Monday, September 30, 2019

Tremaine Neverson

â€Å"Success can be a dangerous drug. It definitely changes people and it can take you to another world if you allow it to. † These are famous words form popular singer, songwriter and activist Tremaine Aldon Neverson. Born November 28, 1984, Tremaine is also known as Trey Songz. Searching for himself, he gained a love for music and began singing at the age 14. At the age of 15, he met a producer by the name of Troy Taylor, whom started his skyrocketing success as a singer. In 2003, he released his first album, and then began writing music for other artists.He has five different albums in which he considers to take his fans on five different journeys of his life. From BET to Grammy awards, Trey Songz is more than just an artist. He has used his gift of music as the launching pad to various philanthropic and entrepreneurial endeavors such as the â€Å"Angels with Heart Foundation† and the â€Å"Songz for Peace Foundation. † Through his â€Å"Angels with Heart Fo undation,† Trey encourages to give back and to have a positive impact in their community through community service with local charities and random acts of kindness. Through his â€Å"Songz for Peace Foundation† he aims to curb the violence in youth.I admire Trey’s dedication to music. It is something he loves and he always pleases his fans. He is also promoting positive messages through each of his foundations. As an artist, he’s only obligated to deliver music and videos to his fans, but he does so much more for us. I am all for community service and giving back to the community, so just for that I admire him. To find someone who satisfies your taste in music and your taste in activism means a lot to me as a fan and a young adult. In closing, I would like to dedicate this special tribute to Tremaine Neverson on this very special day, Happy Birthday Trey!

Sunday, September 29, 2019

The Puppy Who Lost His Way

â€Å"He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided. † As morning comes Rainsford is awaken by the shouting of a man, a more familiar voice says Rainsford quietly to himself. Beyond his belief he stumbles to the window of the chateau to see Whitney yelling for help from the wrecked boat. Rainsford says he's back to find his friend who he had lost only but four days ago. Rainsford stumbles down the steps and greets his friend just as zaroff had met hlrn at the door.Rainsford brings Whitney In and Rainsford explains everything that had happened to him the past few days. That Zaroff man seems like a monster, Whitney said. Rainsford then takes Whitney around the island showing him the numerous spots were he had been hiding from Zaroff He also showed Whitney the 10 slaves in the basement; this is Just making Whitney even more and more disgusted about this Zaroff man. The two men then come back to the eerie chateau for a somewhat royal lunch.Rainsford thinks to himself that Is seems as If Whitney Is the same position he was In Just a few days ago. He also realizes that he himself is now Zaroff Rainsford remains nearly speechless for the rest of the lunch. As night approaches Whitney is bewildered to find that Rainsford is gone, He goes outside and not but a minute passes and hears a rustle of the bushes, out emerges a dark shadowy figure. It is Rainsford with his shirt soaking in blood, Whitney, says Rainsford you are awake

Saturday, September 28, 2019

IMC PLAN For Door to Door Transportation Service Essay

IMC PLAN For Door to Door Transportation Service - Essay Example The target customers are concerned with â€Å"get† component and monetary price are not mainly of monetary concern. Thus Double M will adopt the pricing strategy based on the perspective of customer â€Å"Value is everything I want in a service† and adopts the prestige pricing strategy (Zeithaml, 550). Prestige pricing is a form of demand based pricing strategy which offers high quality services; Double M also aims to provide its target customers with high quality service along with a sign of status. The demand increases as price increases because it is believed that the costlier the service is the more value it has. Analyzing the customer base, it can be assumed that they are willing to spend in order to travel comfortably for daily activities, for their families and the senior members along with the institutional. Therefore the price charged will be high by Double M and will aim to provide value for its service to the target customers. If a normal rate of bus service is $10 assuming it to be the minimum fare, Double M would charge $20-$25 as its minimum fare for its door to door service and maximum would amount to $45 to $50 depending upon the distance and service. The primary pricing objective of Double M is to build demand and achieve minimum level of revenue and build a user base which is extremely important for service such as door to door transportation service as its new and it needs to generate revenue so to maintain itself in the industry. Pricing objective are important as pricing strategy depend on pricing objectives of the company. The pricing objective should be in line with the goals and objectives of the organizations (Petzer, 221). 25 cost items which tends to make up the price of the product includes, price of raw materials such as automobile parts, tiers, set covers, paint, design, lights, electricity, labor, fuel, terminals, maintenance, administrative, roadways, construction charges, salaries of lower level which varies, fuel taxes, weight mile taxes, trolls and marketing cost such as advertisements, promotional cost, printing cost for hoardings and pamphlets. Since the company has an option of online business other cost would include, website cost, design, up gradation and maintenance cost of the website. The target customers of Double M are not price sensitive because they want a service that will provide them with comfort and with an accurate satisfaction level. Since the target customers are mainly the daily commuters and their families, the need of safety and comfort will be valued highly by the customers. Similar is with the organizations, who would value the service rather than the price of the service charged. Hence it can be said that the target customers are not price sensitive and demand is inelastic. Irrespective of the prices charged or any changes taken place the customers would prefer to travel through door to door transportation service. Pricing strategy tends to include various promotion al techniques in order to attract the target customers and create a place in the market and in the minds of the customers. Double M would also adopt the promotional techniques as part of its marketing plan. During the launch of the service, Double M would go for promotional pricing and would offer certain percentage of discount for its travelers during the first month of its service along with added facility such as dropping the family members at 20% discount rate. This way the

Friday, September 27, 2019

HR Hiring Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

HR Hiring - Essay Example The project aims to develop a personnel selection procedure for the position of the Human Resource Manager with specialization in Human Relations. The procedure requires making a thorough analysis of the job requirement based on which selection system would be developed. The procedure would include the different aspects of recruitment, selection, hiring and acculturation. The recruitment procedure primarily uses the behaviorally based structured interview technique for assessing the abilities of the candidates. Moreover, the strengths of using the techniques have also been stated and its relevance in measuring the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPs) of candidates. Based on the answers that the interviewer provides, the rater must assign specific ratings and add notes to those answers. The researcher concludes that the candidate must also be observed in terms of his behaviors, mannerisms, attitudes and body language. After the interview, the rater must s um up the ratings beside each question to being out the total score of the candidate. This score along with the observed qualities of candidates by the interviewer must be analyzed to evaluate his fitness in the specific role. It is mentioned that the main advantage of such structured interview is its reliability, validity and fairness and legal defensibility. Also, the researcher explores the performance management system, that designs, plans and implements the entire performance of employees in terms of their goals and objectives.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Abortion Debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Abortion Debate - Essay Example A number of views regarding the legality and moral value of abortion exist and there is much controversy in religious, social and ethnic terms. The abortion debate is not a new one and it exists since a very long time and there are opponents as well as proponents of this method in the United States with each one of them providing convincing arguments in favor of their stand. Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Abortion may not only serve the purpose of family planning, contraception or means of controlling population growth, but also a means of saving the life of a mother whose health is at risk. There are three main methods used for the purpose of abortion which include methods in which surgical instruments are introduced through the cervix into the uterus for the purpose of killing the child or the methods in which the fetus is killed by adminis tration of drugs and after the death of fetus, labor is induced which results in expulsion of the dead fetus and lastly the methods in which surgical intervention is used to cut open the uterus by abdominal surgery and finally fetus is removed (Willke, 1985). The debate for the abortion of fetuses initiated in the United States basically towards the second half of the twentieth century and a final decision with regard to this was taken in the year 1973 by the Supreme Court which legalized abortions in the country during the legal case of Roe v Wade. There are many reasons provided by the proponents of abortion to term it not only legal as well as ethical. The first and foremost argument provided is that every human being is born with the right to choose for himself what he considers correct for himself. This right is granted to all human beings in the constitution of the United States. Hence, it is argued that since every human being has the right to opt for what he wants, abortion is legalized for women because this decision is their personal right. They argue that preventing them and restraining them from abortions is actually snatching their constitutional rights of enjoying their free will. They also argue that women are living beings capable of taking their decisions. On the other hand, the fetus is not living and hence it is a part of the female body. Therefore it is their choice to opt for abortion and it cannot be questioned. The next argument provided by the proponents is that despite of the fact that abortion may be considered illegal, women would still opt for it. This is proved with regard of the evidence that is given of the countries where abortion is illegal. It is seen that even in these countries abortion is practiced. It is also a fact that the women in these countries opt for other means which are not safe because of the fact that these abortions are not conducted under medical practitioners. This leads to the loss of many precious lives whi ch could otherwise be avoided (Head). On the other hand, the opponents of abortion also have their views to present. They argue that at the moment that an embryo is implanted in the uterus, it has a life and a soul. They argue that the embryo if left has the capability of developing into a human being and hence to abort this fetus is a murder. They also argue that the fetus has developed a DNA sequence at the instant that it formed which upholds the fact that it living and

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Recession Research Paper

Monetary and Fiscal Policies on Recession - Research Paper Example As a result, the rate of unemployment goes up reducing the purchasing power of consumers. Consecutively, money supply in the economy becomes significantly low (Navarro, 2009). Fiscal policy is used by governments to stabilize aggregate demand and aggregate supply in the economy by influencing the government spending, borrowing and taxation. The government uses fiscal policy to change the patterns of people’s spending. According to Keynesian school, fiscal policy helps restore employment rates, demand and output where the economy is operating below capacity. Keynesian recommends two types of fiscal policies; expansionary fiscal policy and contractionary fiscal policy. Expansionary fiscal policy is used where the government requires deficit spending in case of recession while contractionary fiscal policy is used when there is an excess expansion which requires a surplus in the budget (Renee, 2009). Monetary policy is another tool used to manage the aggregate demand and supply by controlling the supply of money in the economy. The government uses the central bank to control growth, liquidity, inflation and consumption due to changes in the amount of money in the economy. The Federal Reserve System responds to excessive money supply by raising the interest rate and lowers the interest rates when there is low money supply in the market (Borio & Disyatat, 2010). The Great Recession of 2008 presented severe economic conditions in the US and also in other countries. Furthermore, the recession was associated with elongated economic slumps and slow economic recoveries. After recession, most of the world economies went into depression and this caused a large gap in the recovery of the currency, as the developing countries have weaker currencies compared to the developed countries.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Greatest Failure of the Current Wave of Financial Globalisation Essay

The Greatest Failure of the Current Wave of Financial Globalisation - Essay Example Those countries that are able to integrate with the environmental changes will be experiencing more economic growth while others will be experiencing the economic recession. Globalisation has resulted from many years of human inventions and technological improvement. It pertains to the integration of economic activities all over the world through endless trading of products and services as well as the exchanging of cash flows. Sometimes, globalization relates to the constant movement of technology and business people including the skilled and unskilled workers. Even intangible thing such as knowledge and skills are also being transferred from one country to another. During globalization, the local and international markets are promoting efficiency because of the tight competition worldwide. Even the workforces have to become more competitive and flexible so they could keep up with their job. The global markets open a wider opportunity for these people to tap into larger markets all over the world. The global business cycle that we are dealing today is actually creating huge imbalances between UK’s cash inflow and outflows. As globalization contin uous, the global financial trend also changes. These changes will eventually be considered as one of the greatest failure of the current financial trend due to globalization. The effect of international trade on a country’s economy can be examined and measured by looking at the changes in the ratio of international trade, the total export plus the total imports to the output of GDP of an economy. According to Dollar and Kraay (2001), globalization reduces poverty.

Monday, September 23, 2019

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American history - Essay Example The scenario has not much changed. The blacks and ethnic minorities still have to fight for their rights in the twentieth century and struggle to avail privileges that are enjoyed by the white population. Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of America who had made a mark for himself when he had defeated the mighty British army at New Orleans. His great patriotism is backed by his many personal sacrifices. He was one of the most publicly favored presidents who had ‘repolarized American politics’ (Jackson). Those who backed were called democrats and the opponents came to be known as ‘republicans’. Though Jackson had considerably influenced the American politics and was especially hailed for his decision to veto for rechartering of the bank which had vested economic interests of the few, he, nevertheless, cannot be ranked as one of the greatest presidents of America. Jackson, during his military days had not only brutalized Indians but he was also known for his pro-slavery actions and had even bought black slaves for his home! Racial differences were very apparent in southern American states whereas the northern American colonies had considerably moved forward in terms of black population enjoying more rights and privileges. The defeat of the British forces lead to the independence of 13 British colonies of North America which were together called United States of America and in 1789, the first President George Washington took oath under the ratified constitution of America. In 1971, the introduction of bill of rights and other constitutional amendments paved way for abolition of slavery (Washington, internet). The attitude of the native Americans started undergoing rapid transformation as the non white population started asserting for their rights and became more visible in political, religious, social and economic arena. In the contemporary times also, the non white population of America has to fight against racial

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Only The Heart Novel Essay Example for Free

Only The Heart Novel Essay Only The Heart is a very successful novel presented by many narrators in both in the past and present. This novel portrays the hardships and suffering that a Vietnamese family endures through the years of approaching communism. Their desperate flee from the only home they have ever known and the loved ones that they may never see again, all in search of a place where there is freedom and hope. Only The Heat is a story that focuses on the Vo familys suffering. The novel shows the hardships and struggles that a Vietnamese family endures through the years of approaching communism. It is also about their desperate flea from the only home they have ever known and the loved ones that they may never see again, all in search of a place where freedom and hope were to be found. The novel itself is a simply told yet moving story of the Vo family, who come to Australia as refugees in search of hope, as a result of the suffering in The Vietnam War. Many members of the family in turn become narrators and perhaps because of the unfamiliarity of the names, readers must looking back to the family tree, at the front of the book, while the reading of the first few chapters. This novel portrays the hardships, struggles and suffering that a Vietnamese family endures through the years of approaching communism. Even after arriving in the lucky country Australia there is still suffering, caused by Hai Nguyens vicious gang. There are many narrators in the novel but the two main persons through whom the story of is told is Toan, the youngest son and Linh, Toons cousin and adopted sister (after her mother Mai sacrificed her life for her). The last person creates a real overview of what has happened and the deepest thoughts and feelings of these two people, as they escape their country as refugees to Malaysia and then Australia. As you can see Only the Heart, is a successful novel composed by Brian Caswell and David Phu An Chiem, about the suffering the Vo family had to endure in the search of hope. With a terrifying side to life which is beyond even the vast imagination of the many Australians. The novel emphases how lucky we are to live in a country where things such as freedom, opinions and safety, (these are things taken for granted) are considered a right.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Comparing Political Philosophies Essay Example for Free

Comparing Political Philosophies Essay Social contract or contractarian (use at least two philosophers in your description) Classic liberalism or libertarianism (use at least two philosophers in your description) Marxism (use at least one philosopher in your description) Communitarians (use at least one philosopher in your description) Capabilities approach (use at least one philosopher in your description) Follow your descriptions with a conclusion answering the following questions: How are these theories similar to one another? How are they different from one another? Do you find one philosophy more compelling than the others? If so, why? Contractarianism The social contract or political contract is a theory or model, originating during the Age of Enlightenment, that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority), in exchange for protection of their remaining rights. The question of the relation between natural and legal rights, therefore, is often an aspect of social contract theory. The most important contemporary political social contract theorist is John Rawls, who effectively resurrected social contract theory in the second half of the 20th century, along with David Gauthier, who is primarily a moral contractarian. Marxism Under Marxism, outdated class structures were supposed to be overthrown with force instead of being replaced through patient modification. It held that as capitalism has succeeded feudalism, it too will be removed by a dictatorship of the workers called socialism, followed quickly and inevitably by a classless society which governs itself without a governing class or structure. It was jointly developed in the 19th century by two lifelong German friends living in London Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and it forms the foundation of communism. Classical Liberalism Classical liberalism is a political philosophy and ideology that emerged as a response to the Industrial Revolution and urbanization in the 19th century in Europe and the United States. It shares a number of beliefs with other belief systems belonging to liberalism, advocating civil liberties and political freedom, limited government, rule of law, and belief in free market. Classical liberals were more suspicious than conservatives of all but the most minimal government and, adopting Thomas Hobbess theory of government, they believed government had been created by individuals to protect themselves from one another. Comparison -Marxism is completely centrally controlled economy in which labor is directed (the government tells you where you will work) and goods and services are rationed based on a bureaucratic determination of need. Liberalism is when the government has an obligation to make sure that people live comfortably regardless of a persons actual contribution to making their own comfort possible. So while they wish to control the financial situation they generally favor a high degree of social freedom. Contractarianism suggests that the central assertion of social contract approaches is that law and political order are not natural, but are instead human creations. The social contract and the political order it creates are simply the means towards an end — the benefit of the individuals involved — and legitimate only to the extent that they fulfill their part of the agreement. References http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Social_contract http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Classical_liberalism http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/Marxism. html Philosophy: The Power of Ideas (8th ed. ) (Moore and Bruder).

Friday, September 20, 2019

Financial statements Accruals Prudence and Going Concern concepts

Financial statements Accruals Prudence and Going Concern concepts Discuss the problems for companies in applying the accruals, prudence and going concern concepts when preparing financial statements, and explain why at least two other concepts might also be important. Accounting concepts and conventions as used in accountancy are the rules and principles applied when recording economic events and in the preparation of financial statements, that all accountants abide by. Some of the fundamental accounting concepts that will be discussed are the accruals, matching, prudence, going concern and consistency concepts. In drawing up accounting statements, you have to make sure that they fairly reflect the true value of the business and the results of its operation. Whether they are external financial accounts or internally-focused management accounts, a clear objective has to be that the accounts fairly reflect the true value of the business and the results of its operation. Therefore we use the true and fair view. The true and fair view is applied in ensuring whether accounts do indeed portray the business activities. To support this view, accounting has adopted certain concepts and conventions which help to ensure that accounting information is presented accurately and consistently. Accounting concept and conventions [online], Available from: http://tutor2u.net/business/accounts/accounting_conventions_concepts.htm, Date accessed 12/11/12. Under the accruals concept revenue and costs are accrued (that is, recognized as they are earned or incurred, not as money is received or paid), matched with one another so far as their relationship can be established and recorded in the accounting records and reported in the financial statements of the periods to which they relate.. Thomas, A 1996, An Introduction to Financial Accounting, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Having decided on the point at which revenue and expenses are recognised we turn to the matching convention. The matching convention in accounting is designed to provide guidance concerning the recognition of expenses. This convention states that expenses should be matched to the revenue that they helped to generate. Applying this convention may mean that a particular expense reported in the profit and loss account for a period may not be the same figure as the cash paid for that item during the period. McLaney E, Atrill P 1999, Accounting an Introduction, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall Europe All expenses should be matched to the period for which the sales revenue to which they relate is reported. In practice, this may be difficult to do for certain expenses such as gas charges incurred, as this is unlikely to be linked directly to particular sales. As a result, the gas charges incurred would be matched to the period to which they relate. Lets say that the gas company has yet to send out bills for the quarter that ends on the same financial year end. In this situation, an estimate will have to be made of gas expense outstanding. If the expense is predicted reasonably accurately it will have the desired effect of showing that, at the end of the accounting year. Businesses may face a difficulty in making an accurate prediction especially if its their first year in business or the usage of gas varies constantly. Continuity (going concern) this states that in the absence of evidence to the contrary it is assumed that the business will continue into the indefinite future. This convention has a major influence on the assumptions made when evaluation particular items in the balance sheet. This allows us to assume that stock will eventually be sold in the normal course of business (at normal selling prices). It also allows for the principal of depreciation. If we assume a car will have a useful life to the business of five years, we depreciate this fixed asset over five years. Alexander D, Britton A 1999, Accounting An Introduction, 5th edition, Gray Publishing, Kent. Problems may arise for companies applying the concepts of accruals and going concern. Under the accruals concept, revenue and costs are charged to the profit and loss account for the accounting period in which they were earned or incurred, not when cash is received or paid. Hence on the profit and loss account income or expenses shown is not what the business received/spent and then the concept of continuity attempts to spread the cost. Thus the concept displays a false picture as to what cash reserves are available within the business, which could result in serious cash flow problems. For example, the sales ledger may show many sales, while in reality the bank account may be empty because debtors havent paid yet, therefore the problems will arise when the debtors find it hard to pay off their debt, or delay in payment which will then affect the companys working capital. Thus, the profit indicated in the annual accounts is unrealistic as this shows a false picture on the actual busi ness performance at the end of the financial year. The Isab Argues That The Accruals And Going Concern Concepts Are Key Underlying Assumption In The Preparation Of Financial Statements. [online], Available from: http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Isab-Argues-Accruals-Going-Concern-Concepts/148529 [Accessed: 12.11.2009]. Prudence is the exercise of a degree of caution when conditions are uncertain. The aim is to ensure that income and assets are not over-stated and expense and liabilities are not under-stated. Financial Accounting an Introduction 2008, Accounting An Introduction, Ashford Colour Press, Hampshire. The prudence concept dictates that if the resulting future revenue (advertising, research) cannot be assessed with reasonable certainty, the expenditure should be treated as an expense in the profit and loss account of the year in which it is incurred. Managers should also not be over-optimistic in financial reporting, i.e. overstate profits, overstating profits is potentially dangerous because it can lead to a reduction of capital and dividends being paid out of profits that have not been earned. The prudence concept may be inconsistent with the matching principle and problems may arise for the business. Certain costs such as development expenditure should be carried forward to future years as a fixed asset and matched with the sales revenue generated by this expenditure. However, the prudence concept dictates that if future revenues are difficult to predict accurately, costs such as development expenditure should be written off to the profit and loss account in the year in which they are incurred. The business may overstate its expenses for the year when the benefit from the expense may be beneficial for many future years, like depreciation. Thomas, A 1996, An Introduction to Financial Accounting, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill The consistency is concept is also of vital importance for businesses. The consistency concept dictates that there should be consistency of accounting treatment of like items within each accounting period and from one period to the next. For example deprecation should be calculated the same way for every financial year and the purchase of certain tools and equipment should also be treated as fixed assets in subsequent years. This is to ensure meaningful comparisons can be made between different accounting periods and limit the possibility of misrepresentation. Thomas, A 1996, An Introduction to Financial Accounting, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Isolation of a Urea Degrading Bacteria :: Biology

Isolation of a Urea Degrading Bacteria Introduction Urea was the first organic chemical to be synthetically produced1, previously it was thought that only living creatures could produce organic compounds Urea is naturally produced by the kidneys as waste from the degradation of amino acids. It is because of this that urea is commonly found in soils and is a useful nutrient source for bacteria that are able to utilise it, such as, Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumonia, all species of Proteus and Micrococcus luteus. These bacteria degrade urea in a reaction catalysed by the urease enzyme, CO(NH2)2 + H2O Ã  CO2 + 2NH3. this process benefits the bacteria in several ways. The bacteria use the ammonia that is produced for respiration, the products also raise the pH of the environment. This promotes the growth of many urea degrading bacteria and inhibits competition from many other bacterial species. M. luteus is commonly found on mammalian skin and it is unusual for a member of the natural human flora to degrade urea. It is believed that M. luteus has this ability as an evolutionary hangover from its life in its ancestral soil habitat. In this environment urea is readily available and the ability to degrade it is a distinct advantage. As the species evolved to live on skin the trait remained, as it had no negative effect on survivability. Micrococcus is a genus within the Micrococcaceae family. With the use of 16s RNA in bacterial taxonomy the genus has recently been revised2. The genus now includes three species, M. luteus, M. lylae and M. antarcticus3. M. luteus is a common yellow gram-positive coccus and roughly 0.5-2.0mm in diameter. Cells appear in pairs, tetrads and irregular clusters but never in chains.4 Method of Isolation * Isolate a variety of organisms from soil and skin. By taking samples from four different sources (three skin and one soil) the chance of urea degrading bacteria being present was increased. * Culture in nutrient broth. This allowed all isolated microbes to grow. * Plate sample onto urea plates. On these plates urea was the only nutrient available, this meant that any bacteria that grew could degrade urea. * Perform urease test. Isolated bacteria are grown in a broth containing phosphate buffer, yeast extract, 2% urea and phenol red. An agar slope of the medium is heavily inoculated and incubated at 370c for at least four hours. If the organism only has low urease activity the phosphate buffer will neutralise the NH3 produced. A red colour indicates that NH3 has been produced and the result is positive5. * Perform Gram stain. This is the most important stain in bacteriology and differentiates between gram positive and gram-negative cell walls, which indicates

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 :: essays research papers

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Who is watching us? Who judges us? And most importantly who controls us? In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Big Brother was in charge of all these crucial aspects of everyone’s lives. This book which was written long before 1984 can really take place at anytime and anywhere. The concepts and themes of this book are very real and very frightening. May be telescreens do not exist but V-chips and Pentium III computers are very much alive. Even though we live in modern times how do we know who is insane? The world is flat and the planets revolve around Earth were once sane statements. Finally do we control ourselves in this Democratic country or are we just puppets dancing to the high and powerful affluent members of our society. Or maybe G-d himself is the one who makes us do the things we do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The thought police seek out and cure the misguided people who simply think too much. They look at you minute by minute to see what you are doing and how u are doing it. I think more interesting than the thought police are the teaching of the morals of the land to the children. They are taught the ways of Ingsoc. They know right from wrong. One of Winston’s peers was taken away because his own daughter told the thought police on him. In this society children are at school more than they are even home. It is very possible to have a closer relationship with a teacher than with a parent. On top of that, Big Brother and the inner party teach that it is only “you and the party';. Meaning the party is very individualized. This allows the party to function very nicely because people do not make relationships with other people only to the party. People in Oceania are never left alone. If you are alone and you are not sleeping this would definitely be looked at by the thought police. To keep people occupied there are hate speeches in order to show your love to Big Brother and Hate to the opposing country that Oceania is at war with. Everyone has a job and they are many organizations to belong to like the junior anti-sex league.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Surveillance is a frightening thing. If you knew that everywhere you turned you were being recorded it could drive you crazy.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Affirmative Action Doesn’t Work

Introduction I. As once stated by John Kasich, â€Å"Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles. † II. My partner and I stand against the resolution which states: â€Å"Resolved: Affirmative action to promote equal opportunity in the United States is justified. † III. We will show you that Affirmative action to promote opportunity in the United States is justified because Affirmative Action Doesn’t Work, Affirmative Action Stigmatizes Beneficiaries, Affirmative Action is not needed. Body I. Affirmative Action Doesn’t Work A. Affirmative action creates issues in college. Sander, Richard H. â€Å"Affirmative Action Hurts Those It's Supposed to Help. † Triblivenews. com. 2 Jan. 2005. Web. 02 Mar. 2010. . According to Richard Sander, (law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles) â€Å"Traditionally, critics of affirmative action have focused either on its unfairness to those groups that don't receive preferences (usually whites and Asians) or on the inherent conflict between racial preferences and the legal ideal of colorblindness. Over the last few years, however, a new and potentially even more damaging line of inquiry has emerged — the idea that racial preferences may materially harm the very people they intended to benefit†¦ My research over the last two years, using recent data that track more than 30,000 law students and lawyers, has documented even more serious and pervasive mismatch effects in legal education. Elite law schools offer very substantial racial preferences for blacks, Hispanics and American Indians in order to create student bodies that are as racially diverse as their applicant pools. Because these elite schools admit the black students that second-tier law schools would normally admit, second-tier schools, to keep up their minority numbers, also offer big racial preferences. The result is a cascade effect down the law school hierarchy, leaving 80 percent to 90 percent of black students at significantly more selective schools than they would get into strictly on their academic credentials. † B. II. Affirmative Action Stigmatizes Beneficiaries. A. B. Affirmative Action programs stigmatize minorities – studies prove Michelle Wu, senior writer, April 2, 2009, â€Å"Affirmative Action stigmatizes minority students,† Daily Princetonian, http://www. dailyprincetonian. om/2009/04/02/23248/ According to Michelle Wu, senior writer â€Å"Affirmative action may increase academic pressure and stigmatize minority students, according to a study conducted by sociology professor Douglas Massey GS ’78, â€Å"If white students believe that many of their black peers would not be at a college were it not for affirmative action and, more important, if black students perceive whites to believe that, then affirmation action may indeed undermine mino rity-group members’ academic performance by heightening the social stigma they already experience because of race or ethnicity,† Massey and his three collaborators wrote in The Chronicle of Higher Education on March 27. The researchers also presented another detriment of the controversial policy: â€Å"that affirmative action exacerbates the psychological burdens that minority students must carry on campuses. † III. Affirmative Action is not a need A. B. Obama proves affirmative action is no longer necessary Joseph Williams and Matt Negrin, March 18, 2008, â€Å"Affirmative Action foes point to Obama,† Boston Globe, http://www. boston. om/news/nation/articles/2008/03/18/affirmative_action_foes_point_to_obama/ According to Joseph Williams and Matt Negrin, March 18, 2008, staff writers of Boston Globe â€Å"Leading opponents of affirmative action are increasingly seizing on Illinois Senator Barack Obama's historic run for the presidency as proof that race-b ased remedies for past discrimination are no longer necessary. Influential Republicans and a growing number of policy specialists at conservative organizations, including the Goldwater Institute, Project 21, and the Manhattan Institute, are citing the fact that large numbers of white voters are supporting Obama, who leads in the race for Democratic delegates, as evidence that affirmative action has run its course. Ward Connelly, a black conservative who is leading a national effort to ban racial preferences, vowed to use Obama's

Monday, September 16, 2019

MINICASE Luxury Wars

United States, France, Germany, and Western Europe. Hermes International is a multi-billion dollar French business owned and controlled by the Hermes family. The business makes and sells luxury goods across numerous product categories. After being passed down through several generations the company decided to list its share on the public market for the reasons listed below: To provide family members with a means to value their stake in the company To allow partial ‘cash-outs' if dividends alone were insufficient, knowing that some family members were known to maintain lavish lifestylesTo raise capital while still being able to influence important decisions (like electing the CEO or Chairman), and still controlling the strategic and operational decisions of the firm To obtain financing that would support the long term development of the company and to accommodate ease of trading for shareholders in transfer of ownership. B. What risks comes from a public listing? Amidst the seve ral advantages of going public there are equally associated risks for a company to consider when making such decisions.The list below, while not exhaustive, identifies some of the risks associated with a company ongoing public: The agency problem. When a company goes public it runs the risk of minimal interest. The potential for this conflict comes along as the objective of management and owners may not be aligned. Note that in the case of Hermes International for the first time ever the current CEO is not a family member. Without adequate controls going public can distort long-term vs.. Short-term value minimization. Privately held firms usually have long-term value minimization while publicly held firms tend to focus on quarterly earnings.Earnings now have to satisfy shareholders and not just support the Emily. Focus on profitable growth may change as decisions taken may be consistent with impatient capitalism. Things happen in the company and owners are unaware. Note the Renault and Elvis's share acquisition. Loss of control of the company (limited control as to when shareholders go to the secondary market and no control over equity swaps on some amount of the company's shares) Loss of confidentiality and flexibility due to regulations of the security and exchange commission.Vulnerability to take over should the stock price decline significantly. Increased capital can allow Coo's adequate opacity to take on additional projects that are not aligned with the interest of shareholders. With the long list of risks to which company IIS are exposed after going public, there are measures can be taken to minimize the impact of the risks to shareholders, These controls can come in the form of stock options (restricted or open), management compensation packages, or an instituted holding company to represent and manage shareholders.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Context of Modernism

IntroductionCONTEXT OF MODERNISMModernism is a set of cultural or aesthetic manners which associates with the scientific and the artistic motion which started in the decennary around the First World War and have dominated among several motion such as cubism, functionalism and surrealism. Sarup, M. ( 1993 ) . However in architecture, modernism reacts to the dedication of turn toing new edifices after the two World Wars such as mass lodging of traditional signifiers and the potency for researching new conditions of production such as new stuffs and engineering. Le Corbusier and Mies van der Roche were the cardinal influences of modern architecture ; they took several civilizations and tradition to explicate the impression of modern architecture. Curtis, W. J.R. ( 2001 ) . Modernist have the thought that architecture should hold a consequence as being ‘functionalistic, positive, technocentric, and rationalistic ‘ with their edifice or urban planning. Harvey, D. ( 1990 ) page 35. In the World War II, Modernism became popular particularly in the United State where it took on a new life by utilizing different engineerings such as steel frame and glass drape walls for building skyscrapers and suburban office Parkss and shopping centres which were cost-efficient. Ghirardo, D. ( 1996 ) .CONTEXT OF POSTMODERNISMPostmodernism is really equivocal to depict because it has certain elements that relates to modernism. The term originated within creative persons and critics in the United State in the 1960s and it was distributed in the European and other industrial states in the seventiess. However postmodernism is an unstable construct of motion within an beforehand capitalist civilization that argue the ocular attacks in literary unfavorable judgment of art, movie, manner and architecture within the political economic societal conditions of the late twentieth century. It besides involves the new relationship between world and nature. Ghirardo, D. ( 1996 ) . Postmodernist impression of attacks to architecture derived from modernism political orientation of architecture, and it even influences some postmodern designers, this is because of their cognition from preparation and besides their modern methods of buildings but they besides add their new construct to their edifices. Jencks, C. ( 1988 ) . There are three rules that Robert Stern ‘s article portrays to depict the features of postmodernism, the first feature is ‘contextualism, ‘ this describes the single edifice as ever a fragment that represents its environment. The 2nd is ‘allusionism ‘ , which emphasise the edifice of its historical and cultural facets, and the 3rd is ‘ornamentalism ‘ , and this suggests all the walls of the edifice to hold an architectural significance. ( See the work of Robert Stern ) Bertens, H. ( 1995 ) page 59. Postmodernism has besides emerged the classical phase whereby it has influenced certain postmodern designers like Michael Graves, James Stirling, Norman Neuerburg and even Philip Johnson ‘s AT & A ; T edifice ( see figure 1 ) . Jenks emphasise that the ‘Free-Style Classicism ‘ determines some features of postmodern architecture which started exactly from the 1980s. ( See the work of Charles Jencks ) Bertens, H. ( 1995 ) page 64.Critic OF POSTMODERNISM ON MODERNIST NOTION OF ARCHITECTUREDavid Harvey argues about if ‘postmodernism, for illustration, stand for a extremist interruption with modernism, or is it merely a rebellion within modernism against a signifier of high modernism. ‘ Harvey, D. ( 1990 ) page 42. This message is to oppugn the architecture of the postmodern motion, Harvey so explains by underscoring that postmodernism has widely identify a interruption with the modernist construct that planning, planing and development should concentrate on the wide-scale, technologically rational and economically urban program which should be strict on thoughts of design with a functionalist perceptual experience of an international manner. Harvey, D. ( 1990 ) . The most influential critic on postmodernism and modernism is Charles Jenks, he portrayed architecture from a lingual point of position as accents in his book ‘The Language of Post-Modern Architecture ‘ . Jenks argues that postmodernism architecture is non a interruption of modernism but nevertheless it ‘s seeking to get the better of the political orientation of its architecture non by dropping it but by widening the ‘language ‘ to a different degree into a common and commercial but off from tradition. He listed all the old edifices as which had modern features and named them as the ‘ersatz, ‘ nevertheless he calls the new edifice as the ‘social pragmatism. ‘ Jencks, C. ( 1991 ) page 97. Furthermore he pinpoints the exact day of the month for the decease of ‘modern architecture ‘ as he reference at 3:32 autopsy, July 15, 1972 when the Pruitt-Igoe lodging undertaking built in 1951 was demolished. Similarly Charles Jenks explores further the thought of the modernist thought within postmodernism architecture, he argues that postmodern architecture is ‘double coded ‘ , this suggest that postmodernism is an eclectic mixture of traditional codifications with modern 1s this shows that modernism is ever one of the codifications that signifiers postmodernism so postmodern architecture has evolve from modernism but it must travel beyond modern manner. Therefore postmodernism is to interrupt wholly or drop modernist thought of architecture but has extended it into a different impression. Jenks explores Mies van de Roche who is a modern designer, he argues that the usage of steel I- beams for edifices are ‘nasty ‘ and ‘brutal ‘ and has no intent for its users or developers so hence postmodernism has evolve to happen solution of bettering the upon modernism. Bertens, H. ( 1995 ) . The indicant that modernism architecture is rational and severe is because the limitations and their influence on traditional signifiers and constructs which most postmodern designers see as ‘pass & A ; eacute ; , ‘ nevertheless when postmodern architect design they contravene to tradition besides when they build their edifices they express it through a modern manner by underscoring on a mixture of different manners. Likewise in the description of postmodern architecture Paolo Portoghesi who besides criticise postmodernism argues that postmodern is any edifice that breaks modern constrains of historical manners with common influences. Kolb, D. ( 1990 ) page 88. The limitation of modern architecture on historical influences is one of the chief challenges of postmodernism. Jean-Francois Lyotard a postmodern critic explains that one features of postmodernism is the transform nature understanding in scientific and computerised society, this has gave them progress cognition and engineering to get the better ofing and the rational and severe impression of modernism. Sarup, M. ( 1993 ) . In favor of this, Joseph Fredrick who defended against the International Style ‘s and his ain thought of building explains that modernism in architecture has assorted characters but its onslaught was on its manner, which necessarily postmodernism has taking over. It is the severity of modernism ‘s traditional signifiers which postmodern took the advantage of scientific cognition to interrupt the historical influences and give freedom for designers to plan their edifice. Larson, M, S. ( 1993 ) . The division between modern and postmodern is that modern is restricted whereby postmodern has its freedom to plan. Furthermore modernist impression of architecture as rational and severe to traditional limitation has non been negated by postmodern but it has interpreted and integrated modernist political orientation. However Jencks argue that postmodernism has non become a interruption or dropped the thought of modernist architecture but it has evolve from modernism, and has notice the apprehension of the development of its clip so they change the way and extended its features to accommodate its epoch. Portoghesi, P. ( 1980 ) . Therefore postmodernism is normally known as the ‘stylistic phenomenon ‘ . Ghirardo, D. ( 1996 ) page 8 Charles Jenks argues that postmodern edifices in general have made a positive impact in architecture, since the 19th century technological building has made a huge betterment on edifices and has been overly-accurate as with the handmade assortment, this and other factors have become the chief ground for its interruption from modernism. Likewise he argues that postmodernism has taking radically from the construct of how to knowledge edifice infinite where as modernist to see infinite as something to be shaped for societal intents, they interpret infinite as something independent, to be design harmonizing to originative purposes but non to overreach its traditional influences. An illustration is Le Corbusier ‘s Domino edifices ( see figure 3 ) which started modernist development of infinite, nevertheless postmodernism reacted to this by looking for solutions to specify ‘place ‘ alternatively of abstract infinites and to set up the assorted ambiguity of infinites inste ad than the simple, predictable traditional edifice of modernist architecture. Jenks, C. ( 1990 ) .Le Corbusier ‘s Domino lodging undertakingThere are certain characteristics of modernism which have been developed by postmodernist designers, the spacial thoughts such as superimposed and shallow simple infinites of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Postmodernist have developed these facets into a more new sort of equivocal infinite with assorted complex elements. Jenks, C. ( 1988 ) . Charles Jencks points out that postmodern architecture have two grounds into important technological alteration ; the first is the modern-day communications have broken the strong modernist involvement of the rational and severe infinites based on map and of societal involvement. The 2nd is the progress engineerings for illustration computing machine patterning which has broken away from traditional restraints and permitted the flexibleness of planing and building. Jenks, C. ( 1990 ) . Postmodernism has non dropped modernist impression of architecture but it has taking certain elements of it such as infinite and even some traditional facets of edifice and developed it into a more complex manner. However it has set freedom from modernist construct that architecture should be severe and sensible. The progresss scientific engineering has aided postmodernism to germinate from modernism. Jenks, C. ( 1988 ) .Michael Graves as a postmodernism designer.Michael Graves was portion of the late-modern motion before he left the abstract construct attack to the New York Five in 1977 ; this group consisted of Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Michael Graves, and Charles Gwathmey. They introduce an progress technique of planing with ‘figural component ‘ , and this has influenced postmodern designers. Schulz, N. ( 1990 ) page 7-8. He so left to fall in other designers such as Venturi, Moore, and Stern who were involve with the paradigm for postmodernism in America. Ghirard o, D. ( 1996 ) . Graves has become one of most influential designers in postmodernism, his construct of fragments have become important to postmodernist designers to plan their edifice in a complex and equivocal manner which contradicts the impression of modernism. Graves has besides adapted postmodern classicalism in architecture such as the Portland Building and the Humana Building ( see figure 4 and 5 ) . Grave has taking the traditional signifiers and manners of classicalism and extended into a postmodern attack by presenting classical skyscrapers. Jenks, C. ( 1988 ) .THE PORTLAND PUBLIC SERVICES BuildingThe Portland edifice ( see figure 4 ) was a really important municipal edifice within its epoch, which was begun in 1980 in Portland Oregon, this undertaking provoked modernist designers because it was one of the most inspirational edifice in postmodernism. Powell, K. ( 1995 ) . The public edifice is located in the center of the country whereby it had to hold a quality of postmodern landmark, but nevertheless his manner out was to convey back ‘figural signifiers ‘ to the edifice to portray the ‘public nature of the context and urban and the internal plan ‘ . He used the classical manner of administration by spliting the edifice into three parts ; which is the base, organic structure and the top.THE HUMANA BuildingDecisionBibliographyBauman, Z. , 2004. Identity conversation with Benedetto Vecchi. London: Polity Press.KING, D. A. , 2004. Spaces of Global Cultures Architecture Urbanism Identity. New York: Routledge.POWELL, K. , 1994. Lloyd ‘s Building Richard Rogers Partnership ARCHITECTURE IN DETAILS. London: Phaidon.POWELL, K. , 1999. Richard Rogers Complete Works Volume One. London: Phaidon.POWELL, K. , 2001. Richard Rogers Complete Works Volume Two. London: Phaidon.SIEBERT, H. , 2007. The World Economy A planetary analysis. 3rd edition. New York: Routledge.SILVER, N. , 1997. The Making of Beaubourg: A Building Biography of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. ( s.n. ) : MIT Press.SIMAI, M. , 1990. GLOBAL POWER STRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY AND WORLD ECONOMY IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY. London: Pinter publishing houses Limited.STRELITZ, Z. , ed. , 2005. Tall edifices a strategic design usher. London: RIBA Publishing.VALE, J. L. , 2008. Architecture, Power, and National Identity. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge.WOODS, N. , ed. , 2000. The Political Economy of Globalisation. New York: Palgrave( ANON ) Royal exchange luxury shopping and dining.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Coronary Heart Disease Essay

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. There are many types of heart diseases that fall into this title. Two of the most popular forms of cardiovascular diseases are heart attack and stroke. The increasing amount of exposure of known risk factors for these diseases to young adults is why I feel it is necessary to promote what it takes to lead a heart healthy lifestyle in order to avoid becoming another statistic. I feel as though I did not choose this topic as much as it chose me, as 2 years ago my Father was hospitalized and underwent a Quadruple Heart By-pass surgery in order to remove the blood clots in his 4 main arteries. Knowing that this disease is partly hereditary I feel as though it is important to educate myself and others with early intervention steps that could keep you from being affected by any heart diseases. In my research I plan to introduce how heart diseases are caused and also the best prevention techniques to ensure that the number of people affected by Coronary Heart Diseases, specifically Heart Attacks, is falling each year instead of climbing. In my research I came across an article provided by the ProQuest Research Library entitled â€Å"Coronary Heart Disease: Primary and Secondary Prevention†. This article is a published study done by The College of Pharmacy and Drug Topics of the University of Florida and discusses the many â€Å"do’s† and â€Å"don’ts† in order to lead a heart healthy life. The focus of this article is to prevent your body to become a future hot spot for a heart disease. The article counters these risk factors with ways to prevent the â€Å"modifiable factors† from occurring. The article states that risk factors are classified as modifiable or non-modifiable. â€Å"Non-modifiable risk factors include age, family history, and gender. Modifiable risk factors include smoking, diet, obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome† (Brenner, Michael, and Allison Butcher). Most of these factors are obvious but some may be less known. Hypertension is the occurrence of high-blood pressure in your body, while dyslipidemia is the occurrence of high cholesterol. Diabetes mellitus can increase the risk of developing a heart disease by 2 to 4 times as likely. A second article I found through ProQuest was the scholarly journal provided by The New England Journal of Medicine titles â€Å"Cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease†. This article provides a more detailed look into some prevention techniques used in order to stay healthy in both the physical sense, but in the long term heart health. An idea that this article brought the table was the â€Å"Prescription of Exercise†. â€Å"Preliminary data suggest that a regimen of low-intensity, prolonged, daily exercise, called â€Å"high-caloric training† because it maximizes the expenditure of calories, results in greater fat loss and greater modification of risk factors than does a regimen of more intense but briefer exercise sessions.† (Ades, Philip A) As mentioned in the statement, maximizing the length of time that you are exercising maximizes the fat/calories being burned in your work-out. This in the long run brings my researc h back to the facts stated in my first source, which states that improving the modifiable factors like obesity and physical inactivity can greatly reduce your risk if developing a heart disease. A third article that I found through the ProQuest Research Library was a scholarly journal published by the British Medical Journal entitled â€Å"Triggering a heart attack†. This article allowed me to shine a different light on my research as it discusses momentary impacts on your heart. This article was done in response to numerous news headlines that involved fatalities due to unexpected heart attacks and strokes during a physically and/or emotionally strenuous activity. This study focused on activities like jogging, shoveling snow, and swimming that have been commonly lead to cardiac death due to vigorous physical effort. This idea relates very similarly to that of the â€Å"Prescription of Exercise† idea stated in my other source. The relation between the two stems from the idea of the less beneficial short and strenuous activities and exercise in correlation to the recommended longer low-intensity activities and exercise. This article is proving that not only are the more strenuous and shorter periods of activity less beneficial, but they can also become fatal when asking the body to do too much. Coronary Heart Disease is the leading cause of death in The United States which is why I believe that it is crucial to educate others about the many risks that factor into such a group of fatal diseases in the heart. Thru ought my research I learned that it is often the less suspecting individual that can become a victim of a Coronary Heart Disease simply because he/she did not know what steps to take to lead a heart healthy lifestyle. In order to stop the constantly rising number of fatalities caused by heart disease, we must first become educated on how to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Works Cited Ades, Philip A. â€Å"Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease.† The New England journal of medicine 345.12 (2001): 892-902. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Brenner, Michael, and Allison Butcher. â€Å"Coronary Heart Disease: Primary and Secondary Prevention.† Drug Topics 153.12 (2009): 50-9. ABI/INFORM Complete; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Know Your Facts.† York Weekly Record: 14. Jun 13 2006. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012 Petch, M. C. â€Å"Triggering a Heart Attack.† British medical journal 312.7029 (1996): 459-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Study: Treatment Reduces Risk of Heart Attack by 70 Percent.† FDA consumer 2002: 7-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 23 Oct. 2012 .

Friday, September 13, 2019

An Analysis of the Different Economic Bodies and Their Impact in Different Countries in the Book, Why Nations Fail, Written By Doran Acemoglu and James Robinson

An Analysis of the Different Economic Bodies and Their Impact in Different Countries in the Book, Why Nations Fail, Written By Doran Acemoglu and James Robinson Why Nations Fail Why some nations fail while others succeed have become a mysterious question to many. However, in their book named Why Nations Fail, authors Acemoglu and Robinson have finally revealed to their readers what truly causes nations to fail, which are extractive economic institutions that certain governments have. This paper will be exploring the current type of economic institutions in three different nations by using knowledge from the book Why Nations Fail, as well as historical facts to support the given statements. The countries’ economic institutions that will be explored are Venezuela, Mexico, and Haiti. These countries will also be put into comparison with the United States, a country that has inclusive economic institutions. Venezuela has been experiencing an economic decline for a long time. According to the article, â€Å"Venezuela is in its third year of recession and according to the International Monetary Fund, its economy is expected to contract 10% this year† (Gillespie, 2016). The main cause of this recession can be tracked down to the leader of the government in Venezuela, Chavez, who focuses government spending excessively on extractive economic institutions. In the book Why Nations Fail by Acemoglu and Robinson, it’s stated that it’s the economic institutions that are the foundation of economic development which is evident through the fact that economic institutions allow people to trade and build their own businesses comfortably. The topic of economic institutions being the heart of economic growth takes us to the topic of trade. Venezuela, as aforementioned, was a thriving country only a decade ago. This was mainly due to Venezuela being an oil-rich country. The point of trade is for the countries to specialize in whatever they’re doing best and export that while importing what they lack in. The problem with Venezuela was although they were successfully specializing in producing oil, they weren’t really producing anything else or importing any goods from other countries. Additionally, Venezuela wasn’t exporting any of the tremendous amount of oil it’s producing. Through the article, one can discover that Venezuela’s main oil company, which is run by the government, is the main reason why any of these exports or imports aren’t taking place. This again is evidence how extractive economic institutions can ruin a nation. Because of the economic recession and the lack of trade in Venezuela, inflation has become a tangible problem. Prices are soaring high, and Venezuela has a staggering increase in inflation in 2016 with a 475% (Gillespie, 2016). Not only are prices high, but producers aren’t able to produce because of the lack of trade. This ultimately results in food shortages and suffering citizens. While the citizens of United States can freely go into any Publix or Winn Dixie and shop at their leisure, the citizens of Venezuela wait in long lines outside of super markets only to find out that the last bottle of milk had already been bought 2 hours ago. The food shortages are causing the mortality rates of Venezuela to go up, with more and more children and elderly being malnourished. Mexico is the second country that is under the exploration of economic institutions. As explained in Why Nations Fail, the reason that Mexico currently has extractive economic institutions is because it’s a country founded up on extractive economic institutions. Historical facts and how a country began its government have a lot to do with its current economic institutions. For example, the reason Mexico is the way it is has to do with how Spanish conquistadors invaded that region and discovered large amounts of gold. Realizing the gold’s worth and seeing how it can be useful to them, they used the region’s natives, forcefully, to mine more gold and silver for them so they can be better off. There an extractive economic institution was created; the Spanish conquistadors were extracting the native’s wealth from them by using the native’ labor to make themselves better off. Even right now Mexico has many extractive institutions. For example, in the 2013 article, Why Nations Fail What Can be Done by David Sasaki, it speaks of how the infamous telecommunications monopolist of Mexico, Carlos Slim, have cost Mexico $129 billion (Sasaki, 2013). Although Mexico has one of the slowest and most costly internet speeds, they â€Å"lose $130 billion and Carlos Slim personally gains $80 billion† (Sasaki, 2013). Carlos Slim’s actions are the epitome of extractive economic institutions, and it because of people like Chavez and Slim and the Spanish conquistadors that are the ones who make sure that extractive economic institutions will continue on. As can be seen, the root of why nations fail lies within their economic institutions. Nations that are successful have mainly inclusive economic institutions. China, a country with extractive economic institutions had a horrible economy only until recently ago. The only reason their economy improved is because they decided to accept technology and trade with foreign countries, instead of pushing them away and secluding themselves. However, China still does have extractive economic institutions, and if other countries don’t wish to trade with them anymore, their economy will return to where it started. As can be seen with Venezuela, Haiti, and Mexico, extractive economic institutions take away from the general public to help the elite. These type of institutions aren’t only bad for the nation, but are immoral and unethical as it leaves people in a chaotic turmoil.

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Spring 20 15 Deliverable 3 Essay

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Spring 20 15 Deliverable 3 - Essay Example There are three distinct types of meeting: Phone Bridge meeting Physical meeting and Defense Connect Online. First they have to get forms from a secure shared drive which they fill with the details of meetings upon which they seek approval from their immediate supervisors. On acceptance and signing he/she hands it over to department scheduler, who may approve the meeting and schedule it or may decline. Provided that requests are approved, then they carry on the meeting but when decline one start over the process. Since the system is inefficient, it is important to implement the information management system. Implementing the new meeting management system will help NHHC to improve efficiency and productivity of the employees. In addition, it will reduce frustration of the employees, as well as the cost and procedure for schedule approval. This will make meeting scheduling easy and reduce conflicts of information. The implementation of the proposed information management system shall include various stages. In the initial levels of administration shall begin with the employees, then the immediate supervisor of a departmental scheduler. The role of each of them is illustrated in figure 1. When one downloads a file form the library, he/she has it and upload it to the system. Here, they shall identify the given departmental meeting request accordingly. Then the departmental heads shall approve or reschedule the meeting. The greatest constraint on this process is training the employee how to use the system in an effective and efficient way. At the same time they may be complacent and conservative. Coupled with the changes, the policy must be changed to take into account of changes of paper work systems to dynamic online process. The new scheduling management system will require new software, building a new management system and training the employees how to use the system. The

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Intellectual Property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Intellectual Property - Essay Example It was argued that Topshop had infringed the rights of Rihanna and that consumers were misled into thinking that she had endorsed the use of her photograph on the T-shirt, and this might have led to enhanced commercial sales and consumer confusion, which in turn had damaged her reputation. This is because Topshop’s action may have represented a loss of control of Rihanna in the fashion industry.3 As a result, Rihanna filed a suit against Topshop for manufacturing and retailing T-shirts bearing her photograph without her authorisation. The judge hearing the case ruled in favour of Rihanna. In the United Kingdom, there is no personality right that prevents unfair exploitation, in cases where a party evokes a celebrity’s image.4 Therefore, in the United Kingdom, there is no general right that famous people or any person can enjoy and use to control the reproduction of their images. The law of passing off is used by celebrities to protect their image. However, they have to show that they have goodwill in their image. They also have to show that there has been a misrepresentation, leading to public deception. This was ruled out by Mr Justice Birss who said that consumers of this era have full awareness that music artists take part in merchandising and endorsement in fashion apparel. According to Mr Justice Birss, consumers may not want to purchase products which have been authorised by artists, but they will rather purchase products with pictures on them because they love the look of it.5 One of the key factors that persuaded Mr Justice Birss to pass a ruling in favour of Rihanna was that Topshop, the fashion retailer, had engaged in promotional efforts involving Rihanna. For instance, there was a competition, in which the entrants could win a personal shopping appointment with Rihanna in 2010.6 Also, Topshop sold the T-shirt two weeks after there had been

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Geology 3-8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Geology 3-8 - Essay Example The motion of plates situated here is continuous and earthquakes occur frequently because California is located in the middle of a fault segment. This means that it is a Transform-Fault Plate type. A tsunami is defined as a strong ocean wave that is the result of mostly an earthquake or at times a volcanic eruption. ( Hamilton, 2005). The causes of Tsunamis are basically earthquakes that cause the sea floor to rise or fall. This happens when plates strike with each other again and again at the border of a plate. Tsunamis occur when the earth’s crust becomes deformed due to earthquakes and the original position of the plates gets disturbed ( Tankut, 2009). Plates try to overlap each other and the heavier ones move under the less dense ones again causing the lithosphere to deform. Other than that, when the sea floor gets elevated or misshaped, a tsunami can be created even then. The Great Pacific Garbage patch, as it name implies is a huge patch of garbage in the northern region of the Pacific Ocean. The size of the patch is still not very clear but it is in the northern portion of the Pacific Ocean. This is due to the fact that plastics do not get destroyed but get converted into harmful substances that keep polluting the air and water around them hence making it dangerous for people who live or travel from there. It has also been damaging submarine and under water equipment as well as wild life. Green House Effect is defined as a process related to physics that captures and traps heat in the atmosphere of the earth. It is a result of the interface between the atmosphere and the sunlight.  Basically, the carbon dioxide that the atmosphere contains absorbs the heat which raises the temperature of the atmosphere. It is not a layer of carbon dioxide in the sky that reflects heat back down as it radiates from the Earths surface. Heat is absorbed by the

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Global diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Global diversity - Essay Example art of the legal environment in the Human Resource Department that involves training, conflict resolution, advising, and punishing of the workforce as desired. It also involves management and team building within the organization. In this case, Gladys’s harassment from a senior partner should have been reported immediately to the Human Resource authorities through her line manager to validate her case in court. The manner in which Gladys’s channels her anger towards the company is uncalled for as no relevant authorities were informed. There would have been a conflict resolution committee to deliberate on her case before resigning and suing her former employer. In my opinion, the case Jennifer has filed against her employer will not materialize for him, as she is likely to lose it. This is because firstly, she is no longer part of the workforce in the company and secondly, there is no concrete evidence of her harassment reported to the authorities before leaving the comp any. Thirdly, her reasons for resigning are unclear to the management even though she claims the sexual harassments from the senior partner instigated her exit from the company even after six months of enduring through this harrowing

Monday, September 9, 2019

International Trade and International Finance Essay

International Trade and International Finance - Essay Example From this essay ir is clear that  when a nation is mounting on capital resources abruptly and very rapidly, then the additional progress of such satisfied nation’s state of affairs is accountable to be intermittent. In present international trade conditions, the phenomenon of laissez-faire may be noticed that leads to lack of the incentive to attract new investments.  On the basis of political and social environment, the general characteristic of a nation which determines its propensity to consume (in regards to the betterment of a progressive state) fundamentally depends on the adequacy of such incentives.  As the paper highlights  in conditions where the magnitude of aggregate investment is ascertained by the underlying principle of profit maximisation alone, the prospective for domestic investment will mainly be governed by factors like the domestic rate of interest in the in the long run as well as short run. In contrast, the volume of overseas investment is essent ially ascertained primarily with the size of balance of trade in favour of investing nation. Hence, in a culture where there is limited enquiry of direct foreign investment under the guidance of government or public authority, the economic substances with which it is rational for the government are to be thoughtful about the fluctuations in the balance of foreign trade in contemporary environment and prevailing domestic rate of interest.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Are Black Afro Caribbean boys underachieving within the Education Dissertation

Are Black Afro Caribbean boys underachieving within the Education system that are born in the UK - Dissertation Example Out of all the communities, debate about children of Caribbean heritage has been most controversial. There is no denial of the fact that Caribbean children are under achieving in UK. In 2004, according to National Statistics, the lowest levels of GCSE attainment were among black Caribbean pupils, particularly boys. Only 27% of black Caribbean boys and 44% of black Caribbean girls were said to have achieved five or more A*-C grade GCSEs. (BBC News 2009). The statistical release issued by Department for Children, Schools and Families at National statistics UK has reported that in 2008/9 44.3 percent of Black African pupils achieved a good level of development. This is 7.3 percentage points below the national average; this difference in achievement shows a reduction from 2008 when it was 10.7 percentage points. In 2009 27.3 percent of Black African pupils were classified as being in the lowest achieving 20 percent of pupils, this is a reduction from 2007 when 30.2 percent of Black Afric an pupils were classified as being in this group. 43.0 percent of Black Caribbean pupils achieved a good level of development. This is 8.6 percentage points below the national average; this difference in achievement has reduced from 2008 when it was 9.4 percentage points. ... It became evident that children were treated with discrimination, being called dull, slow learners, UN responsive, troublesome, dull, low achievers, backwards and UN intelligent. Observing all this, black parents moved to draw public attention and demanded government to take concrete actions. Since 1960 government took many actions and policy initiatives however to this day, concerns remain in air about educational performance of these children and their treatment. The low achievement of Caribbean children is in great contrast to high achievements by children of other minority ethnic groups in UK. There are many theories available to explain this problem. These theories include low IQ, genetics, poor self esteem, racism against society and schools, race politics in UK, poor quality of schools and poor home environments of children. It is an important observation that educationalists and government view this problem with different perspectives. This paper is an endeavour to understand why black British children of African Caribbean origin achieve less in academics and are subject of increased expulsion from schools. In the UK, in the 1960s and ‘70s, Black children were routinely labelled â€Å"educationally sub-normal† (ESN) and confined to ESN schools, also known as sin-bins. The parents often did not challenge the verdict of the teachers and the schools, but just accepted the situation. One reason for underachievement of students has been indifference of parents towards the situation. Educationalist Dr Tony Sewell from UK has researched and stated as late as September 2010 that institutional racism in education has no part to play in the educational failure of African

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Project management (a report about a project called i-borrow) Essay

Project management (a report about a project called i-borrow) - Essay Example The project exemplifies project management principles throughout its planning and execution stage through thorough analysis of the target needs and available resources. Its continued success owes to excellence in design, which instituted a system of lean overhead and management costs, as well as a user-friendly feedback system that provided information not only on laptop use, but also fills the gap in empirical research data on how students are utilizing the learning space within the university. By filling a niche where previously only bulky systems existed that failed to adequately serve the stakeholders, the i-Borrow project provides an excellent framework for future academic and commercial implementations of internet technology solutions. As such, analysis of this project plays an important role contemporary project management analysis on multiple levels. ... t Context In response to a growing and increasingly diversified student body’s need for improved library services, the i-Borrow project was initiated with the goal of establishing a program for the ongoing service that would provide 200 educational laptop computers for use within the newly constructed library and student support center at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). Unlike many projects, which concentrate on producing an end result such as a building or static piece of software, the end result of the i-Borrow project was to produce not only the concrete infrastructure needed to provide the service but also to implement a program for the management of the service that would eventually supersede the project itself. The challenge of contemporary IT project management is that many projects involve much more than just project planning and scheduling, and are primarily concerned with the control of an on-going project during its whole lifetime of use, as commonly fou nd in computer networking projects (Tatnall and Reyes 2005 p.153-155). In the case of i-Borrow, the project involved planning for not just distribution systems, and user interface and use, but also for the infrastructure of the wireless network, network support, and ongoing maintenance necessary to support the system. The projects official mission statement is documented in the project final report as: â€Å"iBorrow will allow users of a new Library and Learning Centre to borrow a laptop computer as easily as picking a book from a shelf. It will provide a large-scale demonstration of how thin-client laptops with location-aware technology can enable the University to not only provide no-fuss access to a full range of software and learning resources but also effectively manage the configuration of

Friday, September 6, 2019

Cognitive Effects of Early Bilingualism Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Effects of Early Bilingualism Essay The American educational system has fallen behind other leading nations in the world in many respects, one of which is in bilingual instruction. This has traditionally been overlooked in the United States until the high school level. Children in today’s society should be made more prepared for the growing globalism and technological advances throughout the world instead of losing educational opportunities due to economic downfall and lack of resources. This includes a second language acquisition introduced earlier in the program. On top of political reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are many. The age of acquisition is crucial due to the plasticity of the brain which, according to the critical period hypothesis, begins to plateau after five years of age. The current policy in early education limits greatly the amount of extracurricular lessons provided in accordance with government policies such as No Child Left Behind, which restricts school funding based on standardized testing only in certain subject areas. School programs, realistically beginning in elementary education, should include foreign language study due to the strong evidence that bilingualism in children can develop higher cognitive abilities which can be enhanced with proficiency and positively influence skills in other areas. Old arguments suggest that, â€Å"children who are instructed bilingually from an early age will suffer cognitive or intellectual retardation in comparison with their monolingually instructed counterparts† (Diaz 24). Much of the research from the past supporting this argument focused on older bilinguals, mostly adults who may have shown competent abilities in a second language but who had much later ages of acquisition and who usually acquired the second language outside of the home. Many early studies in this field worked with children of immigrants who showed lower abilities in cognitive tasks most likely because of the lack of proficiency in the second language (L2) and lack of proper schooli ng in relation to this deficiency (Kovà ¡cs 307). In correlation with poorly chosen test subjects, the studies were typically done with orthographic representations of words that would have been more difficult for younger test subjects to work with. For example, a study done by Ton Dijkstra, Professor of Psycholinguistics and Multilingualism at the Donders Institute, which focused only on adult English/Dutch bilingualsthe youngest being fifteen years old, all of whom studied their L2 in a middle or high school level. This study included only written examples of words and had the subjects determine if the word was English or Dutch. The results were able to somewhat prove Dijkstra’s theory of Bilingual interactive activation (BIA) which underlines the effects orthography has on L1 and L2 word retrieval that is â€Å"assuming, of course, that the same orthography is used in the input† (Dijkstra 217). If this study were done on younger children, it is sure they would not have performed as well since children are typically less familiar with the written language than with the spoken. Older language learners would make more use of the written approach to learning, such as a textbook, while younger learners typically lear n more from a speech-based approach, like conversationally in the home. The textbook approach is a symbolic processing which differs from the more embedded cognitive retrieval of the speech-based learning approach utilized by younger children to understand the two languages. There have been many studies over the past few years that have proven the opposite of these older arguments. Many of the studies have tested the cognitive abilities of young children, usually aged six and under in accordance with the critical period hypothesis, with both monolingual and bilingual proficiency. These experiments are concerned with cognitive tasks including false-belief tasks and grammar testing to determine the ability to hold abstract thought in the L2 as well as phonemic testing in order to find if there is an ability to distinguish between the phonemes of the different languages. The majority of these studies have tested subjects using visual representations and vocal experiments with proctors who have experience working with children and are trained in both languag es being tested. The more useful subjects are usually taught implicitly, or passively in the home. Although some make use of explicitly taught subjects, meaning they learned actively in a class setting. It has been proven that an infant of four months has the incredible linguistic discrimination abilities to distinguish languages with different prosody and phonemes (Kovà ¡cs 303). An infant is then better equipped to attain more native-like proficiency later in life when exposed this early to the sounds and rhythm of the L2. Doctor in Communication Sciences, Karsten Steinhauer explains, â€Å"that late L2 learners stabilize at some point short of native-like attainment [which] most recently has been discussed in terms of phonological/prosodic interference from L1† (Steinhauer 15). When a young child is introduced to two separate languages, the mechanisms of attention, selection, and inhibition become more fine-tuned due to the experience of attending to one language and ignoring the other (Kovà ¡cs 303, 308). The training in encoding and the association of two correspondi ng words with a common concept underlines the superior representational abilities a bilingual retains especially when the L2 is entrenched in the brain the way early acquisition allows. Linguist à gnes Melinda Kovà ¡cs presents research proving that monolinguals typically attain these abilities at the age of four years while young bilinguals gain these skills much earlier (Kovà ¡cs 316). The brain’s plasticity allows the young child to hold and use the two languages without interference and with continued usage the child will be more likely to attain full native-like proficiency in both languages. Kovà ¡cs also explains that since the brain remains active during demanding tasks, the brain may take on the extra load of two languages as a constructive challenge. The young, malleable brain may possibly â€Å"greatly adapt to [the challenge], for example, by changing its morphology† (Kovà ¡cs 308). A type of adaptation has been proven in studies done by neuroscientist Andrea Mechelli, which were concerned with the grey matter surrounding the left inferior parietal cortex, the general area associated with language use containing the Broca’s are a. These studies confirmed that the grey matter in this area is denser in early-acquired bilinguals. The density decreases in correlation with proficiency in the L2 with monolinguals having the least dense matter (Mechelli 757). This may be the case because a later acquired L2 is held at a more surface level of the brain and requires the use of the declarative memory instead of the procedural memory. Many tests have been done to determine the amount of brain activity associated with language in the left inferior parietal cortex through the use of event-related brain potential, or ERPs. Dr. Steinhauer describes ERPs as â€Å"reflecting the real-time electrophysiological brain dynamics of cognitive processes with an excellent time resolution in the range of milliseconds,† and that ERPs â€Å"have been hypothesized to be linked to rule-based automatic parsing† (Steinhauer 16). Measurements of ERPs are taken while subjects perform syntactically poignant tasks. Since it is thought that syntactic processes are generally automatic or a part of â€Å"implicit grammar processi ng† (Steinhauer 17), the ERP components would be more difficult to elicit in later acquired bilinguals. Steinhauer et al. performed several studies in this area, working with many real and one artificial language labeled BROCANTO 2. In each case, the subjects were given grammaticality judgment tasks in the given language, such as subject-verb agreement violations and lexical anomalies. For each group, the early acquired or implicitly taught subjects educed the same type of ERP responses as native speakers. Late-acquired or explicitly instructed subjects showed more shallow responses, if any at all in this area. These findings show that â€Å"syntactic processes appear to be sensitive to delays in L2 acquisition† (Steinhauer 19). One of the most prominent issues in L2 proficiency is attaining the phonemic boundary between the two languages. Monolinguals are usually unable to distinguish the sounds of a language other than their own. The more proficient a bilingual is in their L2, the more able they are to perceive the two types of phonemes and to determine which is correct in a given phonological circumstance. The phonemic boundary is the least likely area to be fossilized in a late-acquired bilingual. There have been several studies done which have proven this, including a 2008 study done by Adrian Garcia-Sierra, professor of Communications at the University of Texas. In this study, the voice onset time, or VOT, of thirty college students was tested. Half of the students were English monolinguals while the other half were English/Spanish bilinguals who described themselves as fluent speakers of both languages and who learned their L2 at home. This study was done in Austin, Texas where some Spanish is integrated into the daily culture. The results showed that the more fluent bilinguals were more apt to â€Å"a perceptual shift†¦associated with high level of confidence in English and Spanish†¦[and] that highly confident L2 bilinguals are more likely to possess a double phonemic boundary† (Garcia-Sierra 378). This shows that more proficient bilinguals will have a stronger ability to determine different phonemes, which also underlines the effects bilingualism has on a dvanced discrimination and attention skills. Another recent study performed on early bilinguals was done by a group of psychologists headed by Michael Siegal. The experiments tested the pragmatic skills of 41 children in northeastern Italy. All were between the ages of three and six years old, with 19 Italian monolinguals and 22 Italian/Slovenian bilinguals who attended the same preschool taught only in Italian. The children were tested on the Gricean maxims of conversational understanding. These are four basic rules which provide a foundation for pragmatic competence including quality, quantity, relevance, and politeness. The groups of children were shown cartoons with characters having conversations that contained one response created in order to break one of the maxims. The children were then asked which of the characters said something strange or rude and to provide a more appropriate response when the statement was positively identified. The main thesis in this study was that bilingualism requires â€Å"the capacity for flexibility in the representation of language and objects [which] suggests that early bilingualism should be accomp anied by advanced meta-pragmatic skills† (Siegal 115). This theory was upheld by the results of these tests in which the bilingual children outperformed the monolinguals by much more than a chance margin, especially in the maxims of politeness and quality even though many bilinguals had a delayed vocabulary in their L2. The psychologists behind this study suggest that bilingualism can be â€Å"accompanied by an enhanced ability to appreciate effective communicative responses† (Siegal 115). The results of this research seem to highlight the idea that the acquisition of a second language allows a child to remove themselves from the comfortable context of their native language and to realize that it is more necessary to provide useful information and use polite tones for more a successful exchange in both languages. Recently, studies have been performed concerning the effects and importance of early-acquired bilingualism in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Research in this area shows that it is less likely for a bilingual individual to be affected by these types of diseases. The majority of the hypotheses behind this statistic pertain to the activity in the brain that is needed to think and speak bilingually. This constant activity exercises the brain in a way that is counterintuitive to the deterioration involved with these disorders (Paradis 216). The research behind Parkinson’s disease explains that the procedural memory is affected greatly sometimes causing a loss of the L1. This is partnered with a tendency to â€Å"produce a smaller portion of grammatical sentences†¦and exhibit deficits in comprehension of complex syntactic forms† (Paradis 217). This is likely linked to the deterioration of the left inferior parietal cortex, the same area in the brain discussed earlier, which is associated with syntactic processes and holding the L1. On the other hand, bilingual patients with Alzheimer’s show a loss in t heir L2 as well as in semantic abilities and a gradual loss of pragmatic, phonological, and syntactic structures. More common in this type of dementia is a puzzlingly inappropriate mixture of the two languages (Paradis 222). This is due to the break down of the declarative memory caused by the dementia. The declarative memory is involved with metacognition, which is why it affects such things as the less familiar language, pragmatic skills, and the selective attention abilities of bilinguals. The major finding in these studies is that â€Å"the differences observed in psychotic conditions as well as in dementias are caused by the increased reliance on declarative-memory-based (and hence consciously controlled) explicit metalinguistic knowledge† (Paradis 222). The advances made in early bilingual research have been great over the past few decades. Through these studies and so many more, it has been made clear that bilinguals with early ages of acquisition not only achieve more native-like proficiency but also tend to have more advanced cognitive abilities than their monolingual peers. These include but are not exclusive to increased analytical, representational, selective, and control abilities. Bilingualism also implies more developed metalingustic awareness and mental flexibility. Early bilinguals have also shown greater abilities in pragmatics and phonemic discrimination. In opposition to old arguments, Kovà ¡cs writes, â€Å"The bilingual condition could be stimulating for the highly plastic developing mind of the child, and induces specific changes in the brain and cognitive systems† (Kovà ¡cs 317). The higher development has been seen in ERP testing and in the density of grey matter involved in the linguistically apt area of the brain. Educators and policy makers should consider this information when planning early education programs. Those enriched with the benefits of a bilingual education are not only better off cognitively, but in the modern world, would be more prepared for the global society and workplace. Works Cited Diaz, R â€Å"Thought and Two Languages: The Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Development.† Review of Research in Education 10 (1983): 23-54 Dijkstra, Ton. â€Å"Task and Context Effects in Bilingual Lexical Processing.† Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism (2007): 213-235. Garcia-Sierra, Adrian, Randy L. Diehl, and Craig Champlin. â€Å"Testing the double phonemic boundary in bilinguals.† Speech Communication 51 (2009): 369-378. Kovacs, Agnes Melinda. â€Å"Beyond Language: Childhood Bilingualism Enhances High- level Cognitive Functions.† Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism (2007): 301-323. Mechelli, A., Crinion, J. T., Noppeney, U., O’Doherty, J., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S., and Price, C.J. 2004. Structural plasticity in the bilingual brain. Nature. 431: 754. Siegal, Michael, Laura Iozzi, and Luca Surian. â€Å"Bilingualism and conversational understanding in young children.† Cognition 110 (2009): 115-122.