Scene analysis of the movie Making of an American Citizen Review

Scene analysis of the Making of an American Citizen - Movie Review Example It is important to understand and analyze one of the scenes that capture the feministic nature of Blache’s work. The scene that will be analyzed is titled, In The Land of Freedom, His First Lesson in Americanism. The Scene like the rest of the film is a silent film in black and white. The scene and the whole film is accompanied by instrumental music and the sound of the violin can be easily heard. This helps in creating a dramatic feel of the film. The first shot of the camera is a still shot on a busy street with people moving up and down. The Camera is very near to the people on focus that the ratio of the shot is nearly equal to the view. The objects of focus are captured in full view and they can be seen to be very near the camera. The camera pans and the shot focus on Ivan Orloff and his wife who is carrying a huge sack while Ivan walks admiring the new environment. The camera pans horizontally to show Ivan holding a stick while pushing his wife like a mule amidst the cro wd that stares at him. The next camera shot is a still shot which shows Orloff and his wife getting lost in the crowd behind the camera. The camera turns its focus to the other people who are better dressed with their wives while at the same time, their wives are shown to be happy and walking hand in hand with the husbands. The camera remains still as the people move across it with the aspect ratio of the shot being normal. There is a cut in the scene and the next shot shows Ivan Orloff with his wife on a dockyuard. The wife is shown to be tired as she drops the sack she had been carrying on the ground. Ivan is shown to abuse his wife as he raises the whip to beat her like a mule. In the background of the shot, a steam or ship passes across the focus of the shot. The distance between the camera and the objects of focus is a bit more compared to the previous shots. As he pokes the stick on his wife, the focus of the camera captures the moment while the steamboat passes in the backgro und. A well-clad gentleman walks and stops Ivan from tormenting his wife. The camera slightly pans from the right to the left to capture the whole scene. The gentleman is an American and he is wearing a suit which makes the distinction between Ivan’s ruffian look and behavior and that of an American citizen. The focus of the camera remains on the three objects with the background clear. The American gentleman is shown to be talking and convincing Ivan not to treat his wife like a mule. The shot concentrates on the three as the gentleman offers a helping hand to the Ivan’s wife. He then lifts the sack and gives it to Ivan to carry. Ivan is reluctant while he tries to imply that his wife should carry the load. After more convincing, the focus shows Ivan accepting to carry the load while his wife is given the stick, which Ivan had been using to treat her like a mule. The wife is also shown to be reluctant to take the stick but she is forced by the American gentleman to us e the stick to drive Ivan in front. The scene is cut with Ivan and his wife being pushed to walk away with the interchanged roles. The neighbors are shocked to see Ivan in the next shot carrying the sack while entering the building. Blache uses still and slightly panned shots in the scene to enable her create an effective and artistic production. The Scene helps to show how a ruffian is taught several lessons on adapting to

Discuss the history of the oil industry in the Middle East, including Essay

Discuss the history of the oil industry in the Middle East, including North Africa - Essay Example The production capacity between these two sides is looked into details to give a precise account of the history of oil production. Analysis Oil deposits were discovered in the Middle East and were collected for a variety of uses; by then there was no venture of exploitation for commercial purpose. This was the period of 18th century and the petroleum found was used as a new source of fuel. Oil exploitation for commercial purposes started officially in the 19th century. It was discovered that the Middle East had great oil reserves and, therefore, this impacted the decision of oil exploitation (Beltran, 234-239). When it was noted that Persia had oil deposits, the British business man called D’Arcy William asked the Persian government to grant him a concession to be able to explore oil in the country. They agreed at sharing the profit from the oil that would be extracted and share at a given percentage. He started officially extracting oil and making great sales within the perio d but along the way he ran bankrupt and, therefore, sorted assistance from the British government. During that period, around 1905, a British company named Burmah Oil was the only one operating in that region and was in a stable condition and able to ran the exploitation processes efficiently. Therefore the British government pressurized the company to give William the necessary assistance that he required to continue with the extraction processes so as to avoid a situation where he could have sold it another state or company. The company accepted the offer and several ventures were made to exploit the oil deposits. After 1905, several advances were conducted within the Middle East and large amounts of oil deposits were discovered. These lead to an increase in the percentage of oil production within the Middle East. Oil was further discovered in the areas of Arabia, peninsula Caspian Sea, Iraq and Kuwait. Till this period, the exploitation and extraction were only done by the compan ies and the countries only received concessions. These means that the countries were receiving so much less of the actual produce profit. The problem arose to the fact that the money received from the share profit of the oil extraction was poorly used by the corrupt members of government. The end result was that the whole nation was not benefiting from the oil extraction projects, but only the elite members of the country. These led to backward growth of the economy of the countries. Take, for example, Venezuela: it was faced by extreme corruption and overexploitation of the only resource that was supposed to support the whole country which led to the crumbling of the economy. Within the Middle East, politics started taking tall and affecting oil exploitation. Another problem arose at the start of the World War II where oil deposits were being bombed to cripple the energy sector of the army. The U.S and Europe which was producing plenty of petroleum decided to fuel its allies in the war, which created a big problem to the Middle East. The Muslims were unable to concentrate in the production of oil and the U.S found a chance to control the oil exploitation (Cook, 56-76). A report that was conducted by the team of DeGoyler reported to the state department that Saud Arabia was sitting on oil deposits worth 20 billion dollars. The real estimate of oil

Mergers and Acquisitions: Indian Banking Consolidation

Mergers and Acquisitions: Indian Banking Consolidation Globally it has been found that the mergers and acquisition have become one of the major ways to corporate restructuring which has also struck the financial services industry which has experienced merger waves leading to the emergence of huge banks and financial institutions. The main reason for mergers is intense competition among the companies in the same industry which put focus on economies of scale, efficiency in cost and profitability. Some other factors leading to the mergers is the too big to fail principle followed by the authorities. In few countries like Germany, weak banks were forcefully merged to avoid the problem financial distress arising out of bad loans and erosion of capital funds. Several academic studies have analyzed merger related gains in banking and these studies have adopted two approaches. The first approach deals with evaluating the long term performance of the merger by analyzing the accounting information such as return on assets, operating costs and eff iciency ratios. A mergers is considered to have led to improved performance if the the change in the accounting based performance is superior to the changes in the performance of the comparable banks that were not involved in the merger activity during that period. Another approach is to analyze the gains in stock price of the bidder and the target company around the announcement of the merger. In this approach the merger is assumed to create value if the combined value of the bidder and target banks increase on the announcement of the merger and the consequent and the stock prices reflect the potential value of the acquiring banks. The objective of this paper is to present a panoramic view of merger trends in India and to ascertain two important perceptions of stake-holders, shareholders and managers and to discuss dilemmas and other issues of this topic of Indian banking. Review of Literature for impact of mergers The two important issues which are examined by various academic studies relating to bank mergers are: impact of mergers on the operating performance and efficiency of the banks Impact of mergers on the market value of the equity of both bidder and the target banks. Cornett and Tehranian (1992) and Spindit and Tarhan (1992) provided evidence for increase in post-merger operating performance. However the studies of Berger and Humphrey (1992), Piloff (1996) and Berger (1997) did not find any evidence in increase in post-merger operating performance. Berger and Humphrey (1994) also reported that most of the studies that examined pre-merger and post-merger financial ratios found no impact on operating cost and profit ratios. The reasons for mixed evidence are: lag between completion of merger process and the realization of benefits of mergers, sample selection and the methods adopted in the financing of mergers. Further, the financial ratios may be misleading indicators of performance because they do not take into account for product mix or input prices. On the other hand researches may also could have confused scale and scope efficiency gains with what is known as X-efficiency gains. Recent studies have explicitly employed frontier X-efficiency met hods to identify the X-efficiency benefits of bank mergers. Few studies have also analyzed the potential benefits and scale economies of mergers. Landerman (2000) explored diversification benefits to be had from banks merging with non banking financial service firms. Simulated mergers of US banks and non-bank financial service firms demonstrated that diversification of banks into insurance business and securities brokerage is optimal for reducing the probability of bankruptcy for bank holding companies. Wheelock and Wilson (2004) found that expected merger activity in US banking industry is positively related to management rating, size of the bank, competitive position and geographical location of banks and is negatively related to market concentration. The second issue determined was the analysis of merger gains in terms of the gains in stock price performance of the bidder and the target banks on announcement of merger. In this case a merger is expected to create value only if the combined value of the bidder and target companies increases after the declaration of the merger. However a lot of studies have failed to find any direct relationship between the merger and the gains in performance or in shareholder wealth. But there are reasons for mixed evidence as a merger announcement also takes in to account the way the deal is financed .If equity offerings are used it may be interpreted as overvaluation by the issuer. Therefore the negative announcements returns to the firms that are bidding can be attributed to the negative signalling which is completely unrelated to the value which is created by the merger. Returns to the bidders companies shareholders is greater when the merger is totally financed with cash than in mergers in whi ch financing is done through equity offering. There is one more problem with this event study analysis as if there is a consolidation wave going on; mergers are anticipated by stockholders and analyst. Potential candidates for the mergers are highlighted and made popular by the financial press and the stock market analysts. In these cases the event study analysis may fail. Therefore an analysis of mergers across the world and a literature review does not provide strong evidence on the benefits gained by banks in the mergers in the banking industry. Also the findings of the literature also contrast with the findings of the consultants who find a considerable cost savings and operational efficiency achieved through mergers. The reasons why academic study do not find cost benefits and the consultants highlight this fact are Consulates may study a potential cost savings which may not materialize They tend to highlight potential cost saving activities and the economist study all the activities. They tend to be biased towards successful cases and ignore the unsuccessful ones. They tend blow up the benefits achieved while the benefits may be miniscule if accounted on a relative terms. The academic studies provide motivation for the examination and evaluation of two important issues pertaining to the mergers and acquisition to the Indian banking. Do mergers help in improving the operational performance and result in cost savings However in India most of the mergers are forced by the central bank in order to protect the interest of the depositors and avoid financial distress therefore the above mentioned reason is rarely found in the mergers activities. Do merger provide abnormal gains and returns to the acquirer and the target banks upon the declaration Consolidation Trends Observed in India Improving the operational performance and cost efficiency has always been a priority in Indian banking sector and has been a major issue of discussions in the policy formulation by the government of India in the consultation and with the central bank (Reserve Bank of India). Several committees have also been formed in order to suggest structural changes to achieve this objective. Some of the major committees formed are Banking Commission, 1972 Chairman R.G Saraiya, 1976 chairman : Manubhai Shah Committee for the functioning of public sector banks, 1978 chairman : James S Raj These committees have suggested the restructuring of the Indian banking system with an objective to improve the process of credit delivery and also suggested the idea of having around 3 to 4 large banks which have a pan India presence and the rest of the bank should be present at the regional level. The major thrust on consolidation started with the Narasimham committee in 1991. It emphasised and embarked upon consolidation and merger in order to make the Indian banks huge in size and also comparable to the global banks. A second Narasimham committe was also formed in 1998 which suggested mergers and consolidation among the strong banks in public as well as private sector and also with other financial institutions, NBFC (Non Banking Financial Companies). Now we will have a look at some of the recent trends in consolidation in Indian banking. Restructuring of weak Indian Banks Amongst other routes government of India has adopted mergers as a means to achieve restructuring of the Indian banking system. Many banks which are small in size and are weak are merged with other banks which are stronger and are larger to protect the interest of the depositors and also to avoid financial distress. These types of mergers can be termed as forced mergers. Hence when a banks shows symptoms of sickness like increasing size of NPAs, reduction in the net worth and substantial decline in capital adequacy ratio, RBI forces moratorium under the section 45(1) of the Banking Regulation act 1949 for a specified period on the activities and the operations of the working of the sick bank. In this period a strong bank is identified and asked to prepare and present a scheme of merger with the weak bank. In this case the acquirer banks takes hold of all the assets of the weak bank and ensures the depositors of their money in case they want to withdraw. The mergers which took place in the pre-reform period fall into this category. In the post reform period 21 mergers have taken place out of which 13 are forced mergers where RBI has intervened. The main reason for these mergers was the protection of the depositors interest and avoids the financial distress. Mergers which took place voluntarily Apart from forced mergers there have been few mergers in which expansion, diversification and growth were the major motives and in which RBI did not intervene or force. The first merger of this kind took place in 1993 when the Times Bank was acquired by HDFC bank which was followed by acquisition of Bank of Madura by the ICICI Bank. The latest of these is merger of Lord Krishnan Bank with Centurion Bank of Punjab. Although in all these deals the target bank suffered with low profitability, Increase in NPA and lack of alternate revenues in order to provide cushion for capital adequacy but these mergers were not forced. There was no regulatory intervention in these mergers however the motives behind these mergers may not necessarily be scale of economies and achieving market power. For instance ICICI bank acquired bank of Russia with a motive of entry in to Russia although it just had one branch. SBI acquired 51% stake in Mauritian Bank through Indian Ocean International Bank which wil l be integrated with the State Bank of Indias International business as a subsidiary. Integration of Financial Services and Achieving Universal Banking Model Several developmental financial institutions have been formed over a period of time in India in order to improve the efficiency of allocation of resources to different segments of the economy. However because of the flexibility given by the RBI to the banks in the credit delivery process the banks have increased and diversified their loan portfolio to various areas such as project finance, long-term loans, and other specialised sector lending. This is the reason why DFIs have become redundant. A working capital group (1998) was appointed by RBI which has recommended the universal model of banking by exploring the possibility of mergers between various sets of financial entities based on economical considerations. Similarly in the private sector ICICI merger with its subsidiary bank and IDBI (industrial Development Bank of India) was incorporates as a public sector bank which acquired private sector bank IDBI bank in 2004. In order to provide integrated financial services and achieve operation efficiencies many public sector banks have acquired their subsidiaries, for instance Andhra Bank acquired its housing finance subsidiary Andhra Bank Housing Finance LTD, Bank of India acquired BOI finance Ltd and BOI Asset Management Company Ltd. Acquisition of similar types took place in the private sector as well. Alignment of Operations of Foreign Banks with Global Trends As the Parent banks went under reconstruction process their parts operating in India also started restructuring. For example, Standard Charted Grindlay bank was formed due to acquisition of ANZ Grindlay by the Standard Charted Bank. Similarly due to acquisition of two Japanese banks like Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank Ltd the Indian operations of Sakura Bank were merged with Sumitomo Bank in 2001.Forign banks were permitted to enter into merger and acquisition transaction with any of the private sector bank in India with a condition that the overall investment limit limit will be 74 per cent after the second phase of WTO commitments which commenced in April 2009. This may lead to further consolidation in the Indian banking sector. Merger and Consolidation of Cooperatives, RRBs and UCBs Small banks present in India apart from other banks are co-operative banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs). These are formed for fulfilling the credit requirements of agriculture, small traders and SSI and other rural economic activities. All of these institutions are suffering from bad loans, operational inefficiencies, and Poor recovery of loans. This proved to be a barrier for further lending and financial intermediation. A committee formed under Jugdish Capoor suggested voluntary amalgamations or merger of these co-operatives based on various criterias like economies of scale, especially in areas where the operations of these banks have become unviable and there are no more in a position to supply credit to agriculture sector. 28 RRBs were consolidated into 9 new RRBs in September 2005.A high powered committee on Urban Co-operative Banks (1999) recommended that UCBs which are sick should be liquidated in a time bound manner as the operation of lar ge number of financially sick banks is devastating for UCBs and also for the interest of depositors. Due to this more mergers are expected in the future and RBI also has taken a lot of new initiatives for restructuring of banks including the issuance of guidelines in May 2005. Shareholders Perception of Merger As stated above the Indian banking sector has experienced two types of mergers – focussed and voluntary mergers. Forced mergers were initiated by RBI and their main objective was to protect the interest of the depositors and prevent financial distress of the banks. Whenever a bank showed symptoms of sickness like huge NPA levels, erosion of net worth etc, RBI intervened and merged the weak bank with a stronger one by force. Thus we can form a hypothesis that in case of forced mergers the target banks shareholders will gain abnormally with the declaration. The second type of merger is voluntary type where the motivation behind the merger is to achieve cost reduction, increase in size, diversification, strategic entry into a market. In these cases the acquired banks reaped the benefit of branch network and customer clientele of the banks acquired. In these cases both the acquirer bank and the target bank must have had benefit out of the merger. In this paper the mergers between 1993 to 2006 are considered. There were 21 mergers out of which only five were voluntary. These are mainly mergers of private sector banks with other private sector banks. Two cases are conversion of financial institution to commercial bank where the objective was to form a universal bank model which offers a wide range of financial services. Ina study conducted which is presented in this paper six cases of forced mergers were selected for the purpose of analysis as in other cases the target banks were not listed and the size of the banks were much lower than the acquirer banks therefore these cases are of less merit for further analysis. In this study the wealth effects of almost all the banking mergers during the period 1999-2006 is analyzed. The event study analysis used in this analysis is very straight forward and conventional. The merger period consist of four days prior and four days after the event. The reason for taking such window is to analyze the change in wealth of the shareholder around the day of the declaration on the merger. Daily adjusted closing prices of stocks and the market index is taken for the analysis. The abnormal returns are calculated as follows. ARit= Rit – [a + BRm] Here Rit: daily return on firm ‘i on day ‘t Rmt is the return on the bench mark index a and B are the regression parameters. The abnormal return is calculated for both the acquirer and the target firm and the significance of these values are tested by finding standard error and the t-value : Analysis of Research Results In forced mergers case the stockholders of target banks have not achieved any significant returns on the declaration of the merger. However in the case of Nedungadi Bank, the stockholder did gain significant on the 2nd day of the announcement but after that no abnormal returns were found. In the case of GTB the stockholders had deeply discounted the merger. As it was a case of serious case of bank failure the merger did give a confidence to the depositors but the merger declaration did not provide any abnormal returns. United bank did gain marginally on the announcement but it was not significant statistically. Thus the hypothesis that target banks shareholders welcome merger announcement as a safety net can be rejected. The shareholders of the acquirer bank lost their market value of equity. In case of ICICI bank, it was signalled as an emergence of a large private sector bank and hence due to which the banks shareholders expectations go up with significant increase in the returns. In other cases of acquisition the acquirer bank lost on merging with the weak banks. Hence in all the forced mergers neither the acquirer bank nor the target bank gained on declaration of the merger and the stockholders of the acquirer bank lost wealth as the announcement of the merger was taken as a negative signal. It is argued that merger of weak banks with strong ones is essential for restructuring of banking system and also a step in the consolidation of the banking sector. But in almost all the mergers it was found that the target banks for the merger were determined at the time when they were at the verge of getting collapse. The acquirer bank which was forced by RBI was left with no option but to accept the proposed merger. It is recommended that RBI should pursue Prompt corrective action system and should determine the weak banks on the basis of some defined criterias so that the acquirer bank can choose the target banks on the strategic issues which benefit all the parties . Abnormal Returns of Target Banks Abnormal returns of Bidder banks In case of voluntary mergers it can be seen that the target banks have obtained higher returns that the acquirer banks. Both the acquirer and the target banks stockholders benefitted on declaration of the merger. Therefore the stock market welcomed the merger which will lead to growth and efficiency aspects of the merged entity and benefitted the shareholders of both the banks. For instance in the case of acquisition of times banks by HDFC bank it was viewed as a positive signal by the shareholders of both the bank. At the time of the merger the Times Bank was crippled with increasing NPAs and low profitability, the acquisition by the HDFC bank gave relief to the depositors of the Times Bank. On the other hand HDFC bank emerged as the largest private sector bank by gaining from the retail portfolio of the Times Bank. In case of BOM acquisition by the ICIC bank the BOM gained the advantage of being able to provide services like Treasury management, cash management services to its cust omers and ICICI bank increased its size by acquiring BOM and reached the position of large private sector banks in 1999. At the announcement of the merger there was a steep rise in the gains which was reaped by the BOM shareholders however the stockholders of ICIC bank did not get any significant returns. In all the even study analysis revealed that neither the acquirer bank nor the target bank stock holders have perceived any potential gain on the declaration of the mergers. Hence the share holders who are important stakeholders of the banking companies did not consider the mergers as a signal of improving health, economies of scale and the market power of banks. Managers take on the Mergers Managers provide highest priority to the merger of the two public sector banks which provides a signals the banking sectors view on the need for consolidation of public sector banks. Managers do not prefer the merger of bank and NBFCs or financial services entities There are some issues which are needed to be taken care of while proposing a merger of banks according to the managers Valuation of the Loan portfolio of the target bank This is one of the main factor which is needed to be considered at the time of the merger. As in the management of the credit portfolio the accounting and the exposure norms suggested by the RBI are the same which helps in figuring out the book value of loans easily. However Indian banks have adopted divergent practices in rating the borrowers, loan pricing and maintenance of collateral securities therefore a detailed audit of the loan portfolio, cash flow generation and collaterals is very essential in order to get an opinion on the value of the loan portfolio of the target bank. Valuation of Intangible assets The valuation of the assets of the banks is a very critical factor for the success of any merger or consolidation. The tangible assets of the bank are loans, investment part apart from other fixed assets like buildings, ATMs and the IT infrastructure the bank owns. A commercial bank also holds a lot of intangible assets like clientele based on core deposits, safety value contracts, computer softwares, human resources, brands and goodwill. Determining the inherent strength of the bank based on the valuation of the intangible assets is also very important. Determination of the value of equity Determining the value of the target banks assets, liabilities and valuation of its equity value is the major aspect of a merger process. Various approaches can be used like dividend discount model, cash flow to equity model and excess return model. However banks have totally different operations than a normal manufacturing firm as they are highly leveraged because they have more than 90% of the resources as borrowed or as debt and banks are highly regulated institutions and regulatory instruction have vast implication in asset and income recognition. Interest rates volatility, regulatory capital adequacy ratios and restriction on dividend pay put ratios also have influence on the earnings of the banks. Human Resource Issues It is the most complicated issue in the merger process.HR issues like the service condition, strategy for rewarding people, employee relation, benefit plans and compensation, provision of pension, law suits and the trade union actions are very critical for the viability of the merger and the deal to go through. Cultural Issues This is also a critical issue in the pre-merger and post merger period. It is central to an organizational environment and recognizing cultural friction is very difficult as it results in various problems such as poor productivity, riff in the top management, increase in the turnover rates, delays in the integration process and failures in realizing the projected synergies. Information Technology platform integration In todays banking banks are highly dependent on the information technology. It has become a key strategic issue due to the impact it has on the operation of the bank. A significant portion of the synergy depends on the information technology integration. Divergent IT platforms and software systems have proven to be major constraints in the consolidation. Customer Retention Customers also major stakeholders of banks and are needed to be communicated properly about the merger and the customers of the target bank should be attended with utmost care. Various studies have shown that firms borrowing from target banks are very likely to lose their relationship with the bank on its merger.

Shakespeares Macbeth as a Tragic Hero Essay -- Macbeth essays

Macbeth as a Tragic Hero According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, "The best tragic plot moves the hero from prosperity to misfortune, occasioned not by depravity, but by some great mistake he makes. The plot of Macbeth follows these basic guidelines; throughout the play we follow the path of the main character as his life is torn apart as a result of the colossal mistake he makes when he kills Duncan. It is for this and the many ensuing reasons that we can say that Macbeth accurately portrays the image of a tragic hero as outlined by Aristotle. Aristotle's first guideline for an effective tragic hero is someone that is basically good. While Macbeth does not exactly make sound moral decisions, toward the beginning of the play his conscience is fighting against his greed, and this demonstrates that he does have a basic level of goodness, although towards the end it is difficult to find it. For example, Macbeth says, "We will proceed no further in this business; he hath honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people..." This seems to be his conscience speaking out against the proposed killing of Duncan. It is, however, a very feeble protest, but this is probably due more to the passive tendencies he harbored before the first killing than to a lack of inner goodness. Macbeth was probably a good man in the beginning, but because he is easily influenced and as a result of his inability to make good decisions, it is easy to lose sight of that basic goodness that is undoubtedly in him. Aristotle also states that a hero should be lifelike. Although he never states exactly what he means, it is usually interpreted to mean that a tragic hero should seem like a real human b... ...whole mess in the beginning- in battle. In conclusion, these numerous different factors lead me to say that Macbeth can accurately be called a 'tragic hero'. Even at the most basic level of tragedy it is true, because there is a definite feeling of pity for him. Despite the fact that he ruthlessly murdered numerous prominent individuals, including his own king, there is still a sense of pity. While the audience ultimately feels relieved that Macbeth is justly punished at the expense of his own life, there is the feeling that he was really just a good guy who made some bad choices and got pulled into something way over his head. For this reason we sympathize with him, and out of the realization that this situation could quite possibly happen to any of us, fear and pity him as well. All these factors combined prove that Macbeth really is a tragic hero.

The Important Role of the Auditor

Auditors play an important role in the ensuring the integrity and reliability of the financial statement for public companies. Recently (in the United Sates especially) the independence and objectivity of auditors has been a major concern, and has been brought to the forefront. A new rule was then proposed to deal with these concerns. This eventually led to the adoption of new requirements that must be followed by auditors in the United States. Many user groups had economic consequences at stake and lobbied the Securities and Exchange and Commission (SEC) to what they believed would be the best solution. This was mostly performed through submitting comments to the SEC and through participating in the public hearings held by the SEC to allow discussion on the proposed rule. This report will briefly describe independence as it relates to accounting profession, identify and describe the new requirements presented by the SEC and then describe the events and circumstances that led to the new requirements being proposed. It will also describe and assess the validity of the concerns that were stated at the various public hearings by the affected user groups. First a simple but important definition of independence and how it relates to the accounting profession will be presented. â€Å"Independence is generally understood to refer to a mental state of objectivity and lack of bias.† An auditor must perform the audit without allowing external factors to alter or effect his or her decisions. Douglas Carmichael goes on to relate independence to an auditor directly by stating â€Å"the auditor must be without bias with respect to the client since otherwise he [or she] would lack that impartiality necessary for the dependability of his [or her] findings, however excellent his [or her] technical proficiency may be.† This definition looks easy to interpret but it becomes hard to determine when an auditor is acting independently. Often, an auditor does not even realize when their own actions have been influenced by other factors. Objectivity is a state of mind and is more often than not is hard to prove. Of critical importance is the notion of independence in fact and independence in appearance. Ultimately auditors can be independent in fact but if a reasonable investor observes all relevant facts and circumstances and concludes auditors as not being independent then the whole profession suffers. An extreme consequence that could result is if investors and other financial statement users looked elsewhere for information when they are looking to invest. This would make financial reporting useless and would ultimately lead to its demise. This demonstrates the importance of auditors remaining independent of managers and reiterates the point that investors must be able to trust and rely on the financial statements. These issues directly relate to the two goals that the independence function seeks to achieve. The first goal is supply high quality audits without letting any external factors sway an auditor's judgment (objectivity). The second goal is to achieve a high level of investor confidence in the audited financial statements. The difficulty in measuring the first objective has led to more concentration and focus on the second objective. It is this decreased investor confidence that has driven the new rule requirements, because there has not been a great amount of evidence that proves there is lower quality audits being performed. Commission's Auditor Independence Requirements The release of this new rule establishes four principles to evaluate when assessing if an auditor is independent. â€Å"An auditor will not be independent when (1) has a mutual or conflicting interest with the audit client(2) audits his or her own work (3) functions as management or an employee of the audit client, or (4) acts as an advocate for the audit client.† These four principles are to be used when trying to determine if the actions of an auditor will impair the independence of an auditor and were the basis for forming the new independence requirements. They are rooted in the belief that an auditor must be independent in fact and appearance. The new rule considerably alters the number of people related to the auditor that can invest in the auditor's clients because this would violate the independence requirements released by the SEC. It also limits the number of non- auditing services that can be provided by auditors to their audit clients, but at the same time puts no restrictions on the non- auditing services that can be provided to non-audit clients. The new requirements also call for proxy disclosure in the financial statements of a company. These proxy disclosures state information on certain non-audit services performed by the auditors in the last fiscal year. â€Å"The new auditor independence rule will revise the rules for auditor independence in primarily three areas: (1) investments by auditors or their family members in audit clients; (2) employment relationships between auditors or their family members and audit clients; and (3) the scope of services provided by the audit firms to their audit clients.† ! Investments by Auditors and Family Members in Audit Clients The new rule restricts an auditor or a family member from investing in a firm's audit client. It also restricts an auditor's partner from investing in the client only if the auditor can directly influence the audit work. This new rule is left open for interpretation since if an auditor does not work on the audit he is not restricted as long as he is considered not to be influencing the audit in any way. The subjectivity is in the determining of who can or who does influence an audit. The new rule defines the auditor, family members and certain partners as â€Å"covered persons†. The new rule establishes certain situations that would find an auditor not to be independent if any covered persons participated in these situations. The rule specifically outlines that an auditor is not independent if a covered person has a direct investment in an audit client or affiliate, has a direct investment of more than five percent in an audit client, has an indirect investment in an audit client of more than five percent, and if they own more than five percent of an entity of which the audit client owns an interest. There are certain other financial relationships with an audit client that can restrict an auditor from being independent. These relationships include having loans to or from an audit client, certain savings, checking, brokerage accounts and holding certain individual insurance policies. The rule also put restrictions on certain audit clients investing in audit firms. Under the new rules an audit firm must be cautious of whom they hire and whom the client's firm hires in order to remain independent. The new rule outlines specific instances in which the auditor would be declared as not being independent. â€Å"An accountant will not be independent if a close family member of a covered person is employed by an audit client in an accounting or financial reporting role, if a partner is employed by an audit client in an accounting or financial reporting role, and if a former employee of an audit client becomes a partner of a the accounting firm.† Scope of Services Provided by the Audit Firms to Their Audit Clients This is the area of the new rule that caused the most controversy when it was first introduced. The new rule greatly reduces the number of non-audit services that an auditor can perform for audit clients. The new rule identifies certain non-audit services that cannot be provided without damaging an auditor's independence. These non-audit services are consistent with the four principles that the rule was based on. I will now highlight the certain services that an auditor cannot perform to an audit client and how these services relate to four principles that measure an auditor's independence. Services related to the audit client's accounting records or financial statements such as bookkeeping cannot be performed to an audit client. This service is restricted because it undermines the basic principle that auditors cannot audit their own work. Other non-audit services that are restricted because an auditor would end up auditing their own work are appraisal or valuation services, and actuarial services. An example of an appraisal service is when auditors are asked by their clients to value assets during the year, and then at the end of the fiscal year they are asked to perform the audit. This results in the auditors auditing their own work using their own underlying assumptions, which would directly result in bias. The same problem arises with actuarial services. When an auditor makes estimates for policy reserves and related accounts it affects the amounts that are reported on the balance sheet and will again result in auditors auditing their own work. The problem of an accountant having a mutual or conflicting interest with the audit client results in the restriction of non-audit services such as internal audit outsourcing, human resource services, broker or investment services, and financial information systems design and implementation. Internal audit outsourcing can cause managers and auditors to become a team when creating an internal control system and therefore they will both be responsible for its failure or success. If an auditor supplies a human resource service such as hiring they create a mutuality of interest because they have to accept some responsibility for ensuring the success of the employee. Supplying broker or investment services creates an interest for the auditor in increasing the value of the securities. Helping design information systems creates a mutual interest between the client and the auditor based on the success of the information system. Management functions performed by the auditor for their audit client are also restricted in the new rule. This allows the auditors to perform a management function for their clients and will inherently decrease objectivity in the audit and increases bias in the audit since the auditors are part of the firm that they are auditing. The last non-audit service that is restricted to audit clients is expert services. These include legal, administrative, or regulatory filing procedure advice. These are restricted because they give the appearance that when auditors provide these services to audit clients they are acting as an advocate for the audit client. Decisions to restrict these services were decided on using the four main principles presented earlier that evaluate an auditor's independence. The creation of these principles was due to increasing concern that auditors were not remaining totally independent when performing the audit. Circumstances Leading to the Concern for an Auditor's Independence There are a number of events in the accounting profession that led to the need for rules to obtain independent auditors. Accountants are in a profession that is seeing dramatic changes in the way firms are structured, the services they are providing, as well as increased competition. These events are creating situations that may seriously hinder the independence of auditors by giving them opportunities to act in the interests of their clients. There has been increased competition for auditing business among accounting firms. This tough competition has led to competitive pricing which in turn has led to decreased profits on audits. This tough competition has also led to auditors relying on audit clients for business more and could possibly lead to auditors acting in the best interests of management to keep their audit work instead of in the best interest of the public. Decreased profit margins are forcing accounting firms to cut costs, and some believe that the quality of audits are decreasing because of accountants are using less resources on their audits. There has also been an increasing array of services being performed by every accounting firm. Since auditing profits are decreasing many firms are looking to more profitable consulting services to help increase profits. â€Å"This has been a true metamorphosis for accounting firms, and particularly for the big firms, which some estimate now get 30 to 40% of their revenues from consulting and under 40% from accounting and auditing. Some of these firms have come to offer virtual one-stop shopping for all a client's business consulting needs.† This has caused concerns that the audit function is becoming a loss leader and is being used to pursue additional business opportunities. This causes beliefs that the quality of the audit is being harmed and that investors are seeing a lower level of confidence in this new relationship. Richard Walker, a director of the SEC's enforcement division, stated these beliefs are based not just on speculation, but on what we're seeing in our invest igations and other contacts with the profession. Walker went on to give researched examples of when an auditor has been persuaded by clients to act in the interest of the clients firm. One example he showed was a situation where the auditor was pressured to falsely improve the financial performance of the clients firm in order to receive additional consulting contracts. This should cause great concern because it is a great restraint placed on auditors to remain independent. There has also been increased pressure on managers to meet earnings expectations, and many professionals say this pressure has intensified, especially for certain types of firms. If firms miss their earnings expectations even by a slim margin the result is an immediate decrease in stock prices. This puts increased pressure on managers to do anything they can to artificially increase earnings. This puts increased pressure on the auditors to help management meet these expected earnings. The new emerging structure of accounting firms is also causing independence concerns. Over the last decade accounting firms have become bigger in size due to increased mergers, and there has also been an increase in the number of national and multi-national firms emerging. Many firms have prided themselves on being â€Å"one stop† shops for their clients. This gives the accounting firms control over many aspects and decisions of their clients firms. The problem with this is achieving independent decisions when trying to perform the audit. This causes all the problems discussed in the four principles of evaluating the independence of an auditor. There have been many circumstances emerging that have been causing independence concerns, and hopefully the new rules will be able to prevent these potential problems. However there were many people that strongly opposed many aspects of the new rule. This report will now discuss some of the concerns against the implementation of the rule as well as some strong opinions for implementing the rule immediately. Concerns Addressed at The Public Hearings Public hearings were held in New York City for all concerned parties to voice their opinions on the proposed new independence rules. Different parties that were represented were Chartered Public Accountants (CPA's), professors, officers of major non-accountant companies, and regulators. Not all their comments will be examined, only their main concerns will be highlighted and evaluated. The first comment that will be examined is from Michael Daggett, who is a director at large of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and a CPA. Daggett expressed the common concern that independence is critical in appearance and fact in order to retain the integrity of the accounting profession. However he had two main problems with the rule. His first recommendation was that the SEC should take a more cautious view and try not to overreact to the situation at hand. He goes on to explain that often regulatory agencies are too quick to regulate in the time of crisis and controversy. He believes that the SEC has become too focused on trying to change the â€Å"nuts and bolts† of the auditor's behavior, and has thus not been able to appropriately deal with the expansion and changing times of the profession. The SEC was faced with a potential crisis and even Daggett alluded to that idea in his testimony. The main crisis is maintaining quality audits, and to achieve this there must be independence on the auditor's part. While the SEC is trying to control an auditor's behavior in certain circumstances it is at the same time trying to deal with the changing profession and the expansion of services that are emerging. The SEC is not rushing to regulate because they see a potential crisis emerging and are simply dealing with it in advance. This is crucial and is a better solution than waiting for a number of huge audit failures to occur, and then trying to deal with it appropriately. Daggett's second problem was with the restriction put on auditors to perform human resource services of an audit client. He stated, â€Å"It's important to remember that auditor's already have an interest in its clients success. He suggests that such services would create relatively little risk and an unyielding prohibition would seem to be excessive.† Employee performance is not likely to impair an auditor's mindset and would not result in any bias. If an auditor helps choose human resource policies such as recruiting Evaluate this comment further Another CPA, Kalman Barson, gave comment on the proposed rule. He is a strong opponent to the new rule and he made sure his feelings were heard. He believes that the new rules are contrary to the best interests of the accounting profession, is counterproductive to the best interests of audit clients, and would not accomplish the goal of the reason for this rule being proposed. He believes that the new rule should be totally withdrawn because it will result in the opposite of what the SEC is trying to accomplish. He backs up his case by saying that there has not been one instance of impairment in audit quality as a result of an accounting firm also providing a consulting and auditing role simultaneously. He believes that the SEC is trying to fix something that is not broken. There are a couple of points that need to be addressed in his statements. The first is that audit quality is about more than just avoiding major audit failures or fraud cases. It must be addressed at a lower level before it becomes a major problem. This is the level that the SEC is trying to address presently. An audit failure is often a combination of several factors not just an independence issue. Trying to address the separate issues that can cause an audit failure is the first step. â€Å"To demand, as a predicate for commission action, evidence that each loss of independence produces an audit failure is a bit like demanding proof that every violation of a fire safety code results in a catastrophic fire.† Also there has been at least one instance where a firm has broken independence issues. â€Å"Price-Waterhouse Coopers was censured for improper professional conduct and violating auditor independence rules early this year (2000).† One other point that must be addressed is that with all the concerns of auditor independence that were raised while the economy is doing relatively well, what will happen when an economic hardships exist? Imagine the concerns and the pressure on auditors that will be raised when the majority of firms fall short of their earnings. This pressure could be huge and unbearable; this is why it must be dealt with now. The second major point that Barson addressed is that consulting for an audit client helps produce a higher quality audit. Understanding the clients operations and procedures more thoroughly helps the auditor to obtain a better understanding of the company and therefore the auditor is able to perform a better service for the client. This he argues is in the best interests of the client and society as a whole. He argues that inefficiencies would result by splitting up the consulting and auditing functions between firms, and would end up costing the client more in the long run. Inefficiencies would result because one firm would perform the audit and the other firm would have to perform all the consulting. This would result in the splitting of knowledge of the firm and would result in lower quality audits. The SEC does not believe that the quality of the audit will be lost and officers of Ernst and Young also carry this view. They believe that this argument is flawed in many areas. The first flaw is the inherent assumption that all knowledge obtained from non-audit services is relevant to an audit. It also assumes that the auditor receives all information received from non-audit services. Often a consulting division is reluctant to transfer information over to the auditors. Other times the consulting professionals will have little or no interaction with auditors especially in large firms. Ernst and Young recently sold their consulting business and therefore separated their auditing practice from the consulting area. Ernst and Young officials were stated as saying that as the result of the sale they see no reason why the quality of the audit would suffer in any way. They believe that the skills necessary to carry out an audit are inherently different than the skills you need to carry out consulting services. The SEC also made the point that only 25% of accounting firms audited by the big five firms also receives advisory services. This proves that 75% of the audits performed now are of considerably high quality. If it is not possible to perform audits without consulting for the firm at the same time we would have seen a huge amount of low quality audits or perhaps audit failures. A more neutral view will now be presented from the academic side of the debate. Douglas Carmichael is a professor at Baruch College and is a strong advocate for the new rule and his comments are based on research over the past thirty years. His first comment backs up the four principles that are used by the SEC to measure auditor independence. He believes that the basic principles are comprehensive and appropriate. The principle of conflicting and mutual interest is essential because without it the auditor could be too easily persuaded by clients to act in the client's interest and therefore would reduce the reliability of the financial statements. His research has also showed that there has been evidence that consulting has resulted in impaired independence. His conclusions were based on thorough investigation of the actual underlying evidence. He also argues that the quality of the audit is not improved by consulting services. † He found that in many cases of auditor malpractice, the auditors have not made use of the knowledge of consultants providing services to the clients.† His last point is that the proposed restrictions are practical and they appropriately relate to the basic four principles. He believes the new rules appropriately relate to those principles, which is key since most of the professionals can relatively agree on the principles. Since there is agreement on the principles the controversy is mostly based on the restrictions, and Carmichael believes that these restrictions already adequately relate to the principles and need to be implemented immediately. A Canadian perspective will be presented next, from the point of view of the Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). He underlines the importance of the auditor being independent in fact and appearance. He also mainly agrees with the new rules and their restrictions on non-audit services to audit clients. His main concern relating to auditor independence in Canada is the growing concern that the audit is becoming a loss leader to achieve more profitable consulting revenues. He believes that it would be natural for shareholders and other investors to perceive the auditor as losing confidence in the quality of the audit. He also expresses his concern that firms are placing more importance on the consulting side of the business compared to the audit side. He believes that this will cause firms to make strategic decisions based on this concern and will cause employees to strive towards being consultants because the firm places more value on the consulting side. While this could result in more talented professionals leaning towards the consulting side, especially if salaries are higher there are many other concerns that affect the recruitment of professionals. Other concerns that could affect recruiting are the attractiveness of the work to the individual, as well as the number of graduates to choose from. Brown had concerns that were related to the implementation of the new rules as a whole. He expressed concern that the regulation of the new rule cannot be sufficient by itself. The audit committee will have to play an important role in the process. It is key that the audit committee identifies independence violations, because they are on the front line and are closest to the action. The SEC is only one organization and will need a critical amount of help in finding violators. He also recommends that the SEC becomes an active participant in recommending or implementing similar rules in other countries. He stresses this importance because the United States constantly interacts with all other countries and the new rules will significantly affect interactions. This is important, but it will they will have to convince the SEC to spend time on this task. It would be much easier for the SEC to recommend other countries to adopt the same requirements as the U.S. Brown goes onto illustrate this point by showing that in Canada we are looking at the SEC's proposal closely and extensively and † will formulate our regulatory response partly on your experience.† The concerns of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) will now be addressed. They totally agree with the four basic principles that were outlined by the SEC. The IIA also generally agrees with the underlying objectives of the SEC in releasing these requirements (improving quality and improving investor confidence). Their main concerns have to do with the technical aspects of the rules. Their main concern is that the SEC has restricted services in the wrong manner. They believe that â€Å"not all non-audit services need to be restricted unless their fees are sufficient enough to trigger independence concerns and as long as there are no management or operating considerations that hinder independence.† They also believe the Independence Standards Board in the U.S. should be responsible for determining and updating the list of services that would impair independence. The objective list allows for easier regulation by allowing for the subjectivity to be removed. The certain restricted services were chosen because they related back to the four basic principles. This ensures that the SEC remains consistent by following a dependable framework for making decisions regarding auditor independence. One last comment to look at is from CPA, Norman Manley. He submitted comments on behalf of all forty employees of Dellinger & Deese, PLLC. They are totally opposed against the new ruling and voiced many of the same concerns that were seen from other CPA's. Their concerns can be summarized by their opening comment, â€Å"We firmly believe the proposal is unwarranted and not supported by facts, or requested by the financial and business community we both serve. Non-audit services offered by audit firms simply have not compromised auditor independence or audit failure. Focus will be on their additional concerns that were voiced at the public hearings. One concern they voiced was that the broad restriction on the non-audit services will place too much reliance on audit fees for accounting firms and this will not serve the public interest. The public interest is always an important consideration to keep in mind, but in this instance the public interest will still be served by providing high quality audits backed with investor confidence. There will still be plenty of opportunities to perform audits and the new rulings will not decrease the number of firms that require audits. They are also concerned with the quality of talent that will be recruited and retained by accounting firms. They believe that accounting professionals will have 25-40% of their market blocked by the restrictions. They further believe that this will cause professionals to choose a career where their market is wide open. They also had some economic issues that they were concerned about. The first being the inability for accounting firms to combine and obtain the economic benefits of mergers and joint ventures. Their ability to merge will be due to concerns about violating independence requirements. A firm could merge with another firm and would then become an affiliate of the accounting firm. They also believe that the SEC has interfered with the work of the Independence Standards Board (ISB) in the USA. The believed the SEC originally assigned the issue to the ISB and then jumped in and regulated prematurely. However, the SEC worked more in conjunction with the ISB by taking their research and many of their recommendations. They also agreed more with recent disclosure and audit committee requirements that were adopted by the ISB, SEC, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and the American Stock Exchange (ASE). They believe that these requirements would have of solved the independence problem if given time to mature and work. To conclude their concerns with the new rule one more point will be issued. They know and thoroughly understand the problems associated with a lack of independence, and they stated that they always put independence rules at the top of their priorities. They do not see a problem with non-audit services impairing this independence because auditors have the ability to remain independent using their own professional judgment. This report will conclude by drawing on comments given by chairman of the SEC, Arthur Levitt. He believes â€Å"in this environment of conflicting interests, the investing public relies on the accountant to stay true to his or her fiduciary duty, to never lose sight of the precious franchise that is theirs to guard so vigilantly.† He is aware that the perceived value of the audit is being put at risk and for this and other reasons he is strongly committed to keeping the public's interest first, and will not let new circumstances interfere with his task. He also realizes that the SEC cannot do it alone and is willing to work with the profession to continuously improve the situation. He is dedicated to continuous improvement of financial statements to better serve investors, the market, and the public. He stresses that he will leave the communication lines open between the SEC and CPA's in order to retain a strong respect and teamwork between the two parties. The majority of opposition seems to be coming from a main source. The CPA's seem to be the only interest group that is opposed, and this strengthens the validity of the new rulings. If there was strong opposition stemming from other interest groups it would be easier to challenge the new ruling. The point to remember is that being an accounting professional entails looking out for the best interests of the public, and this is what the new requirements are striving to achieve. The new requirements will not be able o achieve this alone, but they are an important aspect in the battle for independence. The main concern from the opposition of the rule has to deal with the scope of services that are restricted. Limiting non-audit services to audit clients still leaves plenty of opportunity open to perform audits and still makes it attainable to perform high quality audits while at the same time retaining investor confidence. We must remember, â€Å"It's not enough that audit quality is maintained and that the numbers are right. It's also necessary that public investors-the users of financial reports-perceive that the numbers are right.†

Limitations of New Media

New media technologies may have little impact on politics, even change politics for the worse. It has little effect on civic engagement. New media technologies increased political knowledge among citizens already interested in politics, for users who are not, public sphere online is meaningless. Social media activists are more democratic, more knowledgeable about current political events and also somewhat more understanding of anti-government sentiment. As the new media technologies provide a platform to talk without consequence and response, they have been widely sed by extreme groups to shape the citizenship and distort democracy.Such as 2011 England riots, the event was also called â€Å"BlackBerry riots† because people used mobile devices and social media such as twitter and facebook to organise. This Issue was launched majority by young people, who face the fierce competltlon and huge employment pressure. They are also the primary users of the social media network. In thi s Issue, two man , 20 year old Jordan Blackshaw and 22 year old Perry Sutcliffe- Keenan had been sentenced to 4 years In Jall for attempting to use Facebook to rganize and orchestrate† disorder.Blackshaw created a Fackbook event Smash Down Northwich Town, Sutcliffe-Keenan also set up a page encouraging rioting in Warrington. As Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson warned, â€Å"The sentences passed down today recognize how technology can be abused to incite criminal activity, and send a strong message to potential troublemakers about the extent to which ordionary people value safety and order in their lives and their communities. † As shown in the London riots, Twitter users send a message to millions. SoTendentious information and hate speech of the extremists can also spread quickly on the twitter, it would stimulate public dissatisfactions of government and make more people who dont know the truth fear and anger. So openness and freedom of the online platform prov ided by new media technologies reinforce the sense of citizenship and democracy but also have potential to disrupt social order and democracy. 2, Digital divide: Disadvantaged groups- (the poor, the elder, the undereducated, and thous In rural areas-continued to lag behind in their access to and use of the internet.People who lack required knowledge, skill and capital are not easily access to the Internet. Let alone use blogs or youtube. They continued to lag behind In access to the alternative public sphere. 3,For Journalists on social media such as Twitter: Issues of credlblllty. As social media has Impacted the speed of spread of Information and news. There are sometimes situations where the news can be misinterpreted and misleading. It Is only human nature to add and edit what they hear to make It sound better In their minds and this endency Is what makes the â€Å"unofficial news† unreliable.The User Generated Content usually lack of professionalism. It Is called cltlzen Journalism but when a story Is reported even in a post on Twitter or Facebook or Youtube, professionalism is key. story. But usually citizen Journalists record an event and present it to the public, very often without checking all the facts related to the event. 4,political inequality: The differenece between speaking and being heard. It is true that citizens face few formal barriers to posting their view on the twitter or youtube.This is openiness in the most trivial sense. But from the perspective of mass politics, we care most not about who posts but about get read. There are plenty of formal and informal barriers that hinder ordinary citizens' ability to reach an audience. For the enormity of the content available on social networking sites, people seem to cluster strongly around the top few information sources in a given category. Such as â€Å"trending topics† on the twitter, even through these topics recommened intent to help their users to know what is happening in t he world.Trending topics are ometimes the result of concerted efforts and manipulations by preteen and teenaged fans of certain celebrities or cultural phenomena. Public sphere provided by the new media technologies in some extent is not equal for the public to make voice. The elite domination still exists like in the mainstream media. 5, state interference, influence the watchdog function of social media, Although state interference in the political discussion on the social media is generally neglected in the Western world, it is still a major obstacle for truly open, free discussion to happen n less developed democracies.For example, the central government of China employs â€Å"professional writers† to insert the state voice in many corners of social media chat rooms in HongKong and help create a bottom-up participatory control. So falling to see actual political change to arise from their opinion expressions, normal citizens end up voicing the most extreme opinions. Sacri ficed in this process is the diversity of opinions and democracy. To conclude, Citizenship refers to the individual citizen self-awareness of his or her position in the nation.It concerns the right to know and speak for public in the democracy society. New media technologies reinforce the sense of citizenship and democratization because Rather than passively receive what the media want to inject to them, people in new media age are more active. The openness of the digital media would allow citizens to compete with Journalists for the creation and dissemination of political information. It broadens the â€Å"public sphere†, gives chances to citizens to engage in the political discussion, challenge domination and allows motivated itizens to be heard by a worldwide audience.But there are also limitations, the extensive use of new media technologies by extreme groups would incite criminal activities and distorts democracy. Disadvantaged groups continued to lag behind in their acc ess to the alternative public sphere. The new media technologies have served to level some existing political inequalities, but it has also created new ones. Government interference in the political discussion will break the Watchdog function of the new media.

Primary Operations IEP Goals for Math

Primary Operations IEP Goals for Math The Common Core State Standards, written for the Council of Chief State School Executives, have been adopted by 47 states. Many states are rolling out curriculum and assessments to align with these standards. Here are IEP goals aligned to the standards for young or severely disabled students. Kindergarten Operations and Algebraic Understanding (KOA) This is the lowest level of mathematical function, but still serves as a foundational basis for understanding operations. According to the Core Common State standards, students should be able to: Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from. KOA1: Students will represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds (e.g. claps,) acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations. This standard is an effective strategy for teaching students with disabilities to model addition and subtraction, but difficult to write goals for. I will start with 2. KOA2: Students will solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem. (Addition) When presented with ten random sets of counters within ten, JOHNNY STUDENT, will solve problems modeled by the teacher with statements such as: Here are three counters. Here are four counters. How many counters altogether? correctly answering 8 out of 10, three out of four consecutive trials.(Subtraction) When presented with ten random sets of counters within ten, JOHNNY STUDENT will solve problems modeled by the teacher using statement, such as, Here are ten counters. I will take these away. How many are left? correctly answering 8 out of 10 (80%), three out of four consecutive trials. KOA3: Students will decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 2 3 and 5 4 1). When presented with ten random sets of counters within ten, JOHNNY STUDENT will divide the counters into two sets, placing each on a template with two squares, and writing a math statement for each set, (i.e. 4 4 8) correctly 8 of 10 probes (80%) , three of four consecutive trials. KOA4: For any number from 1 to 9, the student will find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation. When presented with a random number on a card from 1 to 9, JOHNNY STUDENT will find the correct number of counters to add to the number to make ten, 8 out of 9 probes, (89%) for three of four consecutive trials. KOA5: Students will fluently add and subtract within 5. When randomly given 10 mixed flash cards with addition problems using numbers 0 through 5, and subtraction problems using numbers 0 through 5, JOHNNY STUDENT will correctly answer 9 of 10 in quick succession, three of four consecutive trials. First Grade Operations and Algebraic Thinking (1OA) Common Core Standards for first grade Operations and Algebraic Thinking from 1 through 4 are excellent for instruction, but Standards 5 and 6 will provide evidence of having mastered operations to 20. 1OA.5: Students will relate counting to addition and subtraction (e.g., by counting on 2 to add 2). This standard aligns well with two common methods for teaching addition and subtraction for students with learning disabilities: Touch Math and number lines. There are goals for each of these methods. For each of these goals, I would recommend the Math Worksheet Sit. You are able to control the range of problems that will be randomly generated at this free site. For Touch Math you can add the touch points after you have generated random addition or subtraction pages. I have also used the addition or subtraction pages that come with the students book for data collection. When given ten (10) addition problems with Touch Points,with addends to 9, JOHNNY STUDENT will write the correct answer, 8 out of 10 problems (80%) for three of four consecutive trials.When given ten (10) subtraction problems with Touch Points, with minuends to 18 and subtrahends to 9, JOHNNY STUDENT will write the correct answer, 8 out of 10 problems (80%) for three of four consecutive trials.When given a numberline to 20 and ten (10) addition problems with addends to 9, JOHNNY STUDENT will write the correct answer, 8 out of 10 problems (80%) for three of four consecutive trials. When given a numberline to 20 and ten (10) addition problems with addends to 9, JOHNNY STUDENT will write the correct answer, 8 out of 10 problems (80%) for three of four consecutive trials. 1OA.6 Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 6 8 2 4 10 4 14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 - 4 13 - 3 - 1 10 - 1 9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 4 12, one knows 12 - 8 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6 7 by creating the known equivalent 6 6 1 12 1 13). This standard may make a good partner to teaching place value, by helping students find and see the ten in numbers between 11 and 20. I offer only one goal, as this is far more effective as an instructional strategy than a measurable goal. When given a random number of counters between 11 and 19 ten times (probes), JOHNNY STUDENT will regroup the number into a ten and ones, placing them on a work mat with two squares, one labeled ten, the other ones correctly 8 out of 10 probes (80%) in three of four consecutive trials.

Spanish Conquistadors DBQ essays

Spanish Conquistadors DBQ essays In one of his speeches to his men, Cortez spoke of the great rewards that will come to them, his men, for their services. Without disguising it at all Cortez tells his men that they will be the richest of all men who have crossed the seas, engaging in a ... war which will bring [them] fame, and Almighty God, in whose name and faith [war] will be waged. All in the same speech, Cortez had his men understand their reasoning for being in the Americas. These motives were of Gold, God and Glory. Not a century after Columbus voyage to the Indies, the Spaniards were left without any exotic spices, flowers, etc. So they made the best of the situation and used the New World to catapult their wealth as shown by excerpts of a Spanish proclamation, Bernal Diaz and Hernan Cortez, spread the faith of the Catholic Church as emphasized by Cortez, de Sepulveda, the Pope and de las Casas, and create a name for themselves as stated by Bernal Diaz, Cortez and de Sepulveda. Spanish attitudes towards the Natives were influenced by these motives resulting mainly in cultural chauvinism and disrespect, and also protection of the Natives. Dreams of riches provided a backbone for many of Spains vie for renown in the unexplored lands, both as individuals and for their people, and often at the expense of native societies. As seen from the excerpts from a Spanish proclamation (1) to Indians, read in Spanish, the conquistadors used the excuse that if the Indians didnt convert to Christianity willingly, they would take their land, turn women and children into slaves, and obviously take their riches as well. This proclamation views the Indians as stupid and inferior to their race, it clearly showed disrespect as well as cultural chauvinism towards the natives. According to Cortez (3), a Spanish conquistador, everyone who joined him would get in return riches and gifts form the new land because, ...

Why Some Red Japanese Maples Have Green Leaves

Why Some Red Japanese Maples Have Green Leaves Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are a small ornamental tree much prized in the landscape. Several cultivars have been developed based on  native species, and the  ones used in landscaping are  chosen for their distinctive colors- bright green, dark  red, or reddish  purple. Red Trees That Turn Green It can come as something of a shock, then, when a tree we picked because of its color begins to change to another color over time. Japanese maples are one such tree in which this frequently happens. Usually, it is a red or purple cultivar that gradually begins  to transform into a green tree, and this can be disappointing if youve selected the tree specifically because of its color.   The Biology of Color Change in Japanese Maples To understand how a trees color can shift, you need to understand how horticulturists obtain those unusual colors in the first place. All true Japanese maples are variants of the sturdy green  Acer palmatum. If you happen to have one of these pure species types, theres almost no chance that your tree will change colors. To produce tree  cultivars with unusual  colors, horticulturists may begin with the original species root-stock, then graft on branches with different characteristics. (There are other ways in which tree cultivars can be created, but this is a common technique used for Japanese maples.)   Many tree cultivars  originally start as a genetic accident or an aberration that appeared on an otherwise normal tree.  If that aberration  was appealing, horticulturists  may then seek to propagate that mistake and create a whole line of trees that duplicate that unusual characteristic. Many trees with variegated  leaves or unique leaf colors or unusual fruits began their lives as sports, or genetic mistakes that were then deliberately cultivated through different methods, including grafting new branches onto hardy rootstocks. In the case of red or purple Japanese maples, branches from trees with desired colors are grafted onto hardier rootstocks that are more durable in the landscape.   On a  Japanese maple, harsh weather or other factors sometimes kill off the grafted branches, which are usually attached to the rootstock near ground level. When this happens, the new branches that sprout (sucker) up from the ground will have the genetic makeup of the original rootstock- which will be green, rather than red or purple. Or,  its possible that new branches may sucker up from below the graft in addition to the red-leaved branches that are grafted onto the tree. In this case, you may suddenly find yourself with a tree that has both green- and red-leaved branches.   How to Correct or Prevent the Problem You may be able to catch the problem before it becomes severe if you periodically inspect the tree and pinch off any small branches that appear below the graft line on the tree. This may result in a tree thats somewhat asymmetrical for a time, but steady work getting rid of the green branches sprouting from below the graft line will eventually return the tree to its desired color. Japanese maples, though, do not tolerate heavy pruning, and because this is a slow-growing tree, it takes patience over time to allow the tree to form a natural shape.   Should your tree lose all its grafted branches- as sometimes happens when Japanese maples are planted in the northern limits of their hardiness zone range- your tree cannot be returned to its red color. All branches that sucker up from below the graft will be green in color. You can either learn to love the green Japanese maple or replace the tree.

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

System analysis - Essay Example 2-Identify 6 business processes and explain primary responsibility for each process. Describe what data is required and what information is generated by each process. Maybe helpful to do this as a Word table with column headings for business process, person responsible, and data. For this system, the main recommendation relies on the best way of increasing its reliability and availability. In order to increase reliability, the company should adopt security for the system to ensure all the processes are secure and efficient (Shelly et al, p.10). Further, security also proves important since it gives assurance on the availability; hence, the proactivity of the whole system in the numerous transactions taking place. Since the support system is responsible for the proper coordination of business activities, the business should adopt accountability and accuracy. The two are important to ensure that all the required resources are channeled appropriately to all the departments. The company needs to put in place expertise who are responsible for updating the system with any significant information. The ERP system stores large business information regarding all the five organization’s activities. The information stored is used to keep track of business operations in relations to the trends in the market (Shelly et al, p.10). Intuitively, for the company to get quality results it will need to update the system with any relevance change witnessed over a trading

Fashion trend, Prints for Aged Women Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fashion trend, Prints for Aged Women - Article Example The paper "Fashion trend, Prints for Aged Women" talks about the trend in fashion, Prints for Aged Women. Women’s contemporary attire styles are more varied and compliant to individual preferences than ever and no more does a tapered group of designers state how to wear. Though the aged women may not have a model’s svelte body, there is a wide selection of fashion fits that can suit them. Though aged women face the difficulty of finding obsequious fashion style, they have more money to spend in clothing. For this reason, they are left with few choices to make in fashion. Prints fashion trend is versatile and can easily be included into daily wardrobe. This fashion trend has been modified to be age apposite and stylish. A fashion garment possesses various attributes that can be manipulated to reflect changing fashions. These attributes include color, fabric, print, silhouette, and trim. In the recent past, a fashion garment would sell, all things equal, if it were the ap propriate color. Now it is not important to have the right shade. Prints fashion trend has a variety of clothing that comes in different colors. An aged woman has a changed complexion and the colours that seemed useless in the early years could become the colors to choose. Prints fashion trend comes with softer colors; pale pink and blue, burgundy rich fabrics such as, crimson, grape and navy. Prints fashion trend adds some much needed color in the wardrobe. In addition, prints fashion clothes comes in orange color.

Young Offenders and Youth Justice Research Paper

Young Offenders and Youth Justice - Research Paper Example There has been a concern of how the society views and deals with young people. Some people believe that juvenile engage in antisocial behaviors because of lack of good rearing by the parents, while others believe that the whole society has failed to instill morals to its young people. However, studies have documented that due to increase in poverty and technology, young people are involved in different crimes (Barnickol 430). Conversely, studies have also documented that culture dictates the parenting style, which in turn has a lot to do with the child’s development. In light with his, it has been argued that bad parenting style has effects on the behavior of a child. Although measures exist, it is apparent that they have not elucidated on how best strategies they use can comprehensively address the problem. What is currently evident is that these measures lessen the situation with little empirical approach being adopted in order to address the causes of anti-social behavior a mong young people (Hancock 142). In this regard, more emphasis has been on the correctional perspective, but this problem requires a comprehensive approach, which incorporates both correctional and preventive approaches. With such deliberations, the current research would be of help in utilizing theoretical frameworks in order to ascertain the best approaches to use in order to both correct and mitigate causes of anti-social behavior among young people. ... Another major concern involves poor parenting. It is believed that poor parenting can slowly develop a culture of unruly behavior. Parents who use permissive parenting style tend to unknowingly encourage their children to engage in unruly behaviors (Harr 64). However, some studies have noted that when parents are unable to provide basic necessities to their children, they have little control over their lives. To some parents, they become too busy to have quality time with their children. This way, children tend to imitate other people without any control of their actions (Gottfredson 94). In fact, when this continues and they realize their parents cannot control their lives, most of them indulge in drugs – something that highly contributes to delinquent behavior. An Introduction of Key Research Questions In regard to the above-mentioned issues, it is apparent that there is a need to have the issue of anti-social behaviors among young people addressed comprehensively (Gaines 28 ). The current research aims at presenting theoretical and comparative measures to not only reform the already existing youth justice system but also to provide a framework that can help reduce and prevent cases of anti-social behaviors among young people. In this scope, the hypothesis of the research argues that if community based programs that deal with child rearing can be introduced, the rate of juvenile anti-social behaviors can be reduced (Hodge 103). In this regard, the research aims to find solutions to the following questions, which will give an overview of causes of anti-social behavior among young people. 1. What causes of anti-social behavior among young people. 2. How effective are the programs designed to

Sand creek massacre Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sand creek massacre - Research Paper Example Though there was chaos and panic upon the start of the attack, some Native Americans refused to fight. Chief Black Kettle and Chief White Antelope of the Cheyenne stood with their arms folded, having unsuccessfully tried to stop the raid, signifying that even now they would not take up arms or move against the attacking soldiers3. Chief Black Kettle also hoisted the American flag atop his lodge, along with the white flag of surrender, as he had been promised by Colonel Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that should he fly the American flag he would be under the protection of the soldiers and kept safe4. However, on that day, it did not help to save his people. Men, women, and children were killed without reason or sympathy, even those that put white cloth on sticks and showed their surrender5. Nothing mattered to Chivington but clearing out the Native Americans, and their hatred knew few bounds. Chivington wasted no time in celebration. He gleefully sent a telegram that informed his superiors of his victory, stating that between 400 and 500 Native American warriors were killed (in reality, it was 105 women and children, and 28 men)6. However, Chivington took delight in making it sound as though it had been the result of a very long and hard-won battle, praising his officers lavishly as he did so7. He had lost only nine men and had 38 wounded, mostly from friendly fire8. The encampments of both tribes were burned to the ground, on the orders of Colonel Chivington, before the soldiers rode away9. Though the bloodlust for Native Americans had been satisfied, the results would damage Native American relations for years to come. Chivington, as well as others, were called to testify before Congress, to the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. According to the published report, it was found that his acts were

The Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement Dissertation

The Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement - Dissertation Example Therefore, it can be said that, though no significant relation of the class size to student success has been found, a smaller size of the class is preferred by people involved in the learning process. This can be explained by the fact that a smaller number of students makes it easier for a teacher to work with the group. In addition, students feel more comfortable emotionally and psychologically when studying in a smaller class. However, it should be mentioned that the limitations of the research do not allow to make any categorical or ultimate claims. First of all, the number of sample groups is not large enough to reach the statistically significant research results. Secondly, due to a great number of variables, such as differences in students’ prior knowledge, educational and social background, as well instructors’ teaching experience, no statistically grounded argument can be drawn out of the research. Furthermore, another limitation of the study is that there is no knowledge of how the same student would perform in a differently sized type of a class. Therefore, a greater and longer research should be carried out in order to give a definite answer to the question of whether class size influences student’s academic performance. It would be assumed that the hypothesis would have to be rejected. The majority of the people were strongly for reducing class size. It was proven in many studies that the overall progress of students, including achievement levels, did improve in smaller classes. So, the literature review suggests that the hypothesis should be rejected. However, the results of the carried out by me research have shown different results, which, actually, can be used to support the hypothesis. Still, as the analysis of the research suggests, the amount of data received does not allow making any statistically grounded claims. Although I do believe that Grant County high school teachers and students could benefit from a reduction in

American History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

American History - Essay Example Fernlund states that one of the conditions for becoming a world power was to have a large, standing army (161). The expansion and might of the United States’ sea power was exemplified in 1899, when the U.S was able to conquer the Spanish in the Philippines. The war with Spain was orchestrated by the fact that Spain was drawing closer to the United States frontier at California. The United States was, thus forced to fight off the Spaniards and in the process ended up acquiring the Philippines. The assertion of U.S rule on the Filipino led to American imperialism, a factor that further established the position of the U.S as a growing world power. The U.S became openly involved in world affairs. The most significant of this and which probably led to the United States becoming a world power was World War 1. Fernlund states that as a matter of foreign policy, the U.S had opted to remain neutral in the war (178). Nonetheless, when the Germans started a submarine warfare, sinking enemy and neutral vessels, the U.S joined the war on the Allied side. The victory of the Allies over the central powers and the role played by the U.S cemented the position of the latter as a world power. 1. 21-2. In his work, Mahan’s was concerned over the lack of sea power by the United States to defend herself in case of danger. Fernlund states that Mahan argued that incase of danger, the U.S could be forced to establish a blockade on her extensive sea-coast, a deed which needs a standing naval army (162). More sea power would, thus ensure that the United States stayed clear of harm’s way and that trade and commerce would not be affected by an external war. The work of Mahan led to increased military buildup in the U.S by the close of the century that saw the U.S defeat Spain in the Philippine war. It is the same sea power that enabled the U.S to participate in the First World War. 2. 21-4. Twain was a critic of the American annexation of the Philippines and his article led to the

The Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement Dissertation

The Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement - Dissertation Example Therefore, it can be said that, though no significant relation of the class size to student success has been found, a smaller size of the class is preferred by people involved in the learning process. This can be explained by the fact that a smaller number of students makes it easier for a teacher to work with the group. In addition, students feel more comfortable emotionally and psychologically when studying in a smaller class. However, it should be mentioned that the limitations of the research do not allow to make any categorical or ultimate claims. First of all, the number of sample groups is not large enough to reach the statistically significant research results. Secondly, due to a great number of variables, such as differences in students’ prior knowledge, educational and social background, as well instructors’ teaching experience, no statistically grounded argument can be drawn out of the research. Furthermore, another limitation of the study is that there is no knowledge of how the same student would perform in a differently sized type of a class. Therefore, a greater and longer research should be carried out in order to give a definite answer to the question of whether class size influences student’s academic performance. It would be assumed that the hypothesis would have to be rejected. The majority of the people were strongly for reducing class size. It was proven in many studies that the overall progress of students, including achievement levels, did improve in smaller classes. So, the literature review suggests that the hypothesis should be rejected. However, the results of the carried out by me research have shown different results, which, actually, can be used to support the hypothesis. Still, as the analysis of the research suggests, the amount of data received does not allow making any statistically grounded claims. Although I do believe that Grant County high school teachers and students could benefit from a reduction in

Final Project, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Exercise Plan Essay Example for Free

Final Project, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Exercise Plan Essay In my first report I indicated my age 42 years old, my weight was 165 pounds and height 5’6†. My daily exercise was riding bike between 6 to 8 miles a day for 3 days during the week for a total of 350 minutes of Physical Activity. Week one 3 day analysis for breakfast I had a cup of coffee with flavored cream with sandwich or cereals, for lunch I had sandwich or reheated food from previous day, snack I had wheat cake, fruits or chips and for dinner; Latin food, hamburger or pasta, don’t drink soft drinks, but drink Lipton Iced Tea and water. (Matta) (2012). Based on the first report I was over in grains on vegetables, fruits, dairy, protein foods, oils I was under; empty calories I was under with 280 calories, total calories average was 1785 status and sodium was high on all 3 days. (SuperTracker) (n. d. ). After the first report I tried to modified some eating habits measuring the amount of food; cereal, pasta, rice and beans in cups, steaks and fish cut in 4 ounces, drink more water and less alcoholic drinks and increase my daily exercise adding two days of walking 3 miles per day increasing my weekly Physical Activity to 630 minutes. Matta) (2013). The latest report from January 2nd through January 4th, all the food groups where under my empty calories was lower then the first one at 208 and my average total calories was lower at 1292 average per day but my sodium limit is still high. The result of this modification is my current weight at 155 pounds and drop from a 36 waist size to a 34. Based on Food Tracker my daily calorie limit allowance is 2400 and at least 150 minutes per week of physical activity. I am under the allowance of calories and over my physical activity per week. (SuperTracker) (n. d. ). Final Project, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Exercise Plan After reviewing both analysis I have realized that my challenge is sodium, I don’t use salt but some of the food I consume are high on sodium. Colorado State University indicates that sodium is found in most process foods to preserve or flavor them; sodium has an important role maintaining water balance within the cells and in the function of both impulses and muscle but consuming excess sodium may lead to edema or water retention, high blood pressure and in Women may be at higher risk for developing osteoporosis even if calcium intake is adequate. Colorado State University) (n. d. ). In my family our medical history is high blood pressure my Mother, Brother and I have this condition. The American Heart Association indicates that high blood pressure can be inherited by one of both parents if they have a history of the condition, advance age can develop a higher risk, gender related risk pattern, lack of physical activity, overweight, obesity, drinking to much alcohol and Poor diet, especially one that includes too much salt other possible factors could be stress, smoking, second hand smoke and sleep apnea. (American Heart Association) (2012). The effects of having high blood pressure are, a stroke it can cause a break or weakened blood vessel which the brain can bleed, it is a major factor in heart attacks the arteries brings oxygen-carrying blood to the heart muscle if the heart doesn’t receive the proper oxygen, blood flow is blocked a heart attach can occur, Kidney damage in over time the high blood pressure can narrow or thicken the blood vessels of the Kidney this we result in filtering less fluids and waste build up in the blood the result can be dialysis or kidney transplant and Arteries, the arteries in the brain, heart and kidney hardens making all three to work harder. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute) (n. d. ). Final Project, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Exercise Plan I believe I have a good diet consuming my total calories for day, the amount of food and exercise but as mentioned before sodium is my challenge. My action plan will be related with sodium and how to keep high blood pressure under control, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute give me some tips on how to reduce sodium in my diet, buy fresh, plain frozen, or canned vegetable with no salt added, use fresh poultry, fish, and lean meat rather then canned or process types, use herbs, spices and salt-free seasoning blends in cooking, cut back in salad dressing, rinse can food such as tuna to remove sodium and choose ready to eat breakfast cereals lower in sodium. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute) (n. d. ). With these tips my action planned is to buy less process foods, use more white meat instead of red and consume it in small amounts, utilize less dressing or replace it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar in small amounts and consumed more salt free products for exercise my plan will be the same as I have in present time, I will ride my bike 3 days a week between 6 to 8 miles and walk 2 days a week 3 miles per day this plan will keep my body active and healthy. Matta) (2013), All action plans have their share of setbacks some of the anticipated setbacks for both food and exercise; for food is the amount of time that I have to go to the grocery store and buy the products mentioned above, I have a very active lifestyle family, work, study, and exercise; time is very limited, this is why we go to a restaurant, buy process food or can food without reading the labels a plan that I will implement with my wife is to go the first day of the month and go to the grocery store and supply our sel f with the necessary healthy food for the entire month and go once a week to replenish anything that we need; for exercise my setback is more the ability to keep motivated and time to overcome this my plan is to keep my picture of my Final Project, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, and Exercise Plan Daughter and I in the door fridge when I was overweight, this picture is why I decided to do exercise, loose weight and keep it off. (Matta) (2013). One tool I learned from our class is Super Tracker since I learned about this site I have use it since and I will keep using it until I have to register again, Super Tracker gives me suggestion and measure the outcome of my action plan plus doing my yearly checkup with the Doctor for my high blood pressure and health. If I keep my action plan in tact the result will be a positive one healthy body and mind but If don’t follow my action plan the health risk factor will be a negative one I can gain weight and high blood pressure which can create a stroke or heart attack or even worst death. (Matta) (2013). Colorado State University indicates as we age it is important to eat more calcium, iron protein Vitamins A, C and flacon; reduce calories selected nutrient-dense foods and enjoy smaller portions of foods high in fat, sugar and sodium. (Colorado State University) (n. d. ). As I age I will follow my doctors instruction and educate myself and adjust based on the information provided eat smaller portion, use Vitamins and reduce any sugar and sodium from my diet, in regard of my exercise as I age my body will have less motion I will walk more a bike ride less, in Florida the 4 seasons are basically the same good weather but in summer the heat is overwhelming and it rains constantly this could alter my physical activity the option is to go to a gym or my YMCA to exercise indoors. (Matta) (2013). Conclusion our body is a perfect machine created to live, serve and reproduce in our world, we are responsible in taking care of it. We should always try our best to eat healthy and keep it fit so we can live a long, healthy and happy life.