Affirmative Action in Employing Women and Minorities :: Affirmative Action Equality Essays

Affirmative Action Thesis: Although many people believe that affirmative Action is a form of racism, it is actually used to help minorities find employment in an otherwise racist world. â€Å"In the United States, equality is a recurring theme. It has flared into a fervent moral issue at crucial stages of American history: The revolutionary and Jacksonian Period, and the New Deal. In each era, the legitimacy of American society is challenged by some set of people unhappy with the degree of equality† (Verba and Orren). Following the Civil War, Congress passed a number of laws designed to put former slaves on an equal level with white people. The Fourteenth Amendment made the freedmen citizen and prohibited states from enforcing any law which took away the privliges of any citizen, depriving men of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, or denied men equal protection of the laws. In 1875, Republican majority in Congress, aware that reconstruction would soon e nd, passed a civil right act to secure by law semblance of equality for Black Americans (Urofsky 19). Many white Americans really did not like the idea of equality for the Black Freedmen. â€Å"Gideon Welles, who had been prevailing sentiment when he wrote in 1871: ‘Thank God slavery is abolished, but the Negro is not, and never can be the equal of the white man. He is of an inferior race and must always remain so’†(Urofsky 23). The supreme court agreed and in 1883 passed the Civil Rights act which diluted much of th! e protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Joseph Bradely interpreted the enforcement provision of the amendment as strictly remedial; â€Å"congress has the power to remedy a discriminatory state law, but could not take affirmative steps to protect blacks from other forms of prejudice† (Urofsky 21). As a result of this decision, the federal government took no action to combat racism in the country until the second world war (Urofsky 2 2). Because resentment continued to increase within the black communities and because of the threat of a march on Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order on June 25, 1941. This order directed African Americans to be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants. The order also stated that discrimination would not be excepted by employers holding defense contracts. It also set up a fair employment practice commissions to investigate charges of racial discrimination.

Accounting Fraud through Product Costing

Fraud is a malicious obtaining of money or property by deception then accompanied by concealment of theft and translation of stolen property or money into personal resources for private use. The costs of fraud are difficult to estimate because not all uncovered fraud is disclosed for correct action to be pursued. Most fraud is committed by the trusted and valued employees and it leads to shock and disbelief when such cases are discovered Cones, 2011).Such fraudulent behavior may include cutting costs, spending corporate and shareholder money on personal expenses, and manipulating financial records for personal needs. Through fraud examination, organizations can be able to determine if fraud occurs and in such case help to gather relevant evidence for the crime, the financial records are analyzed by financial detectives and relevant surveillance conducted to mitigate such hideous acts. A comprehensive review on the organizations internal control is carried out to ensure all workers co mply with the relevant regulatory standards and industry benchmarks.This process also conducts analytical review on key accounting areas to reveal Seibel fraudulent activities. Forensic accountants can investigate frauds, investigate accountants, forensic auditors or fraud auditors. Scientific knowledge can be used to relate and investigate crimes through Interactive process and assess evidences of crimes committed. According to Siltstone & Sheets (2012), these experts have analyzed several cases and most fraud In product costing results from overstatements of revenues or understatement of receivables and Inventory. References Siltstone, H. , & Sheets, M. (2012).

Advertising to Children Notes Essay

* Children cannot comprehend advertising messages due to their young age. * Children don’t understand persuasive intent until they are eight or nine years old and that it is unethical to advertise to them before then. According to Karpatkin and Holmes from the Consumers Union, â€Å"Young children, in particular, have difficulty in distinguishing between advertising and reality in ads, and ads can distort their view of the world. † Additionally children are unable to evaluate advertising claims. Beder, 1998) * Older children pay less attention to advertisements and are more able to differentiate between the ads and TV programs but they are also easy prey for advertisers. Around puberty, in their early teens, children are forming their own identities and they are â€Å"highly vulnerable to pressure to conform to group standards and mores. † At this age they feel insecure and want to feel that they belong to their peer group. Advertising manipulates them through their insecurities, seeking to define normality for them; influencing the way they â€Å"view and obtain appropriate models for the adult world;† and undermining â€Å"fundamental human values in the development of the identity of children. † Advertisements actively encourage them to seek happiness and esteem through consumption. (Beder, 1998) * Younger children often do not understand the persuasive intent of advertisements, and even older children probably have difficulty understanding the intent of newer marketing techniques that blur the line between commercial and program content. Calvert, 2008) * One key area in research on the effect of advertising on children has been analysis of age-based changes in children’s ability to understand commercial messages, particularly their intent. Before they reach the age of eight, children believe that the purpose of commercials is to help them in their purchasing decisions; they are unaware that commercials are designed to persuade them to buy specific products. The shifts that take place in children’s understanding of commercial intent are better explained using theories of cognitive development. Calvert, 2008) * During the stage of preoperational thought, roughly from age two to age seven, young children are perceptually bound and focus on properties such as how a product looks. Young children also use animistic thinking, believing that imaginary events and characters can be real. For instance, during the Christmas season, television is flooded with commercials that foster an interest in the toys that Santa will bring in his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. Young children â€Å"buy in† to these fantasies and the consumer culture they represent. Preoperational modes of thought put young children at a distinct disadvantage in understanding commercial intent and, thus, in being able to make informed decisions about requests and purchases of products. (Calvert, 2008) * With the advent of concrete operational thought, between age seven and age eleven, children begin to understand their world more realistically. They understand, for example, that perceptual manipulations do not change the underlying properties of objects. More important, they begin to go beyond the information given in a commercial and grasp that the intent of advertisers is to sell products. By the stage of formal operational thought, about age twelve and upward, adolescents can reason abstractly and understand the motives of advertisers even to the point of growing cynical about advertising. (Calvert, 2008) * Increased use of the Internet to target children offers increasing opportunities for advertisers to convey their messages. * A new arena for advertising is the Internet. It is estimated that about four million children are using the Internet worldwide and this figure is bound to increase dramatically over the next few years. Beder, 1998) * As the enormous increase in the number of available television channels has led to smaller audiences for each channel, digital interactive technologies have simultaneously opened new routes to narrow cast to children, thereby creating a growing media space just for children and children’s products. (Calvert, 2008) * Newer marketing approaches have led to online advertising and to so-called stealth marketing techniques, such as embedding products in the program content in films, online, and in video games. Calvert, 2008) * Television has long been the staple of advertising to children and youth. Children view approximately 40,000 advertisements each year. The products marketed to children— sugarcoated cereals, fast food restaurants, candy, and toys—have remained relatively constant over time. But marketers are now directing these same kinds of products to children online. (Calvert, 2008) * Rapid growth in the number of television stations and online venues has also led advertisers to market directly to children and youth. Because children and youth are heavy media users and early adopters of newer technologies, media marketing and advertising campaigns using both television and newer media are efficient pathways into children’s homes and lives. Although television is still the preferred medium for reaching children and youth, marketers are exploring how to reach this age group online using cell phones, iPods, game platforms, and other digital devices. Banner ads, for example, which resemble traditional billboard ads but market a product across the top of an Internet page, appear on most webpages. And â€Å"advergames† integrate products such as cereal and candy into online video games to sell products to youth. (Calvert, 2008) * Although television is still the dominant venue for advertising, marketers are exploring new ways to market to children and adolescents through online media and wireless devices, often using stealth techniques whereby consumers are immersed in branded environments, frequently without knowing that they are being exposed to sophisticated marketing campaigns. Marketers carefully analyze children and adolescents’ interest patterns, focusing on games for â€Å"tweens,† as well as communication software for teens. Tracking these patterns provides extensive information that marketers now analyze in aggregate form, but that can, in the future, be used for one-on-one relational marketing strategies directed at specific individuals. (Calvert, 2008) * Online interactive agents are a virtual form of stealth advertising. Marketers program robots, or bots, to reply? to surfers who initiate a conversation. Such bots are programmed to respond to users in a one-on-one relational way that builds brand loyalty, as for instance, with virtual bartenders who â€Å"talk† to those who visit their sites. These alcohol-related websites feature humor, games, and hip language to appeal to minors. (Calvert, 2008) * Many companies have realized that children, particularly tweens and teens, enjoy using technology for education, communication, and entertainment purposes. The Internet allows tweens and teens to become involved with, explore, and learn about products when and where they want to (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Some marketers suggest that the best way to engage children through the Internet is by the use of ‘viral’ or buzz marketing strategies that encourage children to email their avourite commercials and other product information to each other (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). As the Internet has continued to grow in prominence and commercial strength, concerns about this medium have grown accordingly, particularly as they relate to children and teens (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Typically, these concerns focus around issues of time spent on the Internet and its effect on intellectual and social development, the vulnerability of children to advertisers’ tactics and children’s access to inappropriate content (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). One of the concerns often voiced about children and Internet advertising is how much time children are exposed to advertising messages while online and also how much attention they pay to these messages (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * Because exposure to Internet advertising is not regulated like advertising on broadcast television, there is concern about the amount of exposure that a child may have to advertising messages. On television, a single advertisement for a single brand may last 30-60 seconds before switching to another advertisement. On the internet, however, a child can spend hours on a single web site playing games, chatting to friends, catching up on product news, all while being continually exposed to a range of persuasive messages for that brand (Schumann and Thorson, 2007). * While television and other media have long been used to sell to children, the Internet presents some important differences. For example, television advertisers are asked to maintain a clear separation between content and advertising; Internet advertisers are not. And television advertisers are prohibited from using their corporate logos both as content and pitchmen at the same time; Internet advertisers face no such restrictions. As a result, Tony the Tiger has free rein among the games, quizzes and activities on Kellogg’s site, while on television he is restricted to station breaks (Carleton, 2000). * Today, children spend an estimated $130 million annually, and influence another $500 million in household purchases. And the Internet is a great place to reach those young consumers (Carleton, 2000). * Unlike traditional media, the Internet allows children and adolescents to access different kinds of content, and a specific characteristic is that this can be done in privacy, without the knowledge of parents (Marshall, 2010). * The most influential sources of information for children today making decisions and keeping contact with peers are media, meaning that children receive far more information from media than from parents and schools. This phenomenon has been called ‘the parallel school of media’, which means that children and adolescents will daily use up several hours on various media (Marshall, 2010). * Children can very quickly adopt and use new media technology and companies and advertising agencies are extremely innovative and creative when it is a question of targeting children with commercial messages (Marshall, 2010). * Children are targeted because of the amount of money they spend on themselves, the influence they have on their parents and because of the money they will spend when they grow up (three different markets). Young children are increasingly the target of advertising and marketing because of the amount of money they spend themselves, the influence they have on their parents spending (the nag factor) and because of the money they will spend when they grow up. (Beder, 1998) * Children represent three different markets. In addition to the direct money that children spend and the money they influence, children also represent a third major market and perhaps the most significant and that is the future market. Advertisers recognise that brand loyalties and consumer habits formed when children are young and vulnerable will be carried through to adulthood. (Beder, 1998) * In Australia, children under 18 have an average $31. 60 to spend each week and they influence more than 70 per cent of their parents’ clothes and fast food purchases. (Beder, 1998) * Both the discretionary income of children and their power to influence parent purchases have increased over time. (Calvert, 2008) * The affluence of today’s children and adolescents has made youth a market eminently worthy of pursuit by businesses. Calvert, 2008) * Evolution of a child consumer. (Beder, 1998) – From age 1: Accompanying Parents and Observing. Children are taken with their parents to supermarkets and other stores where all sorts of goodies are displayed. By the time a child can sit erect, he or she is placed in his or her culturally defined observation post high atop a shopping cart. From this vantage point the child stays safety in proximity to parents but can see for the first time the wonderland of marketing. – From age 2: Accompanying Parents and Requesting. Children begin to ask for things that they see and make connections between television advertising and store contents. They pay more attention to those ads and the list of things they want increases. At the same time, the youngster is learning how to get parents to respond to his or her wishes and wants. This may take the form of a grunt, whine, scream, or gesture–indeed some tears may be necessary–but eventually almost all children are able on a regular basis to persuade Mom or Dad to buy something for them. – From age 3: Accompanying Parents and Selecting with Permission. Children are able to come down from the shopping trolley and make their own choices. They are able to recognise brands and locate goods in the store. At this point the child has completed many connections, from advertisements to wants, to stores, to displays, to packages, to retrieval of want-satisfying products. For many parents this is a pleasing experience. Ditto for the marketers, for it signals the beginning of the child’s understanding of the want-satisfaction process in a market-driven society. – From age 4: Accompanying Parents and Making Independent Purchases. The final step in their development as a consumer is learning to pay for their purchases at the checkout counter. – From age 5: Going to the Store Alone and Making Independent Purchases. – By the age of eight children make most of their own buying decisions. * Integrating a variety of different theoretical perspectives, Patti Valkenburg and Joanne Cantor advanced a developmental model? of how children become consumers * In the first stage (birth to two years), toddlers and infants have desires and preferences, but they are not yet true consumers because they are not yet truly goal-directed in their product choices. During the second stage (two to five years), preschoolers nag and negotiate, asking for and even demanding certain products. At this point in their development, young children do not understand the persuasive intent of commercials; they focus on the attractive qualities of products and cannot keep their minds off the products for long. These developmental characteristics make them extremely vulnerable to commercial advertisements. By the end of this stage, children replace whining and throwing tantrums to get a desired product with more effective negotiation. In early elementary school (five to eight years), children reach the stage of adventure and first purchases. They begin to make clearer distinctions between what is real and what is imaginary, their attention spans are longer, and they make their first purchases outside the company of their parents. * In the final stage (eight to twelve years), elementary school children are attuned to their peer groups’ opinions. Their critical skills to assess products emerge, and their understanding of others’ emotions improves considerably. In the later years of this stage, interest shifts from toys to more adult-like products, such as music and sports equipment. Although children’s consumer behaviors continue to develop during the adolescent years, the foundation is laid in these early years with a progression from simple wants and desires to a search to fulfill those desires to making in- dependent choices and purchases to evaluating the product and its competition * (All Beder, 1998). The ability of elementary children to recognize both traditional online advertising such as banner and button ads and embedded advertising that is part of advergames seems to be limited. With only about a third of the children able to accurately identify advertising, a large percentage is left unable to identify advertising content. * Children’s culture is increasingly dominated and defined by market interests, as advertisers, children’s industries, and other producers of consumer goods clamour to capture the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of this profitable demographic. * The creation of online communities and spaces for children and youth has thus become a growing and lucrative endevour for many media, toy and food companies. This article provides a critical analysis of one such online community called NeoPets, whose premise is that users create or adopt a virtual pet to nuture. * Acquisition of currency (called ‘NeoPoints’), gained by playing various games, exchanging or selling items, filling out marketing surveys, and entering contests and games of chance, allows for the purchase o pet food and other virtual consumer products. * Neopets is part of a landscape of global, youthful, digital entertainment products that have emerged with the Internet and technological convergence. In its few years of operation, 16 million users have created Neopets. According to promotional material, Neopets is one of the fastest growing Internet youth communities. * The neopets site generates revenue through a strategy it calls ‘immersive marketing’, a scheme similar to product placement in films. Food manufacturers and entertainment giants have thus flocked to neopets, eager to reach this youthful market through insinuation of their brand in games and activities on the site. * Neopets generates a substantial part of its revenue by providing market research and consumer studies of its users. The neopets website exemplifies the new ‘children’s digital media culture’- a culture which fosters deepening levels of intimacy between marketer and children by dissolving traditional barriers between ‘content and commerce’. * In neopia, products and brand names are integrated within the many games and features that are part of the rich content on the site. Advertisers and entertainment companies such as Walt Disney, McDonalds and Mattel have flocked to Neopets, eager to reach the tween and teen market. * The majority of neopets users are under 18 years of age, with 39% below the age of 12 and 40% between 13-17 years old. Neopets conforms to modern conventions found in Saturday-morning cartoon series, comics, children’s advertising and product design: the use of a brightly coloured palate, with a predominance of primary and secondary colours, and highly-stylized ‘bubbly’ graphics. * Immersive advertising directly integrates a sponsor’s product or service into the activities available with in the site. Advertisers hope that immersive advertising campaigns will encourage children to play with the products, thus enabling them to later identify their brand. As children and youth continue to expand their access and presence on the Internet, they adopt participatory roles in the creation of online content and contribute in meaningful ways to online environments, including games and communities. * As children are sucked into the commercial marker in an increasingly competitive cradle-to-grave branding strategy, neopets strategy of immersive advertising amidst a fantastical community concerned with the ethos of acquisition and entrepreneurialism as entertainment provides a salient example of ‘childhood as a cultural space constituted by consumerism’. Neopets global marketing strategy of cross-media licensing and integrated marketing is a blatant example of branding children’s media environments. Slapping consumer culture onto children’s culture means we are denying children a degree of autonomy and agency in creating their own spaces.

Nursing Education Essay

This paper will outline the differences in competencies between Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), and Bachelor in Science of Nursing (BSN) prepared nurses. Then identify a patient care situation describing how nursing care or approaches to decision making may differ based upon the educational preparation of the nurse. The Free online Dictionary (2013) depicts competency as â€Å"The quality of being competent or capable of performing an allotted function.† Here is a comparison of two different pathways to becoming a Registered Nurse: Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), and Bachelor in Science of Nursing (BSN) programs. Born out of the nursing shortage in 1952, the Associate Degree nurse came in to fruition thanks to Mildred Montag. The Associate Degree program for Registered Nurses is two-three years length. This program does hold academic credit based on clinical and general studies preparing these students to be able to function as â€Å"technical† bedside nurses. At the end of the ADN program students are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN (Creasia & Reid, 2011). The Bachelors of Science program is four years in length and actually regarded by the American Nurse association as the original entry level requirement to becoming a Registered Nurse (Smith, 2009). This program originated in 1909. The BSN program is based on evidence based practice, Community nursing, and prepares these nurses for leadership roles whereas the ADN programs do not function to prepare nurses in leadership roles (Creasia & Reid, 2011). This is due to the program providing education, described by Creasia & Reid, 2011, also on â€Å"Information management, health care policy and finance, communication/collaboration, clinical Prevention/population health and professional values.† (p. 25). At the end of the program these Nurses are eligible to take the NCLEX-RN. With differences in the level of education among RN’s this brings up the controversial topic of: Do the difference in educational levels of BSN prepared nurse and ADN nurse make the more educated BSN more prepared for the challenges of nursing today? There is much more research needed on this topic. Online Journals such as Policy Politics Nursing Practice Ellenbecker, 2011 state, â€Å"Today’s environment of expanding knowledge, the call for interdisciplinary healthcare delivery teams, and evidence of the relationship between nurse education and improved patient outcomes strongly indicate the need for nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level.† (115-125). Studies such as Aiken (2003) depict negative outcomes such as failure to rescue and mortality were nineteen percent lower in hospitals post-surgical patients where sixty percent of the nurses had baccalaureate degrees. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing 2003 provide an entire fact sheet depicting h ow BSN nurses may be more prepared than diploma or ADN to meet the demands of nursing today. They state this is due to the broader span of course work provided in the BSN program. The BSN nurse learns what the diploma and ADN nurse learn but receive a more â€Å"in depth† experience thus allowing them enhanced â€Å"professional development, a greater understating of cultural, political, economic and social issues affecting patients and influencing health care delivery.† (AACN 2003). Nurses holding a BSN education could indeed be more able to provide the approach of looking at the patient as a whole, as well as enhanced critical thinking skills. (AACN 2003). One clinical example that depicts the difference in patient care situation describing how nursing care or approaches to decision-making may differ based upon the educational preparation of the nurse BSN versus a diploma or ADN degree. The issue of â€Å"may† provide different approaches to decision making is appropriate. There are studies that support that BSN prepared nurses are better prepared and studies that suggest that there is no significant difference in care delivered by BSN compared to the care delivered ADN and Diploma nurses. When faced with the evidence that BSN prepared nurses are taught a higher level of education and to utilize evidence based practice (AACN 2003) (Creasia & Reid, 2011). The BSN prepared nurse may be better prepared to think more critically and research why they do a task and not just do the task blindly. For instance evidence-based practice provides hospitals with ways to decrease CAUTI from occurring (AJIC 2011). This is â€Å"Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). According to AJIC 2011, â€Å"CAUTI are â€Å"common, morbid, and costly†. â€Å"Nearly 25% of hospitalized patients are catheterized yearly, and 10% develop urinary tract infections. Evidence based guidelines exist for indwelling urinary catheter management but are not consistently followed.† (pp. 1-6). Being educated enough to look up what the evidence based practice guidelines on catheters are can significantly increase positive patient outcomes. Furthermore, AJIC 2011 states also that when nurses where â€Å"re-educated† on a â€Å"basic skill† and† infusing best evidence into current practice were important to raise awareness of simple interventions that positively impacted patient outcomes and infusing best evidence into current practice were important to raise awareness of simple interventions that positively impacted patient outcomes.† (pp. 1-6). Nurses who are more educated on reasons behind evidence based practice understand the importance of implementing it into current nursing practice. So it could be said that a BSN prepared nurse is more likely to utilize the practice guidelines that are evidence based. This provides an example how a BSN nurse could be more likely to make a different judgment call than a diploma or and nurse and take initiative to ask the MD for an order to support an evidence-based decision. To summarize there three pathways to becoming a Registered Nurse: Diploma, ADN, and BSN programs. Each has unique qualities. The program that offers a more â€Å"in-depth† education is the BSN program. All programs lead to the same end point of allowing the student to the NCLEX-RN. There are varying viewpoints on whether or not a BSN versus ADN nurse is better educationally prepared for the nursing workforce today. References American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2013). The impact of education on nursing practice. Retrieved on January 18, 2013 from: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/impact-of-education Aiken, L. H. (2003). Educational levels of hospital nurses and surgical patient mortality. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290 , 1617–1623. Retrieved on January 19, 2013 from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3077115/ Creasia, J. L., & Reid, PHD, RN, K. B. (2011). Conceptual foundations the bridge to professional nursing practice. (5th ed.). Ch. 2, pp.1-39. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Mosby. Retrieved on January 19, 2013 from: http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/books/978-0-323-06869-7 Ellenbecker PhD, RN, C. (2010, 08 30). Policy politics and nursing practice preparing the Nursing Workforce of the Future. vol. 11 no. 2 115-125. Retrieved from on January 19, 2013: http://ppn.sagepub.com/content/11/2/115.abstract Farlex, Inc. (2013). The free dictionary . Retrieved on January 19, 2013 from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/competencies Oman, K. S., & Flynn Makic, M. B. (2011). Nurse-directed interventions to reduce catheter associated urinary tract infections. American Journal of Infection Control, 1-6. Retrieved on January 19, 2013 from: http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/medicine/hcpr/cauti/documents/TeamPublications/Nurse-Directed Interventions to Reduce Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections.pdf

Mental Retardation and Child Abuse

Sling Blade is a film about a mentally retarded individual by the name of Karl, who murders his mother and her lover – Karl’s classmate – at the age of twelve.   Subsequently, Karl is institutionalized.   Upon release, Karl returns to his hometown where he befriends a young boy, Frank.   The boy’s father had committed suicide, and his mother is dating Doyle, who abuses both Frank and his mother.   Eventually, Karl is responsible for the murder of Doyle as well, as he must put an end to the abuse that he is witnessing in the lives of Frank and his mother. The story of the film is atypical seeing that Karl is a mentally retarded individual who takes action against child abuse.   Scientific research, on the other hand, has revealed that it is usually the mentally retarded individual who must suffer abuse simply because he cannot take care of himself. As an example, Morse, Sahler, and Friedman studied twenty five children who had been abused, out of which forty two percent were mentally retarded.   All except one of the mentally retarded children in the study had already been diagnosed as mentally retarded before they were abused.   Hence, it is obvious that the abusers knew that the mentally retarded children are vulnerable to abuse. According to Morse, Sahler, and Friedman, people who spend time with mentally retarded children are usually aware that these children are not always able to physically or verbally defend themselves.   Moreover, these children are not always able to describe their abuse to others.   Typically, they are also unable to differentiate between proper and improper verbal communication and/or physical contact, regardless of whether the physical contact is sexual or violent in nature. Lastly, mentally retarded children are truly dependent on other people for all manners of assistance.   This makes them more trusting toward their caretakers as well as others.   Also according to the authors, passivity as well as compliance stem from the trust and dependency of the mentally retarded child.   Those who abuse mentally retarded children are, therefore, taking undue advantage of the trust shown by these children. Sandgrund, Gaines, and Green have also conducted a study on children.   Out of one hundred and twenty children studied by the authors, sixty had been abused, thirty had been neglected, and another thirty had not been abused at all.   The authors reported that twenty five percent of the abused children in their study had been diagnosed as mentally retarded. Twenty percent of the neglected children had similarly been recognized as mentally retarded, while only three percent of the children who had never been abused were mentally retarded.   The findings of this study reveal that mentally retarded children are quite likely to be abused.   The fact that Karl of Sling Blade was never abused – rather, he had the intelligence to differentiate between proper and improper verbal communication and/or physical contact – shows that the film is about an unusual mentally retarded individual.   Sandgrund, Gaines, and Green write that mentally retarded children are normally hesitant to report instances of abuse because they fear losing the essential relationships with their caretakers. Furthermore, these children are not always believed if they manage to report abuse.   Seeing that Karl was not afraid to lose his caretaker at the time he killed his mother reveals that this mentally retarded child was definitely not a typical one. McFadden has also written about the abuse of mentally ill children, including those who are mentally retarded.   Reporting a study conducted by the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled, McFadden writes that abuse in institutions for mentally retarded children is higher than abuse in institutions for children who are mentally fit.   Also according to the author: In analyzing those cases, the commission found that abuse most often occurred in leisure-  time areas, such as recreation rooms and sleeping quarters, where children congregate without  structured activities.   It also found that boys over 12 years of age and children who exhibited  disturbing conduct were at the highest risk of abuse. In 16 percent of the cases, the study said, a finding of abuse or neglect was made by the  reporting facility.   In another 18 percent, the facility found misconduct by an employee but no  evidence of abuse.   In 66 percent, some corrective action was taken and in nearly 20 percent  disciplinary action was taken against at least one employee. Most of those responsible for the abuse or neglect were not new employees.   The study said  80 percent of them had worked at the facility at least one year and 50 percent had been  employed more than three years (McFadden). Karl was fortunate because his mother did not abuse him.   He was not abused in an institution either.   All the same, research evidence suggests that mentally retarded children are highly vulnerable to abuse.   In unusual cases, perhaps mentally retarded individuals like Karl may be able to struggle against child abuse.   Then again, they might have to take drastic actions such as those of Karl in order to end child abuse.   After all, mentally retarded individuals are not considered credible if they simply manage to report abuse. Works Cited McFadden, Robert D. â€Å"Child Abuse High in New York Mental Centers.† New York Times. 1 Dec 1987. 17 Nov 2007. . Morse, C.W., O.Z. Sahler, and S.B. Friedman. â€Å"A Three-Year Follow-Up Study of Abused and Neglected Children.† American Journal of Diseases of Children. Vol. 120 (1970): pp. 439-446. Sandgrund, H., R. Gaines, and A. Green. â€Å"Child Abuse and Mental Retardation: A Problem of Cause and Effect.† American Journal of Mental Deficiency. Vol. 79 (1974): pp. 327-330. Sling Blade. Dir. Billy Bob Thorton. 1996.            

Sykes Enterprises Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sykes Enterprises - Case Study Example The mission of Sykes is to provide its customers with competitive rates so that it can provide its customers with the lowest rates. Sykes' strategy is to compete with the industry leaders on cost. It has to thus ensure that its operations stay profitable for it to continue its operations. Its mission and objectives are aligned with the amount of competition in the market and allows Sykes to target the same companies its competitors are targeting however, offering the lowest rates in town. There is no need to review the mission and objectives, but the strategy needs re-working. It is obvious that Sykes can take more than one action to improve its revenues and build a profitable business. The closure of its operations in India have resulted in consolidation of its costs in the United States. The competitors of Sykes have resorted to opening up call centers in South East Asian nations such as the Philippines to counter the high turnover costs and possible wage rises in Indian cities due to growing economies. One of the strategic alternatives for Sykes could be to introduce a culture of hiring fresh graduates and providing them training and binding them with contracts to serve Sykes for a period of two years. This would result in a significant drop in turnover for a temporary period. Reduction in the hiring and firing costs will result in lower running costs that will allow Sykes to offer lower rates to its customers. It would be wise for Sykes to continue its contracts with various towns and cities and gather benefits in taxation and other utilities offering employment in return. The reduction in taxes would result in a lower deductions in the revenues. The reduction would improve the profitability, though not necessarily the revenues. The current scenario asks for more involvement in the US rather than other countries. Significant cost reduction in Asian economies is no longer an onus and in countries that still offer lower operation rates, there is always the chance of high turnover costs and bad customer experiences - due to accents of offshore employees. Recommended Strategy Keeping into view the tough conditions of the economy, it would be wise for Sykes to combine the two strategies and work towards reducing its costs. Since Sykes mission and objective is reduction in costs to offer competitive rates in the industry, the two strategies could both be used to reduce the costs in order to provide highly competitive rates to corporate customers. This strategy would result in attraction of more corporate clients. However, Sykes should not close down any further call centers nor should it pursue an aggressive strategy within the US - current operations should be maintained until there is a significant rise in the profits. Implementation It would be wise for Sykes Enterprises to consider more large firms in the market other than SBC

Perform a Detailed Task Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Perform a Detailed Task Analysis - Assignment Example For example if he is going for an educational vacation he should consider a place where there is access to books, internet and any other research tools he may require. If he is going for a recreational tour he might consider factors like the weather of the place of destination, the places to be ventured into and the security of the same. He also needs to conduct an economic analysis of the places to be visited in order to select the most convenient economical destination without compromising on the vocational goals (Kirwan, 1992) After identifying the place to visit based on the vocational goals, Sam should put down all the requirements in a hierarchical manner in order to make his trip a success. The most vital points to emphasize on include money allocation/distribution, gathering important personal effects, arranging for the day and time of departure, consulting with the travel agency and making other personal arrangements such as notifying colleagues and family members about the trip and any other party concerned. In order to avail for proper distribution of money, Sam must consider the amount of money he is going to spend on the trip and distribute it accordingly based on the travel budget. This will involve considerations on which means of transport to use and the cost on the same, where to stay and the funding for the various activities included in the vocation needs. This includes entertainment costs, agency costs among others (Shepherd, 2001). After deciding on how much to spend on each item, Sam should gather all the items listed in his travel schedule. This will include items such as a suitcase, clothing and other items related to his personal wellbeing. He should also gather all items necessary to meet his vocational goals such as books if he is going for an educational vocation. In order to be on schedule, Sam must identify the date for the trip and make the necessary arrangements with the parties involved. This will