Definition of Crime

Definition of Crime According to the dictionary, crime is â€Å"an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited† (Lexico publishing, 2012). It is considered to be a crime when an unlawful act as being committed that society agreed upon punishment for this act that has been committed. Society agreed upon crimes could range from littering, jaywalking, motor vehicle violations, white-collar crimes, or even the more violent crimes.The crime control model is one of the most common models to show how society determines which acts are considered criminal. The crime control model basically stresses the efficiency of arrest and conviction of criminal offenders. In the late 1960s a law professor by the name Herbert Packer introduced the crime control model to the academic community at Stanford University within his state of criminal justice presentation. The control model is o ften referred to as the Packer's crime control model. The due process model is another common use model to show how society determines which acts are considered criminal.The due process model basically shows the individual rights at all stages of the justice system processing. The due process model helps to ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes that they did not commit. In America this is one of the essential parts of the justice system. Government Structure of the Criminal Justice System There are many different agencies that the criminal justice system works with such as: federal, state, and local governments. With the criminal justice system working with so many agencies many times creates problems determining whose jurisdiction the crime was committed in.All the agencies that are involved in the criminal justice system are by law required to work together to ensure that the criminal justice system is working properly. Choice Theories Choice theories are also kn own as rational theories. The choice theories are a type of theory to where an individual feels that there is no other choice but to commit a crime. With choice theories the individual cannot see any other way around their predicament without committing a crime. The individual is completely unable to find a solution to the problem at hand on their own.An example of choice theories might be an individual that has lost their job and can no longer provide food for their family sees no other way to provide food for their family except for committing a crime by stealing the food to feed their family. Components of the Criminal Justice System There are many different components that make up the criminal justice system which are the police, the courts, and corrections. All the agencies that make up the criminal justice system must work together to ensure that the criminal justice system is fire, impartial, professional, and have integrity.The Police Departments are the individuals that are responsible for enforcing laws, investigating crimes, making arrest, maintaining public order, and at times providing emergency services. The court systems are responsible for ensuring that individual receive fair and impartial trials, determine if the individual is innocent or guilty, upload the written all, determine the type of sentence the guilty will receive, ensuring fairness, and protecting the rights and freedom of the individual.Corrections are responsible for carrying out the sentences that the court system placed on the individual and provide safety and humane condition for all offenders. Goals of the Criminal Justice System There are five goals of the criminal justice system which are deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. Basically the criminal justice system is trying to put the fear of punishment and people in hopes of persuading the individuals from committing any more crimes.The second goal of the criminal justice system is incapa citation which is basically the idea that if an individual is incarcerated for their crime then they will not be able to commit another crime. The third goal is retribution which replies that when retribution for a crime is provided justice will prevail. The fourth goal of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation which believes that by correcting the behavior by incarcerating an individual and providing the individual with new skills will help with returning back to society.The fifth and last goal of the criminal justice system is restoration, which tries to repair the damage that the individual had done and return them back to society. Thoughts on the Criminal Justice System I believe that today's criminal justice system has way too many flaws in it, but overall is a good system to have. Taking a look back in history to the first criminal justice system that was put into place there has been a great deal of advancements made to improve the criminal justice system to what we ha ve today. So the flaws in the system we are using now can only improve over time.I do not believe that there is a flawless system might very anywhere, so the system we are using now is better than having no system at all. References Demand media, I. (2012). ehow. Retrieved April 5, 2013 from http://www. ehow. com/about_6292484 _choice-related-criminal-justice-system-. html Lexico Publishing, L. (2012). Dictionary. com. Retrieved April 5, 2013 from http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/crime Schmallager, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: an introductory text for the 21st century (11th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall Definition of Crime Definition of Crime According to the dictionary, crime is â€Å"an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited† (Lexico publishing, 2012). It is considered to be a crime when an unlawful act as being committed that society agreed upon punishment for this act that has been committed. Society agreed upon crimes could range from littering, jaywalking, motor vehicle violations, white-collar crimes, or even the more violent crimes.The crime control model is one of the most common models to show how society determines which acts are considered criminal. The crime control model basically stresses the efficiency of arrest and conviction of criminal offenders. In the late 1960s a law professor by the name Herbert Packer introduced the crime control model to the academic community at Stanford University within his state of criminal justice presentation. The control model is o ften referred to as the Packer's crime control model. The due process model is another common use model to show how society determines which acts are considered criminal.The due process model basically shows the individual rights at all stages of the justice system processing. The due process model helps to ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes that they did not commit. In America this is one of the essential parts of the justice system. Government Structure of the Criminal Justice System There are many different agencies that the criminal justice system works with such as: federal, state, and local governments. With the criminal justice system working with so many agencies many times creates problems determining whose jurisdiction the crime was committed in.All the agencies that are involved in the criminal justice system are by law required to work together to ensure that the criminal justice system is working properly. Choice Theories Choice theories are also kn own as rational theories. The choice theories are a type of theory to where an individual feels that there is no other choice but to commit a crime. With choice theories the individual cannot see any other way around their predicament without committing a crime. The individual is completely unable to find a solution to the problem at hand on their own.An example of choice theories might be an individual that has lost their job and can no longer provide food for their family sees no other way to provide food for their family except for committing a crime by stealing the food to feed their family. Components of the Criminal Justice System There are many different components that make up the criminal justice system which are the police, the courts, and corrections. All the agencies that make up the criminal justice system must work together to ensure that the criminal justice system is fire, impartial, professional, and have integrity.The Police Departments are the individuals that are responsible for enforcing laws, investigating crimes, making arrest, maintaining public order, and at times providing emergency services. The court systems are responsible for ensuring that individual receive fair and impartial trials, determine if the individual is innocent or guilty, upload the written all, determine the type of sentence the guilty will receive, ensuring fairness, and protecting the rights and freedom of the individual.Corrections are responsible for carrying out the sentences that the court system placed on the individual and provide safety and humane condition for all offenders. Goals of the Criminal Justice System There are five goals of the criminal justice system which are deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. Basically the criminal justice system is trying to put the fear of punishment and people in hopes of persuading the individuals from committing any more crimes.The second goal of the criminal justice system is incapa citation which is basically the idea that if an individual is incarcerated for their crime then they will not be able to commit another crime. The third goal is retribution which replies that when retribution for a crime is provided justice will prevail. The fourth goal of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation which believes that by correcting the behavior by incarcerating an individual and providing the individual with new skills will help with returning back to society.The fifth and last goal of the criminal justice system is restoration, which tries to repair the damage that the individual had done and return them back to society. Thoughts on the Criminal Justice System I believe that today's criminal justice system has way too many flaws in it, but overall is a good system to have. Taking a look back in history to the first criminal justice system that was put into place there has been a great deal of advancements made to improve the criminal justice system to what we ha ve today. So the flaws in the system we are using now can only improve over time.I do not believe that there is a flawless system might very anywhere, so the system we are using now is better than having no system at all. References Demand media, I. (2012). ehow. Retrieved April 5, 2013 from http://www. ehow. com/about_6292484 _choice-related-criminal-justice-system-. html Lexico Publishing, L. (2012). Dictionary. com. Retrieved April 5, 2013 from http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/crime Schmallager, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: an introductory text for the 21st century (11th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall

Defining and Experiencing the Humanities Essay

I am currently having trouble defining humanities in my own words after reading week one’s overview. Unfortunately after reading this week’s readings and watching the assigned videos, I am still unclear as to what humanities really is. The week one overview while well written was merely a string of questions and what ifs, that honestly left me with even more questions than I started with. Is this an art appreciation class, a literature class, maybe history? Could it possibly be all these things and more? I am still not sure but I am very certain I look forward to finding out. My selection of a cultural event that I have attended (and participated in) is the War for Empire event at Ft. Dobbs in Statesville, NC. This event is the largest event at Ft. Dobbs each year. During this event there are several encampments that showcase different aspects of life on the North Carolina frontier during the mid-18th century. There are Cherokee and Catawba encampments that demonstrate music, dance, and other forms of art such as finger weaving. The native interpreters also discuss clothing, food, and social norms associated with their people. There are also many Anglo (European) encampments which demonstrate things such as period cooking, beer crafting, tailoring, and furniture and once there was even a cobbler (awesome). Other sights to be seen are weapons and tactics demonstrations, the clothing and equipment used by the common soldiers, laborers and farmers of the North Carolina frontier during the Seven Years War.

Money Laundering Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Money Laundering - Research Paper Example Money Laundering It can be said that money laundering is not a cause in itself but it is a symptom that speaks about illegal activities in its root. Main Features of Money Laundering As such, money laundering is an age old activity because its underline cause lies in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, illegal production, smuggling, or tax evasion. All these underground activities have a single motive of making huge profits. Criminals attempt to legalize this money so that it can be used to acquire assets or used for their secret missions such as terrorist activities. In ‘promotional’ money laundering, money so garnered is reinvested in the illegal activities itself. The crux is that all these activities fall under a term ‘specified unlawful activities’ (SUA). Money laundering has drawn attention of the authorities in the recent years due to its role in terrorist activities as noticed during 9/11. Money laundering is rampant in most parts of the world and can cause serious economic and social implications because of its magnitude or malicious motives. Circumstantial Evidence and Money Laundering Investigators in the US need not prove that the money launderer was aware about the unlawful activity. That means that circumstantial evidence is enough for the investigator to prove that money launderer has generated the money through illicit means and juries will make note of this evidence during the trial. Thus, in the US, the money laundering charge can be proved by the investigating agency under Title 18, Section 1956, US Code through SUA proceeds; financial transaction with the sole aim to conceal or intent to conceal the proceeds; and the knowledge by culprit that the proceeds have resulted from illegal activity. It is important to note here that even clean money sent from outside the US with the purpose to promote an SUA will fall into charge of a money laundering. Thus, the intent to promote an SUA along with the movement of funds from or to t he country is enough to put someone under a charge of money laundering (Leff, 2012). Money Laundering through Spending The Title 18, Section 1957, US Code deals with another kind of the money laundering charge, known as the money spending statute that prescribes that when the culprit moves over $10,000 illegally earned proceeds through a legal ‘financial institutions’ then he or she may be convicted under the law with a 10-year maximum penalty. The investigator need not prove any other thing except the simple facts of transaction unlike proving intent of the money launderer promoting an SUA under Section 1956. Further, the word 'financial institutions' is broadly defined to include not only banks or credit unions but jewelry stores, casinos, travel agencies, most merchants, brokers, and many others through which a culprit can spend their illegally earned proceeds (Leff, 2012). Money Laundering Threat Assessment (MLTA) In 2005, for the first time, the US government did M oney Laundering Threat Assessment (MLTA).The purpose was to help regulators, policy makers and the law enforcement agencies to understand the depth and gravity of money laundering and develop strategy to thwart it. Under the MLTA, thirteen money laundering methods were analyzed in detail. The amount of dirty money in the US is certainly huge and globalization has given further impetus to this activity through on line payment possibility. Under MLTA several initiatives have been taken

Personal Class Design Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Class Design Project - Research Paper Example To attain ability of collaborative and patient centered care in the measurement of electrocardiogram Effect of Hospital Philosophy on the EKG Course The vision and core values of the hospital are within the framework of collaborative patient care and ensuring that the health care management is patient centered. Moreover, the hospital endeavors to provide learners within the health care system with exceptional training and education with a view of ensuring that there is high quality of care in addition to creativity and innovativeness in patient management and care. In This regard, the hospital with provide a conducive learning environment in addition to experienced practitioners who would act to guide and train the learners. Additionally, the hospital experience will enable learners to achieve skills and knowledge in collaborative and patient centered care. More importantly the students will be enabled to apply this knowledge during the practical experience at the hospital. The hospi tal as the institutional sponsoring the course will be accredited with the responsibility of ensuring that the learners achieve the expected outcomes. Additionally, the health care expertise within the cardiology department will be involved in the assessment of the progress of the learners. Class Needs Assessment The performance in applying skills and knowledge on electrocardiogram measurement and reporting will be assessed with an aim of determining possible inadequacies so that the trainer will be able to know where more emphasis needs to be laid. Nonetheless, the assessment of the students must be focused at ensuring that the skills and knowledge that they acquire is purely applied to ensure the safety of the patient (Wittmann-Price and Fasolka, 2010). Therefore, the needs of students for information and experience in management of patients during electrocardiogram measurement are achieved through proper assessment. It is important that the students are accorded the opportunity o f applying collaborative practice in fulfilling the safety needs of the patient. Description of the Class The class is comprised of diverse students with a common view and goal of achieving creativity and critical thinking in the management of patients during electrocardiogram measurement, reporting of results and effective conversation with the patient. Therefore, the class aims at achieving the necessary psychomotor skills in the handling of the electrocardiogram machine and its accessories. In discussing the results of the electrocardiogram, students require to apply their cognitive abilities to ensure high quality in care. The learners are willing to actively participate in the learning activities by attending the sessions and collaborating with the instructors and health care staff within the hospital during the whole learning experience. The class has been given the objective and outcomes of the course to have a guiding framework for the course. Additionally the class is ready for a participatory learning experience to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the achievement of the learning objectives. In this regard, the class is aware of their obligations in adherence to the legal and policy frameworks of the hospital in addition to their obligations of being assessed. Target Audience The members of the hospital who include the staff in the cardiology department including the emergency care professionals within the emergency department and the intensive care unit and the telemetry

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Marketing - Essay Example Question # 1- Target Market Initially facebook has its membership restrained to college students only so the target market covered only the youngster till 2006 after which it was opened for all after two years in 2006. The users comprising the target market fell under the psychographic segmentation. The target market includes those youngsters who wish to keep connected with their folks and friends all over the world. Their attributes relating to values, attitudes, interests, personality, or lifestyles matter to them. Facebook new exciting offers target markets users who want to download everything they have posted from Fb to computers. Any sort of information would definitely be updated at personal computer including social status, profile, wall post etc. Whereas the dashboard helps provide more flexibility for users wishing to control better their applications. The new grouping feature targets those groups who wish to share comments, pictures and other links with acquaintances based on ones relationships and interests. For instance, one can now group Facebook friends by college, family, work, sports teams. Question # 2 - Facebook Competitors Facebook has already achieved competitive edge as social networking sites. It does not have strong competitors. ... Tumblr It provides blogging platform with many kids sharing content with each others however, still the tumbir cannot surpass the area coverage by facebook. Twitter It is a micro blogging platform with features of Facebook except 140 assymetric follow patterns and character messages which is a new feature however, this is not such a big threat to Facebook. LinkedIn This is specifically for the business gentry and is therefore covers only certain individuals while Facebook is for everyone else. Path Path works against the principle of Facebook as it talks about smaller groups of friends. Path let you share pictures and information with close circle of friend. Still social networks matter today so facebook still out do. Question # 3 – Product’s Position Facebook is the world's largest social networking online web. On average there are 700 billions minutes spent in a month by facebook current users. The company has been increasing at a meteoric pace, doubling size since af ter 2009 and pushing competitors like Orkut and Twitter aside. Through it is social networking world wide still it has wider customer acceptance due to set define standards of privacy like no other websites provide. There are defined privacy laws governing facebook actions due to which at times it has even been sued. But, so far it has the greater sale’s popularity with over 500 million users in the year 2010. The largest social network worldwide has been rapidly increasing its membership at a steady pace for over the so many years gone by, however even Facebook is almost touching saturation level for several of its age demographics. The good news that remains for Facebook is that it has still future potential to increase and retain its market share. E Marketer statistics

TURING MACHINE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

TURING MACHINE - Essay Example In spite of its minimalism, a Turing machine could be modified to reproduce the logic of some computer algorithm, as well as this machine is mainly useful in illuminating the operations of a CPU within of a computer (Suber, 2002). This paper will present deep analysis of the different functionalities, operations, and uses of Turing machine. According to Weisstein (2009) the concept of the Turing machine was initially presented by Alan Turing in 1937. He also invented the initial Turing machine that was presented like an idealized model intended for mathematical computation. A Turing machine composed of a line of cells acknowledged as a "tape" that can be moved back as well as forth. In a Turing machine there is an active component "head" that has a feature acknowledged as "state" that is capable to transform the attribute recognized as "color" of the active cell below it, and also a set of commands for how the head needs to be adjusted by the active cell as well as shift the tape. In addition, the machine can transform the color of the Turing machine active cell at any step. Also, it can transform the position of the head, and moving the tape one step towards right or left (Weisstein, Turing Machine, 2009; Sipser, 2005). Copeland (2000), discusses about Universal Turing Machine (UTM), which is a Turing machine that is capable to replicate other Turing machine. An additional mathematically-oriented description by a related "universal" nature was presented by Alonzo Church, whose effort on lambda calculus linked with Turing in a prescribed hypothesis of computation identified as the Church–Turing theory. The theory presents that a Turing machines certainly holds the informal view of useful technique in mathematics as well as in logic, and also offers an accurate explanation of a mechanical procedure or algorithm (Copeland, 2000). According to Aanderaa (2006), a

Obama and Romney 2012 campaigns Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Obama and Romney 2012 campaigns - Assignment Example The poster ad might not be very effective, since it is specifically targeted at the middle class, while negating all the other American economic classes. The image portrays President Obama smiling. The campaign poster has rows of texts that are inscribed atop of the image of President Obama, carrying different messages. The text on the first row states that because of Barack Obama, the combat mission in Iraq ended. The other texts states that it is because of Barack Obama that ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ is now history. There are also other texts stating that because of Barack Obama, there is a first Latina is in Supreme Court, while 32 million people will benefit from healthcare. The producer of this campaign poster targeted to deliver a message on the achievements that President Obama had made during his first term in office, and thus lure the voters into voting him once again back to office. The poster Ad is effective since it highlights some of the achievements that cannot be associated with any other USA president who served before, such as nominating the first Latina to the Supreme Court. The image is that of a Mitt Romney campaign Ad that does not carry his image, but only texts that are inscribed on a black-poster background. The texts on the poster are to the effect that there are still over 20 million young people in America who are still living with their parents. The other texts state that it’s the voters’ choice to move in with the parents or to take up one of 12 million new job opportunities. The producer of this poster Ad is specifically ridiculing the first term presidency of President Obama. The intent of the producer of the poster Ad is to show that President Obama is incapable of creating job opportunities for the young Americans. Thus, the Ad gives the young people a choice in Mitt Romney as the

Separation of Powers in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Separation of Powers in the UK - Essay Example For example, if the parliament has more control over the others, there will be instability in the government. There has been the development of the UK government in achieving balance between the government and the parliament through application of the principle of separation of powers. In 1998, the Human Rights Act was launched by the parliament requiring consideration of the European Convention of Human Rights by the judiciary. Recently, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was geared towards separation of powers through the judicial reforms. The Act required abolishment of the offices of the Lord Chancellor and establishment of a Supreme Court of UK without the consent of the judiciary at that time (Masterman 2011, p. 34). Following the development in separation of powers in the UK government, the three branches function independent of each other. The current UK government constitutes of the legislature whose role is to pass laws and supervise their implementation, the executive, who se role is to implement laws, and the judiciary, whose role is to administer justice by ensuring compliance to the laws. The Parliament of the UK comprises the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown. The main roles of the Parliament include passing laws and following their implementation by the executive, the Government (Madgwick 1991, p. 23). The Parliament in conjunction with the Government played a great in the implementation of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 that resulted to the establishment of the Supreme Court following the abolishment of the Lord Chancellor’s powers that undermined separation of powers. The Act dismissed the Lord Chancellor as the Speaker of the House of Lords, an effort towards separation of powers. The Parliament is privileged as it is granted the freedom to speech.

Diabetes type 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Diabetes type 2 - Assignment Example This paper briefly explains type 2 Diabetics, its, causes, symptoms, consequences and possible treatments. â€Å"Every day, more than 4,000 adults are diagnosed with diabetes and about 200 people die from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention† (Payne, 2009). Millions of people across the world are currently suffering from type 2 Diabetics. Many people are unaware that they are at high risk of this disease. National Diabetes Statistics, (2007) shows that in adults, type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes and moreover the Total costs of treating type 2 diabetics patients in America is around $174 billion in 2007 which include the direct cost of $116 billion (National Diabetes Statistics, 2007) From the above chart it is clear that most of the type 2 diabetics patients are currently undergoing treatments either in the form of insulin, oral medication or both insulin and oral medications. Obesity, family history of diabetes, lack of physical activities, peculiarities of race/ethnicity etc are some of the major reasons for type 2 diabetics. Even though type 2 diabetics can affect any people irrespective age, culture or ethnicity, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, American Indians, and some Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders are found to be more vulnerable to this disease. National Diabetes Statistics, (2007) has pointed out that type 2 diabetics were earlier mentioned as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) or adult-onset diabetics (National Diabetes Statistics, 2007). Diabetics in general are a group of disease which is resulted from the malfunctioning of insulin production, usage or both. Type 2 diabetics are a disease which occurred when the body resists the effects of insulin produces less insulin than required to maintain the glucose level.

Peer Profile with Research (Or come up with another topic) Essay

Peer Profile with Research (Or come up with another topic) - Essay Example sformed to a career of her choice which she aspired to undertake since she was in her childhood. Laura was born in Long Beach California, her favorite drink is coffee and dish is Bibimpap, sushi, lasagna and enjoys playing tennis and basketball. Laura’s per profile will be built on various major aspects of life that help develop a being and her take in the whole world of life undertakings. They include: Education, leisure, personal values and skills abilities and uniqueness, future prospects and dream, strengths and weaknesses and her achievements. Laura was born in Long Beach California, her favorite drink is coffee and dish is Bibimpap, sushi, lasagna and enjoys playing tennis and basketball. Laura’s per profile will be built on various major aspects of life that help develop a being and her take in the whole world of life undertakings. They include: Education, leisure, personal values and skills abilities and uniqueness, future prospects and dream, strengths and weak nesses and her achievements. Laura was born in Long Beach California, her favorite drink is coffee and dish is Bibimpap, sushi, lasagna and enjoys playing tennis and basketball. Education Laura is driven by clear defined by clear goals and objectives in her education life .She has been able to clear her high school later went to GRCC pursued her course in two quarters but later dropped prompting her to join college and pursue a Bachelors degree in medical field especially in Psychiatry to help her in future work in a prison and carry out charity work in Developing countries by promoting healthcare. She is also passionate about getting a scholarship in Korea where she would go and streamline her medical field career Leisure and Social life Laura’s social life and leisure is mostly travelling by boat or train so that she can experience more in the world of greatness and diversity of nature. Reading is one of her hobbies, watching TV, playing video games, listening to music such as Jazz and classical and driving around her RAV 4 vehicle. Personal Values She is an optimistic person who believes in her abilities to improve her well being in the society in all areas of her undertakings. She is creative in developing new ideas, compassionate and kind hearted expressed by her passion to help and engage in charity work. Independency in her pursuit remains firm in achieving all her objectives even where she had a savings scheme to purchase her car. Laura is a friendly character especially to her family members expressing love and passionate in her all endeavors about family. She is also purpose driven. She has respect for elders, first family as their family values. Her important value she says â€Å"In Omnia paratus –Latin trans. Prepare or all things in life.† Her uniqueness is derived from her ability to separate emotions from being logical most of the time and she prefers thinking with clear mind. Family and relationships She values her mother s o much as the one who she can entrust with her secrets where she describes her as a favorite person in their family she says â€Å"Mom (can tell her anything without judging, learn a lot from her, she has supported me and loved me unconditionally, she has taught me morals and I have values until now, she is a role model too†. She laments of betrayal from her ex-boyfriend and a best friend but life had to continue. Future prospects and dreams She has a future goal that she wants to achieve on the choice of her ideal place of living in countryside of Korea or Japan. In her bucket list as she

Homosexuality Essay Example for Free

Homosexuality Essay Homosexuality within the church is a controversial matter that is threatening to break apart the over 20-century-old institution of the church. This paper sets out to demonstrate that, Homosexuality within the church and the society is a controversial matter that is yet to be resolved. With particular emphasis with the teachings of the Catholic tradition on Homosexuality, the paper seeks to analyze how Homosexuality has for the entire history of the Catholic tradition threatened to divide the church. The paper also will take a view of Homosexuality in today’s society in a bid to compare and contrast how modern society views on Homosexuality differ from the teachings of the church and the reasons behind the church’s rather conservative approach to the Homosexuality issue. The Catholic church was founded around 2nd century at a time when church and state were inseparable and the church yielded much influence over state affairs and governance. With particular reference to Roman empire, the Catholic church in Rome came to be so powerful that church law determined state’s laws and the papacy was responsible for the running of not only the church affairs, but also of the state affairs. So much was the influence of the Catholic Church leadership on state governance that, church leaders were powerful and revered because they could exert political and religious authority. The issue of Homosexuality within the Catholic Church is not new and as early as the 5th century, there is evidence to the fact that, the issue had come up often in church doctrine and it had been discussed at the highest level of the church. Homosexuality according to the Catholic tradition is evil and not permissible. Indeed, the Catholic tradition holds that those who engage in Homosexuality should be excommunicated from the church, a punishment that is not revertible and rarely does the church leadership give audience to those viewed to be disobedient to the Catholic stance on Homosexuality. According to Catholic tradition, a union between a man and a man or between a woman and a woman is seen and therefore, it is contravention to the church teachings. As a result of the position the church has maintained for centuries, the issue of Homosexuality in the church continues to elicit emotional debates and is currently one of the most controversial issues in the Catholic Church especially the Catholic Church in USA. Rather than amend the existing church doctrine, to reflect modern society, and particularly the newfound freedom amongst the youth in America, the church continues to make key amendments to its dogmatic teachings, which continue to depict the church as old-fashioned, insensitive and non-responsive to modernity. The number of youth attending church in the USA has been found to have declined by upto 30% in the past few decades. This is reflected by the fact that, there are fewer Americans willing to take up leadership positions in the church causing a major shortage of father, nuns, etc. in the church. Although Homosexuality as an issue is not solely to blame for the current standoff, it is evidently a contributing factor to the leadership crisis the church is facing and the inability of the church to attract young people to participate in church leadership. Their lax evidence and substantial research in the causes of the church’s conservative position, which inspite of being challenged by scholars in the church and the faithfuls has remained perpetually undeterred and continues to maintain the hard position it has taken for the past centuries. In sharp contrast to the position taken by the clergy, there is growing evidence that a gay culture is slowly gaining root amongst the clergy something, which is proving to be magnanimous and one of the latest scandal in the Catholic church . This has had an impact on values that the church has continued to teach including family values that the church bases as its key argument against ratification of Homosexuality within the church. Although it is hard to say for sure how many Catholic clergy are involved in Homosexuality, going by the number of those who come out in the open and defiantly state their support of Homosexuality, it is clear that there are significant numbers of clergy engaging in Homosexual practices, promoting Homosexuality as well as openly or silently advocating for Homosexuality . This has left the church leadership in a dilemma as it has become very difficult for a common ground to be struck between proponents and opponents of Homosexuality in the church. What started as deliberations to examine how the church could respond to Homosexuality and its growing influence in the face of organized homosexual groups, which started getting rights to marriage as well as other rights, guarding from discrimination has put the Catholic church especially in the USA at crossroads. As a result of the raging debate, the media sought to focus attention on the issue of Homosexuality and how the church was responding to it leading to numerous reports accusing cardinals in the USA of engaging in Homosexuality. This has further been complicated by the fact that whenever Homosexuality debate has come up, the issue of pedophilia has come up . This has further complicated the Homosexual debate in that it gives the Homosexual debate a negative image in the public given that pedophilia is a sensitive issue equitable to crime. Homosexuality in the Catholic Church is so complex that, the independence given to cardinals has made it virtually impossible even for victims of Homosexuality perpetrated by the clergy to successfully wage complaints. For instance, clergy collaborate with their superiors to perpetrate Homosexual behaviour to young boys and instead of such clergy being punished when the matter comes out in the open, it is often the victims and their families who suffer most. Indeed, in many cases, members of the church are more likely to quit church because the only way out is to avoid confrontation with the church. This has further been complicated by the fact that, the church has been rather unwilling to acknowledge that Homosexuality is a problem within the church something which means that whenever such accusations are raised against the church leadership, the church is less willing or not devoted to dealing with the problem of Homosexuality. In most cases, the ‘offenders’ receive light punishments such as transfer and rarely has any meaningful punishment been referred against clergy by the church. This indifference from the church leadership has continued to taint the church’s image especially considering that there is a general lack of understanding and appreciation of Homosexuality amongst church faithfuls. That the Catholic Church traditionally believes Homosexuality is a sin, is evidenced by the constant pleas and calls for repentance the church sends out to self-confessed Homosexuals. Indeed, there is a clear difference between Homosexuality as practiced in the church and Homosexuality as practiced in the society. The matter is further complicated by the fact that, traditional Catholic beliefs do not allow members of clergy to marry or engage in sexual intercourse leave alone Homosexuality. Therefore, Homosexuality in the church circles is viewed as clerical abuse and is treated as such. There is enough evidence towards the fact that, the church is willing to fight on and totally ban Homosexuality in the church and especially within the clergy. However, the church is faced with a dilemma in that, it does not support the concept of Homosexuality. As such, the church leadership is in a state of denial, which seeks to present the church as devoid of Homosexuality but at the same time, wants to fight incidences of Homosexuality if and when reported. Although in some cases those accused of Homosexuality have been forced to resign, such calls come from the faithful and tend to be grounded on threats of charges and not as a contradiction of traditional teachings or church dogma considering that the church is reluctant to acknowledge that even within its clergy the problem of Homosexuality is rife. Outside the US, resistance to Homosexuality in the church is higher compared to US where in some cases, some archdioceses have the leeway to choose whether to work with Homosexuals or not. This is bringing a new dimension into the Homosexuality debate in regard to celibacy and a call for further scholarly interpretation of celibacy as understood in the Catholic Church . It is not surprising that the issue of Homosexuality in the church has never been comprehensively dealt with despite the fact that, Homosexuality in the church has been practiced since the 1970s upto present and evidently with the knowledge of the church leadership . Another dimension that the Homosexuality debate has taken in the church is questioning of how effectively Homosexual clergy are capable of guiding the faithful. The fact that Homosexuality is still considered by many Catholics as sin and violation of their traditional beliefs brings a dilemma to the clergy who are Homosexuals and is a common cause of conflicts. This has led many to question the ability of those who violate church teachings to lead the faithfuls who hold different points of view on Homosexuality. Indeed, this has brought about an ethical dimension to the Homosexuality debate in the church. While the proponents of Homosexuality call for relaxation of traditional teachings on celibacy, opponents of Homosexuality call for chastity and upholding of traditional teachings on sexuality as handed down by generations . Evidently, Homosexuality in the church has started to take a new dimension, that of civil liberties and civil rights. In this regard, there are those who want to bring the human rights issue into the Homosexuality debate and look at the church’s stance on Homosexuality as a violation of civil liberties and civil rights. This dimension has been criticized due to the fact that, the church is an independent institution whose doctrine is out of state control and therefore, compelling the church to accept Homosexuality as an attempt to guarantee civil liberties and civil rights, has in the past failed to yield into results. Therefore, while some liberals view Homosexuality as an orientation and something to be left to the choice of an individual, others view the church and indeed the Christian faith as dominant when it comes to individual choices and therefore, this implies that once one accepts membership into the church, individualism is less important and collectivity is emphasized. If what is happening in other denominations such as Evangelicals and Anglicans is anything to go by, Homosexuality in the church will continue to be a contentious issue and the solution lies in the granting of independence to churches to make individual decisions on how to conduct the Homosexuality debate. Indeed, nothing has in the recent history of the church been so hard to strike a common position on, as has been with the case of Homosexuality. Efforts by the church to transform Homosexuals through methods such as therapy in form of Bible teachings, have failed and that too has been considered as interference in civil liberties and civil rights of individuals. Therefore, asking homosexuals to change their sexual orientation has greatly failed and it seems that the homosexuals are gaining ground in the church and are swelling in numbers. If current estimates of homosexuals in the church today are anything to go by, the Catholic Church may find it difficult to contain the ‘homosexual movement’ and it is the high time that a multidimensional approach to the Homosexual debate is adapted with an aim of bringing together conservatives and liberals to strike a common ground. Even the involvement of scriptural interpretation has failed to yield into meaningful results as different groups have interpreted the issue differently. Therefore, the Biblical standpoint has ceased to be what guides the debate on Homosexuality and the church and evidently civil rights and civil liberties dimension together with emotive dimension is what is taking prominence in the debate about Homosexuality in the church. In conclusion, the view of Homosexuality in the contemporary society is as controversial as it is the case in the church. However, since the moral standards in the contemporary society compared to the moral standards set by the church are significantly different, homosexuals have received insignificant resistance in the civil society than has been the case in the church. That modernity has influenced the way modern society has welcomed Homosexuality is for sure but the teachings of the church have failed to incorporate the views of the same society that it purports to serve. This has resulted into a conflict that persists between the church and the modern society something, which will be resolved when the church will amend its teachings to reflect the modern society standpoint. There is a need for more scholarly studies geared towards establishing a common ground between opponents and proponents of Homosexuality with a view of diffusing the standoff between those who support a more tolerant church position on Homosexuality and those who are opposed to a more inclusive position on Homosexuality in connection to the church. There is a need for the Catholic Church to review its training programs for clergies in a bid to deal with the problem of clergy engaging in abusive behaviour that has resulted into conflict of interest and lack of harmony in the church. It is no doubt that, the society expects the church to be a model in as far as moral standards are concerned, and therefore, when clergy are accused of engaging in Homosexuality, which is in the first place against the official position of the church, doubts arise about the church’s teachings on Homosexuality.

Defining And Analysing Heroism

Defining And Analysing Heroism Heroism consists of actions that must help others, even if it is a possibility and risk of the helper s injury or even death. Some people consider heroism to be very close to altruism, but it is different. Where altruism emphasizes self-denying acts that help others, heroism means a personal sacrifice. The kernel of heroism rotates around of the obligation of the person to a noble goal and readiness to accept a consequence of fighting for this goal. Heroism is old as humanity itself. The human bent fort commemorating heroes is a universal quality of human culture. Heroes are honored in ancient paintings, folklore and myth. Societies dispatched such stories in oral traditions and legends, and myths into epic poems and eddas. Modern societies uphold the tradition of honoring heroes not only in literally masterpieces but also in movies and journalism. Some of heroic ideas are becoming lost or changed by general culture. Being a hero is not just being an outstanding figure. We believe it has become needful to revise the historical senses of the word, and to force it to arrive in modern timeframes. Historically, heroism has been closely connected with military service, although social heroism also deserves close research. For instance, Achilles is the archetypal war hero, whose values were so strong, that Socrates willingness to die for it was also a heroic exploit. Heroism that consist a notable idea is usually not so dramatic like heroism that entails direct physical risk. These different ways of exhorting with the heroic ideal mean a deeper, more tangled definition of heroism. Actions considered as heroic are ordinarily made voluntarily in the sense that they are not compelled by external pressures or at least go out the bounds of the behavior ordinarily prompted by external pressures. By understanding of heroism as a universal characteristic of human nature, not as an unusual feature, heroism becomes something that stands in the line of possibilities for everyon e, possibly inspiring us to answer that call. The thought about the banality of heroism disrobes the myth of the heroic elect . It is a myth that strengthens two fundamental human tendencies: to attribute very rare personal feature to special people who do special feats to see them as superhuman, comparing to the rest of us and the trap of inertial some people call it as the bystander effect . Investigation has shown that this effect is often motivated by scattering of responsibility. In their article The Banality of Heroism , Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo tell that heroism is made up of four autonomous measurements at least (based on authors analysis of many acts that they consider heroic). First, heroism involves some type of quest, which may range from the preservation of life to the preservation of an ideal (Franco, Zimbardo). Second, heroism should have some form of sacrifice (risk). This can be some form of physical danger or a strong social sacrifice. The physical risks in this case are clearly heroic in nature. For instance, Tom Cahill, a researcher from the University of California, called a press conference where defined the EPA s findings that in the after-grass of the September 11 events the air nearby Ground Zero was safe for breathing. With this action he risked his confidence as a scientist. Third, the heroic feat may be active or passive. Often we think of heroism as a courageous activity, something that is clearly perceptible. But some forms of heroism involve passive opposition or reluctance to be moved. And finally, heroism may be an unexpected, one time action, or something that continues over a longer time period. This may have a meaning that heroism may be a nearly immediate reaction to a situation. Or it may be a well considered series of actions endure over days, months, or a lifetime. Franco and Zimbardo give such an example: in 1940, a Japanese consul official in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, signed more than 2,000 visas for Jews hoping to escape the Nazi invasion, despite his government s direct orders not to do so. Every morning when Sugihara got up and made the same decision to help, every time he signed a visa, he acted heroically and increased the likelihood of dire consequences for himself and his family. At the end of the war he was unceremoniously fired from the Japanese civil service (Franco and Zimbardo). The scientists stress that even people who have led less than remarkable lives can be heroic in a sing le moment. For instance, during Hurricane Katrina, a man whose name is Jabar Gibson, who was previously arrested in the past, took a bus, freighted it with citizens of his poor New Orleans environs, and delivered them to safety Houston. This feat people of Louisiana considered as heroism, because is that concrete situation Jabar helped desperate people simply to survive. The really interesting investigation which called The heroism of women and men was done by Selwyn W. Becker (University of Chicago) and Alice H. Eagly (Northwestern University). They research heroism of both sexes in dangerous settings. Their study allows examining the ideas that heroism is performed by women as well as men. It is well-known that mostly men were portrayed as heroes in legends, poems and eddas. It is understandable, because of their strength, greater size and physical skills. It is also well-known that since pristine times men considered to be hunters. But we should not forget that women in their tur n always considered to be clever, somewhat cunning and undoubtedly, very skilful. The women may find the right decision more often because of their well-known sixth sense, so it is quite probably that they may take a risk with the same responsibility as men. Moreover, the women more often trust their feelings and inner senses, their intuition and sometimes it helps in those situations when it needs to sacrifice. Then, who says that women are more afraid of sacrificing? There are a lot of examples in the world literature when they made such really brave decisions showing in such a way their true feelings. Becker and Eagly write: Women s risk taking is assumed to derive at least in part from their traditional family role as main nurturer (Becker and Eagly). The authors are sure that nonetheless, it is possible that women s psychological answers to stress prime their helpful acts. Besides, many of women s heroic actions are hidden. But we forgot about another important question: What m akes a hero? Franco and Zimbardo convinced that actually, the first answer of many people who are called heroes is to disown their originality. They say: I just did what I had to do or I am not a hero! Anyone in the same position would have done what I did (Franco and Zimbardo). Sudden life and death situations are distinct examples of situations that excite people into heroic act. The investigators were convinced that these positions create a bright-line ethical inspection that drives some individuals to act in an attempt to stop the evil. Many people in common positions identify the ethical problems connected with the situation and are deeply upset, but decide to ignore it. Franco and Zimbardo believe that a significant factor that may cheer heroic act is the incentive of heroic kind of imagination. It is the capacity to imagine facing risky situations, to fight the hypothetical problems these situations cause, and to consider one s actions and the results. By this, the individual becomes more prepared to act if a moment that calls for heroism comes. Seeing oneself capable of heroism may be the first step towards a heroic consequence. There are several steps we can take to nurture the heroic type of imagination. We can start by remaining aware; critically evaluating each situation we meet so that we do not gloss over an emergency demanding our action. We must withstand the impulse to improve inaction and to develop exculpations that recast evil acts. Also we must try to exceed anticipating negative result connected with some forms of heroism, being socially ostracized as an example. We must trust that others will identify the value of our heroic feats. We should try to develop a capacity of things that do not fit, or do not make sense in a current situation. This means that we must ask questions to get the proper information for us to take action. Besides, it is important not to fear conflict, and to develop the personal courage necessary to stand firm for p rinciples we value. Actually, we should not think of hard conflicts but rather as attempts to force the other people to support their own ideology and principles. We should be engaged in the current position, to imagine alternative future scenarios. But outside of these fundamental points, our society needs to encourage heroic imagination in all of its citizens, especially in young ones. The ancient Greeks and Anglo Saxon tribes revered their poem heroes in Beowulf and Iliad . These stories are antiquated, but their descriptions of the hero still make sense. In these tales, the protagonist often meets a mystical figure who attempts to tempt the hero away from his track. We must also avoid the temptation of evil in our life, and we must recognize that perhaps the temptation will be quite ordinary: for example, an unethical friend, neighbor or coworker. By passing a series of smaller examinations of our stamina, we can refine a personal habit of heroism. Very often epic poems tell about the hero visiting the underworld. This metaphorical facing death depicts transcendence an acceptance of mortality. Arthur Margon in his work Urbanization in fiction. Changing models of heroism in popular American novels 1880-1920 writes that in a w ide line of popular literature works written between the end of Reconstruction and The First World War, prominent American novelists depicted the decline of usual heroism in an urbanized society. In an urban society, goodness and social responsibility could be guaranteed only through the institutions peculiarity of that society. Individualism did not lead to heroism in the materialistic cities. Urban writers dismissed the individualistic hero to either boundary of the junk heap. Some of the authors replaced him with an institutional structure which nurtured self-identification in the community. But American novelists increasingly reflected, through the demise of the hero, the understanding that in the urban age individualism was incompatible with public welfare (Margon) underlines Margon. Till this day, some types of heroism demand paying the final price. But we can also realize this as a hero s desire to face any of the results of heroic action whether the sacrifices are social of physical. The hero often follows a set of rules. It is obviously, that if we will stop imagining ourselves as real heroes, and to realize the real sense of heroism, our society will be more indignant. But if we can rejoin these ancient ideals, refresh them again; we can create a union with the hero in our souls. It is this urgent, internal connection between the modern world and the ancient world that can show to a simple person how to become an everyday hero. As about my opinion. It seems to me, that we often afraid to make such actions, because we live in a world where everyone cares about himself. But if each of us will make one good feat everyday, our life may change completely. Now to my mind comes a movie that is called Pay it forward where the teacher gave pupils the task to think h ow to change this world. The slogan was Think of an idea how to change this world and put it into action! . And one boy named Trevor found the way: each person should make three good actions and then those people whom he helped must do the same in their turn. Well, is not is a heroism I would like to ask? In such a special and very remarkable way this boy forced us to believe in goodness. Exactly such kind of actions may teach everyone to become a hero. We just have to learn how to be more patient, kinder, thankful, attentively, and more helpful but what is most important to help others not by words but by real actions. I think everyone must watch this film and think about his actions and thoughts. It would be great if we will find a possibility and place for good feats in our life. And it does not matter what it will be saving a cat from the transport movement or helping our friend with his tasks. All these details draw one colorful portrait of the modern hero! Work citied Becker W, Selwyn, Eagly H, Alice The Heroizm of Women and Men . Zero, Franco, Zimbardo, Philip The Banality of Heroism . Greater Good Megazine. 2006-2007. Margon, Artur Changing models of heroism in popular American novels 1880-1920 .

Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation

Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation 1.1 Introduction: The purpose of this project is to provide research findings of the impact of e-business on a particular organisation. The research carried out in this project was based on the performance of Ocado an online grocery company and being online business how this company differentiate itself from other companies in the same industry and get advantages of e-business in this modern era of technology. 1.2 Why e-business: Businesses that are run on the internet or uses information and communication technology to improve efficiency and profitability are known as e-businesses. The impact of e-business on an organisation is seems to me different and logical topic. It is different because it changes the living styles of people and effects the social lives of people. Going through research on this topic I can learn a lot of new things on the infrastructure of e-business and way of doing e-business. Due to technological boom e-business is the future of businesses. It would let me figure out the competitive advantage of e-business on traditional one and potential of change in social behaviour of people. The choice of this topic helps me to apply my academic knowledge and improve my communication and analytical skills and helps me to improve professional career. This topic not only provide me impact on one organisation but will also tell me how global businesses change due to technological revolutions. 1.3 Company Profile: Ocado is a British online retailer specialising groceries. Ocado is partly owned by John Lewis partnership pension fund. Ocado is a limited company was founded in 2002 by Jonathan Faiman, Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner, former Goldman Sachs merchant bankers. Ocado has a number of own brand products from Waitrose supermarket chain and also name brand groceries and items like toys, flowers and magazines. Since 2002 Ocado has been making losses even though it has won customer service awards in the UK. Ocado was listed on London Stock Exchange on July 2010 and is member of FTSE 250 Index. The company is operating on a warehouse model deprived of physical stores and operating as an online business. Ocado operates in Englands South East, South Coast, Midlands, North West and most of the Yorkshire. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/about-us/history.aspx) To revolutionise the way people shop forever, by giving them a uniquely innovative and greener alternative to traditional grocery shopping. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/en/about-us/mission-statement.aspx) Ocado is an online business; it has also launched iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android device applications which are most convenient way to shop for groceries. People do not require desktop PCs or laptops to shop online; they can use their phones to shop for groceries. Ocado allows its customers to price match with other main grocery stores in the UK. Ocado has launched online price match with its competitor store Tesco. Ocado is one of the rapidly growing online businesses in the UK with delivery area expanded to cover over 10m households. 1.4 Industry Profile: Online grocery retailing remains in its infancy with both demand and the proposition often limited in many countries. In the UK, online represents just 2.6% of the total UK grocery market. Nevertheless, with increasing broadband penetration and shopper lifestyles continuing to change, the internet looks set to become more important as a grocery retail channel in 2010. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=1sid=8tid=30cid=1499) The value of the UK online grocery market to have grown by 85% from  £2bn in 2006 to  £3.7bn in 2009. Online is set to play a greater role in future grocery shopping patterns. We predict that the value of the online grocery market will nearly double in size to  £7.2bn by 2014, with a forecast annual growth rate more than three times faster than that of the wider grocery sector. Many online shoppers pick from a shortlist of favourites although more than nine in ten can be swayed to try something new. More than six in ten (62%) online shoppers mentioned that they would try something new if they could select a free sample. Other preferred tactics include better or more offers listed at the top of the page, offers on linked products and more prominent displays and descriptions of new products. However, although shopping online for groceries has become increasingly popular over the last few years, this section of shoppers represents less than one in four of those who buy goods and services online. This means there is a significant opportunity for grocery retailers to expand their online sales. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=6sid=25tid=90cid=1409) 1.5 Aims and Objectives of the Report: To analyse the impact of e-business on Ocado and how the online business approach change the behaviour and motivation of people. One of the main aims of this report is to evaluate and compare the growth and financial performance of Ocado with other traditional grocery shopping organisations. Following are objectives of this report: To understand how Ocados online business approach progresses in order to achieve the revenue and market share. To analyse the financial performance of the Ocado and compare it with other supermarket retail industry. What are the potentials and limitations to the future growth of the online shopping businesses? Part 2: Information gathering and accounting/business techniques Sources Used: Primary data is original data that has been collected by a researcher by whatever means appropriate in the answer of a specific research question. i.e. it has been collected specifically for the Research Report.  Examples of primary data include questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys. (http://www.accaglobal.com/students/bsc/rap/gathering) Due to immediate surge in information technology industry, there is sufficient amount of secondary data available which has been used in this report. This data suffices all aspects of this report. Therefore most of my research is based on secondary data. Secondary data is data which has been collected by other people or organisations for their own purposes and researcher has used this data for different purposes. My secondary data consists of two main sources of collection: Library research: I went to local and college library and searched for several types of books and extract my project related material and used it in my report. BPPs Success in your research and analysis project provided the platform to sketch out broad counters of this research. The study text materials of ACCA (published by both BPP and Kaplan) has helped me to apply analytical techniques and also taught me how to evaluate my research findings. I also used articles published in ACCA student accountant relating my project which also helped me in meeting the goals of the project. Online research: Major parts of my research are based on material available online. This also shows impact of online on our research and daily use of communication. I find it quite credible to find online research material for a web based company. Following are the websites and search engines used to collect the information; Ocado limited website; this site provide the useful and more reliable information necessary for my project. This site provide me the audited annual reports of the company, company profile, history, investor information and other important information required. Competitors websites used for same purposes as mentioned above. ACCA website provide the help to find out the relative articles which I used to analyse the information. The food and grocery experts igd.com provides the statistical data about industry, surveys about trends in industry and its future. London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ websites provide the news about the industry, historic share performance competitors and surveys. Google, Yahoo and Bing are search engines used to find information about Ocado, retail industry and e-business techniques. Other websites used to find the news about Ocado , online grocery businesses, surveys and competitors are: Financial Times The Guardian BBC news 2.2 Methods of Analysis: To emphasize the impact of e-business on Ocado and to make comparison of its results in all business and financial aspects, results of Waitrose plc will be used. The objectives of the project are based on Ocados business approach and what make in it differentiate from other businesses, thus the report is based on the following aspects: Porters Generic Strategies. Consisting of three types of strategies to maintained and achieved competitive advantage by the businesses. Two strategies lie in the strategic strength, is a supply side dimension and focus on product differentiation and product cost. Third strategy lies in the strategic scope in the demand side dimension concentrate on the particular size and composition of the market. SWOT Analysis. It is strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in an organisation. It analyse the external and internal factors of the organization that are favourable or unfavourable to achieve that organizations objectives. PEST Analysis. It is tool of environmental analysis, especially concentrates on macro environment which includes Political, Economic, Social culture and Technological factors. Trend Analysis. Using the past data to predict the future outcomes in the industry. B2C and B2B. Business 2 Customer includes customer service and interface design while Business 2 Business includes channel partner and system integration. Sales Growth. This will analysis the trend of sale over the past years and comparison with competitors. Profitability. The comparison of the profitability to past years and competitors and ability to generate profits. ROCE (Return on Capital Employed). Use to analysis the organization return on long term investment. Gross/Net Profit Margin. These ratios analyse the organizations operational efficiency, its costing policy and ability to control cost. Capital Gearing Ratios. Analyse the capital structure of the organization and reveal how much an organization relies on debt financing. Investor outlook. The return to shareholders compare with other organizations. Earnings per Share. This ratio shows the profit attributable to each individual share. 2.3 Limitations of Analysis: In order to analyse impact of e-business on an organisation, it is critical to make sure the sustainability of information technology remains constant in the industry. In todays environment as every organisation and governments are dependent on information technology, it is inevitable to some human error. From internet perspective selling online is quite new business as it only has 2.6% share in the whole retail industry. This information could change as new competitors introduce new business techniques which could impact this particular organisation. Some of the information taken from surveys has limitations as buying online grocery is quite newly introduced phenomena for British people and the information is not quite mature. Financial information use in this analysis has inherent limitations which include estimates and figures that are highly influenced by personal decisions. Financial statements are prejudiced by the choice of accounting policy e.g. a company seeking to improve its ROCE may choose not to revalue its assets. Financial statements have past data; it is not feasible to predict future on the basis of this data. In SWOT analysis there is problem for companies to identify the elements of their own organization e.g. strengths appears to one person can have different meaning for other. Ratios we used in our analysis also have inherent limitations. Firstly ratios are derived from financial statements that also have several limitations. Ratios are only useful when compared with the past results of the business and judge the performance of the business but the future forecast may not correct because several other factors also involved like market condition, etc. also the ratios have to be interpreted and different people may interpret differently. 2.4 Methodology used: Data collection is an important part of the project that should be planned and carried out and is completed in a well way for consideration. We have access to a lot of reliable and relevant information both online with easy access to internet and offline. Planning is completed and appropriate extraction of data provides help to develop good content of the reports. The method of search used is the Google search engine. By writing some key words in the search bar and clicking the entre it provides me the so many links of the websites that match with the key words. Most of the links are relevant to my search and contains a lot of information but some links are irrelevant to my research. However I am able to extract the relevant information suitable in the preparation of my project. Offline search include reading the books and journals and see if some information suitable for my report, make a note of it and use it later in my report. I done research thoroughly in advanced and bookmarks the relevant articles and websites using the web browsers because it could be needed to me for the citation of information if chosen to be quoted in my report. Using the study text materials (both Kaplan and BPP) to calculate the financial ratios and in their interpretation. Financial Statements of Ocado and Waitrose are downloaded from their respective websites. MS Excel was used for the graphical explanation of the ratio and trend analysis. Part 3: Analysis and Presentation 3.1 SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Broad range of products Contract with Waitrose Customer proposition Weaknesses: Dependence on UK market Loss making Opportunities: UK online retail industry Non food Threats: Future acquisitions Competitors Fraud STRENGHTS Broad range of products: In addition to its current area of strategic focus, the company intends to investigate growth opportunities by improving the customer offering continually through maintaining and improving the customer experience; increasing its core product range; and continuing to offer value to customers (Annual Report 2009, Ocado limited). Ocado sells more than 20,000 different products, the vast majority of which are sourced through Waitrose, a leading high quality UK supermarket. Approximately 4,300 of the products sold by Ocado are Waitrose-branded products. Ocados product range includes a small but expanding range of Ocado branded products (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Choices of the different range of products enable the customers to buy the products that match their lifestyles and are within their budget. Also the availability of every type of product on one channel increases the chances of sale because customer did not want to go elsewhere if he find everything on one place. It helped consumers to spend less without compromising on choice or quality. Contract with Waitrose: The Companys reputation is based at least in part on its relationship with Waitrose and its ability to supply Waitrose branded products. If Waitrose ceased to supply the Company with products or if Waitrose were to suffer reputational damage which impacted on the Waitrose brand there could be an adverse effect on the Companys financial position and future prospects. The Company has a successful symbiotic relationship evolved over 10 years and has recently agreed a new branding and sourcing agreement until 2020. The Company is not dependant on the Waitrose supply chain as 85% of items sold are now sourced directly from suppliers. In May 2010, a new 10 years deal was signed with Waitrose (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). There were some rumours about Ocado and its 10 years contract with Waitrose. Previous contract signed for 10 years were with Waitrose was about to end and if this contract will not renewed it can cause big problems for Ocado because in 2010 Ocado is going to listed on London Stock Exchange. But in May 2010 deal with Waitrose was signed for 10 years in which there is a non-competition agreement with Waitrose and with Waitrose likely to extend its delivery services to highly lucrative M25 region. Customer proposition: Ocado offers delivery of grocery products to customers centrally picked from a single, state-of-the-art, highly automated warehouse (the customer fulfilment centre or CFC) (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Customer satisfaction is part of every business, Ocado uses its unique strategy the customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in which Ocado make sure the availability of products, freshness of products and wide range of products. Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd, shows; 99.4% fulfilment accuracy and product availability given structural advantages. 97.6% of orders delivered on time or early. Structural advantages allow Ocado to guarantee freshness and use-by dates. WEAKNESSES Dependence on UK market: Although Ocado is still expanding its business to the other parts of the country and it is probable that Ocado will make profit in near future. But the company is fully reliant on the UK retail industry, any changes in the UK retail industry or changes in UK economic conditions like recessions can affect the Ocados growth. Increased competition also affects the sale growth of the company. Loss making: Ocado is making losses since it was corporate. However, the last three year results shows that it is improving towards profits like in 2007 Ocado incurred the loss of  £40m, in 2008  £33m and in 2009 Ocado incurred the loss of  £23m, the reason for this losses is the expansion of Ocados operations around the UK. Due to large investment in expansion of operations, Ocado loses the confidence of investors and its share price decreases dramatically. The company and its advisers have been promoting the impression that the company will be valued at around  £1 billion after raising some  £200 million in the planned float, but many analysts, of course not those closely involved with the offer, are highly critical of this valuation (http://www.moneyobserver.com/news/10-07-01/ocado-and-fairfield-energy-ipos-under-spotlight). OPPORTUNITIES UK Online retail industry: UK grocery retail industry is largest industry with the sales revenue of  £146bn, while the online grocery business has only 2% of the total sales revenue. UK Online grocery sales (2007-14),  £bn (Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd) These figures show the opportunities for Ocado in online retail industry to grab the sales because online retail industry looks highly opportunistic. Non-food: Extended the business in non-grocery products are part of the Ocados future developments. The potential of growth in non-grocery products is much more than grocery items, so there is an opportunity for Ocado to increase its sales revenue by extending the business in non-grocery items. As Ocado is online grocery business, only 2% of total retail shopping comprises of grocery, while 98% consist of other non-grocery items. THREATS Future acquisition: Ocado plans to expand its business all over the UK. It has many opportunities for the business but along this it also has the threats to business. Ocado is making losses since it is incorporate this is because of its acquisition strategy but if it still applied same strategy, Ocado will be in great trouble. It loses investors confidence due to high level of borrowings. If Ocado uses same strategy, it will be run out of cash for their operations. Competitors: The retail grocery industry is highly competitive and the online market place is no different. Ocado has an established business model and superior customer proposition. The proprietary IP and experience gives Ocado a competitive advantage. A clear strategy is in place to widen the customer base by improving online experience, customer service, product range and pricing, and reducing environmental impact (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). Ocado operates in a highly competitive retail market. With other supermarkets struggling for position in the UK retail market, Ocado invested in price cuts and discount promotions in order to stay competitive. This will affect the Ocados sales revenue and profits. Especially in recession, when customers are looking for low price products, price cuts could result in the decline of industry profitability. Price cuts also have an adverse effect on the perception of customers for the quality of products; this can damage the brand image of Ocado. Fraud: The risk of fraud from staff is less due to the nature of the business; IT procedures are in place to reduce this risk to further. Whatever the precautions are put in place to avoid the fraud but the we cannot reduce it to zero. There are potential threats of security breakdowns on their websites for online businesses. For Ocado major threat is the loss of sales due to credit card frauds. 3.2 PEST Analysis: Political: Ocado operate in United Kingdom, it provide it the stable political environment. Ocado can make long term decisions and this also guarantees Ocado a large range of economic actions. Political stability and strong economy provides the Ocado to get customer confidence and improve its operations. Economic: Economy plays a vital part in the operations of the Ocado. Economic conditions of the country influence the supply, demand, costs, prices and profits of the company. Due to recession in the world, UK along with other countries face the unemployment, this affects the demand and profit levels of the company. Sales growth decreases due to global recession, especially the sales of non food items are highly affected by this recession as people avoid the purchase of non essential items. Social: The social influence on the business of Ocado has been more important over the past few years. This is because the behaviour of people is changing towards grocery shopping. Due to lack of time and busy life, customers prefer to purchases in bulks and on one shop. Trend of online shopping has also been increased and this is beneficial for the Ocado. Ocado has different timing slots for deliveries suitable for customers according to their routine. Technological: Due to the nature of the business, technological factors have significantly influenced the Ocado. Recent technological advancements has revolutionised the organisations and changes the way of doing businesses. Online shopping saves the time of the busy people. Through introduction of technology it eliminates the need for paperwork and reduces the cost of administration work. 3.3 Porters Generic Strategies: Ocado aims to have a market leading customer proposition. Ocado introduced branded product to lower the prices of own label products sold (customer proposition, Ocado Ltd). Porter identified three generic strategies to take the advantage of competitive forces like cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. According to porters generic strategies Ocado comes under the cost leadership, where it is trying to compete with the market by lowering the cost. It launches Tesco price match for customers to compare prices with Tesco before purchase. However Ocado is not wholly dependent on one strategy because customer often seeks more than price satisfaction. They look for product quality, style and timely deliveries. Ocado competed his competitors by providing the customers high quality of products, availability of products and delivering the products to customers on time. We use smart thinking and cutting-edge technology to keep honing our uniquely efficient delivery model. This helps us to drive down prices and guarantee exceptional value for money. We have a passion for delivering quality groceries in perfect condition and on time, while treating our customers with care and honesty. This helps us to share our vision of a different way of shopping: a better, greener and more convenient one (Mission Statement, Ocado Ltd). PIMS (Profit impact of marketing strategy) data and other surveys show, that the intermediary positions are indeed profitable and therefore successfully exploited by many firms. (Michael Cronshaw, Evan Davis and John Kay (1994), pp. 19-33) 3.4 B2B and B2C: Both terms are used with reference to the internet technology and commonly applied in e-businesses. Business 2 Business largely concern itself with supply chain management and allows the business to directly contact with the suppliers and distributors. While business 2 consumer concern the relationship between the customer and the supplier. It primarily concern to sell goods to end consumers. All such businesses are online businesses and Ocado is the best example for such type of relationships. In business 2 business Ocado use the internet for searching products catalogues, ordering from suppliers, making invoices and making online payments. In business 2 consumer Ocado uses its website to offer customers a wide range of products, providing information about prices of the products, delivery timing and everything they want to know about the products, offers and Ocado. 3.5 Trend Analysis: [The entire figures used below are taken from the annual reports of Ocado Ltd, Tesco and Waitrose (johnlewis partnership) 2007-2009 unless otherwise stated.] Purchase frequency: The online market is dominated by those buying on a relatively infrequent basis. On average online grocery shoppers use the channel twice per month Three in ten (30%) only shopped online on a very occasional basis e.g. in an emergency or for special occasions such as Christmas Only one in six (15%) online grocery shoppers had a heavy reliance on online and shopped once a week or more frequently Most online shoppers fall into the regular/top-up group A third (34%) buy food and groceries online every 3-4 weeks One in five (21%) purchased slightly more frequently, once every 1-2 weeks (Online grocery shopping, igd.com) Key Financial Performance Indicators: Average order size ( £): The average size of the order was increased in 2008 from  £112.17 to  £116.3 which indicated the attraction of consumers toward the online shopping. In 2009 the average order size is slightly low than the previous years but this did not mean the reduction of people trends towards online shopping because if order size decreases in this year on one hand on the other side the sales growth increases by 25% in this year. Average number of orders/week: The increase in number of orders in 2008 is 12% higher than the previous one while in 2009 the increase is 25% per week. This shows the sales of the Ocado increases and Ocado has the potential the to expand his business in the growing market of online shopping business. Average % product wastage: The average percentage of product wastage of Ocado decreases continuously from 2007 to 2009. This is because of the increased efficiency of the operations of the Ocado and handling its products more effectively. Another reason for low wastage is the usage of the new technologies and less involvement of manual handlings. CO2 Emission: Ocado has taken actions to lower its carbon footprint and reduce its environmental impact include: closed-loop grocery bag recycling, whereby when making a delivery, drivers offer to collect used bags from customers which are recycled within the UK to make new Ocado grocery bags; wasting significantly less food as a percentage of gross sales than any of its competitors; and signing up to the Climate Change Agreement (with the Carbon Trust), which places certain obligations on management to monitor and lower carbon usage. Ocado has co-developed two prototype electric powered vans, which are currently completing testing before being introduced into Ocados delivery fleet. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) CFC Efficiency: The customers fulfilment centre (CFC) efficiency increases over the period of time. This efficiency has been achieved by the introduction of highly automated warehouses and less involvement of manual work. The company is willing to expand the CFC capacity by building the second CFC and the spoke network in the near future. Green business: Being green is part of Ocados business model. This has been recognised in various awards.Ocado was voted Green Retailer of the Year 2009 in The Grocer Gold Awards, Large Retailer of the Year 2008 in the Online Green Awards and won Ethical/Green Practice 2009 at the IMRG E-Commerce Awards for Excellence. A traditional supermarket requires deliveries first to be made to a regional distribution centre and then to the supermarket itself. Customers then often drive to the supermarket in order to shop, and the supermarkets themselves require energy to be lit and heated and tend to have open fridges and freezers in an otherwise ambient environment.   Ocado delivers straight from the CFC to a customers kitchen, which eliminates much of the carbon emissions generated by traditional supermarkets and their stores, and also reduces the number of cars on the road. Each Ocado delivery van replaces a significant number of car journeys every day. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) 3.6 Ratio Analysis: Sales Growth: The sales revenue of the Ocado has been increasing since 2007. The sales revenue in 2007 was  £273m while in 2008 it was  £321m an increase of 15% was being recorded. Not only this also in 2009 the sales revenue of Ocado was  £402m with an increase of 25% than the previous one. When we compare the sales growth of Ocado with its competitor Waitrose, the sales growth is 7% and 5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Waitrose sales growth percentage is not even half of the Ocados percentage and we can analyse that people purchase the same products online rather than going to stores for it. The increase in the sales revenue of Ocado has been seen since it was incorporate this is because the behaviour of people towards the online shopping is being changed with the passage of time and as the grocery industry hides in itself a lot of potential to make profit. Ocado achieved this by using its long term strategies and by introducing customer fulfilment centre in which Ocado emphases on the ne eds of the customers. (Annual reports 2007-2009,Ocado Ltd) Gross profit margin: The gross profits of Ocado seem to be remaining same over the past few years although the sales revenue of the company increases over the period. This is because the company keep its prices same to keep its customers to pay less in the period of recession. In 2009 the gross profit margin of the Ocado decreases from 32% to the 30.6%, the reason for this is further decrease in the selling price without any decrease in costs of the products. It happened because Ocado launches its price match campaign with Tesco and Sainsbury. It is also due to the reason

Gaining from Detective Work in Oedipus the King and A Scandal in Bohemi

A detective story is a genre of fiction in which a person attempts to solve a crime. The detective may be a professional or an amateur, and generally has nothing to gain from solving the crime. However in Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus the King†, the main character Oedipus is not only determined to solve a crime, but he is also in pursuit to find his own identity. This is similar to Arthur Conan Doyle’s â€Å"A Scandal in Bohemia† where Sherlock Holmes has been hired to work as a detective in return for monetary compensation. Both situations enable Oedipus and Sherlock to gain from unraveling the mysteries that sweep their towns hence making these stories different from most detective stories. Few people think of detective work in regard to â€Å"Oedipus the King†, but this play builds on riddles solved, and unsolved, making it to be a mystery. Oedipus starts out as an optimistic individual who is in charge of a cold case proclaiming that he is going to solve the mystery of the murder of King Laius, in order to life the plague from his city Thebes. The people of Thebes look up to and Oedipus for solving the Sphinx riddle, â€Å"You freed us from the Sphinx; you came to Thebes and cut us loose from the bloody tribute we had paid that harsh, brutal singer. We taught you nothing, no skill, no extra knowledge, still you triumphed (Sophocles 44-47). The people believe in him without any prior knowledge of him. When he first hears of the murder, Oedipus immediately takes on the role as a detective when he hears â€Å"where shall we find clue to solve that crime after so many years† (Sophocles). The Oracle at Delphi tells Oedipus that the plague will be lift ed if Thebes banished the man who killed Laius (Sophocles 74, line 350). In the beginning Oedipu... ...pensation for his services, but he receives much more, he learns never to under estimate the power and wit of a woman. The label engages the reader to into the literature in order to piece the clues together to form and understanding of the story. When the reader gets all the clues they realize that these two stories go against the typical form of a detective story, because of the fact that they both gained from solving the crimes. Oedipus was able to benefit from solving the crime in that he was able to lift the plague from Thebes, save the people and find out his true identity. Although the answers didn’t necessarily benefit Oedipus in his favor they helped the city return to a state of normalcy. Holmes may have been beaten by a woman’s wit, he solved the mystery of â€Å"A Scandal in Bohemia† received a monetary compensation as well as learned a life lesson.

Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi :: American America History

Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi The years 1840 to 1890 were a period of great growth for the United States. It was during this time period that the United states came to the conclusion that it had a manifest destiny, that is, it was commanded by god to someday occupy the entire North American continent. One of the most ardent followers of this belief was President James K. Polk. He felt that the United States had the right to whatever amount of territory it chose to, and in doing this the United States was actually doing a favor for the land it seized, by introducing it to the highly advanced culture and way of life of Americans. Shortly after his election he annexed Texas. This added a great amount of land to the United States, but more was to follow. The Oregon Territory became a part of the United States is 1846, followed by the Mexican Cession in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. At this point the United States had accomplished its manifest destiny, it reached from east to west, from sea to shining sea. No w that the lands it so desired were finally there, the United States faced a new problem- how to get its people to settle these lands so they would actually be worth having. Realistically, it is great to have a lot of land, but if the land is unpopulated and undeveloped, it really isn't worth much. And the government of the United States knew this. One of the reasons that many did not choose to settle there immediately was that the lands were quite simply in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by mountains, inhabited by hostile Indians, and poor for farming. Because of these geographical conditions, the government was forced to intervene to coax its citizens into settling the new lands. Basically the lands were not settled because they were available, they were settled because of various schemes the government concocted to make them seem desirable. The government participated in a great "push" to get its citizens to move to west. At first few people moved to the west, but this changed when gold was discovered in California in 1848. This caused a "gold rush" to the west coast which consisted of many prospectors seeking to find their fortunes in the gold mines of California. Many traveled to the west coast, however few actually found their fortunes. Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi :: American America History Development Of The West Beyond The Mississippi The years 1840 to 1890 were a period of great growth for the United States. It was during this time period that the United states came to the conclusion that it had a manifest destiny, that is, it was commanded by god to someday occupy the entire North American continent. One of the most ardent followers of this belief was President James K. Polk. He felt that the United States had the right to whatever amount of territory it chose to, and in doing this the United States was actually doing a favor for the land it seized, by introducing it to the highly advanced culture and way of life of Americans. Shortly after his election he annexed Texas. This added a great amount of land to the United States, but more was to follow. The Oregon Territory became a part of the United States is 1846, followed by the Mexican Cession in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. At this point the United States had accomplished its manifest destiny, it reached from east to west, from sea to shining sea. No w that the lands it so desired were finally there, the United States faced a new problem- how to get its people to settle these lands so they would actually be worth having. Realistically, it is great to have a lot of land, but if the land is unpopulated and undeveloped, it really isn't worth much. And the government of the United States knew this. One of the reasons that many did not choose to settle there immediately was that the lands were quite simply in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by mountains, inhabited by hostile Indians, and poor for farming. Because of these geographical conditions, the government was forced to intervene to coax its citizens into settling the new lands. Basically the lands were not settled because they were available, they were settled because of various schemes the government concocted to make them seem desirable. The government participated in a great "push" to get its citizens to move to west. At first few people moved to the west, but this changed when gold was discovered in California in 1848. This caused a "gold rush" to the west coast which consisted of many prospectors seeking to find their fortunes in the gold mines of California. Many traveled to the west coast, however few actually found their fortunes.