International Monetary System Free Essays

International monetary systems are sets of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions that facilitate international trade, cross border investment and generally the reallocation of capital between nation states. They provide means of payment acceptable between buyers and sellers of different nationality, including deferred payment. To operate successfully, they need to inspire confidence, to provide sufficient liquidity for fluctuating levels of trade and to provide means by which global imbalances can be corrected. We will write a custom essay sample on International Monetary System or any similar topic only for you Order Now The systems can grow organically as the collective result of numerous individual agreements between international economic actors spread over several decades. Alternatively, they can arise from a single architectural vision as happened at Bretton Woods in 1944. Historical overview Throughout history, precious metals such as gold and silver have been used for trade, termed bullion, and since early history the coins of various issuers – generally kingdoms and empires – have been traded. The earliest known records of pre – coinage use of bullion for monetary exchange are from Mesopotamia and Egypt, dating from the third millennium BC. 1] Its believed that at this time money played a relatively minor role in the ordering of economic life for these regions, compared to barter and centralised redistribution – a process where the population surrendered their produce to ruling authorities who then redistrubted it as they saw fit. Coinage is believed to have first developed in China in the late 7th century, and independently at around the same time in Lydia, Asia minor, from where its use spread to near by Greek cities and later to the rest of the world. 1] Sometimes formal monetary systems have been imposed by regional rules. For example scholars have tentatively suggested that the ruler Servius Tullius created a primitive monetary system in the archaic period of what was to become the Roman Republic. Tullius reigned in the sixth century BC – several centuries before Rome is believed to have developed a formal coinage system. [2] As with bullion, early use of coinage is believed to have been generally the preserve of the elite. But by about the 4th century they were widely used in Greek cities. Coins were generally supported by the city state authorities, who endeavoured to ensure they retained their values regardless of fluctuations in the availability of whatever base precious metals they were made from. [1] From Greece the use of coins spread slowly westwards throughout Europe, and eastwards to India. Coins were in use in India from about 400BC, initially they played a greater role in religion than trade, but by the 2nd century had become central to commercial transactions. Monetary systems developed in India were so successful they continued to spread through parts of Asia well into the Middle Ages. [1] As multiple coins became common within a region, they have been exchanged by moneychangers, which are the predecessors of today’s foreign exchange market. These are famously discussed in the Biblical story of Jesus and the money changers. In Venice and the Italian city states of the early Middle Ages, money changes would often have to struggle to perform calculations involving six or more currencies. This partly let to Fibonacci writing his Liber Abaci where he popularised the use of Arabic numerals which displaced the more difficult roman numerals then in use by western merchants. [3] Historic international currencies. From top left: crystalline gold, a 5th century BCE Persian daric, an 8th century English mancus, and an 18th century Spanish real. When a given nation or empire has achieved regional hegemony, its currency has been a basis for international trade, and hence for a de facto monetary system. In the West – Europe and the Middle East – an early such coin was the Persian daric, of the Persian empire. This was succeeded by Roman currency of the Roman empire, such as the denarius, then the Gold Dinar of the Muslim empire, and later – from the 16th to 20th centuries, during the Age of Imperialism – by the currency of European colonial powers: the Spanish dollar, the Dutch Gilder, the French Franc and the British Pound Sterling; at times one currency has been pre-eminent, at times no one dominated. With the growth of American power, the US Dollar became the basis for the international monetary system, formalized in the Bretton Woods agreement that established the post-World War II monetary order, with fixed exchange rates of currencies to the dollar, and convertibility of the dollar into gold. Since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, culminating in the Nixon shock of 1971, ending convertibility, the US dollar has remained the de facto basis of the world monetary system, though no longer de jure, with various European currencies and the Japanese Yen being used. Since the formation of the Euro, the Euro has gained use as a reserve currency and a unit of transactions, though the dollar has remained the primary currency. A dominant currency may be used directly or indirectly by other nations – for example, English kings minted gold mancus, presumably to function as dinars to exchange with Islamic Spain, and more recently, a number of nations have used the US dollar as their local currency, a custom called dollarization. Until the 19th century, the global monetary system was loosely linked at best, with Europe, the Americas, India and China (among others) having largely separate economies, and hence monetary systems were regional. European colonization of the Americas, starting with the Spanish empire, led to the integration of American and European economies and monetary systems, and European colonization of Asia led to the dominance of European currencies, notably the British pound sterling in the 19th century, succeeded by the US dollar in the 20th century. Some, such as Michael Hudson, foresee the decline of a single basis for the global monetary system, and instead the emergence of regional trade blocs, citing the emergence of the Euro as an example of this phenomenon. See also Global financial systems , world-systems approach and polarity in international relations. It was in the later half of the 19th century that a monetary system with close to universal global participation emerged, based on the gold standard. History of modern global monetary orders The pre WWI financial order: 1870–1914  From the 1870s to the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the world benefited from a well integrated financial order, sometimes known as the First age of Globalisation. [4] [5] Money unions were operating which effectively allowed members to accept each others currency as legal tender including the Latin Monetary Union (Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, France) and Scandinavian monetary union (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). In the absence of shared membership of a union, transactions were facilitated by widespread participation in the gold standard, by both independent nations and their colonies. Great Britain was at the time the world’s pre-eminent financial, imperial, and industrial power, ruling more of the world and exporting more capital as a percentage of her national income than any other creditor nation has since. [6] While capital controls comparable to the Bretton Woods System were not in place, damaging capital flows were far less common than they were to be in the post 1971 era. In fact Great Britain’s capital exports helped to correct global imbalances as they tended to be counter cyclical, rising when Britain’s economy went into recession, thus compensating other states for income lost from export of goods. Accordingly, this era saw mostly steady growth and a relatively low level of financial crises. In contrast to the Bretton Woods system, the pre-World War I financial order was not created at a single high level conference; rather it evolved organically in a series of discrete steps. The Gilded Age, a time of especially rapid development in North America, falls into this period. Between the World Wars: 1919–1939 The years between the world wars have been described as a period of de-globalisation, as both international trade and capital flows shrank compared to the period before World War I. During World War I countries had abandoned the gold standard and, except for the United States, returned to it only briefly. By the early 30’s the prevailing order was essentially a fragmented system of floating exchange rates . [8] In this era, the experience of Great Britain and others was that the gold standard ran counter to the need to retain domestic policy autonomy. To protect their reserves of gold countries would sometimes need to raise interest rates and generally follow a deflationary policy. The greatest need for this could arise in a downturn, just when leaders would have preferred to lower rates to encourage growth. Economist Nicholas Davenport [9] had even argued that the wish to return Britain to the gold standard, â€Å"sprang from a sadistic desire by the Bankers to inflict pain on the British working class. † By the end of World War I, Great Britain was heavily indebted to the United States, allowing the USA to largely displace her as the worlds number one financial power. The United States however was reluctant to assume Great Britain’s leadership role, partly due to isolationist influences and a focus on domestic concerns. In contrast to Great Britain in the previous era, capital exports from the US were not counter cyclical. They expanded rapidly with the United States’s economic growth in the twenties up to 1928, but then almost completely halted as the US economy began slowing in that year. As the Great Depression intensified in 1930, financial institutions were hit hard along with trade; in 1930 alone 1345 US banks collapsed. During the 1930s the United States raised trade barriers, refused to act as an international lender of last resort, and refused calls to cancel war debts, all of which further aggravated economic hardship for other countries. According to economist John Maynard Keynes another factor contributing to the turbulent economic performance of this era was the insistence of French premier Clemenceau that Germany pay war reparations at too high a level, which Keynes described in his book The Economic Consequences of the Peace. The Bretton Woods Era: 1945–1971 British and American policy makers began to plan the post war international monetary system in the early 1940s. The objective was to create an order that combined the benefits of an integrated and relatively liberal international system with the freedom for governments to pursue domestic policies aimed at promoting full employment and social wellbeing . 11] The principal architects of the new system, John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, created a plan which was endorsed by the 42 countries attending the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. The plan involved nations agreeing to a system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates where the currencies were pegged against the dollar, with the dollar itself convertible into gold. So in effect this was a gold – dollar exchange standard. There were a number of improvements on the old gold standard. Two international institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank were created; A key part of their function was to replace private finance as more reliable source of lending for investment projects in developing states. At the time the soon to be defeated powers of Germany and Japan were envisaged as states soon to be in need of such development, and there was a desire from both the US and Britain not to see the defeated powers saddled with punitive sanctions that would inflict lasting pain on future generations. The new exchange rate system allowed countries facing economic hardship to devalue their currencies by up to 10% against the dollar (more if approved by the IMF) – thus they would not be forced to undergo deflation to stay in the gold standard. A system of capital controls was introduced to protect countries from the damaging effects of capital flight and to allow countries to pursue independent macro economic policies [12] while still welcoming flows intended for productive investment. Keynes had argued against the dollar having such a central role in the monetary system, and suggested an international currency called Bancor be used instead, but he was overruled by the Americans. Towards the end of the Bretton Woods era, the central role of the dollar became a problem as international demand eventually forced the US to run a persistent trade deficit, which undermined confidence in the dollar. This, together with the emergence of a parallel market for gold where the price soared above the official US mandated price, led to speculators running down the US gold reserves. Even when convertibility was restricted to nations only, some, notably France,[13] continued building up hoards of gold at the expense of the US. Eventually these pressures caused President Nixon to end all convertibility into gold on 15 August 1971. This event marked the effective end of the Bretton Woods systems; attempts were made to find other mechanisms to preserve the fixed exchange rates over the next few years, but they were not successful, resulting in a system of floating exchange rates. 13] The post Bretton Woods system: 1971 – present An alternative name for the post Bretton Woods system is the Washington Consensus. While the name was coined in 1989, the associated economic system came into effect years earlier: according to economic historian Lord Skidelsky the Washington Consensus is generally seen as spanning 1980–2009 (the latter half of the 1970s being a transitional period). [14] The transition away from Bretton Woods was marked by a switch from a state led to a market led system. 4] The Bretton Wood system is considered by economic historians to have broken down in the 1970s:[14] crucial events being Nixon suspending the dollar’s convertibility into gold in 1971, the United states abandonment of Capital Controls in 1974, and Great Britain’s ending of capital controls in 1979 which was swiftly copied by most other major economies. In some parts of the developing world, liberalisation brought significant benefits for large sections of the population – most prominently with Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in China since 1978 and the liberalisation of India after her 1991 crisis. Generally the industrial nations experienced much slower growth and higher unemployment than in the previous era, and according to Professor Gordon Fletcher in retrospect the 1950s and 60s when the Bretton Woods system was operating came to be seen as a golden age. [15] Financial crises have been more intense and have increased in frequency by about 300% – with the damaging effects prior to 2008 being chiefly felt in the emerging economies. On the positive side, at least until 2008 investors have frequently achieved very high rates of return, with salaries and bonuses in the financial sector reaching record levels. The â€Å"Revived Bretton Woods system† identified in 2003 From 2003, economists such as Michael P. Dooley, Peter M. Garber, and David Folkerts-Landau began writing papers[16] describing the emergence of a new international system involving an interdependency between states with generally high savings in Asia lending and exporting to western states with generally high spending. Similar to the original Bretton Woods, this included Asian currencies being pegged to the dollar, though this time by the unilateral intervention of Asian governments in the currency market to stop their currencies appreciating. The developing world as a whole stopped running current account deficits in 1999 [17] – widely seen as a response to unsympathetic treatment following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. The most striking example of east-west interdependency is the relationship between China and America, which Niall Ferguson calls Chimerica. From 2004, Dooley et al. began using the term Bretton Woods II to describe this de facto state of affairs, and continue to do so as late as 2009. Others have described this supposed â€Å"Bretton Woods II†, sometimes called â€Å"New Bretton Woods†,[19] as a â€Å"fiction†, and called for the elimination of the structural imbalances that underlie it, viz, the chronic US current account deficit. [20] However since at least 2007 those authors have also used the term â€Å"Bretton Woods II† to call for a new de jure system: for key international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to be revamped to meet the demands of the current age,[21] and between 2008 to mid 2009 the terms Bretton Woods II and New Bretton Woods was increasingly used in the latter sense. By late 2009, with less emphases on structural reform to the international monetary system and more attention being paid to issues such as re-balancing the world economy, Bretton Woods II is again frequently used to refer to the practice some countries have of unilaterally pegging their currencies to the dollar. How to cite International Monetary System, Essay examples

Strategic Management of Project Information Systems

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management of Project Information Systems. Answer: Introduction: There are some of the important issues required to be implemented to support the software developed by the software developer for supporting the client and their student to efficiently manage the online learning system. The client of the software company are the colleges providing service to students and one of the client provides service to the students with disability. Thus the system is required to be developed meeting the requirement of the normal client and the client which provides service to the children with disability (Conde et al. 2014). Thus, the information system is required to be developed meeting the requirement of all the clients. For the successful implementation of the system the various needs and accessibility of the people with disability is required to be analyzed. Several technologies such as screen reading software, screen magnification software, alternative input device, Braille display can be used for redesigning and implement the software support for the cli ent and the student. The involvement of the Green ICT for the web 2.0 is about reducing the impact of ICT on the environment. The web 2.0 should be developed to consume less resources and thus reducing the energy consumption of data centers, computers and servers. For developing a green web 2.0 website new technologies are needed to be implemented that increases the efficiency of the system and reducing the environmental footprints. The choosing of the appropriate technology is the main problem faced by the information and communication technological experts. For the implementation of the green ICT the organizational structure is needed to be analyzed and the new technology should be implemented aligning the technology with the business strategy (Ward and Peppard 2016). The impact of the implementation of the ICT technology is also analyzed that would help the organization to play an important role for the transition of low-carbon environmental society. The cloud computing can be implemented for a greene r ICT and the reducing the cost of running database server in an organization. Building a computer, on a production line of identical computers is a process. This is a process because it is part of the project and is a repetitive sequence of task. Building a house, as a series of identical houses all over Australia is a project, it meets the criteria of the project, which has a beginning and end (Yang, Chen and Chou 2014). Upgrading a computer from windows 7 to windows 10 is defined as a process because it has an objective which defines the ongoing operation. Upgrading all 120 computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10 is considered as a project because the objective s broadly defined and might change in future and the sequence of task in a project is repetitive. References Conde, M.., Garca-Pealvo, F.J., Rodrguez-Conde, M.J., Alier, M., Casany, M.J. and Piguillem, J., 2014. An evolving Learning Management System for new educational environments using 2.0 tools.Interactive Learning Environments,22(2), pp.188-204. Ward, J. and Peppard, J., 2016.The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy. John Wiley Sons. Yang, L.R., Chen, J.H. and Chou, S.C., 2014. KM as a Facilitator for Project Performance Through Team Process: Does Information Technology Make a Difference?.International Journal of Information Technology Decision Making,13(05), pp.937-956.

Information Technology Services Virtualization and IT Infrastructure

Question: Discuss about the Information Technology for Services Virtualization and IT Infrastructure. Answer: Introduction Services virtualization and IT infrastructure consolidation offer screening services, strategy, design and implementation through data center infrastructure and application environment. It helps to develop a virtualization strategy that meets your business needs and using IT systems and HP converged infrastructure solutions, in conjunction with years of experience to create a customized solution (Crosby, Garcia, Williams, 2007) IT managers say that consolidation and virtualization are your priorities as major efficiency initiatives. But they worry that will impact projects large-scale consolidation and virtualization in general business organization. Therefore they focus their efforts and are set in areas that get more benefits of virtualization and consolidation: these are storage and network servers. With this in mind, IT managers should create a comprehensive plan that takes all variables into account. This can improve the control exercised over a complex IT environment. We can help you achieve the benefits you need and to fulfill the promises you have made to the company. Network virtualization Virtual networks offer the same functions and guarantees a physical network, along with the operational advantages and independence of own hardware virtualization. Turning to the field of virtualization, the online encyclopedia of the famous magazine PC News, defines virtualization as: a variety of technologies for the management of computing resources, providing a translation layer of software known as "abstraction layer" between software and physical hardware. Now, the idea of virtualization, associated with the virtual word, suggests that virtual virtualization is not real and that it is only an appearance; for nothing more distant than the latter view, since virtualization in the field of information technology and communications, it refers to a different way of perceiving reality. Brief Explanation of the Topic Large volumes of data and real-time applications are taking storage requirements to new levels. Through storage virtualization, disks and flash drives on separate servers, they are combined to form deposits of high-performance storage and are supplied as software. The software-defined storage (SDS, Software-Defined Storage) is a new storage strategy that provides a fundamentally more efficient operating model. Benefits of virtualization Virtualization can increase the scalability, flexibility and agility, while generating significant cost savings. Workloads are implemented faster, performance and availability increase, and operations are automated. All this makes IT management simpler and property operation and less costly. Among the additional advantages include the following: Many organizations has a long history of delivering IT solutions that combine the best technology and project management practices. To this we add our more than 12 years of being associated with industry-leading IT organizations. This paper highlights the influence and importance of ICT in contemporary organizations. The method used was the documentary by analysis of library, media resources, and Web sites This paper highlights the influence and Importance of ICT in contemporary Organizations. The method used was the documentary by bibliographic analysis from media resources, and Web sites. The results highlighted the emergence of two layers, the Computer-structure and the Culture of computers Within the ICT and the Human Development link. As well, the Impacts on the corporate culture, ICT as part of the product, in the ITS Importance design of the organization, and their role as decision-making in supporting. ICT virtualization is manifested mainly as follows: 1)In hardware virtualization 2) In network virtualization and storage 3) In application virtualization All this indicates that ICT has impacted the way we live and share the world increasingly globalized, opening channels for the globalization of knowledge, finance, and culture, among others, allowing for certain activities through technological means, such as: They are communities that are fundamentally related in virtual environments via the Internet or online communities, among which discussion forums, social networks (Facebook, Twitter), emails and email groups, Groups news, Video Conferencing, and Chat, among others. Within these communities scientific communities, knowledge networks and others, formed by a group of people, united by a common interest, and maintain their relationship with time are grouped. Also it is known as telecommuting, in which an organization, making use of ICT facilitates the employee reaches its activities in places other than the location of the organization, improving environmental impact and economic recovery in some societies, through democratization of employment, becoming a valid employment option. To overcome this gap the state has raised a number of challenges that are intended position on the Information Society to achieve national integration, widespread access to information, enhance the education sector as well as health and reducing inequalities in access to telecommunications services. This has been proposed reforms in the regulatory framework to guide the incorporation and use of ICT, contained in the Constitution, the Organic Law of Telecommunications, the National Telecommunications Plan focuses on the development of telecommunications sector; the Organic Law on Science, Technology and Innovation and the National Plan for Information Technology whose mission is "The development of strategies, policies, plans, programs and policies in a coordinated and articulated manner between public bodies and private sector, mainly with the productive sector, allowing investment, development and consolidation of ICT in all areas of state and society " Results of the influence of ICT in organizations Progression and History Without having intended to exhaust the subject of the influence of ICT in organizations, but rather to have shown the tip of the iceberg in this topic it can be summarized generally in the following results: The change in the structure of the productive sectors, which rely increasingly on collaborative networks of production, management and information exchange. ICT virtualization does not overlap the modern organization, they are an integral part thereof.Non-overlapping ICT networks are an integral part of these networks.Strategies, operational criteria and organizational formulas should think together and in an integrated strategy with the use of ICT. ICT virtualization should be an integral part of the networks and modern organizations are interlinked networks, so the production chain owns value of an organization ceases to be a linear representation to adopt network structure. The influence of ICT has made the organization becomes a series of nodes, closely attached to the client, grouped network(Davies, 2008). Importance Having regard to the influence that ICT virtualization has made organizational, social, political and economic level to infer the importance of ICT in the organizational field. In principle, ICTs offer greater facilities, overcoming the barriers of distance and time, in most cases. In addition, they offer accuracy, reduced risks and lower costs. IT Issues and Growth Companies are heavily investing in rapidly emerging technology of virtualization. This topic fits into the top It issues in the following ways. Virtualization is important for the chief information officer because it provides the company with a set of tools which enables lowering of costs and increasing flexibility. These are things that are very crucial for every enterprise and IT organization. Virtualization provides various significant benefits to the organization hence the chief information officer should be involved in establishing pilots , expertise development and putting the virtualization technology to work (Information technology, 2005). Virtualization for innovation Virtualization essentially is important in every the growth of IT for the company and every stage of development of IT. As so, virtualization increases flexibility in the organization by decoupling the operating system and the applications that are supported by the system from a physical hardware platform. There can be significant innovation boost when organizations are looking to innovate and create new systems and services without additional hardware installation(Laudon Laudon, 2000). Virtualization excels at supporting innovation by using virtual environment for learning and training. A case example is when learners can establish unique soft wares without exclusively using hardware resources. A student may work with a known system environment that is known. Innovations can therefore be accelerated and facilitated with minimum investment. Companies with virtualization experience that is broader may consider implementing portable virtual environments. Cost saving Another important aspect of virtualization is lowering costs. This comes when servers are consolidated into a set that is smaller and more powerful hardware platforms running a virtual environment collection. The costs can be reduced also by a more improved performance that can be executed in more powerful hardware(Preston, 2001). Benefits can further be enhanced by increasing hardware capacity in a manner that is non-disruptive to dynamically migrate workloads to available resources. Introduction of virtualization significantly reduce the need to replicate hardware environments that are identical and enables testing of scenarios at a cost that is lower. Seasonal workloads and peak periods in an organization can be remedied by virtualization. For example if you have peak workloads. Virtualization as a standard solution Vendors of operating systems should include virtualization as a standard component, virtualization vendors should make sure that the scope of their offerings are expanded and also the hardware vendors should build virtual capabilities in their platforms. Although substantial benefits are available from existing virtualization services, it can yield more benefits in both availability and manageability by building new applications with an integrated virtualization strategy. Strategy Traditionally the IT capacity plan is considered a proper process of IT (Information Technology), whose purpose was to study the volume of information that could manage the IT infrastructure. It has also been considered as a proper process of organizations with a large volume of resources(Schwalbe, 2006). But both perceptions are changing with the advent of the IT services offered from the cloud as infrastructure, platform or software as a service. This is the strategy that the CIO should implement. They have also contributed to this change, technologies such as virtualization, enabling consolidation of IT resources or new ways of procurement of services such as "pay per use". All these factors have succeeded in changing the idea that companies have the IT capacity plan as a passive element, to turn it into an enabling component of strategy. For any organization, whether large or small, is essential to maintain its business strategy aligned with market demand, any possible deviation s may result in losses(Muller, 2005). For a small organization, such as a startup, with a small number of business processes, which are also relatively simple to implement and whose IT infrastructure is not too big, build a plan IT capacity is relatively simple and does not require too much effort. There is a set of recommendations or best practices that we can continue to develop a plan IT capacity. Implementation The server virtualization vendors such as VMware, storage identified as one of the key factors in the adoption of this technology. Since these providers have extracted hypervisor CPU and memory resources for better control and greater use, it makes use of control storage. But the concept of moving functionality of the storage controller to the host server in what is called "storage hypervisor" produces some potential problems. This is to manage storage services such as snapshots, clones and thin provisioning, which are important in virtual server and virtual desktop, you can significantly reduce the performance of the host server. References Crosby, S., Garcia, J., Williams, D. (2007). Virtualization with Xen. Burlington, Mass.: Syngress. Davies, P. (2008). Information technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dittner, R. Rule, D. (2007). Best damn server virtualization book period. Burlington, MA: Syngress. Information technology. (2005). Geneva. Innovation in information technology. (2003). Washington, D.C. Laudon, K. Laudon, J. (2000). Management information systems. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Muller, A. (2005). Virtualization with VMware ESX Server. Rockland, MA: Syngress. Preston, P. (2001). Reshaping communications. London: SAGE. Schwalbe, K. (2006). Information technology project management. Boston, Mass.: Thomson Course Technology.

You Belong To Me Is Mary Higgins Clarks Fifteenth Novel. It Is About A

You Belong to Me is Mary Higgins Clark's fifteenth novel. It is about a young clinical psychologist named Dr. Susan Chandler who hosts a radio talk show. One day the topic of the show is lonely women who disappear and who are later discovered dead. She brings up one specific case of a lady named Regina Clausen. Another lady calls in the show and says she might have some information that might be useful to the case, but she wants to remain anonymous. Dr. Chandler tries to arrage a meeting with her, and she says she will probably not be able to come. That woman is shoved into a bus the next day and is seriously injured. The only witness that saw her get pushed is killed the next day. Dr. Chandler starts following the case, but every time she goes to talk to someone that might be able to give her some information, they are already dead. In the end, Susan is hot on the murderer's trail, but does not realize that she is going to be the next victim. The murderer turns out to be a guy Susan has been dating. He tries to suffocate her and leaves her to die. Another doctor friend of Susan's has also been paying attention to the case though, and he is worried about something happening to Susan. He finds her in her office before she suffocates, and they are able to have the police arrest the bad guy before he does any more damage. You Belong to Me is a superb thriller from one of the genre's all-time greats, Mary Higgins Clark. (Book Browser 1) Almost all critics had only good to say about Clark's work. No doube many readers have one or more Mary Higgins Clark novels set aside...and not just because she is one of the most popular large-print book authors or because her heroines always come out all right at the end. More likely it's because her novels fall into the classic Gothic Genre. (Hoopes 1) Another author commented, These inspiring novels will touch each and every heart. (Baker 2) This was definitely true of You Belong to Me. Ms. Clark still has the finesse to provide her myriad of fans with a top rate reading experience. (Book Browser 1) One critic commented on Clark's mystery writing magazine-To me it seems more geared toward supermarket checkout lines. But I thing it shows how popular mysteries are getting. (Detroit News 7) Story ideas, however, are one thing Mary Higgins Clark has plenty of. (Hoopes 2) Mary Higgins Clark has lived an extraordinary life. She made herself into something worthwhile from basically nothing, only because she worked hard for what she wanted. She proved that you can do whatever you want, if you want it bad enough. Clark definitely is a symbol of character, esteem, and perseverance, and her bestsellers are proof of it, if not her status as a favorite American author.

6

6 Introduction Some of the most interesting aspects of child development are the biosocial, cognitive and psychological development.Reading these aspects can be interesting, especially if you have a child who is still developing. In order to understand these aspects fully, scientists have come up with numerous theories to explain the development stages right from birth to adulthood.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on 6-year-old childs biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although some people have widely criticized some of the theories, the truth of the matter is they address the various development stages we take the general based model to address the biosocial, cognitive, and psychological development of a six-year-old child. In trying to address these three paramount issues, the paper takes note of the extensive variations in what very many child development experts con sider as â€Å"normal†. Some of the factors behind child development include family, cognitive, educational, and genetic. Depending on the suitability of these factors, children will reach certain stages at different times. However, this paper discusses development stages of a normal six-year-old child. This is simply because every child is unique and therefore, the development stages can vary with time and other factors (Rollercoaster, 2012, p.1). Six-year-old child In very many developed countries, six-year-old kids are conversant with school and kindergarten related activities. In other words, a child develops aggression towards independence in this year. However, the idea to separate from their parents is not something that they are in apposition to do no matter how independent they want to be. These kids are taking steps towards discovering the world they found themselves in some years ago. The truth of the matter is that not all six-year-old children share similar abili ties and development traits. They can actually vary form one child to another due to their uniqueness. At this age, the kids have different preferences, experiences, and each one of them is capable of things in certain ways. This is the reason why their abilities are not the same. Although each kid is unique, we assume a general milestone in addressing the similarities in the development stages of all six-year-old kids (Ruben, Fein Vandenberg, 1983, pp. 690-698). As seen above, one of the most significant things to note about six-year-old kids id their increased aggression towards routines and independence. This does not necessarily mean that they want to leave their parents and become independent. In most cases, these kids spend most of their time in school, and away from their parents. In school, these kids participate in various activities, sometimes on their own. Sometimes, they can form groups and play together, or attend parties of their friends. Six-year-old kids also experi ence physical development.Advertising Looking for case study on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For instance, the motor skills and the coordination are likely to develop as compared to the rest. Additionally, this is the age when most children develop athletic abilities. You will find many of them playing or running around. The growth rate will vary form one child to another, and that is the main reason why their heights will vary to a certain extent. Experts also argue that six-year-old children always feel insecure when they are far away from the parents or their homes. They therefore crave for relieve and security either at home or from their parents. Other theories also depict that six-year-old children tend to experience an incredible learning augmentation once they enter kindergarten and start handling intricate materials. This is the period they start learning how to read, and some basic math, art, science and history solving skills will start develop (Higgins Parsons, 1983, pp.15-66). Biosocial development The biosocial development of a six-year-old child is also active at this particular age. In most cases, the child starts to develop interaction and other social skills. Friends It is quite amusing to note that these kids tend to emphasis relationships with people outside their homes, for example, teachers and pupils. Even as their aggression towards independence continues, these kids also tend to focus in other areas like forming very many fiends comprising of peers, teachers, and maybe other parents. As time goes by, they find that social interactions with the peers, friends or other people outside the family are complex. Nevertheless, this does not stop them from interacting, as they become increasingly aware on what to do with such friendships. Another positive thing to note about these kids is that at this age, they understand rules better, and majority of them want t o make sure that their friends follow the rules. For instance, if they are playing, they aggravate for organized games, which are devoid of controversy. You will find them forming teams to play each other a soccer match. Gender is also important here. Those of the same gender would always want to play together, and one kid would choose another as the â€Å"best friend†. However, it is imperative for parents to watch the biosocial developments of the six-year-old child lest they develop abnormal behaviors such as hounding, cliques, and banishing others. Otherwise, this is the age when a kid navigates from one relationship to another hoping to find security and comfort (Ruben, Fein Vandenberg, 1983, pp. 702-734). Morals and rules At six years of age, a child becomes increasingly aware of what is right and wrong. You will find many of them reporting or even summoning those who are not doing the right thing. At this age, break-ups among close friends are so common, but the goodn ess is they do not last for long, and you will find them becoming friends almost immediately.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on 6-year-old childs biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Giving, Sharing and Empathy Having acquired a good number of friends and now playing together, six-year-old kids always like sharing some of the things they own for example, snacks and toys. The truth of the matter is that there is rivalry and scuffling towards picking the best-looking toy or taking many snacks, but as we have seen above, they forget their differences easily. In fact, they can work out their conflicts without the involvement of a teacher or a parent. Perhaps one major thing to note about six-year-old kids is that they are too egotistical, and therefore they need tender support for them to learn the other side of life (Parten, 1932, pp. 243-269). Cognitive development As w e have seen above, six-year-old children have developed learning skills and therefore they are now reedy to enter school. At this age, they could be in kindergarten or in a nursery school. In school, they find a new world that is much different from that in their homes. Story telling, allotment, practical activities, and designing become so common, even as they embark on a journey of discovering what is in the books. They are now ready to learn new skills such as decoding words due to the developed phonemic awareness. Their attention span begins to lengthen, and they become familiar with intricate projects and assignments assigned to them both at schools and home (Parkhurst Asher, 1992, pp. 231-241). Reading and Writing This is the right age when children start learning how to read. In some cases, majority of the children of this age even begin to read on their own. Amazingly, some of them can even begin to write short stories (one paragraph) about their family, friends, or vacatio ns. They are able to identify some words and with time, they break their sound. Since they are still developing cognitively, with time, they become conversant with many vocabularies, and they can spell some words correctly. Children of this age can also identify punctuation marks, and apply capitalization in the sentences they construct. They also like reading simple stories about animals and monsters. Notably, after reading the story, they can re-tell it. Numbers and Math Six-year-old kids can count numbers much easier than they were in a year or two ago. Even as their cognitive skills increase, they will start mastering even higher numbers. Using sticks or other materials, they can add and subtract numbers in a given problem. They enjoy solving puzzles as well (Hagen, (1972, pp.66-78).Advertising Looking for case study on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Concepts Six-year-old kids are good in mastering concepts. For example, they can read the time, and tell all days of the week. By this age, they can say more about the world, name some towns, and even state the day’s weather conditions. We can say that at this age, they are able to differentiate between real and imaginary things. Psychological Development Six-year-old children are also developing psychologically. However, this type of development is in most cases characterized by contradictions. For instance, although they want to be independent, they also feel insecure and would always want to be at home with their parents. Emotional Awareness At this age, this kids experience emotions. Although they are a bit conversant on what to say, they are able to read the emotions of other people. They also remain careful in uttering some critical words so that they do not offend others. Confidence and Insecurity Since they are involved in various activities both at home and school, t hey always crave for recognition and praise. In a way, this boosts their confidence. Parents should also be instrumental in teaching them the lines of confidence. When they feel insecure, they should be encouraged, and it is paramount to mention that these kids dislike criticisms and other negative admonishments. All they need is reaffirming assurance and understanding on the part of friends and parents. Inflexibility and Preferences Six-year-old kids always prefer to do things according to their way. If this does not happen, then they feel dejected. To them some things are good and some are bad. However, parents can educate them on what is good and bad (Rollercoaster, 2012, p.1). Privacy At six years of age, children crave for some form of privacy. For instance, when they are dressing, they hide and they do not want anybody to see them. They also discourage the idea of bathing in front of their parents as well. Astonishingly, these children are also curious, as they want to discove r their gender and sex. They may also start questioning their parents the origin of babies. Reference List Hagen, J. W. (1972). Strategies for remembering. New York: Academic Press. Higgins, E.T. Parsons, J.E. (1983). Social cognition and the social life of the child:  Stages as sub-cultures. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Parkhurst, J.T. Asher, S.R. (1992).Peer rejection in middle school: Subgroup differences in behavior, loneliness, and interpersonal concerns. Developmental Psychology, 28(1), 231–241. Parten, M. (1932). Social participation among preschool children.  Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27, 243–269. Rollercoaster. (2012). Stages of Development. Web. Ruben, K. H., Fein, G. G., Vandenberg, B. (1983). Socialization, personality, and  social development. (4th ed.). New York: Wiley and Sons.

Critical nursing situations Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical nursing situations - Research Paper Example The study had several limitations regarding the sample population, tools, availability of data, and the role of nurses in pain identification and assessment. First, the study reviewed medical documents from two medical centers with specified care in Quebec City. The study also considered only 52 patients and 183 pain cases. The statistics indicate that the study had a narrow coverage that did not offer an ultimate sample population. Second, the research used reviewed secondary data from the two clinics. It is possible that this clinic lacked proper documentation procedures. Thus, the availed documents had irregularities that result to wrong interpretation of the results. Third, the use of secondary data is an indication that the medical field lacks appropriate tools for conducting pain assessment for patients in this category of care. Thus, inadequacy or lack of the tools might have resulted in wrong data and misinterpretations. Finally, the research focused on non-pharmacological pr ocedures in clinics that used pharmacological procedures. The differences were sources of faults and wrong data. It also failed to incorporate the nursing roles and ideas of assessing pain. Overall, the reliance on medical documentation to identify the best practices for pain assessment created room for wrong entries and findings. The highlighted are the main limitations of this study. In the absence of non-pharmacological equipment for assessing pain in the critical care units, the sector should empower nurses by conducting preemptive education plans.

The Berlin Conference of 1884 and Africa Research Paper

The Berlin Conference of 1884 and Africa - Research Paper Example The continent was relatively isolated from the rest of the world especially the western countries but historians have recorded early trade in Africa. Trans-Saharan trade is one of the earliest recorded commerce, carried out in Africa between eighth and 16th century (Wright, 2007). According to Wright (2007), Trans -Saharan trade was concentrated in the northern Africa and it involved countries around the Mediterranean Sea and West Africa. The trade route crossed the Saharan desert and the caravans travelled for long distances to obtain goods in various regions covered in the larger frontier. The Arabs dominated the trade and it mainly involved precious metals such as gold that was mined in West African region, ivory, salt and agricultural products. In addition, slave trade was an important component of Trans- Saharan trade, and African servants were transported to the north to work as soldiers and domestic workers (Wright, 2007 pp76-81). Conditions Leading to the Berlin Conference Th e rich gold deposits and success of the Trans-Saharan trade attracted the attention of Europeans and in the 15th century, Portuguese traders opened new trade routes along the West African coast that had rich gold deposits (Wright, 2007 p 137). ... In the mid 1870, Henry Morton successfully completed the Congo River basin expedition that had remained the last unchartered frontier in Africa (Emerson, 1979). Henry Morton was later appointed by King Leopold II of Belgium as an envoy to Congo that eventually became Congo Free State, a Belgian colony (Emerson, 1979 p69). In central Africa, France moved to the western part of the Congo basin and established Brazzaville in 1881. Great Britain conquered and occupied the Ottoman Empire in Egypt that ruled Sudan and the Somaliland. Germany declared territorial ownership of Namibia, Cameroon, and Togo while Italy claimed Eritrea in the horn of Africa in 1882 (Koponen, 1993 p124). The scramble for more African colonies generated intense competition among the European powers leading to violent conflicts and the need to have a more organized criterion for partitioning Africa became apparent. Germany had become an influential European power and other countries, including France and Britain we re aggressively seeking new colonies to assert their power in Europe. In view of the emerging power changes in Europe, Germany was determined to maintain its leading influence in Europe. Therefore, it was important to formulate a reasonable formula of partitioning African continent among the competing European powers to avoid the risk of conflict that would threaten Germany influence in Europe and the globe (Koponen, 1993, pp 129-133). The Berlin Conference At the request of Portugal, the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck invited leaders of fourteen European countries with territorial interests in Africa, and the United States for a conference in Berlin in 1884 (Collins,