Same Sex Marriage Essays (1036 words) - LGBT History,

Same Sex Marriage How do most couples show the world that they are in a loving, devoted, committed relationship? How does one express that they want to spend the rest of their life with one particular person? This is normally done through a marriage, celebrated by a wedding, certified by a marriage license. Homosexuals are human; therefore they are capable of loving another person just as any heterosexual human. Yet, homosexuals are unable to obtain a marriage license anywhere in this country at this time. This needs to be changed; same-sex marriages should be legal in the United States of America. According to the Constitution, marriage is a civil right that all Americans are born with. Our country has decided by passing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996 that two people of the same gender cannot get married (Alm et al. 201). By taking away this basic civil right, America has defied what our Founding Fathers based our country one, freedom. Homosexuals are allowed to speak freely, to bear arms, to have privacy, to be protected; what about to marry? It is wrong to base a person's civil rights on sexuality. Along with the basic civil right to marry, there are other rights that the Defense of Marriage Act denies homosexuals. Rights that married people take for granted, such as the ability to visit a sick or injured spouse in the hospital, are denied to gay and lesbian people. Because of the law, hospitals and other institutions do not have to respect the basic human rights of gay and lesbian couples. Likewise, if one partner in a married couple is seriously ill and incapacitated, the other spouse should be able to make decisions regarding their care and guardianship. This basic right of guardianship is denied to gay and lesbian couples, because, again, their committed relationships are not recognized under the law. If one partner is incapacitated, the other partner is not given the right to make basic health care decisions. If homosexual couples had legal partnerships, there would not be any cases of confusion over guardianship or visitation in places like hospitals. There is also a financial perk to legalizing same-sex marriages in this country. It is predicted that there would be a large income tax revenue, and that should make most tax-paying citizens happy. In most same-sex couples, both people hold jobs so they are both earners. A married couple with two earners normally has a high income tax, meaning more money for the government. Therefore, if same-sex marriages are allowed, the tax revenue will increase due to more marriages consisting of two earners (Alm et al. 202). Many people argue that homosexuality is dirty, unclean, or disgusting. They say that most gay people have sexually transmitted diseases. The only reason that society still has this view of homosexuality is that they do not see the relationship side of it. With same-gender marriages being illegal, the only kind of sex that can go on in gay relationships is out of wedlock. This is what promotes the viewpoint of promiscuity in the gay community. When homosexual marriages are made legal and become popular, society's view of gay people will become more positive. The nation as a whole is looking at gay marriage as a moral issue; everyone must hold the same beliefs and values. In this country, there are a so many different religions and ethnicities, making it impossible for all citizens to have the same beliefs. This issue of same-gender marriages should be looked at much the same way as the issue of abortion was looked at. Hank Nichols explained this quite well by saying, ?the Supreme Court did not require that we all approve of abortions, only that we accept the right to abortion? (Nichols 2). No minister should be required to marry any same-sex couple, but these marriages should be recognized in all states. Marriage has always been seen as a personal decision in this country, but obviously it is not. The government has the power to say that two people of the same gender cannot get married; are two, law-abiding, tax-paying adults not responsible enough to decide for themselves who to spend the rest of their lives with? What ever happened to

A Child Of Nature Cannot Survive In Civilization essays

A Child Of Nature Cannot Survive In Civilization essays A Child Of Nature Cannot Survive In Civilization The fact that a sheltered child cannot survive in civilization is made abundantly clear in A Separate Peace. Throughout this novel, author John Knowles gives many examples along with details of why this is not possible and how lives become corrupt when it occurs. After Leper came back from the war, he was an extremely different person. Where as, before, he was laidback and silent. However, when he escaped and went back, he was blunt and fanatical. On page 135, Gene tells how the Leper of the beaver dam could not have said the words that were coming out of his mouth at that moment. The things he experienced were so different than the manner in which things were at Devon that he flipped into a complete stranger. Near the end of the novel, the adult Gene explains how all the young men he knew at Devon reached a point at which everything in the world seemed so overwhelming. Their characters eventually broke as a result. Being sheltered from all evil by the walls of! Devon, the boys had no understanding of the outside world, for they lived in an artificial one. Because of this, every one of the boys went through a dilemma. Living in a place where there was no hardcore violence had its flaws in the long run, because we do not live in a perfect world. On the last page, Gene describes how Leper had emerged from a protective cloud only to meet horror face to face. Once again, the hostility and harshness of the war comes into factor. After coming out like a butterfly from a cocoon, there was no turning back for the boys at Devon. Nothing could save them from the evils they would meet after leaving the safeness of Devon. No one, except their fellow classmates, would ever understand their helplessness, for outsiders could not fathom the circumstances under which they were institutionalized and deceived. ...

Autonomy and Terminal Illness Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Autonomy and Terminal Illness - Case Study Example Sally is described as terminally ill with metastasis in other vital organs by her oncologist and confirmed by her attending physician as a poor candidate for the continuance of chemotherapy treatment. As a patient, Sally has the right to be informed on all the treatment that she is supposed to receive and so with her family members. However, since she is in denial of her condition and in panic of her impending death, the physician has the autonomy to decide to write the Do not resuscitate order. In this scenario, the involvement of the patient in decision making is not that important since she will be less concern on the adverse effects of resuscitation on her health. Equally important to consider is the wish of the patient to be treated the way she likes. Treating the patient as she wishes is within the scope of professional code of the doctors. It is their responsibility to deliver quality care to their patients and treat them the way their patients like it to be. However, this seems not applicable in Sally’s condition because it is not consistent with the physician’s AMA code of ethics which dictates they have the obligation to modify management goal to palliative form if other treatments is in effective ( McCabe, 2008). This is further supported by the statement of Dr. Reith Rose, Sunnybrook executive vice president in her written statement that when clinical teams determine that further interventions would have no benefit to the patient, health care providers are not obliged to provide intervention that lie outside the standard care which indeed may well cause harm ( Smith, 2010). Although, the medical goal of the physician is to prolong life, the Do not resuscitate (DNR) order should be applied to Sally even after taking into consideration its ethical theories, patient’s right, and professional code of doctors because it is the lesser evil. Resuscitating Sally is deemed medically

Communicable Disease Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Communicable Disease Paper - Essay Example Chicken pox can be spread easily through sneezing or coughing, even rapidly. Furthermore, any direct contact with the secretions of the blisters will spread the chicken pox from one person to another. An individual who is infected is contagious and infectious two days before the rash appears or any sign of chicken pox appears. This continues for about four to five days. â€Å"Varicella has an incubation period of between 10 and 21 days - i.e. the rash will appear from 10 to 21 days after the virus has infected the patient.† (Medical News Today, 2014) There is no way of reducing the length of time a child has chicken pox, only making the symptoms more bearable. A vaccine against chicken pox is used as part of the normal vaccination program. â€Å"They are mainly caused by the varicella virus which is either caused by the direct contact with blisters or through sneezing and coughing.† (Gosh.nhs.uk, 2014) Every individual usually catches chicken pox once in a lifetime. As it is one of the most communicable diseases, mostly children catch chicken pox sooner or later in their lives. Mainly everyone near the infected individual is at risk if they have not gone through this disease before. It is not possible to alter the time-period for which a child has chicken pox. â€Å"However, in most cases there is no need to keep the child away from nursery or school if they have been in contact with chicken pox but not caught the illness.† (Webmd.com, 2014) It is not possible to alter the time-period for which a child has chicken pox. Vaccinations, however, are used as part of the general program. If a child has fever, it should be brought down using paracetamol as it is effective from the start. This is done because when a child has chicken pox, he must be kept cool and in a normal temperature. Heat and sweating makes itching worse, hence the condition of child gets worse. A child suffering from this disease should be

Seamus Heaney Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Seamus Heaney - Essay Example Some of the prizes he has won include the T.S Elliot Prize, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry and most notably the Nobel Prize in Literature, just to name a few. Seamus Heaney was born seventy three years ago (in 1939) in Castledawson, County Derry in Northern Ireland. He was the first born in large family, having eight siblings to show for it (McCarthy 9). His father, Patrick Heaney was a cattle trader in Castledawson and most of young Seamus’ childhood was spent in the rural setting. This environment of the countryside, fuelled with other factors would prove to be important, forming an integral part of Seamus’ literary works, especially his poetry. Seamus Heaney attended a local primary school in his native town. At the tender age of twelve years, he won a scholarship to attend St Columb’s College. This was a catholic boarding school, also found within the environs of his native town. During his time at St. Columb’s, he gained further skills that would later help him map out his career. He learnt Latin and Irish languages, a fact that was crucial in his turning out to be a translator. In 1953, his family moved out from his rural County of Derry. However, his thoughts, feelings and aspirations were still strongly entangled with his rural homeland. After St. Columb’s College, the other education pot that Seamus drank from was Queen’s University in Belfast. He graduated with a degree in Literature in 1961 from Queen’s. While there, he studied Anglo-Saxon, another contributor to his translation skills. He was to later on, (1966-1972) come back to lecture at his former school. His writing career o fficially began while he was at Queens. His first works that earned him recognition came about in the 1960s (Buttel, 12). It is at about the same time when he met his wife, Marie Devlin. Marie

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay

Distributed Denial Of Service DDOS Attack Computer Science Essay Information technology is an exciting and emerging day by day technology which requires communication systems for data and services exchange. As nowadays every services and products uses computer and internet as a medium to interchange data or money in an open internet, hence prone to vulnerabilities. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an attack to the availability of the resources available, so that authenticated users do not use those resources. This paper intended to explore the existing threats and vulnerabilities of DDoS with possible solutions and recommendations plus overview and architecture methodology of this kind of attack. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability are the three main features of the any computer network communication systems. DDoS which is a subset of Denial of service (DoS) attack, which result in overwhelming the victim machine and deny the services to its legitimate users results in Unavailability of the resources and services for concern clients. Some examples are smurf attack, SYN UDP floods and ping of death. DDoS is a type of DoS attack but uses distributed computers from different location to attack on a particular victim may be a server or client which results into the stopping of its functionality to provide services, hence unavailability of the server ultimately results loss in monetary plus status of the organization. It works by flooding all the network of the given organization with unwanted traffic, the first well known DDoS was identified in 2000 on yahoo.com which goes down to around two hours. The DDoS is a result of weakness of internet which prone to several vulne rabilities as internet was designed only for functionality but not concern about any security. As internet is an open network everything is open and is shared among authenticated users. Another big problem is that it is not centralized network different organization, different countries have their own rules and regulation regarding internet. DDoS Layer Involved The DDoS attack mainly occurs in three layers of the OSI model which are layer 3 (Network) layer 4 (transport) and layer 7 (application). In transport layer what exactly happens is that attacker uses a forged IP address to request for connection so in typical connection, 3 way TCP handshake is done but in this attack it does not complete 3 way handshake but send connection request over and over server reserves resources for each attempt and results in out of connection requires for the legitimate users. In network layer it includes ping of death and ICMP requests, where as in application layer is kind of effective DDoS attack and hard to detect because it passes the 3 way handshake and treated as authenticated user to the concern server, so attacker requests a large amount of data continuously through HTTP and results in avoiding its legitimate users as got busy with those false requests. In DDoS attack a combination of those three layers results in an effective attack that results i n some really drastic effects. Application Layer Presentation Layer Session Layer Transport Layer Network Layer Data link Layer Physical Layer Fig: 1-Layers Involved in DDoS DDoS Architecture The main purpose of DDoS attack is to overwhelm the related server and makes it down, it can be for benefit or for fun only but in both case legitimate clients suffered as bandwidth, resources, memory and CPU got wasted. DDoS attack architecture consists of hierarchy pattern to attack; the four main components of DDoS are as follows: Attacker Master Machines/Handler Zombie Machines Victim First of all attacker scans thousands of computers on the internet independent of the origin of the systems for known vulnerabilities that is which have minimum security aspect on the computer and makes Master machines or handlers, its consists of more than two systems to many depends upon how sophisticated is attack, after making handlers rest scans for the vulnerable systems is done by these handlers, which results in thousands of zombies across the globe without knowledge of concern users and when these zombies are ready attacker can execute for attack and makes the victim down. Attacker Master Machines/Handlers Zombie Machines Victim Fig: 2- DDoS Architecture As seen from the above figure attacker takes control of one or more than one masters which then take control over thousands zombies and when triggered at a specific time these zombies flood the victim. These attack results with the use of some tools (software or malware) which to be install on the masters and zombies so that attacker can take controls through these tools and monopoly the systems. Here above the communication between attacker and master machines is done through TCP protocol whereas between master machines to zombie and zombie machines to victim use UDP protocol for communication, as UDP is unreliable protocol so does not hold any state and results in no trace back, it uses TCP for initial communication because it needs to organize other subordinates with master machines. DDoS Tools The tools used by DDoS attack are very sophisticated as it runs in background or in foreground with the systems program name and is not visible or very hard to detect by administrators. Trin00, tribal flood network, stacheldraht, tribal flood network 2000, trinity, wintrin00, MStream and etc are the examples of such kind of tools used in DDoS attack, by this tools attacker installed and executes accordingly. It also helps him to facilitates co ordination between masters and zombie, and execute timer also to bombards at a fixed time, so that all zombies attacks the victim. Trin00 scans for buffer overflows in systems and install attack shell daemon through remote shell, it communicate through unencrypted UDP. In tribal flood network, it installs the daemon which carries out the multiple attacks like ICMP flood, UDP flood, SYN flood, communication done through ICMP ECHO and REPLY. List of zombies daemon IP address is encrypted in later version of TFN. Stacheldraht uses the combination of trin00 and TFN. Encryption takes place between attacker and masterà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s communication and attacks are similar to TFN. Trinity floods through UDP, SYN, and ACK through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) has a backdoor program which monitors TCP port. MStream uses forged TCP packets with ACK flag set, it uses TCP and UDP floods with no encryption in between but master machines are kept password protected. Beside these tools various other program and tools are readily available for such kind of attack which leaves no residue to trace back. DDoS Types DDoS are acts differently but mainly classified in two main categories according to their attack pattern which are as follows: Bandwidth Depletion attack Resource Depletion attack In bandwidth depletion attack the main targeted area is the bandwidth of the concern victim by overwhelming with unwanted traffic more than 10 Gbps (It depends) and prevents the legitimate users from gaining access for the services. Some examples of such attacks are UDP flood, ping flood, Smurf and reflection attacks which bombards with unwanted traffic to make unavailability of the services. Whereas in resource depletion attack, the main concern area are the resources available. This attack leads to the out of resource available for the concern users by TCP SYN attack, PUSH ACK attack, Teardrop attack. These attacks through the requests like SYN to the concern server which in return reserves resources for this request, but attacker bombards the same again and again and hence server goes out resources. DDoS Detection The very first question about this attack is that, how to know if DDoS attack happened in any organization or in any machine. So following are some ways to know if it occurs: Performance of CPU, Memory and bandwidth degrades abnormally. Services become unavailable or partially available. Cannot access given resources properly. These above are preliminary steps to know the DDoS attack. It can be monitor through the continuously analyzing of the systems. DDoS Defense Practically speaking it is impossible to prevent DDoS attack but what we can do is to reduce its effect or tries to make security strong as much as possible. The following are very basic defense mechanism against DDoS attacks are: Prevention Detection Classification Justifying Tracing back The first phase called prevention which means to prevent from DDoS attack as much as possible that is to prevent itself to be part of the attack architecture, so not to become handler. It is done through the continuous monitor of the systems but every user is not aware of the security issues. The second phase describes to know that if the systems are under attack by verifying abnormal activities like CPU or bandwidth uses, it can done through firewalls or routers. The third phase is classification of the detected attack according to its prototypes like IP Addresses, protocol used and packet type used; it can be done through the use of Intrusion Detection System for future countermeasure. The fourth mechanism is justifying the detected attack that is how to deal with the known or detected attack one way is to block the whole traffic from those addresses by using access control list on gateways or react accordingly another approach is to trace back the detected packet so that source ca n be identified. The final part of our defense mechanism is trace back which will be covered in later section of this paper. DDoS trace back DDoS trace back is possible to zombies only but may be if done in proper way can leads to the attacker, chances are very rare as it is independent of the location. Some of the methods are as follows: Link Testing Controlled Flooding ICMP Trace back IP Trace back In link testing, when attack is in progress routers can co ordinates with each other to determines which router originated the attack traffic and can trace to the upstream but requires inter ISP co operations as different connections are maintained by different ISP. Whereas in controlled flooding it floods each incoming links of the router to determines the source but needs router co operation and better network map, similarly in ICMP and IP trace back a reverse path is generated to identify the source but path can be long and packet format space is limited to cope. DDoS Security measures As currently various research are going on to stop DDoS attack and it may takes time but DDoS becoming deadly day by day and is considered second in financial losses due to attack after viruses but comparison to virus it is very new and have vast effect with no remedy. So only option we got is to make it harder for attacker to penetrate into the systems, and following are some security precaution we should follow: Install and update continuously antivirus and spyware software from trusted authority and run regularly. Patches the security components of the systems continuously and be always ready for up gradation of systems. A well set network infrastructure with proper installation of firewalls and routers with appropriate policies, so that unwanted traffic and organization traffic can be separated clearly. Filters incoming traffic on routers or rate-limit certain types of traffic like ICMP and SYN packets. Monitors continuously incoming and outgoing packets and if some abnormality seen then react accordingly. Use Network Address Translation (NAT) to hide internal IP addresses. Use Intrusion detection systems (IDS) implement host based IDS plus network based IDS in a mix pattern to filter and detect abnormalities in the network. Egress and Ingress filtering, these are filtering mechanism implement on IP traffic. Egress sets the ranges of IPs leaving the organizationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s network whereas in ingress a set of IP address ranges are allowed to move into the network. Using of SYN and RST cookies to verifies both communication parties with the help of cookies, so that legitimate clients can access the resources. Use a proxy server in between the network so that a request goes via proxy to server and proxy filters it according the rules implemented on it. Implement Honeypots systems, these are the systems in an organization with open security and are separated with internal network to know the attack pattern. At last but not least literate the users or clients about the security concerns. Conclusion DDoS Attack is an attack on availability of the resources and services which results in financial losses, loss of organization reputation, and disturbance in work flow environment. The bitter truth is that the security technologies like firewall, routers and IDS are very week to prevent DDoS as it cannot differentiate between original and fake traffic. Another factor is that it uses IP spoofing, difficult to verify with original packets plus the routing involved is stateless. Hence results in very strong attack. In this paper we have gone through the DDoS overview with its architecture layouts plus types and tools involved in DDoS attack. We have highlighted the DDoS detection part and visualize the security aspects and implementation to safeguard the assets against such attack plus a brief summary to how to trace back. To compete with DDoS one way effort cannot prevent or defeat it, it needs all round support to tackle with it like among different internet communities, different countries to enforce such laws and regulation strictly to cope with it. suggestions DDoS is a newer and disastrous attack, so to prevent it I would suggest that very carefully implement DDoS security measures which are defined above. Beside these IPSec and SSL/TLS protocols implementation can helps a lot to prevent. VPNs can be added for secure channel communications. Use Mozilla Firefox as browser instead of others.

Henry Moore Essay -- essays research papers

Henry Moore was the most celebrated sculptor of his time, and the second part of his career, in particular, demonstrated that Modernist sculpture was, after all, surprisingly adaptable to official needs. In this sense, Moore was the contemporary equivalent of the great Neo Classical sculptors such as Canova and Thorwaldsen. Moore was born in July 1898 in Castleford, Yorkshire, the seventh child of a mine manager who had worked at the pit face. Both parents were strong and supportive personalities, and Moore's childhood was a happy one. He became a student teacher in 1915, and by 1916 was teaching in the local elementary school which he had attended in his boyhood. At seventeen he joined the army, as the youngest member of his regiment, the Civil Service Rifles. For him the First World War was not the traumatic experience it was for so many others: he remembers the army as being 'just like a bigger family' and says that 'for me the war passed in a romantic haze of trying to be a hero.' He was gassed at Cambrai but made a swift recovery, and finished the war as a physical training instructor. In September 1919, after a brief return to elementary-school teaching, he went to Leeds School of Art on an ex-serviceman's grant. He was soon recognized as a star pupil, and in 1921 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London: I was in a dream of excitement. When I rode on the open top of a bus I felt that I was travelling in Heaven almost. And that the bus was floating on the air. Moore made the most of the opportunities London offered, regularly visiting the museums, where he acquired a great interest in primitive art: he was particularly struck by pre-Columbian sculpture. In his first year at the Royal College of Art he went to Paris with his fellow student Raymond Coxon, who had been with him at Leeds; these visits were to be many times repeated. In 1925 he visited Italy on a travelling scholarship - something which caused a certain creative blockage as he tried to work his way through what he had seen and experienced. Even before he went to Italy Moore had been fortunate enough to be offered a part time post as Assistant in the Sculpture Department at the Royal College of Art. In 1926 he held his first one man show, which attracted some distinguished purchasers including Augustus John, Henry Lamb and Jacob Epstein. He was also commissioned to prov... ...nd for the resulting insensitivity of surface in many of his larger works. The best of his late work is to be found in his drawings. While those of his active maturity nearly always seem to have been made with sculpture in mind (almost the sole exception to this being the celebrated series of Shelter Draivings made during the Second World War), the very late drawings are often pictorial rather than sculptural. Moore's studies of trees, made in old age, can be compared to similar sheets by Rubens and Van Dyck. In the post war years Moore was loaded with official honours - it is difficult to think of any which he might have coveted which were not offered to him. He was made a Companion of Honour in 1955, and a member of the Order of Merit in 1963. These marks of distinction showed the extent to which Modernist art had now been absorbed and accepted by the traditionally conservative British cultural establishment. They also demonstrated the extent to which Moore himself now identified with this establishment. Though his work remained in demand to the end of his life, and continues to fetch high prices at auction, it now seems very far from the mainstream of sculptural development.

Five forces Analysis of Two-wheeler industry Essay

As shown above, the business model is formulated as input ïÆ'   process ïÆ'   output. For a two wheeler industry, The inputs to the OEM constitutes of 1. Import of parts: the basic ingredients for model building are the parts such as drive chains, engines, components, transmissions etc. 2. Auto Component Manufacturer: There are 300+ players in the industry which manufacture auto parts components and perform tasks such as castings, forgings, tires etc 3. Raw material Supplier: This forms the initial requirement for the development of any vehicle. The raw material of which it is composed of consists of sheet metal, aluminium etc. The processing involves: 1. Manufacturer Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM): The industry is highly concentrated with 3 players constituting 80% of the market share, namely Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto & Honda Motors. This industry has a turnover of 55K Cr by producing over 13.33mn units in the FY 2011. 2. Dealership Network Dealer: In the Indian domestic market, the dealer are numbered over 2000 Sub- Dealer: The sub dealers, also known as the touch points are over 12000. This dealership network forms the competitive advantage of a company in the market Service Centers: These provide after sales service for the two wheeler industry and form the part of maintenance and helps in building customer loyalty. The output part of the business model comprises of 1. Domestic Customers: There is a low penetration in the domestic market with coverage in rural market as low as 7%. 2. International Customers: The major markets for two wheelers are Africa, Latin America & South East Asia INDUSTRY ANALYSIS The industry is highly concentrated and there is a strong foothold by 3 major players in the industry namely Hero Moto constituting 39% of the market share, Bajaj Auto constituting 27% of the market share and finally Honda Motors with 14% market share. So, these 3 major players sum to 80% of the total industry market share. The Indian Auto sector had a volume growth of 13% CAGR over the last 5 years- Driven by two wheelers which account for 80% of the total volumes Two wheeler sales reached INR 55K Cr and volumes reached 13.3 mn units clocking a CAGR of 15% and 13% respectively over 2006-2011. This works to an average realization – Rs 42000 or 1.2x the real per capita GDP of India. Domestic volume growth has been strong over the past five years growing at 11% CAGR Exports have been a significant factor to contribute to overall volumes with a growth of 27% CAGR over the last 5 years. Year to date, the volume sales growth in two wheelers has surpassed all other automobile segments. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS What is it? Five Forces Analysis is a tool that enables managers to study the key factors in an industry envi ­ronment that shape that nature of competition: (1) rivalry among current competitors, (2) threat of new entrants, (3) substitutes and complements, (4) power of suppliers, and (5) power of buyers. When do we use it? In a strategic analysis, Five Forces Analysis is an excellent method to help you analyze how competi ­tive forces shape an industry in order to adapt or influence the nature of competition. Collectively, the Five Forces determine the attractiveness of an industry, its profit potential, and the ease and attractiveness of mobility from one strategic position to another. Because  of this, the analysis is useful when firms are making decisions about entry or exit from an industry as well as to identify major threats and opportunities in an industry. Why do we use it? This analysis was originally developed by Michael Porter, a Harvard professor and a noted author ­ity on strategy. While all firms operate in a broad socioeconomic environment that includes legal, social, environmental, and economic factors, firms also operate in a more immediate competitive environment. The structure of this competitive environment determines both the overall attractive ­ness of an industry and helps identify opportunities to favorably position a firm within an industry. Porter identified five primary forces that determine the competitive environment: (1) rivalry among current competitors, (2) threat of new entrants, (3) substitutes and complements, (4) power of sup ­pliers, and (5) power of buyers. 1. Rivalry Among the direct and obvious forces in the industry, existing competitors must first deal with one another. When organizations compete for the same customers and try to win market share at the others’ expense, all must react to and anticipate their competi ­tors’ actions. 2. Threat of Entrants New entrants into an industry compete with established companies placing downward pressure on prices and ultimately profits. In the last century, Japanese automobile manufacturers Toyota, Honda, and Nissan represented formidable new entrants to the U.S. market, threatening the market position of established U.S. players GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The existence of substantial barriers to entry helps protect the profit potential of existing firms and makes an industry more attractive. 3. Substitutes and Complements Besides firms that directly compete, other firms can affect industry dynamics by providing substitute products or services that are functionally similar (i.e., accomplishing the same goal) but technically different. The existence of substitutes threatens demand in the industry and puts downward pressure on prices and margins. While substitutes are a potential threat, a complement is a potential opportunity because customers buy more of a given  product if they also demand more of the complementary product. For example, iTunes was established as an important complement to Apple’s iPod, and now the firm has leveraged connections among its suite of products including iPhone, iPad, and the like. 4. Power of Suppliers Suppliers provide resources in the form of people, raw materials, com ­ponents, information, and financing. Suppliers are important because they can dictate the nature of exchange and the potential value created farther up the chain toward buyers. Suppliers with greater power can negotiate better prices squeezing the margins of down ­stream buyers. 5. Power of Buyers Buyers in an industry may include end consumers, but frequently the term refers to distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries. Like suppliers, buyers may have important bargaining powers that dictate the means of exchange in a transaction. According to Porter, successful managers do more than simply react to this environment; they act in ways that actually shape or â€Å"enact† the organization’s competitive environment. For example, a firm’s introduction of substitute products or services can have a substantial influence over the competitive environment, and in turn this may have a direct impact on the attractiveness of an industry, its potential profitability, and competitive dynamics. I. Bargaining power of buyers: High Who are the buyers of this industry: Individual customers who purchase and use two wheelers for the purpose of transportation. This category of customers considers two wheelers as a necessity than a luxury. In a developing country like India, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, two wheelers are extremely popular amongst families and students. Scooters are considered to be utility vehicles transporting a family of 2-3 at a time and providing good mileage. Bikes on the other hand come in a variety of segments. They can cost less, acting as utility vehicles. They can be costing very high, acting as luxury products for their owners. The  following points can be aggregated to determine the relative bargaining power of buyers against the automobile manufacturing firms. The bargaining power in this case would mean to what extent the buyers can negotiate prices of the two wheelers. This buying power would determine the market price of the two wheelers in the long run. It also indicates the intensity of rivalry amongst the existing firms in the market. Product Differentiation: Low The features in two-wheelers produced by the Indian manufacturers like Bajaj, Honda, TVS etc. are very close to each other. These features include appearance, Price, Quality and other functional features. This implies that: The buyers can shift from one product to another, as they do not have affinity for any specific product Information Availability: High High availability of information over the internet, leads to higher bargaining power with the buyer to compare the various features and price of products thus leading to lower bargaining power with the manufacturing firms. Type of Economy: Developing India being a Developing economy, is a big hub for two wheeler manufacturers. A two wheeler is a necessity in small towns even today. The large number of customers lowers their bargaining power to some extent. However, this is offset by the large number of suppliers. This is good news for the automobile firms as their product is going to remain in demand for a while at least and they don’t have to worry about declining sales for some time in India. Number of Suppliers: High The number of companies manufacturing automobiles is high in India. With each major player opening showrooms in not only Tier I but II and III cities, the consumers have a wide variety of options to choose from. The number of buyers and sellers in market is high. These two effects offset each other. This implies that: The bargaining power of consumers is high because of this effect as the consumers have the option of going to another brand if they do not like the functional features or price of one brand. In case of utility  vehicles manufacturing category, Rohtak alone has two showrooms of the major players in the market. This implies an empowered consumer. Switching Cost: Moderate The switching costs are higher than FMCG goods however are low compared to many other high involvement products. A basic two wheeler starts from about Rs 40,000. This cost maybe high for some people and not so significant for others. However as two wheelers hardly have any associated products, which would require compatibility with the product, the switching cost is low. Also due to a well-established second hand market in India, the vehicles can be easily resold these days. This also covers up for the switching costs to some extent. II. Bargaining Power of the Supplier : LOW Organizations would be at a disadvantage if their suppliers are powerful. They should preferably not be dependent on any supplier. Now suppliers can be powerful if the number of firms providing thie particular service or product are few in number( eg. A monopoly, oligopoly).The number of the firms determine their bargaining power. The power gets by the increase in existence of switching costs for the various firms. Moreover, firms in an industry have power if they have many alternative sources of supply or if they have a credible threat of integrating backward to provide their own sources of supply. So even supply chain management is particularly important in industries where the potential power of suppliers is high. Now, for a 2 wheeler Industry there would be various suppliers which can be broadly classified into 4 broad categories:- 1)Steel industry 2)Tyre industry 3)Auto components industry 4) Battery industry Steel Industry The 2 wheeler industry in India mostly imports all the automotive steel. Around 65% of the steel is imported for automobiles. The cheap import duty helps the 2 wheeler industry to import high quality steel. So the prices of  steel is determined by mostly international markets, so the bargaining possibility is less for the steel suppliers. Demand for automotive steel such as inner components and outer body parts comprises just 7-8 million tonnes (mt) a year out of India’s total production of about 78 mt, but is growing at 10-20% a year even as overall demand growth lags economic growth. The companies in India which develop automotive steel have now decided to expand in this area and many companies have entered into joint ventures with various international companies like Sumitomo + Bhushan Steels, Jfe+jsw, Tata+Nippon joint ventures. So the 2 wheeler industry has a lot of vendors both nationally and internationally to choose from. Thus, the bargaining power of the supplier is low. Auto components and Battery Industry Both the Auto Components industry and the Battery industry in India are highly fragmented .There suppliers highly outnumber the 2 wheeler companies. Examples of a few companies which provide auto components in the automobile industry are Rico Auto Industries Ltd, JBM Group, Sona Koyo Steering Systems and Lumax Industries, Indication Instruments Ltd Aisin Seiki Co.,BorgWarner,Continental, Delphi, Denso Corporation, Eaton, FAG, Faurecia, GKN,Honda Foundry Co. Ltd., Honeywell,Knorr Bremse, Koyo,Magna,Magneti Marelli, Mando Corporation, Meritor,Mitsuba Corporation, NHK Spring,Robert Bosch,Showa Corporation, Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Toyoda Gosei, USHIN, Valeo, Visteon,Yazaki and many more. Amaron ,exide,luminous,kaycee ,sumangal,action,tata batteries are just a few examples of the Battery Companies in India.Thus, since the number of suppliers is huge the bargaining power they enjoy is low. Tyre Industry It can be clearly seen in the pie chart below that for tyre industry in India, 53% of the tyre consumption is by the 2 wheeler industry. The benefits are given to them as they are buying in bulk and the relation gives the tyre firms a strong brand association. At present there are 40 listed companies in the tyre sector in India.Major players are MRF, JK Tyres, and Apollo Tyres & CEAT, which account for 63 per  cent of the organized tyre market. The other key players include Modi Rubber, Kesoram Industriesand Goodyear India, with 11 per cent, 7 per cent and 6 per cent share respectively. Dunlop,Falcon, Tyre Corporation of India Limited (TCIL), TVS-Srichakra, Metro Tyres and Balkrishna Tyres are some of the other significant players in the industry. Thus , with so many players in the market and also with the power to give tyre companies brand association, the 2 wheeler industry is at a huge advantage and the bargaining power of the tyre suppliers is low. III. Threats of Substitutes : LOW Number of Substitutes: High Substitutes can be cars, electrical vehicles, public transport and rickshaw/taxi. There are many players in the market for four-wheelers. Also, in metros and some of the tier-II cities, public transport facility is quite good. Thus, this can be a negative factor for two-wheeler industry. But two-wheeler may be a better option for 2 people in the same price range. Flexibility is also high compared to public transport. These facts nullify the negative effect of this factor. Public Transport Infrastructure: Moderate As of today, public transport is not very well developed in India but its developing day by day. In tier-1 cities, people have started preferring public transportation for routine tasks but people in other regions don’t have an option. Scope of Differentiation: High There is a high scope of innovation in this industry as the technologies are ever changing. Customization according to the customer needs is important and attracts consumers’ attention towards one vehicle from another. Lifestyle in India: Changing Common Man’s lifestyle is changing in India and number of people working in a family are increasing. Most of them prefer one vehicle per head to commute. For a middle class family, two wheeler is the only feasible option in such cases looking at its flexibility and affordability. Thus, changing lifestyle  is a positive sign for this industry. Cost of Switching to Substitutes: High People switch to substitutes for a reason. Given below are some of the reasons why people switch to substitutes. Cars: Comfort, status Symbol, safety Public Vehicles : Affordability, Safety, Cost, Pollution, Time saving Electrical Vehicles: Environmental friendly, Maintenance cost Here is the negative side of switching to substitutes. Public transport vehicles are not readily available for transportation within the city/town/village except in a few cities in India. For the regions where public transports are not available, only four-wheeler or electrical vehicles remains the substitute to a two-wheeler. Electrical vehicles at present not competitive with respect to present petrol running vehicles. No established player is offering Electrical vehicles. Switching cost from a two-wheeler to a four-wheeler is quite high as investment will be needed to switch the product. Also running cost is more for a four wheeler. The above table shows the calculation of running cost of a two-wheeler and a four-wheeler per km. The numbers are rationally assumed for reaching to quantified figures. As we can see from above calculations, running cost of a four-wheeler is almost 3.5 times more than that of a two-wheeler. Thus, we conclude that the cost of switching to substitutes is LOW in the case of two-wheelers. Seeing all the five factors contributing to Threats of Substitutes, it can be safely concluded that this threat is LOW. Lower running costs, higher addressable market and lack of public transport make two wheeler industry attractive. IV. Threat of New Entrants : MODERATE-WEAK Capital requirements: Moderate High capital requirements mean a company must spend a lot of money in order to compete in the market. The investment made by the company depends upon the type of expansion. High capital requirements positively affect 2 Wheeler Industry India. â€Å"High Capital Requirements (2 Wheeler Industry India)† is an easy qualitative factor to overcome, so the investment will not have to spend much time trying to overcome this issue. Easy to overcome this disadvantage High sunk costs High sunk costs make it difficult for a competitor to enter a new market, because they have to commit money up front with no guarantee of returns in the end. High sunk costs positively affect 2 Wheeler Industry India. This statement will have a short-term positive impact on this entity, which adds to its value. â€Å"High Sunk Costs Limit Competition (2 Wheeler Industry India)† will have a long-term negative impact on this entity, which subtracts from the entity’s value. â€Å"High Sunk Costs Limit Competition (2 Wheeler Industry  India)† is an easy qualitative factor to overcome, so the investment will not have to spend much time trying to overcome this issue. 5 Forces analysis: High negative impact in the long run High positive impact in the short run Easy to overcome this disadvantage Strong brands If strong brands are critical to compete, then new competitors will have to improve their brand value in order to effectively compete. Strong brands positively affect Two Wheeler Industry India. The 3 major players contribute to 80% of the market share Hero Moto, Bajaj Auto, Honda Motors. Advanced technologies Advanced technologies make it difficult for new competitors to enter the market because they have to develop those technologies before effectively competing. The requirement for advanced technologies positively affects Two Wheeler Industry India. Economies of scale Economies of scale help producers to lower their cost by producing the next unit of output at lower costs. When new competitors enter the market, they will have a higher cost of production, because they have smaller economies of scale. Economies of scale positively affect Two Wheeler Industry India.†Industry Requires Economies of Scale (Automobile Industry India)† has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. â€Å"Industry Requires Economies of Scale (Two Wheeler Industry India)† will have a long-term negative impact on this entity, which subtracts from the entity’s value. This force has significant impact High negative impact in long run Patents Patents that cover vital technologies make it difficult for new competitors, because the best methods are patented. Patents positively affect Two Wheeler Industry India. Customer Loyalty It takes time and money to build a brand. When companies need to spend resources building a brand, they have fewer resources to compete in the marketplace. These costs positively affect Two Wheeler Industry India. High learning curves When the learning curve is high, new competitors must spend time and money studying the market before they can effectively compete. High learning curves positively affect profits for industry. High switching costs High switching costs make it difficult for customers to change which products they normally purchase, due to costs. High switching costs positively affect Two Wheeler Industry India. High Switching Costs for Customers has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it.†High Switching Costs for Customers will have a long-term positive impact on this entity, which adds to its value. This statement will have a short-term positive impact on this entity, which adds to its value. This force has significant impact High positive impact in long run High positive impact in short run Strong distribution networks Weak distribution networks mean goods are more expensive to move around and some goods don’t get to the end customer. The expense of building a strong distribution network positively affects Two Wheeler Industry India. â€Å"Strong Distribution Network Required † has a significant impact, so an analyst should put more weight into it. â€Å"Strong Distribution Network Required – Two Wheeler Industry India† will have a long-term positive impact on this entity, which adds to its value. â€Å"Strong Distribution Network Required – Two Wheeler Industry India† is a difficult qualitative factor to defend, so competing institutions will have an easy time overcoming it. This force has significant impact High positive impact in long run Difficult to defend advantage High entry barriers When barriers are high, it is more difficult for new competitors to enter the market. High entry barriers positively affect profits for Two Wheeler Industry India. So to sum it all, for the two wheeler industry the threat of new entrants is moderate to weak. INTENSITY OF RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING COMPETITORS : MODERATE Among the direct and obvious forces in the automobile industry, existing competitors must first deal with one another. When organizations compete for the same customers and try to win market share at the others’ expense, all must react to and anticipate their competitors’ actions. There are 3 main factors along which the intensity of rivalry amongst existing players in the automobile industry have been identified 1. Number Of Competitors:- The number of competitors within an industry is a direct correlation to the intensity of competition, all else being equal. The industry concentration was studied using Hirschman-Herfindahl Index. The data for studying HHI was obtained from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Yearly sales volume data for various brands of two-wheelers in the three segments were obtained for the period 2008- 2012 and was computed. The above figure shows that the 2 Wheeler Industry is oligopolistic in nature and there is less competition even after deregulation of the Indian Economy. The Motorcycle segment is characterised by a few large players who have established their presence. The leading player is Honda Motorcycles with almost 50% market share. The Moped industry is a monopoly and TVS is the only player which has been able to capture the entire market. The scooter industry has crossed the shakeout phase post 2004 when the Activa type models were being imitated by all major players across the segments. This too has a HHI of .309 indicating less competition. 2. Incentive to Fight:- The incentive to fight is primarily related to finding out how competitors  fix prices i.e whether they engage in price wars, or engage in aggressive activities with the aim of increasing market share. This shall further be explored among 3 other parameters. A. Growth In Automobile Industry There has been substantial growth in the automobile industry in India and it has already crossed the 25 Billion Rupee mark and has had a 13.7% CAGR over the past 5 years. Over the medium term, the 2W industry is expected to report a volume CAGR of 9-11% to reach a size of 24-26 million units by 2016-17. This will be due to the (a) favourable demographic profile, (b) increasing personal income as well as (c) moderate penetration in relation to other Emerging Markets. Therefore there is substantial opportunity for growth leading to less competition. B. Demand – Supply Gap Most two wheeler have idle capacity as the supply exceeds demand. Moreover as many players are planning to increase manufacturing operations, it is estimated that the total supply will exceed demand by almost 15 to 20%. This problem has been compounded by the fact that foreign entrants are planning to enter India as growth in European and American markets have stagnated. This will lead to more competition. C. Nature of Demand The nature of demand is highly cyclical in nature. In times of high growth in the Indian Economy there is corresponding revenue growth for all 2 wheeler companies. This can be seen more from the growth of the 2 Wheeler Industry during recession which slowed substantially. In fact the motorcycles segment had dipped to negative growth during that period. Our group believes that after evaluating the three factors, there will soon be a tendency for the firms to engage in fierce competition as the stakes are increased manifold. This will ultimately lead to more competition for existing players and international players who are thinking of venturing into the industry. 3. Coordination between competitors According to the Indian Constitution, â€Å"The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws. The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and Merger and Acquisition), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India† which prevents firms from colluding implicitly or explicitly colluding. Till now there has been no tendency amongst firms of colluding, hence the market is still competitive in terms of the coordination between competitors. Considering all the factors, the competitive landscape within the industry is still not yet clearly defined. Even though firms are capacity constrained, there is still ample room for growth. Therefore our group believes that the competition is still low. The way ahead With consumers becoming increasingly aware about products and buyer power increasing, the manufacturers will have to differentiate their products. Then comes the era of green vehicles which will be powered by battery or green fuels and will provide mileage of 100 km/Rs 8. The relationship between suppliers and manufacturers is nasty at this point of time. It needs to be reworked. This will provide room for improved consumer feedback mechanism which will lead to improved product for consumers The projected sales of two wheelers in India in FY15 are 18MN. There is scope in the unisex category of scooters as already there are plenty of motorbike owners in the country. Companies could leverage on that. Another scope is there in rural areas and tier II, III cities. This market is relatively untouched by two wheeler marketers and hence this should be explored and custom made vehicles should be designed for people residing in these areas. Since the purchasing capacity of these people is low it should be kept in mind while making utility products for them.

Accounting Principles Paper Essay Example

Accounting Principles Paper Essay Example Accounting Principles Paper Essay Accounting Principles Paper Essay THIS IS A NEW SPECIFICATION ADVANCED SUBSIDIARY GCE FOI ACCOUNTING Accounting Principles Tuesday 2 June 2009 Morning RESOURCE BOOKLET To be given to candidates at the start of the examination Duration: 1 hour INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES The information required to answer questions 1-2 is contained within this Resource Booklet. Do not hand this Resource Booklet in at the end of the examination. It is not needed by the Examiner. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES This document consists of 4 pages. Any blank pages are indicated. OCR 2009 [1-4/500/7722] sp (NE) T7701 5/2 OCR is an exempt Charity Turn over 2 on 30 April 2009. Rent General expenses Insurance Salaries Electricity Capital Motor expenses Bad debts Drawings Debtors Creditors Bank Stock 10% Loan Loan interest Carriage outwards Commission received Purchases Sales Purchases returns Sales returns Discounts allowed Discounts received Provision for doubtful debts Equipment Provision for depreciation of equipment Motor vehicles Provision for depreciation of motor vehicles 4 000 6 ooo 3 300 14 000 2 ooo cr 44 000 200 6 200 3 800 2 600 3 600 15000 1 250 700 730 56 ooo 108 ooo 2 500 4 800 520 48 ooo 14 400 36 ooo 0800 200 150 The following information is also available. Included in the general expenses is an item of equipment purchased during the year for El 200. This item has not yet been included in the equipment account. A cheque for E800 received from a debtor has not yet been entered in the accounts. At 30 April 2009, loan interest owing amounted to E250; electricity owing was E380; whilst insurance was prepaid by E460. During the year Paula Redwood had withdrawn, for her personal use, goods costing O OCR 2009 The closing stock as at 30 April 2009 was valued at E4 200. Commission receivable of El 50 was owing to Paula Redwood at 30 April 2009. FOI 1/ RB Junog 3 (Vii) The provision for doubtful debts is to be provided for a specific debt of E200, plus 2% of the remaining debtors. (Viii) One half of the 10% loan is repayable during the year ending 30 April 2010, and the balance after that date. Depreciation is to be provided as follows: 10% per annum on cost using the straight line method. A full years depreciation is provided on all office equipment held on 30 April 2009, regardless of the date of purchase. 25% by the reducing balance method. There were no additions or disposals during the year. REQUIRED The Trading and Profit and Loss Account of Paula Redwood for the year ended 30 April 2009 and the Balance Sheet as at 30 April 2009. [47] Total marks [47] Raymond Bow prepared the following aged debtors schedule for his business on 31 March 2009. 2 1 400 1 880 months Peter White Janet Black John Green Susan Yellow Sunil Orange Jose Violet Bret Purple Carlos Blue 1 800 over 6 Amount due 5 400 5 880 160 2 620 300 190 4 680 2 200 1 600 21 730 Debtor 10 100 1 ooo 620 150 1 340 210 490 The provision for doubtful debts as at 1 April 2008 was El 890. Jose Violet has recently been declared bankrupt. Raymond Bow has received payment of EO. 25 in the E in final settlement of the debt. The final settlement has not yet been processed through the accounts. The remainder of the amount due is to be treated as a bad debt. Raymond BOWS policy for dealing with outstanding debtors is to: (i) months; make specific provisions for all the other debts outstanding for between four to six write off as bad debts all amounts outstanding for more than six months; make a general provision of 3% on all the remaining outstanding debts. FOI 1 IRB Junog 4 a) Prepare the following ledger accounts of Raymond Bow for the year ended 31 March 2009, showing where appropriate the closing entry to the final accounts at the end of the year. (i) Jose Violet. Bret Purple. Bad Debts. Provision for Doubtful Debts. (b) The Profit and Loss Account extract for Bad Debts and Provision for Doubtful Debts for the year ended 31 March 2009. (c) The Balance Sheet extract for Debtors as at 31 March 2009. (d)* Discuss the reasons why a business needs to monitor and control its debtors. (e) Explain two factors used in determining the provision for doubtful debts. 10] Total marks [33] Copyright Information OCR is committed to seeking permission to reproduce all third-party content that it uses in its assessment materials. OCR has attempted to identify and contact all copyright holders whose work is used in this paper. To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced in the OCR Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations, is given to all schools that receive assessment material and is freely available to download from our public website (www. r. org. uk) after the live examination series. If OCR has unwittingly failed to correctly acknowledge or clear any third-party content in this assessment material, OCR will be happy to correct its mistake at the earliest possible opportunity. For queries or further information please contact the Copyright Team, First Floor, 9 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 1 PB. OCR is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group; Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is itself a department of the University of Cambridge. OCR 2009 FOI 1 IRB Junog

Free Essays on Multiculturalism

In Australia there has been a lot of political debate in recent years about whether or not we are a multicultural society. In broad terms, multiculturalism is defined as situation wherein the overall character of a society is shaped by the harmonious mutual influences of more than one race or ethnic group. From well before the First World War, but more particularly after World War II, Australian society has been shaped by the influx of migrants from all over the world. Our food, clothes, sports and general way of life are all indicative of the fact that as a society we have taken on many of the customs and traditions of other nations in the name of becoming multicultural. But is multiculturalism really an absolute essential required for efficient functioning of society? It seems quite far from being imperative for an operative society, but rather such diversity seems a sure road to destruction. Multiculturalism is merely racism in a politically correct disguise. Many people have a very superficial view of racism. They see it as merely the belief that one race is superior to another. It is certainly much more than that; it is a fundamental view of human nature. Racism is the notion that one’s race determines one’s identity. It is the belief that one’s convictions, values and character are not determined by the judgement of one’s mind, but by one’s anatomy or blood. This view causes people to be condemned or sometimes praised, based on their racial membership. This in turn leads them to condemn or praise others on the same basis. But in fact, one can gain an authentic sense of pride only from one’s OWN achievements, not from inherited characteristics. The spread of racism requires the destruction of an individual’s confidence in his own mind. Such an individual then anxiously seeks a sense of identity by clinging to some groups, abandoning his independence and rights, allowing his ethnic group to tell him wha... Free Essays on Multiculturalism Free Essays on Multiculturalism In Australia there has been a lot of political debate in recent years about whether or not we are a multicultural society. In broad terms, multiculturalism is defined as situation wherein the overall character of a society is shaped by the harmonious mutual influences of more than one race or ethnic group. From well before the First World War, but more particularly after World War II, Australian society has been shaped by the influx of migrants from all over the world. Our food, clothes, sports and general way of life are all indicative of the fact that as a society we have taken on many of the customs and traditions of other nations in the name of becoming multicultural. But is multiculturalism really an absolute essential required for efficient functioning of society? It seems quite far from being imperative for an operative society, but rather such diversity seems a sure road to destruction. Multiculturalism is merely racism in a politically correct disguise. Many people have a very superficial view of racism. They see it as merely the belief that one race is superior to another. It is certainly much more than that; it is a fundamental view of human nature. Racism is the notion that one’s race determines one’s identity. It is the belief that one’s convictions, values and character are not determined by the judgement of one’s mind, but by one’s anatomy or blood. This view causes people to be condemned or sometimes praised, based on their racial membership. This in turn leads them to condemn or praise others on the same basis. But in fact, one can gain an authentic sense of pride only from one’s OWN achievements, not from inherited characteristics. The spread of racism requires the destruction of an individual’s confidence in his own mind. Such an individual then anxiously seeks a sense of identity by clinging to some groups, abandoning his independence and rights, allowing his ethnic group to tell him wha... Free Essays on Multiculturalism Human beings live in what for them is a Multicultural world, in which they are aware of different sets of others to whom different cultural attributions must be made, and of different cultures of which they are aware and expected to operate. W.H. Woodenough. The term Multiculturalism has recently come into usage to describe a society characterized by a diversity of cultures. Religion, language, customs, traditions, and values are some of the components of a culture, but more importantly culture is the lens through which one perceives and interprets the world. When shared culture forms the basis for a "sense of peoplehood", based on consciousness of a common past, we can speak of a group possessing an Ethnicity. Ethnicity is not transmitted genetically from generation to generation; nor is it unchanging over time. Rather ethnicity is invented or constructed in response to particular historical circumstances and changes as circumstances change. In this essay, ethnicity will be used to identify groups or communities that are differentiated by religious, racial, or cultural characteristics and that possess a sense of people-hood. The "Multicultural America" is the product of the mingling of many different peoples over the hundred years in wh at is now the United States. Cultural diversity was characteristic of this continent prior to the coming of European colonists and African slaves. The indigenous inhabitants of North America who numbered an estimated 4.5 million in 1500 were divided into hundreds of tribes with distinctive cultures, Languages, and religions. Although the numbers of "Indians" as they were named by Europeans, declined precipitously through the nineteenth century, their population has rebounded in the twentieth century. Both as members of their particular tribes (a form of ethnicity), Navajo, Ojibwa, Choctaw, etc., and as American Indians (a form of panethnicity), they are very much a part of today's cultural and ethnic...

SHELL ETHICAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS Coursework

SHELL ETHICAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IMPLICATIONS - Coursework Example cial markets are the key to explaining the large influx of foreign capital into emerging markets as well as its rapid departure during times of crisis. Transparency in global financial markets prevents foreign investor overreactions due to unclear market signals, quicker and smaller adjustments by investors in responding to new information, advance planning by local firms in supervising investment flows, and greater market efficiency. Global investors also demand greater market transparency, hoping that the greater flow of information regarding the actions of governments and firms in emerging market economies will allow them to better manage their investments. While few governments, banks, or private firms disagree the imporant need for an increased level of transparency, transparency still proves to be an elusive goal. These international financial institutions rely on their multilateral mandates for surveillance, financial data collection, and data diffusion. In addition, these institutions also have to contend with a whole panorama of transnational, multinational, domestic, and international persons regarding the preparation of financial information and the dissemination of the financial information. Transparency in busines is an excellent global governance strategy. Transparency needs to standardize all of the regulatory processes through which financial information is prepared for the global investor. The regulators also need to examine the specific procedures that govern the diffusion of this data. The financial information that helps investor decision encompass credit ratings, bond ratings, and measures of interest rate and exchange rate risk. The data is useful when the processes through which this information is produced are standardized across markets. The data must also highly accessible to the global markets. (Shuster, 2000) Banking can be a hugely profitable endeavor. In addition, the synergies between commercial banking and investment banks merge:

GreenZone The Movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GreenZone The Movie - Essay Example However, it became apparent that the weapons of mass destruction that was being searched for by the American army were never found. The green zone movie can therefore be described as a reality movie since it tells a real story about the America and Iraq conflict (Mowle, 7). However, other scholars and movie analyst have argued on the contrary. The production of this movie first was initiated in Spain, then to Morocco and was first released in Russia and Australia in the year 2010 during the month of March and later was available in America after few days of release. According to Mowle, (9), the movie does not refer to the invasion by the American troops into Iraq but it demonstrates the several attacks that the American government had done to the countries to the east which includes Iraq and the Afghanistan as well as the intension of the American government to attack some of the nations to the east in search of weapons of mass destruction. It is important to note that nuclear weapon s has been one of the America’s big issue of concern for the security of the world. The weapons of mass destruction posses a security threat to the U.S. government and the other western nations and Europe. According to, the movie therefore demonstrates how America has begun and the overall intension and objective of America to destroy all weapons of Mass destruction. However, the fact remains that it is one of the current movies that tells the recent American experiences in the war in Iraq. Greene zone has also received certain political interpretation from different people who have viewed it as a political tool that was meant to harm the American government. According to Scott, the movie is an â€Å"anti American movie† and does not reflect the true experiences of the soldiers in the war. Others have also argued that is an antiwar and hence it does not reflect a sincere picture of what the American soldiers experienced in Iraq. The character of Miller forms the basis of these arguments by the political interpreters of this movie. This is because of his rogue activities and disobedient to the government which is described in the movie as being corrupt. The movie represents the corrupt pentagon through the character of Kinnear and hence the political side view of this movie asserts that the government did not play its role in the search for the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In this context, the movie seeks to send to the minds of Audiences how the government forced an attack which was not important. Others have however contradicted these arguments stating that the movie main themes to outline the mistakes that the American government made before they could actually authorize the attacks on Iraq and the attitude of the soldiers towards such attack. However as stated by Scott, the political controversies cannot be described as irrelevant or relevant. In this context, it is noticeable that the government through pentagon made mistakes before a uthenticating the war against Iraq. Gonzales who is one of the people involved in the war and whom the character of Miller is based has put everything straight. Gonzales has argued that the political controversies are meaningless and the reactions from political interpreters are inappropriate. According to Scott, Gonzales was one of the technical persons in the processing