Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social Essay

Does the assumption and implementation of corporate social responsibility makes businesses more successful - Essay Example It encompasses two broad views in general. The first one is that the companies share the wealth they create with either the society they operate in or other under privileged societies. The other is managing their activities in a more ethically and morally responsible way. It is the voluntary exceeding of the society's expectations of the business and it is agreed that it is majorly affected by how the company manages its core businesses. (Baker) Corporate Social responsibility is extremely important to a company's business. According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Corporate responsibility is affecting the relationship between companies and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and governments. (Doebele, 2005) Underlying principles The Corporate responsibility trend is being driven by a large number of factors. Companies which do not engage in social responsibility might be viewed as unethical as peoples t rust in large organizations is already waning. The rise in the corporate governance movement, globalization of businesses and the competition presented by rivals all contribute to a firms increasing interest in corporate responsibility. The benefits of corporate responsibility may prove never ending for an organization. ... They include environmental management, issues management and stake holder's management. There will be times when two or more of these management areas will be integrated to form one areas of concern. Foreg in 1994 BHP Billton's shareholders were concerned about the company causing environmental damage in Papua New Guinea. (Gail Thomas, 2006) There have been multiple arguments in favor of supporting corporate social responsibilities for businesses. It has been said that practicing a business enables many things in the society and businesses are dependent upon a healthy, well-developed and economically sound society for its proper functioning. Improved quality of life for employees and citizens should be one of the top priority for all ethical businesses and this is only fulfilled if they practice giving back to the society or caring capitalism as Niall Fitzgerland, chairman Unilever calls it. Since the main responsibility that the company owes is towards itself, the company has to ens ure that fulfilling responsibility is both beneficial to itself and the society, but ensures that the company survives in the long run. People in favor of corporate social responsibility clearly state that CSR enhances the view of the company in the eyes of the customers and generates a loyal customer base. Others state that fulfilling CSR also provides unmatched promotion and publicity for the company which is again very necessary for the success of the company. Last but not the least practicing social responsibility raises the morale and self esteem of the employees of the company and they feel good about the contributions and are more likely to work efficiently and develop into diligent workers. Boyle and Boguslaw (Boyle, 2007,

Developmental Psychology Essay Example for Free

Developmental Psychology Essay 1.1. Nature – nurture Nature refers to the inherited (genetic) characteristics and tendencies that influence development. It is the abilities that are present at birth, as well as any abilities determined by genes. On the other hand, nurture is the processes caused by our environment that influences our development. Everything is learned through our interactions with our environment and as a result of our experiences. In the past, hereditary and environmental factors were considered to be operating separately from each other. It was one or the other nature (hereditary) or nurture (environment). Today it is generally agreed that hereditary and environment are both important factors; development is a combination of both. Example: Average longevity is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. To increase your chances of a long life you need to come from a family with a history of individuals who lived to a ripe age (genetic factors). Environmental factors; such as diseases, toxins, lifestyle and social class are also important factors that influence longevity. A person who makes poor lifestyle choices and live in an impoverished area will decrease his/her chances of a long life. Therefore it can be said that both nature and nurture play a role in a person living to a ripe age. 1.2. Stability – change The stability versus change concept explores how much of ones behaviour is consistent and how much is changeable over a lifespan. Simply put, we can ask whether development is best characterized by stability (for example, does a behaviour or trait such as shyness stay stable in its expression over time?) or change (could a persons degree of shyness fluctuate across the life span?). Stability at a basic level is vital for us to recognize that we are still the same person as we grow older. But we also like to believe that our characteristics are not set in stone, that we can change ourselves if we want to. Psychoanalysts believe that personality traits developed in the first 5 years predict adult personality. Change theorists argue that personalities are modified by interactions with family, experiences at school, and acculturation. Example: Costa and McCrae (1994; 1997) have investigated whether the traits that make up the five-factor model remain stable across adulthood and came to the general conclusion that personality traits remain stable after age 30. If a 30 year old woman worried excessively about whether or not her husbands salary was enough to make mortgage payments, then she also is likely to be worried about having saved enough for her childrens college tuition when she is 45 and is likely to be worried about the adequacy of her husbands pension income at age 70. Since Costa and McCrae suggest that personality traits remain stable through adulthood a high degree of neuroticism, as reflected by a consistent and excessive level of anxiety and worry, is likely to persist and find new focal points over time. However, there is evidence that change can be found in personality trait development across the adult life span. Allemand et al. (2008) found that the way people differ in their personality becomes more pronounced with older age. Furthermore, other studies (Donnellan Lucas, 2008) found that extraversion and openness decrease with age whereas agreeableness increases with age (Blanchard-Fields Cavanaugh, 2011, p. 321). 1.3. Continuity – discontinuity The continuity versus discontinuity controversy deals with the question of whether development is a gradual, smooth progression from conception to death (continuity), or a series of distinct and abrupt shifts (discontinuity). Continuity focuses on quantitative changes in number or amount, such as changes in height and weight. Discontinuity focuses on qualitative changes in kind, structure, or organization. An example of continuity is: Infants who have satisfying emotional relationships with their parents typically become children with satisfying peer relationships. And they will eventually become adults with satisfying relationships with others. An example of discontinuity: After spending most of adulthood trying to ensure the success of the next generation and to leave a legacy, older adults turn to evaluating their own lives in search of closure and a sense that what they have accomplished has been meaningful. 1.4. Universal versus context-specific development This concerns whether or not there is one path of development or several. Example: David Schmitt and colleagues (2004) investigated whether one’s attachment style may have a major influence on how one forms romantic relationships. The results showed that 79% of the cultural groups studied demonstrated secure romantic attachments, but that North American cultures tended to be dismissive and East Asian cultures tended to be high on preoccupied romantic attachment. Overall, Schmitt and colleagues concluded that although the same attachment pattern holds across most cultures, no one pattern holds across all of them. East Asian cultures in particular tend to fit a pattern in which people report that others do not get as emotionally close as the respondent would like, and that respondents find it difficult to trust others or to depend on them.

the story of mel :: essays research papers

"do real programmers program in fortran?" Maybe they do now, in this decadent era of Lite beer, hand calculators and "user-friendly" software but back in the Good Old Days, when the term "software" sounded funny and Real Computers were made out of drums and vacuum tubes, Real Programmers wrote in machine code. Not Fortran. Not RATFOR. Not, even, assembly language. Machine Code.Raw, unadorned, inscrutable hexadecimal numbers. Directly. Lest a whole new generation of programmers grow up in ignorance of this glorious past, I feel duty-bound to describe, as best I can through the generation gap, how a Real Programmer wrote code. I'll call him Mel, because that was his name. I first met Mel when I went to work for Royal McBee Computer Corp., a now-defunct subsidiary of the typewriter company. The firm manufactured the LGP-30, a small, cheap (by the standards of the day) drum-memory computer, and had just started to manufacture the RPC-4000, a much-improved, bigger, better, faster -- drum-memory computer. Cores cost too much, and weren't here to stay, anyway. (That's why you haven't heard of the company, or the computer.) I had been hired to write a Fortran compiler for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders. Mel didn't approve of compilers. "If a program can't rewrite its own code," he asked, "what good is it?" Mel had written, in hexadecimal, the most popular computer program the company owned. It ran on the LGP-30 and played blackjack with potential customers at computer shows. Its effect was always dramatic. The LGP-30 booth was packed at every show, and the IBM salesmen stood around talking to each other. Whether or not this actually sold computers was a question we never discussed. Mel's job was to re-write the blackjack program for the RPC-4000. (Port? What does that mean?) The new computer had a one-plus-one addressing scheme, in which each machine instruction, in addition to the operation code and the address of the needed operand, had a second address that indicated where, on the revolving drum, the next instruction was located. In modern parlance, every single instruction was followed by a GO TO! Put *that* in Pascal's pipe and smoke it. Mel loved the RPC-4000 because he could optimize his code: that is, locate instructions on the drum so that just as one finished its job, the next would be just arriving at the "read head" and available for immediate execution. the story of mel :: essays research papers "do real programmers program in fortran?" Maybe they do now, in this decadent era of Lite beer, hand calculators and "user-friendly" software but back in the Good Old Days, when the term "software" sounded funny and Real Computers were made out of drums and vacuum tubes, Real Programmers wrote in machine code. Not Fortran. Not RATFOR. Not, even, assembly language. Machine Code.Raw, unadorned, inscrutable hexadecimal numbers. Directly. Lest a whole new generation of programmers grow up in ignorance of this glorious past, I feel duty-bound to describe, as best I can through the generation gap, how a Real Programmer wrote code. I'll call him Mel, because that was his name. I first met Mel when I went to work for Royal McBee Computer Corp., a now-defunct subsidiary of the typewriter company. The firm manufactured the LGP-30, a small, cheap (by the standards of the day) drum-memory computer, and had just started to manufacture the RPC-4000, a much-improved, bigger, better, faster -- drum-memory computer. Cores cost too much, and weren't here to stay, anyway. (That's why you haven't heard of the company, or the computer.) I had been hired to write a Fortran compiler for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders. Mel didn't approve of compilers. "If a program can't rewrite its own code," he asked, "what good is it?" Mel had written, in hexadecimal, the most popular computer program the company owned. It ran on the LGP-30 and played blackjack with potential customers at computer shows. Its effect was always dramatic. The LGP-30 booth was packed at every show, and the IBM salesmen stood around talking to each other. Whether or not this actually sold computers was a question we never discussed. Mel's job was to re-write the blackjack program for the RPC-4000. (Port? What does that mean?) The new computer had a one-plus-one addressing scheme, in which each machine instruction, in addition to the operation code and the address of the needed operand, had a second address that indicated where, on the revolving drum, the next instruction was located. In modern parlance, every single instruction was followed by a GO TO! Put *that* in Pascal's pipe and smoke it. Mel loved the RPC-4000 because he could optimize his code: that is, locate instructions on the drum so that just as one finished its job, the next would be just arriving at the "read head" and available for immediate execution.

Is it time now for a new social contract?

There are many suggestions for reform in government’s relationship to the economy. As I had hinted in my earlier discourse, many of my recommendations deal with eliminating government’s intervention in economic activity. Thus, there needs to be a creation of a free market economy, independent of government influence as a means to stimulate economic enterprise toward more productivity and to restore the economy to a strong position. However, given the long history of government involvement, it is highly unlikely that such action is possible.I guess it is time for a new social contract. It seems that the policies and practices in the employment of relationships in America are no longer responsive to the needs of today’s working families and society. There had been more emphasis on increased profits and productivity while the wages have remained the same, or worst, declined and stagnated for families. The irony is that people are working harder, but they do not belo ng among those who share in the gains from their efforts.Only a small percentage of the population is privileged to have that benefit, adding to the increasing inequality. The families are affected by these changes and one wonders what he can do in the face of these economic changes. The implicit social contract that encompasses work such as loyalty and hard work are not necessarily rewarded with fair and increasing wages. This has been blotted out by a norm where employers give center stage to stock price and even short-term gains, which are often at the expense of the workers who work hard daily.What we call the American Dream is usually the promise of riches and prosperity and a life that is well-lived.   This has been the ideal ever since that ensures one success in life so long as he is willing to sacrifice everything to work for it. It has been such an illusion for many. Thus the American dream has become a driving and motivating force for millions of people who flock to the â€Å"Land of the Free† because they want to escape the poverty in their countries.They think that their only option viable to them is to move to a country that promises them success, wealth, freedom from material prosperity.  Ã‚   However, even though this is oftentimes true for the people who really do work hard for the dream, the American Dream must not be promoted as it is. The reason here is because it shifts the focus from the true values that count in the family to the material wealth and greed that entices people to come work in a land of opportunities which may otherwise not turn out to be so (The American Dream).I remember Walt Whitman’s poem I Hear America Singing where there is the sense of each one seeking his own personal niche in the land of promises as seen in the following lines:â€Å"Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day–at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with o pen mouths their strong melodious songs.†(I Hear America Singing).It almost captures that desire as one reads the entire work and is very descriptivethat the future belongs to the young and those who are open to opportunities. For the people who leave their country of origin, there is a substantial tradeoff for embracing the American Dream. Behind the veil of power and comparative material wealth that is promised to every individual, there is a significant loss that one must encounter. And that loss is the loss of traditional culture. In the essay by MSNBC columnist Eric Liu, he states that during one of his dinner meals at a friend’s house: â€Å"The more time I spent in their midst, the more I learned to be like them.To make their everyday idioms and idiosyncrasies familiar. To possess them.† This particular longing to assimilate all of the â€Å"everyday idioms and idiosyncrasies† of the American culture was brought about not by curiosity or a certain z eal for knowledge. This particular longing was fueled by negative emotions. This passion for learning the ropes of American culture was born out of the longing of the desire to fit in.The American Dream may be able to provide a person the necessary wealth that one could only dream about in his native country but it also takes away the immaterial liberties that come from being rooted in a different culture. This is what is seen in Tony Went to the Bodega But He Didn’t Buy Anything. Because the person sat at the doorway and saw people come and go, his being in that position depicted a life of leisure which one thinks could be achieved if he pursues the American Dream.One does not know that there is an illusion to this since one may never attain this goal by just going to a place and hoping that one’s station in life is guaranteed to be easy. The American Dream will always be a Utopian dream until people realize that material wealth is not the only path for success and ha ppiness. This is seen in the lines,Tony went to the bodega, But he didn’t buy anything: He sat by the doorway satisfied To watch la gente (people Island-brown as him). Crowd in and out, (Tony Went to the Bodega But He Didn’t Buy Anything).The American Dream promises people from all walks of life and all countries of origin that within this land, there is freedom from oppression, freedom from poverty and material wealth but for other people, it will only remain a dream for them. As Langston Hughes remarks, â€Å"I am the people, humble, hungry, mean–Hungry yet today despite the dream.†Ã‚   There have been casualties during this fight for the American Dream. Several people have risked leaving their homelands in search of a bright future in the United States yet there are millions today on relief and people are still being persecuted and discriminated.The land of the free is still a land of oppression and even though people would like to view it as a land of opportunity, it becomes more like a land of   deception and false hopes. Hughes ends his poem with both a revelation of what America has come to be as well an exhortation to the people to make America what is should have been. He says: â€Å"The mountains and the endless plain–All, all the stretch of these great green states–And make America again! (Hughes, 1938).Being optimistic about the dynamic forces of globalization and the practical applications of corporate social responsibilities sweeping multinational and large national organizations, I still believe that there is a balanced solution in multinational’s outsourcing of resources and less developed countries’ mutual advantage from this economic relationship. It is the primary duty of the national governments to uphold their sovereignty and protect their natural resources, especially their human resource or labor from being corrupted by foreign companies.They must uphold their constitution and by laws and promote more economic and bilateral policies to protect their people and resources at the same time harness their economic potential for the nation’s own advantage, growth and development.   They must dictate the terms for which their resources will be used, taking into consideration the growth and comparative advantage of their people and the extinction of their natural resources and habitat. The notion about hiring local managers and staff is preliminary. Of paramount importance is the question of how and in what terms they will allow the multinationals to exhaust their most important resources and capital.In effect, the dream that once tugged at people’s hearts never really existed in the first place. The dream that made people leave their homelands only remain a dream because there are people who still have not â€Å"made it† in America. There is something amiss in the ruckus that is about the American Dream. On one side, the American Dream remai ns a dream where the corruption and the apathy of people continues to prevent it from coming true while on the other side, the American Dream comes with too high a price. It asks for the individual’s culture, it torments the person and convinces him into thinking that if you do not assimilate the American culture, you will never make it.Given the importance of our work in our daily lives, our policies and institutions need to provide decent benefits and the opportunity to use one’s abilities to the maximum. Consistent with our nation’s democratic principles, all Americans must possess a freedom to voice out their opinions and be treated fairly. This just means that we value a balance between the interests of the employers and shareholders and the interests of the family.ReferencesThe American Dream. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2007 at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_DreamI Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman.About.com Literature Classic.Retrieved Oct. 20, 2007 at: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-ihear.htmHughes, Langston. 1938. â€Å"Let America Be America Again.† Retrieved Oct. 20, 2007 at:  http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Langston_Hughes/2385Tony Went to the Bodega But He Didn’t Buy   Anything.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved Oct. 20, 2007 at:http://www.gcsk12.net/speech_meet/speech_docs/Junior%20High%2005-06/dramatic%20poety/dramatic_poetry_43.pdf

Starbucks Red Flags of Fraud

Starbucks Coffee Company Stephanie Deacon Colorado Technical University Online: ACCT 320-1203A-01 Professor White 6 August 2012 Abstract This paper will provide an overview of Starbucks Coffee Company and identify seven red flags of possible fraudulent behavior within the organization. Steps to design a fraud prevention program will also be discussed based on the identified red flags. Starbucks Coffee Company opened its first store in Seattle, Washington in 1971 offering fresh-roasted whole bean coffees. Howard Schultz (Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer) joined Starbucks in 1982 as director of retail operations and marketing. Starbucks begins providing coffee to fine restaurants and espresso bars† (Starbucks, 2012). In 1985, â€Å"Howard founds Il Giornale, offering brewed coffee and espresso beverages made from Starbucks coffee beansâ€Å" (Starbucks, 2012). Two years later Howard Schultz purchases Starbucks assets with the help of local investors and Il Giornale changes its name to Starbucks Corporation and stores open in Chicago and Vancouver, Canada increasing the total number of stores to 17.Starbucks currently has over 16,000 stores in 50 countries and considers the company â€Å"the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the worldâ€Å" (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks mission statement is â€Å" to inspire and nurture the human spirit-one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a timeâ€Å" (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks refers to their employees as partners and their focus is to create a workplace that values and respects people from diverse backgrounds and to conduct business in an ethical manner.Starbucks has a business and ethics compliance program in place to help ensure that all employees make ethical decisions in the workplace. In addition to its retail outlets, the Starbucks brand of gourmet coffees, ready to drink Frappuccino and double shot drinks and ice creams are also sold in grocery and convenien ce store outlets. Starbucks total net revenues as of â€Å"fiscal year ending Oct 2, 2011 was $11,700. 4 (in millions) which was an increase from both 2010 fiscal year end of $10,707. 4 and $9,774. 6 from 2009 respectivelyâ€Å" (Starbucks Annual Report, 2012).As of â€Å"three quarters ended July 1, 2012, Starbucks unaudited net revenue was $9,935. 4 (millions), up from $8,668. 7 from July 3, 2011. Seven red flags of possible fraud Starbucks appears to have a good tone at the top with its established core values; however there can be instances of fraud going undetected by the auditors due to management’s override of controls. For example, with concerns about competition in the market, upper management could engage in creating fictitious revenues to make Starbucks look as if the company was performing better than it actually is. â€Å"McDonald’s 2011 annual revenues were $27. 1 billion† (Hoovers, 2012) in comparison to Starbucks $11. 70 billion and since McDo nald’s introduced the McCafe line in 2009 to compete with Starbucks, it has captured a sizeable portion of the coffee drinker’s market. According to Keith O’Brien from the New York Times, â€Å"beverages, thanks to smoothies and espresso drinks, are now a $9 billion annual business for McDonald’s in the United States† (O’Brien 2012). This type of competition could pressure Starbucks management to inflate the company’s earnings and one key area where this could be accomplished is with improper revenue recognition.Starbucks sells store valued gift cards called Starbucks cards where customers load money on the cards for future use in any participating Starbucks location. â€Å"Revenues from†¦stored value cards, primarily Starbucks Cards, are recognized when redeemed, or when we recognize breakage income† (Starbucks Annual Report, 2011). Breakage income is typically recognized when the redemption of the cards is likely to be r emote based on past history. Outstanding card balances are included in deferred revenue on the balance sheet.Management could record this deferred revenue on the income statement instead at year end, thus turning a potentially weak quarter into a much stronger one. Revenue recognition has a profound impact on a company’s income statement, and â€Å"not adhering to revenue recognition criteria could result in overstating revenue and net income in one reporting period and understating revenue and net income in a subsequent period† (Spiceland, Sepe, & Nelson, 2011, p. 30). â€Å"Typically, a senior executive who is inclined to â€Å"cook the books† possesses ow ethical standards, though this trait may often be difficult to detect prior to the commission of a crime† (White Collar Crime Fighter, n. d. ). Another red flag would be management unwilling to provide requested material to auditors, such as financial reports for fear they will uncover the fraud. The second area of concern for red flags of fraud would attribute to employee behavior. For instance, an employee who refuses to take vacation or sick time could be engaging in fraudulent activities.If an employee were embezzling from the company, â€Å"he would refuse vacation or promotion for fear of detection† (Hancox, n. d. ). Additional red flags to watch out for with employee behavior changes would be borrowing money from co-workers, â€Å"excessive gambling or drinking, or bragging about significant new purchases† (Hancox, n. d. ). High employee turnover is another indicator of potential fraud especially in an area of the organization that is more vulnerable to fraud such as payroll.High employee turnover can also be attributed to low morale and this could be a red flag of abusive management who may be engaging in fraudulent activity and should not be overlooked. High turnover at the executive level of the company would also be a red flag indicator that fraud might be occurring. Internal controls related to inventory encompass a large area ripe for fraud within Starbucks. Inventory deals with purchasing, receiving, shipping, processing and disbursements and if controls are overlooked it could seriously impact the company’s financial health.For example, high volumes of purchases from new vendors could be a red flag for fraud as this could indicate a fictitious company has been created and goods could be shipped to a fake address then stolen. Another red flag would be â€Å"purchasing agents that pick up vendor payments rather than have it mailed† (Hancox, n. d. ). Unusual increase in the book value of inventory or slow inventory turnover could be a red flag for fraud. For example, Starbucks inventory for â€Å"year end 2010 was $543. 3(millions) and $965. 8 for year end 2011† (Starbucks Annual Report, 2012).The COSO report indicated that â€Å"about 50 percent of the studied fraud companies overstated assets by recording f ictitious assets or assets not owner or capitalized items that should have been expensed†¦and the most commonly misstated asset was inventory† (Rezaee & Riley, 2010, p. 101). Payroll is another area that can be highly susceptible to fraud. A number of things to look for would be the personnel department reporting new hires or terminated employees to the payroll department to ensure that paychecks are going to the right people and that fictitious employees have not been created.Another issue would be having pre-numbered checks and having the sequence checked. If this internal control is not in place then it is possible to issue checks that have not been recorded in the system. Payroll checks should alos be authorized by two persons signatures to ensure that unauthorized payments are not made as a result of error or fraud. The company’s organizational structure could be an indicator of red flags for fraud. The first thing to look for would be the tone at the top of t he company.Unethical business conduct by executives is a key red flag in addition to high turnover of top executives. A clear line of authority is not present, â€Å"irresponsible corporate governance, and nonexistent corporate code of conduct and a decentralized organization structure without adequate monitoring† (Rezaee & Riley, 2010, p. 107). The corporate mission consists of maximizing profits and nothing else. The audit committee is ineffective, inexperienced and not capable of performing their duties. Financial performance red flags could include unusual rapid growth during an industry economic slump. Unexpected and sharp decreases in earnings or market share by the industry† (Rezaee & Riley, 2010, p. 110). Adverse legal circumstances could also lead to fraudulent behavior. Starbucks is engaged in a court hearing with Kraft Foods alleging a material breach of contract by Kraft and Starbucks discontinued their distribution arrangement with Kraft as of March 1, 2011 . â€Å"On December 6, 2010, Kraft commenced a federal court action against Starbucks, entitled Kraft Foods Global, Inc. v. Starbucks Corporation, in the U. S.District Court for the Southern District of New York (the â€Å"District Court†) seeking injunctive relief to prevent Starbucks from terminating the distribution arrangement until the parties’ dispute is resolved through the arbitration proceeding† (Starbucks Annual Report, 2012). The injunction was denied and Starbucks has since maintained control of their packaged coffee distribution. Starbucks is unsure of the financial damage that the breach by Kraft has caused and will most likely be able to estimate the damages in mid-2012. Fraud Prevention Program It is the organization's responsibility to create a culture of honesty and high ethics and to clearly communicate acceptable behavior and expectations of each employee† (AICPA, 2012). The tone at the top of Starbucks must consist of honorable, honest people with high integrity, and committed to competence as they set the example. Having strong core values at the top of the company and sharing those values throughout the organization will show Starbucks employees how the company operates. The board of directors and audit committee must be skilled, educated and qualified to perform their duties such as auditors having a CPA license.Roles of authority and responsibility must be clearly defined. Starbucks should have a tip telephone line established so that employees can confidentially report any violations of the code of conduct, suspected fraud or ethics violations. The integrity, ethical values and competence of Starbucks employees; management's philosophy and operating style of the organization will help reinforce the company’s culture as a strength and not a weakness. â€Å"Internal control is not merely documented by policy manuals and forms. Rather, it is put in by people at every level of an organization† (COS O, 2011).Policies and procedures covering financial and operational activities in place at Starbucks must be adhered to by employees at every level of the company to ensure the company is being run effectively and efficiently. For example, the procedures may â€Å"encompass a range of manual and automated activities such as authorizations and approvals, verifications, reconciliations, and business performance reviews† (COSO, 2011). Information processing controls, physical controls and segregation of duties should also be in place to ensure that risks are mitigated so Starbucks can meet its objectives.Management should create a positive work environment with good hiring, training and promotion practices to ensure all employees are capable of performing their jobs. â€Å"Research results indicate that wrongdoing occurs less frequently when employees have positive feelings about an entity than when they feel abused, threatened, or ignored† (AICPA, 2012). Creating a team- oriented environment where employees are involved in the decision-making process, positive feedback from management, recognition for good job performance and rewards for achievements all contribute to reducing the risks of fraud in the workplace.Effective communication of Starbucks objectives across the entire company is essential to its continued successful operations. Management must ensure that information is conveyed in a clear and understandable manner so the employees comprehend the importance of the internal control procedures and that they must be followed. Communication of information also includes â€Å"communicating with external parties regarding matters affecting the functioning of other components of internal control† (COSO, 2011).Starbucks upper management must monitor the control activities and confirm the effectiveness of its internal controls. Manual and ongoing evaluations monitor the internal control process activities throughout the normal dad-to-day oper ation of the company. Ongoing evaluations are â€Å"generally performed by line operating or functional managers who are competent and have sufficient knowledge to understand what is being evaluated and†¦ considering the implications of information they receiveâ€Å" (COSO, 2011).If the controls are inadequate, management must immediately communicate this information to the responsible party in order to take immediate action and employ corrective measures to ensure that controls are being followed as intended. â€Å"To effectively prevent or deter fraud, an entity should have an appropriate oversight function in place† (AICPA, 2012). An audit committee can strengthen a weak company environment by assessing the fraud risks identified by Starbucks management, evaluate the company`s anti-fraud policies and ensure that the tone at the top is conducting business with the highest level of integrity.Oversight by the audit committee â€Å"helps to ensure that senior managemen t fulfills its responsibility, but also can serve as a deterrent to senior management engaging in fraudulent activityâ€Å" (AICPA, 2012). References AICPA. (2012). AU Section 316 Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit. Retrieved from http://www. aicpa. org/Research/Standards/AuditAttest/DownloadableDocuments/AU-00316. pdf COSO. (2011). Internal Control-Integrated Framework. Retrieved from http://www. coso. org/documents/coso_framework_body_v6. pdf COSO. (2011).Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission About us. Retrieved from http://www. coso. org/aboutus. htm Hancox, S. (n. d. ) Red Flags for Fraud. Retrieved from http://www. osc. state. ny. us/localgov/pubs/red_flags_fraud. pdf Hoovers. (2012). Starbucks company overview. Retrieved from http://subscriber. hoovers. com/H/company360/overview. html? companyId=15745000000000 O`Brien, K. (2012). How McDonald`s Came Back Bigger Than Ever. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2012/05/06/magazine /how-mcdonalds-came-back-bigger-than-ever. html? r=1&pagewanted=all Rezaee, Z. , & Riley, R. Financial Statement Fraud Prevention and Detection (2nd ed. ). John Wiley & Sons Inc. Hoboken: New Jersey. Starbucks. (2012). Starbucks Annual Report. Retrieved from http://investor. starbucks. com/phoenix. zhtml? c=99518&p=irol-irhome White-Collar Crime. (n. d. ) Financial Statement Fraud: Detecting the Red Flags. Retrieved f http://www. wccfighter. com/FinancialStatementFraudRedFlags. html . . Spiceland, J. D. , Sepe, J. F. , & Nelson, M. W. (2011). Intermediate Accounting. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Contemporary Hate Groups essays

Contemporary Hate Groups essays Throughout history, in the presence of two or more different races or creeds there has been some degree of racism. The centuries of disdain have compounded and created ironclad stereotypes that are present in most societies. During the Middle Ages, prejudice towards Jews began to fester. Jews had been refused many menial jobs to allow Christians to work. Thus many Jews became wealthy in the more profitable industries of clothing and banking (Finzi). Christians resented Jewish success and many unfounded rumors of atrocities were attributed to Judaism. Jews were imagined to kill Christian children in the celebration of Passover and other farfetched ideas. Incidents of conflict like the Dreyfus Affair, where a French Jewish Captain was falsely accused of treason, and The Times's accusal of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, strengthened prejudice. Jews were blamed for the Russian Revolution, the fall of Germany, and political unrest in every European country (Finzi). Each calumnious episode added to previous hatred. This anti-Semitism followed the colonists to the New World where it developed further. "In the early nineteenth century the United State took heed of the European stereotype of the cunning and too-capable Jew: Jews were subject to legal discrimination in the USA as well" (Finzi 71). Anti-Semitism was not the sole form of prejudice in America. Blacks had been ripped from their homes and brought to America as slaves. Years of slavery reinforced the concept of blacks as second class citizens. Stereotypes of blacks being ignorant and illiterate were continued without education and freedom. After the Civil War, many white southerners resented the black position in the country. They were afraid of losing jobs and land to former slaves. This was the era where racist organizations first incubated. Black people were not the only race persecuted. Asians immigrating to the West Coast were given menial jobs with inadequate pay. Anyone w...

Business Ethics Essay Environmental Ethics Essays

Business Ethics Essay Environmental Ethics Essays Business Ethics Essay Environmental Ethics Paper Business Ethics Essay Environmental Ethics Paper Especially prevalent to the discussion of environmental damage caused by genuineness are resource based economies including Canada, where the centralization of raw materials such as lumber, oil and coal have created unique ethical dilemmas. Modern society must aim to determine which ethical boundaries to set for businesses that will not overly inflate operating costs, but will reduce the impact of business on the environment. Businesses have a fiduciary duty to shareholders in order to keep their business competitive, but must also realize their obligation to maintain environmental standards for the preservation of our society and earth. This essay seeks to outline environmental concerns in three major Canadian natural resource industries including oil and gas, mining and lumber. Additionally, pertinent aspects of the contemporary legal framework aimed at reducing environmental damage caused by businesses will be discussed. Finally, possible solutions to these environmental concerns and methods of improving our legal framework will be analyzed. Ultimately, the following is an examination of deficiencies in business ethics as they pertain to the environment and how we as a society can improve. Problem Scope Canadian Oil Industry: The oil industry in Canada has taken precedence in contemporary media regarding its impact on the environment. In Canada oil represents a primary economic commodity, with the industry for mining and oil accounting for approximately 7% of gross domestic product (Statistics Canada, 2013). Canadas oil and gas industry which resides primarily in the province of Alberta is commonly referred to as the Tar Sands and has received harsh criticism domestically and internationally over their methodology of extracting oil and gas. Problems associated with the oil and gas sector in Canada include those retaining to the exploration, drilling, development, production, and decommissioning activities required to extract the raw material to be sold commercially. Exploration activities refer to the process of locating oil and gas, which usually requires the usage of acoustic equipment. Acoustic noise has been identified as a primary problem affiliated with the exploration of oil and gas (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). Acoustic noise refers to the process of creating large sound waves using tools such dynamite for seismic sensors to interpret. The ramifications of using explosives and other vices capable of creating these sound waves can be disruptive to the ecosystems surrounding oil and gas fields. Similarly, the air quality surrounding sites where exploration activities are occurring can be jeopardized (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). The tools used to collect seismic including dynamite, moving equipment and exhaust from pertinent machinery can create air quality problems, further exacerbating the problems discussed above (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). Decreased air quality can have a substantial impact on the wild life and ecosystems surrounding potential drill sites. Additionally, the moving equipment used in appraising potential drilling locations can cause soil compression and damage resulting in poor aeration, permeability and water holding capabilities of soil (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). The second phase of extracting natural gas and crude oil includes drilling and developing well sites. Drilling and development of oil and gas wells results in significant damage to the environment as a result of the industrial nature of the extraction process. Air quality is a major issue during the drilling ND development stage as emissions generated by vehicles, diesel fueled machinery, generators, blasting activities and mixing concrete can severely impact the natural habitats surrounding drill sites (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). In addition to air quality problems, hazardous materials and waste management are another area of ecological concern in regards the production of oil and gas (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). Hazardous materials including the spillage of crude oil have become a major problem facing the industry. Especially pertinent to the concussion of hazardous materials is the relatively modern extraction technique used in the oil and gas industry called franking. Franking involves the extraction of natural gas using chemically treated water which is pumped into shale formations or coal beds (Commission, 2013). It is estimated that more than one million liters of this chemically treated water may be required during the process of franking a single well (Commission, 2013). These findings have lead to beliefs that the franking process may be causing water contamination above and below ground due to the presence of hazardous Heimlich in the water utilized by oil and gas companies (Commission, 2013). The final step in the process of oil and gas extraction relates to production, transportation and decommissioning of oil and gas related assets (Tribal Energy and Environmental Information). First, producing oil and gas from drilled wells is a complicated process involving large amounts of heavy machinery and often occurs under less than ideal circumstances. With the large demand for fuel in contemporary society oil and gas companies have been forced to increase production rates. The increased production rate has deed to the depletion of many onshore oil and gas reserves. Accordingly, oil and gas companies have recently targeted reserves in offshore locations such as the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico. While large reserves of oil and gas do exist in these remote locations, the difficulty and technical expertise required to successfully extract them creates a multitude of challenges related to the environment. In 201 0 the world witnessed the dangers associated with offshore oil and gas production when British Petroleum (BP) experienced the Departed Horizon oil spill. The event highlighted the expertise required to successfully acquire offshore reserves and the potential ramifications of failing to utilize proper safe guards while producing offshore oil and gas. The results of the spill were horrific with oil littering coast lines surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. The spill resulted in such immense natural destruction that following litigation BP was ordered to undergo an extensive cleanup of the surrounding regions and provide financial reimbursement to citizens who had lost income due to the destruction of marine areas surrounding the Gulf of Mexico. Although this industry example falls outside of Canada, similar eroticism have been made toward the Canadian oil and gas industry resulting from corporate initiatives aimed at building nationwide pipelines that would help Alberta to mobiles its crude oil in order to reach new profitable foreign markets. Problem Scope Canadian Lumber Industry: The lumber industry represents another leading contributor to gross domestic product in Canada, accounting for approximately 1% of national GAP (Statistics Canada, 2009). Lumber has been harvested to produce pulp and paper throughout Canadas history. Paper manufacturing began in Canada during the 1 sass and was created using wood pulp (Wellington, 997). The industry began to flourish in the 1 asss in Ontario and sasss in British Colombia, becoming the mainstay of the Atlantic Canadian economy (Wellington, 1997). Despite the relative importance of the lumber industry in Canada, the collection of lumber as a raw material and the sale of lumber products for commercial purposes created numerous environmental concerns. The commercial usages of lumber have resulted in the extensive clear-cutting of forests in order to supply mills. The lumbers mills also represent a major contributor to air and water pollution. Mills producing leached pulp in Canada have drawn great criticism in recent years over accusations that chemicals used to create bleached pulp were being improperly discharged into the natural environment (Wellington, 1997). The act of extracting lumber is creating peripheral damage to the environment, including soil erosion. Forests play an important role in filtering water and holding soil in place. Due to the clear-cutting of many forested areas soil erosion has created fluctuations in the flow of Water during various Seasons of the year. The result of clear cutting forests and soil erosion include periods f intense flooding or drought (Forest Monitor). These periods of drought can result in poor performance in other agricultural industries which rely on rainfall to grow crops such as the potato, canola and corn industries. Forest fires represent a second peripheral environmental concern related to the clear-cutting of forests in Canada (Forest Monitor). Studies have recently acknowledged that many of the large scale forest fires visible in contemporary media have been the direct result or exacerbated by the logging industries clear cutting practices (Forest Monitor). Similarly, logging in Canada has caused substantial damage to the marine ecosystem. Debris caused by logging have caused damage to local rivers and eventually the surrounding oceans where they contribute to the destruction of mangroves and coral reefs, which represent habitats crucial for the prosperity of aquatic life (Forest Monitor). Problem Scope Canadian Mining Industry: Mining is a large contributor to Canadian gross domestic product and similar to the oil and lumber industries in regards to environmental destructiveness. Several forms of mining exist including open pit mining, underground mining and in situ leach mining. Open pit mining is the most common form of mining and involves the excavation of strategic minerals from open pits in the earth (Technology, 2012). This form of mining is particularly destructive due to its propensity to displace large amounts of rock and vegetation in order to create the pits necessary to locate mineral concentrations (Technology, 2012). Additionally, the process of mining unearths minerals and rocks which have been underground for long periods of time and can possess dangerous characteristics similar to radioactive materials, asbestos and metallic dust (Technology, 2012). These harmful substances can be displaced into the environment resulting in poor air quality and damage to surrounding ecosystems and bodies of water. In situ leach mining represents a second distinct form of mining involving the dilution of ore bodies to retrieve strategic minerals (Technology, 2012). This form of mining is often perceived to be less environmentally damaging than conventional forms of mining; however, due to the corrosive acids used to dissolve ore bodies this form of mining is still far from ideal. Corrosive chemicals used in situ leach mining can run into local bodies of water and intimate local ecosystems resulting in long-term damage (Technology, 2012). The Contemporary Canadian Society and Business Ethics: Following the analysis of several major Canadian industries and their related environmental issues, we will now analyze the corporate, societal and legal landscape present in Canada today as it pertains to business ethics and the environment. Contemporary Canadian society is evolving rapidly, with greater emphasis being placed on how businesses participate in the preservation of the environment. Technological advancements such as the internet and social Edie applications have allowed consumers to rapidly obtain news relating to businesses, making environmental negligence increasingly visible to the public. Contemporary media plays a large role in vilifying businesses that fail to meet these regulations, which frequently results in reputation damage for the business. These reputation damages can lead to lost sales, public distrust and even litigation. Conversely, Canadas population and international trade are increasing, which is creating additional necessity for businesses to exploit natural resources and fulfill fiduciary duties to shareholders. This conflict of interests must be managed carefully by Canadian businesses and law makers. Canadian society has identified that a large ethical gap exists between the societys production capability and ability to exude moral responsibility when faced with environmental dilemmas. TO combat this ethical gap laws and regulations have been implemented in an attempt to reduce future environmental disparities. The Legal Framework Governing Environmental Standards in Canada: Canada has remained at the forefront of environmental regulation and accountability for many years, employing numerous acts and regulations to ensure that businesses account for societal expectations while interacting with nature (Environment Canada, 2013). Regulations and acts in Canada are derived and implemented by Environment Canada, which is responsible for preserving and enhancing the quality of the natural environment, providing meteorological services, and coordinating policies and programs to achieve environmental objectives (Environment Canada, 2013). Accordingly, this committee is responsible for overseeing (Environment Canada, 201 3): Monitoring air and water quality and emissions of greenhouse gases. Controlling the level of toxic substances in commercial products. Forecasting meteorological patterns and reporting on weather conditions. Consulting with Canadians, regulated stakeholders, researchers and governments. Researching and protecting the habitat of migratory birds and species at risk. Permitting and, when necessary, preventing international trade in hazardous waste, hazardous recyclable materials and endangered species. Promoting, inspecting and enforcing regulatory requirements. Many of these regulations are the result of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1 999, created y the Parliament of Canada. However, a large number of contributing regulatory acts aim to provide direction to businesses and society in regards to the environment (Saxes Law Office, 2011): The Fisheries Act Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Species at Risk Act. Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. Canada Shipping Act. Hazardous Products Act. Pest Control Products Act. Businesses operating in Canada must become familiar with the framework Outlined by the Government of Canada in regards to the environment, due to the serious legal consequences associated with failing to comply with regulatory standards. Consequences for businesses failing to comply with Environment Canadas regulations include litigation resulting in a prison sentence or community service, requests to monitor or reduce a particular behavior and various other forms of preventative measures (Saxes Law Office, 201 1). Improving Environmental Ethics in Business: Following the examination of environmental issues facing Canadians and the legal framework currently employed in Canada to combat environmental negligence, how can Canadians improve the environmental standards of businesses participating within their domestic market and/or abroad? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (COED) in the Netherlands has proposed a process for improving the rate of compliance with environmental regulations and improving standards outlined by local governments and businesses to ensure environmental stability (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2013). First, the COED proposes that organizations maintain a system of environmental management appropriate to their particular enterprise. This would include the collection and analysis of complete and timely information regarding the health, safety and environmental consequences of their organizations operations (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2013). COED recommends outlining measurable goals pertaining to resource consumption and reducing the organizations carbon footprint. Organizations must consider operational costs and matters of privacy when creating or upholding environmental goals and regulations, as employees have a fiduciary duty to shareholders in addition to environmental responsibilities. Additionally, organizations must act in a transparent fashion and inform the public of any potential health or environmental concerns relating to their operation. Similarly, when regulations cannot be upheld and environmental issues surface the public must be immediately consulted with timely information relating to the problem and its resolution. Organizations should create product life cycles and attempt to forecast potential environmental threats. Once the environmental threats of operations have been identified a contingency plan must be created to minimize the negative impact of these events should they occur. Finally, businesses must continually seek methods of reducing their carbon footprint. As discussed in the introduction to this essay, organizations must recognize that being environmentally friendly transcends compliance with environmental regulations. Businesses must make every attempt to reduce their carbon footprint and improve the ecosystem. Accordingly, organizations should aim for continual improvement in regards to the maintenance of the environment by utilizing education and politics to help improve their surrounding ecosystems. Educating employees and using corporate clout to sway environmental regulations can reflect positively on businesses and help them to remain competitive in the economy (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2013). Conclusion: Businesses must recognize that to remain competitive in the economy, the economy must continue to exist. Remaining competitive in the marketplace must become secondary to preserving the marketplace and the health and wellbeing of its participants. Similarly, businesses that fail to recognize the importance of going green will limit their competitive advantage or destroy their public image entirely. As discussed, large organizations such as British Petroleum have experienced the frightening public exposure brought about by failing to comply with environmental regulations. By employing the tragedies discussed above the ethical gap between societys production capability and ability to exude moral responsibility in regards to the environment will be minimized.

John Bergers Extended Definition of Home

John Bergers Extended Definition of Home A highly regarded art critic, novelist, poet, essayist, and screenwriter, John Berger began his career as a painter in London. Among his best-known works are Ways of Seeing (1972), a series of essays about the power of visual images, and G. (also 1972), an experimental novel which was awarded both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. In this passage from And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (1984), Berger draws on the writings of Mircea Eliade, a Romanian-born historian of religion, to offer an extended definition of home. The Meaning of Home by John Berger The term home (Old Norse Heimer, High German heim, Greek komi, meaning village) has, since a long time, been taken over by two kinds of moralists, both dear to those who wield power. The notion of home became the keystone for a code of domestic morality, safeguarding the property (which included the women) of the family. Simultaneously the notion of homeland supplied the first article of faith for patriotism, persuading men to die in wars which often served no other interest except that of a minority of their ruling class. Both usages have hidden the original meaning. Originally home meant the center of the world- not in a geographical, but in an ontological sense. Mircea Eliade has demonstrated how the home was the place from which the world could be founded. A home was established, as he says, at the heart of the real. In traditional societies, everything that made sense of the world was real; the surrounding chaos existed and was threatening, but it was threatening because it was unreal. Without a home at the center of the real, one was not only shelterless but also lost in nonbeing, in unreality. Without a home everything was fragmentation.​ Home was the center of the world because it was the place where a vertical line crossed with a horizontal one. The vertical line was a path leading upwards to the sky and downwards to the underworld. The horizontal line represented the traffic of the world, all the possible roads leading across the earth to other places. Thus, at home, one was nearest to the gods in the sky and to the dead of the underworld. This nearness promised access to both. And at the same time, one was at the starting point and, hopefully, the returning point of all terrestrial journeys.*  Originally published in  And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos, by John Berger (Pantheon Books, 1984). Selected Works by John Berger A Painter of Our Time, novel (1958)Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing, essays (1962)The Look of Things, essays (1972)Ways of Seeing, essays (1972)G., novel (1972)Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000, screenplay (1976)Pig Earth, novel (1979)The Sense of Sight, essays (1985)Once in Europe, novel (1987)Keeping a Rendezvous, essays (1991)To the Wedding, novel (1995)Photocopies, essays (1996)Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance, essays (2007)From A to X, novel (2008)

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF LYMPHOCYTES Lab Report

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF LYMPHOCYTES - Lab Report Example This is because this results in an inaccurate count. The same is true if the cover slip is moved after the sample is loaded. To make randomized counting only the 4 squares at each end were picked and then the 16 small squares within each large square, that is, in an organized zigzag along the rows. To make the counting standardized only cells lying on the bottom and right hand boundary were counted in and a cell lying on the top or left hand boundary were not counted in. This was in order to avoid counting cells twice. Normally, at least two squares should be counted, comprising more than 100 cells within each central counting area of every square. For higher accuracy, additional cells can be counted and the mean used to compute cell concentration. The result of cells counts were in the table 1 below. The other cells in the splenocyte preparation are red cells 3.82%, Granulocytes 6.1% as shown in the table 4 above. The abundance of small lymphocytes shows that the cell suspension has more immature cells which are maturing in the spleen to become large lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. With time the population of small lymphocytes decreases as they develop to large lymphocytes, medium lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. The spleen is made up of immune lymphocytes and that why in this experiment there were low number of other types of cells. Time was very important in this lab because long exposure could lead to lack of the reliability. This is because the population of splenocytes keep on changing since some cell has not matured fully and other are multiplying. For this lab the time limit was hour since In this lab exercise, Nigrosin was used to stain any dead cells. Nigrosin is an acidic stain. This means the stain readily gives up a hydrogen ion and becomes negatively charged. Since the surface of dead cells is negatively charged, the cell surface repels the stain. Thus slide glass will stain, but the dead cell will not. The dead

I love you Rosa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

I love you Rosa - Essay Example An 11-year old Jewish boy’s love for his young, widowed sister-in-law! A writer-director can do more justice to the strength and originality of the movie than a professional director. For, a writer-director puts his heart and soul of the story, in the minutest details of direction. A religious theme has been tackled in a professional style without bias, fear or favor. He doesn’t bind the viewer and causes stress, with tension-producing interpretations, of religious revelations. â€Å"His story, unfolded mostly through a flashback, derives from the tenets in Deuteronomy on the duty of a man to marry his brothers widow as well as those involving the widows rights if shes refused. His hero, even under ancient law, is too young to marry, but he jumps at the chance to live with the sister-in-law he adores despite the opposition of his family and the taunts and attacks of friends and neighbors.† (Movie Review†¦.) The strongest character is the determined widow. Notwithstanding the ridicule and criticism she faces by the community leaders, she sticks to her position, she understands the affection of the 11 year young boy, but rejects him as her husband. Rosa, who has a progressive outlook, is not interested in either child-rearing or remarriage. Her rejection is strong and humiliating for the boy as she shoos him away. The boy still loves her and his sacrifice for his love is genuine, (they say, true love doesn’t expects to be loved back), he frees her from her religious commitment. In the end, she decides to marry him. The main characters in the movie are, Michal Bat-Adam, is the stalwart Roza, Gabi Otterman does the role of the boy torn apart and confused by tough and difficult-to-challenge religious beliefs. Avner Chezkiyahu is the understanding and affectionate rabbi, Yosef Shiloah is the widow’s suitor and the boy’s employer, who is trying to take undue advantage in a difficult

Plastic Innovations Case Material Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Plastic Innovations Case Material - Essay Example A stable attention to a new strategy and a very professional innovative staff allow strategy to reach a great qualitative point and to obtain great paybacks in the sector. The operations have supported the innovation strategy enormously by inventions of new technologies and machines. The strategy has changed from production of consumer durable items, toys and component of automotive used in industries to spatulas, pasta strainers, hand whisks and others. This has been enhanced due to change in machines from small plastic moulding machines to 24 large injection-moulding machines. Early 1980s small moulding machines were used for toys and automotive components. This later expanded to enhance production of household items. The market change in 2002 from industrial commodities to household; facilitated strategy enhancement to a greater height. This later facilitated change in expertize as seen in 2006 when a new marketing manager was hired. The Focus and Concept brands were initiated due to the change in management of marketing director. It also changed the market targets and enhanced profit margin. The market is competitive and thus requires new innovations and ideas to keep up with stiff competition. Similarly, operation to keep up with demands and quality must keep on changing its requirements. Markets do change as consumers frequently change their aspects of the environment. Likewise, operational requirements must change to meet or challenge environment change. As markets demands get sophisticated, so do operational requirements do. Markets and operations requirements differ in the sense that larger markets mean more and more profit but, operational costs go higher as markets expanded. Operation requires experts to implement the desired result or objections of company. Similarly, markets require qualified team to achieve desired results. The demand for an idea or concept choice is less predictable that leads to unpredictable changes in

Child discipline and corporal punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Child discipline and corporal punishment - Essay Example Sometimes, objective advice is better acknowledged and turns out more indelible in the child’s mind compared to advise from one’s parents, which the child himself or herself may have already prejudged as prejudiced against him or her. Moreover, with other people scolding him or her, there is some degree of shame or embarrassment for the child. He will hopefully take this positively and make sure that he would never be in the same situation ever again. Furthermore, the child may also take this opportunity to voice out his or her emotions to a stranger, who he feels would be less judgmental and prejudiced compared to a parent who has known him or her for quite some time. Parents and school staff can learn how to use this method by trying to institute and impose it at home or at school. However, since this is only purely a personal idea of mine, then care should be taken to ensure that a psychologist has somehow expressed consent over this policy. Parents and school staff should also try to refrain from imposing power unjustly or from using sarcasm and public humiliation against the child. However, in the case of extremely defiant children, I would rather they be treated differently and they are brought to an institution where they meet equally defiant children or perhaps sent to a hospital for treatment. Ostracism or ignoring these defiant children, which is the point of my suggested alternative to corporal punishment, will simply make them find more allies and thus reinforce their behavior.

Denver International airport Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Denver International airport - Research Paper Example However, there are some conspiracies surrounding the airport. It is claimed that Denver International was built by the Illuminati as the control center for the global extermination that will initiate the New World Order (Anomalies-unlimited, n.d.). These conspiracies also claim that DIA has fewer runways compared to the old Stapleton International Airport, and despite widespread protests, it was built and opened in 1995, thus reducing Denvers capacity. It is said to have up to 8 levels of underground facilities, and workers there refuse to give details about their work and what they do. They claim that electromagnetic pulse, resulting from the experiments conducted in these basements lead to the shattering of fourteen commercial aircrafts in 2007. The airport is fenced by barbed wire, with an inward angle, to keep people in, unlike other airports. The runways are placed in the shape of a swastika from a bird’s eye view (Anomalies-unlimited, n.d.). Indoors, the airport gets stranger with the Illuminati appearing to have displayed their plans for worldwide extermination and a New World Order in two large paintings and the Mayan symbol for 2012 presiding over all. On the floor close to the paintings "Au Ag" is written, which is said to be the abbreviation for a deadly toxin Australia Antigen, and markedly the Illuminatis weapon of choice to achieve the extermination. Furthermore, strange words in an unknown language are inscribed on the floors. And finally, the Queen of England, another supposed Illuminatus, has been covertly and secretly buying up the property near the airport (Anomalies-unlimited, n.d.). If we do a little research, then all these conspiracies can be explained logically and proven wrong. The old Stapleton Airport was in the middle of the city. It was 65 years old and was a constant nuisance due to noise. It had only three runways, 10,000 foot each, whereas Denver International has

Child discipline and corporal punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Child discipline and corporal punishment - Essay Example Sometimes, objective advice is better acknowledged and turns out more indelible in the child’s mind compared to advise from one’s parents, which the child himself or herself may have already prejudged as prejudiced against him or her. Moreover, with other people scolding him or her, there is some degree of shame or embarrassment for the child. He will hopefully take this positively and make sure that he would never be in the same situation ever again. Furthermore, the child may also take this opportunity to voice out his or her emotions to a stranger, who he feels would be less judgmental and prejudiced compared to a parent who has known him or her for quite some time. Parents and school staff can learn how to use this method by trying to institute and impose it at home or at school. However, since this is only purely a personal idea of mine, then care should be taken to ensure that a psychologist has somehow expressed consent over this policy. Parents and school staff should also try to refrain from imposing power unjustly or from using sarcasm and public humiliation against the child. However, in the case of extremely defiant children, I would rather they be treated differently and they are brought to an institution where they meet equally defiant children or perhaps sent to a hospital for treatment. Ostracism or ignoring these defiant children, which is the point of my suggested alternative to corporal punishment, will simply make them find more allies and thus reinforce their behavior.

Exploring the opportunities and challenges of developing Islamic Literature review

Exploring the opportunities and challenges of developing Islamic Financial Services in Seychelles - Literature review Example In the religion of Islam, it is strongly believed that Allah alone is Sovereign and it is He who has the right to ordain a guidance path for the whole humanity. In the Holy Quran, the word â€Å"Shariah† is mentioned once: â€Å" Then, We have set you[Muhammad] on a path (Shari’a) of [Our] commandment, so follow it, and do not follow the whims of those who do not know† (Holy Quran 45:18). This verse of Holy Quran clearly stipulates that Allah has ordered to the Last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that He himself has provided some of the basic Sharia rules and regulations in the shape of the Holy Quran and You [Muhammad (PBUH)] has been ordered to follow them. In the last part of this verse, it is also ordered that whims or wishes of others are totally disallowed to be followed instead of the orders of Allah. In the Shariah, it is clearly mentioned and established fact that Allah is the Law Giver and the whole Ummah is merely His Trustee (Kettell, 2011, p.13). More clear ly, every Muslim is under a moral obligation to read, understand and act upon the Islamic rules and regulations mainly enshrined in the Holy Quran. ... s scholar, can develop an independent judgement; not even all the Muslims of the world collectively have any authority to introduce even the slightest change to it. The scope of Shariah is not limited to a single aspect of Muslim life. The Shariah is the guide for human actions which includes every dimension of human life. As a result, it attaches, sanctifies and gives religious importance and religious aspect to activities that may look mundane. Also, it encompasses constitutional and regulatory rules and regulations. Muslims individually and collectively are ordered to conduct their daily economic, social, personal, political, religious and other activities in accordance with the Shariah rules and regulations provided in the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and other sources of Shariah. The sources of shariah Kelly (2008) mentions the following sources of Shariah in the religion of Islam (p.109): The Quran; The Sunnah; The Ijtihad; The Ijma; The Qiyas. The Quran Naqvi (2012, p.23) states tha t Muslims believe that the Holy Quran is the final word from Allah. The Holy Quran is the main source of Shariah. In this main source, Allah has provided numerous orders, rules and regulations relating to different aspect of human life. In order to religiously conduct daily human activities, the Holy Quran provides guidance relating to the essential human activities. Broadly speaking, the Holy Quran provides guidance on two aspects of human life: relationship between humans and the relationship between humans and Allah. Between these two aspects, the majority of the guidance has focused on the relationship between humans. As humans are required to interact for various reasons including political, social, economic, and personal and so on, Allah has included maximum guidance on these issues

Molar Mass by Free

Molar Mass by Freezing Point Depression Essay Procedures: Weigh the test tube. Assemble the apparatus of thermometer, split stopper, and stirrer. Measure about eight grams of BHT into the test tube. Record the combined mass, and the mass of the BHT. Clamp the test tube in the beaker and insert the thermometer and stirring wire assembly into the test tube and clamp the assembly to the ring stand. The thermometer should on top of the solid. Add water to the beaker so that the solid is well below the level of the water. Heat the water bath to about 90Â ° Celsius. Allow the BHT in the test tube to melt. When the temperature of the BHT is 80Â ° Celsius or higher, remove the thermometer and test tube from the water bath. The thermometer should maintain position in proportion to the BHT, but the test tube should be out of the water bath beaker. Record the temperature of the BHT every 20 seconds for 30 minutes. Stir the BHT until it solidifies. Measure and record approximately one gram of cetyl alcohol. Place the cetyl alcohol in the test tube containing the BHT. Replace the test tube to the water bath. Heat the test tube until the substances are melted, and reach a temperature over 80Â ° Celsius. Once it exceeds 80Â ° C, remove the test tube from the water bath but maintain the thermometer position in proportion to the mixture. Record the temperature of the BHT every 20 seconds for 30 minutes. Stir the mixture until it solidifies. Repeat the above steps with fresh BHT and, a clean test tube, thermometer, stirrer, and approximately one gram of the unknown compound in place of the cetyl alcohol. Analysis: For the lab, the calculated percent error was 2.99%. The percent error came from the difference in the molar mass of the unknown substance as experienced in the lab, and in the accepted data. A possible point of error was in whether or not a group stirred the substance as it was cooling. This would affect the data recorded, and skew the results depending on how constant the stirring was between trials. If the lab were to be preformed again, the students would all have the same amount of stirring of the cooling substance, either none at all, or a constant stirring throughout the 30 minute cooling period. Conclusion: The purpose of this lab was to determine the molar mass of an unknown substance by measuring the freezing point depression of a solution of an unknown substance and BHT, and to compare the data collected with the accepted value for the lab. The purpose of the lab was fulfilled as the students determined the molar mass of the unknown substance, despite much struggle throughout the process of the lab. Much of the class data was extremely off of the range of acceptable margin of error, so all groups are using the data from a successful group to perform the report.

Increasing Visual Comfort with Blue Light in Video

Increasing Visual Comfort with Blue Light in Video Adjusting the blue light of the video to increase the visual comfort belong to the changed of light environment Abstract: This paper is an approached method adjusting the blue light of the video to reduce the eye strainwhen people watching video on digital devices such as computer display, smartphone screen or tablet in different luminance of the environments light. The method is using the light sensor getting the luminance values of the light, then sending these values immediately to our program to process the frame of the video. The videos frames will be processed based on lightings values and given the new videos frames which are reduced the brightness light. The video with reduced the brightness and blue light will increase the visual comfort to the human eyes when people watch the video in different light environments from brightness to darkness. Keywords: blue light, eye strain, lighting environment, video, visual comfort. 1. Introduction In recently years, digital devices are very popular in the world because they are very useful in the humans life. The digital display of devices is produced from a variety of technology called light emitting diodes (LED). From this technology, the digital display exposes to blue light that is a primary factor causing the eye strain and visual discomfort. Some electronic device displays such as computer screen, laptop, smartphone device or TV emit a lot of the brightness light contained the blue lights which bring to people the eye symptoms. As we know that, the blue light has a short wavelength in the area of the visible light spectrum. The blue lights wavelength has a range from 380nm (nanometer) to 500 nm; it is one of the shortest and highest energy wavelengths. The sources of blue light include the sun, computer display, smartphone screen, television, fluorescent and LED lighting. The eye strain is asthenopia in the medical term. When people concentrate their eyes on the digital display overtime, they will get the symptoms of ocular as fatigue, tired eyes, blurred vision, headache, neck pain and dry eyes. In the report of the vision council, there is 44% activity associated with the digital device used for work and 43 % for recreational reading. Besides, nearly 30% of the adults spend more than half of waking hours (> 9 hours) using a digital device. By using the most commonly digital devices as computer, smartphone, tablets, television,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the symptoms of digital eye strain are 32,8%, that is the highest symptom. When doing the jobs or watching video on the computer more than two hours, people will get stress or some other symptoms. The reason is that some frames of the video have many brightness lights that will expose the blue lights to make people feel uncomfortable. In addition, if the people watch the same movie on day or night with the glare, they will tired eyes, general fatigue, blurring or headaches. As we are known that the brightness video is normal to the eyes at day because the daylight is brightness also, but it is glaring when watching at night or in darkness environment condition. To filter or adjust the blue light, there are many ways to decrease the brightness light and increase the visual comfort such as using blue light filter applications, changing text and background color on the screen, or using the glasses. These methods have some advantages and disadvantages. In our research, we propose the system to process the color of videos frame belonging to the luminance value of the light environment. Our method is set up a system to perceive the light environment. Based on the darkness or brightness light, we will process the collected value from sensor directly to the videos frame and display on the digital display after filtering blue light on the video. From this method, the color and histogram of videos frame will be rendered immediately when the environment changed. It means that if the video is taken from another environment, it will be processed adjusting the blue light to reduce the eye strain and enhance the visual comfort in the current environment o f light when the viewer watching. 2. Related works In previous researches, there are many research papers talking about the blue light that is affected to the human eyes. From the blue light exposed website, they are talking about what is the visible light and blue light. Then, they also talk how the important of protection the humans eyes from the harmful effects of the blue light rays. Besides, this website also presents which symptoms effect to the eyes such as blurry vision, dry and irritated eyes, neck pain and difficulty focusing. They apply the rule 20-20-20: watching every 20 minutes, focus and object about 20 feets and ways for 20 seconds. They also propose some solutions to filter blue light from digital devices. Kuang-Tsu Shih[3] and his coworkers show the solution to reduce harmful blue light and optimize the spectral transmittance and minimize the color distortion in the blocking harmful blue light while preserving image color appearance. Yong-Woo Kim[1] and coworkers introduce the method to decrease the visual discomfort by reducing blue light component. They survey perceived symptom before and after watching a movie and measure the eye-blink rates of the participants, saccadic movements and near the point of convergence in his analysis effects of the blue light. Yoon-Suk Kang[2] said that the brighter video gives more discomfort than the darker video after making the comparison on stereoscopic 3D display, auto-stereoscopic 3D monitor and HDM devices. Additionally, there are some research papers about reading luminance of the light and turn on the light in the darker environment or turned off it in bright. In the tutorials point, they introduce about the histogram of an image and help to know which image is dark or bright from the histogram. From the histogram equalization article, Robert Krutsch and David Tenorio[4] said that which histogram covers all the possible values in the grayscale used is a good histogram. It means that the histogram will be a good contrast and details in the image will be observed more easily. 3. Theory Information 3.1. Blue light and visual comfort Visual comfort is a metric that is used to rate the lighting senses. In the recently years, several people make the research about the visual comfort and the relation from the lighting environment to the visual comfort. According to the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), the standards on lighting environment with many parameters as relevant for visual comfort including color rendering index and correlated color temperature. Therefore, there is some research papers are considered on surfaces brightness and color, light distribution and appearance of light and luminaires. The Unified Glare Rating (UGR) system that is developed by CIE in 1995 to evaluate the visual comfort glare by lighting sources as follow: Where: Lb is the background luminance(cd/m2), Li is the luminance (cd/m2), Pi is the position of each luminance. From the CIE, the higher UGR value suggests the higher visual discomfort glare. Besides, the researchers consider that luminance arrangement, LED lights quantity and lighting source surface distribution can be the factor causing discomfort. They said that if the number of LED increases then the glare is decreased. In many case studies research, people recognize that the color affects to the visual comfort in the mood and performance. As we known, the visible light has a wavelength from 400nm to 700nm (nanometer). It is visible for the human eye and responsible for the sense of the sight. In this range, the longer wavelengths are a red light and the shorter wavelengths are blue light. The blue light has a wavelength spectrum of between approximately 380nm and 500nm. It is one of the shortest and highest energies of wavelength. Fig. 1. Light spectrum with visible light (400-700 nm) and blue light (380-500 nm) Where is the blue light? And, what effect of the blue light to the human life? The blue light actually exists anywhere. It is stored in the light of the sun and traveled through the atmosphere. Furthermore, the blue light is exposed from the digital devices such as PC monitor, smartphone screens, TVs, laptops, tablet displays, fluorescent and LED light. Today, the LED display is very popular. It is used the LED back-light technology to enhance the brightness of the screen and clarity. Unfortunately, the LED has the very height energy of the wavelength or blue light. Because of the development of PC, smartphone,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.the digital devices with this technology are used on them. Therefore, people will watch the blue light too much. Besides of some benefits of blue light as boot alertness, help memory and cognitive function and evaluate moods, if people get the blue light emitted from the digital devices, they will get stress and eye strain. There are many kinds of eye strain as blurry vision, dry and irritated eyes, difficulty focusing, headaches, back pain,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ They also increase the risk of depression, permanent eye damage or loss vision. There are the research from Harvard said that if people work the night shift and exposure to the blue light to get several types of cancer diabetes, heart disease or increased risk of depression. 3.2. Hardware circuit and Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) sensor In our research, the hardware used to process and transfer luminance of lighting environment is Arduino circuit board. Arduino is an important circuit board that communicates with the computer and other electric devices via USB port. It also gets output data from electric devices and sends to the computer to process. Arduino is very famous microcontroller board with many categories. Arduino Uno is used in our research based on the ATmega328. The board has 14 digital output pins including 06 digital pins used as PWM output. It has the operating voltage of 5V and limitation of the input voltage from 6V to 20V. Additional, DC current of each I/O pin is 20mA. Flash memory has a capacity 32KB. Arduino read inputs from a sensor, finger on the button, data from USB or a Twitter message, then turn it into an output as activating motors, turning on a LED or publishing something online. There are a lot of projects in many fields and worldwide community of makers using the board to set up their projects. To do something, you can tell what you want to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. Arduino is changing to adapt to new need and challenges with simple 8-bits boards to products for Internet of Things (IoT), wearable, 3D printing, and embedded environments. Fig. 2. Arduino board (left),LDR sensor (center) and characteristic of LDR sensor schema (right) LDR sensor is a light sensitive device. It is made up of semiconductor materials having high resistance. It operates based on the resistance. If its resistance is very high, the LDR is kept in dark and brighter when its resistance decreases. When the light is incident, it takes 8 to 12 ms for the change in resistance to taking place and takes one or more seconds for the resistance to rise back again. LDR has a low cost and simple in structure. People use it as a light sensor. It is used for lamps on street or light intensity meters, etc. 3.3. Making image contrast A histogram is a graph. It presents the frequency of anything that is provided in the dataset. The graph has two axes: y-axis presents the counting number of frequency and x-axis is the values of things in the dataset. In image processing, the histogram displays frequency of pixel intensity values. While x-axis is the gray of intensities, then y-axis shows the frequency of these intensities. The histogram is very useful in image processing. It can be used in medical to predict something from X-ray picture, adjusting the contrast of an image or using in thresholding, Therefore, equalization histogram is necessary to get the balance in the image. To enhance the contrast, we make the histogram equalization. After equalization, the intensity of the image is better distributed on the histogram. There are some methods to equalize the histogram such as histogram expansion, local area histogram equalization, cumulative histogram equalization, par and odd sectioning. Fig. 3. Histogram equalization 4. Algorithm and results In the previous section, the blue light is a primary to make the people getting eye strain and visual discomfort when they work on the digital display devices. The eye strain will make people get stress or some other diseases. If people work or watch image/movie long time on the computer or digital devices at the night, the eye strain and discomfort will be increased more and more. This is very dangerous to the human eyes and their mental. With the blue light exposed from the PC monitor, people work on the screen of the computer or the laptop will increase the stress or eye strain. Especially, it will be increased more and more visual discomfort if people watch image or video at the night. At that time, the light of environment is too dark, and the video may have much lights of the blue color. So, reducing the eye strain and increasing visual comfort that synonym to reduce the blue light on each frame of the video is very necessary in this case. The problem is how to reduce it? From our research, we propose the solution to help people reduce the eye strain when they watch the video in the darkness environment of light. Our solution is a system with two parts including electric devices and image processing program. Our systems structure is described in the following figure: Fig. 4. The structure of reducing blue light and increasing visual comfort system. In the process, if we have the video that is captured from brightness environments. As we known that, the brighter frames of the video caused more visual discomfort than darker video. So, when we watch the brighter video in the dark lighting environment, we will get more visual discomfort. How to know which is the brighter or darker lighting environment? We use the LDR sensor. LDR sensor with the resistor to get the intensity of the environment and Arduino board collects the values of LDR. On the other hand, we get the information from the input video (videos frames) via histogram. We process every pixel from the input video (videos frames) with the value collected by Arduino. In the next, we are mapping the pixels color after processed into (255,255,255). Then, we make the equalization histogram for the image to enhance the contrast. Finally, the new output video (videos frames) is rendered and reduced blue light in the new environment. In generally, our algorithm is presented as following: Read luminance value of current environment by LDR sensor (E). Calculate and send to the program value of (E). Read the desired video by sequentially frames. Calculate the value of (E) on each pixel of videos frames. Process color of the videos frames after calculating in the fourth step. Equalize histogram to enhance the contrast of the videos frames. Display new rendered video after reduced eyestrain or visual discomfort (increasing visual comfort). The LDR light sensor gets the lights luminance of the environment and process that value by using Arduino board. The computer read the video and the lightings luminance values sent from the Arduino board based on the lightings luminance values, we calculate the histogram and process above videos frames, then rerender that video suitable to the environment light. The output video is reduced the blue-light and reduces the eye strain of the viewer. Finally, the viewer will watch the video in less visual discomfort in the different lighting environments (from brightness to darkness). Based on the algorithm and processing video, we try to work on the day and night with the same video. For easy imaging, we choose an image frame of video and process on it with the luminance value from lighting environment. The result has some different images that are different to the original image. The results are depicted as follow: Original image frame Result image frame on the day Result image frame at the night in less darknessResult image frame at the night in very darkness Fig. 5. Output image frame in different values collected from light sensor For the 3D stereo images, we also process the left and right images belonging to the light values that are collected from the LDR light sensor via Arduino circuit board. In this case, re-rendered the images by calculating a color based on environment light is very important because it is strong effected to the eye. If the blue light is not reduced, the eye strain will be stronger and visual discomfort more increasing when watching 3D stereo movie. 5. Conclusion Today, the digital devices are very popular. It always exists parallel in the humans life. Therefore, watching video on the digital display devices in a long time will get stress, eye strain, and visual discomfort. Our paper has proposed the solution to the viewer when they watch the video by using light sensor-LDR. The LDR light sensor perceives the current light environment, the system processes to make an output video belonging to the environment that is reduced eye strain and visual discomfort. Our solution gives the result depending on correspondence environment brightness or darkness. References Yong-Woo Kim and Hang-Bong Kang. (2016). Analysis of blue-light effects in reducing visual discomfort from watching stereoscopic 3D video. Society for Imaging Science and Technology. Yoon-Suk Kang and Sungho Cho. (2016). Comparison of visual discomfort when viewing 3D videos with various contrast changes on a stereoscopic 3D display, an autostereoscopic display, and an HMD. Society for ImagingScience and Technology. Kuang-Tsu Shih, Jen-Shuo Liu, Frank Shyu, Su-Ling Yeh, and Homer H. Chen. (2016). Blocking Harmful Blue Light while Preserving Image Color Appearance. ACM Trans. Graph, Vol. 35, No. 6, Article 175, 10 pages. Takashi Shibata, Joohwan Kim, David M. Hoffman, Martin S. Banks. (2011). The zone of comfort: Predicting visual discomfort with stereo displays. Journal of Vision, 11(8):11, 1-29. Gordon Wetzstein, Wolfgang Heidrich1 and David Luebke. (2010). Optical Image Processing Using Light Modulation Displays. Computer Graphics Forum, vol 29, issue 6, pp. 1934-1944. Monica Sà ¤t. (2010). Colour And Light And The Human Area For Visual Comfort. Colour and Light in Architecture_First International Conference 2010_Proceedings, 285-291. Robert Krutsch and David Tenorio. (2011). Histogram Equalization. Technical Report, Microcontroller Solutions Group, Guadalajara, Rev.0. Paola Iacomussi , Michela Radis, Giuseppe Rossi, Laura Rossi. (2015). Visual Comfort with LED Lighting. The 6th International Building Physics Conference, IBPC. Energy Procedia 78 ( 2015 ) 729 734. The Vision Council. (2011). Protect your eyes from Digital devices. Digital eye strain report, unpublished. Effect of blue light technology, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_blue_lights_technology. Eye Strain, http://www.medicinenet.com/eye_strain/article.htm. Arduino Tutorial,  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Calibration. Visual comfort probability, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_comfort_probability Authors Viet Tran Hoang is a PhD candidate in Global School of Media, Soongsil University, Seoul,Korea. He had received his B.S degree in Computer Science from Cantho University, Vietnam, in 2000. He hold a M.S degree in Information System Management from HAN University, Netherlands, in 2011. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Computer Graphics at Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea. His research interests include image processing, 3D real-time rendering and 3D stereoscopic rendering.

Alzheimers Disease: What are we Forgetting? Essay -- Alzheimers Dise

Alzheimer's Disease: What are we Forgetting? Alzheimer's disease (pronounced Alz'-hi-merz) is a progressive, degenerative disease that affects the brain and results in impaired memory, thinking and behavior. It was first described by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906 and has been diagnosed in millions of people to this day (1). This disease results, ultimately, in the destruction of the brain and brings new meaning and insights into just how much brain may equal behavior. Alzheimers is a degenerative disease that usually begins gradually, causing a person to have memory lapses in both basic knowledge and simple tasks (7). Alzheimers disease causes the formation of abnormal structures in the brain called plaques and tangles (particularly causatory are NFTs- neurofibrillary tangles) (5). As they accumulate in affected individuals, nerve cell connections are reduced. Some initial symptoms are loss of job skills, difficulty with familiar tasks, language problems, unawareness of time and place, lack of good judgment, problems with abstract thinking, misplacing things, and dramatic changes in personality (1). The speed with which the disease progresses can vary, but ultimately, as it destroys brain cells, causes confusion, personality and behavior changes and impaired judgment so severe that the patient may not seem to be the same person. Communication becomes difficult for the patient as they struggle to find words, finish thoughts or follow directions. So me experts classify the disease by stage (early, middle and late). But specific behaviors and how long they last vary greatly, even within each stage of the disease. Eventually, most people with Alzheimers become unable to care for themselves (1). The symptomology here is very dif... ...hem. The person is no longer "there", yet their body can be seen plainly. So who are we? Flesh? Brain? Something else that our brain and flesh create together? Probably. Those afflicted with Alzheimer's experience the ultimate brain shutdown. Their brains are destroyed by a currently unstoppable disease; connections are lost. And in the process of losing their minds, they lose themselves. WWW Sources 1)Alzheimer's Association http://www.alz.org/ 2)Alzheimers.com http://www.alzheimers.com/ 3)Alzheimer's Disease Review http://www.coa.uky.edu/ADReview/ 4)Alzheimer Research Forum http://ww.alzforum.org/ 5)Alzheimer starting point? http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/~rebhan/entorhinal.html 6)Alzheimer Web http://dsmallpc2.path.unimelb.edu.au/ad.html 7)The Health Connection http://thehealthconnection.com/Disease%20Center/diseases/alzheim.asp