Third World Debt Resolutions Essay Example for Free

Third World Debt Resolutions Essay [1]One fact is undeniable: Someone is going to have to pay for past debts. It could be the people in debtor countries, or the banks, or the people in advanced industrial countries. Most likely it will be some combination of these three groups. In the last ten years, there have been a variety of proposals which, unfortunately, usually reflect only the special interests of the groups proposing them. Generally speaking, these solutions fall into three categories: repudiation, minor adjustments in repayments, or reduction. Debt repudiation, in the sense of a unilateral cessation of repayment, occurred in a number of countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru.With the exception of the Peruvian cessation, however, most of these actions have been taken with assurances that the stoppages were only temporary. Peru announced that it was unilaterally limiting its debt repayments to a percentage of its export earnings; and since Peru took this action, other nations have indicated that they will act similarly. There have been no serious proposals for a widespread and coordinated repudiation of global debt. The economist Jeffrey Sachs offers several reasons for this absence of a general repudiation.First, debt repudiation is a dramatic and abrupt act. Most nations would prefer to defer such decisions as long as there are advantages to muddling through, and growth prospects are sufficiently ambiguous to make this muddling a viable course. Second, debtor countries fear retaliation from commercial banks. If the banks were to cut off nondebt related activities, such as trade credits, the situation could be made even worse. Third, the debtor countries fear retaliation from creditor governments and multilateral lending agencies. Grants from development banks could be affected, and trade relations would probably be seriously disrupted. Finally, the leaders of most of the debtor countries have interests in maintaining good relations with the richer countries, and repudiation would jeopardize these interests. Repudiation would also seriously disrupt global economic relations, probably far beyond the immediate losses of the debts themselves. Retaliations would follow, because it would be politically impossible for lenders not to react, and because there would be a conscious effort to warn other potential defaulters against similar action. The escalation of economic warfare would have the effect of sharply reducing international economic interactions in trade, investment, and exchange. Such an outcome is in no ones interest. The vast bulk of activity since 1982 has involved adjusting the timing and method of repayment. The number of specific proposals is bewildering.One can read about debt-equity swaps, in which businesses or properties in the debtor country are purchased at a discount by the banks as partial repayment; debt-for-debt swaps, where bonds are offered as discounted repayments; exit bonds, which are long-term bonds tendered essentially as take-it-or-leave-it offers to creditors who have no interest in investing any further and wish to cut their losses; or cash buy-backs, where the debtor country simply buys back its loan at a deep discount. Some of these proposals, notably the debt-for-nature swaps, where the debtor country promises to protect the environment in return for purchases of the debt by outside groups, are creative and could have important effects. This array of proposals is referred to as a menu approach to debt repayment, and its logic is superficially sound. It was the logic of the plan offered by Secretary of the Treasury James Baker in 1985. By providing a number of different options, repayments can be tailored to the specific circumstances of a country, thereby easing the burden. Critical to the success of the menu approach is the assumption that countries will grow out of their debt. Yet, the evidence suggests that this assumption is not entirely sound. This approach further assumes the repayment of debts on terms that are essentially dictated by the creditors. No lender is obligated to accept any one of these possibilities. Moreover, the opportunities for swaps and buy backs are limited: there are, after all, a relatively small number of investment opportunities in poorer countries, and the debt crisis itself has further limited those possibilities. Finally, some of these swaps can actually increase the drain on the capital of a country, particularly if profit remittances on successful investments turn out to be very high. The final proposals have to do with debt reduction, and these only became a real possibility in the spring of 1989 with the announcement of a new plan, dubbed the Brady Plan, after U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady. The plan originally called for a total reduction of about 20 percent of global debt, with the IMF and the World Bank offering guarantees for the repayment of the other 80 percent of the debt.Since 1989, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, and Venezuela have reached agreements concerning their debts under the auspices of the Brady proposal. This approach recognizes that many of the menu approaches were, in fact, schemes for debt reduction on a case-by-case basis. This formal recognition of the need for systematic debt reduction is a hopeful sign, but the plan clearly does not go far enough. In market terms, developing-country debt is already selling on the secondary market at about thirty-five cents to the dollar. In other words, debt reduction has already occurred in the marketplace, and any plan that incorporates reductions must take this into account. There are some serious problems with debt reduction. Debt reduction could reduce the incentive for debtor nations to make economic changes that could lead to greater efficiency. Or, it could set a precedent that would have the effect of reducing, or even eliminating, the possibility for any future bank lending for economic development projects. Finally, debt reduction could have the effect of saddling public lending agencies, like the World Bank, with enormous burdens, thereby vitiating their future effectiveness. These concerns are genuine. Counterposed to these possibilities, however, is the stark reality of hundreds of millions of people living in desperate conditions with no hope of relief in the near- or medium-term future. Any plan for easing the debt burden, therefore, must try to incorporate a number of legitimate, but competing, concerns of varying importance. First, the repayment of the debt itself has ceased to be the central concern. Private banks obviously have an interest in the repayment of the debt and, to the extent possible, these interests must be accommodated. But the security of the international banking system is no longer at risk, and that, as a legitimate public concern, can no longer dictate possible necessary actions. The central concerns now are the reestablishment of economic growth in the heavily indebted countries, the effective and meaningful distribution of that growth into all sectors of their societies, and their reintegration into the international economic system. Only after sustained economic growth returns to the heavily indebted countries can the international community even begin to determine manageable rates and methods of debt repayment. Second, the International Monetary Fund must fundamentally reassess its policies. Programs of structural adjustment may be appropriate for the original purpose of the IMF-to assist nations having temporary difficulties in maintaining currency values because of transient balance-of-payments difficulties. But these programs are profoundly counterproductive in current circumstances and, indeed, are guided by a wildly inappropriate perspective. The inflows of capital to the IMF from the heavily indebted countries were more than a gross embarrassment; they were conclusive evidence of the IMFs misunderstanding of the causes of the debt crisis. The IMF should shift its perspective to more creative or appropriate ways of stabilizing or depressing interest rates rather than raising them, or ways to prevent capital flight from developing countries, or any number of issues that concern the specific conditions of economic growth. The mechanical application of a model of economic growth is wrongh eaded. Third, the resolution of the debt crisis depends upon a clear recognition that much of the debt, as formally constituted, will not, because it cannot, be repaid. Some countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, ought not to repay their debts. Other countries, particularly the heavily indebted ones, can pay something on their debts, and perhaps the appropriate percentage is about half. Viewed in this light, the real question becomes one of allocating the costs of this nonpayment of debts. The current emphasis of forcing the poor to pay with broken lives and broken spirits is demeaning to both rich and poor, and ill-serves the long-term interests of rich as well as poor. Finally, there are genuine issues of responsibility that deserve to be made explicit. The debt crisis is only a symptom of an international economic system that tolerates growing and abysmal poverty as a normal condition. This need not, and should not, be the case. The developed countries have a responsibility to create conditions whereby the poorer countries can interact more productively in international economic activities: their single most important contribution to this end might be in the area of reducing trade restrictions on the products of poorer countries. Similarly, the developing countries have a responsibility to see that money is more effectively utilized within their own borders. The obscene personal profits accumulated by such leaders as Marcos of the Philippines and Mobutu of Zaire should not be fostered by the strategic interests of other countries. The banks should also face up to the fact that their single-minded pursuit of profits almost led them to the brink of bankruptcy. The lesson to be learned from this experience is that for economic growth to be sustained, close attention must be paid to the mutual interests of all parties involved. [1]Ferraro, V and Rosser, M (1994) , World Security: Challenges for a New Century, (New York: St. Martins Press)

What Factors Effect The Climate Environmental Sciences Essay

What Factors Effect The Climate Environmental Sciences Essay Scientists used the word Climate to describe the precipitation and temperature of an area for a long period of time. They have defined the factors that have a great effect on temperature. These factors include latitude, wind, elevation, as well as the effect of the nearby ocean currents. The scientists pointed out that the factors which contribute primarily to precipitation are the prevailing winds and mountain ranges. As for the earths major climate zone, the scientists have divided the earth into three main regions: polar, temperature and tropical zone. In this study, we will discuss all that matters in details in addition to other matters which are related to the climate. (Ruddiman, et.al; (2005) Factors affecting climate 1.1 Elevation: it is clear that the higher you go, the colder it gets. When oxygen becomes less in the air, it affects vegetation. The oxygen exists in the rain shadow of mountains leads to relief rain ( in the matter of fact the monsoons occurred when air goes up to passes over the Himalayas, carrying a lot of water. When it goes up, it cools and so cant carry the water, therefore it rains). 1.2 Latitude, location: the further you are from the equator, the colder it is. This because the sun rays coming on the earth are less and, therefore, they have less warming effect because the angle of the planet becomes near water resulting in altering the high specific heat capacity comparing to land. This means that water has the ability to absorb a lot of energy without showing a very big change in the temperature. The reverse is also true. Therefore the islands and areas which are surrounded by water have fewer variations in the temperature degree over the course of the year (including day and night, than continental places. (William F. Ruddiman (2005) 1.3 Wind: in the matter of fact, wind leads to reducing the ability of a place to support life. This because it removes away all the soil as well as what is needed to start life. At the coast, for example ,life only begins on the strand line because that keeps providing a little shelter against the wind , therefore the plants become capable to grow and they, in turn, lead to trapping the debris to become a bigger wind shelter etc. however, without the wind shelter, it would have just blown away. 1.4 Oceans: the oceans have a great effect on the climate. The Indian Ocean, for example, represents a signature of climate change over the past years. It has showed the temperatures the climate near Australia. By measuring and analyzing the climate, it is clear that there are changes in features of the ocean that cannot be explained by natural variability. These changes on the ocean climate are almost related to changes in the heat structure of the atmosphere and this affected the temperature of water by raising it in the Indian Ocean of around two degrees Celsius. There are many other factors such as atmosphere (thickness, composition), shape of land, ozone, and natural disaster such volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, etc. 2.0 Earths major climate zone Polar It is a known fact that the polar climate zone goes from North and South Poles to 60 degrees latitude. The annually average temperatures stand below freezing, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. There are some famous polar zones which include Alaskas and Canadas northern coasts as well as the southernmost tip of South America, in which the snow melts during the warmest periods of the year. Many areas have layers of ice or glaciers. They get up to 10 inches of precipitation yearly, this, in turn; result in making the area very dry. 2.2 Temperate It is a known fact that the temperate zone is situated between the arctic or Polar Regions and the tropics, ranging from nearly 23.5 degrees to 66.5 degrees latitude, north and south of the equator. The areas which are very far from the equator may have snow during the winter season. The rains fall throughout the year closer to the equator. Yearly, the average temperatures range from 41 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Inland deserts are also included in temperate zone includes, such as the Gobi Desert in Central Asia and the Great Sandy Desert in Australia. (Edwards, et.al; (2001) 2.3 Tropical Zones Tropical zones, in the matter of fact, tend to cover the area ranging from the Tropic of Capricorn, situated at 23.5 degrees south latitude, up to the Tropic of Cancer, situated at 23.5 degrees north latitude. The Tropical zones include high temperatures as well as humidity levels. Throughout the year, the temperature degree remains above 64 Fahrenheit. Throughout the day, temperature degree sometimes exceeds 95 Fahrenheit. It is known that the tropical climates have sub-tropical zones including rainforests, semi-arid zones and savannas. These climates have high levels of humidity as a result of the air convection and vertical uplift. Climate Changes In the matter of fact, the climate changes all over the world. Actually, we have new changes in the climate throughout the world. No one, all over the world, can deny this fact. Those changes may have a great effect on life throughout the world in general and on the Arabic area in particular. In fact, the problem of climate change has a relationship with the problems of the water or rivers resources and human health; therefore, these changes may have a negative effect on the economy of various countries throughout the world. Rising of temperature may lead to the destruction of many beaches; the matter may result in causing harm to the animals in the oceans. World Climate Type The KÃ ¶ppen Climate Classification System is the system which is used throughout the world to classify the various types of climates in the world. The categories of this system are based on the annual and monthly averages of temperature as well as precipitation. The KÃ ¶ppen system has identintified five major types of climate , each one of these types is distinguished by a capital letter. A Tropical Moist Climates: it a known fact that this type of climate has average temperatures exceeding 18Â ° Celsius all months. B Dry Climates: it is well known that this type of climate has deficient precipitation nearly throughout the year. C Moist Mid-latitude Climates: this type of has Mild Winters. D Moist Mid-Latitude Climates: this type of climate has Cold Winters. E Polar Climates: this kind of climate has extremely cold winters and summers (Ruddiman, et.al; (2005) There are also 8 biomes. It is known that they represent the tropical forest, dessert, temperate grassland, savannah, temperate forest, coniferous (pine) forest, chaparral and tundra. There are some people who may count High Mountain and arctic as two extra biomes, however they theyre not really biomes because they dont have almost n plant life, How the oceans influence the climate It is a well known fact that the oceans have a great influence on the climate over long as well as short time-scales. On the longest time-scale of geologic time, the location and shape of the continents leads to specify the oceans circulation patterns. As continental plates drift at nearly 5 cm per year and mountain ranges rise by nearly 1 mm, it takes usually many years for new land formations in order to change the oceans. In the matter of fact, the patterns of ocean circulation can also change rapidly, leading to climate fluctuations and variations on a human time-scale. Records of regional, in particular, and global, in general, climate indicates periods continuing from years to centuries during which the climate was systematically different from earlier and later periods. Most of the scientists believe that this behavior has a relationship with the changes in the way that the oceans store and transport heat, though the precise causes of these changes are not always clear. (D. Qi n, et.al; 2007) The scientists assured that there is a strong link between the oceans and the atmosphere indicating that they together form the most dynamic component of the climate system. The temperature and circulation patterns of the atmosphere-ocean system can be altered as a result of changes in external factors such the distribution of various plant species, the suns energy or the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Atmosphere and oceans can also generate internal fluctuations because they are turbulent. The currents and temperature of the underlying ocean can also be directly influenced by the short-term changes and fluctuations in wind or temperature (namely, weather), meanwhile oceanic fluctuations can diminish, magnify, or modify the atmospheric fluctuations. The scientists assured that the oceans play an important role in storing carbon and heat. The change in temperature becomes greater and faster over the land than the over the oceans especially when the earths surface cools or is heated by the sun. The ocean spread the effects of the temperature change for great distances through vertical mixing and convective movements because it is a fluid. On the contrary, the solid land cannot, therefore the suns heat penetrates only the thin, upper crust. The oceans ability to absorb more heat resulted in that when an area of ocean becomes cooler or warmer than usual, it takes much longer for that area to revert to normal than it would for a land area. This clarifies the reason that makes maritime climates tend to be less extreme than continental ones, with smaller day-night and winter-summer differences. The powerful currents lead to moving the oceans waters constantly. The currents of the surface are largely wind-driven, though the presence of continents, the rotation of the earth, as well as the oceans internal dynamics have a great influence. The density differences produced by cooling and heating as well as by and evaporation and precipitation lead to driving the deep-ocean flow. The behavior of the atmosphere actually has great effects on these density differences. Clouds, for example, can lead to cooling the sea by preventing the warming rays coming from the sun or reducing the surface salinity by bringing rain. The wind can also have a great influence on the evaporation rates by blowing more weakly or more strongly. By transporting heat, these currents have a great influence on the climate. The horizontal currents, especially the currents moving north or south, can carry cooled or warmed or water as far as many thousand kilometers. After that, the displaced water can cool or warm the air as well as the land over which this air passes. Water from the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, for example, moves north through the Atlantic in a current with is well known as the Gulf Stream. There it passes the shores of Western Europe, resulting in producing the climate which is mild for that latitude. Scientists asserted that the currents which are involved in deep-water formation are very important for climate. Surface cooling, in winter, makes water become denser. (As the fresh-water which is cooled begins to expand at temperatures less than 4 C, salt-water continues to compress all the way down to its freezing point of -2 C.) .In the areas where the evaporation becomes more than precipitation, the resulting rise in salinity leads increasing density. Convective overturning occurs as well as the dense surface water mixes downwards especially when the surface water becomes denser than the underlying water. In some places this downward mixing can extend all the way to the bottom, even in deep oceans. Therefore, the dense, deep water which is formed spreads throughout the ocean. When the downward mixing occurs at high latitudes, as a result, it leads to creating a circulation pattern where the warm water from tropical and subtropical regions moves pole ward, surrenders heat to the a tmosphere, sinks, cools and flows back towards the equator. This in turn resulted in transporting the heat pole ward. Now it becomes clear that a small change in just one aspect of the oceans behavior can result in producing major climate variations over very bi areas of the earth. The cold-water formation areas represent good example of this possibly wide-spread phenomenon. Although the scientists asserted that there is an urgent need for conducting more researches, the oceanographers agreed that, as for the whole area north of 30 N latitude, the oceans pole ward transport of heat is equivalent to nearly 15 watts per square meter of the earths surface (W/m2). This actually can be compared with about 200 W/m2 from direct sunshine, and nearly 6 W/m2 for what climate change models predict will happen if the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide doubles. Ocean core records, recent observations, and many results denoted that North Atlantic deep-water formation as well as its ocean heat flow changes and fluctuate substantially over time-scales ranging from years up to millennia. Effect of climate change on oceans In the matter of fact, the climate change and variation may have a great effect on the oceans throughout the world. Actually, from the south Arctic with its diminishing sea ice to the new low-lying beach areas in England to the Great Barrier Reef, the temperature of the planet raised more than the last century. The sea level is continuously rising. The CO2 gas levels are constantly increasing. The planets and animals are appearing in some areas and disappearing from others. As for the climate variation and change, the oceans represent a wonderful source of indicators. The climate change, in general, has a great effect on these oceans are affected. The Climate change has also a great effect on the ocean animals such as the sea turtles, polar bears, penguins, right whales, lobsters, seals, and cod. The beach sea fish are also involved; therefore it is too important to work on ways that may lead to reducing the negative impacts that the climate has by supporting the research, creating p ristine marine protected sanctuaries and promoting sustainable seafood. (Hansen, et.al: (2000). Conclusion Finally, we can safely say that climate play an important role in our world. In this study, we have tried to cover some of the main sides of the climate in the world. First, we touched upon one of the main sides of the climate in the world, namely, the factors that have a great effect on the climate explaining how these factors affect the climate greatly. Then we moved to another important point, that is, the earths major climate zone explaining how the scientists have divided the earth into three major regions: polar, temperature and tropical zone. We didnt stop at this point, but we continue to shed the light on the world climate type, the oceans influence on the climate and the effect of climate change on oceans to end our study with the effect of the climate change on the Indian Ocean.

A Self Assessment Paper Philosophy Essay

A Self Assessment Paper Philosophy Essay Most of the classes that I have taken in my entire college life have tried to teach me something related with my career. Most of these classes were math, science or business oriented. Never before I took a class that teach me to learn how I think, what I think, and why I think in a particularly way. In this class a learned one lesson that will last for the rest of my life: learn to be conscious of the action that I take. At the beginning of the semester, I felt a little bit frustrated because I spent a big part of my day thinking about the things that I learned in class, how I can apply those thing in my life and that if I would learned those lesson before my life would be completely different. Throughout this self assessment paper I would try to address how the different topics that I learned in class impact my life using current and past experiences. The fist topic that we talked in class was the personal transformation article and the three dysfunctions of our culture: Fragmentation, Competition and reactiveness. Concerning to fragmentation I am the type of person that tend to break everything into small pieces because I think it is easier to understand them in that way. However, sometime I feel empty because I cannot put all the parts together and understand the whole system. I think this is a problem because in schools a leaned a lot of individual concepts but I never learn how to put them together. I plan to build strengths to use this tool by every time that I learn something I will try to connected with something that I learned in the past. Ask to myself how I can use these new concepts and how to apply to my life. I think that if I do the connection immediately in my head I will be able to star creating mental maps with all the concepts connected together. For me competition is like a game: sometime when we do not compete we get better result than when we do, sometimes when we compete we do not the results that we want, or sometime competing or not we get the same results. It is like an eternal battle in which the luckiest survive. Notice that I said that the luckiest survive and not the strongest and this is because sometimes being the strongest does not guarantee that you will be ahead the others. Concerning to reactiveness I think that I am a person very sentimental when I react to some situations, I am the type of person that does not like bad news. So, I try to react like that never happened. But in the end the reality is that I have to react like a grown man and confront the reality. I got that my personality type was Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging (ISTJ). I really think that these results really describe my personality because I consider myself as a responsible, loyal, contemplative and independent individual. However, I have learned that I need some of the characteristics of the other personality types. I recognize that I need more people skills if I want to be successful in my MBA career. I think it wont hurt me if I try to be more sociable with the people around me. For example, I need to be a little bit more extroverts, more sociable, more perceptive, be open to new things, being more flexible. One thing that I can do to archive this is to learn to listen to the other, to learn that everybody is different and has different opinions and that I cannot win every argument. I apply this at the beginning of the semester and the final results are awesome: I talk to more people in the classroom, on the bus, at the library, practically everywhere. I recogn ized that I need to be a more flexible with the things that I do. I recognized that nobody thinks exactly like me, so we can have differences and still work together. Also, I learned how to adapt to changing situations; to recognize that the world is dynamic, not static and that people will never act like me. I think one of the most important lessons that I learned in this class was to identify my mental models and to be aware that I have them. I start the class being a unconscious incompetence and I think I end up being almost a conscious competence    For me it was extremely important to be right. It was like an interior force that gives a shot of adrenaline when I can prove to others that I am right and they are wrong. I was a perfectly example of my mental model. However, after reflecting about this matter I reached to the conclusion that sometimes it is better to be wrong and dont have the experience that some people reject to talk to me because they portray me as an arrogant, bigheaded and selfish person. Now I realize that it is good the fact that my friends had different points of view, that it is right that we dont think in the same ways, that I have to love them in the way that they are. Now I understand the phrase that says a real friend is not the one that makes you laugh wi th lies, it is the one that makes you cry with the truth. Another important tool that I learned in this class was to identify when people use defensive routine to protect themselves. I learned that I also used defensive routines when I behaved inappropriate or when I did not complete an assignment on time. I usually, well almost all the time, went to the offensive, labeling people with stereotypes. I constantly used advocacy to defend and justify my actions. However, once I learned that these defensive routines were part of my mental model, I started to listen more to what the other person have to say. I discovered that if I put myself in their position I can understand they point of view better. Also, I learned to pay real attention to my interlocutors, to listen with my brain, not only with my ears. The results were amazing, once I start to be an active listener the conversation became more professional, more productive and barriers to reach for an agreement start to plunge. Also, becoming an active listener helps me to manage difficult c onversations. I remember that I was the type of person that starts arguing with somebody very easily. Three out four conversations ended up in a discussion and usually a bad one. However, because I learned to listen and think before emitting my opinion help to manage difficult conversation at such level that I dont remember the last conversation that ended up with a discussion. It is wonderful being able to communicate with other in a respectful way. We have to be willing to give, share and receive. The trick is in considering that the other person is at the same level than I. I developed my inquiry skills asking as many questions as I needed until I was completely sure that I understood what others were asking for. I have notice that when I used these techniques I can understand their position clearly because I can get a clear idea of their thinking. However, I think I have very poor advocacy skills. Sometimes it is very difficult for me to explain to others what I am thinking, what are my points of views, what is my reasoning. In my opinion the problem is that I cannot decide which information I should give them in order to understand my way of thinking. Sometimes I give them too much information; sometimes too little. Then I spent most of the time trying to explain to them what is in my mind. I get frustrated because things that see like obvious then cannot recognize them, I wish they can go inside my brain, read my mind, and see how obvious everything is. Honestly, I think I have poor advocacy skills because English is not my first language. When I tal k to somebody in English I tend to ask extra question to make sure that I understand one hundred percent what they are trying to say. Also, because my English vocabulary is very limited I tend to explain things in the simplest way, leaving out important information, or adding irrelevant information just because I do not have the right word to use. When this happen I get frustrate and everything in my head get mess up and I start to talk in Spanish without noticing it and confusing even more my interlocutor. I think that if a become a little more extrovert I can socialize with more people and my vocabulary can be expanded with new English words and slangs that I can use to communicate more effective when I advocate my points of view. Another tool that has helped me to be a better advocate is the latter of inference. Using this tool I became more aware of the conclusions that I made and the basis of those conclusions. I had learned that if I put too much emotional attachments to my ideas I usually exclude important data or information that even though do not support my believes can help me to make better decisions. Therefore, know before making any conclusions I try identify any emotional feelings that can be attached to those decisions and leave them out. Also, I have find out that it is impossible to overcome an emotional position with a logical argument (Shingo). The ladder of inference has been of great help when making decision because it forces me to think through my own arguments allowing me to determine errors in my own thinking. Now I am aware that I may be ignoring important data or making wrong assumptions or inferences. Thanks to the ladder of inference, now before making any important decision the fir st two questions that I ask to myself are: does the fact that I have represents the truth and what role does my emotions and feelings play in my decisions. Casual Loop Diagrams are a great to help us to clarify our own thinking and help others to understand us better. I wish I could do a CLD for every part of life but I feel I am not good doing one by myself. I have difficulty identifying what things I should put on the CLD and how those things interact with each other. When doing a CLD I often tend to do inferential leaps, miss previous steps or use ambiguous link or blocks. I remember that in class we discussed that the whole idea of a CLD is to figure out how the actions work their way through the loop, back to the initial link (beginning). However, I think that the whole idea is to see how everything is connected and how one action affects the whole situation. I would love to learn to master CLD and be able to use to diagram my mental models, clarify my own thinking and understand other people thinking. I should try to get more practice doing more CLD for simple life problems in order to be able to master this technique. For example , with a CLD I can show how spending three hours talking to my girlfriend complicate my whole day; it can explain why I am always tired and sleepy. Something that can really help me to master CLDs will be to develop a structured decision making process in order to organize my ideas better and identify the pieces needed to join the empty spaces. Most of the time, I feel I need to make the decision fast and I dont have enough time for a formal structure and process. Sometimes I feel the contrary, I have spent too much time thinking over the same problem that I fell I need to make a decision and take a break. The problem is that at the end my decisions are based on gut feeling instinct rather than a structured process. Something that I should take as a habit is to gather enough data so I can support the decision that I make. In other words I should climb down the ladder of inference and gather the proper data to make an informed decision. The first and probably the most important thing that I should do before making any decision should be establish a context for success. This is the part where I identify the problem and define the objective that I want to accomplish. I think that this step it is also the most difficult because most of the time I dont know what is the real problem. I just know that I have a problem and I need a solution for that problem. Also, I should gather enough data and resources before making any important decision; generate as many alternatives as I can, evaluate those alternatives, and finally choose the one that fits my requirements better. I want to learn to use this tool because I am pretty sure that I will be using this method very often in my future career life. Having a structure decision making process can give me a competitive edge among my coworkers because my decision will be more logic and back it up with data that support my actions. Frame the issue properly is another tool that I could used to develop a structured decision making process. However, I dont feel I know how to master this tool. For me it is a little difficult to express my point of view to others. I am good identifying when other use framing over me but I cannot used very effectively over them or in the way that I wanted. Framing is about making other people to see what you want them to see, but sometimes I get the opposite reaction: people see what I dont want them to see. I get frustrate and mess up when this happen. I say that framing is a key step for success because people who understand framing and its power can manipulate others to do their will. The best examples of this are the people who make commercials and advertisements. They can convince us to buy products that we dont need or want. They create a false sense of need inside our subconscious that induces us to buy the last laptop model even though our actual model is working fine. They a re like brain doctors that with words can modify our thoughts and make us buy anything that they want. One thing I can do to get better framing my thoughts would be to use my emotions. I should show to other how passionate I am for the think that I want to convince them. Also I could use visual help (graphs, equations, charts) to better communicating my points of view. First of all I want to argue that the world is full of uncertainties, our life is full of uncertainty, our future is uncertain, and our present is kind of uncertain. Only the past is certain and that is because we already know the answer of what already happened. I said that the world is full of uncertainty because you cannot determine what will happen next, where the next earthquake will be, or the next tornado, or the next flood. We just know that these natural phenomenon will, possibly, happen someday in someplace around the world. Our life is uncertain because you dont know what will happen with your life in your future: are you going to be hit by a car, are you going to win the lottery, are you going to have died before your fifty birthday, or are you going to be rich and successful. I think that I cannot escape from the uncertainties of my life or the uncertainties of the world. However, I can get prepared so when they arrive I can fight them with the right tools. For example, I dont know where the next tornado will be, but I can buy a house with a basement that can protect my family from a level 5 tornado. I dont know which part of the world will be shaken by an earthquake but I can get educated about what to do when an earthquake happens. Also, I dont know if I will win the lottery but I can get the best possible education so I wont need to win the lottery to be rich. I dont know if I will have died before my fifty birthday but I can make sure that I enjoy every day of my life, doing the right things, serving others in such a way that if I died tomorrow I will die happy with a smile on my face. In every moment of my life I make decisions; I decide if I go to college, if I buy a new pair of jeans, at what time I eat, or at what time I go to bed. The problem is not to decide what or when to do or not something, the real issues is what will be the results of those decisions. And this gets more complicated when there are uncertainties behind those decisions that sometimes we cannot even identify. The final result of this type of situations is that we end up making bad decisions that could be avoided. I think it is not difficult to learn how to identify the uncertainties of our decisions. I think we can learn what things we did wrong and the next time that we have a similar situation we can do the right thing. Also we can learn to identify and prioritize the areas of uncertainties in our decisions and reduce the one that can be reduced. Creative thinking has been a topic that has caught my attention since I was in high school. I always had wanted to be creative but most of the time I feel I dont have the right material. Most of the times when I have to come out with a creative solution I always choose the one that the majority chose. I try to think out the box but I ended up thinking and doing the same thing than the others. When this happen, I get frustrate because I want to be an innovator creating new and amazing things. I think the problem is that I love to do new things if there are clear and specific rules. I like to follow the rules and I want that the other follow the same rules to. However, I have learned that sometime you have to ignore the rules in order to be creative, try to do things different than the way that I usually do them. I think I have to stop trying to figure out what other people will do and try to be original, unique, and different. Last week I tried to apply the step that the professor mentioned in class about how to be more creative. The results were amazing because I actually came out with solutions that nobody in the room did. I think the trick is to pay attention to details, especially to minor details (like the background). The provocation part also helped a lot to identify atypical response. I thought in characters like Homer Simpson or Sheldon Cooper (the big band theory) to come out with alternative that were creative. From now on, I will start to apply the creativity three steps process (observe, provocation, and movement) more often to incentive my creativity. I think they really work.

Peace Negotiations Between Arafat and Clinton :: Foreign Relations Media Coverage Essays

Peace Negotiations Between Arafat and Clinton Many third world and communist countries are known for their censorship in the media, ranging from television, radio, and the newspapers. Even with these shortcomings they still are able to present a side of an issue. The capitalistic world can dominate the networks of the media as well and also provide certain amounts of censorship with only one side of a view. The way the capitalistic world is able to dominate the media is by advertisement. Commercials and advertisements drive and pay for the expenses of the news reporting agency or any other media. A company will not sponsor a television network or a newspaper if their stories and ideas do not reflect that of the sponsor. For example if a company is owned and operated mostly by Jews, that company may not appreciate a newspaper or a television station to report against them or point out that many mistakes, such as accidental bombings and killings of innocent by standers not only Philistines but Israelis as well, were caused by Jews. If that newspaper or television station reports against Jews or the supporters of Israel they will not be endorsed or sponsored by that Jewish company, and if that newspaper or television station does not receive any support they cannot publish anymore papers or broadcast their newscasts. In both cases important sides of an issue are either addressed or not. The western coverage of the peace negotiations between Arafat and President Clinton by the news media distorts and deletes facts only to ensure that Israel, the United States ally, will benefit. My latest readings of the Seattle Times and one of Tehran’s newspaper dealt with Mr. Arafat’s visit to the United States to speak with President Clinton in the White House about the Mid-East peace process. Both papers presented facts and expanded as well on some of those facts. When reading the Seattle Times, the article’s title read, â€Å"Peace deal with Arafat†, the title its self it’s letting us know that we have to deal with Mr. Arafat, that he must be a hard negotiator. The article discussed how Mr. Arafat did not accept or totally agree with President Clintons peace plan. The Times made it clear that President Clinton’s plan was detailed and accepted by both the United States and the Israelis.

Essay --

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction One of the most common ways for a firm to operate or finances its assets is capital structure. Capital structures refer as a combination of equity, debt and hybrid securities that used in the firm operation. In a perfect market, transaction or bankruptcy cost, inefficient information and taxes will not exist. Therefore, Modigliani and Miller created a theory of capital structure in a perfect market. The use of capital structure is important as it affect the firm profitability. Financial decision of a business organization becomes one of the important decisions that normally will represent by capital structure. Musiega, et al. (2013) claimed that choosing an appropriate capital structure will benefit the firm as it help a firm to adapt with various challenging and competitive business world thereby become more profitability. According to Zeitun and Tian (2007), managers who are able to identify the optimal capital structure will help the companies to increase the firm revenue or profitability and reduce the firm’s cost of finance. Nutshell, capital structure of a firm can influence a firm profitability; a firm health determined by a firm capital structure. By analyzing the choice of firm’s capital structure, financial behavior of a firm can be explained by the pecking order theory and the trade off theory (Ana, Dragan & Monica, 2012). Both of this theory provides a different relationship between the capital structure and profitability. Based on the study of Zabri (2012), the pecking order theory provide a negative impact of profitability on leverage while the trade-off theory provide a positive relationship between the capital structure and profitability. There are some of the findings... ...o investigate the relationship between the capital structure and profitability of firm. In order to have clearer and accurate evidence on the relationship between the capital structure and profitability, 24 of public listed companies in Sarawak Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), Malaysia are chosen to test it. All the financial statement for 24 companies will record accurate and correctly in order to create an accurate test or relationship. The introduction of the research proposal will be discussed in chapter 1. In chapter 2, literature review will be discussed on various views of previous researches which relate to our topic. Research methodology and the data collection will be present in chapter 3 while chapter 4 will discuss about the result and discussion on the result. A conclusion and policy implication will be discussed in the final chapter of this study.

Othello and Family Guy Essay

QuagmireOthello Cast inspired by the characters of Michaela N Cleveland Brown as Othello Cleveland Brown is overall a kind person with a hot temper. He becomes jealous easily, especially in terms of his marriage and wife. Cleveland trusts his friends to a fault, and is dim-witted. All these traits strike a strong resemblance to Othello. Similar to Othello, Cleveland racially does not fit in among friends, and both are treated different as a result. Both men also are trusted by their friends, and care more about what is going to make them happy in the moment, rather than long term. Cleveland and Othello tend to speak coarsely and slowly, as opposed to those who they mingle with. Othello and Cleveland furthermore are laid back. The men usually are the puppets of their mates, going with the flow and believing the most ridiculous of things. Cleveland represents Shakespeare’s Othello quite perfectly. Brian as Iago Brian is extremely intelligent, logical, and rational character. He is trusted, but not loyal to those who trust him. His motivations are not always clear or obvious. Brian is thought of as â€Å"man’s best friend† but he doesn’t act that way. He is generally mean spirited, quick-tempered, and has a sarcastic, dry, yet hilarious, sense of humor. These traits bear resemblance to Iago, Othello’s enemy. Iago and Brian are also manipulative, deceptive, and untrustworthy. Both characters lack a sense of emotion and compassion, as they are willing to do things, like kill friends or a wife, easily. Brian has a crush on Louis, and Iago is taken by Desdemona. Together they have a love-hate relationship with women, enjoying them physically, but annoyed with femininity and emotional drama. Iago and Brian mirror each other perfectly. Lois as Desdemona Lois is a complex, sweet, yet dark, jealous, and somewhat cold-hearted woman. She is known to cheat, be devious, and be extremely flirtatious, which in turn gets her into trouble. She loves her husband, but doesn’t have a problem with being unfaithful to him. She is known to be a beauty, and to have left her father to pursue a crazy lifestyle. Lois is a strong, independent woman despite being a wife. She furthermore has a bewitching affect over men, and she uses this gift to get what she wants. Desdemona is very much like Lois in all this attributes. Desdemona seems innocent but is truly brilliantly mischievous. Both are smart, but don’t always think before they act. They are both comparable, thus match beautifully. Joe Swanson as Michael Cassio Joe makes a perfect Cassio. Joe is a police officer, just as Cassio is a lieutenant. Joe is devoted, loyal, moral, masculine, buff, admirable, and honorable. Cassio in ‘Othello’ is also very much like this. Glenn Quagmire as Roderigo Roderigo is rich, rather foolish, too trusting of Iago, and interested in Desdemona. Quagmire is also well off, acts unintelligently, and is interested in women to an extreme. Both men are so obsessed over a certain woman they will do whatever it takes. They trust their friends to a fault and lack compassion. Both men exemplify immaturity too. Therefore, Quagmire and Roderigo quite nicely pair up. Bonnie as Bianca Bianca and Bonnie were prostitutes, loved fame and a title. They spoke softly and meaningfully. ‘ Carter as Brabanzio Carter is fatherly, rich, over-protective of his daughter, self-important, powerful, devious, blustering, and gets angry with his daughter’s husband numerously. Brabanzio is also fatherly, a senator, very protective of his daughter, devious, blubbering, self-intelligible, and is upset when his daughter leaves him for Othello. Both men hate their sons-in-law with a fiery passion. They are two of a kind.

Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” Essay

Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cites, is a very rich text. The characters, plot, and writing style are all complex and multifaceted. However, one of the least studied and important part of this novel is the chapter titles and even the proposed novel titles. These titles reveal and expose more about the text, like symbolism and irony that would have otherwise been missed. Dickens’ chapter and proposed novel titles are instrumental in revealing symbolism and irony in the book. Dickens’ chapter titles reveal underlying symbolism in the novel. One of most symbolic of all the chapter titles is that of Book II, chapter five: â€Å"The Jackal.† The â€Å"jackal† is the nickname given to Sydney Carton, and it holds a great symbolic meaning. The jackal is a loner, a scavenger, a low-life in the hierarchy. Yet, the jackal is an incredibly adept at what it does; it is an excellent scavenger and hunter. Carton fits the chapter title perfectly. When we first see Carton, he is in the courtroom staring idly at the ceiling. He is unattached, just as he is later unattached from the Revolution and the rift between the Manettes and the Defarges, his manner in court is said to be â€Å"so careless as to be almost insolent.† Carton is continually a man set apart, just like the lonesome jackal. Carton, it must be noted, is one of the only main characters to not have a connection with the Revolution in some way. The ‘jackal’ and chapter title are a direct double of the ‘lion’, or Mr. Stryver. Stryver, though he lacks â€Å"that faculty of extracting the essence from a heap of statements†, is a highly successful man. Dickens notes that â€Å"easy and strong custom† is what prevents the â€Å"thought of emerging from the state of the lion’s jackal.† A second chapter title that exhibits symbolism is that of Book II, chapter fifteen: â€Å"Knitting.† In a literal sense, Madam Defarge knits a registry of those  marked to be killed in the revolution. When one of the Jacques questions the registry of stitches, M. Defarge assures him that â€Å"it will always be as plain to her as the sun.† At this point in the novel, it is clear that Madame Defarge possesses an anger and fury that knows no boundary. The knitting symbolizes the Defarge’s and the entirety of the Revolution’s hatred of aristocracy. Dickens tells the reader that the â€Å"fingers of the knitting women were vicious.† Additionally, we are also told that â€Å"if the bony fingers had been still, the stomachs would have more famine-pinched.† Thus, Dickens turns a casual and seemingly harmless pastime into a sinister and menacing symbol of hatred. Dickens turns this chapter title into a recurring symbol in Book III, chapter fourteen: â€Å"The Knitting Done,† in which Darnay is waiting to die, and Madame Defarge herself is killed by Mrs. Pross, bringing an end to her knitting. A third and final symbolic chapter title is that of Book III, chapter three: â€Å"The Shadow.† The symbol presented by this chapter title is somewhat similar to the ‘knitting’ symbol. However, while ‘knitting’ represent the hatred of French aristocracy, the ‘shadow’ represents the power that Madame Defarge and the revolution wield. When, Madame Defarge visits Lucie, the shadow she casts upon her and her child is said to be â€Å"so threatening and dark† that Lucie â€Å"instinctively kneeled on the ground beside her, and held her to her breast.† For Dickens, the shadow is the fierceness and the inescapable momentum that the revolution has. Hence, Madame Defarge, in the same chapter, mocks Lucie by asking if â€Å"the trouble of one wife and mother would be much to us now?† Dickens’ chapter titles exude symbolism. Dickens’ chapter titles are also very ironic. In Book II, chapter four: â€Å"Congratulatory,† Darnay has just won his treason case. Doctor Manatte, Lucie, Lorry, and Stryver all congratulate Darnay on the successful trial. After the group disperses, Carton invites Darnay, his look-alike, for a drink at the bar. At the bar, Carton asks Darnay if Darnay thinks that Carton likes him. When Darnay is unsure, Carton tells him: â€Å"I don’t think I do.† It is ironic that the title of the chapter is â€Å"Congratulatory†, yet Carton spends a large part of the chapter expelling the reasons why he doesn’t like Darnay, revealing Dicken’s ironic humor. In Book II, chapter twelve: â€Å"The Fellow of No Delicacy,† Stryver tries to win Lucie’s hand in  marriage. This chapter is ironic because Stryver has no delicacy at all, contrary to what the chapter title might have you thinking. The chapter reveals that Stryver is arrogant and dimwitted. Stryver decides to marry to place a â€Å"magnanimous bestowal of good fortune† upon Lucie, revealing his arrogant ways. Later, Stryver, speaking to Lorry, says â€Å"the young lady at present in question is a mincing fool,† insulting Lucie. Simply put, Stryver has no delicacy at all, illuminating Dickens’ tongue in cheek humor. A third and final chapter title that exhibits irony is the Book II, chapter 14: â€Å"The Honest Tradesman.† This chapter centers on Jerry Cruncher and his activities as a self-labeled â€Å"Resurrection Man.† Obviously, the irony is between the â€Å"honest tradesman† and Jerry’s midnight excursions in which he digs up buried bodies. Dickens’ chapter titles disclose a very ironic and satirical humor. While Dickens’ chapter titles are very appealing to examine, his proposed titles for the novel are very interesting to study, as well. One such title was â€Å"Buried Alive.† This proposed title definitely carries symbolic value. Buried alive, or solitary confinement, is certainly one of the major themes in the novel. Dr. Manett spends eighteen years in solitary confinement, and Darnay spends four years imprisoned in the Bastille, too. Dickens gives a frightening account of being buried alive. As the Defarges enter the Bastille, the tumult comes to them â€Å"in a dull, subdued way,† the sky could only â€Å"by stooping low and looking up.† Perhaps Dickens’ near obsession with imprisonment could be due to the child labor he faced as he grew up, working in various factories to try to repay his father’s debt. A second proposed title was â€Å"Memory Carton.† Memory plays a fascinating and symbolic role in this novel. When Dr. Manette learns Darnay’s true name, the memory sends him into shock once again. Reflecting on his nine-day, shoemaking fit: the doctor says, â€Å"Remembrance that was the first cause of the malady. Some intense associations of a most distressing nature were vividly recalled, I think.† Later on in the novel, memory plays a big role in Carton. The memory of his love for Lucie, his promise to â€Å"give my life to keep a life you love beside you,† causes him to make the ultimate sacrifice. Dickens’ proposed novel titles reveal are very symbolic. Dickens’ chapter titles and proposed novel titles reveal many underlying parts of the novel. Both symbolism and ironic humor are concealed within his clever and witty titles. Dickens’ tongue in cheek humor might have derived from all the hardships that he faced in life, from the child labor to the divorces and family issues. Either way, he is a fascinating author, and A Tale of Two Cities is a great piece of literature. Works Consulted: Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Edited and with an introduction and notes by Richard Maxwell. London: Penguin Classics (2003) ISBN 978-0-141-43960-0 Orwell, George. â€Å"Charles Dickens†. In A Collection of Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1946) ISBN 0-15-618600-4