Saturday, November 30, 2019

Moody’s Credit Ratings and the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Essay Example

Moody’s Credit Ratings and the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Essay In the early-2000s, Moody’s, one of the leading credit rating agencies in the world, evaluated thousands of bonds backed by so-called â€Å"subprime† residential mortgages—home loans made to those with both low incomes and poor credit scores. When housing prices began to fall in 2006, the value of these bonds disintegrated, and Moody’s was compelled to downgrade them significantly. In late 2008, several commercial banks, investment banks, and mortgage lenders that had been profoundly involved in the subprime market failed. In the wake of these implosions, credit stagnated, consumer confidence plummeted, and job losses increased across the globe. Although the financial crisis had many roots, some analysts felt that Moody’s and other credit rating agencies had played a large role by underscoring the inherent risks in mortgage-backed securities. The actions taken by Moody’s and other credit rating agencies broke no financial laws, posing the question, is what is legal necessarily ethical? This case study will draw historical information, including documents released by Moody’s in connection with a Congressional hearing in October 2008, to search for the causes of the financial crisis and Moody’s role in it. It will then ultimately explain how corporations, governments, and society can improve the integrity and efficiency of the credit rating industry to decrease the risk of financial crises in the future. Moody’s had been founded in 1909 by John Moody, who got his start as an errand boy at a Wall Street bank. After oticing the growing popularity of corporate bonds, Moody realized that investors longed for a source of trustworthy information about their issuers’ creditworthiness. By 1918, Moody and his first were rating every bond issued in the United States. By 2008, Moody’s had become the undisputed â€Å"aristocrat of the ratings business†. (Lawrence, p. 455) The company was made up of two business units. The largest was Moo dy’s Investors Service, which provided credit ratings. It earned 93% of the company’s revenue, while Moody’s KMV, which sold software and analytic tools, made up the other 7%. We will write a custom essay sample on Moody’s Credit Ratings and the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Moody’s Credit Ratings and the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Moody’s Credit Ratings and the Subprime Mortgage Meltdown specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In 2007, Moody’s reported revenue of $2. 3 billion and employed 3,600 people in offices in 29 countries around the world. (Lawrence, p. 455) Moody’s main business was rating the safety of bonds—debt issued by companies, governments, and public agencies. Moody’s would rate bonds according to a scale from Aaa, known as â€Å"triple A†, with a very low chance of default, to C, already in default, with roughly 19 steps in between. Moody’s ratings and those of other credit rating agencies allowed buyers to evaluate the risks of various fixed-income investments. (Lawrence. P. 455) Over the year, Moody’s saw its business model shift in a different direction. Moody’s had charged investors for its ratings through the sales of publications and advisory services for decades. A Moody’s vice president was quoted saying in 1957, â€Å"We obviously cannot ask payment from the issuer for rating a bond. To do so would attach a price to the process and we could not escape the charge, which would undoubtedly come, that our ratings were for sale. † (Lawrence, p. 455) In 1975, however, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) altered the rules. The SEC selected three companies—Moody’s, Standard amp; Poor’s, and Fitch—as Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations, or NRSROs. The government officially sanctioned these three rating agencies and gave them a trusted regulatory role. It was at this time that Moody’s and the other NRSROs began charging bond issuers for their product ratings. (Lawrence, p. 456) The new SEC rules altered the relationship between the bond issuers and the three ratings agencies. Ratings strongly influenced the market value of the bond, creating a large incentive to ship for the best possible ratings. Rating agencies also had a strong motivation to compete for market share by catering to their clients. In 2000, Moody’s became an independent, publicly owned firm after being released by its parent company, Dun amp; Bradstreet. This placed even more pressure on Moody’s managers to increase revenues and improve their shareholder’s returns. (Lawrence, p. 456) From this point on, we begin to see the credit rating agencies drastically underestimate the risks of mortgage-backed securities in a selfish attempt to further their own bottom lines. The birth of structured finance came from new techniques of quantitative analysis used by Wall Street investment banks, and suddenly, Moody’s was not just evaluating corporate, municipal, state and federal government bonds. Structured finance consisted of combining income-producing assets—everything from conventional corporate bonds to credit card debt, home mortgages, franchise payments, and auto loans—into pools and selling shares in the pool to investors. (Lawrence, p. 456) A structured finance product that became popular in the early 2000s was the residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS). An RMBS started with a lender—a bank like Washington Mutual or a mortgage company like Countrywide Financial—that made home loans to individual borrowers. The lender would then bundle several thousand of these loans and sell them to a Wall Street investment bank such as Lehman Brothers or Merril Lynch. The Wall Street firm would then create a special kind of bond, based on a pool of underlying mortgage loans. Buyers of this bond would receive a share of the income flowing from the homeowner’s monthly payments. (Lawrence, p. 56) In an attempt to make RMBS more desirable to investors, the investment banks typically divided them into separated â€Å"tranches†, with varying degrees of risk. If any homeowners defaulted on their loans, the lowest tranches would absorb the losses first, and so on, up to the highest tranches. It was here that credit rating agencies such as Moody’s were asked to rate the creditworthiness of various tranches of the mortgage-b acked securities. Moody’s charged more for rating structured financial products, considering their higher complexity. Credit ratings were extremely important to investors in mortgage-backed securities because these products were so difficult to understand. Investors had nearly no way to judge the safety of these structured financial products, so they trusted the credit agencies’ judgment. (Lawrence, p. 457) Moody’s began to increase their revenue significantly since they began rating structured financial products. Revenue from structured finance grew as a proportion of Moody’s overall revenue throughout 1999 to 2007, peaking at 43% in 2006, contributing to the company’s impressive profitability. Operating margins during this period ranged from 48% to 62%, an extremely high level. Moody’s had the highest profit margin of any company in the Samp;P 500 for five years in a row, beating out companies like Microsoft and Exxon. (Lawrence, p. 458) The enormous financial results rewarded Moody’s shareholders with an impressive return in the early 2000s. Moody’s top executives were also well compensated, with the chairman and CEO Raymond McDaniel earning a total of $7. 4 million in 2007. (Lawrence, p. 59) In the 2000s, the total global volume of financial assets—money available worldwide to purchase stocks and bonds, as well as more complex structured financial products created by Wall Street—grew by leaps and bounds. Global financial assets grew from $94 trillion in 2000 to $196 trillion in 2007. (Lawrence, p. 459) Until the credit crisis, private bonds were one of the fastest-growing asset classes, growing 10% a year between 2000 and 2007, when the ir global value stood at $51 trillion. Several factors contributed to the growth of a large increase in the total global volume of financial assets. Big pension plans, private hedge funds, individuals saving for retirement, and foreign governments all sought safe investments with good returns. Emerging economies, including China, India, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, built up substantial reserves selling oil and manufactured goods to the United States and other developed nations. At the same time that the volume of financial assets was increasing, many classes of assets were becoming less attractive to investors. (Lawrence, p. 459) In the early 2000s, the stock market was struggling after the high-tech bubble and collapses of Enron and WorldCom. Low interest rates, driven down by the U. S. Federal Reserve, fell to historic lows reaching 1% in 2004. This caused RMBS’s, which paid well above the federal funds rate, to be increasingly attractive when compared to rates of return on U. S. Treasuries. The growing demand for asset-backed securities put significant pressure on investment banks to create more of them. Investment banks began to put pressure on mortgage originators to produce more loans. This then led to lenders lowering their standards they used to qualify borrowers. Typically, when a person applies for a home loan, they would need to have good credit, money for a down payment, and proof of income and assets. However, in the rush to make loans, lenders began overlooking these requirements, resulting in borrowers with poor credit, low-paying jobs, few assets, and no money to put down. These borrows—and the loans made to them—were known as subprime. (Lawrence, p. 460) The weakened standards by lenders appeared to be mirrored by public policy towards homeownership by both the Clinton and Bush administrations. The government had helped first-time buyers with down payments and closing costs and allowed borrowers to qualify for federally insured mortgages with no money down. They also encouraged Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two government-sponsored mortgage lenders, to buy RMBSs that included loans to low-income borrowers. (Lawrence, p. 460) The industry also began to write more nontraditional mortgages. Instead of traditional fixed-rate loans, under which a borrower made a stable payment every month for many years, the industry developed products with lower monthly payments to allow less qualified buyers to get into the market. From 2003 to 2005, the subprime and low-documentation share of mortgage originations tripled from 11% to 33%. These loans were very popular in states where housing prices were going up the fastest, such as Nevada, California, Arizona, and Florida. (Lawrence, p. 461) Some banks and mortgage companies became very aggressive in pushing loans on poorly qualified borrowers. A report from The New York Times examined the practices of Washington Mutual, where employees were under extreme pressure to generate loan volume. The report cited that Washington Mutual pressured their sales agents to generate loans while completely disregarding borrowers’ incomes and assets. The bank had set up a system that enabled real estate agents to collect fees of more than $10,000 for bringing borrowers, making agents more beholden to Washington Mutual then they were to their own clients. Washington Mutual gave mortgage brokers large commissions for selling the riskiest loans, which carried higher fees, increasing profits and the compensation of the bank’s executives. They also pressured appraisers to give inflated property values that made loans appear less risky, causing Wall Street to bundle them more easily for sales to investors. (Lawrence, p. 461) Due to these practices, the quality of mortgage loans disintegrated. In 2005, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), considered new regulations that would have limited risky mortgages and required better explanations to borrowers and warning to buyers of RMBSs. However, mortgage lenders and investment banks lobbied against these rule changes, and federal regulators backed off. Officials in North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, and other states attempted to rein in lenders, but were overruled by federal officials who argued that federal regulation preempted state regulation. The OCC brought merely one enforcement action related to subprime lending between 2000 and 2006. (Lawrence, p 462) In 2006, the market for residential mortgage-backed securities began to unravel. Interest rates began to rise, and housing prices began to drop. As loans began to reset, homeowners found that they were unable to make the new, higher payments—or to refinance or sell their property. Increasing numbers of homeowners realized they owed more than their home was worth. As people began to walk away from their homes, mortgages became worthless—and the value of securities based on them fell. In July 2008, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified in the Senate that he anticipated as much as $100 bullion in losses in the market for subprime-backed securities. By the following summer, Moody’s had downgraded more than 5,000 mortgage-backed securities, with a value in the hundreds of billions of dollars, including 90% of all asset-backed securities it had rates in 2006 and 2007. United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations) As Moody’s began downgrading bonds, many institutional investors—whose holdings of mortgage-backed securities were suddenly worth much less—became irate. As criticism began to pour in, downgrades continued, and Moody’s own stock dropped in value, the company’s executives be gan a reevaluation process of Moody’s own practices. (The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States) On September 10, 2007, McDaniel convened a town hall meeting with his managing directors. He was quoted as saying, â€Å"Looking at the subprime crisis speci? cally . . . We had historically low [interest] rates. We had very easy credit conditions for a number of years. We had of? cial and market-based support for adjustable-rate mortgages. It created what I think is an overdone condition for the U. S. housing [market]. This was a condition that was supported by U. S. public policy in favor of home ownership. And as I once said, once housing prices started to fall, we got into a condition in which people can’t re? nance, can’t sell, can’t afford their current mortgage. While McDaniel was dodging any personal responsibility that Moody’s should have for the mortgage meltdown, some of his fellow employees were more forthright. One was quoted as saying, â€Å"†¦these errors make us look either incompetent at credit analysis, or like we sold our soul to the devil for revenue, or a little bit of both. † The failure of Moody’s to a ccurately rate the inherent risks are due to the conflicts of interest that are in the issuer-pay business model and rating shopping by issuers of structured securities. Moody’s desire to expand their market share made them willing participants in this mortgage-backed securities scandal. It is also far too simple for major banks to pressure lenders or credit agencies to get what they want. The business model prevented analysts from doing their job by putting investors first, and instead put their own company’s bottom line ahead of everything. The credit rating agencies need increased scrutiny and internal controls so that the market can be assured that their ratings are adequate, elimination of the NRSRO designations, and decreasing the conflicts that are created by the issuer-pays model. While Moody’s may not have been practicing any illegal activities, they ultimately failed at delivering their customers accurate information and committed a grave injustice by continuing to intentionally underestimate the risk of mortgage-backed securities for their own profits. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s investigations have revealed a â€Å"shadow† banking system, where the operations of financial entities are legal solely because the markets and the forces of capitalism have moved faster than the government can pass laws. This allows them to escape conviction and legal action from participating in economically destructive activities. The financial crisis that followed the unethical practices by Moody’s and others led to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Bill Summary amp; Status – 111th Congress (2009–2010) – H. R. 4173) which addresses the vulnerabilities of the financial services industry by strengthening regulatory authority, specifically in the areas that were most abused prior to the financial systems’ collapse. The â€Å"revolving door† between government officials and corporations may always pose problems for regulators, and lobbyists may succeed in influencing regulators to back off. These concerns mean that regulators must be well paid in order to ensure that they will not give in to bribery or any other unethical action and that there must be a wider separation between government officials and people on Wall Street. The 2008 crisis started when thousands of US homeowners stopped paying interest on their mortgages. The crisis spread because thousands of bankers and fund-managers had ignorantly backed those mortgages, and eventually lost a lot of money. The did this partly because of their own lack of familiarity with RMBSs and also because of the failure of Moody’s and other credit ratings agencies to warn them of the risks involved. Up to 2008, a large proportion of mortgage-based debts were rated AAA, when in reality they were junk. Just days before the bubble burst, Moody’s still rated these failing investments as safe. The problem of conflicts of interest within the credit rating industry must be adequately dealt with, but an even larger problem may be that rating creditworthiness is difficult to begin with. Moody’s will never be able to predict the unpredictable, or anything that cannot be included within a statistic. In order for investments to be healthy, Moody’s must rate what it can accurately judge and dismiss the rest as a warning sign to investors that they should beware to place their finances into a bubble that will eventually burst on bring down the entire global economy with it. References Lawrence, A. Weber, J. (2011) Business and Society, Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy, 13th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office. January 2011. pp. xxv; 221–222, 226. Becker, Bo; Milbourn, Todd (2011). How did increased competition affect credit ratings? . Journal of Financial Economics 101 (3): 493–514. Ratings in structured finance: what went wrong and what can be done to address shortcomings? . CGFS Papers (Committee on the Global Financial System) United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (13 April 2011). Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse. Majority and Minority Staff Report. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. pp. 6, 57. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Testimony of Raymond W. McDaniel, 7

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

6 Signs Your Job Opportunity Might Be a Scam

6 Signs Your Job Opportunity Might Be a Scam Ever wondered if a job posting seems too good to be true? Chances are, if you feel like you see a tiny  warning flag, it’s probably there. Protect your identity, your money, your time, and your dignity by being on the lookout for the following signs of scam. 1. They contacted you.Always verify if the job posting finds you, rather than the other way around- particularly if the pay seems far too good to be true. Try to avoid searching on job sites that don’t have a privacy mechanism. You’ll be much less vulnerable to scammers.2. All details seem vague.Beware if the job requirements are very vague, as is the position description, like if there’s no mention of education or experience, just a few incredibly basic â€Å"requirements† to make it look more real- age, perhaps, or â€Å"access to the internet.† Real jobs will ask for very specific things.3. Their emails are unprofessional.If you receive correspondence from a potential job, and there are typos, misspellings, or other errors in style, don’t bother writing back. Capitalization should be standardized and professional. Punctuation and grammar should be utterly correct. Anything short of the highest standard of professionalism and you’re probably looking at a scam.4. Interviews are done via Yahoo or nonprofessional  chat.You can interview via Yahoo Instant Messenger? No thank you. In person or on the phone, or perhaps on Skype, is the preferred method. Yahoo IM should be a very clear red flag. If you are at all inclined to go through with the interview, make sure to research the organization vigorously beforehand to make sure it really exists.5. There’s no contact info.You get an email without any contact information, or from a personal address, there’s an issue. Most professionals will conduct all of their work and recruitment correspondence from their work email. If they don’t have one, be worried. Be worried also if you arenâ⠂¬â„¢t provided a phone number or a business address or web address- and extra worried if you Google them and turn up no results. If you do find a real company, but still feel sketched out about the contact, you’re well within your rights to call the company and verify that the person in question is an actual employee.6. They ask you for something out of the ordinary.Just run away the minute someone asks you for any sensitive personal information. Don’t ever give out your bank account- even if someone offers to send you jewels or funds from a foreign bank. And RUN  if they ask you for money. Never agree to pay for a credit report, or a background check, or software. Real jobs supply all this for you. And they review your resume and application gratis.Remember fake jobs can be lurking on social media, legitimate job sites, even under the name of legitimate companies. Your best defense is to keep your wits about you, and listen to your gut. If you get a funny feeling a bout a company, chances are you have some reason to.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Rollo the Walker - Scandinavian Founder of Normandy

Rollo the Walker - Scandinavian Founder of Normandy Rollo of Normandy was also known as Rolf, Hrolf or Rou; in French, Rollon. He was sometimes called Robert and was also known as Rollo the Viking.  It was said Rollo was too tall to ride a horse without his feet reaching the ground, and it was for this reason he was known as Rollo the Walker or Rollo the Gangler or Ganger.   What Was Rollo of Normandy Known for? Founding the duchy of Normandy in France. Although Rollo is sometimes called the first Duke of Normandy, this is somewhat misleading; he never held the title of duke during his lifetime. Occupations RulerMilitary Leader Places of Residence and Influence FranceScandinavia Important Dates Born: c.  860Died:  c. 932 About Rollo of Normandy Leaving Norway to embark on pirating expeditions and raid England, Scotland, and Flanders, Rollo headed into France around 911 and settled along the Seine, besieging Paris. Charles III (the Simple) of France was able to hold Rollo off for a while, but he eventually negotiated a treaty to stop him. The treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte gave Rollo part of Nuestria in return for his agreement that he and his fellow Vikings would stop pillaging any further in France. It is believed that he and his men may have converted to Christianity, and it is recorded that he was baptized in 912; however, the available sources conflict and one states that Rollo died a pagan. Because the region was settled by Northmen or Normans, the territory took on the name Normandy, and Rouen became its capital. Before Rollo died he turned over the governance of the duchy to his son, William I (Longsword). A rather questionable biography of Rollo and other dukes of Normandy was written in the eleventh century by Dudo of St. Quentin. Three Sources on the Ravages of the Northmen in Frankland, c. 843 - 912includes information on Rollo from the Chronicle of St. Denis; at Paul Halsalls Medieval Sourcebook.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 8

Research paper - Essay Example It is assumed ‘A training program for newly hired employees will increase their ability to learn job-related skills’. Employee training is significant to the study of leadership because it is associated with the employee-oriented type of leadership. An employee-oriented leader concentrates on motivating individual staff in their jobs and involves them in decision-making. This style of leadership permits leaders to be worried about the wants of their staff and pay close attention to their interests and attitudes. In addition, a leader endeavor to increase productivity through improved work environment and conditions. Moreover, a leader utilizing this style, increases production by resolving the difficulties encountered by employees in the course of their job implementation (Palestini, 2009). The research design formulated for this research focus on finding out how employee training of new workers will increase their job-related skills. The research design uses a qualitative interview method that utilizes research questions. The qualitative interview includes a description of the research questions. Likewise, the qualitative interview will use an interview guide to collect information from the participants. In addition, it will comprise of a short explanations of the research participants and the techniques of data collection.â€Æ' The importance of this research is to prove the validity of the assumption that a training program for newly hired workers will expand their ability to learn job-related skills. There is no person who is perfect at the time he or she is hired, and hence some form of training is necessary. From the r of an organization, there is no alternative on whether to empower staff or not. This is because the success and existence of a company in a dynamic environment depend in a persistence state of expansion of its resources. Employees are part and parcel of an

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

GIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

GIS - Essay Example Inherent errors are normally witnessed in source data and documents. Operational errors on the other hand result from GIS manipulation functions and data capture. Possible operational errors sources include; digitizing human error, thematic maps areas mis-labelling, horizontal boundaries misplacement, classified error, human bias and inaccuracies in GIS algorithms. The main of GIS processing is to identify the possible error in data sources as well as minimizing the error amount resulting from the processing. Cost constraints make it easier to avoid errors rather than eliminating them afterwards. A GIS (geographical information system) is a tool that is computerised and is used for both mapping and analysis of existing geographical phenomenon and occurring events on the Earth surface. The technology behind GIS entails the integration of operations of common database like statistical and query analysis with exceptional geographical analysis and visualization benefits provided by maps. It is this ability that makes GIS stand out from the rest of information systems and makes it valuable to most of the private and public enterprises in predicting outcomes and explaining events strategy planning. Data accuracy mostly depends on the original input data quality as well as its precision when the data is being processed. This follows the many states in which inaccuracies and errors may occur within the GIS database. The most common sources of errors include; field measurement inaccuracies, use of equipments that are inaccurate, or in recoding procedures that are not correct. This implies that, higher accuracy calls for higher quality in the initial data and processing that is more precise. However, the two will increase the systems costs. Theoretically, the quality of GIS data is a comprise between the cost involved and the needs. Practically, the choice goes down to what is available at that time or what is acquirable in a reasonable cost or amount of time. The two wi ll determine the quality of working level of a given dataset. DIGITIZING Ð ND SCÐ NNING OF MÐ PS Maps are often scanned so as to make use digital data as their bases for other information on vector map as well as to have the scanned data converted to vector data which can be used in vector GIS. For scanning to be successful, the map to be scanned has to have clear defined text, lines and symbols; be of good quality, be free from extraneous strains and have their width lines being greater than 0.1 mm (Bolstad, 2005). The scanning process consists of binary encoding and scanning. In normal cases, scanning results in an 8-bit gray scale regular pixel.Pixels appear in columns and rows and every pixel coordinates are normally identified by the row and column number after which the number is converted to normal coordinates using transformation process. Now that maps that have been scanned do not have any information on the area structures or inner linear (Bolstad, 2005), it is impos sible to associate attributes to structures in an effort to define whether the landmark in question is a river or roads. Reclassification involving cells grouping can be conducted on the maps that have already been scanned. Maps that have been

Saturday, November 16, 2019

How the arts relate Essay Example for Free

How the arts relate Essay The arts are inter-related because they rely and complement one another. It will be absurd for any of the arts to stand alone. They are all inextricably linked- for example, can anyone dance without music? The simple answer to this is â€Å"no. † Music gives direction to dance. In other words, music inspires the movement involved in dance. The dance steps are in line with the rhythm of the music. Dance is performed in theatres before live audiences or recorded on film so that the people who are not present can view the performance later. Theatre is a special face to face type of communication with a limited audience. However, when productions in the theatre are placed on film, the audience is broadened. Relationship between dance and music Dance involves a lot of body movement. Much of this body movement in dance involves the use of various parts of the human body. These various body movements need to be properly done in order to have an effect on a theatrical audience. Highlights this point when they write that, The dramatic effectiveness of a dance, however, invariably depends on myriad factors-movement dynamics of body parts and torso, movement in space, location on stage, direction of focus, use of weight, muscle tension, and so on (2). As a performance, dance is often creative and novel. When dance fulfils these attributes, it sparks interest in the minds of the audience. These audiences can either be at home or live. Live performances are often held in theatres while recordings on film extend the experience to people who were not present at the time. Dance is often directed by choreographers, while music is written by composers. Over the years, the work of these two groups (choreographers and composers) has been studies in order to unearth the innate relationships between the two. In their analysis of choreographers and composers, Joseph B. Rovan, Robert Wechsler and Frieder Weiss find that, In the past, traditional models of collaboration between composers and choreographers have subjugated either dance or music, or sidestepped the question altogether by removing all correlation between movement and sound. †¦one that avoids this conflict entirely by making the work of choreographer and composer interdependent rather than dependent; fused instead of segregated (5). The fusion between dance and music which Joseph B. Rovan, Robert Wechsler and Frieder Weiss state above is also reiterated in computer animations. In the real world music and dance are complimentary. Thus in animations as well, these two forms of art stick together. It is absurd to hear of someone who dances amidst silence, instead of taking step and making body movements according to music playing in the background. Takaaki Shiratori, Atsushi Nakazawa and Katsushi Ikeuchi present an amazing analogy of the relationship between music and dance when they write that, The ability to dance to music is a natural born skill for a human. Everyone has experienced a desire to move their bodies while listening to a rhythmic song. Hip-hop dancers can simultaneously compose a dance motion to the musical sounds they are listening to†¦. Considering this ability, we are led to believe that dance motion has strong connections with music, (1). Naturally, music moves people to dance. It is often difficult to ignore music especially when it is interesting. Over the years and across many cultures in the world dance steps have evolved according to various types of music. In many places dance schools are set up and certain pieces of music and dance steps have become very popular across the world. Relationship between theatre and film The similarities and differences between theatre and film have been a subject among scholars for a while. According to Susan Sontag, there was a need to ensure, †¦the maintaining and clarifying of barriers between the arts (256). Toward this end Susan Sontag embarked on the task of unearthing the relationship between theatre and film. In a bid to accomplish this task, she raised questions which were meant to challenge, unbridgeable division, even opposition between the two arts (249). However, it is important to note that Susan Sontag was limited by the realities that were present when she undertook the study. A lot has changed since then. Agreed, theatre and film have a lot of similarities and differences but they often go together in many ways. For example, in marketing of artistic productions, theatre box office sales are an important source of revenue. Apart from this source, sales of recorded copies of the production too bring in a lot of money. This analogy raises the question whether there can be a struggle between theatres and film for audiences? In truth there can be a struggle especially when managers and producers do not manage the two effectively. Usually, in marketing, theatre and film complement each other. In theatre, the performance is live, thus there is an intimacy between the performance and the audience. However, in film, the performance is recorded, thus there is no direct connection with the audience. With film, producers are able to include certain effects which may not be possible on a theatrical stage. While live performance in theatres has its advantages, recorded performances too are beneficial in various ways. In this way both theatre and film are complementary. The complementary nature of theatre and film is highlighted when Ralph Hammerthaler talks about the concept of the â€Å"theatre movie. † He writes that, â€Å"If there is a trend in the theatre of the 1990s, then it is the trend to the theatre movie. † According to him the concept of theatre film encourages the incorporation of various forms of art into film such as music films, filmed plays, etc. Apart from the fact that theatre is a recorded performance, it uses a lot of devices and techniques that are used in film production such as sound track, rhythm, fade overs, clips, etc. The relationship between dance, music film and theatre Music is inevitable in film and theatre because it is often used as sound track. Sound tracks have special significance in film and theatrical productions because they heighten the mood. Depending on the sound track used, the audience can feel a sense of shame, fear, pity or suspense. Furthermore, Simon Frith adds that music structures time in film productions. Music performs the same function in theatre as well. Dance on the other hand is often accompanied by music and performed on stage or recorded for a wider audience. Conclusion The arts are inextricably related- each plays an important part in order to yield a wholesome result. Due to this reason, none of the arts can stand alone. It will be absurd to dance without music and where will music and drama be performed if not in a theatre? Furthermore, what happens when other people besides the audiences in theatres are interested in viewing a production? They definitely join the larger body of audiences by viewing the production on film.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Health Professions :: College Admissions Essays

Health Professions At age ten, I left everything behind in China to start a new life with my parents in United States. It was not long before I realized that I was, in many ways, different from all the other kids in school. Gradually, I became less confident and more isolated. One day in the schoolyard, while I was playing hopscotch alone, a girl named Becca walked up to me and asked if she could join in. Although we had difficulty understanding one another's speech, we had no problem communicating through gestures and expressions. We soon realized that we had different ways of playing hopscotch. I watched her way and she watched mine; presently we came up with a brand new version of the game. Others soon joined us, and I found myself playing and laughing with kids whom I had thought I had nothing in common with. I have learned so much from Becca, but most of all I learned to not be afraid to build relationships with people who differ from me. Over the years, I have tried to live by this rule, and, as a result, have enjoyed many memorable and enriching relationships which have contributed to my desire to work with others in the practice of medicine. One such relationship is with a woman named Jeanette. Our relationship began when I became Jeanette's reader through the Pittsburgh Vision Center, where I work as a volunteer. Before meeting Jeanette, I had never interacted with a blind person. At our first meeting, she was excited to tell me about the new computer she had just purchased and a movie that she had recently seen, making no reference to her blindness. I soon forgot that she was blind myself. "Did you see that blue jay that just landed on the tree outside?" I blurted. There was a moment of awkwardness, as I tried desperately to come up with a way to explain my thoughtlessness. Jeanette saved me by requesting that I describe the scene to her. As I did so, a smile appeared on her face, and she responded, "I see it now." Later, it occurred to me that just as Jeanette had benefited from my way of perceiving the world, I could benefit form her way of "seeing" as well. For example, I have jogged in the park for years, but until

Monday, November 11, 2019

Support Children and Young Peoples Health and Safety

CU1521- Support children and young people’s health and safety. 1. 1 Describe the factors to take into account when planning healthy and safe indoor and outdoor environments and services. The factors that you would need to take into account include * Individual needs depending on their age or abilities, for example a child of two years may not be able to do the physical things of a child who id five years old. So you would have to set out different activities for different ages. Specific needs such as sensory impairment, for example if a child is partly sighted you would have to think about extra support for the child as they play. * You need to be clear on what the children can and can’t play on, what they can do in the environment, explain to them about health and safety. * Risk assessments have to be cared out to insure the area is safe for both children and adults. * Practitioners need to have a clear understanding of the role during the activities. * What the aim an d objective is, for example you might set out two bicycles so that the children learn about sharing and being patient. The outcome, did you achieve what you set out to and did the children enjoy it. 1. 2 Explain how health and safety is monitored and maintained in work setting are made aware of risks and hazards and encouraged to work safely. Health safety is monitored and maintained in work setting are made aware of risks and hazards and encouraged to work safely this is done by having electrical checks, room checks e. g. risk assessment, hazards checks, visitors checks etc these are done in different time some are done daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.Everyone in the setting is responsible for their safety, its vital that settings are regularly checked for safety concerns. Ensuring that the alarms are working, visitor’s books and badges are in the correct place, ensuring that there are clear instructions for spillages, substances, hygiene equipment and visitors, making sur e that there are no broken equipment which could harm the children and other member of staff as well as parent and visitors. 1. 3- Identify sources of current guidance for planning healthy and safe environments and services EYFS. * Health and safety executive. Department for schools and families. * Workplace policies and procedures. * Child accident prevention trust. * Health and safety at work act 1974. * The management of health and safety at work regulations 1999. * The electricity at work regulations 1989. * The control of substances hazardous to health regulations 2002. 1. 4- explain how current health and safety legislation, policies and procedures are implemented in own work setting or services. In my work setting we insure that current health and safety legislation, policies and procedures are carried out by. Ensuring we all have read and understand the health and safety policies and procedures. * Making sure that the setting is clean and safe, that the building is well main tained. * Any harmful substances or keep away from children’s and locked and used safely. * Food is stored correctly and warmed to the correct temperature. * If a child has an accident we follow the procedures, by dealing with the accident, recording it and reporting it to the parents/carers. * Equipment is safe and stored safely. Protective clothing is worn when changing nappies and dealing with food * We ensure that we take care of our own health and safety as well as children. 2. 4- explain how health and safety risk assessment are monitored and reviewed. When you have risk assessed the activity that is taking place you must monitor the risk you have identified and if it changes you would have to change and review the plan. When the activity is finished you review the assessment to see if you correctly identified the hazards and if there were any that you didn’t manage to identify.This will help next time you carry out the same activity. 3. 1-Explain why it is impor tant to take a balance approach to risk management. It is important to take a balanced approach to risk management because children learn by exploring their environment. Every activity has a risk and as a practitioner you have to weigh up the risk of an activity against the benefits and safety of the child. 3. 2-Explain the dilemma between the rights and choices of children and young people and health and safety requirements. The UN Convention on he rights of the child says the rights of children and young people to learn and develop into adults and be protected from harm. Children learn by exploring and trying out new experiences. However, they don’t have the skills and judgment to make safe choices. This is why they need the guidance of an adult to identify potential hazards and whether or not it is safe to allow the child to undertake an activity. 4. 1- Explain the policies and procedures of the setting in response to accidents, incidents, emergencies and illness.Accidents - If a child has an accident for example a cut on the knee, it would be treated, a picture would be taken, the person who dealt with it would write in the accident book and sign and so would the person who saw the accident and the parent would be inform and would have to sign. Incidents- If there was an incident with a parent or employee and they wanted to make a formal complaint, they would write it in the incident book and the manager would be informed then and a decision would be made from there.Emergencies- If a child has had a serious accident in the nursery the ambulance would be called and if the child is able to be moved they would be put in a buggy and two adults would go with the child to St. Mary’s hospital and the parents would be called immediately. Illness- If a child becomes ill while at the setting their temperature would be taken and if it was high the parents would be called and the child would be picked up. 4. 2- Identify the correct procedures for recordin g and reporting accidents, incidents, signs of illness and other emergencies.All minor accidents should be recorded in the accident book and reported to parents. If it is something serious an accident report is filled out and a copy is sent to health and safety section of county hall if they think it needs referring to RIDDER they will do so. Incidents should be recorded in the incident book, you would write down the date and time of the incident, the nature of event, who was effected and what was done about it. Injuries recorded in the injury book should say what happened, where, the time and date and how it was dealt with.Illness a child must not be allowed into the setting if they are sick or have diarrhea or an infectious illness such as chicken pox. If an infectious illness is noticed in the setting such a head lice parents must be notified and the child must be picked up and other parents should be informed. Procedures should be displayed around the setting in case of an emerg ency for example a fire everyone must evacuate, children and adults should be counted and names called at the meeting point.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Change

â€Å"Change involves a choice to alter one's view of others and their world† Change Is Inevitable, It can not Just simply be ceased however as Individuals, we are given the choice on what we make of it and how we allow it to alter our view of others and the world around us. The choice made on how the world is seen and how its occupants are as well can have a significant impact on someone's life and shape the type of person that this individual becomes.As evident in the following texts, Enter Without So Much As Knocking by Bruce Dade, No More Boomerang by Codger Announced, Night by Ell Wishes and Took The Children Away by Archly Roach, the Irrevocable change gives Individuals a choice, It Is up to this Individual on what they make of it whether it maybe a beneficial or detrimental impact whilst keeping in mind the alterations that this choice will inflict on their view of others and their world.These texts will further enhance the understanding of choice and how it has the pow er to formulate the type of future that awaits. The poem ‘No More Boomerang' by Codger Announced, depicts the type of life the Aboriginal people had and although the circumstances that they were placed into ere not Just or fair, they were also inescapable. However, with this being said, the Aboriginal people did have a distinct choice, they had a choice on what they made of themselves in the future and how they could endeavor to learn from these mistakes and grow as people.Much like ‘Night', ‘No More Boomerang' also reiterates a negative vibe and lifestyle within both the protagonist's lives, ‘Now all excelled- Color bar and beer' this quote from the poem clearly indicates the struggle that the Aboriginal people had during this time. The specification of color bar' shows that they were aggregated from the rest of the community because they were not good enough to be around the White people', a clear sign of dehumidification.With now being exposed to a more â €˜civilized' type of living, the Aboriginal people resorted to the foreign comfort of alcohol (been which resulted In the increase of Aboriginal alcoholism. Even though the Aboriginal people had a very slim chance of having a choice as to what happened to them during this devastating time, they still had a choice as to what happened to them afterwards. The protagonist could've made the choice to stop informing to the White Australians way of living and to go back to the type of living that he was accustomed to. Lay down the whomever, Lay down the waded. Now we got atom-bomb, End everybody, this quote clearly expresses the change that the Aboriginal people were heavily exposed to, from using their weapons for hunting and survival to having the power to destroy and corrupt within the palm of their hands. This further clarifies the fact that after being familiarized with the feeling of hatred and pain, the protagonist still clearly holds that bitter emotion towards the White Austral ians in his heart even though it was so long ago.This correlates with the protagonist of Night' who also still experiences the same feeling, only in different context. It represents the fact that they're still trying to heal from the pain and the sudden changes of their lives, It's something that they are unable to forget and of people and the world in a negative way. In comparison to ‘Night', although Lie had very conflicting views on life in general and how he saw people through out the book, as a result of his trauma, he has enabled himself to embrace the change.He, of course as stated previously, still feels bitter towards his past and the Germans, however he still believes that there is room for peace and that the world has the potential to ‘change' and be more aware of the severe situations that are happening within it's surroundings. This is explanatory in the quote, ‘l could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes†¦ , it exhibits the fact that Lie was shocked that no one had come to help them during this devastating time, he presumed that everybody around the world would be aware of such atrocities cause these evil acts would have never been acceptable within that particular century. This quote was when the audience began to realize the sudden changes in the way Lie viewed the world at such a young age while experiencing these hardships. Despite this fact, Lie made the choice to think in this sort of way, regardless if it was portrayed negatively.His faith in the world and even God saving him and his people vanished, his ‘soul had been invaded- and devoured- by a black flame' which consequently lead to a resentment towards the said hopelessness of God and to the world, who saw but didn't act. Lie chose to allow this resentment to sake control of himself and his actions that eventually shaped the type of pessimistic and self-absorbed person he came to be. The p oem ‘Enter Without So Much As Knocking' by Bruce Dade examines the consequences of living such a negative life which is proved in the quote, ‘†¦Pretty soon he was old enough to be realistic like every other godless money-hungry back- stabbing miserable so-and-so†¦ ‘. This quote implies the negative impacts of living in a materialistic world, the protagonist complains a lot about this through out the poem but doesn't do anything particularly significant to change the issue. He puts a lot of emphasis on how this world is cruel and greedy and how people are ‘money-hungry and ‘miserable' but what is noted through out the poem is that he is part of that group of people that he despises.This states that he becomes too busy stating his cynical views on others and the world that he doesn't begin to realize that he is turning into one of those people and is continuously minimizing the happiness in his life. A ‘healthy tan he never had' furthermor e implies that he never went out and that he stays cooped up within the confines of his home or workplace instead of experiencing the freedom that is easily portrayed as something that he desperately wants.The ‘automatic smile with nothing behind it' represents that he only put up a smile for show and that he never really meant it and never really made the effort to either, which interrelates with him having made the choice to be this way. ‘Six feet down nobody interested', it is clear that the protagonist had the opportunity and choice to do something great with his life and not look at it in such a pessimistic way but instead he let himself waste away within a ‘money-hungry world created by back-stabbing, ‘miserable' people. S ‘Enter Without So Much as Knocking, ‘Night' and ‘No More Boomerang. In contrast to ‘No More Boomerang, it has been established that Aboriginal children were taken away from their homes and identified as the Sto len generation which is what ‘Took The Children Away is solely about. The similar aspects of these poems is that they didn't have a choice in the matter but they had the choice to establish a better living for themselves. The biggest obstacle that they faced was that they were confused about who they really were, 'cause we were acting white yet feeling back.Even though they were vulnerable to the destruction of their homes and way of living due to their young ages and thoroughly challenged the way they saw the world, they had to embrace this ‘change' and life experience. They shouldn't have let their purity be tainted and not have given this change the power to alter their view of others and their world in such a, once again, negative way. ‘AWESOME' also explores the same aspects of negativity through a similar modernism environment. Both protagonists didn't approve of the modernism, money-functioning world however both parties did conform to it.The Aboriginal chil dren were forced into it but still had the choice of what to make of it and the protagonist of ‘AWESOME' had the choice of making a difference but chose to continue on with his critical behavior. The quote, ‘Came and didn't give a damn' indicates the carelessness of the White Australians and how they treated the children as animals rather than humans, this shaped the children's perspectives of people in general and the beginning of a globalizes world around them.In correlation with ‘Night' and ‘Took the children away there are a few similarities and differences between the two texts. In ‘Night', Lie Weasel's view on the world and it's people changed a lot. He constantly held bitterness in his heart and his religious views and beliefs that were once, the fundamental reason for his being, were challenged as he continued to survive his dangerous life, this is evident in the quote, ‘It's over. God is no longer with us'.In his quest for survival, Lie l ost a part of himself, his views on people ad the world was detrimental due to the drastic change that he encountered through out his childhood. A distinct similarity between these two texts is that both the Aboriginal people and the Jews were dehumidified, in Night', ‘Faster you filthy dogs! ‘ and in ‘Took the children away, the simile, ‘†¦ Fenced us in like sheep'. They were both taken away from the familiarity of their beliefs and customs and thrown into something that they never expected which as a result of this, lost an important part of themselves.However, despite this fact, we are only exposed to Else's negativity through the confines of his book, but really as he grew older he began to realize that he had a choice in how he viewed people and the world. Having a grudge on something that he couldn't have prevented would have just been a waste of time and he wouldn't have time to enjoy the brighter things in life. Regardless of the rocky start to h is teenage years, he has grown up to understand that he needed to turn his life around and make it into something worth living.He didn't resort to alcohol, drugs or violence but to a more peaceful type of living. He sees a brighter future for our world, one that had the potential to really help others in need and to imitate the love that God provides us, towards each other. Say that change does involve a choice to alter one's view others and their world. However, it is up to the individual on what they make of it and how much power they give it to control the person they're meant to be in the future.Negative changes can constitute to negative views but it can also constitute to positive ones and even if these changes are inevitable what isn't, is how you learn from them and gain knowledge to apply to everyday circumstances. As individuals we all have a choice to make whether beneficial or detrimental but we must understand that regardless of this the change will, without a doubt, al ter one's view of others and their world. Change â€Å"Change involves a choice to alter one's view of others and their world† Change Is Inevitable, It can not Just simply be ceased however as Individuals, we are given the choice on what we make of it and how we allow it to alter our view of others and the world around us. The choice made on how the world is seen and how its occupants are as well can have a significant impact on someone's life and shape the type of person that this individual becomes.As evident in the following texts, Enter Without So Much As Knocking by Bruce Dade, No More Boomerang by Codger Announced, Night by Ell Wishes and Took The Children Away by Archly Roach, the Irrevocable change gives Individuals a choice, It Is up to this Individual on what they make of it whether it maybe a beneficial or detrimental impact whilst keeping in mind the alterations that this choice will inflict on their view of others and their world.These texts will further enhance the understanding of choice and how it has the pow er to formulate the type of future that awaits. The poem ‘No More Boomerang' by Codger Announced, depicts the type of life the Aboriginal people had and although the circumstances that they were placed into ere not Just or fair, they were also inescapable. However, with this being said, the Aboriginal people did have a distinct choice, they had a choice on what they made of themselves in the future and how they could endeavor to learn from these mistakes and grow as people.Much like ‘Night', ‘No More Boomerang' also reiterates a negative vibe and lifestyle within both the protagonist's lives, ‘Now all excelled- Color bar and beer' this quote from the poem clearly indicates the struggle that the Aboriginal people had during this time. The specification of color bar' shows that they were aggregated from the rest of the community because they were not good enough to be around the White people', a clear sign of dehumidification.With now being exposed to a more â €˜civilized' type of living, the Aboriginal people resorted to the foreign comfort of alcohol (been which resulted In the increase of Aboriginal alcoholism. Even though the Aboriginal people had a very slim chance of having a choice as to what happened to them during this devastating time, they still had a choice as to what happened to them afterwards. The protagonist could've made the choice to stop informing to the White Australians way of living and to go back to the type of living that he was accustomed to. Lay down the whomever, Lay down the waded. Now we got atom-bomb, End everybody, this quote clearly expresses the change that the Aboriginal people were heavily exposed to, from using their weapons for hunting and survival to having the power to destroy and corrupt within the palm of their hands. This further clarifies the fact that after being familiarized with the feeling of hatred and pain, the protagonist still clearly holds that bitter emotion towards the White Austral ians in his heart even though it was so long ago.This correlates with the protagonist of Night' who also still experiences the same feeling, only in different context. It represents the fact that they're still trying to heal from the pain and the sudden changes of their lives, It's something that they are unable to forget and of people and the world in a negative way. In comparison to ‘Night', although Lie had very conflicting views on life in general and how he saw people through out the book, as a result of his trauma, he has enabled himself to embrace the change.He, of course as stated previously, still feels bitter towards his past and the Germans, however he still believes that there is room for peace and that the world has the potential to ‘change' and be more aware of the severe situations that are happening within it's surroundings. This is explanatory in the quote, ‘l could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes†¦ , it exhibits the fact that Lie was shocked that no one had come to help them during this devastating time, he presumed that everybody around the world would be aware of such atrocities cause these evil acts would have never been acceptable within that particular century. This quote was when the audience began to realize the sudden changes in the way Lie viewed the world at such a young age while experiencing these hardships. Despite this fact, Lie made the choice to think in this sort of way, regardless if it was portrayed negatively.His faith in the world and even God saving him and his people vanished, his ‘soul had been invaded- and devoured- by a black flame' which consequently lead to a resentment towards the said hopelessness of God and to the world, who saw but didn't act. Lie chose to allow this resentment to sake control of himself and his actions that eventually shaped the type of pessimistic and self-absorbed person he came to be. The p oem ‘Enter Without So Much As Knocking' by Bruce Dade examines the consequences of living such a negative life which is proved in the quote, ‘†¦Pretty soon he was old enough to be realistic like every other godless money-hungry back- stabbing miserable so-and-so†¦ ‘. This quote implies the negative impacts of living in a materialistic world, the protagonist complains a lot about this through out the poem but doesn't do anything particularly significant to change the issue. He puts a lot of emphasis on how this world is cruel and greedy and how people are ‘money-hungry and ‘miserable' but what is noted through out the poem is that he is part of that group of people that he despises.This states that he becomes too busy stating his cynical views on others and the world that he doesn't begin to realize that he is turning into one of those people and is continuously minimizing the happiness in his life. A ‘healthy tan he never had' furthermor e implies that he never went out and that he stays cooped up within the confines of his home or workplace instead of experiencing the freedom that is easily portrayed as something that he desperately wants.The ‘automatic smile with nothing behind it' represents that he only put up a smile for show and that he never really meant it and never really made the effort to either, which interrelates with him having made the choice to be this way. ‘Six feet down nobody interested', it is clear that the protagonist had the opportunity and choice to do something great with his life and not look at it in such a pessimistic way but instead he let himself waste away within a ‘money-hungry world created by back-stabbing, ‘miserable' people. S ‘Enter Without So Much as Knocking, ‘Night' and ‘No More Boomerang. In contrast to ‘No More Boomerang, it has been established that Aboriginal children were taken away from their homes and identified as the Sto len generation which is what ‘Took The Children Away is solely about. The similar aspects of these poems is that they didn't have a choice in the matter but they had the choice to establish a better living for themselves. The biggest obstacle that they faced was that they were confused about who they really were, 'cause we were acting white yet feeling back.Even though they were vulnerable to the destruction of their homes and way of living due to their young ages and thoroughly challenged the way they saw the world, they had to embrace this ‘change' and life experience. They shouldn't have let their purity be tainted and not have given this change the power to alter their view of others and their world in such a, once again, negative way. ‘AWESOME' also explores the same aspects of negativity through a similar modernism environment. Both protagonists didn't approve of the modernism, money-functioning world however both parties did conform to it.The Aboriginal chil dren were forced into it but still had the choice of what to make of it and the protagonist of ‘AWESOME' had the choice of making a difference but chose to continue on with his critical behavior. The quote, ‘Came and didn't give a damn' indicates the carelessness of the White Australians and how they treated the children as animals rather than humans, this shaped the children's perspectives of people in general and the beginning of a globalizes world around them.In correlation with ‘Night' and ‘Took the children away there are a few similarities and differences between the two texts. In ‘Night', Lie Weasel's view on the world and it's people changed a lot. He constantly held bitterness in his heart and his religious views and beliefs that were once, the fundamental reason for his being, were challenged as he continued to survive his dangerous life, this is evident in the quote, ‘It's over. God is no longer with us'.In his quest for survival, Lie l ost a part of himself, his views on people ad the world was detrimental due to the drastic change that he encountered through out his childhood. A distinct similarity between these two texts is that both the Aboriginal people and the Jews were dehumidified, in Night', ‘Faster you filthy dogs! ‘ and in ‘Took the children away, the simile, ‘†¦ Fenced us in like sheep'. They were both taken away from the familiarity of their beliefs and customs and thrown into something that they never expected which as a result of this, lost an important part of themselves.However, despite this fact, we are only exposed to Else's negativity through the confines of his book, but really as he grew older he began to realize that he had a choice in how he viewed people and the world. Having a grudge on something that he couldn't have prevented would have just been a waste of time and he wouldn't have time to enjoy the brighter things in life. Regardless of the rocky start to h is teenage years, he has grown up to understand that he needed to turn his life around and make it into something worth living.He didn't resort to alcohol, drugs or violence but to a more peaceful type of living. He sees a brighter future for our world, one that had the potential to really help others in need and to imitate the love that God provides us, towards each other. Say that change does involve a choice to alter one's view others and their world. However, it is up to the individual on what they make of it and how much power they give it to control the person they're meant to be in the future.Negative changes can constitute to negative views but it can also constitute to positive ones and even if these changes are inevitable what isn't, is how you learn from them and gain knowledge to apply to everyday circumstances. As individuals we all have a choice to make whether beneficial or detrimental but we must understand that regardless of this the change will, without a doubt, al ter one's view of others and their world. Change â€Å"Change involves a choice to alter one's view of others and their world† Change Is Inevitable, It can not Just simply be ceased however as Individuals, we are given the choice on what we make of it and how we allow it to alter our view of others and the world around us. The choice made on how the world is seen and how its occupants are as well can have a significant impact on someone's life and shape the type of person that this individual becomes.As evident in the following texts, Enter Without So Much As Knocking by Bruce Dade, No More Boomerang by Codger Announced, Night by Ell Wishes and Took The Children Away by Archly Roach, the Irrevocable change gives Individuals a choice, It Is up to this Individual on what they make of it whether it maybe a beneficial or detrimental impact whilst keeping in mind the alterations that this choice will inflict on their view of others and their world.These texts will further enhance the understanding of choice and how it has the pow er to formulate the type of future that awaits. The poem ‘No More Boomerang' by Codger Announced, depicts the type of life the Aboriginal people had and although the circumstances that they were placed into ere not Just or fair, they were also inescapable. However, with this being said, the Aboriginal people did have a distinct choice, they had a choice on what they made of themselves in the future and how they could endeavor to learn from these mistakes and grow as people.Much like ‘Night', ‘No More Boomerang' also reiterates a negative vibe and lifestyle within both the protagonist's lives, ‘Now all excelled- Color bar and beer' this quote from the poem clearly indicates the struggle that the Aboriginal people had during this time. The specification of color bar' shows that they were aggregated from the rest of the community because they were not good enough to be around the White people', a clear sign of dehumidification.With now being exposed to a more â €˜civilized' type of living, the Aboriginal people resorted to the foreign comfort of alcohol (been which resulted In the increase of Aboriginal alcoholism. Even though the Aboriginal people had a very slim chance of having a choice as to what happened to them during this devastating time, they still had a choice as to what happened to them afterwards. The protagonist could've made the choice to stop informing to the White Australians way of living and to go back to the type of living that he was accustomed to. Lay down the whomever, Lay down the waded. Now we got atom-bomb, End everybody, this quote clearly expresses the change that the Aboriginal people were heavily exposed to, from using their weapons for hunting and survival to having the power to destroy and corrupt within the palm of their hands. This further clarifies the fact that after being familiarized with the feeling of hatred and pain, the protagonist still clearly holds that bitter emotion towards the White Austral ians in his heart even though it was so long ago.This correlates with the protagonist of Night' who also still experiences the same feeling, only in different context. It represents the fact that they're still trying to heal from the pain and the sudden changes of their lives, It's something that they are unable to forget and of people and the world in a negative way. In comparison to ‘Night', although Lie had very conflicting views on life in general and how he saw people through out the book, as a result of his trauma, he has enabled himself to embrace the change.He, of course as stated previously, still feels bitter towards his past and the Germans, however he still believes that there is room for peace and that the world has the potential to ‘change' and be more aware of the severe situations that are happening within it's surroundings. This is explanatory in the quote, ‘l could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes†¦ , it exhibits the fact that Lie was shocked that no one had come to help them during this devastating time, he presumed that everybody around the world would be aware of such atrocities cause these evil acts would have never been acceptable within that particular century. This quote was when the audience began to realize the sudden changes in the way Lie viewed the world at such a young age while experiencing these hardships. Despite this fact, Lie made the choice to think in this sort of way, regardless if it was portrayed negatively.His faith in the world and even God saving him and his people vanished, his ‘soul had been invaded- and devoured- by a black flame' which consequently lead to a resentment towards the said hopelessness of God and to the world, who saw but didn't act. Lie chose to allow this resentment to sake control of himself and his actions that eventually shaped the type of pessimistic and self-absorbed person he came to be. The p oem ‘Enter Without So Much As Knocking' by Bruce Dade examines the consequences of living such a negative life which is proved in the quote, ‘†¦Pretty soon he was old enough to be realistic like every other godless money-hungry back- stabbing miserable so-and-so†¦ ‘. This quote implies the negative impacts of living in a materialistic world, the protagonist complains a lot about this through out the poem but doesn't do anything particularly significant to change the issue. He puts a lot of emphasis on how this world is cruel and greedy and how people are ‘money-hungry and ‘miserable' but what is noted through out the poem is that he is part of that group of people that he despises.This states that he becomes too busy stating his cynical views on others and the world that he doesn't begin to realize that he is turning into one of those people and is continuously minimizing the happiness in his life. A ‘healthy tan he never had' furthermor e implies that he never went out and that he stays cooped up within the confines of his home or workplace instead of experiencing the freedom that is easily portrayed as something that he desperately wants.The ‘automatic smile with nothing behind it' represents that he only put up a smile for show and that he never really meant it and never really made the effort to either, which interrelates with him having made the choice to be this way. ‘Six feet down nobody interested', it is clear that the protagonist had the opportunity and choice to do something great with his life and not look at it in such a pessimistic way but instead he let himself waste away within a ‘money-hungry world created by back-stabbing, ‘miserable' people. S ‘Enter Without So Much as Knocking, ‘Night' and ‘No More Boomerang. In contrast to ‘No More Boomerang, it has been established that Aboriginal children were taken away from their homes and identified as the Sto len generation which is what ‘Took The Children Away is solely about. The similar aspects of these poems is that they didn't have a choice in the matter but they had the choice to establish a better living for themselves. The biggest obstacle that they faced was that they were confused about who they really were, 'cause we were acting white yet feeling back.Even though they were vulnerable to the destruction of their homes and way of living due to their young ages and thoroughly challenged the way they saw the world, they had to embrace this ‘change' and life experience. They shouldn't have let their purity be tainted and not have given this change the power to alter their view of others and their world in such a, once again, negative way. ‘AWESOME' also explores the same aspects of negativity through a similar modernism environment. Both protagonists didn't approve of the modernism, money-functioning world however both parties did conform to it.The Aboriginal chil dren were forced into it but still had the choice of what to make of it and the protagonist of ‘AWESOME' had the choice of making a difference but chose to continue on with his critical behavior. The quote, ‘Came and didn't give a damn' indicates the carelessness of the White Australians and how they treated the children as animals rather than humans, this shaped the children's perspectives of people in general and the beginning of a globalizes world around them.In correlation with ‘Night' and ‘Took the children away there are a few similarities and differences between the two texts. In ‘Night', Lie Weasel's view on the world and it's people changed a lot. He constantly held bitterness in his heart and his religious views and beliefs that were once, the fundamental reason for his being, were challenged as he continued to survive his dangerous life, this is evident in the quote, ‘It's over. God is no longer with us'.In his quest for survival, Lie l ost a part of himself, his views on people ad the world was detrimental due to the drastic change that he encountered through out his childhood. A distinct similarity between these two texts is that both the Aboriginal people and the Jews were dehumidified, in Night', ‘Faster you filthy dogs! ‘ and in ‘Took the children away, the simile, ‘†¦ Fenced us in like sheep'. They were both taken away from the familiarity of their beliefs and customs and thrown into something that they never expected which as a result of this, lost an important part of themselves.However, despite this fact, we are only exposed to Else's negativity through the confines of his book, but really as he grew older he began to realize that he had a choice in how he viewed people and the world. Having a grudge on something that he couldn't have prevented would have just been a waste of time and he wouldn't have time to enjoy the brighter things in life. Regardless of the rocky start to h is teenage years, he has grown up to understand that he needed to turn his life around and make it into something worth living.He didn't resort to alcohol, drugs or violence but to a more peaceful type of living. He sees a brighter future for our world, one that had the potential to really help others in need and to imitate the love that God provides us, towards each other. Say that change does involve a choice to alter one's view others and their world. However, it is up to the individual on what they make of it and how much power they give it to control the person they're meant to be in the future.Negative changes can constitute to negative views but it can also constitute to positive ones and even if these changes are inevitable what isn't, is how you learn from them and gain knowledge to apply to everyday circumstances. As individuals we all have a choice to make whether beneficial or detrimental but we must understand that regardless of this the change will, without a doubt, al ter one's view of others and their world.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Components of Cognitive Disorder

Components of Cognitive Disorder According to Hansell (2008), behavioral theories provide a basis that can be used to explain cognitive psychological disorders, such as mental retardation, delirium, dementia, as well as amnesia. Mental organization and thoughts can create a dysfunctional behavior, which leads to subsequent behavioral reactions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Components of Cognitive Disorder specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It can also lead to self-destructive, unpleasing behavior, and cognitive impairment. Such conditions include hallucinations, aggression, delusions, mood change, limited memory formation, irritability, or wake and sleep problems (Hansell, 2008). Behavioral therapy is ideal in the treatment of behavioral-related cognitive disorders (Hansell, 2008). For example, the maladaptive thought process of a patient can be disabled through replacing unwanted behaviors with positive desirable ones (Kaplan, Sadock Sadock, 2007 ). Psychiatric and theorists identify emotions as one of the components of cognitive disorders. This component is critical in explaining possible causes of cognitive behaviors in situations where biological, behavioral, and cognitive components fail to provide the causes. The emotional component is a psychodynamic perspective and an explanation of the cognitive impairments (Hansell, 2008). Emotional disturbances may arise from complex environmental expectations and disturbances that an individual is exposed to in many situations. The oversensitivity and overreaction to these disturbances cause automatic negative dysfunctional attitudes that result in emotional distress, causing dissociative cognitive disorders. Dissociative cognitive disorders can be dealt with through avoidance behavior therapy (Kaplan, Sadock Sadock, 2007). Cognitive components are also responsible for cognitive and other psychological disorders (Hansell, 2008). To a large extent, these distortions are responsibl e for causing different psychological cognitive disorders, such as dementia, which is more prevalent with old age. Cognitive deterioration results in exaggeration to emotional responses to situations that are normal. Prolonged exaggerations to normal situations lead to persistent hyper-vigilant state (Hansell, 2008). Persistent hyper-vigilance is detrimental to the mental and physical cognitive well-being of a person due to cognitive deficits. This can lead to cognitive control problems that are detrimental to physical and mental problems. A cognitive component is critical in the treatment of cognitive disorders. Cognitive therapy focuses on distortions that cause cognitive disorders (Kaplan, Sadock Sadock, 2007). According to Hansell (2008), the bodily process contributes immensely to cognitive disorders and other psychological conditions. For instance, stress is capable of disrupting bodily functions (Hansell, 2008). This impairs the normal functioning of the body, causing malada ptive mind cycles. This is explained by the failure of the neuron, to produce necessary chemical that is vital in brain control of the body and mental functions. This results in homeostatic imbalances that cause physical and mental processes impairment.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is also important to note that biological insult and neuropsychiatric problems caused by head injuries can cause cognitive impairment (Kaplan, Sadock Sadock, 2007). In addition, abnormal genetic factors can lead to cognitive disorders, such as delirium, amnestic, and dementia. Medical drug prescriptions are a common treatment of biologically-associated psychological cognitive disorders. Neuropsychiatric treatment is advocated for the treatment of biological related disorder (Kaplan, Sadock Sadock, 2007). References Hansell, J., Damour, L. (2008). Abnormal psychology (2nd Ed.). Hoboken, N J: Wiley. Kaplan, H. I., Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A. (2007). Kaplan and Sadocks synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences, clinical psychiatry. Baltimore: Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Williams Wilkins.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Cash Transfer Benefits

Cash Transfer Benefits Cash Transfers in Sum Cash transfers fit into the development measures by being a branch of social protection. Social protection is a set of policies, programs, and agendas that seek to remedy a problem such as insecurity and risk. They are associated with people who cannot get their needs met in typical programs associated with the labor market; in other words, they cater to the most vulnerable people. Cash transfers function in such a way that the state gives money to the poor on a regular basis, with or without conditions. The methods of cash transfers slightly differ for each country. (Hanlon, 3). In addition to this, cash transfers can either be given in the form of legitimate cash/food stamps or ‘in-kind’ things. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, which I will discuss later on. Both cash transfers and conditional cash transfers (CCTs) exist. Cash transfers function without conditions or contingencies and, on the contrary, CCTs involve conditions that the receiver must abide by in order to receive money. An example of this would be: a poor mother receives a monthly amount of money on the condition that she regularly takes her child to the doctor. CCTs are targeted programs that are primarily concerned with children’s health and education. They also only grant money to individuals who don’t make enough income to support themselves. How cash transfers trump previous development paradigms While previous development paradigms thrive in a number of developmental aspects, they also fail in other areas that cash transfers seek to remedy. Firstly, ‘development’ tends to leave out the poorest of the poor and neglect the most vulnerable sectors. James Furguson states, â€Å"Under such circumstances, it has become more and more difficult to argue that the value produced at the region’s industrial centers is generated by the suffering of those at its periphery; instead, the suffering of the poor and marginalized appears as functionally isolated from a production system that simply no longer has any use for them† (Ferguson, 11). In an attempt to help these individuals who tend to be ‘left out’ of previous development paradigms, conditional cash transfers â€Å"promote the inclusion of ‘the most vulnerable sectors’ of society† (Spronk, 21). Secondly, previous development paradigms are highly focused on production as the best way to develop. To challenge this and to bring morals back into the system, cash transfers are highly focused on distribution. Why? Because ‘development as production’ can easily make the producers be understood as commodity-makers instead of real individuals, where ‘development as distribution’ does the reverse. In addition, James Ferguson believes that the world is at a place today that the distribution approach would make more sense. His ‘politics of distribution’ â€Å"involves new ways of thinking about a range of things that includes labor, unemployment, the family, and the meaning of ‘social’ payments (Ferguson, 10). Thirdly, previous development paradigms do little to help individuals cope with the harsh impacts of structural adjustment. Cash transfers, on the other hand, provide a lengthy amount of time where money is regularly given to the poor. This helps them cope with the impacts of structural adjustment programs much more than the previous development paradigms have in the past. Not only this, but cash transfers help individuals cope with other unexpected things, too. UKaid provides an example, stating, â€Å"In Lebanon, while UNHCR provided cash to Syrian refugees to cope with the harsh winter conditions as an alternative to ‘winterisation kits,’ most directed their additional income towards food and water† (UKaid). UKaid then comments on this, stating that â€Å"it is not that they did not need fuel it was that they needed other things more† (UKaid). This sheds light on the fact that â€Å"the element of choice is critical† (UKaid). In addition, the expenses involved in previous development paradigms are astronomical compared to cash transfer programs. Susan Spronk and Melisa Handi in No Strings Attached state that â€Å"One of the reasons CCTs are so popular is that they deliver results at a relatively low cost. Compared to the expenses involved in establishing universal, quality health care and education systems which in most of the Global South would entail massive public investment CCTs are almost free† (Spronk, 22). It makes sense for a health and need-based system that is catered to the poor to be cost-efficient. To continue, previous development paradigms have the tendency to make the poor be part of the capitalist system where Westerners become wealthier from the poor being poor. Structural adjustment programs are notorious for doing just this. The poor are indebted to Western countries, and therefore are placed within programs that, more times than few, trap them within the system. They remain poor and as slave-figures to the wealthy, creating goods that the wealthy benefit from and that the poor do not. It is a vicious cycle that the poor, who are embedded within these structural adjustment programs, are unable to escape from. Cash transfers, on the other hand, do not embed the poor in a system that they are unable to get out of. Cash transfers strive to bring the poor out of poverty without the desire to make Westerners wealthier in the process. Cash transfers also meet a more diverse set of needs that hard-structured paradigms fail to acknowledge, (UKaid). Because they are structured in such a way that the individual can use the money how he/she wishes based on what he/she believes is the most mindful and need-based way to spend it the individual is getting his/her needs fulfilled much more than if that individual were to be shoved into an already-structured system that was not build around her specific, personal needs but the entire population’s general needs. Cash transfers are more individual-specific, which means that the plans are catered to the individual’s needs instead of what the program assumes are his/her individual needs. Other health programs that are more rigidly organized assume that the individual can easily fit into its previously-established structure, which is not always the case. Development paradigms, such as microfinance, can have the ability to benefit poor borrowers in certain situations, however do not make the poor countries richer; there is not a large long-term benefit for the country, itself. Therefore individuals and the countries they inhabit are stuck in this microfinance system with no greater vision for the future. With cash transfers, however, the individuals ideally open up bank accounts, begin to establish businesses, and input their money into the economy on a regular basis by purchasing medicines, food supplies, and more. The cash transfer system helps the country’s economy and increases its wealth and independence in the long-run, as well as short-term. To what extent do cash transfers succeed? Cash transfers succeed to the extent that the individual receiving the cash transfers can manage his/her money well. There are, indeed, situations where the individual fails to successfully manage his/her money; however there are also situations where the individual can manage his/her money well enough to improve his/her life and even save a small amount each month. UKaid and the Center for Global Development’s study on cash transfers states that cash transfers are a â€Å"highly effective way to reduce suffering and to make limited humanitarian aid budgets go further, as well as can more broadly reform the humanitarian system so that aid providers of the future can work in a more complementary way to maximise their impact† (UKaid). How do cash transfers succeed? According to a film by Juhi Bhatt and Alok Verma on the effects of cash transfers in India, cash transfers have a positive impact on nutrition, medical care, education, infrastructure and housing, and the economy. Cash transfers allowed Indian families to increase their spending on healthy foods, go to the hospital when ill and buy medicines regularly, neatly dress their children and provide them with education on a regular-basis, have access to clean water, paved roads, proper draining, and working amenities, and save their small surplus monetary amounts in banks. (Guy Standing: Cash Transfer in India [EN Subs]) Because of increased sanitation, access to healthier, substantial foods, and the ability to regularly purchase medicines, illnesses are less common. Because kids do not have to work in agriculture, but instead can attend schooling, their futures appear brighter and enthusiasm about education is greater. And because they have a small amount of surplus money that they use to s ave in bank accounts, they are able to become more independent as time progresses. India’s economy benefits just as much as the individuals supporting it do. Of course we cannot assume that every country or individual who receives cash transfers will turn out exactly as India does, but India nonetheless seems to be a country where cash transfers are able to succeed. Key debates surrounding social protection programs Today there are many key debates that encompass social protection programs that one must consider in discussing cash transfers. Firstly, there is: targeted vs. universal. This raises the question: Does everyone get money or only some people? Some individuals could believe that targeting people is better because it is a better use of the money. However, those who fall just above the cut-off line of who qualifies are critical of this because they do not receive money. Secondly, there is: conditional vs. unconditional. Is it better to have conditions and contingencies associated with money? Will people spend their money more wisely if there are conditions? Or is this controlling, and should people be able to do what they wish with their money? Some individuals fear that the poor would only spend their money in short-term investments, and therefore would not set themselves up for a better long-term future. Others believe that no one knows what the poor needs besides the poor, and therefore it would be wiser to trust the poor that they will spend their money on things they believe they need. There is much debate between which is better: CCTs or unconditional cash transfers. And indeed there is more contestation over unconditional cash transfers. Thirdly, there is: markets vs. states, which raises the question: Should state or market take on people’s social protection? There is much contestation surrounding this, as well. In addition, cash vs. in-kind/things is highly debated. Cash takes on the form of money or food stamps; in-kind takes on the form of items such as fuel, rice, etc. The argument in favor for cash is that it gives people more opportunity to succeed. The argument in favor for in-kind things is that, as much as cash gives people more opportunity to succeed it also gives people just as much opportunity to fail. In addition, people don’t always spend money on what they need so cash transfers give them what they need. Also, in-kind things do not associate with inflation. In this sense, in-kind things are more stable, predictable, and reliable.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Postmodernism in Modern Society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Postmodernism in Modern Society - Research Paper Example There has been a contracting debate on postmodernism among architects and plastic and visual artists. As defined by architectures, postmodernism is taking half from the traditional ways of doing things and getting the others from supplementary sources to develop a blended component. It entails using modern approach to address traditional issues in architecture. The same thing applies to visual arts. In visual arts, postmodernism is the process of blending conventional arts with new arts. There has been mixture of traditional medium of printing and the modern means of printing and designing in modern visual arts. In music, postmodernism has a remarkable impact to the method of dancing, instruments used and the costumes used in dancing. Although traditional music does not significantly change, there are some aspects of the music which are affected by postmodernism. Change in music arts, styles, and costumes has an impact on artist way of living.1 Postmodernism in visual arts has a comp lex history. Many scholars in the field are not confident in using the term since they believe it wiped away practices and techniques that existed in the field over the last thirty years. Although, there is no agreement on the components appropriate to define the current changes in visual art, postmodern arts is described as the art developed after the diminish of modern arts in 1960s. The movement that defines postmodernism includes the pattern painting in the mid 1970s. During this time, Americans celebrated both non-geometric and geometric arts. Artists were reacting against the Puritanism of negligible and abstract arts. The second widespread movement was Neo-Expressionism which occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At this time, practitioners were advocating for the return of traditional sculptures and painting art. This movement was common among German expressionists. There was also another movement that occurred in mid 1980s called Neo-Geo. Practitioners in this movemen t were parodying the previous movements. They used Day-Glo colors to communicate their message. The actors in this movement were contradicting with Neo-Expressionist idea on postmodernism. The other commonly known movement was New British sculpture. This involved the sculptures of common artists at that time. According to them, there was decay in United Kingdom urban environment which led to waste of consumer community in the country. They also intended to explore the manners in which different objects were given meaning in the society. There was also Super-Realism movement which took place between 1960s and 1970s. This movement was also called Photo-Realism. The pioneers of this movement were trying to express their dissatisfaction with the application of photography in the arts of painting. Nevertheless, their concern was on technical predicament of putting light and tones on a surface instead of general verisimilitude.2 In general, postmodernism art is due to the reaction of mode rnist arts obsession. Postmodernism is the reintroduction of morals, ornaments and decorations in art and sculptures. At around 1967, art magazines were occupied with sleek cube form, but in 1969, this was substituted with photographic image, language, ongoing process and natural substances. Most of postmodern artists portray nonchalance in addressing mismatched styles. They combine different style in one art. In this case, they lack purity and uniformity in