Financial analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Financial analysis - Assignment Example Despite the fact that there are more phones than humans worldwide the global penetration of cellular technology is 79% of the population. The market for cellular phones is attractive, particularly the sales of smartphones such as the iPhone 6. In 2012 the worldwide sales of smartphones reached 967.8 million units (Plunkettresearch, 2014). In the United States the market penetration is 104.3% with 68.8% of users using smartphones. Smartphones are revenue makers for companies such as AT&T that sell cellular talk, text and internet data services for cellular devices. Cellular devices are the biggest seller of any kind of consumer electronic with approximately 1.8 billion units sold each year. 53.76% of all cellular phones sold each year are smartphones. New phones today offers a vast array of advanced features that make smartphones the new computing device of the 21st century. U.S. wireless service company revenues in 2013 reached $189.2 billion. The average user of a cellular phone spends $48.79 on their monthly bill. The ability to sell internet data services has greatly increased the capacity of cellular phone providers to increase their revenues. A major merger that occurred in the industry in 2013 was Japan Softbank merged with Sprint Nextel. The cash flow of Sprint increased by $5 billion after completion of this deal. Cellular phones have become a mature product in the United States as market penetration exceeds 100%. Focusing on selling smartphones with better features and specifications has become the mostly utilized strategy in the industry to achieve growth. Cellular phone providers benefit from the innovation of companies such as Motorola, Apple, and Samsung. New smartphones are going to become more powerful due to the consumer desire to have a computer at the reach of their hands. A growing trend among cellular phone users is to utilize phones to pay for goods or services. 3G and 4G networks are the current standard of the industry, but beware

Gender Inequality Essay Example for Free

Gender Inequality Essay I have chosen to make my presentation about inequalities between genders after having seen a video last week . I don’t know if someone has seen the speech of Emma Watson at the United Nation about that but if you don’t , the actress gave an impassioned speech on feminism and gender at the U.N. headquarters in New York this weekend to launch the â€Å"HeForShe† campaign which aims to galvanize one billion men and boys as advocates for ending the inequalities that women and girls face globally. â€Å"I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive. Why is the word such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.† No society treats its women as well as its men. Thats the conclusion from the United Nations Development Programme, as written in its 1997 Human Development Report. Almost 50 years earlier, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specified that everyone, regardless of sex, was entitled to the same rights and freedoms. The 1997 Human Development Report, as well as every Human Development Report that followed, has highlighted that each country falls short of achieving that goal.. In this presentation, well take a trip around the world to examine 10 examples of gender inequality 10: Professional Obstacles Women fought for decades to take their place in the workplace alongside men, but that fight isnt over yet. According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Census, women earn just 77 percent of what men earn for the same amount of work]. In addition to this gender wage gap, women often face a glass ceiling when it comes to promotions, which is evident when you survey the lack of women in leadership positions at major companies. Women who have  children often find themselves penalized for taking time off; if theyre not dismissed, they may face discrimination and outdated ideas of what a woman can accomplish if shes pregnant or a mother.. 9: Limited Mobility Saudi Arabia provides the most extreme example of limited mobility for women: In that country, women are not allowed to drive a car or ride a bicycle on public roads. The strict Islamic law in the country prohibits women from leaving the home without a mans permission, and if they do leave the home, they cant drive a car . While Saudi Arabia is the only country that prohibits women from driving a car, other countries restrict womens overseas travels by limiting their access to passports, and even women in developed countries may complain of limited mobility. While these women may have the legal right to drive cars and ride planes, they may elect not to go out by themselves at night due to the threat of rape or attack. 8: Violence In 2008, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported that one in every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime .In both the developed and the developing world, violence against women in the form of rape, spousal abuse, child abuse or spousal killing is such routine behavior that it rarely even makes the news anymore. In conflict zones, rape of women and children is increasingly used as a weapon of war 7: Feticide and Infanticide Youll often hear expectant parents say that they dont care if they have a boy or a girl, as long as the baby is healthy. In some countries, such as China and India, a male child is more valuable than a female child, and this gender bias causes parents to care very much if they have a boy or a girl. Thanks to advances in genetic testing, parents can find out if theyre having a boy or a girl, and they may elect to end a pregnancy that would yield a female child Chinas one child policy may have led to many sex-selective abortions. 6. Restricted Land Ownership In some countries, such as Chile and Lesotho, women lack the right to own  land. All deeds must include the name of a man, be it the womans husband or father. If one of those men were to die, the woman has no legal claim to land that she may have lived on or worked all her life. And some women remain in abusive marriages so that they wont lose a place to live. Such restricted rights can be particularly frustrating in rural areas where agriculture is dominant. 5: Feminization of Poverty Women in some countries have no right to own the land on which they live or work. Not only can such a state trap women in abusive marriages, it also contributes to a phenomenon that economists have deemed the feminization of poverty. More than 1.5 billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day, and the majority of those people are women . The United Nations often cites the statistic that women do two-thirds of the worlds work, receive 10 percent of the worlds income and own 1 percent of the means of production Many female entrepreneurs have been foiled and left to dwell in poverty because of restricted access to basic legal rights. 4: Access to Health Care In many countries, a pregnant woman in labor can head to any hospital, confident that she will receive assistance in delivery. That seems like a luxury to women in developing countries, however. According to the World Health Organization, one woman dies in childbirth every minute of every day. Thats more than 500,000 deaths every year, many of which could have been prevented if the woman had been allowed to leave her home to receive treatment, or if shed had a skilled attendant by her side. Childbirth is but one example of how women receive unequal access to health care services. 3: Freedom to Marry and Divorce In the United States, love (and the lack of it) is a subject for romantic comedies and conversation over cocktails. In other countries, love may not enter the discussion at all when it comes to marriage. In many countries, young girls are forced to marry men two or three times their age. According to UNICEF, more than one-third of women aged 20 to 24 were married before they turned 18, which is considered the minimum legal age of marriage in most countries When a woman wants out of a loveless marriage, her options are limited in many countries. In some places, courts automatically grant custody of children to the husband, and women often have no chance of receiving any measure of financial support. In other places, such as Egypt, women dont even have access to a court. While men are allowed a divorce after an oral renunciation registered with the court, women face years of obstacles to get in front of a judge. For this reason, many women around the world are trapped in abusive marriages. 1: Education Attainment Of the children that arent in school right now, the majority of them are girls.]. When it comes to education, girls worldwide get the short end of the stick. Girls may be kept out of school to help with household chores, they may be pulled from school if their father deems its time for them to marry, or there may only be enough money to educate one child from the family and the boy assumes the responsibility. This gap in educational attainment becomes particularly maddening when you consider the numerous studies that have been done which show that educating girls is a key factor in eliminating poverty and aiding development. Girls who complete school are less likely to marry young, more likely to have smaller families and exhibit better health outcomes in relation to maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS. These women also go on to earn higher salaries, which they then invest in their own families, thus ensuring that future generations of girls get to go on to school. Indeed, its addressin g the inequalities in education that may solve many of the other problems on this list. 2: Political Participation Analysts often posit that many of the issues on this list could be solved if women had higher levels of political participation. Despite making up half the global population, women hold only 15.6 percent of elected parliamentary seats in the world. Theyre missing from all levels of government local, regional and national. Why is it important that women take part in politics? A study that examined women in leadership in Bolivia, Cameroon and Malaysia found that when women could take part in shaping spending priorities, they were more likely to invest in family and community resources, health, education and the eradication of poverty than the men, who were more likely to invest in the military [source: Some countries have experimented with quoBy No society treats its women as well as its men. Thats the conclusion from the United Nations Development Programme, as written in its 1997 Human Development Report [source: UNDP]. Almost 50 years earlier, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specified that everyone, regardless of sex, was entitled to the same rights and freedoms. The 1997 Human Development Report, as well as every Human Development Report that followed, has highlighted that each country falls short of achieving that goal. The severity of the shortfall varies by country; Nordic countries such as Sweden, Norway and Iceland, for example, are routinely hailed as having the smallest gender gaps. In the developing world, however, women face unfairness that can be hard to fathom. In this article, well take a trip around the world to examine 10 examples of gender inequality.

Analysis of Obesity in the UK

Analysis of Obesity in the UK Obesity in England:  Reason Consequences Generally, the objective of this statistics report is to evaluate the obesity in England. 1.0 Abstract The main purpose of this report, is to identify the statistics analytical report regarding ‘Obesity in England’ that is specifically based on the physical activity and the lifestyles of people in England. In addition to the objective of this report, is to highlight the fact that peoples physical activities and lifestyles are changing year by year. Additionally, this report will analyse the obesity statistics of the population in England. The report will then discuss about the physical activity of the population relating to obesity in England. In order to ease the understanding of the reader, historical tables and pie charts will be included in this report which can also help readers to make comparisons between the obesity rate, physical activities and lifestyle statistics. 2.0 Introduction Figure 1 represents the calculation formula of BMI with different units of measurements. The unit of ‘masses in BMI can be applied by using Kilograms (kg), Pounds (lbs), or Stones (st). However, the SI units for BMI is still remain on kilograms. (Figure 1) Obesity can be defined as an individual who is overweight with a significant degree of body fat and fatty acid (NHS, 2012). In the past twenty five years, the occurrence of obesity in England, was measured and studies found that the statistical records, had doubled the figures from the past years (Publich Health England, 2014). There are several reasons that could cause obesity to happen. The two main factors influencing obesity are, due to lack of physical activities and lifestyles. Obesity is undoubtedly harmful for an individuals health. An individual who face obesity, may encounter some severe health issues such as diabetes, strokes, heart disease and even some common cancer such as breast cancer or colon cancer (NHS, 2012). The question is, how can one determine whether an individual is considered obese or not? An individual’s weight can be measured in various ways and measurement to determine the severity of overweight. However, according to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), the method that is widely practice for body weighting is the body mass index (BMI). By using the calculations in (Figure 1), individuals can acknowledge whether he/she is overweight or obese. BMI overweight severity is separated into a few categories. For instances, individuals with BMI range of 25-29 would be considered as overweight, while individuals who falls in the second category with BMI between 30 and 40, would be considered as obese, followed by people who has his/her BMI over 40, would be considered as unhealthy obesity (NHS, 2012). This report will provide essential statistics data to give a bigger picture of obesity in England for readers. The statistics will be supported with graphs, tables and pie charts that will be included as well to demonstrate a better illustration of the comparison between the variables. Last but not least, by the end of the report, readers will understand the potential reason of obesity in terms of physical activities and consequences of obesity. 3.0 Methodology The information that was used in this report, were collected through various types of sources such as online journals, articles, internet and books. These sources were done using secondary data. In addition, several reliable websites and annual reports of official institutions were used to interpret and analyse the data and was converted into information to discuss this statistics report. The websites that were used in this report consists of Guardian, Telegraph, and National Health Service (NHS). Furthermore, regarding to the obesity’s data and information, the data were mainly obtained from the reports published by NHS in order to improve the creditability and reliability of this report. In short, the information, data and materials in this report are extremely genuine, trustworthy and reliable. 4.0 Findings 4.1 Statistics of obesity in England by age group (2002 to 2012) (Graph 1) Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health Social Care Information Centre (2014). According to (Graph 1) above, the graph specifically shows the statistics of obesity in England from year 2002 to 2013 according to age groups from the age of 16. The statistics showed that the obesity’s population in England, is trending up from 2002 to 2013 for all age group (16 to 74 and over). In 2002, there was a record of 29,237 people facing obesity while in 2003 the obesity rate had significantly increased to 33,546 people which calculated 14.74% change. During that moment, the population of obesity in England rose rapidly from year 2004 to 2009 with 21.45%, 27.68%, 29.20%, 20.39%, 27.28% and 38.90% increase respectively. In population, the numbers of people suffering from obesity, had gone up dramatically from 40,741 to 142,219 people. By comparing to year 2009, the percentage change of the obesity’s population had reached its peak which is 48.91% in 2010. There was a record of 211,783 individual which are obese from the age of 16 to 74 and over. Additionally, the statistics of people facing obesity in England climbed up to 266,666 with a 25.91% change comparing to year 2010. Last but not least, the total population of obesity in England in year 2012, had reached up to 292,404 people. However, this increase had accounted to only 9.65% change in population of obesity. In the bigger picture, the population for obesity in England had been escalated from year 2002 to 2013 with an increase of massive 900%. 4.2 Obesity between men and women in England (Year 2002-2012) (Graph 2) Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health Social Care Information Centre (2014). As you can see, (Graph 2) represents the obesity’s population between the men and women in England. The graph shows a significant uptrend formed with the recorded statistics of obesity’s population. Other than that, you can see the difference between the obese men and women. The difference between the men and women that are obese, showed that both genders were increasing year by year. In 2002, the number of women who suffered from obesity (17,169 people) were 5,100 people higher than the number of obese men (12,068 people). Furthermore, in 2007, the number of obese women (48,829 people) had a 16,749 people of difference compared to the obese men which was tripled the result of year 2002. Nevertheless, the most significant data recorded was in year 2012. The population of women being obese (192,795 people), was approximately twice as many as the population of obese men (99,579 people). In result, we can conclude that regarding to England’s obesity’s population, the number of women who suffered from obesity are higher than men. According to the research, lack of physical activity were the cause of obesity. 5.0 Physical activity Physical activity is known to bring healthy benefits to individuals and it is proved that this will reduce incidence of many chronic conditions such as obesity (HSCIC, 2012). However, individuals that are lack of physical activity may suffer from obesity. 5.1 Physical activity guidelines MPA (minutes/week) VPA (minutes/week) Active 150 10 Some activity 60-149 30-74 Low activity (Overweight) 30-59 15-29 Inactive (Obese) MPA: Moderate intensity Physical Activity VPA: Vigorous intensity Physical Activity (Figure 2) Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health Social Care Information Centre (2014). HSCIC (2012) had set up a standard for physical activity guidelines as shown in (Figure 2). The activities are divided into four categories to determine whether an individual is active or inactive. Individuals must meet the requirements of at least either MPA or VPA or both in order to fall into that category. 5.2 Self-reported physical activity of men and women (Chart 1) (Chart 2) Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health Social Care Information Centre (2014). HSCIC (2012) stated that individuals must have at least 30 MPA in order to get rid of obesity. Low activity and inactive individual will be considered as overweight and obese. Chart 1 and Chart 2 are the pie charts that represent the self-reported physical activity data that HSCIC (2012) collected. According to both of the figures, the percentage of active individuals in terms of physical activity of men (67%) is obviously more than the women (55%) by a difference of 12%. Relatively, 26% of women in year 2012 are inactive regarding to their physical activity. Furthermore, the percentage of low activity of women is slightly (2%) higher than men. In contrast, the inactive population of men in their physical activity was just 19% which is 7% lower than the women. In comparison, the percentages of inactive women are higher than inactive men whereas the percentages of active men are higher than the women. In short, since the individuals that fall in the ‘low activity’ and ‘inactive’ category, are considered to be overweight and obese. Therefore, referring to (Figure 3), we can conclude that physical activity is be one of the main reasons that caused obesity and it also showed why the population of obese women was more than men since year 2002 until 2012. 6.0 Comparative rates of adults’ obesity in 2010 (Graph 3) Source: National Obesity Observatory, International Comparisons of Obesity Prevalence, available at: www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/international/ Graph 3 shows latest data of comparative rates of adults obesity in year 2010. As we can see, the countrys highest obesity prevalence is the United States (35.70%). This is followed by Mexico, Scotland and New Zealand coming in second, third and fourth place accordingly with the obesity prevalence of 30%, 28.20% and 26.50% respectively. England’s obesity prevalence is 26.10% which is considered high by comparing to countries such as Australia (24.60%), Northern Ireland (23%), Luxembourg (22.50%) and Slovak Republic (16.90%). Last but not least, Japan and Korea have the least obesity prevalence by comparing to other countries in the graph shown; they have a percentage of 3.90% and 3.80% relatively. Ultimately, this graph shows that the obesity level of England which is considered severe. 6.1 Map of excess weight of England Map 1 shows the percentage of adults that are involved in obesity from different regions of England. Guardian (2014) stated that it has an average of 64% adults bringing obese in England by considering all the regions. (Map 1) 7.0 Cost of Obesity The cost of obesity, consists of human cost and National Health Service (NHS) cost. This session will discuss about both the cost for obesity. Figure 2 shows the relative risk of women and men in terms of the diseases caused by obesity. The table consist of diseases that may cause hypertension, stroke and cancer. It can be seen that the relative figures of women, is higher by comparing to the men especially in the Type 2 Diabetes which is two times more of the probability. Type 2 Diabetes can cause serious life shortening that will affect the mortality of human being (NAO, 2011). 7.1 Human Cost of obesity Disease Relative risk Women Relative risk men Type 2 Diabetes 12.7 5.2 Hypertension 4.2 2.6 Myocardial Infarction 3.2 1.5 Cancer of the Colon 2.7 3 Angina 1.8 1.8 Gall Bladder Diseases 1.8 1.8 Ovarian Cancer 1.7 Osteoarthritis 1.4 1.9 Stroke 1.3 1.3 (Figure 2) Source: National Audit Office estimates based on literature review 7.2 NHS Cost of Obesity (Graph 4) Source: National Audit Office estimates (2012) Graph 4 shows the approximate obesity cost in 2012. It is estimated a spending of  £457m on obesity cost, is considered as a burden to the England’s economy. NAO (2012) estimated that the obesity cost for year 2015, will increase dramatically up to  £6.3 billion and up to  £9.7 billion by year 2050. The reason behind the cost of obesity will be significant high, is because of the indirect cost of lost output in economy. NAO (2001) stated that the economy will be in recession due to the sickness or death of the England’s workforce caused by obesity. Therefore, the consequences of obesity must not be ignored but must be taken into serious considerations. 8.0 Conclusion In short, the statistics of this report identified some important details regarding obesity in England. It is important to understand how the impact of obesity and the growth of population can cause the increase of people with obesity to be two times more in the past 25 years. Furthermore, the trend for obesity in all different age groups, showed an increase in England from year 2002-2013. The differences between the genders as well, will show the reasons to why there is an increase in obesity in relations to physical activities because of the activeness of men, inactiveness of women and vice versa. Importantly, this report stated the consequences of obesity which is severe illnesses that causes death with related risk statistics about men and women. Lastly, the report showed the comparison between other countries related to obesity, the percentage of obesity in the regions of England, followed by the human and NHS cost of obesity. 9.0 Recommendations As aforementioned, the level of obesity in England is getting more and more significant year by year. Government should conduct more campaign to fight obesity as it will provide more information about importance of physical activity in life to individuals or families. In addition, government should continue to subsidise NHS for the ‘Health Check programme’ in order to prevent and avoid severe disease such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Besides, government should not just focus on physical activity; they must focus on other reason that causes obesity as well, such as diet and lifestyle. Government could implement some political strategy to fight obesity, such as increase the taxation of fat-food in order to stop people from buying the unhealthy product. Last but not least, government could also increase the advertising of healthy campaign and advertisement of disadvantages of obesity to encourage people to get rid of obesity. 10.0 References: Boseley, S. (2014). The Guardian: Almost two-thirds of adults in England classed as overweight by health body. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/04/two-thirds-adults-overweight-england-public-health [Last Accessed 28th March 2014]. National Health Service. (2014). Obesity: Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx [Accessed 27th March 2014]. Public Health England. (2014). Trends in Obesity Prevalence. [Online] Available at: http://www.noo.org.uk/NOO_about_obesity/trends [Accessed 20th March 2014]. Figure 1: Source :http://healthy-living.knoji.com/does-your-bmi-really-matter/ HSCIC. (2014). Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet: England 2014. [Online] Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB13648/Obes-phys-acti-diet-eng-2014-rep.pdf [Accessed 20th March 2014]. HSCIC. (2012). Physical activity in Adults. [Online] Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB13218/HSE2012-Ch2-Phys-act-adults.pdf [Accessed 24th March 2014]. NAO. (2012). An Update on the Government’s Approach to Tackling Obesity. [Online] Available at: http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tackling_obesity_update.pdf [Accessed 24th March 2014]. HSCIC. (2012). Chapter 7: Health Outcomes. [Online] Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=13887returnid=3945 [Accessed 24th March 2014]. NAO. (2001). Tackling Obesity in England. [Online] Available at: http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2001/02/0001220.pdf [Accessed 28th March 2014]. Public Health England. (2013). Social Care and Obesity: A Discussion Paper. [Online] Available at: http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/11463/Social+care+and+obesity+-+a+discussion+paper+-+file+1/3fc07c39-27b4-4534-a81b-93aa6b8426af [Accessed 29th March 2014]. HSCIC. (2012). Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet: England, 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB05131/obes-phys-acti-diet-eng-2012-rep.pdf [Accessed 20th March 2014]. HSCIC. (2013). Statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet: England, 2013. [Online] Available at: http://www.bhfactive.org.uk/userfiles/Documents/obes-phys-acti-diet-eng-2013-rep.pdf [Accessed 20th March 2014].

Office of National Drug Control Policy Essay -- Drug Abuse

Office of National Drug Control and the Present Threat Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because t reatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades. Role of the ONDCP President Reagan established the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) following the passage of the Anti-Abuse Act of 1988 amidst mounting risk of drug dependence becoming more pervasive in American workplaces and schools. The legislation established the need for the federal government to make a good-faith effort in maintaining drug-free work places, schools, and drug abuse and rehabilitation programs for many users (Eddy, 2005). The early focus for the ONDCP’s was to curb the rising drug threat emanating from the drug cartels operating throughout South America, in... ...ved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/100/97472.pdf Office of National Drug Control Policy. (n.d.).AllGov: Everything Our Government Really Does. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from http://www.allgov.com/Agency/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy Reduce the Threat, Incidence and Prevalence of Violent Crime and Drug Trafficking: FY 2011 Overview. (2011).Intelligence (p. 6). Washington, D. C. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/reduce-drug-trafficking.pdf Roberts, M., Trace, M., & Klein, A. (2004). Law Enforcement and Supply Reduction: Report Three (p. 15). Retrieved from http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/pdf/report_lawenforce.pdf White, F. E. (1988). Memorandum from Frank E. White to Donald L. Ashton, Drug Enforcement Agency, on Operation Snowcap dated March 8, 1988 (p. 12). Retrieved from http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB69/part1.html

Differences in Teaching Styles Essay

â€Å"Young children too may die†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The New England Primer 129). When reading this statement it is difficult to comprehend that this is written in a children’s book. The New England Primer is the book that was used to teach Puritan students to read in the 1700’s. There are many differences in the way that students were taught in the 1700’s and how they are taught today. A few of these differences are; that in the 1700’s, being taught religion was more important than to gain actual knowledge, and learning to have obedience and morals was an important part of a child’s school day, the content of The New England Primer and other modern children’s books, as well as the ultimate reason for children learning to read is altogether different. Religion was the main focus of the reading in The New England Primer. Today, children are taught to read by using a list of ABC’s, and saying, â€Å"A is for Apple, B is for Boy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and it is made so that it is easier for younger students to understand. The list of ABC’s in The New England Primer has the letter and then a picture next to it, but instead of having a word that would make it easier for the children to understand there is a sentence such as, â€Å"A – In Adam’s Fall/ We Sinned all, B – Thy Life to Mend/ This Book Attend†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The New England Primer 128) but some were more appealing to the students (Kreilkamp), â€Å"The Cat doth play/ And after flay, Nightengales fing/ In Time of Spring† (The New England Primer 128). The students learned in the book through sin, disobedience, and death, instead of learning through things that children learn through today such as dogs, love, and happiness. All of the ABC’s sentences are about God and the Bible, so there is no room for the child to disagree with any part of the ABC’s. The children read about things such as, God’s Works, Fall of Adam, Jesus, Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification. These are things that are important for a child to learn, but also make it harder for them to read with large words and concepts that are difficult to understand. Children today read about things that interest them and have different reading levels to make learning to read easy and fun. If a child today were handed The New England Primer they probably would not want to read it or may not even have the ability to read it. The Puritan children did not know anything other than The New England Primer, so they did not have anything to compare it to. The children in the 1700’s saw God and Jesus as, â€Å"the avenging father and a forgiving son† (Watters 2) because that is how The New England Primer portrays them. In the time between the 1660’s and the 1690’s, God went from being portrayed as an angry and wrathful God, to being a loving and caring God. (Elliot 13-14) The New England Primer failed to show that shift in beliefs so the children would continue to fear God and obey their parents and elders. The parents wanted the students to have a thorough understanding of God, Jesus, and the Bible, so it was the first thing that they learned and everything was based on this particular concept. The New England Primer was used to teach students to read as well as to teach them to be obedient and to have good morals. It tells the students that Adam and Eve were sinful and disobedient so they were punished by God, but it also says that children are guilty for their own thinking and deserve continued punishment. The children read, â€Å"The Dutiful Child’s Promises†, which is a list of things that a dutiful child does, or strives to do. The children are told to â€Å"honour my Father & Mother† and to â€Å"Fear God and honour the King† (The New England Primer 129). The children were also told to follow the Ten Commandments, which were also to be memorized so that God could â€Å"read† them. This shows how fearful and compliant the children are to their parents and to God. The children also were encouraged to memorize â€Å"The Dutiful Child’s Promises† so that they could use it to make correct and obedient decisions. Punishments for the Puritan children were emphasized in the ABC part of The New England Primer, by â€Å"F – The Idol Fool Is whipt at School†. This was an additional warning to the students that they must behave in the classroom or there will be punishments. The punishments in the 1700’s and today are very different, back then teachers could hit their students with rulers, but today teachers may not even raise their voices with students without the risk of losing their jobs. The first theme that you read about in The New England Primer is death, and death is a very heavy topic for children in today’s age for many different reasons. In the 1700’s, children understood death, better than children today, because it surrounded them every day. The hardships that the Puritans faced are nothing like any young student today could possibly understand. Death is understood by the Puritan children, and when The New England Primer says, â€Å"Rachel doth mourn for her fifst born†, the children understand it because they many of them have lost a sibling because of the lack of medical knowledge in the 1700’s. It seems dark and depressing to people today, because today’s society is uncomfortable with talking about death and dying. For the children in the 1700’s it was just a way of life and something that happened every day. The New England Primer emphasized that very point in the Verses of â€Å"The Dutiful Child’s Promise† in saying that death does not only take away the old, but that children can die as well, and so they need to be prepared when they do die to go to Heaven. Children today are getting saved, but they are not doing so to get prepared for death, they are getting ready to serve God with all of their heart and soul. Students today are being taught with the mind set of learning everything they can to reach their own personal goals in life. In the 1700’s the reason for reading was very different from the way that it is today. The parents wanted to children to be able to read so they could read the Bible, not so they could learn about different topics or to read for enjoyment. When educating students today, it is understood that it is the end goal for teachers to help the students get ready to be able to provide a living for themselves with the knowledge that they learn, but in the 1700’s it wasn’t necessary to learn to read for any other reason than the bible because the poems emphasized how to live and act. The New England Primer was â€Å"designed to provide, Spiritual Milk for American Babes† (Anthology of American Literature) and to keep them from being tempted by Satan and other religions that may try and tempt them. The people of the 1700’s believed that there were, â€Å"millions to read, and not one to sin† (Anthology of American Literature), which means that it was believed that the people who read The New England Primer, understood what God wanted them to do and how He wanted them to live, never sinned again, for fear of angering God. The idea of people never sinning again from reading a book is not accurate and students today will read and understand what is going on in the book and be able to enjoy it. The New England Primer was the most important book in teaching Puritan students in the 1700’s to read, but the most important book that they could read was the Bible. The Puritans emphasized their belief in God in every aspect of their lives, especially in teaching their children to e good and kind members of the Puritan community. Teachers of student’s today want to see their students progress and keep learning even after they have learned how to read, because it teaches them about the world that we live on and what is going on outside of their houses and towns. There are many differences between the teachings in the 1700’s and the teachings today, but in the end the important thing is teaching the students to read.

Poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe Essay

This is a magnificent piece of poetry. The hypnotic monotony of rhythm reflected the speaker’s frame of mind. The poem is clearly about the sorrow he experienced over the death of his wife and her ideal, spiritual love. The raven, being a symbol of death, and the lines, â€Å"Other friends have flown before-On the morrow he will leave me as my hopes have flown before,† meant that he was afraid death might abandon him, leaving him comfortless. Then he sits in front of the bird wondering why the raven croaked â€Å"Nevermore†. The raven is trying to tell him â€Å"she shall press, ah, nevermore†, but he thinks the bird is lying because his grief is so great, and he doesn’t believe that Lenore’s death is final. When he realized that the raven is trying to tell him that her death is final, he becomes angry and upset. He begs the raven to tell him if she is in heaven, whill the angels love her and take care of her the way she should be. In the last four lines of the poemwhere â€Å"the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting,† and the shadows that â€Å"shall be lifted-nevermore,† mean that the raven is a symbol of the wisdom and knowledge that he will always have memories of Lenore, but that her death is final. He will always mourn her.

Explanations of Schizophrenia Essays

Explanations of Schizophrenia Essays Explanations of Schizophrenia Essay Explanations of Schizophrenia Essay Describe two explanations of schizophrenia and evaluate these explanations (9 and 16 marks) Two explanations of schizophrenia are the biological perspective and the psychological perspective. The biological perspective involves genetic factors that influence schizophrenia, however the psychological perspective involves environmental factors in which you learn the behaviour of a schizophrenic. The first explanation is the biological perspective, it has two subtypes, these are biochemical and genetic. The biochemical type talks about enlarged ventricles in the brain, these are cavities that supply nutrients and remove waste. The reason for enlarged ventricles could be due to an issue with diet. It also talks about the dopamine hypothesis, this is excess neurotransmitters. Dopamine occurs in the limbic system, this plays a major role in regulating emotional and sexual behaviour, attention and thoughts. Amphetamine and cocaine both largely increase levels of dopamine and can cause psychosis, this can sometimes explain attention and thought problems in schizophrenia as the dopamine neurons play a large role in guiding a person’s attention. Anti-psychotic drugs like chlorpromazine are thought to work by binding to dopamine receptor sites. The genetic type goes on to talk about how schizophrenia is found more in biological relatives depending on how close the family link is. Monozygotic twins have a 44. 37% of being born with schizophrenia. The PPP3CC chemical is an enzyme which regulates the immune system; it appears to be defective in many patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The second explanation is the psychological perspective; there are many different explanations for schizophrenia that take a psychological view. These contain psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioural and other socio-cultural factors like the role of family and society. Cognitive explanations acknowledge the role that schizophrenia is characterised by thought disturbance. This could be down to cognitive deficits which can weaken areas such as perception and memory. Schizophrenics usually first discover symptoms of voices and abnormal sensory experiences, this then usually makes them turn to friends and family to confirm the experiences. Then other symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions are formed after the failure to not accept the reality, these of which are cognitive. The behavioural explanation suggests that schizophrenia is a consequence of faulty learning. Children who do not receive small amounts or little reinforcement early in their lives will put larger attention into irrelevant environmental cues. This behaviour will eventually appear ‘weird’ or strange to others and so will generally be avoided. These strange behaviours may be rewarded by attention and sympathy and so they are reinforced. This can continue until the behaviour becomes so strange that they are then labelled as schizophrenic. The psychodynamic explanation was developed by Stephen Freud. In terms of schizophrenia he suggests that the health condition is a result of regression to a pre-ego state and attempts to re-establish ego control. If the life experiences of a schizophrenic are harsh then the person may go back to a stage of development before the ego and awareness of the world is properly formed. Symptoms such as delusions can reflect this basic condition and other symptoms such as hallucinations and voices reflect the attempts of the person trying to re-establish its ego control. Socio-cultural explanations stress the role of social and family relationships. This can include social labelling, family relationships and life events. The family relationship theory suggests that children who frequently receive contradictory messages from their parents are more likely to develop schizophrenia. This will lead the child to receiving confused and conflicting messages about their relationship, conflict between verbal and non-verbal. Chronically this can develop into schizophrenic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. One strength of the biological explanation is that it has high reliability. The reason for this is because the research is carried out in highly controlled environments. This suggests that if this research was tested and re-tested the same results would be achieved. Another strength is that it has practical applications. However, a weakness of the biological explanation is that it lacks population validity. The reason for this is because the samples that are used are too small in numbers and only a select number are actually used. This suggests that there are issues with the findings being generalised to the whole population. Another weakness is that it is reductionist and too over simplistic. Also, is the raised dopamine levels the cause of the schizophrenia, or is it the raised dopamine levels which are the result of schizophrenia? It is not clear which comes first. This suggests that one needs to be careful when establishing cause and effect relationships in schizophrenic patients. One trength of the psychological explanation is that it has practical applications. Another strength is that it takes on board the nurture approach to the development of schizophrenia. For example, it suggests that schizophrenic behaviour is caused by environmental factors such as cognitive factors. However, a weakness of the psychological explanation is that you cannot determine cause and effect. Another weakness is that there are ethical issues in blaming the family, particularly as there is little evidence in which to base thi s. Gender bias is also an issue as the mother tends to be blamed the most. This suggests that the research therefore does not protect individuals from harm. Another weakness is that it can said to be reductionist. The reason for this is because the approach does not consider other factors such as genes. It could be that the problems are caused by low neurotransmitters and that creates the cognitive deficits. This suggests that the cognitive approach is over simplistic when considering the explanation of schizophrenia.