Analysis Of Clockwork Orange Essay -- essays research papers

Analysis of Clockwork Orange   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The film, â€Å"A Clockwork Orange,† is, to me, an almost exact replica of today’s society. Basically, one kid, who seems to have come from a financially sound home and community, goes through about three stages--1. He violates the laws society has set forth to maintain order. 2. He is caught and punished for his crimes against society. 3. He feels remorse for his violence and sexually deviance (although, at the end of the film, he’s back to his old, delinquent self).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main character, Alex, is shown as a typical juvenile offender. He is shown in such a comparable manner not because all juvenile offenders are out robbing, rapping, and murdering people (although an argument could be made that today’s offenders are as bad, if not worse), but because he can do such things and feel no remorse until he is caught. His parents provide for him, but only in a financial light. What good is it if his parents don’t get involved in his extracurricular activities. He goes out all night doing wrong, and his parents think he’s out working, c’mon!! In today’s society, many parents are at the source of why a child may start to commit crimes. They are not involved, or in some cases just don’t care enough about their children to teach them the rights and wrongs of society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alex seemed to find the love he didn’t get from his parents in his friends. Alex and his friends did a lot of damage to others, but of course they did it as a group. They beat up an old man who asked for change, they fought another group of people, they broke into a house and beat up the old man who lived there, then beat up his wife, killing her, but only after they raped her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a group they were to be feared, but when two of them tried to stand up to Alex, who was the leader, things seemed amusing to me. Of the two who tried to stand up to Alex, there was one obvious leader, while the other was a follower, again. Alex started beating them up, and while this was happening, the fourth of the group got scared and ran. He didn’t have a mind of his own to take sides either way, he just did what he was told. This shows me that the people who were following Alex were in obvious need of a role model, or even just a hug. Taking terms from chapter six, Alex was not a d... ...rend in our society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When a 10 year old boy (Robert â€Å"yummi† Sandifer, from Atlanta) in a gang is executed by his gang â€Å"friends† because he was bringing heat from the cops on the gang because that boy shot a 12 year old girl, it’s a sad commentary on society. When there is a lack of social stability in a community, it reflects onto the children who seem to have nothing else to do, or no other way of getting the attention they need.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A Clockwork Orange† is a perfect example of a society where it doesn’t matter if your black or white, yellow or purple. If you are human, you could fall into the trap. To me, the trap is where the rich stay rich, the poor stay poor, and the people in the middle work hard to keep from being poor while striving to be rich. I think I had heard that the movie was made in the 70s as a description of the 90s. If this is true, then the creating minds of the film are telepathic, or extremely intelligent. To predict how our society would be in twenty years is either sad because they were right, or great because we should just ask them how our deviant subculture will be acting in the NEXT twenty years.

Harlem Renaissance :: essays research papers

It seemed to me that the primary purpose of â€Å"The Crisis† was to motivate the â€Å"Darker Race† to rise. I focused my attention on three particular pieces from â€Å"The Crisis†, an advertisement, a section called â€Å"The Horizon† and the poem â€Å"Negro†, to prove my point. Although all of these pieces served the same purpose but their method and what they were presenting were very distinct. In the â€Å"Negro† Langston Hughes focused on the history or the past of the African American race to motive the current blacks to rise. The poem gave the reader a sense of pride to be black; it spoke and comforted the reader. The author spoke of the â€Å"Darker Race† brushing boots, keeping door-steps clean, and building pyramids. The black race did everything from small to large; they gave birth to civilizations. And now it has come to this that they are slaves to their children, they are in the foot of the very thing they created. Hughes is placing curiosity the minds of blacks, how can such be? We were great once, how did we come to this state? Langston Hughes is giving them the gift of inquisition, to seek, to inquire, to gain knowledge. Hughes is sending the message, gain knowledge and learn of our errors, thereafter bring changes, so we may return to our glorious past and be great once again. Similarly the advertisement, â€Å"Do you Know What Civilization Owes to the Negro? Can you give the names of the Negro men and women who helped to make this world’s History? The 2-foot Shelf of Negro Literature†¦Ã¢â‚¬  was inspiring the black community to rise by educating themselves in their great history. It was telling the blacks that you were once great and you can be great again. It challenged and questioned the mind; we were creators of civilizations, how are we now slaves to our very creation? â€Å"The Horizon† too focused on motivating the African community; however, in a little different manner. They focused on the present, unlike the previous two, by showing what the blacks can have with little effort. In this section there were decoded images titled, â€Å"The Dinning Room in a Negro Home†, which brought dreams to many black families. There were also images of professional African Americans, images of churches and universities operated by blacks. All these images were building dreams in the hearts of young African Americans; constructing the next generation black dreamers, singers, poets, painters and artists.

Stages of Team Development Essay -- Informative, Team Creativity

Introduction Nowadays, team is widely used in organizations, because team is effective. â€Å"A team is not just a group of people who work together or like each other or share opinions. A team is group of people with a common objective.† (Barnes, 2001) More and more organization tends to work in team (Milliken and Martins, 1996). Teamwork is used extensively, because, coaching team is able to effectively get an extraordinary goal (Mitsch, 2010). This essay will write about the reasons of team effective, Firstly, it will write about the percentages of people want to work in a team and the reasons of choice teamwork. Secondly, essay will write about the team has effective tools to solve the problems. Thirdly, essay will write about the effective thinking of team. Fourthly, essay will write about the team creativity. Next, essay will write about the adverse factors are able to influence the efficiency of team, and it also write about the stage of team development which can reduce the disadva ntages of factors. Percentage of teamwork In contemporary organizations, more and more companies tent to plan their employees working in a team (Kocher er al, 2006). In 1995, Osterman found that 54.5%of US American firms work in team (Kocher er al, 2006). The reason of using team working was that they simply have proven to be advantageous for companies (Kocher er al, 2006). In general, team working made better decisions than individuals, and teams often made accepted decisions to larger areas. Therefore, teams have become important tools for identifying high-quality solutions to finding out organizational problems (Kocher er al, 2006). Kocher et al (2006) designed a decision-maker experiment, the beauty-contest game. They found out about 60 ... ...advantage of team creativeness is not complete proof, effectiveness of team creativeness has widely recognized and accepted. Lastly, essay wrote the effectiveness of team can be effect. However, the five stages of team development are able to reduce the problems effect. Each stage has different solution areas, they are include team communicate and team members behavior. In this essay, the effectiveness of team wrote about problem solution, creativity and getting more profit. However, those are not the all good points of team. Team still has another functions or methods to prove the effectiveness of team. Although team still has instability areas, with the development of management, these destabilizing factors will gradually weaken until it disappears. In the future, team will more and more effective, and team will increase the profit in all type of companies. Stages of Team Development Essay -- Informative, Team Creativity Introduction Nowadays, team is widely used in organizations, because team is effective. â€Å"A team is not just a group of people who work together or like each other or share opinions. A team is group of people with a common objective.† (Barnes, 2001) More and more organization tends to work in team (Milliken and Martins, 1996). Teamwork is used extensively, because, coaching team is able to effectively get an extraordinary goal (Mitsch, 2010). This essay will write about the reasons of team effective, Firstly, it will write about the percentages of people want to work in a team and the reasons of choice teamwork. Secondly, essay will write about the team has effective tools to solve the problems. Thirdly, essay will write about the effective thinking of team. Fourthly, essay will write about the team creativity. Next, essay will write about the adverse factors are able to influence the efficiency of team, and it also write about the stage of team development which can reduce the disadva ntages of factors. Percentage of teamwork In contemporary organizations, more and more companies tent to plan their employees working in a team (Kocher er al, 2006). In 1995, Osterman found that 54.5%of US American firms work in team (Kocher er al, 2006). The reason of using team working was that they simply have proven to be advantageous for companies (Kocher er al, 2006). In general, team working made better decisions than individuals, and teams often made accepted decisions to larger areas. Therefore, teams have become important tools for identifying high-quality solutions to finding out organizational problems (Kocher er al, 2006). Kocher et al (2006) designed a decision-maker experiment, the beauty-contest game. They found out about 60 ... ...advantage of team creativeness is not complete proof, effectiveness of team creativeness has widely recognized and accepted. Lastly, essay wrote the effectiveness of team can be effect. However, the five stages of team development are able to reduce the problems effect. Each stage has different solution areas, they are include team communicate and team members behavior. In this essay, the effectiveness of team wrote about problem solution, creativity and getting more profit. However, those are not the all good points of team. Team still has another functions or methods to prove the effectiveness of team. Although team still has instability areas, with the development of management, these destabilizing factors will gradually weaken until it disappears. In the future, team will more and more effective, and team will increase the profit in all type of companies.

Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Essay

In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the author depicts a transformation she undergoes during her captivity at the hands of the Indians. While her first inclination in captivity is to end her suffering as quickly as possible by giving up on her life, Rowlandson quickly takes up the role of survivalist, determined to stay alive long enough to be released and returned back to civilization. Along the way, however, Rowlandson compromises on aspects of her life in order to achieve this survival. As a means of surviving the ordeal of a constantly changing environment, Rowlandson adapts her opinions regarding food, the Native Americans, and even the land around her to take on the perspective of a savage, similar to that of her captors, as a means of compensating with her perceived savage environment. When Rowlandson is first captured, she makes it her objective to survive the ordeal as best as she can, but one of her earliest struggles comes with the subject of food. Rowlandson reflects on the progression of her eating habits and how she went through a fundamental change in her opinion towards the food in order to sustain herself: â€Å"But now that was savory to me that one would think was enough to turn the stomach of a brute creature.† (153) Here Rowlandson succinctly compares her own tastes to that of a brute creature, the sort of description she would normally reserve for one of the Native Americans. T his quote comes on the heels of stories of Rowlandson eating horse liver and different nuts and meats that were completely alien to her tastes. In her desperation, however, Rowlandson begins to consider anything that brings her nourishment and sustenance as â€Å"savory,† and in her starving and desperate state she separates herself from the presumably civilized reader by labeling them as â€Å"one.† From Rowlandson’s perspective, it is not a given that the food she was forced to eat would be unfit to eat, but that opinion would only stem from the perspective of â€Å"one† who was living in civilization. Another example of how we see Rowlandson’s perspective shift to be more savage is the way she perceives her Native American captors, particularly the master to which she belongs. When first captured she witnesses the Indians destroying her village and murdering her family, and so perceives them to be â€Å"barbarous creatures.† (141) However, we see a surprising turnaround of sentiments towards them when she later references her master in the Twelfth Remove. â€Å"But a sore time of trial, I concluded, I had to go through, my master being gone, who seemed to me the best friend that I had of an Indian†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (155) Rowlandson goes so far as to actually call one of the Indians her friend. The same people who she constantly refers to as base and uncivilized, she claims to have developed a relationship with. She also notably refers to â€Å"a sore time of trial,† an illusion to the struggles she has undergone in crafting this relationship, in developing this m indset. Rowlandson points out the process that transformed her opinions at that time. Rowlandson’s final, and perhaps most clear, transformation comes in the form of her perception of the wilderness and the environment in which she is traveling. At the onset of her captivity, she refers to the â€Å"wilderness† as â€Å"desolate† and â€Å"vast.† She laments the journey and leaving her home and civilization as she describes the â€Å"bitterness of [her] spirit that [she] had at this departure.† (142) However, shortly after she departs, her opinion once again changes. Upon hearing that the Indians buried her dead son, she describes her feelings upon visiting his burial spot. â€Å"Then they went and showed me where it was, where I saw the ground was newly digger, and there they told me they had buried it. There I left that child in the wilderness, and must commit it, and myself also in this wilderness-condition, to Him who is above all.† (144) Here Rowlandson explicitly describes the altered state she can tell that she is in, this â€Å"wilderness-condition,† and the way that she rationalizes the death of her infant and leaving him buried in the middle of nowhere as a product of her â€Å"wilderness-condition.† The very same sentence demonstrates a product of this condition, referring to her very son as â€Å"that† child. The impersonal, no-relationship way she refers to her own flesh and blood is how she compensates with her situation, and it’s this condition that makes her react the way she does. The changes that Rowlandson undergoes during her travels transform her views and opinions to be more in line with those of the Native Americans with whom she is a captive, and she uses this transformation of views as a coping mechanism throughout her journey. Rowlandson, whether knowingly or not, identifies that the people who are so adept at handling the harsh conditions of constant travel and living in an uncivilized land are the Native Americans themselves, and so her views change to be more like theirs. She begins to accept the foods they eat as tasteful, the Natives themselves as people instead of simply savages, and the harsh realities of the environment and the detachment of nature’s cruelty regarding the death of her son with a detached manner. It is interesting to note that her religious side only gets stronger throughout her captivity, and she never loses her faith. This results in an interesting dichotomy between her gradual adaptation to a survivalist lifestyle and her strongly rooted faith, only further showing how remarkable her continued faith was.

Should Parents Be Responsible If Their Children Behave Badly?

Many crimes and social problems are caused by children. Despite the damage these teenage criminals cause, parents are not held responsible in most countries. This essay will discuss whether parents should be forced to pay for their children's crimes. There are many reasons why parents should not be responsible for crimes committed by teenage children. First of all, teenagers today are independent. They often move out of the parent's house at 18 years of age or younger. They are expected to learn to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, and not stay like small children attached to their parents. Secondly, parents are working. They cannot watch their adolescent children all the time. Parents have done their job A third point is that even children from good families can sometimes commit crimes. Parents should not be responsible if they have worked hard to raise their children properly. However, because of the many problems young troublemakers cause, I feel we should make parents responsible. Firstly, most juvenile crimes are committed by adolescents whose parents do not care or make any effort to control their children. If parents had to pay fines, they might make more effort. Another point is that even though the children may seem mature, they are not really able to make good decisions. Parents should be responsible for raising and teaching their children until they are fully grown. Furthermore, if children know that their parents will have to pay, they will think carefully before doing getting into trouble In summary, there are good reasons both for and against making parents pay for acts committed by their children. However, I feel strongly that if we want to reduce the number of such crimes, we need to make parents take more responsibility.

International Economics of Thailand Essay

The country of Thailand is located in the southeast Asia region, south of China and immediately bordering Burma to the west, Laos to the East and Cambodia to the south. Around 65 million people inhabit Thailand with the capital and its largest city being Bangkok; the national currency is the baht. After a series of political and military turmoil thrashed the country in the mid 2000’s, December of 2007 earmarked the reinstatement of a democratic government as well as the inclusion of full democratic elections. The official language is Thai and has remained that since the country’s early beginnings. Buddhism encompasses most the Thailand’s population in terms of religion, nearly 95%, with all belonging to the Theravada denomination. On a global scale Thailand is quite a large country for how small it is geographically; it ranks 50th as far as total area, and is the 20th most populous in the world. Thailand is abundant in both land and labor factors of production. The land measures roughly 510,890 sq km and is full of natural resources such as tin, rubber, natural gas, timber, lead, fish, and many metals. The large amount of agricultural production lead to a GDP of $539.3 billion in 2009. The 2009 household consumption expenditure was 2.05% even though the real GDP growth rate was -2.2%2. The final factor of production for Thailand, labor, is another one of their most abundant resources. In 2009, the labor force was comprised of 38.43 million people. They were divided between 42.4% working in agriculture, 19.7% in industry, and 37.9% in services3. This is consistent with the large amount of arable land throughout the country. With much production occurring in the agricultural sector, is makes sense that Thailand exports agricultural commodities. The country also exports machinery and electronic components, and jewelry. The machinery and electronic parts are a major export because of the size of the labor force.  Jewelry exports are large due to the amount of natural metals and jewels found in the land. The exports drive the economy and account for more than half of GDP. In 2009, exports totaled $150.7 billion. The major importers are the United States at 10.94%, China at 10.58%, Japan with 10.32%, Hong Kong with 6.22%, and Australia importing 5.62%3. The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 severely hurt Thailand’s exports with most industries dropping a large percent. Imports were also affected the financial crises. in 2009, they totaled $118 billion. Most imports were in capital goods, intermediate goods, and raw materials. This is because of the lack of capital factors of production and the large labor force. Thailand imports from Japan (18.7%), China (12.73%), Malaysia (6.41%), United States (6.31%), and UAE (4.98%)3. [pic] It seems to be that the groups benefiting most from trade are the farmers and factory workers. The farmers have the largest labor force and therefore the highest amount of exports in the country. The factory workers are also benefiting from the import of cheap intermediate goods and raw materials from China and Malaysia. They then use the abundance of labor to produce machinery for export. In 2009, Thailand had a trade surplus of roughly $32.7 billion. Long before the liberalization of Thailand’s economy and its move to become an export-promoting economy in the mid 1980s, Thai governments have pursued Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s) and economic cooperation with fellow countries in the Eastern Hemisphere and of course, the USA. In 1967, Thailand help create the Association for South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN was founded to promote nation building, tackle communism and increase economic cooperation. This act has served as the foundation for establishing future FTA’s. Continuous dialog and a desire for economic growth led to the eventual signing of the ASEAN Free-Trade Agreement (AFTA). This paved the way for the elimination of tariffs for goods with 40% of its free on-board value having local input from ASEAN member countries (asean). Following the success of AFTA and its role in facilitating local  manufacturing industries, ASEAN countries sought to expand these FTA’s. This has led to signed FTA’s between ASEAN and China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, Thai and US authorities have been working on an inconclusive US-Thailand FTA since 2004. These agreements have grown Thailand’s export markets and such access to vast growing economies has allowed Thailand to quickly return to growth following the 2008 Global Recession. Unfortunately, with all the free-trade agreements, Thailand continues to have multiple barriers to entry for most foreign entrants and even some domestic ones. They are primarily in the service and transport sectors as well as sectors with significant local production. These include tariffs, quantitative barriers, customs barriers and taxation. Few of the most affected industries are finance, law, telecommunications, air and maritime transport, wood, textiles, transport equipment and professional services. In the finance industry, foreign investors are allowed a limited equity investment of up to 49% of the company. Any investment that amounts to greater than that is treated on a case-by-case basis by the government. In addition, foreign banks have limitations on their lending capabilities and the expansion of branches. Telecommunications also limits foreign investment and in addition to this, the government allocates frequency spectrum that have resulted in two telecommunications companies dominating the industry (Dee, 2004) (US Embassy, Bangkok, 2009). On the other hand, foreigners may own Law firms in Thailand, but only Thai-citizens may provide legal services. At-best, in certain cases, foreign citizens can serve in a limited capacity as a consultant. Such a nationality requirement extends to other professional services such as accountants and physicians as well where Thai-citizens have a higher priorit and only non-citizens that are a resident of Thailand and fluent in Thai are eligible. Industries such as wood and wood products (12.5% tariff), transport equipment (31% tariff) and textiles (25% tariff) continue to have import tariffs and licenses to encourage local production and ensure it is not  harmed. All of these tariffs are between 2 and 4 times the global average (Dee, 2004). Such tariffs are common practice all over the world to protect local businesses. In addition to these tariffs, Thailand’s barriers include several indirect methods that have a less tangible impact. Thailand’s complicated tax system is one such example. When one adds up the import tariff, excise duties and other sales tax on imported alcohol, the price is 400% higher. To complement these barriers, Thailand’s government adapted a â€Å"Buy Thai† policy, much to the resentment of foreign investors. In addition, the Customs department reserves the right to arbitrarily increase the import value of goods (US Embassy, Bangkok, 2009). Lastly, the lack of enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and Patent laws cost US companies $400 million in 2007 (US Embassy, Bangkok, 2009). Pharma companies and Hollywood have had the most direct impact due to copyright infringements, delayed patents and its non-enforcement. Such haphazard barriers by the Thai government can dissuade potential investors. These barriers have a multi-purpose aim. Some tariffs are meant to be revenue generating tariffs, while others cost escalating. These cost-escalating tariffs stand to protect a local industry such as textile manufacturing, wood and timber logging. Barriers in the maritime and air transport have large capital requirements to enter it as well as a vested government interest in the form of state-owned airlines, airports and ports. Other barriers related to haphazard law enforcement and the â€Å"buy Thai† policy and seem less so economic barriers and more so politically motivated ones. A reversal in such barriers would allow air-passenger transport, maritime transport and communications to benefit the most and enable the finance, law and professional services industry to shore up its presence in Thailand while continuing to expand trade, commerce and therefore economic growth in the country. Simultaneously, the government aimed to stimulate domestic and foreign private investment over the coming decade by adapting Export Promotion (EP)  policies that decreased import tariffs, eliminated export tariffs and established the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI). While initial investments were aimed at domestic-market production, this quickly moved to export-oriented production that was not limited by the size of the domestic market. This led to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) ballooning from $40 million in 1970-1974 to $19 billion in 2006 (Kohpaiboon). Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had successfully adapted to export promotion policies while even more countries saw the negative effects of import substitution policies (South America). These polar effects point out the benefits of a trade-centered integrated economy. An exponential increase in FDI requires a stable banking system that is globally integrated. Unlike its Asian peers, almost half of Thailand’s 37 banks are foreign banks such as HSBC, Citibank and Standard Chartered. This has resulted in a strong banking system with assets worth 200% of GDP (Datamonitor, 2010). Other developing countries continue struggle with a government dominated banking system and low population penetration. Sustained growth in FDI has had spillover effects on Thailand’s human capital development and R&D projects to further aid economic growth. The BOI, since 2006 has been actively promoting R&D investments, bagging projects from companies such as Toyota, Honda and Siam Cement. In addition to this, the government has allocated $3 billion in the next 5-year plan for R&D projects with institutes such as Asian Institute of Technology taking lead (Datamonitor, 2010). Such spending has allowed domestic companies to adapt current technologies used world over while evolving new ones. This is a drastic change from the mid-1980s in Thailand when oxes and manual labor characterized agriculture and industry alike. In order for the results of R&D projects to be useful and then successful, an educated workforce is necessary. Starting in 1960, Thailand expanded its schooling system and made schooling mandatory for the first 7 years (Ministry of Education, 1998). A full generation later, the basic impact is visible. By 2006, Thailand boasted a 92% literacy rate, comparable in the region (Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia boast 90%+  literacy rates) and allocates 27% of its national budget to education (Malaysia allocated 20%) (UNDP, 2009). One current constraint is that 80% of the current workforce has had only primary education. However, the long-term impact of education should change this statistic over the coming decade and encourage further labor efficiencies. Unfortunately, a primary educated workforce is not Thailand’s main constraint to growth. In the years following a decade of high-paced growth, the Asian Financial Crisis, consequent political upheavals, natural disasters, corruption and such threatened to derail the Thai story of growth. In spite of all this growth, the high short-term external debt of its government nearly bankrupted Thailand, caused the stock exchange to lose 75% of its market value and devalued the then-pegged Baht by over 50%. The Thai economy came to a halt with layoffs across industries, depressed asset prices and a 12% cumulative drop in output for 1997-1998. This led to an inevitable $40 billion IMF-led rescue package for the most affected Asian economies (Hunter, Kaufman, & Krueger, 1999). The package allowed Thailand’s economy to stay solvent and resume growth only in 1999. The Asian Financial Crisis marked a start in Thailand’s sporadic political upheavals. This culminated in 2006 when Prime Minister Thaksin was removed from office in a bloodless coup while he attending the UN General Assembly in front of the world’s eyes. The 4 years since has seen scores of public demonstrations, 3 Prime Ministers and a riot culminating in the summer 2010 stand-off between the armed forces and pro-Thaksin demonstrators in central Bangkok. Meanwhile, neighboring countries such as Philippines, Vietnam and even Indonesia have moved toward political stability with their leaders transitioning their country into a period of economic growth (Marshall, 2010). These upheavals are a source of concern to international and domestic businesses and have a negative ripple effect through the economy. In fact, Thaksin is not the only corrupt politician to grace Thailand. Corruption plagues many institutions and bureaucracy’s there. Transparency international ranked Thailand 84th out of 178 countries on the Global  Corruption Index with China falling ahead in 78th position and India just behind in 87th place. Like most sizable developing countries, corruption is rampant in Thailand and other high-profile cases include the governor of Bangkok, Mr. Apirak. In 2009, the Thai government reported that the most number of corruption complaints within government agencies were filed against the Customs Department (Datamonitor, 2010). Taking cue from Singapore, Thailand must be more pro-active in reducing this rampant corruption in order to focus on economic and social development. Singapore along with New Zealand and Denmark topped the least for least corrupt countries (Zee News, 2010). Another growth constraint is natural disasters. In 2004, an earthquake followed by a tsunami caused widespread havoc and destruction. While Thailand’s direct impact was lower than Indonesia, with over 5,000 lives lost, 30,000 fishing boats and 120,000 tourism jobs lost, its effects cannot be ignored. Such continued disasters can hamper progress and instead undo years of economic development. Countries ranging from Indonesia to Seychelles were affected by this (United Nations, 2005). As the 1997 Financial Crisis demonstrated, Thailand is very integrated into the world’s economy. Therefore, with the arrival of the Great Recession in 2008, demand for its export-oriented production began to fall. Thailand’s dependence on exports put the country into a yearlong recession that it is now out of. In fact, Thailand is expected to grow at 4% this year. This quick recovery has been due to the deliberate public spending undertaken by the government. With the government undertaking a 5-year plan to boost infrastructure spending and reduce poverty, Thailand should see sustained growth over the coming years. As Thailand emerges from the Great Recession of 2008, there are several helpful pointers Thailand has taken from its experiences since the Asian Financial Crisis. The Thai government has learned of the benefits of a balanced budget, they successfully reduced government debt between 2002 and 2008, repaid IMF loans (2 years early) and regained growth. While corruption continues to exist, Thailand has an increasingly tougher National Counter  Corruption Commission and current Prime Minister Abhisit has proposed a Reconciliation Plan to create a more transparent, clean government. The tsunami has resulted in the implementation of an emergency alert system thereby preventing future calamities, social and economic losses. With a majority of new growth coming from Asia, Thailand is optimally situated as an export economy in the region. Strong historical ties to the US will ensure economic cooperation as the US economic recovery progresses. Continued spending on education will result in an efficient, productive labor-force allowing Thailand to grow from just an international finance center to an advanced technology driven, export oriented economy in the years to come. Economic policy outlook The government is pushing ahead with a major fiscal stimulus program worth Bt1.4trn (US$43bn), which is to run until 2012. However, the fiscal position is weak, and the government could struggle to finance the program in full without risking future financial stability. This second-stage stimulus program, known as Thai Khem Khaeng (Strong Thailand), centers on infrastructure projects as well as investment in agriculture, education and health. Owing to the fact that the government has only limited fiscal freedom (constitutional restrictions cap the budget deficit in any year at 20% of total expenditure), the majority of the programs spending is off-budget and is financed through increased borrowing. The government actually plans to reduce budgetary spending in fiscal year 2009/10 (October-September) in an attempt to contain the fiscal deficit, which ballooned in 2008/09 owing to a first-stage stimulus program that included cash grants and subsidies. The government is proposing another expansionary budget in 2010/11. As the economy begins to recover in 2010, the Bank of Thailand (BOT, the central bank) will begin to raise interest rates to contain inflation. As for the fiscal policy, the government will run a substantial budget deficit in 2010-11, but it should be narrower than in 2009, when it reached the equivalent of 4.4% of GDP. After reducing planned expenditure in 2009/10  by Bt200bn (US$5.8bn), the government proposes to increase it by about Bt400bn in 2010/11. It is also stimulating the economy with the Thai Khem Khaeng program of off-budget expenditure. Whether or not the program succeeds in stimulating growth, hinges mostly on its implementation. There is a risk that some funds will be lost to corruption or will be wasted, as was highlighted by a recent admission by the Comptrollergenerals Department that funding for projects previously rejected by the Budget Bureau had been approved owing to the government!s determination to proceed with economic stimulus. Assuming that the government receives full parliamentary approval to borrow another Bt400bn in the next three years, public debt could rise sharply relative to GDP in 2010-11. However, the finance minister, Korn Chatikavanij, recently said that as revenue growth so far in 2009/10 had exceeded expectations, the government might not need to borrow as much as it had originally planned. The BOT will begin to tighten monetary policy in second half of 2010 as the economy starts to recover and core inflation (which excludes raw foods and energy) accelerates. However, the central bank will not raise interest rates sharply, as there are still major risks to the recovery, and core inflation, which stood at 0.5% in January-February, remains at the low end of the official target range of 0.5-3%. The BOT has also expressed concern that prematurely raising the one-day repurchase rate†which stands at 1.25%, having been lowered by 250 basis points between December 2008 and April 2009†³could lead to inflows of foreign capital, pushing up asset prices to unsustainable levels and causing the baht to strengthen further. Works Cited CIA. (2010). Thailand. Retrieved November 20, 2010, from CIA – The World Factbook: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.html Datamonitor. (2010). Thailand, In-depth PESTLE Insights. Datamonitor. Falvey, L. (2001). Thai Agriculture: Golden Cradle of Millennia. White Lotus Co Ltd. Hunter, W., Kaufman, G., & Krueger, T. (1999). The Asian Financial Crisis: Origins, Implications and Solutions. Ministry of Education. (1998). History of Thai Education. Retrieved November 2010, from Ministry of Education, Thailand: www.moe.go.th/main2/article/e-hist.htm UNDP. (2009). United Nations Development Programme. United Nations. United Nations. (2005). Impact on Thailand. United Nations. Zee News. (2010, October 26). India Slips Three Places in Global Corruption Rankings. Retrieved November 2010, from Zee News: www.zeenews.com/news663930.html Citation â€Å"Thailand.† Country Report. Thailand (2010): 1-27. Business Source Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 Dec. 2010 ASEAN. (n.d.). Overview – asean. Retrieved from association of southeast asian nations: http://www.aseansec.org/64.htm Dee, P. (2004). A Systematic Evaluation of Services Trade Barriers: The Case of Thailand. Washington DC: Australian National University. â€Å"Thailand†. World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agnecy. Accessed November 23, 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.html â€Å"Thailand Natural Resources†. Index Mundi. Updated 2010. Accessed November 23, 2010. http://www.indexmundi.com/thailand/natural_resources.html

Digital Audio

Digital Audio refers to the reproduction and the transmissions of a stored sound in a digital format. This includes things like CDs or mp3s and other forms of sound that can be stored on a computer. In contrast for instance say the telephone system, which is stored in a completely different format which is called the analogue system. In sound recording and reproduction systems, digital audio refers to a digital representation of the audio waveform for processing.Digital Audio came about due to its usefulness when recording and distribution in sound. The modern day usage of this system is through the internet to post put songs on web pages and videos on YouTube depends on digital recording and digital HYPERLINK â€Å"http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Audio_compression_(data)† o â€Å"Audio compression (data)† compression algorithms. One of the good things about using this system is that it reduces the cost of the distribution because it is not a physical object.Also it is v ery easy to access because nowadays if people want something or need something they go on the internet. In an analog system sounds are usually made physically and are recorded into a mic which is transformed into a electrical representation of a waveform, which is stored or transmitted. Analog audio signals are susceptible to noise and distortion, unavoidable due to the innate characteristics of electronic circuits and associated devices.In the case of purely analog recording and reproduction, numerous opportunities for the introduction of noise and distortion exist throughout the entire process. When audio is digitized, distortion and noise are introduced only by the stages that precede conversion to digital format, and by the stages that follow conversion back to analog. Digital Audio Workstation or DAW is one of the commonly used terms in home music production environment.Yet some are still confused especially the beginners in music production with no electrical/sound engineering background as to what is really the meaning of Digital Audio Workstation? The fact is that, it’s so hard to understand what is digital audio workstation without giving the beginner; a complete information of how everything starts and end in music production. It’s why this lengthy post is perfect for those completely new in digital-based home recording or recording music using computers!I should have written this a long time ago, anyway its good that I put some importance of posting this one. Let’s get started.. First, you need to understand how the music goes into your computer. Your music is a sound wave which is an analog signal, a continuous form of signal(e. g. a sine wave). A musical instrument or a disturbance (e. g a water droplet falling into a pail of water) and can cause vibrations in the air that causes it propagate in the form of a sound wave.When these air pressure vibrations reaches your ear, you will perceived it as a sound if the pressure is str ong enough to cause vibrations in your ear drum and if the frequency is audible (20Hz to 20,000Hz). The music you hear are actually composed of musical notes which are sinusoidal in nature and has two properties which are: a. ) Amplitude (how strong are the pressure vibrations, which is usually measured by SPL or sound pressure level using decibels). b. ) Frequency( how high or low is the pitch of the sound wave, measured in Hertz)