Proposal designs Seminar Unit 8 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Proposal designs Seminar Unit 8 - Research Paper Example Submitting an inaccurate budget in your proposal packet may mean that the organisation has poor financial management practices or there were inaccuracies when writing the budget. The two main consequences that may result due to these inaccuracies are that the whole proposal may be reviewed negatively and thus the grant denied or the proposal may be sent back to the grantee for corrections on the budget. The consequence here will depend on the materiality of the inaccuracies (Karsh & Fox, 2009). Funders like to imagine that they are funding a proposal that will be able to carry on its activities into the future with or without their help. It is therefore important to show how the program will sustain itself after the grant as this shows the funder that their grant will be of future benefit. A sustainable project will show the funder the need for initial funding and this will influence their decision in a positive way (Karsh & Fox,

Strategic Management Report on Toyota

Strategic Management Report on Toyota Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) is the largest producer of automobiles in Japan and the worlds second largest automotive manufacturer based on production and sales. In 2010, Toyota sold 7.24 million units (Toyota, 2010). Toyota diversified operations include financial services, telecommunications, prefabricated housing and leisure boats. Besides its 12 plants and a number of manufacturing subsidiaries and affiliates in Japan, Toyota has 52 manufacturing companies in 27 countries that produce Lexus and Toyota brand vehicles and components. Toyota employs approximately 320,590 people worldwide, and markets vehicles in more than 170 countries. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and had an operating income of approximately 397.05 billion Yen (Toyota, 2011). And the main competitors of Toyota are General Motors, Honda Motors and Ford Motors (Daily Finance, 2011). 3. Analysis of Toyota Strategic Capabilities: 3.1 Company Capabilities Grant (2010) says about Lean production integrates capabilities relating to the manufacture of components and subassemblies, supply chain management, production scheduling, assembly, quality control procedures, systems for managing innovation and continuous improvement and inventory control. 3.1.1 Resources Innovation has always been a Toyota resource. In the 1970s Toyota began to produce smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, which customers desired after oil prices rocketed. Recently, it has used both diesel technology and the electric car. 3.1.2 Organizational Culture However, Toyotas main resource is the Toyota Way, the 14 principles behind the Toyota Production System (Combe, 2011). These originated in the post 1945 environment, when it was imperative to make the maximum use of scarce resources. Challenges, improvement, Kaisen, go and see (genchi genbutsu); respect and teamwork are the main tenets of these principles, which can be outlines as follows. Management decisions should be long term, as opposed to short term, although they should be arrived at consensually. Problems should be highlighted by continuous process, not hidden and resolved immediately so that a quality product is produced immediately. Only existing and trustworthy technology should be used and tasks need to be standardized so that the workload is leveled out and the workers are continually improving. Management should understand all aspects of the companys operations, and pass on their dedication to the companys goals to others. All workers, suppliers and affiliated should always be challenged to improve their performance. The latter means that Toyota becomes a leaning organization with workers being empowered to make changes as they perform their daily tasks. The Toyota Way has given Toyota a comparative advantage in both quality and reliability. 3.1.3 Supply Chain According to Winfield and Hay (1997) part of the strategic capabilities of Toyota includes the strategic capabilities of the supply chain. The pattern and organization of a supply chain is perceptibly a comprehensive topic, concerning inter dependencies between research and development, marketing and production roles, creating considerable courses of goods and technical, market and financial information. 3.2 Core Competencies Toyotas global competitive advantage is to build trust and confidence with customers by delivering outstanding quality products and services that add real value to their business. According to Drejer (2002), However, in recent years there has been a number of recalls of multiple models of Toyota, which are amazingly reliable. How could this possibly happen to the car company that was the undisputed leader in quality. 4. Evaluation of Possible Future Strategies for the Company: The main strategic issue for Toyota is maintaining its position as the worlds leading car manufacturer after the recent mass vehicle recall. 4.1 Future Strategies for Culture Change Based on the book titled 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis written by George (2009), Toyota needs a credible leader with a strong, cohesive plan (George, 2010). 4.1.1 Face reality, starting with yourself Toyota blamed the problems on stuck floor mats and panicky drivers. Instead, Toyota should acknowledge that its vaunted quality system failed. CEO Toyoda should take personal responsibility by saying that he pushed too hard for growth and neglected quality. 4.1.2 Dont be Atlas; Get the world off your shoulders Toyoda needs a crisis team reporting directly to him, working 24/7 to get problems fixed permanently. He should add the worlds top quality experts to his fix it team and listen carefully to their advice. 4.1.3 Dig deep for the root cause Management should have required its best engineers to get to the root cause of this problem and every other quality problem being reported. 4.1.4 Get ready for the long haul These problems wont just fade away. In fact, they are likely to get worst before getting better. Toyota must invest heavily in corrective actions while its sales shrink and profits implode, requiring major cash resources until its reputation can be restored. 4.1.5 Never waste a good crisis For all the pain Toyota is experiencing, this crisis provides a unique opportunity to make fundamental changes required to restore Toyota quality. Employees are ready for new direction, and they are willing to make radical changes to renew the company. With Toyodas leadership, Toyota automobiles can be restored to the worlds highest quality. 4.1.6 Youre in the spotlight: Follow True North Toyoda must come out of hiding, take personal responsibility, and subject himself to intense questioning by regulators and the media. Then he should make a personal commitment to every Toyota customer to repair the damage, including buying back defective cars. 4.1.7 Go on offense; focus on winning now Coming out of this crisis, the market will never look the same. Toyota cannot wait until all its quality problems are resolved. It must play defense and offense simultaneously. To win, Toyota has to offer advanced features and superior quality, better value for consumers, greater safety, and improved fuel efficiency. 4.2 Future Strategies for Innovation Like Volkswagen, Toyota could design cars for specific markets (Welch, 2010). Penetration of the price sensitive Indian market could be achieved by producing its low cost car soon (The Economic Times, 2010). Toyota needs to pay more attention to the Chinese market, which is the largest and fastest growing. As Chinese families are smaller than their Western equivalents, this could be an opportunity for increased sales of the smaller Camry model (Xinhua, 2010). Retracting in Europe could fund expansion into these blossoming Asian markets. Specific markets could also be entered by joint ventures with local manufacturers. Volkswagen is aiming to do this in India, by acquiring a stake in Suzuki, which is a market leader there through its subsidiary Maruti (Ran Kim and Hetzner, 2009). Another possible strategy for Toyota is to restore its benchmark for quality and reliability, which has been severely impaired with the second recall of 4.2 million vehicles in 2009 (Bunkley, 2010). Crucial to this strategy, is the introduction of twenty dedicated technology facilities to highlight defects as quickly as possible (Guardian, 2010). In addition, the new regional quality subcommittees have the power to make improvements without head office approval. This would eradicate defects quickly, and, in turn reassure customers. 5. Implementation of the Strategic Change: Recently, public criticism focuses on complaints of too much computerization, problems with global sourcing, and the effects of Toyotas single-minded pursuit of becoming the worlds largest automaker. In fact, the recent criticism of Toyota in these areas demonstrated how leadership holds the keys to success and failure to organizational transformation. New Technology and Leadership Toyotas recent strategy to become the worlds number one automaker has been underpinned by using new know-how, new technology and new materials to improve, perfect and break through auto design and manufacturing. However, the strategy also required that Toyota shifted its focus form manufacturing engineering and built-in-quality toward research and development product design. When a company shifts its focus form lean production to technology innovation, there is an embedded obstacle culture change. On one hand, the essence of lean production dictates the elimination of waste. On the other hand, the uncertainties in new product development require that the manufacturer build in redundancy to manage the risks of the unknown and unsure a high level of safety. Trying to balance lean production with the need for redundancy is a difficult act that requires the leadership to be instrumental in making key decisions as well as leading and managing the change. Global Sourcing and Leadership Toyotas decisions on strategic positioning impacts its cooperation with suppliers. The suppliers original alignment of competitive advantages, core capabilities and value propositions needs to change along with that of Toyotas. such changes, unavoidably, will be reflected in vehicle quality, customer satisfaction and even customer safety. Some would view this as a by-product of the vehicle makers strategic move directed by its leadership. Others think the leadership should consider such impact as part of the change management alongside strategic planning shifts. Whatever it is, the key is the alignment, especially with corporate culture, people capabilities, acceptance of stress and pressure, and the ability to coordinate and change. World No. 1 and Leadership The new leadership certainly has felt the pressure. It is the responsibility of the leaders to sort out the alignment and coordination between strategic direction and operating model. Hopefully, the recall crisis will be treated once more as an opportunity to align its lean production culture and its operation excellence capabilities with its desire to leverage new technology, to continue sourcing from the globe while continuing to stay on the No. 1 pedestal. A transformation already is apparent. Toyota has become less defensive and has responded quickly to new complaints of defects. Leadership is no longer absent and now appears to be leading from the front. In consideration of the various issues, Toyotas growth strategy for the continued realization of Genchi Genbutsu and high quality at affordable prices will centre on a thorough customer first perspective (Toyota, 2010). Specifically, Toyota will review their product lineups to match customer needs in each region and create a production system that responds to changes in market structure while optimally allocating resources in areas where Toyota want to advance. 6. Conclusion Recommendations: Toyota seems to have abandoned one of its core competencies quality. Toyota is suffering from trying to get too big, too fast. Toyota sensed weakness from its auto rivals in the American market, and also noted opportunity in emerging markets such as China and India. So, it started enormous expansion around the world. In doing so, Toyota abandoned one of its core values, which is to never build a new product in a new factory with a new workforce. Toyota may have won the rights to brag as the worlds biggest car company, however, that appears to have come at a heavy cost to its reputation for quality and in turn customer dissatisfaction. Management needs to make sure that their projects and their goals are aligned with organizational values and core competencies. Understanding the importance of competencies and core values, and how they need to work in conjunction, is profoundly important for management success. Management should give thought and efforts towards developing both of these sets of attributes and remain focused on business goals. This is a challenging menu, and this crisis is the true test of Akio Toyodas leadership. Believe this is a great company that will resurrect its reputation and restore its leadership.

Analytical Response to Male Pregnancy Essay -- Science Technology Essa

Analytical Response to Male Pregnancy Male Pregnancy by Dick Teresi and Kathleen McAuliffe support that the technology and the demand for male pregnancy will be possible in the future. They specifically state that, "Someday a man will have a baby". They have written this article in an attempt to show why they believe this will one day become accepted and widely practiced. However, I disagree with Teresi and McAuliffe. I feel male pregnancy will never be freely practiced or accepted by any means. Teresi and McAuliffe start out their article by explaining what their general idea is for male pregnancy to occur. They state, "What we're talking about is implanting an embryo into a man's abdominal cavity, where the fetus would take nourishment, grow to term, and be delivered by an operation similar to a cesarean section. Already, this idea seems illogical to me. As a result of a man being pregnant, there must be a cesarean section to remove the baby. Even for women, this is a risk doctors prefer to avoid if possible. It puts the mother at a much greater risk of injury or death as well as the baby. Going to great lengths to make a man attempt to do something that has a high risk seems foolish when the same results can be achieved naturally with a much lower risk. Slightly further into the article Teresi and McAuliffe discuss how a researcher, Dr. Cecil Jacobsen, injected a fertilized egg of a female baboon into the abdominal cavity of a male baboon. He then states that "with very moderate chemical support, the male baboon was able to carry the pregnancy toward term". Again this goes back to the fact that women can go through the process of child birth natural in most cases. However, for a male to car... ...erring to why they would not want to carry a baby in the summer but any other time is okay. It is not just themselves they are affecting if the operation and procedure is a success, it is also the child who will have to grow up in a society where everyone else's mother is a female, but his mother is dad also. Overall, I felt Teresi and McAuliffe's arguments for pursuing the technology of male pregnancies is not strong enough to actually do further research in the area. I feel that females are biologically established for birth where men's bodies naturally can not give birth. It seems illogical to try to change a system that has worked so well for so many years. If there is a technology dealing with birth that should be researched it should be increasing the safety of it, not a step backwards since the abdomen is a much more dangerous and illogical way.

Gm588 Final Project Proposal Outline

GM588 Final Project Proposal Outline 1. Enhancement of Quality for Genesis Healthcare 2. Genesis Potomac Center 3. Genesis Healthcare is a leading provider of short term healthcare services which includes: rehabilitation, dialysis, skill nursing and sometimes long term care. The company operates over two hundred centers within thirteen eastern states in the United States. Genesis also supplies rehabilitation therapy to over one thousand one hundred health care providers within twenty eight states and the District of Columbia. Quality management in Genesis is very well encouraged because they are involved in an industry that caters to the needs and lives of people. According to their values quality and care should be given to touch and improve the lives of others. 4. I currently work for Genesis, at the Washington DC location. This location has a bad reputation due to an incident that occurs years ago because the quality in service was breached. However, at the time the situation happen the facility was under a different management that had no affiliations with Genesis but people still have that bad notion of the company. I feel as though the only way we can change the perception of these people is by enhancing the quality in the services we provide. 5. After I joined Genesis about a year ago along with our new management team, we have changed everything and made lots of progress. Our greatest opportunity was getting our surroundings involve so that they could then witness the improvement that were being made. Renovation of the building was first done since it was an opportunity to attract the general public. Weekly surveys were also put in place so that residence could give feedback on a daily bases to show the company and its new management improvements. 6. In order for Genesis to continue its growth, I believe the best quality management tool to follow would be the six stigma. Genesis already completed the first step of the stigma method which is defining the problem. They realize that quality was breached so they are working on enhancing and improving quality for their customers. The second step is measuring the quality and to do that, Genesis has a weekly survey system that generates the effectiveness of the quality being given and those responses is how quality is measured. Genesis is constantly utilizing the third method of the six stigmas which is improving quality. They encourage and task their employees on a daily basis to provide great service. They also train their employees to be successful in promoting quality. The analyzation of quality is a task Genesis has mastered because they have sought out the needs of their customers, which help determine the kind of quality service needed. Improving is the aspect Genesis is putting most of their efforts into because any entity existing in our world must have the desire to grow and the only way to achieve that goal is through improvement. Control is definitely an aspect of the stigma that genesis have a good grip on because they have come up with ways to accomplish their quality management goals and how they can control the quality they intend to give. 7. TCO A, C, D and I all relates well to my project because they all talk about the importance of quality management and some of the philosophies to follow when enforcing quality. As a person, I believe that the best way an organization can grow is based on quality because people will fund something if they are satisfied with it. I also am a huge fan of the six stigmas because I have used it several times and its yielded positive results. 8. Sources 1. Evans, J. , & Lindsay, W. (2011). Managing for quality & performance excellence. Pre-press. 2. Genesis company history. (n. d. ). Retrieved from www. genesishcc. com 3. De Sousa, S. (2010). Six stigma steps. My PM expert, 11(2), 232. Retrieved from www. my-project-management-expert. com

How the Digital World May Change Essay

The rapidly changing societies with constantly improving technology and occurrence of social digital technologies dramatically changed the way people communicate and interact with each other making them either â€Å"digital natives†, â€Å"digital residents†, â€Å"digital immigrants† or â€Å"digital visitors† based on their generation or familiarization with technology. More and more people today perceive the world as the complicated and mature network of computerized and online applications that help to communicate, search for, exchange and share information, make business with international partners, play games on distance, and many other purposes. Though, the question is whether digital natives and digital residents are the same in their perception of the world, behavior and life habits in the future? Behavior of Digital Residents Since personally I was born before 1994, I am related to the category of digital residents, who were born before the occurrence of social digital technologies. Such people like me learnt the computer and Internet-related skills either in schools or universities and have an opportunity to compare life and perception of the world before and after the digital world. Despite I am not a digital native, my behavior as a digital resident is already influenced by numerous technologies I am using daily like cell phone, computer, DVD player, iPod, etc. With occurrence of cell phones, for example, people became more flexible and mobile in their behavior, actions, plans and ability to communicate with their family members, friends and colleagues. Moreover, many people combine conversations by cell phone with other activities like cleaning the house, working on the computer, shopping or driving a car (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). Recently more and more people, including me, prefer to make their personal or business calls while driving to the office, shop or gym. It might be a good way to use time efficiently, though at the same time might cause problems and distract a person from driving and being careful on the road. In one of his first video chapters Robert Schrag (2010) addressed exactly this issue when young people got used to talk by phone and type text messages while driving. Though, the main difference in such behavior between digital natives and digital residents is that the last ones are more careful, reasonable and less dependent on the technologies than digital natives are (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). It might sound crazy, but computers, cell phones and other technology-related products became a mandatory and integral daily part of their lives. While as a digital resident I am less dependent, or better to say, obsessed with technology, the changing world of education and business requires being constantly aware and familiar with the latest technologies, either to learn the updated and useful information for my personal and professional development or to keep pace with younger people whose knowledge of languages, computers and technology-related applications make them more competitive at the labor market. Conclusion  As for the future behavior as a digital resident, it is rather hard to predict since more and more innovations enter our lives. For example, nowadays a debate exists concerning two main issues: human cloning and brain chips. Personally, I do not support either of these ideas since with their occurrence and legacy people will be controlled by those who created such innovations while the human being is independent self-thinker who is responsible for his/her own actions, has personal wishes and dreams and is unpredictable in his/her behavior. While digital world gives me more and more opportunity to learn the world and communicate with other people, at the same time it controls me more and more shaping my behavior in the way innovators and digital world creators want. I personally think that technology should be wisely and within certain limits without suppressing and eliminating the natural things and personal communication between people.

Dealing with he said and she said

Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said By Maeve Maddox I once had a high school English teacher who encouraged her students to use as many synonyms for said as possible, for example: he gasped, she grumbled, and they snorted. Maybe she was just trying to get us to stretch our vocabularies. These days, writers prefer the simple word said, feeling that its more colorful synonyms tend to distract the reader. There are, of course, exceptions. If a character is asking a question, a word like asked is a more logical choice. An occasional shouted or screamed is also permissible in moments of extreme duress for the characters. Sometimes, however, even the he saids can slow conversational flow. Im presently revising a mystery novel, deleting every unnecessary word I find. Here are some of the revisions Ive made to get rid of speech attributions that are not absolutely necessary. Example one: Hello again, Miss Dunbar, he said, motioning for her to sit. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday.â€Å" People do seem to be dying in my vicinity,† she said. REVISION: Hello again, Miss Dunbar. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday. He motioned for her to sit. People do seem to be dying in my vicinity. Since only two people are in the room, attributions are unnecessary. I get rid of the first said by rearranging the sentence, allowing the mans gesture to identify him as the speaker. The second said is unnecessary because only two people are present. Example two: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir, the policeman said, holding out what he was carrying on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute, she said. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. REVISION: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir. The officer was carrying something on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. I get rid of the first two saids by letting gestures identify the speakers. I keep the third attribution to make clear which of the three men present is speaking. Sometimes a character thinks something without saying it aloud. Example Three: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it, Sallie thought. REVISION: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it. I get rid of Sallie thought by typing the thought itself in italics. The scene is being narrated from Sallies point of view. REMINDER: This is not a matter to worry about as you write the first, or even second, draft of your novel. Throw in all the saids and snorteds you like. Save the pruning for the final revision. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About HandsAt Your DisposalEach vs. Both

Impact of the Economic Status on Domestic Violence

Impact of the Economic Status on Domestic Violence Introduction Domestic abuse, otherwise known as spousal abuse, battering, or even domestic violence, includes expressions of certain patterns of behaviors that are abusive towards one’s partner in a relationship involving marriage, cohabitation, dating, or a familial affair.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Impact of the Economic Status on Domestic Violence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Domestic violence is acerbated in a number of ways including assaults, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, economic deprivation, domineering, and intimidation among other forms of personal oppression. However, it is also crucial to note that domestic violence is not constrained to actions entailing physical and emotional abuse. It also implies criminal coercion, unlawful imprisonment, and kidnapping. The main reason why domestic violence is acerbated towards a person is principally to acquire a total control of the person . To achieve this goal, abusers deploy tactics of instilling fear, shame, and guilt coupled with intimidation to wear down their targets physically and emotionally. One of the fundamental characteristics of domestic violence is that it does not discriminate various people in the society. It occurs among heterosexual partners, homosexual partners, and among people of varying ages, economic status, and even across all ethnic backgrounds. While women in majority of the situations are found to be the major victims of domestic violence, men also are abused domestically especially emotionally and verbally while not negating physically in some instances. Nevertheless, whatever the source of domestic violence, be it from a woman, a teenager, or a man, the behavior is very unacceptable within a society. Unfortunately, domestic violence is still prevalent among various societies. From this perspective, from a broad approach, the paper finds out if the economical status of families may be conn ected to domestic violence.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It also seeks to investigate why, and if one’s, childhood may be linked to domestic violence. On the other hand, from an operational approach, the paper scrutinizes how, and if, poverty plays a role in domestic abuse. Economic Status of Families and Domestic abuse Among the many forms of domestic abuse, economic abuse is one of the ways of enabling one person to domineer against another person. It takes place whenever intimate persons take control over other persons to limit their accessibility to economic resources. Essentially, the abusing partners deploy strategies for making sure that their partners have limited accessibility to economic resources. By doing this, the abused partner is incapacitated from having the ability to support him/herself financially. The aftermath is to ensure that t he victim is fully dependent on the perpetrator economically in terms of â€Å"obtaining education, finding employment, maintaining or advancing their careers, and acquiring assets† (Williams 161). Alternatively, the abused partner may be given some tolerances by the perpetrator who closely supervises how he or she expends the finances â€Å"and or may also use the victim’s financial resources without being accorded consent with the chief intent of creating financial debts on the part of the victim† (Krishnan 137). The perpetrator may also make sure that all the savings belonging to the victims are used in totality so that the victim has limited accessibility to financial resources. From the dimension of economic domestic abuse, risks for domestic violence may result from a change of economic status of either spouse. The argument here is that there exists a relationship between economic status of family and domestic violence.Advertising We will write a c ustom research paper sample on Impact of the Economic Status on Domestic Violence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, Krishnan et al. argue that changes in spousal economic status â€Å"are associated with subsequent changes in violence risks† (139). Basing their study on the Indian context, the authors claim that women increase their risks of being subjected to domestic violence by 80 percent when their economic status changes from unemployment to employment. On the other hand, when men lose their jobs, they are 1.7 times likely to encounter domestic violence perpetrated by their wives (Krishnan et al. 141). In a study conducted in Malaysia by Awang and Hariharan, it is found out that the income status of survivors of domestic violence is a key determinant of domestic violence (459). Therefore, economic factors are critical in examining the factors that may create prevalence of domestic violence among families in various s ocieties. Arguably, the central concern of this argument is that domestic violence may be attributed to economic factors. However, it is also arguable that domestic violence may lead to deterioration of the parties involved in the violence economically. Precisely, â€Å"until recently, it was unclear whether victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking were eligible for unemployment insurance if they were fired or forced to quit their jobs because of the violence† (Runge 16). Consequently, in the states where the law has not been amended to give people opportunities to benefit from unemployment benefits when such people are laid off because of reasons related to domestic violence, battering acts as a means of worsening the economic status of the victims. Research on the impacts of domestic violence on the ability of women to work such as the one conducted by Audra and Shannon shows that women who are abused have lesser probabilities of choosing to work than women who have not experienced domestic violence (1119). This implies that battering influences the capacity of women to look for means of bettering their economic status. This has the impacts of making them even more dependent on the perpetrators of domestic violence. In this context, economic independency is a subtle mechanism of reducing the risk of exposure to domestic violence among women.Advertising Looking for research paper on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On the other hand, women who suffer divorce due to domestic violence â€Å"exhibit an unemployment rate of 20% below that of non abused divorced women† (Audra and Shannon 1120). From these findings, it sounds subtle to argue that working women have lesser probabilities of experiencing domestic violence. Therefore, the hiked economic status for women resulting from the state of being employed is a key determiner of their exposure to domestic violence. This argument is amplified by Audra and Shannon’s findings, â€Å"†¦out of the sample of women that were abused in the past, 9.4% of women who are currently not working are abused whereas only 8.9% (3.48% out of 39.2% married women abused in the past) of women who are currently working are abused† (1120). The findings indicate that unemployment among women may result to a cycle of exposure to domestic violence. This follows because, the more women are exposed to domestic violence and the more likely they refrai n from looking for employment, the higher the probability of being abused. Since employment is directly correlated with the economic status of individual, the argument provides substantive grounds to infer that a relationship exists between domestic violence and economic status of families. Link between Childhood and Domestic Violence Numerous scholars have investigated the impacts of people’s exposure on domestic violence on childhood based on the capacity of such people to result into abusing their partners in adulthood. For instance, Audra and Shannon argue that men who have experienced domestic abuse during their childhood have higher chances of abusing their wives (1119). This experience comes from seeing their fathers abuse their mothers. Nevertheless, employment status also plays central roles in making men abuse their wives. For instance, Audra and Shannon argue, â€Å"abusive husbands are also more likely to have experienced unemployment in the past 12 months and ar e much less likely to have a university education than non abusive spouse† (1119). Education is one of the ways of ensuring that societies are fully aware of the rights of all individuals including the right for not being abused domestically. However, based on the findings of Audra and Shannon, childhood experiences in battering seems like a force that is so strong that it out powers educational knowledge on battering. The contribution of the experiences of children rendering them resolve to intimate partner violence is also noted by Mbilinyi et al. who claim that cognition of domestic violence in childhood has the ability to make people normalize domestic violence in adulthood (171). Amid the above claim, it is also important to consider other counterarguments for the link between childhood exposure to domestic violence and their likelihoods of resulting to engaging in violence activities themselves in adulthood. In this dimension, several scholars encounter mixed findings on the link particularly on incorporation of dimensions such as utilization of contextual barriers in their studies. Such barriers include social economic status and community violence. Nevertheless, Mbilinyi et al. maintain that childhood domestic violence is an indicator and a factor that may help in predicting indulgence in adulthood domestic violence (183). During perpetration of domestic violence acts, children are always caught in between the warring parties. Consequently, they develop certain psychological and behavioral attitudes towards either party. Sometimes, in this interaction process, children end up being physically abused once they intervene in defense of the weaker party. Murrell et al. support this line of argument by further informing, â€Å"Many women are abused by intimate partners, millions of children witness such acts, and many of these children are physically abused† (523). Many of such children possess higher chances of portraying violent behaviors dur ing their adulthood. Hence, exposures to domestic violence in the family of origin may act as a subsequent factor that may result to the victimization of one’s partner. Kerley et al. reinforce this argument by claiming, â€Å"this relationship holds not only for direct exposure (experiencing violence), but also for indirect exposure (witnessing violence against a parent or sibling)† (337). Arguably, people’s indulgence in domestic violence following exposure to environments dominated by perpetration of battering may be seen as being caused by intergenerational transmission of battering behavior. However, it is critical to note that there is scholarly evidence that the issue of children witnessing or experiencing violent acts being perpetrated to one of their parents by the other parent has probabilities of making such children practice similar behaviors towards their partners later in adulthood. However, the extent to which their violent acts measures up to the threshold of their experiences remains unclear. Therefore, it remains questionable whether other factors such as social economic status serve to increase the abusive behaviors experienced during childhood or these factors act as independent factors that lead to the portrayal of the abusive behaviors. Role of Poverty in Domestic Violence Poverty and battering are essentially interwoven. This implies that any endeavor to run away from an abusive relationship may expose the victim to some economic challenges, which are often too hard to accept as the status quo. Precisely, any attempt to vacate from one place to another in the quest to escape domestic violence would imply losing housing, jobs, accessibility to one’s partner income, and childcare while also not negating quality health care. This argument is amplified Evans who argues that, in Australia, â€Å"there continues to be a higher prevalence of domestic violence, and more severe physical injury sustained as a result of domestic violence among population groups living with poverty† (36). In this perspective, where one partner is not economically endowed, chances are that, for her or him to continue with normal life economically, he or she needs to endure domestic violence. The severity of poverty in resulting to exaggeration of acerbating violent acts is exemplified by legislation and other state policies. This follows because the policies and the legislation on domestic violence only provide mechanisms of isolation of the victim from the perpetrator without providing for or guaranteeing long-term financial security to the victim. On the other hand, anti-poverty schemes primarily focus on hiking the accessibility to economic resources without paying attention to and inculcating measures to ensure that an abusive partner does not harm the job of the victim. Poverty exposes women who are battered to minimal options. For those women who have low incomes, they have a high probability of being sub jected to discrimination, which has the overall results of reducing their financial security and their safety. For example, some property owners may shun away from renting their houses to women whose rents have been subsidized by their governments. Consequently, it sounds plausible to argue that women who live in low-income neighborhoods are likely to have low economic opportunities and accessibility to employment. Hence, they are more likely to experience battering without escaping away from it. Directly congruent with this argument, Williams further argues that women with low incomes may be compelled to â€Å"seek emergency housing whether they reside in domestic violence or homeless shelters† (143). Thus, poverty is critical in making victims of domestic violence to continue persevering maltreatments acerbated by their partners. Mogford supports this argument by further arguing, â€Å"The effects of a woman’s status on her likelihood of experiencing abuse depend on the social realm within which status operates† (835). Additionally, the author confirms the prior arguments that poverty and domestic violence are intertwined especially in the context of rural areas. Arguably, poverty results to battering due to increased relationship and familial stresses, which have the utmost consequences of posing a limitation to the victims’ capacity to depart from an abusive partner. For many demographic social groups, nonmetropolitan poverty is normally higher than metropolitan poverty. This truncates into making the survivors of domestic violence living in rural areas have limited means of transportation. Consequently, this makes them unable to free from abusive partners to seek refuge in their friends and or families’ homes located far away from their rural dwellings. The argument here is that poverty leads to making the victims of domestic abuse persevere domestic violence acts perpetrated to them by their partners. Audra, Bowlus, an d  Shannon  Seitz. â€Å"Domestic Violence, Employment, and Divorce.† International Economic Review, vol.  47, no. 4, 2006, pp. 1113-1149. Awang, Halimah, and Sharon Hariharan. â€Å"Determinants of Domestic Violence: Evidence from Malaysia.† Journal of Family Violence, vol.  26, no. 6, 2011, pp. 459-464. Evans, Susan. â€Å"Beyond Gender: Class, Poverty and Domestic Violence.† Australian Social Work, vol. 58, no. 1, 2005, pp. 36-43. Kerley, Kent, et al. â€Å"Exposure to Family Violence in Childhood and Intimate Partner Perpetration or Victimization in Adulthood: Exploring Intergenerational Transmission in Urban Thailand.† Journal of Family Violence, vol. 25, no. 3, 2010, pp. 337-347. Krishnan, Suneeta, et al. â€Å"Do changes in spousal employment status lead to domestic violence? Insights from a prospective study in Bangalore, India.† Social Science Medicine, vol.  70, no. 1, 2010, pp. 136-143. Mbilinyi, Lyungai, et al. â€Å"Childho od Domestic Violence Exposure among a Community Sample of Adult Perpetrators: What Mediates the Connection?† Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment Trauma, vol.  21, no. 2, 2012, pp. 171-187. Mogford, Elizabeth. â€Å"When Status Hurts: Dimensions of Women’s Status and Domestic Abuse in Rural Northern India.† Violence against Women, vol. 17, no. 7, 2011, pp. 835-857. Murrell, Amy, et al. â€Å"Characteristics of Domestic Violence Offenders: Associations with Childhood Exposure to Violence.† Journal of Family Violence, vol.  22, no. 7, 2007, pp. 523-532. Runge, Robin. â€Å"The Legal Response to the Employment Needs of Domestic Violence Victims: An Update.† Human Rights, vol.  37, no. 3, 2010, pp. 13-23. Williams, Jean. â€Å"Domestic Violence and Poverty: The Narratives of Homeless Women.† A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 1998, pp. 143-165.

3 Steps to Acing Your Truck Driving Job Interview

3 Steps to Acing Your Truck Driving Job Interview Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to get a trucking job? Whether you’re a rookie driver or a seasoned veteran, the rules are the rules- you’re going to need to interview in order to get hired. Follow these three steps, and you’ll be well on your way. Have a quality resume on-handNo matter how much- or how little- trucking experience you have, you still need a professional resume. Not just some scribbles on a sheet of notepaper, or a hastily-crafted bullet list. You need a properly formatted, proofread, thorough resume on high quality paper. You can get special resume paper at any office supply store. Make sure to have at least 20 copies on hand. If you’re not good with computers, consider asking a friend to help. If you throw them a few bucks, you’ll probably get a great resume out of it.Create an info packetA resume isn’t all you need. Make yourself a folder with the following, and make sure to take it with you on every interview. This kit will include all you’ll need for the interview, as well as the on-boarding process with HR. That way you won’t have to delay starting- or getting paid.A copy of your CDLAn official copy of your birth certificateA copy of your social security cardAn official copy of your truck driving school certificate, if you have onePre-hire letters from other companies considering hiring youYour CSA and DAC reports (if you have worked previously as a truck driver)A copy of your motor vehicle record (MVR)A copy of an updated DOT physical (which is required to get your CDL)Having all of this put together shows hiring manager, the HR rep, and your new boss that you are organized, professional, and respectful of your colleague’s time.Do your pre-interview  homeworkWe all know that an interviewer asks most of the questions. But there is always a point in every interview when the hiring manager will ask what questions you might have. It’s best to be prepared. If you’ve gone to so many interviews that you can’t keep them all straight, make yourself a list to study before each interview. Make sure to note the name and location of the company, whether they have multiple offices throughout the country, who you’d be working for, the name of the HR manager, the name of your interviewer, and any other information you might be able to gather about the company from a Google search or two, as well as your sense of the types of jobs and hauls the company offers.Following these steps will ensure that you remain in control during the interview process. You’ll be ready for anything, so you’ll be at your best and most confident to go in there and land the job.

Corporate Social Responsibility Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Corporate Social Responsibility - Assignment Example Social concerns basically focus on the issues in which the business affects the society. It is also referred to as ‘social justice’, under it the people, societies and culture are accounted for, they are protected through various social programs such as native lands, predatory lending and other forms of corporate hoarding (SRIplanner, 2011). Governance, or Corporate Governance, is not a widely known concept; however it is of major significance. It refers to the manners and ways in which a corporation is managed, incorporating issues such as transparency, executive compensation and general decision making. Hence, it reflects on how well the firm is including CSR in its policies and abiding by them (SRIplanner, 2011). 1.2. Discuss the links between an organizational Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and the organization’s internal stakeholders. The stakeholders of a business are a crucial determinant of the success of any CSR strategy. The stakeholders of a b usiness can be categorized into two broad categories of internal and external stakeholders. This section focuses on the internal stakeholders and their link with the organization CSR strategy. The internal stakeholders of any business include the shareholders, the visitors and the staff/employees of a business. Their participation in the entire strategy is a key factor for attaining success, for if the key departments or staffs do not understand the program, then they would not support it enthusiastically, therefore an error in communication with internal stakeholders or lack of their involvement can bring down the entire CSR strategy by making it weak from the inside. The offices from which the staff operates should show that the firm is...The stakeholders of a business are a crucial determinant of the success of any CSR strategy. The stakeholders of a business can be categorized into two broad categories of internal and external stakeholders. This section focuses on the internal s takeholders and their link with the organization CSR strategy. The internal stakeholders of any business include the shareholders, the visitors and the staff/employees of a business. Their participation in the entire strategy is a key factor for attaining success, for if the key departments or staffs do not understand the program, then they would not support it enthusiastically, therefore an error in communication with internal stakeholders or lack of their involvement can bring down the entire CSR strategy by making it weak from the inside. The offices from which the staff operates should show that the firm is environmentally friendly, the policies related to social endeavors should be hung around the workplace to depict importance, and the CSR efforts should be made public and transparent so that the employees and the people visiting the office can feel that they are connected to a firm that takes up responsibility and accounts for its actions. When the employees feel good about t he place they work in, there would be lesser employee turnover and increased job satisfaction, and since motivation leads to increased productivity and growth, it is a positive sign for the business.

Database Applications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Database Applications - Essay Example n system (CIS) is frequently a minor track inside the computer science area pursuing the study of algorithmic and computers procedures, comprising their principles, hardware and software designs, applications, as well as influence on society. Generally, a IS field puts emphasis on functionality over design (Kwame & Oduro-Kwarteng, 2009). This report presents the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the new software using database technology. In additional, this report will describe the relational database model and the benefits of a DBMS. Also, this report will provide a detailed analysis of the databases and new software implementations. The implementation of modern and up-to-date techniques of information technology in any organization tends to powerfully influence the growth, utilization, and application of business information. In this scenario IS uses a series of processes and methodologies that could be employed to facilitate the development and utilization of an information system. In addition, a number of developers have developed and employed engineering technique like that system development life cycle (SDLC) that is a systematic process of developing an IS by dividing it into phases that occur in series. Additionally, an IS could be developed in house (inside the business) or outsourced (outsourcing to outside firm). Furthermore, this development could be more successful through outsourcing certain parts or the whole system (Kwame & Oduro-Kwarteng, 2009). Kwame & Oduro-Kwarteng (2009) stated that in wide sense, the term IS refers to the communication among algorithmic procedures and technology. However, this communication could happen inside or across organizational boundaries. In addition, an information system is not simply the technology that a business employs, however it is a way in which the organizations implement the cooperation of the technology with the organization’s procedures. However, information systems are different from IT

Night Mist By Jackson Pollack 1945 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Night Mist By Jackson Pollack 1945 - Essay Example icious and what drove things up a notch was that he was an alcoholic and is said to have had bipolar disorder as well, both of which he combated through his art and artistic expression. Pollock died at the age of 44 in a car accident. Abstract expressionism was categorical of a passing era in the 20th century. This was a time when Europe was aging and America was young and getting on its feet. The Second World War had just ended and Europe had been so badly affected by it that it was going to declare itself bankrupt. America was a fledgling and attached itself to Europe’s values because it didn’t know any better and thus was also affected indirectly by the changes that affected Europe directly. (Rodgers). Art historians have determined that there is a strong link between abstract expressionism in this era and the consequent emergence of modern art, most specifically the work of impressionists, cubists and surrealists. (Rodgers). Further, Jackson Pollock himself drew inspiration of his work from the works of Pablo Picasso and was deeply influenced by him as an artist. If abstract expressionism is to be properly analyzed and understood, the viewer needs to look at the subject matter or content of the painting. The subject is exhibited in the painting through a process and can be analyzed by looking at the different gestures in the painting and the range and depth of the colors used. (Rodgers). Pollock’s painting has a lot of anger in it. He incorporates his anger in the process of his painting, and as is the specialty of abstract expressionism, it shows clearly in the final product. He is one of the most controversial and influential artists of this century. His works were very original, each piece completely different from the next and in addition to that, his works are studied for their use of scale, texture and color. (Molyneux). People study art with preconceptions in their minds. According to Jackson Pollock, there are at least 5 things that effect

Ethnographic Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethnographic Narrative - Essay Example In 1990, my minister father along with his wife and six children emigrated from Malawi. As one of their children, I have lived with them in the suburbs of Indiana into my forties, as I am unemployed. My family will be my ethnographic project for African Americans, especially my mother as an unemployed African American woman. My parents struggled to adapt to the US as traditional parents, especially having to raise one American born and six African born children, including myself. Enculturation, education and religion in both the United States and Malawi, are issues that create stress and concern among the immigrated parents, as well as their children. He dà ©cor in the house was of a Victorian nature with a cherry coffee table, pink floral couches, a dining set, a rug, lace doilies and silk floral arrangement that matched the sofa. I was concerned about this when growing up, and especially in my adulthood, as I expected a hint of culture reflected in their home dà ©cor. However, the house always had traditional food, as well as products, mostly from Central Africa. Tea was made in an African manner, meaning that it had a lot of milk and tea leaves. This was indicative of the manner in which most African American immigrants try to blend in with the society but still maintain their traditions (Greenhow, 2010). My mother is very open about the major differences concerned in raising her children in both the United States and Malawi. One of the biggest differences that she experienced had to do with her pregnancy period (Greenhow, 2010). In Malawi, her family and friends would gather and enjoy their time together, but there were no formal parties of this sort in the United States. The baby items that she received for her United States born child included clothes, bottle warmers, diaper bags, carrying packs, and strollers. She never utilized the stroller since back in Africa; she carried her children on her back, not pushing them from one place using a cart as she referred to the stroller. She had the opinion that, unlike back home where concern was more on caring for pregnancy and the mother, in the U.S., more time and money were allocated to acquire items, which were needed by the baby. With her first six children, I included, she felt that the surrounding culture in Africa benefited them mo re, with a native language, Christian values found in school, church and the community. Back, in Africa, not only were we able to make friends rapidly, but parents befriended the other parents and sometimes, they were considered as part of the family (Greenhow, 2010). Here in the United States, my youngest sister, Kate, has gone through a starkly different experience. Before Kindergarten, she only spoke Swahili in the house, watched minimal TV and asked for little. She made her best friends in the church, especially the few that spoke Swahili as she was encouraged by her parents. They had few worries regarding Kate’s interaction with the children that came to our Holiness church. She always emphasized the rest of her children’s strength in their grounding back in Malawi, as well as our strength in numbers. However, as she enters fourth grade, my mother has begun to worry more about her. Being raised almost as an only child because of the new environment she was born in , my mother feels that she possesses a more American outlook towards life. Kate also finds difficultly when socializing compared to us since my parents worry about her safety, when she goes visiting at a friend’s house or playing outside. A good example of a difference between American parents and African parents is their lack of concern for making friends with the parents of their children’s playmates. Kate is also increasingly influenced by fashion trends, unlike us who wear African apparel most of the time. The strength of growing up together is what creates a strong bond between African Americans and their culture (Greenhow, 2010). Therefore, most traditional parents will work hard to

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Essay - 1

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Charity Project - Essay Example Thus, the social enterprises can considered to be a business model which is primarily engaged in promoting sustainable society by generating prospects for better socio-economic and environmental development. Moreover, social enterprises have charitable intentions rather than commercial and profit centred inclinations (Kernot & McNeill, 2011). Since many social enterprises have emerged from the voluntary sector due to which these enterprises are often encountered with unique challenges in growing their business as well as accessing requisite funding (Kickul & Lyons, 2012). Currently, funding has become increasingly difficult for social enterprises to obtain because social enterprises concentrate more on attaining social, economic and environmental sustainability at the cost of growth which might place potential risks on their ability to generate and to access requisite funds (Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition, 2009). The creative problem solving process such as ECI has been proven to be a much effective technique for overcoming issues such as difficulties in fundraising which have unfavourable impacted on the functioning of the social enterprises. Thus, in order to effectively tackle the challenges of fund raising encountered by the social enterprises such as The Children’s Society, Enterprise Case Initiative (ECI) technique has been duly applied for the study. The ECI comprises a few relevant stages, for example, mess finding, problem finding, data finding, solution finding, idea finding and acceptance finding. Additionally, this report critically analyses the environment under which social enterprises are operating in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, this report intends to discuss and to evaluate the challenges encountered by social enterprises like The Childrens Society in the UK. This report shall duly emphasise on ECI model for addressing various fund raising issues associated with T he Childrens Society in the UK. The

Internatinal Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Internatinal Economics - Essay Example Therefore, in zero capital mobility there is no money that is flowing in and/or out of the country (Accounting equation explanation with examples, 2011). The equilibrium of balance of payment which is meaningful under pegged exchanged rate refers to when the government induced transactions of balance of payments are zero when they nominal exchange. In this case, receipts on exports and imports are equal. From the above we can come up with an equation describing the balance of payment: B = T + k Where B is balance of payment, T is trade balance and k surplus of capital account. Therefore the overall is: B = T + k = 0 Under fixed rates of exchange, increased domestic banking will lead to a situation where circulating capital will be reduced since money will be laying in the banks. Due to this the supply of money will decline both abroad and at home. Since banks will reach their desired reserve ratio they will be in a position to lead and loan money conveniently. This will turn force th e prices of commodities to fall both at the national and international level (Wild, 2005). Domestic money shock or domestic monetary shock is the increase or decrease of the supply of money in the economy. ... In addition the reaction may occur in â€Å"real† behavior. Either way, monetary shocks real are in the relative changes in prices (Wild, 2005). Perfect capital mobility can be defined in four distinct ways: Investment rates are not affected by exogenous changes in rates of national saving, condition Feldstein-Horioka. Real rates of interests across a country are equalized by capital flow internationally, real parity interest. The flow of capital equalizes interest rates when conducted using common currency, covered parity interest. Uncovered parity interest, the flow of capital equalizes expected return rates on bonds in spite of exchange risk exposure. Also it is the absence barriers which hinder capital movement internationally. Its requirement are that, return rates on capital in different countries be the at equilibrium. World asset equilibrium is when there is a balance on the assets which are owned by different countries. In the economic theory each and every asset has its fundamental value. But in most cases many assets have a class of specific natural buyers. Assets are more valuable to these natural buyers than to the rest of the buyers. Natural buyers tolerate more risk, therefore, if they can get more money they will spend it asset acquisition there by driving the price of assets up. When capital is perfectly mobile the above scenario is facilitated with ease as opposed to a case where there is zero capital mobility. In such a case, there is no flow of money hence no money to purchase assets and this will lead to a state of in equilibrium (Accounting equation explanation with examples, 2011). When there is perfect capital mobility, world interest rates, price level variables, income, and foreign domestic

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Essay - 1

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Charity Project - Essay Example Thus, the social enterprises can considered to be a business model which is primarily engaged in promoting sustainable society by generating prospects for better socio-economic and environmental development. Moreover, social enterprises have charitable intentions rather than commercial and profit centred inclinations (Kernot & McNeill, 2011). Since many social enterprises have emerged from the voluntary sector due to which these enterprises are often encountered with unique challenges in growing their business as well as accessing requisite funding (Kickul & Lyons, 2012). Currently, funding has become increasingly difficult for social enterprises to obtain because social enterprises concentrate more on attaining social, economic and environmental sustainability at the cost of growth which might place potential risks on their ability to generate and to access requisite funds (Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition, 2009). The creative problem solving process such as ECI has been proven to be a much effective technique for overcoming issues such as difficulties in fundraising which have unfavourable impacted on the functioning of the social enterprises. Thus, in order to effectively tackle the challenges of fund raising encountered by the social enterprises such as The Children’s Society, Enterprise Case Initiative (ECI) technique has been duly applied for the study. The ECI comprises a few relevant stages, for example, mess finding, problem finding, data finding, solution finding, idea finding and acceptance finding. Additionally, this report critically analyses the environment under which social enterprises are operating in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, this report intends to discuss and to evaluate the challenges encountered by social enterprises like The Childrens Society in the UK. This report shall duly emphasise on ECI model for addressing various fund raising issues associated with T he Childrens Society in the UK. The

Barcelona Grid System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Barcelona Grid System - Essay Example The active trend socially and economically drew the city out of its walls and at the end of the thirteenth century another wall was built around the new settlements known as viles noves (new houses). Around the 14th century another stretch of walls began to be constructed. Architects such as Antoni Gaudi in the latter half of the 19th century planned extension of the city on a rigid grid system (History of Barcelona). The grid system occupies space in the form of artistic constructions and wide roads. While this raises the aesthetic feel it aggravates the requirement of modern constructions where space is at premium (Architecture). Today the city of Barcelona is fabulous and one of the costliest in the world to live in. It has beautiful buildings, a university, museum, wide roads, hotels, and golf courses. The city is a marvel and it beckons the world from its pristine Mediterranean shores.

Credit Card Fraud Detection through Data Mining

Credit Card Fraud Detection through Data Mining Abstract With the increasing fraudsters day to day, the fallacious transaction is rapidly growing thus making the frauds in this scenario a matter of high importance. Huge database patterns are identified by various data mining models assisting to strengthen and detect the credit card fraud. This research primarily focusses on Credit Card Fraud Detection analyzing two different methods used to detect fraudulent systems and implement the new technologies to the system to minimize frauds in credit card transactions Keywords- Data Mining, Methods, Credit Card, Fraud Detection, Hybrid Technology, Neural Network, Support Vector System Data Mining is filled with application growth opportunities and research which are reliable and usable from the data. Rapid development of e-commerce, usage of credit card has become well known mode for online and regular transactions, increasing the credit card fraud simultaneously. Fraud detection is a complicated problem as unwanted transactions are hidden in the authoriosed transaction. Due to security reasons and also to gain trust of users credit card fraud detection has now become important to companies. Neural Networks [1], Bayesian Network [2], Hidden NaÃÆ' ¯ve Bayes Network [12], Dempster Shafer [10] are few methods to be justified in detecting the credit card fraudulent system. With the new technologies, it has now become easy for the companies and banks to detect the fraudulent system. With the growing credit card fraud problem in the industry this literature review will help us to understand and detect the techniques involved in detecting the fraudulent system. We will be describing two different approaches Neural Network and Support vector machine approach thus learning a new method to minimize the fraudulent system. This paper helps us to analyze data mining methods with respect to credit card fraud system. A. Neural Network Approach Neural network fraud detection method is primarily based on working of a human brain. Just as the human brain is capable of learning things from the previous experiences and uses the knowledge to decide things occurring in day to day problems the same strategy is used while detecting a credit card fraud with Neural Network system. Neural Network can reflect a small part of complexity and regulation Banks use this kind of network method to detect the credit card fraud. The moment a transaction takes place there are a set of attributes attached to it characterizing the account holder, the amount and the merchant. Considering an example, for the Mellow Bank Fraud Detection Feasibility Study a particular archived amount of data was used for model development as the authorized data wasnt easily available due to security reasons. P-RCE [3] neural network technique is used. P-RCE is used for pattern recognition as it helps to describe what exactly the human brain is thinking about. P-RCE has a single cell layer which outputs a numeric response called as Fraud score. The lower the threshold the more no. of credit card fraud is detected. Higher the credit card detection threshold less no. of fraud is detected. With 2000000 transactions of Mellon Banks data from Oct-Nov 1991, nearly measuring 50 accounts per day 40% of the fraudulent transaction was observed but prior to use of P-RCE method in Mellon Banks feasibility study the result came out to be 1 fraudulent transaction per week on reviewing 750 account per day. The improvement in the fraud detection performance was undeniably considerable. The p attern recognition method can actually help the banks to reduce 20-40% (in total) credit card fraud losses. B. Support Virtual Machine Approach An online transaction has four entities: credit card holder, credit card, the seller and the buyer. There is an independent history of transactions with each set of entities in the data set. Each entity keeps almost a consistent behavior pattern in authorized transactions. The risk of a transaction can be estimated by calculating the inconsistency of a transaction from the history of authorized transactions. Let us define Xe(t) {a1, a2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, an) as the transactional set in the entitys history is equivalent to f(t) beingF(t) {seller, buyer, holder, card) set of entities. We calculate the score of transactions, by defining l = (l1 , l19) [3] with c as value of a feature, as SC(l,e,t) = count(c,Xe(t)) The idea to calculate how near a transaction is related to past authorized transactions therefore we consider only those transactions that are proved legitimate from Xe(t). To train and test a classifier (weight and score) we have a vector in conjunction with the classification: SVM (Support Vector Machines). They are essentially supervised learning models used for analyzing data and recognition of patterns. Using the traditional methods, raw data was classified with SVM to check the impact of general weight in the outcomes and reduce SVM complexity as well. SVM classifier was used in classifying the transactions as fraud or authorized resulting in 40-50% in most months with false alarm rate 10-12%. The online credit card fraud system can be detected and improvised with the Big Data Technologies framework. The main aim is to achieve the goal of fusing various detection methods to enhance the accuracy. A workflow was proposed [13] containing common designs of fraudulent system thus making it easier to integrate identification of fraud system. In recent years, big data platforms were released to process and operate data including MapReduce and Apache Hadoop frameworks (open source for MapReduce). Two components are primarily considered: spouts and bolts. The source of streams is referred to as spout which reads and sends tuples from external source into topology. The data processing is done by Bolt. With the reference, the paper proposes a hybrid structure with Big data efficient in solving challenges related to performance and integration. The basic workflow is defined [13] in the figure. QF- Quick filter, DSA Demper Shafer Adder (combining different fraud scores and generating a merged result), EF- Explicit filter. This workflow is designed by combining different algorithms together for a higher accuracy like two DSAs are combined so that we can aggregate their fraud score to get better accuracy; 2) Another aspect can be considered by combining supervised unsupervised fraud approaches to examine a good cover of types of fraud; 3) The filters used: QF detects only the behavior of card holder whereas EF detects the historical data in the whole model. So, to achieve faster filter we can combine QF and EF as well as to get better efficiency the combination is good to go. In this paper, we have reviewed two data mining detection methods of credit card fraud. The research papers which arent considered here might have comprehensive methods to research and implementations of new detection techniques. This research paper describes: The Neural Network can be implemented in banks to reduce the credit card fraudulent system with it P-RCE algorithm. 2) Support Vector machine can detect the frauds in ecommerce system real time but isnt much reliable for complex frauds. 3) Hybrid technology framework, the workflow is essential to detect frauds in offline system as the method but can improve accuracy, performance and efficiency. To develop a credit card fraud system, the neural network method is best suited according to my understanding as it is efficient, accurate and cost effective thus implemented in Mellon Bank. Neural Network method has some failures as well but gradually with new technology it can overcome. But to develop a strong fraud detection system using credit card we need to combine few more complex detecting methods. References [1] S. Ghosh and D. L. Reilly, Credit card fraud detection with a neural network, in System Sciences, 1994. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Hawaii International Conference on, vol. 3, Jan 1994, pp. 621-630. [2] G. F. Cooper and E. Herskovits. A Bayesian Method for the Induction of Probabilistic Networks from Data. Machine Learning, 9(4):309-347, 1992. Santiago, Gabriel Preti, Adriano Pereira, and Roberto Hirata Jr. A modeling approach for credit card fraud detection in electronic payment services. In Proceedings of the 30th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, pp. 2328-2331. ACM, 2015. Online Credit Card Fraud Detection: A Hybrid Framework with Big Data Technologies You Daià ¢Ã‹â€ -, Jin Yanà ¢Ã‹â€ -, Xiaoxin Tangà ¢Ã‹â€ -, Han Zhaoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚   and Minyi Guoà ¢Ã‹â€ - à ¢Ã‹â€ -Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  School of Computer Science Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China Philip K. Chan, Wei Fan, Andreas 1. Prodromidir, and Salvotore 1. Stalfo, Distributed Data Mining in Credit Card Fraud Detection 2016 IEEE TrustCom/BigDataSE/ISPA H. Michael Chung Fredric C. Gey Data Mining, Knowledge Discovery, and Information Retrieval, Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2001 Agrawal, Ayushi, Shiv Kumar, and Amit Kumar Mishra. Implementation of Novel Approach for Credit Card Fraud Detection. In Computing for Sustainable Global Development (INDIACom), 2015 2nd International Conference on, pp. 1-4. IEEE, 2015. [2008] Abhinav Srivastava, Amlan Kundu, Shamik Sural and Arun K. Majumdar, CreditCard Fraud Detection Using Hidden Markov Model IEEE, Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, Vol. 5, No 1., January-March D. L. Reilly and L. N. Cooper, An overview ofneural networks: early models to real worldsystems, in An Introduction to Neural and Electronic Networks, ed. S. F. Zometzer, J. L. Davis and C. Lau, 227-248, Academic Press, (1990). S. Panigrahi, A. Kundu, S. Sural, and A. Majumdar, Credit card fraud detection: A fusion approach using dempstershafer theory and Bayesian learning, Information Fusion, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 354 363, 2009. Z. D. Zhao and M. s. Shang, User-based collaborative-filtering recommendation algorithms on hadoop, in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, 2010. WKDD 10. Third International Conference on, Jan 2010,pp. 478-481. [12] Jiang, Liangxiao, Harry Zhang, and Zhihua Cai. A novel Bayes model: Hidden naive Bayes. IEEE Transactions on knowledge and data engineering 21, no. 10 (2009): 1361-1371. [13] Dai, You, Jin Yan, Xiaoxin Tang, Han Zhao, and Minyi Guo. Online Credit Card Fraud Detection: A Hybrid Framework with Big Data Technologies. In Trustcom/BigDataSE/Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ SPA, 2016 IEEE, pp. 1644-1651.IEEE, 2016.

Accounting Theory Essay -- essays research papers

Accounting is in the current state of being an art. It is referred to as a social science, but the question that still remains in view today is should accounting be an art or should it actually be a science? Although the move to scientific based accounting would be desirable in today’s society it is not possible. When you consider the facts of this issue in a true debate style, the scientific based approach does not work and cannot do today what the current system does for its users. Accountants provide information that is reliable, verifiable and precise. As well it is crucial those accountants are considered trustworthy and that the information can be confirmed by another source. Without this there is no future of accounting and there would have never been a past. Accounting is left open to interpretation to those who need to view the information. Many different people look at accounting information, many different cultures, organizations and ethnic groups use this information for different reasons. To make accounting scientific based makes it one set or rules, a set of laws to follow by. If you held a gun to a scientist and said make the speed of light faster he could not change the speed of light, because it is a scientific based law. One set of properties defines that law. In accounting we need different information for different situations. Internal departments require different information then external and as such their needs to be different rules and gui delines. ...

Analysis Of Relationships In Fijian Society :: essays research papers

Fijian relationships between men and women have undergone many changes since the introduction of Western influences. These changes are due to the desire to become more "Westernized" and therefore, incorporating the ideals that they perceive are important within Western society to their culture. This has caused relationships based upon an idealized version of "love". These Western influences, such as movies, magazines, and books make it seem as if many people have casual sex, and that they are all in "love" relationships. They portray love as this necessary aspect in a relationship and do not focus upon the amount of time that the majority of people feel is necessary in order to fall in love. Fijian society does not encourage relationships that are conducive to the Western view of "love" because they focus upon separation between men and women, and do not encourage cross sexes to spend time together before they are married. Even after marriage, separation between the sexes is promoted through division of labor and male dominance within the marriage. Since Fijian relationships have applied the idea of "love" to relationships which are based upon separation and male domination, idealized "love" relationships are occurring. This can be seen in premarital relationships in the fact that many of the couples do not have a friendship before they have a relationship, and often claim to be in love Premarital relationships are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. Couples do not get to see each other often and when they do they often meet in crowded areas so that it is not suspected that they are together. It is not uncommon to have long distance relationships Many of the traditional means for choosing a spouse, such as parents influence and male domination, have remained as strong influences. This is because premarital relationships are based on this idealized view on "love" and therefore, are not strong enough to basis marriage choices upon. Marriage relationships have changed due to Western influences, they however are also retaining many of the traditional views. Traditionally marriages were arranged. However, due to Western influence Fijians are now having "love" marriages. These marriages are facing many of the same issues that premarital relationships are. Because of separation of the sexes, these marriages are not based upon significant amounts of time spent together. They are instead being based upon traditional views. These relationships are based on little contact.

Most Intriguing Person I Have Met Essay

Introduction God is omnipresent and omnipotent. His representatives are Angels whose food is only fasting. They fly in the air as they take themselves very light. God and His angels could send only leaders, messengers, prophets to earth to proclaim about the goodness of God and to enable humanity to bear a fruitful life by following virtues and characteristics of God. He was disappointed, when it did not return expected results. God was on the look out for permanent person who is faithful, honest and trustworthy and who represent His kind-of on earth. God finally found â€Å"mothers† as his carnation, who would be kind, forbearing and have enough fortitude to transform hearts, minds and to spread the gospel of god’s goodness on earth. My mother was the most influential and inspirational person in my life until she passed away on February 28, 2004. Her life was extraordinarily courageous, hard working and self-reliant who lived a life in extreme hardships and confronted lachrymose situations. Read more: Essay the person I admire is my mother Mothers But Jesus turning to them said, â€Å"Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.   Jesus at the time of carrying cross was experiencing great pain and agony. Even so, his heart moved when he saw women weeping for him. He felt that children should be the greatest priority in a woman’s life. Women who are the pillars of family, have the ability to transform lives through prayers. Prayer without penitence is a mere waste. Penitence brings tears and tears bring blessings from Heaven to families. This is exactly what Jesus meant by saying the above. Hard work â€Å"Hard work pays† is what she believed all through. Her single income, was insufficient to make both ends meet. Her financial planning, domestic chores, and struggle is absolutely inspiring, who had to question herself for every challenge she encountered and find answer all by herself alone. A unique life, while giving smiles outside, inside of her heart, there were volcanic pressures of all kinds and sizzles in life. My mother as a single parent, single income, executed hard work in rearing her children by providing good education, teaching life skills, settling the lives with good spouse and cherished the happiness with two daughters, two son-in-laws and four grand children. Spoke like a lioness with strangers and guarded her children like a hen that covered and protected her chickens under storms and strong winds. As a child I admired her initiativeness, courage and indispensable attitude. Amidst of huge loss in life, she sought happiness in devotion, gardening, social work and her grand children. Nobody could seize away her smiles and happiness even in the midst of life’s biggest storms. She prepared herself for every day. Her accostic approach to life was to see the positive side of life and never to look back. Her famous quote to me was â€Å"see the page, turn the page and do the work†. Long time before, she predicted that I would become a writer one day, which absolutely became true. Her absence now, declares â€Å"mothers are always right† and it is good for sons and daughters to carry the legacy of goodness of mothers to further generations, to spread a network of humility. After all, children should reflect with the moralistic features of parents. Courage In my childhood, her wake-me up rhyme was â€Å"cocks crow in the morning, to tell us to rise, for he who lies late, will never be wise. For early to bed and early to rise, makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise.† She taught good things to her children and worked as a dedicated, determined and devoted mother. Bold and courageous even in trial period and solved the problems all by herself. She was deprived of all the happiness as a wife, she was entitled to, as any other woman. A Son who was expected to shoulder and strengthen his mother, in the absence of husband, suffered from a chronic illness for two decades, and at last passed away leaving her in great agony and depressment. Her energies, finances, effort to make her son survive, in order to just retain his presence on life’s long stage, were simply washed away with the passage of time. She survived this loss and tried to rebuild her life again, through her two daughters. Self-reliance & Self-less sharing Her another famous quote was â€Å"the works performed early in the morning in due diligence and early born children will take you to a land of success†. Situations make people strong, confident and courageous. She administered great respect for her sisters, brothers, friends and relatives and earned good name as â€Å"courageous and hard working† person. She respected, cared and helped all those she can in her employment. â€Å"Cut the coat according to the cloth† is what she believed in. Absolute and careful money management in providing needs for her children and without incurring any debts, all the hard-earned money, she saved for her children. After her retirement from government service, I expected a little rest and happiness to come her way as old age demands. She was attacked from a stroke and suffered for three years on bed in her final stage of battle in life. This made me to groan within, as to why good people are often chosen as silent sufferers and how things slip out of hand. A person who has passed through too many extreme situations in life, underwent much more struggle even in the last days of her life. Truly her passing way made me a whole new person to realize, that often good things are to be preserved and the teachings of mother can never be ignored. Conclusion â€Å"When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman behold thy son!†   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Then he saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home† Mother Mary, loved Jesus as her dear son. On crucifixion of Jesus, she was standing near the cross, in great tears. Jesus too was worried about his mother. He chose his dear disciple, to take care of Mother Mary. Jesus, discharged the duty as a dear son, which is a promising characteristic feature of Jesus, amidst of great suffering. Good mothers are very few, who sacrifice their lives and take pain to walk an ‘extra mile’ each time, for others sake. Hard working, courageous, self-less and sacrificial mother is an extraordinary mother whose character is entirely divine and philosophical. Such lives are blessed and those generations of children often build an ethical and moralistic society. My mother’s life was lead by God’s presence at every phase of her life and she did the best than any other ordinary mother could have done as better than what is received by her children, through her sincere and honest efforts. On her memorial service, the following lines were written by me: You have hatched our lives Leveled our wings. Just as birds fly with confidence We lead our lives to this day. Your unproclaimed good deeds speaks to us Although, you are away from us. Help us to day and tomorrow. May the Almighty bestow His presence To your near and dear offering Comfort and peace forever. Bid adieu Mother, ***

Nigeria Labour Congress Demand for the Review of the National Minimum Wage and General Wage Review

Today, Nigerians who are lucky to have jobs are finding it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to survive on their monthly pay. The major reason for this is that the pay of the Nigerian worker is not only one of the lowest in the world; it has also not improved as it should in the face of changes in market conditions. Workers in the public sector are particularly worse off.As huge revenues have continued to be acquired from the sweat of workers, the pay and conditions of workers have continued to deteriorate; workers have increasingly been excluded from the wealth created by their labour. In Nigeria, the difference in pay between managers and workers is not only one of the highest in the world: out of every N1 paid as wages, managers collect more than 80 kobo while workers receieve less than 20 kobo; the difference has been increasing over the years.At the same time, owners and managers of banks, top government officials and members of the political class have seen their pay a nd wealth swell ostronomically while workers have had to survive on starvation wages. Workers can no longer survive on what they earn; the situation is made worse by the fact that those who work also have to support family members who form part of the huge army of the unemployed. It has become crystal clear that there is an urgent need for an upward review of the national minimum wage and an upward general review of wages and salaries.History of wage reviews fought by workers This is not the first time that workers would be asking for a general upward review of wages and an increase in the National Minimum Wage. Between 1945 when workers staged the famous 45 days general strike for a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25% general wage through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidation Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15% by Obasanjo, workers have struggled at 15 times to have wages improved and a national minimum wage legislated upon.But the struggles produced notable victories for workers and the NLC, it was usually the case that: the National Minimum Wage was always set below the minimum wage needed by workers to survive. Because of the inadequacy of the wage, some state governments elected on their own to pay more. Even then, there were also some 1 state governments that pay less than the stipulated national minimum wage. The result was that workers always could not cope. The wage reviews were largely unstructured; sometimes negotiated wages were changed by government through circulars; at other times, government effected unilateral wage increases.Agreements reached with government were sometimes distorted at implementation or not implemented at all by government. For example, the 2000 Wage Review Agreement provided for a further 25per cent wage increase for workers with effect from May 1, 2001, and 15 per cent wage increase with effect from May 1, 2002. This was not implemented. Following industrial dispute over this a 121/2 percent increase rather than the 35 per cent agreement in 2000, was signed in 2003. But in the end, only an increase of between 4 and 12 1/2 per cent was implemented by the Federal Government.Although the Shonekan Committee was set up against this background and recommended a 25% increase in salaries, Obasanjo unilaterally implemented a 15% increase in 2007. Government also failed to abide by the timeframes set out for subsequent negotiations with workers. Workers always had to fight to get government to agree to collective bargaining even when the procedure was agreed in previous negotiations. Today, workers find that they have to fight yet again to get government to agree to negotiate a new National Minimum Wage and a general upward review of wages.Rationale for Upward Wage Review today There are several reasons why there must be an upward review of workers wages today. The consequence of the abdication of the agreed approach to the implementation of the phased-wage increases has been that wages and salaries are today sharply depressed and incapable of meeting the basic needs of most workers. In the last one year, inflation has intensified with the cost of living index in the urban sector increasing by over 14 per cent. The disproportionate increase (20. 9 percent) in the cost of food means that the erosion in the real wages and salaries of workers is alarmingly severe.The process of monetizing and consolidating in-kind benefits which were hitherto not taxed has resulted in an escalation of the tax paid by workers. This has further depressed the real take home pay of workers. 2 All over the world, salary increase in the public sector is underlined by the principle of equity and the need to bridge social inequality in the face of widening economic and social gaps amongst citizens of a country. In Nigeria, while workers’ salaries increased by 15 percent between 2006 and 2007, those of political office holders increased by over 800 percent. The 2008 increase in the compensation of political office holders has further aggravated the disparity (Table 1). On average, their compensation package has been doubled. We need to reduce this disparity for greater equity, productivity and morale. TABLE 1: Salaries of Political Office Holders (Pre and Post Consolidation) S/N Categories 1 Special Assistant to the President; Chief Speech Writer to the President; Chief Press Secretary to the President Members, House of Representatives; Deputy Chief of Staff TTP; Senior Special Assistant, TTP. Ministers of State; Senators; Principal Officers of the House of Representatives; Special advisers TTP.Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives; Minister; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Chief of Staff TTP; National Security Adviser; Chief Economic Adviser; Inspector General of Police; Chairmen, Federal Civil Service Commission, Federal Character Commission, National Salaries, Incomes, & Wag es Commission, Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Commission. Deputy President of the Senate; Justices of the Supreme Court; President, Court of Appeal. Speaker of the House of Representatives. HASS (Basic) 626,700 865,200 CONSS* 4,392,012 13,102,402 3 4 1,015,700 13,374,240 1,194,600 15,094,426 5 6 7 1,403,700 15,240,500 1,649,400 16,348,926 Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ; 1,938,000 21,524,164 President of the Senate; Chief Justice of Nigeria . 8 President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed 2,506,000 24,954,405 Forces of Nigeria . *Source: National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Abuja 3 In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Nigeria ought to be paying one of the highest minimum wages, given its resources and level of development.The reality, however, is that the existing minimum wage in Nigeria is one of the lowest in Africa. Table 2 presents the data for Sub-Saharan Africa. The data in the table takes adequate account of the need to adjust the wages to differences in the cost of living or what is called the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Table 2: Minimum Annual Wage Levels in African Countries ($USD) Country Minimum Special Notes PPP PPP-Based Wage Factor Minimum Wage Angola 1511 1. 975 2984. 23 Botswana 3011 2. 106 6341. 17 DRC 468 2. 077 972. 04 Kenya 948 2. 534 2402. 3 Lesotho 1080 For Manufacturing 1. 847 1994. 76 Madagascar 336 3. 107 1043. 95 Malawi 407 3 1221. 00 Mozambique 1177 2. 129 2505. 83 Nigeria 550 2. 274 1250. 70 South Africa 2780 Farm Minimum 1. 651 4589. 78 Wage: $975 Swaziland 1369 1. 958 2680. 50 Tanzania 1680 2. 8 4704. 00 Zambia 1147 1. 81 2076. 07 Average 1266 2674. 33 The current national minimum wage of N7,500 is far below the minimum cost of providing basic needs for the worker and his / her immediate family. Our survey shows that today the minimum cost of providing for basic needs is N58,200 (Table 2).This estimate is based on threshold hardship levels in which 6 or 8 people may be forced to live in one or two rooms and endure a dietary and living style that is most rudimentary. Additionally, it should be noted that N18,000 is allegedly spent on the feeding of one prison inmate monthly, while the estimate here is merely N20,000 for the feeding of a family of 6 per month. 4 An examination of the cost of living since the enactment of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 shows clearly that the cost of living index has risen so much that the real value of the minimum wage set by the law has virtually been wiped out.Employing published data on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 2000 till July 2008, and taking into account developments in the overall economy and compensation adjustments since 2000, the minimum wage of workers in 2008 can be computed. This computation shows that in real terms, the minimum wage of workers would have to be adjusted upwards by a minimum factor of 4 in order to maintain the relative position of the least pai d worker in the national compensation structure established in 2000.Thus, the appropriate amount required in 2008 to maintain the real value of the National Minimum Wage set in 2000 would be (N11,213. 52 x 4=N44,856). Table 2: Estimated Monthly Cost of Meeting Basic Needs for a Representative Family * Item Accommodation Utilities a. Electricity b. Water c. Kerosene d. Communication Food Clothing Medical Education Cleaners, Soap and Detergents Entertainment, Recreation Communication Miscellaneous Total Cost (N) 6,000 1,000 500 4,000 2,000 20,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 1,300 and 1,000 1,500 N58,500Our Demands Based on the foregoing Congress demands: (i) A new National Minimum Wage of N52,200. This is the approximate average of the minimum wages when we take into consideration Minimum Annual Wage Levels in African Countries, the minimum cost of providing basic needs for the worker and his / her immediate family and the cost of living data. 5 (ii) that the Federal Government sets up a tripar tite committee as a matter of urgency to negotiate and agree on this, so that the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 can be amended to reflect the new amount.It is instructive to note that current negotiations on fixing a minimum wage for Ghana has recently reached preliminary agreement within the tripartite framework to adopt the basic needs approach in computing the minimum wage. (iii) an amendment to the Act to the effect that the National Minimum Wage law should apply to any establishment employing 20 or more workers, instead of the 50 workers currently stipulated by law. (iv) a general wage review; there is an urgent need to commence negotiations in both the public and private sectors so as to agree on new compensation packages. v) a wage review in the public sector based on the minimum wage computed above. Currently, the least salary in the Civil Service under the Consolidated Civil Service Salary Structure is N133,564 per annum or N11,130 per month. The new salary structure recom mended by the Congress is based on the least salary of N52,200 per month or N626,400 per annum, which is the proposed new national minimum wage. The new Consolidated Salary Structure would then be constructed so as to maintain the existing relativities in the salary structure.Sustainability and Affordability of NLC’s Demands Is the minimum wage proposed by the NLC reasonable, sustainable and affordable? Can the nation pay the new national minimum wage? The answer to both and related questions is an overwhelming YES! It is a resounding YES for the following reasons: (i) An increase in the purchasing power and effective demand of workers will increase the demand for goods and services and translate into growth for the economy. The morale, and therefore, productivity of workers will be greatly enhanced by the wage review. ii) Nigeria earns enough revenues, even with the downward slide in oil prices, to be able to pay. The problem in Nigeria is massive corruption by members of th e political and administrative elite and not lack of resources. To be sure, paying the new minimum wage will require that members of the political class cut their level of stealing of public funds. This will not be a bad thing; in fact, it will be good for the economy. (iii) If the economy can accommodate the huge sums spent on political office holders, it can accommodate a general upward review of wages and a national minimum wage as proposed.In any case, more resources should be devoted to the productive workers in any economy. Apart from political office holders, the profits declared in most areas of the private sector, continue to be massive. Even sectors which are contracting their operations continue to declare huge profits. Therefore, the public and private sectors of the economy are capable of paying higher wages. 6 Framework Proposed for the Negotiations The national minimum wage negotiations should be carried out within the tripartite framework, with workers, NECA and gove rnment represented.The emerging agreement from this negotiation should then be forwarded to the National Assembly as a Draft Amendment to the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000. At the conclusion of the minimum wage negotiation, the public service wage review negotiation should commence between labour and representatives of government, both Federal and States. Private sector negotiations should susequently take place within the existing sectoral framework of collective bargaining. On the general wages review, we wish to call on government to adopt the framework of collective bargaining, with representatives of all public sector employers, whetherFederal or State Governments, as employers, not as governments. Conclusion Congress makes these demands with great patriotism, sensitivity and responsibility. Congress holds that collective bargaining and negotiations with trade unions are sacrosanct and in consonance with the spirit of democracy. Congress calls on government to set up the nece ssary structures for the negotiations without further delay. To delay negotiations will further compound the living conditions of workers of Nigeria in the face of the alarming mass poverty already destroying their lives. February 2009 7