Bartolome de Las Casas Essay Example

Bartolome de Las Casas Essay Atfirst glance, this vivid portrayal of the Columbian Encounter as seen through the eyes of Bartolome de Las Casas, is a ruthless realization to the brutality and callous behaviors exhibited by the Spanish conquerors in the New World.After further reading and continued analysis, it can be found that the audience is the populous that are unbiased to the cruel devastations Las Casas has personally witnessed.The officer of the King and later a Dominican friar, he uses written word to condemn and denounce his fellow Spanish Christians for their exploitation of the Native Americans.Although he as well does not regard the natives as equals, he considers them as human beings and believes they should not be the subject of these mistreatments.Therefore, he writes these essays to sway the public in Spain, even if he had to over exaggerate the circumstances in Hispaniola and other islands, so that his message is fully received and contemplated by the masses. When explaining a situation as ghas tly and horrifying as the maltreatment of the natives, one must understand the view.As a Dominican friar, Las Casas viewed the natives as children in the eyes of God, ripe for converting to Christianity.He views them as simplistic people, incredibly humble and peaceful.He says they are without malice or hatred, and that the natives are weak, feeble, and they easily die at the very sight of sickness.This is all more then likely a ploy by Las Casas to show the natives as completely innocent victims of the Spaniards ignorance and incompetence.The audience of these writings plays a huge roll as to how he writes those words.Las Casas understands that no one in mother Spain can even comprehend the atrocities occurring in Hispaniola.He uses that to his advantage.He calls the natives very poor and have neither pride, nor ambitious, nor avaricious (p.17).Las Casas seems to describe them as children

Multicultural Society Essay Example

Multicultural Society Essay Example Multicultural Society Essay Multicultural Society Essay Britain is one of the most multicultural society in Europe. It has a population ranging from Caribbean to Chinese. Within the police force this is reflected. For example, Leicester has one of the highest ethnic minority population in UK. Their police force reflects the society, which they serve. The ethnic community would not accept all workers coming from white population. The advantage of the police force by recruiting ethnic minority is that they will be dismantling the psychological barrier. Recruiting an ethnic minority will give them a better chance of understanding the community even better. Black and Asian people always held suspicion over the police and one way of getting around this problem is by getting them to join the force. Recruitment Diversity is central to modernisation in the police service and we want to ensure that the police service accurately reflects the community it serves8. It has been suggested by Kandola Fullerton that one of the advantage of Diversity is recruitment. Organisation have realised that if their organisation is diversity then they have better chance of recruiting high standard of people. I believe if a person was to choose between an organisation, which was not diverse, and one, which was diverse, then they would choose the latter. Certainly there is problem of recruitment and retention problem with the police force. A lot of Black and Asian people do not apply due to the negative views held about the police. And even after they do join they leave after short time. There is a degree of element that diversity improves job satisfaction and increase productivity. If an employee feels that they are being valued and their needs are being met then its only natural that they will pay back their employers. The police force have realised that they cannot just rely on male officers to run the force. They have realised that women can also play a major role. Women represent 44% of economically active population11. In order to reach that target market they have put in several strategies: Promotion Development They have redesigned accelerated promotion scheme- the High Potential Development Scheme. Designed it to be more attractive to women, such as enlighten training delivery, more regular opportunities to join, increased capacity to setp off and back on Gay Lesbian Sexuality Issue This is a market, which has not been touched upon. The Association of Chief Police Officers has issued guidelines to the Police Service on the issue of sexual orientation. Conclusion From my research I have found that the Police are indeed a very diverse workforce compared with other organisation. Maybe this is because they are public service, their main job is to serve the community they represent. I believe the Police Force have accepted diversity not just because they are having problems recruiting people but because they also see the benefit. If they want to provide the best service to the people they serve then the best way is to recruit those people.

The problem of unpaid labour in latin American economics Essay

The problem of unpaid labour in latin American economics - Essay Example International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2006, about 6 million children in Latin America are engaged in the workforce as laborers (Antonopoulos, and Hirway, 2009). On the same score women have been found to be heavily involved in unpaid labor all across Latin American economies. Research conducted by the United Nations on this subject has found that the gap between women and men in paid labor is quite huge. Many women and children still suffer from certain forms of discrimination or slavery at their places of work. Research has also shown that efforts are being made to ameliorate such discrepancies in the workforce and bring some ethics into organizations. Such efforts like bridging the gap in health, education, markets and access to credits as well as protection of labor rights have been devoted to address these alarming disparities. Such initiatives have been important yet not sufficient to bridge the huge gap that already exists and women still feel underrepresented in paid labor (MaganÃŒÆ'a, 2013). It must be recognized that by bridging the gap between paid and unpaid work is a positive goal that influences positively pro-poor growth, social cohesion and general human developments and must be encouraged. As such policy makers must focus their attention to address the gaps that exist in health, education, labor rights and access to credits as these have been found to influence greatly the productiveness of women in the workforce. The ILO defines child labor as any work that interferers with the child’s development. In Latin America many children are engaged in the regional workforce either formal or informal. It is a difficult problem to combat as it as a result of the high poverty levels and entrenched societal customs. It is therefore the aim of this paper to look at such problems of unpaid labor in Latin America and find out possible solutions. The succeeding discussion elucidates the problem in more detail. The number of people engaged in unpaid or

Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy - Essay Example symptoms of motor milestone delayed motor milestones and weakness of the proximal muscles, are followed by delayed language milestones (Language Skills Delayed in Muscular Dystrophy Patients, 2007). Should curvature extend between thirty-five and forty-five degrees by the age of twelve, surgery may be considered, but it is a major surgical process with significant surgical risk involved. (Tsao & Mendell, 1999). The first step taken was to search the local libraries for books and journals for information on DMD. The next step was to use the Internet to expand the search. The medical databases of Medscape, PubMed, Medline and BioMed were used for this purpose. Search terms included â€Å"duchenne’s muscular dystrophy†, â€Å"diagnosis of duchenne’s muscular dystrophy†, â€Å"pathophysiology of duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, and â€Å"treatment of duchenne’s muscular dystrophy†. Hawker, G. A., Ridout, R., Harris, V. A., Chase, C. C., Fielding, L. J., & Biggar, W. D. (2005). Alendronate in the treatment of low bone mass in steroid-treated boys with Duchennes muscular dystrophy. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. 86(2),

DETERMINING YOUR PERFECT POSITION Research Paper - 1

DETERMINING YOUR PERFECT POSITION - Research Paper Example an therefore learn to be an effective leader by understanding the different approaches to leadership so as to apply the best approach in a given situation. There are a number of leadership theories which provide an understanding into the subject of leadership and enabling people to become better leaders. According to the trait theories, it is realized that effective leaders usually share a number of characteristics which enable them to lead effectively. These personality traits are innate qualities such as integrity, empathy and likability. Indeed, such qualities are very useful in the context of leadership. However, there is no combination of traits which can make somebody a better leader. In this regard, leaders are normally expected to use these traits and characteristics in addressing different situations. The traits will usually demonstrate our external behaviors. As a leader in an organization that is restructuring, I would ensure that I apply the core traits of integrity, empathy and assertiveness in addressing the challenges in the organization. I would emphasize on emotional stability in all situations while ensuring effective communication with my workers. More importantly, I would always be ready to admit mistakes and errors as opposed to focusing on covering them. This would go a long way in creating an important link with the employees. Behavioral theories focus largely on the conduct and behaviors of leaders. For instance, as a leader, it is not proper to just dictate what is to be done and then expect a smooth cooperation within the organization. In the same way, the importance and applicability of group of individual decision making must be well understood. In this respect, there are three classes of leaders: autocratic, democratic and laissez faire leaders. Autocratic leaders usually make individual decisions without consulting their team. Such leadership is appropriate in situations where quick decisions need to be made (Raatma, 2003). On the

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Technology

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Technology Investigation on the physical layer technologies employed in the GSM System Absyarie Syafiq Bin Shahrin Abstract Basically in this paper, we intend to give a rundown on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) specifically on the technologies employed at the physical layer in the GSM system. The GSM system is a very interesting topic as it revolutionized the way we communicate and it is still being used till this day. It is actually the 2nd Generation (2G) wireless system as it uses digital instead of analog and it also deploys Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) that is implemented on multiple frequency subbands. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). GMSK modulation and demodulation technique will also be discussed together with how it works and what their advantages/disadvantages are. The problems with ISI (Intersymbol Interference) in GSM systems will also be addressed together with how to mitigate ISI using channel equalization. With that, we will also give a simple explanation on how speech coding is accomplished in GSM transceivers. Keywords: Gaussian Pulse, GMSK, ISI, channel equalizer, ISI equalizer, speech coding I. Introduction GSM is a standard developed by the ETSI (Europe Telecommunication Standards Institute) to describe the protocols of the 2nd Generation (2G) communication technology used by mobile networks and cell phones. It was first launched in Finland with a data speed of up to 64kbps. The GSM is given the term 2G because it is something completely new compared to the first generation (1G) with the usage of digital signal signals instead of analog. It was designed from scratch with no backward compatibility with the previous 1G technology. Using 124 channels per cell, it can accommodate up to 8 users by using a combination of TDMA and FDD scheme [1], though some of its channels are used for control signals. It also introduces the SIM (Subscriber identity module) card which allows for roaming calls. At first, it was only designed for operation in the 900 MHz band but later it was adapted for 1800Mhz. GSM is a very popular standard used today with over 90% market share, with availability in over 21 9 countries and territories worldwide. Originally the GSM was developed with the intention that it will replace the first generation analog networks by having digital, circuit-switched networks which are optimized for full-duplex voice telephony. However as time passes, the GSM system was further developed to include data communications by firstly having it on circuit-switched transport, and then changing it later to packet-switched transport via GPRS ( General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE ( Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) . In GSM, Gaussian pulse shaping is used and Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) as a modulation/demodulation technique with a modulation index of 0.5 [2]. This modulation method however gives rise to inter symbol interference. Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) in the GSM system are usually caused by two factors; Multipath propagation and Bandlimited channels. An ISI equalizer is used to solve this problem by implementing the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) via vertibri algorithm. To make things easier to understand, Figure 1 is attached to relate how the GSM system can relate to the OSI (Open System Interconnection) model. We will however, focus more on the Physical Layer of the GSM system. Figure 1: How the GSM is realized in the famous OSI model [7]. Pulse Shaping In digital telecommunications systems, we strive to achieve broad spread spectrum with significant low-frequency content. This in return, requires a lowpass channel that has a bandwidth sufficient enough to accommodate the essential frequency content in the data stream. Gaussian function fits this requirement perfectly. The speciality of this waveshape is that, the pulses rise and small smoothly until it settles to a value [14]. This is a valuable asset as it gives a solution to problems such as precursors, overshoot and ringing in a pulse signal [14]. This problems cause uncertainty to the actual value so it is very troublesome. Besides that, it also addresses the two required needs of communication systems which are band-limited channels and reduced Inter-symbol interference (ISI) by applying a Gaussian filter symbol-by-symbol. It is nearly impossible to get the perfect sinc spectrum in the time domain as the bandwidth needs to be infinity. We can only have an approximation or near the same sinc spectrum. ISI can also still happen if control is not exercised over the pulse shaping. Figure 2: An impulse response of a Gaussian Filter [15] In GSM, we apply Gaussian filtering for Gaussian Filtering Minimum Shift keying (GMSK) a modulation technique. Basically it is similar as the Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) but the data stream must first go through pulse shaping via Gaussian filter before being applied to the modulator. MSK is already a good modulation scheme as it possess constant envelope and maintains phase continuity. GMSK allows for reduced sideband power which results in the reducing of out-of-band interference between the signal carriers in adjacent frequency channels. The GMSK technique has an advantage of being able to carry data while still maintaining an efficient usage of spectrum. The reduce power in the GMSK is very useful especially for mobile phones as lower battery consumption is needed for operation [16]. The drawback of GMSK is that, it requires more modulation memory in the system and causes ISI. We have two ways to generate GMSK modulation. The most basic way is to apply Gaussian filter on the input signal and then apply a frequency modulator with a modulation index of 0.5 [2] [16]. The problem with this method is that it must have an exact modulation index of 0.5. In the real world, this is impossible as component tolerance drift can vary[16]. Figure: Flow chart of GMSK modulation using a Gaussian filter and Voltage controlled oscillator The second method is more realistic and widely used. This GMSK method uses the Quadrature (I-Q) modulator. The operation starts by having the Gaussian filtered data separated into two parts, in-phase I and quadrature phase (Q). The I and Q components will then be mixed up to the frequency of the RF carrier to have a modulated RF signal. This kind of modulator can maintain 0.5 modulation index without having any modifications. The performance of this quadruple modulation depends on the accurate creation of I and Q components. For demodulation, this scheme can be used in reverse [16]. X – mixer or multiplier LO – Local oscillator Figure 3: Block diagram of I-Q modulator Inter symbol interference and channel equalization ISI in the GSM system is mainly caused by multipath propagation. Multipath propagation is a result when signals arrive at different times (delay) because it is does not travel in line of sight (LOS). In reality, connection will never be in LOS all the time so the signals will go through different paths by being reflected or refracted from different objects to reach the destination. When the signals travel through multiple paths, they will arrive at different times depending on the route they used. It is also possible for reflected signals to overlap with the subsequent signals [13]. This in addition, results in distortion to the received signals because all the signals have different delay. This situation happens either from mobile station to base station or vice versa. Since the delay spread is more than the symbol time, frequency selective fading occurs. Figure 4: An example of multipath propagation Figure 5: ISI as a result of multipath distortion [13] To combat the problem with multipath propagation, we use and ISI equalizer. This equalization technique is based on the MLSE which uses the Viterbi Algorithm [3] [10]. Figure below shows the block diagram of the ISI equalizer. Figure 6: Block diagram on how ISI equalizer is used in GSM environment When the base station or the mobile station transmits a TDMA burst, not all of is user data. Instead, 26 bits are allocated for the training sequence and they are known by their receivers (either mobile station or base station). Each of the known sequence bits unique for a certain transmitter is unique for a certain transmitter and this sequence bits is also repeated in every transmission burst. The figure below shows the normal burst structure in the GSM burst. Figure 7: GSM Normal Burst Structure A channel estimator is needed because to perform MLSE, we require information on the CIR (Channel Impulse Response). The channel estimator will estimate the CIR for each of the bursts by comparing the transmitted bits with the received signal to produce he(t) [10]. Channel estimation in GSM uses Linear MMSE (Minimum mean square error) [11]. Since the match filter is in time domain, r(t) will be convoluted with the signal obtained from the channel estimation, he(t) to create a model signal Y(t). The output model signal obtained can then be used to estimate the transmitted bits based on the bits received by performing MLSE. The last process uses Viterbi Algorithm hence the process, Viterbi equalisation [2] [9]. Speech coding in GSM transceivers Speech is originally analog in nature and GSM is a digital system. In order to use the speech information, we need to run to a series of process known as speech processing. Figure shows how the speech processing is done in a GSM system. In speech coding, the GSM system has used a variety of ways to fit in 3.1 kHz audio into between 6.5 and 13 kbit/s. The first two codecs used was called Half Rate (5.8 kbit/s) and Full rate (13 kbit/s) [4]. Both of this codecs use LPC (Linear Prediction Function) where voice signals need to be digitized, and secured using encryption over a narrow voice channel. As time passes, the GSM system was further developed to use the Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) codec which is a 12.2 kbit/s codec and it uses a full-rate channel. Figure 8: Flow-diagram on GSM speech processing [8] Full rate speech coder is actually part of the Regular Pulse Excitation – Long Term Prediction (RPE-LTP) coders [4]. Firstly the speech encoder will take an input of 13 bit uniform PCM signal from either the audio part of the mobile station (MS) or the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) side by using 8 bit/A-law to 13 bit uniform PCM conversion. The encoded speech is then delivered to the channel coding function which will then produce an encoded block having 456 bits with a gross bit rate of 22.8 kbps [4] [5]. The remaining 9.8 kbps is used for error protection purposes. The reverse action is performed for decoding. When encoding, 160 frames in 1 sample is encoded to a block of 260 bits with a sampling rate of 8000 samples/s, hence the bitrate of 13kbps [5]. On the decoding part, 260 bits of encoded blocks is mapped back to the 160 frames output reconstructed speech sample. EFR (Enhanced Full Rate) is a newer version of the speech codec which uses ACELP (Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction) algorithm. The motivation for this development is because of the mediocre / poor quality of the GSM-Full Rate codec. This codec is a step-up from the previous FR because it provides speech quality equivalent or close to wireline telephony which uses 32 kbps ADPCM (Adaptive Pulse Code Modulation) [6]. This codec can provide wireline quality in both error and error-free conditions [6]. EFR which is also a form of traffic channel is bi-directional and can transmit both speech and data [9]. Figure 9: shows how error correction is done at layer 1 of the GSM air interface Conclusion All in all, this paper has helped me to better understand the GSM system and how it works in the physical layer. GSM has many sources including but not limited to, books, journals, application notes, lecture notes, documentation as well as survey papers. After reading from various sources, I learned to read efficiently and think critically as the papers written are quite hard and requires a meticulous reading to thoroughly understand what is being presented. I acquired basic research and development (RD) skills and technical writing skills after almost a month of heavy reading and research. How the physical layer in the GSM system works is also understood. The acquired signal must first be shaped through a Gaussian filter in the GMSK modulator. The Quadruple modulator scheme is used as it does not require modifications to maintain 0.5 modulation index. ISI in the GSM are mostly caused by multipath propagations in which gives frequency selective fading. Frequency selective fading happ ens when the delay time is spread because symbols arrive at different times. To address the problems with ISI, we need to have an ISI equalizer. ISI equalizer consists of many components such as match filter and MLSE by Viterbi algorithm. I also learned that we have two speech coding options; full rate speech coder and EFR. All this components are essential when building a GSM system. References [1] Guifen Gu, Guili Peng â€Å"The Survey of GSM Wireless Communication System† International Conference on Computer and Information Application (ICCIA) , 2010 [2] B. Baggini, L. Coppero, G. Gazzoli, L. Sforzini, F. Maloberti, G. Palmisano â€Å"Integrated Digital Modulator and Analog Front-End for GSM Digital Cellular Mobile Radio System, Proc. IEEE 1991 CICC vol. 31, pp.7.6.1{4, Mar. 1991. [3] M. Drutarovskà ½, â€Å"GSM Channel Equalization Algorithm – Modern DSP Coprocessor Approarch† Radioengineering Vol. 8, No 4, December 1999. [4] Besacier, L.; Grassi, S.; Dufaux, A; Ansorge, M.; Pellandini, F., GSM speech coding and speaker recognition,Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2000. ICASSP 00. Proceedings. 2000 IEEE International Conference on, vol.2, no., pp.II1085,II1088 vol.2, 2000 [5] www.etsi.org, â€Å"European digital cellular telecommunications system (Phase 1); Speech Processing Functions; General Description (GSM 06.01)†, GTS 06.01 version 3.0.0, January 1991. [6] Jarvinen, K.; Vainio, J.; Kapanen, P.; Honkanen, T.; Haavisto, P.; Salami, R.; Laflamme, C.; Adoul, J.-P., GSM enhanced full rate speech codec, Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 1997. ICASSP-97., 1997 IEEE International Conference on , vol.2, no., pp.771,774 vol.2, 21-24 Apr 1997 [7] â€Å"Fundamentals: Signalling at the Air-Interface† Rohde and Schwartz Training Center v1.0 [8] http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-speech-processing.html [9] â€Å"GSM Air Interface Network Planning† Training Document, Nokia Networks Oy, Finland, Jan 2002 [10] Vipin Pathak,â€Å"MLSE BASED EQUALIZATION AND FADING CHANNEL MODELING FOR GSM† (Hughes Software systems, Delhi), pp. 100-104, 2003 [11] Manoj Bapat, Dov Levenglick, and Odi Dahan, â€Å"GSM Channel Equalization, Decoding, and SOVA on the MSC8126 Viterbi Coprocessor (VCOP)† Freescale Semiconductor Application Note, Rev.0, 2005 [12] Baltersee, J.; Fock, G.; Meyr, H.; Yiin, L., Linear MMSE channel estimation for GSM, Global Telecommunications Conference, 1999. GLOBECOM 99 , vol.5, no., pp.2523,2527 vol.5, 1999 [13] Kang, A. S., and Vishal Sharma. Pulse Shape Filtering in Wireless Communication-A Critical Analysis. Pulse 2, no. 3 (2011). [14] James R. Andrews, â€Å"Low-Pass Risetime Filters for Time Domain Applications†, Picosecond Pulse Labs, Application Note AN-7a, March 1999. [15] http://www.ni.com/white-paper/3876/en/ [16] http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/what-is-gmsk-gaussian-minimum-shift-keying-tutorial.php [17] Fred Kostedt, James C. Kemerling, â€Å"Practical GMSK Data Transmission†, MX.com, INC, Application Note GMSK, 1998.

Frank Liszt Essay -- essays research papers

Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811 and lived until July 31, 1886. He was taught the piano by his father and then Czerny (Vienna, 1822-1823), making himself known as a remarkable concert artist by the age of 12. In Paris he studied theory and composition with Reicha and Paer; he wrote an opera and bravura piano pieces and went on tours in France, Switzerland and England before his bad health and religious doubt made him rethink his career. Intellectual growth came through literature, and the urge to create through hearing opera and especially Paganini, whose influence effected Liszt. He eagerly transferred to the piano in original works and operatic fantasias. Meanwhile he gave lessons and began his stormy relationship (1833-1844) with the (married) Countess Marie d'Agoult. They lived in Switzerland and Italy and had three children. He gave concerts in Paris, maintaining his legendary reputation, and published some essays, but was active chiefly as a composer (Annees de pèlerinage). To help raise funds for the Bonn Beethoven monument, he resumed the life of a travelling virtuoso (1839-1847); he was admired everywhere, from Ireland to Turkey, Portugal to Russia. In 1848, he took up a full-time job conducting post at the Weimar court. Living with Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, he wrote or revised most of the major works for which he is known, conducted new operas by Wagner, Berlioz and Verdi and, as the teacher of Hans von Bülow and ot...

The Hippopotamus

The Hippopotamus† Eliot uses the comparison of the hippo and The Church to make a mocking to en against religion. There are two main symbols in this poem, the hippo and The Church. Through hoot the poem, the stanzas are broken up between the two symbols, describing the hi pop in the beginning of the stanza and The Church in the end.In the third stanza it says, â€Å"the hippo's feeble steps may err', meaning the hippo can walk astray (9). This shows how the hippo is a symbol that represents the weakness of the flesh, even in the strongest of Cree tauter. Even though the hippo may seem to be strong and thick skinned animal, the com orison to The Church proves it to be weak against the â€Å"power of religion. The Church represents two different things in this poem, depending on the interpretation.In the beginning Of the poem, it represents the strength and et renal life of God in comparison to the weakness of the flesh, as it reads in the 7th line in the SE condo stanza, †Å"while the True Church can never fail For it is based upon a rock. † (7). But as t he poem reads on, the comparison between the hippo and The Church merge, causing a mock king tone to arise. The hippo dies and is carried up to heaven with angels signing and â€Å"hard as of gold† playing, leaving the church â€Å"below Wrap in the old miasmal mist' (32, 36) In r eating this, TheChurch morphs from a strong symbol of God, into a weak and hypocritical ins tuition that is wasting its strength to save on saving an animal. The two tones then combine in the end to Courtney make Elite's opinion on The Church and religion known; hypocritical, inflated, and egotistical. Knowing that Elite's work in his early years was that of a cynical tone, and know Wing that this poem was one of the first he wrote, we can assume that this is a Poe m of mocking tone.

Boot Legger Version 20 legalize drugs essays

Boot Legger Version 20 legalize drugs essays I go to Tulane and received an A+ on this paper. You cant tell if a boy or girl wrote it either. Good Luck Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance... for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a mans appetite by legislation and make a crime out of things that are not a crime. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principle upon which our government was founded Abraham Lincoln On January 16, 1920 the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified by thirty-six states and became part of the Constitution. The intention of this new amendment was to lower alcohol consumption by Americans. At the time each American consumed on average thirty gallons of alcohol a year.[1] This new amendment took away the license to do business from the brewers, distillers, and the wholesale and retail sellers of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol consumption did taper off somewhat at the beginning of prohibition only to slowly rise back to pre-prohibition levels shortly before the end of the movement which took place on December 5,1933. Not only was the goal of prohibition never achieved, but it raised organized crime to levels of power unimaginable before and seriously disrupted both the legitimacy and revenue of the government. Just as Prohibition incited many unsavory activities, so has the War on Drugs. The easiest way to show the connection between these to movements is an excerpt from an article pertaining to Prohibition in America during the 1920s: Bootleggers ran wild. Professional robberies began as soon as Prohibition did. Territories were divided by groups of organized crime that became the scum known as the Mafia. The territories were decided by violence and death, both against each other, as well as those in the public who may/may not have been innocent.[2] Extract a few words from the excerpt and replace them with the words drug dealers, War on Drugs, and...

Compare and Contrast the East Asian and Argentine Crisis Essays

Compare and Contrast the East Asian and Argentine Crisis Essays Compare and Contrast the East Asian and Argentine Crisis Essay Compare and Contrast the East Asian and Argentine Crisis Essay What lessons can be learnt? â€Å"A financial crisis is â€Å"a situation where the supply of money is outpaced for the demand of money† (buisnessdictionary. com). It is necessary to first distinguish the three principal types of crisis which can be experienced individually or as a result of each other. The first type of crisis could be a banking crisis wherein people lose confidence in their banking system and systematically withdraw all of their savings.The second is an exchange rate crisis where inhabitants become worried about the strength of their currency and exchange it – in the context of this essay, into dollars. Thirdly is an external debt crisis which commences from an increase in foreign debt and no more loans are provided to a country as there is some perceived doubt that they will not be able to guarantee investment. The East Asian crisis is particularly astounding as it attacked some of the fastest growing economies.After such rapid growth in capital oft en described as the â€Å"Asian Miracle† how did a crisis in East Asia occur when the region had so much promise? The miracle that had occurred created a region rife with over investment and the success of the economies was taken for granted. Primarily, signs of the crisis started to emerge in Thailand with the collapse of their currency – the â€Å"baht† and it then became pegged to the US dollar. The crisis is now at an end but mainly due to the errors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it could take years for these countries to get back to their previous economic conditions. †¦ IMF policies not only exacerbated the downturn but were partially responsible for the onset†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Stiglitz 2002, pp 89) East Asia didn’t actually need any additional capital that they were pressured into receiving. South Korea for example was a region that had experienced admirable growth but realised the necessity for some deregulation or liberalisation. Th e US treasury believed the system of liberalisation implemented by South Korea was too slow and the treasury made the decision to speed up liberalisation for maximum profit making opportunities. The main cause of this crisis was extreme capital market and financial iberalisation pushed on East Asian regions by the IMF. South East Asian countries did not fully comprehend the policies in place so this also had a role in worsening the crisis. The IMF made the serious mistake of not researching the countries in which they were trying to help so policies implemented were generic and not specific. Eventually however, the World Bank was persuaded to do some research on the region of East Asia which was named â€Å"The East Asian Miracle† wherein East Asia saved and invested wisely and did not follow any advice of the Washington Consensus. However, the IMFand Treasury made their most profound mistakes in their initial response to the crisis† (Stiglitz, 2002, pp 104). The IMF ba dly diagnosed the problems in East Asia and understood the issues as being far more severe than they actually were. It can be debated that a further root of the East Asian Crisis was a weakness in the financial system and irresponsible lending. This risky lending is also known as â€Å"moral hazard† meaning loans were provided by banks knowing that little of their own money was being put at risk.Therefore, financial institutions had no incentive to reduce this risky lending as they did not have to face the consequences. The value of the floating currency fell and was no longer pegged to the US dollar. To a large extent, financial institutions became weak through foreign exchange risks. Economies such as Korea started to reluctantly permit their companies to borrow money from abroad. Suddenly these institutions that had been so willing to lend money originally were demanding repayment but unfortunately these developing countries did not have the reserves available to pay such liabilities.Speculative attackers also impacted the contagion and took advantage of the situation by trying to devalue the currency in order to make monetary gains. Government tried to fend off these attacks by buying up local currency until no reserves remained. Meaning the local currency eventually becomes devalued. Speculators make a profit by converting their money at the right point so that there were more â€Å"baht† to every dollar. The IMF responded as always and provided countries affected with large bail-outs in order to level out the exchange rate. The money was in reality used to pay back some of the loans aken out from the Western world. â€Å"It was thus, in part, a bailout to the international banks as much as it was a bailout to the country; the lenders did not have to face the full consequences of having made bad loans† (Stiglitz, 2002, pp95). The IMF added to the crisis by imposing a higher interest rate and strict monetary and fiscal polices in an ai m to attract investors. In reality, many companies were highly leveraged and were at risk of failure with fluctuating interest rates. Inevitably, this higher interest rate resulted in many bankruptcies and put the region into deeper recession.The higher inflation rate even forced capital out of the country! These IMF policies not only had negative effects in one country but brought down its neighbouring countries too. As one country reduced its imports from local countries contagion was enabled to spread also known as the â€Å"Beggar thy neighbour† policy. This is where the term â€Å"contagion† became more widely used to explain the rush of financial stability through East Asia. The contagion was exported to neighbours through increased Globalization which opens up barriers and in this case, created vulnerability.These countries were asked to cut their trade deficit and increase trade surplus by increasing exports or reducing imports. Reducing imports was the only vi able option so this went ahead and sparked a worldwide recession. The downturn was again being spread to neighbour countries and slow economic growth created a slump in commodity prices. As the crisis deepened the IMF proposed a need for â€Å"Restructuring† which was a priority but, as with all the other IMF policies, it merely succeeded in worsening the crisis. The East Asian crisis is now at an end and most Asian countries have become strong again.However, crucial mistakes were made by the IMF and the East Asian regions consequently took longer to recover. The second crisis I shall be analysing is that of Argentina which was viewed as one of the great countries in the Latin American continent until the late 1980’s when macro economic factors caused the strong economy to collapse. The events which occurred during this time were triggers of the crisis that began in 1997. Excessive Government spending during this period meant too much money was being printed as levels of inflation reached 5000% so Government corruption played a large role in over-spending.The Washington Consensus was then followed in an effort to restructure the economy. The Government then made the decision to peg the Argentine Peso to that of the US dollar hoping this would improve confidence and prevent hyperinflation. â€Å"At the time, the strategy worked, but in time Argentina suffered the disadvantages of such a fixed peg† (news. bbc. co. uk). Argentina had adopted a currency with an exchange rate which displayed little in common with their economy. Effectively, Argentina had given away any control they had had over their monetary policies.The interest rate could not be altered and the exchange rate wouldn’t be perceived as competitive. Furthermore, overspending on behalf of the Government and a pegged exchange rate meant Argentina was neither attractive nor competitive to investors. The next big thing to have an effect on the Argentine economy was known as t he â€Å"Tequila crisis† which occurred in Mexico with the collapse of their currency and resulted in making Argentina’s exports very expensive in comparison with its neighbours. The result of course was bankruptcies. The IMF gave funds to Argentina and growth did start to recover for a minimal period.However, this fund could not alter the fact that Argentine export levels continued to drop due to lack of competitiveness. Following this blow, came the devaluation of Brazil’s currency which naturally had further damaging effect on Argentine exports. Argentina’s neighbours benefited from a floating exchange rate meaning that the value of their currency depended upon market conditions. Argentina’s exchange rate was unfortunately pegged to the US dollar. â€Å"Moreover, as the peso was pegged to the dollar, it was overvalued when compared to its neighbours in the region making Argentina’s exports uncompetitive in world markets† (jstor. rg ). Consequently a large trade deficit arose hand in hand with increased unemployment. Further loans in dollars were taken out by Argentina at this point which just increased the high foreign debt burden they already held. Many companies had to be privatised which resulted in higher priced products and services therefore dampening product demand. Privatisation was not necessarily a bad strategy but in the short term did start a recession. Argentina had been left virtually powerless so altering fiscal policy was the only method that could be taken to better the situation.The Government continued to spend excessive proportions during this time and the continual increase in foreign liabilities meant the level of debt was spiralling out or control. The IMF pushed forward a contractionary fiscal policy, the same that was encouraged in East Asia. Argentina implemented a â€Å"convertibility law† stating that everybody had the right to exchange pesos in return for dollars. â€Å"To give credibility to that promise, the government provided that each peso in circulation would have to be backed by a dollar†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (jstor. rg). When pesos were being turned into dollars the supply of money at the central bank plummeted and yet again interest rates soared. This strategy had come to the end of its course as frequent inputs of cash did not bring the economy up to its former glory. â€Å"†¦With the overvalued exchange rate holding down its exports, it became evident that Argentina was headed into a debt trap† (fpif. org). As the exchange rate in Argentina was fixed at so high a level, the countries imports and export levels didn’t balance.The foreign debt exacerbated by taking out loans in dollars was even more so on the increase and it became necessary to devalue the peso in an aim to increase exports making Argentina attractive again. In the short term, currency devaluation provoked a surge of bankruptcies as the majority of loans had been ta ken out in dollars and became more difficult to repay when the value of the peso was weakened. â€Å"As the debt grew, the interest rate that Argentina had to pay foreign creditors also rose, further increasing the annual imbalance and accelerating growth of foreign debt†( jstor. rg). By increasing levels of foreign debt, Argentina was opening itself up and showing vulnerability to the evident risks of Globalization. Default of Argentina was impossible to avoid which turned out to be the biggest sovereign debt to be occurred by any region. Instead of the IMF providing the liquidity at a crucial time to help safely lower the value of the peso, they actually took upon themselves a strategy of adjusting the conditionality goal posts. Meaning Argentina couldn’t be provided with more funds until they agreed to every new set of policies imposed.Without injections of liquidity, inflation mounted and the social conditions within Argentina worsened. â€Å"Argentine GDP plummet ed 15% in the first quarter of 2002, open unemployment rose to nearly 25% and the number of Argentine households consuming below the poverty line soared above 50%† (fpif. org). When analysing the two crises, it can be viewed that there are many similarities but also many differences between the East Asian crisis and the Argentine crisis. Both the discussed regions received bail-outs from the IMF in order to try and sustain the exchange rate.Both of these regions had to follow the conditions in order to receive these bail-outs which did no prove successful in either case. The build of debt is one of the strongest similarities between the two crises as both of these regions experienced growing amounts of debt, short-term in East Asia and long-term in Argentina and corporations were heavily indebted in both regions. The slumping exports were caused in both regions as they were perceived as too expensive, whereas imports increased particularly in East Asia.The miracle that occurre d years before had created a boom in the region and â€Å".. sucked in ever increasing imports – from machinery and elevators to Mercedes Benz cars and French cognac†( Lassere, Schutte 1999, pp 20). An overvalued exchanged rate was a feature within both crises and had an underlying effect on exports and lack of investment into the regions. â€Å"The havoc that an overvalued exchange rate and excessive foreign debt caused in Argentina is certainly not unique. These two conditions, either singly or together, have been the cause of every currency crisis (e. south-east Asia) during the last two decades† (jstor. org). Due to the overvalued exchange rate, both of the regions experienced a lack of competitiveness. An additional significant alikeness between the two crises is the affect the dollar pegs had on creating vulnerability. Argentina’s peso was strongly linked to the US dollar, as were East Asian economies prior to 1997 and after this period had unoffici al links to the US dollar. Those East Asian countries which were linked to the US dollar suffered lack of competitiveness as in Argentina.Secondly, corruption featured highly in the Argentinean crisis and was a recurring feature within East Asia. The corruption in East Asia however was in a different form. The Argentine Government continued to overspend whereas the President of Indonesia for example was constantly accused of abusing his authority. Most crises including East Asia and Argentina result in contagion being spread to neighbouring countries. In both crises the level of exports decreased significantly and this naturally has had an onward affect upon surrounding economies.Although both regions exported their financial instability to neighbours, the extent to which this was done was more so in East Asia as this crisis attacked others on a global scale. In the case of Argentina, contagion did exist but to a much lower extent. â€Å"In addition, the Argentine crisis, having be en well anticipated, did not lead to Contagious fallout to other emerging economies in the region, let along the globe† (lkyspp. nus). The responsibility for the blame was put down to ill managed domestic policies and little thought went into whether financial crises could actually be contagious.The contagion from Argentina was dispersed mainly in Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay rather than spreading worldwide. The biggest difference between the two crises was the liberalisation which was pushed on East Asia by the IMF. Liberalisation was never forced upon Argentina by the IMF even though they were both developing countries and would both be at risk from liberalisation – particularly fast liberalisation as in East Asia. A second major contrast between the two crises was the Government which in East Asia has surpluses which was the opposite of Argentina’s status.The issue of demand was also significantly different in the two cases and should have altered the IMF†™s policies towards this as Argentina required less demand but East Asia on the other hand would have benefited from supplementary demand. While it is true that both crises were partly caused by that of mounting debt, this debt in Argentina was created through proliferate spending by the Government. East Asia accumulated their high level of debt in the private sector. Although contagion was rife in both crises, the third of three elements of contagion differed between East Asia and Argentina.In East Asia, there was a deficiency in opportunities for trade and furthermore created a reduction in imports in neighbour after neighbour. â€Å"This channel of contagion was powerful because, by the mid -1990’s, East Asia provided markets for more than half of the exports of East Asian developing economies†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (McLeod, Garnaut, 1998, pp362). This element differed from the Argentine contagion as it made recuperation of East Asian regions more intricate. There are several le ssons that can be learnt from both of these crises in order to prevent similar consequences in other economies.The severity of the crisis in East Asia shows the necessity of creating strong macroeconomic policies which are region specific. The first lesson that can be taken is the importance of realistic macroeconomic policies for all concerned because of the globalization of financial markets. Institutional characteristics are crucial and a lack of control – particularly within the financial sector causes bankruptcies. The risky lending from financial institutions showed a lack of control over the institutions and the borrowers themselves. The banking industry naturally becomes weak and triggers crisis such as in East Asia.This highlights the need to provide support to liberalisation in the financial industry. â€Å"In addition, the East Asian crisis exposed inadequacies in he application of existing best practices in banking and financial intermediation, both areas where b etter information and guidance were needed† (imf. org). The second lesson to be learnt from the East Asian crisis is that liberalisation in the globalising world can sometimes be effective when countries are strongly encouraged to open their economies. East Asia however proved that liberalisation can actually destroy smaller dependant economies.This would indicate that it is necessary for a developing country to have strategies in place to limit risks that are associated with the effects of globalization. If liberalisation does occur in developing countries then it should be a slower process so the country can gain knowledge while the process is occurring in order to be adequately prepared for the challenges of this liberalisation. Thirdly, a further lesson to be learnt from East Asia is that on a macro economic level, foreign debt has to be strictly managed. Governments must take care to limit the amount of loans that can be taken out by companies in dollars.It can be debated that it was the excessive foreign debt that actually made the crisis so severe. If may seem that countries with higher levels of exports are able to maintain a high level of foreign debt, this, however is not the case. Export growth can slump as happened in most East Asian countries. Finally a strong feature of the East Asian crisis was the contagion that spread through neighbouring countries as effects are passed through the supply chain. An awareness of â€Å"exporting contagion† is necessary, as is constant guidance within the financial sector.This is the only evidence needed to show that no country can isolate itself from the events occurring in another. Additionally, neighbouring countries should be taken into consideration when devising policies that may suit one country but have negative effects on another. There are of course also lessons to be learnt from the ongoing crisis in Argentina. Firstly a fixed exchange rate should be avoided where possible as it leads to a n overvalued exchange rate. Moreover, the currency is unable to remain competitive in comparison with neighbouring countries inflicting plummeting exports and defaults.A floating exchange rate is necessary to combat such issues. Pegging a currency to the dollar is risky when the exchange rates are unstable. In addition to this, the Argentine crisis is a harsh lesson that Globalization exposes an economy to external shocks and adjustments in exchange rates need to be made to deal with this. Secondly and rather obviously as in the case of East Asia, foreign loans should be limited as excessive levels of borrowing is US dollar involves risk taking. If the dollar strengthens, as in East Asia, it is more difficult to pay back loans when they are rolled over.This excessive borrowing leads to defaults as experienced in 2001. To conclude, increasing foreign loans were the main cause to the deepening of both crises as this affected their viability for investment. Finally, there is one vital lesson that should be learnt when helping developing countries to avoid crisis like so many before. Fixed exchange rates are rarely beneficial for a developing country. As in both cases, it becomes overvalued when pegged against a currency of higher status and a crisis is inevitable when a country is not worthy of investment in comparison with its neighbours.

Accounting Module 5 SLP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Accounting Module 5 SLP - Assignment Example Relevant costs are also called differential costs. If the future costs are going to be incurred regardless of the decision that is made, those costs are not relevant. Sunk costs are never relevant. The repair cost of $26000 is relevant to the decision on hand whether to sell the truck or get it repaired. The sale proceeds offered by repair shop of $10000 is also relevant. The purchase cost of used truck of $ 34000 is relevant to the decision. The amount offered by the insurance company of $30000 would be the same whether Pizzahut gets the truck repaired or disposes the truck and purchases the used truck. Since the amount is same under both the alternatives it is a non-relevant cost. Similarly, the original cost of truck of $50000 is a sunk cost and would be same under both the alternatives and hence it is also a non-relevant cost. The classification of costs into Relevant and non-relevant costs aids in decision making. The cost with respect to the alternative of disposing the truck is $34000 - $10000 which is equal to $24000. Thus, the gain to the company in choosing this alternative is $26000(cost of repair) minus $24000, which is $2000. Thus, the analysis helped the company reach a decision which resulted in a gain of $2000 to the company. 1. Dennis Caplan, Management Accounting: Concepts and Techniques, Retrieved on December 21st 2009, from Oregon State University, College of Business Web Site,

Xerox Corporation and Organizational Development Essay

Xerox Corporation and Organizational Development - Essay Example Strategies vary depending on what business, products or services, industry, location, machinery, labor and fund at the disposal of the business. In any organization, change is inevitable and the organization that thrives will always be the organization that anticipates change, is flexible and willing to adapt itself to change. Let us follow the organizational changes of Xerox Corporation that brought the company up from its fall and turned it around. Xerox Corporation is the world's largest document-management company. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, the company is a pioneer of photocopying that its name has become so synonymous with the product that the term "Xerox machine" is often used to refer to xerographic duplicators produced by other companies. In addition, the term "Xeroxing" is quickly becoming synonymous with "copying." The company made its presence felt in 1959 with the introduction of the first one-piece, plain paper photocopier using the process of xerography (electro photography), the Xerox 914. The company opened a famous research center, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center or Xerox PARC. Until the end of 1970, Xerox dominated the market with an amazing monopoly. Its market share was 90% and this led to a confidence about it surviving new competition in the market. By the 1980's Xerox's market share declined from 90 % to 43 % due to the competition from Ricoh, Sharp, Cannon, Kodak and IBM. Facing a downturn in office-equipment outlays, tougher rivals, an accounting scandal and management turnover, Xerox saw sales drop drastically. By the year 2000, Xerox's share price had fallen below $4, from a high of $64 a year earlier. In year 2001, Xerox experienced a net loss of $293 million. That was down 1% from the year before and 20% off its peak of $19.4 billion in 1998. [Xinxin, n.d, para 1.0] The basic reasons of failure for Xerox was not being able to anticipate and leverage the changes in the technology sector, lagging behind in developing products with digital technology and being overconfident in maintaining market share and brand loyalty. It failed to anticipate and strategize to face the emerging competition, was unable to offer customers lower priced products to counter the competition and was plagued by a lack of vision to scale to revolutionary digital age products using its strong presence. The organization was in desperate need for an OD intervention. When Anne Mulcahy, chairman and chief executive of Xerox, assumed responsibility in the year 2000, she had the unenviable task of turning around a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy. She realized that a massive organizational restructuring was in order if results needed to be achieved. Xerox's systems were studies and data was collected. The vision, the New Xerox Movement, was made to transform Xerox into a more cost-conscious, competitive, quality-control-based company contributing the first step encompassing the strategic change. Under her leadership, Xerox moved from losing $273 million in 2000 to earning $91 million in 2003. By last year, the company's profits had reached $859 million on sales of $15.7 billion. At the same time, its stock has risen, returning 75% over the last five years, compared with a loss of 6% for the Dow Jones Total