Ethical Dilemma in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Nietzsche’s claim that God is dead arouses interesting questions not only on what or who killed God but also on how human society, devoid of the long-held comfort of the polarity of ethical and moral grounds, would formulate judgements of what is real, good, or beautiful in their lives and in the world. The moral and ethical contradiction of a world where Truth does not exist is shown in the movie Glengarry Glen Rose which is an exploration of the motivations and impetus of individuals in a society where the duality good and evil have ceased to become the standards. Arguably, the film portrays the ethical dilemma in a postmodern world, notably posed by Nietzsche, who observed that the demise of the notion of absolute Truth is a double-edged sword for society. This is because the lack of clearcut and universally held concepts of what is right or wrong, while at first seems to connote freedom,   ultimately leaves a void that leads to human despair and nihilistic feelings.Adapt ed for the big screen from a play written by the movie’s director David Mamet (1992), Glengarry Glen Ross follows two days in the lives of four real estate agents who face a bleak future if they do not close a deal soon. These characters, played by a veteran and brilliant cast which includes Al Pacino (Ricky Roma), Jack Lemmon (Shelley Levene), Ed Harris (Dave Moss), and Alan Arkin (George Aaronow), are told point blank by company representative Blake (Alec Baldwin) that the company will fire every salesman except for the top two within one week. The agents, desperate to retain their jobs and continue to earn a living, commit actions that raise questions and at the same time comments on how far human beings in today’s society would go to preserve themselves and attain their materialistic dreams. In a couple of days, the characters become involved in a series of events that show how human culture has tremendously suffered from the lack of ethical and moral consideration s.Apart from capturing the apparent decay in human culture, the film is particularly concerned about the motives and assumptions that drive each sales agent’s actions and how these motives often result in clashing interests. This is evident in how the themes of truth, status, and identity are tackled based on the feelings, thoughts, and actions of the characters in the film. For instance, Blake’s character as a ruthless and unfeeling company representative is clearly intended to parody the attitude of big business when it comes to ensuring a healthy bottom line, which is clearly against the interest of its workers.On the other hand, these workers—or salespeople—are depicted as similar to Blake himself in terms of cruelty and lack of humanity. Ricky Roma, for instance, is later shown to be a heartless soul who takes advantage of the weaknesses of others to advance his objectives. Shelley Levene likewise resorts to thievery in order to close a sale and exac t vengeance on his perceived enemies. In the end, Blake’s character with its apparent inhumanity becomes less despicable as the frailties and weaknesses of other characters are exposed. Ironically, the audience is led to feel pity for such human weakness instead of being led to feel righteous. This is because the film attempts to evoke empathy in its viewers for characters who are, alas, as human as the viewers are and whose justifications for â€Å"wrongdoing† resonate with the audience.Arguably, the narrative of the movie itself is a statement against the ethics—or the lack of it—of the four real estate agents. In this sense, Glengarry Glen Ross delivers a stinging critique of how society’s sense of ethics and even the sense of morality have been replaced by materialistic desires. The story of the four salesmen, desperate and â€Å"immoral,† mirrors the realities faced by individuals in their quest for personal success and a higher social status and how this quest, ironically, often results to the further debasement of the humanity in the individual.The film, in fact, is full of such play at irony that depicts how people’s worth are not judged by society based on how â€Å"good† they live their lives but on the number of material things they possess. In this social order, humans are segregated by their class, ethnic identity, and gender which determine their ability or their eligibility for access to basic and higher needs. The film’s narrative itself, which revolves around real estate agents trying to sell dirt in its figurative and literal meaning, alludes to the way in which humans are not anymore concerned with telling the truth or with earning a living through honest ways or at least, without causing the ruin of others. Apparently, today’s world has gone beyond being immoral or corrupted to being amoral or lacking in moral standards itself.Thus, the ethical dilemma raised by the film reflects Nietzsche’s argument on the death of God, referring to the demise of society’s dualist notion of good or evil. With this death, everything that humans have come to believe in becomes subject to doubt as truth falters in its absolute hold on consciousness. In this society, even the realities of human experience—the entire spectrum of feelings and thoughts—can be questioned and examined for their validity. Human acts are therefore defined not by their conformity with accepted norms or intrinsic values but by the circumstance surrounding them. This circumstance, in turn, becomes the standard by which an act becomes socially acceptable.In Glengarry Glen Ross, the death of universal values and norms for what is good or evil meant that ethical considerations were dispensable and were useful only when the need arises. Ricky Roma’s character, for instance, engages in a monologue—which is later revealed to be a sales pitch—that shows how society and individuals have suspended all forms of judgement in favor of individuality. Accordingly, Roma’s speech, which deals with stealing, cheating, and even pedophilia in a nonchalant manner, is a tell-tale sign of the central argument made in the film: that the death of absolute Truth has entailed the death of things once cherished by humans such as the concept of love and goodness.According to Nietzsche, this has created a void in individuals who felt lost without the ethical values and concept of morality that served to anchor their lives. Instead, these ethical ideals such as Truth, were replaced by the notion that there was a multiplicity of truth depending on how these benefitted society or the individual. Ultimately, however, Nietzsche points out that this loss of a sense of ethics and morality also leads, for many individuals, to lose their sense of meaning and to despair. Thus, loneliness and desperation is pervasive in Glengarry Glen Ross; for how could me n engaged in crafting lies to their fellow humans in order to earn a living be able to live truly meaningful lives?It is therefore in portraying the ruthless and callous ways with which human beings act in a system dominated by materialistic notions of success and happiness, that Glengarry Glen Ross succeeds at brutally dissecting individual motivations and actions based on Nietzsche’s philosophy. Consequently, the film is able to provoke retrospection on what has become a reality for many individuals in a materialistic society, and to evoke the decision of whether this is a reality that is worth maintaining for the long term or one that needs to be transformed and changed to affirm the meaning of human life.Work Cited:Glengarry Glen Ross. Dir. David Mamet. Perf. Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, and Kevin Spacey. New Line Cinema, 1992.

Analysis on ZARA

As for the B2C buying behaviour, many perspectives are included. Firstly, take a look at the cultural factors. Buyers of ZARA are influenced by culture, subculture and social factors. ZARA collects information about its customers via staff members, by different observations and also directly from the buyers. Since ZARA is a centralized brand it focuses on the global trends, though it has decided to move towards geocentric orientation and started to adopt local solutions, too.It is also seen that the income factor is one of the biggest determinants as the brand has relatively high prices. However, it provides value to customers; still not every social class could afford it. Secondly, as far as the social factors are mentioned, buyers can be influenced by their memberships, their activities in different groups, relationships as well as their role and status. For instance, working in a business related area can influence customers to buy formal ZARA clothes as well as being part of a sp ort club can make them buy sporty clothes.While the brand has a lot of segments, it also provides items for sport activities. The role and status is a huge influencing factor. It provides elegant, formal clothes and for this reason ZARA clothes can be bought for showing the already gained position in the society. Among personal factors, the occupation is considered to be the most important since blue collar workers are not even motivated to buy ZARA products.That is the reason why it does not targets other members of the society. Lastly, the psychological factors are the main determinants. The ZARA brand is valuable, it understands the latest fashion trends and also follows the customer’s wants. Therefore, their prices are relatively high as mentioned before. We can claim that clothes obviously belong to our basic needs, but this quality brand is more like in relation to the esteem part if Maslow’s pyramid is considered.

E-Discovery Procurement

Table of Contents Assignment #1: e-Discovery Project Procurement Management2 Introduction2 Plan e-Discovery Procurements3 Conduct e-Discovery Procurements5 Administer e-Discovery Procurements6 Close e-Discovery Procurements8 Conclusion9 References10 Assignment #1: e-Discovery Project Procurement Management Introduction Most projects of whichever size or significance cannot be completed using 100% in-sourced resources. But Project managers must still procure their project’s resources that are not obtained in-house, and that must be done through outsourcing.To that end, the project procurement process â€Å"tries to maximize the value derived from all funds invested in the project to obtain goods and services. This occurs by reducing the cost and using more effectively and efficiently whatever is obtained† (Rapp, 2011, pp. Kindle 2974-2975). Seasoned project managers know that the deceptively humdrum aspects of procurement can be a greater source of pain for a projectâ₠¬â„¢s quality, recovery schedule and budget if they are not given their due recognition and attention.New project managers need to realize that at the core of their success stands, among other things, great management of their project’s procurements and precise logistics, which is essential to success. Therefore, procurement success begins with planning procurements, conducting procurements, administering procurements and closing procurements. The procurement process â€Å"includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team† (PMI, 2011, pp. Kindle 5723-5724).This paper will discuss the procurement process that could have been applied to a law firm matter for which e-Discovery services had to be outsourced. According to the EDRM (2013)E-Discovery is the management of electronically stored information (ESI) to mitigate risk and expenses during the discovery phase of a matter and though it is not alwa ys a full blown legal case , it could evolve into that. The law firm had a client who had a desire to review for relevance hundreds of thousands of documents on a hard drive which held a collection of data from client servers.As project manager of the e-Discovery part of this matter, I was tasked with managing that procurement from inception to closure and the inter-organizational relationships thereof. Plan e-Discovery Procurements For the procurement inputs, we must first document any and all decisions and legal requirements that the appropriate stakeholders or legal entities have made regarding the outsourcing of materials, services, and results expected and acceptable in a legal matter.In an e-Discovery project, this would require the use of and input from the following according to the PMBOK Guide (2011): Scope Baseline Requirements Documentation Teaming agreements Risk register Risk related contract decisions Activity resource requirements Project schedule Activity cost estima te Cost performance baseline Enterprise Environmental Factors Thus, the circumstances and technical reasons that preclude us from in-house e-Discovery can be determined utilizing make-or buy analysis and expert judgment.We would show what we need in order to execute outsourced e-Discovery, and the boundaries within which we must control an outsourced deliverable by using the scope baseline, WBS including jargon definitions for lay stakeholders. Also, the PM would document the level of service that is required to achieve the client’s goals with relation to the legal matter and apply planned value, earned value and actual cost analyses for estimates. Next, all contracts between the firm, the client, the e-Discovery seller and any other parties including the contract types – hether fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, time & material, or some hybrid should be codified. If this is a matter where the government is represented, it is likely that an agreement would disqualify the use of some types of contracts, specifically cost plus percentage of cost contract types. Commercial matters may or may not have the same restrictions. With the preceding inputs the PM can then identify and document risks, risk owners and risk responses at all e-Discovery stages and include all project contributors.Identify and record all contract decisions that could present risks or opportunities during the execution of the contracts and parties that are responsible for those risk responses specific to each contract. Confirm positive market conditions, rate comparisons and local regulatory requirements. The plan began by â€Å"determining which project needs can be fulfilled internally by the project team and which can best be met externally (Marchewka, 2012, p. 382). The project team made decisions about when, how, what quantities and what sources would sustain the insourced and outsourced tasks.With this information and the results of the plan inputs, tools and techniques, eith er a detailed or a broadly organized project procurement management plan that includes guidance for procurements from inception to closure. The documentation would comprise the e-Discovery procurement statement of work identifying where documents should be collected, and from which custodians. Where documents should be sent for processing, processing specifications and options, document review requirements and rules, categorization specifications, production format agreements and production deadlines.Included would be the documentation for any make or buy analyses and peripheral procurement documents like proposals, bids and technical documentation. And finally, the plan will include the final source selection criteria utilized to rate and select the e-Discovery seller would be documented as well. With the attainment of this procurement management plan depicting activities from creating procurement documents through contract closure and accepted by the stakeholders, the PM can comme nce with conducting procurements. Conduct e-Discovery ProcurementsNow that the project procurement plan has been hashed out, the RFP has been sent out, bids have been received and analyzed (this process is often repeated until a select pool is attained), the PM can focus on awarding a contract to the seller that best fits the needs of the legal matter and the e-Discovery requirements according to the plan documentation and some tools and techniques. Utilizing the following inputs, that selection will be made to engage a seller according to the PMBOK Guide (2011): Project management plan Procurement documents Source selection criteria Qualified seller list Seller proposals Project documentsMake-or-buy decisions Teaming agreements Organizational process assets The PM will utilize the above inputs to describe and codify the e-Discovery project procurement process from inception to closure. The objective is to obtain a sensible range of possible high quality proposals in order to achiev e the e-discovery goals of this matter. The project documents help to build a solid selection criteria such as a weighted system, which through past experience will be based on the PM’s expert judgment about seller criteria, independent estimates and bidder conferences to further narrow down the most qualified of sellers.When it is necessary to extend the pool of bidders, some can be obtained through advertisements in industry publications and with organizational process assets such as preferred vendors and partnering agreements. For e-Discovery, it is not likely that a random internet search would suffice to identify sellers as this is a very specialized field. Through proposal evaluation techniques that have been approved by management, the selection criteria will evolve. The details of the sellers’ proposals will have everything that the PM needs to make a fair weighted selection.Matching the requirements to the project documentation will ensure that the PM is stayi ng within the bounds of the project requirements and the risk register. The use of the make-or-buy decisions will determine whether portion of the project should be insourced or should remain part of a teeming agreement. Organizational process assets will identify other sellers that qualified for previous projects as well as documented best practices and lessons learned from previous project whether they were successful or failed.The result of conducting procurement is a selected seller which is typically approved by management and other critical stakeholders if necessary. The contract, with the structure that was approved â€Å"defines the terms and conditions or such things as responsibilities and authorities, technical and project management approaches, proprietary rights, financing, schedule, payments, quality requirements, and price, as well as remedies and process for revisions to the contract† (Marchewka, 2012, p. 83), is signed sealed and delivered. For an e-Discovery project, the contract can also contain the agreed upon project calendar and resource calendars that depict court dates and deadlines, change request procedures with integrated change control measures. Finally, the updates to the project management plan and project documents are executed including the baselines and the risk register. With the project updates complete, the PM can now administer procurements. Administer e-Discovery ProcurementsNow that the project documents are updated the seller and the buyer are in a relationship guided by the contract, the client expectations have been set, resources have been affiliated with the project scope and the stage is set to execute the project deliverables. Each party, buyer and seller must accomplish their obligations at a high level of quality according to the Ts & Cs of the contract. Rules are created to manage changes to the contract, procurements are reviewed on a scheduled basis, reports with the results of inspections and audits to show the effectiveness of the process.Functional structures such as payment systems, claims administration and records management are set up. The inputs toward these activities according to the PMBOK Guide (2011) include: Procurement documents Project management plan Contract Performance reports Approved change requests Work performance information * The PM will utilize the inputs to create the final procurement documentation. In an e-Discovery project the â€Å"contract documentation allows people who did not participate in forming the contract to carry out the agreement made by the people who did† (Garrett, 2010, p. 6). It will contain the collection activities during discovery, the chain of custody for the hard drive or other media containing data, the processing specifications, any de-duplication issues and the exception report showing which documents could not be processed and suggestions for addressing any that are of interest to the client. The contract documentation will contain details about the document review, and â€Å"modifications, invoices, meeting notes, payments, and correspondence† (Garrett, 2010, p. 8), as well as technical facts from the seller about the deliverables. Also, the PM will update the organizational process assets, such as â€Å"assumptions about present or future company assets that can impact the success of the project such as the capability of your enterprise project management methodology, the project management information system, forms, templates, guidelines, checklists, and the ability to capture and use lessons learned data and best practices† (Kerzner, 2009, pp. Kindle 9889-9891).In an e-Discovery project, this is very critical because the industry is always growing and changing. Finally, change requests are processed for review and action and then the project management plan is updated as the final output. With the administration of procurements complete, the project plan updated, and the document review and final production complete, now the PM can close procurements. Close e-Discovery Procurements Closing procurements involves the â€Å"process of verifying that all administrative matters are concluded on a contract that is otherwise physically complete.This involves completing and settling the contract, including resolving any open items† (Kerzner, 2009, pp. Kindle 18292-18293). The PM will commence with closing the procurement with the following inputs according to the PMBOK Guide (2011): Project management plan Procurement documentation Fleming (2003) recommends that it is a best practice to ensure that the seller has completed all of the tasks, terms and conditions of the SOW and contract unless the circumstances dictate otherwise as â€Å"there are often residual issues which must be addressed† (Fleming, 2003, p. 27). Ultimately, with these issues resolved, the PM will use the inputs to conduct procurement audits to identify and document the good, bad an d ugly achievements and disappointments in performance of the contract. The PM can also explore and execute any negotiated settlements of open items to avoid litigation, however sometimes litigation is unavoidable, though not wanted. Finally, the records management system must be updated with the above tools and techniques outcomes.The e-Discovery project is closed when the PM closes procurements and thusly notifies all appropriate stakeholders that the contract has been completed and details any spin-off actions that might apply. The procurement file, derivable acceptance and lessons learned documentation should all be updated, finalized and executed accordingly so that the entire contract process can be written in stone for future reference or projects. ConclusionMost e-Discovery projects of varying scope will not be completely in-sourced so they require some level of outsourcing or procurement. According to the PMBOK Guide (2011, p. 313), procurement success begins with planning procurements, conducting procurements, administering procurements and closing procurements and these steps may intermingle, may require multiple discrete or ongoing efforts and individuals or teams to complete. The PM must initially plan the procurements using the inputs tools and techniques as a basis for the conducting procurement.Next, the PM should conduct procurements using the inputs, tools and techniques as basis for administering procurements successfully while all along documenting the outputs and updates. Third, the PM must administer the procurements using the inputs, tools and techniques as a basis for closing the procurement while updating documentation and resolving buyer and seller differences along the way. Finally, the PM will close procurements and wrap up any lose ends with the ultimate goal of project success and notification to all parties that the procurement is closed.The procurement plan will make it a simple exercise for all of the stakeholders whether they were involved in the procurement or not to know the status of the procurement throughout the outsourcing lifecycle. References EDRM. (2013). The Electronic Discovery Reference Model: Establishing guidelines. Setting standards. Delivering resources. Retrieved from edrm. net: http://www. edrm. net/resources/edrm-stages-explained Fleming, Q. W. (2003). Project Procurement Management Contracting, Subcontracting, Teaming. Tustin, CA: FMC Press.Garrett, G. A. (2010). World Class Contracting (5th Kindle Edition ed. ). (W. K. Legal, Ed. ) Aspen PUblishers. Kerzner, H. (2009). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. Wiley. Marchewka, J. T. (2012). Information technology project management with CD-ROM. (4th). Wiley. PMI. (2011, Jan 01). A guide to project management body of knowledge. (4th). Project Management Institute. Rapp, R. R. (2011). Disaster Recovery Project Management: Brining Order from Chaos (Kindle Edition ed. ). BookMasters.

Communication Goals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication Goals - Essay Example In order to improve my communicative abilities with other people, I need to assess my current strengths and weaknesses. My strengths in communication consist of my ability to say what I really need to say in certain situations, being honest, being clear and concise, and being on-topic when it is necessary. My weaknesses in communication arise directly from my strengths. My directness in communication puts some people off, such as with my brutal honesty. Sometimes being too clear and concise in what I am saying leaves people unable or unwilling to connect to me. The underlying key to my communication goals and success, I have decided is to remain conscious of context. Context is important in establishing expectations for both the speaker and the listener. The barriers I face to successful communication with my peers and superiors lie in how I am accustomed to speaking to others. Being so short with words is a habit, and like all habits, it has to be broken for me to achieve my goals. The means of breaking habits and realizing success in communication is in practicing the opposite of the current practice. Doing the opposite of what I usually do will leave me open to a new way of doing things, which should hypothetically allow me to pursue communication methods that are less direct, more friendly, and more context-driven. My first goal in communication is being more dynamic in my speaking. By â€Å"dynamic†, I mean being full of energy, enthusiasm, and sense of purpose. Being dynamic with one’s communication leaves one able to both get things going and to get things done. Of course, being dynamic also means being agile as well, which goes back to the concept of context. Knowing one’s context is perhaps the most important factor for all successful and productive interaction: it defines expectations and shapes the message being conveyed. Dynamicity defines whether one is able to be fluid in how he or she sends the

The Effects of Global Warming on the United States and Sudan Essay

The Effects of Global Warming on the United States and Sudan - Essay Example Global warming has similar negative effects on human rights issues because of its impacts on health and water and food security in the U.S. and Sudan, but Sudan experiences a different negative effect of potentially greater conflict because of the scarcity of basic needs. The history of human rights in Sudan and the U.S. are dissimilar in values because they have different human rights conditions. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides basic guidelines for all nations regarding the establishment and protection of equal human rights. The U.S. has a Constitution and Bill of Rights that aim to promote basic human rights, as well as access to civil and political freedoms. After the Civil Rights Movement, equality laws and other laws reinforced equality and banned discrimination of any form. The U.S. also has a vision of environmental justice that is essential to environmental rights. In 1994, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12898 that mandated federal agencies to pursue environmental justice (Dawson 326). Six years afterwards, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued instructions for the state agencies, so that they can handle environmental justice lawsuits (Dawson 326). This movement declined under the Bush administrati on because of the dominance of business interests, while Obama returned the importance of environmental concerns (Dawson 326). Based on the history of human rights and environmental issues in the U.S., it has been a series of ups and downs on the basis of environmental rights, although basic rights and freedoms are relatively stable since human rights and freedoms are instituted through equality and other similar laws. The U.S. generally supports the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sudan, on the opposite, experiences a troubled human rights history. Human rights in Sudan became harder to access since 2012 because of the

How sedentary lifestyle affect identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How sedentary lifestyle affect identity - Essay Example By this time, everybody should know the health effects of inactivity, almost as damaging to the mammal body as cigarette smoking and pets are just as susceptible. The earth is definitely getting heavier because obesity is an epidemic in the developed countries. New cases of adult onset Diabetes (also known as Type II Diabetes) are growing at an astronomical rate in the West, where 350 million people now have the disease and more than three million people succumb annually. Shockingly enough, more children are getting this version of Diabetes, which at one time was extremely rare in those under eighteen. In addition, coronary disease (heart attacks) and hypertension evolving into debilitating or fatal strokes are more common in the immobile person. Many works have blamed the sedentary lifestyle on the technology age and it is true that many more people hold an office-type job in 2012 then the populace did in the 1960’s. However, the average Western adult only works forty hours a week, less than 25% of the 168-hour week. The other seventy-two hours (after subtracting fifty-six hours for sleep) lead to sedentary trouble. The kid playing video games for hours on end, the family watching the latest DVD, adults and kids alike glued to the home computer shopping and catching up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all inactivity red flags that identity change is eminent. . To multiply the problem, a myriad of unhealthy food choices are available, potato chips, burritos, cookies among others, with more items invented all the time. Diet and exercise are the two solutions to inactivity. Healthy, home-cooked meals with less eating out, especially at fast food restaurants, can make a vast difference in a person’s weight and health, and feelings of identity. Instead of dad and son watching football all Sunday afternoon, they could go out in the backyard and have a game of catch. The whole family could go for a brisk walk in the park and rather than driving around the mall trying to grab a parking space near the entrance, it would be much better to park in the nether regions and walk to the door. Gardening, housework, walking the dog (it needs the workout also) and even sex are wonderful everyday devices in which one would get exercise. Is it raining? The inactive person could try walking up and down the stairs a few times. New York Times correspondent Michael Pollan has written several tongue-in-cheek books on the subject of food, most notably The Omnivore's Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan stresses that he essentially agrees with the Government in their assessment that junk food and other processed foods are not good for the human body. He also acknowledges that so-called â€Å"organic† food is not that anymore, what started out as a good idea quickly turned no better than non-organic foodstuffs. In addition, modern transportation and storage methods, bringing regional foods such as Cajun nationwide, are not necessarily for the betterment of humankind. While recommending more plant matter, he stresses that humans should become a society of hunter-gatherers, as they were less than 150 years ago. Pollan in the chapter â€Å"The consumer a republic of fat† speaks explicitly on the sedentary lifestyle and oddly enough blames it partly on the glut of corn produced in North America. Americans don’t each that much corn so the excess resulted in the massive alcohol manufacturing in the 1800’s, which is still being used today (Pollan). Also high

Personal Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Reflection Paper - Essay Example The main characters in the experience I explain are my best friend Jeff, his girlfriend Kelsey and me. There were many different stages in this experience too. As Jeff and I were friends since long, Kelsey too became a close friend of mine through him. However, one day I saw Jeff terribly upset and when I asked him as to what happened, he told me that he and Kelsey are no more having a good time together. Soon, it reached a breakup. Jeff was totally shattered, and he said that Kelsey was a terrible person for the way she dealt with the break up. By the time he finished explaining all the ill deeds of Kelsey, my perceptions about Kelsey was totally altered. I got a totally different perception of Kelsey and I could no more see her as a friend because in my opinion, she totally lacked sympathy and empathy. However, the unexpected happened later on. A month or two later, I found Jeff and Kelsey talking over phone and in one weeks time, I found them together again. However, I found it en tirely difficult to forget the wrong doing and forgive her. I told Jeff that I had nothing to do with her. However, later on, Kelsey came to me and forced me to listen to her explanation. As I heeded to her request, what I got was a totally different picture. The information Jeff gave me was over exaggerated and partially wrong. Thus, after months, I found that the conclusion I reached about Kelsey was wrong and I had to change it. Evidently, this is a perfect example of wrong perception where a number of factors ranging from a wrong application of perception schema and the limitation imposed by perceptual set created problems in my understanding. In addition, one can see the influence of recency effect. It seems that I went wrong from the moment of selecting the stimuli. I gave attention to the wrong stimulus and ended up in a wrong perception. There are various factors that affect the process of

Banking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Banking - Assignment Example The mortgages are secured by claims against the various estates the mortgagors purchase. Afterwards, the individual mortgages are huddled together as a mortgage pool. The pool is held as the collateral for an MBS. The MBS can also be issued by a third-party financial institution for instance a large investment banking company or similar bank where the mortgages originated from. Aggregators can also issue mortgage backed securities. There are MBS whose main purpose and interests are guaranteed by a United States government entity or sponsored enterprise. The securities are known as agency MBS which do not expose an investor to credit risk. For a non-agency MBS, issuers normally employ various vehicles to enhance the credit of the security in order to obtain a targeted investment-grade rating. Investors within MBS are exposed to uncertainties about the future cash flow since the borrower has every right to repay the loan wholly or partial as long as it is before the maturity date. This is called prepayment risk which is a major factor in understanding MBS. When the MBS is being created, an issuer would choose to break the mortgage pool severally to different parts known as tranches. These tranches are structured in various forms depending on the choice of issuer. The tranches differ in relation to the priorities of payments received. These early payments must then be allocated to the tranches according to a schedule or priority. This allows the issuer to tailor a single MBS in case of risks and damages. The funds accumulated for example Pensions and hedges are used to invest in high credit mortgage securities and seek higher returns through investing in low credit ratings. A vital innovation in the financial markets has been the securitization of assets. Apparently, this would include mutual funds as securitized investments. Interestingly, securitized investments normally distinguish themselves by the fact that they change priorities of payments to the holders of the securities. The first type of securitized asset was the residential mortgage in 1969 and the first non-mortgage asset securitization were the lease received in 1985. Since then, credit cards, loans and bonds and several other types of debt instruments have been securitized. Considering the prepayment risk that an investor faces in the basic mortgage-backed instrument as well as the pass through security, there is a very high chance of enquiring huge losses. For instance when interests rate fall, homeowners usually begin prepaying their mortgages while leaving mortgage holders normally receive their principle payments earlier than scheduled. Consequently, the cash flow has to be invested in lower interest rate environments according to Chance (2008). As a result, the returns on mortgage pass-through are quite volatile shocking the many investors who were unaware that such a risk would occur. Nonetheless, the result is similar that a new security is created and backed up by the c laims against the mortgagors’ property. However, this security can be sold to participants who are in the secondary mortgage market. The secondary mortgage market is very large hence providing a significant amount of liquidity to the mortgage groups. Competitive Strategy With the business environment continuously becoming more challenging and taking a global twist,

Astronomy 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Astronomy 1 - Research Paper Example The space between the universal objects is not vacant and contains gases that are distributed in the space. Due to this phenomenon, absorption lines are created into the universe that are called intercellular lines of gases. Due to expansion of the universe, the stars and other stellar objects are moving farther and faster as compared to speed of light. Therefore, Hubble law is used to find the distance in the universe (Goldsmith & Owen, 2001). Stars are just like light emitting bodies. Decrease in brightness can be observed if one moves them further away. Simple mathematical rule is applied for notifying change in obvious brightness of stars as a function of its distance from us. . The mathematical formula is as follow. Luminosity of star is also used to write inverse square law. Luminosity is energy that star emits in each seconds which is measured in watts. It can be described in following manner. If luminosity of star is known then brightness can be measured. Then brightness is used for calculating distance (Goldsmith & Owen, 2001). Geologists have assumed that rocks in earth structure are some 4 billion years old. The stones came from moon and mars also seem to be having same history. It is assumed that earth and planets formed at the same time when sun was formed. Thus our sun is about 5 billion years old approximately. It is huge ball of gas mostly containing hydrogen which is contained due to gravity (Goldsmith & Owen, 2001). The new energy source of sun was proposed by a British astronomer at the end of world war one. He puts three ideas together. Astronomers knew that presence of hot and dense gases at center of sun are helpful in supporting its weight. Expanding high pressure hot gases maintain the outer layer of sun. Secondly the research proves that four atoms of hydrogen are equal in weight to one helium atom. The same ratio is composed of subatomic particles. Still the weight of helium is

Finance - write up a executive summary and recommendation Essay

Finance - write up a executive summary and recommendation - Essay Example These expenses are related to the land bought to expand business in future. The dilemma with the management of the company is what should be done with this land. They have two options; first option is that they can sell off this land for an impressive amount of $235,000 and also save the increasing annual maintenance expenses @3% which is $16,000 at the moment. The second option with the management is to use this land in expanding the existing business by setting up a new spray booth and workshop. This report provides an analysis and evaluation of these two options in hand for FBSR. We have used the capital budgeting tools such as Net present value (NPV), operating cash flow and sensitivity analysis in order to determine the feasibility of the options available at hand. The relevant calculations, with respect to each of the analysis technique used, can be found in the appendices. Our analysis is all depending on John’s assumptions which means our belief is the probability of a ssumption would range from NPV various. Within this analysis of the insurance project of the business, operation cash flow and profitability is the decide the feasibility of business. it’s the company’s choice of whether or not to take the insurance project in the business. Meanwhile, 10% increase or decrease in revenue and wages & maintenance fee of is under concern.

Crime Is a Social Construct Essay Example for Free

Crime Is a Social Construct Essay Crime is a social construct Discuss. This composition will look at crime and its different criminological interpretations. Crime is an umbrella word which covers a diverse range of issues and is dependant upon the theoretical stand point of the writer. Although the wordings of the explanations differ, the implications are consistent (Newburn, 2007. Doherty, 2005). Mclaughlin et al (2006) seems the most relevant for the purpose. They separate crime into three key constituent parts. These are harm, social agreement and the official societal reaction. There are different theoretical interpretations of crime. The product of culturally-bounded social interaction is crime; which is the violation of the social contract (Newburn, 2007. Young, 1995). Societal responses are different dependant upon the society. Theft in the UK may result in caution or non-custodial sentence for a first offence; whereas in Saudi Arabia the offender would lose a hand. Deviance can be perceived as being actions or behaviour which although may not be criminal in nature are at odds with the social norms of the society. Promiscuity is legal, though is perceived as deviant (particularly in females due to patriarchal societal values). Homosexual behaviour, which was previously illegal, has undergone a shift in the moral attitudes of society. The moral’s of society regarding certain activities is not set in stone and it alters over time. This is the view rule-relativists have of crime, as what is appropriate to the society at any given moment in time and may change due to alterations in societal values. Social constructs are the institutions, agencies, judicial bodies and any other mechanisms that are produced to implement social order. These social constructs are not natural phenomena; they are created by the hegemony. Behaviour or activities that offend the social codes practices of a particular community. These codes and practices may be different due to cultural differences. Legal and social codes are not always identical. Laws are the mortar that binds societies and implement its norms. A Muslim man may marry more than one wife in certain countries. In the USA a Mormon may also marry more than one wife. He may bring both wives into this country with both having legal rights as his wife. However even though his culture would allow him to marry another wife, in this country he wouldn’t be allowed to. A man in the UK would not be allowed more than one wife. If he did marry a second wife he would be charged with bigamy. This crime doesn’t harm anyone; however it is classed as being against the social norms of British society. A number of crimes are made due to the state acting as a moral guardian to its community. At the present in Indonesia it is illegal to chew chewing gum, conversely in the UK this would not be seen as a reasonable criminal offence. Governments are not beyond contravening their own statutes, as in the case of prisoners that have been transferred to Guantanamo bay and the acknowledgement that water boarding (a form of torture) had been used upon a few of these prisoners. As well as the state justice there are systems which provide social control, such as private security etc. â€Å"They comprise the numerous forms of social control of crime and deviance that are part of group life† (Henry, 1994). There are informal modes of social control from local communities, such as being â€Å"sent to Coventry! The legal standpoint is simply what is enacted by society as criminal. On the issue of harm Lord Denning’s ruling in Donoghue v Stevenson holds â€Å"what would the man on the Clapham omnibus think†. Legally in addition to the criminal act there has to be a guilty mind, mens rea as well as the criminal act, actus reus. There has to be a legal capacity to commit crime, Doli incapax means that thos e less than eleven years of age and those suffering from mental illness are seen as not being capable of committing crimes. There are also mitigating circumstances; reasons why a criminal act may be seen as reasonable. This can be observed as being the contextual component; evidence of this can be seen in the case of the mignonette (Morrison, 2005). The classicist classification of crime is activities which have a negative impact upon the individuals and upon their property of the state’s electorate. Classicists do not take into account that there might be other factions with conflicting aims or moral codes. This can be perceived prior to the break up of the former Yugoslavia, where each faction had separate societal views. The conservative view of crime is that anything that threatens the social order should be criminal. This follows the classicist view insofar as that but they also include crimes which damage the integrity and morals of society. Those dealing with new deviance theory assert that there needs to be two separate parties. One party behaves or commits certain actions that another party who has differing morality categorizes that party as deviant. The factions in society with greater power impose their moral codes (Young, 1995). With new deviance theory the faction with the most power controls the morals; this doesn’t necessarily translate to being the majority of society. The Marxist viewpoint on crime is from of class and the intensification of social control of society. This viewpoint perceives capitalist societies as being breeding grounds for criminal activities. Theorists believe that only socialist societies can have any expectation of being without crime. Sheptycki (2006) states that â€Å"the roots of crime lie in the social structural inequalities of wealth and power. Capitalist societies promote individual interests over social welfare. The radical left criminological theory is that the nature of an advanced industrial society with its class system and its natural patriarchy is the cause of the prevalence of crime. They furthermore view crime as being more of a predicament for the poor. The way laws have been created can be shown in the disparity in sentencing for property theft when compa red to white-collar crime. Positivist criminology views crime and criminal activity as explainable through the natural sciences. Positivist criminologists look for specific causes for crime through scientific methodology. Whether this is because of biological, psychological and sociological disciplines to be able to quantify criminal behaviour. Positivists deem that there is a â€Å"consensus of value in society that can be scientifically ascertained† (Young, 1995). To bring to a close crime is a social construct. Crime is in addition a component of the larger issue of deviance. It is a consequence of social norms which the government has enacted into laws. The state has the infrastructure to enforce the society’s behavioural codes. By means of these criminological schools all of any given states laws can be identified. Having observed these, the new deviance theory was the most rational, building as it does on previous schools of thought. This holds that the faction with the greater societal power holding the reins to society’s moral codes. At the present time this looks to be direction in which western societies are on the face of it is heading. The Iraq war was implemented by the powerful elite of society.

Should Women Be Allowed to Play Against Men in Sports Essay Example for Free

Should Women Be Allowed to Play Against Men in Sports Essay Every sports fan hates to admit the fact that sports are simply business, but it is undeniable that sports are one of the most lucrative businesses in the U. S. Right now the market for womens professional sports is growing rapidly. The best way for womens sporting organizations to promote and sell this market is to align with previously established organizations such as the NBA, NCAA and the USOIC. Although joining with mens organizations is a difficult process that involves compromise, merging with these organizations helps to land big television contracts, gives greater publicity, and brings in endorsements, advertisers and investors. The lack of these benefits was among the key factors in the failure of the ABL. Inversely, these are the reasons for the successes of the WNBA and womens sports in the Olympics. Throughout the history of female athletics merging with male sports organizations has not always been a pleasant experience. In 1982 the AIAW merged with the NCAA, despite the NCAA fighting tooth and nail to try and find ways out of Title IX, an act of Congress that required Universities to provide equal funding for womens athletics. The NCAA did everything they could to stop the equal funding but finally gave in during the 1990s. Right now the NCAA embraces its womens sports programs and has had many women represented on the executive committee roster and even has a committee on womens athletics. Also, the NCAA has worked out television contracts with ESPN, FOX sports and CBS. This has lead to not only coverage of womens sports but publicity. Womens games are talked about on Sports Center and College Hoops Tonight everyday during the season. The addition of the womens to the Olympics did a lot more to promote commercial secures and the advancement of womens The Womens Olympic Games went out of business shortly after the Olympics allowed women to participate. Women lost a lot with this merger at first due to the fact that women were prohibited from many Olympic events that they could have participated in as part of the Womens Olympics. These restrictions werent lifted until 1984. However in the long run co-ed Olympics are beneficial for womens sports. At the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City there was only two sports that USA women did not compete in, ski jumping and the Nordic combined. Female athletes were well represented even though there were a few more male athletes in some events and the television air time was almost equal for both sexes. The ABL never stood a chance against the WNBA. The ABL a independent womens league and the WNBA, a subsidiary of the NBA, played a big part in putting the ABL, a separate womens basketball league out of business. The WNBA could afford to pay players less because the players could receive a lot more publicity and endorsement playing in the WNBA. The ABL made huge mistakes right off the bat. First off there season was from October to March right and competing with the NBA and the college basketball season. Thus it was harder to land large television contracts. The could only get contracts on lower budget cable stations the Black Entertainment Television and some but not much regional coverage on the Sports Channel ( now Fox Sports). In their third and final year they did not renew the contact with BET and Fox Sports would show 16 games, a 61% decrease of games seen on TV . However they did work out a deal with CBS that would show two ABL playoff games. League went under before they could even finish the season. With the help of the NBA the WNBA was able to avoid costly mistakes while using the pervious existing structure of the NBA and its capital to increase the popularity of the WNBA and ensure some financial security. The WNBA had NBA marketers and promoters and big television contracts on NBC, Lifetime and ESPN. The WNBA just this season will be showing a lot more games the ever before. The LA Sparks will receive 22 of their 33 games televised nationally More importantly the WNBA had money behind it, commercial on NBC billboards all over there home cities and their marquee players such as Lisa Leslies were in shoe commercials. The market for womens sports is growing rapidly and a big part of this success is because of these mergers with established organization. These mergers of womens and mens sports can do a lot more for the promotion and the TV coverage then any newly formed league male or female, an example of the is the WNBA and the Olympics. Although the history of these mergers has had a shaky history in the past those days are over. There is a lot of money to be made on womens sports if promoted right and if leagues like the WNBA fail it would be a major set back for womens basketball so why not have the NBA and all its promoter TV contracts and executive expertise behind them.

Impact of New Media Technology on International Law

Impact of New Media Technology on International Law To what extent can it be argued that new media technologies have impacted on the structure of international news? The concept of globalization has changed the way or perhaps the structure of international news and represents a key component in the media transformation. It implies that the new media technologies plays an important role in enhancing globalization by allowing mass flowing of information between countries and intercultural societies. However, the rise of citizen journalism and internet seems to challenges the traditional way of international news structure. First of all, globalization has made an impact on the editorial structure and content in international news structure. Globalization is best describes as a transformation process while the development of new media technologies like internet and satellite system is an important part it. Flew (2007) describes globalization as a process rather an outcome or a collective tendencies of economic, political, social and cultural relations across nation’s border. Therefore globalization creates new forms of international journalism, the political ideas, economic events and communication spread much more easily and widely than before. The global news system is driven by technology and spread through the different media form such as international news broadcasts, televisions programming, internet and even satellite radio broadcasting. In fact, Kperogi (2011) points out that foreign news and local news continues to co-exist but become networked and blended together, creating new form of j ournalism. However audience are still basically primarily concern on their own national news while national interests are still the main aspects in journalism. Holm (2001) agreed that the content in the international news structure was always about political and economic event in foreign countries. In that case, this foreign news is facing competitive pressures with the other sensualizes and entertainment news. However with the new media technologies such as satellite and cable system, more and more people are getting concerned about the issues happened around the globe. Foreign news is now known as global news; therefore new agencies have the need to expand news productions and developed a more professionalism practices in the news coverage. Reese (2010) argues that international news agencies have to position themselves within transnational relationships, while maintaining their norms and logics to engage with the local practices. CNN as an example, an US based satellite and cable channel, now has a specific column for international news coverage such as Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East in the website. Therefore the selection of international news must not just reflect global interests but also address to the local community. Likewise, globalization as a post-modern world phenomenon has eventually the shaped the role and practice of journalists to mediate the news between the nation and the global interest. As Volkmer (1999) argues that the globalization and journalism has reflected the new categories of media, practice, professionals, and content which they need to redefine into global perspective. Todays, every media people have the computer and internet access to international 24 hours news feed. The digitalization of information and the development of new media technologies with the capacity to store the information and permitting the convergence of information have contributed in spreading a global agenda. This evolution of news system has been seen in some of the international news agencies in the past 19th century such as Reuters and AP which had become the emergence of today’s modern global news system. Journalists and reporters are assigned throughout all over the world even the war zone l ike Palestine and Iraq with the objective to cover and report any significant live event happened in the country. The transformation in the structure of international news communication has created the perception of a shrinking world through intercultural connectivity. Thus people are getting more concern with the global news, especially when it has huge political, economic and social impact to the world. New media technologies allow the people to access to foreign news, while breaking news, live event and exclusivity have resulted changing demand in international news coverage. The reason is because people always wanted to be the first to know what is happening and it must be huge, example like the 911 incidents the people around the world are able connect to live news reporting but also in the same time they have also witnessed the second terrorist plan attack during the news reporting in the their TV screen as it is happening. International news reporting has expanded widely and can be received throughout the world. CNN, Al-Jazeera and even BBC do not just exist in their origin country; foreign operational offices also have been established across the world. Therefore, it could be argued that new media technologies and the Internet have stimulated this interconnectedness between countries and lead to the rapid spread of information, news, content and programming. Furthermore as the media corporations expand globally, the structure and content in the international news become more and more saturated which people have been bombarded by different kind of political reinscribed messages. Basically, media consists of propaganda potential to narrow down the range of ideas in the public sphere and restrict debate among the citizens. McComb Shaw (1997) describes media has the powerful influence in determine the agenda and highlight certain issue in the society. With new media technologies, these effects certainly become global and visible especially throughout this cultural sensitivity world. To illustrates this, Israel-Palestinian and middle-east conflicts are now the international central agenda, by consistently highlighting and broadcasting on going live events such as the war in Israel and Palestine, the international media create a new form of public sphere and awareness. However as media grow in scale and centrality in international news report ing, the degree to which media constructs the agenda in news become an issue. Reese (2009) argues that the notion of globalization leads to another way to describe Americanization, cultural imperialism and transnational capitalism. One of the assumptions is that the international news agencies are very much controlled by the political elite group in the western countries. Neither do they are not covering enough news in the developing countries, the international news are still very much constructed in a very selective and biased way. Furthermore, due to the commercialised and privatisation in the media, the competition among those media tycoons has been reduced to few with media corporations are largely concentrate on fewer owner. Therefore media today are moving across national borders and building alliances with local forms through conglomeration and integration. One of the very good examples perhaps would be News Corporation owned by Rupert Murdoch. With the subsidiaries in Europ e, United States of America, Asia and Australia, Murdoch has successfully expanded his global media empire through the establishment of satellite TV systems (Flew, 2007). The international media system today is largely owned by Western Corporations, with not even single one is coming from developing countries. It would be wise to say that the current international news agenda is imbued with westernised ideology. For instances, the participation of the minority group such as the African American are very much underrepresented in the media while the hunger and poverty in South Africa seldom been highlighted in the international news agenda. It is perhaps these international agenda does not seem to create a political and economy interest to the westernised country. On the hand, the conflicts happened in the Islamic middle-east countries have been the central of the international news. This is because these people who own these technologies of satellite and cable system as well as the r esources are basically the white magnates, who have the tied relationship with the ruling class members. Thus they have the direct power to control the content and agenda in international media. From the political economy perspective, new media technologies has been seen as propaganda tools by these political elite groups members to spread their ideology into international level. The international news agenda somehow has been pre-constructed by the representatives such as journalists, editors and political figures to protect the dominant westernised ideology. Despite the media conglomeration impacted on the international news agenda, the rise of the new internet phenomenon, the citizen journalism, seems to challenge the traditional way of international news cover. In fact, Goode (2009) defines citizen journalism as a range of web-based practices whereby ordinary user engages in journalistic practices. These practices include current affairs blogging, photo and video sharing and even posting eyewitness opinion on current events in social network. Indeed, new technologies has eventually changed the practices of journalism while new digital media such as Facebook, Twitter, DIGG and even The Huffington Post have connected the world and lower the distinctions between professional journalists and netizen. Likewise Dahlgren (2005) points out that the internet has the potential to democratize the current public sphere and lead to strengthened political interest and participation among the citizens in a long term effect. With computerized technolo gy, satellite TV and the Internet have contributed to the cost-effective communication which it stimulates the home-made news production phenomenon among the citizens without the contents of being filtered by the gatekeeper. Citizens can often report breaking news more quickly than traditional news agencies. Social media like Twitter and Facebook enable a powerful form of citizen journalism with live coverage of events such as the war in Israel and Gaza as it is happening. It is perhaps citizen journalism has been act as form of pre-alert form of news. As Reese et. al. (2007) argues that blogging and other social media have helped create an interlocking dialog between professionals and citizens. In fact, rather than competing against each other, professional media seems to take citizen journalism into account and are responsible to embrace their efforts. CNN with new media technologies allows the people around the world have to opportunity to contribute the unfiltered or uncensored video and text-based news report (Kperogi, 2011: 319). Furthermore this digitalised form of news allows rapidly retransmitted effect throughout the world while commentaries were available in the social media platform (E.g. Youtube video-sharing to Facebook). Such news and information sharing phenomenon eventually contribute to the development of meta-journalism, and offer diverse range of alternatives news sources in the internet. Therefore social media established a healthy form of public sphere where individual opinion can be heard and dialogue between the citizen and social institution could be formed. In this sense, the international news agencies sometimes do rely on the information from the citizens, especially when they do not have direct access or footage to the news coverage of the event. Professional sometimes selects and edits user-generated content before it actually published online. Indeed new digital media beyond most of the media regulation and gatekeeper control enable to create democratic practices in international news structure. However the practices of citizen journalism still remains scrutiny. Goode (2009) argues that the online communities lack of professionalism and credibility in this participatory news production. Although internet enable new form of public sphere, by creating the opportunity to publicize criticisms and comments, and to engage in a continuous dialogue, the accuracy of the news still much be questioned. This is because everyone on the internet can write and post anything about any issues in the internet. Unlike the professional journalism, the news without gatekeeper can be written without based on any facts, while the photo footage we seen on the internet might not be true and have been reconstructed by any computer tools like Photoshop and Video editor. Basically citizen journalism does not empower individual in any perspective. Again with the Israel-Gaza conflicts, the citizens in the country used twitter to routinely update about the news with the Hashtag features available (e.g. #IsraelGaza), but it still would not change anything. Therefore the credibility and objectivity of citizen journalism somehow still need to examine. In conclusion, international news structure has been deeply affected by the new media technologies in the process of globalization. Media, practice, professionals, and content have to restructure into global perspective. While majority of the international news agency are owned by Western Corporation, new media technologies are essential propagate to shape the ideological agenda into international level. The rise of citizen journalism on the other hand creates the opportunity for the public participation in news production which public opinion and dialogue between the citizen and social institution could be formed. Therefore, new media technologies to certain extent still plays a critical role in helping international news organization act as a watchdog to monitor issues around the world. References DAHLGREN, P. (2005) ‘The internet, public spheres, and political communication’, Political Communication, 22:2, 147–62. FLEW, T. (2007) Understanding global media: Globalization and global media corporations, Palgrave: London. GOODE, L. (2009) Social news: citizen journalism and democracy, New Media Society, 11, 1287-1305. HJARVARD, S. (2001) News media and the globalization of the public sphere in in HJARVARD, S. (2001) News in a globalized society, Nordicom: Goreborg, 113-128. HOLM, H. (2001) ‘The effect of globalization on media structures and norms: globalization and the choice of foreign news’ in HJARVARD, S. (2001) News in a globalized society, Nordicom: Goreborg, 113-128. KPEROGI, F. (2011) Cooperation with the corporation? CNN and the hegemonic cooptation of citizen journalism through iReport.com, New Media society, 13, 314-329. McCOMBS, M. E., Shaw, D. L. (1997) Communication and Democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory, Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence Erlbaum. Reese, S. D., Lou Rutigliano, Kideuk Hyun Jaekwan Jeong (2007) Mapping the blogosphere: Citizen-based media in the global news arena, cited in REESE, S. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353. REESE, S. D. (2009) The future of journalism in emerging deliberative space, Journal: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 10: 3, 362-364. REESE, S. D. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353. VOLKMER, I. (1999) News in the global sphere: A study of CNN and its impact on global communication, cited in REESE, S. (2010) Journalism and globalization, Sociology Compass, 4: 6, 344-353.

Social prejudice in schools Essay -- essays papers

Social prejudice in schools Children from middle-class families generally are more successful in public schools than children from low-income families. Is the school system responsible for this problem, or is lower performance among low-income children a result of their home environment? The home environment has a big role in a child’s education and if it is not supportive of the school environment, the student will not be as successful in school as the child whose home environment is supportive of the school’s learning environment will. The typical public school teacher is a middle-class white female. The typical curricula, tests, and learning tools used in public schools were created by middle-class educators and are geared toward the needs of middle-class children. The middle-class teacher may not be able to communicate as well with the lower-class student as she could with a middle class student. A poor minority student may have trouble understanding English if English is not his/her first language or if English is not spoken in his/her home, and the teacher may have trouble understanding his/her broken English. Different social classes also use different slang and voice inflections, and have ways of speaking that contain â€Å"hidden meanings†. So the â€Å"language† a lower-class student uses at home may cause him to have trouble communicating with his middle-class teacher and classmates. In his book, Ain’t No Makin’ It, Jay MacLeod tells how a group of poor students in a particu lar school were able to relate to a teacher (Jimmy Sullivan) who spoke their â€Å"language.† â€Å" ‘It was cool, cuz like you walk in there†¦you talk to Jimmy, and you know Jimmy’s real cool,’ † said one of his students. Related to this â€Å"language barrier† that exists between low and middle social classes are behavior differences which affect teachers’ perceptions and expectations of students. Poor and minority students are more likely to be placed in low tracks (Oakes, 64) than middle-class children, probably because teachers misinterpret certain students’ abilities. J. Oakes suggests that one of the reasons this happens is because of the existence of a â€Å"hidden curriculum†, one in which teachers’ expectations and judgments are based on subtle behavior traits that are a part of each student’s home life and are brought to the classroom. Many students in lower tracks are plac... ...ols cannot change is the fact the every family has a unique set of values, beliefs, traditions, and ways of rearing children. Ultimately, the home environment has a greater impact on children than any other social institution, and if the culture being taught in schools is different than the culture that is being taught in the home, children’s education will suffer. Bibliography: Resources: Elvin. H.L. Education In Contemporary Society. London: C.A. Watts and Co. 1968. Fischer, Louis and Donald R. Thomas. Social Foundations of Educational Decisions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1965. Goldman, Shelley V. and Ray McDermott. â€Å"The Culture of Competition in American Schools.† Education and Cultural Progress. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1987. Kottak, Conrad. Mirror for Humanity. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1996. MacLeod, Jay. Ain’t No Makin’ It. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. Oakes, J. â€Å"The Distribution of Knowledge.† Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality. Yale University Press, 1985. Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls. NY: Doubleday, 1994. Spring, Joel. American Education. NY: McGraw-Hill Co., 1994.

The Practice of Sex Selection :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Practice of Sex Selection Sex Selection is usually thought of as a procedure that occurs prior to conception, however, that is not always the case. Sex selection is a method that is used prior to and after conception. Focusing on after conception and birth, sex selection can take place by genetically testing, or by taking ultrasound images of the developing fetus, resulting in abortion due to an undesired gender. The practice of sex selection can also take place after birth of the child, â€Å"[†¦] when one or both parents kill their baby† (Dixon). Partial birth abortion, which was banned by the Senate, was a major practice used by many around the world. In this procedure the abortionist, whom is guided by the use of an ultrasound, grabs the baby’s legs with forceps pulling the baby into the birth canal, ever so carefully delivering the entire body except for the head. Following the partial birth, the abortionist jams a pair of scissors into the bay’s skull, slightly opening then to increase the size of the hole. The scissors are then removed and a suction catheter is inserted into the hole enabling the brain to be drained and skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed from the mother’s birth canal. More highly utilized is deliberates induction of a miscarriage. This procedure is practiced everyday all over the world and only takes approximately fifteen minutes. The cervix of the women is dilated with rods allowing a tube to be inserted into the uterus. The fetus and placenta are then â€Å" vacuumed† out. The uterus is then scraped with an instrument known as a curette to make sure no products remain behind. Practicing sex selection prior to conception is viewed as a more natural and more of a safe way to conceive a child of a desired gender. â€Å"The trouble is that society as a whole is not capable of handling Sex Selection without terrible results† (Dixon). The most practiced pre-selection is the laboratory. Here urine specimens are used to monitor ovarian steroid changes during ovulation. â€Å"Although methods of selecting sex before conception are not entirely reliable [†¦]† (British Medical Journal), it is obviously the practical route to go. A response to either practice of sex selection merely depends on the factor of cost and ease of access.

Utilitarianism and Retributivism Views of Capital Punishment Essay

The court handles all cases with extreme seriousness; however, different cases are handled differently. For instance, murder cases have different pre-trial procedures to be followed as compared to a case like violation of traffic rules. This paper outlines philosophers’ view of punishment and how the County District Court Division handles capital punishment. To begin with, punishment is an act that involves intentional infliction of agony or misery to a person for wrong doing, with the aim of correction. Capital punishment involves penalty by death or life imprisonment killing of the person who has been found guilty. In Philosophers endeavors to justify punishment, they have come up with theories, which explain the core objective of punishment. The theories are Utilitarianism and Retributivism (Fieser, 2001). Utilitarianism is a theory that seeks to identify the consequence of administering punishment. It explains that punishment should serve to dissuade a potential offender from committing a crime. This could be done by setting clear laws, which outlines the punishment for specific crime committed. The theory also proposes punishment as a way of rehabilitating the offender. For instance sentencing an offender to do community work should be done with the aim of improving the character of the offender (Fieser, 2001).On the other hand, Retributivism is a theory that advocates proportionate punishment to any wrongdoer. The theory invokes the retaliation principle, which stipulates that a person, who kills another, should also be killed. The proponent of this theory, Immanuel Kant, seems to be in agreement with the existence of capital punishment in some states. However, to rule out chances of an innocent person being pu... ...ions. However, sometimes judges overrule the jury’s recommendations and impose death penalty rather than life imprisonment (Death Penalty, n.d). In conclusion, statistics indicates that many inmates were executed in the year 2009 compared to 2008. In 2008, 37 inmates from nine states were executed either by lethal injection or electrocution. The following year recorded the execution of 52 inmates (Capital Punishment Statistics, 2008). Works Cited Capital Punishment Statistics, (2008). U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1757.html Death Penalty, (n.d.). Death Penalty Information Centre. Retrieved from http://www.spectacle.org/linkpgs/deathpenalty.html Fieser, J. (2001). Capital Punishment. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retried from http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/punishme.htm#H5. html

Behavior Change Project

The goal of this course is to allow students to realize the value of leadership as it applies in the relevance of group interplay, community service, and styles available in literature. This then encourages the formulation of responsiveness in the ability to become effective in planning, setting goals, and promoting application in each setting accordingly. Such capacity can then build the necessary skills and expertise in handling specific tasks and address problematic situations in a given scenario. Action PlanTo achieve this process, specific activities and programs are to be implemented within the span of 16 weeks. Under each period, specific objectives and goals is highlighted according to the principle discussed. Here, it may entail the following activities (1) formalized instruction, (2) group activities, (3) immersion, (4) reaction papers, (5) reporting, (6) responding to specific scenarios, and (7) responses to threads. These different activities in turn shall be delegated ea ch week to determine the ability to relate corresponding principles involved in leadership towards real life applications.Alongside these, specific rubrics for grading and measurement of competency shall be elaborated to determine how students utilize the information gathered in their personal lives. Weekly Assessment: Part One – what is leadership? To determine how students grasp the concept of leadership, they are expected to provide their individual responses towards how they see it being applied in different realms. By allowing them to point out its relevance within their family, community, and school, it can help show their understanding of the term and relate it in their current environment.Weekly Assessment: Part Two – leadership styles Under this specific objective, students then need to answer the specific thread wherein they show their two most apparent leadership style and what they feel can best supplement their interests as a future professional in the wor kplace. Allowing this to occur can then give better means of responding to their capabilities and look forward on how they can achieve the necessary skills and principles for growth and development. Weekly Assessment: Part Three – leadership and planningHere, specific collaboration with the members of the class are necessary wherein they are required to submit their proposal for their immersion to a specific group/organization during weeks 9-12. These can then outline what each member plans to do and conduct preliminary research on how this endeavor can supplement their leadership capabilities individually. At the same time, they can be involved in seeking strategies that can reinforce their decision making skills accordingly. Weekly Assessment: Part Four – Setting Goals and ObjectivesAssessing individual competency in this approach requires both the submission of the group project related to immersion to a specific group/organization and that of a response paper that highlights the value of the readings. This can then justify important precepts related to identifying goals (group immersion). At the same time, it can also infuse better means of looking into the perspectives of students in their capacity to differentiate long term and short term goals. Weekly Assessment: Part Five – leadership and implementationIn measuring student capabilities and responsiveness to these issues, they are expected to submit their group proposals for approval and comments in what they plan to do give their goals and objectives in immersion. Here, they are also expected to partake in group activities wherein they are expected to contribute towards addressing specific scenarios and promote better means of applying and implementing leadership in each category. Likewise, students are also expected to point out new means of how implementation is necessary in a response paper over a specific reading.Weekly Assessment: Part Six – leadership and the school co mmunity The application of this principle corresponds to the identifying common trends and problems within the educational community and how leadership can help. To measure students’ comprehension over this topic, they are asked to engage in the threads and point out what measures can leadership provide over given issues. Similarly, they are also asked to take part in the instruction wherein recitation points are given towards identifying specific issues related to educational problems and then identifying what leadership strategy/style best fits into the category.Weekly Assessment: Part Seven– leadership and ethical issues To determine the ability of students to utilize information according to these dynamics, they are asked to provide specific information concerning ethics. Here, they will act as both raters and reporters to determine how much they understood specific ethical issues in different environments and how it relates to the process of leadership. After this , students are also expected to submit a reaction paper over what they had learned this week and how it applies to their perspective both as a leader and follower.Weekly Assessment: Part Eight – leadership and group dynamics Under this specific topic, students are then expected to submit specific responses in the group activity established and the constraints that hinder their ability to function effectively. At the same time, students also need to answer the thread wherein they shall be given specific scenarios and argue concerning the role and value of group dynamics in furthering leadership capabilities. Weekly Assessment: Part Nine – Immersion 1 This week, students are required to submit their responses in their different associations with a specific organization or group.Here, they first highlight the successes and challenges they had faced in the process. At the same time, they are also expected to point out what goals were they able to accomplish and what needs to be furthered accordingly. Weekly Assessment: Part Ten – Immersion 2 Another response paper shall be submitted this week alongside a proposal of an alternative plan based on the scenario and environment they are in. Here, they are expected to formulate what necessary means are essential to promote better means of handling specific issues.Similarly, their views concerning its relevance may also be asked for participants to consider in writing these plan and report. Weekly Assessment: Part Eleven – Immersion 3 The third week shall comprise of submitting a reflection paper whether or not specific changes have been made and if they were successful in addressing the problems and hurdles of the organization. At the same time, students are also expected to respond to the threads and share their experiences and how leadership was able to further their means to apply their specific objectives and goals.This can then help provide the final portfolio project due in part twelve of the course. Weekly Assessment: Part Twelve – Immersion 4 and Analysis This section deals with the creation of a portfolio to be submitted to the instructor wherein thoughts and inputs concerning their participation in the organization. Here, they are expected to provide feedbacks in their own leadership plan and how it complemented their specific goals and objectives. Moreover, there is also a need for students to reflect on the overall immersion and justify whether or not they had changed considerably during this process.Weekly Assessment: Part Thirteen – Leadership and Globalization This specific tenet requires student to address specific responses in the online thread to promote address ideas taught in class. Here, it tries to provide better means for incorporating principles of leadership as it relates to globalization and interdependence. Likewise, it also gives students the means to expand their understanding of leadership in both the individual and global per spective. Weekly Assessment: Part Fourteen – Leadership and My Chosen CareerGiven the different perspectives concerning leadership, students are now expected to utilize their understanding by submitting a research paper of what leadership can provide in their chosen career. Here, they need to point out specific responsibilities and roles in their profession. At the same time, they also need to explore areas on how it can be developed with their specific skill sets and experiences related to their field. Weekly Assessment: Part Fifteen – Overall Inputs in the CourseThe last part before the examinations would be for students to submit a paper reflecting their positive and negative experiences in the course. Here, they are expected to be truthful about their inputs and how it presents itself in particular activities and programs. Likewise, it also tries to address new means of identifying common goals related to their development and growth. By doing this, it can help edu cators realize if their short and long term goals are facilitated by these activities accordingly and whether or not they suffice in building appreciation among students.Conclusion The overall facilitation of this course corresponds to the ability of infusing leadership skills to students and allows each one to associate it with today’s current trends. By tackling different principles that addresses the personal, community, and professional leadership scenarios, students are given the opportunity to become responsive to these changes and promote means to address issues, hurdles, and challenges in each one.One success of this program is the ability to utilize leadership both in its relationship with associated disciplines and via specific environments. By allowing students to respond to each one using different activities and coursework, they are able to maintain a firm grasp and appreciation of the concepts related. This can then help utilize means to incorporate and maintain effectiveness in their ability to become responsive to these changes accordingly. At the same time, it also helps students bring about appropriate behavior and handling specific issues.By highlighting specific challenges related to practice, they are able to correlate theories and principles to that of actual scenarios that are happening. Such dynamics then infuses better means for collaborating and handling issues effectively and with ease. In addition, the process of undertaking programs via planning, goal-setting and application also remains crucial in determining leadership objectives as it relates to one’s personal objectives and goals in life.

Forces Leading to the War of 1812

The war of 1812, supposedly fought over neutral trading rights, was a very peculiar conflict indeed. Britain's trade restrictions, one of the main causes, were removed two days before the war started; the New Englanders, for whom the war was supposedly fought, opposed it; the most decisive battle, at New Orleans, was fought after the war ended.Before the war began, Britain and France had disrupted US shipping, confiscated American goods, taking US seamen into the British navy, and both sides had blockaded each other's ports which caused great annoyance to American traders, and Britain's abduction of American sailors especially caused great uproar and indignation at home. These forces led Americans to declare war on Britain in 1812. When the war began, it was being fought by the Americans to address their grievances toward the British.This seemed like a justifiable cause for a war, however not all of the citizens shared the same sense of unity about the political issues the war was be ing fought over. The US was quite upset about the continuing impressments of American sailors into the British Navy and the seizures of American merchant trading vessels by the British. In a committee report in 1811, congressmen address their complaints against Britain. The British defied an â€Å"incontestable right†, and they captured â€Å"every American vessel† that they could find.In response to these intolerable actions, The president of the United States wishes to declare war against Great Britain. A group of congressman known as the War Hawks desperately desired going to war. One of these â€Å"War Hawks,† John C. Calhoun, agrees with the committee’s report, by saying â€Å"these rights are essentially attacked, and war is the only means of redress. † Hugh Nelson, congressman from Virginia, believed that the war was inevitable and that it would bring the American people together. He stated, â€Å"to demonstrate to the world†¦ hat the people of these state were united, one and indivisible. † This quote demonstrates his thoughts that if the United States were to unite in a strong fashion, it would indeed â€Å"repel all foreign aggression. † President Madison’s Declaration of War coincided directly with the report and the writings of the War Hawks, in that it explained itself by stating, â€Å"We behold our seafaring citizens still the daily victims of lawless violence†¦ We behold our vessels†¦ wrested from their lawful destinations. † In the War of 1812, many groups had apprehensions to the war at hand.Some, like the War Hawks, used the plight of the New England maritime traders as an excuse to go to war. In reality though, New England was doing better off before the war, because during which it became increasingly difficult to ship goods across the Atlantic and it was impossible to trade with Great Britain. John Randolph, a Representative from Virginia, even went as far as to say that â€Å"maritime rights† had no say in influencing the war. He believed that â€Å"agrarian cupidity† was the true influence that urged the war.By that, Randolph means that men are looking to take the fertile lands of British Canada for themselves, considering that the northern mountains did them no good. When observing the votes for war in the House of Representatives, one might notice a peculiar detail. The agrarian regions of the United states, which includes the Western Frontier, The South and The Agricultural Mid-Atlantic States, have many more yes votes than no votes. Whereas in New England, and the Maritime and Commercial Mid-Atlantic States, the no votes heavily outweighed the yes ones.The Jeffersonians claim that they want war to fight for the â€Å"maritime rights† and yet the Maritime and Commercial States stand out with a majority of no votes. Not a single Federalist voted yes for the congressional vote for war, while a large majority of Demo cratic-Republicans voted yes for war. Most of these Federalists were also ironically located in New England, but most of the Democratic-Republicans were located in the South and the West. Before the War of 1812, If Americans had been able to put aside their regional selfishness and differences, a declaration of war may not have even been required in the first place.Forces such as disrupted shipping, confiscated goods, and abduction of sailors could have been negotiated over with Great Britain. The United States lacked the unity, discipline, and strength to challenge the British and ended up paying dearly for the declaration of war against them. It is evident in the representatives’ voting that New England and other Maritime regions were against the war. This may suggest that the idea for war was prompted by Democratic-Republicans like the War Hawks, whose motives may have been questionable as mentioned by Randolph.

Why magnesium is used in Grignard reactions?

Grignard Reagents were discovered by Victor Grignard in 1900. They are classically formed by reacting magnesium turnings with alkyl halide in ether or THF solvents, to form solutions of alkylmagnesium halide. The atmosphere must be moisture –free and inert and magnesium must be of high purity.  Magnesium is usually covered with a coating of magnesium oxide, so an activation agent like Iodine or Dibromoethane is added. They can also be formed from by when an organolithium compound reacts with a magnesium halide In organic chemistry C-C bond is one of the most important bonds. To make these C-C bonds organometallics such as organolithiums, Grignard reagents and carbonyl compounds are used. Grignard reagents are our first source of carbanions (anions of carbon). The polarity of a covalent bond between two different elements is determined by electronegativity. The more electronegative an element is, the more it attracts the electron density in the bond. Hence, the greater the difference in electronegativity, the more polarized a bond becomes. In the extreme case of complete polarization, the covalent bond ceases to exit and is replaced by electrostatic attractions between ions of opposite charge. The reactivity of the carbonyl groups is due to the polarization of the carbon-oxygen bond toward the more electronegative oxygen. For e.g. – Polarity inside a Formaldehyde molecule Thus organometallic reagents act as nucleophiles towards the electrophilic carbonyl group. In organolithium compounds and Grignard reagents, the key bond is polarized in the opposite direction, towards the carbon – making carbon a nucleophilic centre. This is true for most organometallics because, metals like Li, Na, K, Mg, ca, Al, Cu, Zn etc. all have lower electronegativity than carbon. Also, the alkali metals (Li, Na, K etc.) and the alkaline earth metals (Mg and Ca, together with Zn) are good reducing agents, the former being stronger than the latter.   Hence, these can be used to make organometallic reagents with carbon. The alkyl magnesium halides are called Grignard Reagents after the French chemist, Victor Grignard, who discovered them. The other metals mentioned above react in a similar manner, but the Li & Mg are the most widely used. Feature Article Relative Rates:  Free-Radical Bromination These reactions are substitution reactions, but they cannot be classified as nucleophilic substitutions, as in the reactions above. Because the functional carbon atom has been reduced, the polarity of the resulting functional group is inverted (the original electrophilic carbon becomes nucleophilic). This change, shown below, makes alkyl lithium and Grignard reagents unique and useful reactants in synthesis. Reactions of organolithium and Grignard reagents reflect the nucleophilic character of the functional carbon in these compounds. The nucleophilic carbon of these reagents also bonds readily with electrophiles such as iodine and carbon dioxide (fifth equation). The polarity of the carbon-oxygen double bonds of CO2 makes the carbon atom electrophilic, shown by the formula in the shaded box, so the nucleophilic carbon of the Grignard reagent bonds to this site. Carbon has in consequence an unshared electron pair. Such a carbon would be a very strong base, much stronger than needed to take an H+ from water to generate the weaker base OH-. A practical consequence of this is that Grignard reagents must be kept dry, away from even the slightest traces of moisture, lest they be destroyed by reaction with water. Works Cited Clayden, greeves, Warden and Wothers, â€Å"Organic Chemistry†, Oxford University press,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2001, ISBN 0-19-850346-6 http://www.chemguide.co.uk/organicprops/haloalkanes/grignard.html

Describe a room of your house: My drawing room

My living room has a peculiar shape. From the pinnacle it would look like a big rectangular shape forms it with the longest sides facing north and south. To the side facing north it is then attached a smaller shape known as square. A black and white fitted carpet has covered the whole room. In addition to that, to the side facing south, is attached a half hexagonal shape. Inside the square section of the room there is the television, which is a flat, screen Philips 40 inches. The television is on the top of one of the 12 shelves that compose the TV storage combination drawer. The six drawers under the shelves, two for each column that means that over the drawers there are four shelves, are smooth running as well as accessorised with a drawer stop. The post is provided with a groove prepared for lighting and cabling, basically foil finish and aluminium. The shelves are In tempered glass. The colour of the drawers is white. In the shelves there CDs of any existing kind as well as my silver and green XBOX 360, speakers, DVD player brand Philips and sky's white digital box. On the topside of the wall facing east there is a black glass bookcase with doors. It is composed of 14 adjustable shelves; also whenever I want I can adjust the spacing between them to my needs. On the bottom of the wall facing west there is a glass door cabinet. The cabinet is in tinted solid spruce. The raw material that has been used for the cabinet is strawberries' tree's wood. The colour is dark brown and it is equipped with eight shelves. On top of them there are mainly glasses as well as two tee's services in porcelain. In the center of the room there is a painted finish white coffee table. The top is in glass with the corners reinforced in wood. The bottom part is in wood. The table is pretty short, as it has to go on level with the sofa. The sofa is divided in three sections that can be moved around in order to create a suitable combination. Its rephult white cover is removable. The sofa is a hundred percent cotton. Its steel frames are chrome plated and therefore it gives then that silver shiny look. Positioned on top of them there are two black cushions each. On the same wall there is a portray painted by Boccelli, the paint represents a man who has nothing and rests on the doorstep of an Italian church. Whenever I walk inside it a feel weird however. I don't know why but I don't feel at home and wish for braking free out of its invisible grasp. I suppose this could mean that I don't like my house or I don't like my family. I don't really know what to say; I like sitting on the sofa alone because I am use to it, however if my father were to sit beside me uneasiness would fill me. Describing the dining room My Dining room and kitchen are separated by a sliding door; therefore I like to think of them as u unique room although they aren't. It has a kind of rectangular shape. The floor of my dining room is in dark brown wood; consequently it can also be called parquet, which from French means wooden patterned floor. On top of the parquet there is a rug. The wool is soil-repellent as well as hard wearing. It is composed by a hundred percent-multicoloured wool although the prevalent colour is burgundy. In the center of the room there is a huge dining table made of oak veneer. It visibly is brown and a shady one as well. It has a height of abut 74 centimetres. The ten chairs are made of solid beech. The cover is sensibly dry-cleaned as it is made of seventy-five percent cotton and the remaining twenty-five percent of viscose/rayon. The legs of the chairs are tinted in brown black while the rest is in sanne white. The more elongated sides of the room are in communication with the South and North Pole. Very close to the wall facing east there is an armchair that could even substitute the chair of the person that heads the table as it is on the same level. The armchair is made of the same material of which the chair are made of a part from the legs which are made of plated chrome. The cover of the seat is removable, as the colour white can easily be soiled by any other colour, in order of being washed and then placed over again. If it tears it can then be substituted. On the north wall there is a portray entitled Sur La Table. Two pendant lamps illumine the room, which creates two different shades. The lamp is handmade. The material used is natural wood, not the synthetic one. Positioned ion the table there are four green, red, blue and purple candles. Attached to the wall facing west there is a red-glassed door cabinet. The cabinet is formed by twelve sliding shelves, which can change the amount of space between them. Inside them there are different kinds of glasses: Vodka, whisky, rheum, cocktail, champagne, snaps white wine, red wine, wine, juice and water. Other things inside are porcelain plates: Saucers, mugs, sugar bowls, cream jugs, trays, serving stands, oven/serving dishes, serving plates, oven serving plates with holders, gravy jugs, serving bowls with lid, side plates, deep plates and normal plates. Describing My Bedroom My room has a rectangular silhouette with edges which have been smoothed so that it gives them that modern design look as well as making the walls looking as single one that encircles the room. The colour of the walls is light blue; it strongly as well as nostalgically remembers me of the ocean that surrounds the place from which I come from, Jamaica. Similarly the colour of the — wall is deep blue. I have six light bulbs inserted inside the empty corresponding cavities, which were previously made on the covering wall; all of them can rotate and focus in different points. The floor instead of being made of marbles is parquet, which means wooden floor; moreover its colour is obviously golden-brown. It is basically patterned flooring constituted of rectangular timber boards. My bed's longest side is sided by the right wall of my room, while my personal computer and peripherals are on the other side of the room. The writing desk is equipped with a lamp as well as a laptop. It is made of stainless steel while the legs in powder-coated steel. Stool is silver coloured which goes well with the colour of the table as well as the one of the laptop. Under the table there I have a pedal bin in galvanised steel. Inside my room there is also a television that faces the door and is right in front of the north wall; under it I have my green XBOX 360 as well as my black play station 2. To its right I have a double glazed window, which does not allow the external rumours to enter inside my room. On the bottom right corner I have a four-door wardrobe; its doors are made of tempered glass reinforced with wood on the edges. On the centre of the room I have a red seating combination sofa. It is soft, Hardwearing and easy to care leather. Its legs are in Nickel-plated steel. In conclusion room is something material to others while to me its something precious and as a live as me since it can represent me and it does. What is disorder to some is order to me, this is something that I cannot change. Studying people belongings can mean understanding people since their feeling usually are enclosed in these loveless objects to strangers that appear alive to their owner.