacy need, therefore, to be a key objective in any general education programme (Roth, 1992). Apparently, the term â€Å"environmental literacy† does not mean the same to everyone. Since the first general reference to the concept â€Å"environmental literacy† appeared in 1969 (Roth, 1992), various researchers have made an effort to define it or to refine description of it. Example can be found in, inter alia, Clacherty (1992), Roth (1992) and Subbarini (1998). A definition of environmental literacy was developed from the various efforts of researchers such as Leeming, Porter, Dwyer, Cobern and Oliver (1997), Loubser (1994), Smith-Sebasto and Smith (1997), Pohorille (1985) and Buethe and Smallwood (1987). This definition was used for the purposes of this research and it stated that: Environmental literacy is the ability to be aware of one’s environment. It enriches one with the knowledge to realize the imbalances and threats the environment faces and enables one to form positive attitudes towards it with the aim of developing skills to resolve and prevent environmental problems and urge to protect and improve the environment for the present and future generations by active participation. A study was also made of various models comprising concepts researchers regard as important to environmental education and environmental literacy. From these attempts by, inter alia, Munson (1994), Odum (1992), Roth (1992) and Loubser (1994), ten concepts that were regarded as necessary for teachers to have a grasp of, before being able to really do justice to environmental education were identified. The ten concepts are in line with the definitions, aims, objectives and guiding principles of environmental education and preceding definition of environmental literacy. Each of the ten concepts is a cluster of related sub concepts representing aspects of environmental literacy. These ten concepts were selected mainly from major environmental area such as ecology and interactions in the environment, participation in the identification and prevention of environmental problems, decision making on environmental issues and environmental ethics. The ten concepts are biosphere, ecological perspective, interrelationship in an ecosystem, environmental changes, basic human needs, resources, maintaining environmental quality, the ability to make choices, decision-making on environmental issues, as well as environmental ethics. In most of these concepts there is a close link between knowledge, affect, skills and behaviour. Environmental literacy, therefore, is considered to be continuum of competencies raging from zero competencies to a very high competency. There is a broad spectrum of environmental literacy, from complete unawareness to deep, thorough understanding and concern (Buethe and Smallwood, 1997). For the purposes of this research a few distinguishable, but not separable, disposition levels on this continuum were identified, namely awareness, knowledge, attitude and participation. Teachers- more than any other professional group- can probably promote environmental literacy, by virtue of their interaction with society (more specifically learners, parents and colleagues). Teachers at all levels and subject areas have a role to play in this regard, i. e. contribute to the development of citizens who possess the basic understanding and skills to make informed decisions in matters affecting the environment and whose personal lifestyles support sustainable development. Teachers can, however, hardly assist learners to become environmentally literate if they themselves lack environmental literacy. Despite the important role teachers’ play in educating students, research into teacher’s level of environmental literacy has been extremely limited. The few studies that were reported indicated a relatively low level of environmental literacy. An example is a study by Buethe and Smallwood (1997) which stated that the environmental literacy of Indiana teachers is far from optimal. In addition several researchers, for example, Schreuder (1995), Braus (1995) and Papadimitriou (1995), mentioned that most teachers are not trained to do justice to environmental education. It seems, therefore, imperative to be able to determine the state of affairs regarding the environmental literacy of the teacher corps. Hypotheses The following hypotheses were formulated and tested in this study: 1. There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition. 2. There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition. 3. There is no significant difference in the level of environmental literacy between teachers who receive training in environmental education and those who did not receive any training. Method Research design This is a descriptive survey research design of ex-post facto because the variables being studied had occurred and were not manipulated by the researchers. Instrumentation The questionnaire developed in this study consisted of two sections- section A which comprised items on background demographic information of respondents and section B which comprised 30 items dealing with the various aspects of environmental literacy assessed in this study. The items were developed according to a matrix with the ten central concepts representing environmental literacy on one axis and the disposition level of the respondent on the other axis. A 4-point scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ was used as a response-measuring scale. Sample The study sample was drawn from the entire population of teachers in public secondary schools in Epe division of Lagos State. It consisted of 400 teachers randomly selected from 40 secondary schools randomly selected from the 4 local governments that make up the division. Questionnaires were however, adequately completed by 352 teachers. These respondents were representative of gender, age, learning area taught and qualifications obtained. Procedure Three research assistants were employed to assist in administering the printed questionnaires on the teachers in their respective schools. In some cases the filled questionnaire were returned on the spot while in other cases the research assistants went back on a different day to collect the completed questionnaires. Data analyses The data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed by using analysis of variance (F tests and t tests). Results and discussion Hypothesis 1 ‘There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers with different academic qualification’. Table 1:Level of environmental literacy of teachers with different qualifications |Qualification N Means SD | |NCE 103 416. 31 35. 71 | |B Ed 64 418. 88 37. 62 | |B A 24 417. 50 51. 4 | |B Sc 12 446. 00 41. 59 | |Other 149 422. 58 40. 48 | F (4. 347) = 1. 70; p>0. 05 The respondents were divided into five categories based on highest academic qualification as indicated in table 1. In order to compare the mean scores of the five groups an analysis of variance (F test) was carried out. The results of the F test, which appear in table 1, revealed that the null hypothesis could not be rejected (p>0. 5). It can, therefore, be concluded that there is no significant difference between the average environmental literacy of teachers with different academic qualification. It appears that this result contradicts research results reported by Buethe and Smallwood (1997), if one assumes that almost all secondary school science teachers in the USA have a BSc degree. According to them, science teach ers had higher levels of environmental literacy than other teachers. Hypothesis 2 ‘There is no significant difference between the levels of environmental literacy of teachers if they are divided according to learning area in which they offer tuition’. In order to test this null hypothesis, the respondents were divided into eight categories. According to an analysis of variance (F test), the null hypothesis cannot be rejected when the means of the total score obtained for the questionnaire are compared [F (7. 344) = 1. 81; p>0. 05]. This result is in line with a finding from a study by Abraham and Chacko (1999), according to which teacher training college lecturers have average environmental literacy, irrespective of the subjects they teach. An analysis of the mean scores (F test) obtained for the four dl fields in the eight categories revealed, however, an interesting picture. The results for the Knowledge dl field are indicated in Table 2. Table 2:Knowledge dl field scores of teachers in different learning areas |Learning area N Mean SD | |Language, literacy and communication 133 98. 62 11. 1 | |Human and social science 47 100. 49 9. 60 | |Maths, maths’ literacy and maths’ science 66 99. 36 8. 69 | |Natural science 76 103. 66 10. 89 | |Arts and culture 12 100. 2 4. 40 | |Economic and management science 9 103. 33 16. 12 | |Life orientation 7 90. 43 5. 06 | |Technology 2 100. 00 2. 83 | F (7. 344) = 2. 74; p