Transmission Media free essay sample

Optical Signal is carried by photon pulses through thin (8 to 10 microns) glass strands (optical fibers), light waves are produced either by Light emitting diodes (LEDs) or injection laser diode (ILD). at transmitting and receiving end, signal is converted from and reconverted to electrical form by optical modems such as an avalanche photo diode. Greater capacity: Data rates of hundreds of Gbps Smaller size amp; weight Lower attenuation Electromagnetic isolation Greater repeater spacing: 10s of km at least Immunity to corrosive materials More immune to tapping * Long-haul trunks: about 1500 km in length amp; 20,000-60,000 voice channels. undersea optical fiber * Metropolitan trunks: -about 12 km in length amp; 100,000 voice channels -underground conduits joining telephone exchanges. * Rural exchange trunks: about 40 – 160 km in length amp; less than 5000 voice channels. * Subscriber loops:- handling voice, data, image and video. * LANs: Capacity of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. 2- Distinguish the characteristics of optical fiber from twisted pair or coaxial cable. We will write a custom essay sample on Transmission Media or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The potential bandwidth, and hence data rate, of optical fiber is immense; data rates of 2 Gbps over tens of kilometers have been demonstrated. Compare this capability to the practical maximum of hundreds of Mbps over about 1 km for coaxial cable and just a few Mbps over 1 km or up to 100 Mbps over a few tens of meters for twisted pair. 2) Smaller size and lighter weight: Optical fibers are considerably thinner than coaxial cable or bundled twisted-pair cable-at least an order of magnitude thinner for comparable information-transmission capacity. For cramped conduits in buildings and underground along public rights-of-way, the advantage of small size is considerable. The corresponding reduction in weight reduces structural support requirements. 3) Lower attenuation: Attenuation is significantly lower for optical fiber than for coaxial cable or twisted pair and is constant over a wide range. 4) Electromagnetic isolation: Optical fiber systems are not affected by external electromagnetic fields. Thus, the system is not vulnerable to interference, impulse noise, or crosstalk. By the same token, fibers do not radiate energy, thereby causing little nterference with other equipment and thus providing a high degree of security from eavesdropping. In addition, fiber is inherently difficult to tap. 5) Greater repeater spacing: Fewer repeaters means lower cost and fewer sources of error. The performance of optical fiber systems from this point of view has been steadily improving. For example, ATamp;T has developed a fiber transmission system that achieves a data rate of 3. 5 Gbps over a distance of 318 km [PARK921 without repeaters. Coaxial and twisted-pair systems generally have repeaters every few kilometers.

Free Essays on Art In Society

The 1940’s through the 1960’s were not only some of the most socially and politically volatile times in American History, but were the catalyst for the numerous changes in which occurred in American Popular culture during these and following years. Instead of experiencing the trauma which resulted after World War I’s end, post-World War II United States returned fairly easily back to everyday life. Although there were some problems converting from a wartime to a peacetime economy in the late 1940’s, Americans took on the task and entered the 1950’s on a very auspicious high note. During the time period after World War II, the United States experienced many changes. Technology was abundant and the rate at which new inventions, industries and technologies came about was at a rate never seen before. From a television in every home to the first computers and ultimately space flight, these two decades after World War II were crowded with advancements. So me of the most dramatic changes came in the field of art. What was once a single, slow road of popular culture advancement branched off into thousands of smaller, faster changing roads. Some of these â€Å"roads†, which can be seen as changing styles, or movements, in art, whipped Americans through a roller coaster of change in what they saw around them. The End of World War II: The major art movement taking place in the United States directly after World War II was abstract expressionism. The abstract expressionist movement â€Å"devoted itself to the principles that art is most expressive when a relationship is established between the artist and the spectator† . For the most part, abstract expressionism attracted the American public with its simple methods and spontaneous appearance and more so because it was an entirely American art movement. With most of Europe at war and in recovery during the 1940’s, Americans were left with the principal responsibility of developing art. Abst... Free Essays on Art In Society Free Essays on Art In Society The 1940’s through the 1960’s were not only some of the most socially and politically volatile times in American History, but were the catalyst for the numerous changes in which occurred in American Popular culture during these and following years. Instead of experiencing the trauma which resulted after World War I’s end, post-World War II United States returned fairly easily back to everyday life. Although there were some problems converting from a wartime to a peacetime economy in the late 1940’s, Americans took on the task and entered the 1950’s on a very auspicious high note. During the time period after World War II, the United States experienced many changes. Technology was abundant and the rate at which new inventions, industries and technologies came about was at a rate never seen before. From a television in every home to the first computers and ultimately space flight, these two decades after World War II were crowded with advancements. So me of the most dramatic changes came in the field of art. What was once a single, slow road of popular culture advancement branched off into thousands of smaller, faster changing roads. Some of these â€Å"roads†, which can be seen as changing styles, or movements, in art, whipped Americans through a roller coaster of change in what they saw around them. The End of World War II: The major art movement taking place in the United States directly after World War II was abstract expressionism. The abstract expressionist movement â€Å"devoted itself to the principles that art is most expressive when a relationship is established between the artist and the spectator† . For the most part, abstract expressionism attracted the American public with its simple methods and spontaneous appearance and more so because it was an entirely American art movement. With most of Europe at war and in recovery during the 1940’s, Americans were left with the principal responsibility of developing art. Abst...

A study of citizenship and its relation to surveillance and privacy Essay Example for Free

A study of citizenship and its relation to surveillance and privacy Essay Surveillance (10) , Biometric passport (2) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints ?   Ã¢â‚¬Å"When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that’s a violation of basic human rights†- Jimmy Carter. Often taken for granted, citizenship is something that we know superficially what it is, but never think too deeply about. But every single day, for millions of people, citizenship is something to be worried about, something that others use to rise above the rest. Based on personal experiences as well as extensive research, this essay will discuss not only what citizenship at its core is, but also its uses as surveillance and how it impacts everyday life. I will be drawing primarily from concepts detailed by three scholars in the area of surveillance- David Lyon, Steven Nock, and Michel Foucault, with some material from John Torpey. From Lyon, I will be referencing the ideas of social sorting and data flow; from Nock, I will be referencing the idea of credentials; from Foucault, I will be referencing the idea of disciplinary power. Furthermore, I will be looking at the impact of these concepts from each scholar onto the issues of social exclusion and discrimination. Through such an analysis, I will detail the net benefits and harms of citizenship as it pertains to surveillance and the everyday person. What is citizenship? Webster’s Dictionary simply defines it as â€Å"being an inhabitant of a city or town; especially one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman†. But of course, this is an incredibly superficial definition. At it’s core, according to John Torpey, citizenship is a way for states â€Å"to deprive people of the freedom to move across certain spaces and to render them dependent on states and the state system for the authorization to do so – an authority widely held in private hands theretofore†. While citizenship, at first glance, simply seems to be just another way to distinguish between nationals of one state opposed to nationals of another, its use for governments goes far greater than that. The creation of passports and other such devices has led citizenship to not only be simply documentation, but also a method of control and surveillance. As Torpey furthers, â€Å"A critical aspect of this process has been that peopl e have also become dependent on states for the possession of an â€Å"identity† from which they can escape only with difficulty and which may significantly shape their access to various spaces†. While originally just a way for states to determine borders and other logistics, citizenship over the years has evolved greatly. From passports and Social Security numbers to crime databases and border patrol checks, the methods by which governments restrict and control our movements are growing. However, the question remains: How do states use citizenship to surveil its citizens? The primary way governments surveil its citizens through citizenship is the creation of passports. Passports allow for entry into the issuing country and are accepted as valid identification for international border crossings. Because passports are used as identification, they contain information such as name, date of birth, and biometrics. However, past simple identification, passports also serve as a means of surveillance is by providing identification/classification as well as tracking/restricting movement. As Torpey states, â€Å"states have sought to monopolize the capacity to authorize the movements of persons – and unambiguously to establish their identities in order to enforce this authority†. As detailed before, the ultimate goal of citizenship is to restrict and control the movements of persons. The role passports play in this is by establishing the identity of such persons in order to better restrict them. Passports act as a credential, which, as Steven Nock writes, is â€Å"a way to create reputation among strangers, or â€Å"A minimum basis for trust in the absence of personal knowledge†. He further, saying that credentials are necessary to the extent that we must trust people we don’t know. In this case, passports act as a simple way for law enforcement to ensure criminals are not moving about freely. As such, checking passports at border crossing or flights not only establish identity, but also trust. The way passports do this is through data flow. As defined by David Lyon, data flow is the transferring of information collected by one surveillance technology to another. In the case of passports, most, if not all, have an embedded chip that allows police, border patrol agents, and the like to simply swipe a passport to pull up all of a citizen’s history. Most notably, this chip contains data from the TECS (Treasury Enforcement Communications Systems) which allows different law agencies to exchange criminal information with each other. That means that your entire criminal record, whether it be with the Border Patrol, the FBI, or even the local police, can be found with just a swipe of your passport. But even more so, this data is then used for social sorting. Social sorting, as defined by David Lyon, is â€Å"the social practice of surveillance and control to sort out, filter and serialize who needs to be controlled and who is free of that control†. At face value, this seems to be a good thing. After all, ensuring criminals are walking around free sounds like a good deal for a small invasion of privacy. However, the issue comes with the use of social sorting today. As Lyon states, â€Å"the new penology is concerned with techniques for identifying, managing and classifying groups sorted by levels of dangerousness. Rather than using evidence of criminal behaviour, newer approaches intervene on the basis of risk assessment†. Instead of allowing or denying movement based on tangible criminal behavior, the use of such data has moved towards prediction of criminal behavior. As such, social sorting in the case of citizenship has progressed past simply who is a criminal versus who is not a criminal and instead sorts people based on who is likely to become a criminal. The impact of this to everyday life is great. One specific way is through the idea of disciplinary power, which is, as Foucault defines it, the idea that â€Å"Discipline is a mechanism of power which regulates the behaviour of individuals in the social body.† This simply means that the use of surveillance allows institutions to use discipline to enforce specific behaviors within people. In the case of citizenship, this disciplinary power exists in two ways. Firstly, it exists from the government. A historical example of such is the case of the Soviet Union and Soviet passports. In this case, the Soviet Union issued passports based on who supported the Soviet ideology. Those who were completely indoctrinated were allowed to travel freely; however, those who did not support the Soviet ideology were effectively restricted to poor areas. As such, the Soviet Union used disciplinary power (restricting movement based on ideology) in order to promote a specific behavior (supporting t he Soviet ideology). In this case, it’s directly from the government itself. However, the second way disciplinary power exists in citizenship is through the deinstitutionalization of disciplinary power, as offered by William Staples. Instead of the government itself directly enforcing specific behavior, this type of disciplinary power relies on other citizens to promote citizenship. And indeed, this concept is prevalent even today, with prejudices against the â€Å"foreigners† and the â€Å"illegals†. This kind of social exclusion and discrimination promote the idea of citizenship if only to escape the attacks of others. Talking to my parents, who immigrated to the United States from China, I found it interesting and slightly disheartening to hear their experiences. They way people treat citizens and noncitizens if very different. Because my parents didn’t speak very much English, communication was an issue and it was difficult getting jobs. There was a certain amount of prejudice against immigrants and not being a citizen incurs a certai n amount of suspicion. After all, citizenship is seen as a â€Å"patriotic duty†, and not engaging in such a process can be perceived as not embracing the American culture. While the difference in attitude wasn’t immediate and polarizing, there was a lot more acceptance when my parents became citizens. The attitude of those around them became more akin to that of a community rather than sticking out like a sore thumb. As such, from this experience, I found it clear the impact that disciplinary power had upon citizenship and social exclusion and discrimination. There’s a certain â€Å"us versus them† mentality, and the stigma associated with not being a citizen is great. As such, it’s clear the impact citizenship has on everyday life. Although it may seem innocuous, the role citizenship plays in surveillance is great. With the use of credentials and data flow, citizenship ultimately results in issues such as social sorting and disciplinary power. What then results is a great amount of social exclusion and discrimination based solely on the characteristics of citizenship. From immigration to criminal activity, everyone is subject to judgement and the increasing pervasion of privacy only exacerbates these impacts. While there does need to be a certain amount of credibility associated with each person, the overreach of states through surveillance will only result in increased tension and stratification. A study of citizenship and its relation to surveillance and privacy. (2018, Apr 13).

Introduction to business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Introduction to business - Essay Example This simply means that although one of the objectives of the organization is the generation of profits, organizations must include other relevant goals that would be beneficial to other stakeholders: the employees, customers, suppliers, investors, government agencies, and to the society, as a whole. These goals could include ensuring that the organization’s operations and production of products or services are consistent with the need to protect the environment and comply with quality standards imposed by government regulatory bodies. Likewise, it could also be indicative of ensuing â€Å"a satisfactory rate of return to investors, provide good salary, security and proper working condition to its employees, make available quality products at reasonable price to its consumers, maintain the environment properly† (Social Responsibilities of Business 38). By doing all these, in return these various stakeholders would patronize the organizations’ product or services a nd thereby ensure their continued

Multitasking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Multitasking - Essay Example Computer multitasking within the single core microprocessor entails time sharing of the processor. This is because only one activity can be performed at one time; however, the tasks are rotated many times per second. In multi-core computers, the core can engage in separate task at the same time. The first publication of the term â€Å"multitasking† initially appeared in the IBM paper that illustrated the effectiveness of the 1965 IBM System/360. As from the 1960s, many psychologists have done studies and experiments on the aspect of human multitasking. The basic experimental design applied in the analysis of human multitasking involves the psychological refractory period effect. In the experimental design, individuals are required to perform separate responses for the two stimuli that are presented within close time duration. The most general research result illustrates reduction in the response levels during the second stimulus. Researchers increasingly suggest existence of processing bottlenecks, which hinder the brain from handing certain key aspects of the several tasks simultaneously. The researchers further illustrates that the cognitive process that experience severe bottlenecks is the memory planning and information retrieval (Steven, Adam & Arturo 1321). Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell has explained multitasking as people mythically believing that they can engage in several tasks, effectively as one. On the contrary, there is adequate evidence that individuals have the capability of performing motor and perceptual activities at similar time. Several researchers have also analyzed multitasking in the process of learning. Some researchers analyzed the concept of cognitive loading during multimedia learning. The two illustrated that it is challenging or even impossible to acquire new information when multitasking. Multitasking negatively influence academic performance. This shows that learners who participate in high multitasking levels

A chiropractic office Essay Example for Free

A chiropractic office Essay A chiropractic office lost all of its computer data, and I was hired for the amount of time that it would take me to type up all of their hard copies into their new computer system. It took me a total of two weeks to type up a three-foot stack of papers. The skills required were mainly typing and editing skills, and sometimes I had to be able to read the doctor’s handwriting. I felt that no further motivation was necessary regarding skill level, since I am a quick, accurate typist and I enjoyed learning about various alternative health remedies as I went along. I completed the entire stack of papers by myself, and I found the solitary work to be relaxing and enjoyable. I felt that my job was, indeed, meaningful since many of the papers were standard legal forms or alternative health information or recipes for kidney stones or other ailments. At any given point in time, I was either directly assisting the chiropractic office or the patients thereof. Since I was a friend of the chiropractor and a trusted member of the staff, I was given full autonomy to complete my assignment on my time, at my discretion and on my schedule. That motivated me to do a stellar job in a short amount of time. Afterward, everyone was impressed by the quality of work I did, but especially the short amount of time in which I did it. I felt satisfied and like I accomplished something worthwhile and in an efficient manner. Â  I will use this same chiropractic office as my next example. An example of strategic planning is when the chiropractor refers the patient to their next appointment, telling them what needs to be checked up on or corrected next time. In this manner, he is not leaving it up to the patient to decide, but recommending a timeframe for when they should return. In this manner, for as long as the patient needs his help, he is providing himself continuing clientele. An example of functional-level planning is when he hired me to type up his paperwork or hired a receptionist to take care of patient evaluation and scheduling of appointments. In this manner, he is allowing himself to give the patients his full, undivided attention which will heal them faster, and allocating other work responsibilities to other people. In this way, he remains organized and punctual. The differences in decision making between the chiropractor and, say, his receptionist is drastic. If the receptionist were to determine when a patient was finished with treatment, a patient could be over-treated or under-treated and lose a lot of money, which would be spread by word-of-mouth and cost the business lots of money. And if the chiropractor made it his responsibility to take care of the tax reports, he would spend hours away from his treatment table, when he could be taking walk-ins or checking the status of a patient’s healing.

Phoenixs Hardships and Racism in A Worn Path Essay -- Literary Analysi

â€Å"A Worn Path† tells of an elderly and frail black woman and of the hardships that she must overcome. Upon reading the story, you realize that there is more to the story than meets the eye. She faces many roadblocks along her way. Phoenix faces many dangerous obstacles along her way, for a person of her age. She faces racism from some of characters she meets along the way. Phoenix faces inferior treatment, as though she is nothing more than some insect to squash. This story is about not only her ‘journey’ to Natchez, but also about her journey through society and the struggle to overcome the dangers, being treated inferior, and the racism. It’s December when Phoenix starts on her journey to Natchez and it is a journey she has taken many times before. This journey is no journey an elderly and weaken person should have to make by themselves, yet Phoenix does. She does not allow her age or her condition to keep her from it. Deep through the pines, the path takes her, and her first task would be to make it over a hill that seems to take all her energy and strength. â€Å"Seems like there is chains around my feet, time I get this far†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Welty 5), here the reader can tell Phoenix does not have the strength that she really needs to make it up the hill. Yet somewhere she finds the will to keep pushing on and moving forward. This same type of spirit that allows Phoenix to keep pushing forward in society, and not to back down. Showing the younger generation that you have to fight your way through to a brighter day. It is later down the path that Phoenix comes to a creek and the only way to get across, is by walking on a log. Phoenix walks across this log with her eyes close. Once across she opens her eyes and says, â€Å"I wasn’t as old as I ... ...f questions and she answers all of them respectfully and honestly. Phoenix cleverly distracts the man, with the two dogs that are fighting and he goes off to scare the big black one away by shooting at it. It is when he comes back and points his gun at her, that Phoenix shows no fear if it. When she is asked if she is afraid of it, her reply is, â€Å"No sir, I seen plenty go off closer by, in my day, and for less than what I done† (Welty 58). Her unusual courage shows just how far racism stretches. Normally a human being would show fear when staring a gun down, but with years of white people making slaves out of them; black people had learn to face persecution head on. Therefore, Phoenix faced her trial head on, and the white hunter left with a little more respect for her than before. Which in the society she lived in respect was a gift and to be cherished.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Analysis Essay

In the book, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, the main character is the author as a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. She starts off as an incredibly positive child with enormous faith in herself and her relationship with G-d. Through her experiences, especially when she was in her crucial, early teenage years, she completely loses her faith in G-d and also rebels against her environment. The author wants to show the Western world that there are many people in Iran, like Marjane, that are no different than Westerners. She does this by describing her childhood teenage conflicts with her parents, with oppression and with her faith in G-d, all of which most Western teenagers could easily relate to. Marjane’s conflicts prove that she is not just a spoiled teenager, rebelling for no other reason than just being a teenager, but that the environment she was in would make most teenagers rebel. Two of Marjane’s conflicts with her parents come from her strong desire to participate in the public protests against the Shah. Marjane has a close relationship with her parents, whose activism against oppression influences her greatly. She sees her parents go to protests against the Shah and she desperately wants to join in and be a part of it. On panels 16.9-17.6, Marjane is begging her parents to allow her to join them in the next day’s protests. She says to them, â€Å"For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it.† They tell her she can’t go yet because it is too dangerous. She is very upset with them for not letting her go. Later, on panels 38.1-39.5, Marjane defies her parents’ authority by attending a demonstration with her maid, Mehri. The author narrates, â€Å"When I finally understood the reasons for the Revolution I made my decision.† Marjane is referring to her decision to go to a protest against the Shah. This is after her maid’s heart is broken because the boy she is in love with dumps her when he finds out she is below his social class. Marjane believes that the Revolution will abolish the social class system. These two examples of conflict with her parents show that Marjane is not just acting out against her parents, but cares deeply for the future of her country and those closest to her, like her maid. The Islamic Fundamentalists’ new rules and laws also create conflicts for Marjane because of the influence from her parents’ secular beliefs and her previous secular schooling. On panels 96.1-98.7, the author describes Marjane’s new school environment after her secular French school is shut down. The students are forced into Islamic schools where the girls and boys are separated. They have new rituals to perform, like hitting themselves to honor the Iran-Iraq war casualties. Almost immediately, the students begin to make fun of the rituals and the new teachers enforcing them. The school is so upset with the students’ behavior that the parents are called in for a lecture as well. At the end of the lecture, Marjane’s father says to the teacher, â€Å"If hair is as stimulating as you say, then you need to shave your mustache!† This shows Marjane’s parents’ rebellion against the Fundamentalism, which heavily influences Marjane. It also shows that Marjane, and her fellow students in this case, are not doing anything wrong in their parents’ eyes, but simply having a tough time adapting to this completely new set of beliefs, rules and laws. A similar conflict for Marjane revolves around the new, strict rules on what women can wear in public. On panels 130.1-134.4, Marjane’s parents return from a trip to Turkey with gifts of Western clothing for her. She immediately puts them on, gets a compliment from her mother, and goes out to buy some black market rock and roll tapes. She is confronted by the Guardians of the Revolution for wearing the Western clothing and almost gets arrested. Like any teenager who receives cool, new clothes from their parents, she wants to immediately enjoy wearing them. Also, she has only known freedom and has been taught by her parents that it is OK to express herself with clothing. Rather than being a spoiled teenager, rebelling against the Fundamentalists, she is simply a teenager expressing herself and trying to enjoy herself in her new clothes. Marjane’s environment also causes her to have a major conflict with her faith in G-d. As a young girl, Marjane truly believes that she will be the Last Prophet. (6.3-9.6) She feels so strongly about this and her relationship with G-d she even endures ridicule from her classmates for saying she will be a Prophet. But, as her environment changes, and the Revolution starts to build, she shows signs of conflict with her faith in G-d. On Panel 10.1 she says, â€Å"My faith was not unshakable.† On 10.2 the author narrates, â€Å"The year of the Revolution I had to take action. So I put my prophetic destiny aside for a while.† The fact that she truly believed she would become a prophet, to the point of enduring ridicule, showed that she was very serious about her faith in G-d. Then her environment changes so much due to the building Revolution and the terrible things happening in Iran under the Shah’s government that she takes her emotional energy away from her f aith in G-d and starts to put it towards the Revolution. Her once strong relationship with G-d ends completely when her uncle Anoosh is falsely accused of being a Russian spy and executed. (70.1) On panel 70.4, Marjane tells G-d, â€Å"Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!† Throughout the rest of Persepolis, Marjane never again mentions G-d. She went from believing she is a prophet, and talking to G-d regularly, to completely rejecting Him. This profound change shows that Marjane’s life was deeply affected by her environment. When the tough environment Marjane grew up in is considered, her conflicts with her parents, with oppression and with her faith in G-d seem understandable. Her conflicts with her parents arose mainly from her desire to protest because that’s what she thought she should be doing. Her conflicts with her oppressive, Islamic Fundamentalist school are understandable because it was all new for her and her classmates. And finally, her conflict with her faith in G-d was due to the overwhelming circumstances of the Revolution and the oppressive, Islamic Fundamentalist regime. Her reactions to her environment seem completely normal and justified. She is not a rebellious child and teenager, but is just very committed to whatever she believes in, and conflict almost always comes with commitment.

HIH Insurance Report Essay

Executive Summary The auditing profession plays a significant role in industrialized economies for many years. In the insurance industry, the manner of auditing profession is regulated. The collapse of Health International Holdings (HIH) was recorded as the biggest corporate collapse in the history of Australia. Also an investigation of Royal Commission was warranted by the HIH collapse. Two questions considered in the failures of HIH Insurance: Did the auditors implement their responsibilities and roles? Did the auditors fulfil their auditing work ethically? This report provides an analysis of auditing issues arising from the collapse of HIH Insurance. Among factors that have gave rise to the corporate failure of HIH Insurance, that of the ethics of auditing profession, roles of auditors and effectiveness of audit committee have regarded as particular significance. Contents 1. Introduction HIH Insurance was established when MW Payne Liability Agencies Pty Ltd was incorporated by Michael Payne and Ray Williams joining together to do  business of insurance underwriter in Australia in 1968. Their operations were throughout the world, accompanied with businesses working in numerous countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the United States (Peursem, Zhou, Flood & Buttimore, 2007). There are many varieties of insurances in the markets of UK, the USA and Australia, involving compulsory insurance (for example, workers’ compensation and third party motor vehicle insurance) and non-compulsory insurance (for instance, home contents and travel insurance) (Kehl, 2001). More than 250 subsidiary companies comprised of HIH Insurance group in a highly complicated structure at the time of liquidation. With net assets of $939 million at 31st June 2000, HIH Insurance used to be the second biggest underwriting insurance in Australia. With debts of about between $3.6 billion and $5.3 billion, HIH Insurance was placed into provisional liquidation on 15th March, 2001 (Peursem et al., 2007). The collapse of the HIH Insurance was considered the largest corporate failure in the history of Australian business. Subsequently, the collapse contributed to the establishment of a Royal Commission to make an investigation on ‘the degree of which behaviours of employees, directors, auditors, advisors and actuaries give rise to HIH failure or concerned undesirable company practices’ appointed by the Australian federal government (Mirshekary, Yaftian & Cross, 2004). Because HIH Insurance was a major insurer in Australia, its collapse had a widespread impact on society (Leung & Cooper, 2003). The purpose of this report is to analyse the audit issues arising from the HIH Insurance collapse. A brief of HIH profile is provided prior to the auditing analysis of HIH Insurance collapse. The next part of this paper is devote d to examine issues related to HIH audit practices with respect to audit independence, audit committee and ethical considerations. 2. Discussion 2.1 Audit Independence The issue of audit independence is fundamental significant in the collapse of HIH Insurance. Audit independence refers to giving an unbiased and objective perspective in the assessment of the results, the performance of audit tests, and the release of the audit report. This is one of the auditor’s characteristics of most crucial importance. In addition, independence is  basic principles of objectivity and integrity (Arens, Best, Shailer, Fiedler, Elder & Beasley, 2010). According to HIH Royal Commission (as cited in Mak, Deo & Cooper, 2005), the Royal Commissioner discovered that Andersen was not independent and had not accomplished the hopes and expectations about the role and responsibilities of acting as an auditor. From when HIH Insurance joined the Health group in 1971, Arthur Anderson performed the audit of HIH Insurance until the provisional liquidation of HIH Insurance in 2001(The HIH Royal Commission, 2003). In the light of HIH Royal Commission (as cited in Johnson, 2004), Justice Owen found out that the following facts were involved in evaluating the independence of Arthur Andersen. The HIH Board of directors included three former partners of Andersen: â€Å"an Andersen partner was a chair of the HIH board and continued receiving fees under a consultancy agreement; an Andersen partner was removed from the audit team after meeting with non-executive directors in the absence of management and the chief financial officer (CFO) was an ex-Andersen partner† (Mak, Cooper, Deo & Funnell, 2007). â€Å"Since HIH management were reluctant to increase the amount of audit fees paid to Arthur Andersen, Arthur Andersen sought to reduce the amount of work performed on the HIH audit†¦Ã¢â‚¬  were stated in comments of Mr Martin, counsel to the Royal Commission (Peursem et al., 2007). Arthur Andersen paid the consultancy fees to Geoffrey Cohen, who was the former Arthur Andersen partner and Chairman of HIH board. With including the services of a secretary and the utilization of Andersen office, these payments totalled at $190,877.60 over a period of nine years (Peurs em et al., 2007). Recognised in Part B of the Code of Ethics, classifications of threats to independence include the threats of intimidation, familiarity, advocacy, self-review and self-interest. Under the Corporations Act, situations generating from any relationship that is possible exist, has existed, or exist should are necessary considered in the possibility of a conflict of interest (Arens et al., 2010). The above facts indicated that a close personal relationship developed and it could be a familiarity threat to the independence of the auditor. In respect of these matters, Arthur Andersen might have lacked independence. Moreover, the declaration by Mr Martin might cause people to question whether the duties with professional scepticism and objectivity were fulfilled by auditors and whether the directors have effect on or put pressure to the auditors (Mirshekary et al.,  2004). This also enabled the independence of Andersen be doubted. In addition, the auditing practice statements (AUP) 32 declared â€Å"no officer of the company to be audited shall receive any remuneration from the firm for acting in an advisory capacity to it on accounting or auditing matters† . Nevertheless, the payments of consultancy fees were not disclosed in the general meeting of the board. This may result in a lack of independence in question (Mirshekary et al., 2004). 2.2 Audit Committee Ineffectiveness of the audit committee was a flawed side in the corporate governance practices of HIH Insurance, which was disclosed in the Royal Commission’s report (Johnson, 2014). Arens et al (2010) showed that audit committee is a subcommittee of board of directors in a company, with specific responsibilities relating to supervise the independent audit function. In many modern companies, audit committee is a complete element of the corporate governance. Audit committees can support the Board of Directors to satisfy about the independence of company, stating by CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (2004). Having most of non-executive directors has been common for the audit committee in recent times, enabling the committee to handle matters with a fair mode and non-conflicts of interest (Mirshekary et al., 2004). According to HIH Royal Commission (2003), Geoffrey Cohen who is the chairman of the audit committee and also the chairman of HIH did not fully read the presentations of auditors. He attended the great majority of the audit committee meetings, accompanied with other senior management. ‘That no occasion on which the auditors met with the members of the audit committee in the absence of management were not disclosed in the evidence’ claimed by Mr White who is counsel to the Royal Commission. This implies that the management of HIH Insurance not acted opposite than usual practice. At the same time, the impartiality of the audit committee is in question (Mirshekary et al., 2004). 2.3 Ethical Considerations There are some ethical issues involved in the audit profession that generated from the collapse of HIH Insurance. Ethics refer to a series of moral values  or principles. Professional auditors can get stuck in many complex circumstances that produced by ethical dilemmas. Ethical dilemmas exist when people is in the face of circumstances which have requirement of decisions about the most suitable behaviour whereas when the available choices require a trade-off ideals or interest (Arens et al, 2010). Auditors must comply with ethical standards whereas acting in the best interests of shareholders. Five ethical principles applying to auditors were identified by the Framework for Assurance Engagements, that is objectivity, integrity, confidentiality, professional behaviour, and professional competence as well as due cares (Arens et al, 2010). Arthur Andersen was paid $5.1 million in audit fees and $2.8 million in non-audit fees from HIH Insurance during the period of 1997 to 2000 (Johns on, 2004). Also Andersen earned $5.097 million in terms of auditing the financial statements of HIH Insurance and $2.824 million from offering HIH Insurance with non-audit services during the last three financial years of HIH Insurance. Whether the supply of such non-audit services was ethical towards Andersen with having best interests of shareholders should be considered. As already mentioned above, â€Å"Since HIH management were reluctant to increase the amount of audit fees paid to Arthur Andersen, Arthur Andersen sought to reduce the amount of work performed on the HIH audit†¦Ã¢â‚¬  were stated in comments of Mr Martin (Peursem et al., 2007). This may means a cosy relationship was utilised by Arthur Andersen to know that increasing supply of non-audit services can recoup the loss of assurance fees. The supply of non-audit services by Andersen must also be taken the ethical dilemma of having a duty of care to third parties in consideration. A former accountant at HIH Insurance, Jeffrey Simpson stated that the close connection between HIH Insurance and Arthur Andersen enabled HIH Insurance utilization of aggressive accounting policies. He also expressed that Arthur Andersen consent to the application of these policies in further statements (Mirshekary et al., 2004). In regard to consider Andersen’s duty of care to give an opinion to shareholders that that the statements present a true and fair view, the agreement of Andersen is unethical in question and the auditor’s integrity in pressure situations. 3. Conclusion In conclusion, this report discusses the auditing issues of collapse of HIH  Insurance in the area of audit independence, audit committee and ethical considerations. In relation to Arthur Andersen’s dealing with HIH Insurance, attention that the audit partners and the relationship between senior HIH management have been centred on the independence of Arthur Andersen. The second issue is taken the role of audit committee of HIH Insurance played in the collapse in consideration. Regarding to the ethical considerations that arose from the collapse of HIH Insurance, in particular, the provision of Arthur Andersen’s non-audit services to HIH Insurance, is the final audit issue. Reference List Arens, A. A., Best, P., Shailer, G., Fiedler, B., Elder, R. J. & Beasley, M. (2010). Auditing, Assurance Services and Ethics in Australia (8th ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W. : Pearson Australia. CPA Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. (2004). ‘Auditing Handbooks’, Prentice Hall, Sydney. Johnson, R. (2004). READINGS IN AUDITING. Milton, Qld: Wiley. Kehl, D. (2001). HIH Insurance Group collapse. Retrieved 12 January, 2014 from http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/hihinsurance Leung, P. & Cooper, B. J. (2003). The Mad Hatter’s corporate tea party. Managerial Auditing Journal, 18(6-7), 505-516. doi: 10.1108/02686900310482641 Mak, T., Cooper, K., Deo, H. & Funnell, W. (2007). Audit, accountability and an auditor’s ethical dilemma: A case study of HIH Insurance. Asian Review of Accounting, 13(2), 18-35. doi: 10.1108/eb060785 Mak, T., Deo, H. & Cooper, K. (2 005). Australia’s Major Corporate Collapse: Health International Holdings (HIH) Insurance â€Å"May The Force Be With You†. The Journal of American Academy of Business, 6(2), 104-112. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/ehost/detail?sid=7e243edc-d09e-4c37-9206-a24fa7ae207a%40sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=15674522 Mirshekary, S., Yaftian, A. M. & Cross, D. (2004). Australian corporate collapse: The case of HIH Insurance. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 9(3), 249-258. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.fsm.477015

Why lb Is the Symbol for Pounds

Why lb Is the Symbol for Pounds Have you ever wondered why we use the symbol lb  for the pounds  unit? The word  pound is short for pound weight, which was libra pondo in Latin. The libra part of the phrase meant both weight or balance scales. The Latin usage was shortened to libra, which naturally was abbreviated lb. We adopted the pound part from pondo, yet kept the abbreviation for libra. There are different definitions for the mass of a pound, depending on the country. In the United States, the modern pound unit is defined to be 2.20462234 pounds per metric kilogram. There are 16 ounces in 1 pound. However, in Roman times, the libra (pound) was about 0.3289 kilograms and was divided into 12 uncia or ounces. In Britain, there has been more than one type of pound, including the avoirdupois point and Troy pound. A pound sterling was a tower pound of silver, but the standard was changed to the Troy pound in 1528. The tower pound, merchants pound, and London pound are obsolete units. The Imperial Standard Pound is defined as having a mass equal to 0.45359237 kilograms, which matches the definition of the international pound, as agreed upon (although not adopted by the U.S.) in 1959. Sources Fletcher, Leroy S.; Shoup, Terry E. (1978). Introduction to Engineering. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0135018583.United States National Bureau of Standards (1959-06-25). Notices Refinement of values for the yard and the pound.Zupko, Ronald Edward (1985). Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: The Middle Ages to the 20th Century. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 0-87169-168-X.

English Linguistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

English Linguistics - Essay Example In conversation, linguists have viewed informal conversation as rather disorderly, the ubiquitous inexplicitness in usage; predominant from one country to another, frivolous use of subject matter and postulated with a high proportion of grammatical errors. Informal talk is of course largely unplanned because it comes spontaneously, without the speaker pausing for a moment to think. Welcome to the world of spoken English. Spoken and written English texts can differ from each other linguistically. There is a high percentage of local language influence in the way a person talks or writes. Besides, a look at an informal conversation exposes the linguistic difference between the medium of speech and letters. The conversation between Julie and her tutor (Cheepen and Monaghan, 1990, p.199) reflect the depth of variation in an informal conversation, when recorded on paper. Before we proceed to dissect two examples; one written, and the other spoken, a few points that characterize fundamental changes in writing and speech are: While in speech, one has the facility to change intonation pattern to convey moods, the same cannot be said of the written channel. In order to bring some semblance to such a theory, effort is made through underling, parenthesizing, punctuating and denoting of words and letters through capital letters. Speech is accompanied by gestures and movement to express situations. This is nowhere possible in written media. However, various styles of writing do try to bring an analogy to such situations. Where a speaker uses pauses and silence, an identical situation is created through the use of gaps and dots. There are no direct equivalents to names or places as seen in written, where Capital Letters start a sentence or names. Though there is a likeness to writing of spoken English, the differences are too conspicuous to be hidden under the rug. There is a spectrum of difference between spoken and written English linguistically (Czerniewska, Differences in structure and function, 1985). 2.0 Analysis In order to understand the difference between written and spoken language, the following sources; one written and the other spoken have been selected for analysis: 1. letter sent to G.D. Jayalakshmi Well; both Chi, Sow, Sukanye and I, are very pleased to learn that the children liked the toys I posted. This time I have sent a few books which they may like. We are pleased to learn that Dr. Lakani was very much impressed by their progress in speech. We are also happy to hear that the children, they are standing erect and trying to move in the erect positive. We are eagerly awaiting to see their later photos. Town, Chi-ry, Jaggu has safely landed in GAINSVILLG. We heard that the he landed safely at New-York and had to stay their for the night as he did not have time to catch his flight to Orlando. Perhaps, he

Surprise ending Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Surprise ending - Essay Example The reader anticipates that Swift will come up with a realistic solution by which these poor children can â€Å"contribute to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many thousand† (para.4). The reader’s suspicion is aroused when Swift begins to talk about children being â€Å"saleable commodities† (Swift, 1729, p.7) and calculates a cost-effective selling price. At this point, the reader realizes that there is a catch in the argument and that Swift’s suggestion will be out of the ordinary. Then comes the â€Å"surprise ending†: Swift suggests that that â€Å"a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled† (Swift, 1729, p. 9). He continues to devise plans for the sale of children and various ways to convert their flesh into delicacies. The reader is now aware that Swift’s suggestion is pure irony. By giving the reader a jolt with his â€Å"surprise ending,† Swift greatly strengthens the validity of his real suggestion to improve the social and economic condition of Ireland under British rule in the eighteenth century: the taxation of absentee landlords, the promotion of locally manufactured goods, banning foreign luxury goods, practicing thrift and temperance and encouraging nationalism, brotherhood and virtue. He urges â€Å"landlords to have at least one degree of mercy towards their tenants† and shop-keepers to adopt â€Å"a spirit of honesty, industry, and skill† (Swift, 1729, para. 29). This is Swift’s real proposal. Swift skilfully uses his â€Å"surprise ending† to stimulate interest, rouse the reader’s conscience and make the reader more receptive to his concrete suggestions to rectify the ills of the suffering Irish