Saturday, November 30, 2019

Russian Economy Research Paper Essay Example

Russian Economy Research Paper Essay Different Periods in Russian Economy In this research paper I will shortly cover general features of economy during the periods from industrialization of Stalin till present Medvedev’s government. Stalin had great influence on the economy of the Soviet Union in 1920s. It was he, who launched industrialization process, and who knows where could be Russia now, if he did everything right and succeeded. From one hand his actions were directed on the overall well-being of the Soviet Union and its people. He was a real patriot who wanted to see USSR on the top of the world. On the other hand he was ruthless to common people and in every second person envisioned the enemy of the nation. Obviously, all public enemies had to stay in convict colonies and camps (Barbusse 42-44). We will write a custom essay sample on Russian Economy Research Paper specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Russian Economy Research Paper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Russian Economy Research Paper specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer During the period of the Stalin’s government country was facing a depression. Stalin considered fast and efficient industrialization the only way to take the country out of the crisis and to raise it to unknown previously economic heights. He started with the agricultural sector by introducing the notion of collective and state farms. He was against private property of any kind. In 1928 he introduced the first five year plan with set standards of production that seemed quite unachievable. People should sacrifice everything, including personal interests for the common goal, for their native country, for its future and prosperity. Later on, he decided to speed up the timing of this plan, not taking into consideration that there were no factual prerequisites for it. It is difficult to underestimate the impact of Stalin’s industrialization on the economy of the USSR. It was the period when huge plants appeared along with thousands of new enterprises. USSR was at that time absolutely self-sufficient. It became almost as powerful as the USA and of course the most powerful in Europe in terms of gross output. During years of his government, Khrushchev tried to conduct a reform in several fields. Soviet agriculture had serious problems and it was the main Khrushchev’s concern. In the previous years of Stalin leadership, it attracted the attention of the collective households, which introduced considerable innovations in this field of the Soviet economy. The state motivated peasants to grow more on their private plots, raised payments for crops grown on the collective farms, and invested more in agriculture. In the middle of 1950s virgin land campaign took place. Khrushchev introduced to farming vast areas of land on the north of the Kazakh Republic and neighboring territories of the Russian Republic. These new farmlands appeared to be exposed to droughts, but in some years they produced amazing harvests. Later innovations by Khrushchev were however counterproductive. His USA inspired plans for growing maize and increasing meat and dairy production failed, as well as his collective farms reorganization gave rise to confusion in the countryside. Khrushchev’s reforms in administrative organization and industry were even more problematic (Keep 81-91). In 1963 Khrushchev’s special seven-year economic plan (1959-65) was abandoned two years short of its completion due to serious economic problems in the country. By 1964 Khrushchev’s popularity and prestige teetered, as industrial growth decreased and agricultural sector showed no new progress. There was no wheat and no bread in the country. Long lines were near groceries. At this point Khrushchev decided to buy wheat from the USA, taking the easiest possible path. He was stimulating demand and economy of the other country instead of making corrections, improvements and reforms in his own agricultural sector. When the General Secretary of the country became Leonid Brezhnev, USSR’s economy was not in its best condition. Dramatic reduction of the economic growth was observed. That doesn’t mean that the economy was truly weak, this meant that it was slowing down and not working for all it is worth. USSR still could afford itself supersonic planes, spacecrafts , rockets, space station MIR, etc. The problem lied in the fact that consumer market was not balances and it was a period of time when goods and products just disappeared from the market shelves. There was real deficit of particular goods and net surplus of others. The same situation was at the labor market, as there was a shortage of workers in some fields, and mainly in agricultural sector. People in the villages did not get enough compensation for their work and therefore were moving to larger cities to get some money. Brezhnev continued the policy of Khrushchev of wheat import, but it was not very helpful. Product shortage problem still was very critical. When Gorbachev became the Secretary General, his main goal was to bring back to life Soviet economy after stagnation. Gorbachev is prominent for introduction of the following reforms: free speech or openness, restructuring, democratization and acceleration of economic development of the country. Gorbachev was clever enough to understand that revival of Soviet economy is almost impossible task without reorganization of bureaucratic apparatus, of political and social structure of the nation. During the time of his leadership all goods were approved by the state that significantly improved the quality of production and maintained quality of the produced goods. Gorbachev was the author of anti-alcohol campaign due to wide spread alcoholism in the country that could have been the obstacle to rapid economic revival. Therefore, prices were raised and sales of beer, vodka and wine were restricted. But I appeared to be the double edged sword, as revenues of the budget drastically decreased a nd USSR budget lost almost 100 billion rubles. It had a positive outcome, as people were able to buy more of other goods. In 1986 Gorbachev introduced the new policy of reconstruction that was aiming to create efficient mechanism for economic and social progress of the country (Kelley 81, 109). This policy supported democracy, improvement of discipline and order, socialist self-government, etc. In 1988 Gorbachev proposed to reduce the control of the party of the government. He introduced presidential system and new legislative element. In 1990 Gorbachev was elected the President of the Soviet Union. This event was strongly criticized and Boris Yeltsin was the main critic (Chafetz 54; 61). After the collapse of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin, as the new President of Russian Federation, immediately started radical economic reforms. His aim was to transform the command market of the country to the free-market. Yeltsin followed the policy of microeconomic stabilization, simultaneously ordering liberalization of prices, foreign trade and currency. In order to stabilize economy, Yeltsin increased taxes; cut government subsides, as well as state welfare spending. Later, Yeltsin started the process of privatization, but due to the fact the beginning of 90s was a very fraudulent time in Russia, it was not very successful. Or it is better to say that it was successful mainly for oligarchs, as assets of state companied were just given away. It is important to mention that Yeltsin supported private property and viewed it as the basis for the developing economy of the country (Steen 92). In 1999 Putin became the president of Russia. During Putin’s leadership the economic situation in the country significantly improved. He increased Russia’s purchasing power, GDP and overcame the consequences of 1998 financial crisis. He also increased amount of investment for about 120%, industry grew by 76%, doubled real incomes and seven timed increased average monthly salary (Rose 98). Putin increased amount of people in the middle class (from 8 million to 55 million) and the number of people living below the poverty line from 30% to 14%. He carried out such important reforms as retirement reform in 2002, banking and tax reforms, etc. Putin was a great supporter of business and introduced the flat tax of 13%, as well as reduced corporate tax rate from 35% to 24%. Putin also significantly decreased Russia’s external debts (Steen 67). In 2008 Dmitry Medvedev was elected as the president of the country. At the same year a great financial crisis started, but Medvedev claimed that it was provoked liquidity crisis in the USA. Technological innovation was named as the key priority of his presidency. Due to world crisis it is difficult to estimate Medvedev’s presidency, but he is very optimistic and claims that situation in Russia is stabilizing along with its currency. Deforestation, Acid Rain and Desertification DeforestationForest degradation and deforestation, in particular, are outcomes of changes of climate. Plants use carbon dioxide for their growth through absorption. When plants delay or are being burnt, this dangerous chemical is released again. Plants that decay also release methane, which even more dangerous and potent than carbon dioxide. Deforestation makes double damage, because of the release of greenhouse gasses, as well as because of the reduction of the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed. During last 150 years more than 30% of carbon dioxide that was added to atmosphere came from deforestation. Even though this amount can seem very big, it is nothing compared to what is still stored in forests. Russian forests (along with Canadian) hold almost the half of the world’ carbon stock. In order to understand reasons of deforestation, it is essential to analyze what can do harm to forests. At first, temperature ranges changes, as well as precipitation. Due to climate change, secondly, forest fires and drought scan increase. Though, forest fires can be good to forests, as they clear dense brush and can be included in the lifecycle. Forests also suffer a lot from activity of humans, as well as drought. Insects that are invasive can also damage health of the forest, but they play an important role in boreal ecology, as they supply food for birds, decompose litter and eliminate trees’ diseases. Of course, increasing urban areas have a very negative impact on the forests, as they are replayed with buildings and pavements (Vajpeyj 20; 193). Acid rainSpeaking of the acid rain, there are many forms of it. There can be acid rain, acid fog or acid snow. There can be also acid gas and acid dust (in the countries with dry climate). It is needless to say that acid rains to a lot of harm to environment. They do not act immediately, but after some time period and make living organisms in the environment die. In the next paragraph I am going to discuss the substances that cause acid rain. These substances are being released into the air. Carbon dioxide is the main substance. It is released to the air by burning oil, coal and natural gas. If a person inhales carbon dioxide, which is toxic, it can be the reason for serious health problems. Carbon monoxide is the other dangerous substance that is released with burning oil, wood and gasoline. When carbon monoxide gets to humans body, it goes directly to the bloodstream and subsequently slows down oxygen delivery to the body with possible fatigue, headaches and dizziness (Vajpeyj 48). Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are widely utilized in air conditioning systems, refrigeration, and industry and consumer products. When they are released into the air, the reduce ozone layer of the stratosphere that protects surface of the Earth from harmful sun rays. Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) are released into the air with motor vehicles, printing plants, chemical plants and dry cleaners. They can cause cancer, problems with nervous system, birth defects and even deaths. Lead is released with car and house paint, as well as with fishing lures, lead batteries, particular ceramic ware, fixtures and water pipes. It is very dangerous especially to children, as it can cause damage of the nervous system and some learning problems. Nitrogen Oxides are released into the air by coal and gasoline. Ozone is released by industries, motor vehicles, gasoline, burning coal, hairspray and paints. Particulate matter (PM) is another substance that is released by trucks, buses, cars fertilizers, road construction, pesticides, mining, steel making, wood stoves, etc. When mixed with air and inhaled, PM particles stuck in the lung tissue. Sulfur dioxides can be released by paper production, melting metal and burning coal. It significantly harms vegetation, metals and can cause problems with lungs. And finally volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released by burning coal, wood, natural gas, gasoline, paints, glues and solvents. There are definitely much more harmful substances that release into the air and cause acid rains. Automobiles are the main source for those pollutants. DesertificationDesertification is the degradation of formerly productive land and is a very complex process (Vajpeyj 118). It has many causes and it can occur differently in different climates. It can influence general climatic trends towards greater aridity or just change the local climate. It is not that easy to follow and describe the common pattern of desertification. On the main causes of desertification can be increased population, as well as increased pressure of livestock. In other words, when the land is being devastated an all her resources are being taken- the process launches. So causes of desertification are overpopulation, over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, increasing water salinity, changes of global climate, etc. Major Landforms and Hydrography of North Eastern Eurasia North Eastern Eurasia can be fairly called one of the largest and least-populated regions in the world. This region is very rich on natural resources with diamonds, lead, gold and manganese as an example. There can be found steppe, taiga and tundra in North Eastern Eurasia. There are mountain ranges, which are very high. Eastern Siberia is defined geographically by most contemporary Russian sources as including the Yenisei River system in the west and ending at the Pacific watershed in the east. It is differentiating from the Siberian Federal District, a political unit created in 2000 that does not contain the Sakha Republic and does incorporate few provinces attributed to geographic West Siberia – a transaction that may have been made to improve vast mineral wealth of the region. However, if the topography and hydrography of the region are be viewed, which two of the most essential factors in determination the flow of economy, migration, warfare, and history, it is possible to see that Eastern Siberia should extend significantly to the east from the federal district, even though where it exactly it should end- can be a real question for long discussion (Mote 44). The landscape of the region is much diversified – there are spanning arctic desert in the north, steppe in the south and humid taiga in the central region. Nomadic groups such as the Tatars, Huns, Mongols and Manchu inhabited the region about 300,000 years ago. While Siberia was under the Tatars’ control, western Siberia saw some development with the founding of cities and forts. Eastern Siberia, however, was mainly left to nomadic lifestyles. Russia’s conquest of Siberia was amazingly fast, sweeping from the Urals to the Pacific in just over a half century, by creating the Russian Empire. Settlement was then supported with a series of forts for protection and soon settlers, hunters, and even fugitives became those crossers of lands, who started and founded new settlements, as well as trading communities. They would also found lead, silver, and copper mines about three centuries ago, and later practiced intense gold mining (Kotkin 75).

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

File Sharing Software essays

File Sharing Software essays One of the most controversial technological innovations of the past decade or more, file sharing software applications have transformed the ways people view intellectual property. In fact, intellectual property has only recently been a subject of popular debate, since the newsworthy demise of Napster. With the advent of the Internet and subsequent software developments, computer users worldwide have been able to upload, download, and share files, many of which contain copyrighted material. In some ways, this type of file sharing seems to fall under the "fair use" clauses in copyright laws, which dictate that individual consumers are free to make a few personal copies of material for limited use. However, file sharing software calls into question the extent of "fair use" because potentially millions of people could have access to one copyrighted file. File sharing therefore raises a host of ethical and legal conundrums. First, the creators of the copyrighted material: musicians, writers, or software engineers, are potentially losing money. After all, they are receiving no revenues from the freely distributed materials. On the other hand, sharing files via the Internet may not be damaging creative professionals as much as we think. File sharing applications and the compressed material that is being shared is imperfect: MP3 files will never approach CD quality sound and will never come replete with the glossy books or other presentation material that a store-bought product contains. Moreover, most music connoisseurs don't mind forking over a few bucks to support their favorite artists. Similarly, pirated software is unusable much of the time, as the "cracks" don't always work and the software itself comes with glitches due to the reproduction process. In general, file sharing is a fun and exciting technological development but poses little actual threat to professionals who rely on intel...

Friday, November 22, 2019

20 Largest Book Publishers in 2019 That Every Author Should Know

20 Largest Book Publishers in 2019 That Every Author Should Know The Largest Book Publishers in 2019 Modern publishing is a tricky game - especially when trying to figure out the biggest names within that game. Most major publishers are part of a larger media conglomerate, and a search for the year's largest book publishers will often yield companies that work with  other forms of content rather than books.So to help you zero in on the prize, we've published this guide to the largest contemporary book publishers - i.e. no companies that mainly publish magazines or highly specialized materials, such as instruction manuals. We have included educational and journal publishers, which are often linked to traditional literary publishers and may be relevant to our readers. But other than that, all these companies work with the kinds of books you’d find in bookstores.Without further ado, here they are: the 20 largest book publishers in 2019 according to recent data, along with brief profiles of who they are and what they do. (To learn how to get published by one of them, check ou t this post.) Who are the biggest book publishers in the game? Find out here!  Ã°Å¸â€œâ€" The 20 largest publishers in 20191. Penguin Random House (Big 5 Publisher)💠° Annual revenue: $3.3 billion 📇 Notable imprints: Alfred A. Knopf, Crown Publishing, Viking Press 📚 Biggest titles of 2018: Becoming by Michelle Obama, Educated by Tara Westover, and  Born a Crime by Trevor NoahFormed in 2013 through the merger of Penguin Books and Random House, Penguin Random House (PRH) is not only a Big 5 publisher - it's considered to be the biggest publishing house in the industry. It has over 200 divisions and imprints, in addition to those listed above. PRH itself is jointly owned by multinational companies Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann, accounting for a rather substantial sum of their finances each year. In terms of actual publishing stats, PRH puts out over 15,000 books a year and sells about 800 million copies of print, audio, and ebooks annually.2. Hachette Livre (Big 5 Publisher)💠° Annual revenue: $2.7 billion 📇 Notable imprints: Grand Central Publishing, Little, Brown and Company, Mulholland Books 📚 Biggest titles of 2018: The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, Calypso by David Sedaris, and In Pieces by Sally FieldHachette Livre is another Big 5 publisher, the largest in France and one of the most prominent publishers in all of Europe. It’s owned by the Lagardà ¨re Group and encompasses over 150 imprints. Hachette Livre was officially formed in 1992, when the publishing assets of Hachette SA (its former parent company) were collected into a single subsidiary. HL has been growing ever since and currently publishes about 20,000 books a year - even more than PRH, for those keeping score.3. Springer Nature💠° Annual revenue: $1.9 billion 📇 Notable imprints: BioMed Central, Nature Research, Palgrave Macmillan 📚 Biggest titles of 2018: Academic journals on a range of scientific topicsSpringer Nature is a research and educational publisher formed through the merger of several groups, including Macmillan Education and Springer Science + Business Media. For those who think the former sounds familiar, Macmillan is another Big 5 publisher, just like the first two entries on our list. That’s why Springer’s assets are so sizable, despite being so recently established.Springer mostly publishes academic journals, but as with many educational publishers, it’s still closely linked to traditional publishing - namely, in the form of Macmillan Publishers proper (see #10 on this list).

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Effect of the Paywall Strategy on News Corp Company Essay

The Effect of the Paywall Strategy on News Corp Company - Essay Example The newspaper industry earns the majority of its revenue through advertising from other companies who pay to depend upon the number of circulations. The advent of internet gave rise to electronic news where advertisers pay depending upon the page views. The paywall strategy implemented by News Corp by putting WSJ, The Times and The Sunday Times behind the strategy has resulted in a downfall in the number of monthly page views. However it is pertinent to mention here that availability of free content online and decline in the circulation of newspaper prompted the management to put online content behind paywall so that it may increase the newspaper circulation and at the same time generate revenue from subscriptions (Salmon, 2010). The objective behind the paywall strategy is to identify the customer and their wants and interests more clearly and build direct customer wherever possible. It further makes it clear that advertising alone will not bear the operational costs of print news a s successful newspaper of the future will charge for their content (News Corp, Annual Report, 2009). The strategy worked for Wall Street Journal as it provided editorial content, analysis and expert articles on topics which attracted certain target groups for subscription (Drury, 2010)2. According to comScore, the readership of Times UK website declined from 4 million unique visitors to 2.4 million, a 62% drop in the readership whereas page views came down by 90% from 41 million views in May 2010 to 4 million in September 2010 (Schonfeld, 2010)3. a) According to first quarter report for the fiscal year 2011, the newspaper businesses achieved an average 13% increase in advertising revenue with gains as compared to quarter in the previous year (News Corp, 2010). As paywall strategy was implemented in early June 2010, the results published in the report reveal positive results with an increase in the revenue, which means that company is making substantial profits through subscriptions. However the drop in the page views will be a big blow to the company as advertisers would not want to invest their money on a place where they could not get more visitors. Though the annual reports show marginal profits in newspaper segment, drop in page views from 21 million to 2.7 million will definitely have an impact on online revenue generation (Salmon, 2010).     

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Sustainability Project Spain Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Sustainability Project Spain - Research Paper Example This has lead to use of sustainable designs whose goals are to expose architectural solutions that guarantee the coexistence of inorganic and living organisms. Conceptual framework informs architects on the various ways to meet the goal of sustainable designs. In undertaking sustainable projects, three principles are used. The first principle aims at economizing on the resources for the architects to reduce the use of the non-renewable materials in the establishment and operation of the building. In a construction site, materials continuously flow in and out of the building. The flow incorporates the movement of materials from the industries that provide the building materials throughout the life span of the building to get a good nature that support continuation of humans as well as their activities. The second principle is the life cycle model has the support on the usefulness of resources where resources are useful depending on the area of application. The third concept of sustain able design is the humane design probably the most important of all three principles. The concept has an emphasis on the respect towards other living organisms within the ecosystem and these include plants and animals. The other two principles are not considered highly valuable in comparison to the humane design idea because they require more on the efficiency and conservation than on the ecosystem. The paper will discuss the sustainability project in Spain and the various features of the building and standards instituted by the Spanish building standards as well as the importance of sustainability in construction. In the sustainable project, in Barcelona, the building standards have to be taken into consideration, and these standards have an emphasis on the protection of the ecosystem. The standards include the energy standards, which have elevated Spain to higher grounds in terms of solar energy all over Europe.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

TV and Radio Essay Example for Free

TV and Radio Essay There are many mediums for information, entertainment and communication purposes. Such as internet, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and others. In this individual talk I’m going to discuss two of them. That is- TV and Radio. First I’m going to start with TV. The TV is one invention, like the car, computer and wheel which has changed mankind and the way that we do virtually everything. The TV was invented in the early part of the twentieth century and was only available in black and white. And in nowadays almost every household owns at least one TV set. Flat screen television is occupying many of the homes and digital TV is not a miracle anymore as well. Viewers can just sit there, flick through channels and choose anything they like- documentaries, soap operas, talk shows, sports, sitcoms, various foreign language programs and many more. With technology becoming more and more advanced TV watchers after paying a little extra can have such options as recording favourite shows, sports games, films etc. f they don’t have time to watch it while they are broadcasted. With the press on remote controller people can create their own watch list, participate in various live contests, donate money, order food, buy certain items that they see on the infomercials, they can even forward the commercials or skip them at all while watching an interesting movie. Consumer is given a greater power of control, but does it make him or her happier? I really doubt it. I have a friend who once said that the main evening question in their family is TV3 or LNK? Instead of talking in candle lights she and her husband are arguing over which politician is right and which is wrong, which TV celebrity is entertaining, and which is not. Instead of visiting places they are becoming more and more of the couch potatoes and not because they really want to but because it is an easier option. I personally don’t own a TV and the only time I miss it is when the football is on Which as a consequence just means an extra pleasant visit to see my friends. Another very popular media is radio. The creation of radio started in the mid 1800s with the theoretical discussions of electricity and magnetism being related to each other. Scientists who contributed to the development of radio were James Maxwell, William Henry Ward, Mahlon Loomis, Thomas Edison and Marconi. The 1920s truly were the birth years of modern radio, the mass development of radios made it possible for almost every home to own a radio. In our days many devices are created to catch radio waves such as mobile phones, mp3 players, CD players and others. It is possible to listen to the radio online, however, most of the people are listening to the radio while driving or at their work places. As far as the programs are concerned many of them are very similar to what TV is showing, except that with radio you can’t see anything so you have to use your imagination. News, various live talk shows and quizzes, interviews, games, voting contests are very popular on radio channels. It is possible that radio is more based on a dialogue and television on a monologue. All in all, I think that both mediums are fascinating and equally important to technological, cultural, economical and social development. However, I prefer to listen to the radio than watch TV. Except for the news program, radio channels usually concentrates on positive shows, positive messages, one can hear a lot of laughing during those shows. And of course singing in high squeaky voice while travelling to work does put me in a better mood. What is more radio is eye friendly and less time consuming.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Crohns in College Students :: Crohns Disease Health Essays

Crohn's in College Students Avi Michael absentmindedly plays with his lip piercing, his thin frame draped casually over his bed. His wall is covered with posters of Bob Dylan and Modest Mouse; two guitars are propped up on a stand next to his closet, another lies on the vacant bed across from his. â€Å"I want to be a rock star,† said Michael, a 20-year-old history and film major at Northeastern University, and front man for the band, The Sex and Murder. However, touring with his band would be difficult, Michael says. He suffers from Crohn’s disease, a chronic and often debilitating ailment that causes inflammation in the digestive system, primarily the large and small intestines. Symptoms include rapid weight loss, abdominal pain or cramping, and rectal bleeding. Michael was diagnosed as a senior in high school at the age of 18. â€Å"I was really sick for a while. It got to the point where I would get sick and throw up after everything I ate,† he said. As a result, he lost a lot of weight; at 5’8†, Michael weighs only 128 pounds. The average weight for a male of his height is closer to 160 pounds. Over 200,000 Americans suffer from Crohn’s, according to Dr. Richard Curtis, chief of gastroenterology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Though the disease does not target a specific age group, certain risk factors do exist. People who have a genetic predisposition to it are more likely to develop Crohn’s, said Dr. Curtis. For example, people who have a close relative with Crohn’s have a 20 percent chance of being diagnosed with it themselves. Crohn’s is more common in Jews than in non-Jews; it is most common in Ashkenazic Jews than any other group. â€Å"Crohn’s is usually thought of as an old person’s disease,† said Michael. The harsh reality is that many Crohn’s sufferers are college-aged teens, many of whom were diagnosed as young children. Caitlin*, a 16-year-old sophomore at the Boston Latin School, was diagnosed at the age of 11. Trying to complete her schoolwork while maintaining her health is often difficult, Caitlin said. â€Å"When I feel good (almost all the time), Crohn’s doesn’t affect school at all,† she said in an e-mail. â€Å"It’s when I get so exhausted that I have to miss a day of school. I feel guilty missing school, and depending on the time of year, I get so much work the next day that I have to make up.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Agency Problem – Essay

I partially agree with the statement that managers have a severely limited amount of discretion to pursue actions inconsistent with shareholder wealth maximization. By investing in a company, shareholders aim to maximize their wealth and achieve portfolio diversification. The objective of managers is assumed to be to further these interests by maximizing the firm’s share value. This can be achieved by taking on projects with positive NPV and good management of short-term capital and long-term debt. However, shareholders and managers are assumed to want to maximize their utilities; so this objective may not always be the priority for managers as they may rather prefer to maximize their own wealth or further other personal interests of theirs. This conflict of interest between the two is an example of the principal agent problem. The principal agent problem occurs due to two reasons. The first is the separation of ownership from control – the principal or the shareholders may own a corporation but it is the agent or manager who holds control of it and acts on their behalf. This gives managers the power to do things without necessarily being ‘detected’ by shareholders. The second is that shareholders may not possess the same information as the manager. The manager would have access to management accounting data and financial reports, whereas the shareholders would only receive annual reports, which may be subject to manipulation. Thus asymmetric information also leads to moral hazard and adverse selection problems. The following are areas where the interests of shareholders and managers often conflict: Managers may try to expropriate shareholders’ wealth in a number of ways. They may over consume perks such as using company credit cards for personal expenses, jet planes etc. †¢Empire building: Managers may pursue a suboptimal expansion path for the firm. They may expand the firm at a rationally unfeasible rate in order to increase their own benefits at the cost of shareholders’ wealth. †¢Managers may be more risk ave rse than shareholders who typically hold diversified portfolios. †¢Managers may not have the same motivation as shareholders, likely due to a lack of proper incentives. Managers may window dress financial statements in order to optimize bonuses or justify sub optimal strategies The principal agent problem normally leads to agency costs. This has been identified by Jensen and Meckling(1976) as the sum of: 1. Monitoring costs: Costs incurred by the shareholders when they attempt to monitor or control the actions of managers. 2. Bonding costs: Bonding refers to contracts that bond agents' performance with principal interests by limiting or restricting the agent’s activity as a result. The cost of this to the manager is the bonding cost. 3. The residual loss: Costs incurred from divergent principal and agent interests despite the use of monitoring and bonding. However the manager’s discretion is quite limited in practice. There are a number of internal and external solutions to agency costs for shareholders. Internal: †¢Well-written contracts ensure that there are fewer opportunities for managers to over consume perks. †¢An external board of directors could be appointed to monitor the efforts and actions of managers. This board would have access to information and considerable legal authority over management. It could thus safeguard information and represent shareholder interests in the company. †¢The board could hire independent accountants to audit the firm’s financial statements. If the managers don’t agree to changes proposed by auditors, the auditors issue a qualified opinion. This signals that managers are trying to hide something, and undermines investor confidence. †¢Compensation packages where the reward to the manager is linked to firm performance. This includes performance related bonuses and the payments of shares and share options. Ambitious, lower managers are a threat to the jobs of inefficient, evading ones. External: †¢The lenders of a company also monitor; a bank for instance would track the assets, earnings and cash flows of the company it provides a loan to. †¢Managerial labor market: Poor managers may not get another job or get a much poorer one. Ultimately the most important indicator to the labor market of managerial performance is share price. †¢Capital Markets – A falling share price increases the threat of a take-over, which can often result in redundancies. More concentrated shareholding by outsiders can lead to monitoring by them and improve managerial performance. However there are a few problems with these solutions though, which make it possible for managers to circumvent them to a small extent. In order to keep the share price high, managers may focus more on short term profitability at the cost of long term profitability. They may use gimmicks to temporarily boost the share price and neglect spending on research, development and H. R. They may also provide sub standard products and cease providing services for old, or relatively less important products in order to reduce costs and make a quick profit. This damages the company’s reputation, reduces its competitiveness in the future and thus affects long-term shareholder value negatively. While block holders may act as external monitoring mechanisms, they can also have private incentives to go along with management decisions, which may be detrimental to firm performance. Writing better contracts may reduce the problem of asymmetric information, but not fully solve it. This is because the design of such contracts is technically infeasible due to various reasons such as the difficulty of foreseeing all future contingencies. Dispersed shareholders often do not exercise the few controlling rights that they have. This leads to a free rider problem where shareholders would prefer to let other shareholders do the task of monitoring as they cannot justify spending on it over the few shares that they each own. In order to resist takeovers, managers may design contracts that compensate them in the event of loss of control due to the takeover. They may also undertake targeted repurchases and devise a poison pill, which changes the fundamental aspects of the corporate rules without the knowledge of shareholders. While incentive schemes such as shares and share options are effective, they are still reactive in the sense that they provide no mechanism for preventing mistakes or opportunistic behavior. Managers may continue to focus mainly on quarterly goals rather than the long term as they are allowed to sell the stocks after exercising their options. By focusing on quarterly performance, managers could boost the stock price and avail higher personal profits on their subsequent sale of stock. Managers may also sell their shares as soon as they are high, leading people to think that they lack confidence in their own operations. This may adversely affect share price. Share options also increase the risk of EPS dilution from an increase in shares outstanding. Managers may often ‘window dress’ financial statements as the company must be seen to perform well in order to improve share valuations. They may report inaccurate information, especially if their short-term rewards outweigh their long term ones such as pensions. It also encourages shareholder approval, and so would lead to less difficult AGM’s. Many managers may hide the true value of assets in order to hide the losses they incurred while buying them. Window dressing also involves managers presenting statistics such that they highlight the perceivably best bits about the company’s performance and avoid emphasis on the worst aspects of the previous year’s business. Other common practices of this include disguising liquidity problems and fraudulent representation of liabilities. This gross misrepresentation of debts has been seen with Enron in the US, where $billions of long-term liabilities were hidden off the balance sheet. Its executive Jeffery Skiller, initiated the use of mark to market accounting, while hoping to meet Wall Street expectations. Enron ultimately became bankrupt while its shareholders suffered huge losses. Despite having model board of directors and a talented audit committee, Enron’s managers were able to make it attract large sums of capital to fund a questionable business model and hype its stock to unsustainable levels. Worldcom, a telecommunications company in the US, inflated profits by disguising expenses as investment in assets and inflated revenues with bogus accounting entries from corporate, unallocated revenue accounts. In mid 2000, its stock price began to decline and CEO Bernard Ebbers persuaded WorldComà ¢â‚¬â„¢s board of directors to provide him corporate loans and guarantees of over $400 million to cover his margin calls on Worldcom stock. The board had hoped that the loans would avert the need for Ebbers to sell the substantial amounts of WorldCom stock that he owned, as this would have further reduced the stock's price. However, the company ultimately went bankrupt and Ebbers was ousted as CEO in April 2002. The shareholders suffered massive losses as they watched World Com’s stock price plummet from $60 to less than 20 cents. Thus, we can see that while there is room for managers to indulge in personal wealth maximization, it is quite difficult to do so. Usually, the solutions tend to be adequate enough to correct the conflicts, and restrict manager’s discretion.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

British Satellite Broadcasting: the Beginning of the End

Entrepreneur Research Paper Adriel McBride DeVry University December 17, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3 Abstract 3 History behind BSB 4Reasons for Failure 5 Analysis 7 Works Cited 10 British Satellite Broadcasting: The beginning of the end IntroductionMany companies fail within the first two years of opening, according to small business administration which is seven out of ten, and 51 percent last at least five years. Starting a business is not an easy task, there are tons of things that have to done in order for it to be around for more than a couple of months or years. Unfortunately, that’s the case with the company I chose, British Satellite Broadcasting. Abstract British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) set out to establish a television company that provided direct airing to television services from a satellite to the United Kingdom.Which it did from 1977-1990 and had its first broadcast on March 25, 1990, most of the time was used towards creating a policy to hav e British be able to broadcast via satellite (Holden, 1998). The company had to merge with Sky Television in November of 1990 to form the British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB’s). History behind BSB In 1977 the development of British satellite broadcasting policy started, a meeting was held at the World Administration Radio Conference for a hearing for the division of broadcasting frequencies.During the meeting the administration assigned each country five high-powered channels for direct broadcast by satellite for domestic use. In 1982 BSB was awarded with two channels through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and in 1983 it started to negotiate with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to join a joint-venture with other countries and start a joint satellite service but failed in 1985 (Holden, 1998). It was said that the government insisted that the BBC should pay for the cost of constructing and launching a dedicated satellite. The hearing concluding in 1992, whi ch followed the Conservative Party’s fourth consecutive election victory and BSkyB’s successful, momentous bid for the rights to screen live English Premier League football matches† (Holden, 1998). The BSB had one main competitor which was Sky broadcasting, it had an advantage over BSB and proved that its system gave sufficient picture quality and many viewers didn’t want to wait on a promise that was vowed by BSB for excellent programming. Many customers compared the competition between the rival satellite companies to the format war between VHS and Betamax home video recorders and chose to wait and see which company would win outright as opposed to buying potentially outdated equipment† (Holden, 1998). BSB mission was to create a satellite dish to broadcast high quality television programming for the British and hopefully expand to other countries. The reason BSB failed can be related to a lot of things but mostly money. Before BSB and Sky merged, Sky debuted first which hurt BSB, Sky provide a cheaper dish, which made it even more difficult for BSB.In January 1989 BSB experienced higher than expected cost that were required to achieve their planned air date. That caused them to push back their fall launch date. This resulted in delays for developing a new semiconductor chip required for its satellite dish receivers, which raised their cost to ? 131 million (Holden, 1998). Many say that if BSB would have launched first they could possibly still be around. Sky and BSB were in financial trouble and after BSB collapsed in November 1990, they were forced to merge.That is how the BSkyB came about, no more BSB it was over and a new company had begun which was marketed as Sky TV. Reasons for Failure British Satellite Broadcast failed for a number of reasons one was the lack of financial stability and commitment. BSB was spending millions of dollars on equipment for receivers so they can be available for purchase. But they were slack ing in the production department because they needed more money to make sure they had quality programming but missed their deadline. By the time they finally launched people had already turned to the competition because they were tired of waiting.When a promise is made to consumers it’s best for the company to do everything in their power to oblige them or otherwise they will lose their support and money. That’s exactly what happened with BSB they were focused on quality which was great but couldn’t provide it in a timely matter. Their competition offered a cheaper product and adequate quality which was better than nothing. The merge only helped Sky stay alive and killed BSB because they took all of BSB quality equipment and satellites and created something great.But if BSB would have kept their commitment/ launch date it could have been a different outcome today. So it kind of boils down to customer satisfaction, which is always a big part of a business success . When BSB couldn’t make good on their promise it reflected badly on the company and made their consumers wonder if they were really up for the challenge. For example take a gamer that is anxiously waiting for a new Xbox game console to come out and is schedule for release in May but is pushed back to August, a lot of loyal customers will be let down and possibly turn to PlayStation which new console came out when vowed.They may not lose a lot of of customers but it could cause a ripple effect for the ones that did chose to get a PlayStation instead. That is what happened with BSB, they had satisfied customers when they finally launched but not enough to keep them in business. Another thing that caused them to fail was not having the sufficient operating funds. The owners didn’t estimate how much money they would need to accomplish what they set out to do. It is always important to know how much money your business will necessitate, that includes the starting cost and staying a business.That was not well executed when the owners of BSB started the company which was a major cause of why it failed. Too much money being put into the company but not enough coming in. They had major financial issues they caused them to basically turn over their business to their competitor. That is never how an entrepreneur plans their business to turn out especially a few years after starting. While a lot of people were still happy with the 5 channels that they had globally, a lot of people were also tired of having only 5 possible things to watch and so they got Sky as soon as it was available.As it turned out, hundreds of thousands of people got Sky before BSB even launched (William, 2011). Most of the people who were interested in having a greater choice of channels had already opted for Sky. There was hardly anyone who still wanted a DBS system left for BSB to sell their service to. As a result, BSB launched with only a few hundred systems installed, and never re ally increased beyond that. The real cause of their failure can probably be laid at the door of the IBA.While they never intended for BSB to fail, they locked BSB into a contract to build and launch satellites, implement new picture systems which were not standard in the UK (and still aren't today) and do other things which Sky were not required to do (Holden, 1998). This resulted in severe hold ups which allowed Sky to eat up almost all of the market that BSB was aimed at. While BSB were busy launching satellites and awaiting delivery of MAC equipment, Sky had launched and was building up a growing customer base (Holden, 1998).Analysis BSB could still be around if it wasn’t for the IBA contract and making unrealistic goals. If BSB would have started out with a less expensive product they could probably still be in business. They wanted too much too fast, the best quality and products that cost some big bucks that they did not have. Therefore it hurt them, a better plan and t eam would have set them above the rest. Better planning in general could have prevented the business from failing. They could have cut out every unnecessary expense and reduce the expenses. Became a saver with cash and collect every dime owed to them.Finally they could have started selling their products and service at a discounted price until they built up a loyal customer base. If the entrepreneur would have recognized the company was failing before it was too late, he could have taken actions to turn around the business. The business owners and leaders should have taken every action necessary to first preserve their own interests and salvage/protect personal assets associated with the company. Protecting the business assets is critical for survival of any company. The idea of satellite broadcasting was great but not well implemented nor calculated.BSB wanted to give customers better than what they were receiving from the competitor but didn’t go about it the right way. The y started off spending way too much money and still coming up short. When developing a new product it takes lots of inputs such as money, skills, energy etc. that is supposed to add value to their product output (Hatten, 2009). The four major functions of managing a business is planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Hatten, 2009). Within those four boundaries BSB went wrong with at least three which were planning, organizing, and leading.I didn’t choose controlling because they really had no control of their project because of the IBA. If they would have never signed the contract with IBA and stayed with the BBC things could have turned out differently. IBA demanded services that BSB just couldn’t provide. Even with that being the case, if the entrepreneur was better at leading he could have had a strategic plan to keep his company alive while pleasing the IBA as well. That could have been done by trying to develop one of the requirements at a time. The best t hing to do would have been to get working satellite receivers on the market.Then see how well they do by getting feedback from the consumers and find out what could be done to improve the service and products. After they obtained enough information on what was wrong with the â€Å"prototypes† that was first released they could start improving the devices and making it available for sale and send an upgrade device to the customers that already had a receiver. Sometimes it’s about taking a chance with a bad product versus failing as company altogether and putting out a few bad receivers. There are tons of companies that started off horribly but still made a profit and are now at the top.For instance Sprint Wireless, everyone including myself hated their phones and service back in the 1990’s but now in 2012 they are one of the top cellphone providers. They accomplished that by staying afloat during the rough patches and critiquing there services and products. BSB s imply wanted to be the best and provide excellent programming and quality but didn’t plan accordingly. Having a great plan and knowing how to execute it can be what makes a business succeed. BSB had a great plan but just couldn’t meet the expectations.Sometimes less is more, if they would have started a little smaller and worked its way up I believe Britain’s would be watching British Satellite Broadcasting instead of Sky TV. Works Cited Brown, M. (2009). Sky tv's launch: ‘a wing and a prayer' . Blog, Retrieved from http://www. guardian. co. uk/media/organgrinder/2009/feb/04/sky-tv-early-years Pnakaj, G. (1997). Entry and deterrence in british satellite broadcasting. The mitt press. Retrieved from http://people. stern. nyu. edu/abranden/EntryAndDeterrenceBritishSatellite. pdf Hatten, T. (2009). Small business management. (4 ed. , p. 460; 536).Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Holden, W. (1998). The history and development of british satellite broadcast ing policy, 1977-1992. (Master's thesis)Retrieved from http://etheses. whiterose. ac. uk/552/2/holden_1998. pdf Feder, B. (1990, December 20). Murdoch's time of reckoning. New york times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/1990/12/20/business/murdoch-s-time-of-reckoning. html Williams, G. (2011, March 2). News corporation and bskyb: What price remedies? Campaign for press and broadcasting freedom. Retrieved from http://www. cpbf. org. uk/body. php? id=2462&selpanel=1

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Mother Archetype

The Always Present Mother â€Å"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man† (Gen. 2:23). History has shown us that the â€Å"Great Mother† archetype has been with society since the beginning of time. Through stories, songs, poems and thoughts, man has always found the need for the â€Å"Mother† and the women that make this archetype possible. Some are consider myths and legends, while others have been documented in history. Regardless of what they have done or thought to have done, they have made an impact on the way man foresees woman. I will discuss three women characters that play a role in the mother archetype, and explain why these rolls are important to their culture. Demeter will be the first goddess in this examination on the mother archetype, followed by Isis. These women are man made stories, to try and help explain why certain things are the way they are. The last mother archetype I w ill discuss was a woman that is still worshipped today, and with the help of man made stories, she has become immortal. This woman is the Virgin Mary. Before this is discussed, I will explain what an archetype is and what traits and similarities one must have to become a â€Å"Mother Archetype†. The mother archetype is a term derived from a man by the name of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was a predecessor of Sigmund Freud. â€Å"According to Jungian psychology the archetypes of the collective unconscious are manifested in similar mythological motifs which are universal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Trachy and Hopkins 166). Jung defines a archetype in many ways. Archetypes appear in conscious as a universal and recurring image, pattern or motif representing a typical human experience. Archetypal images come from the collective unconscious and are the basic concepts of religions, mythologies, legends and Arts†¦they emerge through dreams and visions†¦they convey a sense of transpersonal power which transcend th... Free Essays on Mother Archetype Free Essays on Mother Archetype The Always Present Mother â€Å"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man† (Gen. 2:23). History has shown us that the â€Å"Great Mother† archetype has been with society since the beginning of time. Through stories, songs, poems and thoughts, man has always found the need for the â€Å"Mother† and the women that make this archetype possible. Some are consider myths and legends, while others have been documented in history. Regardless of what they have done or thought to have done, they have made an impact on the way man foresees woman. I will discuss three women characters that play a role in the mother archetype, and explain why these rolls are important to their culture. Demeter will be the first goddess in this examination on the mother archetype, followed by Isis. These women are man made stories, to try and help explain why certain things are the way they are. The last mother archetype I w ill discuss was a woman that is still worshipped today, and with the help of man made stories, she has become immortal. This woman is the Virgin Mary. Before this is discussed, I will explain what an archetype is and what traits and similarities one must have to become a â€Å"Mother Archetype†. The mother archetype is a term derived from a man by the name of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was a predecessor of Sigmund Freud. â€Å"According to Jungian psychology the archetypes of the collective unconscious are manifested in similar mythological motifs which are universal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Trachy and Hopkins 166). Jung defines a archetype in many ways. Archetypes appear in conscious as a universal and recurring image, pattern or motif representing a typical human experience. Archetypal images come from the collective unconscious and are the basic concepts of religions, mythologies, legends and Arts†¦they emerge through dreams and visions†¦they convey a sense of transpersonal power which transcend th...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

485 Forensic Law Midterm Exam

The most important fact that makes forensic evidence circumstantial is because science cannot be clearly defined by law. The legal system have created standards and written legal rules regarding the admissibility of forensic evidence. When forensic evidence that is presented in court is rarely unaccompanied by an expert witness to provide the court room with a professional explanation backing the reliability of the forensic process used to collect the relevant evidence. This is one the major obstacles in the modern courtroom. Expert witnesses are intended to provide the court with a detailed description of the forensic evidence being presented and how that evidence was analyzed through the use of forensic science. This makes an expert witness’s testimony a testimony to probability and circumstance, rather than actual fact. Consequently, the forensic evidence that is presented is ruled as circumstantial. The primary reason that science cannot be clearly defined by law is the rate of change and new theory that occurs regularly in science. There have been numerous cases where scientific evidence is found to be incorrect or inconclusive when it is admitted into evidence. This is a major concern for the courtroom as false convictions are detrimental to the integrity of the judicial system. Admissible forensic evidence is most always considered circumstantial so that there must be other forms of evidence to support the conclusion made from the forensic evidence to make a ruling. 2. Explain ways in which an opposing attorney can challenge an expert’s testimony in court. The primary goal of an attorney during cross examination is to destroy the credibility of a witness’s testimony. Expert witnesses are held to a different standard during trial and are considered professional witnesses as they speak on the behalf of a professional opinion and understanding of the information being presented; rather than the account or an experience. Regardless of who they witness is, it is important the Federal Rules of Evidence are upheld during cross examination. There are multiple rules against the presentation of past history of witness and attack of their personal character. That being said, an attorney may reference background and qualifications of an expert witness disprove the creditably of the witness as a professional in the field they are giving testimony to. An attorney may do this by researching the expert or the field that they practice and present them question that may cause they to refute their previous testimony or have no answer to a question. Causing an expert witness to look confused or untruthful on the stand shows the jury that jury that their testimony may not be credible or the judge has the authority to dismiss the witness completely. Another approach that is commonly executed during cross examination by an attorney is challenging of the validity and probativity of the expert witnesses testimony. Attorneys may focus on the limitations of the testimony and attempt to show the jury that the testimony is insignificant and inconclusive to show any benefit in proving or disproving any evidence or a fact at trial. An attorney may also challenge the purpose of the testimony. If the attorney can ask questions that show the testimony is insignificant and is not being used to prove or disprove evidence. Then the attorney may be able to have the judge dismiss the testimony. 3. Explain exactly what makes a witness an expert witness and provide an example of a specific forensic science expert witness. Also, explain what scientific expert opinion is and what is required before a court will allow this type of special testimony. An expert witness is considered an expert according to their credentials in the professional field that they are testifying in accordance with. Expert witnesses are used by attorneys to give professional opinion and explanation of information that the common individual would otherwise have no understanding of. Searching the web I discovered SEAK a website devoted to compiling information on expert witness. All of the expert witnesses listed on the site have been previously used in cases to provide testimony to specific evidence that is within the parameters of their expertise and professional credentials. Jill Kessler Miller is a great example of a specific expert witness. Jill resides in Southern California and is an expert in forensic science and dogs. She has testified in nine trials over the past four years. She has had over twenty-five years of experience with training dogs. She has a college degree in English and a graduate certification in Animal Policy Advocacy. The site also lists the multiple specific topics she gives testimony to. This is a great example of an expert witness because she lists are her professional credentials and specific fields that she will testify about in court. Dog bites and veterinary forensics are her direct links to forensic evidence. An expert witness’s expertise, training and special knowledge of a subject allows them to be give opinion is court. There is an exception to the rule against witnesses presenting anything but fact. Regardless, an expert witness’s opinion must be unbiased and bases solely on their special knowledge, train, and expertise in the field. The opposing attorney also has the right to confrontation to this opinion. 4. Explain in general how forensic evidence and analysis of this evidence can aid investigators in determining what took place at a crime scene. How would this information be helpful to an investigation? There are multiple different disciplines of forensic evidence and each different of discipline of forensic evidence can assist investigators to analysis specific evidence to identify its significance in the investigation. When a crime occurs an investigator arrive at the scene of the crime there first set it collect and document all the evidence found at the scene of the crime that looks like it make be out of place or help draw connections to the culprits of the crime. If hair, fibers, fingerprints, tire tracks, bite marks, etc. are found at a crime scene those materials or makes are correct and examined through the use of forensic evidence. The goal of forensic evidence is to analysis the materials collected and draw connections through science to link specific individuals or objects to the crime scene by matching the scientific components. This information is helpful to an investigator because it can provide time estimates of when the crime occurred, if the crime occurred at the location, who may be involved, what may have been used to commit the crime, etc. , but overall what caused the crime to occur. 5. Identify ten separate areas of forensic science that would commonly be utilized at a crime scene investigation and give a brief explanation of each. Hair analysis is the examination of human or animal hair. Forensic science is able to distinguish the difference between the two. Depending on the sample and if the follicle is still attached, science can recover DNA from the hair. Difference can also be made between what area of the body hair originated from. Fiber analysis is the examination of man-made fibers. Forensic science is able to identify through different processes the origination object a fiber may have come from and also may be able to identify what action cause the final location of the fiber. Fiber location can be a good indicator of a struggle or specific actions during a crime. Tread analysis is the examination of treads or tire marks. Upon discovery treads or tire marks are photographed and sometimes casted for examination. These photographs or casts are analyzed to determine the type of vehicle the treads could have come from. Ballistic analysis is the examination or firearms and ammunition. When cases involve firearms and ammunition, ballistic science is used to identify the characteristics of the ammunition discovered and link it to the type of firearm or exact firearm through the identification or rifling in the barrel or the firearm. Glass analysis is the examination of glass. Forensic science can examine glass to identify its refractive characteristics or composition to connect it to other samples of glass collected. There are numerous types of glass and forensic science is able to assist in identifying and matching samples. Paint analysis is the examination of paint samples. Forensic science is used to link paint samples recovered and link those samples to a source of origin. Paint analysis is common to link vehicles and weapons to a crime. Soil analysis is the examination or soil particles. Forensic science can identify even minute traces of soil particles and identify its characteristics, possibly origin. Footprint analysis examines the foot or shoe impressions. Forensic science can indicate through photographs or castings the size of foot, if it is human or animal in origin, if the speed of the individual, type of shoe the individual was wearing. Fingerprint analysis examines human fingerprints. Each individual person has different fingerprints and forensic science can examine one fingerprint and link it to a specific individual. Blood spatter analysis is the examination of blood and how it arrived at its discovered location. Forensic science can analysis blood spatter to indicate the origin of the blood and what may have taken place in what direction and matter to cause the specific patterns of blood discovered. 6. What can a forensic scientist/expert ascertain from hair samples located at a crime scene or on a victim? What would the expert be able to testify to upon analysis of these samples? Hair evidence is commonly discovered at the crime scene because both humans and animal are always shedding hair. The important job or hair forensic analysis is to discover the origins of the sample collected. If a hair sample still have a follicle attach it is possible for a forensic scientist is acquire a DNA pattern from the hair. The characteristics of a hair sample will also indicated the type of hair and location of the body where the hair would have originated from. Examination of the hair root can indicate whether the hair was removed through force or naturally shed by the body. At trial the expert may testify to the all the characteristics able that are possible to discover through a hair sample. Also, an expert may testify to the location of hair and how the characteristics of the hair sample may indicate a certain type of behavior for that hair to be found in the location it was. For example, if a male pubic hair is found in the location or a female genital area then that may be an indication of sexually deviancy. All of this testimony would be circumstantial and only a presentation of possible reasoning for hair characteristics and location. 7. How was fiber evidence utilized to convict Wayne Williams in the Atlanta Child Killing murders? Williams was convicted using seven different fiber and hair associations to the victim Jimmy Ray Payne. Payne was found in a river, but his cloths still retained fibers that were left on the body from his contact with Williams. The medical examiner was able to recover these fibers and sent them in for forensic testing. Through forensic testing it was found that two different fiber strands were consistent with the characteristics of Williams’ bed spread and bedroom carpet. Other fibers retrieved from Payne were consistent with William’s car. Other fibers where connected to various fibers throughout Williams’ home. Once the fibers were from Payne were linked to Williams, the FBI examined the fiber evidence from eleven other victims and through consistencies between all the fibers that were collected where able to link Williams is some way to all twelve murders through the fibers evidence. 8. How can certain marks located on a bullet be analyzed and used to help determine the exact gun from which the bullet was fired? Each individual firearm is created baring its own rifling. Rifling is the groves located within the barrel of a gun that assist the bullet to spin while exiting the gun and pierce through the air without wavering or tumbling. The rifling of the gun leaves distinct marks on the bullets that allow the bullet to be traces the specific rifling of the gun that shot the bullet. If there is no gun present to be directly compared to the bullet, rifling can also being used to identify the specific caliber or mark of the firearm used to fire the bullet. 9. How could glass or paint evidence be used to help solve a hit-and-run motor vehicle accident? What would the forensic expert be able to testify to when comparing glass or paint located at the scene in order to trace paint or glass evidence located on a suspect’s vehicle? Paint and glass evidence can be crucial in linking suspects and vehicles used in hit-and-run crimes. In most hit and run cases, when a vehicle strikes an individual or object traces of paint and glass may be transferred from the vehicle to the individual or object that was struck. Paint evidence is limited to the size or the sample and amount of paint transferred during contact. If the paint characteristics are identified, then those characteristics can be used to link the sample to the type or paint and color. If paint and color can be found and glass samples are left at the scene of a hit and run it is likely that the type of vehicle can be identified. Different types make, models, and types of vehicles utilize different types of glass in the construction of the vehicle. Glass forensic evidence can use glass sample taken from the scene to identify the type of glass and compare it to other samples to indicate possible origins of the sample. An expert witness cannot directly implicate a suspect in a crime by the glass or paint evidence from the scene of the crime and sample taken from the suspect vehicle. However, the expert witness can testify that the samples from the suspect’s car and the evidence collected from the scene have the sample characteristics. Also, an expert may be able to show that the damage or striations found at the scene could indicate that the car’s damage could have been directly caused by striking the individual or object involved in the hit-and-run.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Islamic and conventional credit cards Assignment - 1

Islamic and conventional credit cards - Assignment Example The increased demand is not only from clients need for differentiated products but also from corporations who want to carry out all financial dealings in conformity with Sharia laws. The increasing populations of Muslim countries will additionally propel the demand for Sharia - compliant financial services. Many Muslim nations have young populaces, with more than 60% of the citizens under the age of 21 years, in addition to annual population growth rates of more than 5%. Many conservative banks currently are also engaging in the Islamic Banking market due to its intrinsic feature of minimal exposure to operational risk. Islamic banking, because of its strict Sharia submission norms, can help clients decrease the risks related to interest based debt bankrolling that plagued conservative banks especially during the recent financial crisis that hit the mortgage market. In terms of supply, the main underlying principle of development in Islamic banking is the swelling amount of financial services establishments giving Sharia compliant business solutions. Along with the new Islamic banking institutions that are being designed, there is a developing tendency among current conventional banking institutions to transform their processes to become compliant with Sharia laws. With mounting business rivalries in their home markets, some Islamic banking institutions in the Middle East have begun to multiply globally, with a preliminary attention to Africa and Asia. This amplified rivalry was leading to fresh advanced products being availed to the markets, therefore, rendering Islamic banking more enticing. The initial phases of growth in Islamic banking contend with the concept construction where Sharia specialists examined whether the interest those banks charged was similar to riba. Before 1950s, Muslims were not officially engaging the banking services; so, they did not have any information about bank interest (Shaikh n.d). A few years