Innocent Commission Essay Example for Free

Innocent Commission Essay It is better to let a thousand guilty individuals go free than to let one innocent person suffer (Volokh, 1997). The rationale behind this statement is that nobody can put a price in the life and liberty of a person. Wrongful conviction of an innocent man destroys his whole life and family. While the innocent is suffering the punishment for something that he did not do, the guilty is enjoying the freedom that the innocent man deserved but has been deprived of. The Criminal Justice System provides that in criminal cases, the burden of proof required to convict a person is proof beyond reasonable doubt and this burden lies in the State. This means that if there is so much of an iota of doubt in the innocence or guilt of a person then the State has no choice but to let the accused go because it has not fully satisfied its burden. Wrongful conviction is caused by several factors such as improper forensics, false conviction and other unfortunate incidents. Improper or unvalidated forensics is one of the biggest causes of wrongful conviction in the United States. Before DNA testing was available, many individuals were sent to prison on the basis of the eyewitness testimonies which are not one hundred percent accurate. The discovery of DNA analysis in the 80s greatly helped in ruling out and identifying innocent from guilty persons. Aside from DNA testing, other forensics tests are used to verify completely the identity of the victim and the accused such as tests to compare bite marks, shoe prints, firearms, hair microscopy and many more. Some of these may not be fully subjected to rigid evaluation and there may be a tendency for these tests to be handled incorrectly or presented vaguely in trial which in turn may lead to a wrongful conviction (Innocence Project, N. d.). Innocent individuals also get convicted based on false confessions not only from them but from acclaimed eye witnesses as well. In some cases, the accused, even though innocent says some incriminating statements that sooner or later lead to their conviction. There are many reasons why innocent people confess to crimes they did not commit. Some of them are just coerced or under duress when they made that statement. Studies show that some confessions are influenced by the mental state of the person. For instance, confession from minors are often unreliable given the fact that they are not fully aware of the repercussions of their actions and they can easily be persuaded. Children under legal age can seem to be quite vulnerable that some law enforcers seem to take advantage of this kind of situation(Innocence Project, 2003). When a crime happens and the victim files a charge, he becomes a witness for the State and in turn, the government will do everything they can to overturn the burden and get the bad guy out of the street. It is a good thing that the State is there to protect its people, however, it becomes a bad thing when the prosecution oversteps some boundaries in order to secure a conviction regardless of the guilt or innocence of the accused. The Criminal Justice System should be given credit for their hard work solving crimes and capturing the guilty. The police and other fellow law enforcers are reliable and trust worthy but as rewarding as the job is, there can be a few bad apples in the department and as sad as it is to admit, these incidences cause people to lose faith in the government (Innocence Project, 2003). Helping the victims get justice for what happened to them and putting guilty people in jail are both remarkable acts but helping an innocent person escape the punishment he does not deserve also has its own equal reward. References Innocence Project. N. d.   Understand `the Causes. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.innocenceproject.org/about/Contact-Us.php Innocence Project. 2003. North Carolina Actual Innocence Commission.Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.innocenceproject.org/docs/NC_Innocence_Commission_Mission.html Volokh, A. 1997. n Guilty Men. University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm

Pharmacists Role in Complementary Alternative Medicines

Pharmacists Role in Complementary Alternative Medicines Pharmacists Role in Complementary Alternative Medicines The first section of this paper will provide background information on the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and their associated risks and benefits. Additionally, information on the pharmacists’ role in CAMs and services in their pharmacies will be discussed. Next, the theory that potential ethical conflicts arise for pharmacists between keeping the health and wellbeing of clients and the community as their primary concern versus the prospect of turning a profit will be considered. Before concluding, other important ethical issues including duty of care, and liability will be discussed. Background The term CAM refers to any healing practise that doesn’t fall under the heading of conventional medicine. It encompasses not just pharmaceutical preparations, but diet, and traditional forms of health care including acupuncture, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, etc.1 In the past, people who sold CAMs were sometimes referred to as quacks, or someone who promotes unsupported methods that lack scientifically credible rational.2 CAMs were regarded as old wives tails, and their claims dismissed by the medical community.3   More recently CAMs have become a prominent feature in today’s health care regimens. In 2000 according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) 52 percent of Australians were using at least one non-prescribed complementary medicine.4 The Therapeutic Goods Act of 1989 effectively legitimised CAMs by allowing them to be entered into the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) as a listed medicine. They have to meet a lesser set of standards than conventional medicines, which is one of the major concerns of allopathic practioners.5 With the passing of this act, pharmacies could legitimately sell two types of products; medicines for which there is scientific evidence   (prescription and over the counter products) and unproven medications (some CAMs) that may lack efficacy.   There are many risks associated with using CAMS including direct risks, substitutions made, nonprofessional advice received, and unreliable diagnostic tests.6 In some cases, CAMs have caused serious harm. The adverse effects range from infection due to dirty acupuncture needles, altering the effectiveness of other pharmacologically proven agents, to death from chiropractic manipulation. Substitutions pose a great risk for serious conditions. Replacing conventional treatments with CAMs can lead to many adverse effects. For example, treating melanoma with a herbal ointment rather than surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy can have disastrous consequences. Some patients, especially those with life threatening illnesses, will try anything to improve their symptoms. Some CAM practitioners take advantage of this and recommend treatments that are very costly and at the expense of other proven treatments. Unproven tests include, but aren’t limited to, reflexology and electro-dermal t esting.6 The danger in this type of testing is the high likelihood of misdiagnosis.   Despite the large body of evidence in the scientific community of the poor efficacy of CAMs, there is some evidence for their use as seen in cranberry for urinary tract infections St. John’s Wart for depression and a variety of others.7 In 1993 Australians spent an estimated 1 billion dollars on CAMs and by 2000 that number had risen to 2.3 billion.8   Shockingly, only 57 percent of Australians reported or discussed the use of these products to their doctors.9 The potential dangers outlined above and these statistics show the need for a pharmacists intervention. Pharmacist’s Role Pharmacists are a vital part of the allopathic health care team, often being the first port of call for patients requesting CAMs.10   The community pharmacy is an ideal environment to deliver quality, cost effective, and professional services to the general public. Patient’s safety and access to this high quality care is of paramount importance.11 Pharmacists counsel life style choices, recommend an appropriate non-prescription medication, or refer patient’s to a physician to improve outcomes.12      When responding to enquiries about CAMs pharmacists need to consider a variety of issues. The customers’ cultural and social beliefs and desire to take control of their own treatment should be viewed non-judgementally. Pharmacists need to stay up to date, and be aware of evidence to support the use of different products. Information about CAMs should be provided on an evidence-based level so the most accurate information is delivered to the patient. Pharmacist s also need to be aware of potential interactions with conventional products, and report adverse drug reactions to both the Adverse Drug Reaction’s Committee and the product’s sponsor.7 Furthermore, pharmacists must remind patients that CAMs are medications and should be openly discussed so potential interactions and side effects can be identified. Ethics and profit In a 2005 study of 484 community pharmacists in New South Wales 77% of respondents personally used CAMs and said that they offered CAM products for sale in their pharmacies. A majority of the pharmacists believed CAMs enhanced customers’ image of the pharmacy and 87% reported they increased customer numbers and annual sales.13 From these results it is evident that a potential conflict between promoting and selling CAMs and ethics could arise. Pharmacists are intrinsically placed in an ethical dilemma daily. They have dual roles as health care providers and businesspeople. As health care professionals they are expected to provide a high level of unbiased health care, while their business side is expected to sell products and generate a profit. Professional and business roles are generally believed to be in conflict with each other and roles are traditionally viewed as being exclusive. According to Chappell et al community pharmacists are one of the few occupations where professional and business values co-exist.   They found no correlation between the value placed on business and the level of care or â€Å"professionalism† displayed by the pharmacists. This suggests pharmacists are able to act dually as a salesperson but still deliver professional information.14 The degree of professionalism has been called into question by Kennedy et al. They demonstrated that in some cases pharmacists, especially proprietors, sometimes recommend more expensive products when a cheaper generic version is available, but the overall outcome was satisfactory. All pharmacists recommended an appropriate treatment for the condition but the product selected differed among owners and employee pharmacists. Although the patient received a high level of care, the fact that he or she had a cheaper option calls the level of professionalism into question.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Further evidence for professionalism is seen in a study by Perepelkin et al. where they found pharmacists, regardless of their ownership structure, are professionally oriented in their practise. The difference in services provided was only seen in terms of professional autonomy, decision-making and amount of control. There was no difference in the amount of profit-driven goals between the groups.16 Similarly, in a recent study, Kronus found that pharmacists, regardless of their role orientations (business versus professional), were similarly motivated by service and income values. She suggested that the theoretical model suggesting that business is based on extrinsic values and professionalism is based on altruistic values should be revised when talking about pharmacy. She found altruism (professionalism) was the dominant factor in the field of pharmacy. Since most pharmacists are salaried employees there is little pressure to increase profit by pushing CAMs with no supporting evidence. It would be very easy to jump to the conclusion that the need to make a profit would in some way have a negative effect on pharmacy owners or employed pharmacists (reward systems) to act as independent ethical health care providers when CAMs are viewed as huge profit generators.17 Wingfield et al suggest that ‘ethics is so integrated and intrinsic to daily practise that there is no need to single ethical issues for special attention,’ as demonstrated by a lack of a journal dedicated to pharmacy ethics (there are ethical journals for medicine and nursing). Rather the ethical behaviour of the pharmacist is displayed in all aspects of daily practise culling the drive for profits.18 In Australia the behaviour of pharmacists is guided by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Code of Professional Conduct (PSACPC).7 Pharmacists sell CAMs in pharmacies that does give credibility to CAMs and to some extent promote their usage.   Also, pharmacists are in a unique position to influence the sale of certain products. For example, CAMs are used by 60 to 80% of oncology patients. According to the British Columbia Cancer Society the psychosocial needs of patients including ‘increased anxiety, need for information, maintenance of a sense of hope, a sense of control, negative experience with conventional medicine, and perceived holistic nature of complementary medicine,’ is the reason for the high percent of people using the medicine and not the availability of the product in pharmacies.19 Pharmacists don’t need to promote these products as psychosocial needs are very powerful and patients are clamouring for these medications in increasing numbers. Although the pharmacy is a business, business objectives wouldn’t necessarily suffer, as knowledgeable and honest patient counselli ng plays an important role in customer satisfaction and thus profitability. An unsatisfied customer would certainly seek another pharmacy.20 These satisfied customers will keep coming back to the pharmacy not just for CAMs but for prescription and personal products as well. This is a win-win situation for both the customer and the pharmacist who now has the opportunity to play an active role in the health of the patient as well as make a decent living. It is the pharmacist who provides the factual advice for patients who seek out these products. Through professionalism this temptation to take advantage of this behaviour is easily removed. Pharmacists develop close relationships with their customers by taking time to talk about medications. Professional orientation happens because patient counselling of all medications including CAMs is at the cornerstone of ethical pharmacy practice and high quality care. As previously stated, the pharmacist’s role in counselling in the use o f CAMs is the most effective in ensuring the health and safety of patients.   When counselling patients, pharmacists follow the PSACPC. By following the PSACPC pharmacists remain in the scope of their practice, are covered for malpractice liability for negligent care and for informed consent issues, and foremost, ensure the health and well-being of clients and the Australian community. Under the 9 key principles of PSACPC, counselling advice for CAM usage is about adhering to the principles of evidence based medicine and critically examining and honestly informing patients of unproven medications and therapies. Pharmacists must also respect the beliefs and judgements of patients and other health professionals while regarding the patient’s autonomy to make decisions regarding their own treatment but at the same time offering guidance and advice based on evidence-based information.21  Ã‚   Thus, when a pharmacist gives advice on the use of Cams based on PSACPC guidelines after considering clinical and patient factors there may be commercial benefits but they do not necessarily compromise the quality of the recommendations. In pharmacy, ethics and profit can and do exist without conflict in the sale of all products.   Duty of care regarding informed consent As outlined above a majority number of Australians are using and want to use CAMs. It is therefore the duty of pharmacists to discuss these treatments with their patients.22 A study in the US found almost three-quarters of the pharmacists surveyed worked in stores where herbal medicines were sold.23 Almost half of the pharmacists agreed with the statement, ‘herbal medicines are not accepted by the majority of my colleagues’ and only a quarter agreed with the statement ‘herbs are efficacious’.24 25 It can be seen that most pharmacists don’t believe in the products so recommending them is difficult. But, they have an ethical obligation to adhere to the PSACPC and respect the autonomy and dignity of the patient to make informed decisions.21 Once the pharmacist has disclosed and openly discussed the different treatment options his or her ethical obligation has been fulfilled. In the United States this is taken one step further.   It is a legal obligatio n for practioners to disclose information for CAMs if they are generally accepted within the medical community. Failure to do so can result in legal action.26 Liability in referring to CAMs Liability issues are new territory for pharmacists recommending CAMs to patients. Homeopathy, for example, is completely contradictory to the principles of modern pharmacology. The incompatibility of homeopathic paradigms with all of basic science must be taken into consideration.22   Keeping in line with the PSACPC, pharmacists cannot ethically recommend a product or service to which they know there is no evidence to support its use, and is not in the best interest in the health and well being of the patient or community. In Canada, The Pharmacy Code of Ethics requires pharmacists to never knowingly provide any products which are not good quality.27   In the United States medical practitioners can be held liable for referring patients to a CAM practitioner if they â€Å"should have known† the CAM practitioner might be â€Å"incompetent†. This shows that medical professionals are not just ethically but legally responsible for protecting patients from inferior medical treatments.28 CAM practitioners argue that their treatments are holistic and some of the therapeutic benefits are unmeasurable. Because western medicine supports evidence based on quantifiable outcomes the two doctrines of practise often clash. It is very difficult to compare the s piritual healing power of CAMs to the physical healing of western medicine.28 As long as the CAM treatment is not interfering with a patient’s level of care, there is no reason to discredit a potential treatment that may make a patient ‘feel’ better. An honest answer to the efficacy of a specific CAM and reporting that some people say it makes them feel better is the best course of action.     Further compounding the issue is the training level of the CAM providers. Most are not ‘health care professionals’ and have inadequate understating of biology, pharmacology, patho-physiology, and other sciences that govern western medicine. Since pharmacists cannot ethically refer a patient for a treatment that they believe may affect their health or wellbeing the ethical dilemma of whether to recommend this option is exacerbated. Although, a recent Canadian study reported only 2% of pharmacists felt they had adequate information about complementary and alternative health care, they are still better suited than CAMs to provide information on the prodcuts.10 A pharmacists guidance is based on principles 1 and 8 of the (PSACPC), advising patient of the scientific evidence available while still respecting their autonomy.28 Where CAM providers have no such code of ethics. Conclusion This paper examined the background issues associated with complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) and the associated risks and benefits that go along with them. Additionally, the pharmacists’ role in providing CAMs was discussed. The many ethical issues, including profit, although seemingly complex can and should be negotiated using the PSACPC guidelines. The introduction and sale of CAMs have not changed the pharmacist’s code of ethics where the patient’s well-being and health remains the focus. As CAMs are becoming more popular and accepted by the public, pharmacists need to have a high level of understanding of the many issues associated with them. The ethical issues pharmacists face daily are apparently being handled appropriately according the literature cited, and based on the public’s perception of pharmacists being one of the most trusted health professionals.

Politics and Modern Musical Artists Essay -- Music Essays

Politics and Modern Musical Artists Musical artists of the modern age have had a great affect upon the generation that the writers of the paper are a part of. Not only have the songs they produced brought us enjoyment and heightened our emotional states, they have also informed us of their opinions. One of the issues drawing the strongest opinions as of late is the American government, particularly the Bush administration. Some of the most popular bands and artists have made it a point to express their views on such matters through their music and concerts, rallying to fight or support a matter relating to the U.S. government. The following bands have influenced at least one of us as their listeners, and the message we carry is that opinion expressed through music is quite an important thing. Eminem has become a huge media icon, not only amongst young people, but also by the regard given to him by older adults. He is the king of controversy, not only for his opinions of homosexuals and drugs, but also his political views. He has been in the public spotlight for about five years now, and ever since his first single, â€Å"My Name Is†, in which he portrayed a promiscuous President Clinton; he has made his view on political figures clear. Eminem seems to have a major problem with authority, and the President is the highest authority, so you can bet your bottom dollar that he has a few things to say pertaining to our Commander and Chief. For Eminem this is not a one-time thing, throughout all of his albums he has always had something to say about politics or the government. In songs such as â€Å"White America†, he speaks on the government's efforts to silence him with censorship. In ... ...hville, 2002. Klosterman, Chuck. â€Å"Fitter Happier: Radiohead Return† Spin Magazine . 2003. Vibe Ventures LLC. 14 Nov. 2004 Mathers, Marshall . Encore . Interscope Records, 2004. Mathers, Marshall . Straight from the Lab EP . Interscope Records, 2003. Mathers, Marshall . The Eminem Show . Interscope Records, 2002. Radiohead. Hail to the Thief . Capitol Records, 2003. Radiohead. OK Computer . Capitol Records, 1997. Sum 41. Chuck. Island Records, 2004. â€Å"Sum 41 Online: Biography.† Island Records . 2004. Fearless Concepts. 16 Nov. 2004 â€Å"Toby Keith: Biography.† CMT.com . 2004. Viacom Company. 17 Nov. 2004

How to Meet Your Deadlines :: Process Essays

How to Meet Your Deadlines It's a gorgeous fall day and my mind is drifting like a dinghy on the lake. But I'm inside my house watching the clock tick away, hoping to pull together this essay before the deadline arrives. If you're like me, deadlines drive you crazy, but they also keep you driven. Chances are, you've spent countless nights awake, fretting over an upcoming deadline, even ones that are easy to meet. The Pressure Cooker So how can you handle the pressure -- real and imagined -- of deadlines? And what should you do if it looks like you're going to miss one? Here are a few tips on handling the dreaded D-word. Always meet your deadlines. There's simply no excuse, short of calamity not to. As Cameron Foote writes in "The Business Side of Creativity": "You're very raison d'etre is to do for others what they cannot or will not do for themselves. When you accept an assignment, the client expects you to be competent, professional, and most of all a fanatic about meeting his or her deadlines." Treat deadlines with the respect they deserve. Woody Allen once said, "eighty percent of life is just showing up." You'll be amazed and how much return business you can earn simply by being on time. Negotiate longer lead times. Deadlines are like money, they aren't easily renegotiated. Even if you think you can meet the proposed deadline with little problem, it's best to win yourself a little extra time during the initial negotiation. Extra time acts as insurance should a work or personal emergency arise or if the job becomes inexplicably complex. The slack can also come in handy if you need to accommodate a rush job, particularly one with extra dollars attached. Ask for an extra day or week or month, whatever is appropriate to the work you do and the scope of the project. Whenever you start talking to a client about a deadline, think about your kids, significant other, or beloved hobby, and silently ask yourself: Is this deadline going to prevent me from spending time with the people or activities I love? If nothing more, this ploy gives you the incentive to ask for that extra week or two. Break up chores into manageable pieces. Perhaps the problem is not the deadline, so much as the sheer size of a project you face. One way to battle this daunting specter is by creating a Gantt chart to break the project into smaller chunks.

Kitchen Best

Grade: 84/100 87/100 Challenges: 16/20 Causes: 16/20 PoA: 20/25. Be more specific Research: 20/20 Writing: 12/15. Work to organize your paper more concisely and coherently with more effective headings/subheadings/visual aides Grade update: I added 3 more points to make this section 15/15 based upon your re-draft.? Henry Chan, who is the CEO of Kitchen Best, has set some ambitious targets for the business in 2008. However, his plan suffered a setback when a series of crises happened in 2010.These incidents involved in serious management problems such as personal gains made at the expense of the company and kickbacks offered and accepted between Kitchen Best and its partners. Symptoms Deep rooted practices of kickbacks, bribing and corruption: Accepting kickbacks, bribing and corruption were common in business dealings of kitchen best. Chan dong, founder of kitchen best treated his employees as family, and turned blind eye on any such practices as long as they were helpful in business expansion.But later when Henry Chan took over the business, a series of incidents had led him to take a deeper look into the company and uncover serious instances of misconduct. Unethical means followed by kitchen best’s most trusted employee: The shago incident : Horatio Sze : Sze awarded the contract to a factory owned by his brother in law, for his personal gain. Knowing that the products were faulty, he hasn’t taken any remedial action or cancel the contract. Macy wei :Having known that the products showed faulty in the in-house testing and Sze’s negligence towards this for his personal gain, she hasn’t reported it to the higher management, considering the good relation between Sze and Li. Ignorance of Henry and Ma luk : Sze reported directly to Ma Luk. Neither Ma took the responsibility to enquire further on the issue, nor did Henry involve himself much in monitoring the decisions of sub-contracting made by Sze. Haus de metro :Henry Chan, after havin g learnt from an anonymous letter that a shipment for German retail chain HdM did not meet the company’s safety requirements, did not pursue the case any further for fear of losing the customer. Honghua appliances : Ma Luk: Ma has built good relations with Honghua’s general manager for greater china, through wining, entertainment, dining and offering kickbacks. But the changed management of Hanghua was strictly against these practices and reevaluated the competency of all its suppliers. So, kitchen best’s relations with Honghua were at risk.Also, Ma has misused the company expenses for his personal gain. Henry Chan: Henry Chan didn’t have much grip on the clients and relations with them. He was mostly dependent on the experience of the senior management, like Ma who were mainlanders, to build relations with the clients and customers and he saw such practices as inevitable part of Chinese business culture. Lack of well-designed financial policies: Kitchen best did not have any well-defined policies or guidelines to control the expenses for entertaining customers.Henry Chan’s Cultural barrier: Henry Chan found it difficult to deal with mainland customers due to his cultural barriers. He was born and brought up at Hong Kong, and had not much exposure to deal with the mainland customers. So he had difficulties to cope up with the business culture and dealings with mainlanders. He had to depend on senior management, hence had no proper grip on the business there. Causes: Unplanned/sudden shift in management: Kitchen best’s employees were not prepared for the sudden change in management from Chan dong to Henry Chan.Each of them had completely different managing styles. Chan followed a paternalistic managerial style, treating the employees as a family and maintaining good relations with them, while Henry followed the western style of management. This gave the employees a chance to misuse the liberty of taking decisions that w estern style invoked †¢ â€Å"In the west, the ideal boss is a â€Å"resourceful democrat†. He sets the vision and strategy for the business but empowers subordinates to execute. He encourages two-way communication with his employees and allows bottom-up input in decision-making. In China, the ideal boss is a â€Å"benevolent father†. He is like a parent (a Chinese parent, by the way) who supervises his children on everything that need to be done. He believes in discipline and attention to details and manages his people at a micro level. He also spends lots of time caring for the personal welfare of his employees and regards it as part of his job. † – reference; management style differences between china and U. S Author: Joy Huang Shift of focus on different set of customers: eastern and western management (business cultures)is for 95% the same and differs in every important aspect. †- Takeo Fujisawa (Honda) Kitchen best mostly focused on Asian market but Henry focused on extending the business to western customers. Till then the company had no experience with directly dealing with the customers of Europe and America, and hence has no grip over these regions. The dealings at mainland and decision making were completely left to trusted employees without Henry’s personal monitoring and they took advantage of it.Henry’s experience as compared to that of senior management: Henry’s experience was far less than most of the employees in senior management who have been working for the company from its very beginning. Employees like Ma, Sze were very much trusted by Chan dong and Henry couldn’t go completely against the practices they followed although they were unethical. Lack of control over decision making and financial management: Henry relied much on his senior management for decision-making. But unlike Chan, he did not involve himself much, in making important decisions in mainland business operat ions.Any other monitoring measures were not implemented in the company. Kitchen best did not have any well designed financial policies that checked the ineffective expenses like dining, wining or entertaining the clients. Employees faked invoices and used the expenses for their personal gains. This would have been controlled if there was frequent auditing. Henry’s cultural limitations: Henry was born and brought up in Hong Kong, studied at U. S. Although he had experience in marketing of electric and electronic appliances, it was the first time for him to work with kitchen best.He was not so familiar with the business culture of mainland nor did he have good relations with the mainland clients. He believed that some unethical practices were inevitable in Chinese business culture, so although determined to change these practices, he ignored some cases and hand not implemented strict measures to control them altogether. â€Å"Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. cultural differences are nuicanse at best and often disaster† –Dr. Geert Hofstede Recommendations :A strong policy for internal contro l and financial management has to be designed and implemented. 2 months a strong policy †¢ to mitigate financial risks, continually asses new risks and minimize operational distractions to achieve the key results established in a commission's strategic plan †¢That should clearly and consistently maintain an internal control framework by developing a control policy and accompanying procedures that establish a commitment to reducing risk of loss and preserving commission resources.This document should briefly explain the objectives/goals of the commission, the ethical standard expected from employees, and the policies/procedures it is committed to adhering to in order to meet those objectives. Henry must first concentrate on getting a good grip on existing territory and then expansion of business to the west. Immediately 1-2 months †¢Henry Chan should start working more on the existing territory business operations, by involving himself in decision making, interacting directly with clients of mainland, rather than leaving it to Ma. Then strategically work on expanding direct business with the west, like getting to know the business culture and training a set of employees according to western business culture. Investigate and warn/ take disciplinary action Next one month †¢Ignoring the ethical breach of employees could lead to more corruption. Completing the investigation of cases and warning or taking disciplinary actions on employees responsible for it irrespective of their seniority could be substantial in reducing the corruption in business dealings.Set up a monitoring committee 15 days †¢Set up a monitoring committee that is headed by Henry, and includes legal , financial advisors of kitchen best, and auditing group. †¢This committee should constantly work on monitoring the activities, and flow of finance at different branches of the company Trial implementation of the policy made and make amendments if necessary 2 months †¢Implementing the designed policy for a period of two months and check for any loopholes, and make amendments if necessary. Managing the risk of fraud : The truth is you cannot defeat internal fraudsters if you are unfamiliar as to where and how they play their game of deceit and betrayal—you fail to know where your operation’s greatest risks and vulnerabilities are—or you fail to have enough knowledge to develop and implement a realistic anti-fraud action plan. † – reference book; business fraud – Jack L Hayes Ethics management : Keep the unique ethical climate of each market in mind when crafting your code of ethics to ensure that it is relevant to the international arena Apply standards equally in all markets, and among all subsidiaries.Stick to your standards, whatever they are. If yo u have a policy of following your home country's ethical standards around the world, be prepared to turn down opportunities in markets with unfavorable ethical climates. Make company-wide ethics training a regular activity, in addition to administering comprehensive ethics training programs for new hires. Use training sessions to highlight actual areas of concern in your organization, citing specific examples as often as possible. References Journal of Academic and Business Ethics: International Business Ethics †¢International Business Ethics Institute: Top Ten Mistakes References : http://www. f5ac. org/item. asp? id=3340 first five financial control guide; ch 6. Internal control http://www. slideshare. net/anandsubramaniam/cross-culture-east-west http://smallbusiness. chron. com/accounting-principles-general-financial-ethical-standards-36283. html http://www. copedia. com/internal_controls. html http://smallbusiness. chron. com/cultural-communication-barriers-workplace-13888. html

Mexican Americans in American Popular Culture Essay

It is a known fact that modern entertainment media created certain images and stereotypes of Latin, Asian and other ethnic minorities living in our country. American cinema movies, TV series or even PC games mostly picture the members of Latin and Mexican cultures as aggressive tempered mustached guys, who smoke and fight a lot, and who are always involved in drug distribution or some criminal activities. This tendency had very negative effects on our minds, and many of our citizens are convinced that there are no educated, good-mannered and decent people in Mexican communities. I was always wondering why it happens this way, and studying some historic material, including the articles from the site Digital History, helped me to find some answers on this question. This tendency proved to have a long history and it was formed during the second and the third decades of the twentieth century, when Hollywood producers started expressing their concern and fears caused by the afflux of talented Mexican actors, including Lupe Velez or Dolores Del Rio, their success and public recognition in the US. That is why many performers of Latin origin were given the roles of bandits, thieves and other not attractive characters. After the World War II a number of movies were produced, in which the directors tried to restore the image of Mexican Americans, but after the 1960s, when the problems of illegal immigration from the South became topical, caricaturizing the Mexicans continued. During the last decades, negative characters of Hispanic origin have been appearing in many popular cinema movies or TV series, starting from Chico and the Man and ending with 24. Also, a great contribution to reinforcing the distorted images of the Mexicans was made by a series of popular video games Grand Theft Auto (GTA). In my opinion, this situation is really dejecting, and I am convinced that recent attempts of Mexican artists to demonstrate their true cultural identity and unique distinctive heritage must be supported in our society, and their ethnic voices must be heard.

Discuss the Impact of Data Quality Problems

(Databases behind MySpace, CH-6) Discuss the impact of data quality problems on MySpace as described in this case study. How did they solve their data problems? What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed? 1) – Discuss the impact of data quality problems on MySpace as described in this case study. Since the Site was launched in 2003, the social network site â€Å"MySpace† has become the world’s leading social portal for connecting people who relate in connection with its content, and culture. MySpace projects an idea to its global community to experience the Internet through a social lens by integrating individual’s personal profiles, photo sharing, professional and entertainment videos, blogs, instant messaging, as well as one of the largest music community. MySpace. com has been one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet with 65 million subscribers and 260,000 new users registering each day. Yet with their unexpected growth along came the growth of other popular social networking sites such â€Å"Face book† and few other competitors which seemed to have gained ground, do to â€Å"MySpace† criticized performance. In its initial phases, MySpace operated with two Web servers communicating with one database server and a Microsoft SQL Server database. The site continued adding Web servers to handle increased user requests and demands, once the number of accounts exceeded 500,000 the site added more SQL Server databases; one served as a master database, and the others focused on retrieving data for user’s page requests. After two million accounts were activated, MySpace switched to a vertical partitioning model in which separate databases supported distinct functions of the Web site, such as the log-in screen, user profiles, and blogs. Yet at some point the separated functions will still share data which will create another problem to their list! After three million accounts were reached, rather than investing in more sophisticated types of servers that could eventually solve their problems, the site scaled out by adding many cheaper servers to share the database workload which became just another shortcut option and not a long term solution for the company. 2) How did they solve their data problems? The Company eventually switched to a virtualized storage architecture in which databases write data into any available disk, therefore eliminating he possibility of an application’s dedicated disk becoming overloaded. MySpace later installed a layer of servers between the database servers and the Web servers to store and serve copies of frequently accessed data objects so that the site’s Web servers wouldn’t have to query the database servers with lookups as frequently. Unfortunately, MySpace still overloads more frequently than other major Web sites. With a log-in error rate of (20 to 40%) on some days, the site is not effectively organizing or storing data at all, reason for which the site may have been losing subscribers. After the review of this case study, we can see the Importance of Database Technology and the Impact Data Quality provides to Websites and Social network sites and it can be determined that their existence depend on it.. (Information based on, MySpace Case study and www. forbes. com) 3) What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed? Some of the problems MySpace has encountered are the inadequate storage space on their database servers, slow access or no access through its log-in application, and the users’ inabilities to access data when requested. Over the years, MySpace has attempted to fix these problems by adding more Web/Database servers. Yet the main problem seems to be, adding the servers without restructuring the entire system in order to use their hardware and software more effectively. Another major problem â€Å"The MySpace Organization† has faced it’s been their management and personnel, It’s well known that they’ve had too many changes in personnel they were constantly hiring NET developers and losing them just as fast, which can create a definite unbalance for the company. In Jan, 2011 they announced a staff reduction by 47%. On the other hand they have dealt with numerous changes in management as well; many of the important people who helped create â€Å"The MySpace empire† are now gone. Few to mention are, former President â€Å"Tom Anderson who stepped down† while CEO â€Å"Chris DeWolfe was replaced† by former Facebook COO â€Å"Owen Van Natta†. The company’s most recent plan is to reinvigorate itself in the (social networking space) by going back to what made them popular in the first place â€Å"entertainment†. ith hopes that a new focus on the entertainment media including television, movies, & music will help in making the social networking site reclaim its place on the web. Despite efforts of redesigning the site their users have decreased, as well as their popularity. In November 2010, the company fully integrated with Facebook Connect calling it â€Å"Mash Up with Facebook† in an announcement widely seen, which in reality I believe is just the way of acknowledging Facebook is their # 1 competitor and is currently dominating the social networking industry. In my Opinion their main weakness was with strategy implementation, they concentrated in what came up day to day, like the additions of servers to support their users demand but they never really focused on priorities such as a solution to their Technical problems and the whole structural change it required. As time progresses business competitors will copy your product or service and a lot of times they won’t just copy, they’ll Innovate and overpass the quality of what’s already available therefore taking the place of # 1 and not a competitor.