Saturday, November 30, 2019

Music and Teens Today free essay sample

Today music Is a necessity in many peoples lives. People listen to music all the time, from students who listen to it while studying, to adults driving to work, and those who listen to music to plainly enjoy life. Personally, I am listening to tunes on random while writing this. My point is everyday, almost everyone will encounter music weather intentionally or voluntarily It surrounds us. Music Is used in many different ways; one people use It as an outlet of expression, another Is a way to let their feelings out, and lastly people use music to identify with who they are. Nowadays, music has a major impact on tens lives everywhere. Teens begin using music as ways of asserting their individuality and by breaking away from their parents and becoming more independent. Christenson (1994) feels that tens Interest in popular music Is showing their departure of their parents dependence and a new faithfulness in friendships among each other. We will write a custom essay sample on Music and Teens Today or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With tens new need for music poses the question of how does popular music affect their well-beings. But does music diminish their conscience and cause them to Involve themselves on senseless acts of lenience and debauchery or is It something for them to relate to.Looking at children and their development, if pre-teens and children as young as first grade have shown interests in popular music (Christenson et al. ). In this research, of first to sixth graders the interest grew as their age did, as they got closer to adolescents their Interest grew. Baker (2001 ) did research on pre-teen girls and their attraction to popular music. She found that even though it seems that young girls are fascinated with the boy bands and normal top 40 songs, some of them are still interested in existing to songs with explicit lyrics.Even in children music poses as a building block In their mental development, as they reach adolescents It begins to form media exposure and Identities. Although most of popular music is considered violent and sexual it is still a major part of teenage development. Demo (1981) connects teenagers expose to popular music as an outlet to the media. While listening to music Is also a major part of the way they live. Teens listen to music while, doing homework, cleaning and driving. Teens also use music as therapy, to relieve my tension or take my mind of things tethering me. (Demo et Although Hansen and Hansen (1991) research show teens are using music as a television substitute and there is an increase In all forms of popular music this leading to more assumptions for the media to create. The Press today sees music lyrics as ways of provoking people into doing things that they arent supposed to. Rein and Springer (1986) agree with the fact that popular music is built upon aggression. Yet, Demos (et al. ) study of high school juniors, the ones who felt their parents did not care about them or their lives were more likely to be depressed, anxious, and disturbed. These teens are the ones school officials say are involved in vandalism and theft. Now, is it music the only factor in tens misbehaving or is it societys escape from of the truth. Media and society have used music many times to explain why a teen has done something he or she shouldnt have. Conscience (1996) believes there Is no proof of violent lyrics explaining people actions; the author uses an example of a Nevada lawsuit of two teens 1 OFF these suits were proved irrelevant and dismissed.The public does not hear that it is dismissed Just that the teens killed themselves because of the lyrics and not that the ease was dismissed. Another case where the media coverage failed to mention an essential detail was in Ohio when a boy was playing with fire and burned his families home done and in the process killing his two year old sister. In news reports, they claimed the boy was mocking Matss Bevies and Buttered, yet the report did not mention that the family did not have cable. Society receives these negative messages about aggressive music and tens decisions, and is able to make their assumptions about types of music with correct information. In a study done by Mitchell, Rubin, and West (2001) they researched the aggression, attitudes towards women and distrust patterns in music. The researchers looked at these negative effects and furthered their research by noting peoples music preferences and attitudes. They used a sample pool of 243 people and asked many questions regarding their anger, self-esteem to see how it relates to their music preferences.While the researchers hypothesis was that there would be higher rates of violence depending on what types of music one listens to, thinking that heavy metal and rap would have the highest numbers. In summary, the Journal of Mitchell, Rubin, and West (peg 26 et al. Is exploring the effects of popular music, mainly heavy metal and rap, and their underlining messages of violence and aggression, distrust, and aggr ession towards women. Music uses emotion to get responses from its audience whether it is positive or negative.According to the article people are angry listen to more destructive music. Also when one is listening to their music of preference they tend to listen to it with more emotions and read into the lyrics more Prior to Mitchell, Rubin and West (Peg 27-30 et al. ) researched popular music and emotions they explored previous research in the same topics and found lots of rumoring results. When looking at anger and emotions they found that, high school students experienced excitement, happiness, confidence, and love when listening to their favorite types of music. (2001, page) Yet when they listened to heavy metal and rock students had a tendency to show no emotion and were angry. But the also used this music off way to create high amounts of energy or to get pumped up. While seeking insight into self-esteem issues the authors saw that the people who listened to heavy metal had lower self-esteem. Music and attitudes studied how lyrics effected the music and the outcome of their preferences. When students were to describe their favorite songs some key factors came up; such as, love, friendship, growing up, and life struggles. (2001, peg. 27) When using music as therapy adolescents tend to find their friendship with others more trustworthy; while within that same group finding distrust in authority figures and government. Popular music follows patterns of, dominant ideologies system, parental controls, and other societal institutions. (2001, peg 27) Researchers also found aggression are theme among some types of popular music. Mitchell, Rubin, and White looked at a study done on country and rap music lyrics.Rap lyrics seemed to focus on gang fights, drive-by shootings, and general gang violence; while country musics trends were barroom fights, gay beatings, and general fights and beatings. Different studies the showed that in both of these genres that listeners behavior of elevated aggression and mood alteration were prominent in heavy metal and rock music. Lastly researchers looked at how types of music changed peoples attitudes towards Omen. Listeners of heavy metal were found to have less respect for women of authority and stereotyping of women. Mitch, Rubin, and West continued their study Ninth their own study.Mitchell, Rubin, and West (Peg 30-38 et al. ) surveyed 243 undergraduate students, Ninth 70. 4% of the group 21 and younger. By asking this group question about the music they listen to and the feeling they get while listening or after, to help prove their three hypotheses: HI : Frequency of listening to popular music will relate negatively to attitudes of trust. H2O: Rap and heavy-metal listeners will exhibit more aggression more aggressive tendencies than listeners of other popular music genres. HA: Heavy- metal listeners will exhibit negative attitudes toward women than listeners of other popular music genres. 2001, peg 30) rough the survey they posed several questions in a form of a scale so that the results could be read easier. The survey began with get feel of what genres of music people listen with listing the categories and then giving example of artist to give the students an idea of the types of music fit into the different categories. Nothing the survey they asked multiple questions about the same topic so the results Mould be more accurate. An example of these questions and the scale that was given is as follows, something makes me almost angry almost every day. (2001, peg 32) this question was scaled with 1- being completely nondestructive of me and 5- being completely descriptive of me. The entire survey was composed this way. Within the research done Mitchell, Rubin, and White (et al. ) hypotheses were not conclusive with their results. When looking at the results figuring out if there is a connection between popular music and peoples trust amongst one another; results Newer inconclusive to all people who listened to these forms of music had high indecencies of distrust. But in the category of Rap music there was significant evidence to show distrust in one another.In the results of the heavy metal genre, listeners showed to have more aggressive tendencies and a less regard for Omen, (2001. peg 36) helping prove the researchers hypothesis. However, this study does prove some of the original ideas the researchers posed, but the number of people questioned who listened to these genres made up very few of those surveyed. Out the people surveyed less than 20% of the pool listened to either heavy metal or rap. Only 45 out of the 243 in question listened to these, because of the small numbers, one answer off 5 could throw of the curve of the data.Therefore, this survey of students poled only slight prove these researchers points due to lack of numbers in the genres they were focusing on. This study helps when looking at how older teens and young adults look at music and how it makes them feel. Nevertheless, it failed to look into exactly how people and teens look at music. Personally, I went and surveyed 42 middle, high school and university teens around Albuquerque and asked them how music affects their Tyler of music the listened to, violent lyrics and if they affected them, their style and dress, and also how they felt about having music apart their lives.In the survey only four of those surveyed responded yes to acting violently because of music, and two of them were not violent act but were associated with drinking and the remaining two Newer a simple yes with no explanation. When the teens were asked about if they had acted violently because of the music they listen to, some responded, No, because I know its Just a song and music. While some responded, No I dont take music that errors to change me into a horrible person. With the majority of these teens knowi ng the difference of right and wrong and not allowing music to negatively influence their lives. When looking at what teens are listening to, 32 out of those surveyed admitted to owning or listening to CD with explicit lyrics. While 31 out of the 42 believe that the music they listen to have violent lyrics. Students quoted their music with lyrics like, Satin is my master, and If you open you mouth again I swear I am going to break it n, to mention a few. With teens listening to music with lyrics so dramatic, they are till able to differentiate between right and wrong by not participating in violent acts because of the music they are listening to.Students surveyed were then asked if music influenced the way they dress; with 20 out of the 42 responded that it did. Many of them gave examples of wearing band shirts as their style. One even got as specific as saying, l dont like pink or bright colors on them, (referring to band shirts). One even admitted that once he or she began listening to rock music they began wearing black more often, and even said, l Nasty preppy anymore. Through this I am able to see that teens will take music so strongly that they are willing to let it change how the dress, with little affect on their actions.Lastly, those surveyed were asked if they relate musical lyrics to there own lives; 33 out of 42 responded that yes they did or in some cases they do. This here is also proving Christenson (1994) ideas of children using music as an escape form their parents in transition to adulthood. By being able to use these lyrics in there own lives, teens are beginning to think for themselves and create a mental picture of their lives. Some students even said, Music makes me happy when I am sad, implying that music is their personal therapy, thus showing more independence.In closing the student were asked there over all of music and how it effects them. Most of the students responded with positive feedback. Many stated music is calming for them and helps relive stress. One student wrote, Music is way of expressing opinion and feelings. It is a way to release anger and stress even if the song itself is full of anger and stress. Other student said the music helps them work better, which goes with the ideas Demo (et al. Posed of teens using music to pass the time.Other students say that they can with out music, l cant live with out rock. Many of them plainly stated, l love music. Others attribute music to consuming their lives, Music consumes every aspect of my life whether thinking about it, playing or listening to it. However, there were still a few students who chose not to respond to this question or felt that it had no over all effect in their life. In conclusion, teens use music a stepping-stone of life. Many saying that they does something bad it is because of music.Bessel, Searcher, and Weidman (2003) cooked at when the Columbine tragedy happen how the media mention factors of blame on the killers listening to Marlin Manson, nonetheless these scholars also believe that the blame was placed falsely to insure social order would remain stable. Renee today are able to see what is right and wrong and differentiate between the two. However, if the media is willing to believe that they well have nothing to blame a troubled teen or person does something wrong and might happen to listen satanic forms of music. One my think that this is the truth we in actuality it is not.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Get the Rules and Best Practices for Writing Paragraphs

Get the Rules and Best Practices for Writing Paragraphs The definition of a paragraph: Its a group of closely related sentences that develops a central idea, conventionally beginning on a new line, which is sometimes  indented. The paragraph has been variously defined as a subdivision in a longer written passage, a group of sentences (or sometimes just one sentence) about a specific topic, and a grammatical unit typically consisting of multiple sentences that together express a complete thought. In his 2006 book A Dash of Style, Noah Lukeman describes the paragraph break as one of the most crucial marks in the punctuation world. Etymology:  Paragraph is from the Greek word which means to write beside. Observations A new paragraph is a wonderful thing. It lets you quietly change the rhythm, and it can be like a flash of lightning that shows the same landscape from a different aspect. (Babel, Isaac interviewed by Konstantin Paustovsky in Isaac Babel Talks About Writing, The Nation, March 31, 1969.) 10 Effective Paragraph Criteria Lois Laase and Joan Clemmons offer the following list of 10 helpful suggestions for writing paragraphs. This is adapted from their book, Helping Students Write... The Best Research Reports Ever: Easy Mini-Lessons, Strategies, and Creative Formats to Make Research Manageable and Fun. Keep the paragraph on one topic.Include a topic sentence.Use supporting sentences that give ​details or facts about the topic.Include vivid words.Make sure it does not have run-on sentences.Include sentences that make sense and stick to the topic.Sentences should be in order and make sense.Write sentences that begin in different ways.Make sure the sentences flow.Be sure sentences are mechanically correct - spelling, punctuation, capitalization, indentation. Topic Sentences in Paragraphs Although the topic sentence is often the first sentence of the paragraph, it does not have to be. Furthermore, the topic sentence is sometimes restated or echoed at the end of the paragraph, although again it does not have to be. However, a well-phrased concluding sentence can emphasize the central idea of the paragraph as well as provide a nice balance and ending. A paragraph is not a constraining formula; in fact, it has variations. In some instances, for example, the topic sentence is not found in a single sentence. It may be the combination of two sentences, or it may be an easily understood but unwritten underlying idea that unifies the paragraph. Nevertheless, the paragraph in most college writing contains discussion supporting a stated topic sentence.... (Brandon, Lee. At a Glance: Paragraphs, 5th ed., Wadsworth, 2012.) Rules of Paragraphing As an advanced writer, you know that rules are made to be broken. But that is not to say that these rules are useless. Sometimes it is good to avoid a one-sentence paragraph - it can sound too brisk and implies a lack of penetration and analysis. Sometimes, or perhaps most of the time, it is good to have a topic sentence. But the awful fact is that when you look closely at a professional writers work, you will see that the topic sentence is often missing. In that case, we sometimes say it is implied, and perhaps that is true. But whether we want to call it implied or not, it is obvious that good writers can get along without topic sentences most of the time. Likewise, it is not a bad idea to develop only one idea in a paragraph, but frankly, the chance of developing several ideas often arises and sometimes doing so even characterizes the writing of professionals. (Jacobus, Lee A. Substance, Style, and Strategy, Oxford University Press, 1998.) Strunk and White on Paragraph Length In general, remember that paragraphing calls for a good eye as well as a logical mind. Enormous blocks of print look formidable to readers, who are often reluctant to tackle them. Therefore, breaking long paragraphs in two, even if it is not necessary to do so for sense, meaning, or logical development, is often a visual help. But remember, too, that firing off many short paragraphs in quick succession can be distracting. Paragraph breaks used only for show read like the writing of commerce or of display advertising. Moderation and a sense of order should be the main considerations in paragraphing. (Strunk, Jr., William and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 3rd ed., Allyn Bacon, 1995.) Uses of One-Sentence Paragraphs Three situations in essay writing can occasion a one-sentence paragraph: (a) when you want to emphasize a crucial point that might otherwise be buried; (b) when you want to dramatize a transition from one stage in your argument to the next; and (c) when instinct tells you that your reader is tiring and would appreciate a mental rest. The one-sentence paragraph is a great device. You can italicize with it, vary your pace with it, lighten your voice with it, signpost your argument with it. But it’s potentially dangerous. Don’t overdo your dramatics. And be sure your sentence is strong enough to withstand the extra attention it’s bound to receive when set off by itself. Houseplants wilt in direct sun. Many sentences do as well. (Trimble, John R. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. Prentice Hall, 2000.) Paragraph Length in Business and Technical Writing A paragraph should be just long enough to deal adequately with the subject of its topic sentence. A new paragraph should begin whenever the subject changes significantly. A series of short, undeveloped paragraphs can indicate poor organization and sacrifice unity by breaking an idea into several pieces. A series of long paragraphs, however, can fail to provide the reader with manageable subdivisions of thought. Paragraph length should aid the readers understanding of idea. (Alred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu, The Business Writers Handbook, 10th ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2012.) The Paragraph as a Device of Punctuation The paragraph is a device of punctuation. The indentation by which it is marked implies no more than an additional breathing space. Like the other marks of punctuation...it may be determined by logical, physical, or rhythmical needs. Logically it may be said to denote the full development of a single idea, and this indeed is the common definition of the paragraph. It is, however, in no way an adequate or helpful definition. (Read, Herbert. English Prose Style, Beacon, 1955.) Scott and Dennys Definition of a Paragraph A paragraph is a unit of discourse developing a single idea. It consists of a group or series of sentences closely related to one another and to the thought expressed by the whole group or series. Devoted, like the sentence, to the development of one topic, a good paragraph is also, like a good essay, a complete treatment in itself. (Scott, Fred Newton, and Joseph Villiers Denny, Paragraph-Writing: A Rhetoric for Colleges, rev. ed., Allyn and Bacon, 1909.) Development of the Paragraph in English The paragraph as we know it comes into something like settled shape in Sir William Temple (1628-1699). It was the product of perhaps five chief influences. First, the tradition, derived from the authors and scribes of the Middle Ages, that the paragraph-mark distinguishes a stadium of thought. Second, the Latin influence, which was rather towards disregarding the paragraph as the sign of anything but emphasis - the emphasis-tradition being also of medieval origin; the typical writers of the Latin influence are Hooker and Milton. Third, the natural genius of the Anglo-Saxon structure, favorable to the paragraph. Fourth, the beginnings of popular writing - of what may be called the oral style, or consideration for a relatively uncultivated audience. Fifth, the study of French prose, in this respect a late influence, allied in its results with the third and fourth influences. (Lewis, Herbert Edwin. The History of the English Paragraph, 1894.) 19c writers reduced the lengths of their paragraphs, a process that has continued in the 20c, particularly in journalism, advertisements, and publicity materials. (McArthur, Tom. Paragraph. The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press,  1992.)

Friday, November 22, 2019

Current U.S. Supreme Court Justices History

Current U.S. Supreme Court Justices History The United States Supreme Court- often referred to as SCOTUS- was established in 1789 by Article Three of the United States Constitution. As the highest U.S. federal court, the Supreme Court has discretionary appellate jurisdiction to hear and rule on cases decided by all lower federal courts and state court cases that involve federal law, as well as original jurisdiction over a smaller range of cases. In the U.S. legal system, the Supreme Court is the highest and final interpreter of federal laws, including the Constitution itself. Under federal law, the full Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices who are all nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Once seated, Supreme Court justices serve for life unless they retire, resign, or are removed after being impeached by Congress. Why Nine Justices? The Constitution did not and still does not specify the number of Supreme Court justices. The Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number at six. As the nation expanded westward, Congress added justices as needed to deal with cases from the growing number of judicial circuits; from seven in 1807 to nine in 1837 and to  ten in 1863. In 1866, Congress- at the request of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase- passed an act stipulating that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced, thus reducing the number of justices back to seven. By 1867, two of the three justices had retired, but in 1869, Congress passed the Circuit Judges Act setting the number of justices to nine, where it remains today. The same 1869 law created the provision under which all federal judges continue to receive their full salaries after retiring. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a substantial and controversial enlargement of the Supreme Court. His plan would have added one new justice for every existing justice who reached the age of 70 years and 6 months and refused to retire, up to a maximum of 15 justices. Roosevelt claimed he wanted to ease the stress of the Court’s growing docket on elderly justices, but critics saw it as a way for him to load the Court with justices sympathetic to his Great Depression-busting New Deal program. Calling it Roosevelt’s â€Å"court-packing plan,† Congress rejected the proposal. Nevertheless, having been elected years before the adoption of the presidential term-limiting 22nd Amendment, Roosevelt would go on to appoint seven justices during his 12 years in office. Current Supreme Court Justices The table below shows the current Justices of the Supreme Court. Justice Appointed In Appointed By At Age John G; Roberts(Chief Justice) 2005 G. W. Bush 50 Elena Kagan 2010 Obama 50 Samuel A. Alito, Jr. 2006 G. W. Bush 55 Neil M. Gorsuch 2017 Trump 49 Brett M. Kavanaugh 2018 Trump 53 Sonia Sotomayor 2009 Obama 55 Clarence Thomas 1991 Bush 43 Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1993 Clinton 60 Stephen Breyer 1994 Clinton 56 * On June 20, 2018, Justice Anthony Kennedy, a crucial swing vote on the Supreme Court, announced his retirement effective July 31, 2018. Kennedy’s departure gave  President Trump the opportunity to appoint his second Supreme Court justice during just his first two years in office.   On July 9, 2018, President Trump nominated 53-year-old Brett M. Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by President George W. Bush in 2003, Judge Kavanaugh is considered a conservative, thus setting up a probable Senate confirmation battle and possibly solidifying the court’s conservative majority for a generation. Though she recently announced her intention to serve through 2020, the now 85-year-old liberal-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is expected to be the next justice to retire. In announcing Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination, President Trump described him as â€Å"one of the finest and sharpest legal minds in our time,† and declared him a jurist who would apply the Constitution â€Å"as written.† In accepting the nomination, Judge Kavanaugh, who once clerked for Justice Kennedy, promised that as a Supreme Court justice, he would â€Å"keep an open mind in every case.† But he also declared that judges â€Å"must interpret the law, not make the law.† On Saturday, October 6, 2018, the Senate voted along party lines 50-48 in favor of confirming the nomination. Later the same day, Brett M. Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts in a private ceremony. A Brief History of the US Supreme Court or SCOTUS As the final and ultimate legal interpreter of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS, is one of the most visible and often controversial organizations in the federal government. Through many of its landmark decisions, like banning prayer in public schools and legalizing abortion, the Supreme Court fueled many of the most passionately heated and ongoing debates in America’s history. The U.S. Supreme Court is established by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which states, â€Å"[t]he judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.† Other than establishing it, the Constitution spells out no specific duties or powers of the Supreme Court or how it is to be organized. Instead, the Constitution empowers Congress and the Justices of the Court itself to develop the authorities and operations of the entire Judicial Branch of government. As the very first bill considered by the very first United States Senate, the Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the Supreme Court to consist of a Chief Justice and only five Associate Justices, and for the Court to hold its deliberations in the nation’s capital. The Judiciary Act of 1789 also provided a detailed plan for the lower federal court system merely alluded to in the Constitution as â€Å"such inferior† courts. For the first 101 years of the Supreme Court’s existence, the justices were required to â€Å"ride circuit,† holding court twice a year in each of the 13 judicial districts. Each of the then five justices was assigned to one of three geographical circuits and traveled to the designated meeting places within the districts of that circuit. The Act also created the position of U.S. Attorney General and assigned the power to nominate Supreme Court justices to the President of the United States with the approval of the Senate. The First Supreme Court Convenes The Supreme Court was first called to assemble on Feb. 1, 1790, in the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City, then the Nations Capital. The first Supreme Court was made up of: Chief Justice John Jay, from New York Associate Justices John Rutledge, from South CarolinaWilliam Cushing, from Massachusetts|James Wilson, from PennsylvaniaJohn Blair, from Virginia|James Iredell, from North Carolina Due to transportation problems, Chief Justice Jay had to postpone the first actual meeting of the Supreme Court until the next day, Feb. 2, 1790. The Supreme Court spent its first session organizing itself and determining its own powers and duties. The new Justices heard and decided their first actual case in 1792. Lacking any specific direction from the Constitution, the new U.S. Judiciary spent its first decade as the weakest of the three branches of government. Early federal courts failed to issue strong opinions or even take on controversial cases. The Supreme Court was not even sure if it had the power to consider the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress. This situation changed drastically in 1801 when President John Adams appointed John Marshall of Virginia to be the fourth Chief Justice. Confident that nobody would tell him not to, Marshall took clear and firm steps to define the role and powers of both the Supreme Court and the judiciary system. The Supreme Court, under John Marshall, defined itself with its historic 1803 decision in the case of Marbury v. Madison. In this single landmark case, the Supreme Court established its power to interpret the U.S. Constitution as the â€Å"law of the land† of the United States and to determine the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress and the state legislatures. John Marshall went on to serve as Chief Justice for a record 34 years, along with several Associate Justices who served for over 20 years. During his time on the bench, Marshall succeeded in molding the federal judicial system into what many consider to be todays most powerful branch of government. Before settling at nine in 1869, the number of Supreme Court Justices changed six times. In its entire history, the Supreme Court has had only 16 Chief Justices, and over 100 Associate Justices. Chief Justices of the Supreme Court Chief Justice Year Appointed** Appointed By John Jay 1789 Washington John Rutledge 1795 Washington Oliver Ellsworth 1796 Washington John Marshall 1801 John Adams Roger B. Taney 1836 Jackson Salmon P. Chase 1864 Lincoln Morrison R. Waite 1874 Grant Melville W. Fuller 1888 Cleveland Edward D. White 1910 Taft William H. Taft 1921 Harding Charles E. Hughes 1930 Hoover Harlan F. Stone 1941 F. Roosevelt Fred M. Vinson 1946 Truman Earl Warren 1953 Eisenhower Warren E. Burger 1969 Nixon William Rehnquist(Deceased) 1986 Reagan John G. Roberts 2005 G. W. Bush Supreme Court Justices are nominated by the President of the United States. The nomination must be approved by a majority vote of the Senate. The Justices serve until they retire, die or are impeached.  The average tenure for Justices is about 15 years, with a new Justice being appointed to the Court about every 22 months. Presidents appointing the most Supreme Court Justices include George Washington, with ten appointments and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who appointed eight Justices. The Constitution also provides that â€Å"[t]he Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.† While they have died and retired, no Supreme Court justice has ever been removed through impeachment. Contact the Supreme Court The individual justices of the Supreme Court do not have public email addresses or phone numbers. However, the court can be contacted by regular mail, telephone, and email as follows: U.S. Mail: Supreme Court of the United States1  First Street, NEWashington, DC 20543 Telephone: 202-479-3000TTY:202-479-3472(Available M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern) Other Helpful Telephone Numbers: Clerks Office: 202-479-3011Visitor Information Line: 202-479-3030Opinion Announcements: 202-479-3360 Court’s Public Information Office For time-sensitive or urgent questions please contact the Public Information Office at the following number: 202-479-3211, Reporters press 1 For general questions that are not time-sensitive, email: Public Information Office. Contact the Public Information Office by US Mail: Public Information OfficerSupreme Court of the United States1 First Street, NEWashington, DC 20543

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Internal Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Internal Assessment - Research Paper Example Section D analyzes the evidence provided by the sources in relation to Al-Qaida’s objective for 9/11 and the degree to which they realized this objective. Lastly, section E summarizes the information between sections B and D. This investigation is an effort to assess the event 9/11 itself, rather a mere in-depth look into why the Al-Qaida attacked the United States and the outcomes of this reason and action over the years. Immanuel Wallerstein says Al-Qaeda clearly set off to obliterate nearly a century of disgrace for the Islam in 9/11. What Al-Qaeda managed to accomplish since this event is fix deep fears amongst United States citizens regarding their physical security and overall future.1 Clint Watts argues that the Al-Qaeda has not organized any serious attack against the west since 9/11, which indicates they most likely did not accomplish any of their goals apart from attempting to â€Å"cut off the head of the snake.†2 Writer Mortada Radwan says the first goal of the Al-Qaeda was to â€Å"awake† Americans by dealing a major blow on American soil, followed by engaging the United States in battle as the second goal. A series of hands-on military and resources acquisition activities, recuperating with other minor jihadi revolts, proclaiming an Islamic state, and entering into a full-blown war were the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth goals respectively.3 In 2006, Paul Haven said Al-Qaeda attacked the United States because their affairs in Afghanistan were questionable and of purely selfish interests.4 Bill Steiden wrote in 2009 that the Al-Qaeda attacked the United States because their localized approach against US forces in the Middle East was failing.5 Eileen Sullivan and Lolita C. Baldor believe the 9/11 attacks were Al-Qaeda’s way of gaining global notoriety and reputation in an effort to spread their agenda and propaganda across the world.6 Newsday released an article in 2011 claiming the 9/11 attacks were Al-Qaeda’s way to force United

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

U.S. Government Shutdown Negotations (Past and Present) Research Paper

U.S. Government Shutdown Negotations (Past and Present) - Research Paper Example It is the absence of a consensus on the budget and the consequent inability to pass the appropriations bill before the October 1 deadline that creates an impasse and leads to a government shutdown (Kosar, 2004, p.2). When the government is forced to shutdown as a result of this, only the essential government services are allowed to operate (Kosar, 2004, p.2). Even the employees of these essential services will be sometimes forced to work without pay. The overall result of a shutdown will be that almost all governmental functioning will come to a standstill and the government employees will be left in wild, frustrated without pay. As the opposition party most often causes a shutdown, as against the budget plans of the ruling President, the opposition party will be held in the public eye as responsible for a shutdown. But the public will also criticize the unwillingness of the President to accept the reasonable suggestions made by the opposition, on certain occasions. So a shutdown can dim the electoral prospects of both the ruling party and the opposition and above all make the lives of the people miserable. In order to avert such consequences, negotiations get underway before and after shutdowns. These negotiations are good examples to the application of major negotiation theories, understanding which; the efficiency of such negotiations can be qualitatively enhanced in the future. Negotiation theories Though there are different strategies based on different theories regarding negotiation, the negotiation practitioners usually are found to use a mix of more than one theory (Adams, 2003, p.55). Broadly negotiation theories can be categorized as â€Å"cooperative or competitive† (Adams, 2003, p.55). Usually the tactics adopted could be a negotiation process beginning with a problem-solving interest-based approach and concluding with the competitive positional approach (Adams, 2003, p.55). This is what is called an integrative approach (Adams, 2003, p.55). The advantage of this approach is that in the beginning of negotiations, an amicable atmosphere for the very process of negotiation is created through the cooperative interventions included in the problem-solving interest-based approach. Once the trust of both parties has been acquired in this manner, then the negotiator can easily move on to a more competitive attitude (Adams, 2003, p.55). This is particularly helpful in dealing with negotiations between continuous relationships (Adams, 2003, p.55). Competitive positional negotiation In competitive positional negotiation, the negotiator makes the party to believe that he/she is â€Å"working vigorously on their behalf† (Adams, 2003, p.37). By this strategy, the negotiator wins the trust of the party and this trust is what helps the negotiator in a later stage to convince the party that a cooperative approach has to be adopted (Adams, 2003, p.37). But as far as the competitive positional negotiation is going on there is no sc ope for accepting the other party’s viewpoints or demands. This is because, the party already takes a position and he/she also believes that one is competitive enough to win that position. Hence the party does not feel a need for cooperation. Problem-solving interest-based negotiation. The problem-solving interest-based negotiation is more flexible and with a commitment to resolve the problem and protect the interests of both parties as far as possible. The most important aspect

Saturday, November 16, 2019

My Last Duchess Analysis Essay Example for Free

Summary of a poem My Last Duchess Essay A duke had killed his seventeen-year-old spouse following three long stretches of marriage, and wedded another young lady. The principle character and speaker of the lyric is Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara. The other individual tuning in to him (his recipient) is the emissary (marriage operator) sent by the Count of somewhere else called Tyrol. The duke is discussing the composition on the divider while planning to go down to meet the Tyrol, the dad of the proposed young lady, and other individuals who have come to finish the new proposition to be engaged. The lyric resembles a bit of casual conversation, however it is intended to uncover an account of persecution, desire, pride, defilement, kill and the covetousness for share. Whats more, the genuine story behind the scene of the dukes gloating, which the pursuers induce themselves is the topic of the lyric. The subject of this lyric is the wide hole between the alleged high culture and low individual conduct in the upper and the decision class of Renaissance Italy. If we analyze the poem further, My Last Duchess analysis will reveal that the motivation behind the writer is to uncover the genuine character of the duke and ridicule the way of life that he speaks to, by and large. The monolog is planned so that it uncovers the genuine character of the duke who is having a casual chitchat with a guest; the pursuers need to investigate the story behind his bragging. As the duke is getting ready to go first floor, likely putting on his garments, he sees that the courier is taking a gander at the artistic creations on the divider. He starts to discuss the artwork of his past spouse (the duchess). He says that it was an artwork by the popular Italian painter sibling Pandolf. The manner in which he rehashes the name and uses fra or sibling before the craftsmans name proposes that the duke is attempting to inspire the guest with his closeness with specialists. Likewise, we see that he is endeavoring to give the impression of being a craftsmanship sweetheart (person of good taste) when he depicts the artistic creation with the expressions of a workmanship faultfinder – the profundity and enthusiasm in the sincere look†¦ imitate the black out half-flush that blurs along the throat†¦ Then he brags about his specialty of talking by in a roundabout way saying that he doesnt have the ability of saying little things in the correct way. However, that is another case of his pretention. He guarantees that he is such a great man, to the point that nobody has set out to get some information about the red spot on the cheek of the duchess. Be that as it may, we see that he is such a mean, insidious disapproved, envious and critical man who feels that if his significant other takes a gander at or grins at guests and some other guys, it is a direct result of her sexual energy with them: he surmises that the painters casual discussion had prompted the spot of satisfaction to show up on her cheek! At that point he gloats about his nine hundred years of age name, and gripes that the duchess did not give exceptional respects to that. With typical individuals, that doesnt check in a conjugal relationship, in light of the fact that everybodys better half is a spouse as a matter of first importance and it isnt important to address him by his status-name. He says that she used to expedite the red spot of satisfaction her cheek not just he gave a good (look) on her bosom, yet in addition when she saw any normal individual protest or occasion. We realize that some young ladies cheeks turned out to be red because of the sun, because of bashfulness, outrage, or even with no reason when they just grin or talk. The duke is an improper despot who cant consider anything positive; most presumably on the grounds that he is shrewd disapproved of himself. He says that her looks went all over the place, that she would thank and value anything or anybody, that she was too effortlessly inspired, and that she used to grin at any individual who gone by her. We never discover any indication that the duchess was ethically blameworthy of the sorts of allegations he is making against her; on the off chance that she was in reality awful, this improper man would have said it no hazy words. Nobody will be ever persuaded that to grin, to thank, to be intrigued, to be bashful, or to converse with individuals is such a wrongdoing, or unethical behavior. Nobody will trust that a spouse should take a gander at her better half, with the exception of in social orders that trust that all ladies are normally malicious! Truth be told, in social orders which do treachery to ladies, men are generally undermined, malevolent and uncalled for. The duke is an image of oppression and the demoniac male in Renaissance Italy, as well as in all social orders all things considered and put. At the peak of the emotional ballad, the Duke uncovers that he had murdered his past spouse, the duchess painted on the divider. He says that he would not like to stoop (twist low) before her to state that she ought not grin at other individuals, ought not get awed by normal individuals and things, ought not redden, and ought to carry on in the correct approaches to exhibit the immense name of her better half! He includes that he didnt have the expertise of discourse and that she would not comprehend him; but rather regardless of whether he had it and she could comprehend him, he would not stop before only a spouse to reveal to her what he didnt care for. This additionally uncovers his actual character. At that point he says, even without minding what he is stating, that he offered orders to stop every one of her grins together. That implies he offered requests to execute her. The murder of his own better half and the manner in which he indiscreetly takes, is stunning and appalling. The duke is an ideal accumulation of every shrewd quality, the abuse of intensity and the outrageous persecution and shamefulness. There are likewise some emotional activities in the ballad, first and foremost, the duke advises the other man to take a seat and take a gander at the photo. Towards the finish of the sonnet, he instructs him to stand up: Will it satisfy you rise? We additionally figure different things that the characters must do. As the duke is saying all the frightful things in regards to his own particular spouse, the other man appears to attempt to leave the place! Be that as it may, the duke instructs him to pause: Nay, well go down together, sir. The following minute, we find that he is influencing the man to hold up just to give another bit of gloating! He indicates a statue and tells his visitor that it is his own statue as god Neptune preparing the ocean horse. This additionally symbolizes this interest for a spouse like a prepared pony. The ballad closes with the duke as yet discussing himself as an incredible man and an admirer of workmanship. References: SparkNotes: Robert Brownings Poetry: â€Å"My Last Duchess† |  http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/browning/section3/ My Last Duchess Analysis Shmoop |  https://www.shmoop.com/my-last-duchess/analysis.html Robert Browning: â€Å"My Last Duchess† by Camille Guthrie | Poetry | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/144033/robert-browning-my-last-duchess Read next: Character analysis of Daisy Buchanan Wilfred Owen A War Writer Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Enron Corporation Essay -- Business Management History Essays

Enron Corporation Before filing for bankruptcy in 2001, Enron Corporation was one of the largest integrated natural gas and electricity companies in the world. It marketed natural gas liquids worldwide and operated one of the largest natural gas transmission systems in the world, totaling more than 36,000 miles. It was also one of the largest independent developers and producers of electricity in the world, serving both industrial and emerging markets. Timeline Enron began as Northern Natural Gas Company, organized in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1930. The company's founding came just a few months after the stock market crash of 1929, an unusual time to launch a new venture. Several aspects of the Great Depression actually worked in Northern's favor, however. Consumers initially were not enthusiastic about natural gas as a heating fuel, but its low cost led to its acceptance during tough economic times. High unemployment brought the new company a ready supply of cheap labor to build its pipeline system. The 1940s brought changes in Northern's regulation and ownership. The Federal Power Commission, created as a result of the Natural Gas Act of 1938, regulated the natural gas industry's rates and expansion. 1944: Acquires the gas-gathering and transmission lines of Argus Natural Gas Co. 1945: Argus properties are consolidated into a subsidiary called Peoples Natural Gas Co As time went on Northern kept expanding through acquisitions. First in 1967 it made an acquisition with Protane Corporation, a distributor of propane gas in the eastern US and the Carribbean. In 1976, Northern formed Northern Arctic Gas Company, a partner in the proposed Alaskan arctic gas pipeline, and Northern Liquid Fuels International Ltd., a supply and marketing company. 1980: Northern changes its name to InterNorth, Inc. Its attempted hostile takeover of Crouse-Hinds Co., an electrical products manufacturer, is thwarted by Cooper Industries. Northern Overthrust Pipeline Co. and Northern Trailblazer Pipeline Co. are set up to participate in the Trailblazer pipeline. Creates two exploration and production companies, Nortex Gas & Oil and Consolidex Gas and Oil Ltd. 1982: Forms Northern Intrastate Pipeline Co. and Northern Coal Pipeline Co. Establishes InterNorth International, Inc. to oversee non-U.S. operations InterNorth made an acquisition of enormous proportions in 1... ...d then they reported a $ 1 million charge in total. Then there was the project to build a natural gas 900 kilometer pipeline in Mozambique to Gauteng, South Africa which cost $700 million. Enron's contract is now considered overpriced. Nevertheless, Enron must pay for the gas even if it does not take possession of it and Enron has no customers for the gas. I feel that Enron had luck on it’s side for a while and were able to conquer all these different markets for a while. But they wanted too much power and money, much too fast for some of the markets they entered they had to dish out billions of dollars in up front capital investments on hard assets. . These capital investments were not expected to generate significant earnings or cash flow in the short term. This put pressure on Enron’s balance sheet. I would of not tried to expand so rapidly and gave time for my projects, mergers and aquasitions to progress and then expand instead of rushing. I would of not spent so much time and money on contributions to political parties trying to gain deregulation and to stop gov’t oversight. I would of done things properly and legally that way gov’t oversight would of not been a problem.

Monday, November 11, 2019

“Conyo Talk”: The Affirmation Of Hybrid Identity And Power In Contemporary Philippine Discource Essay

I. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM This study is conducted to find out the current status of the â€Å"conyo† talk in the Philippines. The study specifically answers and defines the following questions: 1. Origin and history of â€Å"conyo† talk in the Philippines 2. How does â€Å"conyo† talk affects the Filipino society? 3. Is â€Å"conyo† talk a part of our culture or not? 4. Why is â€Å"conyo† being discriminated? 5. Why do Filipinos love to mix languages? II. HYPOTHESIS No stated hypothesis in the study. III. RESEARCH METHOD The researcher used historical research method to examine the past events in order to identify the origin and definition of unfamiliar terms. This method also helped the researcher to broaden their experiences. It aims to determine the past eents in making the research possible. Acoording to Good and Scates (1972), the divisions of sources of historical research are the documents which report of events which are composed of impressions made on some human brain by past events and the remains of relics which are physical objects or written materials of historical value and produced without deliberately aiming to impact information. With these divisions of sources, the researcher were able to know more about the subjects past conditions that can be used for the study. IV. CONCLUSION AND FINDINGS ‘Conyo’ talk is a cultural identification where its speakers can be described as having a profound cultural ambivalence. ‘Conyo’ speakers use it not spontaneously, like in situations of code switching, but intentionally to demarcate their own space. This type of discourse is clearly used as a strategy to give the impression of being privileged socially and  economically. The switching between languages clearly conveys the multiple and complementary identities its speakers create for themselves. They have created a ‘social community’ taking on the role of stereotype images of Spaniards or Americans that exist in the Philippine popular imagination adding â€Å"local color† to their everyday discourse. They communicate with other ‘conyo’ speakers directly, without the need of explanations. Discussions on why ‘conyo’ talk exists have gone beyond face-to-face everyday conversation. ‘Conyo’ speakers have created an effective space through the help of Internet where anyone from anywhere can join in. And â€Å"space is fundamental in any form of power of communal life† (Foucault 2000, p. 361). The Philippine linguistic and cultural phenomenon â€Å"coà ±o talk† (a mix of predominantly Spanish and English with tagalog) is a type of discourse that purportedly identifies and differentiates people of ‘power’ from the common masses, and arose from the impact of Spanish and American colonization. Due to steady linguistic influences, resulting from contacts with different peoples and cultures, a word or a phrase may take on another meaning among a given group of people, entirely different from its original significance, where â€Å"a meeting of cultures in the intercultural sphere results in irreversible intra-cultural changes† (Mey 2007, p. 171). In the last decade, it has become the solution to problems of intercommunication where some Filipinos draw on the languages they know and tailor them for their specific shifting communicative needs. ‘Conyo’ talk became an emulation of how English and/or Spanish speakers talked to native Filipinos: a sentence in English and/or Spanish with some Filipino words. In time, it has become a stance among the middle class and the preferred means of communicating with others and establishing potential relationships. In conclusion, this study reflects the contradictory and shifting positions and boundaries of some Filipinos due to lack of confidence in their language fluency, social and economic status. The participants of the web discussions analyzed are searching for a comfortable position to show societal identification. On one hand, they want to affirm their right to be different and highlight their individuality, and on the other hand, they criticize everything that separates them from other individuals or threaten their individuality. Philippines is a hybridized society, and many Filipinos want to preserve the double cultural standard, maintaining the dominance of  Eng lish and Spanish as languages of power, but embracing as well their complex identities manifesting openly the hybridity of their identity as Filipino, Hispanic and Anglophone.â€Å"Conyo talk†: the affirmation of hybrid identity and power in contemporary Philippine discourse. The common ground that unites all ‘conyo’ speakers is their cultural peculiarity and historical memory. In the Philippines, despite being a colony of Spain for more than 300 years (1521-1898), Spanish has remained an exclusive language. It continues to be reserved only for the upper/middle class and university-educated people. Later, when the islands as a nation was transferred to the Americans through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, English – spoken by the educated, upper/middle class – was accorded the same privileged status. Social structures are the determining factors on how speakers behave, their particular ways of speaking, choices of words and rules for conversing. Filipinos who speak fluently Spanish and/or English are perceived to be from upper/middle class and are treated with more respect. On the other hand, Philippine languages are considered inferior and the languages of the poor and illiterates. And because of the continuous disregard for Philip pine languages and the high esteem held for Spanish and English, some Filipinos who have not come to terms with their perception of themselves as the ‘other’ created a hybrid language where they persistently identify with their former colonizers. Consequently, ‘conyo’ talk has become the response for many Filipinos who, constrained by their background and having been deprived, at one point, of ‘power’ -economic as well as social – , are constantly subjected to the idea of being ‘the other’. ‘Conyo’ talk has become a metaphor of what they have been denied – the Spanish language, and an affirmation of their existence and the power that should be theirs and should continually flow to them. Its representation, as Blumenberg (2010) aptly wrote, â€Å"indicates the fundamental certainties, conjectures, and judgments in relation to which the attitudes and expectations, actions and inactions, longings and disappointments, interests and indifferences, of an epoch† (p. 14). ‘Conyo’ talk has become a social-cultural default for many who want to be perceived as coming from upper-middle class, or simply an individual with ‘power’. The advent of Internet and Web discussions has opened new venues for people to discuss matters that affect society without being prejudiced. The opening threads of â€Å"What is conyo ba?†, â€Å"Why do  Filipinos love to mix languages?† and â€Å"Why are conyos discriminated?† shed light on the need to comprehend how this discourse came into being, why speakers have chosen to speak it, what it represents to them. Participants facilitate, and even guide the flow of conversations – from discussing its possible origins, their position towards its speakers or the discourse itself to expressing themselves in ‘conyo’. It is evident, from the examples cited, that its speakers endeavor to assert their identity as Filipino, Hispanic and Anglophone. They have created among themselves a type of jargon that is textually mediated where norms and rules are flexible, subject to interlocutors’ interpretations, and as in many social practices, they facilitate â€Å"perceived anomalies to pass, in order to make sense of the rules and make the coding categories ‘fit’ the data† (Firth 2009, p. 69). Thus, when two participants wrote in Spanish: â€Å"?porque hay conyo? para el pene puede lo entre.† and â€Å"exactamente, Una mujer tiene un conyo asà ­ que puedo utilizar mi pene serà ¡ malo que una mujer tenga†, no one seemed to mind the faulty grammar; on the contrary, the intention was accurately understood by some and were amused by these remarks. ‘Conyo’ talk’s unwritten rules of conduct aremultifunctional and reflexively relate to its context of use. It is like a language game where the interactants position themselves intersubjectively. Thus, when one reads â€Å"Yu-uck, that’s sooo s-q-H2o!† or â€Å"OMGeesshh dude pare bro labuyo!†, only a person familiar with this type of discourse can understand and infer the utterances’ meanings and allow themselves to be subjected to it. In this case, comprehension is achieved â€Å"procedurally and contextually in what is said is invariably assessed in a particular, loc al context, by particular persons, at particular moment† (Ibid., p. 71) IV. ANALYSIS Just like English and Tagalog, â€Å"conyo† talk is just another way of Filipinos, especially the teens, to express and to communicate. Despite being referred to as the way of the â€Å"rich kids† to talk, â€Å"conyo† talk can be heard almost all around the Philippines, especially, in conversations in almost all of the universities in the Metro Manila. Students from private schools and universities are more likely to be heard talking in a â€Å"conyo† way. English and Tagalog words are combined to make a sentence or phrase. I can say that to talk in a â€Å"conyo† way is part of the Filipino students’ culture, especially those who are in the â€Å"higher ups† in our society. But looking on the brighter side of it, I noticed that this â€Å"conyo† talk shows how intelligent the Filipinos are. It may sound annoying, but only the Filipinos can do that to talk with each other using a combination of two languages. They can position themselves more easily without fear of retaliation or ridicule as well as express solidarity, difference and/or power similar to everyday interactions or the hybridity-of-the-everyday. Participants use a more informal language, colloquial forms and other features that are usually associated with spoken language. In this case, hybridity occurs in the responses to the threads posted in reaction to positioning within the ambiguity of what is a Filipino. Are Filipinos only Asians, Hispanics, or Anglophones, or all of these? At the same time, in their continual accommodations of positions and power differences the idea of otherness may haunt the possibility of identification, for in many multiethnic societies such as the Philippines, â€Å"discourse is bounded by the essentialism of social status† (Tate 2007). Factors independent of specific speakers and circumstances, such as economic forces, power relation as well as factors directly related to speakers’ social networks and relationships, their attitudes and their self-perception and perception of others, influence their use of one or another language, or both. In virtual interactions, due to anonymity, member participants have more freedom to create identities to reflect their thoughts and belief. V. REFERENCES http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/linguelinguaggi/article/viewFile/12641/11252 Blumenberg, H. 2010, Paradigms for a Metaphorology, Cornell University Press, U. S. Bhabha, H. 1990, Dissemination, in Bhabha, H. (ed.), Nation and Narration, Routledge, New York, pp. 291-323. Firth, A. 2009, Ethnomethodology, in D’hondt, S., Ostman, J.O. and Verscheren, J. (eds.), The Pragmatics of Interaction, John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam, pp. 66-78 Mey, J. 2007, Developing pragmatics interculturally, in Kecskes, I and Horn, L (eds.),Exploration in Pragmatics, Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 165-189.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Sensitivity Analysis

Linear Programming Notes VII Sensitivity Analysis 1 Introduction When you use a mathematical model to describe reality you must make approximations. The world is more complicated than the kinds of optimization problems that we are able to solve. Linearity assumptions usually are signi? cant approximations. Another important approximation comes because you cannot be sure of the data that you put into the model. Your knowledge of the relevant technology may be imprecise, forcing you to approximate values in A, b, or c. Moreover, information may change.Sensitivity analysis is a systematic study of how sensitive (duh) solutions are to (small) changes in the data. The basic idea is to be able to give answers to questions of the form: 1. If the objective function changes, how does the solution change? 2. If resources available change, how does the solution change? 3. If a constraint is added to the problem, how does the solution change? One approach to these questions is to solve lots of l inear programming problems. For example, if you think that the price of your primary output will be between $100 and $120 per unit, you can solve twenty di? rent problems (one for each whole number between $100 and $120). 1 This method would work, but it is inelegant and (for large problems) would involve a large amount of computation time. (In fact, the computation time is cheap, and computing solutions to similar problems is a standard technique for studying sensitivity in practice. ) The approach that I will describe in these notes takes full advantage of the structure of LP programming problems and their solution. It turns out that you can often ? gure out what happens in â€Å"nearby† linear programming problems just by thinking and by examining the information provided by the simplex algorithm.In this section, I will describe the sensitivity analysis information provided in Excel computations. I will also try to give an intuition for the results. 2 Intuition and Overvie w Throughout these notes you should imagine that you must solve a linear programming problem, but then you want to see how the answer changes if the problem is changed. In every case, the results assume that only one thing about the problem changes. That is, in sensitivity analysis you evaluate what happens when only one parameter of the problem changes. 1 OK, there are really 21 problems, but who is counting? 1To ? x ideas, you may think about a particular LP, say the familiar example: max 2Ãâ€"1 subject to 3Ãâ€"1 x1 2x 1 + + + 4Ãâ€"2 x2 3Ãâ€"2 x2 + + + + 3x 3 x3 2x 3 3x 3 + + + x4 4x 4 3x 4 x4 x ? ? ? 12 7 10 0 We know that the solution to this problem is x0 = 42, x1 = 0; x2 = 10. 4; x3 = 0; x4 = . 4. 2. 1 Changing Objective Function Suppose that you solve an LP and then wish to solve another problem with the same constraints but a slightly di? erent objective function. (I will always make only one change in the problem at a time. So if I change the objective function, not onl y will I hold the constraints ? ed, but I will change only one coe cient in the objective function. ) When you change the objective function it turns out that there are two cases to consider. The ? rst case is the change in a non-basic variable (a variable that takes on the value zero in the solution). In the example, the relevant non-basic variables are x1 and x3 . What happens to your solution if the coe cient of a non-basic variable decreases? For example, suppose that the coe cient of x1 in the objective function above was reduced from 2 to 1 (so that the objective function is: max x1 + 4Ãâ€"2 + 3Ãâ€"3 + x4 ).What has happened is this: You have taken a variable that you didn’t want to use in the ? rst place (you set x1 = 0) and then made it less pro? table (lowered its coe cient in the objective function). You are still not going to use it. The solution does not change. Observation If you lower the objective function coe cient of a non-basic variable, then the solution does not change. What if you raise the coe cient? Intuitively, raising it just a little bit should not matter, but raising the coe cient a lot might induce you to change the value of x in a way that makes x1 > 0.So, for a non-basic variable, you should expect a solution to continue to be valid for a range of values for coe cients of nonbasic variables. The range should include all lower values for the coe cient and some higher values. If the coe cient increases enough (and putting the variable into the basis is feasible), then the solution changes. What happens to your solution if the coe cient of a basic variable (like x2 or x4 in the example) decreases? This situation di? ers from the previous one in that you are using the basis variable in the ? rst place. The change makes the variable contribute less to pro? . You should expect that a su ciently large reduction makes you want to change your solution (and lower the value the associated variable). For example, if the coe cient of x2 in the objective function in the example were 2 instead of 4 (so that the objective was max 2Ãâ€"1 +2Ãâ€"2 +3Ãâ€"3 + x4 ), 2 maybe you would want to set x2 = 0 instead of x2 = 10. 4. On the other hand, a small reduction in x2 ’s objective function coe cient would typically not cause you to change your solution. In contrast to the case of the non-basic variable, such a change will change the value of your objective function.You compute the value by plugging in x into the objective function, if x2 = 10. 4 and the coe cient of x2 goes down from 4 to 2, then the contribution of the x2 term to the value goes down from 41. 6 to 20. 8 (assuming that the solution remains the same). If the coe cient of a basic variable goes up, then your value goes up and you still want to use the variable, but if it goes up enough, you may want to adjust x so that it x2 is even possible. In many cases, this is possible by ? nding another basis (and therefore another solution).So, intuitively, t here should be a range of values of the coe cient of the objective function (a range that includes the original value) in which the solution of the problem does not change. Outside of this range, the solution will change (to lower the value of the basic variable for reductions and increase its value of increases in its objective function coe cient). The value of the problem always changes when you change the coe cient of a basic variable. 2. 2 Changing a Right-Hand Side Constant We discussed this topic when we talked about duality. I argued that dual prices capture the e? ct of a change in the amounts of available resources. When you changed the amount of resource in a non-binding constraint, then increases never changed your solution. Small decreases also did not change anything, but if you decreased the amount of resource enough to make the constraint binding, your solution could change. (Note the similarity between this analysis and the case of changing the coe cient of a non-bas ic variable in the objective function. Changes in the right-hand side of binding constraints always change the solution (the value of x must adjust to the new constraints).We saw earlier that the dual variable associated with the constraint measures how much the objective function will be in? uenced by the change. 2. 3 Adding a Constraint If you add a constraint to a problem, two things can happen. Your original solution satis? es the constraint or it doesn’t. If it does, then you are ? nished. If you had a solution before and the solution is still feasible for the new problem, then you must still have a solution. If the original solution does not satisfy the new constraint, then possibly the new problem is infeasible. If not, then there is another solution.The value must go down. (Adding a constraint makes the problem harder to satisfy, so you cannot possibly do better than before). If your original solution satis? es your new constraint, then you can do as well as before. I f not, then you will do worse. 2 2 There is a rare case in which originally your problem has multiple solutions, but only some of them satisfy the added constraint. In this case, which you need not worry about, 3 2. 4 Relationship to the Dual The objective function coe cients correspond to the right-hand side constants of resource constraints in the dual.The primal’s right-hand side constants correspond to objective function coe cients in the dual. Hence the exercise of changing the objective function’s coe cients is really the same as changing the resource constraints in the dual. It is extremely useful to become comfortable switching back and forth between primal and dual relationships. 3 Understanding Sensitivity Information Provided by Excel Excel permits you to create a sensitivity report with any solved LP. The report contains two tables, one associated with the variables and the other associated with the constraints.In reading these notes, keep the information i n the sensitivity tables associated with the ? rst simplex algorithm example nearby. 3. 1 Sensitivity Information on Changing (or Adjustable) Cells The top table in the sensitivity report refers to the variables in the problem. The ? rst column (Cell) tells you the location of the variable in your spreadsheet; the second column tells you its name (if you named the variable); the third column tells you the ? nal value; the fourth column is called the reduced cost; the ? fth column tells you the coe cient in the problem; the ? al two columns are labeled â€Å"allowable increase† and â€Å"allowable decrease. † Reduced cost, allowable increase, and allowable decrease are new terms. They need de? nitions. The allowable increases and decreases are easier. I will discuss them ? rst. The allowable increase is the amount by which you can increase the coe cient of the objective function without causing the optimal basis to change. The allowable decrease is the amount by which y ou can decrease the coe cient of the objective function without causing the optimal basis to change. Take the ? rst row of the table for the example. This row describes the variable x1 .The coe cient of x1 in the objective function is 2. The allowable increase is 9, the allowable decrease is â€Å"1. 00E+30,† which means 1030 , which really means 1. This means that provided that the coe cient of x1 in the objective function is less than 11 = 2 + 9 = original value + allowable increase, the basis does not change. Moreover, since x1 is a non-basic variable, when the basis stays the same, the value of the problem stays the same too. The information in this line con? rms the intuition provided earlier and adds something new. What is con? rmed is that if you lower the objective coe cient of a non-basic ariable, then your solution does not change. (This means that the allowable decrease will always be in? nite for a non-basic variable. ) The example also demonstrates your value wil l stay the same. 4 that increasing the coe cient of a non-basic variable may lead to a change in basis. In the example, if you increase the coe cient of x1 from 2 to anything greater than 9 (that is, if you add more than the allowable increase of 7 to the coe cient), then you change the solution. The sensitivity table does not tell you how the solution changes, but common sense suggests that x1 will take on a positive value.Notice that the line associated with the other non-basic variable of the example, x3 , is remarkably similar. The objective function coe cient is di? erent (3 rather than 2), but the allowable increase and decrease are the same as in the row for x1 . It is a coincidence that the allowable increases are the same. It is no coincidence that the allowable decrease is the same. We can conclude that the solution of the problem does not change as long as the coe cient of x3 in the objective function is less than or equal to 10. Consider now the basic variables. For x2 t he allowable increase is in? ite 9 while the allowable decrease is 2. 69 (it is 2 13 to be exact). This means that if the solution won’t change if you increase the coe cient of x2 , but it will change if you decrease the coe cient enough (that is, by more than 2. 7). The fact that your solution does not change no matter how much you increase x2 ’s coe cient means that there is no way to make x2 > 10. 4 and still satisfy the constraints of the problem. The fact that your solution does change when you increase x2 ’s coe cient by enough means that there is a feasible basis in which x2 takes on a value lower than 10. 4. You knew that. Examine the original basis for the problem. ) The range for x4 is di? erent. Line four of the sensitivity table says that the solution of the problem does not change provided that the coe cient of x4 in the objective function stays between 16 (allowable increase 15 plus objective function coe cient 1) and -4 (objective function coe cie nt minus allowable decrease). That is, if you make x4 su ciently more attractive, then your solution will change to permit you to use more x4 . If you make x4 su ciently less attractive the solution will also change. This time to use less x4 .Even when the solution of the problem does not change, when you change the coe cient of a basic variable the value of the problem will change. It will change in a predictable way. Speci? cally, you can use the table to tell you the solution of the LP when you take the original constraints and replace the original objective function by max 2Ãâ€"1 + 6Ãâ€"2 + 3Ãâ€"3 + x4 (that is, you change the coe cient of x2 from 4 to 6), then the solution to the problem remains the same. The value of the solution changes because now you multiply the 10. 4 units of x2 by 6 instead of 4. The objective function therefore goes up by 20. . The reduced cost of a variable is the smallest change in the objective function coe cient needed to arrive at a solution in which the variable takes on a positive value when you solve the problem. This is a mouthful. Fortunately, reduced costs are redundant information. The reduced cost is the negative of the allowable increase for non-basic variables (that is, if you change the coe cient of x1 by 7, then you arrive at a problem in which x1 takes on a positive 5 value in the solution). This is the same as saying that the allowable increase in the coe cient is 7.The reduced cost of a basic variable is always zero (because you need not change the objective function at all to make the variable positive). Neglecting rare cases in which a basis variable takes on the value 0 in a solution, you can ? gure out reduced costs from the other information in the table: If the ? nal value is positive, then the reduced cost is zero. If the ? nal value is zero, then the reduced cost is negative one times the allowable increase. Remarkably, the reduced cost of a variable is also the amount of slack in the dual constraint associated with the variable.With this interpretation, complementary slackness implies that if a variable that takes on a positive value in the solution, then its reduced cost is zero. 3. 2 Sensitivity Information on Constraints The second sensitivity table discusses the constraints. The cell column identi? es the location of the left-hand side of a constraint; the name column gives its name (if any); the ? nal value is the value of the left-hand side when you plug in the ? nal values for the variables; the shadow price is the dual variable associated with the constraint; the constraint R. H. ide is the right hand side of the constraint; allowable increase tells you by how much you can increase the right-hand side of the constraint without changing the basis; the allowable decrease tells you by how much you can decrease the right-hand side of the constraint without changing the basis. Complementary Slackness guarantees a relationship between the columns in the constraint table. The di? erence between the â€Å"Constraint Right-Hand Side† column and the â€Å"Final Value† column is the slack. (So, from the table, the slack for the three constraints is 0 (= 12 12), 37 (= 7 ( 30)), and 0 (= 10 10), respectively.We know from Complementary Slackness that if there is slack in the constraint then the associated dual variable is zero. Hence CS tells us that the second dual variable must be zero. Like the case of changes in the variables, you can ? gure out information on allowable changes from other information in the table. The allowable increase and decrease of non-binding variables can be computed knowing ? nal value and right-hand side constant. If a constraint is not binding, then adding more of the resource is not going to change your solution. Hence the allowable increase of a resource is in? ite for a non-binding constraint. (A nearly equivalent, and also true, statement is that the allowable increase of a resource is in? nite for a constraint w ith slack. ) In the example, this explains why the allowable increase of the second constraint is in? nite. One other quantity is also no surprise. The allowable decrease of a non-binding constraint is equal to the slack in the constraint. Hence the allowable decrease in the second constraint is 37. This means that if you decrease the right-hand side of the second constraint from its original value (7) to nything greater than 30 you do not change the optimal basis. In fact, the only part of the solution that changes when you do this is that the value of the slack variable for this constraint changes. In this paragraph, the point is only this: If you solve an LP and ? nd that a constraint is not binding, 6 then you can remove all of the unused (slack) portion of the resource associated with this constraint and not change the solution to the problem. The allowable increases and decreases for constraints that have no slack are more complicated. Consider the ? rst constraint.The informa tion in the table says that if the right-hand side of the ? rst constraint is between 10 (original value 12 minus allowable decrease 2) and in? nity, then the basis of the problem does not change. What these columns do not say is that the solution of the problem does change. Saying that the basis does not change means that the variables that were zero in the original solution continue to be zero in the new problem (with the right-hand side of the constraint changed). However, when the amount of available resource changes, necessarily the values of the other variables change. You can think about this in many ways. Go back to a standard example like the diet problem. If your diet provides exactly the right amount of Vitamin C, but then for some reason you learn that you need more Vitamin C. You will certainly change what you eat and (if you aren’t getting your Vitamin C through pills supplying pure Vitamin C) in order to do so you probably will need to change the composition of your diet – a little more of some foods and perhaps less of others. I am saying that (within the allowable range) you will not change the foods that you eat in positive amounts.That is, if you ate only spinach and oranges and bagels before, then you will only eat these things (but in di? erent quantities) after the change. Another thing that you can do is simply re-solve the LP with a di? erent right-hand side constant and compare the result. To ? nish the discussion, consider the third constraint in the example. The values for the allowable increase and allowable decrease guarantee that the basis that is optimal for the original problem (when the right-hand side of the third constraint is equal to 10) remains obtain provided that the right-hand side constant in this constraint is between -2. 333 and 12. Here is a way to think about this range. Suppose that your LP involves four production processes and uses three basic ingredients. Call the ingredients land, labor, and capi tal. The outputs vary use di? erent combinations of the ingredients. Maybe they are growing fruit (using lots of land and labor), cleaning bathrooms (using lots of labor), making cars (using lots of labor and and a bit of capital), and making computers (using lots of capital). For the initial speci? cation of available resources, you ? nd that your want to grow fruit and make cars.If you get an increase in the amount of capital, you may wish to shift into building computers instead of cars. If you experience a decrease in the amount of capital, you may wish to shift away from building cars and into cleaning bathrooms instead. As always when dealing with duality relationships, the the â€Å"Adjustable Cells† table and the â€Å"Constraints† table really provide the same information. Dual variables correspond to primal constraints. Primal variables correspond to dual constraints. Hence, the â€Å"Adjustable Cells† table tells you how sensitive primal variables and dual constraints are to changes in the primal objective function.The â€Å"Constraints† table tells you how sensitive dual variables and primal constraints are to changes in the dual objective function (right-hand side constants in the primal). 7 4 Example In this section I will present another formulation example and discuss the solution and sensitivity results. Imagine a furniture company that makes tables and chairs. A table requires 40 board feet of wood and a chair requires 30 board feet of wood. Wood costs $1 per board foot and 40,000 board feet of wood are available. It takes 2 hours of skilled labor to make an un? nished table or an un? ished chair. Three more hours of labor will turn an un? nished table into a ? nished table; two more hours of skilled labor will turn an un? nished chair into a ? nished chair. There are 6000 hours of skilled labor available. (Assume that you do not need to pay for this labor. ) The prices of output are given in the table below: Produ ct Un? nished Table Finished Table Un? nished Chair Finished Chair Price $70 $140 $60 $110 We want to formulate an LP that describes the production plans that the ? rm can use to maximize its pro? ts. The relevant variables are the number of ? nished and un? ished tables, I will call them TF and TU , and the number of ? nished and un? nished chairs, CF and CU . The revenue is (using the table): 70TU + 140TF + 60CU + 110CF , , while the cost is 40TU + 40TF + 30CU + 30CF (because lumber costs $1 per board foot). The constraints are: 1. 40TU + 40TF + 30CU + 30CF ? 40000. 2. 2TU + 5TF + 2CU + 4CF ? 6000. The ? rst constraint says that the amount of lumber used is no more than what is available. The second constraint states that the amount of labor used is no more than what is available. Excel ? nds the answer to the problem to be to construct only ? nished chairs (1333. 33 – I’m not sure what it means to make a sell 1 chair, but let’s assume 3 that this is possible) . The pro? t is $106,666. 67. Here are some sensitivity questions. 1. What would happen if the price of un? nished chairs went up? Currently they sell for $60. Because the allowable increase in the coe cient is $50, it would not be pro? table to produce them even if they sold for the same amount as ? nished chairs. If the price of un? nished chairs went down, then certainly you wouldn’t change your solution. 8 2. What would happen if the price of un? nished tables went up? Here something apparently absurd happens.The allowable increase is greater than 70. That is, even if you could sell un? nished tables for more than ? nished tables, you would not want to sell them. How could this be? The answer is that at current prices you don’t want to sell ? nished tables. Hence it is not enough to make un? nished tables more pro? table than ? nished tables, you must make them more pro? table than ? nished chairs. Doing so requires an even greater increase in the price. 3. What if the price of ? nished chairs fell to $100? This change would alter your production plan, since this would involve a $10 decrease in the price of ? ished chairs and the allowable decrease is only $5. In order to ? gure out what happens, you need to re-solve the problem. It turns out that the best thing to do is specialize in ? nished tables, producing 1000 and earning $100,000. Notice that if you continued with the old production plan your pro? t would be 70 ? 1333 1 = 93, 333 1 , so the change in production plan 3 3 was worth more than $6,000. 4. How would pro? t change if lumber supplies changed? The shadow price of the lumber constraint is $2. 67. The range of values for which the basis remains unchanged is 0 to 45,000.This means that if the lumber supply went up by 5000, then you would continue to specialize in ? nished chairs, and your pro? t would go up by $2. 67 ? 5000 = $10, 333. At this point you presumably run out of labor and want to reoptimize. If lumber supply decreased , then your pro? t would decrease, but you would still specialize in ? nished chairs. 5. How much would you be willing to pay an additional carpenter? Skilled labor is not worth anything to you. You are not using the labor than you have. Hence, you would pay nothing for additional workers. 6. Suppose that industrial regulations complicate the ? ishing process, so that it takes one extra hour per chair or table to turn an un? nished product into a ? nished one. How would this change your plans? You cannot read your answer o? the sensitivity table, but a bit of common sense tells you something. The change cannot make you better o?. On the other hand, to produce 1,333. 33 ? nished chairs you’ll need 1,333. 33 extra hours of labor. You do not have that available. So the change will change your pro? t. Using Excel, it turns out that it becomes optimal to specialize in ? nished tables, producing 1000 of them and earning $100,000. This problem di? ers from the original one because t he amount of labor to create a ? nished product increases by one unit. ) 7. The owner of the ? rm comes up with a design for a beautiful hand-crafted cabinet. Each cabinet requires 250 hours of labor (this is 6 weeks of full time work) and uses 50 board feet of lumber. Suppose that the company can sell a cabinet for $200, would it be worthwhile? You could solve this 9 problem by changing the problem and adding an additional variable and an additional constraint. Note that the coe cient of cabinets in the objective function is 150, which re? cts the sale price minus the cost of lumber. I did the computation. The ? nal value increased to 106,802. 7211. The solution involved reducing the output of un? nished chairs to 1319. 727891 and increasing the output of cabinets to 8. 163265306. (Again, please tolerate the fractions. ) You could not have guessed these ? gures in advance, but you could ? gure out that making cabinets was a good idea. The way to do this is to value the inputs to th e production of cabinets. Cabinets require labor, but labor has a shadow price of zero. They also require lumber. The shadow price of lumber is $2. 7, which means that each unit of lumber adds $2. 67 to pro? t. Hence 50 board feet of lumber would reduce pro? t by $133. 50. Since this is less than the price at which you can sell cabinets (minus the cost of lumber), you are better o? using your resources to build cabinets. (You can check that the increase in pro? t associated with making cabinets is $16. 50, the added pro? t per unit, times the number of cabinets that you actually produce. ) I attached a sheet where I did the same computation assuming that the price of cabinets was $150. In this case, the additional option does not lead to cabinet production. 10

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Review Of An Easy Burden

â€Å"An Easy Burden† chronicles Andrew Young’s views and inside knowledge of the civil rights movement and race relations in the United States. With his first hand experience with such powerful figures as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Young is able to clear misconceptions and educate people of what the movement was about and why it went where it did. By holding positions in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and also on a governmental level, he allows us to hear a point of view some might never have known. Young was a man who faced many hardships at an early age; one being the color of his skin. Born in New Orleans, he was set in a racially diverse neighborhood. He was educated by his father as to why people acted different towards Young. â€Å"Daddy taught me that racism was a sickness, and to have compassion for racist whites as I would have compassion for a polio victim. Racism wasn’t a problem with me, he told me, it was a problem they had.† Although his father told him to take a compassionate approach he didn’t leave him feeling like he was defeated. â€Å"Daddy had a genuine, turn the other cheek attitude, although he didn’t believe in becoming a victim.† It is easy to see that Young was introduced to compassionate progress which is what he went on to achieve. Against his parent’s wishes, he went into the ministry. It was his faith that led him to join Dr. King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The message of a n on violence and Christian love could transform people being oppressed and their oppressors. As is known today, social change does not come easily. With social change comes pressures. In this respect, what Young was advocating for in the 1960s came with many pressures. Segregation was forcefully established and to plan a success movement their needed to be strong leadership. Young says, â€Å"The non violent approach is not emotional, although it is deeply spiritual. It i... Free Essays on Review Of An Easy Burden Free Essays on Review Of An Easy Burden â€Å"An Easy Burden† chronicles Andrew Young’s views and inside knowledge of the civil rights movement and race relations in the United States. With his first hand experience with such powerful figures as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Young is able to clear misconceptions and educate people of what the movement was about and why it went where it did. By holding positions in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and also on a governmental level, he allows us to hear a point of view some might never have known. Young was a man who faced many hardships at an early age; one being the color of his skin. Born in New Orleans, he was set in a racially diverse neighborhood. He was educated by his father as to why people acted different towards Young. â€Å"Daddy taught me that racism was a sickness, and to have compassion for racist whites as I would have compassion for a polio victim. Racism wasn’t a problem with me, he told me, it was a problem they had.† Although his father told him to take a compassionate approach he didn’t leave him feeling like he was defeated. â€Å"Daddy had a genuine, turn the other cheek attitude, although he didn’t believe in becoming a victim.† It is easy to see that Young was introduced to compassionate progress which is what he went on to achieve. Against his parent’s wishes, he went into the ministry. It was his faith that led him to join Dr. King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The message of a n on violence and Christian love could transform people being oppressed and their oppressors. As is known today, social change does not come easily. With social change comes pressures. In this respect, what Young was advocating for in the 1960s came with many pressures. Segregation was forcefully established and to plan a success movement their needed to be strong leadership. Young says, â€Å"The non violent approach is not emotional, although it is deeply spiritual. It i...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Audit Client Considerations

With this particular case study I will discuss several questions and facts regarding audit client considerations. 1) A brief summary of the case. 2) Identify key behaviors, attitudes and ethical dilemmas (if any) faced by the auditors. 3) Assess the philosophical and practical alternatives summarized in the case questions and evaluations of those solutions. 4) Briefly summarize what I would do faced with this situation in real life. The case is that of a CPA firm, Cardinal Coyote, located in Phoenix, Arizona and centers around three personnel members. Yancy Corliss is a new partner with the firm that is summoned into the managing partner’s office, Sharon Rules. Rules indicates that Jost Furniture is looking for a new auditing and she has been approached to submit a bid. Before committing to a bid Rules would like Corliss to conduct a background check to assess the potential risk of obtaining Jost as a client. The contract could prove to be quite lucrative for the firm as the company will need advice on international expansion. Since the bid is due to close fairly quickly she gives Corliss three days to report back to her. Corliss assembles his team which includes Lanny Beaudean who worked for the IRS for two years before joining the firm. Beaudean hopes to gain international experience with the firm so as to further his dream of becoming a CEO. The other two members of the team are Vinnie Gabelli and Jacki Oloff both of whom are not Arizona natives. After discussing their respective duties the team met at the end of the day to discuss their findings. After following a checklist of risk assessment they followed all except for the Verify the circumstances of any prior auditor’s dismissal1. The team felt that Yancy Corliss would be better suited to obtain this information. After non response from the firm’s attorney and sidestep answer of personality conflicts from Jost the team did receive permission to speak with previous auditors. They discovered that since there had been a modified opinion of the 2006 financial statements, where the auditors raised questions of going concern. The company had suffered persistent losses and the lack of cash flow was impairing their ability to secure financing. They also learned that subsequent auditors had been dismissed also for apparently coming to the same conclusion as the predecessor firm. Upon further investigation the team found that a million dollar loan covenant had been violated by neglect to keep a minimum balance due to the fact that the owner had withdrawn $500,000. 00 out of the company account to place a down payment on his home. The next time the covenant was broken the bank started foreclosure on the loan. The behaviors and attitudes of the auditor’s was very professional in exercising due diligence and proper training in the following manners. Oloff tried to contact the attorney several times by phone, left five messages and when she inquired about voice mail and email received a no answer to both types of technology. She also tried to set an appointment but was fended off of this type of communication as well. Corliss was put off about speaking with the previous auditors by the owner citing that there were personality conflicts and his concern was they would speak ill of the company. Corliss reminded him that it is required part of the procedure to accept them as a client. Gabelli investigated the going concern aspect, in doing so he found out that a loan to Phoenix Second Bank had begun foreclosure proceedings and the reasons behind this. He also found that by the time the foreclosure process had been completed the loan had been paid off. Finally Beaudean expressed his and the team’s concerns about taking on Jost as a client. All of these actions are in accordance with GAAS requirements on due diligence and appropriate training2. However had the situation arisen that is stated in question 2 of the case study there would be a serious issue that would be faced by Rules and Beaudean both. Question 2 asks what if Corliss had recommended that Jost be taken on as a client which surprises Beaudean and he asks what other factors did he consider and his response is â€Å"I am a new partner in the firm. I have to bring in new business. This client is a slam dunk. If we make a reasonably competitive bid, we will get the account. † â€Å". This presents a problem for Rules and Beaudean. It is abundantly clear that in this scenario Corliss is placing his needs above that of the society (in this case the firm). This as we have learned places him at Stage 2 of Kohlberg’s Model and violates all of the Six Pillars of Character. If Beaudean decides to follow the ethical choice of reporting his team’s findings to Rules the trust that was given to Corliss by assigning him the task of doing a thorough investigation. Due diligence and professional care are two of the core foundations upon with not only GAAP is founded upon but GAAS as well. Every accountant whether he/she is a Certified Auditor, CPA or CMA is required not only by law but by Ethical Standards to practice in our profession2,34. If the decision were to go ahead and submit a bid it would violate the standards by which we practice and are ethically bound to abide. In conclusion I would have done exactly as the auditor’s did. I would strongly recommend against taking on Jost as a client not only due to the going concern but also because of the red flags that appeared during a background investigation. Who knows what would further show up that was either unethical or illegal or both. In my personal opinion no contract is worth tainting my professional integrity and reputation. If Corliss were to recommend taking Jost on as a client I would raise my concerns with Rules and outline all that we had learned as well as strongly recommend against taking on Jost as a client.