Analysis of Coming Home Again Essay

The world is becoming smaller day by day, connecting millions if not all within the frame of internet and telecommunication. Hence, traveling abroad or immigration to a foreign land is quite common nowadays. Of course, the decision to move to a new country entails many benefits; however, it is not without problems. One such negative after-effect would be the possible family feud that arises from the clash between family members, mainly that of parents and children, often sparked by provision of new education. Language plays a part in family dispute. As the first generation immigrants, parents are usually confined by their teachings in the language and cultural lessons of their mother country while the offspring are ready to make transition to their newly-adopted home. Problems often arise in most mundane circumstances such as calling the bank, buying clothes, and more. Chang Rae Lee narrates about a personal experience of encountering a bitter argument with his mother as he â€Å"was getting more and more impatient with the difficulty she encountered in doing everyday things†. Although a very trivial matter, the mother can’t make a phone call because of the language barrier. When the son was asked to make a phone call for his mother, the author felt that his mother’s life was â€Å"so small to him†, thus creating a disorder between the two. Language is a way to connect and even divide the family members. Often when families immigrate to a foreign country, the roles of the parents and the offspring switch. Already accustomed to their home country’s culture and values, parents become unfamiliar with the new lifestyle and environment, thus losing responsibility of daily tasks and circumstances. On the other hand, children have the opportunity to adjust themselves to new perceptions and settings, granting them the responsibility to take care of trivial matters. Such reversal of roles that create dysfunctional unnatural circumstances causes the spark of family feud. Wounded and entangled, family feud caused by education is not easily curable. However, Chang Rae Lee, though he experienced a hard time with his mother because of his adoption of American education, recover his bondage with his mother because of his efforts to help her cope with her incoming death, allowing him to gain true understanding of his mother’s sentiments toward him. Through realization of love and sacrifice, the author is able to overcome the family.

Judith Guest’s “Ordinary People”

Ordinary People Ordinary People by Judith Guest is the story of a dysfunctional family who relate to one another through a series of extensive defense mechanisms, i. e. an unconscious process whereby reality is distorted to reduce or prevent anxiety. The book opens with seventeen year old Conrad, son of upper middle-class Beth and Calvin Jarrett, home after eight months in a psychiatric hospital, there because he had attempted suicide by slashing his wrists. His mother is a meticulously orderly person who, Jared, through projection, feels despises him. She does all the right things; attending to Jared's physical eeds, keeping a spotless home, plays golf and bridge with other women in her social circle, but, in her own words â€Å"is an emotional cripple†. Jared's father, raised in an orphanage, seems anxious to please everyone, a commonplace reaction of individuals who, as children, experienced parental indifference or inconsistency. Though a successful tax attorney, he is jumpy around Conrad, and, according to his wife, drinks too many martinis. Conrad seems consumed with despair. A return to normalcy, school and home-life, appear to be more than Conrad can handle. Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad seems bent on erpetuating the family myth that all is well in the world. His family, after all, â€Å"are people of good taste. They do not discuss a problem in the face of the problem. And, besides, there is no problem. † Yet, there is not one problem in this family but two – Conrad's suicide and the death by drowning of Conrad's older brother, Buck. Conrad eventually contacts a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, because he feels the â€Å"air is full of flying glass† and wants to feel in control. Their initial sessions together frustrate the psychiatrist because of Conrad's inability to express his feelings. Berger cajoles him into expressing his emotions by saying, â€Å"That's what happens when you bury this junk, kiddo. It keeps resurfacing. Won't leave you alone. † Conrad's slow but steady journey towards healing seems partially the result of cathartic revelations which purge guilt feelings regarding his brother's death and his family's denial of that death, plus the â€Å"love of a good woman. Jeannine, who sings soprano to Conrad's tenor†¦ There is no doubt that Conrad is consumed with guilt, â€Å"the feeling one has when one acts contrary to a role he has assumed while interacting with a ignificant person in his life,† This guilt engenders in Conrad feelings of low self esteem. Survivors of horrible tragedies, such as the Holocaust, frequently express similar feelings of worthlessness. In his book, â€Å"Against All Odds†, William Helmreich relates how one survivor articulates a feeling of abandonment. â€Å"Did I abandon them, or did they abandon me? † Conrad expresses a similar thought in remembering the sequence of events when the sailboat they were on turned over. Buck soothes Conrad saying, â€Å"Okay, okay. They'll be looking now, for sure, just hang on, don't get tired, promise? In an imagined conversation ith his dead brother, Conrad asks, â€Å"‘Man, why'd you let go? ‘ ‘Because I got tired. ‘ ‘The hell! You never get tired, not before me, you don't! You tell me not to get tired, you tell me to hang on, and then you let go! ‘ ‘I couldn't help it. Well, screw you, then! ‘† Conrad feels terrible anger with his brother, but cannot comfortably express that anger. His psychiatrist, after needling Conrad, asks, â€Å"Are you mad? When Conrad responds that he is not mad, the psychiatrist says, â€Å"Now that is a lie. You are mad as hell. † Conrad asserts that, â€Å"When you let yourself feel, all you feel is lousy. † When his psychiatrist questions im about his relationship with his mother, Calvin says, â€Å"My mother and I do not connect. Why should it bother me? My mother is a very private person. † This sort of response is called, in psychological literature, â€Å"rationalization†. We see Conrad's anger and aggression is displaced, i. e. vented on another, as when he physically attacked a schoolmate. Yet, he also turns his anger on himself and expresses in extreme and dangerous depression and guilt. â€Å"Guilt is a normal emotion felt by most people, but among survivors it takes on special meaning. Most feel guilty about the death of loved ones whom they feel they could ave, or should have, saved. Some feel guilty about situations in which they behaved selfishly (Conrad held on to the boat even after his brother let go), even if there was no other way to survive. In answer to a query from his psychiatrist on when he last got really mad, Conrad responds, â€Å"When it comes, there's always too much of it. I don't know how to handle it. † When Conrad is finally able to express his anger, Berger, the psychiatrist says to Calvin, â€Å"Razoring is anger; self-mutilation is anger. So this is a good sign; turning his anger outward at last. † Because his family, and especially his mother, frowns upon ublic displays of emotion, Conrad keeps his feelings bottled up, which further contributes to depression. Encyclopedia Britannica, in explicating the dynamics of depression states, â€Å"Upon close study, the attacks on the self are revealed to be unconscious expressions of disappointment and anger toward another person, or even a circumstance†¦ deflected from their real direction onto the self. The aggression, therefore, directed toward the outside world is turned against the self. † The article further asserts that, â€Å"There are three cardinal psychodynamic considerations in depression: (1) a deep sense of loss of what is oved or valued, which may be a person, a thing or even liberty; (2) a conflict of mixed feelings of love and hatred toward what is loved or highly valued; (3) a heightened overcritical concern with the self. † Conrad's parents are also busily engaged in the business of denial. Calvin, Conrad's father, says, â€Å"Don't worry. Everything is all right. By his own admission, he drinks too much, â€Å"because drinking helps†¦ , deadening the pain†. Calvin cannot tolerate conflict. Things must go smoothly. â€Å"Everything is jello and pudding with you, Dad. † Calvin, the orphan says, â€Å"Grief is ugly. It is something to be afraid of, to get id of†. â€Å"Safety and order. Definitely the priorities of his life. He constantly questions himself as to whether or not he is a good father. â€Å"What is fatherhood, anyway? Beth, Conrad's mother, is very self-possessed. She appears to have a highly developed super-ego, that part of an individual's personality which is â€Å"moralistic†¦ , meeting the demands of social convention, which can be irrational in requiring certain behaviors in spite of reason, convenience and common sense†. She is furthermore, a perfectionist. â€Å"Everything had to be perfect, never mind the impossible hardship it worked on her, on hem all. † Conrad is not unlike his mother. He is an overachiever, an â€Å"A† student, on the swim team and a list-maker. His father tells the psychiatrist, â€Å"I see her not being able to forgive him. For surviving, maybe. No, that's not it, for being too much like her. † A psychoanalyst might call her anal retentive. Someone who is â€Å"fixated symbolically in orderliness and a tendency toward perfectionism†. â€Å"Excessive self-control, not expressing feelings, guards against anxiety by controlling any expression of emotion and denying emotional investment in a thing or person. â€Å"She had not cried at the funeral†¦. She and Conrad had been strong and calm throughout. The message of the book is contained in Berger's glib saying that, â€Å"People who keep stiff upper lips find that it's damn hard to smile†. We see Conrad moving toward recovery and the successful management of his stage of development, as articulated by Erikson, â€Å"intimacy vs. isolation†. At story end, his father is more open with Conrad, moving closer to him, while his mother goes off on her own to work out her issues. Both trying to realize congruence in their development stage (Erikson), â€Å"ego integrity vs. despair†.

Blockbuster History Films

The film also accurately depicts the reason why the American Revolution began in the beginning of the movie; this is a rebellion against British taxation without any American representatives. Fundamentally, the American Revolution appeared in 1763, as the British community on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean matures to their interests and goals different from the dominant ruling class. But this movie depicts Various inaccurate features such as African-American freedom who engaged in war for three years in several countries. This common fear of black people is deeply rooted in our history, Du says. Partial reason the birth of the country is a very harmful fact that it is actually the country's first heavyweight movie. Given this history, Hollywood certainly has special ability and responsibility to eradicate inequality and obstacle pockets. And fly to the forefront of a new story and change. She is also studying black horror aesthetics in literature.The first meeting set up a tone for collective viewing on the go , she is called the student The Comet I asked you to read the unknown Web Du Bois SF short story. This story, written several years after the announcement of the birth of the country in 1920, is about two survivors - black men and white women - that look like an apocalypse. Dubois represented this biggest taboo as a dramatic effect and expressed it alternately from the perspective of the two people. Now thought to be an important turning point in the history of Hollywood's big hits, the movie was announced globally on July 3, 1996, but due to the height of the film viewers July 2 I started broadcasting. I am looking forward to it. The box office revenue of this movie world exceeded 817.7 million dollars, becoming the best movie in 1996. In other words, since 1993, it was the world's second largest entertainment income. It is currently ranked 72nd in the most selling movie list, and it leads the revival of large-scale disaster movies and science fiction movies from the mid-1990s to the latter half. The movie won Oscar for best visual effect and was nominated for Oscar for the best mix. The sequel's Independence Day: Renaissance is released on June 24, 2016 in 20 years and constitutes the first part of the planned three movies. It is regarded as one of the best movies ever, the white shark is a typical summer big hit, its release is seen as a moment in the watershed in the history of the movie, received a number of awards for its music and editing It is. Until 1977 Star Wars was released, it became the most viewed movie ever. Both movies are the key to building a modern Hollywood business model that evolves around high-box office action returns and adventure photos, and a simple concept venue is screened at thousands of theaters during the summer and advertised It will be. Next is three sequels, not all Spielberg and Belgium, there are many imitation thrillers. In 2001, the Congressional Library elected to keep it in the National F ilm Register, which was considered culturally, historically, or aesthetically.

Legal skills 2 . Explain the differences between the regulation of Essay

Legal skills 2 . Explain the differences between the regulation of abortion in the United Kingdom and the United States of America; and speculate how any reform - Essay Example The Abortion Act of 1967 was modified by the Fertilization and Embryology Act of 1990.1 The modifications2 were widely hailed as a gain for the pro-choice movement3 because they established an upper time limit to terminate pregnancy at twenty-four weeks and extended the circumstances in which abortions could be performed to include terminations up until birth in the case of fetal handicap. The effect of the 1990 debates in Parliament over the Acts modification was to entrench in the public and parliamentary consciousness that abortion is permissible prior to viability of the fetus. Today, an abortion is lawful in the United Kingdom if covered by one of four grounds listed in the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act of 1990.4 The provisions of the Act allow for an abortion up to twenty-four weeks if approved by two doctors when "the social or environmental or living conditions of either the mother or her existing children are likely to be worsened by the continuation of the pregnancy."5 Furthermore, it tolerates abortion without time restriction on eugenic grounds if "there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped." Abortions for the most part are financed by the National Health Service under the National Health Service Act of 1977. The Act does place some restrictions on the availability of an abortion. Abortions are only permissible if the pregnancy has not exceeded twenty-four weeks. Beyond the twenty-fourth week, the risk of a grave mental or physical injury must exist before an abortion can be legally performed. The Act also provides physicians with broad authority over a womans ability to terminate. T o be consistent with the Act, an abortion can only be legally performed if two medical practitioners believe in good faith that one of the four grounds set forth in Section 1(1) of the Act has been met. The United

Metropolis reivew Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Metropolis reivew - Essay Example As The Guardian observer said, Metropolis predicted the ideology of the class and race in 20th century (Bradshaw). Metropolis in a very distinct and accurate way combines social criticism, science fiction, psychological narrative and powerful love story. The combination of these factors makes it incredibly interesting to watch and impossible to ignore its huge contribution to the cinema medium and science fiction genre. Fritz Lang’s masterpiece is full of allegories, symbols and metaphors, but nevertheless it tells quite simple story though makes it in a way that makes viewer feel involved. The story tells us about the struggle between two different classes, which are represented by the love-duo of Freder and Maria who met each other by chance. The struggle takes place in the dystopian futuristic city of Metropolis which is ruled by indolent and cruel industrialists, who live in big skyscrapers and oppressed laborers who live underground. As you can see, Mr. Lang puts working class under the ground literally where they work hard so the city can stay alive, no matter what the cost is. Real millionaires of that time would be probably happy to put rebelling working class out of their minds and sight -under the ground. In the era of industrial progress when machines started taking control over the manufacture and human life in general, Metropolis turned out to be especially up-to-date. This industrial circumrotation was portrayed as horrible and fearful Molloh which can obviously be interpreted as Biblical symbol. While in real life hard-working families were hungry and op pressed with their job being taken from them and given to machines, Molloh-machine eats workers like a hungry giant or a savage beast in the movie. As Mr. Roger Ebert said, Metropolis forestalled countless symbolic and futuristic cities of the many films to come (Ebert). The City of Metropolis is a symbol of inequity and oppression because it is built with unhappiness and

Overcrowding and Inmigration in Miami Dade-County and USA Essay

Overcrowding and Inmigration in Miami Dade-County and USA - Essay Example The arrival of Cuban refugees in the 1960s created a foundation for Miami as the gateway for Latin America. Lucrative trading, banking, and investment opportunities have made Miami a hot destination for the population of Central and South Americans as well as Caribbean Island. It is fact that the fast growth of immigrations and overcrowding has transformed the social environment. And this creates pressure for the government to understand the significance of social tensions within a planning framework by considering how growth management policy is primarily concerned with the potential environment. (Gans, 1991) After Los Angeles and New York, Miami-Dade County is the third leading metropolitan area in terms of immigrants and overcrowding. In 1997 Miami-Dade County had one million foreign-born populations and now it has 48 percent of its population comprised of immigrants. After 1960s Miami has become the important destinations for immigrants as the ethnic change has greatly influenced the characteristics of the county as well as the United States. (MiamiHerald.com) Different opinions about the immigrants were doing round the corner since 1960s. Some believe that immigrants in some counties of USA are using welfare services disproportionately and paying low taxes because they are poor. Others argue that immigrants today are economically assimilating into the American mainstream. Then there are some who believe that immigrants are making positive contribution to the economies of these counties. Legal hawks claim that the immigrants to these counties not to use welfare, but because they are ambitious and want to work hard to achieve a higher standard of living. (Research Perspectives on Migration, 2001) From 1980 to 1981 the health centers in Miami were filled with Cuban and Haitian refugees. According to the Miami Health Center more than 5,000 refugees were

Topics in International Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Topics in International Relations - Essay Example This policy of realism sufficed when confronted with the situation in World War II when Germany was expanding into other nations and exterminating the Jewish population. It was also effective at keeping the Cold War in check. Realism was the property of the right, and as such promoted free trade and ignored human rights and social structures (Barber 7). However, the new world of globalization presents transnational forces that have no borders and non-intervention is no longer practical. The post 9/11 thinking has shifted from sovereign territory to sovereign ideals. According to Barber, "Idealistic internationalism has become the new realism. We face not a paradigm shift but the occupation of an old paradigm by new tenants. Democratic globalists are quite abruptly the new realists while the old realism — especially in its embrace of markets — looks increasingly like a dangerous and utterly unrealistic dogma" (7). International intervention in an effort to reduce the thr eat has gained momentum over past thinking in terms of what constitutes power. Sudan is a country in Africa that borders Egypt in the North, the Red Sea, and Ethiopia to the East. It has been the victim of civil violence almost continually since its independence 5 decades ago (Sudan UNMIS). Much of the fighting has taken place in the Province of Darfur, though almost nowhere has been without heavy fighting. Since their independence in 1956, there have been several attempts at implementing a ceasefire with limited success. The fighting has been, for the most part, between "Government and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the main rebel movement in the south, fought over resources, power, the role of religion in the state, and self-determination" (Sudan UNMIS). Neighboring countries, fearful of the violence spilling over into their territories, have

Impact of technolgy on social relationship Essay

Impact of technolgy on social relationship - Essay Example Technology has helped develop the social relationships in the time and age of today. This has been apparent with the recent advancements that have been made on the world of Internet, the propagation of the mobile technology and other mediums. What has happened in essence is the culmination of a number of forces, all of which come under the aegis of technology to bring success towards the realms of the people, which has essentially turned the tide their way. One must understand that technology is indeed for the betterment of the people at large and this is a great way to bring them together on a single platform – a zone from where they can exploit the best out of their strengths and the potential opportunities. This paper discusses the significant pointers related with the role of technology playing its due role within the building up of social relationships. The argument has been raised and the points have been stated for clarity and comprehension. The impact of technology on social relationships is such that it poses as a huge risk on the flip side of the coin. If this technological basis falls down, there would be immense problems for the stakeholders, who would receive utmost at the hands of the ones who are the movers and shakers of these technological ranks. The social relationships are bring documented and expanded upon by the different platforms which are available under its fold – like the social networking websites which include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and so on (Dickson, 2000). These Internet-based social networking websites and software help the people to remain connected in a number of different ways. They interact and communicate with one another through commenting on statuses, putting up unique statements, posting pictures, sharing workspaces and so on. What this does is to bring together a collective vision – a vision that helps the people to grow and manifest their truest basis in the long run. They come to know a great d eal about each other, find out about how they live their lives, and basically come in close contact with one another. The social relationships are such that technology brings about the very best in them. The technological domains link up the people in a number of ways because they enclose within them the respective areas of social growth and development through the different manifestations of the society. There is a dire need to understand that social relationships would continue to rule the roost in the times to come and technological linkages would only boost up the same in the future. The social relationships usually come into the consideration when the people feel that they are hard done by on the time notion. They lag behind in the race to meet deadlines, and the best possible route to attain contacts with one another is through the use of the technology. This is made possible by social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and so on, as well as instant messaging software lik e MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ and others. In essence, there is a great amount of interaction that is taking place on a round the clock basis, which has been witnessed within the related domains (Mosley, 2011). The impact of technology is such that the social relationships can only bolster the ties amongst the people and make them stay connected for days, months and years. There is no set time limit for them and this is remarked as a definitive positive without any doubt. What is most important is to understand that the use of technology does not hamper in the building up of their collective vision, and that they get to know quite a good deal about the happenings taking place on a global level (Ahmed, 2011). This and many other facets are quintessential towards comprehending the domains of the social relationships that have been taking place over a period of time now. The world of Internet has only facilitated in this entire process. What it has however done is to bridge the gaps that have exis ted amongst the different generations

The death penalty of Kasab Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The death penalty of Kasab - Essay Example A major ethical issue is whether the death penalty of Ajmal Amir Kasab was justified or not as several agencies of human rights and the leaders of several minority groups have asked this question against the decision or verdict of The Indian Supreme Court as according to them, death penalty cannot be justified in any case. The death penalty of Ajmal Kasab can be considered as one of the favorite debatable or argumentative topics. The article mentioned in the appendix is full of ethical issues as Ajmal Kasab killed innocent people without any reason only for the sake of terrorism and religion. On the other hand, human rights and the leaders of minority groups demanded mercy of Kasab for the sake of ethics and non-violence. Therefore, it can be considered as an ethical issue. Argumentative Analysis There are two different types of ethical theories regarding the source of value and integrity, such as non-consequential reasoning and consequential reasoning. The ethical issue in the death penalty of Kasab will be discussed through the use of the above mentioned theories. Consequential Reasoning It is true that ethical theorists or thinkers have criticized the effectiveness and justification of consequential reasoning as this ethical reasoning generally ignores the basic value of moral assumptions and categories. A consequential theory generally judges the wrongness or rightness of a particular action based on the consequences of a specific action.

Justinians Military Battles Essay Example for Free

Justinians Military Battles Essay Justinian carried on the unending war against the Persians with mixed success. His general Belisarius lost a battle at first in 528, then completely routed the Persians at Daras, near Nisibis (June, 530); but on 19 April, 531, the Romans were defeated near Callinicum on the Euphrates; in September a peace was arranged on fairly equal terms. The emperor then conceived the plan of reconquering Africa and Italy, lost to the empire by the Vandal and Gothic invasions. In 533 a fleet of five hundred ships set sail for Africa under Belisarius. In two battles the Romans annihilated the Vandal kingdom, took the king, Gelimer, prisoner to Constantinople, and re-estabished the authority of Caesar in Africa. In 535 Belisarius sailed for Sicily. The island was conquered at once. After a reverse in Dalmatia that province was also subdued. Belisarius in 536 took Rhegium and Naples, entered Rome in triumph, seized Ravenna, sustained a siege in Rome till 538, when the Goths retired. A second general, Narses, then arrived with reinforcements from Constantinople; Milan and all Liguria were taken in 539, and in 540 all Italy up to the frontier of the Frankish Kingdom was reunited to the empire. In 542 the Goths revolted under their king, Totila; by 553 they were again crushed. Narses became the first Exarch of Italy. Verona and Brixia (Brescia), the last Gothic strongholds, fell in 562. The Roman armies then marched on Spain and conquered its south-eastern provinces (lost again in 623, after Justinians death. ) Meanwhile the Crimean Goths and all the Bosporus, even the Southern Arabs, were forced to acknowledge the rule of Rome. A second war against the Persians (540-45) pushed the Roman frontier beyond Edessa. From 549 to 556 a long in Armenia and Colchis (the Lazic War) again established the empire without a rival on the shores of the Black Sea. So Justinian ruled once more over a colossal world empire, whose extent rivaled that of the great days before Diocletian. Meanwhile the emperor was no less successful at home. In 532 a very dangerous revolt (the Nika revolution), that arose from the factions of the Circus (the Blues and Greens), was put down severely. Bury says that the result of the suppression was an imperial victory which established the form of absolutism by which Byzantine history is generally characterized. (Later Roman Empire, I, 345).

Role of Derivatives on Financial Products

Role of Derivatives on Financial Products Title: Derivatives are now a well established part of every financial institutions financially engineered products. Discuss, in depth, the role that derivatives are playing in financial products/portfolios and the risks that they remove (and create) Introduction Past three decades have witnessed an expansion in global trade and continuing technological developments. This has resulted in an increase in market volatility and enlargement of business and financial risks and has led to an increase in demand for risk management products. The types of risks faced by corporations today have not changed; rather, they have become more complex and interrelated. The increase in demand for risk management products and the complexity of risks is reflected in the growth of spectrum of financial contracts called derivatives. Derivatives are now a well established part of every financial institution’s financially engineered products. Derivatives have become an integral part of the financial markets because they can serve several economic functions. Though there has been an incredible growth in the derivative market, there has also been an increase in reports of major losses associated with derivative products. For example, derivatives led to a collapse of Barings Bank (the Queen of England’s primary bank), bankruptcy of Orange County California and also had a role in the fall of Enron. All this has resulted in a great deal of confusion about effectiveness of derivatives in risk management. What are Derivatives? Derivatives are complex instruments that have become increasingly important to the overall risk profile and profitability of organisations throughout the world. Broadly defined, derivatives are contracts that primarily derive their value from the performance of underlying assets. Derivatives contracts are entered into throughout the world on organised exchanges and through over-the-counter (OTC) arrangements. Types of Derivatives Derivatives come in various shapes and forms such as futures1, forwards2, swaps3, options4, structured debt obligations and deposits, and various combinations thereof. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1Futures are contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price at a specified time in the future. 2A forward contract obligates one party to buy the underlying at a fixed price at a certain future date from a counterparty, who is obligated to sell the underlying at that fixed price. (Source: Demystifying Financial derivatives, Rene A Stulz) 3A swap is a contract to exchange cash flows over a specific period. 4An option can be a call option or a put option. A call option on a stock gives its holder the right to buy a fixed number of shares at a given price by some future date, while a put option gives its holder the right to sell a fixed number of shares on the same terms. Benefits of Derivatives Derivatives are put to three key uses: Hedging by entering into derivatives transactions for offsetting existing risks. The existing risks could be an investment portfolio, price changes of a commodity or perhaps investments in a foreign country. Derivatives make it possible to hedge risks that otherwise would be not be possible to hedge. Speculating through hedge funds to generate profits with only a insignificant investment, essentially by putting money on the movement of an asset. Exploiting Arbitrage opportunities throughout the world markets. Thus, risk management is one of the primary purposes of derivatives. Role of Derivatives in Risk Management As indicated above, derivatives are important tools that can help organisations meet their specific risk-management objectives. Derivatives allow organisations to break up their risks and distribute them around the financial system through secondary markets. Thus, derivatives help organisations in risk management. Risk management is not about the removal of risk but is about its management. An organisation can manage its risks by selectively choosing those risks it is comfortable with and minimising those that it does not want. Through derivatives, risks from traditional instruments can be effectively unpackaged and managed independently. If managed properly derivatives can help businesses save costs and increase returns. In addition, derivatives make underlying markets more efficient. Derivative markets produce information which at time is the only reliable information available to base critical business decisions on. For example, reliable information about long-term interest rates can be obtained from swaps, because the swap market may be more liquid and more active than the bond market. Using Derivatives Many organisations use derivatives conservatively to counterbalance risks from fluctuating currency and interest rates. Individuals and firms use derivatives to achieve payoffs that they would not be able to achieve without derivatives, or could only achieve at greater cost. Derivatives are used by both financial and non-financial institutions and organisations. Financial organisations use derivatives both as risk management tools and also as a source of revenue. From a risk management perspective, derivatives allow financial institutions to identify, segregate and manage separately the market risks in financial instruments and commodities. Cautious use of derivatives provides managers with effective risk reducing opportunities through hedging. Derivatives may also be used to reduce financing costs and to increase the yield of certain assets. In addition, derivatives are a direct source of revenue through market-making functions, position taking and risk arbitrage to most of the financial organizations (source: http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsc211.pdf). Derivatives are used by non-financial organisations for hedging and for minimising earnings volatility. For example, derivatives are used to hedgeinterest-rate risks. If the company strongly believes that interest rates will drop between now and a future date, it could purchase a futures contract. By doing so, the company is effectively locking in the future interest rate. Similarly, companies that depend heavily on raw-material inputs or commodities are sensitive, sometimes significantly, to the price change of the inputs. For example, most airlines use derivatives for hedging against crude-oil price. Some firms use derivatives to reduce tax liability and at times to speculate. Risks Associated with Derivatives Although derivatives are legitimate and valuable tools for hedging risks, like all financial instruments they create risks that must be managed. Warren Buffett, one of the worlds most wise investors, states that â€Å"derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.† (Source: Gabriel Kolko, Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction) On one hand derivatives neutralise risks while on the other hand they create risks. In fact there are certain risks inherent in derivatives. Derivatives can be dangerous if not managed properly. Numerous financial disasters such as Enron can be related to the mismanagement of derivatives. In the 1990s, Procter Gamble lost $157 million in a currency speculation involving dollars and German Marks, Gibson Greetings lost $20 million and Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund, lost $4 billion with currency and interest-rate derivatives (Source: Ludger Hentschel and Clifford W. Smith, Jr., Risks in Derivative Markets) . It is key to consider that it has not been the use of derivatives as a tool which has led to the downfall of these companies but the misuse of such instruments. The kinds of risks associated with derivatives are no different from those associated with traditional financial instruments, although they can be far more complex. Different derivatives have different risk profiles. For some derivatives though the risk may be limited, the profit potential may be unlimited. For example, the risk of loss with a derivative contract which grants a right to buy a particular asset at a particular price is limited to the amount paid to hold that right. However, profit potential is unlimited. On the other hand there are certain other derivatives that exhibit risk characteristics in which while potential gain is limited, the losses associated with the derivative is unlimited. For example, a derivative contract which grants the right to buy a particular asset at a particular price may have the associated potential profit limited to the amount received for giving that right, but because the asset has to be delivered to the counterparty at expiry of the contrac t, the potential loss may be unlimited. Most of the risk of derivatives is due to the complexity of the structure of the derivative instruments. Apart from the structure of the instrument itself, the source of a lot of the risk associated with derivative contracts arises from the fact that they are leveraged contracts. Derivative products are ‘leveraged’ because only a proportion of their total market exposure needs to be paid to open and maintain a position. Thus, the market exposure with derivative contracts can be several times the cash placed on deposit as margin for the trade, or paid in the form of a premium. Derivative contracts also have the ability to create artificial wealth and this creates additional risk. The artificial wealth skews the values of underlying assets considerably. Fundamentally, risks from derivatives originate with the customer and are a function of the timing and variability of cash flows. Types of Risks Associated with Derivatives In general, the risks associated with derivatives can be classified as credit risk, market risk, price risk, liquidity risk, operations risk, legal or compliance risk, foreign exchange rate risk, interest rate risk, and transaction risk. These categories are not mutually exclusive. Credit risk Derivatives are subject to credit risk or the risk to earnings or capital due to obligor’s failure to meet the terms of a contract. Credit risk arises from all activities that can only be accomplished on counterparty, issuer, or borrower’s performance. Credit risk in derivative products comes in the form of pre-settlement risk and settlement risk. Derivatives are exposed to pre-settlement credit risk or loss due to failure to pay on a contract during the life of a transaction by the counterparty. This credit risk exposure consists of both the replacement cost of the derivative transaction or its market value and an estimate of the future replacement cost of the derivative. Even out-of-the-money derivative contracts have potential pre-settlement credit risk. Derivatives are also subject to settlement risk or loss exposure arising when an organisation meets its obligation under a contract before the counterparty meets its obligation. Settlement risk generally exists for one to two days from the time an outgoing payment instruction can no longer be cancelled unilaterally until the time the final incoming payment is received and reconciled. This risk is due to the fact that it is almost impractical to arrange simultaneous payment and delivery in the ordinary course of business. In the case of international transactions settlement risk may arise because of time zone differences. This risk is usually greater than pre-settlement risk on any given transaction. Market risk Derivatives are also subject to market risk Market risk or risk due to unfavorable movements in the level or volatility of market prices. Market risk results from exposures to changes in the price of the underlying cash instrument and to changes in interest rates. Though market risk can be created or hedged by derivatives such as future or swap in a clear-cut manner, it is not so simple in the case of options. This is because the value of an option is also affected by other factors, including the volatility of the price of the underlying instrument and the passage of time. In addition, all trading activities are affected by market liquidity and by local or world political and economic events. Price Risk Price risk is an extension of the market risk. Price risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from changes in the value of portfolios of financial instruments. The degree of price risk of derivatives depends on the price sensitivity of the derivative instrument and the time it takes to liquidate or offset the position. Price sensitivity is generally greater for instruments with leverage, longer maturities, or option features. Price Risk can result from adverse change in equity prices or commodity prices or basis risk. The exposure from an adverse change in equity prices can be either systematic or unsystematic risk. As equity markets can be more volatile than other financial markets equity derivatives can experience larger price fluctuations than other derivatives. Commodity derivatives usually expose an institution to higher levels of price risk because of the price volatility associated with uncertainties about supply and demand and the concentration of market participants in the underlying cash markets. Price risk may take the form of basis risk or the risk that the correlation between two prices may change. Liquidity risk All organisations involved in derivatives face liquidity risks. Liquidity risk is the risk to earnings or capital from an organisation’s inability to meet its obligations when they are due, without incurring unacceptable losses. This risk includes the inability to manage unplanned decreases or changes in funding sources. An organisation involved in derivatives faces two types of liquidity risk in its derivatives activities: one related to specific products or markets or market liquidity risk and the other related to the general funding of the institution’s derivatives activities or funding risk. Market Liquidity Risk Market liquidity risk is the risk that an organisation may not be able to exit or offset positions easily at a reasonable price at or near the previous market price because of inadequate market depth or because of disruptions in the marketplace. In dealer markets, market depth is indicated by the size of the bid/ask spread that the financial instrument provides. Similarly, market disruptions may be created by a sudden and extreme imbalance in the supply and demand for products. Market liquidity risk may also result from the difficulties faced by the organisation in accessing markets because of its own or counterparty’s real or perceived credit or reputation problems. In addition, this risk also involves the odds that large derivative transactions may have a significant effect on the transaction price. Funding Liquidity Risk Funding liquidity risk is the possibility that the organisation may be unable to meet funding requirements at a reasonable cost. Such funding requirements arise each day from cash flow mismatches in swap books, the exercise of options, and the implementation of dynamic hedging strategies. The rapid growth of derivatives in recent years has focused increasing attention on the cash flow impact of such instruments. Operations risk Like other financial instruments, derivatives are also subject to operations risk or risks due to deficiencies in information systems or internal controls. The risk is associated with human error, system failures and inadequate procedures and controls. In the case of certain derivatives, operations risk may get aggravated due to complexity of derivative transactions, payment structures and calculation of their values. . Legal or compliance risk Derivative transactions face risk to earnings or capital due to violations, or nonconformance with laws, rules, regulations, prescribed practices, or ethical standards. The risk also arises when the laws or rules governing certain derivative instruments may be ambiguous. Compliance risk exposes an organisation involved in derivatives to fines, civil money penalties, payment of damages, and the voiding of contracts. Besides, legal and compliance risk may adversely affect reputation, business opportunities and expansion potential of the organisation. Foreign Exchange Rates Risk Derivatives traded in the international markets are also exposed to risk of adverse changes in foreign exchange rates. Foreign exchange rates are very volatile. Foreign exchange risk is also known as translation risk. Foreign exchange rates risk in derivatives is the risk to earnings arising from movement of foreign exchange rates. This risk is a function of spot foreign exchange rates and domestic and foreign interest rates. It arises from holding foreign-currency-denominated derivatives such as structured notes, synthetic investments, structured deposits, and off-balance-sheet derivatives used to hedge accrual exposures. Interest Rate Risk Interest rate risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from movements in interest rates. The magnitude of interest rate risk faced by derivatives from an adverse change in interest rates depends on the sensitivity of the derivative to changes in interest rates as well as the absolute change in interest rates. The evaluation of interest rate risk must consider the impact of complex illiquid hedging strategies or products, and also the potential impact on fee income that is sensitive to changes in interest rates. When trading is separately managed, this impact is on structural positions rather than trading portfolios. Financial organisations are exposed to interest rate risk through their structural balance sheet positions. Transaction risk Another risk associated with derivatives is transaction risk. In fact transaction risk exists in all products and services. Transaction risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from problems with service or product delivery. This risk is a function of internal controls, information systems, employee integrity, and operating processes. Derivative activities can pose challenging operational risks because of their complexity and continual evolution. Thus, derivatives are subject to various technical risks. The problems surrounding the use of derivatives in recent years have primarily been due to difficulty in understanding these risks and thus using appropriate derivatives for risk management purposes. Derivative use is sometimes misunderstood because, depending on the terms of derivative it may be used to increase, modify, or decrease risk. In addition to the technical risks highlighted herein, there may also be a fundamental risk that the use of these products may be inconsistent with entity-wide objectives. Conclusion Derivatives will continue to be an important business tool for managing an organisation’s risk management. In fact the significance of derivatives is expected to increase with the development of new derivative products that refine and improve the ability to achieve risk management and other objectives. However, it is important that organisation’s using derivatives for risk management completely understand the nature and risks of derivatives. This requires effective control is critical to any well-managed derivative operation. References: Aristotle, Politics, trans. Benjamin Jowett, vol. 2, The Great Books of the Western World, ed. Robert Maynard Hutchins (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), book 1, chap. 11, p. 453. Bodie, Cane and Marcus (2005), Investments (6th Edition), McGraw Hill. Bodie, Cane and Marcus (2005), Investments (6th Edition), www. highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072861789/student_view0 [Accessed 30 December 2006] Corporate Use of Derivatives for Hedging http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/04/122204.asp [Accessed 30 December 2006] Frank A. Sortino Stephen E. Satchell, Managing downside risk in financial markets: Theory, Practice and Implementation Gabriel Kolko, Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction, http://mondediplo.com/2006/10/02finance [Accessed 31 December 2006] Internal Control Issues in Derivatives Usage www.coso.org/publications/executive_summary_derivatives_usage.htm [Accessed 31 December, 2006] Kenneth A. Froot, David S. Scharfstein, and Jeremy C. Stein, A Framework for Risk Management, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1994, pp. 91-102. Ludger Hentschel and Clifford W. Smith, Jr., Risks in Derivative Markets, http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/96/9624.pdf [Accessed 30 December 2006] Market Risk Derivatives, Hedge Funds Challenge Financial Regulators, http://www.ieca.net/news/story.cfm?id=13754 [Accessed 30 December 2006] Rene A Stulz, Demystifying Financial Derivatives, www.cornerstone.com/pdfs/Cornerstone_Research_Demystifying_Financial_Derivatives.pdf Risk Management Guidelines for Derivatives, http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsc211.pdf [Accessed 31 December 2006] Thomas F. Siems, Financial Derivatives: Are New Regulations Warranted? Financial Industry Studies, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, August 1994, pp. 1-13. Thomas F. Siems, Derivatives: In the Wake of Disaster, Financial Industry Issues, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (1995): 2-3 Brief 191916Page 1 of 9

Same Sex Parenting and Adoption Essay -- adoption, homosexuality, fami

Adoption for same sex couples is a very controversial topic in Family Law, and often same sex couples face many unique issues if they wish to adopt. Many states have different laws that apply for gay and lesbian adoption, as opposed to heterosexual couples. Several states also have special rules that apply when a child is born into a gay or lesbian partnership. Gay and lesbian couples may sometimes opt to bring a child into their lives through conception and birth as well. For a lesbian couple, this is usually done through a male donor or a sperm bank and having one of the couple become pregnant. Similarly, gay men may use a surrogate mother and then become a legal parent through adoption. The other parent then can become a legal second parent through stepparent or second parent adoption. However, many states including Virginia don’t allow second parent adoption. The definition of a legal ‘parent’ is (n.) the lawful and natural father or mother of a person. The word does not mean grandparent or ancestor, but can include an adoptive parent as a replacement for a natural parent. Adoption laws vary from state to state, and there are some states that do allow lesbian and gay couples to adopt children as legal, joint parents. Gay and lesbian couples in these states can go through adoption agencies in order to adopt, personally arrange their adoption, or even adopt internationally. In many states, however, stepparent, second parent or even joint adoption is not an option for gay and lesbian couples. Although the Commonwealth of Virginia does not have a law in place that prohibits same sex couples from adopting a child, it is usually a very hostile situation and it may be very difficult in many occasions for gays and lesbians to ... ...he way society will treat the child, the psychological effects on the child and the child’s well being and safety above all are the main factors that the courts should look at when dealing with this issue. As previously stated the issue of same sex adoption is one of the most controversial topics in today’s Family Law across the country and with good reason. Given that this involves the upbringing of human beings who are the future of our society, it is extremely important to make sure that they are given the best care and best influences in their lives in order to make good moral and educated decisions in their future lives. Same sex parenting may not be as bad as society has made it seem but it absolutely has to be socially and scientifically proven before any more steps are taken in this matter because, after all, it is in the â€Å"best interest of the child.†

Importance of Symbols Essay examples -- English Literature Essays

Importance of Symbols In all novels the use of symbols are what make the story feel so real to the reader. A symbol as simple as a bird can mean so much more then what you see. Whereas a symbol as complicated as the sea, can mean so much less then what you thought. It is a person perception that brings them to the true meaning of a specific symbol. Symbols are message within a word that must be analyzed to discover. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin conveys her ideas by using carefully crafted symbols that reflect her characters' thoughts and futures. Early in the novel, while Edna attempts to escape from society's strong grasp, birds emphasize her entanglement by forecasting her actions and monitor her development by reflecting her feelings. The novel opens with the image of a bird, trapped and unable to communicate: "a green and yellow parrot, which hung in the cage outside the door...could speak a little Spanish, and also a language that nobody understood" (1). Like the bird, Edna feels trapped and believes that society has imprisoned her. Her marriage to Mr. Pontellier suffocates her and keeps her from being free. At the same time, she remains shut apart from society like the bird in the cage, and different ideas and feelings prevent her from communicating. The only person in society that begins to understand her, Robert, eventually decides that he must remain a member of society instead of staying with her. He says that "you [Edna] were not free; you were Leonce Pontellier's wife" and that "[Robert] was demented, dreaming of wild, impossible things...[such as] men who had set their wives free" (108). Robert does not want to do something wild and unacceptable to society. In a situation parallel to that of Edna's, the only bird that understands the parrot is the mockingbird (Reisz) that "[is] whistling its fluty notes upon the breeze with maddening persistence" (1). Because the parrot continues to shriek, people move it away from their society: "[Mr. Farvial] insisted upon having the bird removed and consigned to regions of darkness" (23). Society wants to hide the bird in darkness, as it wants to do to Edna, in order to keep the bird from causing problems. Later, when Mademoiselle Reisz tells Edna that "the bird that would soar above the level plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings," she uses birds to forecast Edna's future an... ...ean, naked, returning to the innocence of her childhood. " She felt like some new-born creature" (189). As Edna swims on to her freedom, "She did not look back?but went on and on, thinking of the bluegrass meadow?believing that it had no beginning and no end" (190). It is there in the ocean that she first realizes her physical, mental, and emotional potential. It is only natural that the water, which has seduced her with its sound reclaims her. Edna Pontellier has always abided by social expectations and lived for everyone but herself. In order for her to gain her independence and escape from her trapped state in society she must put all that she has ever known behind her. This last scene symbolizes Edna giving up her life for her freedom. She goes back to where she first got some independence(the sea) and breaks through the cage that held her prison and dies, living solely for herself. Though see lost her life she finally got out of the world see dreaded living in so much. Without symbols a story would be a group of words placed in a sequential, yet pointless order. There would be no such thing of reading for pleasure, for the fact our minds would feel useless without symbols.

Golden Ratio :: essays research papers

What is the Golden Ratio The golden ration can occur anywhere. The golden proportion is the ratio of the shorter length to the longer length which equals the ratio of the longer length to the sum of both lengths. The golden ratio is a term used to describe proportioning in a piece. In a work of art or architecture, if one maintained a ratio of small elements to larger elements that was the same as the ratio of larger elements to the whole, the end result was pleasing to the eye. The ratio for length to width of rectangles is 1.61803398874989484820. The numeric value is called â€Å"phi†. The Golden Ratio is also known as the golden rectangle. The Golden Rectangle has the property that when a square is removed a smaller rectangle of the same shape remains, a smaller square can be removed and so on, resulting in a spiral pattern. The Golden Rectangle is a unique and important shape in mathematics. The Golden Rectangle appears in nature, music, and is often used in art and architecture. Some thing special about the golden rectangle is that the length to the width equals approximately 1.618†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Golden Ration = Length = 1.6   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Width The golden rectangle has been discovered and used since ancient times. Our human eye perceives the golden rectangle as a beautiful geometric form. The symbol for the Golden Ratio is the Greek letter Phi. The Fibonacci Series was discovered around 1200 A.D. Leonardo Fibonacci discovered the unusual properties of the numeric series, that’s how it was named. It is not proven that Fibonacci even noticed the connection between the Golden Ratio meaning and Phi. The Renaissance used the Golden Mean and Phi in their sculptures and paintings to achieve vast amounts balance and beauty. The Golden Ratio in Architecture and Art Throughout the centuries, artists have used the golden ratio in their own creations. An example is â€Å"post† by Picasso. When using a golden mean gauge you can see that the lines are spaced to the Golden Proportion. The Golden Ratio also appears in the Parthenon in Athens. It was built about 440 B.C.; it forms a perfect Golden Rectangle. The exterior dimensions form Golden Rectangle. The Golden Ratio also appears in the front face, which is found to be Phi times as wide as it is tall, so therefore it is a Golden Rectangle. The height of the roof is Phi times the space between the tops of the columns and the bottom of the roof.

Marriage and Taxes Essay

Marriage and Taxes Introduction: Bill and Mary plan to marry in December of 2012. Bill’s salary is $32,000 and he owns a residence. His itemized deductions total $12,000. Mary’s salary is $39,000. Her itemized deductions total only $1,600 as she does not own a residence. Assume that 2013 tax rates, exemptions, and standard deductions are the same as 2012. Task(s): Answer the following questions: a. What will their tax be if they marry before year-end and file a joint return? The file joint of returns will be $12,000. b. What will their combined taxes be for the year if they delay the marriage until 2013? The combined taxes will be $13,600 if they delay the marriage. $12,000 + 1,600 = 13,600. c. What factors contribute to the difference in taxes? Some of the factors that can result a difference in the taxes would be based on your itemized deductions. Examples a itemized deductions are mortgages that you own, have done any charitable donations, medical expenses, Long-term care services, and relocating for new employment. For a marriage case they can us the marriage penalty, Examples of a marriage penalty: (1) Both of the earns $80,000 a year mas two single individuals, the marginal tax rate will be 25% However, if you are a married couple, the marginal tax rate on a $160,000 annual income is 28%. 2) If you are married you are allowed to write off a total of $3,000 in losses, if filing separately, each only has a $1,500 limit; whereas two single individuals can write off a total of $6,000. (3) When it comes to IRA contributions, they are phased out at income levels between $178,000 – $188,000 for married couples versus a range of $112,000 – $127,000 for single taxpayers. Ingenuity. Empathetic.

Modern mining Essay

Modern mining is an industry that involves the exploration for and removal of minerals from the earth, economically and with minimum damage to the environment. Mining is important because minerals are major sources of energy as well as materials such as fertilizers and steel. Mining is necessary for nations to have adequate and dependable supplies of minerals and materials to meet their economic and defense needs at acceptable environmental, energy, and economic costs. There are significant differences in the mining techniques and environmental effects of mining metallic, industrial, and fuel minerals. Mining is a global industry, and not every country has high-grade, large, exceptionally profitable mineral deposits, and the transportation infrastructure to get the mined products to market economically. Some of the factors affecting global mining are environmental regulations, fuel costs, labor costs, access to land believed to contain valuable ore, diminishing ore grades requiring the mining of more raw materials to obtain the target mineral, technology, the length of time to obtain a permit to mine, and proximity to markets, among others. Without proper precaution, mining have negative consequences on the environments, ecosystems, water, beautiful sceneries and the landscapes. Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. To some extend mining activities have some positive impact on wildlife in that when these fields are broken, it creates openings which acts as there home. Food and cover plants can be introduced to these places for the benefit of the entire wildlife A list of the 10 biggest gold mines in the world; 1. Grasberg Gold Mine — This mine, which is in the Indonesian province of Papua, produced 2,025,000 ounces of gold, according to the annual report of Rio Tinto Plc. The mine is majority owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Besides gold, it also produces silver and copper. 2. Muruntau Gold Mine — This mine, which is about 250 miles west of the capital in Uzbekistan, is believed to have produced approximately 1,800,000 ounces of gold last year. The project, which is an open-pit operation, is run by state-owned Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat. 3. Carlin-Nevada Complex — This mine, which is in the U.S. state of Nevada, produced 1.735 million ounces in 2010. It is owned by Newmont Mining Corp. It includes both open-pit and underground operations. 4. Yanacocha Gold Mine — This mine, which is in northern Peru and is the largest gold mine in Latin America, produced 1.46 million ounces last year. It is run by Newmont Mining and owned by Newmont Mining and Buenaventurda, a Peruvian company. 5. Goldstrike (Betze Post) Gold Mine — This mine, which is northwest of Elko, Nev., produced 1.24 million ounces of gold last year. It is owned by Barrick Gold Corp. 6. Cortez Gold Mine — This mine, which is southwest of Elko, Nev., produced 1.14 million ounces of gold last year. It is owned by Barrick Gold. 7. Veladero Gold Mine — This mine, which is in Argentina, produced 1.12 million ounces of gold last year. It is owned by Barrick Gold. 8. Lagunas Norte Gold Mine — This mine, which is in north-central Peru, produced 808,000 ounces of gold last year. It is owned by Barrick Gold. 9. Lihir Gold Mine — This mine, which is in Papua New Guineau, produced 790,974 ounces of gold in the 12 months ended June 30. It is owned by Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s largest gold producer. 10. Super Pit/Kalgoorlie — This mine, an open-cut mine in Western Australia, produced 788,000 ounces last year. It is 50-50 owned by Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining. CORRUPTION Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar Kautilya mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practised even in Mughal and  Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it. Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i.e. bribery, without any regard to honour, right and justice. In other words, undue favour for any one for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving from their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from one’s duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams and scandals are various manifestations of corruption. Corruption is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. It is witnessed all over the world in developing as well as developed countries. It has spread its tentacles in every sphere of life, namely business administration, politics, officialdom, and services. In fact, there is hardly any sector which can be characterised for not being infected with the vices of corruption. Corruption is rampant in every segment and every section of society, barring the social status attached to it. Nobody can be considered free from corruption from a high ranking officer. To root out the evil of corruption from society, we need to make a comprehensive code of conduct for politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and such code should be strictly enforced. Judiciary should be given more independence and initiatives on issues related to corruption. Special courts should be set-up to take up such issues and speedy trial is to be promoted. Law and order machinery should be allowed to work without political interference. NGOs and media should come forward to create awareness against corruption in society and educate people to combat this evil. Only then we would be able to save our system from being collapsed. Essay 2: (Just read this, it’s a nice one) Let us first of all understand what is meant by corruption and corrupt practices. In brief, anything that is below all standard norms of morality in a country, is called or defined as corruption and corrupt practices. These norms are a fixed standard in any given society, and when these are broken we say that, a society is getting corrupted. This corruption as we see it today is not a development that has come overnight, it has been a continuous process for the last several decades and, to – day it has seeped into the very blood stream of the system. What we have to study next is, why and how this monster of corruption has taken such a firm hold on India so much so that, the country of the legendary Harischandra, the honest has reached the position of one of the top ten or so of corrupt countries of the world. The corrupt practices have now become our lifestyle to such an extent that, we do not seem to feel that there is anything wrong in what all we are doing., and that things should not be as they are. We, on the contrary are inclined to justify all wrong saying that, without doing wrong we cannot exist or be functional. Tourism Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries. Tourism is an excellent way to develop a country, but it can also cause harm. How can countries ensure that tourism benefits the development. It is irrefutable that tourism has become the backbone of many economies of the world. In fact many countries rely on the tourist dollar for their development. This has also led to damage of the natural environment and at many places the tourist places have been so much littered that they have ceased being a tourist attraction any more. In a way tourism is killing tourism. In the following paragraphs, I shall discuss ways in which countries can ensure sustainable tourism. Also the tourism industry provides 8% of total world employment. Rising affluence in many countries is one major contributing factor for this development. Tourism itself has diversified into heritage tourism, beach tourism, nature tourism, adventure tourism, medical tourism, etc., to cater to different tastes. All this has created a massive spurt in global tourism. Long periods of political stability also emboldened people to venture out and explore the world. Television, movies and other kinds of media fostered curiosity about other parts of the world by showing attractive images of such places. Creative ad campaigns like ‘Incredible India’ and ‘Truly Malaysia’ have also done their bit to boost global tourism. Global tourism fosters an understanding of different cultures. This helps to promote peace among nations and peoples. It can also improve the economy of poor countries which in turn raises the living standards of their people. But global tourism has some downsides too. Unchecked tourist arrivals can impact the environment or socio-cultural fabric of a place. A once peaceful Goa has become a den of vices like rape, child abuse and drugs because of tourism. A sustainable approach will ensure that such negative consequences will be minimized.

A Walk To Remember

What salient point struck you most regarding the meaning of true love? The point in the movie that struck me the most regarding the meaning of true love Is that when you love someone, you would do everything and anything Just to make sure that the person you love will be happy and loved always. It Is true In the movie when London did his best to show how much he loved Jamie although Jamie was not her Ideal girl and she was going to die soon and leave him forever.London changed for the better hen he came to love Jamie. He realized that the most important thing for him was their love for each other. 2. Cite situations in the film which reflects the element of true love. * London changed his bad behavior and habits. He believed that it would make him to be worthy of Jasmine's love. *London stood up for Jasmine's sake against his friends. Although he knew that some of them would criticize him, he still did it for her. *London tried to fulfill all of Jasmine's wishes which she could neve r do because of her illness.Although London did not have a good relationship with his father, he still asked for his help to cure Jamie. *London married Jamie despite the fact that she would die soon. *Although years has passed, London still hold on to his promise to love Jamie forever 3. What lesson can you derive from the movie? The movie teaches me that loving someone is not all about happiness. It is also about the sufferings and challenges that a couple should face together in order to let their love last forever.A person would not be afraid to suffer and feel pain because e/she knows that the joy and affection he/she gets from loving someone is greater than those. Also, once a person learns how to truly love, he/she would be more than willing to fully accept the other one despite of her/his shortcomings as a person and as a partner. He/she would understand and care for her/him until the end. A true love means that a person Is willing to do and sacrifice everything Just to let the other person be happy and feel cherished with all the moments that they are together. . Are there differences in society's expectation in one's partner and the qualities that really count? There are differences in society's expectation in one's partner and the qualities that really count. Most people would have an ideal partner, which they assume, who would make them happy and complete. But in reality, there are many instances that the person who is destined to be loved by someone is really different from his ideal partner and his ideal situation of his love story.It does not matter if one has a particular standard for his partner. Because once he experiences how to truly love someone, he would realize that loving Is not something that should be planned ahead. What really Important Is that he knows how to value and love the other person despite the circumstances which he does not expect to come. A Walk To Remember By Emplace in the movie that struck me the most regarding the mea ning of true love is that when person you love will be happy and loved always.It is true in the movie when London did his best to show how much he loved Jamie although Jamie was not her ideal girl e/she knows that the Joy and affection he/she gets from loving someone is greater love means that a person is willing to do and sacrifice everything Just to let the other 4. Are there differences in society expectation in one's partner and the qualities that really count? There are differences in society expectation in one's partner and the truly love someone, he would realize that loving is not something that should be planned ahead. A Walk to Remember IntroductionACME Financial is a fast growing company that owes part of its growth to several recent acquisitions. ACME Financial now wants to consolidate the companies’ information technology resources to eliminate redundancy and share information among the new companies. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) has oversight responsibility for the project and has hired Client/Servers R Us to develop the architecture for the new corporate information system. Joe Consultant of C/S R Us presented 3 client/server designs to the CIO and is requesting the CIO to select one. The CIO is not sure which middleware design is best for the company’s goals. The CIO has asked Chris Consultant to present the advantages and disadvantages for each of the alternatives.Background ACME Financial Incorporated (AF Inc.) is an investment banking company that provides an on-line service that allows their clients to access account and market information. ACME Financial Inc. recently acquired several small and medium sized companies throughout the country, each with their own financial and accounting systems. Almost all of the companies have developed their own application software for their analysts’ use in their daily jobs, but only a few provided on-line account service. The analytical tools rely on near-real time market data and historical market data.The CIO wants to consolidate the financial and accounting information into a corporate information system that can support decision support applications for corporate management. Naturally, since the computer hardware is different for different companies, the CIO expects to upgrade the hardware to accommodate the new Information Technology (IT) system. The CIO will select the best analytical software as the standard software used by all company analysts. Each local site will be expected to provide an on-line service for their customers.Customers will be given the necessary application software to access their account in formation. Finally, ACME Financial has developed special data mining software that gives them a competitive advantage. AF Inc. offers their customers investment advice based on the information derived by the data mining software. Each account manager receives the information and then provides tailored recommendations to each customer based on their portfolio.System RequirementsThe following list of system requirements reflects the system’s priorities (listed roughly in order of priority): 1. Availability: The CIO’s number one priority is high availability. AF Inc. markets their reliability and feels that most clients choose them for their dependability. The CIO wants to maximize the system’s availability. To achieve high availability, if a regional office cannot provide support then a customer must always have access to the on-line service through a different office. 2. Data Integrity: The requirement for data integrity varies within the system. The most importa nt data are customer’s transactions.It is essential that a customer’s transaction is never lost and the system must guarantee that each transaction is completed. In contrast, data lost from the high data rate inputs, such as Reuter’s and the NYSE, are easily recovered during the each broadcast so it is not critical if some data are lost during a broadcast. 3. Performance: Financial markets are highly volatile; time sensitivity of data is measured in minutes. Millions can be lost if information is delayed getting to the analysts. The system must be able to support information broadcast throughout the network.4. Security: The CIO is concerned about the security of the data mining software and the information produced by the data mining software. The Chief Executive Officer thinks the data mining information software provides a competitive advantage for the company. If an unauthorized user had access to the information they could steal the data mining applications or steal the information produced by the data mining software. In either case, the perpetrator could make the same investment recommendations as AF Inc. account managers. Therefore, if competitors had access to the information the results could be financially devastating to the company.The CIO is concerned that a competitor could pose as a customer and hack into the highly sensitive information through his on-line service account. 5. Growth: The CIO envisions an incremental migration process to install the new system due to the magnitude of the change. Also, he expects that AF Inc. will continue to grow and acquire more companies. The CIO wants to be able to develop more application software as new customer services are added. The CIO also wants to add more near-real time information sources to  the system.6. Backup and Recovery: The CIO understands that the system will encounter problems from time to time. A key factor in determining the system’s success is how quickly the system can recover from a failure. Backup and recovery must be smooth and non-disruptive. One way to ensure that the system can easily recover from a system crash is to make sure the data is duplicated elsewhere on the system. The corporate database is the primary back up for each of the regional offices.ConfigurationEach local office (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest) has accesses a regional information hub. Local offices use client software to access the local application server. These application servers access the local databases for almost all of the information needed on a daily basis. For access to information needed less frequently the application software should access the central database at corporate headquarters. Each regional database has only the subset of information that is relevant for its area, whereas the corporate headquarters maintains all of the information from each region as well as data that is unique to corporate applications, such as additional accounting and company financial information.The corporate office is also responsible for the data mining software and information. Each of the regional databases is connected with high capacity links to the corporate database. Finally, the corporate office receives information from Reuter’s, NYSE, NASDAQ, and other financial markets. The information flow fluctuates daily from 30 – 40 KBps to 4 – 5 MBps. Twenty-five percent of the information is immediately broadcast to the regional offices to support the on-line account service. All the information is filtered and stored in the database.Architectural AlternativesAlternative I: The Database Management System This alternative takes advantage of the extended functionality provided by the popular relational database management companies, such as Oracle and Sybase. All information is delivered into the system where it is immediately stored into one of the databases. The relational database management software is res ponsible for the distribution of information throughout the system. Clients communicate  with the databases through Standard Query Language (SQL).Corporate and regional databases are kept synchronized using features supplied by the RDBMS software. Transactions are guaranteed by using special Transaction Processing Software. The vendor-supplied RDBMS software is responsible for back-up and recovery of all the databases. Data security is handled at the row level within each database. This means that clients can only receive records for which their user has permission. Existing application software may have to be modified to use SQL. Alternative II: Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) This solution depends on CORBA to tie together the clients and databases. CORBA is responsible for distributing data across the system. The RDBMS software is still responsible for the back-up and recovery, but the databases are kept synchronized using CORBA as the primary transport mechani sm for the data.Clients, application servers, and databases communicate to each other through CORBA’s transport mechanism. Existing application software would be wrapped in IDL to communicate with other applications. Special near-real time handling application software would send the information to each of the regional offices where it would be directed to clients that subscribe to the information. Alternative III: Message and Queuing (M&Q) The message and queuing design uses commercial M & Q software combined with a transaction processing product to ensure customer’s transactions are completed. Dec Message Queue and MQ Series are some of the leading products for messaging and queuing software. Clients communicate to other entities using messages. Messages are deposited in queues and the message and queuing middleware is responsible for message distribution to the appropriate clients. The software applications will be modified to send and receive messages from queues.Q uestions to Answer (Total 100 points)The case study must be discussed covering the designs and these questions with your teammates, but your final write-up should be your collaborative work. Doing research on specific products for the assignment should certainly be a team activity. The total length of the write-up should probably not exceed 5 pages. 1. Describe in more detail the architecture of each architectural alternative. To do this you will need to flesh out the specifics of the various parts. This will require some research on the  products indicated (or other comparable products that you locate).Note that some services are automatically provided when a particular product is purchased, while others must be developed to satisfy the system requirements. You should describe what services are automatically provided by the products, which services would need to be developed, and how services should be distributed across the network. (40 points) 2. Evaluate each of the alternativ es against the system requirements, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. (You may assume that the hardware will support all solutions.) In your analysis you might consider issues such as which alternative gives the system developers the most flexibility, which alternative provides easiest maintenance, and which alternative requires the least modification to the current system. Other hints for system comparison are listed below. (40 points)3. Prioritize each alternative or suggest a different solution if you think it superior to the presented alternatives. (20 points) Suggestions on how to proceed 1. There is not enough information to make an informed decision about each of the alternatives. As a team, allot a percentage of your time to discover which products offer what type of services. You do not have enough time to do a complete market survey so be selective. 2. If you depend only on marketing information you may find that the alternatives are equivalent. So you m ight want to go beyond the market literature in doing your research for this assignment.3. As you do your analysis, pay particular attention to some of the following kinds of issues: a. How well does the architecture support the basic system functionality requirements? b. How much run time performance overhead does the architecture impose? c. How well will specific products handle the high volume of data? d. How will each architecture handle occasional peak loads? e. How easy is it to customize the system to new requirements? 4. In your analysis, when you are considering costs, you do not need to consider the actual product cost. (It may be impossible to get actual product costs anyway.) Instead, evaluate cost with respect to the amount of customized software that will be necessary to implement each alternative, and how this might affect long-term maintenance costs, time to implement, flexibility, etc.

Resourcing talent Essay

The aims and objectives of this report are to: identify factors affecting an organization’s approach to attracting talent explain the benefits of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce describe factors affecting organizational approach to recruitment and selection give examples of recruitment and selection methods explain the purpose of induction and give a sample induction plan 2. ATRACTING TALENT 2. 1. 4 FACTORS THAT AFFECT AN ORGANISATION’S APPROACH TO ATTRACTING TALENT An organisation’s ability to attract talent from outside depends on how potential applicants view the company, the sector in which it operates and its culture. This is why BRAND IDENTITY seems to be one of the most important factors influencing an organisation’s approach to attracting talent. The top-notch candidates will always ask ‘what’s in this for me’? ‘Unless a business is a brand new start-up, they’re likely to have an existing reputation as an employer – whether this is intentional or not. Given that potential new employees make decisions about joining based on this impression, it pays to define a strategy to make sure the right (and real) messages are being heard. ’ (http://www. pageexecutive. com/insights/talent-attraction-through-employer-branding). WORKFORCE PLANNING which is company likely needs for talent is another very important factor. An organisation’s approach to attracting talent is determined by its workforce planning (WFP). This means: predicting organisation workforce requirements by taking into account: existing skills, training and development, retention, career progression, staff turnover, external factors like: economic climate, demographics, working patterns, and most importantly the demand and supply in labour market. Organisations need to have strategic approach to attracting talent and need to understand the importance of investment in human capital. Talent strategy must be as close to corporate strategy as possible. SIZE OF ORGANIZATION – A small organization cannot have same staffing practices which a large organization may have; it may not be able to attract highly talented staff. Even if it tries to do so it may increase the staffing cost. TYPE OF TALENT THE ORGANISATION IS LOOKING FOR is a very important factor in organisation’s approach to attracting potential employees. For example the level of staff required will determine the recruitment pool, low level team members will be easy to find locally whilst to find a senior manager or a director a company may have to resource internationally. Other factors influencing a company’s talent management are: type of product/services the company is delivering, recruitment tools/methods available, the labour market, national as well as international, legal factors, socio-culture factors or political influences. 2. 2. CIPD POINT OF VIEW ON TALENT MANAGEMENT HR professionals have a very important role in talent management. They have to understand the 4 areas of talent management which are: attracting, developing, managing and evaluating talent. In the current uncertain economic climate strategic approach to talent management is even more important than ever before. 3. A DIVERSE WORKFORCE 3. 1. 3 ORGANISATION BENEFITS OF ATRACTING AND RETAINING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE ‘Diversity is the art of thinking independently together’ Publisher Malcolm Forbes People need to be treated differently in ways that are fair and tailored to their needs but in ways that are aligned to business needs and objectives (The business case for diversity). There are many advantages of a diverse workforce: WIDENS THE RECRUITMENT POOL – ACAS points out that the working generation is getting older therefore people from different cultural ; ethnic backgrounds are entering the workforce. REDUCES LABOUR TURNOVER – looking at the UK labour market in the last 10 years, foreign workers are more motivated to work for lower salaries than people living permanently in the UK. They tend to stay in a job for long mainly due to their financial commitment to families living abroad. GIVES GOOD CORPORATE REPUTATION and this helps to attract talent. Organizations with high level of diverse workforce are valued by many people e. g. large supermarkets by having a diverse workforce on the shop floor help international customers to communicate with staff in their own languages. Other benefits of a diverse workforce include: it’s a key to fostering new ways of thinking, opens up a wealth of possibilities and helps to encourage creativity and foster innovation, gives bias-free people policies and working practices, helps to develop new products and practices, opens up new markets and provides due diligence against discrimination claims. 3. 2. CIPD POINT OF VIEW ON DIVERSE WORKFORCE Recognizing and valuing diversity is crucial to good people management practice. HR practitioners have important role in creating inclusive workplace. CIPD advises to companies to go beyond legal compliance with anti-discrimination laws and create diversity strategy or they will become less attractive to potential employees. Company diversity strategy needs to support business objectives and strategies. 4. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 4. 1. 3 FACTORS THAT AFFECT AN ORGANISATION’S APPROACH TO RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION Recruitment and selection is the process of having the right person, in the right place, at the right time. It should be affected by current needs as well as future plans (see workforce planning, page 3). One of the factors that can affect an organization’s approach to recruitment and selection is the EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES LEGISLATION. Companies should ensure that they take account of equality and diversity at all times. Organizations should monitor whole recruitment processes continuously to ensure their validity, and that they are non-discriminatory. Advice and guidance is provided by Equality and Human Rights Commission, for example wider advertising, flexible working hours arrangements or child care vouchers for employees. THE SIZE OF THE COMPANY AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE – small companies will have to use different recruitment and selection methods that the larger ones. The infrastructure and finance will determine if it’s a newspaper advert or TV campaign, for example: ‘Join the Army’ Campaign being used to recruit candidates. Also a small organisation will not be able to use assessment centres or psychometric testing due to low budget available. SUPPLY AND DEMAND The availability of manpower both within and outside the organization is an important determinant in the recruitment process. If the company has a demand for more professionals and there is limited supply in the market for the professionals demanded by the company, then the company will have to depend upon internal sources by providing them special training and development programs. Other factors include: costs, recruitment policy or unemployment rate. 4. 2. 3 DIFFERENT RECRUITMENT METHODS There are many recruitment methods available on the market including: advertising, agency, website, word of mouth, newspaper, posters, ‘milk round’, internships, head hunters, recommend a friend scheme, social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, job centre, etc. For the purpose of this exercise I will describe 3 methods in a table below: RECRUITMENT METHOD BENEFITS OTHER COMMENTS Advertising on the website Cost effective Creates employer’s branding Easily accessible Gives understanding of organization’s culture Broad recruitment pool HR managers are actively involved in recruitment and selection Recruitment agency Time effective Efficient Broadens the recruitment pool High standard UK eligibility and CRB checks done Is used to hire management level employees, mainly by larger organizations Recommend a friend scheme It’s less expensive than agency It comes with a recommendation of someone we already trust Used to employ all levels staff from waiters and chefs to senior management There is a risk of discrimination claim Source: Aleksandra Wozniak 2013 4. 3. 3 SELECTION METHODS There are many selection methods, including: assessment centres, speed networking, psychometric testing, daily trail – role practice, competency based interviews, telephone interviews/screening, group interviews/exercises or occupational tests. For the purpose of this exercise I will describe 3 methods in a table below: SELECTION METHOD BENEFITS OTHER COMMENTS Assessment centre Creates employer’s branding Time effective It’s expensive Doesn’t give understanding of organizational culture Face to face interview Time effective Efficient Cost effective Availability to see candidates’ attitude Opportunity for probing Needs good preparation Should be done by a trained and experienced interviewer Psychometric tests Gives highly predictive results Improves the efficiency of the recruitment process There is a risk of standardisation Source: Aleksandra Wozniak 2013 5. INDUCTION Induction is the process of familiarisation with the organisation and settling into the job (acas. org. uk). 5. 1. PURPOSE OF INDUCTION 1. Social welcome – employees feeling valued 2. Introduction to the Company’s culture 3. Physical orientation 4. Explanation of employee’s benefits: staff discount and pension scheme. 5. Check of eligibility to work in UK 6. Explanation of house rules – staff uniforms, reporting absences, etc. 5. 2. HOW DOES INDUCTION BENEFIT INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS Most labour turnover is among new employees, and work efficiency is reached only after a period of learning and adjusting to the new environment. Induction benefits for individuals are: Builds positive attitude of the company Allows quick adjusting, especially for school leavers or people returning to the workforce Saves time The benefits of induction for an employer are: The chance to build on the positive attitude of the new recruit To answer their anxieties about how well they will get on with their co-workers and understand the standards and rules of the organisation Chance to welcome new employees and build on their positive attitude and enthusiasm for their new job An opportunity to familiarise new members of staff with your organisation To introduce them to their immediate colleagues and other members of the wider workforce Health and safety, equality and discrimination Case study illustrating the result of the lack of an induction process: A new employee starts on a Monday, reports to reception and no one knows he is due to start work on that day. He is sent to room 302 where 3 very surprised team members welcome him in a cold way. It transpires that the desk and computer are not ready and he has to share a desk with one of his colleagues. The new starter feels very lost and disappointed. He doesn’t know who to ask for help and find out only after going back home and visiting the web site. He contacts HR but the situation isn’t resolved until the following week. He doesn’t think positively about his new company and starts regretting quitting his last job. 5. 3. INDUCTION PLAN A copy of an induction plan should be kept by new starter to enable him to follow what is happening and will act as a reminder of anything missed or that needs particular attention. POSITION: EMPLOYEE START DATE: NAME: INDUCTION COMPLETION DATE: SIGNATURE: AREAS TO BE COVERED WHEN WHO HOW COMMENTS PERSONAL DOCUMENTATION/ ELIGIBILITY TO WORK IN UK CHECKED First day HR Take copies P45 First day HR Take copies NIN First day HR Take copies INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY First week Line manager Presentation Who’s who History Products/services/markets Future plans and developments TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT First day HR Written Written terms and conditions issued Contract of employment issued Hours, breaks, method of payment Holidays Clocking on/flexitime/reporting procedures Probationary period Period of notice Sickness provisions Pension provisions Maternity/paternity/parental leave provisions AREAS TO BE COVERED WHEN WHO HOW COMMENTS EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY AND WORKER DEVELOPMENT First week HR Verbal/Written Equal opportunities policy Training needs and objectives Further education/training policies Performance appraisal Promotion avenues Policy/procedures to prevent bullying and harassment WORKER/EMPLOYER RELATIONS First week Line manager Verbal Trade union membership Other worker representation Worker communications and consultation Grievance and disciplinary procedure Appeals procedure ORGANISATION RULES First week Mentor/Buddy Verbal/Coffee chat Smoking policy General behaviour/dress code Telephone calls/emails and use of the internet Canteen/break facilities Cloakroom/toilets/lockers HEALTH AND SAFETY First week Safety officer E learning Risk assessment Emergency procedures AREAS TO BE COVERED WHEN WHO HOW COMMENTS Awareness of hazards – any particular to type of work Safety rules Emergency procedures Clear gangways, exits Location of exits Reporting of accidents First aid Personal hygiene WELFARE AND WORKER BENEFITS/FACILITIES First month Section supervisor Coffee chat Sports facilities Protective clothing – supply, laundry, replacement Transport/parking arrangements Company discounts THE JOB First week Mentor/Buddy Coffee chat Introduction to manager/supervisor Requirements of new job Standards expected Co-workers Supervision and work performance appraisals Source: Induction, Appendix 3, acas. org. uk with small changes by Aleksandra Wozniak 2013 6. 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