Monday, September 30, 2019

Cadbury Dairy Essay

Cadbury Dairy milk is in the mature stage of the product life cycle, the reason being is that it is a well-established product since 1905. The maturity point is generally reached when about half the potential users have adopted the product. Since Cadbury Dairy Milk is Australia’s favourite chocolate, it is safe to say that there is already consumer trust and loyalty to the brand. However customers still need continued satisfaction and loyalty, built on lower cost, differentiation or customer service. Seeing that Cadbury chocolate is considered a common brand name in households all over Australia, there is nothing within the external environment that should be modified and it will remain in a strong steady position in the confectionery industry. Product: In order to continue generating sales, Cadbury took into consideration one of the threats that the confectionery industry is facing today. Consumers are becoming more health conscious; therefore Cadbury will support and promote physical activity by giving away mountain bikes to 100 lucky winners around Australia! The promotion will only feature in the Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate block range: including the Fruit and Nut, Hazelnut etc†¦ Featured on the wrapping will be, â€Å"WIN A MOUNTAIN BIKE† with a picture of the bike that will be won. Price: The pricing of Dairy Milk Chocolate will also maintain the same pricing strategies to remain competitive with its competitors Nestle and Mars. Place: The distribution of Cadbury Dairy Milk should be at its maximum capacity, remaining readily available in supermarkets, convenience stores, seven elevens and kiosks. Promotion: Cadbury should continue to generate promotions to remind and encourage consumers to purchase Dairy milk chocolate. In order to maintain the sales of Dairy Milk, sales promotion should be implemented to generate growth. This is done by creating advertisements on Television and in-store promotional posters to display the promotion that is running. The television and in-store promotion is to inform consumers of the promotion that is currently running. The sales promotion will be â€Å"WIN A MOUNTAIN BIKE† This promotion is for the Cadbury Dairy Milk block chocolate range. Every consumer that purchases a block range from Cadbury’s will have the opportunity to enter the competition by text via SMS a code that is given inside the wrapper. f. ) Marketing Action Plans: A key objective is to hold current customers and to maintain and increase the retail and brand market share to make sure that the Cadbury brand and products remain one of the top selling confectionery brands in Australia. Since Cadbury Dairy Milk is in the top five selling chocolates list, there will be no need for any tremendous change. A good way to promote The other Cadbury block chocolate range such as Fruit and nut and Hazelnut†¦etc will also have his competition. Price: Cadbury’s human resources department will need to find a place that will provide us with the mountain bikes. The costing of the bikes and the overall promotions will need to be considered, as Cadbury does not want to spend so much on promotions, when Cadbury Dairy Milk is not declining any time soon. Promotion: Pictures of this new competition will need to be put in magazines such as: Women’s day, News Idea, newspapers†¦. etc†¦designers will be needed to create the advertisements for this promotion. However, to promote Cadbury Dairy Milk’s new competition, television is the key to ensure that viewers all around Australia will know about the â€Å"WIN A MOUNTAIN BIKE† promotion. As television is the main and preferred type of advertising, it is certain that consumers will know about the competition faster. And in addition to that, the Cadbury chocolate commercials will still be showing, to heighten promotions. It is best to air the promotion on television between 4:00 pm – 9:00pm, since that is the time when consumers are most likely to be at home. Place: The exposure of Cadbury Dairy Milk promotion will need to be more publicized in convenience stores and kiosks in the form of a poster. g. ) Management of the marketing effort and the marketing function: In order to make sure that they marketing effort and function works accordingly a few steps have to be taken in regards to the management of the planning. The three step process that will have to be put in place will be based around †¢Marketing Implementation –The process of putting marketing strategies into action †¢Intended Strategy The strategy that the company decides on during the planning phase †¢Realized Strategy – The strategy that actually takes place Cadbury must be able to respond and adapt to its internal marketing department. Coordinating internal exchanges between the firm and its employees to achieve successful external exchanges between the firm and its customers is very important as it allows for a gauge or a measure to be received as a result of acceptance and understanding. In regards to the marketing activities it all starts within the Cadbury management team. The ability to motivate marketing personnel plays a large part in the initial process to get the promotional idea off the ground, once the team is able to have a grip of the idea that tackles the current health issue and that a bike will be awarded as a prize and health product then extreme communication within the marketing unit will be essential. Openness and responsiveness from other marketing departments will be just as important to make sure that the management and strategy travels across all channels. This will be indispensable to the organizing and coordinating of marketing activities which then lead to a schedule for implementation. The marketing control process consists of three steps; Establishment of control standards, Evaluation of actual performance relative to established standards and corrective action if necessary. A few key guidelines that will help Cadbury in controlling marketing activities: Within the Marketing Control Process †¢Establishing performance standards and trying to match actual performance to those standards Establishing Performance Standards Expected levels of performance †¢Taking Corrective Action oImprove actual performance oReduce or change the performance standards oDo both †¢Problems in Controlling Marketing Activities oLack of the information required to control activities oUncontrollable influence of market environment changes on marketing activities oTime lag that occurs between marketing campaigns and their results delays corrective actions A few problems can also occur in the controlling of marketing activities, however the ability to act on these problems will only make the campaign more successful and responsive.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Project Management Body of Knowledge Essay

The PMBOK is an IEEE standard pioneered by PMI that provides the essentials of project management to successfully complete the project. Out of the nine knowledge areas I think these three areas are the most important and if these are managed well the trade show would be very effective. 1. Project Time Management A project is considered winning only if it is delivered on time and in that case only, it earns proper attention in terms of business and visitors. A project needs to be divided into various small tasks and each task must be linked together using two strategies of logical relationship between the tasks and the estimated time. Furthermore the sequence of flow of the tasks defining dependency of tasks on each other is important in this regard. The priority of tasks must also be considered while time managing the project. Milestones must be set to follow the time management properly; these milestones may include the following:  · The start and finish of a project  · Completion of major deliverables  · Formal reviews  · Key events such as presentations If this area of PMBOK is missed then the project would not be delivered on time and would definitely lose its value and if it is still delivered the quality of the trade show would definitely have been deteriorated. 2. Project Human Resource Management To manage most projects, another most important area is human resource management. To organize a trade show a number of people having expertise in various areas are needed and effectively managing them so that maximum output form the employed people is taken is a key to a successful project. The frustrated project managers are usually found saying that they need more resources, but even with more resources the problem doesn’t get solved, adding more resources may even complicate the problem. The key to it is to systematically analyze the project human resource requirement, which in turn make possible effective project completion in a timely and neatly manner (Meredith & Mantel, 2008). Key practices to improve the human resource management are  · List the people with the tasks (in a Gantt chart)  · Find out If the same person is listed as the owner of the most of the tasks  · Find out if The same person is listed as owner of the same parallel tasks  · Find out if The any person has been barely listed  · Find out if The Many tasks are stacked up in parallel  · Find out if Those tasks which don’t have owners If the proper HRM is not a practice, Firstly Cost of project would be increased and secondly rift between the several members of the team may result leading to the total failure of the project. 3. Project Communications Management To organize an effective event the communication between the various members of the team need to have effective communication between them. Large projects such as tradeshow generate a large amount of communication. Proactively determining the mode of communication between the team members and how often would that communication takes place would be an important time saver, some teams agree to use email for formal and non urgent matters and voice mail/ phone call for urgent matters. Another way is to give responsibility to someone who would be responsible for communicating information to the senior managers. Trade show, like all other projects, needs to establish its own communication strategy depending upon the people involved and the cost (Kerzner, H. (2005). Ineffective communication would incur considerable increase in cost to the project and things would happen but in a haphazard manner with often conflicts occurring within the team and same tasks done repeatedly by several members resulting in wastage of time.

Friday, September 27, 2019

International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

International Business - Essay Example This essay describes these benefits and hindrances, referring to further case studies as justification for the arguments provided. The advantages of diversification There are many risks of servicing only a singular market with one product or service that has been attributed to placing all of a firm’s proverbial eggs in a single basket (Thompson, Strickland and Gamble 2013). Virtually every product or service offered by a corporation has an established life cycle, moving from a growth phase to an eventual decline along the life cycle model in which sales and demand begin to decline. The life cycle of the product is determined by a number of factors, including consumer behaviour changes, innovative product releases by competition that outperforms, competitive pricing instances that drive price-sensitive buyers to rival firms, or even new market entrants that increase choice and lower switching costs for consumers to defect to a rival brand. Whatever the case driving life cycle, corporations must be keenly and proactively aware of the ability of their singular product or service in sustaining long-run profit growth. Because of the risks of a stagnating local market, businesses achieve advantages by diversifying the business into a new international market. The most significant advantage is that diversification allows the business to spread risks (Thompson et al. 2013). Risk occurs through a variety of drivers, both internally-related and externally-driven. For a business operating in a single market with a lone product, any changes to demand can impact revenue growth and even complicate many of the value chain elements that support business, including human resources, supply chain and procurement, as... As illustrated by the essay, there are many risks of servicing only a singular market with one product or service that has been attributed to placing all of a firm’s proverbial eggs in a single basket. Virtually every product or service offered by a corporation has an established life cycle, moving from a growth phase to an eventual decline along the life cycle model in which sales and demand begin to decline. The life cycle of the product is determined by a number of factors, including consumer behaviour changes, innovative product releases by competition that outperforms, competitive pricing instances that drive price-sensitive buyers to rival firms, or even new market entrants that increase choice and lower switching costs for consumers to defect to a rival brand. This paper makes a conclusion that there are actually more advantages than disadvantages in selecting a diversification strategy. Revenue increases, better cash flow position, and cost reduction in a variety of support divisions along the value chain are the most prominent of these advantages. Inclusive in advantages are better scope of control, more efficient and cost-acknowledging logistics opportunities, and even currency valuation in favour of the diversified corporation. The described disadvantages of unsubstantial cross-cultural knowledge of the foreign market, high control and power of buying markets, and disruptive innovation threats would tend to offset advantages when these situations occur in the new international market. Despite the disadvantages, the long-run benefits of diversification supersede the potential hindrances of seeking this strategy for growth.

Health Care Management and Obama health care reform Essay

Health Care Management and Obama health care reform - Essay Example Health insurance and public health have been in the front line in this kind of debates as well as to what extent should the state offer assistance. Provision of healthcare is a task that encompasses provision of various healthcare services, relevant equipments to hospitals, pharmaceutical products, life sciences funding and funding in biotechnology (Reid 2009). The activities that relate to healthcare and the centers where this is carried out include hospitals, nursing and elderly homes, those involved in provision of healthcare plans, provision of laboratory services, drug manufacturing and delivery, diagnostic substances and biotechnology itself. Therefore, this is a line that requires care to handle in the case of governments as it is a resource intensive sector. This also shows how the introduction as well as implementation of reforms can be quite a task as the stakeholders involved are many resulting to many and divergent views (McGreal 2010). This is what characterized the heal thcare reforms bill that Obama administration brought forth. The above is not a case whose debate came with the Obama administration but rather has been with the American administrations for years now (The Economist 2008). It is on record that the issue and debates on healthcare management and reform begun well at the onset of the twentieth century and to date is an issue still attractive much public debate. It is therefore important before analyzing the current Obama administration’s reforms to look into the past in order to see why this issue has not faded away for all these years. The first recorded debate on healthcare and social welfare intervention by the US dates back in the 1854 where there was a proposed bill that aimed at cautioning the physically challenged and offering them asylums. The bill was quite popular in those day’s standards and had even passed in congress until the president vetoed it. It was rejected by President Pierce on the grounds that it was not

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Health care law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health care law - Essay Example This person has no relation to the patient but has been appointed to make health care decisions for him. These laws need to involve another party in such vital decisions, which are put in the hands of only one person (Sabatino, 2010). The surrogate can consent to the health care treatment of a patient even without a court decision. He can also provide consent to the health care provider, should any other procedure have to be performed on the patient. These people need careful consideration before making such important decisions concerning human being (Sabatino, 2010). It is important to consider the implications of leaving such a huge responsibility on one person only. The laws need modification to ensure that such decision-making procedures are handled with care, and the patient gets treatment. It would be reckless to place the whole responsibility of making decisions concerning anther human being solely on one person. The Health Care Surrogate Law requires thorough revision so that it will become more effective and professional. This will be of benefit to all the people concerned. An example of a lawsuit would be a case against a hospital for mismanagement of a critically ill patient and gross carelessness in administering healthcare services. Such a case would be classified as medical malpractice. Such scenario would touch on principles like informed consent. Principles related to the standard of care, causation, and fiduciary law in the physician-patient relationship (Mascarenhas, Kesavan, & Bernacchi, 2013). The argument grounds on the fact that the health care provider breached the principles of standard care and failed to give quality treatment to a patient who suffered because of the negligence of the medical institution. The patient required special attention with a regular observation from qualified medical professionals. Lack of this quality attention led to the general deterioration of his

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Evaluation of an international business organisation Essay

Evaluation of an international business organisation - Essay Example Fairness, honesty, and thinking on long terms are the fundamentals of the Nestle Company. The Research & Development of the company is the largest of any other food company in the world (Nestle is, 2012). The foods and beverages products of the company include almost every product needed by consumers providing them with the essence of both taste and health. These include products of baby foods, bottled water, cereals, chocolates, confectionaries, coffee, culinary, dairy, drinks, healthcare nutrition, as well as pet care and other products of foods (Our Brands, 2012). The company had started its operations in Swiss but has now spread to almost every country in the world that reflects its global presence (Global Presence, 2012). This particular study focuses on the learning of the company’s key resources and capabilities, the core competencies of the company that lead to competitive advantages, as well as the changes in the external environment of the company that might affect the company’s competencies. Nestle’s key resources have been obtained to be its Research & Development, the Human Resources and the Working Team at the company. The company has facilities for research, development and technology in around 29 countries in the world, making its R&D the largest among any other food company across the world. All the resources of R&D are brought together by the company thus being capable of providing its consumers with food solutions that are safe and reflect quality. The products are quickly and efficiently launched in the market with accordance to all regulatory measures that are necessary (Our Vision, 2012). The human resources team working in the company represents a complete business team focused on the strategic measures of the company and the successful implementation of them by the employees and every department associated with the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES - Essay Example Expatriation of employees is very expensive due to higher salary requirements and added cost for air-fares, accommodation, allowances, and school fees. However, it is more costly if an expatriation project failed to meet the organizational goal. Since it is very costly on the part of the mother company to financially support the transfer of employees to a foreign country, a lot of HR managers are continuously searching for new ways on how they can cut down the high cost of expatriation by reducing the risk of expatriation failure. Q.2 Which three module topics do you intend to address within your answer to Assignment 2, and why have you chosen these? NB AT LEAST ONE TOPIC MUST BE FROM WEEK 6 OR LATER IN THE SCHEDULE. Aiming to determine how to lower down the cost of expatriation, topics that will be covered for assignment two includes: (1) selection considerations (i.e. financial costs, psychological costs, and ex-pat community); (2) importance of cross-cultural awareness; and (3) im portance of intercultural communication. Examining the list of selection considerations is one way to lower down the initial cost of expatriates. By learning more about the family background, educational attainment, and employee’s acceptance of work flexibility, HR management could narrow down the chances of expatriation failure. Cross-cultural awareness and the ability of expats to communicate with foreigners contribute to the success of expatriation. Therefore, these issues need to be explored in order to increase the chances of a successful expatriation. Q.3 Which academic journal articles will you examine, and why have you chosen these? To address the proposed research topic, journals that discuss the cost of expatriation including the importance of cross-cultural awareness and communication in foreign countries will be examined. Journals Reason for Journal Selection Anderson (2001) This article discussed the importance of the ability of the expatriates to adjust to the l ife and culture of a foreign country in order to increase the success rate of expatriate assignments. It also examined the difference between sending out male and female employees for expatriation assignments. Caligiuri (2000) To increase the success rate of expatriation selection process, the author examined the impact of employee’s personality on cross-cultural adjustment. Kraimer, Wayne and Jaworski (2001) Tackled the importance of top management support in increasing the success rate of expatriation projects. Toh and Denisi (2005) Identified factors that will increase expatriation’s success rate. Grainger and Nankervis (2001) Discussed new HR approaches for expatriation (i.e. flexible payments based on employees’ skills and competencies; recruitment and selection process; etc.) Harvey (1996) Talked about expatriation dilemma related to the implicit costs when an expat manager returns to domestic market, direct cost of training, relocation, and other compensa tion. It also discussed the importance of training, effective selection criteria and compensation programs, and the significance of employees’ spouses and children to the success rate of expatriation projects. Linehan and Walsh (2000) Discussed the importance of a sound family relationship with the work performance of employees. Sinangil and Ones (2003) Discussed the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Job Analysis Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Job Analysis Master - Essay Example It is stated, that job analysis is 'a process used to identify the important tasks of a job and the essential competencies an individual should possess to satisfactorily perform the job'. (Clifford, 1994) The purposes of job analysis are multiple, as well as there are multiple methods for conducting it. The aim of the work is to distinguish the main strengths and weaknesses of the job analysis methods existing at present, with trying to identify the most effective among them, if it appears to be possible; it is also necessary to try defining, which methods are mostly applicable in various instances, and should there be made any amendments to the job analysis methods, which are not most often used. The reasons for conducting the present research are the following: 2. It is not yet understood, whether there is the need for the creation of any new methods, with the aim of which it is necessary first to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing methods. The arguments to follow in the work will be based first of all, on the literary sources used in the present work, which are four and are represented by the peer reviewed journal articles and books on the topic. The arguments will also be based on the discussion of the existing advantages and disadvantages of the methods. The main aims of the answer are to be specified as follows: The conclusion to be reached will be based on the set aims, a... 2. It will be conclude which of the job analysis methods at present appear to be the most effective and display minimum disadvantages; 3. It will be necessary to conclude, whether the already described in literature job analysis methods need more extensive learning; 4. It will be necessary to conclude, whether there is need in creating any new job analysis methods. The conclusion to be reached will be based on the set aims, and will include the answers on the abovementioned questions. I guess, it will be beneficial to make the core of the conclusion related to the most effective job analysis methods among the already described. Analysis Identification and coverage of the main issues The rationale for the job analysis in general lies in the aim of protecting the public 'by assuring that individuals, who work in an occupation or profession are at least minimally competent'. (Gael, 1993) Thus, one of the key issues in discussing job analysis methods is in identifying, which of them appears to be more effective, and is thus the most reliable for ensuring this individual safety mentioned. Another key issue, is that despite the extensive literature sources on the topic, the importance of researching job analysis methods with distinguishing their strengths and weaknesses is not given due importance, and thus this work will be an additional attempt to provide the employer with the analysis of the key methods, making him understand the essential role which job analysis methods play in hiring qualified workers. The main methods of job analysis can be identified as follows: 1. Observation. Levin and Ash (1999) state, that the core issue of any observation in relation to job analysis is

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Jerusalem Art Essay Example for Free

Jerusalem Art Essay Art involving Jerusalem is very controversial. One has to place into context the fact that Jerusalem is a significant city for three major religions—Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Having one city be so significant leads to both the creation of conflict and beauty. There is conflict in the sense of war and destruction, and beauty in the sense of art on the subject. The three pieces of art this writer selected were all twentieth century pieces, but all show significant scenes, buildings or represent significant Psalms in the life of Jerusalem. Because of Jerusalem’s historical significance, this writer has chosen a piece of Islamic art that depicts the old city of Jerusalem, a piece of Jewish art that represents the Psalms, and a piece of Christian art that depicts the triumphal entry and some of the significant events of Holy Week, which is the final week of Christ’s life. The first piece of art is an Arab work that shows the old city of Jerusalem. In the painting, one sees a blue-gray sky that overlooks a sandstone colored city. There is a partial wall surrounding the city, and there appears to be two large prayer towers in the background. There are also some people, men, in the picture, looking towards the city and in a couple of cases walking towards that spiritual city. The city appears to be old, but not ancient, which means this is probably dated somewhere around the Crusades. Though this is a contemporary piece, the artist has chosen to depict Jerusalem at its height in Muslim hands. This painting probably represents Jerusalem during the Crusades. This piece would be very inspiring to Muslims, as it shows the city as theirs. It also gives them an image to look to when contemplating their own religious heritage. This brings us to the point of religious iconography and the Islamic faith. Religious iconography does not play as significant a role in Muslim religious life than in other religions. This is due in part to their trepidation about displaying the human form in a religious setting. This writer feels that this piece could be taken a number of different ways depending on the perspective, whether Muslim, Christian, or Jew. For Muslims if would take them back to a time of Muslim supremacy, when they â€Å"owned† one of the most important cities in their religion. Jerusalem is a significant city for the Muslims. According to various scholars, Jerusalem is significant because it is believed it is the city from which Muhammad rose to heaven. It is also significant because some of Islam’s most significant prophets (Abraham and Jesus) preached and taught. It is also a place to which Muhammad made an historic night pilgrimage. For Christians and Jews, it would be a solemn reminder that there was a time when Christians and Jews lost their most holy city to a people they deemed â€Å"infidels†. It would bring about a profound sense of sadness and loss and might inspire a fighting spirit in Jews and Christians to reclaim their city. Over the years, the passions the Muslims have over Jerusalem have become inflamed to the point of outright violence. The attitudes have only gotten more intense and more inflexible towards the Holy City. This writer feels that the times have only served to strengthen the resolve of Muslims to reclaim the city that they perceive as theirs. Emotionally, the tensions in the region have made Muslims even more determined to control the city completely. As significant as Jerusalem is to Muslims, it also has a supreme significance to Jews. Jews actually fee as if the city belongs to them and was bequeathed to them by God thousands of years ago. It is so significant that dozens of Psalms were written about the city. One of the Psalms is 125, which says in part, â€Å"[a]s the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever (verse 2). † In this painting by Irv Davis, one sees an encapsulated city of Jerusalem surrounded by grey mountains. The city is cream, almost white, and it is implied that the city is made of marble. The sky is blue and the sun is shining, adding to the shine on the city. One can imply that the encapsulation is the spirit of God surrounding the city and protecting it from outsiders and enemies. The contrasts are very sharp, the darkness of the mountains are contrasted with the whiteness and purity of the city. This obviously represents a very young Jerusalem. This also represents a time when the Jews were extremely fervent about their faith and wished to follow the Lord and seek his will. This picture represents a Jerusalem on the rise. It is also a bit on the allegorical side, with the young city representing a young faith. The newness of the city represents the fervency of the believers. They wish to follow the Lord and, as with anything new, the new city represents a new faith. This piece of art could be taken by the three groups in different ways. For Jews, it represents a time in their history when they had a true passion for God and would write songs of praise to the Lord using their most holy city as an inspiration. For Muslims, it would be a dour reminder that a region and city of the world they felt they originally owned had been forcibly removed from their possession and would remain in control of another group for several thousand years. They would also bemoan the fact that a new faith system would be replacing the polytheism that had dominated the region in the years prior to the Jewish takeover. Jews view the city of Jerusalem with as many passions and emotions as the Muslims. They see it as one of the most significant cities of their faith, and as such, wish to reclaim it as a purely Judeo-Christian city. The emotions of the Jews towards the city have always been strong, but over time, have waxed and waned, leading to the times that we have now where the Jews are fighting as passionately for the city as their Muslim counterparts. Both groups have legitimate religious and traditional claims to the city, yet either refuses to give in and relent towards their passions for the city. They each want the city, and are willing to do just about anything to get and maintain control over it. Christians have a whole other unique perspective on the city of Jerusalem. Before we can discuss the artistic expression of the selected artwork, it bears discussing the cultural ties that bind Christians to the city of Jerusalem. Christians view the city as very important because not only did Jesus make his triumphal entry into the city during Holy Week, but also taught in the region. Additionally, the apostles taught in the region and it was from the city of Jerusalem that Christianity was established in the form of Christ’s death and resurrection. The piece of art that was selected was some hand painted tiles from Jerusalem that show scenes from the triumphal entry and major scenes from Holy Week. The tiles are well-painted and detailed. Though they are also twentieth century, the story they tell condenses the entire story of Christianity in four small tiles. They are done in yellows, blues, white, black, and red. These tiles show an older, wiser Jerusalem. There is an overall sadness to the scenes, when one places the tiles in the context of the Bible, one can find that there is indeed a sadness, but at the same time a joy in the scene being depicted. It is ironic that death represents life and birth, but that is indeed what this scene and this depiction of Jerusalem shows. For Christians, Jerusalem represents the birth of their religion and the new life that is promised from the rising from the dead of Christ. Though there may be other cities that are significant in Christendom, for Christians, the events that transpired the week of Holy Week in Jerusalem are what assured the promises made in all the other cities. This piece of art could be taken by the three religions in different ways. For Christians, obviously, there is an association with the outright birth of the religion. The death that occurred outside Jerusalem represented the birth of a whole new belief system. For Jews, while the beliefs of Christian might be unusual, would see Christians as having as legitimate a claim to the city as they do, since they feel that the two groups worship the same God. For Muslims, the scenes simply show significant scenes in the life of a major prophet of their faith. They may view the Christian’s claims towards the city as interesting, but not as significant nor as important as their own claim towards the city. Christian attitudes towards the city have always been passionate, and they actually fought seven crusades that were specifically designed to take back the city from the Muslims. While they were not successful for long in keeping the Muslims out, they were able to develop a life of â€Å"peaceful coexistence† with the Muslims. Christians traditionally have supported the Jewish claim towards the city, as evidenced in the fact that we actively support the mission of Israel today. Christian passions have always been high for the city, but they have cooled over time, and we no longer actively seek to crusade against those we perceive as infidels. Christians now instead seek peaceful coexistence with other groups, but especially the Muslims. Christians are a pragmatic people that see the realities of the situation and only seek to have the best possible outcomes for all the parties. As one can see from the above statements, Jerusalem holds a special place in the hearts of all three religions. While it has inflamed passions, it has also inspired Psalmists and believers for centuries. We should seek understanding of the situations that create the passions and instead of seeming to remain in a state of constant conflict. We should view Jerusalem as a source of inspiration and not as a source of contention. The world’s three largest religions each have legitimate claims to the city and each needs to give up something in order to get access to the one city that they all deem to be the most important in their religion. The city is a true test of negotiation and faith, and as such should remain a source of inspiration. Bibliography about. com, Painting of Jerusalem Psalms. Judaism. 2000. 19 Apr 2009 http://www. judaism. about. com/library/2_artlit/bl_artpsalms_ff. htm. (picture URL) about. com, Painting of Jerusalem Psalms. Judaism. 2000. 26 Apr 2009 http://www. judaism. about. com/library/2_artlit/bl_artpsalms_f. htm. Arab Art Gallery. Arab Art Gallery. 2004. 19 Apr 2009 http://arabartgallery. com/qud115. htm. Easter Gift-Holy Easter Week. Jerusalem Pottery. 2009. 19 Apr 2009 http://www. jerusalempottery. biz/products/Tiles/christian/easter_gift. htm. Importance of Jerusalem in Judaism and Israeli History. 2005. zionism-israel. com. 23 Apr 2009 http://www. zionism-israel. com/his/Jerusalem_history. htm. Memorandum of their Beatitudes the Patriarchs and of the Heads of the Christian Communities in Jerusalem on the Significance of Jerusalem for Christians. al-bushra. org. 14, Nov 1994. 23 Apr 2009 http://www. al-bushra. org/hedchrch/memorandum. htm. Procon. org, What is the Significance of Jerusalem for Muslims. 21 May 2008. procon. org. 26 Apr 2009 http://www. israelipalestinian. procon. org/viewanswers. asp? questionID=521.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Shifting Trends in Special Education Essay Example for Free

Shifting Trends in Special Education Essay The Thomas B. Fordham Institute. is. the. nations. leader. in. advancing. educational. excellence. for. every. child. through. quality. research,. analysis,. and. commentary,. as. well. as. on-the-ground. action. and. advocacy. in. Ohio.. It. is. affiliated. with. the. Thomas.. B.. Fordham. Foundation,. and. this. publication. is. a.. joint. project. of. the. Foundation. and. the. Institute For. further. information,. please. visit. our. website. at. www. edexcellence. net. or. write. to. the. Institute. at.. 1016. 16th. St.. NW,. 8th. Floor,. Washington,. D. C.. 20036 The. Institute. is. neither. connected. with. nor..sponsored. by. Fordham. University. A. big. thank. you. goes. out. to. the. whole. Fordham. team. for. their. assistance. on. this. project,. especially. Michael. Petrilli. and. Chester. E.. Finn,. Jr.. for. their. project. guidance. and. astute. feedback,. to. Daniela. Fairchild. for. production. management,. to.  ©istockphoto. com/ AnithaCumming. for. the. snappy. cover. image,. and.. to. Amy. Fagan. for. dissemination.. The. smart. layout. design. is. the. work. of. Alton. Creative. and. the.. â€Å"Ed. Shorts†. logo. of. Laura. Elizabeth. Pohl. Conclusion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Appendix A.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Figure. A1:. Proportion. of. the. National. Student.. Population. with. Disabilities,. 1976-77. to. 2009-10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Table. A1:. National. Number. of. Students.. with. Disabilities. by. Category,. 2000-01. to. 2009-10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Table. A2:. Students. with. Disabilities. by. State,.. 2000-01. to. 2009-10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18. Appendix B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Federal. Disability. Definitions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Endnotes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21. SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION EXECUTIVE SUMM ARY Executive Summary Special. education. is. a. field. in. flux.. After. decades. of. steady. increases,. the. population. of. students. with. disabilities. peaked. in. 2004-05. with. 6. 72. million. youngsters,. comprising. 13. 8. percent. of. the. nation’s. student. population.. The. following. year. marked. the. first. time. since. the. enactment. of. the. Individuals. with. Disabilities. Education. Act. (IDEA). that. special-education. participation. numbers. declined—and. they. have. continued. to. do. so,. falling. to. 6. 48. million. students. by. 2009-10,. or. 13. 1. percent. of. all. students. nationwide. This. report. examines. trends. in. the. number. of. special-education. students. and. personnel. at. both. the. national. and. state. levels. from. 2000-01. to. 2009-10.. It. finds. that. the. overall. population. of. special-education. students,. after. decades. of. increases,. peaked. in. the.2004-05. school. year. and. has. declined. since.. But. within. this. population,. individual. categories. of. students. with. disabilities. differed. markedly. in. thei r. trajectories:  ». . he. population. of. students. identified. as. having. â€Å"specific. learning. disabilities,†. the. most. prevalent. of. all. T dis. bility. types,. declined. considerably. throughout. the. decade,. falling. from. 2. 86. million. to. 2. 43. million. a students,. or. from. 6. 1. to. 4. 9. percent. of. all. students. nationwide.  ». . ther. shrinking. disability. categories. included. mental. retardation,. which. dropped. from. 624,000. to. 463,000. O students,. or. from. 1. 3. to. 0. 9. percent. of. all. pupils,. and. emotional. disturbances,. which. fell. from. 480,000. to. 407,000. students,. or. from. 1. 0. to. 0. 8. percent.  ». . utism. and. â€Å"other. health. impairment†. (OHI). populations. increased. dramatically.. The. number. of. autisA tic. students. quadrupled. from. 93,000. to. 378,000,. while. OHI. numbers. more. than. doubled. from. 303,000. to. 689,000.. Even. so,. autistic. and. OHI. populations. constituted. only. 0. 8. and. 1. 4. percent,. respectively,. of. all. students. in. 2009-10. In. addition,. state-level. special-education. trends. varied. dramatically:  ».. hode. Island,. New. York,. and. Massachusetts. reported. the. highest. rates. of. disability. identification. in. 2009R 10;. Rhode. Island. was. the. only. state. with. more. than. 18. percent. of. its. student. body. receiving.. special-education. services.  ». . exas,. Idaho,. and. Colorado. reported. the. lowest. rates. of. disability. identification. in. 2009-10.. Adjusting.. T for. overall. population. size,. Texas. identified. just. half. as. many. students. with. disabilities. as. Rhode. Island:. 9. 1. percent. of. its. total. student. body. States. also. varied. in. their. special-education. personnel. practices,. so. much. so. that. the. accuracy. of. the. data. they. report. to. Washington. is. in. question.. Nationally,. schools. ostensibly. employed. 129. special-education. teachers. and. paraprofessionals. for. every. thousand. special-education. students. in. 2008-09,. up. from. 117. per. thousand. in. 2000-01.. At. the. state. level,. this. ranged. from. a. reported. 320. per. thousand. in. New. Hampshire,. to. thirty-eight. per. thousand. in. Mississippi.. (We. appreciate. the. implausibility. of. these. numbers,. which. come. from. the. only. available. official. source. ) 1 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION I NTRODUCTION  Introduction Last. summer,. New. Jersey’s. Star-Ledger. ran. a. hard-hitting. piece. about. the. condition. of. education. finance. in. the. Garden. State.. It. bemoaned. a. dismal. school-system. budget. in. which. teachers. had. been. laid. off,. extracurricular. activities. scrapped,. and. free. transportation. curtailed.. But. one. budgetary. category. had. been. spared:. special. education. â€Å"This. is. an. area. that. is. completely. out. of. control. and. in. desperate. need. of. reform,†. said. Larrie. Reynolds,. superintendent. in. the. Mount. Olive. School. District,. where. special-education. spending. rose. 17. percent.this. year.. â€Å"Everything. else. has. a. finite. limit.. Special. education—in. this. state,. at. least—is. similar. to. the. universe.. It. has. no. end.. It. is. the. untold. story. of. what. every. school. district. is. dealing. with. † 1 And. so. it. is.. Special. education. consumes. a. hefty. slice. of. the. education. pie,. comprising. an. estimated. 21. percent. of. all. education. spending. in. 2005.. That. slice. is. growing,. too.. Forty-one. percent. of. all. increases. in. education. spending. between. 1996. and. 2005. went. to. fund. it. 2 As. Superintendent. Reynolds. indicated,. special. education. is. a. field.in. urgent. need. of. reform.. Not. only. is. its. funding. widely. seen. as. sacrosanct—due. to. federal. â€Å"maintenance. of. effort†. requirements,. strong. special-education. lobbies,. nervous. superintendents,. entrenched. traditions,. and. inertia,. as. well. as. a. collective. sense. that. we. should. do. right. by. these. kids—but. America’s. approach. to. it. is. also. antiquated.. Despite. good. intentions. and. some. reform. efforts,. the. field. is. still. beset. by. a. compliance-oriented. mindset. that. values. process. over. outcomes.. Thirty-six. years. after. Congress. passed. the. Education. for. All. Handicapped. Chil dren. Act. (now. the. Individuals. with. Disabilities. Education. Act. or. IDEA),. the. rigidities. and. shortcomings. of. yesterday’s. approach. have. become. overwhelming,. as. have. the. dollar. costs.. There. has. to. be. a. better. way. We. at. the. Thomas. B.. Fordham. Institute. seek. to. help. chart. a. different. path,. doing. right. by. children. with. special. needs. while. recognizing. both. that. every. youngster. is. special. in. some. way. and. that. the. taxpayer’s. pocket. is. not. bottomless.. This. is. the. first. of. several. special-education. eye. openers. that. we’re. undertaking. 3. Ten. years. ago,.we. dipped. our. toes. into. the. turbid. waters. of. special-education. policy. via. a. set. of. thought-provoking. papers. in. a. volume. titled. Rethinking Special Education for a New Century. 4. The. fundamental. shift. from. compliance. to. outcomes. that. we. advocated. in. that. volume. has,. for. the. most. part,. not. come. to. pass. (though. we. may. see. a. glimmer. of. hope. in. the. implementation. of. Response. to. Intervention. [RTI]. programs).. Still,. someday—probably. after. the. delayed. reauthorization. of. the. Elementary. and. Secondary. Education. Act—Congress. will. again. take. up. IDEA.. Methodologypecial-education. student-population. data. (referred. to. in. federal. reporting. requirements. as. â€Å"child. count†). and. personnel. data. were. drawn. from. the. Data. Accountability. Center,. funded. by. the. Office. of. Special. Education. Programs. in. the. U. S.. Department. of. Education. and. located. at. ideadata. org. 5. Child-count. totals. are. reported. each. year. by. states. and. include. all. children. ages. three. to. twenty-one. identified. with. disabilities. 6. Thus,. the. term. â€Å"students. with. disabilities†. in. this. report. refers. to. the. number. of. students. that. the. education. system. recognizes.as. having. disabilities.. Variation. among. the. states’. disability. incidence. rates. almost. surely. has. more. to. S do. with. how. a. state. defines. and. identifies. special-needs. students. (i. e. ,. whether. a. state. over-. or. under-identifies. disabilities). than. with. the. true. population. of. disabled. children. in. that. state. . To. calculate. each. state’s. disability. incidence. rate,. child-count. numbers. were. divided. by. total. state. enrollment. figures. 7. State. enrollment. data. were. drawn. from. the. Digest of Education Statistics.. Total. student. enrollment. data. for. the. 2009-10. school. year.had. not. been. released. as. of. publication;. thus. 2009-10. figures. are. based. on. projections. published. in. the. Digest. 2 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION I NTRODUCTION It’s. our. hope. that. the. next. iteration. of. that. law. will. benefit. from. fresh. thinking. amid. changed. realities. But. that. day. has. not. yet. dawned.. And. before. we. can. seriously. re-imagine. the. field. of. special. education. and. how. it. should. be. funded,. we. need. a. basic. understanding. of. the. state. of. special. education. today—and. how. it’s. changed. over. the. past. decade.. Many. are. aware,. for. instance,.that. the. number. of. students. who. received. specialeducation. services. rose. steadily. between. IDEA’s. enactment. in. 1975. and. the. turn. of. the. century.. But. is. this. population. still. growing?. Are. particular. types. of. disabilities. responsible. for. overall. trends?. What. types. of. personnel. do. schools. employ. to. teach. these. students?. Accurate. descriptive. data. on. questions. like. these. are. a. scarce. commodity. (more. on. that. later),. but. we. desperately. need. them. if. we’re. to. wrestle. with. the. more. complex. questions. that. vex. the. field,. such. as:. Have. rising. numbers. of.special-education. students. driven. up. costs?. Which. states. are. spending. more. and. which. are. spending. less. per. special-education. student. than. others?. Are. states. correctly. identifying. students. and. providing. them. with. appropriate. services?. What. types .of. interventions. are. most. effective. with. special-needs. children? This. report. sets. forth. the. number. of. children. identified. with. disabilities. in. our. nation’s. schools. by. disability. type,. nationally. and. by. state,. examining. how. those. patterns. have. changed. over. the. past. decade.. It. also. addresses:  ». Which. states. have. the.largest. and. smallest. proportions. of. children. judged. to. have. disabilities;  ». The. extent. to. which. the. numbers. of. students. with. specific. learning. disabilities. have. changed. over. the. last. ten. years;. and  ». The. number. of. special-education. personnel. employed. nationally. and. how. this. varies. by. state. We. also. dig. into. a. couple. of. outliers—Massachusetts. and. Texas—and. attempt. to. explain. why. their. data. look. like. they. do.. We. close. with. a. few. takeaways. and. next. steps.. 3 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS Findings Students with Disabilities across America. After. decades. of. steady. increases,. the. population. of. students. with. disabilities. peaked. in. 2004-05. with. 6. 72. million. youngsters,. comprising. 13. 8. percent. of. the. national. student. body. (see. Figure. 1).. The. following. year. marked. the. first. time. since. the. enactment. of. IDEA. in. 1975. that. special-education. participation. numbers. declined.. (For. a. long-term. trend. analysis. of. the. special-education. population,. see. Appendix. A. ). Since. then,. the. number. and. proportion. of. students. with. disabilities. has. decreased. steadily,. falling. to. 13. 1. percent. of. the. national. student.body. by. 2009-10,. or. 6. 48. million. students.. 1 13. 8 13. 6 13. 4 13. 2 13. 0 Proportion of the National Student Population with Disabilities, 2000-01 to 2009-10 This. national. trend. is. driven. by. shifting. populations. of. particular. disability. types.. The. federal. government. requires. all. states. to. report. studentpopulation. numbers. across. twelve. categories. of. disability. (the. reporting. of. a. thirteenth,. termed. â€Å"developmental. delay,†. is. optional):. autism;. deafblindness;. emotional. disturbance;. hearing. impairments;. mental. retardation;. multiple. disabilities;. orthopedic. impairments;. other.health. impairments;. specific. learning. disabilities;. speech. or. language. impairments;. traumatic. brain. injuries;. and. visual. impairments.. (For. the. full. federal. definition. of. each. category,. see. Appendix. B. ). 1 2 4 6 7 3 5 8 9. Much. of. the. recent. decrease. in. the. overall. specialeducation. population. can. be. attributed. to. the. shrinking. population. of. students. identified. with. specific. learning. disabilities. (SLDs).. After. decades. of. growth,. the. proportion. of. students. with. SLDs. peaked. in. 2000-01. and. declined. thereafter,. falling. from. 2. 86. million. to. 2. 43. million. students.between. 2000-01. and. 2009-10,. or. from. 6. 1. to. 4. 9. percent. of. the. national. student. body. 8. -0 -0 -0 -0 -0 07 -0 -0 -0 00 -0 04 02 06 03 05. Other. disability. categories. declined. as. well.. The. population. of. students. with. mental. retardation. dropped. from. A Caveat on Disability Types T he. federal. government. requires. states. to. report. child-count. numbers. across. twelve. disability. categories. each. year. (a. thirteenth. category. is. optional),. but. does. not. require. that. states. actually. use. those. categories. for. their. own. within-state. identification. and. data-collection. purposes.. Thus,.state-specific. nuances. in. disability. definitions. abound.. For. example,. many. states. employ. their. own. unique. definitions. for. each. of. the. thirteen. categories. and/or. combine. and. eliminate. categories.. At. least. one. state. goes. so. far. as. to. identify. no. individual. categories,. opting. instead. for. a. single. â€Å"eligible. individual†. classification. for. students. with. disabilities. (see. Iowa’s SLD Trend: True or False? ).. To. meet. federal. reporting. requirements,. these. states. must. estimate. the. number. of. students. with. disabilities. within. each. federal. category.. And. in. some. cases,.federal. reporting. requirements. allow. states. to. report. one. category. within. another—for. example,. seven. states. report. students. with. multiple. disabilities. in. their. primary-disability. categories. rather. than. in. the. â€Å"multiple. disabilities†. 08 09 01 -10 category.. The. lack. of. consistency. in. defining. and. reporting. data. across. all. fifty. states. renders. any. state-level. comparison. of. students. with. disabilities. inherently. imprecise. . Take,. for. example,. recent. categorization. changes. in. Ohio.. Prior. to. 2007-08,. preschoolers. (three-. to. five-yearolds). with. disabilities. in. the. Buckeye. State. were. lumped. together. in. a. single. disability. category.. In. that. year,. however,. Ohio. first. required. preschoolers. to. be. sorted. into. distinct. categories.. To. ease. the. transition,. districts. classified. all. existing. preschoolers. with. disabilities. as. having. developmental. delays;. thereafter,. all. new. preschoolers. with. disabilities. were. to. be. categorized. by. disability.. As. could. be. expected,. the. number. of. students. with. developmental. delays. reported. to. the. federal. government. suddenly. grew. from. 0. to. 19,000. in. 2007-08,. and. then. fell. by. half. in. 2008-09.and. again. slightly. in. 2009-10. 9. Such. inconsistencies—this. is. just. one. example. of. myriad. state. eccentricities. and. idiosyncrasies—confuse. trend. analyses. at. both. the. state. and. national. level. 4 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS 624,000. to. 463,000. in. that. time,. or. from. 1. 3. percent. to. 0. 9. percent. of. all. students.. The. number. identified. with. emotional. disturbances. fell. from. near. 480,000. in. 2000-01. to. 407,000. by. 2009-10. (after. peaking. at. 489,000. students. in. 2003-04),. or. from. 1. 0. to. 0. 8. percent. of. all. students.. Offsetting. a. portion. of.the. decline. in. these. disability. categories. were. sharp. increases. in. the. populations. of. students. with. autism. and. other. health. impairm ents. (OHIs). over. the. last. decade.. The. number. of. autistic. students. quadrupled. between. 2000-01. and. 2009-10,. rising. from. 93,000. to. 378,000,. while. the. number. of. OHI. students. more. than. doubled. from. 303,000. to. 689,000.. Still,. the. autistic. and. OHI. populations. constituted. only. 0. 8. and. 1. 4. percent,. respectively,. of. all. students. in. 2009-10. The. category. of. developmental. delay,. which. often. serves. as. a. general. disability. category.for. young. students. (typically. ages. three. to. five. or. three. to. nine),. grew. as. well,. from. 213,000. students. in. 2000-01. to. 368,000. in. 2009-10,. or. from. 0. 5. to. 0. 7. percent. of. all. students. The. incidence. of. other. disability. types. (which,. other. than. speech. or. language. impairments,. comprise. a. small. fraction. of. the. total). either. remained. stable. or. declined. slightly. during. this. time.. Figure. 2. shows. in. â€Å"pie. chart†. form. how. the. composition. of. the. special-education. population. has. changed. over. the. past. decade.. While. SLD. students. constituted. 45. 4. percent. of.all. students. with. disabilities. in. 2000-01,. that. percentage. had. shrunk. to. 37. 5. percent. by. 2009-10.. Autism,. on. the. other. hand,. increased. from. 1. 5. percent. of. all. identified. disabilities. to. 5. 8. percent.. OHI. identifications. doubled. from. 4. 8. to. 10. 6. percent,. while. cases. of. both. emotional. disturbance. and. mental. retardation. decreased. relative. to. other. identifications. 2 Special-Education Population by Disability 2000-01 and 2009-10 3. 4% 1. 5% 4. 8% 5. 3% 7. 6% 9. 9% 5. 1% 5. 8% 21. 8% 5. 7% 10. 6% 6. 3% 37. 5% 7. 1% 22. 0% 45. 4% n = 6. 30 million students ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1. 5% 3.4% 4. 8% 7. 6% 9. 9% 45. 4% 22. 0% 5. 3% Autism Developmental Delay Other Health Impairment Emotional Disturbance Mental Retardation Specific Learning Disability Speech or Language Impairment Other Disabilities ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2000-01 n = 6. 48 million students 5. 8% 5. 7% 10. 6% 6. 3% 7. 1% 37. 5% 21. 8% 5. 1% Autism Developmental Delay Other Health Impairment Emotional Disturbance Mental Retardation Specific Learning Disability Speech or Language Impairment Other Disabilities 2009-10 Note:. The. special-education. population. in. 2009-10. was. slightly. larger. in. raw. numbers. than. it. was. in. 2000-01,. but. the. proportion.of. students. with. disabilities. among. all. students. declined. from. 13. 3. percent. in. 2000-01. to. 13. 1. percent. in. 2009-10.. 5 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS Students with Disabilities by State The. national. figures. mask. stark. variation. among. the. states.. As. Figure. 3. shows,. Rhode. Island,. New. York,. and. Massachusetts. topped. the. list. with. the. highest. rates. of. disability. identification. in. 2009-10;. Rhode. Island. was. the. only. state. to. have. more. than. 18. percent. of. its. student. body. enrolled. in. special. education.. At. the. other. end. of. the. spectrum. were. Texas,. Idaho,. and. Colorado.. Texas’s. rate. of. disability. identification. was. less. than. half. of. Rhode. Island’s,. at. just. 9. 1. percent. (see. Figure. 4. for. complete. state. identification. rates).. These. vast. disparities. call. into. question. the. extent. to. which. true. incidences. of. disability. vary. among. state. populations,. or. to. which. some. states. over-identify. or. under-identify. students. with. disabilities. 10 3 Identification Rates of Students with Disabilities, by State 2009-10 WA MT OR ID WY NE NV CA UT CO KS IA IL MO TN AR MS TX LA FL AL GA SC IN OH WV KY NC AZ NM OK VA SD ND MN WI NY MI PA. VT ME NH MA RI CT NJ DE MD D. C. ? 9. 0? –? 10. 99% ? 11. 0? –? 12. 99% ? 13. 0? –? 14. 99% ? 15. 0? –? 16. 99% ? 17. 0? –? 18. 99% AK US AVERAGE HI About. half. of. the. states. saw. increases. in. their. rates. of. special-education. identification. between. 2000-01. and. 2009-10,. while. the. other. half. saw. decreases. (see. Figure. 5).. The. national. proportion. of. students. with. disabilities. rose. and. fell. over. that. time. period,. landing. 0. 2. percentage. points. lower. in. 2009-10. (at. 13. 1. percent). than. in. 2000-01. (at. 13. 3. percent).. Texas’s. rate. of. identification. fell. from. 12. 1. percent. to. 9. 1. percent—in. raw. numbers,. a. decrease. of. about. 47,000. students.. Pennsylvania,. on. the. other. hand,. saw. an. increase. in. students. with. disabilities. from. 13. 4. percent. of. the. student. body. in. 2000-01. to. 16. 7. percent. in. 2009-10—or,. in. raw. numbers,. an. increase. of. 52,000. students. 6 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS 4 Identification Rate of Students with Disabilities, by State 2009-10 18. 68 17. 80 17. 36 17. 25 17. 16 Massachusetts Maine Rhode Island New York 5 Percentage-point Change in Identification Rate, by State 2000-01 to 2009-10 3. 29 2. 39 2. 05 1. 80 1. 80 1.76 1. 35 1. 16 1. 14 1. 12 1. 72 2. 53. Pennsylvania Wyoming Vermont West Virginia Vermont Pennsylvania Indiana New Jersey Wyoming New York Minnesota Ohio 16. 66 16. 84 16. 55 16. 52 15. 60 15. 55 15. 57 15. 74 South Dakota North Dakota Kentucky New Hampshire Delaware Kentucky Illinois New Hampshire Michigan Massachusetts Nebraska South Dakota Oklahoma Wisconsin Missouri Ohio 14. 80 14. 75 14. 71 14. 97 15. 04 Oklahoma Indiana Alaska Delaware Kansas 0. 99 0. 98 0. 71 0. 71 1. 10 Minnesota 14. 66 Mississippi Washington Oregon Illinois D. C. 14. 64 14. 34 14. 15 14. 58 0. 46 0. 52 Wisconsin Arizona Utah 0. 39 0. 38 0. 14 0. 42. North Dakota Oregon Kansas 14. 26 14. 12 Nebraska California New Jersey Maine 0. 09 0. 08 0. 03 0. 07 South Carolina Michigan Alaska Iowa Florida 14. 09 14. 06 13. 98 13. 79 13. 55 13. 14 13. 99 13. 94 United States -0. 04 -0. 26 -0. 28 -0. 53 -0. 61 -0. 61 -0. 20 New Mexico Arkansas Virginia Montana Nevada Arkansas Colorado United States Mississippi Louisiana 13. 42 13. 03 12. 53 12. 30 12. 25 11. 94 11. 28 11. 28 11. 13 11. 17 12. 21 12. 41 12. 57 Maryland Missouri Virginia Iowa Louisiana -0. 60 Washington Connecticut Tennessee Maryland -0. 70 -0. 74 -0. 85 -0. 85 -1. 03 -1. 03 -1. 43 -1. 43 -1. 54 -1. 72 -1. 41 -0. 75 -0. 72 D. C. North Carolina Hawaii Utah Montana West Virginia Georgia Florida Rhode Island Connecticut Alabama Arizona Nevada California 10. 67 Colorado Georgia 10. 45 10. 27 9. 89 9. 13 10. 58 South Carolina Hawaii Idaho North Carolina Tennessee Idaho Texas 0 5 10 15 20 New Mexico Texas Alabama -2. 32 -2. 98 -3. 5 -1. 75 0 1. 75 3. 5 -2. 52 -2. 01 DISABILITY IDENTIFICATION RATE (%). PERCENTAGE-POINT CHANGE IN IDENTIFICATION RATE 7 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS Specific Learning Disabilities As. the. most. prevalent. of. all. disability. types,. the. category. of. specific. learning. disabilities. (SLDs). provides.a. unique. look. into. shifting. disability. populations.. The. nationwide. population. of. students. with. specific. learning. disabilities. shrank. at. a. notable. rate. over. the. decade. leading. to. 2009-10:. SLD. numbers. fell. from. 2. 86. million. students. and. 6. 1. percent. of. the. national. student. body. in. 2000-01. to. 2. 43. million. students. and. 4. 9. percent. of. the. student. body. in. 2009-10. 11. Some. of. this. drop. was. likely. due. to. an. increasing. national. awareness. of. autism. and. a. subsequent. shift. from. incorrect. SLD. identification. to. autism. identification.. A. few. other. hypotheses.are. worth. mentioning.. First,. growing. populations. of. students. with. developmental. delays,. which. may. in. some. states. substitute. for. autism. diagnoses. of. three-. to. five-year-olds,. and. with. OHIs,. which. has. become. somewhat. of. a. â€Å"catch. all†. category,. may. be. responsible. for. some. of. the. SLD. decrease,. in. addition. to. growth. in. autism.. Second,. SLD. numbers. may. have. dropped. due. to. the. proliferation. of. Response. to. Intervention. (RTI)—a. method. of. providing. targeted. assistance. to. young. children. who. have. difficulty. learning—and. other. early-reading. interventions. (see. Response to Intervention).. Lastly,. the. identification. of. SLDs,. though. strictly. outlined. in. policy,. appears. more. subjective. and. prone. to. human. error. than. the. identification. of. most. other. disabilities;. thus,. SLD. identification. is. perhaps. more. affected. by. related. changes. in. policy,. budget,. personnel,. etc. Rates. of. SLD. identification. varied. across. the. fifty. states. in. 2009-10.. As. shown. in. Figure. 6,. just. 2. percent. of. the. student. body. in. Kentucky. was. labeled. SLD. in. 2009-10,. while. over. 8. 4. percent. o f. Iowa’s. student. body. was. classified. as. such.. Similarly,. in.2009-10,. Kentucky’s. SLD. students. comprised. only. 13. 1. percent. of. the. state’s. entire. special-education. student. body,. while. in. Iowa. they. accounted. for. 60. 4. percent.. Across. the. entire. United. States,. SLD. students. comprised. 4. 9. percent. of. all. students. and. 37. 5. percent. of. all. students. with. disabilities. in. 2009-10.. Massachusetts. saw. the. greatest. percentage-point. decrease. in. its. SLD. population. between. 2000-01. and. 200910.. There,. SLD. students. fell. from. 9. 8. to. 5. 9. percent. of. all. students. during. that. time.. As. a. slice. of. the. specialeducation. pie,. in. fact,. Massachusetts’s. SLD. students. went. from. 58. 7. percent. of. all. special-education. students. to. just. 33. 3. percent.. Despite. this. declining. proportion,. however,. Massachusetts. still. identifies. the. second. overall. highest. rate. of. disability. in. the. nation. (see. Behind the Numbers in Outlier States. on. page. 13). Response to Intervention esponse. to. Intervention. (RTI). is. a. method. of. providing. targeted. and. increasingly. intensive. assistance. to. young. children. who. have. difficulty. learning.. RTI. began. to. gain. ground. with. the. enactment. of. the. No. Child. Left. Behind. Act. (NCLB). in. 2001,. which. provided. schools. with. Reading. First. grants. to. introduce. it. and. other. early-reading. strategies. into. general. education.. But. the. program. spread. more. rapidly. in. the. aftermath. of. the. 2004. reauthorization. of. IDEA,. which. allowed. districts. to. spend. 15. percent. of. the. law’s. Part. B. funds. on. RTI. and. other. early-intervening. services,. and. to. use. RTI. as. one. part. of. a. comprehensive. evaluation. process. for. identifying. students. with. SLDs.. In. 2007,. just. 24. percent. of. R districts. reported. that. they. had. implemented. or. were. in. the. process. of. implementing. RTI;. by. 2010,. this. had. risen. to. 61. percent. of. districts. 12 . Indeed,. SLD. may. be. the. disability. population. most. affected. by. early. interventions. like. RTI,. because. such. interventions. can. help. prevent. the. misidentification. and. mislabeling. of. struggling. students—who. may. simply. learn. better. with. enhanced,. tailored. instruction—as. students. with. SLDs.. At. the. same. time,. modifications. in. pedagogical. approach. and. lesson. planning. can. help. to. offset. the. challenges. faced. by. those. students. with. true. but. mild. SLDs.. 8 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS 6. SLD as a Proportion of All Students and All Students with Disabilities, by State 2009-10 ALL STUDENTS Iowa 8. 42 7. 63 7. 41 STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Nevada Iowa 60. 37 47. 47 45. 06 42. 92 42. 78 42. 73 42. 11 42. 74 44. 25 45. 81 48. 11 Pennsylvania Rhode Island New Jersey Delaware Oklahoma New York 6. 43 6. 29 6. 17 6. 85 Pennsylvania Alabama Arizona Delaware Iowa’s SLD Trend: True or False? New Hampshire South Carolina D. C. 6. 05 5. 99 5. 96 5. 92 5. 85 5. 73 5. 95 5. 97 South Carolina Oklahoma California Texas Utah I Florida Massachusetts Illinois Florida 42. 40 42. 09 41. 87 41. 21 Alaska Ohio Hawaii Montana Alaska D. C. New Mexico South Dakota Alabama Nevada Indiana 5. 48 5. 36 5. 13 5. 11 New Mexico New Hampshire United States New Jersey Ohio Illinois 40. 92 38. 88 38. 46 38. 16 37. 51 38. 87 39. 76 Michigan Montana 5. 03 5. 03 4. 97 5. 01 5. 05 Wyoming United States Arizona Oregon Utah Kansas Maine Rhode Island Tennessee New York Colorado 36. 68 Nebraska Hawaii 4. 89 4. 92 4. 93 4. 95 36. 43 36. 28 35. 53 36. 11 Michigan Washington 4. 82 4. 82 4. 75 Virginia South Dakota Oregon Kansas 34. 94 34. 53 33. 25 32. 06 31. 93 31. 36 31. 51 33. 16 34. 15 34. 57 35. 07 35. 22 West Virginia Vermont Virginia 4. 69 4. 59 4. 61 Massachusetts North Carolina Indiana. North Dakota Washington Wisconsin Missouri Tennessee California 4. 50 4. 38 4. 11 4. 47 4. 52 4. 31 North Dakota Mississippi Wisconsin Arkansas Vermont Georgia Maine Idaho Connecticut Maryland Nebraska North Carolina Connecticut Mississippi Maryland Arkansas 4. 08 4. 00 3. 99 3. 85 3. 70 3. 74 3. 87 4. 04 29. 99 29. 94 29. 36 29. 02 29. 15 29. 81 30. 63 Minnesota Colorado Texas Wyoming Louisiana Georgia Idaho 3. 60 3. 07 2. 97. West Virginia Minnesota Kentucky Louisiana Missouri 28. 69 28. 66 27. 86 13. 10 28. 94 owa. was. a. notable. exception. to. the. general. SLD. trend,. as. one. of. only. four. states. that. reported. an.increase. in. its. proportion. of. SLD. students. from. 2000-01. to. 2009-10.. The. Hawkeye. State. illustrates. the. extent. to. which. data. reporting—rather. than. actual. shifts. in. disability. incidence—may. affect. the. numbers. reported. to. the. public.. . At. 8. 4. percent,. Iowa. had. the. highest. rate. of. SLD. in. the. nation. for. 2009-10.. However,. the. state. does. not. assign. particular. disability. categories. to. its. specialeducation. students;. instead,. it. uses. a. single. â€Å"eligible. individual†. designation. for. all. students. with. disabilities.. To. meet. federal. disability. reporting. requirements,.which. call. for. population. counts. disaggregated. by. disability. category,. Iowa. examines. a. random. sample. of. Individualized. Education. Programs. (IEPs). each. year.. Reviewers. decide,. based. on. the. services. described. therein,. which. type. of. disability. is. likely. being. served. 13. Thus. Iowa’s. high. rate. of. SLD. relative. to. other. states. may. result. from. judgment. errors. made. by. IEP. reviewers,. who. examine. student. services. rather. than. symptoms.. Further. inaccuracy. could. arise. from. outdated. expectations. that. SLD. students. should. comprise. a. large. proportion. of. all. students.with. disabilities:. Beyond. Iowa’s. high. SLD. rate,. the. state. also. reports. low. rates. of. autism. and. OHI,. and. each. of. these. rates. has. remained. relatively. stable. in. the. state. over. the. last. decade.. Given. that. national. SLD. numbers. have. been. dropping. considerably,. while. autism. and. OHI. numbers. are. rising. quickly,. Iowa’s. incidence. rates. may. simply. be. based. on. old. assumptions. Kentucky 0 2 4 6 8 10 2. 04 25. 25 0 20 40 60 80 SLD IDENTIFICATION RATE (%) SLD IDENTIFICATION RATE (%) 9 SH I FTI NG TREN DS I N SPECIAL EDUCATION FI N DI NGS Personnel As. special-education. numbers. have.increased. over. the. last. few. decades,. only. recently. declining. for. the. first. time,. the. cost. of. educating. these. students. has. continued. to. increase. at. a. fast. rate. 14. Because. 85. percent. of. special-education. spending. supports. personnel,. special-education. staff. is. obviously. the. main. source. of. swelling. expenditures. 15 Schools. employ. a. diverse. range. of. professionals. to. teach,. support,. and. assist. their. students. with. disabilities.. In. addition. to. special-education. teachers. and. paraprofessionals—employees. who. might. provide. one-on-one. tutoring,. assist. with. classroom.  management,. conduct. parental-involvement. activities,. or. provide. instructional. support. under. the. supervision. of. a. teacher—a. school. might. retain. a. number. of. more. specialized. professionals. such. as. Audiologists,. speech. and. language. pathologists,. psychologists,. occupational. therapists,. physical. therapists,. social. workers,. and. more. 16. Because. shifts. in. these. populations. are. difficult. to. trace. over. time. (mostly. due. to. changes. in. federal. reporting. requirements),. this. analysis. focuses. on. teachers. and. paraprofessionals,. which. together. constitute. over. 80. percent. of. all.  special-education. personnel. 17 The. ratio. of. teachers. to. students. fluctuated. over. the. last. decade,. reaching. its. peak. in. 2005-06. and. declining. quickly. thereafter. (see. Figure. 7).. Public. schools. employed. sixty-five. special-education. teachers. per. thousand. special-education. students. in. 2000-01—or. 412,000. teachers. overall;. that. ratio. rose. to. seventy. per. thousand. in. 2005-06,. and. then. fell. to. sixty-three. per. thousand—or. 405,000. teachers. overall—by. 2008-09.. (Personnel. data. were. not. available. for. 2009-10. as. of. publication. ) In. contrast,. the. number. of. special-educati.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Analysis of Financial Proposal

Analysis of Financial Proposal (1) analyse financial data; evaluate the results and formulate conclusions (2) prepare a budget and explain how it would be negotiated and monitored. (3) produce a financial proposal and present a sound business case to secure the  required financial resources. The figures can be fictitious. Part 1) Technique used: Ratio Analysis Refer to the Appendix Profitability Ratios These ratios help us to judge how good the firm’s profit performance is. The two key ratios to show profitability are: Return on Capital Employed This measures the level of profit of the business compared to the amount of capital that has been invested in it. It is effectively the return the business has made, and investors will want this to be higher than the rate of interest they could have got elsewhere. The budget is showing a healthy 68% return on capital which includes proposed bank borrowings. Profit Margin This measures the level of profit compared to the turnover, it therefore shows the percentage profit on the sales. It can be measured as either a gross or net profit margin. The Gross Profit margin is 66.5% but the Net Profit margin is only 11.3% due to high wages and purchases costs. These could be reduced by bulk buying and negotiating special terms. Liquidity Ratios These are ratios that measure the liquidity of the business. Business has to ensure that they are able to meet their commitments as when they fall due by converting sufficient assets into cash. A business should avoid a situation where a lot of cash or capital is tied up in high levels of stock. Current asset and Acid Test ratio shows that the business has more than enough assets to cover its liabilities and it is very liquid as the stock and debtors can be turned into cash quickly. Current Ratios This ratio compares the current assets and current liabilities. Clearly a business needs to have more current assets than liabilities, and so at a minimum the figure should be more than 1. Here it is 1.54 which is slightly higher and thus ensures sufficient liquidity. Acid Test Ratios This ratio takes a closer look at the business’s liquidity. One of the current assets is stock, and this clearly not always easy to turn into cash. In fact the firm may have high stock levels because they can’t sell all of it. So the acid test ratio takes the current assets and subtracts the stock. This is a test of immediate solvency. If the value of this ratio is much less than 1 the business may have a liquidity problem, as it may have insufficient assets to meet all its liabilities. Debtors and Creditors Payment period The debtors payment period shows how many days it takes on average for the debtors to pay back the owed money. The creditor payment period shows how many days it takes on average for the business to pay its creditors. Ideally the debtor period should be shorter than the creditor period for better efficiency. Here this is not the case and steps should be taken to chase the debtors to pay quickly. Gearing Ratio This concerns the business’ long-term financial stability. It measures how much of the business is financed by debt. The higher the gearing percentage, the less secure it will be. Normal figure is 50%. Part 2) It is imperative that for any business to trade effectively and be able to grow, it needs to build up enough cash reserves. Therefore it is important to ensure cash movements, that is the timing of cash inflow and cash outflow, are managed in such a way that it results in an overall positive cashflow position. The budget would be negotiated on the basis of forecasted sales revenue, expected expenditure and any planned capital expenditure. The Bank manager needs to be pursuaded that the cash forecast is realistic and not over optimistic. The budget would be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis and any material changes would be acted on. The negotiations would be based upon the fact such as reliability of the customer and suppliers, location of the pub. Also the fact that being a public house, the business is all year round and not seasonal and there are going to be peak seasons such as Christmas and other public holdiays. In addition, the pub would increase its takings by having special events and offers. The budget should build a contingency fund for worst case scenario such as cost over-runs or loss of loyalty of its customers. It needs to show clearly that the owner has invested his/her money as a capital in the business and prepared to risk it, and has a strong track record in this field and that the business plan is credible. A bank always demands a copy of current management accounts with a cash flow forecast in order to assess a business’s liquidity and then decides whether to grant the overdraft facility or not. Therefore, they are of utmost importance when negotiating a loan from a bank. Cash budget gives an advance warning of any liquidity problems. It is often a lack of cash that causes most businesses to fail. It will give you an opportunity to decide when and how to increase or decrease your overdraft with the bank. Part 3) The total amount required is  £50,000 but the business does not need to draw down all of the money at once. It should be stressed to the bank manager that you have number of years’ experience in the same business and you know the trade well. Also you have good interpersonal skills and the ability to get on with all types of people This is important for running a successful pub. You also have to stress that you have done your home work, prepared a business plan and have ideas to boost the business by holding special events throughout the year. You need to do some research about the market for a pub in that area. If there are only one or two pubs in the local area and nothing within, say 15 mile radius, then an additional pub in that area is going to stand a very good chance of success. Appendix The following table shows the ratios for the year 2005: Ratio Profitability ROCE68% Gross Profit Margin66.5% Net Profit 11.3% Direct Wages20% Debtor payment days28 days Current Ratio1.54:1 Acid Test1.1:1 Gearing52% Bibliography 1. www.qck.com/business-loans.html 2. Cox, 0 and Farndon, M (1997) Management of Finance (2nd Edition) Worcester: Osborne Books. 3. Dyson, J (1998) Accounting for Non-Accounting Students London: Pitman 4. Http://www/bized.ac.uk Learning resources contain summary notes on main topics. 5. Management and Cost Accounting, 4th Edition, by Colin Drury, Thomson Business Press. 6. Active Accounting by Brammer, Cox, Fardon, Penning. Osborne books.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Unprogessive Advances :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The MP3 â€Å"We are born savage and self-centered, and then, unless we move to Hollywood, we get over it. We become civilized. We enter a state in which we understand that sharing is good.† – John Perry Barlow   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the past few years record sales have plummeted to an all time low, the record industry has since been frantically searching for the crack in the dyke; a reason for all this. The most obvious target that has been chosen by these corporations is the act of internet file sharing, more specifically the programs that run these services like the previously shut down â€Å"Napster† and the currently battling â€Å"Kazaa.† There is no doubt that file sharing is a factor in declining record sales but does it really deserve all the blame? Maybe today’s mainstream music lacks a certain quality that would normally motivate a consumer to purchase the CD. There are many factors that could cause declining sales, one of them being file sharing but does the record industry really have the power to classify our right to share as illegal?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The number of users for file swapping programs is in the millions. In its height Napster held 36 million people in the palm of its hand, and since the program has shut down more and more like it have been sprouting too fast for the recording industry to shut them down (Gaither,2). The companies that are filing suit apparently expect us to be sympathetic towards them because they aren’t rolling in the dough like they used to. A CD costs me about $20 after taxes, as a college student and normal person that money is better spent doing time in my bank account, it is almost the same lifestyle as subsistence farming. If I can receive the same music for free over the internet than why bother giving more money to excessive rock stars or silicone divas. The richest of the rich seem to be the only ones complaining as well, small time acts such as â€Å"Battery Park† practically rely on the free trade of music over the internet, mainly because they cannot affor d airplay on major radio or television stations. It is the only way for bands like these to be heard. Lead singer J. Brown of â€Å"Battery Park† however admits that â€Å"Downloads don’t necessarily equate to sales, we hope they like what they hear and want to hear more so they’ll purchase the CD.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Computer Crime Is Increasing :: essays research papers fc

Computer Crime Is Increasing A report discussing the proposition that computer crime has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. Introduction Computer crime is generally defined as any crime accomplished through special knowledge of computer technology. Increasing instances of white-collar crime involve computers as more businesses automate and the information held by the computers becomes an important asset. Computers can also become objects of crime when they or their contents are damaged, for example when vandals attack the computer itself, or when a "computer virus" (a program capable of altering or erasing computer memory) is introduced into a computer system. As subjects of crime, computers represent the electronic environment in which frauds are programmed and executed; an example is the transfer of money balances in accounts to perpetrators' accounts for withdrawal. Computers are instruments of crime when they are used to plan or control such criminal acts. Examples of these types of crimes are complex embezzlements that might occur over long periods of time, or when a computer operator uses a computer to steal or alter valuable information from an employer. Variety and Extent Since the first cases were reported in 1958, computers have been used for most kinds of crime, including fraud, theft, embezzlement, burglary, sabotage, espionage, murder, and forgery. One study of 1,500 computer crimes established that most of them were committed by trusted computer users within businesses i.e. persons with the requisite skills, knowledge, access, and resources. Much of known computer crime has consisted of entering false data into computers. This method of computer crime is simpler and safer than the complex process of writing a program to change data already in the computer. Now that personal computers with the ability to communicate by telephone are prevalent in our society, increasing numbers of crimes have been perpetrated by computer hobbyists, known as "hackers," who display a high level of technical expertise. These "hackers" are able to manipulate various communications systems so that their interference with other computer systems is hidden and their real identity is difficult to trace. The crimes committed by most "hackers" consist mainly of simple but costly electronic trespassing, copyrighted-information piracy, and vandalism. There is also evidence that organised professional criminals have been attacking and using computer systems as they find their old activities and environments being automated. Another area of grave concern to both the operators and users of computer systems is the increasing prevalence of computer viruses. A computer virus is generally defined as any sort of destructive computer program, though the term is usually reserved for the most dangerous ones. The ethos of a computer virus is an intent to cause damage, "akin to vandalism on a small scale, or terrorism