Principles of Risk Communication and Public Warnings Essay

Principles of Risk Communication and Public Warnings - Essay Example From the responses on the meaning and purpose of information and advisories concerning risk management, a majority of the people did agree that risk management is extremely crucial to various fields. These warnings might be necessary for various reasons like weather crisis, geological disasters and radiological, industrial or medical emergencies. In order to come up with an effectual public warning, there has to be an agreement on who will start an alert. Moreover, what makes up an emergency, a system by which reports can be rapidly transmitted to the residents, and educational programs to train the public on how to identify an alert or what to do if an emergency is broadcast need to be considered. Travis emphasized this. The citizen’s perception of the risk can be impacted by the method and content of public warnings. Without sufficient risk information, the public might ignore the risk or engage in unsuitable actions, some of which might compromise instead of promoting the public’s safety. According to Tameyka, the public understands the basic knows very little on how to respond to emergencies and as such, it is necessary for the media to be provided with uncommo n emergency resource, which would be of significant help to the public. Margain supported the idea. From analysis, media plays a crucial role in the unequal distribution of aid and, therefore, it is necessary for residents to take more responsibility in their sustainability and recovery from any unusual occurrences that take place. For instance, the victims of Hurricane Katrina needed many aids; it is advisable that risk managers must take over from media scrutiny and base their decisions purely on risk evaluation decisions and equal allocation of aid and resources. It is also advisable that media should not be allowed to venerate the destruction, if there is hope for keeping people’s interest in the right place. According to Teresa,

Financial Modelling and forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Modelling and forecasting - Essay Example They are used for propose of measuring the performance of the firm and also to measure hoe stable is a firm financially. They are also used for future planning, determining whether a firm is able to borrow loans and service them, and also evaluating the performance of the firm under different models. Most models are based on sales volume This paper will seek to analyze the financial statement of JB Hi-Fi by use of historical data to predict the future.I will therefore forecast the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 using the year 2012 as my base year. Ratio analysis of relevant sales ratios will be used for the analysis. Financial statement analysis is the use balance sheet and income statement data to come up with values for financial interpretation and identification of the strengths and weaknesses of an organization (Stickney et al., 2006). Various techniques of financial statement analysis are: trend analysis, comparative statements, common size percentages, ratio and fund analysis as well as changes in working capital changes (Libby et al., 2004). For the purpose of analyzing JB Hi-Fi, relevant sales ratio analysis will be undertaken. For a successful financial analysis, comparison has to be made using consistent percentages through the years of analysis. The use of the sales ratios to analyze the years will reveal their similarities, trends, as well as differences in the company (Palepu & Healy, 2007). As Gregory (2008) notes, the stakeholders of the information contained in a financial statement include, potential investors, creditors, managers, shareholders, the government and creditors and they require the information for different reasons. Use of historical data is a major limitation of ratio analysis as it is therefore assumed that it reflects on the future trends whereas no one could be certain of the future (Palepu & Healy, 2007). Resvine et al (2004) explains that another limitation of using financial statements in analysis is that GAAP allows

Interest Groups Essay Example for Free

Interest Groups Essay They vary considerably in size and ideological perspectives. The strategies and tools employed by interest groups are not static, and they differ depending on the geographical scope of their operations and the resources they have. While many interest groups tend to address a wide range of issues, others deal with distinct issues. The life span of interest groups is also not static. In this case, some groups have long term objectives; hence, they remain active for long duration. For instance, the interest groups that aim at challenging policy issues and politics operate on a long term basis. On the other hand, some groups are usually initiated with an aim of achieving a particular end after which they are dissolved. For example, during elections, many groups usually emerge with an aim of ensuring that the process is handled according to the stipulated guidelines of the electoral process. A representative government is always formulated in manner that facilitates participation of contending interests, and at the same time it tries to mitigate the variance that inexorably accompanies faction competition. In the traditional creation of pluralism, contending interests work together by mobilizing resources and opinions in order to enhance effective formulation and implementation of essential public policies. â€Å"Institutions are formed to accommodate the inevitability of diverse and competing interest from becoming powerful enough to undermine the rights of others† (Wilson, 2009). This process is governed by constitutional provisions, which stipulate the nature of interest groups’ activities. Therefore, many interest groups that work together tend to stabilize political environment, and this enables them to forward their interests to the government. â€Å"This implies that the pluralist vision of politics is an ideal vision of interest group politics and political institutions† (Barber, 1990). The activities conducted by various interest groups can be used to differentiate them. For instance, some of them endeavor to address several public issues, while others have a narrow scope of private interests. There are two distinct types of interest groups, and they can be described as follows. First, we have public interest groups, and they aim at working on issues that benefit the general public. For instance, they support policies that provide equal opportunities that can be enjoyed by everyone in the society. However, the success of public interest groups may not be very substantial at an individual level since they aim at reaching out to many people. â€Å"Some of the major public interest groups in his category are National Taxpayer’s Union and Concerned Women for America† (Orman, 1988). The second category is referred to as private interest groups. These are groups which endeavor to challenge public policies in order to specifically benefit their members or individuals that support their interests. Nonetheless, the objectives and activities of private interests groups should not interfere with the welfare of other individuals. Political self interest is perceived to b e healthy for a political system. In the USA, there is a popular belief that contending interests make the society more successful. This is because bad policies are always eliminated when various groups compete against each other â€Å"Other examples of interest groups include business organizations labor unions, Professional associations, and Non Governmental Organizations† (Grossman, 2002). The Relationship between Interest Groups and Political Parties There is no great disparity between political parties and various interest groups, because they are both composed of individuals having common objectives and opinions. Apart from this, â€Å"they are similar in the sense that they both seek to challenge government institutions, elections, and they all make public policy choices† (Brunell, 2005). Nonetheless, there are significant variations between these two bodies. Generally, interest groups never directly support their own members to contest for public office, especially in a case where economic parameter is concerned. In most cases, interest groups never adopt overt party labels, which electors use to identify and express their political affiliations (Dulilio Wilson, 2011). However, some electors may link particular interest groups with specific parties in a general manner. For example, the Tea Party is often linked with the Republicans and the white conservatives. In the recent past, public interest groups that are ideologically driven have increased considerably (King, 2011). For instance, a there are some groups which have pushed the tax agenda in political circles. Another distinguishing factor is that interest groups have a limited focus, and they only handle specific issues of concern in the public policy. For example, â€Å"interest groups form around specific concerns like environment, free speech, tax reform, and labor standards† (Petracca, 1992). In contrast to this, political parties tend to focus on several issues. Moreover, political parties try to merge some of these facades under one â€Å"big umbrella†. In some circumstances, interest groups seriously struggle against political parties. For instance, some internal rivalries have been witnessed in key political parties that operate in Texas. When elections were conducted in 2000, several environmentalists who were members of the Texas Democratic Party massively supported Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate, since they felt that Al Gore was less committed toward environmental issues. They labeled him â€Å"not green enough†. On the other hand, some Republicans have tried to make the party conservative by working against some of their Republican colleagues. This indicates that the interest groups tend to favor parties and politicians that support their interests, and they ignore those who are less committed in helping them. Interest groups always aim at maximizing policies, while political parties are usually trying to obtain many Congress seats. These competing interests influence the manner political parties relate with the interest groups. According Thomas Brunell, â€Å"interest groups have a preference as which party controls a majority of seats in Congress, which leads them to direct â€Å"sincere† and electorally useful money to this party† (Hay, 2001) When interest groups offer funds to the â€Å"other† party, they always fund it in a manner that is less effective. Interest groups usually execute this goal by offering strategic funds to this party as follows: provide little financial support particularly to the popular candidates who do not necessarily have to be funded in order to succeed in the elections. They can also choose to fund incumbent candidates who already have political clout. Therefore, even if these groups offer funds to these parties, they always do it in a biased manner, and they favor only the parties that are likely to push forward their interests. These funds enable their preferred candidates to run their campaigns smoothly without experiencing financial hitches. Apart from offering finances, interest groups also provide key information that enables their favorite candidates to be more competitive than other contenders. They also sensitize their preferred candidates on issues that always influence election outcomes. All these services are organized by interest groups with an aim of fulfilling their common objective of influencing election results and policies. The fact that these institutions have a relationship is therefore undeniable. These groups often forge close ties and pursue similar objectives in order to enhance their political clout. Nonetheless, they remain independent, and their nature of operation and design also remain different. â€Å"The space for action, speech and flexibility that is maintained in politics makes them much more political than interest groups† (Grossman, 2002). How Interest Groups Try to Influence the President and the Congress? Although interest groups do not directly have elected members in political offices, they do aim at fixing their members into appointed positions. They normally do this to enable them perform their state functions through mechanisms that support the desired policies of the interests groups that facilitated their appointments. The fact that â€Å"groups† operate as political players has always been recognized and examined, even if not properly understood. The manipulation of legislative processes by groups is a question that has not yet been answered, and it is still being begged. Between the period of the 1970 and 1980s, some â€Å"explosions† were witnessed in Washington, and researchers have wanted to clearly understand them. As many groups emerged in Washington, many people joined them, and the groups increasingly funded parties. The citizens at the same time criticized the roles of interest groups and joined them in large numbers probably to suppress the powerful corporate groups. The role of groups in policy issues seemed to have taken a new dimension, and everyone was keen to see how it happened. Therefore, it can be argued that group manipulation of the Congress can be identified by simply examining the development of legislation that a group is favoring. For instance, a group’s ineffectiveness in legislative process can be measured through its failure to intercept unpopular bills. In general, â€Å"interest group activities predict, at least in part, how far bills will progress through the legislative process† (Brunell, 2005). The term influence as applied in this context is quite narrow from the perspective of interest groups, and it is broad from a congressional perspective. Interest groups perceive influence as a process that should produce good policies or prevent undesirable policies from being adopted. However, a group does not have to obtain policies from the Congress that directly indicate their actual desires; rather a group’s influence is seen when the Congress makes or discards a policy, which is in line with the interests of a group. From a congressional perspective, influence emerging from interest groups can come in several ways. Interest groups are often said to have manipulated the Congress when its members are compelled or encouraged to change the course or provisions of a given bill in order to meet the demands of the interest groups. This influence might come in the form of a change of wording, a passage from a subcommittee, and not passing from a standing committee† (Orman, 1988). In this process, interest groups may lead to the change of legislation, and the president may not have the capacity to reverse the whole process of legislation, even if he does not like the content of the bill. On the other hand, the president can also manipulate the Congress by working closely with the interest groups. As discussed above, the law making process can be indirectly manipulated through elections. For instance, an incumbent President may pass some bills in favor of some groups so that he may get some support from them during the next elections. Besides this, interest groups may support pliable candidates whom they can easily manipulate during the law making processes. This symbiotic relationship between the interest groups and the politicians to some extent affect the capacity of both the president and the Congress to formulate effective laws. Politics in America has become complicated to many politicians. This is because interest groups have managed to seriously entrench themselves in politics and much of their attention has been geared towards influencing the White House. â€Å"Since the American President has come to play an increasingly important role in the public policy process, interest groups and their lobbyists now descend on the presidency with the same vigor as they descend on the congress† (Orman, 1988). In this context, the president is faced with the challenge of fulfilling the needs of the ordinary citizens and the interest groups. Interest groups have faced much criticism especially when it comes to policy issues. Its critics contend that most of the policy issues dealt with by interests groups have no connection to the desires of the public. The leaders of these groups have also been blamed for being dishonest because they always fail to fulfill the demands of their members. The weaknesses of the interests groups have been seen as one of the factors interfering with democracy in the USA. It has also been noted with a lot of concern that some political candidates have been seriously intimidated by some interest groups, and this further affects the reputation of the interest groups. Conclusion  The above discussion indicates that the American government is guided various institutions, which work together with an aim of building a more democratic society. The interest groups have been instrumental in addressing the plight of the public by ensuring that policy issues are handled properly. The effectiveness of the government has also been enhanced by the numerous contending interests. The American government has been able to adopt better policies due to the serious competition that exists among various institutions. These groups have played a fundamental role of widening the democratic space in America. The American government has been influenced by several groups over the years to an extent that some individuals refer to it as â€Å"a world of interest groups†. The interest groups should, therefore remain committed towards enhancing democracy and good governance. And I think those groups have same mission, its to make the government do something right like that should be. for example, national education thinks that the system of lesson in ur country have to be changed because it is not effective, so the collect the data to support their argument, and send it to government, and hope it will influence the policy.

An Article, a Short Story, and a Poem :: Writing Literature Volcanoes Essays

An Article, a Short Story, and a Poem This paper will analyze and compare an article, a short story, and a poem according to; audience, purpose, context, ethics, and stance. The article â€Å"Under the Volcano† is written by Jack McClintock and is the most informative. The persuasion to have people move away from the danger area of Mt. Rainier is very subtle. The article lists volcanoes that have erupted and when they did so. Throughout the article there are pictures of volcanoes and the corresponding text shows what is being done to monitor them. The focus of the piece is the danger to Seattle and Tacoma posed by Mt. Rainier. There is an illustration of the danger zones of Mt. Rainier when it goes off and the towns that would be destroyed by it. The next piece is a short story called â€Å"A Very Warm Mountain† which is written by Ursula K. LeGuin. This story is a first-hand account of what Mt. St. Helens was like when it erupted. She also tells of news coverage and what she writes as well. She also writes people’s reactions as well as her viewing of the eruption like a giant pyrotechnics display. The third is a short poem entitled â€Å"Loo-Wit† and was written by Wendy Rose. This poem gives Mt. St. Helens a female persona and talks about it as if it were a living woman. It tells of how humanity ignored the warning â€Å"she† gave and the destruction that ensued. All three pieces deal with volcanoes and their impact on the existing environment as well as people’s reactions. All three pieces were similar in the intended audience and the author’s stance however, they were contrasting in purpose, context, and the author’s ethics. The purposes for these three pieces were radically different. In McClintock’s article the purpose is to inform people that there is a danger that can affect them. The most blatant way this is displayed is by the map that shows Mt. Rainier’s flow lines overrunning multiple cities including Seattle and Tacoma. The article also has a landscape picture of a big town with Mt. Rainier looming over it in the background. On the opposing page is a picture of Mt.

Stonehenge :: essays research papers

Stonehenge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the British Isles more than nine hundred stone rings exist. Most people prefer to call them rings rather than circles for the reason that only two percent of them are true circles. The other ninety eight percent of these structures are constructed in an elliptical shape. Stonehenge in itself is roughly circular. Most of these rings cannot be dated exactly, but it is known that they are from the Neolithic period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In southern England the Neolithic period begins around the time of the first farming communities in 4000 B.C. to the time of the development of bronze technology around 2000 B.C., by that time the construction of major monuments was mostly over. Because of the scarcity of the archaeological record at the stone rings, any attempts to explain the functions of the structures are guesses. Most attempts tend to reflect the cultural relatedness of their times. Most people believe that these rings were constructed by a group of people called Druids.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This idea of Stonehenge being constructed by Druids has become deeply implanted in the uneducated minds of popular culture from tie seventeenth century to the present. It is common knowledge that the druids had nothing to do with these rings. The Druids flourished after about 300 B.C., more than 1500 years after the last stone rings were constructed. Even more, there is no evidence that suggests that the Druids even used these stone rings for ritual purposes. Any Druidic connection with the stone rings is purely hypothetical.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, prehistorians attributed Stonehenge and other stone rings to Egyptian and Mycenean travelers who were thought to have infused Europe and Bronze age culture. With the development of carbon 14 dating methods, the infusion-diffusion of British Neolithic history was abandoned and the megalithic monuments of Britain were shown to predate those in most other countries. While the carbon 14 method provided approximate dates for the stone rings it was no use explaining their function. Research by scholars outside the discipline of archaeology suggested a use different to that of rituals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the 1950s and 1960s, the Oxford University engineer Alexander Thom and the astronomer Gerald Hawkins pioneered the new field of archaeoastronomy-the study of the astronomies of ancient civilizations. Conducting precise surveys at various stone rings and other megalithic structures, Thom and Hawkins discovered many significant astronomical alignments among the stones. This evidence suggested that the stone rings were used as astronomical observatories. Moreover, the archaeoastronomers revealed the extraordinary mathematical sophistication and engineering abilities that the native British developed before either Egyptian or Mesopotamian cultures.

Comparative

Though we are all equipped with the ability of loving someone, but the flow of love we let out is different from one to another. Besides, we can also clearly observe a world of different ways of love between couples, husbands and wives, or even mothers and children. For example, in the poem, â€Å"Leaving the Motel†, are two secret lovers sharing their love after an afternoon sexual encounter, while in † After Making Love We Hear Footsteps†, the presence of the couple's child perfect the family love. Thus, different poet will interpret the same topic distinctly.Reading through these two poems, the very first difference that I observe is the tone used in the poem. In â€Å"Leaving the Motel†, everything seems to go so fast, and the speaker keeps looking from here to there carefully and sprightly. Besides, the large uses of enjambment indicates that the actions shouldn't include any pauses and must be done all the way until everything is in the right position, such as the following lines quoted below, Check: is the second bed Unreeled, as agreed? Landlords have to think ahead In case of need, (lines 5-8)Beside the enjambments used in lines, find out that author ingeniously utilized the enjambment between paragraphs such as paragraph 5 to paragraph 6: We've paid. Still, should such things get lonely, An aspirin to preserve Our lilacs, the wayside flowers (lines 19-22) Leave in their vase And from above, it's dawn on me that though they eager to express the true feelings in their minds, they failed to do so. As the tone shift, the word â€Å"still† in line 19 and the truth that â€Å"A few more hours; / That's all† (lines 24-25) reveals nothing could actually last.This kind of erotic love contained not only worrying but also guilt, because the love can't be preserved as long as possible and can't be confirmed under the sun. This tone is much different with the other poem, â€Å"After Making Love We heard Footsteps†. At the beginning of the first stanza, For I can snore like a bullhorn or play loud music or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman (lines 1-3) these lines portray a lighthearted tone. Later author put down the sweet sex of the couple, describing the sounds of the progress in lines 6 and 7, â€Å"but let there e that heavy breathing / or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house†.In contrast with the brisk and short tone in â€Å"Leaving the Motel†, it is rather meticulous and enthusiastic. Likewise, the tones secretly shift as the third person shows up, the emergence of a little boy. At first, consider the image of boys insecurity in such a big house would be a bad interruption in a negative light, as the boy leaves a question, â€Å"Are you loving and snuggling? May join? † (line 16) But I am utterly wrong as the tone showing me the love the parents hold for their child.In second stanza, which I considered the most touching and convincing one, when spea ker said, â€Å"this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making (line 22) and this blessing love gives again into our arms. † (line 24), they pick up the meaning of sex and it is through the progress that their child came to the family. Hence, the word â€Å"love† in line 24 carries two meanings. One is sex of love and the other is the child of love. Except the tone and internal form, we may also find details about the poems.

National Stereotypes, essays

National Stereotypes, essays We know most foreign cultures, and much of our own culture, by reputation only. Actually, we have an "image" of the English, Scottish and Irish, Belgian, French or Spanish national character. Even though we personally may know a handful of people from those countries, we cannot evaluate how "typical" these persons are as representatives of their nation. But many people have no problems in recognizing certain temperamental attributes as being "typical" for certain nations: the Scottish reputation for stinginess, the Belgian reputation for stupidity, the Spanish reputation for pride are well known for us from jokes and stories which rely on a knowledge of those attributes. As a result we consider all the Scottish to be tight-fisted, the Belgian to be foolish etc. I judge most of the national stereotypes to be concocted. Once perceived reality is not reality itself, but is a mixture of fact and fiction, if not total fiction. On the other hand we cannot say that the English, Scottish and Irish, Belgian, French and Spanish are the same. There are some differences between nations and we could make some generalization, but I think we should be more accurate and take into account many facts. Most current thinking on national identities relies not on a first-hand observation of reality, but almost always on an existing reputation. I mean that somebody has mentioned about a proud Spaniard heshe met, the other has said that a lot of them are proud, the following concludes that pride is generalisation of Spanish nation. This idea goes from one to another through generations, though in reality it is just illusion and such representation shows nothing but somebodys desires to see the nation from his/her own point of view. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, depending on the political circumstances. Countries, which present a threat in political and economic rivalry, are usually described in negative terms. But countries, which do ...