Relative Pronoun Use Quiz

Online Users Alter Their Identity Essay - 1585 Words

Online Users Alter Their Identity The online forum deals many prospects for individuals to discover their distinctiveness. In certain conditions, text centered communication forums permits users to show them in a way that cannot be probable in physical situations. There are two such online groups, whom work textually in genuine Multi User Dungeons (MUD’s) and Internet Relay Chat (IRC). MUDs are computer-generated truth, acting environments where user generates their own atmosphere by picking their names, gender and explanation of their physical looks. IRC deals user contact to hundreds of chat rooms on a huge variety of issues. Users are acknowledged by the names of their selection, unlike to the actual life names, in which user can perform to be, quite exactly, whoever they desire. Text centered communication forums deal users extraordinary liberties for the identity alteration by anonymity of online forums, which allows users to halt from social customs. Though, online users’ capability to alter thei r identity is also embarrassed by gender customs, comprising gender socialization variances in danger-captivating online. a. Analysis Turkle’s (1995) has acknowledged observation on MUD’s that how playing own part permits users to discover different features of their identity and capability to take on others personalities. It comprised chances to discover a broader variety of characters than those available in physical life, such as testing with drastically diverseShow MoreRelatedGoffmans Theory Of Dramaturgy1400 Words   |  6 Pagesconsciously or unconsciously used by Facebook’s users, which will all be applied in context of Facebook users. 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In 2012, there had been 49% where the data breach exposed people Social Security Number. The data breach of 2012 has a rate of 27.4% caused by hackers. These breaches were commonly from 36.4% businesses and 34.7% health and medical (Identity Theft ResourceRead MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On A Large Scale Essay1675 Words   |  7 Pagessenses of connection, which may lead to negative physical or psychological predicaments. Who is your primary audience or reader? Why? Be detailed in your answer about your audience. My primary audiences are employees responsible for the management of online content, and professionals in the field of Criminal Justice that have an interest in the risks of social networking. Parents of children and young people aged between eight and 17 years are incorporated as part of the audience. In general, I am targetingRead More Internet - How Real is Cyberspace? 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In order to conduct the research analysis there will be a Qualtrics survey given to 113 social media users in the Treasure Valley. The survey questions will be based on previous research that has shown demonstrating chances of a sexual predator committing a sexual

Ferguson Foundry Limited Free Essays

————————————————- Case: Ferguson Foundry Limited (FFL) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Date: March 10 2013 To: Mark Ferguson, President From: Carl Holitzner Re: FFL’s Lower-Than-Budgeted Profit for the Fiscal Year Ended May 31 2010 The major issue is determining why Ferguson Foundry Limited’s (FFL) actual profit was $367,600 lower than budgeted, despite selling 2,000 more wood stoves (12,000 instead of 10,000 units). This will be explained using Variance Analysis to demonstrate the underlying reasons why the company failed to meet its president’s expectations. FFL profit for 2010 was below budget due to many factors both production and marketing related. We will write a custom essay sample on Ferguson Foundry Limited or any similar topic only for you Order Now From a production perspective, there were 3 major areas of concern all of which were unfavorable with respect to Variance Analysis (As shown in Exhibit 3): 1. Direct Labor 2. Variable Overhead 3. Fixed Cost The $139,200 unfavorable Direct Labor Variance can be attributed to many reasons however it is most likely linked to the management team. Due to the early retirement of the sales manager, the production manager being hospitalized and the accountant quitting, it can be understood that inefficiencies were bound to arise. Without proper management, labor reduced overall productivity of the company, as these workers took 121,200 hours to produce 12,00 stoves rather than the standard 120,000 hours that it should have taken. This reduced Net Income by $18,000 (Labor Yield Variance calculation). Secondly, the problem arising from Direct Labor also transcends to the Variable Overhead, as it is used as its cost driver. As a result, the $69,600 unfavorable Variable Overhead Variance can also be attributed to the more hours undertaken to produce the 12,000 stoves. With the lack of an inefficient management team, overhead could have accumulated through inefficient use and/or the budget could have not even accurately portrayed current rates for overhead items. The third problem with regards to the production perspective concerns the increase in fixed costs. In particular, the fixed manufacturing cost increased by $30,000 over budgeted costs, which in turn resulted in a reduction of net income by the same amount. This could have resulted due to several reasons such as additional machinery being required to handle the increased sales volume. However at this point it is unclear given the information provided and so further investigation must be conducted in an effort to better budget for future fixed costs. From a marketing perspective, there were also 3 major areas of concern all of which were unfavorable with respect to Variance Analysis: 1. Price 2. Fixed Cost 3. Sales Mix In analyzing the price changes, although it was beneficial to increase the sell price of the Basic Wood Stove ($300 to $325), this income benefit was significantly outweighed by the reduction in sell price of the Deluxe Wood Stove ($800 to $700). In the end, the price changes of both products resulted in a $300,000 reduction in profit (Sales Price Variance). Another reason for FFL’s lower than budgeted profit, although obvious and minor, had to do with the increase in selling and administration cost. As can be seen in Exhibit 3 by the Fixed Selling Administration Budget Variance, an increase in the fixed costs reduced net profit by $7,000. The third problem area, concerning the marketing perspective, involved the difference in sales mix from actual to budget. FFL actually sold more Basic Wood Stoves and fewer Deluxe Wood Stoves than budgeted. Unfortunately, the Deluxe Wood Stove possessed a higher standard contribution margin per unit than the Basic ($210 to $80). Therefore the difference in the mix of sales caused FFL’s net profit to be reduced by $234,000 (Sales Mix Variance). Ultimately, more market research must be conducted to better understand consumer wants and needs and thus be able to efficiently budget company products accordingly to reach profitability goals. APPENDIX EXHIBIT 1| | BASIC (Actual)| BASIC (Std. | DELUXE (Actual)| DELUXE (Std. )| Selling Price| $325| $300| $700| $800| Variable Costs:| Direct Materials| $67. 50| $70. 00| $171. 00| $190. 00| Direct Labor| $104. 00| $90. 00| $248. 00| $240. 00| Overhead| $52. 00| $45. 00| $124. 00| $120. 00| Sell Admin| $15. 00| $15. 00| $40. 00| $40. 00| Total Variable Costs| $238. 50| $220. 00| $583. 00| $590. 00| Contribution Margin| $86. 50| $80. 00| $117. 00| $210. 00| CO NTRIBUTION MARGINS TABLE| Illustration of some calculations involved: *Using the Actual Results Table Provided in Exhibit A Actual Unit Selling (Basic) = Sales Revenue ? Sales Volume (units) = $2,340,000 / 7,200 units = $325 Unit Direct Materials (Basic) = Direct Materials Cost ? Sales Volume (units) = $486,000 / 7,200 units = $67. 50 *Using the Unit Cost Standards Table Provided in Exhibit B Std. Unit Direct Labor (Basic) = DL Std. Qty. Per Unit x DL Std. Rate Per Hr. = 6 hrs. x $15. 00 per hr. = $90 APPENDIX EXHIBIT 2| For the Year Ended May 31 2010| | ACTUAL| FLEX-BUDGET VARIANCE| FLEX BUDGET| SALES-VOLUME VARIANCE| STATIC BUDGET| TOTAL VARIANCE| Quantity (units)| 12,000| | 12,000| | 10,000| | Sales Revenue| $5,700,000| ($300,000)| $6,000,000| $250,000| $5,750,000| ($50,000)| Variable Costs| $4,515,600| ($99,600)| $4,416,000| ($181,000)| $4,235,000| ($280,600)| CM| $1,184,400| ($399,600)| $1,584,000| $69,000| $1,515,000| ($330,600)| Fixed Costs| $919,500| ($37,000)| $882,500| | $882,500| ($37,000)| Net Income| $264,900| ($436,600)| $701,500| $69,000| $632,500| ($367,600)| FLEXIBLE BUDGET REPORT| GIVEN CALCULATED FILL IN THE BLANK VARIANCES: ($) = UNFAVORABLE $ = FAVORABLE Illustration of some calculations involved for Flex Budget: Flex Sales Revenue = Std. Sell Price Per Unit x Actual Sales volume (units) Basic Wood Stove = $300 x 7,200 units = $2,160,000 Deluxe Wood Stove = $800 x 4,800 units = $3,840,000 Total Flex Sales Revenue = $6,000,000 Flex Variable Costs = Std. Variable Price Per Unit x Actual Sales Volume (units) Basic Wood Stove = $220 x 7,200 = $1,548,000 Deluxe Wood Stove = $590 x 4,800 = $2,832,000 Total Flex Variable Costs = $4,416,000 Flex Fixed Costs = Static Fixed Costs APPENDIX EXHIBIT 3| | FLEX BUDGET VARIANCE| SALES VOLUME VARIANCE| SALES VARIANCES| | | | Sales Price| | $300,000 U| -| Sales Mix| | -| $234,000 U| Sales Quantity| | -| $303,000 F| Sales Volume | | -| $69,000 F| TOTAL SALES VARIANCE| | $300,000 U| $69,000 F| | | | | VARIABLE COST VARIANCES| | | | Direct Materials| | $109,000 F| -| Direct Labor| | $139,200 U| -| Overhead| | $69,600 U| -| Selling Admin| | $0| -| TOTAL VARIABLE COST VARIANCE| | $399,600 U| -| | | | | TOTAL CM VARIANCE| | $399,600 U| -| | | | | FIXED COST VARIANCES| | | | Mfg. Budget| | $30,000 U| -| Sell Admin Budget| | $7,000 U| -| TOTAL FIXED COST VARIANCE| | $37,000 U| -| | | | | TOTAL VARIANCE| | $436,600 U| $69,000 F| | | | | VARIANCES TABLE| U = Unfavorable F = Favorable APPENDIX Illustration of some calculations involved in creating Exhibit 3: SALES VARIANCE Section Sales Price Variance = Actual Units sold x (Actual Sell Price – Budgeted) Basic Wood Stove = 7,200 x ($325-$300) = $180,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = 4,800 x ($700-$800) = $480,000 U Total Sales Price Variance = $300,000 U Sales Mix Variance = (Actual Sales Mix % – Budgeted) x Actual total units sold x Budgeted CM per unit Basic Wood Stove = [(7,200/12,000)-(4,500/10,000)] x 12,000 x $80 = $144,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = [(4,800/12,000)-(5,500/10,000)] x 12,000 x $210 = $378,000 U Total Sales Mix Variance = $234,000 U Sales Quantity Variance = (Actual total units sold – Budgeted) x Budgeted Sales Mix % x Budgeted CM per unit Basic Wood Stove = (12,000-10,000) x (4,500/10,000) x $80 = $72,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = (12,000=10,000) x (5,500/10,000) x $210 = $231,000 F Total Sales Quantity Variance = $303,000 F Sales Volume Variance = (Actual Sales Volume – Budgeted) x Budgeted Cm per unit Basic Wood Stove = (7,200-4,500) x $80 = $216,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = (4,800-5,500) x $210 = $147,000 U Total Sales Volume Variance = $69,000 F How to cite Ferguson Foundry Limited, Essay examples Ferguson Foundry Limited Free Essays ————————————————- Case: Ferguson Foundry Limited (FFL) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Date: March 10 2013 To: Mark Ferguson, President From: Carl Holitzner Re: FFL’s Lower-Than-Budgeted Profit for the Fiscal Year Ended May 31 2010 The major issue is determining why Ferguson Foundry Limited’s (FFL) actual profit was $367,600 lower than budgeted, despite selling 2,000 more wood stoves (12,000 instead of 10,000 units). This will be explained using Variance Analysis to demonstrate the underlying reasons why the company failed to meet its president’s expectations. FFL profit for 2010 was below budget due to many factors both production and marketing related. We will write a custom essay sample on Ferguson Foundry Limited or any similar topic only for you Order Now From a production perspective, there were 3 major areas of concern all of which were unfavorable with respect to Variance Analysis (As shown in Exhibit 3): 1. Direct Labor 2. Variable Overhead 3. Fixed Cost The $139,200 unfavorable Direct Labor Variance can be attributed to many reasons however it is most likely linked to the management team. Due to the early retirement of the sales manager, the production manager being hospitalized and the accountant quitting, it can be understood that inefficiencies were bound to arise. Without proper management, labor reduced overall productivity of the company, as these workers took 121,200 hours to produce 12,00 stoves rather than the standard 120,000 hours that it should have taken. This reduced Net Income by $18,000 (Labor Yield Variance calculation). Secondly, the problem arising from Direct Labor also transcends to the Variable Overhead, as it is used as its cost driver. As a result, the $69,600 unfavorable Variable Overhead Variance can also be attributed to the more hours undertaken to produce the 12,000 stoves. With the lack of an inefficient management team, overhead could have accumulated through inefficient use and/or the budget could have not even accurately portrayed current rates for overhead items. The third problem with regards to the production perspective concerns the increase in fixed costs. In particular, the fixed manufacturing cost increased by $30,000 over budgeted costs, which in turn resulted in a reduction of net income by the same amount. This could have resulted due to several reasons such as additional machinery being required to handle the increased sales volume. However at this point it is unclear given the information provided and so further investigation must be conducted in an effort to better budget for future fixed costs. From a marketing perspective, there were also 3 major areas of concern all of which were unfavorable with respect to Variance Analysis: 1. Price 2. Fixed Cost 3. Sales Mix In analyzing the price changes, although it was beneficial to increase the sell price of the Basic Wood Stove ($300 to $325), this income benefit was significantly outweighed by the reduction in sell price of the Deluxe Wood Stove ($800 to $700). In the end, the price changes of both products resulted in a $300,000 reduction in profit (Sales Price Variance). Another reason for FFL’s lower than budgeted profit, although obvious and minor, had to do with the increase in selling and administration cost. As can be seen in Exhibit 3 by the Fixed Selling Administration Budget Variance, an increase in the fixed costs reduced net profit by $7,000. The third problem area, concerning the marketing perspective, involved the difference in sales mix from actual to budget. FFL actually sold more Basic Wood Stoves and fewer Deluxe Wood Stoves than budgeted. Unfortunately, the Deluxe Wood Stove possessed a higher standard contribution margin per unit than the Basic ($210 to $80). Therefore the difference in the mix of sales caused FFL’s net profit to be reduced by $234,000 (Sales Mix Variance). Ultimately, more market research must be conducted to better understand consumer wants and needs and thus be able to efficiently budget company products accordingly to reach profitability goals. APPENDIX EXHIBIT 1| | BASIC (Actual)| BASIC (Std. | DELUXE (Actual)| DELUXE (Std. )| Selling Price| $325| $300| $700| $800| Variable Costs:| Direct Materials| $67. 50| $70. 00| $171. 00| $190. 00| Direct Labor| $104. 00| $90. 00| $248. 00| $240. 00| Overhead| $52. 00| $45. 00| $124. 00| $120. 00| Sell Admin| $15. 00| $15. 00| $40. 00| $40. 00| Total Variable Costs| $238. 50| $220. 00| $583. 00| $590. 00| Contribution Margin| $86. 50| $80. 00| $117. 00| $210. 00| CO NTRIBUTION MARGINS TABLE| Illustration of some calculations involved: *Using the Actual Results Table Provided in Exhibit A Actual Unit Selling (Basic) = Sales Revenue ? Sales Volume (units) = $2,340,000 / 7,200 units = $325 Unit Direct Materials (Basic) = Direct Materials Cost ? Sales Volume (units) = $486,000 / 7,200 units = $67. 50 *Using the Unit Cost Standards Table Provided in Exhibit B Std. Unit Direct Labor (Basic) = DL Std. Qty. Per Unit x DL Std. Rate Per Hr. = 6 hrs. x $15. 00 per hr. = $90 APPENDIX EXHIBIT 2| For the Year Ended May 31 2010| | ACTUAL| FLEX-BUDGET VARIANCE| FLEX BUDGET| SALES-VOLUME VARIANCE| STATIC BUDGET| TOTAL VARIANCE| Quantity (units)| 12,000| | 12,000| | 10,000| | Sales Revenue| $5,700,000| ($300,000)| $6,000,000| $250,000| $5,750,000| ($50,000)| Variable Costs| $4,515,600| ($99,600)| $4,416,000| ($181,000)| $4,235,000| ($280,600)| CM| $1,184,400| ($399,600)| $1,584,000| $69,000| $1,515,000| ($330,600)| Fixed Costs| $919,500| ($37,000)| $882,500| | $882,500| ($37,000)| Net Income| $264,900| ($436,600)| $701,500| $69,000| $632,500| ($367,600)| FLEXIBLE BUDGET REPORT| GIVEN CALCULATED FILL IN THE BLANK VARIANCES: ($) = UNFAVORABLE $ = FAVORABLE Illustration of some calculations involved for Flex Budget: Flex Sales Revenue = Std. Sell Price Per Unit x Actual Sales volume (units) Basic Wood Stove = $300 x 7,200 units = $2,160,000 Deluxe Wood Stove = $800 x 4,800 units = $3,840,000 Total Flex Sales Revenue = $6,000,000 Flex Variable Costs = Std. Variable Price Per Unit x Actual Sales Volume (units) Basic Wood Stove = $220 x 7,200 = $1,548,000 Deluxe Wood Stove = $590 x 4,800 = $2,832,000 Total Flex Variable Costs = $4,416,000 Flex Fixed Costs = Static Fixed Costs APPENDIX EXHIBIT 3| | FLEX BUDGET VARIANCE| SALES VOLUME VARIANCE| SALES VARIANCES| | | | Sales Price| | $300,000 U| -| Sales Mix| | -| $234,000 U| Sales Quantity| | -| $303,000 F| Sales Volume | | -| $69,000 F| TOTAL SALES VARIANCE| | $300,000 U| $69,000 F| | | | | VARIABLE COST VARIANCES| | | | Direct Materials| | $109,000 F| -| Direct Labor| | $139,200 U| -| Overhead| | $69,600 U| -| Selling Admin| | $0| -| TOTAL VARIABLE COST VARIANCE| | $399,600 U| -| | | | | TOTAL CM VARIANCE| | $399,600 U| -| | | | | FIXED COST VARIANCES| | | | Mfg. Budget| | $30,000 U| -| Sell Admin Budget| | $7,000 U| -| TOTAL FIXED COST VARIANCE| | $37,000 U| -| | | | | TOTAL VARIANCE| | $436,600 U| $69,000 F| | | | | VARIANCES TABLE| U = Unfavorable F = Favorable APPENDIX Illustration of some calculations involved in creating Exhibit 3: SALES VARIANCE Section Sales Price Variance = Actual Units sold x (Actual Sell Price – Budgeted) Basic Wood Stove = 7,200 x ($325-$300) = $180,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = 4,800 x ($700-$800) = $480,000 U Total Sales Price Variance = $300,000 U Sales Mix Variance = (Actual Sales Mix % – Budgeted) x Actual total units sold x Budgeted CM per unit Basic Wood Stove = [(7,200/12,000)-(4,500/10,000)] x 12,000 x $80 = $144,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = [(4,800/12,000)-(5,500/10,000)] x 12,000 x $210 = $378,000 U Total Sales Mix Variance = $234,000 U Sales Quantity Variance = (Actual total units sold – Budgeted) x Budgeted Sales Mix % x Budgeted CM per unit Basic Wood Stove = (12,000-10,000) x (4,500/10,000) x $80 = $72,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = (12,000=10,000) x (5,500/10,000) x $210 = $231,000 F Total Sales Quantity Variance = $303,000 F Sales Volume Variance = (Actual Sales Volume – Budgeted) x Budgeted Cm per unit Basic Wood Stove = (7,200-4,500) x $80 = $216,000 F Deluxe Wood Stove = (4,800-5,500) x $210 = $147,000 U Total Sales Volume Variance = $69,000 F How to cite Ferguson Foundry Limited, Papers

Factors Caused US Financial Crisi 2008-09 â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Factors That Caused The US Financial Crisis Of 2008-09? Answer: Introduction Economies perform differently during various business cycles; there are two cycles; the boom (peak) period where there is an accelerated growth in the economy and the burst (recession) period where there is strained economic growth. Before 2008, the performance of the US was high. Pettinger (2017) pointed out that the US economy was stable from 2000 to 2007 with a strong growth, falling unemployment and low inflation. However, despite this economic stability Pettinger noted that there were rising concerns on the growing instability on the financial marketing and credit. There was a boom in the housing industry that resulted in an increment in the aggregate consumption component of GDP. Thus the GDP recorded before the crisis was high. This paper will analyze the changes in GDP before, during and after the crisis. During the crisis, many macroeconomic indicators performance was poor; these indicators include real GDP, Inflation, Unemployment, etc. The paper will consider the actual causes of the crisis which resulted from the money supply growth. It will cover the origination of the money supply growth. This research will show that the financial crisis in the US was as a result of failure on the financial lenders and the government. Rosner (2013) pointed out that the governments regulation on lending institutions was weak. It shall analyze how each of these parties failed and the impact of each of their failures. The impacts of the financial crisis were not only felt in the USA economy but was spread to other nations; there are just a few economies that wasnt impacted by this crisis. Some of them that are financially stable were able to implement policies that led to a quick recovery while others are constrained up to date. The Factors Responsible for the Financial Crisis Loose Monetary Policy and Money Growth In the early 2000s the US economic growth was lower which stimulated the US Central Bank to lower its interest rates. Malinen (2017) argued that prior to the crisis, the US monetary policy was loose. The impact of a lower interest rate is an increased money supply since people are attracted to loans advanced by financial institutions owing to the low cost of repayment. There was thus an increased borrowing of loans and a greater growth of the money supply in the circulation. Since investors are always uncertain about the future, they decided to utilize this available capital to invest in assets that would give them returns in the future. The major asset that demand went up was that of the housing industry. Households and investors decided to utilize this availability of cheap capital to buy homes. Fig: Growth of money supply Source: Positivemoney.org (2017) The graph shows that there was a huge money creation by the banks prior to the crisis. According to Positivemoney.org (2017), money is created every time a loan is made by the banks; the money and debt amount in the US economy had doubled in a period of seven year from the advancement of the loans. Subprime Mortgage An increased demand for homes raised the demand for mortgages. Initially, financial lenders could only advance loans to prime lenders who had good credit ratings and avoided loaning the subprime borrowers. This is what had kept the housing market in a stable state. The increased demand for mortgages resulted in the financial lenders weakening their lending standards. In the period before the crisis, banks were more aggressive and their willingness to lend to the risky borrowers had gone up (Nitta, 2013). They figured out a way to make the funds available to the low-income groups through pooling. This strategy was considered less risky but no analysis was done or had been done earlier to confirm its viability. The proposal was accepted and the financial lenders started lending to the low income groups without necessarily requesting them to provide some security. Many subprime borrowers went for the loans and there was a greater supply of money to many people in this economy. The loans were advanced as mortgage home loans meant for assisting the investors and households to acquire homes and repay as they used to houses. These subprime borrowers were risky since their income level was insufficient to service the loans; the banks failed to do a sufficient check on the ability of these borrowers to repay their loans; they recklessly gave them huge loans. The government had also set a regulation towards achieving the goal of non-discrimination on the acquisition of capital because of the brackets of income. After the credit crunch, these borrowers were left with huge unpayable loan amounts. Housing Bubble The Mortgage loans advanced to the subprime borrowers enabled them to buy homes and other houses used for businesses. The mortgage loans were given at a very low interest rate and thus attracted many borrowers. Pettinger (2017) noted that the high confidence for the borrowers and a growth in bank lending facilitated the housing boom. The access of these loans by the subprime borrowers caused the homes demand to shoot upward (Muddywatermacro.wustl.edu, n.d.). The law of demand accounts for a price rise whenever demand rises. The price rise generated great profits to the investors; more homes were constructed in order to raise more profit. Many people shifted their investment to the housing market so get a share of the rising profit Fig: Uses of money created by banks prior to the crisis Source: Positivemoney.org (2017) The greatest proportion of the huge amounts of money the banks created were used for mortgages and secured loans (Mee, 2012); this was equivalent to 31% of the total money created. The 31% went to residential property and there was a further 20% that went to commercial real estate. Credit Defaults Prior to the crisis, the personal debt in the US was very high. It even exceeded the income amount and thus at some point became difficult for the borrowers. The borrowers had to repay their loans with some stated interest rate. After the housing bubble burst, the financial lenders went into huge losses because borrowers were not able to service their loans further. The subprime borrowers couldnt repay their loans; in addition, the prime borrowers could also not be able to repay their loans. There was a great challenge for the financial account lenders. What caused the global recession is that when people started defaulting on their loans, financial institutions such as banks tightened their lending behaviors; the money supply was reduced resulting in a lowered demand for homes and subsequently a fall in price. The demand law also account for a price decline on instances where demand is insufficient. The falling prices accounted for the bursting of the housing boom. The previous borr owers could keep toping up their loans to enable them to service the loans. The slowdown of lending made it difficult to access loans owing to the panic caused to the lending institutions. This forced these borrowers to decide selling their assets and repaying the loans. However, the assets value had declined compared to when the loans were advanced and thus insufficient money were raised from such sales and the full amount of the loans was unpayable given the income constraints. Further, the increased default rates caused the banks to continue tightening their lending such that investments were completely not possible. Investors confidence had also declined and thus economic activities fell significantly; the US fell into a recession. Lehman Brothers Lehman was a giant investment bank and the 4th largest in the US. In 2003 and 2004 when the housing boom was showing up, this investment bank acquired 5 mortgage lenders. Lehman was accused of creating mortgage backed securities that were toxic and their sales put the financial market at risk (Williams, 2010). According to Alex (2017), this bank filed for bankruptcy in September 15th 2008; it was one of the largest victim of the subprime mortgages and thus argued to have been the major cause of the financial crisis (Cnbc.com, 2010). Its contribution to erosion of market capitalization was close to $ 10 trillion in October 2008. According to Mcdonald (2016), it is the collapse of this investment bank that triggered the global recession. Stock Market Crisis The US stock markets are strongly correlated with other universal related stocks; whenever it is declining, all other stocks declines. After the end of the 2000-02 stock market crush that resulted from the internet boom, the MA was plunged by lenders one again (Nations, 2017). The 2000-02 was the 5th wave of stock market crush whereas the 2004-07 was the 6th wave. The percentage of cash deals rose with this wave and the role played by the LBOs was larger than with the initial waves (Hooke, 2015). The stock market crash caused the deal volume to fall by 60% during the 2007/2008 global financial crisis. According to Amadeo, (2017), a loss in investors confidence is responsible for causing a recession. Dumping of China Treasuries Mees (2012) argued that the American spending binge was prospered by China and not by the US. The US saving rate was around 15% from 2000 to 2006 whereas that for China rose from 38 to 54% during this period. The Chinese are risk-averse and thus their savings are ties to risk-free assets. The savings buildup in China and emerging economies had expanded and caused a depression of interest rate in the whole world from 2004; the US Treasury bonds price rose as there was too much money chasing. Subsequently there was a fall in the interest rate. China and Japan have been the greatest creditors for the US. Fig: US treasuries foreign ownership Source: Gantz (2017) There was a decline in the US treasuries foreign ownership in 2008 which means that there was a reduction of the available credit; this contributed to the financial difficulties. Conclusion The US global recession was caused by the credit crunch; there was a shortage of liquidity for the banks and thus a reduced funding. The financial instability lowered businesss and consumers confidence. There was a negative wealth effect as the house prices fell after the boom. Since the economies are interrelated, the impacts of the US financial crisis were also spread to other economies and this deteriorated the trade system; there was a decline in exports as other economies also felt the financial constraints. There was a significant fall in GDP and the unemployment rate rose. There was a failure of the banks in that they recklessly advanced loans to the risky borrowers without a sufficient cross-check of their ability to repay. The government failure is argued in terms of low regulation on the lending behavior by the financial institutions. The central bank regulates the circulation of money and it could have ensured that the financial institutions did not cause such a big growth in the money supply. Otherwise it can be concluded that the government was more impressed with the growth of the economy that was accelerated by the rising house demand that it failed to look into the impacts that this would have on its future. References Alex (2017). The collapse of Lehman Brothers. [Online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/6173145/The-collapse-of-Lehman-Brothers.html [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017]. Amadeo, K. (2017). Causes of Economic Recession. [Online] The Balance. Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-economic-recession-3306010 [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017]. Cnbc.com. (2010). Lehman Brothers Art Work under the Hammer. [Online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/id/38622511 [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017]. Gantz, L. (2017). Market Euphoria, Chinas Dumping of Treasuries Ignite Recession Concerns. [Online] Streetwisereports.com. Available at: https://www.streetwisereports.com/pub/na/market-euphoria-chinas-dumping-of-treasuries-ignite-recession-concerns [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017]. Hooke, J. C. (2015). MA: a practical guide to doing the deal. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. Malinen, T. (2017). Who Caused the Great Recession? [Online] Huffingtonpost.com. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tuomas-malinen/who-caused-the-great-rece_b_9805056.html [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017]. Mcdonald, O. (2016). Lehman brothers: A crisis of value. management, Manchester University Press. Mees, H. (2012). How Chinas Boom Caused the Financial Crisis. [Online] Foreign Policy. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/01/17/how-chinas-boom-caused-the-financial-crisis/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017]. Muddywatermacro.wustl.edu. (n.d.). Causes of the Great Recession. [Online] Available at: https://muddywatermacro.wustl.edu/node/92 [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017]. Nations, S. (2017). A history of the united states in five crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation. New York: HarperCollins. Nitta, Y. (2013). What were the primary causes of the Great Recession that started in 2008? [Online] Blogs.yis.ac.jp. Available at: https://blogs.yis.ac.jp/14nittay/2013/02/13/what-were-the-primary-causes-of-the-great-recession-that-started-in-2008/ [Accessed 13 Sep. 2017]. Pettinger, T. (2017). The great recession 2008-13. [Online] Economicshelp.org. Available at: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7501/economics/the-great-recession/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017]. Positivemoney.org. (2017).Financial Crisis Recession? [Online] Positive Money. Available at: https://positivemoney.org/issues/recessions-crisis/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017]. Rosner, H. (2013). What Really Spurred the Great Recession? [Online] Kellogg Insight. Available at: https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/what_really_spurred_the_great_recession [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017]. Williams, M. T. (2010). Uncontrolled risk: the lessons of Lehman Brothers and how systemic risk can still bring down the world financial system. New York, McGraw Hill

Alexander Hamilton An American Musical by Alexander Hamilton Cast free essay sample

I heard your eyes rolling when you read that heading, but hear me out! Alexander Hamilton is a catchy soundtrack, Broadway Phenomenon, and a sold out show that has a waiting list a mile long, with tickets that are near impossible to get a hold of. I mean, not even Regina Mills, a.k.a the Evil Queen, from the ABC tv show, Once Upon a Time, could get the tickets! After this particular episode, my curiosity peaked. What is Alexander Hamilton? God Bless Youtube and its endless YouTubers and videos. After watching the animated music videos, I became obsessed and went to the wonderful Spotify to listen to the soundtrack over and over and over and over and. Well, lets just say, I am Helpless. Anyone who is a fan will understand. I am helplessly in love with this catchy way to learn about the story behind the face on the ten dollar bill. We will write a custom essay sample on Alexander Hamilton: An American Musical by Alexander Hamilton Cast or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It isnt all rap songs, though the majority of it is, but you have Thomas Jefferson sings his jazzy, What Did I, Miss?, you have Eliza Schuylers giddy, Helpless, and her heart-wrenching, Burn. The important thing behind each song is the element of education. You get the humor, heartbreak, anger, and frustration in each song. Importantly, we learn just how fantastic Washington is, but I mean, I am biased. Who is Alexander Hamilton? Alexander Hamilton can be found on our precious ten dollar bill, he was a delegate to the Congress Convention, first secretary of the treasury, and the main author of the Federalist Paper. He was an aide-de-camp as Lieutenant Colonel on Washintons staff and in four years managed to raise his status. He married Elizabeth Eliza Schuyler and had 9 children with her before his death. Those are just the highlights. With the help of Lin-Manuel Mirandas creation, I became involved, with the use of music and crafty wording, I was able to connect emotionally with th e different characters. Another thing I found amazing is, how much information I absorbed, and how it gave me a hunger to know more. More about the history of the Revolution, more about what happened before, during and after. I have always been a history buff, but this sparked my creative side and merged the two. Maybe that is why I am so attracted to the album. I recommend this soundtrack to anyone with a hunger to learn, but mostly for entertainment. Most people I have talked to either have no clue what, Alexander Hamilton is, or have heard the soundtrack and agree, (sometimes begrudgingly), that it is an enjoyable experience. Others are like me, helplessly in love with the history of Alexander Hamilton. Again, that is just me, what do you think?

Absolute rulers essays

Absolute rulers essays Many empires and nations throughout global history have been under the rule of absolute monarchs who follow the policies of absolutism. Absolutism is a political system in which a ruler has complete power. Many ancient nations, such as Spain, Russia and France, followed the policy of absolutism. Absolute rulers usually show strong armies, high taxes, and the belief in divine right. One of histories most prominent absolute rulers was Peter the Great of Russia. Several rulers of empires and nations have followed the policy or absolute rule. Many of the absolutists believed that they had gotten their right to rule straight from God, also know as the Divine Right. Because of this, the monarchs had complete control over the government. He or she could pass any laws they believed would benefit the nation without consulting any person. The monarch not only had complete rule over the government, but he or she also had utter control over the people and their lives in his or her empire. In fact, if people rebelled against the leader it was virtually inevitable that they would be jailed, tortured, or killed. Peter the Great of Russia is one of the most famous absolute monarchs. He is characterized as a very cruel man; however, he successfully reformed Russia. His goal was to westernize and modernize all of Russia, including the government, society and culture. He imported western technology to help him achieve this goal. Peter improved education by setting up academics and simplified the Russian alphabet. Serfdom spread around Russia; the serfs worked the land that the nobles were given, ensuring that the nobles could serve the state. Serfs were also forced to work on government projects, which improved the waterways, canals and roads. Peter brought all Russian institutions into his control, including the Russian Orthodox Church. He also wanted to end the seclusion of higher class women in their separate quarters. Peter wanted men and wom...

DVT and treatment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

DVT and treatment - Essay Example Other risk factors for DVT include postoperative period, pregnancy, puerperium, local trauma and stasis, smoking, obesity, lupus anticoagulant, post-stroke or neurological trauma, type-A blood group, malignancy, deficiencies of protein C, protein S or antithrombin III, impaired fibrinolysis as in post operative patients, those on estrogens, acute myocardial infection and congestive heart failure, hyperlipidemia, increasing age, inflammatory bowel disease and homocystinuria. Studies have shown that patients receiving general anesthesia have a 500% increased risk of DVT compared with patients receiving epidural anesthesia for the same surgical procedure (Craig 2005). Vascular endothelial injury, even though minimal, exposes amorphous electron-dense substance which stimulates platelet adhesion and aggregation. The release of amorphous electron-dense substance is enhanced by activity of the intrinsic coagulation cascade. Platelet adhesion and aggregation causes formation of hemostatic plug after which coagulation pathways are activated and thrombin is generated. Fibrin cross-linking builds a true thrombus out of what was initially a loose aggregation of blood elements (Craig, 2005). Normally, these series of events are opposed. In conditions as discussed above, these events are unopposed resulting in propagation of thrombus throughout the venous system. This is further accentuated by presence of reduced blood flow wherein the activated coagulation factors will accumulate. In many cases DVT may remain asymptomatic. The classic signs and symptoms of DVT are pain, tenderness, and unilateral leg swelling, due to obstruction to venous drainage. Other signs include warmth, erythema, a palpable cord, pain upon passive dorsiflexion of the foot, and spontaneous maintenance of the relaxed foot in abnormal plantar flexion (Craig 2005). Cellulitis can occur and in severe cases, pulmonary embolism can

Fairness in Taxation theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fairness in Taxation theory - Essay Example In 1949, the income tax rate was 50 Percent. Ideally, there was not fairness because every person paid tax on equal tax rates irrespective of how much a person earned. However, when Income and Corporation Act 1970 was enacted in 1970, it improved distribution of tax burden among different income groups. Tax rates were divided into lower rate, basic rate, higher rate, and addition rates depending on the levels of income earned by individuals. On the other hand, corporate tax rates were categorized into small profit rates, small profit upper limit rate, marginal relief limits and the main rate. Categorisation of tax rates for individuals and corporation brought some fairness in the tax system. Brederode (2009) define fairness to paying tax according to ones ability. It should also be based on the benefits (public goods/services) a person or corporation receives from the government. Fairness in taxation means that all people are treated equally without discrimination. Furthermore, Adam Smith defined fair taxation as a progressive tax system. Progressive tax system imposes greater tax burden to the rich as compared to the less rich. Therefore, a person or entity pays tax according to the amount earned and public goods consumed. If a person or entity earns more income or uses more of a public good, tax burden imposed on them also increases. However, fairness varies over time and is highly subjective. According to Adam Smith, statistics indicated that affluent (rich) people often benefit more with economic expansion. Therefore, because benefits accrue more to the richer when there is economic development and expansion; it becomes natural that they pay more tax to support a government that delivers the public goods and services to them. In addition, a large corporation uses more of public good than a small corporation uses and should be taxed more. Furthermore, concerning income tax on individuals, non-domiciled citizens are required to pay taxes on income earned in f oreign country to pay for the benefits he or she received when growing or residing in the original home country. The importance of fairness in taxation Fairness in tax administration is critical. This is because fairness plays a critical role in influencing tax payers behaviours and attitudes. First, fairness in taxation is an indication of distributive justice. When taxpayers feel that the tax burden has been distributed fairly, they are likely to voluntarily contribute their taxes. Therefore, tax enforcement agencies will not increase their surveillance or increase their sanctions to make taxpayers comply. Consequently, will people behave fairly if the tax system treats them fairly and the cost of surveillance or sanctions will be reduced significantly. Secondly, it reduces uncertainties. Taxpayers normally feel anxious about taxes that they pay. However, if they perceive that taxation burden has been applied fairly, their anxiety or uncertainties reduce significantly and are able to concentrate on productive activities. Thirdly, fairness legitimises the tax system. Unfair taxation system may result in psychological reactance in taxpayers and may lead to opposite and retaliatory actions or behaviours. This is because people will perceive unfair tax system as illegitimate and are more likely to evade and avoid taxes. This may result to fewer taxes collects and increased administrative costs. b) Fairness in the 2010/2011 UK’

Organic Solar cells Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organic Solar cells - Essay Example In 1954, three scientists called Chapin, Fuller and Pearson developed the first solar cell in a lab. It was until the 1970s when the physics community caught up with them by working on a series of researches in the field of solar energy. Eastman Kodak became the first commercial organisation to create an organic cell in 1986. The device was made by an analyst called Tang, who worked for the organisation. More research continued to be done in the field and by 2007; a high efficient solar cell was created at a spectrolab. It had values of about 40.7%, which was a great improvement from Chapin and his colleagues’ 6% (Rivers 96). Currently, more research is underway in the field in order to boost outcomes. Solar cells are a used in electronic devices like calculators and laptops. Satellite images heavily rely on these materials for carrying out their roles. One is also likely to find the products in remote locations where no connections to power grids exist. However, they are yet to be regarded as a reliable source for electricity for electricity distribution. The cost of making solar energy from these materials is also prohibitive on a large scale. It costs four times, as much money, to generate 1 KWh of electricity from solar energy in comparison to conventional methods (Iyer 17). These typical methods include cycle gas turbines and remote diesel generation. Organic cells could be the answer to reduction of costs and elimination of other prohibitive factors in solar cell technology. Organic solar cells have low cost processing and high throughput. This implies that it is relatively easy to spray, vaporise, spin coat and print them. They capture light efficiently due to high absorption rates. The devices can even be processed in solution form at room temperature. Silicon-based solar cells are unlikely to go down in terms of prices, but this is untrue for organic ones. Additionally, they

Educational Approaches in the ECCE Sector Ireland

Educational Approaches in the ECCE Sector Ireland Marie Grey Aistear the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. Aistear is the national curriculum framework set in place all around Ireland. It is for early education from birth-6yrs. There is not one specific programme or curriculum to follow. It was put in place to help in schools, pre-schools, crà ¨ches, and within the home. By working closely with parents, teachers and practitioners Aistear provides a safe and enjoyable learning experience. Aistear is all about learning through play. Its four themes are as follows: Well-Being- This is about the overall well-being of the child. Such as physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I have used this aim as an example of what Well-being is. Aim 3: â€Å"Children will be creative and spiritual.†(National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), 2009). Identity and Belonging- Is to know themselves as a unique individual, to belong as part of a group and part of the world. Not to feel left out, to feel accepted and equal. I found this aim explains Identity and Belonging very well. Aim1: â€Å"Children will have strong self-identities and will feel respected and affirmed as unique individuals with their own life stories.†(NCCA, 2009) Exploring and Thinking- Feeling confident to explore, try new things, be curious, use imagination, have a mind of their own, own opinions, views and thoughts. Learn to solve problems using their own initiative. This aim shows how this particular theme can be used. Aim 4: â€Å"Children will have positive attitudes towards learning and develop dispositions like curiosity, playfulness, perseverance, confidence, resourcefulness, and risk taking.† (NCCA, 2009) Communication- Being able to communicate openly/freely. Language development, listening skills. To socialise as part of a group. By taking a look at the aims you can see how they are used. Aim 2: â€Å"Children will use language† (NCCA, 2009) HighScope The HighScope curriculum was developed for day-cares, play groups, nurseries and crà ¨ches. It involves a lot of free play. Learning through play. It’s not as structured as others. Children have their own choices about the activities they wish to do, adults have to make sure they follow through on their decisions. By using recyclable materials and labelling shelves and areas where everything goes, they learn to tidy up when they’re finished and gain confidence by making their own decisions. Children learn about science, maths, technology, reasoning, language and the world around them. HighScope offers support for parents and lots of involvement from them. Using methods like plan-do-review, HighScope offers the children opportunities to plan their activity, proceed with it and come back to review and reflect with the adult. The child can express what they did, how and why, if they enjoyed it, or if doing art they show the adult what they made and can feel proud of their hard work. â€Å"HighScope teachers arrange and label classroom interest areas and stock diverse materials to give children a broad range of experience and help them begin to understand how the world can be organised.† (Epstein, pg13, 2007) Aistear and HighScope Aims and Goals. Aistear vs. HighScope Similarities. Aistear has four themes- HighScope has fifty eight Key Developmental Indicators. (KDIs). They both have learning goals. For example a learning goal from Aistear’s Well-being- Aim 1: Be confident and self-reliant. Example of HighScope’s five ingredients of active participatory learning or learning goals- Choice: Children are free to use the materials however they choose when doing plan-do-review. They both plan for the same overall outcome to support the child’s holistic development and also the best interest of each child. They both centre their curriculums on learning through play and the environment. Differences. Aistear’s four themes are: Well-being, Communication, Identity and Belonging, Exploring and Thinking. Here are a few of HighScope’s (KDIs): Initiative, Social Relations, Creative Representation, Movement Music, Language Literacy, and Mathematics Science. HighScope is a more structured curriculum than Aistear. There is a lot more Aims and goals in HighScope than Aistear. Aistear is an Irish founded curriculum HighScope is an American founded curriculum. Aistear’s themes can be very easily incorporated into the HighScope curriculum. By using the main four themes and knowing the aims and learning goals the HighScope method can then be reviewed alongside Aistear. That way a new or updated curriculum can be conducted. For instance when using plan-do-review in HighScope, Aistear’s theme of Thinking and Exploring can be used. How I would do this in an Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).By letting the children go and plan their own activities and use their intuitive to explore the world around them. They would be then using both curriculums together. Any or all aspects of Aistear’s four themes can be used or incorporated into HighScope’s method of plan-do-review. Another example would be if the child planned to do art. This would cover Aistear’s identity and belonging, Thinking and exploring and communication. Why I say communication, the child would be communicating their feelings through their cr eativity and individuality. Here are some of the learning goals that Aistear and HighScope use: â€Å"Well-being Children will show good judgement when taking risks. Identity and Belonging Children will appreciate the features that make a person special and unique (name, size, hair, hand and footprint, gender, birthday)†. (ncca.ie 2014). In my opinion these two curriculums work very well together, and support the teachers and practitioners in their understanding of why they need to provide these opportunities for children. â€Å"Basic Principles and Goals of the High/Scope Approach Communicating Children will develop counting skills, and a growing understanding of the meaning and use of numbers and mathematical language in an enjoyable and meaningful way. Exploring and Thinking Children will gather and use information from different sources using their increasing cognitive, physical and social skills. In partnership with the adult, children will demonstrate growing confidence in being able to do things for themselves make decisions and take increasing responsibility for their own learning Act on their curiosity, take risks and be open to new ideas and uncertainty†. (ncca.ie 2014). It is in my opinion very important to support each individuals learning opportunities and experiences at this early stage in their lives. â€Å"The High/Scope program strives to develop in children a broad range of skills, including the problem solving, interpersonal, and communication skills that are essential for successful living in a rapidly changing society. The curriculum encourages student initiative by providing children with materials, equipment, and time to pursue activities they choose. At the same time, it provides teachers with a framework for guiding children’s independent activities toward sequenced learning goals†. (Education.com High Scope: A Constructivist Approach 2009). 3. Theorists views linking with HighScope and Aistear. Margaret McMillan Known for her theories on free-play and outdoors, she links to most of the day to day outdoor activities children experience in an ECCE setting such as exploring the garden, seeing different types of bugs and exploring the outdoor environment. Also playing freely in nature. Which cover Aistear’s themes communication, identity and belonging, well-being, thinking and exploring. It also covers most of HighScope learning goals of exploring the environment and world around them and also risk taking and problem solving. â€Å"McMillan believed that children learn by exploring, first-hand experience and active learning. Also they learn through free-play, especially with craft and water activities.† Early learning (2014) she cared for children from 18 months to 7yrs old. â€Å"The best classroom and the richest cupboard is roofed only by the sky†. â€Å"Inspirational Posters† Early learning (2014) Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Play: Play is in a relaxed environment where learning can occur easily. Play is not the same as learning, cognitive development requires both assimilation and adaption, and play is assimilation without accommodation. Piaget is mostly known for this four stage theory: Sensory-Motor Stage birth – 2yrs. Pre-operational Stage 2yrs-7yrs. Stage of Concrete Operations 7yrs -11yrs. Stage of Formal Operations 11yrs -16yrs. Both curriculums support the development of this theory in HighScope children have the choice to choose their own learning. Thus giving them independence and free thinking at a young age. By using Jean Piaget’s theory of Cognitive play each child will have great benefits in their learning combined with the support and independence HighScope is providing and the freedom and support of their identity and well-being Aistear is providing. Overall the three used together would give great support and work well to help the child holistically within their development. While also giving them a better understanding of themselves and the world. Although Piaget suggests in his theory play is not the same as learning I disagree, children learn through play. Piaget suggests Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them something too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves. (The Century’s Greatest Minds, Time, 1999) Jean Piaget Quotes Piaget’s other theories are: Play and Imagination, Play and Reason, Piaget suggests there are four types of play: For example symbolic play and doing puzzles which promotes thinking and exploring and communication which are two of Aistear’s themes. As for HighScope problem solving is one of their learning goals so as you will see in the quote below children use their imaginations to replay something they may have witnessed or experienced, maybe even seen on a T.V show through their play or role play. At this time they may be resolving the conflict or situation in a way that they would have liked it to be resolved. Which again is using both curriculums and the theories of Piaget. Sensory- Motor or physical, play When the child repeats an action like swinging their legs/arms just for the fun of it. Symbolic Play Imagination â€Å"It is primarily affective conflicts that appear in symbolic play. If there is a scene at lunch, for example, one can be sure that an hour or two afterward it will be recreated with dolls and will be brought to a happier solution. If the child has been frightened by a dog, in a symbolic game things will be arranged so that dogs will no longer be mean or children will become brave†. Jean Piaget quotes (2014) 4. Learning Opportunities and Holistic Development. In my opinion Aistear offers each child the opportunity to fulfil their potential as an individual learning about themselves, where they belong within their family, community and the world. What I mean by this, by exploring their environment and having fun, safe and fulfilling learning experiences in a fun, child orientated with support from adults but not over powering or controlled by adults and a friendly, stimulating environment. They will learn how to socialise, make decisions, solve problems, and build strong bonds or relationships. They will also benefit holistically in their development by doing fun and age appropriate, challenging and inspiring activities which will support them in their physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social development. (P.I.L.E.S).Aistear’s approach is one that allows the child to lead their own activities with support of adults only when the child needs or requests it. The adults are mostly there to ensure the materials provided are appropriate to support each child’s needs. Also to provide a warm, safe, hygienic, stimulating and challenging environment for each child to reach their potential and their own natural learning pace. Nothing is forced or a child does not have to be able to do a certain thing, they learn at their own pace. Saying that the adult is there to observe and ensure the child is meeting or reaching their developmental milestones. If a delay is identified the adult will observe further and suggest but not the child to do different activities to suit their learning needs. HighScope on the other hand give children the opportunity to learn symbols or letters as everything is labelled, children begin to recognise letters or markings and understand these symbols are the names of the materials or items. As the HighScope method gives more opportunities for children to learn with natural or realistic materials such as within the home area real kettles or pots and utensils are provided for learning. This offers the children the learning opportunity of life skills. Which I feel is beneficial for children especially this day and age as many parents are always working children need to learn skills such as pouring themselves a drink. This can be used at home as well children can use mathematic skills in the shopping centre with parents or at home packing the shopping away or the washing counting stockings or pegs. HighScope also recommends parental involvement and although Aistear does require observations HighScope is stricter on observations and record keeping as daily observations are required in some cases. I do however feel both curriculums offer lots of different learning aspects, goals and opportunities. Both together can work extremely well and cover the child’s holistic environment and also support them in other factors of their environment such as culture and social also family and community. In my opinion either Aistear or HighScope would benefit a child’s holistic development if used properly, correctly and to its full potential. Using them combined would in my opinion offer more learning opportunities for each child and offer a lot more freedom and exploration learning opportunities for the children. As Aistear will support HighScope in the areas of the children’s overall well-being. HighScope will support Aistear offering the children with more choice and independence which will also support the child’s thinking and exploring and their identity and belonging, alongside their holistic development by doing activities and exploration. As both curriculums link to each other and are similar in many ways most of the learning goals are the same Aistear does however encourage lots more involvement from parents. HighScope offers lots of opportunities for independence, growth for confidence, self-esteem and decision making. Using the KDI’s as guidelines for learning opportunities as Aistear uses its four themes, aims and learning goals or outcomes. â€Å"Both sets of KDIs are arranged to correspond to the National Goals for Education in the USA. They equally relate to Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework in Ireland†. ‘The High Scope Approach to Early Learning’. Geraldine French. (2012) (arrow.DIT.ie) References and Bibliography National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). (2009). ‘Principles and Themes’. NCCA: Epstein, Ann S. (2007). ‘Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool Getting to know the HighScope Curriculum’. HighScope Press: Michigan, USA. National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). (2009). ‘Principles and Themes’. NCCA: Epstein, Ann S. (2007). ‘Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool Getting to know the HighScope Curriculum’. HighScope Press: Michigan, USA. ‘Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework’ cited on: http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Early_Childhood_and_Primary_Education/Early_Childhood_Education/Aistear_Toolkit/Activity_Exploring_Aistears_learning_goals_.pdf Accessed online [7th of June 2014] ‘High Scope: A Constructivist Approach’ Excerpt from Early Childhood Education Today, by G.S. Morrison, 2009 edition, p. 149-155. Cited on: http://www.education.com/reference/article/high-scope-constructivist-approach/ Accessed online [7th of June 2014] Melanie Klein project (2014) â€Å"Play Therapy† [Online], available at: https://sites.google.com/site/melaniekleinproject/work/play-therapy accessed online [17th January 2014] Early learning HQ (2014) â€Å"Inspirational Quotation Poster† [Online], available at: http://www.earlylearninghq.org.uk/latest-resources/inspirational-quotation-poster-margaret-mcmillan/ accessed [17th January 2014] About psychology (2014) â€Å"Jean Piaget Quotes† [Online], available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/early-child-development/a/jean-piaget-quotes.htm accessed [20th January 2014] ‘The High Scope Approach to Early Learning’ Geraldine French (2012) http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010context=aaschsslbk Accessed online [7th of June 2014] Marie GreyPage 1

Profiles in Courage: Sam Houston :: essays research papers

Sam Houston was a great man in our history. He stood up for what he believed was good for the Union not the North or the South. When Sam was rebuked for providing the winning margin for his opponents he said â€Å"I know neither North nor South; I know only the Union.† He also said everyone â€Å"†¦must stand firm to the Union, regardless of all personal consequences.† He was fiercely ambitious, yet at the end he sacrificed for principle all he had ever won or wanted. He was a Southerner, and yet he steadfastly maintained his loyalty to the Union. He could be all things to all men—and yet, when faced with his greatest challenge, he was faithful to himself and to Texas. When still a dreamy and unmanageable boy, he had run away from his Tennessee frontier home, and was adopted by the Cherokee Indians, who christened him Co-lon-neh, the Raven. An infantry officer under Andrew Jackson in 1813, his right arm had been shredded by enemy bullets when he alone had dashed into enemy lines at the battle of the Horseshoe, his men cowering in the hills behind him. A brave man he was indeed. Apparently he discovered but a few days after his marriage that his young and beautiful bride had been forced to accept his hand by an ambitious father, when in truth she loved another. Sam struck out with one grand assault on Texas officialdom by announcing himself a candidate for Governor in the 1857 election. But his votes on Kansas and other Southern measures could not be explained away to an angry constituency, and Texas handed Sam Houston the first trouncing of his political career. On November 10, 1857, Sam Houston was unceremoniously dismissed by the Texas Legislature and a more militant spokesman for the South elected as his successor. In the fall of 1859, the aging warrior again ran as an independent candidate for Governor, again with no party, no newspaper and no organization behind him, and making but one campaign speech. Houston delivered his inaugural address directly to the people from the steps of the Capitol, instead of before a joint session of the Legislature. Sam Houston earned his place in Profiles in Courage by his refusal to support the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This bill repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and would have allowed the residents of territories from Iowa to the Rocky Mountains to decide the slavery issue themselves.

South African Economy

From the days of Apartheid, to the times of today, South Africa has relied on foreign capital inflow for the purpose of sustaining high levels of growth through investment in the various sectors of the country. This great reliance on foreign investment has made South Africa vulnerable to fluctuations in the exchange rate and other global conditions. This essay will discuss the extent to which South Africa is reliant on foreign capital, reasons why this is so and the nature of these inflows.Exchange rate issues will also be discussed, with detail of how South Africa combated these issues in the various years that they arouse. Finally, methods on how South Africa can reduce its vulnerability to such fluctuations will be made apparent. South Africa’s reliance on foreign capital inflow After the end of The Apartheid era and the abolishment of all laws that were associated with the era, the various international sanctions and bands that were put on South Africa were lifted. This al lowed numerous countries to begin investing in South Africa.These foreign capital inflows were greatly needed by the South African economy as the new government had the following economic goals: â€Å"Attract foreign capital, reduce the large role of government as government owns half the countries fixed capital assets and facilitate gradual restructuring of industry along globally competitive lines† (Germishuis, 1999: 2). The two latter goals could only be achieved through proper financing for the government. During the 1994 era, domestically raised capital could not be used for the financing of local investment initiatives that promote economic growth.As Mohr (2003: 2) states, â€Å"Between January 1990 and June 1994, there was a steady net outflow of capital not related to reserves of almost R27 billion, partly as a result of repayments of foreign debt emanating from the 1985 debt standstill arrangement†. This effectively meant that South Africa had very little fund s available for boosting the investment industry which in turn helps with the sustainability of high levels of economic growth. Due to these foreign debt payments by domestic funds, South Africa heavily relies on foreign capital inflows for high levels of investment.Since the government was obviously aware of this situation, various policies and acts were put into action to attract foreign investment. â€Å"In 1997, South Africa managed to attract a net capital inflow of $3. 58 billion (3. 4 percent of GDP), more than seven times the $478 million invested in 1996. The inflow was predominantly long-term private capital, moving into stock and bond markets†(Germishuim, 1999: 1). Though the government was successful in attracting foreign capital inflows, a decrease in the domestic interest rate is eminent when capital inflows are high. From 1994 to 1999, net capital inflows in South Africa were on a steady rise for 3% of GDP in 1994 to a staggering 6. 5% of GDP in 1999† (Mo hamed, 2004: 28). Between 2000 and 2002, capital inflows fell to -2% of GDP. This was due to South Africa currency crisis in 2001 that led to high levels of capital flight in the country. After the new millennium, capital inflows in South Africa began to steadily rise and are now ranging between 4 and 7% of GDP. Exchange rate crisis of 1998 In 1997, East Asia experienced an exchange rate crisis. It is said that these countries were victims of their own success. Their very success led foreign investors to underestimate their underlying economic weaknesses†(IMF, 1998: 1). Because of large capital inflows that these economies enjoyed, there was increased demand for policies that protect the financial sector and institutions struggled to keep up with the demand. Since Asia is probably the largest exporter of goods in the world, a financial crisis in that region will evidently cause a ripple effect that will cause a global financial crisis. This Asia crisis added to what South Afri ca would have experienced the following year.In 1998, the South African currency dwelled into great depreciation. Causes of this crisis include: * Commodity prices * After the Asian financial crisis, the global demand for commodities had weakened, putting downward pressure on market prices of SA commodities. This meant a flight to safer havens such as United States commodities occurred. * Foreign Exchange Market intervention * In 1998 and 1996 as well, the South African Reserve Bank had heavily intervened in the foreign exchange market. These ventures resulted in net losses of $10 billion (8% GDP) and $14 billion (10% GDP) respectively.The capital for these ventures was acquired in the forward market, thus compromising SARB’s Net Open Forward position. * Mboweni Bump * 1998 saw the end term for the Governor of the Reserve Bank. The potential that Tito Mboweni might have left the position created doubt for South Africa and the Rand. (Saayman, 2007:1) To try and counter this cu rrency depreciation, the Reserve Bank believed that this depreciation was a temporary reaction to rumours of divisions within the government so they sold off massive amount of its foreign reserves (Diamond, Manning, Vasquez and Whitaker, 2003: 2).The Asia crisis, coupled by SA’s own currency issues led the exchange rate crisis. â€Å"The authorities reacted by intervention in reserves and then through raising of interest rates to stimulate growth. The policies implemented in 1998 did not solve the crisis but merely slowed down the process and created a false image. Yes the country did benefit through an increase in investment due to higher interest rates but paid the cost when the country was hit by another exchange rate crisis in 2001.The economy had to deal with the costs of increased debt, decreased capital inflows, which retards growth in the country. Exchange rate crisis of 2001 The Rand depreciated by 26% in nominal terms against the dollar in 2001 between September an d December. It is suggested that, â€Å"there was an acceleration in money growth in the summer of 2001, suggesting that the depreciation may have been a case of exchange rate overshooting† (Bhundia and Ricci, 2004: 1). Though this was the case, the South African Reserve Bank did not intervene or raise interest rates this time around (as was the case in 1998).Bhundia and Ricci (2004: 7-11) identify the following as probable cause of the 2001 financial crisis: * Delays in privatising Telkom * The SA government had announced that the privatisation of Telkom will happen in 2001 but this did not happen due to weakening global stock markets. This had a negative effect as it created doubt within the financial market of SA’s commitment to economic reform. * South African Reserve Bank’s Net open forward book * â€Å"The SARB’s forward book contained large short term liabilities.These low reserve adequacies have been found to increase the probability of exchange rate pressure (Bhundia and Ricci ,2004: 7). The forward book received from the Apartheid government was rather large and despite repayments made, the book remained huge. * Tightening of existing capital controls * The South African Reserve Bank announced on the 14th October 2001 that there would be a tightening of exchange rate controls. It was argued that, â€Å"this announcement reduced market liquidity and thereby contributed to the sharp rand depreciation† (Bhundia and Ricci, 2004: 8).Though market data cannot confirm this for sure, these actions and the time they were taken have an effect on the crisis of the time In 2001, the SA government and SARB decided to act differently than it did in 1998. The increase in interest rates of 1998 had limited effects on reducing depreciation and was seen to be costly for growth and investment. South Africa was less likely to be affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate as it did not hold large foreign currency.The South African g overnment decided not to intervene in interest rate percentages and reserve ratios. â€Å"The South African government have admitted that the 1998 intervention policy was inappropriate. When 2001 arrived, the intervention policy of 1998 was not used and that showed to be a very successful strategy as the macroeconomic reactions of the crisis were very few and over the next few years, the rand strengthened†(Bhundia and Ricci , 2004: 17). There was a large improvement in macroeconomic framework (policy), which made policy credibility stronger.The forward book that was utilised in 1998 was also abolished. â€Å"Also, the adoption of an inflation- targeting framework successfully provided a more credible nominal anchor for exchange rate expectations† (Bhundia and Ricci, 2004: 18). So effectively, the policy reactions of 2001 were more successful. Reduction of SA’s vulnerability to external shock SA is the economic powerhouse in Africa and hence needs measures that h elp reduce the effects of external shocks such as global financial crises.For this reduction to occur, certain conditions such as, â€Å"peace and security, quality institutions, infrastructure and support for the private sector must be in place† (UNECA, 2010: 11). With the above in place, South Africa should try and implement the following: * Provide sufficient policy space, so that policymakers can handle the shocks that are externally generated. * Improve the mobilization of domestic resources and encourage regional integration * Strengthen neighbouring country relations and cooperation * Increase private capital inflows Open new and improve existing markets * Heighten social safety nets that will minimise shocks effect on the poor * Investment in labour-intensive employment-focused public investment programmes that promote private sector growth. * Decrease the amount of debt owed The above mentioned points need to be encoded into policies that can be properly implemented by the government of South Africa and the South African Reserve Bank so as to reduce the vulnerability that SA has when it comes to external shocks. This objective has been achieved by South African economic policies.Monetary policies have been used to contain inflationary pressures and financial policies for the strengthening of public finance that will allow exchange rates that are competitive. In the February of 2000, an inflation targeting strategy was adopted that helped to regulate monetary growth within the economy. These policies have encouraged international competitiveness and assisted in the reduction of the current account deficit of 1999 (0. 4% of GDP), to 0. 3% of GDP in 2000 (IMF, 2001: 1). In 2006, real Gross domestic product grew by 5% and continued to grow into early 2007.During the start of the new millennium, the SARB publically announced that it would have a foreign market intervention policy that was used solely for boosting reserves. This new approach was succ essful because by 2007 May, gross reserves had reached $27,9 billion (IMF, 2007: 1). This shows that South Africa has been successful economic policies in place: policies that will combat external shock. A United Nations report places South Africa as one of the six oil importing nations that withstood the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.This was done through implementation of stimulus packages and affective countercyclical fiscal and monetary policies that encouraged expenditure on services and infrastructure (UNECA, 2010, 8). Conclusion The new South African government had to take the mess of the past and turn it into the message of the future. A message that says that anything is possible; all that is needed are the correct tools, used in the correct scenarios. With the various monetary and fiscal policies put into play in South Africa, I have no doubt that we are ready for the next global financial crisis.

About the National Security Agency

About the National Security Agency The National Security Agency is a highly specialized and vital unit of the American intelligence community that works to create and break secret codes, a science known as cryptology. The National Security Agency, or NSA, reports to the U.S. Department of Defense. The work of the National Security Agency is done in secret and in the name of national security. The government did not even acknowledge the NSA existed for some time. The National Security Agencys nickname is No Such Agency. What the NSA Does The National Security Agency gathers intelligence by conducting surveillance on its adversaries through the collection of phone-call, email and Internet data. The intelligence agency has two primary missions: preventing foreign adversaries from stealing sensitive or classified national security information from the United States, and collecting, processing and disseminating information from foreign signals for counterintelligence purposes. History of the National Security Agency The National Security Agency was created on Nov. 4, 1952, by President Harry S. Truman. The intelligence agencys foundation has its genesis in the work U.S. forces conducted during World War II in breaking German and Japanese codes, which it describes as a crucial factor in the Allied success against German U-Boats in the North Atlantic and victory at the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. How the NSA is Difference From the FBI and CIA The Central Intelligence Agency deals mostly with gathering intelligence on Americas enemies and conducts covert operations overseas. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the other hand, operates within the U.S borders as a law-enforcement agency. The NSA is primarily a foreign intelligence agency, meaning that it is authorized to collect data to prevent threats from foreign countries. However, in 2013 it was revealed that the NSA and FBI had allegedly been collecting phone-call data from Verizon and other information from servers operated by none U.S. Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. Leadership of the NSA The head of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service is appointed by the secretary of the Department of Defense and approved by the president. The NSA/CSS director must be a commissioned military officer who has earned at least three stars. The current director of the intelligence agency is U.S. Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander. The NSA and Civil Liberties The surveillance activities of the NSA and every other intelligence agency often raise questions about civil liberties, and whether Americans are being subjected to unconstitutional invasions of privacy. In a statement published on the NSAs website, agency deputy director John C. Inglis wrote: Im often asked the question, Whats more important – civil liberties or national security? Its a false question; its a false choice. At the end of the day, we must do both, and they are not irreconcilable. We have to find a way to ensure that we support the entirety of the Constitution – that was the intention of the framers of the Constitution, and thats what we do on a daily basis at the National Security Agency. Still, the NSA has publicly acknowledged that it has inadvertently collected communications from some Americans without a warrant in the name of national security. It has not said how often that happens, though. Who Oversees the NSA Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Government surveillance agencies are also subject to review by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which was created by Congress in 2004.

Slave Reparations essays

Slave Reparations essays Forty acres and a mule was what the U.S. government promised former black slaves during the Reconstruction Period, following the Civil War. That promise never came true and now, over a century later, the topic of reparations is still being heavily debated. Both sides of this story have such a great number of relevant and significant arguments that the issue of slave reparations could run in circles for years on end. Slavery was, and continues to be in some countries, a travesty of one man displaying power over another. The torment and injuries endured by a single inferior race at the hands of a more dominant one are frightening. But should a completely new generation, one that had nothing to do with slavery, be held accountable for the actions of a generation over a hundred years ago? What good would an Im sorry and some money do in bringing an end to the tidal wave of racism that has washed across the Unites States since the countrys inception. Any talk of slave reparations s hould be dropped immediately because the process of trying to find out who will be paid and who will be the ones paying has too many questions and not enough concrete answers, payment of reparations will only open more wounds between blacks and whites instead of healing the ones that are already present, and reparations would further solidify the perception of blacks as second-class. The topic of slave reparations cannot be discussed without talk of who is going to make the payments. The idea behind slave reparations is to have an entire race of people pay reparations to another entire race of people. The problem with the previous statement is that the reason for reparation does not cover each and every person on both sides of the issue. There are many reasons to include or not include a person based on what that persons ancestors did or believed. For example, there are blacks th ...

Film Analysis of the Written on the wind Movie Review

Film Analysis of the Written on the wind - Movie Review Example Marylee, for example, has a strong lustful attraction to Mitch since they were children. Though Mitch shows no interest of indulging in to a relationship with her, she is still persistent in pursuing after him. One night, she is overcome by the fact that Mitch is not at her disposal and she goes on to pick up Biff Miley, an ex-football player from her high school days. The first few words that she utters are indicative of the vacuous sexual needs and existence. The writer also highlights how the culture in the 1950’s prompted people to pursue after success and in the process forget how to raise up their family. When Kyle, who has resumed his drinking habits after his visit to the doctor, is brought home by Mitch and Lucy; and Marylee is dropped by the police at home together with Biff, Jasper is exasperated by the behavior of his children. At this point, he mentions to Mitch of how his marriage has been a flunk, how his relationship with his brother has worsened, and finally, how his two children have developed a reputation that is contrary to his desires. What Jasper is trying to Mitch is that he has failed in the patriarchal society. It is therefore evident that the writer is of the view that the politics and culture in the 1950’s were patriarchal. The film several themes that are prevalent throughout the film. The themes depict or bring to light the squalid issues in society during the 1950’s. Nymphomania is one of the themes that is highlighted in the film. Marylee is the character that the writer uses to highlight this theme. She has the urge to relieve her sexual tensions with Mitch but his withdrawal forces her to go and sleep with other men. When she is brought home by the police after she, together with Biff are arrested, Biff mentions that it’s... This movie review focuses on the Written on the wind film, that iis a 1956 film which was directed by Douglas Sirk. The film draws its name from the Robert Wilders 1945 novel, â€Å"Written on The Wind†. It gives an account of the real life scandal that involved Libby Holman and her husband Zachary Smith Reynolds, who was a tobacco heir. However, in the film, Gorge Zuckerman, the man in charge of the screen play, changes the characters and the location of the source of the family wealth. He shifts it to Texas from North Carolina and substitutes the tobacco with oil. In conclusion, the film can be categorized as both a shaper of the 1950’s culture and a reflection of it. The film is reflection of the culture because it depicts how people in the 1950’s were so much indulged in the pursuit of riches and fame that in the process, they lost track of what was valuable to society; that is family. It also reflects how people in power during this period put on facades and hid their true nature and problems behind these facades. Kyle for example was wearing a â€Å"dashing playboy† faà §ade to hide the fact that he could not be what his father expected him to be and that he had problems. The film is a shaper because it points out the societal ills that were present in the 1950’s. It was therefore an eye opener to everyone who was living in this era that the society was slowly decaying and the morals were slowly being lost. However, the shaping function of the film is very minimal when compared to the reflection function because not much change was initiated after the film was released.

Employee Benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employee Benefits - Essay Example This measure may be used effectively as an incentive tool - where managers will be provided with a ten days paid vacation trip (in the form of a package), on condition that he/she has completed two years of service and has been able to successfully achieve target set (both qualitative and quantitative). In ensure full productivity in the highly labor intensive spa industry, it is necessary to provide offs to the employees, which will help them rejuvenate. An implication here may be that the employees may opt for the holidays in unison, and that this may become an issue, especially during festivals. Proper counseling and the mention of an appropriate clause in the contract will ensure that this plan is implemented soundly. The scheme of holidays may be devised as follows: In a bid to be engaged to the Spa, the management may extended benefits like free training to one family member, on condition that the trainee will be absorbed into the organization on the successful completion of the training program. The managers and his/her family members should be provided professional support for working through personal challenges, which can imbalance their working life, such as family problems, financial issues, legal issues and emotional problems.

King Saud University Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

King Saud University - Essay Example They offer a complete free tuition in addition of providing scholarships to both the International and Saudi Arabia students. The university is situated in vast state of modern art campus in addition of being equipped with the modern technological instructions. For Internal audit to remain important to the King Saud University management then it must always adapt to the ever changing expectations of the seven universities in addition of maintaining alignment with the objectives of the university. There should be a systematic and a structured process for developing the internal audit strategic plan for the university; the strategic plan will include the following in addition to the mission and vision of the university; For the three years strategic plan, the initial step should be â€Å"Planning to plan† it should represent the necessary work before the beginning of primary planning process. The university internal management should agree on the efforts of overall strategic planning and the significant planning steps that will be undertaken. The university organization should also consider, evaluate and review the legislative/constitutional mandate since this will determine their future as well as daily academic business. The mission and vision of the university should also be its considerations before coming up with strategic planning. For the three years strategic planning, the university should identify its purpose and mandate of existence to avoid unnecessary conflict that might arise, which can also help in channeling a productive discussion and activity. The vision statement will make the university identify how it will appear in the future after successfully implemented its strategies as well as achieving its full potentiality. The three year strategic plan should also include a developed internal audit’s strategic vision. It should identify the responsibilities functional roles, mandates, stakeholders’ needs and

Legitimacy Theory Essay Example for Free

Legitimacy Theory Essay â€Å"Legitimacy is a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions† (Suchman, 1995, p. 574, emphasis in original) Legitimacy theory has become one of the most cited theories within the social and environmental accounting area. Yet there remains deep scepticism amongst many researchers that it offers any real insight into the voluntary disclosures of corporations. This brief paper outlines responses to two specific concerns identified in the literature. It will eventually form part of a much larger project addressing a range of issues associated with legitimacy theory. First, the paper brings some of the more recent developments in the management and ethical literature on legitimacy and corporations to the accounting table. Second, there are contributions to the theory that have already been made by accounting researchers that are yet to be fully recognised. The author believes that legitimacy theory does offer a powerful mechanism for understanding voluntary social and environmental disclosures made by corporations, and that this understanding would provide a vehicle for engaging in critical public debate. The problem for legitimacy theory in contributing to our understanding of accounting disclosure specifically, and as a theory in general, is that the term has on occasion been used fairly loosely. This is not a problem of the theory itself, and the observation could be equally applied to a range of theories in a range of disciplines (see for example Caudill (1997) on the abuse of Evolutionary Theory). Failure to adequately specify the theory has been identified by Suchman (1995, p. 572, emphasis in original), who observed that â€Å"Many researchers employ the term legitimacy, but few define it†. Hybels (1995, p. 241) comments that â€Å"As the tradesmen [sic] of social science have groped to build elaborate theoretical structures with which to shelter their careers and  disciplines, legitimation has been a blind man’s hammer.† This paper begins to address these issues. Not One Theory but Two (at least) An important issue which needs to be acknowledged is that there are in fact two major classes of legitimacy theory. These are graphically presented in Figure 1 below. The ‘macro-theory’ of legitimation, known as Institutional Legitimacy Theory, deals with how organisational structures as a whole (capitalism for example, or government) have gained acceptance from society at large. â€Å"Within this tradition, legitimacy and institutionalization are virtually synonymous. Both phenomena empower organizations primarily by making them seem natural and meaningful† (Suchman, 1995, p. 576, emphasis in original). In terms of accounting research, given the time frames involved and questions generally being considered, the current business environment, including the capitalist structure, democratic government, etc. are generally taken as a given, a static context within which the research is situated. This assumption would, however, need to be carefully considered for a longitudinal study of any significant length. Figure 1: Layers of Legitimacy Theory INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL GOVERNMENT RELIGION SOCIETY CAPITALISM ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL (IN THIS CASE: COMPANY LTD BY SHARE) Establishment Defence Extension Maintenance From the Moral to the Measurable One layer down from the Institutional Level is what in Figure 1 is called the â€Å"Organisational Level† (sometimes referred to as Strategic Legitimacy Theory). â€Å"Underlying organizational legitimacy is a process, legitimation, by which an organization seeks approval (or avoidance of sanction) from groups in society† (Kaplan and Ruland, 1991, p. 370). It is from this level  that most accounting research tends to draw its understanding of legitimacy. Mathews (1993, p. 350) provides a good definition of legitimacy at this level: Organisations seek to establish congruence between the social values associated with or implied by their activities and the norms of acceptable behaviour in the larger social system in which they are a part. In so far as these two value systems are congruent we can speak of organisational legitimacy. When an actual or potential disparity exists between the two value systems there will exist a threat to organisational legitimacy. At its simplest, within the Organisational view â€Å"legitimacy [is] an operational resource that organizations extract often competitively from their cultural environments and that they employ in pursuit of their goals† (Suchman, 1995, p. 575 6, emphasis in original). Legitimacy, just like money, is a resource a business requires in order to operate. Certain actions and events increase that legitimacy, and others decrease it. Low legitimacy will have particularly dire consequences for an organisation, which could ultimately lead to the forfeiture of their right to operate. Although we can describe a firm as being legitimate, and conceive of ‘amounts’ of legitimacy, it becomes a very subjective exercise to try and directly measure legitimacy. Although it has concrete consequences, legitimacy itself is an abstract concept, given reality by multiple actors in the social environment. For a researcher to try and directly establish, or even rank, the legitimacy of various organisations would seem to be a necessarily subjective undertaking, preferencing the researcher’s own views. As Hybels (1995, p. 243) argues, â€Å"I reject this view because it is based on a conflation of the roles of observer and participant in social science†. As an alternative, rather than trying to subjectively measure a firm’s legitimacy directly it can instead be inferred from the fact that being legitimate â€Å"enables organizations to attract resources necessary for survival (e.g., scarce materials, patronage, political approval)† (Hearit, 1995, p. 2). Hybels (1995, p. 243) develops this in some detail: Legitimacy often has been conceptualized as simply one of many resources that organizations must obtain from their environments. But rather than viewing legitimacy as something that is exchanged among institutions, legitimacy is better conceived as both part of the context for exchange and  a by-product of exchange. Legitimacy itself has no material form. It exists only as a symbolic representation of the collective evaluation of an institution, as evidenced to both observers and participants perhaps most convincingly by the flow of resources. †¦ resources must have symbolic import to function as value in social exchange. But legitimacy is a higher-order representation of that symbolism – a representation of representations. Hybels (1995, p. 243) argues that good models in legitimacy theory must examine the relevant stakeholders, and how â€Å"Each influences the flow of resources crucial to the organizations’ establishment, growth, and survival, either through direct control or by the communication of good will†. He identifies (p. 244) four critical organisational stakeholders, each of which control a number of resources. These are summarised in Table 1 below. Table 1: Critical Organisational Stakeholder STAKEHOLDER RESOURCES CONTROLLED Contracts, grants, legislation, regulation, tax (Note that the (1) The state last three of these could be either a ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ depending on the implementation) (2) The public (3) The financial community (4) The media Few ‘direct resources’; however, can substantially influence the decisions of stakeholders (2) (3) (if not (1)) Patronage (as customer), support (as community interest), labour Investment The last of these has received considerable attention. The power of the media has been noted by a number of researchers, including Patten (2002, p. 153), who states â€Å"that while increased media attention can certainly lead to the potential for increased pressures from any of the three sources [dissatisfaction of public; new or proposed political action; increased regulatory oversight], increases in pressure can  also arise, particularly with respect to regulatory oversight.† See also Deegan et al. (2000, 2002). Companies try to manage their legitimacy because it â€Å"helps to ensure the continued inflow of capital, labour and customers necessary for viability†¦ It also forestalls regulatory activities by the state that might occur in the absence of legitimacy and pre-empts product boycotts or other disruptive actions by external parties By mitigating these potential problems, organizational legitimacy provides managers with a degree of autonomy to decide how and where business will be conducted† (Neu  et al., 1998, p. 265). Researchers need to move away from trying to directly assess legitimacy, and instead focus on measuring it in terms of the resources relevant stakeholders provide. â€Å"Rather than engage in the further development of entirely abstract constructions of the legitimation process†¦ researchers should investigate the flow of resources from organizational constituencies as well as the pattern and content of communications† (Hybels, 1995, p. 244). But Wait†¦ There’s More As shown in Figure 1 Organisational Legitimacy Theory suggests that a firm may be in one of four phases with regard to its legitimacy. These phases are outlined below, some examples of industries/firms that might be considered to be operating in each of these phases are included (further research needs to be undertaken in this area). Establishing Legitimacy. (E.g. Stem Cell based bio-tech). This first phase represents the early stages of a firm’s development and tends to revolve around issues of competence, particularly financial, but the organisation must be aware of â€Å"socially constructed standards of quality and desirability as well as perform in accordance with accepted standards of professionalism† (Hearit, 1995, p. 2). Maintaining Legitimacy. (The majority of organisations). This is the phase that most firms would generally expect to be operating in, where their â€Å"activities include: (1) ongoing role performance and symbolic assurances that all is well, and (2) attempts to anticipate and prevent or forestall potential challenges to legitimacy† (Ashford and Gibbs, 1990, p. 183). However the maintenance of legitimacy is not as easy as it may at first appear. Legitimacy is a dynamic construct. â€Å"Community expectations are not considered static, but rather, change across time thereby requiring organisations to be responsive to the environment in which they operate. An organisation could, accepting this view, lose its legitimacy even if it has not changed its activities from activities which were previously deemed acceptable (legitimate)† (Deegan et al., 2002, p. 319 20). Extending Legitimacy. (E.g. Alternative Health Providers). There may come a point where an organisation enters new markets or changes the way it relates to its current market. This can give rise to a need to extend  legitimacy which is â€Å"apt to be intense and proactive as management attempts to win the confidence and support of wary potential constituents† (Ashford and Gibbs, 1990, p. 180). Defending Legitimacy. (E.g. Uranium Mining). Legitimacy may be threatened by an incident (internal or external), and therefore require defence. â€Å"Legitimation activities tend to be intense and reactive as management attempts to counter the threat† (Ashford and Gibbs, 1990, p. 183). Even barring a major incident it is likely in the Western Capitalist system that almost every corporation will regularly need to defend its legitimacy, by the mere fact that â€Å"corporations must fulfil both a competence and community requirement to realize legitimacy†¦ Satisfaction of stockholder interests often occurs at the expense of community concerns (e.g., the despoiling of the environment, the use of labour) while, conversely, responsibility to the larger community often occurs at the expense of the stockholder† (Hearit, 1995, p. 3). It is this last phase that has tended to be the main focus of accounting researchers. It also provides us with the clearest opportunity to examine the crucial link between legitimacy and resources. Lindblom (1994), a key paper cited by many Social and Environmental Accounting researchers, also seems relevant specifically to this phase only. An example of work in this area is Deegan et al.’s (2000) study of five major incidents (including the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Bhopal Disaster) which provided a context to examine the annual reports of related (in industrial terms) Australian firms to see if there had been a significant change in their social or environmental reporting. They concluded: The results of this study are consistent with legitimacy theory and show that companies do appear to change their disclosure policies around the time of major company and industry related social events. †¦ These results highlight the strategic nature of voluntary social disclosures and are consistent with a view that management considers that annual report social disclosures are a useful device to reduce the effects upon a corporation of events that are perceived to be unfavourable to a corporation’s image (Deegan et al., 2000, p. 127). The Diagnosis Needs Refinement This is where the traditional legitimacy model stops. However my own  research, into the tobacco industry, Tilling (2004), and that of other researchers, including experimental research undertaken by O’Donovan (2002), suggest a further development of the Organisational Legitimacy Level, as depicted in Figure 2 below. Added to the model is the possibility that a firm may not successfully (or may be unable to) defend the threat to its legitimacy and actually start to lose legitimacy. Figure 2: Refinement of the Organisational Level of Legitimacy Theory Establishment Loss Defence Disestablishment Extension Maintenance In this model the defence phase is usually entered by an organisation after some form of one-off ‘incident’ or ‘accident’ which threatens its legitimacy. This phase could be characterised as being ‘acute’, it can be serious, some times even fatal, but usually, with proper management, the organisation can maintain, or at least recover, its legitimacy. However should there be an ongoing series of events, indicative of a systemic issue, e.g. the nuclear power industry, or a single event with permanent consequences which cannot be effectively managed, e.g. realisation that the organisation’s product is not safe such as the tobacco industry, an organisation is likely to have its legitimacy eroded over a period of time (the ‘loss’ phase), which can be characterised as ‘chronic’. The issue can be difficult to manage, and generally leads to declining legitimacy, however the loss may be managed and slowed over a long period of time, or significant change could lead to reestablishment of legitimacy. The ‘loss’ phase is most likely to be preceded by sustained media and NGO scrutiny, and accompanied by increasing government regulation, monitoring and possibly taxation. Within this phase there are likely to be periods where the company will increase its voluntary social and environmental disclosure in an effort to meet specific threats (such as to postpone or defeat proposed regulations) or to communicate systemic corporate change  (similar to the defence phase). However, with each new restriction average total disclosure can be expected to decrease. This idea is alluded to by O’Donovan (2002) who argues, based on experimental evidence, that the lower the perceived legitimacy of the organisation, the less likely it is to bother providing social and environmental disclosure. Watch This Space Legitimacy theory offers researchers, and the wider public, a way to critically unpack corporate disclosures. However the understanding and study of the theory must become more sophisticated, drawing on developments both within the accounting literature and beyond. Only then will the full potential of legitimacy theory for examining a wide range of disclosures be fully realised. Areas that would provide useful insights include at the moment the asbestos industry (as it goes through the disestablisment phase), brothels (as they become much more legitimate within the Australian context), and the forestry industry (as it tries to defend its legitimacy), to name but a few. The knowledge gained will then be used to provide better and more useful information to inform decision making by stakeholders. In this way society is empowered to have greater control and oversight over the way resources are allocated. References: Ashford, B. E. and B. W. Gibbs (1990) â€Å"The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation†, Organization Science, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 177 194. Caudill, E. (1997) Darwinian Myths: The Legends and Misuses of a Theory, Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press. Deegan, C., M. Rankin and J. Tobin (2002) â€Å"An Examination of the Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosures of BHP from 1983-1997: A Test of Legitimacy Theory†, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 312 343. Deegan, C., M. Rankin and P. Voght (2000) â€Å"Firms’ Disclosure Reactions to Major Social Incidents: Australian Evidence†, Accounting Forum, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 101 130. Hearit, K. M. (1995) â€Å"‘Mistakes Were Made’: Organizations, Apologia, and Crises of Social Legitimacy†, Communication Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1-2, pp. 1 17. Hybels, R. C. (1995) â€Å"On Legitimacy, Legitimation, and Organizations: A Critical Review and Integrative Theoretical Model†, Academy of Management  Journal, Special Issue: Best Papers Proceedings, 1995, pp. 241 245. Kaplan, S. E. and R. G. Ruland (1991) â€Å"Positive Theory, Rationality and Accounting Regulation†, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 361 374. Lindblom, C. K. (1994), â€Å"The Implications of Organizational Legitimacy for Corporate Social Performance and Disclosure†, Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, New York. Mathews, M. R. (1993) Socially Responsible Accounting, UK, Chapman Hall. Neu, D., H. Warsame and K. Pedwell (1998) â€Å"Managing Public Impressions: Environmental Disclosures in Annual Reports†, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 265 282. O’Donovan, G. (2002) â€Å"Environmental Disclosures in the Annual Report: Extending the Applicability and Predictive Power of Legitimacy Theory†, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 344 371. Patten, D. M. (2002) â€Å"Media Exposure, Public Policy Pressure, and Environmental Disclosure: An Examination of the Impact of Tri Data Availability†, Accounting Forum, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 152 171. Suchman, M. C. (1995) â€Å"Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches†, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 571 610. Tilling, M. (2004), â€Å"Communication at the Edge: Voluntary Social and Environmental Reporting in the Annual Report of a Legitimacy Threatened Corporation†. APIRA Conference Proceedings, Singapore, July.