Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Use of Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient by Messina and Coyne Term Paper

The Use of Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient by Messina and Coyne - Term Paper Example From this research it is clear that in statistics the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (SRCC), also known as the Spearman’s rho, is greatly used. This provision derives its name from Charles Spearman and may be denoted by symbols rs or P. Maturi and Abdelfattah clearly explain that as a non-parametric measure used to gauge statistical independence that may exist between two variables, the Spearman’s rho is used to assess the most appropriate way of describing two variables through the use of a monotonic function. The Spearman’s rho is used mostly when both independent and dependent variables are ordinal, or when one of the variables is a continuous one, and the other an ordinal numeric. Conversely, Spearman’s rho may be used when the variables being measured are both continuous. In the article by Messina, Scott, Ganey, Zipp and Mathis it is clear that the use of the Spearman’s rho is very plausible. This is because patient satisfaction is not only the independent variable in Messina’s research analysis but also a continuous variable. At the same time, patient admission across teaching and nonteaching hospitals acts as both a dependent and continuous variable. Thus, in this work by Messina et al. the Spearman’s rho is used to study the relations that exist between the dependent variable and independent variable, and these variables are being represented by the volume that has been measured by admissions and the patient contentment mean score respectively. The use of Spearman’s rho’s correlation analysis is seen in the fact that Messina and his companions carried out the analysis on a pooled sample of seven nonteaching and seven teaching hospitals. It is from this development that the differences between the subsamples in teaching and nonteaching hospitals are analyzed through the use of Mann-Whitney U-Test. From this juncture, it became possible to determine whether or not there is an e xplicit association between admissions and patient satisfaction mean score in respect to the two variables. As one reads the study, it becomes clear that the mean for all admissions in teaching and nonteaching hospitals is 19,111 within the time frame of 1999-2003. The range is from 4,513 to 70,465. The mean score for the aggregate patient satisfaction is 82.57 within the five-year timeframe. The minimum aggregate is 79.0 while the maximum is 86.18. The use of Kurtosis as a form of descriptive analysis indicates that the mean score for patient satisfaction was normally distributed. In a nutshell, the use of the Spearman’s rho indicates a strong negative correlation between hospital admission within a given sample and patient satisfaction (rs = -.287, P = .018). The import of all these results is that lower inpatient volumes (in both teaching and nonteaching hospitals) are compatible with or relatable to higher patient satisfaction mean scores. 2) Comments on the Variables Use d and Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient It is a fact that the variables that have been used by Messina, Scott, Ganey, Zipp and Mathis (2009) are very appropriate and applicable to the determination of the Spearman’s rho. Spearman’s rho determines the statistical independence between two variables, and it is a fact that Messina and his group use two variables: patient satisfaction and inpatient admissions in teaching and nonteaching hospitals. Again, just as Maturi and Abdelfattah (2008) explain, the Spearman’s rho is applicable in an area where one variable is continuous and the other an ordinal numeric, or where both variables are continuous in nature. Messina’s et al. (2009) independent (patient satisfaction) and dependent (inpatient admissions in teaching and nonteaching hospitals) variables are both continuous. These characteristics make the variables used qualify for Spearman’s rho analysis, so that, in light of the specific requirements o f SRCC, there is

Monday, October 28, 2019

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus Essay Example for Free

Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus Essay According to John Gray, men and women completely differ in their style of communication which corroborates the illusion that they are from different planets. However, their communications style differs and they work and be trained to become accustomed to these communication perspectives to live and work together in harmony. Women are more emotional than men and hence men used to mock the girls irrelevance talks. Actually women are termed as a weaker sex as they always want men to respect to their feelings more particularly about relationships, other personal problems and about family matters. In such matters, women expect that men will respect their feelings by extending emotional support and understanding. Relationships end in catastrophic disaster when each other does not understand each feelings and emotions. When the relationship ends in serious disaster, the women have to understand that man is completely diverse from everything and she has not accustomed to and tried to adapt to the differences in her relationship. Communication between men and women are so diverse that it takes many years for a complete understanding in a relationship. Even insignificant resemblance in communication style that binds a couple together while one tries to iron out the larger differences. In ordinary life, it is an established fact that men wants to be respected and women wish to know whether they are being truly loved by men. A successful couple is one who is able to achieve this and in such cases no doubt, good communication will be the end result. Thus, John Gray’s assertion that men and women are from different planets in terms of communications is really a convincing one. Thus, communication between men and women are pursued through two languages. The male language is used as a general warning that he is in a cave or on his path to the cave. Gray here uses cave to describe the ways and means men use to iron out their differences or to deal with an issue. When men face some problem, they wish to be alone or in his cave in complete solitude. [Gray, 1993, p. 22]. However, the reaction of a women will be completely different if they face with issues and when communicating with their spouse. As per Gray, women employ metaphors, superlative and poetic licenses to express their feelings. Moreover, there are chances that men may misunderstood this poetic licenses expressed by women. [Gray. 1993, p. 17]. It is the exact scenario where men and women ignore to appreciate the exact significances of the each other expressions and due to this, Gray has introduced Venusians / Martian dictionary in his book. This dictionary could be much help to iron out these misunderstandings in associations and relationships. According to Gray, men and women communicate in different languages and hold opposing views. Many common people are of the view that Gray’s metaphor is having more relevance and match their very own experiences on the subject. According to Gray, women have to gain knowledge of men before fostering a successful companionship. [Gray, 1993. p. 21]. Likewise, when men are disturbed or strained, they automatically keep silent and return to their cave to sort the things out. [Gray, 1993, p. 21]. Women at this juncture understood that his spouse wants to be alone to sort out things by himself without her interruption. Further, Gray is of the view that there is a need for men to know that women like to share and communicate things through in a more non-solution and in a complex way. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. There is a complete need on the part of men to aware that women also long that their feelings and emotions are to be honored when they are upset, depressed and troubled and it is duty of the men to make her more comfort and to assuage her feelings in such scenarios. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. As Gray details it, his book is for the people who wish to have an appreciative feature of gender associated with their counseling. Gray’s objective is to assist women to appreciate men and to take the ignominy out by counseling and by assisting men to have a more constructive approach to therapy as ‘even healthy relationships need a counselor. Gray longs to be a worldwide translator between Venusians and Martians. He has not indulged in the argument that one is superior to the other but stresses that they are dissimilar. Thus, Gray summarizes his views: â€Å"It is time to appreciate and authenticate gender variances. Do not try to change the attitude of one’s partner. Men have to seize the situation and understand and women should acknowledge and appreciate the things which men does and if he feel appreciated, he will no doubt listen. Gray is of the view that even though the customary function of contributor and nurturer may be often changing, women and men still have fundamental hormonal variances. However, due to rapid transformation, women have crossed over in the man’s world and hence the two worlds have come together now. If one has great appreciation of how these people in different world imagine and act, one will have a real harmony but not a friction. According to Gray, men and women have varied and complimentary emotional requirements. One can define a man’s sense of self through his capability to get results while a female’s sense of self is explained through her feelings and eminence of her relationships. Hence, women expect that her feeling shall have to be respected and honored while men demand that his feelings have to be appreciated and respected. Gray is of the opinion that rubber band theory well explains the metaphor of male intimacy cycle. As men experience the need for autonomy or independence, they draw away as rubber bond do when it is stretched to the limit. Men will pull back with power and spirit as rubber band do if they are given opportunity to move back to their positions or caves. If women demand that men should be intimate and close all of the time, they will become flaccid and limp, by losing their power and strength. [Gray, 1993, p. 35]. Gray book emphasizes diverse of theory. Gray could not able to offer no more plausible explanation other than his planet metaphor on men and women relationships. Gray tries to illustrate the basic differences that exist in men and women characteristics. Gray has cited examples like men disgust to demand for directions as it would put them down while women not at all prefer it. Men longs to talk in public as an exposure of their sound knowledge remains mum at home whereas women tries to express their feelings in home rather than in public places as their main objective of their intimacy. CONCLUSION: The reader of the book will understand that men and women communicate in different languages and hold opposing views. Readers will appreciate that Gray’s metaphor is having more relevance and match their very own experiences on the subject. No doubt, communication plays very significant role in men and women relationship. If one tries to honor and respect the feelings of spouse, there will not any marital issues at all. I would recommend that all who in the phase of establishing relationship and those are already tied their marital knots should read the book to lead a pleasant, happy married life. The readers of the book will understand that â€Å"It is time to appreciate and authenticate gender variances. Do not try to change the attitude of one’s partner. Men have to seize the situation and understand and women should acknowledge and appreciate the things which men does and if he feel appreciated, he will no doubt listen. Gray is of the view that difference between men and women are consistent and are of more biological and natural. Thus, Gray book seems to emphasize and respect the male and female differences. REFERENCES Gray, John. [1993]. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: A Practical Guide For Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Relationships. HarperCollins

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Limitations Of Agency Theory Finance Essay

Limitations Of Agency Theory Finance Essay Irrespective of the recent well-deserved criticism of Agency Theory I believe it should still play an important role in managerial remuneration. Empirical evidence supports the theory that a conflict of interest exists between shareholders and management. Throughout recent years one of the more commonly discussed management topics has been executive compensation and in particular the size of bonuses awarded to CEOs and other senior management. Agency theory can be considered to be the most widely used theory to explain executive compensation. The focus of Agency theory is on ways to make the governance system of corporations more efficient so that shareholders interests and performance expectations are given every chance to be realised by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). An agency problem may arise between managers and shareholders because the principals (the shareholders) cannot adequately monitor the actions taken by the agent (the managers). Subsequently, the agent can have an incentive to pursue their own interests, rather than the bet interests of the principal. Given the body of evidence, it would be naÃÆ' ¯ve to claim that agency theory has not made a significant contribution to the principal-agent literature. However it does have its limitations and a new approach is needed to use the benefits of agency theory to its fullest. By realizing agency theorys limitations, we can add to its strength. Droege, Scott B A key issue facing agency theory is the reliance that stakeholders have on the board of directors. This has proven to be an unhealthy reliance and the level of independance of some board of direcors can be questioned. This is discussed by Band (xxxx) when he noted that while there is a common perception that the board is independent, this is often fake as noted by Pearce and Zahra who found that over 85% of Fortune 500 industrial companies had Chairmen who had also served as the corporations CEO. It is well documented that executive compensation packages should be designed to align the interests of senior management with those of the shareholders and thereby reduce the dysfunctional behaviour of managers; this is typically done by rewarding executives for taking decisions and actions that increase shareholder wealth ([26] Mortlock, 2009). Unfortunately, the shareholders (and directors) may have neither complete information about the actions of executives or the expertise to evaluate those actions, making it difficult to base compensation on actions alone. Instead, compensation in practice is often linked to measures that are positively correlated with managerial performance, for instance market share, share price or accounting profit. Additionally In recent years Boards have become weaker as more power has been distributed to senior management. This has resulted in the decline of the accountability of Directors and a resulting impact in the decline of the monitoring role of Boards. Corporate Governance David Band The board of directors is heavily reliant on the information provided by the CEO. The recent spate of failures among both financial and non-financial companies has been accompanied by a growing interest in and concern about the compensation of the CEOs of major U.S. corporations. This, in turn, has reignited interest among both academics and financial practitioners about agency theory issues, especially the question of whether or not the total compensation of CEOs is properly scaled in relation to the earnings they generate for the shareholders they serve. We find that the executive remuneration design derived from a single agency perspective is insufficient. Prospect theory, real option theory and managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality Adam Notes Agency Theory or Stewardship theory Limitations of Agency theory Irrespective of the recent well-deserved criticism of Agency Theory I believe it should still play an important role in managerial remuneration. Empirical evidence supports the theory that a conflict of interest exists between shareholders and management. The board still functions on information provided by the CEO. While there is a common perception that the board is independent, this is often fake as noted by Pearce and Zahra who found that over 85% of Fortune 500 industrial companies had Chairmen who had also served as the corporations CEO. In recent years Boards have become weaker as more power has been distributed to senior management. This has resulted in the decline of the accountability of Directors and a resulting impact in the decline of the monitoring role of Boards. Corporate Governance David Band The appropriate remedy for the problem of the potentially self-interested or incompetent managerial team is said to be the monitoring board. But frankly, no one really knows what is the optimal level of option grant: what level of stock option compensation will make an executive risk-neutral like the shareholders, or willing to bite the bullet on layoffs, or willing to accept a premium bid? Even if the stock price falls back, the well-timed executive option exercise is a life-changing experience. More formally, the Black-Scholes option pricing model instructs us that the value of the executives stock option will be increasing both in the value of the underlying security and the variance (since stock options are issued at the money). So managers with a rich load of options have incentives to get the stock price high by any means necessary, fraud included. In particular, they have incentives to increase the riskiness of the firm, including projects that offer lower expected returns but higher variance. This will reduce the value of the firm for risk-neutral shareholders but has the potential to increase the value of managers firm-related investments in cases where the gain in option holdings exceeds the loss to human capital. Managers become risk-preferring. Enron Jeffrey Gordon Prospect theory, real option theory and the managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality. On the other hand, theoretically, being the main stream theory of corporate governance, agency theory suggests effective executive remuneration should align managers interests with shareholders interests in order to minimize agency costs (Florackis, 2005; Bayless,2009). Most remuneration frameworks in the literature have been largely influenced by agency theory. However, notable divergences exist between thepredictions of agency theory and reality. There is a need to extend agency theory with some complementary theories to make executive compensation more realistic. We find that the executive remuneration design derived from a single agency perspective is insufficient. Prospect theory, real option theory and managerial power approach all together would complement agency theory to bring the theory of executive remuneration closer to reality. Che, Zhang,Xiao and Li Empirical support for agency theory has been demonstrated in numerous settings. For example, Eisenhardts (1988) studies of retail stores show support for agency theory in salaried and commissioned salespeople. Acquisitions and divestitures were the focus of a study by Argawal and Mandelker ( 1 987). Conlon and Parks ( 1 990) examined performance-contingent compensation as the dependent variable and found support for agency theory. Support has been found in interorganizational joint ventures (BalakrishnanandKoza, 1993) and franchising (e.g., Agrawal and LaI, 1995). Although not an exhaustive review, this brief list gives adequate evidence that agency theory has been empirically tested and supported in a variety of contexts from retail sales to manufacturing to joint ventures. Given this body of evidence, it would be naÃÆ' ¯ve to claim that agency theory has not made a contribution to the principal-agent literature. Indeed, it has made a significant contribution. Thus, it is not my intent to discredit agency theory. However, a rational course is to separate the premises and examine them in a new light. By realizing agency theorys limitations, we can add to its strength. Droege, Scott B Agency theory can be considered to be the most widely used theory to explain executive1 compensation. Agency theory, from economics, focuses on ways to make the governance system of a corporation more efficient so that shareholders interests and performance expectations are realized by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The failure to find a consistent link between executive compensation and a firms performance has motivated some authors to supplement agency theory with other theories originating in psychology and sociology (e.g., Ungson and Steers, 1984; Wiseman and Gomez-Mejia, 1998; Bainbridge, 2005; Gomez- Mejia et al., 2005; and Perkins, 2008). It should be explicitly mentioned here that it is not our objective to replace agency theory with other theories. Rather, we recommend adding other theoretical lenses, originating in other paradigms, to make our understanding of executive compensation more complete. While discussing each of the theories, it will become clear that rather than taking a single theory perspective, it is preferable to take a multi-theory approach to explain the complexities of executive compensation. This is also a logical consequence of the use of three paradigms. Under such an approach, different paradigms and theories together serve to explain executive compensation better and more completely than opting for a single theory or paradigm. Over the last decades, hundreds of studies have been published in the field of executive compensation. Agency theory was found to be the dominant framework. This theory puts forward the relationship between firm performance and executive compensation as one of the mechanisms to reduce agency costs. The inability to find a consistent relationship between performance and executive compensation, however, has given rise to the development of alternative theories. The most popular alternative theories include managerialism theory, institutional theory and contingency theory. Strong support was found for taking such a multi-theoretical and multi-disciplinary view of executive compensation. The control perspective (agency theory), which has historically been the main perspective, has to be enriched with behavioral, institutional and contingency factors. Baeten, Xavier; Balkin, David In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC) governments lost confidence in market fundamentalism and realised the inadequacies of regulatory measures. The purpose of this paper is to outline the proximate causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and to investigate the role of the shareholder wealth maximization (SWM) objective in the GFC. The case studies revealed that unethical behaviour, agency issues, CEO compensation, creative accounting and risk shifting are some of the side effects of SWM. These cases indicate that the assumptions on which SWM are based are questionable. Further, it can be argued that the root cause of the GFC is excessive greed and the single-minded pursuit of SWM. The global financial crisis (GFC), which had been threatening for some time, began to display its effects in the middle of 2007 and into 2008. Around the world, stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to develop with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. Had all boards of directors being successful in their assigned role of protecting all stakeholders of the firm, rather than just shareholders, then we believe that the GFC would have been avoided. Most business concern is focused on profit maximisation. However, profit maximisation fails for a number of well-known reasons; it ignores: the timing of returns; the cash flows available to shareholders; and risk. Without explicitly considering these factors, higher earnings alone do not necessarily translate into higher share prices. Damodaran (1999) explains that, in the real world, managers perform the decision-making function with four factors or linkages in mind: shareholders, bondholders, society and financial markets. Competitive market conditions place significant pressure on agents and managers who will be tempted to resort to unethical means to portray a positive picture. It is acknowledged that the wealth maximisation objective is not always compatible with a firms social obligations, and it usually involves an agency problem which arises when the managers fail to act in the best interests of the shareholders, preferring instead to benefit themselves ([20] Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Differences in the objectives of ownership and management lead to agency costs; if these are to be controlled, the shareholders must maintain a strict watch over the functioning of the company. The managers should be rewarded for acting in the interests of the shareholders and the managers should maintain a balance between the interests of the shareholders and other stakeholders. In this context, the GFC highlighted the important influence that incentive structures within financial institutions and other businesses can have on risk-taking and financial performance. In particular, it highlighted the dangers of badly designed remuneration incentive arrangements leading to excessive risk-taking, poor financial performance and a bias towards short-term results at the expense of longer-term financial soundness ([26] Mortlock, 2009). It is well documented that executive compensation packages should be designed to align the interests of senior management with those of the shareholders and thereby reduce the dysfunctional behaviour of managers; this is typically done by rewarding executives for taking decisions and actions that increase shareholder wealth ([26] Mortlock, 2009). Unfortunately, the shareholders (and directors) may have neither complete information about the actions of executives or the expertise to evaluate those actions, making it difficult to base compensation on actions alone. Instead, compensation in practice is often linked to measures that are positively correlated with managerial performance, for instance market share, share price or accounting profit. Stock options became an ever greater part of executives compensation, increasing from 27 per cent in 1992 to 60 per cent in 2000. Fixed salary will reduce the risk to the executives and guarantee a standard of living. On the other hand, it may not encourage them to improve their performance in order to maximise shareholder wealth. The use of golden handshake and golden parachute clauses in management contracts may also be driven by managers acting to further their own interests, rather than those of their shareholders. [25] Matsumura and Shin (2005) characterized conflicts of interest between shareholders and managers as usually arising in three broad areas. First, executives enjoy (as well as exploit) the perquisites provided to them. Second, executives are more risk averse in decision making and aim for better compensation as a trade-off. Lastly, executives are more interested in making decisions that have short-term impacts rather than taking a long-term perspective. By designing executive packages in a way that balances the interests of shareholders and executives, these conflicts can be reduced. The packages should be so designed to motivate the executives, whilst at the same time allowing management to control the amount spent on compensation, based on the performance of the CEOs themselves. [26] Mortlock (2009) notes that the major financial and corporate sector distress seen in the USA and Europe in recent times is partly attributable to poorly designed remuneration incentive arrangements. An examination of history reveals that a range of practices, unrelated to any major improvement in cash flows and/or profits, have been carried out with the intention of increasing wealth; for example: accounting manoeuvres with deceitful intention and accounting fraud (in the case of Xerox), improper accounting, deviation from accounting principles with deceitful intention, leveraging of shares to raise debt for expensive acquisitions (as in the case of WorldCom), stretching the limits of accounting by misusing its limitations, lack of transparency, intentional projection of a rosy picture of performance (in the cases of Enron and Arthur Anderson), massive fraud, accounting scandal (in the case of Peregrine Systems), aggressive acquisition strategies and accounting frauds (in the case of Tyco), diverting business cash into off-shore, family-owned entities, artificial support given to the stock of the company (in the case of Polly Peck), deceitful intention of elite and experienced h ands with sophisticated outlets (in the case of BCCI banks) and highly leveraged synthetic financial instruments (in the case of Goldman Sachs). Creative accounting is the manipulation of financial numbers, usually within the letter of the law and accounting standards, although its use can be unethical and does not provide the true and fair view of a company that accounts are supposed to provide ([45] Moneyterms, 2009). Common to all the cases mentioned above was managements single-minded focus on SWM. By attempting to grow the company at high speed and by using creative accounting techniques, managers had failed to foresee the detrimental affect these actions would have in the long term. It is clear that, in light of the side effects of SWM as discussed in Section 4 particularly their impact during the crisis the validity of the above assumptions has become questionable. In this regard, [19] Jenkins and Guerrera (2010) argue that the recent SEC attack on Goldman Sachs strikes at the heart of the business model, a model that, as [46] Friedman (1970) states, views the social responsibility of business being to increase its profits. However, as an agent, a manager is bound to act to maximise the wealth of shareholders, rather than to follow an agenda of social responsibility. It is clear that major issues like unethical behaviour, executive compensation, creative accounting and conflicts of interest, pushed the big entities towards major difficulties and, in many cases, collapse. Though a series of accounting regulations were designed and directed, many giant organisations found convenient loopholes to take advantage of or, if this was not possible, resorted to manipulative means, actions which ultimately contributed substantively to the financial crisis. Hull (2009) argues that the inappropriateness of extant incentive schemes led to a short-term focus in the managerial decision making. Given this situation, in February 2009, US President Barack Obama introduced new restrictions on executive compensation for institutions that receive financial assistance from the government, by limiting cash compensation to US$500,000; similarly, the USs Financial Stability Board released a set of principles aimed to ensuring effective governance of compensation and the effective alignment of compensation with prudent risk taking. These developments in turn suggest that the SWM objective is neither self-regulatory nor flawless in nature. As we have discussed in this paper, the reasons for the burst of this financial bubble are many. However, most of the factors are (directly or indirectly) linked to the pursuit of SWM. The above discussion has shown that each factor had in common the desire to increase the value of owners wealth. It appears reasonable to argue that, by forgetting the importance of ethics and deviating from accounting principles, the greed paid off. Risk shifting and dysfunctional behaviour are some of the side effects and flaws in an SWM-based system that is not self-regulatory. Because of a strong focus on profit maximisation or even SWM, the corporate decisions that led to the economic downturn were never balanced with any good citizen approach. But value maximisation alone is no longer sufficient in todays competitive global business environment; organisations need to focus on objectives that have long-term benefits rather than short-term value. By taking stakeholders and society into consideration a firm will truly begin to create sustainable wealth; while the corporate objective function is dominated by SWM this cannot take place. Yahanpath, Noel Supporters of agency theory underscore, among its positive features, the realism with which it describes relationships among individuals in a company(Eisenhardt, 1989). The firm is no longer considered as a single, monolithic actor but the complex set of interactions among several individuals. The firm is now presented as a nexus of contracts between principals and agents (Maitland, 1994; Shankman,1999). Typically, there are different goals and interests among individuals involved in an agency relationship. Agency theory presupposes that individuals are opportunistic, that is, they constantly aim to maximize their own interests (Bohren, 1998). Thus, there is no guarantee that agents will always act in the best interests of principals. Rather, there is a constant temptation for agents to maximize their own interests, even at the expense of principals. Under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty prevalent in business settings two kinds of problems arise: adverse selection and moral hazard (Eisenhardt, 1989, p. 58). Adverse selection refers to the possibility of agents misrepresenting their ability to do the work agreed; in other words, agents may adopt decisions inconsistent with the contractual goals that embody their principals preferences. Moral hazard, on the other hand, refers to the danger of agents not putting forth their best efforts or shirking from their tasks. This divergence between the interests of the principal and the agent unavoidably generates costs. Agency costs are residual costs that result in a failure to maximize the principal_s wealth. These may be incurred by the principal through measures to control the agent_s behaviour or by the agent through efforts to demonstrate his commitment to the principal_s goals. The whole point behind agency theory is to come up with mechanisms that ensure an efficient alignment of interests between agent and principal, thereby reducing agency costs (Shankman, 1999, p.321). Principals are thus challenged to design contracts that protect their interests and maximize their utility in case of conflict. These contracts are based on several assumptions regarding agents (self-interest, limited rationality, risk aversion), organizations (goal conflict between members) and information (asymmetrical) (Shankman, 1999, p. 332). Supporters of agency theory underscore, among itspositive features, the realism with which it describes relationships among individuals in a company (Eisenhardt, 1989). The firm is no longer considered as a single, monolithic actor but the complex set of interactions among several individuals. Methodologically, agency theory subscribes to individualism: its basic unit of analysis is the human being fully constituted as an individual and bereft of any social dimension. In every endeavour individual agents seek above all their own utility (utilitarianism) or pleasure (hedonism), the satisfaction of their own desires. They form groups not to fulfil any requirement of their proper flourishing as human beings but only to further their particular interests (contractualism). Outside of this, agents do not subscribe to any moral imperative; they willingly engage in immoral conduct whenever convenient. Acting morally would be reasonable only if it presented a greater economic incentive in terms of utility and pleasure than the contrary (Bohren, 1998). Joan Fontrodona, Alejo Jose ´ G. Sison The recent spate of failures among both financial and non-financial companies has been accompanied by a growing interest in and concern about the compensation of the CEOs of major U.S. corporations. This, in turn, has reignited interest among both academics and financial practitioners about agency theory issues, especially the question of whether or not the total compensation of CEOs is properly scaled in relation to the earnings they generate for the shareholders they serve. Our null hypothesis, consistent with the popular assumption in the media, is that the secular growth of CEO compensation has become increasingly misaligned with the earnings results that CEOs have produced for shareholders. Surprisingly, our initial findings, drawing on secular trends among SP 500 firms, appear to show that our hypothesis does not hold, and that, over an extended period of time, CEOs have not received compensation that is out of line with the their companies earnings trends. Zhao, Kevin M; Baum, Charles L; Ford, William F 2.0 Diagnosis of Problems and Theoretical Analysis 2.1 Organisational Change 2.2 Conflict Cognitive Dissonance 2.3 Communication 2.4 Leadership 3.0 Recommendations 3.1 Organisational Change Management Recommendations 3.2. Conflict Management Recommendations 3.3. Communication Recommendations 4.0. Conclusion

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Forces in a Rolling Boat :: Physics Boating

Every boat has a degree of roll from which she can no longer recover. Two forces are locked in combat for a ship about to capsize: the downward push of gravity and the upward lift of buoyancy. Gravity is combined with the weight of the vessel and everything in board-crew, cargo, fishing gear- seeking the center of the earth. Buoyancy is the force of all the enclosed air in the hull trying to rise above water level. On a evenly balanced and stable ship, these two forces are equal and cancel out each other, but all of this changes when a boat gets shoved over her side. Instead of being equal, the two forces are offset. The center of gravity stays the same but the center of buoyancy migrates to the submerged side, where more air has been forced below the waterline. With gravity pushing down to the center and buoyancy pushing up from the submerged side, the ship pivots on its center and returns to an even keel. The more the ship heels, the farther apart the two forces act and the more leverage the center of buoyancy has. To simplify, the lateral distance between the two forces is called the righting arm and the torque generate is called the righting momentum. Boats want a big righting momentum so they will right from extreme angles of keel. The righting momentum has three main implications. First of all, the wider the ship the more stable she is. The next thing is how tall the ship is. The taller the ship, the more likely she is to capsize. Finally, there come the point of no return, were the boat can no longer right itself. To most it seems like this would happen when the boat’s deck has reached a 90 degree angle to the water, but in truth, trouble comes to the boat a lot sooner.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Effects Of Cell Phones On Society Essay

The cell phone as we know was invented in the 1990s, and this invent has been one of the best inventions in the history. The use of the cell phones became popular and people began to utilize them in their daily lives. Nowadays to have a cell phone is not a luxury, is a necessity. According to the statistics, nine of ten persons in the United States have a cell phone. The cell phones have made positive and negative changes in our culture depending on the way people use them. Some of the positive effects of cell phones are easy communication and multitasking. The main usage of the cell phone was to be able to communicate easily. Originally, the cell phone was made only to talk when people were away from home or their office. After the years, they have been creating new technology that allow people to talk, text, email, browse the internet and make a videoconference sometimes at the same time, so we can say that the cell phone created better communication in the advantage world. In addi tion to easy communication, the cell phones are multitask. They have added many more options to make our lives easier. Now people don’t have to carry a map, gps, laptop, video camera, radio or a notebook. Also, people can play video games or watch a movie with only one small device. The cell phones have many positive effects; however, they also have negative effects like the high cost, negative social effects and dependency or addiction. The first negative effect is the cost. The newest Smartphones are expensive and their lifetime is short. They are always coming up with new upgrade technology that make people feel they need to buy the newest model. Also, the cost of the service is expensive; users need to pay depending in how many minutes they need or the Internet velocity. In addition users will pay for extra programs, applications and accessories not including in the monthly pay. Another negative effect is cell phones can create addiction or dependency. The cell phone can make people an addict because they feel that they need to have it with they all the time and also cause  anxiety for example, when you think you lost your phone you could feel stressed out about losing information saved on it. Moreover, it distracts your driving and it can cause an accident. Finally, there are the negative social effects. Since the Smartphone was created, people don’t communicate face to face as much as before. People is olate themselves because they prefer to talk by phone rather than verbally. Also, they have become very disrespectful because they use the phone in meetings, at church, in class, eating with friends etc. In conclusion, the cell phones make our life easy by facilitating communication. We also know that they have positive and negative effects, but the positive effects like easy communication, multitasking are stronger than the negative ones like cost, dependency and negative social effects. You can avoid the negative effects by using the phone with responsibility.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Misinformed Children

Misinformed Children In Western society gender roles have been a constant, yet pervasive form of personal identification. Both girls and boys are taught, explicitly and implicitly, what gender-identified behaviors are expected from them. For example, girls are given dolls and tea sets, while boys are given balls and toy trucks. Although this is not directly aimed at teaching children how to behave, it is part of a socially identified trend. For years our children have internalized gender role stereotypes from songs, books, magazines, television, movies, etc. They perceive this information as reality and compare it with their knowledge and ideas about the real world. They are not able to think abstractly and realize what they are witnessing does not reflect the norms of society. Many believe that gender roles are the result of innate biological differences between men and women. This ideal suggests that men are better suited to hold positions of power, while women are better suited to look after the hom e and children. These gender stereotypes are now considered limiting and damaging to all involved, men and women alike, from the time they are children. Gender stereotypes have in enormous affect on young children, especially those in the media. The media has a considerable impact on children’s perceptions of the real world, thus distorting their views of gender roles and creating gender stereotypes. In today’s society the television, which is prominent in many households, is not only a source of entertainment, but also a source of information. According to recent research, on average, children spend 3.3 hours a day watching television. It is almost inevitable that television, as a learning source, has an important role in helping the â€Å"vulnerable and impressionable† minds of children to develop certain social roles and behavior traits. Television provides the framework for what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in ou... Free Essays on Misinformed Children Free Essays on Misinformed Children Misinformed Children In Western society gender roles have been a constant, yet pervasive form of personal identification. Both girls and boys are taught, explicitly and implicitly, what gender-identified behaviors are expected from them. For example, girls are given dolls and tea sets, while boys are given balls and toy trucks. Although this is not directly aimed at teaching children how to behave, it is part of a socially identified trend. For years our children have internalized gender role stereotypes from songs, books, magazines, television, movies, etc. They perceive this information as reality and compare it with their knowledge and ideas about the real world. They are not able to think abstractly and realize what they are witnessing does not reflect the norms of society. Many believe that gender roles are the result of innate biological differences between men and women. This ideal suggests that men are better suited to hold positions of power, while women are better suited to look after the hom e and children. These gender stereotypes are now considered limiting and damaging to all involved, men and women alike, from the time they are children. Gender stereotypes have in enormous affect on young children, especially those in the media. The media has a considerable impact on children’s perceptions of the real world, thus distorting their views of gender roles and creating gender stereotypes. In today’s society the television, which is prominent in many households, is not only a source of entertainment, but also a source of information. According to recent research, on average, children spend 3.3 hours a day watching television. It is almost inevitable that television, as a learning source, has an important role in helping the â€Å"vulnerable and impressionable† minds of children to develop certain social roles and behavior traits. Television provides the framework for what is considered acceptable and unacceptable in ou...

Monday, October 21, 2019

George Tenet and and the Last Great Days of the Cia Essays

George Tenet and and the Last Great Days of the Cia Essays George Tenet and and the Last Great Days of the Cia Essay George Tenet and and the Last Great Days of the Cia Essay The Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) is an independent United States Government bureau who are responsible for supplying national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers ( CIA. 2007 ) . Since the 1960’s and World War II. foreign intelligence has been of import to the United States since the yearss of President George Washington. that such attempts have been coordinated on a government-wide degree. The Central Intelligence Agency Act was passed in 1949. which supplemented the 1947 Act. allowing the Agency more powers. The bureau was permitted to utilize confidential financial and administrative processs and was exempted from many of the usual restrictions on outgos. Therefore. leting financess to now be accounted in budgets of other sections and so transferred to the Agency without limitations. while guaranting the secretiveness of the CIA’s budget. which is an of import consideration in covert operations. The Act created a D irector of Central Intelligence ( DCI ) as caput of the Intelligence Community. caput of the CIA. and chief intelligence advisor to the president. with the extra duty of safeguarding intelligence beginnings and methods. The 1947 Act besides. restricted the CIA’s internal security maps. The CIA carries out its duties which are capable to assorted directives and controls by the President and the National Security Commission. Established in 1953. Congress amended the National Security Act to supply for the assignment of the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence ( DDCI ) by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. which the DDCI assists the manager and besides exercised the powers of the manager during the absence of the DCI ( CIA. 2007 ) . The CIA had suffered from so many inconsistent leadings. as direct consequence of the leading and surrender of George Tenet. there was a demand to do commissariats. therefore o better effectivity and efficiency. Under the new Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. the places of DCI and DDCI were abolished. and the occupation of Director of the Central Intelligence Agency ( D/CIA ) was established ( CIA. 2007 ) . Why was the CIA was reformed? : President G. W. Bush and his disposal began military action against Iraq on March 19. 2003. and the government of Saddam Hussein fell on April 9. After several studies by the United Nations ( UN ) arms inspectors on their work under U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441 ( November 8. 2002 ) . the U. N. Security Council did non hold to authorise usage of force against Iraq. All inspectors were withdrawn. and the United States. and Britain launched a military offense against Iraq on March 19. 2003. SaddamHussein’s government vacated Baghdad onApril 9. In July 2003. with virtually no Weapons of Mass Destruction ( WMD ) was discovered in Iraq since the war. a argument in Congress and in the media intensified over the quality and presentation of pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s WMD and the justification for war ( Katzman. 2003 ) . How did the Iraq war came about? George Tenet was a public decision maker. an appointive officer of the executive subdivision of the federal authorities as Director of the Central Intelligence ( DCI ) for the President of the United States. Tenet was foremost appointed as a cabinet member for President Bill Clinton Administration. and was confirmed by the Senate as the Director of Central Intelligence. sworn in as the 18th DCI. so continued as DCI for George W. Bush disposal. which he served from 1997 until 2004. The demands for fulling the responsibilities of DCI appllied at all times. it did non count if the President you were functioning was Democratic or Republican. you were still expected to continue the same unity. and do an honest occupation accurately. efficaciously and efficently. As the Director of Central Intelligence ( DCI ) . Tenet had a moral responsibility and duty to the American people associating to the responsibilities of his several office with respects to the involvement of the populace and the general public assistance. The most of import duty that he had was to be true to himself so to the American people. to humanity of the universe. to the Constitution and democracy. to the jurisprudence. and to the Nation. The exepctations of Tenet was to be true at all times particularly as an cardinal intelligence officer. However. he told the utlimate prevarication that cost 1000s of American soildiers lives. wounded soldiers and cost the federal authorities one million millions of dollars by intensifying the Iraq War by torting the intelligence estimation. Tenet played a cardinal function in selling the Iraq war fiasco to the American people as to doing the Iraq war justifiable when he knew there were no grounds of chemical. biological or atomic Weapons of Mass Destruction. which would hold posed a menace to the United States. Tenet’s ends. waies. responsibilities and responsibilites with regard to the national intelligence attempt was to describe to the President in a timely mode and supply accurate information about the activities. capablenesss. programs. and purposes of foreign powers. organisations. and individuals and their agents. which is indispensable to the national security of the United States. He was suppose to utilize all sensible and lawful agencies. which must be used to guarant ee that the United States will have the best intelligence available in order to supply for the effectual behavior of United States intelligence activities ( CIA. 2007 ) . He fail to make so. Typically. those who work for the CIA holds a really sure and respected places because they are expected to be true at all times and uphold the codifications of moralss. To be appointed caput of an really of import. and pretigious place. to function as caput of the United States intelligence community was seen as a great award. When a individual keeping the place of DCI fails to state the truth it discredits them as being worthy to function in that place efficaciously. it fundamentally discredits he or she as a public decision maker bewraying the trust of the American people. Dogma did the right thing. which was to vacate as DCI because he could no longer be trusted as a authorities functionary. But he took a long clip to do the determination to make the right thing because he did non cognize which manner to turn. other than to play and travel along to acquire along with the Bush Administration. Tenet played a cardinal function in selling the Iraq war fiasco to the American people as to doing the Iraq war justifiable when he knew there were no grounds of chemical. biological or atomic Weapons of Mass Destruction. which would hold posed a menace to the United States. Tenet’s ends. waies. responsibilities and responsibilites with regard to the national intelligence attempt was to describe to the President in a timely mode and supply accurate information about the activities. capablenesss. programs. and purposes of foreign powers. organisations. and individuals and their agents. which is indispensable to the national security of the United States. He was suppose to utilize all sensible and lawful agencies. which must be used to guarantee that the United Tates will have the best intelligence available in order to supply for the effectual behavior of United States intelligence activities ( CIA. 2007 ) . He fail to make so. At assorted times. public decision makers will be face with quandary and will hold their ethical motives tested but are expected to follow organisational protocols. act consequently to the demands of an efficient and effectual organisation inspite of what their personal beliefs may imply. Tenet showed greater trueness to the President and to hispolitica interior circle which was more than his trueness to his agency’s analysis study and finally. his trueness to the truth and his duty to hold the truth heard ; instead they wanted to hear it or non ( White ) . By leting the intelligence estimation procedure to be politicize into doing the analyse suit the docket of the policy ends that the Bush disposal wanted. which was an analysis to do claim that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction ( WMD ) merely to meet the Iraq war. sabotaging the objectiveness and professionalism of the intelligence procedure and non accurately stand foring the work of the intelligence community. It is believed that no affair what Tenet might hold said. the determination to travel to war was already made to occupy Iraq particularly. after he 911terriorist onslaught on the World Trade Center. It was unsafe and unethical for the Bush disposal to coerce the intelligence community to falsify their professional opinion to back up the short -term policy ends. endangering their ain best beginning of intelligence and seting the United States long-run national security involvement at hazard. Tenet fail to provide accurate information to the President which causesd the Iraq war controversey. He reported in the intelligence estimation that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Calendar months before the United States onslaught on Iraq. US main arms inspector Hans Blix and more than 400 United Nations inspectors. every bit good as. the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) inspectors who conducted over 750 reviews at 550 sites. All inspectors failed to happen any grounds of any WMD or plans. there was no at hand menace from atomic devices. and no premises for a war alternatively they were told by the US to acquire out of state because war was about to begun before th e review could be throughly completed ( Katzman. 2003 ) . 3. The article compares to the instance analysis survey of The Blood on McNamara Hands and Conscience by Jay Shafritz. and the article of the Two Presidencies by Aaron Waldavsky. Robert McNamara and George Tenet both were similar in so many ways. they both neer ran for any political office. worked as an intelligence officer. molded American foreign policy. nor earned academic certificates by authoring scholarly publications. The chief comparing is that they both put self before the state. neer huffy any skip of guilt. and was non honorable about the failures they had made merely made alibis for their actions. They both did non hold a expansive. obliging scheme refering universe aff poses. nor did they seek one. was rawness with foreign and defence policies. was non suffiently and adequately prepared for a war. Both work forces played a major function in intensifying the war that should of neer been taken topographic point. portrayed themselves as a hapless. miserable politicize victims who knew the truth at the clip and wanted to state the truth. but. somehow. had no pick but to travel along. which weaken their credibleness by non stating the truth and standing up to the President with the truth as an effectual leader. They both had guiltless blood on their custodies. both had a bad wont of frequently stating people what they wanted to hear. but non what they needed to hear and cognize. deceived the Amer ican people. the President and office that they held. they both resigned after holding told such a atrocious prevarication that cost many soldiers lives. handicapped soldiers and guiltless civilian lives. They both seemed to hold jobs covering with the issues of the war which showed a mark of them havng a scruples because they did the incorrect thing but knew to make the right thing. They were hated work forces. and seen as prevaricators who got lost in their mission and ends of the bureau. They both felt the demand to compose books. movies and memoirs in some manner being excusatory and switching the incrimination on the President and others still non being able to acknowledge that they were wholly responsible for intensifying the war. as if talking out now would do a difference. Both work forces could of hold stopped the war from being created. alternatively they stood and ticker. but did nil in someway about like they wanted to be seen as an of import figure in America’s war history merely to be considered as war felons. Largely. they both were more concern about the political effects instead than talking truth to power and inquiring the difficult inquiries that needed to be replies. During the clip. when the state needed them the most to expose moral bravery. they fail. In add-on. Tenet proudly receives a decoration of award for lieing. and standing by mutely watching other’s prevarication about the Iraq war. In mention to the article. the Two Presidencies it related to George Tenet because the article negotiations about the President being concern about foreign and defence policies and domestic policies. whereas. the President is most concern about foreign and defence constabularies. The article besides indicates that most democrate President be given to concentrate more on peace and domestic policies while Republic President likes controversey. Here we see Tenet working in the democratic disposal efficaciously making his occupation and concentrating on ends of the bureau. and standing up to the President Clinton on of import decision-making. However. things seemed to alter for him in the Bush disposal as it relates to the Two Presidencies of how republican Presidents are more interested in foreign and defence policies. Harmonizing to Tenet. the Bush disposal had more of a traditional. and perhaps more appropriate. position sing the CIA’s engagement ( White ) . Unlike. President Clinton who did non look to hold much involvement in the CIA and Tenet was non required to describe to him daily. he preferred to read the day-to-day intelligence estimation on his ain. On the other manus. President Bush was fascinated by the CIA. and needed Tenet to personally describe to him each forenoon at 8 A. M. to brief the day-to-day intelligence estimation. As Tenet became more profoundly involved in supplying the day-to-day intelligence estimation to President Bush and go toing White House policy meetings. he no longer was able to concentrate on ends of reconstructing the CIA because there was non adequate clip in the twenty-four hours for him to give himself to being a spymaster. Alternatively. he was politically perplexing his function as DCI. passing his clip seeking to be a diplomat delighting the President and making something that was non at that place ; as if he had to play along to acquire along with the disposal. 4. Most significantly. Tenet leading accomplishments was weak as a public decision maker. A public decision maker demands to hold clear ends. responsibilities. waies. and responsibilites. Tenet weaken his credibleness as the Director of Central Intelligence and of the bureau by non telling the truth about Saddam Hussein holding Weapons of Mass Destructions. This showed that he was incompetent of bring forthing accurate intelligence analysis on complex planetary issues. Another failing that Tenet shown was that he did non believe that the CIA made constabularies they merely implemented them. It is of import for an decision maker to non be confused about the functions of his or her occupation. Public decision makers are the one’s who are behind the scenes. who are responsible for ordaining most of the policy alterations ; tasked with accomplishing bureau missions and supplying public service in the heat of such political environments. Understanding the political branchings facing elected functionaries in visible radiation of bureaucratic procedures and concluding recommendations is indispensable to carry throughing bureau undertakings and accomplishing success ( Clary. 2010 ) . Administrator who are higher up in the organisational construction. by and large understand the construct of political relations policy determination doing sing to the results of how certain determinations are made. Clearly. Tenet did non understand policy preparation. He thought that the occupation of the intelligence community was merely to garner intelligence. base on balls it along to those who were responsible for doing and make up ones minding policies ; make up ones minding what should be done on the footing of the intelligence estimation. which had been prepared and gathered for them and so transmitted to them. When in fact his bureau was apart of the decison-making procedure because doing foreign and defence policies was based upon the intelligence estimation. Apparently. he did non understand that the intelligence appraisal underlayed the administration’s determination to travel to war in Iraq nor considered how much his bureau contributed to doing policies on complex planetary issues. Tenet showed strength when he served in the Clinton disposal. At assorted times. he showed a explosion of fortitude to standing up to what he believed. as when he stood up to President Clinton and insisted that he non let go of convicted undercover agent Jonathan Pollard or he would vacate. But appeared weak when he told President Bush that he opposed a address to be given by Vice President Cheney that linked Iraq and al-Qaeda engagement in the 911attack on the World Trade Center. He did non object to the abuse of the intelligence analysis for political docket. nor did he hold the bravery to vacate when information was misused. Basically. he neer gave an sentiment nor opposed the Iraq war. As a civil retainer one is expect to give support to all. the re is no separation between partizan. policies and disposal in pattern of public service on all degrees of authorities ( Nigro. 2007 ) . Dogma was good known under the premise that he was bipartizan because he neer truly discourse what association that he belong to with friends nor at work. His assignment as DCI with the Bush disposal. took him out of his character by going excessively involved in political relations and the political inner circle. particularly as the DCI. he should hold remained neutral/ bipartisan. avoided direct engagement and struggle in foreign defence policy doing tobe able to efficaciously make his occupation alternatively he was acting as if he was a congressional staff member working at the pleasance of the President. As a public Administrator holding effectual leading accomplishments and schemes ie indispensable to the disposal. Tenet made himself look unqualified and artful when made the statment that the place of Director of Central Intelligence was excessively large for one individual. so in the terminal he merely proved that it excessively large for him. The lesson and deduction that the article provides that can be taken to today’s universe state of affairss is that we all have a consciencious and the moral duties to make what is r ight. One of the greatest lessson is to ever be true to yourself. ever tell the truth because a prevarication will fall and plume comes before a autumn. Once a individual is perceived to be a prevaricator. no 1 wants to hear anything that he or she have to state because their is distrust. One should ever take answerability for their actions and assume duties of their actions. Peoples want to fulfill and delight their foreman but does it intend that you have to halt believing in what you believe to be right or incorrect? Stand up for what you believe irrespective of who it possibly. Members of the calling service are bond to follow the leading of the President as caput of the executive subdivision of authorities and commanding officer in head of the armed forces ( Stillman. 2010 ) . Even though he may be the President of the United States. a individual still have stand for what is he or she knows to be right. regardless of who the individual possibly and non be a coward. Mentions Katzman. K. . ( 2003 ) . Irak: Weapons Programs. U. N. Requirements. and U. S. Policy. Congressional Research Service ? The Library of Congress. From hypertext transfer protocol: //fpc. province. gov/documents/organization/22888. pdf Clary. M. . ( 2009 ) . The Importance of Understanding the Politics of Public Administration. hypertext transfer protocol: //aspanational. wordpress. com/2009/09/04/the-importance-of-understanding-the-politics-of-public-administration. Cardinal Intelliegence Agency. ( 1981 ) . The Provisions of Executive Order 12333: United States Intelligence. Activities. Appear at 46 FR 59941. 3 CFR. Comp. . p. 200. From World Wide Web. Central Intelligence Agency. gov. Nigro. L. . Nigro. F. . and Kellough J. E. . ( 2007 ) . The New Republic

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Does the Internet bring greater freedom and democracy to the PRC essayEssay Writing Service

Does the Internet bring greater freedom and democracy to the PRC essayEssay Writing Service Does the Internet bring greater freedom and democracy to the PRC? essay Does the Internet bring greater freedom and democracy to the PRC? essayThe emergence of the Internet in the Peoples Republic of China dates back to 1994, but its history in the Republic has begun almost ten years earlier. In 1987, Professor Qian Tianbao sent the first email. A year later, the Beijing Institute of High Energy Physics has established communication with Europe and North America, and Tsinghua University with the University of British Columbia in Canada (Tsui,  2005). Now, almost all personal computers are connected to the Internet. To date, the connection is mainly carried out through high-speed connections. There are many Internet cafes, which require passport of all clients. Internet cafe owners should keep photos of all visitors. Access to foreign sites in China is limited in order to censorship.SECTION 1. Features of Internet use in the Peoples Republic of China1.1. Restrictions on the use of internet in the PRCAdvantage of the Internet is that it has high speed a nd interactivity compared to the print media. It means speed of communication and broad discussion. Chinas Internet users turn to the internet to express public opinion, and here the government is increasing its control (Yang, 2007). Access to a number of foreign sites on the territory of the Peoples Republic is limited within the project Golden Shield Great Chinese firewall. The project is a system of Internet content filtering. In 1998, they began the development of the project, and, in 2003, it started working across the country (Barboza,  2005). Golden Shield is a system of servers on the Internet channel between providers and international networks of communication that filters the information. Only in Hong Kong and Macao, users have free access to the internet, these administrative areas does not apply censorship. Web pages are filtered by keywords related to national security, and the black list of URLs. Websites based in China, can not without special approval publish new s, culled from foreign news sites. Explaining the meaning of the Golden Shield expert opinions diverge. The Golden Shield is very important for the PRC. Researchers argue that network attacks from other states can cause significant blow to Chinas national security. For example, in 2011 about 50 thousand foreign IP address as Trojan horse attacked computers that were in the territory of the PRC. But we should not forget about the cooling effect that scientists believe to be a major problem for China. This term is understood as the legal sanctions with the use of physical or legal means in this context. The cooling effect is of negative character due to the nature of enforcement. It denies access to a number of foreign websites in China, and keyword filtering restricts scientific work of teachers and students of educational institutions. In turn, the tight control of the internet and keyword filtering increase the impact of the phenomenon of filter bubble. All legal websites use algor ithms of selective guessing. Information is based on a previous search history and location of the user. As a result, websites show information consistent with the previous viewpoints. Many tend to believe that tight control and filtering complicate access to new ideas. Sites that are located in the PRC are registered at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which allows identifying the author of illegal content. Foreign search engines, including Google, Yahoo and Bing, also filter search results (Leslie,  2012).1.2. Censorship in Internet use in ChinaIt is hard to tell the exact date of the introduction of Chinas Internet censorship. Some believe that it began in 1993, according to others in 1997. Opinions on the first documents about internet censorship also differ. Some believe that the first document, which officially proclaimed Internet censorship was the document Rules of regulation to ensure the safety of computer and information systems (1994). Others argue that is was Interim measures of management of international connections of computer information networks (1996). According to the last of the documents, users must be registered, providers must be licensed, international traffic has to go through officially approved by the government gateways, transfer of anti-government or other harmful information is prohibited. In 1997, the item harmful information was supplemented by the concepts of hacking and spread of viruses. According to analysts, these measures included the transfer of the regulatory functions from the government to providers. In 2000, new laws were adopted, according to which providers must retain for 60 days all blogs in chat rooms and forums. This information must be accompanied by complete information about users, including contact details. Foreign companies were not allowed to become major shareholders of Chinese providers (Zheng,  2002).China has blocked many of the world social networks: from 2008 Facebook, 2009 microblogging service Twitter. Skype has a special distribution with built-in filtering of unwanted content. Chinese residents are invited to enjoy such services as: Sina.com, QQ.com, they have the opportunity to leave a message on the website of the Communist Party of the country. On March 16, 2008, there has been blocked access to the video hosting YouTube, experts explain the fact that there appear dozens of videos of Tibetans speeches against the Chinese occupation. Most Western media are censored. In 2009, China launched a campaign to streamline the situation with common ways of downloading pornographic and obscene video. The main objects of such checking are stores that provide services for downloading video on the internet and saving it to mobile phones. In the fight against copyright infringement, torrent trackers were closed.Since 2010, China adopted new rules, according to which all music posted on Chinese websites must be subjected to prior censorship. Local or foreign songs should take the prior approval of the Ministry of Culture of the country, before being placed in the Chinese segment of the Internet. In addition, foreign rights holders and publishers must provide all songs with lyrics translated into Chinese, and the confirmation of their rights to them. In early 2010, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC has distributed new rules for a domain name in a zone .cn. Since 2010, all those who want to create a website in China previously need to present identification documents and a photograph, and pass an interview, after which it is decided whether the applicant can register a domain name (Zheng,  2013).1.3. Controls of Internet censorshipA complex of government structures is engaged in Internet censorship in China. Experts describe control system of the Internet space in different ways because, on the one hand, each of the bodies has its profile, on the other hand such distinctions are quite conventional. The PRC government often establishes new regulatory bodies and converts existing ones. Supervisory authorities exist in every province of China. Originally, Ministry of Internal Affairs controlled internet use, it has developed and implemented a powerful information filtering system. This system actually blocks undesirable foreign sites for Chinese users. Chinese programmer under the pseudonym Mr. Tao, prepared a report on Journey to the Heart of Internet censorship (2007), according to which the oversight functions in China are carried out by: Administrative Office for Internet propaganda and the Center for Public Opinion Research at the Information Service of the State Council. These services are engaged into supervision and regulation of information on the Internet, and monitor public opinion. Internet Office and the Office of Information and Public Opinion, which are also described in the report of the programmer, must hold weekly discussion of public opinion on the web. Another control ling authority is the Ministry of Public Security, whose main task is to fight against pornography, threats and incitement to violence. It also includes the Notification Center of publication of illegal content at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the PRC. Experts of Harvard Law School, University of Cambridge, Oxford and Toronto in a research project Open Net Initiative describe that Chinese Internet censorship is carried out by the State Council, Ministry of Telecommunications, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Public Security, and Committee on State Secrets. In 2004, according to the decision of the State Council, the validation feature of management and supervision in the field of culture in the Chinese segment of the web have been assigned to the Ministry of Culture of the Peoples Republic. In 2010, there was created the Bureau to coordinate news, functional duties of which include checking information posts in social networks, blogs and forums (Helft,  2010). In 2011, there was created the State Chancellery for information on the Internet. It was the first institution in the country, specially created to control the Internet and block unwanted sites. Head of the Information Office of the State Council Wang Chen became the first head of the State Chancellery. In 2011, there was created a special unit with the unofficial name Blue Grid army, whose main task was to conduct educational hacker attacks on information networks of the armed forces of China.In June 2009, authorities of the Peoples Republic announced the decision to install web filters Green Dam Youth Escor on all computers sold in China. They control the time spent by users in the web space, and cut off access to online resources with pornographic and other unhealthy content. For the development of this program, the Government of China paid Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company 41,7 million Yuan (over $ 6,000,000). Rule was to come into force on 1 July 2009, but was postponed due to a sharp resistance of Internet community. In August of the same year, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Technology of China Li Yizhong announced that the program will be installed on PC in schools and on computers for public use. Green Dam program has been installed on 20 million computers of internet cafes (Dong,  2012).  Does the Internet bring greater freedom and democracy to the PRC? essay part 2

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Cigerate money in POW camp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cigerate money in POW camp - Essay Example Cigarettes qualified as money because it acted as a standard of deferred payment. Some buyers took commodities on credit with a promise of paying an agreed number of cigarettes in the future. Just like modern currency, cigarette money acted as a store of value so that buyers could keep their extra purchasing power for use when the Red Cross issue arrived. Traders accumulated cigarette money to help them purchase more stock when commodities arrived (Radford 5). The fact that cigarettes served both as money and as a smoke was a factor that led to the debasement of cigarette money. Buyers in the P.O.W camp savoured high quality cigarettes for smoking and only used those that were of low quality for trading. The method used in making different cigarette brands was another factor in the debasement of cigarette money. For example, machine-made cigarettes that were supplied by Red Cross could afford more than hand-rolled cigarettes. Lack of homogeneity in the worth of certain cigarettes led to the debasement of cigarette money. For example, some hand-rolled cigarettes were doubted for low quality and extreme thinness and some sellers would reject them. The cunningness of buyers in P.O.W camp to try to maximize on the few available cigarettes led them dismantling big machine-made cigarettes in order to make many smaller ones. Price fluctuations affected the stability of cigarette money and it would fall in value when prices went up (Radford 5). Like in modern economic times, a fall in the value of cigarette money was one of the factors that caused inflation in P.O.W camp. The decrease of the value of cigarette money led to inflation because some traders felt that they needed to charge more in order to realize meaningful profits. The anticipation and arrival of commodities in the P.O.W camp was another contributing factor for inflation. This manifested in price hikes when the day of the arrival of commodities

Friday, October 18, 2019

Current Issue Barclays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Current Issue Barclays - Essay Example company has more than 50 branches in different countries of the world including Africa, Asia, and Europe, North America and South America and almost 48 million customers. Barclays is renowned as universal bank and is organized as Corporate and investment banking and wealth management, and Retail and Business Banking. The corporate and Investment banking and wealth management cluster consists of three business units: Barclays Corporate (Commercial Banking), Barclays Investment bank and Barclays Wealth (Wealth Management). The retail and Business Banking cluster comprises four business units: Barclaycard (credit card and loan provision), Barclays Africa, UK Retail Banking and Western Europe Retail Banking. Barclays is the fourth largest bank in UK. Its main competitions are HSBC, RBS and Natwest. The current issues faced by Barclays are competitive market environment, segmentation issue and communication models. Here we will just discuss competition between Barclays and HSBC. HSBC is a London based banking and financial service providing organization. HSBC is not indebted to the British Government. But Barclays has resorted to borrowing. During the year of 2010 HSBC earned a total interest income of 80 billion dollars and a net profit of 14.2 billion dollars (wikinvest.com). There is tough competition between Barclays and HSBC. Since these are the two leading banks in UK so they are trying to achieve the biggest share in the market. Barclays reduce their rates on its Woolwich branded tracker mortgage to attract customers but HSBC in turn decrease to 1.99% discount on products. Both banks are taking further steps and bringing competitive products in the market which resulted in decline in market prices. Barclays has decreased its mortgage rate on its tracker mortgage by 0.45% and HSBC in return launched its amended rates by reviewing (Johnston, Mark 2010). Barclays has now launched new Premier Life Banking Program revive lending and compete for new customers.

Causes of income inequality in the UK and evaluate the measures that Coursework

Causes of income inequality in the UK and evaluate the measures that could be used by the UK government to achieve a more equal distribution of wealth - Coursework Example income may involve engagement in jobs resulting to wages and salaries, self-employment, benefits accruing from welfares as well as incomes emanating from asset ownerships (Anderton, 2008, 38). On this perspective, it is significant to mention that there exists a notable difference in the structural division and distribution of income on global perspective. However, concerning the United Kingdom, it is evident that the issue of income inequality may feature in the poverty perspective. This involves absolute as well as relative poverty. The issue of income inequality in the United Kingdom has taken greater heights. There are several causes of such income inequalities evidenced in the United Kingdom. Some of these include the issues regarding employment of individuals in certain sectors of work in the United Kingdom. It is a fact that there exists a significant pay differentials amongst those people under employment schedules in all the countries in the world. This significant pay differential is also evident in the United Kingdom. This has led to difference in wages as well as salaries earned by the employees. This causes a significant inequality in income experienced in the United Kingdom (Anderton, 2009, 67). The difference in wages and salaries experienced by the employees follows the levels of differential in kills and expertise that each employee possesses. However, other reason that may lead to income inequality relevant to employment includes employee discrimination in the companies in which they are employe d. This leads to differences in payments thereby translating to income inequality. The other reason behind the inequality of income in the United Kingdom is associated with the differences in wealth amongst the individual members of the country (Harjes, 2007, 57). It is true that a wealthy person can rent his possessions to other prospective individuals and get huge amounts of income as opposed to the less wealthy individuals. This brings in the issue of

School wait list letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

School wait list letter - Essay Example I look forward to take Organic Chemistry II and Microbiology early this summer, therefore, to complete all my prerequisites for the program. In order to do this letter correctly, I would suggest the following. I know that this isnt a rewrite of the letter, but I think that you might be missing the point a bit. Take into consideration that there are many people who have applied to this program. Perhaps several hundred. For you to get to the wait list, youve gotten to the first "cut" so to speak. What you want to do now is tell them more about you and how you are a fit for the program. The article that you have attached makes good sense. You want to let them know that you are still interested and give them a reason to bring you into the program. What makes you different from everyone else? What can you do that no one else can do? What have you done to show interest in the study? The thing is, the letter that you have now is okay. Its written well. But it doesn’t tell anyone anything. It tells them a very little about you. How much do you want this opportunity? How much do you feel that you are a fit? I would suggest going back to the article that you sent and answering the questions I suggested. If you want help writing it after that, great. Otherwise, its kind of a moot point if you dont want to add anything

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Three Es of Sustainable Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Three Es of Sustainable Marketing - Essay Example This essay discusses that the company organizes its internal and external processes in a way that helps it to maintain value for its stakeholders. Internal process includes the management of resources and external process includes activities of the firm that is suitable for the environment. Stakeholder includes people which are directly or indirectly connected with the organization like owner, employees, shareholders and value chain partners etc. This method is known as Sustainable Marketing. Companies who want to establish and maintain its value and have clearly defined goals related to its activities and its effect not only on their economical condition but also on the people around and environment in which they operate. Importance of Sustainable Marketing can be understood by the company when they start realizing that they are dealing with finite resources, so they have some responsibilities towards its existing and potential stakeholders, and by focusing on fulfilling its respons ibilities they can gain benefit for short as well as long term. Thompson, explained the different methods or thoughts of sustainable marketing, any resource that is lacking can be a problem, as a valuable way of learning to perform, and problems related to moral values and integrity. Organizations’ marketing can become more sustainable by means of three important strategies, commonly known as three E’s. Following are the ‘E’s of sustainable marketing: ecology; economy and ethnology.... ether the requirements or necessity of its customer through all its aspects, similar to SMO that bring together the objectives and values for sustainability of the firm, and every decision they takes, is always based on its goals for sustainability. Burgerville - A Sustainable Organization Burgerville, a U.S.A based company with headquarter is in Tacoma, is a fast food chain and a good example to Sustainable Marketing. This company named Burgerville can be considered as a sustainable marketing company, their strategy of marketing is based on sustainable marketing, and this is the main factor to consider. This fast food restaurant's marketing strategy is based on the promise of development, contribution in the betterment of the location where they are placed, plus decreasing their negative environmental affects, as well as for profitability and growth of the corporation. Burgerville's main factor of attention is towards its value chain process, they try to deal with the producers clos ely to domestically source, to maximize efficiency (Needham 2009). Burgerville is trying to utilize wind power efficiently, and to recycle their waste to minimize wastage of their material. Their waste diversion program is a relevant example of Burgerville’s promise for sustainable activities. To manage the large amount of use less cooking oil produced in its store, Burgerville begin a biodiesel production and marketing program with collaborative work with a small local company which was at its start-up stage. Burgerville provides its every employee, safe atmosphere to work and healthcare which is afforded by them, in addition they also have started program to build and improve leadership skills, these all efforts is a part of their internal marketing program. Suggestion for the

The economy of U.S.A Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The economy of U.S.A - Essay Example It outlines the theoretical and methodological approaches that the country seeks to use in economic recovery process, asserting relative data sources and the theoretical perspective on the data’s view. The analytical approach of US economic policies The U.S.A needs to set an analytical approach to the economic issues and establish fiscal policies to stimulate growth, control amount of money in supply, dictate inflationary rates and of the dollar, and subsequently reduce the unemployment levels. The government should be certain of the factors that would help it achieve economic stability to the desired level. The United States should be observant on the whether the factors will positively or negatively affect the country at the long run (Gwartney and James, 250). The U.S.A engages in diverse economic prospectus criteria, ranging from macro to micro variables of forecasting for economic propulsion. The United States observes on the psychological impacts that a given policy would reflect from the economy. Therefore, the economy practices scientific theoretical approaches on the immediate factors of production, for example, the demand and supply variables, interests, and capital basis of the economy and labor. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the US economy The Keynesian theory as an approach to the economy of the United States would propel economic growth if well practiced. The theory stipulates that, during the short run period, productivity of the economy shape up in accordance to change in demand. The theory declares that the supply may not increase during an increase in the level of demand but may instead remain constant thus leading to an increase in prices, which consequently results to high costs of living, demand for salary increments, increased unemployment, and subsequent increase in inflation (Barfield and Claude, 314). The United States could adapt to the theoretical approach, which further inhibits the express authority of capitalists. America practices a free market enterprise whereby the investors make decisions on prices depending on the changes in market variables. The United States of America suffered economic crisis between the year 2007-2009 and eventually resulted to poor exchange value of the dollar against other currencies in the world (Majmundar and Malay, 43). America suffered intensely during the crisis due to the increased rate of unemployment, which implied negatively on the gross domestic product (GDP) because of the reduction of per capita income. America could view this aspect of fall back from another perspective, mainly by imposing controls on pricing whenever the demand of products increases with constant maintenance in supply. America’s approach of forecasting the futu re through leading economic indicators could also help the country realize economic prowess again. The index criterion is a methodological approach that eyes on the bank lending rates and the possible changes in the economy. The Keynesian approach emphasizes that federal bank should restrict on the amount of money in supply (a monetary policy) to ensure that the country does not suffer from inflation. The country should focus on the theoretical approach since, reduction of the amount of money in supply would press the economy to operate on the available balance of payment, and the country’

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

School wait list letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

School wait list letter - Essay Example I look forward to take Organic Chemistry II and Microbiology early this summer, therefore, to complete all my prerequisites for the program. In order to do this letter correctly, I would suggest the following. I know that this isnt a rewrite of the letter, but I think that you might be missing the point a bit. Take into consideration that there are many people who have applied to this program. Perhaps several hundred. For you to get to the wait list, youve gotten to the first "cut" so to speak. What you want to do now is tell them more about you and how you are a fit for the program. The article that you have attached makes good sense. You want to let them know that you are still interested and give them a reason to bring you into the program. What makes you different from everyone else? What can you do that no one else can do? What have you done to show interest in the study? The thing is, the letter that you have now is okay. Its written well. But it doesn’t tell anyone anything. It tells them a very little about you. How much do you want this opportunity? How much do you feel that you are a fit? I would suggest going back to the article that you sent and answering the questions I suggested. If you want help writing it after that, great. Otherwise, its kind of a moot point if you dont want to add anything

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The economy of U.S.A Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The economy of U.S.A - Essay Example It outlines the theoretical and methodological approaches that the country seeks to use in economic recovery process, asserting relative data sources and the theoretical perspective on the data’s view. The analytical approach of US economic policies The U.S.A needs to set an analytical approach to the economic issues and establish fiscal policies to stimulate growth, control amount of money in supply, dictate inflationary rates and of the dollar, and subsequently reduce the unemployment levels. The government should be certain of the factors that would help it achieve economic stability to the desired level. The United States should be observant on the whether the factors will positively or negatively affect the country at the long run (Gwartney and James, 250). The U.S.A engages in diverse economic prospectus criteria, ranging from macro to micro variables of forecasting for economic propulsion. The United States observes on the psychological impacts that a given policy would reflect from the economy. Therefore, the economy practices scientific theoretical approaches on the immediate factors of production, for example, the demand and supply variables, interests, and capital basis of the economy and labor. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the US economy The Keynesian theory as an approach to the economy of the United States would propel economic growth if well practiced. The theory stipulates that, during the short run period, productivity of the economy shape up in accordance to change in demand. The theory declares that the supply may not increase during an increase in the level of demand but may instead remain constant thus leading to an increase in prices, which consequently results to high costs of living, demand for salary increments, increased unemployment, and subsequent increase in inflation (Barfield and Claude, 314). The United States could adapt to the theoretical approach, which further inhibits the express authority of capitalists. America practices a free market enterprise whereby the investors make decisions on prices depending on the changes in market variables. The United States of America suffered economic crisis between the year 2007-2009 and eventually resulted to poor exchange value of the dollar against other currencies in the world (Majmundar and Malay, 43). America suffered intensely during the crisis due to the increased rate of unemployment, which implied negatively on the gross domestic product (GDP) because of the reduction of per capita income. America could view this aspect of fall back from another perspective, mainly by imposing controls on pricing whenever the demand of products increases with constant maintenance in supply. America’s approach of forecasting the futu re through leading economic indicators could also help the country realize economic prowess again. The index criterion is a methodological approach that eyes on the bank lending rates and the possible changes in the economy. The Keynesian approach emphasizes that federal bank should restrict on the amount of money in supply (a monetary policy) to ensure that the country does not suffer from inflation. The country should focus on the theoretical approach since, reduction of the amount of money in supply would press the economy to operate on the available balance of payment, and the country’

The Old Man and the Sea Essay Example for Free

The Old Man and the Sea Essay â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea:† A Tale of Betrayed Brotherhood In Ernest Hemingway’s novella â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea,† an old fisherman named Santiago faces the challenge of catching the largest fish of his life, an act he hopes will bring immortal greatness to his name. The accomplishment of this goal, however, hinges on the act of killing a creature Santiago often deems his equal, as exemplified by his recurring reference to the fish as a brother. The old man’s longing for greatness negates any moral considerations he may have, though, until he realizes his own mortality, extends that into a feeling of equality with the fish, and the fish’s body is destroyed by sharks. Then he understands what he has done: stripped the noble fish, his equal, of its pride. From that point on, he regrets his actions of betraying his brother. Therefore, throughout a majority of â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea,† Santiago’s desire to achieve immortal greatness overshadows the immorality of his actions, but when the sharks destroy the physical embodiment of this achievement, the fish, he realizes that the end does not justify the means; immortal greatness is not obtained. Santiago, who is nearing the end of his life, has a preoccupation bordering on obsession with greatness. He continually speaks and thinks of Joe DiMaggio, the embodiment of greatness in the form of a baseball player, and his roots as a poor fisherman’s son strengthen the attachment. He dreams of lions, the kings of the jungle, enjoying their domain on a beach. Greatness is clearly on Santiago’s mind. In addition, he longs for the type of greatness that transcends human life; he dreams of achieving immortality through the remembrance of his name in association with something great after his death. After battling the fish for many days, Santiago thinks, â€Å"I am not good for many more turns. Yes you are, he told himself. You’re good for ever† (Hemingway 70). His inner speech, particularly the last sentence, demonstrates his lofty, idealistic mindset. He views his existence as eternal; thus, the type of greatness for which he yearns inferably fits this view and is therefore eternal as well. For Santiago, immortal greatness can only be achieved through fishing: â€Å"You were born to be a fisherman and the fish was born to be a fish. San Pedro was a fisherman as was the father of the great DiMaggio† (Hemingway 81). By extension, Santiago labels the rest of the subjects of the sentence as great due to the reference to DiMaggio, and because he specifically refers to his role in life (a fisherman) in this context, he believes it to be his means toward achieving this greatness. What better chance does he have than to bring in the greatest fish of his life, alone and in old age? Therefore, the fish he catches in the story is his chance at immortal greatness. Early in the story, before Santiago has even seen the fish, he thinks, â€Å"If he will jump I can kill him. But he stays down for ever. Then I will stay down with him for ever† (44). This thought also illuminates the connection he feels between the fish and his glory: If he does not catch the fish and bring it home, hope for his immortal existence dies because this greatness depends entirely on the fish, this fish. Throughout most of the novella, Santiago views the fish as beneath him, as something he is entitled to subdue. For example, he takes possession of the fish, the fish he thus believes he is destined to catch, by referring to it as his before anything even nibbles on his line (Hemingway 24). Also, during Santiago’s battle with the fish, he thinks, â€Å"But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able† (Hemingway 47). In the first half of this passage, he clearly places himself mentally above the fish; however, the second half introduces the respect Santiago holds for the fish, which brings into question his asserted feelings of superiority. In addition, he often refers to the fish as his brother, introducing a sense of kinship he feels with the creature (Hemingway 44, 47, 57, 71, 73). Yet the air of supremacy remains, despite these outward expressions of equality, because the old man’s desire for greatness is so blindingly dominant. Santiago speaks aloud: â€Å"‘I’ll kill him though,’ he said. ‘In all his greatness and his glory. ’ Although it is unjust, he thought. But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures† (Hemingway 49). In this quotation, Santiago recognizes the greatness of the fish and even contemplates the moral implications of his quest to kill it, but his conclusion that he needs to finish what he set out to do to prove man’s dominance over the creatures of the sea, specifically his dominance to satisfy his hunger for greatness, overshadows his brief moral questioning. Also, Santiago’s references to the fish as a brother initially do not always signify kinship and equality. Once, he makes the claim that his two hands and the fish are brothers; the fish is only related to two small parts of his body (Hemingway 47). Albeit the hands are important parts to the fisherman, he still equates the fish to a portion of his body, not the whole self, which implies there is more to than man than to the fish. A little later, he calls the stars his brothers and expresses gratitude for not having to kill such great, distant beings (Hemingway 58). This minimizes both the fish’s greatness and supposed brotherhood because Santiago clearly longs to be one amongst the stars (immortal greatness), despite, or perhaps because of, their admittedly ungraspable nature, in addition to battling a mere mortal fish. For these reasons, throughout much of the novella Santiago puts the fish’s greatness below the quest for his own, despite selected words to the contrary. When Santiago comes to terms with his own mortality, however, he truly recognizes his equality with the also mortal fish. After days of battling the fish, his inescapable mortality rises to his mind for the first time: â€Å"‘Fish,’ the old man said. ‘Fish, you are going to have to die anyway. Do you have to kill me too’† (Hemingway 70)? Here, Santiago realizes that more than the ability to obtain greatness lies in the hands of this fish; his physical existence also hinges on the fish’s actions. This thought humbles the old man, and minutes later he thinks, â€Å"You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a great, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who† (Hemingway 71). For the first time the word â€Å"brother† carries the weight it implies because Santiago sees both himself and the fish as mortal beings in a struggle for life. No longer does he assume superior rank over the fish; instead, he recognizes the nobility of both beings as equal in his expression of unconcern for which dies. Shortly after this realization, Santiago succeeds in landing the fish; however, only an hour later, sharks begin to attack the dead fish tied to the side of his boat, ripping flesh from bone, stripping it of its physical mortal greatness. At this point, the question of the morality of killing the fish once again surfaces: â€Å"You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive, and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more† (Hemingway 81)? Because Santiago had previously established a kinship with the fish, he questions his pride-motivated actions, whether or not his obtaining of immortal greatness justifies killing a noble brother. It soon becomes clear that these means are not justified. Santiago begins to apologize to the fish numerous times, first for the sharks that mangle its body, then for killing it in the first place (Hemingway 85). Eventually, Santiago says, â€Å"‘I shouldn’t have gone out so far, fish,’ he said. ‘Neither for you nor for me. I’m sorry, fish’† (Hemingway 85). In this quotation, Santiago laments his quest for greatness (â€Å"I shouldn’t have gone out so far†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) and asserts that it destroyed both him and the fish. Therefore, despite the completion of his goal to catch a great fish, Santiago fails in his quest for immortal greatness because he realizes that killing a creature equal in greatness and nobility to himself, a creature he calls his brother, is ignoble. He even acknowledges this failure after he returns to shore, when he recognizes that nothing outside himself actually beat him in his quest: â€Å"And what beat you, he thought. ‘Nothing,’ he said aloud. ‘I went out too far’† (Hemingway 93). Only his desire for immortal greatness defeated him and barred him from achieving it, that is, if it was ever possible for him to achieve it at all. Therefore, in Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea,† Santiago fails in his quest to acquire immortal greatness. He begins by thinking of the fish as his to take, the means by which he can obtain greatness, but after realizing his own mortality he understands the fish’s equality to himself and regrets taking its life, which led to the stripping of its flesh, its physical greatness. Thus, the nobility of both the old man and the fish are ruined, and he certainly fails to seal his name as an eternal presence of greatness. Perhaps his quest was doomed from the beginning; immortal greatness was never possible for the old man.