Zaire Essays - Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko,

Zaire The situation in Zaire (today The Democratic Republic of Congo) under the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko is a good illustration of an African tragedy. A nation so rich in national resources ? having some of the largest diamond mines in the world ? destined for success and growth, becomes victim to one of the worst administrators (if you can even call him that) of the 20th century and one of the best ?corruption artist? of all time. Corruption engulfed the young nation shortly after independence and it hasn't seen daylight ever since. In a time when Asian countries, Central American countries, and South American countries are making magnificent headway towards development, a tyrant thief who embodies everything evil, sets one of Africa's main prospects in reverse. This was the situation in Zaire that we shall look at today and examine. We shall focus on the country of Zaire (1965 ? 1997), which was Mobutu's. Mobutu has been toppled as of May 16, 1997 and the country renamed The Democratic republic of Congo. The Oxford American Dictionary defines a ?State? as, ?an organized community under one government.? Zaire was anything but organized, anything but a community, and had anything but a government. To justify the claim that Zaire is a good illustration of a ?failed state,? we shall show several examples that support this statement. Examples and illustration include Mobutu's acceptance of bribes from foreign governments, misuse of government budget, embezzlement of export earnings, diversion of foreign aid and loans, a failed Treasury, a failed Central Bank, a highly centralized government, chronic wide-spread rent-seeking, a lack of long-term planning, no political development and stability, near agricultural failure, nepotism, bad investments, inability to repay national debt, human services failure, and overall government failure. All of these contributors to this ?failed state? are a direct result of corruption. ?Corruption has detrimental effects on economic development. It decreases the efficiency of the civil service and its ability to formulate and implement government development policies, and it robs the country of vast sums of foreign exchange needed for investment? (George Ayittey 262). In other words, corruption puts a ?stranglehold on the economic and political levers of powers? (Kempe Ronald Hope Sr. 90-91), thus making it virtually impossible for a government to operate.

Qantas Airlines Performance Analysis Essays - Finance, Economy

Qantas Airlines Performance Analysis Essays - Finance, Economy Qantas Airlines Performance Analysis Name: ID: Module: Instructor: Number of Words: Date of Submission: Executive Summary Having residual claim to the net assets of a company in liquidation, equity holders, both potential and existing, have a substantial stake in the financial performance of a company. But the fiercely competitive business landscape, with higher mobility of finance and knowhow, has made the decision making task before investment difficult. The global financial crisis (GFC) in the last decade is a clear message to all concerned that short term financial performance cannot give true picture of long term potential of a firm. Getting a true view of a firm's long term health necessitates an overall analysis of the firm's operations and performance which includes investigations as to how the firm values interest of other stakeholders and how far it has been able to meet their expectations. Hence the potential and existing stock holders need to evaluate the attractiveness of a firm as investment destination on the basis of the firm's long term financial and non-financial performance as regards all the stakeholders' interest. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction4 Stakeholders Value Analysis4 Share Price History12 Share Price Return13 Return and Volatility of Qantas Stock Price15 Current Valuation of the Equity of Qantas 17 Evaluation of the company's Investment Projects 19 Dividend Policy and Capital Structure of Qantas 19 Overall cost of capital20 Concluding Remarks 21 References 23 Introduction A business is a conglomeration of activities performed by persons, group of persons, and institutions. The performance of the business affects the interest of all the stakeholders, namely the stock holders, the employees, the suppliers, the government agencies, and the community at large. Evaluation and decision as regards attractiveness of a company for investments can be made by existing and potential stockholders, bankers, and suppliers of raw materials and utilities on the basis of analysis of financial figures disclosed by the company in its annual reports. A more comprehensive report card of the firm can be done through stakeholders' analysis directed to the assessment of overall corporate health of the firm. This instant report is a case study consisting of a systematic and structured analysis and assessment of the long-term attractiveness of Qantas Airlines, an Australian airline industry listed in Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), as an investment destination. Qantas 2018 Stakeholders Value Analysis Stakeholders' value is a management philosophy and maximization of it tends to get momentum in acceptance as a valid objective of business among business management fraternity. Short term financial success may not sustain in the long run, and other non-financial parameters are needed to be measured to derive a more inclusive picture depicting overall health of the company. Stakeholders, by their actions, deeply influence operations and performance of a firm, and also have certain expectations from the firm. Analysis of the extent to which such expectations are met is known as stakeholders' value analysis, and the final assessment is called Balanced Scorecard of performance of the firm which shows its current profitability and long term sustainability in the competitive landscape. Qantas Airlines is the Australia's biggest domestic and international airlines with a strong brand value, and one of the leading airlines company in the global aviation sector. In this section Stakeholders A nalysis and balanced scorecard of Qantas Airlines are done. The widely accepted benchmarks for aviation company performance are used in the analysis and the metrics are calculated on the basis of financial figures and non-financial information given in the company websites, annual reports, and professional websites. Analyzing period for this section is 2013 -14 to 2017 - 18. Table 1: Economic Integrity Benchmark Metric 2017/18 2016/17 2015/16 2014/15 2013/14 Underlying PBT $M 1,604 1,401 1,532 975 -646 Statutory PBT $M 1.391 1,181 1,424 789 -3.976 ROIC % 22 20.1 22.7 16.2 -1.5 Underlying EPS Cents per share 64 55 53 32 -21 Statutory EPS Cents per share 56 46 49 25 -129 Net FCF $M 1,442 1,309 1,674 1,104 0 Analysis: Underlying PBT: This is a non-statutory measure, showing the profit earned in the normal course of business, with normal parameters. No one off profit or loss is included. The trend shows the metric is increasing steadily. Statutory PBT: This is derived by adjusting any one off profit or loss with the underlying PBT. It has markedly improved since 2013/14. Underlying EPS: It is calculated from underlying PBT. After deducting tax from underlying PBT the amount is divided by weighted average number of shares outstanding. The trend shows steady increase. Statutory EPS: It is calculated from statutory PBT. The trend shows steady increase. Net free cash flow (CFC): It is the operating cash available after deducting cash spent

(Business Negotiation) Select any two countries or World regions (like Essay

(Business Negotiation) Select any two countries or World regions (like Asia, Europe, or North America) and using the academic li - Essay Example There is a significant contribution made by culture during international business organizations, and this has an influence on the transactions (Jiachu, Shifi & Li, 2000). Nevertheless, the paper will explore substantial factors that affect the business negotiations between America and China, which will be based on an evaluation of the cultural differences between these countries. CULTURE Interdependence between countries, people and businesses establishes the significance of national cultures. In fact, culture refers to a pattern of behaviors, norms, convictions, values, which are socially transmitted among the community members. Therefore, culture has a substantial influence on people’s thinking, communication and behaviors; thus, becoming a serious source of influence to the aspect of negotiations (Salacuse, 2004). Moreover, culture and nationality among different countries are not the same, while culture is distinct; thus, the paper will focus on the Chinese and American cu lture. There is an immense influence on Chinese culture by traditional philosophies such as Confucianism and Taoism. These philosophies focus on virtual like patience, harmony in relationships and instincts of survival (Faure, 1999). Americans have been identified by their individualism, though they are also known for their value for networking and information. WAYS CULTURE CAN AFFECT NEGOTIATIONS Negotiating Goal People of different culture have varying objectives of engaging in negotiation, there are those who focus on reaching a deal and singing a contract, while others perceive this as a commencement of a long-term association and this emanates to a contract. For instance, in China, there is a focus on creating an interpersonal relationship before establishment of a commercial transaction. In fact, these behaviors are attributed to values of Confucianism; thus, Chinese people have a conviction that a business relationship should be based on interpersonal relationship (Graham & L am, 2003). Establishment of interpersonal relationship is aimed at fostering a relationship attributed to trust during pre-negotiation stage in China. On the other hand, Americans are known to lay lot of emphasis on the signed contract, since numerous negotiators in America are lawyers (Demers, 2002). In fact, there is a virtue acquired by the law students from their schools, which entail engaging in a negotiation with an objective of acquiring a signed contract. Moreover, the Americans consider reaching at an agreement as the final stage of the negotiation; thus, they have a great adherence to the details. Furthermore, Americans have a tendency of rushing to the preliminary stage of a negotiation, which creates a high chance of misunderstandings, and it leads to adverse effects to the process of negotiation. Negotiating Attitude There are forms of attitudes attributed to parties engaging in a negotiation, which are a win-lose or win-win attitude. However, negotiators with a win-win attitude have a perception of a negotiation being a collaborative effort aimed at ensuring that parties have established a mutual beneficial arrangement (Bazerman, Curhan, Moore & Valley, 2000). However, negotiations with parties having a win-lose attitude are focused on ensuring that at the end of the negotiation one party has lost. Nevertheless, Americans and Chinese share a

Innovating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovating - Essay Example The broad nature of ideas in the definitions of innovation and skills, the hardship in the ability to relate innovative outputs and outcome with human capital, and the limitation in the availability of innovation-specific information have made it difficult task for firms to accurately come up with innovative means of operations in order to maximize their potential in performance. This study aims at exploring the link that exists between the desired innovations and skills necessary for the management of an enterprise (Acharya, 2012). In both managerial and individual levels, one needs to acquire and develop certain skill in order to become efficient in the smooth running of his/her business operations. Some of these basic skills include; academic skills, reading and writing, generic skills in problem solving, multicultural openness, technical skills, and leadership skills. These are some of the skills one will need to add in his/her portfolio as a manager and an individual. Skill assessment exercise helps one measure his level of skills and realize the need to add more skills necessary for effective management (Acharya, 2012). In creativity design, the managers will also be required to acquire the managerial and entrepreneurship skills in order to be able to foresee future opportunities and threats in their managerial operations. Individuals need to acquire the skills that will enable them to; learn from their work place the new ideas and opportunities that can be explored at an individual level for their development of skills and knowledge (Aghion, 2013). The required set of skills in an organization is determined by certain factors such as the type of innovation and industry structure, as well as the stage of the innovation. Some of the problems foreseen in group exercise are on how the group will be able to draw different skill mixes in different times to come up with

Do genes cause anti social behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Do genes cause anti social behavior - Essay Example Ant- social behavior in a person is connected to his personal traits like impulsivity, sensation seeking risk – taking attitude hence it is genetic. ( Thesis) Anti – social behavior is often studied with many theories and one among them is biological theory. In this theory the biological make up of a person influences them to deviate from social norms. We can see that all children are not aggressive or violent in young age. Some children at tender age are more aggressive and violent than others. Such children end up in fights and quarrels even with little provocation. This means their biological make up is more responsive to situations and circumstances. This theory suggest that the physical body, inherited genes, brain structure, hormones has a role to play in anti – social behavior. As per ( Cohen)â€Å" Growing understanding of body mechanism suggest that certain biological factors like particular genes, neurological deficits ,low serotonin activity can affect a person’s biological propensity for crime or anti- social behavior† The basic behavior of a person is connected to the biological constitution of a person. Not all people and impulsive and eccentric in nature. Some people never respond to situation in a violent manner and they would ignore many provocative situations by being sober and calm. However, a person who has a trait of impulsiveness and aggression can become a criminal or an anti – social element more easily than others. Some people are more aggressive by birth and might have inherited from their family lineage The criminologist has found a link between the anatomy of a person and their propensity to commit crime. It is understood that height, weight and appearance of a person has correlation with a person’s tendency to commit crime. As per ( The Ministry of Justice) â€Å"Looking at records from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, they have found evidence that shorter men

The Importance Of Knowledge Management Management Essay

The Importance Of Knowledge Management Management Essay Knowledge is quite distinct from data and information in nature. Data includes facts, observations, or perceptions which may or may not be true. Information, according to is the content that represents analyzed data. Knowledge is defined in an area as justified true beliefs about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area. The skills required for effective knowledge management are to identify, generate, acquire, diffuse and capture the most valuable benefits of knowledge that sets up a strategic advantage to the organizations. Knowledge life cycle consists of: creation, mobilization, diffusion and commoditization to explain the early emerging knowledge to it maturity. INTRODUCTION The knowledge has been created more and more nowadays. The important of knowledge management is recognized and effectively implement by many organizations. In this brief essay, I will explain the differences between knowledge and information. After that, there will be the discussion of the importance of knowledge management in the organization as well as how effective knowledge management can create competitive advantage for the organization. Also, the essay explains the skills required to effectively implement knowledge management process in the workplace through the explanation of knowledge life cycle. NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE According to Fernandez (2004), to define knowledge, we need to distinguish it from data and information. Although they are sometimes used interchangeably, knowledge is quite distinct from data and information in nature. Firstly, data includes facts, observations, or perceptions which may or may not be true. By itself, data shows the raw numbers or assertions and may therefore be devoid of context, meaning, or intent. However, it can be easily captured, stored, and communicated using electronic or other media (Fernadez, 2004). For example, the schedule of movies will be show in a day, or observation of number of left-handers in a group of people illustrates data. Information, according to Dalkir (2005), is the content that represents analyzed data. Also, Fernandez (2004) defined information as a subset of data, which only includes those data that possess context, relevance, and purpose. It means that information manipulates raw data to obtain a more meaningful indication of trends or patterns in the data. For example, for the cinema director, the numbers indicating the daily sold tickets (in dollars, quality, or percentage of daily sales) of each movie are considered information. So, the director can use such information to make decisions concerning pricing and extra or cancel some movie shows. According to Fernandez (2004), there are two different ways to distinguish knowledge from data and information. The first one considers knowledge to be at highest level in a hierarchy with information at the middle level, and data to be at the lowest level. By this view, knowledge refers to information that enables action and decisions, or information with direction. Although, knowledge is the richest and deepest of the three, and is consequently also the most valuable, it is intrinsically similar to information and data. In the more complete perspective way, according to which knowledge is intrinsically different form information, knowledge is defined in an area as justified true beliefs about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area (Nonaka, 1994). For example, the daily sold tickets can be used, along with other information such as information on the pop corns and soft drinks sold at the cinema, to compute the total revenue. The relationship between the information is an example of knowledge. Hence, as what I understand, knowledge is how people get information from data, or more valuable information from less valuable information. THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANIZATION Knowledge management was defined by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) as the process of applying a systematic approach to the capture, structure, management, and dissemination of knowledge throughout an organization in order to work faster, reuse best practices, and reduce cost of rework from project to project. It means that Knowledge management is the logical process that helps people to use knowledge effectively and efficiently. There are 4 business drivers that make knowledge management become important and increase in application for today according to Dalkir (2005). Firstly, the globalization of business means that the expansion of organization to global with multisite, multilingual, and multicultural in nature. The expansion results in the more complex work environment that all organizations have to face because of the increase in the number of subjective knowledge items. The second driver is the leaner organization. As the required work environment, people need to work faster and smarter as knowledge worker to adopting an increased pace and workload. Another business driver is the corporate amnesia. This driver explains that people as a workforce is no longer expect to spend entire work life with the same organization which will create problems of knowledge continuity for the organization and places continuous learning demands on the knowledge worker. Finally, technological advances make people more con nected. The advances in information technology not only have made connectivity ubiquitous but have radically changed expectations, which workers are expected to be on at all times. Base on the importance of the knowledge management, all organizations need to develop a suitable and effective approach to manage their knowledge. By doing so, they will get many benefits to create competitive advantages. At first, effective knowledge management approach will provide many benefits to each individual employees of the organization. It helps the employees in doing their job and save time through better decision making and problem solving. It builds a sense of community bonds within the organization and helps people to keep up to date. It also provides challenges and opportunities for employees to contribute. The effective approach also brings benefits to organization. It helps drive strategy for organization, solves problems more quickly, and diffuses best practices. Also, it improves knowledge embedded in products and services. It cross-fertilizes ideas and increases opportunities for innovation. In addition, it enables organizations to stay ahead of the competition be tter, and builds organizational memory. Therefore, in my point of view, knowledge management is essential for all type of business nowadays. With an effective knowledge management, the organization can facilitate collaboration and help knowledge worker connected. It also helps organization in making decision base on complete, valid and well interpreted data, information, and knowledge. LEADERSHIP AND THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO EFFECTIVELY IMPLEMENT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES IN THE WORKPLACE Nowadays, most of organizations realize that the important of managing knowledge effectively. For doing so, they need to be always able to identify, generate, acquire, diffuse and capture the most valuable benefits of knowledge that sets up a strategic advantage to themselves. It also needs to have the ability to differentiate the information, which is digitizable, and true knowledge assets, which can only exist with in the context of an intelligent system (Dalkir, 2005). To be able to clearly understand the requirements for effectively implement knowledge management processes in the workplace, we may discuss the knowledge life cycle and strategies in each stages of the cycle. KNOWLEDGE LIFE CYCLE: Base on the research of Birmingham and Sheehan (2002), knowledge has a life cycle. Their study had showed that new knowledge is born as uncertainty thing, and it form into shape as it is tested, matures through implementation in reality, is diffused to a growing user, and finally becomes broadly understood and recognize as common practice. The knowledge can process through four stages of knowledge life cycle: creation, mobilization, diffusion and commoditization. Creation: At this stage, knowledge first appears in someoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s head as an idea. In fact, no one can fully understand the idea or emerging knowledge, even if person creating it. In doing business, the suitable strategy in this early stage is to test the idea on its commercial viability. To encourage this activity, organizations need to create an environment which requires adjustments in the following areas: Informal Knowledge System: the organizations can lay out their space in an open plan that has many common areas, give their employees time to experiment, and provide resources for training programs and conferences in order to grow up knowledge effectively. Information Technology Systems: technology should be considered to connect people who have interest at highly specialized internet forums rather than to codify and store emerging knowledge. Human Resources: organizations regularly create knowledge should hire people in using new knowledge for critical feedback. External Relationship: the contact with external customers and suppliers will encourage the experimental of new idea. Mobilization: In this stage, knowledge continues to be improved, and the organization will extract more value from it. To achieve it, organizations need to mobilize knowledge internally and keep it away from outsiders. There are approaches for doing that: Informal Knowledge System: the organization can encourage the internal transferences among employees by building an internal network. Information Technology Systems: the IT should focus on technology that can enable the informal transfer of knowledge, and the system need to make it possible for adding comments on the subject from users. Human Resources: thinkers, doers, mavericks and pragmatists are needed in order to fully transform new ideas into valuable knowledge. External Relationships: it is still important to maintain strong relationship with customers and other partners in this stage. Diffusion: In this diffusion stage, the organizations will accept the leakage of knowledge, and no longer try to keep the knowledge under wraps. They will spread out the knowledge by selling it to outsiders. Again, the managers should consider following approaches in this stage: Informal Knowledge Systems: knowledge in this stage will be disseminated widely and quickly, which requires a system that focuses on training employees and encourage their use. Information Technology Systems: an extensive knowledge database will be useful for the organization during this stage. The competitive advantages will stem from the ease of access to information. Human Resources: customer consultants will be needed in this stage, so that they can work with customers and recognize the value of applying the knowledge to customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ problems. External Relationship: organizations should focus on building strong customers relationship by their services, and using their brand to create the differences with other competitors. Commoditization: The organizations concentrate on managing knowledge that is already well known. The basic knowledge has been completely diffused. However, there are many opportunities to extract value from current knowledge to generate one in this stage. The approached to extract value as follow: Informal Knowledge Systems: in this stage, the use of formal knowledge systems will be more valuable than the informal one. The systems will help the organization to supply the best practices that can add value to well developed processes, and encourage new ways of commercializing existing knowledge. Information Technology Systems: organizations should develop effective search engines and retrieval systems because of the significant volume of documents that have gathered overtime. Human Resources: it is similar to the requirements of the diffusion stage. However, the demand for the knowledge may decline the demand for the jobs will be reduced. It is better to use the contract employees to solve this problem. CONCLUSION Base on my research, knowledge is much different from data and information. It is how people use data to crate valuable information and from less valuable information to more valuable one. In other words, knowledge in an area can be defined as justified true belief about relationships among concepts relevant to that particular area. Every organization needs to implement effectively its knowledge management processes due to four important drivers. By doing so, it will bring many benefits to the business as well as the individual employees. The organizations need to understand the knowledge life cycle in order to manage the knowledge. The cycle comprises four stages, which are creation, mobilization, diffusion, and commoditization, points out the essential skill needs to effectively implement knowledge management process.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation :: Summer Vacation Essays

How I Spent My Summer Vacation My boyfriend, Greg and I felt it would be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with our friends. We were going on a three day camping trip with long time friends, another couple, Chris and Heather. Chris is the go-with-the-flow type of guy but only if Heather allows him to do so. Heather is a very kind person who looks out for others. She just crosses that line of being concerned to being motherlike. See we spend a lot of time with them, but it's like other people's children, you can go home and leave them, this time we couldn't. You maybe asking yourself why would we decide to go camping with such people . . . I just don't know. This question would overwhelm Greg and me for the next two weeks while planning this getaway. Greg looked more pessimistically at the trip then I did. I thought if you go looking for a bad time, the only outcome will be a bad time. Realizing that we could be each other's only sanity from Heather's overpowering behavior and Chris's childlike mind, we made up little cues to give each other if we needed to getaway. We stocked up on interesting reading material to get lost in and relaxing alcoholic beverages to take off the edge. We packed up the trucks and we were off. Chris's friend from work recommended the campsite so we decided to follow him since he had the directions. We traveled up interstate 84 east bound over the Newburgh Beacon Bridge and made our way to the State Taconic Parkway. Now, this is where Greg and I looked at each other in agreement that the trip was going to go only down hill from there, the parkway that we had gotten ourselves onto by following Chris was for passenger cars only. We both had commercial trucks. About fifteen minutes on the highway we passed a State Trooper, thank God he didn't budge from where he was sitting. Through that hour on the parkway we must have passed four Troopers, none of whom pulled us over. Finally, and I mean finally, we arrived two and a half hours later at our campsite. All four of us got out of the trucks to observe where we were going to spend the next three days with each other, Greg and I actually found some humor with our surroundings.

Effects of Global Warming on Animals Essay

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated various environmental campaigns to gradually resolve the increasing impacts of climate change towards the environment (Silverstein et. al. , 2003 p. 5). The public’s increased attention to such problem is not anymore surprising as it threatens every creature with potentially devastating consequences. However, the subjects of animal health have received lesser attention compared to the economic, industrial and social impacts of climatic changes brought by global warming (Sherman, 2002 p. 204). According to Root, Price and Hall et al. (2003), the primary concern of ecologists is the rapid increase of climatic change consistently altering the natural ecology of wildlife in various ecosystems. Based on the annual measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide (ACO) concentrations, two major signals depicting dramatic ecological patterns have been observed, namely (1) â€Å"seasonal cycle that reflects the metabolism of terrestrial ecosystems in the northern hemisphere†, and (2) â€Å"accelerating increase in tropospheric concentrations of ACO since 1957† (Vitousek, 1994). As supported by various studies (Root, Price and Hall et al. , 2003; Vitousek, 1994; Tylianakis, Didham and Bascompte et al. , 2008), global warming effects, namely (1) increases in temperature, (2) alteration of food chains, and (3) atmospheric gas imbalances, dramatically affect the conditions of animal kingdom. II. Literature Review a. Global Warming: Ecological Imbalance The basic principle of global warming consists of the accumulation of radiation energy from the sun resulting to the warming of the planet’s surface (Houghton, 2004 p. 14). Based on 688 published studies on global warming, the three major environmental impacts affecting the ecological systems of animals and plants are (1) temperature changes, (2) alterations of animal symbiotic relationships, and (3) imbalances in the atmospheric gases (Tylianakis, Didham and Bascompte et al. , 2008). Based on the study of Root, Price and Hall et al. (2003), global temperature has increased to approximately 0. 6 degree C since 1880s, and projected to increase consistently with the coming generations. The continuous alterations of climate may be due to the three following reasons: (1) sunspot cycles, (2) volcanic eruptions producing large quantities of fine ash in the air, and (3) the occurrence of El Nino Southern Oscillation (Gupta, 1998 p. 86). In the literary reviews of Root, Price and Hall et al. (2003) using 143 different studies, majority of the studies reveal the endangering situations of approximately 80% of species that are now gradually adjusting to various ecosystems due to the physiological constraints brought by ecologic changes. In fact, according to the study of Thomas, Cameron and Green et al. (2004), animal habitats and survival expectations have been altered by the effects of global warming increasing the projected extinction risks to approximately 20% among the sample ecosystems, namely Queensland, Mexico, South Africa, Amazonia and Europe. b. Increases in Temperature With the advent of modernization, auto engines, power plants, industrial mills, and residential heating systems burn coal, oil, or natural gas accounting to 98% of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere, while the other 2% id due to the increased deforestation and mining (Tomera, 2001 p. 113). According to Root, Price and Hall et al. (2003), rapid temperature increases and ecological stresses brought by the alterations of ecosystems are disrupting the natural communities of various species, which lead to forced adaptations of species, numerous extirpations and possible extinctions. As supported by the study of Pounds, Bustamante and Coloma et al. (2006), one example of massive animal extinctions occurred in the mountains of Costa Rica wiping 67% of the various 110 species of Atelopus, such as harlequin frog (Atelopus Sp. ) and golden toad (bufo periglenes) and pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which are endemic to American tropical habitats. In a study conducted by Penuelas, Fillela and Comast (2002), life cycles in a Mediterranean environment (Cardedeu, NE Spain) has been observed from 1952 to 2000 in order to determine possible alterations in the ecosystems and increasing climate changes. With the temperature increase amounting to ? 1. 4 degree C (1952 to 2000), results reveal significant phonological alterations among the different species of animals (e. g. spring migratory birds arriving 15 days later in 2000 compared 1952, etc. ). Noting the mentioned temperature increase in the latter study, Hanson, Sato and Ruedy (2006) suggest that a relative increase of ? 1 degree C is likely to affect the sea levels and exterminate various species. c. Symbiotic Relationships: Predisposing Species Extinction Temperature, climate, and gas imbalances are the leading global warming effects altering the different levels of ecologic symbiosis. The rise of global temperature affects the geographical distribution of ectothermic animals, decomposers and mostly those with lesser thermal tolerance (Portner, 2001). For example, thermally intolerant metazoans and other decomposers have markedly shown increase mitochondrial oxygen demand parallel to the rise of temperature, which resulted to the reduction of their population (Portner, 2001). Using species-area and endemic-area relationships, Malcolm, Liu and Neilson et al. (2006) have identified the projected percent extinctions of sample biodiversities (Cape Floristic Region, Caribbean, Indo-Burma, Australia, and Tropical Andes, etc.) ranging from

Humanism and Christian Belief: Change in the 15th Century Essay

Considering that humanism is a movement wherein a focus upon the capabilities of humanity has fueled a myriad of changes in society, it would be rather expectable for one to assume that such a movement was in direct conflict with Christian belief. Interestingly though, Christianity and Humanism did not necessarily lead into philosophical conflicts wherein one would remain while the other weakened or abolished. Instead, humanism brought forth beneficial if not entirely positive changes to the manner in which Christian faith is both interpreted and expressed. In this sense, throughout the following discussion, the impacts of humanism upon Christian belief during the 15th century would be delineated and thoroughly explained. Humanism is associated with a significant shift in the manner through which the world is understood. For example, instead of merely relying upon the interconnections of Greek philosophical texts with Christian concepts, those who embodied humanism instead engaged in a re-evaluation of such accounts without consideration of any external criteria (Blei 63). In addition, the Christian Bible also underwent a similar process of analysis. Scholars during the 15th century realized the need to gain a better comprehension of the Bible through an assessment of Biblical accounts in its original form; superior translations of Hebrew and Greek Bibles were accomplished through such a pursuit (Blei 65). As a result, of such scholarly and faith driven endeavors, the Church eventually came under scrutiny. Desiderius Erasmus, a notable figure in 15th century humanism, enabled the society to realize the errors of Church. In particular, his published books challenged the appropriateness of abuses and the ineptness of some Church authorities in accomplishing the responsibilities of their positions (Blei 65). Through such means, as well as through the presence of unaltered versions of the Bible made accessible to the public, a notable change in the perception of Christians manifested. In particular, instead of merely relying upon the preaching of priests and considering the ways of the Church as undoubtedly faithful to the Bible, people began to question the Church even further. The wealth and power of the Church during such times became a common cause of challenges and questions from the public (Blei 66). Challenging the ways of the Church is not indicative of a waning focus upon Christian beliefs but rather highlights the desire to be truly faithful and worthy in the eyes of God. From being driven by the Church and its authorities, Christian belief and faith once again became rooted entirely from the most sacred text in such a religion, the Bible. As a matter of fact, such a change became the reason for the emergence of the Reformation in the 16th century (Blei 69). Therefore, while it would be impossible to identify all the specific changes brought forth by humanism to Christian belief throughout the 15th century, it is evident that the movement reoriented Christian belief from one that is manipulated by the leaders of the Church to one that is reflected and supported entirely by the Bible.

Western Expansionism the benefits and pitfalls essays

Western Expansionism the benefits and pitfalls essays Someone once said success has a price, while prosperity has a value. When comparing this statement with the benefits and pitfalls of Western expansionism, it is easy to conclude that in many cases the price that was stipulated by overpowering Western expansionism was indeed too high for the innocent. In many cases, those who were the target of Western expansionism were forced to accept, by the ruling and ruthless hand that forced it upon them, a Western imperialism which was never desired or requests. When looking at benefits and negatives of the prosperity of Western expansionism, it is fair to say that expansionism's value for European nations, in all probability, did not fairly equate to the inflated price that the innocent were forced to pay. It is not my intention in this paper to solely express only one side of Western expansionism, although I do believe that history has given us numerous examples of the pitfalls of Western Expansionism. These include the slaughter of the Aztecs that occurred when the Spaniards feared the growing Aztec resistance. The Spanish expeditions under the command of Hernan Cortez massacred many Aztecs at Cholula and pillaged the city, a taste for blood and expansionism that was mirrored by the Spanish genocide that occurred with attacks on the native population of Cuba. It is also possible that Western expansionism brought some real benefits to those people who were the targets of Western expansionism. In many cases, it can be argued that Western expansionism offered new economic opportunities and cultural diffusion. With expansionism, Europe brought technologies and medicines that could benefit the inhabitants of many countries. Today, countries like the United States and Canada are clear examples of countries that have high standards of living that may be attributed to the expansionist tendencies of Britain, France, and Spain. ...

1st Autism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

1st Autism - Assignment Example Stereotypes about autism are more than just laziness or incorrect information in the arguments. They actively affect people in the spectrum and harm them. They form a view on autism and sharply narrow perceptions and expectations. Autistic person would hardly achieve something in his or her life, until they are considered to be "in their own world", "devoid of emotion" and so on. Unethical practices. Stereotypes do not just erroneously attribute autistic certain features. They always assume that these features once and for all set and unchangeable. But in reality it is not. The biggest problem with any stereotype is that it denies the fundamentally important fact that autistics may vary. People with autism adapt to society, find their destiny, their friends and interests (Grinker, 2010). But it is very private for them it is accompanied by a kind of "victim complex": many autistic individuals think that they have no right to seem too happy. After all, children with "autism" have no chance of happiness. All this propaganda worked: many families do not see any future for their autistic children, if the way to cure autism is found. But the problem may be just psycho-somatic – as, according to some investigations, placebo use may reduce the behavioral symptoms (Kroeger & Brown, 2011). Thus, many autistic people have very low sense of self-confidence just because haw autism is being depicted in society. As a result, according to many polls, half of the adults with autism were exposed to violence and abuse on the part of those whom they knew personally. It speaks of the "appalling prevalence" of violence and exclusion among adults with autism. But this problem of stereotypes also has its solution. Children who interacted with children with disabilities or who watched how they communicate with other children without disabilities, developed a healthier attitude towards disabilities, comparing with children without such

Mundell-Fleming model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mundell-Fleming model - Essay Example If the monetary policy is constant and is not modified, higher level of government spending might entail the sharp rise in the demand for money which in turn may lead to higher interest rates. As one knows from the course in macroeconomics, capital inflows that, the nation can receive in this scenario, may strengthen the exchange rate to the level that it can hamper the export operations of the private companies and thus reduce or even stultify any positive expansionist effect of the government spending. The following graph illustrates the model; it also provides the illustration on the effect that fiscal policy under floating exchange regime might cause on the economy of the country. Thus monetary policy is one of the most effective tools in the economic policy of the Government under floating exchange rate regime; if the government increases the supply of money, which leads to the reduction of the interest rates, which consequently entails capital outflow, that in turn depreciates exchange rates and consequently stimulates export activities in the country and leads to the expansion in the economy through higher level of net exports. 2 The opposite situation occurs under the regime of fixed exchange rates. As one can see under floating exchange rates in the short time period, the interest rate is bound to decrease (which might take more positive effect on the economy and stimulate investment activities in the country... First, there should be one "interest parity" condition. National interest rates on the bonds i should equal interest rates overseas i* with the expected rate of the depreciation of the exchange rate (Et (et+1 - et)). In the above mentioned equitation, e is a logarithm of the exchange rate (foreign currency denoted in national one), whereas Et is the expectations of the markets based on the time t information. As one can conclude from the situation mentioned, there is no difference between the profitability of national and foreign bonds; however as in current economic system, the capital is highly mobile so the two bonds could pay various interest rates only if the investors expect to receive some compensation from the differences in exchange rates. It is assumed in this model that the country is comparatively small in the global capital market and the foreign interest rate i* is exogenous in this case. (On this picture MM- short time equilibrium, whereas GM -goods market equilibrium, q long run equilibrium level of the real exchange rate, e exchange rate, C and B various levels of the economy). 3 The rate parity equitation in this case is written as the following: it +1 = i + Et (et +1- et), in this equation it +1 is the nominal exchange rate whereas (et +1- et) predicted rate of charge of exchange rate. Dornbusch's model was based on the assumption that there was no uncertainty in the economy; many observers also claim that above mentioned equation of uncovered interest parity is rather an exception from the rule, and the interest parity situation rarely happens in practice. According to equation of Dornbusch high interest rates might lead to the increase in the opportunity cost of keeping money and thus entail the decrease in the demand for money; the