Massey Essay Example

Massey Essay The high level of debt must be reduced but due to the financial distress the company is facing most options are not feasible They should hedge their foreign currencies used in their global operations so to reduce the exchange rate risk they are currently facing Hypothetically the best option would be to reduce debt by paying the bank borrowings. Especially their short-term debt in order to ease operations and reduce liquidity risk They could also issue more equity in order to improve their DIE ratio and therefore seem more solvent to the market players Q: Describe briefly Massey capital structure in 1976. In your view, is this a good capital structure for Massey? ; Massey capital structure: debt (40% SST, LTD) to 40% equity. ; Far from optimal structure as Massey was financed by too much debt and also too much of it was short term. Even worse when taking into account the multiple risks of its business Reason: debt cheaper than equity, tax savings and helped Massey achieve the objective of rapid growth and gain world market share (really successful up to 1976). However, this resulted in more risky equity and financial distress in the end ; Mackeys financial strategy during 1 976 had higher financial leverage than its competitors. Observable from all liquidity ratios, especially coverage ratio ; During Mackeys good times, because of all the involved risks and the capital intensiveness of the industry, Massey should have taken advantage of its healthy financial position and issue more equity instead of debt, which would have been closer to its optimal capital structure. We will write a custom essay sample on Massey specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Massey specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Massey specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essays

Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essays Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essay Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essay This image shows a figure of African-Americans line uping. Their line extends from one border of the exposure to the other proposing a long waiting line. The work forces and adult females are have oning coats suggestive of the manner during the early portion of the twentieth century. It must besides hold been a cold twenty-four hours in fall or early spring in that they have to set their custodies inside their pockets to maintain warm. In the background is a elephantine hoarding picturing an American household comprising of a female parent. male parent. two kids and a Canis familiaris. They are inside a auto drive through the countryside. On top of the hoarding are the words â€Å"World’s Highest Standards of Living† and on the right in cursive. â€Å"There’s No Way Like the American Way† . These words suggest to the spectator the richness of an American life style. specifically the mean American household. To belong to an American household is the best topographic point to be in the universe. The lensman is seeking to indicate out the sarcasm between the two elements in the image. The whole image suggests a pictural commentary about inequality in American society and the semblance that the hoarding advertises. The â€Å"highest criterions of living† that the hoarding ascribes is merely applicable to the white American. The traditional. smiling. healthy. atomic household contrasts aggressively with the brooding looks on the faces of the people in the waiting line. The bright hoarding and the dark colourss in the people’s vesture farther stress this point. The spectator does non cognize what they were falling in line for but from the fact that some of them are transporting bags and pails. they are likely line uping for nutrient rations. The state of affairs sing racial divisions is non as bad today as it was decennaries before or the clip when the exposure was taken. There are still some hapless people who fall in line in soup kitchens. for nutrient casts. and impermanent shelters. but they would be comprised of black and white Americans. Billboard ads though. have non changed. They still promote the good manner of life to lure clients ; still feigning that American life merely offers good things.

Definition and Examples of Politeness Strategies

Definition and Examples of Politeness Strategies In sociolinguistics  and  conversation analysis (CA), politeness strategies are  speech acts that express concern for others and minimize threats to self-esteem (face) in particular social contexts. Positive Politeness Strategies Positive politeness strategies are intended to avoid giving offense by highlighting friendliness. These strategies include juxtaposing criticism with compliments, establishing common ground, and using jokes, nicknames, honorifics, tag questions, special discourse markers (please), and in-group jargon and slang. Negative Politeness Strategies Negative political strategies are intended to avoid giving offense by showing deference. These strategies include questioning, hedging, and presenting disagreements as opinions. The Face Saving Theory of Politeness The best known and most widely used approach to the study of politeness is the framework introduced by Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson in Questions and Politeness (1978); reissued with corrections as Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987). Brown and Levinsons theory of linguistic politeness is sometimes referred to as the face-saving theory of politeness. Examples and Observations Shut up! is rude, even ruder than Keep quiet! In the polite version, Do you think you would mind keeping quiet: this is, after all, a library, and other people are trying to concentrate, everything in italics is extra. It is there to soften the demand, giving an impersonal reason for the request, and avoiding the brutally direct by the taking of trouble. Conventional grammar takes little account of such strategies, even though we are all masters of both making and understanding the signs that point to what is going on beneath the surface.(Margaret Visser, The Way We Are. HarperCollins, 1994)Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets.(Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 2002)Would you mind stepping aside? I got a purchase to make.(Eric Cartman in Cartmanland.  South Park, 2001)Sir, the gentleman asked with a twang in his voice that was unmistakably Southern, would it bother you terribly  if I joined you?(Harold Coyle, Look Away. S imon Schuster, 1995)   Laurence, said Caroline, I dont think Im going to be much help to you at Ladylees.  Ive had enough holiday-making.  Ill stay for a couple of days but I want to get back to London and do some work, actually. Sorry to change my mind butGo to hell, Laurence said. Kindly go to hell.(Muriel Spark,  The Comforters. Macmillan, 1957)   A Definition of Politeness What exactly is politeness? In one sense, all politeness can be viewed as deviation from maximally efficient communication; as violations (in some sense) of Grice’s (1975) conversational maxims [see cooperative principle]. To perform an act other than in the most clear and efficient manner possible is to implicate some degree of politeness on the part of the speaker. To request another to open a window by saying â€Å"It’s warm in here† is to perform the request politely because one did not use the most efficient means possible for performing this act (i.e., â€Å"Open the window†). . . .Politeness allows people to perform many inter-personally sensitive actions in a nonthreatening or less threatening manner.There are an infinite number of ways in which people can be polite by performing an act in a less than optimal manner, and Brown and Levinson’s typology of five superstrategies is an attempt to capture some of these essential differences.(Thomas Holtgraves, Language as Social Action: Social Psychology and Language Use. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002) Orienting to Different Kinds of Politeness People who grow up in communities that are more oriented to negative face wants and negative politeness may find that they are perceived as aloof or cold if they move somewhere where positive politeness is emphasized more. They may also mistake some of the conventionalised positive politeness routines as being expressions of genuine friendship or closeness . . .. Conversely, people accustomed to paying attention to positive face wants and using positive politeness strategies may find that they come across as unsophisticated or vulgar if they find themselves in a community that is more oriented to negative face wants.(Miriam Meyerhoff, Introducing Sociolinguistics. Routledge, 2006) Variables in Degrees of Politeness Brown and Levinson list three sociological variables that speakers employ in choosing the degree of politeness to use and in calculating the amount of threat to their own face: (i) the social distance of the speaker and hearer (D);(ii) the relative power of the speaker over the hearer (P);(iii) the absolute ranking of impositions in the particular culture (R). The greater the social distance between the interlocutors (e.g., if they know each other very little), the more politeness is generally expected. The greater the (perceived) relative power of hearer over speaker, the more politeness is recommended. The heavier the imposition made on the hearer (the more of their time required, or the greater the favour requested), the more politeness will generally have to be used.(Alan Partington, The Linguistics of Laughter: A Corpus-Assisted Study of Laughter-Talk. Routledge, 2006) Positive and Negative Politeness Brown and Levinson (1978/1987) distinguish between positive and negative politeness. Both types of politeness involve maintainingor redressing threats topositive and negative face, where positive face is defined as the addressees perennial desire that his wants . . . should be thought of as desirable (p. 101), and negative face as the addressees want to have his freedom of action unhindered and his attention unimpeded (p. 129).(Almut Koester, Investigating Workplace Discourse. Routledge, 2006) Common Ground [C]ommon ground, information perceived to be shared among communicators, is important not only for gauging what information is likely to be already known versus new, but also to carry a message of interpersonal relationships. Brown and Levinson (1987) argued that claiming common ground in communication is a major strategy of positive politeness, which is a series of conversational moves that recognise the partners needs and wants in a way that shows they represent a commonality, such as a commonality of knowledge, attitudes, interests, goals, and in-group membership.(Anthony Lyons et al., Cultural Dynamics of Stereotypes. Stereotype Dynamics: Language-Based Approaches to the Formation, Maintenance, and Transformation of Stereotypes, ed. by Yoshihisa Kashima, Klaus Fiedler, and Peter Freytag. Psychology Press, 2007) The Lighter Side of Politeness Strategies Page Conners: [bursting into Jacks bar] I want my purse, jerk-off!Jack Withrowe: Thats not very friendly. Now, I want you to go back out, and this time, when you kick the door open, say something nice.(Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Lee in Heartbreakers, 2001)

Investment Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Investment Plan - Assignment Example From this discussion it is clear that  as a young person and as a risk taker by nature, the reporter plan on pursuing an aggressive investment plan. He does not come from a rich background but he believes that the only way to get rich is to risk everything that one has and they are bound to get high rewards as a result. The author believes that he is a fairly patient person with the right mind set to wait for as long as it takes before he receives the rewards. In addition, since the reporter is soon going to be newly employed, he wants to start living on a budget that is entirely dependent on his gross pay rather than dipping into his savings. This means that he will not be relying on the investment money for his survival. The reporter will also supplement his retirement fund with monthly contributions from his salary.As the paper stresses as indicated before, as a young investor, his strategy is based on being aggressive, high risk and high rewards. Furthermore, due to his young a ge, negative market fluctuations in the next 40 years or so are bound to be cancelled out by the positive market fluctuations, leading to high rewards. The reporter's first investment strategy will be based on the conventional formula for finding the optimum target asset allocation meant for investing the $ 2,500 savings for his retirement fund. He might invest part (75%) of the money to purchase stock in Amazon Inc while the rest of the money will be invested in HICOX.

Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Project - Assignment Example dging, clearing up bushes, aiding in forest fires’ management, digging up trenches and holes, soil grading by landscapers, mining, and for lifting heavy material. Excavators are such useful machines used to make work easy for human activity. They are used mainly to do the hard jobs in the construction field, which are impossible for human beings and other excavating machines. Therefore, this implies that the material used should be strong and tough enough, to resist the stresses introduced on the dipper and boom while the excavator is at work (Degarmo, Black and Kohser). Otherwise, the excavator may not serve its purpose effectively if weak materials were chosen for fabrication purposes. Another main factor of consideration in the material choice for the excavator fabrication is the cost implication. The material should be cheaply available yet strong and tough enough. The low cost of material will ensure that the excavator is availed for use at affordable prices. However, this notwithstanding, the cost implications of the material should not limit the fabrication process. If at all cheap materials are not available, an alternative strong and tough material ought to be used, even if they are expensive. Nevertheless, this should come as a last resort for the design team. Having stated the preliminary factors of consideration in the material choice as above, suitable material of choice for the fabrication of the boom and dipper of the excavator is mild steel. Steel is known for its high strength, and 2% carbon content in mild steel improves its toughness. Therefore, in comparison with cast iron, mild steel is tougher and stronger, making it more adaptable to hardy conditions like those, which an excavator is exposed to in the course of its use. Mild steel can withstand high stress, and that is why it is preferable. In addition to that, mild still is relatively cheap and easily available. It is one of the commonest metals, which can be found easily across

The Great Depression in Arkansas Essay Example for Free

The Great Depression in Arkansas Essay Have you ever wondered about The Great Depression during the 1930’s? During that time period 1930-1940, there were harsh times. People got hung, prices were low. Gas price was 5 to 10 cents a gallon. One quart of milk costed 14 cents. During The Great Depression, unemployment rate was 25%. As of today, the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent. It has fallen 18.3% since 1930. People lost jobs because times were so harsh. People got depressed because of unemployment or losing their jobs. Also people got hung or killed. 27 people got hung/killed. People got mad because they caused them to get unemployed. People got mad when losing their job. People got hung for causing other people to get unemployed. During The Great Depression, one quart of milk costed 14 cents. One gallon of milk costed 55 cents. A round steak costed 42 cents. As of 2012 milk costs 4 dollars. A round steak costs 3 dollars. One quart of milk costs 1 dollar. Therefore, today we have newer automobiles and gas. During The Great Depression, a car costed about 1,000 dollars. As of 2012 a car costs 20,000 to 50,000 dollars. Gas costed 5 to 10 cents a gallon during The Great Depression. As of today gas cost 3.20 dollars a gallon. Finally, The Great Depression 1930-1941 was very harsh times for Arkansas. Some people survived and some people died, people got unemployed and depressed. People went broke; the average salary was 1,900 dollars a year.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless. Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address It is with great pride and honor that I represent the class of 2012 of County High School. I do not want to brag or boast, but in my opinion, this class is just awesome! What do you guy's think? Our class has many amazing athletes and scholars who excel in their own capacities and musicians and artists who paint our world with their own language. The class of 2012, you should stand tall and be proud to sit here and be a part of such a talented and unique class. You cannot get an Annie Everett who has lettered 12 times from her athletics in just any typical class of seniors. You cannot find a more spirited guy with the skinniest and longest legs than Beau Hannifious, and you definitely cannot find a nicer, peppier person than Katie Burns in just any class of seniors. What I am trying to say is the class of 2012 is definitely a one of a kind, authentic kind of class. Family and friends, teachers and administrators, you have come here this evening to share this lifelong memory with us t oday. Thank you so much for being a part of this moment. Today, Friday the thirteenth of June, marks our very last day as high school seniors. We will soon begin a new chapter of our lives. Therefore, strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ride the most adventurous and bumpiest ride of our lives. After this moment, we will all go onto different paths. Some of us will go and further our education and become doctors, lawyers, engineers or some of us might join the military or navy and become soldiers to represent our country. Whatever paths you choose to follow, and whatever you choose to do, make sure you do what you want to do and become whoever you want to become. Success is a word that comes into many different meanings, shapes and size... ... goals. Do not let anyone stand in the way of your dreams or tell you what to become. The word "hawk" comes from the Middle English word hafoc, which means "to grasp or seize." Today, grasp and seize this moment of overflowing accomplishments and be proud of yourself. Grasp this moment especially because after today, we will fly our separate ways into the world. To all of the teachers at Roger High School, thank you. Thank you for flying with us for the four years we have been at Terrace and guiding us into our accomplishments. You have given us the most valuable gifts anyone can receive: the gift of knowledge. We are more intelligent and prepared for the world because of you. To the class of 2003: we did it. Savor this moment because there is not a more deserving class that deserves it more than the class of 2003 of Roger High School. Thank you, and God bless.

Astronomy Story Essay

The day my life would change for ever was April 16th, 2013. This was the day that I left planet earth and embarked on one of the most important missions in NASA’s history. I should probably back up though, and explain to you how this came about. April 16th was sunny with only a few clouds in the sky, the smell of spring was in the air and with the end of second semester right around the corner, the quad was packed with people eager to catch some much desired sun rays. Unfortunately for me though I was stuck in astronomy. That day’s topic was our very own planet earth. Dr. Bozyan was lecturing about how planet Earth was actually very wet, that nearly 71% of earths surfaced is covered with water. I learned that while other worlds of the solar system have atmospheres, only Earths contains the oxygen that we humans and animals need to survive. I had really hoped that wasn’t true because I had big aspirations of one day living on mars. We learned about about the green house effect and how clouds, snow, ice and sand reflect about 31% of the incoming sunlight back into space. The earth though also emits radiation into space because of its temperature. Fighting off the urge to day dream about the nice weather, I managed to also learn how Earths magnetic field produces a magnetosphere that traps particles from the solar wind. Like the motions of Earths tectonic plates, Earths magnetic field results from our planets internal heat. The last thing I wrote down in that class was a few interesting notes about how human activity such as Deforestation, burning of fossil fuels and industrial chemicals are damaging the ozone layer in the stratosphere. As I was seconds away from reaching freedom to the the spring air, Dr. Bozyan approached me and told me that she had a question for me. She was talking though in a soft almost secretive tone. She went on for about 10 minutes how she worked for a top secret NASA program that was interested in sending me on a mission. I laughed at that, it sounded like a calvin and Hobbs comic strip that I see in the Sunday paper. She went on and told me that the the great space race between Russia and the U.S.A. had never ended and that there was a race to gather observations from all nine planets in the solar system. They had top secret technology that would allow for this mission to be completed in only one week. The only catch was that it was so secret that I would be launching out of the URI planetarium that night, and that I couldn’t tell anybody where I was going. Me being the adventurous type decided this would be a great opportunity to become famous and in the process get to see some landmarks like the milky way and the man on the moon. Within hours I was in my very first space shuttle and on my way to the moon. The fastest time to the moon was 8 hours and 35 minutes by NASA’s New Horizons pluto mission. It was only going to take me 2 hours and 31 minutes and I was only supposed to stop at the moon for fuel because it was determined information about the outer planets was more important and we were trying to complete the mission in the quickest possible time. As the man on the moon figure approached within eye shot, I began to observe and take note of anything I could. Even though NASA had already explored the moon, that was no excuse for me not to absorb any observations of the moon for myself. I quickly began to observe that the moon was very dry and its surface was covered with plains and craters that is caused by the moon being bombarded by meteoric material also known as impact craters. As we touched down I quickly decided to throw on my space suit and check out the moon and its surroundings. I immediately found out that there was no atmosphere and no global magnetic field as it felt as if I were floating and that there was no gravity holding me down. There also appeared to be no liquid water of any kind. I realized that the 3476 km diameter of the moon was really just a spec in the cloudless pitch black sky of space. My last observation of the moon as my shuttle was just about done filling up was that it was pretty cold out. It was about -180 degrees Celsius that night, much colder then I was used too. Luckily though, I also packed my arctic ready winter hat and jacket. Next stop would be Venus. As the count down began to lift off I wondered if Venus had a â€Å"man on the moon†. On my way to Venus I decided that I should probably make myself a well deserved meal. I was gawking into the bag labeled food, in red sharpie that was handed to me right before take off, there was no pop tarts or my favorite barbecue chips . After much debate and thought, I narrowed my choice to a cup of NASA’S finest freeze dried ice cream. As we started to approach what I assumed was Venus but couldn’t tell until we landed because of the clouds that were hiding its surface from view. The first thing that I noticed was the size. It seemed to be about the same size of earth, I had always thought of Venus being smaller then earth. What I also observed, was that practically the whole surface was covered in lava! I felt like I was in some sort of sci-fi movie. Luckily for me I had a space suit because without it, I would have exploded. My Pressure meter on the left arm of my suit was telling me that the pressure was 90 atmospheres, which would be 90 times greater then the average air pressure at sea level on Earth. The temperature of Venus was very hot and I know that that was in my favor because if the temperature wasn’t so hot, the clouds would open up with a rain of sulfuric acid, and believe me I did not want that. I stored these mental snap shots in my head and finished the last of my notes and prepared for take off to Mercury. Mercury was definitely going to be one of the planets that I had to pay very close attention to when taking notes because only half of its surface had been viewed recently. Mercury was also going to be interesting to see because it has a very unique axis rotation, spinning three times on its axis for every two orbits around the sun. The first thing that I noticed on Mercury was that there was almost no atmosphere on the planet. That was pretty obvious because the planet looked life less and fried. I wrote in my observation notes that Mercury fried, literally because there was no atmosphere to protect against the harsh radiation of the sun. Mercury from my first view out the window reminded me a lot of the moon, there were craters every where. Mercury also from observation was definitely on the smaller side. As my time on Mercury was coming to a end, I realized that Mercury was a very boring planet to look at, only craters and low lying plains and cliffs. After the short trip from Mercury past Venus, Earth and the moon I approached Mars. I figured I could get a jump start on finding a future plot of land, for when humans were on Mars. As I approached Mars, I could see that the planet was full of craters. I was to stay on Mars for a full 12 hours while my rocket fueled up to make the trip to the outer planets. What I observed in those 12 hours was very interesting to me. I witnessed some incredible sights like vast canyons some 20,000 ft high, giant mountains and sand dunes. The air was very dusty and left a orange tint in the air. I quickly learned also that there was little atmosphere because as night started to fall tempters fell very rapidly and quickly well below 0. My rocket was fueled up again and it was time for take off. As I sat down in my space craft, I noticed that Mars definitely lived up to its nick name of the red planet because my white space suit was now covered in red dust. Just like that though, it was time to leave Mars and head straight to the big guys, Jupiter and Saturn. I quickly learned that Jupiter was just as advertised; very big! I could see Jupiter from my rocket almost the whole trip there. Jupiter was very bright definitely brighter then any star I had ever seen. I noticed the dark and light bands as they appeared from the space craft window, I learned later on that these are called belts( darker bands) and zones( lighter bands). Jupiter was very hard to land because there was no solid surfaces. Using a scientific tool on the space craft I was able to determined that Jupiter made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with some other trace gases. For this case it was very hard for me to take observations since I could not actually get out and explore Jupiter. For the lack of mobility and time I was quickly just like that on my way to to explore the great ring planet of Saturn. While approaching Saturn the ring that it is most famous for was very visible, I actually managed to ta ke a photo with my space issued camera that was provided to me by NASA. Saturn was also huge although not as big as Jupiter it was definitely the second biggest thing I had ever seen, the first thing obviously being Jupiter. Like Jupiter I was unable to land on Saturn because of the chemical make up being mostly hydrogen and helium but the observations I was able to take away were that Saturn’s rings were made of thousands of narrow, closely spaced ringlets. Uranus and Neptune were next and if I wanted to make this trip in one week, I had to say good bye to the two gas giants and say hello to the trans-Saturnian planets. The two sister planets Uranus and Pluto were very much alike. My time on both planets were relatively the same experience. I was able to observe that both planets had many moons. Also the atmosphere on both planets was generally the same made up of mostly hydrogen and helium indicated by special tools on board the space craft. The one difference I did notice between these two sisters, is that Uranus actually rotates clock wise instead of counter clock wise. My visit with Uranus and Neptune was short and sweet. I packed my space craft and prepared it for lift off. 3..2..1 blast off were the words that I heard through the microphone that was hooked up with NASA. I awoke laying in the quad. The sun was high in the sky and there was a slight breeze. I realized that I had accidentally snoozed off in the quad, and what started off with me closing my eyes for 5 minutes to catch some rays ended with a nap that lasted 3 hours. I unfortunately soon realized quickly after that my amazing top secret to space was actually nothing more then a dream. There was no fame to come of it, and my professor never actually gave me the trust to go on this top secret mission. Although my trip to the solar system may not have been real, it will be something though that I will never forget.

Investigating Probation Strategies with Juvenile Offenders

SUMMARY Investigating Probation Strategies with Juvenile Offenders: The Influence of Officers’ Attitudes and Youth Characteristics Benita Byers Ray Davis Jessica Hoff Jessica Stein Just 326 Juvenile Justice System September 14, 2012 Although large investments in resources are used to deal with delinquent youths, there have been only sporadic efforts to research effective probation practices.Since most youth encounters with the juvenile justice system, accounting for over 60%, occur under supervision by Probation Officers (POs), the Probation Practices Assessment Survey (PPAS) was used to evaluate various types of interventions. This was a web-based study that utilized a sample of 308 POs and measured deterrence, restorative justice, treatment, confrontation, counseling and behavioral tactics.For example, while Lipsey’s influential multi-study analysis shows that â€Å"probation has a small but significant impact on youth outcomes,† literature on inventive and pro gressive probation practices shows little improvement to date. There is little research that describes various probation strategies for youth and their effectiveness. Youth probation usually vacillates between punishment and rehabilitation. Historically, advocates of progressive approaches viewed punishment and its reliance on monitoring and rule enforcement as a response to poorly trained and overworked POs.On the other hand, rehabilitation has been viewed as a benevolent relationship between POs and youths with intent to humanize the juvenile justice system. During the mid through late 1900s, the public demanded a more disciplinary reaction to youth crime, advocates of victims rights wanted more input into the process and increasing support of the rehabilitative model caused three objectives, known as the ‘Balanced Approach’ to become prominent in addressing youth delinquency.To protect public safety, POs utilize deterrence-based interventions utilizing increased moni toring, fines, detention, and technical violation of probation to promote youth expectations that delinquency is not worth the cost. To hold youths accountable for their offenses, POs promote restorative justice policies through offenders meeting with their families, the victims and community members to decide together how the offender can best make amends and promote reconciliation, often through community service and restitution.To promote rehabilitation, POs utilize resources such as tutoring to improve school performance; family, substance abuse and/or mental health counseling; mentoring programs to model achievement based skills and increase access to resources; and, other programs to improve life chances. While the balanced approach suggests that POs utilize individualized treatment of offenders in order to exact the best outcomes, research shows that POs attitudes towards punishment and rehabilitation vary.Additional problems occur when longstanding biases influence POs attit udes. For example, these unconscious biases include higher expectations of recidivism and endorsing stronger attitudes of punishment towards youth offenders of color and â€Å"girls being seen as very difficult to work with†. Previous research has not addressed the different strategies and frequency of specific interventions with an individual within a specific period of time utilized by POs in dealing with youth delinquency as does the PPAS.This survey utilizes 28 items measuring the frequency of three case management approaches, as deterrence, restorative justice and treatment orientations, as well as compliance enhancing strategies, as confrontation, counseling and behavioral tactics, during the past three (3) months. Method A sample of 308 respondents completed the survey, recruited through an announcement in an electronic newsletter for POs with inclusion into a drawing for a $20 e-gift certificate to an online retailer as incentive.The respondents were to insert their n ames into an alphabetical list of their juvenile caseloads and select the next youth who was (1) formally adjudicated, (2) known to the respondent for at least three months, and (3) under 18 years old. The respondents completed 31 questions about youth demographics, offending characteristics and psychosocial characteristics, including five items combined to measure prior heath and social services involvement and five items combined to measure psychosocial needs.Thirteen items measure case management approaches, fifteen items measure compliance practices. Respondents reported their personal demographics, years of experience in juvenile justice settings and level of education, six items addressing their attitudes toward punishment, two items measuring their beliefs about POs helpfulness with youths who have alcohol and mental health problems and two items measuring their beliefs about the effectiveness of mandated treatment on drug and mental health problems.Out of all cases, only 56% were completed correctly with all variables. Data was imputed multiple times using the SAS Proc MI (Schafer, 1997). SAS Proc MI is an interactive procedure that replaces missing data with estimates based on observable relationships observed in the data. By introducing random error, multiple imputations result in a more accurate variance estimates compared to other imputation procedures (Allison 2002). When comparing the complete data analysis, the listwise deletion and the imputed data, they were unimportant.Nearly 25% of the youth were female and about 40% were of color. Usually, youth were approaching 16 years old, were 33% were 15 or younger and 67% had prior offences. Felony adjudications were most common, about 33% had property related offences, 25% had person related offences and 20% had drug related offences. The average youth a specialized intervention prior to their recent adjudication (specialized mental health, substance abuse, or child welfare) and had nearly three out of six risk factors.PO’s were 64% females, 83% were white and 23% had master’s degrees. Analysis started with a confirmatory factor analysis for 7 PPAS subscales: deterrence orientation, restorative justice orientation, treatment orientation, confrontational tactics, counseling tactics, behavioral tactics and contact frequency (Muthen & Muthen 1998-2006). This model had acceptable fit, however, it was unstable do to a high linear between the two factors: Deterrence and Confrontation. Several adjustments were made but they all continued to have errors.The final analysis examined the predictors of class membership. Ordinal regression was chosen because three classes possess ordinal-level qualities. The Latent Class Analysis began by estimating the optical number of groups or classes required to describe how probation practice clusters. Classes were not distinguished by a dominant subscale score, but rather by a general level across all of the subscale scores. Probation O fficers reported using restorative justice interventions less than any other approach.In terms of contact, Probation Officers averaged about 18 contacts to the youth, parents, schools and service providers during a three month period. In terms of youth’s age, odds of having a more intensive probation decreased 28% for every one year of increase. PO’s attitudes about the helpfulness of probation, an increase in one point increased the odds of more intensive probation by 38% while an increase in favorable attitudes from one standard deviation below the mean to one standard deviation above the mean, led to a fivefold increase in the odds of more intensive probation.PO’s implement a balanced approach with delinquent youths, they blend both accountability and rehabilitation based approaches. In case management approaches, PO’s use approaches informed by deterrence and treatment equally, but are less inclined by restorative justice. PO’s use confrontatio n, counseling and behavioral tactics about the same when it comes to compliance strategies. Probation practices vary along key youth and Probation Officers characteristics.PO’s that really agrees with punishments emphasizes accountability in their interventions and may make fewer contacts with youth and PO’s who endorse treatment would strongly focus on the rehabilitation aspects of supervision and devote more time to each case. Younger youths receive a more accountability approach and more frequent contacts than the older youths. PO’s giving more resources to younger youths may indicate greater hope or urgency, for prevention with these youths and more dependency from the older youths.Several predictions did not predict probation in this study, race and gender, they stand out as a key findings. Research with probation and the juvenile justice decision making strongly suggests that the juvenile court interventions are influences by race and gender. Youth race an d gender were not associated with probation practices in the current study suggests two alternatives. First, measures and methods employed in this study may not have been sufficiently sensitive to detect biased treatment leading to a type II error. It is apparent that youth with a higher cumulative risk and needs receive more probation approaches.This demonstrates the priorities of the PO’s convergence with the contemporary juvenile justice mandates which calls for individualized court interventions based on an assessment of risks and needs (Hoge, 2002; Howell, 2003). References Schwalbe, Craig S. and Maschi, Tina. (Oct. 2009). Investigating Probation Strategies with Juvenile Offenders: The Influence of Officers’ Attitudes and Youth Characteristics. Law and Human Behavior. Vol. 33, No. 5, Pp 357-367. Springer. Retrieved from JSTOR online 9/12/12 at 2:12pm. Schafer, J. L. (1997).Analysis of incomplete multivariate data. New York: Chapman & Hall. Schafer, J. L. , & Graha m, J. W. (2002) Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147-177. Doi: 10. 1037/1082-989X. 7. 2. 147. Allison, P. D. (2002). Missing data. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Hoge, R. D. (2002). Standardized instruments for assessing risk and need in youthful offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 29, 380–396. doi: 10. 1177/0093854802029004003. Howell, J. C. (2003). Preventing & reducing juvenile delinquency: A comprehensive framework. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Tenontosaurus - Facts and Figures

Tenontosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Tenontosaurus (Greek for tendon lizard); pronounced ten-NON-toe-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of North America Historical Period: Middle Cretaceous (120-100 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 20 feet long and two tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Narrow head; unusually long tail About Tenontosaurus Some dinosaurs are more famous for how they got eaten than for how they actually lived. That’s the case with Tenontosaurus, a medium-sized ornithopod that was on the lunch menu of the respectably sized raptor Deinonychus (we know this from the discovery of a Tenontosaurus skeleton surrounded by numerous Deinonychus bones; apparently predators and prey were all killed at the same time by a natural cataclysm). Because an adult Tenontosaurus could weigh in at a couple of tons, smaller raptors like Deinonychus must have had to hunt in packs to bring it down. Other than its role as prehistoric lunch meat, the middle Cretaceous Tenontosaurus was most interesting for its unusually long tail, which was suspended off the ground by a network of specialized tendons (hence this dinosaurs name, which is Greek for tendon lizard). The type specimen of Tenontosaurus was discovered in 1903 during an American Museum of Natural History expedition to Montana led by the famous paleontologist Barnum Brown; decades later, John H. Ostrom did a closer analysis of this ornithopod, corollary to his intensive study of Deinonychus (which he concluded was ancestral to modern birds). Oddly enough, Tenontosaurus is the most abundant plant-eating dinosaur to be represented in a vast stretch of the Cloverly Formation in the western U.S.; the only herbivore thats even close is the armored dinosaur Sauropelta. Whether this corresponds to the actual ecology of middle Cretaceous North America, or is just a quirk of the fossilization process, remains a mystery.

Why Hanguns Must Be Outlawed ( Nan Desuka) Essay

Why Hanguns Must Be Outlawed ( Nan Desuka) - Essay Example Besides the appropriate premises for gun control, she articulates the ethical concerns for the free availability of weapons in America. Whether guns are the weapons of threat or the tools of comfort, is the issue about her deliberations. She uses the tool of pathos to seek sympathies for the people who are able to save their lives with the availability of the weapon in serious life-and-death situations. But the same technique is also employed to highlight the contrary view by elucidating how people lost their lives or injured seriously, for no fault of theirs with the gun, though legal. Thus her argument is comprehensive and it includes the logical, sentimental and ethical angels and it demonstrates how complicated the issues involved are. If gun control is compared to the heart, arguments are like the alternative beats of the same heart. She makes a mention of two slogans impacting the entire gamut of the issue: â€Å"Guns don’t kill people: criminals do† (Desuka n. p. ) and â€Å"Guns don’t kill people: people kill people.† (Desuka n. p.) On a closer scrutiny of the statements on the portals of the mind of an individual who hears them, she weighs the impact of the dilemma related to the choice between the two in the sentimental world of the hearer. The statement that criminals kill people indicates the use of pathos. It creates resentment in the heart of the hearer about the criminal with the malicious intentions of the weapon to commit heinous acts, including murder. In stating ‘people kill people’ she highlights a bigger story which is a truthful assertion. She channelizes the hatred towards a section of society, the criminals, to an issue of negligent attitude of free availability of guns to one and all. This hearty appeal is an expression through the rhetorical application of logos. Desuka shows awareness of the issue from all ends, and she knows the importance of man behind the production of guns and the man using the guns, for good or bad intentions. It is a peculiar situation of dual responsibility. It is like the scale of justice, in which both arms of the scale are important to strike the correct balance. Desuka employs logos by methodically tendering the fact which indicates how criminals alone do not indulge in killing persons with handguns. The number of the criminals who commit murders is low as compared rapists or robbers. The statistics would give the relevant information. â€Å"About 30% murders are committed by robbers or rapists. More than 60% of all murders are caused by guns and handguns are used in more than 70% of these.† The author argues like a sociologist, when she asserts that â€Å"majority of these crimes is committed by known assailants and they can said to be crimes of passion or accidents.†(Desuka, n. p.) This is a pointer to the lacuna in her arguments. Desuka’s basic premises have shortcomings that cannot be corrected. She is trying to offer so lutions to a hardcore secular issue, through flowery philosophical leap. Her argument is—â€Å"outlawing handguns will remove them from both the criminal and the non-criminal, thereby eliminating handguns as a cause of death, either intentional or accidental.†(Desuka, n.p.) A law may be perfect; in other words there is no dearth about perfect laws. The shortage is in the area of perfect human beings to implement the laws. What then, is the procedure to mold perfect human beings? Wise men have written millions of pages, but the possibility of the entire humankind turning perfect is remote, nay impossibility. So handguns will be there, and dominate the affairs of the society, as total enforcement of laws is not possible. And no force on earth can totally eliminate the manufacture and

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL MANAGEMENT Essay - 2

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES - Essay Example nd the changing role of management throughout the decades but also to appropriately evaluate its importance for the improvement of the employees’ and the firm’s performance. At a first level, it should be noticed that there are no standards regarding the principles accepted by organizations around the world in order to regulate their internal and external relations. For this reason, the assumptions made by researchers in the relevant field are not quite the same; they are rather differentiated in accordance with the firms’ needs, their culture and mission but also the social and cultural characteristics of the market involved. Towards this direction, Hennestad (1990) refers to a common inter-organizational phenomenon, the ‘double – bind’, which refers to the relationship between the employees and the management within a particular organization in which the managers’ guidelines are not clear but they rather lead to different assumptions and directions (always referring to employees’ obligations within a specific organization). In this context, it is noticed by Hennestad (1990, 265) that ‘members of an organi zation are supposedly led, but very often they do not see the way; on the contrary, they are exposed to conflicting management signals and caught in double bind situations; double bind connotes a situation where conflicting messages occur, but where it is vitally important to discern what message is being communicated, and where the individual is unable to comment upon the ambiguity; the result is that the individual is not capable of meta communication and thus incapable of learning about the situation’. In accordance with the above view, the incompetence of a firm’s employees to respond to the needs of a particular situation could be related with the incompetence of the firm’s managers to provide accurate and clear guidelines and directions on a specific issue. As for employees, their efforts to participate actively on all the