Valero Energy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Valero Energy - Research Paper Example Valero Energy Valero Energy is known for its commitment to excellence, challenging work environment and commitment to community. The company has a policy of using state-of-the-art technology to provide cleaner-burning gasoline. The company manages its innovation process by focusing on alternative energy and latest technologies. It has invested in wind farms outside its McKee Refinery in the Texas Panhandle. The innovation process gets tremendous boost through such investments as energy is generated without environmental concerns. The 3 examples of product innovation are: investments in new infra-red technology to quickly find and repair leaks of gaseous hydrocarbons, investments in new flare-gas recovery systems which is an emission-reducing technology and meeting the challenge of greenhouse gas reduction through scientific, economic, and technological analyses. Product innovation consists of either improving the present product or acquiring technologies for environment-friendly alternative energies (Valero Energy Corporation). Critically evaluate whether Valero Energy is a learning organization. In your answer discuss 3 examples of how the company's leadership structure has affected the degree of learning that occurs within the company The Board of directors of Valero Energy consists of men and women of substantial experience and qualify for a learning environment in the company. As qualified and experienced members, they are in a position to foster a learning environment in the company to encourage innovation and growth. Thus, the company's leadership has succeeded in establishing an attitude for competitive and healthy growth with a socio-economic thrust that balances social needs with economic advantages. The company ranks number one on Fortune magazine's listing of the nation's Best Big companies to work for two consecutive years. It also ranks number five among petroleum refining companies on Fortune magazine's listing of America's most admired companies. It is also ranked at number seven on Fortune's magazines listing of most admired companies worldwide. Besides these, the company has secured many other environmental and safety awards. Such accolades on a continuous basis every year bespeak the company's enlightened leadership in learning. The company is also involved in philanthropic activities and generously donates for volunteer activities and educational support programs. Needless to add, these recognitions can only mean that the culture of learning in the company is sufficiently high to merit them (Valero Energy Corporation). Critically evaluate the competitive dynamics of the industry Valero Energy is in. Provide 3 examples in your answer of how Valero Energy can utilize an entrepreneurial strategy to compete more effectively globally The petroleum industry is a fast evolving industry because of environmental issues. On the one hand, petroleum is required for transportation, power and a host of other economies. On the other hand, the use of petroleum has to be minimal because of its greenhouse gas emission that makes it important to adhere to technologies that reduce air pollution. The company has bolstered its image and revenues through social commitments and growing national network of distributors. Gasoline is a product of universal demand. The only way to grow in the gasoline industry is through achieving technological breakthroughs to address environmental

Maydavian Online Reservation and Booking System Essay Example for Free

Maydavian Online Reservation and Booking System Essay Maydavian has been founded as a resort in the beautiful island of Palawan. With the exertion of Ms. Marrieta S. Mayor, the capital of this unspoiled island, and a memorable journey of about two hours by bus or shuttle taking you through a zigzag in the mountains and with breathtaking views of mountain ranges and unspoiled forests. An oasis of hospitality awaits you at Maydavian, with spectacular views of the Sulu Sea. Ideally located in a coconut plantation with modern facilities in harmony with the serene and soothing atmosphere. Maydavian Resort establish on 2000. The establishment started with just a small canteen, 6 rooms and small dinning cottages. After a few months, reception hall, VIP rooms and Standards rooms were built. A swimming pool was formally open to the public. Maydavian Resort has a total land area of eighteen hectares located at Brgy. Caguisan Narra, Palawan. The guest who visited Maydavian loved enjoyed a walkway through century mangroves, clear Sky and myriad of stars and delicious food serves for the most discerning of pallets comprising both Filipino and western specialties. Presently, Maydavian offers plenty of facilities and services. There are the Restaurant and Bar, the Maydavian Pavillion. One of the venues for wedding and birthday parties, island Park intended for playful kids and weather favors the park also serve as venue for children party and garden wedding reception for sports minded guest, there is a room venue for billiards and many more that had contributed to the overall success of this more than a decade old establishment. The continuous growth of the world their exist the modern and a high-tech way of living due to the reason of unsatisfied and consciousness of humans by discovering and searching for more effective way of living such as computer- is a device that computes, especially a programmable electronic machine that performs high speed mathematical or logical operations that can assembles, store, correlates and otherwise process information. Dealing with the triumphant advancement, internet is a network of almost transaction system through this transaction system must gather sort of information for online services. Website is related collection of web files that includes an initial called a homepage it is essential in an organization to establish a tourist spot in the province of Palawan adopting reliable reviewing like a website to provide a complex transaction system through on line services. This system is entitled â€Å"Maydavian Resort Online Reservation and Booking System†.

Laboratory Report on Aldehydes and Ketones

Laboratory Report on Aldehydes and Ketones Mark Norly L. Tundag I. OBJECTIVES At the end of the experiment, the students are able to identify the functional group present in aldehydes and ketones, also on determining their physical and chemical properties and to perform chemical test to distinguish one from the other. II. MATERIAL and APPARATUS The experiment used a bunsen burner, vials, 100 ml beaker, test tube holder, vial brush, clay flame shield, wire gauze, acetaldehyde1, benzaldehyde2, acetone3, 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozine4, ammoniacal silver nitrate solution [ (Ag((NH)3)2)NO3], Fehlings a and b, 6m sulfuric acid [H2SO4], very dilute potassium permanganate [KMnO4], distilled water [H2O] and Schiff’s reagent5. III. PROCEDURE and OBSERVATIONS The test for the physical characteristics of the carbonyl compounds namely the acetaldehyde (an aliphatic aldehyde), the benzaldehyde (an aromatic aldehyde), and acetone (a ketone) was the first to be investigated. Four drops of each of the carbonyl compounds were mixed with 2 ml of water in three separate vials. Only the aromatic aldehyde did not form a homogeneous mixture it formed two layers instead, wherein benzaldehyde at settled at the bottom. B1.The reaction between the carbonyl compounds and the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozine was performed and the precipitate was identified. After taking five drops from each of the carbonyl compounds that were placed again in three separate vials, yellow-orange precipitate that readily formed was seen after adding into each of the vials another 5 drops of the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozine. 2. The reaction of the carbonyl compounds with the Tollen’s reagent was performed next. Only with the aldehydes did a silver mirror on the sides of the vials were observed to exist when the carbonyl compounds mixed with Tollen’s reagent in three separate vials were heated for ten minutes. A black stain was only seen on the ketone vial with the reagent. 3. The result of the carbonyl compounds with the Fehling’s test was determined. From blue, the only compound that changed its color to green was the aliphatic aldehyde when the mixture of five drops of fehlings a and b with five drops of each of the carbonyl compounds in three separate vials were placed on the water bath. The remaining carbonyl compounds had no observable changes happened. 4. The reaction of potassium permanganate to the carbonyl compounds was observed and the organic products identified. Brown precipitate was formed on both the aliphatic and aromatic aldehyde but not on the ketone, when five drops of the carbonyl compounds was added to the mixture of the five drops pink colored potassium permanganate acidified with 2 drops of 6M sulfuric acid placed into three different vials. 5. The result of the Schiff’s test with the carbonyl compounds was described and interpreted. Only the aldehydes were a changed of color occurred when five drops of the Schiff’s reagent was placed in the three separate vials containing the carbonyl compounds. From cloudy white solution of acetaldehyde to lavender and yellowish solution of benzaldehyde to a colorless solution with pinkish globule that settled at the bottom of the vial. IV. CONCLUSION Aldehydes and Ketones are collectively called as carbonyl compounds, referring to their carbonyl [ C=O ] functional group that affects their solubility rendering it relatively higher because of the molecule’s ability to hydrogen bond with water but it is also dependent to the molecular mass and the number of carbon present on the nonpolar ‘R’ group, if the R group is strong enough to cancel out the hydrogen bonding of the functional group with water it will make the entire compound insoluble. Benzaldehyde, for example is insoluble because of the presence of the benzene ring that is nonpolar in nature. To investigate the chemical properties of carbonyl compounds and to differentiate one from the other some reagents were used in the experiment: 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozine for example gives off a yellow orange precipitate when it detects the presence of the carbonyl functional group in a solution, the aliphatic aldehyde reacted to the reagent forming acetaldehyde-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozone1, the aromatic aldehyde reacted to the reagent forming benzaldehyde-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozone2, the ketone reacted to the reagent forming acetone-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozone3. Tollen’s that contain ammoniacal silver nitrate on the other hand, differentiates aldehyde from a ketone considering the fact that silver mirror on both the vials were formed due to the reduction of the oxidizing agent forming Ag+, only aldehydes can undergo oxidation because of the presence of an oxidizable hydrogen on their structure in which case ketones don’t have. The resulting organic product of the oxidati on of aldehydes is carboxylic acid. This result can also be duplicated using another oxidizing agent that is KMnO4 in an acidic medium giving off brick red precipitate (the oxidizing agent that is reduced) and the corresponding carboxylic acid, obviously still in this reaction there will be no change to be expected with the ketone. The strength of the oxidizing agents can also have a great impact to an impending reaction because if a weak oxidizing agent is used only the aliphatic aldehyde can react, this is evidently observed in the experiment using the Fehling’s test. The reagents contain copper sulfate in five moles of water with two drops of sulfuric acid and potassium tartrate sodium hydroxide that allowed the formation of the carboxylic acid CH3COOH and the precipitate that is brick red, the Cu2O. Although, the stated reactions above can be handful enough evidence to differ an aldehyde and a ketone there is also the Schiff’s test to add the list, the ketone wont still react and the change in color is still on the side of the aldehydes , this ranges from lavender to pink. The more I have journeyed through these experiments, the more I came to be amaze with the organic compounds I once just often paid less attention to other than the comfort room while reading the labels and ingredients at the back of the shampoos and soaps and conditioners I used. Chemistry, my first love. V. THEORITICAL BACKGROUND An aldehyde contains at least one hydrogen attached to the C of a C=O (carbonyl group). A ketone contains two alkyl groups attached to the C of the carbonyl group. The carbon in the carbonyl is sp2 hybridized, has a bond angle of 120o, and is trigonal planar. Aldehydes and ketones have dipole-dipole attractions between molecules, and no hydrogen bonding between molecules. These compounds can hydrogen bond with compounds have O-H or N-H bonds. The melting points and boiling points of aldehydes and ketones are between alkanes and alcohols. The slightly positive carbon atom in the carbonyl group can be attacked by nucleophiles. A nucleophile is a negatively charged ion (for example, a cyanide ion, CN), or a slightly negatively charged part of a molecule (for example, the lone pair on a nitrogen atom in ammonia, NH3). During a reaction, the carbon-oxygen double bond gets broken. The net effect of all this is that the carbonyl group undergoes addition reactions, often followed by the loss of a water molecule. This gives a reaction known as addition-elimination or condensation. An aldehyde differs from a ketone by having a hydrogen atom attached to the carbonyl group. This makes the aldehydes very easy to oxidize. For example, ethanal, CH3CHO, is very easily oxidized to either ethanoic acid, CH3COOH, or ethanoate ions, CH3COO-. Ketones dont have that hydrogen atom and are resistant to oxidation. They are only oxidized by powerful oxidizing agents which have the ability to break carbon-carbon bonds. REFERENCE Stroker, Stephen H., Exploring General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, Cenage Learning, 2010

Positivism And The Real :: essays research papers

Positivism is a trend in bourgeois philosophy, which acknowledges the orthodoxy towards empirical knowledge of natural phenomena where metaphysics and theology are regarded as inadequate and imperfect systems of knowledge. Positivism, began to rise as the main intellectual movement during the second half of the 19th century in response to the inability of speculative philosophy, witch was indeed Romanticism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the first half of 19th century, the Romanticism brought new views that helped the civilization of that time reach a higher level but it also brought the negative side effects. It brought the chaotic effect that people started in a extremely liberal way to threat the social order in the increasing dispute of 1847 to 1848 which was posed not just by revolutions but by the eruption of an insidious, continually growing, struggle of class against class. The imperceptive economic thoughts, as those in France of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, eloquent if inconsistent writer, denounced the property classifying it as theft. The revolutions of 1848 lead the way for European thinkers to develop new visions for the way of thinking that brought to the idea of Positivism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Claude Henri de Saint-Simon, French socialist/philosopher, conceived the idea of a new science of society that would result in the economic and intellectual emancipation of man. Saint-Simon thought that the new idea must be a positive philosophy based on experience and science. Another Frenchman Auguste Comte, who is considered the founder of Positivism, was the first to introduce the term â€Å"positivism.† According to Comte, the new natural sciences indicated that a new social science should be built on observation and experience. Comte also described the human history as a three-staged chronology of progress, with each stage having a different social organization based on the social environment of the time, with action based on different principles at each stage. Those were the theological stage, metaphysical stage and at last the positive era.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After its birth in France, positivism continued to spread to England where it obtained a new and better form. In fact, it was in England that the biggest positivist arose. James Stuart Mill, a writer on economy, was one of the main figures in English positivism. In his largely influential System of Logic (1843) Mill introduced the logical positivism that declared: all discoveries of truth not self-evident consist of inductions and the interpretation of inductions. Mill’s theory of logic is based on the laws association.

Simon in the Lord of the Flies

Simon is a member of the choir, but is the only one who seems weak. Simon is introduced in the novel when he faints; this is a show of his weakness. He is a lot like piggy, but not as bullied. Ralph thinks he is ‘queer' and ‘funny' because he is realistic. Simon is the first boy to notice the candle bud flowers when they are out walking. Simon always sees the spiritual side of the island. The only place you see candles nowadays is in churches. Jack slashes at the candle buds with his knife keeping up his reputation as the anarchist. The creepers on the island are long vines. The small children see these creepers as â€Å"beasties†. When the little child comes forward during a meeting, he describes a ‘snake-thing', then changes his mind to a ‘beastie'. The boy makes out the ‘beastie to be evil'. The beastie the boy has seen is not a physical monster it is a monster inside the boy's head. The most terrifying thing is darkness and the unknown. The unknown makes the human imagination go wild and ask all the questions it can, â€Å"What's out there?† â€Å"Is it a huge big snake† â€Å"Is it coming to get me in the night?† The snake-like thing the ‘little-un' describes is symbolic of the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve. In Genesis, in the Bible, the serpent is portrayed as the devil and acts against god's wishes; it offers Eve the fruit from the tree of knowledge, unknowing of the consequences, Eve accepts the fruit. She offers the fruit to her husband, Adam. They both eat the fruit and become aware of their state of undress. When God came walking in the garden he found that Adam and Eve had hidden their genitalia under fig leaves. God banished Adam and Eve from Eden. The serpent, the devil, had won. Simon is the one who is helping to construct the huts on the beach. He believes the shelters will guard from the ‘beastie'. This is for the benefit of the rest of the group, not selfish like Jack and his crazed hunt for pigs. Simon is a bit of a loner; he has his own cove in the jungle, which he keeps secret from everyone else. This place has ‘more sunlight' than the rest of the jungle and is decorated with floral bouquets. The jungle suddenly turns into a picturesque haven from the outside anger of the island. But Simon is not escaping the outside force he is merely running from himself, the Simon that exists with the other boys. When he is inside his special sanctuary he fells protected. There is the appearance of the candle bud flowers again, and coupled with the safety and sanctuary of the cove it almost turns into a church. When the tight canopy of creepers envelops Simon, the light in the cove increases. The passage describes of how the evil in this part of the jungle disappears, ‘Darkness poured out'. Simon is the light in the darkness of the island; he is the only voice of religion amongst the chaos of evil. Golding is showing Simon to be a spiritual guide in the book. When he is walking through the jungle towards his cavern, he comes across some small children, â€Å"little-uns†. They are trying to reach some fruit located just beyond their grasp in a tree. Simon obligingly picks the ‘choicest' fruit from the foliage and passes it back down to the ‘endless outstretched hands'. This scene can be likened to an event in the bible, which is where Jesus Christ feeds five thousand people with a few loaves of bread and some fish. Simon is the saviour for these children; they had been trying for hours to reach the juiciest fruit from the tree and Simon has got it for them with very little ease. Simon's description by Golding shows he has a mop of hair, which is black in colour. This is like that of Jesus Christ, again rekindling the association with a spiritual nature. Like Piggy Simon is clear-sighted, he knows what is best, but unlike Piggy he advises on the religious meanings of the island. He is the first boy in the party to notice the transformation that has occurred on the island. He sees that, the island they once took for an Eden, has under gone a metamorphosis into a place of evil. When Jack talks of how the ‘little-uns' scream in their sleep, terrified of the ‘beastie' Simon is the first to acknowledge â€Å"As if the beastie was real† and â€Å"As if it wasn't a good island.† Simon is still blaming the evil experience on an outside force, he, like the entire group still fail to see the evil is within or â€Å"The darkness within†. Jack also senses the evil on the island, he likens it to a physical presence when he goes hunting, â€Å"†¦you can feel as if you're not hunting, but-being hunted: as if something's behind you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The boys on the island have difficulty finishing their sentences; this is because they are scared and embarrassed of their situation. The boys themselves find it difficult to understand the emotions they are feeling and whether these emotions should be listened to. The situation is like that of the Jews in Egypt from the Old Testament in the Bible. When the evil Egyptian slave masters ruled them, they were not enjoying themselves but they had some kind of law and order. When Moses freed them, they were happy at the wonders of freedom, but soon were reduced to a rabble of immoral ‘wrong-doers'. The boys have been ruled by grown-ups all their lives and when they find themselves on the Island, they are ecstatic, but when things get difficult and new feelings arise, bad things happen. Luckily for the Jews Moses was there to save them, he went to God and received the Ten Commandments that brought law and order back to his people. Maybe something similar will happen in this novel. Simon may save the boys, or he may be symbolising Moses and some other, yet unknown force, is God.

President George Washington - Fast Facts

President George Washington - Fast Facts George Washington was the only president to be unanimously elected to the presidency. He had been a hero during the American Revolution and was made the president of the Constitutional Convention. He set many precedents during his time in office that still stand to this day. He provided a blueprint of how the president should act and what role he should take. Here is a quick list of fast facts for George Washington. You can also learn more about this great man with: George Washington biographyTop 10 Things to Know About George Washington Fast Facts: George Washington Birth: February 22, 1732Death: December 14, 1799Known for: Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Founding Father, First President of the U.S.Number of Terms Elected: 2 TermsTerm of Office: April 30, 1789-March 3, 1797Spouse: Martha Dandridge CustisNickname: Father of Our CountryFamous Quote: I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent. Additional George Washington Quotes. Did George Washington chop down a cherry tree and tell his father the truth? Answer:Â  As far as we know, no cherry trees fell victim to Washingtons rapacious ax. In fact, Washingtons biographer, Mason Weems, wrote a book called The Life of Washington shortly after his death where he created this myth as a way to show Washingtons honesty. Major Events While in Office: Elected to first term with a unanimous electoral vote (1789)First United States census (1790)District of Columbia established (1791)Bill of Rights ratified (1791)Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)Whiskey Rebellion (1794)Jays Treaty (1795)Pinckneys Treaty (1796)Farewell Address (1796) States Entering Union While in Office: Vermont (1791)Kentucky (1792)Tennessee (1796) Related George Washington Resources: These additional resources on George Washington can provide you with further information about the president and his times. George Washington Biography: Take a more in depth look at the first president of the United States through this biography. Youll learn about his childhood, family, early and military career, and events of his administration. Revolutionary War: The debate over the Revolutionary War as a true revolution will not be resolved. However, without this struggle America might still be part of the British Empire. Find out about the people, places and events that shaped the revolution. Chart of Presidents and Vice Presidents: This informative chart gives quick reference information on the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, their terms of office and their political parties. More on the Presidents of the United States: This informative chart gives quick reference information on the Presidents, Vice-Presidents, their terms of office and their political parties.

Criminal Prosecution of Managers as a Weapon against Corporate Crime essays

Criminal Prosecution of Managers as a Weapon against Corporate Crime essays Which laws are broken in the current cases at issue' Recently, a number of headline-grabbing cases, such as the accounting fraud that existed at the Enron Corporation, have highlighted the role of management at various corporations and in the financial industry, in the commission of corporate crime. The role of accountants and the major corporate accounting firms, as well as the chief financial advisors of corporations and the management personnel whom may or may not be aware of illegal accounting activities, are now under strict scrutiny by the SEC. The Securities and Exchange Commission has attempted to become more vigilant in policing and prosecuting illegal activities in recent years. (Asarita, 2002). It is illegal for companies to release fraudulent or even misleading information regarding their company's performance. (Chartier, 2002) However, to a certain extent, these companies state that their managerial, non-accounting staff must trust' what the expert accountants sayafter all, that's why the accountants are considered the experts. However, it is also alleged that managers can pressure their accountants to release fraudulent information, which is illegal. But it is difficult to prove that managers or CEOs knew that this information was fraudulent, or pressured accountants to do so after the fact. Often, the pressure process is so subtle, the SEC has difficulty knowing who knew when, and who said what. Thus, a legal Gordian knot results that is Last year, the number of accounting fraud cases investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission jumped forty-one percent, according to agency data, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in fines upon the offending companies to settle the charges. This jump is largely attributed, not simply to more creative forensic accounting techniques in discovering illegal accounting meas...

Nantucket essays

Nantucket essays Nathaniel Philbricks In the Heart of the Sea, starts off by introducing the main characters from Nantucket Island. Quakers dominated the island both economically and culturally. This included Thomas Nickerson, a fourteen-year-old boy that feels pleased for the fact that he is going to sail in the Essex accompanied with his friends Ray, Coffin and Ramsdell. In this book, George Pollard play the role of the captain of the Essex while Owen Chase takes over as first mate. When they left the island, they crew was all excited to start hunting for oil, but what they didnt know was what there futures would bring them. During the successful months of whaling, a gigantic angry whale, which was in the process to be hunted, attacks the sail and sinks the ship. It becomes a nightmare to all the crew. All those days of sailing, and all that oil earned were lost. The thing that occupied the crews mind was surviving. When they were at sea in there life boats, they decided to plan how much food and water they would drink a day. Weeks had passed and men had died. They stopped at an island and found nothing. Therefore, they decided to keep sailing. Fights would break out since some of the surviving crewmember would steal each others food and water. This often led to cannibalism. The needs for water were greater than food. The crew had not really thought out that there life was more important than going out to whale hunt and risk there lives. On February 25, 1821, Chase, Nickerson, and Lawrence arrived to a port in Chile. The rest of the crew had died or got lost. ...

The life of Frederick Douglass Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The life of Frederick Douglass - Essay Example Douglas relocated to work for a new owner by the name Sophia Auld. His new master began as a nice and humble woman, but with time turned out to be highly cruel and hateful. This woman started teaching him the alphabet and spelling. However, her husband found out of the alphabet lessons and argued that if slaves know how to read soon they would become hateful and dissatisfied by their status. In the end, they will develop desires for freedom. In this context, Douglass took the argument as an anti-abolitionist statement. The slave would later talk about this on his lectures. Consequently, Douglas decided to undertake self-administered learning. He would ask for a little help from his neighbors. His interest in learning grew to a point where he started purchasing books.The highlight of his slave life is when he got into a physical confrontation with his boss Edward Covey. Covey had a habit of beating up his slaves, and on one day, Douglas fought back at him and beat him up. As a result, this made Covey never to try beating him again. The master feared that it might damage his reputation as a brutal slave owner (Risley 67). This was a real turning point in his slavery life as he earned some respect from his master. From historical information, we find out that before this, his master would administer regular whips to the slave. This made him extremely weak, and one day he collapsed on the field. He then decided that he could no longer face increasing brutality and unfairness in the camp.... In the end, they will develop desires for freedom (Douglas 54). In this context, Douglass took the argument as an anti-abolitionist statement. The slave would later talk about this on his lectures. Consequently, Douglas decided to undertake self-administered learning. In addition, he would ask for a little help from his neighbors. His interest in learning grew to a point where he started purchasing books and other learning materials. The highlight of his slave life is when he got into a physical confrontation with his boss Edward Covey. Covey had a habit of beating up his slaves, and on one day, Douglas fought back at him and beat him up. As a result, this made Covey never to try beating him again. The master feared that it might damage his reputation as a brutal slave owner (Risley 67). This was a real turning point in his slavery life as he earned some respect from his master. From historical information, we find out that before this, his master would administer regular whips to th e slave. This made him extremely weak, and one day he collapsed at the field. He then decided that he could no longer face increasing brutality and unfairness in the camp. In this regard, Douglas opted to fighting back as the only way of earning his respect (Huggins 43). This happened when the slave confronted Covey about an issue, which according to conventional master-slave relationship would warrant a beating as punishment. The fight that ensued was tough, and finally, Douglas turned out victorious. This combat victory was a major turning point in his life. Douglass then started thinking of how he could escape from slavery. Despite substantial efforts, his first attempt was not successful. He had to rethink again. In the process of developing a secondary plan, the slave met

Leadership Development Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership Development Plan - Assignment Example With the help of these techniques, individuals can make sure that they identify their strengths and weaknesses and carry out necessary initiatives for capitalizing on the requirements of the corporate world. One of the most effective framework developed for evaluating the competencies of an individual is MBTI which was developed by Isabel Meyers and Katherine Briggs. The main idea behind this inventory model is that everyone needs to appreciate the individual differences and look for developmental opportunities so that the skills are further polished and refined. Considering the matrix developed by the experts, there are four sets of preferences of individuals which are as follows: According to the developers, there are sixteen classes in which people’s personalities can fall. I believe that I belong to the class ‘ESFJ’ which means that I have high extroversion, sensing, feeling and judging capabilities. I believe that this reading is true to a great extent as I am friendly and outgoing person. I can easily express my feelings and make sure that people around me have a good time to cherish. Moreover, I make decisions on the basis of feelings which means that the decisions are already made either by my traditions, culture or ingrained perceptions. Moreover, I have the ability of leading people as I am aware of the techniques of inducing others to motivate towards achieving the desired objectives. In various life situations, I get a bit hard with myself. There is a gap between my own perceived performance and my ideal behavior and due to this discrepancy I struggle against the feeling of guilt and depression. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with these feelings and I end up in moments of emotional pain. I try to motivate myself by showing the brighter side of various aspects of my life such as my kind, unselfish and charitable nature. I am always ready to help people out and

Geomorphology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Geomorphology - Lab Report Example This paper explores the process of geomorphology. The processes of the surface are made up of wind, water, fire, ice, and living things on the earth surface. The chemical reactions forming soils and altering the stability, material, and topographical rate of change under gravitational force are some of the surface processes. These factors are strongly affected by climate. The geological processes are the mountain range uplift, volcanic growth, isostatic changes in the elevation of land surfaces, sedimentary basins formation are also surface processes. The surface of the earth together with the topography form an intersection of climatic, biologic, and hydrologic action with the processes of geology. The huge topographies found on Earth display the surface intersection and the action of the subsurface. The belts of the mountains are always uplifted because of the geological processes. In the regions that are uplifted high, denudation produces the sediment that is deposited and transported elsewhere within the coastal landscape. In this case, The similar ideas may apply in cases where the individual landforms are evolving as a result of the subtractive and additive balance of processes. These processes may directly influence each other. The water, ice sheets together with sediments are the loads that may alter the topography via flexural isostasy. In many cases, the local climate of a certain place may be modified, which would in turn modify the topography by altering the hydraulic regimes of the evolution. Different geomorphologists are specifically interested in the feedback potential of tectonically and climate mediated through the geomorphic processes. The geomorphologists addresses the issues considered being more specific. They investigate the glacial deposits like eskers, moraines, and the proglacial lakes together with the glacial erosion traits that establishes the chronologies of all the

Alzheimer Agitation - Prevention Research Paper

Alzheimer Agitation - Prevention - Research Paper Example Method of Search: The paper has been written after extensive research on literature available on Alzheimer disease and the agitation associated with it. As no treatment is available to fully cure the disease, therefore, following preventive measures is the only effective way to prevent the onset and reduce the severity of agitation. Some of the common up to date preventive measures followed in nursing homes are listed in this paper and have been taken from different books written on Alzheimer disease. Introduction and Significance: The Dementing disease was first discovered by a German neuropathologist, Alois Alzheimer and the disease is named after him. Among individuals of age 65 and older, the most common type of Dementia is Alzheimer’s disease which is known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease. As the age progresses, half of the elderly individuals experience a loss of memory, judgment, and language to an extent that it starts to mediate a huge impact on their daily lives. In the United States, AD is a major health problem because of its huge impact on various departments of the health care system, the lives of the patients and their families. In accordance with the recent statistical data, there are a staggering number of AD cases in the United Sates alone amounting to 4 million individuals. The percentage of individuals with AD doubles for every five year age group beyond the age of 65. Moreover, the highest risk of AD is amongst the individuals over the age of 85. In industrialized countries, the improvement and widespread provision of health care facilities have increased life expectancy which has inevitably led to an increase in the number of cases being reported over the past few years. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Scientists estimate that if curative measures are not discovered then the number of cases in US in 2050 would be around 14 million. Over the years the cost of care of patients with AD has steadily shown an increase. I n United States of America, the annual national cost of caring for individuals with AD amounts to approximately around $1 billion. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Alzheimer disease is a progressive brain disease which is irreversible and gradually reduces the thinking skills and memory to such an extent that the person becomes incapable of carrying out normal daily activities. However, the causes and the subsequent progression of the disease has not yet been fully exposed which has significantly slowed the progress in devising ways to prevent the disease. The treatments that are currently available only aim at reducing the severity of the disease symptoms. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Alzheimer agitation refers to the behavioral patterns exhibited by a typical Alzheimer patient. The typical behavioral patterns include screaming, complaining, wandering, cursing, fidgeting, pacing, moaning and shouting. Progression of the disease is characterized by memory loss and degr adation of thinking skills in addition to an increase in the severity of Alzheimer agitation. It is worth mentioning that every abnormal behavior is not classified as agitation. If the abnormal behavior poses a risk to the individual with AD or the people around him then it is considered to be agitation. Agitation associated with AD can be due to a single medical problem or a cumulative effect of a variety of different contributing factors such as

Planning Function of Management in an Organization Essay

Planning Function of Management in an Organization - Essay Example Strategic planning is a process in which organizations strategies are determined, which utilizes major resources of the organization to achieve the goals. The company, EVENTIS is an event creator, organizer and manager. It has organized various events in its short history of 8 months and has come to be known as a very competent company. The company's portfolio includes organizing events such as weddings, concerts, gigs, conferences, seminars and the biggest event as yet, the Australian Cultural Festival. In this short span of time, EVENTIS has gathered a force of 400 young, talented and highly motivated employees through its friendly and goal oriented work environment. The satisfied customer base is increasing day by day and the future looks bright for EVENTIS at least for the near future. Planning is an essential process in EVENTIS, it helps the organization in achieving its goals and competing better with other and progressing in future. It consists of setting strategic objectives that define the desirable business aims to be achieved. Optimizing the strategic objectives by choosing the best considered mechanisms and to ensure the best use of organizational resources in given time is by developing operational plans. It also consists of organizing the management process in such a way that it helps in making the most effective decision and implementation plan. It also includes proper management of information that helps in support in management process by developing the communications system. This planning process is not consistent; it's changing along with the environment which governs the organization's entities. Thus the company makes sure that they monitor the environment which includes the competition, latest technology, government's rules and regulations and update their planning accordingly. [2] Impact of the following on the Management Planning in the Organization EVENTIS is an organization that deals with legal issues, ethics and corporate social responsibility very effectively as they play a very essential part in its remarkable planning management. Legal Issues EVENTIS as an event management company knows its responsibilities under law and organizes event taking special care of a variety of legal issues. It is their legal responsibility to make sure whether their event available within a particular time. EVENTIS ensures who actually owns the event as it involves various rights and liabilities and clarifies whether they can enter into a contract with the third party regarding the event. It becomes necessary in some cases to take official permission from the sanctioning body in order to host or manage events. The sanctioning is usually required for any national and international event under international rules and it ensures that the event is delivered according to the standards of the governing body. It is necessary to take license or permission before holding an event at any place and these licenses are issued by the local authorities. EVENTIS require the following licenses: Public Entertainment License - this is issued to conduct events in open air, can be for more than one occasion and issued by local

The Treaty of Versailles Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Treaty of Versailles - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the Four long years into the Great War had left the world stranded in a state of disarray. It was no surprise that news of a ceasefire between the Allies and the Central Powers came like a delightful echo and spread all over the world. War stir people celebrated in the streets with all their emotions. The black clouds of war were finally starting to disperse proclaiming a new era of peace. But a lot more was to be done to ensure the progression of current state of tranquility. Many delegates from over 36 nations gathered in Paris in January 1919 merely two months after the cease fire to canvas a plan for post war negotiations. Top four delegates of the Paris Peace Conference- David George Lloyd of Great Britain, Woodrow Wilson of United States, Georges Clemenceau of France and Vittorio Orlando of Italy had a huge task ahead of them. Mission was to lay down terms regarding some of the most sensitive issues of territory, finance and redist ribution of map in front of the Germans and their allies. Big four, as they were called, had an additional work of negotiating and signing treaties with many nations including Berlin’s wartime allies and Turkey. But their most important settlement and by far the most famous treaty of Versailles was signed with the Germans. The twentieth century historiography was enduringly marked by the peace treaty of 1919 known as the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles was a failure not only due to the fact that it had numerous inherent weaknesses but also because it paved way for renewed hostilities. The vindictiveness of British and French peace terms were not only silly but also imposed a humiliating punitive peace on Germany after World War I.2 The treaty for constructed for the purpose of ensuring peace but, ironically, the Treaty of Versailles sowed the seeds of World War II by exerting a negative impact on Germany, ruining it politically and economically and imposing a à ¢â‚¬Å"dictated peace†. The harsh punitive peace exerted by the treaty supported the rise of the Nazis and resulted in the Third Reich, which inevitably led to the volcanic eruption in the form of World War II. Bloody yet Fruitful Wars: Each of the three great wars fought in the last century concluded with renewed hopes of transcending ancient rivalries of states and transforming them into cordial ties ensuring mutual benefits. World War I culminated in the formation of fourteen points and the League of Nations while World War II introduced the world to the United Nations and the principles of the Atlantic Charter. The end of Cold War in 1989 resulted in the breaching of the Berlin War and crumbled the communist bloc. The aroma of a heady promise of liberation engulfed the world soon after the end of the Cold War. It is quite fascinating to recall and ponder over the cumulative reasons which forced the rivals to fight for their rights. This paper highlights various aspects invo lved in the construction of The Treaty of Versailles, its impact on Germany, inherent weaknesses and their contribution in renewing hostilities.3 The failure: The treaty of Versailles failed to smother conflicts and brought neither peace nor resolution. Despite great expectations, the peace terms were not able to ensure and maintain a lasting peace. The treaty defied the principles of democracy, self determination and collective security and was a perfect example of French and British cruelty disguised in the name of peace terms. The failure of The Treaty forced Germany to seek economic revisionism. The Unjust Victorious Powers: The delegates of victorious powers met in 1919 in Paris to formulate a peace treaty in an effort to minimize the changes of future hostilities. As expected, the defeated powers were not allowed to have a say in construction of the treaties and their role was only limited to obliging by the clauses of the peace terms and signing them once they were ready. The Paris Peace Conference was dominated by three prominent figures: US President

Alzheimer Agitation - Prevention Research Paper

Alzheimer Agitation - Prevention - Research Paper Example Method of Search: The paper has been written after extensive research on literature available on Alzheimer disease and the agitation associated with it. As no treatment is available to fully cure the disease, therefore, following preventive measures is the only effective way to prevent the onset and reduce the severity of agitation. Some of the common up to date preventive measures followed in nursing homes are listed in this paper and have been taken from different books written on Alzheimer disease. Introduction and Significance: The Dementing disease was first discovered by a German neuropathologist, Alois Alzheimer and the disease is named after him. Among individuals of age 65 and older, the most common type of Dementia is Alzheimer’s disease which is known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease. As the age progresses, half of the elderly individuals experience a loss of memory, judgment, and language to an extent that it starts to mediate a huge impact on their daily lives. In the United States, AD is a major health problem because of its huge impact on various departments of the health care system, the lives of the patients and their families. In accordance with the recent statistical data, there are a staggering number of AD cases in the United Sates alone amounting to 4 million individuals. The percentage of individuals with AD doubles for every five year age group beyond the age of 65. Moreover, the highest risk of AD is amongst the individuals over the age of 85. In industrialized countries, the improvement and widespread provision of health care facilities have increased life expectancy which has inevitably led to an increase in the number of cases being reported over the past few years. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Scientists estimate that if curative measures are not discovered then the number of cases in US in 2050 would be around 14 million. Over the years the cost of care of patients with AD has steadily shown an increase. I n United States of America, the annual national cost of caring for individuals with AD amounts to approximately around $1 billion. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Alzheimer disease is a progressive brain disease which is irreversible and gradually reduces the thinking skills and memory to such an extent that the person becomes incapable of carrying out normal daily activities. However, the causes and the subsequent progression of the disease has not yet been fully exposed which has significantly slowed the progress in devising ways to prevent the disease. The treatments that are currently available only aim at reducing the severity of the disease symptoms. (National Institutes of Health 2002). Alzheimer agitation refers to the behavioral patterns exhibited by a typical Alzheimer patient. The typical behavioral patterns include screaming, complaining, wandering, cursing, fidgeting, pacing, moaning and shouting. Progression of the disease is characterized by memory loss and degr adation of thinking skills in addition to an increase in the severity of Alzheimer agitation. It is worth mentioning that every abnormal behavior is not classified as agitation. If the abnormal behavior poses a risk to the individual with AD or the people around him then it is considered to be agitation. Agitation associated with AD can be due to a single medical problem or a cumulative effect of a variety of different contributing factors such as

The Treaty of Versailles Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Treaty of Versailles - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the Four long years into the Great War had left the world stranded in a state of disarray. It was no surprise that news of a ceasefire between the Allies and the Central Powers came like a delightful echo and spread all over the world. War stir people celebrated in the streets with all their emotions. The black clouds of war were finally starting to disperse proclaiming a new era of peace. But a lot more was to be done to ensure the progression of current state of tranquility. Many delegates from over 36 nations gathered in Paris in January 1919 merely two months after the cease fire to canvas a plan for post war negotiations. Top four delegates of the Paris Peace Conference- David George Lloyd of Great Britain, Woodrow Wilson of United States, Georges Clemenceau of France and Vittorio Orlando of Italy had a huge task ahead of them. Mission was to lay down terms regarding some of the most sensitive issues of territory, finance and redist ribution of map in front of the Germans and their allies. Big four, as they were called, had an additional work of negotiating and signing treaties with many nations including Berlin’s wartime allies and Turkey. But their most important settlement and by far the most famous treaty of Versailles was signed with the Germans. The twentieth century historiography was enduringly marked by the peace treaty of 1919 known as the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles was a failure not only due to the fact that it had numerous inherent weaknesses but also because it paved way for renewed hostilities. The vindictiveness of British and French peace terms were not only silly but also imposed a humiliating punitive peace on Germany after World War I.2 The treaty for constructed for the purpose of ensuring peace but, ironically, the Treaty of Versailles sowed the seeds of World War II by exerting a negative impact on Germany, ruining it politically and economically and imposing a à ¢â‚¬Å"dictated peace†. The harsh punitive peace exerted by the treaty supported the rise of the Nazis and resulted in the Third Reich, which inevitably led to the volcanic eruption in the form of World War II. Bloody yet Fruitful Wars: Each of the three great wars fought in the last century concluded with renewed hopes of transcending ancient rivalries of states and transforming them into cordial ties ensuring mutual benefits. World War I culminated in the formation of fourteen points and the League of Nations while World War II introduced the world to the United Nations and the principles of the Atlantic Charter. The end of Cold War in 1989 resulted in the breaching of the Berlin War and crumbled the communist bloc. The aroma of a heady promise of liberation engulfed the world soon after the end of the Cold War. It is quite fascinating to recall and ponder over the cumulative reasons which forced the rivals to fight for their rights. This paper highlights various aspects invo lved in the construction of The Treaty of Versailles, its impact on Germany, inherent weaknesses and their contribution in renewing hostilities.3 The failure: The treaty of Versailles failed to smother conflicts and brought neither peace nor resolution. Despite great expectations, the peace terms were not able to ensure and maintain a lasting peace. The treaty defied the principles of democracy, self determination and collective security and was a perfect example of French and British cruelty disguised in the name of peace terms. The failure of The Treaty forced Germany to seek economic revisionism. The Unjust Victorious Powers: The delegates of victorious powers met in 1919 in Paris to formulate a peace treaty in an effort to minimize the changes of future hostilities. As expected, the defeated powers were not allowed to have a say in construction of the treaties and their role was only limited to obliging by the clauses of the peace terms and signing them once they were ready. The Paris Peace Conference was dominated by three prominent figures: US President

Race and Native American Essay Example for Free

Race and Native American Essay Identify and briefly explain the dimensions by referencing both textbooks. Some of the different primary dimensions of diversity include age, gender, mental and physical abilities, race, ethnic heritage, and sexual orientation. These are primary due to the fact that they are more fixed, visible, and relevant to an identity. For example, a male in his mid-thirties are all primary dimensions. There are also secondary dimensions such as geographic location, military/work experience, family status, income, religion, language, education, communication, and work style. For example, a male in his thirties who plays piano while drinking apple cider for a hobby would be secondary. As we learned in class the difference between these are easily remembered by thinking visible and invisible. At first glance one would be able to guess age and gender, however the secondary dimensions are wide and welcome judgments to a closed mind. ?With what ethnic, cultural, or other groups do you identify? Describe what members of your social circle have in common. My ethnic background is Native American and Portuguese. On my mother’s side of the family I get the Native American. Our tribe is the Karok tribe. Its origins are Northern California. I am not registered; however I get bit and pieces from my mom sometimes. She tells me that I am an 8th Native American. This if I am not mistaken is enough to qualify for the federal benefits for health care and school funds. I have just not done the footwork to find out. This leads me into the second piece of the question. I am not a part of this social circle and I cannot answer what we all have in common other than the physical appearance. Generally, we all have dark hair and olive skin tone, and also having brown or hazel eyes. I notice from the members of my family that the woman age very well. Not so much the men. Inclusion is described as an addition. For example relative to thus class, an African American child being adopted by a Hispanic family and ten years later the African American child adapting to the rituals and cultural expectations if the Hispanic culture. This word can pertain to a wide variety of situations. Another example would be a defect in a precious stone such as a ruby or diamond. ?What is the difference between diversity and inclusion? Idictonary defines diversity as a noun meaning the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; variety. ?What is the importance of workplace diversity training? ?What is your experience with workplace culture? Could there be, or could there have been, more inclusion?

Effects of Bullying and Strategies for Bullying Prevention

Effects of Bullying and Strategies for Bullying Prevention Learning outcome 5 (5.1) Different types of bullying Bullying can have a wide range of negative effects on a child. It can happen at any age, any time and in many forms, not only face to face but also via mobile phones and online. The table below shows the different types of bullying and the effects. Reference/bibliography www.bullying.co.uk (5.2) Effects of bullying on children and young people The different types of bullying that have been identified in the table (physical, emotional, verbal, non-verbal, racial, and sexual and cyber) can have a wide range of effects on children and young people, which include the following. Changes in eating habits (reluctance to eat or binge eating) Reluctance to go to school (making up excuses that are made up such as stomach aches and feeling ill and playing truancy) Withdrawn behaviour and reluctance to communicate Seem upset and distressed Their belongings stolen or damaged whilst at school (ripped school uniform or bag or broken equipment) Physical injuries (may not always be visible e.g. hair pulling etc) Might have trouble sleeping Afraid to be on their own or spends too much time alone The effects of bullying can last a lifetime and have the flowing effects. Self harming (cutting wrists, scratching, hair loss, etc) Suicide Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults Getting into fights, vandalizing property, and dropping out of school Getting into gangs/ gang fights Socialising with wrong members of the public (drug dealers) Engage in early sexual activity (for females become pregnant at a young age) Have criminal convictions Being abusive towards their partners, spouses or children as adults Children who witness bullying are more likely to do the following. Have increased use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs Have increased mental health problems, including depression and anxiety Miss or skip school which effects their education Responding to evidence of bullying Clear policies and procedures should be followed in the school setting when an allegation has been made or evidence of bullying has been seen. Each school setting will have a anti-bullying and behaviour policy in place outlining what constitutes bullying and the standard of behaviour that is expected in the school. Anti bullying policy The anti bullying policy will set out a definition of what constitutes bullying and the different types of bullying that can be experienced. I will include the following. Unacceptable behaviour and definitions of this The responsibilities that the school holds for ensuring that action is taken if allegations are made or bullying is suspected Responsibilities of staff and governors Pupils have the right to learn free from intimidation and fear The needs of the victim are paramount School’s will not tolerate bullying behaviour Bullied pupils will be listened to Reported incidents would be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated Behaviour policy The behaviour policy will usually set out the rule and responsibilities of children and teachers within the school setting and the types of behaviour that are not acceptable. It will show the consequences of non-compliance and the procedures that will be followed if unacceptable behaviour takes place. Policies and procedures should come into force to ensure that bullying is stopped, and to make sure it does not happen again. The victim should have a meeting with the teacher to put together strategies in case the situation occurs again Point out that the behaviour that has occurred is unacceptable, and provide information how they are going to be monitored Meeting with staff and other children who have witnessed the bullying should take place to obtain additional evidence Consider if external agencies should get involved Make use of curriculum to restore self esteem in the victim and to discuss bullying and unacceptable behaviour Behaviour policy for schools would include the following. To create a consistent environment that expects, encourages and recognises good behaviour and one in which everyone feels happy and safe To help pupils develop self respect, self control and accountability for their own behaviour To encourage the partnership between home and school Staff responsibilities To role model good behaviour and positive relationships To emphasise the importance of values and being valued To provide an effective learning and teaching environment To encourage positive relationships based on kindness, empathy and respect To ensure fair treatment for all regardless of ability, age, sex, or race Show appreciation of the efforts and contributions of everyone Children should learn to expect recognition for positive behaviour and fair and consistency applied consequences for inappropriate behaviour. Recognition and praise should be given where ever possible for both work and behaviour. These recognitions and praise could be the following. Stickers for good behaviour (warn by the child) Positive recognition to parents for good behaviour House points awarded Good behaviour notes sent home by parents Certificates (presented in assembly) All these policies and procedures are in place to ensure the school’s expectations and standards are met. All school’s have policies and procedures in place to support staff and children from situations such as bullying to provide a safe and secure environment for the children to learn and be happy in. children should have the right to learn in a safe, secure and anti-bullying environment and these policies help children from doing that. Behaviour policies also help in the school setting by encouraging children and staff to behave how they should and be treated how they would like to be treated I appositive way. Reference/bibliography www.stopbulkying.gov.uk (5.3) Supporting a child when bullying is suspected or alleged Within a school setting there are policies and procedures in place for the correct procedure to be followed if a child is being bullied or if bullying is suspected. As a support assistant it is very important that they are approachable so that children feel able to confide any instances of bullying. Some children who are being bullied would find it difficult and would be scared to share their feelings and to report the bullying. It is important to reassure the children that they have done the right thing in reporting the bullying, and that they will be 100% supported now that the bullying has been disclosed. Parents should be made aware of the school behaviour and anti-bullying policies to inform them of their child’s rights and the ways that the school can support them. When dealing with a child who is being bullied they can be upset but may not show their feelings. It is very important to take the problem seriously. The child has to be listened to and re-assured that they are doing the right thing by sharing their worries and feelings. For parents the signs to look out for if a child is being bullied are. Coming home with damaged or missing clothes, without money they should have, or with scratches or bruises they shouldn’t have Having trouble with homework for no apparent reason Using a different route between home and school Feeling irritable, easily upset or particularly emotional What can you do if you suspect a child is being bullied? Reference/bibliography www.nhs.uk www.bullying.co.uk

Free Ulysses Essays: Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus :: Joyce Ulysses Essays

Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus of Ulysses Though I realize that Ulysses is a masterful paradigm of innovative techniques (or so the faculty of the university would have one believe) - it is the conflicting natures of Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus which I find of primary (if not sole) interest. Dedalus is a disillusioned, Jesuit trained academic with literary aspirations. His academic pursuits have led to a symbolic burning of his wings (his emotional detachment) as he rose to "the enlightenment of the Sun." He tolerates neither the abusive Buck Mulligan nor the condescending Oxonian Haines (the coinhabitants of Martello Tower) and feigns interest in the citizenry of Dublin. Buck Mulligan is a cynical man of action. He mocks Dedalus' beliefs and intellectual prowess. Whereas Dedalus fears water (perhaps symbolizing baptism) - Mulligan once saved a drowning man. Mulligan "plunges into life" while Stephen meekly questions existence and his place in reality. Mulligan can ingratiate himself to the "peasantry" (see the encounter with the unpaid Milk woman) while Dedalus broods on Irish history and appears the elitist. Stephen has been "blinded by the Sun" and lives in a shapeless world. His feelings of guilt (primarily concerning his mother's hideous death and the abandonment of his sisters to poverty) coupled with his sense of estrangement necessitates a continuous introspection as recourse. His relentless pursuit of absolute truths (a concept dear to the Aristotelian Jesuits) clarifies little and fuels his discontent. As a teacher he is uncaring - oblivious to the inadequacies of his students. As an employee he is held in light regard. "You were not born to be a teacher, I think...To learn one must be humble" states the schoolmaster, Mr.Deasy (35). His literary views are scorned by his contemporaries and he is not considered a poet of any promise. Yet Dedalus is a hero of a different ilk. Stephen is a sincere "thinker" and as such is diametrically opposed to Mulligan - "the man of action." He considers the import of his actions and grieves his perceived sins - Mulligan hides in cynicism.

Making the Right Choices Essay examples -- Literary Analysis, Alonzo M

It may take many people to realize that the decisions they make today could possibly affect the outcome tomorrow and even later in life. When we are children, our parents and guardians are responsible for properly guiding us to make the right choices, they are the people who are supposed to teach us right from wrong and in most cases they are the people who reveals the many harsh realities of the world to us. Through childhood we may not worry about how the bills will get paid, or what job we will have when we are adults because for many people the answer to those questions often change with time. As we grow older it is up to us to follow their guidance and learn from what they have taught us and live in a society as one. Life is full of choices, some larger than others but during all stages of life we are given the opportunity to shape our own futures, make a difference in our community, and try to achieve our life goals. The decisions we make today could have an adverse affect on w hat we do tomorrow. In life, we are all faced with decisions regarding numerous life choices on a day to day basis. In Alonzo Mourning’s book â€Å"Resilience,† based on his experiences Mourning gives his audience suggestions to follow in his path to succeed in life to achieve our goals. We learn as adults that some of the choices we made in the past were not to our benefit, but we may not know the decision was wrong at the time. In many points in the book Mourning talks about the importance of having faith in God and praying about situations, because he feels his belief and faith in God is what gets him through many difficult times. When Mourning spoke with a young boy and his father regarding their common illness he advised the father, â€Å"Pray for it and ev... ... with people who are going to push you to work harder and make something of yourself. Having a strong support system will bring you a long way in life, just having people there to support you through good and bad times is something many others lack and forces them to give up. Through the many peer pressures in life, stay away from people who have bad qualities and indulge in drugs just for a â€Å"thrill† in life. Life is much better sober and once a person is addicted to drugs and other illegal substances, it is hard to recover. In life, friends will come and go, but if these â€Å"friends† don’t have your best interest at heart, then many you should rethink your friendship. Being skeptical is not a bad thing if your being cautious for yourself. As long as you try to follow these suggestions made by Alonzo Mourning, it will help you to succeed in life and achieve your goals.

Earning Management

Does the Commercial Banking Industry of UAE Practice Earnings Management Dr. Mohammed Obeidat Introduction It is the right of external users of accounting information to be provided with more adequate information to protect their interests. Many questionable issues concerning the term of earnings management are still available. Auditors, accountants, financial analysts, and other concerned parties may hold the responsibility of detecting external users from the practices of earnings management. Many questionable issues are still available regarding the term of earnings management.Some people may have no enough idea about what practices are classified under earnings management, and what practices can not be classified under this term. Users of accounting information are different but few of them have the ability to detect the practices of earnings management. Because there are different methods of practicing earnings management, detecting the practices of earnings management is one of the difficult issues. The common practice of earnings management by firms and the negative effects of these practices on external users of financial accounting information justify the investigation of this issue.Many users may lose some of their wealth as a result of practicing this phenomenon. Many financial crises appear in our world from time to time, and some reasons of these crises are related to incorrect announced financial information. The problem of the current study will be simpler, if it is presented through the following question: How investors can detect the practices of earnings management, in order to have the ability to protect themselves from the negative effects of these practices?The answer to this question may seem more difficult, so the current study present an example from the Commercial Banking Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Studying the phenomena of practicing earnings management is important, because this will highlight why managers may practic e this phenomenon. Many incentives may be available to managers and promote them to practice earnings management. These incentives will be highlighted later on in the current study, but when investors are knowledgeable with some of these incentives, they can consider and analyze the financial information of their entities more.Moreover, when users are aware with the methods that are followed by managers to practice earnings management, they will be more eligible to detect these practices. The current study will explore the most available methods of practicing earnings management. The importance of the current study is increased, because it highlights how investors can determine whether there is a practice of earnings management or not. The objectives this study is looking to achieve are as follows: 1. To highlight the incentives standing behind the practice of earnings management by managers. 2.To inform users about the methods available to firms' management to manage the earnings. 3. To determine the qualitative and quantitative available procedures that can be used to detect the practices of earnings management. 4. To determine whether the Commercial Banking Industry of UAE practices or does not practice the phenomenon of earnings management. 5. In a case of earnings management is detected, this study aims to detect whether these practices were upward or downward practices. Our study makes a unique contribution to the literature by using data from the announced financial statement of Commercial Banking Industry of UAE.This study differs from the prior studies in its location, methods, objectives, and nature of data used in the analysis. Because the current study involves the commercial banks of ABU Dhabi, and because all of these commercial banks are listed in Abu Dhabi Stock Market, this study is unique in its location. Just few studies outside Abu Dhabi followed quantitative method to investigate whether there are practices of earnings management or not, t he current study is also different from other prior researches.This study depends on cross sectional data because a time series data will misstate the data, so it is unique in its inputs of data. This paper is organized as follows: The first section defines earnings management, and describes the incentives of its practices by commercial banks, in addition to that, it explores the methods of practice and how these practices can be defected. The second section explores the most related prior researches. The third section presents the hypotheses of the current research. The fourth section describes the followed methodology in the current study.The fifth section presents the results, while the fifth explores the findings. Literature Review and Prior Researches Many people believe that the term of earnings management is understandable in its simple form, but most of those unable to determine whether a selected practice is an earnings management or not. Understanding what earnings managem ent constitutes and why it takes place is important for all users of accounting information. This study highlights the different aspects of earnings management, so it identifies clearly this term, and presents the incentives standing behind its practice.Moreover, the current study determines the methods of earnings management used by firms, and explores how these practices can be detected. Earnings management is defined as the â€Å"intentional misstatement of earnings leading to bottom line numbers that would have been different in the absence of any manipulation (Mohanram, 2003). Based on this definition, the practice of earnings management is an intentional behavior, and if this practice occurs unintentionally, it can not be classified under the practices of earnings management.Moreover, this definition states that the practice of earnings management phenomenon leads to users' misstatement. In other words, practitioners of earnings management have different purposes and they cha nge some accounting numbers to affect users in order to achieve these objectives. Healy and Wahlen (1999) state that earnings management â€Å"occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reporting accounting numbers†.This definition states that this practice is also intentional and purposeful. This definition mentions that contractual issues are incentives for managers to manage earnings. But we have to remember Some concerned people believe that earnings management mean upward manipulation. Actually, earnings management may be exercised either upward or downward. In most cases, the target of earnings determines to a large degree, whether the management of the firm practices earnings management upward or downward.Some people also believe that the all the practice of earnings management are illegal, and no legal practice exists. Actually, there are different practices of earnings management do not violate the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). For example, speeding the size of sales during the last month or the fourth quarter is in agreement with the GAAP. Moreover, activating sales during the last month of the accounting period through granting discounts to customers is also in agreement with the GAAP, and is not a violation to the accounting standards.There are different incentives to managements of firms to practice the phenomenon of earnings management. Most of these incentives are related to benchmarks of earnings. Sometimes, the previous period's performance may be the benchmark to the firm. In other cases, the benchmark to the firm may be the expectations of financial analysts. The promised compensations to the firm's management may be the most important incentive of the practice of earnings management. Benchmarks are ne cessary for the determination whether the management deserves or does not deserve the promised compensation.Sometimes, the desire of the firm's management to increase the stock market price may also be one among the incentives to earnings management, especially, when the management is looking for more compensation. The normal positive relation between earnings and stock market price means that as the amount of announced earnings increases, the common stock market price is also increases. Therefore, when a desire exists to the firm's management to affect the common stock market price, the management will manage its earnings. Reducing the amount of income tax may also be one among the incentives of practicing earnings management.In many countries, business entities are subject to high income tax rates, where different categories of expenses are deducted from the income. When these entities are looking toward reducing the amounts of taxes, they practice the phenomenon of earnings manag ement. The practice of earnings management in this case may be through increasing the amounts of tax deductions, or through the decreasing the amounts of earnings. Sometimes, firm's management may manage earnings to simplify the issue of receiving credits from banks and other financial issues.In addition, firms may also manage earnings to reduce the cost of this credit, because when earnings are reasonable, the firm can receive credit smoothly without such obstacles, and at lower costs, but when the firm's earnings are unreasonable, this firm will face many obstacles to receive credit, and it may receive credit at higher costs. These are some of incentives or reasons of the practice of earnings management, but other incentives may be available to some firms, depending on the financial conditions of the firm's management itself.Managements of firms can follow different methods to manage earnings. Changing the assumptions for accounting standards is one of the most common used methods in managing earnings. It is already known that the GAAP are highly flexible, so managements can employ the high degree of flexibility available in these standards. Examples of this flexibility are the inventory flow methods which managements can use one among these, and the available options to depreciate some of the firm's assets, in addition to these; firms can review the assumed lives of these depreciable assets.As a result a variety of options are available to management whenever a desire to manage earnings exists. Managements can manage earnings through the determination to the bad debts provisions. For example, whenever there is a need to announce earnings higher than its actual value, management can determine these bad debts at amounts lower than their actual, while it can announce lower amounts of bad debts whenever there is a need to reduce the announced income. Managing transaction is one among the available options to management when there is a desire to manage earnings. For instance, management can grant high discounts during the last few days of the accounting period to recognize more revenue through sales under the accrual basis. One option is available to managements of firms is to activate sales or services during the last days of accounting period through the adoption to more sales on credit, and through longer period of payment are given to customers. Two approaches are available to detect the phenomenon of earnings management. The first is qualitative, while the second is quantitative approach.Using the two approaches together when this possible leads to more certain conclusions whether a firm or a group of firms manage earnings. Several steps have to be followed when there a need exists to detect earnings management through the qualitative methods. These steps are presented below: (Mohanram, 2003). 1. Identifying the key accounting policies of the firm or industry. Regarding the industry of the current research, the issues of credit risk an d interest rate risk are of crucial importance to banks. 2. Assessing the firm's accounting flexibility.The level of accounting flexibility may be high to some firms or industries, whereas, it may be low to other firms and industries. 3. Evaluating the firm's accounting strategy, and determining how this strategy differs from other competitors. 4. Assessing the firm's quality of disclosure. 5. Identifying the potential red flags. The following is an example of red flags: |Unexplained accounting changes, especially when performance is bad. | |Unexplained profit boosting transactions, such as sale of assets. | |Unusual increase in accounts receivable in relation to sales increase. |Increasing gap between net income and cash flow from operations. | |Increasing gap between net income for reporting and tax purposes. | |Unexpected large asset write-offs or write downs. | |Large fourth quarter adjustment. | |Qualified audit opinion or change in auditors. | |Large related party transactions . | 6. The final step is to undo accounting distortions by reversing out the impacts of dubious accounting wherever possible. Earnings management can be also detected analytically, based on the firm's accruals, which can be defined as the difference between net income and cash flow operations.In occasion, firms with high level of accruals are likely to have inflated earnings. Firms practice the phenomenon of earnings management can be determined through segregating discretionary accruals from non-discretionary accruals. In this case, Jones (1991) model can be used to segregate discretionary from non-discretionary accruals. In the current study we use this model to determine whether, or not, the Commercial Banking Industry practices the phenomenon of earnings management. This model is presented below:Where total accruals can be computed by finding the difference between income before extraordinary items and cash from operations in year t. Revenuest is revenues in year t, while revenu est-1 is the revenues at the end of year t-1. Total assetst-1 is total assets of year t-1. Gross PPEt is gross property, plant, and equipment at the end of year t, and B1, B2, and B3 are industry and year specific parameters to be estimated. The residual value in Jones's Model is the discretionary accruals for a firm in a given year, while the fitted value gives an estimate of the non-discretionary component of earnings.Researchers in the accounting literature have often focused on earnings management. Many researchers studied the issue of earnings management; most of these are focused in the Western or Far East Countries. A study titled † earnings Management: Do Large Investors Care? † and carried out by Senteza, Njoroge, and Gill (2005), deserves to be mentioned in the current study. This study mentions that institutional investment activity and behavior is an area that has become more interesting in recent times and so much work has been done so far.The contribution o f this study in the area of earnings management can be summarized in its documentation to the effect of earnings management activity on institutional investor ownership, especially through distinguishing the ownership changes in response to the direction of earnings management efforts. This study finds that institutional investors increase ownership in firms that manage earnings upwards and decrease ownership in firms that manage earnings downward before end-of-year reporting.Moreover, this study finds that the increases observed during an observed upwards earnings-managing activity are followed by decreases in ownership in these firms in the subsequent quarter, which may suggest resource allocation between large and small investors. In his comments at the practice of earnings management phenomenon, Simon (2005) argues that managing earnings is a wrong practice, in his paper titled â€Å"Earnings Management as A Professional Responsibility Problem†.The author of this paper st ates that managers of public companies often want an increase in current reported earnings per share; though they sometimes prefer a current decrease in the earnings they would otherwise report when it will allow them to show a smoothly increasing pattern of earnings in the future. He adds, on his comments on Schwarcz's paper, that â€Å"the ‘limits of lawyering' are the constraints of law, but having said that, the question remains-what do we mean by law? If we take a narrow, predictive conception of law, the limits will be less restrictive than if we take a broader, purposive view. . He also states that the more ambitious conception is most compatible with the idea of lawyering as a dignified calling. Caramanis and Lennox (2007), carried out a study titled â€Å"Audit Effort and Earnings Management† in their trial to determine the effect of audit hours on the practice of earnings management by the Greece Firms. To measure earnings management, the authors use the Jone s (1991) model based on the balance sheet approach rather than the cash flow statement approach because most Greek companies do not provide cash flow statements.There are three main findings of this study. First, companies are more likely to report income-increasing abnormal accruals than income-decreasing abnormal accruals, when audit hours are lower. Second, the magnitude of income-increasing abnormal accruals is negatively related to audit hours. Third, companies are more likely to manage earnings upwards to just meet or beat the zero earnings benchmark, when auditors work fewer hours. Moreover, this study finds weak or insignificant associations between audit hours and the magnitude of negative abnormal accruals.A study titles â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management† for the purpse of evaluating alternative accrual-based models for detecting earnings management is carried out by Dechow and Sweeney (1995). This paper evaluates the ability of alternative models to detect earnin gs management. Concerning this issue, the paper finds that all the models considered appear to produce reasonably well specified tests for a random sample of event-years. When the models are applied to samples of firm-years experiencing extreme financial performance, all models lead to misspecified tests.The second finding of this paper is that the models all generate tests of low power for earnings management of economically plausible magnitudes. Moreover, this paper reveals that all models reject the null hypothesis of no earnings management at rates exceeding the specified test-levels when applied to sample of firms with extreme financial reporting. The most important finding of this paper is that a modified version of the model developed by Jones (1001) has the most power in detecting earnings management.Kerstein and Rai (2007), carried out a study titled â€Å"Working Capital Accruals and Earnings Management†. The purpose of this study is to reexamine market reactions to large and small working capital accruals. This study involves three hypotheses. First, negative or positive large working capital accruals have no impact on the earnings response coefficient of firms reporting positive small earnings surprises. Second, Positive or negative large working capital accruals have no impact on earnings response coefficients of firms reporting small earnings declines.Third Positive or negative large working capital accruals have no impact on earnings response coefficients of firms reporting large earnings increases or declines. The authors focus on nonlinear relations between returns and large working capital accruals and use raw returns computed as the compounded monthly returns from nine months prior to the fiscal year-end to three months after the fiscal year-end as the dependent variable. They find that the market discounts unexpected earnings when there are small increases in earnings using negative large working capital accruals or negative large wo rking capital accruals.They also find little or no evidence that positive or negative large working capital accruals lead to lower earnings response coefficients in the remaining six situations. In his study titles â€Å"Earnings Management, Earnings Manipulation: Evidence from Taiwanese Corporations†, (2008), Chai-hui Chen differentiates between earnings management and earnings manipulation among the Taiwanese companies. In this study, Chai examines 7 hypotheses based on a sample of 90 public firms throughout 1999-2004.The main findings this study concludes that: (1) unlike the control group, earning manipulators face greater capital market and contract motivations to manage earnings; (2) earnings manipulators are more inclined to appoint fewer independent directors to their boards, to appoint fewer independent supervisors to their supervisory boards, and to posses considerably less managerial ownership; and (3) earnings manipulators are more likely than the control group to express aggressive attitudes and rationalizations to manage earnings changes before interests and taxes, or both.To examine the effect of firm's stock price sensitivity to earnings news, as measured by outstanding stock recommendation, on incentives to manage earnings, Abarbanel and Leahavy (2003) carried out a study titled â€Å"Can Stock Recommendations Predict Earnings Management and Analysts' Earnings Forecast Errors†. This study examines hypotheses concerning (1) the effect of introducing equity-market-based earnings targets on firms' earnings management, and (2) the effects of such earnings management actions on ensuring analysts' forecast errors.In this study, quarterly unexpected accruals are calculated using the modified Jones (1991) model. This study finds evidence that a firm's stock price sensitivity to earnings news, as measured by outstanding stock recommendation, affects its incentives to manage earnings and, in turn, affects analysts' ex post forecast errors. Moreover, this study finds a tendency for firms rated a Sell (Buy) to engage More (less) frequently in extreme, income-decreasing earnings management, indicating that they have relatively stronger (weaker) incentives to create accounting reserves.In contrast, this study finds that firms rated a Buy (Sell) are more (less)likely to engage in earnings management that leaves reported earnings equal to or slightly higher than analysts' forecasts. Zhang (2002) carried out his study titled, â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management – Evidence from Rounding-up in Reported EPS†, for the purpose of evaluating a comprehensive list of metrics propsed for detecting earnings management in a setting where managers manipulate earnings to round up reported earnings per share (EPS).This study provide the evidence that adds to the debate on the abilities of accrual-based models to detect earnings management of small magnitude. The study cast doubt on the abilities of accrual-based models to c atch minor offenses, which is likely to be the norm, rather than exception of various forms of earnings management. The metrics under evaluation of this study are deferred tax expense and discretionary accruals computed from DeAngelo Model, Healy Model, Jones Model, Modified Jones Model, Cross-sectional Jones Model, and Forward-looking Jones Model.This study finds that deferred tax expense is able to detect earnings management in the rounding-up setting while discretionary accruals models are not. Moreover, this study provides the evidence that firms manipulate bad debt expense for the purpose of rounding-up reported EPS. Chan, Jegadeesh, and Sougiannis (2004) carried out a study titled â€Å"The Accrual Effect on Future Earnings† in an attempt to clarify whether current accruals affect future earnings. The authors find a strong negative relationship between accruals and the aggregate future earnings.This study mentions that if firms manage accruals upward by $1 today while h olding current earnings constant, aggregate future earnings will decline, on average, by $ 0. 096 over the following three years and $0. 202 in the long run. This study also examines the accrual effects classified by firm characteristics to test the source of the negative relationship between accruals and future earnings. The study shows that high price-earnings stocks experience an enormous accrual impact on their future earnings, with 39% of current accruals reversing in the long run.Moreover, this study shows that firms with high market-to-book ratios also have large accrual reversals, so when this is grouped by accruals, the accrual effects are significantly stronger for high accrual firms than for low accrual firms. Among the additional important findings of this study is that Jones model significantly underperforms the CF-Jones model in explaining the cross-sectional accrual variability, with only 24% of mean adjusted –R2 for the Jones model compared to 57% for CF-Jones Model.This result shows the CF-Jones model superiority in identifying the manipulated earnings. The most recent study concerning the detection of earnings management relates to Miller (2009) and titled â€Å"The Development of the Miller Ratio (MR): A Tool to Detect for the Possibility of Earnings Management (EM)†. In this study, Miller uses new technique to detect earnings management called â€Å"Miller Ratio†, based on net working capital (NWC) and cash flow from operations (CFO). Miller also compares between the esults reached through his own model and the results revealed based on Modified Jones Model. In this study, the author states that the large body of literature on the topic of earnings management provides discussion of total accruals, discretionary total accruals, and current accruals. The findings of this study indicate that neither the Miller Ratio nor the Modified Jones Model predicted the possibility of earnings management at a statistical acceptable le vel of confidence on the body of data with acknowledged earnings management. .Caramanis, A. , and Lennox, C. , (2008), â€Å"Audit Effort and Earnings Management†, Journal of Accounting and Economics 45, PP. 116-138. 2. Jones, J. , (1991), â€Å"Earnings Management during import relief Investigations†, Journal of Accounting Research 29, pp. 193-228. 3. Dechow, M. , and Sweeney, P. , (1005), â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management†, The Accounting Review, Vol. 70, No. 2, PP 193-225. 4. Kerstein, J. , and Rai, A. (2007), â€Å"Working Capital Accruals and Earnings Management†, Investment Management and Financial Innovation, Vol. 4, Issue 2, PP. 33-47. 5. Chen, C. , (2008), â€Å"Earnings Management, Earnings Manipulation: Evidence from Taiwanese Corporations, Available on Line: 6. Abarbanell, J. , and Lehavy, R. , (2003), â€Å"Can Stock Recommendations Predict Earnings Management and Analysts' Earnings Forecast Errors? â€Å", Journal of Accounting Research , Vol. 41, No. 1, PP. 1-47. 7. Zhang, H. (2002), â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management – Evidence from Rounding-up in Reported EPS†, Available on Line. 8. Chan, K. , Jegadeesh, N. , and Sougiannis, T. , (2004), â€Å"The Accrual Effect on Future Earnings†, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, 22, PP. 97-121. 9. Miller, J. E. , (2009), â€Å"The Development of the Miller Ratio (MR): A Tool to Detect fot the Possibility of Earnings Management (EM)†, Journal of Business ; Economics Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, PP. 79-90. Earning Management Does the Commercial Banking Industry of UAE Practice Earnings Management Dr. Mohammed Obeidat Introduction It is the right of external users of accounting information to be provided with more adequate information to protect their interests. Many questionable issues concerning the term of earnings management are still available. Auditors, accountants, financial analysts, and other concerned parties may hold the responsibility of detecting external users from the practices of earnings management. Many questionable issues are still available regarding the term of earnings management.Some people may have no enough idea about what practices are classified under earnings management, and what practices can not be classified under this term. Users of accounting information are different but few of them have the ability to detect the practices of earnings management. Because there are different methods of practicing earnings management, detecting the practices of earnings management is one of the difficult issues. The common practice of earnings management by firms and the negative effects of these practices on external users of financial accounting information justify the investigation of this issue.Many users may lose some of their wealth as a result of practicing this phenomenon. Many financial crises appear in our world from time to time, and some reasons of these crises are related to incorrect announced financial information. The problem of the current study will be simpler, if it is presented through the following question: How investors can detect the practices of earnings management, in order to have the ability to protect themselves from the negative effects of these practices?The answer to this question may seem more difficult, so the current study present an example from the Commercial Banking Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Studying the phenomena of practicing earnings management is important, because this will highlight why managers may practic e this phenomenon. Many incentives may be available to managers and promote them to practice earnings management. These incentives will be highlighted later on in the current study, but when investors are knowledgeable with some of these incentives, they can consider and analyze the financial information of their entities more.Moreover, when users are aware with the methods that are followed by managers to practice earnings management, they will be more eligible to detect these practices. The current study will explore the most available methods of practicing earnings management. The importance of the current study is increased, because it highlights how investors can determine whether there is a practice of earnings management or not. The objectives this study is looking to achieve are as follows: 1. To highlight the incentives standing behind the practice of earnings management by managers. 2.To inform users about the methods available to firms' management to manage the earnings. 3. To determine the qualitative and quantitative available procedures that can be used to detect the practices of earnings management. 4. To determine whether the Commercial Banking Industry of UAE practices or does not practice the phenomenon of earnings management. 5. In a case of earnings management is detected, this study aims to detect whether these practices were upward or downward practices. Our study makes a unique contribution to the literature by using data from the announced financial statement of Commercial Banking Industry of UAE.This study differs from the prior studies in its location, methods, objectives, and nature of data used in the analysis. Because the current study involves the commercial banks of ABU Dhabi, and because all of these commercial banks are listed in Abu Dhabi Stock Market, this study is unique in its location. Just few studies outside Abu Dhabi followed quantitative method to investigate whether there are practices of earnings management or not, t he current study is also different from other prior researches.This study depends on cross sectional data because a time series data will misstate the data, so it is unique in its inputs of data. This paper is organized as follows: The first section defines earnings management, and describes the incentives of its practices by commercial banks, in addition to that, it explores the methods of practice and how these practices can be defected. The second section explores the most related prior researches. The third section presents the hypotheses of the current research. The fourth section describes the followed methodology in the current study.The fifth section presents the results, while the fifth explores the findings. Literature Review and Prior Researches Many people believe that the term of earnings management is understandable in its simple form, but most of those unable to determine whether a selected practice is an earnings management or not. Understanding what earnings managem ent constitutes and why it takes place is important for all users of accounting information. This study highlights the different aspects of earnings management, so it identifies clearly this term, and presents the incentives standing behind its practice.Moreover, the current study determines the methods of earnings management used by firms, and explores how these practices can be detected. Earnings management is defined as the â€Å"intentional misstatement of earnings leading to bottom line numbers that would have been different in the absence of any manipulation (Mohanram, 2003). Based on this definition, the practice of earnings management is an intentional behavior, and if this practice occurs unintentionally, it can not be classified under the practices of earnings management.Moreover, this definition states that the practice of earnings management phenomenon leads to users' misstatement. In other words, practitioners of earnings management have different purposes and they cha nge some accounting numbers to affect users in order to achieve these objectives. Healy and Wahlen (1999) state that earnings management â€Å"occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reporting accounting numbers†.This definition states that this practice is also intentional and purposeful. This definition mentions that contractual issues are incentives for managers to manage earnings. But we have to remember Some concerned people believe that earnings management mean upward manipulation. Actually, earnings management may be exercised either upward or downward. In most cases, the target of earnings determines to a large degree, whether the management of the firm practices earnings management upward or downward.Some people also believe that the all the practice of earnings management are illegal, and no legal practice exists. Actually, there are different practices of earnings management do not violate the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). For example, speeding the size of sales during the last month or the fourth quarter is in agreement with the GAAP. Moreover, activating sales during the last month of the accounting period through granting discounts to customers is also in agreement with the GAAP, and is not a violation to the accounting standards.There are different incentives to managements of firms to practice the phenomenon of earnings management. Most of these incentives are related to benchmarks of earnings. Sometimes, the previous period's performance may be the benchmark to the firm. In other cases, the benchmark to the firm may be the expectations of financial analysts. The promised compensations to the firm's management may be the most important incentive of the practice of earnings management. Benchmarks are ne cessary for the determination whether the management deserves or does not deserve the promised compensation.Sometimes, the desire of the firm's management to increase the stock market price may also be one among the incentives to earnings management, especially, when the management is looking for more compensation. The normal positive relation between earnings and stock market price means that as the amount of announced earnings increases, the common stock market price is also increases. Therefore, when a desire exists to the firm's management to affect the common stock market price, the management will manage its earnings. Reducing the amount of income tax may also be one among the incentives of practicing earnings management.In many countries, business entities are subject to high income tax rates, where different categories of expenses are deducted from the income. When these entities are looking toward reducing the amounts of taxes, they practice the phenomenon of earnings manag ement. The practice of earnings management in this case may be through increasing the amounts of tax deductions, or through the decreasing the amounts of earnings. Sometimes, firm's management may manage earnings to simplify the issue of receiving credits from banks and other financial issues.In addition, firms may also manage earnings to reduce the cost of this credit, because when earnings are reasonable, the firm can receive credit smoothly without such obstacles, and at lower costs, but when the firm's earnings are unreasonable, this firm will face many obstacles to receive credit, and it may receive credit at higher costs. These are some of incentives or reasons of the practice of earnings management, but other incentives may be available to some firms, depending on the financial conditions of the firm's management itself.Managements of firms can follow different methods to manage earnings. Changing the assumptions for accounting standards is one of the most common used methods in managing earnings. It is already known that the GAAP are highly flexible, so managements can employ the high degree of flexibility available in these standards. Examples of this flexibility are the inventory flow methods which managements can use one among these, and the available options to depreciate some of the firm's assets, in addition to these; firms can review the assumed lives of these depreciable assets.As a result a variety of options are available to management whenever a desire to manage earnings exists. Managements can manage earnings through the determination to the bad debts provisions. For example, whenever there is a need to announce earnings higher than its actual value, management can determine these bad debts at amounts lower than their actual, while it can announce lower amounts of bad debts whenever there is a need to reduce the announced income. Managing transaction is one among the available options to management when there is a desire to manage earnings. For instance, management can grant high discounts during the last few days of the accounting period to recognize more revenue through sales under the accrual basis. One option is available to managements of firms is to activate sales or services during the last days of accounting period through the adoption to more sales on credit, and through longer period of payment are given to customers. Two approaches are available to detect the phenomenon of earnings management. The first is qualitative, while the second is quantitative approach.Using the two approaches together when this possible leads to more certain conclusions whether a firm or a group of firms manage earnings. Several steps have to be followed when there a need exists to detect earnings management through the qualitative methods. These steps are presented below: (Mohanram, 2003). 1. Identifying the key accounting policies of the firm or industry. Regarding the industry of the current research, the issues of credit risk an d interest rate risk are of crucial importance to banks. 2. Assessing the firm's accounting flexibility.The level of accounting flexibility may be high to some firms or industries, whereas, it may be low to other firms and industries. 3. Evaluating the firm's accounting strategy, and determining how this strategy differs from other competitors. 4. Assessing the firm's quality of disclosure. 5. Identifying the potential red flags. The following is an example of red flags: |Unexplained accounting changes, especially when performance is bad. | |Unexplained profit boosting transactions, such as sale of assets. | |Unusual increase in accounts receivable in relation to sales increase. |Increasing gap between net income and cash flow from operations. | |Increasing gap between net income for reporting and tax purposes. | |Unexpected large asset write-offs or write downs. | |Large fourth quarter adjustment. | |Qualified audit opinion or change in auditors. | |Large related party transactions . | 6. The final step is to undo accounting distortions by reversing out the impacts of dubious accounting wherever possible. Earnings management can be also detected analytically, based on the firm's accruals, which can be defined as the difference between net income and cash flow operations.In occasion, firms with high level of accruals are likely to have inflated earnings. Firms practice the phenomenon of earnings management can be determined through segregating discretionary accruals from non-discretionary accruals. In this case, Jones (1991) model can be used to segregate discretionary from non-discretionary accruals. In the current study we use this model to determine whether, or not, the Commercial Banking Industry practices the phenomenon of earnings management. This model is presented below:Where total accruals can be computed by finding the difference between income before extraordinary items and cash from operations in year t. Revenuest is revenues in year t, while revenu est-1 is the revenues at the end of year t-1. Total assetst-1 is total assets of year t-1. Gross PPEt is gross property, plant, and equipment at the end of year t, and B1, B2, and B3 are industry and year specific parameters to be estimated. The residual value in Jones's Model is the discretionary accruals for a firm in a given year, while the fitted value gives an estimate of the non-discretionary component of earnings.Researchers in the accounting literature have often focused on earnings management. Many researchers studied the issue of earnings management; most of these are focused in the Western or Far East Countries. A study titled † earnings Management: Do Large Investors Care? † and carried out by Senteza, Njoroge, and Gill (2005), deserves to be mentioned in the current study. This study mentions that institutional investment activity and behavior is an area that has become more interesting in recent times and so much work has been done so far.The contribution o f this study in the area of earnings management can be summarized in its documentation to the effect of earnings management activity on institutional investor ownership, especially through distinguishing the ownership changes in response to the direction of earnings management efforts. This study finds that institutional investors increase ownership in firms that manage earnings upwards and decrease ownership in firms that manage earnings downward before end-of-year reporting.Moreover, this study finds that the increases observed during an observed upwards earnings-managing activity are followed by decreases in ownership in these firms in the subsequent quarter, which may suggest resource allocation between large and small investors. In his comments at the practice of earnings management phenomenon, Simon (2005) argues that managing earnings is a wrong practice, in his paper titled â€Å"Earnings Management as A Professional Responsibility Problem†.The author of this paper st ates that managers of public companies often want an increase in current reported earnings per share; though they sometimes prefer a current decrease in the earnings they would otherwise report when it will allow them to show a smoothly increasing pattern of earnings in the future. He adds, on his comments on Schwarcz's paper, that â€Å"the ‘limits of lawyering' are the constraints of law, but having said that, the question remains-what do we mean by law? If we take a narrow, predictive conception of law, the limits will be less restrictive than if we take a broader, purposive view. . He also states that the more ambitious conception is most compatible with the idea of lawyering as a dignified calling. Caramanis and Lennox (2007), carried out a study titled â€Å"Audit Effort and Earnings Management† in their trial to determine the effect of audit hours on the practice of earnings management by the Greece Firms. To measure earnings management, the authors use the Jone s (1991) model based on the balance sheet approach rather than the cash flow statement approach because most Greek companies do not provide cash flow statements.There are three main findings of this study. First, companies are more likely to report income-increasing abnormal accruals than income-decreasing abnormal accruals, when audit hours are lower. Second, the magnitude of income-increasing abnormal accruals is negatively related to audit hours. Third, companies are more likely to manage earnings upwards to just meet or beat the zero earnings benchmark, when auditors work fewer hours. Moreover, this study finds weak or insignificant associations between audit hours and the magnitude of negative abnormal accruals.A study titles â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management† for the purpse of evaluating alternative accrual-based models for detecting earnings management is carried out by Dechow and Sweeney (1995). This paper evaluates the ability of alternative models to detect earnin gs management. Concerning this issue, the paper finds that all the models considered appear to produce reasonably well specified tests for a random sample of event-years. When the models are applied to samples of firm-years experiencing extreme financial performance, all models lead to misspecified tests.The second finding of this paper is that the models all generate tests of low power for earnings management of economically plausible magnitudes. Moreover, this paper reveals that all models reject the null hypothesis of no earnings management at rates exceeding the specified test-levels when applied to sample of firms with extreme financial reporting. The most important finding of this paper is that a modified version of the model developed by Jones (1001) has the most power in detecting earnings management.Kerstein and Rai (2007), carried out a study titled â€Å"Working Capital Accruals and Earnings Management†. The purpose of this study is to reexamine market reactions to large and small working capital accruals. This study involves three hypotheses. First, negative or positive large working capital accruals have no impact on the earnings response coefficient of firms reporting positive small earnings surprises. Second, Positive or negative large working capital accruals have no impact on earnings response coefficients of firms reporting small earnings declines.Third Positive or negative large working capital accruals have no impact on earnings response coefficients of firms reporting large earnings increases or declines. The authors focus on nonlinear relations between returns and large working capital accruals and use raw returns computed as the compounded monthly returns from nine months prior to the fiscal year-end to three months after the fiscal year-end as the dependent variable. They find that the market discounts unexpected earnings when there are small increases in earnings using negative large working capital accruals or negative large wo rking capital accruals.They also find little or no evidence that positive or negative large working capital accruals lead to lower earnings response coefficients in the remaining six situations. In his study titles â€Å"Earnings Management, Earnings Manipulation: Evidence from Taiwanese Corporations†, (2008), Chai-hui Chen differentiates between earnings management and earnings manipulation among the Taiwanese companies. In this study, Chai examines 7 hypotheses based on a sample of 90 public firms throughout 1999-2004.The main findings this study concludes that: (1) unlike the control group, earning manipulators face greater capital market and contract motivations to manage earnings; (2) earnings manipulators are more inclined to appoint fewer independent directors to their boards, to appoint fewer independent supervisors to their supervisory boards, and to posses considerably less managerial ownership; and (3) earnings manipulators are more likely than the control group to express aggressive attitudes and rationalizations to manage earnings changes before interests and taxes, or both.To examine the effect of firm's stock price sensitivity to earnings news, as measured by outstanding stock recommendation, on incentives to manage earnings, Abarbanel and Leahavy (2003) carried out a study titled â€Å"Can Stock Recommendations Predict Earnings Management and Analysts' Earnings Forecast Errors†. This study examines hypotheses concerning (1) the effect of introducing equity-market-based earnings targets on firms' earnings management, and (2) the effects of such earnings management actions on ensuring analysts' forecast errors.In this study, quarterly unexpected accruals are calculated using the modified Jones (1991) model. This study finds evidence that a firm's stock price sensitivity to earnings news, as measured by outstanding stock recommendation, affects its incentives to manage earnings and, in turn, affects analysts' ex post forecast errors. Moreover, this study finds a tendency for firms rated a Sell (Buy) to engage More (less) frequently in extreme, income-decreasing earnings management, indicating that they have relatively stronger (weaker) incentives to create accounting reserves.In contrast, this study finds that firms rated a Buy (Sell) are more (less)likely to engage in earnings management that leaves reported earnings equal to or slightly higher than analysts' forecasts. Zhang (2002) carried out his study titled, â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management – Evidence from Rounding-up in Reported EPS†, for the purpose of evaluating a comprehensive list of metrics propsed for detecting earnings management in a setting where managers manipulate earnings to round up reported earnings per share (EPS).This study provide the evidence that adds to the debate on the abilities of accrual-based models to detect earnings management of small magnitude. The study cast doubt on the abilities of accrual-based models to c atch minor offenses, which is likely to be the norm, rather than exception of various forms of earnings management. The metrics under evaluation of this study are deferred tax expense and discretionary accruals computed from DeAngelo Model, Healy Model, Jones Model, Modified Jones Model, Cross-sectional Jones Model, and Forward-looking Jones Model.This study finds that deferred tax expense is able to detect earnings management in the rounding-up setting while discretionary accruals models are not. Moreover, this study provides the evidence that firms manipulate bad debt expense for the purpose of rounding-up reported EPS. Chan, Jegadeesh, and Sougiannis (2004) carried out a study titled â€Å"The Accrual Effect on Future Earnings† in an attempt to clarify whether current accruals affect future earnings. The authors find a strong negative relationship between accruals and the aggregate future earnings.This study mentions that if firms manage accruals upward by $1 today while h olding current earnings constant, aggregate future earnings will decline, on average, by $ 0. 096 over the following three years and $0. 202 in the long run. This study also examines the accrual effects classified by firm characteristics to test the source of the negative relationship between accruals and future earnings. The study shows that high price-earnings stocks experience an enormous accrual impact on their future earnings, with 39% of current accruals reversing in the long run.Moreover, this study shows that firms with high market-to-book ratios also have large accrual reversals, so when this is grouped by accruals, the accrual effects are significantly stronger for high accrual firms than for low accrual firms. Among the additional important findings of this study is that Jones model significantly underperforms the CF-Jones model in explaining the cross-sectional accrual variability, with only 24% of mean adjusted –R2 for the Jones model compared to 57% for CF-Jones Model.This result shows the CF-Jones model superiority in identifying the manipulated earnings. The most recent study concerning the detection of earnings management relates to Miller (2009) and titled â€Å"The Development of the Miller Ratio (MR): A Tool to Detect for the Possibility of Earnings Management (EM)†. In this study, Miller uses new technique to detect earnings management called â€Å"Miller Ratio†, based on net working capital (NWC) and cash flow from operations (CFO). Miller also compares between the esults reached through his own model and the results revealed based on Modified Jones Model. In this study, the author states that the large body of literature on the topic of earnings management provides discussion of total accruals, discretionary total accruals, and current accruals. The findings of this study indicate that neither the Miller Ratio nor the Modified Jones Model predicted the possibility of earnings management at a statistical acceptable le vel of confidence on the body of data with acknowledged earnings management. .Caramanis, A. , and Lennox, C. , (2008), â€Å"Audit Effort and Earnings Management†, Journal of Accounting and Economics 45, PP. 116-138. 2. Jones, J. , (1991), â€Å"Earnings Management during import relief Investigations†, Journal of Accounting Research 29, pp. 193-228. 3. Dechow, M. , and Sweeney, P. , (1005), â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management†, The Accounting Review, Vol. 70, No. 2, PP 193-225. 4. Kerstein, J. , and Rai, A. (2007), â€Å"Working Capital Accruals and Earnings Management†, Investment Management and Financial Innovation, Vol. 4, Issue 2, PP. 33-47. 5. Chen, C. , (2008), â€Å"Earnings Management, Earnings Manipulation: Evidence from Taiwanese Corporations, Available on Line: 6. Abarbanell, J. , and Lehavy, R. , (2003), â€Å"Can Stock Recommendations Predict Earnings Management and Analysts' Earnings Forecast Errors? â€Å", Journal of Accounting Research , Vol. 41, No. 1, PP. 1-47. 7. Zhang, H. (2002), â€Å"Detecting Earnings Management – Evidence from Rounding-up in Reported EPS†, Available on Line. 8. Chan, K. , Jegadeesh, N. , and Sougiannis, T. , (2004), â€Å"The Accrual Effect on Future Earnings†, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, 22, PP. 97-121. 9. Miller, J. E. , (2009), â€Å"The Development of the Miller Ratio (MR): A Tool to Detect fot the Possibility of Earnings Management (EM)†, Journal of Business ; Economics Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, PP. 79-90.