Criminal justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal justice - Essay Example The notion justice, according to Rawls (1971), could not obtain place in the Declaration of Independence; nor did it earn popularity in the US Constitution. It was not the cornerstone of the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, the women's suffrage movement, or the civil rights movement. However, the US judicial system, like all civilized societies, appears to be determined to protect the US citizens from any harm and hurt caused at the hands of the criminals and offenders in one way or the other. Consequently, it aims to control criminal activities by introducing and enforcing the standard of conduct applicable on all American citizens without discrimination. Being the torch-bearer of human rights, the US law vehemently supports justice and equality and seriously condemns any act that may challenge the word of law by attacking or harming others through words or action or both. However, it does not imposes bar or restrictions on non-observing of moral values, and allows any type of activities provided these do not damage the rights of the victim.

A Review On Alcoholic Detection From EEG Signals

A Review On Alcoholic Detection From EEG Signals Abstract: This review covers advances of the past decade, in the development of EEG signal processing algorithms for alcoholic detection. In recent years, various computational approaches have been proposed to detect alcoholism from EEG recordings. In this paper, we review some of those approaches, and discuss their limitations and potential In part I, an introduction to the effect of alcohol on EEG is discussed briefly. We review some of the known effects of alcohol on EEG signal in part II. Some of the exiting state of the art signal processing techniques for alcoholic detection in EEG recordings are discussed in part III. A review of various signal processing methods used to classify alcoholics and controls is done. The potential and limitation of such computational approaches are discussed in part IV. A discussion on the potential use of EEG as a biomarker for alcoholism and as a mass screening tool is also discussed .At the end of the paper, we conclude by briefly addressing the future challenges and open problems in part V. PART I Introduction Alcoholism is a social bane that is affecting the human life in all aspects. Not only it causes damage to the human brain and other organs of the body in various ways, it also brings about a lot of difficulties and discomfort to an alcoholic person in his/her social life. A lot of research has gone into finding the ill effects and the extent to which it damages the human body. Some of the harmful effects include lack of coordination between body and mind, loss of vision, imbalance in walking, incoherent speech, memory slips, depression to name a few. These effects can be observed after only a few drinks and they may vanish once the person gives up drinking. However a person who is addicted to drinking large quantities of alcohol for a long time may be affected with these effects that persist for a longer time and severely damage one or more organs of the body. The way in which alcohol affects the brain and the probable reversal of the ill effects caused by heavy drinking on the brain still remain as hot topics in alcohol research [1]. Some of the factors that determine the extent to which alcohol affects the brain are: i) quantity and how frequently a person drinks ii) the age of the subject at which the habit of drinking started and how long it is being continued iii) subjects age, education, gender, genetic predisposition and family history of alcoholism iv) possibility of prenatal exposure and the overall health condition[47]. Heavy drinking not only affects the human brain but it also damages other vital organs of the body. It is also found that females are more affected than males in the way the alcohol consumption damages the various organs of the body. For example, a few years of heavy drinking in women cause cirrhosis [48] cardiomyopathy [49] and nerve damage [50] than in alcoholic men. However, the studies on sensitivity of females brain to alcohol-induced brain damage as compared with males, have not shown any conclusive results [1]. Alcohol intake combined with poor general health condition or with severe liver disease causes damage to the human brain in an indirect manner. For example, thiamine deficiency is common in people with alcoholism which is a result of poor overall nutrition [1].  A large percentage of alcoholics suffer from thiamine deficiency and some may even develop severe brain disorders such as [51] Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) [52]. The symptoms of WKS include mental confusi on, oculomotor disturbances and difficulty with muscle coordination, forgetfulness and frustration and have difficulty with walking and coordination [53] . One of the organs that severely gets affected by long term alcohol consumption in large quantities is the liver. In a person with a history of heavy long-term drinking, the liver s function is to breakdown alcohol into harmless by-products and flush them out of the body. However, the liver may get damaged due to excessive alcohol intake, leading to liver cirrhosis. This condition of the liver can harm the brain, leading to a potentially fatal brain disorder called hepatic encephalopathy [54].Some of the effects of Hepatic encephalopathy are disturbances in sleep patterns, mood swings, personality changes, anxiety, depression, attention deficits, difficulty in coordination like shaking of the hands ( asterixis). In the worst case, patients may slip into coma ( hepatic coma), which can lead to death. It is indeed difficult to diagnose these effects as related to hepatic encephalopathy. New imaging techniques assist researchers to study specific regions of brain in such patients, which helps them in knowing exactly how hepatic encephalopathy progresses. The studies have confirmed that at least two toxic substances, ammonia and manganese are responsible for the development of hepatic encephalopathy. The severely damaged liver cells allow these harmful toxic products to enter the brain, which in turn harms the brain cells. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy may lead to physical, learning, and behavioural problems in the developing fetal brain. The most serious of these problems is the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Children with FAS may have distinct facial features [1]. FAS infants growth may be lesser than average. They may suffer from microcephaly. In infants with this syndrome, only a fewer neurons may be present or a fewer neurons may function properly. This will lead to problems in learning and behaviour for a long term. All alcoholics do not experience the ill effects of alcohol consumption in a similar manner to the same extent. The source of the disease may be different for different patients. This makes it difficult to pinpoint any one parameter as responsible for the brain disorders found in alcoholics. That is why, one of the active areas of research is to study why some patients are vulnerable to brain deficits while others are not [55]. Most alcoholics suffering from cognitive disorder improve in the structure and functioning of the brain within a year of abstinence [56-58].This may not be true in all cases. Therefore clinicians must devise different types of treatment methods to cater to different patients. They use brain-imaging techniques to determine the course and progress of treatment over a period of time. Researchers use imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electrophysiological brain mapping. These methods provide precise and accurate information on structural, functional and biochemical changes in patients brain over time. Sometimes, two or more brain imaging methods are used together to correlate the results and monitor when a chronic alcoholic patient stops drinking and again after long periods of sobriety ,the possibility of relapse of the drinking habit in the patient [59]. The process of memorization and retrieval depend on factors such as attention and motivation [60]. MRI of brain assist the physicians to study the effects of long time abstinence from alcohol on memory and attention, as well as changes that take place when drinking habit relapses. The aim of these studies is to differentiate between the alcohol-induced permanent effects on the brain and those which are reversible with abstinence. PET imaging assists researchers to visualize, in the living brain, the damages associated with heavy alcohol consumption [61]. This also enables scientists to analyse alcohols effects on neurotransmitter systems, brain cell metabolism and blood flow within the brain. These studies on alcoholics have shown the frontal lobe disorders, which are responsible for various functions associated with learning and memory and deficits in cerebellum which controls movement and coordination. PET can also be used for monitoring the effects of alcoholism treatment on the a ffected parts of the brain and may give new directions in developing medications to rectify the chemical deficits found in the brains of people with alcohol dependence. Numerous studies have shown the ill effects of alcohol on the human brain by observing and analysing the electroencephalogram (EEG) of the alcoholic subject and compared with that of a control subject. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a simple non invasive tool that records the brains electrical signals by placing electrodes on the scalp. These signals show real-time activity as it occurs in the brain. Many studies have shown that the effect of alcohol on the human brain can be perceived by processing the recording the EEG of an alcoholic subject. The single channel EEG recordings of a control and an alcoholic subject are as shown in fig 1.It can be observed that the time series EEG data of both control and alcoholic subjects are not clearly perceptible to the bare human eye. However, with the help of certain signal processing techniques either in the time domain or frequency domain or time-frequency domain or spatial domain techniques, the latent features can be extracted to identify the effects of alcohol on the human brain. As an illustration, the PSDs of the EEG of both control and alcoholic subject are as shown in fig2. From this it is very clear that the power contained in various frequency components are different for both control and alcoholic subjects. C:UsersMUDocumentsMATLABeeg_epilep_codestime_series_data.jpg C:UsersMUDocumentsMATLABeeg_epilep_codespsd_c_a.jpg Fig 1.Time series EEG data of control Fig2. PSD plot of EEG of control and alcoholic subjects and alcoholic subjects Many alcoholic men have low amplitude of their P3 components (fig 3). P3 amplitudes in alcoholic women reduce to a lesser extent than in men. The uniqueness of the reduction in P3 component among other symptoms is that even after the patient drops the habit of drinking alcohol, this reduction in P3 persists[63].Therefore this parameter can be thought of as a biomarker for alcohol dependence rather than an effect of alcohol consumption. There are many studies conducted on the reduced P3 amplitudes of young people who are not exposed to alcohol but their fathers being alcoholics [64, 65].Therefore, P3 can be used as biomarkers to help recognizing people who may be at greatest risk for developing problems with alcohol. graph Fig 3 . P3 amplitude in control and alcoholic subjects (Courtesy:[1]) Compared to other imaging methods discussed above, electrophysiological methods such as EEG processing for detection of alcoholics has a lot to offer in terms of mobility and cost involved. Hence it can be used as a mass screening tool for the underprivileged with a history of alcoholism. PART II Effect of Alcohol on EEG recordings Studies have shown that some of the major effects of alcohol on EEG are: i) enlargement of frontal negative occipital wave component ii) increase in ventricular and sulcal CSF volumes iii) Reduction in p300 component iv)Reduction in pre frontal cortical excitability v)Reduction in the amplitude of Error related negativity vi) Binge drinking effect on ÃŽ ´ and fast ÃŽ ²waves vii) Reduction in the power of EEG signal in frontal region and enhancement of ÃŽ ¸ waves . viii) high ÃŽ ² and ÃŽ ¸ power in the resting EEG, abnormalities in eye movements, in saccadic inhibition during antisaccade tasks. These effects, however, are not always easily detectable. There tends to be a large variability from patient to patient. As a result, none of these phenomena allow at present to reliably detect the effect of alcohol at an early stage. Many recent studies have concentrated on how to improve the sensitivity of EEG for detecting alcoholism. In the following we briefly review some of these studies. A. Enlargement of frontal negative occipittal wave component Way back in 1990, Jerald Varner et al., reported a study of alcoholic organic syndrome patients using the occipital wave components of the event related potential (ERP) as an electrophysiological parameter [3]. The study was conducted on normal, Korsakoff, and alcoholic dementia patients. The frontal negative occipital wave was observed to be increased in alcoholic organic brain syndrome patients and it was concluded that it was probably due to an attention deficit, indicating a probable frontal lobe dysfunction. B. Increase in ventricular and sulcal CSF volumes Adolf Pfefferbaum et al., [4] quantified brain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes derived from computed tomography (CT) in alcoholics and controls. The results showed that the ventricular and sulcal CSF volumes in alcoholic patients were greater than was expected for their age. This also proved the previous results obtained from a similar study using CT and MRI showing greater vulnerability of the aging brain to alcohol. The absolute ventricular volumes were similar in MRI and CT, while MRI results showed larger sulcal volume estimates than the CT. It was concluded that MRI slice thickness and its resolution to partial volume effects led to this increase in sulcal volume estimate. C. Reduction in p300 component Shirley Y. Hill et al., studied the effect of alcohol on the p300 component [9] .According to this study , it was found that only patients(female) with comorbid depression had a reduced p300 amplitude ,while there was no difference in other alcoholic and control subjects(male and female) . From this study, it was also concluded that the P300 amplitude reduction seen in children prone to developing alcoholism seems to represent a delay in neuron development that normalizes as they grow into adulthood. In another similar study, Michio Hada et al., used bootstrap analysis method in which P3a current source density (CSD) maps showed distinct topographic mapping between alcoholics and control subjects in all the brain regions [10]. More sources and sinks were seen in the alcoholics than in the control subjects for P3a. The reduced P3a amplitude and sinks in alcoholics coupled with less specificity in their CSD maps, suggested disorganized less efficient functioning of the brain. This suggests a probable underlying CNS hyper excitability in alcoholics due to cortical disinhibition . D. Reduction in pre frontal cortical excitability Seppo Kahkonen et al. [13], reported the effects of alcohol on the prefrontal cortex in nine healthy subjects using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) activated electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Changes in EEG activity lasting up to 270 ms post stimulus were observed as a response to activation by TMS. The changes were observed more prominently at anterior electrodes suggesting the reduction in excitability in the prefrontal cortex due to alcohol. E. Reduction in the amplitude of Error related negativity A study by Clay B Holroyd et al., indicated that alcohol consumption reduces the amplitude of the error-related negativity (ERN)[14] component of the event related potential(ERP), a sharp negative going signal that occurs in the EEG at the instant when an incorrect motor response starts ( ie.,error commission). F. Binge drinking effect on ÃŽ ´ and fast ÃŽ ² waves Kelley E Courtney et al. evaluated the spectral power in the ÃŽ ´ and fast ÃŽ ² waves of EEG recordings of young undergraduate university students who varied in their binge drinking history [18].The aim of the study was to characterize the effects of binge drinking on central nervous system(CNS) neuroelectric activity in male and female undergraduate subjects. The EEG recordings of these subjects showed enhanced spectral power in the ÃŽ ´ (0-4 Hz) and fast- ÃŽ ² (20-35 Hz) bands for the high-binge drinkers. Although the dependence of fast- ÃŽ ² power on binge drinking still remains unclear, the change in fast- ÃŽ ² power indicates that EEG spectral pattern of high-binge drinkers is similar to that of alcoholics. This study indicated that the relative enhancement in fast- ÃŽ ² power may be used as a biomarker for potential future alcoholism even in the absence of familial alcoholism. G.Effect on ÃŽ ²,ÃŽ ¸ ,ÃŽ ³ waves ,eye movement disorders and saccadic inhibition Wu Di et al., discussed the change in the power of EEG signal in various parts of the brain after consuming alcohol , resulting in harmful effects on different parts of the brain and the body[19]. It was observed that while in the frontal region the power of the EEG signal decreased with the increase in the quantity of alcohol intake, the power of the EEG signal in central, occipital region increased. This study also revealed that while in the frontal region, the alcohol intake caused a transformation in the fast wave with decrease in the power of EEG signal, the fast wave reduced with an increase in the power of EEG signal in the central and occipital region. It was also observed that while the effect of alcohol in the frontal region indicated nerve stimulation of alcohol in this part, making drinkers to become excited after alcohol intake, in the central and occipital region, the effect of alcohol consumption led to an inhibitory action on the neuron cells, resulting in the weakeni ng of the body coordination and eyesight. Further it was noted that increase in alcohol intake resulted in ÃŽ ¸ waves generation and gradual enhancement as the subjects were in state of drowsiness and the central nervous system(CNS) of the subjects was inhibited. At the same time, ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ² waves were seen to gradually enhance and the region of these waves expanded after consuming alcohol. The study also indicated that the correlation between parts of brain decreased gradually because the clustering of the EEG signal was separated gradually into small clusters with increased alcohol intake. From this observation, it was concluded that too much drinking may lead to the decrease of balance, stability between the parts of the brain. S. Campanella et al., [41], studied various physiological parameters such as continuous EEG, oculomotor measures, cognitive ERPs and event-related oscillations that are affected in chronic alcoholic patients compared to healthy controls. This study was aimed at identifying links between these physiological parameters, altered cognitive processes and specific clinical symptoms. The result of their study showed:(1) high beta and theta power in the resting EEG, suggesting hyperarousal of CNS (2) abnormalities in smooth pursuit eye movements, in saccadic inhibition during antisaccade tasks, and in prepulse inhibition, suggesting disturbed attention and abnormal prefrontal inhibitory cortical dysfunction; (3) decreased amplitude for cognitive ERPs situated along the continuum of information processing, suggesting that alcoholism is associated with neurophysiological deficits at the level of the sensory cortex and not only disturbances involving associative cortices and limbic structures; and (4) decreased theta, gamma and delta oscillations, suggesting cognitive disinhibition at a functional level. Ajayan Padmanabhapillai et al.,[71] investigated the early evoked gamma band response in male adolescents at high risk and at low risk groups for a visual stimulus. The results indicate that the deficient early evoked gamma band response may indicate the risk of development of alcoholism and could be a potential bio marker for future addiction to alcoholism. David A. Kareken et al., [72] used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine how family history affects the brains response to subjects preferred alcoholic drink odours (AO) as compared to appetitive control odours (ApCO). This study suggested that a family history of alcoholism and brain exposure to alcohol odour in heavy drinkers differentially affect the way in which brain responds to alcohol cues. H.Whole-genome association study on EEG waves Variation in resting EEG is associated with common, complex psychiatric diseases such as alcoholism, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders although it can not be used as a diagnostic tool for any of them. Such traits appear to be dependent on the underlying molecular processes than on clinical symptoms, and points to an alternative method for the identification of genetic variation that characterize complex psychiatric disorders. Colin A. Hodgkinsona et al.,[39], performed a whole-genome association study on alpha (ÃŽ ±), beta (ÃŽ ²), and theta (ÃŽ ¸) EEG power in a Native American cohort of 322 individuals to maintain the genetic and environmental homogeneity of this population. Three genes SGIP1, ST6GALNAC3 and UGDH were nominally associated to variability of ÃŽ ¸ or ÃŽ ± power. SGIP1 was estimated to account for 8.8 % of variance in ÃŽ ¸ power and this association was replicated in US Caucasians, where it accounted for 3.5% of the variance. Bayesian analysis of prior probability of association based upon earlier linkage to chromosome 1 and enrichment for vesicle-related transport proteins established the genuineness of the association of SGIP1 with ÃŽ ¸ power. It was also found that the association of SGIP1 with alcoholism provides validation of the use of EEG as an endo phenotype for alcoholism. I.Effect of alcohol on facilitation effect The aim of this study by P. Maurage et al., [32], was to study cross modal (auditory-visual) processing while the subjects were given an emotional stimuli and specifically the auditory-visual facilitation effect. Twenty patients suffering from alcoholism, and 20 healthy controls were asked to identify the emotion (anger or happiness) displayed by auditory, visual or auditory-visual stimuli. The stimuli were designed to elicit a facilitation effect (namely, faster reaction times (RTs) for crossmodal condition than for unimodal ones).It was observed that the alcoholics showed less significant facilitation effect compared to their healthy counterparts.This lack of facilitation effect may be used as a biomarker for an impaired auditory-visual processing in alcoholics. PART III I. Signal processing techniques for detection of alcoholism in EEG signal The Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a bio signal containing information about the state of the brain. The latent information present in the EEG signal may not be visible for the human expert and any subtle variations hence cannot be observed and monitored as and when it occurs. Especially in the time series EEG data, subtle variations can not be perceived by human eye. In such a situation the computational approach becomes very important to extract any such micro variations in the EEG recording, containing significant information about the status of any pathology present. Also, since EEG is an inexpensive method and due to its portability, it can be used as a powerful mass screening tool. EEG signals are the signatures of neural activities. They are captured by multiple-electrode either invasively or non-invasively, over the cortex under the skull, or certain locations over the scalp, and can be recorded in different formats. The signals are normally presented in the time domain, but by applying simple signal processing tools such as the Fourier transform to perform frequency analysis and some imaging tools to visualize EEG topographies , the brain activities can be visualized in frequency or spatial domains respectively. Various time domain, frequency domain, time-frequency methods, statistical signal processing technique such as Wavelet transform [5], Recurrent Neural network [6], nonlinear systems [7], logistic regression [8], spectral densities of DWT coefficients [16], etc., and chaotic signal processing techniques [2] are used to study the pathology of brain such as epilepsy. These techniques are also used to classify between alcoholic, non-alcoholic and epilept ic subjects. In recent years, several research groups have started investigating the potential of electroencephalograms (EEGs) for detecting alcoholism and study the short term and long term effects on the brain. There have been many algorithms developed so far for processing EEG signals. Some of the operations include time-domain analysis, frequency-domain analysis, spatial-domain analysis, and multiway processing. Also, several algorithms have been developed to visualize the brain activity from images reconstructed from only the EEGs. Separation of the desired sources from the multisensor EEGs has been another research area. This can later lead to the detection of brain abnormalities such as epilepsy and the sources related to various physical and mental activities. In this section, some of the signal processing techniques applied to EEG signal for the detection of alcoholism is reviewed. A. Extraction of spectral band power and parametric methods Ong, Kok Mang et al, have shown that VEP (visually evoked potential) could be influenced by long term alcohol abuse [20]. The power spectral density of the recorded VEP was estimated using Burg algorithm (parametric analysis) and the extracted Gamma band power was used as features to train the neural network to classify the alcoholics and non-alcoholics. The authors claim that classification result of 97.50% accuracy has been achieved, to discriminate alcoholics from non-alcoholics.Kok-Meng Ong et al., have proposed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method for the optimization of the selection of a subset of channels for single trial Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP) signals [23]. The proposed method was successful in optimizing a subset of channels that guaruntees high classification accuracy of alcoholics and non-alcoholics Another similar study by Ramaswamy Palaniappan et al., show that the difference of VEP signals between alcoholics and non-alcoholics can be observed using two spectral power ratios in gamma band (37-50 Hz) extracted from seven channels. This result implies that gamma band spectral power could be used as a biomarker on the lasting effects of long-term use of alcohol on visual response though the studied alcoholics have been abstinent for a minimum period of 1 month. Here Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the selection of subset of the feature set and classification is done with Fuzzy ARTMAP (FA) classifier [11], using VEP signals. The seven spectral bands of VEP signals are extracted using infinite impulse response (IIR) band-pass filters with constant gain and uniform bandwidth. Spectral power in these bands is calculated using Parsevals theorem and used as features to train the FA and ML-BP classifiers. The proposed technique discriminates alcoholics from non-alcoholics wit h high accuracy. In continuation of the previous work, Ramaswamy Palaniappan et al., in their work have derived second order autoregressive (AR) coefficients [21] to discriminate alcoholics using single trial gamma band Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) signals using 3 different classifiers: Simplified Fuzzy ARTMAP (SFA) neural network (NN), Multilayer-perceptron-back propagation (MLP-BP) NN and Linear Discriminant (LD) function . Here elliptic filtering was used in the gamma band spectral range on single trial VEP signals. The average classification errors of 2.6%, 2.8% and 11.9% were obtained from LD, MLP-BP and SFA classifiers. The high accuracy of LD classification results show the effectiveness of the proposed method to discriminate between alcoholic subjects and controls. Several improvements were proposed to previous work of automated classification of alcoholics and non-alcoholics [24] by the same author. In the previous paper, MLP-NN classifying energy of gamma band VEP signals gave the best cla ssification performance using 800 VEP signals from 10 alcoholics and 10 non-alcoholics. Here, the dataset was extended to include 3560 VEP signals from 102 subjects: 62 alcoholics and 40 non-alcoholic. The classification performance was improved by i) increasing the gamma band spectral range ii) Multiple Signal Classification algorithm was used to obtain the power of the dominant frequency in gamma band VEP signals for feature extraction iii) the use of the k nearest neighbour classifier. The performance was validated by a 10-fold cross validation classification. Modification resulted in an improvement in the classification percentage from 94.49% to 98.71% in maximum averaged CVC accuracy. In this paper by Ramaswamy Palaniappan [30], a method is proposed to discriminate chronic alcoholic from non-alcoholic subjects while the subjects were sober. Energies of EEG signals in multiple gamma bands were used as features while the subjects were asked to do a picture recognition task .A neural network was used for classifying chronic alcoholic subjects from controls. Leave one out cross validation strategy revealed that alcoholics could be discriminated from non-alcoholics with accuracy of 94.55%. This study shows that the energy in gamma band spectral energy can be used as a biomarker for screening of alcoholics. The classification of chronic alcoholics from non-alcoholics using the EEG is studied in this paper by A Shahina et al., [27].Weighted Linear Prediction Cepstral Coefficients were extracted from the VEP and used as discriminating feature vectors. Auto associative neural network was used to classify these vectors into alcoholics and non alcoholics. A recognition accuracy of 52.5% is achieved. This shows that all the 64 channels do not have the same discriminatory attributes causing a reduction in the accuracy levels. Hence the authors conclude that in order to improve the classification performance, there is a need for the optimization of the number of channels to be considered for classification. In this study by Tugce Balli et al., [31], they investigated the electrophysiological differences between alcoholic and control subjects using two different approaches namely complexity and energy analysis. The EEG data used in this study were recorded from 77 alcoholic and 44 control subjects while the subjects were performing delayed matching to sample object recognition task for three types of stimuli. The experimental paradigm evokes object recognition, visual short-term memory and decision making abilities. The results indicated that all regions (i.e. frontal, central, temporal, parietal and occipital) in the brain exhibit more complexity and less energy for alcoholic subjects as compared to controls. When different visual stimuli pairs were compared among alcoholic and control subjects, the results from energy analysis showed group wise differences in occipital and parietal regions. These results provide a strong indication on the impairment in brains electrophysiological activ ity for alcoholic subjects due to a history of long term alcohol abuse. Chronic alcoholism is classically associated with major deficits in the visual and auditory processing of emotions. However, the cross modal (auditory-visual) processing of emotional stimuli, which occurs most frequently in everyday life, has not yet been explored.

Views on War in Vonneguts Slaughter House Five Essay -- Slaughter Hou

Views on War in Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five    Many people returned from World War II with disturbing images forever stuck in their heads. Others returned and went crazy due to the many hardships and terrors faced. The protagonist in Slaughter-House Five, Billy Pilgrim, has to deal with some of these things along with many other complications in his life. Slaughter House Five (1968), by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., is an anti-war novel about a man’s life before, after and during the time he spent fighting in World War II. While Billy is trying to escape from behind enemy lines, he is captured and imprisoned in a German slaughterhouse. The author tells of Billy’s terrible experiences there. After the war, Billy marries and goes to school to become an optometrist. During his schooling, he is put in a mental institution. As it is later explained in the novel, Billy was abducted by aliens and lived on their planet in their zoo for a period of time. Throughout this novel, Billy’s life doesn’t occur in a series of ev ents. He also doesn’t have flashbacks of certain points in his life. Instead, he lives his life through time travel. His life jumps from many points in time including his experiences in the war, before the war, after the war and also on the planet of Tralfamadore. Throughout this novel, Billy Pilgrim’s and other humans’ views on war are simple: in essence, it’s one of the most destructive things that there is, but to the aliens on the planet of Tralfamadore, war is unimportant in the long run and should not be dwelled on.    By opening the cover of this novel, one might notice the subtitle. Underneath the title, Slaughter-House Five, reads the subtitle: The Children’s Crusade A Duty-Dance with Death. Without even reading the ... ...his novel believe war to be the most disgusting and most distructful thing in the universe, the Tralfamadorians enlighten one human on their thoughts of war. They don’t feel Billy should put as much time as he does into dwelling on something like war that is inevitable. They ignore it and rate it relatively low on a scale of importance. From World War II, Billy is left with many vivid memories that he would rather not have. He has first handedly seen what he thinks is the most evil thing in the universe. He is frequently haunted by images of his experiences. But maybe if he would just tell himself that there is nothing he can do about war, maybe if he just looked the other way and ignored it, maybe then he would be happy and in a state of peace like the Tralfamadorians. Work Cited    Vonnegut, Kurt. SlaughterHouse Five. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc. 1980

Hiring the Educated

Hiring the Educated — A New Approach to Staffing the Automobile Factory Dawn Kennedy January 25, 2012 Managing Human Resources Dr. Pat Smallwood Hiring the Educated — A New Approach to Staffing the Automobile Factory Overview: This case shows us how Ford and Chrysler’s workforce and staffing processes have changed over the years. We see how the industry has moved from being dominated by the less educated worker to the highly educated worker and why this phenomenon has taken place. We are also taken through how the new selection process that Ford uses to hire it’s employees, as well as the statistical information surrounding their hiring process. Question 1: What do you think Ford’s overall strategic perspective is? How well does its new selection system support this strategy? Ford’s overall strategic perspective is to hire the highly educated worker in an effort to lower training costs and to be able to succeed in the global market. According to the article, I would that Ford is right on target as far as cutting training costs. As far as succeeding in the global market, the article makes it clear that this remains to be seen, however, my personal opinion is that Ford is a very strong competitor and will continue to be for many years to come. Question 2: What steps are included in Ford’s selection procedure? According to the chapter, what other techniques could it incorporate? Ford’s selection process includes rigorous math and cognitive testing, as well as teamwork skills testing and finally drug testing, followed by a physical exam. Other techniques that could have been incorporated include trainability testing, personality testing, and honesty testing. Question 3: Are there any other factors that are causing the auto companies to alter their selection procedures and look for more educated employees? They are looking for ways to lower training costs and they also need more employees who can supervise themselves due to a lack of adequately trained supervisors. Question 4: How do you think this scenario will play out? Will the educated workers leave? Will they stay? I think the educated workers will stay because they are now the ones that are being sought after for their ability to multitask and be more fluid within the different departments. Question 5: What type of work will the high school dropouts and immigrants who used to be selected to work in these car plants now be doing? The high school dropouts and immigrants may be given an opportunity to prove themselves through the use of the rigorous testing Ford has implemented for their hiring processes, but chances are that these individuals will be demoted or let go for more menial labor positions. Question 6: What benefits will Chrysler get from educating high school students? The recruits will be highly educated in the areas in which Chrysler consider important and will be work-ready upon their graduation from high school. This means that the people that they are educating while still in school will be valuable assets to their company as soon as they graduate. Once they are available to the general workforce, there will be no delay in these individuals ability to begin being of service to Chrysler. CERTIFICATION OF AUTHORSHIP: Upon submission of this paper I certify that I am the author of this paper and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared specifically for this course. ************************************************************************ Instructor’s grade on assignment: ______________ Instructor’s comments:

Los Angeles in the movies

Los Angeles in the Movies: Banham ‘s or Davis' vision of the metropolis?Los Angeles has ever been represented by the media in really opposite ways, from the propaganda images in the 1920s advertisement Los Angeles as a Eden, to the noir novels of the 1940s, seeking to shatter that portraiture. Urban Planners and historiographers besides portion this split position. Reyner Banham ‘s The Architecture of Four Ecologies ( 1971 ) is like a court to the metropolis, researching everything that makes Los Angeles the manner it is ; from the expressway right down to surfboard design, Banham has an undeniable love for the metropolis. Mike Davis, in contrast pigments a really black portrayal of the metropolis in City of Quartz ( 1990 ) , concentrating on the corruptness, development and organized crime demographics that have made Los Angeles what it is today. In The Ecology of Fear ( 1998 ) , he concludes that the metropolis should ne'er hold been built due to the frequence and inevi tableness of natural catastrophes. These contrasting positions of Los Angeles have been represented infinite times through Hollywood films. The bulk of the clip, when a movie is set in Los Angeles, it is either important to the narrative, or at least has some function to play. One of the grounds why the metropolis is so popular with managers and film writers is because of this love-hate relationship. Which side of Los Angeles the manager depicts depends mostly on the narrative itself. In this essay I will look at an array of movies, analysing whether they portray Banham ‘s optimistic Los Angeles, or Davis ‘s black reading. I will concentrate on three movies in item ; L.A. Story, Volcano and ( 500 ) Days of Summer. Los Angeles has been a subject of argument throughout its life-time. Different parties have repeatedly tried to picture their version of Los Angeles, either for personal addition, or to merely state a good narrative. As Michael Sorkin comments, ‘L.A. Is likely the most mediated town in America, about unviewable save through the assumed scrim of its mythologizers ‘ . ( 1 ) Morrow Mayo describes Los Angeles since 1988 as a ‘commodity ; something to be advertised and sold to the people of the United States ‘ . This image created by authors, antiquaries, and publicizers which Davis refers to as the ‘Arroyo Set ‘ at the bend of the 20th century ‘created a comprehensive fiction of Southern California ‘ . ‘Their imagination, motives, values and fables were in bend infinitely reproduced by Hollywood, while go oning to be incorporated into the substitute landscape of suburban Southern California ‘ . As the Depression hit, it shattered the dream-addicted Los Angeles and created a settlement of authors intent on exposing the rough worlds of L.A. life. ‘These Depression-crazed center categories of Southern California became, in one manner or another, the original supporters of that great anti-myth normally known as noir†¦ .a sequence of through-the-glass-darkly novels†¦ repainted the image of Los Angeles as a deracinated urban snake pit ‘ Davis calls Banham ‘s ‘The Architecture of Four Ecolgies ‘ ‘the first serious jubilation of the metropolis since the supporter yearss of the 1920s ‘ . Banham went against traditional critics and declared ‘I love the topographic point with a passion that goes beyond sense or ground ‘ , he found virtuousness in about everything, including the car, hillside places and even surfboards. The Architecture of Four Ecologies became a ‘turning point in the rating of the metropolis by the international clerisy ‘ . Since so it has become acceptable and platitude to portray Los Angeles favorably, without seeking to sell it as a trade name. Mike Davis, amongst many others, does non portion Banham ‘s position. In City of Quartz and The Ecology of Fear he uses historical grounds to foreground the the societal dysfunction, economic disparity and menace from natural catastrophe, painitng an about tragic image of Los Angeles. This contrast has resulted in legion movies about Los Angeles being produced, each one with a clear message portraying the metropolis as either Banham ‘s glorious reading, or Davis ‘ black calamity.L.A Story ( 1991 )L.A. Story is a romantic comedy about a weather forecaster who finds love with the assistance of a speaking freeway mark. It is described as a ‘celebration of life and L.A Culture ‘ , and would decidedly be considered to be portraying Banham ‘s L.A. The rubric sequence shows many facets of Los Angeles in a positive and entertaining manor, such as a street of people all roll uping their newspapers in unison or a pool full of people beckoning at a winging hot dog publicity. Similarly to Banham, the movie does n't shy away from demoing the negative facets of Los Angles, instead it foreground them in a amusing manner. One illustration would be the chief character avoiding the gridlock traffic by driving on the pavement and through Parkss, or the humourous manner in which a minor temblor effects a eating house. Banham sees the ‘automobile as a work of art and the expressway as a suited gallery in which to expose it ‘ . During the title sequence of L.A. Story we are shown many illustrations of customized autos. There is besides an aged twosome sauntering along with walking AIDSs, who so acquire into a Ferrari and speed off, reminiscent of Banham ‘s mention to ‘Aunt Nabby ‘ driving her ‘chrome xanthous Volkswagen with reversed wheels and a voom-voom fumes. ‘ For Banham, the expressway system is ‘one of the greater plants of adult male ‘ , he sees it as an built-in portion of Los Angeles, non merely in the manner it transports its occupants but besides in the manner it makes us read Los Angeles, through ‘movement, non monument ‘ . He describes the Santa Monica/San Diego intersection as ‘a work or art, both as a form on the map, as a memorial against the sky, and as a kinetic experience as one sweeps through it ‘ . Davis, contrary to Banham, sees the expressway system merely as the devastation of the natural landscape. ‘The car besides devoured extortionate measures of premier land. By 1970 more than 1/3 of the surface country of the Los Angeles part was dedicated to the auto. What coevalss of tourers and migrators had one time admired as a existent life garden of Eden was now buried under an estimated 3 billion dozenss of concrete. ‘ Many films have depicted the expressway system in a positive manor, and L.A. Story is no exclusion, with it ‘s beautiful dark clip shootings of the busy expresswaies, or by following a individual auto down a coastal route, L.A. Story goes beyond that of many other movies by giving the expressway system ( and arguably Los Angeles itself ) a personality. A freeway mark starts pass oning with the chief character, stating ‘Los Angeles wants to assist you ‘ . The fact that a expressway mark was chosen as the method of communicating with the chief character shows what an of import function the expressway system plays in this film, and besides within Los Angeles itself. If Banham had to give Los Angles a method of communicating with a occupant, I think it would be the expressway ‘For the expressway, rather every bit much as the beach, is where the Angeleno is most himself, most integrally identified with his great metropolis ‘ . L.A. Story besides picks up on the thought that fledglings to the metropolis are a batch more likely to fall for its appeal and temptingness than people raised at that place. The British journalist acknowledges this when she compares her position to that of Rolland ‘s ; a Born and bred Angeleno. ‘Rolland thinks L.A. Is a topographic point for the brain-dead, he says if you turn off the sprinklers the topographic point would turn into a desert but I think, I do n't cognize, I think it ‘s a topographic point where they ‘ve taken a desert and turned it into their dreams. ‘ This is an thought that is really relevant in the instance of Davis and Banham. Davis was born and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, and so has a really in deepness cognition of the workings of the metropolis and uses this to an advantage in his book. Banham on the contrary, moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s and instantly fell in love with the topographic point. As Davis quotes in the first page of City of Quartz, ‘The superficial incentive, the alien, the picturesque has an consequence merely on the alien†¦ ‘ Walter Benjamin.Volcano ( 1997 )The gap scenes to Volcano look to be that of peaceable expectancy for the twenty-four hours in front, porters can be seen puting out fresh towels around pools, store forepart are being polished, Canis familiariss are being walked. Radio snippings are played over the top of the images to make an feeling of what an mundane forenoon in Los Angeles consists of. ‘It ‘s 9am, temperature is 72 grades†¦ a backup on the 10 westbound on Hoover due to patrol activity on the offramp, seemingly there was a driveby hiting†¦ eyelid surgery, organic structure surgery, citric acid Peels, whatever it takes to make a whole new you†¦ a male child of 15 is sentenced to 10 old ages for armed robbery†¦ trial thrust a mercedes from your local trader†¦ ‘ At first glimpse it seems as though the movie is seeking to portray the sunny, Eden that is used to pull foreigners though coupled with what you are hearing on the wireless you realize that this Los Angleles is one of disenchantment. The manager is subtly foregrounding the metropolis ‘s jobs, such as the offense, the traffic jobs, the shallow decorative nature, whilst demoing occupants traveling about their day-to-day lives in their created Eden without concern for these factors. To foreground this point farther, the camera keeps cutting off to the volcanic activity beneath the metropolis, whilst the occupants are blissfully incognizant of the at hand catastrophe. The mode in which the series of images flicks through ‘all thing L.A ‘ is similar to that of Banham and the subjects discussed in his book, such as far-out commercial architecture, the Angeleo and his active life style, publicizing on measure boards every bit good as portion of edifices. Even so, the message here is clearly that of Davis ‘s position. That this superficial Eden has come at an tremendous cost and those that can non see it, are merely taking non to see it. Volcano plays on the fact that Los Angeles is built on top of mistake lines, whilst traveling beyond the usual temblor scenario. There is nil new about the secret plan of the movie, the thought that Los Angleles suffers a natural catastrophe and is destroyed ( or about destroyed ) has been a frequent Hollywood happening, with no less than 183 films about the devastation of the metropolis. Volcano sees the Office of Emergency Management ( O.E.M ) conflict an belowground volcanic eruption, that showers the metropolis in deathly fire bombs and an eternal tide of lava from the Brea Tar cavities, down Wiltshire Boulevard and through the tube ruddy line. In The Ecology of Fear Mike Davis begins by naming the legion everyday catastrophes L.A. experiences, from temblors, inundations and wildfire to hurricanes, cyclones and snowstorms. He talks about how Angeleos have become ‘genuinely panicky of their environment ‘ . â€Å" The destructive February 1992, January 1993, and January 1995 inundations ( $ 500 million in harm ) were mere brackets around the April 1992 rebellion ( $ 1 billion ) , the October-November 1993 firestorms ( $ 1 billion ) and the January 1994 temblor ( $ 42 billion ) . † He looks in great item at the catastrophes that have effected Los Angeles from the early 1900 ‘s to the late 1990 ‘s and utilizing informations of the country right back to the mediaeval period, concludes that L.A. was really built during a ‘mild ‘ period and in fact ‘nature may merely be waking up after a long sleep ‘ . Therefore the catastrophe films created are non rather every bit fictional as they seem, harmonizing to Davis ‘ research. Davis uses legion illustrations to do his instance a really strong one. ‘Market-driven urbanisation has transgressed environmental common sense. Historic wildfire corridors have been turned into view-lot suburbs, wetland liquefaction zones into marinas, and floodplains into industrial territories and lodging piece of lands ‘ . His position is that Los Angeles has been ‘putting itself in injuries manner for coevalss ‘ , Volcano portions this position that the catastrophes abundant in L.A. are at least in portion, caused by over development. The first minor eruption of the vent was caused by the building of a subway extension. The geologist who first suspects a vent comments ‘This metropolis is eventually paying for its haughtiness, constructing a metro on a metropolis that ‘s seismically active ‘ to which the caput of the O.E.M answers ‘it was a foolish adult male that built his house upon the sand, Matthew 7.26 ‘ . Volcano depicts Davis ‘s version of Los Angeles wholly, from the whole thought of this immense graduated table natural catastrophe, to the manner it was represented on screen. It even has a clear message about the racism nowadays in Los Angeles. The crew manage finally to deviate the lava to the sea, therefore avoiding the devastation of 1000s of places, even so, the vent caused one million millions of harm and killed 100s. A message comes up on screen at the terminal calling the vent as ‘Mount Whilshire – position: ACTIVE ‘ screening that this minor triumph is non a lasting one and Los Angles occupants are still under menace.( 500 ) Days of Summer ( 2009 )( 500 ) Days of Summer has been described as ‘some kind of love missive to Downtown Los Angeles ( and Ikea ) ‘ . It is the narrative of how Tom meets Summer, their relationship, and eventual break-up, presented in a non-chronological format, each scene being introduced by which of the 500 yearss it is. Initially this may look rather difficult to put as neither Banham nor Davis spoke favorably of Downtown. Davis ‘s description of business district is improbably black, a blunt contrast to the Downtown depicted in the movie. ‘Downtown is normally shrouded in pungent xanthous smog while heat moving ridges billow down Wilshire Boulevard. Amid 100s of estates of liquefied asphalt and concrete there is barely a weed, much less a lawn or tree. ‘ Banham does non needfully knock Downtown, but states that it is non peculiarly relevant in a metropolis such as Los Angeles, who has no demand for a conventional ‘centre ‘ . Downtown is given a note ‘because that is all downtown Los Angeles deserves ‘ . He explains that because the metropolis has had no regular centrifugal growing, ‘other countries in the fields, foothills and seashore had begun to develop before the Pueblo could mutate convincingly into an important business district ‘ . With its glamour shootings of old business district edifice outsides and landmarks like the Bradbury edifice, ( 500 ) Days of Summer clearly is n't Banham ‘s Downtown, although it is Banham ‘s Los Angeles. Tom see ‘s Downtown in a manner which most people do n't, he see ‘s the beauty in the metropolis and Teachs Summer to see it excessively. Similarly to how Banham see ‘s the beauty in Los Angeles along with her ugliness. Whilst indicating out the edifices along the L.A. Skyline, Tom explains to Summer ‘that ‘s a parking batch†¦ that ‘s besides a parking batch†¦ there ‘s a batch of beautiful material here excessively though, I wish people would detect it more ‘ . The manner Tom see ‘s Downtown is represented by his religion in love. There ‘s a polar scene in which Tom goes to a party at Summer ‘s flat anticipating to hold a romantic reunion but in world she is now with person else. The scene is split into two screens ; world and outlook. As he leaves, sad and dejected, the street and the downtown skyline turns into Tom ‘s hand-sketched version of the same position, so acquire ‘s erased. As Tom ‘s dream miss disappears, so does his dream metropolis. The morale of the narrative is non one of desperation though, by the terminal of the movie, both Summer and Tom believe in his thought of love, and see the metropolis for it ‘s beauty, merely as Banham saw Los Angeles ‘ beauty when other intellectuals were speedy to knock it. Originally the secret plan was to be set in San Fransico but that did n't accommodate the thought of Tom seeing the beauty in things a batch of other people miss. In an interview about the movie, the two authors discuss the pick of metropolis. Scott Neustadter: [ Tom ] romanticizes everything ; we had non seen L.A. as a romanticized metropolis in the manner that you see Rome in a Fellini film or New York in a Woody Allen†¦ Michael Weber: Or San Francisco, excessively. It likely worked out better because we know San Francisco is beautiful. For me being a New Yorker, I did n't cognize. I ‘d ne'er seen that side of L.A. Although the topic of Downtown is non as Banham would hold described, it is deserving observing that Banham was looking at a 1970s Downtown and could non hold forseen it ‘s present twenty-four hours transmutation. Even so, ( 500 ) Days of Summer remains a Banham-esque expression at Los Angeles non because of the peculiar part depicted but because of the manor in which they both make the audience expression past the normally held negative position to happen something beautiful. By and large, a blithe movie, such as a comedy normally portrays Banham ‘s version of Los Angeles whereas a more serious, tense movie, perchance a thriller, would utilize Davis ‘ theoretical account. Film noir ( including modern twenty-four hours versions ) and catastrophe films are two genres that entirely depict Davis ‘ woebegone reading. Chinatown ( 1974 ) , along with many other private oculus movies, explores the corruptness, confederacy and misrepresentation nowadays in Los Angeles. The movie unravels an intricate dirt affecting L.A ‘s fresh H2O supply, where husbandmans are being forced to sell their land because of drouth, after which a new dike would airt H2O at that place greatly increasing the real-estate value. The movie was based on a existent dirt that took topographic point at the beginning of the century. Davis goes into item about the procedure in which developers took control of the land through corruptness and as a consequence, land which should hold been a legal impossibleness to construct on was approved. Both Chinatown and Davis ‘ books remind us of how the selfish uses of rich and powerful business communities has left the land waste and abused. The many movies about the baleful side of Hollywood basically represent Davis ‘ Los Angeles. Sunset Boulevard ( 1950 ) trades with what becomes of yesterdays stars when they are cast aside. Norma Desmond refuses to believe that her stardom has passed and becomes more and more crazed as she lives out her fantasy universe in the privacy of her deteriorating sign of the zodiac. The manner in which the house is described as ‘like the adult female in great outlook, Mrs Haversham, decomposing in her nuptials frock ‘ creates a tragic image of L.A ‘s private life every bit good as the architecture. As Davis quotes from John Rechy ; ‘You can decompose here without experiencing it ‘ . The Italian Job ( 2003 ) would be an illustration of Banham ‘s L.A. Although they deliberately produce the worst traffic jam in Los Anegeles ‘ history, they whole thing is done with a sense of hyperbole and sleekness reminiscent of Los Angeles itself. The concrete river defence that Davis hated so much, is used as a agency to playfully prove out the auto ‘s public presentation during a chase scene. Banham describes some of the edifices in Los Angeles as ‘lovably pathetic ‘ , which would be a perfect manner to sum up The Italian occupation. The same can be said for Pulp Fiction ( 1994 ) , although there is a big sum of force within the movie, the frequent Pop-references create a Los Angeles that would non experience out of topographic point within Banham ‘s ‘Architecture antic ‘ chapter. The scenes in ‘Jack Rabbit Slims ‘ eating house every bit good as Jules and Vincent ‘s celebrated ‘Royale with cheese ‘ du ologue would be illustrations of this. In decision, Los Angeles is a favorite subject among managers and film writers and has been the set of infinite movies. The huge bulk of these representations of Los Angeles can suit neatly into opposite corners of the spectrum ; Banham ‘s glorious metropolis, where even the ugliness is portion of a larger beauty, or Davis ‘s clip bomb metropolis that should ne'er hold been built in the first topographic point. I believe that the ground why so many movies feature Los Angeles as a outstanding function is because of these contrasting attitudes. Few metropoliss can tout such utmost representations of the same subject. Most movies are out to either glorify something, or reprobate it, and Los Angeles provides the perfect background for that undertaking. ‘Los Angeles seems infinitely held between these extremes: of visible radiation and dark – of surface and deepness. Of the promise, in brief, of a significance ever vibrating on the border of significance ‘ Grahame Clarke

Project Deliverable Business Requirements

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3 Tips for Producing Consistent Written Content 3 Tips for Producing Consistent Written Content 3 Tips for Producing Consistent Written Content By Mark Nichol There are many editorial strategies for making text easy to write, edit, and read. Here are a few guidelines for simplifying how your company, organization, or publication (even if it’s merely a personal blog) produces content. 1. Minimize House Style â€Å"House style† refers to treatment of specialized terminology and treatment of spelling, capitalization, numbers, or punctuation that differs from the norm. Before you decide to routinely spell a word in a variant or obsolete form (for example, writing archeology instead of archaeology), capitalize generic words (â€Å"The Company is dedicated to excellence†), use a numeral rather than spelling the number out (â€Å"We have 5 guiding principles†), or go against custom in formatting punctuation (for example, employing single quotation marks instead of double quotation marks), consider whether the divergence is worth the effort- and, if so, publicize and document the decision so that all content your organization produces is consistent. The more clear and thorough your house style is, the easier it is to maintain high-quality content. On the other hand, the less extensive and cumbersome your house style is, because there are fewer exceptions to attend to, the easier it is to maintain high-quality content. 2. Always Use the Serial Comma Many publications follow the Associated Press Style Book’s policy of omitting serial commas. (The serial comma is the last comma in a list such as â€Å"apples, oranges, and pears.†) Unfortunately, this modest effort to simplify by avoiding an optional punctuation mark actually complicates matters: When a list contains an element that includes a conjunction (â€Å"apples, oranges and tangerines and pears†), the sentence organization is compromised, so an exception must be made, which results in inconsistency. For the sake of uniformity and simplicity, always include a serial comma, the recommendation of The Chicago Manual of Style, the handbook of record for many book publishers and other content producers. On a related note, use semicolons for lists only when the presence of one or more commas within one or more list elements creates ambiguity, especially when one or more elements of the list is itself a list (â€Å"apples, oranges, and pears; milk and cheese; and bread†). The length of the list, and the presence of conjunctions within list elements, are not factors. 3. Capitalize Only When Necessary Capitalize proper names only, and capitalize job titles only before names. Generic abbreviations of entity names (â€Å"the company,† â€Å"the board,† â€Å"the department†) and references to concepts (â€Å"human resources†) are not proper names (though â€Å"Human Resources† is correct as the name of a specific department). Capitalization rules about art movements, medical and scientific terminology, geological and historical eras, and other scientific or cultural phenomena can seem (and sometimes are) arbitrary, so double-check reliable editorial resources. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Idioms About Numbers16 Misquoted Quotations10 Functions of the Comma

Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous for ESL

Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous for ESL The two most advanced tenses in the past are the past perfect and past perfect continuous. There are slight differences between these two tenses, but both are used to speak about actions that occur before another point in time in the past. Intermediate level English learners  can study the basic structures below, and then use the activities provided below. Teachers can print out and use materials in-class to help students acquire these two complicated tenses. There are also a number of lessons referenced below that focus on comprehension materials for both of these tenses. Finally, teachers can get ideas and tips from these guides to teaching the past perfect and past perfect continuous. Past Perfect There are two past tenses used to describe things that happen before another point in time in the past. Use the past perfect to talk about an event which had happened at some point in time before something took place. Tom had interviewed five times before he got his first job.She had already eaten by the time they arrived. Past Perfect Continuous The past perfect continuous is used to express how long something had been going on before something important happened in the past. Jane had been studying for four hours when he came home.Jack had been driving four over six hours when he finally pulled over to have lunch. Past Perfect Structure Positive Subject had past participle I, You, He, She, We, They had finished before I arrived. Negative Subject had not (hadnt) past participle I, You, He, She, We, They hadnt eaten before he finished the job. Questions Question word had subject past participle What - had he, she, you, we, they thought before I asked the question? Past Perfect Continuous Structure Positive Subject had been verb ing I, You, He, She, We, They had been working for two hours when she telephoned. Negative Subject had not (hadnt) been verb ing I, You, He, She, We, They hadnt been paying attention for long when he asked the question. Questions Question word (often How long) had been subject verb ing How long - had he, she, you, we, they been working before he arrived? Study the Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous in Depth Here are detailed guides to the past perfect and the past perfect continuous tenses. Each guide provides situations, common time expressions used with the tense, as well as examples. This guide is for choosing between using simple perfect forms or continuous perfect forms (present perfect, past perfect, future perfect vs present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future perfect continuous) is perfect for advanced level students looking to understand the fine points of these tenses. The past unreal (3rd) conditional also uses the past perfect form. Test Your Knowledge of Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous Once youve studied the rules - or if you already know the rules - test your knowledge with a past forms review or conditional forms quiz. Teach a Lesson about the Past Simple and Past Continuous Here are lessons on the site which have elements of the lesson which focus on the past perfect simple or past perfect continuous and their use with other tenses. Tense Identification Review - Integration Lesson for Upper-Level Students​A Difficult Situation - Using Modal Verbs of Probability in the PastMultinationals - Help or Hindrance? - use of past perfect/continuous to in debate lessons to provide contextGuilty! - communication lesson using a variety of past tensesSentence Auctions - students try to decide whether a sentence is a genuine masterpiece worth buying, includes examples of past perfect. Activities with the Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous Some activities that will help you practice: Waiting for a Friend - Advanced past and future forms (future continuous, 3rd conditional, etc.)English Tenses Timeline Chart - study how the past perfect and past perfect continuous relate to other tenses on a timeline.

Speed management proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Speed management proposal - Essay Example A general agreement that exists is that injuries on the roads increase because of speed and so objectives of safety and mobility can be conflicting. Globally, over speeding is one hell of a predicament to control in our roadways and is an immense contributor to most of the accidents witnessed both in rural and urban areas by traffic officials and residents. It is a belief by many individuals that eradication of speeding will save people’s lives by driving at a speed that is appropriate (Ioainnoou, 1997, pg 216). A road accident is considered related to over speeding if the driver is charged with an offense of over speeding. Additionally, if a traffic officer who is on the location indicates that the driver at some point was over speeding past the required speed limit when the accident occurred then it became over speeding-related. Road accidents related to over speeding have led to many deaths worldwide and, as a result, the community, and insurance firms have incurred excessi ve costs. Accidents or crash are more likely to happen the faster a driver drives and the higher the risk of getting injuries that are brutal and even loss of life. Accidents and speed relate to another due to a number of dependent factors. For instance, how severe the injury of the occupants of the vehicle involved in a crash is not only determined by the speed that resulted in the collision but also the difference in mass of the two involved vehicles.

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Budgeting Operational Plans ( Individual Project ) - Research Paper Example This enables the managers of a company to report to the shareholders how their investments have been maximized over a period of some time. Different companies use different approaches to recording and reporting their financial details (McConnell, 2001). Both manual methods and computer assisted technologies are being used to facilitate proper recording of financial details of companies. With the rapid developments in technology, software applications have been developed to assist companies manage their financial record effectively. As a result, more companies are using computer aided financial reporting so as to give more authentic and reliable financial reports. Financial statements have to be prepared in accordance with set standards and reported timely to users. Financial reporting systems help companies achieve their financial objectives through accurate recording and timely reporting of financial reports (Siegel & Shim, 2006). A financial reporting system refers to all the proce dures and processes that a company employs in order to ensure financial accountability. These include the polices and measures put in place to ensure proper recording, verification of financial transactions as well as timely reporting. ... The financial reporting database helps the company prepare its financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statements, and cash flow statements periodically. This can be done either on a monthly basis, quarterly or annually. The budgeting database enables a company to access past financial information and helps the managers calculate financial estimates for the next accounting period. The budgeting database is well structured with expense thresh holds and cost limits that managers wish to set for the company (McConnell, 2001). A general ledger contains different accounts where information relating to financial transactions is recorded by the accountants or bookkeepers. Activity Based Budget The activity-based budgeting is a new and emerging trend in budgeting that seeks to give companies a new approach to manage their budgets. Activity-based budgeting allows company executives to present their budget based on the actual costs of the company’s products as opposed to the traditional budgeting methods, which require the budget to include various factors, which affect costs such as training and compensation (Mancino, 2007). In Activity Based Budgeting (ABB), only those business activities that incur costs are taken into consideration when preparing budgets. These activities are then aligned to specific objectives and goals, and thereafter, the costs that will be required to meet these business activities are used to draft the budget. The traditional method of budgeting only allowed company executives to adjust the budgets for previous financial periods so that they meet the new objectives for the next financial

Persuasive Email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Persuasive Email - Essay Example Currently, they are working with one on one programs’ to assist adults in training and are providing basic courses for both children and adults that want to learn how to read. The implementation of the several initiatives by the Read for Life network has grown in demand so much that it now doesn’t have enough tutors for those that are illiterate in the community. As you may know, El Paso, Texas has the highest illiteracy rate in the nation, and three other Texas cities are in the top 10 with the highest illiteracy rate. You may also know that the literacy centers in the area are not available to those who have strenuous jobs, one parent families, odd working hours or to those who are in need financially1. By joining this venture, you will be giving back in one of the most needed areas of the community, while assisting a non – profit organization that is growing in demand. If you are interested in volunteering for Read for Life, please speak with me or contact Read for Life through the library, where they hold tutoring classes daily. I am willing to give volunteers 2 hours of paid time from work to volunteer and assist two adults per week. You will be able to take this time from work to help illiterate adults with one on one interaction while assisting a continuous need in the community. If you are interested in volunteering during hours that are outside of work, you can also speak with me about finding a representative for Read for

Love ----One National Organization to combat Terrorism & Crime---- Assignment

Love ----One National Organization to combat Terrorism & Crime---- - Assignment Example At present, the country is considering the establishment of a national police force that will assist in the fight against terrorism and crime. Terrorism and crime threatens numerous facets of America, including the overall national security and the state of the economy. It has evolved into an increasingly transnational nature, and with the expansion of the internet and more open borders, the country is under attack both internally and externally. Terrorism and crime compromise national security while subsequently weakening the economy. As the years go by, America has been concerned with the increasing interactions between criminals and international terrorists. These expanded links and networks pose a threat to the country and increase its vulnerability to attack by terrorist groups with both financial and criminal capabilities. As a result, the country is debating whether to or not to merge all law enforcement agencies into one police unit that will combat these attacks. The consolidation of various law enforcement agencies into one national police organization may seem like a good idea, but it is not. The proponents argue that a national police force will improve communication and eradicate the confusion that is in the three government police levels, hence creating joint efforts to combat terrorism. However, this is not the solution. Instead, it presents a number of problems that will need to be addressed. The United States is a federation of several self-governing states, each subordinate to the federal government but with the power to formulate and enforce its own laws. Federalism is the foundation of the American government system and the creation of a national police force will not only violate this system, but also prove to be cumbersome and unmanageable. Each law enforcement agency in the United States is different in terms of authority, rules of engagement, training and procedures.

HR challenges in managing a network of high-class cafes in the United Dissertation

HR challenges in managing a network of high-class cafes in the United Kingdom - Dissertation Example It is evident from the study that unlike any other business type, in its essence hospitality business is largely dominated by human resources (HR) over any other aspect of the business. In other words, people, working in a hospitality organisation, create success of their organisation by their actions and decision. Provision of quality service is the main goal of any hospitality organisation, as service is the main product that organisations sell. At the same time, hospitality concerns service that is not mechanical, but rather human-made, hence HR Management is a definitive factor in delivering quality. In general, hospitality service is created, maintained and supplied by humans at all stages of operation, and the right HR policy is a definitive factor in this industry. All stages are equally important and provide equal contribution towards delivering quality service and hence profit. However, the degree of importance of HR is significantly higher outside the profit objectives â₠¬â€œ a right HR policy makes a business favourable to work in if we look at this from employee perspective; and also to be a customer if we consider this from consumer’s perspective. This is why HR aspect in hospitality appears as one of the most significant investments that often get overlooked or underestimated. Another significant issue in this dissertation will concern quality control. It is unclear at first glance what defines quality and the dissertation will thus analyse the crucial factors defining quality specifically for our type of business. Providing for the right interpretation and understanding of quality will be an essential component for an appropriate assessment of an HR policy. One of the most significant challenges this dissertation is going to analyse is the motivation of employees within cafe business. It is apparent that majority of hospitality industry employees consider their workplace as a temporary solution to earn money or receive some experience in non-home country. Clearly a fraction of people working in this sector are looking to develop themselves as professionals and consider working in a cafe as a worthy professional career. Motivation is the most significant challenge for most employers in this sector, and it happens that high percentages of people are getting withdrawn for being below the required work standard. High staff turnover in cafe industry is also the major concern for most business owners and there are a number of reasons for this. According to Mehta (2005), â€Å"once employed, a fifty percent chance exists that any given employee will leave their job within a year†. The first reason was mentioned above as the minimised potential dedication to work from employees. Secondly, according to Directgov website, over 70% of current workforce in the restaurant and hospitality sector is foreign citizens attracted by a high living wage of ?7.85 per hour in London. Their term of stay at one workplace is often li mited by their visa term, or other immigration obstacles, as well as the desire to experience different jobs during

Economic Policy Recommendation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Economic Policy Recommendation - Term Paper Example Frictional unemployment is regarded as the easiest type of employment. It takes workers to shift from one job to another since some workers lose their jobs before they have other jobs lined up. This period of unemployment lasts for a short period and is not problematic from an economist’s point of view. Cyclical unemployment is the type that occurs during periods of recession or depression and the rates lowers during periods of high economic growth. During recessions, the demand for goods and services in a given economy falls. Companies react by laying off some workers and cutting production instead of reducing wages and prices. Unemployment therefore results since there are more workers in the economy than the available jobs. Economists put focus on the root causes of the economic downturns that result in this problem (John 2010).Structural unemployment occurs when the labour market has more workers than the available jobs. This kind of unemployment also results when workers possess skills that are not in high demand in the market place, and lack those that are in demand. Structural unemployment is significant since it is long term as the employers’ requirements and workers’ skills don’t match. Seasonal unemployment is another type that occurs in fields where worker demands vary widely over the course of the year. It is regarded as less problematic compared to structural unemployment since it is short term.Unemployment does not only affect the unemployed person but the society in general. It forces people to live in a way they do not wish, bringing unhappiness, despair and anguish. Unemployment is related to mental health problems such as depression, low self esteem and feeling unworthy. Ill health may also result from malnutrition, drug addiction, poor prenatal care which occurs in cases of unemployment. Many studies link unemployment to family disruption. Tension increases at home due to the quarrels and argument which is reflecte d in the increase in divorces. Unemployment is associated with increase in crime and violence in the society (Hall, 2005). The unemployed people are faced with financial insecurity which results in poverty and indebtedness. Other social problems that results from unemployment include homelessness, ethnic antagonism and school dropouts. Unemployment worsens an individual’s situation since the longer a person is out of job, the more difficult it is to secure one. Employment gap is a negative aspect as no one is willing to employ a person who has been out of job for long. Long period of unemployment causes a potential worker to lose skills. The living standards of unemployed persons are low. Due to job competition, even the salaries of employed persons are reduced which lowers their living standards as well. Unemployment can result into political instability

HR challenges in managing a network of high-class cafes in the United Dissertation

HR challenges in managing a network of high-class cafes in the United Kingdom - Dissertation Example It is evident from the study that unlike any other business type, in its essence hospitality business is largely dominated by human resources (HR) over any other aspect of the business. In other words, people, working in a hospitality organisation, create success of their organisation by their actions and decision. Provision of quality service is the main goal of any hospitality organisation, as service is the main product that organisations sell. At the same time, hospitality concerns service that is not mechanical, but rather human-made, hence HR Management is a definitive factor in delivering quality. In general, hospitality service is created, maintained and supplied by humans at all stages of operation, and the right HR policy is a definitive factor in this industry. All stages are equally important and provide equal contribution towards delivering quality service and hence profit. However, the degree of importance of HR is significantly higher outside the profit objectives â₠¬â€œ a right HR policy makes a business favourable to work in if we look at this from employee perspective; and also to be a customer if we consider this from consumer’s perspective. This is why HR aspect in hospitality appears as one of the most significant investments that often get overlooked or underestimated. Another significant issue in this dissertation will concern quality control. It is unclear at first glance what defines quality and the dissertation will thus analyse the crucial factors defining quality specifically for our type of business. Providing for the right interpretation and understanding of quality will be an essential component for an appropriate assessment of an HR policy. One of the most significant challenges this dissertation is going to analyse is the motivation of employees within cafe business. It is apparent that majority of hospitality industry employees consider their workplace as a temporary solution to earn money or receive some experience in non-home country. Clearly a fraction of people working in this sector are looking to develop themselves as professionals and consider working in a cafe as a worthy professional career. Motivation is the most significant challenge for most employers in this sector, and it happens that high percentages of people are getting withdrawn for being below the required work standard. High staff turnover in cafe industry is also the major concern for most business owners and there are a number of reasons for this. According to Mehta (2005), â€Å"once employed, a fifty percent chance exists that any given employee will leave their job within a year†. The first reason was mentioned above as the minimised potential dedication to work from employees. Secondly, according to Directgov website, over 70% of current workforce in the restaurant and hospitality sector is foreign citizens attracted by a high living wage of ?7.85 per hour in London. Their term of stay at one workplace is often li mited by their visa term, or other immigration obstacles, as well as the desire to experience different jobs during

The Infrastructure of Data Management and Data Mining Capabilities Research Paper

The Infrastructure of Data Management and Data Mining Capabilities - Research Paper Example There are many forms of DBMS (database management systems) which include such company areas as accounting, human resources, and customer support systems. As large organizations generally only needed these types of DBMSs to handle the large amounts of data exchanged and stored, it is now a commonality in many companies, both large and small, and is a fairly standard part of any company's back office system. Data management is an important aspect of the enterprise server management structure. Through proper and structured management of all corporate data, a company can engage in secure and through using both proper data management tools and IT system tools. Data management is comprised of a variety of disciplines and the official definition provided by the DAMA (Data Management Association) is that 'data resource management is the development and execution of architectures, policies, practices, and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an enterprise". As this is an extremely broad definition it generally focuses on a server-side data management and data mining, but within this paper, there is a need to have a broader focus of the end-user data management which will encourage employees to have a central repository for their files.Many times a company will focus on just ensuring the data is secure but fail to engage their employees in training on these data management and data architecture systems. There are two formats for training that will be discussed in Chapter 11 that include an advanced training curriculum for the DBA's (database administrator) to maintain the servers using the necessary IT tools. The se cond format of training is for the average end user in how the architecture works and the new tools that will be used as a central repository for files by using such type of peer-to-peer network tools much like Microsoft SharePoint Services.  

Concept of leadership

Concept of leadership Leaders are born and Leadership skills can be developed represent two fundamentally different perspectives towards the development of leadership quality. Which perspective would you support, and what implications may this have for management development in organisations? Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The concept of leadership is as old as man himself. This is because ever since men came together for the purpose of achieving their different goals (communal, economic, political etc), there has always been the existence of a position for a leader/ leaders who would set the path towards the achievement of decided goals. This paper seeks to assume the position that leadership skills can be developed. One truth we know is that all leaders are born and when thrust with responsibilities performs with mixed results: some perform well; others perform woefully while others are able to balance the scales of performance. Upon the study of the various available literatures on leadership it was discovered that so many people have posited beautiful logical arguments for both sides of the divide. Nevertheless the question at hand demands that a position be assumed and supported and this is what i seek to do. The position of this paper is to logically argue against the notion of a breed of people born as leaders as those qualities are not inscribed on a mans forehead but are developed through certain challenges which bring out those qualities which become evident to everyone. As would be highlighted in subsequent sub-topics the paper would attempt to make a point for is assumed position. What is Leadership?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like many other concepts there are many definitions of leadership. Nevertheless they all assume that it involves the headship of any entity, organization, or group. Many scholars might argue back and forth about the philosophy of leadership, but the fact remains that the leader is the one who determines the path the group or entity would follow. Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg (2004) agree with this point of view as they point out that it is a concept which is very easy to identify but difficult to define.Fieldler, cited in Antonakis et al (2004) also noted that there are many definitions of the concept as there are theorists and scholars working on the subject. John Maxwell, the author of the book 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership believes that leadership is nothing more than influence. Thus a leader to him is the person with the most influence among a group or within an entity. Northouse (2006) however argues that leadership is a diverse concept that might mean many things to different people. Nevertheless he assumes that there are common elements in all the definitions of leadership and he based his view on these common elements. To him, leadership is a systematic process whereby a person is able to influence other people to achieve common goals. Northouse posits that his definition is rooted in the following elements namely: process, influence, groups and common goals. Bryman (1986) is also in support of the position that the context in which the concept of leadership is applied varies from scholar to scholar. He also highlights that there have been ethical attempts by scholars to distinguish between leadership and other methods of influence like power and authority.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Leadership is a concept that is present in every group or entity be it a school, church, business organization, state, association (local and international) etc. There are so many reasons why people emerge as leaders of the various groups they find themselves in. Some emerge by popular consent e.g. as found in a democratic state like the United States, others emerge by appointment e.g. the chief executive officer of an organization or business corporation. Others yet emerge as leaders via their possession or control of the means of coercion e.g. military leaders and dictators and in the business world boardroom politics and manipulation might see the emergence of a new head/ boss. Leadership is an essential feature of all entities that must be present as an entity without leadership might be brought down by internal and external instability. It is for this reason that scholars have taken time to study about leadership and the role it plays in achieving org anizational goals. The recognition of its importance has given rise to the question of ethics in leadership and the dichotomy between good and bad leadership. Nevertheless it must be said on hand that the ethics of leadership is dependent on the position of the interested scholar. Thus while some scholars may concern themselves with leadership by consent, others may be more Machiavellian in nature. However this paper does not want to delve in to the ethics of the matter but rather wishes to pay attention to the question at hand. THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP Many scholars over the years have opined and debated on the various approaches to understanding the concept of leadership. This debate has spanned from the time of early philosophers like Plato down to modern theorist. According to literature there are a number of theories which helps one to understand the concept of leadership and these we shall take a note of briefly. Seleshi Sissaye (2001) provides us with some of the well known theories namely Trait theory Functional theory Situational theory Trait theory According to Sissaye the trait theory can be seen as that which argues that leadership traits are acquired at birth. It is one of the earliest theories as it assumes the notion that some people have these traits while others lack it. It has however been criticized for its inconsistency although it later regained prominence in later years. Northouse (2009) also refers to it as the great man theory because it concerns itself with those qualities that made men great. He further noted that unlike other theories this one was focused on the nature of the leader and not the followers. Functional Theory Sissaye (2001) says that this theory came after the trait theory and it is an important one because it takes recognition of the role that leaders play in their environment. It was propounded by Parsons in 1951. Reisman in Sissaye further teaches that in this theory the leader actually serves three roles in his institution: facilitator, administrator and model. Situational Theory To Sissaye (2001), the situational theory came to replace both the functional and the trait theories of leadership. It is founded on the contingency theory of social organization. Hamilton in Sissaye postulates that the core of this theory is the argument that the nature of the job determines the emergence of the leader. In other words, a leader emerges based on the opportunities presented or on the circumstance he/ she find himself in. Northouse (2009) observed that that this type of leadership theory involved a directive and supportive dimension and these have to be applied when the occasion calls for it. Are Leaders Born?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is an interesting question. It is one because it attempts to understand the notion that leaders are a special breed of people who come into the world to fulfil their role of leadership. Thus it bears an element of destiny in it. Roger Gill (2006) noted that scholars and philosophers have debated this position over the years like Shakespeare and Aristotle. However many scholars of the modern period have also argued this position on the grounds that there is an innate characteristic in certain individuals which might be highlighted or can be moulded to attain the desired level of leadership characteristics. Indeed Nicholson and Norburn in Gill assume the position that there are innate genetic cells in individuals which may be developed to the desired standard. To them since all people are not leaders it is only reasonable to assume that the leaders have a certain leadership trait that has placed them in that position. This argument is also supported by Kilpatrick and Locke in Torrington, Hall and Taylor (2008). They also believe that leaders possess certain genetical leadership traits such as drive, motivation and self confidence which make it easier for them to perform well in leadership positions. The truth is that all leaders are biologically born. They are all products of the biological reactions which bring forth everyone- leaders as well as followers. There is nothing extraordinary about the birth of leaders because so many factors are involved in the emergence of a leader and it is these factors if favourable to the leaders success that might lend some validity to this statement. This notion makes one to question the existence of the followers. If leaders are born and developed from the womb to be leaders, then are followers already predetermined to become followers from birth? Finzel (2007) proposes that real leaders arent born but learn by trial and error and that inability to learn good leadership habits might haunt a ge neration of subsequent leaders. Cohen (1999) makes an interesting point that there are so many people who are educated and have good qualifications but this does not naturally endow them to lead. Rather than support the claim this paper wishes to disapprove of this philosophy that leaders are born not made and that leadership skills can be developed. Leaders and their skills are developed   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Leadership Development according to McCauley, cited in Day (2001) involves the collective expansion of organizational members to involve themselves in leadership roles and processes. The fact is that all human beings are born with various traits talent and skills: psychological and physical. Leadership should however not be viewed in this light. This is because unlike genetical traits like eye colour, lip colour, looks etc, leadership is a combination of opportunity and ability. Leadership traits as argued by scholars of the trait school are not as evident as those physical traits which individuals are known to exhibit. Thus we might say that all individuals are born with leadership skills all of which are not made manifest, rather their skills are honed and sharpened through the various challenges they face and opportunities presented to them. His/ her ability to head a group visibly confers on him the status of leader (although in some cases the visible head might not be the real leader e.g. as in the case of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru in India. In management circles a leader is identified through his ability to handle different difficult situations put in his charge. These opportunities are presented to identify key areas of strength and weakness and this gives people the chance to weigh and determine the kind of leader they want at the top. Lenore Mewton (2009) in her paper argues this position by admitting that although it is very possible for individuals to possess traits and qualities which equip them for positions of leadership, it can also be learned and developed from executives and other business practitioners as their experience helps shape and individuals decision making processes. She believes that for a leader to be prepared he must assume leadership of himself of self leadership and proposes that individuals must be conscious and aware of their qualities and abilities as this allows them to decide on which to employ whi le taking decisions in leadership position.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lets take a closer look at this position. Leadership development might start from any point in an individuals life. Factors such as the environment and the individual a leader comes in contact with also shape the way his leadership abilities are developed. An individual who attends school, goes to church or mosque and develops through life might remain a follower unless given such positions that bring out such leadership qualities in him. It is for this reason why many institutions such as businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations etc spend lots of money engaging their staff in various leadership courses within and outside state boundaries. For instance in institutions such as the military, soldiers rise through the ranks and are given positions of command. Their success in handling these various assignment given to them determines how the move up the military hierarchy. This view is in agreement with the opinion of Lussier and Achua (2009) w ho argue also that most of the worlds major corporations spend millions of dollars on various leadership seminars and training programs around the world. They further posit that irrespective of an individuals talents, he/she could be developed to lead if given a chance or provided an opportunity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In trying to justify the position of this paper the argument would rely greatly on the opinions of the development theorists. This is because many of the popular businesses in the world today depend on leaders that are developed through their ability to handle various challenges presented to them. The modern business environment is such that the only leaders that are recognized are those who have risen through the ranks and have had their abilities tested and developed through the various programs, seminars and leadership programs they have found themselves in which has brought out those leadership qualities in them. The next sub heading would try to look at how leadership skills are developed in an organizational context. Leadership Skills Development in an Organization   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How are leadership skills developed in organizations? What are the processes? What does it entail? Do the beneficiaries of such processes end up becoming good leaders? These are some of the questions that this sub heading hopes to answer in a brief yet concise way. Many organizations have many ways of ensuring that leadership skills of her staff are harnessed to the fullest. Many of the popular corporate names like General Motors, General Electric, IBM, Procter and Gamble etc have a culture of developing their staff to bring out the leadership skills in their staff. This was further confirmed in a Fortune Magazine online article of the World best companies for leaders which saw those companies listed earlier as examples as part of the top ten. A look through the list of companies and their profiles show that the companies all have various strategies and methods for identifying and developing managerial talents into the kind of leaders that would benefit th e corporate world. For instance in Procter and Gamble top executives also participate in training staff at the companys leadership colleges, while at IBM mobility assignments are given to thousands of staff spanning from a range of three to six months. At Titan Cement, which also made the Fortune list, their own leadership program also includes a one year program known as the career pre heater, as well as a value system for evaluating people thereby identifying leadership material through their performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Why do companies take the effort to develop the leadership skills of their staff? A personal opinion might be that companies prepare to advance to the next phase of growth by preparing their staff and developing their leadership skills so as to ensure that the business has a viable leadership to steer them through to that next phase of growth. A lot of the major corporations try to satisfy their leadership needs internally by developing special leadership programs for their leadership talents or high performing managers. For instance Hewlett Packard or HP for short, the PC and InfoTech Company based in the US according to Carter, Ulrich and Goldsmith (2005) through their Workforce Development and Organizational Effectiveness Group developed a program called Dynamic Leadership; a program which according to HP was to improve decision making and leadership amongst other objectives set by the then CEO Carly Fiorina. The end product of this program was after a study and analysis of the process was that they benefitted financially over the long term after evaluation of various processes as well as successfully merging with another PC company-Compaq. A lot of the big corporations also have a similar pattern for identifying and filling leadership gaps within the organization. Other big corporations that have implemented a similar model to that of HP include Macdonalds Corporation, Intel, Lockheed Martin etc. Macdonalds Corporation for instance is one of the biggest fast food ventures in the world. In 2001 its HR Design Centre created a program for its key managerial staff called the Macdonalds Leadership Development Experience. This program was specifically designed to bring out leadership qualities of staff that would go on to occupy a key position within the Macdonald hierarchy namely the position of Regional Manager. The candidates undertook training and the scholars, Ulrich et al considered the training process good enough to bring out t he leadership qualities in these candidates. However many people are developed through structural positions of leadership. Thus their ability to head a position determines if they have the Capacity to handle people and resources on a larger scale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Day (2001,a) however notes that there are other methods by which companies develop their potential leaders. Some of the examples given include the 360 degree feedback, which involves the collection of different points of view of an individuals performance, as well as mentoring, which Day defines as formal developmental relationships while performing duties on the job. McCauley and Brutus (1998) identify with Job Assignments as an important tool in training potential leaders and Day (2001, b) notes that this has been employed by Businesses like the Coca Cola Company. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANIZATION. What are the implications of leadership development in organizations? How does management benefit from the leadership skills development that many organizations are now focusing on? It must be said that a lot of companies in the world today are investing in leadership development because they are aware of the benefits that come with good leadership in business. This is what Mullins (2007) believes, that businesses identify people who would be beneficial to the companys management in the long term. If we borrow from the resource based view of HRM we would understand that leadership skills constitute part of the resources which give a company competitive advantage against rival businesses. Shajahan (2007) is also of the opinion that leadership programs directed at skill development serve as a source of competitive advantage. Some implications which i personally identified include the following namely: Continuity Smooth flow of Communication Identification of the right leaders for the business. Continuity: One of the reasons why companies undertake leadership skills program is to ensure continuity of leadership. Thus businesses undertake different strategies of leadership skills development to ensure that there is continuity in the business. This is because only good leaders have the foresight to keep a company going through to the next phase of growth. As Shajahan (2007) noted in the example of General Electric (GE), while its iconic C.E.O, Jack Welch, was preparing to retire in 2001, executives where being recruited to report to the potential successors of Welch. Thus Shajahans point is that companies concerned with leadership do not wait until the last minute to get a leader. They rather start the process early enough and continue till the process till whenever the process becomes unnecessary. Smooth flow of Communication: Leadership Skills development allows for a smooth flow of communication between potential leaders and other staff. This is because staffs that are trained under these leadership development schemes are knowledgeable of the internal workings of the organization as well as the people who bring about these workings and functions i.e. the staff. Thus it is easier for them to communicate and pass down directives because of their knowledge of the system and familiarity with those that operate the system. This can be seen in companies that recruit their management staff internally. Identification of Right leaders for the business: This is also similar with the first point but is also unique in its nature. Leadership development is a process which highlights the leadership potential of all participants involved in the development program. As a result such programs do not only provide leadership options in times of succession and continuity but also provide options for those who would take charge of key areas of business. Such people might mature over time to take over the leadership mantle if need be as such key positions handled by these persons constitute part of their leadership training process. Others might not assume leadership positions in that company but might be suitable and well qualified for like positions in other companies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are other key implications of leadership skills development which are crucial to management success in an organization. Nevertheless it can be seen that it is a process that is very good in bringing out that part of individuals which is usually hidden unless identified and sharpened to suit the objectives and mission of the organization. CRITIQUE OF THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT POSITION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although i have taken the position that leadership skills can be developed, there are still some criticisms that linger over it and much of it come from the philosophical school of thought that leadership qualities are in born, a position adopted by the trait school of leadership theory. These scholars have made some reasonable points that are worthy of consideration and analysis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Gill (2006), the argument about leaders being born or made started with Hippocrates description of personality types based on body humour. In his book, Gill argues the point that this position is a psychological one, which makes it important because its concerns are crucial to the success and making of a leader. Such psychological concerns include interpersonal, psychological and emotional concerns. One of the major flaws of the leadership development position thus is that it downplays the importance of psychology in leadership. Although it can be argued that leaders are developed over time to suit their roles, one must not ignore the fact that leaders also have certain qualities that identify them as natural born leaders. For instance Northouse in Gill (2006) identified in his analysis certain trait qualities associated with leadership namely integrity, dominance, self confidence and sociability. Judge in Gill (2006) also identified some more characteristics which could be identified with leaders namely agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness. This view is also upheld by Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) who argue that leaders possess those special traits which push them further to develop those identified traits. They make use of examples of personal characteristics of some leaders like Sam Walton of Wal-Mart and John Paul Jones of the US Navy to drive home their point of the relationship between trait and leadership. Nevertheless it must be noted that although possession of leadership traits is a factor, it does not determine the success of a leader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another criticism noted with this leadership development position is that the fact that leadership skills which are developed through certain training schemes either formal or informal does not guarantee the success of a leader. Skills development does not uniquely give leaders a successful tenure in their organization just as traits alone does not explain leadership success. CONCLUSION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This paper has briefly reviewed the concept of leadership and has seen that leadership although identifiable cannot be given an encompassing definition. Many people see leadership in different lights; influence, management, control, power etc and as a result it cannot be given a wholesome definition to embrace all these points of view. The theories surrounding the concept of leadership have also been briefly reviewed as it is the opinion of this paper that these theories have a great influence on the question of concern. The two points of opinion: leaders are born and leadership skills can be developed have also been reviewed in a bid to provide a bit of understanding on the debate. While this paper has adopted the position of leadership development, it nevertheless has sought to point out that any of the positions is subject to the beliefs and opinions of the individual as there is no universally acceptable position on the subject of leadership. One might be forced to make the conclusion that an argument like this is more of a philosophical question and with leaders coming up in different sectors and carrying out their duties in different ways there is no clear superior argument as both positions have considerable weight. Nevertheless the position of this paper still stands: that leadership skill can be honed and sharpened to suit and lead a people in a particular way. This stands because people have certain qualities that could be shaped to be of better use to the larger society, community, organization or country.