Does the European Commission really have the power of policy Dissertation

Does the European Commission really have the power of policy initiation in the EU - Dissertation Example The paper describes the history of European Union and European Commission and its power. The European Union (EU) is an organizational body which is formed by the union of 27 member states and holds such power which might be even more than that held by some of the most eminent international organizations, namely the United Nations. It is an economic and political organization which is considered to be a lesser version of a federation and its member states are located within Europe. The operation of the EU is in the hands of a hybrid system which consists of the independent organizations, government organizations (namely European Council, European Parliament) as well as the member states. The EU is comprised of institutions which include the European Council, the Council of European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Central Bank. The European Commission is an executive body of the European Union which is responsible for various functions, some of which include proposing of legislation, implementation of decisions, upholding the Union’s treaties, etc. It is also involved in the general day-to-day working of the Union. The European Commission works in the form of a cabinet government where in each member state has an appointed Commissioner to represent their home state.

The Triangle Factory Fire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Triangle Factory Fire - Essay Example This paper explores the Triangle Factory Fire in the context of progressive era in three key dimensions: workplace safety before and after the fire, response to socioeconomic problems caused by rapid industrialization and the role of stakeholders in law implementation. During 1990s, corporations had no clear workplace safety laws that could direct their operations. After finishing a day’s work on the March 25, 1911, the workers at the company were caught unaware by fire that was fast engulfing the factory, which was occupying three floors at the pinnacle a 10-story building.1 The owners of the factory together with the office staff occupying the tenth floor, but for one, managed to escape to the adjacent building via the roof.2 Unfortunately, approximately 148 employees who were occupying the ninth and eighth floors were trapped in the burning building. Trapped in the sweatshop, the women tried in vain to force locked doors open while others threw themselves from windows. During the fire, onlookers and firefighters were taken aback to discover that there was no entrance to the building.3 The hoses length could only reach the sixth floor of the building. Other impromptu approaches to rescue the trapped workers yielded no fruit.4 Following th e tragedy, the owners of the company, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, were arraigned only to be acquitted after two hours. This verdict caused indignation among union organizers like the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (I.L.G.W.U.) representing the plight of female workers across the country. The union pushed for change and demanded the enactment of better safety laws. In order to respond effectively to emerging social and economic challenges resulting rapid industrialization, the progressive regime focused of reforms and law implementation to curb the problems and ensure better lives for Americans. The progressive era (1890-1920) was characterized with numerous swift responses to

Age and Gender Differences on Fear of Crime

Age and Gender Differences on Fear of Crime The current study aimed to investigate age and gender effects on fear of crime and their relationships with attitude towards prisoner and crime, life satisfaction, living arrangement and religion in a Chinese sample. 170 undergraduate and postgraduate students, with a mean age of 21.9 years, participated in this study. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on fear of crime. In general, women reported significantly greater fear of crime than men. A factor analysis was performed and two factors were extracted: fear of being cheated and fear of physical harm. An age-gender interaction effect was found after controlling the variable of attitude towards prisoner. Results indicated that older females had higher levels of fear of being cheated than males. Yet, gender and age differences in fear of fraud victimizations are a largely unexplored area. Additional research is needed to examine how womens fear of being cheated varies with age. Introduction Fear of crime has received considerable attention in the criminological studies. Over the last few decades, research has been carried out to explore how fear of crime is explained and handled by society. Information about fear of crime not only help us to understand and interpret what fear of crime meant for individuals and societies, but also facilitate government to develop active plans to tackle publics fear. Anxieties about crime may lead to behavioral adaptation, e.g. taking precautions against crime and avoiding certain places. Nonetheless, public anxieties about crime may also have negative consequences for the individual and for society. For example, they may exacerbate the impact of crime by damaging an individuals quality of life or may affect the community by deteriorating a shared sense of trust, cohesion, and social control (Jackson, 2006). The concept of fear of crime and its causation is widely examined in the criminological field, but there is a lack of agreement on the definition of fear of crime. Fear of crime may involve two different concepts: an evaluative component and an emotional component (Skogen, 1984). For instance, Hollway and Jefferson (1997) referred crime fear as irrational response in which the rational, calculating individuals who routinely miscalculate their true risk of crime; whereas Ferraro (1995) suggested that fear of crime is an emotional reaction of dread or anxiety to crime or symbols that a person associates with crime. Past research has identified a number of factors which appear to make a contribution to fear, such as age, gender, race, vulnerability, neighbourhood cohesion, personal knowledge of crime and victimization, confidence in police and criminal justice systems, perception of risk, and assessment of offence seriousness (Box, Hale and Andrews, 1988). However, the current study wil l focus mainly on age and gender effects on fear of crime. Gender and Age Effects It is well-documented that women are more fearful of becoming a victim of crime than men despite the fact that they are less often victimized by serious violent crime (Pain, 2001; Fetchenhauer and Buunk, 2005). Over the past decades, researchers have proposed different approaches to resolve the fear victimization paradox: (1) hidden victimization of women; (2) gender tendencies of women to recall victimization experience, and to generalize fear from one context to another; (3) vulnerability of women; and (4) male discount of fear. Most crime surveys have shown that the levels of violence against women (e.g. domestic violence) are far higher than men; therefore it has been argued that women are not irrationally fearful of crime. It is because women and elderly under-report their actual victimization, and thus they appear to be less victimized (Pain, 2001). However, some have suggested that women tend to generalize the actual experience of victimization across spatial contexts than men (Pain, 1995; Farraro, 1995). Warr (1984) found that fear of sexual assault operated as a master offense among women and their fear of sexual assault influenced fear of nonpersonal crimes, such as burglary. Yet, still others reported that males often discount their fear of crime (Smith and Torstensson, 1997). Previous literature has demonstrated that males are suppressed by the perception that it is not socially acceptable to express ones fear; and when men are being perfectly honest, they may actually be more afraid of crime than women (Sutton and Farrall, 2005). On the other hand, the vulnerability hypothesis suggested that women are physically weaker than men and therefore they are less able to defend themselves against (typically male) perpetrators. A considerable amount of studies have also shown that that gender difference in fear of crime often reflects gender difference in physical vulnerability (e.g. Smith and Torstensson, 1997). Apart from gender, age is another important factor that predicts fear of crime. However, the definition of elderly varies across different studies (Chadee and Ditton, 2003). For example, Sundeen and Mathieu (1976) defined elderly as 52 years or above, whereas Warr (1984) suggested 66 years and over. Yet the most common definition of old is aged 65 or above. Since there has been no agreement on the definition of what constitutes old, mixed results were found on age. Some researchers argued that older people report higher level of fear than young people (e.g. On and Kim, 2009). In contrast, others suggested that elderly people are less likely to be victimized and thus they have the lowest level of fear (e.g. LaGrange and Ferraro, 1989; Chadee and Ditton, 2003). On and Kim (2009) explained that older people (aged 65 and over) often experience a drop in social networks (e.g. withdrawal from work, loss of close family members, increasing physical and psychological fragility), and their so cial isolation or feeling of loneliness intensifies fear of crime. Recently, it has been proposed that the relationship between fear of crime and age is non-linear and varies with crime type (Moore and Shephred, 2007). Past research has shown two different inverted U-shaped patterns in fear of property loss and fear of personal harm. Fear of property crime peaked at some time during middle-age, whereas fear of personal harm decreased with age (Chadee and Ditton, 2003; Moore and Shepherd, 2007). The oldest age group (75 or above) exhibited the lowest levels of fear for both property crime and personal crime (Chadee and Ditton, 2003). Prior research has shown that gender and age often interact with one another in producing the fear of crime differences (Ortega and Myles, 1987; Haynie, 1998; Pain, 2001). Significant gender differences in fear are observed among younger people. Nonetheless, this gender-fear gap has narrowed as mens reported fear of crime has gradually increased over tim e while womens has remained stable (Haynie, 1998). Attitude towards prisoner and crime and life satisfaction Much research on fear of crime has been focused on the perceived risk of crime; little is known about how peoples attitude towards prisoners and quality of life link to their fear of crime. Informal social control, trust, and social cohesion are important factors that contributed to the feelings of security; hence, one might argue that fear of crime often reflects individuals life satisfaction and their perceptions of social control. Jackson (2006) puts forward the view that public attitudes toward crime raise fundamental sociological problems but with a twist: public perceptions of deviance, social order and social control (p.253) and he claimed that public perceptions of crime reveal how people conceive social order (including the norms, values, and morals that bind communities and constitute social glue) and what they see as hostile to that social (maybe specific groups or wider social changes regarding values and morals, ethnicity diversity, and transformations in the political a nd economic arenas) (p.261). Therefore, it has been suggested that high levels of community efficacy, social cohesion, and a tight social structure (with low levels of anonymity and distrust) might inhibit fear of crime (Farrall, Gray and Jackson, 2007). In the last decades, researchers have questioned the validity of previous studies on fear of crime. LaGrange and Ferraro (1989) criticized that the experimental designs of previous studies were problematic. First, it has been suggested that measures of crime risk are often mistaken for measures of crime fear. Second, several widely used crime survey do not measure fear of crime, in which implicit questions are used in crime survey to measure fear (e.g. how safe do you feel or would you feel being out alone in your neighborhood at night?) instead of explicit questions. Hence, LaGrange and Ferraro (1989) have developed an 11-itemed crime fear survey to overcome the above shortcomings. The current study aims to use LaGrange and Ferraro (1989) crime fear questionnaires to examine gender and age effects on fear of crime in a Chinese sample. Method Sample A total of 170 participants (77 males, 92 females and 1 without specifying gender) were recruited in this study. The sample consisted of both undergraduates and postgraduates. Participants aged from 18 to 48 year-old (M = 21.94; SD = 4.07). Descriptive statistics of the sample were presented in table 1.They joined this study on a voluntary basis. Instrument Attitudes towards Prisoners Scale (Melvin, Gramling, Gardner, 1985) This scale contains 36 items. Participants were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert Scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The scale had a satisfactory reliability level, with overall alpha = .91. Life Satisfaction Scale. Life Satisfaction Scale, a five-item-scale developed by Diener and his associates measured general satisfaction towards life (Diener et al., 1985; Larsen, Diener, Emmons, 1985; Pavot Diener, 1993). It was validated locally (Wang, Yuen, Slaney, 2009). Participants were asked to rate the items on a 7-point Likert Scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The overall alpha is satisfactory at .88. Fear of Crime Scale (Ferraro, 1996) The ten items of this scale were rated on a 10-point Likert scale, raning from 1 (not afraid at all ) to 10 (very afraid). Unlike the Attitude towards Prisoners Scale, the Fear of Crime Scale had not been validated locally, thus prior to any analysis, a set of validation procedures was performed. First, two items that could not match the current research purpose were removed: while the item being raped or sexually assaulted was removed due to its gender nonequivalence, the item having your car stolen was also removed because not many college students in Hong Kong owned their own cars. After removing the two items, the Kasier-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) and the Bartletts Test of Sphericity were performed to see if the originally factor structure could be employed in this study. The KMO value of the eight items was 0.80 and the Bartletts Test of Sphericity was significant (p Results Checking for Covariates Based on previous studies, life satisfaction, religion, and living arrangement are all possible covariates. In order to be classified as a covariate, these variables should correlate with a) any of the independent variables (age and gender) and b) any of the dependent variables (total fear of crime, fear of physical harm and fear of being cheated). Preliminary analyses indicated none of these variables satisfied the above conditions, so they would be excluded in subsequent analysis. Testing of Hypothesis Prior to analysis, all variables excluding gender were mean-centred. This was done to reduce any multicollinearity and to facilitate model estimation when main effects and interactive effects were both present (Aiken West, 1991). To compare the relative influences of age and gender on total fear of crime, fear of physical harm and fear of being cheated, three sets of hierarchical regression were performed. Attitude towards prisoners was first entered into the equation as a covariate, followed by age and gender; the Age X Gender interaction term was entered afterwards. Gender Difference in Fear of Crime: There was a main effect that gender had on all three types of crime fear, where female was always significantly more fearful than male (see Table 2). See table 3 for the mean and standard deviation of the three dependent variables in each gender group. Age Effect on Fear of Crime: While age positively correlated with fear of being cheated, no significant correlation was found between age and the other fear of crime constructs (see Table 4). Yet after controlling for attitude towards prisoner as the covariate, the predictive power of age on fear of being cheated disappeared (see Table 2). Age X Gender Interaction Effect on Fear of Crime: Significant Age X Gender interaction effects on total fear of crime and fear of being cheated were found. However, such interaction effect did not happen for fear of physical harm (see Table 2). To further investigate these significant interaction effects, two sets of hierarchical regression on total fear of crime and fear of being cheated were performed after splitting the sample into male and female subgroups. Attitude towards prisoners was first entered into the equation as a covariate, followed by age. After controlling for the covariate, age was no longer a predictor of total fear of crime for both gender groups. Yet for fear of being cheated, while it could be predicted by age for female (ÃŽÂ ² = .14, p Discussion The present study aimed to look at age and gender effects on fear of crime and their relationships with attitude towards prisoner and crime, life satisfaction, living arrangement and religion in a Chinese sample. In general, women reported higher average scores on fear than men among all aspects of crime, indicating that women were always more afraid of crime than men regardless of how fear of crime was measured. Women in our sample also reported that they were most afraid of being raped or sexually assaulted, followed by fear of being murder and fear of being attacked by someone with a weapon. This pattern of results were in line with previous findings that women were more fearful than men because they were particularly vulnerable to crime and were less able than men to defend themselves physically; therefore, women perceived themselves to be at greater risk of crimes than men (LaGrange and Ferraro, 1989; Smith and Torstensson, 1997). The results were also consistent with previous s tudies that fear of sexual assault operated as a master offense among women, which in turn heightened their fear of other victimizations, e.g. murder, attacks, or burglary (Ferraro, 1995). On the other hand, fear of being murder was most common among males, followed by fear of being attacked by someone with a weapon and fear of being raped or sexually assaulted. Interestingly, the current results replicated the findings of LaGrange and Ferraro (1989) in which men reported that they were afraid of being sexually assaulted (presumably by other men). In the second part of the study, a factor analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between gender and age of participants and their various crime perceptions. Results of the present study showed a gender effect on fear of crime, in which women had significantly higher score on total fear of crime, fear of being cheated and fear of physical harm than men. These findings were consistent with previous research in which females might have lower threshold for fear than males. An evolutionary approach has been put forward by researchers to explain this gender difference in fear of crime (e.g. Campbell, Muncer and Bibel, 2001; Fetchenhauer and Buunk, 2005; Sidebottom and Tilley, 2008). In a Dutch study, Fetchenhauer and Buunk (2005) showed that females were significantly more fearful than males when presented with scenarios (both criminal and non-criminal events) that resulted in physical injury, and they proposed that gender differences in fear of all kinds of events that inv olved physical injury may be the result of sexual selection that favoured risk-taking and status fights among males, and being cautious and protecting ones offspring among females (p.111). The current study also found a significant positive correlation between age and fear of being cheated, suggesting that older people were more afraid of being cheated than younger people. The result reflects the varying importance attached to material wealth with age: the costs of property loss might have greater impact on middle-aged group since they are more likely to have accumulated property and have dependent children compared to younger age group (Moore and Shepherd, 2007). Based on data derived from the 2001 British Crime Survey, Moore and Shepherd (2007) concluded that fear of property loss was greatest at around 40-60 years, peaked at around 45 years, whereas a lower level of fear was observed at about 16-25 years. Another possibility for the age differences in fear might be due to socialization. Past research has shown that socialization may increase the amount of contacts with others, and thus people who socialize more often may increase their likelihood of fraud victimizat ion (Van Wyk and Manson, 2001). In a recent study, Schoepfer and Piquero (2009) demonstrated that risky behaviour and age were important factors that predicted the likelihood of fraud victimization: individuals who were open to financial risk-taking and engaged in more risky behaviours were more likely to be a victim of fraud (e.g. free prize fraud, credit or bank account fraud and being billed for more than what the product is worth). It should also be noted that older people in our sample are postgraduate students who might have higher income and socialize more often and thus they have greater opportunities to be victimized than younger people. Results in this study also showed that the relationship between age and fear of being cheated was influenced by individuals attitude towards prisoner. Since not much research has been done on fear of being cheated, more studies are needed to look at the relationship between age and fear of deception. Nonetheless, no significant correlation was found between age and fear of physical harm, indicating that that age was not associated with levels of fear of being physical harm. Further analysis was performed in the next section to look at gender and age effects on various constructs of fear. Significant gender-age interaction effects were found on total fear of crime and fear of being cheated. After controlling the variable attitude towards prisoner, age was a significant predictor of fear of being cheated in females, but not in males. There was a positive correlation between age and fear of being cheated among females, suggesting that older females were more fearful of being victimized than males. This may be due in part to the fact that personal victimization can have more serious consequences for women than men. Past research has indicated that crime fear involve both emotional and evaluative components and it is shaped by the vividness of the image of crime and perceptions of the severity of the consequences of crimes, together with feelings of personal control and perceptions of victimization likelihood (Jackson, 2006). It has been found that some vict ims of fraud may experience more harmful long-term effects than those victimized by conventional crimes, and many of them continued to suffer from lasting problems with finances, self-esteem, embarrassment, and self-blaming even ten years after the incidents (Shover, Fox and Mills, 1994). Recently, Schoepfer and Piquero (2009, p.210) argued that some fraud victimizations have even been equated to those of rape since both crime are rarely reported by victims and both involved victim facilitation, and questions of guilt and responsibility are the burden of the victims; hence, this makes females more fearful of being cheated than males. However, the current results did not support some of the past findings on fear of fraud victimization. Mixed results were found in previous studies concerning gender difference on fear of property loss. For instance, LaGrange and Ferraro (1989) found no gender different on fear of being conned or swindled out of money and fear of being approach by a beg gar; whereas Moore and Shepherd (2007) showed that men were more fearful than women of property loss. One of the possibilities for the discrepancy in these findings might be due to the cultural difference in crime rates. Since fear of crime also reflects actual crime rate in society, results in the present study might also suggest that older women are more vulnerable to minor crimes, e.g. street or telephone deception, than men in the local area. Yet, no interaction effect on fear of physical harm was found in this study. Additional study might be needed to investigate how womens fear of being cheated varies with age. There are two possible limitations in the current study that should be taken into account. The first one relates to variables that were not included in the questionnaire, namely the mass media effect, crime prevalence and previous victimization experience. Due to the limitations of the standard questionnaire used in the present study, these factors were not included. It is well-established that the mass media plays an important role in shaping individuals attitude towards prisoner and the perception of crime and fear. According to the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF), people may attend to information about criminal activities from a series of amplified stations (e.g. mass media and interpersonal communication), and the risk signals may interact with a wide range of psychological, social and cultural processes in ways that intensity their actual risks (Kasperson et al. 2003). Researchers have demonstrated that tabloid readers who have an extensive level of crime media exp osure are about twice more likely to be worried than those who have limited exposure to crime source (Smolej and Kivivuori, 2006). Previous literature on media consumption and public attitude toward crime has also shown that offenders are often portrayed as different from the general population and viewed as psychopaths that prey on weak and vulnerable victims (Dowler, 2003). Recently, Reiner (2008) argued that crime stories often exaggerate the crime risks faced by higher-status people and always disproportionately representing women, children, or older people as victims, and this might heighten publics fear of crime. Over the past decade, researchers have attempted to integrate fear of crime into macro and micro levels of analysis (Ferraro, 1995; Jackson, 2004). At the macro-level, publics fear of crime is related to crime prevalence in society and local communities; whereas, at the micro-level, neighbourhood characteristics and personal characteristics (e.g. previous victimization experience, anxiety and everyday worry) may interact to produce differential perception of risk which, in turn, produces either fearful or adaptive reactions to crime (or both) (Farrall, Gray and Jackson, 2007). In future research it might be interesting to examine how these factors interact with age and gender to produce different levels of fear of being cheated. The second possible limitation is that the current findings could not be generalized into diverse cultures with different age groups. In this study, subjects were undergraduates or postgraduates recruited from a local university and they might have similar ag e, background, living situation, and ethnicity; therefore, their crime experience will be alike. In the future study, participants from various age groups and cultures are needed in order to generalize the results outside the Chinese society.

Comparing the Message of The Rhodera, Each and All, and Hamatreya :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Message of The Rhodera, Each and All, and Hamatreya We hear every day that we don’t appreciate nature and that we try and conquer it but I don’t think anyone actually thinks about what that means. These three combine to tell of nature and what Emerson appreciates about it. They also let nature have a "say" about what she thinks of humans. In "The Rhodora" a simple flower makes the speaker of the poem consider his own creation. He talks of the beauty of this flower and how it rivals the rose. As Sidney stated, "Emerson was really in touch with the beauty of nature." In other words, many people in their discussion focused on the fact that these poems brought to our attention the incredible beauty of nature that we often overlook. To me, it goes much farther. Finally he states, "in my simple ignorance, suppose The self-same Power that brought me there brought you." You can almost feel the light bulb go off over the speaker’s head when he realizes that he is a part of a larger creation. He isn’t separate from this flower; the same force brought both of them to this world. He states that he was ignorant. Most of us are ignorant of the fact that we are a part of a world that is made up of interlocking parts. We consider ourselves "the top of the food chain." (In reality if a lion got hungry enough he’d eat us too.) Plants thrive off of the carbon dioxide that we produce and we thrive off of the oxygen that they produce. Nature depends upon itself. We are part of that creation, not rulers over it. The speaker here finally realizes that both man and flower were put on this earth by the same force and we depend upon each other. Nature makes him reflect upon his own creation.(This is similar to the idea brought up in the web hypertext on Nature—"most people define nature as Not-human but we are natural beings." This poem is the realization of this statement.) In "Each and All" this idea is taken one step further. The speaker states, "Thy life to thy neighbor’s creed has lent. All are needed by each one." In other words, all parts of life depend upon other components of life. He also talks of how he removed things from nature and got them home and all of a sudden they don’t seem the way they were.

Pride and Prejudice: Mr Wickham Essay

In the novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’, written by Jane Austen, there are many different characters, each with their own roles to play in order for the story to reach its final product. Among these many characters is George Wickham. Though generally brushed off as a minor character, George Wickham plays a vital role in the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Through both his lies and his amatory adventures, Wickham is the source of both Elizabeth’s loathing and love for Mr Darcy. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth’s opinion of Mr Wickham changes dramatically. For the first half of the novel, Elizabeth adores Wickham and believes him to be the perfect gentleman. He achieves this high appraisal mainly through his false recount of his previous affairs with Mr Darcy, saying of Darcy â€Å"It is wonderful, for almost all his actions may be traced to pride; and pride has often been his best friend. It has connected him nearer with virtue than with any other feeling† (page 75). The false recount of Wickham’s affairs with Fitzwilliam Darcy confirms Elizabeth’s previous opinions of Darcy, which she presents through saying: ‘I have spent four days in the same house with him and I think him very disagreeable† (page 71). She is lead to believe that Darcy reserves only the slightest acknowledgement of anyone but his closest friends and family – the people of his class. Wickham however appears, to Elizabeth, to be quite the opposite of Darcy and she thinks of him that whatever he says is said well and whatever he does is done gracefully (page 77). The dramatic antitheses between each man’s personalities highlight the gentlemanlike poise of Wickham, making him the more attractive of the two. What then changes Elizabeth’s attractions to Mr Wickham, is the discovery of his previous amatory adventures. Wickham was involved in three amatory adventures, mentioned throughout the course of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The first of these escapades was his failed elopement with Georgiana Darcy. This played a vital role in Darcy’s opinion of Mr Wickham and eventually led to Elizabeth’s realisation of Wickham’s true character as well. Elizabeth’s opinion of Wickham’s past with Georgiana is apparent toward the end of the novel, when she says to Mr Darcy ‘†¦that I might have prevented it! I, who knew what he was’ (page 236) Wickham’s second adventure was very short lived and is often overlooked. It was his attempt at marrying Miss King who, according to Elizabeth, is a good sort of girl and the inheritor of her Grandfather’s fortune (page 134). This escapade is significant as it slightly shapes Elizabeth’s opinions and affections towards Mr Wickham. Where she once thought of him as a possible husband, after this escapade, she says to her aunt, ‘I am now convinced†¦ that I had never been in love’ (page 132) His final and most significant of his adventures was Wickham’s elopement with Lydia Bennet. This elopement is very significant as it shapes Elizabeth’s opinions of both Wickham and Darcy, greatly. Elizabeth was frightened when she heard of Wickham’s failed elopement with Georgiana and when he runs away with Lydia, her fright elevates to utter disgust and loathing. When, however, she finds out Darcy’s part in the whole affair, Austen hints of disappointment from Elizabeth, that she had treated him so impartially. Elizabeth is really made to think about these two men before her, each so different in both personality and in appearance and she begins to find it easier to see the good in Darcy and her affections toward him heighten. This is shown at the end of the novel when Elizabeth sees Darcy again and thinks to herself, ‘A man who has one been refused. How could I be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love? ’ (Page 290) It is not just the results of Wickham’s elopement with Lydia, however, that makes Elizabeth rethink her answer to Darcy’s previous sentiments. The extreme difference in character of the two men also highlights Darcy’s integrity. The extreme differences in Wickham’s and Darcy’s personalities are the source of Elizabeth’s feelings towards them both. At the start of the novel, Wickham’s natural manners and easy going nature highlight the pride and arrogance of Mr Darcy. Darcy tries to explain his awkward personality to Elizabeth, saying; ‘We neither of us perform to strangers’ (page 153). Elizabeth however is taken by Wickham’s cordiality and brushes Darcy off. Towards the end of the book however, events change and the two men swap personalities completely. Wickham’s evident greed and self-centredness is then highlighted by Darcy’s change in air. Austen highlights Darcy’s personality change through his conversations with the Gardiners. Mrs Gardiner says of Darcy; ‘But how come you told us he was so disagreeable†¦ he has not an ill-natured look. On the contrary, there is something pleasing about his mouth when he speaks’ (page 219). For a long time, Wickham’s pleasant nature caught Elizabeth up in prejudice and she avoided Darcy’s ill-natured countenance. Her prejudice however, dissipated when she saw both men’s true personalities and the dramatic difference between Darcy’s air made Elizabeth rethink her opinion of him and her affections towards him heightened greatly. It was because of Wickham that these changes in Darcy were so conspicuous. In conclusion, Wickham played a vital role in the relationship of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. At the start of the book, through his lies and manipulations, Wickham confirms Elizabeth’s loathing of Mr Darcy. By the end of the book however, Mr Wickham has unconsciously changed Elizabeth’s opinions of Mr Darcy through the results of his three amatory adventures and through the obvious change in Darcy’s countenance – highlighted by Wickham’s poor qualities.

Oxford Brookes University Bsc in Applied Accounting

I will use this report writing oopportunity to practice and practically implement my learning in evaluating business and financial performance of a business which spreads its activities from one continent to another. 1. 3 Reasons behind choosing X&Y For me and for my family’s clothing needs I found X&Y as a better place to buy as it sells better and fashionable cloths at lower price. But, this is not what attracted my attention. I got interested on X&Y because in this time of recession and money crisis while all high street giants struggling to survive I found X&Y continuing to open new stores in different locations in every few months.Not only that, Interbrand ranked in their latest 2009 report X&Y as the world’s 2X no. brand with 11% increasing brand value from last year to 15,375m USD. Last year X&Y was ranked number 2X. X&Y is in the top position as a high street apparel brand. It seems X&Y is becoming more popular hence mearns greater market. 1. 3. 1 X&Y history Pr esent is the result of history; I always enjoy it so decided to look back where everything really begun. A former Swedish salesman, named Exxx Pxxxx, discovered an amazing clothing retail concept during his trip to the United States.He noticed high turnover can be achieved by lowering the sales price. After came back home; in 1947, he opened a store exclusively for women’s clothing in Vxxx, Sxxx. He named the store ‘X’. Swedish for hxxx. In 1968 Exxx Pxxxx brought men’s concept in his retail store and changed its name to ‘X&Y’. He continued to add new concepts like clothing for children, young people, trendy people and sportive people. To stimulate growth in home and abroad, X&Y went public with a listing in Sxxxx Stock Exchange in 1974.X&Y started its business using concept ‘fashion at low price’ but later developed to ‘fashion and quality at best price’ The Pxxxx family still 4 holding the largest share of the compa ny stock, leaving control securely in the family's hands. 1. 3. 2 X;Y at present day ‘Before you can really start setting financial goals, you need to determine where you stand financially. ’ – Bach, David X;Y is a rapidly growing business. Every year it is expending its market, i. e. stores, steadily. According to X;Y annual report 2008; by the end of financial year 2008 X;Y Group had 1,738 stores globally.In the year 2008 X;Y opened 216 stores worldwide and entered in five new different markets (Japan, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia). In 2009 X;Y Group planning to open 225 new stores. Though X;Y mainly provide clothing at competitive price but they also have PST range which offers exclusive and expensive clothing collection. Around 73,000 employees helping X;Y to run and grow. Source: X;Y Group Annual Report 2008 1. 3. 3 Business to compare I was thinking around which organization I shall choose to compare.I browsed through websites of top clothing retai ler’s e. g. Primark, Gap, Topshop, and Zara. 5 Then I found Inditex Group (owner of Zara) as the most appropriate business for comparison with X;Y Group as, in terms of revenue, Inditex is the top largest clothing retailer in the Europe and X;Y is the second. Though clothing ranges of Inditex mainly includes high priced items unlike X;Y’s main ranges but both of them highly expended their operation beyond their originate country. Inditex have 4,430 stores in 73 countries while for X;Y the number is 1,738 in 34 countries.Inditex Group includes fashion brands Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterque. Zara is the most popular brand among others of Inditex Group. Interbrand, in their year 2009 report, ranked Zara in no. 50 according to brand value (6,789m USD) while X;Y ranked number 2X with 15,375m USD brand value. 1. 4 Aims and objectives The aim of this research and analysis project is to establish an evaluation of the business and fi nancial performance of X;Y Group based on financial reports, comments and projections made by board members and using the views of other stakeholders.My project will evaluate the financial performance of X;Y over financial year-ending 2006 to 2008 and assess its future prospect. Economic decisions taken by stakeholders are highly dependent on the financial performance of the relevant company. Now-a-days stakeholders are getting more and more interested on management’s performance and internal control. Management’s ability in taking effective long-term decisions is very important as taking efficient short-term decisions. Shareholders are concerned about short-term return e. g. ividend and share price but they are also very concerned about managements’ plan on future growth, expansion, roadmap on how to deal with expected or not-expected adverse conditions. I will use various rations e. g. profitability ratios, efficiency ratios, investment rations during my repor t writing process. In addition, I will do SWOT analysis, as it is a key 6 instrumental framework to assess the overall business position, to identify the strength, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for X;Y. 2. INFORMATION As this report is the first of its kind I am doing so I had to start from the very beginning.I had to understand what type of report I was going to do, what type of format I shall use, how can I gather information and how can I use those in writing this report and on above all of these where will I find relevant information. I discussed about the report writing techniques I shall use and information source I shall use with my senior and fellow sstudents who already wrote this type of report for their university degree. I attended an introductory meeting in †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ where Mr †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ pointed out possible sources of information.I browsed through websites of X;Y and Inditex. I downloaded and printed out the annual report of last three years. I also rea d through the Chairman’s report and CEO’s report to understand business and financial performance from their point of view. I also read through newspaper reports on X;Y and Inditex. I used Google search engine and Yahoo Finance to find out news related to these two businesses. 2. 1 Source of information I divided my source of information in two groups; primary source and secondary source.As far as this business and financial performance report concern I really not necessarily had to collect information through primary source. More importantly, the secondary source of information was so sthrong that it made using primary source insignificant. The main sources I used during preparation of this report are as follows: 7 Published financial statements of X;Y Group and Inditex Group (Year ending 2006, 2007, 2008) I found financial statements as the main source of information as this gives us the financial knowledge of the both companies and very relevant to my chosen topic a rea.But, more importantly financial statements are audited by independent auditors and provides high level of assurance and great deal of reliability. Chairman, CEO and Directors statements These statements gives information which highlights business performance, i. e. specific areas where the business done well or areas where business is finding difficulties. These statements also give future strategies and plans business willing to and going to adopt and implement. These statements also ensure stakeholders on business plan on how they will adopt or eliminate expected or unexpected risks.