The Minimum Legal Drinking Age - 1227 Words

Alcohol’s reputation varies from one culture to another. By some cultures, it is perceived as a â€Å"forbidden fruit† while others view it as an essential complement to their diet. Its complicated nature has caused modern countries to attempt to alleviate its harmful effects by setting restrictive laws. However, with the creation of these laws also arose imminent opposition and doubt over their effectiveness. While today’s minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) is 21, it has been proven that the ideal minimum drinking age is 18, because it is safer for the health and it demotes crime. The healthiest drinking age is 18 because that is the age one turns into an adult, and according to the Free Dictionary’s West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, an adult is â€Å"a person who by virtue of attaining a certain age, generally eighteen, is regarded in the eyes of the law as being able to manage his or her own affairs† (West’s Encyclopedia). Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that eighteen-year-olds must be treated as responsible human beings. Furthermore, adults are expected to drive responsibly, join the military, get married, pay their rent, purchase cigarettes, but are not allowed to consume alcoholic beverages. Today, in the United States, alcohol is for many teenagers like opening Pandora’s Box, and â€Å"it ranks as the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the United States† (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse). Therefore, it is a very serious issue and is not that easy to actShow MoreRelatedThe Minimum Legal Drinking Age939 Words   |  4 PagesThere has been ongoing public concern for adolescents and early adults’ drinking culture in worldwide. Australia has also great concerns about early initiating alcohol misuse and risky level of drinking pattern among young population. Consequently, the Minimum legal drinking age law is one of major alcohol control enforcement legislation to prevent alcohol related harms among adolescents ( Wechsler and Nelson, 2010, p.985). Recently Western Australia which is the second heaviest alcohol consumptionRead MoreThe Minimum Legal Drinking Age Essay1599 Words   |  7 Pages Appropriate Minimum Legal Drinking Age What is the right age to drink alcohol? Alcohol’s reputation varies from one culture to another. For some cultures, like the United States, they perceive it as a â€Å"forbidden fruit† while many European countries view it more leniently as another essential complement to their daily diet. In reality, alcohol is essentially a drug, that manipulates people’s minds to make them anxious, dizzy and aggravated. The law understands that drinking alcohol has someRead MoreThe Minimum Legal Drinking Age1594 Words   |  7 PagesThe Drinking Age is Safer than You Thought As Americans, we are always wondering what we can do to save lives. We suspect cancer, disease, suicide, violence, and distracted driving as taking the lives of our fellow Americans. What you may not know, is that we are already saving lives, and we have been since 1984 because of one simple law. The Uniform Drinking Age Act of 1984 moved the minimum legal drinking age from 18 to 21. Lowering the drinking age is a step backward for our safety and ourRead MoreThe Minimum Legal Drinking Age1800 Words   |  8 PagesIn the 1980s, the United States raised the Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA) to 21, from 18, in an attempt to protect the nation s youth. This placed the USA among the few countries whose drinking age is above 18. These countries include most of Canada, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Egypt, Indonesia, Micronesia, and Palau (Jernigan). Around the world, drinking ages vary; for example, in Slovenia, Italy, Portugal, Malta and Greece, yo u can drink before you turnRead MoreBinge Drinking And The Minimum Legal Drinking Age3264 Words   |  14 PagesKarzhova Marina Erin Beaver English Composition II 5 November 2014 Binge Drinking and the Minimum Legal Drinking Age In the year 1984, President Ronald Reagan enacted a law that increased the minimum drinking Age all U.S states to 21 years. As a result, it is believed that the mortality rates due to road accidents reduced from 5,000 in the 80’s to 2, 000 in 2005 (Dean-Mooney). However, the issue of binge drinking remains unsolved with learning institutions having to deal with it every semester. InRead MoreMinimum Legal Drinking Age ( Tietjen )1700 Words   |  7 PagesMinimum Legal Drinking Age On July 17 of 1984 President Ronald Reagan signed to make the National Minimum Drinking Age Act a law. This law required all states to have a minimum drinking age of 21, if a state did not comply with this law they could face up to a 10% cut in funding for their federal highways (Tietjen). Since this act became a law there has been two distinct sides arguing whether they agree with the minimum drinking age, or whether they disagree. One side believes having a minimum drinkingRead MoreLowering The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Essay1521 Words   |  7 PagesBeer For Everyone! The debate of lowering the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) has been going on for decades in the United States. Those opposed, argue that the current MLDA is not efficient and counterproductive (Engs 1). One study indicated that thousands of lives under the age of twenty-one are lost each year to alcohol (McCardell 1). Underage drinking is an issue that persists, despite evidence suggesting that the minimum legal drinking age of twenty-one has lowered alcohol usage among individualRead MoreKeeping the Minimum Legal Drinking Age1283 Words   |  6 Pagesthe minimum legal drinking age in the United States or not. Many Americans forbid the idea of legalizing the drinking age so that it would be profitable to the businesses. Likewise, there have been many advantages and disadvantages of why should the government allow young adults drink under the age of 21. To prevent this issue, many Americans have provided reasoning that will support the idea of keeping the minimum legal drinking age where it is now. The government should maintain the minimum legalRead MoreMinimum Legal Drinking Age Essay Essay1938 Words   |  8 Pages22 December 2016 Minimum legal drinking age 21 Is it worth it to let teens to ruin their whole future by allowing them to start drinking at a younger age? Annually about 5,000 youth under age 21 die from motor vehicle, other unintentional injuries, and homicides and suicides that involve underage drinking.(â€Å"Underage Drinking†) It is a current debate on whether or not the minimum drinking age should be lowered to the age of 18 from 21. Though, the reasons why the drinking age should be 21, clearlyRead MoreKeeping The Minimum Legal Drinking Age2656 Words   |  11 Pagesstarting to drink at a younger age, and their drinking patterns are becoming more extreme.† Keeping the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) at twenty-one or lowering it to the age of eighteen has been a continuous issue in the United States. People, mostly adolescent teenagers, say it should be lowered because if one is able to vote at the age of eighteen, they should also be allowed to drink. Sure, when a seventeen-year-old turns eighteen they ar e considered an adult, but age does not define maturity;

Lgbt Views On Gay And Lesbian Students - 2993 Words

On a daily basis, LGBT youths face discrimination from society, relatives, peers and also their teachers and administrators. Different studies indicate homosexual and bisexual youths are most disadvantaged because they lack protection and support from parents and society. They spend most of their time in fear since they are aware that they are not accepted in society. Most parents prefer having straight children, most straight youths prefer having friends who are straight over gay and lesbians and schools prefers admitting straight students over gay and lesbian students. Most studies do not only stress on the discrimination that LGBT youth faces but also highlights some of impacts that discrimination have on these young people’s lives. These studies have shown that the rate of abuse and discrimination against LGBT youths is higher than one faced by heterosexual children (Kosciw et al.). However, there has been some efforts to integrate these discriminated families with the he terosexual families. The U.S. Supreme Court and policymakers are continuing to show some interest in LGBT issues by introducing laws that call for marriage equality and equal rights for all people regardless of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Various experts argue that such development will help LGBT youths to enjoy their sexual orientation without fear of discrimination or abuse from the society and peers (Toomey et al.). Despite all these efforts, LGBT youths continue to experienceShow MoreRelatedGay And High School Students1235 Words   |  5 Pagesthem. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students are more likely to be open about their sexualities and identities today than ever before. Middle school and high school students need to be fully aware of different identities that exist in the modern world; they are going to encounter people who identify as LGBT, and need to be able to see past the mainstream stereotypes that have been placed on the communi ty. Therefore, educators should teach issues and practices related to the LGBT communityRead MoreSame Sex Marriage Has Become Legal And The View On Lgbtq Essay1255 Words   |  6 Pages† Since this time same-sex marriage has become legal and the view on LGBTQ seems to have shifted, at least in a majority. Each culture has its own beliefs and perceptions when it comes to homosexuality. In the United States, those perceptions differ between lesbian or gay, as parents, across cultures, and in education. When those with different perceptions get together, it could be beneficial to see things from the other’s point of view, or it could be detrimental and cause some sort of fight. HoweverRead MoreWhy Are Lgbt Students Committing Suicide More Than Non Transgender Students?1559 Words   |  7 Pages In a study research, it was discovered that LGBT [lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender] youths commit suicide more than heterosexual youths. One question that perturbed my mind was Why are LGBT students committing suicide more than non-LGBT students? What factors are responsible for the massive suicide? Lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender and heterosexual people are all members of a community, however, the society finds it difficult to accept them as members of the society insteadRead MoreCyberbullying: Direct Victimization in Schools and to Specific Groups1287 Words   |  6 Pages Nearly a quarter of all students ages 6-19 are bullied or harassed at school as a result of their beliefs, race, nationality, sexual orientation, and more (â€Å"Bullying†). When examining bullying of LGBT youth, it is crucial to consider direct bullying and biased comments made by students. The most noticeable remarks used in schools is when the word â€Å"gay† is used in a negative way, usually to mean that something is â€Å"stupid† or â€Å"dumb.† About 70% of LGBT students state they have often heard these typesRead MoreLesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender993 Words   |  4 PagesIndividuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) are extremely marginalized in the basic aspects of life, despite recent changes in the law legalizing same-sex marriage. The following articles, Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender families in Journal of Marriage and Family, and End-of-Life Care for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people; pr ovides an in-depth look of on-going struggles and discrimination they face. Biblarz and Savci (2010) analyzed families thatRead MoreOrganizations and Awareness towards LGBT Rights, Equality and Acceptance1298 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica is the country of freedom, where all men and women are treated equal. Sadly, this principle is not true when it comes to one’s sexual orientation. According to the gay bullying statistics from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, â€Å"About one fourth of all students from elementary age through high school are the victims of bullying and harassment while on school property because of their race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.† Being setRead MorePersuasive Essay On Gay Marriage956 Words   |  4 PagesIn today’s society, there are certain stereotypical people that are uninterested in gay or lesbian marriage. Everyone should have the right to decide on who they would like to marry. Gay marriage should be legal and a non-punishable offense becaus e it can prevent teenage suicides, more children will be adopted, and people will not feel like second-class citizens. If humanity was to acquire gay marriage, it would lower and prevent some teen suicides. Most teens are deciding and revealing what pathRead MoreRelationship Between Parenting And Childhood Outcome1595 Words   |  7 Pagesand Uncle Eric. Both who throughout this entire interviewing process have showed some of the most conservative, exclusionist views. When it came to my mom she believed its Gods will and when a persons sexual preference goes against the societal â€Å"norm† there is no way of avoiding it and no finger to point. My last respondent was my Aunt Penny who has very strong democratic views and is one of my most inclusive interviewees. She believes that sexual preference is genetic. Genetic and Gods will I feelRead MoreThe Rise Of Gay Culture1004 Words   |  5 PagesMiranda Craw Robert King English 2010 December 6, 2015 The Rise of Gay Culture The gay culture, which is also referred to as the LGBTQI culture by some people, is a culture that is seen to be shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex people and thus the abbreviation LGBTQI. People also hear it being referred to as the queer culture meant to indicate that those who subscribe to this culture are queer. The culture involves works by famous members of the culture, understandingRead MoreRecognizing Same-Sex Marriage Legally in the United States1633 Words   |  7 PagesGay rights is a very popular issue in American politics that asks ask the question â€Å"Should same sex marriage be recognized legally.† Some Americans support gay rights and believe all homosexuals deserve the right of protection from discrimination. They do not believe marriage would devalued but would allow homosexuals to have same benefits and security as heterosexual couples. Some of the rights same-sex marriages would be entitled to include: eligibility of health insurance through each other’s

Identify Adequate Portfolio For MRS A †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Identify Adequate Portfolio For MRS A. Answer: Introduction: The main aim of the assessment is to identify adequate portfolio for MRS A, which could help in supporting her expenses annually. Relevant evaluation of different investment schemes is conducted to identify the actual financial instrument, which could be used in improving MRS As return generation capacity. Moreover, both the investment companies have directly provided all the relevant financial instruments, which could be used in providing the return from investment. Furthermore, the financial instrument could eventually help in generating high levels of return, which might allow MRS A to support her financial needs. Lastly, adequate portfolio is created after the evaluation of investment schemes provided by both the investment companies. Conducting evaluation on investment option presented to MRS A and depicting her investment needs: The rising expenses of MRS A needs to be complemented with an adequate portfolio, which could provide higher returns and support her financial obligations. From the evaluation of case study, it could be identified that MRS A has no other sources of income, which could be used in supporting her financial obligations. Furthermore, Mediclaim and other insurance products has been purchased by MRS A, which needs no further investments. Moreover, MRS A needs a constant return providing portfolio, which could help in supporting her financial obligations as and when they turn up. Therefore, adequate focus in preparation of the portfolio needs to be conducted, as higher returns is expected by MRS A from the investments (Alberg Lipton, 2017). Evaluation of both the portfolios provided by Great Union National Bank Ltd and Pentagon resource Pte. Ltd needs to be conducted to identify the most viable options, which could be included in the portfolio. Great Union National Bank Ltd Rate Amount Initial Investment SGD 1,000,000.00 Return 5% SGD 50,000.00 Return 15% SGD 150,000.00 The above table mainly helps in depicting the probable returns that could be provided by Great Union National Bank Ltd, if adequate investments are conducted. The minimum investment requirements for Great Union National Bank Ltd is relatively at the levels of SGD 1,000,000, which could help in generating range of return from 5% to 15%. This would eventually allow the company to generate returns of SGD 50,000 to SGD 150,000 on annual basis. In addition, this would eventually allow MRS A to grow her investment and provide a constant return from investment. The portfolio created by Great Union National Bank Ltd mainly comprises of local stocks (50%), cash deposits and foreign currencies (10%), bonds (10%) and foreign stocks including the US, EU, and Japan (30%). The portfolio composition depicted in the above statement indicates the financial returns, which could be generated from investment. The portfolio mainly depicts a diversified investment option, which would allow investors to in crease their performance and return generation capacity. This diversified portfolio also helps in reducing the risk that is involved in Investments (Naik et al. 2017). Hence, the portfolio would eventually allow MRS A to raise the level of investments, which could be generated from investments in funds of Great Union National Bank Ltd. Pentagon Resources Pte. Ltd Rate Amount Initial Investment SGD 700,000.00 Return every quarter 3% SGD 84,000.00 The above table mainly helps in identifying the investment scope, which is provided by Pentagon Resources Pte Ltd to MRS A. The portfolio designed by the company relatively invest in oil and energy sector, which has high returns from investment (Finn, 2017). In addition, the company also indicates a return of 3% in each quarter, which would allow MRS A to support her financial obligation. This indicates that 12% annual returns could be generated by MRS A if relevant investments are conducted in Pentagon Resources Pte Ltd. Moreover, there is no minimum investment capital that is required by the investment company, which could allow MRS A to maximize their returns from investment. Providing recommendations to MRS A: Particulars Amount Amount Great Union National Bank Ltd SGD 1,000,000.00 SGD 1,000,000.00 Pentagon Resources Pte. Ltd SGD 700,000.00 SGD 700,000.00 Total investment SGD 1,700,000.00 SGD 1,700,000.00 Return Great Union National Bank Ltd SGD 50,000.00 SGD 150,000.00 Return Pentagon Resources Pte. Ltd SGD 84,000.00 SGD 84,000.00 Total return on average basis SGD 134,000.00 SGD 234,000.00 Return in percentage 7.88% 13.76% Adequate portfolio is mainly depicted in the above table, which could provide MRS A relevant returns from investment that could be used in supporting her financial obligations. The portfolio mainly comprises of both the investment scopes provided by investment companies, which might help in improving the return generation capacity of MRS A. Moreover, investment of SGD 1,000,000 needs to be conducted in fund of Great Union National Bank Ltd, while the rest SGD 700.000 needs to be invested in Pentagon Resources Pte. Ltd. This could eventually help in raising the overall return that could be used by MRS A while supporting her financial obligations. The designer portfolio could eventually allow MRS A generate adequate Returns, which might help in supporting her family expenses and daughters education (Davis, 2017). The portfolio really helps in identifying a range of returns that could be provided by both Investments. this identification of the returns could eventually allow MRS A to make adequate investment decisions for supporting her daughters education and annual financial obligations. From the portfolio the range of returns that could be provided from investment amounts to 7.88% to 13.76%, which could help MRS A in improving her financial return. Both investments selected for MRS A is relatively adequate, as it helps in supporting both risk and return segments of investment. The diversification of the portfolio has been allowed MRS A to reduce the risk from investment and generate higher rate of return. Therefore, it is recommended for MRS A to adequately invest how capital according to the drafted portfolio, as it might help in reducing the risk from investment and improving her capital growth. The diversification conducted in preparing the portfolio would eventually allow MRS A to support her daughters education and other financial expenses needed on annual basis. References: Alberg, J., Lipton, Z. C. (2017). Improving Factor-Based Quantitative Investing by Forecasting Company Fundamentals.arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.04837. Benton, A. I., Huerta-Sanchez, D., Pyles, M. K. (2017). The Impact of Market Conditions on Voting Results in a Student-Managed Fund.The Journal of Trading,13(1), 72-79. Davis, P. (2017). Bonds: Getting to the Fundamentals.In Practice,2(1). Davis, P. (2017). Value Investing: Do Quant Strategies Measure Up?.In Practice,2(1). Finn, A. (2017).Smart Women Love Money: 5 Simple, Life-changing Rules of Investing. Simon and Schuster. Naik, V., Devarajan, M., Nowobilski, A., Page, S., Pedersen, N. (2017). Factor Investing and Asset Allocation: A Business Cycle Perspective.Research Foundation Publications,2017(1), 22-26.

Psychedelicees free essay sample

Psychedelicees Music is more emotional than intellectual, and language barriers don’t exist when cheesy but good pop music is present. Want proof? Check out Alizee’s December 2007 release, â€Å"Psychedelices†. The first single, â€Å"Mademoiselle Juliette† is cute dance-pop song that starts you off on a roller-coaster ride of sugary-sweet pop, somber slow tunes, and even Alizee’s cute, but interesting dabble into hip-hop. As someone who generally doesn’t like slow songs, the title track â€Å"Psychedelices†, â€Å"Idealiser†, and â€Å"L’Effet†, don’t do much for me. But â€Å"Par Le Paupieres† does, with Alizee’s cooing voice and the cool dreamy music. Yet it’s the radio-friendly pop songs that carry the album, like â€Å"Lilly Town†, â€Å"Jamais Plus† and my favorite, â€Å"Fifty-Sixty† (a song about the not-so-happy and rather short life of Warhol Superstar, Edie Sedgwick.) This is Alizee’s third album, after Gourmandises and Mes Courants Electriques, and the first one without the creative guidance of another French superstar, Mylene Farmer (who is also another favorite singer of mine. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychedelicees or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page ) While the absence of the environment created by Mylene’s lyrics and producer Laurent Boutonnat’s music is obvious, it’s still a great CD, perfect for popping into you car and singing along to lyrics you only partially understand. â€Å"Psychedelices† is a sweet treat that’s great for anyone who wants to experience some good music beyond what our stateside pop-stars have to offer. And all I have to say for that is, â€Å"Merci, Alizee!† TRACKLISTING 1. Mademoiselle Juliette 2. Fifty Sixty 3. Mon Taxi Driver 4. Jamais Plus 5. Psychedelices 6. Decollages 7. Par Les Paupieres 8. Lilly Town 9. Lonely List 10. Idealiser 11. Effet Website: www.alizee-officiel.com

Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn

Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn Introduction The global economy has been striving for a sustainable growth following the global financial crisis and its recessionary impact; however, the advanced economy like Europe stay behind fragile still 2012 with a global growth of 4% although the emerging Asia nations evidenced better recovery rate up to 7 ¼% while the UK economy gained 4 ¾% (BIS 2010, p.8).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Under such economic downturn, the government of UK has aimed to establish foundation for new style of growth in the UK introducing aggressive and productive economy through training and skills development that would ultimately improve the living standards, climate change and efficient public service delivery and gear up the recovery rate. This paper has aimed to a ssess how the knowledge development and boost of intellectual skills and training for organisational development could assist to overcome the impact of current economic downturn in the national and international levels providing right direction for sustainable growth that would ultimately assist the policymakers for further research. The Theoretical Framework for Training and Skills Development Keating (2007) pointed out that the changing dynamics of employment patterns have generated the emergence for wider investigation with the theoretical framework for training and skills development in order to establish sustainable national skills strategy aimed to keep effective contribution to productivity and would capable to meet the international skill market demand. There are diverse methods of skills development practice in different countries with increasing complexities the skills development systems particularly address the local market needs while academia structure their learning d irection with compliance to the national direction for responsible skills ambitions. This part of the paper would discuss some theoretical framework essential to analyse the UK skills development and employment strategy aimed to establish an excellent human resource motivating the engagement of employer and employee aligned with skills for the future. Interventionist Views of Skill Development PRO-ED Inc (2010) mentioned that the interventionist views of skill development argued to focus on the activity-based where every intervention session would generate learning familiarities for both the interventionist along with the person who receiving that service, for instance the children and his guide working together has many things to learn vice versa.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Activity based learning involved to many complex things derived from the environment throughout intervention that is pleasant, tranquil, along with mutually supportive by the learner and teacher productive sessions, where the production process is very interesting for practical learning from operation, in the playground a child could learn how to play cricket that may difficult to taught at reading room. From the viewpoint of interventionists, the transformation of knowledge through activity-based scheme contributes to learning strict rules and regulation during intervention sessions that can develop capabilities to conquer the disturbing situation without troubling the others. Durrant (2012) pointed out that the Labour government during 1997 introduced the paradox in skills policy for the UK with delicately shifted direction aligned with voluntarism of skills demand, with framework of skills supply influenced by the interventionist role for the government directed to the private and public sector employees development with skills ambitions aimed to reach at the target. Strate gic Plan of UK for Employment and Skills Development UKCES (2009) pointed that the government of UK has set up its strategy for skills development with major two goals that is to generate sustainable economic growth and to deliver enough opportunity of employment for all working force of the country, the government also determined to shift the UK in to global leading position for employment and skills. The ‘UK Commission for Employment and Skills’1 is the governmental agency formed with the leaders of private and public sector and dedicated to implementing the such highly ambitious goals and empowered to provide necessary suggestion and direction to the top level the government to generate skills at all level of the country within 2010. Following the global financial crisis in 2008, the UKCES was organised and setup its board responsibilities to assess annually the progress in the employment and skills development, advice to create employment opportunity, improve skills , innovation, and productivity homogeneously all over the country to generate quick progress by encountering with the economic downturn. At the same time, the UKCES also responsible to formulate policy for skill development, implication of those policies, identify the challenges of implication and look after the delivery of innovation with wider engagement of the employees through adequate investment for the programme of workforce skill development.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Critically Analyse the UK Governments Strategy towards Work Training and Skills in the Light of the Current Economic Downturn specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More UK Policies and Practice for Skills Development UKCES (2010) pointed to its vision to establish the nation pedestal on with excellent skills aligned with sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities for all and setup its gaol to reach at world class skill levels and place UK at the top eighth of the OECD nations by 2020, it indicates that the country has to generate 20 million employment opportunity. During the last decade, millions of apprentices have achieved basic and intermediate skills, but there are significant numbers of unemployed among them, on the contrary, to meet the increasing needs of skills the UK employers are spending  £20 billion per annum for training and skills development; thus, it is really a great challenge for the government to attain vision 2020. To encounter with the challenges the government has set out following three strategic priorities Strategic Priority-1: Strategic Demand Oriented Employment and Skills System:   The top priority of employment and skills scheme is to generate sustainable economic growth through an efficient system that enables quick response to the market demand oriented supply of human resource with provocative skills competent for the future while the academia would assist the individuals to maximise their talents; Strategic Priority-2: Maximum Prospect of individual Skills and Sustainable Job Opportunity:   The UK would attain excellence of global standard workforce by 2020 and to do so, the next priority of the government would focus on individual ambitions providing maximum opportunity for all individuals to engage their talents in the right direction with appropriate training and skills development programme that would ultimately bring professional success and prosperity of the individual; Strategic Priority-3: Boost of Employer Ambition for Additional Investment for Skills Development:   At the preset stage, the non-wage expenditure of UK employers for staff training and skills development is  £20 billion while the government is spending  £12 billion adult learning and skills, in context of other competitors, the UK’s investment for skills development is very poor and emergence to raise this investment by motivating the willingness of employers i n this regard. Strategic Approach of the UK Government for Skills Development The strategic approach of the UK government for Skills and employment development has integrated with a five-step mode to attaining the long-term vision, the first step of the model provide analysis of the impact of skills development from individual engagement to the economic competitiveness along with social cohesion that generally assist to formulate policy and direction for practice.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Figure-1: UK Government’s Skills Development Model Source: UKCES (2009, p.12) At the second step the challenges are identified for increasing investment for skills development, at the third step the effective policies and incentives are organised and put for practice in the next step, the last step built performance based culture to assess the improvement. Figure 2: Qualifications Demand and Supply, 2006 Source: Felstead, Gallie, Green Zhou (2007, p.42) The UK Governments Strategies on Vocational Training UKCES (2011) noted that UK is comparatively low ranking among OECD nations in terms of the time used in vocational-training; moreover, the percentage of workers at job getting some form of regular vocational-training is rather low in benchmarks of EU; however, still it possesses the principal percentage of projects in comparison to other European countries concerned with vocational-training of workers. The following graph shows the percentage of workers getting some form of vocational training in the country; it is notable that in case of the UK, the percentage of workers is less than 35 percent, where as countries such as Czech Republic, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Finland, Belgium, France, and Sweden have a much better performance in terms of vocational training Figure 3: The percentage of workers getting vocational training Source: UKCES (2009) While such training performance is substantial in comparison with Asian-standards, the degree to which it would meet prerequisite of vocational-courses is doubted; UKCES (2009) noted that less than eighteen percent of the workers got a vocational-training that led towards a nationwide-acknowledged-qualification; to be specific, out of fourteen million workers receiving a vocational training, two and a half million got nationally-recognised-qualification. Because of this, the government of the United Kingdom undertook several strategies even within recession to mitigate the rising concerns relating to its train ing programs; for example, the UK Vocational Qualification Reform Programme (VQRP) has been designed to assist to address this apprehension; this programme is looking forward to improve the vocational training qualifications, making the entire scheme more receptive. It is anticipated that together with additionally supple methods of teaching appraisal, the Vocational Qualification Reform Programme would also permit apprentices to attain credentials in strong steps; in addition, it is notable that a remarkable aspect of this reorganization of the vocational courses is to generate an arrangement, which would meet the demands of employers for lesser entities of knowledge. One of the significant parts of the rearrangement is that the vocational training will be carried out within a system that provides development to a superiority guaranteed certificate; the government and other associated bodies have noted that if these reforms remain to be a success, then an rising percentage of emplo yers training their workers would focus on credentials acknowledged countrywide. However, AOC (2012) identified that there are no grounds to suppose that the United Kingdom’s Vocational Education and Training performs badly in contrast to Australia, Canada or Germany rather, this provides suppleness, strong eminence assertion procedures, efficient governmental assurances of superior benchmarks of professional significance, reliability, dependable and good-governance, administration, and coaching, as well as better clarity aspirations. Recession and job related training to develop skills Mason Bishop (2010, p.36) stated that the employers of this country have changed their policies to reduce costs related with the implementation of skills development plan and training process during the recessionary period; moreover, different employers have considered different forms of training programs, such as, the employers of 1990s focused more on the shorter-duration skilled developme nt program. However, CIPD (2012) provided survey report and mentioned that sales revenues and other business transactions declined significantly in the fiscal year 2008; therefore, a large part of the employers decreased their budget for training to reduce overall expenditure to sustain in the market, for instance, the following figure gives more details in this regard Figure 4: Change in training costs over previous 12 months- 2009 (n= 255) Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.44) Figure 5: Training provision for core group workers: Comparison between 2008 and 2009 (n=270) Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.44) On the other hand, UKCES (2009) reported that UK experienced growth in the job market in spite of adverse economic condition and reduction of employment rate in 2008. In addition, UKCES (2009, p.3) argued that the government have already taken many initiatives (Ambition 2020) in order recover the economy from recession and change the environment because the employers needed expert, high skill, and more competitive employees to evidence a radical change in terms of higher performance at lower cost. At the same time, UKCES (2009, p.6) identified that development of high skill labour force is one of the most difficult tasks for the employers because employers had cut the job of the skill employees and these employees may get job in other place where they can receive no training related with their job responsibilities. Moreover, the employers had reluctant to increase budget for the training purpose, which can be a significant cause to increase unskilled labour force at present; however, the next figure shows data for the employees under 16-64 age group Figure 6: Job-related training from 1993 to 2009 Source: Mason Bishop (2010, p.18) The above figure represents that Job-related training for all employees decreased dramatically from 2007 and increased low skill labour force in the UK. However, some positive and negative factors are Bewick (2009, p.26) stated that the UK faced â€Å"collective amnesia† due to shortage of skill employees, but global financial crisis mask masked these systemic weaknesses; However, the government of the UK amended statutory provisions and introduced Employment Law 2013 to develop this sector, for instance, all people between 16 and 17 years old in the UK must have to continue in education or training; The employment rate in the private sectors increased significantly in 2012 and this rate decreased in public sectors, which was the reflection of education and reclassification of training system; Introduction of new traineeships programme under new law to support young people and this programme includes work skills training, development of English and math proficiency level (DBIS 2013); Comparison of the UK with Germany and Netherlands According to Keating (2007), UK has developed a mixed-model in its work-training, skills, and VET scheme and in its method of encountering present and future-skills; t he fundamental arrangements of edification and training fluctuate throughout the four amalgamated realms Scotland is greatly independent in edification (but less in training), and institutions in Northern Ireland and Wales are inclusive with vocational-elements. Moreover, in England, secondary edification is varied in both conditions and curriculum; numerous apprentices are enthusiastic towards further education, whilst unsettled worry amid scholastic and professional credentials has resulted in an innovative set of vocational-programs; however, liability of VET segment had detached from local government in 1990s, and this segment has been exposed to various modernization from several governmental branches. Moreover, the country theoretically took an open-minded or deliberate approach for developing the skills and training of the apprentices; it applied several procedures to inspire employer and apprentice’s demand for training, including the People programme, Training Credi ts (coupons) and an income funding; fundamentally, this matter of constructing demand for training is the major confront of the deliberate and mixed model, Germany, in comparison, has endured numerous major tremors over the last couple of decades firstly, reunification has adjoined encumber of scientific and commercial backwardness, secondly, a lengthier procedure of partial-obsolescence of the training-system has generated chiefly middle-level-skills in context of increasing significance of high-skills-level, and thirdly, there has been extremely deprived performance and huge disparities in performance of German apprentices. This has led to substantial stress on VET-segment and Dual-Scheme of apprenticeship that offers the targets for about sixty percent of school-leavers; theoretically, the German scheme is demand-oriented, since it is mainly based on apprenticeship spaces that are offered principally by private segment corporations; nevertheless, it is an obverse end arrangement that provides a huge number of apprenticeship skilled employees. Keating (2007) also noted that the German scheme is highly controlled with a composite procedure that comprises the local governments and social-partners; it provides an approach where partakers are firmly incorporated within the course of shaping the necessity for and deliverance of credentials and training; UKCES (2012) noted that this intended-model incorporates governmental collaborators, and ties institutional-structures of VET: Figure 7: German Education/training model Source: UKCES (2012) In contrast, like Germany, Netherlands possesses curriculum-oriented vocational-training-system, but with superior of suppleness; it offers an occupation-oriented structure that recommends the substance and duration of training-courses: Figure 8: Netherlands’ Education/training model Source: UKCES (2012) Figure 9: Expenditure on training-related % of GDP (2005) Source: Meager (2008) Recommendation The government sho uld develop powerful monitoring committee to continue different training and skill programmes and assess the success of these programmes; To make the UK a global leader in skills, DfES (2006) recommended that that 95% adults have to take basic literacy knowledge, shifting the balance of intermediate skills from Level two to three, individuals have to raise their aspirations and awareness; The government should simplify the entire system including demand-led system in order to attract the employees of different cultural background to develop skills for the different sectors; The legal framework has not imposed any liability or obligation on the employers to train their employees; At the same time, the employers in the present recessionary period have provided less importance on training and decreased budget for training as part of their cost reduction programme. Therefore, the policy makers should arrange awareness programme in order to give the message to the employers that skill la bour force can increase productivity along with sales revenue by showing their performance in the workplace; There are many other factors to improve skills, such as, closer supervision of the labour supply, tackling inequality and consider enhanced ‘skills utilisation’, targeted support for displaced employees, strengthening the voice of employers, increase budget in the right sorts of training and arrange high-value-added training programme, and so on Reference List AOC 2012, UK Vocational Education and Training (VET) Towards a Comprehensive Strategy for International Development, aoc.co.uk/download.cfm?docid=9BBEDC33-505A-43BB-8B6322ADF6E60A20. Bewick, T 2009, UK employment and skills in a global recession, http://aces.shu.ac.uk/employability/resources/UKEmploymentSkillsIn%20GlobalRecession.pdf. BIS 2010, A Strategy For Sustainable Growth, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31998/10-1059-sustainable-growth-economic-annex.pdf. CI PD 2012, Learning and Talent Development: Annual Survey Report, digitalopinion.co.uk/files/documents/CIPD_2012_LTD_Report.pdf. DBIS 2013, Employment law 2013: progress on reform, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/141918/13-P136-employment-law-2013-progress-on-reform1.pdf. DfES 2006, Prosperity for all in the global economy – world class skills: The Leitch review of skills and World class skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England, hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/leitch_finalreport051206.pdf. Durrant, H, 2012, Governing Skills, Governing Workplaces: State-steered Voluntarism in England under New Labour, http://opus.bath.ac.uk/32549/1/UnivBath_PhD_2012_H_Durrant.pdf. Felstead, A, Gallie, D, Green, F Zhou, Y 2007, Skills at Work, 1986 to 2006, cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/contactsandpeople/alanfelstead/SkillsatWork-1986to2006.pdf. Keating, J 2007, Matching supply of and demand for skills: International perspectives, flinders.edu.au/sabs/nil s-files/reports/NCVER_DMS_43287-v7-Program_5_2.pdf. Mason, G Bishop, K 2010, Adult Training, Skills Updating and Recession in the UK: The Implications for Competitiveness and Social Inclusion, llakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/T.-Adult-Training-Skills-Updating-and-Recession.pdf. Meager, N, 2008, The Role of Training and Skills Development in Active Labour Market Policies, employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/wp15.pdf. UKCES 2009, Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK, ukces.org.uk/publications/ambition2020. UKCES 2010, Skills for Jobs: Today and Tomorrow, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/national-strategic-skills-audit-for-england-2010-volume-1-key-findings.pdf. UKCES 2011, UK Employer Skills Survey 2011: First Findings, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/uk-ess-first-findings-2011-amended-22-dec.pdf. UKCES 2012, International approaches to the development of intermediate level skills and apprenticeships, ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/pu blications/evidence-report-42-international-approaches-synthesis-report.pdf. Footnotes UKCES

A Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases

A Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases A Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases A Yes-and-No Answer About Hyphenating Phrases By Mark Nichol When it comes to following grammatical rules by example, the field is a minefield, because many publishers and publications can’t even seem to get it right, and writers must resort to hunting down the correct usage in a style guide or a writing handbook. Take, for instance, phrases of several words in which hyphenation seems to be called for. Is it â€Å"word of mouth,† or â€Å"word-of-mouth†? Do you write â€Å"on the spot,† or â€Å"on-the-spot†? The quick-and-easy answer is, for these and most other apparent word chains, break those chains: No hyphens are necessary unless the phrase precedes a noun: â€Å"I rely on word-of-mouth communication†; â€Å"She made an on-the-spot assessment.† But the game changes for a special class of phrase that, for lack of standard nomenclature, we can call anatomical association: When your dorsal side is opposite someone else’s, you’re standing back-to-back, and when you confront someone, you go head-to-head. This type of phrase is sometimes hyphenated in adverbial form (used in conjunction with a verb) as well as in adjectival form (preceding or following a noun): â€Å"He produced back-to-back hits throughout the decade.† â€Å"She hoped to a avoid a head-to-head confrontation.† Unfortunately, though, even that classification is inconsistent: When you line up among a row of people to your left and right, you’re positioned side by side, not side-by-side. (Though you still hyphenate the adjectival form you stand in a side-by-side formation.) You can live a hand-to-mouth existence, but you’re living hand to mouth, not hand-to-mouth. Some similar phrases, such as â€Å"head to toe† or â€Å"hand in hand,† aren’t even in the dictionary, so the same rule applies; leave open in adverbial form, and hyphenate as an adjective. (Phrasal adjectives usually remain open after a noun, but these aren’t conducive to that syntax anyway.) This maddening inconsistency leaves us where we started: When in doubt, look it up. And what about even longer word strings? You can write that someone has a devil-may-care attitude, and that someone has a not-in-my-backyard mentality, but where do you draw the line and stop drawing that little line we call a hyphen? What if someone has a do-unto-others-before-someone-does-unto-you approach to life? Many such phrases are enclosed in quotation marks rather than hyphenated, which is reasonable for something that would conceivably be uttered and doesn’t play havoc with narrow columns of type (as it may very well have done here). But phrases of manageable length like â€Å"not in my backyard,† even though they’re hypothetical statements, should remain in phrasal-adjective mode. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a US Business LetterHow to Punctuate Descriptions of ColorsDouble Possessive

Ecology and Diversity of Cambrian Faunas Lab Report

Ecology and Diversity of Cambrian Faunas - Lab Report Example It was required to compare the results with information on modern faunas and normal Cambrian faunas. Also, it was required to discuss the representativeness of the former and the differences between the latter and Cambrian faunas.   It represents most of the deep marine but not shallow or tropical one. The reason for this is that Cambrian rocks only have marine fossils, mainly for species that lived on hard substrates on the sea floor and this includes Burgess Shale fauna   6. How does fauna of Burgess Shale compare with that of Cambrian deposits exhibiting normal (mineralized hard part-only) preservation, in terms of higher taxa represented and their relative proportion? How representative therefore are normal faunas?   In terms of higher taxa representation, Cambrian deposits exhibiting normal (mineralized hard part-only) preservation accounts for only a minor component of the total diversity. Similarly, in most Burgess Shale-types deposits, the Shelly assemblage normally represents a small proportion of the collected specimen. In this case, soft-bodied organisms fossilized remains especially from Burgess Shale the Cambrian ecosystem knowledge could be totally limited   Burgess fauna consists of many soft-bodied animals’ fossils as well as those with hard parts. A completely soft-bodied animal normally rot away before it is fossilized. Hard parts are crucial because they are more easily preserved; they are seen to help an organism last for a longer time to become fossilized. Burgess Shale is rich in life most of the fauna in it are soft bodies while it contains only 0.89% of mineralized hard parts.   Burgess Shale, organisms lived in underwater mud banks, the moving water buried living organism in moving sediment. They are therefore found in random orientation. Modern muddy marine invertebrates usually curl up upon dying but fossils of the Burgess Shale locality never exhibit such coiling and there is evidence that this organism died instantly.   

What is your specific research interests in finance Scholarship Essay

What is your specific research interests in finance - Scholarship Essay Example My research interest in real estate financing stems from the challenges facing the real estate industry—high interest rates. Increased interest rates have negative impact on investors and buyers, who may be reluctant into making meaningful investment options. Often, some investors have to contend with high interest rates that reduce the ability to repay their mortgages with time. Despite this scenario, I am interested into finding factors that influence interest rates on real estate products. Equally important, I will focus on how this research will provide guidance to investors interested in avoiding burdens from mortgages. With this goal, I am confident being awarded scholarship in finance will enable me to learn the tools and concepts that will allow me to conduct this study. Without doubt, awarding me this scholarship will enable me deriver immense insight on financial trends in the real estate arena. Ultimately, I see myself graduating and providing significant solutions on how investors can take make sound investment, despite challenges high interest

Book Review on Urban Poverty Essay Example for Free

Book Review on Urban Poverty Essay Urban poverty is the outcome of urban-bias development projects being predominantly financed by the external capital, either in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or Aid. The urban-bias industrialization strategy performed as a pull factor for the rural unemployed. This strategy contributed to the expanding of urban informal sectors where unskilled as well as highly unorganized day labours remain concentrated in the urban and semi-urban areas. It is also debated that the redistribution of capital investment towards the rural based agricultural activities including plantation sectors through the coordinated efforts of both public and private sectors such as civil and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can go a long way to break the growing negative effects of over urbanization on poverty, moral and social crimes as consequent of unequal economic growth. The author, Pramanik discusses urban poverty in Malaysia cases. He begins with the overview of the poverty scenario followed by research methods and research findings along with summarization policy suggestions. This book contented five chapters including appendices, references and index. In the introductory chapter (pp. 1-5), Pramanik says poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that is hard to come up with a universally acceptable definition of poverty. Most commonly argued issue on poverty is whether poverty should be looked at from absolute or relative perspective. Absolute poverty based on specific income level called poverty line income (PLI) that can be calculated either using the market value of a basket full of goods and services considered essential for reasonably acceptable standard of living. On the contrary, relative poverty arises when we talk about how good or bad one member is doing in relation to another member living in the same society. According to O’Boyle, poverty is a concept that is both absolute and relative because human beings are at the same time individual and social (O’Boyle E.  J, 1990). In chapter two (pp. 7-20), Pramanik talks about poverty scenario in Malaysia. He argues that the income poverty using official poverty line income seems near to the absolute poverty whereas the human poverty based on the degree of human deprivation resembles relative poverty, which is ensuing of unequal access to income earning opportunity. Because of this, the author focuses more on human aspect of poverty in terms of its long term implications of social factors. Micro level study (Pramanik, 2004) do suggest that family size either in urban or rural areas of the four concentrated states namely, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perak is quite above the family size used for the national level. Pramanik (1997 2000) examined that rural poverty in the four poverty-concentrated states on multi dimensional aspects of the problem such as, social, economic, demographic, psychological, political, moral, historical, attitudinal, and natural factors. In chapter three (pp. 5-20), the author discusses regarding research methodology. The study is based on the primary data as well as secondary information. The primary data collected through the administration of well-structured questionnaire in the middle of 2006. The sampling technique used is purposive as well as random and based on participatory observation method. Around 3112 households from 8 major cities living in poverty concentrated areas classified by squatters, low-cost buildings, longhouses etc. were selected for data collection. He defined â€Å"household† as an entity of those living under the same roof as well as eating from the same kitchen. In chapter four (pp. 21-97), he talks about the research findings. The author uses purposive and collecting sampling technique to identify the level of poverty suffered by those living in the squatters and in the area/blocks/buildings designed for the lower income groups in the major cities of Malaysia. This is because those who are living in these areas suffer different degrees and types of poverty measured by the level of deprivations. The household having less than RM 398(less than half of the poverty line) is called hardcore poor, household earning equal to RM 398 but less than 663 is called overall poor and more than RM 663 is called non-poor. The best performing state in terms of lowest incidence of overall poverty (0. 9) with no hardcore poor followed by KL (2. 6) and JB (8. 1) inclusive of hardcore and overall poor. While less developed states- KB, KT, and AS, KB experiences the highest incidence of poverty hardcore poor and overall poor of 33. 7 followed by KT (23. 4) and AS (14). On the other hand, Sabah and Sarawak are worst performing states reported in 9MP and his survey data. The author suggests that as far as poverty reduction is concerned Sabah and Sarawak are still the worst among all other regions states in Malaysia in 2007. The poverty is gender bias is a universal when hardcore poverty is concerned. In terms of hardcore and overall poverty, the female –headed households are more likely to be poorer by 50 percent compared the male-headed households. The higher dependency of more members on a few incomes of earners in the households also creates a constraint on resources allocation by the poor households. Approximately 60 percent of poor household’s more than two members depend on the income of one earner. The lower dependency has implication for the ability of the poor households to hold out poverty at times of economic recession or downturn since higher dependency manifest through the lower dependency ratio is positively related to higher unemployment. Pramanik found on the distribution of households based on the dependency ratio and cities seem to suggest that the relatively higher percentages of households (68. 8) from LDS are associated with higher dependency as emerged through the lower coefficients of DR (0. ) as opposed to a lower percentage of households from MDS (53. 3) experiencing lower dependency ratio. Human capital is considered as the most fundamental asset. The presence of economic opportunities created by the growth, an individual with one additional year of education acquires more ability to compete and derive benefits from the market. As for as the illiterac y, the author suggests that the percentage of households having no education in much higher for the three Least Developed States( LDS) as compare to the More Developed States (MDS). If the education level exceeding 6 years but less than 12 year are considered as a measure of better educational standard, the highest percentage of household members (72. 7) come from 3 MDS followed by the lowest (57) from the two LDS. The better quality of life achievable through higher level of education has convinced the younger generation regardless of race or geographical distribution of population to pursue education by all possible means. So that government spends money for education, skills and training. Dr. Muhammad Yunus claims that access to credit should be treated as a part of human rights. The access to credit empowers the poor households to make use of their survival skills thus unleashing their productive potentials. Every human being is imparted with some sorts of surviving skills by the Almighty –the creator. Dr. Yunus has proven that an access to small credit can significantly help the asset less poor to unleash their hidden potentials to earn more and combat poverty. The poor have nobody to talk to and no place to go. Sometimes, they have no work to do and no food to eat and finally none to depend on. They are always by-passed and looked down upon (Narayan, 2000). The poor are not even trusted because of lack of social status. Of the three races the Chinese seem to be more satisfied with their neighbors (69 percent as very helpful) followed by the Indians (46 percent) and Malays take a middle position (64 percent). The criteria of social capital there appear to be a positive relationship between the lower Mean Monthly Household Income (MMHY) of the Indians and the lower level of trustworthiness as a proxy for very helpful neighbors. The relationship between trustworthiness and success in trade seems quite obvious among the Chinese compared to the Malays and the Indians. There are lots of arguments regarding poverty. â€Å"We are so rich, because they are so poor† (Landes, 1998). It means the existence of poor is essential for survival for rich. Yunus believes that the poverty is created by the system (Yunus with Jolis, 1998). The poor in any society are best known for their simplicity, altruism, moderation, complacency, peaceful coexistence, moral, conservative as well as traditional values. The presence of high morality and the future uncertainty, the poverty stricken parents never consider additional babies as a liability. For the poor, children are always considered as assets and blessing of God because they are the ones the poor parents can really depend on in their old age. Old –age pension or insurance for all are hardly found in the developing world, traditional babies are always treated as insurance for the old age. The author found that in general, the respondents from low income urban households give higher priority to good values like the spirit of tolerance reflected through ability to respect other races or religion, ability to maintain one’s own culture, ability to live like a good human being, having good moral standard. The findings clearly suggest that they show least preference for blindly imitating the life style of the better-off. So, the poor who are known for their simple and moderate life are not the victim of the demonstration effects. Concentration of power, lack of transparency and good governance among many others, interact to perpetual corruption in less developed countries (Pramanik, 2003 2007). In last chapter in his book (pp. 97-106), the author summarizes his findings and gives policy suggestions. Firstly, poverty is gender based. As far as poor, inclusive of hardcore and overall poor are concerned the female headed households far outweigh the male headed households. Secondly, there is an inverse relationship between family size and incidence of poverty. Thirdly, higher dependency measured by lower dependency ratio seems to be positively related to the incidence of poverty across the regions. Fourth, the access to human capital in terms of level of education emerges as one of the most important determinants of poverty. Fifth, the access to financial capital in the form of loan made seems to be a good determinant of household income regardless of regional or racial consideration. Finally, based on the perception of the urban poor about development, Pramanik findings suggest that, the human capital such as easy access to education, social overhead capital encompassing good roads, good and owned house, water and electricity deserve the highest priority. The author gives some policy suggestions relevant to the policy-makers, planners and administrators. First, in line with three major strategies such as, enhancing the nation’s competitiveness, strengthening human capital development and ensuring the well-being of all Malaysians within the contexts of elaborate policy strategies under ninth Malaysian plan, that will be to help the primary and secondary level students from broken families, unemployed parents, low income households living in crammed and unhealthy housing conditions. Second, the plan to establish different growth corridors covering the less and the least developed states. Four, having the good record of NGOs in eradicating poverty and enhancing social-economic well-being of the target groups, the existing public level institutions may gradually encourage the NGOs/welfare organization/civil societies supported either publicly or privately to shoulder responsibility in overcoming poverty. Finally, efforts can be made to raise the status of Aim as a full-pledge bank for the poor as like Grameen bank of Bangladesh to deal with poverty eradication. In conclusion it can be said that the author, Pramanik expounded very well regarding the poverty of Malaysia. The urban poverty is indistinguishably linked to rural poverty. In fact, the former is caused by the latter. The Pull and Push factors can significantly explain the prevailing dismal conditions associated with urban poverty. Based on the details findings on the multi-dimensional aspects of urban poverty, it can be suggested that the development should be taken to the people and not the people to the development which is mostly confined to the urban areas.

Eccentric Artists and Mad Scientists Essay -- Biology Essays Research

Creativity and Irrational Forces: Eccentric Artists and Mad Scientists "Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is glorious--whether all that is profound--does not spring from disease of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night" - Edgar Allen Poe "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein Is creative genius somehow woven together with "madness"? According to the dictionary, "to create" is "to bring into being or form out of nothing." Such a powerful, mysterious, and seemingly impossible act must surely be beyond the scope of scientific inquiry. No wonder creativity has for so long been "explained" as the expression of an irrational, intuitive psychic "underground" teaming with forces (perhaps divine) that are unknown and unknowable (at least to the "sane," rational mind). The ancient Greeks believed creative inspiration was achieved through altered states of mind such as "divine madness." Socrates said: "If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the inspired madman" (8). Creative inspiration - particularly artistic inspiration -- has often been thought to require the sampling of dark "depths" of ir rationality while maintaining at least some connection to everyday reality. This dive into underground forces "reminds one of a skin-diver with a breathing tube" wrote Arthur Koestler in his influential book... ...ay.html 15) Divergent thinking - J.P. Guilford , Guilford 's divergent production operation identifies a number of different types of creative abilities. http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/CRTVYW99/Guilford.htm 16) The Gift of Saturn: Creativity and Psychopathology -- Antonio Preti , Antonio Preti, MD; Paola Miotto, MD CMG, Psychiatry branch via Costantinopoli 42, 09129 Cagliari, Italy http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/serendipia/Serendipia-Preti.html 17) Circadian Rhythms Factor in Rapid- Cycling Bipolar Disorder by Ellen Leibenluft , M.D. Psychiatric Times May 1996 Vol. XIII Issue 5 http://www.mhsource.com/edu/psytimes/p960533.jhtml?_requestid=612579 18) Creativity and unpredictability -- Margaret Boden , http://shr.stanford.edu/shreview/4-2/text/boden.html 19) Famous Quotes - Einstein , http://stripe.colorado.edu/~judy/einstein/famous.html

Finance Project

Note: Below are some of the topics of projects for example only. You may visit the organization and the guide (Manager from the particular Organization may suggest you some suitable topic related to the Organization) Suggested topics are Projects topics for MBA but are not limited to: Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Project Topics PROJECT TOPICS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT A study of performance appraisal / performance management system in XYZ organization Assessment of role stress amongst the employees of XYZ organization Job satisfaction survey at XYZ organization Competency mapping in an organization Training effectiveness in an organization Study of organizational culture OCTAPACE profile. Motivational analysis of organization A comparative study of team effectives in an organization: Team effectiveness assessment measure. A study of Compensation Management System A detailed study of promotion and reward policy of organization A study of quality of work life in an organization. Mapping training need of employees: Training Need Analysis PROJECT TOPICS RELATED TO MARKETING Formulation of Marketing Strategies to Improve Market Share of LG Microwave Ovens Improving the Effectiveness & Efficiency of Operations at Cox & Kings India Ltd. Demand Forecasting for Orion-ERP Package for ICICI Infotech in Bangalore, based on Small & Medium Enterprises. Developing a Service Delivery Model to bridge the gap between services expected & provided by ICICI Home Loans. Strategies for Increasing the Occupancy Rate of the Taj West End Hotel, Bangalore A Market Feasibility Study for New X-ray Machines from Wipro-GE Medical Systems Distribution Mapping & Dealer Satisfaction Survey for Nokia Mobile Phones. A Study of Marketing Strategies & Distribution Channels in North Karnataka for Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd. A Study to improve Awareness level of Triraksha Welfare Scheme among farmers for Tractors & Farm Equipment Ltd A Study to increase Penetration Level & Brand Loyalty among existing consumers of Samsung India Electronics Ltd. 3 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 PROJECTS TOPICS RELATED TO FINANCE The study on Indian Financial System post liberalization The impact of Global recession on Information Technology sector in India The impact of recent global economic slump on Indian capital market A comparative study of bancassurance products in banks A Compara tive study of Equity linked Savings Schemes floated by domestic Mutual fund players. A Comparative Study of cost of capital in Automobile /Steel/Pharma/Finance industry A comparative study of Finance performance of banks using various ratios. Profitability and Operational Efficiency of Public Sector banks Profitability and Operational Efficiency of banks in India A study of working capital management in small scale industries The scope of Microfinance in Indian context. Financial Inclusion- The scope and effect in Indian economy Rural banking in India Dematerialization – The scope and effect. The future of Investment banks in the post Lehman Brothers era PROJECTS TOPICS RELATED TO INFORMATION SYSTEMS Role of software agents as a collaborative tool-Ecommerce Hospital Management System-Database Approach, Mangala hospital, Hassan Automation of Banking database, XYZ Bank. Automation of Customer Relation Database, A SAP Product A study on Electronic data storage- Steel factory, Mumbai A webpage design using JAVA-Google page Projects topics for MBA – Project Management Application of Project Management Processes to the Global Product Development System TRIZ applied in Product Development Project Prioritization. Project Cost Estimation Virtual Project Management Continuous Business Process Improvement (CBPI) Force Field Analysis Information Risk Management SEI – CMM & ISO Certification Recent Revolutions in Project Management Modern Trends in Project Management Perception Knowledge Management in Project Management Project Management Application Softwares Project Risk Management Project Administration Project Feasibility Studies Importance of Human Resource Management in Project Management. Projects topics for MBA – Operations Management Concepts and Techniques related to materials management 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Computer and Quantitative models used in formulating managerial problems. Concepts and Techniques of Value Analysis to effectively control costs. Deterministic and Stochastic inventory models. Just In Time Production. Logistics Management. Project Scheduling. Manufacturing strategy. Site and Location Analysis. Application of Quantitative Analysis and Computers for managerial decision making in operations problems. A study on tools and techniques (e. g. , CPM and PERT) developed to aid the planning, scheduling, and control of projects. Quality issues related to enhancing customer satisfaction (both internal and external) to ensure long-term customer loyalty. Ethical Issues in Operations Management Studies and conclusions of McGregor, Maslow, Herzburg, Likert, Aggyris, and Blake on Operations Management Behavioral Science. The use of material and supply chain management in manufacturing and service organizations to reduce inventory levels while providing adequate service to customers. Problems encountered in planning, operating, and controlling production of goods and services Tools in project management A study on the methods of planning, organizing, and controlling maintenance. A study on Production and inventory control, procurement, distribution, and their interrelationships. A study on Total Quality Management, human resources, finance and accounting, information systems, and their interrelationships Investigation into computerized production technology Study on Plant layout design depending on type of production system. Flexible Manufacturing Systems Computer Integrated Manufacturing Workforce Management Work study, Method Study and Time Study Modern Trends in Project Management

Legal, Ethical and Operational Issues

P5 Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information Definition: Ethics concern an individual's moral judgments about right and wrong. Explanation: Business information belongs to the business owner and any kind of use of the business related information should be used as per the company policy. There are legal consequences in breaking the rules (code of conduct ; code of practice). Staff member needs to use his/her ethical judgement to decide what is right or wrong.Scenario – Update of Staff Handbook on ethical and legal issues in relation to the use of business information. Illegal, inappropriate or unacceptable use of school equipment or communication systems may result in disciplinary action and in serious cases could lead to an employee's dismissal. This list is not exhaustive and includes; ? creating, sending or forwarding any message that would reasonably be considered inappropriate or unacceptable. (E. g. anything non related to school ) ? Committing or implying commitment to any contractual arrangements ?Accessing, publication or circulation of illegal, offensive, unacceptable, inappropriate or non-work related material ? Any illegal activities ? posting confidential information about the school and/or other employees, children or parents ? gambling or gaming ? unauthorised use of school facilities (or employee's personal IT equipment), for personal use during employee's working time Employees receiving inappropriate communication or material or who are unsure about whether something he/she proposes to do might breach this policy should seek advice from their Head teacher.The school has the right to monitor e-mails, phone-calls, internet activity or document production, principally in order to avoid offensive or nuisance material and to protect systems from viruses, but also to ensure proper and effective use of systems. Communication systems may be accessed when the school suspects that the employee has been mis using systems or facilities, or for the investigation of suspected fraud or other irregularity. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES 12. Social networking websites. School employees must not access social networking websites for personal use (e. . Facebook) during work time. Access to some journals, blogs and social networking sites is permitted during work time for the purposes of undertaking job related duties only. School employees must act in the best interests of the school and not disclose personal data or information about any individual including staff, young people or children. This includes images. Access may be withdrawn and disciplinary action taken if there is a breach of confidentiality or defamatory remarks are made about the school, staff, young people or children. The school respects an employee's private life.However, it must also ensure that confidentiality and its reputation are protected. Employees using social networking websites in their private life; 1. Must refrain from identifying themselves as working for the school, in a way which has, or may have, the effect of bringing the school into disrepute. 2. Must not identify other school employees, children or young people without their consent. 3. Must not make any defamatory remarks about the school, it's employees, children or young people, or conduct themselves in a way that is detrimental to the school. . Disclose personal data or information about the school, employees, children or young people, that could breach the Data Protection Act 1998, for example, posting photographs or images of children or young people. 5. Must not allow pupils to access their personal social networking accounts and where they are contacted by a pupil they should bring it to the Head teacher’s attention. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES 13. Personal Websites and BlogsEmployees who wish to set up personal web forums, weblogs or ‘blogs' must do so outside of work, not school equipment and adh ere to the points detailed in the paragraph above. 14. Confidentiality All employees at the school and the Governing Body come into contact with a significant volume of data and information in relation to pupils, staff, school activities and many other matters. There is an obligation to read and to observe the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. 14. 1 Required reading:  · Data Protection Guide – available on intranet. 14. 2 Managing dataUnder the Data Protection Act, staff are required to collect, maintain and dispose of sensitive or personal data in a responsible manner. 14. 3 Disclosing data Staff should not disclose sensitive information about the school, its employees or the local authority to other parties, for example, parents or colleagues. There are particular exceptions to this; for example disclosure of suspected or alleged abuse of a pupil to Child Protection officers; discussion with a person accompanying or representing an employee in a formal meeting or disclosure under the Whistleblowing Procedure.All communication with the media must be directed through the Head teacher or their nominee. There are circumstances in which staff are obliged to release pupil data, for example, parents seeking information about pupil progress or other colleagues in the school. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES 14. 4 Access to data Everyone has the right to request access to data that is held about them and such requests should be made to the Head teacher who will address the request in conjunction with the Local Authority’s Data Protection Officer. 15.Copyright Copyright legislation should be displayed next to photocopier machines and employees are required to adhere to the guidance provided about use of educational resources. P6 Operational Issues in relation to the use of Business information. Operational issues are how to keep your business information safe and secure. It involves legal support to protect the rights of the business to keep its information safe and prevent misuse. Below are the different types of laws that protect the use of Business information. Data Protection Act –Computer Misuse Act Freedom of Information Act Copyright Act The need for the Data Protection Act This was introduced to regulate personal data. Databases are easily accessed, searched and edited. It’s also far easier to cross reference information stored in two or more databases than if the records were paper-based. The computers on which databases resided were often networked. This allowed for organization-wide access to databases and offered an easy way to share information with other organizations. Computer Misuse ActData stored electronically is easier to misuse; that software should not be copied without permission; the consequences of software piracy; that hacking can lead to corruption of data, either accidentally or on purpose. Types of computer misuse Misuse of computers and communications systems comes in sev eral forms: Hacking Hacking is where an unauthorised person uses a network, Internet or modem connection to gain access past security passwords or other security to see data stored on another computer. Hackers sometimes use software hacking tools and often target, for example, particular sites on the Internet.Data misuse and unauthorised transfer or copying Copying and illegal transfer of data is very quick and easy using online computers and large storage devices such as hard disks, memory sticks and DVDs. Personal data, company research and written work, such as novels and textbooks, cannot be copied without the copyright holder's permission. Copying and distributing copyrighted software, music and film This includes copying music and movies with computer equipment and distributing it on the Internet without the copyright holder's permission.This is a widespread misuse of both computers and the Internet that breaks copyright regulations. Identity and financial abuses This topic in cludes misuse of stolen or fictional credit card numbers to obtain goods or services on the Internet, and use of computers in financial frauds. These can range from complex well thought out deceptions to simple uses such as printing counterfeit money with colour printers. Viruses Viruses are relatively simple programs written by people and designed to cause nuisance or damage to computers or their files. The Computer Misuse Act (1990)This was passed by Parliament and made three new offences: Accessing computer material without permission, eg looking at someone else's files Accessing computer material without permission with intent to commit further criminal offences, eg hacking into the bank's computer and wanting to increase the amount in your account Altering computer data without permission, eg writing a virus to destroy someone else's data, or actually changing the money in an account Copyright law This provides protection to the owners of the copyright and covers the copying of written, musical, or film works using computers.FAST is the industry body which is against software theft. There have been cases where laws such as Copyright have been used to crack down on file sharing websites or individuals who store and illegally distribute copyrighted material, e. g. music. There is a massive problem with many people around the world obtaining copyrighted material illegally. M2 Analyze the legal, ethical and operational issues in relation to the use of business information, using appropriate examples. Ethical, Legal and Operational issues in relation to the use of business information Advantages of Ethical, Legal and Operational issuesEthical, Legal and Operational issues in relation to the use of business information in the market place and workplace are becoming increasingly important as organizations move into a period of intense competition for public and consumer support. Therefore, there is a requirement to protect the business information which comes un der operational issues. The business information is protected with the legal laws Organizations are under pressure to develop and maintain policies on business ethics and social responsibility to ensure that they have the support of employees and other stakeholders. Legal Ethical ; Operational) Code of Conduct The how that determines our actions Deutsche Post DHL has devised a code of conduct that has applied to all regions and divisions since the middle of 2006. This code of conduct serves as an â€Å"ethical compass†, providing guidelines for use by about 470,000 employees in their business lives every day. The key pillars of this code of conduct are respect, tolerance, honesty and candor as well as willingness to assume social responsibility.The guidelines apply to all employees, irrespective of their place in the Group's hierarchy, and to divisions. The code of conduct is based on international agreements and guidelines, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Global Compact of the United Nations. Fundamental principles are observance of human rights, equal opportunity, transparency, and clear stands in the battle against discrimination, bribery and corruption. What is Correct Conduct?Deutsche Post DHL deals with a variety of people and organizations who are our stakeholders. Our image as a company depends on how employees conduct themselves in the business world. There is no substitute for personal integrity and sound judgment. When faced with a difficult situation, our employees should consider these questions: 1. Is my action or decision legal? 2. Does it comply with our values and our policies? 3. Is it right and free of any personal conflicts of interest? 4. Could my action or decision withstand public review? What would it look like in a newspaper? 5.Will my action or decision protect the Group's reputation as a company with high ethical standards? If the answe r to each question is â€Å"yes†, the action or decision based on the following principles of conduct is most likely the correct one. Our Ethical Commitment Quality Focus Our commitment to quality is core to our business. In order to achieve the highest quality standards, we will work constantly to improve our structures and processes for the benefit of our customers. This applies to our products, services and management, but also to our behavior. Customer SatisfactionWe place the highest priority on making our customers successful, knowing that customer success guarantees our own success. Our activities are governed by our knowledge of the global and local requirements of our customers and markets. We include and prioritize the customer focus in all our business processes, projects and dealings. We know that we will be measured by our ethical, social and environmental performance as much as by the quality of our service. We therefore strive for best practice in all these are as to secure customer trust. Laws and Ethical StandardsGuided by our Corporate Values, we strive for sustainable development of our business founded on the three pillars: economic performance, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. We will honor the diverse interests of our customers, employees and business partners with integrity, fairness and honesty. We strive for excellence in both our business performance and our ethical behavior. Deutsche Post DHL complies with laws applicable to its business in all regions and countries. We recognize that laws vary with respect to ethical standards within and across the countries in which we work.This may pose particular challenges and dilemmas, which we strive to overcome by adherence to our Corporate Values. Deutsche Post DHL will be guided by the principles of the United Nations' Global Compact. We respect human rights within our sphere of influence and conduct our business in a manner that makes us an employer of choice. We respect the principles of the 1998 International Labor Organization's â€Å"Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work† in accordance with national law and practice. Transparency We are committed to openness in our dealings with our stakeholders.Transparency and honesty shall be the guiding principles in all our communication activities, internally and externally. The public will have access to information concerning our company, in line with what is required or recommended by internationally recognized standards of corporate governance. Accounting and Reporting Standards Deutsche Post DHL relies on the authenticity and accuracy of information recorded in its accounting records for proper decision making. It is of the utmost importance that records dealing with security and personnel, as well as booking and financial data are protected.All business transactions must be reflected accurately in our accounts in accordance with established procedures and auditing st andards. Accounting records will reflect and describe the nature of the underlying transactions. Money Laundering Deutsche Post DHL complies strictly with laws and regulations designed to combat money laundering activity. This includes those rules and regulations requiring reporting of currency transactions with blocked persons. Our Standard of Working Together Individual Responsibility and Involvement The skills and the commitment of our people are our greatest asset.We expect our employees to conduct their business in an entrepreneurial way and accept their individual responsibility. We strive to involve our colleagues in our projects and decision-making processes in order to achieve our common goals with reliability and commitment. Mutual Respect and Openness All relations between directors, managers and employees of all levels, units and regions shall be guided by mutual respect, openness, honesty and the spirit of trust and cooperation. We give and look for feedback and we comm unicate actively and openly with each other. We are committed to a fair and open debate and seek varying opinions.We motivate our colleagues to speak up promptly and to express their ideas and concerns. Team spirit is triggered by open-mindedness. We therefore support an open door policy and initiatives to share and exchange knowledge. Diversity and Discrimination We see employee diversity as a guiding principle in our employment policy. This means promoting the diversity and heterogeneity of the individuals in the company in order to attain the highest possible productivity, creativity and efficiency. Skills, performance and ethical conduct shall be our only indicators for employee qualification.We will not discriminate or tolerate discrimination with respect to gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin or any other characteristic protected under law. Each employee is required to contribute to an environment of respect that precludes any kind of h arassment, including workplace bullying, unwelcome sexual advances, unwanted physical contact, propositions or a working environment poisoned with harassing jokes, words and demeaning comments. Health Management Our employees deserve to work in a safe and healthy environment.We are therefore committed to the workplace health and safety regulations expressed in our health and safety policies. We strive to foster the physical and psychological â€Å"well being† of our employees. Our goals are both fewer illnesses and a lower accident rate. We promote health care as a key element of our sustained productivity and the quality of our services. Our health and safety policies, active in all locations throughout the world, include a ban of illegal drugs in the workplace. We prohibit any kind of violence and assault at the workplace, including threatening and intimidating behavior. Company PropertyThe use of company property, including labor, supplies, equipment, buildings or other as sets for personal benefit is prohibited where not explicitly allowed by agreement. Each employee has a responsibility to safeguard and make proper use of Deutsche Post DHL property. Intellectual property is a valuable asset and must be protected from unauthorized use or disclosure. Such property includes trade secrets, confidential information, copyrights, trademarks, logos, but also customer lists, business opportunities and product specifications, whether owned by Deutsche Post DHL-affiliated companies or business partners.Legal Proceedings Employees must avoid activities that could involve or lead to involvement of Deutsche Post DHL or its personnel in any unlawful practice, including the employment of our personnel or use of company assets for illegal gain. Lawsuits, legal proceedings and investigations concerning Deutsche Post DHL must be handled quickly and properly in order to protect and defend the company. Employees who are threatened by a lawsuit or other legal proceedings or investigation in a business-related matter are required to contact their Deutsche Post DHL Legal Department immediately.Insider Information Any person with inside information is prohibited by law to buy or sell Deutsche Post DHL stock by using this information. Employees are at risk of civil and criminal penalties should they disclose nonpublic information that an investor could use to buy or sell securities. Trading with such information is illegal whether employees trade for their own benefit or others trade for them. Our Business Integrity Shareholders' Trust We recognize the necessity of sound and transparent corporate management to maintain the trust of our shareholders and investors. We are committed to ncreasing shareholder value. Business Partner Dialogue We are committed to dialogue and partnership with our business partners in many communities throughout the world. We share principles of ethical behavior, social engagement and respect for the environment with our suppl iers, subcontractors, agents and consultants. We will communicate our principles to our business partners and motivate them to adhere to the same standards we do. Conflicts of Interest We require all directors, officers and employees to maintain high ethical standards in handling conflicts of interest.They should disclose any relationship with persons or firms with whom we do business (‘Business Partners'), which might give rise to a conflict of interest, to a supervisor. Such relations include in particular a relationship by blood or marriage, partnership, participation or an investment in Business Partners. Fair Competition We are committed to free enterprise and fair competition. Company business must be conducted solely on the basis of merit and open competition. We will hire suppliers, agents or their intermediaries only by fair assessment.We are legally bound to make business decisions in the best interests of the company, independent of any understanding or greement wit h a competitor. As a result, the company and its employees will avoid any conduct that violates or might appear to violate antitrust laws. Bribery and Corruption We trust that the excellence of our services is the key to our business success. Therefore we will deal with all our customers, suppliers and government agencies in a straightforward manner and in compliance with international anti-bribery standards as stated in the Global Compact and local anti-corruption and bribery laws.This includes any transaction that might appear to be arranged for granting concessions or benefits. Gifts and Benefits Employees should not solicit services, gifts, or benefits from customers or suppliers that influence or appear to influence the employee's conduct in representing the company. Gifts and entertainment may be exchanged at a level that does not exceed customary local courtesies extended in accordance with ethical business practices and applicable law.In case of doubt, employees should consu lt with their supervisor or the HR department. Business Secrecy, Data Protection/Privacy Our employees shall not disclose information that is not known to the general public for personal gain or the benefit of anyone other than the company. Such information includes technical data, financial data, operating data, customer information, memoranda and other information regarding the company's business and operational activities and future plans.Employees will adhere to relevant laws and company regulations with respect to personal data, such as data protection guidelines and policies, e. g. DPDHL Privacy Policy for international data transfers. Processing of personal data of natural or where applicable legal persons must be based on legitimate grounds in line with the applicable laws. Our Social Responsibility Communities We are committed to supporting the communities in which we work and recognize the need to contribute to their well-being with our know-how and professional skills.Res pect for and understanding of the different cultures and a sensitive manner of dealing with their key issues is of highest importance to us as it builds trust and credibility within our international environment. We have and will continue to support community development as a sponsor in partnerships with non-government organizations and charities in accordance with our community investment policy. We recognize that we are measured by our actions outside the workplace and therefore call on our employees to respect the local culture and understand the issues of communities where they work.Environment We acknowledge the impact of our business activities on the environment and are committed to improving our environmental track record through precautionary measures and the use of environment-friendly technology. We regularly assess and monitor our impact on the environment. By systematically identifying and leveraging potential ecological initiatives, we strive to support constant improv ement of our environmental performance and the increase of efficiency in our resources. This includes environmental audits and risk management.We want to measure our processes and services against the highest quality standards. National and international environmental standards – such as the ISO 14000 standard series – shall be our guiding principles. As a corporate group, we advocate and support the dissemination of environmentally and socially exacting standards throughout the world. We consider our employees' commitment and active involvement to be an important platform for our efforts and a significant source of innovation.Related Policies and Regulations, Local Codes The Code of Conduct sets the principles for all policies and regulations of Deutsche Post DHL. Local or business-related policies will provide more specific guidance. Divisions, business units, regional entities and companies of Deutsche Post DHL may adopt their own local codes, incorporating the subs tance of the Deutsche Post DHL Code of Conduct but modified to reflect requirements of local laws and regulations or the social customs and characteristics of their business operations.Such local codes may include additional, specific standards. However, in no event will any term contradict or be more lenient than this Deutsche Post DHL Code of Conduct. All local codes shall be reviewed and approved by the Global Compliance Office. Please note the latest versions of the following regulations that complement the Code of Conduct: the anti-corruption and business ethics policy and the competition compliance policy.