Saturday, December 28, 2019

Meditation Replacement For Patients With Depression Essay

I: Main topic = Meditation replace medication in terms of treating depression. A.Introduce main topic, thesis, terms, etc (Introductory Paragraph) i. Hook: The recognition of depression as a common mental illness should lead to studies regarding what form of treatment is best for a patient, but antidepressants seem to be the unimpressive go-to. ii. Terms discussed in paper: CBT: Cognitive-behavioural therapy; HEP: Health enhancement program; TAU: Treatment as usual; TRD: Treatment-resistant depression; Mediators: Measurable changes during a treatment; MBCT: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy;  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­ iii. Argumentative thesis: Although many people assume medications such as antidepressants are the only way to treat patients with depression, meditation is a better choice of treatment as it prevents relapse in patients that are recurringly depressed, is accepted by a large portion of patients that are typically unwilling to take medication to treat their depression, and rebuilds brain structures affected by the mental illness, iv. Connecting sentence: Furthermore, while medications repress depressive symptoms, the mindfulness taught in meditation teaches an individual how to acknowledge and dismiss such symptoms, resulting in a lower rate of relapse or recurrence of depression. B. Meditation prevents relapse for patients that have been recurringly depressed three times or more (Body Paragraph 1) i. 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Friday, December 20, 2019

The Home School Link Between Home And School - 1436 Words

THE HOME SCHOOL CONNECTION In order to improve the education of disadvantaged children, the existing gaps between home and school need to be addressed. There is a great deal of research evidence showing that home/school connections are beneficial to educational goals. Sanders (2008) reports that home/school partnerships contribute to higher student achievement, improved student behavior and attendance, and more positive school climates. DePlanty, et al. (2007) describe the findings of various research studies regarding the positive impacts that occur when home and school environments are brought together. According to the evidence, these positive impacts occur as a result of parents providing support, encouragement, and reinforcement†¦show more content†¦Various reasons have been identified for why parents and other family members might fail to become adequately involved in the schooling of their children. For example, as reported by DePlanty, et al. (2007) studies have indicated that some parent s tend to become less involved when their children grow into adolescence. This is believed to be due to parents feeling that their involvement is less important with older children, as well as the feeling that adolescents need more independence than younger children. Other findings have suggested that parents will be less involved in their children’s schoolwork if they lack sufficient social networks. There have also been research indications that school involvement is related to the educational level of the parents (DePlanty, et al, 2007). In addition, Christenson Sheridan (2001) note that stereotypical attitudes among both parents and educators contribute to creating barriers between home and school. The problem is particularly acute among the families of disadvantaged children. Parents of poor families often feel that they have more pressing needs to attend to than the education of their children. As Berger (2008) says in this regard, â€Å"concern about finances makes it difficult to provide for housing and nutrition, let alone concentrate on emotional and educational needs of the family† (p. 5). In addition, low-income parents often must work at more than one job, or have preschool children to care for.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

The Impact of Management Planning on the Demise of Arthur Andersen free essay sample

The Impact of Management Planning on the Demise of Arthur Andersen The planning function of management is critical to the success of any organization. Innovative ideas, perfect products, and highly skilled employees fail to become assets if no plans are in place for how these assets will be used to achieve the organization’s goals. In the case of the once, highly successful accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, management’s failure to plan effectively for crises led to its demise. Management Planning at Arthur Andersen In today’s business environment, successful planning involves analyzing inside and outside factors that affect the organization. Strategic decisions should be guided by market knowledge with objectives that are open to change (Lamond, 2004). During a crisis, planning becomes even more important to an organization’s sustainability. For Arthur Andersen, strategic planning by management should have been implemented with regard to how the Enron crisis would affect organizational goals, a tactical plan to address the situation publicly and internally, an operational plan for conducting business during the crisis, and contingency planning to analyze every way possible to keep the organization from failing as a result of the crisis. Crisis Management Planning Legal issues, ethics, and corporate social responsibility all had major impacts on the planning by Arthur Andersen management during their times of trouble. According to James and Wooten (2005), organizational crises can be classified into two types: sudden (such as natural disasters, sabotage, hostile takeover, technology disruption) and smoldering (such as rumors/scandals, mismanagement, workplace safety, class action lawsuits). Because sudden crises are often seen as out of the control of people’s hands, the public is often sympathetic and understanding of a company’s reaction to this type of event. Smoldering crises, however, are perceived to be mostly the result of management failings and are often more damaging to an organization’s reputation (James and Wooten, 2005). With the nation still stunned by the tragic events of 9/11, discoveries of fraudulent activities at Enron and WorldCom—two major clients of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm—captured the public’s attention. Within a few months, close to $200 billion of stockholder and employee investments had vanished (Doost and Fishman, 2004). Partners at Arthur Andersen panicked—shredding a good part of the evidence. Such charged decision-making is driven by adrenaline-fueled emotions and all too often leads to costly mistakes (Malhotra, Ku, and Murnighan, 2008). Such was the case for Andersen, since their panicked reaction, more than the frauds themselves, led to the rapid ruination of this prestigious consulting and auditing firm along with their clients. Legal Issues In June, 2002, a federal jury convicted the Arthur Andersen firm of obstruction of justice for destroying accounting documents related to its work for Enron Corporation. During the summer of 2001, Enron was not Andersen’s only crisis—in July, 2001, a dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was settled regarding Andersen’s work for Waste Management Corporation, and the lead Andersen partners were sued by the SEC on its audit of Sunbeam Corporation. By the middle of August, 2001, Enron warned Andersen of the possibility of an accounting scandal, and, within a month, a crisis-response group was formed by Andersen (Ainslie, 2006). Ethics On October 8, 2001, Andersen attorney, Nancy Temple, let partners know that an SEC investigation was highly probable regarding the Enron case. Two days later, a Houston-based Andersen partner urged personnel to comply with the document retention policy, noting â€Å"if it’s destroyed in the course of normal policy and litigation is filed the next day, that’s great†¦weve followed our own policy and whatever there was that might have been of interest to somebody is gone and irretrievable† (p. 107). Throughout the period until the SEC served its subpoena for records on November 8, 2001, almost two tons of paper were shipped to Andersen’s main office in Houston for shredding (Ainslee, 2006). Arthur Andersen was indicted on March 14, 2002, for obstruction of justice on the grounds that the firm knowingly, intentionally, and corruptly persuaded its employees to destroy Enron-related documents. Corporate Social Responsibility The indictment, conviction, and consequent loss of rights for the firm to appear before the SEC were sufficient to kill the company, which affected not only Andersen’s partners and managers, but also administrative staff and shareholders. In 2001, Arthur Andersen employed over 85,000 people in nearly 390 offices in 85 countries; by the end of 2002, only 3000 people remained (Ainslie, 2006). Even as several of Andersen’s international subsidiaries merged, redundancy of administrative jobs caused many people to lose their jobs. While administrative staff had some difficulty finding new jobs, higher level partners and auditors easily found other jobs or started their own firms. Huron Consulting Group Inc. and Altair Advisers LLC, both created by former Andersen partners, are flourishing. Even the New York-based turnaround firm hired to help Andersen through the crisis, Alvarez and Marsal Holdings LLC, benefited by Andersen’s collapse—expanding its services by hiring several former Andersen auditors and employees (Klein, 2008). One former Andersen tax consultant, Bill Moser, took his experience to the classroom, and his tough but entertaining classes at the University of Missouri are among business students’ top choices (Lease, 2007). Right Approach, Wrong Message Several factors influenced Andersen management’s strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Wise executives tailor their approach to fit the complexity of the circumstances they face† (Snowden and Boone, 2007, p. 68). The management at Andersen clearly had a complex myriad of circumstances hovering around the Enron crisis. The public eye was transfixed on the news media after the horrifying terror attacks of 9/11, and the media coverage of the Enron scandal was brutal as news networks battled for ratings. 2001 already had brought Andersen twice before the SEC because of other big-name clients, and those cases had ended in fines and sanctions against both Andersen and their clients. The stock market was in the beginning of a downward spiral, and the newly-elected president, George W. Bush, had begun to orchestrate tax cuts and regulation rollbacks ¬Ã¢â‚¬â€a president whose post as chief commanding officer of the United States had been decided by a Supreme Court decision due to voting irregularities and legal maneuvers in Florida, where Mr. Bush’s brother happened to be governor (Doost and Fishman, 2004). When the story broke during the Enron scandal about the shredding of key documents, Arthur Andersen faced intense negative crutiny, not only from the media but with the accounting industry as well. Unlike Enron, Andersen immediately implemented a crisis management process—gathered media contacts, set up a public information Web site, ran advertising campaigns, and consistently delivered the message that the indictment was political and Andersen had done nothing wrong. However, Andersen quickly learned how negatively the public views a company th at takes a â€Å"not my fault† approach. Consequently, Andersen was forced to shut down U. S. operations and thousands of innocent employees were out of a job (Jeffs, 2005). Conclusion Management planning can make or break the success of an organization, as is clearly evidenced by the collapse of Arthur Andersen. Andersen management’s failure to manage effectively and ethically the best interests of the organization during a series of crises allowed the Enron scandal to serve as their defining moment. Although in May, 2005, the U. S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned Arthur Andersen’s conviction—citing that the prosecution failed to prove that the firm knew that shredding the Enron documents was wrong and violation of law, the firm already had crumbled (Mokhiber, 2005). However, the fall of Andersen’s mighty empire is not without benefit. Following Andersen’s 2002 conviction, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was passed—federal legislation designed to improve corporate accountability (a direct result of lessons learned from Andersen’s prosecution), making it easier to prosecute for document destruction—and increased the demand for auditing and consulting services throughout the United States.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Comparison of Performance of Two Listed Companies

Question: Discuss about the Comparison of Performance of Two Listed Companies. Answer: Introduction AGL Energy Limited AGL is a 175 years old Australian company. It is the first listed company of Australia. It provides the reliable, safe and affordable energy options. It generates and distributes gas, electricity, solar panels, manufactures related products and provides services. It operates in four business segments; Retail, Merchant Energy, Upstream gas and Energy Investments. It is a big company having staff of 2968employees. It has plants to produce energy through renewal resources like hydro, wind, solar, landfill gas and biomass. Genesis Energy Limited It is a listed public company of New Zealand. It produces electricity and distributes electricity, Natural gas and LPG. It is the third largest electricity generation company of New Zealand. It operates since 1999. It has plants to generate hydroelectric, thermal and wind energy. Their names are Huntly Power Station, Tongariro Power Scheme, Waikaremoana Power Scheme, Tekapo Power Scheme, Hau Nui Wind Farm. It is a growing company having 650,000 customer connections across New Zealand. It has 31% stake in the Kupe Joint Venture, which owns Kupe oil and gas field. Ratio Analysis and Interpretation We can analyse the financial performance and position of the companies by calculating various ratios. Calculations and Inputs are shown in appendix. Net Profit Margin This ratio measures net profit as a percentage of sales. AGL: Net profit margin of AGL is 5.46 in 2014 and 2.04 in 2015 i.e. almost half of the previous year. This is a negative sign. Reason is that operating expenses and depreciation has been increased from last year. Genesis: Net profit margin of Genesis for the year 2015 is 5.04 i.e. almost double of the last year. The reason is increment in net profit because of Change in fair value of financial instruments and slight decrement in operating expenses. Return on assets It measures the net income produced by total assets during a period. It is calculated by dividing net income to the average total assets. It calculates a return on investment made by the company in Assets. High ratio is better. AGL: Return on assets of AGL is 4.15 in the year 2014 and 1.45 in 2015. Reason is decrement in net profits. Moreover company has purchased some assets during the year. Genesis: Return on assets of Genesis is 1.39 in the year 2014 and 2.93 in 2015 i.e. almost double of the last year. The reason is increment in net profit because of Change in fair value of financial instruments and slight decrement in operating expenses. This is a good sign. Current Ratio - It measures firms ability to pay its short-term liabilities from current assets. It should always be more than 1. High ratio indicates that the firm has more than enough assets to pay its short term liabilities. AGL: Current Ratio of AGL is 1.63 in the year 2014 and 1.46 in 2015. Reason is increment in current liabilities on account of borrowings and provisions. Genesis: Current Ratio of Genesis is 1.45 in the year 2014 and slightly decreased to 1.12 in 2015. The reason is decrement in Receivables and prepayments and high increment in borrowings. It can be taken as a negative sign. But on the other hand it can be said the company is using its resources more efficiently as compared to previous years. Quick Ratio It measures the ability of a company to pay its current liabilities with quick assets. Quick assets mean those current assets that can be converted into cash within 90 days or in the short-term. Quick ratio is also called the acid test ratio. High Ratio is better. AGL: Quick Ratio of AGL is 1.54 in the year 2014 and 1.29 in 2015. Reason is increment in current liabilities on account of borrowings and provisions, decrement of quick assets on account of cash and cash equivalents. Genesis: Quick Ratio of Genesis is 1.05 in the year 2014 and decreased to 0.78 in 2015. The reason is decrement in Receivables and prepayments and high increment in borrowings. It can be taken as a negative sign. But on the other hand it can be said the company is using its resources more efficiently as compared to previous years. Debt Equity Ratio - It compares company's total debt to total equity. It shows the percentage of financing that comes from outsiders. A higher ratio indicates that more outside sources are using for funding requirements. That is not a good sign. AGL: Debt Equity Ratio of AGL is 0.48 in the year 2014 and 0.39 in 2015. Reason for this improvement is decrement in the amount of debt. Genesis: Debt Equity Ratio of Genesis is 0.52 in the year 2014 and slightly decreased to 0.46 in 2015. The reason is decrement in the amount of outside debt. Equity Ratio It is the ratio of equity over Total Assets. This ratio implies the part of assets financed by equity i.e. insiders fund. High ratio is better. AGL: Equity Ratio of AGL is 0.54 in the year 2014 and 0.56 in 2015. Reason for this positive change is increment in equity amount and decrement in debt amount. Genesis: Equity Ratio of Genesis is 0.52 in the year 2014 and remains unchanged in 2015. Ratio is average as about 50% assets only are financed by equity. EPS EPS stands for earning per share. This is the ratio which calculates the earnings attributable to each equity share. AGL: EPS of AGL is 1.02 in the year 2014 and reduced to 0.33 in 2015 because of reduction in net profit. Genesis: EPS of Genesis is 0.05 in the year 2014 and increased to 0.10 in 2015 i.e. double. Reason for such change is increment in net profit. DPS - DPS stands for dividend per share. This is the ratio which calculates the part of earnings distributed on each equity share. AGL: DPS of AGL is 0.74 in the year 2014 and increased to 0.90 in 2015. Genesis: DPS of Genesis is 6.6 in the year 2014 and increased to 8 in 2015. Reason for such change is increment in net profit. Comparison of both the companies If we compare year 2015 figures of above two companies, the Net Profit Margin, Return on Assets, Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, Equity ratio, EPS, DPS of Genesis Energy Limited are much better then AGL Energy Limited. As per above ratios Genesis is a rising company. Conclusion On the basis of above analysis we would recommend to invest in Genesis Energy Limited. Genesis Energy Limited shows an increasing trend of profit. It has High returns on investments. Genesis is better than AGL. References com,(n.d.), Introduction of AGL, ,[online], Available athttps://www.agl.com.au/about-agl/who-we-are [Accessedon 26 August 2016] co.nz,(n.d.), Introduction of Genesis, ,[online], Available athttps://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/about-us [Accessedon 27 August 2016] org,(n.d.), financial ratios, [online], Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_ratio [Accessed on 27 August 2016]