5 Ways You Can Collaborate With Other Companies

Collaboration between companies on marketing initiativescan be hugely beneficial. Not only can it increase exposure for both companies, it can result in more leads and greater overall success compared to working on the same initiative alone. You may even get better content as a result because while your business might be one of the best in its field, it’s not the best in every field.Partnering with another company with complementary expertise can enrich the content and attract a wider engaged audience. Who To Collaborate With Choosing the right partner to collaborate with is the key to ensuring high-quality content is created from your joint efforts. Following these few guidelines will ensure that your companies complement each other. Partner with brands you respect: Look towards brands that are effective with their own marketing efforts; companies that market themselves effectively are more likely to also co-market effectively. Keep your values in mind: The values and goals of your company are what drives your marketing efforts. Ensure that the company you choose to work with is clear in its own identity in order to find synergies together. Do some research: Don’t shy away from diving into the content your potential partner is producing. Is their content engaging? Are their followers interacting with their content? If your potential co-collaborator engages their audience in the same way you would like to, it’s much more likely that a successful partnership will develop. Collaboration Inspiration and Examples Not sure what to collaborate on?These ideas can get you started: 2. Cross-promotions: There are countless ways you can collaborate with other businesses for a cross-promotion.You can mention each other on social media, create a joint advertisement for a newspaper, split a booth at a trade show or combine your email subscriber lists to send out a joint promotional mailing. 3. Discounts and special offers:Everybody loves a discount, so why not partner up with another company for a special offer?Include a discount for your partner company on your invoices, or offer free shipping when a customer places an order from both businesses. 4. Co-branding: Co-branding is a unique type of marketing partnership in which two brands combine their expertise to develop an even more attractive or valuable product.One example of a killer co-branding effort is the Doritos Locos Taco, the brainchild of Frito-Lay and Taco Bell. This insanely popular item set sales records at Taco Bell, selling over $1 billion of the product since its debut. 5. Run a contest together: This is one of the easiest and most fun collaborations you can do with other companies.The prizes can come from both businesses, reducing each company’s cost while simultaneously making the contest more attractive. Effective Collaborations Are A Win For All Involved Collaborating can help companies make the most of their content marketing efforts.Joining forces can help brands widen their audience, cut marketing costs and produce more compelling content.

Major Depressive Disorder

Major Depressive Disorder Introduction This assignment is a discussion on the topic of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).The discussion is based on the definition of Major Depressive Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Major Depressive Disorder specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The purpose of the discussion is to analyze the definition of MDD and identify any gaps based on the social and biomedical perspectives, after which it gives the recommendations to fill the gaps in the definition so as to inform the definition of the MDD in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The discussion starts with a definition of MDD, then goes on to identify the gaps and the recommendations to fill the gaps. At the end is a conclusion which sums up the main arguments of the discussion. Discussion The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Di sorders Criteria for Defining MDD The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders bases its definition of MDD majorly on the criteria of consistence and persistence of symptoms. The criteria distinguish MDD from depression by describing MDD as occurring in a prolonged manner, usually for a period of two weeks. It defines MDD as a form of depression in which the patient experiences feelings of disturbed moods in a recurrent manner. The mood disturbance cause disruption of the patient’s normal mood and makes him or her unable to adjust or behave accordingly in school, family setting as well as in work. The criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not have any kind of diagnosis for MDD but relies on observation of the patient, the patient’s own account of changes in mood as well as reports by close friends or relatives on the observed changes in mood in the patient. The most notable symptoms which are relied on in diagnosing for MDD include day to day mood changes lasting for more than two weeks, lack of interest in virtually all daily activities even those which are very interesting, instances of daytime sleep (hypersomnia), loss of appetite which leads to loss of body weight, or a weight gain by more than 5 kilograms, inability to concentrate or think aptly, fatigue which leads to feelings of tiredness even after waking up, occasional thoughts about death which are accompanied by feelings of worthlessness, and suicidal or homicidal tendencies. On the symptom of depressed mood however, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria does not categorize depressed moods caused by things like drug and alcohol use or misuse, or depressed mood caused by other medical illnesses or conditions as MDD.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It does not also diagnose MDD for patients who are believ ed to have histories of mixed episodes, mania, bipolar disorder or hypomanic. Similarly, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria do not attribute the symptoms of depression caused by stress and bereavement in the criteria for diagnosing for MDD. The treatment and management of MDD under the criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders mainly constitutes of three major interventions namely psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy and the use of antidepressants. For psychotherapy, the criteria recommend cognitive behavioral therapy both to the victim and his or her family members as well as close friends. It also recommends the method of psychoanalysis which was proposed by Sigmund Freud as a way of reconciling the past experiences with the present so as to help the patient get rid of the traumatic experiences of the past and live in a new orientation. According to the criteria, psychotherapy is recommended for patients with mild forms o f MDD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders recommends antidepressant intervention for the severe cases of MDD which are accompanied by other mental illnesses. The commonly used antidepressant is the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), which is known to be effective especially for those patients who have recurrent episodes of MDD as well as those who respond negatively to psychotherapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is recommended for those patients who do not respond positively to both psychotherapy and antidepressants. It is also recommended for those patients who have suicidal tendencies, or those who are faced with the threat of dying due to their inability to eat or drink. It involves the generation of seizures in the patient’s brain through the use of electric waves especially when the patient is in a state of anesthesia. The Gaps in the Definition and Recommendations One major gap in the above definition of MDD is that the Diagnostic and S tatistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not consider social factors such as stress, stigma, criticism from other people, isolation and other relationship problems and challenges in its definition of MDD. According to a study done by Kleinman in 2004, negative criticism especially from family members is a major cause of MDD especially among women (Kleinman, 2004. pp.951-953). Other researchers have found out that grieve may be a cause of MDD, especially if the patient loses loved ones in a series of episodes. The prolonged stress as a result of bereavement may precipitate MDD in the patients, especially if the patients had strong emotional attachment to the deceased.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Major Depressive Disorder specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders should therefore consider including in its criteria of the causes of MDD the socia l factors mentioned above. This would allow for wider conceptualizations of the disorder, consequently leading to a wider conceptualization of its treatment and management. This would also widen the scope, especially with regard to counseling approaches involved. Such a move may see the inclusion of bereavement counseling as a way of dealing with or managing MDD. Going by the Diathesis-Stress perspective of mental illness, the criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has got some other gaps in its definition and conceptualization of MDD. According to this perspective, individuals are born with certain predispositions, which are nurtured by environmental interactions into specific thought patterns and or personalities, some of which may manifest themselves as MDD. The diathesis stress perspective identifies various predispositions which may shape the future personalities of young children. Such predispositions include genetics, neurotransmitters, neurobiolog y and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis (Martinowich Lu, 2008. pp.342-348). The next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders should therefore comprise the above mentioned predispositions in its definition and conceptualization of MDD. This is because with such a gap in a definition of an important concept like MDD, it can make the diagnosis and treatment too narrow, biased and consequently inappropriate and inadequate in dealing with the disorder. The idea of the current edition of ignoring symptoms linked to personalities is tantamount to ignoring a very important aspect of mental illnesses. MDD should therefore be contextualized not only in terms of the duration in which it occurs but also on the history of the individual especially in regard to the above predispositions. The other gap which is found in the definition and conceptualization of MDD in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental criteria is the role of sleep patterns in M DD. According to Krishnan, both ‘decreased REM latency’ and ‘decreased slow wave sleep’ are known to be major contributors of MDD. This is because upon the necessary intervention to deal with them, most patients show improvement in the severity of symptoms of MDD. Based the findings by Krishnan, the next edition should include the sleep patterns in the diagnosis for MDD. This would make the treatment of MDD more inclusive and consequently effective, as opposed to the current situation in which the sleep disorders and patterns are completely ignored in the diagnosis and treatment of MDD. Conclusion This assignment was a discussion on the topic of major depressive disorder. The discussion was based on the current edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and how it defines MDD. From the discussion, it has emerged that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) criteria is perhaps the most comprehen sive approach in defining MDD as well as other mental illnesses.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines MDD based on the criteria of the duration of the symptoms, which it puts at two weeks. In the diagnosis of MDD, the criteria rely on observations of symptoms like suicidal tendencies and lack of concentration in the patients. These symptoms may be reported by the patient or his or her close friends or family members. One of the gaps which have been identified in the definition is the ignorance of some predispositions like genetics as well as social factors like stigma, isolation and criticisms. One of the recommendations is that the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders should factor in the issues identified above so as to fill the gap in the definition and make the diagnosis and treatment of MDD more inclusive and effective. References Kleinman, A. (2004).Culture and Depressions. The New England Journal of Medicine, (351) 10, pp.951-953. Krishnan. (2010). Epidemiology, Pathogenesis Neurobiology of Depression. Web. Martinowich, K., Lu, B.(2008). Interaction between BDNF and Serotonin: Role in Mood Disorders. Neuropsychophamacology: Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychophamacology, 12(3), pp.342-348.

Technical Definition and Description Assignment - 2

Technical Definition and Description - Assignment Example The main purpose of production in any petrochemical industry remains the separation of oil, gas and water, which is present in the well stream. While two-phase separators do the job of separating oil and gas, the three components are separated in three phase separators. While two-phase separators are used for separating the liquid content from gas, the three phase ones also separate the water content of the crude from gas and liquid. However, different types of separators used for the phase separation are briefly detailed below. After hitting an inlet diverter, the fluid faces a sudden momentum change that ensures separation of liquid and vapor at this point, in such separators. The liquid droplets fall into the bottom of the vessel due to gravity. A level controller regulates the liquid dump valve, after sensing the change in the level of liquid. While a two-phase separator breaks the fluids of well into gas and liquids, a three-phase one separates incoming oil stream into gas, water and oil. Both processes use horizontal or vertical separators for this purpose. (Oil Field, nd) The reasons for following the separation process include relatively cheaper methods of separating oil and gas, by two-phase separators. As water produced in the process can corrode the piping and equipment, downstream, the third phase, involving water separation, saves such equipment from damage and cost towards replacing it. The well production increases due to reduction in back pressure, which is possible after phase separation. This in-turn reduces the required energy consumption. Phase separators are used to separate gas, oil and water as these components form part of the crude stream coming directly from a well. While the two-phase separators are responsible for separating gas/vapor and liquid, three-phase ones remove free water from such crude oil, along with separation of other two

Treatment-Based Drug Courts Significantly Reduce Criminal Recidivism Annotated Bibliography

Treatment-Based Drug Courts Significantly Reduce Criminal Recidivism Rates - Annotated Bibliography Example These programs are developed with an aim of reducing crimes that are usually committed because of drug abuse (MacKenzie 2008). Within the programs, people are offered training based on their skills with the aim of making the sign in the community. Through the education offered in these programs, people change their habits and develop positive thinking (MacKenzie 2008). Individuals who undergo proper training in the programs are not likely to get involved in criminal activities. While those who do not get training end up going back to prison because of committing crimes (Vacca, 2004). Despite the development of these programs in most societies, there is limited research conducted on the effectiveness of the program (Vacca, 2004). It is typically very problematic to determine the effectiveness of these programs because of different judicial procedures used in most of the programs (Vacca, 2004). It also very difficult to determine the factors that affect the programs within the rehabilitation centers (Vacca, 2004). This study will, therefore, test the hypothesis Treatment-based drug courts significantly reduce criminal recidivism rates. Participants in this program most of the time are given counseling services and educational training services that help them change (MacKenzie 2008). The researcher will use a meta-analysis of several studies collected that combines the importance of an association between the study variables (Vacca, 2004). This method is the most suitable because they can be used to describe the efforts made by the respondents under investigation.

The Community of Subcultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Community of Subcultures - Essay Example Another factor that takes part in creation of a youth subculture includes the gender of the person. Notable is the fact that a given clique of members of this group will relate to each other according to the unwritten but acceptable ways that this clique adopts. The clique is often formed from a geographical stand point meaning that the system of agreement adopted by one part of the populace defined by a given geographical area will necessarily differ with another from a different geographical area. I will undertake to discuss the youth subculture as it found early in the American culture. The youth subculture can itself be defined as the way of life found among the youth and its distinctiveness is drawn from their social or ethnic affiliations that revolve around style, fashion, or affiliation to a given music genre. This kind of a subculture is generational with its membership being constantly renewed as the members outgrow the culture while others join the subculture at the adolescent age (Yinger 1999p54). The youth subculture in America is believed to have had its roots in the 1920's where a new generation of young women known as the flappers emerged. This group of young women believed in liberalism and acted in ways that implied their liberty. They could smoke, drink, use group specific slang, bob their hair, put on short skirts, perceive sex casually and drove automobiles among other things that were considered liberal to do as at that time. Many historical theorists like Marcel Danesi and Steven Mintz believe in the beginnings of the youth subculture in America to be the 1950's. They believe that children were immediately offered adult duties as soon as their ages matched the adult appropriate ages set prior to the above mentioned date. The media, they believe, played the greatest role in the creation of the youth group through frequently engaging youthful individuals in advertisements. The youths therefore organized themselves around the youthful age group and adopted a characteristic way of living that was specific to them. This trend continued to the subsequent generations. The youth subculture in America has a number of subcultures within it that deviate to some degree from the mainstream youth subculture(Lieske 2003pp34-36). The youth subculture in America had a distinct identifying factor. The age bracket within which members of this group are found ranges from adolescence to early adulthood giving a considerable overlap into these margins. This group of persons deems itself to be the epitome of style and knowledge. It is often made up of vivacious individuals who occupy almost entirely all spheres of America's living where they show case their talents through engagement into various activities including academics and the career world. In terms of dressing, this group of young people is trendy preferring to dress in the fashionable attires that flock the market. They are keen to watch the fashion market to ensure that the latest trends in clothing do not escape their attention meaning that their dress codes change as frequently as the market preferences do. The denim jeans clothing for example have been popular with the American youths since the 1990's with the creation of various stylish designs for pieces of clothing. Their hair do is also often stylish and changes as frequently as

Every child has the right to a mainstream education

Every child has the right to a mainstream education Every child has the right to a mainstream education. This is an entitlement for the parents of special needs children, for them to be able to access this, if they believe it to be the correct decision for their child. Many things need to be considered when doing this such as whether the individual child will be able to cope in this type of school environment and whether their ability will allow them to progress along with their peers. This is something which I believe is not the correct decision for every child as I have witnessed pupils who struggle day in day out with issues such as the playground environment, forging relationships with peers and some who are unable to cope with the unpredictability of what can be the normal school day. Inclusion is important, though it is not necessarily the right choice for every pupil. Inclusion is regarded as successful education of all students (whether with or without disabilities, disadvantages) in the same schools and classrooms, celebrating the resulting diversity, including various abilities and cultures (DFES). The era of mixed ability groupings means teachers need to include every child regardless of need and ability through differentiated work, extra support and with a range of activities to suit all needs. The Governments aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. Every child matters and they do within the classroom and school environment. (Every Child matters). Education needs to be personalised so every child can learn to the best of their ability and access resources and materials in lessons, and for most cases this happens. There are many occasions in which I have witnessed, however, where special needs pupils fall short of being included all of the time and are given activities which neither stimulate nor challenge them. These are the pupils which perhaps need the most help to progress. They need to be suitably challenged so they may progress in some way, however big or small. Ofsted (2004) suggested that schools should make sure that pupils with SEN in mainstream schools are able to play a full part in school life, and receive a curriculum and teaching relevant to their needs (p.9). Pupils can often get lost in large mixed ability groupings and this is where a child may feel excluded as the teaching is not always relevant to their needs. This paper shall focus upon inclusion and the experiences of pupils on the autistic spectrum in mainstream schools. Significance for my Practice Every school I have been in has at least one child on the autistic spectrum. This is inevitable now in mainstream schools due to inclusion. Each child I have seen has Aspergers syndrome, high functioning autism. These children are clever and generally are placed in good sets. Educationally these pupils can advance and do well. Socially, however, these pupils struggle and they face difficulties on a daily basis. I am involved with some of these pupils at my present school so the significance for my practice will be vast. Understanding the research in this area and carrying out my own research will allow me to draw conclusions which I can then apply in school, to help these pupils and to in turn make other teachers aware, to allow benefit for these pupils across the school as a whole. Historical Background The Education Act (1944) established the grounding that a childs ability should be measured on age, aptitude and what they are capable of. SEN children were categorised by their disabilities. Although the act was groundbreaking for the whole education system, it was the 1970s that the focus of the individuals own need began to be addressed (Parsons, 1999). Research into special educational needs occurred more frequently in the 1970s after the Warnock Report (1978) which found that 20% of children could have SEN but 2% may need support above what mainstream schooling could offer them. Since then a great deal of research and investigation has been done in all areas of special needs. The government has made a number of acts over the years to ensure this happens, the most recent one being the Special Needs and Disabilities Act (2001) which protects students against discrimination. In 2005 however, Baroness Warnock criticised SEN in the UK and has suggested that small specialist provision is needed and that the bullying of SEN children in mainstream schools is inevitable. The claim fails to include that small specialist provision is still available should parents seek this. Specialist provision is now also within some mainstream schools which have specialist units within to cater for more complex needs. Further literature, which is discussed later backs up this claim to some extent. Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are a range of related developmental disorders that begin in childhood and persist throughout adult life (NHS, 2010). It causes problems and difficulties with social interaction, impaired language and communication skills and unusual patterns of thought and physical behaviour. There are three main types of ASD; autistic disorder, aspergers syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder. The National Autistic Society (NAS) claim that 1 in 100 pupils have ASD and that all schools should be autism friendly with fully trained teachers. This I believe should be the case but with numerous policies and an extensive range of needs within SEN alone, it is difficult to ensure all teachers are trained in everything. This is perhaps where there should be a number of specialist teachers, rather than have all teachers specialise in everything. This however, suggests that in a typical secondary school there could be more than ten children with this disposition. Aspe rgers (high-functioning autism) is common in most secondary schools and the experiences of some pupils are difficult ones. ASD was first identified by Kanner (1943) as a specific pattern of abnormal behaviour. He identified this as being rare but made no attempt to define the amount of people who may have had this. Though the study is very dated, it is still highly influential today and has been a steeping stone for all future research. It is still also relevant to society today as people show the same symptoms as identified and therefore is still of huge importance. Other studies have shown differing prevalence rates of this, including Lotter (1966) who identified a frequency of 4.5 per 10,000 children with autism in an empirical study that was carried out which was epidemiological in nature. This developed the findings from Kanners research, nevertheless further research by Wing and Gould (1979) identified a rate of 15 per 10,000 of children who had social interaction, communication and imagination difficulties. This was the triad of impairments. Patterns of a repetitive nature were also identified whi ch is common today in most children was ASD. The children in the study were not that of the autism Kanner had described. Wing and Gould identified these being part of a broader spectrum of needs. These needs together were identified in 20 per 10,000 children. The prevalence rate is difficult to trust as many people portray elements of ASD yet are not defined as such. Experience has shown this. With prevalence rates, not all of the population can be tested and therefore the rate should be taken as an estimate. Asperger (1944) focused on a group of children who had similar behaviours to what Kanner (1943) had described as autism, but whom had enhanced abilities.   Asperger presented four case studies of children.   In these children he identified some patterns of behaviour and abilities and consequently named these autistic psychopathy.   These behaviours resulted in a lack of empathy, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversation, intense absorption in a special interest and clumsy movements.   Asperger went on further to explain how these children displayed a great understanding and depth of knowledge on their favourite subject.   These claims are great and wholly unjustified on merely a study on only four boys.   Further research is hinted at within the text but as the paper only identified four case studies it should be regarded as a small scale study. It is common now also for girls also to be associated with being diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which is a s ignificant point that Asperger missed. The behaviours identified are some which I have witnessed and which are consistent with my experience. Children with Aspergers syndrome can talk in depth on their favourite topic and can completely change the course of a conversation they are in to talk about this. They can often have one sided conversations on this and are not necessarily talking to anyone in particular on their specialist subject. The limitations of this research lie with the time, these were studies that were done during World War II and therefore behaviour due to trauma from the war could have indeed impended the true behaviour that matched the child.   It could be argued though that there were indeed many other children who presented with these behaviours and abilities, but an in-depth study of just four ensured significant detail and strengths in assessing a range of behaviours over a period of time, which consequently could be later relayed onto other children with a similar disposition.   The considerable delay in the translation of this paper led to Western understanding decades later; his finding are now regarded and accepted worldwide.   Aspergers syndrome is indeed a social construction and the paper should be taken as such but noteworthy research which will be discussed later now backs up the claims made in this paper. What could be regarded as another influential study is done by Wollf (1995). Having studied Asperger syndrome for over 30 years the findings are most definitely worthy to a great degree. The studied children were of average or high ability who were impaired in their social interaction but who do not have the full picture of the triad of impairments. However, these children represent the most subtle and most able end of the autism spectrum; are higher functioning. The majority become independent as adults, many marry and some display exceptional gifts, though retaining the unusual quality of their social interactions. There is great debate on why to even include these children in the autistic spectrum. Wolff suggests that these children often have a difficult time at school and they need acknowledgment, understanding and acceptance from school staff as well as parents. Is this the best option for these children though? To identify them as different and therefore facilitate them to a l ife of indifference as they live with this brand upon them. This makes the research lose some credibility as there should be more justification than they have a difficult time at school. Other children have difficult times at school, for many other reasons. Research Theories and Findings A good proportion of studies have been completed on including pupils in a mainstream school with autistic spectrum disorders. These studies differ in terms of their methodologies and findings. With a huge proportion of pupils in the UK facing difficulties with communication, social interaction and imagination, studies for mainstream schools focus upon high functioning autism in the form of Aspergers syndrome. It is more common to find pupils with Aspergers syndrome in mainstream schools as their intellectual level is greater than those with pure autism. Inclusion and Autism; Pupil Experience Humphrey and Lewis (2008) looked into the views and experiences of a pupil with ASD in a mainstream school. Through a small scale study it found that the inclusion of pupils with Aspergers syndrome in mainstream schools presents challenges and opportunities for the various stakeholders (e.g. teachers, pupils, parents and peers) in this process. The study was purely the views of pupils and their experiences though it is often witnessed by teachers that issues at home equate to problems at school. As a result, it may have been appropriate to include teachers views to ensure the participants were portraying behaviour that was usual. Inclusion is fraught with difficulties, with the whole range of needs that exist in mainstream schools at present. A report shows 1000 examples of inclusion in education from members of NAS, Barnard et al (2000). The findings claim that parents with a child in an autism specific provision were twice more likely to be very satisfied than those who had a child in a mainstream school. It shows that views decline through the later school years, the older the child becomes. The survey was completed by over eight hundred respondents, with half of the children being in a mainstream setting. A majority proportion of these children had statements. Findings are primarily based on opinions of parents but the views could be contested as they do not attend school with their child. The parental opinion on what they think their child should have may exceed the needs that their child actually holds. In a mainstream school I am working in children with ASD are supported in a variety of ways and are making good progress. There are issues that these children struggle with but they are guided through these with help from staff in school and through external agencies support. Humphrey is a leading researcher in the field, with a number of studies looking into the effects of inclusion for pupils. Humphrey (2008) identifies that the number of students with ASD being educated in mainstream schools is growing, though educational experiences of these students are unfounded. Whats more, the article found that pupils with ASD are more than twenty times more likely to be excluded from school than those without special educational needs. This implies that pupils are unable to cope suitably in this setting yet reasons for the exclusions are not explored. The paper identifies strong strategies for behaviour and such, yet without the reasons of why these people are excluded the suggestions on improving behaviour are speculative. Literature also draws upon the debate of whether inclusion in mainstream education is the best route for all special needs children. Wang (2009) identified through a critical analysis that certain difficulties may occur by allowing ASD childr en into mainstream education. It also notes on how inclusion is worth striving for and how disadvantages can be resolved by training educators appropriately. Much research in this area pertains that it is teachers who need to understand more and in turn need to implement different strategies. This shall be discussed further later. Tobias (2009) found that by providing students with a mentor figure and by meeting the needs of the individual rather than applying blanket policies to groups of students with ASD, that these were strategies to support and aid in inclusion which worked well and were consequently perceived as such. This on the other hand, is one isolated example and was a small scale study of just fifteen participants and research in this respect is limited. Most studies seem to take the view that experiences could be improved; bullying was found to be a major issue within literature. Peer Understanding and Bullying A significant number of researchers have identified the need to ensure peer understanding to allow ASD students to be included in the activities associated with school life. Many reports account for many students with ASD being bullied by peers, either because they know they are different and have ASD or because they are seen as different and cannot handle social situations as well as others may. Humphrey and Lewis (2008) identified the fact that much research had suggested these pupils make easy targets for bullies. The symptoms associated with ASD make these pupils stand out from their other peers so this statement could be suggested from observations, the research needs to identify why this is as it found almost all pupils reported being bullied at different levels of severity and frequency. This also seemed to occur regularly. Research on this suggests that it is boys in particular who suffer in school settings. Granzio et al (2006) confirm that the oddness of pupils with Asperge rs syndrome led to verbal abuse and social exclusion on a daily basis from peers. From this it may be reasonable to suggest that social exclusion could lead to other problems in a child such as the child becoming depressed due to social rejection as around one-third of school time is spent outside the classroom (Nelson, 2004). This therefore is an area where more research needs to be done; in particular in that of social integration. Norwich and Kelly (2004) recognise that those with special educational needs are more likely to be bullied than other pupils. When thinking of the difficulties faced by children with ASD; particularly that of social and communication difficulties it is not surprising the rate and frequency that bullying occurs. The World Health Organisation (2007) suggests that social difficulties are exacerbated if dyspraxia or developmental clumsiness is present, which is often the case. Students therefore need to develop an understanding of ASD pupils to allow them to develop some compassion to how they must feel on a day to day basis. Humphrey (2008) established from previous research that students need to understand a little about why students with Asperger syndrome have such quirky behaviours. A little understanding and knowledge can go a long way to show other students how to assist easily, rather than ignore or taunt this student. Most research in this area suggests that more knowledge is nee ded, whether it is for the pupils or school staff. A further study looks into the relationships with peers and the use of the school environment. Wainscoat et al (2008) found through a case control study that Aspergers pupils, in comparison with controls engaged in fewer social interactions, spent breaks and lunch times in adult supervised areas of the school, reported having fewer friends and therefore likely to be the targets of bullying. This once more shows recognition in the fact that experiences of these pupils within mainstream education are not all good. This is one of the few quantitative studies yet provides little understanding into reasons behind the findings compared with the qualitative studies. It provides strong evidence to support these claims through statistics but the structured interview could have included some open questions to allow participants to elaborate. The literature discussed shows pupils are isolated, often bullied and somewhat unhappy. This suggests mainstream education is perhaps not the best place f or all students. There also seems to be a social stigma attached to these pupils as research suggests quirky or odd behaviour. With up to 1 in 270 students at secondary mainstream schools having SEN related to an ASD, Barnard et al (2002) this accounts for a huge proportion of pupils who may be having the same difficulties. This calls out for a greater need for more research in this field to ensure ASD pupils are getting the support they need to deal with these issues and how these issues are dealt with in mainstream schools. Teachers Perceptions Ashburner et al (2010) compare teachers perceptions of students with ASD to their perceptions of typically developing students with regard to their capacity to perform academically and to regulate emotions and behaviour in mainstream classrooms. This was a case control research design and participant bias, in respects to the participating teachers is highly prominent in this research. It was based on teachers ratings from teachers whom already possessed views and opinions on the childrens aptitudes, abilities and more importantly temperament. This, on the other hand, means they had a truer perception of the child that a researcher would not have had and therefore results are plausible. Ashburner et al propose the research findings were concurrent with prior research which suggests that students with ASD exhibit significantly higher levels of behavioural and emotional difficulties at school than their typically developing peers. Jordan (2008) claims that teaching pupils with ASD is hard. It is hard for just the same reason that students with ASD find it difficult to learn in our current school system. Just as these children have no natural intuitive ways to understand their teachers, teachers, in turn, have no natural intuitive ways of understanding students with ASD. Teaching is made more difficult by the fact that no child with ASD is the same and strategies that work on occasions, may not do on every occasion. This is what I have found in my practice. This is where Every Child Matters comes into play and is particularly important, where each child needs support to enjoy and achieve. Jones et al (2007) conducted a review of needs and services for young people with Aspergers syndrome. It identified that within education many children, parents and carers will meet people in their school lives whom have no knowledge of Aspergers syndrome, teachers included. Thirty five children took part in the review and the majority (68%) would have liked their school to be different. Although this is based on ASD children, it goes without saying that most children would like school to be different and therefore more specifics need to be recognised. Within the survey bullying was also identified, yet this was something which school staff failed to mention. Research in regards to teacher understanding comes across not only in research that is based solely on the teacher, but also from research on peers and pupils themselves with ASD. This shows there is a greater need for teachers to be more aware of the whole range of need associated with ASD, not just Aspergers syndrome which is commonly found in mainstream setting. Conclusions from the research The general consensus from the research identified is that inclusion and autism is improving, but improvements still need to be made. There is limited research into social integration of pupils into mainstream schools, which considering the estimated prevalence rate is quite alarming. A significant number of researchers have also identified the need to ensure peer understanding, as well as a greater awareness of ASD for teachers. The majority of the research identified bullying as an experience within school. The percentages of this are soaring and it is something which I believe schools needs to research promptly. Bullying is identified in the research from accounts by the pupils, yet teachers perceptions on this seem somewhat different. Research falls short of statistical evidence and a lot of it is qualitative, but this provides in depth explanations and good quality accounts of experiences within mainstream schools. Part B In analysing the different research studies it seems appropriate to start from near the beginning and look at where new and relevant research stems from. In this respect there will be a focus on Aspergers syndrome (Asperger, 1944). The paper by Asperger (1944) is highly pertinent in understanding a range of autism that may occur in a person. It continues on from the work done by Kanner (1943). A great deal of evidence is collected, including that of family history. The research methods, however, are somewhat lacking. The testing that Asperger conducted on these children often failed in providing any useful analysis and was therefore disregarded. Intelligence tests were conducted where these included construction tests where the child would copy from memory, rhythm imitation, memory for digits (repetition for six digits was expected at the age of ten, one boy who was six thus proved to be above average), memory for sentences (this could not be evaluated) and similarities between different things were tested. Analysis focused on memory for digits, along with observation and parental examples of abilities. The latter is a difficult one to reprehend as parents often believe their child to be above average of other children of a similar age and this for that reason is only their opinion. It is essentially qualitative data in the respect that most of the research is carried out through observations and opinions. The data is essentially more rich with lots of detail and therefore of good quality. The justifications for the intelligence tests were on the basis that the child carrying out these tests were observed and therefore judged on communication and ability. This fundamentally enhances the reliability of the tests as there was a plausible reason behind carrying them out, rather than just purely to measure intelligence. The tests however were adapted to the personality of the child so conclusions from these as a whole need to be somewhat justified more. This was essential in terms of ethical issues to put the child at ease but each of the data sets collected are detached from each other, as each case study had a different method. The research is highly subjective and researcher bias is great due to the nature of the observations. The case studies, however, provide enough detail through comprehensive descriptions to justify the claims made. Overall, this paper has provided a good grounding for all research conducted today in this field and is highly important. The research methods conducted are limited but further research and advancements in technology since 1944 have allowed a greater picture of Aspergers syndrome to be developed over time. In contrast, a recent paper on the views and experiences of Aspergers children in a mainstream school moves away from looking at how these children behave to focusing on how they feel and what their experiences are like. This links to the last paper discussed on what Aspergers is but looks at their perceptions of what Aspergers is, so is not purely from the side of the researcher. Humphrey and Lewis (2010) provide an in-depth analytical paper on how these children cope in school. This is a small scale qualitative study on twenty pupils in North West England. It looks at four mainstream high schools. The research is phenomenological where interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore how pupils made sense of their educational experiences. The research was qualitative in its methods; the study incorporated semi-structured interviews and pupil diaries. The diaries were used for a month which made possible vast amounts and quantities of detail from each participant in the st udy. This is difficult to analyse and researcher bias will occur to decide which points are valid and are worth mentioning above others. The diaries were also conceived via different methods; either written, orally or electronically. This could yield different results. The participants had a choice but this may not have necessarily been the correct method to enable them to explain in the greatest amount of detail. All participants did not fill in the diary for a whole month period but a number of participants stopped at differing intervals. This led to varying amounts and different quantities of data sets from each participant. The research should have perhaps been carried out on a smaller time scale to allow for full participation. The diaries, on the other hand do provide good detailed responses as opposed to purely using interviews. For example, a participant proceeded to draw images and diagrams depicting his school life which gave a more rounded picture on his feelings and emot ions. This level of detail allows for greater understanding of their experiences and therefore enables the research to be reliable due to the high quality that it portrays. The semi-structured interviews then back up thoughts and feelings from the participant which also enables prompts from the researcher, to allow greater explanation on why they think or feel this particular way. The paper is high in terms of validity and there is a small chance the participant may be lying as issues were recorded in the diary and discussed further via this route. The study also adds to input from its participants by allowing them to provide commentary on the findings, which were then incorporated into the paper. This ensures the theme on their views is completely adhered to, again adding to the consistency of the methodology. The visual representation of results both allowed for the pupil understanding when they were providing commentary on the paper but it also identifies strong categories and th emes in an area where research is wholly limited. Furthermore, this will provide a strong grounding for further and future research in this particular area. Another study, Wainscot et al (2008), looks at experiences in a mainstream school of participants with Aspergers syndrome, but this focuses more specifically on the relationship with peers and the use of the school environment. Research methods included a case control design where pupils undertook a structured interview on their social interactions that day, at the end of school. This method was justified entirely by suggesting the alternative approach of using a cohort study could result in an unbalanced sample based on the kind of prevalence observed. By justifying the method the paper gains credibility and warrants why the method it chose was to all intents and purposes best for this particular research. Structured interviews provide limited scope for the participant to respond and as a result there was a lack in the depth and quality of answers. For example, a question posed was did you have a good day at school today? This is a yes or no question and reasons behind this answer c ould be vast. A pupil may not have slept well or simply was not in a good mood, but in terms of the research conducted it could be interpreted as the participant not liking school or anything the researcher interprets it as. This is a quantitative study and as such responses were entered into SPSS database and analysed. A snowball sampling strategy was used which was again justified as the characteristics required of participants are rare. The control participants were chosen with dyslexia to further investigate SEN as a risk factor for social isolation. The overall number of dyslexic pupils in the study however, turned out to be just three. The research therefore focused primarily on those with Aspergers syndrome and those without. The case-control dyad matched a whole range of variables; age, gender, academic ability, physical size, lessons attended, socio-economic background and ethnicity. The variables were matched where they could be but not all of the case control dyads were. This implies the amount of variables was perhaps too complex to allow for all true matches. The data was collected at different times, in different years to be specific. This implies a lack of reliability as data was collected over a year apart and therefore the researcher did not allow the research to be consistent; this may well have influenced the second data collection period more notably than the first. The study provides a number of limitations but in essence provides good substantial evidence, with a clear comparison between two groups. The researcher could have had more control over the study as opposed to allowing case-control matches by the schools. Again, as with the previous study discussed a need for more research in this field has been acknowledged and suggestions of peer bullying are further recommended. Barnard et al (2000) carried out a large scale study focusing on examples of inclusion in education from the National Autistic Societys members. Although this is slightly dated, it is one of a few large scale studies on inclusion and autism that has been conduc

Macbeths tragic insanity Essay -- William Shakespeare

Insanity is defined as â€Å"[the] inability to understand the nature and consequences of one's acts or of events, matters, or proceedings in which one is involved.† In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the protagonist turned antagonist, Macbeth, was once â€Å"valour’s minion† (I.ii.16) a loyal and devoted nobleman of Scotland. However, he commits a heinous act of regicide in order to ascend the throne, only to become a tyrant who in the end was regarded as nothing but a â€Å"dead butcher† (V.ix.35). Macbeth was unarguably sane in the beginning of the play, however, at the end of the play its unclear whether or not Macbeth truly was a â€Å"deranged blood hound† (V.ii.32), or if he was still acting on his own accord. Critics may say that this â€Å"Bloody sceptered tyrant† (IV.iii.95), who murdered innocent people indiscriminately through the novel befell the holds of insanity, but in truth, Macbeth, whether for better or for worse, ne ver was truly driven insane. An attribute of insanity was previously defined as the inability to understand the consequences of one’s acts or events around one, which furthers the argument that Macbeth was sane. When Macbeth, due to his insecurity of his position as king starts eliminating his enemies, he does display a certain degree of incomprehension towards the consequences of his actions, saying â€Å"the very firstlings of my heart shall be/The firstlings of my hand† (IV.i.157-158). However, the very fact that he says he will not take into account what he thinks (such as the consequences of his actions), shows that he indeed does still have the ability to understand the consequences of his actions, hence he is not insane. Towards the end of the book is where Macbeth’s sanity is questioned most. One such question arises up... ... towards Macduff, this not only shows Macbeth’s guilt at having committed such a horrible crime towards Macduff, but also has an inkling of a conscience. From Macbeth’s comprehension of the events taking place around him to his repentance to his conscience, its unarguable that Macbeth at the end of the play was insane. From the beginning, Macbeth fabricates his own demise, eventually going on to control his fate right up till his ruinous end. Once a good, and loyal noble man of Scotland, Macbeth, was driven to by whatever motivation to commit acts of such malice, such cowardice and of such malevolence that it’s an insult to the memory of those whose lives were taken by him, to classify him as merely a ‘deranged hell hound’. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.

Can Military Force Promote Humanitarian Values?

Abstract Recent years have seen an increase in humanitarian interventions which have involved military operations. However is it feasible that the two operations, military and humanitarian are compatibleThis paper investigates whether this is the case and, to do so, assesses military force in terms of the values which underpin humanitarianism. This paper utilises a case study from the Libyan conflict to assess whether there is a politicised nature in the push for military led humanitarian operations, and examines whether there is a political undertone in the increased usage of military forces. It is argued that this undertone serves to undermine the possibility that military forces can promote humanitarian Introduction For several decades, humanitarian intervention has been a factor in military operations. This paper examines whether military forces can promote the values of humanitarianism during aid operations. To do so this paper will examine a number of elements and seeks to define humanitarianism. In doing so, the question of what role military forces can play is considered. This includes, for example, where military forces are deployed to affected regions or states and the role which they have been asked to conduct. This paper investigates whether the underlying aims of military forces are compatible with that of humanitarianism. This paper argues that they are not and that recent years have seen developments where military action has been wrongly justified on the grounds of humanitarian intervention. What is Humanitarianism? The concept of humanitarian intervention which utilises military force can be classed as a subjective one. Whilst some commentator’s class military led humanitarian interventions as being â€Å"the use of military force to protect foreign populations from mass atrocities or gross human rights abuses† (Waxman, 2013), others such as Marjanovic (2012) define the action as being â€Å"a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed†. Yet despite the subjectivity, there is a series of components which can be extracted from these various definitions. These components include: a form of war or conflict, the potential that non-combatants will be negatively affected by this conflict; and where human rights abuses are considered to be taking place In essence, there are a number of factors which should be present when military led humanitarian assistance is being considered. Weiss (2012: 1) argues that there is an underlying notion of a â€Å"responsibility to protect† and that this has a tendency to dominate modern geo-political thinking, but instead it is arguable that the global community can be accused of cherry picking where it seeks to intervene. Weiss had previously argued that any intervention should incorporate aspects of post conflict redevelopment programming (Minear & Weiss, 1995), yet since the perpetuation of military led humanitarian interventions, he has reconsidered his perspective to argue that such actions should now constitute â€Å"activities undertaken to improve the human condition† (Weiss, 2012: 1). This latter inclusion indicates that the shift in conflict dynamics, from one which is largely based on conventional warfare to the usage of non-state actors and combatants in an asymmetric conf lict zone has been a party to Weiss’s new perspective. Where values are considered, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (2013) argue that these incorporate aspects of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. Essentially, therefore, it can be argued that where military forces are deployed to support humanitarian operations that it is essential they act according to these guiding principles. Role of the Military in Humanitarian Interventions Recent years, particularly since the end of the Cold War (Pattison, 2010), have seen military operations to support humanitarian interventions in a number of collapsed or failed states. These include, but are not limited to, Iraq, post-Gulf War One (1991 – 2003), Bosnia – Serbia (1995), Kosovo (1999), East Timor (1999) Somalia (2002), Haiti (2004), and Libya (2011) whilst other humanitarian interventions which have required military assistance can be considered to have taken place in post conflict Iraq and Afghanistan (Pattison, 2010). Weiss (2012) argues that the concept of humanitarian intervention has increased the potential for interventions into states in order to protect non-combatants from conflict. Contrary to this, the earlier reference to cherry picking provides a casing point when the political discourse which took place at the United Nations (UN) Security Council in relation to the ongoing conflict in Syria can be considered to be a case where the window o f opportunity for intervention has now closed, particularly since this conflict has led to the involvement of Islamic State and the Kurdish Peshmerga (Dagher, 2014). Increase in Military led Humanitarian Operations As stated, recent decades, particularly since the end of the Cold War, have seen a rise in the numbers of ethnically charged conflicts and where humanitarian interventions have been considered as necessary (Kaldor, 1998). In a review of this era, Kaldor noted that there had been a change in the dynamics of conflict and that the underpinning issue was of a series of belligerents and combatants which were not constrained by international regulations, such as the Geneva Convention protocols, Laws of Armed Conflict or relevant United Nations Charters (Kaldor, 1998). This changed dynamics has perpetuated and has spread to a number of conflict zones around the world, but has also seen a rise in the usage of conventional forces to support non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Similarly, Christoplos, Longley, and Slaymaker (2004) also noted a changed emphasis in humanitarian aid provision during this era. They argued that the underpinning programmes have been utilised to create a tripartite system of humanitarianism which incorporates rehabilitation (for both state and society), development of state and social infrastructures and relief programmes which provide for maintaining civil society during crisis periods. This particular perspective reinforces a belief that military interventions can help NGOs deliver aid by providing security (Seybolt, 2007). Nevertheless the incorporation of military activity into this mix has also resulted in a further complication since military operations deploy to aid zones with a preposition of maintaining operational security. This includes the potential for combating belligerent forces where such a need exists (Davidson, 2012). Stability Operations Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) (2013) argues that the first decade of the twenty first century has seen a near trebling of military support for NGOs in countries which have been affected by war, natural disaster or where the state infrastructure has been affected sufficiently that it is unable to assist with recovery programmes. GHA also note that peacekeeping operations have increased at a similar rate, particular in the years discussed earlier by Kaldor (1998) to the present day. UK military doctrine emphasises that any military activities which has a humanitarian focus should incorporate stability operations (Ministry of Defence, 2011). In clarifying this position, the UK Ministry of Defence added that: â€Å"The peacekeeper fulfils a mandate with the strategic consent of the main warring parties, allowing a degree of freedom to fulfil its task in an impartial manner, while a sustainable peace settlement is pursued.† (Ministry of Defence, 2011: 1.1). Such a perspectiv e indicates that the simple inclusion of additional personnel to assist NGOs is not the primary role of military forces but instead is indicative of a more political role which is intended to shape the political landscape of the affected region or state where assistance is being provided. This aspect does not sit comfortably with the principles of humanitarianism as espoused by NGOs such as the ICRC (2013). This perspective is further enforced when it is noted that the Ministry of Defence cannot rule out military action during humanitarian operations. Doctrinal papers evidence that military operations will also incorporate war fighting components as well as security duties. This was the case in Afghanistan, which was a stabilisation operation during which the UK military â€Å"had the consent of the host nation government but no other warring party (Afghanistan: Taliban 2001 – present) [†¦] A military force may decide in such situations that the defeat of a specific enemy is essential to the success of the operation.† (Ministry of Defence, 2011: 1.1). Essentially, therefore, there is a political perspective which can serve to undermine any arguments of altruism during a humanitarian operation which is supported by military efforts. Should Military led Humanitarian Interventions be justified? The UN backed military operation in Libya during its recent uprising and civil conflict was arguably mandated via humanitarian intervention based upon aid relief and assistance (United Nations, 2011). However it is arguable thatthat this particular intervention was politically motivated since it is evident that the Gaddafi regime had previously irked those states (USA, UK & France) which were at the forefront of the military aspect of intervention (Boulton, 2008). The argument put forward by the trio of states sought to ensure a quick resolution to the conflict and that a perpetuation of the conflict would lead to a humanitarian crisis. Kuperman (2011) notes that Resolution, 1973 allowed for a number of additional practices by military forces. These included, for example, allowing intervening forces to stabilise the Libyan conflict, to assist the undermining of the authority of the Gaddafi regime and to help bring the conflict to a swift conclusion. To achieve this Kuperman (2011) no tes that Libyan state financial and economic assets were frozen, the regime was also subjected to an arms embargo (Kuperman, 2011). It is also to be noted that the USA, France and the UK also operated outside of the mandate provided by the UN by deploying private military contractors to fight alongside insurgents seeking to overthrow the Gaddafi regime (RT News, 2012). That said, the Libyan conflict has not ended and continues to dominate local Libyan politics and society. This outcome serves only to undermine the utilitarian role of humanitarianism. It is fair to suggest that the actions by military forces were more political than humanitarian and served only to perpetuate the US led policy of regime change. This is a factor which Williamson (2011) argues has resulted in military planners utilising military force within humanitarian relief efforts and which has served only to muddy the political and societal dynamics of any affected zone. Williamson’s (2011) argument can be considered in tandem with the British military doctrine which refuses to rule out combat efforts but in relation to the post-Cold War era which has seen non-state combatants realign the battlefield to one which compares directly to a counter insurgency warzone (US Government, 2012). Legal Issues Where the Libyan case study is considered, it is worthwhile noting that, previously, Goodman (2006) had argued that there is a clear contradiction between military interventions into any state using a guise of humanitarian purposes. Goodman (2006) furthers his argument by stating that there is no legal justification for a unilateral humanitarian intervention into another country, and that it is highly unlikely that such a move will ever be likely. The rationale behind this argument is that states then have the potential to militarily intervene in other states using humanitarianism as a justification for regime change or some other ulterior motive. It is to be noted that Goodman bases his arguments upon the dynamics of recent interventions in Kosovo and Iraq as well as the refusal to intervene in the Sudan or in Rwanda (Goodman, 2006). Similarly when attempts were made to intervene militarily under the auspice of humanitarianism in Syria, this was rebuffed by the UN General Assembly s ince it was suggested that those who sought to intervene (again, the USA, UK and France) were doing so out of a political motive which involve a war fighting phase as opposed to relieving suffering on the ground, indeed a part of the proposal was to arm anti Assad militias which were aligned to the al Qaeda franchise (Benotman and Blake, 2013). The outcome of this particular policy has been the evolution of Islamic State. Conclusion In conclusion, the incorporation of a military force to benefit humanitarian operations can serve to benefit the potential for aid relief via the provision of security escorts for NGOs when operating in hostile environments. However with recent decades seeing a vast increase in the preference for military led humanitarian operations, the potential for a conflation between humanitarian principles and the advancing of political aspirations of donor states cannot be denied. This has been the case in Libya where humanitarianism was presented as a causal justification for military interventions which were mostly politically or ideologically led. With the vales of humanitarianism incorporating impartiality and neutrality it is hard to see how military forces can promote humanitarian values, particularly when their presence may result in engaging with potential belligerent forces in order to stabilise a country or region so that NGOs can conduct their own operations successfully. Essentiall y, therefore the aims of military forces (and their political masters) are vastly different from aid agencies, this serve to provide confirmation that military forces cannot promote humanitarian values, purely by virtue of their own activities and nature of their work. Bibliography Benotman, N., and Blake, R. (2013) Jabhat al-Nusra: A Strategic Briefing, London: Quilliam Foundation. Boulton, A. (2008), Memoirs of the Blair Administration: Tony’s Ten Years, London: Simon & Schuster. Christoplos, I., Longley, C. and Slaymaker, T., (2004) The Changing Roles of Agricultural Rehabilitation: Linking Relief, Development and Support to Rural Livelihoods, available at http://odi.org.uk/wpp/publications_pdfs/Agricultural_rehabilitation.pdf, (accessed on 13/11/14). Dagher, S., (2014) Kurds Fight Islamic State to Claim a Piece of Syria, (online), available at http://online.wsj.com/articles/kurds-fight-islamic-state-to-claim-a-piece-of-syria-1415843557, (accessed on 13/11/14). Davidson, J., (2012) Principles of Modern American Counterinsurgency: Evolution and Debate, Washington DC: Brookings Institute. Global Humanitarian Assistance, (2013) Counting the cost of humanitarian aid delivered through the military, London: Global Humanitarian Assistance. Goodman, R., (2006) Humanitarian Intervention and Pretexts for War, (J), American Journal of International Law, Vol. 100: 107 – 142. International Committee of the Red Cross, (2013) Humanitarian Values and Response to Crisis, (online), available at https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmlz.htm, (accessed on 13/11/14). Kaldor, M., (1998) New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era, Cambridge: Polity Press. Kuperman, A., (2011) False Pretence for war in Libya, available at http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/04/14/false_pretense_for_war_in_libya/accessed on 13/11/14). Marjanovic, M., (2011) Is Humanitarian War the Exception?, (online), available at http://mises.org/daily/5160/Is-Humanitarian-War-the-Exception, (accessed on 13/11/14). Minear, L and Weiss, T.G., (1995) Mercy Under Fire: War and the Global Humanitarian Community, Boulder: Westview Press. Ministry of Defence, (2011) Peacekeeping: An evolving Role for the Military, London: HMSO. Pattison, M., (2010) Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility To Protect: Who Should, Oxford: Oxford University Press. RT News, (2012) Stratfor: Blackwater helps regime Change, (online), available at http://www.rt.com/news/stratfor-syria-regime-change-063/, (accessed on 13/11/14). Seybolt, T., (2007) Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Conditions for Success and Failure, Oxford: Oxford University Press. United Nations, (2011) Resolution 1973, (online), available at http://www.un.org/press/en/2011/sc10200.doc.htm#Resolution, (accessed on 13/11/14). US Government, (2012) Counter Insurgency, Virginia: Pentagon. Waxman, M., (2013) Is humanitarian military intervention against international law, or are there exceptions?, (online), available at http://www.cfr.org/international-law/humanitarian-military-intervention-against-international-law-there-exceptions/p31017, (accessed on 13/11/14). Weiss, T., (2012) Humanitarian Intervention, Cambridge: Polity Press. Williamson, J., (2011) Using humanitarian aid to ‘win hearts and minds’: a costly failure?, (J), International Committee of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, (884): 1035 – 1062.

corporate and business law Essays

corporate and business law Essays corporate and business law Paper corporate and business law Paper corporate and business law BY etu20110952 GASPARD vjrgile LAFITTE Pierre AC504E External auditing Take home case Pacific Sunwear of California Inc Executive summary † 3 The Sarbanes Oxley act: a compliance plan 4 Overview: 4 Summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley 4 The Sarbanes-Oxley act: † 404: Checklist: 5 Auditing standards n05: description of the procedures to comply with the section 5 International standards of auditing in reference with the 6 Processes to comply with the Section case How to comply with the 7 Procedures section 404? mplemented by Pacific Sunwear.. 8 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the process implemented by 9 Impact of the information disclosed on the stock PacSun † 10 Costs and benefits of Sarbanes- Oxley † 13 Recommendations for 15 References. 16 Appendix A : Deadline for the compliance with the different sections of internal the act.. † . 17 Appendix B: Certification required by the SEC about . 9 Appendix C: Certification required by 2 0 the SEC about disclosure controls Executive summary Pacific Sunwear of California entered in the stock market on Nasdaq in 1993. The Sarbanes Oxley act redacted in 2002, established new or enhanced standards for listing companies in the US markets and in particular the section 404 about the creation of an internal report each year, in response to a number of major corporate In this report, we will establish the impact of this United States federal law on PacSun by analyzing the process engendered, influence of the disclosures on the stock price, and the cost/benefits relation. The Sarbanes Oxley act: a compliance plan The Sarbanes-Oxley act enacted in 2002 is a United States federal law to respond to some major corporate and accounting scandals such as Enron, Tyco international or World com. These scandals cost billions of dollars to investors when stock prices collapsed and decreased the public confidence about nations securities markets and auditing standards. So, this standard established new or improved standards and regulations, for all US public company and all foreign companies listed in the US stock markets. This act contains 11 sections and required the Securities and Exchange Commission (US regulator which regulates the securities industry and the stocks and options markets) to implement the rules and comply with the new law. The deadlines to implement SOX are exposed in Appendix 1 . Summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley act: Then, we are going to describe quickly the different sections of the SOX act (except the section 4 explained below): 1 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB): the objective of this board is to register and regulate all public accounting firms to implement compliance standards 2 Auditor independence: creation of standards for external auditor ndependence to reduce conflicts of interest 3 Corporate responsibility: defines the relation between external auditors and corporate audit committees 5 Analyst conflicts of interest: evokes practice to create a new public confidence in the reporting 6 Commission resources and authority: highlights practice to create a new public confidence in the financial analysts 7 Studies and reports: SEC has to make various studies and explain their findings 8 Corporate and criminal fraud accountability: describes criminal penalties for fraud 9 White collar crime penalty enhancements 0 Corporate tax returns requir ed to be signed by the Chief Executive Officer 1 1 Corporate fraud accountability: identified corporate fraud and records classified as criminal offenses The Sarbanes-Oxley 404: Checklist: The section 4 is about enhanced financial disclosures and increases requirements for financial reporting like off-balance sheet transactions. It requires internal controls to offer the accuracy of financial reports and disclosures. An internal control system is failures, or weaknesses in the system that must occur. The section 404 is the cornerstone of the section 4 and demands that each annual eport contain an internal control report. This additional report assesses the responsibility of management for establishing and implementing adequate procedures for financial reporting. This report must include: assessment of effectiveness of internal control structure and procedures, any code of ethics and contents of that code. Consequently, this section is really decisive because it implies extra costs to comply with this requirement for registered public companies in the US stock markets. The Appendix 2 and 3 sum up the certifications required by the SEC. Auditing standards 05: description of the procedures to comply with the section 404 Issued the 24th may 2007, the Auditing standards n05 substitutes the Auditing standards n02. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board releases the AS n05 to describe the procedures to comply with the section 404: o Highlights a top-down risk based approach (financial risk assessment) o Places greater reliance on entity-level controls o Focuses on understanding and testing controls related to risks for significant accounts and disclosures o Allows for greater ability to rely on work of others o Changes definition of material weakness and significant deficiency: Material weakness: a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the companys annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Significant deficiency: A deficiency or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important to merit the attention by those responsible for ove rsight of the companys financial reporting. o Simplifies the auditors opinion by eliminating opinion on managements ssessment of internal control 5 International standards of auditing in reference with the case The section 404 referred to some ISA standards: ISA 230 about audit documentation ISA 300 about planning an audit of financial statements ISA 330 about the auditors procedures in response to assessed risks ISA 500 about audit evidence ISA 600 about using the Work of Another Auditor 6 Processes to comply with the Section 404 After evoking the requirements of the section 404, we will describe the processes implemented by Pacific Sunwear first and by the other listed companies in general. Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley is complex; compliance requires a multiple approach involving many departments and many people which will be detailed below. How to comply with the Section 404? Generally, according to Sanjay Anand an internal control in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley is following an eight-step process: 1 Establish a compliance committee which is specialist of the compliance with Sarbanesoxley and can have a general overview of the company about the risk and the solutions. The objective of this committee is to commit the various departments, to provide training and to communication about the objectives. Assess risk in order to identify the magnitude and potential impact of each risk in order to create a risk portfolio. 3 Set reporting objectives by determining the probability of risks and errors to define decision rules and reporting objectives. For ensuring internal control compliance, these areas need to be created: personnel control, system and resource controls, strategic planning controls and business service controls. 4 Prepare a formal implementation plan, which is a transition plan to move from project step to a day-to-day operation for an internal control system. Communicate the ongoing procedures by presenting clearly and effectively with the focusing on understanding, acceptance and observance. 6 Provide training implemented by the compliance committee in internal policies, practices and procedures. 7 Document processes and risk management certified by the Chief Executing Officer and the Chief Financial Officer so as to demonstrate the efficiency of the internal control system. Perform continuous evaluation performed by the manager in order to establish and maintain controls and to ensure the appropriate compliance. 7 Procedures implemented by Pacific Sunwear The most expensive costs of compliance were those linke d with the section 404: costs about internal controls over financial reporting. The procedures of compliance are only described for the two first years in the case study: 2004 and 2005. Before the compliance, PacSun had not internal control system. They only created it in mid 2003 and they paid the services of a Big-4 auditing firms as required by the section 404. They expanded the internal control department at the end of 2004. About the procedures they implemented in 2004, PacSun followed a process in five steps: 1) Scope and plan the evaluation 2) Document the controls nd correct deficiencies 5) Reports on internal control They identified also 21 major business processes assigned to an owner with the objective to develop detailed process narratives. These major business processes were divided into sub processes with the detail of the business objectives and the risks. At the end of 2004, they had identified a total of 238 key controls and they managed to highlight a significant deficiency about the revaluation of deferred leases which can affect by definition the reliability of external auditing data. Then, all public officers had to certify in their area that the control was effective. The CEO and CFO certified then of the fairness and reliability of the financial statements. In 2005, the process became easier because all the information had already been created. They reduced the number of key controls to 222, only a 7% decrease, in comparison with larger companies (19% of decrease). They discovered a new significant deficiency because they didnt recognize liabilities about the companys loyalty program. 8 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the process implemented by PacSun Strengths: Enables to discover two significant deficiencies which misstate the financial statements Enable to create an efficient internal control system, which reduces the risks and increases the efficiency of the global system Implementation of a double control : internal control and Big-4 auditing firms control Better assessment of risks implied Significant reduction of the costs after the first year of implementation of about 40%, comparable to the other companies Commitment of all the employees which can increase the motivation and the corporate culture Better disclosure of financial information for financial analysts and investors Weaknesses: Compliance costs of $2 million in 2004 and $1. million in 2005 Additional costs associated with the training of the staff with the necessary creation of a SOX program training The compliance is very time-consuming with an increase of the formalization Competitive disadvantage in comparison with the other competitors not listed Overall, PacSun had efficiently implemented the compliance and the weaknesses will tend to reduce over the long term. However, PacSun management believed that the costs are greater than the benefits engendered. The costs implied and generally the time spent to respect the compliance rules, can Justify this opinion. Impact of the information disclosed on the stock prices In 2005, PacSun need to restate his prior two years financial statements, which resulted in no material change to net income. Auditors Judge restatement like deficiencies but they dont agree about the type of deficiency: two of the Big-4 firms judge this particular type of restatement as only a significant deficiency, i. e. a control deficiency, or combination of control deficiencies, that adversely affects the companys ability to be in accordance with GAAP. The others two Judge it to be a material weakness, i. e. significant deficiency, or combination of significant deficiencies, that result in more than remote likelihood that a material misstatement of financial statements will not be prevented or detected. by the PacSun loyalty program called Pac Bucks. In fact, the liabilities and expenses of this program were not recognizing in the proper quarter. This accounting problem was considered by external auditors like a significant deficiency, but not a material weakness. Thus, in FY 2005, PacSun received clean financial statement and 404 opinions. What is the impact of Information Disclosure provided by these deficiencies n PacSuns stock price? In this graph, we can see that the PacSuns stock price is very volatile between 2005 to 2007 (Beta higher than 1) when the NASDAQ is regularly up. This volatility can be explained by 10 the convergence of PacSun to SOX and the substantial increase of information provided on the firm. But it is very hard to have a real opinion of the impact of Information Disclosure on stock Market Returns with a unique firm. Thus we will answer with papers which study this impact on a large sample of US Company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is one of the , if not the, most important pieces of egislation affecting corporations traded on the US stock exchanges, since the Securities Act of 1932 and Securities Exchange Act of A934 were enacted (Gordon et al. 2007). The SOX act introduced significant changes to financial practice and corporate governance regulation, including new rules designed to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws. And the part of the Act having the most impact must be Section 404, which requires management to submit to the SEC with the companys annually filed financial statements, an internal control report, an assessment of the ffectiveness of the internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting, and finally an audit report which include a description of material weakness in such internal controls and of any material noncompliance. Furthermore, where significant deficiencies exist, they need to be identified as required under SOX like we saw in the PacSun case. Many studies demonstrate that the passage of mandatory government regulation like SOX may be altering the operation of capital market by affecting the stock performance of firms. In 2007, Balakrishnan et Al. , examine, by a dataset on stock arket abnormal returns and consists of 300 firms, how the stock market reaction varies for 8-K filling and how this reaction have changed since the passage of the SOX act. The result is that the SOX have the particularity to increase the information flow of a firm. Thus when a disclosure of a deficiency is promulgated, the information is quickly announced by media and have a direct negative impact on the stock market price. Inversely, when a firm received clean financial statement and 404 opinions, we can think that stock price is positively impacted because its an evidence of a very ood internal control of the firm. Another interesting dimension to consider would be the size of the firm. The effect of Sarbanes-Oxley on the firms information environment is expected to vary with the size of the firm (Ghose et al. 2006). In fact, international firm, but in the US sportswear market, this size is important. In a stock market where diversification is one of the solutions to leverage the risk, PacSun can be a blue chip. Thus, a special attention is paid to it by media. 1 Finally, we can say that disclosure of these deficiencies have had a negative effect on irms stock price but, on the contrary, clean financial statement certification and Good 404 opinion have a positive impact on stock price. In addition, a firm can decide to increase the speed with which information reaches investors by publicizing it in me dia articles. Its a good way to build a loyal firms brand image i. e. increase the investor recognition and limited the impact of bad news on the stock price. 12 Costs and benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley PacSun executives seem convinced that the costs of complying with SOX were greater than the benefits to the company. Though, according to a survey entitled Oversight Systems financials Executive Report conducted with 222 corporate finance leaders, 74 percent said their company benefited from SOX, 79 percent reported significantly stronger or somewhat stronger internal controls as a result of SOX, 46 percent said SOX compliance benefits the company by ensuring accountability and 75 percent said they would vote to keep Section 404 if they were members of Congress. In fact, the benefits of SOX Compliance are multiple: There is a positive influence on maintaining investor confidence (and long-term share price) through increased ransparency and fewer surprises. Financial reporting is more timely and reliable. Overall control culture and corporate governance process are improved. Outdated, redundant and inflective processes and controls are eliminated. Employee on- boarding process is easier Then, why did PacSun not benefit from the compliance process to the same extent as some other companies? Or were their compliance costs too high? The main issue of PacSun is this medium size ($1 billon in market capitalization). The high cost of SOX implementation is financially draining many firms. The SOX doesnt ake a distinction between large-cap billion-dollar companies and small-cap; $75- millon companies (the minimum cap to be obliged to apply SOX). Therefore, the Act requires all public companies to comply with the same regulations; it doesnt take into consideration that small companies arent as complex in organizational structure as large companies. Because large corporations have complex business models, more complicated accounting practices, they already have a lot of controls in place to ensure the efficiency of their operations that are required by SOX. In other hand, maller companies have simpler organizational structures and, thus, have slighter accounting practices, which generate simpler financial statements. These small firms require less internal controls. Therefore, since small companies have simpler subject to the same internal control and external auditing requirement of large companies. In the case of PacSun, this business model and accounting practice are closer from a small firm as shown this number of key controls (222 versus an average of 540 for the large companies). In addition, the SOX were created to fight against corporate scandals like Enron. But the majority of these scandals have occurred in large corporations with thousand of shareholders by the intermediary of retirement/pension fund. PacSun doesnt have the same type of shareholders and doesnt require the same level of protection for the shareholder interests. Therefore, although shareholder interests should be protected, SOX regulations arent needed for smaller firms that have simple business structures and a small number of shareholders that are unlikely to fraud themselves (entrepreneurs who start the company, their families, and public shareholders without any link between them). Implanting SOX is a long and costly process for companies. In the case of PacSun where his market is not occupied by large companies but especially by little firms (under the $75-million cap) which dont apply SOX, this implantation creates for PacSun a competitive disadvantage and stumps their growth by requiring them to spend excessive amounts of money and time to implement regulation. As example of costs, we have the cost of training, the implementation of a strong internal control, an increase of the size of finance/accounting departments, the fees of the audit firms ; he required amount of money is disproportionately larger in comparison with the largest firms. Thus in conclusion, we can say that SOX were designed in priority for large and complex companies. These costs are too high in relation with the engendered benefits for small caps. 4 Recommendations for PacSun Continue the work to reduce the number of key controls and try to improve a large part of them (better define it and really find an utility) Check the conformity between all marketing projects and internal control before a launching Optimize the balance between internal and external auditors to reduce the work of he external auditors Change your mind: SOX is an advantage to improve internal control Create a training and development program with an e learning module for example References Anand, S. (2006), Sarbanes-Oxley guide for finance and information technology professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition Balakrishnan, K. , Ghose, A. and Ipeirotis, P. 2007), the Impact of Information Disclosure on Stock Market Returns: The Sarbanes- Oxley Act and the Role of Media as an Information Intermediary, University of Cambridge Bowling, D. Julien, R. and Rieger, L. (2003), Implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley S 404: Ensuring Compliance, Leveraging Opportunities Ghose, A. and RaJan. U. (2006) The Economic Impact of Regulatory Information Disclosure on Information Security Investments, Competition, and Social Welfare Proceedings of the Workshop on Economics of Information Security, University of Cambridge Gordon, L. , Loeb, M. , Lucyshyn, W. and Sohail, T. (2006), The Impact of the Sarbanesoxley Act on the Corporate Disclosures of Information Security Activities. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 25(5) pp. 503-530. Grinberg, E. 2007), The impact of Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 on Small Firms, Pace University Ramos, M. (2004), How to comply with Sarbanes-Owley Section 404. Assessing the Effectiveness of Internal Control, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Available on: http:// books. google. fr/books? id=GAMR23qTQUC=process+to+comply+with+section +404=frontcover=bl= LaTJJAf1 e 1 16 Appendix A : Deadline for the compliance with the different sections of the actl professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition, page 63/64 17 18 Appendix B: Certification required by the SEC about internal controls2 professionals, John Wiley and Sons, 2nd edition, page 68

A Practical Proposal Addressing a Local Problem

A Practical Proposal Addressing a Local Problem The following is a paper on a practical proposal addressing a local problem. This paper is a summary of my research on the employees’ rights violation at the giant Wal-Mart retail stores.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Practical Proposal Addressing a Local Problem specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The paper has information on how the rights of the employees have been violated (low salary, poor working conditions, employee discrimination and inadequate health care). Due to the employees’ violation at Wal-Mart, the information in the paper provides guidance on how workers can go about resolving their issue (by forming or joining trade unions). It goes in depth to explain how these unions work and finally gives a justification on the whole issue. Wal-Mart is the largest retail store in America and the world. The retail store is still spreading its dominance worldwide, starting in Asia where it has its st ores in over ten countries, Europe and South America. The giant retail store is still planning to expand its business dealings on an even wider scope in the near future. The giant store possesses incentives that are geared towards profit making, due to the recent recession though, the incentives tend to hurt its workers. With Wal-Mart’s effort to make a way into hypermarket cultures all over the world, lots of severe setbacks have come into play. What is more, low-wages, low benefits, employment discrimination, poor healthcare, anti-union policies, and bad working conditions have made Wal-Mart an evil business in the eyes of their employees. This paper will therefore concentrate on Wal-Mart’s employee violations, propose a solution to this and finally find a justification on the whole issue. â€Å"With about two million employees worldwide, Wal-Mart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues with regards to its workforce. These issues involve low wages, poor working c onditions, inadequate health care, employee discrimination, as well as issues involving the companys strong anti-union-policies† (Keil Lee 336).Advertising Looking for essay on labor law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Criticism has pointed out to Wal-Marts soaring turnover rates as proof to a discontented labor force, even if other aspects may possibly be involved. A study has shown that, roughly seventy five percent of its workers leave inside one year with the firm. Wal-Mart’s full-time hourly associates receive, a standard, 10.11 dollars every hour; with 34 hours in a week, a worker gets 17,874 dollars in a year which is 20% lesser than an average retail employee. The firm is also accused of poor employee working conditions. This is evidenced by lawsuits against the firm asserting that workers are sometimes forced to work off the clock (where overtime pay is refuted), are denied lunch breaks or eve n stopped from taking rests. The best solution on the problems affecting Wal-Mart employees lies in the forming and joining of labor unions that will advocate for the workers’ rights. Labor unions and particularly in the United States are lawfully distinguished as representatives of employees and workers in various industries. â€Å"Activities by labor unions in the United States today centers on collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions for their membership, and on representing their members if by any chance the management attempts to violate contract provisions† (Zieger Gall 548). In this case therefore, forming and joining labor unions is the way forward as they will advocate policy implementation and legislations on behalf of the employees, despite the fact that wall mart has strong anti-union policies. With the union again, the workers will notably gain some equity and bargaining power, this comes about when violations against the workers have been experienced (Zieger Gall 548).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on A Practical Proposal Addressing a Local Problem specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The union makes sure that the law is followed and that a contract term drafted by a single party, is intrinsically biased (the union makes sure the employees and the management are the stakeholders in contract drafting), â€Å"as a result the union brings the management and the workers as close as to equal as possible providing a legal counter weight to the management† (Zieger Gall 548). The employees are also responsible in electing their own representatives in the union who will air their grievances to the union in cases of employee violations, in order for the union to take corrective measures. As a justification for what the workers need to do, there is a tight regulation in the labor union on private-sector union membership by the NLRA (National Labo r Relations Act). This law is run by the National Labor Relations Board, a self-governing national organization, this union and others are controlled partially by federal government and partially by government laws. General they have displayed vigorous growth for pay, and workers conditions are put through negotiations with selected local and government officers. When joining a labor union, employees must either be granted voluntary acknowledgment from the employer or acquire majority employees in the bargaining-unit vote to be represented in a union; in both cases, the federal government is to endorse the union (Zieger Gall 548). â€Å"Once the union has won the support of a majority in the bargaining unit and is certified in a workplace, it has the sole authority to negotiate the conditions of employment;† (Zieger Gall 548) as shown by Zeiger gall (548) again, the management and the union together draft the stipulations and conditions of service in lawfully binding contr acts.Advertising Looking for essay on labor law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When violations do occur in the workplace, majority contracts bring in other parties to take care of their differences, via a complaint procedure to see if the problem can be jointly resolved. â€Å"If the union and the employer still cannot settle the matter, either party can choose to send the dispute to arbitration, where the case is argued before a neutral third party† (Zieger Gall 548) A number of U.S. economists are trying to analyze whether Wal-Mart has a positive or negative impact particularly on the American economy. The major irony behind this is that the analysis is sponsored by Wal-Mart itself. In attempting to mend its reputation and reach out to critics Wal-Mart conducts gatherings and conferences in Washington D.C., despite this, Wal-Mart is evidently dragging down American living standards when they violate their employees’ rights. They do this when they pay poverty level wages and other benefits. Conversely, they argue that they have the lowest prici ng which is beneficial to consumers, particularly the poor while keeping the overall inflation checked. To alleviate this it is necessary that its workers form or join labor unions. There many advantages in these unions, some of these are better wages and benefits for its members, improved work conditions together with social networks providing financial, emotional and legislative hold up. The actual gain from a union though is the provision of another stronger voice in bargaining during contract formation. Keil, Stanley. Spector, Lee. The Impact of Wal-Mart on Income and  Unemployment Differentials in Alabama. Review of Regional Studies; Winter, 35 (3), 336-355. 2005. Print. Zieger, Robert, Gilbert, Gall. American Workers, American Unions: The  Twentieth Century. Maryland. John Hopkins University Press. 2002. Print.