Stress in Air Traffic Controllers Research Paper

Stress in Air Traffic Controllers - Research Paper Example In an increasingly competitive global environment, where the scramble for resources and the search for tangible opportunities seem to have overtaken any other global undertaking, the importance of commercial aviation cannot be overemphasized. Commercial aviation plays a very central role in the overall growth of any economy across the world. It is therefore imperative to look into the key issues that govern the aviation industry to ensure its success and proper functionalism. The concept of aviation security comes in as one of the most pressing issues in this regard. The commercial aviation industry continues to face a number of challenges with respect to safety and security of the passengers it transports. While it can be argued that much progress has since been realized in addressing and instituting safety measures, it is worth noting that safety is so important that any effort could never be enough (Sweet 2009). One of the most pressing issues that affect commercial airline operators is the high-stress levels evidenced in air traffic controllers (Dekker 2007). Indeed, this job requires high levels of expertise, knowledge, and practical application of this experience. As such, the air traffic controllers are normally expected to demonstrate high amounts of alertness considering that their duties are very core toward air safety. They are required to display a mixture of interpersonal skills together with human cognitive aspects in a way that blends well to give high-performance levels. Stress is indeed a very negative phenomenon that must always be addressed as a safety measure in the aviation industry. In ATC, stress is normally a very great playing factor that limits proper functionality and performance.  

Criminal Law and Procedure Assignment Essay Example for Free

Criminal Law and Procedure Assignment Essay 1) At the Trial of Scissors Lee, the prosecution would like to produce to the court the caution statements of Scissors Lee as evidence of his confession. Can you write out a list of your objections you will raise with the court to the production of the caution statement at the trial? Ans:  Upon the production of the caution statement of Scissors Lee, I would like to raise some objections in term of its arresting procedure, reliability and voluntariness. Arresting Procedure: PC34567 should have cautioned Scissors Lee at the football ground According to the Rules and Direction for the Questioning of Suspects and the Taking of Statements issued by the Secretary for Security in 1992, when PC34567 has evidence that Scissors Lee might have committed an offence, he must caution Scissor Lee before putting him into further questions. In the caution statement, DPC13579 first quoted the conversation between Scissors Lee and PC34567 to induce Scissor Lee to have a consensus in the fact described in that conversation, however that conversation record was not obtained under caution and therefore it should not be mentioned in questioning Scissors Lee. Therefore, the caution statement is not obtained in a proper procedure and should be inadmissible. Arresting Procedure: DPC13579 did not tell Scissors Lee his rights fully under arrest After Scissors Lee was brought to the police station, he was not told by the police that he should have the chance to contact his family or get a lawyer. In that circumstance, Scissors Lee may be put in a situation of helpless and unassisted. Besides, DPC13579 told Scissors Lee that he could only go if he had given him a statement, therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee may be induced to cooperate to work out the caution statement. If he was told that he may get a lawyer to represent him, he should have stayed silence during the interview of DPC13579. Reliability: The caution statement is recorded in English The interview should be conducted in the mother tongue of Scissors Lee, that seems not to be English but Cantonese, upon the conversation between Lee and PC34567 to avoid any ambiguity and misunderstanding. Scissors Lee is only a Form 4 student at a secondary school and do not do well in academic. Therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee has the proficiency in English that he understood all the statements made by DPC13579 and stated concisely in his speaking about the whole story of the event. Voluntariness: The length of the time of the interview is too long The duration of the interview is 2 hours. It may be a factor that sapping the free will of Scissors Lee in signing the cautioned statement. When the interview time is lengthened, Scissors Lee was anxious to go home, and there is a reasonable possibility that Scissors Lee just signed the cautioned statement for letting DPC13579 to release him to go home, therefore the cautioned statement may not be made voluntarily and thus should be inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was in hunger but was rejected to take snack Throughout the interview, Scissors Lee was not given any refreshment. The interview was held at the time of having dinner (2000-2200), as he was quite hungry during the interview, he asked DPC13579 for some snack, however DPC13579 ignored him. In such circumstances, it is reasonable to object that the voluntariness of Scissors Lee to sign the cautioned statement was greatly affected by hunger and ignorance of DPC13579, thus the cautioned statement should be inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was deceived in signing the cautioned statement DPC13579 showed the cautioned statement to Scissors Lee, and simply asked him to sign on it without explaining the content. Scissors Lee thought the cautioned statement was a paper stating his right after his arrest and signed on it without full acknowledgement. There is a reasonable possibility that Scissors Lee was deceived into signing the cautioned statement and therefore, he was not voluntary in admitting hitting Ah Ho, therefore the cautioned statement should be void and thus inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was afraid of prejudice in admitting the offence Scissors Lee was told by DPC13579 that he was the only one arrested by the police and he must admit hitting Ah Ho otherwise the police would be very angry and come to his school to see him every day. Scissors Lee was afraid that if he did not admit the offence, the police would really come to see him every day which will obviously cause unexpected harassment to him. Therefore, the cautioned statement is clearly involuntary as it has been obtained by â€Å"a fear of prejudice†. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was promised in admitting the offence Scissors Lee was told by DPC13579 that hitting is a common assault and he would get away with a fine. Since Scissors Lee thought that he already has a criminal conviction of bound-over and so that one more common assault would not further taint his character. DPC13579 had made an offer of release from police custody and therefore, it is obvious that Scissors Lee signed the cautioned statement in the hope of release, thus that statement is inadmissible. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee was unsuitable for confession upon his emotional status Throughout the interview, Scissors Lee was scared and anxious to go home. Under this mental condition, he was easily affected by external factors, such as the persuasion or threat by DPC13579, impatient to go home; therefore, it appears a reasonable doubt that he admitted the offence in absolute voluntary. As a result, the cautioned statement should not be admissible as it is not fair to demand Scissors Lee to make a comprehensive decision in the interview. Voluntariness: Scissors Lee may be affected by alcohol On the day in question, before PC34567 brought him back to police station, Scissors Lee was forced to drink whisky. It was hard to determine that whether the decision of Scissors Lee was affected by the alcohol. Therefore, there is a reasonable doubt that Scissors Lee signed the cautioned statement in an unconscious status, thus the cautioned statement may not be made in voluntary and so inadmissible. 2) Supposed Scissors Lee would plead guilty at his trial, can you advise him what mitigating factors you should address the court on his behalf? Ans:  After having a detailed analysis in Scissors Lee’s background and the circumstance of the offence, I may address the court some mitigating factors upon the facts of this case and of his background. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was scared of offending Mr. Big Mr. Big was an older boy who started to offer Scissors Lee drinks and snacks and treated him to bar after the match. He taught Scissors Lee how to drink and everybody in the football ground treated Mr. Big like their leader. In this case, Scissors Lee’s offence was instigated by Mr. Big. Mr. Big told Scissors Lee to be at the football ground at 3.30 pm so that he would like Scissors Lee to â€Å"teach Ah Ho a lesson.† Mr. Big continued to threaten Scissors Lee that if he did not come, Mr. Big would treat him naughty and teach him a real nasty lesson. Scissors Lee committed the offence only in fear of Mr. Big but not intentional. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was not the prime mover In this case, Mr. Big was throughout the only prime mover of the offence. Scissors Lee was only in control of Mr. Big because of fear of Mr. Big. He played a less important role than his accomplices in this offence and therefore he should be held less guilty. Without the threat by Mr. Big, there appears no evidence that Scissors Lee would commit the offence and cause any harm to Ah Ho, therefore, Scissors Lee was only a puppet of Mr. Big for his offence to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee attempted to stop others hitting Ah Ho When Ah Egg, Zero, Ah Kin were hitting Ah Ho, Scissors Lee went up and shouted to them to stop. His attempt to stop others hitting Ah Ho shows that, at first, he had no intention of hitting Ah Ho. Scissors Lee only pushed Ah Ho once after Mr. Big yelled at him, the purpose of his offence was only to make a false appearance to Mr. Big that he was hitting Ah Ho but not intended to cause bodily damage to Ah Ho. In such circumstances, his offence was relatively unsubstantial when compared to his accomplices. Case Fact: Scissors Lee was affected by alcohol which was forced to drink by Mr. Big Scissors Lee never like drinking wine. But before the offence, Scissors Lee was forced by Mr. Big to drink a lot of whisky. His offence may be affected by alcohol. Therefore, in such unconscious status, Scissors Lee was partly involuntary to commit the offence. There was no evidence that Scissors Lee will commit similar offence in the future. Case Fact: The injury of Ah Ho was not too serious Ah Ho was sent to the hospital for medical treatment, from his medical report, he was discharged with no complication from his wound and he would be expected to recover fully within two weeks. Although Scissors Lee and his accomplices did damage to Ah Ho, there was no evidence that the offence of Scissors Lee was causing any substantial damage and left any unrecoverable wound to Ah Ho. The offence committed by Scissors Lee was relatively light and it can be seen that the intention of Scissors Lee was not to cause serious harm to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee did not attempt to approach Ah Ho after the offence Scissors Lee has not tried to harass Ah Ho after the event and he stays a distance from Ah Ho, even if they are still in the same class. Scissors had shown genuine remorse for his offence and regret to what he had done to Ah Ho. Base on these circumstances, Scissors Lee is less likely to recommit any offence to Ah Ho. Case Fact: Scissors Lee pleaded guilty in sincere manner and cooperated with the police Scissors Lee was regret for his offence to Ah Ho, and he pleaded guilty in sincere manner. Throughout the arrest, Scissors Lee cooperated with the police and told the fact without any concealment. From the above evidence, we can see that Scissors Lee has the intention to repent and reform, he is less likely to commit any similar offence in the future. Therefore, the court should sentence him in high discretion. Background: Scissors Lee has good relationship with people surrounded From the background report of Scissors Lee, he came to Hong Kong 10 years ago to reunite with his father. However, his father since divorced his mother 8 years ago and left them. Scissors Lee is although come from a complicated family background his relationship with his mother is good. At school, he always has good relationship with school friends, class teacher and the principal. Scissors Lee has good personality and there is no substantial risk of reoffending. Background: Scissors Lee is a person of responsibility Scissors Lee is an active participator at school and he always help the school in important events like open-day, parents-day and whenever Justices of Peace come to visit them. It shows that Scissors Lee has a good character and a good work record at the school. Besides, Scissors Lee is also the sports captain of his school. He is responsible for organizing sport events and taking care of other schoolmates during sport events. All of his achievements at school show that, he is a person of responsibility and therefore he chose to bear the consequence of his offence. Background: Scissors Lee has a clear direction of future career Scissors Lee planned to be a footballer, a dancer or an artist after he has finished Form 5. He has a realistic prospect of career and therefore is outstanding from others of the same age. It shows that he is a mature and thoughtful youngster and therefore the criminal conviction of this minor offence would be a stain in his personality which may substantially affect his career and life in future already. Background: Scissors Lee was not really familiar with the prime mover Mr. Big Scissors Lee was not really familiar with the prime mover Mr. Big and his accomplices, Zero, Ah Kin and Egg. They are only met at the football ground and play football together. After this event, Scissors Lee is much likely to aloof from those people and he will no longer be influenced by these bad friends. Background: Although he was in bind-over, that offence was not relevant to this case Although Scissors Lee has a criminal conviction of fighting in public place on 5 Jan 2009 and he is under bound-over in $1000 for 12 months to be of good behavior and refrain from acts of violence. However, that offence was obviously provoked by the victims and it is not relevant to this case as in this case, Scissors Lee was in threat of Mr. Big. Therefore, the court should not impose any relationship from this record to the present case. Proposed Sentence Since Scissors Lee’s mother who earns only about $8,000 a month is the only financial support in his family, and the maintenance from his divorced father is always received on an irregular basis, to impose a fine may not be suitable as it may cause financial problem to his family. Therefore, a community service order should be imposed as Scissors Lee (1) is one with a light criminal record, (2) has a stable home background and good relationship with his mother, (3) has a good record in school important events, (4) has a realistic prospect of being a footballer, a dancer or an artist, (5) has shown genuine remorse upon his confession and (6) has no more than a slight risk of re-offending upon his background and facts in this case.

Tinnitus :: Health Hearing Loss Noise Loud Essays

Tinnitus A police officer fires his handgun while target practicing. He forgot to put on his ear muffs and suddenly after the shot, he hears a faint buzzing sound. In this example, over time, the ringing will probably fade for the officer. Almost everyone will experience tinnitus in their lifetime. After all, loud noises are impossible to avoid completely. There is only a problem when the sound from the tinnitus does not stop, or it continues to get louder with time. For many people around the world, the ringing, buzzing, hissing or chirping sounds that make up tinnitus (tin-Night-us; Tin-nit-us) or acoustic trauma never go away (Alliance). There are several definitions of the word tinnitus. Tinnitus Away defines it as "a noise heard in the ear, or the sensation of noise as a ringing that is purely subjective." Hear USA says tinnitus is "a noise heard in the ears." According to Tinnitus.com, Tinnitus was defined in 1999 as a sensory disorder. What does all of this mean? Basically, tinnitus is the perception of sound by an individual when there is no external source of that sound. Sound burst hearing loss is due to damage to the auditory receptors, the hair cells, inside the ear. The vibration of these hair follicles is what allows humans to hear so when they become damaged, the auditory sense is set off, and the resulting noise is the sound heard by millions of tinnitus sufferers. The other damage done to the ear by sound bursts that creates hearing loss is the deflation of the cochlea. This damage is usually caused by prolonged exposure to a continuous loud noise. Acoustic traumas are caused by an explosive sound, sudden and loud, that can cause hearing loss (Goldstein, 2002). The effects of these traumas can fade. However, they do not always go away. A college student who had a fire cracker explode in his hand only fifteen inches from his ear still had a ringing sensation two years after the incident. According to the Internet Armory, sound is physically just a rapid change in air pressure above and below the atmospheric pressure. The decibel, dB, named after Alexander Graham Bell, is used to describe this change in pressure. Zero dB is the threshold of human hearing, and 120 dB is the pain threshold. Decibels increase logarithmically so 10 dB is 10 times as powerful as one dB, and twenty dB is ten times as powerful as that.

Using evidence from available research, describe and analyse the experi

For any individual prison can be a daunting and psychological challenge. Experiences can have lifelong effects and can often traumatise those incarcerated. However the experience minority ethnic prisoners face can be deemed diverse. They can become victims of discrimination, racism violence and harassment all on the basis of their race, skin colour, or nationality. Scott and Codd (2010, P. 70) note that ‘prisoners from certain believed culturally or biologically determined ‘racial groups’ are understood as being genetically, intellectually or socially inferior beings, thus contributing to their own poverty of life experiences and criminal identity'. Scott and Codd (2010) state that ‘the prison place racism is a key dimension of the expression of power, shaping prejudicial decisions, exclusionary practices and the physical manifestation of violence, bullying and intimidation’. Scott and Codd (2010, P.70) put forward that ‘this penal terror go es even further for some, such as foreign national prisoners, as it can exacerbate the structured pains of the prison itself. Jewkes and Johnston (2006, P.107) found that ‘prisoners from ethnic minority backgrounds have faced a long struggle in getting the Home Office and Prison Service to recognise their diverse cultural, religious and dietary needs’. Jewkes and Johnston (2006) put forward that the UK prison population has risen by 15,000 since New Labour came to power in 1997, and has doubled since Margaret Thatcher took office in 1979. Inmates from ethnic minority backgrounds account for a large percentage of this figure. For example the white population increased by 36 per cent, Black population grew by 196 per cent, south Asian populations grew by 120 per cent and Chinese/other Asian... ...cial harassment to get their complaints investigated. Overcrowding enforced cell sharing and became a problem of poor management from governors. Gadd and Dixon (2010) announced that Keith (2006) produced 88 steps to rectify these shortcomings. These included the following; the end of enforced cell sharing, the implementation of risk assessment in decisions about cell allocation; violent reduction strategy, Keith (2006) suggest this approach makes prisoners think they have let other prisoners down if they resort to violence on other inmates. Mental health screening and routine reviews on prisoners’ emotional well-being were also included (Gadd and Dixon 2010). Conclusion Looking at the work of Edgar (2007) his four typologies of understanding racisms in prison can help give a broader acknowledgment of what BME groups face and experience when incarcerated.

Politics and Education Essay

Education can develop the personality of a person not physically but mentally as well. An educated person can look at a certain issue from various perspectives. A politician has to control over a large community therefore, he needs some extra ordinary skills and the first thing which can make him distinguished, is his qualification. Education can increase his communication and speaking skills. A politician is a social member and his interactions with people are frequent, therefore, he needs maturity and sensibility in his talk and behavior. This is certainly possible with proper education. A politician is the representative of a nation and he should be the perfect person by all means and education plays an important role in making anyone perfect to a great extent. But then, I don’t necessarily think that they need to have degrees in a particular field but broader understanding would certainly help. They must have minimum qualification†¦they need to be knowledgeable and must understand the laws. Politicians like Abraham Lincoln set an example of people who had no real formal education and look at the jobs they did and the leadership they offered†¦It is true that there have been great leaders who were uneducated, Kamaraj in India, for example. But, such gems are a rarity. In life, compromises must be made. Until an intelligent and foolproof plan exists for electing such gems from the public, we must resort to what is best for the common man. An educated person is more likely to do a good job as a politician than an illiterate person. Education is a process that makes people more humane and teaches them a lot about the country, how to express themselves through effective communication and so on I think the only key thing they need to be educated in is the Constitution and process of government. A lot of the early leaders of the country were not well educated even for the time. Some foundation of knowledge is beneficial and they definitely need to be able to reason and learn. They need leadership quality, power in speech, integrity, sincerity, honesty and purity in whatever actions they take for development of country.

Helen of Troy essays

Helen of Troy essays In modern cinema, a realistic reproduction of a historic time period is uncommon. Movie set designers strive to create sets and scenes to visually stimulate the viewer, and often times historical aspects of the period are completely disregarded. While watching the film, Helen of Troy, directed by Robert Wise (1956), I was surprised to see many artifacts and architectural aspects that were characteristic of Classical Greek Style. I will discuss three key scenes where the interiors were prominent in style and architecture. Situated in the hills of the Greek coast, the city of Troy was prosperous because of its location near the sea. While most of the population lived inside the city's famous impenetrable walls, others lived on the outskirts near the coast. Paris and Helen first meet as he is washed to shore after falling off the sternum of a ship. She helps carry him to the small hut of her childhood nurse. These small villages of huts were constructed with wattle and daub style, and also had thatched roofs. The huts were made waterproof by using a framework of woven rods and twigs covered and plastered with clay. Decorations inside the hut were scarce, but there was a single piece of pottery with a painted scene shown on the ground of the hut. It was very similar to the picture of this pot on the left. The pot had two handles and when used it carried water. The only other items on display were tools and everyday objects such as a kettle pot used to boil water and a sword on the wall, contr adicting the decoration of a palace. After Paris leaves the hut he travels to the Palace of Sparta, where he converses with Menelaus, husband of Helen. In contrast to the huts, this marble palace is extravagant and provides many great examples of Greek Architecture. The palace was supported by columns, both Doric and Ionic capitols. However, the bulging of the Doric shaft, also known as entasis, was different th ...

Future Outlook of Hasbro Essays

Future Outlook of Hasbro Essays Future Outlook of Hasbro Essay Future Outlook of Hasbro Essay Future Outlook of Hasbro Hasbro’s current economic output is at a positive state even though most of the world is going through a recession. Recently there had been a rumor scattering around the market that Hasbro was going to drop the brands: Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley. This newfound rumor came up as â€Å"just plain false† states Mark Morris, public relations director for the Rhode Island-based company through an interview from Games Games Games Magazine. Later in the article he talks about why Hasbro has decided to put both the Hasbro logo and Milton Bradley or Parker Brothers logo on a product (Arneson). Any rumor whether it be bad or good can be detrimental towards a business’s success. Besides the negative rumors Hasbro is not far behind the other toy giant Mattel. With Mattel owning 16% of the toy market share and Hasbro close behind owning 11% there is a lot of tough competition. Through Researching through articles that Hasbro have interviewed in we found that Hasbro is putting a lot of time and effort into the new line of Transformers. They are also putting a lot of effort into developing intuitive ways to reach out to their target audience. With an earning of over four billion dollars I don’t think Hasbro shouldn’t have a problem. In a recent press release by Hasbro we have found that they have kicked innovation to a new level and have come up with some intelligent toys that are sure to be gold on the market. Some of their new releases include a new family television channel called Hub, new Nerf apparel, and new improvements to the age old game of Monopoly (Hasbro, 2010). With our plan of augmented reality and implementing it into the games of Monopoly and Battleship would be skyrocketing our relationship with our consumers. : In this day in age having a relationship with your audience can be very vital. The technology that we have begun to research and create will benefit Hasbro in many ways. As we said before it will benefit our business to consumer relationship and help us get to know the customer a lot better. Second it will usher in a new age of dominance for Hasbro in the toy market. Finally it will give millions of kids a new way to play with their toys which all in all in the main goal. Overall, we have a ton of confidence that Hasbro will succeed in all of their ventures especially when they invest into the augmented reality we have planned out.

How to use GoToWebinar - Emphasis

How to use GoToWebinar How to use GoToWebinar On Wednesday 23 November, Emphasis CEO Rob Ashton will be holding an online seminar: How to supercharge any sentence in 60 seconds. Here is some information for participants. When you join the session, you will see a control panel on the right side of your screen that looks something like this: To watch and hear the presentation, you shouldnt need to do anything just listen through your headset and watch the screen. If you have any questions, you can raise your hand to ask a question by pressing the raise hand button: When Rob is ready to take your question, he will un-mute your microphone. You can also ask a question by typing it into the box, as shown below: We look forward to seeing you there. If you missed the session but would like to watch a recording of it, you can do so here.

Democracy and Industrialization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Democracy and Industrialization - Essay Example The reason why it has become a common strategy for change is that is allows the people to express their views and makes them motivated because their voice is also being listened for the required solution or achieving a specific goal.. In democratic system the people have the right to speak and think independently and it offers people freedom of speech and freedom of media which are essential parts of a powerful democratic system. There are two main principles for a successful democracy. The first principle is that all peoples in community have equal access to power and the other one is that all peoples enjoy universal freedom and liberties. There are different forms of democracy, some of which provide better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than others. (Amacom, American Management Association 1998) The Real and very essential advantage of democracy is that it fixes a regular ongoing process and allows people to find a better way of doing things which is comfortable for them. Tolerance is also one of the key factors of democracy which gives people to have patience in them and allow everyone to speak about their views. Democracy takes ideas from different peoples so that everyone can learn and get experience from one another. One of the characteristic features of democracy is Majority rule but at the same time it also focuses on the rights of minorities. Democracy also gives an independent judiciary system which gives a right to every citizen to be treated equally and provides justice to everyone without any racial discrimination. It gives protection to all citizens and it is compulsory for the Judiciary to provide equal justice to every citizen. People feel comfortable because they know that their safety needs as well as social needs are been protected by the law. Every person has the right to file a petition for demanding justice. Democratic system also gives Human rights to every citizen as it is core responsibility of government. (Ernest Dale 2007) EXAMPLE: Democratic System has been helpful in many countries very it has been fully recognized as a big source of change. One of the key successes is India where democracy has made them so stronger that India has become one of the biggest democratic countries in the world. Freedom of media has been given them and their has a powerful judiciary system for the safety of people and to provide equal justice to everyone and therefore there is boost in foreign investment since the law is powerful than the government. (Stephen R Hiatt, Richard L. Daft 2000) INDUSTRIALIZATION INTRODUCTION Industry can be defined as one of the major assets that really help your country to groom with a very rapid speed. Today in this fast moving competitive world every country is trying their level best to reach the top ranking and industry is one of the source that can lead them to a good position. (Gary R. Heerkens 2001) INDUSTRY IN GENERAL Generally, industry is the very important for any country because it has the ability to generate many resources that can be converted into any goods. With the help of industry it

H.W Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

H.W - Essay Example The cultural clash in the novel is seen both at the individual level and at the communal level; at the communal level, the cultural values and traditions of the Ibo people such as their traditional system of governance and ritual rights are greatly undermined by the arrival of the Europeans. The annual ceremony in honour of the earth deity among the Ibo people, when the clan’s ancestors that had been â€Å"committed to Mother Earth at their death (Achebe 186)† would emerge as â€Å"egwugwu† from tiny ant-holes is one of the Ibo’s sacred rituals that was challenged by Christianity. Okonkwo, Achebe’s most tragic character, clearly demonstrates the cultural clash at the individual level, when he out rightly resists the new political and religious order introduced by the Europeans because he perceived them not to be manly enough for the Ibo people. The Ibo culture places high regard on personal achievement and masculinity, attributes which were greatly opposed to the Christian values of equality of all people, irrespective of their gender and personal achievements. Achebe’s famous opening line â€Å"Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond† clearly explains Okonkwo’s fame which, in Achebeâ₠¬â„¢s words, â€Å"rested on solid personal achievements† (Achebe 1). Okonkwo’s self-worth comes under great attack by the introduction of the new religious and political order by the Europeans, particularly because his identity was greatly pegged on the Ibo cultural standard. The Europeans’ misconceptions of the Ibo people are clearly expressed through Reverend Smith’s criticisms of the Africans. Unlike his predecessor Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith openly condemns the African cultural traditions and values by terming them barbaric and heathen; he has no desire to tolerate and accommodate the African rituals and cultural practices. Mr. Brown

See bellow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

See bellow - Essay Example Scientists have come up with ways to explain that modern man is still evolving, some of the ideas that have been brought on board are like that modern women tend to start their own families between the ages of 22 to 26. Another aspect is the Tibetans evolutionary change, which explains that people would adapt to low oxygen levels in high altitudes environments. Finally, the variation in reproduction, which means that selected traits favor particular kind of people, it has been noted that fertility is being categorized with natural selection, which means that women with narrow birth canal endanger the lives of both the babies and themselves. It also explains that babies with a large brain size get struck in the birth canal. Evolution can be defined as, â€Å"a process of change in a particular direction† (Vosse, 2010, p.9).Evolution tends to define the genesis of something. Evolutionists argue that, â€Å"simple organisms can evolve into complex organisms through natural means and denies any divine influence† (Vosse, 2010, p. 9). I agree with the phrase that man hasn’t stopped evolving, with the emergence of â€Å"modern man†. 600,000 years ago, a more sophisticated tool of technology advanced and these tools were efficient and included the cutting tools (Vosse, 2010). But still the technology didn’t advance. After many years, the fossil of modern man appeared and the technology changed. Modern man didn’t stop hunting, but he advanced domestic tools, art, clothing’s and jewellery. Modern man has challenged the evolution of man; this factor has been argued by the evolutionists who consider modern man to have evolved, since he was previously a hunter and gatherer living a similar life as the Homo erectus (Vosse, 2010). The modern man’s needs made him become a more efficient and equipped hunter, toolmaker, fire maker, and a social gatherer. The evolution biologists have noted is that the

Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy Essay

Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy - Essay Example According to the finding of the ancient Chinese history, the Hmong were a culturally unique set of Asian individuals that lived in the mountainous regions of Siberia, their original homeland. Sects of their civilization settled by the banks of the Yellow River in northern China who were later attacked by the Chinese for the fertile land present along the Yellow River. Thousands of Hmong people have resettled in the Western countries ever since the 1970s primarily in the United States. Others thou have returned to Laos under the UN-sponsored rehabilitation programs. There are about 8-12 million Hmong living in the southern parts of China. â€Å"The remaining Hmong, approximately 1-2 million, are found in Laos, Northern Vietnam and Thailand due to the migration during the mid-1800’s† (Quincy, K, 1988) The Hmong kinship system is the core foundation regarding the social and biological structure among all the other systems prevailing in the Hmong society. It is a relationsh ip based on blood and marital aspects and connects the blood relatives in the same clan, within other clans as well as between them. The Hmong that was born in the 18 major clans namely have established ties as the primary and most crucial relationship within their blood relatives but on the other hand, they do acknowledge their marital ties as secondary relationships among themselves and to those who belong to other clans.This kinship system adopted by the Hmong clan plays an important role of an institution providing various essential functions to provide of the needs of the Hmong members, their extended family as well as the society. It divides the Hmong into 18 major clans which acts as a social organization providing lifetime support, both spiritual and material, to their clan members throughout their life. Marriage In The Hmong Culture Via The Rule of Exogamy The 18 clans of Hmong support the practice of marriage through the rule of exogamy to both genders of the clan’s members allowing them to marry outside of their own clans. This rule of exogamy is a compulsory procedure which prohibits members belonging to the same clans to get married to each other reason being the Hmong rationale which states that all members (in theory) of the same clans were biologically related in the beginning and have descended from the same ancestors and thus are actually brothers and sisters. Therefore they are not allowed to get married to each other within the same clans as their own. The Formal Marriage Request (Begging) By the Groom’s Family The traditional Hmong marriage mainly occurred at an early age where the boys and girls were between the ages of 14 and 18 years (as cited in Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc. 1997). This formal marriage practice is started by the groom’s father along with his older married brothers who would go to the bride’s parents and make a formal marriage request. In case the groom has no father or elder marrie d brothers, he could seek the aid of other male relatives or clan leaders to help him in putting down the formal marriage r

Fluorescence Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fluorescence - Lab Report Example In this experiment, anthracene was the electronically excited species while carbon tetrabromide was the quencher. A 250 ml solution of 0.1 mM anthracene (AN) was prepared in spectrometric quality n-hexane and used as a â€Å"solvent† to prepare 25 ml of 15 mM â€Å"stock† solution of CBr4. Eight dilutions of the AN/CBr4 were made using AN as the solvent starting with 0% (10 ml of AN) and ending with 100% (10 ml of CBr4). The solutions were then introduced into a fluorescence cell and deaerated with dry N2 for two minutes one after the other. The full fluorescence spectrum was then recorded using the instrumental conditions set by the TA. The fluorescent intensities of all the dilute solutions were recorded. The Stern-Volmer plot in this experiment is curved upward because the system is considered to be suddenly exposed to a steady-state excitation source. A graph of I0/I vs [Q] gives KÏ„0 as the slope. The rate constant value obtained from the Stern-Volmer plot was 8393.7 Lmol-1s-1 while the theoretical value is estimated at 5.37 Ãâ€" 10^10 Lmol-1s-1. The rate constant obtained in this experiment is lower than the theoretical value due to factors such as ground-state complex formation between A and Q, competition between A and Q for the incident light and polarization effects. From equation 10 a graph of (I0/I) versus [Q] gives KqÏ„0 as the slope, and knowing the numerical value of Ï„0 then the value of Kq can be

Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy Essay

Multicultural Concerns in Marriage and Family Therapy - Essay Example According to the finding of the ancient Chinese history, the Hmong were a culturally unique set of Asian individuals that lived in the mountainous regions of Siberia, their original homeland. Sects of their civilization settled by the banks of the Yellow River in northern China who were later attacked by the Chinese for the fertile land present along the Yellow River. Thousands of Hmong people have resettled in the Western countries ever since the 1970s primarily in the United States. Others thou have returned to Laos under the UN-sponsored rehabilitation programs. There are about 8-12 million Hmong living in the southern parts of China. â€Å"The remaining Hmong, approximately 1-2 million, are found in Laos, Northern Vietnam and Thailand due to the migration during the mid-1800’s† (Quincy, K, 1988) The Hmong kinship system is the core foundation regarding the social and biological structure among all the other systems prevailing in the Hmong society. It is a relationsh ip based on blood and marital aspects and connects the blood relatives in the same clan, within other clans as well as between them. The Hmong that was born in the 18 major clans namely have established ties as the primary and most crucial relationship within their blood relatives but on the other hand, they do acknowledge their marital ties as secondary relationships among themselves and to those who belong to other clans.This kinship system adopted by the Hmong clan plays an important role of an institution providing various essential functions to provide of the needs of the Hmong members, their extended family as well as the society. It divides the Hmong into 18 major clans which acts as a social organization providing lifetime support, both spiritual and material, to their clan members throughout their life. Marriage In The Hmong Culture Via The Rule of Exogamy The 18 clans of Hmong support the practice of marriage through the rule of exogamy to both genders of the clan’s members allowing them to marry outside of their own clans. This rule of exogamy is a compulsory procedure which prohibits members belonging to the same clans to get married to each other reason being the Hmong rationale which states that all members (in theory) of the same clans were biologically related in the beginning and have descended from the same ancestors and thus are actually brothers and sisters. Therefore they are not allowed to get married to each other within the same clans as their own. The Formal Marriage Request (Begging) By the Groom’s Family The traditional Hmong marriage mainly occurred at an early age where the boys and girls were between the ages of 14 and 18 years (as cited in Lao Family Community of Minnesota, Inc. 1997). This formal marriage practice is started by the groom’s father along with his older married brothers who would go to the bride’s parents and make a formal marriage request. In case the groom has no father or elder marrie d brothers, he could seek the aid of other male relatives or clan leaders to help him in putting down the formal marriage r

Project Task-List Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project Task-List - Essay Example Effective and quality ensuring training programs are of vital importance for successful execution of human resource development. Training programs follow a four step methodology that includes planning, implementation and finally the assessment of the training program (EPA, 2000). Ideal training programs are expected to, We are planning to carry out a two day training session that should be very effective. After the venue has been decided by the top management as per their financial suitability, some important tasks need to be carried out. Designed systematic analyses are needed to identify and target the gaps in the employees’ skill set for training progression. After a clear picture of why and where training is needed, the training activity gets a direction for plan. Most commonly used tools for gap analysis are questionnaires, group discussions or direct question answer sessions. Once the training objectives have been worked out, it gets further easy to decide upon the main topic that can add good impression to the organization’s literature history. The topic can be further broken down by the chief trainer and other experts about it would be imparted and what parts would be covered on the first day and what parts would be covered the second day. After the sub contents have been prepared, the trainer needs to see how the training would actually be done. He needs to decide upon the tool that would be used, for instance PC, projector etc and working upon the infrastructure management for the project. The contents of the training session have to settle according to the available time frame (Upadhyay, 2012). The methodologies for instance, group discussion oriented training, role playing, case study or any other type has to be selected based upon its suitability with respect to the contents and the knowledge and interest level of target group. The most important aspect is breaking down of the methodologies between

Mayan Astronomy Essay Example for Free

Mayan Astronomy Essay Who were the Mayans? The Mayans were part of the Mesoamerican civilization and they lived around 2,000 BCE and lasted through to the time when the Spanish explorers arrived. From 250 CE – 900 CE was when they reached the peak of their development. They are well known for a fully developed written language, numerical system, mathematics, art, architecture and astronomy. Where did the Maya civilization thrive? They inhabited parts of Central America such as Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and also in areas of Mexico. What were the Mayans views on astronomy? When they viewed and studied the heavens the Mayans mainly focused on Venus and the Sun. They had a calendar, which predicted both solstices and equinoxes and is infamous for ending at December 21st, 2012. The calendar was also very precise and could anticipate eclipses and the revolution of Venus give or take a day for every 6,000 years. The reason for this accuracy was that astronomical observations made by priests were passed down by generations. Venus: No civilization knew more about Venus than the Mayans. Venus was thought to be the companion of the Sun because it is one of the brightest objects on the night sky and because it is always near the Sun before sunrise and after sunset. The time it took for Venus and Earth to line up in their position correlated to the Sun was 584 days. The Mayans also timed their wars based on where Venus and Jupiter were at the time. Sun: But they obviously gave some considerance to the Sun. They not only noted down equinoxes and solstices but Zenial passages as well. They also had a god who symbolized the Sun during a Zenial passage called the Diving God. And the Ecliptic, the path the Sun follows in the sky, was depicted by a double-headed serpent. Also, to signal the changing of season, a ball game was played that re-enacted the Sun’s orbit around the Earth. Earth: The Earth was believed to be flat with four corners. At each corner was a jaguar called a bacab. They were all different colors. The Northern jaguar was White, East-Red, West-Black, and South-Yellow. At the center was green that stood for Earth. Each bacab held up the sky. The Mayans furthermore divided the universe into thirteen layers with a god for each one. Milky Way: It was called World Tree by the Mayans. The star clouds in the Milky Way were believed to be the tree of life from where all life originated. And in the World Tree was a monster called the Kawak Monster which took form of a giant head. On the monster’s head was a sacrificial bowl that had a flint blade to exemplify sacrifice and a Kimi glyph symbolizing death. At the top of the World Tree is a bird named Itzam Ye, or the Principal Bird deity. During winter the part of the Milky Way that dominated the sky was the White Boned Serpent. The Mayans spiritually thought of the Milky Way as a road on which souls travelled to reach the Underworld. So, ultimately, the Mayans were a very advanced and intelligent civilization and were super precise in their calendar and predictions.

The Challenges Faced In Employee Motivation Commerce Essay

The Challenges Faced In Employee Motivation Commerce Essay One question that is frequently asked by managers in many organisations is How do I motivate my emloyees? The concept of motivation is complex with numerous researches carried out and various theories put forward in order to explain and attempt to understand it. Many definitions exist for motivation, but the common definition is that motivation is a pychological process within an individual that drives a certain behaviour to achieve set goals. Currently, motivation is a source of frequent debates and is an issue of great significance and concern for both employees and organisations. Whilst reliable information systems and the latest technology are important, in todays expanding service industry, employees remain the most precious assets in any organisation. How well employees perform and their commitment at work are crucial factors to the success of their organisation; and in todays modern work, where there is increasing competetion worldwide, organisations simply cannot afford to ha ve a demotivated workforce or even lose good employees to poor motivation. Therefore, motivation of such employees is an essential role of any manager, yet it is also amongst the most challenging tasks to perform effectively. Managers must clearly understand and be aware of the sort of factors that define motivation of their workforce because, by doing this, they are able to focus employees efforts to work efficiently and effectively to achieve desired goals of the business. Managers must also be aware of the fact that each employee is different and unique in their own sense, hence they need to take account of these variations when motivating them. According to the Self-Determination Theory (2), a useful way to understand the concept of motivation is to divide it into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation relates to motivation coming from others and the environment, where the individual behaves in a certain way in order to get something (e.g. pay) or because of external pressures (e.g. managers instruction). Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, relates to motivation coming from within onself (3), where the individual acts in a certain way because of and actual interest in the act itself (e.g. satisfying need for competence). Frederick W. Taylor, the father of scientific management, had greatly influential views about motivation of workers. He believed that paying employees high wages, which is one of the sources of extrinisc motivation, was a sufficient incentive to motivate them to work harder and be more productive (find ref). This was possibly the case when organisations generally only sought complianc e from their employees, and extrinsic rewards provided by managers were an easy answer to problems with staff motivation and ensuring they did their work and followed the rules properly . However, in todays world and in the modern workplace, where employees are expected to self-manage and have more responsiblities, issues with motivation have become much more complicated and demanding. Motivating staff is indeed a difficult taks and is normally easier said than done. Currently, many organisations are motivating their employees by using extrinsic motivators such as financial incentives. However, this is not always sufficient to maintain the right level of motivation, as it only satisfies them indirectly. For this reason, employers need to also pay attention to intrinsic motivators, which serve to satisfy the direct needs of the employee, and consequently encourage better performance on a particular task. Monetary incentives and other extrinsic rewards are no longer sufficient to main tain staff motivation since employees are now required to show more commitment and creativity (1) . This, in turn, would depend on deeper sources of satisfaction that are more meaningful to the employee that extrinsic rewards would generally fail to offer on their own. In todays work setting, intrinsic rewards have a vital part in staff motivation; these include psychological rewards such as recognition and a sense of appreciation, which provide employees with a greater incentive for higher productivity and achievement. For most, if not all employees, financial security is a strong motivator and will remain as such for a long time, but managers must be aware that it stops to be the only motivator at some point, and even could stop to be a motivator all together depending on an individuals circumstances and variations. The different factors that can motivate the employee in the workplace can be expressed as needs which subsequently become motivators for greater productivity when they are fulfilled. Different things can motivate different people and be given different priorities. The manager must identify and then fulfill the needs for the employee, in order to form an environment in the workplace that encourages motivation. The various needs and expectations at work can be categorised into extrinsic and intrinsic motivation: EXTRINSIC MOTIVATORS INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS Salary Sense of challenge and achievement Job security Receiving appreciation Promotion Positive recognition Contract of service Good treatment Work environment Growth and advancement Social interaction Responsibility Health benefits Extrinsic motivation relates to actual rewards such as salary, security, promotion, contract of service and work environment; these are often outside the control of an individual manager; intrinsic motivation relates to psychological rewards such as the sense of challenge and achievement, receiving appreciation, positive recognition and good treatment at work; these can usually be determined by the actions and behaviour of the individual manager(4). These sources of satisfaction differ from an individual to an individual and between different circumstances. They are interlinked, and therefore, cannot be isolated from one another, but must be used as a combination of motivators in an organisation. MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES For many decades, theorists have been trying to understand what motivates an individual to behave in a certain manner in the workplace. However, this is a subject that has seen many conflicting debates as some researches believed that individuals do not lack motivation but certain incentives that motivate them are missing, while others argue that motivation originates from within the individual regardless of the environment and other external influences (9). Theorists have researched the subject of motivation by addressing two main concepts. First is the content of motivation itself, which concerns factors within the individual and the work environment that define and shape certain motivated behaviour. Second is the process of motivation, which concerns the perceptive process that an indivdual has for motivation in a specific setting. This has led to the development of numerous content and process thoeries about motivation in the workplace. CONTENT THEORIES In the 1940s Abraham Malsow, a psychologist, developed the concept of Hierarchy of Needs (10), which later became one of the most popular and influential theories of motivation. He proposed that there are five levels of needs that existed in a specific order, and that each level must be satisfied in turn in order to motivate the individual to satisfy the need at the next level. His argument was based on the fact that Individuals always had the desire for more, and for an individual to be motivated to pursue the next step, the needs at the previous level have to be fully satisfied. Therefore, certain lower-order needs needed to be fulfilled before other higher-order needs became motivators for the individual. According to Maslows model, these needs are physiological needs (basics for survival, e.g. food or water), safety needs (physical and emotinal safety), social needs (sense of love and social belonging), esteem needs (sense of recognition, respect and value) and self-actualisation (achieving ones full potential) (11). (rbs full) In the context of the workplace, there are potential ways that could satisfy an employees needs: Self-actualisation includes providing challenging tasks that would promote creativity and evolvement. Esteem needs includes recognition, praise, social status, self-respect, delegating responsibility and accomplishment Social needs involves social interaction, group work and pariticipation. Safety needs include job security, financial savings and living safe working environment. Physiological needs include providing adequate breaks during work and a salary that allows workers to afford life essentials (4). There are a number of identified problems in applying Maslows theory to the work place. In reality, other areas of life, beside work, can add to the individuals satisfaction, therefore the manager needs to also have knowledge of the employees life outside work. Also, the fact that individuals are different means that they place different values on the same need; and that some rewards at work can satisfy more than one need, and not necessarily satisfy one need at a time (4). Additionally, it was criticised for having a rigid order of needs which possibly would not apply to everyone, because priorities are likely to vary in different individuals and even for the same individual over time (11). In spite of all these problems, Maslows hierarchy of needs model has been widely utilised in many organisations as a guideline for managers to use to motivate their employees. It provides a valuable insight for managers about the general needs that individual employees have, and what can be used to motivate them (12). In 1972, Clayton Alderfer further developed Maslows Hierarchy of Needs model by grouping the different levels of needs in the hierarchy into three sets in his ERG (Existence, Relatedness and Growth) theory. He placed the lower-order needs, physiological and safety, into existence needs; social and esteem needs into the relatedness needs; and finally, the self-actualisation need into growth needs. In addition, Alderfer put forward a regression theory to accompany the ERG theory, which states that when higher-order needs are not met, the individual will work harder to satisfy the lower-order needs in order to increase their chances of fulfilling these higher needs (21). For instance, an employee who is having difficulties satisfying their sense of full potential would then probably put more effort into increasing their pay through promotion in order to maximize their chances of achieving what they want. (20) However, according to (11) a common problem with both Maslow and Alderfers models of motivation is that they contain having descriptions of needs that are too vague, particularly safety and esteem needs, which would essentially cause difficulties to managers in interpreting them and using them to provide certain opportunities for motivating their employees. In 1961, David McClelland created the Acquired Need Theory which is based on three motivational needs including achievement, affiliation and power. He stated that all of the three needs are normally present in an individual to a certain degree, but only one of them usually dominates. This is mix of motivational needs characterises a persons or managers style and behaviour, both in terms of being motivated, and in the management and motivation others. Another theorist, Elton Mayo, has made significant influences on the concepts of human relations and motivation, through conducting large studies of workers in an electrical company in the United States between 1924 1927. His findings emphasised the importance of teamwork, communication and positive recognition on staff motivation. His studies have also led to the creation of a model called The Hawthorne Effect which shows that the degree of interest shown by the manager has a positive influence on an employees job performance (5). However his model has been criticised for placing too much emphasis and reliance on social contacts within the organization on employees job performance (6). Nevertheless, the impact of Mayos research was huge, as it opened doors for further research into the subject of motivation by other theorists. Frederick Hertzberg (1959) developed a two factor theory based on findings from a study conducted in the U.S. through interviews with employees from different industries, in which they were asked about specific things that pleased or displeased them at their workplace. From this, Herzberg realised that there were two different sets of factors, where one set caused satisfaction and the other one caused dissatisfaction. One set of factors, called hygeine or maintenance factors are concerned with the work environment; they do not result in higher level of motivation, but there absence would result in demotivation. These include extrinsic motivators such as salary, security and work environment. The second set of factors are the motivator or growth factors which are concerned with content of the job itself; they result in increased motivation if present. These include intrinsic motivators such as positive recognition, challenge and a sense of achievement. His research also concluded that some factors overlapped both sets but had a stronger emphasis in one of them. (7) The size of the bars represent the degree of concern that each of the factors has on job motivation or dissatisfaction. The reason why the bars for achievement and pay look different is because they both offer short term satisfaction, as there is a continuous need to search for them to lead to satisfaction. This theory has been frequently criticised by many researchers for its limited application and possibly biased methodology. However, continue from pg 266 on book Furthermore, it has been noted the theory does not allow for individual differences, such as particular personality traits, which would affect individuals unique responses to motivating or hygiene factors.[4] The theories of motivation that were put forward more than half a century ago are still evident and widely utilised in todays banking industry. Based on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs model, banks are constantly attempting to sustain a good level of motivation amongst their staff by understanding and fulfilling employees needs. At the physiological and safety needs levels of the hierarchy, basic needs such as food, shelter, warmth and safety are all provided by working in any bank through paying salaries and having a safe environment to work in. In terms of social and esteem needs, banks meet these by creating opportunities for employees to interact with each other and work in teams; in addition to good recognition of achievements through praising the employee or giving a bonus pay, both of which are only a few methods out of many more used by banks to give the employee a sense of value and appreciation. In terms of self-actualisation, banks meet this need by offering promotion opportuni ties to the employees, and giving them the chance to progress in their careers. The motivators that banks offer also cover the hygeine and motivator factors that were put forward in Hertzbergs motivational model. Expectancy theory is a general theory of motivation that is based on the concept that individuals are influenced by the perceived results of their actions. It argues that there are a number of inter-linking factors which determine the strength of an individuals motivation, such as the efforts expended, the expectation that rewards will be available, and that these rewards will be linked to their performance. In other words, the individuals level of motivation will depend on their perceived expectation that it will lead to the desired outcome. This theory has been approached by several different writers, namely Vroom, Porter and Lawler (HRM book). Vrooms expectancy theory is based on three factors: Valence the perceived gratification from a result. Instrumentality the degree to which a first level (performance-related) outcome, e.g. high productivity, leads to a second level (need-related) outcome, e.g. promotion. Expectancy the connection between a selected course of action and its expected outcome. The combination of valence and expectancy defines the level of an individuals motivation. Vrooms theory has been further modified by Porter and Lawler, to develop which takes account other factors besides motivation that could influence performance. These factors include individual skills, characteristics and role perceptions. These theories help managers to understand the nature of human behaviour and the complexity of motivation in the work setting; in addition to helping them recognise any problems with individual performance. They emphasise that managers should pay particular attention to factors such as an employees effort and performance, and use rewards whenever it is appropriate in order to maintain a good level of motivation amongst the employees; additionally, managers are advised to create methods of evaluating employees performance as a way to ensure that their workforce are constantly motivated. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) offers its employees a package called Total Reward (rbs full). Besides salary, this includes flexible working hours, health and medical benefits, lifestyle benefits such as shopping vouchers, and certain financial products at special rates. It also offers monetary incentives such as bonus payments based on profit-sharing and individual-performance schemes; in addition to non-monetary incentives through recognition of good performance based on personal development plans, where the employee is given the opportunity for promotion. RBS gives the employees the chance to work flexibly through a variety of working practices including job sharing, compressed hours and home-working. In 2004, RBS won an award for its flexible working-hours program in the workplace (find ref). This enabled employees to achieve a work-life balance by choosing working hours that fit around their personal lives, which would have a positive influence on the employees commitment at t he workplace, and in turn results in better overall performance. This was highlighted in Elton Mayos studies on staff motivation in the 1920s that showed that staff tended to be more motivated and productive if they were feeling comfortable and satisfied with their work environment. In 1963, John Adams developed the Equity theory which is concerned with the employees perception of fairness in the workplace, in terms of treatment received compared to co-workers on the basis of inputs and outcomes. He argued that fair treatment is highly valued by individuals, and the feeling of inequity may have a negative influence on their performance. There are a number of factors in the workplace that play an important role towards the feeling of equity including pay, promotion and recognition. Employees would expect equal treatment based on their contributions and performance compared to other co-workers. This would subsequently result in a sense of satisfaction and would strengthen their relationship with the organisation and the team of employees, all of which is important for their motivation. Edwin Locke put forward a Goal theory of motivation in the 1960s, which is based on the idea that individuals goals have a significant influence on their performance. He argued that individuals who have specific and challenging goals set for them, to which they are committed to, would generally perform better, as they provide focus and motivation for the employee on the task given. The performance of the employee is further enhanced if this is coupled with clear and constructive feedback of the results, which provides greater focus and gives the employee a greater sense of satisfaction and motivation for the tasks set. In the 1960s Douglas McGregors developed Theory X and Theory Y, which are theories that define two different approaches towards motivation in the workplace. Theory X implies an authoritarian management style, where the employee is often regarded as relatively unambitious, lacks responsibility, tends to avoid work and change, and is often in need for some kind of direction at work in order to perform and progress. So in order to achieve the organisations goals, managers would adopt a stringent attitude towards the employee, in which they would often rely on threatening techniques of punishment to force the employee to comply with the organisations goals. Based on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs model, McGregor argued that most employees in this environment would only seek to satisfy their lower needs, such as money; however, since they are already satisfied they will not be a sufficient motivating tool for any longer. Therefore, this kind of management style would most definitely produce p oor results in terms of staff motivation, and ultimately meeting the organisations objectives. For this reason, McGregor put forward a Theory Y, which assumes a participative management style, where the employee is considered to be self-motivated, responsible, ambitious, and that they genuinely enjoy working. According to this theory, managers believe that employees are self-directed and motivated to perform well at work. This creates a work environment where managers are able to exercise delegation, collaboration and responsibility in decision making amongst their workforce. In this Theory Y environment, most employees are encouraged and driven to satisfy higher level of needs such as esteem and self-actualisation, which are not fully satisfied and would therefore keep them motivated for higher performance and productivity at the workplace. (8) McGregors model has been criticised for being too rigid and quite unrealistic in the way it depicts management and employees as being one of either two extremes in the workplace. Nevertheless, his theories continue to provide a guide to managers about the fundamentals of management styles, and the importance of maintaining a positive attitude to staff motivation, where employees feel that they are well-treated and valued as part of the of the organisation.

Aaron Burr Essay -- essays research papers

AARON BURR Although Aaron Burr, b. Newark, N.J., Feb. 6, 1756, fought in the American Revolution and became an important political figure, serving a term (1801-05) as vice-president of the United States, he is best remembered today for having killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. The son of a president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and the grandson of another (Jonathan Edwards), Burr could trace his ancestry back to the earliest Puritans. He entered Princeton at the age of 13, graduated at 16, and went on to become a Revolutionary War hero, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel at the age of 21. In July 1782 he married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, the widow of a former British officer. They moved to New York City, where Burr built a reputation as an excellent attorney and made important political connections. He was "the most rising young man in the state," a contemporary noted. Political Career In 1789 Burr was appointed attorney general of New York by Gov. G eorge Clinton. Two years later the state assembly, which was controlled by partisans of Clinton and Robert Livingston, elected Burr to the U.S. Senate. His career in the Senate was not particularly memorable. Hamilton hated him, Clinton soon learned to distrust him, and George Washington refused his request to be appointed minister to France. But in and out of Congress, Burr managed to maneuver so skillfully, and with so much personal charm, that he won the support of many Federalists as well as Democratic Republicans. In 1796 and 1800, Burr ran for vice-president with Thomas Jefferson on the Democratic-Republican ticket. Whatever doubts Virginia Republicans had about Burr--they had not voted for him in 1796--were put to rest when he carried New York City for his party in 1800. It was assumed that the outcome of the national election would follow that in New York, but under the confused electoral system then in use Jefferson and Burr received an equal number of electoral votes for t he presidency (73 each), throwing the election into the House of Representatives. There the Federalists refused to heed the advice of Hamilton and unsuccessfully tried, against the obvious wishes of the public, to elect Burr. Jefferson won the contest and Burr became vice-president. Jefferson doubted his loyalty and soon began to withhold patronage from Burr a... ...a busy and lucrative law practice. He continued to have a strong influence in the public councils, however. He supported a defiant posture toward France during the XYZ AFFAIR (1798), and as inspector general of the army (1798-1800) he took charge of organizing the nation's defenses. Bitterly disappointed in President John ADAMS's erratic leadership, Hamilton openly opposed Adams's reelection in 1800. When it appeared, however, that Aaron Burr might win the presidency over Jefferson, Hamilton unhesitatingly threw his support to Jefferson, whose policies he scorned, rather than to Burr, whom he regarded as a man without principles. This and other opposition by Hamilton so frustrated and angered Burr that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two men fought at Weehawken, N.J., on July 11, 1804. Hamilton apparently fired into the air, but Burr took direct aim. Hamilton fell mortally wounded and died the next day in New York. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City. He left his wife and seven children heavily in debt, but friends soon paid off the debts. Hamilton was mourned by his countrymen as one who had devoted his life to the nation's growth in freedom and prosperity.

Work Environment Paper -- essays research papers

Work Environment Paper Good communication skills are imperative for organizations to carry out in an attempt to maintain outstanding performance from employees and management. Every workplace is unique in terms of their diversity profile therefore, is it vital for organization to create and execute creative communication methodologies that will enable organizations to develop a community rather than just your average run of the mill work environment. For example, active listening, collective goal setting and consistent training are all examples of tools in which organizations can effectively use to promote and execute effective communication within the workplace. So how well do individuals within an organization communicate with each other? This paper will analyze the amount, types, options, location and speed of communication that is practiced within the FACS Group Inc culture. In addition, this paper will explain how effective team building applies to FACS Group Inc work environment. Furthermore, this pa per will include a brief summary of the selected chapter on effective team building, as well as provide my own communication analysis. Business leaders in today’s society are looking for solutions to empower and retain employees through technology. Financial Administrative and Credit Services (FACS Group Inc.) is the credit services and centralized financial and administrative support resource for all Federated divisions such as, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. As an organization, FACS handles all projects that involve credit authorizations, new account development, customer service, collections, catalog and dotcom sales, (www.facsgroup.com). Within my assigned department, as an auditor, different levels of communication are practices on a day-to-day basis. For example, as an auditor, we often communicate nonverbally to another shared center in a different state in an attempt to produce weekly, monthly and annual forecasting, reports and audits. Most often the use of a shared computer network or drive enables both centers to obtain the needed information to actively complete the needed reports. In addition, the use of e-mail or Lotus Notes allows specific individuals to communicate and transfer needed information quickly. Also, the development of a shared Intranet web site enables each center to obtain data, memorandums, up to date statistics for each location... ...to communicate effectively and to actively create and execute creative communication methodologies. Such actions will result in the development of a community between co-workers within the workplace. This paper analyzed the various types of communication such as amount, options, location and speed of communication which is presently practiced within the FACS Group Inc culture. In addition, this paper clearly explained how effective team building applies to FACS Group Inc work environment. In addition, the paper includes a brief summary of the selected chapter on effective team building, as well as provides example of my own communication analysis. Reference(s) FACS Group Inc, (2005). Retrieved Jul. 03, 2005, from Get To Know Us Web site: http://www.facsgroup.com/facs/about/. Gustavus Adolphus College, (2005). Retrieved Jul. 03, 2005, from Communication Analysis Web site: http://www.gustavus.edu/oncampus/academics/speech-comm/forensics/events/ca.cfm. Learning Point Inc, (2002). Retrieved Jul. 03, 2005, from Workplace Communication Web site: http://www.learningpointinc.com/workplacecommunication.htm. Pragar, H. (1999). Cooking up effective team building. , 53(12), 14.

Vineyard

Calaveras Vineyards Calaveras Vineyard was originally established in 1883 to make wine for the Catholic Church. They occupied 220 acres in California out of which 175 acres was occupied by the vineyard. They had now expanded into production of table wines for retailers and restaurants. It had changed three ownerships in the last nine years. The most recent owner was Stout Plc. which was looking to sell Calaveras and the management of Calaveras was the interested party in this transaction.The main strategy from 1987 was broadening the company’s position on premium brand category and this is evident from the fact that they were now concentrating on wines in the premium and super-premium category. The five C? s analyses is an important approach to evaluate the creditworthiness of a potential client. The five metrics that will be analyzed are character, capacity, capital, conditions, and collateral. Character will translate the quality of the management team and major owners and h ow these major players behave related to business.Related to Lynna Martinez, she has a high level of education and is graduated from important universities in France and USA. She has done researchers in the field and has experiences as a professional in the industry, being Vice president of Calaveras Vineyard since 1987. The other partner – Peter Newsome, has a degree in Business Administration and has experience in the field in different areas of this industry, such as operating and purchasing. It is possible to say that this metric is maybe one the most important for the future of this business since both of them have strong experience in the field.Related to the capacity analysis, it is unclear, based on historical data, the ability of the company in handle a high debt level, since there no information about Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 debt from the balance sheet. However, the company has a significant position as current assets what provide quick l iquidity for the business as well as a strong free cash flow in both considered scenarios to repay the loan, even though the free cash flow in 1994 is negative. The apital metrics will measure whether the company has enough capital, in this point also matter the commitment of the owners with the business. In the management leveraged buyout, the new owners will have $ 1 million invested and thus they would have invested 25% of the total demanded fund. It seems that the new owners are putting an great effort on this business since they are buying a company that they have experience in and they believe it can do better than what the previous owners were doing.The economic conditions for the wine business seems to be in a good moment, even though the alcoholic market has been stagnated, the wine market has grown by 7. 4%, new researches about the benefits of wine has driven the demand up and thus the market is being benefited. Based on the Pro Forma Historical Financial Statements, it s eems that the management team is able to control the expenses and cost of goods sold as the sales increase and decrease. It is possible to see it using the decreasing trend of the COGS related to sales and the SG&A related to sales that has been the same (14. 9%) for the last 4 years. The company has as collateral, the Accounts Receivables and fixed assets. In 1993 the company had $316,782 as receivables, $2,332,241 as inventories and $4,487,193 as gross fixed assets. In case of liquidation, the Receivables may be sold at 85% of the face value, or $292,264; Inventory can be sold at 75% of its face value or $1,749,180. The fixed cost can be sold by 40% of the book value that is $1,794,877. This liquidation would provide a total of $3,836,321 which is more than Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 8-Feb-2013 the total loan provided in 1994 ($3,122,000). It provides a good standard for the potential creditor of this company. Moody’s SGL framework can also be used to assess th e creditworthiness of Calaveras Vineyards. The rating system gives a score ranging from SGL-1 to SGL-4, where one represents companies with very good liquidity and four represents companies with weak liquidity. There are several characteristics that are evaluated in rating a company using this framework. The first point is the capacity for financing capital expenditures and net working capital internally.Calaveras has an expected negative free cash flow in 1994 based on Anne Clemen’s projection (Exhibit 3), so it will not be able to fund internally. However, the company still has the flexibility of drawing money from its revolving credit line since the borrowing base has sufficient amount. Exhibit 3 also shows that the negative cash flow is due to a significant addition to net working capital. The addition is larger than average because the company is increasing its sales to the same level of 1992. The company is projected to have positive free cash flows starting in 1995 and will be able to finance internally.The EBIT/(interest and principal) ratio is moderate in 1994 but projected to increase throughout the years (Exhibit 3) and has an average of two. The second characteristic that needs to be analyzed is the flexibility of the company in generating cash from selling its assets in times of distress. Anne Clemen expected that Calaveras’ accounts receivable would able to generate 80% of book value and inventory for 85% of book value, while land, plant and equipment would only generate 40%. However, these assets are crucial to the operations of Calaveras and cannot be sold.Thus, the company has no flexibility in generating additional cash flow. Additionally, the assets mentioned before are used as collateral for both the term loan and the revolving credit. This relates to the final characteristic that is the extent Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 in which the company’s assets are encumbered. Calaveras is expected to secu re its term loan through land, plant and equipment, and its revolver’s borrowing base is equal to 85% of receivables and 75% of inventories. In other words, most of Calaveras’ assets are encumbered and this limits the financial flexibility.After analyzing Calaveras’ through the SGL framework, we believed that the company should receive a score of SGL-3. The increase in the size of the wine market is an opportunity for Calaveras to increase their market share especially in the premium and super-premium category where the company has secure brand position and stable relationships with the distributors. It is heavily dependant on two dealers who account for 50% of their sales. It might bode well for them to increase their dealership base. Financial ratio analysis: To better understand Calaveras Vineyards’ financial ondition, we analyzed those financial ratios that Anne prepared. EBIT coverage ratio and current ratio in 1994 were already larger than 1 and was increasing from 1994 to 1998, indicating this company was profitable enough to pay off its interest expense and short-term obligation. Although current ratio was not so good compared with comparable companies, it was improving through years. The debt ratio was less than 1 and reduced quickly from 1994 to 1998, which was a good signal to investor and creditors that the risk of this company was decreasing.In addition, its decreasing assets/equity ratio indicated the quick increase of equity, which was the result of quick increase of net income. The return on sales and return on assets were much higher than the comparable companies and were increasing from 1994 to 1998, indicating this Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 company had good profitability in the industry. Its increasing sales/assets ratio showed an improvement of its ability to generate sales revenue from each dollar of asset, indicating this company operated more and more efficiently.Through analysis, we found these ratios looked good and some of them were even better than the industry level. The ratio analysis showed Calaveras Vineyards was a healthy company and had an optimistic future. New Scenario A new scenario was drawn in order to assess how the financial health of the company would be if the COGS and SG&A were higher than the predicted by the company initially. In this situation, it is possible to see that the company is still able to operate under the conveants imposed by Goldengate Capital.Additional consideration and recommendation: We based our analysis on the ratio analysis done by Anne Clemen. The ratio analysis shows us favourable trend about financials about this company. The leverage ratio goes on reducing and the times interest earned as well as Profit margin show favourable forecasts. Based on our current analysis, we think Calaveras had good profitability and has enough ability to service the debt, and we agreed that Anne Clemens should participate in the loan. H owever, there are still some factors that can influence our evaluation of Calaveras.For example, if the price of its wine decreased quickly because of intensive competition or there was a big drop in the production of grape due to some catastrophe, the sales revenue will decreased dramatically, which would result in a shrunken free cash flow and influence its ability to pay back the loan. In Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 addition, if the cost of goods sold increased quickly because of a sudden increase of material price or the SG&A soared up for expanding marketing and advertising to compete with competitors, the free cash flow would also decreased dramatically.So we suggested Anne to keep monitoring these unstable factors carefully to see whether Calaveras would have a credit risk. Additionally, to decrease the default risk, Anne could also make covenants with Calaveras to regulate its financial ratios and make part of its assets as collaterals. Calaveras Vine yards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 2 Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 7 – New Forecasted Income Statement 1994 1% Sales Revenue Cost of Goods Sold Estates Selected Chardonnay California Generic Special Accts.Winery TOTAL Gross Profit Selling, General and Admin. Amortization of Organizational Costs EBIT Interest Expense (avg. balance) Profit Before Taxes Tax Expense Net Income Dividends to Common Shareholders Retentions to Equity $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 448,180 272,027 432,977 179,934 224,371 655,916 90,130 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 594,307 325,923 535,400 121,580 233,639 683,012 93,853 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 678,342 383,808 645,546 126,603 243,291 711,228 97,730 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 706,365 399,663 733,324 131,833 253,341 740,608 101,767 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 31,406 416,173 763,618 137,279 263,807 771,203 105,971 2,081,995 (966,861) (60) 1,115,074 (134,514) 980,559 362,807 617,752 617,752 $ 3,707,423 1995 1% $ 4,199,960 1996 1% $ 4,693,764 1997 1% $ 4,984,664 $ 1998 1% 5,371,451 $ (2,303,533) $ (2,587,715) $ (2,886,547) $ (3,066,901) $ (3,289,456) $ 1,403,889 $ 1,612,246 $ 1,807,216 $ 1,917,763 $ (667,336) $ (755,993) $ (844,877) $ (897,239) $ $ $ (60) $ 736,493 $ (60) $ 856,193 $ (60) $ 962,279 (60) $ $ $ 1,020,463 (109,625) $ (214,987) $ (198,101) $ (170,752) $ $ $ $ $ $ 626,869 231,941 394,927 394,927 $ $ $ $ $ 641,206 237,246 403,960 403,960 $ $ $ $ $ 764,178 282,746 481,432 481,432 $ $ $ $ $ 849,711 314,393 535,318 535,318 $ $ $ $ $ Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 8 – Forecasted Balance Sheets (At Closing) Cash Accounts Receivable Inventory Organization Costs-Current Total Current Assets Land Plant and Equipment Gross PP&E Accum. Depreciation Net PP&E Organization Costs-Noncurrent Total Assets Payables & Accruals Debt-Current Portion LTD Revolving Line of Credit Total Current Liabs.Debt, non-current Total Liabilities Common Stock Retained Earnings Total Equity Total Li abilities & Equity Memorandum: Borrowing base (85% AR, 75%Inv) Revolver $ $ $ $ 2,255,917 2,304,288 $ $ 2,521,907 2,218,955 $ $ 2,699,146 1,949,595 $ $ 2,890,789 1,643,991 $ $ 3,025,581 1,187,490 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,124 60 1,184 1,124 582 1,706 1,706 240 3,130 130 400 530 1,600 2,130 1,000 1,000 3,130 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1994 50 370,742 2,587,715 60 2,958,567 1,124 832 1,956 116 1,840 180 2,960,587 258,771 400 2,304,288 2,563,459 1,200 2,564,659 1,000 394,927 395,927 2,960,587 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1995 50 419,996 2,886,547 60 3,306,654 1,124 1,082 2,206 283 1,923 120 3,308,697 288,655 400 2,218,955 2,508,010 800 2,508,810 1,000 798,887 799,887 3,308,697 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1996 50 469,376 3,066,901 60 3,536,387 1,124 1,332 2,456 499 1,957 60 3,538,404 306,690 400 1,949,595 2,256,685 400 2,257,085 1,000 1,280,319 1,281,319 3,538,404 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1997 50 498, 466 3,289,456 60 3,788,033 1,124 1,582 2,706 766 1,940 3,789,973 328,946 400 1,643,991 1,973,337 1,973,337 1,000 1,815,637 1,816,637 3,789,973 $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ 1998 50 537,145 3,425,344 3,962,539 1,124 1,832 2,956 1,082 1,874 3,964,413 342,534 1,187,490 1,530,024 1,530,024 1,000 2,433,389 2,434,389 3,964,413 Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013Exhibit 9 – Forecast Assumptions Key Assumptions: Case Sales $/Case Gross Margins Estates Select-other Chardonnay California Generic Special Accts Winery Dividend Payout: Now-1996 1997&After 0 0 0. 47 0. 35 0. 37 0. 35 0. 26 0. 35 0. 46 Exhibit 11 Exhibit 11 Cash Minimum (m) AR/Sales INV(T)/COGS(T+1) CL(T)/COGS(T+1) SGA/Sales Depreciation Capital Expenditures Interest Rate Tax Rate Inflation Rate Real Price Growth 50 0. 1 1 0. 1 0. 18 5-yr, S-L 250 0. 095 0. 37 0. 031 0. 01 Amortiz. Organization Costs: 5 years. Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 10 Solvency ratio EBIT/ ( Interest and Principal) Current ratio Debt ratio Assets/Equity Efficiency ratio Sales/Assets Profitability ratio Return on sales Return on assets Return on equity 1994 1. 32 1. 24 0. 67 3. 6 0. 75 11% 8% 28% Anne Clemen's Ratio Analysis 1995 1996 1997 1. 53 1. 8 2. 05 1. 24 1. 33 1. 48 0. 59 0. 5 0. 39 2. 82 2. 22 1. 8 0. 79 12% 9% 26% 0. 85 13% 11% 24% 0. 88 14% 12% 21% 1998 2. 48 2. 16 0. 25 1. 45 0. 94 15% 14% 20% Comparables ratio Upper Quartile Median Lower Quartile 5. 5 0. 97 2. 5 0. 99 1. 5 0. 995 1. 04 7. 30% 8. 10% 16. 60% 0. 73 2. 80% 2. 30% 7. 70% 0. 35 -0. 20% -0. 10% 1. 10% Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Exhibit 11 Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs Net Results Initial Inputs Net ResultsOperating Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS – Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes Other Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flo w (NOF) Changes in Working Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total Changes in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment Change in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed Coverage Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) $ 2,836,062. 00 $ 1,899,853. 00 $ 528,456. 00 $ $ $ 2,428,309. 00 $ 407,753. 00 $ 43,356. 00 $ 654,835. 00 $ (7,012. 00) $ (121,880. 00) $ $ 569,299. 00 $ 977,052. 00 $ 4,193,000. 00 $ 2,294,000. 00 $ 587,000. 00 $ 287,000. 00 $ $ 3,168,000. 00 $ 1,025,000. 00 $ (49,000. 00) $ (281,000. 00) $ $ 28,000. 00 $ $ (302,000. 00) $ 723,000. 00 $ 268,332. 00 $ (394,512. 00) $ (126,180. 00) $ 850,872. 00 $ $ – $ (83,000. 00) $ (167,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 473,000. 00 $ â€⠀œ $ (308,000. 00) $ 165,000. 00 $ – $ 850,872. 00 $ – Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 Cash Flow Statements – Contd.Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Management's Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in Long-Term Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill&OAssets & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ 45,006. 00 13,241. 00 $ 850,872. 00 $ $ 850,872. 00 $ $ $ $ (729,402. 00) $ $ (729,402. 00) $ (400,000. 00) $ 236,000. 00 $ $ $ $ (164,000. 00) $ 165,000. 00 $ $ 165,000. 00 $ (153,235. 00) $ $ (153,235. 00) $ (31,765. 00) $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,000. 00 1,000. 00 Calaveras V ineyards – CASH FLOW STATEMENT 1000 Dec-96 Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs Net Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Initial Inputs Dec-97 Net Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash FlowOperating Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS – Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes Other Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flow (NOF) Changes in Working Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total Changes in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment Change in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed Coverage Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) $ 4,681,000. 00 $ $ 2,526,000. 00 $ 655,000. 00 $ 349,000. 00 $ $ 3,530,000. 00 $ 1,151,000. 00 $ (49,000. 00) $ (169,000. 00) $ $ 17,000. 00 $ $ (201,0 00. 00) $ 950,000. 00 $ 4,967,000. 00 $ $ 2,644,000. 00 $ 695,000. 00 $ 394,000. 00 $ $ 3,733,000. 00 $ 1,234,000. 00 $ (29,000. 00) $ (208,000. 00) $ $ 21,000. 00 $ $ (216,000. 00) $ 1,018,000. 00 $ (34,000. 00) $ (216,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 700,000. 00 $ $ $ (280,000. 00) $ 17,000. 00 $ (267,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 768,000. 00 $ $ $ (235,000. 00) Calaveras Vineyards – Cash Flow Statements – Contd.Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Management's Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in Long-Term Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ $ 420,00 0. 00 $ $ 420,000. 00 $ (400,000. 00) $ (20,000. 00) $ $ $ $ (420,000. 00) $ (400,000. 00) $ (132,000. 00) $ $ $ $ (532,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ $ 533,000. 00 $ $ $ $ – $ $ $ $ $ $ 1,000. 00 1,000. 00 Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013 CASH FLOW STATEMENT Dec-98 Cash Flow Items Initial Inputs Net Results Cash Flow Components Cumulative Surplus or Deficit Cash FlowOperating Inflows (Net Sales) Operating Outflows COGS – Depreciation SGA Exp Taxes Other Total Operating Outflows Total Net Operating Cash Flow (NOF) Changes in Working Capital Receivables (AR) Inventory (INV) Other Current Assets (OCA) Accounts Payable (AP) Other Current Liabilities (OCL) Total Changes in Net Working Capital (NWC) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow after Working Capital Investment Capital Investment Change in Net Fixed Assets Depreciation Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) $ 5,348,000. 00 $ 2,803,000. 00 $ 749,000. 00 $ 461,000 . 00 $ $ 4,013,000. 00 $ 1,335,000. 00 $ (38,000. 00) $ (126,000. 00) $ $ 12,000. 00 $ (400,000. 00) $ (552,000. 00) $ 783,000. 00 $ 66,000. 00 $ (316,000. 00) $ (250,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ – Calaveras Vineyards – Team No. 1 18-Feb-2013Net Investment Flow Free Cash Flow to Firm Surplus or Deficit (FCFF) Interest Income (II) Fixed Coverage Expenditures (Interest) (FCE) Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow Avaiable for Dividends Dividends (DIV) Management's Discretionary Cash Flow Surplus Financial Cash Flow Change in Long-Term Debt Change in Short-Term Borrowing Change in Preffered Stock Change in Common Stock Change in Other Total Change in Net Finncial Cash Flow (NFF) Goodwill/Other Assets & Other Liabilities Change in Goodwill & Other Asset Change in Other Liabilities Change in Gwill&OAssets & Other Liabilities Surplus or Deficit Cash Flow (Sum of 13 Cash Flow Components) Change in Cash (Cash) Surplus or Deficit after all Cash Flows $ $ $ $ (250,000. 00) $ 533,000. 00 $ (1 73,000. 00) $ 360,000. 00 $ $ 360,000. 00 $ $ (360,000. 00) $ $ $ $ (360,000. 00) $ $ $ $ –

Aquinas’ and St. Anselm’s Proofs of the Existence of God

It is generally understood that people that are nonbelievers in God would never believe in the philosophies of the believers with regard to His existence. Nevertheless, there have been a number of important philosophers who have sought to prove the existence of the Almighty by thought alone. According to these philosophers, the presence of God may be understood by reason. Throughout the ages of humanity, believers have claimed to have felt the presence of God. All the same, there is no room for personal proofs in the philosophy of religion. St. Thomas Aquinas was a believer in God, who proposed five ways to know God. The first way of proving God’s existence, according to the philosopher, is by means of observing motion; that is, everything in movement throughout the universe should prove to us that there is a Prime Mover of all things. This way of proving God’s existence is similar to the argument of the creationists who assert that everything that we observe must have a Creator, just as all things that are man-made have originators. On a similar note, the second way of knowing God according to St. Thomas Aquinas is by understanding that all effects have causes; and so, there must be a First Cause of everything. The third way of proving the existence of God is by observing that everything in the universe is â€Å"possible to be and not to be;† so therefore, there must be an Essential Existence without which the existence and nonexistence of other things are meaningless (The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1920). This proof is intricately tied to the earlier proofs, including the current argument of the creationists. St. Thomas Aquinas describes it thus: The third way is taken from possibility and necessity, and runs thus. We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated, and to orrupt, and consequently, they are possible to be and not to be. But it is impossible for these always to exist, for that which is possible not to be at some time is not. Therefore, if everything is possible not to be, then at one time there could have been nothing in existence. Now if this were true, even now there would be nothing in existence, because that which does not exist only begins to exist by something already existing. Therefore, if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to exist; and thus ven now nothing would be in existence — which is absurd. Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary†¦ This all men speak of as God (The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas). St. Thomas Aquinas also writes that everything that is necessary must have been made necessary by something else. However, there must be something that is necessary in and of itself. Furthermore, this entity of necessity must cause other entities to believe in its necessity. This is the meaning of God, according to the philosopher (The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas). The fourth proof proffered by St. Thomas Aquinas is similar to Plato’s concept of Forms. The philosopher believes that there is a ranking in place throughout the universe (â€Å"Thomas Aquinas and the Five Ways,† 2000). One person may be better than the others. Given that we compare attributes of people and things to rank them reveals that there must be â€Å"something which is truest, something best, something noblest and, consequently, something which is uttermost being;† in short, something that is Supreme in comparison with the rest (The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas). The fifth way of proving the existence of God is exactly the same as the argument of creationists in our times. St. Thomas Aquinas discussed intelligent design with the philosophy that everything in the universe serves a special, intelligent purpose that has been designed by the Creator. This proof is based on the assumption that everything around us is essentially unintelligent – except God, of course (The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas). In fact, all five proofs of God’s existence proffered by St. Thomas Aquinas may be said to revolve around the intelligent design argument. St. Anselm was another believer like St. Thomas Aquinas who proved the existence of God by reason alone. Yet, the ontological argument proffered by St. Anselm is the simplest. Instead of five proofs of God’s existence, St. Anselm offered only one, that is, God is that beyond which there is no greatness that we can conceive of (â€Å"St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument,† 2008). But, St. Anselm’s argument also rests on five logical points. The following is the argument with its corollaries: (1) God is that than which no greater can be conceived; 2) If God is that than which no greater can be conceived then there is nothing greater than God that can be imagined; Therefore: (3) There is nothing greater than God that can be imagined; (4) If God does not exist then there is something greater than God that can be imagined. ; Therefore: (5) God exists (â€Å"St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument†). The gist of the above argument is the very definition of God’s existence, according to St. Anselm. This definition – â€Å"God is that than which no greater can be conceived† – is different from all proofs of St. Thomas Aquinas (â€Å"St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument†). Moreover, it is a reasonable proof, similar to St. Thomas Aquinas’ statements about God’s existence. After all, it is easy to suppose that God must be that beyond which we can conceive of no greatness. Besides, nobody in the history of humanity has ever claimed to be greater than God. Even if someone were to claim that he or she is greater than God, it would be impossible for the majority of humans to believe in the claim, seeing that God would not compete with the claimer as in a debate. With our limited perceptions, we are unable to see God, and neither could we imagine something or somebody that must be greater than God. If we cannot find anything that is greater than God, the Almighty must be Real, according to St. Anselm. Even so, the essential argument of the philosopher does not answer the beliefs of the atheists that perhaps there is no greatness in the universe, as everything is equal. Similarly, St. Thomas Aquinas’ arguments are refuted by the atheists who proffer proofs of the evolution theory of Charles Darwin to contradict the existence of God. According to the atheists, the proofs of St. Thomas Aquinas and the ontological argument of St. Anselm could be refuted because they are based on basic beliefs of the people rather than universal facts. The truth that St. Thomas Aquinas believes in the First Cause of everything means nothing for the disbelievers in God, who might claim that there is nothing to precede anything except in the evolutionary cycle that everything must go through, that is, things evolve one from another without a Prime Mover or First Cause. As a matter of fact, there is no argument to bridge the gap between the claims of believers and disbelievers in God. For as long as we know the difference between truth and falsehood, there would be arguments. The claims of each group are refuted by those of the other. It may very well be that these arguments and refutations would continue for as long as there is humanity on our planet. Seeing that God cannot be seen, and neither does He support the believing philosophers by speaking out aloud to all the rest that these philosophers are correct in their belief systems – it is possible to refute the godly thoughts of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Anselm until the end of time. Conversely, those who believe in their philosophies and do not doubt could be ones that have felt the presence of God beyond reason. In fact, believers in God may suppose that it is impossible to know God by reason alone. Given that truth cannot be turned into falsehood by argument alone, there must be a singular truth about the existence of God nevertheless. What is the truth? – In the discipline of philosophy, it is the fact that everything in the universe is not known to be confined to the realm of reason. For the believing philosophers, therefore, God is a Reason beyond reason.