Obesity and the Media Essay Example for Free

Obesity and the Media Essay Although advertisers and the media have a huge impact on the issue of childhood obesity, the parents have the final call on what their children eat and don’t eat. It is the parents who give in to their children’s whining and give them what they want just to please them. Childhood obesity starts when the children are old enough to realize that they can get their way when they cry for something. It is the parents’ responsibility to lead by example and teach their children healthy eating habits at a young age. If the parents have unhealthy eating habits and include fast food and fried food in their diet on a regular basis, it is likely that their children will do the same. Kids will get accustomed to eating whatever is made available for them in their home. It is the parents’ job to provide healthy snack options so that their children can get used to healthy habits at early ages. When children are first attracted to the fast food ads at a very young age, it is often because they are attracted to the toys such as the ones offered in â€Å"happy meals.† Another reason why fast food is so popular is because it is a quick and easy meal when people are busy or don’t feel like cooking dinner. My solution to these issues would be to create a fast food chain that offered healthier options. That way, when people want to drive through and order something quick, they would be able to do so while still eating healthy. These restaurants would also offer children’s meals that include a toy, which would promote staying active, and eating healthy. The advertisement that I created is for a healthy fast food restaurant called Chick-A-Dees. This restaurant would offer all natural foods, rather than deep-fried options. The ad uses bright colors and cartoon characters to get children’s attention. It also promises a toy with every kid’s meal and advertises a jungle gym for kids to play on when they come to the restaurant. If restaurants opened that made healthy food seem exciting and fun to kids, they would definitely be more likely to want to try it or even like it. The advertising of toys that are included in kids’ meals at fast food restaurants is a main reason that young kids want to go to these places. However, there are many other toys for children that are advertised on television everyday, which encourage unhealthy eating habits. Among these are: the Easy Bake Oven, Popcorn Basketball, Smores Stick, Marshmallow Gun, Girls Gourmet Candy Jewel Factory Oven, 1000 Piece Candy Jigsaw, Counting Cookies, Mix and Match Doughnuts, and McDonalds Drive Through Food Cart. (The Toy Zone) All of these toys cause children to associate unhealthy eating with fun, which is a main contributing factor to the issue of childhood obesity. The KidsHealth article makes a great point about how parents need to act as role models and demonstrate to their kids proper serving size, how to enjoy treats in moderation, and exercising regularly. This is so true; bad habits start when the child is very young, and over time they become more difficult to squash. The article mentions some habits that parents should get their kids used to such as: have regular family meals, serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks, be a role model by eating healthy yourself, avoid battles over food, and involve kids in the process. Regular family meals have a huge impact on preventing unhealthy eating habits. If the family makes it their goal to sit down for dinner together even 4 days a week, it would make all the difference. As the article titled Childhood Obesity states, â€Å"children are getting more of their food away from home.† Making family meals a regular part of the routine would prevent the family from turning to the easy option of fast food, or eating out at restaurants where they serve countless courses and portions that are much to big for one sitting. The KidsHealth website also suggests that parents stock up on healthy foods. Having fattening or sugary snacks available for kids to snack on when they’re hungry will only add to the issue. There are plenty of healthy and organic snacks that are really tasty also, and if kids get used to eating them while they’re young, they will never know the difference. Making sure your child has breakfast is also an important factor to a healthy diet, as stated in Childhood Obesity. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and necessary for a healthy metabolism. The article pretty much covers all the issues and solutions that I would like to obesity in children. If I were to add something to it I would say that it is so important that parents are involved in their child’s life. This gets even more important as they grow into teens, so it should start when they are children. Parents should know if the child is having problems in school, trouble making friends, being bullied, etc. All of these issues can contribute to the child turning to food for comfort. Another idea that the article didn’t mention is parents buying their children toys that encourage healthy activity rather than laziness or unhealthy eating. Instead of buying a videogame or and Easy Bake Oven for example, get them things to play their favorite sport with. If the child isn’t into sports, and would rather play video games, encourage active games like Wii Fit or Dance games. Getting involved in the activity is a great way to encourage it. I don’t think that the media has exaggerated the issue of childhood obesity in our society. It is a huge problem and we see it everyday, no matter where we are. The media needs to start promoting less of the unhealthy habits and show more advertisements for healthy eating and games and toys that involve activity. In order to prevent obesity and diseases that are linked to it, parents must encourage and demonstrate healthy eating habits as well as teaching their children to stay active. The prevention must start when the child is young, and remain steady and continuous as they grow. http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/ http://www.thetoyzone.com/2010/15-toys-that-will-make-your-children-fat/

The contributions of perfomance management systems

The contributions of perfomance management systems The need for effective performance management has grown in organizations for various reasons. Such reasons include providing appropriate employee rewards, managing employee competencies, indicating the degree, nature, acceptability or unacceptability of work and measuring extent and process of goal attainment (Shields 2007). To ensure an effective and efficient performance management, performance management systems (PMS) have been developed and implemented in many organizations today. Linge and Schiemann (1996), de Waal and Coevert (2007) and Lawson et al. (2003) cited in de Waal and Counet (2008) agrees that PMS is a critical contributor to top class performance and quality output of organizations. Consequently, when critically assessing the main contributions of PMS to organizational and individual performance, the impact of such contributions on the organization and individuals will be considered as the measuring unit. 2.0 Contributions of Performance Management Systems The nine main contributions of PMS to organizations and individuals includes: consolidating operational information to reflect a single meaningful picture of the organization, developing realistic performance and business goals, developing well-structured business plans with proper risk management measures, developing processes that change with the business environment, providing ease of information analysis, providing opportunities for performance improvement, enhancing trustworthy reporting, increasing confidence in business execution and improving the performance culture of the organization (Dresner 2008). Each of these contributions will be considered in details. An effective PMS pulls data from different organizational systems and presents the information in a timely, accurate, relevant, consistent and controlled manner. When relevant and critical information is stored away in individual departments, it becomes difficult for management at any level to see the performance of the entire organization. This hampers or degrades the quality of decisions made since relevant information is not available or is not available in a timely manner. Moreso, management reports about the different business units will not be accurate and consistent since the information is incorrect. When management is able to see the entire organization, it will be possible to determine the key performance indicators of the organization ascertain real performance drivers and produce consistent and reliable organization reports (Dresner 2008, pp. 141-2). A good PMS helps management develop realistic performance expectations of the business units in the organization. When management lacks a basis for setting performance goals for the organization, the goals becomes unrealistic, irrelevant and meaningless and results in wasted resources, demotivation of employees and unnecessary refinements of business goals. Suitable performance management applications enable managers to develop appropriate business and performance goals on a sound basis (such as the organization corporate strategy), communicate appropriately these goals, take responsibility of these goals, and drive the success of these goals. These ensure managers align all the business units goals to the corporate focus of the organization (Dresner 2008, pp. 143-4; Johnson, Scholes Whittington 2008). A properly structured PMS enables an equally structured business plan. Such plans includes appropriate feedback mechanisms and appropriate performance measurement metrics. When management is knowledgeable of the key performance indicators of the business and the plan is properly structured to ensure negative conflict is reduced between the business units, business results can be reasonably forecasted. Additionally, when business plans are aided with contextual information such as industry benchmarks, customer satisfaction surveys, call center reports, revenues, profit and cash flow reports, management will measure relevant performance activities, demonstrate reasonable achievable results to stakeholders and reduce risks because the basis of the plan informs the relevant risks the organization should be concerned about (Armstrong 2006, pp. 48-52, 90-7; Dresner 2008, pp. 144-5). A desired PMS assist organizations to adjust their strategic, tactical and operational plans when the business environment changes (Armstrong 2006; Wiesner Millet 2001, p. 117). Such robust plans do not necessarily sacrifice core business priorities or primal intra-dependencies in the organization rather it is incremental depending on emerging opportunities or changes in business environment (Grant 2005). When managers at all levels develop plans with changing business conditions in mind, the need for a dynamic planning process begins to emerge. Such realization enables an organization to develop the culture of continuously matching corporate plans with current realities, refines previous forecasts based on current knowledge and aligns individual business unit activities to current happenings. As a result management is constantly abreast with the present, improves critical planning competencies and modifies communication across the organization. This competence leads to better perfo rmance and an organization that approaches the future with confidence (Dresner 2008, pp. 145-7). A robust PMS presents information in a way that enables easy retrieval, comparison and evaluation of data. A PMS contributes more to an organization when it does not only pull information to a single point but compiles, compares, contrasts, evaluates and presents meaningful results from such data. Moreso, when actions are critical for the business, built-in prompts in the PMS alert for such critical actions to be carried out. Such automatic features increases the visibility of the organizations performance, ensures managers act efficiently and effectively and ensures the business remains competitive (Dresner 2008, pp. 147-8). Interestingly, a good PMS provides individuals and business units across the organization with an opportunity to improve performance. This performance improvement begins with the performance accountability culture that results when a PMS is used daily in controlling and managing the organization. Hence, accountability enables employees and managers to be responsible for their performance and when mistakes are made, consequences observed, corrections made and positive results emerge from the corrections made, this improves learning and performance (Dresner 2008, pp. 148-9). A functional PMS assures and ensures that organizations publications are trustworthy. When a PMS collates, analyses and consolidates information in a timely manner from all the business units into a single platform, managers at all levels can access, integrate and certify published reports since there is sound basis for its composition. The organization will be able to confidently report key performance drivers to the organization and stakeholders. When the PMS is built with suitable capabilities organizations can publish consistent, relevant and accurate reports in less time and with less effort (Dresner 2008, pp. 149-50). An enterprise wide PMS ensures proper guide is provided for smooth execution of business plans across the organization. When a PMS has all the planning information, integrates all the changes and relevant refinements of business decisions and goals across the organization, incorporates all the resources required to achieve the set out objective of the business units, management will be able to provide clear direction on the execution strategy of the task. Managers at all levels will be able to carry out the business executions confidently, communicated appropriately and effectively the progress and status of the executions. When a PMS can provide an end-to-end operational support structure, managers can confidently decide, monitor and report real time impacts on business decisions which enhance top quartile performance (Dresner 2008, pp. 150-1). A comprehensive PMS builds a generally performance-driven and accountable business organization. When a business operates a PMS that is used to control and manage the organization daily, enormous data of information gained from various business aspects would provide enormous insight into key performance criteria of the organization. An organization emerges that focuses and gains experience in performance-related information gathering, performance-related activity alignment, performance-driven business planning, performance-related analysis, performance-related monitoring, forecast and reporting and a general performance driven culture. These make an organization and employees of the organization more competent and perform better and manage the organization better (Dresner 2008, pp. 151-2). The impact of the main contributions of PMS begins with the nature of PMS implementation in the organization. 3.0 Lessons learned from Performance Management Implementation The article Lessons learned from performance management systems implementations reveals problems that are encountered during the implementation and use of PMSs. Serious problems with PMS implementations could mitigate the contributions expected to be derived from the use of PMS. The article records that fifty six percent of PMS implementations fail before organizations can realise any meaningful benefit from the system (de Waal Counet 2008). In other words, PMS only contributes to organizational and individual performance forty four times for every hundred attempts at its use. 3.1 Causal factors The consideration of the causal factors resulting in PMSs failing at the implementation stage or if implemented not effectively used in organizations is therefore significant. Identified problem areas contributing to this failure includes senior and middle level management paying less importance to the PMS implementation, prolonged, extended and unanticipated resource requirements during implementations, complete lack of resources for the PMS implementation, unfavourable environmental pressures during implementations, perceived lack of focus of the PMS implementation by employees, lack of or not long enough enthusiasm by senior and middle level management on the PMS implementation, mounting resistance or low commitment by employees to the implementation and use of the new PMS, lack of adequate information and computer technology (ICT) infrastructure to support the implementation and use of the PMS, poor use of the PMS by management (such as using it as a punitive tool for employees), incompatibility of PMS with the organizations main objectives, constricted use of PMS (such as only a reporting tool), poor definition and/or poor linkage of the relevant measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) to different individuals and departments of the organizations, lack of competence in the use of PMS, too many or wrong KPIs measured by PMS, lack of an organization change strategy for the use of the new PMS, lack of and/or poor motivation mechanisms for employees in the use of new system, poor performance culture in the organization, no single point responsibility of PMS, lack of or poor general maintenance of the system, difficulties in getting relevant data for performance calculations, no plan to embed its use in the organization beyond management changes and perceived lack of improvement in the organization after using the system for sometime (de Waal Counet 2008). The most important problem areas that had the severest consequences were a lack of top management commitment; not having a performance management (PM) culture; PM getting a low priority or its use being abandoned after a change of management; management putting low priority on the implementation; and people not seeing (enough) benefit from PM (de Waal Counet 2008, p. 367). The enormity of the problems relating to PMS implementation and use reveals the seriousness of removing these impediments if PMS must have a chance to positively contribute to the performance of organizations and individuals. 4.0 Successful Performance Management Implementation The assessment of a properly implemented PMS is important to the performance health of any organization. The American Productivity and Quality Center (2004) reveals the results of successfully implemented PMSs in five companies namely Bank of America, Crown Castle International, JetBlue Airways Corporation, L.L. Bean and Saturn Corporation. It highlights ten success factors that ensured such successful PMS implementation as including the organization measuring its important objectives, incorporating the performance system into its daily operations, reflecting the organizations maturity level in the PMS, making provisions for flexibility in the PMS, simplifying processes in using the PMS, creating successful change plans from the old PMS (if existent) to the new PMS, ensure transparent communication from the PMS to the organization, incorporates the PMS into the organizations culture, structure the PMS with organization structure and ensure a commitment to action based on the results of the PMS. 4.1 Analysis Therefore, the successful implementation of the PMS impacted positively on the organizations. Since the use of PMS represented ninety-four percent of the organizations activities, it can be said that the PMS was applied to the daily operations of the organizations. The result is that business objectives were directly impacted positively. For example, the Bank of America recorded an increase in customers checking account and increase in earning per share. Crown Castle was able to improve their cash flow positively and in some cases beat market expectations for the company. Similar successes were recorded by the other organizations studied. Additionally, organizations were able to demonstrate these positive impacts easily since the use of the system makes all the organizations efforts visible and transparent. For example, Bank of America incorporated a customer performance analysis that enabled the bank demonstrate how and where it had to improve in relation to their customers. Similar ly, L.L. Bean was able to demonstrate analysis of its normal activities in comparison to its seasonal engagements. Other organizations shared the same positive outlook. Subsequently, PMS contributed to the continuous improvement efforts in the organizations. The organizations were able to manage their corporate balance scorecard, manage improvements to the company process and develop future plans based on such improvements. For example, Saturn was able to improve their customer relationship by adapting its PMS to focus on six core values of customer enthusiasm, retail partnership, passion to excellence, teamwork, trust and respect for the individual which resulted in their retailers sharing the same system, consistency in reporting and measurement of criteria. The use of PMS ensured that all the levels of the organization were able to predict future impacts on the business which means that future strategic, tactical and operational plans will be easily broken down and aligned with t he organizations departments. For example, L.L. Bean linked the lower level plans to individuals and the various expected individuals activities calculated to determine the corporate performance indicator. Another area of positive impact was the ease or review and reporting with the use of PMS. Unlike traditional staff performance appraisal that occurs at the end of the year, functional PMSs made it easy to observe, assess and report daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or when required. If the PMS is not delivering on the intended objectives, amendments can be made with little disruption and impact to the business. For example, business performance in Bank of America and Saturn are inputted and analyzed daily to determine gaps, causes, corrective measures or changes in business approach (American Productivity and Quality Center 2004). 4.2 Lessons learned from successful Performance Management System Implementation Hence, the key lessons from these successful implementations highlights the criticality of organizations leaders and employees maintaining commitment to the PMS, populating it, using it daily, embedding it into the organizations culture and training staff. Interestingly, this finding agrees with de Waal and Counet (2008) in the article Lessons learned from Performance Management Implementations in which lack of management commitment was among the severest detriment to successful PMS implementations. Moreso, the implementation revealed that when the organization is assisted by the PMS to be proactive and the organization feels that it is achieving its strategic plans, the PMS continues to remain relevant and effective to the organization. When the PMS is perceived as uncomplicated, provides information to the different departments when needed and enables rewards of hard working employees, the PMS will be easily maintained to provide the critical performance measurements needed by the organization (American Productivity and Quality Center 2004). 4.3 Assessment of the contributions Therefore, a critical assessment of the impact of PMS on Bank of America, Crown Castle International, JetBlue Airways Corporation, L.L. Bean and Saturn Corporation based on successful implementations of PMS could be stated as ensuring business objectives are positively achieved, visible and transparent demonstration of efforts towards goal attainment, highlight of organization improvement areas and efforts applied, prediction of future impacts on the organization, ease of reporting and review of key performance criteria of the organization. Thus, it can be said that these organizations have been impacted positively through the use of the PMS. Therefore the author in its critical assessment is in favor of the argument that PMS delivers enormous value to both individual and the organization and its use should be sustained when implemented. 5.0 The Scorecard System More specifically, a popular performance management system in use today is the scorecard system. Many companies have deployed the use of the scorecard system in strategic management of their organizations performance (Hatch, Lawson DesRoches 2008, p. 7). The impact of using the scorecard system on Suzano Petroquimica Company is assessed next. 5.1 Application of Scorecard System to Suzano Petroquimica Suzano Petroquimica Company (SPQ) is a Latin American industry leader producing polypropylene resins and a major producer of thermoplastic resins in Brazil. With a production capacity of 685,000 tons/year distributed across Latin America, SPQ continued to expand to consolidate its leadership position in the polypropylene business with the goal of being the second largest producer of thermoplastic in the region. SPQ advanced to becoming joint controlling shareholders in other companies that supplied them the raw materials for their business. In 2005, SPQ earned a gross income of $980 million representing a 126 percent sales increase with its 474 employees (Hatch, Lawson DesRoches 2008). That same year SPQ was inducted into the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame due to its massive success in the use and application of the balanced scorecard framework in managing and improving its company performance. To fully understand the impact of the performance management tool (scorecard system) used by SPQ, consideration of the process that resulted in such massive success is explored. To achieve their vision of industry leader in 2003, SPQ followed the process of change management, implementation and observation. During the change management phase, SPQ had to inform the employees clearly of the planned change to the use of the scorecard system, the reason for the change, benefits of employees embracing the change, develop a strategy for measuring, monitoring, assessing and correcting performance at all levels in the organization. During the implementation, SPQ dissected the corporate strategy and assigned actionable parts of the strategy to individuals and departments making the individuals and teams responsible for the outcome of their assignments. To align the entire perspectives of the organization, 650 measures were monitored by the scorecard system. Measures relating to finances were tied to the financial planning system and automated to enable real time cost monitoring. Short term, medium term and long term goals of the organization were also tied to the scorecard system wherein senior management would review the relevant measures to determine the performance and needed performance adjustments required for the different range of goals. Furthermore, to align employee actions to the scorecard system and ensure organization wide use and acceptance, SPQ linked the remuneration system, bonuses, individual objectives and corporate team incentives to the scorecard system. Apart from SPQ achieving industry leader status, it was observed that SPQ noted many benefits from its implementation of the scorecard system. Such benefits included improved and integrated communication between individuals and teams and between teams and management, corporate strategy communicated in a simplified manner, corporate goals performance were linked to remuneration, effect of performance on the measures monitored were visibly related to the corporate strategy, employee actions were aligned to corporate goals and strategy, entire organization worked as shareholders in the company and positive changes of employee behavior since rewards were tied to performance (Hatch, Lawson DesRoches 2008, pp. 131-3). 5.2 Assessment A critical assessment of the contributions of the performance management system scorecard system reveals many positive impacts on SPQ. Implementing the use of PMS in 2003 and within two years achieving the industry leader status as an organization is a massive feat. Additionally, the application of the PMS to individual performance in the organization is significant wherein individuals objectives were not only linked to corporate objectives but hardworking individuals would be rewarded accordingly based on their performance. The author agrees with the evidence that Performance Management Systems contribute positively to organizational performance. However, the author recommends that the linking of individual performance to remuneration and rewards should be categorized (years of experience, degree of training etc.) and with a reasonably fixed remuneration baseline. This is to ensure that new recruits are kept reasonably motivated to continue improving their performance since they w ill not necessarily be able to perform like the more experienced employees. 6.0 Criticism of Performance Management Systems Notwithstanding the benefits of PMS, the current applications of PMS have been criticized on many grounds. Earlier scholars believed that there is too much emphasis on performance rather than individual learning embedded in the PMS. It is argued that a learning approach should be encouraged more in organizations than a performance-based approach towards employees. For example, Barrie and Pace (1999, p. 295) cited in Swanson and Elwood (2009) argues that it is the performance perspective that denies a persons fundamental and inherent agency and self-determination, not the learning perspective. All of the negative effects of training come from a performance perspective. Moreso, Bierema (1997, p. 23-4) cited in Swanson and Elwood (2009) adds that the machine mentality in the workplace, coupled with obsessive focus on performance, has created a crisis in individual development and that valuing development only if it contributes to productivity is a viewpoint that has perpetuated the mech anistic model of the past three hundred years. Dirkx (1997, p. 43) cited in Swanson and Elwood (2009) decries that even the so-called learning that seems to be projected in PMS are defined according to the perceived needs of the sponsoring organization and the work individuals are required to perform regardless of its contribution to the ultimate societys economic competitiveness and therefore the learning is simply a market-driven education. Additionally, Smither and London (2009) criticises four aspect of PMSs namely performance appraisal, accountability, excessive goals and contesting priorities. The philosophy of the performance appraisal aspect of PMS have been criticised as often being poorly developed in organizations and which is usually ill-executed. Also, when there are external and overarching factors such as effects of organizational structure, technology enablers or supply chain resources shortfalls, even a high performer may fail to reach set goals of which these causes may not be discounted in the PMS. Moreover, the idea of performance appraisal usually disruptive conflicts that negatively affect teamwork and damage relationships. It also confuses workers who wonder if there should always strive for the highest rating or identify areas of personal development and risk low performance rating. Therefore employees are usually placed in a position to do what is expected to be done and not necessarily what is kn own to be right because of the fear of being called the low performer. In this context also, performance appraisal can lower self-esteem which can affect workers motivation (Davidson et al. 2009). Accountability is an important part of the PMS. The competence of managers to truly analyse an individual enough to carry a complex psychological process of setting appropriate goals for many individuals, mentoring and coaching them is questioned. Moreover, the ability of managers in the performance management process to balance the roles of telling an employee that the employee is a low performer while at the same time he is expected to be the coach and mentor is questioned in the process. Goal setting is critical to PMS. Locke and Lotham (1990) cited in Smither and London (2009) emphasizes that if there are many goals and enough time it can be accomplished but when there are many goals to be executed at the same time performance can be mitigated. Practitioners suggests seven goals (Smither London 2009) but many organizations have much more goals and sub-goals designated to individuals and teams which is argued will be counter-productive explaining the reason PMSs are not effective. Contesting priorities is a fact of business that draws on the competence of managers and employees. Managers have realised that in the normal course of business huge tradeoffs usually occur beyond the ability of the manager to control in order to achieve the most pressing goal. The application of the balanced scorecard (BSC) proposed by Kaplan and Norton (1996) focussing on assessing performance on four broad areas of the business has been criticised as unrealistic in measuring individual performance since due to tradeoffs, should not be expected to meet all the goals, hence PMS explained as ineffective (Smither London 2009). 7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations Conclusively, a critical assessment of the contributions of PMS to organizational and individual performance reveals that PMS delivers many benefits to the organization when properly implemented. However, organizations confirm that individual performance is improved when Performance Management Systems were deployed. While the debate continues as to the overall benefit of the PMS from an individuals viewpoint, the author believes that Performance Management Systems should be implemented in a manner that satisfies the needs of the individual while satisfying the organizations objectives. While the balance of objectives between individual and organization will not be easy, organizations that make the effort will continue to benefit by retaining the best of workers in the industry.

Terrorism Prevention Program for Homeland Security

Terrorism Prevention Program for Homeland Security Jacob Malone The Department of Homeland Securitys vision is a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards, where American interests, aspirations, and way of life can thrive. In order to accomplish this, according to Chip Fulghum (2016), DHS employs over 225,000 people in jobs from border security to cybersecurity analysis and must work together to combat a wide range of threats. With a wide array of job duties it is clear that their main goal is to keep America safe. According to Roger Kemp (2012), The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally came into being as a standalone, Gabinet-level, department to further coordinate the unify national homeland security efforts, opening its doors on March 1,2003 (p. 28). DHS primary mission is to prevent terrorism and enhance security. Stopping and preventing terrorism is the keystone of DHS. The threat of terrorism to the nation has advanced over the years since the last quadrennial review in 2010. It remains real and even harder to detect. An example of this evolution is the Boston Marathon bombing. We are facing more lone wolf attackers that are inspired and encouraged by fanatical ideologies to radicalize to violence and commit deadly terrorist acts towards Americans. These independent acts are the hardest to detect and DHS will remain vigilant in identifying and countering these threats. DHS Priorities to Secure Against the Evolving Terrorism Threat Identify, Investigate, and Interdict Threats as Early as Possible Shrink the Haystack: Expand Risk Based Security Focus on Countering Violent Extremism and Helping to Prevent Complex Mass Casualty Attacks Reduce Vulnerabilities: Deny Resources, Deny Targets Uncover Patterns and Faint Signals: Enhance Data Integration and Analysis Table 1 Identify, Investigate, and Interdict Threats as Early as Possible Due to the present and development of potential attacks and threats, a prime concern is that these vicious fanatical can move undetected across boarders within conflict zones. An example would be the conflicts in Syria and Yemen where they can train other like-minded people in tactics, skills, and weapons for the use of terrorism. In addition to, many other nations are incapable of securing their own borders and prevent illegitimate movement of people and goods and the inability to collect customs revenues to support governance. As a result, they are on the verge of state failure. DHS and the Departments of State, Defense, and Justice will address the vulnerabilities and improve the safe and protected movement of people and goods by prioritizing support to foreign partners to increase their border supervision, customs integrity, and the capacities and capabilities of their law enforcement. In addition, it is vital to use the information we receive in advance to screen abroad based on risk instead of waiting to screen upon the arrival of the United States. Shrink the Haystack: Expand Risk-Based Security Due to the decentralized nature of the present threat makes it important that we migrate away from a one-size-fits-all type of security approach and move in the direction of risk informed and intelligence-driven. With this new mindset, DHS will focus more on identifying lower risk travelers and cargo in order to spend more time and resources on the people we know less about or pose a higher threat. According to DHS, Trusted traveler and shipper programs such as Global Entry, TSA Preà ¢Ã…“â€Å"à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism advance these objectives and show that effective security and the expedited flow of goods and people can be achieved together (DHS, 2017). They will use several ways to identify lower risk travelers. For example, they will use background check and recognize foreign partner trusted traveler programs. Focus On Countering Violent Extremism and Helping to Prevent Complex Mass Casualty Attacks DHS does not focus on just one form of one particular ideology or protected First Amendment activities, but rather all forms all forms of fanaticism when it comes to countering violent extremism within the U.S. Their efforts to opposing vicious extremism highlight the power of local communities and the premise that well-informed and well-equipped families and communities represent the best defense against these violent acts. DHS supports community based problem solving and local law enforcement programs in order to disrupt and deter recruitment to radicalized violence. According to DHS, DHS jointly develops with federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners training for frontline law enforcement officers on behaviors that may be indicative of violent extremist activity (DHS, 2017). Comparable research into non-ideologically motivated violence provides enhanced understanding into pre-incident behavioral indicators that are linked to mass violence. This give DHS the ability to equip partners with the best tools to identify and mitigate an array of violent attacks. Reduce Vulnerabilities: Deny Resources, Deny Targets Violent extremists will tend to seek out and attack symbolic venues, mass gathering, and critical infrastructure. The best way to protect against these targets is to adopt approaches that are intelligence-led, analytical driven, and pursued in close collaboration with federal, state, local, and private sector partners in addition to the public. The DHS Security Strategy for Mass Transit and Passenger Rail dives further into detail into how they have employed this approach to improve the security of our infrastructure. According to DHS, They will continue to increase an emphasis on deterrence, including enhancing efforts to publicly communicate tailored descriptions of homeland security capabilities to influence the perception, risk calculations, and behaviors of adversaries (DHS, 2017). Uncover Patterns and Faint Signals: Enhance Data Integration and Analysis DHS and its partners must continue and constantly maintain situational awareness. In addition, DHS is dedicated to integrating its data sources, including federating vetting operations. Homeland Security will adopt big data management solutions that will give the investigators and analysts the ability to identify relationships that were once difficult to distinguish. It allows them to identify harmful activity earlier and to intervene or stop these attacks from ever happening. A vital source of data is the Suspicious Activity Reporting from stat, local, and private sector partners that are members of the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative. Another source with a critical role is the If You See Something, Say Something campaign. This campaign encourages citizens to report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement. These efforts will help protect our privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights and allow the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force to quickly view information and share with other FBI Field Intelligence Groups for further analysis. DHS will prioritize and swiftly distribute local or regional joint products through the National Network of Fusion Center and other mechanisms. According to DHS, These joint products, produced collaboratively by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, support operations and provide detailed insight on emerging community or region-specific threats (DHS, 2017). In conclusion, DHS has an enormous responsibility in keeping our nation safe, secure, and resilient against all enemies and other hazards. In order to accomplish this DHS employs over 240,000 people in jobs from border security to cybersecurity analysis. In order to protect us they came up with five priorities in order to secure against the evolving terrorism threat: identify, investigate, and interdict threats as early as possible, shrink the haystack: expand risk based security, focus on countering violent extremism and helping to prevent complex mass casualty attacks, reduce vulnerabilities: deny resources, deny targets, and uncover patterns and faint signals by enhancing data integration and analysis. References DHS. (2014). Fiscal Years 2014-2018 Strategic Plan . Retrieved March 21, 2017, from https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/FY14-18%20Strategic%20Plan_0_0.PDF DHS. (2014). The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2014-qhsr-final-508.pdf Fulghum, C. (2016). Securing the resources that secure the homeland. Armed Forces Comptroller, 61(3), 6-9. Kahan, J. H. (2013). Whats in a name? the meaning of homeland security. Journal of Homeland Security Education, 2(1), 18. Kemp, R. L. (2012). Homeland security in america past, present, and future. World Future Review, 4(1), 28-33.

Waiting for Godot and The House of Bernarda Alba Essay -- Waiting For

In the plays Waiting for Godot and The House of Bernarda Alba, life and death are significant concepts. Life is meaningless in Godot as they merely wait until death, whilst Bernarda Alba depicts futility of life without passion, love or freedom. The House of Bernarda Alba, through Adela’s rebellious spirit signifies living a life that is passionate, while in Waiting for Godot Beckett seems to imply that life is meaningless. Whilst Waiting for Godot focuses more on the metaphorical aspect of death, The House of Bernarda Alba takes on the literal death through Adela’s suicide. As playwrights, Lorca and Beckett convey their views on life and death through their works. Beckett portrays a cyclical, boring existence in Waiting for Godot, whilst dramatic action is explicitly evident in Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. Just as their views on life are contrasting, the two playwrights have different views on death as well. This is caused by the major cultural differenc es between the two playwrights. Lorca’s work is set in the Spanish Culture and the Civil War’s social repression, while the views expressed in Beckett's absurdist play is significantly affected by WWII existentialism. Both Beckett and Lorca agree that death is an inevitable occurrence, however they have different views on its significance. Through the characterization of their main characters, the playwrights illuminate their contrasting views on life and death. Through depicting their main characters significant life events, Lorca and Beckett convey their contrasting view on life. Waiting for Godot indicates no purpose for our actions and existence. Reiterating the purposelessness of life, the lives of the character are a repetitive cycle of meaningless conversation an... ...kett conveys his belief that life is merely a waiting period for one's death, in The House of Bernarda Alba, Lorca through Adele's fiery spirit, shows a passionate life. Thus, through the lives of Vladimir, Estragon and Adela the two playwrights' respective views on life were portrayed. The playwrights’ view of death however, is similar, as both view death as a source of change and insignificant event in society. Life and death is a significant theme explored in both Waiting for Godot and The House of Bernarda Alba, and through these plays, the audience inevitably gains new perceptions for life and death. Works Cited Beckett, Samuel. Waiting For Godot. 3rd ed. N.p.: CPI Group, 2006. Print. Vol. 1 of Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works. 4 vols Lorca, Federico Garcia. La Casa de Bernarda Alba, Manchester University Press, 1984. Print

The Progression of the Medium Change between the Painting with the Digi

The Progression of the Medium Change between the Painting with the Digital Image Albert Borgmann, in his Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life, devises the â€Å"device paradigm† as an illustration of the pattern into which the stuff that defines technological existence falls. Even though Borgmann writes his book in 1984, it is of value to examine the paradigm in context of current developments of technological society. It becomes a question of whether the device paradigm is still applicable to the current technological setting, or if it is truer now than even before. It is thus taken into consideration in light of the specific instance of the thing, as Borgmann uses it, that is a painting prior to the modern period. The specific thing of a painting is contrasted to the technological device of a digital image. The progression of the medium change between the painting to the digital image will be examined as well as the skill it takes to produce them. Availability of these is observed, along with the consequence of such a metamorphosis in the essence of the thing and device. First, however, Borgmann states the thing as a pretechnological object in the Heideggerian sense. The thing gathers the fourfold, being earth, sky, mortals, and divinity. Thus it is something which reveals the world in all its aspects. In this case, a painting of the medieval times is one which is created by a master. The master has undergone a lifetime of training under another master, and the business of the arts is under the guild system. A single painting would take many weeks to complete, and all instruments in its creation are known instinctively to the master. The pigments are hand ground and prepared, as are the brushes and th... ...into a commodity of affluence, and that is what produces disengagement. Affluent commodities disengage in their diversion from focal things, which result in detachment from reality and detachment from the world. As the world is revealed through technological devices, it is no longer a world of humanity, but a world of technology and its devices. Such an existence deteriorates into loneliness and depression, both of which are detrimental to the being of humanity. In truth, it can be said, by line of the preceding argument, that technological existence may well bring about the extinction of the human race, unless it is counteracted. This counteraction, may, as Borgmann claims, lie in a counterbalance of focal things and practices. Works Cited Borgmann, Albert. Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1984.

Review of juvenile crime study source Essay

â€Å"Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults† is an essay by Laurence Steinberg, which expresses his views of if, when, and why youth offenders should be tried as adults. He compares the juvenile system to the adult system and point out hat the two differ in their respective forms of decision making for treatment or discipline. In the recent past, society has redefined the judicial system for juveniles and is striving to get more youth offenders trued and disciplined in adult jail systems (632). According to Steinberg, â€Å"[this] represents a fundamental challenge to the very premise that the juvenile court was founded on – that adolescents and adults are different (632)†, and these forms of discipline are detrimental to the rehabilitation of young criminals. The author poses the question of how effective the judicial system is at determining when a child is to be tried as an adult and points out three very distinct characteristics of an adolescent individual between the ages of 12 and 17. First, he states that â€Å"there are dramatic changes in individuals’ physical, intellectual, emotional, and social capabilities† between these ages (632). Secondly, he claims that between theses ages, individuals that have broken laws are still open to many positive influences that may help them abandon their criminal instincts and tendencies (632). Lastly, he points out that youth offenders who are sentenced to harsh punishments as adolescents often do not recover from the mental harm it causes because it is an important developmental time and these experiences may have lasting and disadvantageous effects on their adult behaviors (632). In a second argument, Steinberg explains that he doesn’t believe that the age of a young defendant should be overlooked and, as seen earlier in the essay, uses three main points to illustrate this idea. First, he expresses that the legal system has a set of regulations and customs which differs from the individualistic and informal setting of a juvenile court (633). For further explanation of the point, the author informs the reader that the differences between the adult and juvenile systems are significant in that the adult system utilizes only punishment in the form of jail time, probation, and labor (work), whereas the juvenile system uses more unconventional forms of punishment which places an emphasis on rehabilitation and cooperative programs to get adolescent offenders back on the right track (633). Secondly, he states that it is questionable whether a youthful offender has the competence to stand trial or not because  of several factors including maturity and mental health status (633). In a tertiary and final point, the author informs the reader that because the adult court is based strictly on punishment, youth offenders have little to no chance for rehabilitation in the adult system (634). In his final argument, Steinberg suggests how he feels certain age groups should be dealt with in the legal systems. He concludes that children under the age of 12 should most definitely not be tried in an adult courtroom, that individuals older than 16 are â€Å"not appreciable different from adults,† and that the decision to try individuals between the ages of 12 and 16 should be based on a n individualized review and personalized assessment of circumstance, case matter, and a multitude of mental, social, and intellectual factors (635). In closing the author reminds us that ther e is no easy way to make the determination of whether youth offenders should be tried as adults, but that â€Å"ignoring the offender’s age entirely is like trying to ignore and elephant that has wandered in to the courtroom. You can do it, but most people will know that something smells foul† (635).

The King of Rock and Roll / The King of Pop

Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson are both called the â€Å"King† of their particular genre of music. They also share many other similarities as well as many differences. Presley as well as Jackson were involved in church as children and both were very close to their mothers. Humble beginnings led both singers to great fame, sales of their albums numbered into the millions. They both excelled in martial arts and had black belts in karate. Presley lived at a theme ranch â€Å"Graceland† and Jackson also lived at a theme ranch â€Å"Neverland†. While the public knew about Michael Jackson's chimp, Bubbles; the fact that Elvis owned a chimp, Scatter, was relatively unknown. In death, they were also similar, both died of heart malfunction due to prescription drug overdose and both died lonely. Elvis and Michael were great philanthropists giving millions to charity. Both men have been impersonated around the world. Due to the tendency to overspend, both men died in debt. Despite the similarities, Michael and Elvis were also very different. While both men started singing as children, Michael was a prodigy and Elvis in school was told that he could not sing. Elvis made his first recording at age 18, with his first performance at age 19. Michael started performing with â€Å"The Jackson 5† when he was 6, and started his solo career at age 13. While Michael wrote most of his songs and created his dances, Elvis wrote only song and borrowed his dance moves from African-Americans. Elvis taught himself to play both guitar and piano, Michael played piano, guitar, and drums but not on a high level. Elvis' fame was based in Europe and the US, whereas Michael was famous worldwide. Both have a star on Hollywood Boulevard, but Michael has two, one for himself and one for The Jackson 5. Michael who was anorexic, died almost a skeleton while Elvis put on weight in his later years due to diabetes. Elvis and Michael made great contributions to the music world, by either building a genre from scratch or elevating an established genre. They shared many similarities but were also both unique. Works Cited Gkane, Marina. Quora. 28 June 2018. 14 October 2018. .