Disc Platinum Rule Assessment

â€Å"The ultimate goal of the Platinum Rule is personal chemistry and productive relationships† (Alessandra). The University of Phoenix creates learning teams in each online classroom setting. Individuals bring different behavior styles when they come together in a group. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different behavior styles as defined by the DISC Platinum Rule assessment and how it relates to learning team members. The DISC Platinum Rule breaks out into four dimensions of behavior. Each different dimension has strengths and weaknesses and no dimension is better than another. The four different dimensions are the dominance style, the interactive style, the steadiness style, and the cautious style. Dominance Style The dominance style has two main governing needs. These needs are the need to control and the need to achieve. People who fit into the dominance style are goal-orientated go-getters. They find themselves most comfortable when they are in charge of people and situations. People with the dominance style are fast-paced, task-oriented, and work quickly and impressively by themselves. They are annoyed by delays and challenge outdated thinking and ideas. Alessandra) The four sub styles of the dominance style are the director, the adventurer, the producer and the pioneer. The director questions authority, takes more risks, and is motivated by new opportunities. The adventurer, wary of people who may take advantage, is result-orientated and is motivated by dominance and independence. The producer chooses to be involved in chosen activities from start to finish. They resist people who are obstacles and are motivated by accomplishing bigger and better goals according to their internal timetable. The pioneer tends to focus on the future and is driven by a quest for unique accomplishments to avoid boredom. Holding a position to direct and redirect task accomplishments motivates them. (Alessandra) Tijuana Muse and Nessa Little, two members of the learning team, both fit into the dominance style behavior dimension. The snapshot of their sub style report marked them both as â€Å"The Producer. † The assessment described them as less guarded and less direct then most other dominance styles. The assessment also stated their primary goal is to achieve bigger and better goals. Weaknesses presented in the assessment include impatience and taking themselves to seriously. Strengths presented in the assessment include the ability to juggle tasks and a high energy level. Tijuana agrees with these results as they describe her work patterns and behavior. She needs goals to be set to help motivate her to achieve a higher level of performance. Even though she does not like timeframes, she prefers to work at a higher pace. Her behavior style effects the learning team by providing results quickly and timely if given a set goal. Nessa agreed with the results of her assessment. She will use the weaknesses presented as areas for improvement. She wants to broaden her point of view when it comes to goals. She becomes very focused on the task at hand and will forget that other things need her attention also. She needs to learn to be more flexible and show more confidence in other people. These observations from the assessment affect the team because she knows to ask others to share ideas and to will become more tolerant of the differences in others. Interactive Style The second style is the interactive style. People in this behavioral style are friendly and enthusiastic. They prefer to be in the middle of the action and thrive on admiration, acknowledgment, and compliments. People in the interactive style are more relationship-orientated and less task-orientated. Their main strengths are people skills and communication and they do so with enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. Good communication skills help them influence people and bring them together to accomplish goals. (Alessandra) The sub styles of the interactive style are the socializer, the helper, the impresser, and the enthusiast. The socializer has a natural tendency to meet people. They speak freely about their thoughts feelings, and experiences, and receiving social approval from others motivates them. The helper has a natural dislike of pressuring others or telling them what to do. They seek close personal relationships that focus on caring and sharing and they are motivated by friendship. The impresser feels taking shortcuts to accomplish a goal is cheating. They become impatient with procrastinators and winning with flair motivates them. The enthusiast enjoys symbols of authority and prestige and is uncomfortable with confinement or restriction of freedom. Influencing others provides them motivation. (Alessandra) CooKie, a member of the learning team, fits into the interactive style behavior dimension. The snapshot of her sub style marked her as â€Å"The Impresser. † The assessment described her as seeing winning as an all-or-nothing proposition, judging people by their ability to make things happen, and working harder when there are bigger risks and rewards at stake. Weaknesses presented in the assessment included disorganized, careless, exaggerating, and poor follow through. Strengths presented in the assessment included persuasiveness, optimistic, motivating, and enthusiastic. CooKie agreed with how the assessment described her characteristics at work. She likes to go above and beyond expectations to complete a task. She often collaborates with co-workers in order to ensure the goals of the company are achieved efficiently. This causes her to be considerate of co-workers’ feelings when working on projects. As deadlines approach she tends to overreact that they will not be met. This is her reason to avoid procrastination. Her behavior style affects the learning team by providing a high attention to detail and being mindful of the other team members’ feelings. Steadiness Style The third style is the steadiness style. Individuals with this style are warm, supportive, and nurturing. They are excellent listeners, devoted friends, and loyal employees. This makes them the most people-orientated of the four styles. With a relaxed disposition they are approachable, which allows them to develop strong networks of people. People in the steadiness style do not like risk. They may tolerate bad situations rather than risk changing the status quo. They prefer to maintain their personal composure, stability, and balance. They exhibit behaviors of courtesy, friendliness, and a willingness to share responsibilities. People in this style are good planners, persistent workers, and good with follow-through. Because of their need of security, need to avoid risk, and desire to include others; Individuals with the steadiness style are slow decision-makers. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the steadiness style are the relater, the specialist, the go-getter, and the harmonizer. The relater is threatened by changes that jeopardize relationships or surroundings, prefers to deal with concrete situations and data rather than theory, trends, or conjecture, and is motivated by personal stability. Specialists prefer to focus on their own interests. The excel in conditions that are stable and allow for steady, incremental gains and are motivated by doing what they know and only knowing what they do. The go-getter is a good short-term planner with an ability to identify roles, resources, and time lines. They are highly self-reliant and are motivated by a desire for a steady flow of more accomplishments. The harmonizer wants to be the person wanted and needed by others. They are motivated by the acceptance and approval gained from helping others. (Alessandra) Cautious Style The fourth behavior dimension is the cautious style. People in this style are analytical, persistent, and systematic. They enjoy problem solving and are detail-oriented. This causes them to be concerned with content over style. They enjoy working toward tangible results and perfecting the processes to achieve them. This type of person controls their emotions and tends to be uncomfortable amongst out-going people. Even though they tend to see the serious and complex side to situations, their intelligence and ability to see different points of view allows them to be quick and present a unique sense of humor. People in the cautious style can be over-critical because of having high expectations of themselves and others. In extreme cases their tendency toward perfection can cause paralysis by over-analysis. They do research, make comparisons, determine risks, and calculate margins of error before making decisions. This causes them to be slow and deliberate decision-makers. Some main strengths of the cautious style are an eye for detail and accuracy, dependable, independent, persistent, and organized. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the cautious style are the thinker, the master-minder, the assessor, and the perfecter. The thinker has a preference for privacy, has a natural talent for deliberate decision-making and is motivated by the desire to be correct. The master-minder expresses his or herself more by what they do than by what they say. They choose to work alone and are motivated by increased opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. The assessor is a quick thinker and can deal with many inputs simultaneously. They are motivated by accomplishing goals with excellence. The perfecter pays attention to key processes and details. They are methodical, thorough, dependable, and is motivated predictable results. (Alessandra) Anthony Cosenza, another member of the learning team, fits into the cautious style behavior dimension. His snapshot of sub style report marked him as â€Å"The Master-Minder. † His assessment described him as more guarded and less direct than most other cautious styles. The assessment also described his primary goal that motivates him is to increase opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. His tendencies include being very alert to conflict and resistance, appearing focused and self-controlled with people, taking some calculated risks when making decisions, preferring to work alone, becoming overly analytical, and possibly procrastinating when under pressure. Weaknesses presented in the assessment include perfectionistic, critical and unresponsive. Strengths presented in the assessment include planning, dependability, problem solving, and systematizing. Anthony agreed with most of his assessment as it described many of his behaviors. During stressful times he does become withdrawn and focuses on tasks and the processes to complete them. He wants to be right and does depend heavily on data collection. He prefers to work alone and has good problem solving skills as the assessment identified. His behavior style affects the team by providing an awareness of the situation and being able to solve issues. Conclusion The DISC Platinum Rule assessment identifies a person’s behavior style. When working in a team each member will have a different style. Each style provides the team with unique characteristics that provide strengths and weaknesses. An effective team will utilize each team member’s strengths and look out for and correct weaknesses. By doing this a team will be highly effective in accomplishing goals and achieving success. Disc Platinum Rule Assessment â€Å"The ultimate goal of the Platinum Rule is personal chemistry and productive relationships† (Alessandra). The University of Phoenix creates learning teams in each online classroom setting. Individuals bring different behavior styles when they come together in a group. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different behavior styles as defined by the DISC Platinum Rule assessment and how it relates to learning team members. The DISC Platinum Rule breaks out into four dimensions of behavior. Each different dimension has strengths and weaknesses and no dimension is better than another. The four different dimensions are the dominance style, the interactive style, the steadiness style, and the cautious style. Dominance Style The dominance style has two main governing needs. These needs are the need to control and the need to achieve. People who fit into the dominance style are goal-orientated go-getters. They find themselves most comfortable when they are in charge of people and situations. People with the dominance style are fast-paced, task-oriented, and work quickly and impressively by themselves. They are annoyed by delays and challenge outdated thinking and ideas. Alessandra) The four sub styles of the dominance style are the director, the adventurer, the producer and the pioneer. The director questions authority, takes more risks, and is motivated by new opportunities. The adventurer, wary of people who may take advantage, is result-orientated and is motivated by dominance and independence. The producer chooses to be involved in chosen activities from start to finish. They resist people who are obstacles and are motivated by accomplishing bigger and better goals according to their internal timetable. The pioneer tends to focus on the future and is driven by a quest for unique accomplishments to avoid boredom. Holding a position to direct and redirect task accomplishments motivates them. (Alessandra) Tijuana Muse and Nessa Little, two members of the learning team, both fit into the dominance style behavior dimension. The snapshot of their sub style report marked them both as â€Å"The Producer. † The assessment described them as less guarded and less direct then most other dominance styles. The assessment also stated their primary goal is to achieve bigger and better goals. Weaknesses presented in the assessment include impatience and taking themselves to seriously. Strengths presented in the assessment include the ability to juggle tasks and a high energy level. Tijuana agrees with these results as they describe her work patterns and behavior. She needs goals to be set to help motivate her to achieve a higher level of performance. Even though she does not like timeframes, she prefers to work at a higher pace. Her behavior style effects the learning team by providing results quickly and timely if given a set goal. Nessa agreed with the results of her assessment. She will use the weaknesses presented as areas for improvement. She wants to broaden her point of view when it comes to goals. She becomes very focused on the task at hand and will forget that other things need her attention also. She needs to learn to be more flexible and show more confidence in other people. These observations from the assessment affect the team because she knows to ask others to share ideas and to will become more tolerant of the differences in others. Interactive Style The second style is the interactive style. People in this behavioral style are friendly and enthusiastic. They prefer to be in the middle of the action and thrive on admiration, acknowledgment, and compliments. People in the interactive style are more relationship-orientated and less task-orientated. Their main strengths are people skills and communication and they do so with enthusiasm, charm, persuasiveness, and warmth. Good communication skills help them influence people and bring them together to accomplish goals. (Alessandra) The sub styles of the interactive style are the socializer, the helper, the impresser, and the enthusiast. The socializer has a natural tendency to meet people. They speak freely about their thoughts feelings, and experiences, and receiving social approval from others motivates them. The helper has a natural dislike of pressuring others or telling them what to do. They seek close personal relationships that focus on caring and sharing and they are motivated by friendship. The impresser feels taking shortcuts to accomplish a goal is cheating. They become impatient with procrastinators and winning with flair motivates them. The enthusiast enjoys symbols of authority and prestige and is uncomfortable with confinement or restriction of freedom. Influencing others provides them motivation. (Alessandra) CooKie, a member of the learning team, fits into the interactive style behavior dimension. The snapshot of her sub style marked her as â€Å"The Impresser. † The assessment described her as seeing winning as an all-or-nothing proposition, judging people by their ability to make things happen, and working harder when there are bigger risks and rewards at stake. Weaknesses presented in the assessment included disorganized, careless, exaggerating, and poor follow through. Strengths presented in the assessment included persuasiveness, optimistic, motivating, and enthusiastic. CooKie agreed with how the assessment described her characteristics at work. She likes to go above and beyond expectations to complete a task. She often collaborates with co-workers in order to ensure the goals of the company are achieved efficiently. This causes her to be considerate of co-workers’ feelings when working on projects. As deadlines approach she tends to overreact that they will not be met. This is her reason to avoid procrastination. Her behavior style affects the learning team by providing a high attention to detail and being mindful of the other team members’ feelings. Steadiness Style The third style is the steadiness style. Individuals with this style are warm, supportive, and nurturing. They are excellent listeners, devoted friends, and loyal employees. This makes them the most people-orientated of the four styles. With a relaxed disposition they are approachable, which allows them to develop strong networks of people. People in the steadiness style do not like risk. They may tolerate bad situations rather than risk changing the status quo. They prefer to maintain their personal composure, stability, and balance. They exhibit behaviors of courtesy, friendliness, and a willingness to share responsibilities. People in this style are good planners, persistent workers, and good with follow-through. Because of their need of security, need to avoid risk, and desire to include others; Individuals with the steadiness style are slow decision-makers. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the steadiness style are the relater, the specialist, the go-getter, and the harmonizer. The relater is threatened by changes that jeopardize relationships or surroundings, prefers to deal with concrete situations and data rather than theory, trends, or conjecture, and is motivated by personal stability. Specialists prefer to focus on their own interests. The excel in conditions that are stable and allow for steady, incremental gains and are motivated by doing what they know and only knowing what they do. The go-getter is a good short-term planner with an ability to identify roles, resources, and time lines. They are highly self-reliant and are motivated by a desire for a steady flow of more accomplishments. The harmonizer wants to be the person wanted and needed by others. They are motivated by the acceptance and approval gained from helping others. (Alessandra) Cautious Style The fourth behavior dimension is the cautious style. People in this style are analytical, persistent, and systematic. They enjoy problem solving and are detail-oriented. This causes them to be concerned with content over style. They enjoy working toward tangible results and perfecting the processes to achieve them. This type of person controls their emotions and tends to be uncomfortable amongst out-going people. Even though they tend to see the serious and complex side to situations, their intelligence and ability to see different points of view allows them to be quick and present a unique sense of humor. People in the cautious style can be over-critical because of having high expectations of themselves and others. In extreme cases their tendency toward perfection can cause paralysis by over-analysis. They do research, make comparisons, determine risks, and calculate margins of error before making decisions. This causes them to be slow and deliberate decision-makers. Some main strengths of the cautious style are an eye for detail and accuracy, dependable, independent, persistent, and organized. (Alessandra) The four sub styles of the cautious style are the thinker, the master-minder, the assessor, and the perfecter. The thinker has a preference for privacy, has a natural talent for deliberate decision-making and is motivated by the desire to be correct. The master-minder expresses his or herself more by what they do than by what they say. They choose to work alone and are motivated by increased opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. The assessor is a quick thinker and can deal with many inputs simultaneously. They are motivated by accomplishing goals with excellence. The perfecter pays attention to key processes and details. They are methodical, thorough, dependable, and is motivated predictable results. (Alessandra) Anthony Cosenza, another member of the learning team, fits into the cautious style behavior dimension. His snapshot of sub style report marked him as â€Å"The Master-Minder. † His assessment described him as more guarded and less direct than most other cautious styles. The assessment also described his primary goal that motivates him is to increase opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. His tendencies include being very alert to conflict and resistance, appearing focused and self-controlled with people, taking some calculated risks when making decisions, preferring to work alone, becoming overly analytical, and possibly procrastinating when under pressure. Weaknesses presented in the assessment include perfectionistic, critical and unresponsive. Strengths presented in the assessment include planning, dependability, problem solving, and systematizing. Anthony agreed with most of his assessment as it described many of his behaviors. During stressful times he does become withdrawn and focuses on tasks and the processes to complete them. He wants to be right and does depend heavily on data collection. He prefers to work alone and has good problem solving skills as the assessment identified. His behavior style affects the team by providing an awareness of the situation and being able to solve issues. Conclusion The DISC Platinum Rule assessment identifies a person’s behavior style. When working in a team each member will have a different style. Each style provides the team with unique characteristics that provide strengths and weaknesses. An effective team will utilize each team member’s strengths and look out for and correct weaknesses. By doing this a team will be highly effective in accomplishing goals and achieving success.

John Stuart Mill

â€Å"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain. † – John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that â€Å"actions are right in proportions as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness† (Sparknotes Editors). There are a few important aspects of this definition.It presents utility, the existence of pleasure and the absence of pain, as both the basis of everything that people desire, as the foundation of morality. This however, does not state that it is moral for people to pursue what makes them personally happy (Sparknotes Editors). The question at hand is what would John Stuart Mill advise the doctor to do? Fulfill the Joes request and assist him with his death or respect the family’s wishes by keeping Joe alive.From my viewpoint, I would say that Mill would tell the doctor to go forth with the family’s wishes because of his statement â€Å"is it not moral for people to pursue what makes them personally happy† (Sparknotes Editors) and in this case – it would not be moral to do as the patient wishes because the end result would be that it would only make the patient happy. However, from a utilitarian view point, a physician assisted suicide can appear to be morally justified in all cases. But in this case, it would be only morally justified in the patients’ case because he is the only one who is on board with the idea of physician assisted suicide.The only way this way this would be morally justified in all cases is if not only the patient was on board, but the entire family would have to be as well, by looking at such things like the physician assisted suicide as an elimination of the financial burden due to medical costs. Mill’s Utilitarianism states that in order to be mo ral, one must make decisions based upon the greatest happiness. In terms of physician assisted suicide I feel that death, no matter the form, usually brings many emotions such as both positive (the end of the patients suffering; then end of medical costs), and negative (feeling of loss and sadness of a loved one).According to Mill, the utilitarian doctrine states that â€Å"happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end. † (Mill) so what he is saying is that we are to treat others and ourselves included as a means to an end, and that it would be immoral to use other people and ourselves as a mere means. If you think about it, happiness is only something that can be experienced when we are alive and in reality, there is nothing desired except happiness and our actions derive from the pursuit of happiness. So if our ultimate moral end goal is happiness.My argument would be that the patient is not seeki ng happiness as an end but only a means because he is seeking it for himself to end his suffering. The process of physician assisted euthanasia would be considered a mere means if it were both what the patient and his family both wanted – but in this case this is not what both parties want. They each want the end result to be different. Mill also argued that individuals are the best judges and guardians of their own interests. So in this case, he would be stating that Joe is capable of making his own decision(s) and his family should allow him to make his own decision in this case.The only way Mill would state otherwise is if Joe was not capable of making his own decision, an example would be if he was in an unconscious state or otherwise mentally impaired. At this point a case could be made in the fact that Joe is unhappy and he knows eventually that his illness will lead him to much discomfort and possible pain. The only thing in Joe’s mind that will make him happy i s to end his suffering and end the suffering of his family who would have to watch him battle this sickness. This would be a â€Å"win-win† situation in Joes mind.Another case could be made using the assertion that â€Å"the right thing† would be to use any means necessary to alleviate the pain and suffering Joe may face in the future. This renews and reaffirms Joe’s importance to himself and his family members. Mill has also stated â€Å"all selfish interests must be terminated by death. † I think that by this he is saying the only way to end Joe’s want for physician assisted suicide is by death. He is stating that this is a selfish want on Joe’s part – he could also be stating that the family too is being selfish in not wanting to end Joe’s suffering.So neither party’s selfish wants are going to be subsided until death. I feel that John Stuart Mills’ utilitarianism would support the idea of what the family feels and wants rather than supporting physician assisted euthanasia. Only because his main focus is happiness and one cannot experience happiness in death. Works Cited Mill J. S. , Utilitarianism. New York; Longmans, Green; 1907 SparkNotes Editors. â€Å"SparkNote on Utilitarianism. † SparkNotes LLC. n. d.. http://www. sparknotes. com/philosophy/utilitarianism/ (accessed October 17, 2012).

Short Essay-Close Reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Short -Close Reading - Essay Example The next chapter indicates that Jim, apart from going out with Lena to theatre, also meets her at her shop, visits her apartment and spends a considerable amount of time, since the time he met her. Chapter three of book three seems to be an account of the play and their experience watching it, but it is significant to the entire book as it brings out the pain in Jim with his separation from Antonia and his sudden realization of the compelling similarity between the play and real life. This realization is the heart of the chapter. When we reached the door of the theatre, the streets were shining with rain. I had prudently brought along Mrs. Harlings useful Commencement present, and I took Lena home under its shelter. After leaving her, I walked slowly out into the country part of the town where I lived. The lilacs were all blooming in the yards, and the smell of them after the rain, of the new leaves and the blossoms together, blew into my face with a sort of bitter sweetness. I tramped through the puddles and under the showery trees, mourning for Marguerite Gauthier as if she had died only yesterday, sighing with the spirit of 1840, which had sighed so much, and which had reached me only that night, across long years and several languages, through the person of an infirm old actress. The idea is one that no circumstances can frustrate. Wherever and whenever that piece is put on, it is April (p. 201). After his account of how Jim and Lena were able to navigate through the rain, he slides into his version of his experience of his walk back home after leaving Lena at her house. Unlike Lena, he stays in the country side. Jim describes the things in nature as he finds his way back home through the country side in which he lives. It is spring and the rain has left the blossoming lilacs fresh and fragrant. However, the words â€Å"bitter sweetness†, juxtaposes two opposites forming an oxymoron

International Business and Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Business and Trade - Essay Example The first part of the article revealed the ailing performance of Carphone's broadband brand TalkTalk. Carphone stocks plunged as news showed the service performance problems of TalkTalk subscribers. The poor performance, according to Carphone is partially due to British Telecom's (BT) Openreach division. The retail giant assumed that BT's progress in transferring of customers from the latter to the former "was slow." However this issue was overshadowed by the fact that Vodafone, UK's leading mobile service provider, signed an exclusive contract with Phones 4u, Carphone's main competitor. Carphone is UK's leader in mobile phones retail. Thanks to the innovative minds of Charles Dunstone and David Ross, the mobile retailer, which was initially a small store along Marylebone Road in London, became a 4 billion giant industry. Vodafone, the leader in mobile services, had been a close partner in Britain's mobile communications industry growth. Dunstone's aggressive dream to make Carphone a real mobile leader ushered him to integrate TalkTalk broadband service. The entrepreneur also partnered with Sir Richard Branson in launching Virgin Mobile in France. Another bold move, the 320 million impending acquisition of AOL UK would make Carphone a driving force in broadband and internet industry. Carphone's ambitious moves make it both a mobile retail an... To better grasp this, let us look at the history of UK's mobile industry. UK's mobile industry has transformed drastically from its introduction to the market. As expected, both mobile phone retailers and mobile service providers had a very harmonious mutual relationship in serving enthusiastic buyers of the recently supplied, sophisticated gadgets known as mobile phones. But as almost every British person has his own mobile phone, the rules of the mobile industry changed. At present, to improve performance, mobile service providers concentrate on how to woo subscribers of contract services away from competitors, prioritising on high paying contract customers more than the more transient pre pay customers. On the other hand, mobile retailers profit on the upgrades of devices, switches for a better deal and service for their customers, and other activities that require their service. With its source of profit coming from commission and service revenues, retailers are concerned more on the activities of their customers: the greater number of activities, the greater the profit. Proposed Marketing Strategies Given a brief background on milieu within which Carphone is involved in, the writer suggests that, to improve its overall performance in the mobile industry, it should first concentrate on solving the issues in its bread and butter service: mobile retail. Repositioning its mobile retail business will open a way to fix the problems it has with its broadband business. Carphone has to fix its core business first before it should move on to his later business ventures. Repositioning Carphone's retail service The first step that Carphone should take in boosting its weakening performance in the eyes of its

Psyche (2010) By Donald Lipski Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Psyche (2010) By Donald Lipski - Essay Example Lipski has set up public arts everywhere the country, each a reflection of the site and the people who infiltrate it. Psyche (the butterfly) is inactive in the â€Å"knuckle† domain joining the old with the new building up. To the old Greeks, Psyche not alone meant butterfly but as well soul, exalting the link between the organic and the advanced ambitions of the heart. Through Donald Lipski’s explore he identified that the butterfly was also a significant symbol to other cultures, intending rejuvenation, rebirth, and love. Approximately ten thousand test tubes filled with pigmented acrylic, the commonest and familiar tools of science, suggest the individual cells of the extensions. The work is large, approximately one hundred forty-five’’ across and ten’’ high, inactive to slowly draw in the currents of the HVAC. The â€Å"veins† of the wings are fancied out of brand and the domain intermediate is elongated with stainless steel mesh from which the test tubes are suspended. Donald created a butterfly built from steel and ten thousand resin filled gla ss test tubes, by the avid Denver artist, John McEnroe. Psyche (the butterfly), 2010 . Artworks: Sculpture. Retrieved from:

The Benefits of QuickBooks Online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Benefits of QuickBooks Online - Essay Example The template forms developed for data entry on the quick book platform is imperative for the consistency the approach offers in data entry (Keep it Simple Accounting, 2013). Moreover, functional entities including the state abbreviations, phone numbers and dates have consistent formats. I acknowledge these findings owing to the simplicity it offers to the analysis of data and report generation. The highly built relational table structure allows propagation of changes throughout the system in case a single entry is altered. The inbuilt functions can be tuned to suit a given scenario. For instance when implementing a new tax policy, changing the tax rate in one entity amounts to a propagated change across the system’s sale records. I guarantee the platform offers more benefits in line with query endeavors. Searching for information is an ease yet quick. It has capabilities to sort, filter and display the specific information as needed and queried by the user. In that respect, multiple reports based on different templates and formats can be viewed or printed (Keep it Simple Accounting, 2013). The platform offers the capacity to track bounced checks, report in instant clicks and customizable content generated for clients. The functions support the advantages offered by quick books that I regard to be true. The utility that enables import of bank activity into quick book online makes it even better in the accounting process. Within the record is the contact information for vendors, manufacturers, clients, and employee (Keep it Simple Accounting, 2013). With such information at the user’s disposal quick books becomes a key tool in the financial division of an institution. The user interfaces developed are better set with the user in mind. They offer in a friendly way and an icon approach to functions. The profile of a company can easily be developed with quick books online making it a superior tool. I specifically adore the interview approach to customization of

Awareness, extent and nature of Business Continuity amongst managers Essay

Awareness, extent and nature of Business Continuity amongst managers - Essay Example This review examines one such document that has used statistical data inaccurately to bolster its claims. In the present document by the Chartered Management Institute (2002), responses of participants over three sets of similar data are reviewed and compared to try and understand trends that exist in some areas of business management. The survey results have been based on a response rate of just over 13%, with no observation about the representativeness of the responses collected. When the response rate is so low, it is difficult to establish the representativeness of the report (Burns,  Burns and Burns, 2008). This can pose a challenge, since it is quite likely that the responses received may be skewed to favour a certain type of respondent and may thus not be representative of the entire business community at all (Downing and  Clark, 2010). This makes many of the conclusions drawn by the report suspect. A second glaring issue that comes across instantly is that while the survey makes claims about changes in the trends observed from 1999 till 2002, no tests have been reported that test the actual significance of these changes (Burns,  Burns and Burns, 2008). For some of the categories reviewed, there are changes as small as a couple of percentages across the three surveys reported. From the data used, it is difficult to verify whether these changes have occurred due to an actual change is the experiences of respondents or whether the observed changes are due to sampling error (Guilford and Fruchter, 1973). Thus, it is quite likely that some of the variations in responses could be due to natural fluctuation and may not be true chances in trends at all. In some parts of the report, only a part of the trends observed have been used to define the nature of changes. Although the report claims to be studying changes as they occur from 1999 till 2002, when discussing some of the fear of threats and the extent of business plans

E-marketing assignment on Olympics Web TV Essay

E-marketing assignment on Olympics Web TV - Essay Example As a new company Olympics Web TV will have strengths with regards to its marketing mix on product, place, promotion, people and physical evidence. From the outset the product will be specifically designed for online delivery and as such the organisation can easily personalise their product to different consumer tastes and also avoid the costly challenges that its multi-delivery competitors faced in migrating their offerings to the Web. This focused-delivery mode will result in huge savings for Olympics Web TV especially in terms of infrastructure needed to operate. Olympics Web TV could use the new computing paradigms such as cloud computing to convert capital expenditure into operating expenditure, and easily scale their offering as and when required thus maximising on investment for product innovation. As an Internet-provisioned product, Olympics Web TV will be cheap to distribute and cost comparatively less to promote in comparison to non-Internet enabled TV products. Finally, online provisioned products have significantly less human resource requirements and less investment in physical evidence. These shall provide Olympics Web TV with huge savings as well. Olympics Web TV weaknesses shall mainly be encountered in its marketing mix under price and processes. The greatest cost for online TV is content licensing. As a new company Olympics Web TV may not have the huge resources required to compete with incumbents in securing the lucrative Olympics licensing rights. Moreover, the incumbents, such as the BBC and ITV, have the advantage of having had previous relationships with several key content providers such as movie rights, International Olympics Committee (IOC), FIFA and so on. Secondly, streaming video has an impact on customer Internet usage and, thus, increases cost of service to the consumer. With regards to processes, online TV has got lower switching costs in comparison to say, cable TV thus Olympics Web TV will have to ensure that its processes operate at optimal efficiency around the clock. As a new player, Olympics Web TV does not own or have access to significant existing infrastructure and this may have a negative impact on i ts processes. In spite of the above weaknesses, there are a number of opportunities that Olympic Web TV could exploit to create sustainable competitive advantages. For starters, the global trend towards increased online video streaming and Internet usage is an emerging market that provides an almost equal and open platform for new and established players to be innovative. Secondly, unlike its competitors, BBC and ITV, Olympics Web TV can easily enter into joint affiliations and partnerships even with both organisations and end up leveraging their content to its advantage. The large industry players are more likely to enter into joint affiliations and partnerships with small organizations than with each other. All said Olympics Web TV must also be wary of the following threats: (1) the impact pirated content has on the video streaming culture; (2) competition from emerging services such as Apple’s iTunes and also from existing video-streaming service providers such as YouTube; and (3) the non-competitive practices of large incumbents with deep pockets. Competitor analysis According to Porter (1998) competitor analysis involves looking at: the competitor’s objectives, competitor’s assumptions, competitor’s strategy and competitor’

How does John Steinbeck portray racism in Of Mice And Men Essay Example for Free

How does John Steinbeck portray racism in Of Mice And Men Essay From the 17th Century, when the first settlers arrived, immigrants dreamed of a better life in America. People went there to escape from discrimination or poverty, and to make a new life for themselves or their families. They dreamed of making their fortunes in the goldfields. For many the dream became a nightmare. The horrors of slavery, of the American Civil War, the growth of towns with slums as bad as those in Europe, and the corruption of the American political system led to many shattered hopes. For the American society as a whole the dream ended with the Wall Street crash of 1929. This was the start of the Great Depression that would affect the whole world during the 1930s. However the dream survived in the hope of individuals. Thousands made their way west to California to escape from their farmlands in the mid-West. George and Lennie dreamt of there little house and a couple of acres. However, between 1929 39 there was a general world destine in trade and prosperity. A great deal of money had been spent on the First World War, and countries found themselves in debt. Lots of American lost their jobs. They joined bands of wandering farmers, looking for work. The farm owners of California found that they could pay very low wages, and expect men to work for long hours, as the demand for work was so great. The men were only needed for short periods at a time, for harvesting and so they had to travel around for work. On October 24, 1929, the stock market crashed. Prices began to decline early in the day, triggering a selling panic in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This caused the loss of jobs of various workers, black or white. It was very hard for the workers to find a job elsewhere in any other farms, just like George and lennie. These kinds of workers were called itinerant workers. The coming months saw no recovery. The racism, which Martin Luther King talks about in his famous I had a dream speech, states that white men think they have got power over black people. That all men are created equally, and no one differs from each other. The black people have to give up their seats if a white person comes on to the bus and there is no space left. Also black people were not allowed to shop in the same place as white people. And black people had to send their children to a different school to the white people. This is an example of segregation and isolation. Crooks demands isolation because he is black and wants to live alone. He is also called names nigger . He is proberly one of the most disliked people in the story because of the colour of hes skin. But still people say crooks the nigger is a really nice fellow at the same time. I think they just call him that because at that time they could say or do anything to a nigger and still get away with it. The white boys did not want to sleep in the same room as a black man. I just totally disagree with this because you should not judge a perosn by the colout of the skin. Also crooks himself does not want to sleep with them because of the way the white boys have treated him. Crooks him self is a stable buck which is a very low classed job even at that time. The white boys call crooks crooks because as a stable buck he waz kicked on the back by a horse and he is now got a crooked back. Also the white lads have made crooks fight on christmas day with smitty just so he can sit down and have a drink with the white boys on christmas day. I think that is not acceptable because crooks is already hurt hes back from the accident with the horse and on top of that he had to have a fight with smitty with that injury when smitty was perfectly fine. All they did do was that they tyied hes hands behind hes back so he could not punch crooks but can only kick him. This first starts when crooks privacy is invaded by lennie. When lennie enters crooks room without no permission from crooks to cum into the room. Crooks is not very happy when lennie enters the room and says you got no right to come in my room. This heres my room. Nobody got no rights in here but me! Crooks says all of this because he is not really happy with lennies presents in the room. As lennie stays longer and longer he starts to find out that lennie is dumb and crooks thinks to him self that he has got the upper hand on lennie. Crooks for the first time has got power over someone and thats a white man. Then lennie gets up and says to crooks why are you not liked on the ranch and crooks replys by saying its just because Im BLACK! Crooks means by this quote that the white men on the ranch do not like him. And also crooks has got nobody to talk to because crooks is the only nigger on the ranch. Then lennie quickly changes the subject and starts talking about the dream him and George have got. But all crooks thinks is hes crazy . He thinks this because he thinks that lennie doesnt know what he is talking about. Crooks taunts lennie thaat George is not going to come back. And crooks also says he might even get hurt. After crooks has said that crooks face lightened up with pleasure in his torture. After crooks has said lennie quickly gets to hes feet and says nothing is going to happen to come George he si going to come back safe. Crooks is really frightened when lennis sayss that and crooks moves further up hes bed and rests hes hands on hes knees. The reason for crooks out burst like that is because all crooks is trying to do is trying to make someone feel like how crooks is feeling by telling lennie when the other boys on the ranch play horse shoe he has to stay in hes room and read a book when he would rather be playing horse shoe with the other workers on the ranch. Crooks is trying say just because i am black they dont let me play horseshoe. Crooks is trying to gain sympthy from lennie but lennie does not really understand what crooks is trying to say to him. So lennie doesnt really f eel sorry for him because he doesnt know what going on. So lennie cant really feel sorry for crooks because he is lost him self in other words. The workers on the ranch describe crooks as a nigger one second and the other second they be saying he is a very nice fella . I think my self that crooks is a very good person and stays quiet throught the book but it is just because of the colour of hes skin he is treated like dirt. Even thought crooks is proberly the most educated person on the farm. Crooks has got a dictionary which is described as battered and ripped and hes also got some tatered magazines. Also crooks has got some reading books, which are described, as dirty . And all of these things go on a special shelf over hes bunk. When crooks read these books he feels proud and really important because at this time not much people could read or write. And on top of all that hes a nigger . When we first meet crooks I thought he waz a nasty man because of hes posture and hes colour of hes skin. But looks can be dece-ving because he turned out to be a very well educated person and also soft hearted. It was very unusal for a black man to read or write in these in these times even so most of the white men could not read or write. I really feel sorry for crooks because he is alll alone and must feel really isolated at times or most of the time. And he has got no company at all and he aint even got no one to talk to at all because hes black. If you ask me I think that is really unacceptable because no one should be left alone for that reason. He aint got no friends to say hello too all because of the colour of hes skin. The white boys always pick him on. And even thought it aint hes fault most of the things are blamed on him. Also when the boss is feeling really mad he takes it all out on crooks and crooks just gets shouted at for no reason at all. Crooks on the hireachy he is right at the bottom and hes got no power at all. Even thought he has been one of the people who has been working there the longest and he has been loyal to boss. Curleys wife, the attention seeker always flirts with other prople on the ranch because her husband is always at the cathouse or out and about. And is never at home to care about her. Curleys wife is one of the most powerful people in the hireachy because she is married to the boses son. She tries to have some comfort with other people. This is because her husband takes no notice of her apart from the sex. She is used for an object of sex. When crooks reailses that his chances of being in the dream looked very slim and he crawled back defeated because he cant say anything to Curleys wife at all because she has got all the power. She can get him hung from a tree so easy, she can jus say that he waz flirting with me and thats it he would get hung. If that was a white person being prosequted they would give him a trial and would be taken to court but just because he is black they would just get him hung without any proof he did it or not. Going back to the initial question, I think that john Steinbeck doesnt throw the thought of racism in our face. He just hints of the idea and makes do the rest of the thinking. This is proved whenthe worker calls him a nigger and also a nice fella. We had do some thinking to find out that the word nigger is used so much that the workers dont even think of what the word means.

Drug Cartel Violence Along the Mexican Border Essay Example for Free

Drug Cartel Violence Along the Mexican Border Essay In lines thirty-five through forty-five of Ian McEwan’s Black Dogs, June and Bernard stand upon the precipice of a cliff in the French countryside. The particular description in this section, when teamed with June’s observations as they near the cliff, provide a startling comparison to June’s inner turmoil and the changes inherent to the baby she carries within her womb. Like her own future prospects, the path’s trajectory is a â€Å"steep descent† that fills her with anxiety and place June and Bernard’s relationship and imminent future into the context of a fall. Like the â€Å"bright, empty space† of â€Å"baking rock dropping three hundred feet† , their future stretches out before them and represents the unknowable nature of human relationships. However, perhaps more important in relating to June’s anxiety is her own awareness that such a physical descent of the earth could as easily be seen in as the physical and mental transformation she will go through in becoming a parent. The danger she senses is not merely the physical danger of their present but the psychological and emotional danger inherent to their own relationship with one another and their future child. The couples relationship in particular is vulnerable to the chasm that opens up before them with the knowledge of this new life and responsibility. Like the earth at the bottom of this open space, they can guess what the future will bring when they return to England but they cannot truly understand the context of what such a journey entails. There is the sense that they will look back upon this moment for a significance that they can only partially understand. On July 16, 2009, James Bone’s article for the London Times reported a series of murders that had just taken place in Mexico. Michoacan, where the killings have taken occurred, is an area of Mexico along the Pacific coast. As the country’s primary source of opium and marijuana, Michoacan hosts a great deal of drug cartel activity and violence the most recent being when a dozen federal agent bodies were found on a highway in the mountains. These anti-drug agents are among several who have been killed this year in a series of attacks. This killing spree is reported to have been sparked by the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, a commander of La Familia cartel, which took place in Morelia Michoacan’s capital. Seven cities came under attack from La Familia shortly after Medina’s arrest, including the tourist sites of Patzcuaro and Zitacuaro. The twelve bodies that were found on the highway one woman and eleven men marks the most severe attack thus far. Found with the bodies were death threats from La Familia, saying â€Å"†¦Join its ranks or leave† and â€Å"Let’s see if you try to arrest another one†, alluding to Medina being arrested. La Familia’s killing spree is reported to be a turning point in the long-standing Mexican drug war, as they are now killing federal agents directly. Some believe this proves that the arrest of Medina was a serious setback for the cartel. According to Jorge Chabat, a drug expert, the cartel’s operations have been negatively affected and they are showing signs of weakness rather than strength. Putting an end to this cartel, however, is seemingly an endless task and due to La Familia having penetrated the legal system and obtaining protection, it is difficult to speculate when this violence is going to end. Link: http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6715478. ece

Unqualified With Explanatory Paragraph Or Modified Wording Accounting Essay

Unqualified With Explanatory Paragraph Or Modified Wording Accounting Essay An audit report is an evaluation done by an internal or an external independent professional auditor, regarding the financial status of a business entity. Auditor will express his/her opinion on whether the information on the financial status of a company is free of any misrepresentations or not in the audit report. This report is essential for all the users of financial statements such as individuals, companies or government because it provides guarantee on a companys financial statements since the users rely on audit report to make any decision. Audit report can be classified into two broad categories, unmodified audit report and modified audit report, which are then further classified as follows: In short, auditor can issue five different types of audit reports, which are standard unqualified, unqualified with explanatory paragraph or modified wording, qualified, adverse and disclaimer of opinion. Each types of these report is representing a different circumstance faced by the auditor during the audit process and the auditor will express different opinions in each report. Firstly, standard unqualified audit report, also known as clean opinion because the auditors opinion is not necessary to be qualified or modified. It is the best type of report that a company can receive and also the most common audit opinion. This report is issued when the auditor concludes that financial statements appear to be presented fairly and there are no any significant reservations or any material misstatements found within the financial statements presented. The standard unqualified audit report covers seven distinct parts: Report title Introductory paragraph Scope paragraph Opinion paragraph Name of auditor Auditors address Audit report date. Typically, the report title will consists the word independent to demonstrate that the audit report prepared is unbiased in all aspects. The introductory paragraph states the responsibilities and roles of management and the auditor and it is the first paragraph of the report; the scope paragraph is a factual statement regarding the action of the auditor in audit process; the opinion paragraph indicates the conclusion made by the auditor based on the audit result obtained and it is the last paragraph of the report. The name will identify the audit firm and the address show the location of the audit firm. The date will show when the audit process is completed. For an auditor to issue a standard unqualified audit report, there are five specific conditions required to be met: The financial statements must comprise all statements. (Statement of Cash Flow, Income Statement Balance Sheet) The engagement is following the International Standards of Auditing (ISAs) in all respects. Adequate evidences have been gathered to conclude that the three standards of fieldwork have been met. The approved accounting standards, which is the Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) and the Company Act, 1965 in Malaysia are used to prepare the financial statements and the financial statements includes proper and sufficient disclosure of all relevant material matters. The financial report is under the condition that is not requiring any additional explanation or any modification. For example, if the companys financial report had met these five circumstances, the opinion paragraph will contain the phrases: In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Auditors report, 2012) to warrant the financial statements give a true and fair view of the companys financial status. If any of the five conditions mentioned above are not met, the auditor cannot issue a standard unqualified report. Hence, auditor is necessary to issue other types of audit report. On some occasions, a business can receive an unqualified audit report on its financial statements, but it is not a standard unqualified audit report. It can be classified as unqualified audit report with explanatory paragraph or modified wording. This report met the criteria of satisfactory audit and the financial statements are presented in a true and fair view basis. However, the auditor believes that it is necessary to provide additional information or to modify in the wording of the standard unqualified report. In order to ensure the issuance appropriate unqualified report with an explanatory paragraph or modified wording, it depends on five circumstances: Application of approved accounting standards is lacking of consistency. There is significant doubt about going concern. Auditor agrees with a deviation from the promulgated accounting principles. There is specific matters about the financial statements need to be emphasized. Other auditors are involved in the reports. The first four circumstances mentioned above require the addition of an explanatory paragraph in the reports. Thus, the auditor has to issue an unqualified audit report with explanatory paragraph. For example, when the auditor found that the company does not have the ability to pay its debts when it is due (Going concern). For instance, auditor issues an unqualified audit report with explanatory paragraph which explain that there will be a misleading if the company continues to stick to the promulgated accounting principles (Deviation). Furthermore, the introductory paragraph, scope paragraph and opinion paragraph are remains without any modification while a separate explanatory paragraph is added after the opinion paragraph. The explanatory paragraph will begin with the phrases: Without qualifying our opinion, we draw attention toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Alvin et al., 2008, p.58) In contrast, an unqualified audit report with modified wording will be used only when the audit report involving the use of other auditors. In this case, the report consists of three modified paragraph. For instance, an unqualified audit report with modified wording is issued when auditor wants to make reference in audit report or to qualify the opinion. (Other auditors are involved) Due to some reasons, there are three circumstances that are inappropriate for an auditor to issue an unqualified report. The three conditions that required a departure from an unqualified audit reports are: Scope limitation Departure from approved accounting standards Lack of independence of the auditor Scope limitation exists when the auditors seemed unable to gather adequate evidence to make a conclusion on whether the financial statements are stated in line with the approved accounting standards. Departure from approved accounting standards arises in situation where the presented financial statements are not in conformity with the approved accounting standards. Lack of independence of the auditor means there is a non-independent relationship under the code of ethic between auditor and auditee or there is material conflict of interest occur between this both parties. When these three conditions exist and is material, the auditor is required to issue a report other than the unqualified report, which are qualified opinion, adverse opinion and disclaimer of opinion. A qualified report is issued when the auditor encountered any of these two situations, scope of audit is restricted or single deviation from approved accounting standards, but the financial statements presented are free of any misstatements. Typically, the writing of a qualified opinion is very similar to an unqualified opinion, but it includes an explanatory paragraph that is clearly explains the reasons for the qualified audit report before opinion paragraph but after scope paragraph. Moreover, the term except for must be used only when an auditor issue a qualified report. This will indicate that the auditor is satisfied that the overall financial statements are stated fairly except for certain aspect of them. The introductory paragraph is similar to the unqualified opinion whereas a slight modification is done in the scope and the opinion paragraphs. For example, in scope paragraph to inform the user about the exception of this qualification, the auditor performs the rest of the a udit without qualifications by stating: Except as discussed in the following paragraph, we conducted our audit (Auditors report, 2012) whereas in opinion paragraph, the auditor should states: In our opinion, except forà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Auditors report, 2012) to remind the user regarding the expressed qualification is explicitly excluded from auditors opinion. In addition, a qualified report can be in the form of a qualification of both the scope and the opinion or of the opinion alone. Auditor may issue a scope and opinion qualification when he/she could not accumulate sufficient data required by the approved accounting standards. This may due to the clients restriction or the auditor had encountered some circumstance that prevents him/her to conduct a complete audit. Examples of this include an auditor not being able to observe and test a companys inventory of goods. If the auditor audited the rest of the financial statements and is reasonably sure that they conform with GAAP, then the auditor simply states that the financial statements are fairly presented, with the exception of the inventory which could not be audited. (Auditors report, 2012) In this case, a standard wording for introductory paragraph will be used and the scope paragraph will be edited to make user aware of the qualification and the opinion paragraph is to be modified. On the other hand, a qualification of the opinion alone is issued when specific records are missing or some parts of the financial statements are not followed with the approved accounting standards. Examples of this include a company dedicated to a retail business that did not correctly calculate the depreciation expense of its building. Even if this expense is considered material, since the rest of the financial statements do conform with GAAP, then the auditor qualifies the opinion by describing the depreciation misstatement in the report and continues to issue a clean opinion on the rest of the financial statements. (Auditors report, 2012) In this situation, auditor use standard wording for introductory and scope paragraph, then add an additional paragraph to explain the companys deviation from the approved accounting standards and add in certain phrases in the opinion paragraph. Adverse opinion is the worst type of audit report that a company received and it is considered the opposite of an unqualified opinion. Auditor will issue this type of report when it is believes that the financial reports presented are differ from the approved accounting standards. In addition, auditor had concluded that misstatement and misleading are both material and pervasive to the financial statements, this means the information contained have been falsified or are in other ways erroneous. For instance, the failure of a company to issue the consolidation of all its operations or a material account such as revenue account is not recorded properly. The wording of the adverse report is exactly the same as with the qualified report. Auditor will modify the scope paragraph accordingly and add another paragraph after scope paragraph, but before opinion paragraph to discuss the reason why it is an adverse opinion. The opinion paragraph involves the most significant change with the qualified report, where it is stating the facts that the financial statements are not conformity with the approved accounting standards. For example, the opinion paragraph will contain the phrases: In our opinion, because of the situations mentioned above (in the explanatory paragraph), the financial statements referred to in the first paragraph do not present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Auditors report, 2012) to reveals that the financial reports are unreliable, inaccurate and do not present a fair view of the companys financial status or results of operations and cash flows. It is an indication of fraud. An adverse opinion can arise only when the auditor has knowledge, after an adequate investigation, of the absence of conformity. (Alvin et al., 2008, p.60) When receiving an adverse report, the auditee is requested to do correction in its financial statements and send it to re-audit to obtain another audit report. Otherwise, the investors, lenders, governments and other users will generally not accept it. Lastly, a disclaimer of opinion, generally referred to simply as a disclaimer, is a special type of audit report. In certain situation, due to various reasons, an auditor could not perform their work. He/She tried to audit the company but unable to obtain sufficient amount of audit evidence, thus he/she refuses to express an opinion on the companys financial status. Since the auditor could not complete an accurate audit report, he/she will issue a disclaimer of opinion. A disclaimer opinion is differs from the adverse opinion. It is only issued when the auditor is lacking of the knowledge regarding the companys financial statements while adverse opinion is issued when the auditor has the knowledge that the financial records provided has been misrepresented. A disclaimer of opinion is appropriate in the following circumstances: lack of independence (SAS 26); scope limitations (inability to obtain sufficient competent evidential matter) (SAS 58); when the auditor concludes that there i s substantial doubt about the entitys ability to survive (going-concern) (SAS 59); and matters involving uncertainties (SAS 79). (Davis, Robert R., 2004, para. 2) For example, the client intentionally hides or refuses to present sufficient appropriate information and evidence to the auditor in significant areas of the financial statements. (Scope limitation) For instance, the company has faced going concern problem which means that the company may not be able to continue operating in the near future. (Substantial doubt about the entitys ability to survive) Additionally, a disclaimer opinion is also distinguished from the other types of audit reports. This is because it only provides little information concerning the audit itself and consists of an additional paragraph that explaining the reasons for the issuance of disclaimer report. In this report, all the paragraphs are under extensively modification and with the exclusion of the entire scope paragraph since the auditor could not adequately perform the audit. The first phrase in the introductory paragraph will be changed to We were engaged to audità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Auditors report, 2012) instead of We have auditedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Auditors report, 2012) in order to let the users aware of the audit is not completed. Since the audit was not completed and opinion cannot be expressed, the auditor disagrees to take any responsibility by omitting the last sentence in this paragraph, that is: Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. (Audito rs report, 2012) Just like the qualified and adverse opinions, auditor must discuss the conditions for the disclaimer in explanatory paragraph. Lastly, the opinion paragraph is completely adjusted to Because of the significance of the matters discussed in the preceding paragraphs, the scope of our work was not sufficient to enable us to express, and we do not express, an opinion of the financial statements referred to in the first paragraph. (Auditors report, 2012) in order to let users know that the auditor cannot form and express an opinion on the companys financial status due to the conditions stated in the explanatory paragraph.

Sir Thomas More the Martyr Essay -- essays research papers

The definition of a martyr is a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounce his or her religion. When Sir Thomas More died in July of 1535, he became a martyr. In the play A Man for All Seasons, author Robert Bolt shows us his views on how More came to his death . In this play, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich, King Henry VIII, and Sir Thomas More himself are responsible for his death. Although it could be argued that many more people in Sir Thomas More’s life had a part in contributing to his death, these four characters had the greatest part in eventually bringing him to his death. Some people may say that Cromwell and Rich were just pawns in the King’s plot, however they can’t possibly argue that they weren’t in control of their actions. Cromwell and Rich are essentially responsible for the final prosecution of More. Together, they are guilty of letting their inner want and need for power cloud their consciences, which led them to bring down a good man of Thomas More. More, being a smart man, could beat them in a court of law. Rather than fighting More with the law, Rich and Cromwell decided to break it. Rich lied under oath sending More to his deathbed, and he responded, â€Å"I am sorrier for your perjury than my peril†(156). Cromwell, in his quest for power, saw a doorway of opportunity where he could bring down More and in the process benefit his own social and economic status. As More stated, â€Å"Silence gives consent† (152) and Cromwell’s silence during Rich’s illegitimate testimony makes him an access ory to the crime and therefore just as guilty as Rich. Together, Rich and Cromwell are partners in the crime, whether they are accomplices to King Henry or for their own reasons. Either way, they are still responsibl... ...and, â€Å"I don’t believe this had to happen†(144). At least twice Sir Thomas More made poor choices and put himself into bad situations in the play, which ultimately took him closer and closer to his death. Sir Thomas More never had to die. He was the only person that really understood the implications that complying with the King’s desires would cause and yet he still ended up in the most undesirable position one could imagine. Many people caused the death of Sir Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons, however those that are most guilty are King Henry, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich, and Sir Thomas More. Who of these is most guilty is a matter of opinion, but that these people are truly and completely guilty of ending Sir Thomas More’s life is a fact. From King to commoner each of these people played a vital role in the destruction of one man’s honest and righteous life.

Religion and School Prayer in Public Schools Essay -- Prayer in Public

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   America's founders envisioned a nation whose government would allow for freedoms and rights to be guaranteed to its citizens. The desire for religious freedom was prominent, sine it was not a right granted to the early colonists living under Briti sh rule. Because England's government forced all of its citizens to learn and practice the same religion, America's first legislators made certain that government intervention in religious matters was prohibited. Therefore, religious freedom was ensured in the First Amendment to the Constitution, as it states, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . ." (Whitehead, Rights 49). This statement allowed Americans to f reely express and practice or chose not to practice a religion. The two distinct parts of the religious freedom affirmation in the First Amendment became known as the Free Exercise Clause, which guarantees religious expressio n, and the Establishment Clau se, which protects citizens from state sponsored religion (Whitehead, Rights 49). These two clauses are generally interpreted as being contradictory to each other. Often times, a right guaranteed by one clause contrasts with a right maintained by the other clause. Since the two clauses rae not black and white, there is an extensive amount of gray area. Due to the conflicting religious expression clauses stated under the First Amendment, the role of prayer in public schools is controversial and must be interpreted in such a way to accommodate all and restrain from violating the rights of any religious believers and nonbelievers.    The dispute over school prayer has stemmed from the government's views on the relationsh... ...ayer. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1994. Barker, Dan. "The Case Against School Prayer." Internet Infidels. Online. Internet. 21 October 2002. Available: http://www.infidels.org/org/ffrf/issues/pray.html Farmer, Rod. "The School Prayer Issue." Education 104 (1984): 248-49. Gaffney, Edward McGlynn. "A Church in Texas." Commonweal 124 (April 25, 1997): 9-10. O'Connor, Sandra. "Forward: the Establishment Clause and Endorsement of Religion." Journal of Law and Religion 8 (1990): 1-4. Sikorski, Robert. Prayer in Public Schools and the Constitution 1961-1992. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1993. Thomas, Oliver. "Prayer and Speech." Finding Common Ground 12 (1996): 29 pars. Online. Internetr. 1 October 2002. Whitehead, John W. The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1994: 33,49-50.

Disaster and emergence management program

Disaster Management can be defined as the administration and organization of responsibilities and resources for dealing with all human centered aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, action and recovery in order to reduce the effect of disasters. A disaster can be described as an abrupt, calamitous event that severely cut off the functioning of a society or community and results in material,economic and human or environmental losses. Disaster and emergence management program.This essay focuses on the overall idea of how to manage effectively disasters and emergence cases on a national level so as to minimize losses to people and property. The main objective is to reduce the outcome of the disaster on people,the environment and property. To effectively control events,stop escalation and rehabilitate the affected persons or population in order to speed up recovery. In order for this objective to be archived several measures have to be undertaken and strictly implemented.Be ing prepared for emergencies is of paramount importance since disaster can strike quickly and without warning. Four major steps need to be followed so as to come up with a comprehensive plan that will tackle disasters and emergencies effectively. First of all is the issue of putting in place appropriate public policies and plans that either adjust the repercussions of disasters or lessen their effects on people, property, and infrastructure. This will include proper installation of a coordination,organization and command structure along with efficient competent and capable personnel.In order to reduce the effects of inescapable disasters measures such as carrying out vulnerability analyses updates, following the laid out building codes and regulations,setting up preventive health care and public education have to be set. All these measures have to be integrated in the national and regional development planning and its proficiency will rely on the accessibility of information on haza rds,sudden risks and countermeasures to be taken. These plans are put in place in anticipation of a disaster .The second step is to set up preparedness plan in order to achieve a reasonable level of readiness to counter any emergency situation through programs that reinforce the technical and managerial capacity of organizations, communities and governments. These measures can be described as logistical preparedness to deal with disasters and can be elevated by having response mechanisms and procedures, practice performances, developing long-term and short-term procedures, public education and installing early warning systems.Preparedness can also take the form of ensuring that strategical reserves of water, food, medicines, equipment, and other fundamentals are maintained in cases of national or local calamity. During the preparedness phase, organizations, individuals and governments,build up plans to save lives, reduce disaster damage, and strengthen disaster response operations. Preparedness measures include preparedness procedures; emergency exercises/training; warning tactics; emergency communications machinery; evacuations procedures and training; resource inventories; emergency personnel/contact lists; collective aid agreements; and public education.The third step is the human centered action and it normally involves the humanitarian agencies which are often called upon to deal with instant response and recovery. To be able to act effectively, these agencies must have well versed leaders, competent personnel, sufficient transport and logistical support, pertinent communications, and guidelines for carrying out emergencies. If the needed preparations have not been made, the humanitarian agencies will not be able to handle the imminent needs of the people.There is also the issue of response which aims at providing instantaneous assistance so as to maintain life,encourage the morale of the affected community and enhance health Such contribution may range f rom providing specific but limited aid, such as helping refugees with transport, impermanent shelter, and food, to establishing temporary settlement in camps and other locations. It also may involve primal repairs to damaged substructure. The main focus of this step is to meet the basic needs of the population until more lasting and sustainable solutions can be established.Ashman, John. (1995. ). The final stage of the disaster management plan is the recovery stage. As the emergency is brought under manageable levels, the affected population is notable of embarking on an increasing number of activities targeted at restoring their lives and the substructure that helps them. There is no particular point at which instant relief changes into recovery and then into long-term bearable development. There will be numerous opportunities during the recovery period to enhance anticipation and increase readiness, thus lessening vulnerability.Ideally, there should be a smooth change over from re covery to on-going development. Recovery activities go on until all systems are back to normalcy or better. Recovery plans, both long and short term, include returning crucial life-support systems to minimal operating standards; semi-permanent housing; public information; adequate health and safety education; rebuilding; counseling programs; and economic effect studies. Information resources and services include data collection and review related to reconstruction, and documentations of lessons acquired. Ashman, John.(1995. )Feinstein, R. (1989/90, 5(1) ).The capacity of human resource involved in a disaster management program especially on a national level can not be quantified. There are numerous stakeholders that are involved and must be integrated for it to be a success such as decision makers,policy makers, professionals ,administrators, (architects, engineers and others at various levels) financial institutions (banks,house financing institutions, insurance,) and NGOs and volu ntary organizations. The same applies to financial and material resources which are vast.In the case of finances professional accountants should be involved so that they can clearly evaluate th possible extent of financial damage resulted by different types of disasters including the verification of estimates and valuation of disaster affected assets. They evaluate the different options of coping with disaster from the financial perspective and advise, devise and evaluate different procedures for assuring that resources would be available for disaster mitigation at the right time and place needed.The accountants should also advise on alternative strategies for post-disaster management and rehabilitation with specific regard to assuring financial security to the affected, availability and proper use of financial resources for bringing forth new economic opportunities etc. Institute of Education, Library and Media Services,(June 1996. )

British Government Essay

Evaluate different methods of estimating the current extinction rate. Do you think that humans will induce a mass extinction on the same scale as the Big Five? Introduction: There is consensus in the scientific community that the current massive degradation of habitat and extinction of many of the Earth’s biota is unprecedented and is taking place on a catastrophically short timescale. Based on extinction rates estimated to be thousands of times the background rate, figures approaching 30% extermination of all species by the mid 21st century are not unrealistic, an event comparable to some of the catastrophic mass extinction events of the past. The current rate of rainforest destruction poses a profound threat to species diversity. Likewise, the degradation of the marine ecosystems is directly evident through the denudation of species that were once dominant and integral to such ecosystems. Indeed, this colloquium is framed by a view that if the current global extinction event is of the magnitude that seems to be well indicated by the data at hand, then its effects will fundamentally reset the future evolution of the planet’s biota. Robert Whittaker recognized an additional kingdom for the Fungi. The resulting five-kingdom system, proposed in 1969, has become a popular standard and with some refinement is still used in many works, or forms the basis for newer multi-kingdom systems. It is based mainly on differences in nutrition: his Plantae were mostly multicellular autotrophs, his Animalia multicellular, heterotrophs and his Fungi multicellular saprotrophs. The remaining two kingdoms, Protista and Monera, included unicellular and simple cellular colonies. Extinction rates in the fossil records: The time at which an organism is classified as becoming extinct is when the youngest fossil of its form is found. It is likely that there would have been later examples of the organism present, which were simply not preserved. It is known that some genera have existed for long periods around this time without leaving any known fossil record by the phenomena of Lazarus taxa. It is believed that these organisms were simply not preserved during the time they are missing, or preserved in offshore sediments as yet undiscovered. This may also be the case with many other organisms creating the illusion they are becoming extinct before they are in reality. Ecological Evolutionary Factor affecting the past extinction: Many claim that human activity caused a large scale of plants and animals extinction. The others claim that human caused extinctions are on a similar scale to those that occurred 65 million years ago at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras when most species perished including the dinosaurs. This causes two distinct worries: (1) The loss of species will harm humans (2) Quite apart from any harm to humans; there is a duty to prevent â€Å"ecocide†. According to Peter Raven (National Academy of Science) â€Å"We are confronting an episode of species extinction greater than anything the world has experienced for the past 65 million years. Of all the global problems that confront us, this is the one that is moving the most rapidly and the one that will have the most serious consequences. And, unlike other global ecological problems, it is completely irreversible. † Different people evaluate this duty differently. Since the purpose of these pages is establish the sustainability of material progress, I’ll take the view that although biodiversity is an important amenity, we are mainly concerned with the extent to which losses of diversity are a threat to human progress. One interesting fact in the article concerns the effect of an increase in temperature on the north-south range of a plant species, especially of trees. It turns out that the northern limit of a species is determined by temperature. As that limit is approached the rate of growth goes to zero. However, the rate of growth of a species does not decline as it approaches the southern limit of its range but remains stable or even increases. What determines a species’ southern boundary is competition from other species that require high temperatures. For this reason the southern boundary of a species is likely to change slowly as its territory is gradually invaded by species liking warm temperature. The invasion is likely to begin in gaps caused by logging and various kinds of die-off. According to Lord Robert May (FRS)-Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government. â€Å"Hardly a day passes without one being told that tropical deforestation is extinguishing roughly one species every hour, or maybe even one every minute. Such guesstimates are based on approximate species-area relations, along with assessments of current rates of deforestation and guesses at the global total number of species (which range from 5 to 80 million or more. ) While such figures arguably have a purpose in capturing public attention, there is a clear and increasing need for better estimates of impending rates of extinction, based on a keener understanding of extinction rates in the recent and far past, and on the underlying ecological and evolutionary causes. † Scientists who worry about extinctions often agree that the world will reach a new equilibrium as temperature increases – assuming it does. However, they worry that the rate of increase of temperature is unprecedented and that species, especially of plants, will migrate northward too slowly and become extinct. Roughly 43 percent of the earth’s terrestrial vegetated surface has diminished capacity to supply benefit to humanity because of the recent, direct impacts of the land use. This represents 10 percent reduction in potential direct instrumental value (PDIV), defined as the potential to yield direct benefits such as agricultural, forestry, industrial and medical products. Capitalizing on the natural recovery mechanisms is urgently needed to prevent further irreversible degradation and to retain the multiple values of productive land. Differences in extinction rates among groups: Estimated Future extinction rates from the species area relations: A better way of studying rates of complete biota extinction levels has been developed with the analysis of isotopic ratios of Carbon. When life is abundant there is almost completely carbon-12 within the geological record. Enzymes within organisms, passing into organic matter faster, more efficiently accept this isotope, which becomes lithified into rock. At times of lowered biotic activity, such as at an extinction event when a lot of life has been killed, the ratio of carbon-13 within the rocks will be higher as a higher proportion of carbon will be being fixed as carbonates inorganically. Inorganic precipitation of carbon does not differentiate between the different isotopes of carbon as life does. By analyses of carbon isotope ratios it is then possible to see, by peaks in the carbon-13, at what times there has been a reduction of biotic activity. This is independent of whether organisms present are being preserved or not, and shows at what rates the extinction is occurring. Estimated future extinction rates from IUCN red Lists: Recent extinction rates are 100 to 1000 times their pre-human levels well known, but taxonomically diverse groups from widely different environments. If all species currently deemed threatened become extinct in the next century, then the future extinction rates will be 10 times recent rates. Although new technology provides details on habitat losses, estimates of future extinctions are hampered by our limited knowledge of which areas are rich in endemics. The 2004 IUCN Red List contains 15,589 species threatened with extinction. The assessment includes species from a broad range of taxonomic groups including vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and fungi. However, this figure is an underestimate of the total number of threatened species as it is based on an assessment of less than 3% of the world’s 1. 9 million described species. Among major species groups, the percentage of threatened species ranges between 12% and 52%. The IUCN Red List identifies 12% of birds as threatened, 23% of mammals, and 32% of amphibians. Although reptiles have not been completely assessed, the turtles and tortoises are relatively well reviewed with 42% threatened. Fishes are also poorly represented, but roughly a third of sharks, rays and chimaeras have been assessed and 18% of this group is threatened. Regional case studies on freshwater fishes indicate that these species might be more threatened than marine species. For example, 27% of the freshwater species assessed in Eastern Africa were listed as threatened. Of plants, only conifers and cycads have been completely assessed with 25% and 52% threatened respectively. References: Robert M. May, John H. Lawton and Nigel E. Stork. â€Å" Assessing Extinction Rates† â€Å"Extinction Rate Analysis† http://palaeo. gly. bris. ac. uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/rateanalysis. html â€Å"Restoring the value to the worlds degraded Lands† Gretchen C. Daily â€Å"The future of biodiversity â€Å" Stuart L. Pimm, Gareth j. Russell, John L. Gittleman ,Thomas M. Brook â€Å"IUCN Red List of Threatened Species†http://www. iucn. org/themes/ssc/red_list_2004/GSAexecsumm_EN. htm References: IUCN 2001. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3. 1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, pp. ii+30. Parr C. S. and Cummings M. P. 2005. Data sharing in ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 362–363. Purvis A. and Rambaut A. 1995. Comparative analysis by independent contrasts (CAIC): an Apple Macintosh application for analysing comparative data. Comput. Appl. Biosci. 11: 247–251. Sherwood, Keith and Craig Idso (2003) â€Å"The Specter of Species Extinction Will Global Warming Decimate Earth’s Biosphere? † 2003 September John Lawton and Robert May â€Å"BIODIVERSITY AND EXTINCTION RATES† 17-May-2004) www-formal. stanford. edu/jmc/progress/biodiversity. html

Family Ties Essay

â€Å"Lispector’s writing can often be interpreted as symbolic, yet it is at the same time highly sophisticated and original. Discuss a particular pattern in her imagery or symbolism and its effect on the reader.† Often authors write with symbolism to communicate a deeper idea then what they what is presented. Symbolism opens doors for readers to have the freedom of going in to find meaning. Most of the time they use objects, actions and characters to offer the readers more meaning for the story. Symbolism helps each reader to connect in their on personal way. Clarice Lispector, author of Family Ties, has a very unique path for usage of symbolism and imagery. It can be proven that Lispector uses animals to show her emotion, however she indirectly places it for the readers to open the door and search for the meaning. In the some of the short stories it can be concluded that the use of animals are to show her emotion but also play the role of presenting the everyday life struggle lesson being taught. Symbols are used almost everyday, even when it is not known to all. They can be used in to give readers a more enjoyable experience. Lispector takes her time to describe the setting and the animal presented, to create a visual picture in the readers mind. In the story The Chicken, it was simply only a chicken, without hopes or dreams, unaware of it’s destiny or capability and Sunday’s lunch main dish. In a rare instinctive spasm, it decides to escape flying over the fence. Now lunch-less the family starts to chase the direction-less bird. When the chicken gets caught there is still hope that it will live due do it laying an egg in the kitchen. Lispector takes such an simple story and turns it into a story with s significant symbol such as the chicken, to carry the emotion and keep it orignal. â€Å"Alone in the world, without father or mother, she ran, out of breath, concentrated, mute. Sometimes in her flight she would stand at bay on the edge of a roof, gasping; while the young man leaped over others with difficulty, she had a moment in which to collect herself. The she looked so free.† (Lispector, 50) In the above quotation it proves to readers that the chicken is in a life of loneliness and sadness. â€Å"Alone in the world† phrase catches the readers attention to feel sympathic but quickly changes to â€Å"free† where they feel happy and joy for the chicken. Lispector does this to keep it interesting and effective for the reader to follow along. In the last sentence of The chicken, Lispector says; â€Å" Until one day they killed her and ate her, and the years rolled on.† (52). The readers are then defeated in making an effort to solve a myth, because Lispector suggests that there is, after all, no meaning to this chicken’s life, and hence no meaning to our own. The buffalo is appreiated for its main character and her complex feelings, an undistinguished women who is regretting her past because of a preivous break up. Lispector choses a springtime afternoon in a zoo to settle her resentment. Nowhere in the search at the zoo of life among the lions, giraffe, hippopotamus, monkeys, ape, elephant, camel, and coati could she find hatred or anger. In fact, she finds it easier to love and to be compassionate than to hate. This roller coster of emotions in the story starts with a women who has a struggle but overcomes it with the happy emotion of each animal. â€Å"I love you, she said, out of hatred then for the men whose great and unpunishable rime was not loving, â€Å"I hate you, she said imploring love from the buffalo.† (156) Lispector in this quotation shows the overcoming of hatred of men as she see’s that men can be innocent. The women soon becomes eye locked with the buffalo as she learns to love again. She has felt a lot o f sentiments but never hatred of man until she meets the huge, black, hairy buffalo, whose eyes reflect back â€Å"mutual assassination.† How she responds to this recognition is quite interesting. The buffalo has the effect on the reader that emotions can be changed based on trust and that being jugdemental and grouping something together isnt going to help anything. Once again she proves a lesson with the use of animals and emotion. In conclusion, Lispector does use the method of animal imagery and emotion to help build her stories with meaning and excitment. Rather than the author just clearly stating thoughts, it is much more effiecent and allows the author to draw more attention by adding symbolic meaning, however Lispector’s stories are still orignal with complications. Each short story including the use of animals to convery thoughts has an effect on the reader.

Review of Carson’s Gagging of God

In The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, author D. A. Carson describes three categories of pluralism: empirical, cherished, and philosophical or hermeneutical. [i] The first deals with diversity in America and the multiplicity of beliefs. The second, cherished pluralism, describes the approval of diversity as an unquestioned virtue. Finally, philosophical pluralism, under which religious pluralism falls, posits that no religion has the right to pronounce itself true and right. In other words, no religion can advance â€Å"truth claims† that are superior to any other.Carson states that postmodernism is the outlook that birthed philosophical pluralism. [ii] While I agree that pluralism is an important subject that benefits from the kind of attention given to it in the book, I believe the length of the book and the comprehensive nature of the material presented can make it difficult to follow at times. Furthermore, on several occasions the author seemed to move to the wider margins of the topic. However, as the implications of pluralism are pertinent and its integration with postmodernism significant, the information was extremely beneficial.The Christian must recognize empirical pluralism, tolerate cherished pluralism, but reject philosophical pluralism. We must recognize the diversity that exists in modern culture as Christians have throughout history. While pluralism poses new challenges in the current day, Christians have always had to stand up for the truth of Christian believe against other religions. Scripture was both inspired and written in a pluralistic context. However, even in the Old Testament God insisted that his people turn from the worship of other gods and other religions.For example, in Joshua 24:15, Joshua gave the children of Israel a choice to either serve God or Baal. The prophet Elijah would later give Israel the same choice in 1 Kings 18:21. Throughout history, God’s people have been reminded to be faithful to God as they were constantly surrounded by foreign gods and other religions. The same phenomenon applied during New Testament times. Christians resided in cities like Rome, Corinth and Antioch, Corinth, which were centers of diversity and multicultural exchange.They were surrounded by other world views, yet were constantly reminded that Jesus was the only way. This created a clash between Christians and other world views that would come to a head with the persecution of Christians. The Apostle Paul argued in the book of Acts that the true and living God superseded all other gods and preached Christianity against the backdrop of pluralism. There has been a need for Christians to do so ever since. Yet, while we reject philosophical and religious pluralism, in some cases, Christians are willing to cherish pluralism. In todays society, we cherish ethnic diversity.We welcome new members into our churches that come from various backgrounds even as God welcomes worshippers from every natio n, tribe, people and language. Carson states his purpose for writing, to equip Christians for fidelity to the gospel and encouraging unbelievers to find Jesus as Lord: â€Å"If anything in the following pages equips some Christians to intelligent, culturally sensitive, and passionate fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ, or if it encourages some thoughtful unbelievers to examine the foundations again and so to find that Jesus is Lord, I shall be profoundly grateful. [iii] In the book, Carson gives a comprehensive examination of pluralism. He takes the time to communicate with great detail on his positions and provides details that demonstrate his understanding of the subject. Throughout, Carson intimates the tension between the opposing perspectives of the pluralist and the Christian. From the perspective of the pluralist, the Christian appears to be a religious bigot unless they are willing to redefine Christianity without connecting it with Scripture.Likewise, from the perspect ive of the Christian, The pluralist is a misguided idolater no matter how sincere they may be. [iv] The book is divided into four sections, which tackle the major issues affected by the three types of pluralism. In the first section, the author describes the influence of hermeneutics and how texts are invariably interpreted against the backdrop of the interpreter's social â€Å"home† and the historical conditioning of the language itself. During this process, the interpreter takes bits of the text and â€Å"deconstructs† it to fit them into their own framework, which generates fresh insight.While this section also critiques postmodernism, Carson warns against giving the impression that modernism was a correct way of analyzing either the text or the world we live in. The second section deals with the philosophies of Derrida and Foucault that form the basis for postmodern thought, which is at odds with the Christian faith. While Carson opposes the idea of postmodernism, and criticizes the work of Foucault and Derrida, theologians such as James K. A. Smith, say thatCarson has misinterpreted their ideas and posits that they actually have an affinity with the central claims of Christianity. [v] The late German theologian, Karl Rahner recommended in his writings that dialogue should be used as the method by means of which plural theologies should strive for an understanding of each other. [vi] However, Carson intimates that the Christian needs to affirm that all interpretations are not equally valid because: God has revealed Himself and spoken clearly; and God has unfolded His plan of salvation and recorded it in Scripture.The third section of the book attempts to assist Christians living in a pluralistic culture by giving an understanding of assumptions made in the public sphere and replacing those assumptions with biblical truth. As we live in a world where public morality has seemingly collapsed, religion seems to be based on feeling and not on trut h. Carson says that ethical divisions are made pragmatically, making proper Christian thought necessary in making sense of the pluralistic world that we live in. vii] The final section of the book says that the answer to philosophical tolerance is the reiteration of Christian doctrine concerning the Second Coming and the nature of heaven and hell. Christians must have confidence in spreading this message in a compassionate way. However, it must be done with a sense of urgency, as the evangelism of our communities is paramount. Christians must have a deep conviction of the infallibility of Scripture and hold that it is inerrant and sufficient in order to both live a victorious life in a pluralistic society and to increase confidence in Christian doctrine. ———————- [i] Carson, D. A. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002, 13 [ii] Ibid, 19 [iii] Ibid, 10 [iv] Ibid, 238 [v] Smith, James, K. A. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? : Taking Derrida, L yotard, and Foucault to Church (The Church and Postmodern Culture). Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic. 2006, 28 [vi] Fay, William Vendley. Pluralism and the theological methods of Karl Rahner: A critical assessment. January 1, 1983. ETD Collection for Fordham University. Paper AAI8802369 [vii] Carson, D. A. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002, 404