The S.E.C. and the Freedom of Information Act

The S.E.C. and the Freedom of Information Act Abstract This report highlights three different business statutes that currently function in the business communications environment of the United States: the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), and the Freedom of Information Act. This report analyzes the impact of a recent interpretation of a provision of the Freedom of Information Act by the Securities and Exchange Commission that governs public disclosure.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The S.E.C. and the Freedom of Information Act specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The S.E.C. and the Freedom of Information Act This report highlights three different business statutes that currently function in the business communications environment of the United States: the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), and the Freedom of Information Act. A recent case concerning the application of the Freedom of Information Act and public disclosure in the activities of the Securities and Exchange Commission warrants closer analysis. This report will analyze the impact that the Freedom of Information Act has upon the financial regulator and what impact recently passed financial reform legislation will have on the public. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) protects electronic communications in the business environment such as emails, text messages and wireless device transmissions, and ensures that these messages cannot be captured or screened without the express consent of the parties in question (Hunsinger 2010). However, some caveats apply in the business context. If there exists a need to protect business property, or a â€Å"valid business purpose† necessitating the acquisition of employee emails, an employer may do so under this act with the permission of the employee in question (Hunsinger 2010). Most compa nies achieve this end through via a blanket company policy which all employees sign (Hunsinger 2010). As a general rule, employees cannot expect the same â€Å"reasonable expectation of privacy† on a server owned by their employee as they can on the server that operates their personal email (Hunsinger 2010). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) covers employee privacy in the realm of health information (Sullivan 2004). This act regulates, oversees and protects the security of electronic health data such as medical records and establishes national standards which employers abide by for employee health insurance plans (Sullivan 2004).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The act’s main purpose and challenge remains to balance the needs of employers to provide economically viable health insurance coverage for their employees agains t the needs of employees, namely, so that employee health information remains secure and cannot be used against them in a discriminatory manner (Sullivan 2004). The Freedom of Information Act became law in 1966 and protects the right of the citizens of the United States to â€Å"request access to federal agency records or information† (Henry 2003). The act was meant to balance the needs of the government to maintain some level of secrecy and privacy in its information gathering and storage against the rights of the American public to request and receive accountability from its leaders. Each agency of the United States government must comply with written disclosure requests except in cases where the information requested is protected by exemption or exclusion (Henry 2003). The Freedom of Information Act applies only to federal bodies; each state retains its own statute that manages public requests for state and local government information (Henry 2003). The remainder of this r eport studies two newspaper articles that reported a new financial regulation provision that came into law in 2010. Under this law, according to Sorkin (2010), the federal financial regulatory body the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gained an exemption from public disclosure of requests for information filed under the Freedom of Information Act (Sorkin 2010). The details of the exemptions include â€Å"surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities† (Sorkin 2010). John Nester, a spokesperson for the SEC, explained that â€Å"the new provision applies to information obtained through examinations or derived from that information (Prial 2010). Nester intimated that the SEC’s expansion of its existing modes of surveillance and risk assessment efforts† have been undertaken to affect â€Å"more sophisticated and effective Wall Street oversight† (Prial 2010). In order to achieve this, the SEC argues, it requires the  "ability to obtain documents and other information from brokers, investment advisers and other registrants,† therefore this new provision gives the SEC more access during their examinations and ensures that brokers and financial investment advisers and other registrants can no longer refuse to comply with any SEC requests for documents under previous confidentiality expectations (Prial 2010). The impact of this new provision, critics argue, will essentially result in a complete block to all transparency efforts on behalf of the American public in the already shadowy world of high finance (Prial 2010). Since the SEC is a regulatory body, the so-called â€Å"surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities† will render nearly every document by the SEC unobtainable (Sorkin 2010). Federal agencies and members of Congress may continue to request information from the SEC however the public has been officially shut out (Prial 2010).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on The S.E.C. and the Freedom of Information Act specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the business context, this new provision has significant ramifications for transparency goals in the wake of the recession, not to mention the continued efforts of the media to maintain public accountability in the financial world. The recent Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme provides the most salient example of how this provision may provide an obstacle for corporate governance and communication transparency objectives on behalf of both business and the public (Prial 2010). News media outlets such as FOX Business Network regularly employ the Freedom of Information Act to affect oversight of the SEC itself on behalf of the American public and investors (Prial 2010). FOX Business Network took legal action against the SEC in the spring of 2009 on account of the federal body’s refusal to hand over documents pertaining to the failed SEC investigations into â€Å"alleged investment frauds being perpetrated by Madoff and R. Allen Stanford† (Prial 2010). Upon the arrest of Madoff and Stanford, it came to light through documents acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, that the SEC had carried out â€Å"investigations into both men prior to their arrests but failed to uncover their alleged frauds† (Prial 2010). Similarly, the Freedom of Information Act was employed on behalf of the public following the AIG bailout in 2009 (Prial 2010). With this new provision, critics argue that the SEC will not only wield carte blanche but their mistakes will escape notice, which may lead to more catastrophic frauds such as the Madoff scandal (Prial 2010). According to Prial (2010) should the interpretation of this new provision stand up in court, critics predict that â€Å"the next time there is a Bernie Madoff failure the American public will not be able to obtain the SEC documents that describe t he failure† (Prial 2010). Observers anticipate that members of the media and media networks will likely launch a legal challenge countering the SEC’s interpretation and demanding that the provision be rescinded in light of possible abuse by the SEC (Prial 2010). According to Prial (2010) â€Å"the backroom deal†¦was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public† (Prial 2010). Reference List Henry, C.L. (2003). Freedom of information act. New York: Nova Publishers. Hunsinger, J. et al. (2010) International handbook of internet research. New York: Springer Publishing.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Prial, D. (2010, July 28). SEC says new financial regulation law exempts it from public disclosure. FOX Business News. Retrieved from https://www.foxbusiness.com/ Sorkin, A.R. (2010, July 28). S.E.C. said to see new limits on its disclosures. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/section/business/dealbook Sullivan, J.M. (2004). HIPAA: a practical guide to the privacy and security of health data. Chicago: American Bar Association.

The results are in! Resume Format Rundown

The results are in! Resume Format Rundown Last week I introduced you to Loft Resumes, a service that provides custom-designed resumes to job seekers in a variety of industries. I also provided sample formats from some of The Essay Expert’s successful resumes. I then asked you to vote on which you preferred. Here’s what the survey looked like for those of you who missed it   Id still love your input! Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the worlds leading questionnaire tool. Thank you to the 25 people who responded to my survey! Here’s the tally: Do you prefer the designs of Lofts designs or The Essay Experts? 1 person preferred Loft Resume’s designs. [This person was in the insurance industry] 17 people (68%) preferred The Essay Expert’s designs. 1 person liked both equally. [This person was in the IT industry. Note that The Essay Expert has some   other formats you might like better!] 1 person did not like either one. [This response came from an attorney. I agree none of the formats presented would be appropriate for an attorney. For attorneys we use much more straightforward designs.] 5 people chose â€Å"Other† and provided the following feedback: ATS Concerns Essay Experts designs are better, but I fear the inserted box and other graphics might skew an Applicant Tracking System preventing the information from being read and stored, costing an applicant the job by not registering properly within its system. If physically scanned, the Essay Expert is more professional and provides information employers want. [from a career professional/resume writer] My response: It is true that text boxes and graphics can skew an ATS system. After posting my article, I was contacted by a representative of Loft Resumes who stated that their resumes do well in Applicant Tracking Systems as well. I would have to test a resume myself to know if that is an accurate statement (Loft does not advertise that their resumes are ATS-friendly). Keep in mind that every job seeker must have TWO resumes: one for the computer robots and one for humans. Hiring managers, in my experience, really love The Essay Expert’s resumes. I do not have any information on their response to Loft’s designs. Too Dense I dont like either one, they are both too dense with info, the eye doesnt know where to go to quickly pick up the pertinent details. [from someone in the High Tech industry] My response: Thanks for your feedback. Thankfully the hiring managers who looked at The Essay Expert’s resumes appreciated something in the resumes, since both of these candidates got job offers for their targeted positions! Neither was in High Tech, and we would certainly use a different format for a high-tech position. Industry-Dependent Design It greatly depends on the industry/position. If in creative industry would prefer LOFT.   AND I think Lofts resumes are a little too designy the design has more impact than the information contained within it. But Lofts could be very good for people in the arts, film production, etc. My response: In fields like marketing and sales, you might be right that LOFT resumes could be viewed more favorably. In a field like graphic design, of course, it would be preferable for the candidate him or herself to design the resume! Its position AND audience specific. My response: I couldn’t agree more. We use different looks and feels for every industry we work with. As stated above, if the audience is a hiring manager a highly formatted resume is generally viewed favorably; recruiters hate them. Even The Essay Experts samples here might be too â€Å"fancy† for an accountant, although two responders in Accounting and Finance stated they were very likely to purchase an Essay Expert resume and very unlikely to purchase a LOFT resume. One responder whose industry is aerospace/defense wrote, â€Å"The Loft’s [formats] would never work in my industry.† And I received one response from a person in â€Å"consulting† who stated he or she would be very likely to purchase from The Essay Expert and very unlikely to purchase from Loft. I like LOFT designs for their uniqueness. They are probably appropriate for someone in more in a creative field versus an executive position. I like Essay Experts designs for their clean, uncluttered appearance. They are easy to read and probably more scannable than the LOFT design. My response: Thank you! I believe I addressed this comment above. â€Å"How likely would you be to purchase a resume design by Loft Resumes, The Essay Expert, or Another Service?† Overall, my readers (who I admit might be predisposed toward resumes by The Essay Expert) are much more likely to purchase a resume designed by The Essay Expert than they are to purchase a resume from Loft or another service. It was also striking to me that 50% were very likely or somewhat likely to purchase a resume from The Essay Expert. A gift to you! Thank you for your support, and if you responded to this survey and are considering purchasing a resume package from The Essay Expert, I will be happy to offer you a 20% discount on any package (maximum discount $100), offer good through April 30, 2012. Note you must complete the survey to qualify for this offer! This is your reward for being a loyal reader and participant in my interactive media opportunities and for reading to the end of this lengthy article! Category:Resume TipsBy Brenda BernsteinApril 16, 2012 2 Comments Rebecca Robin says: April 26, 2012 at 3:39 pm I did not find Preptel to be particularly valuable. For another opinion, I shared the site with a friend who is the head of recruiting for a 900 employee organization. She agreed. While the concept is wonderful, the execution leaves much to be desired. Many of the suggestions to improve keyword matches were nonsensical and words that were important matches were ignored. For example, the program missed the term CAD (computer aided design) but picked up plan and lost the connection between them both. A site I do like is wordle.net, but I use it to get an impression of what words are used most frequently in a job description. I might exchange the words highlighted in wordle with those in my resume to get a closer match. Thank you for your posts, I find them quite helpful. Log in to Reply The Essay Expert says: July 17, 2012 at 4:14 pm Thank you for your comment Rebecca. The issue is that of companies who use ATS systems, about half of them enter the desired keywords by hand, thus making sense to a human, and half let the computers determine the keywords. For that second half, unfortunately the keywords are often non-sensical. Thats why a program like Preptel can be useful! Im glad you are getting value from my posts and appreciate your feedback! Log in to Reply

Business, law, and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business, law, and ethics - Essay Example The first challenge that was experienced by the Company occurred when the Chief Executive Officer, Bernie Ebbers employed Sullivan who was later promoted to the post of a Chief Financial Officer. Sullivan apparently did not possess proper inter-personal skills and his appointment created irritations among the divisional managers. This was also confirmed by the occurrence of conflicting ideas between Sullivan and Sidgmore. The failure of the Company was later propagated by the series of law suits that were experienced when some of the customers complained for fraud and over-charging of the services offered by the Company. The Company had to pay fine in order to compensate these customers hence undergoing massive reduction of profits. Moreover, was blocked on its bid to acquire the shares of Sprint in the year 2000; this was blocked by the regulatory authorities (Justice Department) hence leading to a fall of the share price of the Company. Many people speculated that the World Com Company was at a brink of failing and soon could start selling its shares. Huge amounts of loans were also given to Bernie Ebbers that amounted to 341 million USD; an audit by an external Company also indicated that Ebbers had used some large amount of the Company’s money to perform his personal activities hence exposing the Company to a financial crisis. To begin with, it is evident that the World Com Company did not undertake frequent financial audit hence giving the accountants ample time to conduct fraud and embezzlement of funds; this should have been the first step undertaken to promote transparency in finance department. Auditing would have led to the determination of such problems at an early age hence leading to formulation of effective solutions. Additionally, it is apparent that the top management team, specifically, the Chief Executive

Assignment 2 BA1010 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

2 BA1010 - Assignment Example (Invalid) c. Purchasing decisions are influenced by a consumer’s self-image and desired lifestyle. So, advertising influences purchasing decisions since advertising influences self-image and lifestyle. (Valid) d. Advertisers must try to make potential customers perceive some problem. This is so since problem-solving is the first step in the consumer decision-making process and the first step is probably the most important. (Valid) d. Describe a scenario in which the following sentence is false: Barb retired if and only if she had not saved adequately for retirement. For instance, a mother of three who works as a banker who receives $40K annual income but spends more than what she earns in order to sustain the needs of her family. 8. Symbolize the following arguments then check for validity using a truth table. To simplify, leave the parenthetical parts out of your symbolization. All of the arguments are based loosely on arguments in Chapter One of The Branded Mind by Eric Du Plessis. A. If your client’s purchase was motivated by emotion then it was related to attention. Your client’s purchase was not related to attention. So, your client’s purchase was not motivated by emotion. [You can leave out the parenthetical parts in your symbolization.] B. Either we make decisions in order to feel good or the brain is not in control of our decisions. The brain is in control of our decisions, so we make decisions in order to feel good (and marketers should develop brands accordingly). C. Humans can avoid dissatisfaction in the future (hunger, boredom, loneliness†¦) if and only if consumers plan for future problems. So, either humans can’t avoid dissatisfaction in the future or they don’t plan for future problems. D. Brand choice decisions are based on how a consumer would feel if they decided to buy. If that’s true then the marketer’s job is to manage the feeling that the brain associates with the brand. It follows that the

Fan fiction Essay Example for Free

Fan fiction Essay Fan Fiction writing is the act of writing material with information from someone without their consent either written or otherwise. The written material is then released to the public on grounds that show the material as owner’s original; and doesn’t acknowledge it as re-edited. This will appear as the original material given that the reader had not had a chance to get the very original material. I want to agree that this activity is not legitimate one, the fact that a writer (author) writes their work and it goes into the public arena doesn’t require reframing or amendments. If the reader thinks of that work in another version, let it remain within them. Let not that which they think would have been better of; go out to the public. Interfering with this is wrong. Supposing all the fans decided to alter this original material into their way and everyone has a different understanding of same article? Letting this out to the public as well? Would not people get confused? I believe if a writer wants an opinion about their article, they know how to go about it, they know where to send it or who to give it to before it is released to the public. By the time it is getting to the public it is usually the writer’s best on that. I quite disagree that fun fiction should be a way of improving young writer’s skills of writing. Why cant these young writers come up with themes yet not released to the public and write on them? Why can’t they also get creative? There are so many things that the writers have not covered so far. It is also so wrong for fan writers to write an article and post it using the original writer’s names. Is this not theft? Is it not offensive to impersonate? The text showed this â€Å"Fan fiction is a good way to avoid learning how to be a writer. Fan fiction allows the writer to pretend to be creating a story, while using someone elses world, characters, and plot. Coloring Barbies hair green in a coloring book is not a great act of creativity. Neither is putting lipstick on Ken. Fan fiction does exactly those kinds of things. † A very good example given on the text ‘the extreme analogy: You send me a photograph of your family reunion, titled The Herkimers Get together. I think it looks dull. So I Photo-Shop it to put your friends and relations into compromising positions in various stages of undress. Then I post it on the Internet, under the title The Herkimer’s Get Together, and add a note that it was sent to me from Pete Herkimer of Missoula, Montana. Suddenly there is your face and name, and the faces of the people you care about, doing things that you would never do. Are you flattered that I thought your photograph was interesting enough to use? Or are you insulted and horrified? Are you alarmed that I so clearly connected work that is not yours to your good name? Although I must agree with the statement from the text ‘And As for definitions, to what extent is Paradise Lost a fan fiction of the Bible? To what extent is Tennysons Ulysses a fan fiction of the Odyssey? For much of human history, the concept of creative ownership Hobb seems to be using was thoroughly different: characters could be reused and rewritten as seen fit. Even given the capitalist ownership argument, which I personally find distasteful, narrow-minded, and restrictive, once again, the fan fiction under discussion is NON-COMMERCIAL’ There are those exceptions that would be allowed, the example of Paradise lost, and this seems to be a clearer edition of the Bible as far this generation is concerned. The fact that it is a book used for the continuity of the salvation of human race may need to be re-edited but the change of theme may not be altered. Another importance of fan fiction may be an act that is based on a book and probably is used for literature in schools. The author may have not written it as a play but someone else may act it and this way students may understand the book better as compared to reading it. I know that all the fan writers have a different way of looking at a particular article from that of the original writer and that is they want to reframe it, but I wonder where they were when the story was being created in that way which they don’t settle for. Keeping any ideas of how it should have looked to oneself is the best thing. Can’t people respect the work of others and promote original text writings? Fun fiction sometimes may even change the whole outlook of a story, there must be reasons why an author/writer decides to use some words and leave out others. There is a reason why the chapters in a book follow each other the way they do. In case a fan writer for example interferes with the flow of chapters and decides to bring the last chapter in the middle then any other reader might not find a reason of reading the book to the end. The flow is changed therefore the conclusion of the story comes in the middle, so why go ahead and read what you already know? Fan fiction sometimes is used on the internet, whereby an article from a newspaper may be used and with the application of coral draw; alteration may happen. When this same article is sent to people on the net, it might just convince them since they can see that it is from a legitimate source from a well known editor or writer. While this may happen on basis of malice and once the damage is caused rectifying it may be hard. So generally I know that fan fiction may be damaging. All writers have a chance of developing good writing skills but not through fan fiction as written the text ‘The first step to becoming a writer is to have your own idea. Not to take someone elses idea, put a dent in it, and claim it as your own. You will learn more from writing one story of your own, no matter how bad it is, than the most polished Inuyasha fan fiction that you write. Taking that first wavering step out into the unknown territory of your own imagination is what it is all about. When you can write well enough to carry a friend along, then youve really got something. But you arent going to get anywhere clinging to the comfort of saying, If I write a Harry Potter story, everyone will like it because they already like Harry Potter. I dont have to describe Hogwarts because everyone saw the movie, and I dont have to tell Harrys back story because thats all done for me. I agree with this statement totally. A good writer should have their own ideas and develop those ideas into stories. Reading more will help any writer get skill and get broader but fan fiction writing is demeaning to any writer. It makes a writer wholly rely on an article already thought and written instead of promoting the unique ideas any individual writer may be able to come up with. The danger of letting this continue is that we will never know what the original writer of a story intending us to know. We can never differentiate between fiction and true story. My conclusion would be depending on the intention of the fan fiction writer; this is how it can be looked at as a legal act or an illegal one. The writer in the text who is against this uses so harsh language and I found it not fair since it is not everyone who writes for fan fiction has a bad motive. â€Å"Look, the original author really screwed up the story, so Im going to fix it. Here is how it should have gone†.

Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs :: Ancient Egypt Egyptian History

Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs In Ancient Egypt there were over 29 Kings and Pharaohs and over 5 Queens. Some of the most famous kings and queens were: Ramses II, Ramses III, King Tut, Cleopatra, and Nefertiti. Ramses II (reigned 1279-1212 BC), ancient Egyptian king, third ruler of the 19th dynasty, the son of Seti I. During the early part of his reign Ramses fought to reign the territory in Africa and Western Asia that Egypt had held during the 16th and 15th centuries BC. His principle opponents were the Hittites, a powerful people of Asia Minor, against whom he waged a long war upon. The major battle of this war was fought in 1274 at Kadesh, in Northern Syria, was hailed by Ramses as such a great triumph. In 1258 BC a treaty was signed whereby the contested lands were divided and Ramses agreed to marry the daughter of the Hittite king. The remaining years of his rule were distinguished by the construction of such monuments as the rock-hewn temple of Abà » Simbel, the great hypostyle hall in the Temple of Amon at Al Karnak, and the mortuary temple at Thebes, known as Ramesseum. Ramses III (reigned 1182-1151 BC), Egyptian king of the 20th dynasty, a great military leader who repeatedly saved the country from invasion. In the 5th year of his reign, Ramses defeated an attack by the Libyans from the west, and two years later he routed invaders known as the Sea Peoples. In his 11th year he again repelled an attempted attack by the Libyans. Ramses was also a builder of temples and palaces in the tradition of his 19th-dynasty predecessor, Ramses II. His victories are depicted on the walls of his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, near Luxor. Egyptian records tell of a strike by workers at Ramses's burial site and a plot against the king near the end of his reign. Ramses III was the last of the great rulers and after his death there were centuries of weakness and foreign domination. King Tut or Tutankhamun (reigned 1343-1325 BC), Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, the son-in-law of Akhenaton, whom he succeeded. He became Pharaoh about the age of 9 and ruled until his death; which was about the age of 18. Peace was brought to Egypt during his reign as the worship of Amon, abandoned under Akhenaton, was restored and Thebes, the city sacred to Amon, was again made Egypt's capitol.

Case Brief Essay

Facts: Billie J. Rodman, Appellant was employed by Presbyterian Hospital as a unit secretary for eight years when, on Feb 17, 1987, she was terminated under hospital personnel policies following a â€Å"third corrective action† notice. Prior restrictions had been placed on Rodman’s conduct due to personal problems adversely impacting upon her place of work. Rodman was reprimanded in June 1986 for receiving an inordinate number of personal telephone calls and visitors at her work station, which was disruptive to her own work and to her co-workers. Rodman was to have no personal telephone calls during work hours outside of a designated break or dinner time, in which event they were to occur in an area not visible to patients, physicians, or other department staff. When leaving the department for dinner, Rodman was to report to her immediate supervisor and was not to leave the hospital. Rodman was to make every effort to resolve the matters in her personal life that were causing problems at work. Nevertheless, according to the testimony of her supervisor, extremely disruptive telephone calls continued. The doctors were beginning to comment on it. The staff was getting more distressed. According to her supervisor, â€Å"[A]gain we talked about the visits, the behavior at the desk. When it got pretty bad with the phone calls, Billie would slam charts, push chairs and be a little abrupt with the people she worked with.† Another written reprimand in November of 1986 warned Rodman that her job was in jeopardy if the disruptive behavior continued. The supervisor established restrictions prohibiting the claimant from having visitors at the department and instructed her to notify security if there was a potential problem. On February 15, 1987, Rodman began work at 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon. She had spoken to her boyfriend’s mother earlier  in the day to tell her that she did not want him to use her car as she had broken off their relationship. The boyfriend’s mother called her at work and told her the boyfriend had her car keys. Rodman told the mother to h ave the boyfriend call her at work. When he did, she informed him that she could not talk to him at her duty station, and he hung up on her. He called her back and left a number where he could be reached. She left the work area and went to the break room to call him. After returning to her duty station, Rodman got another telephone call from her boyfriend who told her to go downstairs to the lobby to meet him and pick up the keys. When she refused, he told her that if she did not come down he would come up to her department. Claimant left the department to confront her boyfriend, and, because her supervisor was at lunch in the hospital cafeteria, Rodman notified a co-worker, a registered nurse, that she was leaving. Rodman testified, â€Å"I didn’t want any kind of confrontation at the desk, so I went downstairs.† Before she left her desk, Rodman called the employer’s security guard and asked him to meet her in the lobby because she anticipated that a problem could develop. When Rodman got to the lobby, her boyfriend started yelling and forced her outside. In doing so, he tore her shirt. At this point the security guard arrived and observed them arguing. Rodman was in the passenger seat of her car. The security guard instructed the boyfriend to return the keys, but the boyfriend jumped into the driver’s seat, locked the doors and drove off. About thirty-five minutes later, Rodman returned to her work station, after having changed her torn shirt. She resumed working, but, as the shift progressed, more telephone calls were received for her in the department. The supervisor became frustrated with the volume of calls and the behavior of Rodman. It was determined that Rodman should be sent home. Thereafter she was terminated. Issue: At Issue is whether the misconduct which warranted termination from unemployment rose to the level of misconduct which would warrant denial of unemployment compensation under NMSA 1978, section 51-1-7 of the Unemployment Compensation Law. Whether the events of a third party constituted the â€Å"last straw doctrine.† Rule: â€Å"[M]isconduct† * * * is limited to conduct evincing such wilful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violations or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has the right to expect of his employee, or in carelessness or negligence of such degree or recurrence as to manifest equal culpability * * *. [M]ere inefficiency, unsatisfactory conduct, failure in good performance as the result of inability or incapacity, inadvertencies or ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good faith errors in judgment or discretion are not to be deemed â€Å"misconduct† within the meaning of the statute. Application: Rodman had a history of wanton or wilful disregard for the employer’s interest and was discharged for the accumulation of those events, including the precipitating event. Rodman’s conduct on February 15, considered in light of totality of circumstances including her previous history or personal phone calls and unauthorized visitors, showed a—willful or wanton disregard for her employer’s interests–. Rodman did not comply with her previous restriction put on her by her employer which was ground’s enough for termination and denial of unemployment benefits. The last straw was applied in this case due to Ms. Rodman’s totality of circumstances. Conclusion: Decision was affirmed by the courts in light that Ms. Rodman’s actions on February 15, which when it was considered in light of restrictions that where upon her previous failure to comply with those restrictions, demonstrated a willful disregard for her employer’s interests.

JG-TAG

From teaching prospective natural language processing is superior due in large part to the â€Å"domain of locality â€Å"in this theory. Also it provides a brilliant framework to represent different verb classes using tag trees. TAG has always excelled in providing context sensitivity to a basic rule system and a lexicalized JG grammar implementation would allow JG structures that have previously been represented programmatically to be described in a more easily visualized and maintainable data structure format. The verb class JG-TAG trees would also simplify the lexical rules by attaching them to specific verbs and allowing them to be limited to the context of a specific verb. One of the exercises in creating such a system would involve the format of lexical rules that would be attached to the JG-TAG trees. Each JG-like rule in the tree specifies left-to-right, right-to-left or discontinuous ordering. Recall that the JG approach involves in-situ wh-elements and a specific traversal order without creating target nodes for movement. Thus the algorithm for deciding traversal would reflect, but not implement, movement. The documentation and implementation papers for the JG ordering algorithms and transfer language used in an early machine translation project could be a good starting point for a JG-TAG system (Melby 1974, Gessel 1975). Another challenge would be matching and using features attached to JG nodes with the TAG feature capabilities. TAG unification features that prevent more than one tense-bearing verb to be attached usually would be implemented by JG lexical agreement rules. However, the feature unification approach from TAG provides a straightforward manner to keep track of main and auxiliary verbs and their inflections as a sentence is created from the tree. Mandatory, optional and null adjunction constraints allow the relationships between the various TAG tree sets to be carefully defined, linked together and maintained. Expert rule systems generally need these kinds of constraints in order to assure tractable development and maintenance. These same capabilities would be very advantageous to link together JG tree fragments that would define a working grammar for a particular language. The power of the MC-TAG trees that encapsulate semantic relationships would then output not just a surface ordered derived tree but an order-independent syntax/semantics representation less dependent on th derivation tree for semantic relationships. The JG trees are not at as low a semantic level as the derivation tree but provide structure related to the original utterance (e.g. active vs. passive) and are very rich in specific syntax and semantic relationships (e.g. themes and verb classes with thematic roles (Millett, 1975)) between the concepts of the utterance. Comparative and quantifier structures have a particularly rich semantic structure in JG (Lytle 1985) and a JG-TAG system could facilitate comparison of the capabilities of a JG-based text-understanding application to other standard approaches. A JG-TAG system could also provide a standardized application and coding framework for using Junction Grammar. Conclusions As TAG formalisms have been applied to natural languages, their advantages over context-free phrase structure rules have become more apparent. Many useful re- finements to the basic TAG formalism have supported a wide variety of structures. Meanwhile JG embodies rather different assumptions than do traditional theories: a separation of linguistic data via conceptual and articulation trees, junction operators on non-terminal nodes, multiple-linked tree structures, and flexible traversal of lexical rules. The appreciable overlap of approaches with TAG and JG has prompted this discussion on combining the benefits of both theoretical systems to represent and process Junction Grammar trees. The advantages of the mildly context sensitive lexical JG-TAG system proposed in this paper can expand the domain of locality for JG trees, simplify lexical rules by attaching them to supertag class trees and draw on the extensive NLP experience using TAG based systems to benefit JG. TAG could likely also benefit from junctions, ordering, and multiple tree enhancements from Junction Grammar.

3 Sentences with Unnecessary Semicolons

3 Sentences with Unnecessary Semicolons 3 Sentences with Unnecessary Semicolons 3 Sentences with Unnecessary Semicolons By Mark Nichol Semicolons, used to separate two independent clauses or two or more words and/or phrases in a list when at least one phrase is itself a list whose items are separated by commas, are sometimes erroneously employed when those conditions do not exist. Here are three such sentences, each followed by a discussion and a revision. 1. The regulation extends the civil market abuse regime to new markets and instruments; adds extraterritorial scope; and introduces a new offence of attempted market manipulation. A long sentence that lists several things with extended phrasing does not merit semicolons; commas are sufficient the separate the elements: â€Å"The regulation extends the civil market abuse regime to new markets and instruments, adds extraterritorial scope, and introduces a new offence of attempted market manipulation.† 2. The organization saw an opportunity to connect more clearly with a multitude of stakeholder expectations; position risk in the context of an enterprise’s performance, rather than as the focus of an isolated exercise; and enable organizations to become more anticipatory. This sentence does not require semicolons, either- â€Å"rather than as the focus of an isolated exercise† is clearly parenthetical to the second item, not part of a list within a list: â€Å"The organization saw an opportunity to connect more clearly with a multitude of stakeholder expectations, position risk in the context of an enterprise’s performance, rather than as the focus of an isolated exercise, and enable organizations to become more anticipatory.† (Notice how each item begins with a verb, signaling a clear syntactical structure.) 3. Advances in digital technologies- including intelligent devices and machines; virtual reality; mobile technologies; cloud computing; social business; and smart grids, factories, and cities in an app-centric world- are driving disruptive change. Only one item in this list itself consists of a list, and it is the last item, so no confusion about the organization of the sentence is likely: â€Å"Advances in digital technologies- including intelligent devices and machines, virtual reality, mobile technologies, cloud computing, social business, and smart grids, factories, and cities in an app-centric world- are driving disruptive change.† An alternative is to set the final item apart from the others: â€Å"Advances in digital technologies- including intelligent devices and machines, virtual reality, mobile technologies, cloud computing, and social business, as well as smart grids, factories, and cities, in an app-centric world- are driving disruptive change.† This version also avoids the cluttered look of a semicolon-laden sentence, though it makes the sentence slightly more complex. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point ArcTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?48 Writing Prompts for Middle School Kids

Gorgosaurus - Facts and Figures

Gorgosaurus - Facts and Figures Name: Gorgosaurus (Greek for fierce lizard); pronounced GORE-go-SORE-us Habitat: Floodplains of North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 30 feet long and 2-3 tons Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; sharp teeth; stunted arms    About Gorgosaurus In many ways, Gorgosaurus was your garden-variety tyrannosaurnot quite as big (or as famous) as Tyrannosaurus Rex, but every bit as dangerous from the point of view of smaller, herbivorous dinosaurs. What really sets Gorgosaurus apart among paleontologists is that this dinosaur has left an unusually large number of well-preserved specimens (from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada), making it one of the best-represented tyrannosaurs in the fossil record. Gorgosaurus is believed to have occupied the same North American territory as another fairly generic tyrannosaur, Daspletosaurusand some experts think it might really have been a species of yet another tyrannosaur genus, Albertosaurus. This confusion can be attributed to the fact that Gorgosaurus was discovered about 100 years ago (by the famous paleontologist Lawrence M. Lambe), at a time when much less was known about the evolutionary relationships and characteristics of theropod dinosaurs. One interesting analysis of the growth patterns of Gorgosaurus has concluded that this tyrannosaur had an unusually long juvenile phase, after which it underwent a sudden growth spurt (in the course of two or three years) and achieved its full adult size. This implies that juvenile and full-grown tyrannosaurs inhabited different ecological niches during the late Cretaceous period, and probably subsisted on different prey as well. (And if you have hungry toddlers at home, imagine what it means for a one-ton dinosaur to go through a growth spurt!)

Simple staining and Gram staining Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Simple staining and Gram staining - Lab Report Example Microbiology is a branch of biology which is considered vital in bringing a profound understanding of microorganisms and how they effect and react on other living organisms. Microbes are tiny organisms that can only be seen with an aid of a microscope. The tiny nature of microbes has revolutionized the use of stains to aid in having a vivid and transparent picture of microbes under microscope (Ryu 60). Because the bacterial cell is transparent, motile and difficult to see when using microscope, cells are stained to make them more visible. Staining tends to provide a reliable and clear means for observing bacteria’s morphology, relative size, and cellular arrangement. Gram staining and simple staining are the ultimate procedures that were used. 1. Place a loopful of culture into a test tube consisting of sterile distilled water so as to make a suspension of bacterial cells on the water. Place that bacterial suspension on a clear or clean slide. This will give room for the bacteria to air dry. 2. Heat fixing the bacteria cells by passing the slide quickly over the flame (Bunsen burner) three or four times, ensuring that the glass surface is exposed to the flame. Ensure that the slide is not so hot to be uncomfortable when touch. Simple stains allow us to distinguish the ultimate shape (morphology) of the mounted bacteria. Bacillus Subtillus and E. coli turned out to be rod-shaped. Many bacilli tend to occur singularly, but in some cases, chains are also observed. Bacilli are greatly in diameter and length. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus are spherical (cocci). They may culminate singularly, in clusters such as Staphylococcus aureus or others in pairs such as Streptococcus pneumonia. R. rubrum was observed to be a curved bacterium (spirillum). It culminates singularly. The bacteria that stains blue is considered to be a Gram-positive while the bacteria that stains pink is considered to be Gram negative.

Assignment 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

3 - Assignment Example ossessed, populated, containing multiunit accommodations like flats or apartments, having elevated mobility rate of residents and containing families with family issues such as separations or divorces or having single parents. Such communities are not only disorganized, but also play a role in increased causation of crime. Parents in such communities are usually poor and are unable to socialize their children against crime. They wait for the time when they get a chance to change their community. The people of such communities do not work towards welfare of community as they are over burdened with their own family issues (McNeeley, 2014). The inner city areas are largely inhabited by minorities that are usually discriminated and poor form socially disorganized communities. The increase in such communities is because of reduced employment opportunities, reduced wages, migration of people and governmental policies with lacking social services to the poor. The social disorganization theories cannot only explain the occurrence of street violence in todays inner-city communities, but also offer ways to organize such communities. The delinquent activities such as street violence can be deterred by attending to the root causes of crime by analyzing the theories and reading the behavior of criminals in the light of their placement in socially disorganized setups (McNeeley, 2014). The behavior of Silvio and Armando is explainable in the light of social disorganization theory. Ariella, their mother, a single parent got homeless with her children after which, she got into a community of homeless people. As described by the social disorganization theory, these communities contain homeless, poor, economically deprived and people with family issues, so Ariella’s family was one among them. She tried to take care of her children by taking them to museums, concerts and restaurants, but their residing places were usually more crime affected. People in the communities where they