Wind Energy And Hydroelectric Energy Environmental Sciences Essay

Wind energy is among the universe ‘s fastest-growing and most normally used beginnings of energy.From this portion, wind energy ‘s advantages like its low cost and being environmental will be explained in item. 2.1 Low-cost Energy Harmonizing to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, clean air current power costs $ 50 megawatt per hour.That means, tackling air current energy is really inexpensive as compared to the dodo fuels that have skyrocketing prices.To give an illustration, coal energy costs $ 104 and atomic energy costs $ 107 megawatt per hr ( U.S Department of Energy ) .So, air current energy has become low-cost plenty to vie with fossil fuels.If a family used air current power for % 25 of its demands, it would pass merely $ 5 dolars per month for it and the monetary value is still dropping. ( Renewables-Wind Energy ) . Furthermore, wind power has no fuel costs and negligible costs for maintenance.In air current energy, there is no fuel usage like other energy beginnings, it is merely utilizing air current which is ever available and costless.While other energy beginnings needs tonss of money to keep, weave energy is really economical.Building a atomic works or a watering dike may necessitate a immense sum of money , but wind farms and air current turbines are inexpensive.Moreover, air current energy has no clean-up costs.So, there are no C revenue enhancement or C cap and trade system which make C emanations more expensive like the other energy sources.To sum up, wind energy is rather low-cost energy beginning with supplying cost benefits.2.2 EnvironmentalOne of the best and most valuable advantages of air current energy is that it is wholly pollution free.Compared to the environmental effects of traditional energy beginnings, the environmental effects of air current power are about not existing.Firstly, wind energy does non bring forth waste merchandises that require disposal or gas emanations which contribute to air pollution and planetary clime alteration. Besides of course produced, CO2 is besides produced when fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are burned to bring forth electricity.However, utilizing air current to bring forth electricity reduces CO2 emanations. Harmonizing to a stud y, weave energy saves about 122 million dozenss of CO2 every twelvemonth ( Global Wind Energy Council ) .As we use more and more of air current energy, less and less fossil fuels will be burnt. This, in consequence, means less pollution. Wind energy besides does non devour or foul water.While other energy beginnings like hydroelectric energy that needs H2O to run or atomic energy which drops its waste into H2O, wind energy brings us healtier seas and lakes.Another environmental benefit of the air current energy is, it uses merely a fraction of the land.So, bing land utilizations such as agriculture and graze can go on unaffected. â€Å" Wind turbines can be built on farms or spreads, therefore profiting the economic system in rural countries, where most of the best air current sites are found. Farmers and ranchers can go on to work the land because the air current turbines use merely a fraction of the land, † states the National Renewable Energy Laboratory ( U. S. Department of Energy, April 2005 ) .Having said these, it will non be incorrect to state that wind energy provides electricity without harming the environment.III.HYDROELECTRIC ENERGYHydroelectric energy is known for being widely used signifier of renewable energy which uses H2O to bring forth electrical power.Although it is believed that hydroelectic energy provides benefits, it besides comes with the large disadvantages such as dike failures and relicensing.3.1 Dam FailuresBecause big conventional dammed-hydro installations hold back big volumes of H2O, a failure due to hapless building, terrorist act, or other cause can be ruinous to downriver colonies and infrastructure.Also good design and building are non an equal warrant of safety.Dam failures have been some of the largest semisynthetic catastrophes in history.To give an illustration, the Banqiao Dam failure in Southern China straight resulted in the deceases of 26,000 people, and another 145,000 from epidemics ( Application of the Meth od of Characteristics to the Dam Break Wave Problem, Chanson, H.,2009 ) . Millions were left homeless. Besides, the creative activity of a dike in a geologically inappropriate location may do catastrophes such as 1963 catastrophe at Vajont Dam in Italy, where about 2000 people died ( The Vajont Dam Disaster,2006 ) .In decision, when it comes to failure of a dike, hydroelectric energy can make an uncontrallable catastrophe.3.2 Relicensing ComplexityEvery 30 to 50 old ages, private hyrdoelectric dikes are re-evaluated.In this measure, relicensing is a really complex process.Relicensing was infrequent until 1993, but so The Hydropower Reform Coalition formed to take advantage to reconstruct river ecosystems through the relicensing procedure ( Renewables-Hydroelectric Energy ) .When doing relicensing, non merely the power coevals of a dike is considered, but besides protection of wildlife, equal renewal to energy conversation and protection of the environmental quality.Taking everything into history, constructing a dike costs you a batch money and clip, but relicensing may be take long plenty to reactivate it.IV.ADVANTAGES OF WIND ENERGY OVER HYDROELECTRIC ENERGYAfter adverting air current energy and hydroelectric energy, it is clip to compare these two most normally used energy beginnings.4.1 Cost/Efficiency RateFirst of wholly, both energy beginnings have negligible cost when they are compared to other energy sources.For case, wind energy costs merely $ 5 dollars for a family every month and hydroelectric energy ‘s cost of electricty is constant.But when they are compared in electricity produced, weave energy stairss frontward. Most modern turbines installed today are estimated to hold a 20 twelvemonth life during this clip, major constituents have been designed to run 24 hours a twenty-four hours during this clip period. In general, a individual air current turbine will change over about 20 per centum of the energy in air current to electricity. The most efficient production occurs between five and 20 stat mis an hr of air current speed.This means wind energy is more efficient than any other energy beginnings ( AWEA ) .However, hydroelectric dikes have a burden capacity which means after a point, dam capacity is reached and it can non keep more H2O to conversation.In short air current energy provides more electrical power with less cost than the hydroelectric energy.4.2 Building ProcedureWhen constructing a new energy beginning, its edifice procedure is an of import factor.A big fraction of land is required to keep a H2O dike, and it can non be ever found easily.Hydroelectric dikes should be established near H2O beginnings such as lakes or seas.It besides requires tonss of clip to construct it.It takes months or possibly old ages to set up merely one hyrdoelectric dam.Also its licensing is a procedure which requires some time.On the other manus, air current turbines are so simple to construct and they can be established about anypla ce in the universe, it merely needs air current and it needs such a small time.As it is clear from the comparing, there is no uncertainty that the air current energy has no negative effects on budget and environment, in resistance to the bad effects of hydroelectric energy.

What techniques does Shakespeare use to reveal Iago’s villainy?

The play Othello is a stereotypical Shakespearean tragedy and it uses characters that are stereotypical of the views people had during the Jacobean period. Othello is a tragedy because the main characters die at the end f the play, also throughout the play themes of prejudice; deceit and love/hate are introduced. Shakespeare has used other sources other that his imagination for his plays. ‘Othello' was thought to have been taken from Hecatommithi, a collection of Italian short stories written by Giraldi Cinthio, the story seven contains many of the same names and situations as in Othello. In this essay I will analyze and comment on how Shakespeare uses techniques to reveal Iago's villainy. I will look at what effects the techniques Shakespeare uses have on the way Iago is presented to the audience. In act 2 scene 3 ‘Othello' we can clearly see the way Iago uses his surreptitious mind to persuade Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Casio. Due to Iago's manipulation of Othello, Othello starts to doubt Desdemona's loyalty and becomes under Iago's control. Iago uses a sly way to get Othello's attention and get him to believe what he has to say is true, he uses phrases such as â€Å"my noble lord† using both a personal pronoun by saying â€Å"my† and flattery by calling Othello his â€Å"noble lord† which would be taken as a huge compliment. Othello interestedly says â€Å"what dost thou say, Iago?† Iago the produces a question â€Å"Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady know of your love?† which is, in this case, the first question to doubt Othello's mind. Othello replies with â€Å"he did, from first to last, why dost thou ask?† meaning Cassio did know about their love, Othello is a it confused by the question so asks Iago why he asked, Iago then sneakily continues with â€Å"but for satisfaction of my thought, no further harm† and this is to keep Othello interested but still in doubt of what's going on and what's the point of it all. Iago used techniques of withholding information, this gets Othello curious as to why Iago is so inquisitive, this makes Othello frustrated by Iago's confusing answers, he demands an answer, this makes the audience feel Othello is not as good character as he seemed and Iago is not as clever as he previously thought. Othello is very clever in the way that he tells Iago , â€Å"yes, and went between us very oft† here he tries to get information out of Iago about what's going on because Othello had been incidentally reminded but Iago that Cassio has easy and frequent access to Desdemona so therefore senses that Iago is lying, which causes Iago to repeat his words out of coyness â€Å"honest my lord†, Iago is then worried that he had gone too far and saves himself with a brief answer to Othello my lord, for aught I know†. However Othello can't be fooled that easily and still suspects something is going on and therefore assumed Iago is withholding information, so asks â€Å"what dost thou think?† Othello then falls deeper into his daze of doubt and tells Iago that he knows there is more to it that meets the eye, â€Å"nay there's more in this.† Iago then tells Othello he is known of being false and nasty but it is what he has seen and heard â€Å"why say they are vilet false†, and Iago says to Othello that he doesn't want to tell him, but needs to â€Å"it is my natures plague to spy into abuse† Iago tells Othello his story. Although Iago is careful not to say anything that could later be used against him, Othello becomes angry and annoyed, yet upset at what he thinks has happened, â€Å"†¦he echoes me, as if there were some monster in his thought too hideous to be shown† but then Iago cleverly ends the subject with â€Å"my lord, you know I love you† so that he can then bring it up later, and at the same time establishes Othello's trust in him. After a long conversation with each other, Iago becomes more persuasive towards Othello, he tries to get Othello to agree with him but also leaving a bit of doubt in what he says â€Å"†¦I think that he is honest†, which Othello automatically believes he is honest if Iago says so, because he trusts him so much and at the time, is believing everything Iago is saying. Also that words Iago uses is important in the persuasion, such as â€Å"men should be what they seem† and â€Å"†¦ I think Cassio's an honest man†, the significance of these words is important because Iago is leaving no evidence and is making sure he is not saying anything that other characters in the play, including Othello can use against him as evidence to prove he is a villain. This makes the readers feel slightly intimidated by the character Iago; he is cunning and devious and is very clever at carrying out his plans toward Othello. Shakespeare uses specific techniques to show that the manipulation of other characters by Iago. Iago makes the characters in the play believe he is honest when in fact he is deceiving them and is going behind their backs to turn others against them. For example, in act 3 scene 3 â€Å"my noble lord†. Iago is gaining Othello's trust by using personal pronouns and addressing him as if they were the best of friends. By gaining Othello's trust, Iago thinks Othello will listen to him more and is more likely to believe what he is saying. By having this advantage of being able to influence what Othello does and says, the other characters wouldn't know what Iago is doing; but with Othello being in charge, Iago technically has control over the other characters by being able to influence Othello's decisions. He later then says â€Å"o beware, my lord of jealousy† in this statement Iago is making Othello think about Cassio trying to get with Desdemona because he is jealous of Othello and Desdemona's relationship. One of Iago's techniques is to find the characters' weaknesses and use it against them. One example of this is when Iago discovers Cassio's weakness was alcohol; Cassio leaves Iago on his own, this gives him time to explain to the audience what he is planning to do. â€Å"If I can fasten but one cup on him†¦ He'll be full of quarrel and offence† Then convinced him to have a few more drinks, he got drunk and started fighting. Iago did this because he wanted to get moved up ranking and wanted Cassio's position so was trying to get him fired. Typical views of Italian men in the renaissance period involve scheming, and devious behavior. Shakespeare created Iago based on the personality traits of a typical Italian stereotype, Machiavelli. Machiavelli did anything it took to get to the top, much like Iago, who was willing to kill people so he could get a higher position, he was also deceitful and devious like Machiavelli because of his two faced treachery. Iago manages to persuade characters in the play to do things that will benefit him, things that they would not normally do, one of the main victims of this particular type of manipulation is Othello, and Iago manages to [persuade Othello to kill Desdemona, the love of his life! He does this by using persuasive techniques such as reverse intention, this occurs throughout the play, when Othello and Iago are talking about Cassio's dream Othello shouts â€Å"monstrous† but Iago then says â€Å"nay† trying to imply it was only a dream, therefore minimizing the significance, at least, this is what Iago would theoretically be trying to do, however in this case he is actually trying to make Othello suspect more than a dream. At this point the audience know Iago is the villain because of the recent goings on in the play relating to trying get Cassio drunk, and his monologues so realize what he is trying to do. Another instance of reverse intention is when Iago states â€Å"let her live† he puts the idea of killing Desdemona in Othello's mind despite never mentioning it in the first place. Iago purposely uses long sentences so Othello only notices the points he wants him to notice, subtly disguising the hints he imploys to imply Desdemona's guilt, â€Å"I do beseech though I perchance and vicious in my guess ( as I confess it is my natures plague they spy into my abuses and of my jealousy shape faults that are not)-that your wisdom from one that is so imperfectly conceits would not notice, nor build yourself a trouble out of his scattering and unsure observance†, Although the character Iago is saying he is vicious in his guess, and then tries to accuse Othello of mistakenly imagining things, he is basically trying to avoid having to say something unpleasant, trying to direct Othello away from the point that was made. The commentary then gets Othello confused, he asks, â€Å"What dost thou mean?† Iago then has tie plain it, quite distressing Othello, it makes Othello think Iago is accusing him of a life of jealousy which he gets quite offended by. In the play, Shakespeare purposely structures it Iago's villainy it revealed at the end, if this were not the case, and the characters realized Iago's villainy at the beginning or earlier on in the play, there would be no storyline, the play is only based around two days, here would be no themes of deceit, death, heartbreak and villainy, so structuring the play in this way was the best way of presenting the tragedy. Also, because the play was only based on two days, this would not gave given Desdemona any time to be unfaithful to Othello, therefore undermining the belief for Othello's guilt. Iago is clever by covering his deception by never saying anything that he would think Othello would take offence to or not believe, he only says things he knows Othello is thinking anyway so he doesn't get himself into trouble, he never even suggests anything he just presents them as mere ideas so people have nothing to blame on him later on it the play † to grosses issues, nor larger reach than to suspicion† Iago is urging Othello to take a different course of action in certainty he is only planting the idea in his mind. Racism and prejudice would be a difficult theme to portray if Iago's villainy was revealed at the beginning, Othello would never befriend a known villain because he is hated enough for his race, he feels alien to Desdemona and his other characters n the play, â€Å"his own clime, complexion and degree†, this makes Othello feel alienated, â€Å"set on thy wife†, Othello has moved from feeling fine to feeling low, he sunk very quickly after Iago mentioned he is different to Desdemona, he took things to heart easily and took offence very easily. Until the end, Othello has no suspicion towards Iago's villainy, this is strange as Iago is trying to turn Othello against his beloved wife, he tries to imply this has cheated on him, he is jealous and he is imagining things, all false accusations, yet Othello notices nothing, because of the repeated use of the word honest when talking about Iago.

Hispanic Marketing Communication

Welcome to Hispanic Marketing Communication. This is a unique course part of an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate Program and an Undergraduate Minor at FSU. It is also part of a larger effort called â€Å"The FSU Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication,† the only one of its kind in the US.The intended participants for this course are students who intend to be professionally involved in serving the US Hispanic market as marketers, service providers, advertisers, and/or advertising strategy developers. This course allows the student to place him/herself among the few professionals in the US that understand the US Hispanic market. It should be clear that your proactive participation in this course will determine the extent to which you will benefit from the knowledge and practice that the course offers. Many product and service providers, and their ad agencies, in the US are actively pursuing the Hispanic market.There are many employment opportunities for those who can s how competence in addressing the needs and wants of US Hispanics. FORMAT:   The course is designed for active participation. The discussion forums can be used to discuss any questions, comments and observations that students want to make related to the weekly topic or Hispanic Marketing Communication in general. Each student is expected to participate in meaningful discussions throughout the semester that indicate knowledge of the assigned material. In addition, the course will consist of weekly readings, power point presentations, papers, and/or discussion topics.The â€Å"Library† on Blackboard will be used to make many class materials available. TEXTS: The following text is REQUIRED: 1) Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective by Felipe Korzenny, Betty Ann Korzenny (2005). Publisher Butterworth-Heinemann- Elsevier. You can find this book at the university bookstore or on Amazon. com. Please make sure you have the text by the second week of class. In addition, a list of recommended readings will be posted on the course website. OBJECTIVES: At the end of the semester the student will be able to: Describe the US Hispanic market according to its salient characteristics †¢ Enumerate the factors that make the Hispanic market different from other culturally unique markets †¢ Understand the dynamics that influence the uniqueness of the market †¢ Interpret Hispanic cultural patterns in a marketing framework †¢ Identify strategic elements that enhance the communication between the marketer and the Hispanic consumer. †¢ Analyze and create segmentation approaches for reaching the Hispanic market †¢ Understand measurement and other methodological issues that influence how Hispanic marketing research should be conducted †¢Conduct a Hispanic marketing study to guide a marketing strategy †¢ Generate a marketing strategy based on an understanding of the Hispanic market and its segments †¢ Generate positioning statement s that will meet with success in the US Hispanic market †¢ Generate an advertising execution for the Hispanic market †¢ Address ethical issues in Hispanic and culturally based market COURSE SCHEDULE, TOPICS, AND ASSIGNMENTS *The instructor has the right to change the syllabus. WEEK |TOPICS | |Week 1 |Introduction to the course | |May 10 |†¢ Course organization | | |†¢ Icebreakers/Introductions | |Week 2 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 1 | |May 17 | | | |The Role of Culture in Cross–Cultural Marketing | | |The importance of culture in marketing | | |Culture | | |Why a cultural approach to marketing? | | |A psycho-socio-cultural approach | | |The paradox of social class across cultures | | |Shared perceptions, motivations, beliefs and values | | |It is not a race | | |A common heritage | | |A common language | |Media facilitates specific targeting | | |Geographic concentration | | |A cultural perspective makes the difference | |Week 3 |H ispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 2 | |May 24 | | | |Characteristics of the Hispanic Market | | |Demographic profile | | |Geographic profile | | |Economic profile | | |Ethnic profile | | |Cultural and Historical origins and backgrounds | | |Immigration to the US and its impact on the US Hispanic market | |Week 4 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 3 | |May 31 | | | |What makes Hispanics Hispanic? | | |The issue of self identification | | |Reference groups and Hispanic self identification | | |Hispanic vs. Latino vs. specific country of origin | | |Labels and their implications | | |How do Hispanics think of themselves? |Week 5 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 4 | |June 7 | | | |Language and culture. Code switching, Spanglish. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. | | | | | |What do Hispanics speak? | | |The issues of Code Switching | | |The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis as it relates to the importance of language use | | |Purism vs. ragmatism in language usage | | |The overlap between language and culture | | | | |Week 6 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 5 | |June 14 | | | |Enculturation, acculturation, segmentation, stereotypes, assimilation. | |Cultural acquisition | | |Acquisition of a second culture | | |Abandonment of the first culture in favor of a second culture | | |One-dimensional models of acculturation | | |Multidimensional models of acculturation | | |Acculturation segmentation | | |Acculturation by life-stage segmentation | | |A multicultural future? | | |The impact of stereotypes and auto-stereotypes on acculturation, self-esteem, and consumer | | |behavior | |Week 7 |HispanicMarketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 6 | |June 21 | | | |Cultural archetypes and dimensions | | |Monochronism | | |Monomorphic and polymorphic leadership | | |Individualism and collectivism | | |Androgyny | | |Cultural attributions | | |Cultural perception of: | | |Money | | |Home | | |Debt | | |Happiness | | |Dea th | | |Parent-Child relationships | | |Religion | | |Relationship with nature | | |Position in the cosmos | | |Guilt vs. Shame | | |Gender relationships and expectations | | |Food and hunger | | |Hot and cold | | |Morning, day and night | |Machismo and Marianismo | | |Child centeredness | | |Health remedies and medicine | |Week 8 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 6 | |June 28 | | | |Cultural archetypes and dimensions, continued | |Week 9 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 7 | |July 5 | | | |Culturally Informed Strategy Based on Grounded Research | | |The Cultural Research Paradox | | |The Paradox of Linguistic Equivalence | | |Cultural bias and standardization | | |Use of scales | | |Choice of data collection approaches | | |Qualitative approaches | | |Quantitative approaches | | |The Account Planner | |Week 10 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 8 | |July 12 | | | |U. S. Hispanic Media Environment and Strategy | | |Television | | |Radio | | |Print | |The Movie Theater | | |The Internet | | |Grassroots, Networks, Promotions | | |A new way of thinking | |Week 11 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 9 | |July 19 | | | |The Evolution of Hispanic Marketing | | |The origin of a market | | |The story of the Hispanic market | |Week 12 |Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, Chapter 10 | |July 26 | | | |The Future | | |Size and futurism | | |Removing obstacles | | |Lifestyle and economic borders replace national borders | | |The right and the wrong-ethics in Hispanic Marketing | |Week 13 |Final Projects due Monday, August 2nd, before midnight EST. Late projects will not be accepted. | |August 2 | |Assignments: Each week, students will check the course website for the topic to be covered, the learning objectives to be achieved, and the homework assignment along with instructors’ notes about the assigned reading. Any assignments or questions that are part of an assignment will be posted o n Monday by 5:00 p. m. E. T. All assignments are due on Sunday by midnight E. T. Written assignments and papers should be submitted via the appropriate link on blackboard or discussion board thread and should NOT be sent to the instructor as email attachments. Assignments will usually take the form of short written papers or power point presentations. Each assignment is worth 10 points. Discussion Board: A percentage of your grade is based on your posts on the Discussion Boards.If you are required to post on the discussion board, it will be clearly indicated in that week's assignment. You must post at least twice to each discussion board, unless otherwise specified in the discussion board assignment. One post should be your response to the questions posed in the discussion board. The other post should be a thoughtful response to another student’s post. In order to receive credit, you must post your response to the posted discussion board questions by Thursday at midnight ET. In addition, you must post a response to another student’s post by Sunday at midnight ET. Your grade on the discussion board is based on participation.Each discussion board assignment is worth 10 points. However, in order to receive full credit for these posts, you must fulfill some basic requirements: – Posts should be a minimum of 150 words – Posts should be relevant to the topic being discussed, but should also attempt to introduce a new point of view or piece of information or otherwise further the discussion – Posts should use correct grammar, punctuation and vocabulary appropriate for a university-level course. Misuse of the discussion boards will not be tolerated. Final Project: Individual students will prepare a 10 – 15 page paper (excluding tables and exhibits). You have two options.Students (especially professional students) are encouraged to choose a final project which is relevant to their own field of expertise and interest. Students s hould begin research and planning for their final projects as soon as possible. The instructor and mentors are available to help you find resources, guide your research, etc. Please remember the wealth of resources available through the course library and the FSU library online databases. Notes that apply to all documents: -Should be typed in Serif 12 point font (Times, Arial, Century, etc. ) double-spaced with one-inch margins -Should have table of contents -Should have a cover page with the project’s and student’s information -Each section should have a subtitle to identify it All appendices should be included at the end of the document with adequate reference to them in the body of the paper -References cited page should be included, in APA format Option A) A strategy document on how to market a specific product to a specific target in the US Hispanic market. The paper will include: 10 points for each of the following bullet points (points will be deducted for going far under the page requirement, not backing up arguments with relevant research, etc. ) a. Definition of the problem including product and competitive environment (2 pages) b. Statement of the marketing objectives (1 page) c. Target segment and its justification (1 – 2 pages) d. Identification of media resources and strategy (2 – 3 pages) e.Positioning and message strategy based on consumer insights, part of which could be from personal interviews (2 – 3 pages) f. Test of message and media approaches, which could be based on focus groups, personal interviews, etc (2 – 3 pages) g. Guidelines for implementation (1 – 2 pages) h. Suggestions for the evaluation of effectiveness (1 – 2 pages) 10 points for grammar, punctuation, style, etc. 10 points for correct citation of sources TOTAL: 100 points Option B) Students may also choose to create a state of the art paper on a specific marketing vertical. Examples of past vertical reports are posted i n the course library. Suggested verticals: †¢ Automotive †¢ Financial Services †¢ Telecommunications †¢ Pharmaceuticals †¢ Heath Care †¢ Packaged Goods Travel and Hospitality Each paper is expected to have the following sections: 20 points for each of the following bullet points (points will be deducted for going far under the page requirement, not backing up arguments with relevant research, etc. ) a. Introduction and importance of the vertical chosen (1 – 2 pages) b. Review of the relevant trade and academic literature (4 – 5 pages) c. Main trends and findings under descriptive headings (4 –5 pages) d. Conclusions and recommendations (1 – 2 pages) 10 points for grammar, punctuation, style, etc. 10 points for correct citation of sources TOTAL: 100 points EVALUATION Assignments 30% Discussion board posts 30%Final Project25% Participation 15% Late assignments and discussion board posts will be penalized 20% per day. The gradin g scale is as follows: |A |94-100 |B- |80-82 |D+ |67-69 | |A- |90-93 |C+ |77-79 |D |60-66 | |B+ |87-89 |C |73-76 |D- |60-62 | |B |83-86 |C- |70-72 |F |

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Human Rights Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Human Rights Law - Essay Example As part of the global war on terror, governments have embraced various torturous tactics including extraordinary rendition against the suspects. Basically, the suspects are not given a chance to challenge their arrest in court and are held incommunicado. They are held and interrogated through methods that amount to torture and breach of human rights. In most cases, the suspects are tried by foreign governments and sometimes executed. Recently, a study carried out by the European parliament concluded that extraordinary rendition results to multiple human right violations such as unwarranted arrests, torture, false trials, inhumane treatment, and deprivation of liberty and to the worst death. According to both Human rights committee and committee against torture, extra ordinary rendition violates a number of provisions set out in conventions against torture. Under the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC), rendition infringes on several human rights including deprivation of liberty as outlined by Article 7(1) (e), disappearance of individuals and Article 7(1) (i) torture Article 7(1) (f), which are termed as an attack on civilians. The Security Council resolution of 1483 requires all nations to play their part under the Geneva Convention of 1949. According to General Taguba, all detainees should be accorded the full protection of Geneva convection. Article 49 of the fourth Geneva Convection requires deportations and forcible transfers of persons to be protected despite the underlying motive. . The European Court of Human rights requires that all movement of people from one jurisdiction to another regardless of whether it is deportation, extradition or rendition to observe the procedures set out under international and domestic laws. In Bozano v. France1, the court ruled that the procedures laid down affects the legality of holding an individual besides the validity of the transfer. The United Kingdom is not bound by any treaty in ensuring that its airports and airspace are not used for rendition practices. However, cruel and inhumane acts of torture are not allowed by United Nations Commission Against Torture (UNCAT) as defined by Article 1. In addition, Article 16 states that, â€Å"†¦ in particular, the obligations contained in Articles 10,11,12 and 13 shall apply with substitution for references to torture or references to other forms of cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment†. These Articles refer to rules that should be observed during the in terrogation process. Article 3 of UNCAT prohibit forceful extradition of any individual to a state where one is believed to be susceptible to torture and other forms of ill treatment. However, the UK is bound by the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights and the ECHR not to engage in extradition of any person to any place that pose risk for ill treatment or torturous acts. Article 3 of UNCAT provides that all transfers including those that are extralegal should comply with the legal procedures of extradition. Otherwise, breach of the principle could result to state responsibility. The transit state and the sending state may avoid liability under the international law through diplomatic assurances between the officials of the two states that the person in question will not be subjected to ill treatment or torture. Moreover, it is argued that such diplomatic assur

Computer Networking Security Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computer Networking Security - Assignment Example VPN only uses TCP port 1723 while the executive Intranet cannot access the application servers through this port. The connection will, therefore, be blocked as it will be malicious. The assistant administrator cannot log into the application server through ssh since it requires him to use port 22 which is a port below 1024. All ports below the range of 1024 have been restricted for general purpose use. The vulnerabilities created can be solved by giving specific port addresses access to the application servers instead of allowing a certain range. Some Internet traffic to the VPN should be limited instead of allowing all inbound traffic to be accepted. Assistant network administrator can be given access rights to the application server through providing specific access rules for him by specifying his mac address as an exception and opening some general purpose ports for him. Additional IP table rules can include rules that restrict the number of parallel connections from one IP client. The network administrator should also implement an IP table rule that only opens a particular range of IP addresses in regards to IP addresses of the several subnets created. The administrator can also provide a strong way of authenticating users to the company network or the VPN and strong encryption methods of for the

Reflection on the Group work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection on the Group work - Essay Example We were exposed to worldviews and discover alternatives in getting the work done. Extensive discussions and shared of opinions helped to improve our slides and understanding on the topic. In addition, we were able to share our responsibilities and the combination of abilities and skills allowed us to learn from each other and facilitated efficiency and productivity in delivering a quality work. Besides that, we had learnt to respect and understand people from different countries and behaviours thus developing our interpersonal and listening skills. Team spirit which is not available in an individual work has been a great motivation for us to drive our presentation to success and meet the submission dateline. All in all, it fostered our relationship while working together. Nevertheless, communication breakdown occurred occasionally due to difference in language and not all group members were native speakers. There was misunderstanding on allocation of work at the start of the project due to insufficient communication but was quickly resolved through explanations. On the other hand, conflicts were unavoidable for example the choice of research country as each team members favour home countries which they are familiar with. However, we were able to reach a consensus and all members showed their work commitments and provided constructive comments throughout the project. Lastly, it can be time consuming to work as a group as individuals have to come together at an agreed time and there would be free talk among group members which might not be relevant to our assigned task. Additional time spent on resolving conflicts and explaining views had significantly reduced our group efficiency and made it a slow process compared to working individually. I would be more confident in overcoming the difficulties in working in a multicultural group and breakdown the barriers such as stereotypes and prejudices. Additionally, I see communication as the main obstacle thus I would ma ke effort to be more patient and have high tolerance rather than being aggressive. Two-way communication and positive feedbacks are critical to resolve disputes and promote mutual understanding and respect. Besides that, I would be a good team player offering my skills, giving suggestions, be more co-operative and provide assistance to other team members when required. One of the personal weaknesses identified is that I do not have quick adaption to the change in environment or situation. I faced difficulties in communicating and expressing my views to my team members from diverse culture at the initial stage as I used to stay in my comfort zone. Also, there is lack of experience in dealing and handling conflicts and contradictions. My other negative trait would be that I tend to be a perfectionist. I like to work in an organized way and often get frustrated when other group members do not portray the same level of effort that I do. I have set a personal goal seek to overcome my wea knesses. I have decided to join societies and clubs in order to widen my circle of friends with different nationalities and countries to enhance my soft skills and develop my confidence in building relationships. The people skills will nevertheless be useful for conflict resolution enabling me to calm and control the situation besides developing problem solving skills. On the other hand, I would display more patience and accept the fact that all individuals are

Network virtual servers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Network virtual servers - Research Paper Example Similarly, VMware supplies numerous virtualization systems that are mainly host based. In the hypervisor market, the developer mainly offers two somewhat similar softwares, the ESX and ESXi (Finn & Lownds 23). The ESX is the company’s customary release and it entails the hypervisor and a developed management operation while ESXi is the firm’s latest release, and it is a hypervisor-only version. Both the Hyper-V and ESXi do not demand an OS accompaniment since they connect directly on the hardware; however, their integration structure varies. The VMware has a direct driver structure where the application’s lines install on hardware, hence, linking the hardware and virtual gadgets servicing the server. As such, the structure incorporates the hardware drivers in the hypervisor. Similarly, the Hyper-V installs on the hardware but a structured application that propels the Window Server, directs all functions and hardware’s access. Considering this connection structure, the Hyper-V system is regarded to have an indirect driver structure (Finn & Lownds 134). The simpler the structure of a hypervisor, the easer is its management. Management entails adopting and structuring hardware, installing virtual accompaniments, configuring the network among others. Software that incorporates and adjusts to these demands comfortably is easier to manage. The Hyper-V and the VMware incorporate and associateswith these structures in varying ways. The Hyper-V control entirely depends on a root partition plan done through a central Hyper-V manager. This plan is somewhat similar to other Microsoft management applications and demands little skills to launch. This tool, hence, controls basic virtual functions associated with the hardware. Importantly, an operator can control some hardware setups in the root partition using ordinary OS tools. Indeed, the tool is manageable remotely

The Dark Side of Online Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Dark Side of Online Education - Essay Example The OU of United Kingdom, Indhira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) of India etc are some famous open universities in which internet is the principal medium of delivering educational materials. Online education provides a capacious range of courses and learning centers for the students to choose from, which in turn provides them with the opportunity to learn according to their tastes and visions. The convenience of learning right from their homes is yet another feature of online education. It provides an environment just congruous to that of a social networking website where they can discuss the stuff regarding their subject with peers from diverse regions. Students can fix the schedule and pace of their learning. This imparts a great liberty for professionals and people who have other commitments. It gives them an international exposure and connections with experts in the subjects of study from all over the globe. However, one cannot disregard the disadvantages of online educa tion while planning to step into it. The portal of the Montgomery College, Maryland which is a famous online education center describes the demerits of online education. According to them, online courses are more time-consuming than on-campus classes. Here the interaction with the instructor is virtual in the practical sense. The communication takes place either through fingers, that is, by typing or through webcams. Both increase the time required for learning procedures. There is a possibility for students to procrastinate learning if they are pursuing online courses because the schedules are flexible. This puts the very concept of ‘proper learning’ at doubt. Such courses appeal for time-management skills of the students deeply and may invoke a sense of isolation in them. There are no restrictions posed on the learner, which in one sense may sound as a positive aspect, but it can eventually turn out to be an ill-effect because there is a chance that the learner drop o ff from the learning and concentrate on other activities which can adversely affect his/her results. The service that students receive from their instructors ends in gaining the subject knowledge wherein lack of guidance, methods of study, planning etc. occur (Montgomery College). There are various technical requirements also that one has to consider while going for online education. The unavailability of any of these resources can badly affect the progress in learning. Gary W. James, a corporate trainer at Allen Communication describes this aspect. According to James, limited formatting of content in most of the browsers of today is a menace in online learning. Limitations in bandwidth, web browser and even the system configuration can inversely affect learning as graphics; videos, sounds etc form an important part of online learning. Time required for downloading the course materials sometimes goes to large extents. Assessment and feedback regarding students take place rather rare ly. According to James, most of the online courses of today are comparatively less interactive (2-3). Lisa Kirtman of California State University, Fullerton conducted a deep comparative study regarding the learning outcomes of online education as well as in campus education. She says that there had been a steadfast increment in the number of students

The Cost of Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Cost of Conflict - Essay Example There was a recent business article which featured two former Boeing employees. During the time, Michael Sears was the CFO and Darleen Druyun was the corporate vice president. Darleen decided to retire earlier from the Air force as a Number 2 acquisition executive. The beginning of the events that transpired was sparked by Darleen requesting Sears for jobs for two of family members. Darleen allocated a contract to Boeing out of the appreciation for the company for offering her and her two family members. This was seen as not only unprofessional and breach of codes of conduct but also a violation of established legislation. From the viewpoints of the participants the cost of this conflict could be seen both in terms of economy and development of the organization. It should be noted that the contracts were awarded not on the basis of merit but as a result of paying back for a favor done. This could have detrimental economic impacts to the company. This conflict had the potential of bringing down the company since the employees were not picked on the basis of their qualifications for the jobs they were expected to perform. The implication of this is that the employees could not be trusted to discharge their duties with the professionalism and dedication deserved. This conflict was resolved in court. Since it was a matter of breach not only to the professional codes of conduct but a matter of contravention to the contract law, the matter was brought before the court. Since both the participants were guilty, Darleen was sentenced to nine month’s imprisonment because of awarding the contract not out of qualification but gratitude because she and her two family members were given jobs by the company. Similarly, Sears was sentenced to four months in prison the reason being that he handled the employment in an improper way. He improperly and unprofessionally

Political Correctness in the Media Essay Example for Free

Political Correctness in the Media Essay Political correctness in the media refers to the use of appropriate words and ideas to minimize racism in all its hideous manifestations, in addition to sexism and offences against identity groups of all sorts. In other words, it is a â€Å"concept that one has to shape their statements (if not their opinions) according to a certain political dogma (â€Å"Political Correctness,† 2008). † Hence, it is rude to say ‘nigger’ in an advertisement especially created for the African Americans even if a Caucasian Congressman uses the politically incorrect word in his home. However, during periods of history when certain races, identity groups or the weaker sex must be looked down upon – according to policies created by the government to raise a race, identity group or gender over another, in the minds of the people – it is not considered politically incorrect by the media to refer to those looked down upon as rascals, despite the fact that the notion of political correctness had originated during World War I (Lind, 2000). Given that political correctness must needs concern governmental policies at any given time, it is interesting to consider the fact that political correctness or incorrectness in the media has taken different forms according to governmental needs at different times. In the United States, racism in reporting against the African Americans seemed to have peaked during the 1950s. Perhaps the reason for the peak was that the whites and the blacks in America had shared a master-slave relationship in the past. The Civil Rights Movement had called for changing the status quo. The demand for equal rights for the blacks was met with resistance, however. This is the reason why an article published in The Birmingham Post-Herald in 1955 quotes a white sheriff thus: â€Å"†¦We haven’t mixed so far down here and we don’t intend to (â€Å"10 Jurors Picked as Till Trial Opens,† 1955). † The sheriff was, of course, describing the relations of the white race with the black race. The above mentioned news article was actually a report on a trial. All of the jury members selected for the trial were white men. Eight of the men were farmers and one of them was a laborer. There were â€Å"eight Negro reporters† present at the trial, but all of them were â€Å"segregated at a separate table (â€Å"10 Jurors Picked as Till Trial Opens†). † Considering that the theory of racism is based on the assumption that a race can be superior to another race for any number of reasons, the news report of the 1950s describes blatant racism. So, even though the blacks had worked as laborers for the whites in the past, for the reason that the blacks had served the whites as slaves, they could not be members of the jury even if one of the jury members was a white laborer. Contrary to the stance of the whites with respect to the blacks described in the above mentioned article, a news article published by The San Francisco News in 1942 describes the value of the Japanese Americans to the economy of the United States. The author of the article, â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments,† states that the internment of the Japanese Americans would adversely affect the agricultural produce of California. The article refers to the Japanese Americans as â€Å"[f]ast and efficient workers (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments,† 1942). † Even though the work of the Japanese Americans on Californian farms had required â€Å"the most arduous form of ‘stoop labor,’† the article mentions that the white farmers would be able to handle it, but not as well as the Japanese American workers (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments†). Stoop labor is defined as â€Å"[b]ack-bending manual work (â€Å"Stoop Labor,† 2008). † If the news article published in 1942 had clearly stated that the white farmers will not be able to replace the Japanese Americans on the plantations because the latter were engaged in stoop labor which the white farmers simply would not engage in; it would have been obvious that the reporting is racist. However, this was not the case. Rather, the Japanese Americans are lauded for their efficiency in the news report, as some of them were capable of tending to forty to fifty gardens at a time (â€Å"Jap Ban to Force Farm Adjustments†). Even though the Japanese Americans had been interned during World War II, the whites did not seem to look down upon them or consider them inferior. On the other hand, the blacks were obviously considered inferior because they had served the whites as slaves. These differences of perceptions are made clear by the news reports. Even so, racism against the African Americans is considered a totally taboo subject in the media in the beginning of the twenty first century. The reason for the taboo, too, is obvious: the African have a history of fighting racism in the United States. The government of the United States no longer wants to harass them through its policies and the media. As a matter of fact, the taboo is accompanied by policies such as affirmative action, simply for the fact that racism against the Africans of the U. S. is met with ample resistance on the part of the Africans themselves, as well as their friends among the Caucasians of America. Seeing that the United States government would like the country to maintain a semblance of a civilized nation, racism against African Americans does not make sense any longer. The ‘Islamists’ are targeted nowadays. All the same, trends in racism reporting as described above reveal that this too would change one day, somehow. Political correctness or incorrectness in the media is undoubtedly related to political framing. As mentioned previously, it is the policymaker that decides what the media would eventually reveal to the public. Political communicators are skilled at framing the debates over controversial issues through an emphasis on policy goals that deserve the highest priority, according to themselves rather than the people they communicate with. Such rhetoric affects political attitudes by influencing the importance that individuals place on competing issues. Frames do not only affect opinions on the issues, but they also influence the judgments of the participants in the communication process with regards to the relative importance of competing values. Thus, political persuaders shape public opinion through the framing of their policy goals and choices (Nelson, 2004). Politicians attempt to control public perception through the use of words. Thus an encyclopedia has defined framing as â€Å"a process of selective control over the individual’s perception of media, public, or private communication, in particular the meanings attributed to words or phrases. Framing defines how an element of rhetoric is packaged so as to allow certain interpretations and rule out others (â€Å"Framing,† 2008). † Moreover, media frames may be created by the mass media as well as specific political and social movements or organizations. As shown through the several examples mentioned already, the media works alongside political and social movements to control the perceptions of the public at large through the communication theory of framing. Hence, in recent years the media was frequently heard discussing the ‘war on terror,’ seeing as the politicians had coined the phrase and used it regularly to advise the public about their policies concerning the issue. Another important example of framing in this context was the popularization of the term, ‘escalation,’ to describe an increase in troop levels in war torn Iraq. The term, ‘escalation’ implied that the United States was deliberately heightening the scope of the conflict in a manner that was provocative (â€Å"Framing†). Spielvogel (2005) points out that both George W. Bush and John Kerry, during the 2004 presidential campaign, had relied upon the moral framing of the ‘war on terrorism’ and the situation in Iraq as a battle between ‘good and evil’ in their day to day political discourse. Moreover, President Bush had employed this rhetorical frame â€Å"to politically and morally cloak the war in Iraq under a larger war on terror (Spielvogel). † Is war politically correct or incorrect? It depends on governmental policies at any given time. Now that the U. S. is going through an economic recession, perhaps war will become a taboo subject in the media and ‘nonviolence’ would reign. All the same, if the U. S. government continues to perceive all Muslims as the enemies of the United States – the media would continue referring to ‘Islamists’ the way it does at present. Even though stereotyping is by itself a taboo subject, advanced degrees in mass communication are not helping journalists and advertisers to be honest in their understanding of people and cultures. Given the responsibility to relay truthful information to the public; journalists, advertisers and all distributors of entertainment and news across different mediums such as television, newspapers, radio, Internet, etc. should have known that all people and cultures cannot be appreciated through stereotypes. Moreover, through mass usage of stereotypes, the media creates a mass culture, the representatives of which consider it abnormal to step outside the stereotypes. According to the Media Awareness Network: â€Å"The pressure put on women through ads, television, film and new media to be sexually attractive—and sexually active—is profound. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that one out of four TV commercials send some kind of ‘attractiveness message,’ telling viewers what is and is not attractive (â€Å"Media Stereotyping,† 2007). † Thus, the media happens to contribute to the mental illnesses suffered by an increasing number of people in our world. Although this form of stereotyping in the media may not have anything to do with political pressure, or political correctness and/or incorrectness, the fact that the media has stereotypes for women is accompanied by the truth that the U.  S. government has never been headed by a woman! The Media Awareness Network explains another reason for stereotyping before outlining other problems associated with stereotypes: Media stereotypes are inevitable, especially in the advertising, entertainment and news industries, which need as wide an audience as possible to quickly understand information. Stereotypes act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or group of people—usually relating to their class, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, ocial role or occupation. But stereotypes can be problematic. They can: reduce a wide range of differences in people to simplistic categorizations; transform assumptions about particular groups of people into â€Å"realities†; be used to justify the position of those in power; and perpetuate social prejudice and inequality (â€Å"Media Stereotyping†). Although the reason for stereotyping as described above is clear, the main reason for it continues to be understood as governmental policies. Of course, stereotyping is another form of political incorrectness in the media. Then again, there are those who opine that political correctness is a confusing notion, disallowing intelligent debates from changing our world for the better (â€Å"PC thinking ‘is harming society,’† 2006). In other words, by trying to be politically correct or incorrect, the media is veiling the face of reality. Even so, the media is considered an important educator of society as a whole. Furthermore, the media has the power to shape culture by introducing positive changes. It is a shame, therefore, that people must consider educating the media so as to do away with falsehoods that it imparts due to political pressure. Undoubtedly, political correctness and incorrectness must necessarily concern governmental policies at any given time. Whereas the government benefits by the strength of the media through its declaration of certain words or ideas as politically correct or incorrect at any given time – it is the public at large that suffers because it has been taught lies by the media. By perpetuating social prejudice, the media – through governmental notions of political correctness and incorrectness at any given time – may even shoulder responsibility for bloody wars around the world.

Support Networks For Young Homeless People

Support Networks For Young Homeless People The support network of leaving care and statutory homeless young people 16 and 17 years old living in homeless hostels Contents 1. Introduction 2. â€Å"Legal† literature 2.1. Youth homelessness in England 2.2. Housing provision for 16/17 years old homeless young people 2.3. Leaving care 3. â€Å"Psychological† literature 3.1. Social networks 4. Methodology 4.1. Methodology 4.2. Construction of the interview 4.3. Procedure 4.4. The pilot study 4.5. Sample 4.6. Analysis of the interviews: categorisation of contents 5. Research findings and discussion 6. Conclusion 1. Introduction Adolescence is a period where important changes occur in the relationship between young people and their parents (Paikoff Brooks-Gunn, 1991). It seems that as young people try to become more independent the amount of conflict with parents increases (Paikoff Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Laursen et al., 1998). Conflict levels seem to be higher in middle adolescence and decrease in late adolescence (Paikoff Brooks-Gunn, 1991; Laursen et al., 1998). However, in some cases the conflict can be so intense that adolescents are evicted from the parental home or leave by their own initiative to avoid or escape the conflict situations and as a result they may become homeless (CHAR, 1996; Ploeg Scholte, 1997; Smith, 1998; Fitzpatrick, 2000). Some leave their parental homes while they are under the age of 18 years old which means that legally they are still children. Therefore, these adolescents can be accommodated by the Children Services, under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, if considered to b e children â€Å"in need† according to section 17 of the same act or by the Housing Department as statutory homeless under the Homelessness Act 2002 after their inclusion in the priority list introduced by the The Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002. Research on the topic of homeless young people found that among this group is possible to find a large number of adolescents that had been looked after by the Local Authorities. This adolescents suffered, in some cases, separations of years and several restrictions in the contact with their natural family. Yet, the Local Authorities still have parental duties regarding them and in most cases they had been accommodated in foster families. This can provide young people leaving care with additional sources of support. It is often stated in literature that the social networks of homeless young people are poor and that they lack quality supportive links. In a study by Pleace et al. (2008) that looked at families and 16 and 17 years old accepted as homeless, the findings show that the instrumental (practical help in a crisis situation) and emotional (having someone to talk to) support received by 16 and 17 years old is mainly given by friends and family but overall this group is significantly less supported then the national average. Although this study gives an idea of the support networks of these group it is quantitative research and it does not provide much more information on the composition and quality of the support networks. Additionally, more than half of the participants were already 18 years old at the time the interview was conducted. Another study by Lemos and Durkacz (2002) that included 26 vulnerable people with ages between 17 and 53 years old with a history of homelessness showed tha t homeless people maintain supportive contacts with family although they differ substantially in regularity. Furthermore, they found that the relationship homeless people have with peers are mainly with other people they meet in homeless settings and although there are long term friendships this pattern is not the most common. This study provides qualitative information on the social network of homeless people, however there was only one respondent of 17 years old, all the other participants were older. Moreover it approached individuals with a history of homelessness with means that some of the participants were already in permanent accommodation and others had been homeless for several years. Homeless hostels provide accommodation for statutory homeless and leaving care with 16 and 17 years old. The adolescents in this last group suffered, in some cases, separations of years and several restrictions in the contact with their natural family. Yet, the Local Authorities still have parental duties regarding them and in most cases they had been accommodated in foster families. This can provide young people leaving care with additional sources of support. In this study the two groups will be compared to determine the extent of support received and the existing differences. The findings of this study can be used to enrich the knowledge about this vulnerable group and provide relevant information to professionals working with them in order to create methods to better support this group. Research suggests that homeless young people have less support than their peers in the general population There are a number of studies in the United Kingdom on the topic of youth homelessness. However, not much specific about the support networks and especially not much about the support network of homeless young people aged 16 and 17 years old. Additionally, the existent research focuses on homeless young people as a group and does not take into account the different groups of single homeless young people as statutory homeless and care leavers. This study aims to examine the social networks of homeless 16 and 17 years old living in homeless hostels in London. It intends to find out the extent to which homeless young people have contact with family and friends and the quality of the support received from both sources. It also aims to find whether there are differences between the social networks of statutory homeless and leaving care young people aged 16 and 17. The present paper is divided in five parts. The first part intends to contextualise the study by giving the different meanings of homelessness, presenting a brief history of homeless youth in England emphasising the causes that triggered that phenomenon to emerge. Additionally, the legal definition of homeless person will be given and the housing policies will be looked at. Finally, it will be presented an explanation of the term leaving care, the relevant legislation, the factors that can trigger homelessness and the factors that can affect the support network of this group. In the second part, a definition of social network and support network will be provided paying attention to the constructs that can be used to assess the existence and the quality of support networks, the importance of support networks will be highlighted and a studies of homeless support networks will be described and analysed. In the third part the design of the research and the sample will be described, the a nalysis of the interviews will be made and categorisation of the contents presented. In fourth part the results will be analysed and discussed related to the categories created. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn. 2. Legal literature 2.1. Youth homelessness in England There is no consensual definition of homelessness, as the same word has different meanings for the government, the voluntary agencies that work with this group of people, the common citizen and the media (Pleace and Quilgars, 1999). For the general public the word homeless is likely to bring to mind images of someone without shelter, and in that sense homeless people are seen as those who sleep on the streets. However, a homeless person can also be a person that does not have a house and lives in emergency accommodation, is institutionalised, lives in temporary accommodation, such as bed and breakfasts hostels, refuges or lives with friends or relatives for a period of time. The term homeless can also be applicable to people that live in bad housing conditions, such as overcrowded houses, substandard houses or in environments that present a threat to the safety and wellbeing of the individual. Finally, the broader definition of homeless also includes people that do not have sufficie nt economic resources to buy or rent their own house and as a consequence have to share accommodation on a long-term basis (Thornton, 1990 and Fitzpatrick et al. 2000). There is a legal definition of homelessness that will be given in the next section. However, for the purpose of this study young homeless people are those who are living in temporary accommodation and specifically homeless hostels. The phenomenon of homelessness among young people in Britain rose significantly during the 1980’s and 1990’s (Quilgars et al., 2008) due to a conjunction of economic, social and political factors (Thornton, 1990). In the 1970’s, a crisis in the oil industry led to a world economic recession that resulted in the closure of some companies and in a reduction in the recruitment or the redundancy of workers in others. This situation affected the manufacturing industries and in the United Kingdom it had a major impact on industries such as mining and ship-building. There was consequently a reduction in the number of jobs available or a complete lack of jobs in that industry, affecting particularly some areas of the country. The unemployment rate increased. Young school leavers, with almost no qualifications and with little or no work experience, that previously were able to get unskilled jobs were particularly affected. The increase in the rate of unemployment in some parts of the country made young people move to larger cities where they were more likely to find work in the service industry that had started to expand during the 1980’s (Hutson and Liddiard, 1997). However, the vast num ber of people that moved to big cities hoping to find a job, in conjunction with other demographic and social factors, aggravated the shortage of affordable houses . Consequently, in cities like London during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s it was possible to find a large number of young people sleeping in the streets (Smith, 1999). Some young people could not get a job and for those who managed to find work, the significant difference between their wages and those of adults made it harder for this group to compete in the housing market (Thornton, 1990). The growth of youth unemployment resulted in an increase in the number of benefit claims made by this group, which had a significant impact on the social security budget (Hutson and Liddiard, 1997). To reduce the benefits bill, the government introduced changes in the Social Security Benefits (Hutson and Liddiard, 1997). Until the late 1980’s unemployed young people were entitled to Supplementary Benefit that paid board and lodging allowances which permitted them to live in bed and breakfasts . However, by the end of that decade with the Social Security Act 1988 (Fitzpatrick, 2000) those benefits were discontinued and replaced by Income Support and Housing Benefit . The new benefit system introduced different payment rates according to the age of the applicant and young people aged 16 to 25 years old were entitled to the smallest amounts . When this system was introduced it was thought that it would discourage young people from leaving their parents’ home before they ha d sufficient economical resources to support themselves . Nevertheless, the effect, at least in the years following its implementation, was the opposite and there was an increase in the number of young people, that without having the opportunity to return home, ended up sleeping on the streets or accumulating huge debts (Thornton, 1990). Young people aged 16 and 17 were the most affected by the change in the benefit system as they could only claim Income Support in exceptional circumstances (Fitzpatrick, 2000). This included couples with children, single mothers, pregnant women, young people with mental or physical health problems or young people that attended full-time education (not higher education) and were estranged from their parents (Income support: information for new costumers, 2000). In 1986, the government extended the existing Youth Training Schemes, created in 1983, from one to two years in order to solve the problem of the high rate of unemployment among compulsory school leavers aged 16 and 17 and the forthcoming exclusion from the social security benefit system . This programme intended to provide young people with the adequate skills to successfully apply for a job and during the training period all trainees were entitled to a small weekly allowance . However, this measure was not successful as on the one hand, the government could not guarantee a sufficient number of work places for all 16 and 17 year olds (Fitzpatrick, 2000) and on the other hand, for many young people the chances of finding a job after finishing the training did not increase significantly (Hutson and Liddiard,1997). In addition to all of this, a change in demographic and social factors such as the increasing rate of divorces and separations, the increased longevity of life and the rise in the average age of people when they first got married resulted in more single households . With more people in need of housing, the number of affordable houses available in the market decreased significantly making it more difficult for young people to become independent from their parents and be able to live in a house of their own . While in the late 1980’s the main reason for homelessness among young people seemed to be the result of unemployment, that had made adolescents move from their home towns to bigger cities in order to find a job, in the early 1990’s the majority of homeless young people had left their parental home due to family conflict (Smith, 1998 and Smith, 1999). This is consistent with the findings from research conducted by Centrepoint. This organisation found that in 1987 hal f of the young people who had participated in the study had left the family home to find work or to live independently and that in 1996 almost all the young people (86 percent) had been forced to leave the parental home due to family conflict (Centrepoint, 1996 cited by CHAR). More recently, it was also found that 65 percent of the young people aged 16 and 17 accepted as statutory homeless participating in one survey had left the family home due to relationship breakdown, which confirms that currently this is still the main reason for adolescents to leave the family home (Pleace et al.,2008). The change in circumstances that resulted in young people leaving the family home can be attributed to a combination of factors. Firstly, the change in family structures linked to the breakdown of nuclear families and the posterior family reconstitution (CHAR, 1996) can act as a trigger due to conflict in the relationship between the young person and the parent or step-parent (Thornton, 1990). It can also be the case that the remarriage of parents results in overcrowded households which could put an enormous pressure on the older children to leave the house (Thornton, 1990). Secondly, the fact that parents lose child benefit and have reductions in income support and housing benefit when the child reaches a certain age (16 years old ) can lead to tensions resulting from the economic dependency (CHAR, 1996). Finally, poverty, poor housing conditions and overcrowded houses can cause stress and anxiety that might also lead to conflict (CHAR, 1996). After leaving the family home, there were not many options available for young people other than sleeping on the streets, staying with friends or family or approaching the housing departments and registering oneself as homeless. Accessing the private rented sector was complicated for young people as the rents were high, there was normally need for an initial deposit and for those not yet 18 years old it is not possible to hold a legal tenancy. For the under 18’s council housing could still be a solution, however, the massive selling of council houses during the 1980’s caused a reduction in the number of social houses available . Furthermore, this group was not considered in priority need for accommodation until 2002 (this will be explained in the next section). The number of people sleeping rough in Central London increased so much during the late 1980’s that the government was forced to implement measures to respond to the problem of street homelessness (Fitzpa trick et al., 2005 and Smith, 1999). Therefore, in 1990 the Rough Sleepers’ Initiative was created with the aim of tackling street homelessness by providing outreach services, hostels and winter shelters (Smith, 1999). This initiative showed positive outcomes as it reduced largely, mainly in the first years of intervention, the number of rough sleepers in the centre of the capital (Fitzpatrick et al., 2005). Consequently, in 1996 this programme was extended to the rest of the country (Fitzpatrick et al., 2005). The number of 16 and 17 year olds accepted as statutory homeless increased continuously from 1997/1998 (3,150) to 2003/2004 (11,050), having this peak probably resulted from changes in the homeless policies introduced in 2002. However, since then, the number of young people accepted as statutory homeless has been decreasing and in 2006/2007 reached 6,384 (Quilgars et al., 2008). Due to the current economic recession, the rate of unemployment has increased in the last few months . Once again the most affected are young school leavers aged 16 and 17. According to government statistics in March/May 2009 the percentage of unemployment among 16 and 17 year olds reached 30.5 percent . Difficulty in finding work and not yet being entitled to claim benefits makes young people economically dependent on their parents, a fact that can cause tensions in the family which in turn can be a trigger for homelessness (CHAR, 1996). Nevertheless, the number of statutory homeless young people 16 and 17 year olds and 18 to 20 year olds care leavers accepted as statutory homeless has been decreasing since 2003 and in 2008 was 3,870 . These numbers, however, do not include young people that did not approach the Local Authority and might be sleeping rough or staying with family members or friends. 2.2. Housing provision for 16/17 years old homeless young people The first law in the United Kingdom to define homelessness in legal terms (Pleace et al., 1997) and to recognise it as a housing problem was the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 (Lowe, 1997). This Act was also the first piece of legislation to place a duty on Local Authorities to re-house on a permanent basis and as a matter of priority households considered homeless; as long as they provided proof that they could not arrange accommodation by their own means (Pleace, 1997; Lowe, 1997 and Pleace, 2008). The definition of homeless person used in that act remained basically in the same terms within the Housing Act 1985. This last piece of legislation introduced the notion of priority need for accommodation and the groups that would fit into those criteria. Young people would only be considered in priority need under this act if they were considered to be at risk of sexual or financial exploitation (Thorton, 1990). In the United Kingdom the definition of homeless person currently in use is given by the Housing Act 1996, and although with some minor changes stays fundamentally the same as in the previous acts (Pleace, 1997). Thus, the definition of statutory homeless stated in section 175 of that act refers to a person that has no accommodation in the United Kingdom or elsewhere or a person for whom it is unsafe to enter their accommodation or someone that is at risk of becoming homeless within 28 days. Additionally, a person can apply as homeless if there is a risk of domestic violence or another type of violence for them or a member of their family (Housing Act 1996, s177). The act also lists in section 189 the groups of people that are considered to be in priority need of accommodation. These groups include pregnant women, families with children, people that are vulnerable due to old age, people that have a mental or physical illness and people that are homeless as a result of flooding, fire or other emergency disaster. This act introduced an inquiry stage, where a person applying as homeless had to show that he/she was eligible for assistance by the Local Authority Housing Department (Housing Act 1996, s184). However, one of the major changes introduced by this act, under section 193, was the reduction of the duty of Local Authorities to secure accommodation for homeless households (Cloke et al., 2000). The Local Authorities under this act had the duty to provide homeless people with the minimum of two years in temporary accommodation with the possibility of revising this provision after that period (Housing Act 1996, s193). In the meantime the details of the homeless households would be entered into the housing register and they would be put on a waiting list together with all other people that had applied for Council or Housing Association housing (Lowe, 1997). The second important measure introduced, under section 197, allowed Local Authorities to cease their duty to homeless households if anoth er suitable accommodation was available in the area. In this case the Local Authority was only required to provide advice and assistance in order for the person to gain access to that accommodation (Cloke, 2000). As it was shown, the housing policies referred to until now, do not seem to address in any way the specific housing problem of homeless young people. Young people can be considered statutory homeless if victims of domestic violence or if classified as vulnerable people but the inclusion in this last category was at the discretion of each Housing Department. A piece of legislation that had an impact in the housing issues of homeless young people was the Children Act 1989. This act, under section 20, places a duty on Local Authorities to provide accommodation for children in their area that are in â€Å"need†, as defined by section 17, and require accommodation. A child is defined as â€Å"in need† if there is no person with parental responsibility, the child had been lost or abandoned or the caregiver had been prevented temporary or permanently to provide the child with suitable accommodation or care. From 2002 the governmental strategy regarding homelessness seems to have changed from a solving approach aimed at reducing the number of rough sleepers to a more preventive approach (Pawson, 2007). The specific problems of homeless young people or those adolescents at risk of becoming homeless seemed also to have taken into consideration. With the introduction of the Homeless Act 2002 the duty of Local Authorities to prevent homelessness was reinforced. Local Authorities were required to create homelessness strategies aimed at the prevention of homelessness and at supporting people that are or may become homeless (Homeless Act 2002 s1, s2 and s3). In order to accomplish that, several measures were recommended, for example the creation of family mediation services directed at young people at risk of being evicted by their family or friends (Pawson, 2007). These services intended to prevent this eviction by helping the adolescents and family or friends to resolve the existent conflict (Pawson, 2007). The Homelessness Act 2002 was also important as it abolished, under section 6, the minimum period for which a Local Authority is subject to the main homelessness duty, previously introduced by the Housing Act 1996. The result was to place again the duty on Local Authorities to secure accommodation until the household is placed or acquires permanent accommodation. Additionally, section 9 of this act abolished section 197 of the Housing Act 1996 by which the Local Authority would cease their duty to homeless people when other suitable accommodation was available in their area. Another measure introduced in the same year was the Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 2051 The Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002. This statutory instrument, under section 3, extends the category of priority need to include a young person aged 16 and 17 â€Å"who is not a relevant child for the purposes of section 23A of the Children Act 1989† and is not a â€Å"person to whom a local authority owe a duty to provide accommodation under section 20† of the same Act. Additionally, this instrument extended the priority for care leavers aged 18 to 21 or older if they are considered vulnerable as a result of having been looked after children. The Supporting People programme introduced in 2003 had also an impact on homeless young people by recognising and investing in the quality of the housing support services available (Pawson, 2007). When accepted as homeless by the Local Authorities Housing Departments young people are usually placed in temporary accommodation. There are different types of accommodation where young people are placed, though they can be classified in five broad groups. The first group comprises bed and breakfast hotels. This type of accommodation usually presents poor standards (Fitzpatrick, 2000), some lack cooking facilities, there are also concerns regarding safety and there are no qualified professionals on site that could support those youngsters (Quilgars, 2008). All these concerns seemed to have been taken into account by the government when on the 14th November 2006 Ruth Kelly announced in a speech that â€Å"we are making a commitment today that by 2010, 16 and 17 year olds will not be placed in bed and breakfast hotels unless it is an emergency†. Since then the number of young homeless people placed in that type of accommodation has decreased, from 550 at the end of December 200 7 (CLG, 2008) to 340 (of those 120 had been in this type of accommodation for more than 6 weeks) (CLG, 2009). The second group includes hostels that provide specialised schemes for young people, where in conjunction with a safe environment, specialised support is provided (Quilgars, 2008). The level and type of support offered to residents differs (Quilgars, 2008), although generally includes the development of independent living skills, access to education or training and emotional support. The third type of accommodation is called Foyers and it is a type of hostel that supports young people with access to education, training and employment. The fourth type comprises shared houses, where a young person shares a house with others and has floating support adequate to his/her needs (Fitzpatrick, 2000). Finally, in recent years, supported lodging schemes have been expanding (Quilgars, 2008). In this type of provision the young person stays within a family house and is assisted to devel op independent living skills. The adolescent has hi/her own bedroom and shares communal areas with the family . 2.3. Leaving care Care leavers are young people 16 years old or older that have been in the care of a Local Authority. These children had been placed under the care of a Local Authority for different reasons. In the year ending 31st March 2008 of the 23,000 children who started to be looked after, 62 percent entered care due to abuse or neglect (DCSF, 2008). The amount of time children spend in care varies and although the current average is less than one year, 2.6 percent are still in care for 5 years or more and 7.2 percent between 2 and 5 years (DCSF, 2008). During this period, some of the children have little contact with their birth families . Additionally, the move into care can result in a change of neighbourhood and school (Stein, 2005) which can have a negative impact on the child’s relationship with peers. Moreover, there is still a significant percentage of children that experience several moves between placements (11.4% of looked after children moved three or more times during the y ear ending in March 2008) (DCSF, 2008) which can cause instability to children due to the change of â€Å"carers, friends, neighbourhoods, schools on several occasions† (Stein, 2005 p.7). Most of the children that are taken into care are placed with foster carers (DCSF, 2008) and when placements succeed foster carers can be an additional source of support to the young person even when they had ceased being looked after (Harper, 2006). Research carried out in 1990’s found that it was common for these children to leave the care of Local Authorities between the ages of 16 and 18 years old and that the usual reason for that was the breakdown of placements or because it was thought by their carers that it was in the best interest of the adolescent to move when he/she had reached the age of 16 or 17 (Stein, 1997). However, findings from recent research verified that the proportion of young people that leave care at an early age is still high. Governmental statistics show that in the year ending 31st march 2008, of the 8,300 children aged 16 or over that ceased being looked after by Local Authorities, 24 percent were 16 years old and 15 percent were 17 years . Wheal and Matthews (2007) also found high percentages of young people that leave care at an early age. These authors passed a questionnaire to 91 care leavers and found that in 2006, 42.9 percent of 16 year olds and 29.7 percent of 17 year olds had left thei r placement and that in 74.5 percent of the cases the move had been part of their pathway plan. They also found that 41.7 percent had left care to go to semi-independent accommodation and that 18.7 percent went to live with parents or other family members . These last set of results are very similar to those obtained by Stein et al. (2007) through the examination of social services records and interviews with professionals that were conducted during part of 2003 and 2004. These authors verified that 39.2 percent of young people aged 16 or older that had left care went directly into independent living accommodation and that 18.2 percent returned home. While young people in the general population are delaying the time that they leave the family home this research suggests that a large proportion of children in care leave residential or foster care at a very young age. Plus, it seems that a high number of young people had started to live independently before their 18th birthday. Probably, the early age these children leave care (the maximum at 18th years old which is much earlier than the rest of the population that leave home on average at 24 ) and/or the lack of preparation to live independently and/or the lack of social support (as children that spent a longer time in care have weaker links with their birth family and friends ) increases the risk of becoming homeless, a fact that is corroborated by the large proportion of care leavers among the youth homeless population (Stein, 1997). More recently Barn et al. (2005) found that 36 percent of the 261 care leavers aged 16 to 21 that participated in their study had experienced homelessness for periods that ranged from weeks to more than one year. The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 imposed on Local Authorities a duty to improve the support given to care leavers. The support offered includes accommodation and financial assistance for 16 and 17 years old and the appointment of a personal adviser, the development of a pathway plan and general assistance to young people and young adults aged 16 up to 21 or 24 (DH, 2000). Additionally, this act placed on Local Authorities a duty to support care leavers up to 21 years old or 24 years if in full-time further or higher education. Under these circumstances the Local Authority has to provide vacation accommodation if needed (The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, s24B(5)). The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 extended the support to young people aged 21 up to 25 that had been previously in care and that wish to return to education or training. The support includes the appointment of a personal adviser, the development of a pathways plan (Children and Young Persons Act 2008, s22). Th is act also places a dut

The Role of Financial Intermediation in Banking

The Role of Financial Intermediation in Banking Financial intermediaries exist to solve or reduce market imperfections such as differences in preferences of lenders and borrowers, transaction cost, shocks in consumers consumption and asymmetric information. Theories developed to explain how financial intermediaries reduce market imperfection: Asset transformation Transaction cost reduction Liquidity insurance Informational economies of scale and delegated monitoring Asset Transformation Asset transformation is a process performed by financial intermediaries to transform particular types of assets into to others. This is to satisfy the need of borrowers for long term capital and the need of lender for high degree of liquidity in their asset. Financial intermediaries transform the primary securities issued by firms into indirect securities by lenders. They issue liabilities (deposit claims) which are short term, low risk and high liquidity, and use parts of these funds to acquire larger, high risk and illiquid claims. 3 Main Transformations Maturity Transformation As the liabilities of financial intermediaries mature faster than their assets, financial intermediaries mismatch the maturity of the assets will maturity of the liabilities by making long-term loans and fund them by issuing short-term deposit. Size Transformation The amount required by borrowers are much more than the amount made available by lenders. Financial intermediaries will then collect and combine the funders from lenders as required by the borrowers. Liquidity Transformation Financial intermediaries provide financial or secondary claims or loans. Deposits which are held under liabilities of banks balance are low risk and high liquidity, while loans which are held under the assets of banks balance are riskier and illiquid. To hold liabilities and assets of different degree of liquidity, financial intermediaries will diversify their portfolios. More diversification will lower the default probability. Risk Transformation Financial intermediaries must be seen by the lenders as a safe place to make deposits. However, the loans made by the intermediaries to the borrower bear some default risk. Therefore, financial intermediaries have to transform risk to reconcile the preferences of borrowers and lenders. Firstly, banks use credit scoring to select good borrowers with good repaying loans history to minimize the risk of loss of each loan. Second is to diversify risk by lending to different types of borrowers. Banks try to avoid heavy concentration on an economic activity or on a particular area. They also limit the amount that can be loan out. Example: From 1985-1989, 400 Texan banks failed which are resulted from heavy concentration on their loan portfolio in real estate dependent on the oil businesses. Third is by pooling risks. Variability of losses can be reduced by making loans to many borrowers. Although by making out many loans does not reduce the loss in the portfolio of loans overall, but it increase the bank accuracy of prediction and limits maximum loss for which the intermediaries has to allow. How financial intermediaries reduce transaction costs? Financial intermediaries reduce transaction costs by internalizing them. They make network and information system available to lenders and borrowers. As such, lenders and borrowers do not have to find a suitable counterpart each time they want to make a transaction with the other party. Financial intermediaries also provide standardized products which help to reduce the information cost related with scrutinizing individual financial instruments. They also use tested procedures and routines. Theory of transaction costs Economies of scale refer to the transaction costs per dollar of output is reduced as the number of financial transactions increase. Example: When using loan contract for many loans, the unit cost of a contract per loan is lower than a loan contract drawn up individually when undertaking direct lending. Economies of cost refer to the cost of producing at least 2 products together is lower that producing them individually. It is concerned with deposit and payment services, because deposits are legal financial claims which allow banks to collect funds to sustain their lending activities and satisfy the request of making payments. Expertise They developed expertise to lower transaction cost. Financial intermediaries such as banks and mutual funds develop in information technology such as ATM to provide liquidity service. Asymmetric Information Adverse Selection It arises when borrowers who are likely to produce undesirable results are the one who are actively seeking loans, because they know that they are unlikely to pay it back. Adverse selection increases the probability that the loan might become a bad credit risk. Hence, lenders may decide not to loan out, even when there is good credit risk. Moral Hazard It is the risk that occurs after the transaction has been made. It is the risk that the borrower may engage in activities which is undesirable from the lenders point of view because there a likelihood that the loan will not be repaid. Therefore, lenders may decide not to make loan. How adverse selection influence financial structure? Equity Market When borrower wanted to make investment and yet is unable to distinguish between good and bad firms, he is only willing to pay the price the price that reflects the average quality of firms. However, the firms have more information than the investors and will know the quality of the projects. Good firms will not be willing to sell the securities because they know that their securities are undervalued. Only bad firms are willing to sell their securities at the average price because the price is higher than the value of bad firms securities. However, investors may not want to buy securities from bad firms and end up decides not to buy any. Bond Market A potential investor will only be willing to buy a bond if the interest rate is high enough to compensate him the average default risk between the good and bad firms. Good firms will not want to borrow funds because they know that they are less risk adverse and should not pay an interest that is higher than what they originally should pay for. Only bad firms are willing to pay for such interest rate. However, investor does not wish to buy bond from bad firms. Subsequently, there will be fewer bonds sold in the markets. Tool used which helps to reduce or solve adverse selection problems Private production and sales of information Government regulation to increase information Financial intermediaries Private companies such as Standard and Poors, Moodys and Value Line gather firms financial position and investment activities, and sell them to potential investor. Such information will help investors in making more accurate investment decisions. However, this does not completely solve the asymmetric problem because of the free-rider problem. The free-rider problem occurs when individual who do not pay for the information take advantage of the information of which others has paid for. An investor who has paid for the information knows which the are good firms. He decides to buy securities of good firms that are undervalued. The free-riding investors observe which securities is the investor who paid for information is buying, will buy the same securities. This leads to increase in demand of the securities and soon the price of that security will increase to reflect the true value. As a result, because of these free-riders, the investors who bought the information will not benefit. As such, he will realize that he should not buy the information in the first place. If other investors also realize this, private companies may not be able to make enough profit from producing the information, and less information is produced in the market and so adverse selection will interfere with the efficient function of securities markets. Government regulation to increase information Government could regulate financial markets to ensure that firms disclose all information so that investors could distinguish between good firms and bad firms. In United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the government agency that requires firm selling securities to be certified in adhering to standard accounting principles and disclose honest information about their sales, assets and earnings. But, government intervention on disclosing information does not solve adverse selection completely because accounting principles can be manipulated. Also bad firms can slant information which is required to transmit public to make them look like good firms. By doing so, they can get higher price for their securities. Thus, investors will have problem again to identify which firms are the good ones. Financial intermediaries Financial intermediaries such as banks have developed expertise in the production of information so that they can evaluate the quality of firms better. Banks produce information through the transactions on the borrowers bank accounts. From the transactions, banks will be able to determine the suitability of credit and ability to repay the loan. Banks then acquire funds from depositors and lend them to good firms. By lending the money to good firms, banks will be able to earn a higher return than they pay to depositors. Banks will then earn profit and can continue in producing information. Also, banks can make profit because it can avoid free-rider problem. They make private loans which are not traded in open markets. As such, other investors cannot follow what the bank did and bid the price of loan where the bank does not get any gain for the information it produces. Fact: Banks are important to developing countries. When banks produce information, the problem on asymmetric problem is less severe, and it will be easier for firms to issue securities. Information in developing countries is difficult to get as compared to developed countries. Therefore, banks have to play the role in producing information. Collateral Collateral which is property that promised to the lender if the lender default, reduces the adverse selection problem because it reduces the lender losses if the borrower goes into default. How moral hazard influences financial markets Moral hazard occurs after the transaction takes place. It is the risk that the borrower may engage in risky activities which is undesirable from the lenders point of view, because the loan may be unpaid. Because of the presence of moral hazard problems, firms find it easier to raise fund with debt instruments rather than with equity contracts. Moral hazard in equity contracts Equity contracts subject to a type of moral hazard known as principal-agent problem. In a firm, there are managers and stockholders. Usually, managers and stockholders are different people. Managers are the ones who have more information than the stockholders while the stockholders own most of the firms equity. The separation of ownership and control and with the presence of asymmetric information, managers may act in their own interest rather than the interest of the stockholder because managers have fewer incentives to maximize the profit that the stockholder do. Tools to help reduce/solve moral hazard in equity markets Production of information: monitoring To reduce moral hazard problem, stockholders can engage in the monitoring of the firm activities by auditing the firm frequently and checking on what the management is doing. However, monitoring can be very costly. (Monitoring is a costly state verification). This also explains in parts why equity is not an important element in the financial structure. However, this could also cause free-rider problem. Free-rider problem reduces the moral hazard problem. Because, when stockholder knows that other stockholders are paying for the monitoring activities, he can free ride on their activities. If all stockholders share the same mentality, no stockholders will be willing to pay for the monitoring activities. Government regulation to increase information Governments enforce laws to ensure that firms are adhering to accounting standards which can verify the profit easier, and impose penalties on people who committed fraud in hiding or stealing the profit. However, this measure is not very effective because managers have the incentive to make fraud difficult to be proven. Financial intermediaries active in the equity market An example of financial intermediaries is the venture capital firm which cans helps to reduce moral hazard arising from the principal-agent problem. They use fund of their partners to help entrepreneurs in setting up new businesses. In exchange for the use of funds provided by venture capital firm, venture capital firm get an equity shares in the new business. Because verifying profit is important in eliminating moral hazard, venture capital firms usually insist on having several of their own people to participate in the management of the firm. Also, the equity in the firm cannot be sold to anyone but to the venture capital firm. Therefore, other investors are unable to free-ride on the venture capital firms activities on verifying profit. Debt Contracts Debt contract is a contractual agreement by which the borrower promised to pay lender fixed amount at regular intervals. The amount of profit made by firm will not affect how much will the lender be receiving. Therefore, whether did the managers have been hiding or stealing profit or engaging in activities which do not increase the level of profit earned, it is of no concern to the lenders, so long as the firm is able to make payment. Only when the firm is unable to make payment as promised, then will the lenders have to know how much profit is the firm getting. As such, less monitoring is required for debt contracts and therefore, lowering the cost of state verification. This also explains why debt contracts are used more often than equity contracts to raise funds. The concept of moral hazard explains why stocks are not the most important source of financing for businesses. How moral hazard influences financial structure in debt markets Although debt contracts has lower moral hazard as compared to equity contracts, but debt contracts are still subjected to moral hazard. Because debt contracts only require firms to pay a fixed amount and allow them to keep profit above this amount, firms have an incentive to take on risky investment projects Tools to help reduce/solve moral hazard in debt markets Making debt contract incentive-compatible High net worth makes the debt contract incentive-compatible; it aligns the incentive of the borrower with that of the lender. Firms with higher net worth are more likely to act in the way that are desirable form the lenders point of view, and thus reducing moral hazard problem, and it will be easier for firms to borrow. Monitoring and enforcement of restrictive covenants By introducing restrictive covenants into debt contracts, moral hazard problems are be reduced, as restrictive covenants is a provision which restricts firms activities by either ruling out undesirable behavior or encouraging desirable behavior. There are mainly four types of covenants/ Covenants to discourage undesirable behaviors Such covenants restrict firms to use the debt contracts to finance on fixed assets or inventories. Others may restrict firms to engage in risky activities such as acquiring other businesses. Covenants may also disallow firm to issue new debt or dispose it asset, and may also restrict dividend payments if ratios such as leverage ratio, ratio of debt to equity has up to a certain level. Covenants that encourage desirable behavior Such covenants require the borrower to have a life insurance that pays off the loan upon the death of the borrower. Such covenants may also encourage firms to keep it net worth high because firms with high net worth reduce the moral hazard problem. Hence, it minimizes the chance that the lenders may be making losses. These covenants require firms to maintain minimum holding of asset relative to the size of the firm. Covenant to keep collateral valuable Such covenants encourage borrower to keep the collateral in good condition and it must be in the possession of the borrower. Covenants to provide information Such covenants provide information about its activities periodically in the form of quarterly accounting and income reports. Such covenants may also allow the lender to audit the firms anytime. This explains why debt contracts are complicated legal documents with restrictions on borrowers behavior. Covenants reduce moral hazard but do not eliminate them, as it not difficult to rule out every risky activity. Also, to ensure that firms are complying with the covenants, monitoring must be enforced. However, monitoring is very costly. Investors may free-ride on the monitoring activities undertaken by other investors. Financial intermediaries, particularly banks are able to avoid the free-riders problems