Battered Wife Syndrome: Definition and Stages

BWS recognized as important in providing legal defense to victims and as basis for diagnosis and treatment. However, there has been confusion as to the definition of BWS such as the use of violence committed against the woman as the defining characteristic. The study introduced by Walker (1984) demonstrates cycle of violence and learned helplessness to battered women. (Seligman, 1993) In addition, studies found out that BWS, manifested in a form of depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, physical symptoms, is evident in some abused women putting them at risk of suicide and homicide.Symptoms attributed to battering may also be a result of stress from a troubled relationship. The Learned Helplessness and Grief Theory (Campbell, 1989) explains the depression in battered women. Moreover, researchers are in disagreement of the factors that affect the level of trauma such as frequency of abuse, educational status and severity of sexual and emotional abuse. The issue on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and learned helplessness in BWS remained unresolved.Some researchers view battered women in the context of â€Å"survivors rather than victims†. Furthermore, studies prove that battered women experience stages of abuse where the manifestations of BWS are part of the steps to conflict resolution. Based on these descriptions and findings, it is clear that not all battered women experience BWS. Although widely misunderstood even among legal professionals, â€Å"battered woman syndrome† is not a legal defense. It is one approach to explaining battered women’s experiences.Like other â€Å"social framework testimony,† ( Vidmar & Schuller, in press ), expert testimony concerning battering and its effects is used in the legal system to help a judge or jury better understand a battered woman’s experience ( Federal Rules of Evidence 702 ). Battered Women’s Syndrome considered a form of Post-Traumatic Stress. Battered Women’s Syndrome i s a recognized psychological condition used to describe someone who has been the victim of consistent or severe domestic violence. To classify as a battered woman, a woman has to have been through two cycles of abuse.A Cycle of abuse is abuse that occurs in a repeating pattern. Abuse is identifiable as being cyclical in two ways: it is both generational and episodic. Generational cycles of abuse passed down, by example and exposure, from parents to children. Episodic abuse occurs in a repeating pattern within the context of at least two individuals within a family system. It may involve spousal abuse, child abuse, or even elder abuse. There are generally four stages in the battered women’s syndrome. Stage One–Denial Stage one of battered women’s syndromes occurs when the battered woman denies to others, and to herself, that there is a problem.Most battered women will make up excuses for why their partners have an abusive incident. Battered women will generally b elieve that the abuse will never happen again. Stage Two–Guilt Stage two of battered women’s syndrome occurs when a battered woman truly recognizes or acknowledges that there is a problem in her relationship. She recognizes she has been the victim of abuse and that she may be beaten again. During this stage, most battered women will take on the blame or responsibility of any beatings they may receive.Battered women will begin to question their own characters and try harder to live up their partners â€Å"expectations. † Stage Three-Enlightenment Stage three of battered women’s syndrome occurs when a battered woman starts to understand that no one deserves to be beaten. A battered woman comes to see that the beatings she receives from her partner are not justified. She also recognizes that her partner has a serious problem. However, she stays with her abuser in an attempt to keep the relationship in tact with hopes of future change.Stage Four–Respon sibility Stage four of battered women’s syndrome occurs when a battered woman recognizes that her abuser has a problem that only he can fix. Battered women in this stage come to understand that nothing they can do or say can help their abusers. Battered women in this stage choose to take the necessary steps to leave their abusers and begin to start new lives. BWS is a psychological reaction that occurs in normal people who are exposed to repeated trauma such as family or domestic violence. It includes three groups of symptoms that assist the mind and body in preparing to defend against threats.Psychologists call it the â€Å"fight or flight† response. The â€Å"Fight† Response Mode: In the â€Å"fight† mode, the body and mind prepare to deal with danger by becoming hyper vigilant to cues of potential violence, resulting in an exaggerated startle response. The automatic nervous system becomes operational and the individual becomes more focused on the singl e task of self-defense. This impairs concentration and causes physiological responses usually associated with high anxiety. In serious cases, fearfulness and panic disorders are present and phobic disorders may result.Irritability and crying are typical symptoms of this stage. The â€Å"Flight† Response Mode: The â€Å"flight† response mode often alternates with the fight pattern. Most individuals would run away from danger if they could do so safely. When physical escape is actually or perceived as impossible, then mental escape occurs. This is the avoidance or emotional numbing stage where denial, minimization, rationalization and disassociation subconsciously used as ways to psychologically escape from the threat or presence of violence.Cognitive Ability and Memory Loss: The third major impact of BWS is to the cognitive and memory areas where the victim begins to have intrusive memories of the abuse or may actually develop psychogenic amnesia and not always remember important details or events. The victim has trouble following his or her thoughts in a logical way, distracted by intrusive memories that may be flashbacks to previous battering incidents. The victim disassociates himself or herself when faced with painful events, memories, reoccurring nightmares or other associations not readily apparent to the observer.American feminist and psychologist Lenore Walker coined the term â€Å"Battered woman syndrome†. It is based on two fundamental premises a cycle model of ‘violence’ and ‘learned helplessness’. In 1978 to 1981, she interviewed 435 female victims of domestic violence. Walker (1984) concluded that the violence goes in cycles. Each cycle consists of three stages: Tension building stage, when a victim suffers verbal abuse or minor physical violence, like slaps. At this stage, the victim may attempt to pacify the abuser. However, the victim’s passivity may reinforce the abuser’s violent tend encies.Acute battering incident At this stage, both perceived and real danger of being killed or seriously injured is maximal. Loving contrition After the abuser discharged his tension by battering the victim, his attitude changes. He may apologize for the incident and promise to change his behavior in the future. The repetition of this cycle over time, linked to the undermining of women’s self-belief create a situation of ‘learned helplessness’ whereby the woman feels â€Å"trapped in a deadly situation† in which she may fight back with lethal consequences.Early formulation of battered woman syndrome referred to the cycle of violence (Walker, 1984), a theory that describes the dynamics of the batterer’s behavior. The cycle of violence theory used to explain how battered victims are drawn back into the relationship when the abuser is contrite and attentive following the violence. More recently, battered woman syndrome has been defined as post-trauma tic stress disorder (PTSD) (Walker, 1992), a psychological condition that results from exposure to severe trauma.Among other things, PTSD can explain why a battered victim may react, because of flashbacks and other intrusive experiences resulting from prior victimization, to a new situation as dangerous, even when it is not. There are a number of criticisms directed at the use of battered woman syndrome, both in a legal context and in clinical environments. BWS as defined by Walker (1984) may be set apart from the majority of recognized disorders in that it describes the behavioral and psychological characteristics of not only the victim, but also the perpetrator.By working her analysis of the psychology of the perpetrator into her cycle of violence, it is arguable Walker purports to draw both victim and perpetrator into her ‘diagnosis’ (McMahon 1999). Critics claim that Walker’s theory (1984) does not explain the killing of abusive partners. If a battered female suffers from learned helplessness, she would, by definition, behave passively (Griffith, 1995) with the suggestion that the model of a battered spouse as a â€Å"survivor† proposed by Gondolf (1988) might be more realistic. Killing abusive partners is not passive behavior, so it contradicts, rather than supports, Walker’s theory.Nor is the killing of abusing partners consistent with Walker’s theory of â€Å"cyclical violence†. Wilson and Daly (1992) have calculated the sex ratio for spouse killing using data from England and Wales 1977-86. For every 100 men who kill wives 23 women kill husbands. 120 women were killed by male partners in 1992 40% of all female homicides in England and Wales are women killed by partners the figure for men is 6%. Wilson and Daly’s (1994) Canadian data show that 26% of women killed were divorced or separated at the time, Australian data (Wallace 1986) as many as 45% in New South Wales had left or were in the process o f leaving.Accurate official data on women who kill is, as Celia Wells (1994) has pointed out, difficult to access and incomplete. She presents information on 200 women charged during 1984-92. 46 were acquitted 14 on self-defense, a further 98 were found guilty of manslaughter 38 were found guilty of murder and the outcomes were unknown in 55 cases. She notes that more women acquitted or receive a manslaughter verdict than men, but that this does not mean that are no gendered injustices in the legal process. Cynthia Gillespie (1989) cites a study 29 US cases where BWS was used, only 9 resulted in acquittals.The language in many of the US cases shows that courts understand BWS as a new and excusable form of female irrationality (Gillespie, 1989). A conviction for murder means two things – a label and a mandatory life sentence. The promoted abolition of the life sentence would only address the second point, and would not necessarily create justice for women convicted of murder, since the tariffs given by judges for many women have been at the higher end of the scale. Studies of women who kill (Browne, 1987) in the US have found that they have experienced repeated and life threatening violence, with a greater frequency of coerced sex.Almost all the women had also attempted to leave and elicit the support of other agencies in their struggles to end violence. Nothing they have attempted has stopped the violence, and many talk of reaching a point where they believe only one of them can survive. The leading case in Canada is that of RV Lavallee that the Supreme Court heard in 1989. The woman shot her husband in the back during a violent incident, and her plea of self-defense accepted on appeal, BWS evidence presented to the point that she was â€Å"one who could not escape and saw no options for survival†.(Martha Shaffer, 1990) Judge Wilson made some telling and important points in her judgment that women’s actions judged in the context of her rea lity. â€Å"It is not for the jury to decide to pass judgment on the fact that the accused stayed in the relationship. Still less is it entitled to conclude that she forfeited her right to self-defense for having done so†. The courts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States have accepted the extensive and growing body of research showing that battered partners can use force to defend themselves.In addition, sometimes kill their abusers because of the abusive and sometimes life-threatening situation in which they find themselves, acting in the firm belief that there is no other way than to kill for self-preservation. The courts have recognized that this evidence may support a variety of defenses to a charge of murder or to mitigate the sentence if convicted of lesser offences (Faigman, David L1986) Self-defense when using a reasonable and proportionate degree of violence in response to the abuse might appear the most appropriate defense but, until re cently, it almost never succeeded.Maguigan (1991) argues that self-defense is genders biased both in its nature and in the way trial judges apply it. BWS focuses on women’s responses to violence, rather the context of violence in the relationship. It thus diverts attention from the previous behavior of the man, and the danger he represented. The case thus turns on women’s personality defects rather than the man’s behavior.The central question becomes why women stay, which she is not on trial for, whilst the more important questions of why men continue to use violence, refuse to let women leave and the failure of agencies to intervene to control violence and protect women are lost. These issues are the ones current international research highlights as central to the contexts in which battered women kill and are killed. The battering â€Å"cycle† is by no means universal Walker (1984) herself failed to find it in a third of her interviews – some men for example are never contrite, never apologies and rule the household through a reign of terror.BWS emphasizes damaged women, rather than women who perceive themselves to be, and in fact be, acting competently, assertively and rationally in the light of alternatives. The legal focus becomes trying to find an ‘excuse’ rather than a justification linked to a reasonable act. Conclusion: Women’s resistance to violence and control is minimized, if not made logically impossible. Research now suggests that in some relationships violence continues precisely because women resist men’s controlling behavior (Kelly 1988, Lundgren 1986).The deaths of men and women are preventable if domestic violence is taken seriously, and that ought to be our primary goal. Creating appropriate defenses for women who kill in desperation is a damage limitation rather than a prevention strategy. It is more than obvious that judges, lawyers and juries need access to the most up to date knowledge about domestic violence in order to counteract the stereotypes and misinformation that has predominated to date. However, are most psychologists and psychiatrists familiar with state of the knowledge?REFERENCESBrowne, A. (1987) When Battered Women Kill, The Free Press, New York. Campbell, Jacquelyn C ( 1995).â€Å"Prediction of Homicide of and by Battered Women. † In Jacquelyn C. Campbell (ed. ) Assessing Dangerousness: Violence by Sexual Offenders, Batterers, and Child Abusers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Daly, Kathleen (1994).â€Å"Feminism and Criminology. † Justice Quarterly 5:499-535 Gillespie, Cynthia K. (1990).Justifiable Homicide: Battered Women, Self Defense, and the Law Ohio: Ohio State University Press. Gondolf, E. F. (1988).Battered Women as Survivors: An Alternative to Treating Learned Helplessness. Lexington, Mass. : Lexington Books. Griffith, M. (1995).â€Å"Battered woman syndrome: a tool for batterers?† Fordham Law Review. Vol. 64(1): pp14 1-198. Faigman, David L. (1986).â€Å"Battered Woman Syndrome and Self Defense: A Legal and Empirical Dissent. † Virginia Law Review, vol. 72, no. 3 619-647. Federal Rules of Evidence 702 Kelly,Liz, Lundgren, Eva (1988).â€Å"How Women Define Their Experiences of Violence. † In Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd (eds. ) Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Martha Shaffer, (1990).‘Rv. Lavallee: A Review Essay’ 22 Ottawa L. Rev. 607 Maguigan, H. (1991).â€Å"Battered Women and Self-Defense: Myths and Misconceptions in Current Reform Proposals†, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 140(2): 379-486. McMahon, M. (1999).â€Å"Battered women and bad science: the limited validity and utility of battered woman syndrome†. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol. 6(1): pp 23-49 Seligman, Martin. (1993).Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Vidmar, N. and Schuller, R. A. (1989).J uries and expert evidence. Social framework testimony. Law and Contemporary Problems , 133. Walker, Lenore E. (1984).The Battered Woman. New York: Harper and Row. Walker, L. E. (1977-78). Battered women and learned helplessness. Victimology: an International Journal. 2(3/4), 525-534. Walker, L. E. (1992).Battered women syndrome and self-defense. Symposium on Women and the Law, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy, 6(2), 321-334. Wallace, H. (1994).â€Å"Battered Women Syndrome: Self-Defence and Duress as Mandatory Defences? † Police Journal, vol. 67, no. 2 133-139 Wells, Celia (1993).â€Å"Battered Woman Syndrome and Defences to Homicide† Journal of Law and Society 24 (1993), 427-437 Wilson, Nanci Koser. (1993).â€Å"Gendered Interaction in Criminal Homicide. † In Anna Victoria Wilson (ed. ) Homicide: The Victim-Offender Connection Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 19~20

Chapter 19 Judy's Delicate Condition For the first few weeks Tommy was uncomfortable having a dead guy in the freezer, but after a while the dead guy became a fixture, a familiar frosty face with every TV dinner. Tommy named him Peary after another arctic explorer. During the day, after he came home from work and before he crawled into bed with Jody, Tommy puttered around the loft talking first to himself, then, when he became comfortable with the idea, to Peary. â€Å"You know, Peary,† Tommy said one morning after he had pounded out two pages of a short story on his typewriter, â€Å"I am having a little trouble finding my voice in this story. When I write about the little farm girl in Georgia walking barefoot to school on the dirt road, I sound like Harper Lee, but when I write about her poor father, unjustly sentenced to a chain gang for stealing bread for his family, I start to sound a little like Mark Twain. But when the little girl grows up to become a Mafia don, I'm falling into more of a Sydney Collins Krantz style. What should I do?† Peary, safe with his lid closed and his light off, did not answer. â€Å"And how am I supposed to concentrate on literature when I'm reading all these vampire books for Jody? She doesn't understand that a writer is a special creature – that I'm different from everyone else. I'm not saying I'm superior to other people, just more sensitive, I guess. And did you notice that she never does any of the shopping? What does she do all night while I'm at work?† Tommy was making an effort to understand Jody's situation, and had even devised a series of experiments from his reading to try and discover the limitations of her new situation. In the evening when they woke, after they shared a shower and a tumble or two, the scientific process would begin. â€Å"Go ahead, honey, give it a try,† Tommy said, shortly after he'd read Dracula. â€Å"I am trying,† Jody said. â€Å"I don't know what I'm supposed to try to do.† â€Å"Concentrate,† Tommy said. â€Å"Push.† â€Å"What do you mean, push? I'm not giving birth, Tommy. What am I supposed to push on?† â€Å"Try to grow fur. Try to make your arms change into wings.† Jody closed her eyes and concentrated – strained, even – and Tommy thought a little color came into her face. Finally she said, â€Å"This is ridiculous.† And it was determined that Jody could not turn into a bat. â€Å"Mist,† Tommy said. â€Å"Try to turn into mist. If you forget your key sometime, you can just ooze under the door to get in.† â€Å"It's not working.† â€Å"Keep trying. You know how your hair gathers in the shower drain? Well, if it gets clogged, you can just flow down there and dig out the clog.† â€Å"There's some motivation.† â€Å"Give it a try.† She tried and failed and the next day Tommy brought some Drano home from the store instead. â€Å"But I could take you to the park and throw a Frisbee for you.† â€Å"I know, but I can't.† â€Å"I'll buy you all kinds of chew toys – a squeaky duck if you want.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Tommy, but I can't turn into a wolf.† â€Å"In the book, Dracula climbs down the castle wall face down.† â€Å"Good for him.† â€Å"You could try it on our building. It's only three stories.† â€Å"That's still a long way to fall.† â€Å"You won't fall. He doesn't fall in the book.† â€Å"And he levitates in the book, doesn't he?† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"And we tried that, didn't we?† â€Å"Well, yeah.† â€Å"Then I'd say that the book is fiction, wouldn't you?† â€Å"Let's try something else; I'll get the list.† â€Å"Mind reading. Project your thoughts into my mind.† â€Å"Okay, I'm projecting. What am I thinking?† â€Å"I can tell by the look on your face.† â€Å"You might be wrong, what am I thinking?† â€Å"You'd like me to stop badgering you with these experiments.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"You want me to take our clothes to the Laundromat.† â€Å"And?† â€Å"That's all I'm getting.† â€Å"I want you to stop rubbing garlic on me while I'm sleeping.† â€Å"You can read thoughts!† â€Å"No, Tommy, but I woke up this evening smelling like a pizza joint. Stop it with the garlic.† â€Å"So you don't know about the crucifix?† â€Å"You touched me with a crucifix?† â€Å"You weren't in any danger. I had a fire extinguisher right there in case you burst into flames.† â€Å"I don't think it's very nice of you to experiment on me while I'm sleeping. How would you feel if I rubbed stuff on you while you were sleeping?† â€Å"Well, it depends. What are we talking about?† â€Å"Just don't touch me while I'm sleeping, okay? A relationship is based on mutual trust and respect.† â€Å"So I guess the mallet and the stake are out of the question?† â€Å"Tommy!† â€Å"Kmart had a sale on mallets. You were wondering if you were immortal. I wasn't going to try it without asking you.† â€Å"How long do you think it will take for you to forget what sex feels like?† â€Å"I'm sorry, Jody. Really, I am.† The question of immortality did, indeed, bother Jody. The old vampire had said that she could be killed, but it was not the sort of thing that you could easily test. It was Tommy, of course, after a long talk with Peary while trying to avoid working on his little Southern-girl story one morning, who came up with the test. Jody awoke one evening to find him in the bathroom emptying ice cubes out of a tray into the big claw-foot tub. He said, â€Å"I was a lifeguard one summer in high school.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"I had to learn CPR. I spent half the summer pumping pissy pool water out of exhausted nine-year-olds.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"Drowning.† â€Å"Drowning?† â€Å"Yeah, we drown you. If you're immortal, you'll be fine. If not, the cold water will keep you fresh and I can revive you. There's about thirty more trays of ice stacked up on Peary. Could you grab some?† â€Å"Tommy, I'm not sure about this.† â€Å"You want to know, don't you?† â€Å"But a tub of ice water?† â€Å"I've run all the possibilities down – guns, knives, an injection of potassium nitrate – this is the only one that can fail and not really kill you. I know you want to know, but I don't want to lose you to find out.† Jody, in spite of herself, was touched. â€Å"That's the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me.† â€Å"Well, you wouldn't want to kill me, would you?† Tommy was a little concerned about the fact that Jody had been feeding on him every four days. Not that he felt sick or weak; on the contrary, he found that each time she bit him he was energized, stronger, it seemed. He was throwing twice as much stock at the store and his mind seemed sharper, more alert. He was making good progress on his story. He was starting to look forward to being bitten. â€Å"Come on then,† he said. â€Å"In the tub.† Jody was wearing a silk nighty that she let drop to the floor. â€Å"You're sure if this doesn't work†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You'll be fine.† She took his hand. â€Å"I'm trusting you.† â€Å"I know. Get in.† Jody stepped into the cold water. â€Å"Brisk,† she said. â€Å"I didn't think you could feel it.† â€Å"I can feel temperature changes, but they don't bother me.† â€Å"We'll experiment on that next. Under you go.† Jody lay down in the tub, her hair spread across the water like crimson kelp. Tommy checked his watch. â€Å"After you go under, don't hold your breath. It's going to be hard, but suck the water into your lungs. I'll leave you under for four minutes, then pull you out.† Jody took deep breaths and looked at him, a glint of panic in her eyes. He bent and kissed her. â€Å"I love you,† he said. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Of course.† He pushed her head under the water. She bobbed back up. â€Å"Me too,† she said. Then she went under. She tried to make herself take in the water but her lungs wouldn't let her and she held her breath. Four minutes later Tommy reached under her arms and pulled her up. â€Å"I didn't do it,† she said. â€Å"Christ, Jody, I can't keep doing this.† â€Å"I held my breath.† â€Å"For four minutes?† â€Å"I think I could have gone hours.† â€Å"Try again. You've got to inhale the water or you'll never die.† â€Å"Thanks, coach.† â€Å"Please.† She slipped under the water and sucked in a breath of water before she could think about it. She listened to the ice cubes tinkling on the surface, watched the bathroom light refracting through the water, occasionally interrupted by Tommy's face as he looked down on her. There was no panic, no choking – she didn't even feel the claustrophobia that she had expected. Actually, it was kind of pleasant. Tommy pulled her up and she expelled a great cough of water, then began breathing normally. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"Fine.† â€Å"You really did drown.† â€Å"It wasn't that bad.† â€Å"Try it again.† This time Tommy left her under for ten minutes before pulling her up. After the cough, she said, â€Å"I guess that's it.† â€Å"Did you see the long tunnel with the light at the end? All your dead relatives waiting? The fiery gates of hell?† â€Å"Nope, just ice cubes.† Tommy turned around and sat down hard on the bathroom rug with his back to the tub. â€Å"I feel like I was the one that got drowned.† â€Å"I feel great.† â€Å"That's it, you know. You are immortal.† â€Å"I guess so. As far as we can test it. Can I get out of the tub now?† â€Å"Sure.† He handed her a towel over his shoulder. â€Å"Jody, are you going to leave me when I get old?† â€Å"You're nineteen years old.† â€Å"Yeah, but next year I'll be twenty, then twenty-one; then I'll be eating strained green beans and drooling all over myself and asking you what your name is every five seconds and you'll be twenty-six and perky and you'll resent me every time you have to change my incontinence pants.† â€Å"That's a cheery thought.† â€Å"Well, you will resent it, won't you?† â€Å"Aren't you jumping the gun a little? You have great bladder control; I've seen you drink six beers without going to the bathroom.† â€Å"Sure, now, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Look, Tommy, could you look at this from my point of view? This is the first time I've had to really think about this as well. Do you realize that I'll never have blue hair and walk with tiny little steps? I'll never drive really slow all the time and spend hours complaining about my ailments. I'll never go to Denny's and steal all the extra jelly packets and squirrel them away in a giant handbag.† Tommy looked up at her. â€Å"You were looking forward to those things?† â€Å"That's not the point, Tommy. I might be immortal, but I've lost a big part of my life. Like French fries. I miss eating French fries. I'm Irish, you know. Ever since the Great Potato Famine my people get nervous if they don't eat French fries every few days. Did you ever think about that?† â€Å"No, I guess I didn't.† â€Å"I don't even know what I am. I don't know why I'm here. I was made by some mystery creature and I don't have the slightest idea why, or what he wants from me, or what I am supposed to be doing. Only that he's messing with my life in ways I can't understand. Do you have any idea what that is like?† â€Å"Actually, I know exactly what that's like.† â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Of course, everybody does. By the way, the Emperor told me that they found another body today. In a Laundromat in the Tenderloin. Broken neck and no blood.† Chapter 20 Angel If Inspector Alphonse Rivera had been a bird, he would have been a crow. He was lean and dark, with slick, sharp features and black eyes that shone and shifted with suspicion and guile. Time and again his crowlike looks landed him in the undercover role of coke dealer. Sometimes Cuban, sometimes Mexican, and one time Colombian, he had driven more Mercedes and worn more Armani suits than most real drug dealers, but after twenty years in narcotics, on three different departments, he had transferred to homicide, claiming that he needed to work among a better class of people – namely, dead. Oh, the joys of homicide! Simple crimes of passion, most solved within twenty-four hours or not at all. No stings, no suitcases of government money, no pretense, just simple deduction – sometimes very simple: a dead wife in the kitchen; a drunken husband standing in the foyer with a smoking thirty-eight; and Rivera, in his cheap Italian knock-off suit, gently disarming the new widower, who could only say, â€Å"Liver and onions.† A body, a suspect, a weapon, and a motive: case solved and on to the next one, neat and tidy. Until now. Rivera thought, If my luck could be bottled, it would be classified a chemical weapon. He read through the coroner's report again. â€Å"Cause of death: compression fracture of the fifth and sixth vertebrae (broken neck). Subject had lost massive amounts of blood – no visible wounds.† On its own, it was a uniquely enigmatic report, but it wasn't on its own. It was the second body in a month that had sustained massive blood loss with no visible wounds. Rivera looked across the desk to where his partner, Nick Cavuto, was reading a copy of the report. â€Å"What do you think?† Rivera said. Cavuto chewed on an unlit cigar. He was a burly and balding, gravel-voiced, third-generation cop – six degrees tougher than his father and grandfather had been because he was gay. He said, â€Å"I think if you have any vacation time coming, this would be the time to take it.† â€Å"So we're fucked.† â€Å"It's too early for us to be fucked. I'd say we've been taken to dinner and slipped the tongue on the good-night kiss.† Rivera smiled. He liked the way Cavuto tried to make everything sound like dialogue from a Bogart movie. The big detective's pride and joy was a complete set of signed first-edition Dashiell Hammett novels. â€Å"Give me the days when police work was done with a snub nose and a lead sap,† Cavuto would say. â€Å"Computers are for pussies.† Rivera returned to the report. â€Å"It looks like this guy would have been dead in a month anyway: ‘a ten-centimeter tumor on the liver. Malignancy the size of a grapefruit.† Cavuto shifted the cigar to the other side of his mouth. â€Å"The old broad at the Van Ness Motel was on her way out too. Congestive heart disease. Too weak for a bypass. She ate nitro pills like they were M&M's.† â€Å"The euthanasia killer,† Rivera said. â€Å"So we're assuming this was the same guy?† â€Å"Whatever you say, Nick.† â€Å"Two killings with the same MO and no motive. I don't even like the sound of it.† Cavuto rubbed his temples as if trying to milk anxiety out through his tear ducts. â€Å"You were in San Junipero during the Night Stalker killings. We couldn't take a piss without tripping over a reporter. I say we lock this down. As far as the papers are concerned, the victims were robbed. No connection.† Rivera nodded. â€Å"I need a smoke. Let's go talk to those guys that got hit at the Laundromat a couple of weeks ago. Maybe there's a connection.† Cavuto pushed himself out of the chair and grabbed his hat off the desk. â€Å"Whoever voted for nonsmoking in the station house should be pistol-whipped.† â€Å"Didn't the President sponsor that bill?† â€Å"All the more reason. The pussy.† Tommy lay looking at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath and extricate his right foot from a hopeless tangle in the sheets. Jody was drawing a tic-tac-toe in the sweat on his chest with her finger. â€Å"You don't sweat anymore, do you?† he asked. â€Å"Don't seem to.† â€Å"And you're not even out of breath. Am I doing something wrong?† â€Å"No, it was great. I only get breathless when†¦ when I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"When you bite me.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Did you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Are you sure?† â€Å"Are you?† â€Å"No, I faked.† Tommy grinned. â€Å"Really?† Jody looked at the wet spot (on her side, of course). â€Å"Why do you think I'm so winded? It's not easy to fake the ejaculation part.† â€Å"I, for one, was fooled.† â€Å"See.† He reached down and unwrapped the sheet from his foot, then he lay back and stared at the ceiling. Jody began to twist the sweaty locks of his hair into horns. â€Å"Jody,† Tommy said tentatively. â€Å"Hmmm?† â€Å"When I get old, I mean, if we're still together†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She yanked on his hair. â€Å"Ouch. Okay, we'll still be together. Have you ever heard of satyriasis?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Well, it happens to real old guys. They run around with a perpetual hard-on, chasing teenage girls and humping anything that moves until they have to be put in restraints.† â€Å"Wow, interesting disease.† â€Å"Yeah, well, when I get old, if I start to show the symptoms†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Just let it run its course, okay?† â€Å"I'll look forward to it.† Rivera held a plastic cup of orange juice for the mass of plaster and tubes that was LaOtis Small. LaOtis sipped from the straw, then pushed it away with his tongue. The body cast ran from below his knees to the top of his head, with holes for his face and outgoing tubes. Cavuto stood by the hospital bed taking notes. â€Å"So you and your friends were doing laundry when an unarmed, redheaded woman attacked you and put all three of you in the hospital? Right?† â€Å"She was a ninja, man. I know. I get the kick-boxing channel on cable.† Cavuto chomped an unlit cigar. â€Å"Your friend James says that she was six-four and weighed two hundred pounds.† â€Å"No, man, she was five-five, five-six.† â€Å"Your other buddy† – Cavuto checked his notepad for the name – â€Å"Kid Jay, said that it was a gang of Mexicans.† â€Å"No, man, he dreamin'; it was one ninja bitch.† â€Å"A five-and-a-half-foot woman put the three of you big strong guys in the hospital?† â€Å"Yeah. We was just mindin' our own bidness. She come in and axed for some change. James tell her no, he got to put a load in the dryer, and she go fifty-one-fifty on him. She a ninja.† â€Å"Thank you, LaOtis, you've been very helpful.† Cavuto shot Rivera a look and they left the hospital room. In the hallway Rivera said, â€Å"So we're looking for a gang of redheaded, ninja Mexicans.† Cavuto said, â€Å"You think there's a molecule of truth in any of that?† â€Å"They were all unconscious when they were brought in, and obviously they haven't tried to match up their stories. So if you throw out everything that doesn't match, you end up with a woman with long red hair.† â€Å"You think a woman could do that to them and manage to snap the neck of two other people without a struggle?† â€Å"Not a chance,† Rivera said. His beeper went off and he checked the number. â€Å"I'll call in.† Cavuto pulled up. â€Å"Go ahead, I'm going back in to talk to LaOtis. Meet me outside emergency.† â€Å"Take it easy, Nick, the guy's in a body cast.† Cavuto grinned. â€Å"Kind'a erotic, ain't it?† He turned and lumbered back toward LaOtis Small's room. Jody walked Tommy up to Market Street, watched him eat a burger and fries, and put him on the 42 bus to work. Killing the time while Tommy worked was becoming tedious. She tried to stay in the loft, watched the late-night talk shows and old movies on cable, read magazines, and did a little cleaning, but by two in the morning the caged-cat feeling came over her and she went out to wander the streets. Sometimes she walked Market among the street people and the convention crowds, other times she took a bus to North Beach and hung out on Broadway watching the sailors and the punks stagger, drunk and stoned, or the hookers and the hustlers running their games. It was on these crowded streets that she felt most lonely. Time and again she wanted to turn to someone and point out a unique heat pattern or the dark aura she sensed around the sick; like a child sharing the cloud animals flying through a summer sky. But no one else could see what she saw, no one heard the whispered propositions, the pointed refusals, or the rustle of money exchanging hands in alleys and doorways. Other times she crept through the back streets and listened to the symphony of noises that no one else heard, smelled the spectrum of odors that had long ago exhausted her vocabulary. Each night there were more nameless sights and smells and sounds, and they came so fast and subtle that she eventually gave up trying to name them. She thought, This is what it is to be an animal. Just experience – direct, instant, and wordless; memory and recognition, but no words. A poet with my senses could spend a lifetime trying to describe what it is to hear a building breathe and smell the aging of concrete. And for what? Why write a song when no one can play the notes or understand the lyrics? I'm alone. Cavuto came through the double doors of the emergency room and joined Rivera, who was standing by the brown, City-issue Ford smoking a cigarette. â€Å"What was the call?† Cavuto asked. â€Å"We got another one. Broken neck. South of Market. Elderly male.† â€Å"Fuck,† Cavuto said, yanking open the car door. â€Å"What about blood loss?† â€Å"They don't know yet. This one's still warm.† Rivera flipped his cigarette butt into the parking lot and climbed into the car. â€Å"You get anything more out of LaOtis?† â€Å"Nothing important. They weren't doing their laundry, they went in looking for the girl, but he's sticking with the ninja story.† River started the car and looked at Cavuto. â€Å"You didn't rough him up?† Cavuto pulled a Cross pen out of his shirt pocket and held it up. â€Å"Mightier than the sword.† Rivera cringed at the thought of what Cavuto might have done to LaOtis with the pen. â€Å"You didn't leave any marks, did you?† â€Å"Lots,† Cavuto grinned. â€Å"Nick, you can't do that kind of – â€Å" â€Å"Relax,† Cavuto interrupted. â€Å"I just wrote, ‘Thanks for all the information; I'm sure we'll get some convictions out of this, on his cast. Then I signed it and told him that I wouldn't scratch it out until he told me the truth.† â€Å"Did you scratch it out?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"If his friends see it, they'll kill him.† â€Å"Fuck him,† Cavuto said. â€Å"Ninja redheads, my ass.† Four in the morning. Jody watched neon beer signs buzzing color across the dew-damp sidewalks of Polk Street. The street was deserted, so she played sensory games to amuse herself – closing her eyes and listening to the soft scratch of her sneakers echoing off the buildings as she walked. If she concentrated, she could walk several blocks without looking, listening for the streetlight switches at the corners and feeling the subtle changes in wind currents at the cross streets. When she felt she was going to run into something, she could shuffle her feet and the sound would form a rough image in her mind of the walls and poles and wires around her. If she stood quietly, she could reach out and form a map of the whole City in her head – sounds drew the lines, and smells filled in the colors. She was listening to the fishing boats idling at the wharf a mile away when she heard footsteps and opened her eyes. A single figure had rounded the corner a couple of blocks ahead of her and was walking, head down, up Polk. She stepped into the doorway of a closed Russian restaurant and watched him. Sadness came off him in black waves. His name was Philip. His friends called him Philly. He was twenty-three. He had grown up in Georgia and had run away to the City when he was sixteen so he wouldn't have to pretend to be something he was not. He had run away to the City to find love. After the one-night stands with rich older men, after the bars and the bathhouses, after finding out that he wasn't a freak, that there were other people just like him, after the last of the confusion and shame had settled like red Georgia dust, he'd found love. He'd lived with his lover in a studio in the Castro district. And in that studio, sitting on the edge of a rented hospital bed, he had filled a syringe with morphine and injected it into his lover and held his hand while he died. Later, he cleared away the bed pans and the IV stand and the machine that he used to suck the fluid out of his lover's lungs and he threw them in the trash. The doctor said to hold on to them – that he would need them. They buried Philly's lover in the morning and they took the embroidered square of fabric that was draped on the casket and folded it and handed it to him like the flag to a war widow. He got to keep it for a while before it was added to the quilt. He had it in his pocket now. His hair was gone from the chemotherapy. His lungs hurt, and his feet hurt; the sarcomas that spotted his body were worst on his feet and his face. His joints ached and he couldn't keep his food down, but he could still walk. So he walked. He walked up Polk Street, head down, at four in the morning, because he could. He could still walk. When he reached the doorway of a Russian restaurant, Jody stepped out in front of him and he stopped and looked at her. Somewhere, way down deep, he found that there was a smile left. â€Å"Are you the Angel of Death?† he asked. â€Å"Yes,† she said. â€Å"It's good to see you,† Philly said. She held her arms out to him.

Year 12 stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Year 12 stress - Essay Example In causing one’s death, the methods being used today are different but the intent and motivation are more or less the same. One of the frequently used methods involves trains and railroad tracks. Most of the suicide incidents reported in Japan these days involve students who flunked, or knew they would flunk, a high-stakes college admission test administered uniformly to graduating high school students nationwide. Japanese students have been raised to believe that their very lives and future ride on this battery of tests such that failure to pass it could mean the end of the world for them. That means abasement and dishonor to the proud Japanese. In the psychology of suicides, however, it is said that it is not enough that one’s sense of pride and honor is wounded to want to end it all. A strong instigating factor is stress which, psychologists say, comes from feeling out of control. So if an individual is in control of his senses, he might still seek ways to redeem his fallen honor and thus vindicate himself. Suicide thus becomes an attractive path only for people stressed out by the prospects of failure, which could be the reason for the alarming incidence of such cases among Japanese students. The same thing could be happening to Australian students in the past few years. A pressure-packed series of tests for pre-college students similar to Japan’s college admission tests has since the 1960s created the same sort of problem for public health and safety in Australia. Like the Japanese exams, a great deal of importance had been attached to the tests for Australia’s Higher School Certificate (HSC) that passing it has become a do-or-die proposition for the students involved. Too much is expected from students going through this examination that flunking it is considered out of the question. The HSC is

Case study 2- A Taxing Issue Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2- A Taxing Issue - Case Study Example In fact, the government should promote incentives for those who increase their annual earning beyond a certain limit. I argue that for one to increase their annual earnings beyond a particular mark implies more job creations and more life to the economy. The government should also focus on cutting expenditure in sectors like defense to avail more funds for development. It is not fair to have different tax rates for different income groups. Discriminatory taxation based on one’s income group leads to reduced private investments. Most private investments consider profitability of their businesses. I therefore argue that increasing tax those with higher incomes will lessen the appetite for private investments. The government should only use a uniform taxation system. When running a small business, many financial factors shall influence in my hiring. The tax rate is arguably one of the main financial factors to consider when hiring (Kennedy 69). In addition, I shall consider funding and operational costs (Kennedy 207). In funding, equity versus debt considered where debt is loan and equity is the capital one

My Happiest Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My Happiest Day - Essay Example The opening ceremony was emphatic and exciting. One side of the stadium was full of Atletico Madrid fans while the other side Real Madrid fans were chanting and singing victory songs. Believe me; it was magnificent and gigantic especially because I was one of the fans present in that stadium. Once the referee blew the whistle, the high profile match commenced with hype. Real Madrid’s players were showing a lot of enthusiasm and gave the fantastic performance. Motivational slogans and songs from fans of the two teams were conspicuous. By the end of the first match, Atletico Madrid scored. For me, this was a sad moment but I still had nope that my team will emerge the winners. This was the only goal in the first halftime and the second half of the match. Real Madrid players had many chances to score, but ninety minutes erupted without a single goal. The referee extended the match by five more minutes and Real Madrid got a corner kick. I closed my eyes in hope that my team will s core and all I heard was the rumbling of the ground as thousands of fans celebrated the equalizing goal. Despite the fact that my eyes were shut, I shouted and celebrated with my fellow fans. My happiness was evident and felt as one of the happiest person in the world. It was evident that the match was going to have extra time. It was not only surprising but overwhelming because Real Madrid scored three more goals in twenty minutes. My favorite team was finally crowned as the Champion after twelve years.

Consumer Law Master Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Consumer Law Master - Case Study Example These are the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and Unfair Contract Terms Act. In order to critically discuss how consumer law can protect the interest of the consumer, it is essential to analyze the case study. Duck visited the showroom of Swan and looked at a television set priced at 500. He asked Swan about the set. Swan replied: "It's a beautiful model, never used, a snip at 500." In fact some of the internal wiring was not properly connected and the set had been switched on and used as a display unit in Swan's showroom for three days prior to Duck's visit. In this situation, and according to the Trade Descriptions Act, Swan is subject to the criminal offence as the one who has provided his consumer with misleading information. According to the Act, the description to the consumer may be given verbally or in the written form, thus there is no possibility for Swan to be justified on the basis of the information having been given in the oral form (Budnitz, 2004). The Act makes the verbal statement, including misleading information, an offence and thus it is a criminal action. ... However, there is also a question about what descriptions are to be supposed as trade under the act and is there any possibility for Swan to avoid penalty in this relation. The Act includes the following types of descriptions into the trade descriptions category: quantity, gauge or size of the goods; manufacture method; composition; performance, strength and fitness for purpose, which means that the goods should be mechanically sound and unbreakable, etc. In the situation described, it is clear that the misleading information provided by Swan, is included into the paragraph relating to the performance, strength of the TV set, and the fact that it must be mechanically sound. Thus, knowing the problem of the TV set and the wrong connections inside it, Swan has intentionally committed an offence and is subject to the penalties according to the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. As far as it is known that the statement made is false, it is also supposed to be a criminal offence under the Act, and as Swan is not a simple employee but is supposed to be a manager, he can be sued and subjected to these penalties, however the Act presupposes that any person guilty of intentional or unintentional mislead bears responsibility under the law. The maximum penalty is equal to 5,000 per offence. This penalty is provided by the Magistrates' Court; as for the crown Court, the fine size is unlimited, while the person guilty of misleading the customer may acqu ire up to two years of imprisonment. It is possible that Swan may lose his consumer credit license, but according to the situation described it is supposed that he does not have this license, having an agreement with Chicken-Credit Ltd,

Describe the various political party systems that can be identified, Essay

Describe the various political party systems that can be identified, more or less, with the developments of the following period - Essay Example The constitution recognizes that human beings are equal and have inalienable rights. As such, most political parties in the US fight for equalitarian ideals whenever another party veers off the ideals set by the constitution; for example, the democrats often advocate for strong national government and taking care of the interests of the wealthy for economic progress forgetting social equality and on the other hand, republicans worked so hard to maintain equality (Reichley, 2000 p. 30-36).There has been many political parties pursuing different interests since independence ranging from nativism, anti-catholism, slavery, taxation, and the national bank but the dominant parties in modern USA are the democratic and republican parties. The aim of this paper is to trace the history of political party systems since independence; their ideals, nominations and elections, social groupings, major fault lines, and the changes from each era to another. To answer this question, the paper will be d ivided into five sections. The first section will cover the first party system during the period 1787-1828. Then, the second party system from 1828-1854. Thirdly, third party system period from 1854 to 1896. Followed by the fourth party system 1896-1932 and lastly, fifth party system which covers the period from 1932 to 1960s. 1787-1800 Though America declared independence in 1776, the constitution was signed in the year 1787. By then there were no political parties as was the norm in other countries of the world. It was a federal constitution and as such presidents, House of Representatives and congress were elected on a federal ticket until the 1790s when political parties were invented. The first Electoral College was constituted in 1789 and George Washington from Virginia State was elected as the president with 69 votes (Reichley, 2000 p. 29). His vice president was John Adams of Massachusetts. After assuming office, Washington chose Thomas Jefferson as the secretary of state an d Hamilton as secretary of treasury. These two posts were very vital in the administration of the state thus the holders of these offices were close confidants of the president. Hamilton as the secretary of treasury was involved in making policies on development and as such he embarked on an ambitious economic program of ensuring the national state remained dominant or in control. The program involved assuming national and state debts by the federal government, establishing a national bank and levying taxes especially on whiskey (Reichley, 2000 p. 30). His philosophy was the inclusion of business interests as part of ensuring rapid economic growth in the belief that the support for commerce and manufacturing was for the benefit of all citizens. However, some individuals thought that he was reverting to the monarchical era and criticized him for placing less value on social equality which is one of the principles of the constitution. Though he conceived that there may be an abuse of power if too much power is placed on national government, he also believed that the civil society could remedy the situation (P. 30). The national bank was of such importance that different factions kept arguing about whether it should exist or not. Some individuals mostly republicans were also opposed to the idea of the federal government assuming debts and making workers pay high taxes to recover such debts. The only people who profited from such a move were speculators who had expected high

Midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Midterm - Essay Example e denied same job opportunities as the whites; they were made to work for the whites without pay, in the World War they were made to serve in only segregated units. The slaves were used for agricultural purposes as labor especially in cotton and tobacco plantations. They were also used in shipyards, as domestic slaves and as labor on the docks. They were viewed as slaves so much to the point that their owners bought them. A slave could be bargained for, and the highest bidder would take him or her home. The owners were allowed to do anything to the slaves including killing them as the Black Americans were not viewed equals to the rest. They were given the hardest works, worked under the toughest conditions and were treated to gruesome punishments like being left to be mauled by dogs or starved to death. After a while, the art of the slave trade was abolished in America, and was now illegal and punishable by death. This shows the start of a new century which hopefully would bring a change to the African Americans. However, it still did not bring change. They were still treated with contempt and were discriminated especially in the fact that they could not share the same facilities with the whites like the train, the bus, the restaurants and more. They were allowed to vote in the national elections and poll taxes. In response to all this, in 10909, lobbyist groups and protest groups emerged to respond to the de jure racism. One of the groups was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (Zastrow, 2010). This period is at times known as the Nadir of American Race Relations. This is so because this was the height of African American segregation. It was so intense that race riots were experienced, black lynching and anti blacks’ violence. It was so in tense that in 1946, Einstein defined African American racism as America’s worst disease. In 1981-1997, the United States Department of Agriculture discriminated against African American

Inefficiency Within a Stock Market Create Barrier to Fulfilment of its Assignment

Inefficiency Within a Stock Market Create Barrier to Fulfilment of its Main Function - Assignment Example As the paper stresses the main functions of the stock market includes evaluation of the securities those are listed in the stock market which in turn help the companies to get more capital for production, thus the chances of industrial growth increase. The functions of the stock market also includes the marketing of the government securities, also provide safety in the dealings as the companies have to abide by the rules. The stock market is also the index of the economy; the banks also provide loans against the stock market securities. From the above discussion the importance of the stock market can be understood. But when the stock market which is the economical indicator is not performing as it should be then it would be a problem for the community associated with that stock market. This discussion declares that the common people who are the investors of the securities they would face problem as the stock market is not reflecting the right information, they may invest in the wrong place. The foreign investors and the government would not get the right information as the stock market is not efficient, not the actual information is available in the market. The managers of the firms also get it tough to take the right decision in the current situation. May be they are thinking that their firm is performing well but their firm is valued less in the stock market. So it will be tough for them to take the decision as they find it confusing as two different valuations of the firm are in front of them. The paper is an attempt to analyze the effect of the inefficient stock market, how it creates barrier to fulfil the main functions of the stock market and cause difficulties for the managers of the firms for taking a suitable decision. The researcher has taken the help of some theories like efficient market hypothesis and uses some articles for conducting the research. Stock Market Efficiency As per Professor Eugene F. Fama an efficient market fully reflect the information available to the investors. The research of Fama was divided in 3 parts on the basis of the information available. In the weak form of efficiency in the EHM claims that the past prices of the security are reflected in the price of the security today. No one can beat the market by doing the fundamental analysis. The semi strong form of tests implies that all the public information available reflects in the current market price of the stock, no one can beat the market by doing the fundamental analysis or the technical analysis. The other degree of efficiency is the strong form of efficiency which implies that even using the insider information the investor can’t have the advantage (Fama, 1970, p.399-412). The accepted view about the efficient market hypothesis is that when the information is available about a specific company then the information spread fast among the investors of the company

Biology lesson 4 Exam Essay Example for Free

Biology lesson 4 Exam Essay Question 1 2 points Save Plant seed coats, mycorrhizae, and cuticles are examples of ways plants have adapted to life on land. evolutionary adaptations to limit water absorption. mechanisms to enhance carbon dioxide release. both b and c. (page 502) Question 2 2 points Save The advantages of vascular tissue over nonvascular tissue are evident in whether organisms have alternation of generations. an organisms size and complexity. (page 504) the number of individual offspring produced by each organism. all of the above. Question 3 2 points Save The typical vascular plant sporophyte  includes the developing embryo. has roots, shoots, and meristems. has specialized tissues that develop into conducting vessels. both b and c. (page 507) Question 4 2 points Save Fruits and vegetables provide ____________ and are important sources of _____________ . nutrients; carbohydrates dietary fiber; protein protein; vitamins and minerals dietary fiber; vitamins and minerals (page 516) Question 5 2 points Save More than 70 percent of the worlds cultivated farmland is used for growing _________ rich in ____________. fruits; carbohydrates and fiber roots; starch  grains; carbohydrates and fiber (page 518) legumes; Protein Question 6 2 points Save Several nonfood uses of plants include paper, synthetic clothing, and building material. medicines, rayon, and lumber. (pages 520-523) ceramics, cabinets, and rope. violins, ivory, and rubber. Question 7 2 points Save Salicin, derived from the bark of willow trees, is the starting compound used to make paper. clothes. rubber. aspirin. (page 522) Question 8 2 points Save Medicinal uses of plants include all of the following EXCEPT cancer treatment. treatment of cardiac disorders. decongestant. Albinism treatment. (page 521) Question 9 2 points Save Two plants that are used to make BOTH paper and cloth are bamboo and flax. flax and cotton. (page 522) sisal and bamboo. rice and cotton. Question 10 2 points Save Refer to the illustration below it shows the stem of a coleus plant. The tissue labeled A, which gives support to the vascular structures in the plant stem, is called vascular tissue. dermal tissue. epidermis. ground tissue. (pages 552-553) Question 11 2 points Save Protection, water and mineral absorption, and gas exchange are all functions of dermal tissue. (page 553)  vascular bundles. mesophyll cells. heartwood. Question 12 2 points Save The plumbing system that transports water and nutrients throughout a plant is called epidermis. vascular tissue. (page 554) pith. transpiration. Question 13 2 points Save The movement of water through a plant is caused, in part, by the attraction of water molecules for each other. osmosis. transpiration. (page 560) all of the above. Question 14 2 points Save The stomata are responsible for translocation. leaf growth. regulating water loss. (page 560) the transport of minerals. Question 15 2 points Save. The guard cells that surround a stoma have no walls. swell with water, causing the stoma to open. (page 561) shrivel up when opening the stoma. are responsible for translocation. Question 16 2 points Save Seed germination in a bean sprout uses a hooked shoot to protect the sprout tip from damage. (page 572) occurs after the seed coat has been damaged. is aided by a protective sheath which covers the shoot tip. only occurs after the soil has warmed to 17oC. Question 17 2 points Save Corn plants are perennial plants, storing nutrients in their roots for the next year. Must have their seeds exposed to fire before they germinate. have secondary growth that makes the stems resistant to damage. have sheaths that cover the growing shoot during germination. (page 572) Question 18 2 points Save Growth by cell division that makes both ends of a plant longer but not wider is called secondary growth. annual ring growth. vascular growth. primary growth. (page 574) Question 19 2 points Save The secondary xylem and phloem form from cork cambium. vascular cambium. apical meristems. bark. (page 574) Question 20 2 points Save. One difference between a gastrovascular cavity and a one-way digestive system is the presence or absence of cell specialization. (page 605) digestive enzymes. digestion within body cells. a moist membrane for nutrient diffusion. Question 21 2 points Save In an open circulatory system, water is drawn into the mantle cavity to provide oxygen to body tissues. lungs branch into small tubules to provide oxygen to tissues. wastes are eliminated directly to the environment from tissues. body tissues are bathed directly in fluid containing oxygen. (page 606) Question 22 2 points Save. The system that does not allow for direct contact between oxygen-carrying cells and tissues is called a one-way digestive system. the excretory system. a closed circulatory system. (page 606) an open respiratory system. Question 23 7 points Save Match the animal systems in Column I with their functions in Column II. digestive E. break down food excretory B. removal of waste products skeletal C. body support and movement circulatory D. transport nutrients and oxygen nervous – A. coordinate body activities respiratory F. perform cellular metabolism reproductive G. carry on the species.

The Impact Of Biodiversity Loss

The Impact Of Biodiversity Loss Biodiversity loss has a negative impact on our societies; it negatively affects or contributes to the health of individuals, the climate, natural resources, pollution, poverty and the extinction of species. In the past years, biodiversity has been increasing faster than at any other time in human history. Consequently, its metamorphosis is anticipated to continue at the same pace. Virtually, all of Earths ecosystems have been severely transformed as a result of human actions and ecosystems are still being converted for agricultural and other uses. More land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950 than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850. Numerous plant populations and animals have decreased in numbers as well as their geographical spread, or both. The extinction of species is a natural part of Earths history. However, as a result of human activity, the extinction rate has grown by at least 100 times in comparison to the natural rate. Over the last century, some people have benefited from the conversion of natural ecosystems and an increase in international trade, but other people have suffered from the consequences of biodiversity losses and from restricted access to resources they depend upon. Consequently, changes in ecosystems are harming many of the worlds poorest people, who are the least capable to adapt to these changes. Historically, poor people lost disproportionate access to ecosystem services and biological products because demand for those services has grown. Over the past several decades, there has been an increase in economic losses and human suffering as a result of natural disasters. A rich source of biodiversity such as coral reefs and mangrove forests are excellent natural protection against floods and storms. However, they have diminished in coverage. Thus, they have increased the severity of flooding on coastal communities. In my research essay, I refer to Pettigrew. His theory states that there are three level of social anal ysis of a social problem. First, there is the macro level which is large scale and social structural such as institutions and organizations. This level can be found in Economics. Then, there is the meso level which is between the macro and micro level. It is a situational level in which there is face-to-face interaction and it can be found in Sociology. Lastly, there is the micro level which is small scale and individual such as personality. It can be found in Psychology. Biodiversity loss has a negative impact on our societies; it negatively affects or contributes to the health of individuals, the climate, natural resources, pollution, poverty and the extinction of species. Biodiversity refers to the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat, a high level of which is usually considered to be important and desirable. Extinction signifies being no longer existing or living. I will use Sociology to explain the demographic change. I will use Psychology to explain the health of individuals. Finally, I will use Economics to explain the deepening of poverty, the economic decline. Most sources are online journal articles taken from EBSCOhost database (Academic Search Premier) which are almost entirely peer-reviewed. The other source is a book. The theory that will be used in this research is Thompsons Theory of Demographic Transition and the related discipline will be Sociology. This theory seeks to explain the transformation of countries from having high birth rates and death rates to low birth rates and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system as well as an increasingly rapid rise in population growth. Thus, the population will use more natural resources which will decrease the biodiversity. Biodiversity loss affects the natural resources. Jha and Bawa (2006) found out that the population growth has an effect on the rate of deforestation rate in biodiversity hotspots. When population growth was high and Human Development Index (HDI) was low there was a high rate of deforestation, but when HDI was high; rate of deforestation was low, despite high population growth. The correlation among variables was significant for the 1990s. Thompsons Theory of Demographic Transition seeks to explain the rapid rise in population growth as a result of a transition between a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system. Thus, there has been an exponential population growth over the last 200 years as a result of the advances made in the industrial, transportation, economic, medical, and agricultural revolutions. Moreover, there has been a simultaneous growth within the industrial sector. Developed countries, in general, have and use more of the Earths resources. Population growth in developed countries puts a greater pressure on global resources and the environment than growth in less developed nations. As a result, Newman (2008) argues that humanitys use of natural resources is now 20% higher than Earths biologically productive capacity (p.411). Furthermore, intact forests also provide protection from floods, landslides, erosion and avalanches. Beyond this, forests are indispensible for regulating the water balance. Damage to the forest means that it cannot furnish these environmental services any more, the consequence of which is greater damage to residential buildings, production plants and infrastructural facilities if there is a nature catastrophe. Also, there is a restricted access of resources that people depend on. In the past, increases in the supply of resources were often achieved despite local limitations by shifting production and harvest to new, less exploited regions. Consequently, these options are rapidly diminishing, and developing substitute s for services can be expensive. The use of ecosystems for recreation, spiritual enrichment, and other cultural purposes is growing. However, the capacity of ecosystems to provide these services has declined significantly. The use of resources such as food, water, and wood has increased rapidly, and continues to grow, sometimes unsustainably. Rainforests once covered 14% of the Earths land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Also, the price of natural resources is increasing because the demand is higher as a result of its reduction. The increase is a major challenge for developing countries without their own raw materials. The decrease in biodiversity has an impact on the extinction of species. Hautemulle (2010) argues that the current situation is alarming: there are thirty-four hot spots of the globe, areas characterized by both their large number of species and an increased threat to biodiversity. Among them is the Mediterranean. The current extinction rate of species is 100 to 1 000 times faster than the natural rate. It evokes a sixth extinction crisis, which would not, unlike the first five, caused by a natural event like a volcanic or impact of large meteorites. Humans are responsible for the extremely high extinction rate. Many plant and animal populations are declining, both in terms of number of individuals, geographical spread, or both. Dirzo and Raven (2003) claim that 565 of the 1137 threatened species of mammals will go extinct within the next 50 years due to habitat loss and fragmentation (p.162). Furthermore, Dirzo and Raven (2003) found out that habitat loss is the principal driver of extinction throughout the world. Consequently, the survival times of species in small areas of habitat should be considered in relation to their likely time of survival. One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of all plants assessed in the IUCN Red List 2007 are at risk. Moreover, more than 16,000 species are at risk of extinction. The reduction of biodiversity has an effect on the health of individuals. A new generation of antibiotics, new treatments against bone loss or kidney problems, cancer drugs, it could all be lost if the world fails to reverse the rapid loss of biodiversity. Experts warn that many forms of terrestrial and marine life that have economic and medical interest may disappear before the people can learn their secrets. The reduction of biodiversity means that individuals lose the opportunity to experience many chemicals and genes similar to those already given to mankind for their enormous benefits in terms of health. It can limit the potential discovery of new treatments against many diseases and health problems. Diaz, Fargione, Chapin Tilman (2006) discovered that the loss of biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services is likely to accentuate inequality and marginalization of the most vulnerable sectors of society, by decreasing their access to basic materials for a healthy life and by reduc ing their freedom of choice and action (p. 1302). An enormous portion of the world population could suffer severely as a result of biodiversity loss. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that approximately 80% of the worlds population from developing countries rely mainly on traditional medicines (mostly derived from plants) for their primary health care. Biodiversity plays a critical role in nutrition. Thus, its loss could decrease the quality of nutrition which would affect the normal development of children (both physical and mental) as well as the health and productivity of adults. Meat from wild animals forms a very important contribution to food sources and livelihoods. Consequently, the reduction of biodiversity could have negative consequences on the food security which would affect many countries particularly those with high levels of poverty and food insecurity. Furthermore, biodiversity safeguards human health since fruits and vegetables are grown in pla nts and trees. Thus, its loss could decrease the production of healthy food. Biodiversity loss has negative consequences on the climate. I will also discuss the causes related to climate. Rosales (2008) argues that Although much uncertainty remains about individual species and ecosystems, it is well established that the overall impact of climate change on biodiversity has been and will be negative (p.1410). There has been significant climate change from 1970 to 2005 according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Regarding biodiversity, it affirms that recent warming is already strongly affecting natural biological systems. There has been an increase in wildfire risk and changes in species such as timing of growth, abundance, the length of growing season and changes in migration. Changes have also been seen in aquatic systems. Rosales (2008) states that Of the 28,671 observed biological changes reviewed by the IPCC, 90% are consistent with what one would expect to see with global warming (p. 1411). Global warming destroys and alters certain habitats such as forests and wetlands. Trapped, these endangered species cannot migrate. Roads are blocking them on their journey. A nature that has not been modified by humans is increasingly rare. Over the next 50 years, the increase in global temperatures by 1.8 to 2  ° C threatens a million species extinction. If nothing is done to stop global warming, this figure will continue to increase. Land degradation in dry lands is associated with the diminution of biodiversity. Thus, its loss contributes to global climate change through the loss of carbon capacity. Furthermore, as a result of climate change, there has been an increase in ocean acidification, the continuous decrease in the pH of the Earths oceans which affects negatively biodiversity. The consequences of the augmentation of greenhouse emissions especially carbon dioxide on the oceans may well be serious. Moreover, coral reefs are threatened by climate change because all of them are at risk. The average level of the oc eans of the world has doubled. Also, climate change has also been found to have an impact on the reproductive periods of species, on their distribution and a highly increased extinction rate. The diminution of biodiversity has an influence on poverty. Diaz et al. (2006) argue that Its degradation is threatening the fulfillment of basic needs and aspiration of humanity as a whole, but especially, and most immediately, those of the most disadvantaged segments of society (p.1305). Seventy percent of the poor of the planet live in rural areas and depend. directly on biodiversity for their survival and well-being. Poor areas also depend on urban biodiversity, not only for food production and other commodities, but also for services provided by ecosystems, including the preservation of clean air and water and waste decomposition. If the impact of biodiversity loss is more severe for the poorest people, it is because they have few alternatives to deal with. Moreover, the poor people have a limited purchasing power. Thus, it leaves them less capable of buying in-substitutes for local ecosystems from outside. Therefore, they highly rely on integrity of their local environment. Add itionally, the reduction of biodiversity affects the sustainable supply of the service. Pollution has an impact on the diminution of biodiversity. It is emitted in many forms, including form of atmospheric pollution, of soil and water, pesticides, particulate matter and heavy metals. Thousands of pollutants circulating in the Earths ecosystems and many of these materials have a significant impact on large-scale forest and aquatic ecosystems. For example, pollution acid had a significant impact on sugar bushes of Ontario and pollution caused by industries such as DDT is known to have resulted in significant decreases in populations of many species of birds, including the peregrine falcon and bald eagle. Pollution can also disrupt ecological processes. Thus, scientists are now the link between light pollution and the decline of migratory songbirds. Moreover, pollution affects biodiversity by potentially increasing the mutation rate and applying pressure or stimuli to populations to move or adapt. Thus, pollution can harm or kill members of a population indiscriminately, o r reduce fecundity. Soil acidification creates ecological dead zones, leaving areas unfit for plant life and the animals that depend upon them. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may cause declines, deformities and death of fish life. Terrestrial and aquatic plants may absorb pollutants from water (as their main nutrient source) and pass them up the food chain to consumer animals and humans. Chemical contamination can cause declines in frog biodiversity. Zvereva, Toivonen Kozlov (2008) found out that Species richness of vascular plants significantly decreased with pollution. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦)An overall decline in species richness of vascular plants was primarily due to the contribution of acidic polluters (p. 310). The biodiversity loss has many devastating consequences on the ecosystem, the climate, pollution and on society. It affects the health of the individuals with the rise of infectious disease as well as the loss of potential new medicines and medical models. Also, its degradation is threatening the fulfillment of basic needs and aspiration of humanity as a whole, but especially, and most immediately, those of the most disadvantaged segments of society. It limits both the capability of species to migrate and the ability of species to survive in fragmented habitats. Many actions can be taken in order to conserve biodiversity. Informing all of society about the benefits of conserving biodiversity, and explicitly considering trade-offs between different options in an integrated way, helps maximize the benefits to society. Strong institutions at all levels are essential to support biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of ecosystems. International agreements need to include enfor cement measures and take into account impacts on biodiversity and possible synergies with other agreements. Most direct actions to halt or reduce biodiversity loss need to be taken at local or national level. Suitable laws and policies developed by central governments can enable local levels of government to provide incentives for sustainable resource management.

The Search for Quark :: essays research papers

What exactly is Quark? Quark: a fermion which is believed to be one of the fundamental constituents of matter. All quarks have a fractional electric charge1. This pretty much means quarks have  ½ spin (rotate two full rotations to get to place it started), apply to Pauli Exclusion Principle, is one of the things that make up all matter, and its electric charge is a fraction. There are three different colors of quark; red, green, and blue. The colors always up to white. Also there are three different kinds of antiquark; cyan, yellow, and magenta. Quarks are at least 330MeV. Quarks were first proposed in 1964. It was named quark by Caltech theorist Murray Gell-Mann. He named them that from a quotation in a novel â€Å"Three quarks for Muster Mark, Sure he hasn’t got much of a bark †¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 Gell-Mann said all mesons, baryons, and hadrons are made of quarks. He also said they are made of three types of quarks (up, down, and strange). That makes a total of nine types of quarks. George Zweig called them aces. Not many people believed in it at this time. From 1968 to 1973 MIT bombarded protons and neutrons with electrons. Electrons ricocheted off protons and neutrons as if it hit a hard, tiny object. The hard object was a quark. Over the years experiments and researches have led to a lot of indirect evidence that quarks exist. Despite all this indirect evidence they could not find a single free quark. No particle detector detected one. This led to a lot of non believers. As more proof has been shown that quarks exist it became more popular and less doubted. Chapter 1: Over coming Skepticism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Doubters did not believe in quarks. They thought of quarks just as a math equation that could explain a couple of things. They had good reason. The quark was never found free or even revealed itself. That was until 1974 when two discoveries occurred at the Brookhaven Laboratory and Stanford. They had found a new particle. Stanford called it the psi and Brookhaven called it the J. The new particle had to be a new kind of quark. Two years later Harvard theorist Sheldon Glashow named the new particle the charmed quark. This discovery shattered any doubts about the quark being real or not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The discovery also shattered the bootstrap model theory. This theory said that protons, neutrons, and other particles were the smallest units.

Thomas Jefferson :: History Historical Jefferson Essays

Thomas Jefferson â€Å"Thomas Jefferson still survives,† John Adams’ last words most definitely stand true, even today. Thomas Jefferson was a well-educated man with a wealthy and proper British-American upbringing. An excellent education was the beginning step to all the wonderful things Jefferson would do for our country. After college, he became a lawyer, and soon a member of the House of Burgesses. An intelligent writer and thinker, Jefferson, along with four others, was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence. Filled with Thomas Jefferson’s great ideas, the Declaration of Independence greatly influenced the Constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the Declaration of Independence was written, a fire sparked in the hearts of the Americans who had suffered from the King of England’s oppressive governing. A course of action had finally been taken against the King. New ideas spread regarding â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† The young nation’s hope of freedom was now becoming more of a reality than a dream.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the years following, a Constitutional Convention was held in order to â€Å"form a more perfect union.† Models for the constitution consisted of forms of government such as the Magna Carta, which limited power of the king or government figure, and the Declaration of Independence. Ideas taken from the Declaration and Thomas Jefferson included points such as â€Å"We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . By mentioning the truths that are self evident, Jefferson lets the colonists know that they do indeed have rights. The Declaration was used as a model for the Constitution, through its focus on equal rights, to remind us that all men are created equal, and should be treated with the basic respect human beings deserves, along with the right to choose our destiny.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Today, we know America as a nation of peace and refuge from the other tyrannous governments of the world. Once, our nation, as American colonies, experienced these same tyrannous behaviors from the distant King of England. Thomas Jefferson doesn’t hold back when mentioning the King’s unjust actions. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, †¦to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws , giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, for protecting them by a mock trial for punishment†¦for cutting

Blindfold :: essays research papers

â€Å"Blindfold† by Diane Hoh   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The title of this book is called Blindfold and it is called that because at the end of the story before this girl is going to be killed the other girl blindfolds her. The author is Diane Hoh and there isn’t really any fact at all in this book about the author. The setting takes place in a small community, everybody knows everybody in this town. I think the theme of this book is to never trust anyone even if you think that they are your really good friends. The protagonist in this story is Maggie Keehe. The antagonist is lane the girl who is going on a killing spree and her next victim was Maggie. The character I most like is Maggie for one she is the main character. I didn’t really dislike any of the characters in this book. And no I really don’t agree with what some of the choices the characters make. For one Lane is killing a lot of people because she don’t like them. I would have not killed anyone in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The plot and summary of this story is Maggie lives in Felicity Ohio. They tell about the old courthouse and how the whole town is trying to work together to fix up the old courthouse. The courthouse had been in that town for many generations. To make a long story short there is a girl in town and she killed another girl with an iron. The police came after the boyfriend & arrested him. He had to be in jail for at least four years. The police didn’t take the case any further. The guy that was arrested and convicted supposedly tried to escape from his cell. His name was Dante Guandino. He never really tried to escape from his cell because later on in the book the kids are going over the courthouse and stubble over his body (it was decomposed) before any of this some one had tried to kill Maggie because she was at a cook out, and someone tried to blow up the building she as working in. She was hurt with minor injuries. Then the accident in the urbanely where so me one was pushing her ladder back and fourth and trying to hit her hand, then she falls through the floor on the cellar and discovers the decomposed body of Dante Guandino.

And the Fraud Continues

1. ) Discuss the Internal control weaknesses that existed at MCI that contributed to the commission of this fraud: MCI biggest internal control weaknesses at was Pavlo. Pavlo was able to manipulate MCI account receivable system which he helped to create and develop. When the same employee is able to receive and update payments, the chance of manipulation and embezzlement of funds is very high. By one person being able to record accounts receivable, or even reconcile the company's bank account, he/she may be able to embezzle money from the company. This is what happens to MCI with Pavlo, through the following: a. By writing off a companies account receivables and converting them into notes receivable, Asset are created on the balance sheet. When customers are unable or may not pay their debts, companies may be able to write-off bad debts on their income tax returns. Companies’ accounts receivable can present a problem when only a few employees are available to manage company fi nances. By allowing the same employee to receive payments, update accounts receivable records, and reconcile the company's bank account, he/she may be able to embezzle money from the company. b. Unapplied cash was used for the bad debt and slow payments. By allocations of delinquent or bad receivables, made the expenses related to the write off of the receivables will not be entered on the income statement. c. Credit Holds was used. MCI called customers in regards to their past due account receivables. MCI were told by the customer that they were sending a payment immediately, MCI credited their receivables before receiving the cash. By Pavlo’s manipulating the account receivable it helped him delayed the inevitable. The recognition of bad debt and uncollected receivables that have to be expensed on the income statement. . Identify and justify the approach you would take if you suspected fraudulent activity within an organization where you work: Should I suspect fraudulent activity within an organization. I would investigate the suspected activity and reporting the suspected activity to the correct personnel. The Internal Auditor’s Office should coordinate investigations of fraud, waste, or abuse. Employees shall not de stroy any document or record of any kind that may be relevant to a past, present, or future investigation of fraud, waste, or abuse. The application of professional skepticism is essential any audit investigation. Professional skepticism in auditing implies an attitude that includes a questioning mind and a critical assessment of audit evidence without being obsessively suspicious or skeptical. Don’t make matters worse by getting into legal liability by the way you handle the matter. Do not speak to anyone about the person that's suspected of committing the fraud before reporting it to management. By speaking to someone other than management you could be sued for slander. Consult an attorney who specializes in employment-related matters. When an employee has knowledge of fraud, waste, or abuse has good reason to suspect that such conduct has occurred should adhere to the procedures in the Organization’s Policy. When suspected fraudulent activity, waste, or abuse is observed by, or made known to an employee. The employee should immediately report the activity to his/her direct supervisor. If an employee believes that their supervisor are involved in the activity, he/she should immediately report the activity to the supervisor’s manager as well as the CFO and CEO. If an employee believes that the supervisor’s, management and/or the CEO may be involved with the activity, the employee should either contact the Internal Auditor directly or file a report via the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Referral System also known as the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline, (McMullen, A. (2012). When an employee is suspected of any activity, he or she should not make any attempt to investigate the suspected activity prior to reporting it. The Internal Auditor’s Office will coordinate investigations of fraud, waste, or abuse. The employee should not destroy any document or record that he or she knows may be relevant to a past, present, or future investigation of fraud, waste or abuse. Employees that suspect violation or who have questions, complaints or suggestions, should share their concerns with someone who can address them properly. Thus, it's a myth that fraud is a big scheme that should be uncovered sooner and easy to detect. Most all fraud starts small and then gets bigger and bigger, until something becomes noticeably different or unusual. Once fraudulent activity has been noted, someone should take action to investigate the situation and determine if a fraud has been committed. Being aware of these activity are only step one and is usually not enough for the organization. Once these activity are identified, you must take action to determine its effect. Evaluating the fraudulent activity may be accomplished by financial analysis, observation or by any other technique that tests an apparent weakness. Once the analysis is complete it’s time to move on to correct the situation (Wells, 2012). . Critique the ethical nature of Pavlo’s actions in this case: Walt Pavlo, the Credit Collections Manager at MCI Telecommunications, Inc. Falsified MCI accounts receivables and stole $6 million from MCI, spoke of greed, opportunity, and culture. His testimony and facts, however, provides a far different view. This was a willful, active fraud involving a very small group of customers, executed by a very small group of peo ple. As a Fraudsters and white-collar, he acted deliberately, out of greed, power and perhaps even stupidity and ultimately got caught. These perpetrators exhibited many typical fraud behaviors. White-collar criminal that involves embezzlement and breach of trust being the prevalent modes involved. Pavlo had to collect on debts owed to MCI by large corporate clients. Pavlo's job was not easy. MCI extended large amount of credit to high-risk customers and refused to write-off receivables as bad debt. By doing this, MCI was in violation of accounting principles. Pavol was desperate to keep his job, he began to employ suspect accounting techniques to hide the unpaid debt. By falsification of accounting record in contravention of Pavlo, also found a way to siphon off $6 million for personal aggrandizement (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg, 121). Pavlo claim of trying unsuccessfully to get MCI to take a $180 million charge blatantly conflicts with the facts. In a 2002 article, Pavlo had claimed the number was $88 million. Either inflation has increased his number or he didn’t review his earlier stories! Pavlo’s actions was illegal which would be characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust. Which are not dependent upon the application or threat of force or violence. Pavlo action was a self-centered and motivated by his own greed, without regard for ethics or fiduciary duty to co-workers, and stakeholder (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg 121). When it comes to Walter Pavlo Jr. and the choices he made. The phrase â€Å"power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely† is false. Having power alone does not have the ability to corrupt, but it does provides one of the three elements necessary for a person to commit a fraudulent act. Trusted persons sometimes become trust violators. When they conceive themselves as having a financial problem which is non-sharable, are aware these problem can be secretly resolved by violation of the position of financial trust and are able to apply to their own conduct which enable them to adjust their conceptions of themselves as trusted (Coenen 2009). Regardless of what moral code may be in place. Corruption occurs when a person breaks the moral code or principle that pertains to him or her. Which is what Pavlo did. According to the fraud triangle, in every instance of fraud three elements are present: motivation, opportunity, and rationalization (Coenen 2009). This theory was developed to help identify possible fraud, a name given to corruption within a business, it also applies to corruption in general. In order for corruption to happen, an individual or group of individuals, must have motivation, opportunity, and significant rationale to justify committing a fraudulent act. Because three elements must harmoniously combine to create an environment in which one may act corruptly, only one of the three elements needs thwarting to break the triangle and prevent corruption (Wells, 2012). All element of the fraud triangle must be present to break a moral code. The first element necessary where corruption may occur is motivation. Motivation can include a financial need, such as the need to take care of an ill parent who is quickly accumulating medical expenses far beyond what his or her family can pay. But motivation to commit a corrupt act can include perceived need also. When a person may be earning enough money to cover all of his or her needs, but he or she may feel driven to commit a corrupt act by a strong desire for a higher standard of living than he or she can not afford. A person may also come motivated by non-financial pressure to commit a corrupt act. A person can also be motivated by non-financial pressure to commit a corrupt act (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg 121). The second element which must be in place to commit a corrupt act is rationalization. Humans have the complex ability to think deductively, inductively, and process large amounts of information to make rational decisions. Unfortunately, one’s ability to â€Å"employ reason† (rationalize) may or may not lead him or her down the right path. Pavlo’s story provides an excellent example of poor reasoning. Pavlo rationalized stealing from MCI by telling himself that MCI was committing much more heinous crimes than he was. He believed that MCI was so crooked that it could not come after him for doing the much lesser crime of stealing a few accounts receivables (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg 257). Pavlo’s opportunity to pilfer accounts receivables was granted to him by MCI’s poor control environment. Pavlo often engaged the accounts receivable department in a practice known as accounts receivable lapping, posting payments received from one customer to another’s account to make overdue accounts appear current, in order to meet corporate bad debt expense goals (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg 101). MCI’s management encouraged and rewarded Pavlo for accounts receivable lapping and many other inventive and extremely illegal acts that helped MCI reach its projected financial numbers. MCI’s flagrant desire to illegally hide its bad debt gave Pavlo the opportunity to conceal the accounts receivable he was thieving within the constant myriad of lies that constituted MCI’s financial department (Wells, 2012). He was involved in asset Misappropriation: Asset misappropriation schemes are frauds in which the perpetrator steals or misuses an organization’s resources. Common examples of asset misappropriation include false invoicing, payroll fraud, and skimming (Kranacher, Riley, and Wells, 2010). Corruption: In the context of occupational fraud, corruption refers to schemes in which fraudsters use their influence in business transactions in a way that violates their duty to their employers in order to obtain a benefit for themselves or someone else. For example, employees might receive or offer bribes, extort funds from third parties, or engage in conflicts of interest. Financial Statement Fraud: The third category of occupational fraud, financial statement fraud, involves the intentional misstatement or omission of material information from the organization’s financial reports; these are the cases of â€Å"cooking the books† that often make front page headlines. Financial statement fraud cases often involve the reporting of fictitious revenues or the concealment of expenses or liabilities in order to make an organization appear more profitable than it really is (Kranacher, Riley and Wells, 2010). It is fact that during 1996, MCI wrote off $120 million of carrier receivables and recognized even more exposure by adding to bad debt reserves. So, his claim that MCI â€Å"hid† bad debt expense is just bogus. He further claims â€Å"his bosses† said the maximum that could be written down would be $15 million, and that is also senseless (Pavlo Jr. and Weinberg 257). 4. Apply one (1) theory related to crime causation to this case: No one theory of crime explains all criminal activity and most theories are complementary to one another. You should approach crime causation with a multidimensional view because of the vast complexities involved in human actions and interactions. With that in mind, let’s take a look at one of the prominent theories that appears to relate to Pavlo’s fraud case. Social engineering/Social learning theory causation: They learn to engage in crime, primarily through their association with others. They are reinforced for crime, they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime, and they are exposed to criminal models. As a consequence, they come to view crime as something that is desirable or at least justifiable in certain situations. The primary version of social learning theory in criminology is that of Ronald Akers and the[pic] description that follows draws heavily on his work. Akers's theory, in turn, represents an elaboration of Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory. The Sociological school of crime causation defines that social disorganization is a major factor in criminal behaviors. Specifically the Sociological Theories theorize that the impact of individuals with the surroundings, groups, and social environment can dictate criminal behavior. Under this school of crime causation crime can be the growth of subgroup relationships (McMullen, 2012). According to Weinberg’s research, white-collar criminals are not just ordinary people; they are smart, well-educated and ambitious. They often start as wide-eye fresh graduate’s at large corporations of which profit-driven culture infiltrates all levels within. Why do they turn out to be the thieves stealing from the economy $2. trillion per year? Weinberg argues that these people like Pavlo, do not just wake up one day and decide to commit in a greed-inspired fraud. In fact, only 7% of perpetrators have prior conviction. They operate business under the performance pressure from investors, and stockholders, which present opportunities for companies to hide flaws and falsify earnings at multiple levels. Wei nberg presents a triangle of Need/Incentives, Opportunity, and Rationalization as a combined force triggering ordinary people to commit extraordinary crimes. In his book, he suggests that by pushing ethics education at school and setting the right tone at the top, we can reduce the damages caused by corporate frauds (Kranacher, Riley, and Wells, 2010). The connection between fraud and the â€Å"tone at the top† of an organization has received international attention over the last few years. Tone at the top refers to the ethical atmosphere that is created in the workplace by the organization's leadership. Whatever tone management sets will have a trickle-down effect on employees of the company. If the tone set by managers upholds ethics and integrity, employees will be more inclined to uphold those same values. However, if upper management appears unconcerned with ethics and focuses solely on the bottom line, employees will be more prone to commit fraud because they feel that ethical conduct is not a focus or priority within the organization. Employees pay close attention to the behavior and actions of their bosses, and they follow their lead. In short, employees will do what they witness their bosses doing (McMullen, 2012).