Thursday, September 3, 2020

Oedipus Rex Innocence vs Guilt free essay sample

A sentiment of regret emerging from a genuine or envisioned commission of an offense It is dvantageous if an individual has full information. Having that full information can be helpful to him/her from numerous points of view. One can utilize it to support his/her own self and others at whatever point issues are experienced. He/she can devise approaches to tackle whatever issues he/she or others may confront. He/she can think of the best answers for the contentions since he/she definitely know the circumstances and end results, outcomes and aftereffects of every issue and arrangement. In any case, what is better in having full information is that an individual can discover approaches to keep away from he issue; Just like in the wellbeing banners, Prevention is superior to fix. What's more, if an individual can't maintain a strategic distance from it, in any event he can be set up for it. Hence, he/she don't have to encounter more agony and sufferings that the issue may bring. We will compose a custom paper test on Oedipus Rex: Innocence versus Guilt or on the other hand any comparative point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Another ramifications of full information is that one can pick up regard and confidence. Numerous individuals will look profoundly on him/her in view of that full information. They will regard him/her since he/she is an image of truth and information. Choragos: This is Teiresias, this is the blessed prophet In whom, alone everything being equal, truth was born(Fitts and Fitzgerald: 485). Likewise, individuals will think about him/her as an extraordinary individual, which may build a people confidence. Also, along these lines, there is an inclination that others will make him/her pioneer or leader of the gathering or society. Furthermore, if not a pioneer, he/she may be viewed as their guide in their lives. In any case, beside every one of those focal points of full information, it has likewise its weakness. Having full information can be irksome, as well. To start with, it is on the grounds that it may influence a people relationship with others. A few people, on the off chance that they realize that he has full information, probably won't approach him since they are apprehensive. They feel that since he knows all, solitary their off-base doings and considerations are the one to be seen and therefore, they will be taunted or mocked by him. Additionally, individuals will be terrified to confront him in view of his insight about others lives, and on the off chance that they plan something horrendous for him, he may walk out on them. Besides, it is inconvenient on the grounds that there are realities and circumstances that are difficult to acknowledge. In the event that he can't acknowledge it, there will be a few propensities that he will get crazy, or most exceedingly terrible, end his own life. In any case, regardless of whether the reality/circumstance is as of now acknowledged, nother issue despite everything stimulate, and that is when others needed to catch wind of it. It is difficult to talk about what he knows since it might hurt others. Teiresias: How But caused myself to overlook. I ought not have come. (Fitts and Fitzgerald: 505). Having just incomplete information has its own risk. In the event that lone incomplete information is controlled by an individual, he may commit an error or do unseemly activities. The presumptions he makes about an individual or a circumstance may not be right, which may prompt another, more noteworthy issue. Rather than having the option to tackle the contention, it just become most noticeably terrible on the grounds that the entire detail was absent. Another peril of fractional information is that the individuals will make some hard memories tackling the contention they are confronting. Also, as a result of it, their sufferings will be drawn out. Choragos: The King was said to have been slaughtered by a robbers Oedipus: I know But we have no witnesses(Fitts and Fitzgerald: 485) One of the issues of Oedipus was that he knew his genuine cause. The announcement Know thyself is noteworthy provided that Oedipus completely know himself, the wrongdoings he had submitted may be kept from occurring. Having known his own self, obviously, incorporate his genuine root. It is on the grounds that his beginning was of his personality. Yet, since he didn't attempt to find progressively about himself, the parricide and inbreeding occurred. In the first place, Oedipus doesn't look at all of what he has done in his life up until this point. He just realized what great he has never really individuals around him, and that made him excessively glad. What's more, due to this he didn't interest to gain more data about his life. One can not fill a cup that is as of now full. Oedipus is a heartbreaking character, and yet, a lamentable one. He is a lamentable in light of the fact that he endured so much particularly when he discovered that he is the killer hom he looks for. He has insight, influence and riches but since of the wrongdoing, every last bit of it went to squander. In any case, Oedipus is likewise lamentable in light of the fact that he endeavor to get away from Corinth to maintain a strategic distance from the prediction, yet he wound up satisfying the prescience. It is on the grounds that he didn't initially affirm if the mother and father that were in the prediction were Polybos and Merope of Corinth; and he didn't discover confirmations that they were his genuine guardians. On the off chance that he discover confirmations, at that point there is a likelihood that his life would not prompt what the prediction prognosticated. Hes pitiable in light of the fact that he turned into a survivor (of the ncidents that stumbled upon him), he could just do however to respond. Oedipus became animated on account of Laios and Jocaste, yet had been wished likewise by them to be pulverized that in the earliest reference point, Oedipus has not been given a decision. 3. Truly, Oedipus is ethically and legitimately blameworthy of his wrongdoings he has submitted the activity. What's more, parricide and interbreeding is against the virtues and law of the general public. His obliviousness of data/information legitimizes his wrongdoings. Oedipus ought to have attempted to find increasingly about him. He ought to have search for confirmations that Justify that he was he child of Polybos and Merope, particularly when he heard what the inebriated man have said about him. Oedipus: At a blowout, a tanked man maundering in his cups Cries out that I am not my dads child! (Fitts and Fitzgerald: 498) After he heard that, got some information about it and discovered that it was an untruth, he should be ameliorated and felt quiet as of now. Yet, an abnormal inclination was still in his psyche, directly from that point and there, he ought to have look for confirmations about the announcements of the alcoholic man and his folks. Oedipus: yet the doubt remained continually hurting in my psyche. I knew here was discussion; I was unable to rest (Fitts and Fitzgerald: 499) He ought to be the one to Delphi, since he was excused, he ought to be increasingly resolved to discover reality with regards to his inception. Be that as it may, since he didn't do promote examinations, despite the fact that he has doubts, he wound up carrying out the violations. On his way to another Journey, however he has an explanation, it is as yet not honest to kill a man and his gatekeepers Just to guarantee an option to proceed. What is the estimation of that street contrasted with the lives of men? Sensible or not, individuals chooses for themselves in this manner individuals have options and decisions are trailed by obligations.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Expressing Your Emotions in Your Essay Topics

Expressing Your Emotions in Your Essay TopicsIt is never easy to pick out the perfect topic for your expressive essay. As it takes time and effort to research your topic, and there is also the time factor involved when writing a good essay.There are many writers who are aware of what the different essay topics are. Some even write about each topic at least once before they submit their essay. However, for the rest of us, we have to be a little more adventurous when it comes to choosing our topic.There are a wide variety of subject areas that you can choose from. Some of the topics include but are not limited to, the following:Race - There are very many essays that deal with the issue of race. For example, I have seen essays that focus on the American Slavery. Those that do not talk about the slavery in America generally do not discuss the realities of slavery that existed thousands of years ago.Classism - This is another of the essay topics that you can choose from. You can even writ e a number of them and compare the progress of inequality. There are many subjects that you can discuss regarding the classes and inequality.Family Issues - You can also write about the problems that exist within a family. The family can be an avenue that you can use to address some issues that you may be facing. Those who write on these topics often come across as very confident and articulate in the way they write about the issues.Ethics - Some argue that there is a fundamental difference between ethics and morals, and this difference is usually based on the person's perception of morality. However, there are other subjects that you can write about, such as economics.Expressiveness - There are many ways that you can express your emotions and ideas. However, one of the best ways to express yourself is through your writing. That is why expressive essay topics are so popular.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Teaching Philosophy Statement :: Education Educational Educating Essays

Showing Philosophy Statement At the point when I came to State College, I bantered on a significant, attempting to discover a vocation that would be fulfilling for an amazing remainder, or possibly until retirement. I frequently thought about whether I could ever discover a vocation wherein I could coordinate the entirety of my vitality. After much considering, I concluded that instruction is the correct way for me. I currently find that in addition to the fact that I want to apply the entirety of my vitality, yet in addition my enthusiasm toward aiding and instructing kids. Instruction is a significant piece of the present society. Instructing is a method of making society a superior spot for the present age and our kids. Educating may not appear to be a significant profession to certain individuals, however when I recall my very own portion educators, I understand what a significant job that they played in my life. Indeed, even today, in school, a large number of these Professors will never know the effect they have made on my life. Numerous individuals want to be an instructor from the time that they are kids. They play school with kin and pretending drives them to a vocation. My profession decision was very extraordinary. I had never viewed as a profession in instruction in light of all the terrible things that you hear that they need to experience, and how little they got paid for it. Presently I accept that realizing that you have affected one youngster's life; that makes you increasingly rich that the entirety of the cash on the planet. This was my perspective until my sophomore year of secondary school. I had English Honors with Coach McCall, a genuine motivation. Abruptly, I wound up in incredible expectation of class and longing for more information. It wasn't until I had Coach McCall again my senior year that I concluded that I needed to spur individuals the way that he did. I needed to see their eyes light up when they have arrived at a specific degree of appreciation. More than anything, I needed to motivate children to learn. It was that year that I understood that the prize for instructing is a lot more noteworthy than cash.

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Risk Management Practices Of Commercial Banks In Pakistan - Free Essay Example

ABSTRACT The agreement on international banking regulations dealing with how the banks handle the risk, the Basel Accord mainly focuses on the credit risk; according the Basel accord the bank assets divided into five main categories according to how they are risky. The five main categories are as (1) is assets without risk means 0% risk weighted, second one is 10% risk weighted, 3rd is 20% weighted, 4th is 50% weighted and last one is 100% weighted. When the banks perform international transactions they are required according the Basel Accord to hold assets minimum 8% aggregated risk according the Basel 1. The Basel 1 was written in 1988 by the Basel committee on banking supervision. All Banks of G-10 countries have try to implement this accord since the early 1990s. Now a days it is considered largely outdated and Basel committee working on Basel 1 to changing process in the shape of Basel II. This is also called Basel I accord. The document Basel I Capital Accord mainly designs to evaluate the capital in relation with the credit risk, and also the risk that can be a cause of losses in which the risk will occur if the party fail or unable to fulfill the obligations. It is mainly focus on the risk increasing modeling research process that is improvement toward the risk increasing research mode; however, it is over simplified calculations, and also classifications that have been simultaneously called for its disappearance, but the improvement in the shape of the Basel II Capital Accord and also other further agreements that are the sign for the continuously refinement for the risk and c apital in the banking sector. Nevertheless, the document Basel I accords, will remain the first international instrument that evaluate the importance of risk with the relationship to capital, and also will remain as a milestone in the banking sector like finance and banking history. This study is mainly related to the risk management practices being followed by the commercial Banks in Pakistan. The questionnaire is used as a main tool to collect primary data and check the extent to which the risk management practices are being carried upon by the commercial banks in Pakistan. The six important aspects of risk management process are categorized as one dependent and five explanatory variables. This study aims to investigate the awareness about risk management practices within the banking sector of Pakistan. This study is comprised of data collected through both, primary as well as secondary sources. The purpose of using primary source data is to check the extent to which different risk management practices have been followed by the commercial banks in Pakistan. Primary data is collected through the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises a number of statements under one macro statement. It includes Risk Management Practices (RMP) as the dependent variable, and different aspects of risk management as the independent or explanatory variables. Whereas, the objective to use secondary data is to link the risk weighted Capital Adequacy Ratio to the different financial indicators of the commercial banks that are used to measure their soundness. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Risk management practices by the Commercial Banks Within the last few years, a number of studies have provided the discipline into the practice of risk management within the corporate and banking sector. An insight of related studies is as follows: Amran, et al. (2009), this article mention the possible availability of risk exposÃÆ' © in the annual reports of the Malaysian companies. The study was aimed to empirically test the characteristics of the sampled companies. And also the level of risk faced by Malaysian companies with the disclosure made was also assessed and compared. The findings of the research revealed that the strategic risk came on the top, followed by the operations and empowerment risks being disclosed by the selected companies. The regression analysis proved significantly that size of the companies did matter. The stakeholder theory explains well this finding by stating that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“As company grows bigger, it will have a large pool of stakeholders, who would be interested in knowing the affairs of the company.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? The extent of risk disclosure was also found to be influenced by the nature of industry. As explored within this study, infrastructure and technology industries influenced the companies to have more risk information disclosed. Hassan, A. (2009), made a study à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Risk Management Practices of Islamic Banks of Brunei Darussalamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? to assess the degree to which the Islamic banks in Brunei Darussalam implemented risk management practices and carried them out thoroughly by using different techniques to deal with various kinds of risks. The results of the study showed that, like the conventional banking system, Islamic banking was also subjected to a variety of risks due to the unique range of offered products in addition to conventional products. The results showed that there was a remarkable understanding of risk and risk management by the staff working in the Islamic Banks of Brunei Darussalam, which showed their ability to pave their wa y towards successful risk management. The major risks that were faced by Brunei banks that was the Foreign exchange risk as well as credit risk and also operating risk. For the analysis regression model was used to explain the results which shown that the Risk Identification, or Risk Assessment and Analysis were also the most uncontrollable variables and the Islamic banks in Brunei needed to give more attention to those variables to make their Risk Management Practices more effective by understanding the true application of Basel-II Accord to improve the efficiency of Islamic Bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s risk management systems. Al-Tamimi (2008) studied the relationship among the readiness of implementing Basel II Accord and resources needed for its implementation in UAE banks. Results of the research revealed that the banks in UAE were aware of the benefits, impact and challenges associated in the implementation of Basel II Accord. However, the research did not confirm any positive r elationship between UAE banks readiness for the implementation of Basel II and impact of the implementation. The relationship between readiness and anticipated cost of implementation was also not confirmed. No significant difference was found in the level of Basel II Accordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s preparation between the UAE national and foreign banks. It was concluded that there was a significant difference in the level of the UAE banks Basel II based on employees education level. The results supported the importance of education level needed for the implementation of Basel II Accord. Al-Tamimi and Al- Mazrooei (2007) provide the comprehensive study relating of Bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Risk Management of UAE National and Foreign Banks. The outcome of this research is to find out that there are three most important types of risks facing the UAE commercial banks that were foreign exchange risk, 2nd one followed by credit risk and 3rd one is operating risk. And the result also found that the bank of UAE were also efficiently handle the risk; but the variables like as the risk identification, risk assessment and also analysis proved that the banks are more efficient in risk management process. Finally, the outcome of the result showed that there was a huge difference if we compare the UAE National banks and foreign Banks in the practicing the risk assessment and risk analysis as well as risk monitoring and risk controlling process. Koziol and Lawrenz (2008) provided a study in which they assessed the risk of bank failures. They said that assessing the risk related to bank failures is the paramount concern of bank regulations. They argued that in order to assess the default risk of a bank, it is important considering its financing decisions as an endogenous dynamic process. The research study provided a continuous-time model, where banks chose the deposit volume in order to trade off the benefits of earning deposit premiums against the costs that would occur at fu ture capital structure adjustments. Major findings suggested that the dynamic endogenous financing decision introduced an important self-regulation mechanism. Basel Core Principles and Bank Risk: Does Compliance Matter? The recent financial crisis has sparked widespread calls for reforms of regulation and supervision. The initial reaction to the crisis was one of disbelief: how could such extensive financial distress emerge in countries where the supervision of financial risk had been thought to be the best in the world? Indeed, the regulatory standards and protocols of the advanced countries at the center of the financial storm were being emulated worldwide through the progressive adoption of the international Basel capital standards and the Basel Core Principles for Effective Bank Supervision (BCPs). The crisis exposed significant weaknesses in the financial system regulatory and supervisory framework worldwide, and has spawned a growing debate about the role these weaknesses may have played in causing and propagating the crisis. As a result, reform of regulation and supervision is a top priority for policymakers, and many countries are working to upgrade their frameworks. But what should the reforms focus on? What constitutes good regulation and supervision? Which elements are most important for ensuring bank soundness? What should be the scope of regulation? To date, the best practices in supervision and regulation have been embodied by the BCPs. These principles were issued in 1997 by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision, comprising representatives from bank supervisory agencies from advanced countries. Since then, most countries in the world have stated their intent to adopt and comply with the BCPs, making them a global standard for bank regulators. Importantly, since 1999, the IMF and the World Bank have conducted evaluations of countriesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ compliance with these principles, mainly within their joint Financial Sector Assessment program (FSAP). The assessments are conducted according to a standardized methodology developed by the Basel Committee and therefore provide a unique source of information about the quality of supervision and regulation around the world. Hence the international community has made significant investments in developing these principles, encouraging their wide-spread adoption, and assessing progress with their compliance. In light of the recent crisis and the resulting skepticism about the effectiveness of existing approaches to regulation and supervision, it is natural to ask if compliance with the global standard of good regulation is associated with bank soundness. Specifically, they test whether better compliance with BCPs is associated with safer banks. They also look at whether compliance with different elements of the BCP framework is more closely associated with bank soundness to identify if there are specific areas which would help prioritize reform efforts to improve supervision. The paper extends their previous work (DemirgÃÆ' ¼ÃƒÆ' §-Kunt, Detragiache and Tressel, 2008: henceforth DDT), in which they showed that banks receive more favorable financial strength ratings from Mo odyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s in countries with better compliance with BCPs related to information provision, while compliance with other principles does not affect ratings significantly. The policy message from this study was that countries should give priority to strengthening regulation and regulation in the area of information provision (both to the market and to supervisors) relative to other areas covered by the core principles. Using rating information to proxy bank risk significantly limited the sample size in that study, making it necessary to exclude many smaller banks and many banks from lower income countries. Furthermore, after the recent crisis, the credibility of credit ratings as indicators of bank risk has also diminished, questioning the merit of using these ratings in the analysis. In this paper, they explore whether BCP compliance affects bank soundness, but instead of using ratings they capture bank soundness using the Z-score, which is the number of standard deviat ions by which bank returns have to fall to wipe out bank equity (Boyd and Runkle, 1993). Because they can construct Z-scores using just accounting information, and because assessment data for additional countries have also become available, they can extend the sample size considerably relative to our earlier study, to over 3,000 banks from 86 countries (compared to 200 banks from 37 countries analyzed in DDT). This is not just a simple increase in sample size: the sample of rated banks was not a representative sample, because rated banks tend to be larger, more internationally active, and more likely to adhere to international accounting standards. From a policy point of view, they would like to investigate the effect of BCP compliance on all types of banks operating in different country circumstances, rather than a select subgroup. In this study, the richer sample allows us to explore whether the relationship between BCPs and bank soundness varies across different types of banks. All in all, they do not find support for the hypothesis that better compliance with BCPs results in sounder banks as measured by Z-scores. This result holds after controlling for the macroeconomic environment, institutional quality, and bank characteristics. They also fail to find a significant relationship when they consider different samples, such a sample of rated banks only, a sample including only commercial banks, and samples including only the largest financial institutions. In an additional test, they calculate aggregate Z-scores at the country level to try to capture the stability of the system as a while rather than that of individual banks, but also this measure of soundness is not significantly related to overall BCP compliance. When they explore the relationship between soundness and compliance with specific groups of principles, which refer to separate areas of prudential supervision and regulation, they continue to find no evidence that good compliance is related to improved soundness. If anything, they find that stronger compliance with principles related to the power of supervisors to license banks and regulate market structure are associated with riskier banks. While these results cast doubts on whether international efforts to improve financial regulation and supervision should continue to place a strong emphasis on BCPs, a number of caveats are in order. First, insignificant results may simply indicate that accounting-based measures, such as Zscores, do not adequately capture bank soundness, especially for small banks and in low income countries, where accounting standards tend to be poor. They may also reflect low quality in the assessment of BCP compliance, especially in countries where laws and regulations on the books may carry little weight. It might be also argued that assessments are not comparable across countries, despite the best efforts of expert supervisors and internal reviewing teams at the IMF and the World Bank to ensur e a uniform methodology and uniform standards. If their negative results arise because compliance assessments do not reflect reality or are not comparable across countries, then at a minimum they should lead us to question the value of these assessments in ensuring that supervision measures up to global standards. Review of related literature of this paper is as follows: Defining good regulatory and supervisory practices is a difficult and complicated task. Barth, Caprio, and Levine (2001, 2004, and 2006) were the first to compile and analyze an extensive database on banking sector laws and regulations using various surveys of regulators around the world, and to study the relationship between alternative regulatory strategies and outcomes. This research finds that regulatory approaches that facilitate private sector monitoring of banks (such as disclosure of reliable, comprehensive and timely information) and strengthen incentives for greater market monitoring (for example by limiting deposit insurance) improve bank performance and stability. In contrast, boosting official supervisory oversight and disciplinary powers and tightening capital standards does not lead to banking sector development, nor does it improve bank efficiency, reduce corruption in lending, or lower banking system fragility. They interpret their findings as a challenge to the Basel Committeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s influential approach to bank regulation which heavily emphasizes capital and official supervision. An important limitation of this type of survey is that it mainly captures rules and regulations that are on the books rather than actual implementation. IMF and the World Bank financial sector assessments have often found implementation to be lacking, particularly in low income countries, so that cross-country comparisons of what is on the books may hide substantial variation in the quality of supervision and regulation. BCP assessments have the advantage of taking into account imp lementation. Of course, assessing how rules and regulations are implemented and enforced in practice is not an exact science, and individual assessments may be influenced by factors such as the assessorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ experience and the regulatory culture they are most familiar with. Nevertheless, although it is difficult to eliminate subjectivity completely, assessments are based on a standardized methodology and are carried out by experienced international assessors with broad country experience. Cihak and Tieman (2008) analyze the quality of financial sector regulation and supervision using both Barth, Caprio and Levineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s survey data and BCP assessments. They find that regulation and supervision in high-income countries is generally of higher quality than in lower income countries. They also note that the correlation between survey data and BCP data tend to be low, always less than 50 percent and in many cases in the 20-30 percent range, suggesting that ta king into account implementation may indeed make an important difference. A number of papers also use BCP assessments to study bank regulation and performance. Sundararajan, Marston, and Basu (2001) use a sample of 25 countries to examine the relationship between an overall index of BCP compliance and two indicators of bank soundness: nonperforming loans (NPLs) and loan spreads. They find BCP compliance not to be a significant determinant of these measures of soundness. Podpiera (2004) extends the set of countries and finds that better BCP compliance lowers NPLs. Das et al. (2005) relates bank soundness to a broader concept of regulatory governance, which encompasses compliance with the BCPs as well as compliance with standards and codes for monetary and financial policies. Better regulatory governance is found to be associated with sounder banks, particularly in countries with better institutions. In this paper, as already discussed they rely on the Z-score to measure bank sound ness. While the Z-score has its limitations, they believe it is an improvement over measures used in previous studies, namely NPLs, loan spreads, interest margins, and capital adequacy. Because different countries have different reporting rules, NPLs are notoriously difficult to compare across countries. On the other hand, loan spreads or interest margins and capitalization are affected by a variety of forces other than fragility, such as market structure, differences in risk-free interest rates and operating costs, and varying capital regulation. Thus, cross-country comparability is a serious issue. In contrast with ratings, Z-scores do not rely on the subjective judgment of rating agenciesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ analysts. Results from the baseline regression, relating bank soundness measured by the Z-score to the degree of compliance with the BCPs. In the sample including all countries, the Zscore is higher, indicating a sounder bank, for banks with lower operating costs in countrie s with higher GDP per capita. Also, non-commercial banks tend to have higher Z-scores, while the other control variables are not significant. The coefficient of the BCP compliance index is positive but not significant. If they exclude Japanese banks, which account for over 20 percent of the sample, the fit of the model improves markedly (the R-squared increases from 10 percent to 19 percent) and the coefficients of many regressors change substantially.12 This suggests that the variables explaining the Z-score of Japanese banks may be somewhat different than for the rest of the sample, perhaps because of the lingering effects of Japanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s prolonged banking crisis on bank balance sheets. For example, in the sample excluding Japan inflation and the rule of law index are significant (with the expected coefficients), while GDP per capita is not (though the coefficient remains positive). Also, banks with a higher ratio of net loans to assets have higher Z-scores, perh aps because Basel regulation mandating minimum levels of risk-adjustment capital forces these banks to hold more equity. Also, in the sample excluding Japan larger banks have lower Z-scores, likely because they tend to hold less capital than smaller banks. Despite these differences, the coefficient of the BCP compliance index remains insignificantly different from zero also in the sample without Japanese banks. The same is true when they add to the regression additional macro controls, such as exchange rate appreciation, private credit, or the sovereign rating. In the regressions, they explore how the relationship between BCP compliance and bank soundness changes if they alter the sample composition to include various categories of financial institutions to explore whether BCP compliance may affect soundness for alternative types of banks. All these results refer to the sample excluding Japan, so that the overrepresentation of Japanese banks does not distort the results. The first e xercise is to examine the widest sample possible, i.e. one that includes investment banks/securities houses, medium and long-term credit banks, nonbank credit institutions, and specialized government credit institutions. These are institutions that in most countries are unlikely to fall under the perimeter of bank regulation and supervision, so they have excluded them from the baseline sample. When they include them, the sample size grows by 25 percent, but the main regression results are unchanged. In particular, bank soundness is not significantly affected by compliance with the BCPs. If they restrict the sample to commercial banks only, thereby losing about 300 banks compared to the baseline sample, once again they find that regression results remain very close to the baseline. When they focus only on banks rated by Moodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, as in our earlier work, the sample shrinks considerably (to just over 300 banks), and the coefficient of the BCP compliance index becomes positive and significant, albeit only at the 10 percent confidence level. Thus, BCP compliance seems to have some positive effect on the soundness of this specific group of banks. To explore this issue further, they ask whether this result is driven by the fact that rated banks are larger banks. To do so, they consider two alternative samples: the first includes the largest 10 percent of banks within each country and the second includes the largest 20 percent of banks in the entire sample. In both cases, the BCP compliance index has an insignificant coefficient, as in the baseline sample. The BCP compliance index is the weighted sum of compliance scores for several individual chapters of the Core Principles. Could it be that, even though overall compliance does not seem to matter for bank soundness, some aspects of the Core Principles might be relevant? In fact, it may be possible that the overall index is not significant because of offsetting effects of its different components . In fact, in our previous study of Moodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ratings, they found that, although overall compliance did not seem to matter, higher financial strength ratings were associated with better compliance with principles related to information provision to supervisors. They address this question by re-running the baseline regressions breaking down the compliance index into seven components, based on the standard grouping of principles used by the Basel Committee. An important caveat is that compliance scores are fairly strongly correlated, which may make it difficult to disentangle the effect of one set of principles from the others. They replicate the regression for different samples of banks to investigate the robustness of the results. There is only one component of the compliance index that has a fairly robust relationship with bank Z-scores, and that is compliance with Chapter 2 of the BCP, i.e. principles having to do with supervisorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ powers to regu late bank licensing and structure. Interestingly, this component of the index is negatively correlated with bank soundness, so that banks in countries were regulators have better defined powers to give out licenses and regulate bank activities tend to be riskier. This result holds in all the samples except those including only the largest banks. This finding supports the contention that supervisory systems that tend to empower supervisors do not work well (Barth, Caprio, and Levine, 2001, 2004, 2006). So far, they have considered individual bank risk. In principle, bank supervision and regulation should be primarily concerned with systemic risk, rather than individual bank risk, although in practice it is not always easy to make this distinction. Could it be that BCP compliance, while not relevant to individual bank soundness, is important to ensure the stability of system as a whole? To address this question, it would be ideal to test whether BCP compliance reduces the probabili ty of a financial crisis. However, since crises are rare events, this type of test requires a panel of data; since they have BCP compliance assessments only at a point in time, they are restricted to cross-sectional data. Nonetheless, to explore this question they compute a rough measure of systemic soundness as the aggregate equivalent of the individual bank Z-score. More specifically, they aggregate profits and equity of all the banks in the country (for which they have data), they compute the standard deviation of aggregate profits, and then they compute an aggregate Z-score. This measure tells us by how many standard deviations banking system profits must fall to exhaust all the capital in the banking system. They then regress this measure on the BCP compliance score and a number of macroeconomic control variables. Their measure of systemic soundness is correlated with the macro variables as one might expect: higher growth, low inflation, low inflation volatility, appreciatio n of the currency, favorable sovereign ratings are all significantly associated with higher values of the aggregate Z-score. Once again, though, the BCP compliance index does not seem to be a significant determinant of banking system soundness. Though it is positive, the coefficient of the BCP index is small and not statistically significant in any specification. Remarks While the causes and consequences of the recent financial crisis will continue to be debated for years to come, there is emerging consensus that the crisis has revealed significant weaknesses in the regulatory and supervisory system. Resulting calls for reform have led to numerous proposals and policymakers in many countries are hard at work to upgrade their regulatory frameworks. This paper seeks to inform the on-going reform process by providing an analysis of how existing regulations and their application are associated with bank soundness. Specifically, they study whether compliance with Basel Core Principles for effective banking supervision (BCPs) is associated with lower bank risk, as measured Z-scores. They find no evidence of a robust statistical relationship linking better compliance with BCPs and improved bank soundness. The analysis of aggregate Z-scores to capture systemic stability issues yields similarly insignificant results. If anything, they find that compliance w ith a specific group of principles, those giving supervisors powers to regulate bank licensing and structure is associated with riskier banks, potentially suggesting that such powers may be misused in practice. While our results may reflect the difficulty of capturing bank risk using accounting measures, or the inability of assessors to carry out evaluations that are comparable across countries, nevertheless they raise questions about the relevance of the Basel Core Principles, the current emphasis on these principles as key to effective supervision, and the wisdom of carrying out costly periodic compliance reviews of BCP implementation in the IMF/World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Programs.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Explain and discuss Sociology concepts - 755 Words

Astride Victor Sociology 101 Prof. Michael Fraser December 6, 2012 Explain and discuss Sociology concepts. State assumptions and provide examples from the articles to support and strengthen your point of view. Offer your opinion. Write references correctly using the ASA format. c) Ten other sociological concepts (five from each article) Symbol: Is anything a sound, a gesture, an image, an object that represents something else. Refer to the article, the 12 year old Autumn lost her life for nothing after a short communication on face book with the young guy for her own bike for example: The story was on TV (news) they said their mother said â€Å"She saw something in one of their face book posting and she called the†¦show more content†¦But it’s depended on what kind of movies did he watch when his parents not home? Specially action movies. How long did he stay on TV or computer? what kind of friend did he have? How his family interacted with him? At that age this is ridiculous. Baxter and Queally (2012) reported that Autumn body was found in a recycling garbage container next door to teenager’s home. References: Croteau, David amp; Hoynes, William. 2013. Experience Sociology. New York: Mc Craw- Hill. WWW.N.J. com / News/ index. SSF/2012 /10 face book conversation between.ht ml WWW.N.J.com/politics/ index.SSF/2012/11/FBI agents raid Union CityShow MoreRelatedIs There A Sociology Of Love?1046 Words   |  5 PagesTopic: Can There Be A Sociology Of Love? The word love has different meanings depending on what context it is used in, sometimes it means having deep affection towards someone or something, love for but here I am going to try and answer the question, â€Å"Is there a sociology of love?†. In my essay I am going to discuss a sociology of love referring to the article of the study conducted by Gabb and Fink, in which they use multiple research methods relationships behaviours and personal lives. They haveRead MoreDualism of Human Nature Essay684 Words   |  3 PagesDurkheim also uses The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (EFRL) to discuss the religious aspect of the body and soul. Upon reading, it is discovered that as society evolves, so does this â€Å"dual nature.† In DHN, Durkheim argues that sociology must examine what an individual consists of because it is a result of the whole society. It is this society which determines an individuals’ temperament or being. â€Å"Although sociology is defined as the science of societies, it cannot, in reality, deal withRead MoreSociology : Social Science And Sociology1386 Words   |  6 Pagesto the history of sociology, it was the nineteenth century that sociology emerged, with the word ‘ sociology ’ appeared in the Cours de philosophie Positive Book 4[ Auguste Comte,1838 Cours de philosophie Positive] by Comte in 1838. The social forces, however, were complicated actually, which included both social, economical, cultural and even a little bit of political or religious elements. This essay explains these factors in the following part. 2.1 Social Science and Sociology The philosophesRead MoreSociological Reflection1258 Words   |  6 PagesShahidullah Soc 205-09 11 Dec 2017 Take Home Final When most people think about sociology they generally think of the study of sociology. However, sociology is much deeper than just the study of sociology. It displays a plethora of sub topics such as: crime, deviance, bureaucracy, culture, criminality, socialization, economy, politics, religion, education, social class and many more. Throughout this fall semester this sociology course has taught me things that I could never imagine. To be more specificRead MoreTraditional Approaches Of The Family1500 Words   |  6 Pagesthis take home exam, the addressed questions will be number one, â€Å"Explain traditional approaches to studying the family. How have sociologists evolved in thinking about the family? Discuss the role Engles and Parson played. Give examples of how you believe the study of the family has evolved.† as well as question number four, â€Å"Many of the conversations within this class have discussed the different types of family and parenting. Discuss the major i ssues in parenting and the different styles. You mayRead MoreNursing Pyramid644 Words   |  3 Pagescomponents interact, Courses already taken, biology, math, chemistry, physiology, pathophysiology, anatomy Here we use knowledge to some complex patient care issues Other main component is social sciences-psychology, sociology, economics, finance, adult learning theories Discuss how knowledge of basic physical and social science impact nursing decisions and intervention. Consider how your knowledge of theories affect your assessment and decisions about patient care in your practice setting NextRead MoreGramsciS Approach To Ideology Proposes That Oppressed1544 Words   |  7 Pagesclass work extremely long labour hours and do not have the opportunity to discuss their oppositional views with a group. Yet, Gramsci’s commentary and introduction to hegemony are particularly pertinent to the development of Marxist ideology as hegemony delivers a way of comprehending the circumstances in which informal educators function and ability to scrutinise and alter this (Burke, 1999, 2005). Althusser used the concept of ideology to analyse the influence of the ruling class and society’s institutionsRead MoreEssay about Sociology Midterm955 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿1. Define the sociological perspective or imagination, cite its components, and explain how they were defended by C. Wright Mills. The sociological imagination is defined as being a way of thinking that helps us use information or data to form theories about the social patterns around us. We collect information and from that information we may make judgments or prediction. However we cannot view society in one’s own point of view. Everyone is different so it is important to not only form our ownRead MoreEconomy and State: A Sociological Perspective724 Words   |  3 PagesSociological Perspective, written by Nina Bandelj and Elizabeth Sowers, explains the economic foundation of the state by discussing the governance of property and money, in correlation to labor and firms, ending in economic development and internationalization/globalization. Bandelj and Sowers’, target audiences for this book seemed to be intended for those individuals wanting to learn the basics of economics from an economic sociology perspective allowing readers to broaden their minds, while drawingRead MoreCritical Theory, Fu nctionalism And Symbolic Interactionism Essay1351 Words   |  6 PagesIn sociology, there are three major theories; critical theory, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. These theories express the structure of society in which each theory looks at a different aspects of sociology. Sociologists apply these theories in the study of society, but it becomes difficult if only one theory is applied. For that one applied theory, would only look at the aspect to which it is confined to. To successfully study sociology all three theories must be applied together. Critical

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Our Difficult Journey Towards Universal Suffrage - 958 Words

Our difficult journey towards universal suffrage As the text book defines it, franchise or suffrage is the right to vote. In the United States, it took many years to gain universal suffrage, or the ability of all citizens to have the right to vote. In the late 1700’s only about 5% of Americans were eligible to vote (wealthy, white, males of certain religious affiliations). By the early 1800’s, the properly ownership and religion requirements were dropped allowing most white males to vote. Even though the 14th amendment gave citizenship to everyone born or naturalized in the country, the first real legislation towards giving men of color the right to vote was the 15th amendment. The amendment ratified in 1870 stated that the â€Å"right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude [library of congress, 1]. Technically speaking, this federal legislation should have been given the blacks the right to vote regardless of their status. However, this was not popular with the white establishment in the southern states in particular, as they quickly found loopholes and other techniques until 1965 to effectively block the votes from being cast. Although this was meant to affect the black population for the most part, these techniques affected the whites who were poor as well. Among others, the most common ways to disenfranchise were the use of violence, pollShow MoreRelatedAfrican Americans: Past, Present, and Future1976 Words   |  8 Pagesbeing put down for having a darker skin tone than â€Å"the man†. Although things of this sort occurred, it never brought an end to hope, and now the horrific past has become a promising future. Slavery was one of the first mishaps to occur in our American history. Slavery is defined as the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship, whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, or fortune. Abraham Lincoln, one of America’s strongest leadersRead MoreEconomics Of Latin Americ Costa Rica3079 Words   |  13 Pagestheir presidents to change the way the country works. Jose Figueres was probably the most impactful on Costa Rica in terms of making it easier for the state intervene in the economy. Costa Rica has gone through much change throughout its existence in our history. An estimated 400,000 Indians inhabited the land when Christopher Columbus explored its country in 1502 (Anywhere Costa Rica, n.d.). However, initial attempts at colonizing in the 16th century proved unsuccessful due to a combination of factorsRead More Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Escape From an Oppressive Society6239 Words   |  25 PagesSociety America... land of the free and home of the brave; the utopian society which every European citizen desired to be a part of in the 18th and 19th centuries. The revolutionary ideas of The Age of Enlightenment such as democracy and universal male suffrage were finally becoming a reality to the philosophers and scholars that so elegantly dreamt of them. America was a playground for the ideas of these enlightened men. To Europeans, and the world for that matter, America had become a kind ofRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesJean H. Quataert 116 5 The Impact of the Two World Wars in a Century of Violence †¢ John H. Morrow Jr. 161 6 Locating the United States in Twentieth-Century World History †¢ Carl J. Guarneri 213 7 The Technopolitics of Cold War: Toward a Transregional Perspective †¢ Gabrielle Hecht and Paul N. Edwards 271 8 A Century of Environmental Transitions †¢ Richard P. Tucker 315 About the Contributors †¢ 343 _ IN TR OD UC TIO N Michael Adas B y any of theRead MoreFor Against by L.G. Alexander31987 Words   |  128 Pagesforward in these essays do not necessarily reflect the personal opinions of the author. vi To the Teacher THE CONVERSATION LESSON In most advanced English courses, time is usually set aside for conversation lessons. These can be the most difficult and most unrewarding of all the lessons the teacher is called upon to conduct. The root of the trouble is that the teacher cannot predict the course ofeach lesson. He sets a topic and then attempts to stimulate a class discussion by asking questionsRead MoreSAT Top 30 Essay Evidence18536 Words   |  75 Pagessquaw wife of the interpreter, they immediately all came out and appeared to assume new life, at the sight of this Indian woman. This confirmed those people of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter [from the expedition journal of Meriwether Lewis] â€Å"Everything she did on that journey, she did for her people.† Summary: Sacajawea is a mysterious and almost-mythical female figure in American history. Though there are few records of her lifeRead MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 Pagesin a variety of symbols, and of collective ritual activities, which initiate and conï ¬ rm individuals in the principles of Rastafari. With regard to the rapprochement between Rastafari and the rest of the society, the attitudes of the wider society toward Rastas have gone through several phases, from outright repression, to efforts of accommodation, to the cooptation of Rasta symbols and music by political campaigns of the 1970s, to the â€Å"coronation† of Bob Marley as a culture hero in the late 1970sRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 PagesEconomy Text  © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2004 4 THE POWER OF MANAGEMENT CAPITAL THE DEMANDS OF SUSTAINING PROFITABLE GROWTH IN A BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE FAST DEVOUR THE SLOW Our work in helping to increase the profitability of many of the world’s major companies (as well as our database surveys of many other companies) has made it clear that all this complexity has been changing the fundamental dimensions of business strategy and the meaning of its implementation. These changes

Great Economic Recession Or Depression †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Great Economic Recession Or Depression? Answer: Introduction: As the economy interprets, a downturn in economic activity is a position of the business cycle that shows downward trend in all of its activity and slowly enters into recession. Longer continuation of recession gives birth to great economic recession or depression. In the history of the world economic crisis, the great depression marks out its huge importance due to the impression it had enunciated. It was longest depression to sustain and had even longer impact on the entire world affecting mostly developed nation of the world (Ayerbe et al. 2012). This report presents a brief summary of the facts regarding the great depression discussing the causes, effects it had and the measures taken to deal with the impact emanating from the recession. Discussion: Time, Place Type: The exact inception and duration of the depression is controversial but accounting to the general record, the great depression started in the year 1929 and continued till 1939 and some sources says it lasted until 1941 (Hansen 2015). The deepest and worldwide impact of the great depression in the 20th century is one of the striking example of extent of economic decline in the history of western industrialized world. The inception of the depression lies in the stock market crash arising in United States of America in October 1929. The stock prices faced a steep decline in its prices and generated the crash of overall stock market that devastated the atmosphere in the Wall Street. This led to withdrawal of the investments made on stocks from the and wiped out the existence of millions of investors. The depression demanded back the loans made by US and this affected the countries taking loan from it (Brunner 2012). Moreover, the crash led to halt in the business affecting export, import that further hurt the economy of the trading countries. Canada, Australia having higher impacts compared to China, France having nor or less impact. Causes: Stock Market Crash: Leading cause behind great depression was the US stock market crash of 1929 that is treated as the inception point of the widest crisis in the history of financial crises (Tindall and Shi 2016). The crash appeared in October had resulted into loss of faith and credibility from the investors side which led to drawing back of their investment that led to demise of the stock market completely. Failure Of Banks: Another dreadful reason behind such severe economic collapse was the failure of bank. As per data, over 9000 banks failed in its operation. The uninsured savings deposited with banks hit consumers strongly reducing their wealth and affecting the consumer expenditure (Mian and Sufi 2015). The banks who managed to survive fell victim of the uncertain economic condition hence stopped credit provisions. Lower Purchasing Power As a result of the bank failure and stock price fall, the overall economic activity in form of consumption, investment expenditure fell due to lack in demand and production halted giving birth to the recession. The crisis reduced wealth of the consumers that affected consumption decision. The uncertain price and interest rate stemming from volatile and crashed stock market hit the credibility of investors that led to fall I the investment drastically. This led to fall in the national output, which further interprets, into huge unemployment reaching a level of 25% and lower income of individual purchasing power. American Economic Policy with Europe: In the context of falling business, the American government imposed Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930 to provide protection to the American business organization (Stuckler et al. 2016) . This increased the cost of trade as the importers had to pay greater import tax and consequent fall in the import. This affected the economy of European and other foreign exporter to America operated through worsening of world trade. Drought Conditions: Even though not direct cause of the depression yet the drought that broke out in Mississippi Valley during 1930, led to failure in the tax payments of the debtor farmers. They had to sell their lands for no profit and this affected the agricultural production as well as the income level of the farmers leading to further cut in the consumption. Overall Impact: The post World War I, worldwide devastation American economy emerged as one of the greatest creditor to the war trodden European countries. Germany was the greatly indebted to US for the post war payments it had. The slump of the American economy had greater spillover impact on the countries connected to it through credits or economic transaction. The investment flow towards Europe stopped leading to collapse (Hoover 2013). The great recession had interlinked impact on the economies of the world sourced from US share market fall. The event chain wise brought down the output, income, employment over the years with no sign of improvement. Since Britain and Germany was mostly indebted to US, unemployment in those countries sharply reached to 25 percent f the total workforce. The impact of the depression is reflected in the fact that the world gross domestic output fell by 15%. The severe great depression evidently collapsed the volume of world trade. Increased import tariff made imports costlier affecting world exporters. The industrial production of the countries like Germany fell to 40%, France t29% and Britain to 14% in 1931 in contrast with 1929. This clearly depicts the world entering into global crisis making the depression more painful. The negative impact of the depression lasted until 1941 affecting not only the economic scenario but also the social, political stability all over the world. Policy Measure: The greatest impact of the crisis was falling demand that further held back the production and generated low incomes, which led to low demand made. The economy was in negative trap and required a big push to get out of it. As perceived and analyzed by various economist by then, increasing demand was the greatest motive to introduce or initiate recovery worldwide. This required successful adoption of fiscal and monetary policy by the central banks and governments of the countries all over the world. To increase demand income level had to rise and that was possible only by producing more. In such situation, producing more required higher investments and government expenditure to create employment (Berton 2012). Lowering interest rate through monetary policies and lowering tax along with increasing spending of the government was common policy adopted by countries wishing to recover the lethal effect of depression. Conclusion The discussion enlightens us successfully about the dreadful impact the great depression had on the economic, political as well as social condition of the world through almost 12 years. The crisis is marked as one of the influential downturn that spilled its effect and cause die down to entire world economy. Even though it took long time but the policy measures boosting the demand side of the economy seemed helpful to initiate recovery in the economy. Refernece Ayerbe, L., Ayis, S., Wolfe, C.D. and Rudd, A.G., 2013. Natural history, predictors and outcomes of depression after stroke: systematic review and meta-analysis.The British Journal of Psychiatry,202(1), pp.14-21 Berton, P., 2012.The Great Depression: 1929-1939. Anchor Canada. Brunner, K. ed., 2012.The great depression revisited(Vol. 2). Springer Science Business Media. Hansen, P.H., 2015. Hall of mirrors: the great depression, the great recession, and the usesand Misusesof History.Business History Review,89(3), pp.557-569. Hoover, H., 2013.The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover-The Great Depression, 1929-1941. Read Books Ltd. Mian, A. and Sufi, A., 2015.House of debt: How they (and you) caused the Great Recession, and how we can prevent it from happening again. University of Chicago Press. Stuckler, D., Meissner, C., Fishback, P., Basu, S. and McKee, M., 2012. Banking crises and mortality during the Great Depression: evidence from US urban populations, 19291937.J Epidemiol Community Healthcare,66(5), pp.410-419. Tindall, G.B. and Shi, D.E., 2016.America: A narrative history. WW Norton Company.

Monday, April 20, 2020

Rhetorical Techniques and Sadat free essay sample

How does the order of the arguments fit the situation and audience? Style: 1. How does Sadat try to convince his audience of his sincerity? That is, how does Sadat’s impassioned and controversial opening and sincere tone contribute to engaging his hostile audience in the Israeli Knesset and encourage them to believe that he is sincere in expressing an Egyptian desire for a negotiated peace with Israel? Fashioning projecting humility Defining 2. Anwar Sadat relies on frequent reference to religion, grouping Islam, Christianity and Judaism together in his plea for peace. Analyse three religious allusions from different parts of the speech and discuss how they contribute to Sadat’s purpose. 3. How effective is his use of imagery? Find examples and comment on the effect. The wall, constantly establishes separation between them to bring them together. Recursive element of hope 4. Choose three examples of the following rhetorical devices that distinguishing Sadat’s speech and evaluate their contribution to the success of the speech. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Techniques and Sadat or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Develop your response with appropriate quotes. Bold statements, emotive language, cumulative listing of arguments, rhetorical questions. . Sadat contextualises his speech with the shared history of Egypt and Israel and the consequences of hostility and mistrust. Find at least two examples and explain how Sadat uses them to develop the inclusive nature and persuasive power of the speech. â€Å"The holy shrines of Islam and Christianity are not only places of worship, but a living testimony of our uninterrupted presence here politically, spiritually and intellectually. Let us make no mistake about the importance of and reverence we Christians and Muslims attach to Jerusalem†. . Sadat’s tone remains strong without being belligerent. He makes repeated claims for Egypt which challenge the Israeli position. Choose three examples and evaluate their contribution to Sadat’s purpose of achieving peace and justice. Bold statement . 7. Sadat uses the personal pronoun ‘I’ and the inclusive ‘we’ repeatedly in the concluding stages of his speech. How does this choice of language contribute to the escalating strength of his speech? Find two examples of each device and discuss the function of each quote. 1.

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Hail To the Chief

Hail To the Chief The presidency of John F. Kennedy is one of the most remarkable in America's political history. In his three year term as president, Kennedy was faced with some of the most challenging social, political, and economic issues that our country has ever seen. His choices and policies regarding events like the Vietnamese War and the Cuban Missile Crisis would be key parts in shaping our country today. Despite the glorified image of Kennedy that many Americans hold to today, there is another side of his presidency that is often missed. When one takes a closer look at the details of his rise to power, as well as the real idealsnot those presented to the publicbehind his political decisions, they would see that his presidency cannot be summed up by his public image, but can be understood by carefully examining the circumstances surrounding his administration.In order to understand how Kennedy's political strength grew to where it did, it is first important to look at his early political trai ning.English: Nikita Kruschev letter to President Kenne...After high school, Kennedy studied for a while at the London School of Economics in 1935. From there he entered Princeton University, but was unable to stay because of an attack of jaundice. In 1936 he enrolled at Harvard University, where he graduated in 1940. Kennedy gained invaluable political experience even when he was still at Harvard. He twice visited Europe to watch international politics at his father's side; his father was the Ambassador to England at that time. He did not cease his studies after Harvard, but went on to study at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in California. By the time that Kennedy's political career started, he was already well studied in economics and politics.Kennedy volunteered for the army in 1941, at the brink of World War...

Friday, February 28, 2020

Speak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Speak - Essay Example In addition, which is even more important, the speaker that keeps eye contact with everyone makes each participant of the audience feel like the speaker is talking to him personally (Davidhizar 1992). This definitely makes the speaker attractive for the audience. Speaker’s appearance also plays key role in oratory process. First of all, nobody wants to look at somebody who looks unkempt; secondly, such a person would make audience feel disrespected by the speaker. Thus, of course, while deciding which clothes to wear for our speech we should first of all consider their appropriateness and adapt the style to the audience’s preferences. Comfort is also a very important thing in public speaking, as a speaker needs to feel comfortable in order not to be constrained in his self-expression while speaking. It is significant for a speaker to look attractive for his audience that’s why his use of body should be efficient and clothing style must be

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

CASE 3 W4 OIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CASE 3 W4 OIS - Essay Example In the same direction, the effects of manual ordering bring about inefficiency because not much is done within a short time frame. Once all these effects happen, effectiveness becomes undermined. Currently, there is an unintended effect with the CPOE, which has to do with the continuation of orders that are not explicitly discontinued by the doctor for a patient moving to a new part of the hospital. At Mount Auburn, adverse drug events (ADEs) are the largest injury category, as they account for up to 20% of total injuries (Mount Auburn Case, p. 1). The study at the hospital continues to show that there exists two major form or types of ADEs namely preventable and potential ADEs. Whereas preventable ADEs were noted to be have been resulted from correctable errors, potential ADEs were those that did not result in any injuries. Between these two types, it is expected that the implementation of the information system can lead to a reduction in both. This is because both cases of ADEs are directly attributable to human mistakes, which leads to medical errors. Since the information system will be eliminating most of the human phase of interaction with the ordering system, it is expected that all two forms of ADEs will be reduced drastically with the CPOE. At both Mount Auburn and Emory, it was noted that the CPOE system helped in bringing about standardization of care by reducing the variation of treatments and standardized care whenever possible (Emory Case, p. 7). The evidence of this major change is very glaring when the implementation of the information system is compared to moments before the implementation. For example, before the implementation, patients received preferential treatments based on the discretions of care givers. What is more, patients who were attended to at times that care givers were less tired were sure to receive the best of service than those who

Friday, January 31, 2020

Corporation Tech Essay Example for Free

Corporation Tech Essay Corporation Tech will face many security risks with their current network. The user domain is the single most vulnerable part of any network and as such poses the most obvious security risk. To mitigate risks involving the users is to implement policies and training to educate the user on proper use and security best practices. By educating the user on security practices such as secure passwords, safe web surfing, and securing their workstations, many potential attacks can be avoided. Policies and training are also necessary because they can be used as evidence when taking administrative action against a user or intruder in the event the system or data information is compromised. Laptops and workstations have their own set of security risks associated with them. They are vulnerable to being compromised by malware, spyware, or even hackers that take advantage of certain exploits. Laptops, workstations and mobile devices are susceptible to malicious software attacks, theft or loss. Viruses and malware can affect these devices and are usually acquired through contaminated email attachments and hyperlinks that redirect the user to exploited web sites or are transferred through USB storage devices. Viruses and malware can also be acquired by downloading infected files or programs that are designed by hackers. Because of the need to protect systems against threats, all workstations and laptops should be secured with antivirus and firewall software and updated and patched on a regular basis to fix vulnerabilities with the software that hackers may exploit. Since the laptops are mobile by nature they are at risk of being stolen along with all of the data saved on their hard drives. The best security method for this would be to encrypt the hard drives on the laptops and where feasible only store sensitive data on corporate servers and allow authorized user  remote access to the data via SSHVPN sessions. Physical security or lack thereof also poses a huge risk; if an attacker has physical access to your equipment they do not actually need your log in credentials to access data. Attackers could boot your systems up on a live CD and compromise your information without leaving any trace in the logs other than a restart. Even if an attacker has a narrow window for physical access to your systems, they can steal the hardware and gain access to the data from it at their convenience. Secure all removable equipment is locked storage locations with security controls such as cameras and biometric access devices. Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks are a major concern when it comes to the company’s servers; this is done when a botnet sends an overwhelming amount of requests to the servers until they shut down. The best method to deal with this is to install security hardware or software that can detect these kinds of attacks as they are beginning to take place and filter that traffic out. The hardware is often very effective but also can be very expensive which can be a whole different issue but if you have the funding available I would recommend purchasing the hardware. SQL injections are one of the most common attacks on web based applications, these attacks occur when an attacker inserts a SQL statement that is not authorized through a SQL data channel such as the login screen. This best way to mitigate this risk is to implement string checking for special SQL characters or install software to check the web application for injection vulnerabilities. The software may cost a little money but it will help to prevent unauthorized access to information in your database.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Legalization of Medicinal Marijuana :: pot should be legal

During the Carter, Reagan, and Bush administrations, eight people in the United States were allowed to use marijuana for medicinal purposes under the Compassionate Investigative New Drug program. However, since the Clinton administration no new applications have been accepted. Therefore, other patients who need marijuana to alleviate the nausea and loss of appetite associated with the AIDS viruses and cancer chemotherapy, as well as to treat glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain, and other ailments must continue to suffer without the use of marijuana. Is this fair? What could the reasoning behind this needless suffering possibly be? I thought that one of the purposes of government was to promote the well-being of its individuals. Is that not why our country spends billions of dollars towards advancements in medicine every year? So, why aren’t there any FDA approved studies testing the actual effectiveness of marijuana in progress? If it is proved that marijuana does indeed help ease the pain and suffering of these poor people, then why not allow it to be prescribed to help them. It is illegal to consume any prescription drug not prescribed to you. Which makes all prescription drugs illegal, how is this different from marijuana? Sure it may be addicting, but so can caffeine pills. Sure it may be harmful if someone misuses it, but so can Ritalin. I just do not understand how prescribing a drug to help someone could be harmful. The least the government could do is research the subject a little more. Instead, they seem to be doing the opposite. In 1994, The Assistant Secretary for Health postponed the final meeting that would have decided whether the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would require government-grown marijuana to be used in the first medicinal marijuana research project in over a decade. The government seems to have no problems arresting sick people for using marijuana, telling them that there has not been enough research to verify its medical benefits. However, they are doing nothing to assist in the studies. A small non-profit organization called MAPS has been working for two years to raise money, develop study protocols, and obtaining the Food and Drug Administrations approval for the study of marijuana. Only one thing holds them back. They have no legal way of obtaining marijuana, and the government will not give it to them. If a medical missionary in the Rain Forest proclaimed that she had found a new miracle drug to help ease the pain of many sufferers, you can guarantee that a government approved study would be launched almost instantaneously.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Last Sacrifice Chapter Nineteen

THE VANS PARKED IN A semi-remote part of Court, so seeing the area packed with eager Moroi was quite a shock to Lissa. Guardians moved through the people like ghosts, just as they had at the nomination session, keeping as much order as possible. The crowd kept getting in the way as the vans attempted to reach the garages, and faces looked in the windows, trying to get a glimpse of the royal candidates. Lissa stared at the masses in shock, almost afraid to get out. Ariana gave her a comforting smile. â€Å"This is normal. They all want to know who made it and who didn't. They especially want to know.' She inclined her head toward the front of the van. Peering through the windshield, Lissa spied the other six candidates. Because the forest course could only accommodate so many people, the group had been split in half. The rest of the candidates would take the same test tomorrow and were no doubt curious who among their competitors had passed today. Lissa was used to order and decorum around royals, so she was astonished to see such eagerness and frenzy among them now. And of course, the â€Å"common' Moroi who'd been arriving at Court were mixed into the crowd too. Everyone was pushing, peering over the heads of others to find out what had happened. People were shouting some of the candidates' names, and I was half-surprised they hadn't come up with songs and banners. Lissa and her companions exited the van and were met with a wave of cheers that rippled through the crowd. It became obvious pretty quickly who had passed and who hadn't. This sent the crowd abuzz even more. Lissa stood rooted to the spot, staring around and feeling lost. It was one thing to rationally discuss the pros of her running for queen with her friends. It was an entirely different matter to suddenly be thrust into what the elections truly meant. Her focus had been limited to a few things: my safety, finding the murderer, and surviving the tests. Now, as she took in the crowd, she realized the election was bigger than her, bigger than anything she could have imagined. For these people, it wasn't a joke. It wasn't a scam to twist the law and stall for time. Their lives were figuratively on the line. Moroi and dhampirs lived inside various countries and obeyed those laws, but they also obeyed this government, the one that operated out of the Court. It reached around the world and affected every dhampir and Moroi who chose to stay in our society. We had some voting, yes, but the king or queen shaped our futures. The guardians in charge of the crowds finally gave the okay for family members to push through the masses and collect their nominees. Lissa had no one. Both Janine and Eddie–despite earlier claims–were occasionally given temporary tasks that prevented them from being with Lissa 24/7, and she certainly had no family to come for her. Adrift, she felt dizzy in the chaos, still stunned by her moment of clarity. Conflicting emotions warred within her. Deceiving everyone made her feel unworthy, like she should resign her candidacy right now. At the same time, she suddenly wanted to be worthy of the elections. She wanted to hold her head high and walk into the tests proudly, even if she was taking them for ulterior motives. A strong hand at last caught hold of her arm. Christian. â€Å"Come on. Let's get out of here.' He pulled her away, shouldering through the onlookers. â€Å"Hey,' he called to a couple guardians on the crowd's periphery. â€Å"A little help here for the princess?' It was the first time I had ever seen him act like a royal, throwing around the authority of his bloodline. To me, he was snarky, cynical Christian. In Moroi society, at eighteen, he could now technically be addressed as Lord Ozera. I'd forgotten that. The two guardians hadn't. They rushed to Lissa's side, helping Christian part the crowd. The faces around her were a blur, the noise a dull roar. Yet, every once in a while, something would come through to her. The chanting of her name. Declarations about the return of the dragon, which was the symbol of the Dragomir family. This is real, she kept thinking. This is real. The guardians efficiently led her out of it all and back across the Court's grounds to her building. They released her once they considered her safe, and she graciously thanked them for their help. When she and Christian were in her room, she sank onto the bed, stunned. â€Å"Oh my God,' she said. â€Å"That was insane.' Christian smiled. â€Å"Which part? Your welcome home party? Or the test itself? You look like you just †¦ well, I'm not really sure what you just did.' Lissa took a quick survey of herself. They'd given her dry towels on the ride home, but her clothing was still damp and was wrinkling as it dried. Her shoes and jeans had mud all over them, and she didn't even want to think about what her hair looked like. â€Å"Yeah, we–‘ The words stuck on her tongue–and not because she suddenly decided not to tell him. â€Å"I can't say,' she murmured. â€Å"It really worked. The spell won't let me.' â€Å"What spell?' he asked. Lissa rolled up her sleeve and lifted the bandage to show him the tiny tattooed dot on her arm. â€Å"It's a compulsion spell so I won't talk about the test. Like the Alchemists have.' â€Å"Wow,' he said, truly impressed. â€Å"I never actually thought those worked.' â€Å"I guess so. It's really weird. I want to talk about it, but I just †¦ cant.' â€Å"Its okay,' he said, brushing some of her damp hair aside. â€Å"You passed. That's what matters. Just focus on that.' â€Å"The only thing I want to focus on right now is a shower–which is kind of ironic, considering how soaked I am.' She didn't move, though, and instead stared off at the far wall. â€Å"Hey,' said Christian gently. â€Å"What's wrong? Did the crowd scare you?' She turned back to him. â€Å"No, that's the thing. I mean, they were intimidating, yeah. But I just realized †¦ I don't know. I realized I'm part of a major process, one that's gone on since–‘ â€Å"The beginning of time?' teased Christian, quoting Nathan's nonsensical statement. â€Å"Nearly,' she answered, with a small smile that soon faded. â€Å"This goes beyond tradition, Christian. The elections are a core part of our society. Ingrained. We can talk about changing age laws or fighting or whatever, but this is ancient. And far-reaching. Those people out there? They're not all Americans. They've come from other countries. I forget sometimes that even though the Court is here, it rules Moroi everywhere. What happens here affects the whole world.' â€Å"Where are you going with this?' he asked. She was lost in her own thoughts and couldn't see Christian as objectively as I could. He knew Lissa. He understood her and loved her. The two of them had a synchronicity similar to what Dimitri and I shared. Sometimes, however, Lissa's thoughts spun in directions he couldn't guess. He'd never admit it, but I knew part of why he loved her was that–unlike me, who everyone knew was impetuous–Lissa always seemed the picture of calmness and rationality. Then, she'd do something totally unexpected. Those moments delighted him–but sometimes scared him because he never knew just how much a role spirit was playing in her actions. Now was one of those times. He knew the elections were stressing her, and like me, he knew that could bring out the worst. â€Å"I'm going to take these tests seriously,' she said. â€Å"It's–it's shameful not to. An insult to our society. My ultimate goal is to find out who framed Rose, but in the meantime? I'm going to go through the trials like someone who intends to be queen.' Christian hesitated before speaking, a rarity for him. â€Å"Do you want to be queen?' That snapped Lissa from her dreamy philosophizing about tradition and honor. â€Å"No! Of course not. I'm eighteen. I can't even drink yet.' â€Å"That's never stopped you from doing it,' he pointed out, becoming more like his usual self. â€Å"I'm serious! I want to go to college. I want Rose back. I don't want to rule the Moroi nation.' A sly look lit Christian's blue eyes. â€Å"You know, Aunt Tasha makes jokes about how you'd actually be a better queen than the others, except sometimes †¦ I don't think she's joking.' Lissa groaned and stretched back on the bed. â€Å"I love her, but we've got to keep her in check. If anyone could actually get that law changed, it would be her and her activist friends.' â€Å"Well, don't worry. The thing about her â€Å"activist friends' is that they have so much to protest, they don't usually get behind one thing at the same time.' Christian stretched out beside her and pulled her close. â€Å"But for what it's worth, I think you'd be a great queen too, Princess Dragomir.' â€Å"You're going to get dirty,' she warned. â€Å"Already am. Oh, you mean from your clothes?' He wrapped his arms around her, heedless of her damp and muddy state. â€Å"I spent most of my childhood hiding in a dusty attic and own exactly one dress shirt. You really think I care about this T-shirt?' She laughed and then kissed him, letting her mind free itself of worry for a moment and just savor the feel of his lips. Considering they were on a bed, I wondered if it was time for me to go. After several seconds, she pulled back and sighed contentedly. â€Å"You know, sometimes I think I love you.' â€Å"Sometimes?' he asked in mock outrage. She ruffled his hair. â€Å"All the time. But I've got to keep you on your toes.' â€Å"Consider me kept.' He brought his lips toward hers again but stopped when a knock sounded at the door. Lissa pulled back from the near-kiss, but neither of them broke from the embrace. â€Å"Don't answer,' said Christian. Lissa frowned, peering toward the living room. She slipped out of his arms, stood up, and walked toward the door. When she was several feet from it, she nodded knowingly. â€Å"It's Adrian.' â€Å"More reason not to answer,' said Christian. Lissa ignored him and opened the door, and sure enough, my devil-may-care boyfriend stood there. From behind Lissa, I heard Christian say, â€Å"Worst. Timing. Ever.' Adrian studied Lissa and then looked at Christian sprawling on the bed on the far side of the suite. â€Å"Huh,' Adrian said, letting himself in. â€Å"So that's how you're going to fix the family problem. Little Dragomirs. Good idea.' Christian sat up and strolled toward them. â€Å"Yeah, that's exactly it. You're interrupting official Council business.' Adrian was dressed casually for him, jeans and a black T-shirt, though he made it look like designer clothing. Actually, it probably was. God, I missed him. I missed them all. â€Å"What's going on?' asked Lissa. While Christian seemed to consider Adrian's arrival a personal offense, Lissa knew that Adrian wouldn't be here without a good reason– especially this early in the Moroi day. Although he had on his normal lazy smile, there was an excited and eager glitter in his aura. He had news. â€Å"I've got him,' said Adrian. â€Å"Got him trapped.' â€Å"Who?' asked Lissa, startled. â€Å"That idiot Blake Lazar.' â€Å"What do you mean trapped?' asked Christian, as perplexed as Lissa. â€Å"Did you set out a bear trap on the tennis courts or something?' â€Å"I wish. He's over at the Burning Arrow. I just bought another round, so he should still be there if we hurry. He thinks I went out for a cigarette.' Judging from the scent wreathing Adrian, Lissa had a feeling he actually had been out for a cigarette. And likely shared in the round. â€Å"You've been at a bar this early?' Adrian shrugged. â€Å"It's not early for humans.' â€Å"But you're not–‘ â€Å"Come on, cousin.' Adrian's aura didn't have the muted colors of someone who was completely drunk, but yes, he'd definitely had a few drinks. â€Å"If pretty boy Ambrose was right about Aunt Tatiana, then this guy can tell us the names of other jealous women.' â€Å"Why didn't you ask him yourself?' asked Christian. â€Å"Because me asking about my aunt's sex life would be sick and wrong,' said Adrian. â€Å"Whereas Blake will be more than happy to talk to our charming princess here.' Lissa really wanted her bed, but finding out anything to help me sparked a new rush of energy within her. â€Å"Okay, let me at least get some different clothes and brush my hair.' While she was changing in the bathroom, she heard Adrian say to Christian, â€Å"You know, your shirt's kind of grungy-looking. Seems like you could put in a little more effort since you're dating a princess.' Fifteen minutes or so later, the threesome were on their way across Court to a tucked away bar inside an administrative building. I'd been there before and had originally thought it was a weird place to house a bar. But, after a recent stint of filing, I'd decided that if I were doing office work for living, I'd probably want a quick source of alcohol on hand, too. The bar was dimly lit, both for mood and Moroi comfort. Adrian's joking aside, it really was early for Moroi, and only a couple patrons were there. Adrian made a small gesture to the bartender, which I presumed was some kind of ordering signal because the woman immediately turned and began pouring a drink. â€Å"Hey, Ivashkov! Where'd you go?' A voice called over to Lissa and the others, and after a few moments, she spotted a lone guy sitting at a corner table. As Adrian led them closer, Lissa saw that the guy was young–about Adrian's age, with curly black hair and brilliant teal eyes, kind of like Abe's recent tie. It was as though someone had taken the stunning color of both Adrian and Christian's eyes and mixed them together. He had a leanly muscled body–about as buff as any Moroi could manage–and, even with a boyfriend, Lissa could admire how hot he was. â€Å"To get better-looking company,' replied Adrian, pulling out a chair. The Moroi then noticed Adrian's companions and jumped up. He caught hold of Lissa's hand, leaned over, and kissed it. â€Å"Princess Dragomir. It's an honor to meet you at last. Seeing you from a distance was beautiful. Up close? Divine.' â€Å"This,' said Adrian grandly, â€Å"is Blake Lazar.' â€Å"It's nice to meet you,' she said. Blake smiled radiantly. â€Å"May I call you Vasilisa?' â€Å"You can call me Lissa.' â€Å"You can also,' added Christian, â€Å"let go of her hand now.' Blake looked over at Christian, taking a few more moments to release Lissa's hand– seeming very proud about those extra seconds. â€Å"I've seen you too. Ozera. Crispin, right?' â€Å"Christian,' corrected Lissa. â€Å"Right.' Blake pulled out a chair, still playing the over-the-top gentleman. â€Å"Please. Join us.' He made no such offer to Christian, who went out of his way to sit close to Lissa. â€Å"What would you like to drink? It's on me.' â€Å"Nothing,' said Lissa. The bartender appeared just then, bringing Adrian's drink and another for Blake. â€Å"Never too early. Ask Ivashkov. You drink as soon as you roll out of bed, right?' â€Å"There's a bottle of scotch right on my nightstand,' said Adrian, still keeping his tone light. Lissa opened her eyes to his aura. It bore the bright gold all spirit users had, still muddled slightly from alcohol. It also had the faintest tinge of red–not true anger, but definite annoyance. Lissa recalled that neither Adrian nor Ambrose had had a good opinion of this Blake guy. â€Å"So what brings you and Christopher here?' asked Blake. He finished a glass of something amber colored and set it down beside the new drink. â€Å"Christian,' said Christian. â€Å"We were talking about my aunt earlier,' said Adrian. Again, he managed to sound very conversational, but no matter how much he might want to clear my name, delving into the details of Tatiana's murder obviously bothered him. Blake's smile diminished a little. â€Å"How depressing. For both of you.' That was directed to Adrian and Lissa. Christian might as well have not existed. â€Å"Sorry about Hathaway too,' he added to Lissa alone. â€Å"I've heard how upset you've been. Who'd have seen that coming?' Lissa realized he was referring to how she'd been pretending to be angry and hurt by me. â€Å"Well,' she said bitterly. â€Å"I guess you just don't know people. There were a million clues beforehand. I just didn't pay attention.' â€Å"You must be upset too,' said Christian. â€Å"We heard you and the queen were kind of close.' Blake's grin returned. â€Å"Yeah †¦ we knew each other pretty well. I'm going to miss her. She might have seemed cold to some people, but believe me, she knew how to have a good time.' Blake glanced at Adrian. â€Å"You must have known that.' â€Å"Not in the way you did.' Adrian paused to take a sip of his own drink. I think he needed it to restrain any snippy remarks, and honestly, I didn't begrudge him it. I actually admired his self-control. If I'd been in his place, I would have long since punched Blake. â€Å"Or Ambrose.' Blake's pretty smile transformed into a full-fledged scowl. â€Å"Him? That blood whore? He didn't deserve to be in her presence. I can't even believe they let him stay at Court.' â€Å"He actually thinks you killed the queen.' Lissa then added hastily, â€Å"Which is ridiculous when all the evidence proves Rose did it.' Those hadn't been Ambrose's exact words, but she wanted to see if she could elicit a reaction. She did. â€Å"He thinks what?' Yes. Definitely no smile now. Without it, Blake suddenly didn't seem as good-looking as earlier. â€Å"That lying bastard! I have an alibi, and he knows it. He's just pissed off because she liked me better.' â€Å"Then why'd she keep him around?' asked Christian, face almost angelic. â€Å"Weren't you enough?' Blake fixed him with a glare while finishing the new drink in nearly one gulp. Almost by magic, the bartender appeared with another. Blake nodded his thanks before continuing. â€Å"Oh, I was more than enough. More than enough for a dozen women, but I didn't fool around on the side like he did.' Adrian's expression was growing increasingly pained at each mention of Tatiana's sex life. Still, he played his role. â€Å"I suppose you're talking about Ambrose's other girl- friends? † â€Å"Yup. But â€Å"girl' is kind of extreme. They were all older, and honestly, I think they paid him. Not that your mom needed to pay anyone,' added Blake. â€Å"I mean, she's actually pretty hot. But you know, she couldn't really be with him in any real way.' It seemed to take all of them a moment to follow what Blake was alluding to. Adrian caught on first. â€Å"What did you just say?' â€Å"Oh.' Blake looked legitimately surprised, but it was hard to say if it was an act. â€Å"I thought you knew. Your mom and Ambrose †¦ well, who could blame her? With your dad? Though just between you and me, I think she could have done better.' Blake's tone implied exactly whom he thought Daniella could have done better with. In Lissa's vision, Adrian's aura flared red. â€Å"You son of a bitch!' Adrian was not the fighting type, but there was a first time for everything–and Blake had just crossed a serious line. â€Å"My mom was not cheating on my dad. And even if she was †¦ she sure as hell wouldn't have to pay for it.' Blake didn't seem fazed, but maybe things would have been different if Adrian actually had hit him. Lissa rested her hand on Adrian's arm and squeezed it gently. â€Å"Easy,' she murmured. I felt the smallest tingle of calming compulsion move from her into him. Adrian recognized it immediately and pulled his arm back, giving her a look that said he didn't appreciate her â€Å"help.' â€Å"I thought you didn't like your dad,' said Blake, utterly clueless that his news might be upsetting. â€Å"And besides, don't get all pissy at me. I wasn't sleeping with her. I'm just telling you what I heard. Like I said, if you want to start accusing random people, go after someone like Ambrose.' Lissa jumped in to keep Adrian from saying anything. â€Å"How many women? Do you know who else he was involved with?' â€Å"Three others.' Blake ticked off names on his hand. â€Å"Marta Drozdov and Mirabel Conta. Wait. That's two. I was thinking with Daniella; that's three. But then, that's four with the queen. Yeah, four.' Lissa didn't concern herself with Blake's faulty math skills, though it did support Adrian's previous â€Å"idiot' claims. Marta Drozdov was a semi-notorious royal who had taken to traveling the world in her old age. By Lissa's estimation, Marta was hardly in the U.S. most of the year, let alone Court. She didn't seem invested enough to murder Tatiana. As for Mirabel Conta †¦ she was notorious in a different way. She was known for sleeping with half the guys at Court, married or otherwise. Lissa didn't know her well, but Mirabel had never seemed overly interested in any one guy. â€Å"Sleeping with other women wouldn't really give him a motive for killing the queen,' pointed out Lissa. â€Å"No,' agreed Blake. â€Å"Like I said, it's obvious that Hathaway girl did it.' He paused. â€Å"Damned shame too. She's pretty hot. God, that body. Anyway, if Ambrose had killed her, he'd have done it because he was jealous of me, because Tatiana liked me better. Not because of all those other women he was doing.' â€Å"Why wouldn't Ambrose just kill you?' asked Christian. â€Å"Makes more sense.' Blake didn't have a chance to respond because Adrian was still back on the earlier topic, his eyes flashing with anger. â€Å"My mother wasn't sleeping with anybody. She doesn't even sleep with my father.' Blake continued in his oblivious way. â€Å"Hey, I saw them. They were all over each other. Did I mention how hot your–‘ â€Å"Stop it,' warned Lissa. â€Å"It's not helping.' Adrian clenched his glass. â€Å"None of this is helping!' Clearly, things weren't going the way he'd hoped when he'd first summoned Lissa and Christian from her room. â€Å"And I'm not going to sit and listen to this bullshit.' Adrian downed the drink and shot up from his chair, turning abruptly for the exit. He tossed some cash on the bar before walking out the door. â€Å"Poor guy,' said Blake. He was back to his calm, arrogant self. â€Å"He's been through a lot between his aunt, mom, and murdering girlfriend. That's why really, at the end of the day, you just can't trust women.' He winked at Lissa. â€Å"Present company excluded, of course.' Lissa felt as disgusted as Adrian, and a quick glance at Christian's stormy face showed he felt the same. It was time to go before someone really did punch Blake. â€Å"Well, it's been great talking to you, but we need to go.' Blake gave her puppy-dog eyes. â€Å"But you just got here! I was hoping we could get to know each other.' It went without saying what he meant by that. â€Å"Oh. And Kreskin too.' Christian didn't even bother with a correction this time. He simply took hold of Lissa's hand. â€Å"We have to go.' â€Å"Yeah,' agreed Lissa. Blake shrugged and waved for another drink. â€Å"Well, any time you want to really experience the world, come find me.' Christian and Lissa headed for the door, with Christian muttering, â€Å"I really hope that last part was meant for you, not me.' â€Å"That's no world I want to experience,' said Lissa with a grimace. They stepped outside, and she glanced around, in case Adrian had lingered. Nope. He was gone, and she didn't blame him. â€Å"I can see now why Ambrose and Adrian don't like him. He's such a †¦' â€Å"Asshole?' supplied Christian. They turned toward her building. â€Å"I suppose so.' â€Å"Enough to commit murder?' â€Å"Honestly? No.' Lissa sighed. â€Å"I kind of agree with Ambrose †¦ I don't think Blake's smart enough for murder. Or that the motive's really there. I can't tell if people are lying or not from their auras, but his didn't reveal anything overly dishonest. You joked, but if anyone was going to commit a jealous murder, why wouldn't the guys want to kill each other? A lot easier.' â€Å"They did both have easy access to Tatiana,' Christian reminded her. â€Å"I know. But if there is love and sex involved here †¦ it seems like it'd be someone jealous of the queen. A woman.' A long, meaningful pause hung between them, neither of them wanting to say what they were both likely thinking. Finally, Christian broke the silence. â€Å"Say, like, Daniella Ivashkov?' Lissa shook her head. â€Å"I can't believe that. She doesn't seem like the type.' â€Å"Murderers never seem like the type. That's why they get away with it.' â€Å"Have you been studying up on your criminology or something? † â€Å"No.' They reached her building's front door, and he opened it for Lissa. â€Å"Just laying out some facts. We know Adrian's mom never liked Tatiana for personality reasons. Now we find out that they were sharing the same guy.' â€Å"She has an alibi,' said Lissa stonily. â€Å"Everyone has an alibi,' he reminded her. â€Å"And as we've learned, those can be paid for. In fact, Daniella's already paid for one.' â€Å"I still can't believe it. Not without more proof. Ambrose swore this was more political than personal.' â€Å"Ambrose isn't off the list either.' They came to Lissa's room. â€Å"This is harder than I thought it would be.' They went inside, and Christian wrapped his arms around her. â€Å"I know. But we'll do it together. We'll figure it out. But †¦ we might want to keep some of this to ourselves. Maybe I'm overreacting here, but I think it'd be best if we don't ever, ever tell Adrian his mom has an excellent motive for having killed his aunt.' â€Å"Oh, you think?' She rested her head against his chest and yawned. â€Å"Naptime,' said Christian, leading her toward the bed. â€Å"I still need a shower.' â€Å"Sleep first. Shower later.' He pulled back the covers. â€Å"I'll sleep with you.' â€Å"Sleep or sleep?' she asked dryly, sliding gratefully into bed. â€Å"Real sleep. You need it.' He crawled in beside her, spooning against her and resting his face on her shoulder. â€Å"Of course, afterward, if you want to conduct any official Council business †¦' â€Å"I swear, if you say â€Å"Little Dragomirs,' you can sleep in the hall.' I'm sure there was a patented Christian retort coming, but another knock cut him off. He looked up in exasperation. â€Å"Don't answer it. For real this time.' But Lissa couldn't help herself. She broke from his embrace and climbed out of bed. â€Å"Its not Adrian †¦' â€Å"Then it's probably not important,' said Christian. â€Å"We don't know that.'She got up and opened the door, revealing–my mother. Janine Hathaway swept into the room as casually as Adrian had, her eyes sharp as she studied every detail around her for a threat. â€Å"Sorry I was away,' she told Lissa. â€Å"Eddie and I wanted to set up an alternating system, but we both got pulled for duty earlier.' She glanced over at the rumpled bed, with Christian in it, but being who she was, she came to a pragmatic conclusion, not a romantic one. â€Å"Just in time. I figured you'd want to sleep after the test. Don't worry–I'll keep watch and make sure nothing happens.' Christian and Lissa exchanged rueful looks. â€Å"Thanks,' said Lissa.