Failure and the Degeneration of America in Fitzgerald’s...

The Great Gatsby is a bold and damning social commentary of America which critiques its degeneration from a nation of infinite hope and opportunity to a place of moral destitution. The novel is set during the Roaring Twenties, an era of outrageous excesses, wild lavish parties and sadly, an era of regret and lost potential. As the audience, they take us on a journey guided and influenced by the moral voice of Nick Carraway, a character who is simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life. Nevertheless, when Carraway rejects the East, returning to the comparatively secure morality of his ancestral West, we realize that gaiety was merely a thin facade, and that behind it†¦show more content†¦All Gatsby wants is to seize the green light in his fingers but light is intangible, and like Gatsbys dream, it will always remain beyond his grasp. Gatsby is trapped in a state of timelessness where his future is an illusory reflection of this past. His unbridled imagination has created a world in which reality is undefined to itself and thus through this wilderness of illusions, Gatsby attempts to realize the possibilities of life. Such was the colossal vitality of Gatsbys illusion that he believed that his social status could recreate the past. Why of course you can, was his automatic response. Yet once the party was over, reality begins to dominate and tragically, Gatsby falls to his demise. Gatsby finds himself in a world material without real and as he looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves... he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. Confronted by reality, Gatsby realizes how disgusting it really is compared to his world of illusions. Yet while the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house, Fitzgerald questions the essence of reality and asks us if it is really worth sanctifying. He demonstrates that given the ugliness of Gatsbys surroundings, his dream served a purpose, though it led to utter destruction. Fitzgerald parallels Gatsbys demise with the degenerationShow MoreRelatedAnalytical Essay On The Great Gatsby1048 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is hailed as a masterpiece of American fiction. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald offers up a commentary on the American society of which he was a part. He successfully encapsulates the mood of a generation during a politically and socially crucial and chaotic period of American history. In fact, The Great Gatsby stands as a brilliant piece of English literature, offering a vivid peek into American life in the 1920s. Fitzgerald carefully setsRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesthe text reveals under close examination. Any literary work is unique. It is created by the author in accordance with his vision and is permeated with his idea of the world. The reader’s interpretation is also highly individual and depends to a great extent on his knowledge and personal experience. That’s why one cannot lay down a fixed â€Å"model† for a piece of critical appreciation. Nevertheless, one can give information and suggestions that may prove helpful. PLOT The Elements of Plot When we

Inside a Totalitarian Regime Key features of Stalinism Essay

Stalin’s rule lasted almost thirty years, from the middle of the 1920’s until his death in 1953. His rule deeply transformed the USSR and destalinization is still not fully achieved today. While Stalinism and Nazism are often compared because they were the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, the Stalinist regime lasted for decades while Nazism collapsed after 12 years, thus raising several questions concerning the particular nature of the Stalinist Society. What were the key features of Stalinism, thus differentiating Stalin’s policy from Lenin’s and Marx’s theory? Was Stalinism a logical outcome of the Marxist theory or a betrayal of communism? In this perspective, one must analyze Stalin’s key policies, collectivization,†¦show more content†¦W. Davies 1989, 1036) and the use of the agricultural production to finance the industrial expansion. Despite Bolsheviks encouraging collectivization in the early years of the revolut ion, collective farms had remained anecdotic . Stalin’s arrival to power marked the start of a forced and often violent campaign of collectivization. In agreement with his doctrine of Communism in one country, Stalin aimed at developing a self-sufficient agricultural system based on the Marxist theory of collective property of means of productions. In 1929, kolkhozy (farmers owned cooperative) and sovkhozy (state owned farm employing farm workers) were created. Collectivization was as quick as brutal and symbolized the inefficiency of the Soviet agricultural policy. Indeed, while collective farms quickly became the majority agricultural model , thousands of prosperous peasants, the kulaks, were expropriated, deported and executed: â€Å"More than one million peasant families—five million people, at least – were dekulakized† (Viola 1996, 86). However, despite an increased workforce, the interwar years’ Soviet agricultural production never reached th e prerevolutionary levels. Indeed, in 1937 which was the best interwar harvest, the agricultural production increased by 8.1 percent compared to 1928 while the population increased by 12 percent in the same period (Davies 1989, 1030). Furthermore, the agricultural production was used to fuel the growing industry. Peasants wereShow MoreRelatedThe Rise and Rule of Single-Party States7795 Words   |  32 Pagesand social policies * role of education, the arts, the media, and propaganda * status of women, treatment of minorities, and religious groups * Regional and Global impact * foreign policy as a means of maintaining the regime * impact of regime outside the state * as a factor in the Cold War * Examples of material for Detailed Study * China: Mao Zedong * Cuba: Fidel Castro * Germany: Adolf Hitler * Italy: Benito Mussolini * Russia: Vladimir Lenin andRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesshaped by ideas and concepts. The authors have brought their wealth of experience and understanding and provided the field with an imaginative resource to address the dynamics between theory and practice. Dr Susanne Tietze, Bradford University, UK The key to success for managers is not only to be result oriented but also to be wise in their decision making. This requires that they have a deeper than superficial understanding of management and organization issues. McAuley et al. helps student and managers

Controversial Questions in Phonological Theory

Question: Discuss about the Controversial Questions in Phonological Theory. Answer: Introduction: Being a social animal, human being needed a means of communication through which his interactions within the group moves beyond the basic sound patterns that animals make to communicate with each other. Over the course of human development and the fight to evolve from animal into human beings, somewhere along the way humans acquired the intelligence to formulate and retain a set pattern of sounds that were passed on through the generations and became the basis for the modern languages that we see prevalent today. Language became this means of communication which helped humans in all spheres of life right from keeping them safe to helping mingling with each other. It is a complex system, highly governed by rules (Brown , 2000). A definition of language as defined by Chomsky is: Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation. In 1960s, Noam Chomsky gave a theory on First Language Acquisition which stated that the first language that a person learns is inherently stored in him and is innate to his nature. This involves an inherent knowledge of grammar also which later forms a basis for further language acquisition (Lenneberg, Chomsky Marx, 1967). Views of Noam Chomsky on language acquisition were something of a revolution in a stream of thinking which always believed that language learning is an acquired process and a child learns all the language he knows from the culture and environment in which he grows up. First Language Acquisition The learning of sounds, and words, meanings and constructions by children starting right after their birth (Clark, 2009). A number of theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon most well-read and accepted of which are Behaviourist theory, Mentalist theory (Innatism). Innatism refers to the theory proposed by Chomsky. Behaviourist theory is a theory of native language learning that is more of a psychological theory stating that imitations, rewards and practice is the process by which infants learn language from human role models (Cooter Reutzel, 2004). E.L.T. Thorndike was the first behaviourist to explore the fact that learning is the process establishing associations with a particular behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour. Second Language Acquisition Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers to the process of learning a foreign, non-native language by a child after he has learnt his own mother tongue. The process of SLA is fraught with rules and restrictions and is believed to be more difficult than first language acquisition. SLA is a conscious effort made by an individual while FLA happens without much effort (Klein, 1986). Being a conscious learning effort, SLA is influenced by personality as well as the motivation of the learner. There involves a great role of surroundings also to support that learning process and comes as a part of conscious effort on the part of learner as well as his peers. On the other hand, first language acquisition is more rapid, complete, natural and effortless. Non-practice of FLA for an extended period of time might lead to a diminished remembrance of it however it will not be wiped out from the memory completely as opposed to SLA (Hickey R., n.d.). Profuse literature exists on Second Language Acquisition. For instance, Lightbown and Spada wrote How Languages are Learned to demonstrate the research findings and theoretical concepts about SLA (Lightbown, Spada, Ranta, Rand, 1993). Different theories that explain second language acquisition include: Krashens Monitor theory, Cummins second language framework, McLaughlins attention processing model, Automaticity Model, Selinkers Interlanguage theory. The following diagram depicts the second language acquisition process as explained by Krashens Monitor theory. It shows how an adult graduates from an acquired system of language to learned form and finally converts it into uttered form of language. Harris, a well-known US linguist, in 1982 proposed that a majority of language learning happens through structured relation of a word to other word and the social learning also plays a significant role in this (Harris, 1982, 1991). However, his student Chomsky in 1960s abandoned this structuralist approach towards language learning and brought in a new thought process that developed principles and parameters for the learning of grammar. Grammar as well as language development was no longer a learning based emergent system but rather became a rule-governed, top down system. (Gass Mackey, 2013). Chomsky likened language learning to walking. According to him, as a child has all the inherent mechanism required to walk, similar is the case with language which a child has basic mechanism to understand and only requires proper guidance and training to master. To corroborate his theory and to give further proof to the fact that language learning is inherent in an individual, Chomsky gave the concept of Universal Grammar as well as Critical Period Hypothesis. A glimpse of Chomskys views on Universal Grammar is seen in the following quote by him: It's perfectly obvious that there is some genetic factor that distinguishes humans from other animals and that it is language-specific. The theory of that genetic component, whatever it turns out to be, is what is called universal grammar. Universal Grammar Chomsky noted that majority of human beings follow similar patterns while and rules when it comes to grammar. Based on this and the observation that there is a rapid pace of language and grammar learning by humans, Chomsky postulated that language is hard-wired into human brains (Tool Module, n.d.). Universal grammar is an extension of the concept of Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that Chomsky proposed was present in human brain. This is the basic device that stores the universal grammar in itself and helps children learn and excel sentence formations and syntaxes. Universal grammar defines how certain grammatical rules and parameters are same in case of all the languages and new language acquisition thus becomes easier because the governing rules are more or less set and only the specifics of a new language have to be learnt (Chomsky, 1965). The concept of universal grammar is also seen in the following statement made by Chomsky. The most striking aspect of linguistic competence is what we may call the 'creativity of language,' that is, the speaker's ability to produce new sentences, sentences that are immediately UNDERSTOOD by other speakers although they bear no physical resemblance to sentences which are 'familiar. Here, Chomsky explains how even if a language is unfamiliar, due to universality of grammatical rules, it is not too difficult to understand these sentences. Critical Period Hypothesis According to this hypothesis, the first few years of an individuals life are the most essential ones for him to learn a new language and if presented with adequate stimuli, the person can learn the given language very fast. It also states that the level of competence one acquires with a second language often depends upon the time period at which the learning is begun rather than the amount of time spent learning that language. Recent experiments have found that Chomskys theory might have been factual and has truth to it. According to researcher Dr. David Poeppel, their experiments proved crucial aspects of Chomskys theory as unpopular as it might be (Ding, Melloni, Zhang, Tian Poeppel, 2015). As popular as Chomskys theories are, they are equally strongly and widely disputed also. It is difficult to accept that a child at the time of being born has certain concepts and understanding of language inherent in him. In contrast to what Chomsky believed, it is necessary to understand that language is something that a child learns through his surroundings and environment. An Australian child born and brought up in China will be able to speak Chinese more fluently than Australian English even though his genetic makeup is more inclined towards Australian environment. Conclusion Chomsky claimed that the language is an inherent quality in a child and the further learning of language happens based on the innate knowledge (LAD) that the child has of language and its rules. The process of learning language is a process of repetitive learning and reinforcement of certain set parameters and rules through rewarding, punishment and frequent usage. Practice makes one of the most important part of learning anything and the same stands true for language also. Especially in the case of Second Language Acquisition, practice plays a major role in a person learning the language. Language learning theories try to explain the process of both First Language learning as well as Second Language learning. A majority of these theories before Chomsky, believed in the learned nature of language and that language is an experiential effect learnt only after coming in contact with it. However, all these beliefs were challenged by Chomsky who challenged the philosophy followed by his tutor Harris and brought in the concept of parametric nature of language. He called it being hard-wired into human brain just like the knowledge of walking is. Chomsky also gave the concepts of Universal grammar which says that the linguistic grammar in usage across different cultures is fundamentally similar and is pre-coded in human brain in the form of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Another concept that Chomsky talked about was the Critical Period Hypothesis which states that the best period to learn any language is in the early childhood and the ease with which a language can be le arned in ones formative years cannot be repeated anytime else. Chomsky might have affected the study and learning of linguistics and created a ripple in the complete system of learning language through his theories but he has had an equal number of dissenters too. The knowledge inherent in a child comes from his genetic makeup and for language there have not been any proven genes affecting it. Also, as mentioned earlier, a greater effect on the language learning is of the environment in which the child is growing rather than the type of language he has been programmed to learn. References Brown, H. D., . (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. Chomsky, N., Halle, M. (1965). Some controversial questions in phonological theory. Journal of Linguistics, 1(02), 97-138. Clark, E. V. (2009). First language acquisition. Cambridge University Press. Ding, N., Melloni, L., Zhang, H., Tian, X., Poeppel, D. (2016). Cortical tracking of hierarchical linguistic structures in connected speech. Nature Neuroscience, 19(1), 158-164. Gass, S. M., Mackey, A. (2013). The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition. Routledge. Harris, Z. S. (1982). A grammar of English on mathematical principles. John Wiley Sons Inc. Harris, Z. (1991). Theory of language and information: a mathematical approach. Hickey, R. (n.d.) First and second language acquisition: A brief comparison. English Linguistics. Campus Essen. Klein, W. (1986). Second language acquisition. Cambridge University Press. Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition. Second Language Learning, 19-39. Lenneberg, E. H., Chomsky, N., Marx, O. (1967). Biological foundations of language (Vol. 68). New York: Wiley. Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N., Ranta, L., Rand, J. (1993). How languages are learned (Vol. 998). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reutzel, D. R., Cooter, R. B. (2004). The essentials of teaching children to read: What every teacher needs to know. Prentice Hall. Tool Module: Chomskys universal Grammar (n.d.). Retrieved from https://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/capsules/outil_rouge06.html.

Parmalat Case free essay sample

Something Went Sour at Parmalat Parmalat is a multinational Italian dairy food corporation that today represents one of the biggest fraud scandals that has marked history in Europe. What happened and why weren’t the scandalous activities detected beforehand? Parmalat’s investigation was triggered when it â€Å"defaulted on a $187 million bond payment in mid-November 2002. † This led to further revelation of the nonexistence of $4 billion worth of claimed bank deposits held by a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands in a Bank of America account.The company was basically falsifying accounts in order to increase assets and hide losses. The increase in assets would influence the public to believe that they were in a good position which in turn allowed them to continue borrowing money from investors and creditors. Grant Thornton was the company’s auditor from 1990 to 1999, but that changed when the company was forced to change auditors under Italian law. Grant Thornton remained in charge of auditing services provided to off-shore subsidiaries located in the Cayman Islands. We will write a custom essay sample on Parmalat Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fraud related activities continued to be discovered when the new appointed auditor, Deloitte Touche Spa, received a forged letter that confirmed the existence of the nonexistent account. Further investigation resulted in the company’s filing for bankruptcy protection against the revelation of massive missing or nonexistent funds previously reported by the company. This fraudulent scandal raises concerns on the auditing procedures practiced during these years because they clearly failed to detect the nature of these activities for a long period of time.In this next section I will address the possible errors committed by auditors when investigating Parmalat. An auditor ordinarily takes certain steps when confirming cash balances held on deposits with financial institutions. The correct process should be initiated with an inspection of bank statements obtained directly from the client’s financial institution. Was this achieved? Deloitte definitely requested this confirmation, but requesting a confirmation is not always enough.As auditors, they have the responsibility of not only requesting a confirmation, but they should also follow up on necessary procedures to make sure that this process is accurately completed. Their duty is to be able to have control over this process from beginning to end in order to be able to rely on the evidence requested. Additional steps should have been taken by the auditors when they received the smudged fax copy printed on the Bank of America letterhead. As mentioned before, the evaluation of the evidence obtained is as important as requesting it.The firm did not confirm the forged documents with the bank; for this reason, the evidence remained unreliable and the forgery wasn’t revealed until later. Auditors should have been concerned with knowing where and whom the confirmation letters came from. Was the initial confirmation request mailed directly by Grant Thorton SpA or by Parmalat or was it obtained directly from the bank? Auditors should be aware that confirmations that are sent through fax are much less reliable than confirmations sent by mail. Their duty was to find out if the correct process was altered in any way.Additional concerns have been made in regards to the red flags missed by auditors. First of all, auditors should have been alarmed by the size of the cash account held in the Cayman Islands. Auditors should have remained skeptical about the existence of this account. They should’ve addressed this red flag with questions. Some of these questions might have been: When was this account created? What was the source of the increase in this account and what is the account’s function? Was it typical for Parmalat to have such large sums of cash on deposit in a cash account?Then, why would they continue to borrow money if so much cash was available? De loitte and Touche SpA should have taken additional steps with respect to Grant Thornton’s audit of the Cayman Island subsidiaries. Grant Thornton was no longer the company’s head auditor, but it managed to remain auditing the Cayman Island subsidiaries which actually increased the assets they were in charge off by a big amount. That alone should have been a red flag to auditors in Deloitte and Touche SpA. Fraud had been occurring for numerous years; for this reason, one might be able to wonder if Thornton had any intentions on concealing the fraud.In a typical audit situation, cash is not viewed as a high audit risk area if internal controls are operating effectively. Bank reconciliation is an important internal control; furthermore, a lack of such reconciliation would signal a red flag for potential poor controls. Did Grant Thorton SpA ever send a second confirmation request given the time between the confirmation request and the response? If confirmations are not received on time auditors should be alarmed to perform alternate procedures.

Tortures in law enforcement structures of the Republic of Tajikistan

Introduction ?Eradication of torture is the deed of conscience of everyone and each person. Pain and suffering of each separate victim surmount the political, religious and cultural barriers, and therefore we, all of us, are obliged to put efforts and aspire to the one common purpose ? to human World whereat there is no place for torture?. (ICRVT, 1) The issues related to human rights have become the main component of everyday activity of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan. During the independence years Tajikistan has ratified the significant number of international agreements, pacts and other legal documents in the area of human rights, thus being taken commitments to develop and protect various human rights and freedoms. As human rights are inalienable, all people without any exclusions posses and use them. Alongside with that sometimes there may appear a desire to deprive this or that group of people of their rights completely or partially. There is a viewpoint that a person who committed a crime or charged for a crime, he ignored the rights and freedoms of victims and thus deprived himself of all his rights and we can behave in the same way towards him. But let us not forget that if we shall deprive some certain groups of their rights and freedoms and subject them to tortures, by that we threaten after all our humaneness and violate hundreds-years established principles and norms of humanism. The torture is one of the violations of human rights which today the international community and human rights advocates all around the globe are most anxious of. What is it torture? One of the best definitions of torture is that written in Convention against torture (CAT) which runs as follows: ?Torture means any action in which to any person it is caused intentionally physical or mental pain or suffering for obtaining from him or the third person information or acknowledgment (avowal), to punish him or the third person for action(s) he did, and also to frighten or force him or the third person, or, by any other reason which is based upon discrimination of any form, when such pain or suffering inflicted by a state official or other person who is acting as an official character or by their solicitation or with their knowledge or tacit consent. (Jiffar, 6)? The torture is used as kind of punishment with the purpose of obtaining information or to force detained person to give testimony against him or to give avowal of guilt. And yet, the torture is used for frightening of detainees, for keeping them in a state of shock and in inaction. The main aim of torture is infliction of maximal possible physical and mental pain, however debarring death, and thereby to make detainee to give in.

buy custom Universal Health Care essay

buy custom Universal Health Care essay Universal health care refers to a scheme of issuing health treatment for any participants who are enthusiastic. The government normally undertakes the program using funds from levies. However, it is fascinating to note that the United States is the only developed nation that does not have the universal health care scheme for its people. There has been a prolonged debate concerning the implementation of universal healthcare in the United States of America. However, the question to ask is; does universal health care provide certain outstanding benefits to US people or does it do more harm than good? Therefore, the ultimate aim of this context is to give an argument as to why the universal healthcare system is important and has to be implemented in the United States (Jose Mosserli 93). Argument concerning implementation of universal health care in the USA I suppose that universal health care is beneficial to the United States citizens because of several reasons. To begin with, health care has become less affordable for businesses and people. Some companies and people that opt to maintain their health care tactics still have to pay higher costs. Let it be clear that businesses only have some amount of cash they can spend on employees. If they are to spend extra on health insurance premiums, they will have little money left to pay for new hires, raises, investments, and many other things (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). People who must disburse more on premiums have remarkably small amount of cash to spend on food, rent, and consumer products, which means less cash is driven into the economy. Therefore, health care stops the nation from creating a robust economic revival. However, some people argue that government-managed health care would result in a reduction of patient flexibility. They further state that, at first, the process may seem to be effective for the patients as they are likely to increase flexibility, but with time the government begins to strive to keep the costs withn the set limit because the fulfillment of certain actions is expensive to a large extent. For example, would elective surgeries that include wart removal, breast implants, Lasik eye surgery, and hair restoration be covered? The government may decide that the patients must pay for elective surgeries but then, who would decide what is elective and what is needed? What about the disease like breast minimization to avoid back illnesses? Generally, the entire process is too costly for the government to handle and the citizens are the affected parties (Mosserli 110). However, universal health care can be insured with health insurance companies for the majority of occupants. The number of uninsured citizens in the United States has increased to more than 45 million individuals although it encompasses illegal immigrants. The fact that health care costs are still rising, the inflation rates are causing several businesses to decide to stop offering health plans or to forward large amounts of costs to the workers. Those workers that pay higher prices on the other hand, opt to survive without health coverage. In other words, they decide to work without health insurance companies. However, surviving without health insurance never imply that an individual cannot have access to health care because there are several clinics and medical services offered freely to poor people. Nevertheless, the expenses that are not covered by insurance must be soaked up by all the rest of the citizens thus intensifying premiums (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). The number of uninsur ed people has been questioned in the sense that it encompasses illegal immigrants and individuals making more than $75K who opt to ignore health coverage and others who have some alternatives for coverage but decide not to get it. The actual number of individuals who do not have any alternatives is approximately 15 million and the government has to care for all of them. Therefore, universal health care is essential for the United States citiizens (Mosserli 122). Some individuals also argue that there is not even one government organization or department that operates professionally. Do people need an agency such as the US Levy Code to control something as complicated as health care matter? The response is no because when a person tries to imagine that there is any government department that operates efficiently, one may find such a department. Think of the department of education or any other office including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Social Security and Administration, Department of Transportation, none of them is running efficiently (Jui-Fen and Hsiao 78). This means that encompassing the universal health care system simply means adding another burden to an already heavy load for the government. Nevertheless, universal health care can help get rid of such incompetence as duplication of paper work, insurance submission, and claim approval. When a person looks back and analyzes his or her life, it becomes clear that he or she has filled out medical history responding to similar questions for several times. The same case occurred while working with the insurance paperwork that is filled in and submitted several times (Mosserli 156). There is no doubt that the present health care scheme creates an enormous amount of overheads. All the time when a patient visits a physician, an assertion has to be issued, the approval department has to check the assertion, then checks have to be sent via emails and patients have to rush from one office to another to co-pay bills, etc. All this is a waste of time. Moreover, it can result in the delay of treatment of the suffering patient. Besides, each doctors office has its own record system, which they have to go through before treating the patient. However, the universal health care system will permit individuals to develop one unified system where there would be no essence of keeping in surance information or wasting time issuing assertions. Buy custom Universal Health Care essay

20th-Century Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

20th-Century Art - Essay Example One not needs to look at the picture for long to recognize the form, even though the viewer might not be able to put finger on pointillism but surely the form appears distinct from single stroke of brush. Color contrast has been used very effectively in this painting. Although the dots are supposed to appear distinctly but in this piece they appear so smooth, in a single tone. It gives the impression of pixels on TV screen. Most probably the whole painting was made with using CMYK color pattern;Â  Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow, and Key (black). The overall mood of the painting is quite relaxed, people are at the park and they are enjoying the sunshine. The distance technique is effectively used where the couple standing right in the forefront is quite big compared to boats in the distance. Despite the fact that only two or three faces are clearly visible, the overall emotional stir is quite evident. The mood is serene and the use of green color captivates the viewer with its beauty. The painting reflects peace and calm in human life. The mood seems as if people are gathered at the park at a lovely evening, men look a little lazy as if sitting there after their work shift and women are just enjoying the bright sunny day. In it absolute sense there is calmness in the whole painting. It seems as if no one is talking to anyone, all of them are having a conversation in their heads with natural beauty. Most of the people are staring at the lake, probably admiring the serene beauty and the sense of peace and tranquility it bestows on humans minds. Visual aspects of the paintings aside, emotional appeals in this art piece are simply brilliant. The viewer can get drenched by the beauty of the painting and could feel themselves as a part of it, as if right there in the park with the people. It would be really helpful if this painting is observed in its real size which is quite large. The canvas of this painting almost covers a whole wall. Although

First amendment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

First amendment - Essay Example There have been a number of issues posing questions as to the effectiveness and extent of the provisions in the First Amendment. One of such is the Citizens United case popularly referred to as the ‘Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission’, in which the US Supreme Court, following a 5-4 decision, ruled that corporations and unions have similar political speech rights as individuals under the First Amendment. Being a conservative non-profit organization, Citizens United claims its commitment to restoring the control of the United States government to the citizens, as well as to emphasize American principles of limited government, autonomy of enterprise, strong families, and state sovereignty and security. Citizens United produced a documentary named Hillary-with respect to the then Senator Hillary Clinton, which was the main issue of the court case. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which controls the financing of political campaigns, was amended by the Bi partisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). Following the amendment, this federal law prevents corporations and unions from spending their general treasury funds towards independent expenditures for a speech referred to as an ‘electioneering communication’, in other words a speech that concerns elections or one that portrays endorsement or disapproval of a candidate in the elections. As defined in the constitution, an electioneering communication ideally refers to any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that refers to an openly identified candidate for Federal office and is created in 30 days of a major election or 60 days of a common election, (2 U.S.C.  § 441b), and that is publicly distributed (11 CFR  § 100.29(a)(2)). The documentary-Hillary was released at a time when Hillary Clinton was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and as such, it conveyed opinions on Hillary’s suitability for the presidency. Not only did Citizens United avail the documentary in theatres and on DVDs, but also planned to make it accessible through video-on-demand. Further, Citizens United went ahead to produce television advertisements to endorse the movie and planned to run them on broadcast and cable television. However, the advertisements and the video-on-demand distribution had to be paid for, and as such, Citizens United opted to spend its general treasury funds. Consequently, Citizens United’s production and initiative was reflective of a violation of  § 441b of the constitution. Realizing the looming threat of facing possible civil and criminal charges, Citizens United rushed in to seek an injunction in federal district court, against the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), posing various arguments. First, Citizens United presented an argument claiming that  § 441b is unconstitutional with regard to the movie Hillary; a motion that the District Court denied and instead granted summary judgment to the FEC. In additi on, it argued that, as applied to the movie Hillary and the ads endorsing it, BCRA's disclaimer and disclosure requirements (BCRA  §Ã‚ §201 and 311) are also unconstitutional. According to BCRA

Silent films VS films from our time Research Paper

Silent films VS films from our time - Research Paper Example Sound design is one of the most noticeable and transformative elements of film art due to its capacity to heighten the emphasis of other film elements such as the Mise-en-scene and Editing. Accordingly, this research studies the sound design of Metropolis and LOTR with the intention of identifying the influence of sound design on the overall structure of the films. Basically, this research contends that Metropolis and LOTR have similar usage of sound film as a supporting aspect of the action-filled characters and events in the two films. 2.0. Film Sound In filmmaking, film sound includes the process of creating and manipulating sounds; it covers both the technical and creative aspects of audio presentation that may contribute to the overall effect of the film (Dakic, 2009, p. 1). For instance, filmmakers may create new sets of sounds that could backup their preferred videos and images appropriately while they could also alter existing sound to achieve their desired effects. In discus sing the significance of sound design, Pramaggiore and Wallis (2005) state that sound design is a vital aspect of filmmaking, both in the Silent and Contemporary film periods, because of its capacity to extend the story of the film even without lengthening the dialogues of the characters (p. 209). For instance, any subtle, or explicit changes in the sound effects either corresponds to changes in the mood of the characters, or even signals a forthcoming, unexpected event in the film. Consequently, Dakic (2009) mentions that such an influence of sound design in cinemas contributes to the overall interplay of cinematic elements such as dialogues, characters, and events while maintaining little attention to itself as a cinematic element, as well (p. 1). According to King (1996), silent films still use sounds, regardless of the misconceptions about the lack of sound effects of the said film genre (p. 31). In addition, King (1996) explains that such misconceptions are rooted in the preval ence of synchronized audio-visual imagery in today’s contemporary films wherein audio recordings and videos are successfully edited and integrated to form the overall visual and auditory reality of the film. Instead, King (1996) contends that Silent Film uses sounds as the primary aspect that helps audience understand the emotional impact of the film, considering that the conversations of the characters are not audible enough for the audience to hear. Relatively, Silent Films rely heavily on the expressionist actions of the actors, as well as the live performances of the musical ensembles in the cinema. Contemporary action films also highlight the role of sound film in the overall impact of the movie. In the words of Sergi (2005), the significance of sound film rises to prominence along with the invention of digital audio technologies wherein the audience derive insights from the subtle changes in the sound effects, as much as changes in the personalities and actions of the c haracters (p. 3). In modern films, film sound functions as an integral part of the movie; it fills the silence and gaps while it also supports the transitions of videos. It also has a significant emotive impact that is similar to its usage during the Silent Film period. For instance, modern filmmakers emphasize the interplay between videos and sounds, particularly in foreshadowing certain cinematic events, as well as aiding the visual

Sustainable Tourism Development Of Brisbane Australia Tourism Essay

Sustainable Tourism Development Of Brisbane Australia Tourism Essay The sustainable development of tourism has become a global major task which aims at achieving the objectives of biological preservation, prevention of climate change, and natural resources conservation to ensure the long-term prosperity (Narasaiah 2004). In order to obtain the positive outcomes, its necessary to concentrate on the impacts and implications of a destinations environmental, economic and social areas (Sofield 2003). Brisbane is the capital city of the Australian state Queensland with an approximate 200 million population and its a green and diverse city with a splendid climate. It also has become one of the fastest growing economic cities and the major business hubs in Australia. Brisbanes outstanding economic performance mainly relies on its tourism-related industries (ABS 2010). A number of 5.8 million arrivals to Australia during the year ended October 2010 has increased 5% when is compared to the same period of last year. Besides, an expectation of 20 million international arrivals will be received by the year 2020. The tourism industry has played an important role in Brisbanes economy whereby it becomes the third-most popular destination after Sydney and Melbourne (TA 2010). Therefore, the sustainable tourism development is an ideal execution which is balancing the social, economic and environmental areas to ensure long-term sustainability in both mass and special interest segment of a destinations tourism industry (Black and Crabtree 2007). Sustainability of Brisbanes tourism Natural resources Being the heart of Queensland, Brisbane has the wealthy energy and water resources so that it can be able to contribute to the development and execution of sustainable energy and climate change policies to maintain adequate energy supplies for the tourism-related industries (Australian Government 2010). The beaches, mountains, rivers and bays of the city have made it a destination with lively nature. Its also rich in heritage which can simply reveal by the architecture and art of the city. However, Brisbane is now facing the problems of greenhouse gas, peak oil and climate change. It is now taking measures to enhance the energy security and manage the natural resources (BCC 2010). Hence, Australias abundant natural resources have been the key accelerator of its economic prosperity and international competitiveness. This is the reason that the sustainability is a crucial issue for both business and government in such a country with unique natural environment. Developmental strategy The Australian Tourism Board released the National long-term tourism strategy which practised the long-term policy to position the tourism industry as economically vibrant and sustainable industry in order to further its sustainable development (Australian Government 2010). The tourism industry of Australia will double over the next ten years due to the substantial growth in both nature-based tourism and ecotourism. The ecotourism is a nature-based tourism which is involving the education and explication of the natural environment so that it can be conducted to be ecologically sustainable. Its able to help Brisbanes cultural components and the ecological sustainability of natural environment to obtain opportune gaining to the local community and long-term conservation of the resources (Fennell 2003). Australia is well-known for its ecotourism after it has made the great achievements in the developments between various stakeholders which are including government, industry and community groups (TQ 2002). Brisbane is increasing the reverse and connectivity of bush land to provide extra protection of natural areas; it can also improve the carbon pollution and the climate changes (BCC 2010). Furthermore, Australia has set up the sustainable population strategy to make sure that it can reply to the variations in its population to develop a sustainable Australia. The strategy is aim at improving the present and future generations with more suitable recognitions and managements to the influence of population changes (AG 2010). It also can direct the development of principles to meet the population needs of Australias future. All of those strategies which have been mentioned above will become the strong means to ameliorate the sustainable tourism development of Brisbane. The issues of sustainable tourism development Social impacts The growing complexity of communities and the relationships between them pose significant challenges for the sustainable development of tourism (Hall and Richards 2000). For example, the Brisbane City Council has worked with the social development industry to improve the living and working environment more sustainable. It also provided the grant to encourage the sustainable tourism development in the community such as roads, buildings, green spaces, and tourist attractions of the city (BCC 2010). One of the most obvious reasons is that the growing number of population and tourists will inevitably influence the quality of local residents lives (Faulkner 2003). Brisbane is deeply concerning on the sustainable development since a growing number of domestic and foreign people like to buy their second and retired homes to spend their lives here after discovered through tourism. This may also help to conserve its heritage, culture and classical architecture in order to maintain the charms to the international market because the tourism will influence the culture and nature environment (Horner and Swarbrooke 2004). The productivity of labour plays an important role in affecting the sustainable tourism. Brisbane has developed a Multicultural Employment Infrastructure Program to assist the skilled people from high unemployment migrant into appropriate occupation of tourism industry such as hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc. and thus creating more sustainable employment outcomes for the local society (TA 2010). The sustainable development with the good encouragement can help to provide large training opportunities and great employment for the residents. The positive labour productivity growth of Australia tourism was contributed mostly by the accommodation and transport services industries from 2003 to 2009 which has been indicated in Figure 1. There is an issue that Brisbane is making efforts to dispose the gender discriminations in the tourism industry because of only 36% of female managers. The other major jobs are diminutive such as housekeeping, kitchen work, waitress, etc. and thus Brisbane is trying to improve this situation and providing better chances or conditions for the women in the tourism industry (Helium 2010). Another social issue is that the Aboriginal culture has become a tourism product due to a growing area of tourism interest after it was exposed by Australia to the international tourism market. It has enhanced the economy and improved the quality of life for the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal culture also helps to differentiate Australia as a distinctive destination from its global competitors of the marketplace (Butler and Hinch 2007). However, the tourism will have the negative impacts on society in term of the activities of local community. The reason is that the tourism development may result in the loss of its cultural identity by playing up to the perceived demands of the tourists, especially the international markets. For example, some historical buildings in Brisbane are now facing demolition or reconstruction due to the new construction plans of city council. The community is under a debate of the purpose of these buildings and the value of attractions in the future because some local committees are trying to protect these heritage properties (Moore 2010). Hence, the local society has to always focus on not to meet the anticipated touristy ideals in order to ensure it can conserve its own culture or heritage in a right direction. Figure 1 Average annual labour productivity growth in tourism industries (%) Source: TRA 2010. Environmental impacts A destination will strengthen its policies on protecting the environment due to the rapid growth of tourism industry. However, the environmental impacts can also bring the negative outcomes to the nature-based tourism (Jafari 2000). Brisbane is now facing the worst flash floods coming from the Toowoomba city. The floods entered Brisbane with the floods level of 4.5 metres which is expected higher than 1974s peak. A large number of shops in the central business district have closed because of the floods. More than 10,000 properties and 200,000 people have been influenced in the New Year floods. Many residents and visitors are forced to evacuate out of the disaster areas. The Queensland Tourism Board mentioned that flooding and heavy rains had hit the tourism industry badly with lots of roads, rail links and airports were blocked (ABC 2011). The destination will also take actions to minimising the negative environmental impacts for the sustainable tourism development (Jafari 2000). Nowadays the Australian tourism is tending to the low carbon travel because of the carbon pollution of the country. Both locals and tourists are encouraged to experience the low-carbon vacation and lifestyle so that a lot of tour packages have been provided on village or vineyard journeys (TA 2010). Hence, Brisbane pro-actively works on sustainability positivity will be better positioned than its competitors to survive as the travellers grow more environmentally conscious in selecting their destinations. The environmental auditing is required by legislation as a self-regulative implementation which can be valuable controlling tool in order to achieve the sustainable tourism development (Jafari 2000). Being one of the largest cities of Australia, Brisbane has invested in dealing with the greenhouse gas emissions, climate changes, and use of fossil fuels. The reason is that Australia is one of the most carbon-emitting countries and thus Brisbane is taking actions to improve the environment which is affected by its growing tourism industry. It has identified that the public transports and rail freights are the key factors to handle the reduction of carbon emission; nevertheless the Australian tourism is so dependant upon its international and domestic aviation links due to its unique geography. Therefore the airline industry of Australia increased the fuel prices when the tourism was affected directly (TTF 2008). The environmental influence of tourism has also motivated the destinations to concentrate responsibly in enhancing the quality of their environments and lives (Elliott and Thomas 2009). Australia is challenged to solve the variety of environmental issues since the global community is focusing on the green tourism. Brisbane has developed the Climate Adaptation project which is aiming to set up the climate changes strategies and policies of climate adaptation to help the tourism and increase the local livelihoods through the sustainable tourism (TA 2010). This can help the city to recognise the risks of future climate change in sustainable tourism and ensure that the strategies are flexible to face the challenges within a right direction. Economic impacts Sustainable tourism is acting an important role in economic aspect of the community and global levels by minimising the negative impacts to ensure sustainable use, as well as providing sufficient tourism revenue to reinvest an affirmative segment of investments (UN 2001). The Australian tourism is acknowledged by its regional communities as a significant economic driver due to its strong competency to provide a large number of jobs and income. The total expenditure from the tourists has increased by 5% to about AU $59 billion since 2008. The state of Queensland was the highest area where the visitors spent the most to its regional tourism. Besides, Australia has created a Tourism Impact Model for local councils to operate the economic impacts of tourism and therefore it can efficiently generate the income of tourism to improve the industry (TAV 2008). The sustainable tourism development is always measuring the economic activities so that it can obtain and focus the future impacts to the industries. This has become a cardio tonic for Australian economic growth. The tourism industry has the capacity to bring grant benefits when it also has to utilise the costs on host communities. The benefits and costs of tourism are contributed equally. Instead of concentrating great efforts on advertising tourism or on measuring all of the benefits and costs, the regional development may become an effective tool to achieve larger return from the efforts that the communities are able to increase the tourisms net revenue (Moscardo 2008). Australia is applied itself to increase the tourisms net economic contribution to its economy and to foster an industry which is promoting the regulations of economic responsibility and sustainable tourism development. For instant, the state of Brisbane, Queensland has provided a Smart State program with $120 million to develop a state where knowledge and innovation drive economic growth to solve the challenges of the technology industry and improve the quality of tourism (TA 2010). Therefore, the positive economic influenc e of tourism will rely on the way it managed and planned. The tourism has to always concern on the economic areas when it is planning for the sustainable tourism because the economic issues is not only provide positive achievements but also affects the tourism negatively (Sofield 2003). The Australian dollar strengthens currently to make lots of overseas travellers who are forced to tighten their purse strings. The impact of the stronger Australia dollar will make it to become a more expensive destination for the overseas visitors. Some hotels were affected by this issue as the business of international customers dropped five percent when compared with the previous months. This also meant that the overseas travellers would spend less time in Australia. Furthermore, the impact of the flash floods in Brisbane has also caused about AU $6 billion in damage which is including the budget of reconstruction and the raise of food prices. This may affect the local business which provides the products and services to both residents and tourists, especially in hotels and restaurants. They will hardly cut down the costs to attract the domestic and international tourism (PMN 2011). Both the stronger dollar and floods impacts of tourism industry will shorten Australias economic gr owth in 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility is the persistent guarantee by business which contributes to the economic development through improving the quality of the local communities and the life of labour force. It is an effort of the companies to develop significant relationships between the corporate division and the remaining of the society (TA 2010). The Australian airline Qantas Airways Limited have announced a new three-year partnership with the tourism board to promote and strengthen Australia as a desired tourist destination through marketing campaigns, business and trade events. It will have an effective outcome due to Qantas as one of the strongest brands in Australia and being known as the worlds top long distance airline. The company has a significant strategy which is encouraging its employees to participate the Australia sustainable tourism programs to ensure that they will bring the social responsibility into their work. The programs are including the education about the link between climate changes and sustainability in business and the conservation of Australias land care. The company will awards its staffs after they have showed the proactive leadership to carry out the environmental schemes throughout the business (Qantas Airways 2010). The Qantas airline is committed to the sustainable growth of Australia in order to promote and enhance its distinctive destinations and environment. The airline spends almost AU $3 billion on the jet fuel and emits large amount of carbon and exhaust gas. Qantas has taken steps to reduce the carbon emission by signing contract with a US fuel producer Solena. They considered building a trial plant to convert waste into bio-fuel. The source of the bio-fuel includes food packaging, scraps and tree cuttings. Besides, Qantas is trying to improve its water efficiency in all aspects of its operations by investigating procedures to reduce consumption of potable water, such as use of the grey-water and aircraft wash-water recycling. The organisations target is to reduce 25% of water consumption by 2011 to foster sustainable tourism (Brisbane Times 2010). The airline will conclude a feasibility study for the waste-based of aviation fuel within one year and thus the bio-fuel will be trialled on aircrafts. The bio-fuel and the water conservation will be the key components of its environmental strategy of sustainable tourism. Moreover, Qantas has launched an annual award for those who perform excellent in Australia sustainable tourism since 2008 (Qantas Airways 2010). This award can motivate the local communities to improve the business environment of the society and thus it can help to promote the country to become one of the top sustainable tourism destinations. Australia announced that the grants of tourism development program had been provided to support the sustainable growth in the tourism industry by developing creative products and services, contributing to long-term economic development, and creating high quality visitor experiences and services. Brisbane has supported a project Brisbane Ambassadors for Life: Sustainable tourism development which is proposed by the local hospitality organisations. Its an innovative program designed to create sustainable economic value by attracting overseas students, leisure, and convention visitors to the greater Brisbane region. Some of them will become ambassadors for Brisbane in other countries, with Brisbanes sister city relationships to generate increased visitation and length of stay in Brisbane (TA 2010). Conclusion The sustainable development of Brisbanes tourism is in a steady process which is influencing to its social, economic and environmental areas because sustainable tourism is significant to Australias cultural and natural wealth. The government has provided a lot of sustainable practices to support the development of tourism and encourage both domestic and international tourists to explore the treasures of Australian tourism. This will also motivate the corporations and stakeholders to resolve the challenges and collaborate to improve the tourism industry so that it can provide the social and economic gains to the destination and survive in such a high extent of the global competition. Today, the Australian tourism is rapid growing industry which has significantly contributed to the country. It has affected the lives of communities and developed variety of sustainable programs for its tourism development. However, Brisbane is currently facing a series of problems which are including the damages of the flash floods, the raise of food prices and the carbon pollution. Especially the floods, it will cost Brisbane a large amount of funds to reconstruct the disaster areas. These critical issues will be the difficult tasks for Brisbane to settle in its sustainable development. Therefore, the measures of sustainable development will be focusing on the current consumptions of the industry in order to satisfy the needs of the future generations. Moreover, it may guide the policies as well as implementations to be a powerful tool towards the sustainable tourism of Brisbane.

Answer pastpaper

Answer all the questions. Give non-exact numerical answers correct to 3 significant figures, or 1 decimal place in the case of angles in degrees, unless a different level of accuracy is specified in the question. Where a numerical value for the acceleration due to gravity is needed, use 10 m s-2. The use of an electronic calculator is expected, where appropriate. You are reminded of the need for clear presentation in your answers. At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.The total number of marks for this paper is 50. Questions carrying smaller numbers of marks are printed earlier in the paper, and questions carrying larger numbers of marks later in the paper. This document consists of 3 printed pages and 1 blank page. UCLES 2011 [Turn over 2 A car of mass 700 kg is travelling along a straight horizontal road. The resistance to motion is constant and equal to 600 N. (i) Find the driving force of the car's engine at an instant when the acceleration is 2 m s-2. Given that the car's speed at this instant is 15 m s-l , car's engine is working. find the rate at which theA load of mass 1250 kg is raised by a crane from rest on horizontal ground, to rest at a height of 1. 54 m above the ground. The work done against the resistance to motion is 5750 J. (i) Find the work done by the crane. (it) Assuming the power output of the crane is constant and equal to 1. 25 kW, find the time taken to raise the load. 3 q 15. 5 N A small smooth ring R of weight 8. 5 N is threaded on a light inextensible string. The ends of the string are attached to fixed points A and B, with A vertically above B. A horizontal force of magnitude 15. 5 N acts on R so that the ring is in equilibrium with ngle ARB = 900 .The part AR of the string makes an angle B with the horizontal and the part BR makes an angle B with the vertical (see diagram). The tension in the string is T N. Sho w that T sin 12 and T cos B = 3. 5 and hence find B . [6] 4 A block of mass 11 kg is at rest on a rough plane inclined at 300 to the horizontal. A force acts on the block in a direction up the plane parallel to a line of greatest slope. When the magnitude of the force is 2X N the block is on the point of sliding down the plane, and when the magnitude of the force is 9X N the block is on the point of liding up the plane.

Profesions of Women

Dreams Moving Forward If one thinks hard minded off goal, the goal will become difficult, but if one thinks easy minded of a goal, that goal can become a reality. In Virginia Wolf's passage, â€Å"Professions for Women,† Wolf targets women to Inform them how limited they are In a population full of males. Her mall Idea Is to not let your conscious or others hold you from doing what you want to do. Wolf uses metaphors and imagery to support her concern during her controlled era.Wolf begins by metaphorically describing a fisherman as if he was a girl alone next to a lake. She quotes, â€Å"l think of this girl is the image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake with a rod held out over the water (276). She patiently waits at the edge of the lake with a rod lined into the lake. Her goals are in the water and her rod is being used to catch her goals if she waits patiently. The fisherman is able to explore her â€Å"imagination† (276) without even t hinking about it or letting anything get In her way.Then her rod â€Å"dashed Itself against something hard† (276) and the girl was In a â€Å"dream† (276) and she was awoken. By describing owe the fisherman was a girl, Wolf Illustrates how a women could think of dreams and Inspirations, Just Like men, but then the dreams are ruined by knowing they wouldn't come true due to the overpopulation of males during the time. She Is convinced that she would never meet her aspirations just because of the opposite sex. Women felt controlled due to the fact that men restricted women to stay and take care of the home.At the time Wolf was too frightened to take the extra step to make her â€Å"imagination† come true. Throughout the passage, Wolf uses imagery to convey that there is an â€Å"angel† (274) in her own home. She describes the angel as â€Å"sympathetic† (274) and â€Å"pure† (274), the characteristics that women had during the Victorian time. Wolf then kills the angel, If she didn't, the angel would have â€Å"plucked the heart out of her writing† (275). The angel symbolizes the women of this time period's oppressive state brought on upon the strong male role In society.The angel compelled Wolf to overcome the Limitations of being a Victorian woman. Victorian women had to put food on the table, clean, take care of their children, and stay at home while their husbands went out and worked and expected to be taken care of. Wolf wanted to reek the stereotype placed upon her; she was not an ordinary housewife. She wanted to be what others would not have expected her to be. It was part of the â€Å"occupation of a woman writer (275) to kill the angel.If Wolf did not kill that angel, it would have come back and wouldn't have let Wolf pursue her dreams. At the end of the passage, Wolf metaphorically conveys the â€Å"empty rooms† (277) that women can claim. Wolf quotes â€Å"though not without great labor and ef fort, to pay the rent† (277) she wants to challenge women to â€Å"decorate† their own room by putting things that they feel what's right or what they have accomplished and to share† (277) their accomplishments with other but must share the room with caution and not show It to the wrong people, for Instance, a male.Wolf wants to show that other women, like herself, can achieve so much by themselves, they should not let the use of metaphors and imagery. Wolf's message can satisfy anyone who is going through trouble, she reveals that women during that time did not try to fight nor question what was expected from them. She has become a role model for people that need to know that they can do anything imaginable, as long as they find a way to work around their obstacles.

Value of Sports Talent

Value of Sports Talent Introduction One of the greatest motivators of the sports industry and sometimes the only motivator is identified to be the revenues that players as well as their teams rake in after a particular game or tournament. The need to increase the amount of revenue that a team or a player makes has led researcher to explore the economic as well as the finance aspects of sports.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Value of Sports Talent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the course of these studies it has been identified that there is a lot of disparity between the amounts of revenue that players as well as teams playing in the same sport make (Downward, Dawson Dejonghe, 2009). In the quest to explain these disparities, researchers have come up with different frameworks that can be applied to increase the overall incomes of the various stakeholders in the sports fraternity without necessarily having to work hard. This may be identified as an advantage for the players even though it has elicited its fair share of criticism from the lovers of the particular sports. They identify that too much commercialization of the game may end up killing the sport by drawing all the fun out of it (Sanderson Siegfried, 1997). In the end most people who are in a position to influence the way sports is managed still view it as a business that pays the bills of many people all over the world. There has also been increased activism in the sports fraternity citing the lack of equality in the payment of salaries. This has introduced a new debate over the standardization of salaries in leagues or tournaments especially where it is identified that the performance of some of the highly paid players may be in question. The issue of management of sports teams as well as independent athletes is identified as one of the critical aspects of the financial debate in the sports fraternity. The signing of contracts is especially ide ntified as critical in the development of sports as it outlines the particular financial success of the athletes as well as the teams. This paper seeks to explore the opinions of different authors on the whole issue of sports finance and economics in reference to the particular revenues that individual players as well as sports teams rake in from particular games as well as tournaments. Theoretical Premise The authors identify some new applications of knowledge borrowed from other fields that are identified as compatible with the general field of sports. It is identified that most of the authors borrow their content from the economic and finance aspects of sports in their explanation of the particular revenues that players and sports clubs get (Stone Warren, 1999).Advertising Looking for coursework on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Their explanation of the economics of sports, however, raises new ideas that have not been previously identified by other authors such as the relationship between performance and revenue (Kahn Shah, 2005). It is identified that most sports have a performance appraisal payment system where players as well as clubs make more money depending on their performance. On the other hand, there are players and clubs that make more money based on their fan base although they may not be in a position to perform better than other players (McCormick Tollison, 2001). They also explain the contribution that perception makes on the incomes of players while highlighting race and status issues. It is identified that the application performance appraisal mechanisms in some sports may be partisan in terms of the amount of contribution that each player makes (Ehrenberg Bognanno, 1990). The identification of some players as high value does not always stem from their particular performance on the field or court, but rather on their value as sports personalities. The a uthors apply some economic and finance principles in identifying different mechanisms that players and teams can use to increase their value without necessarily performing better in their respective sports (Kahn Shah, 2005). The use of economic principles identifies the particular relationship between market forces in the sports fraternity and the performance of players. The authors identify that the performance of players or rather teams often has a huge impact on the number of fans that frequent their games during tournaments (Downward, Dawson Dejonghe, 2009). This increases their revenues from gate fees as well as sponsorships (Noll, 1998). On the other hand, it is identified that there may be some freeloaders who make more money than other without having to perform well. They often make their money through fan loyalty, which the authors identify as a combination of basic economic principles. The fact that some teams are in a position to increase their income by building fan lo yalty even though they may not be the best performing team in a particular league brings in the issue of fan psychology. It is identified that the need to belong often brews a huge amount of loyalty that is unmatched by any type of performance (Sanderson Siegfried, 1997). Some of the aspects identified by the authors to be particularly responsible for this kind of loyalty are race and location. It is identified that the location of some teams ensures that they are the only teams that those who love the sport in the area can support (Noll, 1998). With increased demand as a result of a great following, teams are in a position to increase their incomes through hiking stadium gate fees as well as increasing their endorsements and sponsorship values (Whitney, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Value of Sports Talent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The authors use data borrowed from sports statistics made by di fferent teams and league managers. These give a vivid description of the particular revenue flows that the authors seek to explain in their articles. The fact that the numbers are evident, but there has not been any action to rectify the disparities in incomes, may be understood to mean that the success of the sports fraternity does not lie in the particular revenues generated (Kahn Shah, 2005). This is contrary to popular opinion of the players, managers as well as fans who identify that the monetary value of the sport has a lot to do with its success. The use of real monetary figures does, however, prove the validity of the arguments advanced by the authors in every sense of the sport from the motivational to the fanatical and financial aspects of the different sports that have been evaluated (Stone Warren, 1999). Of particular interest is the data on basketball as well as football where it is identified that some of the best performing athletes may be making less money than the ir counterparts who perform less especially in cases where they are bound by contracts that are of a lower value (Palomino Sakovics, 2003). This extends the authors debate on sports management where sports managers have to identify ways of increasing and sustaining sports contracts and endorsements. Critique The authors raise a couple of ideas that are quite important in the evaluation of sports revenues with the current disparities in the incomes of different players as well as teams being put into consideration. The identification that the state of the whole sports fraternity is worrying in regard to its sustainability especially after fans have started complaining of more boardroom sports than on the field sports (Whitney, 2005). The fact that the commercialization of the sports industry may be identified to be one of the contributors of the decline in the growth of the whole industry in terms of sports, it should not be demonized especially considering that the increased value of the game has overtime contributed to more activity in terms of the number of games and tournaments organized (Ehrenberg Bognanno, 1990). The authors’ findings as well as conclusions can be identified to have various strengths as well as weaknesses that are based on their application of themes whether new or borrowed from other fields of study (Verbon, 2008). Strengths The authors identify that the introduction of salary caps as well as salary floors may serve to improve the quality of sports since players will be more motivated to perform better. The fact that these opinions are based on real values collected from the different teams and sports managers serves to provide a practical evaluation of the economic and financial aspects of sports especially in regard to salaries and endorsements (Verbon, 2008).Advertising Looking for coursework on health medicine? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The need to introduce some form of equality into the sports fraternity is advised by the fact that some teams as well as individual players have been suffering under irrational decisions made by their managers who identify particular ways of raking in revenues to be preferable than other (Palomino Sakovics, 2003). It is identified that the particular aspect of procuring famous athletes who are in the decline stages of their careers and then paying them some hefty amounts of money may not be ethical even though it works to draw in more fans as well as increase endorsements and sponsorships (McCormick Tollison, 2001). The need to value sports with reference to the particular performance of a player and not his or her previous reputation serves to ensure that the particular talent that exists in the field is natured to a point where it gives both the stake holders in the sports management and the fans a considerable amount of satisfaction during the games (Stone Warren, 1999). The i dentification by some authors that some of the sports portray quite a substantial amount of disparity between the revenues of players from different races, serves to highlight the plight of minority groups in the sports fraternity. This, they identify is rooted in the particular management techniques of different spots where the value of players is quantified to racial supply rather than their performance (Kahn Shah, 2005). They identify that in the basketball leagues white players are paid more than their black counterparts due to the fact that there are less white players in the leagues in general. The application of economic, finance as well as other market research models in identifying the particular value of players and teams in terms of endorsements and the number of fans is credited for this racial disparity (Downward, Dawson Dejonghe, 2009). Where it is identified that there is a higher population of white people who frequent the sports venues, the white players are paid more than the other players and vice versa (Ehrenberg Bognanno, 1990). The authors have also identified the need to invest in nurturing talent in regard to their evaluations based on economic principles. They identify that the investment of teams in old and experienced sports personalities so as to increase their endorsements and number of fans may not satisfy their long-term objectives and may actually be expensive in the long run (Palomino Sakovics, 2003). Weaknesses While most of the authors identify that the introduction of salary caps may be identified to be a motivator for those who are wrongfully discriminated based on their personality, it may serve to demoralize the high achievers who make a lot of money (Sanderson Siegfried, 1997). It should not be assumed that some of the highest salaried players do not deserve their salaries as it is identified that some of them actually perform exceptionally for the betterment of their teams as well as the whole sport in general. The application of economic variables does not serve to solve the direct challenges that are faced by sports personalities today and with the short lifespan of some sports careers it may be worrying to identify that some of the currently talented athletes may never get to be paid their fair dues in the near future (Noll, 1998). The authors identify that with age the performance of athletes reduces. In as much as teams want to maintain some of the players for endorsement purposes, the particular economic viability of the sports industry has a long-term aspect to it and with the short life cycles of the athletes careers it may not be viable to apply economic principles in a matter that is identified to be of personal importance. It may, however, work to secure the revenues of future generations. It is identified that what is currently needed is a quick solution to fix the reputation of the sports fraternity before some of the sports start losing their market value due to reduced fan sati sfaction (McCormick Tollison, 2001). The management of sports teams is also misrepresented in terms of financial preference, where it is identified that they are mainly drawn by the particular profits that they can make in the signing of sports contracts (Verbon, 2008). It is identified that the need to maintain a high number of loyal fans coincides with the particular aspect of endorsement profits as well as gate collection and these are actually some of the main concerns of sports managers. Conclusion The authors have presented a very solid case on sports economics by evaluating real data on the particular revenues of teams as well as individual sports personalities. Their arguments on the particular contracts that players as well as teams in general get into prove that there may be more financial matters in the sports fraternity than it is identified by those who identify talent as the main motivator of sports (Whitney, 2005). This proves that the financial aspect of sports shou ld not be ignored as it may be a bubble that is about to burst considering the recent over-commercialization of some sports. They identify that there may be a need to toughen the rules and regulations surrounding the management of spots to secure its viability and ensure fair play among the different stakeholders (Downward, Dawson Dejonghe, 2009). References Downward, P., Dawson, A., Dejonghe, T. (2009). Sports economics: theory, evidence and policy. New York: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann. Ehrenberg, R., G. Bognanno, M., L. (1990). Do Tournaments have incentive effects? Journal of political economy. 98(6). Pp 1307-1324. Kahn, L., Shah, M. (2005). Race, Compensation and Contract Length in the NBA. Journal of industrial relations. 44(3). Pp 444-462. McCormick, R., E. Tollison, R,. D. (2001). Why do black basketball players work more for less money? Journal of Economic Behavior Organisation. 44(1). Pp 201– 219 Noll, R., G. (1998). Economic Perspectives on the Athletes Bo dy. Stanford humanities review. 6(2). Pp 78-81. Palomino, F., Sakovics, J. (2003). Inter-league competition for talent vs. competitive balance. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. Porter, P., Scully, G. (1996). The Distribution of Earnings and the Rules of the Game. Southern Economic Journal. 63(1). Pp 149-162. Sanderson, A., R. Siegfried, J., J. (1997). The Implications of Athlete Freedom to Contract: Lessons from North America. Oxford: Blackwell. Stone, E., W. Warren, R. (1999). Customer discrimination in professional basketball: evidence from the trading-card market. Applied Economics. 31. Pp 679-685. Verbon, H. (2008). Regulation of Mobile Football Talent. Tilburg: Tilburg University press. Whitney, J. (2005). The peculiar externalities of professional team sports. Economic Inquiry. 43(2). Pp 330–343.

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Gangs of Youth Essay Example for Free

Gangs of Youth Essay Tattoos, graffiti in the walls, foul language, drugs, guns and violence are the most popular notions for â€Å"street gangs†. Street gangs are prevalent ever since the 19th century, when there was a surge of immigrants in the United States. They are an identity, a fearful group of people who organizes a variety of delinquent activities. Though gangs have been widely used in popular culture, as observed in the invention of slang words, baggy pants, hip-hop and rap music, they are a threat to society. Gangs are not really cool as what is being portrayed in our television sets. The following questions, which were taken from GWC, Inc. [1997], provide us some ideas on how to assess whether our community or school is suffering from severe gang activity. 1. Do you have graffiti on or near your school? 2. Do you have crossed out graffiti on or near your school grounds? 3. Do your students wear colors, jewelry, clothing; flash hand signals; or display other behavior that may be gang related? 4. Are drugs available in or near your school? 5. Has there been an increase in physical confrontations or incidents of threats, abuse, or intimidation in or near your school? 6. Is there an increasing presence of weapons in your community? 7. Do students use beepers, pagers and cellular phones? 8. Has there been a drive-by shooting in your neighborhood? 9. Have you had a show-by or a display of weapons near your schools? 10. Has there been an increase in the truancy rate and/or daytime burglaries? 11. Are there an increasing number of racial incidents in your community or school? 12. Does your community have a history of gangs? 13. Is there an increasing presence of informal social groups with unusual names? If most of the answers are yes, then your community or school is definitely in need for an effective gang prevention program. But before doing so, I will first discuss about the proliferation of street gangs, its history and its impact to the society especially to the youth. I will also provide recent reports on the current statistics in some areas; then I can now dwell on the useful measures on how to fight and avoid gang activity. What are gangs? The Children’s Health Encyclopedia [n. d. ] mentioned that there are a couple of definitions of gangs, specifically, youth gangs. In general, they are a â€Å"loosely-organized association† who were formerly alienated by the society. They are headed informally by a leader. The members are usually between ages 12 to 24 and they have a gang name to identify themselves. The members of the gang share something in common in them. Usually they have the same race or ethnicity, same social class or some characteristic that are usually defined by some form of a symbol, usually represented by tattoos, graffiti, clothing or even hand signals. According to Safe Youth [2007], gangs are most of the time male-dominated and have their own territory. Such male members have experienced a loss of a male figure at home. For females, they often participate in gang activity during family crisis or drug addiction. They have been characterized to be run-away-from-home youths. Moreover, another characteristic of these gangs is that they may either be a subsidiary of a larger group of gangs. Some gang organizations have their respective mother groups whom they share similar attributes and culture. It is also common for such gangs to have their own set of rules and codes of conduct. Some even have weird rituals of their own. They treat each other as kin or family; since in the first place, they were formed because they felt some kind of alienation with their respective lives. Gangs can compensate and nurture the members a sense of belongingness. They also can gain power and influence especially when they cooperate to fight for their own endeavors. They gain confidence and self-worth especially when gang members are promised to be given protection or better yet a higher social status. They do organized crime activities in order to get what they want. These activities are violent and nature and such can threaten a lot of lives. According to the U. S. Department of Justice, groups must be involved in criminal acts before they are deemed to be called as gangs. Such acts, according to Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005], can vary from extortion, robbery, smuggling, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and defending their territory. Basically, there a two types of gangs, city and urban/rural gangs [Green, 1999]. In cities, gangs are situated in a particular â€Å"turf† or â€Å"hood†, unlike in urban/rural areas, gangs are dispersed and some needed to travel in order to be with their members. According to Green [1999], there three indicators of gangs: saggin’, flaggin’, and braggin’. Sagging is manner of dressing. Gangsters are usually wearing loose clothes like baggy pants and caps that are tilted in a different manner. Some gangs have a unique style, which makes them distinct from other gangs like hairdos and leather jackets. Flagging is the show of colors. Gangs have a branding color which represents them. Last is bragging, which is self-explanatory. They brag about being gangsters though they are very secretive about their activities. History Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005] stated in their paper, â€Å"North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence† that youth gangs can be traced even as far as the end of American Revolution. They said that such violence was heightened during the immigration and population shifts during the early 1800s, 1920s, 1960s and in the latter 1990s. Though in Europe, gangs are already popular in the 14th Century. It was reported in the 1999 National Youth Gang Survey that gangs in the United States are composed of 47 percent Hispanic members, 31 percent African-Americans, 13 percent Caucasian, 7 percent Asian and 3 percent others. These can traced from the 10 to 12 million undocumented Hispanic aliens in 1970s and 1990s. The most popular Hispanic groups are Calle 18 and Mara Salvatrucha. They were the first gangs to accept members from other nationalities as well as recruit outside their own territory. Outside means that even the youth, as young as elementary and middle schools are involved in the use of weapons, stealing money and selling drugs. The GWC, Inc. [1997] believed that gangs use children because if ever they are caught, they will not go to jail. It was also said by Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005] that during the 19th century, Irish and Italian street gangs were greatly concentrated in the East Coast cities, while African-American gangs were mostly in Los Angeles especially during the 1960s and 1970s. When you migrate, most probably the neighborhood the family is exposed are much disorganized, thus leading to exposure to crimes and gang activities. Statistics As shown by the GWC, Inc. ’s Gang Guide [1997], the FBI thinks that there are around 400,000 youths who are members of gangs in the United States. Moreover, the Journal of American Medical Association believes that 94 percent are active gangs in the cities. Such cities according to the American Street Gang can include up to 40 different gangs. In the Children’s Health Encyclopedia, in between the years 1996and 2001, over 90 percent of the largest cities in America are reported to have gang activities in their area. Between 1998 and 1999, it was studied that there was a 27 percent increase in gang membership in the suburban areas while 29 percent in rural areas. Gangs do not only involve the minorities like the Latinos or the African-American, all nationalities or ethnic groups, despite economic class and geographical setting are highly involved in gangs. Earlier we said that males dominate that gangs and females are only involved usually when she experiences family problems and had run away from home. It was discovered by A. Campbell in his research that female gang members have experience a larger risk in gang membership. According to Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005], the reported gang activity in 1970 was 270, by 1998, it increased by whopping 800 percent with 2,500 cities. In a comparative study of gang members and youths-at-risk in Cleveland, it was found that 44. 7 percent of gang members were reported to committing auto theft, as compared to 4. 1 percent of non-members. Moreover, 40. 4 percent of gang members said that they have participated in â€Å"drive-by shootings†, while only 2. 0 percent of non-members have done so. Furthermore, 34. 0 of gang members have been reported to intimidate or assault crime victims or witnesses, compared to none from the non-members. 72. 3 percent of gang members acknowledged that they have assaulted rivals, compared to 16. 3 percent. More so, 17. 0 percent of gang members have committed robbery compared to 2. 0 percent of non-members. We can conclude in this study that being involved in gangs exposes one to be more at-risk even greater than those who are already at-risk yet non-members of gangs. According to Safe Youth [2007], recent studies reveal that member of youth gangs join before they reach 18 years old. In contrast to the notion of the public, such members do not commit to a long-term membership. In a span of one year, only one-half to two-thirds remain in their gang. To heighten our claim earlier that gang members are more at-risk than at-risk non-members, Howell and Decker [1999] revealed that youth gang members have higher drug usage rate than non-gang members. Moreover, Battin-Pearson, et al. [1998] said that delinquency rates are higher for gang members, which includes the use of illegal drugs, display of violent behavior and even the rate of being arrested. Between 1989 and 1995, it was reported by the United States Departments of Education and Justice that the percentage of gang activity doubled. This heightens the strong correlation of gangs with the proliferation of guns and drugs inside the school campuses. However, there is contradiction with the study. Chandler, et al. [1996] believed that gangs have not been the cause of victimization inside the schools although it was found to contribute to the dangerous atmosphere. Presence of gangs in school has even brought protection to students who are part of the minority groups. It was reported in the 2002 and 2003 National Youth Gang Surveys that 4 out of 10 large cities in the United States have experienced 10 or more gang homicides [Egley, 2005]. In Los Angeles and Chicaga, half of the reported 1,000 homicides were gang related. This also implies a frequent use of firearms. Risk Factors In the study of Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005], if the following risk factors increase, it was believed that the youth has higher probability of joining a gang: marginal neighborhoods, family, academic problems, peer groups, drugs and violence. Marginal Neighborhoods involve a more dangerous environment and most of these neighborhoods are highly exposed to drugs. Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005] said that those who are living in these neighborhood are thrice more likely to join gangs. More so, such neighborhoods who are highly exposed to drugs like Marijuana, youths are 3. 6 likely to join a gang. Youths with families headed by a single-parent are 2. 4 more likely to join gangs than those families who are headed by a complete set of parents. As mentioned earlier, those males who missed a father figure will seek out such companionship in gangs. More so, with a broken family, it is much easier for a child to acquire belongingness and love from a gang. However, as long as families promote violence, and there is low parental care and love in the family, a youth will be highly misguided, leading to gang membership. Academic problems lead to higher gang membership because as already mentioned earlier; gangs can lift low self-esteem individuals. Since academic failure contributes to low self-esteem, such youth are 3. 6 times more prone to join the gangs. When there is low commitment to study in school, a child is more likely to join a gang, since it can mean that he or she prefers other activities. Such activities as we know can be more violent in nature, and may or may not be done within the school premises. Peer groups are great motivators for the youth to join a gang. When you have friends who are members of such gangs, you are also twice as likely to join too. Peer pressure is sometimes very hard to resist because friendships are broken if you cannot do a favor for a friend. We know that people do need companionship especially in school and it is difficult if we do not have friends around. They are a source of protection as well. Drugs and violence can evidently trigger gang membership. Youths who already use Marijuana, are 3. 7 times more prone to join gangs. This is definitely true since where else can you get such drugs but from those gangs. To be able to get it easier, one should join them. Moreover, it was revealed that if the youth has been engaged in a violent behavior before, they are 3. 1 time more prone to join the gangs. Lonnie Jackson [1998], the author of Gangbusters: Strategies for prevention and intervention also provided a list of risk factors. It includes again the exposure to crime and violence during the â€Å"formative years†. Role models from a particular ethnic group can also increase the likelihood to gang involvement. It also includes lack of parental control. Moreover, the lack of equal economic opportunities can also be the reason for gang involvement. The lack of â€Å"social and recreational activities† for the children, few employment opportunities and unmet employment qualifications and skills can trigger gang involvement. Youth enticed to power, money and drugs are evidently more likely to join these gangs. Immediate gratification is very attractive for some youths and this encourages them to join the gangs. Moreover the lack of sense of belongingness and security, as well as powerlessness will lead the youth to those gangs. Another source of gang influence would be the popular media. Though there is no substantive evidence, violence seen in films, even song lyrics from hip-hop or rap music can increase pressure in joining gangs since gang life are usually being portrayed with such glamour and power that even kids imitate them. Kids these days are dressing up like gangsters even though they are not, and it can be reason why they join gangs. They think it so cool. Impact of Gangs in Schools Gangs in school will obviously increase the violence in schools, though we cannot directly blame the gang members for them. According to Trump [1993], students enrolled in schools with evident gang presence are twice more likely to fear of being victims of violence, than those whose schools without gangs. In an interview of Boyle [1992], he said that gang members perceive schools as evils and forms of incarceration. They see school as a place for gathering and hosting violent activities. What is worse is that, even gang members who are already suspended or kicked out from school can be found in the campus with their fellow gang mates. They use school as a form of a hang-out place rather than a place for learning. Burnett and Walz [1994] said that gangs can broaden its reach even influencing the youth in gang-free schools, causing a wider influence and greater involvement in criminal activities. According to Chandler et al. [1998], youth gangs are correlated with issues in delinquency especially during elementary and secondary schools. The National Center for Education Statistics [2005] have reported that most students in urban schools are most probably report the existence of street gangs in their school with 31 percent, compared to suburban students and rural students with 18 percent and 12 percent respectively. According to Thompkins [2000], security officers, security cameras, and even metal detectors can serve as a means of deterrence, yet these causes fear among the people on school, knowing that such security was brought about by the heightening of gang activity in the school. Impact of Gangs on its Participants Most of the gang members are already involved in delinquent acts even during the time that they are not still members of the gang [Burnett and Walz, 1994]. Most likely, such delinquent acts will be heightened. They will be frequently involved in drug abuse, as well as violence against their neighbor and a lot more. There are many consequences of being involved in such gangs. If ever they do not follow the rules of their gang leaders, most likely they will be victims as well, facing more punishments than those who are non-members. Also, if the gangs were discovered, they can be arrested and put into detention. When they grow up, they can be put into prison. Gang life distorts a lot of healthy relationships especially if it is for long term. The gangs have so much power over their members and can limit their own capacities. It can deprive them their own ambitions and aspirations. They bring chaos to the community and it can break families. It is more likely to happen that a youth can be dropped out early in school. When this happens, there is less chance for the child to be employable in the future, thus increasing unemployment rate together with crime rate. Moreover, it can also bring about early pregnancy or teen motherhood, which brings about an unstable family and lack of parental care. We already discussed earlier that such families are more likely to produce delinquent children. Thus, we see a cycle going on in here. If you expose your child to an unstable environment, most likely, he or she will carry it in the future. Economic impact of youth gangs There are in fact economic costs associated to youth gangs just like any other crimes. Medical expenses are actually large, especially to those who were victimized. In a year, $655 billion are spent in the United States because of crimes and it was believed that a huge amount can be attributed to gangs [Fight Crime: Invest in kids, 2004]. In Los Angeles Hospital trauma center, it was revealed that $5 million was spent to the 272 gang-related gunshot victims. It was also reported that youth gangs turned to be entrepreneurial organizations, involving hard core drug operations in various numbers of states. An example of which is the Black Gangster Disciples Nation [Burnett and Walz, 1994]. It actually has a hierarchy with several officers with specialized jobs. They have a chairman, with board of directors who are in charge in the drug trafficking in their areas. They have regents, who are in charge in the drug supply as well as in overseeing the â€Å"drug† stores. They also have area coordinators, who are in charge in collecting revenues from several spots. They have enforcers who are like their police and punish members who cheat. Last are the shorties, or the â€Å"interns† who composes the staff in the drugs selling spots. So evidently, such gang is already very organized and they have climbed their way up because of their wider influence and power. How to fight gang activity Gang activities are very serious issues that need to be addressed. A lot of youths are being misled to another path, damages their lives, the lives of the people around them as well as their future. But, it’s never too late to pull them out of their misery and prevent those kids who are about to be victimized. The National Education Association developed a â€Å"Safe Schools Framework† in order to aid schools and communities to pinpoint the gangs in their areas [Safe Youth, 2007]. They are recommending cooperation among schools, families and communities in developing strategies in alleviating gangs in their areas, as well as promoting safety and security in the campus. We adopt three components of the framework: prevention, intervention and suppression. Under prevention, we should aim to prevent the youth in getting involved in gangs, as well as in gang-related activities. This includes heightened awareness and education of the negative consequences of joining gangs, and testimonials from former gang members discouraging them to be involved. By intervention, we mean that we create possible alternatives for the youth in terms of their after-school or extra-curricular activities. More so, we provide counseling for those who are already in trouble, and promote part-time jobs for students. By suppression, we should use adequate measures in identifying, isolation, punishing and rehabilitating criminal offenders [Safe Youth, 2007]. In order to fight the existence of gangs in the schools, we should promote policies like adapting a school uniform, implementing curfews to discourage delinquent activities at night, encouraging students to be punctual, as well as enforcing strict policies on underage drinking and bring of deadly weapons in schools. During the 1930s, the Chicago Area Project has already started in bringing about recreational activities and self-improvement campaigns in order to convert gang members [Johnson and Muhlhausen, 2005]. However, it only increased crime since they treated as gangs as a group. In other states, they have strict anti-gang laws but were not effective in enforcing laws. In states like California, Minnesota and Virginia, they have established gang task forces but it was observed that their success greatly relies on the sustainability of their efforts, a variety of strategies and strong political will. It is very difficult to do that for all the states. The U. S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has recommended several strategies like after-school activities, dropout prevention, parent-training programs, efficient tracking of former offenders, job programs and many others. However, many failed to reduce delinquency [Johnson and Muhlhausen, 2005]. Other programs were also seen to be ineffective, like the GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) which used police as instructors in schools on the dangers of gang participation. During their evaluation, the program has no significant effect on gang membership [Johnson and Muhlhausen, 2005]. Moreover, the on-the-job training provided by the Department of Labor had produced counterintuitive results. Instead of preventing the disadvantaged youth, it actually increased the arrests related to gang activity. It was suggested by Johnson and Muhlhausen [2005] that the following strategies must be used. First, they should foster stable neighborhoods. It is very important for the government to ensure the safety of the environment of the people. They know that an unstable neighborhood produces delinquent activities, thus by enforcing policies that could enable a more secure neighborhood will be of great help in reducing gang membership. Second, they need to reduce illegal immigration. We know for a fact that gangs were formed due to alienation and a sense of discrimination from the society. By requiring stricter requirements for labor and immigration, we are also ensuring the safety of these people and help the rise of gangs in the country. Third, there should be strategies to â€Å"deny time for gang activities†. Parents should be aware that they play a great role in forming the behavior of their children. They should help their children in avoiding being influenced by those groups by telling the possible dangers of gang membership. Fourth, there should also be an emphasis on the prevention on the individual. Counseling programs must be strengthened, helping students to overcome their family problems and encourage them to find happiness in other things, instead of resulting to drugs and violence. Last is to ensure that the suppression is a product of collaborative efforts of several different agencies. An enforcement of a policy will not be successful if people do not have a general consensus about it, or do not cooperate. Strategies must also be simultaneously be implemented in order to make the campaigns against gang violence to be systematic. We still have a long way to go in eliminating gang violence. However, if we start now at our own homes, we can prevent these children from being involved in such gang activities. There are various tools to assist them. We need to focus on the sustainability and effectiveness of those tools in order to ensure success. Bibliography Gang. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of Childrens Health. Retrieved April 22, 2008, from Answers. com Web site: http://www. answers. com/topic/gang Howell, J. (2006). The Impact of Gangs on Communities. NYGC Bulletin. Retrieved April 22, from IIGC Website: www. iir. com/nygc/publications/NYGCbulletin_0806. pdf. Green, F. (1999). Street Gangs in School. Retrieved April 20, 2008 at Keys to Safer Schools Website: http://www. keystosaferschools. com/Newsletter%20Vol. %208%20pg%203. htm. Safe Youth. (2007). Gangs fact sheet. Retrieved April 20, 2008 at National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center Website: http://www. safeyouth. org/scripts/facts/gangs. asp. Burnett, G. and G. Walz. (1994). Gangs in the Schools. Retrieved April 20, 2008 at Eric Digests Website: http://www. ericdigests. org/1995-1/gangs. htm. Johnson, S. and D. Muhlhausen. (2005). North American Transnational Youth Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence. Retrieved April 20, 2008 at Heritage Website: http://www. heritage. org/research/urbanissues/bg1834. cfm.