The sociological Imagination Essay Example For Students

The sociological Imagination Essay The human attitudes have always been a curiosity that captivated most of the great social theorists like Karl Marx, Engels and Durkheim. One of the most unhumble attitude of the humanity was Racism and stereotyping. The racial issue even in the 21st century continue to be a subject that still is present and significant even though we tend to say that racism and other forms of discrimination are prohibited by law and illegal still even in the US the country of all freedoms people face everyday racism, discrimination and humiliation The sociological Imagination Essay, a concept brought by C. Wright Mills basically states that a person lives out a biography and lives it out with some historical sequence. That means that everyone lives his personal life and personal experience but at the same time he contributes to change the history or to affect the society and that creates the historical sequence. We will write a custom essay on The sociological Imagination specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now From here we are going to try to analyze the race issues thru Mills concept the Sociological Imagination that according Lemert from his Social Theory: The sociological imagination enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals. Employing the sociological imagination help us better understand human social behavior. In fact according to Milss ideas a mans behavior in life which is considered his biography is conditioned or embodied in a context called History. Both of these concepts illustrate how a person can live his life (biography) But contributes, however minutely, to the shaping of his society and its history (Mills) Being from Tunisia an Arab, Muslim country in North Africa that had been settled by France, racism had always been a significant matter in my life. First my country was settled by France and this gave to French an important position in our country: second language thought in schools, and spoken widely second attitudes of the French especially regarding Arab immigrants from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco that once had been brought to France after world war 2 to rebuild the country because the French would never accept to do the dirty work and now they want them back to their countries. Let me stop a second here and talk about these guys that moved to France, contributed to rebuilt what it is now considered a powerful country. These immigrants had kids in France that are considered by the French government as being French. But now heres where comes the racist attitudes: the French never considered these kids as being one of them they even gave them a name Beure which exact translation is Butter. These kids had always faced racism and afflicted to humiliation and prejudgment and stereotyping. The most important stereotype about Arabs in France is that their kids are thefts. These kids that were born there and didnt had the choice (neither their parents) to be there, they never felt home because of peoples attitudes. Home a place that makes you feel comfortable, secure and serene. No this wasnt these kids reality. In fact when they come back to their home country and they didnt spoke their family language and that they spoke only French everybody considered them as French and not as a part of the same group or family. This is the reality of millions and millions of kids, wherever they went they were considered foreigners, minorities, aliens My personal experience thought me a lot especially since I came to the US and this wild melting pot that is LA. Since I came here a year and a half ago my favorite song had always been that from a Nescafes commercial Open-up Open-up. This means a lot especially if you come from a small country where you lived all your life and that you face all this diversity and jammed societies in the US. People from every other country and continents, different religions, beliefs, backgrounds, everything separates them but theyre living in harmony in the same country under one government and one civil code. What a beautiful fiction. When I first came here I was as stupid as all those tourists with there stereotyping and profiling. In fact .

Did Hitler plan the outbreak of war essays

Did Hitler plan the outbreak of war essays Did Hitler Plan the Outbreak of War? After the conclusion of the Second World War, many historians posed their own opinions about how the war began. Many pointed their finger towards the works of Hitler, and argued strongly against the views of A.J.P. Taylor. Hugh Trevor Roper takes the following view: "The Second World War was Hitler's personal war in many senses. He intended it, he prepared for it, he chose the moment for launching it." (1953) However, A.J.P Taylor takes a diametrically opposite viewpoint in his book 'The Origins of the Second World War (1961) and goes as far as saying that Little can be discovered so long as we go on attributing everything that happened to Hitler" The two views given are that of the Programme School, with such historians as Hugh Trevor Roper and Klaus, feel that Hitler had a consistent plan that had been outlined in the book Mein Kampf and mainly planned for the expanding of the lebensraum and the master race. Whilst the other view which is from the Structuralist School, argued that Hitler did not have a plane but merely reacted to events that occurred. The difference between both views is that however even with the idea that Hitler did not plan for war, many of the historians think otherwise Thus this essay will analyse the fact that how much can we attribute the war to Hitler? At the Nuremberg trials, much was contributed to the Hossbach memorandum, and it was claimed that this proved Hitler's warring intentions. This document was emphasised too strongly at Nuremberg; however, it is not a source to be ignored. Hitler appears to give this document extraordinary importance, even instructing those present to regard it as his last will and testament in the event of his death. A.J.P. Taylor questions its importance saying that those present at this meeting bar Goering were not Nazis but conservatives and not the people that Hitler would confide in. However...

Needs Assessment of Go Live Systems Inc Assignment

Needs Assessment of Go Live Systems Inc - Assignment Example This gap can be identified as the training needs of the employees. This needs assessment is to be followed by development, delivery and evaluation of training. The Company has plans for a large growth in the next six months period. With the business acumen and expertise in the field the company has developed a software application and has patented it. This application is expected to improve upon the usability and compatibility of the two large Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. With this background Go Live Systems Inc is forming a partnership with two other large companies for making sales and license renewal calls together. The company is looking for at least 10 consultant/programmers who will work hand in hand with the ERP vendors and clients for the assessment and determination of clients' needs suitably modify the application and also provide on site training to the clients as to the usage of the application and the enhancements if any to the application. The expected requirements of skills and knowledge of the consultants/programmers need both technical and interpersonal skills. Since it is observed that it will be difficult to hire people with both excellent technical skills and interpersonal skills it becomes necessary to identify the gap in the skills and knowledge to provide the necessary training. "Individual assessment determines which employees should be trained and... Skills and Knowledge Area Level Required University Degree Bachelor Level + Preferably in Computer Science Database Design Expert PL/SQL Scripting Expert Coding/Debugging/Testing/Release Management Expert Knowledge of ETL Tools Working Knowledge Data Mapping Working Knowledge Supply Chain Basic Knowledge Sourcing/Purchasing/Distribution Basic Knowledge Manufacturing Basic Knowledge Financials Basic Knowledge CRM Basic Knowledge Communication Skills Expert Working in a Team Environment Must Working Experience + 2 years preferred 2.3 Individual Assessment: "Individual assessment determines which employees should be trained and their current levels of skill and knowledge. This may include use of assessment methods and should pay attention to the workers' basic skills as well as the job-specific tasks." Since it is decided by the company to hire an external recruiter it is advisable the recruiting agency is provided with the above basic requirements of skills and knowledge required for the positions of the consultants/programmers. The recruiting agency should select candidates and present lists of candidates who meet the above basic criteria for consideration. Since it is found that it will be difficult to get candidates who possess the required level of technical and interpersonal skill sets instantly, the agency may be asked to present another list of candidates who do not meet the basic criteria in respect of the technical skills but are otherwise found to be of good material offering scope for getting trained. In those cases, in respect of each candidate a chart may be prepared indicating the level of skill and technical knowledge required and possessed by the prospective candidates, to assess the training needs. Wherever it is found that there is

Personal development as a strategic manager Dissertation

Personal development as a strategic manager - Dissertation Example Most of these refugees come from Eastern Europe thus the school is characterised with children joining at different times of the year. Because of this attribute the school has a higher number of pupils in the school who require specialist help. My role within the organisation is at a senior level as ‘Reading Consultant, the main duties include, teaching, delivering specialist reading intervention programmes and supporting teaching assistants delivering targeted support to children who are underachieving . My key area of management in this institution is the responsibility to develop Reading throughout the school. My work also involves working closely with parents and the community as well as developing partnerships with local schools. Taking into account the nature, scope and the underlying problems in this primary school it is evident that there is need to adopt specialised skills in order to execute the underlying task and responsibility in this organisation. 1.1. Organizatio n Strategic Direction STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANISATION The goals and objectives of this institution are :- To provide exceptional and inspirational teaching across a broad and intellectually stimulating curriculum. To offer excellent pastoral care in a school that is safe, healthy, secure and environmentally aware. To raise the profile of the school as a centre of academic excellence. To offer all children the opportunity to explore and develop their talents through the provision of extra curricular programme. To optimise the use of the school’s resources including staff, ICT, infrastructure, land and buildings for the benefit of current and future pupils To enhance the school’s facilities for sport, music and the performing arts. To strengthen partnerships with the newly established children’s centre. According to Mintzberg on his research on the roles of strategic manager on the perspective of organisation strategic direction, the categories of strateg ic management roles that he provides includes interpersonal, decisional and informational. It is important for managers to possess the relevant skills and experience to perform the underlying roles. Interpersonal roles mainly involve relationship of managers and the stakeholders within and outside the organization. These roles include being the organisational figurehead in which the acts as a symbolic head with unique status and authority and this involves myself speaking to the community on issues mainly education, and learning matters. Secondly concerns leadership where the subordinates are lead and this may involve indirect interpersonal role which include supporting teaching assistants and overseeing the adherence to the time table. Under this there is liaison where the manager effectively manages the information centre where network skills are enhanced, activities involved are collaborating with the local schools to enhance sharing of resources, expertise and skills. Decisional roles include managers acting as entrepreneur in which they initiate changes that aims at improving the organisational projects at various levels. Disturbances handler is another role where the manager is expected to deal with staff and any form of activity to stabilize the organisation, this include harmonising the learning process among children from various ethnic groups. Strategic managers also make decisions regarding the resource allocation making

Energy Needs in Mexico Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Energy Needs in Mexico - Research Paper Example In other words, energy is the capability of doing work, spawning heat, and discharging luminosity or emission. On the other hand, power is the energy spent over a given period, say, per unit time. The two are interrelated and one cannot do minus the other. So far, there are over six elementary sources of energy, which include nuclear, thermal and electromagnetic energy. Other forms of energy include electricity, mechanical and chemical energies. Different countries use different forms of energy or a combination of many forms of energy. In Mexico, the government of Mexico struggles to meet the energy needs of the country by using a combination of different forms of energy. Notably, coal and fossil fuels are the dominant sources of energy in Mexico. Perhaps due to their abundance within and without Mexico, fossil fuels are the most common source of energy not only in Mexico, but also in other countries. However, with the warning of fossil fuels getting scarce and their adverse effects of combustion, various countries just like Mexico are busy adopting new forms of energy (Buen & Isabel, 2006, pp. 1-3). The Mexican constitution gives the state the mandate to generate, transmit, and distribute different forms of energy to the citizenry.... For instance, the generation of electricity in Mexico depends on 75 percent of thermal sources, 19 percent from water generation (hydropower). Other sources accounting 2 percent include biomass, solar and wind. Recently, the government embarked on plan to increase its energy figures by 14.8 GW by 2015 using other sources of energy such as renewable sources. This research paper addresses the energy needs in Mexico, the challenges facing its energy sector, and the implication on the economy (Auer, 2001, pp. 1-7). 1.1 Statement of the problem Although there are abundance reserves of both natural gas and petroleum in Mexico, the problem of energy insufficiency persists in a country that is trying so hard to set its path towards positive economic growth figures. The ever-growing economic demands in the country are slowly but surely outpacing the ability of Mexico to produce additional energy. To make matters worse, the poor infrastructure in the exploitation of these two fundamental sourc es of energy has made the country loose millions of dollars due to the flaring up of natural gas. Additionally, the government has been on the receiving end for not investing enough in the energy sector thus, affecting the exploration and production of these basic sources of energy. Inadequate investment from the private sector is also another impediment facing the energy sector in Mexico. The lack of storage facilities for refined oil is also another challenge facing Mexico, as this forces the government and other energy sector players to import at least 25 percent of gasoline. Major infrastructure projects happening in the energy sector in Mexico have almost come to a standstill due to budgetary constraints. For

Legislation and Regulation for Money Laundering

Legislation and Regulation for Money Laundering Finance and Investment Law – Money Laundering Current Legislative and Regulatory Arrangements Money laundering is a menace. Tainted funds from drugs traffic and terrorism are the prime causes of the recent round of energetic legislation designed to make life more difficult for the launderers. The European Directive on Money Laundering has been followed in the UK by primary and delegated legislation. The aim is to deter laundering by well-focused use of the criminal law and, at the same time, to obstruct it by compelling banks and other persons and institutions in the financial services industry to ask more questions, keep more records and divulge more information. The money laundering legislation does not bear directly on the civil law, but, it will profoundly alter professional practices and is bound to filter back into the setting of standards which determine the incidence of civil liability. The huge profits of the drugs industry are gained ultimately from thousands of users who will never so much as contemplate recourse to the civil law. It is different in the case of theft, fraud and corruption. There the victims and their insurers have economic power, and the sums at stake are often large enough to justify a restitutionary campaign in the courts. Tracing is a weapon against laundering. It allows value held in one form at one place to be located later in other assets in another place. It lengthens the victims reach. Successful civil campaigns have been waged. The most notorious is the insurers recovery of assets derived from the Brinks Mat robbery. Often the defendants are not the principal rogues but others to whom the money has come or through whom it has passed. To the victim of a massive fraud, a bank or firm of lawyers or accountants will seem the most promising defendant, if the facts will only support a claim against them. This aggressive opportunism on the part of victims is a factor to be borne in mind as the law settles the conditions of the various restitutionary and restitution related liabilities which can be brought into play. In one recent case the plaintiff had been cheated of millions of dollars in Amsterdam. A sophisticated laundering operation had passed the money through many accounts in different names in different parts of the world. The plaintiff nonetheless traced a large part of it to a legitimate property development in London, and the development company had to make restitution. The same problems encountered in restitutionary campaigns after fraud are also met in more innocent contexts, as where money is paid away by mistake or on a basis which fails. Even in cases of the less disreputable kind the fact that the law will allow the value of one asset to be traced into another can confer great advantages. It will sometimes allow a plaintiff to extend a priority against an insolvent by enabling him to claim it, not against the asset with which he originally parted but against another to which its value can be traced. And it will sometimes allow a plaintiff to leapfrog the immediate recipient and claim against a third party who received, in different assets, value which proceeded from him. For all its utility tracing is one of the least perfectly understood areas of the law of restitution. It is caught on the horns of a dilemma. The longer its reach and therefore the greater its potency against fraud, the more difficult it is to describe exactly how it works; an d the more one insists on the need for an accurate and intelligible account of how it works, the greater the danger of shortening its reach. But there is no real doubt as to how this dilemma must be resolved. The law cannot tolerate figures which are beyond rational description. If there turn out to be limits to what can intelligibly be done by tracing, other weapons will have to be invoked. The law of tracing and claims contingent on tracing will soon settle down. Less stable in the medium term may be the law relating to or affected by restitutionary defenses. The introduction of the defense of change of position is already transforming the law of restitution. In one bound it has put the English law of unjust enrichment in closer touch with German law, and it may yet indirectly effect a civilian transformation of our approach to the cause of action itself. Festina lente may be the order of the day. The down to earth English approach may in fact be preferable. It is a great virtue of the English law of unjust enrichment that it talks in terms of very familiar reasons for restitution and does not go in for the metaphysics of causa and the absence thereof. Canada has succumbed to the temptation to start looking for sufficient juridical cause. The danger of that language is all the greater when it is not underpinned by mature civilian doctrine: it does not tell us why or wh en restitutionary rights arise but merely conceals the absence of an intelligible answer to those questions. Whatever larger changes it may portend, the new defense indubitably provides a new strategy for reconciling the interest in restitution with the interest in the security of receipts. As it takes over the protection of the latter it encourages a liberalization of the restrictive attitudes to the grounds of restitution. Those restrictions were previously the blunt instruments for the protection of that interest. The new focus on change of position also entails more attention to other defenses in its immediate vicinity. In this paper, bona fide purchase, ministerial receipt and passing on assert their independence. Counter-restitution impossible also declines to be absorbed into change of position but appears to be destined to have little future as an absolute defense. The Society of Public Teachers of Law once again stands in debt to those who gave up their time to attend these seminars and, especially, to the judges who were kind enough to take the chair. Lord Justice Millett chaired the seminar on tracing and Lord Goff chaired the seminar on defenses. We are most grateful both for their generous surrender of free time, if indeed a judge can these days be said to command any of that valuable commodity, and for the learning and wisdom with which they brought order to the discussion (United Kingdom Model Agreement, May 2003). Case Example In AGOSI v. United Kingdom the Court was faced with the question whether the imposition of a confiscation necessarily implies that the owners of the confiscated property should have been afforded the same rights as those granted to everyone in the determination of a criminal charge. The German company AGOSI had suffered a considerable economic loss when the UKs Customs Excise department had seized and eventually forfeited golden Krugerrands to a value of  £120,000 that had been illegally imported into the United Kingdom. Defendants X and Y were caught by UK Customs Excise officers as they attempted to smuggle into the United Kingdom on 2 August 1975 the golden Krugerrands they had bought on the same day from AGOSI in Germany (M2 Presswire, March 1, 2004). Because the cheque presented by them for payment had been drawn without provision, the sale contract was ab initio null and void and AGOSI had retained ownership of the Krugerrands. AGOSI initiated several procedures in the Unit ed Kingdom for restitution of the confiscated Krugerrands but was unsuccessful. AGOSI therefore took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, complaining that the confiscation amounted to a procedure for the determination of a criminal charge in which it had been denied the fair trial rights laid down in Article 6 of the European Convention. The Court responded that: The fact that measures consequential upon an act for which third parties were prosecuted affected in adverse manner the property rights of AGOSI cannot itself lead to the conclusion that, during the course of the procedures complained of, any criminal charge, for the purposes of Article 6, could be considered as having been brought against the applicant company. As a general statement this is undoubtedly true. The mere fact that persons own property that is being confiscated does in itself not necessarily imply that a criminal charge is being brought against them. When, for example, instrumentalities of an offence are being confiscated, that does not necessarily imply that a criminal charge should be brought against the owners who may very well have not been implicated in the offence in any way. Confiscation of proceeds from crime as a matter of fact often implies that the person who is being prosecuted is not the real owner. Nine years after AGOSI, the European Court of Human Rights arrived at a similar decision in Air Canada v. United Kingdom, which again involved a seizure by the UK Customs Excise, this time of an aircraft on board which drugs had been found on several occasions, including a few days earlier. The aircraft was only seized temporarily for a few hours until Air Canada paid a sum of  £50,000. 116 The European Court agreed with the English Court of Appeal that the case did not concern an in personam procedure but an in rem procedure and therefore did not require that mens rea of the owner or the possessor was established. This, as well as the fact that non-payment of the sum could not give rise to criminal prosecutions, unlike some out-of-court settlements (transactions) and that the procedure did not involve the intervention of criminal courts at any stage, induced the Court to reach the conclusion that the action of the UKs Customs Excise department did not amount to a criminal charge in the sense of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is submitted that this decision is flawed. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the applicability of Article 6 to confiscation procedures should be seen in close connection to its case law regarding the right to property, entrenched in Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. In AGOSI the Court held that an import prohibition on golden coins constituted a law necessary to control the use of property and that the seizure and confiscation of the Krugerrands were consequently measures taken in accordance with this prohibition and were therefore governed by the second paragraph of Article 1 of the First Protocol. The Court ruled in the same sense in Air Canada. The text of Article 1, however, prompts the question whether confiscation of proceeds from crime should not be considered a deprivation of property under the first paragraph of this provision: 1. Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided by law and by general principles of international law. 2. The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties. This question was answered in the negative in Raimondo v. Italy, which concerned seizure and confiscation of real estate that was derived from mafia practices. It was held that although it involves deprivation of possessions, confiscation of property does not necessarily come within the scope of the second sentence of the first paragraph of Article 1 of Protocol No. 120 The Court referred to its prior judgments in AGOSI and Handyside, in which the Court seemed to have considered confiscation as a preventive measure. This was undoubtedly the case in Handyside where the Court held that the seizure, confiscation and destruction of obscene publications constitute a law necessary to control the use of property and were thus governed by the second paragraph of Article 1 of the First Protocol. These measures effectively prevented further distribution of the publication. It is, however, submitted that the confiscation of the illegally imported Krugerrands in AGOSI did not constitute a preventive measure as it did not pertain to the use of the property but only to certain economic-political goals that were set by the British Parliament. The (possession of) property was not unlawful per se at most; the confiscation dealt with derivative contraband, but not with per se contraband. An even more flagrant example is that of M v. Italy, a case decided by the European Commission of Human Rights, in which it was accepted that the confiscation of proceeds from crime under the Italian anti-mafia laws pursuant to a reversal of burden of proof did not fall foul of Article 6 of the Convention nor of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 as these confiscation measures were preventive and hence did not amount to a criminal penalty. Although all these cases differed from the earlier mentioned case of Welch v. UK (in which the Court did accept the criminal nature of the confiscation of drug trafficking proceeds) 124 in that the imposition of these confiscations did not require that the person was found guilty of a criminal offence, it is submitted that the punitive character of these confiscations could and should have been deduced from the possibility that the owner might avoid confiscation by demonstrating his innocence – a possibility which was explicitly acknowledged by the European Commission and the Court of Human Rights. In this perspective, it is useful to refer to the line of reasoning adopted by the American Supreme Court which explicitly deduced the punitive nature of in rem confiscations from the fact that confiscation is excluded in case owners can demonstrate exceptional innocence. It inevitably follows from this line of reasoning that the confiscation in AGOSI amounted to a penalty, as it wa s at least in part based on guilt of the owner. In Air Canada the punitive nature of the seizure of the aircraft as an instrument of crime was even more blatant, as it was not the aircraft as such that constituted the contraband, but the drugs that had been found on it on earlier occasions. It should be equally clear that the confiscation of assets belonging to a mafia member and presumably derived from an illegal origin, though termed preventive, is in fact nothing else but a criminal penalty. Given the absence of a formal international legislator, it is not surprising that the influence of soft law has been especially notable on the international level. The contribution of international soft law instruments to the fight against money laundering is impressive. One of the earliest international initiatives undertaken in the field of money laundering was the Recommendation No. R (80) 10 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 27 June 1980 entitled Measures against the transfer and safeguarding of the funds of criminal origin. The first international instrument to address the issue of money laundering specifically was the Basle Statement of Principles of 12 December 1988, issued by the Basle Committee on Banking Regulations and Supervisory Practices. The Basle Committee, which comprises the authorities charged with banking supervision of twelve western countries, thought it necessary to take action against money laundering lest public confidence, and hence the stability of banks, should be undermined by adverse publicity as a result of inadvertent association by banks with criminals. Regardless of the fact that the primary function of banking supervision is to maintain overall the financial stability of the banking system rather than to ensure that individual financial transactions are legitimate, the supervisors thought that they could not stay indifferent to the use made of banks by criminals. Money Laundering Regulations 2003 The new regulations replace the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001 and require any person who carries a relevant business to maintain certain anti money-laundering administrative and training procedures. In particular, the activity of dealing in goods by way of business whenever a transaction involves accepting a cash payment of 15,000 or more, will mean that the business needs to comply with the Regulations. Furthermore, records of identification evidence must be kept for at least five years following the end of the business relationship. Failure to maintain the necessary procedures is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of two years` imprisonment and a fine. Research commissioned by BT and GB Group, has found two thirds (67 per cent) of top UK businesses are currently not compliant with new money laundering legislation that came into force on March 1, 2004, leaving their directors open to legal action and a possible two-year jail sentence. The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 require all UK businesses to prove the identity of their customers when handling cash transactions for goods of euro15,000 or more, and also to have adequate record-keeping procedures in place to demonstrate necessary checks have been undertaken. Furthermore, 40 per cent of companies that have implemented what they regard to be acceptable identity authentication processes feel they could still be victims of money laundering, and over half (53 per cent) of those with solutions in place fear that money laundering activity will increase over the next couple of years (The Daily Mail February 23, 2004). The new extended money laundering regulations make it a legal requirement for companies to have robust systems for customer validation and record keeping in place. However, research clearly highlights that organizations are confused about how to achieve compliance, and that there is a worrying lack of confidence in identity verification systems that are already in place. To help companies address this problem, BT has developed an online authentication service, called URU, in partnership with GB Group (Haynes, 2004). URU helps businesses protect themselves against the growing problem of identity fraud, and by helping them work towards achieving compliance with money laundering legislation it may even help keep directors out of jail. URU enables companies subscribing to the service to decide instantly whether to accept the identity claimed by an individual. It does this by asking a series of questions and comparing the information gathered to that held in the most comprehensive data se ts available in the UK, producing match or no match reports. The result is a faster, cheaper, secure and more convenient way to fight identity fraud. URU also provides businesses with an independent audit, thereby helping companies demonstrate compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003. Other findings from the research include: A quarter of all respondents have no identity-checking process in place at all and have no plans to introduce one. Of those with defined and documented identity-checking processes in place, businesses remain confused about some of the basic terms of the legislation: o 34 per cent are unable to state the threshold value level of goods at which a money laundering check should be triggered o 10 per cent do not regularly ask for key identification documents such as a passport or drivers license. A quarter is unclear that directors are now personally liable for any breaches. There are marked variations in levels of compliance across different market sectors. Compliance is highest amongst financial services companies, with 62 per cent of stockbrokers and 55 per cent of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) already compliant, compared to only three per cent of car dealers and 23 per cent of luxury good companies (Dale, 2001). More than one in four companies feel that the cost of compliance will mean certain transactions will have to be refused, and 13 per cent see it as a cost that will have to be passed on to customers. The different levels of understanding about the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations are a problem not only for businesses that need to comply, but also for the regulators aiming to crack down on this serious crime. It is in the interests of both parties to stem the rise of money laundering as a crime. Our URU system, which is designed specifically to help companies make large numbers of identity checks quickly and cost effectively, also helps organizations to meet the requirements of the regulations. Surveyors, estate agents, accountants, lawyers, licensed conveyancers and sellers of high value goods will now have had exactly a year to get to grips with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 (Money Management; July 1, 2004). They are all caught within the range of business activities included in the regulations, and have had to set up internal compliance regimes. These involve regulation by the relevant authorities, training to ensure staff are alert to possible money laundering, the appointment of a money laundering reporting officer, identification procedures to check the details of all clients within the regulated sector and records of all identification checks to be kept for six years. Conclusion The objective standard for the suspicion of money laundering essentially provides the rationale for the know your client/know your business requirements. Failure to report a suspicion of money laundering is judged on the standard of whether a reasonable IFA would have been suspicious in all the circumstances. So what should make an IFA suspicious? The following are examples and should not be taken as an exhaustive list of circumstances that may give rise to suspicion. The important element is understanding what suspicion actually means. At the most basic level an IFA should be cautious of a client introduced through a third party or intermediary based in a country where drug production and trafficking, or terrorism is prevalent. This is not to say that suspicion should automatically arise in this context. It is perhaps only the background against which the reasonable IFA may later find grounds for suspicion. A transaction may have the requisite quality of suspicion where, without logical explanation, funds are routed in and out of the jurisdiction or between different accounts or institutions, or a transaction leads to financial loss. The settlement or payment following any transaction may also be suspicious if a client requests an unusual form of settlement. The term unusual will depend on the usual circumstances, but a request for payments in cash, or to a third party, or through a series of payments from an account may be suspicious. Recognizing a warning signal is the first step to complying with anti money laundering laws. If an unusual or unpredictable circumstance does arise which gives an IFA cause for concern, then the next step is to ask more questions. The answers to those questions will either allay fears or provide a foundation for reasonable suspicion. Bear in mind that although drugs and terrorism are examples of the crimes where money laundering cash is likely to be an is sue, the new laws relate to any proceeds, however small, from any crime, however petty it may seem. In particular, the new laws cover proceeds from tax evasion and benefit fraud. Various regulatory bodies have issued guidance to assist with the interpretation of the new laws. The guidance is also important to note because a court will take account of the guidance issued in a particular industry when applying the objective test as to whether someone knew or suspected money laundering. Bibliography Money laundering regulations. M2 Presswire; March 1, 2004. New laundering clampdown. The Daily Mail (London, England); February 23, 2004. Taken to the cleaners. Money Management; July 1, 2004. Haynes, A., Recent Developments in Money Laundering Legislation in the United Kingdom, JIBI (2004), 58–63. Dale, R., Reflections on the BCCI Affair: A United Kingdom Perspective, Intl Law (2001), 949–62. United Kingdom Model Agreement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Relation to Drug Trafficking (May 2003), reprinted in Mitchell, Hinton and Taylor, Confiscation.

Tobacco, Cigarettes, and Smoking - Whats in a Cigarette? :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

What's in a Cigarette? For those who still don't know - let me emphatically state that cigarette smoking is a true addiction, more powerful than a dependence on alcohol, heroin or cocaine. To grasp this well-documented fact, one really doesn't have to study all the supporting scientific evidence. One simply needs to consider that no other drug is self-administered with the persistence, regularity and frequency of a cigarette. At an average rate of ten puffs per cigarette, a one to three pack-a-day smoker inhales 70,000 to 200,000 individual doses of mainstream smoke during a single year. Ever since its large scale industrial production early in this century, the popularity of the modern cigarette has been spreading like wildfire. Here is the first, and perhaps the most significant answer to the title question: Addiction is in a cigarette. Probing into what makes a cigarette so irresistible, we find that much of the recent research corroborates earlier claims: It is for the nicotine in tobacco that the smoker smokes, the chewer chews, and the dipper dips. Hence, nicotine is in a cigarette. In contrast to other drugs, nicotine delivery from tobacco carries an ominous burden of chemical poisons and cancer-producing substances that boggle the mind. Many toxic agents are in a cigarette. However, additional toxicants are manufactured during the smoking process by the chemical reactions occurring in the glowing tip of the cigarette. The number is staggering: more than 4,000 hazardous compounds are present in the smoke that smokers draw into their lungs and which escapes into the environment between puffs. The burning of tobacco generates more than 150 billion tar particles per cubic inch, constituting the visible portion of cigarette smoke. According to chemists at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, cigarette smoke is 10,000 times more concentrated than the automobile pollution at rush hour on a freeway. The lungs of smokers, puffing a daily ration of 20 to 60 low to high tar cigarettes, collect an annual deposit of one-quarter to one and one-half pounds of the gooey black material, amounting to a total of 15 to 90 million pounds of carcinogen-packed tar for the aggregate of current American smokers. Hence, tar is in a cigarette. But visible smoke contributes only 5-8% to the total output of a cigarette. The remaining bulk that cannot be seen makes up the so-called vapor or gas phase of cigarette "smoke.

Automobile Pollution Essay

Automobiles can cause many different kinds of pollution in the environment. Air, health and groundwater pollution are of the most common. The reasons for these problems can be contributed to exhaust systems and light switches that are standard equipment on most cars today. Older and newer cars alike are equipped with a catalytic converter system. Which are supposed to convert hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides into harmless materials emitted from the automobiles engine. According to Robert Harley, when nitrogen oxide from the engines exhaust is â€Å"over- reduced,† a complex chemical reaction ensues. Ammonia gas (NH3) forms in the catalytic converter, which is then emitted from the vehicles tailpipe and released into the air. These ammonia gasses are the cause of haze and may also cause serious health problems. The catalytic converter not only hurts but also helps the environment. Automobiles that have this system on them produce close to 50% less hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and other gasses. (Converters 1) Which in the long run helps the ozone from depleting even more than it has already. Another problem we face is having vehicles with mercury light switches in the trunk and hood. Mercury is a fluid metallic element that is toxic and can cause various health problems, air and groundwater pollution also. Ford is one of the automobile companies that still use mercury in light switches and certain antilock brake components. The mercury becomes a problem only after vehicles containing it are taken to a junkyard and destroyed. When these vehicles are destroyed the mercury seeps out into the environment and is absorbed into the ground eventually to make its way in to our water supplies. While in the water it can contaminate the fish that in turn we end up eating. Another way the mercury makes it way into the environment is during the process of melting the vehicles in steel furnaces where the mercury vaporizes into the air. (Mercury 1) These particles then can act as a contribution to global warming. Ford has been urged to remove these mercury switches and replace them with a ball bearing switch that costs about 38 cents in all vehicles that are brought in for service, repair, or recall. As of right now Ford has no plans of removing these mercury switches in any of its serviced vehicles. But Ford is currently working with the Alliance of Automobile Manufactures and the Association of International Automobile Manufactures and waste-management directors to eliminate and replace the switches containing mercury in their upcoming vehicles. (Mercury 2) If Ford and other car companies that use mercury switches decide to do this it can eliminate up to 2. 5 tons of mercury from our environment. The problems of automobile pollution mentioned above are only a small portion of the pollution problems we face from automobiles. Many people wonder how these and many other problems that automobiles cause can be fixed, and many have come up with possible solutions. But only a few of the solutions are actually practical. I think we should abolish gas burning engines and start using electrical vehicles. This would eliminate all of the pollution problems. Electric vehicles were once thought to only be a futuristic fantasy, but recently have become a reality. These vehicles are a very environmentally friendly replacement for older gas burning automobiles. Electric vehicles do not require tune-ups or oil changes. These vehicles also don’t emit any ozone depleting gasses and or fumes. Making them a perfect remedy for the already hurting environment. As of right now the idea of an electric car is still in it works and the common gas burning automobile will be around for many more years to come. All we can do is hope that one day that someone will come with a vehicle that is environmentally safe and can help eliminate these problems that automobiles cause today.

Non-directive interviews Essays

Non-directive interviews Essays Non-directive interviews Essay Non-directive interviews Essay There are a number of different research methods I can use for my primary research, but I have decided that the methods that will benefit my research are: questionnaires, non-directive interviews and structured interviews I am going to begin with a pilot study before going onto my interviews. By doing this I should be able to obtain some valuable information which I will be able to put into numerical form e.g. pie charts, statistics and percentages.This is a big advantage as I will be able to compare data easily and it will give me a better understanding of what teenage girls feel about the pressures of dieting. Questionnaires are also a cheap, efficient and fast method for obtaining large amounts of information, which is helpful to me, as I do not have much time to carry out my primary research. Potentially, information can be collected from a large portion of a group, but this potential is not often realized as returns from questionnaires are usually low.For example, postal questionnaires are a relatively inexpensive method of obtaining information but often only a very small percent of the sample return them and those who do often have a special reason for doing so which makes the results untypical as a whole. This is why I have decided not to send postal questionnaires but to give them to girls at my school instead, this way I will be able to make sure that everyone returns their completed form to me. I am going to use random sampling in order for my results to be more representative of teenage girls as a whole. I will go through a register for each year group from years 7-13 and cross of every third name until I have ten names from each year. I will then give each person a questionnaire to fill out.However, there are some disadvantages of using questionnaires in my study. Respondents may answer superficially especially if the questionnaire takes a long time to complete, so I will make sure that the common mistake of asking too many questions is avoided. Great care must also be taken when wording the questions so there is no bias, or words that some people may misinterpret or not understand. If this happens my results may not be as representative or accurate as they could be. I will also avoid including open-ended questions as these can generate large amounts of data that can take a long time to process and analyse.Some girls may not be willing to answer some of the questions as my project is on quite a sensitive topic, especially for girls. So I will ask them to reply honestly and tell them that the questionnaire is anonymous. My second research method is unstructured interviews. With non-directive interviews there are few problems of misunderstanding or misinterpretation and the interviewee is not restricted to set questions like in questionnaires, they can really say how they feel. The respondent is in control of the content of the interview and is free to explore any aspect of the topic they want. This will give me a more in-depth and detailed insight into the real thoughts and feelings of the interviewee.However, there are a few disadvantages with using this method. By using an unstructured interview it is difficult to generalise as it is a small sample, and in my case only one persons opinion. This also makes it harder to analyse or make any generalisation that all girls feel the same way as the respondent does. There could also be interviewer bias which is quite a big disadvantage. I could in some way influence or direct the answers given by the interviewee, therefore the respondent may change their answer according to the type of question given. But if I am careful with how I phrase and say my questions, I should be able to avoid any interviewer bias.My third research method is structured interviews. The advantage of structured interviews is that they allow the exploration of specific topics, while allowing people to tell the interviewer what they think is important. I am going to video- tape the opinions of five teenage girls on dieting and the media. I aim to find out if they feel pressured at all by the media to be slim and how far they have taken dieting in order to achieve this media image of the perfect female body. I think it will be interesting to see how their answers compare and differ by asking the same questions to five different girls.Structured interviews give the respondent the chance to speak for themselves about the topic and the chance to clarify complex questions. However success depends on the skill of the interviewer, but I will spend time making sure that the questions I ask will be beneficial to my project. Another disadvantage is that I may give out unconscious signals to the respondent which may lead them to change their reply. Another problem is that I might only follow up my areas of interest there fore restricting the respondents answers. These interviews can also be very time consuming, so I have only decided to interview five people for my study.There are some types of primary research which I have decided not to use. Methods such as longitudinal studies and participant observation would require a great amount of time which I would like to have, but have not got enough time to carry out properly. A longitudinal study is an ideal way of understanding social life at one point in time, but in order to understand social life in the present it is essential to see it as a development from the past. This method requires a picture of social life over a long time which is not possible for me to do.With participant observation the number of people observed is small therefore generalisations are not possible. This method would not be very useful to my project either, as it would be hard to observe peoples eating habits without asking personal questions about weight etc and many people would find covert observation for my topic unethical. A case study could be a good source of primary data for me to use as they can give a more detailed picture than research based on large samples. However, as they are seen as one off examples they cannot be seen as representative. They are also quite time consuming. I am confident that my chosen research methods will provide me with some valuable information from which I can analyse and draw a conclusion from.

Il Faut Laisser Maisons.. Essays - Pierre De Ronsard, Sonnet

Il Faut Laisser Maisons.. Essays - Pierre De Ronsard, Sonnet Il Faut Laisser Maisons.. Analysis of Il Faut Laisser Maisons... Il Faut Laisser Maisons... is a poem written by Pierre Ronsard and published in the book Derniers vers de Pierre de Ronsard in 1586. This poems central idea is that the spirit is more important than the body, because the spirit has far fewer limits than the body. As soon as one dies, the spirit is free from the bonds of the body. These lines: Laissant pourir a-bas sa dpouille de boue and Franc des liens du corps, pour ntre quun esprit. show that Ronsard succeeds in establishing the theme by making it clear that it is necessary to leave the possessions of this world and material things to become a spirit. Ronsard is the speaker of the poem which takes place late in his life. Cest fait! jai dvid le cours de mes destins and Jai vcu, jai rendu mon nom assez insigne, prove that Ronsard has lived awhile and accomplished some things in life. Ronsard intends to teach a significant moral lesson which is the theme. The message is implied, because Ronsard wishes and challenges the reader to interpret and look deeply to understand this moral lesson. He places most emphasis on ideas to help develop this message. Ronsard skillfully develops the poems mood, one of inspiration and thoughtfulness. He believes in the freedom of the spirit in life after death. This line: Heureux qui ne fut onc, plus heureux qui retourne illustrates the poets pensive mood and logical thinking. Ronsard feels that it is better to have lived than never to have lived at all. He thinks deeply about what must be given up and accomplished to become a spirit. Ronsard also knows that there is always hope once he becomes a spirit. Pierre Ronsard uses examples of personification and symbolism to emphasize the theme and to create a deeper meaning of the poem. One example of symbolism is the second line: que lartisan burine(that the artist engraves) which represents something eternal or everlasting that he leaves behind. Et chanter son obsque en la faon du cygne(And sings his funeral song in the manner of a swan) in the third line shows symbolism and personification. The symbolism of a funeral song of a swan signifies the end of something or death. Ronsard personifies a swan as a human singing his own funeral song. The words in line eleven, Jsus-Christ(Jesus Christ), represent salvation and everlasting hope for those seeking everlasting hope. This line: Dont le Sort, la Fortune et le Destin se joue(Fate, Fortune, and Destiny make fun) personifies that Fate, Destiny, and Fortune, like little children, play with the useless corpse of mud, while the bonds of the body are freed. The first three stanzas present the situation of the poem and the thoughts of Ronsard, while the final stanza has the greatest impact and strongest feelings of the author. This poem uses some description like the things he must leave behind(maisons et vergers et jardins, etc.). He frequently speaks of nature(flowers, trees, etc.) and of love. The examples of description help to create his intended effect by showing that he must be less concerned with material things. This lyric poem is a sonnet consisting of four stanzas(4,4,3,3) and fourteen lines. Written in meter verse with twelve syllables per line, the rhyme scheme is rime Embrasses: abba, abba, ccd, eef. The language contributes to the mood through such words as Jsus-Christ and Franc les liens. His concrete words include maisons et vergers, etc. while his connotative words are sa dpouille de boue and son obsque. His uses of assonance are laisser maisons and fait - dvid, while his diction is one of simplicity. Writing mostly Alexandrian poems and sonnets, Ronsard uses classical style which affects the meaning of the poem by his examples of nature such as vergers et jardins. His style also affects the mood through his personal experience, because he bases many of his poems on his life. This poem reveals that Ronsard is an optimistic and realistic man of action who closely observes life, especially nature. This poem is interesting, because it is about something that all will have to experience in life. The poem is good and lasting, because it teaches a

Movies on Racial Discrimination Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Movies on Racial Discrimination - Movie Review Example And even though he was locked up inside, he still knows how to do and handle "business." Guys on their neighborhood, Mexican-Americans mostly, are members of their gang and they call one another as "carnal." When he got out of the jail, he learned from his father that he was not born out of love but just a product of a sexual assault. His mother then was raped by sailors at the time of the Zoot Suit Riot. When Santana met his love interest in the movie, he was tempted to change his ways for her sake. But even if he was tempted, it did not happen. Some things went wrong so the two of them did not end up being together. Santana, in the last part of the movie, was brought back behind the bars again and there he was killed by his fellow inmates. Talk to Me, on the other hand, is a movie that has concentrated on the life of Petey Greene after he got out of prison. He was an ex-convict who wanted to land a job in a radio station where his former inmate's brother is working. He was at first turned down by Dewey thinking that helping him might cost him his job. But the table has twitched and turned and so Dewey has still decided to help him. Hence, Petey has become a successful disc jockey and a television personality. The issue then on race is and has always been a big matter even up to now when there are already so many societies claiming to practice egalitarianism. But what like Marks said- racial categories are but just "cultural constructs" to which Biology would deny to give its support (Marks, available from http://www.mrrena.com/misc/race.php). In the movie Zoot Suit, it was clearly presented that the Mexican-Americans' trademark are the Zoot Suits. But as mentioned in the film, the real meaning of Zoot suit has been distorted by the media. It was used against them and was used to label them. As a result, crimes or any sort of violence within the area would always be attributed to them. Marks also mentioned in his writing that being a member of what he called "unbiological groupings" referring to the racial categories (such as the Chicanos and Jews) "may mean the difference between life and death, for they are the categories that allow us to be identified (and accepted or vilified) socially" (Marks, available from http://www.mrrena.com/misc/race.php). Applying it in the context of the movie American Me, becoming a part of the gang to which Santana belongs to is one's pride and joy. This film didn't portray racism as it is in the usual way since the Mexican-Americans here were the ones being discriminatory. And as a proof to this, there was even a scene in the movie that showed the gang raping a white guy. Another movie that has touched some of the issues on racism is Talk to Me. Blacks, as we all know, have always been mistreated. They have been often discriminated and ridiculed by the Whites as if they belong to a different species. Their opinions or take on matters are not important at all or so they believe. In this movie, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot to death, the Blacks cause an uproar and chaos on the streets to show the Whites how angry they were for killing him. The Blacks' strong affinity with him is maybe because he was also one of them. Furthermore, only few people can assert their right on social issues and Martin Luther King Jr. was one of them. He was like the voice of the Black people so it wasn't surprising anymore that people would violently react about his death.

Retail store selling hearing aide opening for the first time Essay

Retail store selling hearing aide opening for the first time - Essay Example In order to ensure that customers have an ample interaction with the website, I will ensure that it has easily navigated layouts. The strategy is proposed because websites are easily accessible to people with aiding devices and places no cost on the audience. The medium also allows for easy feedback from the audience and this allows for product renovation and diversification in order to meet customers’ needs. The strategy targets the universal market and extends beyond New York City. Some of the major market segments that the strategy targets are schools for students with impaired hearing that might refer the students to the business. People with hearing impairment, together with their friends and relatives, especially in the digital generation, are another targeted audience because of their ability to respond to the communication and establish our market. The website will contain all the necessary information that customers may need ranging from the type of hearing aids available, types to be added in future, to forms of sale applicable. The website will provide information on how to use products offered by the business as well as feedbacks from customers who have used these products (Andreas, 2011). Another strategy that I will use to promote my business is printing business cards and distributing them to potential customers. This involves presenting information on cards that are then distributed to a target audience. The cards will be simple and well designed to ensure that they appeal to customers. Additionally, information contained in them will be short and precise .In order to ensure that the cards reach many customers, stocking them in several strategic places will be important. Among the strategic places in which I will place them are entrance to the business office, entrance to schools that train people with hearing disability, and strategic social places such as in restaurants and