Monetary Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Monetary Policy - Essay Example A stock has no maturity date; the investor owns a portion of the business. Financial institutions move money from those with excess to those with shortage through financial instruments. Supply, investors, and demand, entrepreneurs, dictate the terms and conditions of the trades facilitated by the financial institution. Commercial banks, savings banks, formerly savings and loans, thrift institutions, securities traders and investment bankers, finance companies, mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds all serve as financial institutions, but with differing regulations (Saunders and Cornett, 2007). The History and Current Role of the Federal Reserve System Mayer (2001) defines a central bank as a bank of issue, meaning it creates currency to represent wealth. Many American patriots like Tom Payne and Tom Jefferson thought only state chartered private banks should issue bank notes because governments that can pay bills by printing money generally did so. Money is a commodity, just like bread, eggs and butter. If the supply of money increases without value to back it up, inflation occurs and all prices rise (56). A central bank is a lender of last resort. When all banks clear their transactions through a central bank, the central bank smoothes volatility problems through loans. All banks remain solvent by leaving reserves at the central bank, and then the bank lends money to create more reserves. (57) The central bank regulates financial institutions. (79) In 1791, Alexander Hamilton convinced President George Washington to implement a central bank over the protests of Jefferson and Madison. By 1811, Madison became President and did not renew the charter. The end of the... Mayer (2001) defines a central bank as a bank of issue, meaning it creates currency to represent wealth. Many American patriots like Tom Payne and Tom Jefferson thought the only state chartered private banks should issue bank notes because governments that can pay bills by printing money generally did so. Money is a commodity, just like bread, eggs, and butter. A central bank is a lender of last resort. When all banks clear their transactions through a central bank, the central bank smoothes volatility problems through loans. All banks remain solvent by leaving reserves at the central bank, and then the bank lends money to create more reserves. The central bank regulates financial institutions. (79) In 1791, Alexander Hamilton convinced President George Washington to implement a central bank over the protests of Jefferson and Madison. By 1811, Madison became President and did not renew the charter. The end of the Civil War brought in a new central bank which, too, lasted about 20 yea rs. World War I, 1913, brought the Federal Reserve Act to form a compromised central bank with 12 regional banks. This compromise did not regulate disputes among the banks or with Washington, D.C. (Wells, 2004). As long as the gold standard was in place, the 12 banks could not print more money than was reserved. Friedman states (1994, p.250) â€Å"The 1974 removal of the prohibition against private ownership of gold in the United States was, somewhat paradoxically, a tribute to the end of gold’s monetary role†.

Employee Reward and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employee Reward and Development - Essay Example (Armstrong, 2004) According to CIPD, the following are the characteristics of a total reward system : 1. Holistic 2. Best fit 3. Integrative 4. Strategic 5. People-centred 6. Customisation 7. Evolutionary 8. Distinctive. The concept of total reward is fairly recent. The traditional â€Å"Salary administration† approach of the 1960s and the 1970s focused on the competitive attributes of the employees rather than as a strategic/ tactical tool. This approach gave way to the â€Å"Reward Management† line of thought wherein the emphasis was on all employees contributing to the success of the organization. This was a more dynamic approach which brought in non-financial rewards in the form of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, into the ambit of compensation of an employee. The â€Å"New Pay† model (Lawler, 1990) factored in the challenges of a competitive global economy and recommended that employees be paid for the value they bring to the organization. The popular mod els of total reward (Armstrong, 2004) are – Engaged performance model, WorldAtWork, Wyatt model, Towers Perrin model and Armstrong model. Of these, the Towers Perrin model reiterates, almost entirely, the Brown model of total reward. The Brown model (Brown, 2001), depicted above, deals with four elements of compensation – Pay, Benefits, Learning & Development and Work environment. A comprehensive model dealing with both the financial and non-financial components of pay. A good compensation approach to attract, motivate and retain the employee. Addresses the short-term as well as long term needs of employees. Pay component looks at base pay as well as variable pay whereby the employee is assured of a minimum income every month. Performance of the employee as an individual as well as a group is considered. Employee gets a part of profits of the company. This combined with the availability of the shares of the organization brings about a strong sense of ownership. Benefit s which are both individual and family based enables the employee achieve work-life balance. The Pension component assures an independent life style for the individual even after retirement. Learning and Development provides opportunities to develop and grow in the workplace so that the overall productivity is enhanced. Continuous learning takes place and the organization can move toward becoming a Learning organization and develop core competencies and competitive advantages in the market place. Career development helps become aware of the career progress and this helps to plan one’s life in the short term as well as the long term. Succession planning helps bring out the managerial and leadership skills in the individual for mutual benefit of the individual and the organization. Another highlight of this model is the work environment component. Organisational culture and non-financial recognition are highly effective motivation tools. Human dignity is fostered through work-l ife balance. Communication channels, especially grapevine, can be utilized to create a rich organizational climate. From the above, it is clear that Total Reward can be used as a corporate strategy to attract, motivate and retain employees in an organization and derive tremendous advantages over competition in a globalised and highly competitive

Planning and Implementation of Information Technology in Civilian and Essay

Planning and Implementation of Information Technology in Civilian and Military Organizations - Essay Example In fact, at the present there is very complex and dangerous environment for security and privacy. In this scenario, there is critical need for applying more appropriate security and privacy management technology based solutions. However, for implementation of such solutions there is need for effective planning and management of overall development. These days extremely complex national security situation is taking the Forces toward new, frequently non-traditional military missions, anti-terrorism actions, regional threats, homeland defense and counter-drug operations those are among a lot of disputes we face every day. In this critical situation, a powerful and flexible force is a necessary element of every national security plan. In addition, in order to convene nation's worldwide commitments in this demanding 21st Century setting, all types of the national Forces have be an expeditionary force (Price, 2011; Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005). As discussed above there are cr itical changes happening in the worldwide environment, as a result there is need for much better and effective planning and management of new technology based solutions in order to deal with such kinds of operation and situation. In this scenario there is need for managing security and privacy of information transfers and data movements. These all processes need to be well planned and managed in order to better manage the national security and privacy (i.e. military operations and systems). On the other hand, in the business world, smart and successful businesses are those that are successful and quick enough in making effective use of information technology with co-evolution in unified limits similar to, social and economic transformations, technological progresses, and changes in ideas of processes, association procedure, authority and management techniques, training and education of people. Thus, these business corporations attain control over their ecosystems by establishing and making use of latest information technologies (Martzoukos & Haramis, 2009; Hughes & Cotterell, 2005). However, in both cases in business and national security or military point of view the security and privacy management of overall situation is the basic need of each entity. The business and military both need effective security and privacy that can be attained through the effective implementation of technology based solutions. In other words, this can be done through the application of new and innovative technology solution and it needs effective planning and management guidelines. Thus, with effective planning we can be able to get a better solution that will offer us an opportunity to effectively manage the business and national security (military operations). These solutions will offer the forces more power to fight against the national issues and problems. On the other hand, businesses will be able to deal with hacking and virus related issues (Martzoukos & Haramis, 2009; Hugh es & Cotterell, 2005). In this scenario, we can say that we completely agree with the statement that application of effective planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations require essentially similar

Density of regular solids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Density of regular solids - Essay Example An analysis of the lab results shows that it fulfilled its purpose; it presents the densities of the materials obtained using different procedures. The objectives of this lab were, therefore, met, since, everything happened as expected. The  main  source  of  error  in the  experiment  is the  taking  of  measurements. The  error  due  to  direct  measurement  is  less  than that  due  to the  displacement  method; the values are 2.619 and 18.2  percent  respectively. The  difference  between the two is  so  big  that it  brings doubt into  the  suitability  of the  displacement  method  in  calculating  density. There is a  difference  between the  results  obtained  in this  experiment  and the  expected  results. For  instance, the  lab  results  denote  a  density  of 1.0408 g/cm3 for  water, while the  expected  density  under the  conditions  under which the  lab  was  conducted  is 0.991724 g/cm3. The  difference  might  have  come  about  due  to temperature and pressure changes in the lab. It might also have been caused by human error, especially during calibration and measurement. The lab exercise was successful; the density of the various compounds was established. I learnt the importance of taking precise and accurate measurements while doing experiments. The results of the experiment are entirely dependent on the procedure and accuracy of the measurements taken. I am, however, curious to find out how room temperature affects the density of a material. I hope to establish the facts about this issue in subsequent classes and, perhaps, lab

Technology and civil security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology and civil security - Essay Example to employ and train technological staff with an aim of developing counter technologies that will effectively prevent terrorist attacks, mitigate natural hazards, protect critical infrastructure, improve all-hazards preparedness, support disaster response, continuity and recovery. As such, we can devise ways that will hinder the use of technology in terrorism, mass destruction, and disruption. Actually, there are many demonstrations on the impact of technology on warfare and security. Most assuredly, the unavoidable diffusion of technology has led to the possibility of using technology in irresponsible manner that propagates terrorism and jeopardizes civil security (Mallik, 2012). Security is becoming an increasingly important facet of global society. However, many technological aspects enable the protection of citizens and state from organized crime, natural calamities, and terrorism (European Nanotechnology Gateway, 2007). Nevertheless, there are various concepts of technology that enable crime, security, and policing (McQuade, 2011). As seen herein, the effects of technology on civil security are diverse. Indeed, criminals use technology to access secret government files, launch viral attacks to secret systems, create advanced missiles, and launch missile attacks, and counteracting security and policing procedures. As such, the use of technology by the criminals has le d to complex criminal activities, unmanageable security threats to the society. On the other hand, the federal government adopts a security theme that seeks to develop technologies that will build significant potential to guarantee the security of citizens from terrorism and other forms of crime. Moreover, there is an objective to incorporate technology in European security for purposes of promoting civil security, reducing security gaps, and improving the competitiveness of the European security industry (European Commission, 2012). Ideally, we can devise technological measures geared towards

Industry analysis & competitor analysis Essay Example for Free

Industry analysis competitor analysis Essay At present, the U. S. market is dominated by several major companies marketing weight loss products, such as NutriSystem, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. All of these companies sell pre-packaged diet food and offer additional services, such as weigh loss advice and counseling. NutriSystem specializes in comprehensive monthly food packages with a 28-day supply of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts. Its primary markets are the United States and Canada. A peculiar feature of NutriSystem is that the company does not distribute its products to the retail network but relies on direct sales instead: it sells its products through the Internet, telephone, and QVC, a television shopping network (Yahoo! Finance 2010). Jenny Craig mainly operates in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico and offers a range of entrees and snacks together with support in counseling at Jenny Craig Centers, over the phone, and online (Jenny Craig 2010). In 2006, it was acquired by Nestle, the largest food and drink company in the world. It also sells most of its product through direct sales. Weight Watchers is a global company that markets a wide variety of foods and snacks as well as online tools for weight loss. Its best known innovation is the point system: every food is assigned value in points, based on its calories, fat and fiber, which helps people to keep track of how what they eat (Weight Watcher 2010). Weight Watchers sells its products though a variety of channels, including retail. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that the segment in which all of the aforementioned companies compete is food and beverage market, the second largest segment of the market for weigh loss products which is projected to overtake the devices, accessories and services segment, the largest at present, by 2014 (MarketsandMarkets 2009). Lifewave belongs to the devices, accessories and services segment; here its direct competitors are Dermathol, Hoodia, Bell Lifestyle Products, The Pink Patch and a number of smaller companies.

Stereotyping Muslim Women in TV and Film

Stereotyping Muslim Women in TV and Film Countless stereotypes and misrepresentation about Arab Muslim women have been dominating the Western media. It all started with the theory of Clash of Civilization that was written by Samuel P. Huntington in 1997. In his theory, Huntington stressed that Islam has visible conflicting vision and action to the Western ideas of liberty and democracy, and that Islam is the main enemy to the West. In other words, Islam and Arabs has different ideologies than the west has. And that the ideologies the west have about democracy and liberty conflict about the Islam understanding of the democracy and liberation. This was the start of the stereotyping of Arabs in general. The problem of stereotyping of Arabs in general has been on the increase since the incident of 9/11. Arabs have been subjected to discrimination and violence since 9/11, a Muslim girl for example that works in a rental car company was simply fired because she was told that she cannot wear her veil, also a hotel employee stated that he was cursed many times and that people called him Taliban and Osama. After September 9/11 attack on the USA, the stereotyping began at its fullest load, that the Islam and Arabs are terrorists, cruel, robbers, heartless, religious fanatics, brutal murderers, and abusers of women. It resulted in the start of o the portrayal of Arab women that they are abused by men, and that they are sex object, belly dancers and gold diggers, and that they have no self esteem, and they are beaten by men and they are only do what men wishes and want without having any opinion about it. Following 9/11, the world started attack Islam and they accused Islam of being a religion of terrorism, however, among those attackers there were many who wanted to know the truth about that religion in order to know whether it is really a religion of terrorism or not. The media exaggerated in reporting the incident of 9/11 which resulted in making a lot of people believe that Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. Also Hollywood is a big part of exaggerating this issue. Cinema Producers and Film Makers keep on making movies that stereotype Arabs as terrorists and killers. They also stereotype them with the five Bs, which are Billionaires, Bombers, Belly dancers, Bedouins, and Barbarians. Jack shaheen in his movie Reel Bad Arabs showed that the western movies are obsessed with portraying of Arab women in their movies, but they portray them from their point of views. They didnt change anything during years of portrayals. Jack Shaheen said that the portray of Arab women mostly as slave girls, a woman wearing a transparent veil that shows her body, and that they are belly dancers and barbarian gold diggers that they are able to do anything in the sake of their well being, Shaheen in his this part about the portray of Arab women as gypsies and gold diggers is right and I agree with him that is mostly the case in western movies that portray Arab women. Moreover, in the Disney movie remake of around the world in 80 days, they represent that Arnold Schwarzenegger an Arab Sheikh, that have more than 100 wives slaves just for sex, which shows that the Arab men are not satisfied by one woman only and they want lot of everything even the wives, and this part also talk about El shariaa that the man has the right to marry 4 wives. Which the West refuses its concept from the first place, but they dont even understand the Law of Islam to talk about this issue or to misrepresent it in this way. But although they portrayed Arab women in different images the gold digger, the sex slave, mischievous, but after the attacks of September 11 the image of terrorists is the dominate image in the mind and the movies of the West. The TV influences the people in a tremendous way; it affects their attitudes and behavior, and affects their minds and believes. The media personnel take advantage of this point that the western people are ignorant about anything that relates to Arabs and they just know them from movies and TV shows, and they mostly are in the image of terrorist so they take of this point and represent Arabs and Arab women without studying them or understanding them and they stereotype them as the way they want the people to think of them. They succeed in this point that most of the Westerns when they come to think about Arabs or Arab women, the first thing that comes to their minds is Arabs being terrorists ,barbarians, cruel, robbers, monsters, beater of women, take women as slaves, women are just for their own pleasure. Everyone knows from western media and western image what image Arab women have in general, images that started by the orientalists about Arab Harim, Arab dancing, Arab women set as objects in the Arab world locked in doors, having no function in public affairs, Muslim women being inferior to men. These are the concepts in western media, in western films and in western cartoons, unfortunately. Most Arabs are submissive to being stereotyped by western media, but for Arab women the problem is particularly sensitive. It seems that the Western media is obsessed by the way a Muslim woman dresses; the veil in particular. Most of the Arab Muslim women are portrayed as fat, shapeless women in their loose dress and ugly veiled shape; they even do them as a caricature in some magazines and programs. In fact, the concept of veiled woman is always perceived in the west as shes having a life, shes always seen as a victim, poor, isolated creature politically, culturally and she is so isolated. According to Gwinn (1997), he said that the veiled woman is always reflected by the western to be the most popular way of representing the problem of Islam. In fact, Longtime ago pre Islam veils were customs among Greeks, Romans and Jews, but when Islam started and the Muslim women took the veils as a way to cover their hair as God said, the West started to identify the veiled women as the Muslim terrorist one. The veil that the Muslim women wear is seen as a symbol of threatening and alien status as mentioned by Posetty (2008) in his article. Images of Islamic dress are increasingly used in the Western media as a symbol of extremism. As a result, Muslims all over Europe and the West in general, are suffering from the consequences of such associations. The main problem as Ahmed (1992) pointed out in his article, has been that the act of veiling among Muslim women is associated with the lack of traditionalism and backwardness that does not fit into the modern society and among Western women. This reflects the theory of Orientalism that was stated by Said 1978, which asserts that the East and its inhabitants are considered backward, barbaric and outsiders to Western society. As mentioned by Edward Said in this Orientalist framework, the Muslim Arab women have always been thought as others; they are always considered as different from the Western women and the Western culture. The Western imaginary, Othered portrayed women as sexual objects, weak, and that they are marginalized in their own society. The Orientalism focused on Arabic, history, and philosophy, but failed to truly convey the lives and feelings of Muslims, their voices remained mute. Muslims, as portrayed in western media, illustrate two Orientalist assumptions that arouse concern and fear in Western societies. The fisrt as mentiond by Posetty (2008), Muslim women are oppressed and in need of liberation and the second is that Muslim men are a violent force that creates a threat to Western society. In an agreement with Mishra (2007), who has been studying the misrepresentation constructed by the Western media about the Muslim Arab women since the 9/11 incident. She has examined the articles published by The New York Times and other newspapers and magazines after the 9/11 incident, particularly, between September 11, 2001 and September 11, 2003. Through her study she found that issues such as rape, torture, and patriarchal oppression were all topics that related to Muslim women in non-Western countries. Additionally, the discussion of women in Islam tends to be centered around the burqu, hijab, or as it is called in the Western societies as the veil. Muslims women living abroad are facing a bigger problem than just a misunderstanding or negative image, unfortunately they are facing a huge discrimination between them and the westernized women. The Arab Muslim immigrant women are facing gender-based media representations as well. As stated by Morin (2009), the immigrant Muslim Arab women are subjected to cultural misconceptions and the recent political conflicts that have spoiled Arab-Western relations. These misconceptions that are created by the Western media make it hard for those women to live abroad without being discriminated and thought as others. In the West, clearly, negative Arab images rooted in history are providing a base for the stereotyping of Arab women in the media. In addition to the misconception about the veil, words such as the circumcision, polygamy, the sharia (Islamic) law, the harem, forced marriages, etc, are just a few issues that are associated with the Arab Muslim women, which resulted in fitting women into the absolute, homogenous oppressed Muslim woman category. News on Muslim women is dominated by the culturalist presentation and interpretation of Islam. In fact, the discrimination of these women, which attracts media attention, tends to be explained almost exclusively according to theories on Islamic culture. For example, when referring to the rights of Muslim women, the news discourse tends to focus on symbolic and religious issues such as the veil or Islam, and they tend to avoid more important issues that are related to the equality of these women, such as rights to education or public freedoms. These visions are removed from reality because they fail to take into account bond of millions of women to their Islamic identity. The Western newspaper articles mainly present Muslims women in three ways: as passive women, as victims and as veiled women. They are portrayed as observers rather than as active participants in their community. Their role as victims is reflected through the publishing of news stories describing conflicts such as the Afghan or Algerian conflicts in which women are clearly victims. Muslim-Arab women have increasingly been on the face covers of magazines and front pages of newspapers since 9/11 and all the events that followed; among the major topics covered were the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led Iraqi invasion, as well as the elections in both countries. For example, on the covers of National Geographic and various other magazines, veiled women demonstrate the western urge to discover what lies underneath the veil. Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the Western media began to focus on the unveiling of women as a sign of their liberation, which we totally disagree with. Images of women removing the veil serve as justification to many individuals for the war. Time Magazine published an article in December 2001 that told the story of 200 women who gathered together to remove their veils together in a post-Taliban Afghanistan. (Macdonald, 2003). As stated by Ayish (2010), news media has made it a point to document the lives of millions of women that are in need of saving from an oppressive religion. The news media, specifically The New York Times and Time Magazine, have employed divisive methods founded in Orientalist assumptions that provide justification for Western intervention in the Middle East. And as stated by Mishra (2007), the media portrayals of Muslim men and women in The New York Times reinforced the need for Western intervention in Muslim societies and communities, to whether help liberate Muslim women or to keep Muslim men under surveillance as they are considered as a threat and violence. In advertising, they are being misrepresented as well. The Western advertisement also used the Arab Muslim women in their advertisement and they didnt want to risk by changing the image that the west already have for the Arab Muslim women, so they used the stereotyped and typical image of the veiled woman harem, the mysterious veiled woman that is under the control of an oppressive man, to appeal to their customers of the west. They didnt want to risk changing the image in an advertisement and that this image is strong in the mind of the Western people, and they might lose money or even customers and they might accuse them with treason because they put the Arabs in a good image. They use the veil of the Muslim Arab women as a sex symbol to sell for sex. They think when they put a woman in a veil they will get the consumers to buy the product. And when they do, they will buy the mystery behind the veil. The Westerns are usually buying a false and imaginary image of the Others which are the Arab or Arab women. The continuous and repetitive of these images in the different types of media will make these images real in the mind of the Western people, and this will enlarge the gap between the East and the West The oppressed veiled Muslim woman in the ads may also be connected to the escalating intolerance and disputes surrounding Muslim women and the veil in the Western world. Media people should be careful with what they put in the different types of media so as not to spread false and imaginary images or believes about another culture or other people traditions, and make them in the worst image that could be, and make them by these images increase the hatred between countries and increase hate crimes and wars. Media people should see the sensitivity in the materials they publish, and consider these images will hurt or damage someone or not, they should study the Arab and study their traditions and their believes Shariaa before talking falsely about it in different ways and different types of media. Western fascination with the veiling of Muslim women as a symbol of oppression is often contradictory to reality. The west are portraying Arab women in this way because they inherited this stereotyping, and they didnt try to do research or study of Arabs and Arab women to see if they are right about what they are showing in their movies or what they are writing. They just took what they have watched in the movies and read in papers, and they started to portray or actually kept on the same way of this negative portrayal and stereotyping of Arab women, without the right knowledge about the Arab culture, religion, and mostly people. Conclusion In the West, Arab women are often portrayed through stereotypical representations and discourses in which they have no voice. The Western popular imagination, nurtured by a media which commonly lacks sensitivity to complex realities, is quick to associate Arab women with oppression and subordination. Arab women are limited to a debate between tradition and modernity in which they are alternatively perceived as model of a mythical cultural authenticity, of a drift towards extremism or of radical modernization. Therefore, they find themselves at the heart of the ambiguous relations between the Eastern and Western worlds, which was analyzed by Edward SaÃÆ'Â ¯d. They are, however, essential actors in the development of the Arab region, and it is indispensable that their position at the heart of all contemporary social, political, economic and cultural matters be recognized in both the East and West. Basically the media is the main reason of enlarging the gap between the West and the East, it keeps on pressing and pressing on the west and filling their minds with pictures, movies, and news against Muslims and Islam that arent true. Since September 11 until now Hollywood keeps on making movies about Arabs and Muslims portraying them as terrorists and killers who attack innocent people without any reason, while they dont make any movies about Israeli. The mass media not only exclude modern Islamist women but also, in general, the socially and culturally diverse communities of Muslim women living in either the Arab world or in Western world. These women are not only housewives, mothers and Muslims as portrayed by the media, but also students, researchers, entrepreneurs, domestic workers, artists, politicians, volunteers, activists, etc. In this respect, it is also not accidental that the media do not report on the evolution of pro human rights movements (including womens rights and freedoms movements) that exist in some Arab countries, such as Egypt and Morocco. Misconceptions by the media have resulted in misunderstanding Arab women. As Gwinn (1997) stated, ideas about the Muslim world have managed to deform much of our understandings toward Muslim women. Words such as the veil, the harem, female circumcision, etc. have managed to give an impression to some of the images associated with the oppressed Muslim woman. The problem now is how to convey knowledge to public opinion so that they know truly whats going on in the Middle East. Unfortunately theyre trying to build on peoples ignorance, or on peoples busy time as nobody has the time to read a lot. It is time to build on information or on knowledge that the Arabs are descendents of great civilization, Arab women have the right to live like any other woman in the world with their children and to have their childrens future away from humiliation, away from occupation. The western media is the one who damaged the image of the Muslims specially the veiled women, so they must take step and start to do campaigns, movies, or documentaries to correct the image of the Arab Muslim woman and start to treat her normally or even correct the negative images.