Monday, September 30, 2019

Crime Scene Investigation Case Study Essay

OBTAINING and RECORDING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE When it comes to identifying people that have committed a criminal act, the most positive means is through fingerprints. When we are born, our fingerprints stay with us until we die and our bodies start decomposing. To the human eye our fingerprints look the same, however, further investigation will show that each of us have a unique set of friction ridges that comprise our fingerprints and sets our identity apart from each other. At a crime scene, there are two different types of fingerprints that may be found. Patent prints are visible to the human eye. Latent prints are â€Å"unintentional prints found on items of evidence or at a crime scene† (Unknown, Obtaining and Recording Physical Evidence, n.d.). The ability to visualize prints depends on the physical condition of the person who left the print, the surface on which they left it, and the reflection of the light which is used to help visualize the print. Other circumstances that effect the visibility of latent prints is time and exposure to elements like heat and cold. However, in any case, prints should be attempted to be obtained. When latent prints are smudged they lack the specific ridges to distinguish the print correctly. These types of prints may not be perfect for fingerprint analysis; they may be utilized to provide other trace evidence. Before latent prints can be lifted and processed they need to be discovered. Each print left in different types of surfaces have to be processed in a special way. The most common means is with the use of fingerprint powders or through chemical treatment. Most field kits supply a variety of colors so that the powder can contrast with the background on which they were left. The most widely used colors are black and white  because they are standard colors that contrast on many objects. Fluorescent fingerprint powders help develop prints on multicolored surfaces, and require the source of ultraviolet light. As with most equipment, safety goggles and gloves should be used to avoid undue exposure and harm to the investigator. It is important to have a delicate touch and a small amount of powder to make the latent print visible. Once the print has started to show up, continuing to brush with the direction of the friction ridges will make the fingerprint stand out. At that time, a photograph of the print should be taken and logged prior to lifting the print. If an investigator is in the field without proper powders, passing non-flammable evidence through the smoke of a burning piece of pine will cause soot to deposit on the object. Chemical processing of latent prints happens in the laboratory. Lab technicians are trained in using techniques that are required by the federal law in using many chemical mixtures to aid in processing evidence. Many porous objects will absorb the secretions from fingerprints and will not rub off as easy as they will on nonporous surfaces or objects. In order to get these prints visible, chemicals are applied to react to the secretions to make the print visible. The amount of contact and pressure applied by the fingers will affect prints the most. Once the prints are visualized, and photographs have been taken, prints can be lifted and placed on a print card and transported to the lab for further processing. The most common method to use for lifting prints is rubber lifters and transparent lifting tape. Rubber lifters work the best on curved or uneven surfaces, whereas transparent tape will lift the print in the position in which they were left on flat surfaces. How to Lift Fingerprints The basic police officer’s fingerprint kit should contain a fingerprint brush, black and bi-chromatic powder, lifting tape, and fingerprint cards. There are several types of fingerprint brushes available, the one to use is a personal preference. Fiberglass fingerprint brushes have a better rate of to â€Å"distribute the fingerprint powder evenly† (Spraggs, 2007). Most crime  scenes will utilize the black lifting powder; however, the bi-chromatic powder will be very helpful in processing prints on dark surfaces, because it is a mixture of the black powder with a white or silver powder. When the bi-chromatic powder is used on dark surfaces it will look light and it will show up dark on light surfaces. The best rule for processing latent prints using powder is to use less lifting powder than you think you are going to need. Many latent prints can be ruined by over processing with powder. David suggests â€Å"give the print powder jar a quick shake before opening the lid† then goes on to say â€Å"remove the lid and place the fingerprint brush inside the lid† (Spraggs, 2007). The lid will retain enough powder to start processing the latent print. A precise amount of pressure applied while spinning the brush will produce a good print with good ridge detail. He mentions that too much powder will fill the ridges and over process the print and too little will not produce enough, keeping in mind that too much contact between the brush and the print will damage the print. Once the print has been developed it is time to begin lifting the print. Lifting tape comes in a variety of widths and compositions. General lifting tape is used on flat surfaces and polyethylene tape is great for curved surfaces like door knobs. An important key in applying the tape is to keep it evenly and as smooth as possible. David suggests using a credit card to ensure even and smooth applications. â€Å"Securing the lifting tape about an inch from the edge of the print, then use the edge of the credit card to gently press the fingerprint lifting tape onto the surface† (Spraggs, 2007). This process allows for thorough adhesion of the powder and the tape ensuring that air bubbles are eliminated at the same time and being trapped in the tape. He also utilizes the credit card again when placing the tape to the fingerprint card. How Far Should Prints Be Trusted? Fingerprint analysis is not an exact science and has many potential flaws. One man was imprisoned for six years in Massachusetts for shooting a police officer, only to be released in 2004 when the fingerprint evidence that was  used to convict him was trumped by DNA. For a long time the Department of Justice contended that there was a zero error rate in fingerprint analysis. In a study conducted by FBI’s Latent Fingerprint Section in Quantico, Virginia, concluded that the chance to be mistake a fingerprint for someone else was 1 in 1097. This study was conducted on 50,000 pre-existing images and compared electronically against the whole data set, thus producing 2.5 billion comparisons. However, many advocates against the admissibility of fingerprinting continue to jump on the bandwagon and believe the study does not reflect what happens in life. In life, partial prints from a crime scene can be messy and send an invalid picture of the criminal. In an unpublished study conducted by 92 students that had one year of training where they had to match archive and fake crime scenes. The end result was 2 out of 5861 were incorrect, which produced an error rate of 0.0034% (Coghlan, 2005). Results from proficiency tests published and cited in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Vol. 93, p. 985), report error rates occur at a 0.8% average, and have been known to be as high as 4.4%. Latent Fingerprints In 1914, Dr. Edmond Locard established the first rules on the minimum number of minutiae necessary for a positive identification. According to his study, if twelve or more concurring points are present when the fingerprint is clear the identity is â€Å"beyond debate† (Unknown, Latent Prints, n.d.). If there are eight to twelve concurring points are present the certainty of the identity will be contingent on five additional points. They are the sharpness of the print, the rarity of its type, the presence of the center of the core and the delta in the exploitable part of the print, the presence of pores, and the perfect and obvious identity regarding the width of papillary ridges and valleys, the direction of the lines and the angular value of the bifurcations. If there were less than eight points present, the fingerprints could not provide a valid and accurate identity. Dr. Locard believed that approximately 40 pores in concurrence could establish individuality (Unknown, Laten t Prints, n.d.). Fingerprint Detection: Current Capabilities Crime scene investigators use a variety of tools to help solve a case. Latent fingerprint detection and identification is among one of the greatest forensic techniques used. The value of fingerprint evidence is insurmountable. An investigator needs to know how to detect, enhance and record the print that has been left behind not visible to the human eye. Latent prints left behind at the crime scene are the most common type of fingerprint evidence, but they are also the ones that can cause the most problems, mainly because it is there, but not to the unaided eye. Utilizing optical, physical or chemical treatments to develop the print comes with precise judgment. The investigator or crime scene technician must distinguish between porous, non-porous and semi-porous surfaces; water insoluble or water soluble, etc. Just like anything else, latent fingerprints will start to deteriorate and can lead to the loss of clarity over a specific time because of numerous factors. â€Å"Elements of this process include evaporation of volatile components (e.g. moisture), diffusion (e.g. through the substrate for porous surfaces and across the surface for non-porous surfaces), decomposition (e.g. bacterial action, oxidation, chemical breakdown due to heat and light, etc.)† (Lennard, 2007). The rate of dehydration will depend on certain factors like the temperature, humidity, and exposure to sun, air currents and the surface on which the print was left. Exposure to high humidity can result in diffusion of a water soluble print, causing the print to be lost, and any detection techniques to be ineffective. Using optical detection techniques will aid in finding latent fingerprints. Luminescence will help display a weak friction ridge detail. The best optical detection is achieved by using short-wave ultraviolet (UV) light. This technique is highly effective because the light acts as a contrast between the surface by absorbing the light or reflecting it back showing the presence of print. Will DNA Replace Fingerprints in the 21st Century? The use of fingerprints to help solve crimes was first suggested by Dr. Henry Faulds in 1880. Twelve years later, fingerprints that were left in blood at the scene of a double murder in Argentina were used to convict and identify the killer. However, the first fingerprints accepted in court in the United States didn’t happen until 1911. When we are born, we have distinct patterns on the tips of our fingers that will only change under a biological variation, because once formed in womb, the ridges are permanent and unique to each individual. â€Å"Biological variation is also known as the natural law of variation and is sometimes stated as ‘Nature never repeats’† (Leo, 2005). There are three basic types of fingerprint patterns: loops, whorls, and arches. Each of these patterns are arranged to give individuals unique ridges that make up the person’s characteristics of fingerprints. It is when these ridges are examined under a microscope side by side with a known source that a person can be confirmed or eliminated as a suspect. With new technology, fingerprint evidence can be searched through automated fingerprint information systems (AFIS). Fingerprints are used to establish a person’s identity in the United States and in every other country in the world. Fingerprints are not just used as evidence in a crime (criminal history), but for employment and security clearances. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was discovered in 1911. It was also discovered that this DNA was the carrier of genetic information. However, it wasn’t until 1985 that the structure also established the uniqueness of each person. One year later, the first use of DNA in a criminal case was used to match a suspect to a double murder in England. The first case of DNA evidence admitted in a United States court didn’t happen until 1988. Since then, over thirty-five states have admitted DNA evidence in one form or another while more than twenty-five states have the population frequency data or statistics to be admissible in court (Leo, 2005). DNA evidence is found at crime scenes as the presence of blood, semen, hair, skin, and saliva. In order to make a comparison a DNA profile must be extracted from the evidence and/or a sample taken from a known individual. A DNA profile is accomplished through a process called electrophoresis. After the profile has been extracted, the results are recorded on an autorad and can be compared to other profiles. There are thirteen markers that are used to standardize a national data base called Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in the United States (Leo, 2005). To date, DNA is still emerging as we continue to move further into the technological future, and can be used for personal identification, employment, security clearance, or to track criminal histories. Every second of the day, millions of fingerprints are being searched via the automated fingerprint systems around the world. Thousands of crimes have been solved because of the fingerprint evidence left behind at the scene of the crime. In 1994, when CODIS began, there have been over 20,000 DNA matches. In Los Angeles County, California, more than 500 latent prints are matched to criminal offender on any given day (Leo, 2005). Both methods of identifying an individual play crucial roles in solving crime. Although fingerprints are still considered the â€Å"golden standard† for forensic evidence in the courtroom (Leo, 2005), DNA is moving forward in being a very important tool to combat and solve crime. However, when it comes down to it, both techniques complement each other and provide vital information to help find criminals. Works Cited Coghlan, A. &. (2005). How Far Should Prints be Trusted? New Scientist, 2517(187), 6-7. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&an=18376323&site=ehost-live Lennard, C. (2007, December). Fingerprint Detection: Current Capabilities. Australian Journal of Forensic Science, 39(2), 55-59. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from http://www.informaworld.com Leo, W. (2005, September/October). Will DNA Replace Fingerprints in the 21st Century. The Print, 21(5), 1-5. Retrieved January 21, 2013, from http://www.fingerprintidentification.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/dnavfingerprints.pdf Spraggs, D. (2007, February 01). How to Lift Fingerprints. Retrieved January 20, 2013, from Police Magazine: www.policemag.com/channel/patrol/articles/2007/02/how-to-lift-fingerprints.as

Sunday, September 29, 2019

High School and Goals Essay

Hello my name is Rick Brooks and this is my student story. What the on course book has helped me with the most is getting me to commit to my goals and dreams. I was once a bright eyed young high school student with the dreams of going to college and making something out of myself. My graduation year from High School was 1992, yes 20 years ago, and yes that makes me 38 years old. I grew up with a family of 5 having four siblings and just my father to raise us. Money was tight and going to a four year university was out of the question. Information about scholarships at my school was minimal. I began working full time and decided to go to college anyways. So in 1992 I enrolled at AB Tech Technical college. Working full time and not having a very good commitment to my goals and dreams, I did not do so well. I eventually dropped out after my third quarter. At this time I did not even know to drop my classes, I just stopped going, what a big mistake. I now have several F’s on my transcript from 1992. 20 years and one fifteen year old daughter later, I have began to achieve my goals and dreams again. This is where On Course Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life came into my life. Upon starting the ACA 115 01 class I was very reluctant. I had already taken some college courses and had done well, at least until I dropped out. I figured that I did not need this class and I was pissed that the college was making me take it. When the class started on chapter 3, things began to make sense. I needed to design a compelling life plan. I had no idea how to do this. As I went on in the course, I starting figuring things out, things that I already knew I wanted, but thinks to On Course it started to all make sense. I needed to set goals. But how does one set goals, I thought that I knew how, but I did not. The book showed me how to use the DAPPS rule, which is dated, achievable, personal, positive and specific. I have since then set some goals and dreams for myself. I plan on graduation with my business degree from AB Tech college, that’s goal number one. Then I will pursue my dream. I want to open a bar and grill beachside in Key West FL. Before the On Course book I would have never thought these goals to be possible, but when I starting asking myself are these goals dated. Yes they are. I will graduate college in 2013. Are they achievable? Yes graduation is just around the corner and I have already taken a couple of trips to Key West to scope out the location for my restaurant. The book says that a goal should be at least 50 percent believable to me. It is now more like 75 percent believable to me now! Are my goals personal? Yes, nothing would satisfy me more the when I walk the stage and get my degree. I will be the first out of my four siblings (which are all grown now and not enrolled in college) to get a degree from college. I am motivated because these goals are mine and no one else’s. Are my goals positive? Yes, going through this course I realized that I should focus on what I want and not to focus on what I don’t want. Are my goals specific? Yes, my goals are specific. I will be able to measure my success when I get my degree next year. I only have six classes left, it’s been a long road, but a rewarding one. Whenever I start to stray from my course, I remember my goals and dreams. I have worked way too hard and have came way too far to give up now. My dreams are my motivation into the future, they will guide me from here on out. I am thankful for my dreams, and I am thankful for On Course for putting me on course to my life plan by showing me how to commit to my goals and dreams. Thank you On Course!

Saturday, September 28, 2019

An Evaluation of Human Productivity Using Computer and Internet

Computers are becoming an important piece of equipment in our daily life. Computers not only enable us to better achieve our tasks, but are also a way to of sharing and communicating with others around the world. Whereas computers and technology are so close together, they are giving humans a new rhythm in their lives. Both technology and Computers are more than ever present in our daily routines helping us achieve our objectives in a faster, secure and more professional way. The aim of this report is to evaluate whether Computers and Internet make people more productive. According to the information gathered, it turns out that in most cases they do in fact improve the overall productivity of people. It†s amazing how many new communications discoveries have improved the way people work, behave and conduct their lives. The term productive can be explained as â€Å"Yielding favorable or useful results; constructive. Or involved in the creation of goods and services to produce wealthy or value†. 1 Let me start by providing some of the new technological terms that have been changing the lifestyle of many people. Internet, or Information Super Highway, is aimed to improve accesses to information and corporate resources. â€Å"This communication will allow people to move faster, control communications costs, and overcome distance. It can also make your people more productive, empowering them with new tools to help meet business objectives.†2 Thanks to the Internet, people are more than ever able to share their information, thoughts and ideas faster. Another technology being used nowadays is called telecommuting. A simple explanation is that employees can now work from home, without having to go to their offices. According to many surveys, the number of people whom will adopt this working method will reach 45 millions people in the United States by the Year 2000. â€Å"Telecommuting provides me with a lot of flexibility†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"And it allows me to balance my work load with my personal life. I feel that I'm definitely more productive.†3 This can only be accomplished by the lower price of hardware and software available in the market today. In addition, with lower-cost high-tech home office equipment available, the approach saves employers money on office space and overhead. This is only the tip of the iceberg, compared to the endless ways of how the use of Computers integrated with an Internet connection can make people more productive. Furthermore, lower software prices together with very well designed computer interfaces can also increase the productivity of workers. I can certainly say that well-designed user interface helps me better accomplish my daily tasks at work. Why? One of the major changes in computer technology has been the development of icons instead of command driven interfaces. According to the use of Human-Computer Interaction Studies, â€Å"only 5% to 20% of user interactions typically involve help, but although this reflects a small percentage in terms of data collection it can be very substantial one in terms of effort and frustration!†4 â€Å"GUI (Graphical User Interface) also provides interface options not available in character mode. The chance that they're all irrelevant is slight; some will let you make people more productive.†5 An image is easier to be recognized by humans; thus well-designed software facilitates the tasks included in performing your job. This method yields constructive results, which is one of the definitions for productivity. In addition to that, many changes have been made in the way in which people connect themselves. The terminology LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) are the methods used for people to connect in an office, within their houses or with friends around the world. Network Structure is related to the people working under the same building but not in the same area. The connections between different floors within a company can be achieved by using LANs. By means of LANs and WANs, people can contact their co-workers within the same building or the other side of the world by only sending them an e-mail message. Not only does this kind of information technology give people the ability to do their jobs more effectively, but also allows them to respond faster, yielding more productivity. â€Å"So, for instance, if your company has internal web sites in London, Singapore, Seattle, and New York, someone with a web browser could retrieve information from any of those sites with equal ease.†6 Again, this technique produces, in my opinion, favorable results not only for the user but also for the company. The aim is to make people more productive, to reduce cost and provide the best quality possible. To achieve this stage, such tools are necessary today. Not only e-mail messages make things simpler but also improve the speed in which people received/send their answers. A valid example where a user needs faster help is when a computer problem arises or you need to find out the next flight to â€Å"Spain†. Instead of calling the Telephone Company and asking for the telephone number of the carrier, one can just check the Internet for a fast, reliable information. Another example is when you need to fix your computer. You need that information as fast as you can get it. Nowadays, the use of on-line help has been proven a true value. Problems with printers, files and computers bugs can arise at any time. On-line help can easily provide that information for you or your company faster than spending time finding the number to call to customer service for help. Less time to fix the problem means more time to be productive. This example explains the ability to generate services, another explanation of productivity. Much has been said about the Internet and computers. But can computers without the Internet increase people†s productivity? I strongly believe that computers have increased the speed in which we accomplish our activities. According to many studies, my assumption is not always correct. A report states that †¦ â€Å"Information processing continues to be the principal task undertaken by America's work force. Over half the labor force is employed in information-handling activities. Overall productivity growth appears to have slowed significantly since the early 1970s and measured productivity growth has fallen especially sharply in the service sectors†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 7 But it also states that computers helped people to be more confident and therefore to feel more comfortable making decisions on their own. Computers are able to provide people with resources and material to facilitate their decision-making. They are becoming user-friendly enough for all to be able to use. This is one of the main reasons why the hi-tech companies today are facing such a state of grace, with outrageous revenues and endless room for new development of products. Many others believe that what is happening now is just the beginning and that we are entering in a new era as described by Peter Schwartz. He states that†¦ We are watching the beginnings of a global economic boom on a scale never experienced before. We have entered a period of sustained growth that could eventually double the world's economy every dozen years and bring increasing prosperity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 8 With all this new technology emerging is not difficult to agree that much more is yet to come. If all the new technology will make tasks easier, improve quality and increase productivity, let this technology be part of the world and accessible by people. As stated before, computers are becoming a very important piece of equipment in our lives. Much can be done with computers. They are only tools that need to be driven by a smart, intelligent individual to generate the best outputs possible.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Criminal Justice Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Justice Portfolio - Essay Example It may also encompass legal guarantees of access to information, protection of journalists, public’s limited access to the media and right of reply or correction†. Discussion: My position on the issue is that the press should be given complete freedom to function within its own framework of guidelines, and there should be restrictions only on careless or false reporting. My opinion is correct because the public has the right to the true facts of any information of significance, and transparency will ensure decline in corruption. According to the Final Annotated Survey of the State of the First Amendment (2005: p.2), the results show that 47% of the public felt that the amount of freedom the press enjoyed was â€Å"about right†, 39% felt that the press had too much freedom, too little freedom was the verdict of only 10%, and the remaining 4% did not know. The viewpoint of the majority is supported by McQuail (2003: p.54) who states that social responsibility theory became an essential point of reference in the growing trend towards the professionalization and self-regulation of the press. Conclusion: The small minority of the public who believe that the press should have less freedom should consider one important reason for freedom of the press: that those in high public office, in businesses or in responsible social posts will need to show results, and also keep free from wrongdoings. Introduction: According to Klay; Sewell (1996: p.241) development and application of criminal justice technology for the purpose of individual liberty is possible only in communities that share and perpetuate democratic norms. Emphasizing on â€Å"responsible use†, the democratic communitarian theory requres the use of technology to strengthen unity within the community, while exercising restraint and avoiding the creation of potentially threatening technologies. Discussion: My

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Distribution Center LocationGrainger Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Distribution Center LocationGrainger - Assignment Example The company has expanded its supplies operations to Panama, China and Canada. Moreover, the company has over three thousand vendors and offer more than nine hundred thousand products. In addition, Ginger.Inc Company has over one point eight million customers across the globe. In order to attain competitive advantage over the other competitors, the company has establish efficient and effective distribution channels to ensure there are efficiency and effectiveness in delivery of their products to their customers (Duch, & Arenas, 2005). In addition, the company has a well-designed website where customers who are in different parts of the world can have an easy access to the products offered by the company. For instance, a customer who is in China can just visit the Grainger. Inc website and order a product online. The company may deliver the product at the door step of the customer irrespective of the geographical barriers. This is possible because Grainger, Inc Company has well-establi shed supply chain networks in all its distribution centres (In Ahn, 2014). To run the supply chain efficiently Grainger and other organisations must address their problems as discussed below; Grainger must learn on how to eliminate the doubles cost of distribution by building a new centre for distributing its products in Los Angles. Based on the above calculations it can be scrutinized that the company is incurring the double cost, and it will be efficient to adopt the change. The company will be able to save the money. For example517, 99.567 dollars may be saved annually; the figure was obtained by finding the difference between the two options (Beamon,

Freedom of speech and expression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Freedom of speech and expression - Essay Example For the purpose of our essay we will mainly discuss two famous cases: Ozzy Osbourne's song "Suicide Solution"1 and Ice-T's "Cop Killer"2. We will focus on the aspects of the songs that caused such an outrage and we will try to replace the song in the cultural context to explain and understand their link with the freedom of speech and expression issue. In 1981 was released Ozzy Osbourne's first solo album "Blizzard of Ozz". This album included a song called Suicide Solution. The song was originally aimed to talk about alcohol as a deadly substance. The song was written by Osbourne after his friend Bon Scott, lead-singer of AC/DC, had died as a result of alcohol abuse. The word Solution should be understood as mixture and not as answer as we will see later. On October 26, 1984, during the night, John McCollum shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber handgun. He was 19 years old. It was reported that when he entered the room, the coroner found headphones on John's head. He had been listening for most of the evening to Ozzy Osbourne's albums "Diary of a madman" and "Blizzard of Ozz" in the living room. He then went in his bedroom, listened to Osbourne's album "Speak of the devil" and shot himself". The fo The following year, in October John's parents filed suit against Ozzy Osbourne and his record company CBS on charges of negligence, products liability and intentional misconduct, claiming that Osbourne's song had incited their son to commit suicide. The case was first dismissed on August 7, 1986, by The Superior Court of Los Angeles County. The McCollums appealed arguing that Osbourne's songs were containing themes such as satanic worshiping and death. They precisely targeted the song Suicide Solution because of his lyrics "suicide is the only out" and of supposedly masked lyrics not printed in the album as "why try, why try, get the gun and try it, shoot, shoot, shoot" The music was constitutionally protected as decided by the Court of Appeals which ruled that Osbourne's music could not be seen as a cause of the suicide. The first step of this decision was to declare that the music was protected by the First Amendment but then consider that freedom of speech is not absolute. An investigation was conducted by the court to explore the possibilities of Osbourne's music encouraging John McCollum's suicide. In regards of the Brandenburg test, the Court decided that Osbourne's music could not be accountable for the decision taken by McCollum. It is interesting to recall the declaration of the Court of Appeals: "freedom of speech is not absolute". When one shall consider that freedom of speech and expression must be considered as the possibility to declare anyone of his feelings, we will have to precise this interpretation. Alexis de Tocqueville, the philosopher, in "Democracy in America"3 explained that when a person expresses an opinion which may seem unpopular, he may be subjected to the rejection of his community. He qualifies freedom of speech as a civil liberty rather then a fundamental liberty. In Osbourne's case, we are directly confronted to that type of differentiation. He and his song are rejected because they do not fit with the common thoughts of what music -

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries Essay

The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries The case of the United States - Essay Example The discussion are mainly focused on health care services in United States of America, however a comparison is drawn with other developed states where appropriate. 2. Historical Background The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. â€Å"The decade of 1990s was characterized by unprecedented economic growth and creation of wealth in United States.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.63). The President Clinton in 1993 presents his national health care initiative, but it could not gain the public acceptance at large scale. The major reason was the slow economic growth and rise in the costs of services and medicine as observed by Shi & Douglas, â€Å"However, medical cost escalation and cost of health insurance premium continues to outpace both general inflation and general economic growth† and this degradation of economy has caused reduced health care services offered by the government and private employers, â€Å"The percentage of firms offering health insurance has fallen from 69% in 2000 to 61% in 2006.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.562). 3. Recent Shift of Focus In recent years this trend is changed and health care has got more policy focus as compared to the 1990s decade. Health care is budgeted heavily and more research work is being...The essay presents a comprehensive review of some basic problems, that the United States are is currently facing in the system of health care. It is shown in the paper, that quality health care services can only be provided, if country is enjoying sustainable economic growth. Business should be given a freehand to concentrate on the growth of business instead of provisioning of insurance coverage and other packages because more business means better and secured economic growth. This does not mean the government controlled services, rather it should only act as a facilitator and guarantor. The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. The aim should be the availability of insurance coverage to those 17% of Americans who are still all time uninsured. This petty figure has immense effect on the image of the US that is still far behind other industrial states on the globe in the field of health care services. The ever increasing costs in health care sector know no end, Medicare and Medicaid failed to control the cost at any level in health care sector and costs have never gone down.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Five easy pieces and the reflection of alienation in the 70s Essay

Five easy pieces and the reflection of alienation in the 70s - Essay Example Five Easy Pieces directed by Bob Rafaelson is among the greatest films of the Hollywood 1970’s golden era. In the film, the character of Bobby Dupea is the archetype of numerous heroes from that period. Bobby gets stuck in two worlds (Rafaelson). He is a man who cannot fit into the American society and is making efforts to find a place where he truly belongs. One of the outstanding features of the 1970’s films was the character’s struggle to deal with the problem of alienation that was prevalent in the America at that time. This emerged from the sixties as the rejection of both the working class and leisure class values. The film portrays an individual trying so hard to deal with the alienation problem without being a counter culture hippie. Most of the post sixties era exhibited the theme of alienation. The theme of alienation also defined the 70’s era. However, in recent films of the 1990’s and 1980’s era, alienation has been reflected to t he extreme with the so bloody and violent action films. The heroes in these movies are violent, anti-social and alienated. They have no societal respect at large. The first scenes of â€Å"Five Easy Pieces† show the main character Bobby as a typical oil mine worker. Bobby puts a lot of energy in his work to get his money. He spends his leisure time playing time drinking beer, playing cards, watching television and bowling.   At the beginning of the film, Bobby gets reflected as a happy person, but as the film progresses he gets revealed. as a man dissatisfied with his life (Rafaelson). Rayette’s clingy mature annoys Bobby so much. He loathes country music and dislikes the way his girlfriend lives her life through Tammy Wynette songs. Rayette seems to play songs for every occasion of her life. When they go out with their friends Stoney and Elton, Bobby could not enjoy the bowling. He is angry and highly competitive at Rayette’s inexperience in the game. At some point, he later cheats on his girlfriend with a woman named Sally Struthers. This shows the relationship trend at the time, where men cheated on their wives and girlfriends (Boyer 87). In contrast with his coworker and friend Elton, Bobby hates the life that comes with their job. Elton loves spending time with his wife and kid. His job at the oil field is due to lack of skills and that the job provides the basic needs for his family. Elton represents the working class who are in pursuit of the American dream. Bobby is more interested in worldly things. This film is a reflection of how the mid-seventies society got focused on the American dream. The contrast between the two characters gets clearly depicted in the scene where Elton and Bobby are in stuck in the freeway

Monday, September 23, 2019

A Campaign Plan for Release of Rolling Stones` Hardcover Book 50 Essay

A Campaign Plan for Release of Rolling Stones` Hardcover Book 50 - Essay Example The band records sale of a minimum of 200 million globally (Heinlein, 2009). Creative Industries create a noteworthy attraction from the millions of anticipating fans who pause as customers. This prompts the need for a marketing strategy for the tour that will be conducted by, The Rolling Stone. There is a pending need for the record companies to study and understand the marketing situation and utilize the opportunities. Unlike products, marketing music industry requires the singer to produce music that he likes and ignore the music strategy. This is because such music ends up inspiring the audience. The campaign aims at understanding the marketplace where the art is sold, the objective of the band, the strategy to be used to achieve the objectives, and the target population. How the strategy will be achieved, the staff hired to carry out the task, the allocation of funds into stages also proves paramount. The need to evaluate the steps ensures that the staffs are working towards the achievement of the goals (Hadley, 2001). The rolling stones opportunities and risks originate from the external environment. The external environment affects any business setting and is unavoidable. The opportunities come from fame acquired in various parts of the worlds such as Europe, North American around the 1960s British attack. The band was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in the year 1989, ranked by the critical acclaim and popular consensus and critics as the world’s finest rock and roll band. The band records various releases in various countries such as; United Kingdom with twenty-two studio albums; the United States, where they recorded ten live albums; amongst others. The band’s album, sticky fingers released, in the year 1971 preceded eight string with sequencing studio albums culminating to position one in the united states (Scott and Scott, 2011).

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Literary Analysis Paper Essay Example for Free

Literary Analysis Paper Essay Retrieved Reformation is a short story about a man named Jimmy Valentine. In the beginning of the story, he is being released from prison for his crimes of robbing banks and cracking into safes. After being released, he realizes that he wants to live a life of no crime. He becomes a dynamic character because he begins to dramatically change after meeting the love of his life, Annabel Adams. He wanted to begin a new life. In â€Å"A Retrieved Reformation†, a selfish and unethical criminal named Jimmy Valentine is known from breaking into safes and robbing banks. In the first couple of pages of the story, we come to find that Jimmy was doing prison time because of the crimes that he would commit. On page 2 it states, â€Å"He had served ten months of a four- year sentence.† (pg 2) The reason that he only had to spend ten months was because the friends that he had were friends of the government so they told the judge to shorten the amount of prison time that Jimmy had to do. In this part of the story he is being released by a guard and he gives him some advice to stay out of trouble. â€Å"You’ll go out in the morning. Brace up, and make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes, and live straight.† (pg 3) This advice would soon help Jimmy realize that he has to get his new life together and learn how to keep himself out of things that would get him in trouble with the law. See more: how to write an analysis paper As soon as Jimmy Valentine was released from prison, the reader is shown many examples on how Jimmy Valentine is a dynamic character and how much he has changed throughout his life. The first example is as soon as Jimmy Valentine got released from jail, he started robbing banks again. One day, he was walking around Elmore, the new town that he lived in, and stopped in amazement of a woman whom he had never met before. Her name was Annabel Adams. Her father had owned the bank. He went to a nearby hotel and registered his name as Ralph D. Spencer and got a room. Jimmy came to Elmore in search of a location to go into business. He was talking to the clerk at the desk about shoe-store openings in the town. He opened a shoe store to keep his mind busy instead of robbing banks. On page 7 the author states, â€Å"He opened a shoe-store and secured a good run of trade.† Also, Jimmy Valentine legally got his name changed to Mr. Ralph Spencer because he wanted to start a brand new life and wanted to leave his bad memories and crimes behind him. Finally, in this time in this time in the story, Jimmy Valentine has completed changed his life around by becoming engaged and opening a business. Now all he has to do is sell his tools away to his friend because he doesn’t need them anymore. On page 8, the author states â€Å"I wouldn’t touch a dollar of another mans money now for a million.† This shows that he is serious about not going back to his old way of life and wants to stay out of troubles way. He wants his friend to meet him at a place named Sully’s so that he can give him the kit of tools. Also, on page it, it says â€Å"I wouldn’t do another crooked thing for the whole world.† Jimmy Valentine is trying very hard to keep his new life successful and crime-free. One day, Annabel and Jimmy go to the bank that Annabel’s father, Mr. Adams owned. Suddenly, they heard a scream of a woman. They ran to where they heard it from. A nine-year old girl named May had shut Agatha in the vault. Mr. Adams tried to open the door. He said that it could not be opened because May had turned the knob on the door. Jimmy told everybody to be quiet. He yelled into the vault to try to see if Agatha could respond to him. Her mother thought that she would die in the vault of fright. Jimmy had done something that had surprised everyone. He opened his suitcase full of the tools that he was going to give away to his friend. He used those tools to crack into the vault like he had in his old life. He used a drill to open into the vault. Agatha was safe and collapsed into her mothers arms.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Reflective Essay on Personal Performance

Reflective Essay on Personal Performance OLORUNKEMI ONIKOYIÂ   PORTFOLIO SUMMARY (REFLECTIVE ESSAY) This essay is a reflective account on the progress I have made during the on-going nursing training programme I have embarked upon. The areas I intend to cover include the usefulness of assessment feedback for facilitating growth and for understanding the areas that need to be improved in my learning, the extent of the development of key transferable skills, an overview of meetings with my personal development tutor and issues related to my personal learning. Finally, areas for future development will be identified with a view on how to address them, all of which will go towards improving my personal and indeed professional development. Individuals may spend a lot of time thinking over experiences they have had and things they have to do. However, within nursing it is believed that in order to progress, these thoughts should be turned into guided reflection enabling one to improve them in the future. The essential purpose of reflective practice is to enable the practitioner to access, understand and learn through, his or her lived experiences and, as a consequence, to take ‘congruent action towards developing increasing effectiveness within the context of what is understood as desirable practice’ (Johns 2000, p3). As a mature student with experience of an access course I felt I had developed self-discipline, which is important for effective learning. Throughout this course I have gradually developed strength and confidence in all the transferable skills, such as communication, effective learning, and teamwork and information technology. These skills have been developed through both the coursework and the placement.. I felt confident about my verbal communication whereas I was concerned about my literacy skills which are impeded by my dyslexia. In my case dyslexia results in poor spelling, grammatical errors and difficulties with organising work. It should not affect my understanding of my subject, although it can take me time to absorb what I read. The course has helped me to recognize the importance of all aspects of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, such as body language, touch, facial expression and eye contact. It has shown me how crucial non-verbal communication can be in expressing meaning. During my placement visit at the hospital I put into practice my communication skills which enabled me to interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds. For example, while I was working in the ward with a staff nurse, I observed through facial expression that a patient was in pain. I went over to ask her what the problem was. She told me she was in pain. I immediately reported it to the nurse in charge. After this, I made her comfortable and continued to communicate with the patients. From this scenario I have learnt that good communication skills are important in delivering health care services. Good therapeutic communication can help to relieve patient pain and anxiety. I believe the best way of learning is to become an autonomous learner which in itself requires good communication skills and discipline. During this course, I have developed good time management skills, especially for meeting deadlines in submission of assignments and for combining studying with domestic demands. Initially, accessing the internet and using the electronic searching method was a bit difficult but it became clearer with the help of the IT workshop. It also helped greatly when finding articles needed for annotated bibliography assignment. Having to do presentations is another effective way of learning because it provides an opportunity to research the topic and then teach others. I prepared a research presentation and I knew little about the components that would make the type of presentation successful. I experienced some nervousness because I find it difficult to face an audience and deliver a speech but with the help of the tutor’s feedback I am beginning to wo rk on my fears and confidence by becoming involved in group discussion. My IT skills have improved quite considerably since the beginning of this module. I knew how to use e-mail, Microsoft word and various ways to search for information. The IT sessions have contributed greatly, so much, now have the confidence to use the internet regularly. I have also learnt how to use database and PowerPoint I will continue to build on what I have learnt and improve on it because the technology is updating frequently and it is necessary to keep up with this trend. (See appendix). Carrying out a literature search during an assignment, taught me how to use the search engines using keywords in order to find relevant articles. Carrying out a literature review has given me an insight into what research involves the ways in which research can be carried out and the different methodology that is used. I now understand that academic articles are peer reviewed before being published in reputable journals. Assessment feedback is an important part of learning. It gives the student an awareness of what they can do and what needs to be improved, in both written and practical work Whilst evaluating my feedback sheet on the role and function of health related organization, Module IPH1625, I felt that the mark received was above my expectations which left me feeling positive and motivated to continue the good steady progress. I found the research section of the essay quite challenging and spent many hours preparing my essay. Fortunately the organization that I had picked was of great interest to me as British heart foundation was an organization that dealt and helped people from all walks of life. The fact that this topic was of interest to me made it much easier for me to discuss and write about it with passion, and I could really express how I felt about the issues involved. Through the feedback received, I realized that I had addressed all areas of the marking criteria to an effective lev el. Having not previously shown my work to my module leader, to my surprise the contents of my work was above standard and very well done. My dyslexia is a worry regarding typographical errors which I may not notice. To combat this I used the computers grammatical and spelling checkers as well as showing my essays to my dyslexia tutor who helped me to proof reading. I was thrilled to see that in the feedback given, my grammar, spelling and punctuation was not seen as a problem. It is very motivating to receive this kind of feedback and the self satisfaction left me with a positive feeling which I hoped to maintain. (See appendix) My first learning stage was the novice level which Benner (2001, p20) described as ‘beginners who had no experience or skills to practice in the situation in which they are expected to perform’. At this stage of my learning I had limited knowledge and understanding of patient condition as well as the environment in which care is delivered. This made me anxious and nervous. My culture (which forbids me from addressing an elderly person by name) inhibited my ability to communicate effectively with patients and various members of staff. This problem was due to lack of previous experience in caring for patient and lack of understanding of the situation in which am expected to perform. My knowledge regarding patient’s illness or disease process was lacking. Hence I did not know how to assess or carry out patient admissions or pain assessments. For example, when patients complained of pain I always informed my mentor instead of carrying out a pain assessment to identify factors which may be contributing to the pain. However, I constantly relied on my mentor for guidance. Through advice, feedback on my performances and by observing my mentors and other members of staff, I was able to develop strategies on how to overcome communication problems on my next placement. During this placement I was able to reassure patients, carry out pain assessment, monitor and record vital signs (under clinical supervision) as well as understand their implications for patients’ care. Although I had developed confidence in clinical skills in my first placement, there was an increase in my confidence during my second. There was an increase in learning, however, my skills and knowledge within this domain were still limited. I still relied on general guidelines or instructions given to me by my mentor on how to execute some of the duties delegated to me. As a result I could not use my initiatives to prioritize or plan care appropriately or make sound judgment regarding the care which I was giving to patients. My communication skills also improved as I was able to listen and reassure patients, carry out pain assessments. In the future I hope to ensure effective communication in my daily activities, building on my strengths until I become competent in my communication skills, and able to identify potential problems and difficulties and ways to find solutions to the problem. (See appendix) The advanced beginners’ level was the second level of my learning. As explained by Benner (2001, p22) ‘the advance beginner is one who can demonstrate marginally accepted performance; one who has coped with enough real situations to note the reoccurring meaningful situational components’. In relation to performing at this level, the status quo is that the theory sessions are in the final stages, after which we would move into placement, where yet again I would have the opportunity to relate acquired theoretical knowledge to practice. Personally, I have found that the various placements were the biggest learning curve for me and influenced my learning immensely. I feel that I have performed well, as I have done things that I had never done before such as taking measurements of blood pressure, giving injections, and administrating the correct medication. The biggest impact on me was the learning disability placement. I felt that this is where I really put my communication skills into practice. I found learning disability extremely interesting and at the same time challenging. One of the major challenges I encountered was the aggressive behavior of the patient. I learnt the importance of being patient and to try to understand what is making them angry in order to calm them down. Sometimes medication is needed for this. (See appendix) Meeting with my Personal development tutor (PDT) has been extremely useful; at the first meeting we met as a group which we had an open discussion on learning, teaching approaches and available learning support. My second meeting was one to one and I was able to express the problems I faced with modules in terms of understanding prospective assignments and in selecting textbooks which are user friendly to facilitate introduction to new areas of knowledge. It was also a good opportunity for me to discuss issues encountered during placement, in relation to my experiences, which included difficulties as well. I generally found these meeting to be useful because it was and still is an avenue for me to discuss and analyse both personal and professional development. (See appendix) On reflection I can see that I was able to achieve the above nursing needs of patient due to 12 months of acquired knowledge and experiences. In progressing through the stages of skill acquisition, reflecting enabled me to gain new ideas, insights, understanding of clinical practice and I was able to change and improve my practice as I progressed. This ability is vital for personal and professional development. By reflecting I developed reflective skills such as self-awareness, ability to describe, critically analyze, synthesize and evaluate (Bulman and Schutz 2004, p10). ‘Self improvement builds on awareness’ (Moon 1999, p14). Learning is a lifelong process of discovering what is not known and recognition of learning needs is the basis for further development. NMC code of conduct and the life long learning document requires one to be able to recognize when further learning and development may be required. The NMC’s PREP (2001, p7) requires registered nurses to keep up to date with new development and to go for courses that are relevant to the practice area so as to ‘deliver care based on current evidence, best practice and, where applicable, validate research when it is available (NMC 2002, p5). I would like to continue building on my nursing competency so as to increase my knowledge and skills. Achieving this will be through practice and self-directed learning, as well as through clinical supervision which provides support for the student; this will help me in further development of skills, knowledge and enable me to enhance my understanding in practice area. I will also further my education to degree level. In conclusion, I have critically demonstrated how my learning has evolved from novice to advanced beginner of nursing. I have also planned to continue to maintain my personal and professional development by engaging in regular learning activities and also updating my professional portfolio. Furthermore, I will continue to acquire more knowledge to prepare me to face professional challenges, especially in the area of decision making, and the ability to spot opportunities and utilise them. I have an understanding of and confidence in my chosen profession as adult nurse. I want to see learning as part of me; learning new skills everyday is a lifelong experience. Reflective practice will not only improve the quality of care I give but also enhance my personal and professional development thus helping me to close the gap between theory and practice. REFERENCES Benner, P. (2001). From Novice to Expert. Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice. (commemorative edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Bulman, C. Schutz, S. (2004). Reflective Practice in Nursing. (3rd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Johns, P. (2004). Becoming a Reflective Practitioner. (2nd ed.). India: Blackwell Publishing. Moon, J.A. (1999). Reflection in Learning and Professional Development. London: Kogan Page. NMC. (2001). The PREP handbook. London: NMC. NMC. (2002). Code of Professional Conduct. London: NMC. Appendix 1: Use of key transferable skills. Appendix 2: Feedback sheet. Appendix 3: Evidence of learning from practice assessment / skill development in practice. Appendix 4: Copy of meeting with Professional Development Tutor. 1 WORD COUNT =2200

Friday, September 20, 2019

Sociological and Psychological Theories of Crime

Sociological and Psychological Theories of Crime In this task I am going to be looking at different theories which involve criminology, once I have completed that I am going to research one sociological and one psychological theory. At the same time I am going to look at the normal factors that might influence crime. I am also going to be looking at what criminology is and lots of different aspects of crime. Contents (Jump to): Biological Theories  of Crime Nature vs nurture Sociological Theories of Crime Functionalism Merton’s strain theory Marxism Labelling Theory Chicago School Psychological Theories of Crime Psychoanalytical theory Social learning theory Introduction What is criminology? Criminology is a subject which has a lot of different aspects to it. There are a lot of different areas why people turn to committing crime. The reasons are: Sociology Psychology Biology Geography Law Anthropology What is crime? My definition of crime would be that it is something that someone has done wrong, which is breaking the law. So should be punished for it. Another definition for crime would be crime is the breach of a rule or law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment. Right or wrong? We also had a class discussion about what is crime and what is right and wrong? The comments that came up are: An act that is punishable by law. Something that someone has done which is illegal. Behaviour which is contrary to the laws of society. I think that a right reason for breaking the law if there was one would be if someone was so poor and they didn’t have any money to get any food and they stole some food to keep them from starving to death. That isn’t as bad as some crimes and they are only committing the crime so they can stay alive. A wrong reason for committing a crime would be if someone murdered someone else. That is a wrong crime because there will never be a good enough reason for killing someone. Time and place Laws are brought in everyday and different parts of the country and also world. Some examples of different times and place laws have come in are, in 1908 incest was not regarded as a criminal offence in the UK. Everyone knew that it was wrong and that you shouldn’t do it but it wasn’t until 1908 that a law was brought in to stop people who do commit the crime. Another example of this was that it wasn’t illegal to rape within in marriage and that only changed in 1991, when it became illegal. An example of places when it comes to laws is that some laws are different in some country than others. An example of this would be, in the Netherlands they are legally allowed to have sex at the age of 12, but in England they are only legally allowed to have sex when they are 16. In a class discussion we had a look at what might be legal in five years and what is legal now but wouldn’t be legal in five years. A few examples of thing that might not be legal in five years are: Drinking age might have gone up to age of 21. Driving age might go up so there are will be fewer accidents involving young drivers. Children allowed in pubs. Having a drinking whilst eating a meal with parents. We also looked at laws that are illegal at the moment but they might be legal in five years. Examples of this would be: Smoking cannabis might be made legal for everyone not just people who need them for the medical reasons. They might have special licenses that mean people are allowed to smoke in pubs which have the license. Explanation of why do people commit crime? There are many reasons why people commit crime but they have been defined it into three categories. The three groups that they have been put into are biological or genetic, sociological and psychological. Biological or genetic: this is theory that people who have committed have inherited it from their parents. So they are basically born as a criminal. Sociological: this theory is that people will commit crime on depending on who they socialise with. They might do it because they are being pressured by the people they socialise with. Psychological: this is theory s that people will commit crimes all depending on what their personality is like. If there have a good personality they are less likely to commit crime. Biological Theories for Crime Underlying which is also known as distal. Something that effect someone their whole life and it is being held deep down might cause them to commit crime. This might be how they were brought up when they were younger. Immediate this is also known as proximal. Is where the surrounding of a person include the people they will be hanging around with, might effect if someone commits crime or not. Factors that might affect people to commit crime are: Cultural factors (learned social behaviour). This could be their family or even where they come from. It could relate their religion and what they are told they should and should not do. Power of peer group. This could be friends because they might feel pressured to commit crime because all of their mates are. They might want to fit in a group and to be in that group they may have to do something to show they are good enough. Media- the media can affect people in a lot of different ways. It can make people happy, sad or even angry. They have affect on people to do things might not normally do. Statistics Statistic is something where they will collect data and make averages and probabilities out of the results. One of many statistics is that men are twice more likely to commit a crime than women are. Another statistic is that 16 24 have the highest rate for crime in both sexes. BIOLOGY – nature v nurture Nature and nurture will come into to forms when it comes to crime. They have two different views on why people commit crime. The two different views are that people are born a criminal or they are made a criminal once they are born. Nature: This is a theory where they believe that people are born the way they are and they don’t develop into the way they are now. So when crime is involved they have the theory that they will be born as a criminal, and they don’t develop it over time. It will come down to the genetic inheritance, if their parents are criminals they will become a criminal as well because of the genetic inheritance. They will say that genetic determination is inherited which includes the tendency to commit crime. Not many people still believe in this theory it came about in the early stages of the last century, when biologists like Darwin where about. They did studies with twins, which are identical. This means that they are the same in everyway including the same genes. They studied both of the children to see if one of them or both of them become a criminal. They also looked if one did commit a crime the other one is more likely to commit a crime. This is known as concordance. This is more likely to happen with Identical twins than just twins because identical twins have the same genes but twins only share half. A study which supports this theory with evidence is Goldman and Cottesman (1995). They have evidence to support this theory because they showed that if one identical twin does one thing the other one is more likely to do it as well. But they also found that they are in the as environment so they have been brought up the same. Maybe if they were apart it might be different. Nurture This is a theory where they don’t believe it is anything to do with genetic inheritance. They think that everyone is born normal and that lived experiences affect if we will commit crime in are life time or not. Certain area’s that might affect why people will commit crime are: Low family income- they might have any money so they have might have to resort to crime because they will want to buy things that everyone else have, like the latest toys and because they cant afford to pay for them they might steal the instead. Poor child-rearing techniques- if their parents don’t bring their child up right they might know what is wrong and they might think that stealing is acceptable. Large families- that could many reasons like if they had a large family they might not have enough money to provide for them, or they might commit a crime because they don’t get much attention so they do it to get attention, etc. Low educational achievement- that is because they will have no qualifications, so they will not be able to get a job so they won’t have any money to pay for anything which might make them resort to crime. My own view My own view on the biology would be that I agree with the nurture theory because I don’t think that people are born the way they are. I disagree with the nature theory because in some families the parents have never committed a crime and they have a child and that commits crime. It shows that it is nothing to do with being born in a certain way. I think that people commit crime because of people who are around them who can influence them. I think it is all down to influences. Sociological Theories of Crime In this I am going to be looking at different theories. The theories that I am going to be looking at are: Functionalism Marxism Labelling Theory Chicago School Functionalism This is a theory which was developed from Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). Emile Durkheim theory was all based his own theory that people want to be able to live and work, they need to have a strong sense of social order. This means that there has to rules and regulations, and there is always either a right or wrong answer. He thought they needed rules because people will abide by them, he thought that if there wasn’t any rules or anything everything would break down. Crime is universal and normal Durkheim has come to the conclusion that crime is normal because it happens everywhere in every country, all over the globe. He thinks that it is normal because it has always happened and probably will always happen. Crime is relative: This is where the rate of crime is changing all the time. It will change because crime depends on certain factors. Factors that it depends on are things like time, culture, society, and etc. culture might affect the amount of crime because some cultures are more into crime than other cultures. Crime is functional and necessary Durkheim also thinks that crime is necessary in some ways because when people are committing crimes, the government are making new laws to try and punish people when they do commit that crime. This will show criminals that are thinking of committing a crime will not want to because they know what the punishment. It sets boundaries for people and if they commit crimes they will be punished. Functionalism and anomie: This is where there is a major change in society. This will affect people in different ways it all depending on what changes. An example of this is depression, they will lower their sights and expectations but if there is a boom people will react completely different and they will set their sights higher. This will affect functionalism because it will affect the way people live and work. It will either make it better for them or worse. My own view When it comes to functionalism theory I think that some of the aspects of the theory are right but some aren’t. I agree with the fact that we need rules and regulations to live are lives and that if there wasn’t any, everything would break down. I also agree with bringing in laws to stop people from committing offences. I think that if someone has committed a crime that they should be punished for it. So that I agree with basically all of the aspects of the theory. Merton’s strain theory This is another theory that Durkheim came up with. This theory is all to do with where they took the anomie theory further and developed it. This theory is all to do with anomie and how it encourages people to do better. It encourages for people to strive for wealth. The only thing that it won’t be the same from person to person. It all depends on the person. Not everyone will strive to achieve the same thing. Durkheim came up with this theory in 1938. This theory breaks down into five sections. He talks about 5 different ways in which people are able to adapt to the change when the strive comes. Conformity- this is where they accept what they have been given and get on with it. An example of this would be in work, they have been given a task to do and they accept that they have to do it and just get on with it. Innovation- this is the opposite of ritualism. Innovation is where they will accept the cultural goals and they will stick to them but the way in which they achieve it like the traditional way, they will reject it and achieve them in their on way. They might resort to illegitimate ways or illegal ways. Ritualism- this is where they will reject the cultural goals that are there but they will accept and comply with the means of completing something. This would be the traditional ways of achieving things that they have to do. This would be known as bureaucrat. This is where they will do the job to what it is worth they will not put any more effort than what is needed to complete the task. Retreatism- this is the less extreme form of rebellion. They will not accept the social goals, aims and method. They will not comply with them. They will be a drop out of society. Rebellion- this is where they will not accept any of the social goals, which means that they will go by their own rules and do what they want. They will do what they want, not what other people tell them to do. An example of this would be terrorists because that is going against the social goals and rules. When it comes to relating this to crime. You can relate it because he came up with within the theory that people who are in lower classes are more likely to commit crimes because they have more of a strain than people in higher class. They also came up with a theory that working class is more likely to commit crime. The only thing that also he could not find out when it comes to crime is that is nothing to do with finance and people in classes. They can not explain why people are killed and assaulted when it isn’t anything to do with money. He also found out that not everyone has the same goals; it all depends on a lot of factors like living, finance, religion and many more. Merton could not explain why people will choose one adaption other another one. My own view I agree with the theory, the only thing that I don’t agree with is that I don’t think that people are split into some many groups. I think that there should only be three groups. The three groups that I think there should be are conformity, ritualism and also rebellion. Marxism This is a theory that Karl Marx came up with in (1818- 1883). This theory includes information about the new criminology, Critical criminology, Radical criminology, Left realism, Conflict theory. His theory wasn’t much to do with crime, it was more so to do with economics and ownership are the power influences in society. Examples of this that the more land you own the more powers you have. They will employee people to work on the land. Which also help with the theory that they will have more power than the people working on the land. The Bourgeoisie are the owners of the means of production. The Proletariat are the working classes. He believes that there is always a conflict between classes which will lead to social change. It is basically a conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat. Bad behaviour was seen as things someone does that the people in power do not approve of. The people in power will bring in laws if they think that the people who are behaving in a bad way are at risk of taking over. Crime comes from the unfairness and also the corrupt nature of the society. The way in which working people were treated. The reasons why working people committed crime was because they were fighting against the repression. The bourgeoisie decided what should be laws and what shouldn’t be. The proletariat listen and just thought they were normal. The reasons why the bourgeoisie brought in the laws was to make sure that the proletariat don’t try and take over and take their place. Crimes of the Bourgeoisie Crimes of the Proletariat tax fraud benefit fraud embezzlement theft pollution assault corporate crime vandalism This table shows the different types of crimes that both categories are most likely to commit. The bourgeoisie group are most likely to create pollution because if they own factories as their own business. They will have fumes coming out and if there are too many they will be polluting the surrounding area and the earth. The proletariat group are most likely to commit crimes like theft because they don’t get paid much money for doing jobs for the bourgeoisie. This means that they may not be able to provide for their families properly which might force them to commit crimes. The two group’s crimes are so different, the bourgeoisie will do because they know they can get away with it and save more money but the proletariat might do it so they can live properly and provide for their families. Labelling Theory This is a theory that a theorist called Becker came up with. His theory was completely different to the other theory because they blame crime on society where as in this theory it is all to do with people who label people. This is where people label an act as a criminal offence. If people didn’t label them people wouldn’t think they were a criminal thing or a wrong thing to do. It won’t be a crime till we say it is. In this theory they say that it is not the criminal who is responsible, it’s the society. He pointed out that most people have committed a crime in their life at some time, big or small. Most people have been caught for doing it so they haven’t been labelled. The only difference between people and criminals is that they have been caught for it and labelled as a criminal. My own view I agree with this in some ways but I don’t agree in others. I agree that some crimes should be labelled because some people might look at it and think that it isn’t a crime but it actually turns out to be. I don’t think that some crimes don’t need labelling because everyone morally knows what is right and what is wrong. So everyone knows that killing someone isn’t right so I don’t think crime with seriousness of that doesn’t need labelling. Chicago School This is a theory that was made by the Chicago school developed. It all came about in the 1930’s in America. It relates to Robert Park’s theory where he talked about urban ecology. They looked at the people and what happen when there are ecological changes in the environment. This could result in people competing for space, invasion of territory and also dominance of other groups of people. This pictures shows where crime is more likely to happen. It is based on a concentric zone theory where different zones and Burgess points out that more crime will be committed in ‘the loop’ and the zone ‘in transition’. (Criminology_theories and effects on portal in crime and its effect on society folder.) My own view I agree with this theory in the fact that the area that people live can affect people to commit crime, but I think it is to focused around that one aspect why people commit crime. An example of this would be peer groups, family etc. Psychology Theories of Crime There are two different parts of psychological. The two different areas that I am going to be looking at are: Psychoanalytical theory Social learning theory Psychoanalytical theory Psychoanalytic theory which is also known as Freudian theory is where they think that people are being dominated by unconscious forces and driven by sexual and aggressive desires. The theory also says that we are not free and we aren’t in charge of ourselves. So something else does everything for us. Freud came up with three state of the mind: The id: the childlike demanding side of a person The ego: the rational logical side The super ego: the moral part of our personality He came up with the theory that if parents do not socialise with their children enough, they will not be able to develop the super ego properly which might result in them not being able to control their ID. Which means that it can lead to bad and also destructive behaviour. My own view When it comes to this theory I don’t agree with it in the sense that it is all to do with sexual and aggressive drives. I think it is just to do with thoughts not sexual or aggressive thoughts. I also disagree in some ways with if the parent don’t show enough attention to their children they would stay in the ID stage. I think that they might slightly be affected but not to the extent that he says it will be. Social learning theory This is all about behavioural psychology. Behavioural psychology is where they people learn behaviour and they are able to maintain it by rewards and also sanctions. When this comes to crimes, they say that crime has either been learned or it is a failure of socialisation process. This is where they were never taught what was right or wrong. They say crime is a learned behaviour, which doesn’t differ from any other learning experience. Criticism of the social learning theory The criticism that was made was that people are very different and no-one is the same and that you don’t know how someone will react to punishment. Someone might be happy but some people might not. All depends on the person. The theory assumes individuals are passive and unquestioning. It neglects the influence the influence of media and wider culture Other contributing factors to crime There are other factors that affect why people commit crime than the ones that I have covered. The other factors that might affect people are: Family Farrington and West (1990) they found that a small amount of people will commit crime because of their family. They account for the large proportion of criminal activity. Families account for a small amount of it though. (UK most crime committed by 10% of the population). Economic factors this shows that people from low economic are more likely to commit crime or involved in criminal activities. Benyan (1994) and Harrower (1998) looked into this theory and found that the nature been poverty and crime will never be a rock solid evidence to prove why people commit crime. Peer pressure this is where friends and also peer groups influence people to commit crime. They might do it because they want to be in a group. Or they feel like an idiot if they don’t do what everyone else is doing. This would normally happen in gangs. Education a poor education can affect it because if they don’t like it. They might not go which might turn them to committing crime because they have nothing else to do. My own view I think that these all contribute to crime in a major way. I think that normally most contributes to crime would be peer pressure because you will be with your friends and other peer so they affect a lot of different things you do and also how you live your life. I think that family is close behind because they will teach you what is right and wrong when you are younger so that you know for when you are older.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Morality Essays -- essays research papers

Plato Republic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Socrates engages in conversations with people claiming to be experts, usual in ethical matters. By asking simple questions, Socrates gradually reveals that these people were in fact very confused and did not actually know anything about the matters about which they claimed to be an expert. Morality is the ethical matter that is brought up in Plato’s Republic. Socrates argues the response of Cephalus, Polemarchus and Thrasymachus on what morality is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The question of morality came up when Socrates and Cephalus, who is a rich old man, were having a conversation about money. Socrates asks Cephalus if being rich makes it easier to enjoy old age. At first, Cephalus says no, but he soon admits that there are advantages to being rich. Cephalus says being true and giving things back is what morality is. Socrates gives an example where you can do something good by not giving back. His example was if you borrow a weapon from a friend, and he is sane at the time and at the time you should give it back your friend is insane then you shouldn’t give it back so you can protect him from doing harm, which is also good. Cephalus agreed that Socrates was correct that this was doing something good so Socrates said if that is the case than the definition of morality isn’t to tell the truth and give something back whatever one has borrowed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Polemarchus is the son of Cephalus, and he â€Å"inherits...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Romeo And Juliet - Fate Or Free Will :: essays research papers

The human condition follows the path of fate. Everyone makes choices out of their own free will which affects their life at that time, but will ultimately lead to their pre- determined fate. People inflict their own wounds during their life by the choices that they make. This applies in Romeo and Juliet and plays a major role in Romeo and Juliet’s lives. "A pair of star-crossed lovers" (I, i, 6) In the very opening of the play the chorus is singing about Romeo and Juliet, and predicts their life together as having a star-crossed conclusion. By already knowing from the beginning that their life has an ill-fated conclusion, we can see how their choices brought them to their death. Romeo and Juliet could see that their life together was not going the way they wanted, because Romeo and Juliet wanted to marry each other but there were many barriers between them. Both Romeo and Juliet had many failed attempts in their efforts to trick fate out of what was ultimately going to happen to them both. Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. (IV, i, 122-124) Juliet is to drink a potion to make her appear dead, and later wake to be free of the shame of marrying Paris. Here, Friar Lawrence is assuring Juliet that he will send a letter to Romeo, explaining their plan. Romeo doesn’t receive that letter, and he does not know what is to happen. Free will comes with great consequences. Friar Lawrence and Juliet inflicted their own wounds by not telling Romeo of their plan. If they had taken the time to make sure that Romeo got the information, their plan might have succeeded, and Romeo and Juliet would be free to marry each other. A greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents. (V, iii, 154-155) After Romeo kills Paris, and then himself, Juliet wakes as Friar Lawrence rushes over to her. Friar Lawrence is saying that a higher power, in this case, fate, has ruined their plan. We know that Friar Lawrence is talking about fate when he says that they cannot contradict this power. You cannot contradict fate, it always has it’s way in the end, whether we know it or not. "O, I am fortune’s fool! (III, i, 135)".

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Mystic Monk Coffee

1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? * The future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming has been clearly established by Father Daniel Mary. The vision is to create a new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains to become a new home for the brotherhood which is a much bigger place that would include accommodations for 30 monks, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors and a hermitage. The vision for the Mystic Monk Coffee is to segment the majority of U. S. Catholic population who drank coffee and to support the monastery’s mission. The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming is just like the other monks, dedicating their life to prayer and worship. 2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision? * Yes, the group believes that Father Daniel Mary has clearly set his goals and used this as a basis in choosing steps in which they must undertake to achieve the said goals. Unfortunately, how the definite the vision is, it seems like the resources is not enough and the timing is lousy. 3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce? * The strategy of Father Prior in order to achieve his vision is the coffee industry they called ‘Mystic Monk Coffee’. The competitive advantage MMC’s have against the competitors is the use of high-quality fair trade Arabica and an organic Arabica beans instead of just using one (Robusta or Arabica), they used mixed beans. Another is the specialty flavours like Mystical Chants of Carmel, Cowboy Blend, Royal Rum Pecan, and Mystic Monk Blend. Moreover, their marketing that reached the internet is another plus which makes it easier for the market to be accessed. Their sample bags which cost $2. 99 or the all flavours 12-ounce bags which cost $9. 95 are available online and were delivered by the UPS. Another plus is the â€Å"coffee club†, which people can purchase 3-6 six bags for free shipping. Freebies like T-shirts, gift cards, CDs, and coffee mugs are also a plus. But most importantly, the major advantage of the MMC is their target markets which are the Catholics saying, â€Å"Use their Catholic coffee dollar for Christ and his Catholic church†. 4. In Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? Its profit formula? Its resources that enable it to create and deliver value to customer? The strategy of the MMC to appeal to the Catholic market is a bonus but their main money-maker is the wholesaling of the green coffee beans being delivered to Seattle, Washington weekly. However, they are paying the broker at a prevailing wholesale price per pound that fluctuates daily. The production limit is also at 540 pounds/day and the operation is limited because of the praying duties. One flaw is that they are rushing things, orders had not yet exceedin g their capacity but they already want to expand in the expense of $35,000 for a larger roaster. MMC’s operation is via the word of mouth among loyal customers and the sales are mostly through their website and occasionally through the phone. They also offer secular website through its Mystic Monk Coffee Affiliate Program, this earned 18% commission on sales and where directed to the main site. This business model earns at least 56% commission, they also plan to expand by including wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops. The profit of the MMC totalling $74,580/year which comes from 11% net profit margin from the $56,500 revenue per month. . Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not? * We do not consider the said strategy as a winning strategy. For us, it is not enough to make the buying of the ranch possible even if we consider the cash they have on hand ($250,000 received as donation and $75,000 earnings from the Mystic Monk coffee-roasting operation on its first year). If they would still push through, with this plan to be followed, we think that it would be hard for them to pay for the ranch in whatever terms they (owner of ranch and monks) would agree on. Besides, even if they have a business currently operating and with the information we have gathered, it is still not enough for them to meet their goal of acquiring the land as other factors and expenses must be considered so that they will not experience budget deficit and debts in their coffee shop and in purchasing the said ranch. Father Daniel Mary needs to have a much more effective strategy if he wants to make the payment easier for him and the rest of the community in the Carmelite Order. In addition, if we consider the Mystic Monk Coffee as their money-maker alone – along with the profit it generates, none of the monks are highly intellectual enough to run a business, hinting that their profit-strategy would most likely in a win or lose situation and in their case, it would, perhaps, turn out to be the latter given the fact that their profit per year is less than $75k. If we put into consideration the three tests of a winning strategy, it would not pass all the three tests. First, the strategy fits the company’s current situation. However, should they pursue the strategy, there will be flaws that the company may experience. Second, regarding competitive advantage; the company’s strategy hasn’t yielded a sustainable competitive advantage if we are to include the advantages of notable coffee brands in the industry. Lastly, about production of good financial performance; Mystic Monk Coffee is likely to produce a good financial performance, though it is not remarkable enough to provide the company what it needs to achieve its intention. 6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? Its objectives? Its strategy? Its approach to strategy execution? Explain. * The coffee industry is one of the biggest businesses that the world has today. With a lot of successful coffee brands and shops, Mystic Monk’s Coffee has to level up their strategy in order to keep up with bigger and distinguished brands. They must come up with schemes that would attract more customers. A good example of a schema that the group suggests is the hiring of non-secular employees so that when it's the monks turn to do their own devotions and prayers, the employees would then be in charge of answering the calls and orders regarding their business. We are also informed that the monks are prohibited to leave the monastery unless given permission by the bishop and reasons for leaving are restricted to medical needs and death of family members. With this said, the business will be limited when it comes to expansion that is why it would be best to hire non-secular employees. The group also suggests that they could have some partnership with people outside the monastery so they can have an extension or branch of their business. In this way, there is a bigger chance for the business to acquire a bigger amount of profit, making it easier for them to reach their goal. Also, since the situation, itself, says that their target market are those of the Catholic in which it compasses more than 69 million coffee drinkers around US, it would be much easier if MMC would advertise their products outside their own website. A concrete example of this is the social networking site Facebook in which they would be able to connect to even outside US as they give out their products' facts. If successful, this would help them a lot in earning money of which will be used in acquiring the ranch for their expansion. It will be possible for Father Daniel Mary to achieve his goal of transforming the brotherhood into a bigger place for more aspiring monks and other religious people. Mystic Monk Coffee 1. Has Father Daniel Mary established a future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? What is his vision for the monastery? What is his vision for Mystic Monk Coffee? What is the mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming? * The future direction for the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming has been clearly established by Father Daniel Mary. The vision is to create a new Mount Carmel in the Rocky Mountains to become a new home for the brotherhood which is a much bigger place that would include accommodations for 30 monks, a Gothic church, a convent for Carmelite nuns, a retreat center for lay visitors and a hermitage. The vision for the Mystic Monk Coffee is to segment the majority of U. S. Catholic population who drank coffee and to support the monastery’s mission. The mission of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming is just like the other monks, dedicating their life to prayer and worship. 2. Does it appear that Father Daniel Mary has set definite objectives and performance targets for achieving his vision? * Yes, the group believes that Father Daniel Mary has clearly set his goals and used this as a basis in choosing steps in which they must undertake to achieve the said goals. Unfortunately, how the definite the vision is, it seems like the resources is not enough and the timing is lousy. 3. What is Father Prior’s strategy for achieving his vision? What competitive advantage might Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy produce? * The strategy of Father Prior in order to achieve his vision is the coffee industry they called ‘Mystic Monk Coffee’. The competitive advantage MMC’s have against the competitors is the use of high-quality fair trade Arabica and an organic Arabica beans instead of just using one (Robusta or Arabica), they used mixed beans. Another is the specialty flavours like Mystical Chants of Carmel, Cowboy Blend, Royal Rum Pecan, and Mystic Monk Blend. Moreover, their marketing that reached the internet is another plus which makes it easier for the market to be accessed. Their sample bags which cost $2. 99 or the all flavours 12-ounce bags which cost $9. 95 are available online and were delivered by the UPS. Another plus is the â€Å"coffee club†, which people can purchase 3-6 six bags for free shipping. Freebies like T-shirts, gift cards, CDs, and coffee mugs are also a plus. But most importantly, the major advantage of the MMC is their target markets which are the Catholics saying, â€Å"Use their Catholic coffee dollar for Christ and his Catholic church†. 4. In Mystic Monk Coffee’s strategy a money-maker? What is MMC’s business model? What is your assessment of Mystic Monk Coffee’s customer value proposition? Its profit formula? Its resources that enable it to create and deliver value to customer? The strategy of the MMC to appeal to the Catholic market is a bonus but their main money-maker is the wholesaling of the green coffee beans being delivered to Seattle, Washington weekly. However, they are paying the broker at a prevailing wholesale price per pound that fluctuates daily. The production limit is also at 540 pounds/day and the operation is limited because of the praying duties. One flaw is that they are rushing things, orders had not yet exceedin g their capacity but they already want to expand in the expense of $35,000 for a larger roaster. MMC’s operation is via the word of mouth among loyal customers and the sales are mostly through their website and occasionally through the phone. They also offer secular website through its Mystic Monk Coffee Affiliate Program, this earned 18% commission on sales and where directed to the main site. This business model earns at least 56% commission, they also plan to expand by including wholesale sales to churches and local coffee shops. The profit of the MMC totalling $74,580/year which comes from 11% net profit margin from the $56,500 revenue per month. . Does the strategy qualify as a winning strategy? Why or why not? * We do not consider the said strategy as a winning strategy. For us, it is not enough to make the buying of the ranch possible even if we consider the cash they have on hand ($250,000 received as donation and $75,000 earnings from the Mystic Monk coffee-roasting operation on its first year). If they would still push through, with this plan to be followed, we think that it would be hard for them to pay for the ranch in whatever terms they (owner of ranch and monks) would agree on. Besides, even if they have a business currently operating and with the information we have gathered, it is still not enough for them to meet their goal of acquiring the land as other factors and expenses must be considered so that they will not experience budget deficit and debts in their coffee shop and in purchasing the said ranch. Father Daniel Mary needs to have a much more effective strategy if he wants to make the payment easier for him and the rest of the community in the Carmelite Order. In addition, if we consider the Mystic Monk Coffee as their money-maker alone – along with the profit it generates, none of the monks are highly intellectual enough to run a business, hinting that their profit-strategy would most likely in a win or lose situation and in their case, it would, perhaps, turn out to be the latter given the fact that their profit per year is less than $75k. If we put into consideration the three tests of a winning strategy, it would not pass all the three tests. First, the strategy fits the company’s current situation. However, should they pursue the strategy, there will be flaws that the company may experience. Second, regarding competitive advantage; the company’s strategy hasn’t yielded a sustainable competitive advantage if we are to include the advantages of notable coffee brands in the industry. Lastly, about production of good financial performance; Mystic Monk Coffee is likely to produce a good financial performance, though it is not remarkable enough to provide the company what it needs to achieve its intention. 6. What recommendations would you make to Father Daniel Mary in terms of crafting and executing strategy for the monastery’s coffee operations? Are changed needed in its long-term direction? Its objectives? Its strategy? Its approach to strategy execution? Explain. * The coffee industry is one of the biggest businesses that the world has today. With a lot of successful coffee brands and shops, Mystic Monk’s Coffee has to level up their strategy in order to keep up with bigger and distinguished brands. They must come up with schemes that would attract more customers. A good example of a schema that the group suggests is the hiring of non-secular employees so that when it's the monks turn to do their own devotions and prayers, the employees would then be in charge of answering the calls and orders regarding their business. We are also informed that the monks are prohibited to leave the monastery unless given permission by the bishop and reasons for leaving are restricted to medical needs and death of family members. With this said, the business will be limited when it comes to expansion that is why it would be best to hire non-secular employees. The group also suggests that they could have some partnership with people outside the monastery so they can have an extension or branch of their business. In this way, there is a bigger chance for the business to acquire a bigger amount of profit, making it easier for them to reach their goal. Also, since the situation, itself, says that their target market are those of the Catholic in which it compasses more than 69 million coffee drinkers around US, it would be much easier if MMC would advertise their products outside their own website. A concrete example of this is the social networking site Facebook in which they would be able to connect to even outside US as they give out their products' facts. If successful, this would help them a lot in earning money of which will be used in acquiring the ranch for their expansion. It will be possible for Father Daniel Mary to achieve his goal of transforming the brotherhood into a bigger place for more aspiring monks and other religious people.