UK Deregulated Banking and Economic Downturn Essay

UK Deregulated Banking and Economic Downturn - Essay Example According to Economy Watch (2010), the Banking Industry was once a simple and a reliable business; but, deregulation and technology have transformed the industry considerably. Banking regulation ensures correction of market imperfections and unfair distribution of resources (Central Banks, 2011). Therefore, deregulation of financial institutions saw the domination of the industry by the selected few, and they acted according to their selfish gain. According to Lyons (1999-2011), every aspect of banking is regulated by federal or state agencies. The Thatcherism regime in its quest to deregulate the banking industry generated a chain of imperfection towards failure in the financial sector (Enqdahl, 2009). Deregulation is expected to have considerable effects on the real economy if t significant changes were placed in the structure, and efficiency of the banking industry (Strahan, 2002). Overreliance on a deregulated banking system in the United Kingdom saw the large financial instituti ons dominate the sector across a wider geographical area. This led to loss of local market concentration as they only pursued entering the market rather than consolidating within a local market. Banks play a central economic role; thus, affecting the well being of every sector in the economy (According to about.com 2011). The motivation for bankers to undermine and hinder prudent regulation is inherent in the compensation incentives of bankers (Gilani, 2009). With deregulation, transparency in the activities of the institutions is inhibited. Deregulation of the Banking Industry in the United Kingdom saw rapid growth in credits within the financial sector (The Turner Review, 2009). This was orchestrated by the freedom in the banking sector as banks could formulate their own policies without reliance to the state approval. On the same note, significant wholesale and overseas funding surged the economy into deep crises (Economic crisis and Market Upheavals, 2011). Investment in the mar ket was heightened in the sense that one could access investment in the UK risk-free index government bonds with a yield to maturity over 3% real and this could even surge down to1% (The Turner Review, 2009). In the UK, trading activity was underpinned by the securitized credit model, and as the home of several leading banks, it was affected greatly by the impact of the economic downturn. A number of features increased risks contributing to the credit boom in the upswing and enhancing the nature of the down swing that followed (Economic Watch, 2010). This saw losses and liquidity strains escalate in the financial market, housing problems became widespread, as the prices of houses shot down, and credit supply dwindled down and the eventual problems with funding of the UK mortgage banks intensifying (Economic crisis and Market Upheavals, 2011). Factors that were escalated by the deregulation of the banking industry included among others; massive growth, and complexity of the securitiz ed credit model, increased commercial banks involvement in trading activities, heightened leverage in multiple forms followed (Economic Watch, 2010).. Also, the expanded maturity, complexity of structured credit and derivative system and lack of adequate capital buffers contributed to the escalation of the

Comparison of Israeli and Iraqi Coalition Parliamentary Governments Research Paper

Comparison of Israeli and Iraqi Coalition Parliamentary Governments - Research Paper Example Under such circumstances, in order to avoid political stalemate, small parties may support larger parties to get majority in the parliament and to form the government. Instead of a government led by a single party as in the case of United Sates, a government led by multiple parties (Coalition government) may take charge in countries like India, Israel, Iraq etc. Unlike governments led by single party system, coalition governments cannot function independently because of the different views, opinions, ideologies and policies of the members of the different political parties in the coalition government. This paper compares the influence of ethnic groups or culture upon Israeli and Iraqi coalition governments. Analysis Methodology Iraq and Israel are the two prominent countries in Middle East which have coalition governments at present. However, Israel and Iraq are entirely different countries as far as culture is concerned; Arabs or Muslims dominate the population in Iraq whereas Israe l is the Jews’ state. It should be noted that these two countries have different ethnic groups. Each ethnic group and each region in these two countries have separate political parties which argue for the interest of the particular community or region. Israel is a Jewish country whereas Iraq is a Muslim country. However, clashes in Iraq between different ethnic groups are more than that in Israel even though both the countries have coalition governments at present. I would like to compare the functioning of these coalition governments in order to learn more about the influence of cultural differences upon the functioning of coalition governments. Influence of ethnic groups or culture upon Israeli coalition government Political parties in Israel can be classified into two broad categories; Zionist parties and non-Zionist parties. non-Zionist parties are negligible in number and strength. Labor Zionism (social democrat), Revisionist Zionism (conservative) and Religious Zionism are the major political thoughts among Zionist parties. Out of these three political philosophies, Religious Zionism is comparatively weaker than the other two which is the major reason why the influence of religion upon Israeli politics is comparatively lesser than that in Iraq. Israel’s new coalition government (created in January 2011) has become more conservative in its domestic policy position and more hawkish in its foreign policy stance. A series of events in recent months highlights this trend, including disagreements between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama regarding an appropriate basis for peace negotiations with Palestinians, Israel’s response to the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal, and its response to clashes with Palestinians along its borders in recent months. In addition, the country’s changing demographic profile signals that conservative political groups are likely to exert more influence over the medium-t o-long term as well1. As in the case of many other countries in the world, conservative parties and liberal and democratic parties are more in Israel also. Conservatives normally may not give up their traditional beliefs and tougher stands on global issues easily. On the other hand liberal and democratic parties usually keep a space for accommodating changes in line with the political and economic developments in the world. One of the major curses facing by Israeli politics is the excessive number of political parties which keep extremely different views on

Tektronix Inc Global Erp Implementation Management Essay

Tektronix Inc Global Erp Implementation Management Essay For Welti (1999), an ERP implemented in a complex international environment normally incorporates four major sequential stages (Planning, Realization, Preparation and Productive phases) that must go in parallel with a proper Change management, Risk Management, Project Control, Project Team Training and User Training. As the global implementation was done by waves with different characteristics, it can be seen that different project management strategies were adopted. In this part only the most characteristic features of the overall project are highlighted and these issues are limited to the information given by the case study (Planning and Realization stages). In the Planning stage, many issues can be mentioned. First, the selection of the ERP package was quite straightforward and relied mainly on Neun and Vance ´s judgment, experience and criterion; they decided to choose Oracle as a single vendor in order to avoid dealing with the complexity of multiple providers which, although it may cause future problems due to the dependency created to a single vendor, it was a practical decision for the implementation process. In this decision, they devoted neither too much time in costing nor resources in evaluating the alternative packages. Secondly, the steering committee clearly defined the model, guidelines and principles under which all the systems were adhered to. Also, it was defined the financial architecture that could meet the new business model: Order Management was different for each division (for customer purposes), but the rest of accounting elements were based on single definitions in order to provide worldwide control. Thirdly, th e Project Team structure offered advantages such as the cross-functional working style, which created a regional and divisional control. Then, the problems and tasks could be addressed from these two perspectives, but the disadvantage of this approach might be the conflicts of power during the implementation, as authority was given to divisional and/or regional leaders which could have created confusion to users and sub-teams. Fourth, it seems that within each wave they did not allocate carefully all the resources, people or time needed for being successful, which led to the time constraints as they devoted effort looking for skilled staff and consultants. Overall, the project was benefited from the partial feedbacks and success in each stage and in the long run the plan was framed within the general guidelines and schedule. Also, the planning stage can be said to be closer to reality as they used a mixture of emergent and statics tactics to face future events. The Implementation phase was done more or less within the plan, and it was divided mainly in regional and divisional deployments. The first stage, the implementation of the Financial and OMAR modules in the CPID was properly led by the person who best knew the IT infrastructure in USA: Gary Allen. As this division was in need of an urgent BPR and a new business model in order to improve their competitiveness, the early success of this implementation could get the buying of the next regions and divisions. However, this stage was no exempt of project management difficulties: Tektronix lacked of technical and functional skills with Oracle, and they struggled in finding the right consultants, with the resultant wasting of time. It can be mentioned that within this first part, USA was a good pilot for OMAR, as they could get an opportune feedback about business and technical issues; regarding the implementation of financial module in USA and Europe, they did not face major challenges, giv en that this module did not require BPR and also because the company highly relied on Oracle specialist Consultants (Aris Consulting). But the implementation of OMAR at MBD (second stage) met technical challenges despite of the help from Oracle consultants. The third stage, implementation at VND, was characterized by a constraint of human resources. These two last stages (two and three) went through problems from the business perspective, probably as a result of IT head divisions leading the implementations, with less involvement from the executive level. Later, once deployed the software in USA, Tektronix went to the European branches where the approach followed was more or less similar to that followed in USA: they chose the most used European distribution centre (Holland), and this pilot reduced the uncertainty and gained the buying from the rest of regional countries. Then, they decided the final roll out to some other European countries and the big-bang deployment that installe d all three divisional systems together. This strategy could lead to good results considering that European countries are culturally very different and it is really challenging to implement a vanilla version program. When introducing the ERP system into Asia, a similar plan was followed, which was wise given the language issues that could have represented a technical and cultural limitation if not addressed properly. America and Australia seemed to be easier waves in comparison with the rest of the project. Although the monitoring and feedback had a positive impact on the effectiveness of control (Mudimigh, 2001; Bancroft, et al., 1998) and the deadlines were timely met, it is clear that the weakest point of the implementation stage and partially of the planning stage was the poor Change Management, Project Team training and Risk Management (they are not mentioned in the case). For example, the complete absence of a proper Change Management project led to the resistance found when implementing OMAR at MBD. Also, the absence of attention from the managerial and business level in the allocation of the initial resources (staff, training, and consultants) led the waste of time when selecting consultants, when doing testing, incorporating technical changes, language customizations and new business processes. One of the good points of the project was the training given to Power users and Sub-Teams across the global enterprise. Overall, the conservative approach (waves of roll out and big-bang ) followed by Tektronix really helped in mitigating many of the characteristic risks for a global ERP implementation. 2.- IDENTIFYING TEKTRONIX ´S PROJECT RISKS In terms of risk, it can be said that Tektronix had tolerance for risk (Hirsch and Ezingeard, 2008) as managers were willing to accept variations during the project in order to obtain high returns (time and efficiency).This attitude towards risk might have an explanation: by using the Willcocks and Griffiths (1994) framework, we can see that due to some key managers ´ previous experience with ERP technology, considering the project as a large one and regarding project structure as medium or low, then the risk can be classified as Low or Medium. Then, it can be said that leaders of the implementation drove the project without a highly structured plan because their knowledge about ERP implementations gave them enough confidence to improvise tactics in order to obtain successful results. Keil et. al (1998) proposed a risk categorization framework that can be used here to classify the risks that Tektronix faced. Furthermore, this model gives the opportunity of clearly locate those events that could have happened and that could be prevented if addressing the events on time. Complementing this framework, specific risk factors (Sumner M., 2000) for enterprise-wide ERP projects are included within the four quadrants. Quadrant 1: Customer Mandate In this quadrant there are risks associated with the commitment obtained or lack of buying from senior management, users and other stakeholders. The first concern noticed in the case studied was that the project clearly had the financial support from the Board of Directors; and also the CFO and CIO were willing to introduce changes and improvements for the company, all which reduced the risks related with funding or assistance needed during the implementation. Secondly, the commitment from the company HQ and divisions was quickly gained because the high rate company growth and Tektronix ´s inability to cope with the market pressures had created a sense of dissatisfaction among managers and top employees who found in this project the opportunity to improve. Thirdly, there was a highly motivated champion of the project (Carl Neun) who was supported in his idea by the CIO and CPID ´s president. Furthermore, some other leaders were designated across the different regions and business units in order to expand the champion ´s directives. Fourth, the management structure of the project was built upon a number of key roles with business and technical expertise; this structure consisted of a central project leader (CFO with unlimited authority from the CEO) and strong business divisional or regional leaders supporting the champion ´s authority. The clear roles allocated at different levels reduced the efforts done along the top-down structure, but the lack of involvement of the CEO and other senior managers in Change management can be considered a risky attitude which ended up in occasional resistance from some users. Lastly, it seems that end-users ´ expectations were not considered at all: firstly, because the CFO relied mainly on his experience and intuition and did not spend time in doing a proper project analysis; second, the vanilla approach proposed by Neun implied adapting users ´ operations and routines to software and not vice versa. An instance of this weakness arose when doing BPR at MBD, where there was users ´ resistance and time was wasted explaining to users the reasons behind the new processes. Quadrant 2: Scope and Requirements In general, there were no major misunderstandings in requirements or disruptive changes in requirements: the scope was clearly defined as global, the elements implemented were limited to the Financial and OMAR systems, and the company followed the best practices embedded in the system and recommended by the vendor. Furthermore, as a vanilla implementation approach was deployed as a global solution, only in cases of extreme need modifications took place, which clearly reduced the risks involved when doing local or national customizations (Sheu, et al., 2004). Quadrant 3: Execution In this Quadrant, it can be assessed risk factors and many of the traditional pitfalls associated with poor project management. The pitfalls can fall into the business or technical field. As examples of first mistakes done by Tektronix, it can be mentioned an inadequate change management, project management and risk control: They never did any feasibility analysis and risk analysis before embarking in this huge project, and this neglect prevented them from seeing the reality in some subsidiaries. As a consequence, customization of the ERP for business processes-that were unique for some competitive local branches- had to be made; also, Multilanguage settings were programmed at last minute. The lack of skills in project management resulted in assigning this responsibility to inexperienced consultants, with the corresponding wasted money and delays when choosing a new consultancy firm. Tektronix also faced resistance that was not expected; for instance, when doing the implementation at the VND division, they found difficulties that only could be overcome by increasing the working pressure and the level of resources (order entry people, item maintenance people). With reg ard to the transfer of knowledge, the company relied mainly on a combination of large and small consulting firms (particularly with Aris Consulting) as well as independent consultants, but it is not clear whether a correct program for transfer of skills was in place. The Change Control team actually worked as a communication or monitoring team and no Change management team or program was ever mentioned. Regarding the technical realization, there are some points to highlight. First, the risk of Oracle versions being obsolete before the roll out completes was diminished with the concept of waves; and each time a new version was released the company used updated versions of the software. However, in CPID, Tektronix wrongly decided to install a beta version of the software which resulted in much time of debugging, instead of waiting for the final version that was later released or for a more tested version. Secondly, the lack of technical expertise made the firm to rely mainly on external consultants as Tektronix ´s employees did not have proper training in the technical area. Furthermore, this lack of expertise resulted in much time and resources wasted, such as the excessive training and testing done in the MBD division when implementing OMAR. Thirdly, there was also the risk of integration with the manufacturing legacy system that was kept in place; and even when an interface was i nstalled between the two systems, there might be a possibility of future failure. Finally, in spite of the fact that the implementation included building a data ware housing functionality, it seems there were no plans or considerations of the high risks involved in data migration. If the new software did not work properly with the existing infrastructure or database, the only outcome would be adding the software to the collection of obsolete legacy systems. Quadrant 4: Environment Tektronix never considered the risks associated with changes in scope/objectives due to changes in the senior management hierarchy or political problems within the firm itself. Hopefully, the project did not miss their key team or management members and it could finally reach the end with a constant objective. It helped the fact that the global objectives were met in less than 3 years, a period of time relatively short that avoided the risks associated with managers moving and changing plans or directives. With regard to internal problems, it was not considered that potential conflicts between the business units or departments could erode the performance of the plan. However, the leadership and corporate culture seems to have helped subsidiaries to strictly follow the HQ guidelines, which in turn streamlined the implementation process. 3.-CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS AND GLOBAL CHALLENGES For Tektronix, some of the following critical factors and challenges (Plant and Willcocks, 2007; Sheu, et al., 2004; Hoffman, T., 2007; Bingi, et al., 1999) permitted to reach a fairly successful implementation: Communicating and persuading project goals to constituents from different cultures (Hoffman, T., 2007) The vision and project goals were adequately communicated and reached thanks to two factors: The strong leadership of Carl Neun, who was given the whole support from the CEO, and the steering committee whose main activity was to develop and ensure that enterprise-wide implementation guidelines and principles were followed. Also, the presidents of each division were key contributors because they made tough decisions in order to meet the deadlines imposed and reduce the cultural problems. Change, Customization and Business Process Reengineering (Plant and Willcocks, 2007) The implementation approach followed by Tektronix was probably the best risk management initiative itself because the global deployment was done in a logical order to reduce disruptive changes and to increase the learning and feedback. Also, the vanilla model suggested as the standard for the entire organisation helped in diminish the level of customization, although some minor changes were necessarily made. The implementation of the financial model did not require BPR, but the OMAR module was modified and customized in order to support both the corporate functionalities and the best practices embedded within the system. Then, BPR was done to the extent of preserving the competitive and core capabilities of the regional business units. Internal Technical Personnel/Resource/Labor Skills (Sheu, et al., 2004) Although Tektronix did not have trained personnel in project management or in technical knowledge, they opted for buying consultant ´s know-how, which could give them the capabilities to go forward with the implementation. At some points they were able to find enough human resources to back critical stages. Overall, the company did not have economical limitations for easily obtain the adequate staff and for keeping the plan within the deadlines. Selection of ERP Vendors (Bingi, et al., 1999) Global ERP rollout requires that the software is designed to work in different countries and that the ERP vendor has the same package version available in the countries or regions where the system is being implemented (Bingi, et al., 1999).In the Tektronix case, Neun and Vance both had already experience with ERP solutions offered by Oracle, and this let them move quickly and take a justified fast selection of the ERP vendor. 4.-LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1.-The first learning from this global ERP implementation is the deployment strategy used: a snowball approach (Ogundipe, O., 2010) in which the project is broken into manageable chunks, beginning with appropriate locations in order to cope with business or technological challenges, running parallel implementations and then doing the big-bang stage at the end, when there is enough confidence (more learning and feedback). At the same time it can be said that an emergent strategy (Nandhakumar, et al., 2005) was used for every wave introduced. Perhaps the same methodology can be used in the future for IT infrastructure projects or any other disruptive project. 2.-It is clear that the ERP brought many benefits, but Tektronix can still leverage IT as a strategic advantage. They could incorporate Procurement, HR, SCM modules and CRM packages in order to make a customer-centric organization. 3.-In the final part, there is no evidence of estimation of ROI or real financial analysis that can show the tangible financial benefits of the investment. Of course, it is mentioned improvements in terms of time or efficiency, but it would have been essential to have an initial budget beforehand, especially considering that the company was toward the financial recovery. 4.-Tektronix faced many difficulties because of the lack of Oracle in-house specialists, so they had to rely on external consultants (Aris Consulting); however, it seems that the transfer of knowledge was not properly organized. In a next project, there must be a plan that can ensure that employees and users can gain the best learning experience from the Consultants. It is vital that in-house staff can get the skills, otherwise even when the ERP implementation is successful, the performance and use can be poor if there is not trained staff. For a future implementation, if there is lack of trained staff, Tektronix can also consider the option of IT outsourcing, which is a solutions that have worked perfectly for some other big companies. 5.-In order to obtain the best benefits from the IT incorporated capabilities and make them sustainable in the medium and long term, the company should have followed the Strategic Alignment Model presented in Cooper, et al. (2001) which was adapted from Henderson and Venkatram (1993). By following this model, Tektronix can benefit from holistic technical and organizational changes that are properly aligned to the firm ´s business strategies.

music in education and health :: essays research papers

MUSIC AS A TEACHING AND HEALING TOOL Music is a remarkable tool to be used to dramatically increase learning and healing in the classroom. Its successful role has been documented throughout the academic community, yet, its use has not been widely utilized by teachers. Since Aristotle, music has been considered one of the forces used to teach. Moreover, for more than half a century the psychiatric and the educational communities have studied, analyzed and implemented the use of music as a healing tool and as a way to enhance the mental capacities of their respective group of studies. It has been discovered in controlled settings that certain type of classical music would enhance the student’s concentration time. The specific issues addressed by the study and practice of music has been divided into specific areas of the mental process. For example, learning a musical instrument helps the students the skill of repetition as a method to learn and to recollect information. Creativity and imagination also are improved when the student or the patient is taught basic concepts of musical composition. It is believed that music unleashes creative forces within a human being that are only accessed with artistic endeavors. Even abstract traits like sensibility are retrieved with music studies and the practice of a musical instrument. There is a perceptible connection between learning and music that teachers should exploit in the learning environment, regardless of the age of the student. Music could be used effectively from the time the child is in the womb and right through the formative years. While addressing the healing benefits of music it is noted the array of uses for this art. Every body in all aspects of life, to enhance moods, to depress moods, to pacify, or to reminisce, uses music. Clinicians have experimented with this art for various decades. Psychiatric patience are administered a dose of soothing music to lower the anxiety levels. Office managers utilize it to energize the work place. Learning centers use baroque music to enhance memory skills. Health experts praise the rewards of music in the digestive and central nervous systems, the enhancement of attention spans of patients of HDD and in addition promote interaction in persons who struggle with their self-esteem. Some specialists even use the term music therapy when using it to treat certain cognitive or emotional problems. Music as a therapeutic tool is not only restricted the use of recorded material or the playing of musical instruments.

Canadas First Past the Post System

In Canada Federal and Provincial First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections are based on single member districts or ridings. Each riding chooses one candidate to elect into parliament. In order to win a candidate must obtain the highest number of votes but not necessarily the majority of votes. The party that wins the most ridings is named the official government of Canada with the second place party becoming the official opposition. The (FPTP) system is also known as the ‘winner-take-all' system, in which the candidate with the most votes gets elected. FPTP voting methods can be used for single and multiple member elections.In a single member election the candidate with the highest number, not necessarily a majority, of votes is elected. This system is used in Canada, UK, US, and India. Many Canadians are not happy with the current First Past the Post system currently in place for electing parliamentary officials provincially and federally. I think that Canada’s First Past th e Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies.A new electoral system that is more proportional is needed in order to address these problems. There are a few problems that arise out of the FPTP system. One of the most important problems is the tendency for FPTP to favor tactical voting. Tactical voting happens when voters cast their votes for one of the two candidates that are most likely to win. This is done because it is perceived by the voter that their vote will be wasted if they were to choose to vote for a smaller party, which they would more prefer. This is an understandable feeling by the voter because only votes for the winning candidate actually count (Blais, 2008).The position is sometimes summed up, in an extreme form, as â€Å"All votes for anyone other than the second place are votes for the winner†(Rosenbaum 2004 ), because by voting for other candidates, they have denied those votes to the second place candidate who could have won had they received them. Following the 2000 U. S. presidential election, some supporters of Democratic candidate Al Gore believed he lost the extremely close election to Republican George W. Bush because a portion of the electorate (2. 7%) voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party.Exit polls indicated that more of these voters would have preferred Gore (45%) to Bush (27%), with the rest not voting in Nader's absence (Rosenbaum 2004). The people, who voted for Ralph Nader despite of his staggering inability to win, effectively voted for Bush by depriving Gore of their votes even though they would have preferred Gore. With tactical voting, voters, have to predict in advance who the top two candidates will be. This can distort results significantly. One factor that influences tactical voting is the Media. Substantial power is given to the media.Some voters will tend to believe the media's assertions as to who the leading contenders are likely to be in the election. Even voters who distrust the media will know that other voters do believe the media, and therefore that those candidates who receive the most media attention will probably be the most popular and thus most likely to be the top two. The media can also play an important role in persuading voters to use tactical voting. This is exemplified through the use of attack advertisements in television; radio and print media. This happens in the UK. The system may promote votes against as opposed to votes for.In the UK, entire campaigns have been organized with the aim of voting against the Conservative party by voting either Labour or Liberal Democrat. For example, in a constituency held by the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats as the second-place party and the Labour Party in third, Labour supporters might be urged to vote for the Liberal Democrat candidate (who has a smaller shortfall o f votes to make up and more support in the constituency) rather than their own candidate, on the basis that Labour supporters would prefer an MP from a competing left/liberal party to a Conservative one (Drogus 2008).The media holds an important role in informing and influencing the public about political candidates. This causes the FPTP system to turn into run-off voting, which is a two round voting system where voters elect two forerunners for the constituency and select one to be winner. The â€Å"first round† of the election is done within the court of public opinion, the â€Å"second round† happens with the official election. This can be seen in the example of the 1997 Winchester by-election: â€Å"Gerry Malone the former Conservative MP who had lost his seat in the general election, was criticized as a â€Å"poor loser† by the media.The Labour Party obtained their worst ever results in a parliamentary election, in part because they hardly campaigned at al l and instead focused their priorities on the by-election in Beckenham held on the same day. It is presumed that most of the Labour supporters decided to vote Liberal Democrat knowing how unlikely they were to win. † (Farrell 1998). The Labour Party voters used their votes tactically because they knew they couldn’t win and were turned off by the Conservative candidates negative image in the press.Another important reason that Canada should select a different election system is that the FPTP system has a large impact on smaller parties. According to Political Scientist Maurice Duverger’s Law, given enough time FPTP systems will eventually become a two party system (Duverger 1972). The FPTP system only gives the winner in each district a seat, a party that consistently comes third in every district will not gain any seats in the legislature, even if it receives a significant proportion of the vote.This puts a heavy strain on parties that are spread geographically t hin, such as the Green party of Canada who received approximately 5% of the popular vote from 2004-2011, but had only won a single riding during that time (Elections Canada). The second problem facing smaller parties in FPTP systems is related to tactical voting. Duverger suggested an election in which 100,000 moderate voters and 80,000 radical voters are voting for a single official.If two moderate parties ran candidates and one radical candidate were to run, the radical candidate would win unless one of the moderate candidates gathered fewer than 20,000 votes. Observing this, moderate voters would be more likely to vote for the candidate most likely to gain more votes, with the goal of defeating the radical candidate. Either the two parties must merge, or one moderate party must fail, as the voters gravitate to the two strong parties, a trend Duverger called polarization (Duverger 1972).Smaller parties will never have a fair amount of representation in proportion to their size. FP TP tends to reduce the number of viable political parties to a greater extent than other methods. This makes it more likely that a single party will hold a majority of legislative seats. Canada has had 33 majority governments out of 41 elections (Parliament of Canada) FPTP's tendency toward fewer parties and more frequent one-party rule can potentially produce a government that may not consider a wide a range of perspectives and concerns.It is entirely possible that a voter will find that both major parties agree on a particular issue. In this case, the voter will not have any meaningful way of expressing a dissenting opinion through their vote. These voters will have to resort to tactical voting and vote for a candidate that they mostly disagree with in order to oppose a candidate they disagree with even more. This is a compromise that the voter should not have to make in order to express them selves politically. The third problem with the FPTP system is that it is especially vulne rable to gerrymandering.Gerrymandering is the process of setting electoral districts in order to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan or incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (Martis 2008). This process is very controversial in Canada and is viewed negatively when attempted. Governments in power to solidify their dominance at the federal and provincial level can use gerrymandering to increase voters in a riding where they do not have as many voters, giving them an unfair advantage upon re-election.The examples of gerrymandering and its effects can be seen in Canada today. The current federal electoral district boundaries in Saskatchewan have been labeled as evidence of gerrymandering, The province's two major cities, Saskatoon and Regina, are both â€Å"cracked† into four districts each, when the populations of the cities proper would justify about thr ee and two and a half of all-urban (or mostly urban) districts respectively; the map instead groups parts of the New Democratic Party-friendly cities with large Conservative-leaning rural areas (Elections Canada)In 2006, a controversy arose on Prince Edward Island over the provincial government's decision to throw out an electoral map drawn by an independent commission. Instead the government created two new maps. The government adopted the second of these, designed by the caucus of the governing party. Opposition parties and the media attacked Premier Pat Binns for what they saw as gerrymandering of districts. Among other things, the government adopted a map that ensured that every current Member of the Legislative Assembly from the premier's party had a district to run in for re-election, whereas in the original map, several had been redistricted.Despite this, in the 2007 provincial election only 7 of 20 incumbent Members of the Legislative Assembly were re-elected and the governm ent was defeated. Pat Binns’ attempt at gerrymandering and loss of the election showed that the Canadian people do not support gerrymandering by politicians (CBC) Even though the FPTP system has many criticisms it does have some qualities that are found attractive. Firstly FPTP systems are generally good at creating majority governments because of their winner take all attitudes.Majority governments are viewed as being more efficient because of their ability to swiftly pass laws through Parliament. However, majority governments increase their efficiency at the price of sacrificing a broader range of political views. Secondly, FPTP is a good way of discouraging extremist parties that seek to bring radical change to the government. This is because larger parties are favored to win seats so unless the party has a very concentrated electoral support the will generally never win any ridings.FPTP has many criticisms and flaws that are easily exploited. These flaws can only be addre ssed by selecting a new electoral system. The FPTP’s key flaw that underlies its criticisms is that it discounts or ignores minority parties and their voters. This effectively causes only voters of the major parties to be able to accurately express them selves politically. In a democracy every vote should count not just the votes cast for the winning party. This is why FPTP is not an adequate system for Canada. The FPTP system fails Canadian voters because it favors tactical voting orcing voters to make unnecessary compromises with their political beliefs. It perpetuates dominance of one or two main parties and discourages growth of newer, smaller parties. FPTP opens up the door for gerrymandering Politicians to take an unfair advantage to solidify their dominance in the government. In conclusion I think that Canada’s First Past the Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies. Canadas First Past the Post System In Canada Federal and Provincial First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections are based on single member districts or ridings. Each riding chooses one candidate to elect into parliament. In order to win a candidate must obtain the highest number of votes but not necessarily the majority of votes. The party that wins the most ridings is named the official government of Canada with the second place party becoming the official opposition. The (FPTP) system is also known as the ‘winner-take-all' system, in which the candidate with the most votes gets elected. FPTP voting methods can be used for single and multiple member elections.In a single member election the candidate with the highest number, not necessarily a majority, of votes is elected. This system is used in Canada, UK, US, and India. Many Canadians are not happy with the current First Past the Post system currently in place for electing parliamentary officials provincially and federally. I think that Canada’s First Past th e Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies.A new electoral system that is more proportional is needed in order to address these problems. There are a few problems that arise out of the FPTP system. One of the most important problems is the tendency for FPTP to favor tactical voting. Tactical voting happens when voters cast their votes for one of the two candidates that are most likely to win. This is done because it is perceived by the voter that their vote will be wasted if they were to choose to vote for a smaller party, which they would more prefer. This is an understandable feeling by the voter because only votes for the winning candidate actually count (Blais, 2008).The position is sometimes summed up, in an extreme form, as â€Å"All votes for anyone other than the second place are votes for the winner†(Rosenbaum 2004 ), because by voting for other candidates, they have denied those votes to the second place candidate who could have won had they received them. Following the 2000 U. S. presidential election, some supporters of Democratic candidate Al Gore believed he lost the extremely close election to Republican George W. Bush because a portion of the electorate (2. 7%) voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party.Exit polls indicated that more of these voters would have preferred Gore (45%) to Bush (27%), with the rest not voting in Nader's absence (Rosenbaum 2004). The people, who voted for Ralph Nader despite of his staggering inability to win, effectively voted for Bush by depriving Gore of their votes even though they would have preferred Gore. With tactical voting, voters, have to predict in advance who the top two candidates will be. This can distort results significantly. One factor that influences tactical voting is the Media. Substantial power is given to the media.Some voters will tend to believe the media's assertions as to who the leading contenders are likely to be in the election. Even voters who distrust the media will know that other voters do believe the media, and therefore that those candidates who receive the most media attention will probably be the most popular and thus most likely to be the top two. The media can also play an important role in persuading voters to use tactical voting. This is exemplified through the use of attack advertisements in television; radio and print media. This happens in the UK. The system may promote votes against as opposed to votes for.In the UK, entire campaigns have been organized with the aim of voting against the Conservative party by voting either Labour or Liberal Democrat. For example, in a constituency held by the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats as the second-place party and the Labour Party in third, Labour supporters might be urged to vote for the Liberal Democrat candidate (who has a smaller shortfall o f votes to make up and more support in the constituency) rather than their own candidate, on the basis that Labour supporters would prefer an MP from a competing left/liberal party to a Conservative one (Drogus 2008).The media holds an important role in informing and influencing the public about political candidates. This causes the FPTP system to turn into run-off voting, which is a two round voting system where voters elect two forerunners for the constituency and select one to be winner. The â€Å"first round† of the election is done within the court of public opinion, the â€Å"second round† happens with the official election. This can be seen in the example of the 1997 Winchester by-election: â€Å"Gerry Malone the former Conservative MP who had lost his seat in the general election, was criticized as a â€Å"poor loser† by the media.The Labour Party obtained their worst ever results in a parliamentary election, in part because they hardly campaigned at al l and instead focused their priorities on the by-election in Beckenham held on the same day. It is presumed that most of the Labour supporters decided to vote Liberal Democrat knowing how unlikely they were to win. † (Farrell 1998). The Labour Party voters used their votes tactically because they knew they couldn’t win and were turned off by the Conservative candidates negative image in the press.Another important reason that Canada should select a different election system is that the FPTP system has a large impact on smaller parties. According to Political Scientist Maurice Duverger’s Law, given enough time FPTP systems will eventually become a two party system (Duverger 1972). The FPTP system only gives the winner in each district a seat, a party that consistently comes third in every district will not gain any seats in the legislature, even if it receives a significant proportion of the vote.This puts a heavy strain on parties that are spread geographically t hin, such as the Green party of Canada who received approximately 5% of the popular vote from 2004-2011, but had only won a single riding during that time (Elections Canada). The second problem facing smaller parties in FPTP systems is related to tactical voting. Duverger suggested an election in which 100,000 moderate voters and 80,000 radical voters are voting for a single official.If two moderate parties ran candidates and one radical candidate were to run, the radical candidate would win unless one of the moderate candidates gathered fewer than 20,000 votes. Observing this, moderate voters would be more likely to vote for the candidate most likely to gain more votes, with the goal of defeating the radical candidate. Either the two parties must merge, or one moderate party must fail, as the voters gravitate to the two strong parties, a trend Duverger called polarization (Duverger 1972).Smaller parties will never have a fair amount of representation in proportion to their size. FP TP tends to reduce the number of viable political parties to a greater extent than other methods. This makes it more likely that a single party will hold a majority of legislative seats. Canada has had 33 majority governments out of 41 elections (Parliament of Canada) FPTP's tendency toward fewer parties and more frequent one-party rule can potentially produce a government that may not consider a wide a range of perspectives and concerns.It is entirely possible that a voter will find that both major parties agree on a particular issue. In this case, the voter will not have any meaningful way of expressing a dissenting opinion through their vote. These voters will have to resort to tactical voting and vote for a candidate that they mostly disagree with in order to oppose a candidate they disagree with even more. This is a compromise that the voter should not have to make in order to express them selves politically. The third problem with the FPTP system is that it is especially vulne rable to gerrymandering.Gerrymandering is the process of setting electoral districts in order to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan or incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (Martis 2008). This process is very controversial in Canada and is viewed negatively when attempted. Governments in power to solidify their dominance at the federal and provincial level can use gerrymandering to increase voters in a riding where they do not have as many voters, giving them an unfair advantage upon re-election.The examples of gerrymandering and its effects can be seen in Canada today. The current federal electoral district boundaries in Saskatchewan have been labeled as evidence of gerrymandering, The province's two major cities, Saskatoon and Regina, are both â€Å"cracked† into four districts each, when the populations of the cities proper would justify about thr ee and two and a half of all-urban (or mostly urban) districts respectively; the map instead groups parts of the New Democratic Party-friendly cities with large Conservative-leaning rural areas (Elections Canada)In 2006, a controversy arose on Prince Edward Island over the provincial government's decision to throw out an electoral map drawn by an independent commission. Instead the government created two new maps. The government adopted the second of these, designed by the caucus of the governing party. Opposition parties and the media attacked Premier Pat Binns for what they saw as gerrymandering of districts. Among other things, the government adopted a map that ensured that every current Member of the Legislative Assembly from the premier's party had a district to run in for re-election, whereas in the original map, several had been redistricted.Despite this, in the 2007 provincial election only 7 of 20 incumbent Members of the Legislative Assembly were re-elected and the governm ent was defeated. Pat Binns’ attempt at gerrymandering and loss of the election showed that the Canadian people do not support gerrymandering by politicians (CBC) Even though the FPTP system has many criticisms it does have some qualities that are found attractive. Firstly FPTP systems are generally good at creating majority governments because of their winner take all attitudes.Majority governments are viewed as being more efficient because of their ability to swiftly pass laws through Parliament. However, majority governments increase their efficiency at the price of sacrificing a broader range of political views. Secondly, FPTP is a good way of discouraging extremist parties that seek to bring radical change to the government. This is because larger parties are favored to win seats so unless the party has a very concentrated electoral support the will generally never win any ridings.FPTP has many criticisms and flaws that are easily exploited. These flaws can only be addre ssed by selecting a new electoral system. The FPTP’s key flaw that underlies its criticisms is that it discounts or ignores minority parties and their voters. This effectively causes only voters of the major parties to be able to accurately express them selves politically. In a democracy every vote should count not just the votes cast for the winning party. This is why FPTP is not an adequate system for Canada. The FPTP system fails Canadian voters because it favors tactical voting orcing voters to make unnecessary compromises with their political beliefs. It perpetuates dominance of one or two main parties and discourages growth of newer, smaller parties. FPTP opens up the door for gerrymandering Politicians to take an unfair advantage to solidify their dominance in the government. In conclusion I think that Canada’s First Past the Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies.

Marketing Audit Analysis of Bmw

Marketing audit analysis of BMW. The marketing audit has certain similarities to a financial audit in that it is a review of your existing marketing activities. Carrying out the marketing audit provides the opportunity to review and appraise your whole marketing activity, enabling you to assess past and present performance as well as to provide the basis for evaluating possible future courses of action. Because the business environment is constantly changing, the marketing audit should be used as a reference tool, with constant updates reflecting changes in the external environment and your own internal business experiences. Internal Marketing Audit Internal auditing, as defined by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), is â€Å"an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. † Independence is established by the organizational and reporting structure. Objectivity is achieved by an appropriate mind-set. The internal audit activity evaluates risk exposures relating to the organization's governance, operations and information systems, in relation to: * Effectiveness and efficiency of operations. Reliability and integrity of financial and operational information. * Safeguarding of assets. * Compliance with laws, regulations, and contracts. Based on the results of the risk assessment, the internal auditors evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of how risks are identified and managed in the above areas. They also assess other aspects such as ethics and values within the organization, performance management, communication of risk and control information within th e organization in order to facilitate a good governance process.

Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources

Five Steps to Verifying Online Genealogy Sources Many newcomers to genealogy research are thrilled when find that many of the names in their family tree are easily available online. Proud of their accomplishment, they then download all the data they can from these Internet sources, import it into their genealogy software and proudly start sharing their genealogy with others. Their research then makes its way into new genealogy databases and collections, further perpetuating the new family tree and amplifying any errors each time the source is copied. While it sounds great, there is one major problem with this scenario; namely that the family information that is freely published in many Internet databases and Web sites is often unsubstantiated and of questionable validity. While useful as a clue or a starting point for further research, the family tree data is sometimes more fiction than fact. Yet, people often treat the information they find as the gospel truth. Thats not to say that all online genealogy information is bad. Just the opposite. The Internet is a great resource for tracing family trees. The trick is to learn how to separate the good online data from the bad. Follow these five steps and you too can use Internet sources to track down reliable information about your ancestors. Step One: Search for the Source Whether its a personal Web page or a subscription genealogy database, all online data should include a list of sources. The key word here is should. You will find many resources that dont. Once you find a record of your great, great grandfather online, however, the first step is to try and locate the source of that information. Look for source citations and references- often noted as footnotes at the bottom of the page, or at the end (last page) of the publicationCheck for notes or commentsClick on the link to about this database when searching a public database (Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and FamilySearch.com, for example, include sources for most of their databases)Email the contributor of the data, whether it be the compiler of a database or the author of a personal family tree, and politely ask for their source information. Many researchers are wary of publishing source citations online (afraid that others will steal the credit to their hard-earned research), but may be willing to share them with you privately. Step Two: Track Down the Referenced Source Unless the Web site or database includes digital images of the actual source, the next step is to track down the cited source for yourself. If the source of the information is a genealogy or history book, then you may find a library in the associated location has a copy and is willing to provide photocopies for a small fee.If the source is a microfilm record, then its a good bet that the Family History Library has it. To search the FHLs online catalog, click on Library, then Family History Library Catalog. Use place search for the town or county to bring up the librarys records for that locality. Listed records can then be borrowed and viewed through your local Family History Center.If the source is an online database or Web site, then go back to Step #1 and see if you can track down a listed source for that sites information. Step Three: Search for a Possible Source When the database, Web site or contributor doesnt provide the source, its time to turn sleuth. Ask yourself what type of record might have supplied the information you have found. If its an exact date of birth, then the source is most likely a birth certificate or tombstone inscription. If it is an approximate year of birth, then it may have come from a census record or marriage record. Even without a reference, the online data may provide enough clues to time period and/or location to help you find the source yourself. Step Four: Evaluate the Source and Information It Provides While there are a growing number of Internet databases which provide access to scanned images of original documents, the vast majority of genealogy information on the Web comes from derivative sources - records which have been derived (copied, abstracted, transcribed, or summarized) from previously existing, original sources. Understanding the difference between these different types of sources will help you best assess how to verify the information that you find. How close to the original record is your information source? If it is a photocopy, digital copy or microfilm copy of the original source, then it is likely to be a valid representation. Compiled records- including abstracts, transcriptions, indexes, and published family histories- are more likely to have missing information or transcription errors. Information from these types of derivative sources should be further traced back to the original source.Does the data come from primary information? This information, created at or close to the time of the event by someone with personal knowledge of the event (i.e. a birth date provided by the family doctor for the birth certificate), is generally more likely to be accurate. Secondary information, by contrast, is created a significant amount of time after an event occurred, or by a person who was not present at the event (i.e. a birth date listed on a death certificate by the daughter of the deceased). Primary information usually carries m ore weight than secondary information. Step Five: Resolve Conflicts Youve found a birthdate online, checked out the original source and everything looks good. Yet, the date conflicts with other sources youve found for your ancestor. Does this mean that the new data is unreliable? Not necessarily. It just means that you now need to reevaluate each piece of evidence in terms of its likelihood to be accurate, the reason it was created in the first place, and its corroboration with other evidence. How many steps is the data from the original source? A database on Ancestry.com that is derived from a published book, which itself was compiled from original records means that the database on Ancestry is two steps away from the original source. Each additional step increases the likelihood of errors.When was the event recorded? Information recorded closer to the time of the event is more likely to be accurate.Did any time elapse between the event and the creation of the record that relates its details? Family bible entries may have been made at one sitting, rather than at the time of the actual events. A tombstone may have been placed on the grave of an ancestor years after her death. A delayed birth record may have been issued dozens of years after the actual birth.Does the document appear altered in any way? Different handwriting may mean that information was added after the fact. Digital photos may have been edited. Its not a normal occurrence, but it does happen.What do others say about the source? If it is a published book or database rather than an original record, use an Internet search engine to see if anyone else has used or commented on that particular source. This is an especially good way to pinpoint sources which have a large number of errors or inconsistencies. Happy hunting!

The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee Essay Example

The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee Essay Example The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee Paper The Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee Paper The paper will discuss the main aspect of a Comanche and what their culture is like. The paper encapsulates an interview from such a Native American and this interview will be analyzed with the help of other sources from the Internet. The paper will be followed by first introducing the Comanche tribe with their features and then go about analyzing the interview. The culture of the Comanche will be discussed in the light of how they treat their elders, children and their relatives. The culture also includes some of their important aspects of religion along with the language that they use. The paper will attempt to cover the overall aspect of the Comanche and their effect in the society. Introduction to a Comanche â€Å"The Comanche are a Native American group whose historical range (the Comancheria) consisted of present-day Eastern New Mexico, Southern Colorado, Southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of Northern and Southern Texas. There might once have been as many as 20,000 Comanches. Today, the Comanche Nation consists of approximately 10,000 members, about half of whom live in Oklahoma (centered at Lawton), with the remainder concentrated in Texas, California, and New Mexico. † (Wikipedia, 2006 ) From the above definition it can be understood that the Comanches are very old inhabitants of the United States of America and have long lived there. There are a number of reasons why the Comanches had left their older origin which is near Wyoming. The tribe had shifted to Arkansas where they are now inhabited. The reason why the Comanche is given a name like that is because it is believed that they like to fight and act as strangers to the other people. The origin of Comanche comes from a Spanish word and this is why it is used. They have always been a separate group and have not mingled much with the other tribes and other citizens of the country. Interview of a Comanche The name of the interviewee was Andrea Pahdocony who belongs to a tribe called Comanche of Oklahoma Lord of the Plains). The following questions and answers provide a summary of what their culture is like and how they live their lives. The questions and answers will then be analyzed along with other material to understand what their culture and beliefs are along with their values. Question # 1 Does your culture have several meanings for one word when spoken? For example, the English language uses the word tow to represent something pulling something else or it can be used to refer to a persons toe. Can you think of some examples? Changes in the language began in the late 1800s when children were taken from their homes and placed in boarding schools. They were discouraged from speaking their native tongue, and disciplined harshly for doing so. This treatment was not unique to Comanche people, but with native people throughout the newly discovered America. Government policy dictated the civilization of the First Americans, in part, by denying them their language. The children were taught the language of their parents and grandparents was bad. With this indoctrination, the language was not spoken in the home. English became the language of preference. By the mid 1900s, elders who could speak the language fluently were dying at an alarming rate and children were not being taught the language in order to maintain speakers within the tribe. In 2006, there are 13,000 enrolled Comanches, yet there are fewer than 1% who speak the language fluently. Analysis of the Interview The interview explains that the Native American has a clear set of values and beliefs that he follows that have come down from his ancestors. There are a number of times when the values are not followed but the traditions are kept intact. The tribe believes in teaching the children the traditions of the ancestors to keep the tribe alive. The tribe has been unsocial fro several years and even decades with the other Native Americans and citizens because they would have a different dialect and would be unable to communicate with anyone. The tribal members would just continue to use the same to communicate with one another. The children have now learned to sue the English language but there is a need to also learn their language because of the communication gap that may appear between two generations if this not done. The tribe emphasizes on respect to elders but it is not necessary that the children talk without meeting with the eye. Eye contact is considered as a tradition. The Comanche tribe is a famous and a very social group within itself that keeps up the traditions and the values of the ancestors very strongly. Bibliography Wikipedia. 2006. Comanche. Retrieved on December 18, 2006 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche.

Alan Bennett on Education in History Boys

In the first half of the play, Bennett is asking the audience to consider what â€Å"education† is. How does his presentation of the characters Hector and Irwin assist with this? It is clear to the audience that, from the start, the play is concerned with education and schooling. There are â€Å"eight boys of seventeen or eighteen† disrobing a man of â€Å"studied eccentricity†; prior to this intimate scene that introduces you to the characters, Irwin is speaking to numerous MPs regarding a political matter and finishes his speech with, â€Å"Back to school.† Hectors thoughts towards education are clearly negative; on page four of the play, he says that A-level are the â€Å"longed for emblems of your conformity†: this quote can be taken as a cynical thing. He believes that the examinations themselves are useless – they do not allow you to have your own mind. You follow what everyone else does, with no substance to the style that you provide in an exam. Irwin, however, believes that â€Å"examinations are a fact of life† and, although he believes that â€Å"[exams] are for now,† he accepts that Hectors knowledge, although presented in an unorthodox manner, is good. He tells the boys to apply Hectors â€Å"gobbets† to help them in an examination. He was hired to add style to their Oxbridge applications, not particularly substance that could affect their being. He teaches them for the now, not for when â€Å"youre old and grey†. Hector insists that â€Å"there is a world elsewhere† of examinations and education for the sake of passing exams: he teaches the boys â€Å"culture† and their shared moments are a â€Å"pact – bread eaten in secret†. Akthar, when they boys are interrogating Irwin, insists that Hectors shared knowledge is â€Å"just the knowledge† Timms follows this up with, â€Å"the pursuit of it for its own sake†. Irwin, on the other end of the spectrum, believes that truth and, consequently, education, â€Å"Whats [that] got to do with it? Whats that got to do with anything?† The boys need flair over the others applying, as they will have done things that the history boys havent. If they can find a way to apply Hectors â€Å"gobbets† to spice up their exam, it should be done. If they truly want a prestigious place at their particular university, then they need to use whatever they have at their disposal in order to achieve it  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ he deems that Hectors knowledge is good for flair. Not for having substance. â€Å"Poetry is good up to a point.† Hector, again, is shown to have a negative opinion of Thatchers educational reform â€Å"Not to say that I dont regard education to be the enemy of education†. He believes that your knowledge, what you learn by heart, will stay with you forever – and that application of this lifelong knowledge in real life should be done in order to acquire more knowledge or share knowledge for the sake of knowledge. By doing this, he partially jeopardises their examinations as he allows his personal feelings to cloud his teaching. However, he believes that his view is the best way; his approach encourages the boys to think outside of the box and, instead of regurgitating facts at a rapid-fire rate, they instead can regurgitate quotes that they understand and can apply to situations, unlike what you have to learn for exams; despite Timms declaration of, â€Å"I dont understand poetry!†, when you truly understand what youre saying, its â€Å"as if a hand has come out, and taken yours†. Hector believes that education is the â€Å"pursuit of knowledge for its own sake†; he doesnt disagree with teaching, he just wants to make the boys â€Å"more rounded human beings† his â€Å"codes, runes† are not to help the boys with their high ambitions, â€Å"forget Oxford and Cambridge†, but to give the boys something personal and that will stay with them no matter what they do or where they go. He believes that his quotations and words are â€Å"making your deathbeds here, boys†. Hector also likes to split his lessons up to be memorable; one lesson he is teaching the subjunctive in French (set in a brothel) and another moment he declares, â€Å"Now for some silly time†. He is playful and breaks the rules. He likes locking the door to his lessons, which is unquestioned by the Headmaster as Hector shows â€Å"commitment†, and Akthar remarks that its â€Å"locked against the future†. Hector is the embodiment of education for the sake of knowledge, while Irwin is the idol of do it now and youll never have to do it again Regardless, both men are happy with themselves to some degree. Despite Hectors molestation of the boys and Irwins lying  about where he got his degree, they are happy – but is it better to be happy when you have so much knowledge bustling in your head, or is it better to be dull for your exams and achieve happiness later on life?

Water Balance. Sediment Yield Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Water Balance. Sediment Yield - Essay Example usual concepts employed to study landscape morphology do not essentially hold for dry land environments, where extreme proceedings are responsible for most erosion and sediment transport. The finest descriptions are from areas of vertical soils in the waterway Country of inland Australia, where they arise widely. They have also been explained on 'tabra' soils in the Sudan. What these areas have in common is the establishment of the soil outside into hummocky landscape. In the Australian examples this is due to gilgai, in the Sudanese example to differential compaction of the soil on climate 0 channel links can be developed per square kilometre. The hummocky surface makes flow to focus close by in lower areas where its greater depth causes it to be faster and livelier. This deliberation of flow causes waterways to form linking the depressions. Other features contributing to conduits formation are that slumps are more often covered than mounds, and as a consequence the floodplain there is often more cracked and eroded. It would seem as purely phenomena for land area or at least similar channels haven't yet been explained from other surroundings. Amongst other things, a lack of foliage seems essential to enable over bank flow to cut conduits where it wouldn't otherwise have enough energy. What is their protection possibility They have not been depicted in the rock record. The gilgai they are connected with has often been illustrated; however it is likely that the reticulate channels would be very difficult to spot. Firstly they are shaped in and transport sediment typically identical in composition to the mass of the floodplain sediment, thus leave-taking no textural signature of their presence. Secondly, the changes in soil formation which cause their formation would also tend to obliterate any signatures of their presence. In the last three decades of the 20th century a file on pending sediment yield (SSY) and it's controlling factors, which have information for 4140 river basins of the Earth, was created by geomorphologies of Kazan State University (Russia). Features shaping the values of SSY are overflow, river basin area, relief height, rock and soil opus, the thickness and structure of vegetable cover and degree of anthropogenic especially agricultural mastering of basin natural landscapes. According to N.I. Makkaveev (1955) and many other researchers, the study of river sediment yield is the most ambitious and precise method of judgment of erosion intensity. The specific suspended sediment yield (t km-2 year-1) and degree of anthropogenic mastering of river basin landscapes in various height regions of the Earth Dominating tendency Hemispheres of the Earth northern southern Rising 34.02 ( 34.7) 24.94 ( 72.0) Descending 26.83 ( 27.4) 1.69 ( 4.9) Relatively permanent 21.30 ( 21.8) 5.42 ( 15.6) No data area 15.79 ( 16.1) 2.60 ( 7.5) Total area 97.97 (100.0) 34.65 (100.0) The areas (106 km2) with different dominating tendencies of erosion intensity and suspended sediment yield changes in hemispheres of the Earth during the second half of the 20th century There is also an ordinance which is made to the following purposes: The hazard areas of North Augusta are subject to episodic flood which consequences in loss of life and property, health and safety hazards, disruption of commerce and governmental services, unusual public expenditures for flood fortification and relief, and injury of the tax base, all of which

Education in South Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Education in South Korea - Essay Example Yet, in this period, it has taken a back seat to short-term needs in investment priorities and has failed to receive support. Educational reform does not only entail designing a reform plan but also providing administrative/financial help and the government’s active interest and investment to support it. In an interview of two tutors fully involved in the Korean education system, it reveals many problems as well as some of the recommendations, which should be accorded to the Korean education system (OECD 2005, 38). Recommendations if implemented can achieve a perfect education system, which does not only give a burden to the parents but is also fair to the whole population. In terms of education, Korea leads in having best education parents spend. Korean parents want the best for their children and, therefore, spend a fortune just to ensure the children get the best. The wife to one of the tutors is not in the country with the children but is in the US where the children are r eceiving their education a sign that the Korean does not trust the education system of Korea themselves (Seth 2010, 195) Historically, both large and small Korean educational reforms have been already implemented. Korea is not alone in undertaking educational reform; many countries are reforming their educational systems. Educational reforms targeting the 2000s began in the early 1980s, and advanced countries tended to put a top priority on it. According to him, scientific writing and parents’ great zeal for children’s education gave the people the world’s lowest illiteracy rate and high mathematical ability, leading to the strongest competitive advantage in a labour-intensive industry,... This essay approves that the Korean educational system is now in crisis. Unfortunately, the government’s educational reforms offer no hope. Instead, students are alienated from their schools, while teachers lose their pride and happiness in teaching or are the target of reform from a low-ranking government employee. In addition, parents, who harbour great anxiety about their children’s happiness, are worried and confused, due to communications gaps and their own poor schooling. Worst of all, poor students and their parents, who should receive support from their country and society, are now being devastated by an increasingly unfair educational structure. This report makes a conclusion that education is a tool for improving society education is a process of forming a desirable human and making his or her personal, family, and social lives happy and valuable, as the individual pursues social development. All activities, organisations, and operations in education should be conducted to meet the purpose of education, or to establish an ideal human quality. Education makes a person more human-like and desirable to a society and a nation. Based on a democratic constitution designed to make people and society happy, while respecting the freedom, equality, and creativity of each person and helping them to exhibit their best competencies under equally given opportunities, education begins in most nations with free and mandatory elementary school. This is enforced through education laws, which preserve the education system and its operation.

Texas Government Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Texas Government - Assignment Example Likewise, the partisan elections tedious, and can cause straight ticket voting together with electing judges based on the familiarity of the names. The long ballots can be challenging for the voters because it is difficult for the electorate to follow up on the comprehensive lists of the candidates. Due to the aforementioned challenges in the partisan elections, it is significant for the Texas State to adopt a system in which the governor appoints the judges. The death penalty is immoral and expensive, and thus the Texas State should abolish the capital punishment. Newell, Prindle, and Riddlesperger argue that the expense of executing a criminal exceeds $ 2 million, and the punishment achieves nothing in terms of deterring the potential criminals in engaging in crime (340). Exploring the issue of the death penalty from the moral point, it is unethical and immoral to terminate the life of a person. The capital punishment degrades humanity, and inflicting death on persons does not necessarily control crimes. Therefore, it is important for the Texas State to explore other alternatives of punishing the wrongdoers instead of pursuing the death penalty. It is less costly for the Texas State to practice life imprisonment as opposed to the expensive capital punishment. Sentencing the convicted people to the life in prison without the possibility of parole is a plausible alternative. Such a sentence will enable the Texas State to reduce the many funds that tend to maintain the costly death penalty system. The nomination of the city candidates to run for the office in Texas State is essential in facilitating the electorates to know and analyze the ideologies of the individual candidate. In this respect, the Texas State should endeavor to practice partisan elections in which a political party nominates the candidates to run for the office. Newell,

Direct Marketing Communications Campaign in Easy Jet Case Study

Direct Marketing Communications Campaign in Easy Jet - Case Study Example Internal communication in an organization is the stepping stone that enables a cordial communication between the company and the outsiders. (Littlejohn, 2002, P. 30) A communication campaign is a well defined communication strategy that helps an organization to communicate with the customers. It is a strategy for internal and external communication within the organization. A communication campaign represents well arranged interacted strategies which are aimed at delivering a certain message to the customers and which is important for effective relationship in an organization. (Werner 1998, P. 72) There are various communication campaigns that are used in the market by different organization. An organization can use one specific communication campaign or it can integrate number of campaigns with an aim of delivering its core message home to the target audience. The kind of communication campaign that is used by a company depends on the target audience and the kind of message that an organization wants to deliver. (Dempsey 1997, P. 7) In this paper we will be reviewing how easyJet, which is one of the prosperous low cost airline in the UK has been using internet tools as direct marketing communication campaign in the market. We will review what the company has achieved and review the areas that it needs to improve. The company was founded by Sir Stelios Haji-loa... The Airline is based at Hangar 89 which is a bright orange building next to the taxiway at Luton airport. This represent the simplicity way that the company has been using for its operation which is not only reflected in it headquarter but also in the pricing strategies that that company has adopted. Since it was started the company has been keeping the policy of low cost operation and has been eliminating unnecessary cost and frills which has been characterizing the traditional airlines. This has been achieved through a number of ways. One of those ways has been the maximization in the utilization of the substantial assets which has reduced the unit cost of the airline. It has also taken the policy of not providing free lunch on the airport. It has kept to the efficient use of the airports. But its main source of success in keeping the cost of operation low has been the policies that the company has taken towards the use of internet and paperless operations which have been enabled by the direct marketing campaign through the use of internet tool. (easyJet.com, 2008b) Use of internet communication campaign in EasyJet Easy jet was one of the first airlines in the UK to embrace the use of the internet when sold the seat online in 1998. Since then the company has not looked backward in its internet campaign and currently online marketing accounts for more than 95% of all its sales. This makes the company to the one of the leading internet retailers in the Europe. EasyJet has become one of the leading airlines in Europe which have banked on the use of the internet for their success. The company has adopted an e-commerce strategy which has been the main tool of communication with the consumers. In this regard the internet has become the main

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio - Essay Example The play is celebrated as a romantic comedy inspired by 'Feydeau, Goldoni and Sophia Loren,' and "it bears the mark of all three, with a dash of trademark Galluccio smut thrown in just to remind us that it's a modern-day spoof of the past." (Donnelly) Therefore, the play In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio attracts large number of audience, including me, and the play deviates from the ordinary plays within the world of theatre through the presentation of the days passed by with a satirical note. One of the most cheery and thoroughly entertaining comedies of love, lust and misunderstandings, In Piazza San Domenico was set in a burning hot August in Naples in 1952 and the main plot of the play centers on a series of misunderstandings which lead young Carmelina Benevento to believe that her fianc Guido is cheating on her with the town tramp Mafalda. When Carmelina unexpectedly faints upon hearing some bad news about Guido, there is a series of striking findings between people which provoke gossip and the series of misunderstandings run through the plot of the play.

Texas Government Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Texas Government - Assignment Example Likewise, the partisan elections tedious, and can cause straight ticket voting together with electing judges based on the familiarity of the names. The long ballots can be challenging for the voters because it is difficult for the electorate to follow up on the comprehensive lists of the candidates. Due to the aforementioned challenges in the partisan elections, it is significant for the Texas State to adopt a system in which the governor appoints the judges. The death penalty is immoral and expensive, and thus the Texas State should abolish the capital punishment. Newell, Prindle, and Riddlesperger argue that the expense of executing a criminal exceeds $ 2 million, and the punishment achieves nothing in terms of deterring the potential criminals in engaging in crime (340). Exploring the issue of the death penalty from the moral point, it is unethical and immoral to terminate the life of a person. The capital punishment degrades humanity, and inflicting death on persons does not necessarily control crimes. Therefore, it is important for the Texas State to explore other alternatives of punishing the wrongdoers instead of pursuing the death penalty. It is less costly for the Texas State to practice life imprisonment as opposed to the expensive capital punishment. Sentencing the convicted people to the life in prison without the possibility of parole is a plausible alternative. Such a sentence will enable the Texas State to reduce the many funds that tend to maintain the costly death penalty system. The nomination of the city candidates to run for the office in Texas State is essential in facilitating the electorates to know and analyze the ideologies of the individual candidate. In this respect, the Texas State should endeavor to practice partisan elections in which a political party nominates the candidates to run for the office. Newell,

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio - Essay Example The play is celebrated as a romantic comedy inspired by 'Feydeau, Goldoni and Sophia Loren,' and "it bears the mark of all three, with a dash of trademark Galluccio smut thrown in just to remind us that it's a modern-day spoof of the past." (Donnelly) Therefore, the play In Piazza San Domenico by Steve Galluccio attracts large number of audience, including me, and the play deviates from the ordinary plays within the world of theatre through the presentation of the days passed by with a satirical note. One of the most cheery and thoroughly entertaining comedies of love, lust and misunderstandings, In Piazza San Domenico was set in a burning hot August in Naples in 1952 and the main plot of the play centers on a series of misunderstandings which lead young Carmelina Benevento to believe that her fianc Guido is cheating on her with the town tramp Mafalda. When Carmelina unexpectedly faints upon hearing some bad news about Guido, there is a series of striking findings between people which provoke gossip and the series of misunderstandings run through the plot of the play.

Electronic Medical Records and Safety Essay Example for Free

Electronic Medical Records and Safety Essay The article titled â€Å"Computer Security Experts Perspective on Electronic Medical Records† presents the views of an Information Technology (IT) security expert, Troy Thomas, on electronic medical records (EMR). Thomas is the Chief Security and Privacy Officer for KeyCorp which is the parent company of Key Bank. Thomas has a bachelors degree in Computer Information Sciences from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH. Thomas asserts that the medical industry is slowly becoming computerized and, eventually, electronic medical records will be the norm. He points out that, however, getting from a highly distributed, paper-based model to a fully computerized EMRs model will be challenging. Changing to a more computerized EMRs model will introduce risks that the current paper-based model does not have and will solve some of the inherent risks associated with the current model. The current paper-based model inherently has the following risks: records are susceptible to fire, flood, mold, termites, decay, fading of ink, and misplacement of an entire folder or subsections. Paper records are easily copied or stolen, easily accessed by office personnel or people who just happen to be near an unattended folder of medical records. An EMRs model inherently has the following risks: computer equipment can fail or break, technology changes quickly, and information stored a long time ago may not be easily accessed at a future date. Information that was once stored can become inaccessible; information can be accessed by unauthorized individuals. Electronic information can be altered. Electronic components do not react well to fire, water, dust, dirt, humidity, being dropped, or being abruptly unplugged. To mitigate these inherent risks, modern computer centers have strict environmental controls to ensure that computer equipment is run in an optimal environment and is backed up and available at an alternative site (for disaster recovery purposes) and has proper security controls deployed to ensure that information can be accessed by authorized personnel only. Technology controls exist that can prohibit information from  being altered. For example, there are direct access storage devices that allow information to be written once and read many times. The inherent risks of the paper-based model and the EMRs model are vastly different but mitigating controls exist that can adequately address the basic inherent risks described thus far. Typical, practicing physicians, however, cannot be expected to set up a dedicated computer center with all of the environmental, phy sical, and logical access controls that are needed to adequately safeguard their patient records. Therefore, for true EMRs to be really secure, a model or protocol is needed whereby physicians store their patients medical records at a reputable and secure data center that offers the physicians an outsourced service for accessing and storing EMRs. Unfortunately, a centralized computing model introduces new inherent risks: for example, are the outsource agencies reputable and can they be trusted with patient medical record information? With medical record information coming in from multiple physicians, a unique patient identification number would be needed so that records could be appropriately combined within patient files. With so much information in one place, clear controls would be needed to ensure that the people accessing the information receive only the information that is truly needed. Ensuring that quality information is captured and maintaining patient privacy will be the most challenging aspects of EMRs. Computers dont improve quality. However, computers can make quality issues and mistakes much more visible and potentially harmful. The author highlighted that the EMRs journey will probably parallel some of the issues that exist with electronic voting where so many questions such as whether society can trust the vendors who sell the voting equipment. Can a vote be altered after it has been cast? How does society effectively centralize a highly decentralized model? Can foreign governments hack American voting equipment and influence an election? How is a persons voting history stored and secured? In the end, EMRs will be a reality in the healthcare industry. The benefits of centralized electronic patient medical records outweigh the risks associated with changing the model. Ultimately, it is a question of trust, not technology. Will physicians trust their patients to stay with them when their patient medical records are more easily transferred to another doctor? Will patients trust that their medical records are appropriately safeguarded against inappropriate access and that the information contained within their records is accurate and of high quality? Ultimately, Thomas believes the answer to these questions is yes in the long run.

The More Convincing Theory Of Justice

The More Convincing Theory Of Justice Justice has always been a major subject for debates and exploration among philosophers and for centuries. Plato and Aristotle, the two most important philosophers of Western civilisation are the earliest to investigate different dimensions of justice and develope their own theories respectively. Before a closer examination of their concepts, one must first define the term. Justice is defined as just behaviour or treatment and the quality of being fair and reasonable.  [1]  In the following essay, both the Platonic and Aristotelian theory of justice in the state and individual will be discussed and their possible law will also be analysed to achieve an objective conclusion on whose theory is more convincing. Plato (427 BC-347 BC) is one of the founding figures of Western philosophy and is well-known for his work The Republic, in which he noted the qualities of an ideal state and a just individual by presenting his theory of justice through the words of Socrates. Platos aim of The Republic is to explain that we have to be just in all circumstances, for being just is always in our best interest. Through describing the perfectly functioning state, it is obvious that Plato supports the system of rigid social hierarchy. This is seen through his assertion that cooperation amongst citizens of different classes to serve the common good is the key to achieve a successful state and thus attain social justice. The wants of individuals are therefore fulfilled when each citizen performs their duty for which he or she is best suited, eventually bringing the greatest happiness for all its citizens. Moreover he views justice, wisdom, bravery and moderation as the four essential virtues that enable a cit y to flourish.. Plato opines that wise and rational citizens ought to be the rulers of the city. Whereas those who are strong, and therefore best at physically demanding activities, should make up the auxiliary class with the virtue of courage to defend the city against enemies. Those who are good at natural crafts such as: farming, trading, mining should have the virtue of moderation and exercise their duty to satiate the requirements of the society. Finally, in order to achieve social justice, each citizen has to carry out their own functions in the society and not to attempt in meddling with the work of another. On the other hand, justice of an individual according to Plato is achieved when each part of their soul performs its proper function, with the result that the individual attains psychological harmony.  [2]  This allows a person to be content and complete, without any desire to perform unjust actions. Aristotle (384 BC- 322BC), a student of Plato and one of the the founder of modern Western ideology, holds different views on the subject of justice. According to his famous work The Nicomachean Ethics, there are two distinct forms of justice lawfulness [universal justice] and equality [particular justice]. Aristotle argues that that laws, which include ethical virtue aim either at the common good of the state or those in authority, therefore, it promotes and protect happiness of the political community.  [3]  He further pointed out that in a correct constitution, justice promotes the common advantages of all citizens but in a deviant constitution, it only promotes advantages to oligarch and the wealthy ruling class. Equality, on the other hand, involves three specific forms of justice that affect common advantages of the society distributive, corrective and commutative justice. The first form of justice involves in distributing common assets in a just proportion among people i n accordance with their merits, while the second form amends any previous unjust transaction between citizens to restore fairness. Lastly, commutative justice is found in communities of exchange, where citizens transact in equal terms. In addition, Aristotle places a strong emphasis on the close connection between constitution and justice as he states all constitutions are a form of justice, for [a constitution is] a community, and everything common is established through justice.  [4]  According to his work The Politics, justice is being referred to as the communal virtue, which presents itself in the most perfect form of community, i.e. The political community. Justice in this sense is aimed at concerning the goods of others and is the most perfect form. Having explained both Platos and Aristotles respective theories of justice it is evident that Plato pursues the construction of a Utopian city state with emphasis on inner personal development as a contributing member of society, whereas the latter is more pragmatic and grounded in reality. Plato uses dialogues and point-counterpoints as argumentation to clarify his principle of justice in The Republic, yet, the definition of justice throughout the whole book is ambiguous as Plato never defines the term clearly. Therefore, while he stimulates readers thinking on what is just and unjust, it is Aristotle who elucidates how. Critics argue that Platos theory of justice has nothing to do with the ordinary understanding of the term, which is to act with some regard for the good of others. Rachel Singpurwalla substantiates this, asserting that Plato caanot assuage our worries about justice by giving an account of it that ignores this essential other regarding aspect of justice.  [5]  Moreover, Plato emphasized inner personal relations rather than interpersonal relations as he stated, its [justices] real concern is not with external actions, but with a mans inward self, his true concern and interest (Plato 161) .  [6]  In fact it is the connection with others in the society that defines the ordinary sense of justice. For that reason when comparing Platoà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s concept of justice with a typical understanding of it, the former only provides us a reason to have a just soul, but fails to address the reasons to give the good to others. Furthermore, Platos theory is self-contradictory. The aim of The Republic is to show that justice is always in our best interest. However, individuals with just and rational souls ought to be the Guardians in his ideal functioning society. These philosophers rule the city simply because it is their duty and it is just to do so. They must fully dedicate themselves, sacrificing personal ambitious, family life and personal properties to promote welfare of the state. In this context, it does seem that a just individual sacrifices his/her self-interest for the common good. On the basis of this, Plato failed to explain why people should be just as it is not always in our best interests, contradicting the purpose of writing his book. In Platos ideal state the submission and subordination of personal desire are seen as essential in the construction of a successful society. The interests and rights of the individual citizen are largely overlooked, especially the bottom of the social class and slaves. While in contemporary society, where we are taught that everyone is equal, Platos rigid social hierarchy system and the disregard of social rights may not be accepted by everyone. Platoà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s ideal social system is emblematic of low class mobility and overlooks the dissent that would be caused by keeping the lower classes and slaves in their position- with minimal prospects. Finally, Platos theory of justice is too idealistic and is almost inapplicable to modern society while the idea of the just individual is unattainable to many. If a theory was neither applicative nor achievable, then it is unconvincing for people to follow. In contrast, Aristotle approaches the subject of justice systematically and provides classification of his theory to help understanding his theory, although some argue that different people may have various interpretation of his specific forms of particular justice. For instance, people may disagree on the correct proportion when distributing common assets among social groups. This problem arises not because of Aristotles defective analysis of particular justice, but rather the different value inputs into the system. His theory of justice can also be applied to different classes in the society. The practice constitution and law provides a fair framework of interests and rights for individuals, as well as safeguards citizens basic rights and happiness. As a result, when comparing Platoà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s idealistic concept with Aristotles empirical model of justice, people will have more confidence in the latter, a society which bounded and safeguarded by just laws Essentially, it will be argue that Aristotles theory of justice is more convincing not only because it is applicable to every social class and the contemporary society, but most importantly, it allows citizens to pursue their values and realise their highest nature, providing them a higher degree of satisfaction and achieving a good life. Platos theory is therefore, comparatively philosophical and idealistic, neglecting the general interests and rights of citizens. (1450 words)