Sample Reaction Paper: The Challenge That is USA Patriot Act

In light of the 9/11 attacks, the US government revamped its interest of expanding its power against terrorism. It was on October 26, 2001 – exactly 43 days after the terrorist attacks – when the Public Law 107-56 or commonly known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, or simply USA PATRIOT Act, took effect. As controversial as it is, the question now is: will the said Act protect the public or will it bring more harm than protection?

Our basic premise is that USA PATRIOT Act was designed with good intentions, however, due to ordinary human limitations, certain unintended consequences built into its design. The aim of this article is to highlight them and then outline the ways the Act can be improved by reducing if not eliminating these unintended consequences.

While the ‘War on Terror’ initiative is acceptable since the US government is seriously taking the appropriate measures to combat terrorism that threatens national sovereignty and civil liberties per se, there are inadvertent outcomes of the Act. Here’s a comprehensive list of the unintended consequences of the US PATRIOT Act. In general, the Act:

1) Jeopardized constitutional freedoms;

2) Endangered individual rights;

3) Blurred boundaries between domestic and non-domestic law enforcement agencies; and

4) Threatened the freedom of expression.

Specifically, the Act:

1) Alienated domestic Muslim citizens;

2) Reduced confidence in the ‘hawala’ system;

3) Led to unrestricted information sharing about non-US citizens’ identity;

4) Violated privacy of the people who come in close casual contact with a suspected person;

5) Detained suspected individuals and imprisoned them without legal protections;

6) Led to unprecedented examination of public records; and

7) Resulted in the issuance of search warrants surreptitiously and without probable cause which led to unreasonable searches and arrests.

On the other end, the possible remedies to the Act’s unyielding consequences may not be far. The following are recommendations on how these issues can be addressed.

First, there should be more congressional oversight. The Congress has a role in protecting national defense by actively shaping various policies. Thereby, the Congress can protect the people by passing public policies that focus on the people’s welfare. The role of the Congress, however, does not stop here. Instead, the Congress should have a deeper involvement in the delivery of these policies.

Second, there should be more freedom of information request. The Amnesty International, for instance, is keen in publicizing information while also mobilizing public opinion. Information is the lifeblood of the organization. If the information is withheld from public scrutiny, how can the public mold its opinion, and how can Amnesty International release the most crucial information relating to human right issues when its access to information is suspended. There is freedom of information legislation, which forms part of the transparency goal, in approximately 72 countries worldwide. How such legislation is being delivered for public utilization is another issue though.

Third, there should be public petitions and signature campaigns in areas people feel strongly. A petition is a direct, formal request to government officials to require action including amendment of a law or passing a new law depending on the public agenda at hand. A signature campaign, on the other hand, is a process of gathering a specified number of signatures for government official’s attention and then action. Either of the two processes, the goal is to get the message across that the public perceives something as unlawful, unfair, unreasonable or just plain illegal.

Finally, the web space can be utilized as a public bulletin board. The power of the bloggers cannot be underestimated. The most unpretentious bloggers blatantly criticize the government and its [lack of] action. The uncensored nature of blogging makes it an effective avenue to make the government officials know the pulse of the public.

Going back, the Act features sunset provisions which mean that some sections will automatically expire after the pre-determined date (December 31, 2005) unless new, additional legislations extend it. Provisions were, nonetheless, extended until March 10, 2006, and controversies were renewed especially that the Congress is debating whether to make the Act permanent or not. A congressional hearing was conducted on June 10, 2005, and eventually, a compromised bill was passed into law by March 9, 2006. PATRIOT Act II was born, but there remain questions about specific provisions especially those that affect the protection of civil liberties.

Sample International Economics Assignment: Colombia

The economy of Colombia

1) About Colombia

Colombia is a Latin American country. It is the 3rd most populous country in the region following Brazil and Mexico. Located in Northwest South America, it has 46, 366, 364 million population, based on 2012 estimates. Its people are called Colombian. The country is ethnically diverse though most of the people dwell on the Northern and the Western department. There are 4 cities that have a total population of 1 million and above and 61 cities with a total population of 100, 000 and above. In Eastern lowland departments, about 54% of these lowlands are meagerly populated. Colombia is considered the 27th largest country worldwide. Its capital is Bogota.

2) Colombia’s factor endowment

Colombia is unbelievably rich in natural resources hence its key factor endowment is land. The abundance of land leads to its key economic activity which is agriculture. Colombia boasts of growing wide varieties of crops. Although it depends on altitude, coffee is still considered as the major crop in the country. However, its prices in the international market are currently affecting the country’s economic health. Coffee is traditionally grown in elevations from 3, 000 to 6, 000 feet. At lower elevations, others are grown including cotton, banana, sugarcane, palm and tobacco. At the lowest elevations, potato, bean, grain, and flower. Colombia also grows temperate-zone fruits and vegetables.

3) Colombia’s GDP growth

Based on 2011 estimates, the GDP growth of the country in terms of purchasing power parity is $471.964 billion, and the GDP growth per capita is $10, 248. Further, the nominal GDP growth of the country is $328.422 billion and the per capita is $7, 131. In 2012, the GDP expands to 1.6% in the Q2 compared to Q1. In 10-year period, Colombia has shown a relative growth in its GDP. Historically, the average GDP growth is 1.08% between 2001 and 2012. It reached an all-time high in June 2002 when it reached 3.3%. However, this was a recovery from a record low of -1% in March of the same year.

Colombia is a middle power and its market economy is free. Major commercial investments are tied with the US. The transitioning from a deeply regulated economy is a challenge that the Colombian government faces for over 15 years now. From 2002 to 2007, Colombia experienced an average economic growth rate of more than 5%. This is mostly attributed to the increased security in domestic borders. This had resulted in better foreign investment and prudent monetary policy as well as export growth.

4) Colombia’s economic growth

Colombia achieved diversification at the latter part of the last century. Previously, growing and exporting coffee were considered as the major drivers of economic growth. By 1999, however, Colombia experienced 19.7% GDP from agriculture, 18.9% from manufacturing and 15.8% from banking and insurance industries. Other less significant industries were commerce and food service with 8.8%, mining with 4.2%, government services with 8.9%, construction with 3.4% and utility (electricity, gas and water) with 1.1%.

Based on the productive landscape of agriculture, it is declining over time in exchange of increase in other service industries like mining. The mining in industry is gradually growing in both output and export. However, this stagnates the manufacturing sector and employment is slowly diminishing as well.

5) Colombia’s import-export

Colombia is a major oil exporter. It exports oil to different countries, the US being the top destination. In 2011, Colombia exported about 422,000 bb/d of crude oil as well as refined products to the country. This was followed by China and Japan. On the other hand, Colombia imports different products from the US. From 2008 to 2010, the US was able to sell approximately $8 billion worth of farm goods to Colombia. Colombia is actually the largest market of US farm goods aside from Canada and Mexico. The major exports are corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton.

 

Sample College Exam: Human Resource Management – Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard Exam

(a) Briefly describe the framework and potential content of the Balanced Scorecard as promoted by Kaplan and Norton.

First detailed by Kaplan and Norton in 1996, the balanced scorecard evolved into a critical management tool. For the authors, other fundamental perspectives can balance the financial perspective of the company. These perspectives are relevant in becoming a strategy-focused company. Other than the financial perspective, the other perspectives include customer, internal businesses and learning and growth. With vision and strategy at the core of the balanced scorecard, there are other important elements for each perspective. These are the objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives, all of which must be inherent in the organization.

Some examples are as follows:

a) Customer

The objective should be 100% customer satisfaction. The measures should be the number of loyal customers and rate of repeat purchases. The target should be high-quality product and service provision. The initiatives must be a consumer reward system program

b) Financial

The objective should be revenue growth and profit increase. The measures should be DEA (or data envelopment analysis) efficiency scores relating to revenue and profit margin. The target should be high productivity rates among decision-making units. The initiatives must be an input and output analysis.

c) Internal business processes

The objective should be cost reduction. The measures should be the expense as a percentage of profit and cost as a percentage of revenue. The target should be cost reduction measures at the operational level. The initiatives must be the introduction of cost-cutting measures.

d) Learning and growth

The objective should be service innovation. The measures should be investment on upgrades and upskilling. The target should be a targeted investment strategy. The initiatives must be conducting a materiality analysis to determine which needs upgrades and who needs upskilling.

Personally, as the contemporary organization moves along with the changes in the global business environment, there other perspectives that the balanced scorecard should include. The first is the employee. Like customers, employees must be also treated as a separate entity in the balanced scorecard. The second is green practices. Green practices within the organization are increasingly becoming important in the overall management of a business. Employees and green practices have their economic value added, which means that the financial perspective is somewhat affected by these factors. The third is sustainability. Vision and strategy still hold their importance, but they should include sustainability at its core. The reason behind this is that all of these perspectives would be irrelevant if they are not sustainable or if they cannot contribute to the continued existence and survival of the organization.

(b) Evaluate the extent to which the Balanced Scorecard is:

(i) An improvement upon exclusive reliance on financial measures

Organizations do not exist in a vacuum hence profitability is no longer the sole basis of the survival of such though it is still very critical. As such, financial measures must be accompanied by other measures to make the performance more balance. For one, there are many qualitative elements directly and indirectly related to the operation, and these elements are definitely difficult to quantify. Some of these qualitative elements include the perceptions, beliefs and attitudes of the employees as well as the motivating factors driving the customers to make a purchase. Even the organizational culture and subcultures cannot be easily quantified. Also, there are inherent drawbacks to using financial measures alone including the indication of future performance. Financial measures can only analyze, estimate and predict.

This is where the role of balanced scorecard becomes even more significant today. Kaplan and Norton was able to combine financial with non-financial measures in measuring the current performance of the firm.

(ii) Suited to the ‘information age’

In an era where organizations are trying to be a knowledge organization, there is a need to look beyond the financial perspective that does not completely gauge the organization in creating value. Any value proposition of a firm encompasses customer relationship, human resource and innovative process. It is all that and more. Businesses today have value propositions that are always forward-looking. Competition is no longer measured on short term but rather on long term hence becoming sustainable is the goal.

Balanced scorecard is best suited for this information age since it captures all the elements and make these elements operational needed to compete with other firms. These elements include but are not limited to product customization, employee skills, information technology, innovative processes and many others. There should be strategies for these elements that the organization must create and put into action.

(iii) A contribution to strategic management accounting

Seemingly, all the strategies within an organization aim or are directed at improving the financial performance of the firm. This could be the reason why Kaplan and Norton puts emphasis on financial perspective since there are other perspectives that should be inexistence to balance the overall perspective of the company. When strategic management accounting enters the pictures, this is the focal point of the introduction of the balanced scorecard. The scorecard becomes the foundation, the catalyst and the facilitator of the strategic management accounting.

While it is not decisive of the firm’s future profitability, the balanced scorecard encourages continual financial improvement within the organization. The goal of strategic management accounting is sustaining the competitive edge of the business through financial performance. Such a performance flows from and consistent with the grand strategy of the firm. Taking into consideration the cause and effect, if the company wants to improve at something, other performance measures must be also improved, achieving the desired results in the process; results that mostly manifest through in the balance sheet as profit or revenue among others.

Sample Research Proposal: An Investigation on the Applicability of Focused Attention Meditation on Emotion Dysregulation (Depression or Anxiety)

Background

Medication basically refers to the practice wherein an individual trains his or her mind towards the realization of some benefits. It was argued, however, that meditation is in and of itself a goal since not all individuals can do it. Today, there are numerous sub-practices of meditation mostly targeted at promoting relaxation. Meditation induces a mode of consciousness, which is the same reason why some forms of meditation are clinically studied to know their value. Murphy et al. (1997) noted that there is a physiological change among yogis. There had been a reported change in brain waves while the yogis are meditating compared to those people who resort to ordinary forms of relaxation.

One of the most common styles of meditation is focused attention meditation. Lutz et al. (2008) said that focused attention meditation entails the voluntary focusing of attention on a particular object that is also chosen by the individual. The individual may also refocus when he or she becomes distracted by sensation or thought (Lee et al., 2012). Lutz et al. (2008) also said that highly experienced meditators may only need minimal effort in sustaining attentional focus and thus decrease stress in the process. Lutz et al. (2008) are among the studies that directly links focused attention meditation with reducing stress, highlighting the possibility of using such in dysregulating emotion including depression or anxiety.

The question now is: is it really possible to use focused attention meditation in dysregulation of depression or anxiety? Foster (2011) said that, with focused attention, any individual can be helped with concentrating and remaining calm even when negative emotional events are present. Depression and anxiety are two emotional disorders that are basically characterized by negative thought patterns. The problem is that there are no direct studies that link focused attention meditation with depression or anxiety, although there are a couple of studies that highlight the beneficial effects of meditation or meditative therapies in reducing depression or anxiety (Chen et al., 2012; Shapiro, 1992). Apart, there is a study about loving-kindness meditation that enhances recovery of people suffering from negative symptoms of schizophrenia (Johnson et al., 2009). Loving kindness meditation is the other meditation style apart from focused attention meditation.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of this study is: there is a high possibility that focused attention meditation can be applied to regulating depression or anxiety. Mak et al. (2009) said that dysregulation of emotion is fundamentally associated with the individual’s inability of modulating intense emotions that may eventually precipitate affected disorders. The authors also noted that emotion regulation involves inhibiting or modulating the primary emotion so that contextually appropriate emotions and behaviors can be produced. This is actually the core of focused attention meditation wherein Wallace (2006) claimed that focused attention is the basis for practicing mindfulness. That is, while there are emotional factors in depression or anxiety, there are also emotional factors in focused attention meditation.

Methodology

This study could be made more in-depth using an interpretative epistemology. Interpretivism is the necessary research philosophy for this study because it allows for searching of the details of the situation particularly those that are suffering from depression or anxiety. Through an interpretative epistemology, the working reality behind may be understood.

There are two reasons for situating myself in this type of philosophy. Firstly, the research questions that I want to answer fit the interpretivist philosophy. I want to gain first-hand knowledge about the clinical applicability of focused attention meditation on dysregulating emotional disorders like depression and anxiety, and the resulting data analysis is expected to shed new light on focused attention meditation as a new clinical intervention. Second, I am interested in qualitatively conducting my research because I want to place myself in the position of viewing the role of meditation in clinical treatments. If ever the study proves that focused attention meditation has a clinical applicability, the interventions for depression or anxiety will be widened. The interventions will not be purely reliable on methodical aspects. Structured observation will also be conducted, and an observation log will be prepared. Structured observation refers to the process of observing

Structured observation will be also conducted and an observation log will be prepared. Structured observation refers to the process of observing behavior rather than asking questions about it and recording the observations to an observation or through a checklist that is prepared beforehand. Observation refers to the technique which involves direct observation of the behavior with the purpose of describing it. Since it is ‘structured,’ the observer would not have to observe everything and try to not influence the environment which is being observed. The purpose of carrying out a structured observation is to determine whether the individual sufferer will respond to focused attention meditation positively or negatively. Discussion

Discussion

For this study, the particular cases that will be chosen will be less important than the insight it can provide into a specific issue which is the clinical applicability of focused attention meditation. The focus will be just on focused attention meditation’s clinical applicability. However, the case, although it is of secondary interest, plays a supportive role and facilitates the understanding of important concepts such as how the depression or anxiety sufferers may benefit from the use of focused attention meditation as a new clinical intervention (Denzin and Lincol, 2005).

Sample Book Report: “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20′

A book report on ‘What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course in Making Your Way in the World’ by Tina Seelig

This book covers not just creativity and risk-taking, but it also tackles passion, drive and learning. What I like about this book is the author’s generosity in sharing provocative yet inspiring thoughts mostly on personal as well as business ethics. Personally, I strongly believe that young entrepreneurs today lack in this fundamental aspect. This is a painful truth. However, this is something I know is processual, which means students, including me, can learn this gradually.

The book affects me strongly that I had to rethink my priorities. The author emphasizes the need to know your own priorities. However, it is not enough that you know them. Rather, you have to regularly change your priorities. I thought of having a regular priorities auditing so that I can align what I want to achieve and when I want them to be achieved and how I want them to be achieved. In this way, I can create an easy roadmap to my success. Indeed, just like what Seelig said, how can you miss a fabulous opportunity? And no, she is not talking about dress rehearsals. It is about doing your best and doing it now. You can be good; there is no doubt about it. However, you can be great always, and it is a decision, an opportunity.

It’s an otherwise quick-read, but the learnings will stay with you. Learnings that you may carry anywhere you go, may it be revisiting your past or planning for your future. I find the passages on the stories very appealing especially for students like me who are dreaming of owning a business someday that I can be truly proud of. Actually, I am planning to put up my own boutique hotel in not-so-distant future, perhaps after completing my Business Entrepreneurship degree.

Of all the things that the book has thought me, the most outstanding would be the fact that problems are opportunities, and that the bigger the problem is, the bigger the opportunity. The only limit to what you can do is actually your reticence. Aside, it is not enough that you have the drive or the passion. What’s more important is you have the passion/or drive and the know-how to actually profit from it. The cliché that ‘do what you love and money will follow’ is no longer applicable today. There should be other people who will find your passion for being a solution to their problems.

Inspired and moved is how I felt after reading the book. So, it will not be a surprise if I am going to recommend this book to my fellow students. I believe that every student studying business-related courses should read the book. More so, the insights shared by the author are not really taught in schools. For instance, when it comes to empowerment, you need not wait for others to empower you. You have the sole responsibility of empowering yourself. You create this for yourself and in the end you will reap the rewards for doing it.