Prison life and strategies to decrease recidivism Essay

Prison life and strategies to decrease recidivism - Essay Example With these facts in mind, this research seeks, among other things, to further look into the daily happenings at a typical American prison. And more importantly, it also seeks to address the need to prevent recidivism and to reintegrate offenders into society. In his book â€Å"Crime and Punishment in America† (1998), Elliott Currie tells us that the American approach to violent crime is out of balance and just plain wrong. Despite America’s heavy reliance on jails and prisons as deterrents to crime, at that point in time, it still held the worst level for violence among the developed countries. The idea of America being soft on crime, he says, is a myth. Whatever some may argue, the fact is that crime’s response to punishment is unpredictable. He goes on to quote John DiIulio, who explains that the money spent to put a criminal behind bars prevents two or three more from committing crime. Also, according to James Wilson, despite the expense involved in maintaining prisons, the benefits, in terms of crimes avoided, far outweigh the cost. The problem is that, even after 25 years as of his writing (and in fact, even to this very day), the vast amount of cash spent on prisons has done little to make violent crime respond consistently. And despite this, the American public still insists on the effectiveness of the penitentiary system. As an example, Currie cites the female inmates sentenced on the most minor of offenses, such as drug charges or property crimes connected to such dependencies – and how their imprisonment has left multitudes of children parentless. In this case the system fails to account for the greater costs involved: substitute care, welfare dependency, and even possible delinquency and/or drug addiction. Another more direct example is how the lack of serious vocational training in most prisons leads inmates to leave it even more ill-prepared for the

Term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Term Paper Example A firm would boost that it has succeeded in business if it has met its objectives. When the firm is designing its objectives, it has to consider factors that would influence the market entry approach of the firm, pricing and distribution. Many automotive motive organizations face stiff competition in the market. This would call for a marketing strategy that aim which would aid the firm to meet its set objectives. Information regarding products of the firm in the market is very important since it enables the business to identify areas, which need correction when designing marketing approach. Marketing survey is an important exercise to the firm since it will dictate the approach or entry behavior of the business in a particular segment. Marketing strategy is a tool that the automotive firm would use to make a calculative approach into the market. The strategy would influence issues such as pricing, distribution, and market share among others. Marketing of products require a strategic entry behavior into the market in order to meet the set target of the organization. Most automotive companies manufacture similar products and supply their products into the same markets. Competition among these companies requires a devised mechanism that would woo buyers to purchase specific products of a particular company. Branding of the company products and employing marketing tactics would help to woo buyers into buying the company products. Automotive firm needs to consider a number of factors before rolling its products into the marketing. These factors would influence the amount of sale the firm is able to make, the growth of the automotive firm and market share of the firm. This paper explores strategic marketing strategies for automotive company. Market survey helps in establishing taste and preferences of customers. Conducting a marketing research would help an automotive firm to develop products that would suit the interest of the consumers. The firm may

Theories for the Development of Agriculture

Theories for the Development of Agriculture Question #2: Agriculture was one of the greatest advancements in human history as it provided a foundation for the development of social hierarchies or rank societies, population growth, greater access to resources through trade, and power struggles among the elites. The big question, however, is how did the practice of agriculture originate? Hunting and gathering societies had been very successful up until the time marking the transition to agricultural and sedentary practices. Therefore, why did early modern humans decide to change from an already successful lifestyle? This is a curious matter because the beginnings of agriculture were surprisingly not that effective or successful in generating great outputs of resources as once commonly believed. Agriculture, though it was a successful development in sedentism and increased population growth, brought malnourishment to early Natufian farmers of the lack of variety in its first generations of use. Therefore, the question still remains, why did h unter and gatherers transfer to agriculture and how did the process of agriculture get initiated? There are multiple models proposing the development of agriculture which can be differentiated in a biological and environmental emphasis as well as in a cultural and sociological track. Through the research of Gordon Childe, Braidwood, Binford, Cohen, and Hayden, an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses can be made in the differentiating theories of the development of agriculture. One proposed theory for the development of agriculture was climate change. There have been several large climatic transitions between the interglacial periods. Bar Yosef researched the paleoenvironmental conditions of the Levant and suggests that about 14,000BP (before present) there were more fluctuations in precipitation than changes in temperature, ultimately responsible for the expansion of the vegetational belts. This allowed for vast latitudinal migrations, good foraging patterns, increase in population growth, and an abundance of food resources. However, between 13,000 and 12,800BP known as the Younger Dryas, conditions became colder and drier, decreasing the annual precipitations and a change in the distribution of rainfall locations (29 Oct 2009). This placed much stress on the plants and animals. According to Bar Yosef, the dry climate expanded desert conditions and caused reductions in C3 plants, used for cereal, but also the reduction of megafauna which were unable to ada pt to the new environment (Bar Yosef 1998: 174). This in turn created doubts about the current nomadic organization of the foraging groups. The hunting and gathering bands soon migrated towards the Mediterranean regions to join other foraging groups to live within a close proximity and seek refuge in the small fertile areas. Childe an advocate for climate change as the effect for the development of agriculture states in his Oasis Hypothesis that because of the transition to dry and cold conditions, humans and animals migrated toward the river valleys for necessary water consumption. Bar Yosef states that along with territorial restrictions, [there was] an increased motivation for intentional cultivation (Last Hunters 70). This not only increased population size but could have also instigated sedentary life. The ideal environment that would foster the origins of agriculture would be in an area with an abundance of resources. Previously it was considered that agriculture arose in marginal environments areas where severe climatic change forced human populations to find new foods to eat (Price and Gebauer 7); it is on the contrary however, that populations unable to sustain themselves would not take the risk of testing out new methods for the accumulation of food. Agriculture requires more energy expenditur e and work from all inhabitants than foraging, therefore as a struggling population, this method would not have been the best option. Childes argument takes into account the climatic and environmental pressures but it does not provide any cultural factors that might have also influenced the development of agriculture. Braidwood challenges Childes hypothesis and suggests a more culturally driven theory for the agricultural origins. Contrary to Childes Oasis Theory in which desiccation marginalized suitable foraging territories and caused large groups to settle in close proximities in lowland oases, Braidwood suggests through his Nuclear Zone Theory and through his research in the Zagros-Taurus mountain ranges, that agriculture in fact began in the well-watered regions known as the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent (Watson 25). Braidwood accepts the notion that climatic change has some sort of an effect on the origins of agriculture; however, he suggests that it only plays a minor role, contrary to the ideas of Childe. Braidwood instead proposes that the development of agriculture is dependent on the presence of cultural mechanisms (Redman 1978: 96) because along with the presence of agriculture, social and political systems of the early Natufian people were created as well. Braidwood states that agriculture was the natural outcome from social and cultural complexities. He questioned that if cultural change i s reliant on climate change stated by Childe, then why did agriculture not start before the large changes occurred during the interglacial periods, such as 125 million years ago (3 Nov 2009)? Using a cultural approach, Braidwood suggests that agriculture was not possible 125 million years ago because the human cognition was not fully developed and complex enough to suggest any such type of food accumulation methods (10 Nov 2009). Agriculture requires a lot of coordination and management controlled by the elites, therefore, it could be hypothesized that with the presence of social hierarchies, sedentism was also in establishment. The favorable environment of the hilly flanks as well as the presence of the ancestral or wild strains of the now domesticated plants offered foragers the option to settle down. With the act of settling down in the optimal zones, as well as the accumulation of knowledge about the physical environment, Braidwood suggests that over time, foragers would eventua lly realize the potential inherent in the local flora and fauna and would exploit that potential by domesticating appropriate species (Watson 25). This also suggests the requirement of greater cognition and larger brain size of the modern human; and therefore Braidwood argues agriculture appears only when the human culture was mature (3 Nov 2009). Braidwoods hilly flanks theory is successful because it attributes to developments of sedentism and food storage. Braidwood criticizes Childes dependence on climatic change as being the main reason for the origins of agriculture because he holds a cultural perspective in regards to its development. Braidwood states that if cultural change, the transition to agriculture, depended solely on noncultural factors, the climate, then there should be evidence of cultural change before the last Ice Age that separates the end of the Pleistocene and the Holocene (3 Nov 2009). Against Kleins Big Bang Theory regarding human cognition, agriculture simply did not happen before the Holocene because humans were not ready or complex enough to have the capability of creating the idea of agriculture (10 Nov 2009). Braidwood and Childe both suggest that agriculture occurred in small optimal zones, however, through Braidwoods research in the mountainous regions of Iraq, he concludes that there was no significant climate change because the areas were still relatively fertile and therefore there was a large concentrati on of animals and plants that could be exploited. According to the Willy Sutton principle, where there are ample resources, then people will settle there and take advantage of those resources (3 Nov 2009). A weakness in Braidwoods theory however is that he does not try to answer the question: why did agriculture occur at the time that it did? It is suggested that agriculture developed independently throughout the world at relatively the same time. Braidwood does not question why this happened but only concentrates on how it happened. Braidwood provides good reasons as to why he criticizes Childes hypothesis, however, his weakness is that he does not provide a strong alternative theory. In his book, Prehistoric Man, he states, the groups became agricultural villagers because they were ready for it (MacNeish 9) which demonstrates his theory that man only developed agriculture when the culture and cognition were more complex. This however is not an effective alternative hypothesis beca use it needs evidence to support the claim. The only evidence available is the size of the human brain, which does not deduce much information because archaeologists cannot question the cognitive capabilities of the deceased. Artifacts are available to suggest development in ideas and concepts, but this is also highly subjective. An alternative hypothesis to the development of agriculture is directly correlated with population growth. Both Mark Cohen and Lewis Binford attribute that with the pressures on food availability caused by population growth, agriculture was an innovative development which helped sustain growing societies. Louis Binfords model for agriculture weaves pieces of both Childes and Braidwoods hypotheses. Binford suggests that hunting-gathering groups maintained equilibrium between their population size and availability of resources in order to remain under the environments carrying capacity (Watson 26). This idea explains why foraging groups were successful; they kept a control on the food intake for each person. During the Younger Dryas, as climate became colder and drier, groups moved to the coastal regions where they became sedentary, as Childe had concluded. The difference however is that Binford focuses on population size as the stressor and instigator for agriculture. Groups congregat ed into the optimal zones, putting pressure on the available resources as well as creating an imbalance on the carrying capacity. This caused some groups to move out of the optimal zones and settle along the peripheries that had drought-resistant plants and smaller-sized animals (5 Nov 2009). With the increased pressure of supporting population sizes and the need to remain under the areas carrying capacity, groups intensif[ied] their subsistence practices in the direction of domesticating plants and animals (Watson 26). The necessity for subsistence strategies in addition significantly impacted societys social and economic factors, demonstrated through Brian Haydens social competition theory. This theory establishes that sedentism preceded agriculture. In order for the sedentary lifestyle to persist and work efficiently, rank societies were established. In response to social hierarchies, there is an inherent need to accumulate power and prestige. Power is equated to food, and in order for elites to maintain their prestige and power they need to be maintain large quantities of food. To exponentially increase their possession of food, the development of agriculture comes into effect. Hayden proposes that the development of agriculture is a result of stress from social competition and the change in the social environment (10 Nov 2009). This change in societal structure is not the result of agriculture but it is more so the cause of agriculture (10 Nov 2009). Hayden also states that agriculture can only occur in locations where there is already an abundance of food and where it can be reproduced (Zeder 2006: 111). The reason for this is that large societies would not put thei r inhabitants at risk attempting a new method of food accumulation if environmental conditions were unsuitable. The development of agriculture, if conditions were successful, was able to produce surpluses which increased rank of elites and created storage for food. Agriculture also increased long distance trade and cross cultural relationships. With the presence of surpluses, societies could afford to give something away (5 Nov 2009). A flaw in Haydens model is that he also fails to address Braidwoods question concerning the reason for why agriculture only occurs in the Holocene and not earlier. In order to understand the models described above with the origins of agriculture it important to account for the archaeological data. Some important ways to extract data is through pollen samples found in water bogs, radiocarbon dating, DNA extraction, etc. For example, in regards to Braidwoods hypothesis that climate change was not as important as Childe and Binford believed, reconstruction of plant communities enable archaeologists to reconstruct Paleolithic climates (29 Oct 2009). In order to reconstruct plant communities, pollen samples are used. Pollen samples can be preserved in waterlogged sediments because the mud at the bottom of the lakes have aerobic conditions, which means that there is no oxygen, allowing pollen and other artifacts to be nicely preserved (29 Oct 2009). Another method to reconstruct climatic conditions and determine when the Younger Dryas occurred is by evaluating methane gas presence in the ice cores found in Greenland (3 Nov 2009). This along with plan t communities can help reconstruct past climates. Lithic assemblages used by the first farmers, the Natufians, are also good indicators of when agriculture originated. Tools such as picks and sickle blades were used for harvesting cereals; this can be inferred by observing the microwear on the blades, but also through plant macrofossils which might contain residue from the particular grass being cut (Bar-Yosef 1998: 164). Agriculture can also be demonstrated by the structures of the central plant stems. In domesticated plants the seeds do not break off as easily as the wild grains do, which is evidence of human manipulation on plants to maximize output but a correlation of harvests with seasonality (29 Oct 2009). Another source of evidence for the origins of agriculture is looking at samples of preserved human coprolites in settled communities which helps detect what type of diet the human had. If there is a lack of nutrition, then it can be inferred that the society was just beginn ing the innovation of agriculture as there was a lack of nutrition and variety in early agricultural diets. Not just coprolites but also bone composition, tooth enamel, and support for the presence of pandemic diseases provide good archaeological support for the origins of agriculture (Zeder 2006: 110). Its observed that carbon and nitrogen isotopes found within the bone and microwear on teeth detect the nutrition of humans. Other archaeological evidence for the presence of agriculture, described by Zeder (2006: 110) is the presence of fences and corral to enclose the communitys animals; this reason fits nicely with the social theory and necessity for agriculture because it demonstrates the complete transition to sedentary life and the domestication of plants and animals. There are multiple theories that be equated to the development of agriculture and they all tend to build off of each other. Yes, each archaeologist or theorist emphasizes slightly different nuances, however they interrelate archaeological, environmental, and societal information in each of their models. According to Watson, Braidwoods account improves on Childes, and Binfords upon Braidwoods (27). I propose that the stress theories of Childe, Cohen, and Binford can co-occur with the cultural change theories of Braidwood and Hayden. Agriculture could have been a great phenomenon that occurred by accident, but human cognition had to have had enough knowledge for the manipulation of grasses and animals to exploit and produce large surpluses. In order to keep order within the society with the presence of agriculture there also has to have been control and power structures. Climatic changes play a huge role in regards to where societies choose to settle and in the strength of seasonal foo d production. In recognizing the biological and cultural aspects of agriculture, it can be deduced that these models are very much interrelated with specific links that may cause one theorists model to lean heavily to one side or another. There is not one universal applicable theory for the origin of agriculture because all of the worlds systems are interdependent on one another. Question #3: States are regionally organized societies with large populations that are economically and ethnically diverse. This suggests that the formation of a state occurs when there are social hierarchies with a small elite group that accentuates its sovereignty and dominance over the rest of the population. According to Algazes lecture, societies must have political administration, economic administration or redistribution, and religious indoctrination or infrastructure in order to be labeled as a state (17 Nov 2009). It has commonly been noted that states or cities are only considered as such with the dependence of a large population size, 100,000 people or more. R. Fox in his book Urban Anthropology, however, discusses that determining a state or a city on raw size or scale is not completely irrelevant but it is also not an important key component (17 Nov 2009). It is more important to evaluate a city or state on its function and sustainability. The central question therefore is: what comp onents are important in the formation of a state? In Jonathan Haas book, The Evolution of the Prehistoric State, he divides numerous theories of the origins and formations of states into two categories: the conflict position and the integration position. These two positions try to argue how states formed and regulated and maintained control over the complex societies. Through the theories of Engels and Fried regarding the conflict position, Haas argues that states formed and resolved economic and social stratifications effectively over their own populations and neighboring peoples through coercion. Opposed to the conflict position, Haas derives the integration position argument from Service, in which state governments were able to regulate and maintain social order over its inhabitants without the use of forceful tactics. Haas ultimately does not support either position: for conflict or for integration, however, if it was necessary, the conflict theory would seem more plausible as i t contains more valid reasons and logical thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of the basic components that influenced Engels and Fried to cooperate with the conflict model were the increases in agricultural production, development of trade relationships, and the introduction of irrigation systems for water control. Engels states that the formation of the state begins with origins of agriculture (Haas 1982: 36). With the ability to produce more food and create surpluses for a growing population, societies became more sedentary and divisions of labor were created. The increase in food production created specialized occupations and allowed the elites to assume political administrative roles or have an impact in religious dealings. The role of religious figures is important as it is correlated with the states political administration. Religion has a faà §ade, seen to unite a population, however, it is also influentially political in order to control and regulate public affairs (Haas 1982: 44). The large prominence of religious temples provides strong support for the importance of religious ideology and coercion in a common belief upon the inhabitants within the state (Stein 1994: 42). Childe also argues that with the need to support non-agricultural producing groups within the society, irrigation agriculture not only increased food availability on a large scale but also was an important facet for social control (Haas 1982: 40). The social control derives from elites controlling the power of water supply as well as the necessity of a huge labor source. The conflict model comes into effect due to the presence of differences in economic wealth and divisions of labor. Engels states that as the politically dominant class acquires the new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed classby levying taxes and enforcing social control [through] force (Haas 1982: 37). Austin also provides knowledge on the conflict position in the governments development of laws. Laws coerce the population to maintain order and submit to the political authorities of the elites; otherwise there are negative reciprocations (Haas 1982: 38). In Frieds model the basis for the conflict theory is the maintenance of social order in regards to possible conflict arousal to the differences in access to resources (Haas 1982: 49). With the increase in agricultural production and limited access to resources, private property became an issue in establishing economic and political status. Fried states that with the sanctity of private property, social order is accomplished through instituted governmental enforcement (49). Fried successfully discusses that with the changes in mate rialistic components such as increased food production, development of irrigation systems, and private property, the influence of political organization was pertinent. With the combination of military organization and laws along with stratification of classes, state formation provides support for elite social groups and the forceful submission of the peasant groups to the elites generating potential conflicts (Haas 1982: 49). Through evidence that supports state formations, economic scales become more and more important to maintain, grow, and flaunt among peripheral societies and therefore it is important to bring populations together in a defensive mode which calls for the construction of outer walls (19 Nov 2009). Fried provides theoretical approaches to his conflict theory based on the forced rule over a states inhabitants, however, Haas states that he fails to recognize the critical importance and utility of the archaeological record (1982: 50) for evidence to support his claim, and instead hypothesizes the emergence of states by looking at historically known societies (1982: 51). Frieds model can be testable, however it would need to be improved with more data and documentation from pre-state formed societies derived from the archaeological record rather than the historically based inferences. Fried bases his theory more on the logical approaches, for example, he supports the idea that within the means of producing more wealth, it is inevitable to have causes of social friction (19 Nov 2009). Some evidence that could relate to the forced control and economic differentiation amongst the inhabitants can be demonstrated through the layout of the city. For example, large structures belonging to the elites were central to the marketplace and the peasants separated farther away from the center. The presence of numerous temples centrally located indicates strong emphasis on religion and conforming to the beliefs described by the elites who most commonly absorbed the priest occupation. In Ubaid Mesopotamia, the architecture and distributions of artifacts demonstrate economic differentiations within households (Stein 1994: 38) such as with burial practices, artwork, and administration clay tablets. Also, the location of the houses and cities along the rivers and near the canal irrigation systems suggests potential trade of the surplus goods amongst neighboring societies with the ability to transport by waterways (Stein 1994: 42). Fried supports the conflict theory in which forceful tactics were used to create efficient states and political rule. On the contrary, advocates for the integration position propose social order was regulated without forceful tactics. Spencer for example argues that the lower classes, subordinate to the elite classes due to the development of social hierarchies within the political structure, accepted their lowly position in society compared to the wealthy elites (Haas 1982: 63) because of the inability to social climb. Haas also discusses that there might not be demonstrations of conflict or raging warfare between the elite and peasant groups because the peasants are politically and economically incapable of waging successful revolution[s] (1982: 79). According to Gumplowicz, the development of private property acted as a factor to maintain social control, an alternative to physical force (Haas 1982: 64). The main argument for the integration position is that after the state formed, classes were able to reunite through religion, residence locations, and language or culture. This suggests that integration might only be possible within the specific social classes and not throughout the all the social structures in the state. In regards to religion as a non-forceful factor in social order is through the argument of Moret and Davy who argues that rulers who view themselves as a god, thought that they derived their power from the will of the people (Haas 1982: 70). This reason is popularized to keep peasant revolts and power struggles within the kings hereditary circles subdued. Service asserts that political power in the formation of states due to the integration position was redistributive and was acquired by strong leadership qualities which were then passed into the hereditary elite classes (Haas 1982: 75). With the increase in population and size, integration is necessary for cooperation and successfulness in the administration of the state. Service also argue s that the first governments were ruled by right of authority and through the application of sacred sanctions (Haas 1982: 76). The purpose of the religious architecture was to provide social cohesion and control. The weakness of Services argument for the integration position is he advocates that the centralized government provides lots of resources and benefits to the people such as irrigation, religious beliefs, and protection, however he does not recognize that to have an effective state, force needs to be used to keep subjects under control to establish a stable and permanent government. The integrative position also proposes that public works were accomplished voluntary without physical force. However, there are no archaeological records of temples being voluntarily constructed. It can be detected from written documents that throughout other histories, public works were forced upon slaves; therefore the integration position seems weak and too optimistic. Evidence of the presence of walls and military troops suggests that protection was a necessity and important to demonstrate political autonomy over the societys own inhabitants and peripheral communities with who trade is accomplished. Haas does a great job in equally discussing the conflict and integration positions. It however seems more plausible that the conflict position influenced the formation of states as it part of human instinct to assert power and control over others in order to better maintain their own social position. Recognition of power and autonomy is essential in creating a stable state, and can only be accomplished by forcing people to cooperate with rules and regulations.

Hamlets Behavior in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay -- Hamlet Wil

Hamlet's Behavior in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet's behavior affects that of the other characters in the play in that his action drastically alters, not only their perception of Hamlet and his intentions, but also their actions and words in dealing with Hamlet. It is difficult to classify Hamlet as either sane or insane; however, it is certain that his mad behavior, whether feigned or authentic, serves only to heighten the confusion and eventual suspicion of the court, particularly Ophelia, Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, and Polonius and Claudius duo. Hamlet's mental state is hard to decipher due to the complexity of the issue and the variety of ways his actions can be viewed. Edward Strachey believes that Hamlet is, "†¦A character made of many elements, ramifying themselves in many directions, some being healthy and some diseased" (Strachey 173). Strachey goes on to say that an attempt to classify Hamlet as either mad or sane is an, "†¦Over simplification of what is most complex" (Strachey 173). At the beginning of Hamlet, Ophelia tells her father about the vows of love that Hamlet has expressed to her. Polonius immediately questions Hamlet's intentions and reminds Ophelia that making a rash decision could cost her; but Ophelia assures her father that, "†¦He hath importuned me with love In honorable fashion†¦And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord, With almost all the holy vows of heaven" (Shakespeare 17). However, after Hamlet visits Ophelia in a crazed state she immediately turns to her Father and reports Hamlet in a much darker light. Lord Hamlet with his doublet all unbraced,No hat upon his head, his stocking fouled, Ungartered and down-gyved to his ankle, Pale as a shirt, his knees knoc... ...t for revenge. If Hamlet is indeed truly mad then he alerts his foes to this information and they in turn become very circumspect of Hamlet and his plans. Hamlet's madness serves to call attention to himself and raise suspicions of his enemies. Works cited Coleridge, Samuel Traylor. "Notes on the Tragedies of Shakespeare: The Character of Hamlet." Shakespearean Criticism. Ed, Thomas Middleton Raysor. Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930. 40. Lennox, Charlotte. Shakespeare, the Critical Heritage. Ed, Brian Vickers. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976. 129. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Norton Critical Edition. Ed, Cyrus Hoy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1992. Strachey, Edward. A New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare: Hamlet. Ed, Horace Howard Furness. Vol. IV. J.B. Lippincott Company, 1877. 173.

Membership Record Management System Essay

Introduction In the present times were now in the era of modernization and one of the examples of the technologies that has been made is the computer. A computer now a days not only focuses in the line business, politics, education, and economics. It also places a major role in terms of religion. Just like the religion of Methodist Christian. Computers are used to record information, stored date and maintain information about the people that involves the institution. Computers processes are readily available to keep tracks of records, to right data and information to add or delete records and many more. As for now a days different kinds of establishments uses computers as part of their everyday operation. Record management for religions is also a sector affects by the influence of the computers because of the modern technology now a days. In addition for that, Methodist equips computer facilities that are very essential in an organization to use. This system helped other areas that involves in the institution by shifting the manual process of their task to automate processing, from manual records to computerize. And for that, the proponents have decided to develop a membership record management system that will help the said locale. 1:1 Background of the study United Methodist Church (UMC) is a Methodist Christian denomination that is both mainline Protestant and Evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. One of the Church is the Immanuel United Methodist Church in Palawe City of San Fernando Pampanga.This church has no proper way of recording the list of new member and other information of the church. The study will focus about the manual usage of registration to computerized way. The proponents will develop a system that will make the registration of the members easier and faster. This system will help the church to save, edit, retrieve and print the records of the members. 1.2 Statement of the Problem When were conducting the membership for the Methodist church were still  encountering so many problems on how we will make the registration easier. 1.2.1 General Problem The problem that the facilitators observed and the one that we’re trying to solve in the church are these: accommodating of registrants is slow, false information that has been encoded and they use manual method in conducting the membership for the church. 1.2.2 Specific Problems These were the specific problems that we’ve encountered using the existing system: 1. The members and administrator of the church take a lot of time in processing the information for their records. 2. They don’t have a proper storage for the records due to that other files have been loss. 3. There is a difficulty of locating files because files are not organized properly. 4. The encoding of information of the members may be inaccurate because of manual encoding. 5. The members don’t have a printed copy about the information on their membership. 1.3 Objective of the Study The Immanuel United Methodist Church Membership Record Management System will make the registration of the members faster and easier. Files of the members will be stored and organized properly. 1.3.1 General Objectives To develop Membership Record Management System for Immanuel United Methodist Church. The locale that we’ve choose is located in Palawe City of San Fernando Pampanga. The proponents will attempt to lessen all the problems encountered in the existing system. 1.3.2 Specific Objectives 1. To develop a system that will faster the processing of the information of the members. 2. To develop a system that will assure records security. 3. To develop a system that will provide fast searching and retrieval of recorded files. 4. To develop a system that will assure accurate and fast computation of the total members of the church. 5. To develop a system that  will provide a printed copy of their information. 1.4 Assumption In implementing the proposed system the proponents have set the following assumptions. 1. The proposed system will fasten the processing of the information of the members.. 2. The proposed system will assure records security. 3. The proposed system will provide fast searching and retrieval of recorded files. 4. The proposed system will assure accurate and fast computation of the total members of the church. 5. The proposed system will provide a printed copy of their information. 1.5 Conceptual Framework of the Study 1.6 Significance of the study The study aims to collect some significant information that will help the proponents in developing the proposed system which is IUMC Membership Record Management System. 1.6.1 Economic Significance With the implementation of the proposed system it will enable the registration to make it faster, more accurate, more significant, more efficient and secured. It will also have a brighter side in terms of economic businesses that are involve in the church that need to know about new technologies and membership system. 1.6.2 Educational Significance It will serve as a guiding tool in making computerized management system for future student that want to deal with system management. It will help computer students in building much better ideas for their own improvements. It will also serve as a reference guide for additional information in the field of Information Technology. 1.6.3 Social Significance It will enable the society to understand more about the importance of computerized system in these modern times. With the help of the system capabilities of doing the work will be easier and faster. 1.6.4 Technological Significance With the help of advance technology now a days these management related task are done faster. To help us now a days, service in churches use computers to be able to simplified more work. The proponents must experience what the technology can really do and how it transforms the traditional routine of work. By using computer equipments it will improve the performance of the church. 1.7 Scope & Delimitation The proponents believed that the proposed system will give the locale a great help and be more productive in performing their membership. These are the following capabilities that the proponents have set: 1. To perform some adding, editing, deleting or searching of records for members and what position they have in the church. 2. To have a process data of every attendant that goes on the church. 3. To have a computerized report, information and other gathered pieces of data. 4. To produce computerized printed copy to the member. 5. To perform a maximum update in each and every members that been encoded. 1.8 Operational Definition of Terms Record Management- Systematic administration of records and documented information for its entire members, information and for the management that handles the whole system. Information System- It is a combination of all the hardware’s, software’s and other facilities that involves about the system. In terms of planning, designing, analyzing and decision making for the system. Database- It is a systematically organized of records that allows easy retrieval, updating, analysis and output of records that represents almost every kind of information. Output- it is the information produce by a computer. Administrator- It is a person that is responsible for managing a computer or network and who has full access to the hardware and software. Members- These are the persons that are involve in managing the system. Protestant – a member of any several church denomination denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the reformation principles of justification by faith alone. Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Each and every educational study requires information from others so that they can improve the study given by the proponents. The proponents gathered other related literary pieces on preceding research and letters of recognized experts that would have important details in relation about the problem that under goes further explanations whether the related information is by means of existing papered documents, the study focuses on the acknowledgements and to further make stronger the start of the study. 2.1 Review of Related Literature 2.1.1 Foreign LiteratureThe terms record, document and data are not interchangeable. According to BS15489, a Record is â€Å"Information created, received and maintained as evidence and/or information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business†. A record has to be retained as long as it has value and is destroyed at the end of that period. A Document therefore, is everything else so â€Å"does a ‘document’ really need to be stored at all?† Today with the advances in technology, churches have adapted to change and in certain circumstances are accepting emails and other electronic forms of documents or correspondences as ‘best evidence’ where bone-fide hard copy originals are not available. In the past when churches were looking for solutions to remove or reduce costs from their projects, their first port was to remove old files from their expensive office space and put it into deep storage i n a remote warehouse where the price was low and access was minimal. This type of service tended to be used for inactive archival documents, as a low cost method of keeping them safe until the end of their  statutory retention period when they could be destroyed. This is the origins of Document Storage. As legislation and technology came into place requiring churches and organizations to keep documents as evidence and technology has developed, the need has moved to that of managing information. This sort of active management, so an organization can quickly and easily locate & retrieve the information it seeks, has proven to offer such organizations competitive advantage in addition to the more obvious benefit of regulatory compliance. Storing documents is not a simple as putting boxes in an empty warehouse. With the introduction of computers and the electronically created and stored data they have give rise to, we produce more paper records per head of employee than ever before. Companies increasingly find the ‘paperless office’ continu es to be a myth though the ‘less-paper’ office is becoming a reality. 2.1.2 Local Literature The world of local document storage has transformed into an industry that is unrecognizable from its origins, although the paper document continues to remain constant, in the minefield of acronyms that surround the technology that has come to encompass a full Records Management Program. As part of the wider picture organizations are expected to have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that includes Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) all of which need to be safely secured but easy to retrieve. Enterprise content management (ECM), workflow mapping, digitization, hard copy storage web hosting of images and data mining are all part of the transformation that has come to represent the records management industry. After understanding the difference between what needs to be stored and what does not one then has to start understanding the different types or records and who is creating them. Most personnel are potential creators and they all need to understand whether the information they are creating should be stored securely and confidentially or securely destroyed. We have all heard of the recent stories of high profile laptops and information being stolen as well as identity theft fraudsters who rummage in bins to obtain details of clients in order to assume their identity. A formal in-house survey to understand who and where information should be stored can go a long way to creating a system understandable to all. 2.2 Related Studies 2.2.1 Foreign Studies The key to designing a successful records management system is to incorporate the following characteristics: firstly, one needs to be consistent in the manner in which records are captured, managed and maintained irrespective of whether they are electronic or paper records. Secondly they must be accessible to authorized people. One of the fears that people have when out sourcing records is discussed is whether their records will be accessible. A good records management company should be able to guarantee that records will be physically or digitally delivered to within 24 hours. Information must be held in a secure environment protect against floods, fire and intruders. Most records management organizations have password protected entry into their premises and do not publicly disclose the identity of their clients. In addition to the physical security and protection of the storage environment the documents also needs to be shown to be the original, free of any alteration. This may require special management and it is important that the provider is able to adhere to stringent management controls. Finally, retention policies should reflect the requirements of law. It is pre-requisite to be able to provide a full audit trial of any item at any time and where appropriate a ‘Certificate of Destruction’ to prove that the document was destroyed in accordance with government laws. Despite the records management industry being quite a complex industry, the barriers of entry remain very low and we still find anyone with a warehouse a transport network feels more capable than records management specialist to enter into the industry at the detriment of their clients who may find the lower costs being charged are actually resulting in their records not being held in an environmentally controlled warehouse and resulting in damaged records. 2.2.2 Local Studies While meeting statutory requirements is important, widespread usage of the records management system primarily rests upon meeting the first two goals (filing and retrieving records). In this era of enterprise-wide rollouts of records management systems, the users of the classification scheme have changed dramatically. While historically the classification was only really used by the centralized records management staff, it will now be used by  staff throughout the organization. In order to meet these needs, the classification scheme must be understandable by general business staff. It is clear that: If staffs are unable to easily determine where to file records, the records management system will become littered with miss-filed documents. If staff cannot easily find documents at a later date, then they will simply abandon use of the records management system entirely. For these reasons, the effective design of the classification scheme becomes an imperative. 2.3 Difference between the Previous Study and the Proposed Study The existing system of Immaculate United Methodist Church(IUMC) only uses manual process for record management, they just use typewriters and bond papers when they have to input information so therefore the papers of the members are not secure. And also they need a lot of time to organize the records of the registrants. The proposed system â€Å"Immaculate United Methodist Church Record Management System† will help the members of the church to have a clear access of their records and also a printed output of it also the records of the members will be secured. They don’t have to write and type manually. The said system will also automatically generate all records of the members. In this manner the workloads of the administrator and the other person’s that are related on the organization.

Food Poisoning Essay

Introduction: Every year millions of people suffer from food poisoning due to uncontrolled application of agricultural chemicals, environmental contamination, use of illegal additives , microbiological hazards and others but as a result of increasing awareness of consumers and their demands to provide them with safe, wholesome and high quality food have force many food premises to carry out a broad assessment and re-organize their systems of food control in turn to improve efficiency , rationalization of human resources and harmonizing approaches. This assessment of food control system has resulted to shift from the traditional approach which depends mainly on the final product sampling and inspection and move forward toward the implementation of a preventative safety and quality approach based on risk analysis. (FAO, 1998) Risk based approaches has been developed by World health organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and it is called risk analysis .(WHO,2011)-website Moreover, risk analysis is a combination of three interconnected elements which are Risk management, Risk assessment and Risk communication. (FAO/WHO training manual, 2006) Risk assessment is a scientific evaluation of risk associated with hazard either qualitatively or quantitatively .Risk management is the process where the relevant information of risk including risk assessment results are used to make decisions on how they will control the risk and implementing proper options. Finally risk communication which may define as the process by which exchange of information occur between risk assessors, managers and concerned parties. (http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/ae922e/ae922e04.htm) Government officials: In order to prepare a food products that is safe for human consumption and trade within the country or worldwide as well as maintain public confidence the government officials has a major role in this issue, yet it is clear that the government has no role in the production of food and cannot by itself to make safe or unsafe food. However, the government does play two important roles to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. The first major role is to create food standards and implement it through laws, regulations, inspection, and compliance procedures. These standards range from setting legislation to prevent food adulteration toward defining limits on the levels of pesticides residues as well as levels of pathogenic bacteria, food labelling, preparation and packaging of food. As a consequence, USDAs in recent times implemented HACCP system for meat and poultry to reduce harmful contamination and the risk of food borne illness. The second role is to address food safety problems that are beyond the control of any person participating in the food chain, which require more than a regulatory solution like for example E.coli O157:H7 pathogen which originates in the gut of cattle and is spread through the environment to contaminate water, fresh produce, and beef during the slaughtering process causing a considerable hazard when present in food. Address these and many other food safety problems need a strong research base, and to develop an effective control measures not to mention the cooperation between farmers, livestock producers, food processors, retailers and consumers. Therefore, government officials play a leading role in promoting basic research and cooperation in such cases to reduce the risk of food borne diseases. (Taylor &ump; Hoffmann, 2001) In fact, applying risk analysis provides many benefits to all food safety stakeholders including government. In this term it can help food safety regulators to obtain more evidence and information they require to make an effective decision and to identify and apply suitable measures to control the risk in addition to evaluate these measures for example it can be used to assess the maximum level of pesticide residue in food supplies ,increasing the rate of tests ,provide advice to a certain population subgroup, review labelling requirements, and issue a ban and/or recall for the suspected food product in response. Risk analysis can be applied to support and improve food standards such as regulation (EC) no.1829/2003 on genetically modified foods and feed (EU, 2003) and many others standards. It allows the potential costs of compliance for comparison with the expected benefits, and supports setting priorities among the various problems related to food safety. (FAO 87, 2006) In addition to the above advantages, since in article2 (2) from SPS agreement indicates the need of scientific evidence in establishing sanitary and pytosanitary measures. (SPS) though, applying risk analysis will assist the government to meet their commitments and strengthen the basis for the food trade at the international level by increasing access to new market. (FAO 87, 2006) Moreover, gaps and uncertainties in scientific knowledge can be identified using risk analysis approach, which will lead to improve food safety and a better understanding of food related impacts on consumer health. (FAO 87, 2006) In general, risk analysis is used mostly for chemical hazards but recently FAO and WHO expand the scope to cover microbiological hazards as well. (FAO 76) As a result, microbial risk assessment has been used to assess the risk posed by Listeria in a wide range of food commodities and regulatory involvements to control pathogens. (Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2001 / Proposed Rules) Thus, through risk analysis the government officials can make out opportunities to reduce risk by using it to establish risk based inspection program, development and application of food standards, collaborate efforts with food processors, and consumer awareness. (Taylor &ump; Hoffmann, 2001) However, since not all countries have the capabilities and resources to conduct risk assessment ,so they must make use of international data and expertise available besides data that is internationally accepted such as codex standards which accepted as scientifically valid under SPS agreement .(FAO,76) Food processors: On the other hand, food processors as discussed earlier has the main role to produce safe ,wholesome and high quality food to meet customer demands. While world health organisation (WHO) has briefly indicated that food safety is a shared responsibility from farm to fork, http://www.eufic.org/article/en/artid/processing-food-safety-quality-1/ governments and intergovernmental organisation like Codex Alimentarius commission (CAC) has a major responsibility in creating food standards and so it is important to involve food manufacturers in the process of setting standards at the national and international levels. This participation is beneficial to all stakeholders, and government indeed should assist this exchange of information to help ensure supplying safe products. http://www.fao.org/docrep/v2890t/v2890t05.htm Achieving this requires implementing science based systems derived from risk analysis and associated risk management approaches like HACCP for industry. (Hobbs, 2007) However, to carry out a HACCP plan, hazard analysis is required, as it considers as the first of the seven HACCP principles, it is used to assess the probable hazards that could occur through food processing, gathering data regarding those hazards and their severity to the consumer besides the possibility of their occurrence. Once established a hazard analysis using risk analysis, it must be considered throughout the HACCP plan development. (Peter warring book, food quality assurance book) In addition to the above, there are a number of authors who have suggested the use of risk based systems in HACCP plan (Baird-Parker, 1994, 1995;Buchanan, 1995; Notermans and Jouve, 1995; Elliott,1996; Notermans and Mead, 1996). Thus demands to include some aspects of risk into HACCP system are increasing. (T.Mayeres,97) Burden or benefits) (Mayers, 1997) on the other hand stated that the HACCP system is functioning effectively without the need of risk assessment approach, bearing on mind that HACCP has been internationally considered as an effective way to control food borne hazards. However, some elements of risk analysis can be useful in HACCP by increasing the scientific basis of hazard analysis, can help in identification of critical limits, as well as increasing transparency in decision making.( (T.Mayeres,97) Burden or benefits) Part B/i: Owing to the increasing demands of the global market for sea food products, exposure to food borne illness may increase as a consequence. (Book of Iso and HACCP) For instance,

A Thematic Analysis of Hope and Other Urban Tales by Laura Hird The WritePass Journal

A Thematic Analysis of Hope and Other Urban Tales by Laura Hird Abstract A Thematic Analysis of Hope and Other Urban Tales by Laura Hird Alapi, Z. (2006). The New Review. Available: laurahird.com/newreview/hopeandotherurbantales.html. Last accessed 19/08/2013. Blake, W. (1970). Songs of Innocence and Experience; Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. Oxford Paperbacks. ISBN-10: 0192810898. The Lamb, Pg. 1. Briscoe, J. (2006). Hope Springs Infernal. Available: theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview21. Last accessed 19/08/2013. Caesar, M. (1999). Umberto Eco: Philosophy, Semiotics and the Work of Fiction. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 9780745608501. Pg. 55. Cuddon, J.A. (1999). The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, UK, Penguin Books, ISBN-10: 0140513639. Fairclough, N. (2001) Language and Power, UK, Longman, ISBN-10: 0582414830. Goodman, K. Goodman, Y. (1979) Theory and Practice of Early Reading, U.S., Routledge, ISBN-10: 0898590035. Learning to Read is Natural, pg. 137 – 54. Hird, L. (2009). Interview by Trev Taylor. Available: laurahird.com/. Last accessed 19/08/2013. Hird, L. (2006). Hope and Other Urban Tales, Scotland, Canongate Books, ISBN-10: 1841955736. McEwan, I. (1998). Enduring Love, UK, Vintage, ISBN-10: 0099276585. Morace, R. (2001). Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting: A Reader’s Guide, UK, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8264-5237-X. Randell, Stevenson. (1992). Modernist Fiction: An Introduction, The University of Kentucky, ISBN-10: 0813108144. The Scotsman. (2006). Hope Heralds a New Dawn. Available: scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/hope-heralds-a-new-dawn-1-1416335. Last accessed 19/08/2013. Street, B. (2000). Literacy and Development: Ethnographic Perspectives, Introduction, London, Routledge, ISBN-10: 0415234514. Pg. 7 -8. Welsh, I. (1994). Trainspotting, UK, Vintage, ISBN-10: 0099465892.