Monday, September 30, 2019

The Wonders of Planet Earth

‘The perpetual cycle of change which has created the face of the Earth, with all its rugged and Fascinating variety usually happens too slowly to be noticed. But occasionally it is rapid and Violent. Volcanoes disgorge molten lava, earthquakes rip open the landscape, landslides, carry away Whole mountainsides. Then human beings become aware of the awesome forces that are shaping Their planet. These forces are fuelled by three powerful sources of energy – heat from within the Earth, heat from the Sun, and the force of gravity.Every landform in the world has been shaped by these ttu. ee energy sources. ‘the continents that drift across the surface of the globe, setting off volcanoes and earthquakes and Building mountains. are driven by heat from the Earth's interior which has a temperature of about 5000†³C (9000'F). Most of this heat is created by the breakdown of radioactive elements. Earth is unique among the planets of the Solar System in having liquid water on the surface and water has a major role in shaping the planet.The warmth of the Sun evaporates water from seas and lakes. The vapor rises and condenses to form clouds and then falls again as rain and snow. It is then that its landscaping powers begin, weathering rocks and washing away the loose material. or grinding down the landscape under the power of a glacier. The Sun's heat also produces the rain and the waves that scour the land. The third force – gravity – causes the tides, which nibble away at the edges of continents, and landslides. hich alter the shape of mountains. Under the influence of gravity. rain works its way downwards as streams and rivers, carving the terrain. On its journey, it carries fragments of rock and sand to be deposited on the ocean floor. And over thousands of years more rock which may then be buckled and lifted up by movement of the Earth's crust to form new mountains. {source: Readers Digest, Discovering the Wonders of our World A guide to natures Sciences marvels]

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Foreign Oil vs Domestic Oil

Foreign Petroleum Industry V. S. Domestic Petroleum Industry The Petroleum Industry is a very important industry for our ever-changing world. As we know it, right now, the world pretty much revolves around oil and gas exploration and extraction. Almost everything that the world produces uses oil or gas in one way or another. Right now, the Petroleum Industry is very big and prosperous in the Middle East (like in Pakistan and Iraq). Those areas are some of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers. They are making the â€Å"big bucks† by selling to us here in the United States.The oil and gas industry is booming in the Middle East. The United States is one of the biggest importers of oil and gas. We, as a nation, use an extremely large amount of oil and gas. When compared to the foreign Petroleum Industry, our domestic Petroleum Industry is really lacking. The United States has so much accessibility to oil and petroleum, but we are not extracting it from our surrounding bodies of water, such as the Gulf of Mexico. We have the potential to drill for our own petroleum so we will not have to purchase any oil or gas from foreign industries, but we are not drilling for some reason.Our Petroleum Industry could be a big contender in the world market, but since we are not drilling, we are not even a contender at all. The price of oil and gas is constantly rising. This does not look good for our economy since we are not drilling our own oil here in the United States. If we actually started to drill for oil and gas here in the United States, domestically, we would not have to worry about extremely high gas prices since we would be drilling it here. But since we have to buy from an international seller, we cannot name our own price for the oil and gas that we purchase from them.If we had domestic oil and gas exploration and extraction, we would have less trouble and drama with foreign countries. The less we deal with foreign countries that really do not like us, the better for us. The domestic Petroleum Industry, pretty much, does not exist since we do not have permission from the President to be drilling off the coast of the United States. Even with the drilling that we ARE doing already, it still does not add up to what we could possibly be drilling and using or selling. If we had permission to extract oil and gas from the ocean right off of the coast of the United States, our domesticPetroleum Industry could also be booming like the Middle East, but since we do not have any say in what we can and cannot do, it seems like the Middle East (at least until they run out of oil and gas) will always have a better Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction Industry than us here in the United States of America. It is a shame to know this because we would not have to be spending as much of our own money and getting THAT much deeper into National Debt, if we could just drill off of our shores†¦ Sources http://www. oilandgasinternational. com/ www. ipaa. org

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Differences Between Pr and Advertising Essay

Differences Between Advertising and Public Relations Advertising vs. public relations, these two industries are very different even though they’re commonly confused as being one and the same. The following ten properties just scratch the surface of the many differences between advertising and public relations. 1. Paid Vs Free Coverage * Advertising: The company pays for ad space. You know exactly when that ad will air or be published. For Example: Infosys gives an ad in The Hindu on Wednesdays in the Opportunities column. So it has the liberty and control to opt whether they want to give the ad on a particular Wednesday or not depending on their requirement. * Public Relations: Your job is to get free publicity for the company. From news conferences to press releases, you’re focused on getting free media exposure for the company and its products/services. For Example: Tata Nano is the best example of this. Till now Nano was not advertised and all its publicity is through PR. 2. Creative Control Vs. No Control * Advertising: Since you’re paying for the space, you have creative control on what goes into that ad. Any feature of the ad can be designed according to the way you want to portray the image of your company. For Example: Close-up portrays a youthful image through its advertisements, whereas Cadbury (which earlier had largely targeted the youth) has shifted its focus and now projects its chocolate as something for the whole family to enjoy during times of rejoicing. * Public Relations: You have no control over how the media presents (or misrepresents) information about your organization. For Example: Reliance did not have a control over the news which was published regarding the conflict between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani and had to pay for it in form of loss in the share price (initially). 3. Shelf Life * Advertising: Since you pay for the space, you can run your ads over and over for as long as your budget allows. An ad generally has a longer shelf life than one press release. * Public Relations: You generally submit a press release about a new product once. You only submit a press release about a news conference once. The PR exposure you receive is only circulated once. An editor won’t publish your same press release three or four times in their magazine. 4. Wise Consumers * Advertising: Consumers know when they’re reading an advertisement they’re trying to be sold a product or service. The consumer understands that we have paid to present our selling message to him or her, and unfortunately, the consumer often views the selling message very guardedly. * Public Relations: When someone reads a third-party article written about your product or views coverage of your event on TV, they’re seeing something you didn’t pay for and view it differently than they do paid advertising. Where we can generate some sort of third-party ‘endorsement’ by independent media sources, we can create great credibility for our clients’ products or services. 5. Creativity * Advertising: In advertising, you get to exercise your creativity in creating new ad campaigns and materials. Some jingles in the ad have a long bonding with the product. Few Examples: Surf comes with a series of new ads from time to time. Britannia’s jingle is well remembered and is branded even in its website. * Public Relations: In public relations, you have to have a nose for news and be able to generate buzz through that news. You exercise your creativity, to an extent, in the way you search for new news to release to the media. For Example: Apple iPhone is an example of this. Apple created a huge buzz in the market exercising creativity to and extend and the result was a huge demand for the Iphone much before its release date. 6. Target Audience or Hooked Editor * Advertising: You’re looking for your target audience and advertising accordingly. You wouldn’t advertise a women’s TV network in a male-oriented sports magazine. * Public Relations: You must have an angle and hook editors to get them to use info for an article, to run a press release or to cover your event. . 7. Special Events * Advertising: If your company sponsors an event, you wouldn’t want to take out an ad giving yourself a pat on the back for being such a great company. This is where your PR department steps in. Public Relations: If you’re sponsoring an event, you can send out a press release and the media might pick it up. They may publish the information or cover the event. 8. Writing Style * Advertising: Buy this product! Act now! Call today! These are all things you can say in an advertisement. You want to use those buzz words to motivate people to buy your product. * Public Relations: You’re stric tly writing in a no-nonsense news format. Any blatant commercial messages in your communications are disregarded by the media.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Common Themes Paper and Presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Common Themes Paper and Presentation - Essay Example Throughout history there have been many famous artists. Famous artist produce a type of art that is respected and often replicated. Having a piece of art replicated long after the art has been created shows how a piece can easily become timeless. Examples of how three forms of art share a common theme would be the Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the David Statue that was created by Michelangelo. Each piece is timeless and one of the most famous pieces created by the artist. Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh was created while the artist was in a sanitarium. The artist used the view from his sanitarium window and his own feelings to express what he seen as a Starry Night. A sub theme for this piece is similar to the others as it reflects the real world. The sub themes for this piece are also very different as they contain a fantasy like world. Since the artist was locked away in a sanitarium, the artist was unable to view the world underneath his window as

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Annotated working Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Annotated working Bibliography - Essay Example The article (and page) is updated regularly and appears to be peer-reviewed. Dorothy Tuck McFarland is also a regular contributor to the Charters series of scholarly texts. In this article, she addresses nearly every aspect of O’Connor’s short story, including its connection to religious imagery. It is scholarly and peer-reviewed. Ioana Munteanu is a faculty member at the University of Targoviste and possesses an extensive knowledge and understanding of the work of Flannery O’Connor. This article examines numerous aspects of O’Connor’s religious perspective living in protestant Georgia and is well written and contains crucial information. Rosengarten, Richard A. â€Å"The Catholic Sophocles: Violence and Vision in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Revelation’†. University of Chicago Divinity School, 2003. 14 June 2009. Richard A. Rosengarten is a faculty member of the University of Chicago. He has a vast knowledge of the work of Flannery O’Connor, as in this article he critically examines nearly all of her stories. It is scholarly and peer-reviewed, as is on the university homepage. Ralph C. Wood is a novelist who has written several books on the work of Flannery O’Connor. This book circles around O’Connor and her religious rivals and seeks to show the social and religious relevance of her work. It contains up-to-date information and critical insight. As the intertwining aspects of violence and religion continue to appear across America’s newspapers and our awareness of the world which currently surrounds us, O’Connor’s works tap the underlying issues plaguing many peoples since they were first

IRISH POTATO FAMINE SOURCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IRISH POTATO FAMINE SOURCES - Essay Example However, the increased population created scarcity in land. The number of people was exceeding the available land. The government had to device a way for diving land. The small plots that were issued by the government could only bear the very potato. Population increase and land scarcity can, on a perspective, be said to be the first negative impact that potato brought to Ireland. Since the small land could only contain the potato crop, the people of Ireland solely relied on this crop as the staple food and also as the only source of income from its sales. When the potato blight hit the country, the people had been caught unaware. As their crops were being helplessly destroyed before their eyes by the blight, distress captured the better part of them as they wondered of the available solutions. The blight was taking away the only source of life. The people started to starve due to lack of adequate food. Starvation made the people weak and vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. Typhus, Dysentery and Relapsing fever came upon them like plague (source 3). With the starvation and the emergence of the deadly diseases, life took a horrific turn on many common people. Hardship became a daily companion. The population had shifted their focus from potato farming to working on the public roads (source 2 & 3). A report by Wexford Independent describes the public as low income earner (source 3). The people were working in the extremely cold weather and their wages could not allow them to buy warm clothes. The cold caused the inflammatory of their lungs and fever. The poor salaries made the blanket a rare luxury for these people (source10). These people were also walking long distances and without food to eat. Most of them would drop and die while at work (source2). Thus, the root cause of their tribulations was cold and hunger. The poor Irish crowded the roads, begging

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Green Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Green Accounting - Essay Example It is based on the existing financial accounting standards. In United Kingdom it is a combination of a company law and company accounting standards framed by the regulatory bodies which is utilised by the accounting professionals of UK (Sigma Projects, 2003). Different countries follow different kinds of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) accounting principles based on their regulatory and legal frameworks. Sustainability and sustainable accounting have different meanings and applications. The concept was first coined by Brundtland Commission and published in the report Our Common Future in the year 1987 (Christofi and Sisaye, 2006). It involves the effective and optimum utilisation of resources and reducing carbon emissions, wastage, environmental impacts. Sustainability accounting on the other hand helps in the financial reporting and communication about the sustainability initiatives and actions to the shareholder’s and stakeholders of the company. ... The global climate change has been the result of the industrialisation process that has caused carbon emissions, global warming and weather extremities such as drought and floods (Khan, 2011). It has helped companies to identify their past and potential future environmental impacts and benefits in addition to the historical and financial outcomes from their business activities. It also provides forward-looking information to help the companies implement and formulate strategic solutions to strengthen the business performance and to respond to the sustainability challenges that the environment faces. Sustainability accounting also helps in the risk management through identification and analysis of sustainability related risks and opportunities. Interdisciplinary relationships between ASD practices and organisational success The main purpose of sustainability accounting reporting is measuring, disclosing and being accountable to the stakeholders of the company to evaluate the organisat ional performance. Sustainability accounting is a broad term used for describing financial reporting on the environmental, economic, social impacts (World Commission on Environment and Development, 2006). A sustainability accounting report should be able to provide a relevant and balanced representation of the sustainability performance of the company (World Commission on Environment and Development, 2006). The various purposes of sustainability report are as follows 1) Demonstrating how the organisation is influenced and influences by expectations about the sustainable development. 2) Benchmarking and analyzing the sustainability performance of the company with respect to the norms and regulations of the regulatory

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Healthy College Cafeteria Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Healthy College Cafeteria - Assignment Example Eating healthy is made more difficult by the lack of available healthier foods in college canteens yet due to the economic restraints and busy lifestyles of students, the college canteen is often the main place that students eat. There is a responsibility from our educational institutions to focus on providing healthy , nutritious , reasonably priced foods that ensure that students have healthy eating options. In the UK, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has become notorious for his scathing attacks on the food served in schools. A ten part TV series released in 2005 based in a school, exposed exactly the type of food that was being served (processed food that is high in sugar and fat) and the negative effects on health. His pioneering work has since continued, urging schools to use natural ingredients, local and organic produce and serve well balanced meals. He has also succeeded in getting councils to sponsor "a ten-year strategic plan and fund a long-term public campaign to get people back on to a proper diet and empower/persuade (and possibly scare, if needed) the public to make better choices." (My Manifesto) Awareness Raising; Any significant change in the food served in the college canteens should also go hand in hand with a college funded awareness raising project. This has taken place in a number of colleges already in the UK and US2 and could provide students with ideas, recipes and information about the nutritional and health values of the food that they eat. Consultation with the students; In making a shift to providing healthier foods for students it is important that they are consulted in order to ascertain what health foods would be popular. By running a consultation information can be gathered to help design the new menus. Skills gap; To provide healthy and nutritious food using natural ingredients can often mean that those working on the cafeteria need proper training in food production. Training should be offered to cafeteria staff and their wages should reflect the potential increase in work hours caused by preparing meals with fresh ingredients. Sourcing Organic Foods; Organic foods can appear to be more expensive but often when they are brought in bulk the price goes down significantly. Maybe joining up with other educational institutions in the area to make joint food orders with or looking for sponsorship for the college's healthy food project could ensure that prices stay affordable yet the quality goes up. Sourcing Local Foods; While the food might not be organic, buying food from local producers assures a number of things. It boosts the local economy, it is often cheaper for the buyer as the 'middle person' ( in this case the food distributor) is cut out. Regular orders and establishing a good relationship mean producers listen to their buyers and could in the future ( for example) reduce use of pesticides and fertilizers Sourcing Fair Trade Products; Fair trade products are often organic and produced by co-operatives therefore ensuring the best price for the farmer. By purchasing these products the college not only supports farmers in the developing world but also indirectly educates students about just and sustainable farming methods and food distribution. Environment; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, As well as looking after our own

Monday, September 23, 2019

Socio- economic class can affect the health of individuals discuss Essay

Socio- economic class can affect the health of individuals discuss - Essay Example These three components of socioeconomic position influence an individual’s life chances and living standards. Each of them can act as a reference point when constructing hierarchical classification of socioeconomic position. For example, people can be classified based on skill level from unskilled manual jobs to professional jobs or from low income to high income (Liu, 2011, P.258). Occupation, educational achievement and income capture critical dimensions of people’s material and social endowment, and also act as substitute for other unmeasured progressions which profiles an individual’s health. In this respect, researchers aim to capture unmeasured factors, which vary in line with these three factors when they classify individuals or households using them. The common trend is that people in higher socioeconomic groups tend to have better health and fewer disabling conditions that those in lower groups. Health inequalities are evident from the beginning of life as exemplified by gradients in birth weight, which influence cognitive and physical development (Lu and Jonsson, 2007, P.267). Social economic status (SES) is often implicated as a cause of health disparities among different groups. It can be defined as the relative position of a household or an individual in a hierarchical society, based on their access to wealth, prestige and power. SES is related to health status and captures an individual’s or groups ability to access basic resources required to achieve and maintain good health (Lu and Jonsson, 2007, P.267). There is a strong correlation between health outcomes and income, educational achievement, wealth, community environment and race or ethnicity. People with higher incomes, higher educational qualification and those who live in a healthy and safe environment have on average longer life expectancies and better health outcomes. On the other hand, those with low

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Arab sheikdoms in the United Arab Emirates Essay Example for Free

Arab sheikdoms in the United Arab Emirates Essay Dubai is one of the seven Arab sheikdoms in the United Arab Emirates (U. A. E. ). Before oil and gas were discovered in 1958, it was among the very poor sheikdoms under British protection and was once called a Trucial State. Today, their sheiks are independent and among the world’s richest men, with a gross annual income of $25. 7 billion. It has vast reserves of oil and natural gas (Ibrahim, 1982). The land is mainly salt mashes, barren desert, and sandy plain. Oases stud the desert areas. To the east, the mountains lie close to the sea. It is also famous as having the highest cost of living in the world – the cheapest apartment rents for $1,000 per month (Peck, 1986). The Emiratians (Dubai people) used to be pirates, fishermen or pearl divers, nomads or oasis farmers. Most are now wage earners or businessmen who feel more conscious of a national identity as a rich and important country. They are famous for two unique sports: (1) camel races, and (2) falconry. Colorful music, dancing and singing also give life to this otherwise dry place. This area of Gulf was notorious for piracy. They preyed on the trade between Europe and China. The British came in 1806 and started to impose oder against the Arab pirates. In 1853, piracy was finally wiped out when the sheiks signed the Perpetual Maritime Truce Agreement with Britain. Thus, the Pirate Coast became the respectable Trucial States (Seale, 1988). Today, Dubai is the largest commercial center and the nerve center for smuggling Western currency, gold, and other goods into the Indian subcontinent, especially Pakistan. Dubai is also the outlet for capital fleeing Afghanistan and Iran. One phenomenon of the oil boom was to fill Dubai’s population (like that of Kuwait and Qatar) mostly with foreigners. The majority of the population or around 50% is Indo-Pakistani outnumber the native Arabs, who populate the land by only 42%. The large foreign population (mostly migrant workers) are lured to Dubai by the high salaries, welfare benefits, and rapid development. To keep discipline, the governing Arab sheiks have emphasized Muslim (Shariah) law, religious education, and the observance of Muslim practices. The Muslim rulers and people are Sunnis, strongly influenced by the strict Wahabi sect of neighboring Saudi Arabia (Peck, 1986). Diplomacy, national security, information, communications, health, education, and the budgets of the three smaller emirates are decided by the federal government. The local sheiks retain control over policy within their emirates. The laws of Dubai (under the United Arab of Emirates) are divided into two main categories: union laws and decrees. A bill drafted by the Council of Ministers for non-binding deliberation by the Federal National Council and then submitted to the president for his assent and the Supreme Council of the Union for ratification becomes a union law when promulgated by the president. Decrees are issued jointly by the president and the Council of Ministers between sessions of the Supreme Council of the Union. As the final say is always on the Supreme Council of the Union, a decree must only be confirmed by them to remain valid (Ibrahim, 1982). Dubai’s political system, which is a unique combination of the traditional and the modern, has underpinned this political success, enabling the country to develop a modern administrative structure while, at the same time, ensuring that the best of the traditions of the past are maintained, adapted and preserved (Ibrahim, 1982). Relations with the other members of the U. A. E. have not always been smooth. The discovery of a big natural gas field in Sharjah reopened a border dispute with Dubai. In November 1982, Dubai sent tanks to the border to prevent Sharjah’s foreign contractors from drilling the field (Seale, 1988). However, not all is coming up roses for Dubai. Bad planning and extravagance have now caused new miseries. In fact, the most outstanding examples of ill-conceived investment in the Arab world are found in the Dubai ports and so-called international airports stand cheek to cheek. Within fifty kilometers of its coast are three major ports, including the Mina Jabel Ali, the biggest manmade port ever built. Its sixty-seven berths are now suffering terrible losses. Being a member of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has an international airport of its own, making cynics joke that the state boundaries end where the next runway begins. The headquarters of the Arab Monetary Fund in Dubai have polished one-way windows done with gold compound (Peck, 1986). References Ibrahim, Saad Eddin. (1982). The New Arab Social Order: A Study of the Social Impact of Oil Wealth. Westview Press. Peck, Malcolm C. (1986). The United Arab Emirates: A Venture in Unity. Westview Press. Seale, Patrick. (1988). Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

E-Commerce Business Aims and Objectives

E-Commerce Business Aims and Objectives Md Imtiaz Ahmed Task Covering LO1 INTRODUCTION TO E-COMMERCE E-Commerce, formerly referred to as Electronic Commerce, is the trading of several of goods services over a wide area of electronic means; such as the Internet or any other Computer Networks. The various sources where the e-commerce is successfully being running and the uses of e-Commerce are mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems and automated data collection systems. E-Commerce allows the exchange of data over electronic means in order to facilitate the financing payment aspects of business transaction. Within the help of e-Commerce, an organization is benefitted through effective communications better business conducts. In order to build up a proper e-commerce website for a business, there must have to be some implementations of these analyses as follows:- PEST (Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological) Analysis Political- The potential change of government, as well as the changes in the policies priorities and the introduction of a new government initiative could be major political factors. Such factors include political stability, tax guidelines, trade regulations, safety regulations employees laws. Economic- Economic factors may also be limited to the home country but as global trade continues to grow, economic difficulties in one nation would tend to have a broad impact overall. Factors affecting the economy in such ways include inflation, interest rates, economic growth, the unemployment rate policies, and the business cycle followed by the country. Socio-cultural- Socio-cultural factors are those that arise from customers or probable customers. These changes can often be slight and they can be difficult to assume or identify until there’s a major effect or impact. Within this social factor the business finds it helpful to analyze the socio-economic situation of its market by means of fundamentals like customer demographics, cultural limitations, lifestyle attitude, and education. Technological- This area is all about those that are related to the uprising developments on the uses of technology. There are 2 types of changes in technological uses in general: developments in the uses of IT, and, developments in IT in specific industry or market.[1] In modern days, we have an extension in the PEST analysis which has added two more factors to take effect in the business. These are Legal(L) factors and the Environmental(E) factors, which for instance, stands to be the PESTLE Analysis. Legal- It is very important to take into accounts the factors arising from changes to the law. Changes can be by means of Discrimination laws, Health safety laws, Consumer Protection laws, Copyright Patent laws. Environmental- The factors arising from the concerns about the natural environment, in other words the ‘green’ issues, include increasing concerns about packaging and the increase in pollution. SWOT(Strength,Weakness,Opportunities,Threats) Analysis This analysis is only focused on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities threats that are significant to an organization for a brand new scheme. Strength(S)- Internal attributes that are helpful to the organization to achieving its objectives. Example includes: superior product quality, superior technological equipment, education to employees, popular product name, products embraced by consumers. Weaknesses(W)- Internal attributes that are harmful for the organization achieving its goals. Examples include: extension of the distribution system, lack of direct contact with customers, higher prices. Opportunities(O)- External factors that help the organization to achieve its aims objectives. This might arise from: exports, approaching the youth markets, cross-selling. Threats(T)- External factors that help the organization to achieve its aims objectives. These are brought up by: huge tax rates on luxury items, indirect competitors.[2] Onto a business organization, the SWOT Analysis has been divided into two categories, Internal Analysis which is Strengths Weaknesses, and External Analysis which is Opportunities Threats. The Strengths are valued by measuring the ability of an organization to compete with other companies globally or locally. The start-up cost overhead cost is low to introduce e-Commerce system in the business, which is a plus point. Direct consumer communication too takes place while this e-Commerce system is implemented by means of when an order is made; the goods are directly delivered where a personal meet up takes place. So it generally creates a good customer relationship. Weakness could be the higher prices of their products which will result in less consumer attentions and hence less profit. Another point to take into account as the weakness of an e-Business could be the online page loading time. If the page takes much time to load, the visitors of the site will eventually tend to turn their search off and leave. Hence no profit would be earned by the business. Opportunities are measured by their 24/7 availability online to serve their consumers. Growth is estimated to continue at high rates and launching an online business allows the merchant to be in a position to benefit from this growth. Threats are measured by the business’ ability to survive in the field by competing with other organizations. Another point to take into consideration is fraud. Some consumers find it risky to deliver their financial data and such kinds of feeling among the population can be a great threat for any online business stores. Privacy concerns too are a factor to be thought of. CORE BUSINESS FUNCTIONS OF E-COMMERCE I am Md. Imtiaz Ahmed, and, Mr. Bashar has appointed me as an e-Commerce Developer in his e-commerce business. He is planning to open an e-Commerce online book store. Nowadays we see a rapid rise in such businesses that runs online. There are various sectors such as the one Mr. Bashar is planning to open, apart from that there are jewelries, fashion items, perfumes, groceries, electronic appliances, household items and much more. Mr. Bashar wants to organize such an online book store where people from all around the world can get access to and order for their desired books of their own choices favorite authors. E-commerce is basically functionalized as to deliver the customers with the desired service in an online basis. For instance, the customers will stay at their favored place from where they can easily place an order for the product they want. They will either make the payment online using debit/credit cards or, they can also make the payment on cash while the product is finally delivered at the right place. That’s one of the most efficient and generally important function though which the system runs. Named Boibazaar.com, Mr. Bashar has set his online storefront targeted to basically the people of any ages since there are absolutely no limitations to read books. Starting from the youngest to the oldest, anyone can order for books as they want or would like to. Mr. Bashar targets to deliver his potential customers by serving them the right output as required. There are various functional areas partly divided in a sense to run the e-Commerce business on a smooth flow. Among them, follows are the most important ones that Mr. Bashar’s online storefront must implement:- The Sales Function- This department is assigned to maintain the sales promotion of the business, for instance, by means of effective advertisements discount offers. It also responds to their customers’ queries and tries their best to deliver them with the best possible solutions. Their task is to sell their products either over the telephone or using the face-to-face method of business transactions. They decide the estimations to offer discounts on their selling items, this is done through effective persuasive advertisements. Financial terms too are anyhow maintained by this department in some businesses. They also provide technical advices keeps records of their customers updated. The Production Function- This department plays a vital role in any business organization since it checks monitors the storage of raw materials. It also builds up the schedule of the productions for the maximization of the uses of equipments. Producing the items is the core function of this department and hence it also assembles the finished output. This functional area is also assigned for the quality checking of the products all through the production process. Machinery inspections too are managed by this area of business. The Purchasing Function- This department is necessary since its task is to order inputs/raw materials for the production of expected items from its suppliers. If any problems, such as disagreements from a supplier to sell raw materials, are faced, then the department would hold the right to change the supplier and order from the new one. If to introduce new items, new kind of raw materials is to be bought and utilized. In such cases, this department would search for new suppliers to meet the requirements. It also refers to the problems on delivery, e.g. quality or quantity. It is also very necessary for this department to be in good relation with its suppliers so that the business doesn’t face any negative trust issues amongst each other. The Administration Function- In simple senses, this department is all set to maintain the legal documentations, paper works necessary record keepings. In some business it helps their customers by providing expert advices for the queries faced. The Customer Service Function- Similar to the above one, it responds to their potential customers and gives them the best soluble options. It also provides after-sales services including the replacements of damaged items, arrangements for repairing the items, etc. It deals with the customer complaints and takes necessary steps to overcome the problems arising. The Finance Function- All the financial works are maintained by this area of business. The money that is received is well recorded by this department. The checking paying of the invoices received are too done by this department. All any financial documentations payments involved in the business are monitored by the Finance Department. The ICT Function- Most of the tasks of the Administration Department are followed by this ICT area such as maintaining the records on computer. Also the online helps too are done by this department. All that are related to the IT are controlled by this department. Since Boibazaar.com is an online book store, the Production Department is not much necessary since Mr. Bashar’s business does not produce books but deliver what are available on the market, just by means of selling on the online method. The ICT Department is the most important one since the business is online basis and thus the whole thing is maintained according to its own ways as supposed. Boibaazar.com has categorized their selling items according to the genres so that the visitors of the site find it handy easy enough to find out what they are looking for. The prices too are mentioned so that they don’t really need to navigate to any more pages to go for inner details. Seller contacts too are added so that if customer decides to purchase can make direct deals with the seller easily. Boibazaar.com agrees accepting the method of payments on Cash on Delivery basis for local consumers. Soon they will be accepting Card Payment method using VISA, debit/credit cards and online payments. For local consumers, the shop is also accepting the online payment procedure of Bkash. Regarding International consumers’ payments, the store is working on to accept methods followed by banks and also The Western Union process. But customers must be sure that there are different methods to follow for payments for different orders. Cash on delivery basis is highly being appreciated by the customers who prefer dealing online for their desired products. It’s less hassle and over all the difficulties that might appear compared to physical trading. AIMS OBJECTIVES OF E-COMMERCE Profit maximization is the core aim of any organization whether it is a physical business place or the one that runs online. Some organizations even aim to survive with just less or no profit at all. Breakeven, one method of surviving is to focus on breaking even over a certain period. This means making enough money to cover the total costs involved in producing and selling the goods or services, and running the business, although there is no profit, no money is lost. Also there are some businesses that only tend to focus on selling (sales maximization) as more products as possible in order to expansion in their business. BUSINESS STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP IN THE BUSINESS Below is a table that shows the aims of the business following the relationship of their stakeholders into the business. Stakeholders are those people who are both directly and indirectly related to the business in general means. The table below will help make a clear view:- Task Covering LO2 [1] http://pestleanalysis.com/pest-analysis/ [2] http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/SWOT-analysis-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-and-threats-analysis

Friday, September 20, 2019

Subjective well-being at the workplace and organizations

Subjective well-being at the workplace and organizations Even though the psychologists explored the human behavior especially unhappiness in detail but the positivity was ignored in the past. Until 1974, the Journal Social Indications research founded and dedicated large number of articles to Subjective well-being. The literature of SWB shows or focuses on why and how people experience positive way of life including cognitive judgments and affective reactions. By cognitive judgment it means life satisfaction and by affective reaction it means positive and negative affect. In past many researches used the affective dimension to measure well-being. For instance, using the traits of negative affectivity and positive affectivity to explain the well-being of employees but the measurements of the cognitive dimensions were uncommon. So, Because of this Diener developed the measurement of Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS) 1985. It assess person on their own rather on the researchers judgments. One of the definitions for happiness according to Di ener (1984) is satisfaction of life (Diener, 2000). Despite lots of researches exploring the individuals happiness sources, no one of the theories of subjective well-being has risen to dominate this area of study as the main reason for this is incomplete existing SWB theories. Psychological theories of SWB are divided in to two main categories, top-down approach suggesting individuals that are happy as they are inclined to react to the circumstances in a positive way while the bottom up approach uphold that individuals are happier because of numerous happy moments in their lives. There are three characteristics of subjective well-being first is development of SWLS. Secondly it includes not only positive but also negative measures and finally SWB measures global assessment of all peoples life aspects (Diener, 1984). Donaldson (2009) defined positive psychology as a term that focus on excellence, happiness, gratitude, flourishing, subjective well-being, strengths, flow, resilience and positive organizational scholarship. This section focuses on positive as well as negative Subjective well-being in the organizations but more importance is given to positive aspect. Circumplex model (Russell, 1980, 2003) as a broad theoretical frame work to distinguish between positive and negative work related subjective well being. Positive subjective well-being includes work happiness, job satisfaction and work engagement where as negative SWB includes burnout and workaholism. Psychologists and sociologists are focusing in happiness and subjective well being from many years (Veenhoven, 1991). Recently happiness also gain importance in the field of economics (Layard, 2006) and is the central focus in the positive psychology movement (Sleigman Csikszentmijhalyi, 2000). This field of psychology has focused on the positive aspects of the individuals to help them flourish. Psychology, sociology and economy all of these fields in together can contribute in better understanding of the employee happiness in the organization (Bakker and Schaufeli, 2008). Definition of Subjective Well-Being (SWB): Subjective well-being means that how people assess their lives. Its a normal positive state that involves the whole life experience. This assessment may take the form of cognitions when person makes conscious evaluative judgment about their satisfaction with life as whole. A person is having high subjective well-being if he is satisfied with his life and having frequent positive experiences or emotions such as joy and happiness and in frequent negative feeling such as sadness and anger (Diener, Sandvik Pavot, 1991). Subjective well-being is a trait not a state. Many researchers argue that individual have a set-point for happiness level and this is fixed and crucial part of our performance. So, SWB is very important as without it human beings shrink their skill to gather desired assets and weaken their ability to handle and remain flexible in the face of challenges (International Well being Group, 2006). According to Windle and Treuer (2008) subjective well-being is vital because positive feelings and experiences build a range of personal resources i.e. physical, social, intellectual and psychological and they defined SWB as a normal positive state of mind that includes the whole life experience and stable happiness. According to Diener (2009), subjective wellbeing indicates satisfaction of life; high positive emotions like passion, joy and love; reduced negative emotions like anger, depression and also satisfaction with various other aspects of life like work, marriage, health. Diener (1984) said that subjective well-being is an umbrella term that evaluates ones lives including life satisfaction, pleasant emotions, feeling of fulfillment, work and marriage satisfaction and lowest level of satisfactions. Researchers used the term subjective well-being rather than happiness as it has varied meaning depending on the life event. Although life satisfaction is is an important aspect of life but not for all people as people want to be happy for good reasons and presence of vital things although they are not happy with it. So, it can be argued that subjective well-being is just an important component of good life. Diener also stated that demographic factors like age sex, income, ethnicity and education has 20% variance in subjective well-being. It is also stated that married people are happier than unmarried people over that women are happier than men. Diener (2000) studied the relation between the resources and subjective well-being and they predicted that internal resources like self confidence were best predictorsof subjective well-being in college students rather than external resources like money due to that with the help of internal resources external resources can be obtained too. Culture does have influence on the subjective well-being of the individuals. Diener and Biswas-Diener (2002) and Diener and Oishi (2000) have worked a lot on relationship between money and happiness. Their studies showed findings that positive correlations exist between income and subjective well-being of wealthy nations. Wealthy nations have high subjective well-being than the poor nations. But always its not the same in case when the employees pay is increased he is still unhappy as its stressors are more like high expectations in return. It was also found that materialistic people have low subjective well-being because people who have high desire for money dont care about the social relationships and are insecure. People with high subjective well-being have the following characteristics that is they have more friends, more likely to get married nad stay happily, have good services are more involved in leadership roles and live longer. 2.3 Subjective well-being at Work According to Dieners (2006) definition of SWB, an employee has elevated work related SWB if he is satisfied with his job and have frequent positive experiences and infrequent negative emotions. Positive emotions are employees experiences at work investigative of engagement, happiness or satisfaction. Diener (1994) also stated that when SWB, term is read it must be immediately noted that its not the same as happiness but synonymous to it. It can be defined as broad category that includes peoples emotional response, domain satisfactions and global judgments of life satisfaction. Sleigman (2002) also said that positive psychology is the scientific study of how humans achieve happiness and mental satisfaction, in order to discover how people can lead the most productive lives possible. It is about positive subjective experience i.e. well being ad satisfaction. In short, positive psychology is a science of subjective well-being. Diener sees life satisfaction as a factor of SWB and subsidiary to it (Camfield and Skevington 2008). International experts defined subjective well-being as an umbrella term for different valuations that person make related to their lives, the actions experienced by them and the situations in which they survive. Happiness is referred many times as positive affect but it can also be related to positive mood generally, a global evaluation of Life satisfaction, living a good life and the causes or reason of happiness (Diener, 2006). Now, we will discuss positive and negative emotions of work related SWB by placing them in the circumplex model. Russells (1980, 2003) circumplex model put forwards that affective states occur from two basic neurophysiological systems, one linked with pleasure-displeasure continuum and the other with arousal and activation. Each experience of emotions can be linear combinations of theses two proportions as varying degrees of both pleasure and activation. Figure 2. A two-dimensional view of work-related SWB (adapted from Russell, 1980, 2003). 2.4 Positive forms of Work related SWB: 2.4.1 Work engagement: it is defined as an optimistic, gratifying, work related state of mind that is portrayed by vigor, dedication, and absorption (Schaufeil and Bakker, 2010). Its position in circumplex model is at upper right quadrant resembling high levels of pleasure and activation. Vigor means high level of energy while working and persistence even in the face of difficulties, dedication means being strongly in ones on work and experience a sense of enthusiasm and lastly absorption mean being fully concentrated in ones own work . Because of engaged employees positive attitude towards them selves, employees buildup their own positive feed back in terms of appreciation, recognition and success (Bakker, 2009). 2.4.2 Happiness at work: numerous researchers have connected subjective well-being with the term happiness (Cropanzano and Wright, 1999; Easterlin, 2001; Sleigman, 2002; Lyubomirski, 2001). It refers to high level of activation as being satisfied and some hat lower as being excited. According to Fisher, (2003) more than 90% of workers agree that happy workers are productive workers as they are more active, energetic and interested in work and persistent to face difficulties as compared to unhappy employees. It is important to distinguish happiness as a specific emotion from other measures that cover a range of positive and negative emotions (Veenhoven, 1984). 2.4.3 Job satisfaction: it is most studied form of work related SWB and it can be placed in the right lower quadrant of the model, as it reflects a high level of pleasure and a lo level of activation. According to Grebner, Semmer and Elfering (2005), employees having satisfaction with their jobs experience high pleasure, but may have limited energy and aspirations. Similarly, Bussing, Bissels, Fuchs and Perrar (1999) said that decrease in aspiration level can result in a positive state of satisfaction and over all job satisfaction is closely related to the experience of satisfaction as positive emotion in the work place. 2.5 Negative Forms of Work-related SWB 2.5.1 Workaholism: it is placed in the upper left of the quadrant reflecting lower levels of pleasure and high levels of work activation workholism is an inner drive to struggle and work hard (Oates1971). According to Tris, Schaufeil and Shimzau (2010), workholism is an employee has compulsion to work incessantly and give exceptional time to work and to meet expected organizational requirements. 2.5.2 Burnout: its placed in the lower left of the circumplex model reflecting low levels of pleasure and activation. According to Masiach and Jackson (1986) it was originally conceived as work related syndrome that most often occurs among individuals who work with other people. Consistent with our categorization of SWB according to circumplex model and some researches have suggested that burnout is the opposite of work engagement (Gonalez-Roma-Schaufeil, Bakker and Lloret, 2006). According to Noll (2002) the individual is himself or herself responsible to evaluate their quality of life in terms of subjective well-being. The subjective well-being construct is comprised of four different components: Life satisfaction (universal judgment of ones own life). Satisfaction with necessary life domains ( family, health work) Positive affect ( many positive emotion and moods experienced) Low negative affects ( familiar with few unpleasant emotions and moods) Dolan and White (2006), regard as these mechanisms of SWB as divisible elements. a person for example who have high level of positive affect for a particular event will be dissatisfied because he has failed to achieve personal aim. Alternatively, an individual experiencing negative affect may be satisfied by comparing himself to an individual in less favorable situation. There are cross cultural differences in happiness and life satisfaction that are not completely explained by income differences. Bradburn (1969) study showed that Subjective well-being was moderately associated with adjustment, neuroticism, work satisfaction and family situation, but were considerably associated to each other. Concluding, the psychological contract following are its key features: Psychological contract is based on beliefs and perceptions and is different for each individual although in the same organization. They are implicit and are thought to be inferred from obligations made by the organizations or employees and conclusions are drawn by one party by observing the behavior with the other party. There is an exchange relationship in it so its founded on the principle of reciprocity: the implied promises to behave in certain way to work, psychological contract is also based on perceived or observed agreement rather than actual or written agreement, in which the terms are continuously re-written as the parties interact and mutual expectations, obligations and promises are generated and implied. The employees have a heart as well other than a hand and a head which is mostly over looked by the organizations that have focused just on hiring the hands and head ignoring the heart. Subjective well being is satisfaction with life and positive emotions and moods having low level of unpleasant emotions. Studies have revelaed that the income, religion, education , intelligene have only 15% of effect on th subjective well-being. The focus of happiness that who is happy has been shiftd from when and why people are happy (Diener, 2000). Chapter 2: Literature Review. The growing body of literature on the psychological contract reflects collecting confirmation or verification for its great impact on assorted work-related outcomes. The literature review estimate that employees evaluate their incentives received from their organization by comparing it with the promises made and this estimation leads to psychological contract fulfillment or breach impression (Turnley Feldman, 1998). The over view of PC research shows that there are about 100 or more empirical studies on Psychological Contract out of which 60% were on the breach and 30% on content of psychological contract. Psychological contract breach or violation has been correlated with mistrust, job satisfaction, intention to quit, actual turn over, actual performance, organizational commitment and absence .Based upon research by Guest Conway (2001) 84% of managers had heard of psychological contract, 36% of managers apply it to deal with the employment relationship. Similarly, Guests (1998) ex plain why the Psychological contract is important and should be taken seriously. First reason was that from the last few years the focus is being shifted from industrial relations to employee relations and this can be explored through the construct of Psychological contract. Second reason is it focuses on distribution of power and finally it has ability to incorporate large number of organizational concepts. In 1998, Turnley and Feldman study found that twenty five percent of their employees sample felt that they received less than they had been promised like health care benefits, job related security, power to make vital decisions, career development and responsibilities. Similarly, Robison, Kraatz and Rousseau (1994) study found that fifty five percent of the sample reported contract violations by their employers after spending two years at the organization and these violations were related to training and development, promotion, compensation etc. These studies indicate that workers or employees are quite cynical about the organization that whether they accomplish their pledges. In the past organizations focused on employees loyalty and honesty to the organization but currently they need flexible employees who learn more skills and abilities, to work under pressures and are more marketable for the organization (Herriot and Pemberto, 1995, Sparrow and Marchington, 1998). The current sta te of psychological contract is much similar to the past as four out of five employees are satisfied with their job, there commitment ha not declined but there trust has declined over the years according to the CIPD surveys (CIPD, 2005). According to Guest and Conway (2002), 1,306 senior HR showed that Psychological Contract offers employers a framework within which they study how to administer the employment relationship. So, the main role of the Psychological Contract in an organization is to make most out of their human capital which means what employee expect from their employers (Guest and Conway 2002, CIPD 2005). CIPD concluded that employees today seek one of the three types of psychological contract with their employee: Traditional: those who seek long term tenure and work long hours. Disengaged: for those whom work is not a central life interest and seek no emotions to their employers and Independent: those who are well qualified and seek short tenure and high rewards. In a qualitative study by Herriot, Manning, and Kidd (1997) it was found that the relational component of psychological contract was more frequently mentioned than was the transactional component and therefore seemed more important. Similarly, Zhao, Wayne, Glibkowski and Bravo (2007) also found in a study that the association between relational breach and job satisfaction, turnover intentions and organizational citizenship behaviors as much stronger than association between transactional breach and job satisfaction, and the above variables. According to suggestion of Berman, E.M. and West, J.P. (2003), psychological contract involves work load, work schedules, authority, work quality, responsibility, interpersonal relations, job security, rewards, promotion, career development, loyalty, working relation with immediate supervisors, specific behaviors of employees and managers and individually preferred working styles other than employees and employers. While Devidson (2001) recommended that employee hopes involve benefits and rewards, job security, safe and comfortable working conditions, personal development opportunities and career progression, fair treatment, work life balance, working hours, job challenges on the other hand employers expectations involve high productivity for reward, working under organizational objectives. According to Collin (2010) psychological contract fulfillment is found to be significant predictor of turn over intention and finding suggest that turnover can be moderated if leaders of organizat ion have strong relation based on respect, trust and mutual obligations and uses them to fulfill the unwritten contract between firm and the employees. Rousseau (1995) investigated that the psychological contract in business relationship is a key ingredient between employees and employers and at work place it could be influential determinant of behaviors and attitudes. Researchers like Coyle-Shapiro and Kessler (2000), Tekleab and Taylor (2003), Turnley and Feldman (1999), Robinson and Rousseau (1994), findings showed that fulfilled contracts are positively related to organizational commitment and the effective functioning of the organization. The fulfilled psychological contracts have positive association with employees and organizational outcomes. A foremost research was conducted by Psycones (2006) in six European countries and Israel. The sample size was 5288 employees (1981 were temporary employees and 3307 were permanent employees) working in 202 companies of education an industries and retail sectors. The results of this study were violation of promises made by the employer reduced the job satisfaction. Workers receiving power at work, fulfilling promises from their supervisors show higher satisfaction the more the promise fulfilled by the organizations the more the employees are committed to the organization and the violation of employer or employee obligations lead to quitting the job. Suazo, MarK, Turnley, William H., Mai-Dalton, Renate R (2008) conducted a study on characteristics of supervisor subordinate relationship as predictors of psychological contract. The sample size was 234 full time employees out of which 41% were males and 59% were females and the mean age of the participants was 37years. The data was collected through emails. The aim of this study was to know the factors like gender, cognitive style and race present between employees and employers predicting psychological contract breach. The hypotheses were that greater similarity between the cognitive styles of supervisor and subordinate will reduce the likelihood of psychological contract breach, the gender will be a specific factor in predicting psychological contract breach and subordinates with mix races will perceive more psychological contract breach than subordinates in same race supervisor subordinate dyads. The results proved that the cognitive style was negatively related to perceived Psyc hological contract breach and where as gender and race were not significant predictors of psychological contract breach. The cognitive approach of the supervisors and subordinates towards a problem, matters more than gender and race in predicting psychological contract breach. Lester, Claire, Kickul (2001) paper studied the status of psychological contract in 21st century. Employees recognized the importance of various aspects of psychological contract and the degree to which their organization had fulfilled theses obligations. The purpose of this study was to examine the employer inducements which are considered more important by the employees, to find how well the companies are fulfilling their obligations and also to know the discrepancies between the perceived importance and fulfillment of psychological contracts obligation affecting employees behavior at work. The numbers of participants were 268 fulltime employees out of which 51.7% were males and 48.3% were females and the average age was 27.6 years old. The respondents belonged to different occupational fields like finance and banking, sales and marketing, computer science, accounting, human resource and staffing, engineering and organizational consulting. The findings showed that the organizations also struggle to fulfill components of psychological contract mostly accepted by the employees. The discrepancies between the perceived importance and fulfillment have significant effect on satisfaction and turnover of employees. Employees performance was also effected but to less extent. Similarly, Bergmann (2001) investigated relational component of the psychological contract across time, generation and employment status. His study focused on just one type of psychological contract and went to its details. The sample size was 204 individuals of three different generations 68 were college students, one of each of their parents and grandparents were also included in the survey. From 204 participants 56% were females and 75%of students and their parents were employed where as grandparents retired and 44% of students were full time employees. The respondents were also asked for their perception regarding psychological contract on four different time periods 1900s, 1950s, 1960s and 19 70s. There was significant difference between psychological contract scores for 1950s and 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The interaction effect of time and generation on assessment of the relational component of psychological contract was not significant i.e. the subjects viewed psychological contract same across time regardless of changes in generation. So it was stressed that the relational components of the psychological contract have decreased during the five decades. It is also possible that factors other than time, generation, workplace may also have contributed to the shift in the psychological contract. Michael (2001), perceived the obligations of future forest industry employees and their first employers after graduation. New employees have reciprocal obligations between them and their employers and these beliefs can be called as psychological contract between them when the employee observes that he owe the employer certain incentives in return to the contribution given by him. Fulfillments of psychological contract have a direct impact on employees productivity and satisfaction. The sample size of his study was 300 graduated students from 34 different universities at United States of America. The results showed that the first obligation of the employee to their future employer is hard work and have distinct type of relationship with future employers. From the middle of 1970s the well-being has not increased in Britain and United states. White individuals are happier than black and non-white individuals in the United States but in the last 30 years the results are changing the blacks are also much happier and satisfied, so this study by Blanch Flower and Oswald (2004) has focused on races not immigrants. The peer reviewed literature on the influence of positive psychology in organizational sector focusing on organizational behavior and scholarship is in the year 2001 there were to researches done in organizational sector, in 2002 in total 6 researches were conducted 2 empirical and 4 non-empirical, in 2003 3 empirical and 6 non-empirical researches were conducted , 3 empirical and 24 non-empirical in 2004, 5 empirical and 17 non-empirical in 2005, 6 empirical and 18 non-empirical in 2006, in 2007 7 empirical and 16 non-empirical, and finally 19 empirical and 18 non-empirical in 2008. So in total 46 empirical studies and 104 on empirical studies were conducted and combining both 150 studies having being conducted in positive psychology organizational sector (Donaldson, 2009). Danna and Griffin (1999) investigated that work settings and occupational stress would be the forerunner factors of well-being. This view was supported by Cropanzano, James and Konovsky (1993) and Wright and Hobfoll (2004). Workers or employees when experience poor health and well-being at the work site are less productive, make lower quality decisions, and absenteeism (Boyd, 1997). Similarly, Price and Hooijberg (1992) the low subjective well-being would diminish the contributions to the organizations. In a cross national study, Diener and Oishi (2000) established that for majority of the students in 42 countries happiness and life satisfaction was more important than income. Over the past five decades the number of longitudinal studies on income and subjective well-being exposed that although income level has been increased dramatically in United State of America and other developed countries but the levels of subjective well-being have been rather stable (Myres, 2000). According to Diener (2000), as employees rise in their accomplishments and possessions their expectations also raise. They adapt themselves to the ne level very fast and then the current level is no longer source of happiness for them but this happens with some employees depending on the situation. The factors that have import effect on the subjective well-being of the individual are personality, personal goals, comparison with other people, past, needs, goals and the last factor is culture. In the recent years, the emergent number of researchers focused on positive indicators of subjective well-being (SWB), including job satisfaction (Judge, Thorenson, Bono and Patton, 2001), work engagement (Bakker, Schaufeil., Leiter and Taris, 2008), and happiness at work (Diener and Biswas- Diener 2002). Parent-Thirion, Fernandez-Macias, Hurley and Vermeylen (2007) study shows that 85% of all employees in the European Union and a study by Handel (2005) found that 86% of all the employees in the United States of America are very satisfied with their jobs. A research on subjective well being of managers of private enterprises was conducted by Bo Lui, bus, Hohai, Nanjing (2010) in China. This study include factors that affect subjective well being, subjective well being of different masses, cultural differences. Different managers of private enterprises were considered as participants and the data was analyzed on SPSS15.0. The overall subjective well being of the managers of private enterprises was low. The factors like status of marriage had significant impact on the subjective well being of the managers but gender and education didnt play vital role. Correspondingly, a study Job Insecurity and Wellbeing: Moderation by Employability by Inmaculada, Nele, Francisco, Jose and Hans (2010) investigated the association between job insecurity and wellbeing and the role of employability in this association. The researcher hypotheses were that job insecurity may be related to poor well-being, employability might moderate the unfavorable results of job security for employees well-being and employability is beneficial in the same manner as the job security is. These hypotheses were tested on the sample size of 639 Belgian employees from six organizations. The findings showed that the job insecurity is related to poor well-being, employability as expected moderates the relation between job insecurity and life satisfaction. There was no association found between employability and job security. The model accounted for 8% of explained variance. The first research that studied the relationship between psychological contract and subjective well being of employees was conducted by Windle and Treuer (2008). In this longitudinal study psychological contract was dependent variable and subjective well being was independent variable. The sample size was 187 new recruits in Australia wide organizations and data was collected through online survey 58% males and 42% females. The results indicate that SWB informs development of a Balanced Psychological contract and SWB significantly correlated with employer fulfillment, employee fulfillment, social knowledge and interpersonal resources. Balanced dynamic performance of Psychological contract was predicted by subjective well-being at 9% variance explained while in dynamic performance 10% of variance was explained. A lot of researches have focused on happiness of individuals and employees living within their own country. This study is different in terms that its focusing on employees who have migrated from their home country to the host country and to investigate the relationship of psychological contract and the physical and mental health i.e. subjective well-being of Pakistani immigrants working abroad (Middle East). It would be expected that the fulfillment of psychological contract would have positive relation with subjective well-being of the employees. The role of gender within psychological contract has received little attention, so this study would also examine whether there are any gender differences in the type of psychological contract of Pakistani immigrants and among them which type of psychological contract is more common. Rationale Keeping in view the literature review on the psychological contract and subjective well-being and also the statistical figure of Pakistani immigrants working abroad especially at U.A.E, not much work has been done regarding the problems and difficulties they face, and no work

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Wakeboarding Essay -- essays research papers

Wakeboarding   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Have you ever been Wakeboarding? I have, my first time was last summer. My friend Matt asked me if I wanted to go wakeboarding with him and I said yes. I had never tried it before so of course I was nervous, but extremely excited at the same time. Matt said he would teach me, he had a lot of confidence in me that I would get the hang of it pretty fast. So I drove over to Matt’s house nervous with excitement, the boat sitting in his driveway latched to his step dads maroon Chevy Silverado. We all hopped in the truck and then we were off to Kitsap Lake.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We arrived at Kitsap Lake about noon or one and we loaded the boat into the water. We loaded all the towels, life vest, and of course the wakeboard into the boat. The weather wasn’t the best, it actually started to rain. Later into the afternoon it started to become sunny. Mike, Matt’s step dad, was trying to explain to me how to get up, and so was Matt. Then Matt decided to make it interesting with a bet. He said if I made it up on my third try he would give me $10. So Matt went first so I could see how it was done, Mike would kind of explain to me what Matt was doing, so I would know what to do when I got out there. Matt was really good, he totally knew what he was doing out there. I was actually kind of surprised. Then after Matt was out there for a while, it was finally my turn. I put the freezing cold life vest on, a...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Death, Illness and Decay in William Shakespeares Hamlet Essay

Death, Illness and Decay in William Shakespeare's Hamlet William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is full of talk about death, dead bodies, murder, suicide, disease, graves, and so forth. And there is no traditional Christian comfort or promise of eventual justice or happiness for the good people. But the message is ultimately one of hope. Hamlet is also definitely no saint, however, unlike most of the other characters in the play, he chooses not to compromise with evil. Near the end of Act I, Scene IV, as Marcellus and Horatio are deciding to secretly follow Hamlet and the ghost, Marcellus remarks â€Å"something is rotten in the state of Denmark.† Death, illness and decay are one of the central themes throughout the play. Hamlet begins with some of the guards on watch seeing an apparition of the recently deceased king, father of Hamlet, in Act I, Scene I. Soon afterwards, in Scene V, we learn that according to the ghost, King Claudius killed his own brother, and married his sister-in-law to gain the crown of Denmark. The ghost then asks Hamlet to revenge this death. From the beginning of Act II, Scene I, Hamlet sets about faking mental illness and insanity, as part of his plan for revenge against Claudius. In Act III, Scene II, there is going to be a play performed for the King, Queen, and nobles. Hamlet slightly modifies the play, altering the lines for some of the actors, in his continuing quest to find out the truth about his fathers death and seek revenge. The play begins with a story that is pantomimed. The king and the queen profess their love for one another, the king falls asleep, and a villain pours poison into the king's ear and seduces the queen. During this time, Hamlet cracks dirty jokes and the king ment... ...orms Horatio that he has altered the King's sealed document so that it asks for the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his two friends which spied and betrayed him. Hamlet is challenged to a duel with Laertes. Hamlet suspects foul play from the onset, but expresses his willingness to take part in the fight anyway, even if it means his own death. During the match, Hamlet is mortally wounded, as is Laertes, The Queen accidentally drinks from the poisoned cup and dies, and a dying Hamlet first wounds Kings Claudius and then forces him to drink from the same lethal cup. Hamlet and Laertes forgive each other, Laertes dies, and Hamlet then names Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, as his successor to the throne after dissuading Horatio from joining him in death. The play ends with Fortinbras arriving, accepting the throne, and ordering a hero’s funeral for Hamlet.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Performance Literature and Silent Reading Essay

The different forms of literature have been recognized as one of the best ways of expression wherein the individual responsible in creating a certain piece of literature can be able to express his or her thoughts and emotions as well as the ideals, values, and morals of a certain group of people or nation. Nevertheless, the importance of literature is realized through the perception of the people, which is why performance literature and silent reading have pivotal role in the appreciation of literature. The difference of performance literature and silent reading can be seen in the participation of an audience or reader, which makes it distinct from each other despite the situation that they are interpreting one form of literature. Both in the past and the present times, performance literature exists around the world. In the western and non-western societies literature is often appreciated by people through live performances. Literature performance involves the presence of an audience that should be engaged in the emotion of the performance literature. In this sense, performance literature requires the involvement of an audience as well as the corresponding social or religious context in order to exist. The same thing happens in situations when written texts that are embodied in some or all of the words are performed (Thomas, n. d.). On the other hand, in the modern western world, people are more accustom in experiencing literature by means of silent reading. Despite the existence of theater and poetry readings, the prevalent perception of proper literature in the academic realm is merely confined upon written pages. Being the case, most scholars always start with a written text in understanding different subject matters and appreciating literature (Thomas, n. d. ). Silent reading is recognized as an individualistic approach in understanding and appreciating literature because the reader is only the one responsible in understanding a written text like a story or novel as compared with performance literature that requires an audience and specific societal or religious context. Reference Thomas, R. (n. d. ). Performance Literature and the Written Word: Lost in Transcription? Retrieved from http://journal. oraltradition. org/files/articles/20i/editors_column_20_1. pdf.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Health Care Reform Essay

Healthcare reform or as it’s formally known, the Affordable Care Act, is a volatile and polarizing issue among healthcare insurers. When President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 it sent ripples throughout the healthcare insurance industry. No other single issue has caused so much controversy in recent years among insurers and politicians alike. It is a multibillion dollar enforcement that will affect nearly every American at some point in their lifetimes. Opinions vary from enthrallment to treasonous. There are a multitude of websites that portray all types of bias, pseudo-authoritative dictation and questionable authenticity. I will present a comparison of two well known but differing websites for this study: Whitehouse.org and Wikipedia.com. Authenticity, authority and objectivity will be discussed and presented in this research paper. The first website in this discussion is Whitehouse.org. Since this is the federal government’s official presidential website, the authority is without question. It is important to note that while that authority is challenged by member of opposing political party, the implied authority has been established by the constitution of the United States. Whitehouse.org provides a comprehensive â€Å"myths and facts† page regarding the Affordable Care Act. The site’s authority is undoubtedly written and constructed by technical analysts rather than the President himself. This is more of implied reason instead of stated fact as no one named author is listed for the site. The federal government has defined authority over all United States citizens and as such the President’s authority and respect is implied through the site. In regards to its authority, Whitehouse.org clearly obtains the highest level. In reviewing Whitehouse.org accuracy is highly debated by all United States political parties. Plenty of facts are presented yet without access to confidential information that accuracy can not be verified. It is certainly current and relevant concerning documentation and data. When evaluating comprehensiveness, the site provides a balanced and comprehensive view. Statistics and valuable metrics along with links to pertinent news articles  are posted on the website validating the comprehensiveness of the data. The intended audience of the site is the United States adult citizen, therefore the audience must be interested in the information regardless of the expertise of the reader. Grammar, punctuation and structure is professionally constructed with a plethora of documentation and properly cited credible sources such as IRS statistics and government data. The documentation and information provided on the site is very credible with the only negative reviews coming from extreme funda mentalists with opposing views. In reviewing objectivity, I have to conclude that Whitehouse.org has a distinct almost palpable bias. The presidential staff maintain the site and censor any and all information that is posted on the site. That alone has a tendency to neutralize objectivity since nearly all metrics point to the success of the Affordable Care Act. The site is reasonable though in that while only positive data is presented there are no extreme views or attempts to discredit opposing views with slanderous text. It most certainly poses a classic sociopolitical slant towards the president’s successes while carefully avoiding any negative issues such as missed deadlines and a faulty user portal for the Affordable Care Act enrollment. While the actual authors of the site are almost certainly staff of the White House, it is implied that President gives his approval for it. In conclusion, Whitehouse.org presents a balanced yet biased view of the positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Well known and highly publicized failures such as the faulty user portal are conveniently omitted. It presents the data and facts in an implied authoritative manner while maintaining an atmosphere of accuracy with its supporting metrics. The site is by no means exhaustive yet provides enough criteria to merit its use for graduate research. The second website I have chosen to review for its qualification of graduate research information is the Wikipedia page titled Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website in the world and considered to be one of the most popular internet reference sites.  The English version of the site contains over 4 million individual articles. I chose to contrast this site to Whitehouse.org in regards to the Affordable Care Act. The first criteria that any site should be evaluated for is the concept of authority. As mentioned earlier, Whitehouse.org has both direct and implied authority as the implication is that the President of the United States approved the information on the site. The authority of the Wikipedia is questionable as virtually anyone with suspect credentials can post as a subject matter expert. One does not have to be vetted to edit an article and as a result there are factual portions of the article written by laypeople. While sources are often cited, they are not required and could easily passed off as fact when in reality it is strictly unprofessional opinion. Since the Affordable Care Act is a highly polarizing topic that spans every political party, there is every reason to question the authority of the Wikipedia article. The accuracy of Wikipedia is a bit more complex of a criteria to evaluate. It is current as regular edits are added to the page on a frequent basis. Wikipedia frequently includes the date of the most current edit or if an extended time has passed without an edit the site includes a warning about the questionable currency. The Affordable Care Act article on Wikipedia is comprehensive and includes a wide range of data and metrics, both positive and negative. Sources can be cited but are not required and are only self vetted. All articles include bibliographies however since they are not vetted either it is strongly suggested to review all bibliography entries for accuracy. While is considered to be a useful reference it is inferred to be questionable at times. When evaluating Wikipedia’s Affordable Care Act article concerning objectivity I found that this is one criteria that Wikipedia shines. While it has a proclivity towards bias it stays more in the moderate area. Both opposing and approving views and ideas are written in the article. This unchecked balance of multiple authors actually blends quite unexpectedly into an objective article. Views of accolades are written in the same  article with prominent failures. While there certainly is a palpable bias it is kept in an uneasy balance. The Affordable Care Act article on Wikipedia lists more than individual sources. This fact alone suggests an amount of complexity and variation in evaluating objectivity. Wikipedia’s article is in sharp contrast to Whitehouse.org in many research criteria. I believe that while Wikipedia can be used for graduate research it should be used in moderation and only after other publication searches have been exhausted. The information contained within is suspect at times and would require additional research to properly independently authenticate sources. Comparing these two websites from a high level, I would use Whitehouse.org as a credible graduate level information source while Wikipedia would be ore suspect in terms of validity for graduate research.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Feral Children- Danielle Crockett Essay

Feral children are individuals who have lived isolated from human contact at a very young age, and has lived without human care, love, or social behavior. Danielle Crockett was a feral child rescued from from her abusive Florida home on July 13, 2005 by Plant City police officers responding to a child abuse report. Danielle was 7 when she was found and weighed a shocking 46 pounds. The first report of a young girl living in the rundown rental home was from a neighbor seeing the thin face of Danielle appear briefly in her bedroom window. At the time of her rescue she was under the care of her mother Michelle Crockett and Michelle’s two grown up sons. Feral children, including Danielle Crockett, are not treated with love or affection at a very young age, depriving them of essential development years. The circumstances of Danielle Crocket’s upbringing were highly unusual, isolated, abusive, and tragic. Danielle was confined to her small bedroom, which was not in any way su itable for a child. The walls and floor of the room were smeared with her feces, including animal feces as well. Danielle was not clothed, was surrounded by used diapers, and was left alone in her room day and night. She was malnourished, incapable of speech, and unable to walk. Although Danielle was born a perfectly healthy baby, she developed what was classified as environmental autism from no one ever caring for her beyond the extremely basic needs to maintain survival. It was determined that Danielle was rarely spoken to or interacted with, and was left alone in her room with nothing to occupy her. After her rescue and rehabilitation in a hospital, Danielle was still incapable of speech and basic skills but was put through foster care. After two years of moving from homes Bernie and Diane Lierow adopted Danielle in 2007. Today, now known as Dani, she is living with her new loving parents and older brother as she learns the basic skills that she was never taught as a child. Danie lle is enrolled in speech, physical, and occupational therapy, as well as horse back riding to compensate for her lost years. She now knows a vocabulary of some basic words, responds to her name, can chew her own food, swim, show affection, and has progressed in ways no one dreamed possible when she was first found. Danielle’s initial upbringing was unnaturally cruel, unfair, and abusive, however her family today has helped her grow and is essential to her development and happiness. Unfortunately Danielle Crockett is not the only reported feral child case, and there are many reported and unknown circumstances as well. Genie the wild child is an example of a child isolated and abused at a young age. Similar to Danielle, Genie was confined to a room and neglected as a young girl, however unlike Danielle, Genie was strapped down to a potty chair for 10 years. Both girls were malnourished, neglected, and not shown any kindness for an extensive period of time. In contrast to the undetermined theory of physical abuse towards Danielle, Genie was beaten by her father whenever she made noise or uttered the few words she knew such as â€Å"no† â€Å"stop it† and â€Å"no more†. The difference between the cases of the two girls is somewhat apparent in the intent of their caregiv ers. Danielle’s mother Michelle insisted that she did â€Å"the very best she could† and felt a sense of loss when her daughter was taken from her. However, Genie’s father decided that his daughter was â€Å"retarded† and that she needed to be held captive, beaten, yelled at, and not shown affection. Similarly feral children, including Genie and Danielle, receive the punishment of neglect that they do not deserve and grow up deprived of basic social skills. Society can go about the difficult task of socializing the victims of abnormal socialization in isolated children in many ways. First and foremost, it is important to show the recovering children love, patience, and kindness in a healthy, happy, and calming environment to help them move on from the traumas they may have experienced as a feral child. It is common for isolated children to lack social, speech, and physical skills, therefore there being an importance on teaching them these basic skills as they grow and develop. Feral children are commonly as advanced as young children when found and benefit from treatments such as speech therapy. The process of recovering isolated children are lengthy and at times extremely difficult, but it is important to show them love and kindness in order for them to have a chance at being comfortable and happy. Danielle Crockett lived an unfair and cruel childhood. She did not deserve the neglect she received, and her mother did a terrible job of looking after her. Danielle was a perfectly healthy baby who could’ve turned out to be a fully functioning teenager today if it wasn’t for the abusive circumstance of her upbringing. However, the chances of Danielle being adopted by the loving parents that she now has were highly unlikely, and thanks to them she has progressed amazingly and has been very lucky to be found by them. Without proper socialization in the early years of life children grow up to be unable to trust, speak, and communicate with the world. It has been proven that in the first 5 years of life 85% of the brain is developed, making it the most crucial developmental period for children. Danielle, being 7 when she was found, missed out on her 5 crucial years of development and will never be as capable and developed as she could’ve been if she had experienced normal socialization at any earlier time in her life. The story of Danielle is an unfortunate and heart breaking case of a negligent parent who should’ve never had the opportunity to be near a beautiful and healthy baby.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Acts of congress summary

Politics First Chapter Nine continues with an examination of Barney Frank, the Democrat who served as the senior leader of the House Financial Services Committee that was responsible with researching, marking up, rewriting, and passing proposed legislation that would prohibit another financial crisis from developing in the future.However, while waiting for the release the administration's white paper, which helped inform and educate members of Congress about White House proposals, Frank found himself in the midst of a potential political rebellion from in Congress, nd even from within his own party. Many moderates balked at Franks more aggressive reform proposals, while liberals found it treasonous that he was collaborating with banks, the very institutions that they held responsible for the onset of the financial crisis and the beneficiaries of TARP†Troubled Asset Relief Program.One such critic was Senator Dick Durban, who rejected the idea ofa bank bail-out, and was disappoin ted that banks were still in a position to politic in Washington. Frank disagreed, asserting that the big banks were losing steam in Washington and the evidence was simple: they could not prohibit the passage of redit card legislation that protected consumers. In an effort to gain support and educate members of Congress, Franks staff put on a serious of workshops and work sessions for members.In addition to his efforts to placate liberals, Frank threw his support behind provisions that would ultimately become the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau†an idea first presented by Elizabeth Warren in an article for the journal Democracy. The legislation became important but the â€Å"blues and news,† the old and new moderate factions of the Democratic party of each party, were already rowning in health care legislation, breaking Franks declaration that the new legislation would pass before Congress' summer vacation.Key Points/Details Big banks were largely to blame, but coll ateral damage of the bank fallout could be small banks and credit unions – The press was largely to blame, in Franks mind, for overstating the political clout that big banks and Wall Street had What would their influence be in the process of writing new legislation – Frank recruited the Democratic members of the House Committee on Financial Services (Banking Committee) who he held in highest esteem to work on issues for the reform bill –Frank favored three hallmarks for reform that might relieve liberals who were nervous that banks were not bearing the brunt of responsibility for the crisis o Credit card bill – more transparency from issuers of credit cards o Subprime mortgage bill – bill that banned many subprime mortgages and required that lenders would require companies to give stockholders a chance to give feedback about Though Frank had originally been hesitant to support such a executive pay – provision, White House backing, growing su pport from among popular and powerful Democrats (Clinton, Edwards, etc. polling numbers that seemed to indicate that the public favored it, and convincing arguments from Harvard law professor – and current US Senator from Massachusetts – Elizabeth Warren, persuaded Frank to throw his support behind the creation of a new regulatory agency (CFPA/b). Agency would regulate American financial firms and the services and products that they offer to the public –> Independent agency under the Federal Reserve Board o Frank felt pressure from both sides – the administration as well as hesitant, moderate â€Å"news and blues† – of his own party Many were worried that supporting the creation of he agency would leave them vulnerable in upcoming elections in vulnerable districts o Proposed health care and â€Å"cap and trade† legislation distracted both Congress and the public –Frank began to recognize that he had to do more to reassure his c olleagues that this agency was a good idea Worked to cajole them and gain their support o By the end of the chapter, Frank is convinced that he is right and that he will be able to get such legislation passed Terms: derivatives rating agencies systemic risk regulator subprime mortgages consumer protection â€Å"say on pay' Elizabeth Warren Price gouging Payday lender Office of Legislative Council CFPA / CFPB Chapter 10 – An Impotent Minority Chapter 10 focuses on the struggles of Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and the rest of his party to reconcile their desire to reform the financial sector but not seem to bow to the desires of the Democrats. Rep. Bachus, a moderate Republican who before the crash had proposed legislation regulating subprime mortgages only to be rebuffed by his more conservative colleagues, favored bipartisan efforts.He was up against an increasingly conservative House Republican caucus, who were led by radicals who ere emboldened by redistricting in their stat es that left them with little need to proposal for financial reform, undercutting the release of the administration white paper by a week. This proposal overwhelmingly focused on the principle that they would not stand for future â€Å"bailouts† of the Wall Street institutions that were responsible for the financial crisis. Though the plan garnered little media attention, and did not include many of the provisions laid out in the White House bill, it did indicate that Congressional Republicans recognized the reality that comprehensive financial reform was necessary. TARP Republican Study Committee

Friday, September 13, 2019

Drug Smuggling in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Drug Smuggling in Australia - Essay Example These only make obvious the fact that most, if not all, of the country's drugs and narcotics supply come from outside its national borders. Because the drug problem has not yet been solved, the glaring truth is that the country's points of entry and exit remain vulnerable to drug smuggling. This paper aims to explain further the gravity of the problem in the current times as well as its potential consequences should it not be solved soon. Its significance dwell on the fact if an in-depth study of the problem is made, ideas may be drawn out to solve this. Ultimately, it may result into the necessary formulation of new policies against drug smuggling or the improvement of those already in existence. Just like many highly developed countries in the world, Australia has a problem with the proliferation of illegal drugs. Since it does not have its own source for these contraband, most of these drugs came from other countries and smuggled in through different means and transit points. This condition, fortunately, has made the country achieve a lesser incidence of drug use among its citizens compared to the US and the countries of Europe. However, this is not an excuse for complacency. In a survey done in 2004, 38 percent of the population aged 14 years and above were found to have used illegal drugs at least once. Of this number, 15 percent admitted that they used it only very recently. (Crime Facts Info) In fact, the problem may have only exacerbated with rising incidence of other crimes such as physical assault, sexual assault, robberies, and kidnappings. In many instances, drug use has been found to be contributing factors in the commission of these crimes. A majority of the cri minals have admitted using drugs. Historically, drug abuse in the country worsened during the Vietnam War. US soldiers on leave stayed in the country and they happen to be the most susceptible buyers of the drugs. The 1960's was also the time when the Australian youth, influenced by the hippie movement in the US, began to experiment on illicit drugs. Members of the US armed forces stationed in Australia's key cities smuggled heroin often from war-torn areas in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Thai-Burmese border. (Hamilton) Heroin, a narcotic byproduct of opium, was abundant in these areas. It was also the top selling illegal drug in the Asian-Pacific during these times. Australia, being near to the drug sources, was a most likely victim. After a brief surge in the 70's and 80's, heroin smuggling to the country has greatly diminished in the 90's. By the 2000's, there was virtually no more high-grade heroin being sold on the streets. (Weatherburn et al) However, the drug problem never actually abated since other addictive substances came into the country. Drugs as methamphetamine, cocaine, and morphine filled the void left by the heroin of Southeast Asian origin. In a media release in early 2008 by the AFP, the authorities claimed to have arrested 33 people for smuggling drugs internally. Those arrested and charged were on flights coming from Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, India, and the United Arab Emirates. (AFP, 2008) In 2008, Afghan heroin was smuggled into the country and was seen being sold in Sydney. (Kidman) II. Internal Drug Smuggling and Transnational Organized