The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Effect Pollution Has On the Planet - Essay Example Moreover, a considerable lot of these waters at last discover their approach to sea waters which has cause huge regions of the oceans to be desolate of life. Air contamination causes respiratory issues and, all the more critically, is making the Earth’s environmental change, the results of which are far-going and possibly calamitous. Officials have centered their endeavors to address the contamination of America’s conduits by passing enactment expected to lessen the measure of contaminants released from production lines however the American new water frameworks stay dirtied. As per the Environmental Protection Agency, about 40 percent of the country’s lakes, waterways streams despite everything are dangerous for angling or swimming since they are overburdened with residue and synthetic compounds from a great many little sources, a situation known as â€Å"non-point† contamination. This expression alludes to contaminating the conduits by some other means than dumping synthetic compounds straightforwardly into the water, for example, inappropriately disposed of engine oil, pesticides, yard synthetics, composts or animal waste from business ranches. Composts and pesticides from horticultural sources, purpose of contact, cause a greater amount of the poisons influencing the delicate water framewo rks than business contaminations. These frameworks stumble into the â€Å"Breadbasket† territories of America at that point are kept in sea waters of the East Coast and oxygen-exhausted Gulf of Mexico. Enormous zones of these oceans have been assigned as ‘dead zones.’ Vast regions of East Coast waters and the Gulf of Mexico can no longer help life, for example, crabs and shrimp. These no man's lands are continually growing. â€Å"The no man's land vacillates in size every year, broadening a record 8,500 square miles throughout the late spring of 2002 and extending more than 7,700 square miles throughout the late spring of 2010.† (â€Å"Facts,† 2010) Ammonia, a deadly vaporous type of nitrogen discharged during waste evacuation, can travel several miles through the air before falling back to Earth either on the ground or in the water, where it produces algal sprouts which murders fish. â€Å"Fertilizers and animal waste from production line domestic ated animals ranches have helped trigger an uncommon number of algal blossoms, ruinous development sprays that stop up conduits and suffocate fish.† (Warrick, 2001). Most notorious were episodes of savage green growth, including Pfiesteria piscicida, a living being accused for the passings of a billion fish along the shoreline of North Carolina. The amount of new water for drinking keeps on being altogether decreased in view of compound poisons. This remorseful situation is particularly hard for dry season stricken regions. This basic circumstance is reversible yet should include instructing little and huge scope ranchers to greater condition inviting methods for developing yields and requiring its usage. A water rebuilding program started by the government Clean Water Act of 1972 decides the most extreme amount of a contamination that a waterway can have and still fulfill bureaucratic quality guidelines by utilizing a count named The Total Maximum Daily Load. This is the esse ntial legitimate solution for government intercession concerning non-point water contamination. Government guidelines require state regulatory bodies to contemplate all wellsprings of contamination over the watershed (waste bowl) of a waterway. â€Å"Watershed is the term used to depict the geographic region of land that channels water to a common destination† (â€Å"Report,† 2011). Water, through liquefying day off downpour, channels toward the absolute bottom in a

To Spank, or Not to Spank Free Essays

To Spank, Or Not To Spank COM/156 October 30, 2011 Parents have various methods of rebuffing their kid. Anything from establishing them from things, causing them to do additional errands, breaks and beating them. The best of these, is hitting. We will compose a custom article test on To Spank, or Not to Spank or on the other hand any comparable theme just for you Request Now In an examination venture by Marjorie Gunnoe, â€Å"children who were punished between the ages of 2 and 6 grew up to be more joyful and composed as young people. † Spanking a kid isn't misuse. It is a methods for discipline. You should just utilize your hand to beat your youngster. Indicating your kid they have fouled up, by beating, will train them to not do what it is that they did, once more. You ought to never utilize a belt, shoe, switch, or some other remote item. Those future thought about weapons, and that would be youngster misuse. Beating is definitely not a disdainful methods for discipline. It shows the youngster they have fouled up and should be rebuffed. It is a successful methods for discipline. Youngsters learn not to do a similar wrong once more. A kid will grow up â€Å"happier and well-adjusted† by beating them. The contention of punishing is around the world. Conclusions contrast on professional flogging and hostile to beating. Individuals who are against whipping accept that punishing is youngster misuse. They state there are better methods of rebuffing a youngster. Individuals who are for whipping accept that hitting is a decent type of discipline, yet they likewise know there are various methods of rebuffing a kid. Guardians who hit their youngsters discover it is increasingly viable as a discipline. An exploration done by Marjorie Gunnoe, brain science educator at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, expresses that â€Å"spanking is progressively powerful on kids ages 2 to 6 years of age. It has additionally been said you ought not beat a kid under year and a half old or a kid beyond 10 years old. Hitting a kid beyond 10 a years old have a negative impact and make a kid progressively forceful growing up. The American College of Pediatricians, or ACP, looked into the exploration on flogging and presumed that beating, as order, ca n be successful on kids when it is utilized appropriately, yet ought not be exclusively depended on to keep your kids in line. Punishing your kid severely, or with something besides your hand, leaving welts and additionally wounds, is viewed as youngster misuse. Beating ought not be hasty, hit uniquely with your hand on more than one occasion, and the youngster ought to be cautioned of the hitting and purpose behind the punishing with the goal for it to be effective. The colloquialism, â€Å"Spare the pole, ruin the child† originates from a scriptural maxim (Proverbs 13:24) â€Å"He who retains the bar despises his child, yet he who cherishes him disciplines him determinedly. † What this implies is, in the event that you don’t rebuff a youngster when they foul up, you will ruin them. This goes route back. You need to rebuff your youngster for their wrong, and ensure it is successful enough to get the point over. In the event that you don’t adequately rebuff your kid, they will think it is alright to continue doing an inappropriate. Kosciusko County (Indiana) Department of Child Services sees many cases every year including kid misuse and additionally disregard. Of those cases, there is physical maltreatment, for example, punching, hitting, kicking, and gnawing. However there are just a â€Å"handful† of cases including a wild parent punishing their kid. Tiffany Malone, a case manager for the DCS, has seen numerous instances of misuse and disregard. She expressed, â€Å"You can punish your youngster as long as you don't leave any imprints, and you don't beat them with anything aside from an open hand on the rear end. It has likewise been said you can beat your child’s feet. been accused of Battery on a minor for leaving unreasonable checks on their kid. In the Indiana Supreme Court case Willis versus State, Sophia Willis is bringing up a boisterous kid and hit him a few times with a belt or additional line, which lead to marks on the child’s arm (from missing the backside. ) She wound up getting 365 days in prison, and needed to do 357 of those suspended to probation. The appointed authority expressed, â€Å"This is an extreme territory of the law. Since you realize that a person’s expectation was not to do an off-base thing. It has additionally been stated, â€Å"The law is all around settled that a parent has a privilege to control appropriate and sensible rebuke to his kid without being liable of a threatening behavior. † By knowing our limits and constraints, we can effectively address our kids in a positive manner. By hitting them. The blended response by such huge numbers of is simply misconstruing. Nobody needs to punish a youngster. When nothing else works, hitting is a final desperate attempt. It might be a dubious type of discipline, yet it accomplishes work. More established youngsters that think back on their more youthful years are cheerful they were punished. They grew up more joyful, did well in school, and did well as they grew up. There are various laws in various states. Some support flogging, some don't. A few nations have restricted whipping all together. For whatever length of time that there is no resentment or remote articles associated with beating a youngster, it isn't viewed as kid misuse. A few clinicians, DCS laborers, guardians, and courts overlook beating. There are legal disputes expressing it is a parent’s option to choose whether or not a beating ought to be regulated. It is likewise the parent’s duty to respond, without retaliation, fittingly while managing a beating to a kid. A parent ought not be seen as blameworthy of rebuffing their youngster regardless. Except if there is a vile manner included, a parent is totally fit for rebuffing their own youngster without rebuke from others. Kids are our future and we don't need anything however the best for them. By hitting our kids, we are training them directly from wrong and making their future that a lot more splendid and worth searching for. References/References http://www. lifesitenews. om/news/document/ldn/2010/jan/10010507 http://www. mlive. com/news/terrific rapids/list. http://www. cerm. data/bible_studies/Topical/punishing. htmssf/2010/01/is_spanking_children_ok_calvin. html http://www. tldm. organization/News11/AmericanCollegeOfPediatriciansSpanking. htm Tiffany Malone-Kosciusko County Child Protective Services, Warsaw, Indiana http://www. in. gov/legal executive/sentiments/pdf/08290 801mgr. pdf http://www. in. gov/legal executive/sentiments/pdf/06100801rdr. pdf http://www. in. gov/legal executive/suppositions/pdf/05311101msm. pdf http://www. in. gov/administrative/ic/code/title35/ar41/ch3. html The most effective method to refer To Spank, or Not to Spank, Papers

How to Write the Stanford Short Essay Questions Supplement 2019-2020 TKG

How to Write the Stanford Short Essay Questions Supplement 2019-2020 It is almost impossible to get into Stanford. That may be frustrating if Stanford is your dream school. Stanford accepts so few applicants that they stopped publishing their acceptance rate after it dipped below 4.7%. Their application doesn’t make trying your luck easy, either. With 11 questions, it’s a bit of a beast. But if you are genuinely passionate about Stanford and have the scores and grades to match, we’re here to help.  If you’ve already made it through Stanford’s short answer questions, welcome to the short essays! If you haven’t done the short answers yet, we recommend starting at our post on the first half of the Stanford supplement before returning to this one!  The short essays can feel positively spacious after the cramped confines of the 50-word answers. Don’t let this fool you, though. A 100-250 word answer still requires precision, finesse, and more than a little finagling to get everything you want to say into a tight space. The key is to focus, and we’re here to help.  The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100 to 250 words)The first step to this question is deciding whether you will write about an experience or an idea. We can make this decision very easy. You will be writing about an experience. Why? Because it is easier to write about experiences in a way that is narratively-driven (aka it tells a story) than it is to write about an idea without sounding like you’re up on a high horse. You’re also going to write about an experience because Stanford wants students that are taking action, not just pondering the universe.    Once you’ve made that decision (that was easy!), you need to decide what experience you are going to write about. One of the questions we like to pose to our students when they are trying to figure out how to answer this question is, “What was the last project tha t you wish you could have kept doing long after you finished it?” Sometimes their answer is a school project, but it doesn’t have to be.  Another place to find an answer is in your browser history. What was the last Wikipedia black hole you fell into? Once you’ve zeroed in on something that excites you, write your answer in a way that excites the reader. They should be itching to learn more by the time your 250 words run out.    Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate â€" and us â€" get to know you better. (100-250 words)This is a super fun question, and we’re very jealous that you get to answer it. This short essay is a place to have some fun and to show the reader that, yes, your grades are fantastic, but you’re also a real teenager with stuff going on in your life other than science homework! We’ve had students write about things as silly as their l ove of pasta and commitment to making it in the dorm kitchen, and that essay was awesome.    Before you commit to a certain angle, try drafting up a few different letters to a few different types of people. Maybe start with a letter to someone from another country and then a letter to someone who lives in the same town as you. You’ll find that you focus on different things based on the type of person you’re writing to. The magic is where those things overlap.  Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why. (100 to 250 words)The last question on the Stanford supplement is another place where starting with a few different ideas will pay off big-time. It’s also a place to think back to the second short answer question when we asked you think micro. Try creating a list of objects that hold meaning for you, especially small things that you can link to good memories. Writing about friendship doesn’t work here, but writing about an object that links you to a friend can work really well.  There are a lot of places to be vulnerable in the Stanford supplement, but this question offers the most obvious place to open yourself up to the reader. That’s right; a real human will be reading this. Most likely, multiple real humans will flip through its pages looking to connect with you. This is a great place to build that connection. You don’t need to bare all of your scars, but don’t be afraid of letting the reader into your world.  If you’ve made it this far, you’ve finished the Stanford supplement. Congratulations! It was a lot, we know, but remember that some of what you wrote here will undoubtedly be able to be repurposed in another supplement, for another school. Don’t copy and paste, but do find ways to reuse your hard work!     Contact us here if you need more help.

Dr. Hale Williams Accomplishments - 901 Words

After the death of one of the most prominent doctors in history, Dr. Dan Hale Williams, many expressed their thoughts and sorrow through a series of eulogies that were published in 1931 by the Chicago Defender. The publication was meant to recognize Dr. William’s accomplishments, to inform the African American society that had lost one of its most valued members, and also to inspire young African Americans to take down the barriers of discrimination. During the time period, African Americans faced a great deal of inequality in healthcare, which made the work of Dr. Williams even more significant as he was considered a pioneer in equality of healthcare between races. All of the testimonies that were published were from citizens of Chicago, Illinois the city where the most notorious achievement of Dr. Williams was founded, the first African American hospital, Providence hospital. Dr. Dan Hale Williams illustrious achievements influenced many including influential African America n male leaders such as Dr. Ulysses Grant Daily, Dr. Carl G. Roberts, and attorney Ferdinand L. Barnett. The respect and gratitude the community felt towards Dr. Williams can be summarized in a quote from Dr. Carl G. Roberts who said: â€Å"He was not merely a great Colored surgeon, but a great surgeon who happened to be Colored.† This quote also exemplifies the intent behind the publication by the Chicago Defender to inspire young African Americans to fight against racism by following Dr. Williams’ steps asShow MoreRelated Role of Espionage in American History Essay example2397 Words   |  10 Pagesthe members were Sam and John Adams, John Hancock, James Otis, Dr. James Warren, Ben Churchill, and Paul Revere. Paul Revere was probably the most important pre-Revolutionary spy. Revere participated in the Boston Tea Party raid, along side John Hancock and John Adams. After this, Revere became a messenger from town to town delivering intelligence. His usual ride was a ten -day trek from Philadelphia to Boston. His greatest accomplishment is his famous â€Å"Midnight Ride.† His trip was not all on horsebackRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pages(Prentice Hall, 1990) The Truth About Managing People, 2nd ed. (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2008) Decide and Conquer: Make Winning Decisions and Take Control of Your Life (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2004). Other Interests In his â€Å"other life,† Dr. Robbins actively participates in masters’ track competition. Since turning 50 in 1993, he has won 18 national championships and 12 world titles. He is the current world record holder at 100 meters (12.37 seconds) and 200 meters (25.20 seconds) forRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pageschapters on phenomenology, critical theory and psychoanalysis. Like all good textbooks, the book is accessible, well researched and readers are encouraged to view chapters as a starting point for getting to grips with the field of organization theory. Dr Martin Brigham, Lancaster University, UK McAuley et al. provide a highly readable account of ideas, perspectives and practices of organization. By thoroughly explaining, analyzing and exploring organization theory the book increases the understandingRead MoreContemporary Issues in Management Accounting211377 Words   |  846 PagesProfessor of Managerial Accounting and Infor- mation Assurance, and the Director of the Ph.D. Program at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. He is also an Affiliate Professor in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Dr Gordon earned his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on such issues as corporate performance measures, economic aspects of information and cyber security, cost management systems, and capital investments

Reconstruction Companies Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 20 Words: 5997 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Tags: India Essay Did you like this example? An effort to introduce changes in the financial sector in India was initiated way back in the 1970s. But it was only in 1991 after the report of the Narsimhan Committee on the Financial System was tabled, that the Government and the Reserve Bank of India introduced measures to develop a strong and efficient financial system. After the report by this Committee, even though regulations and norms in the financial sector were strengthened there was still an increase in the level of non-performing assets (NPAs) for banks and financial institutions. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Reconstruction Companies Example For Free" essay for you Create order There were certain impediments faced by the banking and financial institutions which needed to be rectified, such as the high level of Non Performing Assets (NPAs). Areas such as securitisation and reconstruction lacked proper laws. A large proportion of NPAs would cause economic and financial degradation in the country. The SARFAESI Act was enacted in 2002 and it made provisions for the setting up of Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) to address the problem of NPAs. This paper looks into the various aspects of the ARCs and tries to weigh its pros against its cons. Non-Performing ASSETS: The Problem In India, any person desirous of doing business has been provided with a very borrower-friendly environment as far as financial assistance for such businesses is concerned. While industry and trade have taken full advantage of such a conducive environment, they have not discharged their obligations. This has resulted in an alarming level on non-performing loans in the financial system. Every process or activity generates by-products during the process intended for certain core product or service. A  by-product  is thus a secondary or incidental  product to the core process. Non Performing Loans (NPLs), also known as Non Performing Assets (NPAs), are a natural by-product of the business of lending.  [1]  Of course the efficiency of the overall intended process is inversely proportional to the quantum of the by-product, as a certain quantity of resources is consumed and embedded in such by-products. Banks and other financial institutions, being no differen t, also contract credit risks and generate NPAs. Not only do the NPAs deprive the bank of their income on account of its exposure, but also calls on for further investment in resources financial, managerial, etc. The adverse impact to the banks profitability is further compounded on account of the provisioning requirements of the capital blocked in the NPLs.  [2] Non-performing Assets pose a risk for the following reasons  [3]  : NPAs not only create problems for the banking sectors balance sheet on the asset side, but also create a negative impact on the income statement as a result of provisioning for loan losses. If banks become sanguine to the problem of loans going bad, they eventually encourage graft, slackness in credit underwriting and a complete lack of discipline. There is a drain on the system which affects the public at large. This happens either in terms of the banks being funded out of taxes or their resultant failure which further results in loss of savings for the people. The urgency of the resolution of the problem of NPAs is clear. Realizations from NPAs enable banks to unlock capital and resources invested therein and release them for productive uses, leading to recycling of capital. Further resolution of NPAs brings the underlying assets back to productive use with attendant gains. Thus, the recycling of capital in the economy in a timely manner is the underlying premise of the attempt to resolve problems associated with NPAs. An Attempt to find a Solution The Financial Committee or the Committee on Financial System (CFS) (also known as the Narsimhan Committee I),  [4]  submitted a report in 1991 which dealt with non-performing assets and methods to speed up the process of recovery, in detail. It upheld the recommendations made by the Tiwari Committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India in 1984 to expedite the adjudication and recovery of debts due to banks and financial institutions and also suggested a comprehensive legislation to deal with industrial sickness. Therefore the CFS suggested the setting up of a proper judicial framework to help banks and financial institutions enforce claims against their clients quickly, thereby leading to the reorganisation of the banking sector. It also proposed the establishment of an Asset Reconstruction Fund (ARF) which would take over from the banks and financial institutions, a portion of bad and doubtful debts at a discount. But at the same time the banks had to pursue recovery of thei r bad and doubtful debts through the special Debt Recovery tribunals (DRTs) set up under Section 3  [5]  of the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993. However the suggestions for setting up Asset Reconstructions Funds were not accepted and hence they were not established. Even though the DRTs were fully operational, there was a need to strengthen the recovery process of banks and financial institutions for they had a huge amount of non-performing assets totalling approximately Rs. 85,000 crores as of March 2002  [6]  . The entire process of recovery of overdue loans through the DRTs was progressing very slowly. Therefore, in 1997, the Government set up another Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri. M. Narsimhan, which was the second committee on Banking Sector Reforms(also called Narsimhan Committee II). It reviewed the implementation of the CFS recommendations. It stated that re-emergence of new NPAs could be prevented only by strict a pplication of prudential norms. This committee suggested the setting up of an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) to whom the non-performing assets could be transferred which would in turn return to the banks NPA Swap Bonds representing the realizable value of the assets transferred  [7]  . The ARC could be set up by one bank or a set of banks or even in the private sector. This committee also recommended the setting up of an expert committee to look into the changes to be made in the legal framework. And therefore an Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Shri T.R. Andhyarujina, former Solicitor General was set up by the Ministry of Finance. The Expert Committee had recommended the enactment of new laws for enforcement of securities for loans created over both, movable and immovable properties by banks and financial institutions and also for securitization of financial assets.  [8]  A proposal was made to set up an Asset Reconstruction Corporation by an Act of Parliament . Since conceptually securitization and reconstruction involve assignment of receivables and raising money from investors and to facilitate such investments, power of enforcement of securities was to be given to a Special Purpose Vehicle or Trust holding financial assets for the benefit of the investors, all the three concepts were consolidated to enact a single piece of legislation. This consolidation culminated into the promulgation of an ordinance  [9]  by the President of India on 21st June 2002.It was re-promulgated by the President on 21st August 2002  [10]  . The Bill for the conversion of the Second ordinance into an Act was passed by both the Houses of Parliament in the Winter Session of 2002 and received the assent of the President on 17th December 2002. With the passing of the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 the important recommendations of the Narshimhan II Committee for speeding up the proce ss of recovery was implemented. The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 was a milestone which provided for a number of financial sector reforms. It provided for certain important activities in the financial sector like:  [11] Securitisation of financial assets Reconstruction of financial assets Recognition to any security interest created for due payment of a loan as security interest under the Act, irrespective of its form. Power to enforce such security to the banks and financial institutions, in the event of default without intervention of the Courts and Enabling provision for setting up a Central Registry for the purpose of registration of transactions of securitisation, reconstruction and creation of security interests. Before the enactment of this Act, banks and financial institutions had no option but to enforce their security interests through the court process, which was extremely tediou s. Several provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code of the United States of America which aimed to introduce uniform system of law for the whole country and certain new concepts for trade, commerce and security were incorporated in the SARFAESI Act, 2002  [12]  . The Constitutional validity of this Act was questioned in the case of Mardia Chemicals v. Union of India.  [13]  The Act was held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court except certain sections which were later deleted. The judgement in the Mardia Chemicals case is an important landmark in banking law as it recognised certain legal principles introduced by the SARFEASI Act in our legal system. It recognized, inter alia, that any security created over movable or immovable property for securing due payment of money advanced or to be advanced or for performance of any obligation undertaken by any bank or financial institution is treated as security interest. The consequence of this principle is that any securi ty created in the property or asset of the borrower will be treated as interest held by the lenders in such a property or asset. Any such security interest can be made enforceable by the secured creditor in the event of a default. The rights of enforcement conferred on secured creditors are recognized by the Apex Court and the defaulting borrower will be allowed to question the exercise of such powers by a secured creditor only after the secured assets are possessed. The only restriction placed on the secured creditor was stated in Jagdamba Oil Mills v. Haryana SFC  [14]  whereby the court held that the acts of the creditor should be fair and reasonable and in accordance with the provisions of the SARFAESI Act. Thus this Act enables banks and financial institutions to realize their long term assets, manage problems of liquidity and improve recovery by exercising powers to take possession of security, sell them and reduce Non Performing Assets  [15]  (NPA) through measures for recovery or reconstruction within the framework of the Act, the rules framed there under and the guidelines and notifications issued pursuant thereto, by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  [16]  The securitisation and reconstruction companies acquire NPAs from banks and financial institutions by raising funds from Qualified Institutional Buyers  [17]  (as defined in the Act). Such funds are raised by the issue of Security Receipts  [18]  (as defined in the Act) representing undivided interest in such financial assets. This relieves banks and financial institutions of the burden of NPAs and allows them to focus on  their core area of lending and banking business. The Solution: Asset Reconstruction Companies Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) have been set up in various countries in response to the global problem of bad loans. Non-performing loans arise primarily due to two reasons- bad lending decisions, and systemic banking crisis.  [19] It is in the latter case that banking regulators or governments try to bail out the banking system of a systematic accumulation of bad loans which acts as a drag on their liquidity, balance sheets and generally the health of the banking sector. So, the idea of ARCs is not to bail out banks, but to bail out the banking system itself. Asset reconstruction companies assume bad assets from other companies to clear them from that companys books. It may purchase the assets at a discounted price, causing the original company to incur a loss. However, clearing NPAs can allow it to start assessing the financial health accurately. Further it also helps the company to work on a recovery plan. Once it takes possession, it can work on recovering tho se assets. For example, an asset reconstruction company may assume a group of home loans in default. The company can pursue collections and if this does not work, it can start foreclosing and selling the properties in order to extract cash from the loans and close them out. The asset reconstruction company specializes in this activity and can handle the process more efficiently than a regular financial institution, because it has the personnel, experience, and support network to do so. It may own a real estate firm that can handle the process of evaluating the properties, listing them, and making any necessary modifications to make them more saleable. For companies with bad loans on their books, asset reconstruction creates a possibility to repair their financial situation and meet the needs of shareholders and other investors. NPAs can become a serious liability and may contribute to a crisis in investor confidence as people become concerned about the possibility of the bank filing for complete bankruptcy. Through asset reconstruction, the company can write down the assets, sell them, adjust its books, and move forward. In India the activity of asset reconstruction need not be carried on by the Government alone, it can be undertaken even by a private company subject to the condition that a single sponsor will not be a holding company of such reconstruction company, or otherwise hold any controlling interest in such company.  [20] The term Asset Reconstruction has been defined in Section 2(1) (b) of the SARFAESI Act. As provided by the Act it means acquisition of any right or interest of any bank or financial institution in any financial assistance for the purpose of realization of such financial assistance. This definition reduces the complex exercise of asset reconstruction as a simple takeover of loans and advances of banks and financial institutions for the purpose of recovery.  [21]  The definition also puts into rest the debate as to th e manner in which the exercise of asset reconstruction should be undertaken. A Securitisation or Reconstruction Company registered under Section 3 of the Act previously had the status of a public financial institution till Section 4A of the Companies Act was amended by the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debt Laws (Amendment) Act, 2004. After this amendment, clause (vii) of sub-section (1) of section 4A  [22]  of the Companies Act has been deleted. Thus the securitisation and reconstruction companies ceased to be public financial institutions with effect from 11th November, 2004 (which is the date on which the Amendment Act became effective). All the same, the Amendment Act also amended the definition of financial institutions contained in Section 2(h) by addition of sub-clause (ia) to the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 (DRT Act )  [23]  and securitization and reconstruction companies have become financial institutions for the purpose of the DRT Act. The securitization company or reconstruction company registered by the RBI under the Act was conferred the status of public financial institution under Section 4A of the Companies Act which was later amended and the status of public financial institution was withdrawn. At present the securitization or a reconstruction company is included in the definition of financial institution under the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks Financial Institutions Act, 1993. A securitization or reconstruction company will be engaged in the activity of acquiring financial assets from banks and financial institutions. Such financial assets consist of loans and advances sanctioned by the lenders and the underlying securities. On acquisition of such assets, the securitization or reconstruction company will be considered to be the lender and is also deemed to be engaged in financial business within the meaning of clause (c) of section 45-I of the RBI Act, 1934  [24]  . Thus a securitization or reconstruction company will require registration under the RBI Act, 1934. However, the SARFAESI Act has created a new category of financial companies with a separate system for registration and regulation by the Reserve Bank of India. While Section 45-I(c) deals with companies engaged in non-banking financial business, the SARFAESI Act deals with companies engaged in the business of acquiring and recovery of loans and advances made by banks. Thus the SARFAESI Act is a special law dealing with only a specific category of Companies and since the law is later in point of time it prevails over the general law contained in the RBI Act.  [25]  Hence the securitization or reconstruction company will not require registration under Section 45-I(c) of the RBI Act. However to leave no room for doubt the RBI has issued a notification under section 45NC of the RBI Act, 1934  [26]  exempting securitization or reconstruction companies from the applicability of provisions of section 45-IA, 45-IB and 45-IC of the RBI Act by its Notification.  [27] Registration Section 3 of the SARFAESI Act deals with the registration of securitization or reconstruction companies. Under the provisions of this Act securitization or reconstruction are considered as similar activities and provisions relating to registration with Reserve Bank and other conditions are made applicable to both activities. Paragraph 4(ii) of the Securitization Companies and Reconstruction Companies (Reserve Bank) Guidelines and Directions, 2003 provides that a securitization or reconstruction company, which has been registered under Section 3 of the Act, can undertake both securitization and asset reconstruction activities. The Act allows the acquisition of financial assets of banks and financial institutions by any securitization or reconstruction company and enables them to raise funds for the acquisition by issue of security receipts. Thus it provides a legal framework fo r securitization of standard loan assets and also of non-performing assets of banks and financial institutions. Application for Registration Application for registration is to be made to the Reserve Bank in such a form and manner as maybe prescribed by it. The Reserve Bank may inspect the records and see that all the conditions specified in the Act from clauses (a) to (g)  [28]  are complied with to register a company. Also according to clause (h) the company has to comply with the conditions stipulated in the RBI guidelines before it can be granted registration. Conditions for Registration The provisions for registration of a securitisation and reconstruction company are enumerated in Section 3 of the SARFAESI Act. Every securitisation/reconstruction company which intends to obtain the Certificate of Registration should have owned funds of not less than Rs. Two Crores or such other amount not exceeding fifteen per cent of the total financial assets acquired by su ch companies. The Reserve Bank of India will specify such sum by the issue of a notification in this regard.  [29] If the securitization or reconstruction company is already carrying on business, then it should not have incurred losses in any of the last three preceding financial years. Foreign Direct Investment in Asset Reconstruction Companies Since the enactment of the SARFAESI Act, foreign investors have expressed interest towards the investment in the Asset Reconstruction Companies. After a long period the Reserve Bank of India has allowed foreign direct investment in the capital of reconstruction companies registered with it subject to certain conditions that: Maximum foreign equity shall not exceed 49% of the paid up equity capital of ARC. When investment by an individual entity exceeds 10% of the paid up capital, ARC should comply with the provisions of section 3(3)(f) of the SARFEASI Act. Also investment in security receipts issued by the reconstruction companies is to be cleared by RBI and it is now permissible for FIIs to invest in security receipts.  [30] Approaches to Asset Management International experience suggests that two strategies are generally followed for realization of the NPAs from the perspective of the banking system  [31]  . The first strategy states that it is best to leave banks to manage their own bad loans by giving them incentives, legislative powers, or special accounting or fiscal advantages. The second approach proposes the same thing on a concerted, central level, through a centralised agency or agencies. The former approach is called the decentralised approach and the latter is called the centralised approach. ARCs are created as a part of the second approach that is, a centralized agency for resolving bad loans created out of a systematic crisis. The intermediation by ARCs in the NPA resolution process becomes critical as ARCs would have debt aggregation capability and capability to build necessary skill-sets which are critical to successful resolution. ARCs possess the ability to aggregate debt of different classes and thus t hey would be in a better position to address inter-creditor issues. The debt aggregation capability would also provide better control and leverage over the creditor in implementing a desired resolution strategy. In India, the task of deciding between the two broad approaches was entrusted to a special committee set up by the Government of India  [32]  called the Committee on Weak Public Sector Bank, commonly referred to as the Verma Committee, 1999. This Committee came to the conclusion that in the Indian system it would be desirable to develop a structure which will combine the advantages of government ownership and private enterprise. The broad structure would be that of a government owned Asset Reconstruction Fund (ARF) managed by an independent private sector Asset Management Company (AMC).  [33] The Indian model of asset reconstruction companies  [34]  differs substantially from the global model of companies formed to resolve systemically impaired loans  [35]à ‚  . Briefly, the chief differences are: Globally, asset management companies were formed to resolve loans that went bad because of a systemic crisis, not loans that went bad because of bad lending. In India, there is no finding that the loans which have gone bad in the past have suffered a systemic crisis. In fact, there is no evidence of a systemic or market crisis in India at all. Hence the approach has nothing to do with managing the evils of a system breakdown. India is the only country where reconstruction companies have sprung up as a business model, with special statutory powers granted by the lawmakers. There is no doubt that dealing with distressed assets is a global business, but in no other case has the government come forward to grant special incentives or special legal powers to profit-oriented asset management companies. India is also the only country where asset reconstruction companies do not have a sunset clause.  [36]  In most other countries  [37]à ‚  , asset management companies came in response to a crisis. Crisis resolution measures cannot be everlasting or they will lose their meaning. Functioning of Asset Reconstruction Companies Although the legal system in existence prior to the enactment of the SARFAESI Act was not hostile to the ARCs, it was thought fit to strengthen the law and equip ARCs with special powers over the defaulters. The Act provides  [38]  for transfer of the financial assets (loans, debentures, etc. but not shares of the borrower, unless the shares are collateralized for the loan) from banks and institutions to ARCs. The acquisition would typically take place by way of assignment of rights title and interest in favour of ARCs on a true sale basis. Upon acquisition, the ARC become the legal and effective owners of financial assets acquired, and takes the place of lenders. The Act also enables acquisition of financial assets through securitization. The assets are acquired by way of setting up of trusts by the ARC. The financial assets are held in such trusts for the beneficial interest of investors. Section 9 provides that the six measures for reconstruction of assets acquired by Securitization or Reconstruction Company: a) relate to proper management of the borrowers business. b) is the lease or sale, wholly or partly, of that business. c) is rescheduling of the debt. d) is enforcement of the security interest. e) is settlement of the debt, f) is taking possession of the secured asset in question.  [39] This section begins with a caution that its provisions will take effect without prejudice to the provisions contained in any other law for the time being in force. This means that if a securitization or reconstruction company seeks to take any of the measures laid down in Section 9, it will have to act in a manner consistent with the applicable requirements of all other laws.  [40] In this context, reference must also be made to Section 37  [41]  which categorically saves the operation of other laws (except to the extent of inconsistency referred to in Section 35.) For all these reasons, the wording any other law for the time being in force in Section 9 must be necessarily read as any law for the time being in force (including this Act). This ensures that Section 9 of this Act does not have overriding effect over any other provisions of the Securitization Act or any provision of any other law. Measures (a) and (b) of Section 9 may be considered together as they both pertain to the borrowers business. For ensuring proper management of the borrowers business, the securitization or reconstruction company has to first bring about a change in, or a take-over of, the management of business. A change in management can be effected by reconstituting the borrowers board of directors or changing other persons in charge of management. For a take-over, the securitization or reconstruction company has to step into the shoes of the borrower. Similarly, for selling or leasing the borrowers business (under clause (b) of Section 9), the business has to be first taken over by the securitization or reconstruction company . Paragraph 7(2) of the Securitization G Guidelines on Change in or Take Over of the Management of the Business of the Borrower by Securitisation Companies and Reconstruction Companies (Reserve Bank) Guidelines, 2010,  [42]  provides that none of the measures mentioned under Sections 9(a) and (b) of the Act should be followed until the bank issues necessary guidelines.  [43] These guidelines laid down in April 2010 lay down the eligibility conditions and grounds based on which securitization and reconstruction companies may exercise powers to effect change in or take over the management of the business of the borrower for realizing their dues. SCs/RCs should frame policy guidelines in this matter with the approval of their Board of Directors. Measures (c) and (e) may be analyzed together as both relate to payment of debt by the borrower. The first concerns re-schedulement of debts by the securitization or reconstruction company. Rescheduling can take place even uni laterally, that is to say the company can reschedule the debt even in the absence of a request from the borrower. In that case the conditions, if any, attached to the revised schedule by the company may not bind the borrower. However a mere default by the borrower cannot legally be regarded as the borrowers (even tacit) acceptance of the revised schedule attached with the condition. On the other hand, if a re-schedulement takes place on the application of the borrower, a condition as above can form part of the revised schedule. In such a situation, the condition will be binding on the borrower and the consequences arising there from will naturally follow. Measures (d) and (f) have the same subject matter namely; security interest or the underlying secured assets. These measures can be resorted to only in the manner laid down in the other provisions of the Act and Section 13 in particular. Section 10 deals with Other Functions of Securitization and Reconstruction Company. Ac cording to Section 10  [44]  , a securitization company or reconstruction company registered under Section 3 can also undertake other business such as acting as agent of the bank or financial institution for recovery of their loans and charge fees for such work. In other words, without acquiring the financial assets from the banks and financial institutions, such banks can undertake recovery work on agency basis. The agency function acts as a dual edged sword so far as the borrower is concerned as these companies have sweeping powers under the Act and can take over the role under Section 5 and Section 9 which may be prejudicial to the overall interest of the borrower. The borrower would be under constant pressure to pay the amount in default to the extent possible to avoid any action under Section 5 and Section 9 of the Act. Such company can also be appointed as a Manager for the secured assets, the possession of which is taken by any bank or financial institution. These c ompanies can be entrusted with the role of manager as per the section 13(4) of the Act. This would help them to specialize in the activities which are related to the enforcement of security and reconstruction. Also, such company can act as a receiver if appointed by any Court or Tribunal. Under the scheme of the Act  [45]  a securitization company or reconstruction company can undertake multiple schemes of securitization or reconstruction but such company cannot undertake any other business without the approval of the Reserve Bank of India. To allow such companies to expertise in the field of managing impaired assets and recovery of such assets, specific provision has been made for such companies to undertake recovery for lenders as well as acting as a manager or a receiver. Since banks and financial institutions are given the powers of enforcement, it may also be possible to delegate such powers to a securitization or a reconstruction company, while entrusting recovery assignments to the company, thereby expediting the recovery process. Asset Reconstruction Companies: Boon or Bane? Finally we come to the question whether the establishment of Asset Reconstruction Companies has been a boon or bane to the Indian economy. The major objective of the ARC is to acquire and rapidly liquidate Non Performing Assets which helps to accelerate the process of corporate restructuring  [46]  . Thus, they clean the books of accounts by reducing non-performing assets and banks have to deal less with non performing clients as realization of cash from every defaulting borrower will be a lengthy and cumbersome process. This will help the banks to focus better on managing their core business activities. They also play an important role in developing capital markets through secondary asset instruments. The SARFAESI Act can be said to be very liberal as regards the setting up of an ARC as anyone with the required capital and otherwise satisfying the registration requirements under the SARFAESI Act can set up an ARC. The important question however is whether the ARC has any di stinctive powers that enable it to turn non-performing assets into performing assets. An analysis of the Act reveals that the Act falls short in this regard. The powers granted to the ARC are quite vague and general and are not very different from the powers granted under the same law to the secured lender as well. In fact, given the privity of contract, a secured lender would possibly be seen by the judicial system of the country as better equipped to realize NPAs than a separate ARC. Since the ARC field is an open-to-all playground, it is very likely to invite the so-called vulture investors, and it is quite likely that the ARC may be seen by the judicial system as predators on the prowl. Moreover the recent years have been very discouraging for the ARCs. They have faced situations where they have been asked to bid by banks that have a large number of NPAs. But in various circumstances we see that the banks cancel the sale on the grounds that the price offered by the ARCs is to o low and does not meet the expectations of the banks. The bank, after receiving a large number of bids, also cancels the sale on the grounds that there is a large gap between the price offered by ARCs and the banks expectation the bank, however, never discloses the price. ARCs cynically see this as an exercise by banks to gauge the market value of their distressed assets. As a result, relationship between the banks and ARCs is no longer the same.  Ã‚  [47] By shrinking balance sheets through the disposal of unproductive assets (no interest income accrues on bad loans), banks were also able to relieve capital adequacy worries. Initially the asset reconstruction business was in full swing. Banks saw ARCs as convenient partners to sell NPAs in order to clean up their balance sheets, without having to pursue a rigorous alternative of recovering dues directly from defaulting borrowers. This way they shrunk their balance sheets through the disposal of unproductive assets. B ut now, after cleaning their balance sheets to a level where NPAs are no longer a cause of worry, they feel ARCs have little to offer.   Thus banks today are under no pressure to sell bad loans and this has affected the business of the ARCs to a large extent, who survive only by buying bad loans from banks and financial institutions and creating value out of it. Since the past few years the system has witnessed a near-stagnancy in the size of NPA transactions, which has forced ARCs to look for other alternatives and thus, this industry faces a very uncertain future. As on March 2010, the banking system was sitting on bad loans to the tune of 1.21 lakh crore. Of this, ARCs purchased just about 1,500 crore of NPAs.  Therefore at the end of six years of operation, the combined recovery of all ARCs works out only to 31.9% of the acquisition price paid.  [48] It is believed that some of the main constraints for the low take-over by the ARCs are the various o perational issues, preference for cash transactions over security receipts against bad loans by the banks, price and information asymmetry among buyers and sellers. The legal framework for asset recovery and stamp duty also poses a challenge to these ARCs.  The ARCs have not been performing the way it should be. As quoted by S Khasnobis, managing director CEO of Arcil, the countrys first and largest ARC, Some 10 years back, pressure mounted on banks to sell NPAs as they were saddled with high bad loans accumulated over the years. The pressure has almost gone now as most banks have already cleaned their books and loan restructuring window is open for them in one form or the other. Banks have also become more efficient in managing their NPAs and improved their recovery mechanism by removing several impediments. In conclusion we have to remember that the main aim of the ARCs is not only disposal of NPAs; this can be done even by enforcement agencies. The real problem will get solved only if ARCs do two things, firstly tackle recalcitrant borrowers (which the SARFEASI Act is supposed to do) in order to make good recovery from NPAs that still have value and secondly rehabilitate revivable sick cases. In order to break the logjam, certain steps can be undertaken.  [49]  Firstly, the SARFEASI Act must be amended to confer extra powers on ARCs so as to instil responsible behaviour on the part of recalcitrant borrowers. Then the present definition of NPA is restrictive due to which a very large number of NPAs sitting on the books of important players in the economy such as Co-operative Banks, State Financial and Investment Institutions, Mutual Funds, Insurance Companies NBFCs  [50]  are beyond its ambit. The ARCs will be able to play a much larger role and deal with the problem of NPAs in a better manner, if the impaired assets of other players are also included within the functioning of the ARCs. Conclusion Through this paper, the authors have tried to provide a brief yet comprehensive overview of the concept of ARCS and the role they have played in the Indian Economy. The problem of NPAs as a being a natural byproduct of the business of lending has been explained and the manner of introduction of ARCs as a counter measure to this problem was discussed. The provisions under the SARFAESI Act for the established and registration of ARCs were also discussed under the relevant sections. The decentralized and centralized approach was also illustrated and the Indian approach to asset management was dealt with in detail. The differences between the Indian approach to asset management was also compared to other approaches prevalent globally. The functions of ARCs as enumerated under Section 9 and 10 of the SARFAESI Act have also been duly elucidated. Finally, the authors have given their views on the effect ARCs have had on the economy and have suggested improvements which could be m ade. The concept of Asset Reconstruction was introduced at a time when the financial services industry was being transformed globally and India adopted it as an experiment. A time has now come when a clear understanding of these systems and concepts is essential and this can only be brought about by clear, unambiguous law. The faster our legislature is able to provide this, the better for our economy.

The New Vampire Bram Stokers Dracula and Anne Rices...

The vampire has been a mysterious and enticing figure since its entrance into popular culture, usually regarded as the tale Dracula written in 1897 by Bram Stoker. Stoker, and later Anne Rice, as well as many other writers and directors have capitalized on the fascination the public has with these dark creatures of the night. Whether they are in books or on the big screen vampires capture our imagination, tantalizing us with a taste of the darker side of life. But if vampires are so dark and so different than we are, is that what makes them so fascinating? Is it because they symbolize the forbidden? Is it because they resemble humans, but act nothing like them? Or is it because we all have a fascination with things that we dont†¦show more content†¦(Reep, Ceccio, Francis 125) Along with this change in the vampire itself comes a change in the narrative. Instead of the vampire being merely a creature within the story, the no-question-about-it outside antagonist who must be defeated, the vampire is now the center of the story. Anne Rices vampires become our narrators; but more than that, they become the protagonists. They are no longer set completely apart from humankind. They talk like humans, dress like humans, look like humans (at least in the dark of night anyway) and act like humans. In fact, Louis and Lestat in particular go to great lengths to achieve the appearance of normal human beings while they are living at Louis house. â€Å"And great pretense was necessary....Lestat and I sat down to dinner each night with the old man and made nice noises with our knives and forks, while he told us to eat everything on our plates and not to drink our wine too fast.† (Rice 43) They had to appear as everyone else, for Lestats father and for the slaves, so they would not become suspicious. 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Does CompStat Reduce Crime free essay sample

Compstat (short for computer statistics or comparative statistics) originated in the new york city police department (NYPD) in 1994 when william bratton was police commissioner. Compstat is a comprehensive, city-wide database that records all reported crimes or complaints, arrests, and summonses issued in each of the city’s 76 precincts. City officials had previously believed that crime could not be prevented by better information and analytical tools but instead by using more foot patrols in neighborhoods along with the concept of â€Å"community policing† in which efforts were made to strengthen the involvement of community groups. In contrast, bratton and rudy giuliani, then the mayor of new york city, believed that police could be more effective in reducing crime if operational decisions took place at the precinct level and if decision makers had better information. Precinct commanders were in a better position than police headquarters to understand the spesific needs of the communities they served and to direct the work of the 200 to 400 police officers they managed. We will write a custom essay sample on Does CompStat Reduce Crime? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Compstat gave precinct commanders more authority and responsibility, but also more accountability. At weekly meetings, representatives from each of the NYPD’s precincts, service areas, and transit districts are put on the â€Å"hot seat’ at police headquarters and required to provide a statistical summary of the week’s crime complaint, arrest and summons activity, as well as significant cases, crime patterns, and police activities. Commanders must explain what has been done to reduce crime in the districts under their command, and if crime has gone up, they must explain why. Commanders are held directly accountable for reducing crime in their area of command. In the past, they were evaluated primarily on the basis of their administrative skills, such as staying within budget and deploying resources efficiently. The data these commanders provide, including spesific times and locations of crimes and enforcement activities, are forwarded to the NYPD’s compstat unit where they are loaded into a city-wide database. The system analyzes the data and produces a weekly compstat report on crime complaint and arrest activity at the precinct, patrol borough, and city wide levels. The data are summarized by week, prior 30 days, and year-to-date for comparison with the previous year’s activity and for establishing trends. The compstat unit also issues weekly commander profile reports to measure the performance of precinct commanders. The weekly commander profile reports include information on the commander’s date of appointment, years in rank, education and specialized training, most recent performance evaluation rating, the units that person previously commanded, the amount of overtime generated by police under that commander, absence rates, community demographics, and civilian complaints. Using mapinfo geographic information system (GIS) software, the compstat data can be displayed on maps showing crime and arrest location, crime†hot spots†, and other relevant information. Comparative charts, tables, and graphs can also be projected simultaneously. These visual presentations help precinct commanders and members of the NYPD’s executive staff to quickly identify patterns and trends. Depending on the intelligence gleaned from the system, police chiefs and captains develop a targeted strategy for fighting crime, such as dispatching more foot patrols to high-crime neighborhoods, or isuuing warnings to the public when a particular model of vehicle is susceptible to theft. During bratton’s 27-month tenure, serious crime in new york dropped by 25% and homicides went down by 44%. Crime in new york city has dropped by 69% in the last 12 years. Skeptics do not believe that compstat was responsible for these results. They point to the decline in the number of young, poor men, an improved economy, programs that reduced welfare rolls while giving poor people access to better housing, increasing the size of the NYC police force, and giving precinct commanders more decision making responsibility and accountability. Nevertheless, bratton, convinced that compstat was the catalyst for new york’s drop in crime, imlemented the system in los angeles to further prove its worth. Since the introduction of compstat, combined violent and property crimes in los angeles dropped for six consecutive years. Yet the ratio of police officers to residents is only half that of new york and chicago. Compstat has also been adopted in philadelphia, austin, san fransisco, baltimore, and vancouver, british columbia. Skeptics point out that crime has fallen in all urban areas in the united states since 1990 regardless of whether the cities used compstat. In fact, a critical study of compstat by the police foundation found that compstat encouraged police to be only reactive rather than pro-active in fighting crime. Sending police to where crime has become a problem is, in other words, too late. Compstat encouraged what the police foundation called â€Å"whack-a-mole† theory of policing, similar to the game played in amusement parks. Rather than change police departments into nimble crime fighters, the foundation found that a database had been attached to traditional organizations, which themselves remained unchanged. Because of the emphasis placed on reducing crime and because of the newfound importance of crime statistics to officers careers, compstat has created pressure on some precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics to produce favorable results. Officers must continue to improve their crime statistics, despite shrinking budgets and dwindling numbers of officers. A study conducted in 2009 via a questionnaire given to 1200 retired police captains and more senior officers concluded that nearly a third of respondents were aware of unethical manipulation of crime data. More than 100 survey respondents said that intense pressure to produce annual crime reductions led some supervisors and precinct commanders to manipulate crime statistics. For example, officers were known to check catalogs, ebay, and other sites for items similar to those reported stolen, looking for lower prices they could use to reduce the values of the stolen goods for record-keeping purposes. Grand larceny, a felony, is considered to be theft of goods valued at $1000 or more, whereas theft of goods valued at less than $1000 is only a misdemeanor. Using this method, precincts could reduce the number of felony thefts, considered an â€Å"index crime† and tracked by compstat. Surveys and anecdotal evidence also indicated a lack of receptiveness on the aprt of police in some areas, possibly motivated by a desire to reduce the number of crime incidents reported. Some survey respondents state the precinct commanders or aides dispatched to cime scenes sometimes tried to persuade victims not to file complaints or urged them to change their accounts of what happened in ways that could downgrade offenses to lesser crimes. Previous studies of compstat encountered an unwillingness by the NYPD to disclose their data reporting methods. A professor performing a study that ultimately praised compstat’s influence on crime on new york city was given full access to NYPD crime data, but the NYPD did not cooperate with the commission to combat police corruption (CCPC), an independent board that monitors police corruption. The commission sought subpoena power to demand the NYPD turn over its data and data collection procedures to uncover potential wrong doing by the police. Unfortunately, the commission was enied access to this data after strong police department opposition. On the other hand, versions of compstat have been adopted by hundreds of other police departments across the united states, and the compstat approach has been credited with improving police work in many cities, in new york city itself, much of the public believes that crime is down, and that the city has become a safer and more pleasan t place to live. Case study questions 1. what management, organization, and technology factors make compstat effective? 2. can police departments effectively combat crime without the compstat system? Is community policing incompatible with compstat? Explain your answer. 3. why would officers misreport certain data to compstat? What should be done about the misreporting of data? How can it be detected? Apakah CompStat mengurangi kejahatan? CompStat (singkatan statistik komputer atau statistik komparatif) berasal york city kepolisian baru (NYPD) pada tahun 1994 ketika william Bratton adalah komisaris polisi. CompStat adalah komprehensif, database yang kota-lebar yang mencatat semua kejahatan yang dilaporkan atau keluhan, penangkapan, dan surat panggilan yang dikeluarkan di masing-masing kota 76 daerah sekitar. Pejabat kota sebelumnya percaya bahwa kejahatan tidak dapat dicegah dengan informasi yang lebih baik dan alat-alat analisis melainkan dengan menggunakan patroli kaki lebih di lingkungan bersama dengan konsep community policing di mana upaya yang dilakukan untuk memperkuat keterlibatan kelompok masyarakat. Sebaliknya, Bratton dan Rudy Giuliani, maka walikota new york city, percaya bahwa polisi bisa lebih efektif dalam mengurangi kejahatan jika keputusan operasional berlangsung di tingkat polisi dan informasi jika pengambil keputusan lebih baik. Komandan polisi berada dalam posisi yang lebih baik daripada markas polisi untuk memahami kebutuhan spesifik dari masyarakat yang mereka layani dan untuk mengarahkan pekerjaan polisi 200 hingga 400 mereka berhasil. CompStat memberi komandan polisi lebih wewenang dan tanggung jawab, tetapi juga akuntabilitas. Pada pertemuan mingguan, perwakilan dari masing-masing daerah sekitar NYPD, area layanan, dan kabupaten angkutan diletakkan pada kursi panas di markas olisi dan diminta untuk memberikan ringkasan statistik pengaduan kejahatan minggu, penangkapan dan aktivitas panggilan, serta kasus-kasus penting, pola kejahatan, dan kegiatan polisi. Komandan harus menjelaskan apa yang telah dilakukan untuk mengurangi kejahatan di distrik-distrik di bawah komando mereka, dan jika kejahatan sudah naik, mereka harus menjelaskan mengapa. Komandan yang bertanggungjawab secara langsung terhadap mengurangi kejahatan di daerah mereka perintah. Di masa lalu, mereka dievaluasi terutama berdasarkan kemampua n administratif mereka, seperti tinggal di dalam anggaran dan menggunakan sumber daya secara efisien. Data ini memberikan komandan, termasuk waktu dan lokasi spesifik dari kejahatan dan kegiatan penegakan hukum, akan diteruskan ke unit CompStat NYPD mana mereka dimuat ke dalam database kota-lebar. Sistem ini menganalisis data dan menghasilkan laporan CompStat mingguan keluhan kejahatan dan kegiatan penangkapan di kantor polisi, patroli borough, dan tingkat luas kota. Data dirangkum dalam satu minggu, 30 hari sebelumnya, dan tahun-to-date untuk perbandingan dengan kegiatan tahun sebelumnya dan untuk menetapkan tren. Unit CompStat juga mengeluarkan laporan mingguan komandan profil untuk mengukur kinerja komandan polisi. Laporan mingguan Komandan profil mencakup informasi tentang tanggal komandan pengangkatan, tahun pangkat, pendidikan dan pelatihan khusus, terbaru kinerja Peringkat evaluasi, unit orang yang sebelumnya diperintahkan, jumlah lembur yang dihasilkan oleh polisi di bawah bahwa komandan, tingkat absensi, demografi masyarakat, dan keluhan sipil. Menggunakan MapInfo sistem informasi geografis (GIS) software, data CompStat dapat ditampilkan pada peta yang menunjukkan kejahatan dan lokasi penangkapan, kejahatan hot spot, dan informasi lain yang relevan. Perbandingan grafik, tabel, dan grafik juga dapat diproyeksikan secara bersamaan. Ini presentasi visual yang membantu komandan polisi dan anggota staf eksekutif NYPD untuk dengan cepat mengidentifikasi pola dan tren. Tergantung pada intelijen yang diperoleh dari sistem, kepala polisi dan kapten mengembangkan strategi ditargetkan untuk memerangi kejahatan, seperti pengiriman patroli kaki lebih ke lingkungan-kejahatan yang tinggi, atau isuuing peringatan kepada masyarakat saat model tertentu kendaraan rentan terhadap pencurian. Selama masa Bratton 27 bulan, kejahatan serius di new york turun sebesar 25% dan pembunuhan turun sebesar 44%. Kejahatan di new york city telah menurun sebesar 69% dalam 12 tahun terakhir. Skeptis tidak percaya bahwa CompStat bertanggung jawab atas hasil ini. Mereka menunjuk ke penurunan jumlah anak muda, laki-laki miskin, ekonomi membaik, program yang mengurangi gulungan kesejahteraan masyarakat miskin sambil memberikan akses ke perumahan yang lebih baik, meningkatkan ukuran dari kepolisian NYC, dan memberikan komandan polisi lebih pengambilan keputusan dan tanggung jawab akuntabilitas. Namun demikian, Bratton, yakin bahwa CompStat merupakan katalisator untuk penurunan new york dalam kejahatan, imlemented sistem di los angeles untuk lebih membuktikan nilainya. Sejak diperkenalkannya CompStat, dikombinasikan kejahatan kekerasan dan properti di los angeles turun selama enam tahun berturut-turut. Namun rasio polisi terhadap penduduk adalah hanya setengah dari new york dan Chicago. CompStat juga telah diadopsi di philadelphia, austin, san fransisco, baltimore, dan vancouver, british columbia. Skeptis menunjukkan bahwa kejahatan telah jatuh di semua wilayah perkotaan di negara bersatu sejak tahun 1990 terlepas dari a akah kota digunakan CompStat. Bahkan, sebuah studi kritis CompStat oleh yayasan polisi menemukan bahwa CompStat mendorong polisi untuk hanya reaktif daripada proaktif dalam memerangi kejahatan. Mengirim polisi untuk di mana kejahatan telah menjadi masalah adalah, dengan kata lain, terlambat. CompStat mendorong apa dasar polisi disebut mendera-a-mole teori ke polisian, mirip dengan permainan yang dimainkan di taman hiburan. Daripada perubahan departemen kepolisian menjadi pejuang kejahatan gesit, yayasan menemukan bahwa database telah melekat pada organisasi tradisional, yang sendiri tetap tidak berubah. Karena penekanan pada mengurangi kejahatan dan karena pentingnya baru ditemukan tindak kriminal kepada petugas karier, CompStat telah menciptakan tekanan pada beberapa komandan polisi untuk memanipulasi statistik kejahatan untuk menghasilkan hasil yang positif. Petugas harus terus meningkatkan statistik kejahatan mereka, meskipun menyusut anggaran dan berkurangnya jumlah petugas. Sebuah studi yang dilakukan pada tahun 2009 melalui kuesioner yang diberikan kepada 1200 kapten pensiunan polisi dan perwira yang lebih senior menyimpulkan bahwa hampir sepertiga dari responden menyadari manipulasi etis data kejahatan. Lebih dari 100 responden survei mengatakan bahwa tekanan kuat untuk menghasilkan pengurangan kejahatan tahunan menyebabkan beberapa supervisor dan komandan polisi untuk memanipulasi statistik kejahatan. Misalnya, petugas diketahui untuk memeriksa katalog, ebay, dan situs lainnya untuk item yang sama dengan yang dilaporkan dicuri, mencari harga yang lebih rendah bisa mereka gunakan untuk mengurangi nilai barang yang dicuri untuk tujuan menyimpan catatan. Pencurian berat, kejahatan besar, dianggap pencurian barang senilai $ 1000 atau lebih, sedangkan pencurian barang senilai kurang dari $ 1000 hanya kejahatan ringan. Dengan menggunakan metode ini, daerah sekitar dapat mengurangi jumlah pencurian kejahatan, dianggap sebagai kejahatan index dan dilacak oleh CompStat. Survei dan bukti anekdotal juga menunjukkan kurangnya keterbukaan di aprt polisi di beberapa daerah, mungkin didorong oleh keinginan untuk mengurangi jumlah insiden kejahatan yang dilaporkan. Beberapa responden survei menyatakan komandan polisi atau pembantu dikirim ke Cime adegan kadang-kadang mencoba membujuk korban untuk tidak mengajukan keluhan atau mendesak mereka untuk mengubah account mereka dari apa yang terjadi dengan cara yang bisa menurunkan tindak pidana kejahatan ringan. Studi sebelumnya CompStat mengalami keengganan oleh NYPD untuk mengungkapkan data mereka metode pelaporan. Seorang profesor melakukan penelitian yang pada akhirnya memuji pengaruh CompStat pada kejahatan di new york city diberi akses penuh ke data kejahatan NYPD, tetapi NYPD tidak bekerja sama dengan komisi untuk memerangi korupsi polisi (CCPC), suatu lembaga yang independen yang memantau korupsi polisi. Komisi mencari kekuatan subpoena untuk menuntut pergantian NYPD atas data dan prosedur pengumpulan data untuk mengungkap potensi perbuatan salah oleh polisi. Sayangnya, komisi itu ditolak akses ke data ini setelah oposisi kepolisian yang kuat. Di sisi lain, versi CompStat telah diadopsi oleh ratusan polisi departemen lain di seluruh negara bersatu, dan pendekatan CompStat telah dikreditkan dengan meningkatkan kerja polisi di banyak kota, di kota new york sendiri, banyak masyarakat percaya bahwa kejahatan turun, dan bahwa kota ini menjadi tempat yang lebih aman dan lebih menyenangkan untuk hidup. Pertanyaan studi kasus 1. faktor apa manajemen, organisasi, dan teknologi membuat CompStat efektif? 2. dapat departemen kepolisian secara efektif memerangi kejahatan tanpa sistem CompStat? Apakah perpolisian masyarakat sesuai dengan CompStat? Jelaskan jawaban Anda. 3. mengapa petugas salah melaporkan data-data tertentu ke CompStat? Apa yang harus dilakukan tentang misreporting data?

Diego Rivera An Artist Essays - Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo

Diego Rivera An Artist DIEGO RIVERA BY ANGEL MENDOZA My artist name is Diego Rivera he is a Mexican painter who produced murals on social themes and who ranks one of my countries greatest artists. He was born in Guanajuato and educated at the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts , in Mexico City. he studied painting in Europe between 1907 and 1921, becoming familiar with the innovative cubist forms of the French painter Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso. In 1921 Riviera returned to Mexico and took a prominent part in revival of mural painting initiated by artists and sponsored by the government . Believing that art should serve the working people and be readily available to them , he concentrated on painting large frescoes, concerning the history and social problems of Mexico, on the walls of public buldings.His works during 1930s included frescoes the Ministry of Educational Mexico City and in the National Agricultural School in Chapingo. Rivera was an active member of the Mexican Communist party , and he painted murals in the National Palace , Mexico City 1929, and the Palace Cortes , Cuernavaca1930 .In 1929 Riviera married Frida Kahlo who is now considered to have been a leading 20th century Mexican painter. I think what I like the most the murals that he painted I liked how he drew the Indian people their faces the scenery , the palace and his style. Riviera's murals are rich in archeological detail and painted in sharply outlined , linear style. Most of them have clear , three dimensional figures in a shallow space , although a deep spatial extension of landscape appears at the top of some works . Rivera also executed easel paintings and portraits and designed and built his Mexico City house , the Anahuacalli, which is now a museum housing the extensive collection of pre-Columbian art that he left for Mexican people . I liked the water colors that Riviera used for the murals and the way he painted the pictures .I imagine take him a long time to draw the murals and paint them and drawing the faces . I have seen his murals in the walls in Mexico City and I really think is very hard to draw the murals and I also have seen in the museums alot of pictures that Riviera has drawn and I was really impressed with all his work. The thing that I liked the most were the murals that he drew and the painting and how he drew the faces of the people and the different colors of skins of the people . I enjoyed learning about Diego Rivera and also because his from my country. Art Essays

Five Reasons Why Blogging Improves Your Writing

Five Reasons Why Blogging Improves Your Writing Five Reasons Why Blogging Improves Your Writing Five Reasons Why Blogging Improves Your Writing By Ali Hale Do you have your own blog? If so, do you sometimes feel guilty about spending time writing for your blog rather than working on something which you consider more â€Å"worthwhile†? If you don’t have a blog, have you ever thought of starting one? Perhaps you’re not sure whether it would be worth the investment of your time and energy. Here are five great ways that starting your own blog, or continuing writing the one you already have, can improve your writing. 1. You’ll get into the habit of writing regularly We’ve covered ways to write every day before, and this really is a good habit to establish if you have serious writing ambitions. Blog posts tend to be short and can be online as soon as you’ve written them: it’s much easier to write daily on your blog than to keep plugging away on stories and articles that might not be published for months, if at all. 2. Instant feedback lets you know how you’re doing If you are writing purely for yourself, you don’t need feedback. Most of us, though, feel that a piece of writing is not complete until it has a reader. (Indeed, there is a school of critical theory that insists a piece of writing only truly exists whilst it is being read.) One of the best things about blogging is that not only is publishing instant, feedback is too. As soon as your piece is posted, readers will start adding their comments, emailing you, or even linking to it from their own blogs. You’ll know when your writing is good because you’ll get positive responses. Negative feedback, or none at all, will tip you off that your style might need work, or that the content of your piece may be boring, trite or over-done. 3. Having readers for your work is a big motivation Do you have days when you sit down to write †¦ and stare at the screen for ages before giving up in frustration? Sometimes you just aren’t â€Å"in the mood† to write. When you’re feeling motivated, though, the words come easily. Knowing that real people are reading what you write is a huge boost – something you can only appreciate once you’ve experienced it. Even on days when you’re feeling less than inspired, the thought of your readers can be enough to get you writing. 4. Your writing will improve The best way to get better at anything is to practice. Writing frequently for your blog means your writing will improve – both as you react to feedback, and as you learn how to craft effective sentences and choose perfect words. If you already write a blog, look back at your earliest posts. Do they make you cringe, when compared to your writing now? 5. Blogs are an ideal medium for experimentation Sometimes, you might want to try out a new style or form of writing. Short sentences. (With no verbs.) Bullet pointed lists A more verbose, elegant and poised style, using the rhythms and cadences of the English language to transform a piece of writing into a work of art. Writing a whole story, article or even a book in a new style could be a big risk – what if it doesn’t work? A blog post, on the other hand, is quick to write and free to publish: if it fails, you’ve not lost much. Blogging gives you the freedom to experiment, to try out something new. If blogging’s made you a better writer, let us know how in the comments below. 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 General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Dialogue Dos and Don'tsâ€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†90 Verbs Starting with â€Å"Ex-†

Operation Management and Quality Management Essay

Operation Management and Quality Management - Essay Example However, quality management remains an under-researched concept in strategic resource management (Powell, 1995). The standards provided by the ISO 9000 (ISO) were developed from the ISO/TC document, and quality management criteria is now used in corporations across the globe which have been taken up by over 880, 000 corporations in over 161 nations (International Organization for Standardization, 2006). As such, the ISO is a generic management system benchmark for quality management expectations in business due to; its customer-centered approach to their needs and requirements; its regulatory requirements; its orientation toward customer satisfaction; and commitment to continual improvement achieving these goals (International Organization for Standardization). An individually owned corporation that has successfully implemented the ISO standards is FEXCO in County Kerry, Ireland, is an internationally recognized competitive company (FEXCO, 2006a). The corporation provides world wide payment services for both corporate and public markets, for activities such as financial transfers, bureau de change and currency conversion. On average, FEXCO processes 19 million transactions annually. Over 1,400 staffs are employed with the company, almost half of them being based in Kerry, and the others located in country offices in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Malta, Australia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Dubai and the USA. Predominantly, FEXCO has adopted ISO 9000 guidelines to assist with decision making with regard to information technologies (IT), and country and currency codes. The corporation first implemented the ISO code in 1996.FEXCO displays its commitment to ISO principles in its description of its core competencies and values; a commitment to the best technology, staff and services; a focus on the customer (i.e., people matter); a desire to form long-term relationships with stakeholders; transparency and accountability of corporate practices; embracing innovation and treasury management; and having technology driving the global payment transactions (FEXCO, 2006b). The organization was recently awarded the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance accreditation for its excelling efforts to implement technology that secures cardholder account data security. The award is an example of the effectiveness of ISO principles, as further elaborated by Managing Director of FEXCO, Dermot O'Shea: We are delighted to have received this important payment card industry accreditation. As FEXCO deploys its Dynamic Currency Conversion solutions internationally, it is vital that we are accredited by the Visa AIS and MasterCard SDP programs to ensure a high level of confidence for our ever-growing customer base (FEXCO, 2006c). With regard to its focus on continual improvement of staff, FEXCO has drawn on ISO standards to develop managers by providing them the opportunity to pass a Diploma in Management FEXCO, 2006d). Working in conjunction with Carole Hogan & Associates, the managers were accredited by the Institute of Commercial Management, a world renowned Foundation that provides high quality education. The Diploma was initiated in February of 2005 in Kerry, and aims to expose new managers to an overview of corporate culture, procedures, guidelines (e.g., ISO 9000) and goals. Identify the

MPH502-Introduction to Public Health (Module 3 SLP) Essay

MPH502-Introduction to Public Health (Module 3 SLP) - Essay Example In this step it is assessed as to how much a certain disease is prevalent and what has been done in this regard. In this step the government takes data of different hospitals and analyzes which disease or disorder is increasing and needs to be addressed. It also analyzes if the health care programs are fulfilling the needs of the individuals who are suffering from such problems. Moreover all this is analyzed by the government officials and specific figures are taken. These figures are then compared and a proper research method is carried out to see how much the disease has affected people and how much is being done in this regard. This particular step is mainly developed by the federal government as they are the ones who design policies. And it is the state and local governments who have to follow these policies later. In this step specific policies are developed so as to counter act on the analysis of different diseases that have been found in the region. These policies also include health care programs for workers and other civilians. Programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance program are examples of the policies designed by the government. These programs help to provide insurance to those people who have a low income or are above the age of 65. Similarly environmental policies are also implemented which aim at lowering the incidence of a certain disease such as the swine flu. All these policies were developed in the aim of lowering the prevalence of a certain disease and increasing health coverage to all the individuals living in the society. However more policies are needed regarding the prevention of certain diseases and disorders, for example coverage for all the individuals living in the society for free and without any exceptions. State governments are mainly responsible for the health promotion activities. Health promotion activities such as the prevention of AIDs have been widely

Ornament and Crime by Adolf Loos | Analysis

Ornament and Crime by Adolf Loos | Analysis The art of argumentation is not an easy skill to acquireà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It is easy to name call, easy to ignore the point of view or research of others, and extremely easy to accept ones own opinion as gospel.1 The 1908 essay Ornament and Crime by Adolf Loos is a collection of contradictory, hysterical, ill-conceived rants that were fomented by a sullen elitist. Loos implores the reader to cast off the wicked ways of the old and take up the fight for a new modern and more civilized era-an era that pictures the human race at its zenith with no ornamentation whatsoever. Although he was there to ride the wave of the Modernist Movement his essay decrying the ornament of the past can best be described as a reflection of a troubled man. Instead of putting forth new ideas he directs the reader to look with derision on other ones. Ornament and Crime has no continuity and is, in large part, simply opinions with little, no or bizarre base in facts. Loose writes of a civilization where, Men had gone far enough for ornament no longer to arouse feelings of pleasure in them, of a place where if there were no ornament at allà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦man would only have to work four hours instead of eight, and of a place where people say, Thank God,' when theres a fire, now there will be work for people to do again.' Loos could not have been more wrong about the future of art, architecture and human civilization. Ornamentation is not needless expression and is indeed an integral part of modern civilization that cannot be eliminated. Ornament and Crime begins with Loos describing an overly simplistic and narrow view of humans early development that shows his relativistic and class-based thinking. The human embryo goes through the whole history of animal evolution in its mothers womb, and a newborn child has the sensory impressions of a puppy. His childhood takes him through the stages of human progress; at the age of two he is a Papuan savage, at four he has caught up with the Teutonic tribesman. At six he is level with Socrates, and at eight with Voltaire. For at this age he learns to distinguish violet, the colour that the eighteenth century first discovered before that violets were blue and tyrian was red. Physicists can already point to colours they have named, but that only later generations will be able to distinguish. Loose breaks no ground with his observation that the senses of newborns are feeble; this is the very definition of what it means to be newborn. But the comparison between humans and dogs is ludicrous; might one not also consider the inherit potential that lies inside a newborn dog on one hand, and a newborn human on the other? At age two human is like a Papuan, a dark-skinned person from what is now Papua New Guinea, an evolutionary link just above a dog. Just able to walk on two legs and form rudimentary words but apparently unable to achieve full human status. Although racism was and still is all too common, science had fully blossomed by 1908 and such concepts as the theory of evolution had already been around for over 50 years. When attempting to write a forward-thinking essay it is tragic that Loos found it necessary and thought it acceptable to use such backward examples as part of a logical argument. Papuans had developed agricultural based societies some 6,000 to 9,000 years ago. Given better resources with which to work with Papuans may have well have been the ones to put Europeans in zoos.2 At age four, Loos writes, people are like the barbarians from the north that ancient Rome fought nearly two millennia ago-heathen savages. Then, quite unexpectedly there is a great leap in learning; a six-year-old is able to philosophize on the level of Socrates. Loos then takes one of many fantastic swerves from logic and declares that at the age of Voltaire a child is finally able to distinguish subtleties in the color wheel. It is unclear why Loos would choose Voltaire, a philosopher and writer, to use as an example of the developmental level when a person can distinguish a specific color, or its relevance. It is amazing to think that Loos knew children of eight years of age that had the wit of someone as legendary as Voltaire, not to mention the six-year-old Socrates. Perhaps most amazing though, is Loos complete and total lack of evidence that any of what he writes in his opening paragraph can be substantiated. His introductory observations continue and Mr. Loos writes of amoral children, murder, cannibalism, tattoos and morality. When a tattooed man dies at liberty, it is only that he died a few years before he committed a murder. This is his tie to the argument that ornament is a criminal act? This is why no school should have a statue at its front entry; no lapel should be adorned with a pin? Will these wanton decorations lead to mass murder? According to a 2004 survey by the American Academy of Dermatology, 24% of the respondents had a tattoo.3 By Loos standard we are all in deep trouble. Is it possible that he overstates himself? Mariners commonly had tattoos during his time and while they might have been a rough bunch as a whole, to state that their death is the only thing preventing them from committing murder is truly odd to any steady thinker. There is also no escaping the fact that the civilization that Loos felt was nearly at the point of building Zion, the holy city, the capital of heaven, was already in the midst of a period of slaughter and genocide such as the world had never seen. Not by savages and tattooed marauders but by politicians and titans of industry.4 After Loos interprets the amoral human embryo and the tattooed man, he launches into the origins of art and ornament. All art is erotic. Loos states. The first artistic act was performed to rid oneself of surplus energy. He compares the horizontal dash with a reclining woman and the vertical dash with a man penetrating her, concluding that the first ornament to be born was the cross, which was erotic in origin. Though ancient cross symbols have been seen as phallic symbols the fact that he sees only eroticism in the simple lines is bizarre in a truly Freudian way. Loos also neglects to elaborate on the other, probably older symbol, the circle. This reflects on his view of the profane, which is his main point, apparently, in the first section of the essay. He seems incapable of thinking that images of reproduction were not eroticism but merely represented life. His next argument for ornament as a crime is by using bathroom graffiti and the drawings of young children as examples of art. As to the former, One can measure the culture of a country by the degree to which its lavatory walls are daubed. To the latter, [a childs] first artistic expression is to scrawl on the walls erotic symbols. Loos is quite obviously deeply haunted by perverse thoughts and was himself in need of an outlet for his own surplus energy. To claim that young children are scribbling erotica on the walls is troubling. In a modern setting if a child were to actually do this, an investigation into criminal acts of pedophilia would take place. Again, with nothing to back up his claim, no correlative story, one has to wonder how he came to these conclusions. In order to bring any cohesion to Ornament and Crime and Loos thesis, The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from utilitarian objects, it is necessary to take a look at the experiences Loos had and the context in which he lived. Loos traveled to America in 1893. During that year he attended the Worlds Fair in Chicago and was impressed by much of the current architecture, particularly of American architect Louis Sullivan. Sullivan is famous for his saying, form ever follows function, which would later be shortened to form follows function.5 Sullivan and fellow-minded American architect Frank Lloyd Wright had the idea that buildings themselves could become ornament. They should fit into their surroundings and become part of the landscape. They were not however, opponents of ornament. Towards the end of his career in fact, Sullivan designed a number of buildings that were highlighted by ornament and are called his Jewel Boxes.6 Frank Lloyd Wright, in additio n to being an architect, was an art collector and dealer. He also designed the furniture for many of his buildings. Though the American architects had new visions for ornament it certainly was not left out of their design work. Loos remained in America for three years and while there, he was forced to labor at menial jobs such as floor layer, brick layer and even dish washer until late in 1894 when he found a position as an architectural draftsman in New York. He returned to Vienna a changed man. Back in Vienna, Loos was confronted with a floundering empire that dwelled on old architectural styles that promoted flourishes and grand faà §ades. He responded by designing the Cafà © Museum in 1899. It was well designed yet very simple. It had arched windows looking into an arched room. The light fixtures left the light bulbs exposed and he did a novel thing by making the electrical connections to the chandeliers out of brass strips banding the ceiling. Cafà © Museum was stark for the time but by no means free of ornament-the ornament had just become more streamlined. The response to this functional design was not complimentary, Loos created this simple Viennese coffee house during the peak of the Art Nouveau period. The cafà © was nicknamed Cafà © Nihilism7 and Loos was incensed that the privileged classes of Austria werent as forward thinking as the people in America and Britain. He called his critics, hob goblins and blamed them for smothering a society he saw only evolving without ornament, Humanity is still to groan under the slavery of ornament. Loos blames the stagnant attitudes, the ornament disease on the state, which was the centuries old Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ornament does not heighten my joy in life or the joy in life of any cultivated person. So on one hand Loos decries the fact that a carpenters bench wouldnt be preserved for the ages as worthy of notice and on the other he preaches that the love of something unadorned is something only the cultivated can understand. He blames the slow speed of cultural-revolution on stragglers and gives as examples his neighbors that are stuck in the years 1900 or 1880, the peasants of Kals (a secluded mountain town in Austria) are living in the twelfth century, and the man of the fifteenth century [who] wont understand me. These very people who are stuck in the past and are keeping society from moving forward also seem to be the focus of a contradiction Loos is unable to explain away, try as he might. And somehow, through this narcissistic attitude of preaching to the aristocrat, Loos seems to have stumbled upon a rational argument and an undeveloped reasoning behind his thesis. Ornament is a crime against the national economy that it should result in the waste of human labour, money and material. Loos recognizes, however briefly, that people naturally tire of objects before their use is done, and if gone unchecked, the need to consume could become problematic. As an example of this wastefulness, Loos points to a mans suite or a ladys ball gown but he then irrationally compares them to a desk. But woe if a desk has to be changed as quickly as a ball gown because the old form has become intolerable. Loos inability to give the credit of common sense to his audience is only exasperated by his next argument. If all objects would last aesthetically as long as they do physically, the consumer could pay a price for them that would enable the worker to earn more money and work shorter hours. Loos does however scrape the surface and begin to relate how craftspeople are paid poorly and how changing tastes are causing some items that are completely unadorned to be priced the same as items with a high degree of ornament. He points out that productivity can increase with an end to frills and filagree. What economic paradigm was he using that would allow greater compensation for more productivity in less time? I will grant that I have one hundred years of economic history to look on that Loos wasnt privy to, but thinking that workers would benefit from working less defies logic. In addition, didnt Loos argue that the birth of ornament sprang from mankinds surplus energy? His point then becomes ridiculous-remove ornamentation from all utilitarian objects in order to save time and money thus providing mankind with the surplus energy necessary to ornament. This is where Loos argument completely falls apart. It is ironic and a pity that what seems to keep Loos from realizing that he is against consumerism and greed and not necessarily ornamentation seems to be his own fear to take a stand for what he believes in instead of what he is against. But he then compares a Chinese carver working for sixteen hours to an American worker, a product of the Industrial Revolution, working just eight hours. Of course the workers will make more money due to increased productivity. Yet, with this seemingly benevolent view of the working class he reminds us of his true thoughts, Loos touches on this when he recognizes that, people on a lower footing [are] easier to rule. Is it that the mason is too closely aligned with the working class and so is worthy of derision? So even with a plausible argument, that wasteful design is criminal, Adolf Loos goes off track and gets wrapped up in outlandish statements like, set fire to the empire and everyone will be swimming in money and prosperity and ornamented objects are tolerable only when they are of the most miserable quality. In his misdirected logic, Loos takes on some of the biggest names of the day, artist Otto Eckman and architect and designer Henry van de Velde, but he only weaves himself into further contradictions and confusion regarding ornament and crime. Loos claims that their works are not only a waste but that they fall out of fashion so quickly that furniture, clothing, entire households must be thrown out to make way for the new designs but he then goes on to say that the time is incapable of producing new ornament. You cant have it both ways, incapable of producing and producing too much. His entire argument that mankind was beyond ornament disregards the vibrant atmosphere around him; Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Deutscher Werkbund, The Secession even the advent of Modernism. Although some of the buildings he designed had some redeeming points to them his obsession with a purity of design resulted in his writings getting more attention than the buildings he designed. White and boxy with no aesthetic would be one way to describe the later Loos style. His low point probably came when he designed the Rufer House in 1922. Loos tried very hard to make a point but when his buildings are taken as point of reference I find it difficult to believe he made one. In the end is Queen Capitalism to be our sovereign? Is the capitalist a more advanced human than the artisan? How dare an architect refuse to acknowledge the suffering of his companions, his peers. That one can draw an interesting collection of boxes and with the other can carve beautiful scrollwork into marble, are they both not working to create a more visually distinctive and enjoyable world? Indeed, Loos himself admits that ornaments produce joy-only not for him. When he concedes that he is not above wearing ornament for the sake of others he is truly exposed as a fraud. As far as making a point in debate however, it is quite skillful of Loos to infer that any who oppose his view are simply lower forms of life, possibly even sub-human. If in discussion, someone dared disagree, Mr. Loos could simply fall back on the intellectually fraudulent, You obviously dont understand or Maybe the concept is beyond you. These tactics are well known to debaters but they are hollow in that they accept a theorem without a firm foundation of facts, and Ornament and Crime is fraught with ideological foundation issues. Had he said, How can so much wealth and effort go into a theatre when people are starving? That is an argument for ornament being a crime. Woman giving birth to children on the street and not being cared for at the expense of some filigree, that could be argued to be criminal. The people with plenty spend their time shirking their duty to their fellow human beings; that could be considered criminal. It sounds like this son of a stonemason was trying too hard to impress his friends. In the end he has been remembered, not so much for his building designs but for this argument. Bringing aesthetic value to something is a gift, not a crime. To make an object that is already useful, graceful and a delight to the senses enhances the value of that object. The true crime is to deny or suppress the human desire to create, beautify, fashion into something that can only be seen in the mind. Of the question Is Ornament a Crime? I will retort by asking my own questions. Is a flower ostentatious? Is the plant much more pleasing before it has bloomed? I would boldly state that flowering plants are indeed not cultivated for their leaves and stalks. Is a bird, bright with plumage, blight on the horizon? Does water flow in such an objectionable way as to create eddies and whirlpools to offend the senses? I must answer no to these questions and simply say that ornamentation is the flower of humankind, a necessary expression for all civilizations that cannot and will not be eliminated while there is still a creative spark in us. -A note about the lack of accompanied imagery- There are a multitude of images that could be displayed as examples of ornament that could be viewed as good or bad. Humanity has created a myriad of expressions since self-realization happened. The expression itself is not the point, it could be any expression at any point in the history of mankind. The fact that humans should not be inhibited to create is what is at issue whether it be in architecture, dance, art, song; therefore I felt it would be superfluous to include snippets of creativity that could never encompass what all peoples have created in the last. 20,000 years.