Drug Use Cause And Effect Essay

You hear about more and more people using drugs these days, particularly prescription drugs. Doctors may prescribe these drugs to you and you may think they are helping but, what you don’t know is how they may change a normal functioning person into an addict. These drugs are habit forming and can seriously harm you, even kill you. For Years people go to the doctor for one reason or another. Some doctors prescribe pills that can sometimes be more damaging than helpful. Certain drugs these doctors prescribe like pain killers only mask the problem, not really solving it.Some names of these painkillers are: Vicodin, Lortab, Anexsia, Zydone, and Norco. After several weeks of taking these drugs, you can become physically and emotionally dependent. Even if you have never been an addict or used street drugs before you can become dependent. After a prolonged period, say a few weeks, of taking these drugs, not only are you dependent but, if you do not continue to ingest these pills you will experience withdrawal symptoms. Some of these withdrawal symptoms include: insomnia, night sweats, tremors and agitation.Studies have shown prolonged use or misuse of these painkillers can have other dangerous consequences. Dangers of these drugs include: liver disease related to prolonged or excessive use of the acetaminophen (contained in Vicodin). Physical tolerance to the drug after prolonged use, increased doses is needed to achieve the same pain relief. People tend to forget or do not read the interaction warnings or labels on these drugs. Mixing certain types of other drugs with painkillers can be extremely dangerous and end in a bad result. Drugs like MAO inhibitors and antidepressants can result in respiratory complications or death.

The Place You Most Loved to Spend Time as a Child.

? Topic: The place you most loved to spend time as a child. Ma Vio's Kitchen Today, nineteen years after the passing of my grandmother, her kitchen looks the same with its walls in the same pastel orange and green she had painted it in so many years ago. The floral patterns that were done by my cousins and I using ochoes that she had cut in half and potatoes which she carved flowers from to make stamps that we gleefully dipped in containers of paint and placed on the wall hap-hazardly to form various patterns. I remembered her being so delighted in the end product that I don't think there was a neighbour, friend or visitor that my grandmother didn't boast to about her beautiful kitchen wall hat was so artfully decorated by her clearly talented grand children. I look at those walls to day and sometimes laugh at what persons out side of her family may have thought of her walls of art that anyone could have see were decorated by children all under the age of eleven. Walls that have been laquered to preserve what Ma Vio, as she was lovingly called by everyone, considered a ‘masterpiece that not even the most renowned of painters could have done with such perfection'. My fondest memories however, are not of the many different art projects that Ma Vio encouraged us into doing on her huge kitchen table but of the aromas drifting out of that little haven off of her livingroom. I remembered how she used to have these large bottles filled with all different types of homemade treats lined off on top of the kitchen counter†¦.. ed mangoes, stewed tamarind, tulum, benee balls, sugar cake, fudge you name it Ma Vio made it. Boy! Don't even get me started on her bread bin that never seemed to run out of mouth watering cakes and pastries†¦. coconut tarts, lemon bread, drops, peanut butter cookies and my favourite banana bread. Mmmhmmm †¦. I can smell it all now†¦. fresh out of the oven. Her pound cake and whole grain bread were what m y brother used to call ‘the bestest in all of Trinidad and Tobago', you couldn't find a bakery for miles with anything that good. You ever had homemade bread where you felt as if you had anything at all with it you'd spoil the taste? That's how everyone felt about Ma Vio's bread. It's good when accompanied by a filling but it's best when eaten by itself. Ma Vio's Kitchen smelled like christmas morning almost everyday as she was always busy making or baking something. Her kitchen was my own little ‘snack heaven' where everything that came from there seemed to taste extra good. By Havilanna Davidson

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Mixed Code in Hong Kong Speech

2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing A Corpus-based Analysis of Mixed Code in Hong Kong Speech John Lee Halliday Centre for Intelligent Applications of Language Studies Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics City University of Hong Kong [email  protected] edu. hk Abstract—We present a corpus-based analysis of the use of mixed code in Hong Kong speech. From transcriptions of Cantonese television programs, we identify English words embedded within Cantonese utterances, and investigate the motivations for such code-switching.Among the many motivations observed in previous research, we found that four alone account for more than 95% of the use of English words in our speech data across genres, genders, and age groups. We performed analyses over more than 60 hours of transcribed speech, resulting in one of the largest empirical studies to-date on this linguistic phenomenon. Keywords-code-mixing; English; corpus linguistics. code-switching; Canton ese; II. PREVIOUS RESEARCH I. INTRODUCTIONWhile Cantonese is the mother tongue for the vast majority of the people in Hong Kong, English is also spoken by 43% of the population [1], reflecting the city’s heritage as a British colony. A well-known feature of the speech in Hong Kong is code-switching, i. e. , â€Å"the juxtaposition of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or sub-systems, within the same exchange† [2]. Specifically, in the case of Hong Kong, the two grammatical systems are Cantonese and English.The former serves as the ‘matrix language’, and the latter as the ‘embedded language’, resulting in Cantonese sentences with English segments such as (example taken from [3]): canteen heoi3 canteen jam2 caa4 ‘let’s go to the canteen for lunch’ Here, the English segment contains only one word (‘canteen’), but in general, it can be a whole clause. We will use the general term â₠¬Ëœcode-switching’ rather than the more specific term ‘code-mixing’, which refers to switching below the clause level, even though most English segments in our corpus indeed contain only one or two words (see Table 3).There is already a large body of literature devoted to the study of Cantonese-English code-switching from the theoretical linguistic point of view [3,4,5]. This paper investigates the motivations behind the use of mixed code, on the basis of a large dataset of speech transcribed from television programs. In Section II, we outline previous research on the motivations of code-switching, and discuss how our investigation complements theirs. In Section III, we describe our methodology for corpus construction, in particular the design of the taxonomy of code-switching motivations.In Section IV, we present an analysis of these motivations according to genre, gender and age. The first major framework for classifying codeswitching motivations in Hong Kong c onsists of two categories: ‘expedient’ and ‘orientational’ [6]. Central to this framework is the distinction between words in ‘high Cantonese’ and ‘low Cantonese’. In everyday conversations, a speaker sometimes cannot find any word from ‘low Cantonese’ to describe an object, institution or idea (e. g. , ‘application form’). Using a word from ‘high Cantonese’ (e. g. , biu2 gaak3), however, would sound too formal and therefore stylistically inappropriate.In expedient mixing, the speaker resorts to an English word; the mixing is pragmatically motivated. In contrast, orientational mixing is socially motivated. The speaker chooses to use English (e. g. , ‘barbecue’) despite the availability of equivalent words from both ‘low Cantonese’ (e. g. , siu2 je5 sik6) and ‘high Cantonese’ (e. g. , siu1 haau1), since he perceives the subject matter to be inherently more ‘western’. This dichotomy has been criticized as overly simplistic, because of the ambiguity in defining lexical and stylistic equivalents among ‘low Cantonese’, ‘high Cantonese’, and English.Instead, a four-way taxonomy is proposed: euphemism, specificity, bilingual punning, and the principle of economy [7]. This taxonomy is then further extended, in a study of code-switching in text media [8], to include quotations, doubling, identity marking, and interjection. These categories will be explained in detail in Section III. While these classification systems are comprehensive and well grounded, they do not per se convey any sense of the relative importance or distribution of the various motivations.Our goal is, first, to empirically verify the coverage of these classification systems on a large dataset of transcribed speech; and, second, to give quantitative answers to questions such as: Which kinds of motivations are the most prominent? Does t he range of motivations differ according to the speech genre, or to the speaker’s gender or age? We now turn our attention to the methodology for constructing and annotating a speech corpus for these research purposes. III. DATA A. Source Material Our corpus is constructed from television programs broadcast in Hong Kong within the last four years by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB).The programs belong to a variety of genres, including two drama series, three current-affairs shows, a news program, and a talk show. The news program, TVB News at Six-Thirty, carries the most formal register, containing mostly pre-planned 165 978-0-7695-4886-9/12 $26. 00  © 2012 IEEE DOI 10. 1109/IALP. 2012. 10 speech by the anchor. The current-affairs shows, Tuesday Report, Sunday Report and Hong Kong Connection, are serious in tone but contain spontaneous discussions. The talk show, My Sweets, is about food and drink.It also contains spontaneous discussions, but the topics tend to be lighte r. Although pre-planned, the speech in both drama series, Moonlight Resonance and Yes Sir, Sorry Sir, is arguably the least formal in register, designed to reflect natural speech in everyday life. Details of these TV programs are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Television programs that serve as the source material of our corpus. Genre Program Length Current Tuesday Report ( ), 135 episodes affairs ), X 20 minutes Sunday Report ( Hong Kong Connection ( ) Talk 24 episodes My Sweets ( ) show X 30 minutesEuphemism: When a Cantonese word explicitly mentions something that the speaker finds embarrassing, s/he might opt for an English word that contains no such mention. For example, to avoid the female body part hung1 ‘breast’ in the word hung1 wai4 ‘bra’, the speaker might prefer to use the English ‘bra’ (all examples are taken from [7]): bra tau3 bra gaak3 gaak3 ‘A princess whose bra is visible’ Specificity: â€Å"Sometimes an English e xpression is preferred because its meaning is more general or specific compared with its near-synonymous counterparts,† [7] in either low or high Cantonese.For example, the verb ‘to book’ means ‘to make a reservation for which no money or deposit is required’, which is more specific than its closest equivalent in Cantonese, deng6 ‘to make a reservation’. It is often used in sentences such as: book ngo5 soeng2 book saam1 dim2 ‘I want to book 3 o’clock’ Principle of Economy: â€Å"An English expression may also be preferred because it is shorter and thus requires less linguistic effort compared with its Chinese/Cantonese equivalent. † [7] While the word ‘check-in’ has two syllables, its Cantonese equivalent baan6 lei5 dang1 gei1 sau2 zuk6 ‘check-in [on a plane]’ has six.The principle of economy is thus likely the reason behind mixed code such as: check-in nei5 check-in zo2 mei6 aa3 Ã¢â‚¬Ë œHave you checked in already? ’ The taxonomy in [8] builds on the one in [7], further enriching it with categories2 below: Quotation: When citing text or someone else’s speech, one often prefers to use the original code to avoid having to perform translation. An example is direct speech: â€Å"What do you think? † jau5 go3 pang4 jau5 man6 ngo5 what do you think ‘A friend asked me, â€Å"What do you think? ’ Doubling: Originally named ‘Emphasis or avoidance of repetition’ [8], it will be referred to as ‘Doubling’ [9] here to make it explicit, as this category refers to English words that are embedded alongside Cantonese words that have the same or nearly the same meaning. The purpose is to emphasize the idea or to avoid repetitions. In the following sentence, it serves as an emphasis: 2 News Drama TVB News at Six-Thirty ( ) Moonlight Resonance ( ), Yes Sir, Sorry Sir ( Sir Sir) 5 episodes X 20 minutes 4 episodes X 45 minute s B.Data Processing From the television programs listed in Table 1, all code-mixed utterances were transcribed, preserving the original languages, either Cantonese or English. Following standard practice, loan words are not considered to be mixed code; in our context, all English words (e. g. , ‘taxi’) that have been adapted into Cantonese phonology (e. g. , dik1 si2) were excluded. The TV captions corresponding to each of these utterances are also recorded as part of the corpus. These captions are in standard Chinese, rather than Cantonese.Furthermore, alignments between the Chinese word(s) in the caption and the English word(s) in the utterance are annotated. This information will be used in the classification of motivations. Finally, two kinds of metadata about the speaker are recorded: gender (male or female) and age group (teenager or adult). C. Taxonomy of Code-Switching Motivations Our goal is to quantitatively characterize the motivations behind code-switching; to this end, each English segment in the Cantonese sentences in our corpus is to be labeled with a motivation. Due to time constraint, this classification was performed only on the currentaffairs and talk shows.The ‘expedient’ vs. ‘orientational’ classification system is too coarse for our purpose. Instead, we adopted the taxonomy in [7,8] as our starting point, then introduced some new categories to accommodate our data. The categories in [7] are1: 1 A fourth category, ‘bilingual punning’, is excluded from our taxonomy. As may be expected, punning is rarer in speech, and is indeed not found in our corpus. Among these categories is ‘identity marking’, for mixed code that marks â€Å"social characteristics such as social status, education status, occupation, as well as regional affiliation. [8] We found it difficult to objectively identify this motivation, and excluded it from our taxonomy. 166 Very good very good m4 co3 aa1 Ã¢â‚¬Ë œVery good, very good! ’ Interjection: English interjections may be inserted into the Cantonese sentence. For example: Anyway anyway nei5 hou2 sai1 lei6 ak1 ‘Anyway, you are awesome! ’ A significant amount of mixed code in our corpus, however, still does not fit into any of the above categories. Most fall under one of two reasons, ‘Personal Name’ and ‘Register’.We therefore added them to our taxonomy: Register: This is roughly equivalent to the ‘expedient’ category in [6], but will be referred to as ‘Register’ in this paper to make the motivation explicit. Sometimes, the speaker cannot find any equivalent ‘low Cantonese’ word, but feels awkward to use a more formal ‘high Cantonese’ word (e. g. , paai1 deoi3 ‘party’). As a result, s/he resorts to an English equivalent instead. For example, party hoi1 ci2 laa1 ngo5 dei6 go3 party ‘Our party is starting’ Personal Name: It is common practice among Hong Kong people to adopt an English name.Although this phenomenon may be considered ‘orientational’ codemixing in terms of the ‘western’ perception [6], it is given its own category, because it is very specific and accounts for a substantial amount of our data. A typical example is: Teresa, Teresa ngo5 dei6 zing2 dak1 leng3 m4 leng3 ‘Teresa, did we make it nicely? ’ D. Annotation Procedure We thus have a total of eight categories in our taxonomy of code-switching motivations. Five of these categories – namely, ‘euphemism’, ‘quotation’, ‘doubling’, ‘interjection’, and ‘personal name’ – can usually be unambiguously discerned.The annotator, however, has often found it difficult to distinguish between ‘specificity’, ‘register’, and ‘principle of economy’. To maintain consistency, we adopted the fol lowing procedure. When an English segment does not fit into any of the five â€Å"easy† categories, the annotator is to decide whether it has the same meaning as the Chinese word in the caption to which it is aligned. If it is deemed not to have the same meaning, then it is assigned ‘specificity’. If it is equivalent in meaning, and the annotator cannot think of any equivalent in ‘low Cantonese’, then it is labeled ‘register’.Lastly, if there is a ‘low Cantonese’ equivalent, but its number of syllables is larger than that of the English segment, then the motivation is ‘principle of economy’. IV. ANALYSIS English segments in Cantonese speech (section A), then discuss the distribution of the categories of motivations, both overall and with respect to genres, genders, and age groups (section B). A. Density and Length of English Segments It is well known that English words are sprinkled rather liberally in the Canto nese speech in Hong Kong. We measure how the frequency of English segments varies across different genres.As shown in Table 2, the frequency correlates with the register of the genre (see Section III. A). In the drama series, the most colloquial genre, one and a half English words are uttered per minute on average. The talk show occupies second place, and the current affairs shows have slightly less frequent English words. In the news program, where the speech is preplanned, the anchor did not utter any English word. Table 2: The total number of Cantonese sentences containing English segments, and the total number of English words transcribed. The last column shows how often an English word is uttered.Program genre Drama Talk show Current affairs News # sent with English 219 487 1495 0 # English words 259 625 1995 0 Frequency (words/min) 1. 4 0. 87 0. 74 0 Second, we measure the length of the English segments. Table 3 shows that the vast majority of English segments contain no more than two words. Across all genres, more than 80% of the English segments consist of only one English word. This figure is comparable to the 81. 4% for text data reported in [8]. Table 3: Proportion of English segments with only one (e. g. , â€Å"canteen†) or two words (e. g. , â€Å"thank you†).Program genre Drama Current affairs Talk show One-word 85% 85% 81% Two-word 11% 11% 17% This section presents some preliminary analyses on this corpus. We first consider the frequency and length of B. Motivations for the use of mixed code A plethora of motivations have been posited for the use of mixed code in Hong Kong (see Section II). Applying our proposed classification system (see Section III. C) on our corpus of transcribed speech, we aim now to discern the relative prevalence of the various kinds of codeswitching motivations. Table 4 shows the distribution of these motivations in the current-affairs and the talk shows.Four dominant motivations – chiefly ‘reg ister’, but also ‘personal name’, ‘principle of economy’, and ‘specificity’ – are attributed to more than 95% of the English segments. This trend is the same across genres (current-affairs and talk shows), genders (see Table 6), and age groups (see Table 5). All other categories, including quotations, euphemism, doubling, and interjection, are relatively infrequent. Genres. Among the four dominant motivations, ‘register’ – the use of appropriately informal words – is the most frequent motivation in both the current-affairs and 167 talk shows.Its proportion, however, is significantly more marked (47. 4%) in the talk show than in current affairs (36. 4%), reflecting the more informal nature of the former. Table 4: Distribution of code-switching motivations, contrasted between genres. Motivation Current affairs Talk show Register 36. 4% 47. 4% Personal Name 26. 8% 24. 5% Principle of economy 19. 0% 17. 6% S pecificity 13. 2% 8. 2% Quotation 2. 1% 1. 0% Doubling 1. 4% 0. 4% Interjection 0. 9% 1. 0% Euphemism 0. 3% 0% Age groups. Table 5 contrasts the distributions of code-switching motivations between adults and teenagers in the current-affairs shows 3 .As mentioned above, the four major motivations remain constant. However, teenagers are much more likely than adults to use English words to achieve more informal register (52. 4% vs. 35. 1%). They also tend more to opt for English to save effort (23. 8% vs. 18. 6%). Somewhat surprisingly at first glance, teenagers address others in English names less often than adults (2. 4% vs. 28. 8%); it turns out that in the conversations in our corpus, teenagers often prefer to address adults with the more formal Chinese names, likely out of respect.Table 5: Distribution of code-switching motivations, contrasted between age groups. Motivation Adults Teenagers Register 35. 1% 52. 4% Personal Name 28. 8% 2. 4% Principle of economy 18. 6% 23. 8% Specif icity 13. 1% 14. 3% Quotation 1. 9% 4. 0% Doubling 1. 3% 2. 4% Interjection 0. 9% 0% Euphemism 0. 3% 0. 8% use English names to address others (32. 9% vs. 18. 9%); men, on the other hand, more frequently use English words to reduce effort (22. 9% vs. 14. 8%). V. CONCLUSIONS We have described the construction of a corpus of Cantonese-English mixed code, based on speech transcribed from television programs in Hong Kong.Drawn from more than 60 hours of speech, this corpus is among the largest of its type. A novel feature of the corpus is the annotation of the motivation behind each code-mixed utterance. Having proposed a classification system for these motivations, we applied it on our corpus, and reported differences in the use of mixed code between genres, genders and age groups. A key finding is that four main motivations – ‘register’, ‘personal name’, ‘principle of economy’, and ‘specificity’ — account for more than 95% of the embedded English segments.ACKNOWLEDGMENT This project was partially funded by a Small-Scale Research Grant from the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics at City University of Hong Kong. We thank Man Chong Mak and Hiu Yan Wong for compiling the corpus and performing annotation. REFERENCES [1] K. H. Y. Chen, â€Å"The Social Distinctiveness of Two Code-mixing Styles in Hong Kong,† in Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, MA: Cascadilla Press, 2005, pp. 527541. J. Gumperz, â€Å"The sociolinguistic significance of conversational code-switching,† in RELC Journal 8(2), 1977, pp. 1—34. J.Gibbons, â€Å"Code-mixing and koineizing in the speech of students at the university of Hong Kong†, in Anthropological Linguistics 21(3), 1979, pp. 113—123. B. H. -S. Chan, â€Å"How does Cantonese-English code-mixing work? †, in Language in Hong Kong at Century’s End, M. C. Pennington (ed. ), 1998, pp. 19 1—216, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. D. C. S. Li, â€Å"Linguistic convergence: Impact of English on Hong Kong Cantonese,† in Asian Englishes 2(1), 1999, pp. 5—36. K. K. Luke, â€Å"Why two languages might be better than one: motivations of language mixing in Hong Kong†, in Language in Hong Kong at Century’s End, M.C. Pennington (ed. ), 1998, pp. 145—159, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. D. C. S. Li, â€Å"Cantonese-English code-switching research in Hong Kong: a Y2K review,† in World Englishes 19(3), 2000, pp. 305— 322. H. Cao, â€Å"Development of a Cantonese-English code-mixing speech recognition system,† PhD dissertation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. R. Appel and P. Muysken, Language contact and bilingualism. London: Arnold, 1987. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Table 6: Distribution of code-switching motivations, contrasted between genders.Motivation Female Male Register 37. 5% 40. 7% Personal Name 32. 9% 18. 9% Principle of economy 14. 8% 22. 9% Specificity 10. 9% 13. 2% Quotation 1. 9% 1. 7% Doubling 1. 1% 1. 3% Interjection 0. 7% 1. 1% Euphemism 0. 3% 0. 2% Genders. Finally, we investigate whether codeswitching motivations are biased according to gender. Aggregating statistics from both the current-affairs and talk shows, Table 6 compares the motivations of males and those of females. Females are shown to be more likely to 3 [7] [8] [9] The speakers in the talk show are predominantly adults. 168

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Medication administration safety - Research Paper Example According to a one year long study conducted at Albany Medical center, the number was medication errors was 3.99 per 1000 medications (Cardinale, 1997, 1).Most medication errors are said to occur owing to problems of both individuals as well the system (Montesi & Lechi, 2009, p652) and in either case these errors hamper the patients adversely. At the individual level health caregivers are prone to misread drugs labels, medicate the wrong patient, and administer wrong dosage or all of these. For example, bottles of cyclopentolate (1%) and tropicamide (1%) are often mistaken for each other. Both the medicines have a red cap which indicated their common drug class (cyclopegics) but makes them appear exactly identical except for their printed labels. Hospital employees often do not understand the color coding of caps and ignore label reading leading to medication error (Cohen, 2013, p72). Physicians too maybe responsible for some of these problems. Many a time’s handwritten prescr iptions bearing illegible drug dosage or names are misread by the pharmacists because of whom a potential medication error occurs. The pen and paper system maybe often interpreted wrongly leading to negative impacts on the patient and improper medical care. Dosage miscalculation is another fatal mistake. Dosage conversion from milligrams to milliliters etc are often calculated wrongly and the patient receives improper dose of medicine. Patients often take wrong medicines by themselves. This is a result of dearth of patient counseling and patient education in terms of self-medication. Medication errors are sometimes a product of system errors. The drug dispensing process right from medicine prescription to drug delivery is often not clearly defines and are not continuous. It is often seen that nurses, pharmacist and other employees engage in non-important talks preventing them from focusing on the job at hand. Hospital environmental too play a minor role in medication errors, for exa mple noise level, distractions, poor lighting etc are often the reasons due to which caregivers make mistakes. The most important factor for system based medication error is lack of knowledge and appropriate exposure. Today, medication administration safety is the top priority of any medical institution. Thus several strategies have been employed to minimize the possibility of medication errors worldwide. Several studies have proved that usage of technological advancements can helps reduce medication errors (Kaushal et al,2001) One of the most widely used technologies today is the Bar coded medication administration. A bar code is attached to each patient’s wrist and the nurse responsible for drug administration scans the wrist of the patient before drug administration to ensure the right medicine, dosage and patient. The system has the potential to point out errors in medication, medication administration route, dosage measurement or patient identity (Koppel et al 2008, p 42 0) The use of Bar code technology helps nurse practitioners avoid common mistakes and efficiently administer the drug. Personal Digital assistant technology is yet another advancement that can help nurses prevent medication administration errors. The device displays the patient details digitally at one time and increases efficiency of service. CPOE or Computer Physicians Order entry is

In Depth Review of Homeowner Policy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

In Depth Review of Homeowner Policy - Term Paper Example In Depth Review of Homeowner Policy As a policy holder myself, coverage differs from one policy to another. My homeowner policy covers for several things. It includes the physical property damages. In section 1, coverage A of the policy, it states that it pays for a certain percentage of the structure of the home when physically damaged. Included in this section are the roofing, flooring, light fixtures, appliances, kitchen appliances and washers. The policy also covers for the structures that are part of the main house but are considered extensions like the garage and fences however with a small percentage which is about 10 percent of the cost of the main structure insured. Additional living expenses during the peril of fire or lightning, windstorm or hail and explosions are covered too. This is when the owner seeks for a temporary lodging. It takes 20% reimbursement from the structural coverage of the property. My personal property is also covered but scrutinizing it shows some limitations. Jewelleries when not appra ised and scheduled separately in a policy will not be all covered when stolen. The amount limit to be paid only is $1000 even if the value of the jewelleries is three times the limit. In addition the policy exercises the limit in the China wares, cash, and firearms when stolen. In this connection, it is always best to protect personal properties. According to William (2007) it is advisable not to keep valuables in the bedroom because it is the most part of the house being searched by burglars. What is good in my policy is that it has an extra endorsement to cover for an expensive loss of personal belongings. However, if the insurance company pays the stolen personal properties, it is going to price it with today’s value and not the former price when you purchased that personal belonging before minus the depreciation value. However, to avail of these inclusions, the insurer has to make sure her policy has the broad form or the all peril coverage. Having this type of coverage w ould make the policy holder covered for everything with the exception of those within the exclusion of the policy. Most often, policyholders are tricked with this scheme where they believed there are no exceptions. Insurance companies are very tricky in their business that if there is no review done by the policyholder, he will fall into their trap. An example of this situation is the case of Ward Gen. Ins. Svcs. Inc. vs. Employers Fire Ins. Co. (CBS interactive, 2010) who went into hearing to dispute the payment of her loss regarding her data in the computer. The court found out that the loss was not included in the coverage because it was not a direct physical loss. Physical loss means material existence that is tangible (Viau & Kwasniewski, 2001). To this effect, it is clear that the insurer has also to understand the languages used by the insurance companies. The understanding of the term physical loss in the policy is not in congruent to the definition of the insurance company thus fighting the dispute in court is a disappointment on the policy holder’

Harriet Tubman Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Harriet Tubman - Research Paper Example The Underground Railroad operation marked a significant turn in the lives of the slaves who found a safe way to reach Canada when the would be able to escape the laws such as the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 which permitted the owners of the slaves to redeem the escaped slaves back to the south. The paper focuses upon the role of Harriet Tubman in this Underground Railroad Operation. Introduction Harriet Tubman was born somewhere around 1820 in the country of Dorchester located on the east shore of Maryland. She was a slave by birth on the plantations of Edward Brodas. From birth her name was Araminta, which in short became Minty. Her father’s name was Benjamin Ross and her mother was Harriet Green. Her parents were ‘enslaved Ashanti Africans’. The slave owners had sold many of their eleven children in Deep South. At the age of five, the neighbors rented her for doing household works in which she was never that good and hence was regularly beaten up by the owners. Since she was uneducated, she was engaged to work in fields as a helping hand that contributed to her strength and she preferred the work. In the initial years of her teen, she altered her name to Harriet following her mother. When she was fifteen years old, she was unintentionally hit on the head by a heavy weight by her master, and sustained a severe fracture in the skull. She remained ill for a long period and never fully recovered. In the early years of injury, she had periodic sleeping fits that affected her looks negatively as a slave. The injury resulted in narcolepsy that made her suddenly fall asleep any moment of time no matter wherever she happened to be. After the death of her old master, the son sold her to a lumber merchant. The new owner appreciated her work and allowed her to keep the money earned from extra work. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five she married, a free black man named John Tubman but the marriage did not work well. Shortly after that sh e hired an attorney for investigating her official history which resulted in the finding that her mother had been free from slavery and she was also born free which made her instinct rise and run for freedom. In the year 1849, her husband was inclined to sell her to Deep South along with her two brothers. A white neighbor of her helped her with the contacts of some people she could seek help from in times of need. She ended up alone trying to persuade her brothers to escape and alone made her way to freedom and fled to Philadelphia in the year 1849 escaping through the Underground Railroad. Her freedom that day led to the freedom of thousands of other slaves through the same. She led this solely with all her strengths and courage risking her life for liberty so that every individual could experience freedom. When the civil war broke in the country she did not even wait for the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ but instantly participated in order to free the slaves. After the war ended, she returned to Auburn and continued to help the class by raising money for the welfare of the impoverished children, transforming her home into the home for the aged and the black people2,3,4. The Underground Railroad operation undertaken by Harriet Tubman resulted in freedom for 300 slaves. The journey towards escape of Harriet Tubman and the other slaves Harriet Tubman was first marked as a criminal when she fled from the Maryland farm in 1849. Instead of

Factors Determining Self-Categorization Essay Example for Free

Factors Determining Self-Categorization Essay This current outline is well organized and to the point, however, it may be so to the point, as to leave the research questions only partially answered. An introduction of the questions that are to be answered, along with information that can be gleaned from the readings may be helpful. Adding a literature review section or, at the very least, a bibliography would help to show an audience where the information was gathered and show more credibility. The five categories already in place in the outline, (definition, factors determining self categorization, creation of discrimination and intergroup conflicts, case study, and measures to reduce discrimination) are perfectly ordered to flow in a presentation and need no changes, except minor grammatical alterations. â€Å"Definition† should be changed to â€Å"Definitions† and â€Å"Case Study† should be changed to â€Å"Case Studies†, since there are several in each of the two categories. There are other minor changes that need to be made, as well, to be grammatically correct throughout. In addition, â€Å"Definitions† and â€Å"Case Studies† both need expansion in their sub-categories, as the case studies only give an idea of the group being studied but no further information. In the â€Å"Factors determining self-categorization† category, the three factors are very vague and need more concrete information and/or examples. Since the presentation requires an in-depth analysis of self-categorization factors, this section should be more comprehensive. It would be helpful to look at a textbook chapter and see how each chapter is summarized for study, the outline should be this inclusive and be easily understood by an audience member that may have no knowledge of the subject matter. The second most important area of this presentation is whether an identity leads to discriminatory behavior and intergroup conflicts. Looking at both the individual level and the social level is a wise idea and helps to educate the audience that this is a socio-psychological issue. However, an introduction that states that these processes of identity and conflict are both psychological and sociological would help this section flow more easily and confusion over complex theories could be avoided. Also, in both the â€Å"Creation of discrimination and intergroup conflicts† and â€Å"Measures to reduce discrimination† categories, new terms and theories are introduced. These terms should all either be better explained, added as part of the definitions section, or put into the introduction that is absent from this outline. The introduction could simply give a statement of purpose, showing the audience that the two major questions will be answered (those being what factors determine self-categorization and whether an identity leads to discriminatory behavior and intergroup conflicts). The theories and terms that will be used to answer the questions should be stated initially to avoid the abrupt and incomplete definitions that exist. It is also good to look at these questions as research questions with secondary data analysis used to come to conclusions. This is why a literature review or bibliography (with citations throughout the outline) would be very beneficial. The articles below in this reference section are wonderful to use and direct citations from their analyses would help to show that the research questions can and have been answered in different ways. The presentation requires an in depth analysis and correct staging of the compiled information. The outline, therefore, not only helps the audience understand the presentation’s purpose, but also helps the presenters to easily and readily disseminate all their hard work and information. References Brown, Rupert. â€Å"Intergroup Relations† Reynolds, K. J. Turner, J. C. (2001). â€Å"Prejudice as a Group Process: The Role of Social Identity† in M. Augustinos K. J. Reynolds (eds). Understanding Prejudice, Racism, and Social Conflict. London: Sage. pp 159-178.

Theory of Planned Behaviour Experiment Design

Theory of Planned Behaviour Experiment Design Project plan and questionnaire design for a practical experiment based on the theory of planned behaviour Introduction This experiment was designed to test the role of attitude in the outcome of a particular behaviour. The particular behaviour to be tested in this experiment was student class attendance. The hypothesis was that the more positive the attitudinal variables were, the more likely the behaviour outcome would be. This was assumed to be reflected in the intentions of the participants. The question posed was, does attitude affect the intention for class attendance? The role of attitude with regard to behaviour has been a concern of psychology for a number of years. Azjen and Fishbein’s theory of reasoned action was first introduced as a model reflecting the relationship between attitude and behaviour (1975). This took into account two variables, called the subjective norm and the attitude. These were seen as indicators of intention from which behaviour could be measured as an outcome. This concept was later revised to incorporate a third variable as yet another indicator of intention. This variable was called the perceived behavioural control. With these three variables informing the intention from which behaviours are an outcome, the theory of planned behaviour was born (Azjen, 1988, 1991). It is from this model that an attitudinal questionnaire was constructed to answer the question that this experiment posed. Method This experiment was designed to quantitatively test the intention of class attendance from a random sample of student participants. The intention of the participant’s behaviour was to be measured against the attitudes that the students had towards class attendance. In accordance to Azjen’s theory of planned behaviour, a questionnaire was drawn up to test the attitudinal beliefs towards class attendance and to compare the findings to their intention to attend. The questionnaire was broken down into two sections. The first section asked four questions regarding the participant’s intention towards attending class. This was to be answered by the participants on a scale ranging from one, most negative, to seven, most positive (Likert, 1932). The second section asked three sets of attitudinal questions. These were also to be answered on a Likert scale of one to seven. The questions used were based upon the three attitudinal variables inherent to the theory of action; a ttitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. These questions were divided into the three relevant groups. Each group of questions was then alternated between two types of sub question. In the attitude group these questions were alternated between outcome beliefs and outcome evaluations. In the subjective norm group these were alternated between normative beliefs and motivation to comply. In the perceived behavioural control group these were alternated between perceived capability and perceived controllability. The answers from the attitudinal questions were then to be correlated with the results of the intention questions. This was believed to give quantitative insight into the question posed from the outset of this experiment. Questionnaire This questionnaire has been designed to find out the relationship between attitude and intention and its relationship to class attendance. As a participant, you will be one 50 students chosen at random to complete this questionnaire. All that is asked of you is to complete this questionnaire honestly so that we can gather the data required to facilitate our findings. You do not need to disclose your name or details. Your cooperation with this questionnaire is greatly appreciated and we would be happy to answer any further questions after completion. Section 1. Please answer these questions on your intention to attend class on a scale of one to seven. 1. Do you intend to attend class over the coming semester? Not at all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Entirely 2. Do you wish to fully attend class over the coming semester? No, I do not wish to attend class at all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Yes, I fully intend to 3. Please state how much you intend to be in class over the next semester (remember: a judge on the scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is not at all and 7 is fully) Not at all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Fully 4. Over the next semester do you hope to attend class in full? Not all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Fully Section 2. Please answer the following questions regarding your attitude to attending class on a scale of one to seven. 1. For me to attend class is: Bad _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Good Unimportant _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Beneficial Boring _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Enjoyable Worthless _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Valuable Unpleasant _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Pleasant Unnecessary _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Advantageous Insignificant _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Essential Painstaking _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Rewarding [measurement of attitude alternation of outcome beliefs followed by outcome evaluation] 2. Most people I know think that I * attend class. * Should not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Should 3. It is expected of me to attend class. False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 4. My peers think that I * attend class. * Should not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Should 5. My peers expect it of me to attend class. False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 6. My tutors think that I * attend class * Should not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Should 7. My tutors expect it of me to attend class. False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 8. People that I respect think that I * attend class. * Should not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Should 9. People that I respect expect it of me to attend class False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 10. The University thinks that I * attend class Should not _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Should 11. The University expects it of me to attend class. False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True [measurement of subjective norms alternation of normative belief followed by motivation to comply] 12. For me to attend class over a semester would be Impossible _ _ _ _ _ _ _ possible 13. How much control do you believe that you have over your attendance of class? None _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Total 14. If I cared to I could attend class over a semester False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 15. It is up to me as to whether I attend class or not. How true is this statement? False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 16. The next semester can easily be attended by me. False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 17. Is it for you to determine whether you attend class or not? No, not at all _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Yes, entirely my choice 18. I could attend class over the next semester False _ _ _ _ _ _ _ True 19. Is it within your power to attend class? No, it is out of my reach _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Yes [measurement of perceived behavioural control alternation of capability followed by controllability] Bibliography Azjen., I. (1988) Attitudes, Personality and Behaviour, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Azjen, I. (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour: Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes. Fishbein, M. Azjen, I. (1975) Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behaviour. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Likert, R. (1932) A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology. 1

Intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence Abstract Using four published articles this paper takes a look at gender differences in addressing intimate partner violence (IPV), the causes, whos at risk and what can prevent revictimization. Not only will this paper explore intimate partner violence (IPV) and the motives behind it, it will also discuss the court system, public policies, and the gender bias it holds. A portion of the studies analyzed in this paper used the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to gain research. This study is the largest annual crime victimization survey worldwide. The information used for analysis in these particular journals was gathered from 1987 to 2003, and participants in the study were interviewed once every six months for three years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This paper attempts to evaluate Intimate Partner Violence and compare the severity and frequency of male perpetrators and female perpetrators. IPV is defined by Cho and Wilke as â€Å"a violent crime, including rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and simple assault, committed by a current of former spouse or boy or girl friend†. This topic is important to study in order to reduce the prevalence of IPV and to be able to better help victims of IPV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a 2004 study, Henning and Feder compared the demographic characteristics, severity of intimate partner violence and criminal histories of men and women arrested for assaulting an intimate partner in order to analyze the increase in female arrestees due to IPV. The study will evaluate if women offend as often and as seriously as men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The study analyzed 16,200 men and women from 1997-2001 that were arrested for misdemeanor or felony domestic violence assaults. Henning and Feder (2004) found 16.8% of people arrested during the four year period were women. It was found that females that were arrested were younger than male arrestees and were also young than the victim. In addition to this, the majority of men and women were African American. Additionally, female offenders were more likely to get arrested with their partner and also more likely than men to be charged with a felony assault and to have used a weapon. Contrary to this however, women were not more like to have injured their partner during the dispute. Males in the study were more likely to have had the police involved in a previous domestic abuse incident and also more than twice as likely to have prior arrests.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The study shows that while women do have a fairly high level of intimate partner violence, it was concluded that risk assessments associated with men that were arrested were much greater than risk assessments associated with women that were arrested. Furthermore, the criminal history of men that had been arrested previously for domestic violence and nonviolence charges may be more likely to continually be arrested for domestic violence, while women in the study â€Å"appear to be at low risk to engage in continued aggression or criminality† (Henning and Feder, 2004).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A significant weakness in this study is that it fails to take into account self defense from women. For example, if a woman was using violence as a form of self defense, she would still be included in the study. A major limitation of this study is that it only analyzes men and women in Shelby County, TN and may not be an accurate representation of all men and women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In research acquired by Muller, Desmarais Hamel (2009) it shows that women initiate physical aggression as often, or more often than men, rarely in self defense, and motivated for similar reasons, typically for the purpose of expressing frustration, to communicate or to control, our out of desire to retaliate. Our public policy focuses primarily on male- perpetrated domestic violence and the needs of female victims and their children (Muller et al., 2009). There are close to 2,000 shelters nationwide and only a handful offer beds or services to battered men and their children (Muller et al, 2009).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Muller et al. (2009) research reveals that women are significantly more likely to have their abuse protection request granted than men, with an approval rate of 91% versus men at 66%. Currently there are 227,941 active restraining orders against adults; almost all of them are domestic violence cases (Muller et al.,2009) Approximately 72% were protecting a woman from a restrained man, 19% restrained a same-sex partner, and 9% restrained a woman from a protected man according to Muller et al (2009). Female defendants were much more likely to use a dangerous weapon when attacking their victims and were also more likely to scratch or gouge their victims (Muller et al., 2009) In Hambys summary article she brings to light the fact that women perpetrate physical abuse against their children in roughly equal numbers, if not more than men. Along with Muller et al. (2009), Hamby research also complies that women report more victimization crimes with the police. Interestingly enough once the police were called they were more likely to arrest assailants of females (36%) versus males (12%) (Hamby, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The findings were parallel in both Muller et al. (2009) and Hamby (2005) articles, concluding that due to the size differential injury rates are much higher in assaults against women. Research demonstrates that men far more hesitant to report domestic violence than women, even in the more severe cases (Muller et al., 2009). Muller et al (2009) also showed that male plaintiffs are more likely to drop a case given the decreased likelihood that they will report their abuse. This can be due to prevailing norms regarding masculinity, men may be opposed to convey their fear or to call the police even when they have every reason to do so (Muller et al.., 2009).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cho and Wilke (2010) examined the effects an arrest has on a domestic violence offended and revictimization. Cho and Wilke analyzed men 18 and over who reported being a victim of IPV from a female perpetrator (female victims were also analyzed for sake of comparison).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the study, Cho and Wilkes found, there are 8 times as many female IPV victims as male IPV victims, which highly contrasted with Hambys findings. Female victims in this study were younger than male victims. Similarly to Henning and Feders 2004 study, female victims reported more minor injuries while male victims endured more aggravated assaults (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Also, as Henning and Feder reported, Cho and Wilke found â€Å"more female perpetrators used severe violence and weapons than did male perpetrators†. Male victims were revictimized less frequently than female victims; which may be in part due to what was suggested in Henning and Feders 2004 study, that women are less likely to be repeat offenders, and also with Hambys research that women report more victimization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the study, there appeared to be no significant relationship between perpetrator arrest and reducing revictimization of males. However, perpetrator arrest reduced the odds of female revictimization by 45% (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Also, while Cho and Wilke found there was no difference in revictimization in cases with or without weapons, it was found that victims of rape/sexual assault were three times more likely than victims of simple assault to be assaulted again. Like Henning and Feder, Cho and Wilke concluded that men are IPV victims much less frequently and they confirmed that IPV is mainly male violence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A significant limitation in this study is that only 33 of the 298 men study were revictimized, and out of those 33 men, only 7 had perpetrators that were arrested (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Since this number is so small, it would be hard to link arrests to the reduction of revictimization. Another limitation is that the study did not take into account the context of the violence, or what â€Å"type† of violence it was, much like Henning and Feders 2004 study.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A more conclusive study of IPV would provide a better insight to the understand of male vs. female perpetrators. However, based on the studies analyzed, one can assume that women are much more likely to be the victim of IPV than men. Muller et al. 2009 research deviates from these findings, but it is in the minority. This was the main concern in comparing the four studies, as it seemed like it would be very clear as to which were more likely to be perpetrators men or women. For the reason that only one of the four studies found that women perpetrate more than men, it is safe to assume that women are more frequently victims of IPV.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As suggested, services and after care for victims of domestic violence is much more geared toward women. Research in the studies proposes men may be less apt to look for help after IPV as well as less likely to report IPV, which can be a severe factor in the skewing of information. Although research suggests that men are more capable of hurting women in IPV disputes, women and men both need to be held to the same standards when it comes to arrests and seriousness of the offenses. In order to more accurately assess the prevalence of IPV against men vs. against women the same action must be taken to each offender. References Cho, H, Wilke, D. (2010). Gender differences in the nature of the intimate partner violence and effects of perpetrator arrest on revictimization. Journal of Family Violence, 25. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/g66p6m7l17h04783 Hamby, S. (2005). Measuring gender differences in partner violence: implications from research on other forms of violence and socially undesirable behavior. Sex Roles, 52(11), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/n73725h872gn7564/fulltext.pdf Henning, K, Feder, L. (2004). A Comparison of men and women arrested for domestic violence: who presents the greater threat?. Journal of Family Violence, 19(2), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/mju9703751346711 Muller, H, Desmarais, S, Hamel, J. (2009). Do judicial responses to restraining order requests discriminate against male victims of domestic violence?. Journal of Family Violence, 24(8), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/r8j8u66319rl13j7/

An Analysis of Overbooking and Impacts on Customer Behavior Within the

Introduction This report seeks to investigate and analyse the main characteristics of overbooking and the impacts this can have on a hotels management systems and customers. It examines the consequences of both successful and ineffective overbooking management decisions depending on the way in which it is managed and the effect this can have on the hotels profitability of the hotel. It also looks at the effect that overbooking has on customer behaviour and loyalty and legislations that have been passed in the USA. Existing research on yield management analyses’ overbooking and how this can be implemented effectively within hotels, some researchers have then expanded upon this to incorporate effects on profitability, customer service and service recovery. Secondary data was collect through journals, books, hospitality related magazines and hospitality news articles in order to gain framework for the research topic. Literature Review Companies throughout the hospitality industry a keen to implement the most successful techniques in order to make the best of their efficiency and increase their profitability and yield management, including overbooking strategies which is important in the operation of a hotel to maximise revenue and are increasingly putting these in to practise throughout the company (Hwang et al, 2009), an unoccupied room in a hotel offers a revenue opportunity, whether or not the no show customer has paid for it. Overbooking forms a part of a hotels yield management, also known as revenue management and can be defined as â€Å"the application of information systems and pricing strategies to allocate the right capacity to the accurate customers, cost and time† (Kimes et al, 2003: 30), by expanding on this term it ... ...a donnybrook.†: Hotel Management Magazine, New York. Noone, B. & Kimes, S. & Renaghan, L. (2003) â€Å"Integrating customer relationship management and revenue management: a hotel perspective†: Cornell University, Journal for Hospitality Research. Simon, J. (1968) â€Å"An Almost Practical Solution to Airline Overbooking†: London, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. Sulistio, A. & Kyong, K. & Byya, R. (2008) â€Å"Managing cancelations and no-shows of reservations with overbooking to increase resource revenue†: Washington, CCGRID '08 Proceedings. Talluri, K. & Van-Ryzin, G. (2004) â€Å"The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management†: New York, Springer Todorov, A. & Zhechev, V. (2010) â€Å"The impact of overbooking on hotels’ operation management†: Unknown, Unknown. Vickrey, W. (1972) â€Å"Airline Overbooking: Some Further Solutions†: Journal of Transportation and Economic Policy.

workers comp :: essays research papers

It shouldn't hurt to go to work. But in 1998, nearly 6 million U.S. workers were injured at work or became sick because of their jobs. Most working Americans know that they are protected by workers' compensation laws if they are injured on the job. But many are unaware of the prominent role played by organized labor in securing these historic legal protections. Workers' compensation laws became necessary at the turn of the century, when injured workers were faced with rising medical costs and lost time. In those days, an injured employee had to prove that the employer was at fault, due either to an unsafe workplace, lack of safe tools, failing to warn of dangers or failing to furnish adequate help. If the employer was not at fault, the employee received no compensation. Even if the employer was at fault, the injured worker still could not recover if he was partly to blame, or if he knew of the risks beforehand, or if the injury was caused by a fellow servant. In most cases, injured workers received no compensation at all. Employees and their families faced financial ruin. And if a worker happened to overcome the legal obstacles and received money damages, the employer might be put out of business, costing other employees their jobs. To remedy this unfairness, Labor struggled for the passage of workers' compensation laws. Labor argued that an employer could pay for work injuries by merely raising the price of its product or service by a few pennies to purchase workers' compensation insurance. In contrast, an employee bearing the cost of his own injury could become destitute. Labor's battle cry was, "the cost of the product should bear the blood of the worker." The original model for workers' compensation legislation was a compromise between business and labor. Employees gave up their right to sue for large jury awards in exchange for more modest but certain compensation for lost time, medical bills and permanency. Employers gave up their cozy system of fault-based liability in exchange for a no-fault system, but with limits on the amount of money they would have to pay their injured employees. Early workers' compensation laws covered only hazardous industries, such as construction, demolition and mining.

Different Business Structures

There are many types of organisational structure a business may decide to adopt. This assignment will examine the four main different business structures and present the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The business structures that I will be examining are as follows: A sole trader is an organisation, which is owned by one person. The assets and liabilities of the owner and those of the business are the same. There are no legal or tax distinctions between the owner and business. This type of business is straightforward to set up and dissolve. It requires the minimal legal requirements and costs. The owner can make all the decisions and can retain all the profits. He owns all the assets of the business. The owner can draw or invest funds into or out of the business, as he deems necessary. Business losses can be offset against other income, including claw back of past pay as you earn (PAYE). As the sole trader is self-employed, he is able to defer Income Tax and reduce his National Insurance contributions. The owner†s personal assets can be transferred to a spouse (or any other relative). However, the assets may be required to be returned by the court if it is satisfied that they were transferred to defeat creditors that were owed money. There is no legal requirement to have the accounts and records audited. No public disclosure of accounts and records is necessary, unless the business is registered for Value Added Tax (VAT). There is no requirement to register for VAT unless the taxable supplies to customers is equal to, or exceeds, the registration level. The registration level is currently ? 50,000 for a twelve-month period). The main disadvantage for being a sole trader is the unlimited liability factor. The sole trader is putting at risk his entire personal fortune including his house, car and any other personal assets in his possession that are outside the business. This is because there is no distinction between the individual (the owner) and the business. The law does not recognise the business as an artificial person (unlike a company,) and the business therefore, does not receive the benefits that would be attached if it were. If the business does become bankrupt, the owner may loose his personal fortune to pay the debts of the business. It is also true that if the sole trader becomes bankrupt, the business cannot legally continue. There are no additional funds available from equity investment by persons outside the business (third parties). This therefore, limits the businesses† growth potential. The transfer of ownership is not very flexible and the owner can only sell assets. All of the profits from the business are taxes as personal income, whether they have been retained within the business or taken out. Although self-employment reduces the National Insurance contributions payable, it also reduces the benefits of the National Insurance entitlements. The tax relief on pension contributions is restricted. If any property is transferred to the spouse it is lost to the sole trader if the marriage breaks and the spouse refuses to give it up. If the owner dies, the business comes to an end and the executives in charge of his affairs either sell it as a going concern or sell the assets individually. This is easy to set up and dissolve. There are no legal requirements to audit the accounts. No public access to the accounts ensures confidentiality. Any business losses can be offset against other income. Can be converted to a limited company at a later stage. Benefits of self-employment for income tax and National Insurance. Can attract more capital by admitting new partners, however, each partner has the right to veto the introduction of the new partner. Can get credit easily because supplies are not at risk as it is the partners who are taking the risks. A partnership can sue (and be sued) in its own name even though it is not an artificial person. Can change s19 of the Partnership Act 1890, but all partners must agree (s24 of the Partnership Act 1890). Can change provision of the 1890 Act e. g. s24 – profit and losses shared equally, but partners may provide for a different share (e. g. ?: ? rofit liability) in their agreement. If no evidence of split, their split will be equal. Every partner has legal access to inspect and copy firms books s24 (9) Partnerships Act 1890. Differing salaries may be given to partners before surplus profit is split. No doctrine of ultra vires and partnership may engage in any lawful activity as the partners† see fit. Able to access knowledge and experience of the partners. Limited to maximum of 20 people by Companies Act 1985, some professions are exempt and can have partnerships of unlimited size (e. g. solicitors, accountants, estate agents, stock brokers). Partnerships are jointly and severally liable for debts. Liability extends to private assets/personal fortune. Bankruptcy of partnership equals bankruptcy of all partners (excluding limited partners under the Limited Partners Act 1907). If a partner dies, his estate may still be liable for the businesses debts. Unless specific continuation provisions are made in the agreement, death, bankruptcy or retirement will dissolve the partnership. Less flexibility than a limited company, in transferring ownership. High level of trust required. Whether drawn or not, the profits are taxed as income. Self-employed national insurance entitlements have less benefits. Tax relief on pension contributions is restricted. Partners can be sued individually, or together by a creditor that has not been paid. However remaining partners must buy out the share of the deceased, bankrupt or retiring partner and it may be difficult to raise the necessary funds. The Business Names Act 1985 requires the names of all the members of a partnership and addresses in Great Britain where documents can be served, must be stated at all business premises so they can be easily read. Also all names must go on letterheads/documents. If more than 20 partners, the firm may elect to have a statement on letterheads/documents of the firms† principle place of business with indication that the partners† names can be inspected there. Partnership will be in contract if a partner without the relevant authority binds them to it (apparent (ostensible) authority). The partnership is bankrupt if all the partners are also bankrupt (excluding a limited partner under the Limited Partnership Act 1907. There are many factors that are the same for a LTD and a PLC so these will be covered first and then the individual factors will be looked at later. The company is considered by law as an artificial legal person and has an independent legal and tax status. Therefore it can sue and be sued in its own name. As the company is independent of its members, there is limited liability for its shareholders who just risk the amounts invested. Unlike a sole trader and a partnership, the company owns the assets. The death or bankruptcy of a member does not affect the company, which has perpetual succession. Also, the members do not go bankrupt if the company is being wound up. To provide funds for the company shares are issued, which can have different classes and rights (e. g. preference shares and equity shares). Only company directors can bind the company. There is no upper limit restricting the number of members a company can have. A company has a greater facility for borrowing (e. g. it can borrow on debentures) and raising finance externally. The formalised structures make management clearer. It is easier to widen the ownership base. There are no limits regarding contributions made to a pension scheme with tax relief. Income tax is only paid on salaries drawn. When profits are retained in the company the higher rates of personal tax can be avoided. It is very time consuming and expensive to set up as a company. There is a complex registration – registering under the Companies Acts, documents must be delivered to the Registrar of Companies and there are many related fees. The companies must conform to the relevant formalities of the Companies Act 1985. There are many requirements concerning factors such as the accounts and records, audits, share issues, directors requirements etc. The accounts and records must be made accessible to the public so competitors will have access to them. Company subject to regulation and suspension from secretary of state for trade and industry, the courts and the registrar of companies – certain accounts records to be submitted to ROC – less of confidentiality. Audit and account costs high, full audit costs if sales exceed an upper limit. Shareholders personally taxed on dividends. Double tax when company pays corporation tax on profits and capital gains. Higher national insurance contribution. Limited liability initially as creditors and banks request personal guarantees from directors. Private Limited Company (LTD company) Has no minimum value required for the allotted share capital. Can on receipt of its certificate of incorporation limited can borrow and commence business. A LTD company needs only one director and one shareholder. There is less legislation than PLC to comply with. A member can appoint only one proxy who can vote and address the meeting. Can provide financial assistance to a person to help them purchase the companies shares. It is optional for a LTD to pay dividends. A LTD company can not sell shares or debentures to the public. Has to publish accounts but gets partial exemption from publishing the full accounts, if they are bellow an upper limit. The company secretary is not required to be qualified or experienced, so there may be a lack of knowledge. Share holders can not easily sell shares due to the lack of a market and Articles of association restrictions on transfer. The Public Limited Company (PLC company) Raise capital by selling shares and debentures to the public. Needs 2 directors and 2 share holders (unless registered before 1st Nov 1929). A member can appoint more than 1 proxy who can vote but can not address meetings. The secretary must be qualified and posses the requisite knowledge and experience. Public scrutiny over accounts aids performance and efficiency. Large market for shares. No restriction on share transfer on stock exchange, USM and AIM but must keep track of who has shares. Encourages investment into company by share ownership by paying dividends. Can be exempt from the statutory requirement to have its year end accounts audited. Has legal requirement concerning allotted share capital – must be equal or greater than fifty thousand pounds. Can not exercise its borrowing powers or enter business transactions until the registrar has granted it a section 117 certificate. High degree of legislation, rule and formalities it must conform to, e. g. directors retiring at 70 years of age, minimum of 2 directors, voting for directors individually at a general meeting, share allotment. Must publish its accounts in full. Can not give financial assistance to a person to enable him to purchase the companies shares.

Bellboy

Lewis also appears in a speaking role playing himself escorted by a large entourage, as his bellhop counterpart simultaneously emerges from a crowded elevator. Principal photography took place from February 8 to March 5, 1960 and marked Jerry Lewis's debut as a director. Filming took place at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida; Lewis would film during the day and perform in the nightclub at night. [l] Before he began, Lewis consulted his friend Stan Laurel about the script.Since Laurel had worked in silent films and was familiar with pantomime, he offered suggestions. It is unknown if Lewis actually used any of Laurel's ideas in the production. [2] But it is believed Lewis paid homage to the comic by naming his character ‘Stanley' after him. A Stan Laurel-like character also appears throughout the story, portrayed by writer and impressionist Bill Richmond. The film marked an pioneering use of a video assist system, providingLewis a way to see the action even though he was in the scene. [3] Paramount wanted to have a Jerry Lewis movie for summer release (in North America). The movie that it wanted to release was Cinderfella, which had finished shooting in December 1959. Lewis wanted to hold back the release of that movie for the Christmas 1960 holiday and Paramount only agreed if Jerry could deliver another movie for summer. Therefore, while playing an engagement in Miami Beach, Lewis came up with this.

Economics School-Based Assessment Essay

Introduction LIME, an acronym for ‘Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment’, is owned by the British based Cable & Wireless Communications. The company formed from the integrated businesses of Cable & Wireless in the Caribbean which adopted the LIME name on 3rd of November 2008. With people spending a lot of time accomplishing tasks and doing researches, the internet has becomevery important to individuals nowadays. Without the internet some individuals think that they cannot survive because of how it is used to provide a variety of information and communication facilities in order to get the work done quickly and/or enjoy one’s self with family and friends. People are becoming very lazy and find it difficult to open a book to find information, so instead they use the internet to gather the information quickly. Businesses also use the internet to do market researches and many other activities. The internet has basically any and every thing. More than 50% of homes in Jamaica has internet and for those that cannot afford the internet, the Government has provided facilities to them. With people wanting to send or receive emails, use search engine to gather information, looking for hobby or interest on the web.I have decided to do an investigationof the Internet Service industry within Jamaica with reference specifically to LIME . Acknowledgement I would like to thank everyone who would have contributed to the completion of this School-Based Assessment. First of all I would like to thank God firstly for the opportunity to do such a project and also for the wisdom, strength and understanding to complete this assignment. Other people who I would like to thank are: My Economics teacher for her constant advices and willingness to help. All those who answered the questionnaires distributed. My family for helping and supporting me during the execution of this project. Objectives of research The aims of this investigation are: 1. To establish the type of relationship there is between price and quantity demanded for internet service at LIME. 2. To examine of the principal factors affecting the demand of LIME and Flow 3. To examine the price elasticity of demand of internet service at LIME and Flow 4. To determine whose internet service can mainly be found in form 5 of the St. Martins secondary school. 5. To briefly examinethe market structure for internet service in Jamaica. 6. To briefly examine the market conditions affecting the supply of internet service at LIME and Flow in Jamaica. Methodology:The SBA was conducted in my community. Primary Sources: 1. Questionnaire: Twenty questionnaires were shared out to students in form 5 of the St. Martin’s secondary school. 2. Interview:The managers of LIME and Karib Cable were interviewed to obtain information such as how they attract customers to their business. Secondary Sources: 1. Textbooks: Economics textbooks were used to have a clear understanding of the Laws of Demand and Supply. 2. Internet: The websites listed in the bibliography were used to further clarify economic concepts to enhance the school-based assessment. 20 questionnaires were given to the students of form 5 in the Community of. Two interviews were conducted with the managers of LIME and Flow outlets inOchi rios. The internet service industry in Jamaica is one of an Oligopoly market structure. Thus, there are only a few large firms, Homogeneous or differentiated products, imperfect knowledge of the market, they are price makers with price rigidity and also have many buyers. As such, there are little competition levels which ideally lead to the producers satisfaction and welfare. After the data were collected from the questionnaire, I discovered that all the participants were between the ages of 16-17. The study as shown that LIME’s internet service was the most  demanded internet service in Guys hill. Question 1 )10 of the students who were given questionnaires had access to the internet at their homes. This may due to the addiction to social networking or the need of having the internet to gather information. Since the internet is the quickest way of gathering information and communicating with others the demand for internet would be high. Question 2: In question (2) 60% of the students said that they have LIME’s internet service while 40% have Flow internet service. The fact that more students preferred LIME’s internet service shows that some method of attracting customers that Flow is lacking. Based on the supply information gained from the interviews, these methods include the sponsoring of events and other methods. Effective use of these methods can increase the demand for internet, lower production cost, will result in a decrease cost price and lead to an extension of demand, all of which increases a firm’s profits. Question 3: The question â€Å"Who pays for the internet you have access to† was asked in question 3. Majority (80%) of the students said that they parents pays for the internet while the other 20% said that their grandparents pays for the internet. This shows that even students may have the desire and the willingness to pay for the internet service; they are not backed by t he ability to pay for it. Question 4: All (20) of the students said that the person who pays for the internet at their home currently has a job. This shows that persons who have jobs are the ones who have ability to pay for internet service at their homes. Question 5: In relation to question 5 responses, 16 of the persons who pay for the internet are full-time employees while the other 4 are part-time. The 16 full-time employees who might be eligible for benefitshave LIME’s internet service and this might be so maybe because of personal preference and wanting top quality service. Question 6: 16 students said that the person who pays for their internet occupational classification is white collar while the other 4 said its blue collar.The 4 blue collar workers internet service provider is Flow, which shows that people who receive less income prefers Karib Cables internet service maybe because of the price of the service. Question 7: In relation to question 8, 18 of the students use the internet mostly for social networking while the other 2 uses it for information. Sites like facebook  and twitter are social networking sites that enable users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, ect and these sites have become the most popular website on the internet. So therefore students may have a deep desire to have internet service to use these sites. Question 8: According to question 7 90% of the students use the internet on a daily basis. Based on the questionnaire this is due to addiction to social networking by these students. The other 10% uses it weekly and this is due to the need of gathering information. Question 9: In question 9 the question was asked â€Å"What is the main factor of choosing your internet service provider?† Many factors affect the demand for a specific internet service such as preference, price of the internet and advertisement. 60% of the students said that it’s because of preference while the other 40% said that it’s because of price of the internet service. This may be so because people may have a greater liking for a certain internet service because of its reliability. No onewants to be experiencing difficulties with the internet while surfing. Question 10: 8 persons said that they pay a price range of $800-$1000 while12 persons said that they pay from $1300-$1500 According to the information on the questionnaires the 12 persons who pays at the price range of $1300-$1500 internet service provider is Lime, which shows that flows rates are a little cheaper than LIME’s rates. Question 11: All of the students internet speed is 1 megabyte per sec. Although LIME and flow provides 4mbps, which is a lot faster than 1mbps shows that people only have the ability to pay for 1mbps a month. Question 12: According to question 12, 60% of these students don’t experience any problems at times, while the other 40% experiences problems. The 60% of students who don’t experience any problems internet service provider is LIME. This means that even though LIME’s rates are a little more expensive, they provide better service than Flow and that is why LIME attracts more customers to their services. The fact that LIME’s internet service is more expensive may due to the cost of production. Question 13: 6 of the students who experience problems said that they experience slow internet at times, while the other 2 students said that at times they don’t have internet at times. Question 14: In relation to question 14 these problems were experienced daily by 25% of these student, 25% weekly and 50% of the students who experience problems experiences monthly. Question 15: The question â€Å"If the price for your internet was $1000 a month for 1MBPS (Mega Bytes per Second), you would purchase â€Å"20% of the students said that they would purchase 2mbps at $1500 per month. This shows that persons have the desire and willingness to purchase 2mbps but they don’t have the ability to do so. Question 16: 50 % of the students showed willingness to purchase 2mbps at $1500 per month. As price increases from $1500 to $2000 for 2mbps, the quantity demanded decreased thus, the law of demand stands (as prices increase, demand decreases). The P.E.D was calculated as -0.15, indicating price inelasticity. As the price increases from $1500to $2000, demand also decreases and the Law of demand is also obeyed. The P.E.D. in this case was -0.3, thus indicating in another price inelasticity. Findings 1. There is a negative relationship between the prices of internet service and the quantity demanded. This simply means as price increases, quantity demanded decreases and as price decreases, the quantity demanded increases. 2. The principal factor affecting for internet service is one’s preference. 3. Internet service is price inelastic, therefore the quantity demanded is unresponsive to changes in price. 4. The existence of foreign firms (LIME) in the local economy can create good competition and result in higher consumer satisfaction. Recommendations Both LIME and Flow can endeavor into improving in the following areas if they haven’t already done so in order to boost sales and have a better competitive stance: Flow should use suggestion boxes to get feedback from customers about problems they face. Increase advertising to make the customers to have a greater liking for their internet service since preference is the factor affecting demand. The government should open up the market for internet service further. This would add to competition. Competition would lower prices and also keep money in the country since LIME is owned by the British base money is most likely exported out of the country. Sponsor more events that are taken place in the country. Sell 2MBPS at cheaper rates since more people are demanding 2MBPS. Conclusion In this investigation between LIME and Flow, I have come to realize the major role that economics plays in the operation of a business. It was deduced that LIME is a better internet service provider than Flow since bigger consumer market and their customers experience no problems. Bibliography Book: Websites: http://www.time4lime.com/vc/internet.jsp http://www.Flow.com

Commentary on a Newspaper Article by Russel Brand

The English society today is affected by big social differences, which results in a very sharp and clearly defined divided class society, where social mobility is not very easy ore even almost not existing. The lower range haven’t got a place to fit in, and many youngsters from these social lower classes, young people with no education, young people with bad family backgrounds, often feel out of the community, they are not getting any recognition and the politicians have ignored them and the fact of it way too long! In an article published on The Guardian’s website in august 2011, the author Russell Brand pin down some of these conflicts and problems. The author is more explicitly commenting on the riots that happened last year in England. The article’s receiver could be intellectual people, people who have an interest in politics and in society, certainly the working-class, also students as elders, the article is mainly directed to leftist, as the guardian is a traditional left- winged newspaper and the paper stand in opposition to the ruling government. Inasmuch the article is a website article, the audience properly is a bit broader than its ordinary audience is, also assuming readers from the right- wing would have an interest in reading the article, they may even get into a debate on the internet side, fighting and arguing for their point of view. The article very much invites the readers to an open debate. In this next part, I am going to comment and analyze Russel Brand’s commentary, and I am going to comment on his writing style and his attitude to the subject. The article written by Brand’s, is as I have mentioned, a comment on the Riots of 2011 that took place last year in England. Brand points out that the riots says more about the society’s condition than any other thing and that the government should do something about the problem, instead of calling the actions egoistic material gains. He does not think that these young people are mindless as everybody, inclusive the politicians, are calling them. Brand considers the problem much deeper and declares that the government is marginalizing the young people, and says that we ought to ask why the government sweeps the problem away under the carpet. He declares that these young people don’t have a suitable community because the politicians haven’t been given them one and he claims the problem is a consequence of the conservative politics which the government has been carried out the last decades: â€Å"These young people have no sense of community because they haven't been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron's mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there's no such thing. † All of these very strong points and opinions are of cause wrapped up in a very well written commentary. Brand starts the whole article telling his reader why he should not comment on this case at all, and by doing this, he has pre-empted and prevented that this kind of criticism would come his way. His reasons why he shouldn’t write about the topic in the first place, are very paradoxical which makes it very comically, and at the same time it gives him some kind of credibility cause the reader feels comfortable when a writer dares to look critical at them self and especially when they are also, like Brand, knows how to express a good portion of self-irony . Brand’s writing style is very fluent, he distinctly uses humor as a very well working poetic- device, such as sarcasm and irony. It makes the text much lighter and much more consumable, even though the topic is a tough one. He has a special talent of setting up scenes in his reader’s mind, which also makes the text very alive. The text’s composition has kind of the same setup as a standup comedy show, and Brand sets up several scenarios and merges them well together, connecting the dots all the way through the article with just the right flow. He tells about some personal happenings, which he makes a point with, again with a good portion of self-irony, for example, when he tells his audience about his own rebellion time, and then connects it to today’s youngsters and compares the two episodes to make his point. He uses a great deal of sarcasm, an example for his sarcasm is, the part he writes about, that some may say the real victim is the conservative politician, that had to shorten her holidays and then came out saying the behavior were â€Å"unjustifiable† and â€Å"unacceptable: his comment to this is : Wow! Thanks guys! What a wonderful use of the planet's fast-depleting oxygen resources. Now that's been dealt with can we move on to more taxing matters such as whether or not Jack The Ripper was a ladies' man? † He also uses some metaphors, such as the reality show Big Brother. The Big Brother episode described in the article is a criticism of the TV station because they censured an unfavorable episode, the purpose by using the episode is to set up a mirror reflecting the riots. Brand is actually implying that the government aka Big Brother, does not have the nerves to face reality, which must make the reality show a fake, aka the government is a fake they won’t face reality. Brand claims they are ignoring society’s real big problems by sweeping them under a carpet – that is why Big Brother isn’t watching you – as the title of the article claims. This way of using a known episode as a metaphor, is very effect full, and many people can relate to it and have a opinion and attitude about it. In the last part of the comment, Brand changes from using â€Å"I† to using â€Å"we†. From now on, the article directly speaks to the reader. Brand claims he does not know anything about politics and tells why he clearly can’t have a solution or answer to this issue – again his rhetorical trick is a good portion of self-irony and he closes the paragraph by quoting Gandhi: â€Å"Be the change you want to see in the world. † For some readers this may seem too much, and for others it would be very powerful. I think the quote has a well-functioned purpose in the text – these accurate words shows the reader Brand’s solution to the main problem even though he claims he doesn’t know anything. From here on Brand gets more serious and more poetic in his language use, his syntax, and sentence structures. He clearly wants to make a statement by moving his reader. He is appealing with pathos, and emotional words and you can see he uses a very well-known rhetorical technique, called an Anaphora often used in speeches, which is a repetition of a word or a phrase. â€Å"We must include them, where they feel represented, we must represent them and where they feel love and compassion for their communities then we, the members of that community, must find love and compassion for them† It often gives a very good outcome to repeat word ore sentences, because it supplies the text a consonants, and the reader is seduced by this way of using the language – and I must say, Brand uses the technique so its outcome gets very effective. The last passage sums the whole commenting on the subject up, into some few poetic phrases. Brand clearly comes out with his point of view and attitude – he want his reader not to close their eyes for what is happening – he requests them not to sweep away these problems even if they are not out in the open. I must say Brand is a very talented writer with brilliant skills that touches a broad audience. Besides an observable writing talent, his writing contains a strength approaching a serious problem using humor. Brand’s word combinations makes his text easy to read and he has an adventurous natural flow, which makes it very exciting. However, most important in this commentary, is the attitude to the problem. Brand’s article contains a strong cultural and social criticism and he expresses his wish for individuals to face the injustice unequal society. He encourages his reader to not only leaving it all up by voting on the right party, and not only by leaving it all up to our politicians – who apparently aren’t doing anything about these problems – he encourage his reader to sweep away the carpet and face the problem right out there in the blue by giving the young people what they really need!! Very well said Mr. Russell Brand – I couldn’t agree more!