Thursday, October 31, 2019

Business Email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Email - Essay Example Following are the primary positive aspects of this alignment for any form of business organization: 1. Source of competitive edge – Any corporation that implements the latest technology in its business processes such as marketing, production, sales, operations and etc. has more chances of enhancing its performance in the respective market. When both IT and business strategies move in the same direction, there is high probability that the top most IT components are used in the business operations. Every stakeholder from employees to end-consumer is satisfied with the company and its operations. 2. Value-added offerings – When IT strategy is considered as an integral part of the business plan, the core competence of the company can be strategically developed. The businesses can reap the benefits of availing the opportunities of employing the up-to-date technology for boosting their performance in the long-run. It ensures that the business plan is well-integrated and synchronized by efficiently managing the company’s resources. 3. Communication enhancement and synergy – When there is harmonization in IT and business strategies, everyone has clarity about the course of action that has to be pursued for successful attainment of the vision. There is even precision about the plan that has to be followed and everyone can make a better and well-informed decision after assessment of available resources. IT can help a business in availing the opportunities that are unexploited in the market and deliver unlimited business benefits. For instance, IT system such as SAP or Oracle can help an organization in keeping track of its business operations every second; these systems ensure that every aspect of the company is properly covered and monitored so that its performance becomes efficient and progresses at an accelerating

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Anatomy and physiology, Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Anatomy and physiology, Economics - Essay Example In this essay, the effects of cigarette smoking on the health of people and the economy of the nation will be discussed. According to the CDC, in the United States, about 19.8 percent of all individuals over 18 years of age smoke cigarettes. It has been estimated that 43.4 million people in the country resort to smoking. The activity is more in men than in women, While 22.3 percent of men smoke, only 17.4 percent of women smoke. The highest incidence of smoking is between the age groups 18- 44 years and the lowest incidence is in the age group beyond 65 years. American Indians/ Alaska Natives have the highest incidence rates of smoking amongst ethnics groups, the rate being as high as 36.4 percent. The lowest rate is seen amongst Asians (9.6 percent). In the year 2007, it was estimated that 20 percent of high school students resorted to smoking (CDC, 2009). The rates were similar in girls and boys. While 21 percent of boys were smoker, 19 percent of girls were smokers. As far as ethnic groups were concerned, 23 percent of White high school students, 12 percent of Hispanic high school children and 12 percent of African American students were smokers. Every day, approximately 2900 young people between 12- 17 years of age group resort to their first experience of smoking (CDC, 2009). Smoking is associated with many health-related problems and hence is a major health-related issue. It is a leading cause of illness and death all over the world and also in United States. It affects almost every organ of the body, causes many diseases and reduces the general health of the smoker. It has been estimated that 1 in every 5 deaths in the United States is related to cigarette smoking. Every year about 438,000 deaths occur due to cigarette smoking (CDC, 2009). According to CDC, for every single individual who dies due to cigarette smoking, 20 more people suffer from atleast one serious ill effects of smoking.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The factors that influence dividend policy

The factors that influence dividend policy According to Maury and Pajuste (2002) this kind of factor is important that may affect companys dividend policy. Each company big or small has different structure of owners who have different preference of dividends. The relationship between managers and stockholders in family companies is monitored by agency theory. As there is no separation between ownership and control, the agency problems will be reduced in family companies according the paper of Yoshikawa and Rasheed (2010). But, in big companies which have a huge government ownership will affect by agency problem. This may happen in corporations because of a double principal-agent problem as Gugler (2003) pointed out. For these companies there a solution to mitigate the agency problems which is by paying dividends. There is a huge separation between ownership and management in new companies. This may make inconsistent relation between managers and the owners of the company. Jensen and Meckling (1976) pointed out this problem in their research paper. If the managers have the decision in their hand, they will make it for their interest rather than of the company. This issue was discussed by La Porta et al. (2000). They argue that managers who have the authority on the company may advantage themselves in the form of stealing, increasing the salaries for themselves or selling the assets of the firm. In Oman, there is no big difference in the ownership structure of listed firms. Although the government in Oman is not an active investor in the Muscat Securities Market, it holds a large amount of shares in Oman Telecommunication Company which is about 70% of the shares. In the other hand, Omani government holds a little amount of shares in some large listed companies. There are a number of papers examined the relationship between ownership structure and dividend policy such as Desmetz, (1983); Desmetz and Lehn, (1985); Shleifer and Vishny, (1986); Morck et al., (1988); Schooley and Barney,(1994). They found that the ownership structure in large firms could affect dividend policy. In a recent study in emerging markets, Jayesh Kumar (2003) found that ownership structure does not influence dividend pay out policy uniformally. Ramli in his study of Malaysia suggests that controlling shareholders does influence the dividend policy of Malaysian listed companies. He also found that large shareholders have effects on Malaysian dividend policy. Mondher Kouki (2009) examined the Tunisian firms and found that the ownership structure is affected by institutional investors. They suggest that ownership structure approach is highly relevant to an understanding of corporate dividends policy in Tunisia. Al-Yahyaee (2008) in his study of dividend policy of Omani firms found that government which controls the company tends to have large payout ratios. In addition, Al-Kuwari (2009) pointed out that companies which the government owed a proportion of shares pay dividend more than companies owned by private sector. . Al-Yahyaee results also shows that there is a positive association between dividend yield and government ownership. This finding is in consistent with the results suggested by Gugler (2003). According to Al-Yahyaee (2008), Government ownership has a strong influence on the dividend policy of the non financial firms. Company Size: Firm Size is considered as one of the variables that have the ability to affect the dividend policy of the company. Lloyd et al. (1985) in their study to examine the influence of the firm size on the dividend policy add firm size as an important variable of dividend behaviour. Aivazian, and Booth (2003) found in their study about dividend policy in both US companies and emerging markets companies that there is evidence that firm size influence dividends. There are two types of companies, large and small. Many researchers such as Jensen et al. (1992), Fama and French (2000) on their study about dividend policy found that big firms pay high dividend to their shareholder than small firms. This occurs because of the fact that small firms have high chance of bankruptcy than large firms. Moreover, the research paper of Lloyd, Jahera, and Page (1985) argued that the variable firm size can be used to illustrate the dividend pay ratio of the company. Their findings discussed that big companie s are more mature than small firms. This feature makes them enter the capital market easily and let to pay higher dividends. According to Marsh, (1982); Baskin, (1989), Chang and Rhee, (1990); Bennets and Donnelly, (1993); Charitou and Vafeas, (1998), big companies have better evaluation debt. The size of the company has a positive correlation with dividend payment. This positive relationship is studied by a lot of financial economists for example, Lloyd and Jahera (1985), Rhee (1990), Smith and Watts (1992), Gaver and Gaver (1993), Vogt (1994), Redding (1997), Adedeji (1998), Bradley, Capozza, and Seguin (1998), Holder et al. (1998), Fama and French (2001). Ho, H. (2003) study the dividend policy of Japan firms and Australia firms. Their result show that the firms size have a positive sign with dividend policy in Australia and liquidity has a positive sign with dividend policy in Japan. Recently, there are some papers in emerging markets investigate the factors affecting dividend policy. For instance, Al-Kuwari study the determinant of dividend policy in GCC, and his result reveal that companies pay more dividends when firma size is high. On the other hand, Naceur, Goaied, and Belanes (2006) in their study of study the dividend policy of 48 firms listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange found that the firm size has a negative sign with dividend policy, Business risk: Business risk is a risk that affects the company when it has no enough cash flow to cover its obligations such as operating expenses. It is considered as one of the determinant of companies dividend policy and can play an important role to influence dividend payment. According to the results of Pruitt and Gitman (1991) risk is one of the factors that determine the dividend policy of the company. Furthermore, there is evidence of that risk can impact the dividend policy of the firms. This is provided by the study of Lintner (1956), Brav et al. (2005). When the business risk is high, the relationship between current and expected future profit will be uncertain. As a result, firms will avoid the obligation to pay high dividend. There are many studies reveal that companies which have high risk will pay low dividends to their shareholders because of the volatility of earnings. Some of these studies are conducted by Rozeff (1982), Lloyd et. al. (1985), 1993; Mohd et al., 1995, and Colins et. al. (1996). They apply in their study beta value of the firm as a proxy of the company business risk. This beta is expected to be negative with dividend payment. DSouza (1999) argues that there is a negative relationship between beta and dividend policy. In recent studies, Ling, Mutalip, Shahrin, and Othman (2007) test the dividend policy of Malaysian companies and they found that business risk has negative relationship with dividend yield and dividend payout ratio. Their result also show that firm risk influence the dividend policy of the firms. Al-Kuwari in his study of non financial firms of GCC argues that business risk is insignificant variable. In the case of Oman, Al-Yahyaee (2008) gave the same results as the above discussions and his result reveal that there is negative relationship between dividend payout and business risk. Profitability: This kind of variables that can affect dividend policy of the firm is considered as a primary factor of dividend payment because when firms have high profits, they tend to pay high dividend to their shareholder. Many financial economists such as Lintner (1956),Jensen et al (1992); Han et al (1999), Fama and French (2000), Adaoglu (2000), Pandey (2003) suggest that the companys profitability is an important indicator that affect dividend policy of the firm. Some of these papers argue that there is a positive relationship between profitability of the company and the dividend policy. This positive relationship is considered as an important prediction of the signaling theory of dividend policy. The positive sign means firms which have profits will pay dividend. In addition, Fama and French (2001) in his research pointed out that the positive relationship between the firms profitability and dividend payment is consistent with the pecking order theory. There are many studies reveal that in emerging market, the dividend payment is higher than that in developed markets. For example, the results of Glen et al. (1995) reveal that dividend payment is higher in developing countries. Furthermore, Aivazian, booth, and cleary (2003) found that in their study about emerging market and US firms, profitability in emerging markets has higher influence on dividend payout than in US companies. As discussed above similar findings were reported by Al-Kuwari (2007) for GCC firms, Al-Yahyaee (2008) for Omani firms, and Al- Najjar (2009) for Jordanian firms. To test the profitability of the dividend policy of the firm, the (ROE) measure was used. According to the above results, I expect to find a positive sign for the relationship between dividend payment and profitability. Leverage: Financial leverage is one of the main explanatory variables of firms dividend policy. The definition of this variable is that the long term debt to total asset. Firms that are highly leveraged and cannot make a payment on their debt will be faced risk of bankrupt. This fact may explain that firms with high debt may pay low dividend to their shareholders because they need to utilize their cash flow to pay their obligations. . On the other hand, Aivazian et al (2003) said that companies with low debt can pay and maintain their dividends. Financial leverage has a negative relationship with dividend payment. There are many studies appear to support this negative relationship. Rozeff (1982) results revealed that companies with high leverage prefer to pay low amount of dividends. Moreover, Crutchley and Hansen (1989) Jensen et al. (1992), Bradley et al. (1998), Faccio, Lang, and Young (2001) pointed out that financial leverage influence dividend payment in negative way. The recent studies also are in line with these findings. For instance, Kouki, Guizani (2009) in their study of the dividend policy of the Tunisian firms found that firms with high debt prefer to pay a little amount of dividend. the results of Al-Najjar (2009) shows that there is a negative relationship between leverage and dividend policy. Growth opportunities: The growth opportunity of the company is an important indicator that influences the operation of the distribution of dividends. When firms expect to have huge growth opportunities in their business, they will utilize the firms funds to finance the expansion. This may make the firms to pay lower amount of dividend to the shareholders. On the other hand, if companies know that the growth opportunities are low and the projects investment is small, they will distribute high cash dividend. These analyses propose that growth opportunities have a negative relationship with dividend payout. a lot of studies appeared to support this negative relationship such as, Higgins (1972), Rozeff(1982), Lloyd et al.(1985) and Collins et al (1996), Fama and French (2001), Ho, Lam, and Sami (2004), and Aivazian et al. (2006). They argue that firms with high growth opportunities are more likely to pay low dividends. However, LaPorta et al. (2000) show different results. He found that there is a positive relationship between growth opportunities and dividend payment in countries that have high shareholder protection, but negative relationship in countries that have low shareholder protection. Based on the above assumptions I expect to find a negative association between dividends growth opportunities. Sample Description and Data: The sample data of this dissertation includes 5 large non financial companies listed in the Muscat Securities Market. The annual reports of the firms were taken also from the website of the Muscat Securities Market to get information about shareholders. There are 125 listed companies in Muscat Securities Market as at 31 September 2010. The main listed companies in MSM are banking and investment, services and insurance, and industry. The sample in this research come from industry and service sectors such as telecommunications, oil, and manufacturing companies. The data is obtained by Share-Holding Guide of Muscat Securities Market companies. The data are cross sectional and time series which are collected from 2005 to 2009. As discussed in the previous section, the dividend payout ratio is the model of the dependent variable of the dividend policy. the explanatory variables of the suggested dividend policy are ownership structure, firm size, profitability, business risk, leverage, and growth opportunities. The primary idea was to test the dividend policy and the six hypotheses related to dividend policy of the 6 companies listed on Muscat Securities Market. I chose to use non financial firms rather than financial because the information is limited and the data is missed on financial firms. The dividend paying firms are those companies that paid dividend at least one time over the five years period of the study 2005 to 2009. This means that all the five companies I selected are dividend payment firms. Measurement of Variables: This section is based on the previous discussions to test the six hypotheses on dividend payout ratios of Omani firms. The study of the variables is based on average for the 2005 to 2009 periods to examine the influence on companys dividend policy. Moreover, the predicted sign for the variables are positive with dividend policy for ownership structure, profitability, and firms size, but negative for business risk, leverage, and growth opportunities. The estimations of the models are as follows: DIV = f (GOV, SIZE, GROW, LEV, BETA, PROF) Where DIV is the dividend payout ratio which is measured by: Dividends per Share / EPS. The dividend payout ratio show the percentage amount of dividend the company will tend to distribute to their shareholders. This ratio indicates that the earnings of the company support the dividend payout. If the dividend payout is high, the share will be attractive to the shareholders. It differs among firms and the fact that the majority of mature firms have higher dividend payout ratio. The model utilizes the percentage number of shares that owned by corporations investors especially the proportion of the government shares (GOV) in the firm to test the ownership structure to know if it can affect the dividend policy. This is used by many studies for example, Gugler (2003), and some recent studies like Al-Kuwari (2007) in her study about GCC countries. Profitability (PROF) ratio can be measured as return on asset and return on shareholder equity. Return on asset is calculated by net profit over total asset. PROF = net profit/total asset Return on equity (ROE) which I have used in this study is measured by net profit divided by shareholder equity. PROF = net profit/shareholder equity Many existing studies have used return on equity (ROE) as a proxy of profitability more than using return on asset. For example, Aivazian, booth, and cleary (2003), Al-Yahyaee (2008), and Al- Najjar (2009) utilize return on equity in their study about dividend policy. Firm size (SIZE) is measured by the natural log of the total assets. Total revenue is also used as a proxy of firm size for example, Holder et al. (1998) has been used the same proxy for this variable. The proxy of the business risk (BETA) is beta. This has been used by Rozeff (1982), Lloyd et. al. (1985), 1993; Mohd et al., 1995, Colins et. al. (1996), and DSouza (1999). Growth opportunities (GROW) is measured by market to book ratio. Market to book ratio is calculated by dividing book value over market value of the firm. This ratio is used to find identify the value of the firm. Market to book ratio = book value/ market value Leverage (LEV) ratio is defined as total debt over total equity. This ratio is used to test how can debt affect the dividend payment of the firm. LEV = total debt/ total equity The Tobit and random effects models: The liner regression model includes, fixed and random effect tobit model. It has been used by several studies to test dividend policy. It is a statistical technique that tries to determine the link between two or more variables: dependent and explanatory variables. The dependent variable selected is dividend payout ratio. The explanatory or independent variables that used in this research are ownership structure, profitability, firm size, leverage, business risk, and growth opportunities. In this study of Omani firms I have used tobit models to investigate the factors of the dividend paid. In addition, to get the results I utilize the random effect tobit model which is suitable for nonfinancial firms.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Gospel :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel is defined as the good news. In the New Testament times, gospel did not attribute to a book or manuscript, but to a proclamation or message. It was normally referred to as a proclamation of the good news. The good news usually consisted of a victory in battle or other news for the Romans. It also had an effect on the Hebrews by proclaiming the good news to them, especially of Israel’s victory over God’s victory. More broadly, it can proclaim all of God’s glorious acts over Israel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus’ followers used â€Å"gospel† to describe the good news to the people, with extra effort that the good news involved what God did in Jesus. However, some are not sure whether Jesus used gospels to spread his proclamation. Paul described the center of his gospel as Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks gospel opens with, â€Å"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.† He writes that all the good news through God will be put through Jesus Christ for all the nations to hear. His good word is put through human encounter for the real life to interact with and learn. It also involves that God is the almighty who makes Jesus the king over the real world. Matt and Luke do not begin their gospels the same way that Mark does, but they all share the same ideas. Matt shows Jesus proclaiming the kingdom’s gospel and Luke describes activity through verbal use. The use of messages separates the gospel according to John from the others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The life of gospels beyond the canonical is a puzzling question. Very few uncanonical works are called gospels. However, gospel has been used to refer to uncanonical works independently of their self-identification. It may be better to keep two different categories because of the complications. One should be â€Å"Jesus material† and the other should be called â€Å"gospels†. This would make the distinctions much easier because makes the material easier to categorize.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The origin of a gospel genre arises from many early Christian writings both inside and outside of the standard known as the canon. Gospel is not used in the idea of the New Testament, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not put together part of the original writings. The idea of writings being referred as gospels probably came about in the 2d century and was established by the 4th century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the writings outside of the canon were called gospels. Gospel :: essays research papers fc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gospel is defined as the good news. In the New Testament times, gospel did not attribute to a book or manuscript, but to a proclamation or message. It was normally referred to as a proclamation of the good news. The good news usually consisted of a victory in battle or other news for the Romans. It also had an effect on the Hebrews by proclaiming the good news to them, especially of Israel’s victory over God’s victory. More broadly, it can proclaim all of God’s glorious acts over Israel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus’ followers used â€Å"gospel† to describe the good news to the people, with extra effort that the good news involved what God did in Jesus. However, some are not sure whether Jesus used gospels to spread his proclamation. Paul described the center of his gospel as Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marks gospel opens with, â€Å"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.† He writes that all the good news through God will be put through Jesus Christ for all the nations to hear. His good word is put through human encounter for the real life to interact with and learn. It also involves that God is the almighty who makes Jesus the king over the real world. Matt and Luke do not begin their gospels the same way that Mark does, but they all share the same ideas. Matt shows Jesus proclaiming the kingdom’s gospel and Luke describes activity through verbal use. The use of messages separates the gospel according to John from the others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The life of gospels beyond the canonical is a puzzling question. Very few uncanonical works are called gospels. However, gospel has been used to refer to uncanonical works independently of their self-identification. It may be better to keep two different categories because of the complications. One should be â€Å"Jesus material† and the other should be called â€Å"gospels†. This would make the distinctions much easier because makes the material easier to categorize.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The origin of a gospel genre arises from many early Christian writings both inside and outside of the standard known as the canon. Gospel is not used in the idea of the New Testament, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not put together part of the original writings. The idea of writings being referred as gospels probably came about in the 2d century and was established by the 4th century.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the writings outside of the canon were called gospels.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

No Guns †fewer Shootings Essay

Allowing guns on campus would be a dreadful idea, it would increase more violent acts as well as putting staff and students at risk of being injured or even result in death. Not only this but students, as well as everyone on campus, would feel extremely unsafe. By allowing guns on campuses we would we be supporting violence, as well as giving shooters a higher opportunity to commit a crime. This would leave the victims defenseless and at risk of being murdered, raped, kidnapped, or be hurt in any other method. Not only this but anyone who is not mentally stable can misuse a gun and this can even lead to a suicide. Guns on college campuses ought to be banned because they will simply increase the problem with regards to shootings, unnecessary deaths and increase crime rates. We all have to keep in mind that colleges already have a high-risk factor for drugs, alcohol, and stress in academics. Including weapons would cause a bigger problem on a college campus and put everyone in danger. This can result in the misuse of the weapon and fire a gun by accident or simply shoot someone because you truly dislike a person. Many adolescents will commit a crime and sometimes don’t think of the consequences that are going to come with their actions. Jade Reindl and Jean Cocco mention in their CNN piece, â€Å"Say no to guns on college campuses† explains how if a gun is present at the moment of a sexual assault or any form of assault it is more likely that the person will die. This is suggesting that if a gun is in existence at the moment of a crime there is a higher risk of a fatal accident happening. We understand that some students might feel safer knowing they have a way of protection, but how will this make other students on campus feel? They will f eel unsafe in an environment that is supposed to be â€Å"safe† for all students. Also, knowing that someone is carrying a gun will make a student feel like they need to be careful around them. As a community, we also have to take in consideration that some people are not mentally stable: whether they are depressed or suffer from anxiety and will most likely misuse the weapon. This can result in a person committing suicide or attempting for their life.   Furthermore, having guns on campus will not solve any problems, if anything it will create more. On the contrary, proponents of guns within campus advocate that they will be more safe and protected if they were able to carry a concealed handgun in a college campus to protect themselves in case of a shooting, or even from a sexual assault. Also, those citizens who are responsible enough should have the opportunity to protect themselves against a shooter. By allowing the students as well as staff, to carry a gun there won’t be as many victims whereas if they didn’t have any weapon to defend themselves there would be a higher chance of being the victim. Neal Hutchens in his GOOD EDUCATION piece â€Å" 11 States Allow Students To Carry Guns On College Campuses. More could be Next† he mentions that allowing students and faculty to carry a gun with them will decrease the number of shootings as well as decreasing the number of deaths. Also, it has been said that there is a higher possibility of a shooting happening somewhere else rather than a college campus so why not allow people to carry a gun. Subsequently allowing guns on campus can help people defend someone who is at risk of being hurt resulting in saving lives. Not only this but supporters believe that a gun in a classroom would not affect anyone’s learning or concentration in class. Not only this but students believe that they should have the right to protect themselves with a weapon in case it is necessary. In addition, supporters of concealed guns will advocate for guns since they think it is the best way to protect themselves and knowing that at least they have a gun to protect themselves from any potential threat. Lastly, they believe that allowing guns on campus should be a right given to everyone for the safety of everyone that can help reduce many deaths. Despite the fact that allowing guns on campus would be a terrible decision made by the voters who agree with guns on campus we would simply be encouraging mass shooting and many other horrific incidents. An example of a horrific accident that happened is the mass shooting at Virginia Tech University in 2007. This left many families devastated due to the loss of a loved one. Although proponents of guns believe that a gun in a classroom would not distract anyone, in reality, it would because if any classmate knew that someone had a gun on them they would feel tense and nervous all the time. Even if a person had a gun on them to protect themselves they might not know how to use it adequately and cause more problems. Concealed guns overall are hardly ever used in the appropriate form and that is why we always are having horrific scenes of violence, and mass shooting which just simply terrorize our community. People simply misuse a gun often either because they are angry or maybe even fee l sad or depressed. When affecting our whole community, the children are growing up afraid and scared as well as the parents, knowing that at any moment a bullet can just end someone’s life in a second. Not just this but even though college students believe that by giving them the opportunity to carry a gun we are treating as the adult. The thing about this is that even though we are treating them like the adult by giving them this huge responsibility, there are still some adult who misuse a weapon. Therefore, not giving college students the ability to carry a concealed gun would have more benefits rather than allowing them to carry a gun. In short, not allowing guns on campus would make everyone feel in a safe environment where they don’t have to be afraid of the constant shooting happening. Not just this, but they will be able to focus on their studies and in class rather than thinking all the time that they can be shot at any moment. Sometimes people think the best way to protect themselves on a college campus is the best way but in reality, it can result in many accidents occurring. Students and staff will ultimately feel safer in a free gun zone rather than a place that is surrounded by a gun every corner you walk around. Carrying a gun is a huge responsibility and not everyone is willing to accept the consequences if they use the weapon inappropriately, so it would just be better to save ourselves that problem and not allow guns on campus.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Book The Problem of Media: U.S. Communication Politics

The book The Problem of Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century written by Robert W. McChesney discusses the issue of media Reform. He argues that, â€Å"The Policies, structures, subsidies and institutions that are created to control direct and regulate the media will be responsible for the logic and nature of the media system whether their content is good, bad or a combination, the media therefore presents a political problem for any society, and an unavoidable one at that† (16). He contends that there are two main issues on this problem.   The first problem is the structure that creates the content of the information and the second is the structures themselves.   He believes that the way society makes it decisions on how to structure the system and how it decides to solve this needs reformation.   Debates, he believes, will direct shape and create value to the media system. McChesney writes of how media will exist in all societies.   But their structure and content is determined cultural, economic and political and this determines the amount of solutions each society has to choose from.   In different societies the controlling government decides how this is structured.   He mentions dictatorships and authoritarian regimes will create the type of media that will influence and give him more power and stopping any chance of opposition.   With a democratic society the problem exists between those with power and those with none.   In this society the power is with the media and it is this power that gives a strong support in the building of democracy making media a political tool. The problems with media being a political tool in a democracy, he states is well known.   The foundation of this is that in order to have a democratic society the citizens must be informed and the media is the tool for this.  Ã‚   It is not that the media is to create the democracy but help to make it more effective to members of that society.   The issue in the reform is all about content.   If it is balanced with views that express both sides of the road.   Giving an opposite stand to democracy, equally important for the society members to make choices on how to structure their society and even more important is how media affects economics. Media’s beginning influences were in economics and soon spread to politics.   McChesney believes that, â€Å"In the United States the starting point for grasping the problem with media is seeing where the media fits in the broader capitalistic economic system† (117).   The problem is between the role media has in the profit-making commercial structured organizations and the need for information that deals with information needed for a democracy.   â€Å"It is this tension that fuels much of the social concern around media and media policy making† (17). The author gives great attention to the meaning of problem and how it relates to what is deemed the problem of media.   I thought this to be kind of repetitious because he gives meaning to the word problem often throughout the book.   I thought that maybe he was trying to make a point at how media will take something and give it so many different meanings as he did.   He then goes on to give a history of the media to give the reader a sense of where it was coming from to see where it was going.   Giving a good historical account of the affects of broadcasting in the 1930’s that created the way our society makes media policy. He then moves into an analysis into how media became corrupt, deceitful, and missing ethical bases just within this century.   McChesney believes that the United States has not faced these problems making media a servant to those in society that are self-servant.   These are usually the ones that make any decisions in private such as the media corporations that are driven by profits, ignoring what society needs. â€Å"This system has contributed to a political crisis of the highest magnitude and unless it is confronted directly will severely limit our ability to make progress on any of the other major social and political problems that face the nation† (21).   Media should help to give the society an ability to have informed debates on issues that arise from that society. After reading the book it gave me much to think about, but really no clear solution.   Granted he did talk of reforms but in what sense?   In my opinion reform should come in the way we educate our society.   Now with new technology freedom of speech is a whole new attitude.   Everyone has something to say, whether right or wrong.   I do think there should be some kind of reform, but I’m not sure what kind of reform would be effective.   Education society more on what the meanings of context and content would be more effective than trying to define the problem in multiple ways. I really didn’t understand context or content until I went to college.   It’s pretty simple but applying it everyday wasn’t something I did until college.   Now everything I read or see on television I take with a grain of salt, until I research it a little more I don’t hold it true.   This kind of education needs to be applied in primary learning structures.   This would help greatly with structuring a well informed society. I felt the book was very informative, but difficult to read.   I believe that this would make a very good book for educational structures to use.   It awakened an issue in me that I knew was there, but really didn’t think about too much.   I believe this to be pretty true with much of society.   Just yesterday a friend had mentioned something he had heard on the radio about making young school children in Australia stop sing a Christmas song that used the phrase â€Å"Ho, Ho, Ho† because of the implications of it’s meaning, whore. At first I was shocked and angry but after thinking awhile I first thought, the content wasn’t probably reliable or it was taken totally out of context and if it had to do with a more important issue I would have researched the information to find the truth.   This is why I believe media reformation is something that needs to be addressed but the key to the solution is education. Works Cited: McChesney, Robert W.   The Problem of Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Twenty-First Century.   New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004. Â