Wont You Be My Neighbor Essay Example For Students

Wont You Be My Neighbor? Essay In Peter Lovenheim essay â€Å"Won’t You Be My Neighbor? † Lovenheim explains that he slept over at one of his neighbor’s, Lou’s, house. He was 81 years old and had six children who were all grown up. He lost his wife of 52 years. He was a retired surgeon, and before Lovenheim went over Lou’s house to sleep over, his daughter said it was crazy and weird that a 50 year-old-dad is sleeping over a neighbor’s house. Lovenheim writes, â€Å"There’s talk today about how as a society we’ve become fragmented by ethnicity, income, city versus suburb, red state versus blue. We will write a custom essay on Wont You Be My Neighbor? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now But we also divide ourselves with invisible dotted lines. I’m talking about property lines that isolate us from the people we are physically closest to: our neighbors† (494-495). There are a lot of problems today with neighbors and society. Lovenheim argues, â€Å"Did I live in a community or just in a house on a street surrounded by people whose lives were entirely separate? † (495). Some of his neighbors knew others, but many others didn’t even know the names of the neighbors from a couple of doors down. According to Lovenheim, from 1974 to 1998 the frequency of Americans who spent time at a social event with a neighbor went down by one third. Also, neighborhood ties today are not as strong as they were in the 1950s because of technology and jobs. Then, he argues there are physical barriers in people’s lives that divide them from others as deeply as social differences such as income, age, ethnicity, and gender. He asks, â€Å"Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount air-lines, and the internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the people who live next door? (495). His neighbors don’t care to know the people who live next door to them, but he cares. He wanted to know what it would take to penetrate the barriers between his neighbors, because he wanted to know them better. He began to call his neighbors, email them, even walk up to their door and knock. After the first neighbor turned down his offer, Lou then accepted his offer. He wanted to see if his neighbors would let him sleep over at their house and let him write about their lives inside their own houses. Every time he passed a house in his neighborhood, he wanted to know how many children they had and what they did as a living. Also, Lovenheim wanted to know their experiences and what kind of people they were. Finally, Lovenheim explains, â€Å"Maybe, we should all cross the invisible lines between our homes and achieve greater unity in the places we live† (496). People don’t need to sleep over; it will only take a phone call, a note, or going over their house to knock or ring the doorbell. Bibliography: Peter Lovenheim. â€Å"Won’t You Be My Neighbor?† Acting out Culture. Ed. James S. Miller. New York: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011. 494-496. Print.

The Importance of Listening Obediance Essays

The Importance of Listening Obediance Essays The Importance of Listening Obediance Essay The Importance of Listening Obediance Essay The Importance of Following Directions Obedience and following directions exactly are important skills that all individuals need in their lives . There are many instances wherein the ability to follow specific orders is needed . There are many more instances wherein the inability to do so could result in fatal errors and irrevocable harm . These dire consequences could not only affect the individual who could not follow directions closely but could also affect the one giving the directions and also other individuals relying on the results of the given directions . This essay aims to show the importance of following directions through an analysis of several real-life situations . It is widely recognized that following instructions is essential in the educational system . Even in online courses , classes taken over the internet , reading the instructions for a given module and following it step by step prove to be essential requirements . Being able to follow instructions when it comes to classes and school-type environments insures that the student will be able to achieve a higher grade . Knowing how to understand and execute teacher ‘s or instructor ‘s directions properly assures the student that he or she will be able to provide outputs that are in accordance with the standards and quality the teacher or instructor has in mind . Thus grades can be a reflection of how well a student has followed instructions (Nicoletta , n . d . Not following teacher ‘s directions can even result in point deductions in the work of some students . Following directions can also be essential in the family setting . Parents have to be able to teach their children how to follow directions because it will prove essential to their later success in life . In the family , not being able to follow directions can lead to anger and bad family relationships . Although parents are supposed to guide their children in their growth , children should also be able to obey their parents as a means of respect and acknowledgement that it will be for their own good . When children , therefore , are not able to follow directions , they are skipping out on an opportunity to learn something . Not following instructions also jeopardizes the goodwill within the family and may create unnecessary tension (Steelsmith , 2004 . In an individual ‘s career , following directions also proves to be vital . Not following the exact instructions in application forms may result in an individual not being hired for the job such as when contact information was not properly filled out . Not filling out reports roperly may result in not receiving the compensation for that assignment . Having a successful career requires discipline and care . This includes being able to take the time to know what is required of and following those instructions properly (Star Search Casting , 2002 . An individual not following the boss ‘ orders correctly could well end up on the receiving end of a harsh reprimand or even of a termination notice . Following directions are mor e crucial in certain career paths such as when one decides to join the military . Not†¦

Crimes and Trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez

Crimes and Trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez In 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez used a 12-gauge shotgun to murder their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The trial received national attention because it had all the elements of a Hollywood movie - wealth, incest, parricide, infidelity, and murder. Jose Menendez Jose Enrique Menendez was 15 years old when his parents sent him to the US from Cuba after Castro took over. Influenced by his parents, who were both champion athletes in Cuba, Jose also developed into a good athlete and later attended Southern Illinois University on a swimming scholarship. At the age of 19, he met and married Mary Kitty Anderson and the couple moved to New York. There he earned an accounting degree from Queens College in Flushing, New York. Once out of college his career soared. He proved to be a highly focused, competitive, success-driven employee. His climb up the ladder eventually led to a lucrative position in the entertainment industry with RCA as an executive vice president and chief operating officer. During this time Jose and Kitty had two boys, Joseph Lyle, born January 10, 1968, and Erik Galen, born November 27, 1970. The family moved to a prestigious home in Princeton, New Jersey, where they enjoyed comfortable country-club living. In 1986, Jose left RCA and transferred to Los Angeles where he accepted the position of President of Live Entertainment, a division of Carolco Pictures. Jose earned a reputation as being a heartless, tough numbers cruncher, which turned an unprofitable division into a moneymaker within a year. Although his success brought him a certain level of respect, there were also many people who worked for him that completely despised him. Kitty Menendez For Kitty, the West Coast move was disappointing. She loved her life in New Jersey and struggled to fit into her new world in Los Angeles. Originally from Chicago, Kitty grew up in a broken middle-class home. Her father was physically abusive to his wife and children. They divorced after he left to be with another woman. Her mother never seemed to get over the failed marriage. She suffered from depression and deep resentments. Throughout high school, Kitty was sullen and withdrawn. It was not until she attended Southern Illinois University that she seemed to grow and develop self-esteem. In 1962, she won a beauty pageant, which also seemed to bolster her confidence. In her senior year of college, she met Jose and fell in love. She was three years older than he was, and a different race, which at that time was frowned upon. When Jose and Kitty decided to marry, both their families were against it. Kittys parents felt the racial issue would lead to unhappiness and Joses parents thought that he was only 19 and too young to marry. They also did not like that Kittys parents were divorced. So the two eloped and soon afterward headed to New York. Kitty turned away from her future goals and went to work as a schoolteacher while Jose finished college. It seemed to pay off in some ways after his career took off, but in other ways, Kitty lost herself and became completely dependent on her husband. She spent much of her time tending to the boys and waiting on Jose when he was home. When she discovered that Jose had a mistress and that the relationship had lasted over six years, she was devastated. He later admitted to cheating on her with several women throughout their marriage. Like her mother, Kitty never seemed to get over Joses infidelities. She too became bitter, depressed and even more dependent. Now, having moved across the  country, she had lost the network of friends that she had in the northeast and felt isolated. After having children Kitty gained weight and she lacked style in her clothing and general appearance. Her taste in decorating was poor and she was a bad housekeeper. All of this made acceptance in the affluent Los Angeles circles a challenge. On the outside, the family looked close-knit, like a perfect family, but there were internal struggles that took its toll on Kitty. She no longer trusted Jose and then there was the trouble with the boys. Calabasas The San Fernando Valley suburb called Calabasas is an upper-middle-class area and where the Menendez moved to after leaving New Jersey. Lyle had been accepted into Princeton University and did not move with the family until months later. During Lyles first semester at Princeton, he was caught plagiarizing an assignment and was suspended for one year. His father attempted to sway Princetons president, but without success. At this point, Jose and Kitty were both aware that the boys were incredibly spoiled. They got most everything that they wanted - great cars, designer clothing, money to blow and in exchange, and all they had to do was live under the strict controls of their father. Since Lyle was thrown out of Princeton, Jose decided it was time for him to learn some life lessons and he put him to work at LIVE. Lyle was not interested. He wanted to go to UCLA and play tennis, not go to work. However, Jose would not allow it and Lyle became a LIVE employee. Lyles work ethic was similar to how he acted towards most things - lazy, disinterested, and leaned on daddy to get him through it. He was constantly late for work and ignored assignments or would just take off to go play tennis. When Jose found out, he fired him. July 1988 With two months to kill before returning to Princeton, Lyle, 20 and Erik now 17, began burglarizing their friends parents homes. The amount of money and jewelry that they stole amounted to around $100,000. After they were caught, Jose saw that Lyles chances to return to Princeton would be over if he was convicted, so with the help of a lawyer, he manipulated it so that Erik would take the fall. In exchange, the brothers would have to go for counseling and Erik was required to do community service. Jose also forked out $11,000 to the victims. Kittys psychologist, Les Summerfield, recommended psychologist Dr. Jerome Oziel as a  good choice for Erik to see for counseling. As far as the Calabasas community went, not very many people wanted anything more to do with the Menendez family. In response, the family headed to Beverly Hills. 722 North Elm Drive After being humiliated out of Calabasas by his sons, Jose purchased a spectacular $4 million mansion in Beverly Hills. The house had marble floors, six bedrooms, tennis courts, a swimming pool, and a guesthouse. Previous occupants included Prince, Elton John, and a Saudi prince. Erik changed schools and began attending Beverly Hills High and Lyle returned to Princeton. The switch was probably difficult for Erik, who had managed to develop some friendships at Calabasas high school. Being the younger brother, Erik seemed to idolize Lyle. They had a deep bond that excluded others and as children, they often played exclusively together. Academically, the boys were average and even that level was hard for them to maintain without the direct help from their mother. Teacher evaluations often included the suggestion that the boys homework was above the capability that they showed in class. In other words, someone was doing their homework for them. And they were right. Throughout Eriks entire time in school, Kitty would do his homework. About the only thing Erik was good at was tennis, and at that, he excelled. He was the number one ranked player on the schools team. In high school, with Lyle no longer involved in his day-to-day life, Erik had his own friends. One good friend was the captain of the tennis team, Craig Cignarelli. Craig and Erik spent a lot of time together. They wrote a screenplay called Friends about a teen that saw his fathers will and went and killed him so he would inherit the money. No one at the time knew the implications of the plot. Spoiled Rotten By July 1989, things for the Menendez family continued to spiral downward. Lyle was on academic and disciplinary probation from Princeton after destroying property. He also tore up the golf course at the country club that the family belonged to, costing their membership to be suspended and thousands in repair cost that Jose paid. Erik spent his energy with failed attempts to make a name for himself in tennis. Jose and Kitty felt that they no longer could control the boys. In an attempt to get them to grow up and face some responsibility for their lives and their futures Jose and Kitty decided to use their will like a dangling carrot. Jose threatened to remove his sons from the will if they did not change the way they were living. Something Was Amiss Based on outside appearances, the remainder of the summer seemed to go better for the family. They were doing things together again as a family. But Kitty, for unknown reasons, did not feel safe around the boys. She spoke to her therapist about feeling fearful of her sons. She thought they were narcissistic sociopaths. At night she kept her doors locked and two rifles nearby. The Murders On August 20, 1989, at around midnight, the Beverly Hills police received a 9-1-1 call from Lyle Menendez. Erik and Lyle had just returned home after going to the movies and found their parents dead in the family room of their home. Both parents had been shot with 12-gauge shotguns. According to autopsy reports, Jose suffered explosive decapitation with evisceration of the brain and both his and Kittys faces were blown apart. Investigation The rumored theory about who murdered the Menendez was that it as a Mob hit, based partially on information from Erik and Lyle. However, if it was a mob hit, it was a definite case of overkill and the police were not buying it. Also, there were no shotgun casings at the murder site. Mobsters do not bother to clean up shell casings. What created more concern among the detectives was the tremendous amount of money the Menendez brothers were spending which began immediately after their parents were murdered. The list was long, too. Expensive cars, Rolex watches, restaurants, personal tennis coaches - the boys were on a spending roll. Prosecutors estimated that the brothers spent around a million dollars in six months. Big Break On March 5, 1990, seven months into the investigation, Judalon Smyth contacted the Beverly Hills police and informed them that Dr. Jerome Oziel had audio tapes of Lyle and Erik Menendez confessing to the murder of their parents. She also provided them information on where the shotguns were purchased and that the Menendez brothers had threatened to kill Oziel if he went to the police. At the time, Smyth was trying to end an alleged relationship with Oziel, when he asked her to pretend to be a patient at the office so that she could eavesdrop on a meeting he was having with the Menendez brothers. Oziel was afraid of the boys and wanted Smyth there to call police in case something happened. Because there was a threat on Oziels life, the patient-therapist confidentiality rule did not apply. Armed with a search warrant the police located the tapes in a safety deposit box and the information Smyth provided was confirmed. On March 8, Lyle Menendez was arrested near the family home, followed by the arrest of Erik who returned from a tennis match in Israel and turned himself into the police. The brothers were remanded without bail. They each hired their own lawyers. Leslie Abramson was Eriks lawyer and Gerald Chaleff was Lyles. The Arraignment The Menendez brothers had full support from most all of their relatives and during their arraignment, the atmosphere lacked the appropriate seriousness for what was taking place. The brothers strutted in like movie stars, smiled, and waved to their family and friends and snickered when the judge began to speak. Apparently, they found the serious tone of her voice humorous. You have been charged with multiple murder for financial gain, while lying in wait, with a loaded firearm, for which, if convicted, you could receive the death penalty. How do you plead? They both plead not guilty. It would take three years before their cases went to trial. The admissibility of the tapes became the big hold up. The California Supreme Court finally decided that some, but not all of the tapes were admissible. Unfortunately for the prosecution, the tape of Erik describing the murders was not allowed. The Trials The trial began on July 20, 1993, in the Van Nuys Superior Court. Judge Stanley M. Weisberg was presiding. He decided that the brothers would be tried together, but that they would have separate juries. Pamela Bozanich, the chief prosecutor, wanted the Menendez brothers to be found guilty and to get the death penalty. Leslie Abramson was representing Erik and Jill Lansing was Lyles lawyer. As flamboyant a lawyer as Abramson was, Lansing and her team were equally quiet and sharply focused. Court TV was also present in the room, filming the trial for its viewers. Both defense lawyers admitted that their clients did kill their parents. They then went about methodically trying to destroy the reputations of Jose and Kitty Menendez. They tried to prove that Menendez brothers had been sexually abused by their sadistic father throughout their lifetime and that their mother, when not participating in her own form of perverse abuse, turned her back on what Jose was doing to the boys. They said that the brothers murdered their parents out of fear that the parents were going to murder them. The prosecution simplified the reasons behind the murder stating that it was done out of greed. The Menendez brothers feared that they were going to get cut out of their parents will and lose out on millions of dollars. The murder was not a spur of the moment attack done out of fear, but rather one that was thought out and planned days and weeks before the fatal night. Both juries were unable to decide which story to believe and they came back deadlocked. The Los Angeles DAs office said they wanted a second trial immediately. They were not going to give up. The Second Trial The second trial was not as flamboyant as the first trial. There were no television cameras and the public had moved on to other cases. This time David Conn was the chief prosecutor and Charles Gessler represented Lyle. Abramson continued to represent Erik. Much of what the defense had to say had already been said and although the whole sexual abuse, incest  direction was disturbing to hear, the shock of hearing it was over. However, the prosecution dealt with the sexual abuse allegations and battered persons syndrome differently than how it was dealt with during the first trial. Bozanich did not address it at all, believing that the jury would not fall for it. Conn attacked it straight on and got Judge Weisberg to block the defense from saying that the brothers suffered from battered persons syndrome. This time the jury found both the Menendez brothers guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Shocking Moment During the penalty phase of the Menendez trial, Dr. William Vicary, who was Eriks psychiatrist since his arrest, admitted that Leslie Abramson asked him to rewrite portions of his notes that were being reviewed because it could be harmful to Erik. He said she called the information prejudicial and out of bounds. One section that was removed pertained to Eriks saying that his fathers homosexual lover told Erik and Lyle that their parents were planning to kill them. Erik told Vicary that the whole thing was a lie. The fact that Abramson had asked the doctor to remove incriminating comments could have cost her her career, but it also could have caused a mistrial. The judge did not allow that to happen and the sentencing phase continued. Sentencing On July 2, 1996, Judge Weisberg sentenced Lyle and Erik Menendez to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The brothers were later sent to separate prisons. Lyle was sent to North Kern State Prison and Erik was sent to the California State Prison.

Nautilus Incorporation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nautilus Incorporation - Research Paper Example The summarized findings of the financial analysis are outlined below: 1. Sales level of the company has been on a declining trend and the company’s sales are reduced to $180 million from $517 million. 2. For investors, both earning per share as well as dividend payout ratio, have shown very disgusting results. 3. The profitability position of the company is quite disappointing as the company incurred losses in first four years, but generated some profits in 2011. 4. Total Assets of the company have been on a declining trend as well, but there is a slight improvement in 2011. 5. Leverage position of the company has reflected negative results such that debt ratio has increased from 50% to 60% and the level of debt is on an increasing trend which is an alarming sign for the company. 6. Equity position of the company has also shown some bitter results such that it is reduced by 6 times from 2007. 7. Operating cash flows have remained quite volatile during last five years. 8. Free cash flows to firm are predicted to be increased by 10% every year. 9. The risk position of the company is not good at all and the company still in high risk zone. 10. A discount rate of 35% is used to discount the free cash flows. Introduction Nautilus Inc. is one of the constituent of NASDAQ member companies. ... well as the predicted free cash flows for the next five years have also been estimated by utilizing a relatively higher but an appropriate discount factor. Appendix has also been attached after the conclusion of this article in which the computations of some ratios have been displayed. Conclusion in the end will summarize financial analysis under this article. Sales Analysis If the sales of NLS are taken into consideration, it can be noticed that the company seems far behind from the objective of maintaining a persistent growth rate. The sales behavior of the company cannot be termed as healthy by any means due to significant shrinkages in the level of sales. From 2007 till 2010, the company suffered a continuous decline in its sales on yearly basis. The overall growth rate of sales level of the company has remained negative. The prime reason behind this sales decline is the change in the preferences of the people after recession as they took a defensive stance and avoided incurring expenditures on health and fitness based equipments. However, there is a very light ray of hope in the year 2011 where the company managed to increase its sales by around 7%. Overall the company’s past record imposes a solid question mark regarding the future level of sales because with this level of growth, the company would not be able to sustain for a longer period of time. The following table highlights the actual sales level and growth from 2007 till 2011: Years 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 Sales 180,412 168,450 189,260 411,178 501,471 Growth 7.10% -11.00% -53.97% -18.01% - Investors’ Ratio Analysis There are two basic ratios that have been computed in order to judge the performance of the company with respect to the equity investors. These two ratios are earning per share and dividend

Public Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Public Administration - Essay Example Other contract based facilities housed a total of 12,558 inmates according to the latest statistics (BOP, 2012). A majority of the offenders are confined in correctional facilities and detention centers run by the Bureau while the rest are confined in local and private correctional facilities in accordance with the agreements entered into by these institutions with the BOP. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) aims to safeguard the interests of the society by confining offenders in controlled environments of prisons and other correctional facilities which are safe, cost-effective and secure and which offer the inmates an opportunity to strive for self-improvement and become law-abiding citizens post their term. However, the prison system in the U.S. despite its noble mission is plagued with several setbacks such as overcrowding, racial and ethnic disparities, persistence of unhealthy living environment of the inmates, issues related to health and inmate care, insufficient staffing, et c among others (Department of Justice, 2012). Key Policy Issues: The American Prison system has persistently faced the problem of overcrowding resulting in a rapid deterioration of conditions of confinement for the prisoners, rise in staffing issues, and a significant negative impact on the state budget. According to Sidlow and Henschen (2008) one of the key causes responsible for overcrowding in American prisons is the war on drugs and the legislations following the same. In a desperate move by the government to curb illegal substance abuse laws regarding incarceration of the offenders were strengthened, which ultimately resulted in a rapid rise in number of inmates arrested for the said offence. The rise in number of inmates in turn lead to a subsequent rise in budget spending required for construction and maintenance of correctional facilities as well as staffing. According to latest statistics America holds the record for housing the world’s largest number of inmates and the highest per capita rate of incarceration (The Economist, 2012). The excessive incarceration rates in the country triggered a humanitarian crisis due to ever increasing prisoners and shortage of space. Another persistent problem faced by the prison system is the racial and ethnic disparity in incarceration. The wide racial divide is far more apparent in the American justice system with African Americans having the largest incarceration rates and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as the lowest (Hartney & Vuong, 2009; Mauer, 2009). Comprehensive Review: For the purpose of this study three articles are reviewed which are discussed below: 1. Dead or Alive? The Federalism Revolution and Its Meaning for Public Administration by Robert K. Christensen, Charles R. Wise Prisons in the United States operate under laws framed by the respective states and the offenders are punished and incarcerated in accordance with the laws applicable under their jurisprudence. However, a clash between state and federal laws, may significantly influence the decision making by the public managers and affect the system of public administration in general. The authors have cited the historical 2005 Raich decision whereby the court held that "federal controlled Substances Act did not exceed the Congress's power to prohibit the use of medicinal marijuana, which was otherwise legal under the California law" (Christensen & Wise,

Economic Development and Social Change Essay Example for Free

Economic Development and Social Change Essay Section 1 1) What is the primary goal of modernization theory in contrast to theories of capital formation? Compare and contrast Hoselitz’ formulation of modernization theory with Lewis’ theory of capital formation In the 18th century, during the Age of Enlightenment, an idea named the Idea of Progress emerged whereby its believers were thought of being capable of developing and changing their societies. This philosophy initially appeared through Marquis de Condorcet, who was involved in the origins of the theoretical approach whereby he claimed that technological advancements and economical changes can enable changes in moral and cultural values. He encouraged technological processes to help give people further control over their environments, arguing that technological progress would eventually spur social progress. In addition, Émile Durkheim developed the concept of functionalism in the sociological field, which emphasizes on the importance of interdependence between the different institutions of a society and their interaction in maintaining cultural and social unity. His most well known work, The Division of Labour in Society, which outlines how order in society could be controlled and managed and how primitive societies could make the transition to more economically advanced industrial societies. Another reason for the emergence of the modernization theory derived from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, which represented the widespread practical interest on economic development during a time when there was a constant relation between economic theory and economic policy that was considered necessary and obvious. It was by analysing, critiquing, and hence moving away from these assumptions and theories that the modernization theory began to establish itself. At the time the United States entered its era of globalism and a ‘can do’ attitude characterized its approach, as in the functionalist modernization advanced by B. Hoselitz: â€Å"You subtract the ideal typical features or indices of underdevelopment from those of development, and the remainder is your development program†. As he also presents in Social Structure and Economic Growth , this body of economic theory â€Å"abstracted from the immediate policy implications to which it was subject†Ã ‚  and also â€Å"assumed human motivations and the social and cultural environment of economic activity as relatively rigid and unchanging givens†(23-24). He claims that the difference lies in the extra examination of what is beyond simply economics terms and adjustments, by â€Å"restructuring a social relations in general, or at least those social relations which are relevant to the performance of the productive and distributive tasks of the society†(26). Most forms of evolutionism conceived of development as being natural and endogenous, whereas modernization theory makes room for exogenous influences. Its main aim is to attain some understanding of the functional interrelationship of economic and general social variables describing the transition from an economically â€Å"underdeveloped† to an â€Å"advanced† society. Modernization theory is usually referred to as a paradigm, but upon closer consideration turns out to be host to a wide variety of projects, some presumably along the lines of ‘endogenous change’ namely social differentiation, rationalization, the spread of universalism, achievement and specificity; while it has also been associated with projects of ‘exogenous change’: the spread of capitalism, industrialization through technological diffusion, westernization, nation building, state formation (as in postcolonial inheritor states). If occasionally this diversity within modernization is recognized, still the importance of exogenous influences is considered minor and secondary. I do not view ‘modernization’ as a sing le, unified, integrated theory in any strict sense of ‘theory’. It was an overarching perspective concerned with comparative issues of national development, which treated development as multidimensional and multicausal along various axes (economic, political, cultural), and which gave primacy to endogenous rather than exogenous factors. (Tiryakian, 1992: 78) In the context of Cold War modernization theory operated as a highly interventionalist tool enabling the ‘free world’ to impose its rules and engage in ‘structural imperialism’. Typically this occurred in the name of the forces of endogenous change such as national building, the entrepreneurial spirit and achievement orientation. In effect modernization theory was a form of globalization that was presented as endogenous change. Modernization theory, therefore, emerged from these ideas in order to explain the process of modernization within societies. The theory examines  not only the internal factors of a country but also how with the aid of technology and the reformation of certain cultural structures, â€Å"traditional† countries can develop in the same manner that more developed countries have. In this way, the theory attempts to identify the social variables, which contribute to social progress and the development of societies, and seeks to expl ain the process of social evolution. The question of the functional relations between all or most culture traits is left open, and special attention is â€Å"given only to those aspects of social behaviour that have significance for economic action, particularly as this action relates to conditions affecting changes in the output of goods and services achieved by a society†(30). They conceptualize the process of development in a similar linear, evolutionary form as older evolutionary theories of progress, but seek to identify the critical factors that initiate and sustain the development process. These factors, they argue, are both intrinsic and extrinsic: the former involves the diffusion of modern technologies and ideas to the developing world, while the latter requires the creation of local conditions, such as the mobilization of capital, which will foster progress. Modernization theorists believe that primitive production, an anachronistic culture, and apathetic personal dispositions combine to maintain an ar chaic socioeconomic system that perpetuates low levels of living. Modernization theorists hold that policies designed to deal with these traditional impediments to progress primarily through economic intervention, provide the key to prosperity. Overall, Hoselitz’s modernization theory is a sociological theory of economic growth that determines the mechanisms by which thesocial structure of an underdeveloped economy was modernized – that is, altered to take on the features of an economically advanced country. Hoselitz’s answer was based on the â€Å"theory of social deviance† – that is, that new things were started by people who were different from the norm. Unlike Lewis’ theories that we will revise later, Hoselitz thought that small-scale private economic development was the best way of achieving development in Third World economies. This particularly involved revaluing what he called â€Å"entrepreneurial performance†, something that Lewis also agrees with, but in a way that provided not only wealth but also social status and political  influence. In Chapter 8 of Sociological Aspects of Economic Growth, Hoselitz focuses on the creation of â€Å"generative cities† ( that is, cities producing innovations) rather than traditional rural areas were the focal points for the introduction of new ideas and social and economic practices. Many of the early colonial settlements in the New World and South Africa, Hoselitz claimed, were parasitic, enjoying a certain degree of economic growth â€Å" within the city itself and its surrounding environs† only at the expense of the rest of the region, which was ruthlessly exploited for its natural and agricultural resources (p.280). Although prescriptions for inducing social change and removing cultural obstacles to economic modernization in developing countries may be described as social policies, they do not seek to deal directly with mass poverty and its attendant problems of malnutrition, ill-health, inadequate housing, illiteracy, and destitution. These critical welfare concerns are seldom referred to by modernization theorists, namely by Hoselitz. Instead, the implicit assumption in his writings is that the process of economic development and social change will raise levels of living and remedy these problems automatically. Since economic growth, engendered by capital investments in modern industry, will expand employment, the proportion of the population in subsistent poverty will steadily decline. The increasing numbers of workers in the modern economy will experience a steady rise in real income that will be sufficient not only to satisfy their basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter but permit them to purchase consumer commodities as well as social goods such as medical care, education, and social security. Arthur Lewis was one of the first economists to create a theory about how industrialized and economically stable countries are capable of helping undeveloped countries progress. He presented this theory in his work Economic Development with the Unlimited Supplies of Labor† where he brings about the concept of capital formation. He defines it as the transfer of savings from households and governments to business sectors, resulting in increased output and economic expansion. He claims that his â€Å"model says, in effect, that if unlimited supplies of labor are available at a constant real  wage, and if any part of profits is reinvested in productive capacity, profits will grow continuously relatively to the national income, and capital formation will also grow relatively to the national income†(158). From here bridged off his development of the two-sector model of the economy and the theory of dualism. Both posit the existence of a substantial pool of underutilized labo r in a backward, subsistent agricultural sector of an economy that perpetuates low levels of production and mass poverty. This model comprises two distinct sectors, the capitalist and the subsistence sectors. The former, which may be private or state-owned, includes principally manufacturing industry and estate agriculture; the latter, mainly small-scale family agriculture and various other types of unorganized economic activity. Here the capital, income and wages per head, the proportion of income saved, and the rate of technological progress are all much higher in the capitalist sector. The subsistence sector is both at a very low level, and also stagnant, with negligible investment and technical progress and no new wants emerging. Institutional arrangements are the ones maintaining this chronic disequilibrium between the sectors, implicit in these differences in real income and productivity. In the extended family the members receive approximately the average product of the group even if the marginal product is much less. The process of development, initiated by an increase in the share of capitalist s in the national income, I essentially the growth of the capitalist sector at the expense of the subsistence sector, with the goal of the ultimate absorption of the latter by the former. To some extent, this is similar to Hoselitz’s development of the modernization theory, whereby the claims that the formation of his generative cities (a) creates a new demand for industrial raw materials from the surrounding region, and (b) attracts new population to the cities, thereby increasing the demand for food from the countryside. The net effect of these forces is a â€Å"widening of economic development over an increasing area affecting a growing proportion of the population outside the city†(Hoselitz, 282). However, Lewis’ theory has several limitations and conditions, most importantly that his theory can be applied only in countries with unlimited supplies of labor. Unlimited supplies of labor arise from the employment of  more workers than is productively effective. Lewis went through all of the areas of Caribbean society where he thought there were pools of labour in which the marginal productivity was negative, negligible or zero. His plan now was to make this a potential, industrial labour force. He could take all of the labour away from agriculture, away from casual labour, without lowering the profit margins of the places where they are currently employed. This was not a radical, disruptive assault on the existing economic order, which resulted in one of the main reasons that his theory was so successful. Ineffective production, occurring when an additional worker prevented the previous one from producing another product (hence equaling a negative marginal productivity) was common in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and other undeveloped regions of the world. Several sectors of the economy employ too many people with negligible, zero or negative marginal productivity. According to Lewis these productively unnecessary individuals are employed in agriculture, or are casual workers, petty traders, or women of the household. He claims that the transfer of these people’s work from these areas towards commercial employment is one of the most notable features of economic development. The second source of labor for expanding industries is the increase in the population resulting from the excess of births over deaths. After his analysis of the effect of development on death rate, whereby he concludes that â€Å"[death rates] come down with development from around 40 to around 12 per thousand†(144), he claims therefore that â€Å"in any society where the death rate is around 40 per thousand, the effect of economic development will be to generate an increase in the supply of labor†(144). From this point of view, he states, †Å"there can be in an over-populated economy an enormous expansion of new industries or new employment opportunities without any shortage of unskilled labor†(145), though too many people could again cause ineffective production. He clarifies this by saying, â€Å"Only so much labor should be used with capital as will reduce the marginal productivity of labor to zero†(145). This can be achieved by offering and maintaining decently high wages. The wages offered should be only slightly higher than the wages available in the subsistence sector, since wages that are too high may attract more workers than needed. But firstly, and perhaps most importantly, entrepreneurial-minded capitalists are required in order to invest in the nation. Tax holidays attract the foreign capitalists. It is not a very difficult task, because they have very good incentives to come. The planter class in the Caribbean seemed just like the planter class in the American South – it had no desire to go industrial and no desire to go competitive. It was still trapped in a situation between an old monopoly system and a market situation since they were able to negotiate for a protected market for sugar, not a competitive market. Lewis then looked around realized the only way he could keep this program of industrialization launched would be by visiting England and America where capitalists and entrepreneurs were flourishing and foster their entrance into the Caribbean. Again, he employed the concept of a dual economy where a subsistence sector existed, but also from where he created from scratch this modern industria l sector to establish on modern capitalism. Capitalists in North America and Europe found these labouring conditions and costs in the Caribbean quite attractive. Getting this labour to the imported capitalists would not be resisted locally because he was taking those labourers with marginal productivity of zero. Once they began working, he would then re-invest more capital into the factory, so that it could expand, employ more workers, export more products, and increase profits, hence developing a self-feeding system that would eventually lead the national income to grow. Although Hoselitz also is of the belief that the formation of a dual economy is beneficial, rather than necessarily attract foreign capitalists through such incentives, Hoselitz believes that the creation of westernized cities led the way forward. He claims that cities modelled after the Western cities exhibited a spirit difference from the traditionalism of the countryside. In this way, he differs slightly from Le wis in that he favored a shift in political power away from traditional leaders and toward total control by economic and urban modernizers in underdeveloped countries, not necessarily foreign entrepreneurial capitalist as Lewis asserts. Lewis knew that some products would work better than others, so he developed an Industrial Programming Market – a number of basic calculations about those particular commodities, if produced in the Caribbean, would be  particularly competitive internationally. And so as a result of this study Lewis found that the production of airbrushes, gloves, furniture, needles, shirts, and leather goods would be particularly good to produce, given the skills of the labour force available at the time. For the self-feeding system to be a continuous process, costs of labour had to remain fairly constant. If the cost of labour rose too rapidly, they would not be sustained since the goods would no longer be internationally competitive. The key to this model is indeed international competitiveness. Capitalists can create more capital when the supply of money is higher, and hence if governments create credit, inflation arises yet does not have the same effect as the inflation that arises durin g depression periods. This inflation only has an effect on the prices in the short-run so that in the long run the final effect equal to what it would be if capital was formed by the reinvestment of profit. Lewis discusses at some length the methods by which governments of underdeveloped countries can raise revenue, especially the substantial funds required for government capital formation. For familiar political and administrative reasons much of this revenue has to be raised from indirect taxes, notably import and excise duties and export taxes. He argues that indirect taxation is more likely to increase than to decrease the supply of effort: The taxpayer usually does not know how much tax is included in the prices of the articles he buys, so in so far as the disincentive effect of taxation is psychological it can be avoided by using indirect rather than direct taxes†¦ If it is an increase in indirect taxation, the effect is probably to increase effort rather than to reduce it (414). Because of the multiple restrictions in this model, it is designed for countries with unlimited supplies of labor and hence this growth has a limit: â€Å"The process must stop when capital accumulation has caught up with population, so there is no longer surplus labor†(172). Furthermore, if wages are too high, they may consume the entirety of the profit leading to no re-investment. Several other reasons for the end of capital formation vary; the occurrence of natural disasters, war or a change of political system can also prevent further economic expansion in a closed economy. Lewis’ model is powerful but also highly restricted and specific to only a handful of nations. Some critics also claim that the distinction between the two sectors is too sharp; that small-scale agriculture is often far from stagnant and the emergence of the production of cash crops by individual producers has in fact been a key instrument in economic development since capital formation is actually created in this type of agriculture. Also, this model requires low wages for the labor force, yet very low wages result in a wide gap between the lower and upper class in a society, an issue that many have questioned thoroughly. Lewis says openly that exploitation can easily occur in this model, but that it is part of capital accumulation. He believes that one has to sacrifice a generation to grow the economy, because he assumed that if all goes well and more consumers are attracted to Caribbean, they will generate more business, and the economy will grow to the point where the weal th can be redistributed to the people. He reckoned that it would take, given the rate of growth that he observed in the Caribbean, one generation, thus a period between 40 and 50 years, to grow the economy and claim that poverty could be eradicated in this region. And yet the cost of this would be exploiting this generation, so that their children could benefit from it later. Hoselitz, as stated earlier, applied the ideas of Parsons and other sociologists to an analysis of the development process under the assumption, drawn from Adam Smith, that increasing productivity was associated with more detailed social divisions of labor: A society on a low level of economic development is, therefore, one in which productivity is low because division of labor is little developed, in which the objectives of economic activity are more commonly the maintenance or strengthening of status relations, which social and geographical mobility is low, and in which the hard cake of custom determines the manner, and often the effects, of economic performance. An economically highly developed society, in contrast, is characterized by a complex division of social labor, a relatively open social structure from which caste barriers are absent and class barriers are surmountable, in which social roles and gains from economic activity are distributed essentially on the basis of achie vement, and in which, therefore, innovation, the search for and exploitation of profitable market situations,  and the ruthless pursuit of self-interest without regard to the welfare of others is fully sanctioned. (Hoselitz, 1960: 60). These preceding theories both provide us with some preliminary indications and developments of views of modern social orders broader than that envisaged in the initial models provided. They stress the historical dimensions of the process of development, emphasizing that this process is not universal, something in the very nature of humanity or in the natural development of human societies. Instead, the modernization process is fully bound to a certain period in human history, even though in itself it is continuously developing and changing throughout this period. Development and the challenges it brings forward constitute a basic given for most contemporary societies. Though it certainly is pervasive in the contemporary setting, it is not necessarily irreversible in the future, and it would be wrong to assume that once these forces have impinged on any â€Å"society†, they naturally push toward a given, relatively fixed â€Å"end-plateau.† Rather, as we have seen, they evoke within different societies, in different situations, a variety of responses which depend on the broad sets of internal conditions of these societies, on the structure of the situation of change in which they are caught, and the very nature of the international system and relations, whether those of â€Å"dependency† or of international competition. Section 2 5) Briefly outline David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage; then outline in greater detail Samir Amin’s theory of periphery capitalism and why he thinks that trade between the central and peripheral capitalist economies does not meet the conditions of Ricardo’s theory In 1817, David Ricardo, an English political economist, contributed theory of comparative advantage in his book Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. This theory of comparative advantage, also called comparative cost theory, is regarded as the classical theory of international trade. According to the classical theory of international trade, every country will produce their commodities for the production of which it is most suited in terms of its natural endowments climate quality of soil, means of transport, capital, etc. It will produce these commodities in excess of its own requirement and will exchange the surplus with the imports of goods from other countries for the production of which it is not well suited or which it cannot produce at all. Thus all countries produce and export these commodities in which they have cost advantages and import those commodities in which they have cost disadvantages. Ricardo states that even if a nation had an absolute disadvantage in the production of both commodities with respect to the other nation, mutually advantageous trade could still take place. The less efficient nation should specialize in the production and export of the commodity in which its absolute disadvantage is less. This is the commodity in which the nation has a comparative advantage. Ricardo takes into account the following assumptions: there are two countries and two commodities; there is a perfect competition both in commodity and factor market; cost of production is expressed in terms of labor; labor is the only factor of production other than natural resources; labor is homogeneous i.e. identical in efficiency, in a particular country; labor is perfectly mobile within a country but perfectly immobile between countries; there is free trade; production is subject to constant returns to scale; there is no technological change; trade between two countries takes place on barter system; full employment exists in both countries; there are no transport costs. In 1973, Samir Amin, an Egyptian political economist, begins his dialogue in Unequal Development by referring to Marx’s writing on non-European societies, namely India and China, and creates a work in which he reevaluates Peter Evans theory of Dependent Development and simultaneously presents his theory of peripheral capitalism in developing societies. He shows how these early ideas established the notion of the centre and the periphery, and how â€Å"the development of capitalism in the periphery was to remain extraverted, based on the external market, and could therefore not lead to a full flowering of the capitalist mode of production in the periphery†(199). He then begins to develop his own theory of the transition to peripheral capitalist economy by questioning David Ricardo’s assumptions in his theory of comparative advantage, and later outlines nine theses to support his views. Peripheral capitalism is based on, but not identical to, the imperialistic relationships developed between colonizing nations and their colonies. In this economic relationship, the players are the same – the colonizing nation becomes the center, while the colony becomes the periphery – but the role that each society plays is different from the classic imperialist relationship. The peripheral economy is marked by extreme dependence on external demand, or extroversion, as well as stunted and unequal rates of development within the society. Amin maintains that in order for these societies to break free of extroversion and develop, they must be actively removed from the peripheral capitalist relationship. He proposes nationalization and socialization as an alternative, a system which-when contrasted with peripheral capitalism-could not be a more different approach to economic development. Unfortunately for the developing nations, socialism was largely uns uccessful as an economic experiment, consistently causing stagnation and underdevelopment in societies that attempted it. Peripheral capitalism evolves from colonial imperialism, an economic system in which the colonizing nation penetrates deep into the heart of the colonial economy in an effort to manipulate it towards the benefit of the mother country. Every aspect of the colonial economy is geared not towards the expansion of the colonial economy itself, but rather towards the production of something that the colonizing nation cannot produce itself. As a result, the success and the existence of a particular sector of the colonial economy is dependent upon whether or not the mother country has a need for that sector; colonial economies are rooted heavily in external demand. This extroversion leaves the colonial economy without an indigenous set of linkages, as economic sectors that will benefit from colonial activity function mostly within the economy of the colonizing nation. When autocentric, or internally-driven, economic growth is blocked in such a way that a peripheral economy emerges with the sa me sort of external dependence on the central economy that was suffered by the colonial economy. The peripheral economy is typically plagued by an unequal division of labor, or specialization, between itself and the central economy. While the latter enjoys the benefits and progress associated with industrialization, the periphery tends to remain predominantly agricultural. What little industry may exist in the peripheral economy is most often light industrial production of small, simple goods, as opposed to the heavy industrial production of machinery and complex products that characterizes the central economy. Additionally, Amin argues that there is often a â€Å"hypertrophy of the tertiary sector†(200) of the peripheral economy; too much of the economy is devoted to providing services, â€Å"expressed especially in the excessive growth of administrative expenditure†(201) effectively anchoring the societys development due to a lack of productive advancement. Yet another malady of the peripheral economy is the reduced value of the local ‘multiplier effect’, another result of the remnants of economic infrastructure modification from the colonial period. If an economy is replete with linkage sectors, then any money put into the leading sector will generate a multiplied effect in all of the forward and backward linkages of that industry. Peripheral economies, however, are effectively stripped of linkages during their colonial phase of development hence spending in the peripheral economy ultimately benefits the central economy, where most of the peripheral industries linkages are realized. Not only is the local multiplier effect reduced in the peripheral economy, but Amin claims that it also leads to â€Å"the marked propensity to import†(201), and thus is in effect transferred to the central economy, where revenue is collected every time money is spent in the periphery. Because peripheral input ultimately goes abroad, loc al businesses are not stimulated, as they would be if linkages were realized within the periphery, worsening the already-detrimental conditions of the peripheral economy. Adding to the lack of stimulation of local business is the fact that peripheral industries tend to be dominated by monopolies established from foreign capital. After the majority of revenue goes to the central economy through linkage industries, what little money remains in the local economy is often put into businesses controlled by central capitalists. In other words, almost every dollar put into the periphery ultimately finds its way to the central economy. In Unequal Development, Amin maintains that no economy can be expected to develop without successfully making the transition from extrovert to introvert so that it can â€Å"assert the dominance of the exporting sector over the economic structure as a whole†(203), and that no peripheral capitalist economy can independently heal the economic wounds inflicted by colonialism. Therefore, the only way to promote development in peripheral capitalist economies is to actively remove them from their disadvantageous relationship with the central economy, which, according to Amin, should be replaced by internal nationalization and socialization of the once-peripheral economy. The establishment of a nationalist socialist state would serve both to eliminate external dependence, as well as to reconcile the disarticulated nature of the local economy. The first critique of Ricardo’s theory made by Amin is its lack of specificity – claiming that his examples of trade between Portugal and England were very exclusive to intra-European trade and could not exactly be applied to relations between several different country relations around the World. If there is a large difference in GDP between two countries, then what statistics demonstrate is that the country with the smaller GDP would benefit more from this transaction, and this was â€Å"the source of special problems that dictate[d] development policies in the periphery that [were] different from those on which development of the West was based†(201); a factor that Ricardo hadn’t considered it in his theory. Another vital yet neglected consideration was the importance of the commodity in terms of a nations’ GDP: wine was a big section of the Portuguese GDP, greater than it was for England, so the trade benefited the Portuguese to a greater extent than it did to the British. He elaborates upon this idea by explaining how the relation between central and periphery assumes the mobility of capital, since the centre is investing greatly in the periphery. What the periphery chooses to specialize in is to a large extent determined by the centre, since very often the selection comes after it has been forced to serve the imperial country. As he clearly states, this type of trade â€Å"compels the periphery to confine itself to the role of complementary supplier of products for the production of which it possesses a natural advantage: exotic agricultural produce and  minerals†(200). The result is a decrease in the level of wages in the periphery for the same level of productivity than at the centre, hence limiting the development of industries focused on the home market of the periphery. The disarticulation due to the adjustment of the orientation of production in the periphery to the needs of the centre prevents the transmission of the benefits of econo mic progress from the poles of development to the economy as a whole. Overall, this is what Amin defines by ‘unequal specialization’, which in turn violates the conditions of Ricardo’s theory. Another argument that Amin makes involved the Keynesian multiplier effect. He claims that this effect does not take place to the situation at the centre because of its advantaged stage of monopoly, characterized by difficulties in producing surplus. Due to this unequal specialization as well as the significant propensity to import that follows, the effect is a transferring of multiplier effect mechanisms and the accelerator theorem from the periphery to the centre. Furthermore, Amin includes the social aspect of this process, which is a result of the individual history of each nation and the power imbalance created. Amin finds that the nature of the pre-capitalist formations that took place previously and the epoch in which they became integrated in the capitalist system are both very important factors in determining the presence or lack of development to come. He also draws a line between two different terms, ‘peripheral formations’ and ‘young central formations’, whereby the latter, based on the predominance of a simple commodity mode of production, are capable of independently evolving towards a fully developed capitalist mode of production. Amin terminates by asserting â€Å"the domination by central capital over the system as a whole, and the vital mechanisms of primitive accumulation for its benefit which express this domination, subject the development of peripheral national capitalism to strict limitationsâ₠¬ (202). These countries would hence not gain equal benefits under this trade, only if the patterns of specialization were undertaken in more ideal conditions, conditions that approximated Ricardo’s theory more closely. Rather than being a positive force for development, this type of trade becomes a force created under development. It will contribute to development in the centre, and underdevelopment in the periphery. He concludes that this inevitably hinders the development of peripheral nations: â€Å"the impossibility, whatever the level of production per head that may be obtained, of going over to auto centric and auto dynamic growth†(202).

Surge Irrigation Essay -- Technology Science Agriculture Essays

Surge Irrigation Surface irrigation is not new technology, but through research and the incorporation of some inventive measures, advances in this area have provided the needed responses to make this type of irrigation increasingly appealing. Not only is water quality a major concern, but current farmers must now monitor water quality and provide adequate crop protection measures to insure a good yield. Water availability is affected by falling water tables, droughts and stressed by the increasing water demand of growing urban populations (Moody 1993). Likewise, local and federal governments create strict water utilization laws, limiting chemical concentrations of particular substances in surface waters throughout the nation. In addition to adhering to the aforementioned tasks, irrigators must correctly apply supplemental water such that the crop’s needs are also met without â€Å"over-application†. The primary goals of any irrigation system are to minimize deep percolation of water and replenish soil water in the root zone along the entire field (Goldhammer 1987). Thus, to achieve effective water management, an irrigator should utilize the least amount of water needed to sustain profitable yield amounts. In addition, the major concerns of managing irrigation water are controlling runoff, decreasing deep percolation, providing sufficient drainage, and limiting energy and the associated labor costs. For a small or medium sized operation with limited resources, labor and maintenance costs are important factors when selecting an irrigation system. A study conducted by Dr. Stephen H. Amosson (1995) compared six alternative irrigation systems (gated pipe, surge flow, side roll, high pressure pivot, low pressur... ...s Department of the Interior. Goldhammer, D.A., M.H. Alemi and R.C. Phene (1987) Surge vs. Continuous-Flow Irrigation. California Agriculture, September-October 1987. Hill, R.W. and G. Stringham (1994) Surge Flow Irrigation: Automatic Surface Irrigation Demonstration for Summer Onion Tour. Cooperative Extension Service & Biological and Irrigation Engineering Department, Utah State University Moody, V. (1993) The Benefits of Surge. Irrigation Journal, March 1993. New, Leon (1995) Opportunities to Maximize the Utilization of Waters by Irrigators. Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Varlev, I., Z. Popova, I. Gospodinov (1998) Furrow Surge Irrigation as a Water Saving Technique. Water and the Environment: Innovation in Irrigation and Drainage, 1st Inter-regional Conference Proceedings, Lisbon, Portugal, September 1998, pp-131-139.

Relational Database Management System (Dbms)

Running head: TERM PROJECT Term Project and Proposal Name: University: Course: Date of submission: Abstract Business corporations often require summarized pieces of data in the form of pivot tables for efficient and strategic decision-making. However, the use of pivot tables poses certain data storage problems especially in the light of the need to have the formulas stored with data. This paper presents one data storage situation where using pivot tables for summarizing data was unsuitable because the storage was done using a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, stored in XLS format.The project purposes to implement the data storage using a database management system, in this case, Microsoft Access to address the problem Purpose and goal of this project To develop an improved data storage system using Microsoft Access 2010 as the Relational Database Management System (DBMS) that would make generation of Pivot Tables and charts easy while proving other benefits to the business. The database w ill replace the Microsoft XLS file format for storing the data and the benefit of database normalization will be realized. This includes reduced data redundancy and enhanced manipulation of data for decision-making and presentation.Users and Administrators The database system shall have many users. The database administrator, known as DBA in short, will carry the tasks of managing and supporting the database system through giving access rights to other users, acquisition of database resources, and coordination and monitoring of the users of the database. The actual developer or designer of this database would identify what important data needs to be stored in the database system, and select the appropriate database structures for representing the data in a relational model.The end users mainly query, generate reports, and update the database. This is where the sales manager belongs. We may also have parametric end users who depend on pre-programmed tools for committing certain trans actions using the database. This would be users like cashiers. Current data storage implementation A sales manager had stored some useful sales data in a spreadsheet format and wanted help on creating summary data and visual representation using charts. According to the sales manager, pivot tables could do the summary he needed but could not work out exactly how to achieve this.He used conditional formatting to ensure that cell backgrounds are automatically colored based on the input values. He ensured that when an employee worked away from the office, he entered wa in the column for that employee on that day. When an employee worked at home, he entered wh, and when he/she was off-duty, he entered o against that employee. The problem with this data storage is that each employee is set up in a manner that one of the three statuses (o, wa, or wh) could be entered per day. Of course, this appears convenient enough for rapid data entry and pointing out the status of each staff each date .Nevertheless, this approach leaves each employee acting as an independent variable instead of varying values or classes of the variable Employee. The storage, for instance, disregards Al, Clara, or Joel as the Employee entity, not both. This is similar to storing data in a report generated from a database instead of storing such data in a database table. Consequently, this poses a challenge when attempting to summarize data by means of just one pivot table. This means the values for one employee do not relate to the other employee.Even though it is possible to distinguish two employees, more than two employees represent a challenge in understanding their statuses and making summaries using a pivot table. Using a database to improve the process To develop an improved data storage system, we would store this data in one of the popular relational databases such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or MySQL database management system. It would then become easier for the s ales manager (user) to produce the desired pivot table and consequently the needed summary data to aid decision-making.This paper implements the solution using Microsoft Access 2007. In this case, the table would have each Employee with the values such as Al and Clara, the Date with values like 1/05/2011, and the Status with values o, wh, and wa. This would result in several records per day but each record would represent only one Employee. With this form of normalization, it is possible and plain to create the desired pivot table. In fact, pivot tables generated from this normalized data would be able to answer questions like â€Å"which employee worked away on a certain day of the month? Unfortunately, though, this data is stored in a way that the user would not be able to see or even use it at times. There are many benefits of using a database over spreadsheets for storing this kind of data. The following is a list of some of these benefits to the sales business and users: * Dat abase management systems provide for restricted access to * Databases help reduce or avoid data storage redundancy * Persistent storage of data structures and useful program objects like queries and reports * Databases help enforce referential and standards Databases help in representing sophisticated relationship among vast amounts of data * DBMS provide for database backup and recovery Data elements to be involved: entities and attributes This database system will center on capturing employee details with respect to whether they worked on a certain day or not, and if they did work, in which mode. The database will have each record represent a certain employee every day / date. The key table entities would be Employee, Date, and Status. Contents of that table may include Employee Number, Employee name, Employment Date, Age, Gender, Contacts, Job Title, Department, and Retirement Age.These two tables would be helpful in producing the required information the sales manager needs for this project: to know who worked on what data and the mode of working. In addition, this would help to know who took leave when and how many employees took off in a certain day or month for instance. This database would have so much but we restrict ourselves to Employee related details for the purposes of meeting the desired goal. The database platform The chosen database platform is Microsoft Access 2010 mainly because this is a simple but powerful platform for rapid prototyping of this project.It provides most of the functionalities enterprise level systems like Oracle provide and perhaps at higher levels it may be necessary to upgrade the database to Oracle, SQL Server, or MySQL. Database normalization and design of actual tables The process of database normalization deals with functional dependency issues in the design of a database. Normalisation aims at avoiding three anomalises: insertion, update, and deletion that any database may face. There are several normal forms but the first three are the most important.In this context, the Employee details regarding department and status of work are independent entities and require separate tables. This gives the first normal form. When every field is properly placed in such a manner that the fields in a single table directly depend on the primary key, this gives the second normal form. This is the level this project attained. The following are the key fields that would perhaps belong to a single table under the un-normalized form: tblEmployee EmployeeID (PK Integer) FirstName LastName Department Date WorkStatusThe first normal form would eliminate recurring values such as WorkStatus and Department column. The results in having two separate tables for recording employee details and attendance details as follows: tblEmployee EmployeeID (PK Integer) FirstName LastName tblAttendance AttendanceID (PK Autonumber) Date WorkStatus tblDepartment (PK Number) DeptID DeptName The following Entity Relationship Model shows t he interrelationship between the three table objects: Employee, Department, and Attendance. There are three primary keys and two foreign keys.The primary key for table Department is labeled DeptID for uniquely identifying each department. The field takes a maximum of one digit (1 – 9) hoping the company does not have more than 9 departments. The field is auto-increment meaning it is auto-generated during registration of a department. The EmpID is the primary key for Employee entity and is Text with five digits e. g. 10874. The last primary key is the AttendanceID, which is auto-increment. The DeptID in tblEmployee is a foreign key to link tblEmployee with tblDepartment. EmpID in tblAttendance is also a foreign key for association with tblEmployee.This way, all the three tables are related and referential integrity and update integrity enforced. For the test data entered, the following pivot table employs filters based on the mode of working â€Å"wa†, â€Å"wh†, or â€Å"O’†. Filtering by â€Å"wa† gives: Moreover, a query that displays every aspect of an employee by joining the three tables is show hereunder: Documentation Double click the file â€Å"Employee Attendance DB. accdb† to open the database (Note: file opens with Microsoft Excel 2007/2010 only]. You may have to click on Options button that appear at the Toolbars section and choose â€Å"Enable† to run the application.Double click any of the objects to begin interacting with the object (Table, Query, or Form). To use a form to input data, double click the form and click right arrow key button at the lower section of the form labeled â€Å"Next Record† to add a new record. Clicking this button again saves the existing record. The navigation tool is shown hereunder: This is a simple database system but caters for the needs of the sales manager in checking the attendance of the employees working in the department by using the query â€Å"q ryAllDetails† to generate a Pivot table showing the attendance of employees in the Sales department only, for instance.This is achieved by double-clicking the query > right-clicking on the tab representing the open query > selecting PivotTableView > Selecting the appropriate fields from the PivotTable Field List by double-clicking them > and finally selecting â€Å"Sales† using the list-box under the heading â€Å"DeptName† in the generated PivotTable. There is much more power in using this database than is possible using Excel. References Maletsky, J. & Rafael, S. (2008). Microsoft Access 2007 Analyze Data with Pivot Tables. California: Dash Designs Consulting

Illegal Logging a Major Factor in Flood Devastation of Philippines Essay

Decades of illegal logging, unusually high rainfall and geography have all contributed to the devastation wrought by storms that have lashed the Philippines, the government and environmentalists say. With hundreds dead or missing in floods and landslides in Quezon, Nueva Ecija and Aurora provinces, blame has fallen on illegal loggers who have stripped hillsides bare and turned lush green forests into death traps. Geography has played its part too. The Philippine archipelago of some 7,000 islands sits astride Southeast Asia’s typhoon belt and is usually the first country to be hit by typhoons from the Pacific Ocean. Infanta, one of the hardest-hit areas, is usually the first port of call for an average of 19 typhoons and tropical storms that hit the Philippines every year, said chief government weather forecaster Prisco Nilo. He said the latest storm was the 25th to veer into the Philippines this year, making it an exceptional year. Government hydrologist Richard Orendain said although the residents of Infanta and nearby Real and General Nakar are used to typhoons, what they probably failed to anticipate was the consequences of the amount of rainfall that fell on the region over the past week. Orendain told AFP that in one 24-hour period on Sunday some 144 millimeters (4. 3 fluid ounces) of rain fell over the region. The monthly average for November is 611 millimeters. â€Å"Even though it was not a strong typhoon, the destructive impact was magnified by the amount of rain that fell over the area,† he said. â€Å"We can’t really say whether illegal logging was the main cause, though it may have contributed to it. † Orendain said the ground water table had â€Å"probably reached saturation point† noting that the area was hard hit by another storm just a week earlier. So the water had no where to go,† he said. With many in the government blaming illegal logging for the current disaster, President Gloria Arroyo ordered a nationwide crackdown. â€Å"Illegal logging must now be placed in the order of most serious crimes against our people,† Arroyo said in a statement Wednesday. â€Å"The series of landslides and flashfloods that hit several parts of the country should serve as a wake up call for us to join hands in preserving our environment and stepping up reforestation. â€Å" Senator Richard Gordon has called for an investigation into the disaster. â€Å"For years the the department of environment and natural resources has failed to go after the illegal loggers operating in many parts of the country,† he told reporters Tuesday. Vice President Noli de Castro said the country had still not learned the lessons from landslides and flooding in 1991 on the island of Leyte which left thousands dead. â€Å"Illegal logging was found to be the main contributor to that disaster,† de Castro said. Forest economist Lourdes Catindig, of the government’s natural resources and environment department, told AFP the southern Sierra Madre, which runs through the eastern section of the main island of Luzon, still has some forest cover left. â€Å"We issued a logging moratorium in the area in the 1970s,† she said. In the last decade, the Philippines has suffered severely from natural disasters. In 1990, central Luzon was hit by both a drought and a typhoon that flooded practically all of Manila. Still more damaging was an earthquake in 1990 that devastated a wide area in Luzon, including Baguio and other northern areas. The archipelago also straddles the so-called Pacific rim of fire and is home to some 200 volcanoes of which 17 are still active. In June 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century took place at Mount Pinatubo, just 90 kilometers (55 miles) northwest of Manila. Up to 800 people were killed and 100,000 made homeless following the eruptions.

Role Of Education in Sustainable Development Essay Essays

Role Of Education in Sustainable Development Essay Essays Role Of Education in Sustainable Development Essay Essay Role Of Education in Sustainable Development Essay Essay Sustainable development is that development which will run into the present demands of the community without compromising the ability of future coevalss to run into their ain demands. Environmental instruction involves among other things the proviso of information. acknowledging values. clear uping constructs etc in order to develop accomplishments and attitudes that enable the community to understand and appreciate the relationship between their civilizations and their physical milieus. At international fora. efforts have been made to advance environmental instruction. In the twelvemonth 1975 in Belgrade. the plan for international environmental instruction was started followed by the conference in Tsibilisi in 1977. Nevada 1979. Moscow 1987. †¦ . . Since so the council of European states has twice called on member states to progress on environmental instruction in all sectors of instruction. There is required a dominant policy to guarantee that the findings of research on environmental scientific discipline are decently applied to guarantee that the universe is safe for farther development with no farther devastation of the natural resources. It is hence necessary to affect the participants in political. economic and cultural sectors in planing environmental plans. By making this. we will detect that all these participants have turned conservationists and we can anticipate a struggle of involvement of manner in the attack of environmental affairs. This is because sustainable development is a contested district with its ownership disputed by forces with really diverse involvements. Its therefore hard to anticipate any relaxation of the attempt on those who will go on to enforce development to accommodate their terminals raising â€Å"modernity. national integrating. economic growing and other slogans† ( Adams 1990. p199 ) . With challenges as these. instruction is a must in order to convey these involvements groups together and come up with sound policy on sustainable development. infact one that is witting of future demands. Obstacles TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTThere are assorted obstructions to sustainable development which include: 1. Lack of consciousness on issues involved.2. Political unacceptableness of obvious stairss frontward.3. Resistance by groups with vested involvements.4. Insufficiency of institutional mechanism for incorporating environment and development. SolutionTo get the better of these obstructions. there is a feeling among many groups that there is a demand to replace the thoughts and values that underlie the composite and seeable obstructions with a new attack and reshaping of thoughts and values. To make this we need non merely a alteration. but a entire revolution of our thought. This can good be achieved through a well-designed instruction attack. ROLE OF EDUCATIONEducation plays a major function in heightening people’s consciousness about bio-diversity preservation every bit good as sustainable development. It leads to realization of preservation cognition and accomplishments which in bend aid in broadening people’s cognition about preservation. therefore doing them functional members of the society. Education will edify stakeholders on assorted issues associating to sustainable development and bio-diversity preservation. Besides instruction will sensitise them to take part to the full in runs against any act or development that threaten future sustainability. Consequently. instruction empowers stakeholders to take increasing charge of their ain developments as cardinal ingredients combined with a clear cognition of environmental restraints and of demands to run into basic demands. This enables people to understand their demand for and importance of biodiversity for now and in the hereafter. It is this instruction which will enable us gain that sustainable development confronts non merely society. but each of us at the bosom of his or her intent. It invites us to give practical support to the values of societal equity. human worth and ecological wellness. Education inquiries our preparedness to affect ourselves in the battle for alteration. it challenges our willingness to lend in greater step to the activities of NGO’s and dedicated persons who run on our behalf. Furthermore. instruction asks us to accept that the little beginnings from which so many successful runs have started resides within ourselves. As Laszlo ( 1989 ) puts it. â€Å"we contemplate altering about anything on this Earth except ourselves. † and this is due to the interior restraints in our visions and values that can merely be removed through instruction. This is because instruction will explicate the demand for and importance of attitude and behavior alteration in our chase for development. as a consequence we will gain that we owe the hereafter coevalss what we have today. It is instruction that will enable us make a decision as Max-reef ( 1991. P113 ) explains: -â€Å"I have reached the decision that I lack the power to alter the universe or any important portion of it. I merely have the power to alter myself. And the absorbing thing is that if I decide to alter myself. there is no constabulary force in the universe that can forestall me making so. It is my determination and if I want to make it. I can make it. Now the point is that if I change myself. something may go on as a effect that may take to a alteration in the world† . As such consciousness becomes more general. sustainable development will be regarded earnestly by the people who truly count non merely elites but people by and large. Education whether formal or informal has been proved to be a powerful tool in advancing alterations in the attitudes and perceptual experiences of people about a resource. A series of conferences under the protections of UNDP have been held to turn to issues refering to the nexus between sound natural resource direction and sustainable development. environmental preservation and improved human public assistance. Education for sustainable development will non merely make consciousness of the planetary crisis but must put it at the bosom of the course of study. It must be â€Å"ecological† instead than â€Å"environmental† encouraging wide holistic thought. learning the demand for structural alteration and advancing the right application of reductionist thought to specific proficient jobs. It will encompass all the agencies of the alteration discussed in this paper and watchful stakeholders to the feasibleness of alternate patterns. Further. instruction will non merely inform stakeholders. but besides let them to take part in determination devising procedure about biodiversity preservation and therefore advancing alteration. Through instruction. stakeholders will non merely go acquinted with one another’s vision about healthy ecosystems but besides stimulates them to explicate their ain visions associating to biodiversity. It will non merely learn them about holistic theory but will necessitate them to believe holistically. Holistic thought is a peculiarly of import agencies of alteration for sustainable development because it attempts to calculate out the effects. Holistic attack attempts to expect the job â€Å"simple† solutions. create and to place more satisfactory structural solutions. Holistic thought led one husbandman in Kenya. sickened at holding to hit the elephants destroying his harvests. to follow an alternate signifier of land usage. suiting non merely his ain involvement but besides those of elephants. of tourers who wanted to see elephants and of local people who could supplement their subsistence economic system with income from touristry. Education will besides assist us to see the demand of seting people foremost in all our enterprises in sustainable development and biodiversity preservation. Puting people foremost means rather merely valuing people for themselves. for what they are instead than for what they can make. or how they can execute in the service of some involvement whose terminals may be rather radically opposed to the meeting of human demand. Puting people foremost besides means empowerment- a procedure by which those who are or feel excluded from determination devising are enabled to take part in it. It involves the transportation of power from those in authorization to smaller groups. In some states this has to get down with set uping or re-establishing political rights and other basic freedoms. ( A recent illustration is the return to free elections in Malawi and Kenya ) . Merely so can a start be made to supply instruction and preparation to raise consciousness and allow stakeholders to play an effectual function in political procedure. Empowerment besides refers to what Paul Freire. the Brazilian educationalist calls â€Å"Conscientization† or instruction for consciousness. by which communities and persons become cognizant of the grounds for their poorness and subjugation and get down to discourse what they themselves can make about it without enabling action by the governments. Ecological instruction will non merely learn about authorization but will enable stakeholders to carry through their aspiration by assisting them to develop their full scope of abilities. By paying equal attending to emotional and rational development. instruction will learn the basic life accomplishments people need to set up individualities and turn as persons. By promoting creativeness. committedness and enterprise. it will fit stakeholders to take duty for themselves and their hereafter. and to avoid dependence on biodiversity without guaranting its sustainability through sound direction patterns. It will besides concentrate on relationships and learn what Harrison ( 1990. p203 ) calls the â€Å"work of human communicating of lovingness and nurturance. of be givening the personal bonds of the community† . It is envisaged that good organized instruction will besides heighten our ability to associate with each other. non merely on the degree of twenty-four hours to twenty-fo ur hours communicating accomplishment. but more significantly by admiting others individualities and rights to a resource. This instruction will originate a procedure of womb-to-tomb growing in consciousness and aspiration. An persons preparedness to take part in that procedure. at nevertheless lowly or rudimentary a degree. will be more of import than geting impressive makings. for as Paul Freire ( 1972 ) points out. we are all â€Å"unfinished† human existences with a committedness to better â€Å"unfinished† world. Without the chance to develop their possible. persons can non develop to the full in treatments and enterprises on which advancement to more sustainable development depends. Therefore. decently resourced and directed instruction will guarantee that all stakeholders become the donees of the attention. concern and accomplishments of others. DecisionIn a universe where the challenge of sustainable development is an imperative. instead than an option. we can non afford to suspend people from take parting by doing them experience failures. whether academic failures as a consequence of the stiff application of elitist criterions. or societal or personal failures as a consequence of unequal developments of both their demands and their possible. Therefore. I envisage that decently resourced and directed instruction aimed at promoting the development of sensitiveness. consciousness. critical thought. job resolution and active engagement in biodiversity preservation runs. will enable stakeholders non merely to go cognizant of the issues and be able to move on that consciousness. but will be equipped with the accomplishments required to lend efficaciously to the argument. They will larn to be after. organize. communicate with others. develop schemes and make confederations with an purpose of advancing sustainable development and guaranting biodiversity preservation.

Asia pacific

Asia pacific Diageo c consists of Australia, the People's Republic of China, Republic Of Korea, Japan, Siam, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia India and Nz. Diageo operates using several joint-venture partners in Asia Pacifi c. In Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong and Macau, the People's Republic of China, Siam and Japan, Diageo directs nearly all its spirits manufacturers through partnership plans with Moà «t Hennessy. Diageo has created in-industry businesses in China (for manufacturers not a part of the partnership including Smirnoff and Baileys) and Vietnam (for most manufacturers). In Taiwan and Republic Of Korea, the own supply firms of Diageo deliver a lot of the manufacturers of Diageo. Throughout the year ended 30 Kirin and Diageo Brewery Co Ltd created a partnership lead to the increase goals of both firms and to increase supply of Diageo goods. Kirin today directs Smirnoff Ice and beer. Additional wine and spirits brands, which will not be written by both Kirin or the partnership, are managed by 3rd parties. In Malaya, Diageo's own and third-party drinks are made and written by means of a detailed enterprise (Guinness Anchor Berhad) where Diageo and its associate, Asia Pacifi c Breweries, get many share by means of a mutually managed joint venture firm. In Singapore, Asia Pacific Breweries brew and distributed the ale manufacturers of Diageo. In India, supply of both imported and locally-produced goods is realized by means of a mixture of Diageo's own supply v third party vendors. Deliver and a partnership continues to be created to make specific superior spirits that are nearby, the fi rst that was Master-Stroke. Pillsbury Mills Diageo got an expense in the shares of Common Mls around the removal of Pillsbury. Diageo marketed 50-million shares of frequent inventory Generally Mls and transferred an additional 4-million shares to Diageo and the British pension finance quit in order to become liate of Basic Mls for US government securities regulations goals then. Diageo offered its staying 25 zillion shares of typical inventory of Basic Generators. Hamburger King Dec 2002 Diageo finished the removal of Hamburger King on 1-3. Environmental facets Diageo attempts to fulfi l its obligations including through analyzing its influence about its particular guidelines associated with neighborhood and societal issues in addition to workers and the surroundings. Diageo h-AS established stretching goals to decrease its influence around the surroundings, and also to t the company, the towns where it manages as well as the earth. The exec environmental team that is operating accounts for establishing coverage. This year, the operating team modified and reissued Diageo's environment plan to refl etc the higher Dream the firm h AS for progress that is environment. The coverage is backed by the danger administration framework which supplies a system for tracking conformity and establishes execution standards of Diageo. As said In the plan of Diageo, the institution's measures about the health of the planet are intended in mild of current medical knowledge , nor ride on having complete proof specifi c harm, thereby assisting the notion of a preventative strategy. The launch of greenhouse gases - particularly carbon - comes with a direct effect on climatechange which, possibly indirectly or immediately, gift ideas substantial threat equally to earth along with company. The threat contain effects around the farming which the business depends for raw supplies, dislocation of the Firm's developments to supply or the character of customer need, and these of associates that are industrial or businesses. Diageo presumes the threats from climate-change may be mitigated if emits of greenhouse gases were enough reduced and, by its very nature, spent some time working for a long time to decrease immediate emissions (from powers) and in-direct pollutants (from electricity). Diageo recognises that its achievement as time goes by may count inpart to the abundance of the towns in the robustness of its own associations with these communities and which the firm manages. Helping long-lasting lasting projects in the communities where Diageo does company progress growth of the towns, employs workers, establishes the business's standing and improves its Associations with additional stakeholders as well as authorities. Diageo targets jobs that produce abilities, boost use of water, answer organic catastrophes, assistance workers and encourage efficiency. Diageo requires delight in its Report of neighborhood investment. Nearly all of the expense comes all over the world in a type of money, inkind contributions and offer period from companies. Additionally, it has help for the city characteristics of liable ingesting jobs and awards from the Foundation from the Accountable Drinking Finance of Diageo. As well as world-wide Projects, Diageo helps direct participation by workers to help towns that are neighborhood. In economic conditions that were tough, Diageo workers selected World Water Day-To reveal their dedication to the business's community plan through coordinated actions to get the Africa Water of Li Fe of Diageo plan. There were 30 ‘Make a Dash' occasions including enjoyable times, half-marathons, composing competitions as well as water conservation matches to love, in 20 states for their loved ones and workers. Over  £1.7 thousand was elevated and given to the Water of Existence 1Million Problem as well as additional neighborhood water tasks. Diageo manages worldwide and is a significant participator in the drink alcohol business that is brand-Ed. It offers worldclass manufacturers as well as a conduite group. The administration group needs to carry on its technique of growing globally, purchasing world-wide manufacturers and establishing revolutionary services and brands. Diageo redirects and creates a top range of wine, ale and brand-Ed superior spirits. The variety of superior manufacturers it creates and directs contains Captain Morgan bourbon, JB scotch whisky Tanqueray, Johnnie Walker whisky vodka Guinness stout In addition it also offers the submission privileges for the tequila manufacturers in a number of additional marketplaces and North America.