Education System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Education System - Essay Example The Equal Status Act, 2000 is guided by the principle of equal rights and participation among community members (Houses of the Oireachtus, 2006). The Act includes access to service, facilities and amenities across ethnicity, age, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political affiliation or physical and mental ability, or membership of a traveller community. However, there is a distinct lack of empirical evaluation of actual classroom practices of equality as provided by teachers and schools (Breen, 1998; Breen & Jonsson, 2005). Issues of exclusion within the education system reflect concerns for the learning attainments of groups that are differentiated by language, religion, ideology or culture, socio-economic status or who are political or economic immigrants. Socio-economic and political infrastructure within the Republic aims to cultivate within students a sense of "inclusive identity", which requires classroom practices that respect different traditions across community aggregates, and that encourage tolerance, acceptance and respect for social differences (Center for the Study of conflict [CAINS], 1996). Inclusive education requires that all students are recognised as part of both the school and wider community, regardless of the students learning strengths and weaknesses (Hanafin & Lynch, 2002). The principles of inclusive education contributed to the development of a national education program, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) (Department of Education & Science, 2006). However, literature reviewing the effectiveness of the program is lacking.This research proposal aims to evaluate current classroom practices of equality and inclusiveness with regard to socio-economic status amongst secondary students in the Republic. A pre-post research design will be used, incorporating a mixed method of student surveys and end of term grades. The final thesis will be divided in to five chapters; 1) An Introduction to the topic; 2) A Literature Review of relevant empirical studies to identify the present state of research, to identify gaps so as to develop the research hypotheses; 3) A Method section to outline the school's characteristics, participant demographics, selection criteria and the obtaining of informed consent, as well as detailing the research design, materials to be used, and the procedure of the study; 4) The Results section will provide the findings of analyses and include tables and graphs as appropriate; and 5) A Discussion section, which will identify i f the hypotheses were supported or not whilst linking findings to current discourse as presented in the Literature Review. The limitations of the study will also be delineated, and recommendations for future empirical research shall be made.It is anticipated that this research project will positively contribute to the development of chaplaincy programs that will support equality of access to education, and enhance inclusiveness within schools of the Republic. References Breen, R. (1998). The persistence of class origin inequalities among school leavers in the Republic of Ireland,

Recalling the Holocaust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Recalling the Holocaust - Essay Example The Nazis committed mass murder of the Jews in gas chambers. The use of gas chambers was one of the Nazi’s plans to eliminate all Jews from the German society. The killing of infants occurred before their birth. The gas chambers used carbon monoxide as the killer gas during the Holocaust. The use of carbon monoxide was an inhumane act. It allowed for the mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis. The first mass killing using gas chambers was in 1939. The killing that occurred at Owinksi hospital led to the death of over one thousand Jews including children. That the concentration camps, the use free standing chimneys to kill Jews presented one of the most atrocious acts. A high number of prisoners suffered their fatal fate because of the brutal killing using the freestanding chimneys in the camps. It remains one of the extreme violations of the rights of humanity. Phil Donahue’s interview is a revelation of the truth behind the inhumane acts that surrounded the Holocaust. It exposes the high number of Jews who suffered the atrocities experienced in the important event, that it, the Holocaust. The attempts by supporters of the Holocaust to deny the use of gas chambers to kill the Jews are unbelievable and tantamount to the denial of committing a crime. Dr. Franciszek is one of the most informed people on the holocaust incidence. Dr. Francisze's claims that the number of victims was less than that originally estimated seems ill-intentioned and driven by impunity.... The use of gas chambers was one of the Nazi’s plans to eliminate all Jews from the German society. The killing of infants occurred before their birth. The gas chambers used carbon monoxide as the killer gas during the holocaust. The use of carbon monoxide was an inhumane act. It allowed for mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis. The first mass killing using gas chambers was in 1939. The killing that occurred at Owinksi hospital led to the death of over one thousand Jews including children. That the concentration camps, the use free standing chimneys to kill Jews presented one of the most atrocious acts. A high number of prisoners suffered their fatal fate because of the brutal killing using the freestanding chimneys in the camps. It remains one of the extreme violations of the rights of humanity. The burning of children in the chimneys alive was another great desecration of human rights to life. Phil Donahue’s interview is a revelation of the truth behind the inhumane ac ts that surrounded the holocaust. It exposes the high number of Jews who suffered the atrocities experienced in the important event, that it, the holocaust. The attempts by supporters of the holocaust to deny the use of gas chambers to kill the Jews are unbelievable and tantamount to denial of committing a crime. Dr. Franciszek is one of the most informed people on the holocaust incidence. Dr. Francisze's claims that the number of victims were less than that originally estimated seems ill intentioned and driven by impunity. The interview articulates the true occurrences during the time when Jews underwent inhumane at the Aushwitz concentration chamber. The perception created by denial of the use of the gas chambers to kill in the camps contradicts

Housing, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Literature Review

Housing, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Literature Review Abstract This paper reviews literature on the relationship between housing finance, economic growth and poverty.   While it is evident that housing construction creates jobs, the review reveals that there is a need for more research to determine the long-term economic benefits of housing and whether housing finance in particular can be an effective tool in eradicating poverty.   The limited evidence is due in part to limits in data and the need to utilize robust econometric techniques to determine the direction of causality in these relationships (i.e. does increased economic growth lead to increased demand for housing and hence housing construction and finance or does housing construction and finance lead to increased economic growth and lower poverty).   Though little direct evidence was found, the financial deepening literature suggests that as housing finance deepens financial markets, it may play a role in poverty alleviation.   This relationship should be investigated further. 1. Introduction While the focus of this review is to summarize empirical evidence regarding the relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty, there is considerable stylized and anecdotal evidence that makes a case for housing as a prescription for poverty.   This literature is extensive although recent books on eradicating poverty in the developing world say very little explicitly about the role of housing.   The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (2011), states that most would accept that fact that schools, clinics, roads, electricity, ports, soil nutrients, clean drinking water; and the like are the basic necessities for a life of dignity and health, as well as for economic productivity.   Sachs goes on to delineate the strategy for ending extreme poverty by 2025.   While he mentions key investments in people and in infrastructure, he does not explicitly mention housing.   The same can be said of Banerjee and Duflo (2011) and Karlan and Appel (2011).   Perhaps there is an und erlying assumption that housing is necessary.   Perhaps, housing is considered part of the infrastructure that they refer to. Or, perhaps the underlying belief is that economic growth will lead to better housing conditions. At any rate, a specific consideration of the impact of housing on poverty is not given in these recent books on the subject of eradicating poverty in this millennium.   This is representative of what was discovered upon reviewing the empirical literature on this issue. Some authors assert that housing loans and finance are needed but do not provide economic analysis to back this claim.   For example, Bunnarith (2004) in discussing national housing policy in Cambodia asserts that â€Å"housing is needed so that people can have a safe and secure environment.†Ã‚   There is no discussion in his policy paper of the true economic impact of housing construction or finance on economic growth or poverty reduction.   Similarly, Habitat for Humanity specifically acknowledges that housing is necessary to eradicate poverty.   In ‘Consequences of Poverty Housing,’ Habitat for Humanity asserts that the lack of suitable housing creates disadvantages at many levels.   It is seen as interfering with a household’s ability to break out of poverty because so much of the household’s time and money is spent on house maintenance and repairs and not on food, health, education and income generation.   Due to a lack of suitable housing, there is less efficiency arising from illnesses, inability to educate children and an inability to provide a safe and secure environment for economic endeavors.   These are testable implications but little has been done to document these losses empirically, likely due to data limitations.   Some evidence is found and listed in the education section. While there is quite a bit of literature on the interactions between GDP and housing investment, there is surprisingly little evidence documenting the relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty.   One reason for the limited evidence is limitations in quantity of data in developing countries, especially the poorest ones, Hull (2009).   A second reason for the limited evidence is that it is difficult to determine the direction of causality between economic growth and housing.   Ã‚  There is a need to use general equilibrium models which are not easily tested with the available data in the developing countries.   Data limitations are particularly severe when trying to test these relationships in the poorest of the developing countries.   Finally, macroeconomics and housing finance were not studied in depth in economic literature prior to the 1980s, even for the U.S.   Ã‚  When studies were done they typically looked at housing demand as a function of income and growth not the impact of housing on economic growth, see Leung (2004).   Even if where there is analysis of housing finance in developed countries, it may be difficult to make direct inferences about relationships between housing and economic growth in developing countries using those results because so many other factors are at work including financial sector development, government involvement and types of housing. With these limitations in mind, there is some information that may be useful in analyzing the impact of housing finance on economic growth, job creation and poverty.   The impact of housing on economic growth, in developed and some developing markets is highlighted in the next section.   Next, there is a review of the impact of housing on job growth.   The third section reviews what is known about the impact of housing and housing finance on job creation.   Section four reviews the impact of housing finance on poverty.   Some inferences in that section are based on studies of financial market development on poverty.   Section five examines potential social and revenue consequences of housing.   Finally there is a summary of findings in section six. 2. Housing and Economic Impact Housing and Economic Growth: Hongyu, Park and Siqi (2002) recognize the causality dilemma when studying housing investment and economic growth.   They use Granger causality tests to study the case of China from 1981 – 2000.   This study does not address the poverty impact it just studies housing and economic growth.   The authors find that compared to non-housing investment, housing investment has a stronger short-run effect on economic growth.   They also find that housing investment has a long run impact on economic growth but not on non-housing investment.   On the other hand, economic growth has a long run impact on both housing and non-housing investment.   These findings suggest that housing is important in explaining only short-term economic cycles in economic growth. Chen and Zhu (2008) also study the long- and short- run relationship between housing investment and economic growth in China.   The authors look at panel data from 1999 through 2007.   They use robust econometric tests to examine Granger causality of the relationship and find that the relationship is bidirectional in both short – and long- run.   In other words, in China during this period, housing investment impacted economic growth and vice versa.   It will be interesting to see if this result holds over a longer period where more economic cycles are included in the data.   Interestingly, the relationship is different depending on which provinces are analyzed.   The eastern provinces show bidirectional causality like the overall results but results for other provinces indicate that GDP granger causes housing investment but not vice versa. In addition to the empirical analysis of the relationship between housing and economic growth, there are some estimates of multiplier effects associated with construction in developing countries.   For example, Uy (2006) cites that for every 1 peso spent on housing activities in the Philippines, an additional 16.61 pesos is contributed to the GDP.   In Argentina, Freire, et. al (2006) estimate that a 1,000,000 peso investment in construction leads to 1.8 times that amount in demand.   In 1995, a United Nations study indicated that in most developing countries construction of low- income housing is labor intensive and therefore housing construction has a high multiplier effect of between 2 and 3 times the initial investment.   This arises due to the large infrastructure investment (roads, utilities, water, etc.) required in housing development in those countries.   .   In comparison, The National Association of Realtor’s model suggests that the multiplier for home sales in the U.S. is between 1.34 and 1.62. Erbas and Nothaft (2002) study a sample of MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) countries.   Using parameters from the U.S. they simulate the impact that improved home mortgage availability would have on housing markets and economic growth in these countries.   They find that mortgage market reforms would increase housing units built by 10% with a 600 basis point decline in mortgage interest rates.   The impact that the increased mortgage accessibility and housing would have on economic growth is not significant however.   That is because they find, like other studies, that increased investment in housing â€Å"crowds out† investment in other sectors.   The impact on overall growth will be greater if this housing finance helps to improve small business credit. Housing Finance and Affordability Dübel (2007) proposes a model where housing prices are determined by rents, R, growth, g, and the opportunity cost of capital, k, where P = R/(k g).   The role of housing finance in this model is to reduce the cost of capital.   As that cost is lowered, housing prices fall and affordability of housing increases. Housing and Savings Buckley (1996) cites several reasons that mortgage market development can improve household savings.   First, the return to housing will likely provide positive returns especially in light of rapid urbanization in developing countries.   Second, housing provides the most secure collateral against market fluctuations and a positive yield over the long-run.   Third, housing prices are less volatile than other asset prices.   Fourth, the availability of housing improves labor mobility and therefore employment potential.   Finally, the availability of affordable housing finance may lead to increased savings as potential homeowners save to make the required down payment and to maintain their asset.   While many of the work in this area suggests that there should be benefits to overall savings and investment arising from increased access to affordable housing, the literature does not appear to have documented these benefits empirically.   This is an area rich for further exploration. 3. Housing and Job Creation The Case of the United States Wardrip, Williams and Hague (2011) review the literature on the role of affordable housing in particular, in creating jobs and stimulating local economic development in the U.S.   They find that the development of affordable housing increases spending and employment in the surrounding economy.   There are several models used in the housing literature that use â€Å"inputs† such as information on the purchase and production of goods and services for hundreds of U.S. industry sectors, the type and number of businesses in a given community, and a measure of the spending associated with a given program.   Given these inputs, the models â€Å"output† the level of economic activity expected for a given level of housing investment.   For example, the National Association of Home Builders uses a proprietary model to estimate the impact of building 100 new low-income housing tax credit developments for families.   The model predicts that the investment will, on average, lead to the creation of 80 new jobs from the direct and indirect effects of construction and 42 jobs supported by the induced effects of increased spending.   In the long-term, building these units also leads to 30 new jobs that support on-going consumer activity of the new residents.   Market-rate apartment housing will create a similar amount of jobs with just a couple of additional jobs (32) supported by households occupying the new homes.   Of course the models are dependent on the productivity of investment within the community and would likely look very different across countries being considered.   It will depend significantly on the amount of skilled labor available for the construction work since 70% of the jobs created as a direct or indirect result of the new construction, are in fact construction jobs. Rural vs. Urban In support of the findings above, in considering the impact of housing development on a rural community’s economy, the Housing Assistance Council states that housing construction and rehabilitation have a high ratio (62.3%) of value-added to gross outlays.   This means that a large percentage of the outlay for housing construction is available to create wages and salaries, and stimulate job growth in rural economies in the U.S.   The document does not compare the ratio for rural communities with that in urban communities.   This is an important distinction since most of the growth in developing countries centers around urban areas.  Ã‚   Quigley (2008) suggests that results on the relationships between investment and economic growth may be dependent on whether that investment is rural or urban.   The author finds that urbanization promotes productivity due to increases in specialization, centralization of knowledge, complementarities in production and economies of scale and scope.   If this is true, an investment in an urban center may produce greater economic growth than that same investment in a rural area.   This will be an important factor in directing housing policy and finance. Housing and Jobs in Emerging Markets In emerging markets there is some data on job creation as well as the previously cited multiplier effects associated with construction.   For example, in Argentina, Freire, Hassler, et. al (2006) estimate that a 1,000,000 peso investment in construction creates some 40 jobs directly and 20 jobs indirectly from services and related industries.   Tipple (1994) cites numerous studies that find multiplier effects from housing investment.   For example, the National Building Organization in India estimates that a $1,000,000 investment in building construction leads to 600 on-site jobs and 1,000 indirect jobs.   The construction process may stimulate economic growth through backward linkages (e.g. processing building materials) and forward linkages during and after the construction process (e.g. restaurants, repair shops and small scale manufacturing).   However, according to Erbas and Nothaft (2002), housing construction in some developing countries is actually quite capital intensive and reliant on imported materials; as a result only a small percentage of the labor force of these developing countries is employed in construction.   In addition to the construction related jobs, Dübel (2007) finds a positive correlation between financial and real estate related services and the housing to GDP ratio.   Specifically, during the property market upturn in Hong Kong in the 1980s and early 1990s, a doubling of the housing market share of GDP led the share of financial, insurance, real estate and business services to triple from 6.5% to 16.3% of GDP.   Other service sectors, including community, social and personal services also grew, likely as a result of indirect inputs to construction activity as well as increased tax revenues.   4. Housing and Its Impact on Poverty The literature on the relationship between housing and poverty is much smaller than that on housing and economic growth.   Hull (2009) notes there are significant data limitations especially on headcount poverty and labor market outcomes.   These data limitations make testing difficult.   There is a particular need for data in sub-Saharan Africa.   Some findings can be noted and they suggest that all housing investment is not created equal when it comes to addressing poverty.   Some of these studies are highlighted here. Gutierrez et al. (2007) find strong evidence that the sectoral pattern of growth and its employment and productivity-intensities matter for poverty reduction. While employment-intensive growth in the secondary sector (manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities) is correlated with poverty reduction, employment-intensive growth in agriculture is correlated with increases in the poverty headcount.   By extension, if housing creates growth in manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities, it may be effective in reducing poverty.   Similarly, Hull (2009) finds the construction sector is relatively productive but not in all countries.   That is, construction reduces measures of poverty in some but not all countries. Erbas and Nothaft (2002) find that low income housing has a lower import component in production and also higher labor intensity.   This implies that construction of low income housing will lead to greater employment and growth than the construction of middle or high income housing.   Construction of low income housing can effectively improve the living standards of the poorer segments of the population in two ways – by creation of jobs and by creation of suitable housing. Tipple (1994) reviews the literature on the links between employment and housing development and shows that investment in shelter is very effective for promoting employment, especially among lower-income groups; some of the benefits to the economy tend to be inversely proportional to housing cost meaning that low cost housing is more beneficial to the economy.   The informal sector and small-scale enterprises tend to outperform the formal sector and larger enterprises. Housing Policy and Poverty in Developing Countries As housing finance policy is considered, the housing programs and policies of local governments must be accounted for in order to assess the potential effectiveness of housing finance in different countries.   For example, Malpezzi and Sa-Aadu (1996) review contemporary African housing markets and policies.   They find that resource allocation in these countries was quite different than their intended objectives.   These policies have discouraged housing investment and have been both inequitable and distortional.   The authors suggest that privatization of housing investment is more efficient and the African governments need to â€Å"disengage.†Ã‚   Taking the example of the U.S., direct government housing production has been less efficient than private sector tax incentives in developing affordable housing [see Erbas and Nothaft (2002)]. Researchers and policymakers have noted that the housing finance systems in some countries have not been effective in reaching the low income segments of the population.   For example, Moss (2004) states that in South Africa the housing finance system has had little impact on the low-income segment of the population.   Specifically, â€Å"attempts to expand credit into this market through micro-loans have been characterized by initiatives that have yet to demonstrate some form of success.†   The financial sector in South Africa consists of many banks, a number of specialized finance companies and a large number of the so-called alternative lenders.   Future studies should investigate which of these alternatives is likely to have success in reaching the lower income segments of the population.   According to Moss (2004), housing finance has also not been very successful in Nigeria where the gap between income and shelter cost is very wide and has basically eliminated the low income earners from the housing market.   Similarly, Rahman (2009) states that the lack of available and accessible housing finance has been identified by the Government of Bangladesh as one of the important hurdles in improving housing conditions for middle- and lower-income households. Although several potential sources of housing finance for mid- and high-income consumers exist, most of the low-income families’ needs are still unmet. Housing Finance in Developing Markets While there are differences in how housing finance occurs across developing countries, there are some similarities and shared concerns.   The degree to which a country’s banks invest in mortgage lending is relatively low in developing countries when compared to developed countries.   For example, Rahman (2009) cites that in Bangladesh, 4% of banking sector assets are in housing.   In many countries there are state funded and/or sponsored housing finance institutions with government guarantees.   However, there may be allocation problems in that loans are allocated based on politics and not on financials and the granting process can be long and inefficient.   There are not as many types of mortgage instruments and in fact many countries are just beginning to grant fixed-rate mortgages which eliminate interest rate risk for the borrower.   The maturity of mortgage loans tends to be shorter in developing countries – 10 years is the maximum term for some mortgag es in Bangladesh.   In addition to state sponsored financial institutions and banks, home finance is offered by micro finance institutions.   In Bangladesh, one such institution offers these loans for a term of 10 years without collateral.   Although there is no collateral, the borrower must obtain title to the land and must sign a pledge to repay and obtain a group pledge to repay the loan if he or she fails to do so.   These programs tend to rely on a borrowers track record, group pressure and mutual support to control credit risk.   Moss (2004) finds similarities in housing finance in South Africa and to a lesser extent, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania.   In most of these countries, anecdotal evidence suggests that the supply of housing finance is much less than the demand and that the institutional structures have not provided sufficient access to housing for the poor. Housing, Financial Deepening and Poverty: One segment of housing finance is the secondary mortgage market and the creation of mortgage instruments or bonds.   While there has not been research on the development of mortgage markets and poverty specifically, the development of those markets can be viewed as part of an overall financial deepening of the capital markets in these developing countries.   Financial deepening has been studied and it may serve as a proxy for the development of secondary mortgage markets to the extent that they occur simultaneously.   At any rate, the development of a secondary mortgage market would be consistent with increasing the breadth and depth of the capital market.   Therefore, a review of the relationship between financial deepening and poverty may tell something about the potential impact of mortgage market development and poverty.   Consistent with this view, Malpezzi (1999) suggests that much of the world is shifting from a housing finance perspective, where special circuits are used to mobilize short-term household deposits for long-term mortgages, to a perspective where housing finance is integrated with broader capital markets. Buckley and Madhusudhan (1984) test a model of the relationship between housing investment and GDP, anticipated inflation, changes in inflation and the extent of capital deepening across several developing and transition countries.   They find that, holding all else constant countries with deeper financial markets invest relatively more in housing.   Singh and Huang (2011) analyze data from sub-Saharan Africa between 1992 and 2006.   They find that financial deepening (as measured in part by credit to the private sector as a percent of GDP) is associated with less poverty and income disparities in SSA countries and that this is most important in early stages of financial development.   Stronger property rights strengthen this relationship.   Finally, Beck, Demirguc-Kunt and Levine (2004) examine a broad cross country sample of 58 developing countries and find that financial development (as measured by the ratio of financial intermediation to the private section to GDP) reduces income inequality by disproportionately raising the incomes of the poor. Impact of Financial Deepening on the Base of the Pyramid and Absolute Poor Singh & Huang (2011) look at different definitions of poverty and examine the impact of financial deepening on them.   The measures of poverty include, the headcount index which measures the percentage of the population living with per capita consumption or income below the poverty line, defined as US$1 a day.   Another measure is the poverty gap which takes into account the distance of the poor from the poverty line.   A third measure is the income of the poorest quintile or average per capita income of the poorest 20 percent of the population.   Using each of these measures of poverty and a sample of SSA countries, the authors find that poverty is inversely related to financial deepening.   The authors also look at the Gini coefficient which is derived from the Lorenz curve.   Larger values of this coefficient indicated greater income inequality.   For this variable the relationship between poverty and financial deepening is insignificant.   In other words, financia l deepening reduces absolute levels of poverty but does not impact income inequality in a significant manner in this sample of SSA countries.   This suggests that various definitions should be examined to gain further insight into the relationship between housing and poverty and to capture the impact on the absolute poor. 5.   Housing Finance and Revenue and Social Consequences Government Revenue Links to Housing Wardrip, Williams and Hauge (2011) itemize revenues from housing development in the U.S.   Some lessons can be learned from this data.   Revenue sources during the construction phase include sales taxes on building materials, corporate taxes on builders’ profits, income taxes on construction workers, and fees for zoning, inspections, and the like.   These estimates presume that the building materials are purchased locally, to the extent the materials are brought in from elsewhere, revenues will of course be lower.   This is something that will impact housing construction in IDA countries.   Revenues in the model depend on local tax structures, construction costs, development fees and whether the local mix of industries is conducive to capturing construction-related activity.   For example, Hangen and Northrup (2010) analyze the effects of developing and rehabilitating 582 affordable homes in Rhode Island in 2007 and 2008 with $25 million in housing bonds.   They estimate that the subsequent income, corporate and sales taxes and fees associated with the total economic activity increased state revenues by roughly $16.7 million during the development period.   In an analysis of a proposed Pennsylvania state housing trust fund, Econsult (2009) finds that for every $1 million in proposed spending, the state stands to gain $82,000 in revenue from the construction of single family homes; these revenues would be higher if the $1 million were spent on affordable multifamily housing. In addition to immediate fiscal benefits, housing construction also provides on-going benefits to the locality.  Ã‚   On-going revenue sources include residential property taxes, property taxes from the businesses supported by the residents, and utility user fees.   A residential development has a net positive fiscal impact only if taxes exceed the cost of providing services to the residents.   The evidence regarding the net effect of affordable housing is inconclusive.   However, there is evidence to suggest that market-rate housing provides net positive fiscal impact (National Association of Home Builders, 2009). Political Stability and Housing There is a presumption that housing improves political stability.   So far, no evidence has been found to indicate that this is true although it is a stylized fact.   Provision of housing is international law.   Sachs (2011) reminds us that it’s a right granted in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights as follows: Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care †¦ There may be indirect support to the extent that there has been evidence to indicate that housing improves education and education is believed to improve political stability (see evidence in next section).   The relationship between political stability and housing may go in the other direction.   In other words, political instability can affect the housing market.   According to Tu and Bao (2009), instability may weaken investor’s beliefs in property rights, putting the investors in fear that part of the investment may be lost due to poor protection.   Therefore, investors may pay less for the property rights when facing political uncertainty.   Their study uses 10 years of data from Hong Kong and Singapore where there were differences in political scenarios but similar land lease structures and property cycles.   The empirical evidence supports the idea that political instability lowers property rights premiums. Education and Housing To the extent that housing improves homeowner’s borrowing capacity, housing finance could lead to more investment in human capital.   Since investment in human capital may require an individual to borrow money, and borrowing money is costly, to the extent that housing finance lowers the cost of borrowing, it should lead to larger investments in human capital.   Many authors [starting with Becker (1975) and Atkinson (1975)] studied the link between investment in human capital and wealth distribution.   An implication of these models is that income inequality will decrease as access to finance improves. Some studies have documented a link between housing and education.   To the extent that housing finance improves housing affordability for the poor, housing finance may improve education opportunities for the poor.   Jacoby (1994) finds that lack of access to credit perpetuates poverty in Peru because poor households can’t afford to provide their children with appropriate education.   Jacoby and Skoufias (1997) find that without access to finance, shocks to income cause poor families to discontinue schooling for children.   Housing provides an asset that can be used to smooth shocks to income. If housing indeed improves education opportunities for children of the poor then by extension housing will improve political stability.   Sachs (2011) in explaining why governments should provide education, quotes Adam Smith who said, â€Å"An instructed and intelligent people †¦ are more disposed to examine, and more capable of seeing through, the interested complaints of faction and seditiontherefore, the whole society is at risk when any segment of society is poorly educated.†Ã‚   6. Summary A review of the literature pertaining to housing, economic growth and poverty reveals that much more research is needed in order to determine the true economic benefits of housing and whether housing finance in particular can be an effective tool in eradicating poverty.   The paucity of evidence is due in part to limits in data and the need to utilize robust econometric techniques to test for the direction of the causality in these relationships.   In other words, more research needs to explore whether housing construction leads to economic growth or economic growth leads to increased demand for housing and by extension housing finance.   Although there is little direct documentation that housing finance improves economic standing or living standards of the poor, some inferences can be made from the related literature.   The most promising evidence is found in the financial deepening literature where it has been shown that improvements in financial markets are associated with reducing absolute levels of poverty.   To the extent that financial deepening improves with the development of mortgage markets, then housing finance may also be effective in reducing poverty.   In addition, there appears to be solid evidence that housing construction produces jobs – directly and indirectly through the supporting service industries.   Housing is also shown to improve prospects for education and thus may reduce income inequality.   Evidence indicates that there is no one size fits all relationship between housing, economic growth and poverty.   Although evidence shows that housing investment impacts economic growth, that relationship varies within countries and over time.   While not explored in depth in this review, there are some concerns regarding the impact of housing on economic development and poverty.   For example, due to considerable transactions costs, some suggest that housing may reduce job mobility.   In addition, while housing construction may create construction related jobs, there is a question as to whether that just crowds out investment in other sectors of the economy.   Housing finance while improving access to housing, may also increase opportunities for speculation and may lead to large booms and busts and housing cycles that may negatively impact the economy in the longer run. These and other concerns should be explored further to determine their significance. References Atkinson, A. B., 1974, The Economics of Inequality (Oxford: Clarendon Press). Banerjee, Abhijit and E. Duflo, 2011,   Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, (Public Affairs, New York). Becker, G. S., 1975, Human Capital, NBER and Columbia University Press, New York. Buckley, Robert, 1996, Housing Finance in Developing Countries, (McMillan, London). Buckley, R. and R. Madhusudhan, 1984, The Macroeconomics of Housing’s Role in the Economy: An International Analysis, Presented to the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. Bunnarith, M., 2004, Between Poverty Reduction Strategy and National Housing Policy, National University of Singapore Working Paper. Chen, J. and A. Zhu, 2008, The Relationship Between Housing Investment and Economic Growth in China: A Panel Analysis Using Quarterly Provincial Data, China National Social Science Foundation Working Paper. Dübel, Hans-Joachim, 2007, Does Housing Finance Promote Economic and Social Development in Emerging Markets?, Housing Finance Impact Study for International Finance Corporation. Econsult Corporation, 2009, Potential Economic and Fiscal Impacts of a Pennsylvania Housing Trust Fund, The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. Erbas, S. and F. Nothaft, 2002, The Role of Affordable Mortgages in Improving Living Standards and Stimulating Growth: A Survey of Selected MENA Countries, IMF Working Paper. Freire, Mila, M. Gautier and O. Hassler, 2006, Review of Argentina’s Housing Sector: Options for Affordable Housing Policy, World Bank Working Paper. Guitierrez, C., et. al., 2007, Does Employment Generation Really Matter for Poverty Reduction?, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4432, World Bank, Washington, DC. Habitat for Humanity, Consequences of Poverty Housing. Hangen, Eric, and J. Northrup, 2010, Building Homes Rhode Island: An Analysis of Economic Impacts, Housing Works RI. Hongyu, Liu, Y. Park and Z. Siqi, 2002, The Interaction between Housing Investment and Economic Growth in China, International Real Estate Review, 5: 1, p. 40 – 60. Housing Assistance Council, 1998, The Effects of Housing Development on a Rural Community’s Economy. Hull, Katy, 2009, Understanding the Relationship Between Economic Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction, OECD. Jacoby, Hanan, 1994, Borrowing Constraints and Progress through School: Evidence from Peru, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 76, 151-160. Jacoby, Hanan and E. Skoufias, 1997, Risk, Financial Markets, and Human Capital, Review of Economic Studies, Vol 64, 311-335. Karlan, Dean and J. Appel, 2011, More Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty, (Dutton, New York). Leung, C., 2004, Macroeconomics and Housing: A Review of the Literature, Journal of Housing Economics, 13: p. 249-267. Malpezzi, Stephen, 1999, Economic Analysis of Housing Markets in Developing and Transition Economies, Urbanization in Transforming Economies, p. 1791-1864. Malpezzi, Stephen and J. Sa-Aadu, 1996, What Have African Housing Policies Wrought?, Real Estate Economics, Vol. 24:2, p. 133-160. Moss, Vuyisani, 2004, Preview of Housing Finance Systems in Four Different African Countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania, Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa. National Association of Home Builders, 2009, The Local Impact of Home Building in a Typical Metro Area: Income, Jobs and Taxes Generated. Washington, DC. Quigley, John, 2008, Urbanization, Agglomeration and Economic Development, Commission on Growth and Development, Working Paper No. 19. Rahman, Khandaker, 2009, Development of Housing Finance and its Impact on Socio-Economic Uplift in the Emerging Economy in Bangladesh, IFC Bulletin No. 31. Sachs, Jeffrey, 2005, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, (The Penguin Press, New York). Singh, Raju and Y. Huang, 2011, Financial Deepening and Property Rights: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, IMF Working Paper No. 11/196. Tipple, A. Graham, 1994, Employment from Housing: A Resource for Rapidly Growing Urban Populations, Cities 11, No. 6, p. 373. Tu, Y. and H. Bao, 2009, Property Rights and Housing Value: The Impacts of Political Instability, Real Estate Economics, 37:2, p. 235 257. United Nations, 1995, Shelter Provision. Uy, Willie, 2006, Medium-Rise Housing: The Philippine Experience, Presentation Paper for the 5th Asian Forum. Wardrip, Keith, L. Williams and S. Hague, 2011, The Role of Affordable Housing in Creating Jobs and Stimulating Local Economic Development: A Review of the Literature, Center for Housing Policy. Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime? Essay Is Prostitution a Victimless Crime? Essay Prostitution, as described by the Merriam-Websters Dictionary (1997), is the selling of sexual favors for money or the devoting of oneself or ones talent to an unworthy cause (p. 589). In another frame of reference, prostitution has been called a victimless crime. What exactly is a victimless crime? Wests Encyclopedia of American defines it as: crime where there is no apparent victim and no apparent pain or injury. This class of crime usually involves only consenting adults in activities such as prostitution, sodomy, and gambling where the acts are not public, no one is harmed, and no one complains of the activities (2008). This classic definition of these types of crime implies there is not any victim of the criminal behavior who experiences harm. From a theoretical perspective, conflict theorists may hold that victimless crimes are established as a type of social control over morality by politically powerful people or groups who find them offensive or undesirable while functional theorists may hold that social needs, not societal power, are the underlying condition of labeling victimless behaviors as criminal (Greek, C.E., 2005). Why are some consensual acts considered illegal while others are not? McWilliams (1996) asserts consensual activities prohibitions and restrictions have their basis in religion while ODonnell (2000) in addressing the price of victimless crime laws, proposes those crime laws are a form of morality control and religious persecution that uphold the opinions of the law-controlling majority with regards to race, ethnicity and political stances. The issue in victimless crimes is that society has created laws to prohibit certain types of conduct considered to be against the public interest and when supposed victims freely consent to be the victim in one of these crimes; the question is whether the state should make an exception from the law for the situation. For the purpose of this paper, prostitution and the issues of concern in the legalization of this victimless crime is explored. Upon examining prostitution as a victimless crime, it seems evident there are victims at some level but most of the harm seems to be self-inflicted. Looking at the puzzle of the involved behaviors, having sex and asking for money, each by themselves are perfectly legal. Having sex with someone, even an unknown person is legal, and asking for money is legal but, when the two behaviors are linked into one single instance, a criminal act results. The two separate legal behaviors cannot constitute an illegal behavior for if no person is harmed, or if harm occurs by informed consent of the willing parties, how can it be considered a criminal act? One arguable stance presented is that consensual acts are not without risk and when adults consent to take part in the acts, why should the resulting action be deemed criminal by legal social rules? What kinds of problems can the law solve and what kind of problems does the law create? Among the many proponents of de-criminalizing victimless crimes the concept of unconstitutionality is consistently cited (Hardaway, 2000; McWilliams, 1998; ODonnell, 2000; National Platform of the Libertarian Party, 2002). A prominent vocal critic of criminalizing these termed victimless crimes, such as prostitution, is Robert Hardaway. Hardaway is a professor of Law at the University of Denvers School of Law who has written and co-written numerous texts and articles on legal and community interest matters. Hardaways 2003 book, No Price Too High: Victimless Crimes and the Ninth Amendment, as cited by Cox in a 2004 review, presents a powerful and strongly-argued perspective which argues the criminalization of victimless crimes violate the Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution (2004). Cox notes the criminalization of these crimes as well as amount of money it takes to enforce the laws are unsound policies according to Hardaway. Although, in the case of drugs, crime against property and person are related to drug use, Hardaway, per Cox (2004), attributes the harm of drug use to the laws rather than the use of drugs themselves. According to Cox, Hardaway uses the example of Prohibition to explain the supply and demand concept of the argument stating: crime and violence do not emanate from some physiological effect of the drug, but the drug laws themselves and with the decriminalization of drugs, neighborhood drug dealers would be put out of business effectively breaking the business-end of organized crime (105). Hardaway further posits, according to Cox, legalizing personal vices is justified by a considered weighing of the costs and consequences of criminalization (30), (2004). ProCon.org has a website which addresses the issue of whether or not prostitution should be legalized and many statements were provided on this website of both the pro and con sides of the issue: No persons human or civil rights should be violated on the basis of their trade, occupation, work, calling, or profession [Prostitution Education Network, 1996]; prostitution violates the right to physical and moral integrityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦violates the prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.. [Hoffman, C., 1997]; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦prostitution laws areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a violation of the right of individual privacy because they impose penal sanctions for the private sexual conduct of consenting adultsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [American Civil Liberties Union, 2007]; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦few activities are as brutal and damaging to people as prostitutionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [U.S. Department of State, 2004] (ProCon, 2009). Of all opposition members, the most prominent is Melissa Farley, a research and clinical psychologist at the San Francisco non-profit organization, Prostitution Research and Education. Farley has written numerous peer-reviewed articles on the subject (Farley, M., 2006). Farleys numerous research articles provide a well-rounded look at the subject matter of prostitution, the sex industry, exploitation of women, as well as the myriad of troubling issues arising from when men purchase women in prostitution. In the 2006 article, Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order to Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly, Farley posits prostitution is sexual violence that results in massive economic profit for some of its perpetrators and is a much like slavery in that it is a lucrative form of oppression (p. 102). Farley goes further to remark on prostitutions legal status (legal, illegal, zoned, or decriminalized) or the location of the ac tivity (strip club, massage parlor, street, and escort/home/hotel) the danger to women is still tremendous (p. 103). Farleys discussion on the peer-reviewed literature which documents the violence so prevalent in prostitution and states: Violence is commonplace in prostitution whether it is legal or illegal (p. 106). Citing a Canadian commission on prostitution and pornography which reported the death rate of women in prostitution as forty times higher than that of the general population and a 2001 Vancouver prostitution research study by Cler-Cunningham and Christensen which reported a thirty-six percent incident of attempted murder, Farley contends prostitution can be lethal (p. 107). Farleys detailed look at legalized and illegal prostitution can impact the perception of the sex industry as a whole. However, within the United States Constitutions first ten amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights, are provisions which may present a strong argument for abolishing criminalizing prostitution and other victimless crimes. The First, Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments are of particular interest in this dialogue of supporting the decriminalization of prostitution. Although victimless crimes such as prostitution are not specifically addressed in the Constitution there seems to be an arguable position that victimless crime laws violate First Amendment restrictions against laws respecting an establishment of religion especially since religious and moral values seem to provide the foundation for many of the laws. The Fourth Amendments provisions on search and seizure seems to be violated by such devices as warrantless search and seizures which are often utilized to obtain evidence for prosecutorial purposes. The privacy of innocents can be threatened as enforcement of the law requires police and investigators to engage in extensive monitoring, wiretapping, and surveillance of suspects and the public. Some people believe that these warrantless search and seizures and victimless crime laws are a means of political power over selected portions of the population which are unequally enforced against the poor and minorities thereby violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment (Kruttscnitt, 1984; McWilliams, 1998; Nussbaum, OConnell, 2000; 1999; Schur, 1971, 1980, 1983). The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution has direct bearing on such modern day constitutional issues such as abortion, gay rights, and the right to die. Farber (2007) considers the Ninth Amendment the key to understanding the liberties Americans were to enjoy under the Constitution as envisioned by the Founding Fathers describes the purpose of the Ninth Amendment and the Founders intent: to protect the rights the Founders assumed but failed to enumerate or specify in the Bill of Rights. Like the rest of the original Bill of Rights, per Farber, the Ninth Amendment only limits federal power rather than state government powers. The Fourteenth Amendment came along later and addressed the state government and within that Amendment the Privileges or Immunities Clause is paired with the Ninth Amendment (Lash, 2004; Farber, 2007). America is in first place in the world for the number of incarcerated individuals as highlighted by a Pew Center report that found 1 in every 100 American adults are behind bars with its prison population having tripled in the last 20 years. Spending on prisons has more than quadrupled and the American taxpayers are slowly crushed by this wasteful spending. At an average cost of over $19,000 per prisoner, taxpayers are facing a bill of over $44 billion per year to keep people locked away (Pew, 2004). Coinciding with this rising prison population is the increase in the number of private prisons which increased from five in 1995 to 100 in 2005. Herivel and Wright ( ) in their book Prison Profiteers-Who Makes Money From Mass Incarceration reports private prison industry has seen increased profits and lobbied extensively for more frequent and longer prison sentences and traces the flow of monies designated for the public good and ends up in the pockets of enterprises dedicated to keeping prison cells filled (From their book jacket). History has shown that criminalizing victimless crimes will drive the practice underground where violence, extortion, and coercion are most likely to thrive. This was particularly noticed when the 18th Amendment and later the Volstead Act, 1919, which made it illegal to manufacture or sell beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt or vinous liquors it was not illegal to possess it for personal use. The prohibition, originally intended to reduce beer consumption in particular, actually a failure and ended up increasing hard liquor consumption and created a new business, bootlegging, defined as the unlawful manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages without registration or payment of taxes which became widespread and a staple of organized crime (Prohibition). Almost every individual has the ability and moral capacity to judge what is helpful or harmful to them and it does not make sense for other people to dictate what choices should be made. When individuals commit acts harmful to themselves, the action should be termed as immoral, not illegal. The criminalization for the act of prostitution should not be determined by social effects of an individuals actions or by the moral or religious views of society. Every person needs freedom to make choices and accept the consequences for without these consequences, growth and experiential development will be hindered. If an adult man-or an adult woman, wants to engage in sexual relations with another adult man or woman who charges a fee for his or her services, they should be able to do so without the fear of being guilty of a crime. It does not mean that prostitution should not be subjected to certain legal requirements such as health laws. Removing prostitution from criminal statutes and providing a designation as a business entity subjected to business requirements, prostitution can be taxed, sex workers can obtain health and safety rights other employees have, and problems of abuse and graft associated with police jurisdiction of such a business can be dealt with more effectively with better protection from violence and abuse for those individuals who work within the industry. In a 2001 article written for the New Zealand Herald, Sue Bradford, MA, Member of New Zealands Parliament says it best: prostitution has been a career option for some people since history began. Nothing any law has done has changed or will change thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I believe we would all be better off to accept the job choice that some adults make as valid and worthy of care and compassion for all our sakes (2001). Work Cited Bradford, S. (2001). Dialogue: Sex workers deserve protection of the law. New Zealand Herald. July 30, 2001. Cox, G.C., (2004). Book review of Hardaway, R. (2003). No price too high: Victimless crimes and the Ninth Amendment. Department of Political Science, University of North Texas. Farber, D.A. (2007). Retained by the people: The silent Ninth Amendment and the Constitutional rights Americans dont know they have. Perseus Books. Fyffe, C. and Hardaway, R.M. (2003). No price too high: Victimless crimes and the Ninth Amendment. Westport, CN: Praeger. Greek, C.E., (2005). Criminological theory. Lecture notes. CCJ 5606. http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/ Hayes-Smith, R. and Shekarkhar, Z. (2010). Why is prostitution criminalized? An alternative viewpoint on the construction of sex work. Contemporary Justice Review, March 2010, Volume 13 Issue 1, p. 43-55. Herivel, T. and Wright, P. (2007). Prison profiteers: Who makes money from mass incarceration? New York: New Press Kruttschnitt, C. (1984). Labeling women deviant: Gender stigma and social control. Contemporary Sociology. 13 (5), 596. Lash, K.T. (2004). The lost original meaning of the Ninth Amendment. Texas Law Review, Volume 83, Number 2, December 2004 McWilliams, P. (1998). Aint nobodys business if you do: The absurdity of consensual crimes in a free society. Los Angeles, CA: Prelude Press. http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/aint/201.htm Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1997). Springfield, MASS: Merriam-Webster, Inc. National Platform of the Libertarian Party, 2002. (Adopted at the July 2002 convention in Indianapolis, Indiana) Nussbaum, M. C. (1999). Sex social justice. New York: Oxford University Press ODonnell, T. (2000). American holocaust: The price of victimless crime laws. Writers Digest. Iuniverse.com ProCon, 2009. Prostitution Education Network, 1996; Hoffman, C., 1997; American Civil Liberties Union, 2007; U.S. Department of State, 2004. http://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=1315print=true Prohibition. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1085.html Schur, E. (1971). Labeling deviant behavior. New York: Harper and Row. (1980). The politics of deviance. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. (1983). Labeling women deviant: gender, stigma, and social control. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Wests Encyclopedia of American Law, Edition 2 (2008). The Gale Group, Inc.

The Perfect Perfect :: essays research papers

â€Å"Therefore let them be instructed by you, at least by your deeds.† What does this verse mean to me? Well, what does it mean to you? How many of you believe you live a life of example? Perhaps you feel unqualified? That’s exactly how I felt. When I sat down and started to think about the oratory I was going to be giving for the last year I would be in high school. I wanted it to be moving. Funny. And finally I decided that I wanted it to be about exemplary life. I felt like I had no right, no privilege of allowing others to follow me. A mere adolescent 17 years of age, hormones off the charts, grips on reality out of the question, and virtually inexperience in the ways of the world, some may go so far as to call me sheltered†¦ what can I say about leading a life of example? Well, if I stick to my state of mind as an adolescent, I;m obviously not going to have too much to say for at least another decade. But if I stand outside of myself, and reflect on the quot e as rational intelligent human being, you’re gonna have an earful. This past year, just before Christmas, I got a job at a pizza joint no more than a 15 minute drive from home. The area in which the restaurant was situated has some wealthy neighborhoods, but for the most part, the community is downtrodden. Before coming in to work, I had no knowledge of the people that worked there. I had a friend from school with whom I’d be working, but he was the only person I knew. He had told me that they needed workers. I needed a job, and I got hired right on the spot. I learned some very shocking things within just a couple weeks of my employment My manager age 46. His oldest child? A son at the ripe young age of 31. My manager impregnated his girlfriend, of the same age, at 14. He got married at age 15 and became a father shortly after that birthday. His so called â€Å"wife† ran away, and so, at 16, he got divorce and continued to raise the child alone. A girl who is one of the pizza makers is 16. She had an abortion at 15, and is now expecting a child in late January.

Health & Wellness Essay

Heath and wellness are key components in my life. To me, health is having no health issues such as, illness, sickness or injury. Wellness is a synonym of health, however I would define it as living a happy, healthy lifestyle with little or no health issues. I feel the importance of health should be included in everyones daily lives. The importance of health to me is to live a long, prosperous life. Also, to avoid medical conditions that go along with an unhealthy lifestyle. Throughout my paper I will express my philosophical opinion on health and wellness. My view on philosophical health and wellness starts with being educated on healthy foods and eating habits. Poor eating habits have become more common in our society over the last couple of decades. Obesity is becoming a significant problem in America, especially in young children. Another important philosophical belief that I have is physical activity. Physical activity is something one should incorporate into his/her daily schedule. Something as simple as walking can improve ones health. For example, instead of a young child or teenager laying around on his/her cellphone or playing video games, he/she could be outside playing a pick up game of basketball, football, etc. I feel if one incorporates any physical activity into his/her daily life, our society would be much healthier. I try to incorporate as much physical activity into my life as possible. Being a student athlete here at Waynesburg University will make that a lot easier for me. As I am part of a team or family as I call them now, we all encourage each other to stay physically active and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I am also trying not to fall into the stereotypical category of â€Å"The Freshman Fifteen.† Every freshman fears those words, but that is where healthy eating habits come in to play. In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, one of my goals is to maintain a healthy weight. To do this, I must reduce the amount of processed foods, junk foods, and carbonated beverages in my diet. Being a student athlete I am required to maintain a level of physical activity before, during, and after my season. Therefore, my goal during offseason is to at least exercise sixty minutes per day. Another goal I set for myself is time management. With my busy schedule I will need to get an appropriate amount of sleep each night. My eating habits, time management, diet, and physical fitness will need to change to meet the goals that I have set for myself. A seemingly non health issue would be a winning or losing sports team. A winning sports team can be such a boost to a city and the people who live there, to include the economy, morale, and optimism to name a few. How about we start with an example, the Pittsburgh Pirates. A team who has not been on a winning streak in twenty years, this has boosted the economy in Pittsburgh. More people go to the games to watch this winning team and they spend more time and money in the city. It has been proven in cities with winning sports teams that depression, anxiety, suicide and crime has all been decreased when their sports teams are on a winning streak, rather than on a losing streak. In twenty five years, I will be the ripe age of forty four years old. I should be many years into my chosen career of a registered nurse and hopefully further educated to be a nurse anesthetist. I hopefully have had been blessed to be married and have children of my own by now. At this point I hope to have past on the importance of a healthy lifestyle to the ones I love. Three to four decades from now, I wish to be a active part of society, physically active and hopefully have maintained good health and wellness. My health philosophy is to maintain my physical activity, proper nutrition as well as my emotional and physical health. Combining all of the these together I should be able to have a healthy lifestyle and prosperous life. Physical activity is important therapy for your emotional and well being, it makes you feel good and that you have accomplished a goal that you set for yourself. Maintaining proper nutrition is required to keep up with your physical activity, the â€Å"better you eat, the better you feel.† Eating healthy, natural, and organic foods while staying away from processed foods, carbonated beverages, and fried foods. These bring your emotional and physical health down. My philosophy in life is to feel good, eat good, and educate the importance of health and well being. The health initiative 2020 will hopefully educate more people of the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. I feel that this initiative will cost more at the forefront to educate people across the country but after people are educated, strive to live healthier lives that medical costs will decrease and the health initiative will be achieved. In conclusion, throughout my paper I have expressed my philosophical opinion on health and wellness, and what this means to me. I hope to achieve the goals I have set for myself this year as well as into my future.

Aviation’s Most Critical Human Factors Challenges: Past and Present

Human error has been documented as a primary contributor to more than 70 percent of commercial airplane hull-loss accidents. While typically associated with flight operations, human error has also recently become a major concern in maintenance practices and air traffic management [1].Human factorsThe term â€Å"human factors† is often considered synonymous with crew resource management (CRM) or maintenance resource management (MRM).   Human factors involves gathering information about human abilities, limitations, and other characteristics and applying it to tools, machines, systems, tasks, jobs, and environments to produce safe, comfortable, and effective human use [1].Human factor specialists study each factor which can influence on the human activity on the cockpit. The job of an aviation psychologist is to reduce human error during flight. The main and most general objective of their work is optimisation of the human-computer interaction. From the one side electronic equ ipment should provide the full control of the flight and make easier pilot job. But just one error of board computer may be the cause of the disaster.Therefore crew should be aware and control all situation along with computer program to be able correct its mistake.   Because of high level of system automation often pilots even do not know what it is doing and why. Despite rapid gains in technology, humans are ultimately responsible for ensuring the success and safety of the aviation industry. They must continue to be knowledgeable, flexible, dedicated, and efficient while exercising good judgment [2].Events of aviation human factorsSince the world's first airplane was invented in 1903 by Wilbur and Orville Wright people studied human factors in aviation and tried to make easier pilot work by all known methods. The first navigation aid was introduced in the USA in the late 1920s.It was airfield lighting to assist pilots to make landings in poor weather or after dark. The concept o f approach lightning was developed from this in the 1930s, indicating to the pilot the angle of descent to the airfield, which later became adopted internationally through the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).With the spread of radio technology, several experimental radio based navigation aids were developed from the late 20s onwards. These were most successfully used in conjunction with instruments in the cockpit in the form of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), first used by a scheduled flight to make a landing in a snowstorm at Pittsburgh in 1938.A form of ILS was adopted by the ICAO for international use in 1949. Following the development of radar in World War II, it was deployed as a landing aid for civil aviation in the form of Ground Control Approach (GCA) systems, joined in 1948 by Distance Measuring Equipment (DME), and in the 1950s by airport surveillance radar as an aid to air traffic control [3].After numerous air incidents and accidents w ere also solved (or minimized a danger of) a lot of technical problems like positive lightning, engine failure, metal fatigue, delamination, stalling, fire, bird strike, volcanic ash, etc.Much progress in applying human factors to improving aviation safety was made around the time of World War II by people such as Paul Fitts and Alphonse Chapanis. However, there has been progress in safety throughout the history of aviation, such as the development of the pilot's checklist in 1937. The ability of the flight crew to continually maintain situation awareness is a critical human factor in air safety [3].During WWII, psychologist Norman Mackworth studied performance of radar operations as he watched for German aircrafts to cross the English Channel. He noted the difficulty of attending to the radar operations for more than a few minutes.After WWII, Paul Fitts studied selective attention and how pilot's eyes scanned an aircraft's instrumental pattern. He questioned how the brain knows wha t is important in the environment and how much information can the eye take before moving to another fixation point [4].Decades after WWII, the focus of research was on aircraft flight design, layout of instrument displays, and basic tasks of flying. Flight simulators were invented for pilot training and would allow for teaching of skills in a safe environment on ground which would transfer into performance in the real task. In the 1950's jet aircrafts were invented with faster speed and less stability.In the 1970's, the focus was on the mental workload and limits of human attention in performing several tasks at once. Finally, in the 1980's a focus on on-board computer power changed the pilot's task from an active pilot to more of a monitoring role [4].To reduce the commercial aviation accident rate modern aircraft companies establish human factors departments. Human factors specialists work closely with engineers, safety experts, test and training pilots, mechanics, and cabin crew s to properly integrate human factors into the design of airplanes. Their areas of responsibility include addressing human factors inFlight deck design. Design for maintainability and in-service support. Error management. Passenger cabin design.Flight deck design should satisfy such validated requirements as customer input, appropriate degree of automation, crew interaction capability, communication, navigation and surveillance traffic management. For instance Boeing commercial airplanes propose flight decks which are designed to provide automation to assist, but not replace, the flight crew member responsible for safe operation of the airplane.These systems support instrument displays with visual and tactile motion cues to minimize potential confusion about what functions are automated. Flight crew communication relies on the use of audio, visual, and tactile methods. This includes crewmember-to-airplane, crewmember-to-crewmember, and airplane-to-crewmember communication.Design for maintainability and in-service support includes chief mechanic participation, computer-based maintainability design tools, and fault information team and customer support processes [1].Boeing has developed human factors tools to help understand why the errors occur and develop suggestions for systematic improvements. The tools are: Procedural Event Analysis Tool (PEAT) and Maintenance Error Decision Aid (MEDA). PEAT is an analytic tool created to help the airline industry effectively manage the risks associated with flight crew procedural deviations.MEDA began as an effort to collect more information about maintenance errors. Three other tools that assist in managing error are: Crew information requirements analysis (CIRA), Training aids, and improved use of automation. CIRA provides a way to analyze how crews acquire, interpret, and integrate data into information upon which to base their actions.The passenger cabin represents a significant human factors challenge related to both passengers and cabin crews. Human factors principles usually associated with the flight deck are now being applied to examine human performance functions and ensure that cabin crews and passengers are able to do what they need or want to do. Some recent examples illustrate how the passenger cabin can benefit from human factors expertise applied during design.These include: automatic over wing exit and other cabin applications. The improved version of the over wing emergency exit opens automatically when activated by a passenger or cabin or flight crew member [1].ConclusionThe list of events in the history of aviation can be endless as the list of events of aviation human factors. However the number of aircraft accidents had not been reduced to zero. Along with legacy achievements should be provide more efficient and modern ones. Therefore aviation industry is an extensive field for specialists of various directions.BibliographyCurt Graeber, Human factor engineering, Boeing commercia l airplanes, July, 2005Robert R. Tyler, An interesting career in psychology: aviation human factors practitioner, October, 2000Wikipedia (free encyclopedia), 6 July 2005. History of human factors, Human performance training institute, July, 2005

Publishing Should Be About Prose, Not Product

Publishing Should Be About Prose, Not Product Publishing Should Be About Prose, Not Product Publishing Should Be About Prose, Not Product By Mark Nichol When I’m not at my mountaintop hermitage, contorting myself into a lotus position in my capacity as a grammar guru, I do freelance copyediting. I accept just about any project offered to me, but today I rejected an assignment perhaps the first time I’ve ever done so. What was so heinous about the project that this promiscuous peruser of prose turned it down? Well, for one thing, it was a manuscript of an academic book. Not that there’s anything wrong with that except that much is wrong with it. Scholars (or the grad students or ghostwriters they delegate the actual writing of scholarly content to) are notoriously atrocious for their leaden prose and their ignorance of the fundamentals of capitalization, punctuation, and other basic elements of writing. Unfortunately, however, such inept writing is rampant in scholarly journals and academic books usually not only because their publishers seem not to expect or require anything better but also because they either pay copy editors so little that only inexperienced ones need apply or they omit copyediting from the editorial process altogether. In my case, I had done several projects for a company that some scholarly publishers outsource their editorial-production work to, but I was hesitant to take on another assignment. The first problem is that the company pays by the page, not by the hour, which discourages excellence in editing. The second is that the per-page rates for heavy, medium, and light editing are all much lower than the industry standard, and the expected rate of completion is higher. The third is that the company’s assigning editors generally evaluate projects as requiring light editing. With some types of writing much fiction, informal essays, and the like it’s fairly easy to minimize editorial intervention without shame. But when it comes to formal writing that is ostensibly to be held to a high standard, it is painful and stressful (for me, at least) to withhold treatment: I feel like a doctor applying Band-Aids to someone who’s been shot or stabbed or mauled. Nevertheless, I cautiously accepted another project from this company, and I almost immediately regretted it. The writing was not incoherent (as some content I’ve worked on for this client has been), but it was clumsy, and I bristled at the thought of earning half the equivalent of my normal hourly rate to dust the shelves when they needed sanding and refinishing. So I apologetically (but promptly) notified the assigning editor that I was returning the assignment unfinished. Back in the ancient mists of time (the mid-1980s, to be more precise), my first publishing gig was an entry-level job at a San Francisco publisher of humanities books and journals (long since, of course, swallowed up by a megacorporation, but still publishing under its own imprint). In the journals division, we worked meticulously and extensively to transform often-inept writing into prose that was a pleasure to read; one freelance copy editor, in particular, should have had his name on the cover of all the journals he worked on, so extensive was his rewriting (which no writer or journal editor, to my knowledge, ever complained about). Unfortunately, permission to indulge that pride of craft is an exception these days, and much of the trade-publishing industry has similarly compromised its integrity by valuing profit over prose. I’m fortunate to have two trade-publishing clients, one that produces mostly pop-culture titles, including a lot of movie tie-ins that are frothy and fun, and another that puts out progressive, reflective titles about making the world a better place. (And each company, in its own way, is doing great good.) What’s fortunate, above and beyond the fact that I would actually buy and read many of these books I’m paid to edit while they’re in raw form, is that the editors I work with are allowed to take pride in shepherding their projects, and I am in turn respected for my skill and given the time and the freedom to practice my craft with care. (And though the pay is not exceptional, it’s respectable.) Sorry you had to read through all that to get to the writing tip, but I think it’s worth your while. Here’s today’s lesson: If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to have your writing published in a professionally produced manner a book, a magazine or journal, a newspaper, a newsletter, or even on a Web site insist on being accorded the dignity of having it edited with due diligence. That may not be easy to do consistently, at least early in your career, but strive to get to a place where the publisher that agrees to distribute your work is one that will take care to prepare it thoroughly. So much otherwise promising, potentially compelling writing is corrupted by careless editing, or a lack of editing at all. (You’ve all seen books and other publications with writing that could easily have been improved or with embarrassing typographical errors.) Is that how you want the work that you have labored over to be released out into the world? Conduct research on publishers, read their output, and determine which companies take pride in what they produce. Let writers and readers unite to reward publishers that respect producers and consumers of the written word, and punish those that see prose as nothing more than product to move along the conveyor belt with as little expense and effort as possible. 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:Writing Prompts 10160 Synonyms for â€Å"Trip†50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Essays

Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Essays Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Paper Dulce Et Decorum Est Analysis Paper . In Owen’s â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est,† Owen provides the reader with many examples of imagery conveyed through various literary devices. In English, Dulce Et Decorum Est, translates to â€Å"it is sweet and fitting, to die for your native land. † The images of excitement, death, and sadness that are painted by Owen are the most well conveyed and therefore the most impactful images and to ultimately show the irony in the poem because of Owen’s choice of literary techniques. An example that is well projected is â€Å"GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;† these lines produce an image of excitement. The image of excitement Owen produces among the soldiers is done through the use of charged words and punctuation. The image that is produced from â€Å"GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,† can be described as a division of soldiers in the trenches going about the daily routine of shooting and getting shot at, undergo a horrid excitement of gas landing in the trenches. Then, as a soldier barks, telling the others to place on the gas masks. By using words such as â€Å" ecstasy,† â€Å"fumbling,† and â€Å"clumsy,† Owen touches the reader’s emotion by depicting an action that is intense because this movement of the soldiers will either mean life or a slow, painful death. Also, the punctuation that is present produces an envisionment of an officer barking at the younger, less experienced troops, telling the soldiers to put on the masks over the words â€Å"GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! † The overall image smoothly and excitingly transitions from the walking, bloody, and fatigued troops to a life or death situation that makes an essential impact on the poem. Though the troop of men successfully attached the gas masks, Owen continues on to further depict an image of a not so fortunate man who did not have the same privilege. The picture from â€Å"And floundering like a man in fire or lime. Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light As under a green sea, I saw him drowning† can be described as an unfortunate man that is being eradicated through a short, painful death. By using imagery to describe the dying man that could be seen through the thick, green and misty gas, Owen describes a painful death of a soldier in such detail through the use of imagery, allows the reader to picture this â€Å"deathly painting. †. Also, the metaphor, â€Å"As under a green sea† compares murky sea water to the thickness and coloration of the gas the soldier is entrapped in. The picture continues the previous image of the soldiers affixing the masks to an unfortunate man that was not able to do so, and paid the price. Before the splurge of excitement and the dying of a soldier, the same group of men were already suffering from the effects of war as depicted previously in the poem. The picture of death Owen conveys among the unlucky soldier is done through the use of imagery and metaphor. The depiction of the sadness of war Owen coins among the unlucky soldiers is completed through the use of punctuation and charged words from â€Å"Many lost their boots but limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of disappointed shells that dropped behind. †By employing punctuation to illustrate the slow and trudging group of men. With every punctuation within the lines of poetry, the punctuation characterizes a pause in the soldiers’ walking as they prepare for the next seemingly endless step through the sludge in the trenches. Also, the charged words such as â€Å"limped,† â€Å"lame,† and â€Å"deaf,† allow the reader to put envision what it was like to be in a soldiers’ boots and experience the true colors of war; sadness and despair. The image shows the condition of the group of soldiers as well as the landscape the soldiers call home. By employing the literary devices of punctuation and charged words, Owen gives the reader an envisionment of the group of men and the tolls of war. Through Owen’s choice of literary devices, Owen successfully portrays excitement, death, and sadness to the reader and without these images, Owen could not have conveyed the irony in the phrase â€Å"Dulce Et Decorum Est. † The portraits of the soldiers equipped with gas masks, the dying soldier, and the condition of the troops show the true colors of war, which is what Owen was attempting to convey throughout the poem.

17 Funny Halloween Quotes to Make You Laugh

17 Funny Halloween Quotes to Make You Laugh Halloween is a festival of chills and thrills. Gear up to meet people in bizarre costumes. Join the Halloween celebration with your own brand of freaky fetish. Bake skull cookies, mix dragon blood beverages, and eat eyeball scones. Surprise your guests with funny Halloween quotes scribbled on your wall as graffiti. You can make your Halloween party a memorable one with a touch of creativity. Halloween Around the World Halloween traditions vary by geography. If you are in Austria, you would probably leave some bread and water for the departed souls. Ireland, from where Halloween is said to originate, celebrates Halloween in spectacular style. Visit Dublin, Ireland, for the Halloween festival fiesta. In the U.S., Halloween is second only to Christmas. Children go door-to-door in spooky costumes, collecting treats from friendly neighbors. Adults have â€Å"Halloween nights† with themed parties and pumpkin pies. The Swedish like to celebrate Halloween by remembering their deceased friends and relatives. Honoring the dead by lighting candles by their graves is the Swedish Halloween tradition. Other countries like Russia, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Japan, and Madagascar also celebrate Halloween in their own unique way. Whatever country you are in, make sure that you have a fun-filled Halloween night. Here are some funny Halloween quotes to get you into the spooky mood! Halloween Quotations Rita Rudner Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, Never take candy from strangers. And then they dressed me up and said, Go beg for it. I didn’t know what to do! I’d knock on people’s doors and go, Trick or treat. No, thank you. Fernando Pessoa Look, theres no metaphysics on earth like chocolates. Jean Baudrillard There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world. Rodney Dangerfield On Halloween, the parents sent their kids out looking like me. Richard Harris Barham Ghosts, like ladies, never speak till spoke to. Lloyd Douglas If a man harbors any sort of fear, it makes him landlord to a ghost. Miguel de Cervantes Fear has many eyes and can see things underground. Anonymous Ill bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween. Nina Willis Walter The witches flyAcross the sky,The owls go, Who? Who? Who?The black cats yowlAnd green ghosts howl,Scary Halloween to you! Scottish Saying From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! Steve Almond Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. Dee Snider Halloween is huge in my house and we really get into the spirits of things. Conan OBrien This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him. George Carlin There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. Henry David Thoreau I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. Mark Twain Everyone is a moon and has a dark side, which he never shows to anybody. Drew Carey I see my face in the mirror and go, Im a Halloween costume? Thats what they think of me? Source Morrison, Patt. Halloween is turning into a worldwide holiday. Why do so many people love to be scared? Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2018.

Non-verbal Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Non-verbal Communication - Essay Example As I walk towards the school entrance while thinking about my quizzes, report, and schools fees, I saw a random blond haired, blue eyed guy in his gray Gap sweatshirt waiting for people at the front door of my school. I look at my back and there are a bunch of people hurrying towards their own classrooms. They are probably his friends. As I take my time walking, I noticed the people at my back are not his friends. He is merely holding the door for everyone that passes by. I noticed some people smile back at him, other nods while others do not pay any attention. They are probably in a hurry. I thought of turning around and find another entrance because I think is plainly awkward. But then, I changed my mind and realized not to make a big deal out of it. As I approached the door, he was already holding the door open for me. It was probably my gloomy mood that he gave me a toothy grin. I was too engrossed in my thoughts to say â€Å"thanks† so I gave him a nod and a pat on his ba ck instead. I do not know what the guy is into, maybe he was just tripping around. I also thought that maybe he was just a genuinely nice guy or that maybe he was conducting a social experiment. He was probably doing a study of how strangers react to the random act of kindness. I mean, who would have done it? I am sure the school administration has the security guards to do that. But anyway, there was a lot of confusion but not so much of misunderstanding. As for me, I got confused at first. I find it awkward but decided there was nothing wrong about it and not to fuss over it. Most people nodded and smiled at him but there were those who ignored him. They are probably in a hurry. I nodded at him and gave him a pat on his back. It felt really good to be shown kindness and to be able to tell that person you appreciate the kindness evens in deeds.

Enviroment science lab5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Enviroment science lab5 - Essay Example Invasion of zebra and quagga mussels into fresh water is catastrophic impact to the ecosystem in which they are brought. This is so because they clog water intake structures which increase the cost of maintenance of water treatment and power plants. A zebra and quagga mussel also causes lakeshore problems to the recreationists and residents. They multiply at a faster rate and this leads to a decrease in phytoplankton. This is so because they filter phytoplankton from the surrounding water which increases the clarity of water. Lake trout will increase since they will have sufficient food that is zooplankton and zebra mussels. On the other hand, foraging fish will also increase since they have enough food to keep them alive. This explains why phytoplankton decreases tremendously and this will cause imbalance to the ecosystem. This filtration process may also contribute to the explosive growth of harmful blooms and ecosystem may lead to disappearance of some unique

Social Psychology of the Learning Environment Essay

Social Psychology of the Learning Environment - Essay Example It is evident from the study that when social psychology is being linked with the learning environment, student-teacher relationship is often given high regard. Social psychology as defined by Mashek and Hammer is the study of how individuals are influenced by other people and the situations they find themselves into. Conversely, according to Fiske et al., the science of social psychology is predicated on the simple fact that human thought, emotion and behaviour are immensely affected by the real, implied and imagined presence of people. Moreover, there are times that individuals’ thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced when they simply think about other persons, speculate about their objectives, visualize their reactions, or even fantasize about them, and a great deal of attention has been paid to how people respond when they think about other individuals. However, social psychology is concerned mainly with how individuals are influenced and affected by those people who m they relate with as stressed by Fiske et al. Social psychology is said to concentrate at three varied levels of analysis. According to Mashek and Hammer, the three stages of analysis are individual processes, interpersonal processes and group processes. Individual processes are employed when regarding phenomena such as impression formation, attitudes and persuasion. Subsequently, interpersonal processes form the groundwork for romantic relationships, friendships and helping behaviours (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). Lastly, group processes are taken into consideration when studying conformity, group decision making and jury behaviour (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). The aforementioned levels of analysis provide the foundation of social psychology as well as the diverse kinds of influence that social methods can take (Mashek & Hammer, 2011). In the classroom setting, the previously cited levels of analysis can be utilized to understand erudition and instruction. For instance, interpersonal proces sed are apparent in the teacher-pupil relationship which may have an impact on learning. Furthermore, the learning environment also employs the use of group processes which aids in facilitating learning. Learning Learning mechanisms provide means through which information about chronic developmental environments are acquired (Fiske et al., 2010). Moreover, it provides strategies through which organisms obtain information about temporary contexts, hence giving them the means to resourcefully modify behavioural responses (Fiske et al., 2010). Affiliation Affiliation as defined by Fiske et al. (2010) is the act of associating or interacting with one or a variety of individuals. The concept of affiliation bears no indication of the quality, affective tone, or length of the social encounter or the nature of the relationship between the people (Fiske et al., 2010). As Fiske et al. (2010) describes it, when people want to affiliate, they only wish to be in the company of and to relate with others. Hence, many theorists supposed that relating with and being in the company of other persons is an essential social behaviour (Fiske et al., 2010). Having an affiliation is crucial in learning because such relationships may greatly contribute to the learning process of a specific individual for the reason that their experience of interacting with other individuals may teach them a variety of new things and to help them explore a wide array of concepts that may be unique to them. Tutor-learner Relationship The tutor-learner relationship can be effective if it imbibes a positive and caring development of the space or time, interpersonal and

Finance and Accounting for MacLeish Nurseries Essay - 9

Finance and Accounting for MacLeish Nurseries - Essay Example By decreasing the selling price, MacLeish will be in a position to increase the number of profits that it would report in the financial statements hence increase their ability to increase the amounts of their loans and be in a position to make the repayments. I, therefore, recommend that MacLeish increase their investment on advertisement and lower their prices to benefit from the elastic demand nature of their products. Bedford property management just like any other company must undertake variance analysis as a way of managing their costs and ensuring efficiency. In the calculation below, it is evident that the company has recorded adverse variance in all areas and the management must, therefore, move with speed to control to take corrective actions. In the case of labor cost variance, Ms. Kim should ensure that close supervision is conducted to eradicate the inefficiency. At the same time, Kim has to reduce the rate per hour rewarded to the workers. The variances with regard to the number of respondents must also be corrected to increase the turnover. Management has to increase their marketing strategies to ensure the number of customers served increase to remove the adverse variance. The rates charged to the clients should also be as per the standards to eliminate the rate variance. Finally, the management has to control their overhead costs by reducing the expenses like rent, maintenance, and insurance to eliminate over expenditure. In conclusion, variance analysis should be carefully done to ensure profitability and success.