Bullwhip Effect in Retail Supply Chains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Bullwhip Effect in Retail Supply Chains - Essay Example Supply chain management (SCM) then includes all the methods, systems, people, and resources that help improve processes and organisations throughout the supply chain. SCM involves close working together of all companies in the chain. Simchi Levi et al. (2004) classify SCM into two categories: configuration, which is related to basic infrastructure (hardware, software, transport, etc.); and coordination, related to the way the supply chain operates. Configuration issues include decisions on choosing suppliers, outsourcing activities, and policies for purchasing, decisions on production, site location, capacity; distribution channels, retail locations, and transportation costs and issues. Coordination issues include decisions on material flows throughout the chain, how information is exchanged, and payment systems. This shows how complex supply chain management is because it involves many functions and geographic areas. Design and execution are therefore difficult and need to be managed for the supply chain to move with efficiency. An example is shown in Figure 1 (Gereffi, 2002) for retail apparel which links cotton and synthetic fibre manufacturers, textile mills, apparel manufacturers, and retail outlets from all the five continents. If one link in this chain breaks, e.g., the container ship with the raw material supply of African cotton gets lost at sea, the whole supply chain can break down and thousands of clients of Marks & Spencer will have to party using last season's fashion. Supply Chain, Meet Bullwhip What is known as the "bull-whip effect" can be described as follows: the farther away from the customer a supplier is along the supply chain, the higher would be the difference between what is really needed from what is ordered. The term was coined by Lee et al. (1997) based on observations and descriptions made by supply chain professionals at Procter & Gamble (P&G). They noticed that whilst the number of babies and the demand for nappies were stable, the orders coming from retailers and wholesalers for Pampers deliveries, P&G's best-selling nappies brand, fluctuated dramatically. And as they went further down the supply chain, starting with the orders made by P&G from the suppliers of the components that went into a nappy - plastic, cotton, and so on - they noticed even wilder fluctuations. On a graph, they noticed that these fluctuations were similar to the way the amplitude of a whiplash increases down the length of the whip once it is cracked. Thus was born the phenomenon known as the Bullwhip Effect. Figure 2 shows this phenomenon in action, using data

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay Example for Free

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay The System for college athletes isnt perfect, and needs to be worked on, a big problem we cannot seem to agree is how to compensate the student-athletes who drive the NCAA. I would like to start off with a question. Are college athletes being compensated enough for the effort they put forth today? Every Day they wake up early and represent their university whether they are putting in work in class or on the field. Each student-student athlete generates tons of money for their university and they don’t see a dime other than their scholarship that may or may not been renewed every year. Keep that question in mind while reading this essay, and form your own opinion. There is simply not enough money for each athlete to be paid. The NCAA also has a policy called Title IX, which basically states that if one athlete gets money, every athlete at that university has to get compensated for the same amount. Meaning that a women’s field hockey player will be granted the same amount as a starting quarterback who fills up stadiums. Once people hear that this would be the reality if college athletes were paid, their opinions may change. The NCAA is huge on ameatur status and if they ever paid student athletes, they would break the golden rule that college athletes have been running on since the beginning of college sports. A few hundred dollars a month for each athlete isn’t going to stop any of the illicit activities involved with collegiate athletics because this isn’t about needing material things. What primarily causes improper benefit violations is greed. Student-athletes break rules because they want something they normally could not have, not because they needed something most other students had. An article written by a Colorado University professor states that the school has cut funding for research to pay for poorly performing football coaches. â€Å"Rutgers University has subsidized it’s athletic program to the tune of $115 million since 2006, while at the same time foregoing raises across campus last year to save $30 million.† College athletics are a big piece of everyday life of people around the world already, and in reality athletes are already paid. Scholar athletes are paid in form of a full scholarship which includes tuition, room and board, books, and some incidentals. Many  schools across the country have top notch educational tutoring programs, along with top tier exposure that would cost a fortune if it was not provided by the university. There have been coaches such as head football coach at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier, who have provided a plan that pays each of his players $300 for each game they play in. Spurrier says the extra $300 dollars â€Å"would be for game expenses that they could give to their parents for travel, lodging, meals, and even maybe taking their girlfriend out Saturday night and so forth† Spurrier States. Pay for Play is a topic that has gotten much more debate recently with new scandals occurring so frequently. Annually the Pac-12 makes $250 million in T.V. contracts, $150 million for the downsized Big 10, and $205 million for the SEC. So the question must be asked, as these TV contracts grow larger and larger, will the players be granted any money in the near future? There have been recent studies that have come up with estimates that the full athletic scholarship comes up around $3,000 short of all expenses needed for the student. A couple years ago, there were reports that football quarterback Cam Newton who plays for the Carolina Panthers starting as quarterback, was being shopped around by his father for $180,000. Newton denied the reports and these claims were never proven and Newton went on to win the Heisman trophy and national championship. Even if Newton was paid $180,000, that is only a small percentage of the money that he brought to the university for that season at Aubu rn. NCAA president Mark Emmert, on paying players â€Å"There’s a model for paying athletes, and its called professional sports, and I love them. But that’s not what college sports is about. If we were going to pay student athletes, why even have a university-based teams?Just go watch a pro game.† As for right now, pay for play is just a debate, so here are some pros and cons of the idea. Some pros, or why the idea makes sense are: players should be entitled to some form of compensation due to the money they bring to the school and the injury risk they face each time they play their respective sports. Athletes from poor families need money to be able to support themselves since their families cannot do it for them. The money the football and men’s basketball teams should go back to the players instead of paying for sports who make no profits. If the athletes were paid it could help keep kids that aren’t ready  to go pro from going pro early. While pay for play sounds nice, there are also reasons it wouldn’t work. A big question that would come up would be, where would the money come from? A majority of athletic programs don’t make enough of a profit already. Title IX would make it so each athlete, regardless of sport, would have to be paid the same. Many believe that non-revenue sports would have to be abandoned since there wouldn’t be sufficient funds to support them. While people may have the opinion that college athletes should be paid, the debate for them is how they would be paid, and where the money would come from. The main argument is that paying the athletes only seems fair. Since schools don’t have to pay their players, schools are able to pay more and more for their coaches. As of March 2010, almost a dozen schools spent 38% or more on their football offensive or defensive coordinators. Players are the product that everyone comes to see, they are the ones risking their bodies. Everyone can make money off of college athletics except for the athletes themselves. Pay for play would put other schools at a competitive disadvantage. The question would be how would the smaller schools and conferences who only make a fraction of what the larger conferences be able to keep up with the larger schools and conferences? Would you rather play at a small school or play for a larger school and be paid extra towards your scholarship? The obvious a nswer would be to play for a larger school and get more money. Another question would be would you pay every athlete or a select few? These are all important questions that must be asked before we start paying college athletes. People may think that being a college athletes is easy, and anyone can do it, however this is not the case at all. To begin with, the athletes put in loads of their time, everyday of the week. They still have to go to class everyday like normal students, then practice and even sometimes they have a practice after another practice. After these tasks are done they eat dinner, then go study. At the end of the day, they aren’t left with any free time due to their crazy college schedule. You would think that they would by the end of the day, but no time is really given. Coaches can be very demanding by having the athletes stay up late at night watching film for tomorrows game. When they are hurt, they are taken in by physical therapists and athletic trainers. As a student athlete though, you have to stay focused on your studies and make progress on your athletic abilities/performances or  the college might try to get rid of you. One thing that may be surprising is most college athletes do not receive their college degrees. The games they play, and the rigorous workouts are main contributors to this. Theres so much pressure on the athlete to perform well that sometimes their grades slip. College coaches are sometimes the one to blame for this, since sometimes they look the other way and risk their players education just to win some more games. Some people can argue that student athletes are compensated enough already. Over a period of four years a college scholarship could exceed $200,000. Along with that $200,000 in scholarship money the athlete could receive top-of-the-line tutoring, priority scheduling, and excused absences. â€Å"When athletes accept scholarships, they are provided tuition, books, meals, housing, and sometimes graduate assistantships.† With all of this being said, people may have a valid argument that athletes are being compensated enough already. In a recent survey taken by students, they said they supported the idea of paying the athletes at their school. Something shocking was that the students said they would even pay increased tuition if it meant that the money went towards paying the athletes at their school. Both sides of the debate have solid arguments as to whether they should be paid or not. One thing that is certain however is the athletes are being offered a lot with a college scholarship and a excellent learning experience, but the real question is, is that enough? There are 320 athletic programs in Division I each year, with the exception of a few schools. Each university runs on a deficit each year. â€Å"According to the NCAA’s own figures (which generally exclude capital costs, among others), the average FBS athletic program ran a $9.44 million operating deficit in the latest year.† With this being said, here lies the main problem as to why it would be nearly impossible for schools to pay their athletes. There is no logical solution as to how a school would be able to pay a student-athletes salary. So the question must be asked. Where would the money come from, if not provided by the university? Another question would be which athletes should be paid, and how much should they receive? Would there be an open market for the athletes? Would high school recruits go to the highest bidder? There are other things we could do to help out the athletes, such as raises total scholarship money. There could be four year scholarships, rather than stressing out the athletes on whether  their annual scholarship will be renewed. The National College Players Association collaborated with Drexel Universitys sports management program on a research project and came up with some shocking details. The study blames the college sports scandals on the unethical and impractical NCAA res trictions that are on college athletes. The study conducted found the average shortfall of a â€Å"full† scholarship that is supposed to be provided by the university. The study â€Å"compares the room and board portion of players† scholarships to the federal poverty line and coaches’ and athletic administrators’ salaries, and uses NFL and NBA collective bargaining agreements to estimate the fair market value of FBS football and basketball players.† According to the study, the average out of pocket expenses for each player on â€Å"full scholarship† was $3,222 during the 2010-2011 school year. The study concluded the average value of an example of a particular school. Duke basketball players were valued at $1,025,656 while just living $732 above the poverty line and a scholarship shortfall at $1,995. For College football there are many good or even great reasons why pay for play won’t happen. How about paying for a 6 foot 6 inch tall, 325 pound offensive lineman’s meals. We don’t have to because the school does, and that’s at least $500 dollars per month. When an athletes accepts a scholarship, they receive free insurance, and good insurance would generally cost about $400 dollars a month, go ahead and multiply that by the amount of people that are on the team and that’s alot of money. Players get free publicity and it is all provided by the school. It would cost a fortune to hire an agent or get that publicity for yourself. On away games the school pays for everyone’s travel. I personally would love to go to California for free, or Hawaii for example. Free housing is important as well. With all the families with no houses due to foreclosure, there’s no doubt about where the athletes are staying. They can chooses to live on campus for free, or receive a housing allowance they can use to spend on a house/apartment off campus. Bottom line with college athletes is that they are paid, just not like professional athletes . As I have said before housing allowances are built into college scholarships and the amount varies for each school. For Example, a player for South Carolina get $500 per month for off campus activities while a player from South California gets $1000. Let’s say that two players on South Carolina’s football team gets an apartment off campus and it’s $700 for rent  each month. With that being said each player pays $350 for rent and pockets $150 every month. What do you think that player spends his money on? It isn’t food, players get to eat free on campus, and get a meal allowance off of campus. For example, at Boston College the meal allowance is $41 per day. Lets say the player only uses $30 of that, that’s $11 extra everyday and multiply that by the days of the month and there’s roughly another $350 per month in money the player pockets. Athletes do the same thing for book allowances by buying books, then just pocketing the difference and making even more money. Whether or not student-athletes should be paid is the wrong question that’s being asked. The question that people should be asking is, How has the NCAA gotten away with not fully compensating the main attraction to college sports, which is the players? Even people who work at high ranking jobs for the NCAA know the wrongs of the situation. The NCAA preaches amateurism as their most important rule. Walter Byers, former executive director of the NCAA, was quoted saying â€Å"Amateurism is not a moral issue; it’s an economic camouflage for monopoly practice.† The NCAA is well aware of this problem and there is realistically nothing they can do about it. The shame in this situation rides with the highly educated leaders of the NCAA who take advantage of student athletes each and every year. Pay for play will be a strong topic for debate until both sides can agree on a solution. People have their opinions set on their respective sides and valid arguments can be made for each side. With all of that being said, I personally believe that the student-athletes are being compensated enough. Everyone wants to focus on the negatives saying they don’t get this or they don’t get that, but in all reality student-athletes are very fortunate to be in the position they are in.

LeBlanc’s Analysis of Sexuality in Chopin’s The Awakening Essay

LeBlanc’s Analysis of Sexuality in Chopin’s The Awakening Definitions are tricky things. Such is the conclusion of Ross C. Murfin in his attempts to spell out the major literary theories discussed in our text: "attempts to highlight the difference between feminist and gender criticism are inevitably prone to reductive overgeneralization and occasional distortion"(footnote p.226). Such is the conclusion of gender theorists in general in their pursuit of critiquing the traditional definitions of male/ female, masculine/ feminine, and heterosexual/ homosexual. Such is my conclusion in reading Elizabeth LeBlanc's attempts at defining and utilizing the notion of the "metaphorical lesbian" in her analysis of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Tricky as they may be, however, definitions, at least in our efforts to formulate them, constitute our lives, our thought processes, and our discourse: Who are we? What is our purpose? What does it all mean? With this in mind, what are we to make of the "metaphorical lesbian" or of the "real" lesbian? Although I f ound LeBlanc's essay to be exceptionally interesting in its formulations and insights, after reading it I am, nonetheless, left with the feeling that her definitions have become so broad as to seemingly negate any tangible, differentiated meaning. Within the essay, LeBlanc uses Bonnie Zimmerman's concept of the "metaphorical lesbian," Adrienne Rich's concept of "compulsory heterosexuality," and de Lauretis' rejection of a biological definition of feminine gender in reevaluating The Awakening as a lesbian text. In doing so, she defines Edna Pontellier as this "metaphorical lesbian" in that the character repudiates the societal "myth of woman," fosters "women-identified" experience, crea... ...nature. As the novel progresses, Edna seems to pull away from her female relationships in that she stops receiving her women callers and even visits with Adele less frequently. Edna seems concerned with her sole self and its enrichment more than with forming and/or maintaining bonds with anyone else, except for maybe the male Robert. Even in regards to her sexuality, she appears to be more interested in the sexual feelings themselves than in who is creating them for her, such as with her indifference towards Arobin after their sexual interaction. In this light, perhaps Edna is more of a "metaphorical masturbator" than a "metaphorical lesbian." Regardless of Edna's metaphors, however, LeBlanc's metaphors in describing her are extremely inclusive in a way that leaves telling gaps. LeBlanc's "metaphorical lesbian" can thus be seen in actuality as a metaphorical nebula.

Mental Health in Texas Prisons and Jails

Fall 2012 Mental Health in Texas prisons and jails October 13, 2012 University of Southern California A. Introduction: Issue, Policy, Problem: Texas has approximately 24. 3 million residents according to 2010 state statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Close to 833,000 adults live with a serious mental illness. Within these 24. 3 million residents of Texas in 2008, approximately 37,700 adults with a mental illness were incarcerated (NAMI. org).Additionally, there is an estimated 31% of female and 14% of male jail inmates nationally live with serious mental illness. We see this because there are inadequate public mental health services to meet the needs of those suffering. Texas public mental health system provides services to only 21% of adults who live with a mental illness (NAMI. org). The objective of the 18th Edition Texas Laws for Mental Health are to provide a comprehensive range of services for persons with mental illness or mental retardation that need publ icly supported care, treatment, or habilitation.In providing those services, efforts will be made to coordinate services and programs with services and programs provided by other governmental entities to minimize duplication and to share with other governmental entities in financing those services and programs (TDSHS. us). Regardless of the objective by the Texas Laws, prisoners are not, however, a powerful public constituency, and legislative and executive branch officials typically ignore their rights absent litigation or the threat of litigation (UNHCR. org).With this being said, there is great failure within this objective. Many, even thousands of prisoners become incarcerated without receiving the major mental health services they require. Gazing within, many prison mental health services are woefully deficient, crippled by understanding, insufficient facilities, and limited programs. State budget cuts handed down during the recent legislative session left the Texas Department of Criminal Justice with a dangerously-low $6. 1 billion biennial budget, approximately $97 million less than last year’s funding levels.As a result, the mental health care system suffered layoffs along with the rest of the prison health care services. In addition, although treatment and medications were left untouched, fewer medical workers are now left to treat mentally-ill inmates. Staffing cuts in turn increased the inmate-to-staff ratio from 58 to one upward to 65 inmates for every mental health care worker (Nix, 2011). The growing number of mentally ill persons who are incarcerated in the United States is an unintended consequence of two public policies adopted over the last thirty years.The elected officials have failed to provide adequate funding, support, and direction for the community mental health systems that were supposed to replace the mental health hospitals shut down as part of the â€Å"deinstitutionalization† effort that began in the 1960’s (U NHCR,org). Following the deinstitutionalization process came the â€Å"war on drugs† campaign. This was to have embraced a punitive, anti-crime effort. What we saw was a considerable proportion of the prisons and jails population sore, more than quadrupling in the last thirty years. B.History and Scope of Issue: Eighty-three years after the first American institution exclusively for the insane was opened in Williamsburg, Virginia, the first Texas facility for the mentally ill was established by the Sixth Legislature. Legislation signed by Governor Elisha M. Pease on August 28, 1856, called for the establishment of a state lunatic asylum (Creson). Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated for land and buildings. The State Lunatic Asylum (now Austin State Hospital) did not open until 1861, when Superintendent Dr. Beriah Graham admitted twelve patients.Before 1861, individuals with a mental illness or mental retardation were kept at home, sent out of state for treatment or custodi al care, or confined in almshouses or jails. Dr. David Wallace was the first physician in the state to limit his practice to psychiatry. During his tenure as superintendent of the two institutions, Wallace successfully resisted political patronage in the asylums, advocated removal of the â€Å"harmless mentally retarded† from them, did away with restraint, introduced occupational and recreation activities as treatment modalities, and utilized furloughing as a prominent part of institutional procedure.Dr. David Wallace was a true advocate for the mentally ill, and fought for their right to be treated respectfully. Overcrowding became a major problem during the 1940s. Public pressure to reduce the lengthy waiting lists for admission to state hospitals and to remove mentally ill individuals from local jails increased occupancy in already overcrowded hospitals. In 1943, the legislature converted the Confederate Home for Men into a hospital for mentally ill male geriatric patients in order to provide beds in the larger hospitals.In 100 years, the state system for caring for the mentally ill grew to nine state hospitals scattered about the state. Their population had, however, begun to decline as a result of new treatment techniques and changing social ideas about the role of state psychiatric hospitals in caring for afflicted individuals (Creson). Over the years, as the population continued to grow, so did crime, drug use, and violence. Research indicates that 72% of both male and female jail detainees with severe mental disorders also meet criteria for substance use disorders of alcohol or drug abuse (Abram & Teplin, 1991).Within this negative growth, the punishment for the crimes also tightened. Soon we began to see an increase in arrest, and more offenders incarcerated. However, some of the increase was because those suffering with mental illnesses were the individuals committing the crimes. Subsequently, the mental institutions were closing, due to t he changing social views of the way those suffering were treated, left those suffering with nowhere to go. As time moved forward, we can see a striking corresponding movement with the legislative funding for mental health care; it is spiraling downhill.Hence, the beginning of overcrowding in Texas prisons and jails. Sadly, those suffering from mental illness will not receive quality, fair treatment during incarceration. Providing mental health services to incarcerated offenders is frustrated by lack of resources (UNHCR. org). Reflecting back to the early 1800’s, there is a mind blowing resemblance to what we see today; lack of treatment for those with mental illnesses. C. Perspectives and Analysis of Policy:In Texas, legislators, mental health professionals, and advocates have recognized the need to reduce the prevalence of serious mental illness in jails and prisons by diverting minor offenders to community-based mental health services. In fact, House Bill 2292, passed in 20 04, calls for the development of jail diversion strategies along with the implementation of Resiliency and Disease Management (RDM) by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) for the treatment of severe mental illness (TDSHS).Steps should be taken at the federal, state, and local level to reduce the unnecessary and counterproductive incarceration of non- offenders with mental illness. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws should be revised to endure prison is reserved for the most serious of offenders. Reducing the number of mentally ill offenders sent to prison will also free up prison resources to ensure appropriate mental health treatment for those men and women with mental illness who must, in fact, be incarcerated for reasons of public safety (UNHCR).On any given day, between 2. 3 and 3. 9 percent of incarcerated offenders in State prisons are estimated to have schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, between 13. 1 and 18. 6 percent major depression, and between 2. 1 and 4 . 3 percent bipolar disorder (manic episode). In 1999, NAMI (formerly known as the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) reported that the number of Americans with serious mental illnesses in prison was three times greater than the number hospitalized with such illnesses (UNHCR).In the fiscal 1990 year, the average state hospital census was 3,475, and the number of clients served in community mental health-mental retardation centers was 125,277. The Harris County Psychiatric Center, a 240-bed hospital established in October 1986, jointly funded by the state and Harris County and under the direction of the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, served an additional 195 individuals. After federal block grants given to states in 1980 provided more state control in distributing federal funds, Texas (like other states) placed a high priority on severely and chronically ill patients in community programs.This re-allocation of resources resulted in an exacerbation of conflict s caused by different local and state agendas, legislative concerns for cost effectiveness and advocacy groups' agendas for expanded services, as well as professional territorial battles and an expanded definition of what constitutes mental illness. Lawsuits have further complicated the matter of organizing, implementing, and administering the state system while compelling needed reforms. Significant in this regard in Texas was RAJ v.Jones, filed in 1971. Major issues in the case included individualized treatment, patient rights, use of psychotropic medications, and adequate community aftercare services. Morales v. Turman, filed in 1971, resulted in increased quality and availability of mental-health services for juvenile offenders held by the Texas Youth Council. Ruiz v. Estelle did much the same for adults in state prisons and provided impetus for a new prison psychiatric hospital currently under construction in Sugar Land (THSA. org).D. Impact of Policy and Analysis: During 2003 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health found that the mental health delivery system is fragmented and in disarray- leading to unnecessary and costly disability, homelessness, school failure and incarceration. In many communities, access to quality care is poor, resulting in wasted resources and lost opportunities for recovery. The likely-hood of failure for community mental health services to meet the needs of those suffering with mental illness is pronounced.The Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have estimated that 72 percent of mentally ill individuals entering the jail system have a drug-abuse or alcohol problem. Deinstitutionalization resulted in the release of hundred s of thousands of mentally ill offenders to communities who could not care for them. At about the same time, national attitudes toward those who committed street crime-who are overwhelming the country’s poorest -changed remarkably (UNHCR. rg). Prisoners with mental illness f ind it more difficult to adhere to prison rules and to cope with the stresses of confinement, as evidenced by the new BJS statistics that 58 percent of state prisoners with mental problems have been charged with violating prison rules, compared to 43 percent without mental problems. An estimated 24 percent with a mental health problem have been charged with a physical or verbal assault on prison staff, compared to 14 percent of those without.One in five state prisoners with mental health problems has been injured in a fight in prison, compared to one in 10 of those without. Community health services, though good, are, due to lack of funding, inadequate to meet the needs of persons with mental illness. This results in those suffering to â€Å"fall between the cracks†, and into the world of criminal mishap. The lack of funding also affects the ability of law enforcement, courts and correction facilities to divert persons with mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into a more fitting arrangement.Many persons with mental illness, prison can be counter-therapeutic or even â€Å"toxic. † Nevertheless, we recognize the tragic irony that, for many, prison may also offer significant advantages over liberty. For some mentally ill offenders, prison is the first place they have a chance for treatment. For those who are poor and homeless, given the problems they face in accessing mental health services in the community, prison may offer an opportunity for consistent access to medication and mental health services.Realizing this opportunity depends, of course, on whether the prisons provide the necessary services. In 2008, 1,900 out of 11,000 inmates, or 17. 3 percent in the Harris County jail were on psychotropic medication. Spending on mental health care in the prison has risen to $24 million per year, and the combined cost of incarcerating and treating the mentally ill is $87 million annually. A county official noted: the jails have becom e the psychiatric hospitals of the United States.Class action lawsuits have led to improvements in prison mental health care in a number of states, including Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Lawsuits have led to consent decrees and court orders instituting reforms and the court appointment of masters and monitors to oversee compliance. Considering the needs of today's mentally ill prisoners, the progress to date is far from enough. Viewed from the perspective of where prison mental health was two decades ago, the progress has been momentous.Both the state system and the private sector are in a period of major transition. The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation was placed by House Bill 7 under the auspices of the Commission on Health and Human Services, a new umbrella agency established by the legislature in July 1991. How this new structur ing of the administration of state mental health care will ultimately affect the delivery of mental health services remains to be seen (TSHA). E. Judgement: There are nine state mental hospitals in Texas with a total of 2,477 beds to reat civil and criminal patients. About a third of the beds are reserved for criminal commitments, and in 2006, the Department of State Health Services started a waiting list for the beds, because the demand exceeded availability. The shortage of state hospital beds is a problem that local law enforcement officials have been grappling with for years as sheriffs cope with overflowing jails, in which many of the inmates are mentally ill. Harris County officials have seen the number of mentally ill inmates explode since 2003, the last time Texas had a budget crisis and made major cuts.Then, there were fewer than three full-time psychiatrists on duty at the jail. Now, there are more than 15. Often they see the same mentally ill inmates repeatedly. State law makers are considering budget proposals that would reduce community-based health care services for adults and children and for community mental hospitals by about $152 million in 2012 and 2013. It is about a 20 percent reduction in financing from the previous two-year budget. For community mental hospitals, financing would fall about 3 percent, but the money would be split among five facilities instead of three (Grissom, 2011).Several problems associated with housing mentally ill persons in jails and prisons rather than hospitals: – The rate of recidivism. Since mentally ill inmates generally receive little care for their illness while in jail or prison, they return to jail or prison at a greater rate than the general prison population. – Mentally ill inmates cost more than other prisoners to house. The average Texas inmate costs the state approximately $22,000 per year. While an inmate with a mental illness costs the state approximately $30,000 to $50,000 per year. Ot her issues the study cites include the fact that mentally ill inmates commit suicide at a greater rate than the general prison population, and mentally ill inmates are easier targets for abuse by other prisoners and prison staff. Texas ranks 49th in the nation in per capita spending on mental health services. Only 25 percent of children and 18 percent of adults with severe mental illness and in need of services from the public mental health system in Harris County are able to receive them. Now, Texas lawmakers are looking to cut funding to the already overburdened public mental health system by $134 million for 2012-13.A prime example of cost shifting has occurred within the Harris County Jail, now the largest mental health facility in Texas. The Harris County Jail treats more individuals with mental health issues on a daily basis than our state’s 10 psychiatric hospitals combined. This is especially worrisome given that the United States Department of Justice reports that it costs 60 percent more to incarcerate inmates with serious mental illnesses than it costs to house typical inmates. It is clear that imprisonment of the mentally ill will not help the situation at hand, only add to the severity of it.Incarceration of the mentally ill can be devastating and costly. While, those suffering from mental illness need help, confinement in federal, state, and local prisons is not the answer. Local leaders and government officials need to advocate for the mentally ill, and push for more funding to insure proper treatment is available to those in need. References Abram, K. M. , & Teplin, L. A. (1991). Co-occurring disorders among mentally ill jail detainees. American Psychologist, 46, 1036-1045. Dan L. Creson, â€Å"MENTAL HEALTH,† Handbook of Texas Online (http://www. shaonline. org/handbook/online/articles/smmun), accessed October 14, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Janice C. May, â€Å"GOVERNMENT,† Handbook of T exas Online (http://www. tshaonline. org/handbook/online/articles/mzgfq), accessed October 14, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Undefined. (May 15, 2012). Texas Department of State Health Services. In 18th Edition Texas Laws for Mental Health. Retrieved October 14, 2012, from http://www. dshs. state. tx. us/mhrules/Texas_Laws. shtm.

Male Character Essay

Masculine roles have effective power in recent movies. In the chapter, the author who is Kenneth Mackinnon talks about ‘masculinity in movies’ by variety ways. He not only considers about the different kinds of movie genres, individual movies and those male movie stars in general, but also introduces the hard body and soft body contrastively for audience. Moreover, Mackinnon mentions about the disadvantages of masculinity in the films and provides three recent illustrations in 2000 to answer the questions of masculinity clearly. The evidence which author selected is widespread but all come from the main idea of masculinity such as technological advances, the homoeroticism and heterosexuals, the feminism and masculinity and even the culture and history about masculinity in movies. At the beginning of the chapter, Mackinnon introduces the different genres about masculinity in movies by using lots of examples. There are variety of movie types such as action genres, bond movies, westerns, war films, slasher movies, sports movies and something else. One of the most important types is action movie. As Mackinnon said, action movie is †a version of heroism was promoted in these movies that depended on visual evidence of physical strength and might. †(P294) For this reason, the publishers pay much money to superstars in order to get the extraordinary effects in action films. For example, Sylvester Stallone in ‘make rampage’ movie. Similarly, bond movie, as an action series, depicted a new type of masculinity, which found in †Gentleman Chivalry† from 1962 to the present. The kind of movie continues to execute the heroism, which is popular among audience. For instance, the famous identities of 007 are James Bond and his ‘bond girl’. However, there is too much â€Å"technological excess† and special effects in recent years. That’s captured audience’s attention negatively. The author has also stated the westerns, which are â€Å"the supreme genre for the depiction of traditional, laconic, dominating masculinity. † (P297)The protagonists are usually cowboys in Hollywood film. The consequence of those boys usually be alone. Moreover, western movie allows violence, homosociality and â€Å"evasion of domestication†. The author’s opinion of masculinity in sports movies is that they provide a kind of lifestyle, which is a pure physical machismo for audience. In other words, it is â€Å"a highly stylized version of traditional masculinity†(P300) people have chance to watch a â€Å"natural† masculinity in sports movie. (i. e. Field of Dreams). Another genre has been mentioned is comedy. It’s a different side of masculinity. Comedy always shows audience the irony of traditional masculinity, especially in vulnerable side. They focused more on conflicts from fatherhood rather than motherhood. In order to understand the masculinity movie deeply, the author selected a few individual movies such as Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Ringers, The Crying Game and The Full Monty. The protagonist of Born on the Fourth of July is Don Kunz who acts as a â€Å"heroic masculine ideal† in the movie. He thinks winning is the most important thing. â€Å"to win, others must be losers†(p304)make him full of physical strength. He is a typical figure of masculine in movie. Male stars are also an important factor for masculinity movie, because female audience, even some of male audience will follow the movie stars. In the chapter, Mackinnon introduce male stars such as Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson.

The Phoenician Resort Essays - Religion, Culture, Western Asia

The Phoenician Resort Essays - Religion, Culture, Western Asia The Phoenician Resort INTRODUCTION How can 130 acres of resort "nestle" anywhere, especially in the heart of a thriving metropolis known as "The Valley of the Sun"? Yet, through the combination of landscaping and architecture, this slice of desert heaven does seem to discreetly nestle against Camelback Mountain, its sandstone terraces barely discernible. Even in the heart of Arizona's Sonoran desert, the well manicured landscaping is lush and mature, accented with a scenic cactus garden boasting 350 varieties of blooming succulents that attract colorful desert hummingbirds. Architecture is at once impressive and unobtrusive. The Phoenician Resort, a lavish stretch of desert chic, is home to 18 PGA-approved holes scattered across lush green fairways. The Resort boasts 580 elegant rooms, suites, and casitas; a lighted 11-court tennis complex; seven swimming pools; plus a Centre for Well Being that soothes and challenges body and soul. Restaurants cater to tastes ranging from Mediterranean Country to Southwestern Casual to traditional English tea. A skilled and attentive hotel staff provide impeccable guest service (Rice, 1994). The Phoenician also offers superb meeting facilities with 60,000 square feet of meeting space, a 22,000 square-foot grand ballroom, 21 conference rooms, and two boardrooms. A Business Center, an individualized Butler Program, as well as in-house Audio-Visual and Destination Services Departments cater to a group's and attendee's every need. From the beginning, the Phoenician was envisioned as a resort that would combine the luxury of Europe's top hostelries with the colors, textures, and ambiance of the Southwest. Since its opening in October, 1988, The Phoenician has attracted vacationers, business clientele, and notoriety from around the world. A lobby graced with imported Italian marble, Persian rugs, crystal chandeliers, soft carpets, deep couches, gold leaf detailing, and mile-high flower arrangements flown in from Europe and Hawaii (Davis, 1993) suggests more than an ordinary luxury hotel. Each of the Phoenician's luxurious guest room accommodations have a view, including the Resort's two 3,200-square-foot presidential suites that come complete with baby grand piano, gourmet kitchen, formal dining room, casual living room with fireplace, and 24-hour butler service. With Charles Keating's monogram erased from the middle of the stunning lobby's star burst-pattern marble floor, and in the hands of new owners Sheraton ITT, The Phoenician is an ode to success, not wretched excess (Reinman, 1994). What continues to make The Phoenician successful is its ability to carry out its simply stated goal: provide guests with unparalleled luxury service. Certainly, well refined organizational communication skills are necessary in order to accomplish this goal successfully. This portion of the observation plan focuses on the effectiveness of communication between the Resort and the customer in understanding the customer's needs and expectations for a group function, as well as the effectiveness of communication between the Resort management and employees in successfully meeting the customer's needs and expectations for a group function. Additionally, the observation plan looks at the forms of feedback received from customers after an event, which w! ould assist the Resort in providing continued superior service in future events. OBSERVATIONS Pre-Conference Meeting Focusing on the written, verbal, and non-verbal communication within the Convention Services and Banquet Operations Departments, I attended a pre-conference meeting with the guest/group representatives of the International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureau (IACVB) and The Phoenician management. Each department affected by the scheduled event was represented, including both the Resort and General Manager. In a spacious, well pointed meeting room set up with water service, refreshments, writing tablets and pencils, hotel participants convened prior to the arrival of the guest/group representatives. Resort staff members resembled cast performers in a long running Broadway play, made up to appear larger than life in the production they were about to take part. Fashionably dressed in conservative business attire, well groomed, and with bright, attentive gazes, each participant arrived well versed with the Group's Resume, as well as the Time and Event Schedule for a! total of 182 individual events, each of which had been distributed to the departments prior to the pre-conference meeting. At the formal start of the meeting, Mr. Steve Therriault, Convention Services Manager, introduced Ms. Wendy Shapiro as the guest/group representative for the IACVB, and he introduced the local representative from the Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ms. Shapiro profiled the IACVB as a global organization, representing

immune system Essay

immune system Essay immune system Essay 1. A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host. 2. Bacteria cause illness by releasing chemicals that are toxic to the host or by destroying healthy body cells. Example: tuberculosis Viruses enter the body and take over healthy a cell, which leads them to stop performing their normal tasks. Example: HIV Fungi go into the body then break the cell wall and use its nutrients to grow. Example: zygote fungi Protozoa are singled organisms that feed on other cells. Example: ameba Parasites are organisms that grow and feed on the host some can even kill the host. Example: filaria 3. Pathogens can be transferred by direct or indirect contact with an infected area. They also can be transmitted by the air, water, animal bites and sexual intercourse. 4. The body system that fights off pathogens and infection is called the immune system. The immune system several defenses the first one is the skin. Second, sense the body has openings such as the nose and mouth the immune system builds mucous to trap the incoming pathogens. The last defenses once a pathogen gets into the body is that B cells and T cells are sent to attack it. 5. Nonspecific responses happen the same way in every pathogen such as inflammation and fever. Specific responses are different for each infection because they are specialized to their certain pathogen such as antigens. 6. A vaccine is a substance that is put

Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect

Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect Writing Dialogue In Accents and Dialect By Kate Evans Wen old man Rabbit say scoot, dey scooted, en wen ole Miss Rabbit say scat, dey scatted. Dey did dat. En dey kep der cloze clean, and day aint had no smut on der nose nudder. Uncle Remus A  Story About Little Rabbits, Joel Chandler Harris. We have a long literary tradition of writing dialogue in accents and dialect. Mark Twain comes to mind, as a master of the written idiom. Dialect instantly gives characters authenticity and offers insight into their attitudes, background, and education. An accent allows the reader to use their sense of hearing and gives text depth and flavor. On the other hand, using dialects and accents is often a distraction. When accented words are spelled phonetically, they can frustrate and slow the reader down. If accents are inaccurate or inauthentic, they can stereotype or even insult. With all of these risks, writing dialects has largely gone out of fashion. So what is a writer to do instead? The first step would be to describe patterns of speech in prose. For example, her honeyed accent melted off of her tongue, slowly, sweetly, and with the same elongated syllables that her mama used. Already, the character has an established geographical place and a hint of her history. From then on, the reader can hear and even visualize the honeyed accent. Another tactic is to reflect dialect with commonly spoken words in commonly spelled ways. A writer could insert gonna for going to. The reader registers these words easily but the speech pattern can also convey information about the characters. Finally, a writer can pay close attention to phrases and idioms that pertain to a characters geographic location or time in history. Phrases, such as shes dumber than a bucket of hair, bless her heart, places someone in the American South. The craic is mighty, puts someone in modern day Ireland. When carefully researched and used advantageously, simple colloquial phrases can carry as much weight as paragraphs of complicated written dialect. While we dont want to lose the art of conveying speech patterns through the written word, in todays world, there are more subtle ways to illustrate character traits. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†Homogeneous vs. HeterogeneousDouble Possessive

Organisations face a variety of contradictory and competing approaches Essay

Organisations face a variety of contradictory and competing approaches when deciding whether or not to comply with industry norms - Essay Example The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During the last two financial years, the Group has also entered into arrangements with network operators in countries where the Group does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Network Agreements, the Group and its partner networks co-operate in the development and marketing of global services under dual brand logos. At 30 September 2007, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had ownership interests at that date, the Group had 241 million customers, excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance with the Company's percentage interest in these ventures. Vodafone seeks to be the worldwide communications leader in over the period of the next 2-5 years. In order to accomplish this, they will first and foremost have to deal with telecommunication industry regulations (Damien & Kerf 2003). Vodafone also consistently has to address customer complaints that stem from their competitors. International trends also play a factor, including "the liberalization of the terminal equipment market and the market for value-added services" (Bauer 1994). In order to stay ahead of the g... ing against global sourcing decisions across companie, and provid[ing] compliance measurement reports," as well as perfect the use of cellular phones for "tracking persons through the global positioning system" (Bauer 1994). According to Balsinde et al.: Multiple opportunities are open for Vodafone. One, cheaper UK-US phone calls would divert traffic from Europe to be routed via London to the US, turning Britain into a vital telecommunications hub. Two, There is still a huge market which is still untapped for mobile services. About 78 out of a hundred UK residents still do not have mobile phone services; this is a potential market that Vodafone needs to address. Three, Vodafone can create a strong market niche in the 3G telephone systems set-up since it has the technological advantage, financial expertise and marketing network to compete with other major players. The fourth strength is the full liberalization of the telecommunications market will enable Vodafone to make its presence felt in the new member countries of the European Union (EU). The fifth strength is that once the benefits of EU industry regulation outweigh their potential costs, Vodafone can operate unhampered in the EU. The efficient allocation of regulatory resources will result in consistent regulatory decisions across EU member-states. The sixth strength is that the UK economy offers low business taxes, low real interest rates, robust growth in demand, substantial falls in equipment prices and the effect of a strong stock market in reducing the cost of capital. These positive factors favor business growth in areas which require the installation of substantial new capital such as the mobile phone business. The seventh strength is that the overall picture of telecommunications in the UK is one

Impact of Rise in Price of Gasoline Research Paper - 6

Impact of Rise in Price of Gasoline - Research Paper Example Gasoline is the complement of automobiles. The decrease in the supply of gasoline is likely to push its price up. Hike in price of compliment tends to decrease the demand for the good. In this case, the demand for both luxury cars and economy cars will decrease. However, due to the different nature of luxury and economy cars, their demand will decrease in different proportions in response to change in the price of gasoline. Luxury cars are likely to consume more gasoline hence their demand likely to be more responsive to increase in the price of gasoline relative to economy cars that are fuel-efficient and take a relatively little portion of consumption. Demand for luxury cars will, thus, decrease more than that of economy cars. These impacts are shown in the following figures. The horizontal axis shows the demand and supply quantity of luxury cars and the y-axis represents their price. Initial equilibrium lies at point E1 where demand curve D1intersects supply curve S. Due to increasing in price of gasoline demand curve shifts leftward i-e D2. The new equilibrium is E2, where equilibrium quantity has decreased from Q1 to Q2 and equilibrium price, has fallen from P1 to P2. In the case of economy cars, the same phenomena would repeat. The demand curve for the economy cars will shift to the left representing decreased demand for economy cars due to a rise in the price of gasoline. However, the extent of decrement in the demand for economy cars is likely to be lesser relative to that of luxury cars. As shown in the diagram below, X-axis shows the quantity demanded and supplied of economy cars and Y-axis shows their corresponding price. Due to the rise in the price of gasoline demand curve D1 shifts leftward and new demand curve D2 appears. Initial equilibrium lies at point E1 where equilibrium quantity is Q1 and the equilibrium price is P1. New demand curve D2 intersects supply curve S at point E2.  At new equilibrium, E2 equilibrium quantity is Q2 and the equilibrium price is P2.

Jackson asministratiom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jackson asministratiom - Essay Example For that matter, Jackson established the rules needed to initiate the Indian removal. His efforts were based on the view that such actions can be undertaken on a publicly acceptable manner which he maneuvered with ease. His goal though on achieving his goal immediately created detrimental effects due to other issues that compounded the situation such as economy (Satz 64). This can be attributed to the fact that the government needed to provide for the needs of the Indian emigrants which on the other hand are often neglected due to the goal to finish at the fastest possible time. The said needs are in relation to the lands in the West that served as replacement for the tribal lands the Indians owned (p. 64). Basically the said issue is not a simple matter since it had caused undermining of the confidence and trust of the people. One of the reason is the focus on the said project had caused the leader to neglect other aspects of leadership causing a shift in the leadership load to the leaders of the state. This created criticisms on his leadership. He, at one glance can be judged to have an obsession of the said project since he had been working for the said goal even prior to his presidency (p. 97) There are different conflicts that resulted in the said policy. One of which is the Cherokee case in Georgia which resulted in the Treaty of New Echota signed by John Ridge. This did not resolve the issues though since Ridge was not the recognized leader. Jackson’s successor, Van Buren though enforced the treaty resulting to 4,000 deaths from the Cherokees in the Trail of Tears. Later on, the tribes from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida lived in associated with the white Americans refusing to leave the land but without creating conflicts (p. 126). The Indian removal resulted to the transfer of 45,000 American Indians to the western part of US. This is in addition to the millions of acres of lands purchased by the government. Such actions

See below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

See below - Essay Example In essence, seasonal temperature varies from average of 26 Â °F in January while in July amounts to 86Â °F. Its commodities vary, as there is air warmth, soil fertility, and rivers that are so favourable and augment a more convenient place for man survival, pleasure, and farming. Fishing is a core activity as rivers and bay comprises of fish and places for building ships, which indicates the area’s interest in fishing. Fishing and hunting is done via bow and arrows and much of their fishing is in boats. Predominantly, Virginia largest groups are Christians with protestant. However, this article outlines that Virginia worship a chief God whose people serve in fear in love. Within their temples, they have images that indicate their passion in their religion such as carved images painted with beads, copper, and chains, and covered with the skin suiting the deformity of their God. Following this, one would conclude that the article lacks depth of religion facts as it only outlays the deformity of God revealed in their way of worship and temple symbols but fails to discuss their religion. From the article, one can capture the fact that Virginia’s population is not crowded for men are fewer and a greater number of children and women. There are about 5, 000 people in 70 miles of James Towne. From this argument, it is obvious that women and children are more than men. Still, one can draw a conclusion that Virginia is a unique state as it is the birthplace of prominent people such as the eight US presidents, noted scientists, and famous statesmen. With this regard, one can assume that the State is notable for raising prominent leaders who have enhanced a positive impact in the U.S. To some extent, this might be the reason why the State has a strong government that seeks to solve issues and improve people welfare. Virginia has a strong government that comprises of good commanding that in turn makes the state excel in their

Developmental Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Developmental Psychology - Essay Example High-risk sexual behaviour may result from these and a combination of other factors. Unprotected sex, for instance, may lead to HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases. An absence of any of the contraceptive methods may also lead to pregnancy for teen girls, It is estimated that one of every six sexually active teen girls becomes pregnant (Kail, 2008, p. 336). The book lists four factors that contribute to high-risk sexual behaviour. These are ignorance, illusion of invulnerability (when the adolescent feels that the sexually transmitted disease or pregnancy could not happen to her), lack of motivation (desiring to become pregnant for the wrong reasons), and lack of access (inability to secure contraceptives). Schools should be mandated to hold sexual education classes for their adolescent students. Students who get sexually promiscuous do so not solely because they have learned sex in school, but because of influences in mass media and other elements they are exposed to. In other words, sexual activity will occur with or without sex education classes. However, without knowing the biological reasons and ways of dealing with what they feel, students will be more at a loss as to how to protect themselves. What needs to be emphasized is that they should be responsible for their actions, and they have the choice to refuse to have sex even in the face of peer pressure. For sex education to be withheld from adolescents is not only irresponsible, but potentially dangerous for them. Drawing on material from the text, respond to the following questions. The text discusses the "myth" that adolescence is a time of storm and stress. This has been the popular view for many years. Discuss the authors conclusions. Do you agree with their view? What have been your own experiences regarding this issue, either yourself or as a parent? According to the authors, Kail & Cavanaugh, the rebellious teen is

Topic Proposal on Should Testimonies of Lay Witnesses be Allowed in Coursework

Topic Proposal on Should Testimonies of Lay Witnesses be Allowed in Court - Coursework Example The law in some cases permits the witnesses to give their opinion evidence that can be categorized into expert opinion and lay opinion. â€Å"While the courts have made concessions in certain recurring situations, necessity as a standard for permitting opinions and conclusions has proved too elusive and too unadaptable to particular situations for purposes of satisfactory judicial administration† (Legal Information Institute, 2011). Lay witnesses give their opinions when they are based rationally on their perceptions, prove helpful in determining facts in the issue, and when they are not based on technical, scientific, and other kinds of knowledge in the expert testimony scope. Lay witnesses are permitted to give their opinion to help determine the weight, height, dimensions, quantity and such other features of things despite the lack of precision of their testimony. By definition, lay witnesses cannot be considered as experts on a specific matter. Even lay witnesses themselve s are not willing to appear as witnesses when they are given subpoena from the court. â€Å"For most inexperienced witnesses, the prospect of testifying in a deposition or courtroom fills them with dread† (Heaney and Koonan, 2007, p. 1). When lay witnesses meet other witnesses before appearing in the court, it reduces the chances of collusion and fabrication (Slovenko, 2004). This imparts the need to study to what extent the parties involved in the judicial cases are optimistic about the reliance of lay witnesses for evidence. Research in this field is very limited. By studying whether testimonies of the lay witnesses should or should not be allowed in court, this research would fill gap in the literature. This research would identify the response to the question; whether testimonies of lay witnesses should be allowed in court or not. Answer to this question would be obtained from different categories of people

Developmental Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Developmental Psychology - Essay Example High-risk sexual behaviour may result from these and a combination of other factors. Unprotected sex, for instance, may lead to HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases. An absence of any of the contraceptive methods may also lead to pregnancy for teen girls, It is estimated that one of every six sexually active teen girls becomes pregnant (Kail, 2008, p. 336). The book lists four factors that contribute to high-risk sexual behaviour. These are ignorance, illusion of invulnerability (when the adolescent feels that the sexually transmitted disease or pregnancy could not happen to her), lack of motivation (desiring to become pregnant for the wrong reasons), and lack of access (inability to secure contraceptives). Schools should be mandated to hold sexual education classes for their adolescent students. Students who get sexually promiscuous do so not solely because they have learned sex in school, but because of influences in mass media and other elements they are exposed to. In other words, sexual activity will occur with or without sex education classes. However, without knowing the biological reasons and ways of dealing with what they feel, students will be more at a loss as to how to protect themselves. What needs to be emphasized is that they should be responsible for their actions, and they have the choice to refuse to have sex even in the face of peer pressure. For sex education to be withheld from adolescents is not only irresponsible, but potentially dangerous for them. Drawing on material from the text, respond to the following questions. The text discusses the "myth" that adolescence is a time of storm and stress. This has been the popular view for many years. Discuss the authors conclusions. Do you agree with their view? What have been your own experiences regarding this issue, either yourself or as a parent? According to the authors, Kail & Cavanaugh, the rebellious teen is

Environmental Issues that impact the Western United States Research Paper

Environmental Issues that impact the Western United States - Research Paper Example America is one of the prominent nuclear powers in the world and its nuclear power plants are generating immense nuclear wastes which are dumped into seas. Moreover, the fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides used to improve the agricultural yields, are polluting the soil and water. Western United States is a region which is facing big environmental problems as a result of visionless industrial and agricultural policies. This paper briefly analyses the environmental problems of Western America and provides some recommendations to overcome it. Environmental problems in western America Mining is one of the major activities which cause severe environmental problems in Western America. Mining started in America in the nineteenth century and western America is a region which is blessed with precious metals like gold and minerals. The gold rush in the nineteenth century resulted in the construction of rail, roads and other transportation means and many of the natural forests were destroyed. Some of the cities like Denver and Sacramento evolved as mining towns during this period. Contamination of soil and water, erosion, destruction of biodiversity etc were the outcomes of gold rush or mining. Mining is a process which requires the use of lot of chemicals to purify the metals and minerals mined out of the soil. These chemicals often pollute the soil and water. A scoping study conducted by the Western Governors' Association Mine Waste Task Force (1) collected the following statistics on inactive and abandoned mines (IAMs) by state: Arizona -- 80,000 IAM sites covering 136,653 acres, pollution 200 miles of surface waterways. California -- 2,484 IAM sites, 1,685 mine openings, and 578 miles of polluted streams. Colorado -- 20,299 mine openings and 1,298 miles of affected streams. Idaho -- 27,543 acres affected by IAMs. Missouri -- 7,655 IAM sites covering 48,175 acres, with 109 miles of affected streams. Montana -- 20,000 IAM sites covering 153,800 acres, with 1,118 miles of stream damage. New Mexico -- 25,320 acres and 69 miles of stream affected by IAMs. Oklahoma -- 26,453 acres affected by IAMs. Utah -- 25,020 acres affected by IAMs, with 83 miles of polluted streams. Of this total volume, approximately 85 percent is attributed to copper, iron ore, uranium, and phosphate mining and related activities. Approximately one-half of the waste generated is mining waste and one-third is tailings, with the balance consisting of dump/heap leaching wastes and mine water (Durkin and Herrmann, n. d) Even though mine waste problems affect the environment in numerous ways, acid mine drainage is the most serious problem arises as a result of mining. Mine wastes may engage in serious chemical reactions with other elements present in soil, rock water etc. For example, the major constituent of rock is ferrous sulphide which could be oxidized to form hydrogen ion when mine wastes react with it in the presence of water. Since hydrogen ions can easily react with water to form different types of acids, and thereby the acidity of the soil would be increased a lot. Acids have the ability to react with different types of metals and elements present in soil and water. In other worlds, when the acidity increases in the soil, lot of unwanted or poisonous materials can be generated. In short, mining indirectly pollute the water and the soil near the mining areas. The agriculture in Western United States mostly depends

Payroll System Essay Example for Free

Payroll System Essay Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Nowadays all establishment are becoming modernized, they use modern technologies to make their transaction fast, easy, and accurate in order to avoid waste of time and for the sake of safety and security. It also helps human to solve and understand complex problem and analysis such us the computational need of humans. Especially to business establishment or corporation processing enormous data and complex transaction. Payroll is an example of a complex transaction because it is a critical business operation dealing with numerous accounts and produce plenty and confidential files. Payroll is encompasses every employee of a company who receives a regular wages or other compensation due to each. In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons. From an accounting perspective, payroll is crucial because payroll and payroll taxes considerably affect the net income of most companies and they are subject to laws and regulations (e.g. in the US payroll is subject to federal and state regulations). From an ethics in business viewpoint payroll is a critical department as employees are responsive to payroll errors and irregularities: good employee morale requires payroll to be paid timely and accurately. The primary mission of the payroll department is to ensure that all employees are paid accurately and timely with the correct withholdings and deductions, and to ensure the withholdings and deductions are remitted in a timely manner. This includes salary payments, tax withholdings, and deductions from a paycheck. Companies typically generate their payrolls at regular intervals, for the benefit of regular income to their employees. The regularity of the intervals varies from company to company, and sometimes between job grades within a given company. Common payroll frequencies include: daily, weekly, bi- weekly (once every two weeks), semi-monthly (twice per month), and to a somewhat lesser extent, monthly. Less common payroll frequencies include: 4-weekly (13 times per year), bi-monthly (once every two months), quarterly  (ones every 13 weeks), semi-annually (twice per year), and annually. Payroll Systems reduces employer costs, liability, and administrative burden through integrated solutions. Advantages include: Flexible and comprehensive solutions that organize, integrate, and simplify complex business processes Liability reduction through diligent compliance systems, support, and oversight Accurate and reliable processing and reporting Secure data management and transactions Applying manual procedure on a Payroll transaction involving the vast beat answer in that problem would be computer because computers can simulate enormous data and can process complex transaction in a fast and efficient way. It can generate numerous accounts and data accurately. A Computerized Payroll System will not only provide accurate calculation and fast process of Payroll transaction but it will secure data through security implementation and accordingly arrange files provided by a well-designed database that will produce a paperless environment. The municipality of Sta. Josefa was created on March 1, 1965 under Republic Act. No. 1515. The municipality, as a political and corporate body, is mandated to ensure and support the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology, encourage and support the development of appropriate and self- reliant and technological capabilities, improve public morals, enhance economic prosperity and social justice, maintain peace and order, and preserve the comfort and convenience of its people. Sta. Josefa’s primary vision is to grow as a prosperous and progressive agri-industrial municipality wherein people live peacefully in a just-clean and ecologically balance and God-loving community. Her mission is to promote genuine and active peoples participation in local development and governance geared towards equitable and stable economic growth based on agri-industrialization, accessible service delivery and sustainable environmental management. The municipality maintained three types of fund, namely; General Fund, Special Education fund, and Trust Fund. The general fund includes the economic enterprises which the municipality runs, such as  the Farm Level Grain Center (FLGC), the Sta. Josefa Water Development System (SJWDS), the Motorpool Operations and the utilization of the 20% Municipal Development Fund. Presently, Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur is practicing the manual process on their Payroll System. It has separate manual process for the Regular Employees and J.O (Job-Order) employees. The total number of employees in the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur is 90 regular employees and 50 job-order employees. Statement of the Problems 1. Time consuming process of payroll preparation The LGU of Sta. Joefa still using the manual method of payroll process. A lot of jobs are assigned to the payroll maker and accounting clerk, with cause’s inconvenience to their services. In this method, it will need more time and manpower to complete the payroll of each employee. 2. Laborious payroll process Nobody could admit the inescapable fact that what makes the manual procedure take a long time to finish the task is due to the many steps and processes to undergo. There is the collection of data such as DTR, REMITTANCES, and individual manual calculation of payroll. Individual data is transferred through sheets, encoding and double checking after calculating. All this process requires labor and effort to complete the task. 3. Misposting and understating of employee’s data The logical process of manual procedure result to too much time consumption. It often times result in misposting and understating of each employees data of plenty of files that is hard to accommodate. Review of Related Literature Payroll System Development and Integration. The client provides Employee Benefits Consulting, Human Resource Services, Benefits Administration, and Payroll, Property and Casualty and other services for client companies, enabling them to focus on their core businesses. The Challenge The client had payroll as part of their vast array of services, but wanted to provide clients with a single system of entry to manage and process payroll data.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We needed to make a truly payroll integrated product from two separate systems with different programming, different databases and different technologies,† said the company’s Director of IT. â€Å"It was critical to have the solution developed for us in a timely manner in order to maximize the benefits for our valued clients.† The new solution would have to integrate a recently acquired nationally recognized payroll application — ExecuPay — with the client’s already already-established Web-based human resources and based a benefits system, AccessHR. The solution needed to share data between the two databases of each product as well as provide web based screens to expose all the payroll functionality to the web-based users. All of this needed to be accomplished behind behind-the-scenes, without any loss of existing thought information or any complications for legacy users of the legacy HR benefits system, during or after integration. â€Å"Our biggest challenge was that we specialize in HR benefits administration and consulting, not in software development,† the Director of IT said. â€Å"We chose Arris because the company had payment,† insurance industry experience with some of their other clients.† The Solution Arris identified the detailed requirements for the payroll functionality by analyzing the ExecuPay client application and then reverse engineering it to seamlessly integrate a single environment reverse-engineering that would give the client the desired single point of access.

Principle of Separate Legal Personality

Principle of Separate Legal Personality Principle of Separate Legal Personality Separate Legal Personality Concept developed in Company Law, relating to the legal status between a Company Limited by Shares and its owners. The Principle was first accepted in Salomon v Salomon, a landmark case which is often considered to have established one of the most important principles within Company Law; A Company is a distinct legal personality from that of its owners. Because of this Separate Legal Personality is also known as the Salomon Principle. The ‘separate entity’ doctrine (that the company is an entity separate to its shareholders) established very early in Salomon’s case (Salomon v Salomon Co [1897] AC 22). Each regular individual has a lawful identity, importance it holds rights, commitments and obligations. At the point when a Company is consolidated, that is enrolled in the Companies Office and issued with a Certificate of Incorporation; it excessively has a legitimate identity. However a Company cant work all alone, obliging human intercession to direct business for its sake. The guideline of Separate Legal Personality builds that a Company has lawful rights and commitments that are unique and separate from its parts (holders/shareholders). Moreover the benefits and obligations of a Company Limited by Shares have a place solely to the Company and its parts cant be sought after as by and by obligated for the activities of the Company. This division of the Company from its parts is known as the Veil of Incorporation. Example The guideline of Separate Legal Entity can been seen in play in the late Irish case Quigley Meats. The Plaintiffs for this situation (the Quigleys) supplied the Defendants with meat produce for their restaurant. The Quigleys were of the feeling that they were managing the Defendants by and by, however instalments for produce were constantly made to the Quigleys from a Company account. The Defendants got into some money related trouble and quit paying the Quigleys for the produce. The Quigleys then chosen to seek after the Defendants through the Courts for the unpaid bills. The Court at first found for the Quigleys requesting the Defendants to pay the obligation of â‚ ¬26,000. However the respondents advanced contending that they couldnt be discovered by and by at risk as the obligation was for their Company to pay. The High Court concurred with the Defendants because when they did pay the Quigleys they had paid with checks which had the Companys name printed on them, in this manne r they should have realized that they were managing a restricted obligation organization and not people. (Quigley Meats Ltd v. Hurley [2011] IEHC 192) Piercing the Corporate of Veil The lodestar of organization law has remained the honesty of the different identity of the organization: the corporate cloak might be lifted in the most compelling of circumstances. The result is an absence of clarity in the exact lawful privileges of the shareholders and their connection with the governing body. When to lift The case law has showed that the courts are by and large hesitant to lift the corporate shroud. Yet, the points of confinement of a periodic choice of a court to lift the corporate shroud is not closed. It is, hence, hard to foresee the circumstances in which the courts will puncture the corporate shroud, and there is by all accounts an inclination to rehash the wheel each one time it is contended. Courts have approached veil–piercing cases in an ad hoc manner with underlying policy considerations in mind. As Rogers AJA confirmed in BriggsvJamesHardieCoPtyLtd: The threshold problem arises from the fact that there is no common, unifying principle, which underlies the occasional decision of courts to pierce the corporate veil. Although an ad hoc explanation may be offered by a court which so decides, there is no principled approach to be derived from the authorities (Briggs v James Hardie Co Pty Ltd Ors (1989) 16 NSWLR 549 at 567) When deciding to disregard the separate legal personality principle Jenkinson-J, in DennisWilcoxPtyLtdvFederalCommissionerofTaxation, stated that a court should do so, â€Å"†¦only if [they] can see that there is, in fact or in law, a partnership between companies in a group, or that there is a mere sham or faà §ade in which that company is playing a role, or that the creation or use of the company was designed to enable legal or fiduciary obligations to be evaded or a fraud to be perpetrated† (Dennis Wilcox Pty Limited v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1988) 79 ALR 267) Fraud The corporate veil may be lifted where there has been an extortion or other break of the law. The extortion and sham contention alludes to the utilization of a partnership by the controller to avoid a lawful or guardian commitment, where the company is utilized as an issue to cover genuine commitments. As the Full Federal Court noted in Donnelly-v-Edelsten â€Å"the contention [of fraud] is, obviously roundabout. It can just succeed if the contention of sham succeeds. On the off chance that an organization is a sham or veneer then it has fused only to mask the truth of its operations or dodge commitments. (Donnelly v Edelsten (1994) 13 ACSR 196 at 256) To penetrate the corporate shroud for misrepresentation, the organization must have the plan to utilize the corporate structure as a part of such a route as to deny the offended party some for every current lawful right. All the more particularly, the organization is consequently used in a way to evade a lawful commitment. To be clear, it is for the most part reasonable to structure organizations to dodge a future risk, for instance in a hazardous business wander that may come up short, however courts may not permit an organization to be structured to abstain from performing a current legitimate obligation. In any case, such contentions can be scrutinized for dismissing the different element guideline. Concerning a sham enterprise, Windeyer J has held if an organization is appropriately joined and enlisted under the Corporations Act and the best possible records are kept in due structure and the recommended returns made, it keeps on existing as an issue substance. In that sense it is a reality and not a sham. (Peate v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1964) 111 CLR 443 at 480) Group Enterprise Any uniqueness from the standard of independent corporate identity is prone to be joined by a recession of constrained corporate obligation. This is, maybe, most clear in a corporate gathering structure. The gathering endeavour ground incorporates circumstances in which a corporate gathering is acting in such a way as to make every individual substance vague and, consequently, the corporate cloak is lifted to treat the guardian organization as subject for the demonstrations of the auxiliary. Figures that show that two or more organizations were occupied with a gathering venture include ;( Ramsay, I. â€Å"Piercing the Corporate Veil in Australia† (2001) 19 CSLJ 250 at 257) †¢There is an element of partnership or group accounting present; †¢Obvious influence of control extending from the top of the corporate structure; †¢The extent to which the companies were thought to be participating in a common enterprise with mutual advantages; †¢The relationship between the two companies is that of parent and subsidiary; †¢overlapping directors, officers, and employees, †¢One company in the structure acts as agent for the controlling entity; and †¢There is an element of sham or facade present, that is, the corporate structure is used to evade legal or fiduciary obligations. As Rogers AJA affirmed in Briggs-v-James-Hardin--Co-Pt-Limited--Ors †¦ the recommendations†¦ that the corporate shroud may be penetrated where one organization activities complete command and control over an alternate is altogether excessively short-sighted. Rogers AJA went ahead to perceive that it is a business reality that a guardian organization as a rule does activity complete control over a backup, subsequently, uncovering the inborn blemish of a strict application of the different substance standard to corporate gathering. (BriggsvJamesHardieCoPtyLimitedOrs (1989) 16 NSWLR 549) Commits a Tort In spite of the fact that the courts have been more slanted to penetrate the corporate cover in contract claims, there are signs that courts are readied to lift the corporate cloak and make a guardian organization subject in connection to torts submitted by a gathering organization which includes: (a)Cases of agency, partnership or trust between the subsidiary and parent company: Briggs v James Hardie Co Pty Ltd (1989) 16 NSWLR 549; Spreag v Paeson Pty Ltd (1990) 94 ALR 674 (b)attribution of direct liability by reason of the parent company and subsidiary both owing a duty of care to the tort claimant according to the limiting tests of reasonable foreseeability and proximity, chiefly demonstrable by a level of actual control over day-to-day operations of the subsidiary (CSR Ltd V Wren (1998) Aust Tort Rep 81-461) akin to the subsidiary being a mere faà §ade (James Hardie Co Ltd v Hall (1998) 43 NSWLR 554 at 579-584) Effects of Corporate Separate Personality Transferable Shares The way that an organization is lawfully separate from its parts encourages the exchange of shares. The issue of shares is viewed as an issue method for raising capital for the organization (albeit littler brokers are regularly pulled in by the idea of fuse just as an issue to ensure themselves from potential boundless obligation). The trading of shares on the open market additionally prompts straightforwardness since it goes about as an impetus for administration to lead the business in a sensible way. This straightforwardness empowers more prominent investigation by pariahs of the organizations undertakings and diminishes the opportunity for deceitful conduct, along these lines enhancing the attractiveness of the shares. It additionally implies that financial specialists have the capacity get the imperative data they require keeping in mind the end goal to assess the organization before entering into business exchanges. From the organizations perspective, on the other hand, this st raightforwardness can regularly prompt divulgence of data that they would have liked to withhold and place them in a more helpless position with contenders. Ownership of Property Where an organization holds property in its name, this has a place singularly the organization and the shareholders have no restrictive rights (other than for the estimation of the shares they hold). This gives shareholders and workers more security than if a chief decided to leave his position and had the capacity authorize a deal and division of any organization property or resources he possessed. This position thusly makes the shareholders ventures more appealing and secure. Notwithstanding, this may be to the impediment of a merchant who possessed the organization property before joining yet neglected to accordingly dole out the protection approaches to the organization. This was delineated in Macaura v Northern Assurance Co wherein Mr Macaura had protected timber under his name and this was then decimated by a blaze. The insurance agency declined to pay out on Mr Macauras case, expressing that he had no insurable enthusiasm toward the timber as it was claimed by the organization . In the same way, a guardian organization does not have an insurable enthusiasm toward its auxiliary organizations, even where they are completely possessed by it. Distinct legal identity A standout amongst the most noteworthy impacts of corporate separate identity is that the organization expect a different character from that of its parts. Regardless of the fact that an organization is possessed by and large by one shareholder, the organization has a totally separate identity from that single person. This is affirmed by the main instance of Salomon v A. Salomon Co Ltd in which the House of Lords held that the organizations demonstrations were its demonstrations, not those of Mr Salomon by and by. As an issue, Mr Salomon was not generally subject for his organizations obligations. It is important, then again, that the Court did perceive that there would be circumstances in which they would be arranged to move far from that standard and lift the cover of fuse and discover people subject where they had acted insincerely, deceitfully or irrationally. Limited Liability Because of the way that the organization is a different lawful individual, it takes after that its parts wont for the most part be subject for its obligations and commitments. This gives the shareholders an extraordinary level of security, since it implies that they find themselves able to benefit from the accomplishments of the organization whilst being protected in the information that their individual risk is constrained to the estimation of the shares they have obtained. On the other hand it ought to be noted that those parts who take part in the administration of the organization wont essentially be secured from individual obligation. Also, the idea of restricted risk may not be alluring to potential loan bosses who may require extra security for their credit. Ability to sue and liability of be sued The primary advantage to brokers of joining is the idea of restricted obligation; on the other hand, this can demonstrate to the impairment of outsider lenders who enter into exchanges with the organization. Whilst the leasers will have the capacity to sue the organization itself, they will most likely be unable to recoup their cash if the organization is wiped out. It ought to be noted additionally that an organization has the capacity sue its debt holders for non-instalment. So it is a lawful person that can both sue and be sued. Problem with the Salomon Principle The focal issue with the Salomon rule is a moral one. It is the backwards of the second advantage, talked about instantly above, when seen from the viewpoint of individuals managing the organization from the outside. In the event that Aron Salomons property is secured, then individuals managing the organization have just got the organizations own particular resources accessible to them if the organization goes into indebtedness. This implies that an ambitious person in the position of Aron Salomon may give less mind and regard for the need to arrange genuinely and reasonably with outsiders on the grounds that the business visionary confronts no extraordinary individual danger of misfortune, past injured pride and the trust of a beneficial business (aside from what is said beneath in regards to fake exchanging). Thus, different shareholders in an organization bear no individual danger of misfortune if the organization falls flat in light of the fact that the constrained risk which is allowed by our organization law by definition confines their individual liabilities. When we include the greater part of this together, we land at a position whereby the whole economy is inhabited by organizations whose shareholders and administration bear a minimal immediate moral obligation or misfortune if those organizations ought to fall flat. The morals of that economy get to be faulty if nobody confronts the danger of open finished, individual misfortune. Conclusion The impacts of corporate separate identity are expansive. An organization is viewed as an issue element in its own particular right and, in that capacity, its parts have constrained obligation for its obligations and commitments. The organization has the capacity own property in its own particular name and issue shares to raise capital. It has the capacity sue debt holders and likewise be sued by its leaders. At long last, a central normal for corporate separate identity is that of interminable progression, which brings about a continuation of the organizations presence paying little respect to its parts.

Definition Essay - Defining Community :: Definition Essays

Definition Essay – Defining Community How would someone define the word community?   A community could be anything.   If one were to listen to an everyday conservation, the word community, would probably be used very little.   The word community has multiple meanings, ranging from communist or socialistic society (Emerson) to the quality of appertaining to or being held by all in common (Oxford). Due to the many meanings of the word community, people have learned to substitute community for other words.   Most of the definitions are common has in a society linked by common interests but, would you really say a buffalo community?   Of course not, you would say a herd of buffalo.   Unfortunately, community is really only used if someone were to be talking about where people live.   Even the meanings of community don’t announce themselves when people use the word.   Working with a service agency (YouVote), community is used quite a bit.   We worked a lot with the community of Michigan Sate University.   Would Michigan State University students all have common interests?   We all have the common interest to come here but, not common degrees, or classes.   If it’s different at MSU would it be different everywhere else? In the 1971 Webster Dictionary the last part of the definition reads, or region linked by common interests.   In today’s society most people living in a community aren’t linked by common interests.   A lot of people have different interests, beliefs, and way they go about living their lives from their neighbors.   A more accurate definition, is, a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government (Dictionary.com).   Now wouldn’t that definition be more suitable?   It probably best describes most of today’s community actually.   Take for example here at Michigan State.   There are people most all different cultures, backgrounds, and sexual preferences (please don’t take to offense).   Communities are just, for the most part, made up of people who live around each other.   They may not like each other, or be like each other but one common interest they do same is they all have dreams.   The word community has been changed to try to relate to how people live together today. Definition Essay - Defining Community :: Definition Essays Definition Essay – Defining Community How would someone define the word community?   A community could be anything.   If one were to listen to an everyday conservation, the word community, would probably be used very little.   The word community has multiple meanings, ranging from communist or socialistic society (Emerson) to the quality of appertaining to or being held by all in common (Oxford). Due to the many meanings of the word community, people have learned to substitute community for other words.   Most of the definitions are common has in a society linked by common interests but, would you really say a buffalo community?   Of course not, you would say a herd of buffalo.   Unfortunately, community is really only used if someone were to be talking about where people live.   Even the meanings of community don’t announce themselves when people use the word.   Working with a service agency (YouVote), community is used quite a bit.   We worked a lot with the community of Michigan Sate University.   Would Michigan State University students all have common interests?   We all have the common interest to come here but, not common degrees, or classes.   If it’s different at MSU would it be different everywhere else? In the 1971 Webster Dictionary the last part of the definition reads, or region linked by common interests.   In today’s society most people living in a community aren’t linked by common interests.   A lot of people have different interests, beliefs, and way they go about living their lives from their neighbors.   A more accurate definition, is, a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government (Dictionary.com).   Now wouldn’t that definition be more suitable?   It probably best describes most of today’s community actually.   Take for example here at Michigan State.   There are people most all different cultures, backgrounds, and sexual preferences (please don’t take to offense).   Communities are just, for the most part, made up of people who live around each other.   They may not like each other, or be like each other but one common interest they do same is they all have dreams.   The word community has been changed to try to relate to how people live together today.

Mahatma Gandhi Detailed Research Essay

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most influential political leaders of his time. During his life Gandhi lead a life based on the Hindu faith, yet he encouraged all paths to God. Gandhi is honoured as the ‘father’ of India. He studied to become a lawyer at university and attempted to be a practice lawyer in India. His practice there was unsuccessful, however he joined an Indian firm in South Africa where he began to inspire change. When Gandhi reached his mid-twenties, his experiences with discrimination against Indian people in South Africa marked a turning point in his life. He helped to lead a civil rights movement among Indian people in South Africa, leading them in peaceful protests. His stance on non-violence was that everyone, even those in government, law enforcement and the military should hold to a principle of non-violence. His radical view of self-rule, peace and non-resistance is honoured all over the world on October 2nd, annually as the International Day of Non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi was a practicing Hindu. He felt that all religions were valid and equal, however, he also felt that Hinduism was the most satisfying religion for him. He believed that everyone had a path that was right for him or her, and he refused to convert to any other religion, although some had tried to persuade him. Brahmacharya is related to spiritual and practical purity, and his vegetarianism helped him stand firm in his belief and practice of complete self-control. Brahmacharya was a path towards self-realization for Gandhi. He practiced, and tested, celibacy following his father’s death so that he could learn to love and control his lustful urges. He was about 36 years old, and still married when he took this vow.