The Health of Nations in a Global Context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Health of Nations in a Global Context - Essay Example ceptualized by the three authors is they sought to portray the nations health (in this case, it is measured by its infant mortality rate or IMR) is influenced by its status in the global trading system using a statistical method called network analysis based on that countrys level of trade on capital- intensive commodities (four items were selected based on their high-load factors in the high-tech and heavy-manufacturing sectors). The authors had grouped the countries under study into six world-trade system blocks and made comparisons between the amount of trade that particular country has with regards to capital-intensive commodities (independent variables) and its infant mortality rate (dependent variable). Based on their statistical analysis of their selected trade data, the authors concluded that there is a strong correlation between a countrys overall population health (indicated by its infant mortality rate) and its position in the overall framework of the global trading system. In other words, the lower a countrys position in the world trade system, the higher is its IMR. This was the conclusion after eliminating factors like economic dependency, political stability, geographical location and access to seaports (Moore, Teixeira & Shiell, 2006, p. 171). In the brave new world of globalization, health care is seen as just another commodity that is subject to world trade. This means on a global scale, the health policies of most nations had shifted from their governments, in conjunction with the UN World Health Organization, to private enterprises. Global health care today is more a result of privatization of health care than the previous health models of nationally-comprehensive publicly-funded health strategies based on the provision of more valuable basic health care. This is a world view most authors agree that sees health care as just another aspect of global trade among commodities that is no different from agricultural or mining products. Todays global

The Importance Of Tourism In Mauritius Tourism Essay

The Importance Of Tourism In Mauritius Tourism Essay Chapter 2 This chapter deals with the importance of Tourism in Mauritius along with its socio-cultural impacts. The government too encourages tourism for its ability to spread economic development along with reducing inequalities in income distribution by providing jobs. In other words, it raises the standard of living of the local people. As mentioned by Glasson et al., 1995, the government views tourism as a catalyst for national and regional development. Moreover, it brings employment, exchange of currency, balance of payments advantages and important development such as infrastructure benefiting locals and visitors alike. Tourism industry has been the largest as well the fastest industry of the world. Along with the benefits, it must be noted that the negative impacts should not be ignored. Therefore, here, emphasis will be laid mostly on socio-cultural impacts of Tourism in Mauritius. What is Sustainable Tourism? Sustainable tourism is a kind of approach to tourism meant to support the development of ecological tourism in the long term. If tourism is to become part of a more sustainable lifestyle, changes are needed to the patterns of behaviour adopted by the public. Being a core pillar of the economy, the sustainable tourism industry, therefore plays a significant role by contributing to development of goals set for 2015 and alleviating poverty, creating jobs and providing livelihoods to the people of all works of life. Moreover, sustainable tourism is known as tourism development that avoids damage to the environment economy and cultures of the locations where it takes place. Therefore, it deals with the serious issues such as conserving the resources, valuing the local culture and tradition and contributing largely in the economy. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people, tourism companies as well as the tourists themselves. Characteristics of Sustainable Tourism Sustainable Tourism tries its utmost to maintain the importance of local culture and tradition. Sustainable Tourism is informatory, as it doesnt only let tourist know about the destinations but also it helps locals knowing about the culture and civilisation of tourists. This kind of tourism is aimed to conserve the resources of destinations where one is visiting to Sustainable Tourism seeks deeper involvement of locals, which provide local people an opportunity and make their living. Above all, Sustainable Tourism stresses pointedly upon integrity of the tourist places. Moreover, educating locals about sustainability can help in training people to preserve the product that actually offers them a living. In the tourism literature, another major theme linked to culture is that of the impact of tourism development on host cultures (Cole, 2004). Contribution of Tourism in the Economy Tourism contributes much in the economy in a way that the economic policy and planning will revolve mainly around certain fundamental objectives. For example in Mauritius, the potential contribution of tourism is noted under each of these. -Achieving economic growth -Achieving the equitable distribution of economic activities by region of the country -Tourism is a good source of government revenues. -Ensuring adequate maintenance and expansion of the countrys physical infrastructure and public utilities roads, harbours, airports, and transportation systems, telecommunications -Providing an adequate public health system -Providing an adequate educational and vocational training system Relationship between Ecotourism and Sustainable tourism When we talk about sustainable tourism, it deals mostly with the principles of sustainable tourism which are widely accepted, with the idea of prevailing sustainable tourism. Hence, ecotourism, which basically deals with nature tourism, aiming to conserve the environment and improving the well-being of local people, is considered as a speciality product of achieving sustainable tourism, also attracting a considerable amount of interests among both tourist researchers and governors. Ecotourism is seen as a form of tourism that is highly visible and growing rapidly. However, though the goals of ecotourism and sustainable tourism are much similar, the latter is broader and conceals within itself very many aspects and categories of tourism. Relationship between host community and guest Tourist-host encounters occur in three main contexts: -Where the tourist is buying some good or service from the host, -Where they are in the same place at the same time, -And when they meet and share ideas and information (de Kadt 1979). Referring to the last type of encounter is far less common than the first two, tourism often fails in promoting mutual understanding among different nations and stereotypes prevail (Nettekoven 1979; Krippendorf 1987; OGrady 1990). As we can see, this might be create troubles in different nations and may divide them too. Society Coming from the Latin word societas, which means as friendly association with others, a society a can be described as a group of people related to each other through persisted relations such as social status, roles and social networks. It is a group that shares the same geographical territory and have the same political authority and cultural expectations. In other words, society is the members sharing some mutual concern or interest aiming to a common goal. However, related to tourism, we do have some socio-cultural impacts which can be both positive and negative, some form of socio-cultural impact is an inevitable part of the host-visitor relationship as tourism brings together regions and societies that are normally characterised by varying degrees of difference. This is so, because the visitors are from different origin and they carry them their own beliefs, values and expectations. What is culture? Culture comes from the Latin word cultura which means to cultivate, the term culture refers to the cultivation of the soul or mind. Therefore, culture can be described as a social construct which characterizes the behaviour and attitude of social groups. As said by (wolfram, 2002), culture can be an operating mechanism of genetic unfolding which is the basic of the concept. Culture is also described as the sum of ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge and behaviour forming the shared basis for all social action. According to Enzensberger, culture may be defined simply as everything that humans do and do not do (Enzensberger, 1994). A countrys culture consists of its way of life, the way people dress and look, its institutions, its street scenes, its market and buses and its rhythms and patterns, the whole character and appearance of its cities and its countryside. However, it is difficult to see a countrys culture in its totality, because there are so many factors and variables involved. Moreover, it has been noted that no group of people keeps on living in exactly the same way and the culture of a country changes in some way about every five minutes. Social impacts of tourism Tourism directly affects the lives of people living in the tourist areas and this something inevitable. The following are some of the effects which the development of tourism will bring to a new destination. -It brings new jobs. -Many women may be given opportunities to work for the very first time in their lives. -Housing will improve and a variety of new housing projects will develop. -As noted, tourists are customers willing to pay for craft items, works of art, and live performances. The traditional cultural pursuits will undergo a process of commercialization. However, along with the positive contribution of Tourism, the society is also affected by its negative impacts which are known as the ills of the society and causes much harm in terms of prostitutions, drug addictions, gambling, crimes, thefts, night life, western culture being adopted ignoring the local one specially amongst youngsters. It also gives rise to sex tourism, with aged foreigners flocking to some of the countries seeking young women as partners. Others come to indulge in pedophile activities. Cultural Impacts of Tourism Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing global tourism markets. This is so because culture and creative industries are being used increasingly to promote destinations and enhance their attractiveness and competitiveness. Developing their tangible and intangible cultural assets has become a means for many locations to develop comparative advantages in an increasingly competitive tourism marketplace and to create local distinctiveness in the face of globalisation. The impact of tourism on culture examines the relationship between tourism and culture which keeps on growing and shows how tourism and culture share a strong link to help places become more attractive to tourists. However, most if the time, while catering for the perceived needs of tourists, tourism development leads to destinations losing their cultural identity. The local people tend to forget that the tourists are short-stay visitors who carry with them their own cultural norms and behavioural patterns. It tends to become a source for commercialisation of traditional cultural events and customs leading to fake folklore for tourists with no cultural value for the local population or the visitors. This becomes an issue as culture is being sacrificed for reasons of promoting tourism. In other words, creating an additional economic value at the price of losing a cultural value. The Socio-cultural impacts of tourism on the host communities The socio-cultural effects of Tourism are divided into three aspects: 1. On the destination -That is, how well a destination is able to assimilate given numbers of visitors 2. On the way of life -That is, the impact that visitors have on peoples values, and the local way of life. 3. On the arts -That is, the influence of the visitors on the arts; music, dance, painting, sculpture, theatre, architecture, handicrafts and so on. These three types of impacts have the following positive effects: Firstly, the numbers of visitors boost the local economy creating wealth, generate jobs, produce improvements in the local infrastructure, trigger a range of new facilities and services, and stimulate other types of investment. Secondly, tourism gives the opportunity to get into contact with the outside world, stimulates two-way flows of information, leads to the import of more goods and services, promotes cultural exchange, fosters a process of internationalization, and generally acts to develop the whole field of trade and communications. Finally, it creates an audience and patronage for the local arts mostly for handicrafts, theatre, music, and dance. It also has an indirect impact on all other artistic expressions including architecture, painting and literature. Impacts can also act in a negative way: First, as already noted, tourism competes for space, thus, there can be some local resentment to sharing amenities with a large number of visitors. Secondly, not only tourism but by development brought in general, there may be some resistance to the changes in the way of life and values and. Lastly, there can be some resentment of the impact of the new market forces on both the contemporary arts and traditional. As we know, all cultures differ from each other. However, while talking about the socio-cultural impacts of tourism, some concepts can be taken into consideration and these can influence one cultures view with another and they are: Norms and rules Here, the way which the people and the society behave and the rules which they follow are noted. People are limited to some legal framework as well as are restricted through social norms-the etiquette and the codes of conduct which governs the ways in which people behave. Emotionally Emotions can be hidden or expressed and is likely to change from country to country. It may change over time also. For example, in many countries, anger is permitted only if the cause is justifiable. In other societies, showing anger in any circumstances is unacceptable. Orientalism Orientalism both creates and perpetuates false ideas about the behaviour of others, particularly as they relate to western views of the East and culture and. The mysteries of the East are due mainly to the Wests incomprehension of eastern cultures. These myths are not only frequently repeated but may also influence contacts and relations. Primitivism Primitive society is living in a natural state with full goodness and simplicity. It can also be said that humans who live in primitive societies are not as intelligent as those who live in advanced societies. They live on honesty and not an attacking egocentrically on another culture to legitimize their enslavement or destruction. They harvest what is naturally provided. However, tourism is often viewed as having disrupted the primitive societies as it has been influenced by the medial, consumerism, politics, economics, education, health, family structure, travel, migration and other social changes. This can further be elaborated as tourism stimulates much interest in and conserve aspects of, the cultural heritage of the host (Cooper et al., 1998). It is noted that once the tourists appreciated the cultural heritage of a particular destination, that appreciation can increase the hosts pride in their heritage and foster local crafts, traditions and customs. In some countries, resources such as museum, national monuments, historical sites and ruins, rock paintings, cultural events, sports and recreational activities too are related to heritage and contribute much to the tourism sector (Government of Botswana, 1997). Tourism has been contributing a lot positively on the society but however, the negative aspects also should be taken into consideration. While talking about the negative aspects, we cannot ignore the fact that the spread of disease through travel and tourism continues to cause a problem though it has largely been responsive to vaccination and control. Among these diseases, the transmission of AIDS on a world wide basis has become a very serious issue and remains one of the major socio-cultural concerns of Tourism. It is noted that in Tourism AIDS is spread principally through sexual contacts. These consists either heterosexual or homosexual and may involve prostitutes, other tourists and ordinary members of the host population. Prostitutions is said to be the most common initial vehicle concerning the spread of the disease. Though tourism does not tend to create prostitution, it existed already and it is impossible to eliminate it too as it creates a certain type of tourism. However, another problem is that it tends to produce young prostitutes as there is a belief that younger girls are less likely to be infected. It is also noted that night clubs become more marketable if prostitution is available there. This has become a means of commerce and entertainment whereby a countrys culture is much affected without forgetting the other sources such as advertising, fashion and media by which culture is much influence. These bring much idea about values and lifestyles. For example, Coca Cola denotes more than a soft drink, Levis more than a pair of blue jeans, McDonalds more than a hamburger and Christian Dior more than a fashion house. Films are released on a worldwide basis. Everybody listens to the same pop music. People are influenced by these and thus, much of modem culture has become universal. GRI The global Reporting Initiative is a well-known network based organization used to report sustainability framework. The reporting framework sets out the Performance Indicators and principles that can be used by organizations in order to measure and report their economic, environmental and social performance publicly. There they use may techniques and some of them are: -Ecological Footprint reporting. -Environmental social governance reporting -Triple Bottom-line reporting -Corporate social Responsibility. Based on these, Accountability of socio-cultural Impacts too forms part of these. Accountability When we talk about accountability, we talk about a concept used in ethics and governance with several warnings. It can be used synonymously with concepts such as responsibility, answerability, blame worthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. Responsibility also deals with responsible tourism which is about taking responsibility individually and collectively for triple bottom line sustainability, economic, social and environmental. In travel and tourism, much emphasis has been laid on environmental responsibility. However, we should not ignore the fact that tourism is about taking individual and corporate responsibility to implement the principles of sustainable development. Each one of the society has got his own duty to respect it in all actions they perform. Accountability is thus, the acknowledgement and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions and policies including the administration, governance and implementation within the scope of the roles or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report explaining and answering the resulting consequences. Types of accountability Political accountability Political accountability is the accountability of the government, politicians and civil servants to the public and to legislative bodies such as a congress or a parliament. In a few cases, recall elections can be used to revoke the office of an elected official. However, voters do not have any direct way of holding elected representatives to account during the term for which they have been elected. In addition, some legislators and officials may be appointed rather than elected. Constitution, or statute, can empower a legislative body to hold their own members, the government, and government bodies to account. This can be through holding an internal or independent inquiry. Inquiries are usually held in response to an allegation of misconduct or corruption. The procedures, powers, and sanctions vary from country to country. The legislature may have the power to remove the individual, to impeach them, or suspend them from office for a period of time. The accused person might also decide to resign before trial. Ethical accountability Ethical accountability is the practice of improving overall personal and organizational performance by promoting and developing professional expertise and responsible tools, and by advocating an effective enabling environment for people and organizations to embrace a culture of sustainable development. Ethical accountability may include the individual, along with large and small businesses, research institutions and academics, not-for-profit organizations and government. One scholarly paper has posited that it is unethical to plan an action for social change without excavating the wisdom and knowledge of the people who are responsible for implementing the plans of action and the people whose lives will be affected. Administrative accountability Internal rules and norms as well as some independent commission are mechanisms to hold civil servant within the administration of government accountable. Within ministry or department, firstly, behavior is bounded by rules and regulations; secondly, civil servants are subordinates in a hierarchy and accountable to superiors. Nonetheless, there are independent watchdog units hold departments accountable to scrutinize and to scrutinize and; legitimacy of these commissions is built upon their independence, as it avoids any conflicts of interest. Apart from internal checks, some watchdog units accept complaints from citizens, bridging society and government to hold civil servants accountable to citizens. Market accountability Under voices for privatization and decentralization of the government, services provided are nowadays more customer-driven and should aim to provide various choices and convenience to citizens; with this perspective, there are competition and comparisons between public and private services and this, ideally, improves quality of service. As mentioned by Bruce Stone, the standard of assessment for accountability is therefore responsiveness of service providers to a body of sovereign customers and produce quality service. Outsourcing service is one means to adopt market accountability. Government can choose among a shortlist of companies for outsourced service; within the contracting period, government can hold the company by rewriting contracts or by choosing another company. Accountability in education Virtually all schools today that deny it but in opposition, Sudbury schools choose to recognize that students are personally responsible for their acts. The denial is threefold: schools do not permit students to choose their course of action fully; they do not permit students to embark on the course, once chosen; and they do not permit students to suffer the consequences of the course, once taken. Freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to bear the results of action-these are the three great freedoms that constitute personal responsibility. Sudbury schools claim that Ethics is a course taught by life experience. They adduce that the absolutely essential ingredient for acquiring values-and for moral action is personal responsibility, that schools will become involved in the teaching of morals when they become communities of people who fully respect each others right to make choices, and that the only way the schools can become meaningful purveyors of ethical values is if they pr ovide adults and students with real-life experiences that are bearers of moral import. Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a direct democracy in which staff and students are equals. Constituency relations Within this perspective, a particular agency or the government is accountable if voices from groups or institutions, agencies, which is outside the public sector and representing citizens interests in a particular field or constituency, are heard. Moreover, the government is obliged to empower members of agencies with political rights to run for elections and be elected; or, appoint them into the public sector as a way to hold the government representative and ensure voices from all constituencies are included in policy-making process. Public/private overlap With the increase over the last several decades in public service provision by private entities, especially in the United States and Britain, some have called for increased political accountability mechanisms to be applied to otherwise non-political entities. Legal scholar Anne Davies, for instance, argues that the line between public institutions and private entities like corporations is becoming blurred in certain areas of public service provision in the United Kingdom and that this can compromise political accountability in those areas. She and others argue that some administrative law reforms are necessary to address this accountability gap. Socio Cultural Impacts Accountability This is a measure used to measure an organizations state of being mindful of the emerging social concerns and priorities of internal and external stakeholders involving the community, governmental, employees and nongovernmental organizations, management, and owners. It can be reflected in the organizations verifiable commitment to certain factors (which may or may not be tied directly to its processes) such as: (1) willing compliance with health and hygiene, employment, safety, and environment laws. (2) respect for human basic and civil rights. (3) betterment of community and surrounding. Social Foot Print Many people in the sustainable business world have long awaited the release of the Social Footprint, a measurement and reporting tool that appears destined to become as common as carbon foot printing within the next five years or so which now available to help you quantify your businesss social sustainability. In other words, it can help you determine the impact your company has on society. Moreover, the Social Footprint Method is a measurement and reporting tool that quantifies the social sustainability performance of an organization. In this regard, the Social Footprint is similar to the Ecological Footprint, which is a method for measuring and reporting the ecological impact of a human population. Unlike the Ecological Footprint, however, which measures a populations use of, and impact on, natural resources (i.e., natural capital), the Social Footprint deals with impacts on what we call anthro capital (comprised of human, social and constructed capital). The Social Footprint Method differs from the Ecological Footprint in another very important way. Unlike natural or ecological capital, which is limited and which humans do not create, most forms of anthro capital are exclusively produced by people and can be created virtually at will. When confronted with shortages of anthro capital, we can almost always create more of it if we want to. Thus, the gaps that must be closed in the case of anthro capital are not sustainability gaps between fixed resources we have and fixed resources we need; rather, they are gaps between non-fixed resources we have and non-fixed resources we could have more of if only we chose to produce them. The extent to which an organization contributes to either causing or closing such gaps is what the Social Footprint Method measures, be they positive contributions or negative ones. What further differentiates the Social Footprint Method from other sustainability reporting tools is the manner in which it measures performance against standards of performance. Top-line, trend-oriented tools are a step in the right direction, but only the Social Footprint Method provides a means of producing true bottom-line measures of corporate social sustainability using standards of performance as a guide. No other CSR method does this. Tourism in Mauritius In the past thirty years, Mauritius has developed from a low-income economy based on agriculture to a middle-income diversified economy. Much of this economic growth has been the result of the expansion of the luxury tourism sector. Mauritius is one of Africas wealthier countries, and its economy is mainly dependent on the sugar, textiles, and tourism industries. As world sugar prices have declined and the production of textiles has become economically unfeasible, the tourist industry is being concentrated on. Tourist policy in Mauritius promotes elite and specialist tourism because of the limited space available for tourism and the need to maximise income while minimizing environmental impact. Low budget tourism in not encouraged. Preferring high-end tourism, the Mauritian government promotes boutique luxury hotels, 4 and 5 stars beach resorts, golf courses, and spas and beauty centres. Tourism is directed primarily at the high-spending European market. Mauritius had about 18,000 visitors in 1970. Between 1985 and 2000 the size of its tourism sector, measured by the increase in tourist arrivals, grew by approximately 340%.Tourist arrivals in 2004 were almost 720,000. Tourism created 30,000 full time job equivalents in 2000. Recently, for the first eight months of 2010, tourist arrivals are forecasted at around 915, 000 for 2010 compared to a decline of 5.3% in 2009. tourist earnings are expected to be around R 37, 935 million in 2010 compared to R 35, 700 million in 2009. We expecting about 2million tourists by 2015. Tourists are primarily European, mainly French and British. Mauritius tends to be a high cost tourist destination. Air travel and accommodation are relatively expensive. Most tourists are on package holidays; there is very little independent travel or backpacking. To promote up-market tourism, charter flights have been banned, the resort hotels have been built to high standards and there are high standards of cuisine and service. There are direct flights from Britain and South Africa. The amount of resorts clustered in parts of the coastline is increasing, despite concerns about pollution and damage to coral reefs. Policy in the country has generally been to regulate contact between Mauritians society and tourists because of concerns about cultural and social problems.

Social Work Essay -- Sociology, Social Division

This essay will discuss social divisions; social exclusion and social inclusion, of which there are many definitions and interpretations. Social divisions and Social exclusion has been around for many years. Social exclusion was first noticed in France in 1970s in relation to people who fell outside the range of the social insurance system, such as disabled people, lone parents and the young unemployed (Townsend and Kennedy, 2004). Before 1997 Social exclusion was referred to as ‘poverty’, which means where people lack many of the opportunities that are available to the average person (Palmer; 2010). However for the purpose of this assignment, it will focus on homelessness as a social division, the relationship between exclusion and inclusion, and how this relates to social work practice. Everybody in society is part of a social division. Thompson (2010) states that social divisions are complex and people are not only part of one group they are often part of other groups, for a example a asylum seekers can be linked with social divisions such as poverty, unemployment and homelessness. Asylum seekers can also be marginalised by language barriers. Supporting Thompson (2010) is Armstrong (2006) who stated in 1997, 4.8 million adults suffered from five or more disadvantages of exclusion. Social divisions are: class, race, disability, identify, gender and geographical environment, they are often problematic to individuals, groups and communities. Each Government which has come into power has tried to eradicate poverty, poor health, poor communities, discrimination and prejudice towards certain individuals and groups (Alcock, 2008). Social exclusion, which excludes people from society, can be categorised into people who are,... ...them (Dalrymple and Burke, 2006). Homeless people as already stated may have a number of disadvantages, one maybe a language barrier, English may not be their first language, therefore the social worker would find it useful to use an interpreter, which shows they value their cultural and want to help and support them. In conclusion the role of a social worker is increasingly significant when working with people who are socially excluded, due to multiple factors such as, poverty, homelessness, race, mental health and sexual orientation. The essay has shown how people are effected by how Government oversee the country and how they encourage social workers to follow laws and polices, they need to believe in social justice and have an understanding of social divisions, social exclusion and how it informs their practice and then how people’s lives are impacted.

Informative Speech About Eating Disorders

f SPEECH PLAN FOR INFORMATIVE SPEECH Title:â€Å"What lifestyle do you want to live? Understanding Your Credit† Topic:Credit Reports and Credit Scoring Specific Purpose:I want my audience to understand the factors that make up their credit scores. Thesis Statement: The factors that make up the credit scores are: payment history, debt, length of credit history, new credit, and type of credit used. (www. myfico. com) Organizational Pattern:Categorical Forms of Support:Explanation, graphs, expert testimony, statistics. MESSAGE DESIGNDevelop Introduction Get their attention:Comparison slide of house, car, and job. Make it hit home:Review the first slide. For many, the difference of these two types of lifestyles has nothing to do with knowledge or work ethic, but is based solely on their credit. Reveal Topic:Understanding Your Credit, What options do you want? Aspects of Speech:We are going to review the different factors that make up your credit score: Your payment history, debt, length of credit history, new credit, and type of credit used.Most of the slides and data provided are from FICO, the Fair Isaac Corporation, which the company that compiles credit scores. Transition:Let’s see how much we can cover in 6 minutes. 4-S Development of Main Points Signpost first factor:First, let’s talk about the payment history. State first factor:The Payment History is the largest single contributing factor to your credit score. Support first factor:The Payment History makes up 35% percent of your credit score. (www. myfico. com). The Payment History includes: Revolving Accounts, Installment Accounts, Collections, and Public Records.Listings remain on the payment history for 7 years; and bankruptcy information can remain on the payment history for up to 10 years. Summarize first factor:The payment history receives most of the attention when you and when lenders look at your credit. To keep a high credit score, you must keep your payment history completely clear of negative listings. The FTC estimates that as many as 75% of all credit reports include errors and inaccuracies (www. ftc. gov). For this reason it is important Signpost second factor:Next, let’s talk about debt.State second factor:The second largest factor that influences your credit score is your debt. Support second factor:When your credit score is calculated, the Fair Isaac Corporation will look at how much debt you have. This will make up 30% of your credit score. Debt will not necessarily lower your credit score, although that depends on where the debt is located. The type of debt that is most heavily considered when calculating your credit score is your debt to credit ratio with your revolving accounts.According Lexington Law Firm (www. lexingtonlaw. com), to maximize your credit score you need to keep your credit card balances below 20% of their total balance within the FICO scoring updates in 2008. Your debt will also be looked at by lenders to evaluate your debt to income ratio, although this does not affect your score. Summarize 2nd factor:When we think of fixing our credit, most of us think of paying off our debts. This will not necessarily raise our credit scores, except in the case of lowering our credit card balances.Your credit score relies more heavily on making the payments on time, and your ratios then how much debt you have. Signpost third factor: Next let’s review the 3 smaller factors that influence your credit score. State third factor:The 3 smaller factors that influence your credit score are the length of credit history, new credit, and the types of credit that you use Support third factor:These other three types of credit make up the last 35% of your credit score, so together, they are just as influential to your credit score as your payment history.First they take the length of your credit history into account, FICO and lending institutions want to make sure that you have established long habits of utilizing yo ur credit responsibly. Second creditors feel that it is a red flag if you are trying to apply for too many new forms of credit in a short period of time, so they track your inquiries (every time a creditor checks your credit for a purchase). These inquiries are most influential on your score for 1 year after they are made and completely fall off of your score after 2 years. The last factor is the types of credit used.FICO and lenders prefer that you have experience in paying off loans and using credit cards, although using only one of these types of credit can be sufficient to satisfy most of the 10% of the weight in this factor. Summarize third factor:As we establish credit, it is important that we keep a long stable history in our credit reports. Closing credit cards may hurt your credit because it will lower the length of your history. These small factors are usually discarded as we try to establish our credit, but for many, make up the difference between a 720 and an 850 credit score.Develop Conclusion Summarize points:In our society, we are constantly being judged by our credit score. For most of us, our standard of living will be determined by this score. It is important to keep a clean payment history, low balances on credit cards, and multiple credit lines for a long period of time to get the score that you need. Here is a listing of the tiers of credit scores and interest rates you may receive by being responsible with your credit. Restate your purpose:Your credit is important, and it is tracked for years at a time.If you’ve made some mistakes, look into getting it fixed, and learn the principles of keeping a high credit score so you’re not caught unawares of traps in the future. Close: REFERENCES 1. Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO). www. myfico. com/crediteducation 2. Lexington Law Firm, John Heath, Directing Attorney. www. lexingtonlaw. com 3. Federal Trade Commission, The Impact of National Credit Reporting under the Fair Credit Reportin g Act. http://www. ftc. gov/bcp/workshops/infoflows/statements/cate02. pdf

Mothers

The parent teacher meeting is an activity which fosters good interaction between the parents of the children and the school teachers. Most of the time, these interactions provide very beneficial effects to the total welfare of the students. Apparently, there are three major groupings which can be observed among mothers who attend these kinds of meetings-the â€Å"social†, â€Å"reserved† and the â€Å"unconcerned†. The social mother is the one who actually has all the energy in order to completely devote herself to the parent-teacher meeting. In terms of expenses, she actually manages to impart more amounts of money that what is required in fulfilling a project for the benefit of the whole class, in effect of her child. She is always willing to participate in upcoming school activities. It is also a fact that this type of mother will commit right away at the earliest possible time to an activity which is still to be scheduled. When it comes to interactions with the teacher, she always manages to ask questions about the performance of her child. To get more information, and possibly some commendations from the teacher is her prized reward. The next type of a mother who attends parent-teacher meetings is the reserved one. This kind of mother pays the exact amount needed in order to fund a certain school project. When it comes to school activities, she does not commit right away but will make sure that the teacher will be able to know her compliance as soon as possible. Although she manages to go to school activities, the intention is to serve as the guardian for her child and not for any other reasons. In terms of interacting with the teacher, this kind of mother will just accept whatever the teacher will tell her about the child and would not dare elaborate more about his performance. She will just take into considerations whatever advices the teacher would give. The last type is the unconcerned mother. Since she considers her child’s welfare less of a priority, she is the one who will always complain about the expenses to be incurred for school projects; would even demand for a detailed breakdown of where the money contribution is going to be used. When it comes to school activities’ planning, this type of a mother will almost always give out reasons just to skip those important child-parent interactions in school. These reasons are closed ended and would take no other course but to deny the invitation for a school activity. The unconcerned mother would not even care to talk to her child’s teacher for any other info about his performance in class. It is very clear that doing so is just a waste of time for her. Motherly care is considered to be the most effective factor in bringing up a well rounded child. Programs such as the parent-teacher meetings will definitely provide some more good avenues to improve whatever the conditions of school children are based on the assessment of the teachers. The three groups of mothers who attend the parent-teacher meetings in schools are the core individuals who will practically influence how their respective child will develop to become good citizens.                              

Free Essays on Cisco Systems

Overall impression of Cisco’s business model – strengths/weaknesses: I found that Cisco has changed its business model several times to reflect changing market needs and economies. In 1993, Cisco had to realize that the growth of the Internet was creating a demand for technology other than their routers. They set about adopting a strategy to become either the number 1 or number 2 player in each market. They planned to have their company own, develop and market an array of network products and standards as the market demanded them. One of their objectives was to provide a complete solution for businesses. They knew the only way to do that was through acquiring other companies with the needed technologies. In 1997, the business model had to change again when John Chambers realized that the future of the Internet was over IP networks. They moved their strategy to all areas of telecommunications from the end-user to the network backbone, focusing on Digital Subscribe r Lines, multi-service products, and Fiber-Optic equipment. Is their acquisition/integration strategy a sound strategy (what are the benefits, what are the potential pitfalls with this approach? The acquisition strategy does seem to work for Cisco. It enables Cisco to own, develop and market an array of network products and standards, as the market demands them. The process includes investigating buying start-up companies if they decide that it is too far behind its competitors to take the time to build the product from scratch. They knew they couldn’t possibly develop all the products on their own. They target companies for potential acquisitions that usually have complimentary technologies to Cisco. If they are unsure about the success of a potential acquisition, they acquire a small share of the company and wait for market forces to determine the outcome. Cisco will then acquire the company if it proves to be successful. Cisco has developed a four-s... Free Essays on Cisco Systems Free Essays on Cisco Systems Overall impression of Cisco’s business model – strengths/weaknesses: I found that Cisco has changed its business model several times to reflect changing market needs and economies. In 1993, Cisco had to realize that the growth of the Internet was creating a demand for technology other than their routers. They set about adopting a strategy to become either the number 1 or number 2 player in each market. They planned to have their company own, develop and market an array of network products and standards as the market demanded them. One of their objectives was to provide a complete solution for businesses. They knew the only way to do that was through acquiring other companies with the needed technologies. In 1997, the business model had to change again when John Chambers realized that the future of the Internet was over IP networks. They moved their strategy to all areas of telecommunications from the end-user to the network backbone, focusing on Digital Subscribe r Lines, multi-service products, and Fiber-Optic equipment. Is their acquisition/integration strategy a sound strategy (what are the benefits, what are the potential pitfalls with this approach? The acquisition strategy does seem to work for Cisco. It enables Cisco to own, develop and market an array of network products and standards, as the market demands them. The process includes investigating buying start-up companies if they decide that it is too far behind its competitors to take the time to build the product from scratch. They knew they couldn’t possibly develop all the products on their own. They target companies for potential acquisitions that usually have complimentary technologies to Cisco. If they are unsure about the success of a potential acquisition, they acquire a small share of the company and wait for market forces to determine the outcome. Cisco will then acquire the company if it proves to be successful. Cisco has developed a four-s...

Affirmative Action Essays (933 words) - Discrimination, Free Essays

Affirmative Action Essays (933 words) - Discrimination, Free Essays Affirmative Action AFFIRMATIVE ACTION I. We didnt land on Plymouth Rock, my brothers and sisters Plymouth Rock landed on us! Malcolm Xs observation is brought out by the facts of American History. Snatched from their native land, transported thousands of miles in a nightmare of disease and death and sold into slavery, blacks were reduced to the legal status of farm animals. Even after emancipation, blacks were segregated from whites in some states by law, and by social practice almost everywhere. American apartheid continued for another century. In 1954 the Supreme Court declared state-compelled segregation in schools unconstitutional, and it followed up that decision with others that struck down many forms of official segregation. Still, discrimination survived, and in most southern states blacks were either discouraged or prohibited from exercising their right to vote. Not until the 1960s was compulsory segregation finally and effectively challenged. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed the most sweeping civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War. It banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations (hotels, motels, restaurants, etc.), and housing; it also guaranteed voting rights for blacks in areas suspected of disenfranchising blacks. Today, several agencies in the federal government exercise sweeping powers to enforce these civil rights measures. But is that enough? Equality of condition between blacks and whites seems as elusive as ever. The black unemployment rate is double that of whites, and the percentage of black families living in poverty is nearly four times that of whites. Only a small percentage of blacks ever make it into medical school or law schools. Advocates of affirmative action have focused upon these differences to support their argument that it is no longer enough just to stop discrimination. Liberal Democrats feel that the damage done by three centuries of racism now has to be remedied, they argue, and effective remediation requires a policy of affirmative action. At the heart of affirmative action is the use of numerical goals. Opponents call them racial quotas. Whatever the name, what they imply is the setting aside of a certain number of jobs or positions for blacks or other historically oppressed groups. Conservative Republicans charge that affirmative action really amounts to reverse discrimination, that it penalizes innocent people simply because they are white, that it often results in unqualified appointments, and that it ends up harming instead of helping blacks. The issue of preferences to address historical patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination has received a great deal of attention nationally. Whether in government contracts, private sector hiring, college admissions, or state hiring practices, opponents in the issue have engaged in often-heated debates. In Michigan, legislation to limit or eliminate affirmative action has been introduced this session. A good example of this legislation was proposed on March 18,1998 and it is called SJR N (S-2). This resolution proposed an amendment to the Michigan Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex or ethnicity and to prohibit the state and its political subdivisions from using religion, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a basis for discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group in employment, public education, or public contracting. The present system violates the fundamental principle of equal protection of the law against discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics of race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin. SJR N (S-2) was intended to end this practice and return Michigan to the goal of a colorblind society. II. SJR N (S-2) is on the Conservative side of things, in that, the legislation is trying to stop reverse racism. There really is no moderate way to look at affirmative action; you can either be for it or against it. Sen. Bill Bullard Jr. was the chair and sponsor of this bill, but when he met with the other members of this committee it was stated in the minutes of the meeting that the issue will not be voted on today, nor does he (Bill Bullard) intend to press for a vote in the Legislature this year. There will be future opportunities for all who wish to contribute to this dialogue to have their views heard. The committee then had a long list of testimony from those who opposed SJR N (S-2).