Cyber Attacks On Maritime Targets - 1468 Words

The frequency and severity of cyber-attacks on maritime targets increases every year. Often the damage is not discovered until years later. The cyber-attack on the port of Antwerp began in 2011 and continued until it was discovered in 2013. The Danish Maritime Authority was attacked in 2012 by a virus contained in a PDF (portable document format by Adobe). The virus spread throughout the Maritime Authority’s network and into Danish government institutions before it was discovered in 2014. Reasons for the ever-increasing security exposure include the growing use and interdependence of computer systems, the relative ease and extreme value of executing attacks, and the exceptional difficulty in identifying the culprits and bringing them to justice. Regrettably, some port authorities contribute to their vulnerability by addressing cyber-security as a technology threat best left to IT professionals. On the contrary, successful and serious cyber-attacks are inevitable and the planned response must be subject to the same governance and scrutiny that any existential threat would receive. One reason that port authorities hesitate to engage cyber-threats at the Board level is a lack of appreciation for just how impossible cyber-security is. A more complete understanding of the factors that complicate cyber-security can assist Directors in stepping up to set priorities and oversee contingency and remediation plans. Cyber-risk is a relatively new issue at ports, some of whichShow MoreRelatedDomestic And International Risks Associated With Terrorism And Other Criminal Activity Threats Posed For Port Maritime Operations1715 Words   |  7 Pagesthe port FSO in assessing domestic and international risks associated with terrorism and other criminal activity threats posed to port maritime operations? There are several resources available to the port Facility Security Officer (FSO) in assessing domestic and international risks associated with terrorism and other criminal activity threats posed to port maritime operations. There are also several things to keep in mind as the FSO when trying to assess these risks. The FSO needs to build rapportRead MoreRisk Analysis : Risk Assessment1647 Words   |  7 Pagessimilar in a sense that they all aim at evaluating risk. Once risk can be determined, they can then decipher what types of strategies and decisions that should be used. Of the many risk assessments out there three distinct models who stood out were the Maritime Security Risk Analysis Model (MSRAM), The CARVER model, and lastly the Transportation Sector Security Risk Assessment (TSSRA). This paper will discuss the three risk assessment methodology’s origin, the intended audience, as well as some main elementsRead MoreSecurity Plan For Cyber Security1496 Words   |  6 P agesIn relation to defence spending, it’s visible that there was a positive increase in the year succeeding 2007, directly after the attacks. Though this was dramatically decreased for the following two years, which can be explained by the global economic downturn which begun in 2008 (Grigor†²ev Salikhov, 2009). Therefore it is not possible to conclude that Estonia directly increased spending on defence by a significant figure because of the events that took place in 2007, but it can be deduced thatRead MoreTransnational Crime Essay1890 Words   |  8 Pagesas cross-national crime, global crime, international crime, and transnational crime. 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Having this in mind, the security apparatus tasked with securing information in the energy sector should be very keen as the different critical infrastructures in the energy sector could be the next target for a terrorist attack. If a terrorist would haveRead MoreThe Underlying Motivation For Researching The Thought Provoking Construct Of Piracy1800 Words   |   8 Pagesinsights on piracy; and 4) conclusion providing reflection and insights of take-always from an interdisciplinary perspective. Research Motivation In broad daylight during a hot day in 1982, barefooted and shirtless pirates paddling wooden canoes, attack an unarmed U.S. commercial ship delivering humanitarian relief in the seaport of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The shirtless pirates are armed as they swing their grappling hooks and ropes to climb the twenty-five foot starboard hull. 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Maslow s Hierarchy Of Needs - 1690 Words

1. What is motivation, and why is it important in the study of consumer behavior? Can motives be measured, and if so, how? Motivation is made of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that drive people to act and behave. This is very important to consumer behavior because unlocking what motivates people will help marketers be able to more efficiently assess the needs of their consumers and to better reach them through messages. Unfortunately, there is not just one thing that influences a person’s motivation, but rather a series of theorized needs. There are many studies and theories on what motivates people, but the lists are often disagreed about and disputed; however, the most recognized theory about motivation is Maslow’s hierarchy of†¦show more content†¦Self-reporting is usually done through questionnaire administered by a researcher, often employing the Likert scale. People are asked how they feel about a statement by responding â€Å"strongly agree† to à ¢â‚¬Å"strongly disagree.† If the person taking the questionnaire to too aware of the goal of the question, they may respond differently than how they actually feel. That said, when the self-report is able to gather honest answers, it can be quite useful. The other way to measure consumers’ motives is through qualitative research. Qualitative research is similar, in a way, to a Rorschach test; both are projective techniques. Similar to an analyst looking for subconscious meaning in a patient’s identification of an inkblot, qualitative researchers look for meaning in the test taker’s response to a stimuli with an unclear message. By doing this, the researcher hopes to find a subconscious motivation within the consumer. This method seems to have the least objective results and often the data can be misread to fit the researcher’s hypothesis. The next way to measure consumer motivation is through motivational research. Motivational research is based of f of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality which believes that unconscious desires, like sex, are behind a person’s motivation. Motivational research looks at a consumer’s choice in product and searches for the underlying and/or hidden meaning. An example given in the textbook is that women like to bake cakes in order to fulfill

Scientific Method and Scientist Perspective View Free Essays

Science is a venture that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanation and prediction about what are the things that is happening in the world. A closely related meaning of this is Aristotle’s scientific view, which is scientific knowledge is a body of reliable knowledge that can be logically and rationally explained. Objectivity in the field of science is recognized with the property of scientific measurement that can be tested from the scientist who proposes them freely. We will write a custom essay sample on Scientific Method and Scientist Perspective View or any similar topic only for you Order Now So, it is strongly connected to the aim of testability and reproducibility. To be identified as an objective, the results of measurement must be passed on from person to person and then to be verified for third parties, to be able to understand by the objective world. In my opinion, I believe science is objective because as a scientist perspective view all explanation and prediction must be precise and accurate. And I believe scientist don’t just believe on people’s perspective view. One example of this is when religious people believed that God created everything usually scientist will not believe it without any explanation so they tend to research things that will lead them to their findings. Like the creation of human they believe that human were first apes but due to the environmental changes, this apes tend to adapt to the environment and slowly evolve in to humans. There are a lot of things that affect the objectivity of science. First, the selection of the specific object to measure is typically a subjective decision and it often involves reductionism. One example of this is in an experiment when a scientist is determining a specific finding usually he determines his finding by using subjective interpretation of quantifying terms such as â€Å"cold†, â€Å"hot†, â€Å"blue†, â€Å"tiny†, â€Å"huge†, and â€Å"small†, â€Å"large†, â€Å"gigantic†, â€Å"red†, and some other adjectives that could describe their experiment. Second is the selection of instruments and measurement methodology. Some features or qualities of the object under study will be ignored in the measurement process, and the limitations of the chosen instruments will cause data to be left out of consideration. One example of this is when a scientist wants to know the temperature of the area. He can either use the thermometer to measure directly the temperature or use the barometer to know the humidity of the air and determine the temperature. These two devices can give two different results which can result to a skewed decision. In addition absolute limits of objectivity surrounding the measurement process, can give community of researchers certain â€Å"subjective views†, and this subjectivity is therefore built in to the conceptual systems. In my opinion, we can do a lot of things to improve the objectivity of science. We can avoid the variety of subjective interpretation by using measuring tools like measuring tools like meter stick, stopwatches, thermometer, barometer, electromechanical measuring instruments like the spectrometers, voltmeters, timers, oscilloscopes and gravimeters. These devices eliminate the perspective variability of individual observers. An additional objectivity of science we can also develop the avoiding of such partiality like the cognitive bias, which is an outline of variation in judgment that happens in particular situations, cultural bias, which is the occurrence of interpreting and judging phenomena by standards innate to one’s own culture and sampling bias, is an error that causes some members of the population to not be included than others by doing random sampling and double-bind trials Random sampling is taking a number of independent observations from the same probability distribution, without involving any real population while in the other hand double-bind trials is an experimental procedure in which neither the subjects of the experiment nor the persons administering the experiment know the critical aspects of the experiment. How to cite Scientific Method and Scientist Perspective View, Essay examples

Character Formation free essay sample

Give Your Full Attention to Character Formation 10th June 2010, Chennai, India For some time now, I have been deeply thinking about the reason for the slow progress of abhyasis, and in some cases even about the lack of their progress † total lack of progress. Of course, some are progressing well, but that too is perhaps more because of the personal attention that the Master gives them rather than by their own effort, and I am not referring especially to their spiritual practice but to their lifestyle. You know, in Sahaj Marg we are always talking of the Master giving the inner piritual condition, which for him is a matter of a second, whereas character formation is the responsibility of the abhyasi. I think, in general, abhyasis conveniently think that maybe the Masters role is ninety-nine percent, or more, and the abhyasis role in personal character transformation or formation, is even less than one percent. I am forced to this, shall I say, conclusion, because that is how it appears to be, and people are not really serious about character formation or character transformation. Why I say this is because, as I said before, spirituality is given by the Master and that cannot be doubted, you see. But their outer behaviour, their outer lifestyle, the way they conduct themselves, their politeness or lack of it, and, as repeatedly pointed out to me by abhyasis from all over the world, especially the behaviour of those very close to me † what the outside world calls the inner circle. You know, I used to feel concerned, then I used to feel pained, now I really feel guilty. I feel guilty because the people close to me, my inner circle so-called, are, one and all, arrogant, proud, demanding, oppressive, authoritarian and lack politeness† one and all. Of course, I keep telling them about this. Either they smile it off or they say, Yes, yes, we will change now. But you know, recent affairs, especially when I was in Tiruppur immediately following dear brother Alay Shatters revocation of his nomination to succeed me, it has shown the raw human nature at its worst. Gossiping, condemning, blaming† always others, forgetting the principle that when you point your finger at somebody (one finger), three fingers are pointing towards yourselves. So what to do about this, you see. How to make abhyasis realize that the Masters responsibility or his, what shall we say, duty towards an abhyasi (if I should all it that), is hardly one percent † probably one thousandth or one millionth of a percent; whereas the abhyasis role, responsibility in making himself, transforming himself, should be ninety-nine percent or more. It is exactly opposite. Now, what are the consequences? People close to me think that because I keep them close to me, continue to keep them close to me, they a re blameless, they are really blameless and I am only talking for fun or to show-off or something like that, you know, like chastising a pet. And people who are away from me, but who are close to me in an inner sense, they stay away. I remember BabuJi Maharaj had a dog, Honey; and he was not fond of dogs, but it was there and it remained there. It used to run around chasing the monkeys and he used to tell me with a twinkle in his eye that, You know, Honey recognizes abhyasis, because when abhyasis come, he doesnt bark. He only barks at non-abhyasis. And, you know, I never understood the significance of BabuJi people around me, they are all the time barking, shutting doors, putting away people, using my name for everything that they do. He is ill. He is resting. He is asleep. He told us no, so on and so forth. I get letters from very, very close, devoted abhyasis who love me saying, l cannot come, and I will not come so long as I am stopped. For them too, it is a need to transform themselves, because as BabuJi once said, Two lovers cannot remain separated because the circumstances are not favourable. You know the old saying in English: Love laughs at locksmiths. It doesnt mean it only laughs at locks. The locksmith is symbolic of every circumstance that can come between the lover and the beloved. You remember the old story of the man who was so besotted with a girl that when she went out of town, he followed her. There was a river to cross, and the river was in flood. He did not know what to do and then he found something like a log of wood. He took that log of wood and went across the river; and then he found a light burning in the house on the first floor. He said, That must be my beloveds room. And he saw to his surprise a thick rope hanging, and he said, Oh, she loves me so much that she has left a rope for me, and he climbed up using it. And when he entered the room, the girl was stunned. She said, How did you come? He said Oh, there was a boat, you know, there was a log of wood; I crossed the river. And you have left this rope for me. And to their horror, they found that the log of wood was a human corpse and the rope was a python! Now, suppose that lover had been standing on the opposite side † I mean I am giving a deliberate twist in interpretation to this story. Suppose he had stood there waiting until the flood subsided? Then he found the water was muddy because it was a flooding river. He waited till the water was clear. Then he tested it to make sure that there was no contamination. Then he crossed it. What would have happened? So for devoted, loving souls who use these excuses to not come near, I must emphasize that hey are losing a great deal more than these ruffianly people who surround me and who keep people away. They too will not benefit. So what happens is that the dogs which bark at the visitors dont have anything, and the people who are turned away because the dogs are barking, they have no benefit. So lack of correct appreciation of what character transfor mation means You know, I get letters from wives about their husbands: He continues to drink, he continues to smoke, he continues to beat me. He is misbehaving with the children. I get letters from others you know, from a brother, n elder brother or a younger brother, that: My brother is still indulging in various fantasies. He watches porno movies, he indulges in self-titillation. He is masochistic, and yet to the outside world he looks something different. He will not change himself. He says these are something natural; under pressure of inner psychic needs these things happen. Then there are others who say: My children are being ill-treated. The father beats them regularly. Of course, for me it is my destiny as a wife. So you see, people must understand that sadhana does not begin and end with the morning meditation, with the evening cleaning and the night prayer. It is not the end. That is only the foundation of the practice. The superstructure of what has to be erected is a clean structure † well ventilated, that means behaviour transparent. The man is transparent. If he is a businessman, he must have stopped cheating the government by evading taxes. He must have stopped cheating by adulteration of his products. He cheating his partners, if he is a businessman. Are our people doing it? Or do they say, Sahib, that cannot be done because there would be no profit. They must understand that profit is what legitimately comes by buying and selling honestly, sincerely and correctly. Anything else you get by evading taxes, by cheating partners is robbery. I am sorry I have put it in such strong terms but our friends from the business community, our abhyasis, they often satisfy themselves by saying, Yeh hoga nahin, Saab, kabhi † this is not possible. Business cannot be done this way. I say, the whole world is doing business this way. Why you cannot do it? Then a man says, No, no, Sir. My wife denies me everything. She wont give me proper food. He doesnt talk about sex, which is the main thing between a husband and wife in our society. If that is denied, marriage is a failure. Is there a proper way of conducting your marital life, whether it is social or sexual or in any way else, to be harmonious? Should a man not respect his wifes needs, her privacy, her health condition, her moods, or Just insist on what we call in India in our legal language [as] his marital rights that she must be available any time of the day, twenty-four into seven into three hundred and sixty-six † day or night it doesnt matter. I was horrified to hear a story from an abhyasi long ago that after her child was born, on the third day or fourth day her husband demanded sex. Third or fourth day! Now whether he is a husband or an animal or a brute, who is to say? He says, Its my right. Its an interpretation solely to the purpose of a, shall we say, crazy fellow who has sufficient power to enforce his will upon another, to use the principles of marriage to his own purpose and ignoring completely that she may have Just had a child. It doesnt matter. So what? She is a woman, isnt she? So those of you who are going to listen to this, I dont know how you will take all this. But, you know, I should have spoken about this years ago. But I was perhaps too optimistic or too foolish or perhaps even too fraid to put across these ideas to my abhyasis and tell them: Sisters and brothers, this is what is required of you. Always love. Love does not mean lust. Love means giving; love does not mean taking. Love means consideration for others; not a selfish concern for your own self and what you need and what you want. Love means, your income (legitimate), is yours; nothing more. Love means, in a partnership in business, if it is an equal partnership I cannot rob others. Suppose they rob me? Love means first and foremost putting yourself in the place of another before you speak and before you act. If these things are not followed and applied to your own life, dear brothers and sisters, whatever may be the spiritual input that our Master gives us, graces us with, blesses us with, will be lost. Because it is my samskara that I will carry with me into my next life, God forbid if there is a next life, and they are governed by what we do here, what we think here, which is how samskaras are born. So I say, beware, be alert, understand these principles properly, apply them to your own life, examine yourself. If necessary, in your diary be very frank and say, l have stopped beating my wife. Truth, if it is the truth. l have stopped telling lies to my partners. I have stopped cheating. I have stopped adulterating. I have stopped self-titillating. I have stopped beating my children. All these are relevant to your spiritual diary, if you want to be honest about it, so that anybody can read what you have written. Then only you will be aware. Because now, you know, we live in the secrecy of our personality is what I show to the outside world. My true self is inside, secret, safely buried, and I am blissfully thinking that by Masters grace I will evolve, I will go to the Brighter World, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The Master is magnanimous. He loves us, he wants to give us everything that he has, but his limitation is that unless the vessel is clean he cannot put anything else into it. We are in a situation where the Master gives us, let us say, a hundred gallon tank of milk, and two drops of poison which is our contribution, ruins it. It is so potent † human will, human endeavour is so potent. As BabuJi said, You can train a lion to do what you want in six months. But its impossible to train a human being over a whole lifetime unless he or she cooperates. What is the cooperation that I am now trying to emphasize that an bhyasi should offer to the Master? Full attention to character transformation, knowing that the spiritual part is being attended to by him, meticulously, every moment of our life, with total concern for our spiritual welfare and our future. I exhort all of you who will listen to this to take it seriously; if necessary, read this again and again if it is available in wri tten form, and apply it every moment of your life. Think ten times before you address your friend. Think twenty times before you refuse somebody entry into my place to meet me. Do not shout; imagine what it would be like if somebody shouted at you. Do not push people; you dont like to be pushed. Do not force yourself on your wife. And do not make negative comments all the time. There is no salt in this, there is no sugar in this. You are ugly, you know I dont want to see anything in you. Because, by force of circumstances, call it health, call it whatever it is, I really cannot see any of you now, beyond six feet, and my seeing your spiritual condition if I am able to do it, is of no use, because what is going to carry you into the next level of spiritual welfare, spiritual achievement, is you yourself. I pray for all of you .

ASAM 20 essays

ASAM 20 essays One of the original arguments for adding a Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution was that it was needed to protect individuals and minority groups from a potential tyranny of the majority. Whether it was the European Americans, African ­Americans, Native Americans, or the Japanese Americans the Bill of Rights was established to benefit all Americans, and only Americans. It dealt with individual liberties, as well as the boundaries between federal and state authority. Hoping to build a strong bond between Americans, the Bill of Rights failed. Article Fifteen states: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. For an American, there should be no problem. However, this was not always the case. For a time African Americans were unable to vote, and Slavery was well over; however they were still unable to vote. There are many examples of minority injustice in the unites States, but perhaps that strongest example was when the Japanese Americans were forced into internment Camps. Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 caused the United States to enter World War I. It also stirred hostility against Japanese people in the United States. Many Americans associated Japanese Americans with the Japanese pilots who destroyed U.S. Navy ships. The Executive Order 9066, signed by FDR in 1942, was designed to designate military areasfrom which any or all persons may be excluded. Curfews were established for the Japanese Americans, and they were confined to detention camps until their loyalty could be determined. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were confined in ten detention camps scattered over seven states including:Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. As a result, the lives of Japanese Americans were completely turned upside down. They ...

Journalism in all the President’s Men (Essay)

Journalism in all the President’s Men (Essay) Journalism in all the President’s Men For more than thirty-five years, All the Presidents Men (1976) has been a must-see movie for every reporter, whether upcoming or experienced. The movie blends the background of the Watergate scandal in the times of Nixon administration and the fundamental principles of journalism. The viewers see the ideal time of reporting when ambitious and dedicated journalists follow the money and try to bring out the criminals into open, notwithstanding how high-ranking they are. The style of investigative reporting in the movie is aggressive and unbiased. It is greatly romanticized as it shows search for the truth which eventually leads to stunning revelations and makes names for the duo of the Washington Posts journalists. All the Presidents Men is capable of inspiring a young person to choose the career of a reporter since the main characters are represented in the most favorable light. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward demonstrate how to do the job in the proper way. They set an example of persistence, critical thinking, natural and concise searching examinations and getting answers to confirm their guesses. They behave in both passionate and impersonal way which reveals their in-depth knowledge of psychology. In addition, the movie shows that one of the most essential qualities of a journalist is the ability to trust the instincts. The movie All the Presidents Men serves not only as an entertaining or instructive means of spending spare time, but as a visual textbook on journalism. It reveals the major objective of the journalists job and the power of journalism as it is. Helping the society to be transparent, reporting on the most burning issues that matter to the public, fighting for the truth and justice are the functions of every committed journalist whose ambition is not to earn more, but to serve the country and the community.

EDMA 610 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

EDMA 610 - Assignment Example Job design is how a job is organized. It contains the duties and responsibilities of the job, the way the job should be done and the relation of the holder to colleagues. The differences between job analysis and job deign is that whereas job analysis involves an investigation, job design involves already established properties of the job. 1. Ranking method of job evaluation is a simple arranged in order of their merit or value to the organization. Jobs are ranked according to the relative difficulty in performing them. The jobs at the top have the highest value and the bottom has the lowest value. It is subjective in nature cannot be used in large organizations. 2. Factor comparison method of job evaluation is a complex method. It systematic and scientific processes. The job is analyzed according to factors, for example skill involved in the job, mental and physical requirements, working conditions among others. After which key jobs are selected. Key jobs are those jobs whose wage rate the management considers as correct. Other job wages are fixed putting the key job factors into consideration. It is a consistent method. 3. Point method of job evaluation begins with the breakdown of jobs into key factors. Points are assigned to each factor in order of importance of the duties and responsibilities involved in the job. Totals of the points are made. Jobs with similar point totals are placed in the same pay grades. 4. Classification method of job evaluation places jobs according to classes. The classes are according to the skills and training involved in the job. Classes start from class one made of managerial positions, the last class being the unskilled. It is less subjective method and is easy to understand. A good working condition is one that provides comfort to the employees so as to do their best. There are certain practices a company should adopt to make the work

Comparing and contrasting HMO and PPO insurance programs Essay

Comparing and contrasting HMO and PPO insurance programs - Essay Example Whenever a policyholder needs the services of a specialist doctor, the PCP needs to be visited to refer the specialist to be visited by the policyholder, HMO or PPO. Difference between HMO and PPO comes in the PCP aspect. For HMO, there is no choice; the member has to identify a PCP but in PPO, it is not mandatory. It depends on the will of the members to choose a PCP or not. In other words, the PPO members can select a specialist by their own (Daltons, 2007). Personally, I would like to opt for HMO, reason being it suits my needs. I do not need to search for any specialist myself. Whosoever the specialist, I will be referred to by the PCP; it would relieve me from the tension of finding a good specialist. It is cost-effective also, as I will be eligible for coverage or benefits, not available in PPO for getting medical care outside of the private network. I need not pay from my own pocket if I select HMO, as my healthcare insurance provider (Dalton, 2007). It needs to be noted that a PPO member will not pay extra if the chosen doctor is from the preferred providers, but the HMO member can consult only the selected PCP. If there is some emergency, the selected PCP would refer the case to the specialist in the HMO network only. In the case of PPO, advanced permission might be required for costly services, such as MRIs. Even in HMO, procedures and prescription services and copayments for doctor visits are charged. In PPO arrangement, out-of-network charges are only partly paid (Behari, 2010). Role of the PCP is very critical in HMO, as it is the PCP who caters to all healthcare needs of the insurer. A PCP functions as a personal doctor to attend to all needs of the patient. A PCP could either be an internal medicine physician, family physician, and in some HMOs, gynecologists to offer essential healthcare for women. A PCP can be a pediatrician too or a family doctor as well, as per one’s choice for getting treatment for

Definition of educaton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definition of educaton - Essay Example The first and foremost important requirement for any educated person is knowledge as it is required in order to make any decisions about what to do, say or believe. This knowledge should encompass both fundamental or foundational knowledge as well as non-foundational knowledge. The former includes matters which are basic such as the earth we live in and the matter surrounding us. However this information may not be of any practical value but they will definitely help people to gain an understanding about reality and their surroundings and also will lead to further inquiries. The non-foundational knowledge is more specific, limited and detailed in nature such as knowing the composition of common salt or understanding the functioning of the human system. Individuals should definitely possess the foundational knowledge as it sows the seeds for further reasoning and inquiry. In addition to possessing knowledge educated people should also have the skills and abilities that will help them to apply their knowledge to practical use. This includes skills to do work, speak, listen and think. The right thinking skills will enable a person to make rational and intelligent decisions. The thinking skills include a general and a specific component.

The Criminal Justice System And Race Criminology Essay

The Criminal Justice System And Race Criminology Essay Conceptions of race within the criminal justice system have always been a controversial issue. Indeed, there is no denying that in terms of prison population ethnic minorities are grossly overrepresented: despite making up only 2% of the total population of Britain, black people still make up 15% of the population of prisons (Ashworth). If one assumes that these statistics represent overt racism within the administration of the criminal justice system then calls for reform and possibility of change will be high, however there has been a tendency to see these statistics as presenting the evidence of an irreconcilable problem, of deeper seated decay within, not just in the lower echelons of the criminal justice system, but society as a whole (Chelitotis and Liebling). If this is so then the answer to whether the criminal justice system can be made to operate equitably in relation to race may require a process of deeper reforms. It is necessary to assess first the query of whether racism exists within the system and if so, to what extent. Bowling argues that there exists an either, or debate; whether the overrepresentation in the prison population is the result of a higher rate of black people committing offences, or, conversely, the result of an accumulation of bias throughout the criminal process. Waters, in his early article Race and the Criminal Justice Process, suggests that the debate can be further defined as those that fall into the legal factors camp, who believe that the reason for differences custodial sentence decisions are legal factors such as severity of offence and previous criminal record (which may in themselves be the result of broader structural and economic factors such as unemployment and poverty) and that these variables quite satisfactorily explain the predominance of black people in prison. One the other hand the extra-legal factors camp argue that over and above the racial discrimin ation experienced in society as a whole, black people receive unfair and inferior treatment by virtue of the ethnicity at the hands of a predominantly white justice system.Oxbridge Essays www.oxbridgeessays.com The research conducted by Hood would seem to suggest that there are in existence some extra legal factors and therefore discrimination in sentencing. Hood found that after samples had been matched on variables predictive of custodial sentences (e.g. seriousness of offence, previous convictions, employment, and other pre-sentence report findings) there was a 5% greater chance of being handed a custodial sentence if you were black, and that this difference (which also resulted in black defendants being sentenced for 3 months longer and Asians 9 months longer where a not guilty plea was entered). However Ashworth highlights the fact that Hoods research does not account for the fact that more black people enter guilty pleas, choose to come to the crown court where sentences given are often harsher and may disproportionately become involved in more serious crime. Thus the study is not conclusive that there does not exist a whole host of other factors why ethnic minorities may come to be w ithin the system in the first place. Indeed, Von Hirsch and Roberts in their reflections on the Hood study highlight the problems inherent in the assumption of a level playing field of the variables chosen. For example, with employment: there is evidence that black people suffer from disadvantage in the labour market, so to take this into account when sentencing would amount to an indirect form of discrimination. Thus there are clearly deeper roots of discrimination which cumulatively result in the discrepancies seen. Chelitotis and Liebling argue that differences in levels and patterns of offending may result from a vicious crime circle of stereotyping black people as more crime prone. This leads to over-policing ethnic minority neighbourhoods, thereby drawing more ethnic minorities into the criminal justice net, consequently extending their criminal records and meaning they are more likely to be sentenced severely. They are also therefore more likely to be re-targeted by the polic e, resulting, again, in increasingly punitive sentencing when they are reconvicted. Thus it would seem the problem is not merely in the overt form of discrimination, but exists throughout the system, perhaps even worsening the lower the visibility level becomes. One only needs to take a look at the stop and search statistics to see this borne out, black people being 6.5 times more likely to be stopped and Oxbridge Essays www.oxbridgeessays.com ), leading to s comment that ethnic minorities are over policed and under protected. However, once again the picture is not so clear cut; it can be argued that what the figures actually represent is differences in the type of crime committed, with ethnic minorities being more involved in street crime such as drug offences and therefore more likely to be stopped and searched in suspicion of such relatively visible activity. This is further exacerbated by social and demographic factors and by differences in work and leisure life which mean that not only are minorities in greater numbers in areas and at times where searches occur, but that more searches occur in the urban areas in which they live, in which unemployment and social deprivation are high (. Nevertheless the wide discretion accorded to police in such cases means that the prevalence of minority groups in the figures suggests some form of racism. searched than white people, and Asians twice as likely (Home Office 2005),given that the majority ofthese initial stops do not lead to anyfurther action(87%), it would seemto suggest that this is merely evidence of discriminatoryracial profilingand stereotyping.Whilst the basis of such actions is of s1 ofPACE (which permits police to stop and search with onlyreasonable suspicion)and s60 CJPOA (which permits searches without suspicion where seriousviolence is anticipated or to searchfor weapons), andtherefore essentiallylegal, its exercise can be seen as targeted (Quinton), leading to Reiners comment that ethnic minorities are over policed and under protected.However,once again the picture is not so clear cut;it can be argued that what the figures actually represent is differences in the type of crime committed,withethnic minorities being more involved in street crime such as drug offencesand thereforemore likely to be stopped and searched in suspicion of suchrelatively visibleactivit y. This is further exacerbated by social and demographicfactors and by differences in work and leisure life which mean thatnot only are minorities in greater numbers in areas and at times where searches occur, butthatmore searches occur in the urban areas in which they live, in whichunemploymentand social deprivation are high (Philips). Nevertheless the widediscretion accorded to police in such cases means that the prevalenceofminority groups in the figures suggests some formof racism. Indeed, the Macpherson Inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence affair was elucidatory on the existenceof institutional racism within the police system,defined byMacphersonas the collective failure of an organisation to providean appropriateand professionalservice to people because of their colour,culture or ethnic origin, it can be seen detected in the processes, attitudes andbehaviour which amountto unwitting prejudice, ignorance,thoughtlessnessand racist stereotypingwhich disadvantages ethnic minorities and thereforewould accountfor the disproportionate representation ofblacks in the systemand for the high level of racist incidents detected (police recorded racistincidents have increased dramatically from4,383 incidents in 1988 to 52,694 in2004-Home Office). WhilstLeahighlights that Macphersons discussion oninstitutional racismfails to locate with sufficientprecision its roots within thestructure of operational policy and the relationship between policeand minority Oxbridge Essayswww.oxbridgeessays.comOxbridge Essays www.oxbridgeessays.com too asserts that institutional racism does exist, and that it stems not only from the occupational culture of the police and the particular forms of contact they have with ethnic minorities, but also from the belief that they are dangerous classes. Stopping and searching therefore represents a form of generalised surveillance of those who they believe to have little political capital. In these ways Lea argues that racism does arise from the normal functioning of the police system, a sentiment that was echoed by a comment from the Director General of the Prison Service 2001 when he said that the prison is an institutionally racist institution which reflects an institutionally racist white society(). communities,Leatoo asserts that institutional racismdoes exist,and that itstems notonly from the occupational culture of the police and the particularforms of contact theyhave with ethnic minorities, but also fromthe belief thatthey are dangerous classes.Stopping andsearching therefore represents aformof generalised surveillance of those who they believe to have little politicalcapital. In these ways Lea argues that racism does arisefrom the normalfunctioning of the police system, a sentiment that was echoed by a commentfrom the Director General of the Prison Service 2001 when he said that theprison is an institutionally racist institution which reflects an institutionally racistwhite society(Lea). Thus it can be seen that a complex interplay of socio-economic, demographic,institutional, structuraland culturalfactors, alongside direct and indirect racialdiscrimination (Philips) are responsiblefor the overrepresentation anddiscriminatory outcomes evident in the system.Edgar and Martinconcur,suggesting that in the context ofdiscussion on discriminatory treatment withinprisons, the experiences of ethnic minorities should be see in the context ofexpectations which might have arisen fromcontact with other criminal justiceagencies. Further,Wacquentnotes that prison confines groups endowed with negative symbolic capital, and that their stigmatisation constitutes part oftherelationship between the confined and thosein authority. Just as the prison,heargues, may mirror external macro-socialtrends, so too can it lead to theirexistence by stigmatising and curtailing the life chances of ethnic minoritiesfurther. Thus once again,discrimination can be seen to be adeep-seatedissue, and one wh ich is not necessarily adequately addressed by combatingthe administration of the laws.Waters, in his article, expresses the need todistinguish between concepts ofequality and equity.Indeed, it can be seenthat equality between treatment of black and white offenders does notnecessarily equate tofairness or appropriateness, and we should strive forjustice rather than equality per se in recognition that society is notequal. This is acomparative exercise where quality meansthatsameness is notnecessarily desirable,and justice may demand some differentiation on groundsof race in order to treat all people equitably(Pinder). For example, in relation tothe employment point above, recognising the inequalities in the labour market Oxbridge Essayswww.oxbridgeessays.comOxbridge Essays www.oxbridgeessays.com notes, the challenge for the criminal justice system is to discover at what point negotiated differentiation becomes an imposed discrimination. We need to distinguish between notions of process and outcome; justice and fairness in the way laws are administered does not necessarily make them fair in and of themselves. Thus, there exists discrimination on a broad level within the criminal justice system, which needs to be recognised and addressed at the decision-making level. As advocates, it is necessary to address both the administration of the system with regard to race, but also the policies themselves, and what is necessary to ensure that treatment throughout the system is fair. and therefore not unduly discriminating against those who are unemployed during sentencing may help to furtherfairness overall. As Van Dykenotes, thechallenge for the criminal justice system is to discover at what point negotiateddifferentiation becomes an imposed discrimination.We need to distinguishbetween notionsofprocess and outcome; justice and fairness in the way laws are administered does not necessarily make themfair inandof themselves.Thus,there exists discrimination on a broad levelwithin the criminal justicesystem,which needs to be recognised andaddressed at the decision-making level. As Von Hirschadvocates, it is necessary to address both theadministration of the system withregard to race,but also the policiesthemselves, and what is necessary to ensure that treatment throughout thesystem is fair. The fact of the matter, however, is that ethnic minorities do notcare whatreasonsunderpinthe discrimination they are suffering, whether it be due tobroader socio-economic factors or whether it issues directly from the personthey are dealingwith (Waters). The result is a lack of legitimacy in their eyes,attributed to the criminal justice system as a whole, resulting in blackdefendants being more likely to pleadnot guilty and to optfor the Crown court(Von Hirsch),thus furtherincreasingtheir propensity to be sentencedseverely. The problem becomes perpetual:if the justice system is viewed asinequitable it will breed defianceamong those who feel they are not beingtreated fairly, resulting in afurtherhike in the overrepresentation ofethnicminorities within the system. If the system is to made to operate equitably in relation to race it will require a tall order of reforms. Whilst direct and institutional racism can be addressed by ethnic minority recruitment drives within the police force, and racial awareness trainingfor all criminal justiceofficials, the broadersocial-economic issues will require change in politicaland social policy(Hood and Shute). Whatis clearis that race is a covertissue;a difficult problem to attemptto address as so few are willing toacknowledge its existenceoutright(Bosworth). Thus perhaps most pertinentwould be to increase awareness of the prevalenceofbroaderforms of indirectdiscrimination and social inequality and to attempt to keep these concerns in Oxbridge Essayswww.oxbridgeessays.comOxbridge Essays www.oxbridgeessays.com mind so that decisions at all stages can, at least as much as is possible, be made equitably.

Comparing Dubliners and To the Lighthouse Essay -- comparison compare

Comparing Dubliners and To the Lighthouse In Dubliners and To the Lighthouse, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf explore the depressing results of lives devoid of growth or meaning versus those who dare to live their lives in spite of all strife and adversity. Joyce and Woolf are both concerned with the meaninglessness of stagnant lives, the first operating in pre-WWI Ireland, the second in England during and after the war. "The Dead" and To the Lighthouse both reveal the despair of lives that occupy but do not fill the short span of time between birth and inevitable death. With "The Dead", Joyce brings his lament for Ireland's plight to its depressing yet strangely peaceful conclusion. Like all the previous stories in Dubliners, "The Dead" gives the reader a heavy dose of the social depravity of an Ireland torn by internal war. Everyone in the story seems so caught up in remembering the faded glory of the past that the living have become even more stagnant and perished than the dead themselves. Aunt Julia appears first as a faded flower: "her hair...was grey; and grey also, with darker shadows, was her large flaccid face. ...[She had] the appearance of a woman who did not know where she was or where she was going" (187-188). Even this initial description seems to be of one near or even past death. Even while singing more beautifully than she ever had (202-203), she seems more prepared for her funeral than "Arrayed for the Bridal". She has both authored and, for every Christmas party she has ever thrown, performed this song about a wedding, and yet has never herself married or produced children. Her life, though intermittently beautiful while it has lasted, will soon end in obscurity, fruitless, childless, "wasted", as her ... ...ort of lasting meaning. What the lamented heroes of old had, and the zombie-like characters of the present generally lack, is the knowledge that the formation and maintenance of emotional bonds between human beings are the only meaningful enterprise of the human spirit and the only worthwhile endeavor of the human life. Both authors make it clear that those who spend their lives going through the motions of an unemotional society waste their lives as slowly and painfully as their bodies waste away. For them, the only way to truly live one's life is to follow the feeling, the passion of the soul. Works Cited: Benstock, Bernard. Critical Essays on James Joyce. G.K. Hall & Co. Boston, Massachusetts: 1985. Joyce, James. Dubliners. New York: Washington Square Press, 1998. Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1989.

A Civil Action Essay

‘A Civil Action’ is a legal thriller, well-directed and presented in such a way that manages to create certain mood of extreme anxiety and fear, which all the more increases the tension level to filter throughout the movie. If you think that watching a movie in which lawyers are seen reading doesn’t sound exciting, you will have to give a second thought. The director, Steven Zaillian of ‘A civil action’, has managed to maintain the suspense and thrill throughout the movie. There have been lots of movies based on the water as subject but here water looks so ominous as it never had felt before. Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) is a lawyer who is greedy and runs a law firm that has only one aim and that is of getting profitable cases. Right in the first scene, Schlichtmann talks about which would be better for his business, whether a dead black or a dead white or a dead cripple or a dead kid, and while stating all this his voice is subtle cold. The film is all about the case of 12 dead kids who died due to contaminated drinking water, which is because of two main food companies. Schlichtmann accepts this case in order to get a good payoff. Because he believes and says once in the movie, â€Å"A lawyer who feels compassion for his client is worse than a doctor who recoils at the sight of blood†. The lawyer from the food company’s side starts with idiosyncratic and strange way so that Schlichtmann takes him too lightly. And when the trial proceeds, viewers start feeling the excitement and anxiety of what next was going to happen. Schlichtmann is seen gathering information for his case and spending lot of time and resources for the sake of them. So much so that his company runs of fund and they use credit cards, try to et loans and even buy lottery tickets to fight this case. Anne Anderson (Kathleen Quinlan), the spokesperson of the families whose kids died, is seen almost pleading and is quite sympathetic with the families. ‘A Civil Action’ is a story of the case but in the end the question does not arise about that is the winner. Even in the final sequence in the courtroom there is no slowdown as such and finally one feels that it was a story of Schlichtmann who turns to be a considerate human being slowly along with fighting for the case. During this journey he comes in ontact with Jerome Facher who is a strong attorney but always bounces a ball on walls and carries a suitcase that is trodden up. This act of Facher proves to be of assuredness eventually and his appearance itself makes other lawyers nervous. The ending gives the impression of the real creativity of the filmmakers and they don’t leave the viewers behind with a cheap one. So instead of giving any stereotyped ending, the director leaves it in mid-air and the thrill remains till the end. The direction of the movie is so intense that every time water is poured in the glass, a ringe of fear develops in viewer’s mind. In one scene Schlichtmann is standing on a bridge and water is flowing underneath, and the sound effects created here makes the viewer feel as if there is a dead secret in the water itself. Travolta has done an extremely good job and is seen quite convincing and of course very powerful. Travolta portrays the role of a man, who understands in the end that money is not the whole thing, in earnest and effective manner. This film is worth seeing for those who love thriller, which includes palpable suspense and tension throughout.

Bio Implant materials essays

Bio Implant materials essays This paper will discuss the key properties of three categories of implant alloys; stainless steels, cobalt-based alloys, and titanium-based alloys, focusing on those properties which make the implant alloys ideal for skeletal implants. An additional focus of the paper will be on any disadvantages possessed by each group of implant alloys. Wood was probably the first bioimplant, a sturdy, inert, and readily available material in the older days. But as mankind aged newer materials were discovered, and often created, that were indeed superior. The search for a exceptional implant alloy is one which has laboratories researching and testing different types of alloys for the best combination of strength, durability, corrosion resistance, and other important traits these alloys must possess. The first implant metal to be discussed is stainless steel. The one most common stainless steel in use is 316L, grade 2. This particular alloy is mostly iron, chromium, and nickel, though it also contains nitrogen, magnesium, molybdenum, phosphorous, silicon, and sulfur. Most implant quality 316L has at least 62.5% iron, 17.6% chromium, and 14.5% nickel. The implant quality 316L has improved corrosion resistance, structure, and ductility over the commercial quality form of the alloy. An important property of the stainless steel alloy is its high chromium content which fights corrosion by forming an surface oxide. The nickel is added to insure no delta ferrite, or to combat the impact the chromium, molybdenum, and silicon have in forming ferrite. No delta ferrite is a condition where there is no metallic resonance, allowing for the implant to still be safe even when the patient is undergoing an MRI. There is a drawback to the use of nickel in the implant, which in turn means there is a drawback to the implant itself. Somewhere in between 3% and 5% of the population is allergic to nickel. Nickel causes inf...

Renn. Manners essays

Renn. Manners essays Societies and cultures are often defined by the behaviours and idiosyncrasies that are unique to a group of people. Just as this rule generally applies to the modern world, so does it to the past and more specifically the time of rebirth in western society (AKA the Renaissance.) Just before and during this period, the process of urbanization took place across Europe, as surplus agriculture (as a result of new technology and methods) allowed the former rural classes to move to developing metropolitan cities. The result of this process was inevitably that people would interact with one another on a more regular basis than before, and the old medieval debate about the contemplative and secluded life versus the active and social life seemed to be resolved. In his book Galateo, Giovanni Della Casa addresses the issues that displease him in the developing active life and attempts to codify a set of manners to deal with these issues. On the surface, this treatise provides many examples of social behaviour that are familiar with us in the modern world, but if the reader carefully examines how these manners fit into the context of the Renaissance, certain cultural assumptions of the time period are hidden just beneath the surface. In order to understand the context in which the book was written, we must first examine how the author fit into this exciting period of change. Giovanni Della Casa was an Archbishop, and influential individual as a diplomat for the Vatican. Despite his ecclesiastical background, Della Casas writings prove to the reader that the general mentality of the Renaissance (especially in the middle class) was the overarching cultural assumption that viewed the active life as worthy aspiration. The Galateo covertly expresses humanistic ideals, republicanism and praise for the public man, giving the reader a clear impression of what the culture of the time was like. The first way that Della C...

Research Report Assessment Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Report Assessment - Research Paper Example Amongst various studies that have been conducted concerning this significant subject matter, a sort of moderate attitude towards the exercise of restraints with the elderly people can be viewed. A few of the reasons that can be considered as quite vital concerning the use of physical restraints with elderly people are viewed to be related with the safety concern of the patients (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). With this concern, the purpose of this study is to forecast the adequacy of Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and also to explain the reasons about why the nurses are executing physical restraints with elderly people and ultimately how they are benefitted. Research Question or Hypothesis The research questions that are appropriate for this particular study has been portrayed hereunder. Whether the attitude, approach and the subjective norms are related to the intention of nurse’s intention towards employing physical restraints particularly with the elderly people? How the nurs e’s attitude, approach, subjective norms and objectives to exercise physical restraints are linked with selected professional as well as demographic variables? Research Variables Dependent Variables The main dependent variables used in the study include moral obligation, intention, attitude as well as subjective norm. Independent Variable Independent variables are mainly regarded as the socio- economic characteristics like age and professional facets such as years in the profession and the percentage of restraints used. The independent variables are first examined and then their merged effects are taken into concern for making further study. Extraneous Variables There are two extraneous variables that can be viewed in this study. These comprise years of education and religious belief of the people (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Research Design Research designs in general are of three kinds that include experimental, descriptive and causal research design. The research design us ed in this study is causal research design. It is often viewed to be a study which highlights the impact of one thing over the other (University of Southern California, n.d.). In this regard, a particular research design of correlation design has been taken into concern in the study with 303 nursing staffs in the region of Central Israel (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Population and Sample Setting In terms of setting, the population or the sample volume for this research study can be viewed as 303 staff members of nursing in an 800-bed hospital located in the central area of Israel (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Target and Accessible Population Participants have been asked to report their consent by taking into concern three different cases. These cases have been presented hereunder. 1. The first case is of an 87 year-old patient having cognitive deterioration and is hospitalized for three days. 2. The second case is of a 80 year-old patient who has been suffering from Cerebral Vascular Accident. 3. The third case included that of a 75 year-old patient who is suffering from moderate cognitive impairment (Werner & Mendelsson, 2001). Sample and Sampling Plan Three hundred and three nursing staff members of an 800 bed elder care hospital had participated in the study which was conducted. Females constituted majority of the population with

A Diamond Personality Paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Diamond Personality Paper - Case Study Example This paper will determine the possible characteristics or qualities of an entrepreneur who seeks to achieve his goal. Factors that Contributed to Rodriguez’s Success The success of Oscar Rodriguez, an entrepreneur who ventured on selling diamonds online as middleman between buyer and supplier lies on several qualities he have: perseverance, attention to details, a will to maintain his own income-streaming business, and a discipline to keep things in perspective. This mean that Rodriguez may feel and experience failure and disappointments but he persevered and determined to continue and find ways to address the obstacles such as the unwillingness of suppliers to provide him with diamonds, the discouragement of one supplier about online selling of such a precious commodity, the lack of big capital, and failure in retailing. Perseverance, determination, and the drive to go after something are some of the most elusive characteristics among the majority of people. These characteris tics are similar and will be discussed on this portion as one. When an entrepreneur is determined to pursue success in his venture, he is not easily daunted by setbacks or failures but instead learn from them. Many individuals may feel they are losers when negative experiences happen. However, the determined entrepreneur like Rodriguez will not mull on his failure or loss but instead move on and find other possibilities (Marquez, 2007) linked or not linked with his current venture. There are a lot of challenges in every business venture (Fenton and Inglis, 2007) and these never seem to cease. The business environment is fraught with problems and issues including but not limited to capital investment, partnerships, supplier and employee relations, public and social responsibility, image, while keeping the business afloat, and many others (Ghosh, 2008). By adopting means and ways to address perceived and experienced business challenges, the business organization will be able to minimi ze risks and loses, but not exactly eliminate them. All these are experienced by Rodriguez. But acceptance of the inevitable challenges comes with the venture. Success in a business enterprise does not always mean being at the right place at the right time. It did not take a single shot for Rodriguez to experience success. First, his retail shop closed. Then, the supplier or dealer he approached did not believe in his proposal. His determination to proceed and succeed made the difference. Rodriguez Score on the Big Five Dimensions of Personality I believe that Rodriguez’ highest score on the Big Five dimension of personality is on conscientiousness. He pursued his business plan tenaciously and in complementing order with the other dimensions of personality including openness to experience, extraversion and agreeableness. He was determined to continue the business he started, only on another platform instead of the retail high-street or mortar one. He went online instead and s ought the opportunities available for him. Conscientiousness is defined as the tendency to be self-disciplined and acting on self-imposed duty with the aim to achieve something. This is also seen with leadership abilities as conscientiousness also shows a person who work as planned. Rodriguez may at times act on impulse but upon analysis of possibilities for a venture, he sought which should be done and the course of his business venture. He hired the right persons, connected with the willing dealer-suppliers, and pursued possibilities for his venture. Rodriguez showed an openness to experience when he dabbled on jewelry despite his lack of knowledge on it and upon the

Individual application paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Individual application paper - Essay Example Which managerial ethics does he possess? On the other hand, I am the one with the problem. Alternatively, am I a perfectionist? All these questions do arise especially after Erick was elevated to that position of the general manager. Am not jealous of him but I think his actions are biased and unprofessional. This is because he usually hires his friends to work in the cafà ©, some of whom are not qualified. Furthermore, he no longer observes the training policies set down for the organization. Long before his appointment, we used to follow and respect the training policies of the organization. I think generally I don’t like Erick the manager. I do not know whether my dislike for Erick will create a negative attitude toward him or am just being biased. His style of management does not conform to the normal style of management which has been in existence since I joined Franklin group of companies. I do not welcome his tendency of hiring his friend to work in the restaurant because some are incompetent like Colleen. Take a scenario of an episode, which occurred last Saturday night, and you will agree with me. The policies of the restaurant stipulate that an employee cannot leave the cafà © at the end of the working period before being released by the manager. However, on the material Saturday, Colleen, one of the friends of Erick, the general manager, who was working in the restaurant as a waiter was to go home at 11.30 pm but was not yet released by the manager and she was still lingering in the dining room. Common sense dictates that as a worker in the restaurant and not yet released, you are entitled to work until the time the manager will officially release you. However, that was not the case with Colleen. To her, upon clocking 11.30 pm, she knew she was officially off. This clearly portrays how the training policies of the restaurants are no longer applied and the manager is not concerned even a little. Her behavior made me dislike her so much because

French Revolution Essay Example for Free

French Revolution Essay Modernity by itself is a very abstract concept which can be associated with all new experiences in history. It is largely temporal because what is modern today is the old or obsolete tomorrow. Modernity is said to be a logic of negation because it tends to give importance to the present over the past, and at the same time also frowns over the present with respect to the future. From a purely historical perspective however, the society which evolved in Europe after the French Revolution of 1789 can be termed as modern in so much so that there is a marked difference or break in the way of thinking, living and enterprise between the societies after and before the French Revolution. The evolution of the modern society was not a process that happened overnight. The roots of the modern society and its gradual evolution can be traced back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. In fact the period from that point in history to the French Revolution is termed as the period of intellectual Enlightenment when there was a radical change in philosophy, science, politics, arts and culture. It was on these new forms of knowledge that the foundation of the modern society or modernity was based. Defining the Traditional Many scholars have tried to analyze the basic or instinctive nature of human beings in attempts to track back how modernity could have affected the core individual. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes deduced that in an environment uninfluenced by artificial systems or in a ‘state of nature’ human beings would be war like and violent, and their lives would consequently be solitary, poor, brutish and short. Rousseau however contradicts Hobbes. He claims that humans are essentially benevolent by nature. He believed in the ‘noble savage’ or the concept that devoid of civilization human beings are essentially peaceful and egalitarian and live in harmony with the environment – an idea associated with Romanticism. Human beings have however lived in communities and formed societies since the very early ages. In what is now known as the ancient world or the world of classical pagan antiquity typical of the societies of Greece and Rome, the concept of the ‘new’ or ‘change’ was absent. Time, like the seasons, was supposed to move in cyclical order, repeating itself with regularity cycle after cycle with nothing new or changed to break away from the established order. The people were steeped in more superstitious and religious beliefs which ruled almost every aspect of their lives. Christianity brought about changes in the belief systems of the ancient world. Christianity postulated that time was linear, that it began from the birth of Jesus Christ and would end with the apocalypse and the second coming of Jesus. This was a linear concept of time that moved in a straight line and not in a cycle that kept coming back to the same point. The Foundations of Modernity It was during the Enlightenment period that the Christian concepts of time and history were secularized to give way to the modern approach to change and progress. There were many other basic changes during the Enlightenment. The key ideas which formed the basis of the enlightenment period were autonomy and emancipation, progress and the improvement of history and universalism. The development of scientific knowledge gave rise to religious skepticism. People were no longer willing to submit blindly to the dictates of ordained religion. In other words they attained emancipation from the shackles of religion that had governed almost all aspects of their lives. This emancipation led to autonomy of the individual. Individuals began to decide for themselves instead submitting to an external authority such as religion. The people now decided by themselves what kind of authority, rules and regulation would be good for them, and such authority must be natural and not supernatural. Enlightenment encouraged criticism. Enlightenment thinkers did not hold anything sacred and freely criticized, questioned, examined and challenged all dogmas and institutions in their search for betterment or progress. Thinkers such as Voltaire defended reason and rationalism against institutionalized superstition and tyranny. The belief that there could and should be a change for the better came to be a prominent characteristic of modernity. The critical attitude of enlightenment thinker to contemporary social and political institutions paved the way for scientific studies of political and social studies and subsequent evolution of better forms of such institutions. The scientific revolution during the period, culminating in the work of Isaac Newton, presented a very practical and objective view of the natural world to people at large, and science came to be regarded very highly. Scientific inquiry was gradually extended to cover new social, political and cultural areas. Such studies were oriented around the cause-and-effect approach of naturalism. Control of prejudice was also deemed to be essential to make them value free. Enlightenment thinking emphasized the importance of reason and rationality in organization and development of knowledge. The gradual development of the scientific temperament with a paradigm change from the qualitative to the quantitative is also very evident in Europe of the time. People came to believe that they could better their own lot through a more scientific and rational approach to everything. The concept of universalism which advocated that reason and science were applicable to all fields of study and that science laws, in particular, were universal, also grew roots during the period. People began to believe in change, development and progress – all basic tenets of modernity as we know it today. Autonomy to decide for their own good, gave the people the right to choose the form of authority that could lead them as a society or community towards a better future and progress. This opened the doors to the emergence of states with separate and legally defined spheres of jurisdiction. Thus we find that modernity represents a transformation – philosophical, scientific, social, political and cultural – at a definite time in history at a definite spatial location. This transformation also represents a continuum up to the present in so much so that its basic principles are inherent in the societies and nations of today. The period of enlightenment can be seen as one of transition from the ‘traditional’ to the ‘modern’ forms of society, from an age of blind beliefs to a new age of reason and rational. Different Perspectives on development of Modernity Different political and philosophical thinkers have however developed different, and sometimes contradicting, theories of the development of modernity. Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx are two of the leading thinkers whose theories run counter to each other. For Hegel, the development of modernity was a dialectical process which was governed by the increasing self-consciousness of what he termed as the collective human ‘mind’ or ‘spirit’. According to Hegel, the dialectic process of development of the mind comprised three stages, with two initially contradicting positions synthesizing into a third reconciled position. Human beings live what Hegel called an ‘Ethical Life’ or in a social environment shaped by customs and traditions. This ethical life has three stages: the first is the family, which is dissolved in due course, the second is the ‘civil society’ that a person builds up as a result of his social interactions beyond the family and greater relations, and finally the third stage of the ‘state’ which Hegel defines as the highest form of social reason. For Hegel therefore, the formation of the modern state is the mark of modernity when human beings achieve the ultimate stage of social existence. Hegel believed as individuals or families, human beings are too selfish and self-centered co-exist in harmony and work for development. It is the state that is able to integrate the contradictions of different individuals, and not market forces. Since the state by itself is composed of political institutions, Hegel’s theory equates the development of the modern state or modern political institutions with modernity. Marx took a completely opposing view, when he asserted that material forces drive history. For him the state by itself is not an ideal entity for the integration of human beings into a cohesive whole for their development as a nation or a society. According to him it is the material forces comprising social and economic forces that drive history towards modernity. People engage in production for their means of subsistence, they bind together and form states for the sake of production. Different forms of productions create different class relations. It is to maximize production and gain the maximum benefits and advantages that people bond together in different classes in the form of the modern state. The different ways in which production is organized give rise to complex forms of social organization because a particular mode of production is an entire way of life for the people who are involved in it. For Marx social existence is not consciously determined by human beings, rather, it is the other way round: their social existence determines their consciousness. When there are contradictions between productive forces and the social relationships of production, class conflict arises. For Marx, therefore, modernity is defined by the state of social existence. Marx acknowledges that ‘capitalism has been the most productive mode of production, and it contains the most potential for the realization of human freedom’. This very dynamic characteristic of capitalism is born out of its destructiveness for all traditional social constraints such as religion, nation, family, sex, etc. But it is the same destructiveness and creativeness that creates the experience of modernity in Capitalism. This vital association between capitalism and modernity from none less that Marx himself establishes that the capitalism that evolved after the period of enlightenment in Europe has been acknowledged as the modern era of the period of modernity by Marx. Marx however states that capitalism is exploitative, and because it is exploitative, its full potential cannot be harnessed for the benefit of all. He therefore advocates communism which is a system of planned and conscious production by men and women of their won free will. This brings us to the question whether humanity has already passed through a stage of history that has been termed as modernity, and has moved on to the postmodern era (Mitchell, 2009). Another important point is regarding the placing of modernity. Modernity is understood to be a process that began and ended in Europe, and was later exported to other parts of the world. Thinkers like Marx tend to differ. He saw Capitalism emerge as a ‘rosy dawn’ not in England or the Netherlands but in the production trade and finance of the colonial system (Marx, 1967). Therefore, though the concept of modernity can be defined in various ways, it definitely refers to the process of evolution of the human mind and the society to a point where people were able to come together for their own advantage and benefit and work for unceasing development under a collectively formalized authority such as the nation state. It can also be state with a certain degree of assertiveness that the period from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century to the French Revolution in 1789 actually marked the period of active development of modernity in Europe. The concepts that were nurtured during the period bore fruit immediately afterwards in Europe and the West and later spread to the rest of the world. The world has continued since on very much the same basic principles but with far more advanced technologies and superior social, economic and political approaches. Influence of Modernity on Literature Modernity had a profound influence on literature. As people began to think differently, they also began to write differently. The modernist ideas of religious emancipation, autonomy, reliance on reason, rationality and science, and on development and progress began to find expression in the literature that developed even during the period of enlightenment and thereafter. This new form of literature came to be known as the Modernist Literature. Modernist literature tended to vent expression to the tendencies of modernity. Modernist literature, as also modernist art, took up cudgels against the old system of blind beliefs. Centering around the idea of individualism or the individual mind, modernist literature displayed mistrust of established institutions such as conventional forms of autocratic government and religion. It also tended not to believe in any absolute truths. Simmel (1903) gives an overview of the thematic concerns of Modernist Literature when he states that, â€Å"The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life. † Examples from two Greats A few examples of Modernist literature will serve to make its characteristics more clear. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) is considered to be one of the early enlightenment thinkers whose literary works opened the avenues to the modern era. Known as the founder of modern philosophy and the father of modern mathematics, Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist whose influence has served to shape the beginnings of Modernist literature. In his famous work, The Discourse on Method, he presents the equally famous quotation ‘cogito ergo sum’ or ‘I think, therefore I am’, which about sums up the very principle of the basis of the modern era. â€Å"I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the sceptics capable of shaking it, I concluded that I might, without scruple, accept it as the first principle of the philosophy of which I was in search† (Descartes, 1637). In this work, Descartes drew on ancients such as Sextus Emiricus to revive the idea of skepticism, and reached a truth that he found to be undeniable. â€Å"Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. In other words, he rejected man’s reliance on God’s revealed word, placing his own intellect on a higher plain† (McCarter, 2006). David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a philosopher, economist and historian from Scotland, and was considered a notable personality both in western philosophy and of the Scottish Enlightenment movement. In his works, he had a way of projecting the errors of scepticism and naturalism, thus carving out a way for secular humanism. In his most famous work, ‘An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding’, Hume asserts that all human knowledge is imbibed through our senses. He argues that unless the source from which the impression of a certain entity is conveyed to our senses is identified, that entity cannot exist. The logic would nullify the existence of God, a soul or a self. â€Å"By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned †¦It seems a proposition, which will not admit of much dispute, that all our ideas are nothing but copies of our impressions, or, in other words, that it is impossible for us to think of anything, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004) In the same work Hume also postulates two kinds of human reasoning – Relation of Ideas and Matters of Fact. The former involves abstract concepts such as of mathematics where deductive faculty is required, and the later is about empirical experiences which are inductive in nature. This postulate has come to be known as Hume’s Fork. Hume, along with his contemporaries of the Scottish Enlightenment, also proposed that the basis for principles of morals is to be sought in the utility that they tend to serve. This shows the questioning nature of modernist literature not only of religious but also of moral and social norms and values. A very visible influence of modernity is therefore seen in the works of Hume. Present-day Modernist Literature If modernity influenced literature, it also used literature to shift from a philosophical and theoretical domain into the practical lives of people. Modernity could infiltrate into the lives of people through literary works that defined and reiterated the legitimate new modes of classification. Old literary forms with traditional meanings attached to them were reworked, allowing readers to modify or contravene the older meanings. â€Å"This opening-up process allowed readers to glean new meanings that modified or contravened the older ones. In the course of these changes, words, forms, and institutions altered their meaning in British life: they, and the practices they comprised, referred differently†¦. modifying ‘reference potential’ in literature fed back into how readers responded to changes in life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rothstein, 2007) In art and literature, many critics view ‘modernism’ as a new trend in the field of art and literature, defined basically by stylistic and structural variations. They would not accept the fact that ‘modernism’, it is basic approach, was the principles of modernity rendered plausible in literature and art. Modernity has always tried to hold up the world in new perspectives. Similarly, modernist literature opens up the world in all its forms – theoretical, philosophical, aesthetical and political – for fresh scrutiny. Even in its present form, modernist literature attempts to break the objective world of the realist. â€Å"Modernist writing †¦ takes the reader into a world of unfamiliarity, a deep introspection, a cognitive thought-provoking experience, skepticism of religion, and openness to culture, technology, and innovation† (Melton, 2010). Modernist literature exhibits a fascination with the workings of the mind, and how reality is reflected by the mind. The questioning of life, with or without the presence of God, is another trademark of the philosophical and theoretical moorings of modernist literature. Charles Darwin’s work challenges God as the Creator and presents the process of natural selection in the survival of life. This led to modernist literature of time travel, of questioning the existence of individuals and the purpose of the universe. Modernism brought about a new openness in the areas of feminism, bisexuality, the family, and the mind. In the world of today, modernist literature still display much of the characteristics of the times in which it first took shape. A very important theme of modernist literature today is a feeling of being alone in the world – a feeling stemming from estrangement or alienation. Characters are often presented as being depressed or angry. A second common trait is that of being in doubt. â€Å"It may be disbelief in religion, in happiness, or simply a lack of purpose and doubt in the value of human life. Finally, a third theme that is prevalent is a search for the truth† (Foster, 2010). Then there is a third theme in which the alienated character is always in the search for truth and seeks answers to a plethora of questions relating to human subjectivity. In all these characteristics are to be found the same questioning nature, the same denouncement of blind beliefs and the same dependence on reason and rationality that the Eighteenth Century enlightenment thinkers had pursued. The character is alienated and estranged because he or she questions all that is deemed not right by his or her own mind; the character questions the beliefs of religion and other institutions which are not based on reasoning; and finally the character seeks answers and the truth. â€Å"Modernist literature encompasses the thematic fingerprints of a rebellious, questioning, disbelieving, meditative, and confident type of form, which was conceived out of a change in the belief of humanity, the mind, a God, and the self brought on by the shift from capitalism to an ever-increasing society of revolutionary changes† (Melton, 2010). References Descartes, R. , 1637, The Discourse on Methods. Dover Philosophical Classics, 2004, David Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Dover Publications Inc. Foster, J. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/743749-modernism-in-literature-and-history Karl Marx, 1967, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, 3 vols. , New York: International Publishers, 1:703. McCarter, J. , P. , 2006, Literature of the Modern Era, The Puritans’ Home School Curriculum. Melton, L. , 2010, Modernism in Literature and History, Available: http://www. helium. com/items/809291-modernism-in-literature-and-history Mitchell, T. , 2000, The Stage of Modernity, Available: http://www. ram-wan. net/restrepo/modernidad/the%20stage%20of%20modernity-mitchell. pdf Rothstein, E. , 2007, Gleaning Modernity, Earlier Eighteenth Century Literature and the Modernizing Process, Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp. , Associated University Presses. Simmel, G. , 1093, The Metropolis and Mental Life.

Law of One Price and Purchasing Power Parity | Analysis

Law of One Price and Purchasing Power Parity | Analysis Introduction The gradual emergence of globalisation in businesses has contributed towards a significant rise in international trade. Consequently, trading across countries has been prominent among businesses in order to seek higher growth opportunities available in the international markets (Michie, 2011). â€Å"Our willingness to pay a certain price for foreign money must ultimately and essentially be due to the fact that this money possesses a purchasing power as against commodities and services in that country† (Gustav Gassel, 1922). The applications and conversions of currencies have become vitally important in international businesses in order to obtain or forecast the substantial costs and revenues for the purpose of financial information. The concept of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) enables one to forecast the exchange rate of two different countries based on the assumption of similar purchasing power under law of one price of two countries’ currencies. However, various cruci al obstacles have been encountered in real life despite the concreteness of the proposed theories and one of the projected main concerns is to determine the price for a similar product across different markets and continents (Wang, 2009). According to the theory of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), one currency should be able to buy the same amount of products which can be purchased from other currencies. This concept suggests that the currencies should be valued in a way that it allows consumers to buy similar quantity of goods irrespective of the currencies that they utilise in making purchases (Manzur, 2008). According to the Law of One Price (LOP), consumers should be able to purchase similar or same kind of goods at the same price despite the utilisation of different currencies. Nevertheless, the application of LOP is considerably difficult and would not prevail in certain predicaments across different economies and countries despite the supportive underlying theories (Mezzera, 19 90). Conceptual Understanding of Law of One Price and Purchasing Power Parity Law of One Price and Purchasing Power Parity play a crucial role in determining the international trade mechanism. The concept of LOP indicates that the price for homogenous goods and services should be the same despite all locations. The theory behind LOP is established through the equilibrium pricing of a product. The equilibrium market price of a product is achieved when market participants realise the different pricing for an identical product in different locations, (assuming no transaction costs and other trade restrictions) and take advantage of the arbitrage opportunities. The principle of LOP is highly justified because differences in the price of the same products in two different markets would create the perfect opportunity for arbitragers to benefit by purchasing products in a lower priced markets and selling them in markets where there are sold at a higher price. The transactions among market participants create pressure through demand and supply effect in the two locati ons and would substantially eliminate such opportunities and hence create an equal and transparent price. As a result, the price for the same commodity traded in two different markets should be same if they are converted into a common currency (Ignatiuk, 2009). The concept of LOP asserts that if same goods enter each country’s market basket, the PPP exchange rate should prevail between the two countries to maintain the principle of one price despite the difference in currencies (Eicher, Mutti and Turnovsky, 2009). The Law of One Price (LOP): Pd=S*Pf Pd is price of the good in the domestic economy whereas Pf is the price of the good in a foreign economy and S* is the nominal exchange rate between the two economies. The concept of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) implies that the nominal exchange rate between two currencies should be equal to the ratio of aggregate price levels between two countries. This will create the similar purchasing power of one currency as compared to that of another. Therefore, according to PPP, exchange rates need to be adjusted between countries so that the exchange can be made equivalent to each currency’s purchasing power. The question arises immediate as there are two possible ways that PPP would hold to create the perfect equilibrium. Absolute purchasing power parity relates to the circumstances when the purchasing power of a unit currency is converted into foreign currency at the exchange rate in market, it is directly equal in the domestic and foreign economy (Taylor and Taylor, 2004). However , it is relatively hard to estimate the amount of identical goods in the baskets of the two different countries. Hence, it is more occurring to test relative PPP, which implies that the percentage change in the exchange rate over a given period just offsets the difference in inflation rates in the different countries over the time horizon (Taylor and Taylor, 2004). Therefore, if absolute PPP holds, then relative PPP must also hold, but if relative PPP holds, there is a probability that relative PPP might not hold as it is possible that at different levels of purchasing power of the two currencies, there are changes in the nominal exchange rates possibly due to the transactions costs (Isard, 1977). To consider whether the theory of perfect commodity arbitrage applies in the real world to create the law of one price, consider Figure 1 and Figure 2 which illustrate the notion of absolute PPP and relative PPP. For the relative data demonstrated in both the figures, it is evidently clear that neither absolute nor relative PPP seems to hold reasonably in the short run, thus does this imply that PPP does not hold in real life? According to the perfect commodity theory, equilibrium will appear and restore the differences between the relative prices which is clearly proposed by the principle of LOP by adjusting the exchange rates for the two locations. Hence, as far as this is concerned, perfect commodity arbitrage guarantees that each good is uniformly priced even with the initial difference of transaction costs between similar products in different locations, thus within a period of time in the long run,, the prices are adjusted to establish the perfect equilibrium of LOP, ensuring the same purchasing power in terms of currencies under the influence of PPP (Isard, 1977). Nonetheless, where does all the disputation arise concerning the practicality of LOP and PPP in reality? Analysis of the Proposition â€Å"In the assumed absence of transport costs and trade restrictions, perfect commodity arbitrage insures that each good is uniformly priced (in common currency units) throughout the world – the â€Å"law of one price† prevails’. In reality the law of one price is fragrantly and systematically violated by empirical data† (Isard, 1977). It is undeniably true that in the presence of perfect commodity arbitrage, each good will be substantially priced accordingly to demand and supply pressure in the assumed absence of transactions costs. However, the immediate response to this is that how practical and realistic is the assumption of transactions costs applicable to the principle LOP in order to create the exchange rate in PPP? The concept of LOP indicates that the prices for the identical products are the same across two countries, but this has not been the case in actual situation proposed by numerous scholars and researchers. The principle of LOP has been violated in actual practice and this has been supported by explanation that the transaction costs make it difficult to ensure same price for the identical products in two markets by creating a restriction in the equilibrium flow of the commodities known as the â€Å"border effect† (Rogoff, 1996). The transactions costs consist mainly of tariffs, taxes, duties and non-tariff barriers costs. For instance, the commodity that is priced lower in one market would involve transaction and transportation costs for participants to trade them in another market, and this will constitute to the additional costs of the commodity (Bumas, 1999). The volatility in the price differential would be progressively higher if the difference between the two countries is large. In addition, the transportation costs will increase due to the driving supply of arbitragers participating to transfer the commodity from one location with lower price to another with higher price, and the resulting impact would be differences in price disrupting the adjustment of arbitrage equilibrium (Clark, 2002). The study by Engel and Rogers (1996) have indicated that the price differential is greater in case of greater distance between the cities concerned, and it leads to substantial increase in the prices when they are compared in different countries proceeding to different continents. Furthermore, single or identical consumption of goods common to everyone is highly unrealistic because different consumers from different locations will have different preferences and choices, and it is always very difficult to have the same proportion of commodity identified in the comparing countries’ consumption basket (Clark, 2002). There is no guarantee that all commodities are traded between international economies and relatively to domestic economies, there are always substitutes in products if level of competitions is high but most of the cases, more differentiated goods are available compared to the product substitutes (Kim and Ogaki, 2004). Hence, when all these circumstances applied, the proportion of consumption from different locations concerning identical commodities in aggregate price indices will vary across countries. In sum, trading goods are more accurate drivers for the estimation of PPP compared to non-trading goods. This is because non-trading goods circulate within the domestic economy of that country and does not cross the barrier beyond international trade which involves additional transactions costs. Non-trading goods are more confined within the domestic economy compared to trading goods which are more expressed in exchange rates term when they are traded elsewhere around the world contributing towards the credibility of PPP. Hence, it is more useful to test with producer price index rather to use the consumer price index as suggested by the graphs in Figure 1 above. There is shorter deviation of PPP in producer price index compared to consumer price index in the short run from both the graphs. Hence, it often suggested that the PPP theory of exchange rates will hold at least approximately because of the possibility of international goods arbitrage. However, in real life, the practicalit y of PPP is disclosed to a visible amount of subjectivity and uncertainty as to which product is categorized as trading or non-trading goods, if identified, will it be the same around the world for the comparison of prices? Non-trading goods in UK might not necessarily be identical in US where that particular product might be a trading good for US instead and will this affect the producer price index, what about the LOP? To conclude the theory of PPP, there are definitely dreadful amount of assumptions underlying it to support its application and reliability. In real life, do all these assumptions prevail? Let’s examine and explore the credibility of the assumptions mentioned above by analyzing the Big Mac Index created by The Economists in 1986. As far as we know, Big Mac is a hamburger available from Macdonald’s Restaurant, the world largest fast food chain. What happens is that the price for a Big Mac in one country is divided by the price of a Big Mac in another country (both in domestic price) to obtain the Big Mac PPP exchange rate. This value is then compared and analyzed with the actual exchange rate in the market. The aim of this discussion is to determine the practicality of Big Mac index in real world in relate to the assumptions of PPP. The limitations are closely related to the assumptions mentioned above: †¢It is not possible to have the same price of a Big Mac from all around the world (results from the diagram below) due to different government tax policies, levels of competition and different transaction costs such as rental for different locations not just within particular area of a city, as well as different countries and continents. This will certainly add up to the costs of a burger and disrupt the notion of LOP. †¢Being the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, certain products need to be imported or exported by franchises all around the world to maintain the uniformity and the quality of the world’s prominent restaurant and this will certainly contribute to the different costs of the product disrupting the free movement of goods across borders. Source: Big Mac Index, The Economists 2013. Available at: http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index Furthermore, the assumption of single consumption is not possible in many countries, for instance, eating in McDonald’s Restaurant in some countries is relatively expensive compared to others and consumers would prefer eating in local fast food restaurants instead as a close substitute at a lower price. In addition, the demand for the consumption of Big Mac varies across different countries and this will not create an equal proportion of commodities in different countries’ basket. For example, buying Big Mac in China is not as high demand as buying Big Mac in the United States. The assumption made by PPP is highly unrealistic due to the disruption theory of LOP as it is not possible to have one common currency price for the same product demonstrated using the study of Big Mac Index. A similar investigation has been conducted by Haskel and Wolf (2001), they explored the deviations from the LOP by making use of the retail transaction costs in IKEA, a multinational Swedish furniture company. In performing the case study, samples were gathered comprising of 100 identical goods sold by IKEA in 25 countries. The outcome of the study indicated that there are significant common currency price divergences across countries for a given product. Conclusion In conclusion, according to PPP theory, the exchange rates should be adjusted in a manner where equal purchasing power is established with respect to a commodity in two markets. In the real world, this is highly unachievable and it is rather unrealistic to the extent that there is always difference in prices of the same goods. However, this scenario might contradict with the results and findings from Figure 1 and figure 2 as both the figures proposed that in the short run, PPP does not hold, whereas in the long run, the law of one price will prevail and PPP is therefore determinable. In practical applications this seems rather convincing as due to the matter of time, equilibrium will kick in and adjust the prices accordingly to the LOP. Nonetheless, one question still remains unanswered, how far can the LOP brings us towards the validity of PPP and determining the exchange rate between two countries? How certain are the assumptions of PPP on the data and findings by researchers and s cholars influence the outcome of the actual results obtained? As mentioned by Keynes (1923), â€Å"At first sight this theory appears to be one of great practical utility. In practical applications of the doctrine there are, however, two further difficulties, which we have allowed so far to escape our attention†. According to Keynes, the first difficulty is to make allowance for transport costs, imports and export taxes. The second difficult refers to the treatment on purchasing power of goods and services which do not enter into international level of trade. In sum, the theory of PPP derived from LOP is useful in theory for product pricing and the determination of exchange rate currencies, but as far as the limitations mentioned above is concerned, it should sensibly be considered as a guidance only rather than a direct application in real world. References: Apreda, R. and Pelzer, L.Z. 2005. Focus on Macroeconomics Research. Nova Publishers. Abildtrup, J. 1999. Modern Time Series Analysis in Forest Products Markets. Springer. Bumas, L.O. 1999. Intermediate Microeconomics: Neoclassical and Factually-oriented Models. M.E. Sharpe. Clark, E. 2002. International Finance. Cengage Learning EMEA. Engel, C. and Rogers, J.H. 1999. ‘Violating the Law of One Price: Should We Make a Federal Case Out of It?. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Eicher, T., Mutti, J.H. and Turnovsky, M.H. 2009. International Economics. Routledge. Haskel, J. and Wolf, H.C. 1999. Why Does the law of One Price Fail?: A Case Study. Centre for Economic Policy Research. Isard, P., 1977. How Far Can we Push the â€Å"Law of One Price†?. American Economic Review, 67 (5), 942-948. Ignatiuk, A. 2009. The Principle, Practise and Problems of Purchasing Power Parity Theory. GRIN Verlag. Jonsson, G. 1999. Inflation, Money Demand, and Purchasing Power Parity in South Africa. International Monetary Fund. Michie, J. 2011. The Handbook of Globalisation, Second Edition. Edward Elgar Publishing. Manzur, M. 2008. Purchasing Power Parity. Edward Elgar Publishing, Incorporated. Mezzera, J. 1990. Monopoly Profits and the Law of One Price: The Cost of Misapplied Theory, Volume 146. Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame. Rogoff, K. 1996. The Purchasing Power Parity Puzzle. Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 34 (2), 647-668. Ricci, L.A. and MacDonald, R. 2002. Purchasing Power Parity and New Trade Theory. International Monetary Fund. Silver, M. 2010. Imf Applications of Purchasing Power Parity Estimates. International Monetary Fund. Taylor, A.M. and Taylor, M.P. 2004. The Purchasing Power Parity Debate. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 18 (4), pp. 135-158. Wang, P. 2009. The Economics of Foreign Exchange and Global Finance. Springer.