Baroque Art and Music

Both Baroque art and music evoke strong emotions in the people they are intended to touch. The subjects, while not inevitably overtly religious, primarily deal with religious subject matter. Many of the paintings of this era brought religious figures into what were then familiar settings, such as placing a Madonna figure into a crumbling Roman city street. Others, however, used the dramatic effects of chiaroscuro shading and broadly painted gestures and expressions to create images that have transfixed viewers for centuries.So, too, have the strains set down by Baroque composers held the imaginations of listeners over the centuries. Few people, even those who claim to be unfamiliar with â€Å"classical† music would fail to recognize the â€Å"Hallelujah Chorus† from Handel’s Messiah or the lilting notes of Vivaldi’s â€Å"Spring Concerto† from the Four Seasons, even if they could not name the pieces. This paper will be used to briefly discuss and co mpare some of the dramatic effects used in Baroque art and in Baroque music. Baroque ArtThe art of the Baroque period was naturalistic; that is, the people portrayed in the paintings and statuary were sometimes portrayed with human flaws. But it was also at this time that light and shading was used to create the focus of the piece by casting many of the supporting figures into relative darkness and bathing the primary figure in light. This effect, chiaroscuro shading, was perfected by Caravaggio and was often adopted by other Baroque artists, as well as other, later artists (author, date, p. 162).This kind of art was not used to focus only on beautiful or noble images; Artemisia Gentileschi depicts the Old Testament story of Judith and Holofernes in all of its brutality using chiaroscuro shading to horrific effect (author, date, p. 164). All the same, dramatic shading was not the only artistic development of the Baroque period; art during this period took on a never before seen sens uality, even in artwork with a religious theme (author, date, p. 165). Baroque Music Like Baroque art, Baroque music was both dramatic and groundbreaking.However, unlike Baroque art that was growing more complex, the music of that period was becoming simplified and giving its religious themes a â€Å"wider and more universal appeal† (author, date, p. 183). Stories from the Bible were performed in a vocal style known as the â€Å"oratorio,† (author, date, p. 185), of which Handel’s famous Messiah is one. Although Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps more famous for his development of the complex musical fugue, he also composed vocal scores using the chorale prelude and the cantata to bring the Gospels to life in a musical form (author, date).Musical innovation was not confined to religious themes, however. The opera was born in during the Baroque period, drawing largely on Greek tragedies set to new music, since the original Greek music had been lost. Monteverdi was an innovator in this new musical art form, fully exploring the musical form of â€Å"monody† or â€Å"recitative. † Monody was, and is, an extended vocal line supported by instrumentation (author, date, p. 184). Antonio Vivaldi used a similar theme in his music, creating a single and elaborate musical line that extended itself â€Å"luxuriously† through a given piece (author, date, p.187). While Baroque art was often heavy, the music composed by Vivaldi and others like him was often light, carried by string instruments. Conclusion Both art and music experienced transformative innovations during the Baroque period. Although religious themes continued to take the central focus, artistic forms became more accessible to more people during this time. The Baroque period brought music and artistic forms into the world that are still popular today.

Mall Culture Essay

Gone are the days when people had to buy different things from different places. People would visit local Kirana stores for purchasing daily-required household materials, and go to some other local markets for buying clothes. Shopping was never as convenient for people as it is now. The shopper gets the experience of one stop shop. From apparels to FMCG goods, the consumer gets leisure time visiting malls. Each store offers an individual a wide variety be it for choosing a stationery pen or a laptop. One of the reasons for the existence of mall culture is globalization. Products and brands from various places, cultures and communities are under one roof. One of the central features of conventional shopping areas and stores has been their uni-dimentionality. Local festivals and events are given special importance within the mall world. Festivals often become the occasion of greater consumption and are also reflected in the fashion trends of the season. The globalization of cultureof immense economic activity, though at some expense to the environment. A large mall situated along a narrow road in Gurgaon or Noida is a host to queues of vehicles. Queues that line up several kilometres causing huge deficiency to nation already starved for diesel and petrol. Please check the smog that results from fumes emitted from exhaust tubes of these vehicles. Electricity distributers never have enough to supply to the shopping malls. So they need to burn on an average of 5000-7000 litres of diesel per day to stay in operational mode. Quite a huge volume! This can light up an apartment complex for a month. Now the food courts where you relish your favourite food generates 2-3 tonnes of toxic waste every day. The landfills are helpless. Look where the polystyrene cups and plates that you use go every day. And the poor washroom in a mall that has to take a load of ten thousand visitors every day. You are aware that 50% people never wash their hands after peeing. Then they†¦

High School Dropouts Essay

It’s been known for years that young people who do not earn a high school diploma face many more problems later in life than people who graduate. Dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, have poor health, live in poverty, be on public assistance, and be single parents. It all began in the 1960’s when students started to drop out due to the racial discriminations and gang violence. . High school drop outs have been a very serious problem in the United States. Here in this essay I will clarify how high school dropouts is a problem that should be solved. High school dropouts have been a continuous matter for many generations. Pregnancy, poor grades, truancy, low income, and bad behavior are the main causes of dropouts. Which leads for young people to more likely to unemployed, live in poverty and be depending on the help of the government. Approximately 7,000 high school students drop out every school day, which translates to one in three students. Once students make the decision to drop out, they lack the tools to compete in today’s society and diminish their chances for greater success in the future. Many years of failure and frustration can also lead for a person to dropout. The loss of motivation, source of support and encouragement lead students to not believe in them selves and only find the solution to drop out. Now in days, there are many options for high school dropouts. The government offers students to enroll themselves in vocational and trade school or non traditional schools. Which allow students to finish the rest of their credits or receive there GED. Vocational schools allow for students to study the field in which they are interested in. This is an effective option as most students that drop out struggle with some classes, but excel in a class that they enjoy. Of course the best solution is for students to stay in school, but if a student is going to drop out there are options to help him or her get the education and experiences to help him or her to succeed. There is defiantly many advantages in these programs. Dropouts have the opportunity at a second chance to be successful. The only disadvantage there can possibly be only relies on the individual. The person is the only responsible one and it is up to them if they truly want to commit themselves to an education. If the person does not commit themselves they will only loose the chance and go back to the possibility of being unemployed or getting paid minimum wage for the rest of there life. It is important for young people to take school seriously in order to prevent a very unfortunate future. In my opinion I think that the best solution is to stay in school. It will prevent people from having to deal with unemployment and poverty. Staying school will allow students to achieve there goals and most of all make others feel proud of you as well. High school can defiantly open many doors only if he or she is committed to their education and motivated. It is time for people to make a difference and speak to future generations regarding there education. Preventing dropouts can certainly change the world in the future.

Marketing Strategy of The Eastman Kodak Company Coursework

Marketing Strategy of The Eastman Kodak Company - Coursework Example In the early and mid-nineties, Kodak grew as a company and started developing new and improved models of their cameras. They developed the ‘Kodacolor range’ which included motion picture films, camera and projectors. These were sold at affordable prices. They also provided cameras to the U.S. Government for aerial photography during the First World War They didn’t stop there. They then introduced the ‘Instamatic camera’ which revolutionized the way people used cameras. It became a household item for amateur photographers because of its versatility and affordability. Today, however, the iconic brand is on its knees. This is because of the digital age. Kodak was slow in adapting to new-age digital technology, unlike the predecessors who were drivers of technology in the industry with their wide array of innovative patents. Where did Kodak go wrong? Well, there’s a couple of contributing factors. First off, Kodak used a high-velocity revenue model which entailed making profits off complimentary products to their cameras, i.e. the reel used by the camera. Their strategy was typically to sell cameras at a low cost, and let the film reel fuel its growth and profits. This meant the business was heavily dependant on this particular rigid model. Kodak was to pay the price for this rigidity soon enough. This came in the form of competition from overseas. The Japanese firm Fuji Film came into America and caught Kodak napping. They introduced reel that was one-fifth cheaper than Kodak’s offering. The result was devastating for Kodak, and even then their lack of market agility was evident by their slow reaction to the market. Further proof of the business’ inability to adapt to changing technology in the industry came in the early eighties when Sony Corporation ushered in the digital age with the release of the ‘Mavica’, a filmless digital camera that displayed photos directly on the user’s television sets. Pictures could also be printed if desired.

Walmart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Walmart - Case Study Example With the domestic location of its stores, Wal-Mart growth was increasing very slowly but later on they tried to gain from the international opportunities. Wal-Mart became a figure of free enterprise that had lost organization (Wal-Mart Stores 14). With the analysis of the influential five forces that model an industry, Wal-Mart’s growth and development over the years can be well elaborated. During 20th century, general retail has been alive. It was not that of a good system for the customers because they were not allowed to take any merchandise from the shelves. Later on, Discount retail came to the market and it encouraged, little charge, presented less service, credit, and they returned some advantages to the customers. This displayed how catchy the corporation had developed to be. Consumers displayed readiness in buying the brands from Wal-Mart where they felt comfortable with the â€Å"one-stop shopping† where an extensive collection of commodities were located in one place. This was to reduce the time they spent in shopping. In rivalry, a firm can decide to alter the prices to get an advantage, or either improves manufactured goods differentiation (Wal-Mart Stores 15). Threat of substitutes product means the product found within the companies. A close substitute product will limit the chance of Wal-Mart to raise its prices. But Wal-Mart had a fairer price set on their merchandise, which made a great difference in the market compared to other firms (Wal-Mart Stores 17). Their main lead came from the organization and management style, IT, in store operations. They did set low prices in their goods which gave them an upper advantage in the market; this was due to aggressive use of technology in their retail operations. Its competitors tried to respond to Wal-Mart’s advantage in logistics and EDI by making modest cooperative changes by bringing into play the use of the internet and

CSR initiative and its correct perspective Essay

CSR initiative and its correct perspective - Essay Example He has the reputation of being a tough official to deal with and the one who gives quick decisions, if convinced about the merit of the proposal. My project related to the grant of $100000 to a NGO that managed a half-way-home for women inmates released from prisons. The NGO supported them for one year from the date of release or till such time they were assimilated in the society, by assisting them to get proper employment, whichever was earlier. â€Å"I have just one question,† the HRD Manager asked in a firm tone, â€Å"Why should we help the criminals? They were put behind the bars after the due process of law, for having committed crimes. They do not deserve sympathy.† I had anticipated the question. I said, â€Å"Sir, no one is a born criminal. By helping a woman to lead a normal life, we not only help one individual, but save a generation. Dire circumstances make one a criminal and many crimes are committed on the spur of the moment. Crime-free world is in the i nterest of the business establishments.† My project caught his imagination and he sanctioned the grant saying, â€Å"Alright boy, you’re up.† 2. What you do is important in business, but how you do what you do is more important: The showroom of this distributor and the premises where he kept stocks stood devastated.

Acceptable Use Policy & Security Audit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Acceptable Use Policy & Security Audit - Essay Example In a sense, AUP provides a way to carry out things in an organization’s information systems. Any unacceptable behavior that is not outlined in the AUP is liable to lawful action. In conducting a security audit in my computer, I am currently using Windows 7. I have not conducted any OS updates in the past 3 weeks. In addition, there are some software application updates, like You Tube downloaders, IDM, which I have not conducted an update to date. I use the Firefox browser version 3.2 in my computer, a version which is already outdated and would require update to a recent version (Harriett 63). I usually use a registered Kaspersky antivirus, though it is seems that is has not been updated for the past 1 month. I usually used the antivirus to conduct a full system scan on my computer, which it always eliminates most of the viruses. My computer has the admin and user account. Admin is for me and is password protected while the user account does not have a password and any one can use it (Harriett 89). The security level of the user accounts does not exist. It is only in the administrator side that my security level on my crucial files is good. Firewall is always enabled to prevent entry of unknown viruses and trojans in to my computer (Harriett 67). Currently I have a screen saver, though it does not require a password to clear

Legal aspects of Nursing- Homework # 5 raquel Essay

Legal aspects of Nursing- Homework # 5 raquel - Essay Example Their testimony shows that the procedure for documentation of narcotics given was not keenly followed because most nurses did the documentation during their breaks and free time. It is shown that most of them documented when they had forgotten the number of patients given the narcotics. In the court, the suspended nurse can argue that the difference in figures may have resulted from forgetting the figures. I would have ruled in favor of the suspended nurse. This is because; there is no credible evidence that solely links the nurse to the missing drugs. From the evidence, the nurse has been diligently working for 25 years with no past records of such an incidence. In addition, the nurse was not found in possession of the drugs hence lack of solid evidence linking her to the drugs. The institution has enhanced patient safety by putting in place a computerized medicine cabinet. This cabinet ensures enhanced distribution and better monitoring of narcotics. The nurses were also required to document the narcotic usage and hence record the dosage, time, and method of administration. This shows that the institution was committed to the safety of its patients. The nurses are negligent in their duties. As a nurse, one ought to put the patient’s interest first by ensuring that records of the patient are properly kept for future use (Thompson, 2005). Lack of proper recording shows the unwillingness and laziness of the nurses to take care of the patients and therefore they are negligent. The organization must consider the failure of its nurses to do a proper documentation on drugs issued to patients. It must also look at ways in which close supervision is to be made on nurses so that they follow rules and regulations. In addition, in the case where nurses do not follow the guidelines of a physician and opt for IV route instead of IM injection, strict rules and supervision should be imposed. The defendants in this case are

Strategic managenment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic managenment - Essay Example For example, a company may decide to lower the costs and prices of its products, in comparison to its competitors. An example is Wal-Mart, which is a chain of supermarkets and it is known to sale low cost products. This is when compared to its major competitors such as Target, Kmart, Meijer, etc. Because of its low cost products, Wal-Mart has emerged as one of the biggest and most profitable retailing units in the world (Babitsky and Mangraviti, 2013). However, this comes with a disadvantage. The main disadvantage is that Wal-Mart is forced to reduce the cost its production. This includes overhead costs such as labor, etc. Wal-Mart is a company that is known for paying its employees very low wages, and hence it has a high turnover. This is not beneficial to the company because it losses experienced labor or workforce. Another type of a competitive strategy a company may choose to follow is differentiation. This normally occurs through the various dimensions that are valued by the target customer of the organization. This is for purposes of commanding a high price or value for the product under consideration. Apple’s is a communications hardware company that uses this strategy for purposes of penetrating its target market (Gil and Reyes, 2013). Under focus, an organization would either choose to offer its products to a specific target market or segments within a market, or it may choose to offer its product to the entire market segment. A good example in this scenario is in the car industry. Mercedes Benz offers luxurious motor vehicle products to its target population. The people who can afford to drive these luxurious vehicles are the rich and the upper middle class people (Maria, 2012). This is the segment in which Mercedes Benz sales its products to. It is important to understand that the generic strategy developed by porter gives a reflection of the choices that a company makes, with the intention of gaining a competitive

Lying Essay Example for Free

Lying Essay Despite the fact that lying is harmful in various ways, at some point in each of our lives we have lied, some may be more than other but we all tell a little lie once in a while. In the article Lying Tim Mazur talks about the possible consequences that one can for lying and also mention various reason what may cause some to lie. Tim Mazur believes people lie to maintain relationships, please others, avoid awardness and punishment. From my perspective I believe there are circumstances where lying can be acceptable under the following circumstances: to maintain peace, in order to gain something beneficial that can become life-changing , to protect the wealth of others, and to please others. (implicate how lying can affect others and possible consequences one can face in the begging) One circumstance under which it is acceptable for someone to tell a lie is a situation in which something beneficial that can become life-changing by virtue of the lie. An opportunity that is life-changing can improve the course of ones day-day existence drastically. And that being said, if ones day to day existence can be improved drastically, then a lie (especially a small one) is well-worth it. For example, the possibility to gain a career through lying could be well-worth it, because it can shape the course of ones present future. If for instance the applicant knows she or he is fully capable of performing a task but has no experience performing it, and the job requires experience or skills that field. She or he might lie about their skills/experience in order to have a better chance at obtaining the job . She or he could then quickly learn the required skills. The confidence that the applicant can bring his or skills up to par has earned she or he a job, and she or he has not hurt either herself or the company at that has now hired him or her. Another circumstance in which it is acceptable for one to tell is when its to please others. Pleasing others is when one says or does something good, to keep that person pleased. For example in todays society almost all parents tell their children that Santa clause is realistic or telling them that the tooth fairy left a dollar under their pillow because they lost their tooth. The parents are doing their kids a favor by telling them a lie that both Santa clause, and, the tooth fairy are real by not ruining there childhood. The parents lie to their kids so their children can some sort of imagination. (explain how it isnt hurting the kids and how everyone benefits etc)

Examining Murder And Unlawful Killing On People Criminology Essay

Examining Murder And Unlawful Killing On People Criminology Essay Investigative psychology is an approach the police take in order to inspect criminal behavior. This form of psychology is mainly used to answer important questions that arise during the process of criminal investigations. When checking a crime scene there are three main questions running through the minds of the detectives: what are the behavioral features of the perpetrator, what are the characteristics of the offender, and is it possible that there are other crimes committed by the same offender. According to Jillian Robbins (Stone, 2009l) the behavior of the criminal at the time of the incident is one of the best forms of evidence to a case. She reports that there are three important behavioral traits that all detectives look out for while inspecting a crime scene: the modus operandi, the signature and the typology of the offender. The modus operandi or MO refers to the way the offender behaves or acts while trying to carry out his crime successfully. Offenders usually have a strong desire to perform the perfect crime, or to commit a crime without getting caught. As the offender gains experience with each crime he commits, the MO will also change until the effective method is found. This means that an offenders MO will changes through a series of learned behaviors. Richard Quinney points out that police investigators are trained to recognize the MO of the offender but not to solely use the MO to link crimes together. (Clinard, Quinney, 1973) He admits that it is difficult not to jump to conclusions when dealing with identical MOs, especially when the crimes are close in location, but states that including any evidence without unreasonable doubt is a serious police error. A signature, commonly referred to as personation, describes any unusual details at the scene of the crime other than the ones actually needed to commit the crime. Most offenders will leave identical marks at the scenes of each crime they commit. The mark could range from anything like writing on the walls at the scene of the crime to placing the victims body in unusual positions. The signature has a higher level of importance to the investigator because it is directly related to the cognitive process that is unique to each offender. (Stone, 2009) The typology is the last major behavioral pattern used to identify the offender. There are three main categories of typologies: undoing, staging and trophy. Undoing is when the offender psychologically tries to undo the crime scene. This behavioral pattern is most commonly found in offenders who get distraught after the death of their victim. There are many different ways that the offenders will try to deal with the psychological impact or realization of their crime. Some offenders try to return the victim back to a naturally looking state such as laying them down in bed with a pillow under their head or dressing them in clean clothes. Other offenders may try to dehumanize the victim by either beating the victims face in, covering the face with material or rolling the victim facedown. In these examples the offender is trying to veil the identity of the victim in order to make the crime less personal. (Akers, 1994) The second category of typology is staging. Staging is intentionally a ltering the crime scene in hopes to distract the investigators. Michael Stone (Stone, 2009) points out that staging is committed by someone other than the offender to either mislead the investigators away from the suspect, or to protect the victims family. The most commonly reported reason for staging is to cover up autoeroticism or the self-arousal and self-gratification of a sexual desire without a partner. (Ellis, 1906) The four types of autoeroticism are autoerotic hanging, aqua eroticism, chemical eroticism and self-suffocation. All forms result in a lack of oxygen that increases sexual stimulation. Two-thirds of the families of these victims stage the crime scene and reposition the body for the victim to look more presentable to authorities. (Ellis, 1906) The last typology is trophy. Offenders who are typed with a trophy typology are those who take a meaningful souvenir from the victim to either remember or to control the crime scene. The trophy could be anything from a pictur e of the victim to a body part. It is important to note that a trophy typology could be part of the offenders signature. The next evidence the investigators look at while inspecting the crime is the organization of the scene. The way the crime scene looks after a crime tells a lot about the offender. There are three types of crime scenes: organized, disorganized and mixed. An organized crime scene shows that the offender maintained control during the murder. Profilers conclude that an offender of an organized crime scene most likely selected his victim on a specific basis. An example would be a serial killer who selected only victims with blonde hair and blue eyes. Offenders of organized murder crime scenes have been profiled and interestingly have been classified with specific character traits. These offenders usually have above average to genius IQ levels, are socially adequate, sexually competent, had inconsistent childhood discipline, maintained control during the crime, used alcohol during the crime, live with a partner and have a car that runs in good condition. These offenders plan their crimes methodically. They abduct their victims and kill them in one locations and dispose of the body elsewhere, they are likely to lure their victims with ploys of sympathy, they commonly target prostitutes, they demand submission from their victim, they have a high knowledge of forensics and are able to cover their track and they take pride in their actions and follow their case in the media. When questioned, friends and family often describe the offender of organized crime scene as kind and unlikely to hurt anyone. (Bordua, 1962) Disorganized crime scenes prove that the offender most likely committed the crime without premeditation. This shows that the crime was committed under impulse or out of extreme rage. This offender likely murders whenever the opportunity arises having no specific criteria in picking a victim. This offender may have a history of mental problems and is in almost all cases socially inadequate. Often the body is left at the place of death and there are no signs of the offender trying to cover their tracks. Profilers report that disorganized crime scene offenders have below average IQ levels, do not hold down jobs, are sexually incompetent, are anxious during the crime, live alone, work or live near the crime scene, have a minimal interest in following the crime in the news, leave a random/sloppy crime scene, commit sexual acts after the death of the victim, leave the body in view of others to see and often leave the weapon behind. A mixed crime scene is one in which there are evidence of an organized is and a disorganized crime scene. The offender usually starts off with an organized intention but when something unplanned interrupts, strays away from his plans and becomes disorganized. Not all crime scenes have the same level of organization to them, it varies for every scene. After the investigators collect all information based on the characteristics of the crime, they then use the information in a process of profiling. There are two approaches to profiling, the nomothetic approach where statistics from a large number of previous offenders are taken and profilers look for a pattern, or the idiographic approach where the profiler takes once case study and intensely analyzes it. One type of profiling is criminal profiling. Criminal profiling analyzes the personality traits, habits, features and behavioral patterns found at the crime scene in order to develop a description of the offender. This practice is also known as crime scene analysis. When using a nomothetic approach to criminal profiling the investigator is able to see more details because of the normal distribution, but less about the offender themselves. When using the idiographic approach to criminal profiling the investigator comes up with detailed information on the offender. It is almost as if the investigator knows the offender inside and out. A flaw to this method is that the investigator is unable to compare the offender to other offenders which leads to the possibility of forcing a profile on an offender it does not belong to. This phenomena is knows as confirmation bias or fitting the pieces that work and ignoring the ones that do not work. Another form of profiling is geographic profiling. Geographic profiling is used to determine either the area of residence of the offender or to predict the area of the next possible crime. This form of profiling is basically done to find which geographic location the offender feels most comfortable in and prefers to take victims in. (Beauregard, Proulx, Rossmo, 2005) Profiling is extremely usefully to investigators especially in multiple murder crimes. With the use of this system, authorities are able to narrow down people and locations in catch the offenders before they strike again. Dr. Grover Godwin believes that obtaining th e dumpsite plus the abduction site drastically improves the ability to pin point the offenders place of residence. The downfall to geographical profiling is that profilers need at least five crimes to find a pattern. This means that the offender continues to take lives before this process can take effect. Many profilers argue that when the offender exhibits some form of mental illness at the scene of the crime such as sadistic torture, evisceration, postmortem slashing and cutting, and other mutilations, the profiling of serious offenders is more successful. This is a result based from the theory that when a person is mentally disturbed they demonstrate the greatest consistency in behavior from situation to situation. Another strategy the investigators use to determine the offender is the psychological autopsy. This is a reconstructive psychological evaluation that differs from profiling. Here the profiling is done on a dead person, and the identity of the person is already known. There are two types of psychological autopsies. The first type is suicide psychology autopsy and it is used to understand and identify factors that contribute to the suicide. The second type is the equivocal death psychological autopsy and it is used to determine the reason of the death. In both the suicide psychological autopsy and the equivocal death psychological autopsy, a forensic psychologist is hired. The forensic psychologist looks at the lifestyles, behavioral history, personality traits, and the amount of psychological pain the victim was in. They conduct interviews with family, friends, and people who knew the victim. The forensic psychologist also looks through the victims personal documents in order to get a better understanding of the cause of death. Once the investigators know the reasoning behind the murder they are able to start narrowing down suspects. Now that we have a base understanding of the strategies investigators use to expose offenders, it is time to compare and define each different category of multiple murder offenders. First off, multiple murders are the killing of many people either in the same occurrence or over a period of time. Although these events are rare, they are highly publicized and remain in the memories of many people. There are three classifications of multiple murderers: serial murderers, mass murderers and spree murderers. A serial murderer is when one person kills a minimum of three people over time. The time period contains a cooling off period in which the offender will not kill the next victim for weeks, months or sometimes even years. This cooling off period is the main difference between serial murderers and other multiple murderers. The majority of serial murderers are single white males who are highly intelligent with above average IQ levels. They commonly have trouble holding down jobs and come from unstable homes where typically the father abandoned the family and the mother raised the children. They are often abused physically, mentally or emotionally and the abuse is usually by an older male figure that the offenders mother brought in to replace to offenders father. As children, serial murderers commonly display what has come to be known as the triad: being fascinated with fire setting, bedwetting after the age of 12, and displaying sadistic activities or the torture of small animals. They show characteristics of anti-social personality disorder at a young age and they tend to lack empathy and guilt when disciplined and are egocentric and impulsive. The crime scene left by a serial murderers may be organized or disorganized. Serial murders are known to kill for different motives. Hagan categorizes the motives of the offenders into three groups: visionary, mission oriented and hedonistic. (Hagan, 2010) A visionary motive is when the offender suffers from a psychotic break and believes that another person or even god or the devil instructs them to kill. A mission oriented motive is when the offender justifies his act by saying they are ridding the world of a specific type of person, an example being homosexuals or prostitutes. These offenders are not psychotic they are only out to change the nature of society. An offender with a hedonistic motive seeks thrill and pleasure from killing. They see people as expendable. There are three different types of hedonistic motives: lust, thrill, comfort and power/control. A hedonistic lust motive shows sex as the primary motif. Fantasy plays a large role in these killings. It doesnt matter to the offender if the victim is dead or alive while committing sexual acts. Of fenders report sexual gratification levels raised the more tortured and mutilated the victim is. The weapons of choice are usually those that require close range. The time between each murder decreases as the offender continues to kill. The second hedonistic motive is thrill. Thrill murderers primary motif is to induce pain of cause terror to the victim. They seek adrenalin rushes by hunting and killing their victims. These offenders kill just for the thrill of it and have no sexual aspect to the murder. The victims are strangers although the killer may have followed the victim for a period of time. These killers can abstain from killing for long periods of time. They refine their murder method after each kill in an attempt to become more successful. The next hedonistic motive is comfort. A comfort offender kills for a material gain or for a more comfortable lifestyle. The victims are usually family members or friends. After the murder the offender usually waits a long period of tim e before killing again to lower suspicion levels. The offenders are usually females and kill with poison. Most comfort killers have previous convictions for fraud, embezzlement or theft. The last hedonistic motive is power/control in which the offender kills to exert power over the victim. These offenders were usually abused as children, causing an inadequate or powerless feeling as an adult. The offenders often sexually abuse the victims but the abuse is not motivated by lust, it is motivated by domination. Female serial murderers are classified separately then male serial murderers because of the drastic differences between them. Only one-third of female serial killers killed strangers (Benekos, 1995) compared to males who almost always killed strangers. The victims of female serial killers are almost always husbands, ex-husbands, or current lovers. They murder for personal gain such as insurance benefits, will allocations or estate. Sexual or sadistic motives are extremely rare and psychopathic traits and documentation of child abuse is commonly reported in these offenders. The method of preferred killing is usually poison or low profile. Evidence suggests that females are less violent and less aggressive. Female serial killers are known to have a borderline personality disorder and a lack of empathy. Female serial murdering is very rare and the rate of re-crime is less often than males. Profilers report that there are greatest risk areas for serial killers to pick their victims from. Jenkins (1994) suggests that the availability of perspective victims and the attitudes of law enforcement agencies toward those victims play a crucial role when choosing a victim. Reports show that serial murderers pick their potential victims on the basis of easy escape and the vulnerability level of the victim. The prefer killing in a place with easy access and the option to leave the vicinity without causing alarm. Urban subcultures and areas with isolated landscape are the most preferred killing location. Areas that contain high levels or elderly or poor people are the second preferred location. The derelict areas within a city appear to be a common target location, also young women in or near a college campus. Victims are often prostitutes, runaways and homosexuals. Most serial killing has occurred in the western states suggesting that it is a result of lifestyle, economic conditions and availability of potential victims. Serial killers tend to select victims near their homes or workplaces. 14 percent of serial killers use their homes or workplaces as the preferred location, whereas another 52 percent commit their murders in the same general location or region, such as the same neighborhood or city. (Hickey) All serial offenders are classified as having one of four different hunting patterns: hunter, poacher, troller, and trapper. The hunter chooses his victim near his place of residence. The poacher travels to another location to find his victim. The troller meets his victim in an opportunistic manner and the trapper has a job which allows him to meet his victim in the area he happens to be working in. Although it is most common for serial killers to be while, Walsh found that nearly 22% or serial killers in the United States have been black. He points out the there is extensive media coverage of white serial killers in the United States, but black serial killing goes unpublicized. The extensive media coverage of Bundy, Gacy, and Berkowitz cases have made these killers almost household names, but African Americans such as Watts, Johnson, Francois, and Wallace are practically unknown, despite having operated within the same general framework (1980s and 1990s). (Walsh, 2005) The second type of multiple murderers is known as the mass murderer. A mass murderer is a person who kills three or more individuals with-out a cooling off period. These offenders intentionally and indiscriminately kill often trying to exterminate entire groups of communities. The victims are often picked due to their ethnicity or religion. The killing occurs in one single location and the killer often commits suicide after completing the act. Mass murderers are divided into five different groups: perverted love, politics and hate, revenge/workplace, product tampering and school shootings. The different groups pertain to the reasoning behind the offender when killing. A perverted love offender kills out of depression. There are two different types of perverted love offenders: family murder/suicide and family killing. Family murder/ suicide are when an individual is unable to differential between himself and his family. He sees his family members as part of himself. He believes that if he isnt able to find happiness for himself then his extended self (family) is unable to find happiness also. This offender will kill his entire family before taking his own life. He truly believes he is saving his family from future suffering. This offender is egocentric and does not allow the family to have a different opinion that he does. The second type or perverted love is family killing. This offender kills to protect his family. The killing does not involve suicide. An example of family killing is a father of his daughters son killing his entire family when his wife threatens to divorce him. His reasoning for killing was to protect the family name. The next type of mass murder is classified under politics and hate. This type of murder is more commonly known as suicide bombers. The offenders believe that they are doing well for the world because they are eliminating a number of people who have different views than they do. The offender is usually single, between the ages of 17 and 33 and has some or full high school education. The victims are random. A different, subtype under suicide bombers are set and run killers. They have the same intentions as suicide bombers but instead of taking their own life they set killing devices in motion and flee. A different reasoning behind mass murder is revenge. These offenders want to payback someone who has humiliated them. They do not accept blame for their actions but instead are irrational and blame others. The revenge offender is known as the disgruntled employee. These offenders see their career as the only meaningful part of their lives. The attack usually formulates when the offender sees his salary or status as disappearing or having no chance for opportunity. They are incapable of coping with their problems by change. The average age of this killer is 38; he experiences frequent chronic isolation and has no significant criminal record. His assault is planned and his victims are specifically chosen. The victims appear to be either the boss of the offender, a co-worker who recently received a promotion, or a socially adequate co-worker. The fourth categories of mass murders are those involved with product tampering. These offenders sabotage a commercial product usually for commercial gain. The offender usually expects financial gain either through litigation on behalf of the victim (wrongful death), through extortion, or through business operations. (Ressler, 1992) The most common method of product tampering it to inject cyanide into products. Cyanide is the poison of choice because of its potency and availability. When news gets out that there is a problem with a product, many cases are illegitimately filed by false complaints from people seeking monetary claims. School shootings are the last category of mass murder. School shootings are very rare but highly publicized. Investigations show that there are two common characteristics of school shooters: peer rejection and social rejection. 70% of school shooters were termed loners by fellow classmates. 62% abused drugs or alcohol and 43% were bullied by others. (Bordua, 1962) These offenders have a history of violence including violence toward people, humans and property. They often report having violent fantasies, atypical depression and mixed personality disorders. School shooters typically kill in pairs, have easy access to firearms, and have told at least one person about their plan to kill which is typically very detailed. Other students usually encourage the attacks. The victims of school shooters are usually students who bullied, harassed or picked on the offender. Almost  ¾ of school shooters made suicidal gestures before attacking. The academic standings of school shooters range from failing to excellent. The family situation or home life of the offender may range from very good to bad, and most offenders engage in some behavior that caused concern of indicated a need for help. The next type of multiple murderers is the spree killer. A spree offender kills two or more victims in a short duration without a cooling off period. They kill at two or more locations with almost no time break between murders. (US Bureau of Justice Statistics) It is the lack of the cooling off period that marks the difference between spree killers and serial killers. Lastly is the angel of death. The angel of death is a person who makes a career out of killing others. They are usually drawn to the medical fields. These offenders will take the life of their patient only because they have the power to. They make the death look to others like a natural cause when the reality is that the person would have made it. Something they torture their victims with unusual medications. These offenders have pathological interests in the power of life and death. Now we are going to make a transition from pre-identification of the offender to a method of understanding the reasoning behind to offenders action after they have been caught. The investigator will first ask the offender series of questions relating back to their childhood until the present day. This is to get an understanding of why the offender believes he murdered. This will also show the lifestyles of the offender and aid in future research of early risk factors. Next the offender will be tested for any psychotic disorders and then will undergo a forensic hypnosis. The hypnosis can bring forward long-forgotten or even repressed childhood memories. This process will either cause hypnotic hyper amnesia which is the enhancement or revival of memory or it will cause non-hypnotic hyper amnesia which is the revival of memories through non-hypnotic methods such as free association, fantasy and recall techniques. The investigator will try to obtain as many specific details as possible f rom the offender to help with future research. Unfortunately there is limited research available on and multiple murder situations where the offender commits suicide. This is because the facts and resources are limited to anything left behind by the offender instead of documented reporting straight from the offender himself. Up to this point we have been discussing the methods of investigation and the characteristics and profiles of each type of multiple murderers. Now we are going to look at a few famous cases of multiple murderers and point out the evidence of crime scene investigation, profiling, and classification into serial killing, mass murder or spree murder. The first case we are going to look at is Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy fits the typical serial killer classification to a T. He is a white male who is in his 20s or 30s and experienced an atypical childhood. He went on a three year killing spree eventually confessing to 30 different murders. He used his good looks to lure victims and often pretended he was injured to get sympathy. When looking at the personality of Ted Bundy he displays certain early risk factors. He was born to an unwed mother whose parents wanted to avoid the social stigma of having an illegitimate grandchild born to a young mother. As a result Teds grandparents claimed him as their own and Ted grew up believing that his mother was actually his sister. No one knows who his biological father was and he was not told the truth about his mother until his second year of college. Another early risk factor for Bundy was that he began showing violence at only 15 years old. His Aunt Julia recalls an incident of lying down for a nap in her home and waking up to find knives surrounding her and a smiling three year old Bundy at her side. He was assumed to have picked up some of his ways by following his grandfather as a role model. His grandfather was known to have tortured animals, abuse the family dog, and was even said to have swung the neighborhood cats around by their tails. Ted was said to have been fascinated my mutilating animals. He was known to be a habitual liar. He compulsively stole and shoplifter. He later claimed that he was also involved in voyeurism at a young age specifically by peeping into peoples windows and was arrested twice as a juvenile. Although it is impossible to predict who will become a serial killer, Bundy portrayed many predictive behaviors including cruelty to animals, bedwetting, lying, drugs and alcohol abuse, and an extended hist ory of violence. Anti-social personality disorder is a mental disorder defined as the essential feature for the diagnosis is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violations of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. (Clinard, Quinney, 1973) Deceit and manipulation are considered essential features in this disorder. The individual must be age 18 or older as well as have a documented history of a conduct disorder before the age of 15. People having anti-social personality disorders are also know as sociopaths and psychopaths. Bundy had many aspects of anti-social personality disorder. He failed to conform to social norms. When he began sneaking out of his house and peeping into other peoples windows he reported those behaviors to be sexually arousing and often masturbated while doing them. He was deceitful. He had a disregard for safety of others. He occasionally would disable a womans car to make her more vulnerable, without actually doing anything to her. (Hickey, 1997) He lacked remorse. He brutally murdered thirty women and was so irrational about it he did not believe he did anything wrong. Bundy suffered from both psychopathic disorders and antisocial personality disorder. He was classified as manic depressive and a narsopath. He showed symptoms of the psychopathic triad (bedwetting, fire setting, and torturing animals). Bundy used the same hunting pattern nearly every time. He drove a VW Beetle in which he would remove the passenger seat when he went out hunting. He used his wit and charm on females to get them to come over to his car and then he would beat each girl over the head with an iron crow bar. The semi-conscious victim was then dragged out of the car and driven to Bundys murder site, Taylor Mountain. He would then put a mask on and use hand cuffs or rope to give his victims and even more helpless appeal. He chose his murder destination wisely because he knew he would be undisturbed while he raped and killed. After finishing, Bundy would bury the body and drive back home to Seattle to resume his respectable life. Although Bundy displayed many patterns of hunting, he was classified as a Troller mainly because he would be out and randomly encounter his next victim which he would then stalk until ready to kill. He also showed characteristics of a trapper by luring young women to his aid with a fake cast, posing as a police officer, and using his charm to seduce and take advantage of his victims. Bundy kept body parts to preserve the high he got from killing. This classifies him as a trophy offender. His modus operandi was clubbing women over the head with an iron bar and strangling them. Having a troublesome childhood and being lied to at an early age put Bundy at risk for conduct disorders. He was then made fun of at school and only dated twice in his life before reaching college. He did not want the companionship of a woman but only the popularity that came along with having one. He walked around with beautiful females just for the attention, just to be noticed. He did not trust women throughout his life. He lacked a good bond with females and combining that with his very stimulated sexual nature took out his anger towards females in the wrong way. The next case I want to look at is the Columbine High School massacre. On April 20, 1999 two students of Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, led a massacre which killed 13 people and injured 21 others before taking their own lives. Early warning signs arose when Eric Harris first created a private website on American Online where he posted blogs which told of his anger against society. He included death threats about a former friend of his, Brooks Brown. He also had a blog about his negative thoughts towards parents, school and his friends. He began writing how-tos including how to cause mischief and how to make explosives. He blogged about the detailed trouble that himself and Dylan were causing. His blogs were very low profile and no one really knew or payed much attention to the boys writings until Brooks Browns mother was informed of the website and read the death threats against her son. Browns mother made multiple complaints to the sheriff department about the site but wasnt taken seriously until it was di

Study on the Problem of Money Laundering

Study on the Problem of Money Laundering Chapter 1: 1) Introduction: Money laundering is a global problem. Measuring its impact is tough, as it takes place behind everyones eyes and it apparently is a victimless crime. Yet the damage it does can be devastating to the financial sector and economys real and external sector, especially in case of a developing country. By contrast, effective anti-money-laundering policies can reinforce a range of good-governance policies. This in result helps the country to sustain economical growth particularly by making the financial sector stronger. 1.1) Background Because of the worldwide growing concerns over money laundering, G-7 summit established Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris in1989. Its purpose was to generate an international response to this increasing problem. Since then this organisation has been playing a vital role in tackling money laundering. It works closely with other international bodies that develops and regulates Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies world wide. FATF members have 29 countries and jurisdiction includes major financial centres in Asia, North and South America, Europe- as well as the European Commission and The Gulf Co-Operation Council. 1.1.1) Problem statement Today a countrys economy largely depends upon the advancement of technology. It made the job a lot easier, but it came with its own challenge. Which concerns the international financial community the most is the bad guys are also using the technology to give their proceeds of crimes a legal look. In short the money made by various criminal activities in various parts of the world is injected into a nations economy to camouflage it or give it a lawful appearance. This system is known as Money Laundering and this problem is growing to a serious proportion over time. IMF estimated that the aggregate size of laundered money worldwide is 2% to 5% of global GDP in 1998. Regardless who or how the dirty money is being used, the operational system or method is always the same. It is a dynamic three stage process. The stages are: Placement- A large volume of cash which was obtained through illegal means is placed in to the financial system, can be used to buy high-price item or may be smuggled out of the country. The point here is to transform the cash into some other kind of asset to avoid detection. Layering- this stage takes place to hide the true origin of the unlawful money. Here in layering stage a complex set of transaction takes place to obscure the trail of that cold hard cash and its real ownership. At this point the advancement of technology helps them. One the methods are Electronic Fund Transfer (EFTs). Others include conversion of monetary instrument, investments in legitimate businesses, purchasing real estates. In most of the EFTs are used frequently. Because of the busy lifestyles and easy access, a lot of EFTs are processed everyday. Among all those when a Phoney EFT takes place between an offshore account and a shell company, It is pretty hard to spot a criminal transaction at first look. Integration- The final step of the process where the illicit money comes back clean to its owner and then integrated to the economy as investment into a legal business. Once integrated, it hides the identity or origin even further. 1.1.2) Research significance There has been little research into the effects of money laundering on the economic growth, particularly in a developing country. Most of the researchers and their works were focused on measuring the amount and usage of money-laundering. Hence the majority of this vast subject has remained unstudied. Therefore the developing countries, which are the prime channels for international money-laundering, are suffering from the need for the guidelines to stop the erosion of the long-term economic growth caused by this problem. 1.1.3) Research question In a developing countrys economy the role of the financial institutes such as- banks, non-bank financial institutes (NBFI), equity market-are critical. They help to sustain the economic growth by concentrating the domestic savings, even the overseas funding. For all these gaining customer trust is vital. Money laundering erodes these institute and affects the customer trust as this is interrelated with other criminal activities that is performed by the workers in financial sector or government. Besides that, money laundering facilitates domestic corruption and crime which results depressed economic growth. It also diverts the resources to less productive activity. In the light of above discussion, proposed work is on following questions: What is money laundering? What are the negative effects of it on economic growth? How does it harm the developing countries? 1.2) Aims and objectives The purpose of this study is to analyse harmful effects of the money laundering on the economic growth of a developing country. Because of the weaker economy, lack of strong policies and comparatively easy regulations the developing countries become an open market for such activities. Therefore those countries have scope to improve their policies, regulations and laws. The objectives of the proposed study are to know: What sectors are mostly being affected? What is the extent of the damage? What can the developed economic community do? What kinds of policies or regulations are being implemented? What kinds of policies or regulations can be improved? As the time advanced, money laundering business has also evolved by keeping pace with the time. Technology has made it more undetectable. The businesses are booming and consequences are visible. But regulatory bodies are also taking necessary steps. They are tightening their borders, educating people, creating awareness. Still these are not enough for the countries affected. Most of the time, they dont have enough resources to divert to that sector. As a result they are bleeding internally. Therefore we can assume the following: Most of the economic damage done by money laundering through its developing country channel is at the expense of the developing economy. The weaker regulations and policies are the more liberty a money launderer gets. Therefore they need to strengthen themselves, with the help of others if necessary. The countries with the developed economy have sufficient resources, therefore options to fight this particular crime. But in case of the developing economies, if not handled in time, it can distort investment, encourage crime and corruption and increase the risk of macro-economic instability. Through this study some solutions may be found, or at least the gravity of the danger ahead. 1.3) Limitations The expansion of money laundering problem is vast. At the same time a greater portion of this crime is goes unreported, hence unnoticed. Authorities all over the world has been struggling to get a proper grasp of the whole problem. The developments that are being made are on the implementations of AML policies and legal sector. But there is a great lack of research on the effects and consequences of money laundering in the developing economies. Therefore there is not enough data available to come to any exact conclusion. Besides, this research is based on the secondary data. So evaluating the existing data was not possible. To be able to do so, a higher level of intervention, e.g. Government, international banking authority etc. is necessary as this research involves the national financial data. 1.4) Overview The first chapter of this research introduces the area or the topic to the audience. What is money laundering, how big or vast the problem is, how did it start and how it is done, what are the authorities doing about it and what are the limitations of this particular research has been described in this section. The second chapter includes an extensive and analytic review of the existing literature that is available to refer to about this subject.(incomplete**) Chapter 2 2) Literature review 2.1) introduction This part of the report contains a thorough and critical study of the books journals, articles and other materials that is available on money laundering. This review gives the audience an idea how much research has been done in this area. It also helps to get an idea of the worlds concept of money laundering. 2.2) Review A channel or medium is required to carry out money laundering activity. The preferred medium that a Money launderer chooses is the financial institution that is efficient and costs less while carrying out the transactions (Masciandaro, 1999).Such activities ruin the integrity of those financial institutions and affects their soundness or stability. As a result of their weak integrity, they loses the investors confidence and eventually direct foreign investments are reduced. This process in turn disturbs the long-term economic growth of the country. Barret (1997),Masciandaro and Portolano (2003), Paradise (1998) and Quirk (1997) argued in their studies that the economic and financial systems of a country are threatened by money laundering. Despite of money laundering being a global problem, there has been a little research in the area of the harmful effects on economy. Some notable exception will include Uche, C U (1999) and Masciandro, D (2000). Most of the works were done on the legal framework or to develop effective AML policies over the years. Therefore quality data on the pervasiveness or any long term pattern of the affected economy is rather limited. The origins of money laundering can be traced as far back as 1930s in organized criminal activities (Bosworth-Davies and Saltmarsh, 1994). So it is clear that the concept is not a new one. Over the years it just grew over its proportion. Financial Action Task Force defined the problem as: . . . the processing of a large number of criminal acts to generate profit for individual or group that carries out the act with the intention to disguise their illegal origin in order to legitimize the ill gotten gains of crime. Any crime that generates significant profit-extortion, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and some kind of white collar crime may create a need for money laundering (FATF 1998). According to Mulig and Smith (2004), the term money laundering was originated by the organised crime families, who used to own legitimate laundry business to disguise or launder very large amount of cash, which was in fact, earned through extortion, prostitution, gambling and drug business. United Nations office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) explained that there are two reasons why the criminals, May it be the street crime or the corporate white collar embezzlement or maybe a corrupt public official, need to launder the money because, it leaves a paper trail as evidence of their crime. Secondly, the money itself is vulnerable to seizure so it needs to be protected. In other words it is an Unfinished product to the criminal until it is cleaned. A bigger portion of literature on money laundering concentrates on the legal framework. That includes the legislation and regulations that can be traced back to the US war on drugs in 1980s (Gill and Taylor, 2004). Since then it was a concern that was growing over time. In response to that, international agreements were being made to tackle such activities amongst which, the UN was the first international organisation to combat the crime globally. Subsequently, in 1989 G-7 established FATF. In the FATF annual report (FATF, 2006b) it was stated that, most of the illegal activities are linked with corrupt practices and lack of transparency. This subsequently arises to weaker governance which results poor and ineffective use of AML policies. Those are the places that become heaven for money launderers. Their activities erode the financial system from inside while taking advantage of the volatile economy. In large scale money laundering operation, cross-border factor is always included. Therefore an international approach was a crying need to handle this problem effectively. That was also a reason why the UN and the Bank for international Settlement took the initiative to address the problem in 1980. Following the FATF formation, the regional grouping such as- Council of Europe, European Union, Organisation of American States And many others designed AML policies required and effective for their member countries. Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and southern Africa have created regional AML task force-like organizations, and similar groupings for western Africa and Latin America are being planned too. As discussed previously, second stage of money laundering widely uses the technology as one of their means of layering the dirty money, the use of it is becoming rather popular to them. The advances in technology, especially in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have benefited the whole world. Money launderers are also included in the group of beneficiaries. They take full advantage of these benefits. Modernisation in technology, particularly in ICT has brought various different ideas banks or other NBFIs to offer new products and services through new means of delivery. These new products and services and often contain fast transmission of digitized information, facilitating of fund movement and transcending distance within or across the national boundaries (Bradley and Steward,2002) and anonymity (Philippsohn,2001). According to Mishkin and Strahan (1999) and Berger (20003) speed, distance and anonymity are the key factors that are rapidly changing the financial system. However, Masciandro (1998, 99) and Philippson (2001) implied that those new benefits including e-banking and all sorts of e-money technologies have made money laundering activities even more robust. As a matter of fact, FATF (2001) on their typology report identified the online banking facility and internet as the major money laundering vehicle now days. According to Chief Financial Officer Report (2002) Technolog y changes have influenced the operating strategies of many banks and Non-banks as they seek to compete in the increasingly fast-paced and globally Inter-dependent business environment. Chapter 3 3) Methodology 3.1) introduction: In this chapter all the data that has been collected will be shown. That data will be analyzed and interpreted in to results. As this is not a very comprehensive research, All the data has been collected from secondary sources. 3.2) Data collection

Appearnce Vs. Reality Othello Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å" I am not what I am.† What is Iago? Iago’s actual personality is quite distant from what he pretends to be. In Shakespeare’s Othello, the reader is presented the classic battle between good and evil. It is these forces of evil that ultimately lead to the breakdown of Othello. Othello's breakdown results in the murder of his wife Desdemona. Desdemona is representative of the good in nature. Good can be defined as forgiving, honest, innocent and unsuspecting. The evil contained within Othello is by no means magical or mythical yet is represented by the character Iago. Iago is cunning, untrustworthy, selfish, and plotting. He uses these traits to his advantage by slowly planning his own triumph while watching the demise of others. It is this that is Iago's motivation. Iago uses the weaknesses of Othello, specifically jealousy and his devotion to things as they seem, to conquer him. From the start of the play, Iago's scheming ability is shown when he convinces Roderigo to tell about Othello and Desdemonda's elopement to Desdemona's father, Brabantio. Confidently Iago continues his plot successfully, making fools of others, and himself being rewarded. Except Roderigo, no one is aware of Iago's plans. This is because Iago pretends to be an honest man loyal to his superiors. Othello was reeled expertly into Othello’s plans. He staged many things-having him eavesdrop on Iago and Cassio’s conversation about Bianca, and also, Cassio wiping his beard with the sacred handkerchief. The...

Charles de Secondat, Baron De La Brede Et De Montesquieu Essay

Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu was born in 1689 to a French noble family. "His family tree could be traced 350 years, which in his view made its name neither good nor bad." (The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, p. 68) Montesquieu's views started to be shaped at a very early age. A beggar was chosen to be his godfather to remind him of his obligations to the poor. Montesquieu's education started at the age of 11 when he was sent to Juilly, a school maintained by the Congregation of the Oratory. From 1705 to 1709 he studied law in Bordeaux. "From 1705 to 1709 he was a legal apprentice in Paris. There he came to know some of the most advanced thinkers of his time: Fredet, the Abbe Lama, and Boulainvilliers.(Ibid.). In 1716 Montesquieu got a seat of president a mortier in the parlement of Guyenne from his deceased uncle. Even though he did not like his job he believed parliaments were necessary to control the monarchs. In 1721 Montesquieu published the Persian Letters, which he began working on while studying in Bordeaux. The book was a success. In the Persian Letters Montesquieu showed how relative all of the French values were. Even though the technique used in this witty book was previously used by other writers, Montesquieu did a great job making fun of the European values. At that time he already believed in the immorality of European practices such as religious prosecution. The book gave roots for Montesquieu's later arguments and ideas. When in 1728 Montesquieu, with the help of his Parisian connections he got elected to the French Academy, he was happy to sell his office of president a mortier. In the course of the next three years he traveled all over Europe, visiting Germany, Hungary, England, Holland, Austria, and Italy. It is not surprising that out of his European tour the country which had the greatest impact on his later work (just like it did on Voltaire's) was England. During his stay there he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. After he returned to France the second portion of his carrier had began. He became a full time writer, traveling between his La Brede estate and Paris. It is during this period that the C... ...e world will always be remembered. Montesquieu can easily be considered a model Enlightment figure. His ideas produce a mild paradox. He wanted change for the better without crushing the current government. He wanted to educate the people of a country, but was not a radical, and therefore didn't include the peasants. He respected reason, and used it to help the mankind by creating an idle society. He critisised religion, and yet had faith in God. As a whole he tried to improve things without turning the world upside down. He was the model figure for the steady advancement of the human civilization. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Hollier, Denis , A New History of French Literature, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1989. 2. The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, p. 467-476. 3. Loy, John Robert, Montesquieu, New York, Twayne Publishers, 1968. 4. A History of World Societies volume II, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, p. 669-679. 5. Robert Shedlock, Lessons on World History, 1980, p. 38a-38c.

Media Portrayal of Women in Sports Essay

The mass media and all its components have always played an essential role in shaping the way society views and thinks about certain issues and events. The type influence, which television shows, radio shows and other mediums of mass media have on their audiences, go widely unchecked by the professionals involved in that field and by society in general. The effects could be damaging and entirely maladaptive and yet only a few organizations and individuals take on the role of serving as the counterchecking department of the products of this industry. One of the many fields into which mass media have dipped their fingers into is the field of sports. What little attention is given to the effects of mass media on society is focused on children’s shows, violence-related topics and religion-based issues. The field of sports has been relatively untouched by those who monitor the mass media. The public has mainly stood by and accepted the information and manner of presentation that mass media has taken with regards to sports. This type of attitude has proven to be increasingly damaging to women in particular. Sports has become a highly gender-based field. Despite efforts to assimilate women into the various games and competitions, it has become increasingly evident, despite the lack of monitoring organizations, that mass media has not gone beyond the days of bias towards women in sports. There are still many issues that need to be addressed in terms of how television, radio, magazines, newspapers, and other such media have come to portray women professionals in the field of sports. How does mass media affect the way their audiences perceive women athletes and other female sports professionals? What steps can be taken to correct wrong practices in this field? This paper aims to answer these questions as well as to specifically understand the way mass media has shown females involved in various sports activities and whether there truly is reason for these women to be concerned. Television Coverage of Women in Sports   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of all the instruments of mass media available today, the television set is perhaps the most successful and most popular. It has invaded the living spaces of almost all homes worldwide and is able to communicate to its audience in much more modalities than that offered by other instruments of mass media. It also allows for coverage of events at the exact moment the said event occurs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Research regarding how women have been portrayed through the medium of television has been much more numerous as opposed to research on portrayal via other mediums. The literature regarding this research has shown that women in sports have been greatly marginalized and stereotyped. The following section will delve deeper into this aspect of mass media coverage in sports.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most encompassing research done on television coverage of women in sports may be that of Higgs & Weiller (1994). They conducted a research to assess gender bias in the television coverage of the 1992 Olympic games. The two researchers found much to disappoint the many women athletes involved in the said games as well as all other women who were just as concerned about women’s rights, equality of the sexes, and politically correct representation of males and females in different fields.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Commentators of the different events in the Olympic games were noted to most commonly use terms such as â€Å"girl† â€Å"babe† and â€Å"sweetheart† to refer to the women competitors whereas none of the male competitors were referred to as â€Å"boy† even when the contestant was obviously of a very young age. Also, strength and weakness descriptions and allusions were clearly gender-biased. Men in swimming were lauded for their strokes whereas female swimmers would receive comments such as â€Å"a powerhouse of a stroke from a 16-year old girl†. There were clearly ways by which the commentators were able to inject their own prejudiced views of the genders of the competitors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There were also findings pointing to the fact that events wherein males competed were aired for longer times than those where females competed. Time differentials were noted for each event and there was a noted significant difference for each. This was applicable for such sports as basketball, volleyball, and the likes. Although individual events such as gymnastics were prone to have more airtime dedicated to women athletes, these were highly edited and sometimes even spliced together.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Each broadcast was also done with use of narratives. This was to draw the audience deeper into the mood of the game. However, researchers found that games with men contestants were broadcast with narratives of competition and strength. Women contestants, on the other hand, were often accompanied by emotional narratives pertaining to the athletes aspirations and the achievement of these with their success in the particular event they were entered in. If emotional narratives were not used by the television broadcasters, none at all were provided. It was either emotional or not at all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is therefore, a well-known fact that ambivalence in reporting of women’s sports on television exists. There is   a denial of power for women in this particular type of mass media. Although women athletes are equally as capable and equally as competent as their male counterparts, this is not credited by professionals reporting their games. Where women have been noted for their involvement in sports, negative allegations and prejudiced reporting have served to undermine the efforts of these athletes. Radio Coverage of Women in Sports   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Radio coverage of women in sports has also been one of the more devastating instruments of undermining women’s efforts and women participation in various sports activities. The radio set, however, is less of a weapon of the mass media at present than the television set. The radio set does not cater to the visual modality of its audiences and as such may prove less of a weapon. However, it is also advantageous because reporting of the sporting event can occur at the same time that the actual event occurs. This means that up-to-the-minute, live coverage is possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, airing time on the radio set is significantly less for sports events than that on television sets. The large percentage of non-recognition that goes on in television broadcasting of women participation in sports is thus multiplied by great factors on the radio set. Only limited numbers of sports are chosen to be reported and reviewed over the radio and most, if not all, of these are male-dominated sports. Sporting events that are not action-packed, that do not provide the reporter with a message full of strength, adrenaline, and passion are not marketable on the radio waves. And because of the trend and well-established fad of reporting male events and male athletes with narratives involving competition, strength, and passion, these are the events that radio broadcasters and radio networks focus on. Women-dominated sports and women athletes prove to be less of a popular choice of broadcasting for professionals in the radio industry as these gives them, to their perception, with a softer story that is not full of the characteristics they look for in reportable stories and which audiences will not much favor or listen to. Thus the perception that male athletes and male-dominated sporting events will have more popularity than their counterparts. Publication Coverage of Women in Sports   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another instrument used in mass media are magazines and other similar published sources. These cater only to the audiences visual modalities and are not able to give audio feedback. Also, publications such as newspapers and magazines are only able to give a reporting of the event after a period of time has elapsed. It cannot be given during the time the actual event occurs. A processing time for writers, photographers, layout artists, editors, publishers and other personnel involved in the production process is required. Thus newspapers come one day after the events have occurred and magazines are released at particular time intervals within the year – monthly, quarterly, annually, and the like.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A study by Hardin et al (2005) showed that women were often portrayed as sexually different even in sports magazines. Sexually different in sports can mean the portrayal of women as dissimilar. This can be shown through the presentation of sport type in the said magazine or given publication. This could be shown in a manner such that women, who participate in sporting events wherein women are not usually included as competitors, are either excluded or represented as masculine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, it has been seen that certain sporting magazines have been very generous to the female component of sporting activities. However, this balance is only present in magazines that have been produce through the efforts of staff that were consciously aware of the disparity in gender reporting of sports events. These magazines are, more commonly, actively fighting for women’s equality in this field. As such, they are few and not representative in the publishing industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It should be acknowledged, however, that such magazines were launched and that these were successful in their goals. Perhaps this will provide the much needed gender-equality into the field of sports and mass media. Although these types of magazines form the minority in published mass media, they offer hope and raise out a cry of challenge to their colleagues, a cry for gender-equality and female liberation from the marginalization and disempowerment occurring in their field. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The large discrepancies in sports portrayals of women athletes has been seen to be significant in all mediums of mass media specifically that of the television set, the radio set, and published sources. Women have been marginalized, stereotyped, and stripped of power through the way these mass media instruments have been used to represent their participation in sports activities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, no matter how anyone looks at it, this type of portrayal is unwarranted and unnecessary. Women have just as much talent, skill and capability as their male counterparts. The efforts they exert in order to actively and competently engage in their given sporting event is equally similar to that which males exert. The strain and stress they undergo during training and during the actual competition are just as nerve-wracking and exhausting as that which male athletes experience. In all respects, female athletes should be considered and hailed as equal to male athletes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, this has not been the case. Mass media, whether through television, radio, or magazines, has proven to be unforgiving and thoughtless in bringing justice to the efforts of women athletes. There is a great need for change and renewal in the way mass media portrays females.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the best first steps towards a better and more fair portrayal of women in sports is by actively disseminating information about the marginalization and disempowerment that is occurring. Most audiences and most reporters are perhaps so tied down to the hegemony of sports and mass media that they are no longer aware when stereotypical remarks are made on air. Knowledge of the fact that sports is for both females and males and that both sexes are equally capable of succeeding in this field must be spread. Without awareness, there is no chance for gender issues to be resolved in this field.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It would, perhaps, also be constructive for organizations and bodies to be set up that would monitor the violations to women’s rights that occur during broadcasting of sporting events. This would help to check the prejudiced actions and comments of those involved in the mass media industry. This would also make other individuals aware that what is currently going on is not acceptable and that there is a growing need for better treatment and appreciation of women athletes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is still much improvement that can be done to the way mass media portray women. Mass media has come to influence the way society thinks in that women themselves have congregated around socially acceptable sports. Only the few who are not afraid of being dubbed masculine are able to compete in the sports where the male sex has dominated. There should be adequate measures taken to ensure that future biased and stereotyped thoughts will no longer exist. Women portrayal in sports still has hope to become much more fair and with this hope comes the assurance thaw women participation in sports will also become less prejudiced and stereotyped. Reference Higgs, C., & Weiller, K. (1994). Gender bias and the 1992 summer Olympic games: an analysis of television coverage. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 18,   234-246 Hardin, M., Lynn, S., Walsdorf, K. (2005). Challenge and conformity on â€Å"contested terrain†: images of women in four women’s sport/fitness magazines. Sex Roles, 53(1), 105-117

Print Media vs Electronic Media

The ancient cave paintings, hieroglyphs, symbols, maps, and drawings are all the examples of how human being communicated from time to time. The major forms of media used all around the world today are print media, electronic media. In this article an attempt has been made to compare print media and electronic media. Print media contain materials that are available to us in printed form and which we can carry with ourselves or we can simply say they are portable. The major types of print media are books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, posters, brochures, press releases etc.Books are the oldest medium among all the print media and they re still one of the most widely used among all. These were the books that contributed to the development of libraries in medieval times across Asia and Europe. Magazines and newspapers are relatively new form of print media which gained popularity and became common in the 20th century all over the world, thus becoming leading medium of mass communi cation. The advent of newspapers and magazines greatly helped in the communication at the local, national as well as global levels during the last two centuries.It can also be said that these acted as agents of globalization to a large extent. They also helped in anti-colonial movements across the world. Electronic media imply to that form of media which can only be accessed by an electronic device. The largely used electronic media are radio, television and internet. Radio is no doubt the oldest of electronic media. It came to the public in late 19th and early 20th century and within few years it became one of the daily items of use for millions of people worldwide.It became one of prime sources of entertainment, knowledge as well as information. Radio was also used as an effective medium to transmit messages during the world wars. The mid-20th century saw the rise of television as an electronic media and it very quickly became the most fascinating all over the world. The reason fo r the success of television is very simple. It appeals to our visual as well as hearing senses. The visual appeal of television is perhaps unparalleled to any mass media. Till now it remains the most popular mass media.With the introduction of World Wide Web (www) the internet Stats there were more than 2. 4 billion internet users on June 30, 2012. The internet's popularity as mass media is because of the fact that it enables one to access any and any information by Just click of a button. It is also a two way communication medium as it helps interacting face to face by the use of appropriate instruments and internet connection. Thus we can say that both print and electronic media have contributed greatly in the process of mass communication. Both have their respective advantages as well as disadvantages.But to neglect or ignore one for another would not be the ideal way because each form has its own significance. The books, for example, cannot be replaced by television, while the a ttraction of internet and web cannot fully overtake the charm of newspapers and magazines. Moreover people working in different media fields and their livelihoods would be affected if any media suffer a setback. But at the same time one must also be ready to accept the reality that with time it would become difficult for old media to survive in the new â€Å"digital† age.So, for its survival the old media must make use of new techniques and technologies to upgrade itself and also try to keep intact its genuineness which by no way is an easy task. But still we can try. The production of the e-books, e-newspaper and internet radio are some of the successful efforts to assimilate the old with the ew. The Future of Newspapers Newspapers have been concerned about their future for some time now. While the number of adults reading newspapers and the number of papers sold each week are higher than ever before, the growth of newspaper readership has not kept up with the growth of popu lation in this country.Young people, especially, are not turning to newspapers. Young people who seek news for years have turned to television, which has done a superficial Job, for the most part. And now comes along the Internet. The Internet gives us up-to-the minute news the way radio has been ble to do, but the Internet lets you filter out the news you dont care about and only receive the news you do care about. This certainly begs the question: Are the print media dying? University professors and professionals ask the question at their conventions and conferences.But by some definitions, the newspaper is one of the most interactive media around. That paper product Just isn't electronic. You can start reading them at the beginning, middle or end. You can stop anytime you want, and start again when you want. There are indexes to help you Jump around to the spots you want. You can take it almost anywhere. You don't need batteries. Thirty years ago the experts were predicting that newspapers as we knew them would be dead â€Å"in 10 years. † We'd all be receiving news from videotext machines (a primitive form of computer).Well, today, the experts are not predicting that newspapers are going to go away, but they will change. Readers will look to both the Internet and print editions of the paper for news. Newspapers have strong brand recognition when it comes to news and readers who want reliable news will go to the media they trust. But print media that go online will not succeed simply by shoveling their old content onto the World Wide Web. To make money they will have to provide value added ads, and original Web content.In actuality, there is a greater demand today for news and information. Those who are trained to reliably gather information from a variety of sources, synthesize or make sense of it, and repackage it for dissemination in a variety of formats will be in great demand. New media, which includes the World Wide Web, is one of the fastest g rowing and highest paying career fields for the news media. The vast majority of newspapers in the country now have web sites, though most of them are stuck in the paradigm of creating content for their

Of Mice and Men Curley’s Wife

mice When John Steinbeck wrote of mice and men, he showed there was a lot of inequality during the 1930’s. This essay shall attempt to portray the inequality of women in Steinbeck’s novel. George the main character of the story, first sets his eyes on Curley’s wife, his initial impression of her is that he has â€Å"never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her† (Steinbeck 2006 p36). In the novel Curley’s wife is a beautiful woman who constantly shows her beauty to the men on the ranch. She dresses inappropriately for a woman married to the boss’s son. She had full, roughed lips and wide spaced eyes, her fingernails are red and her hair hangs in little rolled clusters, like sausages†. (p34 Steinbeck 2006). Curley’s wife always wanders around the ranch in search for someone to talk to. However, the ranch workers stay wary of her as they believe she will only give them trouble. Curley’s wife is isolated, self absorbed and a dreamer. Curley doesn’t seem to have any respect for his wife at all, Candy tells George (Steinbeck p30) why Curley wears only one glove on his hand which is soaked in Vaseline so it is kept soft for his wife and George finds this disgusting. This is degrading to her as she is just there for his pleasure. She is just a wife who is a trophy to show off hence the saying ‘trophy wife’. Dreams are heavily involved in this book. Like many characters in the book, Curley’s wife also has a dream. She dreams of being a film star. She appears to be trying to get the men into trouble but her dreams and frustrations show that she is lonely like the other people on the ranch. She hated her upbringing, so when a guy told her she had the potential to be a movie star and he would be in touch, finally she found a way out. However, being a young naive girl like she was, she fell for his story and she never heard or even saw the guy again. Instead of Hollywood and all its glam, she ended up marrying young and getting trapped on the ranch. Being the only woman there and no one to talk to makes you emphasise with her and soften towards her and feel her loneliness. Curley is not interested in her dream and there is only one person she tells her dream to and that is Lennie. I think she tells ennie because she knows he doesn’t comprehend what’s going on and it goes through one ear and out the other but at least she’s telling somebody her dream even if they don’t quite understand but ironically the one person she tells is the same person who takes it away for good. John Steinbeck makes very good use of dreams throughout the novel. Each character is shown to have greater depth than we might have expected and we are able to see how lonely and disappointed their lives are through the quite humble ambitions that they have. The men seem to want security in their lives whereas Curley’s wife wants to escape from the boredom and lonesomeness that surrounds her and get rid of the title ‘Curley’s wife’. Although Curley's wife may be considered static, she does not change throughout the novel Curley's wife is essential to the plot. Therefore, she is not simply â€Å"unnamed† because she is unimportant. Curley's wife is unnamed for several reasons. She is first and for most not worthy of a name. A name implies that a relationship can exist. Curley's wife is not capable of a relationship; she is not worthy. With a name also comes identification and familiarity. If we were to feel any sort of empathy for Curley's wife, we may not understand or appreciate Lennie's role in her death. We may actually care that she is dead. There is also the historical role of women in society. As a writer of social issues, Steinbeck wants the reader to recognize the inferior role of women in the world. The lack of name demotes Curley's wife to insignificant status. She is not as important as the men in the story. Curley’s wife is very flirtatious. In fact she is so flirtatious that the farmers refer to her as ‘having the eye’. The men see her in the ranch as the cause of many problems like her husband’s short heated attitude and the fear that they will be sacked. But as the story is about to reach its climax, she begins to add more complexity to her own character by letting Lennie in on her dreams, what she is all about. Here she reveals that she doesn’t have the eye at all but she is just lonely. She says that she dislikes Curley because he is always annoyed and so she comes around the farm to get away and find someone that she can talk to. In this conversation with Lennie she tells him the dream that she had for herself. She dreamed of becoming a famous actress and she would have wanted to live in Hollywood. But just like many of the other characters her dream went unrealised. So instead of being an actress living a glamorous life in Hollywood, she is stuck living in a ranch with a husband that she really doesn’t like, living in a ranch full of loneliness not havin

Apollo Group Essay

The Apollo Group was founded by John Sterling, a professor at San Jose State University, in 1976. They are a for-profit educational provider that specializes in educating working adults. The Apollo Group has many subsidiaries both domestic and abroad. The University of Phoenix- the largest private university in the United States Institute for Professional Development- a consultant service that provides private colleges and universities in the US with adult education program development, administration and management support The College for Financial Planning Institutes- a national leader in providing financial services education the and certification to people and companies in the financial services industry Meritus University- an online university with degree programs in Canada Apollo Global Inc- a partnership with The Carlyle Group that invest in international education services in various countries The University of Phoenix is their main subsidiary and has an enrollment of over 550,000 students. They provide undergraduate, masters and doctorial programs both online and at on-campus locations in 40 states. Since the University of Phoenix is a for-profit educator, they recognize their students as customers and have tailored their business to fit the educational needs of their customers. Their programs are geared toward working adults; they are able to educate their customers at a rapid pace with low overhead. They have simple online platforms that are easy to use and their on-campus locations consist of basic classrooms. Since their primary customers are working adults and commuting students, they do not invest in building dorms, student unions or recreational facilities at these on-campus locations. Current Issues While this business model has been profitable for Apollo Group, there are some concerns that will force them to adjust their plan. Because of the perception that online classes are ineffective, and proprietary colleges and universities are degree factories that are not providing a quality education, prestigious universities are sticking with traditional programs. This perception is shared by potential students and their employers. Apollo needs to improve the reputation of their brand. The federal government has put some regulations in place to ensure that proprietary educators are educating students and not pushing them through their programs and granting degrees to create a revenue stream from federal financial aid and student loans. The Gainful Employment Rule- If programs fail the three test of gainful employment three times in a four year span they will not be eligible to receive federal financial aid dollars. The 90/10 Rule- If the institution get more than 90% of its cash revenue from student loans, the institution cannot participate in student federal loan programs. Student Loan Defaults- The federal government sets a three year default limit on cohorts of students. If the students’ loan default rate of the cohort drops below the limit, the institution cannot participate in student federal loan programs. In addition to the negitive reputation and government regulations, the Apollo Group is facing competition from both traditional and proprietary educators. As the technology increases, more schools are investing in their distance learning programs. Apollo will need to find a way to differentiate themselves from these institutions. Recommendations I think the Apollo Group should leverage the relationships that their other subsidiaries have built with their clients, as well as the ones their professors have with their employers, to get input on redesigning their degree programs. If done properly these programs will set industry standards and change the reputation of the University of Phoenix. These redesigned programs should create more employment opportunities for their graduates and help them pass gainful employment test. Working with major corporations to create these programs and gaining their public endorsement will give them an advantage over their competitors. While their business model does not include the extra amenities of a traditional university, the University of Phoenix needs to invest in career counseling and job placement services to help their students find good jobs, this will increase the likelihood of being in compliance with federal regulations. They should also develop a business case showing how the 90/10 rule will cause them to deny enrollment to low income students and petition elected officials who serve low income areas to modify some of the federal regulations that they are governed by. Wall Street Metrics As of this writing, The Apollo Group, with a ticker symbol of APOL is trading at $20.83 per share. Its 52-week high was $29.47 and its low was $15.98. It has a P.E. ratio of 8.54% compared to 24.38% of the S&P 500 and 36.39% for the sector. Its dividend yield is 0 compared to 1.85 of the S&P 500 and 2.14 of the sector. It has a Beta measurement of 0.70. Based upon my analysis, I would not currently purchase this stock. Post Script The University of Phoenix recently had some trouble retaining their accreditation. A peer group with The Higher Learning Commission, a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, recommended that they be put on probation. â€Å"Specifically, the review team concluded that the University of Phoenix has insufficient autonomy relative to its parent corporation and sole shareholder, Apollo Group, Inc., to assure that its board of directors can manage the institution, assure the university’s integrity, exercise the board’s fiduciary responsibilities and make decisions necessary to achieve the institution’s mission and successful operation.† 1 The Apollo Group was able to work with the HLC’s Institutional Actions Council First Committee to retain its regional accreditation, but that the university will be placed on â€Å"notice† for two years. In efforts to retain students by reducing the cost of tuition, the university has created a scholarship reward program that gives eligible undergraduate degree students up to $10,000 in tuition reductions. They also instituted a tuition freeze so students will not have tuition increases as long as they are consistently enrolled in classes.