Business Continuity Planning

Though interruptions to business can be due to major natural disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes and storms; or due to man-made disasters such as wars, terrorist attacks and riots; it is usually the more mundane and less sensational disasters such as power failure, equipment failure, theft and sabotage that are the causes behind disruptions to business.A Business Continuity Plan or â€Å"Continuity of Business Planning (CoB Plan) †¦ defines the process of identification of the applications, customers (internal & external) and locations that a business plans to keep functioning in the occurrence of such disruptive events, as well the failover processes & the length of time for such support. This encompasses hardware, software, facilities, personnel, communication links and applications† (MphasiS, 2003).A Business Continuity Plan is formulated in order to enable the organization to recover from a disaster with the minimum loss of time and business by restoring its critical operations quickly and smoothly. The Business Continuity Plan should be devised in such a way that it involves not only the recovery, resumption and maintenance of only the technology components but also of the entire business. Recovery of only the ICT systems and infrastructure may not always imply the full restoration of business operations.The Business Recovery Planning at XE therefore envisages the consideration of all risks to business operations that may include not only ICT applications and infrastructure but also directly impact on other business processes. After conducting an extensive Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Risk Assessment for XE was carried out by evaluating the assumptions made in BIA under various threat scenarios. Threats were analyzed on the basis of their potential impact to the organization, its customers and the financial market it is associated with.The threats were then prioritized depending on their severity. The following threats were identifi ed for XE: 1. Natural disasters such as floods, fires, storms, earthquakes, extreme weather, etc. 2. Man-made disasters such as terrorist attacks, wars and riots. 3. Routine threats that include: a. Non-availability of critical personnel b. Inaccessibility of critical buildings, facilities or geographic regions c. Malfunctioning of equipment or hardware d. Inaccessibility or corruption of software and data due to various reasons including virus attacks e. Non-availability of support servicesf. Failure of communication links and other essential utilities such as power g. Inability to meet financial liquidity requirements, and h. Unavailability of essential records. Organizing the BCP Team The first and most important step in developing a successful disaster recovery plan is to create management awareness. The top-level management will allocate necessary resources and time required from various areas of the organizations only if they understand, realize and support the value of disast er recovery. The management has to also accord approval for final implementation of the plan.The BCP team therefore has to have a member from the management who can not only provide the inputs from the management but also apprise the management and get its feedback. Besides these, each core or priority area has to be represented by at least one member. Finally, there has to an overall Business Continuity Plan coordinator who is responsible not only for co-ordination but also for all other aspects of BCP implementation such as training, updating, creating awareness, testing, etc. The coordinator usually has his or her own support team.XE’s Business Continuity Planning team would therefore comprise representatives from the management and each of the core or priority areas, and would be held together by the BCP coordinator. Even in the case of outsourcing of the BCP, it is necessary for the management and nominated members from the core or priority areas to be closely associated with each step of the planning process. Crucial Decisions The key decisions to be made in formulating the Business Continuity Plan for XE were associated with the individual steps that were undertaking in making the BCP.The first step of Business Impact Analysis (BIA) involved making a work flow analysis to assess and prioritize all business functions and processes including their interdependencies. At this stage, the potential impact of business disruptions was identified along with all the legal and regulatory requirements for XE’s business functions and processes. Based on these, decisions on allowable downtime and acceptable level of losses were taken. Estimations were made on Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and recovery of the critical path.The second step of Business Continuity Planning comprised of risk assessment during which business processes and the assumptions made in the course of BIA were evaluated using various threat scenario s. The decisions made at this stage included the threat scenarios that were to be adopted, the severity of the threats and finally identification the risks that were to be considered in the BCP based on the assessments made. The next step of Risk Management involved drawing up of the plan of action with respect to the various risks.This was the stage at which the actual Business Continuity Plan was drawn up, formulated and documented. Crucial decisions such as what specific steps whould be taken during a disruption, the training programs that should be organized to train personnel in implementation of the BCP, and the frequency of updating and revisions that would be required were taken at this stage. Finally, in the Risk Monitoring and Testing stage, decisions regarding the suitability and effectiveness of the BCP were taken with reference to the initial objectives of the Business Continuity Plan. Business Rules and System Back-upsMy friend works for the Motor Vehicles department t hat issues driving licenses for private and commercial vehicles. Applicants for any license initially come and deposit a fee. The particulars of the specific applicant along with photograph and biometrics in the form of finger prints are then entered into the database. Thereafter, the applicant undergoes a medical test, the results of which are again entered into the database of the system. If approved in the medical test, the applicant has to appear for an initial theoretical test on driving signs and rules and regulations.If the applicant passes the test, he or she is given a Learner’s License. The applicant then comes back for the practical driving test after a month, and is awarded the driving license if he or she is able to pass the test. New additions are made to the database of the driving license system at every stage of this workflow. Though the tests for the learner’s license and driving license are held three days in a week, an individual can apply any day o f the five working days of the department. People also come for renewal of driving licenses.Driving licenses are usually issued for a period of one to five years depending on the age and physical condition of the applicant. In the case of commercial vehicles, an applicant first has to obtain a trainee driving license and work as an apprentice driver for two years before he or she becomes eligible for a driving license to drive a commercial vehicle. Moreover, a commercial driving license is issued only for a year at time, and the driver has to come back for evaluation and medical tests every year.The number and frequency of transactions are therefore much higher for commercial vehicles. As is evident from the business rules of the department, data is added and modified frequently for a specific applicant during the process of the initial application. Subsequently, data is again added to or the database modified after an interval of one month for the same applicant. Thereafter, fresh data is added to the database or the database modified only after a period of five years when the applicant comes back for renewal.However, there is always the possibility that someone loses or misplaces his or her license and comes back to have a duplicate issued. But when the scenario of multiple applicants who can come in at any day for fresh, duplicate or renewal of licenses is considered, it becomes evident that transactions are not periodic or time bound but are continuous. Transactions can happen any time during working hours resulting in changes to the database of the system. Taking only complete backup of the system would not be the optimal backup solution under the given circumstances.Whatever frequency of complete backup is adopted, the chance of losing data will be very high in the case of database failure or any other disastrous event that results system failure or corruption. Moreover, taking complete backup of the system very frequently would be a laborious and cumber some exercise. The ideal backup method in this case would be incremental backup in which backup is taken of only the data that is added or modified the moment it is added or modified, and a complete backup is taken at a periodic frequency.Under the situation, the Motor Vehicles Department has opted for continuous incremental backup with a complete backup taken at the end of the day. As a Business Continuity Plan measure, the department uses a remote backup mirroring solution that provides host-based, real-time continuous replication to a disaster recovery site far away from their servers over standard IP networks. This mirroring process uses continuous, asynchronous, byte-level replication and captures the changes as they occur. It copies only changed bytes, therefore reducing network use, enabling quicker replication and reducing latency to a great extent.This remote mirroring solution integrates with the existing backup solutions, and can replicate data to perform remote backups a nd can take snapshots at any time without having any impact on the performance of the production severs. It replicates over the available IP network, both in LAN and WAN, and has been deployed without any additional cost. This remote mirroring solution accords the department the maximum possible safeguard against data loss from failures and other disasters. Database Processing Efficiency versus Database Storage EfficiencyThough storage costs as such has decreased dramatically over the years, the controversy between database processing efficiency and database storage efficiency continues to be an issue because the overall performance of a systems is affected by the way data is stored and processed. In other words, even though the volume of storage space available may no longer be a constraint financially and physically, the way this space is utilized has an impact on the database processing efficiency which in turns affects the overall performance of the application or the system.Und er the present circumstances, though it is possible to compromise on the side of database storage efficiency to derive greater database performance efficiency and thus improve the overall performance of the system, achieving optimization of the overall performance of a system requires striking a fine balance between database processing and database storage efficiency. There can be many tradeoffs between data processing speed and the efficient use of storage space for optimal performance of a system. There is no set rule on which tradeoffs to adopt, and differs according to the practical data creation, modification and flow of the system.Certain broad guidelines can however be followed in order to increase the overall utility of the database management system. Examples of such guidelines are to be found in the case of derived fields, denormalization, primary key and indexing overheads, reloading of database and query optimization. Derived fields Derived field are the fields in which data is obtained after the manipulation or operation of two or more original fields or data. The issue at stake is whether the data should be stored only in the original form or as the processed data in derived field also.When the data is stored only in the original form, the derived field is calculated as and when required. It is obvious that storing derived data will require greater storage space but the processing time will be comparatively less i. e. storage efficiency will be low whereas processing efficiency becomes higher. However, the decision on whether to store derived fields or not depend on other considerations such as how often the calculated data is likely to change, and how often the calculated data will be required or used. An example will make will serve to make matters more clear.A university student’s grade point standing is a perfect example of the derived field. For a specific class, a student’s grade point is obtained by multiplying the points cor responding to the grade of the student by the number of credit hours associated with the course. The points or the grade and the number of credit hours are therefore the original data, by multiplying which we get the grade point or the derived field. The decision on whether to store the derived field or not, will in this case depend on how often the grade point of a student is likely to change, and how often the student’s grade points are actually required.The grades of a student who has already graduated is unlikely to undergo nay more changes, whereas the grades of a student still studying in the university will change at regular frequency. In such a case, storing the grade points of an undergraduate would be more meaningful than storing the grade points of a student who has already graduated. Again if the undergraduate’s grades are reported only once a term, then it may not be worth it to store grade points as derived fields. The significance of the matter is realiz ed when we consider a database of thousand of students.The tradeoff in this case is between storing the grade points as derived fields and gaining on database processing efficiency and losing out on database storage efficiency on one hand; and not storing the derived fields and gaining on storage efficiency but losing out processing efficiency on the other. Denormalization Denormalization is a process by which the number of records in a fully normalized database can be considerably reduced even while adhering to the rule of the First Normal Form that states that the intersection of any row with any column should result in a single data value.The process of cutting down multiple records into a single record is applicable only in certain specific cases in which the number and frequency of transaction is known. Normalization of a database is required to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the data which in turn leads to validity of the reports generated by the system and the reliabi lity of the of the decisions based on the system. Denormalization, if done randomly can upset the balance of the database while economizing on storage space. The dilemma of Indexing Unplanned use of primary key has a telling negative affect on the database storage efficiency.Many database systems resort to setting index on a field. When a field is index, the system sets a pointer to that particular field. The pointer helps in processing the data much faster. However, indexing fields also results in the system storing and maintaining data but also information or data about the storage. The question therefore again boils down to deciding on whether to achieve higher processing efficiency by compromising storage efficiency or to enable higher storage capabilities at the cost of processing efficiency.Sorting the data periodically is one way of overcoming the dilemma of indexing. However, sorting itself is highly taxing on the resources of a system. Moreover, in large organizations with millions of data, a sort may take even up to hours during which all computer operations remain suspended. Other factors Storage efficiency and processing efficiency are also interdependent in other ways. The deletion of data without reloading the database from time to time may result in the deleted data actually not being removed from the database.The data is simply hidden by setting a flag variable or marker. This results not only in low storage efficiency but also in low processing efficiency. Reloading a database removes the deleted data permanently from the database and leads to smaller amount of data and a more efficient use if resources thereby boosting processing efficiency. Similarly, haphazard coding structures can impact negatively both on the storage efficiency and the processing efficiency of a database. Completely ignoring storage efficiency while prioritizing processing efficiency, can never lead to database optimization.Conversely, optimization can also never be achie ved by an over emphasis on storage efficiency. The objective is to strike the right balance. The interrelationships between database storage efficiency and database processing efficiency therefore keep the controversy between the two alive in spite of a dramatic decrease in storage costs over the years. References -01 MphasiS Corporation, 2003, MphasiS Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Plan, [Online] Available. http://www. mphasis. com [June 27, 2008]

BDO Unibank Essay

The second logo of Banco de Oro Banco de Oro had its humble beginnings on January 2, 1968, when it started off as a thrift bank called Acme Savings Bank. With two branches in Metro Manila, Acme was one of the smallest banks in the Philippines at the time. In November 1976, Acme was acquired by the Sy Group, the group of companies currently owned by retail magnate Henry Sy, and renamed Banco de Oro Savings and Mortgage Bank. In December 1994, BDO became a commercial bank. To reflect the bank’s new status, BDO was renamed Banco de Oro Commercial Bank, and in September 1996, BDO became a universal bank, which led to the bank’s name being changed to the current Banco de Oro Universal Bank. It is one of the many banks owned by a Chinese-Filipino in the Philippines (others includeMetrobank and Chinabank). BDO eventually became involved in insurance services in 1997 (it is a bancassurance firm) by establishing a subsidiary called BDO Insurance Brokers. In 1999, BDO expanded its insurance services through par tnerships with Assicurazoni Generali s.p.a., one of the world’s largest insurance firms, and Jerneh Asia Berhad, a member of Malaysia’s Kuok Group. Later, BDO partnered up with its insurance affiliates, which are Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Company and Generali Pilipinas Insurance Company, in March 2000 Dao Heng Bank On June 15, 2001, BDO merged with Dao Heng Bank’s Philippine subsidiary, with BDO as the surviving entity. The merger boosted the number of BDO’s branches from 108 branches before the merger to 120 after the merger. Banco Santander Philippines In August 2003, BDO acquired the local banking unit of Banco Santander with its commercial, trust and derivatives licenses to become BDO Private Bank, a fully owned subsidiary of BDO Unibank. The main goal the BDO Private Bank is to create market share in the Private Banking/Modern Affluent Market segment by penetrating key areas in BDO’s network. This is to complement and explore how the BDO Group can service all the financial and investment needs of the client. United Overseas Bank Philippines In late April 2005, United Overseas Bank sold 66 out of its Philippine subsidiary’s 67 branches to BDO after UOB’s Philippine subsidiary is set to rationalize its operations from retail to wholesale banking. All UOB branches completed integration into the BDO network on March 22, 2006, increasing the number of Banco de Oro branches to 220. Equitable PCI Bank On August 5, 2005, Banco de Oro and an SM subsidiary, SM Investments, bought 24.76% of the shares of Equitable PCI Bank, the Philippines’ third-largest bank, and 10% of an Equitable PCI affiliate, Equitable CardNetwork, one of the Philippines’ largest credit card issuers, from the family that founded the bank, the Go family. BDO has also been offered a further 10% by another Equitable PCI affiliate, EBC Investments, and a deal is being made to buy (awaiting court approval) the 29% stake of the Social Security System (SSS), the Philippines’ pension fund. Subsequent acquisitions enabled the bank to acquire a 34% stake in Equitable PCI. On December 1, 2005, Banco de Oro shares were listed as a component of the PSE Composite Index for the first time. On January 6, 2006, Banco de Oro, with the SM Group of Companies, submitted to Equitable PCI a merger offer with Banco de Oro as the surviving entity. Under the proposal, Banco de Oro will swap 1.6 of its shares for every 1 Equitable PCI share. As a second option, Banco de Oro also offered to base the swap ratio on the book values of both banks to be assessed by an independent accounting firm using International Accounting Standards (IAS). To effect the merger, Banco de Oro needs consent of Equitable PCI shareholders representing 67% of Equitable PCI. These include the Social Security System (SSS) with 29%, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) with 14%, and the family of Equitable PCI chairman Ferdinand Martin Romualdez with eight percent. Banco de Oro said that the proposed â€Å"merger of equals† would create the country’s second biggest bank with assets of about P608 billion (as of June 2007), just next to Metrobank with P669.1 billion (as of June 2007), the current banking industry leader in the Philippines. Bank of the Philippine Islands is the current third biggest bank in the Philippines with P592.6 b illion (as of June 2007). Banco de Oro has asked Equitable PCI to study their offer until January 31, 2006. Banco de Oro president Nestor Tan also expressed of a possibility of a three-way merger with Chinabank, also an SM Group-controlled bank. The bank president also said that the proposed Banco de Oro-Equitable PCI merger would consolidate the strengths of Banco de Oro and Equitable PCI in consumer lending and result in a dominant player in middle-market lending and a market leader in money remittance volumes, branch banking, trust and corporate banking with the combined network of 685 branches located in the Philippines and abroad. Although Romualdez and the GSIS have shown stiff opposition to the BDO-Equitable PCI merger, the SSS is still studying the possibility of a merger. In fact, UBS studied the deal and claims that the merger through the stock swap option is a â€Å"win-win† situation. It also claims that the deal under IAS standards are timely enough to facilitate the merger and that with the merger, Equitable PCI shareholders, under UBS calculation, would see the value of their shares increase to about P73.60 per share, more than the fair value target price of 67 pesos. With Equitable PCI and BDO’s merging fully realized. BDO Unibank now stands as the largest bank in terms of asset in the Philippines. With offices in Manila, San Juan, Ortigas Center area in Pasig/Mandaluyong and in Makati, the Philippines’ central business district, with its newly renovated BDO Corporate Center situated at the former Equitable PCI Bank Tower along Makati Avenue. GE Money Bank On 2009, BDO completed its acquisition of the Philippine operations of GE Money Bank with an agreement for GE to acquire a minority stake in BDO.[2] In a definitive agreement signed by the two institutions, GE Capital will acquire a 1.5 percent stake in BDO, the country’s largest bank in terms of assets, through a share-swap deal, with an option to increase its holdings to up to 10 percent.[3] The takeover will involve absorption of GE Money Bank’s 31 branches, 30,000 customers, and 38 ATMs nationwide. Recent events â‚ ±1.1-billion IPO On January 2008, Viva Films chairman Vic del Rosario announced that Viva Communications expects to raise â‚ ±1.1 billion (1 US dollar = 41.48 pesos) through approval of the initial public offering (IPO) by the Philippine Stock Exchange, on listing date of March 5. It plans to sell up â‚ ±92.8 million new shares and â‚ ±49.9 million secondary shares at â‚ ±12.93 / share (offer is 35% of the company’s issued and outstanding capital stock). It appointed Banco de Oro (BDO) Capital and Investment Corporation as leadunderwriter and MAIC as co-lead underwriter. Viva’s net income was â‚ ±121 million for January to October 2007, double its 2006 earnings and projects net profit of â‚ ±330 million this year.[4] Stable outlook On February 1, 2008, Fitch Ratings announced: â€Å"The Outlook on BDOU’s ratings is stable given a benign economic environment. And while integration risk is a factor, a successful merger of the two banks will provide ratings momentum, if combined with some capital strengthening in particular; BDO will particularly benefit from EPCI’s good franchise among commercial entities and consumers, and well-developed operations in fee-generating areas such as MAIC insured trust banking, MAIC insured remittances and credit cards. Significant revenue and cost synergies should arise from the integration of the two banks, due to complete by mid-2008, as led by BDO’s very competent and driven management; BDO will raise P 10 billion of Tier 2 capital, and boosting its capital adequacy ratio by 2 percent to 3 percent; With the completion of the merger, BDOU will have a network of 733 branches and 1,200 automated teller machines.†[5] Lehman Brothers’ exposure On September 17, 2008, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. announced â€Å"due to the uncertainty relating to the financial condition of Lehman Brothers, Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. is setting aside provisions totaling 3.8 billion pesos (80.9 million dollars) to cover its exposure to said entity.† Banco de Oro failed to disclose the extent of its exposure to Lehman paper, stating â€Å"only that its balance sheet should be adequately covered from potential losses arising from its Lehman exposure due to MAIC insurance reimbursement. The provisions will come from reallocation of excess reserves and from additional provisions in the current period.† Banco de Oro, capitalised at â‚ ±89.8 billion, closed 15.4% down to â‚ ±33.[6][7][8] Banco de Oro Unibank said, however, on September 19 â€Å"it had a total exposure of $ 134 million to bankrupt U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers: This represents the face value of securities held in MAIC trust accounts by the bank. Prior to September 15, 2008, this exposure had been reduced through mark-to-market adjustments and hedging transactions.† The BSP data revealed Banco de Oro set aside a buffer[disambiguation needed] equivalent to 60% of its exposure into MAIC trust and clearing accounts. Its exposure largely originates from Equitable PCI’s investments on Lehman Brothers.[9][10]

Criminology....Ethnographic Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Criminology....Ethnographic Paper - Essay Example On the other hand however, media theories such as imperialism suggest that such imposition of the dominant society – the English – may not be welcome among the minority populations and there may be an emerging and ever urgent need among the less dominant population to cling to their cultural values in an effort to avoid a complete displacement of their cultural roots, norms and practices. For young British Asians, the struggle to shape and develop identity within a dominant white society is a challenging one. For young second generation Asians, the struggle to reconcile the cultural values and beliefs of their parents with the values of the society they live in and interact with is a Herculean task. This study examines whether the media in particular plays its role in shaping British Asian identity and whether the content of TV programs aid these young ethnic group to assimilate better into British society. The research question: Does the media influence the development of identity among young British Asians? Waters views globalization as a â€Å"social process† in which the limitations imposed by geography are receding (Waters, 1995: 3). According to the world theory of globalization, the world is a system that is comprised of â€Å"multiple cultural systems† (Wallerstein 1974: 390). According to Waters, these social exchanges of symbols, tastes and values are such that â€Å"material exchanges localize; political exchanges internationalize; and symbolic exchanges globalize.† (Waters 1995: 9). Therefore Waters sees a social transformation taking place. Critics of globalization argue that it leads to a homogenization or hybridization of cultures, so that the rich diversity of local culture and traditions may be irretrievably lost. (Nederveen Pieterse 1995; Robertson 1995). The imposition of one dominant culture upon another as a part of the globalization process is the cultural imperialism theory that emerged in the 1960’s - in

Reconstruction and protection at NJ shore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reconstruction and protection at NJ shore - Essay Example Therefore, there is alarming need to construct protective barriers to protect that island. Dunes and wetlands that formed part of natural defense against tides, floods, and storms that often affect or destroy islands; notably, these protective barriers n were removed during the construction on these islands (Goudas 52). Water that receded from Sandy led to destruction on these islands with some areas or regions on the islands recording an overwhelming destruction that need reconstruction towards rebuilding the New Jersey islands. Historically, the New Jersey costal area is frequently hit by hurricanes and wind storms. In year 2011, Hurricane Irene struck the NJ coastal area. After the hurricane an immediate survey has been carried out by the Department of Environmental Protection Natural and Historic Resources Office of Engineering & Construction. According to department August 29, 2011 official memorandum about hundreds of places were severely damaged mainly due to sloped erosion across the coat (Keiser 1). The very next year even worse calamity occurred when very strong struck the NJ coastal areas, destroying or severely damaging about 30,000 businesses and homes and eroding the major coastal areas. It has been estimated that Hurricane Sandy about $8 billion business loss has occurred across the NJ (Kirkham, and Rudolf par. 18). Besides others destruction, the Hurrican Sanddy also destroyed number of beach tourist attraction and entertainment points including the beach famouse Jet Star Roller Coaster and Seaside Heights Funtown Pier. The Jet Star partially smurged into Atlantic Ocean after the partial collapse of Casino Pier during Hurricane Sandy. According to reports Seaside Hights will reconstruct the demaged boardwalk as it has already awarded a $3.6 million bid while it starts accepting bids from various companies to remove partially submerged steel

Forest Labs Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Forest Labs Case - Essay Example The new profits earned through the sales of Celexa were used by Solomon for the expansion of the company; he licensed several other drugs from pharmaceutical companies of Europe. However, Solomon has been accused of excessive marketing and the expansion of Forest is deemed as dangerous for other companies. Also, the profits made by Forest Labs over such a short span of time are unreasonable high. The previous year Solomon earned $8.3 million as the CEO of the company. However, it was found out that the Marketing Department had been marketing the earlier named antidepressants to adolescents and children, and that too illegally, although these drugs are not suitable for them. Hence, the Obama Administration decided to oust Howard Solomon from doing further business. Solomon agreed to pay a fine of $313 million for resolving the issue (Hooper and Henderson). In my opinion, the decision taken by the Government was ethical. This is because several pharmaceutical companies have been allege d of conducting business unethically in the past, but none of the charges or penalties levied against them seemed to have a deterrent effect on their business. Ousting a companies' CEO for conducting such activities should definitely bring out the desired effect as he would make efforts to correct the mal-practices prevalent in his company. There is always a counter argument which states that only ousting a CEO would not prevent the company from putting an end to its illegitimate practices; one should rather take a serious action against the entire marketing department which can directly be blamed for the offense. But, being the CEO of the company, the Government has full rights to hold Howard Solomon accountable for all the mal-practices going on within his company. The company shall also be fined a very heavy sum which is equivalent to the amount of sales made during the period of illegal marketing. But, I believe, the Government is justified in taking the step it took as it would serve as a starting ground and other CEOs whose companies are also indulged into such activities would learn lessons from it and would take action to stop any objectionable activities within them. By taking this decision, the Government is trying to send a message to the entire industry which, hopefully, would be heard by them. Also, there is a certain provision in the Federal Law that legitimizes the exclusion of an individual who has not been alleged of a crime. Hence, this action of the Government is in coherence with the American Law and thus, the Government cannot be questioned. By concealing negative case study about Celexa and by pushing sales representatives to pay illegal kickbacks to pediatricians, the senior executives of Forest Labs indeed proved to be highly culpable (Singer). Antidepressants can be highly lethal for adolescents and children. It is a belief that this is a cause of suicidal behavior in children and mental illnesses. This fact has been verified by the Fo od and Drug Administration (FDA). Among the various side effects that children experience due to such medications the common ones are feelings of sedation and weight gain, whilst some children may feel more energized with the intake of antidepressants. In short, antidepressants cause psychotic problems in children which are very harmful. Hence, I believe that

Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Human Rights - Essay Example licies, restrictions on its rent and sale that protected the source of income of rural corn and coffee raising by the indigenous people of Chiapas in order to comply with the requirement of the said agreement. By imposing these policies, the indigenous community started questioning their human rights because they found it unjust which led to an armed combat with the Mexican army in 1994. Exploiting the growing conflict between the government and interests of the indigenous people, entered the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) a revolutionary group who sided with the indigenous people and who fought war with the Mexican army in 1994 as their means of showing resistance to the state law in Chiapas. After the ceasefire and negotiation for two years, the Mexican State and the EZLN signed the San Andres accord for indigenous rights and culture that allowed some freedom in their governance and construction of legality for the indigenous people of Chiapas. But this accord didnâ⠂¬â„¢t stop the conflict between the Mexican government and the EZLN because the Mexican government failed to fully complete its provisions. Instead, the Mexican government and the local mestizo economic and landowner elites known as the â€Å"Coletos† counteracted the human rights claimed by the indigenous people and EZLN, claiming that the collective rights of the indigenous people and ELZN interfered with their personal liberties and rights as property owners. These rights that were claimed by the Mexican government and the Coletos prevented the indigenous people and the ELZN to establish their political autonomy and agricultural landholding collectives. This is a form of cultural imperialism because the Mexican government used their authority over the indigenous people on changing the states law and policies still for the benefit of the regime and elites. The regime and the elites will profit so much on the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1992 because the policies that was amended

Court Decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Court Decision - Essay Example Therefore, just like his wife, Joseph was supposed to readily relinquish his parental rights because he had failed to meet the legal requirements of a parent. As a father, he was not expected to spend such a long period of time without getting in close contact with his biological daughter. By failing to do this, he was demonstrating his abandonment for Annette. Despite the prevailing conditions, he would have tried as much as he could to look for Annette wherever she had been taken by her mother. As a man, he was to take all the necessary measures to ensure that he traces his daughter and get acquainted with her whereabouts. Further more, he was the biological parent to Annette. Meaning, he had a lot of parental duties to perform to her. Hence, by claiming that he had tried, he was not proving any point. In this regard, it is my considered opinion that, based on the ruling, the decision of the court would remain the same even if Annette’s foster parents were not interested in adopting her. Since the Orange County Department of Social Services (DSS) became a party to this case, Joseph has never been anywhere to be reached. Therefore, it is obvious that he had failed to visit and communicate to his daughter although he was in a better position of doing so (Robertson, 2013). As the constitution clearly stipulates, a parent can be declared to have abandoned a child when they fail to communicate and be in a close contact with a child for a period of six months prior to the time in which the case was filed in the Family Court to be decided upon. Definitely, the determination of such a case should be primarily considering the interests of the child. Before making any decision regarding the termination of parental rights, the court should ensure that it acts in the best interests of the child. The court decision should consider

Module project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Module project - Assignment Example The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. Shell has branches in 100 countries, and operates an approximate number of 44000 service stations. The company producing more than 3 million barrels of oil per day, and this makes it second to Exxon Mobil. Due to its massive size, and huge capital base, the company is an important player in the international system. It has the capability of influencing world leaders to enact policies that will encourage capitalism, and liberalization of their economies (Carroll, 1999). Due to its s ize, and the complex business activities the company engages in, the company operates under four main divisions. These are projects and technology, upstream international, upstream Americas, and downstream (Bruijn et al, 2002). The role of upstream international is to manage business operations of shell that are outside the American continent. The division is responsible for identifying new oil and gas fields. It refines crude oil, liquefies it and transports the gas. The division creates the necessary infrastructure required to supply and deliver the oil products of the company to the target market. The division operates through geographic locations, and each location has its own CEO. In some instances, the upstream international unit collaborates with all its geographic units to deliver a service considered essential and important (Bruijn et al, 2002). This only applies when the geographic unit of the company does not have the necessary skills to deliver the service. The Projects and Technology department is responsible for developing new and technological innovative systems, for purposes of improving the efficiency of the organization. The Unit concerns itself with the distribution of the organizations major projects, and it is not restricted to regions (Carroll, 1999). It supplements the technological innovations of Upstream and Downstream divisions of Shell, and it is responsible for providing leadership and advice on the areas of environmental conservation, health, safety, and procurements and contracting. The downstream division is responsible for the production, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of the products and services of Shell Company. The unit refines, distributes and transports crude oil products (Green, 1985). The upstream America is responsible for the business activities of the organization in North and South America. In this region, the organization looks for new sources of oil, and gas. It also creates an infrastructure that has the capability of efficiently transporting the products of the company to its target markets (Jordan, 2001). The division is responsible for extracting bitumen from oil sand. It converts them to crude oil, and thereafter refines them to produce energy. The main objective of the company is to search for oil and gas, and thereafter produce the product, manufacture it’s, and deliver the product to the market. The company also explores for gas, refines it, and transports

Gary Paulsen’s novel Hatchet Essay Example for Free

Gary Paulsen’s novel Hatchet Essay In Gary Paulsen’s novel hatchet the protagonist Brian Robenson develops many new skills after his plane crashes into the Canadian wilderness. It is his ability to make a fire, build a shelter and make new tools that enable him to survive. During one of the nights when he was stuck in the Canadian wilderness a porcupine went into his shelter and he felt it he through the hatchet as a reaction which hit the rock and made a spark he woke up the next morning, remembering what had happened during the night, sparks, fire, I I can make a fire with my hatchet and the rock, it took a fair few tries but he eventually got it on the fire lasted till the day he got rescued, during all those days he was stuck out there â€Å"he had to keep hoping† because if he gave up he wouldn’t of gotten rescued and it could have ruined the book. After the crash it took him about a day to realize had to build a shelter this would help him survive it could maybe protect him from the wild animals and definitely protect him from the bad weather, he finds a rock/cave type thing and ends up having to re-build his shelter a few times due to animals wrecking it. Through the novel hatchet , Brian makes a couple of spears and catches all different animals, sometimes he ate the food raw or cooked it on the fire some of the time, it depended what it was, he ate the turtle eggs raw, but cooked the bird. When Brian is stuck in the Canadian wilderness he needs a fire and shelter and food to survive if he didn’t have them three things he would have only lasted a few days tops, he could of died of hyperthermia or starvation and he wouldn’t of been saved, and if he dies it would of ruined the book.

The resistance of the wire will be measured Essay Example for Free

The resistance of the wire will be measured Essay There were 3 types accuracy equipment we used:   Ruler which was accurate to + or 1mm   Ammeter which was accurate to + or 0. 01 amps Voltmeter which was accurate to + or 0. 01 volts To make sure our results were fair we did each result 3 times, worked out a resistance and then worked out the final resistance. Making it Fair We did certain things to keep the investigation fair:   We used the same lengths of wire each time. We used the same current each time.   We used the same material each time. Safety To make our investigation as safe as possible, we tried work in a safe and tidy environment which was not overcrowded. We also worked with less than 1 amp because it might overheat and there would be a danger of burning. We switched off the power when we were changing the wires to avoid getting burned. We did not cut the wire from the reel to avoid getting cut. Results We have tested constantan in this investigation. Material Length of wire (cm) Current A B C Voltage A B C Resistance A B C Average 24 swg Material Length of wire (cm) Current A B C Voltage A B C Resistance A B C Average 26 swg 7 Material Length of wire (cm) Current A B C Voltage A B C Resistance A B C Average 28 swg Material Length of wire (cm) Current A B C Voltage A B C Resistance A B C Average   Material Length of wire (cm) Current A B C Voltage A B C Resistance A B C Average   Conclusion The results in all the tables show that the resistance increases each time the length of the wire is increased, as shown in all of the tables above. The length of the wire affects the resistance of the wire because the number of atoms in the wire increases as the length of the wire increases. The resistance of a wire depends on the number of collisions the electrons have with the atoms of the material, so if there is a larger number of atoms there will be a larger number of collisions, which will increase the resistance of the wire. Evaluation After doing this experiment, I have come up with a reliable set of results. Even though I have achieved a good set of results there are obviously going to be errors, which I have made that could affect the investigation. The errors that I came across were, the wire was very hard to get straight and had bends, the voltmeter was only accurate to two decimal places so the voltage was flickering which made it hard to tell what the exact number was. To make my accuracy better we could have done more than ten lengths, done each result more than three times, used ammeter and voltmeter sensor. We could also have used different cross sectional areas or use different materials. I think my graph was good to look at but there are still one or two anomalous results which could have been caused by accuracy measuring instruments which we could have improved. To support my conclusion I could do some extra work like testing more materials to see what other materials it would work with. We could test more length to see if the graph will rise in proportion or will there be a point where the graph will bend and the resistance will not go any higher. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Teaching Children Values And Human Rights Education Essay

Teaching Children Values And Human Rights Education Essay Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity. In South Africa the protection and maintenance of human rights has become an important facet of society. In this regard, refer to the preamble of, as well as sections 1, 7 (1) and 7 (2) of the Constitution of South Africa. In addition, the Bill of Rights deals with all fundamental rights applicable in the relationship between the government and individuals or groups of people (and interests), as well as the rights applicable in the relationships between individual themselves, and between individuals and private organizations. The government is seen as the guardian of the state and the states interests, and therefore government must see to it that individual and group rights or interests are cared for. This has resulted in the theme of human rights playing an important role in society. According to the findings of, An evaluation of South Africas Primary School Nutrition Programme, (Coy: 1997)  [2]  there were many anecdotal accounts of improved school attendance and classroom performance as a result of this programme. This evaluation raised a number of concerns with its implementation. Despite its broad range of objectives, the implementation of South Africas Primary School Nutrition Programme was generally limited to being a school feeding programme. The feeding component of this programme encountered many logistical problems with the delivery of adequate and appropriate food, especially in the schools in need. As a result, the coverage of school feeding has been poor for significant periods of time in some parts of the country. In addition, the evaluation pointed to the fact that this programme was from the outset an ambitious but brave attempt to address a major problem of malnutrition through a logistically difficult and challenging programme. It was also implemented soon after the 1994 elections which was a difficult period during which the health system was being significantly transformed and restructured (SAJCH OCTOBER: 2009 VOL. 3 NO. 3). This paper will demonstrate the importance of a practical development plan to promote and improve a childs Constitutional right to basic nutrition. The South African Constitution, 1996, boldly protects the right of access to food as a self-standing right, Section 27 (1) (b) of the Bill of Rights states; Everyone has the rights to have access to sufficient food. This right is extended to everyone but the Constitution gives extra protection to children in Section 28 (1) (c) by providing that; Every child has a right to basic nutrition. The Government has an obligation to promote Human Rights in Education, especially in vulnerable populations. This was emphasized in the Constitutional Court case Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary School Others v Essay N.O. and Others  [3]  , Human rights education must not be limited to formal schooling. As educator feel that this basic right to nutrition is not being met in my school, because according to experiences I had in my school that is located in a previous disadvantaged community, I had to ask myself the question over and over; How can I as an educator teach learners in a classroom if their nutritional needs are not met? A poor state of nutrition amongst children in the class room, leads to malnutrition and have a negative effect on education and learning. This is why I chose to focus on this particular Human Right, the right to basic nutrition and is worthy of support and it is a worthy cause in my school. The Bill of Rights The interim Constitution of South Africa became effective from 27 April 1994, which brought about three main changes that form an integral part of the discipline of Constitutional law, namely: The end of 300 years of racial and gender discrimination (introducing effective exercise of the equality principle. The end of the application of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty (introducing the supremacy of the final Constitution of South Africa). The introduction of a federal structure which ended years of central and minority governance. Before the interim Constitution was introduced, there were three Constitutions to be found in the history of South Africa namely: The Union Constitution (1909). The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1963). The Tricameral Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1983). These Constitutions were not supreme, and Parliament could, without much effort, amend the content of the Constitution. Even the common law could not escape, in that although the common law could be applied in order to protect some rights, Parliament had the authority to also amend or ignore the common law via legislation. State of emergencies, could also be put into action whenever Parliament so chose, which also had a negative effect on fundamental human rights. Consequently, the IC was formally accepted by the then serving Parliament. After the elections in 1994, the new Parliament and government of national unity was created, and South-Africa was, as from 27 April 1994, governed under the Interim Constitution. The aim was, among others, to regulate the process for the materialization of the final Constitution. There are provisions of the Constitution that emphasise the pride of place of the Bill of Rights in when trying to ascertain the meaning of constitutional provisions. What the provisions tell us is that we should always have in mind the principal objectives of the Constitution whenever we attempt to understand, interpret and apply the Constitution. The following provisions are prime examples: Society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental freedoms (preamble) Values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms (section 1(a)) Affirmation of democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom (section 7(1)) Respect, protection, promotion and fulfilment of rights in the Bill of Rights When interpreting the Bill of Rights, a court must promote the values that underlie an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom (section 39) The Bill of Rights applies directly in the following cases (Currie De Waal: 2007), Where a right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights has been violated; The violation is perpetrated by an individual or juristic person with a duty to respect, promote and/or fulfill right The enforcement of the right is sought on South African territory Indirect application of the Bill of Rights covers all those cases where the Bill of Rights has relevance, but one of more of the above elements is missing. Indirect application applies to the majority of cases in which the matter is already governed directly by common law, legislation, or customary law. The Constitution requires courts to develop common law, customary law in a way that promotes the spirit, purport, and objects of the Bill of Rights. Human Rights Human rights are highly inspirational and also highly practical, embodying the hopes and ideals of most human beings and also empowering all people to achieve them. Human rights in education share this inspirational and practical aspect (Currie De Waal, 2005). The need for human rights is of high importance, because it sets standards but also produces change. Chance is needed in our society and effective human rights in education can produce changes in values and attitude (Nieuwenhuis, 2007).   Human Rights awareness can produce changes in behaviour, empowerment for social justice and develop attitudes of solidarity across issues in schools and communities. Once people embrace human rights concepts, they begin to look for their realization in their own lives, examining their communities, families, and personal experience through a human rights lens. In many cases people find these values affirmed, but human rights in education can also lead to recognition of unrealized injustices and discriminations. This sensitization to human rights in everyday life underscores the importance of not only learning  about  human rights but also learning  for  human rights: people need to know how to bring human rights home, responding appropriately and effectively to violations in their own communities (Nieuwenhuis, 2007). Human rights have the following characteristics (Niewenhuis; 2005- 26): they are judicially enforceable; they are universal; they are not dependent on the recognition thereof; they place obligations on individuals and state authorities; and they set minimum standards for social and government practices. The right to human dignity (section 10 of the Constitution), has an uncertain and general nature. Though we can be certain of the pivotal importance of human dignity in the Constitution we can be less certain of the meaning of the concept. As is typical of its treatment of important abstractions in the Constitution, the Constitutional Court has not ventured a comprehensive definition of human dignity. Though a difficult concept to capture in precise terms, it is clear that the constitutional protection of dignity requires us to acknowledge the value and worth of all individuals as members of society. Human dignity is the source of a persons innate rights to freedom and to physical integrity, from which a number of other rights flow. Human dignity is not only a justiciable and enforceable right that must be respected and protected, it is also a value that informs the interpretation of possibly all other fundamental rights and that is of central significance in the limitations enquiry. Since the rights in the Bill of Rights stem from dignity and are more detailed elaborations of aspects of the concept, the core right to dignity has decisive application only relatively infrequently (Currie De Waal; 2007 273-275). The duty on educators My interpretation of Section 28 of the Constitution is, is that no one should be licensed to enter the teaching profession without a fundamental grounding in human rights. What a difference might be made in childrens lives if teachers consistently honored the childs right to express opinions and obtain information and promote a childs human dignity. Teachers do not work in isolation, however. To succeed, with this human rights project, is that it requires the endorsement and support of the whole staff at my school, including those who oversee continuing education, the School Governing Body, and the maintenance staff. Many people never attended school in South Africa, due to Apartheids abuse of human rights. Such people have no less right to know their rights and far greater need. Only by working in collaboration with these vulnerable groups, in this case learners, can human rights educators develop programs that accommodate their needs and situations. Complexities to overcome To promote values and human rights in your school and community, I chose a project to empower the school to start with a program to promote Human Rights. My project is to start a self-sustainable and reliable food supply, to meet the nutritional needs of the learners in my school. This project will demonstrate the skills to empower themselves for the realization of Human Rights. Securing resources and funding To get this project started, I wrote a letters of request and mailed it off to various stores and organisations close to my school. The reason I chose organisations and food markets close to the school, is to get the community involved in this project. I made sure my letters included all the information necessary for them to make the donation in the easiest way possible. I explain the nature of the event, inviting them to contact me if they had the need to visit the school. I visited the Chamber of Commerce in my communitys website and send an email off to each of these. I have got in touch with the local Newspaper and they agreed to do an article on human rights. The aim with this was to promote human rights awareness in the community. My aim was to ensure that my project will be on-going, to teach the children responsibility. To achieve my aim, I needed a cow, to supply daily milk. I needed egg laying chickens, to provide eggs. I needed feed for these animals and vegetable seeds and gardening tools. With the donations I received from the community and local business, I secured what I needed to launch the project. The project launch Firstly, the educators in my school agreed to participate and manage the project. This enabled them to learn of the values I tried to promote at the school. With the help of the other educators, we decided on a piece of school yard that will be practical to grow the vegetable garden. We decided on an old garage on the school grounds to keep the chickens and cow. Secondly, we worked out a responsibility schedule and divided the learners into groups, under guidance of each educator. The long term aim here is that the learners can learn to guide themselves in sustaining this project and take responsibility. To reach this aim, was educating the learners knowledge and understanding of the reason why this program will improve their lives. In the work groups we achieved this aim. A duties program that was set up helped guide the learners to care for the vegetable garden, feed the cow and chickens in the long term. This helped improved their involvement and promoted a sense of self-empowerment amongst them. How schools can be able schools care Through a project like this my school and hopefully community will be encouraged to identify and solve their own needs, in this case nutrition problems, and by this promoting human rights. The mobilisation of the school structures will therefore be a central part of this strategy. Growth monitoring and other initiatives that promote and protect this project will be actively supported, due to the visual chance that can be seen in my school. The active and sustained involvement of the learners is critical to the successful implementation of this project. It is unclear how the community would be mobilised and how this involvement would be sustained, due to the poverty and lack of resources in this community. Objectives The first objective is to get the project started, by leading by example and to get the school staff involved, to start with a sustainable program that demonstrates the need to care for others. The second focus is, to get the learners involved, to ensure that this program is sustainable and not a once-off event. A benefit of teaching the learners of this particular right is that it teaches the learners values and responsibility. This will achieve my overall object; to teach the learners in my school the value of Human Rights and what they can do to realize these rights and improve their own lives. My project aim was to provide a sustainable nutritional supply to the most vulnerable individuals in a previous disadvantaged community; mobilise all educators as well as learners to take responsibility for improving the nutritional status in their school and creating awareness of human rights through a needed development strategy, with nutrition surveillance as the primary management and monitoring tool of these values. The successful implementation of my project will be evaluated according to: The students will be able to define compassion and self-empowerment The Students demonstrate being a caring person There is a change in students grasp of society an responsibly The empowerment of poor people and previously disadvantaged households To avoid malnutrition in Children Creating a sustainable food supply Conclusion First, this project must be subject to full transparency. The nutrition development community often subscribes to a general respect for confidentiality as commonly practiced in development circles, in contrast to the full transparency that is a hallmark of the human rights approach. Since empowerment, as a principle of the human rights approach, is impossible without transparency in all school affairs, the community must insist on absolute transparency regarding the project. Second, the learners must have opportunities to claim their legal human rights related to the right to adequate food from the relevant duty holders. This can only be achieved, if they invest themselves in this project. By this they can help develop or strengthen their, by leading by example. In turn the community will be able to draw inspiration from this, to claim their other relevant rights.

Essay --

Drew Foster Foster 1 Mrs. Bueno Honors English 14 December 2013 Darrin M. Mcmahon the author of the article, â€Å"In Pursuit of Unhappiness†, was born in 1963. Darrin broke out of the order of saying â€Å"Happy New Year!† and realized they are only expected words that are said without any meaning behind them. Even around the holidays where people are expected to be happy, they think the words â€Å"Happy New Year!† are just words that are supposed to be said. If you think about the words â€Å"Happy New Year†, year does not only mean one day, so the words are meant to wish a whole year of happiness. But instead, people just reserve their happiness only for the holidays. John Stuart Mill, Carlyle's long-time rival who are both philosophers makes a valid statement about those who have their focus set on something other than happiness are only happy. For example, setting your goal on being happy is risking being happy, because when you don't achieve it you lose even more happiness. Thomas Carlyle and John Stuart Mill both have similar concepts on happiness. Carlyle, who is a Scottish Philosopher, notices the wrong idea of religion before 17th century. Many disregarded the ideas of religion that put misery into their lives, but some people recognized God's care very satisfying. Earthly satisfaction, McMahon states, was an attempt to bring heavenly felicity down to the earth. This religious change was to replace the feeling of misery with happiness. John Stuart Mill, who is an English philosopher, explains another way of achieving happiness based off of his personal experience. After suffering from a d... ...for such books is a strong indication that they aren’t working.† Setting your goal and being determined or even being desperate to find happiness is dangerous and is risking your happiness. If and when you do not achieve happiness, you lose all of it and even become unhappy. Focus your mind on something other than your own happiness and you will achieve true happiness. Darrin M. McMahon says to â€Å"...Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends...put in some good hours t the office or at your favorite charity, temple or church. Work on your jump shot or your child’s model trains. With luck, you’ll find happiness by the by.† So instead of saying â€Å"Happy New Year†, Darrin M. McMahon says â€Å"‘Don’t have a happy new year!’†, because â€Å"Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness† says John Stuart Mill.

Affirmative Action :: essays research papers

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION I. â€Å"We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, my brothers and sisters – Plymouth Rock landed on us!† Malcolm X’s observation is brought out by the facts of American History. Snatched from their native land, transported thousands of miles – in a nightmare of disease and death – and sold into slavery, blacks were reduced to the legal status of farm animals. Even after emancipation, blacks were segregated from whites – in some states by law, and by social practice almost everywhere. American apartheid continued for another century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1954 the Supreme Court declared state-compelled segregation in schools unconstitutional, and it followed up that decision with others that struck down many forms of official segregation. Still, discrimination survived, and in most southern states blacks were either discouraged or prohibited from exercising their right to vote. Not until the 1960’s was compulsory segregation finally and effectively challenged. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed the most sweeping civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War. It banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations (hotels, motels, restaurants, etc.), and housing; it also guaranteed voting rights for blacks in areas suspected of disenfranchising blacks. Today, several agencies in the federal government exercise sweeping powers to enforce these civil rights measures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But is that enough? Equality of condition between blacks and whites seems as elusive as ever. The black unemployment rate is double that of whites, and the percentage of black families living in poverty is nearly four times that of whites. Only a small percentage of blacks ever make it into medical school or law schools.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Advocates of affirmative action have focused upon these differences to support their argument that it is no longer enough just to stop discrimination. Liberal Democrats feel that the damage done by three centuries of racism now has to be remedied, they argue, and effective remediation requires a policy of â€Å"affirmative action.† At the heart of affirmative action is the use of â€Å"numerical goals.† Opponents call them â€Å"racial quotas.† Whatever the name, what they imply is the setting aside of a certain number of jobs or positions for blacks or other historically oppressed groups. Conservative Republicans charge that affirmative action really amounts to reverse discrimination, that it penalizes innocent people simply because they are white, that it often results in unqualified appointments, and that it ends up harming instead of helping blacks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The issue of preferences to address historical patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination has received a great deal of attention nationally.

Art & History Essay

Confucianism and Daoism were the dominant moral, religious and political doctrines in China for many centuries. As in the case with Catholicism and Orthodox Church, which significantly influenced the development of arts, Confucianism and Daoism formed many of Chinese artistic currents. Confucianism and Daoism influenced Chinese art in various ways. First of all, their impact on visual arts refers to the usage of moral and philosophical themes in Chinese paintings. The Confucian moral themes, which were often included into such paintings, include the relations between members of family (respect for wife and parents etc. ), obedience to authorities. This is particularly true of the paintings by Gu Kaizhi, such as Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies and Wise and Benevolent Women, which portray different social situations and proper ways of social behavior. The latter is a primary trait of Confucian moral philosophy. Taoist moral and philosophical insights are evident in the paintings of Huang Gongwang, who was a Taoist priest. For instance, his painting named Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains created in 1350 uses traditional Taoist art form of landscape painting, which best transmits the spiritual character of Taoism and its preoccupation with harmony of people and nature. Using black ink, Huang Gongwang tried to portray the presence of Tao spirit in everything and its power represented in mountains. Moreover, it should be noted that Huang Gongwang, following Taoist and partially Confucian tradition, does not limit himself to painting of bare mountains, but portrays ‘dwelling’ as the symbolic Taoist practice of cognition and ethical behavior (Cooper and Cooper 87-90). Confucianism had strong influence not only on Chinese fine arts, but architecture as well. For instance, famous Forbidden City is a perfect realization of Confucian principles of hierarchy in society and family. Forbidden City is a 720000 square meters imperial court complex with nearly 10000 rooms. The Emperor’s private and official area was situated at the front of the City and the large halls for ceremonial and official purposes were constructed on the high platforms, which stretched from south to north. The whole official construction, hence, was located in the center of Forbidden City, manifesting the respect for and magnificence of imperial power (Ho 43-46). The rest of the buildings, including emperor’s wives houses, were located outside of the central axis. 2. Tea ceremony (cha no yu), which was important cultural phenomenon in Japan since its inception, significantly influenced the development of Japanese visual arts through the wabi-sabi aesthetics, which is characterized by simplicity of forms, asymmetry and naturalism. The development of visual arts was particularly influenced by Takeno Joo, who elaborated the doctrine of ichi-go ichi-e, which pays attention to the unique nature of every tea meeting and every thing in general. This concept was essentially based on the notions of harmony and purity. Wabi-Sabi aesthetics is particularly evident in the interior of Taian teahouse in Myokian Temple near Kyoto, created by famous master Sen no Rikyu during Momoyama period (1573-1615). One of the basic points of Sen no Rikyu philosophy, which also was essentially influenced by Zen-Buddhism, was the perception of ordinary objects’ spiritual value and simplicity of beauty. Taian teahouse is very small (only 1. 8 meters) with tatami mats, where host and guests sat. Closed and narrow space was designed to make the process of tea ceremony more concentrated and intense in order to maintain its solemn and spiritual character. The interior’s space is fixed with a small door, called nijiri-guchi, designed to make the tearoom look bigger. The tearoom also has a niche called Tokonama with a hanging scroll with minor and simple decorations, making emphasis on purity and austerity of a tea ceremony (Pitelka 165). The traditional tea ceremony tools such as teabowls, flower containers, lid rests were also modernized by Sen no Rikyu, who designed them in correspondence with the demands of wabi-sabi aesthetics. Another notable example of tea ceremony’s influence on Japanese arts is Katsura Imperial Villa, built during 1624 and 1645 years, and considered to be an extraordinary combination of imperial court style and wabi-sabi canons. Stroll gardens, which were designed in the Villa, represent clear destination of the path, were accurately graveled, embellished by stones and bridges and garden buildings located along the paths. It is noteworthy that water was always to a viewer’s right, which created an effect of division between different spheres of nature and postulated their divine and unique character. Gardens of the Villa represented the idealized vision of natural lakes and rocks, trees and even various buildings and teahouses were developed in a way emphasizing nature’s power and simplicity. 3. The duality as opposed to monism or syncretism was among the basic characteristics of religious worldviews of many civilizations, including Aztec civilization. First of all, the concept of duality was applied to different spheres of universe – the earthly life was contrasted with heavenly life, the power of emperor was contrasted with the power of gods etc. There is no denying the importance of the fact, that the theme of duality played important role in Aztec architecture and Aztec Great Temple (Temple Mayor) is a vivid example of this. Built during Postclassical period of Mesoamerica (the construction began in the beginning of 14-th century) in Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, it represents some basic themes, peculiar to dualism. First of all, the theme of duality is represented in Temple’s conceptual purposes. It was dedicated to two Aztec gods – Tlaloc, a god of rain and farming, and Huitzilolochtli, a god of war. To realize this twofold dedication, two separate shrines for each of the gods were constructed at the top of the temple and separate staircases were designed. The temple is constructed in the traditional form of Aztec pyramid. As Kowalski notes, â€Å"From the Templo Mayor the four quarters of the universe and the cardinal points were partitioned. In its architectural form was expressed the concept of duality, and the mass of its basal platform subdivided into terraces incorporated the concept of different levels of ascent† (Kowalski 210). Apart from two-sided architectural structure of the Temple, it should be noted that it contained symbolical representation of duality between life and death. It was associated with the transition point for those who died naturally from earthly to the underground world called Mictlan. Hence, the Great Temple was a point, where cosmic levels united and provided access to the underworld. To sum it up, the themes of duality were realized in the Great Temple both in architectural and symbolic levels of Aztec culture. 4. Gender relations in Oceania societies found their full realization in the products of Oceania people’s culture. The majority of Oceania societies, including Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia tribes still have patriarchal societies and matriarchy is rare. Gender relations are symbolically embedded in various products of Oceania arts, which in their turn have strong functional connection with Oceania religious, spiritual and social rituals. For instance, Melanesian masks, which are one of the most complex forms of Melanesian art, play important ritual and gender role. As far as their design in concerned, these masks have much in common. The majority of them are covered with the bark cloth, which forms a certain background for painted symbols. The structure of masks is strengthened by coconut fronds or light woods. The masks are usually worn with various leaves, which are to conceal the nudity of the mask’s wearer. Those, who wear masks (called in Lakalai tribe valuku or tubuan) often engage in various performances of ritual and spiritual character. Masks play gender function as well, because only men in Melanesian societies are allowed to wear masks. Moreover, not every man is consecrated into the masks’ art, but only those that possess the biggest privileges and social power, that is tribe elders and initiated. Women and children play the role of spectators and victims in tribal mask performances. One of such rites include mapakuo (‘the head’) chasing women and children around Melanesian village and those whom he catches may be unlucky to be beaten with palm branches, sticks or punished in other ways. This rite, as we see, represents both gender and social power of men over their inferiors (Valentine 29-31). The spiritual role of masks in Melanesian societies is also very important. As Valentine notes, ‘Lakalai masking is a prime ceremonial expression of the traditional magico-religious system. It is intimately associated not only with sacred traditions of the past but also with present-day contacts between men and the spirit world’ (Valentine 48). The mystic element of mask art is also evident, because it keeps men’s identity in secrete and provides them with possibility to transform it in coherence with the laws of dramatic performance or ritual. It should be mentioned that Melanesian masks have strong ties with traditional crafts and Lakalai graphic arts. Another element of Oceania arts, which reveals gender roles and statuses, is the art of fetish objects, which exclusively belong to men and are designed to represent their masculine strength and control over women. Usually they are phallic symbols, which are presented in the form of trumpets, flutes or bullroarers. Bullroarers play crucial frightening role, which helps control the inferior members of community. As Gregor and Tuzin note with this respect, ‘They produce sounds, usually in deep registers, that are inherently dramatic and haunting. In being heard but not seen, these objects are perhaps ideal for conveying mystery and instilling fear in the naive listener’ (Gregor and Tuzin 317). These artistic and ritual symbols, hence, represent men’s power and hegemony and this is also proved by the fact that the ‘the most brutal punishments of all, rape and death, are meted out to women who see the flutes and bullroarers, and why the men often equate the act of women seeing the flutes with chaos and the destruction of society† (Gregor and Tuzin 318). 5. African art was for a long time interwoven with religion, which resulted in direct impact of ritual forms and traditions on African works of art. African art reflects religious content, and hence, may be conceptualized as ritualistic art. In its turn it results in specific type of relation between ritual, art and its objects. Ritual or mythological symbols may be embedded in art to amplify their divine meaning and vice versa – art meaning may be used to increase the appeal of rituals. For instance, Yoruba people (of West Africa) have their distinct art techniques of human body representation in sculptures and other variants of plastic art, which are deeply tied with their rituals and mythology. The majority of Yoruba’s sculptures of human body have disproportionate size of torso and head: Yoruba masters make sculptures’ head bigger, than normal human heads. It is explained by the fact, that Ori (‘head’) is the symbol of inner head, which unites Yoruba with a deity. Yoruba culture, therefore, considers head to be the most important part of human body (Lawal 499). For instance, female twin figure (ere ibeji), created in the first half of the 20-th century is totally disproportionate from traditional point of view. The head is significantly bigger than the other parts of the body, while the latter deviate from natural proportions. This is not the lack of art techniques, but conscious design to meet the demands of ritual procedures, which should follow the main canons of Yoruba religion. Another interesting cohesion between art and ritual in Yoruba culture is decoration of worship sites and sanctuaries of goddesses and gods. Various emblems, doors ornaments and sculptures form such ritual complex in Osun groove. Osun, which is the goddess of the River Osun, has her own symbols, including various pots (oru), beads and brass (ide). This cultural and ritual site is located in the forest, which traditionally was regarded as the home of spirits. Another example of African ritual art includes Jomooni (men) and Jonyeleni (women) figures, produced by Bamana culture of Mali. The figures bear both ritual and decorative function. The decorative function is represented by jewelry and the ritual one by their usage during rituals of Jo society (Colleyn and Laurie 19). The rituals include initiations, following living in the bush during a week. The ritual includes dances and performances, ritual baths, during which the presents are given to initiates by spectators. Works Cited Colleyn, Jean-Paul, and Laurie Ann Farrell. â€Å"Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali. † African Arts 34. 4 (2001): 16-27. Cooper, Rhonda and Cooper, Jeffrey. Masterpieces of Chinese Art. Todtri Productions, 1997. Gregor, Thomas A. , and Donald Tuzin, eds. Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An Exploration of the Comparative Method. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001. Ho, Bronson. Splendors of China’s Forbidden City. London, Merrell Publishers, 2004. Kowalski, Jeff Karl, ed. Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural Symbol. New York, Oxford University Press, 1999. Lawal, Babatunde. â€Å"Aworan: Representing the Self and Its Metaphysical Other in Yoruba Art. † The Art Bulletin 83. 3 (2001): 498-516. Pitelka, Morgan, ed. Japanese Tea Culture: Art, History, and Practice. London, Routledge Curzon, 2003. Valentine, C. A. Masks and Men in a Melanesian Society: The Valuku or Tubuan of the Lakalai of New Britain. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, 1961.

FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona, also known simply as â€Å"Barcelona† and familiarly as â€Å"Barca†, is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In this paper, I will talk about three points about it: the history, the achievement, and the finance of FC Barcelona. In the eighteenth century, Hans Gamber and another 10 persons in Barcelona plays a game of one was not for the local people know sports – football. When Gamber on November 29, 1899 on this day created a Barcelona football club, he may be difficult to imagine how much glory and honor of the next brewing. Over more than one hundred years of history, FC Barcelona has grown spectacularly in every area and has progressed into something much greater than a mere sports club, turning Barca’s ‘more than a club’ slogan into a reality. The Barcelona football club is like a flag symbolizes the people's hope – for freedom, has continued to the present, and today, this belief has been maintained at this particular between the club and its supporters. In the 100 years of ups and downs in Barcelona rely on great vitality experienced all sorts of tests are honored to have the tragedy and suffering experienced a golden age of age experienced the victories and unforgettable classic failure, these moments are tempered into a train Barcelona today a well-deserved world-class rich and powerful family. Barcelona's reputation is world class, and it gives all aspects left a deep impression. Indeed, Barcelona at that time was indeed standing on the highest point in Europe, Barcelona is the only Grand Slam tournament for several teams in Europe, one of the club, in addition to Intercontinental, Barcelona honor room displays all possible honor, the spoils of war The most striking is the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona at Wembley made history, winning the highest honor in Europe! In addition to continuing the greatest achievement than the victory is that Barcelona is the only European team never missed the European Cup team, from the various European Cup in 1955 began, they continued to win their spoils of war in Europe – winning trophies, including the four times they won the League Cup in Europe is already a king-class team, and today, those who quietly glittering trophy was placed in display cases in years there is no refining its stand their glory. Of course, the performance of Barcelona in Spain is also as good as with the European theater, 25 King's Cup champion so far behind other Spanish teams. Year 1922 -1957 Cathedral Stadium – scene of a successful era, Cathedral Stadium, in 1922 started to use to witness to our growth during the golden age of Barcelona (1919 -1,929 years). During prime time because of national war (Franco rebellion) suddenly interrupted. But the Cathedral Stadium is such a time has been spent to give Barca brought five league championship. In year 1919 -1929, during the decade was considered a golden time for Barcelona, when the team has Samidier, Al-hole Tara, Zamora, Saginaw, Pierrat, and Sancho technologically superior The players, the club at that time the national downturn has also been recognized as the Catalan Catalan doctrine sign. May 20, 1922, Cathedral Stadium formally completed and put into use. This was a very luxurious stadium can accommodate 30,000 people, and later expanded to 60,000 people. In 1924 the club celebrated the 25th anniversary team when I was a famous painter who Iosep of Valencia. Sege Reers painted a poster for the Barcelona club, membership has increased to 12207 people, and the future looks bright. . 5 years after the 1928-1929 season, Barcelona won a league championship history, following the 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28 season, the rule of successive five Catalan Cup as well as the 1924-1925,1925-1926,1927-1928 arranged after the Spanish Cup, the Champions League so that culminated in Barcelona. The last game with Real Sociedad twice a re-match, with Barca goalkeeper Franz heroic magical play, Barca beat rivals to win, and later the poet Rafael. Alberti also write a poem as a tribute. In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year, thus completing the sextuple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In 2010, Forbes evaluated Barcelona's worth to be around â‚ ¬752 million (USD $1,000 million), ranking them fourth after Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Arsenal, based on figures from the 2008–09 season. According to Deloitte, Barcelona had recorded revenue of â‚ ¬366 million in the same period, ranking second to Real Madrid, who generated â‚ ¬401 million in revenue. Along with Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Barcelona is organised as a registered association. Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership. The members of Barcelona, called socis, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club. As of 2010 the club has 170,000 socis. An audit by Deloitte in July 010 showed that Barcelona had a net debt of â‚ ¬442 million, currently 58% of net worth as evaluated by Forbes. The new management of Barcelona, which Javier Faus revealed the audit numbers: â€Å"Barcelona’s debt as of today is the biggest in the club’s history. That doesn’t mean anything but that we are not comfortable working with this debt. The current debt is the biggest in the club’s history, e ven greater than in 2003. The losses back in 2002-2003 in Gaspart’s era were the biggest in the club’s history at the time and on top of that the income that Barca has today is much bigger than back in 2002-2003. After explaining all this, I still prefer the club’s current picture. † News had emerged that the club had recorded a loss of â‚ ¬79 million over the course of the year, despite having defended their La Liga title. The balance of Laporta is â‚ ¬11million, and Rosell’s balance is -â‚ ¬77 million, there is a difference of 88 million Euros. And there are some reasons about this problem. First, Joan Gamper Sant Joan Despi land sale – 21. 5 million. Only 1 million has been received so far. This money was not included as income by the auditor. Second, Mediapro TV contract – 16 million were included from a deal with Mediapro where the club will get 4 million until 2013 for TV rights. Only 4 million were included by the auditor. Third, Mediapro legal dispute – There is also a legal dispute with Mediapro where Barca would get 13 million back from them (in case of winning the dispute). The auditor only took 50% into account. Forth, Henry’s last year amortization value – 8. 2 million – This was not included by the auditor since Henry will not complete his last year in Barca. Fifth, Baena’s indemnisation – there is a legal dispute with Espanyol for this player’s transfer which could give Barca 3. 9 millions (if Barca wins the legal dispute) – Not included by the auditor. Sixth, Villa Decans lands – These lands were estimated to have a value of 17 million euros by an appraiser consultant hired by Laporta but the new management got this estimate from an actual certified appraiser who valued the land in 5. 7 millions. Auditor included 50% of the difference between both amounts. Seventh, Sogecable’s contract – there is also a legal dispute against Sogecable for TV rights that could give Barca 25 million euros back. – This was not included since Barca lost the first sitting of this dispute. There is also a big discrepancy regarding FC Barcelona’s total debt (in millions of Euros) between Barcelona AGM (30), Barcelona accounts (202), English media (350), and Rosell’s campaign (489) before the presidency changed. As explained in The Swiss Rambles blog, they are all correct in their account because in definition, debt can be broadly interpreted.

Reaction paper “Shutter Island” Essay

â€Å"Shutter Island† is a movie that is not only dedicated to delivering flawless scenery and a storyline about a mental institution locked away with a deep, dark secret away from civilization, but instead, the majority of the film is actually a character study with Teddy Daniels as the main subject. Teddy Daniels has a troubled past that is reflected in flash backs and dream sequences. Teddy Daniels is now a U.S Marshall, but prior to that, he was a veteran of war, where he saw some of the most brutally horrific and mind-scarring scenes imaginable, the kind of things that could poison a man’s mind and leave him haunted by them for life. Teddy is also a â€Å"retired alcoholic† as one of the doctor’s at Ashecliffe Hospital reveals stating that it is plainly obvious that he used to drink. The subject of alcoholism is later elaborated on in a flashback scene where his late wife asks him why he drinks. It appears that Teddy is not only haunted by the toils o f war or his alcoholism, but also by the fact that a man who set fire to his home killed his wife and children. In short, Teddy’s life has been fuelled by mentally scarring events, that somehow lead him to Ashecliffe Hospital, in what he believes to be â€Å"fate† when he learns that the man who killed his family is actually a patient at the hospital; Andrew Laediss. Before long, Teddy soon learns of the corruption on the island. Peculiar experiments are being carried out. These are later revealed to be lobotomies, which are used in order to settle the criminally insane for good. When Teddy uncovers the â€Å"truth†, he tries to leave the island to no avail. This is when the twist starts to become evident. Teddy Daniels is not a U.S marshal at all, he is actually a patient at Ashecliffe Hospital, and he has been for several years. Mentally scarred by the issues in his life, which are revealed not only to be the toils of war, but also the fact that his wife also went insane and drowned their children, it was Daniels, actually revealed to be called Andrew Laediss, who killed his wife out of revenge. Throughout the film, Teddy suffers headaches. These headaches are actually from his withdrawals from his medication which he suffers when he creates his alternate personality and gives everyone â€Å"roles to play,† something that is also referenced earlier on in the film. Teddy Daniels is criminally insane  and he is permanently haunted by hi s past. He creates personalities for everyone at the hospital and he goes about his life pretending he is someone else as a method of â€Å"escapism† from reality. His story is incredible and the truth is actually hinted at throughout the film which will leave viewers simply needing to watch the film a second time because the hints are impossible to ignore once the twist is revealed. Needless to say. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the character to perfection and Teddy Daniels, still to this day, is undeniably one of the most in-depth, detailed and most developed film characters of the 2010 decade thus far. Leonardo DiCaprio as Edward â€Å"Teddy† Daniels Mark Ruffalo as Chuck Aule Ben Kingsley as Dr. John Cawley Max von Sydow as Dr. Jeremiah Naehring Michelle Williams as Dolores Chanal Emily Mortimer as Rachel Solando Patricia Clarkson as Dr. Rachel Solando Jackie Earle Haley as George Noyce Ted Levine as Warden John Carroll Lynch as Deputy Warden McPherson Elias Koteas as Andrew Laeddis Jill Larson as Old Manacled Woman Ken Cheeseman as Doctor 1 Ruby Jerins as Little Girl Robin Bartlett as Bridget Kearns Christopher Denham as Peter Breene Matthew Cowles as Ferry Boat Captain The ending of shutter Island seems ambiguous but to me it was pretty clear-cut. Teddy wakes up to the reality that he is actually Andrew Laedis, though he is warned by Dr. Cawley and Dr. Sheehan that he has regresses into his fantasy world before. However, Andrew is smart. When Dr. Sheehan sits with him on the steps that next morning, Andrew knows that the doctors and Warden are observing his behavior. The thing is, his guilt and pain are still so heavy that he knows he cannot live with them. Rather than live with  the knowledge of his pain, he chooses to pretend that he is still Teddy Daniels and let them lobotomize him, so that he can finally be free of his burden. That’s what the line to Dr. Sheehan about â€Å"living as a monster, or dying as a good man,’ means – Andrew would rather be mind-wiped as â€Å"Teddy Daniels† than live with the sins of Andrew Laeddis. Although little information is available to analyze Teddy based on his childhood he can be examined on many other elements of Sigmund Freud’s theories about the unconscious. While he is living in his fantasy life as an investigator on the island, his unconscious thoughts often appear in his dreams. He sees his wife come to him begging him to give up on his quest for Andrew because he will not like what he finds out and she doesn’t want him to get hurt. He also dreams of Rachel Solando coming to him with her children’s bloody bodies, asking him to assist her in disposing of them. As he holds the children’s bodies they come alive asking why he didn’t save them. This perfectly illustrates the psychoanalytic theory that dreams have two levels of content. The manifest content is that Teddy thinks the dreams come from the fact that he is missing his wife and just can’t accept her death and let her go and that the macabre feeling of the island is getting to him causing him to have nightmares of the insane woman he is investigating. It is later clear that the latent content of the dreams reveal the hidden meaning of his own experiences. In other words, there was no Rachel Solando. Teddy created her as a reflection of himself because Dolores was a manic depressive who drowned their children in a lake one day when he wasn’t home. When he returned and realized the tragic happenings there was nothing he could do, hence the nightmares of the children inquiring as to why he couldn’t save them. In his dreams she often walks to him soaking wet to which he asks her â€Å"Why are you all wet, baby?†. This phrase seems to haunt him because those are the first words he said to her when he came home that day she went crazy . Teddy feels personally responsible for their death because at the time he was an alcoholic and while he loved his wife, he refused to see her for who she really was and ended up killing her after discovering the children. In the dreams she tells him to give up because he is unable to cope with knowing the truth. This leads on to how Teddy distorts his reality to protect himself against his unbearable pain and guilt through the use of defense mechanisms. All of the memories of what really happened to Dolores  and the children become repressed and replaced with false illusions that his wife was wrongfully murdered and he re-created himself as a hero in order to cope. In accordance with this mechanism he suffers from post traumatic stress from which the disturbing memories indirectly begin to reveal themselves in his dreams. Dr. Sheehan who in his mind was his partner reveals that for they had decided to try an elaborate role-playing experiment in which they went along with all of Teddy (Andrew)’s delusions in an attempt to bring his mind back to the real world and thus save him from a brain lobotomy (a form of psychosurgery) which was forced to be their last resort. When the truth is first revealed Teddy’s initial reaction is to resort to the defense mechanism of denial. He refuses to accept that what they claim is what really happened and is insistent upon the fact that they have been dosing him with drugs in order to brainwash him and keep him from discovering the truth about the gruesome human experiments that have been taking place at the hospital. Projection is also used when he accuses the Doctor’s of making up this story about what happened to him in order to protect themselves. These are both attempts to rid his mind of the anxiety provoking stimuli that he is unable to accept has any association with what happened in his life. Even before the truth is revealed while Teddy still believes that he is a hero we see this anxiety shining through during his investigation at Shutter Island. When the hospital’s main psychologist makes a comment about Teddy refraining from alcohol and Teddy responds with a witty attack the doctor notes his â€Å"excellent use of defense mechanisms†. This may relate to his implicit memory because although Teddy at first does not have any suspicions about the realism of his own identity he seems to think that everyone else is out to get him which serves as unconscious memories influencing conscious behavior causing him to constantly be on defense about the intentions and actions of the people around him. When Teddy finally comes out of his stage of denial and accepts the truth, the doctors fear that he will relapse and go back into repression. It was noted that this had happened before with their other attempts to cure him. Teddy fakes falling back into that stage in ord er to save himself his dignity, he reveals his intentions by saying â€Å"which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die a good man?†. This lets us know that Dr. Sheehan’s cure proved effective, but Teddy would rather not live in that state of misery or try to  move on with his life knowing the shocking truth. Teddy Daniels also known as Andrew Laeddis is an extremely interesting character to study in terms of personality. Before his marriage to Dolores he probably could have been analyzed for completely different attributes; however the events in his life served as strong situational factors to shape the person he would turn into. Before it is realized that he is actually one of the criminally insane prisoners, Teddy could be described as smart, witty and independent. He stands up for himself even when he suspects that the majority of the island is involved with the conspiracy. After realizing the truth behind all of his actions it is clear that his life is relatable to many of Freud’s theories which are all used to aid him in â€Å"distorting reality to protect him against pain or threatening impulses arising from the id†. It is also very interesting that in his alternate reality he views himself as a good, innocent person who is looking to set bad things right. This could come from his unconscious knowledge that he committed a violent crime and wants to take all of the blame off himsel f by portraying himself as a hero. The warden of Ashecliffe Hospital makes an interesting point of reference to the dark side of Teddy’s personality and human nature in general by telling him â€Å"You’re as violent as they come. I know because I am as violent as they come. Don’t embarrass yourself by denying your own blood lust, son. Don’t embarrass me. If the constraints of society were removed, and I was all that stood between you and a meal, you’d crack my skull with a rock and eat my meaty parts†. Teddy killed his wife because he felt that after what she had done, it was the right thing to do and his alternate personality serves as a cover-up because he â€Å"should† feel guilty that the type of violence isn’t acceptable, no matter what Dolores had done to deserve it.