Health Care Reform Compare and Contrast Research Paper

Health Care Reform Compare and Contrast - Research Paper Example Statistics claims that 86 percent of the citizens in Tennessee have insurance. However, the number has been decreasing for the past twenty years which mean that about 14 percent of the citizens in Tennessee remain unprotected. Employers who offer health insurance to their employees are good with a 54.7 percent who specifically offer health insurance plans to their employees. This percentage has been recorded steadily to increase which is expected to include more citizens in the health insurance policy which is expected to include more citizens in the health insurance policy. On the other hand, Louisiana residents who do not have s health insurance coverage is high this has contributed to the state having the highest where only 80 percent of Louisiana citizens are protected. It is projected that in case of an emergency, Louisiana would be the worst hit since access to health care if difficult in this state but also the quality of health is low compared with Tennessee. In Louisiana, on ly 52 percent of employers offer their employees with a health benefit insurance cover. This has attracted the attention of health staffs who are working towards the possibility of increasing the percentage of employers within the state who are ready to offer health insurance to their employees that are expected to lower the unprotected citizen percentage. Nevertheless, Louisiana offers the best rates of primary care physicians who are available to help people (H.CO, 2010). For Louisiana to increase in offering health care to its citizen more public health funding which has helped Tennessee to grow should also be increased in Louisiana to increase the number of protected citizen that may help the state to at least be at the same level with Tennessee. Tennessee statistically is placed at one of the least healthy states across the nation where the united health

Intercultural communication Essay Example for Free

Intercultural communication Essay The only way for Africa to rise out from the ruins of its social conflicts is to drop its notions of finding a scapegoat. There will always be good days and bad days. Equality in every aspect of human life is an ideal dream. Progress varies among people. Instead of pulling people down, assistance should be given to individuals who are in need. It is a way of giving back what is due for the person. African citizens should not look at foreigners as a threat. They must look at the new individuals as helpers in the establishment of growth and development. â€Å"There has been an increasing awareness towards racism throughout the southern Africa, due to land conflicts and resource-based racial tensions, as well as the increasing number of refugees and migrants that have challenged national governments to be more incisive in their policies concerning racial relations and immigration† (Pinto, 2000). Immigrants must be considered as hard working individuals who are simply out to make their lives harmonious and comfortable. The turmoil in the African region can only be solved with a thorough understanding of the consequences brought upon by the implementation of harsh and cruel methods. Bloodshed is not necessary. Senseless killings have nothing to contribute to the society. Engaging in the hate campaign will bring agony not only to the victims but to the perpetrators as well. People who brandish their firearms and fire them recklessly have no motivation at all. Because of the ongoing racial conflict, education has fallen out of radar. There are numerous significant things to do which hatred and violence have taken out of the picture. Africa and the rest of the world can be progressive. By eliminating the ill feeling being harbored by individuals towards their fellowmen, new ways of stabilizing a society can be achieved and manifested. People must concentrate on what is good. Good things bear good fruits. Hatred has no place in the present world if peace and stability is to be attained. It takes courage and determination to eliminate the element of hate from destroying the unity and affection among people. The violence in Africa is a prime example of respect. The influx of foreigners into neighboring lands can lead to cooperation. It is true that a diversity of different cultural backgrounds can be difficult to incorporate together. But by respecting and understanding other people’s cultural heritage and traditions can bring significant results. CONCLUSION The violence in Africa is a senseless method of self preservation. It is an act that does not promote human preservation as a whole. Citizens are threatened by the numerous populations that seek refuge in a continent already suffering from various social concerns. In the past, war among clans and tribes is common. Leaders are out to grab power. Individuals want to control parts of the land. The problem with people around the world is that they are too consumed by their emotions. Hatred has found a common ground for it to build momentum. â€Å"The attitude of racism is based on prejudice, which is more emotion, feeling and bias than it is judgments† (Vorster, 2002). By entertaining the thought of inflicting harm over the other person to gain an upper hand, violence is sure to explode, just as it erupts in the streets and vast lands of Africa. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barrow, G.. South Africa’s New Racism. BBC News. (2000, August 28). Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/africa/899543. stm Pinto, R.. Racism and Xenophobia Debate Gains Momentum. Southern African News Features. (2000, October 16). Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://www. sardc. net/editorial/sanf/2000/Iss19/Nf4. html Vorster, J. M.. Racism, Xenophobia and Human Rights. The Ecumenical Review. (2002, July). Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m2065/is_3_54/ai_92136475 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Attacks on Somalis Expose Xenophobia. IRIN. (2007, October). Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://www. irinnews. org/report. aspx? reportid=60776 Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation. Xenophobia, Solidarity and the Struggle of Zimbabwe. (2006, December 11). Retrieved October 1, 2007 from http://www. anarkismo. net/newswire. php? story_id=4424.

Essay --

Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley conducted a clinical language intervention at Turner House Preschool in Kansas City, Kansas. Most interventions use an IQ test as measurement, but they chose to instead look at the growth of the everyday language of the children. The test also included University of Kansas professors' children for comparison. The language intensive activities used resulted in a spur of new vocabulary words, but the effects were only temporary. By the time the children moved to kindergarten, the effects from the vocabulary boost were gone. There was a noticeable difference in vocabulary growth rate between the Turner House children and the professors' children. This concluded that if they were to understand the reasons for the different developmental trajectories, they would have to examine the very start of vocabulary growth. They looked at 42 families for an hour each month and children from 7-9 months old until three years old. Families were selectively recruited through birth announcements. Betty and Todd wanted to make sure they had a diverse and reliable selection. Selected families spanned almost the whole socioeconomic ladder. Thirteen were upper class, ten were in the middle, thirteen were lower class, and six were on welfare. After years analyzing the collected data they saw the first results. The children's vocabularies were greatly influenced by their parents. The welfare family children had the smallest vocabulary and lowest rate of vocabulary growth. These children's skills were diverging from the skills of the professors' children. Curious to see if the children's initial vocabulary would influence school performance at ages 9-10, Betty and Todd hired Dale Walker to examine this. His findings w... ...kheim defines what he calls â€Å"social fact† in his book â€Å"The Rules of the Sociological Method† is â€Å"the beliefs, tendencies, and practices of the group taken collectively†. This could also be read as â€Å"the religious denominations, political and literary schools, and occupational corporations of a particular social system†. Social fact can’t exist without well-defined social organization. Durkheim claims â€Å"most of our ideas and tendencies are not developed by ourselves, but come to us from the outside†. This ties back to what â€Å"The 30 Million Word Gap† was about. The social facts imposed on children by their parents and teachers will precisely shape the child’s image. As the child grows older and becomes part of their society, their ways of thinking and feeling exist outside of their consciousness. Whether they realize it or not, their social fact has been imposed on them. Essay -- Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley conducted a clinical language intervention at Turner House Preschool in Kansas City, Kansas. Most interventions use an IQ test as measurement, but they chose to instead look at the growth of the everyday language of the children. The test also included University of Kansas professors' children for comparison. The language intensive activities used resulted in a spur of new vocabulary words, but the effects were only temporary. By the time the children moved to kindergarten, the effects from the vocabulary boost were gone. There was a noticeable difference in vocabulary growth rate between the Turner House children and the professors' children. This concluded that if they were to understand the reasons for the different developmental trajectories, they would have to examine the very start of vocabulary growth. They looked at 42 families for an hour each month and children from 7-9 months old until three years old. Families were selectively recruited through birth announcements. Betty and Todd wanted to make sure they had a diverse and reliable selection. Selected families spanned almost the whole socioeconomic ladder. Thirteen were upper class, ten were in the middle, thirteen were lower class, and six were on welfare. After years analyzing the collected data they saw the first results. The children's vocabularies were greatly influenced by their parents. The welfare family children had the smallest vocabulary and lowest rate of vocabulary growth. These children's skills were diverging from the skills of the professors' children. Curious to see if the children's initial vocabulary would influence school performance at ages 9-10, Betty and Todd hired Dale Walker to examine this. His findings w... ...kheim defines what he calls â€Å"social fact† in his book â€Å"The Rules of the Sociological Method† is â€Å"the beliefs, tendencies, and practices of the group taken collectively†. This could also be read as â€Å"the religious denominations, political and literary schools, and occupational corporations of a particular social system†. Social fact can’t exist without well-defined social organization. Durkheim claims â€Å"most of our ideas and tendencies are not developed by ourselves, but come to us from the outside†. This ties back to what â€Å"The 30 Million Word Gap† was about. The social facts imposed on children by their parents and teachers will precisely shape the child’s image. As the child grows older and becomes part of their society, their ways of thinking and feeling exist outside of their consciousness. Whether they realize it or not, their social fact has been imposed on them.

Feasibility Study Essay

2.1 FEASIBILITY STUDY The feasibility of the project is analyzed in this phase and business proposal is put forth with a very general plan for the project and some cost estimates. During system analysis the feasibility study of the proposed system is to be carried out. This is to ensure that the proposed system is not a burden to the company. For feasibility analysis, some understanding of the major requirements for the system is essential. Three key considerations involved in the feasibility analysis are ECONOMICAL FEASIBILITY TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY SOCIAL FEASIBILITY ECONOMICAL FEASIBILITY This study is carried out to check the economic impact that the system will have on the organization. The amount of fund that the company can pour into the research and development of the system is limited. The expenditures must be justified. Thus the developed system as well within the budget and this was achieved because most of the technologies used are freely available. Only the customized products had to be purchased. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY This study is carried out to check the technical feasibility, that is, the technical requirements of the system. Any system developed must not have a high demand on the available technical resources. This will lead to high demands on the available technical resources. This will lead to high demands being placed on the client. The developed system must have a modest requirement, as only minimal or null changes are required for implementing this system. SOCIAL FEASIBILITY The aspect of study is to check the level of acceptance of the system by the user. This includes the process of training the user to use the system efficiently. The user must not feel threatened by the system, instead must accept it as a necessity. The level of acceptance by the users solely depends on the methods that are employed to educate the user about the system and to make him familiar with it. His level of confidence must be raised so that he is also able to make some constructive criticism, which is welcomed, as he is the final user of the system.

Why One Should Never Make An Important Decision Alone

There are many things that can be done by people who make an important decision in group. However, some people like to make an important decision alone. This condition may lead to some undesirable results. I agree that an important decision should never be made alone. Therefore, this essay shall explore some reasons why a person should never make an important decision alone. First of all, it is essential to make an important decision with others. As we all know, people need to consider about others’ opinion to make a right decision. For example, owner of a big company usually holds a meeting to discuss the problem of their company.This circumstances can help the owner to make a right decision how to tackle the problem of the company. The other reason is that making an important decision alone can sometimes be done without calculation. As a result, this may lead to a catastrophic result. For instance, there are some companies went bankrupt because the owner did not take othersà ¢â‚¬â„¢ opinion about their decision. For this reason, other people can help us not to make a reckless decision that may lead to our own miscarriage. Finally, making an important decision with others can help to minimize the risk of making mistakes.Furthermore, it can help to lighten the burden of the people who are in charge of making an important decision. For example, there are always more than one judge in a court to ensure that there would not be an error in making a decision. In a nutshell, it is clear that a person should never make an important decision alone. In my opinion, an important decision should be made with a full consideration as it is extremely risky. For this reason, we need to discuss our decision with others. By doing it right, one can take an important decision without a full risk.

Beethoven2 essays

Beethoven2 essays Out of all musical artists known today, Ludwig Van Beethoven is right at the top of popularity and stardom. Though his life didnt start this way, as did Mozarts, Beethoven increased in knowledge and musical ablility as he was taught by some of the best composers of his time. Beethovens child life was not a very happy one in many circumstances. His father, Johann, even though being a singer in the Electoral Chapel in Bonn, Germany, where Beethoven was born, had a negative effect on Beethovens life because of his drunkenness. Johann, who learned of Mozarts child stardom, pressed young Beethoven to practice relentlessly at the piano, hoping to make a few dollars. This did not to turn out to be such as a success as he wished. As Beethoven grew older, his mother, who was his only source of compassion died and he left his father to go study with one of the most proclaimed composers of the time, Hayden. Beethoven would go on to study with many other teachers and finally established his own musical personality, which is shown throughout his music Beethovens first symphony, written in 1800, just as his second symphony, resembles directly to Hayden and Mozarts classical styles. Symphony No. 1 in C Major, which is dedicated to the Baron van Swieten, commences with a very short introductory movement, Adagio molto. Only consisting of twelve bars, merely serves as a prelude to the work. This leads into the Allegro, which princliple subject is six bars. The leading theme is three four-bar phrases in the strings, artfully protracted by two bars of wind instruments. The second movement includes the Andante cantabile con moto, which contains an accompanamiant for kettle drums, piano, which appears nowadays as something very ordinary. This movement evolves full of charm, with a theme of grace, into the Menuetto e Trio, which is the third movement. ...

The Vietnamese culture Essays

The Vietnamese culture Essays The Vietnamese culture Essay The Vietnamese culture Essay However, following Watson and Head, 2007, and Singh 1971, in practice, it is the market price of the share that determines the PE ratio. This is only the guide to company performance on the paper, since it uses the historical numbers and it ignores both cash flow and risks. The last one is the managerial motives. Takeover can arise because of the agency problem where conflicts of interest between shareholders and managers. In my opinion I think that it is difficult to give the example for this, because it seems like an internal issue inside the company, and as I presented, keeping information is part of the Vietnamese culture. Therefore, after taking over, the larger their firm, the less likely it is to be taken by the others, so the more secure for the job of managers. However, everything has two sides. Now the researcher will present about the against-acquisition aspect, why the firm may not choose takeover as the solution. Because Jebb plc is going to take over the rival, assuming they are in the same industry car producer, the target rival company can go to the court to ask for stopping the takeover when it leads to monopoly or it affects the fair competition, according to the Competition commission referral 1999. For instance, Jebb plc and B ltd are two biggest car producer companies in Hanoi and in Hochiminh city. When Jebb plc buys B, it will affect the price of products, the services serving to the customers, the distribution area, and it might lead to the monopoly market. Therefore, it will damages image and wealth of B, and it is not a good new for another car producer in Vietnam. Besides, when the number of shares increase through issuing new shares, it is harder to gain majority. Also if after acquisition, the bidder only has 49% of shares, then it is still no authority on running business, and is considered as useless action. Hence, Jebb plc will be in big trouble, and it will make the bridge turning 180 degree around, when B ltd can threaten against Jebb. For more understanding about the theories, please refer to the appendix 1 where the researcher presented about the basic theories of reasons profits behind takeovers, and against takeover. With the assumption as above, we now move to the method for Jebb plc to take over B. Based on the assumption above, we choose the horizontal acquisition, and we will finance it by cash offers mixed with share-for-share offer, because it will be attractive to the target firm shareholders, due to the reasons that compensation they receive for their share is surely in value. Also, it will retain equity interest, no broker costs from re-investing cash and reducing capital gain tax liability (Watson and Head, 2007). Besides, if we do not have cash in hand, and the new issue is rejected, we can issue the right issue, or borrow the issue bonds before we borrow from the bank. However, after acquisition, we will have problems with the interest rate (liquidity problem), gearing, and may be changes in capital structure among with the impacts on employees, managers on top, shareholders for both Jebb plc and B ltd (please refer to the appendix 1). When we borrow money, we must pay the interest, so the expenses will be increased, the profit goes down, the share price goes down, then the market value goes down, and this will lead to the company performance. The figure 1 and figure 2 in the appendix 1 will show for more detail.

Everything You Need to Know About Commas for the ACT

Everything You Need to Know About Commas for the ACT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Nobody likes commas: they're weird and confusing and possibly pointless. My brother decided to boycott them entirely in his senior year of high school, leaving his lists running together and his appositives undefined. Even veteran copy editors sometimes struggle with where exactly to place these reviled punctuation marks. Even so,if you want to succeedon the ACT English, you'll have to learn how to expertly employ commas. The good news is that there is a fairly limited set of comma rulesyou'llneed to know for the ACT. But before we get into the nitty-gritty technical stuff, let's establish one very important principle. Here's an overview of what we're going to cover: The Single Most Important Rule About Commas 4 Key Rules for Comma Use on the ACT When NOT to Use a Comma Practice Questions When in Doubt, Leave It Out! This is the single most important rule to keep in mind when dealing with commas on the ACT: if you aren't sure if you need a comma, you probably don't need a comma. In fact, you're far more likely to miss a question because youadd inan unnecessarycomma than you are to miss one because you left an important comma out. Take a look at the following ACT questions: Though it may be tempting to leavea comma after "value" or put one after "officials," the sentence is perfectly clear without either: Nevertheless, these tests convinced the officials of the value of using the Navajo language in a code. (H is thus the correct choice.) This principle holds forthe next example as well: Write this sentence out with no commas and you get "Perhaps this legacy of letters explains what she meant when she said that her friends were her 'estate.'" Again, it makes sense without either comma, so D is the correct choice. Unfortunately as much as we may wish that we could just stop using commas altogether, there are certain times that they're necessary. The following four rules will help you determine when and where you need to place commas. An example of an extremely vital comma. 4 Key Rules for Comma Use on the ACT The basic purpose of commas is to clarify relationships between phrases and clauses. That's a pretty broad goal, and there are a lot of different uses for commas. Luckily, you only really need to focus on a few main rules in order to do well on the ACT. The four rules you absolutely have to know deal with modifying phrases and clauses, introductory phrases and clauses, connecting independent clauses with a conjunction, and separating items in a list. Don't worry if that all sounds like gibberish: we'll go over each case with examples! Appositives, RelativeClauses, and Interjections As a general rule, any part of a sentence that can be removed without changing the sentence's fundamental meaning must be bracketed by commas. Take, for example, the following sentence: Timmywho loves Supermanis excited for the upcoming movie. The point of the sentence is that Timmy is excited about the movie- his love of Superman is just helpful background info. Since taking out "who loves Superman"wouldn't affect the main idea of the sentence, that clause needs to be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, like so: Timmy, who loves Superman, is excited for the upcoming movie. If you aren't sure whether a part of a sentence needs to be surrounded by commas, try crossing it out. If the sentence still makes sense, then the commas are needed; if it doesn't, then they aren't. Let's try it out with an example: The student who forgot her homework got detention. "Who forgot her homework" seems like it might need to be set off with commas, so let's cross it out and try reading the sentence again: The student who forgot her homework got detention. With that clause crossed out, it's no longer clearwhichstudent got detention, so by removing it we have changed the meaning of the sentence. This means that it shouldn't be surrounded by commas. With these general principles in mind, let's examine the three main cases, which- as you may have guessed from the title of this section- are relativeclauses, appositive phrases, and general interjections. RelativeClauses: Non-Restrictive vs. Restrictive Relativeclauses are dependentclauses that describe a noun and start with a relative pronoun or adverb like "which," "that," or "where." If you're not sure exactly what those terms mean, don't worry about it too much but consider checking out our guide to clauses. The rule for using commas with relativeclauses is that you don't use commas around a clause if it's restrictive, i.e. it clarifies the specific thing you're talking about, butyou do usecommas if the clause isnon-restrictive, i.e. it merely comments on a clearly defined noun. This may seem confusing, but it's much clearer in practice, so let's look at the two types of clauses individually. Restrictive: These areclauses that are necessary to the meaning of a sentence- they clarify exactly who or what you're talking about. You can't take a restrictive clause out of asentence without fundamentally altering its meaning. Take a look at the example below. People who dislike kale won’t enjoy green smoothies. In this sentence, if you take out the clause â€Å"who dislike kale,† you’re left with â€Å"People won’t enjoy green smoothies,† which is not making the same point as the original sentence. Because this kind of clause can't be removed without changingthe meaning of the sentence, it should not be marked off with commas. Non-Restrictive:These are clauses that provide additional information and are therefore not integral to the meaning of the sentence. My sister, who dislikes kale, doesn’t enjoy green smoothies. The point of this sentence is that my sister doesn’t enjoy green smoothies; even if you remove the underlined portion, that point is still made.Unlike in the example of a restrictive clause above, the underlined portion is not vital to meaning of the sentence. As such, it needs to be separated from the main thought of the sentence with commas. An important point for the ACT: clauses starting with "which" are always non-restrictive, while those starting with "that" are always restrictive. This means that "which" ALWAYS takes a comma and "that" NEVER does: I love reading books that are full of adventure because they take me away from my boring life. I loveHarry Potter and the Sorcerer'sStone, which is full of adventure, because it takes me away from my boring life. The lovely comma butterfly ( ©Michael Palmer) Appositive Phrases Appositive phrases are basically the grammatical younger sibling of descriptive clauses: they serve the same purpose, describing a noun or pronoun, but they don't include a verb. Nonetheless, the basic rule for comma use isidentical. If a phrase can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, it needs to be surrounded with commas.Consider the following examples. Where do you think they need commas? Her mother a doctor was often late.→Her mother, a doctor, was often late. Jonah a fifth-grader jumps rope on the playground everyday.→Jonah, a fifth-grader, jumps rope on the playground everyday. The nouns "a doctor" and "a fifth-grader" modify"her mother" and "Jonah," respectively, but they aren't necessary to main gist of the sentences. The one slightly confusing spin on this rule is that when the order of appositives are reversed, they usually don't require commas anymore. Ernest Hemingway, an author, wrote nine novels. Ernest Hemingway an author wrote nine novels. In the above example, we employ our strikethrough strategy anddetermine that the commas are appropriately placed. However, when we reverse the word order below, you'll notice a change. Author Ernest Hemingway wrote nine novels. Author Ernest Hemingway wrote nine novels. Even though "author" now comes first, it's still modifying "Ernest Hemingway." This means that"Ernest Hemingway" shouldn't be set off with commas; as you can see, the sentence wouldn't make sense with his name removed. Moreover, tempting as it may be to put a comma after "author," it's actually serving as an adjective in this context. Just like you wouldn't put comma in the middle of "President Barack Obama," you shouldn't stick one in "Author Ernest Hemingway." Interjections The last case we'll discuss is interjections, which are words or short phrasesthat disruptthe flow of a sentence like "of course." We tend to use these a lot more when we speak than when we write, but they do pop up on the ACT occasionally. What you are more likely to see is therelated construction that occurs when a transition word is moved into asentence, like in the following example. Version 1: However, my sister refused to help me move the couch. Version 2: My sister, however, refused to help me move the couch. The second type of sentencestructure appears relatively frequently on the ACT- just know that if you see a transition word interrupting a clause, it needs to be set off with commas. We've covered alot of information and it may seem reallycomplicated, butthe important thing is to rememberthe fundamental principle: if something is surrounded by commas, thenit isn't important to the main point of the sentence. ACT Applications ACT questions about appositives and relative clauses usually require you to determine whether you need a comma to complete a pair and, if so, where it needs to go. Let's go through the question step by step.As written, this sentence doesn’t have a main verb- it’s just a subject, â€Å"Houdini,† followed by a long non-restrictive clause- so F can't be correct. J doesn’t solve this problem. G and H both place a comma after spiritualism, which gives you the non-restrictive clause â€Å"who devoted considerable effort to exposing hoaxes involving spiritualism.† If you cross that out, you’re left with either: G)Houdini, who devoted considerable effort to exposing hoaxes involving spiritualism,being skeptical about the existence of spiritualism. or H)Houdini, who devoted considerable effort to exposing hoaxes involving spiritualism, was skeptical about the existence of supernatural beings. His clearly correct, since "being" isn't a correctly conjugated verb. (In fact, answers with "being" are almost always wrong: see our post on quick tips for the ACT Englishfor a more in depth explanation and other helpful tips.) The key to this question is determining what belongsin the relative clause and then making sure that what's outside of that adds up to a complete sentence. Just like you shake hands to mark an introduction in person, you use a comma to mark an introduction in a sentence Introductions Now that we'vecoveredwhen to use commas to with phrases and clauses inside the main clause ofa sentence, let's discuss when you need commas to separate clauses and phrases that come at the beginning of a sentence. The short answer? Always.The basic rule for using commas with introductions is that any time a sentence starts with a dependent clause or modifying phrase, itmust be followed by a comma: Even though I was tired, Jenny convinced me to go to the strawberry festival. In the library, she found the books she needed. Weird-looking as it was, the lizard was sort of cute. In each of these examples, the underlined portion serves to introduce an independent clause. Weirdly, if you reverse the order of the sentence, you usually don't need the comma any more: Jenny convinced me to go to the strawberry festival even though I was tired. She found the books she needed in the library. The third example sentence is a slightly different case, since you can't actually put the underlined clauseat the end of the sentence- it's a modifier and thus needs to be next to what it's describing, which in this case is the lizard. You can, however, move it into the sentence: The lizard weird-looking as it was was sort of cute. Any idea what this version of the sentence is missing? That's right: a comma on either side of "weird-looking as it was," which could be removed without fundamentally altering the meaning of the sentence. The correctly punctuated version looks like this: The lizard, weird-looking as it was, was sort of cute. ACT Applications The ACTrarely teststhe introduction rule directly; instead, you'll usually see it come up in questions that have multiplephrases or clauses strung together. Take a look at the following example: "The next morning" is an introductory phrase, so it must be followed by a comma- this rules out answer D. Answer choice C has an improperly placed semi-colon, so wecan eliminate it as well. (For more info on semicolon rules, check out our post on other punctuation!) Now we just have to decide whether the commas should surround "using twigs" or "using twigs for kindling." Let's try each version with our strikethrough strategy from the last section. A. The next morning, using twigs, for kindling she starts a small blaze B. The next morning, using twigs for kindling, she starts a small blaze Answer B is clearly the correct choice, since it correctly punctuates both "the next morning" and "using twigs for kindling." When dealing with commas, alwaysremember that whenyou surround something withcommas, you're telling the reader that it can be removed without altering the main point of the sentence. Connecting Independent Clauses (with a Conjunction) The other main case where you need commas to separate clauses is when you use a coordinating conjunction to connect independent clauses. If you have two independent clauses and want to combine them into one sentence, you can use a comma and a coordinating conjunction, or FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), instead of a semicolon. You probably use this construction correctly all the time without even thinking about it! I wanted to go hiking, but it was pouring rain all day. The important thing to remember is that using just a comma (no FANBOYS) to connect two independent clauses is absolutely always incorrect. A comma isn't interchangeable with a semicolon. This mistake is called a comma splice, and it's one of the most common errors students make on the ACT English. Incorrect: I had a terrible case of the flu, my mom brought me chicken noodle soup in bed. Correct:I had a terrible case of the flu, so my mom brought me chicken noodle soup in bed. Correct: Ihad a terrible case of the flu; my mom brought me chicken noodle soup in bed. ACT Applications On the ACT, this comma rule is usually tested in the context of other types of punctuation or in terms of identifyingindependent and dependent clauses. For more information on this, see our post on correctly connecting independent clauses. Lists The last comma rule is likelythe one you're most familiar with: in lists of three or more items, you must place a comma after every item except the last.It's really as simple as that, as you can see in the examples below. The pirate loves going toBarbados because there's so much to do, including shopping for eye patches, sharpening his sword, and visiting the pub. Today, I'm going to skip school, go to the movies, and eat a giant bag of popcorn. Note that on the ACT you must use the oxford, or series, comma, whichgoes before the "and." You may not like the Oxford comma, but you still have to use it. Lists of Two Items The ACT writers won't give you a bunch of lists with no commas in them- instead they'll try to trick you in subtler ways. After looking at the last two rules, you might assume that you need to put a comma anywhere you see "and," but that's not the case! If "and" (or any other coordinating conjunction) is connecting two things that are not independent clauses, then you DON'T use a comma. Jamesandhis brothertraveledto Oregon and Washington. The ACT writers' other favorite trick is to give you lists that don't look like lists because each item is so long. Yesterday, Talia went on a boring first date that she left early and plotted to take over the world using nothing but duct tape and string. You don't need commas in eitherof these cases because they are lists of only two items. Lists of Adjectives This is a slightly different type of list, but it does come up on the ACT occasionally. If you have more than one adjective in front of a noun or pronoun and their order doesn't matter, then you need to put a comma between them. Let's look at two examples, one where you need a comma and one where you don't: The hot dry desert Thefirst female astronaut Which one do you think needs a comma?If you're not sure, checkwhether the examples make sense with the order of the adjectives reversed: The dry hot desert Thefemale first astronaut The first example makes perfect sense with the new word order, so it does need a comma: the hot, dry desert. The second, however, doesn't work when the order of the adjectives is switched, so no comma is needed: the first female astronaut. ACT Applications As I mentioned above, ACT questions about lists tend to try to throw you off by adding in complicating factors like lots of extra words or commas being used for another purpose. Let's take a look at an example of this: It may seem like you need a comma after "labor," but this sentence is actually correct as written. It is a list of two things: "of her labor" and "of the fire's magic." A, no change, is the correct choice; the other answers only complicate the sentence. (This question also deals with parallelism, which you can learn more about here.) Remember the fundamental rule of commas: when in doubt, leave it out! WhenNOT to Use a Comma We just spent a long time going over when you do need commas, so let's circle back to that first principle byexamining someplaces where you should NEVER put commas. Between a Subject and a Verb Commas exist to clarify the relationships between clauses and phrases, so it is NEVER correct to stick one in the middle of a single thought. Any sentence where there is a lone comma between a subject and its verb is incorrect: Incorrect:She, ate a lot of cookies. Correct: She ate a lot of cookies. In the above example, the comma is pretty clearly out of place, but that isn't always the case: Incorrect:Walking to the store, was a chore. Correct: Walking to the store was a chore. Once again, the comma is unnecessary and should be removed: "walking" is the subject and "was" is the verb. But it's much less obvious, since it seems like"walking to the store" is an introductory phrase, which would require a comma. Before or After a Preposition Another place you may think you need commas is at the beginning of prepositional phrases; after all, I just said that commas should only be used to seperate clauses and phrases. However, on the ACT,it is NEVERcorrect to place a comma after a preposition and veryrarely correct to place one before a preposition.Let's look at some example of incorrect comma placement: Lucy enjoys reading aloud, fromHarry Potter every night. Jim watched the terrifying horror movie, in the new theater on, 2nd Avenue. Though these commas may seem correct, they are unnecessary and just add clutter to the sentences. The correctly punctuated versions have no commas: Lucy enjoys reading aloud fromHarry Potter every night. Jim watched the terrifying horror movie in the new theater on 2nd Avenue. The one,very rare, exception to this rule is when a preposition introduces a non-restrictive clause. For example: Julie, for whom I was waiting, got to the restaurant very late. Because "for whom I was waiting" is actually non-restrictive clause, you do need the comma before "for." However, this only rarely comes up on the test- you are much more likely to make a mistake by putting a comma in front of a preposition than by leaving oneout. Around an Emphatic Pronoun What on earth, you're wondering, is an emphatic pronoun? The emphatic pronouns aremyself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves,yourselves, and themselves when they are used immediately after a noun or other other pronoun: I myself The book itself These constructionssound like they need commas, but emphatic pronouns should never be surrounded by commas. Incorrect: The pope, himself, will be at the party. Correct: The pope himself will be at the party. This may seem like a fairlyobscure rule: it is! However, it shows up on the ACT fairly often, so it's worth studying anyways. To comma or not to comma? That is the question ( ©Placbo) Try Your New Knowledge Out! We've covered a lot of material and hopefully armed you with some helpful new strategies for tackling commas on the ACT English, but it's one thing to read about comma rules and another to put them in practice. With that in mind, I've created some practice ACT questions for you test out what you've learned. The soft,blue cloth slid through her fingers easily. NO CHANGE blue, cloth slid through blue cloth slid, through blue cloth, slid through After hearing good things about it, I wanted to readCrime and Punishment,but the book, itself, turned out to be super boring. NO CHANGE the book itself, the book itself itself Talking to my friends, on the phone, is one of my favorite things to do. NO CHANGE friends on the phone friends on the phone, friends on, the phone I wasn't planning on going to the wedding, however you've convinced me that it's a good idea. NO CHANGE wedding, however, wedding. However, wedding, Answers: 1. A, 2. C, 3. B, 4. C What's Next? If you're confused about what exactly is tested on ACT English, take a look at our guide to what's actually on the test. You might be surprised by how much of it we've just covered! Looking to score a 36 on ACT English? Check out 9 strategiesfrom someone who achieveda perfect score on the ACT. Maybe you're now feeling okay about punctuation, but are worrying about vocab questions. In that case, have I got the guide for you! BecauseACT English recycles the same types of questions over and over, it's especially important to understand why you missed a given question. Make sure you're reviewing your practice tests effectively. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Week 3 team assignment outline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 3 team assignment outline - Essay Example ICQ, or an internal control questionnaire, has been filled out by the auditors, based on information provided by the internal audit department of Apollo Shoes. That information was pertaining to Revenue Cycle and processing of sales transactions. However, the information was not capable of assessment as a part of Revenue Cycle of Apollos shoes, and the applicability of internal control procedures designed for sales transactions processing, on those transactions, could not be identified. It was necessary for that all Sales transactions would be identified accurately and processed according to the established procedure in order to be capable of going through the process of risk assessment of internal controls. There was another risk of understated revenue and fraud. It is very important that number of sequences should be present on all invoices, shipping documents and processing checks. There was missing information as to the number sequence used for invoices, processing checks and shipping documents in order to ensure completeness. In case of missing invoices, shipping documents and processing checks, it will be difficult to identify and may lead to financial loss, inappropriate quality of relation with suppliers/customers and even Fraud. The above two issues can materially misstate the amount of revenue and receivables, and the quality of work will be affected. These two issues can possibly be an indication of Fraud, and auditors may need to be withdrawn from the audit altogether. It is very necessary for the management to pay close attention to our audit finding and investigate the reasons of any deviations from established control procedures. In case of absence of any related control procedure, management should consult auditors on establishing new internal controls or finding any substitute methods to mitigate the identified

Freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Freedom - Essay Example Broaching such a topic is almost impossible because personal freedom is relatively young concept when compared against the backdrop of time. The concept is a modern day complexity because over the course of human existence personal freedom was not a reality. The evolution of human society prior to the last 200 years had a societal hierarchy in which those in power, with status, gold and silver exercised personal freedom; those members of society without were obligated to those with wherewithal and the illusion of freedom was not a consideration. According to the United States Declaration of Independence personal freedom by definition is â€Å"The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness† (Declaration of Independence). Implied is the ability to pursue happiness by living life in a manner that does not impose or infringe on the well-being and rights of others while living within the confines of the governing laws. The ideals of pursuing happiness and liberty from an individual perspective have the potential to create havoc because happiness to one person may not be happiness to another. In contrast, the opposite of personal freedom is slavery or â€Å"human trafficking† another modern day term, or the oppression of â€Å"Jim Crow† laws, and the current politically motivated attempts to exclude and prevent certain groups from voting in the upcoming elections. Each of these examples depicts the removal or hindrance of personal freedom and the right to live freely. To some degree politics, economics, culture, leisure indulgences, educational opportunities, or the varying religious beliefs are each attributes of personal freedom. However, in theory personal freedom is an illusion because individuals living and doing as he or she pleases has restraints. Society’s laws and regulations dictate to what extent personal freedom can be expressed; going outside of the allowable boundaries results in punishment for infractions with seve re consequences in certain circumstances. Similarly, aside from governmental laws and rules that govern the influence of culture on the expression of personal freedom presents additional constraints as well. Take for instance in America families have the personal freedom to decide how many children to have, but as a stark cultural contrast in the People’s Republic of China families are restricted by government regulations to only one child (Rosenberg). Whereas the motivation for the policy has intrinsic value clearly personal freedom to choose is restricted because of the imposing regulations for the benefit of the community at large. Theorists such as Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Henry James (1843-1916) debated the veracity of personal freedom because of the hierarchical design of the economic structure within society. James believed that true personal freedom was an impossibility citing the controls of government resembling that of a â€Å"Puppeteer manipulating the populaceà ¢â‚¬  (qtd. in Koopman 177). Moltmann presented the argument that personal freedom cannot exist because individuals are members of a larger network or group and inexplicably members of the community of human beings. His philosophy was valid in that individuals cannot experience a true state of individuality or personal freedom due to the invisible connections that binds

The Cost of Language Switch of Bilinguals Essay

The Cost of Language Switch of Bilinguals - Essay Example This paper culminates in form of a discussion and suggestions to the educators and for the bodies of knowledge covering the entirety of the spectrum of stakeholders in the language learning and acquisition and domains particularly for bilinguals Bilingual speakers normally have to shift across the two languages in their communication activity and particularly in speech production. The fundamental fact here is that the bilinguals have to separate their two languages and settle for the appropriate lexical alternative; one language for effective communication purposes. Abutalebi J et al 2007) note that in the sense of the foregoing, the process entails that the bilinguals have to be possession of effective neural mechanisms that will suffice to facilitate smooth switching and to avert the highly likely chances of interference or the probable competition between the two language alternatives. This is particularly so considering the fact that the first and second languages both posses protruding neuro-anatomical bases as illuminated by the topical neuro-imaging researches. Bilinguals have to possess feasible lexical selection. This highlights the dynamics that characterise the process in which bilinguals have to go through in the techniques of switching between languages. The switch demands various neural mechanisms and facilities which have been illumined by various researches and propounded models. The broad range of varying challenges or costs that a bilingual incurs in the process of switching between languages demands a deeper exploration. The process evidently involves various psychological transitions and processes which will be explored in this study. Literature Review The concern and keen interest around the nature of costs and processes entailed in the switch between languages by bilinguals has received overwhelming contributions from various researchers, scholars and professionals. The studies, experimentations and researches conducted shed valuable light on the nitty-gritties of the language switching process of the bilinguals. Rodriguez-Fornells et al (2002) have presented that the processes of language switching for bilinguals can be accomplished on the basis and facilities of effective neural mechanism that will suffice to prevent distortion and interference and even the projected tendency of competition involving the two languages of the bilingual. The scholars have reinforced that the foregoing is particularly so in view of the fact that the first and second languages have both overlapping neuro-anatomical foundations that have been enunciated in researches focused on neuroimaging. In the contributions made by Costa et al., 1999; (2004) there is a presentation and outline of two salient models. The scholars have proposed two kinds of neuro-cognitive theories and frameworks on the matter of lexical selection mechanisms. One of the model types takes a thrust articulating that in the language switching processes only words in a particular language system are activated. In this framework the researchers

Justification Letter Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Justification Letter - Personal Statement Example Some of my clients in NY include Public Service Electric & Gas (PSEG), Chase/Chemnet Network Services, Bear Stearns Corporation, Swiss Bank Corporation, Perot Systems Corporation, HIS/Chic Jeans, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers Corporation, COMDISCO Corporation, Manufactures Hanover Bank (MHT), M&M Mars Corporation, Coopers & Lybrand, MasterCard International, Home Life Insurance Company, IBM Professional Services, Witco Chemical Corporation, The CIT Group and The General Foods Corporation. I transferred to the Washington DC area shortly after 9/11/2001 to look for contract work with the Government. The position at KForce was only presented to me as a full time employment and not as a sub-contract with Base Technology Incorporated. Hence, I was left with no alternative other than accept the position as such. I am very happy with my current position at US Customs and the people I work with. However, I am not an active employee of KGS in that I do not help to promote the company on any proposals etc. I really do not have any close ties to them. I have a hard time working as an employee of any company and feel better and perform better as an independent contractor because that is how I have lived the last 25 years prior to moving to the Wash DC area. It is my fervent desire to function under contract with you through STS and formally resign from my services with KGS forthwith. I now look forward to the pleasure of your favorable response at the earliest. Thank you, Faithfully yours, Jerry Harding

UAE Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UAE Economy - Essay Example According to the research findings, UAE has an outstanding GDP growth rate of 4.5% despite the increasing global competition. Globally, UAE is depicted to possess approximately 10% of the total oil reserve which is a great boost to the economy. Moreover, UAE is among the leading producers of natural gas in the global market. It is also important to note that the UAE government is another factor contributing to the economic growth as it encourages global trading and maintains a favorable environment for investors. The historical existence of ‘United Arab Emirates (UAE)’ was identified during the period of 1968 as a result of collaboration between ‘Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’ and ‘Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum’. The prime reason for this truce was to safeguard the potential oil-rich reserves of this nation from the dominative intentions of the neighboring global powers such as the US among others. The historical evidence of UAE also pr ojects itself as an open kind of economy, where major emphasis is provided towards welcoming foreign trade practices. In simple words, UAE projects itself as a paradise for carrying out international trade practices for better economic growth. In alignment to its economic openness, the nation within a confined period of time has successfully attained an appreciable level of economic growth. In this context, it has been identified that UAE has a remarkable economic progress i.e. GDP growth rate of 4.5% in the financial year 2014 irrespective of the massive level of global market competition. In addition, the major reliance of this nation is based on the oil and natural gas reserves, which can be categorized as another crucial factor that appears to have significantly contributed towards the attainment of such high economic progress rate.

Justification Letter Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Justification Letter - Personal Statement Example Some of my clients in NY include Public Service Electric & Gas (PSEG), Chase/Chemnet Network Services, Bear Stearns Corporation, Swiss Bank Corporation, Perot Systems Corporation, HIS/Chic Jeans, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers Corporation, COMDISCO Corporation, Manufactures Hanover Bank (MHT), M&M Mars Corporation, Coopers & Lybrand, MasterCard International, Home Life Insurance Company, IBM Professional Services, Witco Chemical Corporation, The CIT Group and The General Foods Corporation. I transferred to the Washington DC area shortly after 9/11/2001 to look for contract work with the Government. The position at KForce was only presented to me as a full time employment and not as a sub-contract with Base Technology Incorporated. Hence, I was left with no alternative other than accept the position as such. I am very happy with my current position at US Customs and the people I work with. However, I am not an active employee of KGS in that I do not help to promote the company on any proposals etc. I really do not have any close ties to them. I have a hard time working as an employee of any company and feel better and perform better as an independent contractor because that is how I have lived the last 25 years prior to moving to the Wash DC area. It is my fervent desire to function under contract with you through STS and formally resign from my services with KGS forthwith. I now look forward to the pleasure of your favorable response at the earliest. Thank you, Faithfully yours, Jerry Harding

Understanding how asset classes and systematic strategies behave and Thesis - 1

Understanding how asset classes and systematic strategies behave and perform during different macroeconomic environments - Thesis Example The CLI system uses a predefined system of indicators and uses their composite measure to predict the future economic activities. The movement of CLI is in the same direction of movement of the business cycle and they are specially designed to recognize the turning point. However, CLIs cannot be used to predict the intensity of recovery of the business cycle. The importance of this method has increased even more after the global financial crisis of 2008 as it has become very important for the policy makers, economists and other agents related to the business cycle to analyze the economic condition correctly (OECD, 2009). In case of the CLI OECD indicators it has been observed that the CLI results are mainly used by the in-house users. Analysts have mainly used this method to determine the current state of the economy. This paper focuses on the use of CLI indicators in predicting the future pattern of economic growth in a number of economies. This is done by reviewing the existing literature. The final part of the paper focuses on the behaviour of the asset classes and its relation to the business cycle. The CLI indicators was introduced in 1938 and has been modified a number of times to improve its efficiency over time. It has been stated that CLIs are mainly constructed by using reference series as it represents a composite of many other indicators. As in most of the other composite indicators Gross Domestic Product was expected to be one of the major indicators to be used as reference series in constructing CLI. However, in practice it has been observed that Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is taken as the primary reference series. The rationale behind involving IIP is that this is measured on a monthly basis whereas GDP is measured at a quarterly basis. It is for this reason that IIP is found to show the way in which GDP will behave in the subsequent months. In case of OECD countries the concept of leading

Coming to America, Scarface, and Borat Essay Example for Free

Coming to America, Scarface, and Borat Essay Motion pictures due to its nature, creates somehow a subliminal effect on its viewers. Certain dialogue and inherent acting can leave an impression to anyone who may watch it. These impressions have a large probability that what people see on screen could actually be real. Filmmakers on the other hand, know this effect on its viewers and create movies based on their own intention. For some filmmakers the purpose could be is to simply entertain, for others to educate. But even with this purpose in mind, some films made even though most likely unintentional, can cause a variety of reactions depending on the viewers perspective and comprehension of a specific film. A lot of these kinds of reactions may come from a twisting plot or a thought provoking characterization of its actors. The latter proves to have more reactions generated due to its social relevance, the characterization in films by the minorities of society. Since the inception of including minorities in film, a lot of criticisms were raised due to what others may deem offensive for the part of how the minorities are at times being falsely stereotyped and while others will consider it socially acceptable when analyzing it in a larger context (Sienkiewicz Marx, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze three films namely Scarface, Coming to America, and Borat. The study will discuss the roles portrayed by the lead actors in which they are also considered as part of the social minorities. This paper will break down the stereotypes or negative images in which the film may convey and how does these films contribute to oppression of one group or another. Data Analysis Coming to America In this film, Eddie Murphy plays the role of Prince Akeem a soon to be King of his wealthy country Zamunda. The plot revolves around Prince Akeem’s motivation to find his bride, since the type of wives being offered to him by the current king his Father, seems to be like Prince Akeem’s soon to be slaves, due to their nature to obey and please whatever the Prince will desire. That part alone shows the characters of women, (in this movie majority of the women are black) especially growing out from poverty will do anything just to get married to a Prince. Although women here is not considered minority but the negative image conveyed by the film of their characters, except for the main lady Lisa McDowell (in which Prince Akeem soon married due to her distinct quality), are basically like Gold diggers and will do absolutely anything just to get rich. Another incident, in which the film portrays and intentionally to be funny, was when Akeem and his cousin went to America to find the bride of his dreams, they encountered deceit and theft mainly from black people living in the impoverished area of Queens New York. Criticisms here depends on the type of viewer perception, some may react that not all Black people are like that, and they might even add that they just did those crimes due to poverty, but others will just look at it as unintentional and as a way to create a joke, but based on a study social and political themes the proportion of blacks who resort to violence has risen substantially over the last decade (Powers, Rothman Rothman, 1996, p. 179). Also a scene worth noting, was when it showed the future Father in-law of Akeem, Cleo McDowell (played by John Amos) running his business, which have almost the perfect resemblance of McDonalds due to its signature usage of the Golden Arches, in which he calls the McDowell’s. This scene portrays another character of the black people engaged in playful deceit for the purpose of comedy, although ugh the scene naturally funny but again may create a message that in general black people are simply like that. Even on the way Cleo treats his daughter on finding the right man, he always preferred a wealthy young man to be his future son in law, thus Akeem here for his purpose to be loved by the way he is and not for money he assumed the role of a poor man, in which his Cleo totally disliked and preferred the more well off son of a rich family Daryl. Deceit lies and the motivation for money seems to be the underlying themes of this movie, although created as a comedy to somehow cover these types of elements, it was really shown clearly when the stereotyping ended on the scene when Akeem’s father the King went to New York to find his son and stop the potential marriage of him and Lisa, offered a significant amount of money to Cleo for his troubles, Cleo then stood up for his hidden principles and reacted as if it was an insult to treat her daughter like that. This could a positive affirmation and probably the filmmakers created this scene for viewers not to generalize and jump into conclusions on the nature of the black people in this film. Scarface On the movie Scarface, Al Pacino plays the role of a Cuban refugee named Tony Montana. As an immigrant Tony was depicted as a very strong character incapable of fear especially driven by his goal of making it big on a different country like America. This characterization of Al Pacino explains the American immigrant experience suggesting that crime which is the centerpiece of which is drugs cannot be disconnected from the American Dream (Sharret, 2001). After him and his best friend Manolo (played by Steven Bauer) went out the refugee camp after a tumultuous rebellion, they found themselves on having a job as dishwashers. This shows that in America most of the jobs for immigrants with little education end up as blue collared workers doing hard work and long hours. This kind of work only made Tony feels that it was nothing different from back home in which he tried anything possible to get away of the communism grip. He decided to results into what he feels he can do best. Violence and drug dealing, this has made the movie somehow more dangerous in respect to all immigrants trying to live an honest hardworking life in America, as viewers may perceive that this is the way immigrants are, due to their background on either poverty or a tough government from their own countries. Thus stereotyping again may exists, however this film offered much more than just the immigrant experience, from that foundation it went to describe the both the horrific image of drugs in the contemporary world and the violence and corruption attached to it (same as Sharret, 2001). It was not long when Tony Montana thought he had achieved the American Dream, he killed his former boss, took away his business and his wife and even his own bodyguard to work for him. This happened as portrayed, that tension occurs when minorities (like Tony the immigrant from Cuba) and his White boss tried; but failed to resolve issues and misunderstandings (Powers, Rothman Rothman, 1996, p. 180). Tony knows he cannot do it alone without the help of corrupt bureaucrats who actually assist drug traffic as part of the realpolitik of post-war foreign policy (same as Sharret, 2001). Those scenes have a tremendous negative effect on not only to the violence by an immigrant but on his ability to utilize the system of the society in America that seems to support the idea of competition and acquisition as hallmarks of success and accomplishment (same as Sharret, 2001). There was what it seems as turning point in the film, in which Tony, His Wife Elvira (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and Manolo went to a fine dining restaurant. In this particular scene Tony now considered rich and powerful, went beyond as he insulted his wife for being a drug addict, and made a scene with the whole considered to be the elite class of the society. The film conveys the message that this kind of society only knows where to point fingers when it comes to trouble and it a lot of times it goes to the immigrants whom they perceived are the bad guys and specializes on dealing drugs and partaking in violence. This explains that those other diners may have no idea what an immigrant experience could be and possibly do not care except if it affects them directly, in this particular scene it did. A lot of people considered Scarface as an epic gangster film, due to its themes of the capitalist lifestyle (in contrast to communism) violence and effects of drugs. Borat Borat is a film, that is supposed to comedic in nature, turned out as a heavy racist context, full of offensive themes for both the Kazakhstan people and the Americans as well according to its critics. But is it really? again depending on the type of viewers’ point of view. The film portrayed the country of Kazakhstan as a medieval society in which rape and incest are cheerfully accepted, and sometimes combined, some audiences knows that this kind of joke is not on the country itself, but on the western perception that foreign cultures are backward (Ryan, 2006). The ploy is centered on the character Borat Sagdiyev, (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) Kazakhstans second-best reporter, going to America to analyze the attitude and nature of the American people. In his travel accompanied by his producer Azamat Bagatov (played by Ken Davitian), Borat tries to learn the American sense of humor by interviewing an American coach, this scene conveys that the joke in which adding the word and exclamation Not! At the end of every sentence is proudly of American Origin ( same as Ryan, 2006). The other particular scene in which Borat interviewed the Veteran Feminists of America, can be considered nothing more sophisticated than a prank at the expense of those who dont know what the joke is, or even that there is a joke (same as Ryan, 2006). But this scene in particular portrayed the seriousness of the Veteran Feminists which either way doesn’t want to be stereotyped as Borat would prefer. This somewhat immigrant experience of Borat has also led him to his infatuation to television personality Pamela Anderson. Borat then meet with a group of drunken friends ( which this scene is not scripted) and these guy showed Borat a videotape of Pamela Anderson having sex with his then boyfriend Tommy Lee, having seen this Borat feels very depressed, since in his country the belief of virginity is very important, and before he have seen the video he thought that Pamela is still a virgin, this again portrays that Kazakhstan people are primitive as well as naive. The guys who showed Borat the video claimed (since this was an actual shot) that they are unfairly represented in the film as sexist louts because of their drunken state, but during that scene their celebratory screening of the tape reveals their sexism indisputably (Metz, 2007). There a lot of scenes in the film in which can be easily concluded as racist tags or false stereotyping, but as some of the scenes which are shot are not scripted like, the scene discussed earlier, explains some of the actual nature of the Americans on how they sometimes treat an immigrant especially if they don’t have any background of a specific immigrant. The immigrant experience here shows that people in whom he interacts can be well perceived as if they are trying to understand the minority, but at the same time holding their ground if they see something is not just normal by their standards. Conclusion The influence of film on audience perception can really be significant. Especially when dealing with the social order of the society. In this study we analyzed three films on which the corresponding focal point is the immigrant experience by the main characters. They all seemed reacting on what the new society already has in place for them. For us viewers, we see these types of minorities and a lot of times we simply cannot enjoy a film as it is, due to the disturbance of the negative messages of violence, offensive jokes, racism, drugs, sexism and lot of subliminal messages the film itself conveys to us. The problem with this is clear from this study, that it indeed has an effect that can possibly create oppression for a particular group, and in this case the immigrant minorities of our society. Reference List Charles, L. (2006). Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. United States:Four by Two. De Palma, B. (1983). Scarface. United States:Universal Pictures Landis, J. (1988). Coming to America. United States:Eddie Murphy Productions Metz, W. (2007) Shark Porn: Film Genre, Reception Studies, and Chris Kentis Open Water. Film Criticism 31. 1 Powers, S. , Rothman, D. , and Rothman, S. (1996). Hollywoods America: Social and Political Themes in Motion Pictures. Boulder. CO: Westview Press. Sharrett, C. (2001). Cinematic Drug Wars. USA Today, Society for the Advancement of Education. Sienkiewicz, M. Marx, N. (2009). Beyond a Cutout World: Ethnic Humor and Discursive Integration in South Park. Journal of film and video 61. 2 Ryan, G (2006). Thongs of Freedom: The Kazakh Ace Reporter Uncovers Uncomfortable Truths about the US. New Statesman

Environmental Crime and Green Criminology

Environmental Crime and Green Criminology The fast social, technological, political and environmental development of the world we live in is almost beyond comprehension. All these changes have created growing demands for goods and services that cannot be supplied anymore by the ordinary economy and business services, but the criminal economy must jump in. Furthermore, new mobility has increased trade, tourism, expansion of the scientific and cultural cooperation and much more. Borders are turning pale and becoming insignificant. Everything has gone to the undreamed-of rate. But unfortunately at the same time all this progress has caused war, pice, and crime of unprecedented proportion (Moore and Fields, 2005). Environmental crime represents one of such (inter)national problem that is growing very fast and wide and as stressed by Fields, Arrigo and Webb (2005), these crime problems are highly complex in relation to those with whom criminologists were used to deal with, as it will be shown below. Comparative criminology refers to the systematic and theoretically-informed comparison of criminality (crime and crime trends) in two or more countries (Howard, Newman and Pridemore, 2010). Comparative studies are very important for criminology, because they offer great potential for increasing the explanatory power of criminological theories.  [1]  Furthermore, comparative criminal justice studies reduce the enormous differences between crime rates among different countries.  [2]  Although many authors (Shelley, 1981; Rokaw, Mercy and Smith, 1990; Hans-Gunther, Shelley and Kaoth, 1992) in the field of comparative criminal justice surveys assume that the goal of comparative criminology is si mply to test whether claims about crime causation stand up in the rich texture of cultural variation, Beirne and Nelken (1997) stress that the scope of comparative criminology is wider than the search for the causes of crime. It includes the study of transnational crime, the problems of exporting models of crime control to other countries and the way the views of criminologists are themselves influenced by their cultures in the search of explanations of crime. Furthermore, Bennett and Lynch (1990: 153) state that cross-national studies of crime (criminal justice) issues play an important role in building theory and guiding public policy. The last one more and more often relies on the scientific survey results and findings, with the intention of bringing the right decision about the public related crime problems. Neuman and Berger (1998: 300-301) argue that comparative criminology is plagued by a hiatus between theory and research. Therefore, the different levels of theoretical explanations need to be explored with data that simultaneously employ variables at the contextual and individual levels. Quantitative studies must be complemented by in-depth historical research in order to examine the specific processes occurring within nations. Quantitative cross-national studies with aggregate data are appropriate to evaluate alternative perspectives but it is important to be explicit about the methatheoretical assumptions underlying such research. Beirne and Messeschmidt (1995) warn that if mentioned conditions are not fulfilled, studies will proliferate with exercises of verification and falsification of numerous middle-range theories without a cumulative development of theoretical knowledge. As pointed out by MeÃ…Â ¡ko (2008: 31), the issues about the movement of crime and crime policies between countries and cultures and comparison between countries are important. According to this it is important who are the carriers of these changes and comparisons, and furthermore the transfer of knowledge, ideas and concepts itself and their understanding and implementation in a society. The purpose of comparative studies of crime and criminal justice is to know the impact of cultural, political, economic and other effects on the differences in attitudes towards crime, law enforcement response to violations of laws crime and criminality.  [3]  The comparative criminology enables all this. Different authors (Beirne and Hill, 1991, Fields and Moore, 1996; Wardak and Sheptycki, 2005, Reichel, 2008) define comparative criminology as the systematic study of crime, law and social supervision in two or more cultures, noting that this aspect of criminology has been neglected in the past. Comparative criminology with the support in the criminal justice system and studies allows a comparison of crime and related phenomena between two or more countries. By applying this method, criminologists try to identify the similarities and differences in crime patterns between different cultures. Ideally, it would be necessary to test the theory in as many different possible conditions. Howard and Newman (2001) stressed that in the last decade criminologists realized that the majority of the existing criminal legal theories are limited only to a few western countries. In the last period this situation is slowly changing, as the criminologists, faced with rising crime rates, felt a strong need to share and exchange the experiences and learn from each other. Reichel (2008: 30) points out that at doing the comparisons between countries one needs to focus on the changing crime rates and provide a unified definition, reporting and recording or keeping of crime statistics; other wise the results are not representative, valid and useful. Although many theoretical, methodological, and philosophical problems certainly have dogged comparative criminology since its inception, Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010) stress that this field of investigation is currently in a state of rapid expansion. Beirne (1983) warns that any serious comparative analysis of crime must confront the reliability of information about crime rates and victimization. Like all cross-cultural analyses, comparative criminology is beset with difficulties about what to compare, how and for what purpose. Promise and the perils of comparative criminology are everything but negligible, because this form of criminological research faces additional obstacles of problems, which all social explanations face. Because the definition of crime is conventional and because it depends on differences between systems of criminal justice, the technical and conceptual obstacles to comparing crime rates and explaining the causes of criminal behavior comparatively are definitely serious. And over and over again, new questions spring up, such as: Is the meaning of criminal behavior constant across different legal systems and cultures? How far can we risk explanations of environmental crime, which avoid reference to meaning? H ow much reliability should we attach to crime data from different societies that are gathered by the police or by victimization surveys? etc. In 1987 Michalowski and Kramer conducted a comparative criminal justice (criminological) study in the field of environmental crime. Back in 1980s they noticed the significant expansion of transnational corporations in the Third World. Because in many developing nations legal control over corporate violations against the environment did not grow commensurately these corporations engaged legally in a variety of injurious actions that would have been recognized as violations of criminal regulatory, or civil law in their home countries. According to Michalowski and Kramer (1987) the differences in the laws of home/countries of origin and host countries, and the ability of transnational corporations to influence the legal climate in the host countries renders the laws derived at the level of nation-states an unsatisfactory basis for determining the scope of criminological research on transnational corporate (environmental) crime.  [4]  Similar cases of expansions are known also in Eur ope, in Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine etc.) and in the Balkan Region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo etc.). Some West European and other foreign corporations moved most of their production to these developing countries with the reason of reasonable production costs, although the second (hidden) reason for such decision was and still is less restricted environmental protection legislation.  [5]   Bennett and Lynch (1990: 176) made an analysis of cross-national crime indicators and ascertained that the particular use, to which data are put, will affect the comparability and reliability of the descriptive statistics generated. In this respect they add that for surveys focused on aggregated description or the explanation of variance in crime across nations (except homicide) and/or across time, the choice of data set need to be determined by the relative reliability of the data (e.g. diversity of included nations; the accessibility of the data; timelines and completeness of the information). Furthermore, Beirne and Lynch (1990) warn that Interpol data sets are deficient and unreliable and therefore not appropriate for comparative cross-national surveys. When talking about the international data sets it needs to be added that one has to be careful when using data from different international organizations data sets, such as United Nations, World Health Organization, Interpol, Euro pol etc., because they can distinguish very much. On the other side, as stated by Benne and Lynch (1990: 178), dedicated data collection systems, such as victimization surveys, offer greater potential for providing the data needed for descriptive cross-sectional research purposes. The best example of comparative cross-national survey is the International Crime Survey (ICS), where methodology in all participating countries is equal, which means that results of conducted comparisons are reliable and useful. Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010) attribute several goals of comparative research in criminology, from which some are obvious applications of the traditional canons of the scientific method, and some are unique to the study of crime in an international setting. According to authors, these goals of comparative criminological research are: extending theories beyond cultural and national boundaries; assessing the performance of national criminal justice systems; evaluating national criminal justice policy; coordinating the fight against transnational crime and reasonable critique. Mainly comparative criminology attends to understanding criminal and deviant behavior. If the crime survey is manifested globally, comparative criminological studies will provide useful insights into the control of antisocial activity.  [6]  Furthermore, it is inevitable that the criminological study intersects with the field of criminal justice. For Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010), comparative criminological surveys are important because of five essential reasons, because they represent and allow: theoretical development and testing; advance comparative analysis; data explosion; policy development; and globalization and comparative studies of crime and criminal justice. When conducting comparative criminological research, academicians can use different methodology and research tools. It actually depends on the nature of research. Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010) divide the methodology used in comparative criminological surveys into two groups. The first group includes surveys of comparative research that examine specific substantive issues of crime (e.g. violent crime, property crime, national crimes with international implications such as genocide, domestic violence, transnational crime), where crime represents a dependent variable. The second group includes the general types of studies (e.g. metalevel studies (victi mization surveys), parallel studies (crime rate/criminal justice system analysis; topical comparison; replication of an experimental design), and case studies) normally undertaken by comparative criminologists. MeÃ…Â ¡ko (2008b: 31) emphasizes that comparisons between countries in the form of comparative criminological surveys are important, especially in the field of environmental criminality. Next to the comparison of crime data sets, the transfer of knowledge, ideas and concepts itself and their understanding and implementation in a society can be crucial. For this reason, the main aim of comparative criminological surveys of crimes against the environment is to know the impact of cultural, political, economic and other impacts on the differences in attitudes towards environmental crime, law enforcement response to environmental violations and the overcoming of obstacles posed by the lack of relevant knowledge in countries, where green criminology is developing. Comparative criminology enables all this and for this reason it should be more often used in comparisons of environmental crime forms, green criminology findings and environmental justice responses between two or more countri es. At the beginning of their discussion about the meaning and importance of the comparative criminological study Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010) assert that with the growth of international transparency and the capacity of the World Wide Web to disseminate information, data about crime and justice around the world are more accessible than ever. The data about environmental crime are no exception (more and more information about environmental harm and environmental damage and degradation is published on the world web by non-governmental organizations and accessible to everyone). Environmental crime in comparison to criminological and criminal justice surveys Environmental crime is every temporary or permanent legally defined deviant act or resigned activity, which causes an artificial change, worsening, burdening, degeneration or destruction of (human) environment or breaking its natural changes. The perpetrator could be anyone or every one of us (corporations, companies, groups, individuals, etc). White (2009: 1) stresses that for many people and experts the term environmental crime is best described not in terms of legality but in terms of new concepts of environmental justice. For him, environmental harm can be conceptualized in the aspect of three broad approaches to the understanding of environmental issues: conventional criminology  [7]  , ecological perspectives  [8]  and green criminology.  [9]  For White (2008), environmental crime is harm against the environment that is being perpetrated across the earth, although its intensity and form varies depending upon specific regions and specific populations. His definition of environmental crime seems more or less logical, although is hard to RAZDELITI and use in comparative criminological or/and criminal justice survey. The definition of environmental crime should be simple, clear and understandable. Only that way the definition could be broadly acceptable (unified) and possible to use for the purpose of comparative studies. In this respect, Clifford and Edwards (1998) warn that an extremely broad definition is not useful for purposes of analysis, because everything can be included in it. Clifford and Edwards suggest that one of the objectives of defining environmental crime is to make reasonable comparisons possible and for this reason the definition has to be so broad as to preclude meaningful distinctions. And something else is definitely true, more researchers and experts know about the environmental crime, the more surveys they conduct, the better their suggested concept (definition) of environmental crime will be. After analyzing the sociological (criminological), philosophical and legal concept of environmental crime, Clifford and Edwards (1998: 25) offered their definition of environmental crime: An environmental crime is an act in violation of an environmental protection statue that applies to the area in which the act occurred and that has already indentified criminal sanctions for purposes of police enforcement. To make their definition easier to understand, Clifford and Edwards (1998: 26) divided it into two parts. The first part defines the term environmental crime from the philosophical aspect: Environmental crime is an act committed with the intent to harm or with a potential to cause harm to ecological and/or biological systems and for the purpose of securing business or personal advantage. The second definition, arising from the legal aspect, states that an environmental crime is any act that violates an environmental protection statute. With the use of such definitions of environme ntal crime the execution of comparative criminological and criminal justice studies is possible and achievable. When talking about environmental crime, we talk about very different phenomena, which are very hard to be gathered in a single universal definition. Environmental crime as such is more or less new and still an unknown form of crime and in some aspects a different form of crime as criminologists, researchers and other experts are used to (classic crime).  [10]  When dealing with environmental crime and performing (comparative) criminological or criminal justice studies man has to be aware of the following most often and important particularities of the environmental criminality: Environmental crime is very diverse all around the world, between countries and between regions (it is inherent to each individual, the economic system, environmental and biological systems, etc.). The problem of the agreed definition of the term environmental crime is still causing problems. One of them is a unified comprehension of the term environmental crime in comparative studies. Because of the lack of adjusted terminology and of a united internationally acknowledged definition, problems on all other levels of discussion, punishment and prevention of environmental crime are appearing.  [11]   Environmental crime is related to the technical development and progress; therefore new forms of environmental criminality are continually produced. Never ending changes to already present forms of environmental crime show themselves in extension and represent the need for constant monitoring, supplementing and changing of the already existing divisions or forming new ones.  [12]   Environmental crime is specific on one hand because of the perpetrators (offenders), their motives and the chosen modus operandi, and on the other hand because of special features of two different victims. Environmental crime acts usually do not affect human victims directly, as it happens in classical forms of criminality. In this case the first victim of a criminal act of environmental crime is the environment, which afterwards threatens the humans (poisoned water sources, toxic gas release, polluted soil, etc.). The narrow research of the whole field of environmental criminality and lack of different ways of research of environmental crime clearly show the need to extend the methodological approaches in criminological studies of environmental crime. Besides supplementing and verification of different comprehensions, the need for alternative approaches to research modern forms of environmental threats also expresses itself, because with human development and modern progress the forms and offenders of environmental crimes are changing. Green criminology has to recognize the lack of specific knowledge (especially natural sciences knowledge), which are essential for effective dealing with deviations against the environment. In this respect, the relations between various disciplines that need to be defined and framed are important. Furthermore, the field of environmental criminality demands a multidisciplinary approach. In the field of ecology, better to say environmental justice, the boundaries between licit and illicit (legal and illegal) are often vague (circumvention of the environmental threats to the legal order of the country). Sometimes the (inter)national environmental law is an imperfect system for the protection of the environment, because it is sometimes too broad and vague, or it depends on national interests elsewhere. Inseparable connection of environmental crime with the society and the way of life make the effort of the active criminological researching of environmental crime and finding more effective supervision systems and methods for preventing environmental crime even harder. In the front is the problem of defining the relation man environment (offender powerless victim).  [13]   More and more attention is drawn into the relation environment safety. Such condition also reflects itself in numerous countries, which try hard to cooperate more intensively in the field of environmental protection on the international level. The need for adequate measures and a more structural and planned approach to such problems and responses to it is growing. All of the above listed characteristics of environmental criminality are very important. They define environmental crime as such and must be taken into account when carrying out green criminological research or analysis. Furthermore, the characteristics must not be ignored when performing comparative criminological surveys; otherwise the results may be incorrect and misleading. One of such example is the use of ICS results in environmental crime comparative criminological survey, because the victims of environmental crime, caused harm and consequences, are still mostly unknown, therefore the conclusions based on a small number of victims reports could be misleading. Furthermore, different forms of environmental crime (e.g. crimes against air, water, soil, etc.) cause different damage and consequences, have different victims and even can be hidden for decades. For better understanding of what exactly environmental crime is, what is punishable, how violence is punished, why it comes to violence and who are the victims of environmental crime, we first need to define the basic terms. The answers to the following questions who committed crime, why he committed it and how the crime is committed against the environment, are expected to be explained by criminology with a good reason. Green criminology has developed as a branch of a science about criminal acts and their perpetrators, which researches the forms of deviant behavior and investigates the causes of such behavior, describes such phenomena and observes them in their development. After all, criminology is not legal, but empirical science, which uses comprehensions of empirical researches and results of the experience. As such, green criminology, can and is using comparative studies to understand and be able to explain environmental crime more detailed and accurately. The comparative criminological and criminal justice studies of environmental crime are very rare due the several reasons. The most important is the unknown, inadequately defined and poorly researched field of environmental criminality all over the globe. Despite that, the importance and the benefits of comparative criminological studies are very important for the further development of the environmental crime field and green criminology as mainstream social science dealing with environmental issues. The scope of comparative green criminology and criminal justice is wider than the search for the causes of environmental crime, as already mentioned by Beirne and Nelken (1997). For this reason it includes the study of transnational environmental crime, the problems of exporting models of environmental crime control to other countries and the way the views of green criminologists are themselves influenced by their cultures in the search of explanations of environmental crime. When conducting a comparative study of environmental crime one has to be aware that the purpose of comparative studies of crime is to know the impact of cultural, political, economic and other impacts on the differences in attitudes towards environmental crime, law enforcement response to violations of environmental protection laws environmental crime and environmental criminality. The use of comparative criminological and criminal justice studies in the field of environmental crime is very important, because i t enables a comparison of environmental crime and related phenomena, such as environmental degradation and destruction, between two, three or more countries. Furthermore, green criminologists try to identify the similarities and differences in the environmental crime patterns between different cultures with the application of this method. Furthermore, they use them to understand and explain the causes for committing environmental crimes. Comparative criminological and criminal justice surveys of environmental crime are important because of five essential reasons, stressed by Howard, Newman and Pridemore (2010: STRAN). They represent and allow: a) theoretical development and testing of criminological theories in the field of environmental criminality and green criminology; b) advance comparative environmental crime analysis; c) environmental crime data explosion; d) (environmental) crime policy development; and e) globalization and comparative studies of environmental crime and criminal justice. What is more, the purpose of such studies is to know the impact of cultural, political, economic and other impacts on the differences in attitudes towards crime, law enforcement response to violations of laws crime and criminality. The comparative criminology enables all this and for this reason it should be more often used in comparisons of environmental crime forms, green criminology findings and environmental justice respo nses between two or more countries. Similar to Slovenia, some countries have typical characteristics in existent phenomenal forms of environmental crime, as well as by offenders of the environmental crime. For this reason the comparison should be set on a common basis, which is widely accepted all over the world. Comparative criminology could be for example used in a survey that would originate from Sutherlands (1939; in Sutherland and Cressey, 1974) definition of criminology.  [14]  By combining different research methods, it is possible to explain the problem of extension and destructive power of environmental crime on one hand and on the other unconsciousness of noxiousness and its influence on the environment, human and his life. The environmental topic and the research approach are relevant for Slovenian science and also for work of green criminology and competent authorities, because they represent an exact analysis of discourse of environmental crime in the country and worldwide. The practicability of this a pproach shows itself in offering the results and comprehensions that could be the basis of activities to protect the society from environmental crime. Comparative criminological studies are very important for further development of green criminology and the gathering of additional knowledge about the environmental crime. The desired objectives of such a survey are often an understanding of criminal and deviant behavior against the environment in the chosen country and assessing the performance of the national criminal justice system. The transfer of knowledge about environmental criminality remains the main aim of the comparative criminological survey. Furthermore, comparative green criminological and criminal justice studies enable a comparison of environmental crime and related phenomena between compared countries, and help green criminologists identify similarities and differences in environmental crime patterns, and understand and explain the causes for and consequences of environmental crimes.