Monday, September 30, 2019

Everyman-a Medieval Play Review

Everyman is a play which was written to express the importance of morality, to whoever read it or experienced it being performed on stage. Some scholars say that it was written sometime in the late 1400’s, while others insist that it is a translation of a Flemish work called â€Å"Elckerlijc†, which was written by Peter van Diest in 1495. Everyman is an allegory play which is heavily based upon Christian religious perspectives; also it is resoundingly similar to the Christian belief of the resurrection of Christ, and his ascension into Heaven, after the crucifixion.The first act of Everyman, opens with a prologue which takes on the form of a messenger, telling the audience about the fate which is to come to Everyman. The messenger goes on to tell the audience that eventually God will call upon all of humanity to stand before him, and give account of their works which they had wrought in life. The next part of the play is God calling upon Death, to go and bring Everyman to stand before him. God commands Death to go and bring Everyman before him, so that he may give account of his own misdeeds that he has wrought in life. So Death goes and finds Everyman, and tells him that his time has come.Everyman then attempts to bribe Death with a thousand pounds, but Death refuses. However, he states that he will allow Everyman to bring someone with him, so that he does not have to face his judgment alone. Everyman first goes to Fellowship, whom represents friends and companions; and asks him to accompany him to go and stand before the judgment God. Fellowship, whom had promised to stand besides Everyman through whatever may come; tells Everyman that he will not go with him to the grave, because he fears Death and the judgment of God. Everyman is heartbroken, but then goes on to the next in line.Everyman then goes to Kindred and Cousin, which are supposed to represent family and kin; but they too tell him that they will not accompany him on his way to the grav e. Thirdly, Everyman turns to Goods, which represents material possessions; nonetheless she also states that she will not go with Everyman to his final judgment. Everyman is very concerned by this point, and so he turns to Good Deeds for companionship. Good Deeds states that she will go with Everyman to face his judgment with him; but unfortunately she lacks the strength for such a journey, because Everyman as neglected her throughout his life. Good Deeds tells Everyman that he must then go before her sister, Knowledge; for she will know the way in which Good Deeds may regain strength. Upon meeting Knowledge, she tells Everyman that he must go before Confession; and there Everyman confesses his sins. Afterward, Confession gives Everyman a â€Å"jewel† called Penance; which cleanses Everyman of his sins, so that he may stand before God and not be in jeopardy of damnation. With his confession behind him, Good Deeds regains his strength, and is ready to accompany Everyman to the grave.Knowledge then tells Everyman to gather together his attributes of life: Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits; so that they too may accompany him to his reckoning with God. But when Everyman gathers them together, they tell him that they will not go with him to the grave; essentially because they are all characteristics of youth, which are all now fleeting from him, as he has the end of life. With that, Knowledge, and Good Deeds accompany Everyman to his final reckoning with God.There enters the character Angel; Knowledge then attests to Angel that Everyman was a good and just person, and in the end, he confessed his sins before God. Then Everyman and Good Deeds go down into the grave, and thus make their way to stand before God in the final judgment of Everyman. Fundamentally, this play ends with the character, Doctor, stating that all accept Good Deeds and Knowledge will all flee from a person, when they go before God for their final judgment. *** Issues in Raised in Key Resources There are several key issues which were raised by the scholars that wrote the major resources which I used to write this report.This play has received a moderate amount of popularity over the past near 500 years; and now today there are some scholars and researchers whom are exceptionally critical, both positively and negatively, of the details as to how it was written. One criticism of note would have to be one which was voiced by Thomas F van Laan. In referring to the general premise of Everyman, he contends of the writer that â€Å"His speech is essentially negative; he focuses solely on the inevitability of death and the destructiveness of sin†.Simply put, Mr. van Laan is stating that at first, the sole purpose of this work appears to emphasize specifically on death and how mankind should feel only sorrow for anything that they do, which goes against the teachings of Christianity. Another criticism of this work which Mr. van Laan refers to is the point in t he beginning when God first speaks. Mr. Van Laan states: â€Å"Gods words are wholly negative in force, implying only the difficulty to come, omitting any indication of hope for mankind†. Mr. an Laan is voicing this criticism on the opening section of the play, fundamentally about how he considers Gods words to be too negative in their approach. In expressing this condemnation, Mr. van Laan is adamant about his beliefs that God would probably not be so disconcerting in his approach to dealing with mankind. However not all that Mr. van Laan has to say about Everyman is negative in nature. He goes on to shed light on the allegory nature of the play, and how this lends credence to its being a unique, legitimate work of theater. He contends that â€Å"The first movement, is a falling action, which traces Everyman’s’ decline in fortune.This shatters the apparent serenity of his life, to the depth of his despair†¦fallowed by the second movement, a rising action, which carries him from this nadir unto his final salvation†¦which is symbolized by the words of the welcoming Angel†. It is my belief, that essentially what Mr. van Laan is stating, is that by using actual characters to personify the specific aspects of human nature; the persona of the play becomes a two-fold endeavor. Firstly, by the characters being literal representations of human qualities; they achieve a form of realism, which is normally only conveyed through the use of spoken dialog.Secondly, the movement’s themselves-transpiring from a state of utter despair, to a state of harmonious bliss; is not only characteristic of all great works of drama, but also of life itself. Throughout Mr. van Laan’s review of Everyman, he states his opinion that by the author using characters to represent the individual aspects of human identity; the play conveys a form of realism, which is distinctly unique. Next brings us to the arguments made by the researcher Roger A. Ladd. His belief is that this play was not written for the everyday person, but was in fact written to be a work which would have been performed for the â€Å"bourgeoisie†.His reasoning stems from research which had been done by scholar Dorothy Wertz; the same scholar who also believes that Everyman was probably written strictly to be performed for the elite rich. In her research, Mrs. Wertz points to the fact that â€Å"by simply examining the vocabulary and phrases used in the original piece, one can determine whom the play had been written for†. In that, she states that â€Å"the wording itself would have been too formal for ordinary citizens of the time period to ascertain†. However, unlike Mrs.Wertz, who believes that Everyman is specifically nothing more than a direct translation of Elckerlijc; Mr. Ladd assumes that it is an amalgamation of Elckerlijc and other English literary customs of the era. Mr. Ladd’s purported theory was reached in part, by investigating the traits of the character â€Å"Goods†, and comparing them with the English anti-mercantile satire traditions which were popular in the late-medieval period. An example of which being, that in the Germanic-Dutch based Elckerlijc, Goods is described as appearing as â€Å"Neglected, rusty . . heaped up, filthy†. However in Everyman as Mr. Ladd purports, Goods appears in a more English anti-mercantile manner as being â€Å"trussed and piled so high, and in chest I am locked so fast, also sacked in bags†. The Everyman description, falls in line with the late-medieval literary tradition of anti-mercantilism; which according to Mr. Ladd, comes as proof that Everyman could not have been strictly just an English translation of Elckerlijc. Another scholar whom is acquiescent in his research of Everyman is Lawrence V. Ryan. Mr.Ryan takes an approach, which seems to be more about discerning the religious implications of the play Everyman. The first point that Mr. Ryan makes is that †Without theology, the artistic merit may not be fully appreciated†¦that the theology involved is indispensable, not indefensible, and furthermore, that it gives the play its characters, structure, significance, and even its dramatic impressiveness†. One of the main points which all three scholars agree upon is that by being deserted by all those whom Everyman turns to for help; the audience develops a strong sense of pathos, for the plight of Everyman. Mr.Ryan suggests that the emergence of these false-friend characters â€Å"all appear in a climactic order, according to the increased danger of each as a distraction from one’s Maker†. Finally, Mr. Ryan gives his opinion about the reason why all the characters that abandon Everyman, as well as Everyman himself, are all men; and why the only characters that accompany him are women. In essence, the logic behind this as Mr. Ryan contends is that â€Å"All men are born into a state of sin†¦and that for dramatic suspense; the author chose to have the only redeeming characters be women†¦to show that women can counteract this dogma†.Personal Reaction to â€Å"Everyman† My personal opinion of this particular play is one of high appreciation. Unlike some of the reviews of scholars which I have read, which did not display too much positive reception for this work; I personally enjoyed reading it, and doing my report on this play. When I first tried to read the Old-English original version of this play, I found it incredibly hard to ascertain what exactly the meaning was behind what the author had written. Understandably it was difficult for me when trying to use the un-translated Everyman, as Old-English is a version of our language, which has been out-of-date for centuries.When I found the translated version of Everyman on the Fordham University website and began reading it, I almost instantly thought that it had been a work which had b een written by either someone whom was a priest, or had been another member of the Christian church in some capacity. Another notion which I had was that if the play had not been written by someone who was a church member, then it obviously had to have been written by someone whom had some form of agenda for getting people involved with the Christian church in some form or another.Perhaps the author had a legitimate reason for wanting people to become more involved with the church or to become closer to god in some fashion. On the other hand, perhaps there was a more sinister motive; like getting more people into the flock of the church, in order to acquire more money flowing into their coffers. Personally, I think that it was a combination of both motives, and that whoever had wrote this play, also had a genuine interest in using a popular mode of expression.Or perhaps the author wanted to show that by turning away from the sins of the flesh; that a person could attain a state of c onsciousness, which could bring them closer to a higher form of enlightenment. No matter what the personal objectives were for its creation, one thing remains clear; this was that the author of this particular piece was incredibly ahead of his time. From what I have examined in doing research for this report project; in reading other plays that date from the late medieval age, I can honestly say with a certainty, that I have not read anything that dates from this period, which is as unique as this.The usage of human emotions and possessions being personified into literal characters is uniquely a modern notion; and from what I have found, does not appear to have been done in a theatrical piece until sometime around 18th or 19th century. This plot construction is something which I have seen in movies and television shows; which are much more recent, than something that dates from the late medieval period. One example that immediately comes to mind is Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol; although not entirely the same in primary foundation, the underlying principle is similar.Some of the scholars that I read about, that reviewed this work; were quick to dismiss it as being either frivolity, or simply nothing more than an act of religious propaganda. I have to disagree with both sides; I feel that this is a excellent illustration of late medieval/early modern era theatrical work, which will more than likely see its relevance come again. Summary of  key scholarship on this play The first article which I used to review for this report on the play Everyman was a modern-English translation, of the late medieval original version of the play.This particular article didn’t offer any insight into it, as in scholar reviews; but it was extremely helpful in writing my summary of the play. Without this article, I am not sure if I would have been able to do this research project on this particular play, as I would not have been able to even ascertain what it was a bout. The next article which I used to write this report was written by Roger Ladd. Mr. Ladd took a definitively scholarly approach to conducting his research.Some of the main issues which he decided to confront were how the play Everyman deals with the religious implications of how material wealth corrupts the good intentions of mankind. Ladd went into detail, comparing the details of Everyman, to other plays of similar genera that date from the period. He explains about how most everyday citizens of the late medieval period, looked at the assemblage of material wealth, as the path to avarice, which puts their immortal souls in jeopardy.Like many other scholars whom have written journals about the â€Å"morality plays†, Ladd believes that in order to find out whom the plays written for, one has to look into the wording of the work; by doing this, he states that it becomes apparent who the target was. For example Everyman, when the main character is forced to give up his worl dly possessions; it is written to appear as if this could have been the most dastardly thing which could have occurred in his life. Other key scholarship reviews of this play, comes from the scholarly works of Lawrence V. Ryan.Ryan takes an approach to his research, which is concerned with how organized religion is suspect in this play. One of his main thesis’ is about how in the play, Everyman attains salvation through his own works, and not by the salvation which comes from God. He talks about how many religious figures were quick to label Everyman as a work of unholy declarations; and that how many of these religious leaders informed members of their churches that they would be in danger of hell by going to watch a performance of Everyman. Ryan is perhaps the most non-forgiving of the three scholars that I chose to use.Mostly, he tries to make it known that he is of the opinion that Everyman was only an English translation of the Dutch work Elckerlijc. He does not make use of very much authentic information to make this claim, he simply relies on paraphrasing works which had been written by other scholars. Next, I used the research from the scholar Thomas F. vanLaan. VanLaan goes into detail describing the individual characters of Everyman. Noteworthy, is how he explains the nature of these characters, and how they relate to the human experience. Differing from the other scholars whom I referenced in this report, Mr. anLaan gives a very logical accounting of why the author chose to incorporate inanimate human natures, as the title characters for this play. The choices for the human failings and material wealth, was carefully used to make the play appeal to nearly everyone whom would have watched its production. An example being, of how Everyman had acquired material goods in his life, which would have appealed to the rich; while on the other hand, Everyman losing his material possessions would have gained the approval of the poor which might have bee n in the audience.However, I never found one scholarly review, which did not offer at least one compliment about this great play.Endnotes *** Paul Halsall, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, â€Å"Medieval Handbook: Everyman, 15th Century†, Fordham University (August 1998) (Accessed on October 20th, 2010) http://www. fordham. edu/halsall/basis/everyman. html —The entire summary which I wrote was based upon the modern-English translation of Everyman, which was available online at the Fordham University site.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Outsourcing or Exporting America Essay

With the new economic slump, many people are trying to find ways to rebuild the economy and find the cause of the downward spiral that has recently plagued our country. In the quack of high unemployment, and many families losing their homes, many of the economists and researchers are looking to the outsourcing of jobs to other countries as the culprit for the dilemma. Is his belief true or false? The answer lies within each person’s individual belief, because politicians do not give all the information available about this new crises and the reason for it. In a year of presidential elections, one only needs to look at the previous election to see that this same topic was prevalent. In 2004, John Kerry accused George W. Bush of â€Å"exporting† jobs to other countries so big business could save money. In fact, N. Gregory Mankiw stated that the outsourcing of jobs was just another type of trade on an international level. Even at that time, many opponents realized that the government was trying to make excuses for high unemployment and the loss of jobs in this country. With the end of the election, the topic lost steam and lay in the background for years (Drezner, 1; Dobbs, 1). Now, in the smoke filled world of foreclosures, banks going under and financial giants losing their grasp of the world, the issue of outsourcing has again reared its head. Why? Because the majority of the public believe that the exporting of jobs is a major factor in the current slump. While manufacturing jobs have been lost to countries for lower wages, now the middle manager and white collar jobs are being shipped overseas to companies that charge much less then their American counterparts. This leaves the middle class American with few options and young Americans with unfulfilled dreams (Drezner, 1; Dobbs, 1). Both sides of the argument believe that they are in the right. Those that applaud the globalization and outsourcing to other countries, truly or blindly believe that it is the best option for this country. They even believe that it will help to create higher paying jobs for Americans, while the mundane and manufacturing jobs are done elsewhere for less money. They fool themselves with this notion. The truth of the matter is that American companies shut down factories and outsource middle management or call center activities; they are hurting the American worker and the American economy (Dobbs, 1). Look around and see the economy failing, banks losing, real estate stagnant. While the stock market roller coasters from downward spirals to euphoric rises, the economy is more imbalanced than ever. Multinational corporations will continue to layoff workers in the United States to give those jobs to people in other countries for less money. Is destroying our country worth a few dollars per employee? Most American would not agree. They would take up rank and fight, but until they have the correct information, and the government stops skewing the truth, the American people will suffer and the economy will fail.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

History of Cars Essay

The invention of the automobile is an evolution of ideas and actions, beginning with Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton’s theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that led to the invention of the first self-propelled vehicle. The invention of the automobile changed American society by transforming a country of isolated communities into a single entity. The ultimate honor of the first motorized vehicle is attributed to Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, an engineer and mechanic in the French Military. In 1769, Cugnot made his first attempt to construct an automobile. He called it â€Å"Fardier a vapeur† and it reached a top speed of 4 km/h. Even though his first attempt failed, he presented the world with a breakthrough in technology. Cugnot also has another title to his name: the first person ever to be involved in a motor vehicle accident in 1770. He crashed his second invention of the steam-powered tricycle, which could carry 4 passengers. In 1789, the American Oliver Evans was granted the first US patent for a steam-powered land vehicle thus introduced America to a new mode of transportation. In 1807, another breakthrough was brought about. A Swiss man named Francois Isaac de Rivaz invented the internal combustion engine that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Because he only invented the engine, Rivaz had many people construct automobiles into which he could put the engine. This plan failed but it was the idea of the engine that stayed alive. A few decades later, a man named Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir invented and patented a double-acting, electric spark-ignition, internal combustion engine fueled by gasoline. With this, Lenior was able to successfully make a 55-mile road trip and people’s lives began to change. In 1876, Nikolaus August Otto invented a successful four-stroke engine called the Otto Cycle. With this new breakthrough, the race to invent the first modern automobile began in a hurry. Gottlieb Daimer and Wilhelm Maybach took Otto’s engine a step further and made what is recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine. The two men named their creation the â€Å"Daimler-Maybech engine† which made Dailmer considered to be the first inventor of a practical combustion ngine. Karl Benz, in 1885, became the first to design and build the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal combustion engine. By January 29th, 1886, Benz received the first patent for a gas-fuelled car (only three wheels). On March 8th 1886, Daimler designed the world’s first four-wheeled automobile. In 1889, Daimler invented a V slanted 2 cylinder, four s troke engine with mushroom shaped valves. This became the standard model for all cars going forward. In America in the 1900’s, people were still relying on the electric automobiles. America’s first gasoline-powered commercial car manufacturers were brothers Charles and Frank Duryea (1893). Together, these two introduced a working gasoline automobile that easily outdated the electric vehicles. The first automobile to be mass-produced in America was the 1901 Curved Dash Oldsmobile built by American Ransome Eli Olds. A total of 425 Curved Dashes were produced just in 1901. Oldsmobile therefore took the title of America’s leading auto manufacturer from 1901-1904. A man named Henry Ford designed his first automobile and named it â€Å"Quadricycle. However, he had no real success with that invention. When he formed the Ford Motor Company in 1903, which is where he found success. His Model T, in 1903, became increasingly popular making Ford and his company the most popular in America. Because of cars, cities in America grew and suburbs appeared for the first time. Factory workers no longer needed to live near their factory because the new means of transp ortation allowed them to commute across town. Cars completely replaced any other means of transportation in both efficiency and usefulness and brought America closer together.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Private Security Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Private Security Laws - Essay Example The peace officers that have been employed by the government entities have a separate set of rules and requirements then the ones who are being employed by private security officers. The peace officers belonging to any kind of private investigation business or private security business that are engaged in this business, with the consent and knowledge of chief executive officer who belongs to the law enforcement agency of the peace officer, may be exempted from the requirements and rules which are applicable to other security officers in the state of Maryland (Security Officer Law & Legal Definition, 2013). The private security officers are employed by the private security companies to protect the physical property as well as the lives of humans. They are obliged by law in the state of Maryland to enforce rules and procedures of their employers, prevent trespassing to the property of customers and employers, control access and prevent the damage or loss of the employer’s property or asset. They are also responsible for managing the flow of traffic by allowing only authorized visitors and employees and deter any kind of criminal activity on the property of their clients. The responsibilities of private security officers may differ from police officer and other government security officers in the state of Maryland, as they do not have the same authority and duties as public law enforcement officers. The private security officers in Maryland are permitted to exercise the arrest authority, while most of them may have a similar arrest authority like any normal citizen of state. Priva te security officers may also have same power and authority of arresting as the Sheriff Deputies while they are on the property that they have been paid to protect (Licensing Information, 2014). Â  Private security companies and the officers who work for them are always

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Comparing Lean and Agile Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Comparing Lean and Agile Strategies - Essay Example Kanban is a Japanese expression that stands for ‘card’ or ‘visible’. It was initially established by Taiichi Onho to manage manufacturing processes and execute JIT producing at Toyota production firms in Japan. Kanban is an indication card that contains data concerning amounts of the item to be manufactured, the source of the item, and destination of the item. Execution of Kanban introduces a pull atmosphere in the institution. Applying Kanban, operators manufacture items according to the used items information other than the projected information ( Less, Abrahamsson & Oza 2010, Pg. 49). The Kanban strategy is devised to ease material handling and stock control. Instead of piling the materials released to the manufacturing close to the line in huge amounts, smaller amounts of materials are physically available at the point of consumption on the line and restocked simply when a Kanban or indication is produced. From the advantages of Kanban, it is evident tha t presentation metrics of PD like cost, release time, and suppleness may be enhanced. For example, because of enhanced flow and developed reaction to shift in demand, there shall be enhanced in delivery time and suppleness. Through executing Kanban, there shall be low stock, through which the stock storing charge will be lowered, therefore as well lowering institutional cost. Main policies of Kanban application include: - Simply manufacture items to replace the items used by the consumer

The Rise of the American Empire Between the End of the Civil War and Essay

The Rise of the American Empire Between the End of the Civil War and The Early 20th Century - Essay Example The first American acquisition is Alaska in 1867 from Russia for close to $7.2 million largely on the initiative of the secretary of state William Seward1. Although his purchase was sufficiently unpopular at the time, the small American population unlimited economic growth limited them to experience economic prosperity with external traders and missionaries. However, with the discovery of gold in Juneau early 1880 brought about economic prospectors.   Gold in 1896 found along the tributary of the Klondike River was also reported resulting into the massive gold rush in 1897-8. The majority of the Gold miners utilized the precious grains of dust are nearly all in Canadas Yukon Territory creating is inaccessible region from the Alaskan coast. The majority of the gold-diggers come from the USA increased their gold returns. During this same period the United States accidentally acquired extensive overseas responsibilities such as leadership roles that transformed their nation into a powerful empire.   The gradual American involvement with the Hawaii that was annexed as a US territory during the 1900s led to a more dramatic increase in the US involvement overseas increasing Spanish America Spanish war of 1986. Some of the territorial acquisition led to emergence of conflicts. Undertaken with extreme reluctance among the American government, is the Spanish atrocities in Cuba increasing Cuba’s independence. The establishment of new territories as well as proficient armed forces of the navy which enabled them to excel in the war.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Earthquackes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Earthquackes - Essay Example According to Stein and Wysession (217), earthquakes can also occur due to the elastic rebound theory, which says that in various situations energy is accumulated in rock that is being acted upon by tectonic forces to a degree that the energy rises above the bonding forces holding the rocks causing to break, suddenly returning to its original shape, and the crust moves violently as a result of the quickly released force. However, not all earthquakes are linked to with preexisting faults rather some are linked to intensely buried fold structures, volcanic environments among others in which the molten rock is forcefully pushing out of the crust. The cracking of a rock known as faulting leads to the discharge of energy when stored stress is rapidly transformed to movement and produces vibrations called seismic waves. These seismic waves then move outwards in all directions at a speed of nearly 14 kilometers per second, distorting the rocks they pass through, but the rock returns to its o riginal shape afterwards. The speed of seismic waves is dependent on the plasticity of the media they travel through such as rocks which portray elastic properties. In the event of external forces acting on the rock, they are forced to alter their shapes and since rocks just like other elastic materials, they have an elastic limit after which application of any additional force deforms the shape of the rock. Seismic Waves During earthquakes, the discharge of stress as energy leads to the creation of three different types of waves. The first one, primary waves or P-Waves is the fastest moving waves with the ability to pass through both liquid and solid rock, expanding and compressing the rocks as they move and are the first to be detected by seismographs (Qazi 78). The second type of waves created is the secondary waves or S-waves which unlike P-waves cannot pass through liquids. As these waves move, they are able to cut across the rocks they pass through at positions that are perpen dicular to the direction they are moving towards. Due to their large size in comparison to primary waves, S-waves are considered the most dangerous type of waves and they produce both vertical and horizontal motion as they travel. The seismic activity are terms used to describe the rate of occurrence, cause and magnitude of earthquakes an area experiences over a certain length of time, the instrument used to measure earthquakes is known as a seismometer while a device that not only measures but also records the magnitude is called a seismograph. Seismologists have come up with two scales of measurement to measure the quantitative magnitude of earthquakes one is the Richter scale, named after the American seismologist Charles Francis Richter. This scale is used to measure the movement of the land surface one hundred kilometers from the epicenter, the point on the Earth’s surface directly above the source of the earthquake, also known as the focus and can be as deep as seven hu ndred kilometers. However, quakes are not known to occur past this level since rocks are no not very firm at these higher pressures and temperatures. Smaller tremors are frequently experienced but these tremors usually cause little or no damage. The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale with a

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

CCC project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CCC project - Essay Example I could have written down my ideas at the same time writing down the suggestions the other group members were voicing out. This way, I could have listened efficiently to what others were saying while keeping track of my own ideas. I want to effectively confront people when they make mistakes without causing them to be offended. I would like to accomplish this with people whom I know personally and those who I don’t know well. In this way, I can point out their mistakes to help them improve in turn, I can learn from their mistakes as well. These people include those who I already know and those who I will be acquainted with in the future. I would like to perform this skill only when it is under the appropriate and necessary situations. 1. I would not always confront others immediately after they made a mistake instead I will tell others about their mistakes in the most appropriate time or situation. This will give time for me to think of the approach I will use on the person and to give time for the person to think over what he or she has done wrong. 2. In dealing with new acquaintances or other people I don’t know well, I will take time to observe them to determine their behavior and attitude before confronting them with their mistakes. Learning how they react and interact will give me an idea on how to tell them their mistakes in the most suitable way that will not offend them. 3. For people that are older than me and whom I don’t know well, I will try my best to relate and befriend these people to easily tell them about their mistakes. Befriending these people will cause them to value my opinion and not treat me as a critic nor an enemy but a friend who cares and wants them to improve. 5. I will learn how to speak to other people about their mistakes in the best way and most appropriate way in accordance to their attitude or character. This way I

Monday, September 23, 2019

Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Criminal Justice - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that the criminal justice system protects the citizens from the criminal elements. The system includes the United States courts of law. First, the criminal justice system includes the collection of federal agencies, state agencies, and local agencies that focus on monitoring and resolving the United States’ criminal incidents. Each department has the responsibility and as well as authority to process suspects in any reported crime under its jurisdiction. Likewise, each department must take control of and ensure custody of each defendant in any crime. Lastly, each department shall ensure each convicted felon serves each sentence that the courts render on each suspect or defendant. In addition, the legislative branch of the United States government creates the basic framework of each criminal justice department. Ralph Henham insists the criminal justice laws must shift to the restorative justice concept. The concept sta tes that each convicted felon is trained by the penitentiary to drop their evil ways become productive members of society, after serving their jail sentences. In addition, judicial branch of the United States implements its own basic framework for each criminal justice department to implement. Geoffrey Scarre emphasizes the courts include mitigating or aggravating circumstances when deciding cases. Finally, the executive branch of the United States government implements its own tenets for each criminal justice organization. ... Mental disorders among the juveniles significantly increase the possibility of their arrests. However, other research findings indicate the criminal justice organization must be cautious or compassionate when arresting or taking custody of the confused juvenile delinquent, especially those with acquired deficit activities and opposition defiant problems. Further, the prisons are responsible for monitoring the convicted felons and suspects within penitentiaries. Bean Philip (1999) reiterated the technology reduces the cost to hire more jail guards and within the penitentiary. Technology includes the use of CCTV cameras replace human beings as keepers of the peace and surveillance tools within the jail premises. In addition, the courts weigh the evidences as basis passing judgment. K. Douglas (Douglas, 1997) reiterates the Jury used photographic evidences to strengthen the guilty verdict. In addition, bureaucracy maximizes the criminal justice organization’s efficiency. However, the line and staff organization reduces flexibility. During some occasion, the bureaucracy is synonymous with the red tape. Red tape means there are too many unnecessary rules, laws, or policies that may hinder fast, effective, and efficient implementation of the justice. Often bureaucracy impedes immediate implementation of justice. The leadership in criminal justice organizations. Ron Cacioppe (1997) accentuates leadership wisdom is of prime importance in the criminal justice organization. First, the leaders must hone their current skills in critical thinking. Next, the leaders of the criminal justice organization should enhance their current crisis leadership prowess. In addition, the criminal justice system’s leaders must improve their present change management

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Riordan Manufacturing Security Essay Example for Free

Riordan Manufacturing Security Essay Team â€Å"C† was hired by Riordan Manufacturing management to overhaul the security features currently employed by the company. Management outlined a comprehensive plan that included a complete hardware refresh, security best practices and end user training. Team â€Å"C† will devote resources to assess the physical and network security issues and concerns at each Riordan plant. Once those have been identified, Team â€Å"C† will identify the data security issues and concerns present at each Riordan plant. Finally, Team â€Å"C† will address web security issues and concerns present at each Riordan plant and recommend a way forward for the company. Riordan Manufacturing Background Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics manufacturer employing 550 people with projected annual earnings of $46 million. The company is wholly owned by Riordan Industries, a Fortune 1000 enterprise with revenues in excess of $1 billion. Its products include plastic beverage containers produced at its plant in Albany, Georgia, custom plastic parts produced at its plant in Pontiac, Michigan, and plastic fan parts produced at its facilities in Hangzhou, China. The companys research and development is done at the corporate headquarters in San Jose. Riordans major customers are automotive parts manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, the Department of Defense, beverage makers and bottlers, and appliance manufacturers (Riordan Manufacturing, 2013). Each site manages their network that communicates directly with the corporate office in San Jose. The three outlying sites do not communicate with each other without going directly through the corporate office. This is the biggest change Team â€Å"C† will propose. Communications between the four networks should be real time and should be linked. Physical Security Concerns  The initial review of the physical security of the Riordan Manufacturing Network identified some major concerns: * Single point of failure The three outlining networks run through the corporate office in order to share information. If the corporate office is down, then the information from the other three offices cannot be shared. * Lack of Redundancy The networks currently only have one path out. For instance, if the gateway/switch at the Hangzhou, China plant goes down, the various departments running off that switch will be isolated from the rest of the network. Communication Barrier Communication between the three US bases sites with the Hangzhou site could pose some challenges. Ensure the physical security policies employed in the United States are also allowed in China. * Facility Security There was not much mention of the physical security aspects that are employed at each site. Recommend doing a comprehensive review of the physical security of each complex and recommend security features to each distinct location. Highly recommend the corporate office shift to a common access card (CAC) entry to the facility. Backups – Did not see a backup plan. Ensure backups are conducted daily and the off-site copies are maintained. Network Security Concerns The Network security aspects of our review are aligned with most of what was identified with the physical concerns. There are additionally items that identified that need to be addressed: * Language. The three US site networks will have to be able to receive data through the Chinese network (Compatibility issue). Ensure that the US based networks are able to receive and process Chinese code/language. Security Policy – Ensure that the strict policies enforced on the three US based networks will be compliant in China. The Chinese government has strict restrictions on information access. Need to ensure Chinese security policies are followed and that company information is not compromised. * Single point of failure – As addressed in the physical security, the networks as constructed have various single points of failure. If a switch or router goes down, the whole network is isolated from conducting business. Different Operating Environments Most of the company is running on Windows 7 environment, however, MAC PRO’s are being used at the corporate office and this could lead to some compatibility issues between Windows and MAC environments. * Obsolete equipment – Many of the sites are using old network equipment. Recommend investing in new switches and routers to enhance the processing and network speed. Conclusion Team â€Å"C† has identified numerous areas of concern with the Riordan networks. Those items will be address individually at each location and be submitted in a comprehensive review.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Factors Can Affect Validity Reliability Of Systematic Review Nursing Essay

Factors Can Affect Validity Reliability Of Systematic Review Nursing Essay Systematic review with meta-analysis are considered more objective than other types of reviews such as traditional reviews because it involve the application of scientific strategies in ways that limit the bias but the interpretation of the systematic process like any other type of research is subject to bias and this articles will illustrate the sources of bias in every step of conducting a systematic review and what is its types and ways. Keywords: Systematic review, Bias, Meta-analysis Introduction A systematic review is an overview of many studies that used clear and reproducible methods while a meta-analysis is a mathematical synthesis of the results of two or more primary studies that address the same hypothesis in the same way. Systematic reviews are very popular so about 2500 new English language systematic reviews are indexed in Medline annually (Mother D, Tetzlaff J, Tricco a, et al). While the number is impressive ,the quality of their reporting is not always ideal which lead to some kind of biased results and thus shrink their usefulness. Although meta-analysis can increase the precision of a result, it is important to ensure that the methods used for the review were valid and reliable. (Greenhangh. 1997) Speaking generally,there are two sources -at least- can generate bias in systematic reviews: the risk of bias in the included studies which it can exaggerate the results of a treatments effectiveness by 18% (Pidal J, Hrobjartsson A, Jorgensen KJ, et al) and the review itself as it has a little control over the reporting of RTCs but it can apply considrable control over conducting and reporting the review, thereby minimizing the bias of review itself. In this article we will try to spot the sources of bias in every step of conducting a systematic review and what is its types and ways and after that we will talk in details about each factor might cause a bias including publication bias, time lag bias, citation bias, the influence of external funding on the validity of systematic review and outcome reporting bias. Assessing the Quality of a Systematic Review General Tips (step-by-step) Fundamentally, the quality of a systematic review and the reliability of its result are contingent on both the quality of the included studies and the quality of the methodology used to produce the systematic review. The first most important step in conducting systematic review is proposing a clear, specific,focused and concise question which will guide the review process after. Searching for articles to be included can be retrieved by electronic databases, searching by hands through appropriate journals and by contacting researchers in the area of interest. To avoid the bias in the retrieval of articles the search strategy specified in the protocol must include as much details as possible. In most cases this amounts of to a list of keywords and how they will be combined for use in electronic search engines. Some knowledge of the capability of each subject specific database is important at this point, as some databases operate a thesaurus search system and others operate on the basis of keywords only. Next step, selective inclusion studies may bias the results of systematic reviews if selected based on report characteristics which called Biased inclusion criteria and low methodological quality of studies included in a systematic review is another important source of bias (Strerne JAC, Egger M, Smith GD 2001) and inclusion of data from sources other than randomized trials reduces the reliability of the conclusions of a systematic review on issues of prevention and treatment, so they should be thoroughly considered and properly defined to avoid ambiguity and to inform the validity of the review. As protocol availability may decrease the biased post-hoc changes to methods and selective outcome reporting, this information should be included in the review protocol to minimize this bias. Even if the study has high internal validity, it may not to be generalizable(high external validity). There is often a trad-off between internal and external validity. To decide about the generalizability of the study is to explore whether the study population appears to be representative of the population to which you wish to apply the results and even in similar populations, differences in the settings and in culture or other contextual factors, should also be considered.(Petticrew M, Robert, H 2008) Reviewing the results of a number of studies of course itself provides a est of generalizability, if the results have been replicated in several settings with different population, then this gives an indication of whether the results are transferable. If the number of studies is large enough, it can suggest the range of effect sizes to be expected in different settings. Generalizability is not often assessed separately in systematic reviews, though consideration of the issue is included in some critical appraisal checklists. (Deeks J, Dinnes J, DAmico R, Sowden A, Sakarovitch C. 2003) The risk of bias of a particular study is a key component in the assessment of studies that affect the validity of the results of a systematic review. Therefore, reducing the risk of bias assessment can be completed by using scales, checklists and every individual component should be reported for each study.(Sandrson S, Tatt ID, Higgins JP 2007). As the protocol developing, all the outcomes derived from the included studies should be considered and the outcome of primary importance should be differentiated from the secondary outcomes as recent surveys have showed that the outcomes selectively reported in final reports were significantly more likely to be statistically significant than those omitted (Chan AW, Hrobjartsson A, Haahr MT, et al 2004). Therefore, if a review does not identify important variables clearly, the review risks being subject to bias. So, the reviewer might select statistically significant variables and ignore the ones were initially important by the reviewer. When it comes to analysing data, the analysing method is determined by the review question and the type of data collected and it should include a narrative synthesis for describing the results and risk of bias. The next step is usually determining if statistical synthesis is appropriate to apply or not. Indeed, such forced analysis might in the axiom garbage in garbage out, providing useless results which it will discussed Later. When the results of the analysis are ready, there are many different way to represent them but sufficient details should be presented to dtermine the potential threats to validity. As conclusion in the review, the reviewer should discuss the risk of bias, strength, limitation, weakness and applicability of the evidence for each main outcome to ensure that clinicians have all the information to interpret the results. A table outlining the users guides to the Medical Literature highlight critical appraisal questions for systematic reviews and meta-analyses may help to reduce the bias in every step when conducting a systematic review.(Table 1) Table 1. Questions should be considered in determining if the results of systematic review are valid. ( adapted from Crowther, MA. Cook, DJ 2007) Did the overview address a focused clinical question? Were the criteria used to select articles for inclusion both defined and appropriate? What is the likelihood that relevant studies were missed? Was the validity of the included studies assessed? Were the assessment reproducible? How precise were the results of the overview? In assessing the value the review, it is important to consider the following question: Can the results be applied to my patients, and will the results help me care for my patients? Are the benefits worth the harms and costs? Garbage in garbage out? The quality of component trails is important as an example if the raw material is not that quality, then the findings of reviews may also be the same. So what we put in exactly what we get out. Clearly, the studies included in systematic reviews should ideally be of high methodological quality and free of bias as possible. The biases that threaten the validity of clinical trials are relate to systematic differences in the patients characteristics at baseline (selection bias), unequal provision of care apart from the treatment under evaluation (performance bias), biased assessment of outcomes (detection bias) , and bias due to exclusion of patients after they have been allocated to treatment groups (attrition bias).(Altman 1991) Some reviews produced discordant results precisely because the authors chose to ignore the quality of component trails. The same reviewers were considerably more thorough in their attempt to identify all-relevant trails,Independent of publication statue or language of publication. Although the quality of component trails happened to be more important in this particular situation, the dissemination of findings from clinical trials is known to be biased, and a comprehensive literature search is an essential intergradient of high-quality reviews. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Putting the light on dissemination of research findings, Scherer et al. showed that only about half of abstracts presented at conferences are later published in full. The fact that sustainable proportion of studies remains unpublished after the study had been completed must be a concern as a large information remains hidden from reviewers. Making things worse, the dissemination of research findings is not a random process, rather it is strongly influenced by the nature and direction of results. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Type of reporting bias Definition Publication bias The publication or non-puplication of research findings, depending on the nature and direction of results Time lag bias The rapid or delayed publication of research findings, depending on the nature and direction of results Duplicate publication bias The multiple or singular publication of research findings, depending on the nature and direction of results Citation bias The citation or non-citation of research findings, depending on the nature and direction of results Language bias The publication of research findings in particular language, depending on the nature and direction of results Outcome reporting bias The selecting reporting of some outcomes but not others, depending on the nature and direction of results Figure 1.2 (Adapted from Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Publication Bias In a 1979 article on the file drawer problem and tolerance for null results Rosenthal said, where the journals are filled with the 5 per cent of the studies that show type I errors, while the file drawers back at the lab are filled with the 95 per cent of the studies that show non significant results. (Rosenthal R. 1979). The file drawer problem has long been recognized in the social sciences: as a review of psychology journals found that of 294 studies published in 1970s, 97% rejected the null hypothesis at the 5% level.(Sterling TD.1980) It is thus possible that studies which suggest a beneficial treatment effect are published, while an equal mass of data pointing the other way remains unpublished. In this situation, a systematic review of the published trails could identify a spurious beneficial treatment effect, or miss an important adverse effect of a treatment. In the field of cancer chemotherapy such publication has been demonstrated by comparing the result from studies identified in a literature search with those contained in an international trials registry (see figure 1.2). (Simes RJ. 1986) Time lag bias Published studies continued to appear many years after approval by the ethic committee. Among proposals submitted to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Ethics Committee in Sydney, 85% of studies with significant results as compared to 65% of studies with null results had been published after 10 years (Stern JM, Simes RJ. 1997). The average time to publication was 4.8 years for studies with significant results comparing to 8.0 years for studies with null results. In fact, the time lag was attributable to differences in the time from completion to publication.(Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) 0.7 1.0 1.3 Published 16 (1908) Registered 13 (2491) Survival ratio (95% confidence interval) Figure 1.2 (adapted from Simes) These findings indicate that time lag bias may be introduced in systematic reviews even when most or all trails will eventually be published. Trails with positive results will dominate the literature and introduce bias for several years until the negative results finally appear. The influence of external funding and commercial interests Many systematic reviews are funded by organizations such as pharmaceutical companies. As in the design of randomized trials, the design of systematic reviews can be influenced (particularly through manipulation of inclusion and exclusion criteria) to select a particular set of studies. As a result, such systematic reviews may present a biased viewpoint. Careful assessment of the quality of the systematic review should reveal the flaws in their design. Another way in which bias can be introduced is through biased interpretation of the results of a systematic review funded by industry or authored by investigators who are influenced by industry.(Crowther, MA. Cook, DJ 2007) External funding was associated with publication independently of the statistical significance of the results. Funding by government agencies was significantly associated with publication in three cohorts of proposals submitted to ethics committees whereas pharmaceutical industry sponsored studies were less likely to be published in two studies. Indeed, the pharmaceutical industry tends to discourage the publication of negative studies which it has funded. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001). Duplicate publication bias Once a list of articles is obtained, they should be reviewed by two or more individuals and compared with a list of pre-developed inclusion and exclusion criteria The production of multiple publications from single studies can lead to bias in a number of ways. Two or more systematic reviews on the same topic may arrive at different conclusion, which raise concern about validity. Studies with significant results are more likely to lead to multiple publications, which makes it more likely that they will be located and included in a meta-analysis. Moher and Johansen and Gotzsche described the difficulties caused by redundancy and the disaggregation of medical research when results from multicentre trail are presented in several publications. It may be impossible for reviewers to determine whether two papers represent duplicate publications of one trail or two separate trails, since example exist where two articals reporting the same trail do not share a single common author. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001). Citation bias The perusal of the reference lists of articles is used to identify additional articles that may be relevant. The problem with this approach is that the act of citing previous work is far from objective and retrieving literature by scanning references lists for many possible motivations such as decoration and showing up-to-dateness and knowledge may thus produce a biased sample of studies. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Language bias Language bias still evident in many reviews (Hearther, 2009). Reviewers are often exclusively based on trails published in English. For example, among 36 meta-analyses reported in leading English-language general medicine journals from 1991 to 1993, 26 had restricted their search to studies in English language. Reviewers in other countries will published their work in local journals as well as English language journal if their results are positive while negative results will just be published in local journals. This is demonstrated for the German language literature when comparing articles published by the same author, 63% of trails published in English had produced significant results as compared to 35% of trails published in German. Thus bias could be introduced in meta-analyses exclusively based on English-language reports.(Figure 1.3) (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Figure 1.3 (adapted from Egger et al.) Outcome reporting bias Reporting the outcome can be influenced by the results: the outcome with the most favorable findings will generally be reported. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001). The future of unbiased, systematic reviewing Reporting biases is potentially serious problem for systematic review. While the Cochrane Collaboration has a simple aim -help people to make well informed dicisions about healthcare-, there are many challenges that must be met to achieve this aim. Ethical and social challenges include finding ways to continue to build on enthusiasm while avoiding duplication and minimizing bias, to ensure sustainability and to accommodate diversity. Logistical challenges include finding ways to identify efficiently trails and manage criticisms and updates of reviews. Methodological challenges include developing sound guidelines for deciding what types of studies to include in reviews, effective ways of communicating the results of reviews and summarizing the strength of evidence for specific effects. (Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001). Conclusion and Summary points In summary, There are numerous ways in which bias can be introduced in reviews and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. All these biases are more likely to affect small studies therefore, their results need large treatment effect to be significant. On the other side, the large studies invest more money and time that means they are more likely to be high methodological quality and published even if their results are negative. Bias in a systematic review may become evident through an association between the size of the treatment effect and study size. Reliability and validity often not established within quality assessment instrument (Heather, 2009).If the methodological quality of trials is inadequate the findings of reviews of this materials may also be compromised. Publication bias can distort findings because trials with statically significant results are more likely to be published, and without delay, than trials without significant results. Among published trails, those w ith significant results are more likely to get published in English, more likely to be cited, and more likely to be published more than once which means that they will also be more likely to identified and included in reviews. The choice of the outcome that is reported can be influenced by the results. The outcome with the most favorable findings will generally be reported, which may introduced bias. Criteria for inclusion of studies into a review may be influenced by knowledge of the results of the set of potential studies. The definition of eligibility criteria for trails to be included, a comprehensive search for such tails, and an assessment of their methodological quality are central to systematic reviews. Systematic reviews are thus more likely to avoid bias than traditional, narrative reviews.(Eddger,M. Dickersin, K. Smith,G, S 2001) Nevertheless, the systematic review is a powerful research methodology which answers question on the the basis of good evidence and provides researchers with a valuable, impartial, comprehensive and up-to-date summary of the work conducted in a specific area.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Corporate Budgeting Systems: Overview and Analysis

Corporate Budgeting Systems: Overview and Analysis Joo Hee Kim Accounting and Financial Management Budgeting is the Process of expressing quantified resource requirements (amount of capital, amount of material, number of people) into time-phased goals and milestones (BusinessDictionary.com, 2017). Budgets help decision makers to identify problems and to increase their understanding of the task environment (Ahrens 1997). For this reason, budgeting is still regarded as an organizational imperative if costs are to be controlled and financial performance to be achieved (Frow, Marginson and Ogden, 2010). The budget has historically entered the central stage of the management control system in most organizations (Otley, 1994). One of the main reasons that big companies get their budgets in the first place is to coordinate different parts of the business. By sharing accurate information publicly and based on a common set of decisions, ensuring harmonious interactions between units can lead to efficient processes, high-quality products, low inventories and satisfied customers (Jensen, 200 1). As such, traditionally, budgeting system has been considered to provide effectively four major benefits to the most organizations. (1) First of all, budgeting system provides the capability for managers to quantify the necessary resources and distribute these to the involved organizations prior to the beginning of the project. (2) Throughout the budget planning activities, the involved organizations will have a better interaction and communication to identify the problems, understand issues, pertaining to the tasks and then, finally allocate the necessary budgets to each organization. (3) Consequently it encourages each organization to conduct their task diligently and efficiently without wasting their resources. (4) Finally, It provides the persistent evaluation how the project performed under the budgeting planned and the great future index for the next budgeting plan. However, under the current increased competitive global environment, requiring more dynamic and imminent resource allocation have raised the concern that the traditional budgeting systems are inefficient and incapable to satisfy dynamically changing environments and suggested the myopic decision making and budget games in which they proposed (Hansen et al., 2003; Ostergren and Stensaker, 2011). Also, Welch has described the unnecessary wage increase due to the misguided performance evaluation, inherited by the incorrect budgeting planned (Welch, 2005). In addition to the inherited slow adaptive functionality and misguided performance evaluation. Jensen has described that the traditional budgeting process wastes time, twists decision making, consuming a huge amount of wasting executives time, due to the intentional false forecasts or manipulating critical information, consequently, twisting the resource allocation (Jensen, 2001; Jensen, 2003). In addition to these human and organizational barriers, genuinely, it takes lots of unnecessary time and resources to create a proper budget, prior to the beginning of the tasks. Statistically, organizations spend 20-30% of their time in the budgeting process. Also, budgeting generally limits the likelihood of achieving high growth or significant cost savings by setting an upper limit of the allowable budgets. At the same time, budgets can hinder high growth because overspending over budget would cut costs in the short term in order to achieve margin goals, consequently, hindering long-term goals (de Waal, Hermkens-Janssen and van de Ven, 2011). Recently, in order to overcome of the issues in the traditional budgeting system described above, a number of alternative methodologies have been proposed for the budgeting process, including activity-based budgeting, profit planning, rolling budgets and forecasts, zero-based budgeting, and beyond budgeting (Hansen, Otley and Stede, 2003). In particular, Jensen proposed a A Linear Compensation Plan to remedy the current budgeting process in which actual performance, regardless of budgetary goals, will be utilized to provide senior executives unbiased estimates for the planned achievable goal. However, later, Jensen described that it can be problematical for organizations to simply adopt or implement the proposed linear compensation system. It is because Target-based bonuses are deeply ingrained in the minds of managers and in the managerial codes of most organizations. More than that, if the measures and evaluation were not correctly performed, executives will have the more risk of distorting managerial decisions, even under a linear bonus system. In addition, the positioning and slope of the bonus line are based on the prior years performance. Of course, it would reduce the risk of overcompensating for the performance, but it can cause the reduction of incentives for the increasing performance, which results in dropping the motivational effects of the performance targets. Also, the increased performance compensation would require companies to increase bonus caps way beyond traditional compensational levels, which can make organizations discomfort (Jensen, 2001). In addition, more difficulties have described that the cost of changing the current budgeting process can be high due to the initial cost to implement the new system which requires the staffing time change, strategic planning, resource allocation, cost management (Neely, Sutcliff and Heyns, 2002), and eventually results in impacting on other unrecognized management processes, due to the lack of understanding of the current and future adopted systems (Waal, Jap Tjoen San and Zwanenburg, 2006). To overcome the raised issues on the linear compensation schemes, the curvilinear schedule methodology has been proposed which actually, reintroduces a strong incentive in terms of the budget. Jensen has also later agreed that the budget process itself is not the root cause of unproductive behavior. Rather, determining the compensation should combine the budget goals to have proper performance measurements. He has also point out that performance indicators should reflect the functionality of other business units, to align with the departmental performance measures. Management flexibility, decentralization and delegation can also minimize the risk of measuring performance (Jensen, 2001). Jensen criticizes managers for damaging their business because they lie to get more incentives. But currently, companies do not set incentives based only on manager reporting. Annual bonuses can be organized into three basic components: performance measurement, performance standards, and the sensitivity of the pay-for-performance relationship. Most companies rely on two or more measures of performance when evaluating manager performance, such as sales or revenue, earnings per share, operating profit or profit (Towers Perrin, 2005). Historically, accounting-based performance indicators are backward-looking and easy to lie, so firms can avoid cheating by using other measures such as operational or strategic performance goals, quality improvement, and scorecard-based systems. If managers were still cheating as Jansen criticized, the incentive system would not have spread like it does today. In recent, the percentage of SP 500 firms using multiyear accounting-based performance (MAP) incentives for CEOs increased from 16.5% in 1996 to 43.3% in 2008 (Li and Wang, 2016). There are many good reasons to explain why long-term incentives are an effective wage component. First, it provides the most direct correlation between company performance and wages. In other words, incentives can motivate directors to work hard and help them make shareholderoriented decisions. Second, long-term incentives can provide valuable human capital to the board and increase the loyalty of incumbent directors (Irani and Gerayeli, 2017). Furthermore, there is a way to hire a compensation consultant company to get rid of the possibility of any remaining lie. Compensation consultants such as Towers Watson, the Hay Group, and Hewitt Associates can assist the board in setting up wages with knowledge of industry and other peer groups compensation package design. In particular, they can give advice and assistance to the compensation committee (Bender, 2007). In the UK, virtually all companies show that they hire compensation consultants (Conyon, Fernandes, Ferreira, Matos and Murphy, 2011). The existence of an independent board is also important in the process of receiving incentives. Directors must have sufficient pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) for managers (Bruce, Buck and Main, 2005). Jensen insisted Corporate budgeting is a joke. and Corporate budgeting consumes a huge amount of executives time. But I disagree with him. Therefore, I strongly believe that instead of simply tossing off the budgeting process, the efficient budgeting system, combined with a proper performance measurements to determine the correct compensation, is necessary and essential for the company to achieve their goals in a rapidly changing 21st century international economic environment. In particular, from the Abogun and Fagbemis research, budgeting is still selected as a most effective and necessary tool for planning, controlling, communicating, making decisions and creating value (Abogun and Fagbemi, 2011). For instance, on the survey conducted by Libby and Lindsay, most managers have rated the budgeting as good value to achieve their organizational goals, regardless of budget games occurred to some extent in the organization (Libby and Lindsay, 2013). They have also agreed that the right u se of budgeting is of significant value to management. As an additional valuable evidence of the budgeting system, more than 150 organizations in North America uses frequently cost management tool to budget resources that can include everything from raw materials to human resources and facilities (Horngren, Sundem, Stratton, Burgstahler Schatzberg, 2008). In the same opinion, at a meeting on the traditional role of the budget in the organization organized by CIMA and ICAEW in 2004, the budgeting and accompanying process were indispensable and also noted that the traditional budgeting processing was widespread. Significant number of European companies has a budget and continues to use this process (CIMA-ICAEW, 2004). Most of current companies in Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States prepare budgets (Anand, Sahay and Saha, 2004). Is corporate budgeting really just a waste of time, as Jansen argues? If his argument was correct, now that more than 15 years ago, many companies would have to abandon the budgeting system. However, since the economic crisis that started in 2008, the survey and historical data have showed that the budget became more important in planning and resource allocation and companies emphasize specific budgeting features over other companies in response to economic crises (Becker, Mahlendorf, Schà ¤ffer and Thaten, 2016). In Case Study Evidence (Frow et al., 2010), the paper introduces the concept of continuous budgeting to emphasize how an organization can coordinate these potentially conflicting goals. By integrating the use of other budgetary controls with other management controls, the process of continuous budgeting encouraged management to exercise operational discretion when unexpected events occur in which it has placed a strict burden on managers to ensure that they continue to str ive to achieve their financial goals. Again, it has proved that Budgeting effectively contributes to the flexibility and financial principles to implement effective strategies. Therefore, its the right path to adopt alternative budgeting process rather than giving up entirely the budget. For example, continuous budgeting or traditional budgets can be supplemented by other management controls such as Balanced Scorecard (Frow et al., 2010) or Rolling Forecast (sandalgaard, 2012). For other management controls, according to a study by Choe, Dey and Mishra (2014), analyzing diversified companies in Australia by 2004-2008, companies that rely on long-term incentives for executives have achieved even greater progress. Long-term compensation consists of options, equity and other long-term incentive payments. Most of these compensation factors are based on company-wide performance. On the other hand, short-term rewards mainly consist of salaries and bonuses. In some cases, bonuses are targeted at company-wide performance, especially CEOs. For department managers, bonuses are often based on departmental accounting performance. Therefore, we need to develop some compromise schemes to set an upper bound of compensation, for instance, using the all department compensation difference and same time setup the ratio of long-term compensation and the short-term compensation ratio depending on the nature, scale, and profit of the company. Of course, as mentioned before, this compensation system depends on the previous years data to setup the compensation plan for the future potential growth. It may also be a necessary to evaluate company financial system regularly auditing from an independent accounting company that is not related to the companys incentive system. Corporate budgeting is like a knife. Knife would be a weapon when it is caught in the hands of robber, but it can serve as a tool for making delicious food in the hands of a cook, and it can save people when it is in the hands of a doctor. As Jensen argues, when corporate budgeting lefts in the hands of immoral managers, it is easy to become a weapon that damages the company for the benefit of the individual. But if a conscientious manager catches it, it becomes a tool for creating a happy company. If a wise CEO control it, it can also play a role in saving the company. Hence, I strongly believe that we should move toward improving the budget system by incorporating various suggestions described above. Question 2. Typical Executive Compensation Plan in a traditional pay-for-performance compensation plan, managers receive a hurdle bonus when they reach a certain level. The bonus will be improved until the maximum challenge is reached. When managers have a good year and performance is nearing the budget limit, there can be a desire to push the remaining profits into the future. Because they do not receive additional compensation even if they performance exceeds the cap, they will increase their chances of raising their expenses in current year or postpone their sale and gain to next year, in order to increase bonus next year. Suppose there is the organization named ABC, which has fiscal year end December 31 and Fiscal year 2016 budget goal for research expense is $100,000 and service contract revenue is $500,000. Fiscal year 2017 budget will be the same. Currently, ABC financial reports for fiscal year 2016 shows that research expense is $20,000 and service contract revenue is $500,000. ABC research department received a request from a research engineer to purchase $50,000 equipment for beginning of January 2017 and ABC sales department expects to sign on a two months service contract with a client amount of $200,000 in December 2016, but start date could be either December 2016 or January 2017. Because of timing issue of recording expenses and revenues, the managers are able to meet budgetary targets for 2016 and 2017, if they plan to expense more in current year and record revenues in the next fiscal year. The research department manager could record $50,000 equipment expenses for Fiscal year 2016 askin g a vendor to deliver the equipment and send out the bills to accounting departments few days earlier before January 1, 2017, unnecessarily, because research expense for the year 2016 already met budget goal, which means research manager still can get bonus for the year 2016 even though the research department recognizes $50,000 more expense in 2016. By doing so, the research department probably will exceed budgetary expense targets in 2017, because the department lower actual 2017 expense by $50,000. Also, sales manager could push revenue to the next fiscal year, by choosing the two months service contract start date as 1/1/17, instead of 12/1/16, because FY16 sales budget goal is already achieved. Even if the company ABC financial statement for FY16 can show more revenues if the service contract starts on 12/1/16, sales manager could take 1/1/17 start date, considering his FY16 bonus is guaranteed already, and it would be easier for him to achieve FY17 sales goal since he already achieved $200,000 out of $500,000. It is highly unlikely that any refinements to the budgeting process will ever enable budgets to be perfect because budget is plan for future. However, I think few refinements to the budget plan can prevent Jensons business scenario from real business world. First, senior management can set up their budget comparison method by adopting advanced IT budget system. In Jensons scenario, senior management set the budgets with limited input from line personnel. Because of limited input from same personnel, the budget could be manipulated for the purpose of getting more bonuses. If senior management set up IT budget system, such as uBase and add the procedure to their budget report review procedures, comparing generated report out of uBase to the prepared budget report by limited personnel, and researching the variances between two reports and fluctuation between months, senior management might identify what are the most common unfaithful ways used for management to consistently exceed finan cial targets. Second, the organization uses an incremental budgeting system for a full year. If an organization changes budget period from a full year to half year, and change distributing bonus from annual basis to semi-annual basis, the organization can reduce a lot of cut off issues management used to exceed financial targets. To avoid connecting budgets and sales goals to bonus, Jensen proposed Linear Compensation Plan is an incentive system that compensates for actual performance regardless of your budget goals. Administrators will receive the same bonus for some level of performance even if the budget target is set below or above that level. By eliminating kinks, the unit manager no longer collects cash beyond the target and would not need to make lower the target by putting false information into the budgeting process. As a result, senior management receives unbiased estimates of what they can achieve in the future, and the quality of planning and coordination is significantly improved. In order for Jensens proposed linear compensation scheme to be successful, we need to obtain the following refinements: First, when using multiple performance indicators for individual managers, companies must carefully set up a single, well-defined measure of overall business success, such as economic value added. Ratios such as sales margins or asset returns inevitably result in games. Second, management tends to concentrate in the short term. If you earn a high bonus within a year, it will be harder to get a higher bonus next year, so you will lose incentives to improve performance. A better way is to look at the future in more detail by setting a line of bonuses over the years based on long-term forecasts of growth and profitability. Finally, define the upper limit of compensation as a salary. Also, we need to set absolute objective criteria such as activity-based costing to determine performance by how many tasks have been done in certain time, rather than how many hours an employee worked. Question 1. (1) Answer is d. (2) If Sanjay Ltd sells all 1000 units, it needs not pay for scraping costs, so the minimum price is $ 2. But if it cannot sell all of them, it has to add $ 500 to its sales because it shoud pay for scraping costs. For example, if it sells 100 units, $ 5 is added per unit, so the minimum price is $ 7. However, if it sell 500 units, it will add $ 1 per unit, so the minimum price is $ 3. In the worst case, if Sanjay Ltd cannot sell any units, its better to give them away for free. (3) Total cost = DM(Direct materials) + DL(Direct labour) + OH(Overhead) $25,000 = $20,000 + DL + 1.5 DL $5,000 = DL + 1.5 DL = 2.5 DL DL = $2,000, $25,000 = $20,000 + $2,000 + Overhead As the result, Overhead is $3,000. (4) Total costs = Direct material + Direct labour + Overhead = $1,475 + $1,500 + {50(labour hour=$1,500/$30) $35} = $1,475 + $1,500 + $1,750 = $4,700 As the result, Total costs is $4,700. (5) Profits = Total sales Fixed costs Variable costs Profits ($100,00) = Total sales(Selling price 500,000) Fixed costs($400,000) Variable costs(0.75 Selling price 500,000) $100,000 = Selling price 500,000 400,000 0.75 Selling price 500,000 $500,000 = 0.25 Selling price 500,000 $500,000 = 125,000 Selling price As the result, Selling price should be $4. (6) Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) = Direct Materials ($ 455) + Direct Labor ($ 300) + Variable Manufacturing Overhead ($ 45) + Fixed Manufacturing Overhead ($100) Target Sales Price ($ 1440) = Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) + {Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) Mark Up 60% ($ 540)} It does not need to pay Fixed Manufacturing Overhead if Diamond Interiors accepts Mr. John Lees one-time only special order, because of Diamond Interiors has an excess capacity. In this case, Fixed Manufacturing Overhead should be excluded when calculating Total Manufacturing Costs. But Mr. Lee wants the cabinet in a metallic finish rather than laminate, so direct materials will increase by $30 per unit. Total Manufacturing Costs ($ 900) Fixed Manufacturing Overhead ($100) + additional direct materials ($30) = 830 Therefore, the minimum selling price is $830. (However, this minimum selling price did not include the mark up fee. Therefore, the actual selling price may vary depending on the sellers decision.) (7) The net present value (NPV) is the difference between the present value of the cash inflow and the present value of the cash outflow. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the expected investment or profitability of the project.The following is the formula for calculating NPV: where Ct = net cash inflow during the period t Co = total initial investment costs r = discount rate, and t = number of time periods {20,000/1.1 + 25,000/(1.1)2 + 30,000/(1.1)3 +15,000/(1.1)4 + 12,000/(1.1)5 } 75000 = {18181.8 + 20661.2 + 22539.4 + 10245.2 + 7451.1} 75000 = 79078.7 75000 Net Present Value of the computer system is $ 4078.7 A positive net present value indicates that the projected income generated by the project or investment (in present dollars) exceeds the projected cost (also in present dollars). In general, investment with a positive NPV is a profitable investment, and investment with a negative NPV is a net loss. It is the basic element of the net investment value rule that a project or investment must be performed only if the NPV value is positive. Since the NPV of the computer program in question is positive, it is a wise choice for the mayor to purchase this computer program. (8) The cost of equipment is the items purchase price. Knowing the internal rate of return and the expected life of the equipment, the cost of equipment purchase can be calculated using the following formula. 15,000/1.12 + 15,000/(1.12)2 + 15,000/(1.12)3 + 15,000/(1.12)4 + 15,000(1.12)5 = 54071.7 As the result, Cost of the equipment is $ 54,071.7 (9) Return on investment is a simple rate of return without a concept of time. The IRR is calculated by compounding the time it takes to enter a profitable point. There is a limit to the evaluation by simple profit rate calculation that does not consider time. Internal rate of return (IRR) is the interest rate at which the net present value of all the cash flows (both positive and negative) from a project or investment equal zero. Internal rate of return is used to evaluate the attractiveness of a project or investment. If the IRR of a new project exceeds a companys required rate of return, that project is desirable. If IRR falls below the required rate of return, the project should be rejected (Investinganswers.com, 2017). When a minimum desired rate of return is 12%, the present value of project is calculated as $ 1,646. Because the IRR is positive, Imperial Airways Ltd. should accept this project. 75000/1.12 + 75000/(1.12)2 + 75000/(1.12)3 + 75000/(1.12)4 + 75000/(1.12)5 + 75000/(1.12)6 280000 50000/(1.12) 4 + 10000/(1.12)6 = 308355.6 280000 31776 + 5066.3 = 1645.9 As the result, Present Value of the Project is $ 1,646. When a minimum desired rate of return is 12%, the present value of project is over than zero (calculated as $ 1,646). Thus, the internal rate of return is more than 12%. (10) Year1 Inflow1 + Year2 Inflow + Year3 inflow = $22,000 Inflows from Year1 to Year 4 = $28,000 The payback period is between Year 3 and Year 4. Accurately calculated PBP = minimum period + shortage of inflows / inflows in event = 3 + 3000 / 6000 = 3.5 As a result, payback period is 3.5 years. REFERENCE Abogun, S. and Fagbemi, T. (2011). The Global Debate on Budgeting: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria. International Business Research, 4(4). Ahrens T. (1997). Strategic interventions of management accountants: everyday practice of British and German brewers The European Accounting Review 6(4), 557-588 Anand, M., Sahay, B.S. and Saha, S., 2004. Cost management practices in India: An empirical study. ASCI Journal of Management, 33(1-2), pp.1-13. Becker, S. D., Mahlendorf, M. D., Schà ¤ffer, U. and Thaten, M., 2016. Budgeting in times of economic crisis. Contemporary Accounting Research, 33 (4), pp.1489-1517. Bruce, A., Buck, T. and Main, B.G., 2005. 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Reflective Essay: Grief and Bereavement Reflective Essay: Grief and Bereavement This essay is a reflective journey through the loss I have experienced in my life. The essay will discuss two models of bereavement, dual process and continuing bonds. Towards not only understanding self in the process of loss, but also to understand some of the theories used to assist those who are grieving. Relevant referenced literature will be used to demonstrate understanding of the models of loss chosen for the assessment. The loss that has impacted my world most recently began with the wonderful knowledge of pregnancy. That beautiful piece of news set in motion a series of events beginning with the primary loss of membership within a band, which I had created and maintained for six years. The band was a manifestation of hopes, dreams and realisations I had carried since childhood and finally began actualising in my early thirties. The secondary losses were simple I thought, as in losing the social network associated with being a band member, and the loss of a portion of identity. However, a major friendship was also lost in the process and this in reality lay far deeper than the apparent primary loss. This friend and fellow band member M was actually my x partner and soul mate, with who I had shared my life and musical experiences from the age of nineteen. Even though we had separated as partners we were still very close as friends and involved musically. I had lost my x, my best friend, my band membe r, fellow song writer, and pain in the butt. I acknowledge that adjusting to motherhood and the happiness of my new family life overshadowed the losses I was experiencing, and also my resilience, spirituality and being quite differentiated contributed to my ability to cope, move forward and adjust to yet another segment of my very interesting, challenging and rewarding life. Attachment and meaning, family systems, social support, cognitive process in adjustment and coping, are all factors and terms associated with the theories of loss and bereavement which have preceded and assisted Stroebe and Schut (2007) to generate the dual process model. Their model perceives a person oscillating between loss-orientation and restoration-orientation. Loss-orientation deals with the process of having a good cry and experiencing and dealing with the emotion of loss, and restoration-orientation deals with getting oneself back into feeling okay to proceed with life emotionally, physically and psychologically. Within this process of oscillation it is important to understand the need for both negative and positive thought processes within both loss and restoration. Furthermore it is important that one experiences and adjusts to both aspects of thought processes in life, even when it appears that loss is not perhaps a prominent focal point. Stroebe and Schut (2004) discuss how attachment theory plays a role within the dual process model, by aligning loss-orientation with the experience associated through loss of a relationship where the bond of attachment is deep. Secondly their restoration-orientation process can align with cognitive stress theory by making use of tasks or coping strategies to assist a grieving person to find balance in their process of loss. The strength of the dual process model as Stroebe and Schut (2004b) explain is the ability to understand that people fluctuate between positive and negative thoughts and emotions. Additionally by applying certain aspects of cognition tools and the understanding of attachment, a balance between the swaying emotions and thoughts can be normalised and processed in a comfortable and personal manner as adaption takes place. In my experience of grief I certainly experienced the swapping of emotional positions such as sadness that our friendship had ceased, and feeling okay that M wanted to disconnect. I am able to reflect with both sadness and joy, when I ponder our shared love and experiences. However I also take great strength from my husband and son, my parents and siblings in an almost unconscious process of living and loving. Continuing bonds resonated with me in that it recognised attachment bonds dont disappear when one experiences loss or death, instead the connection and bonds change and continue. Klass and Walter (2004) explain continuing bonds as recognition that the human condition in both life and death is far more complex and unique than many theorists previously had argued. In addition research discovered that many diverse people carried on conversations and relationships with the dead. Klass, Silverman, Nickman (1996) relate that continuing bonds means that those left behind feel a real sense of the person they have lost, either unconsciously or on a conscious level, therefore their changed relationship with the deceased is a continuous process of adjustment. It is now realised people dont get over a loss of a loved one, they continue to have an internal relationship or tell stories to keep their meaning alive. From what I have understood of continuing bonds dealing with grief, is simply not a s simple as getting over a loss, but a process of mourning, grieving, adjusting and changing. Packman, Horsley, Davies Kramer (2006) cite Hogan and DeSantis who refer to attachment in connection with continuing bonds such as reaffirming relationships, search for understanding, checking in with deceased, reconnecting, asking for guidance, and seeking to meet again, it seems the process demonstrates once more that attachment and love does not cease with the death or loss of our loved ones. Nadeau (2007) discusses continuing bonds around how families make meaning via conversations and shared feelings through storytelling, family conversation or verbalising experiences of the person who has died. In addition to dreaming, comparing and experiencing interpretations of personality, joining or linking of events or perhaps considering fatalistic observations, through which these processes assist a person to deal and adjust to the loss and life without the physical presence of their loved one. It almost seems ridiculous in my mind to consider those Ive lost in life as being completely gone just because they died or have disconnected their friendship. In my personal culture of beliefs, values, and spirituality, death is but a single part of an enormous cycle where as human beings we experience the physical plane of existence, which is only a fraction of our total cycle of being and knowing. The process of writing this assessment has made me consider exactly what losses I have experienced. I began by making a time line of losses, and realised that through death I had lost four grandparents, friends, one x mother-in-law, and one current mother-in-law, nine cats, one bird, and one dog. The losses consisted of my heart at least three times, contact with aunts and uncles, and my cousins, jobs, dreams, my band, friends, even my respect at certain times, and the most significant friendship of my life prior to meeting my husband and my baby. Through contemplating my losses I can identify with certain aspects of poor self-esteem that has occurred in my life, and understand how feeling unworthy of certain considerations from friends is mixed in with the manner in which I handle loss in general. Being strong inside even though I feel alone is part of the coping mechanism loss in my life has taught me. For me being differentiated and resilient are the real keys to handling lifes my riad of experiences. Walsh (2006) suggests that beliefs and values build our cultural and family historical story that in turn builds resilience, which is strongly tied in with ones spiritual beliefs and life meaning. Weiten, Lloyd, Dunn, Hammer (2009) cite Gallagher and Chase who suggest that children benefit immensely from having their sense of resilience strengthened and nurtured by cherishing close relationships between children and parents. Resilience can help with the development of coping strategies, for example how to release anger, or help children be able to differentiate between risk assessment of traumatic event and management of possible danger. Furthermore the importance of relating and sharing of values and beliefs, not only in self, but also in a wider social arena, and encourage the ability to see and endeavour towards a positive future. My sense of myself as a differentiated and resilient person has also been a driving force behind my search of spiritual answers outside my birth religion. I live my life through my sense of spiritual knowing, which I align with the Buddhist concept of dharma, reincarnation and karma. My foundation of spirituality and knowing in God as my belief and value system is how I function through lifes loves and losses. I now understand how positive functioning is interconnected with a sense of differentiation. Corey (2009) discusses, differentiation is the process of becoming an individual with a positive sense of separateness from family of origin, able to live life with an ability to accept responsibility for ones own emotions, thoughts, feelings, perceptions and behaviour. I am truly thankful for the two strengths of resilience and differentiation, as in whenever I feel alone in my experiencing of loss, be it as simple as feeling I have no one to talk to, I can draw from inside myself the strength to escape negative emotional spirals. I also have an immense sense of connection to a higher spirit and find great comfort in lifes meaning and feeling of universal love. Since life, love, death, loss and grief all are experienced, affected, and expressed, in highly individual styles and approaches it seems logical there should be different methods and theories attached to grief and loss counselling. Therefore when I look at the two models of dual process and continuing bonds, I feel it important to understand attachment in life and loss. Machin (2009) discusses that the sense of self and independence is born out of the relationships of attachment we experience across our lifespan. These attachments are what allow a person to develop resources such as coping mechanisms, resilience, and the predisposition towards either positive or negative outlooks on life as well as death and loss. Sigelman and Rider (2009) refer to Bowlbys theory of attachment, concerning how a person copes through lifes challenges and stages, which can depend a great deal on the style of attachment they have developed, such as securely attached opposed to avoidant or resistant atta chment. These attachment styles play out through life in the manner of relationships beginning with family relationships, meaningful friendships, and marriage relationships, a person experiences through life and through their losses. Sigelman and Rider (2009b) cite Parkes who in conjunction with Bowlby constructed their theory of attachment model of bereavement, based on the simple fact that loss and love are counterparts that cannot be separated. Furthermore our interpersonal connections are built through attachment and centred on the conveying and sharing of love. Machin (2009b) also considers that attachment styles are also impacted through family culture, especially in how a person is taught the norms, values and beliefs surrounding appropriate mourning and grief, and life and love. As I reflect on how I seek and find support around my loosing M as a close friend, the cultural influence and norm my family advocates, is that of behaving as if nothing has changed. Almost like sayi ng, what are you worried about, and ignoring any deep feelings that need sharing to complete the cycle of grief. In relation to attachment within my family history I would say I have learnt secure attachment as a child, but as I grew my sense of attachment to my parents and siblings had a feeling of separateness, which funnily enough I feel was the grounding for my sense of differentiation and resilience, self reliance, sense of spiritual belonging and an ability to have a positive life mindset. On the flip side that separateness I felt when younger was the underlying force behind my poor self-esteem which was an enabling factor in the attachment style of relationship I shared with M. No matter the type of grief or loss one experiences or suffers in some way or another, love is at the heart of the felt experience. Even if the loss is as simple as the loss of a job, or perhaps a beloved cat, or friend, a partner, a mother or father, sister or brother, or sadly a child, it is love that binds us, it is love that makes life and death worthwhile. Kubler-Ross (1998) put it very succinctly when she wrote, you should live until you die, no one dies alone, everyone is loved beyond comprehension, everyone is blessed and guided, and the hardest lesson to learn is unconditional love, everything is bearable when there is love, and finally the only thing that lives forever is love (p288). To conclude this essay I would reflect on the importance of a counsellor taking the time to experience and deal with lifes losses and loves. Whether one chooses a particular model or process to assist the journey of self discovery, it is important to understand the underlying concepts of the attachment bonds that are formed over a life span. The bonds we form also bring the love that not only continues but also fluctuates between positive and negative emotional balancing and adjustment.