The Innocent Man Essay Example for Free

The Innocent Man Essay â€Å"The Innocent Man† apparently is the story of Ron Williamson, who spent 12 years on Oklahomas death row after having been convicted of a murder he did not commit; the book is more than Williamsons touching story. Co-defendant Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of murder but sentenced to life in prison. Together with Williamson he was eventually vindicated by DNA evidence. Two other inmates, Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward, whose cases were interconnected with Williamson and Fritz, remain imprisoned in Oklahoma serving life sentences regardless of substantial evidence of actual innocence. Ron Williamson, the lead character in the story was wrongfully convicted of Carters killing. Williamson is not the benevolent character. He appeared as a high school athlete in baseball and was chosen by the Oakland Athletics in the 1971 Major League draft. His professional baseball career never realized the promise displayed by his youthful potential, and he returned home to lead a life reduced by divorce, drugs, alcohol and small-time crime. Loaded by mental illness, his attitude added in many respects to his conviction. But the author’s portrayal makes perfectly apparent that Williamsons conduct in no way warranted the outrageous actions of law enforcement, prosecutors and judges. It is possibly one of the ironies of the law that while lawyers and judges botched Williamson, it would be others in those same professions who saved him only five days before he was calendared to be executed from imposition of his sentence of death. Lawyers from the Oklahoma death penalty assistance program and a courageous federal judge eventually held a new trial for Williamson. During the flow of the investigation and preparation for that trial, Williamson underwent DNA examinations that would prove his innocence. It was one of the first considerable DNA exonerations in American courts. â€Å"The Innocent Man† commences by unfolding the disappearance of Mr. Williamson’s and Mr. Fritz’s supposed victim from the parking lot of the nightclub where she worked. But she was later found dead at her home. By the time he has written 13 pages, the author has presented 22 witnesses, relatives, law officers and forensic experts, with many more to occur. If it takes a time for Ron Williamson to materialize, because it is clear in Mr. Grisham’s mind: Mr. Williamson had no direct relationship to the crime. The book illustrates the tortured process by which Mr. Williamson, with a reputation for being drunk, moody and troublesome, in the long run caught the interest of the police. The book offers much evidence of Mr. Williamson’s mental weakening. His behavior becomes violently inconsistent. His substance abuse intensifies. His habits turn progressively stranger. Meanwhile the author takes his extensive legal expertise to the job of being staggered by what he portrays as the law’s systematic breaking of Mr. Williamson’s rights and by the brutal handling of his suspicion. In the face of such blatant mistreatment of a suspect, the author has a difficult time keeping sarcasm at bay. Of the intense circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Williamson’s mother, and that he was kept constrained even at her funeral, the author writes: â€Å"Such precautions were obviously needed for a felon who forged a $300 check. † Far worse than her son’s embarrassment is that Mr. Williamson’s mother died believing that she had ascertained to the police that her son was home watching videos with her on the night of Debbie Carter’s murder. Though her lawyer said he watched her make this testimonial to a police detective, a video camera evidently failed to register what she said. No evidence of it appeared in the legal proceedings that resulted. â€Å"The Innocent Man† is plural, despite its title because it is a story of four men, four average white guys from good families, all crushed up and abused by the system and locked away for a combined total of 33 years. This is a lot for a nonfiction narrative to deal with, and this book sometimes injures under the burden of so much harsh, frustrating data. Mr. Grisham’s information on the formation of an underground, completely daylight-deprived prison provides the most egregious hall of horrors in a book that is symbolically full of them. On occasion â€Å"The Innocent Man† provides a touchable souvenir of Mr. Grisham’s novels. Take Barney Ward, Mr. Williamson’s court-appointed lawyer, who appears as if he walked right out of the author’s fiction. This is Mr. Ward’s first death penalty case. He is a passionately colorful character. He is also blind; and just as the case revolves on forensic evidence that demands visual examination, his assistant leaves him in the motion. Mr. Ward’s relationship with Mr. Williamson is so touchy that Mr. Ward’s son is prepared to challenge the client physically should trouble take place. The author has an Olympian ability to launch thunderbolts. His book causes a plague of vipers upon the head of Bill Peterson, the Ada district attorney who managed both these investigations and is still in office. â€Å"The Innocent Man† forces readers to take an interested look at and ask some serious questions about a legal system that, in important criminal cases, seems to be malfunctioning in every corner of our nation. Reference: Grisham, J. (2006). The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. 1st ed. New York: Doubleday Books.

Rice brokerage firm

Rice brokerage firm Introduction and historical background Brief description of proposed entrepreneurial venture The venture into consideration is a rice brokerage firm which is a service providing firm regarding selling and purchasing of rice to and from different traders and rice mill owners. This firm will serve as a middleman and do not require investment in purchasing rice but this firm will charge 0.5% commission from each buyer and seller for a single transaction. The above said commission will be charged on account of providing services to rice traders and rice mill owners. Context of the organization The business of rice brokerage firm lies in the service industry. The nature of rice brokerage firm is to facilitate people related to rice business to search for buyers and sellers of rice. This firm is aimed at providing best level of services to the clients while providing them value in every service they are seeking for. There is a huge demand of rice in Pakistan and all around the world, and Pakistan produces enough rice to meet domestic rice needs and is able to export as well. Rice is an essential part of Pakistani meals, thats why consumer preferences is still there and they are ready to buy rice at prices that were never before. It is obvious that rice business and its industry will not end-up easily despite high rate of inflation. If domestic people eliminate rice from their lunch or dinner menu or switch to another commodity, the global demand will still be there because people around world like Basmati which is a product of Pakistan. This means that business of rice within Pakistan seems to be a still growing business with profitable opportunities for entrepreneurs. To have a start-up in the rice business, becoming a rice broker is a good option because trade facilitator are always at the safest edge of any business with a minimum investment of PKR: 10,000/- (in this case). Brief history of the industry Service industry is always there since the very start of every business in any industry. My firm is also in the service industry because this firm facilitates the clients trading in same commodity, which is rice, to get information and availability of rice in the market. When rice mill owners process the rice obtained from landlords in raw form to the finished product, it is then required to be supplied to wholesaler and other traders. To lessen the gap of communication and to ease the supply of rice to different ends of the chain brokerage firms are required. And, such services are demanded by many such like businesses to minimize overhead costs of different distribution channels. Information about economy and different trends Rice is vital cash crop and is one of the major export items of Pakistan. It accounted for 5.9 percent of value added sector and 1.3 percent of GDP in FY09. Pakistan grows ample quantity of rice to meet its domestic requirements and also export the high quality rice around the world. The production soared by a commendable 25 percent that helped Pakistan earn sizeable foreign exchange revenue. Rice exports accounted for nearly 11.21 percent of total export receipts FY09 and growers have achieved a bumper production of rice (6.4 million tons) so far in this crop year. Rice harvest was significantly higher than estimated domestic consumption of 2.5 million tons as growers were encouraged by higher rice price in international market following imposition of ban on rice exports by competing countries. Current status of the rice brokerage firms Every year Pakistan produces a decent quantity of rice and it contributes to major part of our country exports. Taking into consideration this fact, there are more and more people entering into this business because this business can be started with an investment of less than PKR 10,000/- and it is within the reach of common man nowadays. Another reason for the still growing business of rice brokerage is that there are wonderful growth opportunities and diversification of business in the field of exporting commodities to different parts of the world and there are examples of such successful people too in the present market have started from a commission agent to a successful rice exporter and rice mill owners, and hence successful entrepreneurs. So, people found this business very much profitable and most of people are still entering into this business. Aim of the service It is reasonable to say here that everybody in rice business wants to purchase and sell rice at his/her doorstep and there is a need to provide the service of brokerage firm to fulfill that need. Most of the times, it is difficult for rice mill owners to go into the market to search for buyers and it incurs a cost to that mill owners, so they prefer to contact brokers like us to search for buyers because those brokers have already contacts of buyers and their requirement in the market accordingly. This approach saves time and cost of every person involved in this business from rice mill owners to buyers to exporters. In order to provide up-to-date information about market prices of rice to traders and mill owners and to ease the process of searching for buyers and sellers is surmised by me as a good opportunity to start a business with a much lesser investment and greater growth opportunities. List of services to be provided Up-to-date information about prices of rice to clients Quality check-up of rice being bought and sold by client by randomly checking samples from the lot Making rice available to clients at best prices SWOT analysis of rice brokerage business Strengths Low investment Easy to operate ROI is high Weaknesses Ease of entry High competition Low sustainability No consistency Opportunities Diversification International trade opportunities Threats Forward and backward integration by major players in the industry Ease of entry into the business and competitor analysis There is a lot of competition in rice trade business because there is no barriers to entry this business. There is tough competition among all players in this business who provide brokerage services to rice traders as this can be done by anyone who can just coordinate between his/her clients. The only thing that matters in this area is trust and relationship building. This can only be made stronger by providing credible services and delivering on promises you have made to your clients because this will be the only differentiating factor that will set you apart from the competitors. However, there is a lack of value added services in the offerings of current brokers in the market of rice business which creates a gap in the area of this business which can be filled by smart entrepreneurs by putting creative destruction into work. This could be a challenging as well as risky task to stand out in competition in such business where most of the major players run their organization in typical seth-way, but when there is a risk there is an opportunity and if it is seen as an opportunity then an entrepreneur has done almost half of its work. Mission To serve rice buyers and sellers through continuing efforts in bringing clients the very best which is available today and ease their process of prospecting. Providing them value in our services by satisfying their requirements of rice, meeting deadline of lead time, consulting them about changing business environment and placing emphasis on trading properly and making money for clients. Vision To become a leader in commodity brokerage firm business and earn loyalty of our clientele base by assisting them in becoming more successful in their commodity trading through continuous improvement in our services by innovation, professionalism and integration. Management considerations Personal expertise Strengths Problem seeker/ proactive Experience Believe in black and white Leadership skills Communication skills Negotiator Ability to make fun oriented environment Straight forward Multi linguistic Weaknesses Cant wait Taking too much time in evaluating alternatives Do not socialize Straight forward Organizational design The proposed design for the venture is organic because of the smaller size and continuously changing outside environment. This is so because the success of the business depends upon the person who is at front end with the client and that person should be given freedom to customize services according to clients needs coping up with the challenges of uncertain external environment. Organizational culture Innovation and risk taking is very high and it will enable us to outperform others in the present market situation There will be a high degree of emphasis on attention to detail to get work perfectly done because a little mistake can lose out our credibility High degree of outcome orientation is entailed within organizations culture to achieve objectives, milestones and vision People orientation will be optimal because founder of this organization will be at front face from the very start of this business to build and maintain the customer base Team orientation is highly appreciated to carry out operations smoothly A blend of cooperative and competitive strategies will be used to sustain and survive into the industry while embedding a bit of higher level of aggressiveness within organizations culture Stability within the organization will be optimal will be taking into account innovation and progress in order to imply a proactive approach Staffing requirements A lawyer will be hired on annual basis for filing sales tax and income tax returns at the end of each fiscal year. Apart from this, a quality control checker will be employed at a monthly salary of PKR: 10,000/- whose responsibility will be to check quality of rice being bought and sold by our clients and to assure them for timely delivery of that quality of rice as demanded by the clients. Operational management issues The quality of services offered to the clients should be maintained to avoid any disappointment and shrinkage of customer base. Following dimensions of service quality are taken into consideration to maintain the consistency in our services: Timeliness: meeting deadlines of all clients Courtesy: giving clients a â€Å"wow† experience Consistency: same and even better quality of service every time Convenience: providing all services at clients doorstep Completeness: taking feedback after successful completion of each job Accuracy: never making client unhappy by doing and providing non professional services Inventory management methods There is no inventory management in the proposed venture because this venture provides no-goods services and do not invest in purchasing commodities, hence there is no inventory. Equipments required Basic equipments required for this venture are personal computer, printer, fax machine and telephone set. Marketing considerations Marketing plan In the commodity brokerage business, there is a high need of marketing to let people know that a new venture is established in this industry providing value added services other than the core activity of assisting and facilitating clients in buying and selling process of rice. The marketing of this firm focuses more on relationship building, communicating value and delivering on trustworthy promises to clients. Segmentation approaches Demographic Industry type There are no barriers to entry in the rice industry because it is a commodity market which comes into the market every year with no limitations on purchasing and selling this commodity. It is a still growing industry and people are still coming into this industry to settle their business. There are very least government restrictions on this industry because rice contribute to major part of our country exports. Company size Due to fewer barriers to entry, everybody regardless of what capital s/he has in the pocket can enter in this industry and can trade rice. Based on this fact, there are too many variations in company size. There are firms which supply rice to small scale retailers and there are firms which are rice mill owners and large scale exporters. The company size may vary from PKR: 100,000/- to PKR: 100 million worth of firm. Location Almost all rice traders do their business in the area of New Chaali (behind I.I Chundrigarh road) and some of them are in Jodia Bazaar. Rice mills are situated throughout the province of Sind but they fulfill the requirements of nearby areas. The rice mills in the area of Gharo and Hyderabad are major supplier of rice to Karachi. Most of the mill owners have offices in Karachi at the above said areas. Operating variables Technology There is no such technology employed as standard in the rice industry but different firms in this industry are using computer software to maintain their books of records, accounting, billing and other related activities. For a private limited company it is necessary to employ software to maintain operational and non-operational activities. For the rice mill owners, new mills are being set up with latest improved technology equipments/machinery to do rice processing in a more efficient and cost effective manner. Customer capabilities Customer capabilities vary from customer to customer. The trade volume varies from 0.5 metric tons to tens of metric tons of rice. Purchasing approaches Purchasing department Some large scale rice trading firms have separate purchasing department which have a huge annual turnover as compared to others, while small scale traders do not have separate purchase department. Most of the firms in rice industry are seth owned and they run their business in a typical seth way. They are responsible for all buying and selling activities. However, accounting activities are assigned to other employees but activities such as purchasing, negotiation, making payments and collecting payments are done by seth himself. Purchasing policies Almost all buyers purchase rice on credit, there are very few who purchase on cash. In Pakistan rice industry, rice buyers make payments to the suppliers/sellers within 30 days but on an average the credit period may extend to 45 days. Purchasing criteria There is no specific purchasing criterion for buying rice. Rice is being bought and sold in the market in a much simpler way, just make a phone call to a broker, s/he will note down buyers requirements, the broker will arrange rice for the client and negotiate on payment terms and conditions with the buyer, receives advance amount of money to conform the deal, finalize the deal and supply the rice to buyers warehouse. Situational factors Urgency For rice exporters, the concerned bank personnel, through which international letter of credit (ILOC) is opened and maintained by importer sitting abroad, checks the quality of rice being exported to assure whether the quality of rice meets the requirements of the importer. If those quality controllers reject the rice for not meeting the required quality, then in order to avoid disappointed customers and delayed shipments exporters rush to the rice market and rice brokers to fulfill the order of the importer. At this instance, targeting such exporters who make mistakes in performing quality control check of rice may be profitable for rice brokerage venture. Size of order If rice market falls short of rice then every trader will buy rice to stock it and then sell at higher rates to make more profits. This is very critical moment in the market and most of the traders want to take advantage of such opportunity, but such decision are based upon environmental scanning and quantity of rice exported versus domestic consumption and availability. In such scenario the size of order increases from normal orders that rice traders used to place for purchasing rice in normal situations. Personal characteristic Buyer-seller similarity There are a lot of similar characteristics among the traders in the rice industry. A buyer wants to buy and a seller wants to sell and the business goes on. The basic similarity among them is that everybody has to agree upon a specific on going market rate. Attitude towards risk There is no higher level of risk involved in the rice trade business because this is a commodity business. The rates of rice do fluctuate on daily basis but not at a higher level. The major increase in rates of rice occurs due to higher exports local/domestic market fall short of rice. Risk is involved when rice is sold at credit and buyer becomes defaulter in making payments to the supplier/seller. All rice traders are aware of risks involved in this business but they believe that trust is the key driving factor of this business and they trust each other despite of having knowledge of all risks involved. Loyalty There is no brand involved in the rice business to which loyalty can be associated. Business people in this industry are loyal to traders who are providing best services to their clients rather than just selling rice which can be done by providing value in their services. Target market selection strategy The rice brokerage venture will adapt full market coverage strategy to meet the needs of all traders of rice because no such customer group is identified in the market that do not want or need to buy or sell rice to run their business. Marketing mix strategies Service description The service to be provided by the proposed venture is to facilitate buyer and seller to look for each other, to fulfill their business needs of rice and making rice available for them at best prices so that they may run their business profitably. The service charges are 0.5% of the overall amount of the rice being bought and sold, which will be charged from each client for a single deal transaction. This venture also caters to the rice mill owners by helping them to look for potential buyers of their processed rice. The said venture will also provide its services to rice growers and so that farmers and landlords may sell rice to rice mill owners at best rates and after processing the rice will be passed on to different channels for furthering its supply into the market. According to product lifecycle, the rice brokerage business is at growth stage. Pricing The cost of service to be charged from clients is based on going-rate pricing strategy. This pricing strategy is chosen for this venture because all competitors in the rice brokerage service industry are charging same rate of commission from buyers and sellers, therefore premium pricing and other pricing strategies will not be feasible for this type of venture. The value that client will get after using our services will help us to build and maintain our clientele base through word of mouth marketing. At the initial stage, the most feasible pricing strategy will be going-rate pricing in order to survive and maximizing sales growth. Promotion All the promotional strategies for this venture focus on partnering with clients, value added selling, consultative selling and building long term sustainable relationship with the clients. All advertising will be done by personal visits to buyers and sellers premises so that interpersonal relationships can be strengthened by personal selling. To make promotional activities strategies more effective, efficient and result oriented we will try to concentrate on customers, preparing ourselves for gathering information about competition, convince the clients about our services by providing guarantee and by delivering on the promises, offering benefits to the clients and handle objections of the clients by listening to them about our offered services which will help us to mould our services according to each client needs. Place Overall marketing strategy Nowadays, business persons have become smart enough to opt for forward and backward integration. Traders buying and selling at large scale do not necessarily engage a rice broker for their trading operations. In such scenario, creating a place in the industry and market place can be a challenging and trivial task. To gain success, following strategies will be implemented for the business of rice brokerage business. Strategy 1 Continuous visits to large and small scale rice traders for prospecting and give them information about advantages associated with services offered by a rice brokerage firm while providing them value in each service, cutting down costs in warehousing and storage of rice, making process of looking for buyers and sellers easy and enabling them to meet each business entity annual revenue targets and turnover goals. Strategy 2 Creating a database of all existing and potential clients to keep individuals up-to-date record of all previous transactions, their feedback about services they have received which will enable us to take corrective measures to further improve on strategy and level of service. Tactics Regularly monitoring and evaluating of current market activities and to take actions accordingly in order to survive in the challenging business environment. Legal considerations and business structure Type of firm The legal form of entrepreneural venture into consideration is sole propreitorship because there are no complex legal requirements of establishing a rice brokerage venture. At the very start of establishing such service providing venture, we need a high level of direct control over operations and processes of business to convince and satisfy our clients about our services. Terms and conditions Goods are delivered at owners risk Seller of rice isnot responsible for any kind of unpleasant event regarding delivery of rice to buyers destination 50% of service charges, which is commission in this case, will be charged at the rate of 0.5% of trade amount from each party, and the rest will be paid by the parties after successful execution and completion of the deal. Transportation charges are to be borne by the buyer Payment agreement will be carried out according to mutual understanding of both parties The broker itself is not responsible for quality of rice not meeting buyers quality needs and requirements. However, we will try our level best to assure our clients about delivery of rice of reqired quality as decided at the time of finalizing the deal Buyout A successful entrepreneur is the person who plans for a good profitable future and not forgetting to plan for coping up with challenges due to changing external environment. Therefore, in the worst case scenario if the propreitor end up doing business with heavy losses then it is easy to exit from this business by shutting down the firm. Despite increased effective tax rate, unlimited liability and difficulties in raising funds, sole propreitorship form of organization still seems to be feasible for this venture. Legal documents The basic legal documents for a sole propreitor venture are; National Tax Number (NTN) Sales Tax Registration Number (STRN) Tax considerations Financial considerations Startup costs SOURCES OF CAPITAL Owners Investment (name and percent ownership) PKR Raj Kumar 100% ownership 1,635,000 Total Investment 1,635,000 STARTUP EXPENSES Capital Equipment List PKR Furniture (tables and chairs) 15,000 Equipment (computer, printer, fax telephone) 18,650 Fixtures (fans and lighting) 7,000 Total Capital Equipment 40,650 Location and Admin Expenses PKR Rental 15,000 Advance deposit 180,000 Telephone connection charges 600 Mobile phone 1,200 Stationary 2,580 Total Location and Admin Expenses 199,380 Advertising and Promotional Expenses PKR Advertising 10,000 Travel/entertainment 10,000 Total Advertising/Promotional Expenses 20,000 Reserve for Contingencies 20,000 Working Capital SUMMARY STATEMENT Sources of Capital PKR Owners investments 1,635,000 Total Source of Funds 1,635,000 Startup Expenses PKR Capital equipment 40,650 Location/administration expenses 199,380 Advertising/promotional expenses 20,000 Contingency fund 20,000 Working capital Total Startup Expenses 280,030

The Work Of Ruth Benedict

The Work Of Ruth Benedict Ruth Benedicts studies on moral relativism produced intriguing information regarding cultures, how they behave, and how customs are essential in determining an individuals perception of right and wrong. Among her most notable works is the book Patterns of Culture, which provides readers with a thorough explanation of the diversity put across by various cultures and of how it is wrong to judge one relating to principles that are not present in his or her culture. Speaking about Dobu Islanders and Kwakiutls Benedict proves that the people in these two groups should not be condemned because of the way they perceive life. The main point stressed by Benedict is that morals are not the same for every culture and that one cannot consider that all people have the same outlook on notions like right and wrong. Not only were Dobu Islanders considered by white people to be abnormally savage for the territories they inhabited, but they were also harshly criticized by the tribes neighboring them, which were to some extent equally unsophisticated. In point of fact, during the early twentieth century white people recognized Dobu Islanders primarily for their poverty and because they were willing to work for low wages. In contrast to white people, the communities neighboring the Dobuans feared them because of their extreme way of living, which sometimes involved performing acts of cannibalism (Benedict 131). The Dobuans amply deserve the character they are given by their neighbors. They are lawless and treacherous (Benedict 131). Surely, this is most people would think when seeing things from what they perceive as being a general point of view, one that strictly distinguishes between concepts like right and wrong. Benedict however goes on to relate to moral relativism and to how the general public is wrong in believing that they can be impartial in defining principles relating to right and wrong. These two concepts are actually very subjective, since almost every culture perceives them differently. Dobuans are different from the rest of the world because of a series of reason, most of them being rather normal for the general public. Curiously, the Dobu society functions unlike other communities, given that it does not respect an exact hierarchy and does not follow any rules other than those involving treachery and hostility. The general rule applied in the Dobu community is that referring to how every mans hand is against every other man (Bendict 131). Still, as Benedict describes, Dobuans manage to get through the day without producing chaos and anarchy is among the last concepts that should be related to this culture (Benedict 131). In spite of the fact that Dobuans respect little to no rules that are highly praised in the so-called civilized world, they are nonetheless certain that what they do is perfectly right. In addition to living in an apparent state of lawlessness, Dobuans have rules that are based on aggression and that thoroughly relate to what is and what is not permitted when concerning unfriendliness. The Dobu Islanders believe that it is perfectly natural if they perform acts of betrayal and violence as long as they do so in what they perceive as being an organized environment. The very union that unites most communities that of marriage between individual coming from two enemy groups is not considered by Dobuans to bring any change in their lives, as they continue to hate each-other as they did before. Witchcraft is an essential element in Dobuan culture, since it is the reason for which most individuals perform a particular mission. With the intervention of white individuals, more and more Dobuans have expressed their desire to escape their community in exchange of what the general public sees as being hard labor. This desire to work in inhumane conditions for low wages is the result of the work they would otherwise be forced to do in their own villages. The Dobuan community sees nothing wrong with the fact that a man who was caught overnight in the residence of a woman should be forced to work for the womans father and for his own family for a year, until he is considered free to join the community as a member with full rights. Eating together is yet a nother example that assists the couple uniting under the ceremony of marriage. Although most of the Western World would be inclined to believe that there is nothing abnormal about the fact that Dobuans organize marriages in accordance to the general way in which a wedding takes place, matters are actually different. Indeed, Dobuans allow husbands and wives to stay together under the same roof and to provide food for their children. However, because mothers and motherline in general are especially important for Dobuans, couples are required to reside alternately in the grooms tribe and in the brides tribe for one year at a time, resolving the predicament easily but beyond the understanding of most of the civilized world (Bendict 139). Dobuans typically believe that one can only achieve success through cheating others into giving him what is rightfully theirs. The Dobuan culture provides individuals with complex information relating to how they can perform acts of treachery. Dobuans thus consider morality to relate only to their conception of society and to concepts such as right and wrong. The general public already has an understanding of right and wrong and considers Dobuans to act immorally, even with the fact that Dobu Islanders are merely doing what they were taught to do and are respecting the values imposed on them by their community (Bendict 142). Bendicts view on moral relativism relates to cultural relativism, since it involves the theory that an individuals behavior and convictions should be analyzed from the standpoint of the respective individuals culture. Morality is essentially relative and even with the fact that Western philosophers have produced complex theories related to ethical behavior, the information they generated is mostly useful, since it can only be applied to a limited number of cultures and even in these cultures the concepts of right and wrong can be considered to be unbalanced. To some extent, the presently extinct Kwakiutl population that once resided on the northwest coast of the American continent is similar to the Dobu Islanders. They too praised the supernatural and went through great efforts to attain it, even resorting to committing acts of cannibalism. Violence was a foremost element in the lives of Kwakiutls, as they did not hesitate to use aggression every time they had the opportunity to do so. Acts of aggression were actually part of ceremonies related to the communitys economy and the fighting abilities it possessed. It was essential for one to demonstrate his or her superiority in front of their opponents through making use of violence. According to Benedict, the object of all Kwakiutl enterprise was to show oneself superior to ones rivals (Bendict 190). In spite of their anomalous behavior, Kwakiutls simply did what their society taught them. Performing mostly every act that was not in accordance to their instinct provided Kwakiutls with enlightenment and they were determined to use every means possible with the purpose of reaching this state (Benedict 79). The concepts promoted by the Kwakiutl society are extremely unclear and complex, given that Kwakiutls were extremely devoted to serving their purpose and did not hesitate to perform inexplicable acts that they saw as being right. Not only were the Kwakiutls certain that they had to perform abnormal acts in order to become one with the supernatural, but they believed that these nonstandard performances were by and large obligatory to be associated to pain and torment. The most explanatory paragraph in Benedicts book relating to how Kwakiutls were certain that violence was the answer to virtually everything is the one speaking about the fact that these individuals believed that all of their gods were evil, since they could not comprehend a god that performs good deeds. They did not suppose that supernatural beings were beneficent. They knew that hurricanes and avalanches were not, and they attributed to the Gods the characteristics of the natural world (Benedict 221). It would be unlik ely for a Kwakiutl to be influenced in believing that the divine can also put across kindness, given that one cannot explain how gods can be good and produce hurricanes and avalanches for no actual reason at the same time. As demonstrated by Benedict in her description of the Dobuan and Kwakiutl cultures, it is illogical to attempt to determine if a particular act is right or wrong, considering that it can be understood as good from the standpoint of a particular culture whereas another can perceive it as being totally immoral. Just as each individual from a community can express subjective convictions regarding a topic in particular, a community as a whole can put across subjective ideas regarding what qualifies as being acceptable and what can be identified as being intolerable.

The Usefulness of Financial Statements Essay -- GCSE Business Marketin

The Usefulness of Financial Statements The primary means of communicating the financial effects of organizational activities and transactions of a company to outsiders is the financial reporting system. This reporting system includes communicating financial information through annual financial statements, as well as through reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, voluntary forecasts, and other financial and nonfinancial releases. Financial statements are the main source of financial information conveyed to parties external to the company. The full set of primary financial statements consists of a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. External financial statements have a general purpose and are designed to meet the needs of investors, creditors, and other users of the external reports. They are historical in that they communicate activities and events that have already occurred. Financial statements are prepared on an accrual basis; they measure the impact of events and transactions when they occur and not simply when the cash consequences of such events and transactions are realized. Financial statements are useful in evaluating an enterprise's profitability, liquidity, and long-term solvency and equity structure. An analysis is conducted from the perspective of external users of financial statements and it relies on the annual report of a corporation and other publicly available information. Management, of course, also has access to extensive internal financial data, and their concerns extend to subdivisions of the enterprise, such as the performance of subsidiaries, divisions, departments, and operating functions. External reports are intended primarily for stockholders, creditors, directors, and regulators such as the SEC. Although externally reported information is also useful to corporate management at the highest level, it is far too aggregate to be useful for decision making by lower levels of management. And even top levels of management need financial information for decision making with respect to the performance of the various components or segments of the enterprise. It is vital that managers understand how their corporation organizes itself and at what levels the various functions such as manufacturing, marketing, finance, and research and development are performed. Managers ... ...d profits. It is seldom possible to form a judgment about the performance of an individual segment or division by inspecting the records of only that segment or division. All financial information must be analyzed together to serve useful in and out of a corporate entity. Works Cited: Financial Accounting Standards Board, 1978, Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No.1: Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises (Stamford, CT., Financial Accounting Standards Board). Financial Accounting Standards Boards, 1984. Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No.: Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements of Business Enterprises (Stamford, CT.: Financial Accounting Standards). American Accounting Association, 1957. Accounting and Reporting Standards for Corporation Financial Statements and Preceding Statements and Supplements (Iowa City, Iowa: American Accounting Association). Parker, R.H., 1979. Evolution of Corporation Financial Reporting (Nigeria, Africa: Thomas Nelson and Sons Limited). Gray, S.J., 1984. Information Disclosure and the Multinational Corporation (New York, New York: John Wiley and Sons).

Essay --

Diabetes mellitus is one of the common diseases of the hormonal system. Diabetes is a disease caused by a number of factors such as due to complete or partial loss of insulin production or complete or partial loss of its action or both. Whatever the type of diabetes, the main feature of all types of diabetes is elevated level of blood glucose termed as hyperglycemia. A disease forming alterations in capillary’s basement membrane thickening, elevation of matrix of vessel wall and proliferation cell leading to the vascular complications such as narrowing of the lumen, and early atherosclerosis. Diabetes is found to be related with the elevated generation of atherosclerosis that affects the arteries involve in the circulation to the heart, brain and lower extremities. As well as diabetic myocardial disease, is one of the complications of diabetes. Diabetes founds to affect about 100 million people all over the world. The conditions of diabetes leading to the introduction and gene ration of microvascular disorder that is results by the destruction of the small blood vessels and macrovascular disorders that results by the destruction of arteries. In diabetic patient the major reason of inability and death is the vascular disease mainly atherosclerosis. Diabetes elevates the risk of generating coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral disease. The alteration in the endothelial wall, vascular smooth muscles and functionally active platelets all lead to the pathophysiology progressing to vascular disease. The key factors that are the risk factor for the pathogenesis of vascular complication are elevated blood glucose levels, glucose intolerance, elevated lipid profile and hypertension. Deliberating various long term and threatening diabetic... ...vel also found elevated in the diabetic individuals as compare to the non diabetic individuals. All platelet indices like PLT, PCT, MPV and PDW are associated with the determination of platelet activity, in which elevated MPV and PDW has been documented as main a factor that is associated with the complications of thromboembolic. In previous study elevated MPV and PDW has been found with very poor control of glyceamic index. In previous study it is documented that elevated levels of MPV, PDW, and CRP in diabetic female as compare to the male with diabetes, developing thromboembolic complications. Positive relation in between glyceamic index controlling determining factors (FBG and HbA1c) and the indices of platelets (MPV, PDW) demonstrates that HbA1c and platelets indices can be used as alternate indicator for the diagnosis of diabetic complications in early state.

Persepolis Essay

Persepolis was a very insightful movie about the lives of Iranian people at a very important time in the country’s history. Two topics that stuck out to me the most were the effects of the war on the everyday lives of the citizens of Iran and secondly the not-so-patriarchal lifestyle of people at the household level. Once the revolution to bring down the Shah began, which was followed by the Iran-Iraq war, the lives of Iranians were never the same again. Before these events, Iran appeared to be what we can easily call ‘a modern society’. Women were treated equally, men and women openly socialized together without any restrictions and westernization was apparent with the dressing styles of women, parties and the children indulging in pop culture. All of this drastically changed after the elections and once the war began. Under the new repressive government, religious extremists in power imposed several laws that undermined the freedom of all citizens of Iran. Everybody was told how to dress whereby women were required to veil in public, parties and consumption of alcohol became illegal, children were taught in school that the new government was very good, young boys were influenced into joining the army and fighting in the war. In addition to all these social impacts there were economic downturns as well. The stores are shown to have empty shelves, the country’s infrastructure destroyed, healthcare deteriorated, the excessive restrictions on almost everything pushed for the need for black-markets and illegal operations. Even with all the restrictions from the people in power and the policing of everybody, there were still a large number of people who were very modern, even men. One example would be Marjane’s father telling her and Reza to be more careful about meeting in public. Another example would be when Marjane’s uncle Anoush is released from prison and visits them, everybody ate dinner at the same table, both men and women. One of the topics that relate to our class readings is war and bereavement. The war that lasted so long did not occur without expensing lives of millions of innocent people. During the war period, countless lives were lost and most of these were men. Men fought in wars and died and the women were left to deal with the loss. When a missile lands in Marjane’s neighborhood, the fear of losing her family takes over her and she is still a little girl at the time. The same incident cost the lives of her friends in the neighborhood. Of all the characters in the movie, to me, Marjane’s grandmother was the most compelling character. She was a wise old woman who was inspirational, understanding and very realistic. She was a symbol of independence and a great role model for Marjane. Most importantly, she practiced what she preached. She placed a great emphasis on protecting the innocent as this was an issue close to her since her husband and family members had been victims. When Marjane tells her that in order to save herself from the police, she lied and got an innocent man in trouble, Grandmother reacts in a way that I didn’t expect. She believed in being true to your own self and certainly did not tolerate any unfaithfulness, even from her beloved Marjane. The character that had the most impact on Marjane would have to be her uncle Anoush. He came into Marjane’s life when she was still very young and definitely made an enormous impression on her. As if his life story wasn’t enough, uncle Anoush’s death left an even bigger impact on Marjane’s life. She wouldn’t tolerate people talking about war and death lightly after his death. Several times in her life when she was feeling confused, the words of her uncle Anoush helped her get through.

Are People Born Generally Good Essay

I believe all people are born generally good, but are corrupted by society later on in life. When we are born we have no idea of what our lives will become. As we grow, we encounter people that affect us in good and bad ways. We then have to take it upon ourselves to decide what is right and how we handle situations based on our previous experiences. Hence these experiences make our lives and tendencies good or bad. For example, many studies have found that those who grow up in a â€Å"broken home† or dysfunctional family are more likely to develop habits of lying, being irresponsible, and hyper-sensitive of peoples opinions about them. This is a direct effect of experiences they encountered growing up, whether it be trying to avoid harsh consequences by lying, trying to please someone who never shows support (causing hyper-sensitivity), or not having an influential adult who teaches them how to complete tasks properly (becoming irresponsible). I believe everyone I have come in contact with has been good in the end, meaning everyone has some sense of good deep inside of them. Whether that is apparent to the everyday person is decided by the unique path they’ve had through life. When thinking about the success or failures of our representative democracy, I think of it in two sections, a social issues section and a financial policy section. Socially, I believe our country is extremely successful in protecting our personal liberties and freedoms. The representatives we elect have always had split opinions on controversial issues like drug legalization, abortion, and gay marriage, but have always made sure to protect our rights to assemble, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, to name a few. Our government has always sworn and made sure to do the right thing and keep our constitutional rights intact, for the well-being of our public. We are given the right to have opposing opinions, and most people respect the right for people to do so. This is because of the general good people are born with. In these personal liberty issues our government takes the morally good stance of upholding the Constitution, even if a verdict against it may personally benefit them more. Albeit there are always the few bad apples who make the exception. Financially is where the negativity of society begins to show in our government. We are bombarded with images of the rich, powerful and famous, and told that this is the â€Å"new American Dream†. This is what we work to attain in life, but it is almost impossible to reach. So, once the few who do make it to the top (including the representatives we elect to government) they will do what it takes to keep that power and money, because that is what makes them successful in societies eyes. This can include a lot of what you hear about in the news including adding â€Å"pork† to bills, working with lobbyists, and shady campaign funding to ensure re-election. Unfortunately, this has become normal in politics. All of this is powered by negative social ideals that we are surrounded by. Thus the generally good representative, who may have started out truly wanting to help his nation, becomes corrupt.