The cost of capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The cost of capital - Essay Example The formula determines the appropriate expected return of alternative projects. The cost of capital is the amount that the investor has to pay in order to generate a series of future dividend incomes, return of investments (Sheridian, Martin & Keown, 2010). For example, Geoff Black (2010) reiterated the business earns $1,000,000 in one year. The profits will grow by 2 percent per year, and the company generates a net worth of $16,666,667 after two years. The cost of capital is arrived at as follows:After computing the formula, X is equal to 8 percent cost of capital figure. Further, the cost of capital can include the return that the stock market investors are expected to earn from their investments in a company. The firm that generates revenues more than the amount of cost of capital will entice the company’s current and prospective investors to invest additional funds into the invested company’s coffers.For example, Microsoft generated a 53 percent return on its equit y. The company’s equity is $7.2 billion. Computing, the company’s return on equity is $3.8 Billion. If the company’s cost of capital is 14 percent, the company’s cost of capital is $1.0 Billion. The company’s residual income is $2.8 Billion. ($3.8 Billion - $ 1.0 Billion). Another term for the $2.8 Billion net income is residual income or Economic Value Added (EVA). Under the Economic Value Added (EVA), management is faced with the financial question whether the assets can be better used in other areas or by fresh management.

Chinese Culture Essay Example for Free

Chinese Culture Essay Chinese Culture changed during the Qin Dynasty. There was an increase in trade, agriculture, and military protection. The central government now had direct control of the population, allowing the ability to have a much bigger workforce. Many projects such as the Great Wall of China were done because of this. The Qin Dynasty had several reforms in China’s society; such as money, advanced writing system, and the weights and measurements became the same units. Book burning and burying of scholars occurred due to the desire to purge all traces of the old dynasties. The Qin’s military was revolutionary due to the fact of more developed weaponry, transportation, and military tactics. All this was done even though China’s government was strict and bureaucratic. Future Chinese regimes were influenced because of this Dynasty. Qin Shihuang was the emperor that was buried in the tomb. He was the first emperor of China. After 200 years of war between 6 states, he unified China. His rule only lasted for 15 years, but left a lasting impact on the country’s history. A few of Qin’s remnants were the legalist principles, a Chinese philosophy that followed hard discipline agreeing to the rule of law. This belief helped Qin to rule the masses in a more centered power order and show a very influential way to rule, but this did now allow for disagreement to occur. Qin introduced a uniform written language which helped the government to communicate and carry out policies. Scholars could share information to a bigger population which helped lead to the transfer of culture. Having one language helped the later dynasties to communicate with the nomads and pass along information on how to compromise or fight with them. The invention of constructing roads allowed better connection between major cities and provinces. The dynasty standardized the length of axles in carts so they could all ride on new roads. The construction of the Great Wall of China made a mark in history for the country’s boundaries, causing a greater unity. The nomadic tribes in the north were not able to attack because of the Great Wall protecting its Country. They dynasty standardizes all weights and measures, leading to a more effortless exchange of goods, and developing a taxation system. The Chinese money is also made equal all over, allowing even more efficiency of exchange in goods. Qin Shihuang had a lasting impact in the power of leadership in China. After his death in 206 BCE, his son, and later his grandson, took power but bother were short lived. The Qin Dynasty ended in 206 BCE. After his death, the same states that were in war before he became the emperor, began to fight again and many leaders sprang up over China until the Han Dynasty. Even though this happened, the lasting effects of practices that were put in place in the Qin Dynasty, lasted throughout the centuries. Qin’s power came from his top-down rule, and people conformed to his rule because of his powerful personality. They followed him because he showed them a vast difference in comparison to their small kingdoms, giving a way to a beginning of a future nation-state. The fact that China is names after Qin just goes to show how big of an influence he really was. For more than 2 thousand years Taoism has been the religious tradition that has influenced the people of East Asia. The work, Tao means the â€Å"path† or â€Å"way†, but with numerous subtle differences in folk religion and Chinese philosophy. There are three Jewels of Tao that are underlined: compassion, moderation, and humility. Taoism teaches mostly on nature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. The reason for all of Taoist’s rules and practices is to have Harmony with the Universe. Another thing that is popular in Taoism is godly fear for ancestor spirits and immortals. There is folk religion Taoism, and then there is organized Taoism, the difference is their rituals. Chinese alchemy, astrology, cuisine, Zen Buddhism, many Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, and feng shun, and many style of qigong have been weaved with Taoism throughout history. Another philosophy developed in China is Confucianism. It came from the teachings of Confucius; Master Kong, 551-478 B.C. It is a complex system of moral, political, philosophical, social, and part religious thought that influences the culture and history of East Asia. Some East Asian countries consider it to be a state religion because of the adopted philosophies of Confucius. China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam all are influenced by Confucianism as well as Singapore. The very first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang was the patron. Not long after he became emperor, he ordered to have his mausoleum be built. It was ordered to be build at the foot of Li Mountain in Xian. Part of his grave goods was the Terra Cotta warriors. It is believed that it took 700,00 men and 40 years to build the mausoleum. Qin wanted not only to be the greatest king alive, but in his death and for eternity. This is why he would not allow a chance for there to be a rebellion between the 6 states that were in war with each other. The terra cotta army was built there to suppress them, and execute his dream of everlasting. This is why he built the army in his tomb.

Teen Pregnancy in the United States Essay -- Teenage Pregnancy

â€Å"Each year in the U.S. almost one million teenagers become pregnant--at enormous costs to themselves, their children, and society†. (Pregnant Teen Help, Teen Pregnancy Statistics) Some would argue that teen pregnancy is all glorified. Other individuals would protest that it is too influential. Teen pregnancy is a rising social problem in the United States and among other countries. Teen pregnancy is now being publicized as multi media corporations, with shows such as â€Å"16 & Pregnant†, â€Å"Teen Mom†, â€Å"Maury†, â€Å"Secret Life of the American Teenager†, and â€Å"Juno†. All of which concentrate on teen pregnancy. These shows or movies could be informational for young people. However, the shows display an altered reality that teen pregnancy is easy, laughs and joy. Dispite what the shows might portray teen pregnancy is an uprising national and global epidemic. In the past teen pregnancy has been an underline issue that is vastl y taking center stage. Media, education, and economy are all components to this phenomenon, nevertheless, how are they all connected? All of which will all be addressed in the contents of this paper. Which leaves the burning question: is teen pregnancy accepted into our society as a norm, or is it still a deviant act? First and for most, there are many different definitions of teenage pregnancy depending on the source of the information. However, as a broad definition defines teenage pregnancy as â€Å"a female typically between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, typically who hasn’t completed her core education – secondary schools – has few or no marketable skills, is financially dependent upon an older adult typically her parents and or continues to live at home and is typically mentally immature†. (Adolescent Health) Most ... ...March 23, 2011, from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/about-us Who We Are. (2014). In Planned Parenthood. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are-4648.htm Chandra, A., Martino, S. C., Collins, R. l., Elliot, M. N., Berry, S. H., Kanouse, D. E., & Miu, A. (2008, November 5). Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. In Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. Google Scholar. Teenage Pregnancy and Education. (2010, December 24). In Pregnant Teen Help. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/teenage-pregnancy-and/teenage-pregnancy-and-education Teen Pregnancy Statistics. (2010, November 23). In Pregnant Teen Help. Retrieved Web. 29 Mar. 2015. http://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/statistics/teen-pregnancy-statistics/

About Belonging

Laird's stories show that all people face challenges no matter where they live In the world. Do you agree? Having a sense of belonging is important for everyone and Laird's short stories, â€Å"Interpreter of Maladies† describe the problems people face when they feel isolated. She sets many of her short stories In America and describes the difficulties that some immigrants face when confronted with a new culture, gender expectations or crisis.She also demonstrates, however, how others readily adapt and embrace their new lifestyle. Nonetheless Chumps Lair uses a diverse range of characters to illustrate the human need to feel belonged to one self to others, to feel accepted and have a place to belong. Between the nine short stories that Chumps Lair has written she has set up a range of main characters facing similar problems contrasting their different living styles but comparing the fact that they have problems.Lair wants to explain that everyone can face problems. One of her challenges she has developed with In the short stones Is the demand of a sense of belonging. In â€Å"when Mr. Pravda moms to dine† The first-person speaker is a ten-year-old girl, Lila. Lila faces a problem when she finds herself caught between the traditions of her parent's and American. Her mother understands that Lila Is American – We live here now, she was born here' (p. 26) ? and has little understanding of the politics of India and Pakistan.Yet, something still fascinates Lila about her parent's' homeland. This confusion Lair has developed in her narrator was to demonstrate how important it is to someone to have a sense of belonging to a place and without that feeling they become lost and confused. Alular has revealed feeling a sense of belonging to a place through a young girl and also through an old Indian lady. By comparing Laird's short stories, It illustrates the struggles people face when they have a loss of belonging to a place, or others.Similar to All In â€Å"when Mr. Piranha came to dine† Mrs. Seen in the story by the same name, folds herself lost in a different culture and Is unwilling to adapt to that culture. Mrs. Seen is an old Indian woman who came to America; living In one country for most of her life she feels a sense of belonging to that culture and no matter where she goes she refuses to change her expectations due to the place she is in. This inability to conform to her new society is shown by her inability and unwillingness to learn how to drive.Her separation from the culture she is living in is shown when she is on a bus with a ‘bloodlines bag' (p. 132) full of fish and a woman with ‘a crisp white bag from the drugstore' (p. 132) tells the bus driver. Mrs. Seen Is living In a world where blood and the real world are ever- present, a distinct contrast with the antiseptic world of America. Lair Illustrate the same problem of being forced to adapt and change to survive In another culture with anothe r old Indian woman.In a † real Durban† Boor' ma works in America and wishes to have a sense of belonging with that country and culture which is unlike Mrs. Seen who refuses to change. Lair wants to demonstrate a similar ‘OFF in accepting change. Boor ma seeks to find belonging to a place but then is rejected due to the untrusting of another culture. â€Å"We shared our coal, gave her a place to sleep, how could she betray us like this. â€Å"P. 81 . Boor ma wishes to connect to a culture, to others as well as to a place. Not being accepted in any of those could create a loss f your true identity.Being confused about your identity is a universally human problem people face. Many people try to find a sense of belonging within them. Being confused about your identity is a hard Journey to achieve a comfortable and true description of yourself. Lair illustrates this tough Journey In ‘Sexy. Miranda tries on a number of identities in her search to feel comfortable within her. She recalls being exploited when she was younger; however, the affair with Deep offers her hope that she can establish a new sense of self. â€Å"Pressed her face against Dive's engineers intertwined with hers† p. 4 revealing the extent that Miranda was trying to steal someone else's identity and not seek her own. Lair explores the idea that identity, is something that must be hunted. We gain a sense of identity through family, society and culture. For the culturally displaced, this is a difficult endeavourer. The search for identity is universal. Chumps Lair has created a diverse collection of characters from young to the old and different cultures, to reveal that problems anyone can face are universal. One of the problems Chumps Lair has created is a universal human desire to belong.Unable to adapt to a different culture or not being accepted, is a tough challenge people face in order to have a sense of belonging. Being tied between two different cultures can s park confusion in where you're meant to belong. In addition trying to find a sense of belonging within themselves in a problem that faces many characters Chumps Lair has created. Ultimately Chumps Laird's key message is that anyone regardless of their culture, origin, age, or gender can face similar problems, which makes it harder for them to have a sense of belonging.

Food Manifesto Essay

The ideal food system is; sustainable, both in practice and in mindset, values necessity over want whenever food is concerned, and is available to all peoples while promoting equality. Sustainability at its hear is both a practice and a mindset. One cannot be present without the other or else they fail. The current food system is incredibly unsustainable. The use of an enormous amount of resources for the relatively small amount of energy produced is horrendous. â€Å"During the past 50 years, agricultural development policies and practices have successfully emphasized external inputs as the means to increase food production. This has led to growth in global consumption of pesticides, inorganic fertilizer, animal feedstuffs, and tractors and other machinery. These external inputs have. however, tended to substitute for natural processes and resources, rendering them more vulnerable. Pesticides have replaced biological, cultural and mechanical methods for controlling pests, weeds and diseases; inorganic fertilizers have been substituted for livestock manures, composts and nitrogen-fixing crops: information for management decisions comes from input suppliers, researchers rather than from local sources: machines have replaced labor: and fossil fuels have been substituted for local energy sources† (Pretty). The use of resources that we cannot keep using is astronomical. These resources, such as fossil fuels and heavy pesticides, need to be left alone or need to stop being developed. The way we can move away from these products is simple, although tough, method of switching over to natural, organic pesticides and fertilizers. To cut down on the cost and use of fossil fuels, one must cut down on the size of one’s land and employ local people to harvest the crops. â€Å"A meat based diet (28% calories from animal products) uses twice as much energy to produce as a vegetarian diet. Meat production as it is widely practiced today also has significant environmental impacts on land use, water use and water pollution, and air emissions. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists – considering land use, and water use and pollution – eating less meat is one of the most effective environmental consumer choices. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides require large amounts of energy to produce, pollute our soil and water, and present real human health impacts. Growth in retail sales of organic food products has equaled 20% or more per year since 1990† (Center for Sustainable Systems). These practices are wasteful yet alternatives are present. The way in which our food is produced needs to be fundamentally changed and this occurs when the mindset of the populous is changed. The current food system has been so wasteful, that the practices and mindset of the people just 50 years ago seems foreign. â€Å"Less than 50 years ago most rural households in the US sustained themselves by farming. While some agricultural products were sold for money on the open market, others were produced solely for household consumption of for bartering with neighbors† (Lyson 8). This practice is the same that my family uses at home and my neighbors see us as very â€Å"hippy-ish†. This is not a bad thing to be called this yet it is odd that the practices that were completely normal just half a century ago are now seen as unusual. These practices are the foundation of my ideal food system, one that is founded upon the wants of the body first in consideration with the land. The land is an extension of the body and must be nourished just the same. This is helped with the sharing of resources between neighbors. The necessity for food is valued higher than the want for types of food in my ideal food system. The want for expensive foods, convenient foods and cheap foods is an idea that has consumed the country, and the food system. The fact that we produce so much food has made us greedy. The way in which we consume food and are constantly absorbing advertisements is preposterous. The size of our grocery stores has increased due to the need for more space for all of the choices that we are allowed. Most of these items are not grown entirely in the United States but are made up from the products developed here. â€Å"There is no shortage of food here, and everybody knows it. In fact, for much of this century, national agricultural policy has been preoccupied with surplus, and individual Americans have been preoccupied with avoiding, losing, or hiding the corporeal effects of overeating† (Poppendieck). This has led to an epidemic of choice, not obesity. The way in which we behave when confronted with these choices is odd to say the least as we are drawn to shiny, bright packaging rather than the dull, healthy apple. â€Å"Because we have lost our faith in both religion and science as guides to eating, we rely on popular writers to steer us through a welter of confusing and contradictory information† (DuPuis). The food writers of the nation have left us with so much to absorb that we are just as lost reading their work as we are at the grocery store. This has led to the mindless consumption that has further led to the overconsumption of resources to fuel our poor habits. The way in which the people will learn to implement this new way of thinking, abandon want and embrace need, will be difficult. This starts in schools with children and will foster that way that they eat, thus starting a new generation with the â€Å"right† mentality. â€Å"Such changes in the food supply and decreased activity are largely socioeconomically-driven (urbanization, more cars owned and operated, less safety in urban areas, children being driven everywhere instead of walking, more reliance on fast food as more households have both parents working away from home)† (Massad). This also reiterates my point on the decrease of unsustainable resources in our food system. The encouragement for people to walk places and to avoid fast food is a start but the children are the bet recipients for this type of indoctrination as they are the most impressionable. This is very apparent as many people as adults take part in activities not out of personal preference but because that was how they were raised. Availability is the clearest factor in devising a new food system. The locality of food should be so much a part of a community, one cannot walk down a street without seeing at least 5 vendors from the surrounding family farms. â€Å"Much of what was produced was not sold on the open market but rather was bartered for goods and services in the local community or else used for home consumption† (Lyson 9). The way that a local food system should work is that food should be produce for the family first, and then the surplus will be offered in town for money. When money is not readily available, then services will be exchanged such as plumbing, painting, clothing, etc. The need to share food is important for all people as just years ago food was â€Å"produced solely for household consumption or for bartering with neighbors† (Lyson 8). This is the only way in which our local food system will be able to flourish with the implementation of a semi bartering system that will allow farmers and families to exchange food items for other food items. This is only possible with a local food system as the current food system is too monetarily based to be able to function in this respect. The solidarity of humankind to be courteous to one another begins not with the treatment of all people equally, but the treatment of the food system as a living organism. This is possible through much sacrifice but a change is necessary in order for the human race to end a problem that has haunted us for all of our existence. Through a collective effort, the new sustainable, local food system focusing on the needs of people as opposed to what people want from it, will be able to bring humankind into a â€Å"more glorious dawn. † (Sagan) DuPuis, E. Melanie. â€Å"Angels and Vegetables: A Brief History of Food Advice in America. † Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture 7, no. 3 (08/01 2007): 34-44. Lyson, Thomas A. Civic Agriculture: Reconnecting Farm, Food, and Community. Medford, Massachusetts: Tufts University Press, 2004. Massad, Susan J. â€Å"Super-Sizing America: Geography, Income, Fast Food, and Whole Food. † Human Geography 2, no. 2 (2009): 52-69. McKibben, Bill. â€Å"The Cuba Diet. † Harper’s Magazine 310, no. 1859 (Apr 2005): 61-69. Poppendieck, Janet. â€Å"Want Amid Plenty: From Hunger to Inequality. † In Hungry for Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food, and the Environment, edited by Fred Magdoff, John Bellamy Foster and Frederick H. Buttel, 189-202. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000. Pretty, Jules N. â€Å"Participatory Learning for Sustainable Agriculture. † World Development 23, no. 8 (1995): 1247-63. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Perennial, 2002.

Essay on Criminal Justice and Violent Female Offenders

Essay on Criminal Justice and Violent Female Offenders Essay on Criminal Justice and Violent Female Offenders Essay on Criminal Justice and Violent Female OffendersViolent crime is one of the components of the overall structure of crime, which includes offenses related to physical and psychological violence against the person, or the threat of violence. Violent crime, in a broad sense, includes all the acts in which violence is a way to abuse, and, in the narrow sense, it includes only those actions in which violence is one of the elements of criminal motivation.Violence is defined as: 1) the use of physical force to someone; 2) the use of force, forced impact on someone, something; 3) the harassment, abuse of power, lawless use of force.Not all violence is a subject of criminology, but only when it is associated with a violation of criminal law (criminal violence). There are two types of such violence:Physical abuse the infliction of physical, bodily harm to the person, up to the deprivation of his life.Psychological violence causing mental, moral damages: threats, insults, slander, blac kmail, coercion, and all kinds of restrictions on the freedom of person; and some types of fraud, psycho and economic methods.Violence is a primary or secondary means of committing so many crimes. Different countries name various groups of violent crimes:Statistical Yearbook of the United States at the federal level notes the following types of violent crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault.Notifiable Offences recorded by Police of England and Wales include all kinds of crimes against the person, including, for example, an illegal abortion; sexual crimes (including pimping and bigamy) and robberies into the number of violent attacks.In Germany, the Collection of crime statistics include murder, rape, robbery, injury, poisoning, hostage-taking and extortion related to the kidnapping into violent crimes.The share of traditional forms of violent crime in its overall structure is quite small. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of law enforcement is assessed on the basis of estim ations of the most serious crimes.Murder is one of the most ancient and dangerous types of crimes. Murder is a crime in all legal systems, although, there are certain differences in understanding of what should be regarded as murder (Samaha, 2008).In 2000, the absolute number of murders in the world was more than 500 000. This number in various countries differ greatly. In most developed countries observe 1-4 murders per 100 000 population; the lowest rates were observed in Japan, Iceland, Ireland (about 0.5); the USA is a little above the middle figure (5.5). In developing countries, the murder rate is much higher, it can reach 40-50 per 100 000 population or even higher values.The most common among sexual offenses involving violence, is rape. Its danger lies in the fact that the victim is inflicted both physical and mental suffering. Rape is often associated with serious lasting effects, including infection with sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness and even suicide of a v ictim.8th Review of trends in crime, presented by the United Nations indicates that in 2001 and 2002 in the world, there were registered annually more than 250,000 rape. Characterizing the numbers of rape, it should be noted that rape has a high latency. Even in countries with a highly developed system of law enforcement, more than 80 percent of rapes are hidden from law enforcement agencies (Langton, Truman, 2014).Robbery is a forcible theft of anothers property. It is an attack the purpose of which is stealing other peoples property, committed with violence dangerous to life or health, or with threat of such violence.Aggravated assault is a stronger form of assault, often with a use of deadly weapon attempting to cause serious bodily injury to another person, cause grievous bodily harm, such as rape or kidnapping, have sexual relations with an underage person, or cause bodily harm by recklessly operating of a vehicle.In general, violent crimes are rarely committed by women: there are around 90% of male violent criminals. Women usually resort to domestic violence, especially in connection with the immoral and illegal behavior of the victim usually a spouse or cohabitant. Violent criminals are usually quite young – less then 40 years old. Crimes, related to the deprivation victim’s life and personal injury, are frequently committed by persons aged 25-29 years, rapes by persons under 25 years old.Educational and social levels of violent offenders are lower than that of other categories of offenders and general population. Typically, these individuals have relatively low skills, work in low-paid jobs or do not work.Violent criminals inherent violation of social identification and adaptation, desociolization. They hardly follow standards of society, instead assessing the situation on the basis of personal beliefs and desires. They are self-centered, have primitive needs and impulsive desire for the realization of desires and needs, not restrained by self-monitoring mechanism. Violations of socialization are manifested in difficulties in establishing contacts with other people. Such persons are characterized by psychological self-defense mechanism: they believe that the actions, they are accused for, have been provoked by victims, and they acted correctly and should not be punished. Intensity of such deviations may be different. There are many psychopaths among criminals (estimates vary from 30 to 60%) and those with borderline mental disorders.Some scientists believe that forming of personality of violent criminals depends on biological and genetic predisposition. However, commonly accepted viewpoint claims that determination of violent crime, as well as crime in general, has a predominantly social nature: the causes and conditions of crime lie in the society in which it exists (Samaha, 2008).An important place in the causal complex of many violent crimes is occupied by victim behavior of victims. This is especially characte ristic of rape, where a substantial part of the victims themselves provokes criminal sexual contact (usually frivolous behavior in the situation related to the joint use of alcohol with the rapist.Literature ReviewFemale criminality has always been perceived as a less serious issue than male criminal behavior. Historically, females tend to commit minor crimes and have amounted only a small proportion in total number of offenders. Ten though women remain a relatively small amount of all prisoners, there is a trend in rising of percentage among female offenders, their participation in crimes connected with violent, and have inhibited the increase of gender-specific programs addressing the problem (Greenfeld, Snell, 1999).Female offenders have different needs comparing to males, stemming in part from their own disproportionate victimization from physical or sexual abuse and their sense of responsibility for dependant children. Besides, they are more likely to have drug addiction and to have mental illnesses (Morash, Bynum, Koons, 1998).In general, younger females delinquent acts usually have less chronic and less serious character in comparison with boys. Minor offenses dominate among female criminals. However, minor crimes may mask serious problems that girls are facing. Running away from parents’ home and other status offenses are the main components of girls delinquency. Even though their offense behavior may appear to be not very serious, such girls may be suffering from serious problems and victimization, involving illegal behavior by relatives. That, in turn, can make them open to subsequent victimization and engage in other types of behavior that violates the law such as prostitution, survival sex and drug use (Heidensohn, Silvestri, 2012).Many risk factors contribute to females’ criminal behavior, including substance abuse, spousal abuse and mental illness. One of the most significant risk factors is considered to be prior victimization (Mor ash, Bynum, Koons, 1998).The Federal Bureau of Investigation with the help of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects crime and arrest statistics from more than 18,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies. Crime in the United States, 2012 released in November 2013 reveals the information that, during 2012:In the whole country, law enforcement made 12,196,959 arrests (traffic violations are not included).2% of them were of females (â€Å"Women and Girls in the Justice System,† 2014).According to OJJDPs (the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventions)  Juvenile Court Statistics 2010,  released in June 2013:Courts with juvenile jurisdiction held an estimated 1,368,200 law-breaking cases in 2010.28% of them were with female offenders.In general, female delinquency caseload raised at an average rate of 2 percent per year between 1985 and 2010, while the average rate increased for less than 1 percent per year for males (â€Å"Women and Girls in the Justice System,† 2014).According to the resource of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), Jail Inmates at Midyear 2013 – Statistical Tables, which shows data collected from the  Annual Survey of Jails, the number of female convicts increased by 10.9% between midyear 2010 and 2013. In same period, the male inmate population declined for 4.2%.According to OJJDP’s 2011 Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, females amounted 14% of all youth in residential placement (Ginder, 2014).The Bureau of Justice Statistics Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey provide total number of all persons supervised in the community and counts of the number entering and leaving supervision during the year on all the territory of the USA. According to provided information:In 2012, approximately 24 percent of the adults on probation were femaleIn 2012, approximately 11% of the adults on parole were femaleIn 2010, nearly 19% of the federal offenders under supervision wer e femaleBased on self-reports of violence victims, women represent about 14 percent among all violent offenders, which is an average of around 2.1 million of violent female offenders per year.There is 1 violent offender in every 9 men of 10 years old or older, a per capita rate six times that among women. In 1998, 3 out of 4 violent female criminals committed simple assault. About 28 percent of violent female offenders were juveniles, and 3 out of 4 victims of female offenders’ violence were women. Around two out of three victims had some kind of prior relationship with a female offender. An estimated four in ten women who committed violent offences were perceived by their victims as being drunk and/or under drugs while committing the crime. The per capita rate for murders committed by females in 1998 was on the lowest point recorded since 1976. In 1998, approximately 3.2 million women were arrested, considering for about 22 percent of all arrests that year. And the per capit a rate in arrest among juvenile women was about twice the adult female rate. It is worth mentioning that between 1990 and 1998, the number of the female defendants, who were convicted of felonies in courts of the United States grew at more than twice the rate of growth among male defendants. In 1998, the number of women that were under the care, supervision, or control of correctional agencies amounted 950,000. Parole agencies or probation supervised 85 percent of these criminals in the community. Women under the supervision of agencies of criminal justice system were mothers of about 1.3 million minor children. Nearly six in ten women in American prisons had experienced sexual or physical abuse in the past. Around 84,000 women were imprisoned in 1998 (Greenfeld, L. A., Snell, 1999).There have been noted some substantial differences in behavior and treatment of defendants in courts on the basis of their gender. Criminologist Frances Heidensohn says that judges and juries often have difficulties in isolating the fact that the defendant is a woman and the fact that she also can be a mother, a widow, she can be attractive, or she may cry on the stand. Besides, male and female defendants note that in court they have been encouraged to behave differently in accordance with the gender; women have been advised to show mute passivity, at the same time men have been advised to assert themselves in testimony and cross-examinations (Heidensohn, Silvestri, 2012).There are two thoughts on the issue if criminal justice system has a gender bias and if men and women are treated differently in courts and police.The first one is chivalry thesis, where chivalry is treating others, mostly women with courtesy, respect and sympathy. According to chivalry theory women are treated more leniently by the system of criminal justice than men. Male chivalry means that often police are less likely to charge females, and courts tend to give them a lighter sentence, even in situations when t hey have committed the same crimes as men.The second theory is called double deviance theory. According to this theory, criminal justice system treats women more harshly because they are guilty of being doubly deviant. They deviated from norms accepted by society by breaking the law and, at the same time, deviated from gender norms, which tell how woman should behave.Many female offenders feel that they have been treated harshly by the system of criminal justice. They perceive it as a male-dominated institution and feel their treatment has been unjust and unsympathetic (Heidensohn, Silvestri, 2012).After arrest, women more often than men are cautioned instead of being charged. They are usually not committed for trial or remanded in custody. Female offenders have more chances to be discharged or to be given a community sentence than men and less likely to be sentenced to prison or fined. Often, women sent to prison get shorter sentences than men. This information suggests that the sy stem of criminal justice does treat woman more leniently. Though, we also need to take into account the seriousness of committed crime and difference in crime history. Female offences are usually less serious and women are less likely to have criminal records (Bryant, 2011).Disparity in the treatment of criminals involved in the system of criminal justice has been the subject of a substantial number of research over the past decades. Probably, the most compelling evidence of inequality is found in the demographics among the convicts in federal and state prisons in the United States. Most of prisoners in our nations prisons are men, mostly black or Hispanic. These disparities in imprisonment rates, which have been noted for more than three decades, have made researchers to focus on the sentencing stage while criminal justice process. They also have led policymakers to search for ways in order to constrain judicial discretion while sentencing (Stacey, Spohn, 2006).Ann Martin Stacey an d Cassia Spohn wrote the work in B Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law â€Å"Gender and the Social Costs of Sentencing: An Analysis of Sentences Imposed on Male and Female Offenders in Three U.S. District Courts†. The studies show that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to receive harsher sentences than whites in similar situation, and that the sentences imposed on female offenders, including violent female offenders, are substantially more lenient than the ones imposed on their male counterparts.Studies note that gender effects of favoring female offenders over male ones occur at a significantly higher percentage than race effects of favoring white offenders over the black ones. There is one explanation for this, which suggests that women are more likely to be sentenced more leniently than men because they are often convicted of less serious offences and have less serious criminal records. Another explanation reveal judges percept women as childlike and dependent, and they wa nt to protect women from the severity of jail or prison.These explanations of gender disparity in sentencing show how important it is to control adequately for legally related indicators of crime seriousness and prior criminal record, along with the importance of taking into consideration potential connections between the gender of the offender and other legally irrelevant characteristics of the offender. We focus on interactions between the gender of the offender, his/her marital status, offenders responsibility for dependent children, and the severity of offender’s sentence (Langton, Truman, 2014).Studies, conducted by Ann Martin Stacey and Cassia Spohn found that judges and prosecutors take the gender of the offender into account, while sentencing decisions are not affected by the offenders marital status or responsibility for dependent children. Besides, females with dependent children are usually treated about the same compared to similarly situated men with dependent ch ildren in terms of length of the imposed sentence and the scale of substantial support departures. Nevertheless, although women with children were notably more likely than women without children to get substantial assistance departures, men with children didn’t get same benefit.Researchers on sentencing in federal and state courts found that female offenders were treated more leniently than male criminals. The study show, that female offenders, including violent crimes, have received approximately ten months shorter sentences than the sentences imposed on male offenders in similar situation. Women also were significantly more likely than men to get a downward departure for providing substantial assistance.Essay on   Criminal Justice and Violent Female Offenders part 2

Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating Free Online Research Papers Eating the right things and knowing what to choose can be difficult if you do not know what you are looking for. To eat healthy one has to choose the right fruits and vegetables which can be tricky. Healthy eating can be pricey. If you have ever been to the store and seen the prices there one would know. Healthy eating is hard for most people and can be expensive. It’s not your imagination eating right is costly. In fact you pay more than $30 more per day on food if you make healthy choices. Researchers at the University of Washington recently put together a study to consider food prices based on dollars per calories to help consumers understand the prices between healthy and not-so-healthy foods. Generally speaking, the foods highs in nutrients are low in calorie count while junk food tends to be calorie dense. The bottom line in this study was that high calorie foods jingle in at a cost of $3.52 per person per day compared to $36.32 for low calorie selections. Most consumers do a bit of balancing and plunk down $7 per day for food for each person(allison2008). With today’s society and the way people are losing jobs most can’t afford to eat none the less try to eat healthy. Many try to cut back by looking for the cheaper food which doesn’t mean the best food for you. People cut coupons, look through ads they receive in the mail also know as junk mail. Anything they can do to try and eat healthy; People just really need to think about what they are going to eat and how much to eat. We have all heard of portion control. Just try to cut down your portions into smaller ones than you are use to. As Americans we love to eat out at fast food places. The trick to eating at these places are order a salad with dressing on the side or maybe a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a breaded one. And the one thing we all love the most is soda try substituting water instead. These are just some ideas and they are really common sense. Here are some things that you should eat and what you should avoid. You should eat fruit that is fresh, dried without sulfur, preservatives, additives and sweeteners. Fruits that should be eaten are frozen without preservatives and additives. What you should avoid in fruit canned with heavy syrup or light syrup. Vegetables that should be eaten are fresh, raw, lightly steamed and baked. Vegetables to avoid are canned and overcooked. Grains that are good for you are whole grains that are unprocessed sugar free. Some grains to avoid are all products with white flour, white rice and instant oatmeal’s. Some legumes to may eat are dry beans and peas. Some legumes to avoid are canned and prepared with animal fat and pork and beans (Healthy eating Advisor, 2002-2009). The list can go on and on but these are just some examples so that one might understand. All this healthy eating should be considered in children especially. Many children are obese today because their parents choose not to feed them healthy foods. The guidelines to feeding children healthy food are about the same as an adult but have different portion sizes and may need more in certain areas than an adult. Parents need to realize that children can and should not live off of junk food just because they are lazy. Parents should offer their children a wide variety of foods like fruits and vegetables and dairy products. Like and adult just watch the amount you give them. The people particular that should be highlighted is the children and any person in poor health. Today people are getting healthy. If people where not getting healthy today they would be in poor health. Health eating present situation is better than many year ago but there are still many out there in poor health. The current range of public opinion on healthy eating is not known at this time. Any persons view could effectively represent one extreme. Anyone could represent an opposite view of the subject. Anyone in the public experience can serve to represent the majority of those directly involved in healthy eating. The public’s perception of the healthy eating differ from the experience of those directly involved with it because they think it is just easy to eat healthy but they don’t understand how hard it is to do. The future of healthy eating might hold that many people will be healthy and in good health if they continue to eat healthy. People might stay healthy if they continue to eat healthy because that is what happens. If a person does not eat healthy they can have a relapse and gain the weight they loss back or go back to poor health. The headline that might appear in a newspaper that would not be surprising to read or hear in the future is that many Americans are still obese. For the time being, the aspect of healthy eaten that reporters should be looking at is that many Americans are changing their lives and becoming healthy. Reader should be following the way that Americans are becoming healthy. The major conclusion about healthy eating that should be reported to my readers is that if they don’t take care of themselves and their children they will be in poor health and possibly overweight? Also children that are overweight have low self-esteem and get teased much. Why put a chil d in a place like that when it can be avoided. References Healthy Eating Advisor, (2002-2009). Retrieved Aug.16, 2009, From Healthy foods Do you know which foods are Healthy which are not.www.healthyeatingadvisor.com Allison,C.(2008, April 1). Eating Healthy is Expensive. Retrieved Aug. 16, 2009. From suite101.com. Website www.Suite101.com ? 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Tips to Connect Your Essay ideas and Sentences

Tips to Connect Your Essay ideas and Sentences How to Connect Ideas Properly in Essay Writing? Each paper should feature a logical connection between paragraphs and sentences. This is to establish a comprehensive coherence and guide your reader from one section to another preventing from getting lost in author’s thoughts. While research papers and simple types of essay do not require such connection, it appears to be vital for such academic assignments as an argumentative essay. Follow our useful writing tips and boost your academic progress. Tips on connecting sentences The only way to establish a proper sentence connection is to use special words. They typically include: And – the word can be transformed into more complicated links like furthermore, additionally, as well as and other constructions; But – the main mission here is to provide an alternative in a logical way. You may use such transformations as although, despite, in contrast, nonetheless, etc.; So – this word, as well as its alternative forms, is to provide a result or effect. For this reason, the water starts boiling. Therefore, greenhouse effect causes air pollution; Because – the word highlights the effect or the cause. It stresses the reason. The result of 1005 degrees is boiling water. Make sure you follow necessary grammar and punctuation rules when using those words to link sentences in your paper. Tips on connecting ideas This one is probably the toughest challenge for immature and amateur writers. Using the write sentence formation is vital. At the same time, each part of the paper should have logical links to guide readers from one thought to another. Here are some useful tips not to get lost: Simplify the issue – do not be afraid to explain your thought in a simpler manner using â€Å"in other words† or other forms; Stress Similarities – compare a complicated thought with a simple analog. â€Å"In the same way as†, â€Å"equally† and other collocations would come in handy; Provide the Examples – give simpler examples to more complicated issues; Display Emphasis – use words that will stress your emphasis. They may include such collocations as â€Å"more importantly†, â€Å"indeed† and others. Tips on connecting paragraphs After we have provided a proper link to sentences and ideas, it is high time we connected our paragraphs to make the paper look complete. Signal and pointing words appear to be extremely useful for this purpose: Use Signal Words – use collocations to signalize a reader about the end of the beginning of the paragraph. â€Å"Besides†, â€Å"even though† and other signal phrases are necessary; Time Signals – they have proved to be rather effective. They include strong words and phrases like â€Å"finally†, â€Å"meanwhile† and others. Final word Writing a good paper means not just expressing your knowledge of the topic. It is also about great writing style and skills. For this reason, you need to establish strong connections between thoughts and ideas, paragraphs and sentences. Never leave your reader lost in thoughts. You should guide him or her using signal words and other phrases to spread light on your major paper.

Parenting Websites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parenting Websites - Essay Example In our day-to-day lives we come across various kinds of situations where we need some kind of advice from the experts or psychotherapist who can guide us to tackle with the situations. This site is a helping hand to those needful parents as it incorporates articles related to all subjects one can think and face in routine life. The articles are for all the age group starting from nursing an infant, toilet-training a toddler, helping a third-grader with homework, or buying a cell phone for a teenager, this website has advice and ideas to help parents of children belonging to any age-group. It provides various methodologies and ways for the parents to deal with the situations which they come across while rearing their child and formulating their personalities, as these children are the future of the nation. It helps parents to develop awareness towards the environment and changing trends in culture of the society. All parents want their child to be capable of tackling with the day-today life. To keep abreast with the trends it is imperative for the parents to provide their child/ children with the best possible commodities. This not only built confidence in the child but also enhance motor skills and knowledge to the child. This site provides toys right from vision fixation, motor skill development to interactive learning and games related with situations. The site provides the best toys and educational products. Apart from offering a range of the products it also offers tips on selecting and links to online toy stores. The website encompasses a little bit of everything – printable material for the kids, recipes, parenting articles for all ages, a message board, along with the complete information which a family requires for a progressive and cognitive development in the present era. The printable material enhances the gross motor skills as it contains coloring material to various activities which keep the child busy all

Female genital mutilation and human rights Term Paper - 1

Female genital mutilation and human rights - Term Paper Example The UN is clear in its condemnation of the practice, stating unequivocally that it violates the basic human rights of girls and women and denies them of their physical and mental integrity, their right to freedom from violence and discrimination, and sometimes even their lives. At the same time, however, the UN recognizes that FGM is deeply entrenched in many cultures in the world, and as a result, difficult to end without respecting these cultures’ values and systems of belief. How, then, does the condemnation of FGM by many international organizations such as the UN and WHO fit into cultural relativism? This paper will seek to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory ideas. How can these organizations condemn such a practice without alienating large groups of people? First, I will provide evidence that FGM does indeed violate the human rights of the girls and women who are forced to withstand it. Then I will illustrate how the concepts of cultural relativism fit into it, and how those interested in promoting the health and welfare of women and girls all over the world can use these concepts to eradicate it. As WHO states, FGM â€Å"reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women† (â€Å"Female† n.p.). The UN states that FGM violates the rights of both children and women, and cites two major UN proclamations, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). The UN clearly states that FGM violates the CRC because it compromises the â€Å"right to life, the right to physical integrity, the right to the highest attainable standard of health (including, with maturity, reproductive and sexual health), as well as the right to freedom from physical or mental violence, injury or abuse† (Lewnes 15). It is also a violation of the child’s right to development, protection, and full

Urban Planning Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Urban Planning Perspectives - Essay Example In addition, regardless of the answers of the political authorities or stakeholders to the foregoing, additional fundamental planning principles or perspectives can be included. For instance, one planning principle that can be added is that urbanizing areas must also anticipate the needs of the future. Thus, for example, road widths must anticipate the traffic volumes of tomorrow and car volumes rather than the traffic volumes of the present. The needs assumed for planning must assume the needs of the future or perhaps a generation ahead rather than assuming only the needs of the current generation. The assumption on the demand for water, for example, must also factor in the needs of future generations rather than merely assume the needs of today. Planning must anticipate possible problems that can emerge. Another planning principle that will have to decided upon by political authorities pertain to what planning principle should be adopted by planning authorities pertaining to sustenance. Shall the planning authority assume national and/or international interdependence or sustenance or should the planning authority assume or adopt the principle of self-sufficient or self-sustaining urban areas? In general, urban areas have generally assumed that regions and areas are interdependent and, thus, did not attempt that all the needs of the city are satisfied by the urban area or the city itself. However, it is conceivable that we can find civil society groups lobbying that the city or urbanizing area adopt a planning principle aiming at self-sufficient urban areas or self-sufficient cities. The â€Å"self-sufficient† cities or urbanizing areas are supposedly able to acquire its sustenance entirely or solely from the city or the urbanizing area itself. Another planning principle that will have to decide by the political authorities in the urbanizing area or city is on the weight of function versus aesthetics in planning. Should the urbanizing area or city

The amazing adventures of kavalier and clay Essay

The amazing adventures of kavalier and clay - Essay Example With these ideas, they come up with a symbol of the two- The Escapist. This paper will look into the unfolding in the book giving a clear understanding of the same. The Escapist is the alter ego of Joe and Sam in several ways. Joe is a trained escapist. As such, he is able to escape most of the challenging things he faces just like the Escapist. He manages to escape the reign of the Nazis in Prague. He even uses his artistic creativity put the experience on paper. There are instances were he also escapes. The happy relationship he had with Rosa, for instance. He also escapes the carbon monoxide poisoning, madness, his family, as well as, Sammy. Joe is a real-life escapist in the novel. Sammy escapes from reality through daydreaming. He manages to escape from having to travel with his father. Another instance where Sammy’s escapism is manifested is when he escapes from providing for his family; mother and grandmother. However, his escapist nature is brought out more clearly when he escapes from the reality of his being homophobic. When he is publicly said to be a homosexual, he is relieved. The alter ego is crucial for the Escapist. This other self revealed in the escapist gives a leeway for the escapist to avoid some situations that are challenging. Realism is heightened with the escapist roaming the world to rescue those chained by despotism. An insight of the lives of Joe and Sammy is brought out. Escapism and their alter egos play vital roles in bringing out the stories of their lives. The feelings of these characters are brought out in many instances. Feelings of guilt on exuberant living are felt by Sammy. His sexual orientation is also brought out revealing some of the intimate issues affecting the characters. Love and happiness is also explored within the escapism theme. Both Joe and Sammy find love in Rosa and Tracy. Joe leaves Rosa after he fails to protect his brother. He considers himself a failure thus the

Is the U.S. seeking to contain Russia Research Paper - 1

Is the U.S. seeking to contain Russia - Research Paper Example CON: No the U.S. is NOT seeking to contain Russia because: 1. Diversification of natural supplies is beneficial for all countries involved. 2. Russia has a strong position in the global energy market. 3. Diversification enhances the opportunity for competition. 4. Russia is also fully aware of the economic realities and acts accordingly. 5. European continent is capable of managing its own affairs and dealing with any threat imposed by Russia. 6. Russia’s position is increasingly being weakened by the revolution of shale gas, as well as the increasing popularity of LNG. Some people might think that the US government is presently instituting efforts to ensure its dominance and control on Russia. Recent news reports indicate that the US government is presently placing immense pressure on the Greek government to cancel the sale of its famous gas operator, DEPA to Gazprom, which is a major oil supplier in Russia. The US is immensely concerned that the massive Russian state-owned g as company that is a monopoly that supplies at least 90% of Greece’s entire gas consumption. This is bound to further augment Russia’s position in the region, and detrimentally affect Greece’s overall economic situation. This will place Russia in a position of extreme power, which may enhance the country’s supremacy in the greater European region (Lynch 99). In addition, the US is seeking to exert its control on Russia in order to deter the latter country’s instigation of communism in the European region. Russia was a former super power whose dominance in the region was deterred through the use of military force. Capitalist countries such as the US initiated conflict with Russia in order to deter Russia’s supremacy in the European region and ultimately the infiltration of communism in the rest of the world. Therefore, the US seeks to control Russia in order to deter Russia’s dominance in European or the rest of the world. This positio n would threaten US supremacy in the global political, economic and social front (Escobar 10). The US is also concerned that Russian company Gazprom’s acquisition of DEPA would enhance Moscow’s position in the complicated geopolitical game, hence enhancing the opportunities of Russia’s South Stream pipeline turning into the primary source of imported oil in the entire Southern European region. This would detrimentally affect major oil alternatives that enjoy US favor, for instance the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco pipeline (Barylski 12). Moreover, Greece is not the sole member of the European Union, which is presently subject to US lobbying regarding Russia’s assumed ambitions within the European continent. The same efforts have been adopted concerning the Czech Republic regarding its nuclear energy plans. The government of the Czech Republic is presently aiming at capitalizing onanti-nuclear energy sentiment within the neighboring countries, Austri a and Germany, which was triggered by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The Czech Republic is presently seeking to modernize and expand its Temelin plant, with two additional reactors expected to be added by the year 2025 at the cost of $10 billion. This will allow for the increase of exports to other European countries. At present, there are only two key bidders for Czech Republic’s nuclear energy; the Westinghouse domiciled in the US and Amtomstroyexport, which is located in Russia. In January of 2013,

Define the Origins of the Aqualung in Relation to Swim Diving Essay

Define the Origins of the Aqualung in Relation to Swim Diving - Essay Example The open air prototype expelled all exhaled air into the waters. The open air system is commonly used for the recreational diving. The Scuba divers suffers from the risks for decompression problems (divers using surface-supplied compressed air) should they ascend without adequate decompression. However, a mixture of Helium-Oxygen compressed air can help Scuba divers descend deeper as compared to compressed air. The history of scuba diving dates back centuries. Many individuals have been diving underwater throughout the ages probably for a period long as they have been swimming. However, the diving may not have been in the exact form of scuba diving but ushered in the inquiry for dive and remained breathing underwater. In ancient times, such mechanisms as hollow reeds, as well as inflated airbags but had a lot of shortcomings. They had limitations based on depth and the duration the swimmer could remain underwater breathing. Scuba diving has undergone a number of tremendous expansions till the turn of the century where the number of new divers is gradually stabilizing. By 2012, the number of new divers certified was approximately one million. The Scuba diving remains a fledgling and vibrant sport as portrayed by the ever rising evolution of the dive equipment as its associated practices. Over the recent years, the application of dive computers has been standardized effectively integrated into many certification agencies in their training curriculum. The incorporation of the wireless of air consumption into the algorithm of dive computers remains the most fundamental innovation. Accordingly, the incorporation of wireless integration into the diving sport has culminated into a safer diving. The chronology of the scuba diving is quite fantastic. The various civilizations throughout the years have indulged in breath-hold diving, free-diving. The existence of sea items on land and ancient pictures presents the evidence for early

Is the U.S. seeking to contain Russia Research Paper - 1

Is the U.S. seeking to contain Russia - Research Paper Example CON: No the U.S. is NOT seeking to contain Russia because: 1. Diversification of natural supplies is beneficial for all countries involved. 2. Russia has a strong position in the global energy market. 3. Diversification enhances the opportunity for competition. 4. Russia is also fully aware of the economic realities and acts accordingly. 5. European continent is capable of managing its own affairs and dealing with any threat imposed by Russia. 6. Russia’s position is increasingly being weakened by the revolution of shale gas, as well as the increasing popularity of LNG. Some people might think that the US government is presently instituting efforts to ensure its dominance and control on Russia. Recent news reports indicate that the US government is presently placing immense pressure on the Greek government to cancel the sale of its famous gas operator, DEPA to Gazprom, which is a major oil supplier in Russia. The US is immensely concerned that the massive Russian state-owned g as company that is a monopoly that supplies at least 90% of Greece’s entire gas consumption. This is bound to further augment Russia’s position in the region, and detrimentally affect Greece’s overall economic situation. This will place Russia in a position of extreme power, which may enhance the country’s supremacy in the greater European region (Lynch 99). In addition, the US is seeking to exert its control on Russia in order to deter the latter country’s instigation of communism in the European region. Russia was a former super power whose dominance in the region was deterred through the use of military force. Capitalist countries such as the US initiated conflict with Russia in order to deter Russia’s supremacy in the European region and ultimately the infiltration of communism in the rest of the world. Therefore, the US seeks to control Russia in order to deter Russia’s dominance in European or the rest of the world. This positio n would threaten US supremacy in the global political, economic and social front (Escobar 10). The US is also concerned that Russian company Gazprom’s acquisition of DEPA would enhance Moscow’s position in the complicated geopolitical game, hence enhancing the opportunities of Russia’s South Stream pipeline turning into the primary source of imported oil in the entire Southern European region. This would detrimentally affect major oil alternatives that enjoy US favor, for instance the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco pipeline (Barylski 12). Moreover, Greece is not the sole member of the European Union, which is presently subject to US lobbying regarding Russia’s assumed ambitions within the European continent. The same efforts have been adopted concerning the Czech Republic regarding its nuclear energy plans. The government of the Czech Republic is presently aiming at capitalizing onanti-nuclear energy sentiment within the neighboring countries, Austri a and Germany, which was triggered by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The Czech Republic is presently seeking to modernize and expand its Temelin plant, with two additional reactors expected to be added by the year 2025 at the cost of $10 billion. This will allow for the increase of exports to other European countries. At present, there are only two key bidders for Czech Republic’s nuclear energy; the Westinghouse domiciled in the US and Amtomstroyexport, which is located in Russia. In January of 2013,

Power Imbalances Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Power Imbalances - Coursework Example 1. Introduction: Most of the great achievements of contemporary organizations have been accomplished by adopting various new strategies in almost every sphere including organizational culture, systems, technology, human resources, operations etc. These achievements have not only increased competition but also necessitated, or even given rise to, various changes in management. One such change is the organizational structure that has changed to being a flat structure from a hierarchical one in most of the organizations. On the one hand, the flat organizational structure has helped in reducing the number of managerial levels in order to improve accessibility and increase accountability besides improving efficiency, reducing costs and better empowerment; on the other hand, this structure has bred power imbalances with greater intensity than the hierarchical structure, thus giving rise to potential conflicts. Paradoxically, these power imbalances also hinder attempts to manage conflicts. Present discourse will focus on understanding this aspect of power imbalance at workplaces and its impact on conflict management based on certain situations. Recommendations will be made based on the issues identified and conclusions will be finally drawn. 2. An understanding of power and conflict: Power refers to the elusive force experienced by people, usually based on their position. According to Daft (2009), power may be defined as â€Å"the potential ability of one person (or department) to influence other people (or department) to carry orders or to do something they would not otherwise have done† (p. 497). Power is a very important strength that managers/leaders should use in the most appropriate manner to achieve desired outcomes. Power is used to set goals, define targets, rules and policies, and to manage performance; power is also used to manage conflicts among individuals and groups. Daft (2009) explains that conflict is usually the outcome of interaction among pe ople or groups with differing opinions. Conflicts can either be helpful or harmful for the organizations and its employees. Conflicts that can instigate differential thinking and innovative options are usually helpful, whereas conflicts in terms of goals, understanding, opinions, interpretation, perception etc are usually harmful and can lead to severe consequences. 3. Relationship between power and conflict: To deal with all kinds of conflicts, managers leverage their position and power. According to the conflict theory, power is an essential element in managing conflict or in influencing others to produce desired outcome (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). Power by virtue of position provides the authority for individuals to exercise their aspirations, which can also be a cause for conflict sometimes. Moreover, usage of power, by virtue of position, to manage conflicts can be a hindrance. All these instances could be a result of the phenomenon associated with power and its usage that is us ually, and also, the reason for power imbalance. 4. Power imbalance and conflict management: Weinstein (2001) has extensively elaborated on the impact of power imbalance in mediation process. In this elaboration, she has constantly emphasized on the fact that the organization’s success and instances impacted by power imbalances cannot be separated. Very often, the hierarchical positions that decide the intensity or scope of power itself act as the causes for conflicts.  

Word Mapping and Language Development Essay Example for Free

Word Mapping and Language Development Essay This paper aims to discuss word mapping processes during the child development, explore the concepts of Fast and Slow mapping, discuss the application and acquisition of word associations and definitions in the context of word mapping, and conclude by demonstrating that the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words requires slow mapping. ? Fast Mapping For a child being inundated with new vocabulary from moment to moment, clues to any one particular words meaning may be few and far between, yet somehow a child manages to take these limited exposures to new words, derive meaning from them, and maintain representations of them for future use. Carey and Bartlett (1978) have termed this speedy process of inferring relatively correct and complete initial meanings of novel words given a limited number of exposures to the words fast mapping (Behrend, Scofield, Kleinknecht, 2001). It is widely assumed that children must possess an innate mechanism of specialized constraints specific to word learning to account for their precocious abilities to infer novel word meanings (Deak Wagner, 2003, p. 318), and fast mapping is the label applied to this system (Behrend et al. , 2001). Fast mapping was first demonstrated in an experiment done by Carey and Bartlett (1978), in which 14 children, ages three to four years old, were initially presented with a novel color word in a neutral context without first being explicitly taught its meaning, and later tested on their knowledge of the new term. All of the children had begun mapping color words to corresponding colors, and 13 of the 14 children were able to comprehend and generate six to eleven names for corresponding colors. The children were therefore familiar with the property and concept of color, which allowed the researchers to see how learning a new color would restructure the childs existing lexical and conceptual color domains (Carey, 1978, p. 271). Prior to the introduction of the children to the novel color word, each child received a production test in which he was asked to name the color of each of a number of different colored chips including an olive colored one. Most children called the olive color green, while others called it brown, but none of the children referred to the olive chip as olive. Carey and Bartlett (1978) chose to introduce the children to the novel color olive (a color the children were unfamiliar with), but instead of referring to it as olive (a word that some children might be familiar with) they chose to call the olive color chromium. The researchers painted one cup and one tray in the childrens nursery school classroom olive, while an identical cup remained red, and an identical tray remained blue. The researchers asked the childrens teacher to introduce the new color word individually to each child in a normal everyday context, such as preparing for snack time. The teacher avoided explicitly presenting the new color word either by asking the child to Bring me the chromium tray, not the blue one, the chromium one, or to Bring me the chromium cup, not the red one, the chromium one (Carey, 1978, p. 271). The phrase not the blue/red one provided enough information for the child to bring the correct tray or cup. As a result, the child was implicitly provided with lexical, syntactic, and contextual cues adequate to the full mapping (Carey, 1978, p. 272) of chromium, while not being forced to rely on the new color word to provide any additional information necessary for the completion of the task. All except one of the children chose the correct tray/cup upon first exposure to the new word. And even though they did not need to rely on the new word to make the correct choice, the majority of the children attended to the fact that they had just heard a new word, and either repeated it aloud or sought approval for the selection they had just made. One week later the children took part in a second teaching task in which a group of six different colors (including olive) was presented to each child, and the children were each asked to map these different colors to their specific corresponding color words (including chromium). This task had been designed to serve as a comprehension task in determining whether or not the children had learned to correctly map the color name chromium to the olive color. However, since olive was the only color for which the children had not previously demonstrated having a name, and since a control group (with no previous exposure to the olive/chromium mapping) performed the task at the same level as the experimental group, the researchers determined that the task was not truly a comprehension task, but rather another teaching task. The children therefore experienced two teaching tasks prior to being tested. Five weeks after the second teaching task, the children were given a second production test just like the one they received prior to the introducing event. However, unlike the first production test, in which the majority of the children called the olive colored chip either green or brown, eight of the fourteen children now either said that they did not know what color name to use to refer to the chip or began referring to the olive chip using one of the color names that they knew but had not mapped stably to any one particular color. Fast mapping is evident in that after only two brief exposures to the chromium color word/olive color pairing, the child had learned and retained for over a month that olive is not called green; in searching his lexicon for a name to call it, he found another color word with no stable referent which was more highly accessible than the new word chromium. Thus for these eight children at least, the process of restructuring the conceptual and lexical domains had already begun (Carey, 1978, p. 273). The children had demonstrated their ability to infer meaning (as to which color the word chromium referred to) by relying solely on the situation and the context in which they encountered the word. In the previous example the children’s retention would be limited- although not inhibited entirely- if exposed to a great variety of colors that had never been introduced to them before. This assertion illustrates the importance of scope to proper establishment of the context. Studies have found that as the factors increase in number or property, subjects of all ages are more likely to disorient and produce ambiguous definitions (Patson, 2010). Precise, mutually exclusive terms are the most conducive to a clear and complete understanding of a word. A study examined the potentiality of mutual exclusivity by first asking if the part pointed to was the trachea and then further challenging the student by requiring them to specify whether the whole area or one specific part was the trachea. When the subject area is previously known it is normal for children to favor an inclusive definition, i. e. accepting craniofacial instead of accepting cranial and facial as two, separate, specific, mutually-exclusive terminologies (Hansen, 2009). The correction of such errors is atypical to fast mapping, where the concept is simply understood. Fast mapping provides a seemingly quick and efficient way for children to initially acquire correct partial meanings that are specific to the contexts in which new words are heard. However, acquiring a complete definition for any one word generally requires the integration of a number of partial mappings derived from specific encounters with the word in everyday life. Fast mapping is merely the beginning of a longer more gradual elaboration and reorganization process called slow mapping that results in a more complete definition (Carey, 1978; Johnson Anglin, 1995; McGregor, Friedman, Reilly, Newman, 2002). Slow Mapping Slow mapping is a prolonged period during which the child must hold a fragile new representation in lexical memory, distinguish it from many other fragile representations, continue to hypothesize about the meaning of the word, and update the representation as a result of those hypotheses (McGregor et al, 2002, p. 332). The partial meanings of words acquired during fast mapping are retained in memory while meanings derived from new encounters with words provide additional information and allow connections both between and within new and existing knowledge to be created, eliminated, and reworked. Slow mapping is the term applied to this process in which information provided through both old and new encounters with words is slowly integrated and evolves into increasingly accurate and complete definitions. Whereas fast mapping has been experimentally captured (e. g. Carey Bartlett, 1978), and shown to be replicable (Deak Wagner, 2003, p. 318), the protracted timeline and more elusive nature of slow mapping have made it difficult to pinpoint, study, and understand the process. It appears that much speculation surrounds the true nature of slow mapping. Johnson and Anglin (1995) comment this elaboration process is not yet well understood, but it appears that children somehow develop additional meaning relations among the new word and others within the same semantic field and increasingly incorporate contextual restrictions, distributional properties, and syntactic privileges of occurrence (p. 614). Carey (1978) admits, I have gone much further than available data license (p. 292) in summarizing her hypothesis on the nature of slow mapping following a description of her fast mapping study. Deak and Wagner (2003) attempted to access the process of slow mapping in the learning of categorical semantic relations between words by introducing children aged four to seven years old to made-up words with invented meanings and semantic relationships to one another (introduced as an alien language) and later testing their comprehension and production of these new words. Children were taught basic categorical semantic relations of exclusion (no overlap between word referents), inclusion (referents of one label are a subset of the referents of another label), and overlap (the sets of referents of two labels intersect) during two separate play sessions in which each of four labels for newly contrived categories were presented (along with defining information) a minimum of twenty times. The semantic relations were either explicitly expressed or implicitly derived by the children during the play sessions. The older children of the group (six- and seven-year-olds) were able to learn more semantic relations and word definitions than the younger children (four- and five-year-olds), and exclusion was the categorical semantic relation most readily learned in both age groups. The principle finding of the study was that although all of the children were able to learn new categorical semantic relations between words equally well whether the relations were explicitly stated or implicitly derived, the children were not able to fast map these categorical semantic relations as they were able to do with basic word meanings. Whereas children were able to infer relatively correct meanings of the novel words almost immediately, for example, they could correctly point out exemplars, they were unable to fast map categorical semantic relations even when these relations were explicitly stated. Deak and Wagner (2003) conclude, when word learning is measured at a surface level, children show a grasp of new words, but this grasp is weak. It is unlikely to include knowledge of meaning relations, or incorporation into a differentiated semantic network, even after many unambiguous exposures to the new words (p. 323). Thus, it appears that fast mapping describes childrens ability to quickly associate words to referents, but does not capture the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words. Slow mapping is the route through which the incomplete initial word meanings obtained through fast mapping expand to include more information about the meanings of words including semantic relations between words. Penno, Wilkinson, and Moore (2002) have also attempted to access the process of slow mapping, albeit using a different procedure, by presenting children aged five to eight years old with new words through the context of storybook reading. Children were read a storybook once a week for three consecutive weeks in small groups, and were given a multiple-choice vocabulary test both prior to the first reading and after the last reading. The multiple-choice vocabulary test included 15 words present in the storybook that were assumed to be unknown to the children. In addition, following each reading of the storybook, the children were asked to complete a retelling task in which they retold the story they had just heard to the best of their ability to the researcher. After the entire process had been completed for the first storybook, children were read a second storybook following the same procedure. The children received an explanation for each of the fifteen new words (every time one of the words was encountered) during every reading of one of the two storybooks. For the remaining storybook, no explanation was supplied for unknown words. The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of repeated exposure to a story and the additive effects of explanation of the meaning of target words on students vocabulary (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 23). Both repeated exposure and explanation of meaning were indeed significant contributors to vocabulary growth. The process of slow mapping was displayed through the linear improvement in the accuracy of use of the target words across the three retellings of the stories (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 31). After being read a storybook for the first time, the children were able to retell the story in a manner that demonstrated their fast mapping ability in that they were able to provide some indication of a basic understanding of the new words meanings. However, the second and third readings and retellings of a storybook revealed the slow mapping process, as the children used the new words with ever increasing accuracy through each subsequent storybook retelling. Accuracy and depth of word knowledge was measured incrementally through a coding system containing six categories ranging from category zero (indicating no knowledge or use of the target word) to category five (indicating generalized knowledge of the target word) (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 26). For example, the coding system might determine a childs accuracy and depth of word knowledge as progressing from category two (Developing knowledge: the target word is used, but inappropriately) at the first storybook retelling, to category three (Synonym: a synonymous phrase or word is used for the target word) at the second storybook, up to category four (Accurate knowledge: the target word is used accurately and more frequently than a synonym) by the third storybook retelling (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 26). Children also benefited from receiving explanations for unknown words, displaying greater gains in vocabulary when provided with explanations than when not, suggesting that the explanation may have provided useful experience with the meaning of the unknown words. One of the challenges of word mapping research area is finding word knowledge assessment methods that go beyond measures of childrens ability to identify the correct referent of a word or to use a word in an appropriate context. In 2009 the effect of the cultural, linguistic differences between mainstream English and African American English was measured. An equal number of African American English speakers and mainstream (mostly Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American) respondents were given a series of syntactical questions. This result was that native speakers of English who were African American were predisposed to have more difficulty with the grammatical structure of formal English (Johnson, 2009). In addition to the methods described in the previous three studies, childrens word definitions may serve as a source of information on the process of mapping (Hughes, Woodcock, Funnell, 2005; Johnson Anglin, 1995; McGregor et al, 2002). Childrens word definitions have also been found to change with age. These changes may reflect, in part, increased understanding of the words meanings. Another source of information on word mapping may be childrens word associations. Word Definitions Word learning, commencing at around age of one year, progresses at the rate of approximately ten new words every day (Bloom, 2000), or about one per every waking hour (Carey, 1978). Werner and Kaplan (1950) describe the acquisition of the meanings of words as occurring in two ways. One way a child learns a word is by explicit reference either verbal or objective (p. 3), in which a word is verbally defined or an object is directly named for the child. The second way a child learns a word is through implicit or contextual reference (p. 3), in which a word is inferred from the context of a conversation. Up until around two years of age, a child may learn a great many words through explicit reference, as adults will often repeat common phrases and names of objects and provide definitions for unknown words in an effort to teach a child new vocabulary (Carey, 1978; Werner Kaplan, 1950). However, as children grow older, they receive this vocabulary coaching less and less and they must rely primarily on implicit or contextual reference to acquire the majority of vocabulary. Children learn the majority of their words from hearing how others use them in day-to-day life. In doing so, they must rely solely on the linguistic context in which the word occurs and the situation in which it is used (Carey, 1978, p. 265) to derive meaning for new words. Researchers recognize the ability to produce quality word definitions as a metalinguistic skill (Watson, 1985), as individuals must not only consider their knowledge of the to-be-defined word and determine what characteristics should be included in the definition but they should also know how to organize information into conventional definitional form (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997, p. 298). An individuals mastery of the form and content of word definitions is imperative in producing quality definitions (Watson, 1985), and there are a number of well-established trends concerning the development of both. The definitions provided by young (roughly preschool) children tend to be comprised primarily of functional information, e. g. a knife is to cut with (Litowitz, 1977), but they also include (to a lesser degree) perceptual features, e. g. a kitten is furry (Hughes et al. , 2005). Young childrens definitions also tend to include information that is personally relevant, such as I have a friendly rabbit named Hoppy (Watson, 1985) and are often concrete, simple, and context bound (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997). As a child grows older, a transition occurs in the content included in a definition, suggesting a conceptual shift from the individually experienced to the socially shared (Litowitz, 1977, p. 289), and definitions become more abstract, complex, and precise in nature (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997). However, the accurate acquisition of a definition is dependent on the individual skills of the child and of the clarity of the context in which the new conceptual definition is presented (Nicoladis, 2010). Namely, the listener must recognize the probable intention of the statement through the interpretation of nonverbal cues. This is done through the rapid analysis of the word usage, the verbal tone, the context, and the previous experiences of the listener (de Ruiter, 2010). A child’s inferential attributions to a word are also built upon their personal skills. In the Sally Ann task, the children are asked to conceptualize the thoughts of others and are measured by their success at that task, their ability to concede that the other’s thoughts are not necessarily correct, and to form a hypothetical, mental frame of context through which to examine the probable thoughts and actions which inform that person’s decisions (Jary, 2010). The ability to successful integrate the representational theory of mind tested by the Sally Ann task has been proven to aid in the conceptualization of both grammatical structure and definition (Jary, 2010). Both form and content develop and change over time, but these changes do not necessarily occur simultaneously, and children are generally able to express semantic content more successfully than they are able to use correct Aristotelian definitional form (Johnson Anglin, 1995). Since form and content of childrens definitions change as their knowledge of and experience with words increases it seems logical that studying the elaboration and refinement of word definitions in children over time would allow us to better understand the process of slow mapping (McGregor, 2002). The interpretations of the ambiguities of language, such as the use of the finite â€Å"that† for an infinite pool of possible contexts, are key contributors to the accuracy of slow mapping in the inferred or abstract definition of words (Jary, 2010). In a study designed to capture the slow mapping process of word meaning development, McGregor et al. (2002) offer some evidence that childrens definitions may indeed provide an accurate representation of the semantic knowledge possessed by a child. McGregor et al. have shown that a childs abilities to provide a name for and draw a picture of each of a series of objects correspond reliably with one another and are also consistent with a childs ability to provide definitions for those objects. The study suggests that the three tasks (naming, drawing, and defining) access a common semantic representation and therefore validates the use of the defining task in providing a window into the slow mapping of word meaning. Word Associations Childrens word associations also change as word knowledge changes over time. Consequently, studying childrens word associations may provide an additional opportunity to capture the slow mapping process of word meaning development. Petrey (1977) draws attention to the development of word associations as shifting from episodic (or schematic) to semantic (or taxonomic) as childrens word knowledge grows. She comments, Whereas adults responses are grouped primarily by semantic memory of words internal content, childrens responses display mainly episodic memories of external context (p. 69). For example, if the stimulus word were rabbit, a child is likely to provide an episodic response like carrot, and an adult is more likely to provide a semantic response like squirrel. Petreys research suggested that the shift from episodic to semantic association responses occurs by around third grade. Researchers have also attempted to explain changing word associations as reflecting a syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift. Syntagmatic refers to words being syntactically related, that is, likely to occur together in the same sentence, like a verb response to a noun, whereas paradigmatic refers to words being in the same syntactic class, like a noun response to a noun (Nelson, 1977). This description has proven to be less well supported than the episodic-semantic (or schematic-taxonomic) shift. Another explanation refers to the cultural influences of the child’s caretaker(s). Because as the child ages there is less need and ability to define the abstract concepts, there is an increased reliance on word attribution (de Ruiter, 2010). Bilingual children favor the grammatical structure and the customary usage of their stronger language (Nicoladis, 2010). In Blewitt and Toppinos study, superordinate responses in the word association task became increasingly frequent with age (as is the case in word definition tasks), suggesting that the word association task may indeed be a useful tool to implement in future work aimed at capturing the slow-mapping process. The increasing use of superordinate terms provided both in the word definition task and the word association task suggest that the two tasks may be measuring the common underlying process of elaboration and completion of word meaning over time that is slow mapping. Summary Conventional estimates suggest that by age 17 the vocabulary of an average English-speaking individual comprises more than 60,000 words (Bloom, 2000). In order for this monumental task to be achieved, word learning, commencing at around age of one year, must progress at the rate of approximately ten new words every day (Bloom, 2000), or about one per every waking hour (Carey, 1978). Werner and Kaplan (1950) describe the acquisition of the meanings of words as occurring in two ways. One way a child learns a word is by explicit reference either verbal or objective (p. 3), in which a word is verbally defined or an object is directly named for the child. The second way a child learns a word is through implicit or contextual reference (p.3), in which a word is inferred from the context of a conversation. Up until around two years of age, a child may learn a great many words through explicit reference, as adults will often repeat common phrases and names of objects and provide definitions for unknown words in an effort to teach a child new vocabulary (Carey, 1978; Werner Kaplan, 1950). These two methods for accessing developmental change in childrens word knowledge have both been found to change with increasing age and understanding of words, and appear to provide access to slow mapping in children. In general, knowledge about familiar words is slowly acquired. Children both increase their understanding of the semantic relations among words, and learn about the details of the objects labeled by the words. Children are unable to fast map categorical semantic relations even when these relations were explicitly stated. Conclusively, the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words requires slow mapping. The ability children possess to infer initial meanings for novel words given a limited number of exposures to the words fast mapping. Fast mapping provides a seemingly quick and efficient way for children to acquire initial meanings of novel words, but the meanings children gain through fast mapping are often incomplete, especially requiring a longer more gradual elaboration and reorganization process called slow mapping in order to become complete definitions. Slow mapping allows the connections both between and within new and existing knowledge to be created, eliminated, and reworked, as increasingly complete and accurate definitions evolve. Slow mapping, a much slower and more elusive process than fast mapping, has not been experimentally captured, and much speculation continues to surround its true nature. Attempts to access slow mapping by researchers have provided some insight into the nature of that process. 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