Geological Resources In Hong Kong Environmental Sciences Essay

Hong Kong is a little particular administrative part located at the southern portion of China. Within a little country, it has a really rich geological diverseness ( Yeung, 2010 ) . The geological diverseness can be valued in assorted facets, depending on which parties can be benefited. Some of the values can be regarded as resources, which can be used to make good to human existences. The geological resources profit our life in different ways, such as in our economic system, society and the environment. In this essay, it is traveling to concentrate how different geological resources benefit Hong Kong people in inside informations. When speaking approximately geological resources, most people would believe of mineral ore. There are different minerals ores distributed across Hong Kong, both metallic and non-metallic one, such as the lead mine in Lin Ma Hang and the tungsten mine in Needle Hill, but all of them are closed due to no net income ( Sewell, Tang, & A ; Shaw, 2009 ) . Although the economic system of Hong Kong is no longer based with primary industry now, there was a flourishing excavation industrial activity in the yesteryear. This was the Fe ore located in Ma On Shan which was the lone industrial mine running in a big graduated table of all time in the history of Hong Kong ( Ruan, 2009 ) . The formation of the Fe ore is due to the endogenic procedures, which is described as the followers ( Wu, 2003 ) . The volcanic activities in Ma On Shan country 1000000s old ages ago causes magma invasion. Before the volcanic activity, the type of stones in Ma On Shan was chiefly sedimentary stone. The invasion along faults causes chemical reaction between the stone and the magma, known as contact metamorphism. High temperature and force per unit area modifies the chemical science of the affected sedimentary stones, and go metamorphous stone ( Skarn ) . As the sedimentary stone is more permeable, H2O infiltrates. Magma heats up the H2O. As hot H2O has higher solubility, it solutes the minerals in the magma and brings to the lower temperature topographic points harmonizing to the jurisprudence of geothermic gradient. The fluid is known as geothermofluid. Minerals in the geothermofluid sedimentation when the H2O temperature drops, as the solubility of minerals reduces. The perennial procedure causes enrichment of minerals and forms the Fe ore. The environing country of the mine has developed quickly with schools, markets and church established, to function the mineworkers and their households. However, the Fe mine has been abandoned in 1976, go forthing a few mineworkers remaining at that place with empty schools and church ( Ho, 2009 ) . The geological resources in Ma On Shan witnessed the rise and autumn of a topographic point and the people. The topographic point now becomes a site for tourers to boost, to hold merriment and to research the excavation history. Non-metallic mineral Besides minerals that can be sold for net income, rock quarrying and sea sand excavation can non be ignored because they are indispensable for the development of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has rich screen of volcanic stones with 50 % and 35 % of flinty stone ( Geopark, 2009 ) . They are utile for building. There are three preies, managed by CEDD, located in Lam Tei, Anderson Road and Shek O, which are really of import in supplying edifice stuffs for the building undertakings ( CEDD, 2009 ) . Furthermore, the stone stuffs are besides used for reclamination in developing the new towns every bit good as for the Victoria Harbour. The dirt and stone minerals in the borrow country in Tai Tong East were extracted for the building of Tin Shui Wai New Town. Some of the stones in the preies and the sea sand from the sea were used for the reclamination undertakings along the Victoria Harbour. Without these resources to increase the sum of level land, it is non easy to happen adequate infinites to busy a big sum of population in Hong Kong. Rock quarrying has a really long history in Hong Kong which can be traced back to the yesteryear when the Hong Kong had non yet opened by the British people. During that clip, Hakka people settled in different topographic points in Hong Kong, trusting on rock quarrying for life. One of the celebrated sites is the Four Hills in the East Kowloon, which are Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Tso Wan, Cha Kwo Ling and Lei Yue Mun, stand foring the beginning of rock quarrying history by Hakka people in Hong Kong ( Yu, 2009 ) . The Hakka people have use the local stuffs to construct their houses and the stuffs are granite ( Wordie, 2007 ) . The Hakka people besides earned their life through pull outing the granite by manus and sold it. Their stones have become the building stuffs of some of import edifices such as the Legislative Council Building ( Sing Tao Daily, 2007 ) . Some of the stones are sold to Guangzhou to construct the Sacred Heart Cathedral in 1861 ( Wordie, 2007 ) . With such rich in resources, people get richer and the Hakka small towns started to turn. Their rock-mining narrative can be reflected in the Hakka common people vocal every bit good ( Li, 2010 ) . Therefore, the geological resources helped to put down the foundation of their Hakka civilization in East Kowloon. In add-on, it besides reflects the character of hardworking of Hakka people and their part to the society development. The chemical weathering of felspar in granite leads to the formation of china clay ( Waugh, 2005 ) . Therefore, kaolin mine can be found in Cha Kwo Ling in East Kowloon every bit good. Another celebrated site utilizing china clay as the beginning for doing China is in a Hakka small town in Wun Yiu in Tai Po. In fact, the name of the topographic point reflects its economic activity V doing China. Wun Yiu has established since the in-between age of Ming Dynasty ( Chen, 2007 ) . The Hakka built a temple to praise the Saint of Potter V Fan Xian ( OA?P ) . Every twelvemonth, the Hakka people in the small town observe its birthday which is a alone civilization in that topographic point ( Chan, 2008 ) . However, due to cut downing militias of china clay, the china-making activities was stopped in 1930s and the villagers changed to farming to gain a life ( Chan, 2008 ) . The jubilation still continues. The geological resources non merely profit the economic system in at that place, but besid es of import to their civilization and the societal coherence. Agribusiness Besides direct stuffs extraction, human sorts so indirectly extract the minerals in dirt through agribusiness. Soil is besides an of import geological resource to people. Fertile dirts are normally weathered from pyrogenic stones because pyrogenic stones are formed in the beginning of the stone rhythm ( Troeh & A ; Thompson, 2005 ) : In the beginning of stone rhythm, the stone signifiers from chilling of lava or magma which keeps most of the minerals. By the procedures of enduring and eroding, the pyrogenic stone will be broken in pieces and transported to other topographic points through erosional agents. During the procedure of transit, the minerals in the pyrogenic stone will be lost to the environment such as solution in H2O. As a consequence, the minerals in the sedimentary stones are few, comparing with pyrogenic stone, so the dirt derived from sedimentary stones is sterile. In Hong Kong, pyrogenic stone has the largest surface screen for approximately 85 % ( Geopark, 2009 ) , so most of the land is suited for the flora growing. Generally, the agricultural lands are found on or shut to the pyrogenic stone, particularly the volcanic stones. For illustration, the dirts and the minerals on the mountains in Lam Tusen, which the type of the stone on the mountains is volcanic stone, are carried to the low-lying land to enrich the dirt. Therefore, agricultural activities are active along the Lam Tusen Valley. Without the volcanic stones, the life of the people in there will be really rough as turning nutrient on an sterile land is hard. For that ground, geological resources, in this instance, are indispensable for the endurance of human existences. Tourism The weather-beaten and scoured stones are besides geological resources which are of import for the development of touristry. In Hong Kong, there are different landscapes characteristics are associated with different geological procedures. Due to strong predominating air current from the E, it is easy to happen erosional coastal characteristics in the eastern portion of Hong Kong, by the action of moving ridges ( Sewell, Tang, & A ; Shaw, 2009 ) . In Tung Ping Chau, sea stack, sea cave and wave-cut platform can be found ( Ng & A ; Chan, 2008 ) . These characteristics provide beautiful sceneries for the tourers to astonish and appreciate. Besides costal eroding, weathering is besides of import in determining the stone characteristics. For illustration in Po Toi, there are a batch of interesting and typical stone characteristics on the island, such as the Buddhist Monk and the Tortoise Traveling up the Hill ( Ng & A ; Chan, 2008 ) . These geological resources are recreational musca volitanss for people to bask during vacations. Such characteristics have attracted a batch of tourers from local and abroad, which can assist to advance the local touristry in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a great geodiveristy and has a possible to set up a Geopark. With the aid of the Chinese Government, the Geopark is officially opened on 3 November 2009 ( Government News, 2009 ) . The geopark is divided into two chief parts, which are the sedimentary stone parts in the Northeast New Territories and the volcanic stone parts in Sai Kung, with a sum of eight scenery sites ( HKSAR, 2010 ) . In the beginning of six months since the park established, it has attracted more than half million visitants ( Huang, 2010 ) . These tourers spend money on booking boats, engaging a usher, basking the seafood on the outlying islands and purchasing traditional seafood from the villagers. In add-on to the outgos passing outside the park, the gross generated from touristry due to the geopark, is expected about 200 million dollars a twelvemonth ( Ming Pao, 2010 ) . With the use of the geological resources, it contributes to our economic system development and provides occupations chances fo r the local people. It can heighten the image and repute of touristry industry of Hong Kong every bit good ( Huang & A ; Weng, 2009 ) . Education and scientific research Furthermore, these sites have instruction and scientific values to people. For instruction intents, these geological landforms provide a platform for people and particularly the childs to understand the endogenic procedures and exogenetic procedures in determining the Earth surface. It is astonishing to cognize the power of the Nature. The characteristics will non be formed in the manner the fables told us, such as the Amah Rock was formed because the God turns the adult female and the babe into stone ( Cai, 2009 ) . In fact, the formation of the Amah Rock is due to different sorts of enduring procedures acted on granite. Another illustration is Ma Shi Chau Special Area where is a best topographic point for geographics lesson, as sedimentary stones, coastal landforms, turn uping and blaming can be found on this small island ( Wong, 2009 ) . Therefore, the geological resources help us to heighten our physical geographics cognition. For scientific values, the research workers and experts can understand the development of the Earth history through reading the stone samples. By understanding our yesteryear, the geological history of Hong Kong can be reviewed and so it can be used to foretell the hereafter. The environmental alteration can be identified as good, such as low-lying rise and clime alteration. They are utile for environmental modeling for scientific research. Other geological history, the human sort history can be studied, as the dirt under the surface keeps the artefacts for the archeologists in future to delve them up. In add-ons, geodiversity supports biodiversity, through supplying nutrients for workss and home grounds for animate beings ( Ng, 2006 ) . By understanding of the maps of stones and their relationship, it can increase the public consciousness that protecting stones is a manner to protect the natural ecosystems. Therefore, the geological resources are important in assisting instruction and scientific research. Burial things The geological resources can lend the society through supplying topographic points to bury our refuse. In Hong Kong, happening a topographic point to bury our tremendous refuse produced every twenty-four hours is hard. Presently, the society has a hot argument on the issue of spread outing the landfill site in Tseung Kwan O, doing the authorities in a hard state of affairs ( Guo, 2010 ) . Other than burying refuse, burying dead organic structures is another job that the authorities has to cover with. The deficit of infinites for hive awaying ashes is limited. Some lands are converted into ash Fieldss by some private developers to gain net income, even though some of them have non received permission from the authorities ( Cheung & A ; Wong, 2010 ) . In order to work out the jobs, the direction of the geological resources V land, has to be careful to avoid farther complications. Legends and civilization Finally, some of the typical stone characteristics has become a fable or being praised for its supernatural power. For fable, the Amah Rock is an illustration. One of the illustrations is the Lovers Rock in Bowen Road in the Mid-level. During the Chinese Valentine Day, a figure of people would see Lovers Rock to wish a durable relationship or hold a boy- or girlfriend ( Lu & A ; Mai, 2003 ) . For Lion Rock, it gives a sense of properties and a contemplation to the character of Hong Kong people. The geological resources provide a platform for people s imaginativeness and creativeness. It besides gives faith to people who are confused or without confident. Therefore, it contributes to our psychological science. Decision To reason, the geological resources are rich in this small metropolis. There are metallic and non-metallic minerals which support the local civilization, economical development and the infrastructural buildings. The typical landforms encourage touristries and so provide occupation chances. The geological characteristics can ease the instruction and scientific research. Last, the legendised stone characteristics give some cultural values to Hong Kong. These resources are indispensable to our day-to-day life as we depends it for money, nutrient, lodging and besides the psychological demands. Therefore, the geological resources should be treasured as they belong to each of us in Hong Kong. We have to collaborate together to protect them before it is excessively late.

Management Case Study Essay

I.CURRENT SITUATION A.Past Corporate Performance Indexes i.Marvel Enterprise Incorporated Marvel Enterprises, Inc. is an industry-leading firm whose core business is character-based entertainment. Marvel’s foundation and success is built on their proprietary library of over 4,700 characters featured in a variety of media for nearly seventy years (1939-2004). Marvel utilizes its character franchises in licensing agreements, and publishing of comic books through the division of Marvel Comics. ii.How it was formally organized: First Management Marvel had its first taste of corporate culture when founder Martin Goodman sold the publishing outfit that began life as Timely Comics to Perfect Film and Chemical– a company known for film processing and mail order drug sales in 1968. Perfect grouped Marvel under the Magazine Management brand. 1972 saw Stan Lee stepping in for Goodman as publisher, while parent company Perfect rebranded itself as Cadence Corporation the following year. The wonky Magazine Management Co. now officially became known as Marvel Comics Group. iii.New World Pictures purchased Governance of Cadence Industries for Marvel Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. (Marvel or MEG), the parent company of Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions, was put up for sale as part of the liquidation of its then parent corporation, Cadence Industries. Marvel was sold to New World Pictures. Cadence Industries, formerly Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation, was an American conglomerate owned by Martin â€Å"Marty† S. Ackerman. In 1989, Ronald Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings group of companies bought Marvel Entertainment Group from New World for $82.5 million, not including Marvel Productions, which was folded into New World’s TV and movie business. â€Å"It is a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property,† said Perelman. â€Å"Disney’s got much more highly recognized characters and softer characters, whereas our characters are termed action heroes. But at Marvel we are now in the business of the creation and marketing of characters. iv.Going Public, Bankruptcy and Acquisition: Perelman’s Governance Marvel made an initial public offer of 40% of the stock in July 1991, giving $40 million from the proceeds to Andrews Group, Marvel’s then direct parent corporation within MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings. Marvel purchased the trading card company Fleer within a year of going public. In April 1993, Marvel acquired 46% of ToyBiz, for the rights to make Marvel toys.] The Andrews Group named Avi Arad of ToyBiz as the president and CEO of the Marvel Films division and of New World Family Filmworks, Inc., a New World Entertainment subsidiary. New World later became a fellow subsidiary of the Andrews Group. In 1993 and 1994, Marvel’s holding companies — Marvel Holdings, Inc. and Marvel Parent Holdings, Inc. — were formed between Andrews Group and MEG and issued over half a billion dollars in bonds under the direction of Perelman, secured by Marvel’s rising stock, which was passed up in dividends to Perlman’s group of companies. Marvel continued acquisitions with Panini, an Italian sticker-maker, in August 1994, and SkyBox International in April 1995. Under the governance of Perelman, Marvel also purchased Heroes World Distribution, a regional distributor to comic-book shops. Marvel’s attempt to distribute its products directly led to a decrease in sales and aggravated the losses which Marvel suffered when the comic book bubble popped.While licensing revenue reached $50 million in 1995, MEG laid off 275 employees on January 4, 1996. Perelman offered to have the Andrews Group purchase additional shares with an issue for $350 million in November 19 96, which would have required ToyBiz to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel. Meanwhile, Carl Icahn began buying Marvel’s bonds at 20% of their value and moved to block Perelman’s plan. The Marvel group of companies  filed for bankruptcy on December 27, 1996, but the note holders, led by Icahn, blocked this. v.Marvel as Disney Subsidiary On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion, with Marvel shareholders to receive $30 and about 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own. The voting occurred on December 31, 2009 and the merger was approved. The acquisition of Marvel was finalized hours after the shareholder vote, therefore giving Disney full ownership of Marvel Entertainment. The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange under its ticker symbol (MVL), due to the closing of the deal. On June 2, 2010 Marvel announced that it promoted Joe Quesada to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. In June 2010, Marvel set up a television division headed by Jeph Loeb as executive vice president. Three months later, Smith & Tinker licensed from Marvel the character rights for a superhero digital collectible game for Facebook and Apple’s mobile platform. On October 1, 2010, Marvel moved its offices to a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) suite at 135 W. 50th Street, New York City, New York, under a nine-year sublease contract. Stan Lee Media’s lawsuit against Marvel was dismissed again in February 2011. In July 2011, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Marvel characters co-created by Jack Kirby would remain the property of Marvel. In March 2013, Feld Entertainment agreed with Marvel to produce a Marvel Character based live arena show. Marvel was also launching a new pop culture and lifestyle web show, â€Å"Earth’s Mightiest Show†. Current Mission Marvel Enterprises Inc. aims to successfully meet the needs of its customers by continuing to design, develop, market and distribute character superheroes that made the Company’s name famous. It also aims at offering its customers fresh and different characters all the time. Not only that, but Marvel’s goal was also to secure the â€Å"best-in-class† licensing partners in all categories of its divisions in business. Current Objectives 1.To determine if Marvel can still increase the growth in their profit at a higher level. 2.To widen the range of their licensing activities. 3.To continue to maintain control over the quality of the product, from design to final engineering and execution. 4.To determine if Marvel could continue to capitalize on a limited set of prominent characters, most notably Spiderman or could decide to shift focus to a larger set of lesser- known characters that might have the potential of becoming blockbuster characters but were largely unknown to the wider public. 5.To determine if Marvel could venture beyond its current business model and take on more capital-intensive but also profitable activities. Current Strategies Marvel was acquired by Toy Biz and was named as Marvel Enterprises Inc. In line with the change of its name was the total change in its management. The start was a difficult one. Marvel’s new strategy was first aimed at monetizing the content library via licensing characters for use with media products (such as toys, apparel, collectibles, and food). Managing the library of characters to foster long-term value was the second key focus of Marvel’s new management. Retaining some form of control over the creative process- to ensure the quality of the content that featured Marvel characters was the third main strategic dimension. Marvel’s management team hired well-known artists and writers to lead its creative efforts in the publishing division, including popular writers from the film and television industry, and had started to sign exclusive contracts with key creative talent. Current Policies Some of the policies implemented by Marvel Enterprises Inc. to its management are: 1.Excluding its â€Å"Spider- Man† character from the deal with TBW (Hong Kong based independent Company) in creating the product design, marketing  and sales because Spider-Man has a separate deal with Sony Pictures. 2.Maintaining an incredible performance for its Toy division because competition was so intense at this industry. 3.Maintaining a wide channel of distribution of its products. 4.Pursuing a diversified base of studio partners, both to ensure their commitment to each project and to mitigate risks regarding Marvel’s motion picture division. 5.Widening the range of its licensing activities for its characters. 6.Investing in profitable investment-related activities. 7.Strictly implementing rules and regulations in its management. 8.Maintaining an effective internal control over its management. II.Corporate Governance A.Board of Directors i.Directors Marvel’s Board of Directors has three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms. Sid Ganis and James F. Halpin were elected at the 2008 annual meeting as Class I directors to serve a three-year term. Morton E. Handel, F. Peter Cuneo and Isaac Perlmutter were elected at the 2007 annual meeting as Class III directors to serve a three-year term. Richard L. Solar was elected, along with Avi Arad, who later resigned, at the 2006 annual meeting of stockholders as a Class II director to serve a three-year term. The Board of Directors elected James W. Breyer to replace Mr. Arad in June 2006, and Mr. Breyer is serving out the remainder of Mr. Arad’s term. In July 2007, the Board of Directors increased the size of the Board by one Board seat and elected Laurence N. Charney to serve as a Class II director until this annual meeting. Each of Mr. Solar, Mr. Breyer and Mr. Charney has been nominated for election to a new three-year term at this annual meeting. ii.Other Directors James W. Breyer (Class II), 47, has been a Marvel director since June 2006. Mr. Breyer has served as a partner of the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, Accel Partners, since 1995. Laurence N. Charney (Class II), 61, has been a Marvel director since July 2007. Mr. Charney retired from his position as a Partner of Ernst & Young LLP in 2007, having served that firm for over thirty-five years and engagement acceptance across all service lines. Mr. Charney served previously at Ernst & Young as an audit partner and was Marvel’s audit partner for its 1999 through 2003 audits. Mr. Charney is a senior advisor to Plainfield Asset Management LLC, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, CT that specializes in special and distressed situations. Richard L. Solar (Class II), 69, has been a Marvel director since December 2002. Since February 2003, Mr. Solar has been a management consultant and investor. From June 2002 to February 2003, Mr. Solar acted as a consultant for Gerber Childrenswear, Inc., a marketer of popular-priced licensed apparel sold under the Gerber name, as well as under licenses from Baby Looney Tunes, Wilson, Converse and Coca-Cola. iii.Directors Who’s Terms Are Continuing For each member of the Board of Directors whose term of office as a director continues after the annual meeting, set forth below is the director’s name, age as of March 9, 2009, principal occupation for at least the last five years, selected biographical information and period of service as a director. Sid Ganis (Class I), 69, has been a Marvel director since October 1999. Mr. Ganis is the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that awards the Oscars. Mr. Ganis has been President of Out of the Blue†¦Entertainment, a company that he founded, since September  1996. Out of the Blue†¦Entertainment is a provider of motion pictures, television and musical entertainment for Sony Pictures Entertainment and others. From January 1991 until September 1996, Mr. Ganis held various executive positions with Sony Pictures Entertainment, including Vice Chairman of Columbia Pictures and President of Worldwide Marketing for Columbia/TriStar Motion Picture Companies. James F. Halpin (Class I), 58, has been a Marvel director since March 1995. Mr. Halpin retired in March 2000 as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of CompUSA Inc., a retailer of computer hardware, software, accessories and related products, with which he had been employed since May 1993. Mr. Halpin was a director of Life Time Fitness, Inc. from February 2005 until August 2008. F. Peter Cuneo (Class III), 64, was Marvel’s President and Chief Executive Officer from July 1999 through December 2002 and served as the part-time Special Advisor to Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer from January 2003 through December 2004. Mr. Cuneo has been a Marvel director since July 1999, and since June 2003 he has served as a non-executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Cuneo is a senior advisor to Plainfield Asset Management LLC, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, CT that specializes in special and distressed situations. Mr. Cuneo is a also director of Iconix Brands, Inc. Morton E. Handel (Class III), 73, has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Marvel since October 1998 and was first appointed as a director in June 1997. Mr. Handel served as a director of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. from June 2005 until November 2008 and as a director of Linens ‘N Things, Inc from 2000 until February 2006. Mr. Handel is also a Life Regent of the University of Hartford and is active on the boards of not-for-profit organizations in the Hartford, CT area. Isaac Perlmutter (Class III), 66, has been Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2005. Mr. Perlmutter has served as a senior executive of Marvel Characters B.V. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. that owns and licenses Marvel’s intellectual property library) and its predecessor-in-interest Marvel Characters, Inc. since January 2007 and has been employed by Marvel as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors since November 2001. Mr. Perlmutter has been a Marvel director since April 1993 and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors until March 1995. B.Management i.Board Meetings and Committees The Board of Directors held at least 10 meetings annually. Each incumbent director attended, during the year, at least 75% of the aggregate number of Board of Directors meetings and applicable committee meetings held during the period in which he served as a director. The Board of Directors’ committees include the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Film Slate Committee and Strategic Planning Committee. ii.Corporate Governance Committee The Corporate Governance Committee’s function is (i) to identify individuals qualified to become members of the Board of Directors; (ii) to recommend individuals for selection by the Board of Directors as nominees for election as directors at the next annual meeting of stockholders; and (iii) to develop and recommend to the Board of Directors a set of Corporate Governance Guidelines and the modification of those guidelines from time to time. The Corporate Governance Committee is comprised of Messrs. Halpin (chairman) and Ganis. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee met three times annually. The Board of Directors has determined that each of Messrs, Halpin and Ganis is â€Å"independent† iii.Audit Committee The Audit Committee’s function is (i) to directly appoint, retain, compensate, evaluate and, where appropriate, terminate Marvel’s independent  registered public accounting firm; (ii) to assist the Board in its oversight of: the integrity of Marvel’s financial statements, Marvel’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, and the performance of Marvel’s internal audit function and the independent registered public accounting firm; and (iii) to prepare the report required to be included in Marvel’s annual proxy statement, which follows. The Audit Committee is ultimately responsible for pre-approving audit and non-audit services provided by its independent registered public accounting firm including the compensation to be paid for those services. The Audit Committee has established a policy regarding pre-approval of audit and non-audit services, and has delegated its authority to pre-approve audit and non-audit services to its chairman, who reports any such pre-approvals to the Audit Committee at its next meeting. In accordance with the Audit Committee’s pre-approval policy, the Audit Committee does not engage its independent registered public accounting firm to perform non-audit services that are precluded by law or regulation or any services that would impair the firm’s independence. iv.Compensation Committee Our chief executive officer is invited to attend meetings of the Compensation Committee and to offer recommendations on compensation of other executives or directors, but he does not vote in the committee’s final determinations, and decisions concerning his own compensation are made in his absence. The Compensation Committee has the authority to retain compensation consultants to assist it in making its decisions. During 2008, the members of Marvel’s Compensation Committee were Messrs. Halpin and Ganis. Neither of those individuals was an officer or employee of Marvel, or of any of its subsidiaries, during 2008 or formerly, nor did either of them have any relationship requiring disclosure in â€Å"Transactions with Related Persons, Promoters and Certain Control Persons,† below. None of our executive officers served in 2008 on the compensation committee of any  other company that had an executive officer serving as a Marvel director. None of our executive officers served in 2008 as a director of any other company that had an executive officer serving on our Compensation Committee. . v.Executive Officers Below are the positions held with Marvel, and selected biographical information for our executive officers, other than Mr. Perlmutter, whose information is found under â€Å"About Our Directors,† above. 1.Alan Fine , 58, has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Marvel Characters B.V. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. that owns and licenses Marvel’s intellectual property library) and its predecessor-in-interest Marvel Characters, Inc. since May 2007. Mr. Fine also has served as Chief Executive Officer of Marvel’s publishing division since September 2004. Mr. Fine served as Chief Executive Officer of Marvel’s toy division from August 2001 until that division was closed in early 2008. 2.David Maisel , 46, has served as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chief Executive since September 2006 and became Chairman of Marvel Studios in March 2007. From September 2005 until September 2006, Mr. Maisel served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and from September 2005 until March 2007, Mr. Maisel served as Vice Chairman of Marvel Studios. From January 2004 to September 2005, Mr. Maisel served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Marvel Studios. From October 2001 to November 2003, Mr. Maisel headed Corporate Strategy and Business Development for Endeavor Agency, a Hollywood literary and talent agency. 3.Simon Philips , 40, has served as President, Worldwide Consumer Products since October 2008 and as CEO of Marvel Animation since January 2008. Mr. Philips served as President, Marvel International from November 2006 to October 2008. From November 2003 to November 2006, Mr. Philips served as the Managing Director of 4Kids Entertainment International. Mr. Philips served as chief executive officer of LDI, a licensing and merchandising company, from 1996 to 2003. 4.John Turitzin , 53, has served as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chief Executive since September 2006. From February 2006 until September 2006, Mr. Turitzin served as Marvel’s Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Turitzin has also served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since February 2004. 5.Kenneth P. West , 50, has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since June 2002. vi.Code of Ethics Marvel has adopted a code of ethics applicable to its principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller and persons performing similar functions. We have also adopted a code of business conduct and ethics which is applicable to all employees and directors. III. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS A.Social Environment Economic/Demographic Forces Entertainment industry is targeting segmented groups that have been long ignored including ethic cultures, language, religion and women and in case by case basis adult’s only products. Technological/Physical Forces Entertainment is available in variety of ways including online, cell phone, and on-demand video. Sales in traditional entertainment merchandise has dropped. Social/Cultural Forces Entertainment has reached out to the community conscious in educating it on events and beliefs in the community. Political/Legal Forces Entertainment outlets are facing parental lawsuits to prevent particular products from being place and/or sold in a market or setting. Producers must  keep vigilant on product content in order to deal with either self regulated or government regulation in order to guarantee an investment return. The threat of piracy and illegal licensing is at stake in the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry lobbies to protect copyrighted product. B.Task Environment Competitors The entertainment industry no matter how fragmented it appears much of what is produced. In terms of entertainment is held closely by three US based media conglomerates, Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner. These conglomerates direct the entertainment market and the direction of the media. The Licensing segment competes with a diverse range of entities that own intellectual property rights in characters. These include DC Comics (a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc.), The Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal, Inc. (a subsidiary of General Electric Company), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. and other entertainment-related entities. Many of these competitors have greater financial and other resources than we do. The Publishing segment competes with numerous publishers in the United States. Some of the Publishing segment’s competitors, such as DC Comics, are part of integrated entertainment companies and may have greater financial and other resources than we do. The Publishing segment also faces competition from other entertainment media, such as movies and video games. The Toy segment competes with many larger toy companies in the design and development of new toys, in the procurement of licenses and for adequate retail shelf space for its products. The larger toy companies include Hasbro, Mattel Inc., and Jakks Pacific, Inc. Many of these competitors have greater financial and other resources than the Company. The toy industry’s highly competitive environment continues to place cost pressures on manufacturers and distributors. Discretionary spending among potential toy consumers is limited and the toy industry competes for those dollars along with the makers of computers and video games. The Film Production segment competes with other film producers, including major studios such as Twentieth Century Fox and Sony Pictures (which also produce films licensed by our Licensing segment). Many of these producers are part of integrated ente rtainment  companies and have greater financial and other resources Threat of New Entrants There is always the possibility of new entrants in the entertainment industry. Producers and/or manufacturers may create a product to carve out a particular market or segment niche. The industry has a history of employees banding together to create a new product to compete in the already in the full field, but getting a local or national distribution is challenging smaller entertainment providers team with already established distribution unit have an excellent chance of breaking ground into the market. Threat of Substitute Products The threat of any type substitute in the entertainment industry is high. Most often than not, the threat comes in time of gift giving season when marketing dollars are spent more to sway people from one product to the other. This time of the year is also filled with hopes of new products entering the market to capture a hungry audience. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers are creating new outlets for the entertainment industry through technological advances. The winner for battle technological supremacy will lie solely on which technological outlet has the most partners. Bargaining Power of Buyers Consumers have the ability to patronize or not to patronize an entertainment outlet. However, the limited ownership prevents consumers from believing they will never deal with a company they have been dissatisfied with in the past. IV. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES A.Corporate Structure Marvel is a multidivisional company that has three segments which are highly integrated and vertically differentiated. ï‚ §Licensing – The Licensing segment earns revenues from selling rights to movies, television production companies, video game publishers, and merchandise manufacturers to use its  character properties. The licensing business concentrates on a few large licensees, and attempts to manage and re-segment opportunities with its characters, creating â€Å"classic† editions, â€Å"youth† editions, and â€Å"movie† editions to take advantage of every revenue opportunity. ï‚ §Publication – The Publishing segment produces, markets, and sells comic books. This business publishes comic books and novels about the company’s characters, and licenses characters from other sources and turns them into graphic novels. ï‚ §Toys – The Toys segment collects royalties and service fees from Hasbro. The company has an exclusive to y merchandising agreement with Hasbro (HAS) until December 31, 2011, that began in 2007. Prior to this, most revenues in the Toy segment were made from toys produced by Marvel. ï‚ §Movie Production – The movie production arm of the company was set up to independently produce films and grow revenues. The new Films segment produces films featuring Marvel’s characters like Iron Man. B.Corporate Culture Honesty and integrity are the key organizational values of Marvel. The company gives importance in maintaining company reputation as well as fairness and awareness even with competitors. Marvel considers its almost 5000 character library as 5000 assets. The company looks forward to become even larger with the Disney merger. The company shares many shared values and maintains a constant renewing process. Marvel provides its people with Corporate Governance Guidelines, Corporate Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and Code of Ethics for CEO and Senior Financial Officers. These provides them with a brief description of their obligations and offer guidance concerning how to conduct their business in a manner consistent with their high ethical value. C.Corporate Resources 1.Marketing 2.Finance 3.Research and Development 4.Operations and Logistics 5.Human Resources 6.Information Systems

Betty White

Her career started in the early 1940s with a modeling job. She also worked on a few radio shows including Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI and later, her own radio program name, The Betty White Show. In 1949 she debuted on television when she appeared with Al Jarvis on Hollywood on Television, she later hosted it on her own when Jarvis left. From 1952 to about 1977 she appeared on several television shows including Life With Elizabeth, Date With the Angels, Password, What’s My Line? , To Tell the Truth, I’ve Got A Secret, Match Game, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Pyramid. In 1977 she was given her own sitcom on CBS called The Betty White Show. (Not to be confused with her radio show with the same name. ) In 1987 she scored her second signature role of the St. Olaf, MN – native Rose Nylund, on The Golden Girls. The show was centered on four divorced or widowed women in their ‘Golden years’ that share a home in Miami. Although Betty has no children, she has been married three times. The first in 1945 to Dick Barker, a US Army Air Corps Pilot. This marriage was short-lived, only one year. The second to Lane Allen, a Hollywood agent, which only lasted two years also ending in divorce. On June 14, 1963 she married television host and personality, Allen Ludden. He proposed to Betty at least twice be fore she accepted. Allen died of stomach cancer on June 9, 1981. She hasn’t remarried since his death. Betty has won six Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. ), and two Viewer’s For Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On January 23, 2010 at the Screen Actor’s Gild Awards, she was awarded, by Sandra Bullock, the Life Achievement Award. She is also a pet enthusiast and animal health advocate who works with a number of animal organization such as the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors Others for Animals. Betty is the president of the Morris Animal Foundation where she has served as a trustee of the organization since 1971. And she donated $100,000 to the Los Angeles Zoo in April 2008 alone. She was also just on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, and it was hilarious! I was laughing so hard.. So, having said all that. I’d say she is the coolest eighty-eight year old you could probabaly ever get a chance to meet. I hope she lives forever! Betty White Her career started in the early 1940s with a modeling job. She also worked on a few radio shows including Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve, and This Is Your FBI and later, her own radio program name, The Betty White Show. In 1949 she debuted on television when she appeared with Al Jarvis on Hollywood on Television, she later hosted it on her own when Jarvis left. From 1952 to about 1977 she appeared on several television shows including Life With Elizabeth, Date With the Angels, Password, What’s My Line? , To Tell the Truth, I’ve Got A Secret, Match Game, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Pyramid. In 1977 she was given her own sitcom on CBS called The Betty White Show. (Not to be confused with her radio show with the same name. ) In 1987 she scored her second signature role of the St. Olaf, MN – native Rose Nylund, on The Golden Girls. The show was centered on four divorced or widowed women in their ‘Golden years’ that share a home in Miami. Although Betty has no children, she has been married three times. The first in 1945 to Dick Barker, a US Army Air Corps Pilot. This marriage was short-lived, only one year. The second to Lane Allen, a Hollywood agent, which only lasted two years also ending in divorce. On June 14, 1963 she married television host and personality, Allen Ludden. He proposed to Betty at least twice be fore she accepted. Allen died of stomach cancer on June 9, 1981. She hasn’t remarried since his death. Betty has won six Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. ), and two Viewer’s For Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On January 23, 2010 at the Screen Actor’s Gild Awards, she was awarded, by Sandra Bullock, the Life Achievement Award. She is also a pet enthusiast and animal health advocate who works with a number of animal organization such as the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors Others for Animals. Betty is the president of the Morris Animal Foundation where she has served as a trustee of the organization since 1971. And she donated $100,000 to the Los Angeles Zoo in April 2008 alone. She was also just on Saturday Night Live over the weekend, and it was hilarious! I was laughing so hard.. So, having said all that. I’d say she is the coolest eighty-eight year old you could probabaly ever get a chance to meet. I hope she lives forever!

The core competence of the corporation and apply it to BBCL Assignment

The core competence of the corporation and apply it to BBCL - Assignment Example They invent new markets and products of superior quality, diversify to stay ahead of their competitors, integrate with other best-performing firms, and form alliances in order to learn what they are not best at besides having a visionary staff, management and a valuable value chain process in their business operations. Firms that lack core competences in their value chain neither survive nor grow. Diversified firms are likened to a tree with its trunk and major branches being its core products, smaller branches being its business units while its leaves being its end products. The critical part of nourishing and stabilizing the tree is the root system which likened to core competences, which consist of a collective of skills and learning to build up over time in all the distinctive parts the company can use to stay ahead of its rivals. It is critical to articulate the strategic intents to the entire organisations .This is imperative in defining the company and its markets, identify projects that will enhance the core competence, allocating resources to help achieve these goals in addition to hiring requisite people with needed skills and knowledge to implement these strategies for achieve its goals. Thus, core competencies takes a corporate view as contrasted to a business unit which only takes in company operating multiple business units with managers always viewing themselves as competitors, for instances, the contrast between GTE and NEC’s performance which was mainly attributed to recognising, articulating and building competence by NEC that gave it a competitive market share than GTE which did not, though it had a larger capital base as compared to NEC. (Prahalad and Hamel 1990, p 1). In today’s business environment that is characterized by stiff competition, speed, low-cost high quality products and blue-sky technology, companies need excellent strategies well planned, chosen, executed and constantly revised to survive, grow and be

Financial Reports of McDonalds Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Reports of McDonalds - Assignment Example This paper discusses McDonalds’ 2013 annual report with focus on the company’s operations, income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow, and ratio analysis. Accounting information, often summarized and communicated in annual reports, is important to different stakeholders to an organization. This paper reviews and reports on McDonalds’ annual report for the year ended 2013 with focus on the company’s operations and financial statements. The discussion identifies positive prospects in the annual report but offers reservations on the company’s long-term stability due to overreliance on external funding. One of McDonalds’ operational activities in the accounting year ended 2013 was realignment of its subsidiaries, efforts that begun in the year 2005. The operations were geared towards two major goals, to realign the subsidiaries to external environments in the areas of operations and to realign the subsidiaries to the company’s global perspective. Theses aimed at attaining a desired corporate image by the company. The company also operates in two scopes, through its managed subsidiaries and though its franchises. Its branches however obtain commodities and services from independent suppliers but quality assessment centers exist to ensure threshold standards in all of the company’s outlets. The company’s operations also include collaboration with suppliers to facilitate efficiencies through innovation, outstanding practices, and continuous improvements. The company offers a standard menu to its customers though a level of variation may exist to accommodate geographical diversity around its outlets. It also offers seasonal products but majorly on promotions. Monitoring and evaluation of newly developed products also form a major aspect of the company’s operations. Research and development is another significant area of the company’s operations and research and development facilities exists in the United States, Europe, and

Discussion Board Post Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Discussion Board Post Response - Essay Example Kelly Leonard, my organizations approach is analogous to yours in that trust, communication, respect, and support are the key elements that support healthy relationships between managers and employees in our organizations. Jayne Davey, I support your statement that you would incorporate relationship building and optimism to transform your working environment. Being enemies in the workplace will automatically affect communication and this translates to a strained relationship. Conflicts is one of the issues that contribute to strained relationships and managers ought to focus their attention to implementing action plans that avert any likelihood of conflicts arising in the workplace. This can be achieved through teamwork and collaboration (Muha and Manion, 2010). Teamwork enables employees to understand their colleagues at a personal level and therefore understand how to handle each other. For instance, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a colleague will guide one to identify how to engage the colleague in various projects as well as areas he or she would require assistance and support. Healthcare institutions with a collaborative culture rarely witness conflicting situations among employees since problems are resolved before they escalate. In a nutshell, your approach to transform your working environment through relationship building would definitely result to positive

English 1010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

English 1010 - Essay Example For me, my experiences in the gym are really exciting. In course of my doing exercises in the gym, I have just realised that there are several categories people who work out there. First of all, there is a category of people in the gym whom I can refer to as the gym rats who intentionally wear undersize T-shirts and flex muscles in front of others; this category of people are very busy and they move around in the gym like rats. Secondly, there are some people in the gym whose main preoccupation seems to be taking photos in the gym; this group of people constantly look in the mirrors and take photos longer than they actually work out in the gym. Thirdly, I have noticed that there are newbies whose main goal in the gym seems to observe others practise. Then, there is the fourth category of people in the gym who listen carefully to their trainers and ask their trainers a lot of questions; my friend and I fit in this fourth category. Another interesting fact that I have observed in the gym is that the majority of business people who come to the gym for practice do not turn their phones off while practising; for the business people, gym appears to be their second office. Another interesting category of people in the gym is a specific category of girls, whom I call â€Å"beauty queens†. I call these girls so not because they are really good-looking but mostly because they wear heavy make-up as if they are coming to a party. I have also noticed chatterboxes who visit gym only to talk with other people, but not work out. Finally, there is an interesting category of people whose main aim of coming to the gym is to pick girls. Frankly speaking, I don’t think that gyms are the places for men to find girls for dating. Such people should go to social gatherings to look for girls but not in gyms. Another interesting thing that I have

Acquisition of Empire. Japans wins due to its victory over China Essay

Acquisition of Empire. Japans wins due to its victory over China - Essay Example Japan’s victory over China strengthened national cohesion in Japan resulting in the renegotiation and eventual supersession of the unequal treaties with Western powers and Japan’s appearance as the supreme economic power and chief imperialist authority in East Asia. From the economic aspect, its win over China encouraged resources that Japan could activate in the growth of its military-industrial apparatus. â€Å"The acquisition of Chinese territory, most notably, Taiwan, as well as China’s recognition of Japanese suzerainty over Korea, endowed Japan with valuable outposts from which to launch future attacks on China, as well as with more secure overseas supplies of cheap food†. Moreover, Chinese indemnities which amounted to over one-third of Japan’s GNP aided Japan to fund the further growth of heavy industries and to put the currency on the gold standard. In this way there was improvement in Japan’s credit rating in London along with its a bility to tap additional finance for industrial expansion at home and imperialist growth overseas. Politically speaking, its victory over China placed Japan in a respectable position in the imperialist game. For long, Korea remained the principal client state for China. However, its strategic location opposite the Japanese islands and its natural resources always tempted Japan. Hence, Korea became a common target for both China and Japan. By 1893 a religious issue turned into a political movement involving innumerable peasants under a common umbrella of anti-foreignism and anticorruption (â€Å"China†).

Smart Phones Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Smart Phones - Essay Example Smartphones are increasingly important in the modern consumer world, and reports have shown that up to 31% of young people in the UK have a smartphone (Agger, 2011), as well as nearly a quarter of all subscribers in the US. The market is projected to grow over 19% between 2009 and the end of 2011 (Fung, 2010). As well as a growing demand for smartphones in general, the technology that the smartphone boasts has become increasingly important, with many people desiring the best and latest technology (Agger, 2011). Many phones continually upgrade both their hardware and operating system, with larger screen size and better processors being two of the most important aspects of the modern smartphone (Fung, 2010). Smartphones typically have touchscreens, as seen in the very first smartphone (the IBM Simon) as well as the most popular Android and iOS (iPhone) models (Agger, 2011), although Blackberry and other manufacturers do continue to use the standard QWERTY keyboard (Wong, 2010). One of the most important emerging technologies in the smartphone market is the availability of GPS and related applications. The main difference between a smartphone and a computer is portability, and the benefits of this are reaped through GPS technology. GPS, or Global Positioning System, allows a user to very precisely pinpoint their location, allowing many smartphone users to double-up their phone as a satellite navigation system for their car. Another important aspect of this GPS technology is the increasing use of check-in applications such as FourSquare, which can be used to record ones location and broadcast it to friends and local users (Agger, 2011). This technology is widely open to abuse, but is increasingly popular, with around a fifth of smartphone users noting that they have checked in using this software in the past (Wong, 2011). Another important part of smartphone ownership is the use of Twitter, which broadcasts short ‘blogs’, sometimes with a location usin g GPS technology, using the same amount of characters as a standard SMS message. This is true integration of phone and internet technology. Each of the available operating systems have their own benefits and each of them varies in popularity internationally (Agger, 2011). Probably the most famous is Apple’s iOS, which runs on the various iPhones available on the market. Apple is considered to be a particularly groundbreaking and innovative company, and this is reflected in the technology displayed in their mobile phones. Google, one of the largest multinational companies in the world, is one of the more recent evolutions in software and is far more open-source than the competition (Wong, 2011). Open-source operating systems have been growing in demand in recent years (Kennedy, 2010), and Android offers software developers ample chance to develop and market applications for their phones. This is considered one of the main reasons why the Android OS is now the most popular in t he smartphone market in many countries (Wong, 2011). Symbian is the OS found on Nokia handsets, and was the market leader for some time, although it is currently

Rene Descartes and a discription Essay Example for Free

Rene Descartes and a discription Essay Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was not only a philosopher but also a mathematician and scientist. As a philosopher, he used skepticism as a means of finding the truth of all. His idea was to doubt everything, and in doubting everything, anything that couldnt be doubted was definite. I will doubt everything that can possibly be doubted, he reasons, and if anything is left, then it will be absolutely certain. (Moore/Bruder 93) This, Descartes felt was the only way to obtain truth and knowledge. This method was to take away all the confidence in everything that was taught to us, what we sense and believe, and the things we take as being obvious. To truly determine if we know anything is for certain we must doubt it all disregarding all we knew about it before. So everything we currently believe is open to discussion and can be questioned. Descartes Method of Doubt incorporated two well-known conjectures, a dream conjecture and the evil demon conjecture. What the dream conjecture is, is the notion that everything that is reality might just be a dream. Adding to the dream conjecture, is the evil demon conjecture. This evil demon conjecture, in essence, is the concept that if this all [reality], is just a dream, then perhaps there is an evil demon that is deceiving our minds with these false images of reality. So, we cant assume that our bodies or that anything of our experience exists and can be trusted to be true. For everything we know could be just a dream and not real at all and controlled by a deceiver. No, Descartes was not out of his mind. He was aware that these two conjecture he composed sounded far-fetched. However, that was the whole point. Descartes was on a quest to find certainty in an any-case-possibility. What Descartes came up with after going through and doubting everything was the cogito, ergo sum or I think, therefore I am. What this meant was if you are thinking, you are existing. The self that doubts its own existence must surely exist to be able to doubt in the first place. (Moore/Bruder 93) Subsequently, this was the only true thing we can know to be real. We know that we exist at least in a form of a mind. So we can doubt our physical existence but not our mental existence because you can think. To take this a step further he developed the clear and distinct test. The clear and distinct test was a test to find out what was true with clarity and distinctness. Meaning, anything that is clear and distinct is true. Using this clear and distinct test, Descartes came to the conclusion that God, in fact, exists. Descartes believed he viewed God clearly and distinctively, and further, God would not let an evil demon toy with his mind, if such a thing did exist. Descartes also thought that there were two distinct substances beyond God, and these two substances were material substance and mind substance. The material substance was all that exists and occupies space and the mind substance is that of thought. Because a substance, according to Descartes, requires nothing other than itself to exist, it follows that mind and matter are totally independent of each other. (Moore/Bruder 95) The result to these two substances being independent of each other is called parallelism. The mind, they argued, does not really cause the body to move. When I will that my hand should move, my act of willing only appears to cause my hand to move. (Moore/Bruder 97)Descartes felt that God was the one who was involved in the mental things that happened and the sequence of material actions. He believed God was the reason those two things happened to happen together. This idea was called occasionalism. Descartes was first to make this systematic account of the mind and body relationship, and also the souls contact with the body. (Rorty). Descartes essentially through everything, approached all metaphysical issues by going back and trying to pick apart everything about the basic things. Descartes tried to discover metaphysical truth about what is through epistemological inquiry about what can be know. (Moore/Bruder 97) The profit of Descartes ideas is that in the dismissal of everything makes you question and look at elements that may be overlooked because it is human to draw on experience. So, to clear oneself of all former beliefs leaves everything wide open for exploration and opens up a wider scope. The problem I find in his distinct and clear theory is Descartes proof of Gods existence. In proving the existence of God he uses circular reasoning. This circular reasoning is called the Cartesian Circle. The Cartesian Circle is the circular reasoning that, on one hand, we can only know that God exists because we clearly and distinctively perceive it, and on the other hand, we can only know that our clear and distinct perceptions are true because God exits. (Loeb 200-235) This type of reasoning doesnt make any concrete conclusions on the existence of God. It just keeps going around in a circle, one right after the other. Descartes believe that only his perceptions could be deceived not his mind. So since God was good and perfect, he wouldnt allow him to be deceived, therefore God exists. To explain his ideas on the existence of God, Descartes states that if one can have an idea of a perfect being, which is God, then a perfect being must exist if we can think it in our minds. All of this to me, doesnt show any solid proof. Even though you can think something in your mind, doesnt mean it must exits. I can think lots of things in my mind personally, that doesnt necessary mean that somewhere, maybe not in the physical world I experience, truly exists. Also, if God did exists, and if God is perfect, as Descartes claims, then why does Atheism and such religious beliefs exist? Wouldnt perfection be if God could exist and not be questionable? Because what Descartes believes is all that we can perceive clearly and distinctively exists, and he had not given any way that explains how you can perceive God clearly and distinctively, other than stating he can perceive in his mind. Also, another thing that is a problem in Descartes method is his goal of proving the existence of the outside world was not valid by any substantial means. There is no proof that any physical object exists aside from a near universal belief that the external world exists. What Descartes says, is that since God makes us believe that there is an external world, then there must be one. However, there are lots of mistakes in his proof of God and it isnt truly valid. So, therefore we cannot say anything in this external world does exist or either God, based on the knowledge I have obtained on the subject matter on Descartes. From what I have read on Descartes and his philosophical ideas, there are many holes and things to argued; as Im sure is in most theories. Nonetheless, even though his ideas arent entirely credible to myself, I feel that his contributions to the field of philosophy are eminent. Descartes had brought lots of old questions of past philosophers and tried to rationalize them, he failed in my opinion to come up with any competent answers for what he was trying to prove. However, he did prompt other philosophers in his progression to come up later with some better answers to some of these ideas.

Reading Habits Among Student Of Faculty Information Management Education Essay

Reading Habits Among Student Of Faculty Information Management Education Essay Proverb says reading is warehouse of knowledge. By reading we can get a number of knowledge and information that is being developed or have evolved though. Anyway, all is never separated from the act of reading. In particular, the student or students for these jobs require them to read. That is read, read, and continue readings. As a hunter of science, the book is a major source of knowledge for them. Hence, reading something that is very important in our lives if we want to succeed in life. There are lots of understanding about the reading by some of the figures. Among Klein, ddk (in Faridah Rahim, 2005: 3) that make the definition of reading includes: first, reading is a process. The point is the information from the text and the knowledge possessed by the reader has a key role in the form of questions. According to Harris and Sipay (1980) described the process of reading as a process for the interpretation of the meaning of the symbols printed or written. In addition, Kenedy (1981) also defines reading as the ability to detect a visual form (graphic symbols that represent the language and the writing or words), connecting it with the form of sound or meaning of the note and then based on past experience, understand and interpret its meaning. For Mohairaini Yusoff (1989), has concluded the process of reading as a complex treatment and cannot be observed. Only two components of the agreed key skills inherent in the reading skills of skills to recognize and condemn the w ords and the skills to understand what is read. Reading is something that should be in our lives as human beings as long as we live on this Gods earth. Reading is the roots strength of an individual, but of a nation and a country. Without someone to read that there would be no knowledge or experience, without the knowledge and experience of how someone is able to govern or to lead a country and family. Therefore, reading is something very important in life if we want to succeed. In addition, reading is a science which is important to us. Many forms of knowledge can be gained by reading habits, but the reading can improve a person thinking and enhance their skills or expertise in any field of endeavor. Reading also benefited as the reading we can fill the free time and with these we will not waste time with things that are not useful as is happening now is like illegal racing activity, loitering, and so forth. In fact, reading can calm the mind and reduce the burden and to read, we can disseminate the knowledge gained from reading to others. Now we can also read and heard through the mass media in our country Malaysia, the ministry tried to set up various programs to encourage people to read because we are Malaysian government is aware that people are not reading less knowledgeable, and this will affect the performance of our country. Among the programs are held at each school talks about the importance of reading to enhance knowledge, sales day books, NILAM program at the school, the programs readers and many programs have been organized. This program is held by the ministry in collaboration with the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MALAYSIA and also the school. From here we can see the importance of reading to the individual, especially the students and students of higher education. To get a good future they must have a high knowledge and to get the high knowledge they must reading and have reading habits inside them. They must think reading is not just to fulfill their field in their study but they must think reading is to make a knowledge that is really treasure for them. Here we will know the higher education student skill in reading. This means that how they read, for what they read and how they interpret their reading into study or their works. Beside that we also can know the important of reading for the higher education student. How the faculties keep their student in reading habits and what programs that already being handled to keep the student reading. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND The research of mine will be conducted in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Perdana, Shah Alam. My research scope will be among student of Faculty Information Management (FPM). UITM was establishing on 14 October 1967 by Tun Abdul Razak and by the mid-70s, but at that time the campus was already in full operation. Now UITM have 26 campuses. It is including UITM Campus Puncak Perdana. Campus Puncak Perdana was establish in the year of 2005.There are 3 Faculty in this campus, it is Faculty Information Management, Faculty Account, and Faculty Technology Creative and Artistic. Faculty of Information Management, UiTM, takes pride in being the pioneer in providing professional education to fulfill the manpower need of the country in three very important fields, namely: Information Management, Library Management, and Records Management. Our academic programmes, supplemented by industry attachments, equip graduates with knowledge and skills to take on the challenging demands of managing information in various forms and in various types of organizations. Our graduates become the main driving force for the development of a knowledge-based society, transforming Malaysia into a developed nation, ensuring that the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rich reservoirs of knowledge are systematically organized, maintained and enhanced for optimum value. To achieve this aim, the programmes consist of the blended components from four main areas: Information Technologies, Professional and Technical Aspects of Information and Records Management, Public Relations, and Usersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Needs and Services. To achieve the goal of the Information Management Faculty, the student must active reading and they must have the skill to manage their reading, information, knowledge, information literacy, become the information proficiency and many more. The student must have good reading habits to become the skilled persons. Having good reading habits will make them professional in this field. The students also know how to handle the information from overload because they have skills because of their habits in reading. Although, Faculty of Information Management produces good workers on manage the information and they also produce the librarian. So, here they need to produce a program to increase the reading habits among students. Before they can conduct program, they must have the reading habit. From this they can conduct and handle student and people to have reading habits and they can give their experience on reading habits. PROBLEM STATEMENT Reading habits is very important to students especially student in higher education. They need to read more than other people. This is because students have to read to broaden their knowledge. Not to read just for school assignments, but read to give them knowledge. With this knowledge, they can complete their tasks quickly and have knowledge of their contents. In addition, reading can also prepare students to stand up and speak in front of the class, especially in the presentation works. Without reading difficult for them to speak fluently to describe the contents of their hard work and also to answer questions raised by colleagues and lecturers. Therefore, we have the knowledge to read high. However, the students reading is just to finish their assignment not for keep their knowledge. They think that finish their assignment is more important than reading for knowledge. This can give impact to the students and also to the faculty. This is because the faculty of Information Management wants to produce the workers that have a quality and having knowledge in manages information, without reading is it hard to produce this kind of workers. After the student finish their studies, they will go for works, if they not works as what the employer want this can give impact for Faculty. Employer would dispute the ability faculty in produce are capable students in the world of works. In this field of studies, need the student read more than often because from reading student will know about the management of information and what they need to do. The first problem in this area is lack awareness about the important of reading. Reading habits can give them more knowledge not only in studies but also knowledge about worlds. The second problem is students are always narrowed in reading minds. They can only be read if asked or to complete their assignment. In fact, they prefer to read scientific material about such gossip. The third problem is the limited collection materials in the library and the lack of Internet services. When there are limited collections of materials in the library so students refer to not go to library and also they will read this limited collection and this will occur problem on student reading habits. Lack of using the internet or browsing internet the student will get not enough information and they will get limited information and this will make they have a limited knowledge. The forth problem is student easy to feel bored in reading especially read books and article without any picture. They refer to read the visual form of reading materials. This kind of reading concept would not make the student feel bored easily. Besides that, visual material of reading will help the student to faster remember their readings. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study are as follows: To investigate the student awareness about the important of reading. To investigate frequency of student go to library. To investigate the materials of the student often to read and borrowed from library. To investigate the using of the internet by student; is that they use the internet to learn, reading or something else. To investigate is there any program being handle at the faculty to attract the student to go library and read; is it the student attend the program. RESEARCH QUESTION The research questions of this study are as follow: What is the purpose of reading for student? What is the frequency of the student come to library? How often the student come to reading program handle by the faculty and library? How much the materials that student read per day and how many material they borrowed from library? What the material the student often use to read and study; internet or printed materials? SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH The scope of this study is about the reading habits among student of Faculty of Information Management. How important reading habits in order to fulfill the career as a student, need of the student and ths will plays a big rle to produce the quality works and leading to successful academic person. This research is being conduct among student in Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, campus Puncak Perdana. The scope of this study are limited to two main areas, which is the contents of the study that is base on the title and the location of the study which is I have chose in Faculty of Information Management Campus Puncak Perdana, UITM, Shah Alam. The study of this research covers several elements. The elements are how often student go to library to make a reading for them self, how much materials they read per day, what kind material they read, and their ability in reading. The respondents for this study comprises of the students in Faculty Information Management and in this faculty there are four courses, IM220 (Library Science Management), IM221 (Information Systems Management), IM222 (Records Management), and IM223 (Resource Centers Management). This faculty located at University Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Perdana, Seksyen U10, Shah Alam. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Independent Variable Dependent Variable Reading Skill Reading Habits Material Library services Reading Habits Program MATERIAL READING SKILL READING HABITS READING HABITS PROGRAM LIBRARY SERVICES FIGURE 1: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK RELATIONSHIP INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES The conceptual framework indicates the relationship which consists of the dependent and independent variables. The framework denotes the four variables which causes to single variable which were affected by the independent variable. Reading habits is dependent variable, variance in which to be explained by the four independent variables which are reading skill, materials, library services, and reading habits programs. The independent variables in this case are reading habits skills, materials, library services, and reading habit programs. Thus, it is very important of the reading habits in produce the good future and ability in works, also can make a higher knowledge. On the other hand, the dependent variable is the reading habits. It can be seen clearly that the independent variables have influenced the dependent variable. This research indicate and elaborate clearly that the reading skill, materials, library services and reading habit programs in student life as an independent variables that will affect and support the student life, works and student futures by having the reading habits among themselves as a dependent variables. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION Reading Habits According to North Regional Education Laboratory, definition of reading is, for many years, three basic definitions of reading have driven literacy programs in the United States (Foertsch, 1998). According to the first definition, learning to read means learning to pronounce words. According to the second definition, learning to read means learning to identify words and get their meaning. According to the third definition, learning to read means learning to bring meaning to a text in order to get meaning from it. But, according to the free dictionary, reading is the act or activity of one that reads. The definition of habits according to dictionary.com is, habits are an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street. Habits also can be define as a particular practice, custom, or usage, a dominant or regular disposition or tendency; prevailing character or quality. From both definition we can understand that reading habits is the act or activity of one that reads acquired behavior pattern as regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

hamlet :: essays research papers

Hamlet Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reading Hamlet, I have realized that some of Shakespeare’s original play must be abridged for our production. After careful analysis I have decided that of the four soliloquies in the play we should only include two of them. I have discovered that two of these soliloquies are not that important in understanding the meaning of the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to see which two we should include or omit we have to summarize all four soliloquies. The first one, which begins â€Å"O that this too, too sullied flesh...†, is an emotionally violent speech. Hamlet wishes he were dead, complains that suicide is a sin, and describes the world as useless and disgusting. He then talks about his father, comparing him to Claudius. He calls Claudius a half-man half-beast creature. The second soliloquy, which begins â€Å"O what a rogue and pleasant slave am I...†, Hamlet compares himself to a mythical character named Hecuba and wonders what the latter would do in his situation. He then accuses himself of being a coward who can’t even avenge his father’s dead. He also calls himself an idiot before devising a plan to remedy the situation. â€Å"To be or not to be...† (third soliloquy) is basically a debate on life and whether it is worth living. Hamlet here questions death and says that all men fear death. Hamlet ends here by saying conscience makes cowards of us all for when we think of the consequences of an action we do not take it. And finally the fourth soliloquy which begins â€Å"How all occasions to inform against me...† is an expression of Hamlet’s shame and amazement that others can act when he himself can’t. Hamlet here realizes that he can’t escape from his destiny and has a sense of feeling of what is about to happen to him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After paraphrasing all four soliloquies a decision has to be made as to what to include. The two which should be included are the first and third ones. The first one should be included because it allows the audience to hear Hamlet’s innermost thoughts. This speech sets precedence for the rest of the play. In this speech Hamlet expresses his grievances toward the people he is supposed to love. It is an outpouring of a man in deep distress. It not only puts Hamlet in confusion but the audience which has to decide if Hamlet is crazy or not as the play develops. The third soliloquy should also be included because it is the most famous speech in all of the English language.

The Factors Leading to Harry’s Demise in O’Connor’s The River :: O’Connor The RiverÂÂ

The Factors Leading to Harry’s Demise in O’Connor’s The River  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In O’Connor’s story The River a young boy takes his own life in order to travel to the Kingdom of Christ. The boy lacks structure in his life, is neglected, and is bored. He lives with his parents in an apartment in a "city that rose like a cluster of warts on the side of the mountain". (P.35) There is not one particular incident that leads him to "baptise himself" (p.45), but a conglomeration of many. From his apartment and his parents, to his treatment as an adult, the only place in which he can find sanctuary is in the River of Christ’s blood. His new faith paired with his longing for acceptance is what will ultimately led to Harry Ashfield’s demise. Descriptions of the apartment throughout the story introduce the reader to the world in which this young boy lived in. In the beginning of the story the reader is told of how the apartment’s air is stale with the smell of smoke. It is so bad that Mrs. Connin tells Harry that she will not be able to visit him in the apartment if she has to "smell those dead cigarette butts long". (p. 24) Yet another "flaw" Mrs. Connin addressed in the apartment is the picture on the wall. It is full of "black lines crossing into broken planes of violent color". (p. 24) The abstract picture in the apartment is symbolic of the life that Harry lead. He lives in a chaotic world without much guidance or many rules. Harry’s life up to the point of meeting Mrs. Connin lacks structure. The very fact that the family lives in an apartment rather than a house represents a lack of permanence. There is no commitment when living in an apartment. There is no mortgage to pay or yard to tend to. Because Harry had lived in this world of concrete for probably all of his life he has never really experienced nature. Nature represents permanence in a world that is anything but. When he was walking with Mrs. Connin down to the river, he walks through the paths as if he’s "never been in the woods before". (p.32) Nature is preferable to an urban setting and a character that is not one with nature can be seen as lacking. This lacking is visible in Harry throughout the story. The Factors Leading to Harry’s Demise in O’Connor’s The River :: O’Connor The River   The Factors Leading to Harry’s Demise in O’Connor’s The River  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In O’Connor’s story The River a young boy takes his own life in order to travel to the Kingdom of Christ. The boy lacks structure in his life, is neglected, and is bored. He lives with his parents in an apartment in a "city that rose like a cluster of warts on the side of the mountain". (P.35) There is not one particular incident that leads him to "baptise himself" (p.45), but a conglomeration of many. From his apartment and his parents, to his treatment as an adult, the only place in which he can find sanctuary is in the River of Christ’s blood. His new faith paired with his longing for acceptance is what will ultimately led to Harry Ashfield’s demise. Descriptions of the apartment throughout the story introduce the reader to the world in which this young boy lived in. In the beginning of the story the reader is told of how the apartment’s air is stale with the smell of smoke. It is so bad that Mrs. Connin tells Harry that she will not be able to visit him in the apartment if she has to "smell those dead cigarette butts long". (p. 24) Yet another "flaw" Mrs. Connin addressed in the apartment is the picture on the wall. It is full of "black lines crossing into broken planes of violent color". (p. 24) The abstract picture in the apartment is symbolic of the life that Harry lead. He lives in a chaotic world without much guidance or many rules. Harry’s life up to the point of meeting Mrs. Connin lacks structure. The very fact that the family lives in an apartment rather than a house represents a lack of permanence. There is no commitment when living in an apartment. There is no mortgage to pay or yard to tend to. Because Harry had lived in this world of concrete for probably all of his life he has never really experienced nature. Nature represents permanence in a world that is anything but. When he was walking with Mrs. Connin down to the river, he walks through the paths as if he’s "never been in the woods before". (p.32) Nature is preferable to an urban setting and a character that is not one with nature can be seen as lacking. This lacking is visible in Harry throughout the story.

Global Terrorist Organizations Essay -- Fighting Terrorism

ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna in Euskara, or in English, Basque Fatherland and Freedom. It grew out of the EKIN in Spain in 1959 and formed as a radical Basque separatist group. Discontented with the moderate nationalism of the main Basque party, the ETA is dedicated to a separate nation-state for the Basque people, an ethnic group inhabiting areas of northern Spain and southwestern France. Currently there are about 300 members . Current leaders include Juan Cruz Maiztegui Bengoa and Josà © Luis Eciolaza Galà ¡n, however very little is known about the ETA power hierarchy. They are extremely secretive about their leadership structure. However in 1992, ETA's three top leaders — "military" leader Francisco Mujika Garmendia, political leader Josà © Luis Alvarez Santacristina and logistical leader Josà © Marà ­a Arregi Erostarbe were arrested . The majority of their attacks have targeted businesses and Spanish government officials, especially members of the security services and the judiciary. Their most common tactics are bombing and assassination. However, they have been known to issue warnings prior to their attacks. Their most infamous attack was the assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in December 1973. He was killed when an underground bomb exploded beneath his car. Blanco was considered the most likely successor to Spain's dictator, Franco. More than twenty years later, the ETA almost assassinated politician Jose Maria Aznar, who later became prime minister . The ETA is financed by kidnapping and robbery. However, extortion provides the main revenue for their activities. The group also has ties with other terrorist groups, including the Irish Republican Army and Venezuela's Red Flag . Recently, the ETA ... ...10, Web. 25 May 2010. . â€Å"Lashkar-e-Taiba.† South Asian Terrorism Portal. SATP, 2001, Web. 25 May 2010. . Ibid. Bajoria, Jayshree Ibid. â€Å"Lashkar-e-Taiba† Bajoria, Jayshree http://middleeast.about.com/od/afghanistan/ss/me080914a.htm http://normlife.com/documents/original/the_talibans_interpretation_of_islam.htm http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2325?_hi=34&_pos=4 http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch5.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703565804575238750543006606.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Effects of corruption Essay

1. Introduction in philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or ‘political’, corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption has been a major problem in our country Kenya, affecting individuals all over the country. Most problems facing the country can be associated with corruption, starting with unemployment; which has seen the rate of jobless Kenyans go up each and every year, tribal wars which saw the country almost to flames in the year 2007, crimes, which are as a result of the increased rate of unemployment, national debts e.g. the Anglo-leasing which has seen the government spend billions trying to repay the debt. 2. Objectives The study has two objectives; First, it aims to review the essential elements of the various approaches that have been used to analyse the causes and effects of corruption. Second, it aims to explore how research has been applied in developing countries. This is a question of what policy recommendations have been made, and what might be learned from the anti-corruption campaigns and policies applied in specific countries. 3. Research questions 1. To what extent has corruption penetrated into our society today 2. How has  corruption affected our way of lives today 3. Which population (the youth or the old) are mostly affected by corruption 4. Which characters in our society influence corruption 5. What is the major contributor to high levels of corruption in Kenya today 6. What role can the government play to bring an end or reduction to corruption 7. How can Kenyans ensure that corruption is eradicated from our system 8. What are the benefits of living in a corruption-free country 4. /Literature review Corruption has recently become a major issue in foreign aid policies. However, behind the screens it has always been there, referred to as the â€Å"c-word†. The major concern for international aid policy through the last five decades is to improve the living conditions for the poor in the poorest countries of the world. This endeavour requires a close co-operation with the national governments in poor countries. Generally speaking, however, the governments in poor countries are also the most corrupt. This is one of the few clear empirical results of recent research on corruption. The level of GDP per capita holds most of the explanatory power of the various corruption indicators. Consequently, if donors want to minimise the risk of foreign aid being contaminated by corruption, the poorest countries should be avoided. This would, however, make aid policy rather pointless. This is the basic dilemma corruption raises for aid policy. Unlike international business most development aid organisations and international finance institutions have the lion’s share of their activities located in highly corrupt countries. The international community in general and some donor countries in particular are, however, increasingly willing to fight corruption. Within the â€Å"good governance† strategies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund initiatives to curb corruption are given priority. OECD and the UNDP have also developed particular anti-corruption programmes to assist governments in tackling the problem. Furthermore, several bilateral development agencies have placed anti-corruption efforts high on their development agenda. Whether this is a desirable change in focus of aid policy, and, hence, whether it is possible to find workable policy instruments to fight corruption, remains to be explored. Corruption is a problem that mainly arises in the interaction between government and the  market economy where the government itself must be considered endogenous. Therefore it is complex to handle from a theoretical point of view. This difficulty is underlined by the fact that data are difficult to gather, and, if available, data are often â€Å"soft†, unreliable and masked. Moreover, from an aid organisation’s point of view the issue of anti-corruption may become diplomatically delicate since at least some of the 7 stakeholders who are handling the aid instruments in the partner countries, are likely to be part of the problem. 5. Research methodology The methods employed were the use of observation questionnaire and interview. Observation involved watching and listening to what people are doing in groups and also what they are watching when in cyber cafes or at home using televisions and also observing what the reaction is when the topic of corruption is introduced. The questionnaire involved a series of questions directed to parents or guardians and another directed to youths and children. They were aimed at finding out how parents and youth view the aspect of corruption The parents or guardians questionnaire consisted of sections which were; Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) Open ended questions (respondent free to answer in his/her own words) The youths and children’s questionnaire consisted of Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) The other method used was interviewing where there was a one on one with the respondent and the questions to be asked would revolve the topic of corruption that is the accessibility moral social and health effects. 6. Data collection Ideally the data applied in research on corruption should be based on direct and first-hand observations of corrupt transactions made by unbiased observers who are familiar with the rules and routines in the sector under scrutiny. More aggregate numbers should then be constructed on the basis of such observations. This kind of empirical studies hardly exist, however, and for obvious reasons we cannot expect many more in the near future. Most of  the time we are dealing with complex transactions taking place in large hierarchies to which independent researchers normally have no access, nor the appropriate social networks for picking up and checking data. The information is indirect and, until recently, rather unsystematic. One of the major difficulties in corruption research has consequently been the lack of a solid empirical basis. The observational basis of corruption research In countries with honest judiciaries, the most reliable information about corruption is court cases. Courts are spending huge resources on establishing which transactions have in fact taken place, and to judge whether they have actually been corrupt. The problem with court cases is that they are few, compared to the underlying number of corrupt acts, that they cannot be used neither as an indicator of sector occurrences nor of general frequency. For the same reasons court data are difficult to use for cross-country comparisons. They are likely to tell more about political priorities or the efficiency of judiciaries and police than about the underlying problem of corruption. Such data on corruption has nevertheless been collected on an international basis and some efforts have been made to make them comparable across countries, for instance by the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office in Vienna (United Nations 1999). However, the fact that Singapore and Hong Kong have exceptionally high conviction rates confirms the suspicion that data from courts cases on corruption, when aggregated, are telling more about judiciary efficiency than about corruption frequencies12. They do, nevertheless, bring interesting and often very detailed descriptions of the social mechanisms involved. In addition to the court cases, the police and other investigation units are producing considerable information about instances of corrupt transactions, also when the information may not be precise enough to win court cases or to fire employees. The quality of this information is highly variable, ranging from cases almost ready to bring to court, to mere rumours.13 In some cases this information may be sufficiently extensive to construct risk patterns for entire sectors, but in most cases it will be biased in the sense that active, strongly motivated police units will tend to exaggerate the number and the danger of the crooks they are  hunting. Investigative journalists are in many ways in a better position to collect data than social scientists. The public exposure of journalists gives them a larger supply of informants. They will often have to handle the data carefully, since good stories demand the naming of actors with the obvious possibility of harming innocent individuals. The risk of being sued necessitates caution. Like the police, journalists possess much surplus information that they cannot use. This means that stories from the media are important sources of information also for social science research on corruption when it comes to establishing facts14. Media are also important subjects of research on corruption, mainly for political scientists. Some forms of corruption may be considered as a kind of political scandals, and the political effects may often be quite similar to the publication of private misbehaviour of politicians or their families. Media are not only important in bringing forward facts about corruption, but also for forming public and scientific perceptions of corruption. Moreover, the media are to a large extent setting the stage for determining the likely political consequences of revealed corruption scandals. Like court decisions, media sources have their evident biases when comparing corrupt transactions across countries and across time. Firstly, the media will tend to give priority to the more spectacular stories, making the less dramatic but more common practices of corruption less attention. Secondly, and more important, the number of stories on corruption that are reaching the public are not likely to be determined only by how many stories that exist out there, but is also a question of press freedom, of the market for corruption stories, the journalistic professionalism and resources available, and various kinds of journalistic bandwagon effects. The bias created is likely to be serious also when it comes to empirical research because of the need to rely on second hand information. This makes it almost impossible to determine whether the perception of increasing corruption levels worldwide is based on facts or not, because the main sources used are likely to be strongly influenced by shifts in media attention and public opinion. As far as we know, unlike the case of criminal convictions for corruption, no international counting of media stories has been attempted. It is clear that the actual occurrences of discovered and provable corrupt acts discovered through courts, media and the few instances of participatory research are  too few in most countries to constitute a representative sample of the underlying corrupt transactions. To create patterns and analyses, researchers have to bring in information that is relatively unreliable, and then try to process it and make explicit the large and hardly determinable margins of err or in the field. Or alternatively, researchers can decide to let the uncertain and imprecise information about patterns pass, and consider it as not amenable to serious research. Until recently, the last strategy has been the dominant one, but since the mid-1990s a number of quantitative studies have been published based upon quite subjective and commercial indexes of aggregate country levels of corruption. The first and most influential one was Mauro (1995) who brought corruption into the renewed field of economic growth studies among economists. It was an econometric study of the effects of country corruption level on the growth rate, and the results indicated, as discussed in chapter 7.4, that there was indeed a significant negative impact. The study was based on data on general country corruption levels. What kind of data had Mauro been able to find? Corruption measured: The construction of corruption indicators Mauro (1995) used mainly data from a commercial organisation, Business International (BI), which in 1980 made an extensive survey of a large number of commercial and political risk factors, including corruption, for 52 countries, among these several developing countries. Business International had an international network of correspondents (journalists, country specialists, and international businesspeople) who were asked about whether and to what extent business transactions in the country in question involved corruption or questionable payments. The perceived degree of corruption involved in these transactions was ranked on a scale from 0 to 10. BI also made efforts to make the rankings across correspondents consistent. In fact, Business International was not the only organisation that tried to monitor where international businesses have to expect the most extensive or frequent bribe demands. Quite a number of both profit and non-profit organisations constructed similar indexes. Today it is Transparency International’s â€Å"Corruption Perception Index† (CPI) that is the most well known and most used both in research and in the public debate. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) The CPI is the most comprehensive quantitative indicator of cross-country corruption available, where each single country is recognisable. It is compiled by a team of researchers at Gà ¶ttingen University, headed by Johann Lambsdorff. The CPI assesses the degree to which public officials and politicians are believed to accept bribes, take illicit payment in public procurement, embezzle public funds, and commit similar offences. The index ranks countries on a scale from 10 to zero, according to the perceived level of corruption. A score of 10 represents a reputedly totally honest country, while a zero indicates that the country is perceived as completely corrupt15. The 1999 corruption perception index includes 99 countries. It is based on 17 different polls and surveys conducted by 10 independent organisations, not by TI itself16. None of these surveys are dealing with corruption only, but they cover a number of issues of relevance for development and business confidence. TI, however, is using only the data on corruption. Hence, the Transparency International index is not based upon information from the organisation’s own experts but is constructed as a weighted average of (for 1999) 17 different indexes from 10 different organisations. The majority of these indexes are based on fairly vague and general questions about the level or frequency of corruption perceived either by experts or business managers. About half are based upon expert opinions within built checks to ensure cross-country consistency. The other half is mainly based on questionnaires sent to middle and high-level management to either international or local firms. Only one organisation (i.e., International Working Group, developing the International Crime Victim Survey) asks the respondents directly about their own experience of corruption. Thus, the CPI is mainly a â€Å"poll of polls†, reflecting the impressions of business people and risk analysts who have been surveyed in a variety of ways17. According to TI, none of these sources combines a sufficiently large sampling frame with a convincing methodology to produce reliable comparative assessments. Hence, TI has opted for a composite index as the most statistically robust means of measuring perceptions of corruption. Each of the other surveys uses different sampling frames and varying methodologies. The definition of the concept corruption also varies between the surveys. Thus, we may question whether the surveys cover the  same phenomenon (see Lambdsorff, 1999b). Furthermore, all the surveys ask for the extent the phenomenon, although the meaning of â€Å"extent† is not obvious. Is it the frequency of corrupt transactions or the amount of bribes paid or money embezzled? 7. references Hamilton , Alexander (2013), Small is beautiful, at least in high-income democracies: the distribution of policy-making responsibility, electoral accountability, and incentives for rent extraction Morris, S.D. (1991), Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa Senior, I. (2006), Corruption – The World’s Big C., Institute of Economic Affairs, London â€Å"Glossary†. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2011. Lorena Alcazar, Raul Andrade (2001). Diagnosis corruption. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-931003-11-7 Znoj, Heinzpeter (2009). â€Å"Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories†. In Monique Nuijten, Gerhard Anders. Corruption and the secret of law: a legal anthropological perspective.