Final Growth Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final Growth Report - Essay Example I found many things I had forgotten about, but overall have learned many important things about me and my personal growth as a person. I have found myself, more and more recently, pushing myself to the very edge of my existence, both spiritually, mentally, and physically. I want to see exactly what I can do, how I tick, and how long I can make myself tick for. I find myself taking on challenges and to much work, in hopes of keeping myself busy and occupied. I may slip up a little here and there, by I try to spread myself out to many different possibilities, hoping to expand my fields of study and learning as far as I possibly can. I also have found that it is more myself, that everyone else who I let make my challenges. Not saying I would turn down one that comes to me, but I keep raising the bar, pushing the tally, and raising the ante, to keep myself moving fast and foremost towards the challenging goals I have set for my personal growth. I also find myself jumping to leadership positions I would have once shied away from, and feel the need to be the leader, as well the want to take on the role when I see what I consider to be insufficient leaders to be doing a job I feel I could be doing much better. Well this rashness and bravado of myself may be a downtrodden effect of my ego, it also helps serve how well I strive for the best I can achieve. I also seem to feel a changin

Need for Security Essay Example for Free

Need for Security Essay Security and control is needed in a custodial environment as people are sent there for a reason so if they were allowed to do whatever they want then it wouldn’t be a punishment. An advantage of having control is that the staff will always have authority over the prisoners, which is vital as they must be able to enforce discipline. Another advantage of having control is that they can keep an account of offences that prisoners have committed. This will come in useful if the prisoner has adjudication, it will also come in usual when reviewing the prisoner. Having the IEP scheme in a prison is a good thing as it encourages the prisoners to behave, this will make security and control easier to manage as the prisoners aren’t doing things they shouldn’t be. It will also make prison life for the prisoners more enjoyable, which is an advantage as it’s another reason why they won’t misbehave. Searches are needed in prisons to ensure that prisoners aren’t in possession of any prohibited items, if they do have this then it could lead to potentially dangerous situations. An example of this is if a prisoner has a weapon then they may use this against other prisoners or against staff. It is also important that searches are carried out on visitors of the prison as they will try their hardest to smuggle items in for prisoners. This is an advantage as it prevents prisoners from having things that shouldn’t, having an item like drugs will lead to gangs within the prison and this is something that must be avoided. Another aspect of security which is a big advantage to the prisoners and the officers is the dynamic side of security. Prisoner officers monitor the prisoners to ensure that they are coping with life in prison; if they aren’t coping well at all it could lead to them becoming suicidal. Prisoners could self-harm or even commit suicide if the prison officers aren’t keeping an eye on them. It is the duty of the prison officer to ensure that they look after the prisoners so letting this happen would mean they aren’t carrying out their job efficiently. Having dynamic security is a big advantage as it stops this from happening.

Crash Movie Analysis

Crash Movie Analysis Paul Haggis In 2004 wrote and directed the award winning movie Crash concerning a variety of intertwine experiences concerning racial relations and the levels of socioeconomic status of the varied cast of characters. This movie deal with how humans being contract with actual life situations and tackles how racial injustices and stereotypes effect our society by sourcing a division of customs, disregarding civil and human rights, and representation how racism can source cultural, moral, and economical distress. This comprehensive essay will deal with the cinematic constituents utilized right through the film, and offer a critical examination on the variety of components and methods utilized to generate this powerful and compelling film. Crash is a film that engages more than a few diverse stories and plots that all direct to somehow hook up the characters to each other in a sequence of incidents that occur throughout 2 days in California. America’s ever- rising melting pot is particularly signified in the movie as the viewers are introduced to a black detective of LAPD, two mischievous black car thieves, a white district lawyer and his discriminative wife, a white racist hit cop and his trainee partner, a black director of Hollywood and his wife, an furious owner of Persian shop and his family, and a blue-collar Hispanic man and his adolescent susceptible daughter. The characters unconnected yet interlinking stories were an extremely distinctive and efficient technique utilized to narrate this story in a provoking and extremely appealing manner. The theme of the movie is connected to the variety of features of prejudice. The mainly invasive theme is racism. The white copwhose father lost his janitorial business owing to special affirmative action practicesis fuming at African-Americans. A youthful African-American carjacker spurts the provocative Black Power expression of the 1970s. Stereotyping is an additional subject in the movie. For instance, the white wife of DA’s supposes the locksmith of being a member of gang since of his background. The conflict of cultures is demonstrated by the owner of Iranian store who construes the well-meant comments of the locksmith regarding a dented door as a shake-down for additional money. The subject of class difference is discovered in the distinction of characters. For instance, the African-American director and his wife are higher class in expressions of income and education even as the African-American police officer has afforded his means into a middle-class work and his bro ther a criminal and his mother is a drug addict. The DA’s wife, who exists in the well-off area of Brentwood of Los Angeles, is continuously grumbling in relation to her housekeeper/nanny, a stressed Latina. Cruelty is an additional idea investigated in the movie: a police officer sexually disgraces a naive woman, an HMO envoy erratically deny services to a anguish man, an annoyed man acquires a gun to obtain revenge in opposition to an naive man he believes has offended him, and an additional man is occupied in the contemporary slave trade. In actual fact, the occurrence of people’s cruelty is maybe the majority constant pattern. The stereotyping in opposition to one another is their incorrect beliefs regarding people; particularly about the diverse race (Sole, 2011).On the other hand, nevertheless, the movie as well encloses images of people’s humankind in addition, as the housekeeper approaches to the assistance of her employer, the police officer dangers his life to save the same woman he battered, and the carjacker confers up a prospect to sell a people van-load into slavery. Everybody engaged in the making of this movie added to the cinematic experience. In Crash The preponderance of the actors were most well-known and noticeable celebrities in Hollywood, for instance Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. These movie stars sneakily carried the film with their sparkling performances and dramatic ability as they naturally contrived in the course of each scene with ease. The realism depicted by the actors fetched to life their characters and in spite of the susceptible and insecure topics in the movies they manage to fetch every character to life, give them their individual exclusive and separate personalities. In the movie the sound employed a contemporary dialogue and advanced every scene from an additional modern viewpoint. When slang terms were required by the characters it emerged to be utilized in a means that prepared the audience understand and narrate, for instance the dialogues amid the two black car thieves as they speak to each other by means of a apparently offensive word in the expression â€Å"nigger.† The country western and hip hop music being played and conversed by the two car thieves are important to the film since they indicate how music plays a large element in defining race and underlining a lot of diverse stereotypes. The songs that were element of the film soundtrack are played at instants that were important to the scene. The outstanding acting was not the merely perceptible constituent that let this award winning movie to connect the viewer. The movie begins with the out of focus shots of the car headlights which might perhaps be setting up the viewers to observe that the film characters will not be what they appear and might as well lack spotlight right through the movie as well. The cinematography about the preponderance of the movie is delicate as the director choose to spotlight additional on close-ups and the rare feelings on the actor’s expressions and faces. There are extremely few scenes where several action is essential to bear the film, however the scenes that do include action, for instance the carjacking attempted of character of Terrence Howard’s, Cameron, and the resulting chase of police in the course of Los Angeles, it was steady with the storyline and essential to the on the whole plot. The viewpoint shots that were utilized in the movie bring the observers additional i nto the action of the movie and decreased the space between the characters and audience. This permitted the a variety of stereotypes and depictions of the characters to turn out to be additional pronounced, and although a few of the stereotypes were a bit decorated as it relates to society of present, the implied realism was in reality deeply influential. Even though the in the film Crash cinematography is rather basic consecutively to spotlight additional on the acting, storylines, and on the whole subject matter of the movie, the editing of the movie is so elaborate that it is roughly offering the feeling of little movies in a movie as the scenes leap from every storyline. In the majority films the cinematography can effectively append credibility to the plot and development of character, letting a movie to have radiant construction and sensual detail. In Crash there are not numerous special effects, or contrasting lighting designs that have any minor effect on the appearance or sense of the movie. The film has several instants of low key lighting and the scene is mostly developed with the urban scenery of modern Los Angeles. Conclusion Stereotypes are not vague since they are all fake, other than since they are habitually surrogated for real depictions of individuals and experiences of life. Crash is capable to deal with a few stereotypes in a way that is interesting, yet thinking provoking by means of constituents designed to generate art in the course of cinema. The means this movie deals with societal prejudices and racism goes past the criticism we might be familiarized to in this age of conventional media and social networking openings, where anybody is capable to sight a huge selection of colorful social comments in addition to liberally express their free opinions. Other than the cinematic constituents used right through this movie, for instance location, the sound, movement of camera, editing, lighting, soundtrack, and the majority prominently the acting, radiantly contributed to the intersect storylines that modestly permitted the viewers to take a deep glimpse into their individual covert prejudices. References Haggis, P. (Writer Director). (2004). Crash [Motion Picture]. (Lions Gate Entertainment). Harris, Philip; Olson, Aaron; Levine, Deena; Shusta, Robert and Wong, Herbert. (1995). Multicultural Law Enforcement. 28-110 Sole, K. (2011). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (https://content.ashford.edu)

Statue of Liberty Ribbon Essays -- Architecture History

Statue of Liberty Ribbon The Statue of Liberty has served as the single most important symbol of the friendship between the two countries and the ideal of democracy since its unveiling on October 28, 1886. At the time it was the tallest structure in America. The statue was originally a gift to the United States. The relationship between the two countries dates back before the United States was an independent country (Kotler p7). The French were one of the first to explore and settle in North America. Louis Jolliet and Jaques Marquette traveled the Mississippi. Renà © Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle explored the Great Lakes and established Louisiana. Frenchmen built outposts on the Gulf of Mexico, founded New Orleans, and colonized New France from Louisiana to northeast Canada. In the War of Independence, the Marquis de Lafayette fought with General George Washington. In its final battle at Yorktown, General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau led the French navy and a land crew. Without French support a victory may have been impossible. The United States returned these favors during t...

Healthy Living Report Essay

Healthy livingâ€Å" Campaign report 1. Background research to the issue To find the way linked to my group topic and target made us to meet many times and discuss about social issues among students and young people. It made my group to think a lot what topic for campaign would be interesting to us – while working for this, and similarly what would be interesting for other people especially for students in Middlesex University. First of all, everyone in my group pay attention on unhealthy food and ingredients which make daily food able to be fresh for long term and even dangerous. My group decided to start doing campaign â€Å"tricky food† and we all fell into research on dangerous ingredients in popular supermarkets’ food. As we published in our Wiki page â€Å"Unhealthy substitutes used in food production† had to be our campaign stage. (Wiki, ResearchS08G1). From long list of various chemicals and acids which are used in food our group made a decision to focus on Aspartame the most. Aspartame is artificial sweetener which is 200 times sweeter than sugar and commonly used in food industry. In the internet is not difficult to find many articles and discussions about it, some people claim that it is very dangerous to human’s health because of its force to cause cancer, nerve disorders, birth defects and other healthy imbalances. From the other side of view, probably from the business side, some people are ready to prove that aspartame is not so bad, the right amount of it in food is not dangerous and it is cheaper to use in food industry than sugar. However, this sweetener is widely used and found in drinks such as diet coke, energy drinks and even some juice. In the United States aspartame is regulated by FDA – Food and Drug Administration which has set the ADI (acceptable daily intake) for aspartame 50mg/kg and similarly in the European Union – by European Food Safety Authority ADI is 40mg/kg. (American Cancer Society, Learn About Cancer 2011). Well, when the national administration has set the secure quantity of this sweetener it became allowable to use it in food widely. Due to that my group decided that there are no argues with food industry and during our campaign it is hard to change sweeteners usage in nourishment and we made another decision: to change campaign topic and target substantially. Every one of us is surrounded by bright adverts and slogans to be eco-friendly, to eat healthy food, to avoid junk food, to choose food without any preservatives and so on. My group and I also decided to join in those who are providing healthy living style. We started to do another research linked to it, to search what vitamins human need to recover healthy organism after winter and which fruit and vegetables have beneficial vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Also very important issue that UK is on the leading position in regards to obese citizens in Europe (Wiki, ResearchS08G1). Regarding to New York Times (2010, The World is Fat) in almost half of developed countries, one out of every two people is overweight or obese. In the figure is clearly visible that England was and will be second nation after United States which has overweight, till 2020 it can reach 70 per cent limit! These facts made us to take care for obese issue in United Kingdom. As a united group of different countries: two Lithuanians, Polish and two English we see our target to start informing students about this growing problem by providing healthy eating habits and healthy life style including exercises and view of it. 2. Process of campaign planning Firstly, we had chosen to run the campaign about â€Å"tricky food† and especially aspartame but as I mentioned in the first part of report, during the research we found facts that aspartame is legal sweetener and the right amount of it is not dangerous to human’s health. With our campaign we would be having too less force and evidence in order to avoid this sweetener use in food industry. Regarding to this, we left the idea about tricky food and during more than two meetings we were discussing about many topics which could be interesting and worthy to pay attention. It was not easy part of planning our campaign because we all understood that to find the topic with strong target and serious attitude it is difficult. We mentioned points such as how we could include more people to our team, how we could represent information for them and for our university, should we stay only in university or shall we go further: inform people about issue in our living areas, in the social websites, etc. how we could do our event and what to do so as to attract an attention. We were sure that we will have leaflets with useful information, that we will set up facebook page for our campaign and we will do our event in the university. In our meeting we had not have one  person as a chairperson, we all were equivalent and we all were suggesting our ideas. My idea was to look deeper how we are living, what are ours daily diet, daily routine – are we healthy enough or should we change something in our lives. While suggesting the topic Healthy living I also had an idea to raise the charity fund. Even more, to visit children schools or other meeting places and inform them about our campaign and targets. Unfortun ately, I had not got any assent from my team members for this action. However, I sent some emails to charities such as British Red Cross and Save the Children. I informed them about our campaign and targets, mentioned that we would like to do our campaign as a charity. While giving healthy food (fruit or veg) in university my team could collect some donation for one of the charities and later we could collaborate by doing volunteering jobs or events providing healthy living. I have got an answer from British Red Cross, they were interesting in our action and targets. Unfortunately, I had got that answer too late because we were already doing our campaign on ourselves without any outside organizations. 3. Work as a group From my view at this point I am quite happy while working with my group. As in every team work we faced with some advantages and disadvantages but the final result was nice. The best times and really strong team work were when all group members were attending the meetings. Sure, it had happen only few times, however, those meetings were pretty good. We had never have any argues or complaints, our discussions were always polite and with respect to each other. We always listened to each other’s ideas and discussed them together with giving some agreements or reasoned rejections. Usually our meetings were with three attended group members. Nevertheless, we were able to consider what would be the next step, what research we had to do until next meeting and all jobs or duties were apportion between every team member equally. Even more, if we were having enough spare time after meeting, some of us were going to library to do research together or to write down the minutes into the wiki page. For more questions or advice we were chatting online, by sending emails we arranged for the next meeting. On the other hand, this low attendance made some difficulties to organize all team work, it always takes time to text messages to inform other members about further actions. Because everyone has jobs it was difficult to find right times in order to meet all together, some group members were paying more attention for their jobs than to studies and especially for this campaign. Due to these issues our campaign was small and weak, its background were just two people who pay more attention to every organizing step. 4. Your action I value my action in the group as big part of whole campaign. The background and topic of Healthy living was my idea suggested in the group meeting. I came with the wide idea of it and I had some plans how to reach the main aim. As I mentioned above, I offered to do a campaign as a charity: while providing fruit or vegetables for students we can collect donation for a charity, later collaborate with that organization and hope for getting some support. Personally I always like to communicate with organizations such as charities or other help centres, I have previous experience by searching the support for some events that is why I feel free and confident while asking others to promote my plans. This time I had asked some charities but unfortunately I have not got any help from them. First of all, I think I had to call them straight away and reject sending emails and waiting for answers, second , I think I had to let them know more about my action, about our campaign, purpose and all details so as to make them interesting enough to support us. Finally, if I would be able to have enough force to influence others I would have asked other my group members to help me and to pay more attention on our campaign because I felt too weak to take this huge part alone. Anyway, at the end of March and beginning of April I was communicating with Community Fundraiser from British Red Cross. She replay to my email a bit too late than I was expected but it is always nice to let other communities know about my actions and attitude. I can be brave to say that I was that person in my group who was the most enthusiastic about campaign planning and actions. It was not difficult to take care and organize the event during which we were giving free apples, apple shaped stickers and leaflets with interesting information about fruit. In order to get apples each of us asked local shops to support us by giving some apples. I am living Hendon, so here I found many local shops where I am shopping almost every day and I visited them with my special request. First of all, while talking to the manager of the shop I let him know who I am and what I am doing, later I asked him to support our campaign and in the same way I made him sure that he is making big help not only for my group but also for some students who maybe will start thinking more about healthy life style. Some shops rejected my request but I did not give up and went ahead. Finally, I found one shop near to the Hendon Central Station which was very helpful and polite. People who are working there wished me luck and even know they look at me as at friendly shopper. 5. Supporting other campaigns Our group was working alone without any collaborate with other campaigns from our module. As we all got the topic food almost all campaigns were linked to healthy products. Some of them had chosen specifically one product (energy drink, junk food – hamburgers, etc. ) and they run campaigns in order to change people attitude and inform them how dangerous it is. Differently, we had not chosen any products – we looked into whole lifestyle which includes food, exercises and attitude. I really appreciate other people job, how they did their campaigns, how they had represented their ideas and what targets they had. Only one thing what I might to change could be the way how they did their events. Most of all campaigns were too silent, working only on social websites such as Facebook or Twitter, I would rather do it loudly in the centre of our university. References: Wiki, S08G1 â€Å"Healthy Living†, research 2012 [online], http://mcs1000campaigns. middlesex. wikispaces. net/ResearchS08G1 American Cancer Society, Learn about cancer 2011. [online], http://www. cancer. org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/AtHome/aspartame The New York Times, The World is Fat 2012, [online], http://economix. blogs. nytimes. com/2010/09/23/the-world-is-fat/

Challenges of Harmonization of Accounting System

QUESTION: Discuss the challenges of harmonization of accounting system. Accounting Standards are the statements of code of practice of the regulatory accounting bodies that are to be observed in the preparation and presentation of financial statements. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles is comprised of a large group of individual accounting standards. Accounting Standards in other words can be stated as rules which govern the preparation of financial statements. They are the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Where by accounting practices are the actual used practices by accountants.They are influenced by Accounting Standards, which govern the preparation of financial reports. Harmonization of accounting standards† can be defined as the continuous process of ensuring that the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are formulated, aligned and updated to international best practices (GAAPs in other countries) with suitable modifications and fine t uning considering the domestic conditions. Harmonization is the process of increasing compatibility of accounting practices by setting bounds on their degree of variation.Harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries are prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29). According to Wolk et al. described harmonization of Accounting Standards as â€Å"the co-ordination or similarity among the various sets of national Accounting Standards and methods and formats of financial reporting†. (Kleekamper et al. , 2002) Kleekamperet al. xplain, that the aim of the international harmonization process of Accounting Standards is to reduce or overcome differences world-wide, in order to reach a better international Comparability of financial statements. International accounting harmonization can be defined as â€Å"the process of bringing international Accounting Standards into some sort of agreement so that the financial statements from different countries are prepared according to a common set of principles of measurement and disclosure† (Haskins et al. 1996:29).This harmonization is needed due to the globalization of businesses and services and increase in cross-border investments and borrowings and academicians, regulators and governments have been constantly striving to harmonize the local/domestic Accounting Standards(AS), also referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with the International Accounting Standards (IAS) issued by the UK based International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) (formerly the International Accounting Standards Committee-IASC).The IASB has been trying to harmonize international accounting principles since 1973. Further, the IASB and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have been join tly working on harmonization since July 1995, and in May 2000 the IOSCO finished its review of the IAS and recommended usage of certain IAS, supplemented with reconciliation, disclosure and interpretations. Some benefits of harmonization of accounting practices is as follows * It ensures reliable and high quality financial reporting and disclosures. In certain cases, it can prove to be crucial to the economic and financial development of a country * It enables a systematic review and evaluation of the performance of a multinational company having subsidiaries and associates in various countries wherein each country has its own set of GAAP * It makes the comparison of the performance of a company against its domestic and international peers easier and more meaningful * It is a precursor for accessing international capital markets which can, in turn, reduce the capital cost and consequently, improve the performance of a company * Multinational companies, the multinational companies be nefit from closer harmonization for the following reasons a) Access to international finance is easier, the international financial markets understand the financial information presented to them more easily. If the information is provided on a consistent basis between companies irrespective of their country of origin. b) Improved management control, in a business operating in several countries management control is improved. Internal financial information is more easily prepared on consistent basis if externally required financial information is required on a uniform basis. c) Consolidation of financial statement is easier ) A reduction of auditing cost due to harmonized accounting practices and standards. e) A transfer of accounting staff across national borders would be easier f) It would be easier to comply with reporting requirements of overseas stock exchanges. g) Appraisals of foreign entities for take over and mergers would be more straightforward. * International economic gr oupings, international groupings like EU (European Union) could work more effectively if there were international harmonization of accounting policies. Part of the function of international groupings is go make cross-border trade easier. Similar to accounting regulation would help this process. Government of developing countries would save time and money if they would adopt international standards and, if these were used internally, governments of developing countries could attempt to control the activities of foreign multinational companies in their own country. These companies could not hide behind foreign accounting practices which are difficult to understand. * Tax authorities, it will be easier to calculate the tax liability of investors, including multinationals who receive income from overseas sources. * Large accounting and auditing firms would benefit as accounting and auditing would be much easier if similar accounting practices existed throughout the world.Despite the imp ortance of harmonizing accounting standards, there still challenges facing harmonization of accounting standards between the member countries using IFRS (international financial reporting standard) and also between United States using US GAAP. These challenges are brought about different tax laws, different culture, different legal requirement, nationalism and different needs of financial statements. Speaking of harmonization we should put in consideration of International accounting standard board (IASB) based in UK and Financial accounting standard board (FASB) based in US. The  International Accounting Standards Board  (IASB) is the independent,  accounting standard-setting body of the  IFRS Foundation.The IASB was founded on April 1, 2001 as the successor to the  International Accounting Standards Committee  (IASC). It is responsible for developing  International Financial Reporting Standards  (the new name for  International Accounting Standards  issued afte r 2001), and promoting the use and application of these standards. The  Financial Accounting Standards Board  (FASB) is a private,  not-for-profit organization  whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles  (GAAP) within the  United States  in the public's interest. The  Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) designated the FASB as the organization responsible for setting accounting standards for public companies in the U. S.It was created in 1973, replacing the  Committee on Accounting Procedure  (CAP) and the  Accounting Principles Board  (APB) of the  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants  (AICPA). The FASB's mission is â€Å"to establish and improve standards of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of financial information. † To achieve this, FASB has five goals. * Improve the usefulness of financial reporting by focusing on the primary characteristics of relevance and reliability, and on the qualities of comparability and consistency. * Keep standards current to reflect changes in methods of doing business and in the economy. Consider promptly any significant areas of deficiency in financial reporting that might be improved through standard setting. * Promote  international convergence of accounting standards  concurrent with improving the quality of financial reporting. * Improve common understanding of the nature and purposes of information in financial reports. The two boards have been making efforts to harmonize the accounting principles, as of September 2011, there was a push to harmonize, or integrate, the accounting standards of the United States, which operates under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), with International Accounting Standards (IAS).The rationale is that it would level the playing field for global businesses by providing regulators, auditors and decis ion-makers (investors) uniform information based on the same accounting methodologies. Supporters believe that this would improve accountability, reduce international transactional and exchange rate risks and improve information transfer to enhance economic policy decision-making. The difference between IAS and US GAAP is that the former is more principle based and the later is rule based. The following are Challenges to harmonization of accounting systems. Licensing and Enforcement, Individual accountants, CPAs and tax lawyers worldwide would need to comply with and obtain licensing through an internationally accepted rules-making body. If he international body lacks enforcement authority, there is no prosecutorial authority for breaking international laws. However, if the international body does have prosecutorial authority over a U. S. citizen, there would arise jurisdictional and constitutional issues regarding the rights of an international body's rights to prosecute an America n under international law. Finally, issues arise from the perspective of U. S. -only based businesses regarding forced compliance IASB standards are principles-based. Thus the countries that have rules-based standards are expected to experience considerable difficulty in harmonization of their standards with IFRS. There are challenges that IASB and nations adopting IFRS need to address in the coming days.One big challenge for countries adopting IFRS is the shortage of manpower and more particularly, IFRS-trained manpower. For case in point, with just six months to go before China’s listed companies adopt IFRS, demand for accountants is rising and could run into millions in the coming years, if the new standards are rolled out for all of the country’s companies and not just the listed ones. Accountants say that the challenge for China, as it scrambles to meet the accounting shift deadline, will lie in getting its over-1,100 listed companies to establish the appropriate financial reporting systems and in training enough qualified accountants by January. The risk is that some of these companies may fail to make the transition on time.Estimates reveal that China has a shortfall of 300,000 qualified accountants and is likely to require a further three million over the coming years to keep pace with its current rate of economic growth Difference purpose of financial reporting, in some countries the purpose is solely for tax assessment, while others it is for investor decision making, Different legal systems, these prevent the development of certain accounting practices and restrict options available. The Accounting world can be divided into â€Å"those countries which have a ‘legalistic’ orientation toward accounting and those with a ‘non legalistic’ orientation† (Nobes et al. , 1997:8). The non-legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use common law. In Common law countries, Accounting does not depend upon law. Accountants (professional organizations) arrange accounting rules. Hence, it is the private sector, which determines Accounting and not the law (Choi et al. , 2002). The task of the legal system is to give an answer to a specific case rather than to formulate general rules for the future (Choi et al. 2002). The legalistic approach can be found in countries, which use the so called code (or codified) law. In contrary to the common law, the codified law system needs to develop rules in detail for the Accounting and financial reporting (Nobes, 1994). This means that â€Å"Accounting rules are incorporated into national law and tend to be highly prescriptive and procedural† (Choi et al. , 2002:43). In these countries the role of law is to describe behavior, which isconsidered to be acceptable in the society (Choi et al. , 2002). Different user groups, countries have different ideas about who the relevant user groups and their respective importance.In USA investor and credit groups are given prominence, while in Europe employees enjoy a higher profile. Provider of finance, there three main sources for external capital are shareholders, banks and government (Hill, 1999). It varies from country to country, which of these three provides most of the financial capital to companies. In countries like Germany and Italy banks provide companies with capital. In countries like England and the United States shareholders provide companies with capital. The government is the provider of capital in countries like France and Sweden. (Hill,1999) This diversity of capital providers means that Accounting Practices differ in order to satisfy needs of capital providers.In the case of shareholder ownership, (e. g. in the U. K. and the U. S. ), information disclosure will be more important than in countries, where capital is raised from banks or governments. This is explained by the fact that in the latter countries information will be transmitted more directly. (Radebaugh a nd Gray, 1997) It is impossible for a company to inform each shareholder with its specific information needs, because they are a big and unorganized group. Therefore financial statements in the US and UK are â€Å"oriented toward providing individual investors with the information they need to make decisions about purchasing or selling corporate stocks and bonds† (Hill, 1999:593).Tax laws, the key question here is to ask, how much taxation regulations determine Accounting measurements. In countries like the U. S. , U. K. and Netherlands there is no interplay between tax and Accounting law. When Accounting Standards are developed, the only focus is how to conduce the information function. Questions about taxation are not considered in those countries (Achleitner, 2000). In contrary, in nations as France and Germany, tax and Accounting Systems are ruled equal (Nobes and Parker, 2000). There is the principle of decisiveness in continental European countries. This means that the profit of the balance sheet is at the same time the foundation to snap income taxes (Achleitner, 2000).In Tanzania income tax act is in dis agreement with some accounting procedures like computation of depreciation, Bad debts and therefore disagree on how accountant compute organization profit and therefore in Tanzania should prepare to set of financial statement one for tax purposes and the other for other users of accounting information. Cultural differences result in objectives for accounting systems differing from country to country for example Islamic laws does not recognize the use of interest rate. The lack of strong accountancy bodies, many countries do not have strong independent accountancy or business bodies which would press for better standards and greater harmonization.Unique circumstances, some countries may be experiencing unusual circumstances which affect all aspects of everyday life an d impinge on the ability of companies to produce proper reports, for example hy perinflation, civil war, currency restriction. Nationalism is demonstrated in an unwillingness to accept another country’s standard. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in the U. S. is responsible for setting accounting standards based primarily on â€Å"Federal securities laws and state CPA licensing laws. † All countries have specific securities laws, tax laws and banking and financial regulations that dictate accounting principles. Furthermore, in the United States, there are individual state laws that govern business, banking and insurance activities. Adopting international accounting standards would not only conflict with U. S. tatute law, but also constitutional law associated with â€Å"states' rights. † Stable Platform, Beginning in 2005, all 7,000 EU publicly traded companies are required to apply IFRS in the preparation of their consolidated financial statements. This represents yet another challenge as preparers of financial statements fro m Latvia to Portugal and from Poland to Sweden grapple with unfamiliar requirements. In preparation for this sweeping change, the IASB completed its â€Å"stable platform† of standards in March 2004. New and revised standards included five new IFRSs and 17 amended IASs, resulting from the IASB’s Improvements Project and Phase I of its Business Combinations Project.Some of the more significant revisions to IFRS that resulted from these projects include: * The LIFO method for costing inventories is no longer allowed; *   The concepts of â€Å"fundamental error† and â€Å"extraordinary items† are eliminated; *   Trading securities are now included in a larger defined category of financial instruments â€Å"at fair value through profit or loss† and entities may designate any financial asset or liability into this category (commonly referred to as â€Å"the fair value option†); *   Fair value hedge accounting may now be used more readily fo r a portfolio hedge of interest rate risk; *   Guidelines for share-based payments have been added;   The pooling-of-interests method for business combinations is no longer allowed; *   Goodwill is no longer amortized, and negative goodwill is not recorded in a business combination World wide acceptance, National accounting standards are highly politicized and there is often a natural tendency to place the interests of the national economy ahead of those of the global economy. Private sector businesses and professional accounting bodies also have a vested interest in accounting practices and financial reporting. Pressure from these groups to change or reject certain standards can carry a lot of weight with political decision makers. Adopting international financial standards is met with additional challenges in developing countries. They often lack the resources and infrastructure to adapt national legal and legislative frameworks in which to house the standards, making proper implementation difficult.Training and Retraining, When a country decides to harmonize with the international standards, its companies, accountants and auditors need to be retrained in the new standards and reporting procedures for financial statements. College and university programs in this field also have to undergo significant changes in order to educate new people entering the profession. Before any of this can happen, trainers and professors will require training so they can instruct professionals and students. This will require the development of new learning materials and curricula, new examinations for professional licensing and new accounting software and reporting systems. To further complicate matters, the adoption of harmonized standards has to be phased in, so for a number of years, two different systems are in operation. Such a omplex transition requires a lot of safety mechanisms to ensure it achieves uniform results. To sum up with, Harmonization of financial statem ent is very crucial for accounting profession and also for the global business growth especially for multinational companies which will now find easily in preparation of parent and subsidiary financial statement since have to be prepared according to IFRS. IFRS IS very important to developing countries like Tanzania such as increasing confidence of investors, reduce cost of doing business, facilitate smooth operation of international groupings like EAC and the countries accountant become competitive worldwide. REFERENCES WORD LENGTH: 3517 words Arbnor, I. Bjerke, B. (1997): Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge, Sage Publications, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Ghauri, P. ; Gronhaug, K. (2002): Research Methods in Business Studies, Prentice Hall, London. Choi, F. ; Frost C. ; Gary, K. (2002): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 4th edition. Choi, F. ; Mueller, G. (1992): International Accounting, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2nd edition. Epstein, B. ; Mirza, A. (2 001): IAS, Interpretation and Application, John Wiley ; Sons, New York. Ghauri P. ; Gronhaug, K. ; Kristianslund, I. (1995): Research Methods in Business Studies: A practical guide, Prentice Hall, Bodmin. Gummesson, E. 2000): Qualitative Methods in Management Research, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, 2nd edition. Helgesson, T. (1996): Culture in International Business: an Introduction, Academia Adacta, Lund. Hill, C. (1999): Competing in the Global Marketplace; Irwin McGraw Hill, Boston, 3rd edition. Hofstede, G. (1991): Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York. Howard, K. ; Sharp, J. (1983): The Management of a Student Research Project, Gower Publishing Company Ltd. , Aldershot. Johansson, L. (2000): Introduktion till Vetenskapsteorin, AIT Falun AB, Stockholm. Kam, V. (1990): Accounting Theory, John Willey and Sons, New York, 2nd edition. 70 Kleekamper, H. ; Kuhlewind, M. ; Alvarez, M. 2002): Grundlagen, Ziele, Organisation, Entwic klung und Bedeutung des IASB, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), editedy by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch H. (2002), Schafer-Poeschel, Stuttgart, 2nd edition. Naciri, A. ; Hoarau C. (2001): A comparative analysis of american and french financial Reporting philosophies: the case for international Accounting Standards, in: Advances in International Accounting, edited by Sale, J; Salter, S; Sharp, D. (2001), Elsevier Sience Ltd, Oxford. Nobes, C. ; Parker, R. (2000): Comparative International Accounting, Financial Times – Prentice Hall, Hartlow. Nobes, C. 1999): Towards a General Model of the Reasons for International Differences in Financial Reporting, in: International Accounting and Comparative Financial Reporting, edited by Nobes, C. (1998), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham. Nobes, C; Mueller, G; Gernon, H; Meek, G. (1997): Accounting an International Perspective, Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Chicago, 4th edition. No bes, C. (1994): Accounting Harmonisation in Europe: Process, progress and prospects, FT Business Information Ltd, London. North, D. (1990): Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. Miles, M. ; Huberman, A. (1994): Qualitative Data Analysis – An expanded source book, Sage Publications, Inc, Thousands Oaks, 2nd edition. Mueller, G. 1997): Harmonization Efforts in the European Union, in: International Accounting and Finance Handbook, edited by Choi, F. (1997), Wiley and Sons, New York, 7th edition. Mueller, G. ; Gernon, H. ; Meek, G. (1991): Accounting – an International Perspective; Richard D. Irwin, Inc; Homewood, 2nd edition. Radebaugh, L. ; Daniels, J. (2001): International Business, Environment and Operations, Prentice Hall, London, 9th edition. Radebaugh L. ; Gray S. (1997): International Accounting and multinational enterprises, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 4th edition. Remenyi, D. ; Williams, B. ;Money A . ; Swartz E. (1998): Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method, SAGE Publications, London. 71 Riahi-Belkaoui, A. 2000): Accounting Theory, Thomson Learning – Business Press, Padstow, Cornwall, 4th edition. Roberts, C. ; Weetman, P. ; Gordon P. (1998): International Financial Accounting – a comparative approach, Financial Times Pitman Publishing, London. Samuels, J. ; Piper, A. (1985): International Accounting: A survery, Croom Helm, London. Wolk, H. ; Tearney, M. ; Dodd, J. (2001): A Conceptual and intestinal Approach: Accounting Theory, South-Western College Publishing, 5th edition. Wollmert, P. ; Achleitner A. (2002): Konzeption der IAS: Rechnungslegung, in: Rechnungslegung nach International Accounting Standards (IAS), edited by Baetge, D. ; Kleekamper, H. ; Wollmert, P. ; Kirsch, H. (2002):, Schafer-Poeschel, , Stuttgart, 2nd edition.

For the Love of Foreign Affairs

For the Love of Foreign Affairs Free Online Research Papers In the mid-Eighteen Hundreds, American citizens loved the idea of isolationism. Isolationism means a desire to stay out of the affairs of a foreign country. No one wanted to see their country involved in another’s business. People even urged to completely eradicate the Foreign Service because they believed it was a pointless expense for tax payers to pay. However, as Nineteen-Hundred approached, American citizens changed their opinions. They wanted to see their country become a global power, expand its boundaries, and become involved with other countries. The factors that led to this change were the war with Spain in 1898 and the spread of Yellow Journalism. The Spanish-American War helped to solidify America’s opinion. This war was also important in making the United States a controlling authority in the world, which was something the American people were pushing for at the time. As the war approached its beginning, the United States was unprepared for a full scale attack. President Mckinley called on the people of America for their help. Although he asked for somewhere around one-hundred and twenty-five thousand volunteers, almost one million responded. This shows the high attention and curiosity to what is happening in the world by the many people around America. People began to feel patriotic and interested in what their country was doing. The interest inspired many Americans to help push new laws and acts through the government on behalf of the people. With a million troops leaving for war, this meant close to a million families had a tie to the war. Many people listened with intent to the radio to hear what was happening in the war where their loved ones were stationed. The newspaper was also an important source of information containing the happenings of the war. It also helped to sway public opinions to support the war and end its idea of isolationism. Yellow journalism was a key factor leading the citizens of America to obtain an interest in foreign issues. There was a flourish of compassion for the Cuban people motivated by the use of yellow journalism in many of New York City’s biggest newspapers. It was one of the sole reasons that brought attention and interest to the war and other overseas relationships. Yellow journalism usually consisted of exaggerated stories and overstated headlines. Those stories and headlines could be about anything from utter destruction and devastation of the Cubans to a gruesome fatality rate which might have been exaggerated too. This truly inspired a â€Å"How dare they!† attitude towards the Spanish forces and many Americans gained a truthful sense of patriotism. It also inspired many people to take up arms against the Spanish and join the Army to fight. Yellow journalism also was a factor in making the Spanish-American War the first ever press-driven war. This meant that America sta rted to care about the war because of what they read or heard over the airwaves. After the Civil War, America wanted to have isolationism as George Washington had advised many years before. They believed that staying out of foreign politics was the right way. The government listened to its people and held on to isolationism. By the start of the Spanish-American War, this idea was still intact. America’s opinion changed during the war when they heard the over-blown stories in the newspapers. This shift in opinion led to the establishment of America as a world power. People cared about what their country was doing for them in other countries and embraced imperialism. The sudden urge to help Cuba because of yellow journalism and ties to the military helped to solidify America as one of the world’s largest and greatest countries. Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/wood/ykid/yj.htm pbs.org/crucible/frames/_journalism.html Research Papers on For the Love of Foreign Affairs19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeQuebec and CanadaDefinition of Export QuotasTwilight of the UAWPETSTEL analysis of IndiaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceHip-Hop is ArtThe Hockey Game

The 29 Colleges With the Best Financial Aid

The 29 Colleges With the Best Financial Aid SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips College in the US is expensive- too expensive, in fact, for the average student to afford on their own. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 86% of first-year students at 4-year colleges were receiving some financial aid as of a couple of years ago. Financial aid is good in all its forms, right? If it helps college students afford their educations, what could be the problem? Unfortunately, not all financial aid is created equal, and not all schools can afford to give out â€Å"good† student aid. Here, I’ll briefly talk about the types of financial aid available (the â€Å"good† kinds and the â€Å"bad† kinds) before laying out the collegeswith the best financial aid programs in the country. Financial Aid Basics: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Financial aid comes from a variety of sources and in a variety of forms. Ultimately, all of this money is meant to cover your college expenses- these costs include tuition, room, board, fees, transportation, and personal expenses. Your total, or Cost of Attendance, will vary depending on where you’re planning on going to school. You can get more detailed information on all of these costs in our guide to college expenses. So what counts as financial aid? There are three main types of aid that you should be aware of: Grants are sums of money that you don't have to pay back. They're usually awarded based on financial need. Grants can come from the federal government or from your school. Loans are sums of money that you borrow to fund your education. You pay back the sum after graduation, in addition to paying back interest charges. Ultimately, you pay back more than you borrow. Loans can come from the federal government (like Direct loans and Perkins loans) or from a private lender like a bank. Like, grants, scholarships are sums of money that you don't have to pay back. They can come from private sources (like corporations) or from your school. They can be awarded based on merit only or based on a combination of merit and financial need. Athletic scholarships and academic merit scholarships are sometimes awarded by schools to extremely competitive applicants. These awards are given to entice students to accept an offer admission; financial need isn't necessarily considered in these cases. Now that you know about the different forms of financial aid, we can talk about what aid types are more helpful than others. "Bad" Aid These types of aid won't always be wrong for everyone, but they shouldn't be your first resort. I define bad financial aid asaidthat's agood short-term solution, but a burdensome in the long term.Financial aid packages are less appealing when they offer the majority of their financial aid in the form of loans.What this means is that you’re still responsible for those college expenses, only you’ll have to pay them after you graduate instead of right now. You’re also responsible for interest charges, which are especially high when loans have high rates and/or are unsubsidized. Private Loans Private loans are not included on schools’ financial aid packages because the loan lenders are banks, not the schools. If your out-of-pocket cost is too high (i.e. if grants/scholarships don’t cover enough of your college expenses), you may consider turning to student loans to cover the difference. Private loans may be viable financial options for some students. I'm not saying that private loans are eviland that no one should ever take out student loans from banks. They should, however, be the last option you consider after grants, scholarships, and low-interest/subsidized loans. A "Bad" Financial Aid Package Less desirable financial aid packages will comprise mostly of loans, particularly high-interest loans. In these cases, a school can't or won't cover a student's unmet need, so the onus to find funding is put on the student. What this usually means is that the student has to take out loans to cover the cost of his or her education. The average student debt for graduates of 4-year BA programs in the US is about $24,000. For some students, even this average debt amount may seem unmanageable. "Good" Aid These aid options tend to be better options; they're more sustainable in the long run. I define good financial aid as aid that's a helpful and sustainable financial solution for both the short and long term. Basically, good financial aidenables you to afford the education you need without hindering you professionally, financially, or personally after you graduate. Here are examples of aid that fit this definition: Grants Any free money is good money. Because you don't have to pay back any money that you receive from grants, this award type won't hinder you in any way after you graduate. Like I mentioned earlier, they can come from both public and private sources. Check out our Pell Grant guide to learn more about federal grant options. Scholarships Scholarships are similar to grants- because it's essentially free money, you won't have to worry about repayment at any point. The major difference between grants and scholarships is that scholarship applicants are almost always evaluated on merit, even if the scholarship is need-based. To get started with your scholarship search, check out our guides to top awards for high school juniors and high school seniors. Low-Interest Loans The bad news: loans aren't as fun as grants or scholarships. You have to pay back the money + interest. The good news: loans can still be viable and manageable solutions for students who can't afford a school's net price after any grants or scholarships. What makes a loan a good financial option? Low-interest rates, primarily. Many federal loan programs have low-interest rates, including Direct loans and Perkins loans.You may be able to get private loans with low-interest rates if you have good credit - generally, though, federal loans are better financial options. Start learning about federalDirect Subsidized, and Direct Unsubsidized loans. Subsidized Loans Subsidized loans can save you some serious money in the long run because they don't accrue interest while you're in school and for 6-10 months after you graduate. See exactly how much money you'll save with a subsidized versus an unsubsidized loan. The Perkins loan is one special example of a subsidized loan - not only do youforgo interest charges while you're in school, but you could also be eligible for loan cancellation. A "Good" Financial Aid Package Ultimately, good financial aid packages are made up of a healthy percentage of grants and/or scholarships. If loans are included, they’ll be low interest (5% or lower) and may even be subsidized. They'llcover some of your financial need and maybe throw a scholarship or grant your way. The best financial aid packages will cover all of your financial need. What this means is that the school itself funds your education after any federal grants without making you take out loans. In the next section, you'll get a list of schools that claim to meet all of its students’ financial need - the best kind of financial aid. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Colleges With Best Financial Aid The following is a list of schools that claim to meet all of its students’ financial need without having them take out any loans. What that means is that your family will only be asked to pay what they can afford, and the school will cover the rest of the costs with their institutional financial aid funding. (Note that there are other schools that are need-blind that offer small loan amounts as part of their aid package.) You don’t necessarily need to be low-income to have all of your financial need met. For example, Harvard doesn’t ask families for any contribution if family income is less than 65k, and families will only need to contribute up to10% of their income if they make between 65k and 150k. Aid amounts operate on a sliding scale for families that make more than 150k. Students with the most financial need tend to get the most aidbecause many of these schools’ financial aid initiatives are based on removing barriers to college access based on finances. If you're interested in any of the schools listed, just click the link to get information on admissions requirements: Amherst College Bowdoin College Brown University Colby College Columbia University Dartmouth College (No loans for family income less than $100,000) Davidson College Duke University (No loans for family income less than $40,000; sliding scale after that) Harvard University Haverford College(No loans for family income under $60,000) Lehigh University (No loans for family income under $75,000; sliding scale after that) MIT (No loans for family income under $90,000) Northwestern University (All first-year aid packages are loan-free) Pomona College Princeton University Rice University (No loans for family income below $80,000; small loans above that) Stanford University Swarthmore College University of Chicago University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (low-income North Carolina students may qualify for aid without loans through the Carolina Covenant) University of Pennsylvania University of Richmond Vanderbilt University Vassar College (No or limited loans for low-income families) Washington and Lee University Washington University in St Louis (no loans for family income below $75,000) Wellesley College(no loans for family income below $60,000; sliding scale after that) Williams College (no loans for family income below $75,000) Yale University Why Do These Schools Offer the Best Financial Aid? You might have noticed that the schools on the list above are all pretty competitive private institutions. These private schools tend to be pretty elite, with strong alumni networks. Successful alumni tend to donate more to their alma maters, leading to more financial aid funding and better financial aid programs. They may have higher sticker prices than many public schools, but they tend to be less expensive than public schools for many students due to their financial aid programs. Many of the above schools only offer need-based aid. They don’t offer merit-based scholarships because, like I mentioned earlier, their financial aid initiatives focus on removing barriers to education access. They don’t have to offer merit-based scholarships to entice applicants because their applicant pool is already so strong. What If You're Not Eligible for Need-Based Aid? Some students may want to seek out financial aid even if they aren'teligible for many need-based programs. If you're one of these students, there's one important thing you need to know: if financial aid isn't need-based, then it's merit-based. There are a couple of ways you can earn money for college regardless of financial need. 1. Apply for merit-based scholarships. Many scholarship programs don't consider applicants' financial need at all when giving out awards. Start your scholarship search with our guide to awards for high school seniors - just read over eligibility requirements carefully to make sure financial need isn't taken into account. 2. Apply to schools where merit-based aid is common. Few public universities or top private schools offer large amounts of merit-based aid- public universities can’t afford to, and top private schools don’t have to. That being said, there are schools where merit aid is much more common. These schools use merit-based aid to stay competitive by attracting strong applicants. The following schools tend to award merit aidto a high percentage of students: Rhode College Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering New England Conservatory of Music John Brown University University of Puget Sound Samford University University of Mary Trinity University The New School Denison University Hillsdale College Furman University Gonzaga University Birmingham - Southern College University of Tulsa UT-Permian Basin Centre College Oberlin College San Francisco Art Institute Savannah College of Art and Design DePauw University What's Next? Now that you know where to send in your college applications, you can start putting together a strategy for your financial aid applications. To get an overview of the financial aid process, check out our simple guide to applying for financial aid. If you already have a financial aid strategy, check out our detailed info on submitting your FAFSA. Looking for other ways to go to college without taking out loans? Check out these 13 amazing full-ride scholarships you could get. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Aggressive Behavior In Pre School Children And Young People Essay

Aggressive Behavior In Pre School Children And Young People Essay According to the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, children as young as preschoolers are capable of aggressive behavior. Children younger than five years of age can display different forms of aggressive behavior. These different behaviors can come in the form of temper tantrums, fighting, pushing and even actions that are directed toward harming animals. The behaviors that are exhibited should be taken seriously as they tend to carry over into adolescence and many times adulthood. Aggressive behaviors should be addressed in children because their potential for harming others or themselves is high. Young children, younger than the age of five, who are prone to pushing, biting and hitting, in some cases, display this type of aggressive behavior in order to get attention. Others develop behavior that stems from frustrations of toilet training, illness, hunger, moving, divorce and even the birth of a new sibling. Some of this behavior tends to disappear as the child gets older and begins to develop a greater level of social skills and are able to deal with not being the sole recipient of attention. Educators and parents alike who learn to recognize the onset of these behavioral tendencies have a better chance of addressing the behavior and getting the proper attention in order to attempt to prevent these behaviors from escalating. Children who have not learned to deal with aggression by the age of four or five often need to have intervention sessions that are conducted by mental health professionals. Some children respond to therapies alone while some need therapeutic sessions and medications to control their aggressions. Being able to recognize some of the signs of potential aggressive behavior in young children are related to those who do not often interact with others, children who do not listen or follow Aggressive Behavior in Pre-School Age Children 2 Directions, those who seem unattached and do not make eye contact; these signs tend to signal a child may develop aggressive behavior and should be watched for in an environment like a classroom. Why Young Children Show Aggression Most young children who push, hit or grab are doing so to get attention and get their way, according to the California Childcare Health Program (CCHP). Many children between the ages of one and five have not developed the skills necessary to communicate properly to make their feelings and desires known, and are more likely to experience frustration in group settings, or if the child has limited motor control and verbal skills. This frustration comes out in the form of aggression, writes the CCHP, and can be exacerbated by child stresses like hunger, toilet training, illness or tiredness. Still others may display aggressive behavior following a major environmental change such as a new sibling, a divorce or a move. Photo Credit temper image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com Children as young as preschoolers are capable of exhibiting violent behavior, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). Aggressive and violent behavior can be upsetting to everyone around a child, and should always be taken seriously regardless of how young the child is. Because children who are aggressive often continue to have related problems as they get older, it is important to address behavioral problems early.

Analysis of The Minstrel Shows Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of The Minstrel Shows - Case Study Example They felt seeing this being acted out on a stage by black people illustrated a form of success. It opened doors for them into show business and to make money. So by embracing The Minstrel Show and being able to laugh at the fact that it was meant to be negative towards African American people suppressed the sting and made it laughable. â€Å"Gangsta Rap† bears the brunt of the stigma that is labeled a criminalize culture. Although rap music didn’t start out as harsh as it is portrayed today. Society has labeled rap music visibility with a gangster life due to the â€Å"War on Drug†. When rappers embrace the stigma of being a rapper they inherit the dis-identifier of a Gangsta Rap while trying to portray a positive character. Alexander talks about how the colored people have permanently become second-class citizens in their own countries, their exploitation is being carried out on a daily basis and there are others trying to make economic gain through all this. The blacks took part in these shows actively so as to prove a point; they wanted the others to know that it is a form of success for them. This also turned out to be a profitable plot for them, the colored people started making money through all this and it was all well and good. The shows are laughable because they are satire in nature aimed at bringing about a reform in our society and the way we perceive colored people. "The clock has been turned back on racial progress in America, though scarcely anyone seems to notice. All eyes are fixed on people like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey who have defied the odds and achieved great power, wealth and fame"(The New Jim Crow) The gangsta rap is no different, the rappers often portray the crime world in their videos and again some of them do so as a form of satire to bring about a positive change in the society but it is perceived by the viewers very differently.  Ã‚  

Adobtion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Adobtion - Research Paper Example Open adoption has developed into being the norm in the United States for adoption of infants. In the past, closed procedures dominated adoption; it required that there be no transmission of information between the biological and adoptive parents regarding the adopted child. In general, the agency social workers took the mandate of determining who adopts the baby. This led to most people believing that the closed adoption was the norm. However, a number of pioneering agencies such as Lutheran Social Service and the nationwide independent adoption centre has led to the movement of change towards an open adoption. Currently, over 80% of domestic infants are adopted through the open adoption (Stein and Glen, 2007). It is clear that open adoption works to the best interests of the three parties involved: the biological parent, the adoptive parent and the adopted child (Myer, 2003). Since that in open adoption the birthparents become involved in their child life and contribute positively in raising the child. The birthparents play an important role in the open adoption by supporting the adoptive family and their child. When the birthparents apply for an open adoption, this will give them a sense of worth, instead of getting rid of their child. Moreover, the birthparents will have a role in the child’s life along with the adoptive parents. They will help the child during the hardest times in his\her life, better than the closed adoption (Silber 1). Unlike closed adoption, open adoption gives the adoptive parents all the answers their child might ask. In open adoption, both families became one family, because they are parenting the same child; as a result, they are considered as an extended family (Silber 1). They share love, care, and responsibility for raising the adopted child. These things may create goodwill between them. Besides that, they

Parphrase final report ( protuos programme ) Essay

Parphrase final report ( protuos programme ) - Essay Example In these Lab findings, the evaluation as well as processing of the signals is done through various techniques that can be expressed on a seven segment display. Therefore, for the process to be meaningful, it needs to employ different reliable stages of amplifications, as well as conversion. In order to attain these intensifications there are various number of means that one can use, some can be very simple while others can be perplexing (Van der Spuy, 2012). The findings will give a primary basis in the comprehension of various circuits as well as some major Analogue components. In addition, it will ensure there is the proper understanding of Proteus that is the computer simulation equipment. The principal intention of the research is to carry out the sampling process of a motor speed. The strategy of an amp is to be produced. The range of the current sample will have the following range. That is; from -2.5 to 2.5 m Amplifier. The initial step was to change the signal from that particular current to signal voltages that range from 2 – 3 Volts. The following step requires the filtration of the signal by employing a low pass filter and avoiding any signal that operates over 100 Hz. After the completion of this particular phase, there will be diversification of focus to the digital side of the circuit. There will also be the employment of an analogue converter that is the A 8 bit to change the current voltage signal into an eight-bit digital signal. There will also be processing of eight bit signal to give a two-bit indication in bit hex decimal on the two seven section showing devices that indicate the moving speed of that particular motor in 0-255 scales. In this particular section of the findings, the process indication as well as the workings calculations are all carried out together. The complete scheme has been subdivided into different

Contemporary Tourism Trends Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary Tourism Trends - Essay Example 1), who refers to vacations in the 21st century as ''Das gekaufte Paradies'' (the bought paradise), the tourism industry is increasingly subsuming the identity of an ''experience industry'', with tourists willing to pay tourism organizers to help find optimal experiences within the limited time available. Opaschowski (2001) suggests that tourists are looking for emotional stimuli they want to buy feelings and not products. They want to personally experience the immaterial qualities, seeking ambience, aesthetics and atmosphere, looking for an experience full of varying intimacies, intensities and complexities. Cultural tourism such as the trip to Bath Since experiencing the 'other' is the great motivational factor in cultural heritage tourism, the search for unspoilt cultures inevitably becomes a natural choice because cultures unknown to or not yet experience by these seekers exist but constantly face the wipe out from modernization. The anxiety and eagerness intensifies that the chance to experience these cultures as pure as they are in the beginning can no longer be available if another day is let pass, so the increase to these areas will increase. Over the past years, trends in tourist demand and consumer behavior have revealed that tourists want to visit cultural and historical sites as well as to explore regions and landscapes as a whole. Tourists select destinations not based only on climate, art and historical heritage, human landmarks and environmental activities, but also according to eno-gastronomic resources. Tourist demands are increasingly shaping the gastronomic supply, meaning the potential of wine and gastronomic products has in Bath's national market and across. In many European countries, wine and gastronomic tourism seems complex and variegated, but also dynamic and rich in social, cultural and economic implications (Antonioli Corigliano, 1996a). According to Wearing (2002, p. 243), the tourist in the 21st century is ''searching for new and exciting forms of travel in defiance of a mass-produced product'' yet without ''actually having to involve themselves in any way'', a reflection of increasing commodification and depersonalization within modern and post-modern society (Beck, 1999; Giddens, 1999; MacCannell, 1976). Commodification has changed tourism experiences in the 21st century from that of the traditional search for the totally unknown, the utmost challenging and dangerous to that of safety and comfort, to that of ''gaze'' but also embodiment beyond individual's onsite experience. With commodification, the cultural experience is no longer authentic (Birgit Trauer, 2006). Authenticity is generally regarded as the highest importance for tourists interested in heritage (Moscardo & Pearce, 1986; Timothy & Boyd, 2003). A way to preserve such a goal is to facilitate the tourists to involve in exploring and searching by their own initiations without the need for interaction with any of the staffs. One of the challenges the managers face is the low degree of interaction with staff. As the visitor has a limited contact with staff, necessarily to make the visitors feel 'warm and exciting' (Schmenner, 1995) and this will involve detailed

The European Union and Employment Relations Essay

The European Union and Employment Relations - Essay Example But negotiation of course does not mean the theoretical perspective alone. It requires practical grounds of the policies which shows clear practise of anti discrimination employment policies. Here the EU lacks behind, when it comes to practise the policies. (Amsterdam Treaty, 2007a) The gender equality report no doubt shows that gender employment issues are almost resolved but the gender pay gap has remained. Despite enhancing article 12 of the Amsterdam Treaty which clearly states that no discrimination would be allowed neither on the basis of gender nor on the grounds of nationality between men and women, women's social position in the labour market is relatively weaker than that of men. (Amsterdam Treaty, 2007a) Women lack behind men in exercising bargain power with employers to negotiate for higher wages. Similarly women lack better access to training, and promotions to supervisory positions. No matter to what extent gender inequality has negotiated with EU policies, it is evident that the Amsterdam Treaty has taken only small steps to help forward the construction of European citizenship. Indeed, it still fails to guarantee a basic common standard of fundamental social rights to EU citizens. The social rights recognized in the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, which figure in the Treaty only as not legally binding principles, do not allow for a metamorphosis of economic citizenship into the full social citizenship of the European democratic tradition. Transnational corporations while understanding the discriminatory issue have given significant attention to the women's role in influencing women's economic status. Either in the form of supranational policies or global policies (Desai & Naples, 2002, p. 220), they have realised the way women have contributed in the employment in export-processing zones but then again this realisation has not proved the women worth marginalisation. Therefore the result is nothing but low-paying, dead-end jobs followed with poor working conditions. The new innovations in the Equal Treatment Directive 2000 have outlawed indirect discrimination, discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity and race. (Hoskyns, 1996) On the one hand, EU has equipped feminists who possess international relations within the boundaries of EU. With a framework of sex equality laws women have been able to extract reforms from national governments. Beneficial mostly for white women who are subjected to strong employment positions with secure and stable jobs, EU policies have benefited middle class women, but what about those vulnerable groups who are considered as minor or even non existent. What about those black and migrant women who are dependant upon receiving male violence not only at their homes but also at their work places in the form of sexual harassment What about those accidents and injuries in the factories, in which use of toxic chemicals are common, that burn workers and still not take the responsibility for their health problems and illn esses The widespread sexual harassment in the Member States and the role of the EU institutions in devising strategies for dealing with it provides an excellent opportunity to explore some of these issues demonstrates the importance of networking across national

Parphrase final report ( protuos programme ) Essay

Parphrase final report ( protuos programme ) - Essay Example In these Lab findings, the evaluation as well as processing of the signals is done through various techniques that can be expressed on a seven segment display. Therefore, for the process to be meaningful, it needs to employ different reliable stages of amplifications, as well as conversion. In order to attain these intensifications there are various number of means that one can use, some can be very simple while others can be perplexing (Van der Spuy, 2012). The findings will give a primary basis in the comprehension of various circuits as well as some major Analogue components. In addition, it will ensure there is the proper understanding of Proteus that is the computer simulation equipment. The principal intention of the research is to carry out the sampling process of a motor speed. The strategy of an amp is to be produced. The range of the current sample will have the following range. That is; from -2.5 to 2.5 m Amplifier. The initial step was to change the signal from that particular current to signal voltages that range from 2 – 3 Volts. The following step requires the filtration of the signal by employing a low pass filter and avoiding any signal that operates over 100 Hz. After the completion of this particular phase, there will be diversification of focus to the digital side of the circuit. There will also be the employment of an analogue converter that is the A 8 bit to change the current voltage signal into an eight-bit digital signal. There will also be processing of eight bit signal to give a two-bit indication in bit hex decimal on the two seven section showing devices that indicate the moving speed of that particular motor in 0-255 scales. In this particular section of the findings, the process indication as well as the workings calculations are all carried out together. The complete scheme has been subdivided into different

The European Union and Employment Relations Essay

The European Union and Employment Relations - Essay Example But negotiation of course does not mean the theoretical perspective alone. It requires practical grounds of the policies which shows clear practise of anti discrimination employment policies. Here the EU lacks behind, when it comes to practise the policies. (Amsterdam Treaty, 2007a) The gender equality report no doubt shows that gender employment issues are almost resolved but the gender pay gap has remained. Despite enhancing article 12 of the Amsterdam Treaty which clearly states that no discrimination would be allowed neither on the basis of gender nor on the grounds of nationality between men and women, women's social position in the labour market is relatively weaker than that of men. (Amsterdam Treaty, 2007a) Women lack behind men in exercising bargain power with employers to negotiate for higher wages. Similarly women lack better access to training, and promotions to supervisory positions. No matter to what extent gender inequality has negotiated with EU policies, it is evident that the Amsterdam Treaty has taken only small steps to help forward the construction of European citizenship. Indeed, it still fails to guarantee a basic common standard of fundamental social rights to EU citizens. The social rights recognized in the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, which figure in the Treaty only as not legally binding principles, do not allow for a metamorphosis of economic citizenship into the full social citizenship of the European democratic tradition. Transnational corporations while understanding the discriminatory issue have given significant attention to the women's role in influencing women's economic status. Either in the form of supranational policies or global policies (Desai & Naples, 2002, p. 220), they have realised the way women have contributed in the employment in export-processing zones but then again this realisation has not proved the women worth marginalisation. Therefore the result is nothing but low-paying, dead-end jobs followed with poor working conditions. The new innovations in the Equal Treatment Directive 2000 have outlawed indirect discrimination, discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity and race. (Hoskyns, 1996) On the one hand, EU has equipped feminists who possess international relations within the boundaries of EU. With a framework of sex equality laws women have been able to extract reforms from national governments. Beneficial mostly for white women who are subjected to strong employment positions with secure and stable jobs, EU policies have benefited middle class women, but what about those vulnerable groups who are considered as minor or even non existent. What about those black and migrant women who are dependant upon receiving male violence not only at their homes but also at their work places in the form of sexual harassment What about those accidents and injuries in the factories, in which use of toxic chemicals are common, that burn workers and still not take the responsibility for their health problems and illn esses The widespread sexual harassment in the Member States and the role of the EU institutions in devising strategies for dealing with it provides an excellent opportunity to explore some of these issues demonstrates the importance of networking across national

Trends in terrorism Essay Example for Free

Trends in terrorism Essay Trends in terrorism can be defined as changes in the type, number and leathality of terrorist attacks, attitudes of terrorist groups plus other factgors over time. Terrorism has exacted some steep costs, Airlines and tourism suffered after September 11; that could happen again. Spending for the war in Iraq was vastly underestimated. But the damage has paled before the larger effect, which is not much. Terrorism hasnt destroyed prosperity or cross-border flows of goods, money and people. People regard attacks around the world (in London, Madrid, Bali) as isolated tragedies and not a cause to alter their buying habits. The smaller size of terrorist cells means they are more difficult to detect and engage,  they are less capable, but also less predictable and possibly more dangerous. Terrorists’ growing sophistication is exemplified in their use of the Internet.   Their increasing criminal activity is reflected their use of the same networks as transnational criminal groups.   The terrorists’ focus on Iraq is being aided by networks uncovered in several regions that supply a flow of foreign terrorists there. An early and ongoing victim of terrorism, the commercial airlines industry has been a focus of domestic and international incidents. Initially, attacks against aircraft demonstrated publicity value, often achieved their aim, and proved attractive to state sponsors. The industry responded in a positive and responsible manner by implementing security improvements and fostering international protective cooperation. Hijacking and armed attacks occur less frequently in today’s world—a measure of improved defensive awareness—although still posing a risk in locations where preventive measures are not stringently observed. A greater danger today lies in the sabotage or bombing of commercial aircraft, a menace which will only diminish in the face of constantly improving security precautions. The changing threat to the airlines industry underscores the dynamic nature of terrorism. Motivations, targeting, strategy, tactics—even logistics—continue to evolve, in keeping with efforts on the part of security agencies to meet the challenges and to stay ahead of the dangers. Terrorist atrocities in Algeria, characterized by the horrific slaughter of women and children; bombs hidden aboard a train in Pakistan which claimed 23 lives and injured 75 others; and the deaths of more than 260 persons as the result of truck-bomb explosions at the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, are reminders that terrorists retain the determination and ability to strike ruthlessly at a broad range of targets in many locations. Motivation. Originally reflecting a largely left-wing ideological foundation, today’s terrorists are increasingly likely to be motivated by campaigns of ethnic nationalism or religious extremism. Often the two go hand in hand, such as the aspirations of Sikh militants for an independent state of Khalistan or the fundamentalist Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Egypt. Religious Extremism. Islamic extremists literally pose the largest danger in terms of religious terrorism. In part an outcome of magnitude of numbers and Islam’s global reach, it is also because, unlike the cohesive grouping of the past, many militant Islamists are individuals who do not owe allegiance to any particular organization, making identification and trace checks very difficult. Sunni terrorists, such as Ramzi Yousef, convicted in the New York Trade Center bombing, tend to be representative of this trend, whereas Shi’a terrorists continue to pursue their goals in a more collective fashion, obtaining direction and support from Iran. Although the Sunni-Shi’a schism remains, some cooperation between members of the two branches of Islam has been evident.   Extremist militants of other faiths also have an involvement in terrorist violence and must not be ignored. Christian religious groups, such as the Aryan Nations, are active in North America, and are becoming more closely associated with the Militia Movement. The Jewish Defence League maintains a presence in North America as well, but it is in Israel and the Occupied Territories where the combination of nationalism and religious fervor manifests itself in acts of Jewish terrorism. Nationalism. Ethnic nationalism continues to be a significant motivational factor in a number of terrorism campaigns, some of which are long-standing (Northern Ireland, Basques, Palestinians, Kurds) and others which are relatively recent (Uighers, Timorese, Achenese). Individually or in combinations, nationalism-separatism-irridentism have demonstrated a notable resurgence since the collapse of the former Soviet Union (FSU); several states currently experiencing politically motivated violence were previously members of the FSU or communist entities. Ideology does play a role in some nationalist movements, but the more usual accompaniment is religious fundamentalism. Strong religious beliefs and nationalist-separatist goals represent a particularly effective motivational combination. The role of ideology has not been completely overtaken by the influence of religion. A number of left-wing movements continue to exist, such as the Turkish Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), the Peruvian Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), and the Naxalites of India. Animal-Rights supporters and Environmentalists—the Issue Groups—tend to be found on the left of the political spectrum, as well. Right-wing motivation is much more prevalent, however. Targeting and Methodology. Improved international cooperation against terrorism and strengthened security for diplomatic and military facilities have prompted a shift in terrorist targeting and methodology: Random attacks on tourists and the deliberate killing of foreign-aid and NGO workers are disturbing trends; Incidents of kidnapping and hostage-taking have become frequent occurrences in South America and the former Soviet Union; Terrorist attacks focused on economic infrastructures can be expected to continue, including those related to energy distribution, transportation, banking and tourism; Hoaxes, particularly bomb threats, have been employed on occasion to seriously disrupt transportation and tourism, causing significant local impact; The Internet is becoming a resource more frequently used by terrorists as a means to access information, spread propaganda, raise funds, communicate, and plan operations. The gun and the bomb retain the lead as favored methods of terrorist assault, as witnessed by the shooting death of former provincial governor Hakim Said in Pakistan and the grenade attack against an Israeli bus stop in Beersheba. Vehicle bombs have proven a particularly attractive medium for terrorists, in part because the trend in recent years has been toward high casualty, indiscriminate targeting, and in part because of ease of manufacture, delivery, capacity, and lethality, with instructions on the Internet and components widely available. Threats and incidents of suicide attacks have increased in some regions, such as the Middle East and Sri Lanka, and are likely to be repeated. The approach of the Millennium is considered to raise the potential for independent action by individuals with extreme beliefs, especially those associated with cults, increasing the possible resort to a chemical, biological or nuclear radiation device. The use of a nuclear weapon remains the least likely scenario, given current levels of security surrounding nuclear weapons and the undoubted reluctance of any state to support the use of such a weapon for terrorist purposes. The dispersal of a radioactive substance in a terrorist incident does remain a possibility. Nonetheless, despite the seemingly advantageous potential of nuclear, chemical or biological methodology, conventional weapons are still considered to be favored by terrorists, principally because of familiarity and ease of use. Generally more frequent, domestic incidents are usually the result of a shooting or bombing attack directed against security forces or specific civilian opponents; such incidents produce smaller numbers of casualties. Occasionally the numbers of casualties are higher, such as an incident aboard commercial transportation, or one involving a car-bomb or an explosive device placed in a crowded area, as was the case in the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. International incidents are characterized by large-scale casualties because the incidents, although less frequent, are designed to achieve maximum publicity and shock effect. Reference: http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca Global trends of terror by International institute of strategic studies Islamabad, Pakistan. Fighting terror by Dr.Arif Ahmed

Examining The Concept Of Hindu Law Religion Essay

Examining The Concept Of Hindu Law Religion Essay The phrase source of law has several connotations. It may be the authority which issues rules of conduct which are recognized by Courts as binding. In this context, source of law means the maker of law. It may mean the social conditions which inspires the making of law for the governance of the conditions. In this context it means cause of law. It may also mean in its literal sense the material from which the rules and laws are known. In this sense the expression means the evidence of law and it is in this sense that the expression source of law is accepted in Jurisprudence. Vijnaneshwar (commentator on the Yajnavalkya Smriti and founder of Mitakshara School) has called it Jnapak Hetu i.e., the means of knowing law. It is important to study the sources of law because in every personal legal system only that rule is law which has place in its sources. A rule not laid down or not recognized in the sources is not a rule in that legal system. The word Hindu first appeared in the  Old Persian  language which was derived from the  Sanskrit  word  Sindhu, the historic local designation for the  Indus River  in the north-western part of the  Indian subcontinent. A Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism. Hindu law is a set of personal laws governing the social conditions of Hindus (such as marriage and divorce, adoption, inheritance, minority and guardianship, family matters, etc.). It is not Hindus alone who must follow Hindu law but there are several other communities and religious denominations that are subject to its dominion such as Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Brahmo-Samajists, Prarthana-Samajists, the Virashaivas and Lingayats and the Santhals of Chhota Nagpur besides others. In Sir Dinshah F.Mullas Principles of Hindu Law, the learned editor has defined Hindu law in the following words: Wherever the laws of India admit operation of a personal law, the rights and obligations of a Hindu are determined by Hindu law, i.e. his traditional law, sometimes called the law of his religion, subject to the exception that any part of that law may be modified or abrogated by statute. Law as understood by Hindus is a branch of dharma. Nature and scope: In the article project, the scope will be restricted to finding out the sources of Hindu law, and critique on some of the definitional aspects of the sources and a general critique of the sources. Sources of Hindu Law The sources of Hindu law can be classified under the following two heads: Ancient Sources Under this would come the following: Shruti Smriti Digests and Commentaries and Custom. Modern Sources Under this head would come: Justice, equity and good conscience Precedent, and Legislation. Ancient Sources Shruti- It literally means that which has been heard. The word is derived from the root shru which means to hear. In theory, it is the primary and paramount source of Hindu law and is believed to be the language of the divine revelation through the sages. The synonym of shruti is veda. It is derived from the root vid meaning to know. The term Veda is based on the tradition that they are the repository of all knowledge. There are four Vedas namely, Rig Veda (containing hymns in Sanskrit to be recited by the chief priest), Yajurva Veda (containing formulas to be recited by the officiating priest), Sama Veda (containing verses to be chanted by seers) and Atharva Veda (containing a collection of spells and incantations, stories, predictions, apotropaic charms and some speculative hymns). Each Veda has three parts viz. Sanhita (which consists mainly of the hymns), Brahmin (tells us our duties and means of performing them) and Upanishad (containing the essence of these duties). The shrutis include the Vedas along with their components. Smritis- The word Smriti is derived from the root smri meaning to remember. Traditionally, Smritis contain those portions of the Shrutis which the sages forgot in their original form and the idea whereby they wrote in their own language with the help of their memory. Thus, the basis of the Smritis is Shrutis but they are human works. There are two kinds of Smritis viz. Dharmasutras and Dharmashastras. Their subject matter is almost the same. The difference is that the Dharmasutras are written in prose, in short maxims (Sutras) and the Dharmashastras are composed in poetry (Shlokas). However, occasionally, we find Shlokas in Dharmasutras and Sutras in the Dharmashastras. In a narrow sense, the word Smriti is used to denote the poetical Dharmashastras. The number of Smriti writers is almost impossible to determine but some of the noted Smriti writers enumerated by Yajnavalkya (sage from Mithila and a major figure in the Upanishads) are Manu, Atri, Vishnu, Harita, Yajnavalkya, Yama, Katyayana, Brihaspati, Parashar, Vyas, Shankh, Daksha, Gautama, Shatatapa, Vasishtha, etc. The rules laid down in Smritis can be divided into three categories viz. Achar (relating to morality), Vyavahar (signifying procedural and substantive rules which the King or the State applied for settling disputes in the adjudication of justice) and Prayaschit (signifying the penal provision for commission of a wrong). Digests and Commentaries- After Shrutis came the era of commentators and digests. Commentaries (Tika or Bhashya) and Digests (Nibandhs) covered a period of more than thousand years from 7th century to 1800 A.D. In the first part of the period most of the commentaries were written on the Smritis but in the later period the works were in the nature of digests containing a synthesis of the various Smritis and explaining and reconciling the various contradictions. The evolution of the different schools of Hindu law has been possible on account of the different commentaries that were written by various authorities. The original source of Hindu law was the same for all Hindus. But schools of Hindu law arose as the people chose to adhere to one or the other school for different reasons. The Dayabhaga and Mitakshara are the two major schools of Hindu law. The Dayabhaga school of law is based on the commentaries of Jimutvahana (author of Dayabhaga which is the digest of all Codes) and the Mitakshara is based on the commentaries written by Vijnaneswar on the Code of Yajnavalkya. Custom- Custom is regarded as the third source of Hindu law. From the earliest period custom (achara) is regarded as the highest dharma. As defined by the Judicial Committee custom signifies a rule which in a particular family or in a particular class or district has from long usage obtained the force of law. Custom is a principle source and its position is next to the Shrutis and Smritis but usage of custom prevails over the Smritis. It is superior to written law. There are certain characteristics which need to be fulfilled for declaring custom to be a valid one. They are:- The custom must be ancient. The particular usage must have been practised for a long time and accepted by common consent as a governing rule of a particular society. The custom must be certain and should be free from any sort of ambiguity. It must also be free from technicalities. The custom must be reasonable and not against any existing law. It must not be immoral or against any public policy and The custom must have been continuously and uniformly followed for a long time. Indian Courts recognize three types of customs viz: (a) Local custom these are customs recognised by Courts to have been prevalent in a particular region or locality. (b) Class custom these are customs which are acted upon by a particular class. Eg. There is a custom among a class of Vaishyas to the effect that desertion or abandonment of the wife by the husband abrogates the marriage and the wife is free to marry again during the life-time of the husband. (c) Family custom these are customs which are binding upon the members of a family. Eg. There is a custom in families of ancient India that the eldest male member of the family shall inherit the estates. Modern Sources Justice, equity and good conscience- Occasionally it might happen that a dispute comes before a Court which cannot be settled by the application of any existing rule in any of the sources available. Such a situation may be rare but it is possible because not every kind of fact situation which arises can have a corresponding law governing it. The Courts cannot refuse to the settle the dispute in the absence of law and they are under an obligation to decide such a case also. For determining such cases, the Courts rely upon the basic values, norms and standards of fairplay and propriety. In terminology, this is known as principles of justice, equity and good conscience. They may also be termed as Natural law. This principle in our country has enjoyed the status of a source of law since the 18th century when the British administration made it clear that in the absence of a rule, the above principle shall be applied. Legislations- Legislations are Acts of Parliament which have been playing a profound role in the formation of Hindu law. After India achieved independence, some important aspects of Hindu Law have been codified. Few examples of important Statutes are The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, The Hindu Succession Act, 1956, The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, etc. After codification, any point dealt with by the codified law is final. The enactment overrides all prior law, whether based on custom or otherwise unless an express saving is provided for in the enactment itself. In matters not specifically covered by the codified law, the old textual law contains to have application. Precedents- After the establishment of British rule, the hierarchy of Courts was established. The doctrine of precedent based on the principle of treating like cases alike was established. Today, the decisions of Privy Council are binding on all the lower Courts in India except where they have been modified or altered by the Supreme Court whose decisions are binding on all the Courts except for itself. A Critique on the Sources It is significant to note that the term Hindu is not defined anywhere in terms of religion or in any statute or judicial decisions. For the purpose of determining to whom Hindu Law applies, it is necessary to know who is a Hindu and none of the sources expressly state so. At most from statutes, we can get a negative definition of a Hindu which states that Hindu law shall apply to those who are not Muslim, Christian, Parsi, Jew, etc. and who are not governed by any other law. Hindu Law is considered to be divine law as it is strongly believed that the sages had attained some spiritual dominion and they could communicate directly with God form whom we get the divine law. But this is only an assumption and no concrete proof for the same is shown that the sages could communicate with God (whose very existence is challenged by atheists). Due to this, many communities are also suffering from the misapprehension or delusion that their forefathers and messiahs had revelations from God. Justice A.M.Bhattacharjee strongly states that according to him he cannot think that even a staunch believer in any divine existence, transcendent or immanent, can believe in the divine origin of Hindu law, unless he has a motive behind such profession of belief or has not read the Smritis or is ready to believe anything and everything with slavish infidelity. According to Justice Markandey Katju, Hindu law does not originate from the Vedas (also called Shruti). He vehemently asserts that there are many who propound that Hindu law originated from the Shrutis but this is a fiction and in fact Hindu law originated from the Smriti books which contained writings from Sanskrit scholars in ancient time who had specialized in law. The Shrutis hardly consist of any law and the writings ordained in the Smriti do not make any clear-cut distinction between rules of law and rules of morality or religion. In most of the manuscripts, the ethical, moral and legal principles are woven into one. It is perhaps for this reason that according to Hindu tradition, law did not mean only in the Austinian sense of jurisprudence and is objectionable to it; and the word used in place of law was the Sanskrit word dharma which connotes religion as well as duty. Although Dharmasutras dealt with law, they did not provide an anthology of law dealing with all the branches of law. The Manusmriti supplied a much needed legal exposition which could be a compendium of law. But according to Kane, It is almost impossible to say who composed the Manusmriti. The very existence of Manu is regarded to be a myth by many and he is termed as a mythological character. Many critics assert that the word Smriti itself means that what is remembered and therefore the validity or proof of the existing Smritis could be challenged. It cannot be said for certainty that what the sages remembered was actually what was propounded. Hindu law has generally been critiqued on the grounds that the Smritis and other customs were generally extremely orthodox and against the favours of women. Hindu society thus has always been a patriarchal society and women have always received subdued importance over men. Some also disapprove of the notions of caste-based system created by ancient Hindu law from which emerged the ill-perceived practices of untouchability, etc. The Smritis are admitted to possess independent authority but while their authority is beyond dispute, their meanings are open to various interpretations and has been and is the subject of much dispute. Till date, no one can say for sure the exact amount of Smritis which exist under Hindu law. It is due to the abovementioned problems that the digest and commentaries were established and various schools of Hindu law started to give birth. The modern sources of Hindu law such as Justice, equity and good conscience have been critiqued on the grounds that it paves the way for personal opinions and beliefs of judges to be made into law. We have seen catena of cases where the decisions of the Court have been criticised for want of proper reasoning. This also signifies the incompleteness of the laws which exist. The Supreme Court in most matters has ascertained the rules of Hindu law successfully but there are couple of cases where they have interpreted the rules in their own light. One of the gravest cases of the Supreme Court which deserves much criticism is the case of Krishna Singh v. Mathura Ahir. The Allahabad High Court had rightly held that the discriminatory ban imposed on the Sudras by the Smritis stands abrogated as it contravenes the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution. However, the Supreme Court contradicted the above view and held that Part III of the Constitution does not touch upon the personal laws of the parties. In applying the personal laws of the parties one cannot introduce his own concepts of modern times but should enforce the law as derived from recognised and authoritative sources of Hindu law.except where such law is altered by any usage or custom or is modified or abrogated by statute. It can be submitted with ease that the above view is contrary to all Constitutional theories and is expressly in contradiction with Article 13. It is shocking to note that this judgment is yet to be over-ruled in express terms. Since the aegis of time, Hindu law has been reformed and modified to some extent through legislations but these reforms have been half-hearted and fragmentary. The problem with fragmentary reforms is that though reforms were made to change some aspects, their implications on other aspects were over-looked. For example, the Hindu Womens Right to Property Act, 1937, was passed with a view to granting property rights to women but its repercussions on the law of joint family was over-looked. The result was that fragmentary reforms through legislations solved some problems but resulted in others. Many people make the mistake of considering various text books written by erudite scholars as sources of Hindu law. This is because the Courts have decided many cases relying on these text books and quoted them for reference. For example, Mullas Hindu Law has been quoted by many judges. In Bishundeo v. Seogani Rai, Justice Bose giving the majority judgment stated that The rule laid down in Mullas book is expressly stated to be in cases where the position is not effected by a decree of a competent Court. The same has been the case with many other text books. It should be made clear that text books are not sources of Hindu law and the authors have no authority to lay down the law. Conclusion It has been seen that Hindu law has been critiqued for its orthodoxy, patriarchal character and does not bear a very modern outlook of society. There are many areas where the Hindu law needs to upgrade itself, for example, the irretrievable breakdown theory as a valid ground for divorce is still not recognised under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and even the of Supreme Court have expressed their concern on this. The most valid concern is that the very definition of a Hindu is still not given in any of the sources. Statutes give only a negative definition which does not suffice the test of time. The very proponent that Hindu law is divine law has been challenged by scholars and atheists. There are many Smritis which are yet to be found according to Historians and many conflicts of opinions and interpretations have arisen for the existing ones, thus creating a window of ambiguity under Hindu law. There are also several areas where Hindu law is silent. Most of the ancient sources of Hindu law is written in Sanskrit and it is well known that in the present times there is a dearth of Sanskrit scholars. There is hardly any importance left of the ancient sources since the time the modern sources have emerged and been followed. It can be said that proper codification of Hindu law without room for ambiguity is the need of the hour. It can be said that where the present sources of Hindu law are uninviting the Legislature could look into sources and customs of other religions and incorporate them into Hindu law if it caters to the need of the society and meets the test of time.