Office Automation and Group Collaboration Software Essay Example for Free

Office Automation and Group Collaboration Software Essay As the business becomes smaller and smaller due to globalization making the business environment more dynamic and competitive, organizations of today are fast realizing the importance of information as an critical asset to successes. This in turn increases the importance of automated soft wares and group collaborations systems, which make information management and use more efficient and effective. This articles explores how Office Automation and group collaboration Systems like Groove are increasingly applied to manual business functions in a network of computers in an organization, which help in business communications, writing reports, saving information and statistics, and group of people working on a project from different location and same or different time frames, all integrated in automated software which saves both time and money increasing the work productivity of the employees. An office automation system heavily relies on a network of workstations in order to create an uninterrupted and fast approach to sending and receiving information in a timely fashion. This can be a local Area Network or LAN for local destinations, for example a network of computers with in a building etc or it can also spread across countries through a Wide Area Network (WAN), which can also be use send instant messages across . this network also provides a secures work space for individual workstations to share and work on documents using groove as a group collaboration software. The functions of an Office Automation System include electronic publishing soft wares which allow users to create documents, edit them as and when requires, insert tables, charts or any other graphics, electronically store important documents and even print them in the form of memos, periodic or ad hoc reports and letters, all these functions are performed by word processing soft wares where as a desktop publishing software can also be used for professional documents for examples brochure, and by making use of available templates for magazines etc Then we have Electronic communication soft wares, as a part of the Office Automation System used for face to face communication with executives in other cities or countries through desktop video conferencing incase of two employees communicating with each other, or electronic collaboration systems which allow different work groups to communicate face to face with each other and work on projects via a network of computers regardless of the geographical location. Another important branch of Office Automation Systems is Telecommuting which now makes It possible for employees to work from home or distant locations avoiding long distance travelling, traffic by connecting to the organization’s local or wide area network. One of the greater advantages of telecommuting is that it allows organization to use the untapped pool of the handicapped people and single parents who for reasons of their own cannot come to the work place. Other advantages of Office Automation Systems is that it also incorporates image processing and presentation and multimedia soft wares like PowerPoint, SPC Harvard Graphics etc which allow the users to edit and integrate both image and texts, videos etc and share it using work collaboration systems. Another important advantage of group collaboration soft wares in this era of globalization is that it allows work groups to work on and share information and coordinate activities at same place same time or different place, different times ensuring a smooth work flow through out the wide spread organization. Although Office automation and group collaboration software make work life a lot easier for us, yet one has to be cautious about the limitations they offer along with the advantages. The soft wares can be used for personnel use unrelated to work. For example instant messaging can be used to discuss topics other than work which wastes both time and office resources. As far as group ware is concerned they can be expensive, may require extensive training, mat not support the rapid changes in technology and due to the availability of company related information with different people at different places it can also lead to a leak in critical information. Therefore, after realizing the importance of automates software and group collaborative system which without any doubt increase work productivity and make coordination of various work activities very easy for us, one must be aware that it does come with certain limitations for which caution should be exercised. After all, information is a critical asset which needs proper management.

The resource curse in myanmar

The resource curse in myanmar Introduction Myanmar (Burma) has distinguished diversity in both its ethnicity and geography. Myanmar has been ruled by the formidable military junta that has contributed to raising many problems in the social, political and economic spheres. Myanmar is infamous for the worlds longest civil war, dire poverty, poor public health and systematic human rights violations. Especially, the oppression of the military regime against some indigenous groups and pro-democracy demonstrators have been done in cruel manners such as forced displacement, arbitrary detentions, rapes, torture and massacres. In the pro-democracy demonstration in 1988, as many as 3,000 unarmed protestors were killed by the Myanmar army (Human Rights Watch, 1989). The regime has maintained tight control over all facets of economy and society, including the countrys natural resources. Myanmar has plenty of natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, timber and valuable minerals such as gold, tin, rubies and jade. In contrast with the countrys abundance of natural resources, Myanmars development has never been on the right track; the outcomes are poor economic growth, extensive poverty, military dictatorship and prolonged civil war. In reality, the abundance of natural resources in Myanmar has contributed to extensive human right abuses and environmental degradation: forced labor, displacement, deforestation, soil contamination, etc. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the military regime of Myanmar spends at least 40 percent of its national budget on military expenditures, in contrast with the indiscreetly low allocation of the health budget (only 0.4 percent), regardless of the exploding public health crisis (Taisamyone 2007). The military junta has exploited billions of dollars from the national revenue to fuel the military force; in other words, the money that was supposed to enrich the Myanmar citizens has been used for the military activity to control or oppress the citizens. The situation of Myanmar ― a paradoxical outcome of natural resource abundance ― can be true of the â€Å"resource curse† that has been addressed for years in a multitude of researches of countries development. The term resource curse is used to describe the paradox that dependence on natural resources, especially in developing countries often negatively affects the economic growth, democratization and promotion of human rights. As a matter of fact, many countries rich in natural resources have failed to develop and remain in miserable situations. (Humphreys 2007) It is well known that the economic instability in a resource-rich country is caused by an economic concept called â€Å"Dutch disease† ― a countrys currency value is raised by the export of natural resources, and it will makes the other domestic industries uncompetitive in the other export activities due to the inflationary exchange rate (Humphreys 2007). In addition, it is now widely agreed that the curse of natural resources degrades the quality of governance, and as a result, natural resources often provokes civil war (Collier 2007). This paper seeks to analyze the formation of the resource courses in Myanmar, by taking up the key issues of the primary resources that have largely influenced the states condition. The paper especially focuses on the relation of the parties involved with the natural resource issues in the context of economical, ecological and social aspects, rather than focusing on the theory of economic science such as the Dutch disease. Also, this paper will provide some suggestions of how to resolve the Myanmars resource curse from a point of view of sustainable development and environmental scarcity. Natural Gas Myanmars natural gas exports in the fiscal year of 2007-08 was 2.6 billion U.S dollars, and account for 43 percent of the total exports, according to the report from Myanmars Customs Department (Yao 2008). The largest of Myanmars industrial projects is the Yanada project. The Yanada pipeline was bridged from the offshore area to the Thai border with a 60-kilometer-long route across southern Burma. During the construction, the Burmese military regularly conscripted villagers in the pipeline area to impose forced labor. The villagers were afflicted with extensive human rights violations including torture, rape and extrajudicial killings by the military junta (ERI 2008). Environmental degradation during the construction and operation period is also serious problem. Offshore drilling creates massive toxic wastes that are usually dumped into the ocean. Both the disposal of toxic waste and the drilling cause a hazardous effect on the wet lands, fish and habitats, and pollute water supplies (ALTSEAN-Burma 2009). There is another serious problem in natural gas projects other than human rights abuses and environmental degradation. The military expenditure of the military junta dramatically increased due to the Yanada project. According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Myanmars military budget was estimated at $900 million U.S. of the total budget of $2.3 billion. The Yanada project provided the largest portion of the revenue, and at least 50 % of it would flow directly to the military regime (CIA Factbook cited in ERI 2008). The natural gas and multinational corporations have not benefited the local population at all but they have contributed much to financing the military junta. There has been no threat from neighboring countries since the countys independence in 1948; the purpose of enforcing military rule is only to control or oppress its citizens. While Myanmar pours its huge budget into the military activities, the country is severely impoverished as one of the poorest countries in the world. Timber Aside from the natural gas industry, the timber industry also produces a significant profit in Myanmar. Because of its lucrative nature, especially in the variable teak, the military junta has overexploited the countrys forests. The extensive illegal logging is a huge problem, leading to the deforestation and the destruction of biodiversity. The forests covered 70% of Myanmars total land area at the time of its independence in 1948, but most independent estimates indicated that over half of the countrys forests were cut down by commercial logging operations as of 1998 (Dennis 1999). Deforestation contributes to massive soil erosion, temperature increase and flooding in the areas logged. Deforestation spoils the quality and availability of water and directly harms the local communities livelihood; farming is impossible in the land and a shortage of clean water undermines the health of the people. Not only that, forests are furthermore important for the indigenous people in their religious beliefs and practices. â€Å"Karen people in Lu Thaw Township are famous for their traditional beliefs related to forests†¦If there was no forest, there would be no rotational farming, plant diversity, and the specific cultural identity, traditional beliefs and values of the Karen would disappear.† (PKDS and KESAN 2004) In the peripheral part of the country, the ethnopolitical groups manage the logging industry for the benefit of .hard currency. The logging business provides both the military junta and the local ethnopolitical minorities with profit, and this has led to an incompatible relationship between them. The military junta started to monopolize the timber industry and forcibly removed ethnopolitical groups that managed some forest areas, such as Karen National Union States (KNU) that dealt with the logging business in the unreserved forest area of Karen State. The military junta has cut down forests indiscriminately whether they are reserved or unreserved. The military junta stripped the living environment and a significant source of income from the local communities. Thus, logging and political conflict are interrelated in the Karen State (PKDS and KESAN 2004). Dams The military junta has been enforcing the construction of dams along the Salween River for the sake of hydropower. In the dome sites, forced labor and human rights violations were regularly conducted by the Burmese military, as well as the construction of the natural gas pipeline construction described above. A series of dam constructions caused a threat of flood and water scarcity, and tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee to higher ground. Although the military junta once promised abundant electricity and water supplies along the dam sites, the local population has never received the benefit. On the contrary, local communities in the area, mainly Karenni ethnic people, have been suffering from the destruction of the environment and shortage of water, which have directly damaged both farming and fishing industries, and the local communities livelihood. One of four dams of the Salween River, the Weigyi Dam, flooded several times, extending over 640 square kilometers, and made 30,000 villagers homeless, submerging 28 towns in Karen State (KDRG 2006). Ongoing Civil War in Myanmar Myanmar has a long history of numerous civil wars due to the great diversity of the ethnic groups and the problematic politics of the military regime. Several ethnopolitical minorities had organized rebellion and fought simultaneously against the military regime to achieve their self-determination. Most of the ethnopolitical minorities, however, compromised on cease-fire agreements with the military regime in the end of 1980s, after an offer of the military regime that promised a part of the political rights for the combatant ethnopolitical groups. A few ethnopolitical groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) are still in combat against the military junta. Both the Karen and Karenni state have been severely oppressed by the military junta. In Karen State, the number of Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs), by forced displacement or relocation by military junta, counts over 157,000 since the end of 2002, and over 240 villages were destroyed or relocated (Human Rights Watch 2005). In Karenni State, more than 81,000 civilians, equivalent to 25 percent of the total population, were displaced and 267 villages were destroyed (Burma Issues 2008). Karen and Karenni State are the locations that are troubled with some of the largest numbers of IDPs in Myanmar. The cruel oppressions of the military junta against Karen and Karenni definitely caused a grievance that incites the ethnopolitical groups to take up arms against the military junta. In some cases, those oppressions are closely linked with the interest of natural resources. As a reason for displacement, there are two main reasons: â€Å"conflict induced displacement†Ã¢â‚¬â€¢ a forced displacement induced as a result of conflicts in the area and â€Å"development induced displacement† ― a forced displacement for the purpose of development or exploitation of natural resource of the area (Burma Issues 2008). Karenni State is a very example of development induced displacement. â€Å"Karenni State a number of different development projects are being undertaken by the military junta including, mining, logging, hydro-electricity, industrial development and agriculture projects.† (Burma Issues 2008) The development project led the military junta set up military base along the construction sites, and forces extensive human rights abuses and causes environmental degradation. Massive forced displacement was done along both with its process and operation process (see Dams section in this paper). Also, there are several examples that conflicts were exacerbated over a right to control natural resources. One of the cease-fire groups, Karenni National Democratic Party (KNDP), was compelled to recruit into the military junta as the exchange condition for receiving the control of the local area. The KNDP participated in the Burmese troops in 1997 to attack a refugees shelter located in the side of Thai border. This means ceasefire groups fought against non-ceasefire groups, resulting in intra-ethnic conflicts. Moreover, the military junta granted control of areas and resources to the ethnopolitical groups who joined to attack non-ceasefire groups to raise a grievance among ethnopolitical groups. (KDRG 2006) Some displacement in Karen State was done for the purpose of seizing control of the dam, mining and logging sites, that is, the development induced displacement. However, the displacement of Karen State was triggered in reasons for conflict-induced displacement rather than development-induced displacement. Those conflicts can be regarded as the consequence of a series of oppression and development-induced displacement by the military junta (see Timbersection in this paper). The destruction of environment, livelihood, and cultural value of the ethnic people induced the KNU to take up arms against the military junta. As a result of prolonged numerous conflicts, the people in Karen State, especially the 157,000 IDPs, were severely victimized in both development-induced displacement and conflict-induced displacement. As the examples of Kanenni and Karen State, an abundance of natural resource have induced huge mount of cruel displacement and civil wars across the country, and it would be the body of the resource curse in Myanmar. Analysis from a Concept for Sustainable Development and Environmental Scarcity This section examines: 1) how the military junta, the body of Myanmars politics, is getting along with a major concept of sustainable development, 2) the relation between environmental scarcity and conflict, based on a academic theory. Promoting sustainable development is based on the three pillars: The social: this relates to human mores and values, relationship and institutions. The economic: this concerns the allocation and distribution of scarce of resources. The ecological: this involves the contribution of both the economic and the social and their effect on the environment and its resources. (Ekins 2000 cited in Banker 2006) For the social context, military junta has extensively violated human rights against the citizens, especially ethnopolitical group who live in the sites of natural resources. For the economic context, military junta has monopolized the profit of the resource to enforce their military capacity, intending to control over the population with the country. This resulted in the extremely poor economic growth of the country. For the ecological context, there have been a myriad of environmental degradations in any types of natural resource extraction (see sections of Natural Gas, Timber and Dam in this paper). Unflatteringly, the military junta has been doing the things in the opposite way of sustainable development. In the concept of sustainable development, scholars all agreed that social participation is an essential to promote sustainable development; making decision procedure should involve democracy with local communities (Banker 2006). In the case of Myanmar, the National League for Democracy gained the support from the majority of the country citizens in 1990 national election, and Aung San Suu Kyi was elected as the Prime Minister. However, the military junta demolished the election and refused the citizens to participate the national politics, by making military threats. In recent decades, environmental scarcity could plausibly generate some types of violent conflict in a country much dependent on environmental goods and services. One of the types refers to â€Å"Disputes arising directly from local environmental degradation caused, for instance, by factory emissions, logging, or dam† (Thomas and Homer 1999). For the relation between environmental scarcity and conflicts, some scientists adopt a process called reciprocal causation. As the causal steps show, Myanmars environmental degradation by military junta caused a significant environmental scarcity in the local communities, such the cases of Karen and Karenni State that is still in a situation of violent conflicts today. All the cases of Myanmar, described above in the paper, have proved that the military junta has contributing to ignoring the countrys sustainable development, and inducing to create violent conflict against local communities. In this perspective, it is absolutely important to address the Myanmars ethnopolitical conflicts, based on environmental issues. Conclusion Due to the combination of the bad governance and an abundance of the natural resources, Myanmar has lapsed into a miserable situation: poverty, poor economic growth, continuous civil wars, etc. These catastrophic outcomes are definitely attributable to the failure of the natural resource management by the military junta. Even the effort to establish a democratic state by the citizens was destroy by the injustice of the military junta. It is necessary to have further cooperation both within the country and out side of the country (international communities). The attitude of international communities against the military junta is controversial.Althoughinternational communities have imposedeconomicsanctionandlimittheir trading, this directly benefited the nonbearing countries such as China, Thailand, and India. As a result, the economic sanction has decreased the performance of the countrys economic growth; Myanmar has to sell their products in cheap price due to the lack of trade partners. Besides, the interest between China and Myanmar has hindered the use of Responsibility to Protect of United Nations Security Council. In any case, international communities have to immediately come up with another alternative to change the military junta. For the cooperation within the country, it is important to refer to the capacity of ethnopolitical minorities. Although some ethnopolitical minorities have some power to negotiate with the military junta, each group has their own policy and sometimes the policies among ethnopolitical minorities are incompatible. If there is a chance to overcome the power of the military regime, it is a time when all the ethnopolitical minorities and citizens unite their purpose for the democracy for whole nation, not pursuing each own political rights. Reference: ALTSEAN-Burma(Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) (2009) KEY ISSUES ENVIRONMENT, Retrieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://www.altsean.org/Key%20Issues/KeyIssuesEnvironment.htm Collier, P. (2007) The Bottom Billion, Oxford: Oxford University Press Dennis, J. V. (1999) A REVIEW OF NATIONAL SOCIAL POLICIES Myanmar, Retrieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://www.mekonginfo.org/mrc_en/doclib.nsf/0/AE24021D05C497DDC725682E003722D4/$FILE/FULLTEXT.html Burma Issues (March 2008) Living Ghosts -The spiraling repression of the Karenni population under the Burmese military junta, Retrieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs4/livingghosts.pdf EarthRights International (ERI) (April 2008) The Human Cost of Energy, Retrieved on 23rd January 2010 from http://www.earthrights.org/sites/default/files/publications/Human-Cost-of-Energy.pdf Humphreys, M. et al (2007) Escaping the Resource, New York: Curse Columbia University Press Human Rights Watch (1989) BURMA (Myanmar), Retrieved on January 22nd 2010 from http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1989/WR89/Burma.htm Human Rights Watch; Vol. 17, No.4 (June, 2005). â€Å"They Came and Destroyed Our Village Again† The Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Karen State: New York. Retrieved on 25th October, 2009 from http://www.ashleysouth.co.uk/files/Human_Rights_Watch_2005.pdf Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG) (2006) Dammed by Burmas Generals, Retrieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://www.khitpyaingnews.org/reports/Dammed%20by%20Burmas%20Generals.pdf Kramer T. (July, 2009) Neither War Nor Peace: The Future of the Cease-Fire Agreements in Burma, Transnational Institute. Retrieved on 25th October, 2009 from http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/TNI_Burma_CeasefireAgreements.pdf Pan Kachin Development Society (PKDS) and Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN) (2004) Destruction and degradation of the Burmese Frontier forests, Amsterdam: Kaboem, Rerieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://www.aaa.htm Taisamyone (6th July, 2007) Editorial: Disproportionate military expenditure in Burma, Burma Digest, Retrieved on 22nd January, 2010 from http://burmadigest.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/editorial-disproportionate-military-expenditure-in-burma/ Thomas, D. and Homer, D (1999) Environment, Scarcity, and Violence, United Kingdom: Princeton University Press. Yao Amber (2008) Natural gas tops Myanmar exports in 2007-08, Xinhua News Agency, Retrieved on 22nd January 2010 from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/15/content_8374394.htm

Relationship Between Police and Muslim Individuals

Relationship Between Police and Muslim Individuals Shamma Alsuwaidi Dataset being used: 2014-15 Crime Survey of England and Wales Variable name of dependent variable: copannoy Variable name of main independent variable: Muslim Word count of this project ¹: 2,672 words I have included my SPSS output as an appendix to this project I am happy for an anonymised version of this project to be used  for teaching purposes at the University of Kent    My research question In this project, I examine the relationship between police officers and individuals from different religious groups. I will examine whether Muslims encounter more disturbing and discriminatory experiences with the police, compared to those who follow different religions (Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and those who do not follow any religion). Accordingly, the dependent variable I will be using is: really annoyed with the police, while my independent variable will be: Muslim religion. Potential mechanisms linking police malpractice to Muslims I selected these variables because in a post-9/11 civilisation, Muslims are increasingly becoming more segregated from societies as a result of the increased media attention to them. People began to fear Muslims and attempts to segregate them from society were made by many. Muslims are now perceived as an outsider group, a category of aggressive, extremist individuals, who pose a risk to British lifestyles (Rowe, 2013). Although Islam is the most common religion amongst minorities, high rates of prejudice of Arabs and Muslims is evident in countries of the EU such as France and the UK. For instance, over 50% of people in Germany, France, and the UK identify and associate Muslims as radicals, aiming to promote their extreme religious beliefs (Jikeli, 2011). As a result, attitudes towards Muslims dramatically changed worldwide. Prejudice and hate spread, leading Arabs/Muslims to now face critical observation in every aspect of their lives. They can no longer travel, drive, and enjoy being out in public due to the discrimination they face in their everyday lives. In addition, instead of receiving support and protection from law enforcements, they are instead further victimised by them. Racial profiling, unjust treatment, unjustified investigations, harassment, and wrongful captures are now very common experiences between Muslims in European countries (Cainkar, 2002). In addition, it is not uncommon for an Arab to be randomly selected for security checks at airports, and even be prohibited from flying due to such prejudice views. However, discrimination against those coloured and those who acquire divergent features than typical Europeans do occur as well; where gipsies (47%) and Africans (41%) experience higher levels of discrimination as well (Jikeli, 2011). I expect that Muslims are more likely to find themselves in situations where they become irritated by the police, or unsatisfied with how the police deal with occurrences compared to those who follow other religions. This is because, at a time of increased awareness and fear of terrorism, and with socially and politically constructed images of Muslims, society would ultimately treat them in a hostile manner. As a result, members of the law enforcement are more likely to share the same views with society or would be inclined into targeting and eliminating any potential harm or threat of terrorism that could be caused to society. Therefore, the police would be more likely to be suspicious towards an Arab or Muslim. Dependent variable In my analysis, I used data collected from the 2014/15 Crime Survey of England and Wales, which surveys adults (16+) living in private residence in the UK. My dependent variable is really annoyed by police, which comes from the question: Have you ever been really annoyed about the way a police officer behaved towards you or someone you know. OR about the way the police handled a matter in which you were involved? This might have been a police officer or another member of police staff. 1. Yes- towards respondent 2. Yes- towards someone else 3. Yes- towards both respondent and someone else 4. No I am missing statistics on the frequency of police aggravation, since 24,806 out of 33,350 individuals did not respond to this question. Below is the frequency table of those who did respond: Number of responses Frequency (% of valid cases) No 6,341 74.2% Yes 2,203 25.8% Total 8,544 100% Table 1: Frequency table of police annoyance Since the question gives respondents chances to respond in different yet similar ways, I modified the way in which responses are interpreted. For example: * Yes: towards respondent à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡towards someone else à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡towards both respondent and someone else I integrated the responses in order to simplify the data. Instead of having various categories of the yes responses, they would all be integrated into an individual yes group. Therefore, my dependent variable is respondents claiming themselves, another individual, or even both being irritated by any staff within the law enforcement agency. 25.8% of the valid respondents stated that they have been in an experience where they, and/or someone they know has been annoyed by the police, as shown in Table 1. Main independent variable The main independent variable I am manipulating is the Islam religion. This is derived from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (2014/15), which is built upon individuals self- reported religion, at the time they took part in the questionnaire. The question is shown as the following: What is your religion, even if you are not currently practicing? CODE ONE ONLY IF YES, PROBE FOR RELIGION 1. Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant, and all other Christian denominations) 2. Buddhist 3. Hindu 4. Jewish 5. Muslim 6. Sikh 7. Other (SPECIFY) 8. No religion Here, I am missing 76 responses out of the total of 33,350 people who took part in the survey. These individuals either refused to answer or claimed they did not know the answer. A frequency table of the remaining respondents can be seen in Table 2: Number of responses Frequency (% of valid cases) No 32309 97.1% Yes 965 2.9% Total 33274 100% Table 2: Frequency table of Muslim respondents As the question initially asks for their reported religions, I have created two distinct response categories. For instance, those with no self-reported religion, and those associated with other religions (Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhists), are categorised as no. Whereas, Muslims respondents are placed in the yes category. This is because I was interested in making a general comparison of Muslim and non-Muslim perception of the police, in order to carry out my analysis. Control variables In this section of my analysis, I added two further control variables, whether respondents live in urban or rural areas and their reported gender. Here, all 33,350 respondents answered the questions. This is achieved in order to explore other factors that could influence people to experience irritation from the actions or behaviour of the police. Although there was no precise question presented to determine whether a place of residence is in a rural or urban area, respondents had to describe the features of their neighbourhoods and provide their address (postcode) on the survey. As a result, rural areas come to be defined as areas where the population is less than 10,000; communities where 7,567 (22.7%) of the respondents inhabit. However, exploring gender was based on the following question: CODE THE SEX OF EACH ADULT IN THE HOUSEHOLD IF NECESSARY: Is (name) male or female? Male Female Here, the interviewer collects data on every member of a household, assuming their gender, unless they are uncertain. This data indicates that 45.1% (15,030) of the 33,350 respondents are males. Analysis Part I: In my first stage of analysis, I examine the pattern of irritation from the police, by association of the Islam religion. The link between being a Muslim and the likelihood of being annoyed by the police is analysed by using a Crosstabs, as shown in the table below: Table 3: Link between police annoyance and Muslim religion Have not been annoyed with police Have been annoyed with police Total Non-Muslim 74.0% 26.0% 100% Muslim 84.0% 16.0% 100% Total 74.2% 25.8% 100% Total number of respondents for this analysis: 8521 Although 24,829 people did not answer this question, Table 3 shows data based on the 8,521 individuals who did. 16.0% of Muslim respondents claimed that they encountered a situation where an officer annoyed them, or someone they knew, in comparison to 26.0% of non-Muslim respondents. In other words, Muslims are 10% less likely to claim to be annoyed with an officer of the law, than those of other religions; resulting in a different pattern than I predicted at the start of my analysis. Analysis Part II: Is this pattern systematic? Data suggests that members of the Muslim community are less likely to be annoyed by the way police handle situations than others. However, this could have resulted from the randomness of the sample, or randomness of how police members handle occurrences and behave towards people. So, I ran a regression with being annoyed with the police as the dependent variable, and being Muslim as an independent variable; to examine the patterns certainty. A table below discloses whether the pattern in systematic: Coefficient (B) 95% confidence interval Constant 0.260 0.251 to 0.270 Muslim -0.100 -0.157 to -0.043 Table 4: Regression table of influence of police annoyance In Table 4, we can see that the estimated effect correlates with the mean difference in the likelihood of being annoyed with the police, in the previous part; Muslims are -0.100 (-10%) less likely than those of other religions, to state that they have been really annoyed with the police at one time. In addition, the regression table produces a confidence interval around this data; -0.157 to -0.043 (-15.7% to -4.3%). Since the figure (-0.100) lies between the confidence range, this data implies that we can be quite confident that Muslims experience lower levels of police annoyance, in a systematic manner: If we could create 100 worlds, and re-run the patterns, the true value would lie within the range (-0.157 to -0.043) 95 out of 100 times. Which, therefore, suggests that being Muslim decreases an individuals likelihood of being annoyed by the police, 10% less than those of other religions. In addition, as both figures in the confidence intervals are negative and the range is narrow; this allows us to be quite confident that the pattern is systematic. However, we cannot be 100% certain. Analysis Part III: Is this pattern causal? There are other possible factors that could explain the correlation between Muslims and dissatisfaction in how police handle situations. These confounders vary from the mechanism I examined earlier; around police interactions around Muslims. For instance: An individuals area of residence could impact the way the police interact with them. It is more likely for those living in deprived areas to experience injustice from the police, and therefore, hold negative images of police officers. They are also more likely than those in urban areas to have issues with police officers, as their neighbourhoods are likely to have high rates of criminal activities. In addition, police staff may be prejudice against people living in rural areas, labelling them as criminals, and therefore, treating them in a different manner. It could also be due to gender. As female criminality is not as common as those of men, police are known to focus on male suspects. Especially as there is a high rate of young male offenders in this century, male suspects are more likely to be annoyed by the police. In order to test both hypotheses, a further regression was carried out, which includes neighbourhood area (urban) and gender (male) as control variables (as defined above). Coefficient (B) 95% confidence interval (Constant) 0.141 0.081 to 0.202 No religion 0.147 0.089 to 0.206 Christian 0.077 0.019 to 0.134 Hindu 0.012 -0.088 to 0.111 Other religion 0.109 0.021 to 0.197 Lives in urban area -0.017 -0.039 to 0.005 Male 0.073 0.054 to 0.091 Table 5: Regression model of influences of being annoyed by the police We can see the impact of my control variables, as shown in Table 5: Living in an urban area: living in urban the areas, is associated with a decrease in being annoyed by the police by 0.017 (1.7%). Although this effect seems minimal, it could increase dramatically depending on how rural/urban an area is labelled as. However, here, we cannot be confident that the pattern is systematic, due to the confidence interval containing positive and negative figures (-0.039 to 0.005). Gender: males in the community are more likely than females to be annoyed with the police, or how they handled a situation; 7.3% (0.073). Here, we can be very certain that the pattern is systematic because the confidence interval range is very narrow. In order to concentrate on my main area of interest, I pay particular attention to the difference in how the police deal with those of varying religions. We can analyse a contrast among both versions, in a chart shown below: Coefficient (B) 95% confidence interval Original model (no controls) -0.100 -0.157 to -0.043 Second model (with controls) -0.099 -0.157 to -0.042 Table 6: Comparison of effects of police annoyance on Muslims This suggests that the gap in how police interact with those of different religions, is almost identical in both models; whereas, in the original model, Muslims are 10% (-0.100) less likely to have been annoyed by the police, and 9.9% less likely when controls are added. We can still be quite confident that Muslims are less likely to have been annoyed by the police, as the confidence intervals in both remain almost unchanged, and remain narrow. This indicates some proof of causality; however, we cannot be 100% confident. While keeping reverse causality in mind, to further investigate whether there is a causal effect, we can be quite certain that it does not apply in this context. In other words, we would not infer that experiencing a dissatisfying experience with a member of the police causes an individual to become Muslim. Limitations conclusion In this research, I researched whether Muslims are more likely to have been annoyed by a member of the police. I assumed that they would be more exposed to the negative experiences and qualities of the police force, especially after 9/11. A period where Muslims would be forced to endure discrimination by society and the justice system (random searches, presumptions of terrorism, etc.). However, I came to find that my presumption was incorrect. I utilised the 2014-15 Crime Survey for England Wales study. This typically involves a questionnaire that examines the degree of crime and victimisation in areas of England and Wales. From this survey, I discovered that: Muslims are less likely to be in a situation, where they became irritated by the police, in comparison to Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and those who do not follow any religion. Also, I found that we can be quite convinced that the pattern is systematic. When allowing for the possibility of alternative factors impacting Muslims experiences with the police, income and gender, the results of their experiences remains roughly identical. There is little or no possibility of reverse causality being possible in this context, as interactions with the police would not necessarily cause someone to follow a certain religion. However, a few limitations can be found in this study, altering the way findings are gathered and construed. For instance, there could be other factors that clarify the link between being of Muslim religion and being irritated with the police. In this case, Muslims may be less likely to report their victimisation, especially reporting against a police officer. In addition, the Crime Survey for England Wales may be less available to Muslims than those of other religions, creating a bias or unrepresentative sample. Another limitation is in the way the question is asked; towards you or someone you know. This question includes others interactions with the police (or someone you know), therefore, although a respondent did not personally feel irritated by the police at a given point, the would report some form of police annoyance. Therefore, data collected could be inaccurate, as their responses could affect the way the statements are interpreted. As a result, data would suggest that those of other religions are more likely to have been annoyed by the police. Although certainty of a causal effect is not definite, my inspection of the data indicates that a causal effect of religion (being Muslim) on how the police interact with individuals does exist, in some manner. Bibliography Cainkar, L. (2002). No Longer Invisible: Arab and Muslim Exclusion after September 11. Middle East Report, [Online] 32(224), pp. 22-23. Available from: http://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006context=socs_fac [Accessed 15 Mar. 2017]. Jikeli, G. (2011). DISCRIMINATION OF EUROPEAN MUSLIMS: SELF-PERCEPTIONS, EXPERIENCES AND DISCOURSES OF VICTIMHOOD. 1st edn. [ebook] Nova Science Publishers, Inc., pp. 1-3. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gunther_Jikeli2/publication/289972827_Discrimination_of_European_Muslims_Self-Perceptions_Experiences_and_Discourses_of_Victimhood/links/56b2596708aed7ba3fedcded.pdf [Accessed 15 Mar. 2017]. Rowe, M. (2013). Policing beyond Macpherson. 1st edn. Routledge, 2013, pp. 109-111.   Ã‚  

Misguided Love in The Glass Menagerie Essay -- Glass Menagerie essays

Misguided Love in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie, written by playwright Tennessee Williams, is the story of a family torn apart by heartbreak from the past and tragedy from the present. Williams' parallels this play to his true life experience with his own family, which makes The Glass Menagerie an even more tragic version of what happens to a family when love is lost and abandonment is reality. Providing for a family can be an overwhelming responsibility, for there are many pitfalls along the way, some families are able to cope, some are not, and The Glass Menagerie gives us insight into what truly happens to a family when faced with abandonment. The story begins in The Wingfield apartment in the rear of a building, which can only be entered by a fire escape. A picture hangs on the living room wall of Mr. Wingfield, who took flight from his family when the children were very small. As Tom, the son recounts, "Father was a telephone man who fell in love with long distances; he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the fantastic out of town." There are three main characters throughout this play. Amanda, the mother, is unable to forgive herself for the poor judgement of character she made as a young lady ultimately leaving a lonely, bitter and fearful future for herself and her children. She so dearly loves her children. Tom is a man with dreams of a future but is stifled into a world of disgust and guilt by his overbearing mother. He is a poet at heart, stuck in a job at a shoe factory trying to make ends meet, bearing the responsibility of his younger sister, and all the while dreaming of a life of his own. Although Amanda is quick to let Tom know how much she dearly hates him working at t... ...f this gesture accidentally knocks over the figurine and it too breaks. Laura makes an attempt to recover herself, and for a fleeting moment all seems well, until Jim announces he has another woman in his life, and awkwardly excuses himself; leaving Laura forever silenced before the broken glass. These two moments in time that portray the essence of this story; the darkness and despair, the shattering of human life, and the failure to mend. The Glass Menagerie is a gripping story, one that will leave many who view it with the feeling that Williams' was actually writing about their own lives. The power to overcome the feeling of hopelessness, betrayal, abandonment, and difference is within us all, but not all of us can escape from our past. Works Cited: Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. University of North Carolina at Pembroke. October 31, 1997.

Paper About Life -- essays research papers

The Longman dictionary of American English defines life as, the force that enables us to continue. Life in my eyes is the interval of time between birth and death. Throughout life you will be placed in situations, and put to the test of time. There will be times when you are joyous, and times when you are sorrowful. This is the period of trial and tribulation. Face the fact life is hard. Being an adolescent, a person is premature to the world. The value of an inexperienced adolescent is meaningless, compared to a person who has more experience in life. When I was younger, I payed very little attention to the values of life of life. In my eyes, life was fun and games. I felt I would always be a child, and have the never-ending support of my parents. I knew I lived an untouchable life, until tragedy struck and changed my life forever. Just a few years ago, I was put through a very emotional stage of depression. At the young age of fourteen, my mother went into cardiac arrest. I remember having a horrible dream that specific night about a death in my family. I remember hearing the cries of my father and sisters. It was thoses very cries that awoke me from my sleep. At the time of my awakening, I was very confused. It was as if I was living out my dream. As I walked the hallway, I noticed some strangers were in my home. These strangers were wearing paramedic paraphernalia. Suddenly, my heart began to skip beats. I noticed that something was not right in my home. I followed th...

Hip-Hop/Real Rap

Nayeli Munoz 01/15/13 Rap Most people are unfortunately misled as to what is rap music. Many people seem to have only heard commercial rap; commercial rap is â€Å"gangster rap†. Most of the commercial rap songs talk about getting money, gang banging, and some kind of explicit love or sex. Two examples of commercial rappers are â€Å"50 Cent† and â€Å"Soulja Boy†. True rappers have some kind of poetic flow. Real rap has a deep and meaningful topic, it is like poetry but with more emotion. â€Å"Tupac† and â€Å"Snoop Dogg† are two great examples of real rappers.A positive influence that rap has on today's youth is that it shows us what is going on in the real world; however, rap music can influence youth to be very violent. Another negative about rap is that it is very degrading towards young women. Through their music rap artist show a realistic picture of what is going on around them and how hard it was growing up in poverty. An example of this i s when â€Å"Tupac†, a famous rapper, in his song â€Å"Thug Mansion† says â€Å"picture me inside the misery of poverty, no man alive has ever witness struggles I survived†.Later on in the same song he continues with â€Å"seen the politicians ban us, they'd rather see us locked in chains, please explain why they cant stand us†. This song is reflects the issues of discrimination toward African American by the government. Rap has opened our eyes to show us the circumstances of poverty, drug use, violence, and how easy they can access guns. Rapper â€Å"Too Short† raps about the importance of staying in school and getting a good job.Rap influences youth to be very violent; in â€Å"Big Pun† song â€Å"Brave in the heart† he says, † I'm from where the guns love to introduce they self. Reduce your health little bulletproofs get felt. The street's a trip; either you deep or you sleep with the fish†. This song tries to tell us that we need to use violence in order to survive, this influences youth to believing that they do have to use violence and therefore they start being violent. Some rappers include new drugs that have not been very popular in their lyrics and when youth listen to it they get urious about the drug and want to learn about it and try it. Violent lyrics can influence youth to start fights or even kill people for what they want. Women in rap videos are usually degraded. Very often young women are laid out as sex tools or sex slaves. They are displayed with not much clothes on and they use their bodies to acquire material objects. Young women are exposed to these abominable videos and it can affect their health, their self-esteem can lower and they may think of themselves as useless and worthless.Research shows that many of the young women who listen and watch rap think that they cannot be successful without using their bodies. It is clear that rap can extremely influence today's youth bot h positive and negative ways; however, the negative effects are much larger than the positive effects. It is up to us to decide if rap is going to affect us in a positive or in a negative way. Bibliography: Sid Kirchheimer,(March 3, 2010). Does rap put teens at risk. WebMD. (Online)

Mcdonalds marketing principles Essay

When McDoland’s venture’s out globally they have to use important standards of marketing. The two most important things that I have noticed that got changed with McDoalds strategy is their product presentation and their advertising strategies. In some countries they sold the same product as in the USA. Countries that did this was Bulgaria, Denmark, and Oman. The reason why they had similar products is due to the similar taste that the USA and these other countries share. In countries like the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand the food is much different then in the USA. The reason being is that Culturally they have a different dietary habits then us. So in those countries they ended up doing offerings like crispy chicken, rice, and spaghetti which is important so they can cater to regions needs and taste especially when it comes to something as important as food! Also it is important to note that one of McDonald’s great models is to standardize their popular items here and make it taste and looks the same whether its in Singapore, Spain or South Africa website. McDonald’s also has to be adaptive when it comes to building their franchises in other countries in order to gain success. Therefore the concept of â€Å"think global, act local† has been clearly adopted by McDonald’s and it is all over there international websites. One last thing to add about product development is the Indian website. In that country they had to rethink the way that they presented and processed their food according to the Indians tastes, value system, lifestyle, language, and perception. Mostly in all countries everyone loves their traditional hamburgers which are prepared from beef and pork. Since Indians don’t eat pork, McDonalds had to rethink their strategy which was to introduce chicken, lamb, and fish to satisfy the Indian Market. When it comes to advertising they use a wide array of advertisement. In the United Kingdom they like to use a lot of sports figures to promote their products. In France used a soccer player to boost their sales. And it seems to be working by standardizing their brand name, but at the same time making their advertisement decisions based on the â€Å"local culture†. Another great example of this is in Malaysia. Malaysia has a great up and coming young generation so McDonald’s could probably not have had the success they have  experienced without them focusing on the younger audience to younger generations of consumer. So to make in that market McDonalds is trying to invest heavily in tv marketing and aims it at children. Overall McDolands employed a great marketing strategy that focused on making sure that their products fulfilled the demands of the consumer and region base and made sure to keep them satisfied to have them keep on wanting to come back.