The Between Religion And Science - 1651 Words

In Apocalyptic Science Fiction, a major theme is the relationship between Religion and Science. Technology being like a religion is able to infer consequences that by being so consumed by it or self-dependent on it, that it can in fact negatively affect spirit or ethics. A work of Science Fiction has the capability to translate concerns that are religious or spiritual. The Machine Stops, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Blade Runner all translate concerns that relate to religion and technology and how they demand a enormous dependence on them to live day to day. There is an implied dependence on a technological system or appliance that is equal to dependence on religion. The machines used for technology, are worshipped in similar†¦show more content†¦Much like how fear is instilled in people of Catholic religion of not upholding regular church services, or saying the Lord’s name in vain for fear of going to hell. The character, Vashti, believes the Book as be ing the true guide of life and follows all its teachings. Even Kuno believes that she is in denial because she is in fact worshiping the machine and not admitting so. She states the need for the Book, saying â€Å"all the fear and the superstition that existed once have been destroyed by the Machine†¦ The Book says so† (Forster 10). Her existence is ruled by the Book and the systems that respond to Vashti’s needs, on both a physical and non-physical basis. She evangelizes the existence of the Machine to the existence of the Divine. This is quite similar to how people of catholic religion, or Judaism, submit themselves to religion and let it rule their lives. In the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, animals are worshiped, as they had become a rarity due to nuclear war destroying the planet, along with most of its other lifeforms. This is in parallel to Hinduism; which deems animals, such as cows, as being very sacred and to be worshipped for the gifts th ey bring human life. In Blade Runner, the characters in the film parallel biblical characters. Eldon Tyrell is cast in the part of â€Å"God,† as he created the Replicants. The four Replicants that Deckard hunts down in the file are Roy, Pris, Zora and Leon, which act as

The Hunters Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Nine Free Essays

Stefan hadn’t had a plan when he agreed to stay in Matt’s place. He just knew he had to save Matt, and now he hoped Damon would come for him. Stefan’s wrists ached with a dul , throbbing insistent pain that was almost impossible for him to ignore. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Nine or any similar topic only for you Order Now He tried once more to pul against the ropes that were holding him to the chair, turning his hands from left to right as far as he could to try and loosen his restraints, but it was hopeless. He couldn’t shift them. He looked around dazedly. The room looked both serene and mysterious again now, as it had when he first kicked in the door. A good place for a secret society. Torches burned brightly, flowers were arranged around the makeshift altar. The Vitales had taken the time to clean up after binding him and kil ing the pledges. The ropes were crossed over his chest and stomach and wound around his back; his ankles and knees were tied to the chair legs, his elbows and wrists to the arms of the chair. He was Welltrussed, but it was the ones around his wrists that hurt most, because they lay against his bare skin. And they burned. â€Å"They’re soaked in vervain so that you’l be too weak to break free, but I’m afraid it must sting a bit,† Ethan said pleasantly, as if he was explaining an interesting element of the secret chamber’s architecture to his guest. â€Å"See, I may be new at this, but I know al the tricks.† Stefan rested his head against the back of the chair and looked at Ethan with fervent dislike. â€Å"Not all of the tricks, I suspect.† Ethan was cocky, but Stefan was pretty sure he hadn’t been a vampire for very long. If Ethan was stil human, if he had never become a vampire, Stefan guessed he would look more or less the same as he did now. Ethan crouched down in front of Stefan’s chair to look up into his face, wearing the same warm, friendly smile as when he’d tried to convince Stefan to join them. He looked like a pleasant fel ow, someone you wanted to relax with and trust, and Stefan glared at him. The smile was a lie. Ethan was a kil er whose mask was less obvious than those of the other Vitale vampires, that was al . â€Å"You’re probably right about that,† Ethan said thoughtful y. â€Å"I imagine there are al kinds of tricks you’ve picked up in, what is it, more than five hundred years? Tricks that I don’t know yet. You could be very useful to me in that way, if you decide to join us after al . There are lots of things you can teach us about al this vampire stuff.† He flashed that appealing smile again. â€Å"I’ve always been a good student.† Vampire stuff. â€Å"What do you want from me, Ethan?† Stefan asked wearily. It had been a long night, a long few weeks, and the vervain-soaked ropes were hurting his arms, muddying his thoughts. Ethan knew how old he was. Ethan knew what to offer him when they first talked about the Vitale Society. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was the one in this room, then; Ethan wasn’t looking for just any vampire. â€Å"What’s your plan here?† Stefan asked. Ethan’s smile grew wider. â€Å"I’m building an invincible vampire army, of course,† he said cheerful y. â€Å"I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but it’s al about power. And power’s never ridiculous.† He licked his lips nervously, showing a flash of thin pink tongue. â€Å"See, I used to just be one of the ordinary little people. I was just like everyone else on campus. My biggest achievements were good grades on exams or the fact that I had the leadership of some secret col ege club. You wouldn’t believe how lame the Vitale Society used to be. Just white magic and nature worship.† He made a little self-deprecating grimace: See how silly I was once. I’m telling you something embarrassing about myself, so trust me. â€Å"But then I figured out how to get some real power.† One of the black-clad figures came up behind Ethan, and Ethan held up a finger to Stefan. â€Å"Hang on a sec, okay?† He rose and turned to talk to his lieutenant. After tying Stefan up, Ethan had efficiently gone back to draining the pledges, one after another, dropping the bodies as soon as he finished with them. They had al gone through their transitions now and were back on their feet. They seemed irritable and disoriented, growling and snapping at one another and gazing at Ethan with undisguised adoration. Typical new vampires. Stefan eyed them warily. Until they had fed thoroughly, they would hover on the brink of madness, and it would be easy for Ethan to lose control of them. Then they would be even more dangerous. â€Å"The pledges need to eat,† Ethan said calmly to the robed woman behind him. â€Å"Five of you should take them out and teach them how to hunt. You lead the hunting party and pick whoever you want to go with you. The rest wil stay here and help guard our guest.† Stefan watched as the Vitales sorted themselves out. Eight of Ethan’s fol owers remained, stationing themselves by the sides of the room. Stefan had managed to kil one other during the fight, ripping her throat out, but the body had been tidied away somewhere. Stefan gave a little involuntary moan. It was hard to think straight – he was so tired, and the vervain was starting to hurt him al over, not just on his aching wrists, but anywhere the ropes touched him through his clothes. Damon, please come quickly. Please, Damon, he thought. â€Å"You’re going to unleash nine newly made vampires on the campus?† he asked Ethan, his mind snapping back to the matter at hand. â€Å"Ethan, they’l kill people. People who were your friends, maybe. You’l draw attention to yourselves. There are already police al over campus. Please, take them to the woods to hunt animals. They can live on animal blood.† He heard a pleading note enter his own voice as Ethan only smiled absently at him, as if he was a child begging to go to Disneyland. â€Å"Come on, Ethan, it hasn’t been very long since you were a human, too. You can’t want to stand by and have innocent students murdered.† Ethan shrugged, patting Stefan lightly on the shoulder as he started to walk over to confer with another of his henchmen. â€Å"They need to be strong, Stefan. I want them at their peak by the next equinox. And we’ve kil ed plenty of innocent students already,† he said over his shoulder. â€Å"Equinox? Ethan,† Stefan shouted after him in frustration. He looked frantical y at the door by which the pledges and their escort had left. It would take them a while to select victims. Not as many students were walking the campus alone at night these days. If he could get free, if Damon came now and freed him, they could stil stop the slaughter. If al these brand-new vampires were al owed loose on campus, there would be a massacre. Ethan couldn’t have changed the rest of the Vitale Society al at once, he realized. The number of murders they would have committed newly made as a group would have been impossible to disguise as a few disappearances. This must have been the first mass initiation. And who had made Ethan? he wondered. Was there an older vampire somewhere on campus? Damon, where are you? He had no doubt that Damon would come if he could. Despite their rift over Elena, things had changed enough between him and Damon that he knew he could rely on his brother to rescue him. He had saved him before, after al , when they fought Katherine, when they fought Klaus. There was something rock solid between them now, something that wasn’t there a year ago, or in the hundreds of years before that. He closed his eyes and heard himself give a dry, painful chuckle. It seemed like an inopportune moment to start having revelations about his own family issues. â€Å"So,† Ethan said chattily, returning to his side and pul ing up a chair, â€Å"we were talking about the equinox.† â€Å"Yes,† Stefan said, an acid bite to his tone. He wasn’t going to let Ethan see how he was yearning toward the door, expectant. He needed to keep his cool, so that Damon could have the element of surprise on his side. He should keep Ethan talking, keep him distracted in case Damon came, so he fixed an expression of interest on his face and looked at Ethan attentively. â€Å"At the time of the equinox, when day and night are perfectly balanced, the line between life and death is at its most weak and permeable. This is the time when spirits can cross between the worlds,† Ethan began dramatical y, moving one hand in a wide sweep. Stefan sighed. â€Å"I know that, Ethan,† he said impatiently. â€Å"Just cut to the chase.† He might have to keep Ethan distracted, but surely he didn’t have to feed his ego. Ethan dropped his hand. â€Å"You remember Klaus, don’t you?† he asked. â€Å"The originator of your bloodline? We’re resurrecting him. With him at the head of our ranks, we’l be invincible.† Everything went stil for a moment, as if Stefan’s slow-beating heart had final y stopped. Then he sucked in a breath. He felt as if Ethan had punched him in the face. He couldn’t speak for a moment. When he could, he gasped, â€Å"Klaus? Klaus the vampire who†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He couldn’t even finish the sentence. His mind was ful of Klaus: the Old One, the Original vampire, the mad man. The vampire who had control ed lightning, who had bragged that he had not been made, that he just was. In Klaus’s earliest memories, he had told Stefan, he carried a bronze axe; he was a barbarian at the gate, among those who destroyed the Roman Empire. He claimed that he began the race of vampires. Klaus had held Elena’s spirit hostage and tortured innocent Vickie Bennett to death for fun. He turned Katherine, first into a vampire, then into a cruel dol instead of a person, changed her until she was vicious and mindless, eager only to torment those she once loved. Stefan, Damon, and Elena kil ed him at last, but it was nearly impossible, would have been impossible without the spirits of a battalion of unquiet ghosts from the Civil War tied to the blood-soaked battlegrounds of Fel ‘s Church. â€Å"Klaus who made the vampire who made you,† Ethan said cheerful y. â€Å"It was another of his descendants who I found in Europe this summer on my trip abroad. I convinced her to turn me into a vampire. She taught me some tricks, too, like how to use vervain, and how lapis lazuli can protect us from the sun. I put lapis lazuli in the pins we wear now, so al the members have it on them at al times. She was very helpful, this vampire who changed me. And she told me al about Klaus.† He smiled warmly at Stefan again. â€Å"See, you should like me, Stefan. We’re practical y cousins.† Stefan shut his eyes for a moment. â€Å"Klaus was insane,† he tried to explain. â€Å"He won’t work with you, he’l destroy you.† Ethan sighed. â€Å"I real y think I can work it out with him, though,† he said. â€Å"I’m very persuasive. And I’m offering him soldiers. I hear he likes war. There’s no reason for him to turn us down; we want to give him everything he wants.† He paused and looked at Stefan, stil smiling, but there was a note now in that wide smile that Stefan didn’t like, a false innocence. Whatever Ethan was going to ask Stefan now, he already knew the answer. â€Å"Does this mean you’re not interested in joining our army, cousin?† he asked with mock surprise. Gritting his teeth, Stefan strained against the ropes once more, but they didn’t budge. He glared up at Ethan. â€Å"I won’t help you,† he said. â€Å"Never.† Ethan came closer, bent down until his face was level with Stefan’s. â€Å"But you wil help,† he said lightly, a trace of self-satisfaction in his eyes. â€Å"Whether you want to or not. See, what I need most of al to bring back Klaus is blood.† He ran his hands through his curls, shaking his head. â€Å"It’s always blood for this kind of thing, have you noticed?† he added. â€Å"Blood?† asked Stefan uneasily. Young vampires were never sane, in his opinion – the initial rush of new senses and Powers were enough to bewilder anyone. He was starting to think, though, that Ethan’s grasp on sanity might not have been that strong to begin with. He’d convinced someone to turn him into a vampire? â€Å"The blood of his descendants, specifical y.† Ethan nodded smugly. â€Å"That’s why I was so delighted to find that you were right here on campus. I made a hobby of tracking down the descendants of Klaus this summer, after I’d talked the first one I met into changing me into what she was. Some of them gave me blood wil ingly, when they heard what I wanted to do. Not al of Klaus’s descendants are as ungrateful as you. I only need a little more, and then I’l have enough. Yours, of course,† and his eyes flicked up toward the door that Stefan had been surreptitiously watching al this time, waiting for Damon, â€Å"and your brother’s. I assume he’l be here any minute?† Stefan’s heart plummeted, and he stared openly at the door. Damon, please stay away, he thought desperately. How to cite The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Nine, Essay examples

Application of Accrual Accounting †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Application of Accrual Accounting. Answer: Introduction: The key users of the financial reporting are potential and present investors, creditors and lenders, who make use of this information in making their decisions as to whether they should purchase, hold or sell equity and providing or settling some financial loans. The key statements in an organization are statement of comprehensive income, cash flows statement, balance sheet as well as statement of shareholders equity (White, Braentner Towery, 1993). In this case, this section would concentrate on statement of comprehensive income and would present its purpose to users. Statement of comprehensive income is usually the report an organization financial performance is presented. It helps in providing summary on how an organization incurs sales and expenses via both the non-operating and operating activities. It is usually divided into non-operating as well as the operating section with the operating section disclosing info on proceeds and operating expenses which are openly resulting from organization regular operations (Kakani, Ramachandran Chatterjee, 2010). On the other hand, non-operating portion helps in disclosing revenues and expenses on activities which are not related directly to an organizations operations. Interestingly, the primary users of the financial information are therefore in need of income statement in assessing the organizations prospects for the future net cash inflows and also in assessing how efficiently and effectively management could be discharging their responsibilities in utilizing organizations existing resources (Kothari Ball, 1994). Statement of comprehensive income or the income statement is very important in providing relevant information to different user on financial performance or health of a given firm over a specific accounting period (Zack, 2013). As financial performance is usually concerned with profitability of an organization, users require information on organizations financial performance in order to evaluate probable changes or variation in its economic capital as well as its ability to generate some cash from all its resources. In addition, statement of the comprehensive income is crucial for different user in evaluating how efficient any extra resources could be utilized in an organization. Further, statement of comprehensive income is useful since it displays how much cash an organization made within a defined period. Another purpose of statement of comprehensive income is that the statement helps in determining whether an organizations earning are sufficient in repaying its loans. In addition, statement of comprehensive income is crucial in highlighting some of the weaknesses and strengths in an organization over a given period of time (Kakani, Ramachandran Chatterjee, 2010). Statement of comprehensive income is also crucial since it shows readers and financial users how much loss or profit an entity generated within the reporting period. Such information is crucial when statement of comprehensive income from numerous period are all put together, such that trends in revenue and expenses is viewed. In addition, given that statement of comprehensive income gross profits is usually gotten by netting sales and cost of the goods sold, the information contained in this statement provide a signal of the capacity of the firm in setting price points which clients could easily accept and in maintaining costs of products and services which it offers. Further, statement of comprehensive income is crucial for investors since it help them evaluates the consistency of profit which proves viability of an organization (Kothari Ball, 1994). It is also help lenders in evaluating the probability of an organization to generate adequate income in paying off its interest expenses. Income in the statement of comprehensive income is the total amount received after deducting all the operating expenses, taxes and interest expenses for the financial obligations. In essence, income is the amount of money an organization generates by providing services or selling products. An example of income is the discounts or negotiating rebates with the venders. According to the conceptual framework, income is the increase in the economic benefits within an accounting period in form of the inflows or enhancements of the assets or declines of the liabilities which result in rise in equity, other than the items relating to the contributions from the equity participants. Expenses on the other hand are total amount of expenditures incurred by an organization while conducting its normal production or selling operations (Zack, 2013). This is the total amount of money incurred or spent in an entitys effort for generating expenditures representing cost of conducting a business. These range from salaries of the employees to office suppliers, cost of gods sold to material expenses. They might also be form of cash payment, amount taken from earnings such as bad debts as well as depreciation (Kakani, Ramachandran Chatterjee, 2010). In conclusion, statement of comprehensive income is usually the report an organization financial performance is presented. It helps in providing summary on how an organization incurs sales and expenses via both the non-operating and operating activities. Further, the statement of comprehensive income or the income statement important since it provides relevant information to different user on financial performance or health of a given firm. It is also since it helps in evaluating how efficient any extra resources could be utilized in an organization. In addition, it assists in determining whether an organizations earning are sufficient in repaying its loans. General Purpose of Statement of Financial Position The statement of the financial position is the financial statement that grants financial health or soundness of an organization. It comprises of three primary elements, liabilities, equity and assets. Statement of Financial position is said to be very important since it highlights financial standings of an organization at specific period (Zack, 2013). In addition statement of the financial position comprise of liabilities, equity and assets. This is crucial as it assist users of the financial statement is assessing or evaluating financial healthy or soundness of an organization in terms of financial risk, business risk, liquidity risk as well as credit risk. While assessing or evaluating an organization over a longer period, this statement assists in identification of underlying trends in financial position of an organization (Accounting-simplified.com, 2017). Thus, statement of the financial position is significant for readers in determining state of an organizations level of risk. In addition, when used with other statements, the statement might assist in identifying trends and relationship that are indicative of probable issues or areas that require further improvements. Therefore, statement of financial positions has wide purpose as it assist users in predicting amount volatility and timing of an organizations upcoming incomes. Generally, statement of the financial position is crucial in that it inform readers on the current status of an organization where this information is then utilized in predicting or projecting liquidity, debt position and funding of an organization. Assets are those resources an organization controls or own at a provided period. In addition, assets are resources owned by an organization to assist it in deriving some economic benefits from their use. There are two different types of assets; non-current and current assets. Current assets comprises of cash as well as inventories, cash equivalent, account receivables, as well as the prepaid expenses. These are assets that could deliver economic benefits to an organization within a year. They are those resourced expected to be loaned out, consumed, sold or leased in creating some income within a year of balance sheet date (Kothari Ball, 1994). On the other hand, non-current assets comprises of assets that cannot be easily or quickly transformed into cash. These include property and equipment, land, furniture, vehicles, buildings, fixtures and others. In essence, non-current assets are those assets that deliver economic benefits to a given firm over a long period (White, Braentner T owery, 1993). These are resources not recoverable, meaning that the monetary value of such resources is extracted from these resources is no longer important, till over one year past balance sheet period. These can also be classified as intangible and tangible assets. In this case, those amounts of assets with some physical substances are usually categorized as the plant, property and equipment while those one that do not have physical material are usually categorized as the intangible assets. Liability on the other hand represents the total amount an organization owes others. In essence, liabilities are the financial obligations which an organization owes to other individuals or organizations and its repayment comprises of transfer of the cash or any other resources (Zack, 2013). In this case, liabilities comprise of two main parts; that is, current and non-current liabilities. Current liabilities are those obligations an organization is required to repay within one year which includes note payables, current maturities debts, bank overdraft, account payables and accrued expenses. In essence, these are financial obligations in an organization that could be settled over short-term (Ou Penman, 1989). On the other hand, non-current liabilities are those obligations which become due within one year or more. These include mortgages, long-term note payables, long-term loans, bonds and others. Basically, these are financial obligations that are to be settled over long-term. Equity represents what shareholders or the owner of an organization owns. It is usually a type of liability since it represents finances owned by an organization to owners or shareholders. In essence, equity is the resources an organization owes to owners or shareholders. They are usually derived by subtracting liabilities from its assets. Hence, signifies residual interests in an organization which goes to proprietors. They are usually offered under share capital which presents amount that needs to be reinvested by shareholders in an organization (Sinha, 2012). Secondly, they are presented under retained earnings which comprises of total income in an organization after distribution to owners in dividends. They are also presented as revaluation reserve which comprises of net spare of mounting reassessment of plants, property or equipment recognized straight in equity. Equity for the sole traders is quite different from the limited companies. This is evident by the fact that equity se ction in a sole trader is simple as compared to limited companies. In conclusion, statement of the financial position is the financial statement that presents financial position of a given organization. This statement is found to be very crucial since it highlights financial position of an organization at specific point in time. It is also crucial since it assist users of the financial statement is assessing or evaluating financial healthy or soundness of an organization in terms of financial risk, business risk, liquidity risk as well as credit risk. Thus, it can be concluded that statement of the financial position is significant for readers in determining state of an organizations level of risk. Accrual Basis of Accounting under GAAP GAAP are mainly mutual accounting values, procedures and standards which an organization has to follows whenever they compile the financial reports. It is usually the mixture of the commanding values and generally accepted means of reporting and recording accounting info. It usually improves clarity of communicating financial information (Guthrie, 1998). In addition, GAAP ensure minimum level of consistency in financial statement, which in turn makes it a bit easier for the potential investors to extract and analyse useful financial information (Scott, 1941). With these considerations, there is need to evaluate accrual basis under GAAP and why it takes place. Accrual basis of the accounting is usually the concept or process of recording sales when earned as well as expenses as they are incurred (Roje, 2006). This accounting concept is different from cash basis where revenues are usually recorded whenever cash is received and the total expenses are only recorded once cash has been paid (Lapsley, Mussari Paulsson, 2009). For instance, an organization operating under accrual basis would record its revenues soon as it issues invoice to its clients. Accrual basis is usually advocated under the IFRS and GAAP. Both of these frameworks offer guidelines on how to account for expenses and revenues in absence of cash payment or receipts (Dechow, 1994). In essence, accrual basis offer more even recognition of the expenses and revenues over time, and is therefore considered by potential investor as the most valid accounting concept for ascertaining outcomes of financial position, cash flows and operations of an organization. Basically, accrual basis mainly support matching principles of GAAP under which the related expenses and revenues are recorded within same reporting period, where by it is make possible to view full extent of losses and profit linked with particular organization transaction within a specific reporting period (Blndal, 2003). On the other hand, accrual basis is also said to support revenue recognition principle which state that income statement has to reflect true extent of the revenue earned within the period it is earned irrespective of whether the money from such transaction is received or not. This implies that revenue is recognized only when seller transfer all the risks to the buyer. Further, based on historical cost concept, revenue is based on the past proceedings and it needs consistency as well as comparability which require transaction to be recorded at historical costs. In this case, revenue is not recognized as increase in the asset value except where it is required or allowed by the accounting s tandards. Finally, time period concept principle, revenues are only reported or recognized over standard period of time, which could be monthly, or annually. Once the period has been established, transactions are then recorded within a given or set period. In conclusion, accrual basis usually needs an organization to record all its transactions during the period when a financial event takes place. Therefore, in case GAAP utilized cash accounting, the transactions could not be recorded for some time after a product leaves the inventory. In essence, accrual basis is crucial and thus the reason why GAAP make use of the accrual basis since it provide accurate reporting in between the period. In addition, accrual basis usually carries matching principle in between the expenses and revenues, which is a significant component for the GAAP. References Accounting-simplified.com. 2017, Statement of Financial Position [Balance Sheet]; Viewed at 12th May 2017 from: https://accounting-simplified.com/financial/statements/statement-of-financial-position.html Blndal, J. R. (2003). Accrual accounting and budgeting.OECD Journal on Budgeting,3(1), 43-59. Dechow, P. M. (1994). Accounting earnings and cash flows as measures of firm performance: The role of accounting accruals.Journal of accounting and economics,18(1), 3-42. Guthrie, J. (1998). Application of accrual accounting in the Australian public sectorrhetoric or reality.Financial accountability management,14(1), 1-19. Kakani, R. K., Ramachandran, N., Chatterjee, T. (2010). Financial statement analysis. Kothari, S. P., Ball, R. (1994).Financial statement analysis. Mcgrew-Hill Companies. Lapsley, I., Mussari, R., Paulsson, G. (2009). On the adoption of accrual accounting in the public sector: a self-evident and problematic reform. Ou, J. A., Penman, S. H. (1989). Financial statement analysis and the prediction of stock returns.Journal of accounting and economics,11(4), 295-329. Roje, G. (2006). The role of accrual financial reporting and budgeting basis in public sector financial management reforms: Croatian experience and international trends. In8th AIDEA YOUTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:; Improving business reporting: new rules, new opportunities, new trends;. Scott, D. R. (1941). The basis for accounting principles.Accounting Review, 341-349. Sinha, G. (2012).Financial statement analysis. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. White, B., Braentner, L., Towery, E. (1993).Financial Statement Analysis. New York: Wiley. Zack, G. M. (2013). Financial Statement Analysis.Financial Statement Fraud: Strategies for Detection and Investigation, 209-213.

The Genetics of Language Essay Example For Students

The Genetics of Language Essay -ildar- The tabula of human nature was never rasa. W.D. Hamilton Language is defined as the Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. Yet this alone cannot sum up the importance and vastness of this magnificent gift human own. Language is one of the most amazing features of human culture and personality; its roots have remained unchanged since the start of civilization. It is the basis of all communication in the world and in its best is the most complex form of expression. Language has always been assumed to be blatantly cultural lying at the heart of human social evolution, but this could not be farther from the truth. Language owes as much to instinct and innateness as it does to culture. Darwin once described language as an instinctive tendency to acquire an art; this view of language was re-revealed to the world through Noam Chomsky, in his book, Syntactic Structures. Chomsky argued that language is shaped through culture, but the underlying ability to learn and understand it, is innately built into the human psyche. We will write a custom essay on The Genetics of Language specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Chomsky concluded that there were obvious underlying similarities in all languages, bearing witness to a Universal Human Grammar. We always use this ability to learn and use language, but we are not consciously aware of it. Vocabulary cannot be innate, because if it were were, we would all speak one, unvarying language. But lets take for example, a child; as it learns vocabulary, innate mental rules tell that child how to properly use that vocabulary. Lets take, for instance the sentence, Sa mmy will buy groceries from the store. You can turn that sentence into a question by moving the will to the front, making the sentence, Will Sammy buy groceries from the store. Young children can comfortably use this rule, even though never having been taught about the grammar involved in making a sentence like that, they just seem to know the rule. As psycholinguist Steven Pinker put it, to learn a human language, requires a human language instinct. Language is not learned through imitation; if it were then why would children who have been using the word went for a year or so, start saying goed. The truth is that children start learning to speak themselves, at a much younger age regardless of our help. Children are a large part of developing a language; this was shown in a famous experiment conducted by Derek Bickerton. In the experiment Bickerton studied a group of foreign workers that were brought together on Hawaii. In Hawaii they developed a pidgin language (mixture of words and phrases allowing for simple communication) so that they could easily communicate with each other. The language lacked consistent grammatical rules and complex but simple in what it could express. This changes as a new generation of children learned the language, they shaped it and innately gave it rules and grammar, making it more complex and turning it into a Creole. If this instinct is genetic then it would seem that the language gene might turn off as we age and minimize our ability to learn languages which explains while people find it hard to learn a language after a certain age. Scientists think they have identified the gene for language. They have located it on chromosome seven. This gene gives the brain the ability to understand and learn underlying rules of grammar. When the gene or parts of the brain are damaged language disorders sometimes develop. One such disorder is Williams Syndrome, which is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 11. Affected children have very low intelligence, but have an addiction to using language. They constantly ramble, using very rich and long words, long sentences and complex syntax. But besides this the child is mentally retarded and cannot comprehend anything outside their form of silent language. .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .postImageUrl , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:hover , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:visited , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:active { border:0!important; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:active , .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974 .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u070af78d47632631f08c9328ea936974:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Essay on The Consequences of Hurricane Katrina Essay Parts of the brain, when damaged can also hinder language ability. Damage to the Wernickes area of the brain. People with Wernickes disorder produce a rich but senseless stream of words, so you can conclude that the Wernickes area of the brain instructs the brain what speech to generate. Brocas aphasia occurs .

Society in Jubilee and Gone With The Wind essays

Society in Jubilee and Gone With The Wind essays The book Jubilee by Margaret Walker, and the movie, Gone with Wind", based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, both take place during slavery, the Civil War, and reconstruction. The book and movie take place in the same time period, but show different views of those times. Four themes emerge in these two novels, the transformation of Southern society, the overcoming of adversity with willpower, the importance of land, and finally the intelligence and capabilities of woman. These four themes best describe the two novels. In the book, Jubilee the Souths society changes dramatically. The South was a place where land was important and where crops prospered. There were beautiful fields to show how strong the country was. Southerners were more famous for how many slaves they owned, as it contained a slave owning states. This meant the plantation owners could own slaves like property. This all changed during and after the Civil War. Everything that was beautiful went dark due to all the damages the war caused. The land died off due to all the slaves that were being sent to fight for the war. When there were no slaves to help keep the land in good shape, the South lost a lot of crops, including cotton which was there biggest crop. The South changed more when the Ku Klux Klan emerged. Slavery was keeping the slaves alive and since it was gone after the war they had no one left to protect them. Willpower to overcome adversities is shown by slaves in the book, Jubilee. Vryr is someone who overcomes so many adversities. She had to deal with the fact her own slave owner was her father, and he never acknowledged that or even attempted to. Vyry had to deal with the harassments Big Missy gave her while she was a young slave in her house. Big Missy gave everyone a hard time but more to Vryr because she was the daughter of the slave owner, and she despised that. Vyry also had to deal with the fact she ...

Attitude Formation

†¢ The affective component consists of the emotional feelings stimulated by the object of the attitude. †¢ The behavioral component consists of predispositions to act in certain ways toward an attitude object. The object of an attitude can be anything people have opinions about. Therefore, individual people, groups of people, institutions, products, social trends, consumer products, etc. all can be attitudinal objects. †¢ Attitudes involve social judgments. They are either for, or against, pro, or con, positive, or negative; however, it is possible to be ambivalent about the attitudinal object and have a mix of positive and negative feelings and thoughts about it. †¢ Attitudes involve a readiness (or predisposition) to respond; however, for a variety of reasons we don’t always act on our attitudes. †¢ Attitudes vary along dimensions of strength and accessibility. Strong attitudes are very important to the individual and tend to be durable and have a powerful impact on behavior, whereas weak attitudes are not very important and have little impact. Accessible attitudes come to mind quickly, whereas other attitudes may rarely be noticed. †¢ Attitudes tend to be stable over time, but a number of factors can cause attitudes to change. †¢ Stereotypes are widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. †¢ A prejudice is an arbitrary belief, or feeling, directed toward a group of people or its individual members. Prejudices can be either positive or negative; however, the term is usually used to refer to a negative attitude held toward members of a group. Prejudice may lead to discrimination, which involves behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group. Psychological factors involved in Attitude Formation and Attitude Change 1. Direct Instruction involves being told what attitudes to have by parents, schools, community organizations, religious doctrine, friends, etc. 2. Operant Conditioning is a simple form of learning. It is based on the â€Å"Law of Effect† and involves voluntary responses. Behaviors (including verbal behaviors and maybe even thoughts) tend to be repeated if they are reinforced (i. e. , followed by a positive experience). Conversely, behaviors tend to be stopped when they are punished (i. e. , followed by an unpleasant experience). Thus, if one expresses, or acts out an attitude toward some group, and this is reinforced by one’s peers, the attitude is strengthened and is likely to be expressed again. The reinforcement can be as subtle as a smile or as obvious as a raise in salary. Operant conditioning is especially involved with the behavioral component of attitudes. 3. Classical conditioning is another simple form of learning. It involves involuntary responses and is acquired through the pairing of two stimuli. Two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused and before long the person responds in the same way to both events. Originally studied by Pavlov, the process requires an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that produces an involuntary (reflexive) response (UCR). If a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired, either very dramatically on one occasion, or repeatedly for several acquisition trials, the neutral stimulus will lead to the same response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus. At this point the stimulus is no longer neutral and so is referred to as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the response has now become a learned response and so is referred to as a conditioned response (CR). In Pavlov’s research the UCS was meat powder which led to an UCR of salivation. The NS was a bell. At first the bell elicited no response from the dog, but eventually the bell alone caused the dog to salivate. Advertisers create positive attitudes towards their products by presenting attractive models in their ads. In this case the model is the UCS and our reaction to him, or her, is an automatic positive response. The product is the original NS which through pairing comes to elicit a positive conditioned response. In a similar fashion, pleasant or unpleasant experiences with members of a particular group could lead to positive or negative attitudes toward that group. Classical conditioning is especially involved with the emotional, or affective, component of attitudes. 4. Social (Observational) Learning is based on modeling. We observe others. If they are getting reinforced for certain behaviors or the expression of certain attitudes, this serves as vicarious reinforcement and makes it more ikely that we, too, will behave in this manner or express this attitude. Classical conditioning can also occur vicariously through observation of others. 5. Cognitive Dissonance exists when related cognitions, feelings or behaviors are inconsistent or contradictory. Cognitive dissonance creates an unpleasant state of tension that motivates people to reduce their dissonance by changing their cognitions, feel ing, or behaviors. For example, a person who starts out with a negative attitude toward marijuana will experience cognitive dissonance if they start smoking marijuana and find themselves enjoying the experience. The dissonance they experience is thus likely to motivate them to either change their attitude toward marijuana, or to stop using marijuana. This process can be conscious, but often occurs without conscious awareness. 6. Unconscious Motivation. Some attitudes are held because they serve some unconscious function for an individual. For example, a person who is threatened by his homosexual feelings may employ the defense mechanism of reaction formation and become a crusader against homosexuals. Or, someone who feels inferior may feel somewhat better by putting down a group other than her own. Because it is unconscious, the person will not be aware of the unconscious motivation at the time it is operative, but may become aware of it as some later point in time. 7. Rational Analysis involves the careful weighing of evidence for, and against, a particular attitude. For example, a person may carefully listen to the presidential debates and read opinions of political experts in order to decide which candidate to vote for in an election. Attitude Formation †¢ The affective component consists of the emotional feelings stimulated by the object of the attitude. †¢ The behavioral component consists of predispositions to act in certain ways toward an attitude object. The object of an attitude can be anything people have opinions about. Therefore, individual people, groups of people, institutions, products, social trends, consumer products, etc. all can be attitudinal objects. †¢ Attitudes involve social judgments. They are either for, or against, pro, or con, positive, or negative; however, it is possible to be ambivalent about the attitudinal object and have a mix of positive and negative feelings and thoughts about it. †¢ Attitudes involve a readiness (or predisposition) to respond; however, for a variety of reasons we don’t always act on our attitudes. †¢ Attitudes vary along dimensions of strength and accessibility. Strong attitudes are very important to the individual and tend to be durable and have a powerful impact on behavior, whereas weak attitudes are not very important and have little impact. Accessible attitudes come to mind quickly, whereas other attitudes may rarely be noticed. †¢ Attitudes tend to be stable over time, but a number of factors can cause attitudes to change. †¢ Stereotypes are widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. †¢ A prejudice is an arbitrary belief, or feeling, directed toward a group of people or its individual members. Prejudices can be either positive or negative; however, the term is usually used to refer to a negative attitude held toward members of a group. Prejudice may lead to discrimination, which involves behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group. Psychological factors involved in Attitude Formation and Attitude Change 1. Direct Instruction involves being told what attitudes to have by parents, schools, community organizations, religious doctrine, friends, etc. 2. Operant Conditioning is a simple form of learning. It is based on the â€Å"Law of Effect† and involves voluntary responses. Behaviors (including verbal behaviors and maybe even thoughts) tend to be repeated if they are reinforced (i. e. , followed by a positive experience). Conversely, behaviors tend to be stopped when they are punished (i. e. , followed by an unpleasant experience). Thus, if one expresses, or acts out an attitude toward some group, and this is reinforced by one’s peers, the attitude is strengthened and is likely to be expressed again. The reinforcement can be as subtle as a smile or as obvious as a raise in salary. Operant conditioning is especially involved with the behavioral component of attitudes. 3. Classical conditioning is another simple form of learning. It involves involuntary responses and is acquired through the pairing of two stimuli. Two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused and before long the person responds in the same way to both events. Originally studied by Pavlov, the process requires an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that produces an involuntary (reflexive) response (UCR). If a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired, either very dramatically on one occasion, or repeatedly for several acquisition trials, the neutral stimulus will lead to the same response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus. At this point the stimulus is no longer neutral and so is referred to as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the response has now become a learned response and so is referred to as a conditioned response (CR). In Pavlov’s research the UCS was meat powder which led to an UCR of salivation. The NS was a bell. At first the bell elicited no response from the dog, but eventually the bell alone caused the dog to salivate. Advertisers create positive attitudes towards their products by presenting attractive models in their ads. In this case the model is the UCS and our reaction to him, or her, is an automatic positive response. The product is the original NS which through pairing comes to elicit a positive conditioned response. In a similar fashion, pleasant or unpleasant experiences with members of a particular group could lead to positive or negative attitudes toward that group. Classical conditioning is especially involved with the emotional, or affective, component of attitudes. 4. Social (Observational) Learning is based on modeling. We observe others. If they are getting reinforced for certain behaviors or the expression of certain attitudes, this serves as vicarious reinforcement and makes it more ikely that we, too, will behave in this manner or express this attitude. Classical conditioning can also occur vicariously through observation of others. 5. Cognitive Dissonance exists when related cognitions, feelings or behaviors are inconsistent or contradictory. Cognitive dissonance creates an unpleasant state of tension that motivates people to reduce their dissonance by changing their cognitions, feel ing, or behaviors. For example, a person who starts out with a negative attitude toward marijuana will experience cognitive dissonance if they start smoking marijuana and find themselves enjoying the experience. The dissonance they experience is thus likely to motivate them to either change their attitude toward marijuana, or to stop using marijuana. This process can be conscious, but often occurs without conscious awareness. 6. Unconscious Motivation. Some attitudes are held because they serve some unconscious function for an individual. For example, a person who is threatened by his homosexual feelings may employ the defense mechanism of reaction formation and become a crusader against homosexuals. Or, someone who feels inferior may feel somewhat better by putting down a group other than her own. Because it is unconscious, the person will not be aware of the unconscious motivation at the time it is operative, but may become aware of it as some later point in time. 7. Rational Analysis involves the careful weighing of evidence for, and against, a particular attitude. For example, a person may carefully listen to the presidential debates and read opinions of political experts in order to decide which candidate to vote for in an election.

Health Policy Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Policy Values - Essay Example This paper intends to describe my personal values and believes in health care policy. Value is a term that describes the worthiness of something. In health care, value would describe the extent to which people need the service and its benefit to them. Value dictates cost incurred in acquiring healthcare services (Marmor, et.al. 2005). I believe that health care policies should address cost in relation to outcome. The question at this point would be â€Å"does the cost commensurate to the value of health care in terms of satisfaction of patient’s needs, access to service or profitability to the healthcare provider. I strongly feel cost incurred in healthcare institutions do not cater for the value provided in terms of service out comes. Cost measures usually address factors, which would lead to reduction of current costs involved in healthcare delivery (The Federation's Pages). This means that cost must address total care that a patient acquires while in health facility. In ad dition, cost reduction approaches must address factors such as satisfactory services, efficiency, and effectiveness. In my opinion, cost incurred in health does not match the kind of service that people receive. This means that an attempt to reduce cost should be in the pipeline. It is apparent that health care encompasses many providers who offer services at different rates. However, the most important issue in health is the quality of service that these providers offer (Porter, 2010). I believe that a high quality service would cost more because the patient would need an extra attention, which calls for more costs. For instance, a patient at a care unit should get value for the costs he or she has incurred. Experts believe that quality delivered depend on the value of an individuals money. I believe that quality should be a factor that drives the health care providers. Unfortunately, this is not the case in some instances. Many patients fail to get quality services because of myri ad arguments, which surround the health care sector. In my opinion, quality and cost are inseparable in the health sector. In this regard, health care policies must address quality and cost as factors that influence value of health care. Some people feel that when health care provision does not meet the patient demand, then quality provided is low. I believe that quality in health care sector can exist even if the health care provider has met the demand of the patient. Health experts have observed that health provision involve several stakeholders, which include physicians, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and others. Since the sector involves numerous units, inefficiency is likely to crop. This attracts proper measures, which intend to address value in terms of patient demand and cost incurred. I believe that patient requirement forms that foundation of measuring value in primary or preventive care. When patients of similar needs fail to achieve the requirement for their need it would b e apparent that value is absent in the health sector. For example, primary stages of healthcare provision offer advisory and preventive services, which prevent causes or reoccurrence of similar conditions. It is arguable that when this group of patients fails to achieve the core services at this level it would be apparent that value does not exists. Social issues such as insurance policies, poverty influence provision of health care. I believe

Create Primary Care Clinic Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Create Primary Care Clinic - Research Paper Example Our major clinical disciplines are 9 different specialties. Referral to specialist doctors regarding all major fields are done effectively depending on condition of patients. The mission statement I want to have for our clinics is; â€Å"Quality Health care for all, affordable and Satisfaction Guaranteed†. Why I have chosen this statement as a mission for our clinics? Well answer is simple we provide up to date quality of care to our patients at clinic. Also our contract services including 24- hour care at door step and appointment with expert specialists and surgeons is very cheap and is satisfying off course for our customers and patients. Our contract services like taking care of a patient at home and making arranging of appointment of patients with different expert specialists are of greater importance. It is evolving a good image on the local community. By primary care clinics we mean practitioners such as nursed providing first aid and cure of common illness like cold, fever and common allergy problems. Female nurses are of greater important in this regard as two of our owners are also registered female nurses. Female nurses play an important role in community such as promoting awareness about health issues among female members of the community (Law and Scott, 2008). Also female members of local community trust more on the nurses’ that belong to their own community regarding different problems. There are many services provided by our clinic to the local communities surrounding our both clinics like birth control pills and other medicines and initial services that are available. As a primary clinic we also need Legal health partners aiding us in providing our services effectively. Legal health partners as we know provide legal service legal-health problems related to our patients as well as dealing with different legal issues patients might face during treatment. Also

Ethical Issues In The Federal Government’s Department Of Defense Essay Example for Free

Ethical Issues In The Federal Government’s Department Of Defense Essay If there could be anything in the American government that the world has long been admiring, it would always be its military strength. Besides its technology, high product standards, its money, transportation and educational facilities, the world has been looking up at America because of its excellence in the field war and battle. It would seem for the rest of the world that Uncle Sam’s haven offers a smooth-sailing life that people of different colors race and strive to come over. The big question to dig into is this: â€Å"Is America free of corruption and abuse? The answer to the question is a big no. In this paper, we will try to look into the ethical standards of the Federal Government for the purpose of having a benchmark in our evaluation of the ethical deviations inside the organization. Specifically, we will try to evaluate how the Department of Defense go through the process of procurement and will try to pinpoint where the flaw in such process is, resulting to fraud and abuse. This paper has included actual court cases where the Department of Defense was involved. Through these processes, we will be able to prove that no matter how powerful the policies and laws of the Federal Government, the powerful America cannot control its entire people and prevent them from overriding personal interests and public trust. At the end of this paper, the author hopes to have the readers convinced that Federal laws and policies still have flaws and that should be taken into consideration the soonest possible in order for the American nation and the rest of the world restore its fading trust and confidence over the people behind their security. President George Bush during his term, probably ensuring the public of their trust towards the government, issued a separate order that would serve as guideline for strict compliance of all personnel directly serving the public. Executive Order 12731 of October 17, 1990, entitled â€Å"Principles of Ethical Conduct for Government Officers and Employees orders each government employee to avoid, prevent and help detect fraud and adhere to ethical standards at all times and situations. The first section of the EO12731 provides catchy ethical principles which prevent each employee to â€Å"hold financial interests that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty† and engage in financial transactions using non-public government information or allow the improper use of such information to further any private interest† (section 101-b and c). Subsections of the order also require each employee to act will full honesty in their duties and most importantly they are not allowed to use public office for private gain. The Federal Government, based on its laws and policies, has been straightforward and clear as to guiding its public servants to the proper, ethical behavior they should display all the time. So why are there still countless cases and accusations that have been polluting the air of the public servants? What is more frustrating to know is the fact that even in the Department of Defense, many employees and management personnel has been proven to be contributing to such corruption. The fact of unethical behavior existing in the Federal government is not just an outside observation but is also being recognized by those working inside the organization. In a press release issued by the Ethics Resource Center, it turned out that 52% of the Federal employees are aware and are witnesses of at least one type of misbehavior among their colleagues in the previous year. What is more is that only 30% of federal workers surveyed believe their organizations have well-implemented ethics and compliance programs and that only one in 10 said there is a strong ethical culture in their federal workplace (ERC 2008). Almost one quarter of public sector employees identifies their work environments as conducive to misconduct places where there is strong pressure to compromise standards, where situations invite wrongdoing and/or employees personal values conflict with the values espoused at work (Harned, Patricia cited in Smith, Ralph 2008). In reference to the reports mentioned above, this paper made an impression that there might be something inside the Federal government that attracts employees to disregard ethical considerations and to prefer personal interests over public trust. One thing obvious thing is money. The Federal government, even though have limited financial resources, has probably been the most liquid source of kickbacks for the â€Å"bad apples in the barrel. † It is worth noting that the â€Å"U. S. government is the largest consumer of prime contracts† (Lander, Gerald et. al. 2008). Using this mere information, we can clearly conclude that there is enough money for the bad apples on hand. Moreover, it would be very easy for us to extract the fact that the money is more attracting for those inside the procurement departments. As to federal spending, reports say that procurement contracts have been the fastest-growing part of the discretionary budget. In fact, procurement spending rose 86%, twice as fast as other discretionary spending, which rose 43% between 2000 and 2005. Moreover, such spending composed of 40 cents per dollar of discretionary spending (Ibid). The figures are quite more than attractive and conducive for the bad apples to abuse the trust and authorities vested on them by the public. Despite the fact that trust is held as the most important asset of the government, there is one thing that even the most powerful government cannot control: greed. It is a human element that the procurement agencies of the government intentionally or unintentionally tolerate. The uncontrollable fact of human greed is even recognized by the Department of Defense. As the spokesman of the Pentagon, Dan Howard has noted, The acquisition system is sound but there is no system on the face of this earth that completely obviates the human factor greed. And that is why we have policing systems (The New York Times, June 26, 1988). The trust placed by the public over the Department of Defense continue to fade as more and more cases of fraud files in court have resulted to countless convictions. In Philadelphia alone, the investigation conducted at the Defense Personnel Support Center, resulted in the indictment of 28 individuals and companies on various fraud charges. Such procurement transactions involved textile and apparel industry which have government contracts on uniforms, tents, boots for the armed forces. Here then is the chance for us to ask these questions: What is the purpose of having ethical standards in the federal government? Are these statements of ethical behaviors for the sake of complying with the SEC requirements? Are the ethical standards unsound or the problem of abuse of power and ethical deviance matters of implementation flaws? Referring particularly to the Department of Defense, it is unlikely that these educated people came short of understanding the ethical concepts. In fact, the department’s publication, Armed Forces Comptroller, the author recognizes the fact that their personnel understand the concept of ethics. The author even stressed that â€Å"most of them are required to attend some form of mandatory ethics training† (Benoit, Diana 2006). The Department of Defense has in fact sound which they consider as forming the ethical foundation of the Dept of Defense personnel. For the purpose of evaluation, let us try to look into these then core concepts. The author stressed that these core concepts â€Å"reflect the standards and expectations of military personnel and federal employees throughout the organization† (Ibid). The first of the ethical concepts is honesty which they define as â€Å"being truthful and straightforward, regardless of grade or rank. Honesty is regarded by the department as an ethical concept that goes beyond being trustworthy that it encourages its employees to do not only what is legal but also what is right. Relative to this, abuse of power and betrayal of trust still include acts or attempts of hiding the truth. If the Department of Defense personnel clearly understand this concept, there should have been no reason to remain silent on issues that involves witnessing ethical deviance inside the organization. The ethical concept of honesty goes beyond the issues of actual money laundering. It encompasses keeping accurate records and completing tasks to the extent of one’s capacity and ability. This means that coming to the office late, going out early; taking breaks more than the allowable time are forms of cheating and thus are unethical behaviors. Cheating the taxpayers could also mean using office supplies for personal activities or lavish consumption of such resources. What is frustrating is that this concept is being disregarded by high ranking employees of the department at a considerably higher level of deception as mentioned above. Simple cheating in record keeping and of utilizing government resources for personal use can be detected and be prevented at the lower level of organization. However, it would be a different thing to know that cheating is even more practiced at the higher level of management who are expected to be the police in the department. In fact, the report released by the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) during the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, â€Å"the United States recouped more than $1. billion dollars in settlements and judgments pursuing allegations of fraud and in the next fiscal year, the government recovered a record total of more than $3. 1 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving claims of fraud† (Lander et. al 2008). Closely related to the ethics of honesty is the concept of integrity which the DOD defines as â€Å"doing the right thing the first time and every time. † In an observation by one of the members of the Special Investigations Unit of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul, Special Agent Timothy J. OMalley recognizes the temptations of fraud in their field. O’Malley said â€Å"police officers face greater temptations than they did just a decade or so ago† (Bladow, J. 1994). As an agent, he can pinpoint the fact that the department handles explosives and illegal drug cases which obviously involve a vast sum of money. Taking O’Malley’s exact words, â€Å"a tremendous amount of illicit cash fuels this market. † Here then lies one uncontrollable factor that we can consider. Money is the central thing that enables the government to run. It is money that is the main reason why people oftentimes compromise integrity and principles with dollars. Money enables the government to provide services to public. Employees have to be paid with salaries, supplies have to be bought, buildings have to be constructed, communication and transportation facilities have to be purchased and improved. In fact, America will never be the most powerful nation in the world without its money spent in technology, education and basic government facilities. Moreover, America cannot in anyway be respected or shall we say be feared by other nations if not for its military strength. It is a rare instance that this nation is being challenged by the terrorists during the 911 event. What this paper would like to point out is that even though money is an uncontrollable element in the federal government and particularly in the procurement agency of the department of Defense, transaction processes involving money are very much controllable. In fact, the DOD has sound policies and procedures expressed in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Procedures, Guidance, and Information (PGI). In brief, these regulations and guidelines were codified and implemented for procedure compliance purposes especially on procurement transactions undergone by the department. In its Section 201. 304, FAR requires the â€Å"approval of the USD (ATL) before including in a department/agency or component supplement, or any other contracting regulation document such as a policy letter or clause book, any policy, procedure, clause, or form that has a significant effect beyond the internal operating procedures of the agency; or has a significant cost or administrative impact on contractors or offerors† (Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Procedures, Guidance, and Information (PGI) 2004). Where then lays the procedure flaw- on the approving committee or on those who presents the facts of the procurement contracts? The answer does not solely lies on these precepts. The factors that corrupt integrity in the Department of Defense can be traced in the early stage of the hiring process. â€Å"The applicant selection process represents a critical, though sometimes overlooked, component of police ethics programs† (Bonczek, S. and D. Menzel 1994). The authors suggest that the agency should thoroughly conduct interviews, psychological tests, and extensive background checks (Ibid, p. 4). This would then ensure an applicants compatibility with the departments ethical philosophy. This process can be beneficial in the early identification of â€Å"red flags† in an applicant’s personality before he gets into the department. Even if not all of the factors contributing to the unethical behavior of an employee can be detected at this stage, there are considerable preventive measures that are being done here that can prevent a rotten tomato mingle with the good ones inside the basket. The riskier the world becomes, the higher the standards should the department implement in order to maintain, if not to enhance the integrity of the defenders of the American security. As one observer have noted, it is important that high standards in the hiring process be maintained at all times because of the fact that â€Å"diminished standards or incomplete background checks have resulted in the hiring of armed robbers, burglars, and drug dealers as police officers† (D. Holmquist 1993, p. 38). We have to remember that temptations are everywhere and that is one uncontrollable factor inside the department of defense. Because DOD has got much money to offer especially in the procurement transactions, it clearly caters to a tempting environment. However it cannot really be an excuse neither it will justify one’s act of corruption. Deviance to ethical standards is a clear betrayal of trust and a blot in the name of the person, if he even cares enough for it. A recent study established that fast-talking, outgoing, assertive, and self-confident risk takers represent the best candidates for undercover work. While this may come as no surprise, the study also concluded that these personality traits are often the same ones predisposing an officer to corruption and psychological distress (Bladow, p. 12). This suggests that a good apple in the barrel has always the chance of being badly influenced by others. Strict hiring standards are therefore required to be implemented during the hiring process at all levels. â€Å"Police managers must view their hiring standards as components of managing for ethics† (Wells, S. A. 1993, p. 67). Strict adherence to employee selection is a must although diversity in the law enforcement departments must also be considered in order to foster diverse citizenry. â€Å"Agencies should not pursue the goal of a diversified workforce at the expense of one of law enforcements most valued asset- integrity† (Travis, M. A. 1994, p. 1717).

WEARABLE COMPUTING :: Essays Papers

WEARABLE COMPUTING Wearable computing is the next step to the computer revolutionary world. At MIThril lab, they are working on a wearable computer. Like a sleeveless winter coat or a sweater, they are working toward they goal. With the complicated project, they don’t know the finishing line yet. But with every step the MIThril team takes, they freely document and post on the web for worldwide access. The name MIThril derives from the fictional classic The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. As comfortable and unnoticeable as the Dwarves’ ring-mail tunic, MIThril’s team promises our gifted society the future clothes of electronic. The world exists where people no longer wear just clothes, but a person wears a watch or a shirt that is always functioning and require a minimum of the wearer’s attention. Laptops are no longer need because with wearable computer on him why needs of a lab top. MIThril’s vision of this project is to provide our gifted society with a better way to computing. Laptops are the thing of the past; wearable computer is the step to the future. Their main goal toward this futuristic project is to create a power computer, running Linux operating system, that is lightweight, unobtrusive, reliable, and always doing its job. The MIThril design is based on the use of one or more low power computing cores, each of which is capable or running a full-blown operating system. It is going to be there whenever a user needs. There is no need to carry a compatible, but a simple display vision on the user class. The military is looking forward to have a full combat package for their trained soldiers. The soldiers will have advantage with high tech in the field. MIThril task is to make a wearable computer as unnoticeable and light as possible. There are not kits for marketing, but an easy and clear document available to anyone who is willing to attempt of making one himself. This is a task that gets people to get involved and make a wearable computer to be worldwide.

Australian people

Throughout the years, the entire Australian nation has been in the course of constant social and racial issues between the indigenous Australian people and non-indigenous white Australian people. From the ancient time and up to the modern contemporary era, differences and gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people are clearly visible that have been the main reason of suffering amongst the indigenous Australians.Moreover, it is indeed undeniable that indigenous Australians have been through a long road of suffering from removal, discrimination, hostility and the shortcomings of effective government policy to resolve this long been issue of Aboriginal Australian. (BRI) For the most recent customary practice, the Aboriginal children are separated from their families, while the entire aboriginal homes or the indigenous communities have been moved out of their houses and sent to another subdivision of the country. Since then, the Islander traits and Indigenous way of living was in regulation and oversee in most of its aspects.(Global Ministries) Nevertheless, this issue between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people is not only historical. In the modern or contemporary time, the Australian aboriginals still carry the burden of intense social scrutiny with all the things that they do and to all the places that they walk off. In the most clever sense, reconciliation in the entire Australian nation signifies that both indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people must work hard together to resolve and cure the ruined relationship between them.Essentially, this process reconciliation or cure on the issue between indigenous and non-indigenous Australian will be effective through the cautious settlement of the negative outcome of the dilemma, which are the following. (BRI) â€Å"40% of the Aboriginal population is under 15 years old (compared to less than 25% of the white population). Less than 8% of the Aboriginal population is over 5 0 (compared to more than 25% of the white population). Unemployment amongst Aborigines is 40% compared to 10% of the white population).Unemployment in the 15-19 year age group is approx. 60% for those not in educations (compared to 20% of white youths). 55% of Aboriginal employment is provided by the private sector (compared to 78% of non-Aboriginal employment). Aboriginal people are significantly underrepresented in the wholesale/retail industry and in the Finance/Business sector). 35% of Aboriginal males' jobs are classified as ‘laborers' (compared to 15% of the non-Aboriginal population). 20% of Aboriginal females jobs are classified as ‘laborers' (compared to 12.5% of the non-aboriginal female population). 9% of Aboriginal has any post school qualifications (compared to 26% of the overall population). 53% of Aborigines live in rental accommodation (compared to 14% of total population). Aboriginal life expectancy is 15 to 17 years less than for the whole population. D eath rates associated with the circulatory system are 2. 5 times greater than for the total population. 10% of the Aboriginal population lives more than 100 km.from a hospital, 17% have no access to a doctor and a further19% has no access to a nurse. Aboriginal imprisonment is 18 times that of non Aborigines. 20% of those detained in custody are Aboriginal and yet Aboriginals represent only 2. 5% of the overall population. 10% of Aboriginal people aged over 25 were taken away from their natural family by a church or government agency. The arrest rate of Aboriginal â€Å"stolen children† is 32% compared to 19% of â€Å"non-stolen† Aborigines. † (BRI)In a more in-depth review, the above factual statistics can be accounted as well to be the factual suffering of the indigenous Australian people for a long time, as the result of racial discrimination in the entire Australian nation. Nevertheless, the following statistics shows the serious and hazardous suffering of th e Australian indigenous people. Basing on these detrimental statistics of the issue, it is no doubt that reconciliation across the Australian nation is badly needed to unite both the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people and end the social suffering of the Australian aboriginals.Data shows that one of initial process of reconciliation in Australia had happened way back May 26, 1997, through â€Å"The Bringing Them Home† report, which provide an in depth information on the violence that had carried out on Australian indigenous and on the communities of Torres Strait Island, by means of forced separation of children or young aborigines from the custody of their parents and families. (Global Ministries)In deeper standpoint, the report had created a positive outcome for the Australian Federal Parliament, which initiates the change on the outlook of Australians on the indigenous as well as the Torres Strait Island people of the entire country. Also, the report had sugges ts that a â€Å"Sorry Day† must be done every year to remind and commemorate the soreness as well as the suffering of the indigenous Australian people, which they have experienced in a long time.Due to this, communities throughout the entire Australian nation celebrates and carries a â€Å"Sorry Day† each year on the 26th day of May, which define by most of the people as the â€Å"Day of Healing† (Global Ministries) Technically, one of the greater result of â€Å"The Bringing Them Home† in 1997 was that it inspired the formal public apology of the Australian Prime Minister for all the members of stolen generations.A day before the formal public apology of the Australian Prime Minister, Peter Garret, a well reputable Australian musician and politician, had said that the impending apologetic statement for the Australian stolen generation will pave way for the real impact of the reconciliation in entire country. According to Peter Garrett: â€Å"This simple act will open up the possibilities for healing and mutual respect so keenly needed in relations between white and black Australia. We believed that we needed to square up to our past, that the lack of an apology to Aboriginal Australians was a broken link in the chain to a joined future.† (Guardian News and Media Limited 2008) Last February 13, 2008, the Australian Prime Minister had formally delivered his statement of apology for the stolen generations that have been separated from their parents, families and communities by force. According to Mick Dodson (co-chairman of Reconciliation Australia), the apology is something that the people have been waiting for the longest time on its history. Moreover, some of the leader indigenous leader had defined the prime minister’s statement of apology as monumental, as this kind of happening in federal parliament is entirely one of the significant events in its history.(ABC Darwin) In a brief background of the social injustice, it is said that the harmful practice had begun in early and the middle of 18th century, which continuous to moves on until the year 1970. Through the 1997 analysis made by the Equal Opportunity Commission and Human Rights, it was stated that between one out of ten and three out of ten young children of Torres Straight Islander children and aboriginals are separated by force from their family from 1910 and 1970. (ABC Darwin)The initial beginning of force removal of child policy was specifically designed for the fortification that vindicates the assimilation and segregation of Indigenous people in Australia. This policy was formalized through Legislation under the command of the Colonial governments, which gives broad authority over the lives of indigenous and Torres Straight Islander people defined by the governmental subsidiary, named as the Aboriginal Protection Board or better known as the APB. (Link Up 1997) Nevertheless, the above policies have been through different objections as it was cited to be a violation of human rights.Through the recent years, the agreement was released that quotes the assimilation programs as a failure that it only generate suffering and sorrow for the Indigenous Australians of today. (Maiden, p. 1) Currently, the appreciation on the stolen generation is a major subject across the Australian nation and in the House of Representative. In reality, the present Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of the Commonwealth of Australia had formalized the recognition of the stolen generation through his statement of apology for the indigenous Australian.Together with the Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had received a warm welcome on their entrance in the Great Hall. This event is considered to be the largest recognition for the social injustice in the entire Australian history (Maiden, p. 1) In more in-depth analysis, the apology made by the Australian Prime Minister had garner vague and diverse feedback from the e ntire Australian people from both indigenous and non-indigenous. Some of the feedback says that the apology is a brighter action to lead the entire nation into reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous people.Also, some of the initial reactions on this, states that an apology is not enough and would only turned out to be meaningless if the apology will not be supported with the necessary procedures to ensure the progress of the positive beginning for reconciliation. Nevertheless, some of the feedbacks by the Australian people directly says their negative or oppositionist stand on the statement of apology by the prime minister and utter that a long been problem like racism in Australia will not be healed by just a simple public apology, rather compensation and effectual actions is needed.(Guardian News and Media Limited 2008) The Table below shows the actual size and population statistics of the Australian indigenous people. Technically, the table states that there are 410,000 Australian indigenous people, as of the year 2001 Census. Approximately, there are 409,729 Australian people with Aboriginal foundation and there are 29,239 Australian populace of Torres Strait Islander origin. Furthermore, there are 19,552 Australian people that are recognized with both indigenous and Torres Strait Islander origin.Slightly, the statistics of Australian indigenous women is greater that the aboriginal men with 230,994 female as compare to the 227,562 male, which is identical with the Australian non-indigenous distribution. (Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission) The Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law in the Faculty of Law, on the other hand, portray a significant independent function in the reconciliation process in the entire Australian Nation.The Firm is active to held public debate on the major issues that is critical to the future of Australia: includes the native title, bill of rights, terrorism challenges and the reconciliation process in the e ntire country. With al of these participations of the firm, it can be argued that the greatest contribution of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law is the participation of the firm in the reconciliation process between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Essentially, the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law had made their submission to the Australia 2020 Summit.(Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law) Technically, the 20/20 summit was a two day meeting with the list of volunteers and people form the government. Held last 19th and the 20th day of April 2008, the summit tackles the ten specific policies from the summit, which include the aspect of Australian economy and government’s long health program strategy. Nevertheless, the issue of indigenous Australians is one of the most important subjects of the two day summit, which deals with the future of the indigenous Australian people. (ABC International)Moreover, the topic 7 of the 20/20 summit talks about th e future of Indigenous Australian people. The discussion states that in the year 2020 must be part of the national good information of the history inside the school classrooms. Health should have rapidly increased closed to the national average of non-indigenous Australians. Topic 7 then states that Australian indigenous people must increase the stage of employment, which Australian aboriginals must have their fair share of the country’s wealth, through equal employment or work opportunity. (The University of South Wales)Furthermore, the discussion includes that Australian Indigenous people must be included to the legislative position of public policy in the entire Australian area and in Canberra. Indigenous leader must participate to the programs of government and lead autonomous aboriginal institutions of governance. Also, 20/20 summit states that the Australian constitution must spread the pride about the profound and lasting and forceful contribution of the Australian abo riginal people to the life of entire nation and protect their equal rights of citizenship in the country, as the original owners of the land.(The University of South Wales) In addition to this, the national treaty must spread the honest information of the past and portray a positive outlook on the future of relationship amongst indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Nevertheless, the end conclusion of the 20/20 summit in the country, contributes to the brighter future of countries stable citizen relationship and to the reconciliation process between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. (The University of South Wales)In a deeper review of the subject, a treaty is essentially necessary for the entire Australian country in able to resolve the long been issue of racial discrimination between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Technically, a treaty is also known as a governmental agreement specifically designed to resolve a specific issue or co nflict in the society. In Australia, a treaty is critical to connect the link between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people and resolve the historical issue of racial discrimination in the entire country.Moreover, the Australian version of their treaty was designed to resolve the human right issues of the indigenous Australian and to create the positive relationship between the two different races, which have been the long intend of the nation. (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) Specifically, the Committee of Australian Treaty is accounted to negotiate and formulate an agreement that will deal with the following issues in the society: 1. ) â€Å"The protection of Aboriginal identity, languages, law and culture; National land rights legislation;2. ) Conditions governing mining and exploration of natural resources on Aboriginal land; 3. ) Compensation for loss of traditional lands and for damage to those lands and traditional way of life; and 4. ) Right of Aboriginals to control their own affairs and establish their own associations for this purpose. † (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) Nevertheless, Australian treaty is negotiated specifically to resolve the long been conflict of both past and present social injustice between the indigenous and the non-indigenous Australian people.Moreover, the Australian treaty carries same goal or purpose to make the link and acceptance between the indigenous and non-indigenous people in the entire Australian community. In addition to this, the treaty in Australia will definitely support and empower the progress of reconciliation in the entire Australian nation. (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) According to Mark Leibler, the symbolic idea is significant in the reconciliation of Australian races, which he states that concentrating in just one side will never be the true essence of reconciliation.Furthermore, he states that practicality is more important to achieve t he unity of the country that reconciliation is not just the government’s work – rather it is the voyage of the entire nation and Australians must have done their part. (Reconciliation) Jackie Huggins, on the other hand, gives a clear emphasis to the right of an individual to choose the path that he or she wanted to take. Moreover, she states that indigenous and non-indigenous Australian must be protected on their political and legal rights, as an individual in able to sustain their culture and heritage of the land, as a unified nation.(Reconciliation) Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between the British Crown and Maori. Signed in the year 1840, the treaty had established the British law in New Zealand, when at the same time it assures the Maoris to their right on their culture and land. With this, the Treaty of Waitangi is renowned as the beginning article of the entire country of New Zealand. Nevertheless, the Treaty of Waitangi was a definite success in New Zealand law, which it serves as a brilliant agreement between the British crown and Maori of equal distribution of powers and rights on their land.(Tourism New Zealand) However, despite of the success of the agreement, the treaty still records mishaps and problems on its history. The first mishap of the treaty is that in the English version of the agreement says that the Maori had give up their governorship or sovereignty or better known as kawanatanga, to the British Crown, when the truth is that Maori just agrees to share power with the British crown. (Tourism New Zealand) In addition to this, the Maori holds their edition that broader pledge of rights for Maori to the custody of their on hand treasure or better known as taonga.While the English version states that the Maori had give up their control on their treasures like lands, fisheries and forests to the British crown, when the fact is that Maori had agrees to protection of their heritage such as language and culture. (Tourism New Z ealand) With all of these mishaps and dilemmas of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Australians must be definite and specific to the context of their version of treaty in able to prevent and avoid the problems that the Treaty of Waitangi had experienced.Nevertheless, the Australians must learn how to protect the true essence of their treaty to assure that they will never experience the same thing that had happened in Treaty of Waitangi, which was troubled by the diverse version of their agreement. On the other hand, the Australian version of treaty must have the essential legal avenues to resolve the conflict in its society in able to ensure the effective progress of reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people.Furthermore, the Australian treaty must have the legal procedures that straightforwardly deal with the past and present social injustice that indigenous Australians had experienced in able to restore the equal justice between the indigenous and non-ind igenous Australian people. In the end, the Australia’s version of treaty is essential to achieve the nations intend of reconciliation between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. Moreover, the treaty is definitely helpful to resolve the social injustice on Australian indigenous people from past and present.Nevertheless, the Australian treaty will be supportive to restore the equal share of justice and human rights between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australian people. It is essential for Australian treaty to have a clear and definite context to efficiently prevent the predicaments that the Treaty of Waitangi had experienced. Finally, the Australian treaty must be symbolic, which both the indigenous and non-indigenous must work hard together in able to achieve the reconciliation between the two different Australian races.Nonetheless, the treaty must convey equal terms on both indigenous and non-indigenous side to equally cater the needs of both parties. R eferences BRI (n. d), RECONCILIATION ISSUES: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. bri. net. au/Reconciliation. html Global Ministries (2006), Reconciliation Australia: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. globalministries. org/eap/missionaries/reconcilliation-australia. html Guardian News and Media Limited (2008), Australia says sorry for racist past: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://blogs. guardian. co. uk/news/2008/02/it_has_been_a_long. htmlABC Darwin (2008), The long road to a short word: Retrieved June 12, 2008 http://www. abc. net. au/local/stories/2008/02/07/2157107. htm Link Up (NSW) & Tikka Jan Wilson (1997): In the Best Interest of the Child? Stolen Generation Aboriginal pain/White shame, Paragon Printers, pp 51-57, 125-126 S. Maiden (2008), Rudd apology sorry to Aboriginal Stolen Generations: Retrieved June 12, 2008 http://www. theaustralian. news. com. au/story/0,25197,23205437-601,00. html Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (2006), A statistical over view of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www.hreoc. gov. au/Social_Justice/statistics/index. html Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law (2008), Latest News: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. gtcentre. unsw. edu. au/ ABC International (2008), Australia's report on 20/20 ideas summit released: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. radioaustralia. net. au/news/stories/200805/s2261233. htm? tab=latest The University of South Wales (2008), Australia 20/20 Summit: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. gtcentre. unsw. edu. au/news/docs/2020_Summit_Submission. pdfHuman Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (2002), Treaty – Advancing reconciliation Murdoch University, Western Australia, 27 June 2002: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. hreoc. gov. au/about/media/speeches/social_justice/treaty_conference. html Reconciliation (n. d), Reconciliation in Australia – Current Practices and Future Directi ons: Retrieved June 12, 2008 Tourism New Zealand (2008), Treaty of Waitangi: Retrieved June 12, 2008 from http://www. newzealand. com/travel/about-nz/history/history-treaty-of-waitangi. cfm