Friday, November 29, 2019

For Or Against School Uniform Essays - Uniforms, Childrens Clothing

For Or Against School Uniform SCHOOL UNIFORMS Good or Bad Idea The head teacher of a local primary school is thinking of introducing a school uniform. .Can uniforms really make a difference to a child's academic performance. . Would uniforms infringe on the child's creativity and self expression . Clothes don not make the child Reasons For School uniforms can put the emphasis on school work instead of dressing in designer wear. It may also help lower to lower school violence. In a time when school children are getting assaulted for designer jackets and shoes, uniforms may be exactly what is needed. Uniforms can also help to identify outsiders within a school. Drug dealers would have to wear uniforms in order to be able to roam the school grounds without being spotted. The uniforms can also help parents to save money. Designer clothes are expensive and a student would need to have at least five different outfits to wear to school. Where a child wearing uniform would only need two sets of clothes. School uniform also help to to erase lines between the social classes. Since all students will be dressed alike, it will be impossible to tell the difference from a student from a low income and one from a high income family. Reasons Against Arguments against school uniforms believe school uniforms will lessen children's individualism and creativity. It will infringe on students rights. Students have very little say in the daily routine of their lives, so deciding what to wear is one of the few methods students have to control their lives. Clains have been made that school uniforms enforce conformity rather than individuality. Some reasons given by students who do not wish to wear a school uniform. Doses not allow freedom of expression No Choice Can't wear logos I will look like everyone else Not my style Limited colour and fabric Anoher claim is, if you take away a child's self expression through clothing, you force that child to express his or herself in other ways. This might even force a child to resort to even more violent forms of expression and continue to disrupt the class. Conclusion In today's society, students are fighting each other in schools because of ther students that wear rival gang colours and clothing. Children whose parents cannot afford designer clothes are automatically put out of the in crowd and they may feel unhappy and left out. A school uniform would mean students would not be judged by what they wear, instead they will be judged on their personality. Can uniforms make a difference? It may be a start. Uniforms will give all stuents a chance to fit in regardless of their social background. They will also take the students focus off having the right clothes and put it back on having the right attitude. I feel school uniforms are a good idea because, they help the students to keep focused on academics and improve their behaviour. Even after school hours, while they are in their school uniform, they would be easily identified as a member of the school.However, we cannot let the term free country becoming meaningless by taking away more and more student choices. If students are unable to express themselves through their clothing, we must be sure to provide alternative forums for students to develop a sense of self. Social Issues

Monday, November 25, 2019

USDA Loans and Grants for Single Family Home Repair

USDA Loans and Grants for Single Family Home Repair The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers low-interest loans and grants to very-low-income homeowners in eligible rural areas for certain improvements to their homes. Specifically, the USDA’s Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants Program offers: Loans to qualified very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve, or modernize their homes. Loans may be used to repair, improve, or modernize the home, or to remove health and safety hazards from the home.Grants to qualified elderly very-low-income homeowners. Grants must be used to remove health and safety hazards from the home. Who Can Apply? In order to qualify for loans or grants, applicants must: Be the homeowner and actually live in the home;Be a citizen of the United States or reside in the United States after having been granted legal permanent resident (green card) status;Be financially unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere;Have a combined family income below 50% of the area median income; andFor grants, be age 62 or older and be financially unable to repay a conventional home repair loan. What is an Eligible Area? USDA Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants Program loans and grants are generally available to homeowners in rural areas with community populations of less than 35,000. The USDA provides a web page where prospective applicants can check their address to determine their eligibility online. Within the population limit, loans and grants are available in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas and the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands. How Much Money is Available? Loans of up to $20,000 and grants of up to $7,500 are available. However, a person age 62 or older may be eligible for combined loans and grants totaling up to $27,500. What are the Terms of the Loans or Grants? Compared to conventional home repair loans, with interest rates averaging over 4.5%, the terms of the USDA loans are very attractive. Loan interest rates are fixed at 1%.Loans can be repaid over a period of 20 years.Full title service is required for loans of $7,500 or more. (Title service fees are costs associated with issuing a title insurance policy for the lender.)Grants have a lifetime limit of $7,500.Grants do not have to be repaid unless the house is sold in less than 3 years.If the applicant can repay part, but not all of the costs, the applicant may be offered a combination of a loan and a grant. Are There Deadlines to Apply? As long as Congress continues to fund the program in the annual federal budget, applications for the loans and grants can be submitted year around. How Long Does the Application Take? Applications for loans and grants are processed in the order they are received. Processing times may vary depending on the availability of funds in the applicant’s area. How Do You Apply? To begin the process, applicants should meet with a USDA home loan specialist in their area for help with the application. What Laws Govern this Program? The Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants Program is authorized and regulated under the Housing Act of 1949 as amended (7 CFR, Part 3550) and House Bill HB-1-3550 - Direct Single Family Housing Loans and Grants Field Office Handbook. Note: Since the above laws are subject to amendment, applicants should contact USDA home loan specialist in their area for current program details.   Other Government Sources of Loans and Incentives Besides the USDA’s home repair loans and grants programs, financial help for home repairs or modifications is available from other government sources. Some programs are available nationwide, while others are only available at the state or county level. The HUD Title 1 Property Improvement Loan program offers loan amounts and repayment terms based on the type of property. HUD insures private lenders against loss on property improvement loans they make.HUD’s 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program allows qualified homebuyers and homeowners to finance up to $35,000 into their mortgage to repair, improve, or upgrade their home.Information about home repair or improvement assistance available through local county government housing departments can be found at the various state Department of Housing and Urban Development offices. Help for Certain Demographic Groups The Department of Veterans Affairs Home Loans Service offers loans for all qualified veterans and specially adapted housing grants to disabled servicemembers and veterans to help purchase or construct an adapted home, or modify an existing home to accommodate their disability.The U.S. government’s Eldercare Locator website offers tips on home safety and assistance in finding local home improvement loan programs in its Home Repair and Modification section.Native Americans can learn more about how to qualify and get housing improvement grants and loans from the Public and Indian Housing (PIH) Customer Service Center.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Marketing Management First Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Management First Assessment - Essay Example Virginia Community Capital Inc. is however unique because it is a non-profit motivated bank. The bank target mostly low income and middle income earning individuals to empower them. While at this, the bank often earn considerable amount of profit that is majorly given back to the community with regard to communal services (Savitz, 2013 p.12). This is the first pillar of the Triple Bottom Line analysis that is to be employed to analyze the overall performance of Virgin Community Capital Inc. (VCC). The bank’s greatest source is the interests it earns from the loans it advances to the community for various activities they take. VCC is approximated to have issued out loans worth a total of $419 million. Below is analysis of the financial statement that reveals the ideal position of the organization (Chhabra, D., 2010 p.13). The bank is believed to have reported an earnings ratio of about 66% in the year 2012. This is higher than the 35% registered in 2011. This implies that the expense of interest increased more than the increase of the interest earned by the bank. Deposition amount obviously was higher than the amount of loans in the year before. This depicts that at that particular juncture; the bank was working towards a negative ground and was registering a loss (Savitz, 2013 p.13). This is also portrayed by a trend analysis whereby the income interest increased as from the year before, 2011, 50%, compared to a lesser value in 2012, 17%. However, the interest from expense rose from 65% to 121% by 2012. It is prudent to note that the profit ratio is seen to have increased from 0.056 to 0.072 and is an indicator that bank is self sustainable due to the earned profit. The provision rate of loans in VCC is seen to have gone down. This depict that solvency of the bank in situations of default would be prudent since the bank is at less riskier loans in the current year. This is clear when you look at the decreasing loan loss provision ratio

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Rhetorical Situation Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Rhetorical Situation - Dissertation Example This essay declares that Dyson is a technology company that produces and sells mainly household appliances like fans, hand dryers and vacuums but are currently operating a new line of products called 360 Eye robots that are a floor-cleaning machine. Because it is a new inventory product, Dyson becomes the only company that can be trusted to provide quality and functional 360 Eye robots. They have original ideas that have never been tested anywhere giving them a greater advantage to know what the customers need in terms of floor cleaning. It is important to identify the types of the customers Dyson would wish to sell for in the future which could be an existing customer or new customers. This can be very possible if the company identifies the types of the customers they are selling at the moment so that they can target a similar type of the customers' in the future in different regions. This paper makes a conclusion that social media is very simple and practical and therefore Dyson can adopt to help the business in many years making it possible to improve their promotional performance in the subsequent years in operating the 360 Eye robot business, as the business can evaluate to see which tactics produced the best results. In addition, Social Media combines traditional characteristic where companies talk to the customer with a high magnified word of mouth. It provides a unique role that enable a customer to talk to one another therefore making it possible for the manager to harness this power to benefit the organization.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Effect of environmental regulations on trade Essay

Effect of environmental regulations on trade - Essay Example Held and McGrew (2002) review several definitions for globalization and emphasize that while all are accurate, few capture the complexity of the phenomenon and therefore, do not comprehensively define globalization. From their perspective, while it is virtually impossible to define globalization in a single sentence, it can best be described as an economic phenomenon whose primary motivation is the imposition of the capitalism and economic liberalization upon the global economy and, in brief, the globalization of capital.According to this definition, globalization is the removal of obstacles towards the movement of goods and services across national borders, such as import and export taxes, customs and tariffs, resulting in reduced state control over economies and markets.As may be inferred from the foregoing definition, globalization has facilitated the movement of capital goods across national borders, with little, if any, state intervention.Within the context of this understanding , globalization has expanded markets and, importantly, has provided producers, manufacturers and business entities both with access to foreign markets and the ability to compete with domestic goods on relatively equal terms.Even while emphasizing the validity of the aforementioned and stressing that trade liberalization has, to a very large extent, achieved all of the stated, it is important to concede to the fact that environmental regulations have countered the trend towards the free movement of goods and services across national boundaries. ... 2 Effect of Environmental Regulations on Trade As may have been deduced from the introduction, environmental regulations affect international trade volumes and patterns. The extent to which it may do so will be examined in this section. 2.1 Trade Volumes Several studies have upheld the argument that environmental regulations have the potential to function as obstacles to the movement of capital goods and services across national boundaries and, in so doing, afford domestic producers an advantage over foreign ones. These same studies have also found that countries which have comparatively lax environmental regulations have a comparative advantage over those which have more stringent regulations, insofar as attracting foreign direct investment is concerned (McCormick, 2001; Anweiler, Copeland and Taylor, 2002). On the basis of empirical evidence, however, Anweiler, Copeland and Taylor (2002) find that the aforementioned comparative advantage is not sustainable. For example, Mexico's lax environmental regulations may have afforded it a comparative advantage where US foreign direct investment is concerned but it has hardly contributed to the growth of Mexican international trade and exports since operative environmental regulations in ot her countries act as an obstacle to the entry of Mexican exports. Similarly, the comparatively low standards of domestic environmental regulations in the United States have adversely impacted US international trade volumes (McCormick, 2001). Indeed, in his study of US international trade from 1958-1994, McCormick (2001) found that environmental regulations functioned as a serious obstacles to US exports and trade, especially to Europe and

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Models of Professionalism in the PR Industry

Models of Professionalism in the PR Industry Professionalism is an attempt to translate one order of scarce resources, specialist knowledge and skills into social and economic rewards (Larson, 1977). It is describes as a sphere of expertise and identifying level of practice and competencies among Public Relations practitioners which has been developed for over hundreds years ago in our society. Different Public Relations (PR) associations shall practice different forms of code ethics. For example most of PR associations adopted Code of Athens while others have their own code of ethics as guidelines. In accordance to Brown (1986), he defined ethics as a set of values that establishes the criteria by which conduct will be judged. Ethics also are culture-bound and therefore create some difficulties for global public relations practice. Thus, Code of Ethics is a formal statement of an organisations values on certain ethical and social issues. The famous four models that influence the contemporary public relation theories of practice were adapted from Grunig and Hunts (1984). They comprised of Public agentry /publicity that was used to draw attention to an event. A two-way asymmetric will deal with the feedback from the public by providing persuasive communication. Whereas a two way symmetric is mutual understandings between the public and organisation that was built through dialogue, listening and understanding. Other theories discussed are the systems theory that helped to explain and predict organisation behaviours and contribution of PR role to the entity as whole. A situational theory is a tools to categorise publics perceptions of a situation and their subsequent behaviour; and agenda setting theory discussed about the media and the way news is selected by media outlets for consumption by the public (Sheehan Xavier 2009). PR practitioner are demanded to be ethical as they go professional. According to Seithel (1997), PR practitioner must be honest and trustworthy to cater the needs of the public and individual organisation in order to protect those who entrust their well being to the professional (try to rephrase the sentence- vague). They also need to protect their profession values and commit themselves to uphold the profession by honouring its obligation and values. In order to quantify professionalism, PR practitioner should demonstrate their skills on handling special tasks. Professionalism are divided into three categories. First, it is an act to serve the best interest of client and public, Utility of vagueness (Kultgen,1988) which contributes to the ideological use of functionalist models in the struggle for status. Secondly, it acts as an ideology of advocacy (Simon, 1978) where professional is neutral and detached from the clients purposes and also create an aggressive partisan of the client working to advance the clients needs. Finally, they denote a right that the public possesses by virtue of being the primary, generic unit in society. It is also denotes a benefit(s) from publics relationship with other units to insure the well-being of society as a whole.(nda ku paham) However as Bayles (1981) states not all responsibilities are those of individual professionals. Some are responsibilities of a profession as a whole and cannot be reduced to obligations of individual professionals. The use of professionalism normally linked in PR field with the expression of the need to improve occupational standing- body of knowledge, ethics and certification to understand the defining characteristics of profession (Cutlip, Center Broom, 1994, pp.129-163; Grunig Hunt, 1984,pp. 66-69; Wylie, 1994). This is to improve the effectiveness of public relations as well as their image of presentation. But how? Any examples For example, Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia does not belong to individual professional Public Relations practitioner but its portals who desire the systematic, organized growth and development of Public Relations as a profession, who contribute positively to the nations continuous growth and development in all spheres of human endeavours. This was subjected due to the different culture backgrounds and races in Malaysia. The main objective of Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia is to enhance professionalisms among public relations practitioners in Malaysia. To be more specific, the objectives of Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia are:- 1.Supports research and other educational activities in public relations. 2.Giving advice and provide information and create opportunities for discussions on all aspects of public relation activities. 3.To promote the understanding, development and recognition of public relations. 4.To established and prescribe standards of professi onal and ethical conduct and ensure the observance of those standards. 5.To encourage the attainment of professional academic qualification. 6.To nurture, promote and maintain contacts with public relation practitioners. The Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia (IPRM) has its own code of ethics to manage the practice of Public Relations in Malaysia. Public Relations practitioners in Malaysia are governed in two ways, firstly by the Code of Professional Conduct (Code of Athens) which was enforced by the institute of Public Relations Malaysia. Any negligence they can be fined and deregistered. Secondly, it is governed by the law of the country where Public Relations practitioner can be sued or imprisoned for any offences committed under the law of the country such as Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984, Seditition Act 1948, Defamation Act 1957, Copyright Act 1987 and Internal Security act 1960, revised in 1972. Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia Code of Ethics was adapted from the Code of Athens where all members should:- 1.Conduct professional activities with respect for the public interest 2.Shall at all time  deal fairly and honestly with his client or employers, past and present, with fellow members and with the general public 3.Shall not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information; maintain truth, accuracy and good taste. 4.Shall not engage in any practices which tend to corrupt the integrity of channels of public communication. 5.Shall not create or use of any organisation purporting to serve some announced cause  but actually promoting a special private interest of a member or his client or his employer which is not apparent 6.Shall safeguards the confidence of both present and formers clients and employers. Shall not disclose confidential information. 7.Shall not represent conflicting or competing interest 8.Shall not accept fees, commission or any other valu able consideration from anyone either than his client or employer. 9.Shall not attract business unfairly 10.Shall not purpose to prospective client or employer that his fee or other compensation to be contingent on the achievement of certain result. 11.Shall not intentionally injure the profession reputation or practice of another member 12.Shall not engaged in or be connected with any occupation or business which is not consistent with membership of the institute. 13.Shall not seek to supplant another member with his/her employer or client, no shall he/she encroach upon the professional employment of another member unless both parties are assured that there is no conflict of interest involved. 14.Shall corporate with fellow members in upholding and enforcing the code. In Malaysia, system theory of public relations and strategy strengthen the concepts of public relations management in Malaysia. System theory (general system theory) is widely being applied to the field of public relation in order to explain and predict the organisational behaviours and explain how the public relations role contributes to the entity as a whole (Sheehan and Xavier, 2009). With the application of system theory, professional can play their adaptive roles in shaping the standards of professionalism based on the concept of adjustment and adaptation of public relations. It is important in creating transparency of the organisations to their environment. Professional public relations practitioners should be able to respond to the dynamic real world, especially in competitive business environment (Cutlip et al., 2000; Cornelissen, 2004:167) For example, case study done by Zulhamri Abdullah and Therry Threadgold: Waste Management Company, CEOs stated that Unlike multinational companies which are taking a great concern over public relations as they have gone up and down, but some Malaysian companies have not really exposed to high competition and being having good at all time. Malaysian CEOs must be more agile and competitive. Communication is very important for a company to be appeared as the best company. This can be done by communicating and engaging your business with external stakeholders. Thats why we invest in PR to be seen by our stakeholders. A real PR practitioner must be able to influence a CEOs thinking and judgement. Here, PR is a part of top management committee. This statement shows the importance of the role of PR in the company and how the CEOs trust the PR ideas and judgement towards decision- making. Good communication skills will help the PR to exploit the business deals with internal and external stakeholders. In order to realise this vision, the development of PR knowledge is important towards the professionalism in the field. For nurturing real professionals and improve level of competencies among PR fraternity, it will take a long process. A lack of talent, skills and competency among PR practitioners are the most critical issues faced by the organisations/sectors. Accreditation is an important requirement in professionalization of PR practice which is based on voluntary rather than an imposed mandatory system. It should be more focus on providing technical and managerial knowledge and skills which is more complex and sophisticated. Social responsibility was the aim of IPRM and other PR Institute, in order to proof occupations value to the society by giving or putting facts which can be supported by the truth. Organisation in democratic societies exists with consent of the public so it is a must for the organisation to be socially responsible. There are some advantages and disadvantages of socially responsible PR. The advantages are by helping them to improve their professional practice through codifying and enforcing ethical conduct and standards of performance, stressing the need of the public. Also they serves the public interest by discussing the view articulate in the forum and to promote human welfare by helping social system to adapt the changing needs and environments. Whereas as a drawback, PR gains advantages for and promote special interest, sometimes at the cost of the public well being, strangled the channels of communication that confuses, and also corrodes the channel of communication with the cynicism and credibility gap. As conclusions, in order to be professional Public Relations practitioner, he/she must abide the code of ethics which have been provided by their organisations. They also should be trustworthy in handling specific task in order to gain trust from clients and the public itself. The level of skills to be professional will be judged through their expertise on handling the tasks given. ( dang ur conclusion not good enuf lah write more.. kalo boleh support with any statement) References: Abdullah Z. Threadgold T. Towards the Professionalisation of Public relations in Malaysia: Perception Management and Strategy Development. (accessed date 16/08/09) Barlett, J., Twyoniak, S. Hatcher, C. 2007. Public relations professional practice and the institutionalisation of CSR. Journal of Communication management, 11, 4, 281-99. Bivins, T. 1993. Public Relations, Professionalism, and the public interest. Journal of Business Ethics, Feb, 12, 2. Cornelissen, J.P. 2004. Corporate Communication: Theory and Practice. London: Saga Publication. Cutlip, S.M., Center, A.H broom, G.M. 2000. Effective Public Relations. London: Prentice Hall International, Inc. Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia.2009. Code of Ethics. http://www.iprm.org.my/index.php/code-of-athens/english-version (accessed date 16/08/09) Johnston J Zawawi C (eds), 2004, Public Relations Theory and Practice , 2nd edn, Allen and Unwin, Crows nest, NSW Pieczka M. and LEtang J. 2006. Public relations and the question of professionalism, in LEtang and Pieczka (eds). Public Relations Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 265-78 Sheehan M. Xavier R. (eds) 2009, Public Relations Campaigns, 1st edn, Copyright Agency Limited, Sydney NSW.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Rain Man Essay -- Movie Film Rain Man Rainman Essays

The Rain Man The Rain Man stars Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The movie was made in 1988. The movie is about an autistic man named Raymon, who is a idiot savant played by Dustin Hoffman and his fast, talking self absorbed, egocentric brother Charlie Babbitt, who is played by Tom Cruise. A egocentric person is a person with the simple recognition that every living thing views the world from a unique, self-oriented perspective(LIFE: Inherently Egocentric written by James Craig Green http://pw2.netcom.com/~zeno7/ego.html). Charlie is a car salesman whose business is going down hill. Charlie and his girlfriend are on their way to Palm Springs when Charlie gets a call from his friend and co-worker. He tells him that his fathers' lawyer has been trying to reach him, because his father was dead and the funeral was the next day. Charlie who never had a good relationship with his father decided to go out there to pay his respects and to go get his share of his fathers estate. When the lawyer read the will, Charlie finds out all he received was his fathers' 1949 Buick and his prized rose bushes. The lawyer says the rest of the estate is going to a beneficiary. Charlie is mad at what his father did. He tries to find out who get everything else, because it is worth about three million dollars. Charlie finds out the name and location of the beneficiary, but does not know anything else. So Charlie goes to Wallbrook institution to find out who this guy is. While he is inside a man comes up to Charlies' car and hop s in. He says he drove it just last week. After Charlie asks him a couple of questions he finds out that they are brothers. Charlie's first impression of Raymon is that he is retarded. Charlie decides in order to get his cut of his fathers' money, he will abduct his brother and wait for them to hand him his one and a half million dollars as a ransom because he thinks he deserves it. Charlie takes Raymon from Wallbrook and heads out on the road back to Los Angeles. Charlie tells him if they make it back soon they can go and see a Dodgers game. Charlie's girl friend objects to what Charlie is doing to Raymon and decides to leave him. The next morning Charlie and Raymon go out for breakfast and Raymon starts to throw a fit when the maple syrup is not on the table before they order. He also wants toothpicks to eat with, not the knife and fork provided. C... ...ctured and safe. The fact that Raymon is a brilliant idiot savant would be interesting but have little value in his day to day life. Charlie's portrayal as an egocentric person was also very believable. It was obvious from the beginning of the movie that he viewed everything that happened very personally. He was self-centered and could not think of others. By the end of the movie he learns to think of others including Raymon and he even wants to incorporate Raymon into his everyday life. I think it happened too quickly though, I mean how many people can go from being egocentrical to a person who is at the exact opposite side of how to live life. Even today autism is not recognized or else it is misunderstood by the public, parents and professionals. This film put a lot of the rumors of autistics and savants to rest. Before this movie not a lot of people had known how you could recognize an autistic person. This film was a really good film. As stated before this film not many people knew much about autistic people. This film opened up the eyes of people to autistics. This was the first film to actually show how autistic people live and how they like to have a daily schedule.