Recreation and Sports Essay Example for Free

Recreation and Sports Essay Everyone has a favorite kind of leisure, whether it is reading a book, taking a walk, or just watching T. V. , leisure is something that everyone has experienced. For me, my favorite kind of leisure is deer hunting. It is not only something I have done my whole life, but it is also something that has been a bonding experience in my family, and that has grown into a passion over time. Growing up in the Piney Woods of East Texas finding a place to hunt was never a problem. I remember getting up on cold fall mornings with my grandpa going out to the woods, and just sitting, listening, and waiting for the forest to come to life. My dad and grandpa first started taking me hunting when I was around 5 years old, so you could say that I was exposed to hunting at a young age. Hunting has always been a way that the men in my family have bonded, although all of the women in my family love the outdoors none of them were ever very eager to hunt. Another thing about living in the Piney Woods, as hunting may be seen as an expensive sport in other parts of the world and the country, as long as you had a gun and a hunting license, it was not hard to find a place to hunt. As a child hunting with my relatives, I never was really involved in preparing for hunting season. As I grew older I began to become more and more involved in the work it took to get ready for the season, such as planting oat patches, and setting up corn feeders. This helped me to grow in y leisure, because it helped me to feel more relaxed because I was using something that I had worked hard to fix up for my recreation. When I turned 13 years old I started to hunt by myself, this helped me to develop more respect for hunting because I had more responsibility hunting by myself, because I was making decisions on my own. Being able to hunt by myself also increased the time that I could hunt, because being younger than my dad and grandpa, I could go hunting after school and on weekends when they had to work. This increased the amount of leisure time I had. When I was still in high school I structured a lot of my time around hunting. If I didn’t have any kind of practices or any work to do at the school, I would usually plan to go hunting. Football and FFA took up a lot of my time but I molded hunting around the free time I had. If I had homework I would usually do it in the deer stand just to be in the quiet and have an opportunity to get my work done without distractions. When I got into college it became and has been harder for me to go hunting as much as I would like to. I have learned to mold when I go home by when I can hunt, so AM away football games are usually when I go home to see my family but also to hunt. Deer hunting has also helped me to build relationships with other adamant deer hunters like myself, while I have been in school, and helped me to gain some new friendships. Hunting has been a big leisure since I was a young age, and has been a leisure that my family could enjoy together since I was young. It is leisure that has grown over time and has turned into not just leisure, but a passion. The famous actor Jack Nicholson once said, â€Å"I don’t think many people have a very good understanding of leisure and the importance it plays in our lives. † For the most part I think we take leisure for granted, we don’t think about all the good things leisure can do for you. For example, leisure of hunting has given me a close relationship with my family, as well as something to pass on to my kids when I have them, and it is something that I will be passionate about for the rest of my life.

Hewlett Packard: Porters Five Forces, SWOT and PEST

Hewlett Packard: Porters Five Forces, SWOT and PEST 1.0 Background The organization being chosen to carry out such change process analysis is the computer industry and the organization company in focus is amicably regarding HP Computers. Thus, change processes in business organizations involves the reality behind every process and is considered as a daily cycle in dealing to various issues and concerns of the organization as it depends on the managements actions and its respected change of nature in dealing with effective change management as directed at overcoming anger and resentment evolving into a program that supports acceptance and internalization. As a consultant commenting on the organizational change process choosing HP organization as the focal point for discussion and analysis for this presentation, role to the organization is to have a clear emphasis dealing to the external and internal change drivers and other essential points needed for the realization of purpose for this report presentation for the senior management of the HP in provi ding factual information that will be able to give a better substantive spontaneity of understanding of such organizational state needed for selection and the application of the appropriate management models as well as concepts per se. This essay utilized HP Corporation as the model organization to review its present visions for renewed organization and how they dealt with critical situations. From the analysis, key trends in the change strategies of HP Corporation were then identified, how they worked and their effectiveness in dealing with critical situations was ascertained. The paper then moved on to assess these change strategies with regard to their suitability to critical situations, during which the internal capabilities of these change strategies in relation to the strategy being followed by HP Corporation was determined also. An overall analysis of the performance and effectiveness of the change strategies was also conducted to assess and compare the capabilities of these change strategies with those of others. Gaps in the change capabilities and environment were then identified. Finally, several choices of strategies to improve the change strategies of HP Corporation as effective means in critical situations were recommended and evaluated in terms of appropriateness to the issues reviewed, feasibility in carrying out the options and acceptability within the key stakeholders and decision makers. Several key implementation issues related to managing strategic change were also addressed as well. 2.0 Introduction: Typically, the concept of organizational change is in regard to organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, etc. Examples of organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations (e.g., restructuring to self-managed teams, layoffs, etc.), new technologies, mergers, major collaborations, rightsizing, new programs such as Total Quality Management, re-engineering, etc. Some experts refer to organizational transformation. Often this term designates a fundamental and radical reorientation in the way the organization operates. Change can be defined as the efficient and effective implementation of the policies and tasks necessary after takeover or merging of one or more companies or organizations. Change management focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the gradual adjustment of the new management and its workforce. More often than not, the newly merged or acquired business entities dont really have an easy time adjusting to the changes brought about by the acquisition or take-over. As a result, these entities engage in activities that are somehow resisting to changes. Therefore, the major activities of the company such as the manufacturing of products, product development, production and distribution become severely hampered. However, change deals with all operations done within companies and organizations. Activities such as the management of purchases, the control of inventories, logistics and evaluations are often the focus of change. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, change includes the analysis and management of internal processes. 3.0 Hewlett-Packard (HP) SWOT Analysis: 3.1 Strengths: The new product offering New innovation for RD Competitive Price After sales service 3.2 Weaknesses: Internal control issues Lack of in-house management consulting division No aggressive investments in RD compared to historical spending Unrest among internal employees due to pay cuts and lack of people care Intellectual Capital is under estimated No Good People retention policy or HR practices to ensure IC is protected 3.3 Opportunities: Emerging markets, particularly countries e-Commerce expansion Restructuring of internal IT structure Imaging and printing businesses 3.4 Threats: Intense competition from other PC manufacturers Increasing competition on imaging and printing Slowdown in economic conditions Product recalls and supply chain disruptions 4.0 Hewlett-Packard (HP) Porters five forces Analysis: 4.1 Rivalry within the Industry: The centre area represents the rivalry in the industry. On the left are the main traditional players in the industry, with an indication that there is a large amount of consolidation occurring between these companies. On the right are the areas in which the market is being fought. In the basic access/basic services arena, many companies are offering the same deal access and basic services, and so those that are doing it more cheaply than others will attract customers. Otherwise, ISPs will have to offer something special to differentiate them from others. 4.2 Threat of Substitute Products: There is a tremendous attraction for companies other than offer computer accessories and services, especially if they know they can enter the market at a high level. Competitors have the resources and computer accessories know-how to be successful in this industry. They are also aware of the threats of not being a part of this industry, and are entering at a tremendous rate, either by acquisition, merging, or simply. 4.3 Threat of New Entrants: Due to the nature of the computer market, the threat of new entrants is reasonably strong. There are low barriers to entry all that is needed to become is a small amount of capital and some technical know-how. Much of the activity can be outsourced, which can reduce initial costs. 4.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The suppliers are those that own the networks. These tend and backbone providers. Backbone providers generally own what is the absolute backbone of the Internet, and control routing and switching of traffic. Own the local loop copper pairs, which most customers use to connect and the lines that lease to connect to the Internet, and much of the Internet backbone. 4.5 Bargaining Power of Buyers: Although an individual consumer has little or no say about how much an ISP charges, due to the rivalry within the market, ISPs generally have to offer their services at reasonable prices. They will lose their customer base if they charge more for a service someone else provides more cheaply. Switching costs are low, and so churn rates are high. 5.0 The External Environment A PEST Analysis of Hewlett-Packard (HP): A PEST (Political, Economic, Sociological and Technological) analysis is a scan of the outside environment to try to spot changes that might impact upon business. These changes might be seen as opportunities or threats. 5.1 P Political: HP operates as a global business within 145 countries world wide. It is organized into three global business groups which roughly correspond. HP is subject to various regional regulations and policies within the associated trading blocks. The key factors at play include trade regulations and tariffs, legal framework for Intellectual property and contract enforcement. The advent of globalization has mitigated against the more adverse impacts of such policies, Europe to America and Visa Versa. In addition, Japan and China and Korea are large important markets for HP and general movement to free markets has encouraged expanding trade here. 5.2 E Economic: HP is directly impacted by general economic trends. The Server, PC and storage business are barometers of general business economic climate, for example the 2001 technology crash impacted various areas of these business units. Also the mobile PC business, printer and ink business are directly tied to consumer spending and sentiment. The back to school consumer market is a very large component of the HP sales in summer months. HP is a mature company and with lower than average employee attrition rates, particularly within the United States, this aging workforce has negative financial implications for pension and downstream Medicare costs. 5.3 S Sociological: HP is subject to a number of macro social trends. One key trend is the market and political focus on green issues. HP as a large ink and printer manufacturer, people use a lot of paper and ink with HP products so its indirect carbon footprint is large. Also as the worlds largest PC and laptop manufacturer, HP will have to address potentially stricter environmental policies in the coming years. We already have seen recent European legislation concerning end of life disposal for consumer white goods. There is a large change in social interaction with technology, wireless and mobility are now key product and user demanded attributes. Peoples expectations relating to technology are accelerating. People are also using technology in new ways, HP must map and maintain coherence with these social trends to be successful. 5.4 T Technological: As HP is a technology enterprise, there are many macro factors at play in this category. The most salient are discussed here: Emergence of Linux This impacts HPs core enterprise platform business, HP has invested and developed over many years its own enterprise version of Unix called HP-UX. Convergence of standards and technologies Computing infrastructure is now viewed as a utility by many large enterprise customers, an intel based platform running windows is practically identical in terms of price /performance from any vendor. Scale of Technological Advancement The price /performance scalar for computing platforms is well documented but this rapid advancement has large impacts on how enterprises configure supply chains and routes to markets. Lower Cost Computing Improvements in technology have led to rapid advances in mobile technologies and lower cost have yielded large price /performance gains for consumers. Service revenues mix changing The advent of new technologies such as virtualization, standardization of the platforms and lower cost of hardware / software is changing the way customers now purchase value added services from HP. 6.0 Vision for Renewed Organization: It all started in 1939 when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard created HP when they worked on an audio oscillator in a garage in Palo Alto, California. After Walt Disney bought several of these oscillators for their latest movie, Fantasia, the company was off and running. While HP began as a company that produced all sorts of electronic products, their first focus was on test products like counters and voltmeters. Later on in the sixties, HP ended up becoming the founder of Silicon Valley. They got into semiconductors in the early sixties and by 1966, they entered the computer market with the HP 2100and the HP1000. These were sturdy models that lasted for a good twenty years before more advancements saw screen keys and the HP 2640 rise to the occasion. HP is one of the few companies in the world to successfully marry the technologies of measurement, computing and communication. The company makes new advances in portable computing, enters the home-computing market and continues to invent new printing and imaging solutions. For most of the decade, HP enjoys growth rates of 20 percent. Early in the 90s, John Young retires and is replaced by Lew Platt, under whose leadership HP continues to grow. HP becomes recognized as a company whose policies on work-life balance, diversity and community involvement help attract and retain top employees. At the end of the decade, HP spins off its measurement and components businesses to form a new company, Agilent Technologies. It also brings on board a new CEO, Carleton (Carly) Fiorina, who focuses the company on reinventing itself for growth and leadership in the 21st century. HP has approximately 39,000 employees around the globe and has a large and diverse corporate organization. HP company has lot of computer systems in many locations such as Austin, Texas and Nashville that could be of high staffing cost and value that has contributed in maintaining sales to over thirty four offices around and then serve as the front line in terms of selling its products and services worldwide. In human resource side, HP conducts training for all employees in order to reduce absenteeism and human errors as well because the high-quality staff is required in enhancing the best quality performance of the company. HP Corporation aims for change in order to pursue sustainable growth as a broad market leader in mobile computing as well as for segment leadership. In both cases, the HP brands will play a crucial part. HP Corporation is able to establish its broad leadership usually by acquiring other strong mobile computing companies and their products, which are then combined into a new, larger company. Offering training to its employees, improving the company operations, and the introduction of new technologies then reinforces the positions of the various HP products. This practically results in economies of scale that is able to create a distribution network for both the local and international HP products. If a market is already in the control of other mobile computing companies, HP Corporation devotes its attention towards the development of a premium segment with its various HP products. The vision of HP Corporation for renewed organization is to secure the growth of the business in a sustainable manner, while at the same time constantly improving the companys profitability. The strategy to achieve this involves four elements: Striving in order to reach a leading position in attractive markets Focusing on securing a competitive share of the mobile computing market segments. Working in order to improve the companys efficiency and cut costs in operations. Continuous growth through selective acquisitions for as long as they are able to create shareholder value. 7.0 Scope of Change: 7.1 The Change for Staff: Human resources are an organizations most important asset. Ultimately an organizations distinctive competences lie in the skills and abilities of its employees. Because these skills and abilities give an organization a competitive advantage, organizations must continually monitor their structures to find the most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources to acquire and use their skills. Employees basically refer to people who work for another in return for wages or salary. Legally, an employee is referred to a person hired to provide services to a company on a regular basis in exchange for compensation, and who does not provide these services as part of an independent business. However, stated that employees are more than any of those definitions. Employees are the lifeblood of the organization because they are the ones who provide products and services that define corporations, organizations and government entities. They are referred to as the most precious assets of the organization because without them, the organization is crippled and cannot function effectively. Because of the important role of employees, HP Corporation has the responsibility to motivate them so as they can function more effectively. Theories of motivation such as Maslows theory, Alfelders theory, McClellands theory, and Herzbergs theory explain why employees and staff should be motivated and why organizations should take this concept into consideration. But what really constitutes effective employee motivation? Building a positive communication with employees is important because they are the organizations best ambassadors or loudest critics, depending on how fast they get relevant information and the context in which it is received. Information consistency affects the success of the company and if it fails to communicate information internally and externally, the reputation of the company may fall. Communication basically uplifts the morale of an employee as it makes them feel that they are valued by the organization. This also builds employee loyalty and satisfaction. 7.2 The Change for System: Organizational function needs to develop procedures that allow it to manage the particular environment it faces. As the environment changes. Organizations often transfer resources to the functions where the most value can be created. Crucial functions grow in importance, while those whose usefulness is declining shrink. An organization can improve the value that its functions create by changing its structure, culture, and technology. The change from a functional to a product team structure, for example, may speed the new product development process. Alterations in functional structure can help provide a selling in which people are motivated to perform. The change from traditional mass production to a manufacturing operation based on self-managed work teams often allows companies to increase product quality and productivity if employees can share in the gains from the new work system. There was a period when HP Corporation was generating its first surplus which was the effect of the cost-cutting activities imposed by their management. This was the time when HP Corporation had also realized that the organization needs to pay attention on it customer service so as to ensure that the industry will continue to earn profit. In order to initiate such change, HP Corporation hired Consultants to gather data about staff and customer attitudes. The result of such evaluation shows that there is a significant gap between what the staff is providing and what the customer actually needed. Hence, another management initiative was the change of the system from staff- oriented to customer oriented industry through the creation of customer is king culture within the organization. 7.3 The Change for Strategy: The organizational structure of HP Corporation also changed to a much flatter and slimmer structure. Five sections of the industry are directly reporting to the CEO and eleven profit centers were created. This structural alternation aims to enhance the staff integration and communication, within HP Corporation. The performance-related pay was also introduced by the management based on an appraisal system which values the significance of customer service and organizational cohesion. This change also includes major investments in ground facilities and IT in order to adhere to the needs of its customers. 8.0 Speed of Change: The speed of change can be two types_ Evolutionary Change is described as incremental, gradual and narrowly focused. This change is constant. Evolutionary change may be a carefully developed, long-term goal that an organization is moving toward. One tool that can promote and direct evolutionary change is strategic planning. Revolutionary Change Revolutionary change is dramatic, rapid and broadly focused. This radical shift may mean new ways of doing things, new goals or a new organizational structure. The three important components of revolutionary change are reengineering, restructuring, and innovation, as described by Jones and George. Revolutionary change is appropriate within the technology industry, where swift advancements often happen. Although an organization cannot plan for every situation, scenario planning may be most appropriate to predict potential revolutionary change. In scenario planning, a business envisions possible future outcomes and creates a plan to deal with each one. Reengineering involves rethinking and redesigning business processes to increase organizational effectiveness. Instead of focusing on an organizations functions, the managers of a reengineered organization focus on business processes Although the management change had been able to enhance the competitiveness of HP Corporation, this does not mean that the company felt the changes immediately and became free from any other problems and issues. Definitely, the employees and staff took time before they became fully adjusted with the changes as HP Corporation imposed a more comprehensive human resources management through its Staff Development Initiative. However, not all employees had been able to meet the objective of such initiative. Hence, the problem encountered by HP Corporation during and after the management change is a concrete evidence of the lengthy time that the company experienced getting accustomed with the changes. 9.0 Proposed Action: Strategy 1: Product Development The retailers represent HP Corporations largest sales and marketing channel which encompass national and regional office supply stores and mass merchants. Distributors represent HP Corporations second largest channel and generally sell to both traditional and Internet resellers and retailers. In Europe and Asia, HP Corporations market share is still relatively high. HP Corporation has more than 100 international distributors located worldwide. Strategy 2: Product Penetration The company uses the online store as a venue to sell its products. This is accomplished through the use of e-marketing campaigns and product bundles. The company is able to build awareness of its products and brands through mass media advertising, public relations efforts and branded Internet properties. The company also makes it a point to receive feedback from its customers through market research. The company then uses these feedbacks to refine its product development efforts and marketing strategies. The company also initiated an e-commerce strategy to increase online sales and provide new innovations in business class which increases customer satisfaction. Strategy 3: Enhancement of Operations / Efficiency and Effectiveness HP Corporations direct to customer model solve the problem for additional capital for marketing and sales. By selling directly to consumer it eliminated retailers along the way. One advantage of this kind of system is that the firm is continuously in contact with its customers and they are benefiting in two areas concerning sales and marketing, seeing sales trends and learning about unmet costumer demands. Strategy 4: Technology Improvement Technology is an important source of competitive advantage. And this is considered a strength of HP because the firm enjoys better access to technology. HP introduces the latest relevant technology much more quickly than companies with slow-moving indirect distribution channels. 10.0 Leadership: The existing style of leadership HP uses is the transformational leadership style as the CEO Michael HP applies this particular style of leadership that involves inspiring employees to transcend their own self interests and work for the larger good of HP company. HP articulates a vision that convinces subordinates to make important and positive changes in business process and management and relates to profound belief on beliefs and values that goes beyond its changes and achieving ways to transcend proper decision making engaging through such utilization factors as HP utilizes the IT as a factor for the successful running of its business. The acquisition by means of using some of the leadership styles as HP will make sure to value their customers and business partners in a form of interpersonal style of expressing to a level of virtually integrated as if theyre inside the company and by having customer information as used for analyzing and forecasting customer demand and achieving th e mass customization. HP expect that the success would be forever and they expect that other companies might implement such leadership models and believed that Information Technology would play a vital role in the success of the business as well as the centerpiece of the business per se. 11.0 Communication Change: Communication is important in HP Corporation because its business environment is the place where many interactions are needed, and where much information is acquired. It always involves openly competitive activity, in which working professionals in HP Corporation debate issues, defend positions, and evaluate the arguments of others. Most working professionals in HP Corporation, particularly those in middle and upper management, routinely produce a variety of messages, many of which are in the written form of memoranda, electronic mail, letters, reports, performance reviews, instructions, procedures, and proposals. It is also argued that a fuller understanding of organizations is a vital ingredient at every forward step of the career process, and that communication is a primary element for understanding how organizations function and how members of the organization should, even must, behave in organizations if they are to advance their careers. The practice of effective communication within HP Corporation is also linked with the development of a healthy corporate culture, job satisfaction of employees, and the happiness and productivity of employees. Communication skills are also important to the leaders of HP Corporation because it helps them manage the company more effectively. 12.0 Conclusion: It seems that the major cause of the problems encountered by HP Corporation is due to the unplanned management changes imposed. In addition, the problems also arise because of the inadequate knowledge of its management about the use of strategic management and other management systems. This way, the empire of HP Corporation will remain unscathed amidst the advent of consolidation and globalization.

Criminology Essays Punishing Treating Preventing

Criminology Essays Punishing Treating Preventing Punishing Treating Preventing Punishing, treating and preventing crime An obvious question to pose regarding offenders is, how can they be prevented from recidivism? Examining the effectiveness of ways in which the judicial system responds to offenders will only enhance the understanding of how reoffending can be removed. One of the many ways in which a judicial system can respond to crime is by imprisoning an offender. Imprisonment can serve a number of possible functions including; retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and reform (Putwain and Sammons, 2002). Whether or not prison works is under constant review and there is much disagreement on which of the possible functions should serve its purpose (Bottomley and Pease, 1986; Home Office, 1994; Zamble, 1990). Together with questioning if it is an effective response to crime, there are numerous psychological effects of imprisonment (Dooley, 1990; Heather, 1977; Rasch, 1981; Zamble and Porporino, 1988). Besides imprisonment, legal systems all over the world have a variety of other means of punishing and rehabilitating offenders. Different countries favour different methods but in Britain and the US, the most common forms of non-custodial sentences are fines (Caldwell, 1965; Feldman, 1993; Walker and Farringdon, 1981), probation (Oldfield, 1996; Roshier, 1995) and community service (Evans and Koederitz, 1983; Schneider, 1986). There is evidence that, for some offenders, these forms of sentence are at least as effective as imprisonment and have a number of additional benefits. In particular, they are cheaper to administer than custodial sentences. You can get expert help with your essays right now. Find out more The various custodial and non-custodial measures employed by judicial systems are designed to serve a number of purposes of which rehabilitation is only one. The failure of judicial sanctions to make a significant difference to crime rates (Lipsey, 1992) has prompted a number of psychologists to put forward rehabilitation programmes based on psychological principles. These differ from judicial sanctions in two important ways (Putwain and Sammons, 2002). Firstly, their aim is solely to reduce the probability of reoffending, rather than exacting justice on the offender. Secondly, they are based on psychological theories of offending instead of the notions of ‘human nature’ on which judicial sanctions are often based. A large number of these interventions have been tried, however those behavioural and cognitive treatments for offending have had the most success for instance; token economies (Ayllon and Milan, 1979; Cohen and Filipcjak, 1971; Hobbs and Holt, 1976), social skills training (Blackburn, 1993; Goldstein, 1986; Spence and Marzillier, 1981) and anger management (Ainsworth, 2000; Novaco, 1975). All such measures, both judicial and psychological are forms of crime prevention insofar as they aim to prevent offenders from committing further crimes. However, this is only one approach to preventing crime and is not what is usually meant by crime prevention. Brantingham and Faust (1976) have made a useful distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary crime prevention. Primary prevention refers to reducing opportunities for crime without reference to the individuals who commit it. Zero tolerance (Bratton, 1998; Sherman, 1997; Wilson and Kelling, 1982) together with environmental approaches such as closed circuit television surveillance (Burrows, 1980; Horne, 1996), target hardening and defensible space (Newman, 1973; Feldman, 1993; Wilson, 1980) are examples. Secondary prevention refers to measures directed at those at risk of becoming involved in crime to prevent them from doing so. Tertiary prevention refers to preventing further criminal behaviour by those who have already offended such as anger management. It is evident that that the utility of judicial measures in preventing reoffending is limited. In particular, for most offenders, imprisonment seems to be no more effective than non-custodial sentencing, which may be seen as preferable, as it is cheaper for the authorities and less detrimental to the offender. There has been inadequate success with psychological interventions, though cognitive-behavioural techniques appear to be more effective than purely behavioural techniques. Finally, it appears that the large range of crime prevention strategies that reduce the incidence of offending have a key impact in decreasing crime in a particular area. Nevertheless, there is evidence that such crime is simply displaced to other areas. Rigorous enforcement of the law, even for minor offences suggests a reduction in crime but only if used in conjunction with other measures to improve the quality of policing in a particular area. Whilst all such measures have some impact albeit minimal in many cases, none can justifiably be called a solution to the problem of crime. References: Ainsworth, P. B. (2000) Psychology and Crime: Myths and Reality. Harlow: Pearson Education Ayllon, T. and Milan, M. A. (1979) Correctional rehabilitation and management: a psychological approach. New York: Wiley. Blackburn, R. (1993) The Psychology of Criminal Conduct. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Bratton, W. J. (1998) ‘Crime is down to in New York City: Blame the police’ in N.Dennis (ed.) Zero Tolerance: Policing in a Free Society. London: IEA Health and Welfare Unit. Cohen, H. L. and Filipcjak, J. (1971) A new learning environment. San Francisco: Jossey Boss. Bottomley, K. and Pease, K. (1986) Crime and punishment: interpreting the data. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Brantingham, P. J. and Faust, F. L. (1976) ‘A conceptual model of crime prevention’ Crime and Delinquency, 22, 130-146. Burrows, J. (1980) ‘Closed circuit television and crime on the London Underground’ in R.V.G. Clarke and P. Mayhew (eds) Designing Out Crime. London: HMSO. Caldwell, R. G. (1965) Criminology (2nd Ed). New York: Ronald Press. Evans, R. C. and Koederitz, G. D. (1983) ‘The requirement of restitution for juvenile offenders: an alternative disposition’ Journal of Offender Counselling, Services and Rehabilitation, 7, 1-20. Feldman, P. (1993) The Psychology of Crime. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Heather, N. (1977) ‘Personal illness in lifers and the effects of long-term intermediate sentences’ British Journal of Criminology, 17, 378-386. Hobbs, T. R. and Holt, M. N. (1976) ‘The effects of token reinforcement on the behaviour of delinquents in cottage settings’ Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 9, 189-198. Home Office (1994) Criminal Statistics. London: Home Office. Horne, C. J. (1996) ‘The case for: CCTV should be introduced’ International Journal of Risk, Security and Crime Prevention, 1, 317-326. Lipsey, J. W. (1992) ‘Juvenile delinquency treatment: a meta-analytical enquiry into the variability of effects’ in T. Cook (ed.) Meta-Analysis for Explanation: A Casebook. New York: Russel Sage Foundation. Newman, O. (1973) Defensible Space: crime prevention through urban design. New York. Macmillan. Novaco, R. W. (1975) Anger Control. the development and evaluation of an experimental treatment. Lexington: D.C. Health. Oldfield, M. (1996) The Kent Reconviction Survey. Maidstone: Kent Probation Service. Putwain, D. W. and Sammons, A. (2001) Psychology. London: Letts Educational Rasch, W. (1981) ‘The effects of indeterminate detention: a study of men sentenced to life imprisonment’ International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 4, 417-431. Roshier, R. (1995) A comparative study of reconviction rates in Cleveland.Middlesbrough: Cleveland Probation Service. Schneider, A. L. (1986) ‘Restitution and recidivism rates of juvenile offenders: results from four experimental studies’ Criminology, 24, 533-552. Sherman, L. (1997) ‘Policing for crime prevention’ in L. Sherman, D. Gottfredson, D. MacKenzie, J. Eck, P. Reuter and S. Bushway (eds) Preventing crime: what Works, what doesn’t, what’s promising. Report to the United States Congress prepared for the National Institute of Justice http://www.preventingcrime.org/ Spence, S. H. and Marzillier, J. S. (1981) ‘Social skills training with adolescent male offenders: II Short term, long term and generalisation effects’ Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 349-368. Wilson, J. Q. and Kelling, G. W. (1982) ‘Broken Windows’ Atlantic Monthly, 249 (3), 29-38. Walker, N. and Farringdon, D. P. (1981) ‘Reconviction rates of adult males after different sentences’ British Journal of Criminology, 21, 357-360. Zamble, E. (1990) ‘Behavioural and psychological considerations in the success of prison reform’ in J .W. Murphy and J. E. Dison (Eds) Are Prisons any better? 20 years of prison reform. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Zamble, E. and Porporino, F. J. (1988) Coping, behaviour and adaptation in prison inmates. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Discuss Lennies Motives In Killing Lennie. :: essays research papers

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a story that shows how weak people can be in the sense of loyalty. This loyalty, defined as putting strong will and strength into a relationship in all cases is being put into a light of making choices. This means you have to make the decision between Loyalty and "Friends", which also can be described as people that are together but basically are lonely for themselves and that decision-making is important. If you watch the whole novel as a representative book of American Culture, you strongly can see that basically every person is afraid of going in depth. How did Curly react on Lennie's act of killing his wife? In my opinion he acted very raging and upset. He made the decision right away to look for Lennie and kill him ("Curly wanta get him lynched", p. 94). I would take this as an example of not reacting in-depth and looking at all aspects of an issue. But what does this have to do with George's Motives to kill Lennie? Be honest: How many choices did George really have? For stating the situation: A person called Lennie is committing an unwanted crime on a loved person that has the affect of making the husband raging. Lennie hides, and the husband comes after him with a rifle with the will to kill him for this act. George finds it out and is automatically involved with this situation although he hasn't done a thing. And now he has to make a decision for someone who is not able to understand that he can't make any. The first possibility for George would have been, as it also happened in the book, to kill Lennie before he is being killed by Curly, the husband of Curley's wife. But there the question of moral comes up where you ask yourself it that really makes sense to kill somebody you love. In this case it definitely does. George thinks all the other situations through and sees that this is the only valid one. He has to think of himself too: He doesn't want to live a life of persecution, and his friends are also important to him. This seems to be a very weak argument, but watch the other possibilities. One of the other possibilities would have been not to care of it at all and just let Lennie be shot by Curly, who is all about threatening him in that minute.

Irish Immigration To Canada Essay -- essays research papers

Irish Immigration to Canada The Irish began immigrating to North America in the 1820s, when the lack of jobs and poverty forced them to seek better opportunities elsewhere after the end of the major European wars. When the Europeans could finally stop depending on the Irish for food during war, the investment in Irish agricultural products reduced and the boom was over. After an economic boom, there comes a bust and unemployment was the result. Two-thirds of the people of Ireland depended on potato harvests as a main source of income and, more importantly, food. Then between the years of 1845 and 1847, a terrible disease struck the potato crops. The plague left acre after acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. The failure of the potato yields caused the prices of food to rise rapidly. With no income coming from potato harvests, families dependent on potato crops could not afford to pay rent to their dominantly British and Protestant landlords and were evicted only to be crowded into disease-infested wor khouses. Peasants who were desperate for food found themselves eating the rotten potatoes only to develop and spread horrible diseases.  ¡Ã‚ §Entire villages were quickly homeless, starving, and diagnosed with either cholera or typhus. ¡Ã‚ ¨(Interpreting ¡K,online) The lack of food and increased incidents of death forced incredible numbers of people to leave Ireland for some place which offered more suitable living conditions. Some landlords paid for the emigration of their tenants because it made more economic sense to rid farms of residents who were not paying their rent. Nevertheless, emigration did not prove to be an antidote for the Famine. The ships were overcrowded and by the time they reached their destination, approximately one third of its passengers had been lost to disease, hunger and other complications. However, many passengers did survive the journey and, as a result, approximately  ¡Ã‚ §1.5 million Irish people immigrated to North America during the 1840 ¡Ã ‚ ¦s and 1850 ¡Ã‚ ¦s. ¡Ã‚ ¨(Bladley, online) As a consequence of famine, disease (starvation and disease took as many as one million lives) and emigration,  ¡Ã‚ §Ireland ¡Ã‚ ¦s population dropped from 8 million to 5 million over a matter of years. ¡Ã‚ ¨(Bladley, online) Although Britain came to the aid of the starving, many Irish blamed Britain for their delayed response and for centuries of political hardship as basi... ...t only a contribution to Canada, but to the benefit of humanity. „h Nellie Letitia Mooney Mclung(1872-1951) was an activist and a campaigner for female suffrage. She was a nationally known feminist and social reformer. Mclung was the first woman member of CBC ¡Ã‚ ¦s Board of Governor ¡Ã‚ ¦s and deserves great thanks from Canadian women for her contributions to the women ¡Ã‚ ¦s movement in Canada. „h Robert Samuel McLaughlin(1871-1972), the founder of General Motors, made significant contributions to the advancement of Canadian culture and society as well as to the Canadian economy. He was the benefactor of Queen ¡Ã‚ ¦s University, the city of Oshawa, Knox College, and the planetarium to University of Toronto, which still bears his name. He was also the founder of McLaughlin foundation, which has done much to improve the quality of medical education in Canada. (O ¡Ã‚ ¦Driscoll and Reynolds, pp.654) The Irish Canadian community has repaid their debt to Canada by proving themselves to be productive and showing to us that the hardship many Canadians took on in order to accommodate emigrants was worthwhile. Their gratefulness is evident in the reputations they have established as Irish Canadian citizens.

History of Guitar Essay

Music has always been a part of the world’s culture throughout the history. Way back thousands of years ago, people utilized their body parts such as their mouth, hands and feet, in order to create sounds. However, due to people’s inventiveness and resourcefulness, they have begun to use different materials that are part of their everyday life so the creation of musical instruments has begun. One of those discovered and invented instruments is guitar. This paper endeavors to present detailed information with regards to the history of guitar. First, it will provide a definition of the term ‘musical instrument,’ and its types. Then, it will also provide a definition of the musical instrument ‘guitar. ’ Second, it will trace and narrate its history. And lastly, it will reveal its benefits to the society. Furthermore, it will give a brief knowledge its contemporary status in the society. Musical instrument, traditionally, is any sound-producing material that comes from any culture, activated in any means, and is utilized for making what is universally and frequently known as â€Å"music. † It encompasses automatic or mechanical however it also includes recording or playback device (Rice). It is classified into different types namely: (1) idiophones, which consists of cymbals, triangles, gongs, castanets, bells, xylophones; (2) membranophones, which consists of drums, a skin or membranes is extended and stretched across a reverberating cavity; (3) chordophones or instruments that produce and make sounds by way of vibration of one or more strings stretched amidst two fixed points. It can be a guitar, lupe, harp, violin, cello; (4) aerophones which are blowing devices that use vibration of the air. These include trumpets, clarinets, flutes, bagpipes, whistle (qtd. n Wade 10). Guitar is a stringed instrument, which looks like the lute or the violin, however, it is bigger in size and has six strings: three of them are silk-covered silver wire and the other three are catgut (â€Å"Guitar†). It is a globally mobile instrument by which form, tonal textures and playing strategies and techniques are result of its appropriation. It is utilized in various locally specific musical contexts (Bennett and Dawe 1). It is made of wood, akin with lute, however, it has a more box-shaped resonator—the general characteristic of the instrument. All through the history, its strings are played by either a plectrum or a finger. It possesses a circular soundhole in its center (Wade 12). The modern English terminology for ‘guitar’ came from the Spanish term ‘guittara’ and was derived from Arabic and Latin terms ‘qitara’ and ‘cithara,’ respectively. These terms were derived from ‘kithara,’ and earlier Greek word, and from the Persian term ‘sithar’. â€Å"‘Sithar’ itself is related to the Indian instrument, the sitar† (â€Å"History of Guitar†). The history of guitar is traced hundred of years ago. It has been established along with other ancestor instruments known as lyres and harps, which are mentioned in the Old Testament, Mesopotamian long-necked lutes, string instruments delineated in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian art (Wade 13). The oldest famous representation of the instrument that displays all its important features is on a 3,300-year old stone carving of Hittite bard (â€Å"History of Guitar†) found at Alaca Hoyuk (Wade 13). Throughout the Middle Ages, three, four, five-string guitars do exist. The Guittara Latina, which has curved sides, is said and thought to have originated in Spain (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). It is a product per se of a long and multifaceted history of various influences (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Renaissance is the chosen period that is said to be the suitable starting point of guitar because it is during this epoch that the instrument is already in relation to music (Turnbull 2). During this period, composers wrote most of the time in tablature (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†), a musical notation relatively different from the modern ones. Its page usually looked flamboyant, ornate and complicated but for musicians and instrumentalists, it has been a very practical, useful and a straightforward method and manner of transforming symbols into sounds (Wade 18). Nevertheless, in this period, the guitar never possessed the respect that the lute has because it has not been regarded as a serious instrument. The first publication for guitar was recognized to have come from Alonso Muddara’s â€Å"Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela. † Finally, the guitar commenced to attract instrumentalists hence; there had been an increase in publication and music (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). Italy became the center of guitar in 17th century. In the late 18th century subsequent to the addition of the sixth string, the Spanish school of guitar making flourished. In the era of 19th century, there was already an enhanced and improved communication and transportation that allowed the performers to journey around the world, thus, the guitar evolved to become a widely known musical instrument (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). The aspects and dimensions of the modern classical guitar were established and founded by Antonio Torres, who works in Seville in 1850 (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Guitar music then became popular in Spain. The development in guitar that was done by Torres signified alterations in appearance. The modern guitar took the form of a broadened body, the waist curve was increased and the belly was thinned. An improvement with regards to its internal bracing was designed; single string courses were replaced by double courses and the machine head replaced the wooden tuning pegs (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). By the end of the 19th century, the guitar has fallen out of favor. However, it was revived by Francisco Tarrega, who was known for his â€Å"Receurdos de la Alhambra. † He performed in public and chose to perform for his friends at his home. He wrote a technique on how to teach guitar. He also transcribed a myriad of musical pieces for guitar. He was also considered as the pioneer of playing guitar with fingernails; which evolved into a tradition (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). Most of the credit and recognition regarding the development of guitar was carried on to the Europeans. Today, steel-string acoustic guitars are developed by the Americans. In the early 20th century, when European emigrants arrived in America, a number of them are highly skilled musical instrument makers, which includes those specialists in the steel-stringed guitar. There are two kinds of production that have evolved—the flat-top guitar and the arch-top guitar (â€Å"Acoustic of Guitar History†). When guitar technology has finally led and made its way to the United States in the early 19th century, it was Charles Friedrich Martin, a guitar maker who migrated in New York in 1833, who initiated it. In early 1900s, the Martin Company produced and made larger guitar instruments yet still adhered and abided with the classic model designs, especially the Spanish guitar (â€Å"How a Guitar is Made: Background†). The lineage of the guitar is huge and arduous to trace especially because there is a partial misconception that the guitar is a direct successor of the lute. The lack of reputation and prominence of guitar in history is aptly due to the fact that it attracts little heed from good composers and musicians until the 20th century (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The creation of guitar has been of vital importance in the field of music. It is a representation and embodiment of discovery, inventiveness, imagination and expression of performing intelligence and skill. The early guitar bestowed significant contributions during the Baroque period. The guitar and guitar ancestors took hold of the attention of folk culture and the middle class way back the Baroque era as well as the Classical period (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The instrument represents an abstract idea, a mode of thinking with regards to sound and a mode of identifying and recognizing cultures. The guitar is a fundamental icon in American culture and other cultures around the world. There are several versions of stringed instruments that are crafted and created as distant away from Japan, and are developed into the orchestra. It also forms unique variations like the Sitar of India (â€Å"The Linage of Guitar Construction†). The growth of the guitar in the course of history is in a two-fold path. The technical progression and developments have been enthralling, fascinating and fundamental. Nevertheless, nourishing and developing that evolution and development has been the social element of guitar’s reputation and recognition. The mechanical alterations that have been demanded socially contributed to its better and louder instrumentation. Thus, there have been documentations on its development and journey. The guitar’s progression in the course of time is one of the mirrors that culture indeed changes over time. It evolves just like how the guitar evolves (Kentor and Michaels 10). The guitar is not just an embodiment of one’s culture and time. It is also a representation of the status of whoever owns it especially during the ancient times because most people in the middle class owned a guitar. Its development serves a reflection that people’s ingenuity, thinking and creativity do enhance and progress, alongside with the culture that they belong. The creation of guitar has helped a lot in the music industry because it accompanies and produces sound even without the use of electricity. It is purely mechanical because only the fingers or a pick is used in playing. However, the invention of electric guitar has contrasted that fact. Compared to the classic mechanical guitar, it produces louder and better sound. On the other hand, the discovery and creation of electronic music, music that can be created even without musical instruments at hand—purely digital, has given way to the somewhat â€Å"death† of guitar industry. It is now being taken for granted little by little even though there are still some who take hold of its importance and still utilize it in composing and crafting new musical pieces.

American Chemical Corporation Essay

Statement of the problem In October of 1979, the American Chemical Corporation (ACC) began looking for a buyer for the Collinsville, Alabama plant after successfully acquiring 91% of the shares of Universal Paper Corporation. Dixon Corporation, a specialist chemical company with customers primarily in the paper and pulp industry agreed to the possibility of purchasing the Collinsville plant for $12 million. This purchase will diversify Dixon’s product line, adding the sodium chlorate chemical, produced at the Collinsville plant, needed by its existing customers. Dixon is evaluating different streams of cash flows for the possibility of purchasing the Collinsville plant. Discussion The decision to acquire Collinsville’s plant will translate into strategic and economic benefits. Dixon could increase their supply of chemical products to their existing clients. However, first we looked in to the risk of the possible venture. Dixon has never produced sodium chlorate which could add risk to the new venture. For this reason we calculated the beta of the project based on the beta of the sodium chlorate industry. We focused on Brunswick and Southern Chemical which are pure play sodium chlorate companies. The average unleveraged beta obtained from the two companies is 1.035 which reflects the risk of the project. Adjusting Dixon’s beta by re-levering it using its own target capital structure of 35% ends with a beta of 1.59. The beta obtained is used to derive the CAPM method, resulting in a 21.45% cost of equity. We assumed that the debt borrowed by Dixon has a rate of 11.25% calculating an after-tax cost of debts of 5.85%. Therefore, the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for Collinsville’s plant cash flow is nearly 16%. This ratio will be used to evaluate the different NPV’s of the projects. To make an investment decision three scenarios have been analyzed. The first and second scenarios are to finance the plant in 5 years or 10 years respectively both with a zero salvage value at the end of the term. The Third option is to purchase the plant with a laminated technology, ACC’s technical support, and zero salvage value at the end of the term. The first two alternatives resulted in negative NPVs of ($1,928) and ($1,932) respectively, through an incremental cash flow analysis. However, acquiring Collinsville with the laminated technology will result in a positive NPV of $4,960, as well as, reducing the electric power by 30%, and the possibility of adapting this technology to other plants to reduce operating costs. Recommendation Based on our analysis, we recommend that Dixon Corporation invest in Collinsville with the laminate technology. Any of the other options, based on our incremental cash flow analysis, resulted in negative NPVs. We recommend investing in nothing other than the laminate technology project for the benefit of the shareholders. However, Dixon should make an acquisition agreement protecting itself in case the laminate technology fails in providing expected results. It should be stated that ACC should compensate Dixon for any installation charges. The acquisition of the plant will increase wealth to the shareholders, as well as, complement the supplying of chemical products to our existing clients.