Word of the Week! Parvenu Richmond Writing

Word of the Week! Parvenu Richmond Writing Unknown Professor Joe Hoyle once again comes to our rescue in the dog days of August. He suggests parvenu and its a fine word I never use. Now, however, I plan to do so! Professor Hoyle writes: The Thought for the Day in the Richmond paper was, We are all snobs of the infinite, parvenus of the Eternal.   James Gibbons Huneker.   The word that caught my attention was parvenus, the plural of parvenu which means, a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity. Though the usage here may be kindly and figurative, usually to be called a parvenu is not flattering. The OED entry notes that term as more derogatory than descriptive. Its a French loan-word dating only back as far as the 1700s. To those we quaintly called the Old Money crowd, when I was an undergraduate at UVA, parvenus drove new Pontiac Trans-Ams or some other gaudy machine, purchased by newly wealthy parents. Two old-money classmates I roomed with in a Summer language institute drove beaters and never had what my mom called folding money.   One could sense their disdain for the flashy, even tacky, new wealth. I never heard them say  nouveau riche, also a French borrowing, but I bet their parents did. The noun and adjectival forms are the same, as is the sense of being a social climber, an upstart.   Parvenus are not typically  ingenues, a term I associate with young innocent women in films and literature. Think of the main character, at least in the start of the novel, in Theodore Dreisers Sister Carrie. By the end, Carrie is most certainly a parvenu. Parvenus often, however, are  louche, another Gallic loan word that I adore. Please send us words and metaphors useful in academic writing by e-mailing me (jessid -at- richmond -dot- edu) or leaving a comment below. See all of our Metaphors of the Month  here  and Words of the Week  here. Image of Screaming Chicken 1977 Pontiac from Wikipedia Commons.

The Management Game At Coventry University - 1844 Words

1. Introduction This paper mainly focuses on what I experienced and obtained from the Coventry Management Game took place at Coventry University. The management game provided participants with a variety of opportunities to work as a group with diversity. Accordingly, they were aware of the importance of internationalisation, positive and negative sides of working at the internationally diverse team. Throughout this module, they have learned what are important to do job-hunting such as how to create good CV, how to take job interviews etc. in this report, those what we learned and experienced are explained in more depth dividing into some categories. 2. What is the importance of internationalisation? According to Investopedia, the term†¦show more content†¦Indeed, they kept having dialogues with me not only about tasks and assignments but also a variety of topics, which cultivated our international outlook and an ability to work with a diverse team. In terms of point 4, Hawkins argued in his statistics book about immigration in the UK that â€Å"immigration has grown faster than emigration, leading to an increase in net migration from an annual average of 37,000 in the period 1991 to 1995 to an annual average of 249,000 in the period 2011 to 2015†. (House of Commons 2017) This means more and more people from outside of the UK have been coming into the UK in the past years, and it is easy to find people from different background in the workplace in this country. Thus, people living in the UK should be able to adapt the internationalised society. 3. Which management game I attended and why? I have attended the Coventry Management Game since the first Management Game in Groningen was full though I had hoped to go and join it in. My first thought was Groningen one provided me more international environment as they got participants from a variety of universities around Europe, however, Coventry one gave me an opportunity to know more about my classmates who had not had anything to do with before and it was actually better than I expected. As I am to some extent shy and not good at making new friends, this management game was a fantastic opportunity in that perspective as well/ Therefore, I am overallShow MoreRelatedRed Bull Versus Coca Cola Sport Sponsorship from a Sponsor’s Perspective896 Words   |  4 PagesRED BULL VERSUS COCA COLA SPORT SPONSORSHIP FROM A SPONSOR’S PERSPECTIVE Author: Inken Hillnhagen email: hillnhai@uni.coventry.ac.uk University: Coventry University Faculty: Business School/Sport and Event Management buying the rights. Involved in this money is planning the sponsorship deal, carrying it out and last but not least evaluating the whole process and engagement (Hermanns 2003). 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12 Angry Men Summary of Characters - 1490 Words

Martin Balsam (The Foreman) (Juror 1) Age: Late 30’s Early 40’s Job: Assistant Coach Very simple well organized man, kept things in line. Didn’t have much to say throughout the meeting. He enjoys coaching football seems to be the only time he is at ease is when he was talking about football. He was not faced with much conflict directed at him, but he seemed to keep the peace and didn’t want any problems. 5.5 He’s in a way quiet, he doesn’t have any resentment or say hurtful things to others he seems to be in the middle, and very well organized. John Fiedler (Juror 2) Age: 35-40 Job: Bank Teller Soft spoken. Doesn’t have much to say. He is very quiet at the beginning, doesn’t know what he’s really talking about. Starts to†¦show more content†¦He was the only one at first to say not guilty. He said the boy was not guilty, not knowing if he was right or wrong he wanted to look more into it. Look into the facts, but the real facts. He is very detailed. 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But yet he still got his point across when he needed to. 9.9 Always seen the other side. Detailed. Didn’t lose his temper, even when under pressure. He knew what he was talking about and cared for the other person. Ed Begley (Juror 10) Age: 70’s -- Garage Owner, and had a cold. Know it all. Well thinks he is. He didn’t wantShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Self Image In 12 Angry Men892 Words   |  4 Pages Title Every single person on this earth is unique unto theirself. Think about it! Each individual has their own personality, agenda and history. Such are the characters portrayed in 12 Angry Men. The movie 12 Angry Men was the first of fourty-three films in the career of director Sidney Lument, who often sought controversial issues (RE). This movie focuses on a jury’s deliberation in a capital murder case, where a guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. 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These twelve men were brought together by a random selection process to make a unanimous decision. In the beginning, all jurors believed the boy to be guilty without a doubtRead MoreLeadership in 12 Angry Men987 Words   |  4 PagesIn the film 12 Angry Men, a group of twelve jurors are deciding the fate of a young boy accused of murdering his father. Throughout the juries dilleration, one man exhibits all of the qualities of leadership. This man is juror number 8 played by Henry Fonda. Fonda not only exhibits the the 10 qualities of a leader but he uses these qualities to lead the entire jury to a vote of not guilty (Fonda Lumet, 1957). Early on in the film Fonda shows the first quality of leadership vision. Vision canRead MoreComparison Between 12 Angry Men And Dead Poets Society1875 Words   |  8 Pages12 Angry Men and Dead Poets Society Deconstruction In the movies 12 Angry Men and Dead Poets Society, there were many leadership traits that became evident as each movie progressed. . 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The story was called the Legend of Mechudo. Mechudo was a pearl diver in La Paz and he and his team went out into the bay in order to search for pearls. He was the first diver to dive and he returnedRead MoreFrom Vergil s Georgics, Book I ( Trans1715 Words   |  7 PagesTheseus is put away in confinement. The section is from Plutarch’s Lives, which is a series of biographies of famous men, both Greek and Roman, detailing their common virtues or failings. The beginning of the passage discusses about the views of different authors on Theseus’ abduction of Helen, some being more positive than others. This is Plutarch exploring the influence of character, both good and bad, on the life of Theseus. For the act of abducting a young girl not old enough for marriageRead MoreThe World s Largest Man1035 Words   |  5 PagesThe World s Largest Man Harrison Scott Key 331 Pages Character Identification Harrison, he is the author. His dad who is kinda a angry and violent man. 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Cultural Awareness in an Asymmetric Environment Free Essays

I believe all experienced military leaders, both noncommissioned and commissioned, realize the importance of knowing every facet of the enemy and their environment. Throughout history, we have studied, witnessed and experienced great examples of the use of cultural knowledge during combat operations. Lieutenant Colonel T. We will write a custom essay sample on Cultural Awareness in an Asymmetric Environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now E. Lawrence (of Arabia) of the British Army documented his experiences while living among the Arabic people. He learned about their society and culture in order to improve his military expertise (McFate, 2004). With constantly changing interests, influences and enemy TTPs in today’s asymmetric environment, Soldiers on all levels are often focused on new strategies, equipment and tactics and unintentionally lose focus on the importance of cultural awareness. In today’s contemporary operation environment, cultural understanding and knowledge is a key element to successful counterinsurgency operations. This paper will stress the need for intensifying cultural awareness training in preparation for today’s asymmetric warfare and will emphasize the effectiveness of this principle of war. Cultural Awareness in an Asymmetric Environment Any WWII or Korean War Veteran can probably tell you how the phrase â€Å"combat operations† had a completely different connotation back in their day. Where conflicts of the past may have been focused on manpower, fire superiority and maneuver, today we are focused on variables like sociological demographics, politics and economy. Currently, U. S. forces are engaged in asymmetric warfare where the insurgents are adapting their strategies to avoid the direct fight and attempting to exploit the weaknesses of U. S. forces. The insurgents have the upper-hand; they know the customs, geography, influences and people and are able to maneuver unnoticed. To combat this, we have adjusted our training by implementing cultural familiarization in pre-mobilization training and inserting COIN doctrine into many leadership courses. However I argue that Soldiers on all levels, but especially the junior leaders and tacticians who are often engaged in the midst of the local populace, do not fully understand the value and second/third order effects of properly implementing this principle of warfare. Today, more than ever, we need to focus our training on cultural awareness and employ this knowledge to reverse the trend of the insurgency exploiting our cultural ignorance. Argument Just as a college football coach studies the footage of their opponent’s previous games; we need to study the norms, interests, relationships and socio-political patterns of our operating environment. In the last decade, we have taken measures to emphasize this principle of war but most significantly the publication of FM 3-24 has developed doctrine to defeat counterinsurgents with lessons learned in combat. It teaches the importance of cultural awareness in an asymmetric environment and stresses to avoid imposing our ideology of what we think is normal upon a foreign society (2006, p. 1-15). Today’s COE demands a more robust pre-mobilization training package on the culture, language, geography and anthropology. Training for this principle of warfare has been trivialized to higher-level familiarization of COIN doctrine and lower-level â€Å"check-the-block† pre-mobilization training. We need comprehensive training that involves every Soldier and incorporates advanced studies with scenario based exercises. Sergeant Elkhamri, a U. S. Army translator that spent 18 month with a Special Forces unit in Iraq, explained that the way to increase the Iraqi support in our fight against terrorism is to â€Å"improve the quality and increase the quantity† of pre-mobilization cultural awareness training. He further emphasizes how the we cannot expect deploying Soldiers to get a full understanding of Iraqi culture in a two hour PowerPoint class (2007, p. 110). The Philippine Insurrection The Philippine Insurrection is one of the strongest examples of how the lack of cultural respect and understanding can render significantly negative effects on military operations. From the American stand point, the Philippine Insurrection should have been a quick and easy conflict. Originally, the U. S. deployed with 20,000 troops in order to quickly quell the insurrection. After the realization that the resistance was not going to collapse quickly, troop strength doubled, tripled and finally peaked at 74,000 by the end of the conflict (Wikipedia, 2009) . In short, this stemmed from the U. S. underestimating the importance of cultural understanding by disregarding the Filiopino culture. The U. S. also demostrated that it was their duty to rescue the Filipino people by imposing American democracy upon them. This mindset, which was evident among U. S. military leadership in the Philippines, is sometimes apparent to this day. The Philippine Insurrection is one of the lowest points in U. S. military history. The Filipinos were often described by American military and media as uncivilized, fiendish savages. The U. S. ilitary strategy was executed with no consideration towards the local populace. American Soldiers tortured, mutilated and even decapitated Filipino troops. There were reports of U. S. Soldiers shooting surrendering Filipino troops and burning entire villages to the ground (Wikipedia, 2009). Picture these atrocities happening in America to Americans by a foreign military force. I would bet that we would have an enormous insurgent force of enraged Americans. Human nature dictates that the Philippine people would react the same way, and they did. The insurgency grew as word spread of the atrocities. Agoncillo described how the Filipino troops would exceed American brutality on some prisoners of war. He told stories how ears and noses were cut off and salt applied to the wounds; other reports described captured U. S. Soldiers being buried alive (Wikipedia, 1990). This cause and effect cycle was mutually destructive; in the end, both sides were blatantly breaking the Laws of War. John White was one American that understood the effectiveness of cultural understanding. He was a former American soldier that served as an officer in the Philippine Constabulary and led foreign indigenous troops in combat. His experiences served as a perfect example of the positive effects achieved by applying cultural understanding. In 1928 he wrote a book describing how he built a unified and highly effective combat unit of indigenous people that were both Muslim and Christian. These specialized squads would hunt down the insurgents into their own domain and defeat them in battle. Some of the keys to his success were emphasizing common soldier skills, trusting the integrity of his troops, treating his subordinates and their cultures with respect and adapting proven army methods to the native culture. He became fluent in Spanish and lived among his soldiers and the native people (2009, Dimarco). White was hugely successful in overcoming the insurgency by understanding their culture and adapting his knowledge of combat operations and tactics to fit his operating environment. Operation Iraqi Freedom The roots of the problems we face in Iraq stemmed from the strategic level. McFate, explained how some policy makers misunderstood the tribal nature of the Iraqi culture and assumed that the government would remain stable even after Saddam’s regime was overthrown. Consequentially, without any governmental structure the tribes assumed control and once the Ba’thists lost their power, the tribal network became the backbone of the insurgency. The Iraqi tribal insurgency was born from American cultural ignorance (McFate, 2004, p. 44). Cultural misunderstanding continued to be our weakness with the misinterpretation of certain symbols and gestures. American forces often associated the black flag as the opposite of surrender but among the Shia population it is a religious symbol. Consequently, many Shia who flew the black were shot unnecessarily for displaying their religious beliefs. Another example is how the American signal for stop was often misinterpreted since this gesture means welcome in Iraq; as you can imagine, this resulted in tragedy as well (2004, p. 44). In 2006, Elkhamri witnessed numerous appointments of powerful political figures solely based family-ties and political affiliations. He met Iraqi Commanders who were promoted from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel exclusively for political reasons. Naturally, these shady antics did not go over well with the local populace. With a better under ¬standing of the social-political framework, leaders could prevent these situations and earn the trust and respect of the community (2007, p. 111). Inversely, understanding the culture and society of your COE can positively impact military operations. By recognizing that pre-existing social structures were key to political stabilization, British Brigadier Andrew Kennett implemented historical lessons learned by adjusting to local cultures and understanding the inner workings of the tribal hierarchy. He learned that the most important element of the Iraqi society is the tribe and their supporters and observed the tribal relationship between currency and loyalty. Knowing this, he appointed tribal leaders to the local councils and gave them money to distribute. By doing this, he empower the sheiks and gained favor with the local tribes (McFate, 2007, p. 45). General Odierno understood how the structure of any insurgency always mirrors the structure of the indigenous society; with this notion he tasked two junior intelligence analysts to construct a chart in order to locate Saddam. By identifying, depicting and tracking key figures’ nterrelationships, social status, and last-known locations, this intelligence led the 4th ID troops directly to Saddam Hussein (McFate, 2007, p. 45). This turning point in the war stemmed from the leadership’s knowledge of the Iraqi society and culture. Counter Argument There are some that believe cultural understanding is over rated and over emphasized. In some military subcultures, hardened emotions and apathy towards your enemies’ culture and interests correlates to strength, courage and fearlessness. Some argue that the Warrior Ethos contradicts with cultural understanding and COIN doctrine. Many years ago, my friend SSG Delagarza jokingly said, â€Å"My definition of hearts and minds is two in the heart, one in the mind† and yes, we all laughed because that was part of being in that subculture. There are situations where this hardened mindset is essential to mission success, but just as we need to select the right weaponry for each planned target, we need to select the proper approach for each military operation and situation. Selecting the proper weaponry and the proper approach is a key decision that is based on thorough analysis of every aspect of your enemy and AO. Cultural knowledge of your enemy goes hand in hand with the strategy and tactics used to defeat them. A former commander and one of the hardest Rangers I ever met used to always tell us, â€Å"You got to be hard AND smart. † It was a simple little phrase that we usually ignored but it’s always stuck with me. Now that I have grown as an NCO and leader, I realize what he was saying. There are times to use your brawn by showing overwhelming aggression and firepower but there are also times to use your intellect by employing the most efficient methods to handle a situation. As a young first sergeant I learned the hard way. There were times my hard charging methods of demanding battalion staff NCOs to â€Å"do their job and fix the problem† may have worked, but in due course I realized that I was destroying critical relationships and losing all rapport with supporting elements. The secondary effects were evident by the lack willing support from these same staff sections for months to follow. Ironically, the trickle-down effect eventually affected the ones I was so adamantly fighting for, my Soldiers. Conclusion I believe the U. S. will always overcome any military adversary with our verwhelming land, sea and air superiority, advanced intelligence, technology, weaponry and training but at what cost? In today’s asymmetric environment, direct action may not always be the best option. The finesse of properly executed cultural diplomacy may be an effective force multiplier. There is a significant need to train every Soldier on effectively implementing cultural understanding, especially at the lowest level. With an advanced understanding of our COE’s culture, society, geography and anthropology we could achieve success swiftly, efficiently and most importantly with considerably less casualties. References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_War http://louisdimarco.com/Occupations/Reviewbulletsandbolos.pdf How to cite Cultural Awareness in an Asymmetric Environment, Essay examples

Management Planning at Walmart Essay Example

Management Planning at Walmart Paper Successful corporations in today’s business world must be able to employ different levels of planning in order to achieve goals put in place by senior management. Wal-Mart has many different levels of management planning in place to follow through on its goals and objectives. There are many factors that influence Wal-Mart’s strategic, tactical, operational and contingency planning. Although Wal-Mart has been a very successful corporation throughout its existence, it has had to absorb the impact of legal issues, ethics, and corporate responsibility in its management planning. In Wal-Mart’s strategic planning stage, they are highly regarded as visionaries. One thing that Wal-Mart prides themselves in is the fact that they develop planning processes that enable the company to understand where they want to go, how they want to get there, and what things they must focus on along the way to drive the plan. One thing that has never lost focus is Wal-Mart’s drive to always make sure that they are first and foremost a value driven company. The only way that Wal-Mart would continue to push the value button was by leveraging the size of the company to force vendors for better costs of goods. This enabled them to maintain its image as value driven. Along the way, Wal-Mart became more tactical as well. Part of their tactical planning was to figure out how to get customers to buy more once they were in the store. Wal-Mart never really had a problem attracting the consumer in the store. So they came up with a solution that would ensure better inventory management as well as improved supply chain management. We will write a custom essay sample on Management Planning at Walmart specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Management Planning at Walmart specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Management Planning at Walmart specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In other words, they wanted to make sure that they improved the way that goods made it to store shelves so that the consumer bought them. This affected their entire distribution channels as the entire system would need to be revamped. Along with this tactic, they reduced the amount of items that they carried that were deemed as not returning on their investment. The results have had a significant impact to their bottom line. Wal-Mart has also had many legal and ethical issues over the past several years. As the company’s sales have soared, analysts say, it appears to have become the nation’s most popular private-sector target for lawsuits (Richard Willing, 2001). Lawsuits range from age and gender discrimination, employees not being compensated properly for overtime work, safety in stores parking lots, hiring outside contractors that use illegal immigrants to provide services, among many others. So as the company has become such a powerful force in the retail industry, it has become a large target for legal issues brought forth against them. Ethical issues have also brought forth lawsuits at Wal-Mart. Accusations of favoritism in the work place including non-promotions of females to upper level positions, non-promotion of employees with college degrees, and accusations of being anti-union. All this indicates is that it puts Wal-Mart at the front of news reports that they engage in unethical activities. Corporate responsibility also affects management planning at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has a very good reputation for being corporate responsible. Examples include their philosophy that they operate globally but always give back locally. In 2007, Wal-Mart gave 296 million dollars to charitable organizations across the United States. If you include donations from employees and customers, Wal-Mart gave away 470 million dollars globally. Areas in the communities that benefited from these donations include education, hunger relief, environmental sustainability, healthcare, disaster relief, military outreach, Salvation Army, among many others. Wal-Mart also has a green goal. It claims that their environmental goal is to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, to create zero waste and to sell products that sustain our natural resources and the environment(Wal-Mart website 2008). Conclusion Wal-Mart is certainly credited with changing the retail world as we know it with its low prices and big stores with huge selections but it has come at a price. They have struggled with issues that question the ethics as a company and legal issues that question how they manage people. These issues will continue to hurt their organization unless a complete change in management thinking and actions are changed. As a socially responsible organization, their management planning in this area is second to none. Lets hope they take the same effort in improving their image when it comes to ethics and legal issues. References Willing, R. (2001, August 13). Lawsuits a Volume Business at Wal-Mart. USA Today Retrieved April 28th, 2008 from: http://www. usatoday. com/news/nation/2001/08/14/walmart- usat. htm Sustainability- Wal-Mart website(2008). Retrieved April 28th, 2008 from: http://walmartstores. com/Sustainability/

Sierra Leone and South Africa Essay Example

Sierra Leone and South Africa Essay Example Sierra Leone and South Africa Essay Sierra Leone and South Africa Essay There is no doubt on the potential of the diamond industry to provide benefits and elevate economic and social status of Sierra Leone and South Africa. However, just like in any other industries, problems arise. Perhaps the greatest problem the diamond industry faced was the issue on conflict diamonds. Conflict diamonds started in the war in Angola in 1992. Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA or Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola, focused his attention to the vast diamond fields of Angola to find new ways to finance his army and expand his smuggling business (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists 4).By 1993, Savimbi had the largest diamond smuggling network in the world. And among his associates was South Africa’s De Decker Diamonds, a company that admitted selling diamonds to De Beers. This pattern of laundering diamonds was replicated in other countries especially Sierra Leone (Diamond Facts. Org, The Facts). In 1998, because of the brutal conflict in Sierra Leone, the United Nations started investigating about conflict diamonds and the UN Security Council began imposing sanctions on diamond transactions of countries in conflict.This brought the attention of the global diamond community to the issue of conflict diamonds (ICIJ 4). In 2000, Global Witness, a nongovernmental organization based in London, introduced the term blood diamond to further highlight the issue on conflict diamonds (ICIJ 4). Meanwhile, South Africa initiated the Kimberly Process, a certification scheme to stop the flow of conflict diamonds, in response to the highlighted attention on conflict diamonds and also to protect the country’s diamond industry (ICIJ 5).The issue took on greater implications when, in 2001, media reports provided evidences connecting conflict diamonds to the Al Qaeda attack on the United States (ICIJ 4). Because of the extent and magnitude covered by the issue on conflict diamonds, efforts to control and eliminate this problem through the Kimberly Process required the cooperation of not only South Africa but the entire global community. The United Nations, the international diamond industry and nongovernmental organizations including Partnership Africa Canada, Amnesty International and Global Witness were among the participants.For the first time, a global industry joined forces with governments, the United Nations, and social organizations to deal with a humanitarian issue (Diamond Facts. Org, The Facts). The Kimberly Process was initiated in May 2000. By December 2000, a unanimous vote by all the members of the United Nations General Assembly to support the Kimberly process was passed (ICIJ 4). By January 2003, the K imberly Process Certification Scheme was accepted and made into national law by 52 governments.As of August 2007, membership of the Kimberly Process totaled 74 countries, including Sierra Leone, thus guaranteeing a 99% conflict-free global rough diamond production (Diamond Facts. Org, The Facts). The Kimberly Process presented an international structure where diamonds’ origins are identified and recorded under the backing of the World Diamond Council (ICIJ 5). Rough diamonds crossing international border must come with a government-validated Kimberly Process Certificate and should be enclosed in tamper-resistant containers.Every certificate should be resistant to faking, uniquely numbered and must contain description of shipment contents. Only members of the Kimberly Process are allowed to import and export rough diamonds and should exclusively deal Kimberly-certified diamonds. Contents of the shipment should be checked with the Kimberly Certificate by the importing countryâ €™s customs. It is illegal to export or import uncertified rough diamonds. Confiscation or rejection of parcels and possibly criminal case will be imposed to violators of the procedures (Rapaport 4).The success of the Kimberly Process will be gauged not only on how many of the conflict diamonds are prevented from moving into the international market but also in its effectiveness in checking the proliferation of conflict diamonds from the source of the diamonds itself. In South Africa, though this country was never implicated in the production of conflict diamonds, there were rumors in 2002 that the country was a major laundering center for illicit diamonds especially in Kimberly. This was largely due to sudden resurgence of new diamond discoveries in areas already regarded for years as dry in terms of diamond production.Local diggers suddenly started turning up harvests comparable to a small mine’s production where it used to have only a few carats a month (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists 1). Another reason why the rumor came up was the relative ease by which diamonds were dealt with in the Kimberly Diamond Exchange. Simple invoices were considered adequate for dealers to sell diamonds. No consideration for the origin of the diamond was needed to deal the precious stone. As long as dealers supplying diamonds to the Kimberly Diamond Exchange provide invoices, it is considered legal.Added to this predicament is the difficulty in proving or disproving the origin of the diamond. Although investigations were conducted in Kimberly, there have been no charges filed against anyone dealing in conflict diamonds (ICIJ 2). Possibly the most efficient fuel for the rumor is the government regulatory board’s ineptness to do their duty resulting to laundering of illicit diamonds (ICIJ 3). Monitoring and regulating South Africa’s diamond mining and exportation is supposed to be the South African Diamond Board’s responsibili ty (ICIJ 3).The board neglected their duties when Chris Potgeiter, a shareholder and main contributor in the De Beers exchange Center, declared diamond sales worth $40 million from areas bought from De Beers in 1997. But the areas in question contained no such wealth as described from De Beers’ prospecting notes (ICIJ 3). In Addition, during the period from 1999 to 2001, there were reports that diamond buyers or bourses dealt $360 to $490 million worth of diamonds to the United States. But those diamonds were not examined by the South African Diamond Board which suggested that illicit diamonds were being laundered through the bourse (ICIJ 7).Where diamond authorities were concerned, more often than not, De Beers was most likely connected with the actions of the agencies concerned because of its status in the diamond industry. It is common knowledge that De Beers was the sole entity that started the diamond industry in South Africa. Its influence grew as the industry expanded through time. People in key positions in South African diamond institutions were most likely have direct or indirect link to De Beers. For this reason, doubts emerged whether De Beers was honest on its claim that the company was never touched by conflict diamonds (ICIJ 5).Among the arguments presented, the most intriguing was the cozy relationship between the South African Diamond Board and De Beers. The members of the board and head of various committees were close to the company (ICIJ 8). Allegedly, De Beers used their political influence for the benefit of the company. Benny Steinmetz, one of the most favored sightholders or the elite dealers of De Beers, was influential in South African politics. Steinmetz had connections with South African member of Congress Tokyo Sexwale who, in turn, was a business partner of De Beers (ICIJ 6).Other circumstances that questioned the integrity of De Beers were focused on the diamonds that De Beers purchased from Angola during this country†™s war until its end in 1998 (ICIJ 6). De Beers’ obscured operating procedures made it almost impossible to determine that source of diamond once these diamonds were mixed in its vault and thus made the allegation impossible to prove (ICIJ 6). When the Kimberly process was formed, it was headed by Abbey Chikane of the South African Diamond Board. Chikane had a close relationship with De Beers (ICIJ 8).Because of this situation, speculations on De Beers’ real motives in being active in the Kimberly process erupted. The general assumption was that De Beers was using the Kimberly process to secure hold on the diamond industry because of the growing competition (ICIJ 7). Moreover, the report of the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, that the Kimberly process was essentially flawed, provided further doubt on the effectiveness of the Kimberly Process to address the problem of conflict diamonds (ICIJ 5).

What Simple Random Sampling Is and How to Do It

What Simple Random Sampling Is and How to Do It Simple random sampling is the most basic and common type of  sampling method  used in quantitative social science research and in scientific research generally.  The main benefit of the simple random sample is that each member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the study. This means that it guarantees that the sample chosen is representative of the population and that the sample is selected in an unbiased way. In turn, the statistical conclusions drawn from the analysis of the sample will ​be valid.​ There are multiple ways of creating a simple random sample. These include the lottery method, using a random number table, using a computer, and sampling with or without replacement. Lottery Method of Sampling The lottery method of creating a simple random sample is exactly what it sounds like. A researcher randomly picks numbers, with each number corresponding to a subject or item, in order to create the sample. To create a sample this way, the researcher must ensure that the numbers are well mixed before selecting the sample population. Using a Random Number Table One of the most convenient ways of creating a simple random sample is to use a random number table. These are commonly found at the back of textbooks on the topics of statistics or research methods. Most random number tables will have as many as 10,000 random numbers. These will be composed of integers between zero and nine and arranged in groups of five. These tables are carefully created to ensure that each number is equally probable, so using it is a way to produce a random sample required for valid research outcomes. To create a simple random sample using a random number table just follow these steps. Number each member of the population 1 to N.Determine the population size and sample size.Select a starting point on the random number table. (The best way to do this is to close your eyes and point randomly onto the page. Whichever number your finger is touching is the number you start with.)Choose a direction in which to read (up to down, left to right, or right to left).Select the first n numbers (however many numbers are in your sample) whose last X digits are between 0 and N. For instance, if N is a 3 digit number, then X would be 3. Put another way, if your population contained 350 people, you would use numbers from the table whose last 3 digits were between 0 and 350. If the number on the table was 23957, you would not use it because the last 3 digits (957) is greater than 350. You would skip this number and move to the next one. If the number is 84301, you would use it and you would select the person in the population who is assigned the number 301.Continue this way through t he table until you have selected your entire sample, whatever your n is. The numbers you selected then correspond to the numbers assigned to the members of your population, and those selected become your sample. Using a Computer In practice, the lottery method of selecting a random sample can be quite burdensome if done by hand. Typically, the population being studied is large and choosing a random sample by hand would be very time-consuming. Instead, there are several computer programs that can assign numbers and select n random numbers quickly and easily. Many can be found online for free. Sampling With Replacement Sampling with replacement is a method of random sampling in which members or items of the population can be chosen more than once for inclusion in the sample. Let’s say we have 100 names each written on a piece of paper. All of those pieces of paper are put into a bowl and mixed up. The researcher picks a name from the bowl, records the information to include that person in the sample, then puts the name back in the bowl, mixes up the names, and selects another piece of paper. The person that was just sampled has the same chance of being selected again. This is known as sampling with replacement. Sampling Without Replacement Sampling without replacement is a method of random sampling in which members or items of the population can only be selected one time for inclusion in the sample. Using the same example above, let’s say we put the 100 pieces of paper in a bowl, mix them up, and randomly select one name to include in the sample. This time, however, we record the information to include that person in the sample and then set that piece of paper aside rather than putting it back into the bowl. Here, each element of the population can only be selected one time.