September 11, 2001

Satanism Essays - Church Of Satan, Left-Hand Path, Satanism

Satanism Essays - Church Of Satan, Left-Hand Path, Satanism Satanism Sociology/Psychology I am hoping I can somehow make this seem like a psychological report without making it lose any of it's important details. My goal in writing this paper is to hopefully make people understand and agree that Satanism is not a "Devil Worshipping," animal mutilating, child scarifying cult organization. The psychological thing comes in when people say Satanism is wrong or evil, they hear the word Satan and automatically assume that it must be bad. They make these assumptions without even taking the time to find the facts and understand them. I'll start off by saying that Satanists do not worship the devil! A Satanist believe that he or she as an individual rule their own destiny and are the god of their own lives. Satanism is a religion based on the reality that man is an animal, like all others. They choose to separate themselves from a society where natural behavior is suppressed and the strong support the weak. The average Satanist disagrees with much of Christianity. In many ways Chr istians are considered the enimies. Christians say Satan is a fallen angel, not a God. All religions have gods and demons, some of which are forbidden by a typical society. Satan is one among these, originally conceived by the Hebrews, long before the birth of Jesus. Most Satanists are familiar with the teachings of Christianity, and have read the Bible or part of it. They simply consider the Bible to be false and disregard it much like Christians would disregard books which represent the foundation of another religion. Satanism is not considered a religion for the white race and should not be confused with or grouped together with skinheads, The KKK, Nazi's, Neo-Nazi's, or people who support white power. Satanists are not teenage vandals, not gang murderers, not psychopathic murders, not child molesters or vicious rapists. Satanists do not sacrifice young children or animals. The ninth and tenth of the Eleven Satanic Rules of The Earth forbid this, in fact, animal sacrifices are primarily used in the Afro-Caribbean syncretistic religions such as Voodoun, Candomble', and Santeria. Child Sacrifices are used in Television and by journalists to improve ratings. A Satanist does not practice baby breeding or child molestation. Evidence does not support what is said to occur. If the number of murders said to be committed by Satanists' was accurate some bodies would have been found by now. Members of the Church of Satan are involved and advanced exactly as their own desires, abilities, and accomplishments dictate. There are no set activities, meetings, or contacts. A new member comes into the organization ideally with his or her own goals and plans of achieving them. When being brought to the church of Satan new members are told to not let anyone tell you what to believe or what to do. Advice or recommendations are one thing; orders or commands quite another. Remember that you are a free being, not a pawn in someone's power fantasy. They believe the weaker elements of society should serve the stronger elements of society or perish. Satanists support any means of returning to the order of Darwin's Natural Selection Process, this is inclusive of elimination of welfare to selective sterilization of those weaker elements. Weak elements are determined by performance and intelligence, not race or religion. So where does Satan come into all of this? Satanists believe Satan (and other gods) is not so much an entity as a force of nature. These gods are not all concerned with the life of mortals. Satan is a very powerful word that serves as an isolation between Satanists and society. It is this separation that a true Satanist appreciates and holds dear. the separation of a society where the strong and willing work for what they need and want but are forced to support the weak through welfare and charity. Satanists' know their opinions may not be politically correct, but they still obey the laws governing man on this planet and they expect the same protection under the laws as other minorities, races and religions. There are several divisions of the believe systems of various "Satanic" groups. Satanism has changed so much from it's original form. For instance a group that are

Organization development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Organization development - Essay Example 1. Improve the mode of communication to help the management understand better the needs of the junior staff. When there is streamlined communication between the management and the employees, no party feels side-lined resulting in a morale boost 2. Create a platform where the outsiders who were helping in retreat training can make reports and give recommendations on their observations so as to help iron out any arising issues affecting the teams. 3. Eliminate slothfulness through the introduction of performance contracts where individuals take responsibilities of their work, hence avoid such scenarios where the manager can joke around with the other workers instead of working with his team. Improvement of the channels of communication where every employee stands equal chance as the management in contributions of ideas will help create a serene environment for both the management and employees. This also will create a good will-power from the management that in turn will help improve the performance of both the managers and also employees. Having well-defined retreat structures where all teams are involved in team building exercises will help in ironing out any differences between workers and fellow and even managers. This will also help instructors feel free and give their best without having the fear of

Vampires Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vampires - Research Proposal Example I also participated in class debates where we discussed vampires with my classmates and tutor. I have also witnessed people who claim to be vampires. These experiences have not been able to address the origin and creation of vampires in details. As such, this research will teach me about the characteristics of real and psychic vampires as well as the origin and the process of creating a vampire. To achieve this, I am counting on my instructor and classmates’ support. Indeed, I am sure that my instructor has significant information about this topic having researched and taught this topic for a long time. Moreover, through the continued discussions about this topic, my classmates may have subtle information about vampires. Nevertheless, the information from my classmates will require undergoing verification. The topic about vampires is very general and addressing it will require huge resources and a lot of time. As such there was need to limit the research to the creation of vampires. To ensure that I use limited time on my research topic, I will seek resource materials that detail the origin and creation of vampires. I will also establish the risks that may limit the accuracy and relevance of my research. I will plan my research well and establish the relevant sources of information. I will also limit my research to real and modern vampires. I will rely on research reports from my professor, instructor, and the vampires’ museum. Ultimately, I will keep close consultations with my instructor for guidance and verification of my data. Ideally, vampires from different regions may have different characteristics. As such, I will limit my topic geographically by narrowing my research to vampires found in America. Nevertheless, various circumstances limit my research on this topic. Inde ed, it may be difficult to distinguish

Zara Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Zara - Term Paper Example However, in order for the IT systems to offer all their benefits, it is necessary for new management techniques to be introduced within the organization. Canon case study can be reviewed for understanding the management of change due to the improvement of the firm’s information systems 2. IT changes our life In this class I can learn how IT can change our life. In the terms of social life, IT systems have promoted communication among people worldwide, meaning especially the social networking sites and the microblogging sites. When used in various industrial activities, IT systems have helped to improve existing manufacturing processes. Also, through IT systems, the development of daily financial transactions becomes easier and safer. Examples indicating the influence of IT on our lives are: a) Facebook (social networking site), b) mobile gadgets used by mobile users daily, c) teleworking, d) teleconference and so on. 3. IT benefits on newspaper or book and video In this class I can learn how IT systems can benefit newspaper or book and video. Using IT systems, editors in newspapers can have quick access to news worldwide and check demographics and statistics, which cannot be available otherwise. Through IT systems,

Representation of Genders in the Media

Representation of Genders in the Media Course Diary Entry 1 Liesbet Van Zoonen: Feminist Media Studies (chapter 6, pp 87 104) 1. ABSTRACT The sixth chapter of Van Zoonens book Feminist Media Studies, Spectatorship and the Gaze, provides a compelling introduction to the area of feminist film studies, more specifically, to different issues surrounding the concept of the gaze. Van Zoonen draws on the arguments of Laura Mulveys work, who used psychoanalytic tools in explaining why women are presented in the media as being looked at and men as the ones who act. Van Zoonen stresses the difficulty of the proponents of psychoanalysis to explain the pleasures of female spectatorship, which, nevertheless, can be accounted for by employing different perspectives on media studies. After discussing ideas regarding the male gaze, Van Zoonen turns her attention to the way images of men are presented in popular media, emphasising the fact that, out of fear that their image could be homosexualised, different methods and narrative codes are employed in order to make the objectification of male bodies less evident. Hence, the traditional perception of men being the ones who have the power and women the ones who are looked at is still in place in patriarchal cultures, even though there are signs of trying to put it aside. 2. OUTLINE women are constructed in western popular media as being the passive object of the male gaze, whereas men as being the ones who act; the psychoanalytical paradigm was employed to explain this state of facts a) Laura Mulvey used psychoanalysis in her study of gender media representations as a useful tool in explaining the pleasures of male spectatorship, though failing to explain the independent female pleasure of looking at men scopophilia the deriving of sexual pleasures simply by looking narcissistic identification the desire of men to identify themselves with other men, presented on the screen as flawless characters the film industry is linked to patriarchy, according to Laura Mulvey; both scopophilia and narcissistic identification are achieved by the way filmmakers frame the action, including the objectification of women the male gaze fear of castration the trauma suffered by boys when discovering the physical gender differences is diminished by the way male spectators take control over womens bodies in the film industry one of the problems of the way Mulvey employed psychoanalysis it equates masculinity with being male and femininity with being female b) Mary Ann Doane contends the impossibility of reversing the gender roles (i.e. men becoming feminine and women masculine) no preconditions of voyeurism in women in childhood women do not experience the distancing from their mothers that boys do because of the sexual differences the female spectator can become masculinized by identifying with the male characters in the film or narcissistically identifying with objectified female characters c) criticism of the psychoanalytic paradigm: it reinforces the patriarchal norms by excluding the possibility of women to derive pleasure from viewing media products Women derive pleasure by looking at other women the psychoanalytical paradigm and beyond a) some argue that the bonding between girls and their mothers creates the pre-conditions of finding pleasure in looking at other women b) women have coexisting latent homosexual and manifest heterosexual desires Chodorows theory of female development c) Arbuthnot and Seneca assert that the psychoanalytic theory is concerned with male spectatorship and thus not appropriate to examine female experiences and motivations Women derive pleasure by looking at men a) Christianity repressing the abundance of nude representations of men made the patriarchal order imperceptible, whilst it still is the substratum of most societies b) the female gaze which is masculine by definition looking at the male body is less dangerous than the homosexual gaze c) narrative and visual techniques lessen the degree of subjection of the male body to the gaze of the female spectatorship e.g. staring back at the viewer, looking up or away from the camera, the text accompanying the images personifying male bodies and thus creating characters men presented as active (e.g. signs of physical activity or labour) and in control, just happening to be looked at, not as posing specifically for being viewed by female or male spectators male bodies presented like romantic objects, not sexual ones (e.g. Playgirl) 3. LITERATURE REVIEW The three chapters I have chosen Kaplans (1983), Staceys (1988) and Van Zoonens (1994) which do not offer a comprehensive discussion of the issue of the gaze, draw on the psychoanalytic explanations of the male gaze and attempt to explain which are the pleasures derived by female spectators watching media products. Hence, all authors use Laura Mulveys and Mary Ann Doanes ideas as a starting point for their discussion; Kaplan argues that psychoanalysis is a useful tool [] [, but not] necessarily uncovering essential truths about the human psyche (1983: 23). She further argues that it can explain only the current structural organization of society, which, I would argue, is a Marxist perspective; in her view, cinema is seen as a means of releasing the tensions created by the industrial society and psychoanalysis as a necessary means to understand the causes of these (Kaplan, 1983). Stacey (1988) identifies the gaps in Mulveys line of argument, more precisely the discussion of the male as an erotic object (which Van Zoonen analyses) and of female homosexuality, and exploits the latter to address one of the issues tackled in little depth by Van Zoonen (1994): female homosexual pleasure, which has been ignored by studies within the psychoanalytic framework. Stacey (1988), like Van Zoonen (1994), draws on Mary Ann Doanes idea that womens pleasures are not related to fetishism and voyeurism, as mens are and further acknowledges Mulveys argument according to which women oscillate between male and female identifications. In discussing possibilities for understanding and explaining the female gaze, all three authors argue that the reversal of roles is impossible without losing the specific gender identification; the female spectator becomes masculinized and vice-versa, and thus the structure remains basically unchanged (Kaplan, 1983). Stacey (1988), as does Van Zoonen (1994), rhetorically asks if women necessarily have to occupy feminine positions and men masculine ones. I would suggest that masculine and feminine actually refer to a set of characteristics associated with men and women respectively only because it has traditionally been thought that they occur more often in the specific gender from which their names derive. Hence, they are not intrinsic to men or women. However, there remains the problem that they are in opposition, not on equal terms. Moreover, if these names which refer to gender and sexual roles would be disregarded, I think it would not be a problem for female spectators to adopt an active (masculine) stance anymore. Further discussing the feminine and masculine spectatorships, Stacey (1988) contends that the subjectivities of spectators should be also taken into account, even if their standpoint is seen as masculine. Kaplan notes, drawing on Mary Ann Doanes argument, that if attempting to confer female spectatorship an active role and not masculinizing it, there is the danger of denying pleasure and of disembody[ing] their spectator (Kaplan, 1983: 28). An active main female character nearly always loses her traditional feminine characteristics in so doing [] of kindness, humaneness, motherliness (Kaplan, 1983: 29). The problem with this statement is that all these characteristics of femininity are actually constructed in the same way as concepts like active, sexually desirable etc are. Therefore, Kaplans statement does no justice to the role of the female spectator. The dominant images of women, all male constructs, as Kaplan (1983) emphasizes, are the objects of male fetishism and voyeurism, as all three authors mention. In addition to Van Zoonens (1994) overarching discussion of these Freudian concepts, Kaplan (1983) points at three male gazes in popular media, identified by Laura Mulvey: that of the film-maker, of the film viewer and of male characters in the film. According to this explanation of females position in the film framework, Kaplan argues, the man owns the desire and the woman (1983: 27), whereas female spectators only receive and return the gaze but cannot act upon it (1983: 31). Hence, male and female spectatorships are different in essential respects. All three authors have a feminist standpoint in common from whence they look at the representation of women in popular media. Stacey (1988) is probably the most dedicated of all three to the feminist cause, discussing issues which are taboo for other scholars (feminist or not): the homosexual female spectatorship. The arguments they bring forward overlap, being complementary in the respect that all offer new information. However, they do not discuss each others contribution to the feminist debate mainly because all three (Stacey to a lesser degree) offer an overview of the arguments brought forward by Laura Mulvey and Mary Ann Doane. All three concluded by pointing to the need of further discussing the sources of pleasure for female spectators both in relation to men and to other women. Moreover, the problem of confounding gender identifications with sexuality in film studies has also been stated as being an issue. 4. CROSSCUTTING THEMES The issues concerning the representation of genders in the media is one of the most important areas of concern for feminist scholars because of the many assumptions hidden under what comes across as common-sense. Nevertheless, this is only one of the issues in which feminists are interested. Among the general concern with the resources of conferring women a secondary role in patriarchal societies, feminists address issues of work and employment, and of motherhood. These two themes have several links with those raised by Van Zoonens chapter on the male and female gaze in popular media. One of the most evident crosscutting themes is that of womens passivity and male activity and control. As we have seen in Van Zoonens chapter (1994), female spectatorship is constructed as being passive and to be looked at, whilst male spectators act upon women by looking at their objectified bodies. Witz (1993/1997) asserts that women have traditionally been seen as having the natural duty to do the domestic work, not men, and that feminists struggled to determine the official recognition of this second job women performed. At least since the 18th Century, when the Victorian Domestic Ideology constructed women as passive, men have had the active role in a family, working in order to earn a wage for the household. Women, on the other side, have been seen as confined to the private sphere of life and, thus, as being passive since they did not have an active role in the public sphere, as men did. This way of seeing women as inferior to men has survived until the present day, when women have also acceded to work positions, and it can be easily seen in the structure of the labour market and in the representation of women in the media. The images of women in popular media, as objects of the male gaze, are opposed to representations of motherhood in different cultures. Reynolds notes that the good mother is endlessly patient, forgiving, nurturing and, most important of all, unfailing in her love (1996: 41); this characterization powerfully contrasts with the images of women as sexualized objects or as secondary characters who only disrupt the narrative. For children, mothers are the main characters of their stories and are entirely feminine (whereas the character of a mother in popular media would be either masculinized or it would be the object of the male gaze). Nevertheless, as Reynolds further argues, the problem is that in reality mothering [is] synonymous with subjugation (1996: 42). Moreover, motherhood is linked with psychoanalysis and the way boys suffer a trauma when they discover their difference from their mothers. In conclusion, the chapters I have looked at on different topics written by feminists share the same view that women are currently oppressed in patriarchal cultures. Women share subordination roles in media, at work, in the family etc. However, the hegemony of patriarchy is most evident in media representations of women. References: Kaplan, E. Ann (1983) Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 125-141 Reynolds, Kimberly (1996) Mothers in Madoc-Jones, Beryl Coates, Jennifer An Introduction to Womens Studies, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 38-61 Stacey, Jackie (1988) Desperately Seeking Difference in Gamman, Lorraine Marshment, Margaret (Eds.) The Female Gaze: Women as Viewers of Popular Culture, London: Womens Press, pp. 112-129 Van Zoonen, Liesbet (1994) Feminist Media Studies, London: Sage, pp. 87 -104 Witz, Anne (1993/1997) Women and Work in Robinson, Victoria and Richardson, Diane (Eds.) Introducing Womens Studies, 2nd edition, London: MacMillan, pp.239-58

Essay --

%tim's tictactoe final project for ENGR 120 computational tools function tttprog() %builds UI screen f = figure('Name','Tic-Tac-Toe','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[5, 5, 15, 11]); %keeps track of turns - 0:X 1:O global turn turn = 0; %add buttons global b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8 b9 b1 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[1, 7, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b2 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[4, 7, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b3 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[7, 7, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b4 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[1, 4, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b5 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[4, 4, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b6 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Units','centimeters',... 'Position',[7, 4, 3, 3],'FontSize',36,'Callback',@onPush); b7 = uicontrol(f,'Style','pushbutton','Uni...

Chapter emerging market

Among the most significant risks are political volatility, economic policy volatility and also legal risks. Firms entering emerging markets must understand the risks and take necessary action to mitigate the effect of those particular risks. 3. 2 political volatility Despite the demonstration and free market orientation process among emerging market countries, some of them particularly the one that just achieved independence, is having an election, or governs by corrupt individual or political party are susceptible to political risks.Multinational companies that invest In this little country are exposed to risks such as military coups, civil war, mass labor strikes, violence street protest, or erratic changes In government policy and Industry regulations that pose a threat to foreign Investment. Among the political risks associated with emerging markets are: Although the barrier to trade in most emerging markets have fall, and most of these countries are now enjoying greater stabilit y and experiencing steady growth, these emerging markets remain vulnerable to political risks that usually started inside the country itself and was largely beyond the control of investors.Extreme nationalism and religious fundamentalism as evidence in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and India further contribute to the problem. Different in ideology and oppression from the current government also contributes to political volatility. Russia for example is still having an uncertain future direction as politics is unpredictable due to ongoing power struggles between reformers and the old-line communists. If the political clout could not be solved peacefully, then there is a potential for a civil war. Sir Lang is an example of a country that has been experiencing a civil war.There is a power tussle between the two ethnic groups, the Ginghams that currently forms the government of the country and the Tamil. Tamil guerrillas are fighting for and independent Tamil state. There has been an intense fighting since 1994 with more than 70,000 people have been killed in the war. 3. 2. 1 Corruption and cronyism Another serious issue associated with emerging markets is corruption and cronyism. Corruption refers to dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery or the abuse of a position of trust for dishonest gain. Most emerging markets in fact are always associated with corruption.Brazil for example suffers lost of unbelievable USED 60 billion to corruption and fraud in connection with government and social programs between the periods of 1990 to 1994 [1]. Even Malaysia is having the same problem as reported by the Auditor General on the issue of very serious leakages in government agencies expenditure. Second Finance Minister has made a media statement dated October 26, 2009 that the government billions of dollars lost due to leakages that involved in purchasing and procurement t the extreme pricing and do not meet the specifications and standards.Local newspaper, The STAR on October 26, 2009 also reported that this leakage resulted in losses between ARM 14-28 billion over a period of one year. Cronyism refers to the appointment of relatives and friends to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications or an individual who was able to exploit connections with the government or private officers to gain wealth and economic position.In Philippine, cronies controlled key sectors, including the sugar and coconut industries and media, ND got state loans, lucrative contracts and concessions under the 31 -year-rule of Ferdinand Marco's who was ousted in 1986. In Thailand, Thai politicians depend heavily on business support during election. Patronage politics, particularly in the countryside, boosts both political spending and the cronyism mentality of asking favors from the powerful. The prostitution and drugs trade has also corrupted many officials and police force of the country [2]. 3. 2. Fight aga inst drug cartel Another problem that has an impact on political aspect of emerging countries fight against drug cartel. In recent years, the Mexico drug cartels have waged increasingly violent battles with one another as well as with the Mexican government. Upon taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Feline Cauldron deployed thousands of federal troops in an aggressive crackdown on drug-related violence. Yet death tolls continue to rise. There were more than 2,500 drug-related deaths in 2007, and the yearly toll rose to more than 4,000 by the end of 2008.Murders and street gun battles are only part of a more entrenched problem that includes corrupt police forces and a lackluster Judiciary [3]. 3. 2. Territorial claim and possible war In some region, there is a tense relationship between emerging countries with its neighboring country due to multiple territorial claims among countries. If a peaceful solution could not be reached through peaceful negotiations, there will b e potential for war between these nations. This is evidence at the Sprat's Islands at South China Sea.The area consists of more than 100 small islands or reefs, surrounded by rich fishing area and potentially by gas and oil deposits. They are claimed in their entirety by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, while portions are claimed by Malaysia and the Philippines. About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Brunet has established a fishing zone that overlaps a southern reef but has not made any formal claim.In June 2011, the tense situation in Sprat's Islands amplify as the Philippines complains that Chinese ships offloaded building materials and erected marker posts on reefs to the west of its island of Palatal, within Manila's exclusive economic zone. Political volatility is hard to quantify due to broad characteristics of each emerging markets. What the managers could do is to anticipate upcomin g changes in the political aspect of the nation and formulate timely, successful strategies in the face of sudden changes and uncertainty.This is critical because political situation will have a direct impact on investment, decision-making, and corporate performance. Every market has it risks so businesses need to ensure that the risk worth the return they will get from the investment. 3. 2. 5 Social Unrest The current people uprising in emerging market countries of the Middle East such as Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain cause a growing concerns among investors who has already invest or thinking of investing into emerging markets.One of the factors that increase the possibility of social unrest is an increase in food and fuel price due to depleted resources and inflation. The high price of food is thought to have been one of the catalysts of the unrest in Tunisia, which led to the ousting of Zing al-Abiding Ben Ala as president in January 2011. Other reason that makes people revolt includ es corrupt leader and government, change in tax, economic and fiscal policy that affect daily life, UN-fair election, high unemployment etc.Figure 2 shows the level of lattice and social risk of every country, based on a report produced by the Royal bank of Canada in 2011. Among the emerging market countries, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia is listed as high risk countries, together with Colombia. India, Russia, South Africa, Jordan and Turkey are among the medium risk countries while Mexico, Bahrain and Thailand are considered as moderate. Other emerging countries with low political and social risks according to this report. 3. 3 Economic volatility The second major risks associated with emerging markets are the level of economic volatility.Economic growth may be high, but crises are frequent, as the Asian crisis of 1997 demonstrated. Emerging countries' economies are highly volatile due to frequent changes in institutions, industry structure and the macro-economy. Both th e political and economy actually have a huge impact on one another, and firms can anticipate risks in the future if any of them become volatile. Among the element that brought economic volatility includes currency risks, expropriation risks, and foreign debt crisis. 3. 3. Currency risks Although there is an increasing trend towards liberation's of international payment ND transfers, there is still a concern among businesses that there could be a change in policy. Even emerging market countries have the tendency to influence the exchange rates. In some cases, the government will try to peg it's currency to a single currency such as a US dollar to stop aggressive drop in the country's currency value especially during financial crisis. Figure 2 shows how the exchange rate of Asian countries dropped significantly during the Asian financial crisis.The Koala Lump Stock Exchange (KEELS) had lost more than 50% from above 1,200 to fewer than 600, and the ringing had lost 50% of TTS value, fa lling from above 2. 50 to under 4. 57 on Can 23, 1998) to the dollar. The then premier, Tune Dry. Mathis Mohammad imposed strict capital controls and introduced a 3. 80 peg of Malaysian ringing against the US dollar. 3. 3. 2 Expropriation risk One of the economic policy related concern among the investors was â€Å"expropriation risk†, which refers to the possibility that host governments would seize all foreign- owned assets.This risk however has largely disappeared. Stronger international law and the symbiotic nature of growth in emerging and developed economies reduced set seizures to nearly zero during the sass. A 2009 survey by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that multinational enterprises considered breach of contract, restrictions on the transfer and convertibility of profits, civil disturbance, government failure to honor guarantees, and regulatory restrictions all to be more significant risks than the potential s eizure of assets [4].Emerging market countries policy of attracting foreign investment into their country foreign investors should be wary of any change in political and economic situation, gather with regulatory uncertainty can make the expropriation action possible. Even in the communist country like China, the government has never confiscate any foreign assets since 1978 when the country officially launched its so-called ‘open door' policy, unless the asset in question specifically compromises China's national security. 3. 3. Foreign debt crisis Foreign debt crisis is external debt incurred by governments of emerging markets generally in quantities beyond the governments' political ability to repay. â€Å"Unplayable debt† is a term used to describe external debt when the interest on the debt exceeds hat the country's politicians think they can collect from taxpayers, based on the nation's gross domestic product, thus preventing the debt from ever being repaid [5]. Em erging market countries have traditionally borrowed from the developed nations to support their economies.In the sass such borrowing became quite heavy among certain developing countries, and their external debt expanded at a very rapid, unsustainable rate. The result was an international financial crisis. Most of the time, government with high level of debt will have to re-vamp its financial policy to accommodate debt payment. Countries such as Mexico and Brazil declared that they could not keep up with the schedule of interest and principal payments, causing severe reactions in the financial world.Cooperating with creditor nations and the MIFF, these countries were able to reschedule their debts and delay payments to remove financial pressure. But the underlying problem is not really solved as developing countries were saddled with staggering debts that totaled more than $800 billion in the mid-sass. The large debts created huge problems for the developing countries and for the ba nks that faced the risk of substantial losses on heir loan portfolios. Such debts increased the difficulty of finding funds to finance development.In addition, the need to acquire foreign currencies to service the debt contributed to a rapid depreciation of the currencies and to rapid inflation in Mexico, Brazil, and a number of other developing nations. Even emerging market in Asia such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, India etc. As shown in Figure 4, also facing a serious problem with foreign debt. The wide fluctuations in the price of oil were one of the factors contributing to the debt problem. When the price of oil SSE rapidly in the sass, most countries felt unable to reduce their oil consumption quickly.In order to pay for expensive oil imports, many went deeply into debt. They borrowed to finance current consumption?something that could not go on indefinitely. As a major oil importer, Brazil was one of the nations adversely affected by rising oil prices [6]. Fi gure 3. : Foreign debt among Asian countries 3. 4 Legal risks The possibility of investing in emerging markets by Macs will increase if the legal system in the country is reliable and always give fair decisions. Contract will only be void.In sass, many South East Asian governments in their effort to attract foreign investors offered contracts that protect investors from risks related to lower than expected demand, currency conversions, exchange rate and political force measure. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 brought those investors' favorable treatment into sharp relief as currency values, share prices, and electricity demand all plummeted. Political officials had to choose between honoring the contracts, at the risk of compromising their own popular support, and renegotiating them in order to maintain that support.In the end, many career minded public officials in Southeast Asia chose to renegotiate or cancel scores of contracts. Even when contracts can be legally enforced, exp erience shows that inventive politicians can circumvent them, through a wide variety of means other than changing laws [4]. Another example is when foreign investors involved in oil and gas industries in countries such as Transmitted, Gyrations and Astrakhan, which is a newly independent countries of a former USSR regime.Even though the contract seems to put them on favorable terms, the possibility that firms will face a breach of contract ND other regulatory problems is high. Another legal issue that always arises is when some emerging market countries have laws that limit the amount of profit firms can take out of the country, which means that company might make a huge amount of profit by doing business in the country but may be prohibited from taking the whole profit back to the home country. 3. Minimizing the risks There are many options available for companies in Minimizing the risks when investing in emerging markets. They are: 3. 3. 1 Thorough political and economic risk anal ysis Multinational firms should carefully evaluate the emerging market country's political ND economic risks before deciding whether to do business there or not. Nowadays, there are vast indicators, statistics and political analysis paper published and publicly available for review. This is the best source for country's information that can help decision making.However, there are some emerging market countries that are less transparent and access to accurate economic or industry statistics may not exist at all. In this case, firms might not have the information and expertise to do the analysis by themselves. Then the best option is to, employ a consultant service firm who have the expertise in inducting the analysis. 3. 3. 2 Protect the investment with political risks insurance Political risk insurance is a type of insurance that can be taken out by businesses, of any size, against political risk.Political risk insurance is available for several different revolution, insurrection, c ivil unrest, terrorism or war; Governmental expropriation or confiscation of assets; Governmental frustration or repudiation of contracts; Wrongful calling of letters of credit or similar on-demand guarantees; Business Interruption; and Inconvertibility of foreign currency or the inability to repatriate funds. 3. 3. Involve host country's government in the business Government equity participation either through the relevant government agencies or through Government Related Companies (Gels) can bring a lot of advantage to firm and to the government itself.This can be done in various ways such as by creating a new Joint venture company with both parties have a percentage of shares in it, or through strategic alliances and consortium. By having the government itself as partner, firms may find it easier to obtain the license, get full support from the government, reduce the risk of expropriation and even improve company's goodwill mongo the people. 3. 3. 4 Have a Joint venture or allian ce with local company. The objective of having cooperation with local company is almost similar to having the relationship with the government as discussed previously.Some other benefit for Macs when they cooperate with local company includes firms can share the knowledge of local company about the trend, taste, preferences and culture of the local people. Both parties will also share the costs and risks of doing business. At the same time, Macs can benefit the local company by having a knowledge and technology transfer, besides sharing the experience of Macs. 3. 3. Conduct a proper scenario planning when making the entry decision.Scenario planning refers to the process of visualizing what future conditions or events are probable, what would be the consequences or effect of it and how to respond to, or benefit from it. For example, when a pharmaceutical company starts to develop a new compound it does not know if these typically very large investments will generate any benefit in th e future. So, success is dependent on many factors; internal factors such as the skills and knowledge of researchers and developers, and external influences such as technology trends, demand and price developments.In order to do that, they have to tap into tacit information that is already available within or outside the company and to convert it into knowledge about possible future scenarios and options the Risks associated with investments into intangibles, especially of investments into the strategy and in the product innovation chain of a company, are much higher than in traditional industrial physical asset type of investments. But on the other hand the upside is often unlimited.Businesses which are engaged in R and continuous product and market innovations must find ways to limit the downside, the risks, and o boost the upside in order to fully leverage their investments and to generate value for investors and other stakeholders. Scenario planning is a very good method to do t hat and to limit especially large strategic risks. Figure 5 shows finding of a study on what is the best tools to mitigate the effect of risks in four major emerging markets; Russia, India, China and Brazil (Also called BRICE countries).

Genetic Research Must be Regul essays

Genetic Research Must be Regul essays Human genetics and cloning have become a subject of hot debate in the recent past. Currently there are very few restrictions or regulations on genetic research and cloning. This means that the world of genetic research is wide open. In order to control genetic research and cloning an official government run department or committee must be established. This department would be able to regulate and restrict all genetic research and set a standard in bioethics. The most important duty of the government department of bioethics would be to set guidelines for what is and is not acceptable in genetics research. This department or committee would decide what kind of research and experiments would be permissible. This would prevent experiments such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment from happening again in the future. With few laws in effect right now, just about anyone can perform any experiment they want with genetics. This presents a great danger that morbid and inhuman experiments could be performed with no repercussions. An official committee would be able to control such research by enacting laws and prosecuting the perpetrators. The second function of an official government body would be to answer all of the ethical questions about genetic research. One question that this group would answer is after a person is tested genetically, who should have access to the results of the test? This question brings about a lot of controversy, especially if the person tested is found to have some kind of genetic disposition to a certain disease. Should insurance companies or employers be given this information? If insurance companies were notified, surely they would raise the premium or drop the coverage of the high-risk client. An employer may let their employee go if they know he or she may be getting ill sometime in the future and will not be able to perform as he or she did in the past. This ...

The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Essays

The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Essays The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Paper The Garden City Movement, how it occurred and the influences on planning today Paper In 1902 a book was published, entitled: Garden cities of To-morrow. It was written By Ebenezer Howard and it set out his plan for creating better neighbourhoods, cities, regions, nations and a better society. It did this through diagrams and explanations of his ideals. Some describe it as a dream, an impossible utopia. Yet it is one of the greatest influences of Town planning today. So how did Howard, a man who had very little town planning background, create such a book? His influences are many. If you were to look chronologically at past models of city ideals you could start with that of the Greeks with Miletus, a complete planned city. Or the Kaogongji, of the ancient Chinese. Principle traditions to create perfect cities. Indeed Plato was the one of the first to set out plans for utopian cities and would probably have influenced Howard, even slightly, with theories of population limits and balancing urban areas and country settings. But Howards influence started with the stories in the bible. City layouts as described for Levitical cities of Palestine in the 15th century by Moses and Ezekial. These cities had cubits or perimeters. They were also surrounded by country and pasture grounds. The Roman empire echoed this with the Pomerium (Space either side of the city walls)and Ager Effatus (designated fields.) Some influences upon Howards thinking were the literary utopias that man has thought about for hundreds of years. Sir Thomas Mores Utopia was a set of rules, but no plans for an ideal city. He stated that towns should have distance between them, children should have access to the countryside. He was against sprawl over the countryside, instead opting for green belts. He also thought of neighbourhood units and communal buildings. But he lacked details and plans. In 1817, Robert Owen, started a town a New Lanark with his own social philosophy. He believed that humans could influence the character of society. Though work and education they could achieve genuine values. Owens thinking was radical and he did a lot of work, creating The institute for the formation of character. He experimented with his ideas, published them and became a famous social thinker. He was a strong influence on Howards ideas, yet Owens thinking was too communal and his plans were not perfect. J S Buckingham, also a keen influence for Howard, Created plans for his ideal city at Victoria. It was a compact city, but everyone would have easy access to all parts of the city. The use of parklands and belts emerged famously in the planning community from Col William Light, in Australia, 1837. With the planning of Adelaides park belt, which was very successful. But earlier signs of the green belt ideas were shown in Christopher Wrens plans for the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666. The most recent influences leading up to Howards publishing were the model experimental cities created by capitalists in the 19th century. Sir Titas Salt, with Saltaire in Yorkshire. Lord Leverhulme with Port sunlight and George Cadbury with Bournville. The latter two examples were impressive for Howard. Bournville and Port Sunlight were created for the workers of the factories that were owned by the capitalists. Leverhulme, with his soap company, built the city to house workers and provided art galleries, open spaces and gardens. Although his motives were primarily to increase production, he created better living conditions for his workers. Cadburys town, situated near Birmingham, provided quality semi-detached housing, gardens and open spaces. Yet he also sought for the town to have residents who did not work for him. He was less controlling and sought to improve morale and quality of his workers lives. These experiments in town planning and Howards observations of the over crowded, poor urban living conditions in England pushed him to write his book. Initially entitled to-morrow. It was not an instant success, but under its 1902 re-release it did attain a following of influential people, who were not ignoring Englands town planning problems. To put Howards plans into practice a company was formed in 1901. Initially the company was unimpressive, yet with the addition of Ralph Neville, an influential lawyer as chair it soon gathered pace as The Garden City Pioneer Company ltd. With Neville, Alfred Russell Wallace, George Cadbury and Lord Leverhulme the company was able to purchase land for the worlds first Garden City. After dismissing many proposed sites, they decided upon Letchworth, a town 40 miles from London. Putting Howards ideas into a plan, were the architects Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker. Unwin had experience in town planning, went on to write a book Town Planning in practice which discussed housing, architecture and town layouts, using cul de sacs and aesthetic qualities. The Pioneer company released a pamphlet, describing the architecture for the builders. Housing was to be Simple, yet well built. But suitably designed to promote a special charm, without pointless ornament. This vague description led to some uniformity of the town and some ugly buildings. The city also failed on other accounts. It was not circular, as it had to conform to the landform. The industry became scattered, and the project was under-funded. This, along with the world war bringing munitions factories, raised the house values- meaning it was unaffordable for some workers, who then had to travel far to work. Its successes were few, it did retain some of Howards ideals of open space, use of parklands and a certain charm, yet it didnt house enough municipal owned land and affordable housing due to under-funding. Building cities from scratch is extremely expensive, especially when trying to make affordable housing. In 1906 Parker and Unwin worked on Hampstead, a garden suburb. It was a new direction in the garden cities movement, yet veered from a lot of Howards ideas. It was entirely sufficient on the city for work and amusement. It was also very uniformed in its architecture and, although picturesque, it was static and contrary to Howards versatile plans. The garden suburb was successful, mainly because of its small size and links to the city. Undeterred by the failures of Letchworth, it seemed that the company was actually doing well. Letchworth was a step in the right direction and a good laboratory for the garden city movement. So in 1919, enough capital had been raised to buy and develop Welwyn. This was a site, much closer to London. The first houses built here followed Letchworths example of simple design, yet were regarded as slums by critics. De Soissons was appointed as architect. He used similar designs as Unwin. Informal winding roads and cul de sac communities. This time the company was in a stronger position to support the architect and be more precise about the housing development. Hence the rural, town country composition worked. The existing trees were conserved where possible, planting was used to individualise streets and a green belt was formed between Welwyn and London. Yet there were still criticisms about the town. It was misunderstood as a satellite town in which industry clung around London. But it was not this sort of satellite town. But it was again under-funded, leading to a lack of amusements and community buildings and it had to follow landform wherever possible, to cut costs. Welwyn grew slowly, but these two first Garden cities were successful in another way. They acted as excellent testing ground for the garden city movement and started to inspire the world, which had populations, migrating to urban centres. Many countries had to address the problems of overcrowding. Howards ideas were put into practice, yet they filtered down. Many cities now used green belts or cul de sac communities, but it is yet to be achieved on a regional, or national planning level. In England, a man inspired by Hoards work and other previous cities set about creating his own. Started before Letchworth, but after the release of Howards book, Rowntree began work on his town of New Earswick. It was primarily for his workers at his factory, yet he had his own ideals. He wanted open spaces and affordable housing as in Howards book. Yet he also wanted the families to be able to grow their own food and supplied each with gardens and fruit trees. New Earswick was, and is a successful town, even though many of the residents are very poor. Even now houses are built with gardens and fruit trees. In the mid 20th century new problems were emerging. This was becoming the age of the motor car. America was inspired by Howard and a garden city association emerged there. With supporters such as Olmstead, who later worked on Central Park, NYC, the association became the RPAA. (The regional planning association of America.) Henry Wright, Clarence Stein and Alexander Bing, began plans for garden cities; primarily around New York. They wanted to achieve a regional plan of all areas, as Howard described. They had projects such as the Appalachian Trail. Which was to promote growth along eastern USA, with farming, timber and regional communities. The CHC (city housing corporation) also emerged in the USA to tackle the housing shortages. Together they worked on the first garden suburb in the USA, at sunnyside gardens, Queens. A practical experiment, it followed a filtered version of Howards ideas. After little success they started on the next, major project of Radburn, New Jersey. They used superblocks, which were developed at sunnyside. A core of open space surrounded by a network of cul de sacs. This city had a degree of self sufficiency, but its main success was tackling the road issues. Traffic was separated from pedestrians by planting and overpasses. Path systems were created, with parkways and open spaces. Later when recession his the USA, the CHC and the RPAA disappeared, but valuable lessons were learned from the city experiments. All these influences have lead to todays town planning. In the UK towns like New Earswick continue to thrive. New towns are clearly influenced by filtered versions of the Garden Cities of To-morrow, such as: Alkrington Hall Estate (from 1911), Bristol Garden Suburb (1909), and also in Cardiff, Coventry, Romford Ilford, Methyr, Oldham Southampton, Warrington, etc .Indeed, for much of the 20th Century the main ideals embodied in Howardà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s work have influenced planners. Moreover, the Garden City Association provided valuable support for the town planning movement and was an important pressure group in lobbying for greater planning legislation. Its most significant contribution however was demonstrating that town planning ideals could be successfully applied in practice. Yet in conclusion to the question given on the legacy of the garden cities movement, I find myself asking, what are we moving towards? A regional plan of surbria? Where garden suburbs and towns spread like tentacles over every undeveloped area of England. Is this what we really want? To be five minutes in reach of the mall and golf course, living in crime free, simple perfect suburban homes. Becoming gas guzzling, land eating, money driven people; ruled by corporations. I think that we need to do more that what Howard dreamt of. New problems have arisen and we need to address the core of them, ourselves, our needs, not our desires. The needs of the next generations. I find myself thinking that, yes, we do need open spaces, yes, we need countryside, towns and communities. But we do need to change. Why cant we learn to dream again, to think imaginatively before we build too much, too fast and live to regret it?

Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Human Rights - Essay Example Research by international human rights organizations have described the worst forms of labor abuse and dehumanization among low income earners like domestic and construction workers in the United Arab Emirates. For example, the worst form of exploitation is the â€Å"Kafala† sponsorship program that gives sponsors and employers authority to determine the immigrants’ legal residence (Chalcraft, 2011). According to Sonnez, Apostolopoulos, Tran & Rentrope (2011), employers are given the authority to control migrant workers pay, living conditions, and ability to renew or terminate their contracts without regard to the country’s labor laws. Another form of human right violation is debt bondage and confiscation of passports because migrant workers have been charged high recruitment fees by their home agencies. Violation comes in because the migrants are promised high salaries but on arrival they wages are too low ranging from $175 to $220 per month. A report by Human Rights Watch (2012) indicates that construction workers live in inhumane conditions, with eight to ten laborers sharing a room because of poverty and debt. For instance, they were expected to work for more than 12 hours per day with very few breaks even under extreme heat of the day (Exploited Workers Building Island of Happiness, 2009). The poor wages and increased cases of abuse thrive because of the political environment which has continuously ignored the need for establishing labor unions and enforcing legal action on abusers. Lack of labor unions limits migrants’ choices, rights to expression, ability to seek justice and freedom to move from one employer to another equating the situation to modern day slavery. These limitations have led to increased cases of suicides among immigrants who find themselves in fixed inhumane environment. A 2009 police report indicated that 113 migrants committed suicide with the most victims coming from domestic and

Child Development Theories in Focus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Child Development Theories in Focus - Essay Example Focus will be on Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Model which links development to the child’s various factors in the environment that influence the child’s experiences, learning and growth. The selected developmental stage to be discussed in this paper is the early childhood stage (age 2-6 years). In order to have a clearer picture of early child development, other theoretical frameworks by Piaget, Erikson, Freud, Maslow, Vygotsky and Bowlby shall also be referred to in conjunction with Brofenbrenner’s model as the theoretical framework of this paper. If applicable, the significance of the theory to early childhood children shall be discussed especially if the theory describes certain developmental stages. Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Model (1979) explains that the behaviour and development of an individual is an interplay of the individual’s biological and personality factors, his environment and the society and culture he was born into. Brofenbren ner also claims that effects of interactions between the individual and his environment are two-directional or characterized by reciprocity. This means that while a child’s development is influenced and moulded by his family, school and peers, he likewise influences and moulds the behaviour of others. The growing child moves through five systems that inter-relate and affect his development, namely, the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem. The most basic ecological level is the microsystem, where direct contacts between the child and his immediate surroundings result in behaviours such as dependence or independence and cooperation or competition. An example of this is the home base of the child and his relationship with his family. The pure culture of the society the family lives in greatly influences how the family lives and how the child imbibes the culture as he expresses it in his developing personality. The microsystem is usually where the chi ld first develops attachments to his significant others like his parents. John Bowlby’s (1982) Attachment theory posit that attachment provides children with a sense of security, promotes communication and the expression of feelings and becomes a secure base for children to discover their world and eventually learn self-regulation and self-control. It is a devise that contributes to children’s developing sense of self. Research done by Rudolph Schaffer (1977) and Jerome Bruner (1977) yielded the concept of ‘joint involvement episodes’ (JIE’s) which may be related to the quality of attachment a child and his or her mother or significant other has. The researchers observed mothers’ and their babies’ behaviour while focused on a potential learning episode. While jointly involved in play, for instance, they fall into a turn-taking pattern of behaviour and such cooperation teaches the child about the rules of their play within a safe and se cure environment with a familiar adult. This gives him more courage to explore his world knowing he has a safe base to return to. The next level of Brofenbrenner’s Ecological model is the mesosystem, which comprises the linkages and processes that take place between two or more settings with the child in common. A perfect example is how learning in school is supported by follow up lessons in the home. At this level, the child gets to understand associations between people and things.