Improvement of standard living contributes to damage to environment Essay Example for Free

Improvement of standard living contributes to damage to environment Essay In the last decade, many countries over the world have to experience the inevitable consequences of damage to environment. The environment has been sacrificed as the people’s standard living has been improved, which is including the rising of new technology. Sometimes, the new technology that has been invented can cause environment’s devastation enhancement and also harms the ecosystem on it. Many forests and parks have disappeared so that animal extinction for some species cannot be avoided. Nowadays, many developer company compete each other to build residences, apartments, hotels, malls, entertainment centers, such as cafes, cinemas as the enhancement of our standard living. People need a living place more than just a place to sleep and take a rest. The more facilities that one residence area or apartment has, such as swimming pool, golf area, gym, supermarket; the more benefit they can offer to attract customer. It means, one developer company needs bigger areas to construct a residence or apartment. Besides that, we can see the increasing amount of skyscraper buildings in big cities. Along with many constructions, it means that many green areas has to be cut off to be changed into a commercial area and people do not contemplate the consequences of not having enough trees and green areas. In addition to this, many constructions also are not built with a good drainage system. Due to this matter, flood happens everywhere. For instance, in Jakarta, Indonesia, flood happens at least once per year during peak rainy season as the result of constructing park and forest to be a commercial building. Industrial companies also contribute to environment’s devastation. High technology system is developed to support the industrial business. Some of new technology system that has been invented are not eco-friendly. For instance, in Agriculture industry, pesticide is used for controlling the pest that can harm the plant. The consequences of using pesticide that can contaminate the soil, the plants, and harm the ecosystem surrounding it are being ignored and also it can harm the people who consume the fruits or vegetables of those plants. In addition to this, many wastes are produced every year and most of the waste cannot be recycled. Some of the waste fills the river and harm the ecosystem that live in the river, such as fishes. Later on, consuming fish from contaminated river can jeopardize human’s health. In the end, we have to realize that along with standard living improvement, often we neglect our environment and abandon the balancing of ecosystem in our planet. Besides environment devastation, we also harm our lives and our next generation lives. It is suppose that now is the perfect time for us as human being to look after our planet; maintain, protect and nourish our environment surrounding us to build a better health life in the future.

Material Weakness And Significant Deficiency Accounting Essay

Material Weakness And Significant Deficiency Accounting Essay Auditing Standard number 5, as outlined by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, creates guidelines regarding the manner in which an auditor should approach an audit of a companys managements assessment of that companys internal controls over financial reporting, as well as an audit of that companys financial statements. Of particular note are the Standards outlines of the top-down approach in which an auditor is expected to work his or her way down in testing controls from the most broad level to the most specific, and the Standards definitions of material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. Understanding these concepts is key to understanding the Standard, and thus, essential in performing audits on internal controls over financial reporting and on financial statements. Top-Down Approach Using a top down approach to choose which controls to test regarding an audit of internal control over financial reporting calls for the auditor to begin with the most broad controls, and make his or her way down to the most detailed and specific controls. It is important for the auditor to test these internal controls, as many companies may attempt to ignore certain regulations, or in some cases, not correctly understand or employ them. Internal controls on the financial statement level are the first to undergo scrutiny, followed by entity-level controls, and then significant accounts and disclosures as well as their relevant assertions. The top down approach is utilized to allow for the auditors focus on potential mistreatments of accounts disclosures, and assertions. The top down approach begins with examining the financial statement level, understanding the risks to internal control over financial reporting, and evaluating whether these controls are satisfactory. Once the controls on the financial statement level are tested, the auditor may move to identify and examine entity-level controls. Entity level controls are narrower and more complex than controls on the financial statement level, and include a number of different controls such as controls over management override, risk assessment processes, and controls over financial reporting processes, among others. The auditor must scrutinize the procedures used for each entity level control and determine whether there may be issues with these control procedures. For example, the auditor must examine the procedures used by the company to produce its annual and quarterly financial statements. After an auditor scrutinizes the internal controls on the entity level, he or she should switch focus to significant accounts and their disclosures, as well as their relevant assertions, which include any assertions made by the companys management that have a reasonable possibility of having a misstatement that may cause a material misstatement in the companys financial statements. The auditor is expected to identify the relevant accounts, and then assess the risk factors connected with these accounts. A good deal of the identification process involves the auditors understanding of what could cause potential misstatements. As such, the auditor is expected to perform walkthroughs, in which he or she closely follows a particular transaction through the companys complete process. Walkthroughs are also suggested to be performed in combination with other methods of scrutiny, such as observation and questioning during their process. In selecting which controls to test, it is important for the auditor to consider which ones will have a potential risk of misstatement, and have a significant effect on the auditors conclusion of such. Material Weakness vs. Significant Deficiency In understanding the difference between a material weakness and a significant deficiency, it is important to first understand what a deficiency is. Deficiencies can exist in both design and operation, and they disallow employees from preventing, or in some cases, identifying financial misstatements. Material weaknesses exist when there is a reasonable possibility that a misstatement will occur as a result of one or more deficiencies. A significant deficiency, although less severe than a material weakness, occurs when a deficiency in internal control over financial reporting is worth looking at as a potential cause of future misstatement. There are many indicators of material weakness outlined by the Standard that help to serve an auditor in identifying such weaknesses. These indicators include the identification of fraud practices by senior management, restatements of financial statements that appear to correct misstatement, misstatement of current financial statements, and ineffective oversight of internal controls by the companys audit committee. In addition, the auditor is expected to take steps in reporting material weaknesses as well as significant deficiencies in a companys internal controls over financial reporting. Both material weaknesses and significant deficiencies must be communicated to the audit committee in writing; however, while all material weaknesses must be identified, the auditor is not obligated to report any significant deficiencies that he or she is not aware of. Moreover, both material weaknesses and significant deficiencies must be reported to management of the company being audited, with less importance given to significant deficiencies than to material weaknesses in the write-up. The guidelines created by Auditing Standard number 5 help to establish a standard by which auditors must abide, and helps them through the process of auditing a companys internal controls over financial reporting and that companys financial statements. The top down approach creates a systematic process by which auditors can zero in on potential mistreatments of accounts disclosures, and assertions. Understanding material weaknesses and significant deficiencies is imperative in the process of identifying and reporting such mistreatments and misstatements.

robert e. lee Essay -- essays research papers

Robert E. Lee, who was considered to be the greatest soldier fighting for the Confederate States of America, descended from a long line of famous heroes. Many of Lee's ancestors played important roles in America's history. His father was a Revolutionary War hero and a friend of George Washington. He was often referred to as Light Horse Harry Lee. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford, Virginia. Lee always admired Washington, and was his hero as a youngster. Young Lee decided to become a soldier, partly because of the military tradition of his family. Lee enrolled in West Point Military Academy and graduated 2nd in his class in 1829. Lee majored in military engineering and supervised several army projects, he was named Second Lieutenant in the Corp engineers. His devotion and hard work in supervising harbor improvements in Saint Louis got him promoted to Captain in 1838. As a captain, his first experience in actual battle was in the Mexican War. He served under General Winfield Scott, and was the best engineer in General Scott's campaign. Lee's actions at the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, and Chapultepec received many high praises and earned him a reputation. General Scott claimed that the success of the war was due to Lee's bravery and skills, Lee was appointed the rank of Colonel. In 1582 he was appointed superintendent of West Point Military Academy. Under his service, James B. McPherson, Phillip Sheridan, and John Bell Hood would graduate from the academy, soon to be famous. Lee finished his duty as the superintendent in 1855, and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Second Cavalry, stationed in Texas. In 1859, while serving in Texas, Lee was sent to command a group of Marines to suppress John Brown's uprising. John Brown was a northern abolitionist would believed a rebellion in the south would lead to abolition. He was taken down by Lee's forces. After suppressing the uprising, Lee was called to Washington is 1861. The succession movement had begun. Some southern states had left, but Lee's own Virginia was still uncertain. As much as Lee had supported the Union, he couldn't bear the sight of union soldiers invading and destroying his hometown. Lee had thought over this matter for days, and finally decided to resign from the union forces and offer his help to the confederacy. When Lee reached Richmond, Virginia had succeeded and they had a... ...hrew strong attacks at the union forces, but was repulsed with heavy losses. The battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle ever fought in North America. He was criticized for attempting an impossible battle, the union forces had and advantageous position and more men. After Gettysburg, Lee retreated back to Virginia for the rest of the war. With the loss of more and more soldiers, Lee had no choice but to start taking a defensive position. In the spring of 1864, General Ulysses Grant got control of the union forces and decided to bring Lee into northern Virginia and crush the confederate forces there. Grant rushed to Petersburg, hoping to seize the railroad the was supplying Lee with supplies. Lee had arrived first and Grant started a siege. In 1865, Grant finally seized control of the railroads and lee retreated to the west. Lee, realizing his loss of men, met Grant at Appomattox and surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, Lee was considered a hero of the south, with dignity he accepted his defeat and preached to his people the necessity of peace and national unity. He later became the principal of Washington college at Lexington. He died on October 12, 1870.

The High Cost of Obesity :: Health

Today, as values of living continue to boost, weight increase and obesity are posing a rising threat to certain well-beings in countries all over the world. Obesity, now confirmed as a nationwide endemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is likely to get worse and amplify over time. â€Å"The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese† (Obesity: in Statistics, 2008, 2nd Statement). It is definite that most kids are inclined to eat junk food, and it is certain that most kids will become overweight as adults. About 15% of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years are overweight, which is an increase of 4% from the 1988-1994 NHANES study† (Chatterjee, Blakely, & Barton, 2005, p. 24). Statistics of obese persons in the United States alone are also greater in certain cultural and ethnic minority groups, especially African American and His panics. â€Å"Between 1986 and 1998, incidences of being overweight increased significantly among African American children by 21.5% and for Hispanic children by 21.8%. That is nearly almost  ¼ of the population! Among all low-income children, the prevalence of being overweight was found to be highest among Latino children by (12%) followed by Asian-Pacific Islander (9.6%), African American (7.8%) and Whites (7.1%)† (Chatterjee, Blakely, &Barton, 2005, p. 24,) â€Å"The total cost of obesity by some estimates is $100 billion annually. Others estimated the cost of health care for obesity alone is $70 billion† (Wellman, Friedberg, S705, 2002). Obesity and its economic costs stand on three levels. First, obesity can hurt a person financially, with doctor visits, and such. Secondly, obesity can cut into the costs of businesses (presuming the overweight are working, but they may not be, due to their state), due to lost efficiency. There is about 40 million workdays of productivity lost among overweight individuals. Other issues include non-attendance, underachievement, and raised insurance payments. (Wellman, Friedberg, 2002, p.705) Furthermore, being overweight has an effect on expenses by neighboring, state, and nationwide governments. Obesity is my topic of interest because as a future elementary teacher, I want to raise awareness of the consequences that obesity may have among children. I hope to teach all children the importance o f eating healthy so that they can become happy, healthy adults. Obesity is a huge problem that is strongly influenced by the sociological factors such media and the American culture. The High Cost of Obesity :: Health Today, as values of living continue to boost, weight increase and obesity are posing a rising threat to certain well-beings in countries all over the world. Obesity, now confirmed as a nationwide endemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is likely to get worse and amplify over time. â€Å"The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese† (Obesity: in Statistics, 2008, 2nd Statement). It is definite that most kids are inclined to eat junk food, and it is certain that most kids will become overweight as adults. About 15% of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years are overweight, which is an increase of 4% from the 1988-1994 NHANES study† (Chatterjee, Blakely, & Barton, 2005, p. 24). Statistics of obese persons in the United States alone are also greater in certain cultural and ethnic minority groups, especially African American and His panics. â€Å"Between 1986 and 1998, incidences of being overweight increased significantly among African American children by 21.5% and for Hispanic children by 21.8%. That is nearly almost  ¼ of the population! Among all low-income children, the prevalence of being overweight was found to be highest among Latino children by (12%) followed by Asian-Pacific Islander (9.6%), African American (7.8%) and Whites (7.1%)† (Chatterjee, Blakely, &Barton, 2005, p. 24,) â€Å"The total cost of obesity by some estimates is $100 billion annually. Others estimated the cost of health care for obesity alone is $70 billion† (Wellman, Friedberg, S705, 2002). Obesity and its economic costs stand on three levels. First, obesity can hurt a person financially, with doctor visits, and such. Secondly, obesity can cut into the costs of businesses (presuming the overweight are working, but they may not be, due to their state), due to lost efficiency. There is about 40 million workdays of productivity lost among overweight individuals. Other issues include non-attendance, underachievement, and raised insurance payments. (Wellman, Friedberg, 2002, p.705) Furthermore, being overweight has an effect on expenses by neighboring, state, and nationwide governments. Obesity is my topic of interest because as a future elementary teacher, I want to raise awareness of the consequences that obesity may have among children. I hope to teach all children the importance o f eating healthy so that they can become happy, healthy adults. Obesity is a huge problem that is strongly influenced by the sociological factors such media and the American culture.

Ghost Story of College Ghost Lure :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends

College Ghost Lore If one were to take the beltway to I-270 north, about an hour north of Washington, DC one would arrive at a town called Emmitsburg, Maryland. Is the town haunted? I collected several stories from a senior in college who is from Emmitsburg. This senior is a white female. The stories I collected, many of which have to do with the small Catholic college indicate a rich ghost lore in the town. There are several stories that this woman told me concerning her hometown. The first is one that most people who live in the town know. In the mid 1800s, a man by the name Larry was born. Larry was the son of a famous composer and musician and came to teach music at the college. His father wanted Larry to be a musician like himself; however Larry was not as skilled. Larry became popular with the college students who would come to his grocery store where he would sing songs for the pretty girls. In the late 1800s, his father died, and Larry was quite sad. The following Christmas, Larry took his flute and went to the cemetery at Mount Saint Mary’s College to play one of his father’s most famous pieces, â€Å"When the Glory Lit the Midnight Air†. The town folk thought he finally mastered the ability to play the flute to honor his father. So the town folk went up to the gravesite by the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes on the campus. The event became a tradition, and La rry would lead the people up to the gravesite each Christmas to play the flute. In the 1920s Larry died. Older residents say that if you listen very carefully on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning you can still hear the ghostly strains of beautiful flute music coming from the cemetery. A little while later, the music is gone, not to be heard again for another year. Another story the storyteller told me is that about Father Brute. One of the earliest presidents of the school was Reverend Simon Brute. He died in the mid 1800s. Brute still glides about the campus wearing long black robes. People who have seen his ghost describe the same sunken cheeks and other particular features. He usually smiles and nods and moves on. In Brute Hall is the room that Brute once lived in. Room 252 is supposedly still haunted by his ghost.

How well does BA protect its employees? Essay

Employees from BA’s prospective are an investment and for BA to get a return on this investment they have to protect it. In this section I am going to evaluate how well BA protects its employees I will use evidence from BA sources to back up each of my points. How does BA protect its employees? Bas takes the safety of its employees very well I know this because in the BA report they say â€Å"The safety and security of our customers and employees in the air and on the ground is a paramount to British Airways and at the heart of our business.† This statement suggests that the safety of BA’s customers is the most important part of their business. it also says that the protection of customers and employees is what the business runs around. BA protects its employees in a number of different ways, for example if an employee is working in an office in front of a computer BA will then make sure that the employee gets regular brakes so that the employees eyes do not get damaged too badly. This is one way that BA protects its employees. BA also protects its employees by reducing the risk of them injuring themselves. They do this by putting up hazard signs that show the employees to be careful. An example of this is wet floor signs these signs show employees that the floor is wet and slippery which instructs them to be more careful. Another way that BA protects its employees is by introducing stress management policies. This is because stress is a major factor that may affect an employee’s health. BA has tried to reduce the amount of stress within the business by introducing a â€Å"stress management policy†. Examples of the policies that BA uses to reduce stress is management training, employee involvement programmes etc†¦ It is one of BA’s top priorities to protect their employees if they don’t then this will mean that the employees will start to get de-motivated and not come to work this will therefore create a decrease in the production of work from the employees as they will not be in most of the times. BA protects its employees very well this can be seen in the graph below which shows the amount of days taken off by employees. In this graph you can see that BA has got quite a low amount of people taking days off related to illnesses at work. This therefore shows us that the employees are happy working at BA. BA also says: â€Å"We have a target of reducing the number of days taken of due to work related injuries by 30 % by 2010† The statement above suggests that BA are working on reducing the amount of work related injuries this shows us that BA are very concerned about the safety of their employees. BA spends 120million pounds on the security of their employees this shows us that they are very concerned about the safety of their employees. We can see that this is paying off as less people are taking days off this is shown in the graph above. The table above shows that BA has reduced the amount of injuries within the business therefore showing that BA’s 120 million pounds security investment has been put to good use. It also shows that BA wants to keep on decreasing the amount of injuries that have happened to employees. In the table above you can also see that the working day’s lost per 100,000 people is 4300 days this is a very low amount therefore showing that BA has protected there employees very well as they are coming into work very regularly. An example of a BA employee getting injured is when a cabin crew employee fell from the doorway of a 737 plane. The employee suffered 3 fractured vertebrae. When BA heard of this they then acted on it and tried to reduce the chances of this occurring again. The table above shows that the amount of injuries to employees inside BA has been reducing constantly for the last three years, but there is stillroom for improvement in the serious injury section where the results show it has risen by an extraordinary amount. How do the trade unions implement national and local working conditions? The trade unions within BA have a very big influence on the decisions made by BA, if BA make a decision that the trade unions do not like then they will cause a strike to occur and give BA a bad reputation. An example of where this occurred was the strike that occurred at Gate Gourmet this was because the trade unions felt that the working conditions where too bad. When this strike occurred it meant that BA had to cancel flights this meant a loss in profit and bad publicity, which caused a downfall for the business. BA would not want to get into situations like this. The trade unions can implement the working conditions by arranging strikes like this. These strikes cause the business to think about keeping the working conditions up and to think about the employees before they take any actions. The trade unions do not have to strike to implement anything, this is because the trade unions can negotiate with the managers of the department and discuss what the working conditions are like. by doing this the trade unions can work with the business to get better working conditions for the employees, this way the managers and the employees are happy without resolving to conflict. Overall the trade unions are a big factor that influences the decisions that the business makes. The main way that they implement the working conditions is by working with the business to tell them the conditions that they want. They may also complain if the conditions that are promised by BA are not met.

Sociolgical Imagination

Sociological Imagination Sociological Imagination can be defined as the ability to notice a difference in people due to their social circumstances, how their â€Å"social norms,† influence their lives. Sometimes these situations can lead to an outcome and it gives you an understanding as to why things happen the way they do. You understand what causes led to that specific outcome. Basically, you understand peoples lives because you can see how the outcome effects their lives and the people around them.Having an understanding of sociological imagination helps in the field of sociology because it alps you have a different perspective on peoples lives. I started dating a guy at the beginning of my senior year of high school. Not long after, we become inseparable. It didn't take very long for me to think I was in love. When I felt like it was the right time, we decided to have sex. I never thought that I would get pregnant the first time because we were safe, and I was on birth co ntrol. Fortunately, I didn't. As the months went on we would risk not using protection and I was still not getting pregnant.Stupidly, I thought well maybe I Just can not get pregnant since it has not happened to me yet. After about a year of dating, I missed my birth control for a week. About eight weeks after that I get really sick and can not keep any food down. My grandmother takes me to the doctor and I will never forget that moment when the doctor came back in and said the words I thought I would never hear. I was pregnant. My sister had gotten pregnant while she was still in high school, so my mother really depended on me to be the daughter that finished college and then started a life of my own. She was so disappointed in me.But the rest of my family viewed it as normal that I had gotten pregnant at 18. Many of my cousins started a family instead of going to college. 9 out of 11 of my cousins were teen parents. Along with the younger generation, my grandparents, aunts, and un cles also started their families very early. While I did not purposely try to start a family at my age, my family did not see it as a bad thing. My boyfriend stepped up in this situation and decided early on that he was not going to be like every other young dad and run off. He has changed every part of his life to give our baby the best life possible.A long time ago getting married at a very young age was socially acceptable, now it is morally wrong in many ultras. Since girls were married at a young age, teen pregnancy was accepted, also. In this generation teen pregnancy is still Just as common as it was then, but without the girls being married or even in a relationship. â€Å"1 . 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before ago 20. That's nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year. 3. Less than 2 percent of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30. 5. The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the western industrialized world. 10.Al most fifty percent of teens have never considered how pregnancy would affect their lives. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy) Due to teen pregnancy rates being so high, Americans have to learn to accept and adapt to this being a new custom. â€Å"Based on a teen survey his organization conducted in 2009, a vast majority (eighty-seven percent) of teens who watched the MAT show 16 and Pregnant reported that they felt the show helped demonstrate to them the true hardships that teenage pregnancy can bring to both girls and boys. In contrast, very few (seventeen percent) felt the show actually glorified teen pregnancy. (Silvers) These shows help to show the struggles that all he young girls starring in them face. By putting their stories out there they are helping to reduce teen pregnancy rates. Even though there are shows to help try to reduce teen pregnancy, there are also movies and shows that make being sexually active teens look â€Å"cool,† or â €Å"popular. † Many movies show the virgin being made fun of for not being sexually active. Making sex look fun or cool results in teens having sex, which may lead to teen pregnancy. The social norm for young people is to graduate high school, go to college, get a career, and start a life of their own.