Online Public Schools for Pennsylvania Students

Students residing in Pennsylvania can  take online public school courses for free. Schools included in this article met the following qualifications: they have classes available completely online, they offer services to state residents, and they are government-funded. Presented here is a list of some no-cost online schools serving elementary and high school students in Pennsylvania as of May 2017.   21st Century Cyber Charter School Pennsylvania students in grades 6 to 12 can attend 21CCCS, which provides a rigorous and personalized curriculum, highly qualified instructional staff and a supportive educational community. Using PSSA scores, Keystone Exam scores, PSAT participation, SAT scores and other academic performance measures, 21CCCS regularly outperforms other Pennsylvania cyber schools. 21CCCS holds the highest score of any cyber charter  on the College Ready Benchmark, which includes the SAT and ACT scores of 12th-grade students. 21CCCS has also been ranked in the top 5 to 10 percent of high schools in Pennsylvania for SAT scores. The school provides students with a flexible, individualized learning environment. Asynchronous learning offers students 24/7 course access and a 56-hour-per-week window where they can work one on one with PA certified, highly qualified teachers. Agora Cyber Charter School Agora Cyber Charter School’s mission and commitment are to provide an â€Å"innovative, intense academic program that inspires and educates students to achieve the highest levels of academic knowledge and skills and develop proficiency in the design and use of new computer technologies and scientific research.† The school partners with families and the community to ensure that every student’s Individualized Learning Plan is not only met but exceeded. Agora Cyber Charter School’s nine core values, which shape and define the school’s climate and culture, are empowerment, innovation, respect, compassion, integrity, personalization, teamwork, courage, and responsibility. Reach Cyber Charter School Reach Cyber Charter School courses are offered throughout the year—during the fall, spring and summer sessions. As a result, this online high school provides Pennsylvania school students with three flexible graduation pacing options. In the Standard Pace option, students take a full course load in fall and spring. For the Year-Round Pace options, students take fewer classes than usual in fall and spring, but they also attend school in summer. Accelerated Pace students attend full-time year round, leading to early graduation. The school uses a secure education management system on which parents and students can locate necessary documents, communicate with teachers, find daily lessons and more. SusQ-Cyber Charter School SusQ-Cyber Charter School uses a blended curriculum, with content from a variety of providers. In synchronous online classrooms, students participate along with other students and the teacher in real time. As a fully staffed public high school, SusQ-Cyber has a Guidance Department, Student Health Services, and a Special Education Department. The school’s technical support staff, among other tasks, keeps up with all the gear that students receive: an Apple computer, as well as an iPad for 11th- and 12th-grade students, any necessary software; a personal internet hot spot; a printer and ink; and calculators.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1494 Words

â€Å"The Great Gatsby was written in 1925 by the famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in Long Island, New York during the roaring twenties. Gatsbys started from the bottom success story makes him the symbol of the American dream. â€Å"Daisy Buchanan is one of the true Golden Girls of Fitzgeralds stories, the wealthy, hard-to get debutante. In this book, she is the love interest of Jay Gatsby†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Great Gatsby) Francis Scott Fitzgerald shows an image of the American life in the 1920s. Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is a failure because it are not based on love, but on materialism. Fitzgerald demonstrates how love can block your path, and success can make you corrupt. Gatsby, who was actually born James Gatz, was a son to poor famers in North Dakota. He is a man who knows right from wrong but teeters on the line of each. In the beginning Gatsby dreamed of leaving the farm life and become rich. He soon leaves home in search of the proposed â€Å"American Dream†. He enrolls into St. Olaf’s College with a janitorial job, but he dropped out only two weeks in because he couldn’t stand the job. One day while on the beach he sees a yacht and approaches it. This is where Gatsby meets Dan Cody. Dan Cody is obviously a rich man. Gatsby was seventeen and Cody was fifty years old. He offers Gatsby his first job. He showed Gatsby the ways of the real world. As the story opens, Nick (the narrator) has moved next door to Gatsby. Nick has the same background as Gatsby. TheShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1393 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald was the model of the American image in the nineteen twenties. He had wealth, fame, a beautiful wife, and an adorable daughter; all seemed perfect. Beneath the gilded faà §ade, however, was an author who struggled with domestic and physical difficulties that plagued his personal life and career throughout its short span. This author helped to launch the theme that is so prevalent in his work; the human instinct to yearn for more, into the forefront of American literature, where itRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1343 Words   |  6 PagesHonors English 10 Shugart 18 Decemeber 2014 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on American life. The Great Gatsby is about the lives of four wealthy characters observed by the narrator, Nick Carroway. Throughout the novel a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby throws immaculate parties every Saturday night in hope to impress his lost lover, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby lives in a mansion on West Egg across from DaisyRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1155 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby The Jazz Age was an era where everything and anything seemed possible. It started with the beginning of a new age with America coming out of World War I as the most powerful nation in the world (Novel reflections on, 2007). As a result, the nation soon faced a culture-shock of material prosperity during the 1920’s. Also known as the â€Å"roaring twenties†, it was a time where life consisted of prodigality and extravagant parties. Writing based on his personal experiences, author F. ScottRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1166 Words   |  5 Pagesin the Haze F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a time that was characterized by an unbelievable lack of substance. After the tragedy and horrors of WWI, people were focused on anything that they could that would distract from the emptiness that had swallowed them. Tangible greed tied with extreme materialism left many, by the end of this time period, disenchanted. The usage of the literary theories of both Biographical and Historical lenses provide a unique interpretation of the Great Gatsby centered aroundRead MoreThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald845 Words   |  3 PagesIn F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, colors represent a variety of symbols that relate back to the American Dream. The dream of being pure, innocent and perfect is frequently associated with the reality of corruption, violence, and affairs. Gatsby’s desire for achieving the American Dream is sought for through corruption (Schneider). The American Dream in the 1920s was perceived as a desire of w ealth and social standings. Social class is represented through the East Egg, the WestRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay970 Words   |  4 Pagesrespecting and valuing Fitzgerald work in the twenty-first century? Fitzgerald had a hard time to profiting from his writing, but he was not successful after his first novel. There are three major point of this essay are: the background history of Fitzgerald life, the comparisons between Fitzgerald and the Gatsby from his number one book in America The Great Gatsby, and the Fitzgerald got influences of behind the writing and being a writer. From childhood to adulthood, Fitzgerald faced many good andRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2099 Words   |  9 Pagesauthor to mirror his life in his book. In his previous novels F. Scott Fitzgerald drew from his life experiences. He said that his next novel, The Great Gatsby, would be different. He said, â€Å"In my new novel I’m thrown directly on purely creative work† (F. Scott Fitzgerald). He did not realize or did not want it to appear that he was taking his own story and intertwining it within his new novel. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he imitates his lifestyle through the Buchanan family to demonstrateRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1607 Words   |  7 Pages The Great Gatsby is an American novel written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the themes of the book is the American Dream. The American Dream is an idea in which Americans believe through hard work they can achieve success and prosperity in the free world. In F. Scott Fitzgerald s novel, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream leads to popularity, extreme jealousy and false happiness. Jay Gatsby’s recent fortune and wealthiness helped him earn a high social position and become one of the mostRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1592 Words   |  7 PagesMcGowan English 11A, Period 4 9 January 2014 The Great Gatsby Individuals who approach life with an optimistic mindset generally have their goals established as their main priority. Driven by ambition, they are determined to fulfill their desires; without reluctance. These strong-minded individuals refuse to be influenced by negative reinforcements, and rely on hope in order to achieve their dreams. As a man of persistence, the wealthy Jay Gatsby continuously strives to reclaim the love of hisRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1646 Words   |  7 PagesThe 1920s witnessed the death of the American Dream, a message immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Initially, the American Dream represented the outcome of American ideals, that everyone has the freedom and opportunity to achieve their dreams provided they perform honest hard work. During the 1920s, the United States experienced massive economic prosperity making the American Dream seem alive and strong. However, in Fitzgerald’s eyes, the new Am erican culture build around that

Night World Witchlight Chapter 5 Free Essays

string(245) " losing it and saying, What do you think you’re doing, waltzing in and trying to hitch me up to some guy I’ve never met\? Asking me to fight is one thing but ordering me to marry-giving me away like some object-that’s another\." Everything hung in the balance, and for a moment Keller thought that they had won. Diana’s face looked different, older and more clearly defined. For all her flower-petal prettiness, she had a strong little chin. We will write a custom essay sample on Night World : Witchlight Chapter 5 or any similar topic only for you Order Now But she didn’t say anything, and her eyes were still hazy. â€Å"Toby,† Grandma Harman said abruptly. â€Å"Put in the video.† Her apprentice went to the VCR. Keller stared at the tape in his hand, her heart picking up speed. A video. Could that be what she thought it was? â€Å"What you’re about to see is-well, let’s just say it’s very secret,† Grandma Harman said to Iliana as the apprentice fiddled with the controls. â€Å"So secret that there’s only one tape of it, and that stays locked up in Circle Daybreak headquarters at all times. I’m the only person I trust to carry it around. All right, Toby, play it.† Iliana looked at the TV apprehensively. â€Å"What is it?† The old woman smiled at her. â€Å"Something the enemy would really like to see. It’s a record of the other Wild Powers-in action.† The first scene on the tape was live news coverage of a fire. A little girl was trapped in a second-story apartment, and the flames were getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the tape went into slow motion, and a blue flash lit the screen. When the flash died away, the fire was out. â€Å"The blue fire,† Grandma Harman said. â€Å"The first Wild Power we found did that, smothered those ordinary flames with a single thought. That’s just one example of what it can do.† The next scene was of a dark-haired young man. This one was obviously deliberately filmed; the boy was looking directly into the camera. He took a knife from his belt and very coolly made a cut on his left wrist. Blood welled up in the wound and dripped to the ground. â€Å"The second Wild Power,† Grandma Harman said. â€Å"A vampire prince.† The boy turned and held out the arm that was bleeding. The camera focused on a large boulder about thirty feet away. And then the tape went into slow motion again, and Keller could actually see the blue fire shoot out from his hand. It started as a burst, but what followed was a steady stream. It was so bright that the camera couldn’t deal with it; it bleached out the rest of the picture. But when it hit the rock, there was no doubt about what happened. The two-ton boulder exploded into gravel. When the dust settled, there was only a charred crater in the ground. The dark-haired boy looked back at the camera, then shrugged and targeted another boulder. He wasn’t even sweating. Keller’s breath came out involuntarily. Her heart was pounding, and she knew her eyes were glittering. She saw Galen glance sideways at her but ignored him. Power like that, she thought. I never really imagined it. If I had that power, the things I could do with it†¦ Before she could help herself, she had turned to him. â€Å"Don’t you see? That’s what you’ll bring to our side if you choose to fight with us. That’s what’s going to give us a chance against them. You have to do it, don’t you understand?† It was the wrong thing to say. Diana’s reaction to the video had been completely different from Keller’s own. She was staring at the TV as if she were watching open-heart surgery. Unsuccessful open-heart surgery. I don’t – I can’t do anything like that!† â€Å"Diana-â€Å" â€Å"And I don’t want to! No. Look.† A veil seemed to have dropped down behind Diana’s beautiful eyes. She was facing Keller, but Keller wondered if she actually saw anything. She spoke rapidly, almost frantically. â€Å"You said you had to talk to me, so I listened. I even watched your-your special effects stuff.† She waved a hand at the screen where the boy was blowing up more boulders. â€Å"But now it’s over, and I’m going home. This is all-I don’t know. It’s all too weird for me! I’m telling you, I can’t do that kind of thing. You’re looking at the wrong person.† â€Å"We looked at all your cousins first,† Grandma Harman said. â€Å"Thea and Blaise. Gillian, who was a lost witch like yourself. Even poor Sylvia, who was seduced over to the enemy side. But it was none of them. Then we found you.† She leaned forward, trying to hold Diana with her eyes. â€Å"You have to accept it, child. It’s a great responsibility and a great burden, but no one else can do it for you. Come and take your place with us.† Iliana wasn’t listening. It was as simple as that. Keller could almost see the words bouncing off her. And her eyes†¦ Not a veil, Keller thought. A wall had dropped down. It had slammed into place, and Diana was hiding behind it. â€Å"If I don’t get home soon, my mother’s going to go crazy. I just ran out for a few minutes to get some gold stretchy ribbon-you know, the kind that has like a rubber band inside? It seems like I’m always looking for that. We have some from last year, but it’s already tied, and it won’t fit on the presents I’m doing.† Keller stared at her, then cast a glance heavenward. She could see the others staring, too. Winnie’s mouth was hanging open. Nissa’s eyebrows were in her hair. Galen looked dismayed. Grandma Harman said, â€Å"If you won’t accept your responsibilities as a Wild Power, will you at least do your duty as the Witch Child? The winter solstice is next Saturday. On that night, there’s going to be a meeting of the shapeshifters and the witches. If we can show them a promise ceremony between you and the son of the First House of the shapeshifters, the shapeshifters will join us.† Keller half expected Iliana to explode. And in the deepest recesses of her own heart, she wouldn’t really have blamed her. She could understand Iliana losing it and saying, What do you think you’re doing, waltzing in and trying to hitch me up to some guy I’ve never met? Asking me to fight is one thing but ordering me to marry-giving me away like some object-that’s another. You read "Night World : Witchlight Chapter 5" in category "Essay examples" But Iliana didn’t say anything like that. She said, â€Å"And I’ve still got so many presents to wrap, and I’m not anywhere near done shopping. Plus, this week at school is going to be completely crazy. And Saturday, that’s the night Jaime and Brett Ashton-Hughes are having their birthday party. I can’t miss that.† Keller lost it. â€Å"What is wrong with you? Are you deaf or just stupid?† Iliana talked right over her. â€Å"They’re twins, you know. And I think Brett kind of likes me. Their family is really rich, and they live in this big house, and they only invite a few people to their parties. All the girls have crushes on him. Brett, I mean.† â€Å"No,† Keller answered her own question. â€Å"You’re just the most selfish, spoiled little brat I’ve ever met!† â€Å"Keller,† Nissa said quietly. â€Å"It’s no good. The harder you push her, the more she goes into denial.† Keller let out her breath. She knew that it was true, but she had never been more frustrated in her life. Grandma Harman’s face suddenly looked very old and very tired. â€Å"Child, we can’t force you to do anything. But you have to realize that we’re not the only ones who want you. The other side knows about you, too. They won’t give up, and they will use force.† â€Å"And they’ve got a lot of force.† Keller turned to the old woman. â€Å"I need to tell you about that. I didn’t want to say it on the phone, but they already tried to get Iliana once today. We had to fight them at the mall.† She took a deep breath. â€Å"And they had a dragon.† Grandma Harman’s head jerked up. Those steely lavender-gray eyes fixed on Keller. â€Å"Tell me.† Keller told everything. As she did, Grandma Harman’s face seemed to get older and older, sinking into haggard lines of worry and sadness. But all she said at the end was, â€Å"I see. Well have to try to find out how they got him, and what exactly his powers are. I don’t think there’s anybody alive today who’s an expert on-those creatures.† â€Å"They called him Azhdeha.† â€Å"Hmm-sounds Persian.† â€Å"It is,† Galen said. ‘It’s one of the old names for the constellation Draco. It means ‘man-eating serpent'† Keller looked at him in surprise. He had been sitting quietly all this time, listening without interrupting. Now he was leaning forward, his gold-green eyes intense. â€Å"The shapeshifters have some old scrolls about dragons. I think you should ask for them. They might give some idea about what powers they have and how to fight them. I saw the scrolls once, but I didn’t really study them; I don’t think anybody has.† He’d seen the ancient scrolls? Then he was a shapeshifter, after all. But why hadn’t she been able to sense an animal form for him? â€Å"Galen-† Keller began, but Grandma Harman was speaking. ‘It’s a good idea. When I get them, I’ll send copies to you and Keller. He’s one of your people, after all, and you may be able to help figure out how to fight him.† Keller wanted to say indignantly that he wasn’t any connection to her, but of course it wasn’t true. The dragons had ruled the shapeshifters, once. Their blood still ran in the First House, the Drache family that ruled the shapeshifters today. Whatever that monster was, he was one of her people. â€Å"So it’s decided. Keller, you and your team will take Iliana home. I’ll go back to Circle Daybreak and try to find out more about dragons. Unless†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She looked at Iliana. â€Å"Unless this discussion has changed your mind.† Iliana, unbelievably, was still prattling, having a conversation about presents with nobody in particular. It was clear that her mind hadn’t changed. What wasn’t clear to Keller was whether she had a mind. But Keller had other things to worry about. Tm sorry-but you’re not serious, are you? About taking her home?† â€Å"Perfectly serious,*’ Grandma Harman said. â€Å"But we can’t† â€Å"We can, and we have to. You three girls will be her bodyguards-and her friends. I’m hoping that you can persuade her to accept her responsibility by Saturday night at midnight, when the shapeshifters and the witches convene. But if not†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Grandma Harman bowed her head slightly, leaning on her cane. She was looking at Iliana. â€Å"If not,† she said in a barely audible voice, â€Å"you’ll just have to protect her for as long as you can.† Keller was choking. 1 don’t see how we can protect her at all. With all respect, ma’am, it’s an insane idea. They have to know where her house is by now. Even if we stick beside her twenty-four hours a day-and I don’t see how we can even do that, with her family around-â€Å" The white head came up, and there was even a faint curve to the old woman’s lips. ‘Illtake care of that. Ill have a talk with her mother-young Anna, Elspeth’s granddaughter.Ill introduce myself and explain that her daughter’s long-lost cousins’ have come to visit for Christmas.† And undoubtedly do something witchy to Anna’s mind, Keller thought Yeah, after that they’d be accepted, although none of them looked a bit like Iliana’s cousins. â€Å"And then I will put up wards around that house.† There was a flash like silver lightning in Grandma Harman’s eyes as she said it â€Å"Wards that will hold against anything from the outside. As long as nobody inside disturbs them, you’ll be safe.† She cocked an eyebrow at Keller. â€Å"Satisfied?† â€Å"I’m sorry-no. It’s still too dangerous.† â€Å"Then what would you suggest we do?† â€Å"Kidnap her,† Keller said instantly. She could hear Iliana stop babbling in the background; she wasn’t gaining any Brownie points there. She bulldozed on grimly. â€Å"Look, I’m just a grunt; I obey orders. But I think that she’s too important for us to just let her run around loose where they might get hold of her. I think we should take her to a Circle Daybreak enclave like the ones where the other Wild Powers are. Where we can protect her from the enemy.† Grandma Harman looked her in the eye. â€Å"If we do that,† she said mildly, â€Å"then we are the enemy.† There was a pause. Keller said, â€Å"With all respect, ma’am-â€Å" â€Å"I don’t want your respect. I want your obedience. The leaders of Circle Daybreak made a firm decision when this whole thing started. If we can’t convince a Wild Power by reasoning, we will not resort to force. So your orders are to take your team and stay with this child and protect her as long as you can.† â€Å"Excuse me.† It was Galen. The others had been sitting and watching silently. Nissa and Winnie were too smart to get involved in an exchange like this, but Keller could see that they were both unhappy. â€Å"What is it?† Grandma Harman asked. â€Å"If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with them. I could be another ‘cousin.’ It would make four of us to watch over her-better odds.† Keller thought she might have an apoplexy. She was so mad, she couldn’t even get words out While she was choking uselessly, Galen was going on. His face still looked pale and strained, like a young soldier coming back from battle, but his dark gold hair was shining, and his eyes were steady. His whole attitude was one of earnest pleading. Tm not a fighter, but maybe I can learn. After all, that’s what we’re asking Iliana to do, isn’t it? Can we ask anything of her that we’re not ready to do ourselves?† Grandma Harman, who had been frowning, now looked him up and down appraisingly. â€Å"You have a fine young mind,† she said. â€Å"Like your father’s. He and your mother were both strong warriors, as well.† Galen’s eyes darkened. ‘Td hoped I wouldn’t have to be one. But it looks like we can’t always choose.† Keller didn’t know what they were talking about or why the Crone of all the Witches knew the parents of this guy she’d met in a mall. But she’d finally gotten the obstruction out of her throat. â€Å"No way!† she said explosively. She was on her feet now, too, black hair flying as she looked from Grandma Harman to Galen. â€Å"I mean it. There is no way I am taking this boy back with us. And you may be the leader of the witches, ma’am, but, no offense intended, I don’t think you have the authority to make me. I’d have to hear it from the leaders of Circle Daybreak themselves, from Thierry Descouedres or Lady Hannah. Or from the First House of the shapeshifters.† Grandma Harman gave an odd snort. Keller ignored it. ‘It’s not just that he’s not a fighter. He’s not involved in this. He doesn’t have any part in it.† Grandma Harman looked at Galen, not entirely approvingly. â€Å"It seems you’ve been keeping secrets. Are you going to tell her, or shall I?† â€Å"I-† Galen turned from her to Keller. â€Å"Listen. I’m sorry-I should have mentioned it before.† His eyes were embarrassed and apologetic. ‘It just-there just didn’t seem to be a right time.† He winced. â€Å"I wasn’t in that mall today accidentally. I came by to look for Iliana. I wanted to see her, maybe get to know her a little.† Keller stared at him, not breathing. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He winced again. â€Å"I’m Galen Drache†¦ of the First House of the shapeshifters,† Keller blinked while the room revolved briefly. I should have known. I should have realized. That’s why he seemed like a shapeshifter, but I couldn’t get any animal sense from him. Children of the First House weren’t born connected to any particular animal. They had power over all animals, and they were allowed to choose when they became adults which one they would shift into. It also explained how he’d known which pressure points to use to get her off the dragon. And his telepathy-children of the First House could connect to any animal mind. When the room settled back into place, Keller realized that she was still standing there, and Galen was still looking at her. His eyes were almost beseeching. ‘I should have explained,† he said. â€Å"Well, of course, it was your choice,† Keller said stiffly. There was an unusual amount of blood in her cheeks; she could feel it burning. She went on, â€Å"And, naturally, I’m sorry if anything I’ve said has given offense.† â€Å"Keller, please don’t be formal.† â€Å"Let’s see, I haven’t greeted you properly, or given you my obedience.† Keller took his hand, which was well made, long-fingered, and cold. She brought it to her forehead. â€Å"Welcome, Drache, son of the First House of the shapeshifters. I’m yours to command, naturally.† There was a silence. Keller dropped Galen’s hand. Galen looked miserable. â€Å"You’re really mad now, aren’t you?† he observed. â€Å"1 wish you every happiness with your new bride,† Keller said through her teeth. She couldn’t figure out exactly why she was so mad. Sure, she’d been made a fool of, and now she was going to have to take responsibility for an untrained boy who couldn’t even shapeshift into a mouse. But it was more than that. He’s going to marry that whiny little flower in the corner, a voice in Keller’s head whispered. He has to marry her, or at least go through a promise ceremony that’s just as binding as marriage. If he doesn’t, the shapeshifters will never join with the witches. They’ve said so, and they’ll never back down. And if they don’t join with the witches . .. everything you’ve ever worked for is finished. And your job is to persuade the flower to do her duty, the voice continued brightly. That means you’ve got to convince her to marry him. Instead of eating her. Keller’s temper flared. I don’t want to eat her, she snapped back at the voice. And I don’t care who this idiot marries. It’s none of my business. She realized that the room was still silent, and everyone was watching Iliana and Galen. Iliana had stopped prattling. She was looking at Galen with huge violet eyes. He was looking back, strained and serious. Then he turned to Keller again. â€Å"I’d still like to help, if you’ll let me come.† â€Å"I told you, I’m yours to command,† Keller said shortly. â€Å"It’s your decision. I’d like to mention that it just makes things a little harder on my team. Now we’re going to have to look out for you as well as her. Because, you see, you’re not expendable after all.† â€Å"I don’t want you to look out for me,† he said soberly. â€Å"I’m not important.† Keller wanted to say, Don’t be an idiot. No you, no promise ceremony, no treaty. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got to protect you. But she’d already said more than enough. Toby was retrieving the tape from the VCR. Grandma Harman was making getting-ready-to-rise motions with her cane. â€Å"I think we’ve stayed here long enough,† she said to Keller. Keller nodded stiffly. â€Å"Would you like to come in the limo? Or would you rather follow us to her house?† Grandma Harman opened her mouth to answer, but she never got the chance. Keller’s ears caught the sound of movement outside just before the living room window shattered. How to cite Night World : Witchlight Chapter 5, Essay examples

COSO Internal Control Integrated Framework

Question: Discuss about the COSO Internal Control Integrated Framework. Answer: Introduction: World Com is a giant telecom company that came into spotlight for the accounting scandal in its books of accounts. The fraud was committed in the books of account in the two ways by reducing the reserve account and under reporting of expenses. The operating margin indicates the profitability of the company. The operating margin of the company has decreased sharply during 1998. In order to improve the operating margin the company used manipulative accounting technique so that company can project improved earnings (Knechel Salterio, 2016). The company passed fictitious accounting entries to increase the revenue amount and it was passed from the Corporate Unallocated Revenue account. The company reduced the reserve for covering the liabilities of the company acquired. The company from its reserve added $2.8 billion to its revenue. This resulted in increase in profit margin of the company constantly during the year 1999 and 2000. The current accounting manipulation is considered inadequ ate to maintain the same level of earnings by 2001. In 2001, the profit margin of the company has decreased to half as compared to the previous years (Martin et al., 2014). The second way in which the World Com has performed fraud is by under reporting of expenses. The company has under reported the line cost so that stock price of the company is increased. The line cost of the company includes expenses for inter connection with other telecommunication companies. The company in the year 2000 actually suffered a loss of $649 million (Kiesow et al., 2015). However, by performing fraud the company reported the profit of $2608 million in the same year. The company reported the expenses as capital investment and it was shown in balance sheet. The company made this fraud to show that the company is earning more by making fewer expenses. The company transferred into the capital account the current expenses. The company by understating the expenses boosted the net income of the company and as the expenses was capitalized so the assets of the company has increased from 1999 to 2001. Therefore, it can be said that the company has avoided a loss of billion dollars by capitalizing the line cost instead of expressing it as expenses. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) provides the initiative for discloser of financial information. The SOX Act encourages greater initiative for the financial information disclosure. The key section of the SOX that relates to the activity is section 404. The section 404 of the SOX provides that the external auditor should evaluate the effectiveness of the internal control on the financial reporting process. The executive of the HealthSouth is engaged in the fraudulent activity. The executive have committed fraud by following three steps. Firstly, the company analyzed the financial statement to determine if the expectation of the analyst is meet. Secondly, if the earning of the company is short then the management manipulates the results for suiting the purpose as necessary. Thirdly, the management created false documents so that the false entries in the books of the accounts are concealed. The widespread fraud was prevalent in the company of the Health South and even the auditors allowed the fraud to be continued (Luo, 2015). The section 303 of the SOX Act deals with the improper influences on the conduct of audit. The section 303 provides that it will be unlawful to influence the performance of an auditor engaged in providing independent opinion on the financial statement. In this case, the management of the company has violated the provision of the act by influencing the opinion of the auditor. The SOX Act provides that alteration of document is a criminal offence that attracts penalties under section 802 of the SOX Act. The section 108 of the SOX Act requires the company to prepare the financial statement in accordance with the accounting standards. In this case, the company has engaged in fraud so the section 108 of the act is violated. In this question the three article is discussed to examine the change that have taken place in the role of audit committee and internal audit after the passing of SOX Act. The first article by Cynthia et al., 2011 in Highlights of Corporate Governance Research. Journal of Accountancy states that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 motivates recent corporate governance initiatives (SOX). The article discusses the role that the internal audit plays in detecting the material weakness. It is stated in the article that the role of the internal auditor mainly focused on detecting weakness in control. The scope of the internal audit have widened after the recent developments. The internal audit not only includes detection of the material weakness but also provides opinion on the financial statement. The article shows that significant change have taken place after passing of the SOX Act (Karanja Zaveri, 2014). In the article of Corporate Governance in the Post-Sarbanes-Oxley by Cohen et al., 2010 states that responsibility of management, auditor and corporate governance has significantly expanded after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. In this article, an interview-based research was conducted in which three of the four big audit firms participated. The auditors indicated that there is a significant improvement in the corporate governance scenario across the world. It was found that the audit committees are performing their responsibility with more responsibility. In the Shu Lin et al., 2011 the article for The Role of the Internal Audit Function in the Disclosure of Material Weaknesses. The Accounting Review discuss the role related to the internal audit function (IAF). The section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 states that disclosure of material weakness should be reported under section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Spears et al., 2013). This study investigates the role of the internal audit function in the disclosure of the material weakness. The data of 214 firms were used to study the relationship between the disclosure of material weakness and the attributes and activities of internal audit functions. The result of the study indicated that the disclosure of material weakness is negatively related with the level of education of the IAF. It is also found in the study that the practice of the grading of the audit engagement and the disclosure of material weakness have a positive relationship. The coordination of the internal and external auditor suggests that these activities increases the effectiveness of the compliance process of section 404. Reference Karanja, E., Zaveri, J. (2014). Ramifications of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act on IT governance.International Journal of Accounting and Information Management,22(2), 134-145. Kiesow, A., Fellmann, M., Zarvic, N., Thomas, O. (2015). Managing Internal Control: Designing a Wiki-based Information System for Continuous Process Assurance. Knechel, W. R., Salterio, S. E. (2016).Auditing: assurance and risk. Routledge. Luo, Y. (2015). Acctg 626 Audit and Assurance Services. Martin, K., Sanders, E., Scalan, G. (2014). The potential impact of COSO internal control integrated framework revision on internal audit structured SOX work programs.Research in Accounting Regulation,26(1), 110-117. Spears, J. L., Barki, H., Barton, R. R. (2013). Theorizing the concept and role of assurance in Information Systems Security.Information management,50(7), 598-605.

a peaceful tour Essays - Iguanidae, Marine Reptiles, Marine Iguana

A peaceful tour In the picture given, there are some tourists visiting the Galapagos Islands. The weather on the island seems very nice because the visitors are wearing shorts and T-shirts. The sky is blue that shows the environment is clean. In the front part of the picture, there is a young boy trying to get closer to the Marine iguanas, but his grandpa stopped him. The tourists in the background looks comfortable and joyful, there are taking pictures and enjoying the nice view around them. The little boy at the front seems having some fun time there, he is trying to get closer or trying to touch the Marine Iguanas, but the grandfather stopped the boy with a anxious face, maybe it?s because the grandfather is afraid his grandson get injured by those Iguanas. When I look at this picture, I feel peace, everything is nice and peaceful, and the visitors are comfortable on the island, the little boy is having a great time but the grandfather is worrying about the boy?s safety, which shows how the grandfather loves his grandson. I think the photographer is trying to show the Galapagos is a really nice place to be, and he is very successful to show the island is a great tourist attraction.

Mount Vesuvius According to Pliny

Mount Vesuvius According to Pliny Mt. Vesuvius is an Italian volcano that erupted on August 24* A.D. 79 blanketing the towns and 1000s of residents of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum. Pompeii was buried 10 deep, while Herculaneum was buried under 75 of ash. This volcanic eruption is the first to be described in detail. The letter-writing Pliny the Younger was stationed about 18 mi. away, in Misenum, from which vantage point he could see the eruption and feel the preceding earthquakes. His uncle, the naturalist Pliny the Elder, was in charge of area warships, but he turned his fleet to rescuing residents and died. Historical Importance In addition to Pliny recording the sights and sounds of the first volcano to be described in detail, the volcanic covering of Pompeii and Herculaneum provided an amazing opportunity for future historians: The ash preserved and protected a vibrant city against the elements until future archaeologists unearthed this snapshot in time. Eruptions Mt. Vesuvius had erupted before and continued to erupt about once a century until about A.D. 1037, at which point the volcano grew quiet for about 600 years. During this time, the area grew, and when the volcano erupted in 1631, it killed approximately 4000 people. During the rebuilding efforts, the ancient ruins of Pompeii were discovered on March 23, 1748. Todays population around Mt. Vesuvius is about 3 million, which is potentially catastrophic in the area of such a dangerous Plinian volcano. A Pine Tree in the Sky Prior to the eruption, there were earthquakes, including a substantial one in A.D. 62** that Pompeii was still recovering from in 79. There was another earthquake in 64, while Nero was performing in Naples. Earthquakes were seen as facts of life. However, in 79 springs and wells dried up, and in August, the earth cracked, the sea became turbulent, and the animals showed signs that something was coming. When the eruption of the 24th of August began, it looked like a pine tree in the sky, according to Pliny, spewing noxious fumes, ash, smoke, mud, stones, and flames. Plinian Eruption Named after the naturalist Pliny, the type of eruption of Mt. Vesuvius is referred to as Plinian. In such an eruption a column of various materials (called tephra) is ejected into the atmosphere, creating what looks like a mushroom cloud (or, perhaps, pine tree). Mt. Vesuvius column is projected to have reached about 66,000 in height. Ash and pumice spread by the winds rained for about 18 hours. Buildings started to collapse and people began to escape. Then came high-temperature, high-velocity gasses and dust, and more seismic activity. *In Pompeii Myth-Buster, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadril argues that the event occurred in the fall. Translating Plinys Letter adjusts the date to September 2, to coincide with later calendar changes. This article also explains the dating to A.D. 79, the first year of Titus reign, a year not referred to in the relevant letter. ** In Pompeii Myth-Buster, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadril argues that the event occurred in 63. Sources Volcanic Phenomena at Pompeii[formerly at www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/europe/pompeii.html Pompeii][formerly at volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/img_vesuvius.html Vesuvius Italy][formerly at vulcan.fis.uniroma3.it/vesuvio/79_eruption.html The 79 AD Eruption of Vesuvius]

The broader impact of DSP in the economic Research Paper

The broader impact of DSP in the economic - Research Paper Example I. INTRODUCTION Digital signal processing (DSP) is duly considered to be an arithmetical treatment of an information signal, which tends to alter or enhance it in certain specific ways. It is usually characterized by way of representation of discrete frequency, discrete time or any other discrete domain signals with the help of a sequence of symbols, numbers or processing of these signals in a uniformed manner. DSP is widely applied in various fields, which specifically include speech along with audio signal processing, radar and sonar processing, spectral estimation, sensor array processing, digital image processing and systems control along with various other operations/applications. This component can be very well related with that of development in the overall context of technological landscape. With the inclusion of this particular component i.e. DSP in the technological aspect, integration to a whole new level is attained at large [14]. With this concern, this research report w ill highlight all those significant factors that are associated with the broader impacts of DSP in a social, global along with economic context. ... III. THE IMPACT OF DSP IN AN ECONOMIC CONTEXT In relation to economic viewpoint, it can be affirmed that DSP has been able to create all round diversity in the overall economic context. Analyzing the relevance of DSP in an economic standpoint eventually helps in identifying its broad interrelations relating to economic integration. DSP is applied in varied fields, which directly or indirectly impose considerable impact upon the economic conditions at large. The broad areas in which it is applied include consumer applications and biomedical fields. In this regard, the various aspects of consumer applications comprise digitalized televisions, cellular phones, digital cameras and internet enabled mobile phones among others. On the other hand, the aspects of biomedical fields encompass patient monitoring, ECG Analysis and X-Ray storage/enhancement among other various fields. The utilization of DSP in all these broader areas can be viewed to provide variable grounds for the development of economic conditions. Specially mentioning, this particular technology also leads towards mass expansion in technological domain, which eventually resulted in fulfilling different economic objectives. Besides, the component has been able to create superior level of economic integration in terms of supporting the most booming industries in the world such as information technology. Also, DSP is highly recognized for providing solutions to various departments including engineering, sales operations and finance among others (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, â€Å"The Broader Impact of DSP in a Global, Economic and Social Context†). Its utilization in all these departments ultimately imposes extensive impact especially upon the economic

Fire Protection Systems Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Fire Protection Systems - Research Paper Example Automatic activation can also occur in several forms, designed to a number of physical changes associated with fire. Such devices include heat detectors, smoke detectors, flame detectors, fire gas detectors and water flow detectors. Modern innovation can use cameras and computers to analyze the visual signs of fire and movement in applications inappropriate for or hostile to other detection methods (Greenman, 2003). Notifications from fire alarms to alert the occupants of the need to evacuate premises or take appropriate actions due to fire emergencies can be in audible, visible, tactile, textual or even olfactory (odorized) forms. Emergency signals are automatically intended to be distinct and understandable in order top avoid confusion with other signals. The Temporal Code 3 which chimes three times at one-second intervals, stops for one second the repeats is the most common audible in the modern fire alarm system. Other methods of audio alerts include audible textual appliances, continuous and voice evaluation. In some fire alarm systems especially in high-rise buildings, arenas and other large facilities such as hospitals where total evacuation is difficult to achieve, emergency voice alarm communication systems (EVACS) are used. This voice based system allows personnel to orderly evacuate and notify occupants in such crowded buildings. Strategically too, especially in high-rise buildings, depending on exact location of fire, different evaluation messages may be played on each floor to facilitate orderly evacuation and saving of lives (Jones, 2009). New codes and standards have enabled alarm system manufacturers to expand their systems voice evacuation capabilities to support trending requirements for mass notifications including possibility of multiple types of emergency messaging. To serve those with disabilities too, emergency communication systems have visible notification along with audio. Mass notification systems

Finland Healthcare System versus United States System Term Paper

Finland Healthcare System versus United States System - Term Paper Example The American health care reform has been regarded as a great stride towards fixing the country’s 2.8 trillion dollar American healthcare industry. Finland has an effective and highly decentralized three-level public health care program alongside a smaller private health-care industry. This essay will compare and contrast the Finish and American healthcare systems. America lacks a universal healthcare system. In the country, the role of the federal government in healthcare delivery is complex, and commences to evolve (Patel &Rushefsky, 2014). Health insurance coverage is highly fragmented, with many public and private sources as well as extensive gaps in coverage rates across the American population (National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report, 2012). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides the Medicare program (a central program for those of age 65 and older, a few of the disabled, as well as those with end-stage renal ailments (Patel &Rushefsky, 2014). The unit works in collaboration with state governments to direct Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (combined state-federal programs for particular low-income residents). Private insurance is moderated at the state level, but gener ­ally is permitted wide discretion in creating benefit packages (Patel &Rushefsky, 2014 ). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Actof 2010 was signed into law and it is meant to increase insurance coverage to legal inhabitants by 2014. The act provides for federally delegated health insurance to be executed in America with the Federal government subsidizing legitimate resident households with revenues up to 400% of the Government poverty level. In comparison, the population of Finland was about 5.6 million in 2013. A universal right to healthcare and social welfare services characterizes the country’s

Evaluating Supply Chain Management in the Volkswagon Brazil resende

Evaluating Supply Chain Management in the Volkswagon Brazil resende The RESENDE factory of Volkswagen company in BRAZIL brought revolution in the automobile industry around the globe the factory has totally unique supply chain model and was first of its kind. The resend plant was also known as the rebirth of Volkswagen company as after the Auto Latina was ended between Volkswagen and ford as Volkswagen company has no factory to manufacture its trucks and buses so resend was built in Brazil in 1995. The Volkswagen has around 400 suppliers who use to supply different spare parts for the manufacturing of trucks and buses the Brazilian market was famous for Volkswagen trucks and buses, Volkswagen company cut their suppliers to 8 and then had contracts with them, the whole theme of Resende factory was a Modular consortium, the eight suppliers would be coming in with the supplies and then fixing that is assembling it up, it was like a mini shops they own inside the factory that is they were the producer and as well as the assembling was done by them, this model was very new to supply chain that was implemented there, no worker of Volkswagen company was there except the quality control as it is one of the important factor to check. The supply chain model helped them to cut their labor cost and give them advantage to sell their buses n trucks at lower price that how they made their customers and the competitors were not able to lower their prices as they were manufacturing the parts as well as assembling them the good thing about Volkswagen Resende plant was that they were hiring labor at cheap costs which helped them to cut their cost. Just as the factory started operating the most important person was forced to leave the organization as the Jos Ignacio Lpez de Arriorta was working with gm and left gm joined Volkswagen. As when they started with the resend factory the claim did by Volkswagen was lawfully accepted ant Volkswagen paid a good amount for it as gm had did the claim that lopes left gm with some important documents missing a nd data as they said he spy us and the resend factory was more like their idea which Jos Ignacio Lpez de Arriorta started their so just at the beginning the big question mark was with this factory, more over Jos Ignacio Lpez de Arriorta was forced to resign and had left the company leaving the post of operation management which was a loss to the factory and have the big importance to the resend factory. VWs supply chain strategy according to Michael Porters strategic framework: The Resende factory of Volkswagen company known as the rebirth of Volkswagen company established in Brazil known as modular consortium was very unique in sense of supply chain as totally new frame work was being applied to it as it was a junction where all suppliers of different companies come and make up the whole product (trucks and buses) that is they work in a way that there were different suppliers who were bringing up the parts of trucks and assembling them up that is suppliers were also the labors and was responsible for the production as well as assembling the trucks and buses they come and work in the factory. Discussing about supply chain model used by Volkswagen company in their Resende factory was a totally new supply chain strategy and if we talk about it in the light of Michale Porter ¿Ã‚ ½s strategic frame work it would be as follows: The threat of the entry of new competitors: The Resende factory of Volkswagen company was the first one in entire automobile industry having this kind of supply chain model that is a modular consortium model. The main point of attraction to the automobile world was the management of operations in the plant as the plant was first of its type more over one can take it as an experiment so at that point of time the threat of a new competitor to enter was up to 0%. As the concept has bring revolution in the traditional supply chain strategies in automobile industry so at the beginning the competitor was not at all the threat but the execution of the supply chain model could create threats as just at the beginning the company ¿Ã‚ ½s operation manger left so the competitors are always looking for something which they can use as an advantage to its competitor. The intensity of competitive rivalry: The intensity of competitive rivalry was there in the form of General Motor for Volkswagen Company because of their lawsuit. the operation manger Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a left so at that time things become difficult for them but Volkswagen mange it efficiently moreover the suppliers which was the main theme of this Resende factory the modular consortium was all about the supplier which was cut down to eight from four hundred they have to be a good and strong bonding with them as if any one of them left the trucks and buses would be hard to finish as the company has no plant to produce the products after their joint venture with ford ended so the suppliers were very important to Volkswagen. The another competitive advantage competitors of Volkswagen had was that the suppliers with Volkswagen was due to the relationship of Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a as in general motor he was the director of Latin America state so he use his referen ce in Volkswagen company so he was forced to resign from the company the suppliers can also leave but fortunately this never happened and the Resende factory known as rebirth to Volkswagen give a new life to Volkswagen company indeed. The threat of substitute products or services: The threat of substitute was there in Brazil as it was the largest market of all and Volkswagen company ¿Ã‚ ½s the Resende factory was a totally new thing in the industry of automobile industry more over the supply chain strategy they used was the first to be used in any factory the unique idea they applied worked for them as they didn ¿Ã‚ ½t had any employee of Volkswagen company to work in the plant it was totally outsourced plant as the suppliers was also the labor not only responsible for supplying the parts more over fixing them up as it was a solely new strategy of supply chain implemented by the Volkswagen company. The only people by Volkswagen company were the quality control departments they were responsible to give the perfect quality so that their trucks and buses be the strength to the company not the strength of the competitor this model of supply chain worked and helped Volkswagen to cut its labor cost which help them to lower their prices compared to its competitor s so the threat of a substitute was around 0% as the competitors were manufacturing their trucks and they cannot lower their prices so Volkswagen company was going good. The bargaining power of customers (buyers): The Resende factory of the Volkswagen company was a revolutionary factory for the world the plant was using a supply chain strategy that really help them in generating revenue as they cut their suppliers from 400 to 8 and they were the suppliers as well as the assemblers for the trucks and buses and if any part for not perfectly fitted or had a problem the loss would be barred by the supplier the Volkswagen company were generating revenues out of the supply chain strategy they have implemented in the plant moreover if we talk about the barging power of the customers we can say that the factory was saving a lot to Volkswagen company as their cost have lower down a lot so they can give the trucks and buses at lower cost which was the thing that its competitors cannot compete as they were making up the product by themselves and buyers were getting advantage for it they don ¿Ã‚ ½t need to bargain as the trucks and buses were already at lower costs. The customer were getting at good adv antage on buying Volkswagen trucks and buses so the bargaining power of the buyer didn ¿Ã‚ ½t affect much on the Volkswagen company. The bargaining power of suppliers: As they cut down their suppliers from four hundred to eight the suppliers working with them in the Resende factory would be having good relations with the Volkswagen company and more over they would be having some advantages to be the part of the Resende factory as they were suppose to produce the parts and assemble them up for Volkswagen company so there would be some interest of their also as they were the part of the Resende factory and making up the trucks and buses for Volkswagen company and that was giving a benefit on cost to the Volkswagen so their trucks and buses were less in cost compared to other companies in the Brazilian market, Volkswagen company had planned about it, as they were dealing with a good number of suppliers and above all they don ¿Ã‚ ½t own any plant for making the parts of the truck as they were totally out sourcing them and the operations as well as the assembling were done by the suppliers, they have been critises by one of the worker on just outsourc ing everything, therefore they have to be very good at it and have to implement the supply chain strategy very well more over there were no employee of Volkswagen company working there, so everyone working there under one roof would be wearing same uniform having same salary packages and more over they don ¿Ã‚ ½t want any labor union to be made up as they were catering the whole of brazil and the trucks were very famous around brazil. Analyze the ways in which VW could employ technology across the different supply chain processes. As the Resende factory of Volkswagen was something really innovative and more unique was the supply chain model implemented on the factory which was assembling of the trucks as well as the production was the duty of the suppliers, Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a designed it in such a way that no labor cost was to be incurred from Volkswagen company as there were no Volkswagen workers involved in the factory except the quality control supervisors as the suppliers were bounded for putting up the parts of trucks and buses the factory is producing the technology they used or we can say that the supply chain strategy they implies in this factory was really working for them as they have cut their cost in sense of labor cost more over the assembling was no more there issue as now it was the problem of the suppliers. The Volkswagen company c use to hire the labor through lowest bidder and the new technology was working so good that they planned to apply this strategy of supply chain to their other factories in different parts of world and the benefit from this supply chain strategy is for the developing countries as they can use the idea the modular consortium as it is the game of suppliers who are producing as well as assembling the trucks and busses for them and Volkswagen company is decreasing its labor cost at good. The main idea was like the contractors which were suppliers was totally responsible for making up the part which is required and fixing it perfectly as if the part fitted or purchased not sit right than the company which was responsible for putting the part bare the loss the Volkswagen company were really generating revenues with the factory, in the factory there were around eight suppliers who were operating there mini shops in the factory the company was able to get supplies in low rates so they can sell the busses and trucks at low price and attract the customers towards them and the other competitors of Volkswagen company was no t able to compete as they were producing everything by them self which was hard for them to cut the costs and therefore cant lower the prices and that helped Volkswagen company to generate their revenues, and this supply chain strategy was a success for Volkswagen. Evaluate current global supply chain challenges to this VW supply chain model. Global Supply Chain Challenges: At the Resende plant of Volkswagen totally new model of supply chain was implemented which was a risk because the Resende factory was first in nature to its own moreover it was more important to Volkswagen as it was a rebirth to the Volkswagen company as their Auto Latina was ended so their factory at Brazil that is Resende was the only hope as they did not had any factory to produce trucks and buses, the supply chain model was a totally new idea in the industry of auto mobile  ¿Ã‚ ½Modular consortium ¿Ã‚ ½ just at the starting it faced a challenge to its survival in the form of its operation manger Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a left because of some lawsuit between Volkswagen and General Motors. Just in time inventory. various supply chain strategies can help a business minimize their costs and focus on their main business that is there core competencies and more over it cut the time waste on waiting for the suppliers and sometimes not perfect supplies can make company suffers a lot and bear losses moreover they can take away your customers from you, can give the competitive advantage to the other company that is your competitor. There are several strategies for supply chain practiced by many organizations. More over there are several global supply chain challenges. The first challenge to the resend factory was to stand having totally new model of supply chain as the modular consortium was about the suppliers would be working as the labor in the factory no Volkswagen employee would be there and they were suppose to perform the activity of suppliers as well as labor for the company this method reduce the cost of labor to the Volkswagen company moreover manufacturing all the parts were more costly than to just buy them up. As the world is moving so rapidly technology is changing with respect to time so as the new threats are there supply chain has a good growth in coming future as many industries working around the world is not making up all its products there are things they supply and get supplies to make up their end product which plays an important role in the companies having their branches all around world have to look for suppliers and the supplies they would be getting should not increase their cost or reduce their core competence as the competition is very tough so therefore the supply cost should not exceed as your revenue decrease. As the VW supply chain model was based on suppliers as if they lose any of the supplier their truck was impossible to construct as they them self was not producing to that scale as it was just like a junction where different suppliers were bringing up the part they manufacture and assembling them which helped VW to cut their cost more over to sell their trucks and buses at low rates as compared to its competitors VW was facing some supply chain challenges as they were supplying all the parts and the suppliers were responsible for fixing them moreover in case of damage they have to bear it if any there were no blue collar worker of VW at the factory except quality control as it was a point at which its competitor can have advantage so the whole idea was a supply chain game. Economic challenges was their more over in case of natural disaster they were the one who have to faced it all as the factory was not producing anything so it was a challenge to maintain a good relations with their suppliers so they don ¿Ã‚ ½t stand against them. CONCLUSION: the supply chain model faced difficulties in the starting as the main operation manager Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a was forced to leave the company because General Motor claims that Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a has left the organization with some very important documents more over the resend factory was somewhat similar to a new project general motor was working so Jos ¿Ã‚ ½ Ignacio L ¿Ã‚ ½pez de Arriort ¿Ã‚ ½a was forced to leave the company, just at the beginning the Resende factory faced a loss but the supply chain model fits right and Volkswagen generated good revenue out of it and give out its trucks and buses at low cost compared to other automobile companies in brazil as the model helped them to cut their labor cost out of all the conflicts and issues the Resende faced it was a success at the end and the rebirth of Volkswagen succeeded.

Biography of Niccolo Machiavelli :: essays research papers

Niccolo Machiavelli - Biography Niccolo Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence , Italy. He is known for being a political philosopher, historian, writer, statesman, and diplomat. Machiavelli is best known for his famous, influential work, "The Prince" (1513). This brought him a reputation of: amoral cynicism, being associated with corrupt government, diabolical (Showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil). Machiavellian and Machiavellianism are two concepts coined from Machiavelli's views as stated in The Prince. Machiavelli is misunderstood because people judge him purely on the prince and because they do not read his Discourses as well. Many people criticize Machiavelli's drastic suggestions in The Prince. These people do not consider the state Italy was in when The Prince was written. Machiavelli wrote The Prince to help save Italy from frequent foreign invasions. According to those that knew Machiavelli, he was a religious and moral man. The Prince The prince was written in a time of large-scale blackmail, violence and political conflicts. political instability, fear, invasion, intrigue, Italy was repeatedly won and controlled by foreigners. The prince was Machiavelli's practical guide to Lorenzo Di Medici to act in this environment. In the final chapter of the prince, Machiavelli calls for an end to this choas, by suggesting Italy stand together with an army of their own against foreign invaders. Machiavelli wrote The Prince to help Lorenzo the Magnificent Di Medici to stay in power. He also wrote it to get back an advisory position in the Medici government. Unfortunately, Lorenzo did not agree with the suggestions in the book, so Machiavelli did not get a job. The Prince was different from the other documents of the time in that the prince had practical suggestions on how to deal with the current, existing problems of the period. The other documents were much more theoretical. There is a difference of opinion by readers of the prince, whether Machiavelli is essentiallly a good, religious person or someone that is bad and cruel. For example, Machiavelli praise Caesar Borgia , a cruel, vicious, dictator - hated and despised by many. Does this mean Machiavelli agrees that Ceasar's actions are justified? Machiavelli thought that Caesar's quick and deliberate qualities were just what is required to unite Italy. Machiavelli admired the qualities, not Caesar as a person. The Prince was written in 1513 but only published in 1532 after Machiavelli's death.

Evaluating Communication Strategies Essay

You are working as a human service worker at a local United Way agency that serves several multicultural clients. In addition to the multicultural aspect, the agency also serves children, women, the elderly, and the homeless. Your manager has asked you to decide the best communication approach for each of these clients. Answer the following questions: What would you need to learn or know about each of your clients in order to communicate effectively with them? What strategies or techniques do you believe would be the best approach to take when communicating with each of these clients? How might you need to adapt your communication approach from one individual to the next? Working in the Human Services field can provide you with many different types of job opportunities each requiring their own specific needs to clients, many different types of clients that is. To communicate in an effective way with clients getting to know about them is a great start. Listen is top priority to understanding and getting to know your clients. Active listening describes the effort on the part of the listener. Active listening involves giving verbal feedback on the content of what was said, along with recognition of the feelings underneath. Qualities of a good listener include: being non-aggressive, being self-confident, having the ability to let thin gs go along with the ability to work things out. Listening opens the door to meaning. When you hear the person, understand the situation and the feelings, then you are in a position to take constructive action or to reply to her or him in a way that makes sense. Helpful listening helps people look at their ideas, plans, hopes, concerns, fears, etc. It helps them gather information, solve their problems themselves and try out other alternatives. * Communication may seem easy, but to many people’s surprise it is something that has to be learned and practiced. Some of us have developed poor listening skills; we may be judgmental or don’t allow others to speak. Some of us may use close-ended questions exclusively, and do not allow others to explore and contribute to  the discussion. A few strategies and or techniques that allow us to see a better approach to communicating can be using open-end questions such as Where would you like to begin? What options have you explored? Which concern would you like to talk about first? Can you tell me more about that? Open-ended questions encourage the exploration of thoughts and feelings by leaving individuals free to answer in any way they choose. On the flip side, closed sided questions s force a specific answer. They often present themselves as roadblocks to good communication. Sometimes you need specific information (i.e. what city do you live in?). Be sure the information you request is relevant to the person’s situation. Use fact-finding, limited-response questions sparingly. A closed question allows for a limited response. Understanding that each client is different from each other, focusing on each client while actively listen, not judging and knowing that the client is there for help is a way to adapt your communication between clients and or patients.

Not All Epithets are Insults

Not All Epithets are Insults Not All Epithets are Insults Not All Epithets are Insults By Maeve Maddox Judging by the words common use in todays media, one might imagine epithet to be no more than a synonym for insult. Some epithets are insults, but the word has a wider application. For example, look at all these epithets Handel applied to the Baby Jesus in The Messiah: Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Here are some Homeric epithets: many minded Achilles, swift-footed Odysseus, the ox-eyed lady (Hera) epithet 1. An adjective indicating some quality or attribute which the speaker or writer regards as characteristic of the person or thing described; 2. A significant appellation. OED 2nd edition. In 1993 this definition was added: An offensive or derogatory expression used of a person; an abusive term; a profanity. Leaving aside the literary uses of epithets, heres a look at some ways journalists use them. Some epithets, first used by one particular writer, become so attached to persons and things that it becomes rare to see one without the other: powerful Ways and Means committee embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich worlds largest retailer Wal-Mart Sometimes epithets may be used to predispose readers to a positive or negative frame of mind without seeming to editorialize: Motorist Rodney King Troubled pop star Brittany Spears NFL star Michael Vick semi-repentant zillionaire Mel Gibson greedy Wall Street bankers Some thoughts on epithets 1. Cliched epithets are not intrinsically bad. They can be useful shorthand devices for writers and readers in a hurry. 2. The epithet is a respectable rhetorical device. Writers with more time at their disposal might revise for cliched epithets and come up with fresher epithets of their own. 3. If one is writing about someone hurling epithets it might be helpful to specify what kind of epithets were hurled. Were they racial epithets? Did they attack the target in terms of gender, politics, occupation, or morality? Its conceivable that a speaker could be showered with complimentary epithets by his listeners. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of AdjectivesConnotations of 35 Words for Funny Peopleâ€Å"Least,† â€Å"Less,† â€Å"More,† and â€Å"Most†

Free Essays on Moral Development Framework For Education

Krause (2003), stated that â€Å"morality is concerned with fundamental questions of right and wrong, justice , fairness and basic human rights. Moral issues are mediated by sociocultural factors, since cultural values and norms have a strong bearing on how individuals think and act. Nevertheless, attitudes towards such issues as lying, stealing, murder and the value of justice are generally considered to be shared across cultures.† While this statement provides an understanding to what Morality actually IS. It fails to define how morality develops, or what influences may affect an individual’s moral choices throughout their life. Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to the theory of Moral Development in 1960 has had a major influence on this form of thinking and the associated research involved with moral development. Palmer (2000) outlines Kohlbergs six stages of moral development specifying three levels as follows: The Preconventional Level, is where the reasoning is childlike and the child shows very minimal or no understanding of social conventions and rules. Rules are justified by authorities, and are seen as being external to the person. Moral reasoning is determined by an egocentric nature. At the Conventional Level, an understanding of the conventions of society predicts reasoning. A knowledge of the necessity to abide by these conventions maintains social contracts. At the Post Conventional Leve l, society’s conventions and rules may be changed or overruled if they conflict with personal, moral and ethical principles. Kohlberg developed these six stages of moral development through various interviews and studies that he conducted with a range of selected individuals. Kohlberg used these Moral Judgement Interviews, and scored participants on their verbal rationale and moral judgements for a particular hypothetical scenario (Narvaez 2002). However, in later in-depth studies conducted by Walker Henning and Krettanauer (2000),... Free Essays on Moral Development Framework For Education Free Essays on Moral Development Framework For Education Krause (2003), stated that â€Å"morality is concerned with fundamental questions of right and wrong, justice , fairness and basic human rights. Moral issues are mediated by sociocultural factors, since cultural values and norms have a strong bearing on how individuals think and act. Nevertheless, attitudes towards such issues as lying, stealing, murder and the value of justice are generally considered to be shared across cultures.† While this statement provides an understanding to what Morality actually IS. It fails to define how morality develops, or what influences may affect an individual’s moral choices throughout their life. Lawrence Kohlberg’s approach to the theory of Moral Development in 1960 has had a major influence on this form of thinking and the associated research involved with moral development. Palmer (2000) outlines Kohlbergs six stages of moral development specifying three levels as follows: The Preconventional Level, is where the reasoning is childlike and the child shows very minimal or no understanding of social conventions and rules. Rules are justified by authorities, and are seen as being external to the person. Moral reasoning is determined by an egocentric nature. At the Conventional Level, an understanding of the conventions of society predicts reasoning. A knowledge of the necessity to abide by these conventions maintains social contracts. At the Post Conventional Leve l, society’s conventions and rules may be changed or overruled if they conflict with personal, moral and ethical principles. Kohlberg developed these six stages of moral development through various interviews and studies that he conducted with a range of selected individuals. Kohlberg used these Moral Judgement Interviews, and scored participants on their verbal rationale and moral judgements for a particular hypothetical scenario (Narvaez 2002). However, in later in-depth studies conducted by Walker Henning and Krettanauer (2000),...

Theimpactsofpopulationgrowthonfoodconsumption Essay

Theimpactsofpopulationgrowthonfoodconsumption - Essay Example Population and Consumption, n.d.). Fundamentally, fertile land and water are the basic essential resources required to produce food; evidently, both these resources are limited on the planet. Growing population bring along growing demands and requirements of people, thereby these resources are under constant pressure. Growing population is not only responsible for putting up a challenge to fulfil the requirements of people but is also challenging to the economic development and environment of the planet. As a result, farmers are expected to produce more food in their limited land and water resources. Thus, population growth as well as pattern of utilization of resources directly influences the environmental changes resulting in loss of biodiversity, pollution, global warming, depletion of ozone layer, deforestation and a serious impact on numerous forest, aquatic and land ecosystems. Thus, growth of human population is modifying nature which in turn brings catastrophic consequences (Web. Population Growth and Consump tion, n.d.). Further than meeting the challenging market demands, global food production is associated with numerous fundamental objectives encompassing societies together with reducing poverty and malnutrition, enhanced accessibility to a healthy diet as well as better allocation and management of fresh water resources, amplification in the use of renewable energy resources, climate protection along with biological diversity and protection of ecosystems. Evidently, an insight into the future perspectives of food and agriculture sector is a major concern of the society as well as the policy makers. To all intents and purposes, capturing the intricate connections between food production and cognitive development adequately, integrated scientific representation based appraisals and evaluations are needed. With the escalating growth of human population it is evident that over the next decade the food demand

Is islam enemy of the west Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is islam enemy of the west - Essay Example The handful of Muslim radicals that exist in America has caused typical Americans to begin viewing Islam as the enemy of the West when nothing could be further from the truth. Through factual research, I am looking forward to dispelling the misconception that Islam is the enemy of the West. I will look into the reasons that these misconceptions came about and try to explain the reasons as to why Islam is most certainly not the enemy of the West. To begin with, Americans themselves chose to perpetuate the misconception about how the other Islam followers truly view the United States. People such as Lieutenant Colonel named Matthew A. Dooley have chosen to tell his military troops that; Islam has already declared war on the West† and that hundreds of millions of Muslims â€Å"[b]y their own stated doctrine†¦are motivated and unified under one ideology and one goal. They hate everything you stand for, and will never coexist unless you submit (Stoakes, Emanuel â€Å"Islam is Not â€Å"the Enemy† -- Irrational Hatred Is) It is quite difficult for me to understand how a representative of the United State military could choose to perpetuate such a stereotype of Muslims when the American military has always been viewed as one of the most tolerant armed forces on the planet whose sole mission in life is to bridge the misunderstandings between warring factions in order to bring peace to the region. Perhaps it is because Islam has always been the less understood religion among all the religions in the world that people tend to believe the worst things about its religious beliefs and practices that has caused the misconception about what the religion truly stands for. Things got even worse for the practitioners of the religion who live in America after the Twin Tower attacks because news media outlets heavily promoted the anti American sentiment that supposedly accompanies Islam. Those who insist that Islam is the enemy say that is so because Americans should not break bread with people whose beliefs have chosen to â€Å"violate the American values of pluralism and tolerance.† (Talbot, Matt â€Å"Islam is Not the Enemy†) This is not a topic that should be seen and argued by its practitioners as a clash of cultures and values. It was Wayne Palmer who tried to explain the reality behind the belief that Islam is the enemy of the best by saying that â€Å"American Muslims are our best allies in this war against Islamic terrorism.† (Pastore, Frank â€Å"Islam is Not the Enemy!) The main problem is that the United States, as a country has a problem differentiating between the true teachings of Islam and the distorted point of view that the radical Muslims choose to promote in the name of their version of Islam. Should the Americans only bother to truly understand the underlying basis of Islam, and accept the fact that Islam followers and those of Jewish and other religious faiths have peacefully lived side by side in the Middle East for more than a millenia, Americans will truly see that Islam -- the religion, is not the enemy of the west. Radical Muslims have become the face of Islam across the world, but just like other religions, their belief about Islam is not the only interpretation of the Quaran. Rather, theirs is only the one that has become largely viewed as the true Islam faith because of the way that these people choose to distort the words of Mohammed in their quest to

Customer analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Customer analysis - Essay Example The hotel management has had discussions and is continuing to conduct further discussions with the event planners, especially the wedding planners from the Indian community in order to expand its customer base. It will also conduct road shows and take part in wedding conventions to promote and create awareness of their products. This region is projected to account for over a third of the hotel’s revenue in Singapore. Primary targets of MBS include Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam (Majumder, 2010). According to Tanasijevich (2011), Malaysia is expected to produce 10 percent same as Thailand and Indonesia while 8 percent is expected from Vietnam. China, on the other hand, accounts for 6 percent of the Marina Bay Sands business. The hotel has an advantage with respect to its location at the centre of the city. The hotel’s operations are expected to be consistent with minor variations in the number of customers during weekdays and weekends during which c ustomers spend their leisure time. There is also another market that Marina Bay Sands is eyeing, that is the Middle East. Marina Bay Sands is expecting to be flying customers between Singapore and Middle East. The need of Singapore to enhance tourism in their country through promoting MICE business and increasing family entertainment opened a vast gaming market for Marina Bay Sands which falls into their target market. This gaming market is described as more aggressive and large; therefore, Marina Bay Sands is extending liable gaming training to everyone so that the gaming evolution is understood to enhance understanding of this service. The Marina Bay Sands management explains that the casino gaming business is a principal target market in the early years. This is because it is expected to significantly surpass the MICE and room business before levelling up in the long term (Chiang, 2010). Chiang (2010) says that Marina Bay Sands also targets local and regional markets of music lov ers, anime enthusiasts and aspiring artists to stage their creative work by sponsoring events such as SAAP Singapore and Anime Festival Asia. It has something for everybody such as a big swimming pool that outsizes a football field, shops, fast food and restaurant, nightclubs and lounges. In terms of demographics Marina Bay Sands is targeting almost equally with respect to gender where expected male market is 51 percent as compared to 49 percent of the female market. The hotel has also targeted the middle aged population ranging from 25 to 55 years expected to have a percentage of 66% while that of below 25 years being 20% and the remaining 14% is expected to be older people aged above 55 years. Couples without children are expected to outnumber those who have children in their households by 65% to 35% respectively. Caucasians are expected to dominate the customer base by 71 percent followed by Asian ethnicity at 11 percent. People with income below USD50000 are expected to be fewer i.e. 16% as compared to those earning above USD 50000 at intervals of USD 50000 having a small difference not exceeding 2% (Pdlangen, 2010). The high demand and Controlled supply of gaming when merged with the design of Marina Bay Sands makes the hotel to stand a chance of being the most Profitable casino in the region and the world at large. This is because each

Sophie Neveu Finds the Truth Essay Example for Free

Sophie Neveu Finds the Truth Essay In the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Sophie embarks on a journey to not only to find the Holy Grail but also the truth about her family. Sophie’s character changed a lot throughout the story, she became a lot more aware about what is goes on in the world and how one’s past and history can have a big impact in life. She had to learn and grow as a person because of how much pressure she was on while figuring out the answers to all of the secret messages her grandfather left her. She also had to face a lot of difficulties due to the fact that she had so many people standing in the way and trying to hurt her and reveal the secret. Sophie Neveu is the granddaughter of the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, Jacques Sauniere, the only real background we have of her is that her grandfather raised her from a very early age, after her parents were killed in a car accident (82). We find out that Sauniere trained her to solve complicated word puzzles as a young girl and that it was these puzzles and riddles that sparked her interest in solving them (218). The fact that she was exposed to puzzles and riddles when she was a child is likely the reason why she ended up working in a field that revolved around that topic. One of the things that give us some insight into Sophie’s personality is when we are told about a day when she accidentally discovered a strange key in her grandfathers room inscribed with the initials P.S. (118). This isn’t until much deeper into the book but it really defines who Sophie Neveu is because it shows how she struggled to find the truth about her family’s history from a very young age and that Sauniere was keeping secrets from her. This caused her to get even more curious about her past and is one of the main reasons why she becomes so dedicated to finding the Grail. Something that is really interesting about Sophie is the fact that her name’s meaning is that of the ancient goddess of wisdom, the icon of the divine feminine, Sophia; which means wisdom, this is very interesting becau se she does display wisdom at many points throughout the novel and out-shinning Robert most of the time. Throughout the book Sophie learns the reasons behind her grandfathers strange behavior and why he kept so many things hidden from her. At the beginning of the story we are told that she had stopped all forms of communication from her grandfather because of an estrange ritual she saw him be a part of and we are told that she had not spoken or seen him until the night of his murder (76-77). This shows that at a very young age Sophie had to deal with a very traumatic experience that shaped her personality and made her become a strong woman and caused her to not show much emotion. Sophie is a cryptologist working for the Parisian police and therefore a very intelligent woman. She shows she’s intelligent because she realizes that the message â€Å"P.S: Find Robert Langdon† is meant for her; She delivers a message to Robert Langdon letting him know that Officer Fache finds him as the prime suspect of Sauniere’s death. She reveals to Langdon that she is Sauniere’ s granddaughter and tells Langdon that she was sure of it because her grandfather used to call her Princess Sophie as a child. (76-77). Sophie’s talk to Langdon in the bathroom of the Louvre sets up the plot for the entire novel as well as give us some very important background information about Sophie, not only do we become aware of how intelligent she is but we also realize that she is brave enough to go against Fache and the Parisian police if it means finding out the truth about her past and family. Sophie doesn’t tell anybody else about the message her grandfather left her because she realizes that if her grandfather didn’t want anyone else to know what had happened. Being the only one that knows that Sauniere was hiding something important causes Sophie to act impulsively and helps Langdon escape from the police. It isn’t until farther into the book that we are told that her grandfather raised her from a after her parents were killed in a car accident and that he then proceeded to train her to solve complicated word puzzles and even made a cryptex for her (216). We are given brief flashbacks of her life, which prove that she was curious and hungry for knowledge from an early age. An example of this is that we are told that she accidentally discovered a strange key in her grandfathers room inscribed with the initials P.S. and that she tried looking for information about her family but anytime she tried Sauniere would get mad and tell her to forget about them. (118). This has a lot to do with her personality as an adult and being part of the Parisian police as a cryptographer, the fact that she spends her days at work figuring out puzzles and hidden messages shows that living with Sauniere made her become good at unscrambling and finding out the truth, the way she was brought up by Sauniere shaped her personality to be that of a person who doesn’t fully trust people and that is worthy of knowing important information such as the location of the Holy Grail. Sophie finds out at the end of the book that she is a descendant of the Merovingians, a living descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene and that she is; literally, what her grandfather nicknamed her when she was a child: â€Å"Princess Sophie.† She also finds out that Sauniere wasn’t really her grandfather but that since he was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion she would be safer with him. He chose to protect her and prepare her for what he knew was coming. The rest of the Priory then welcomes Sophie and tell her that they will protect her. At the beginning Sophie is brave and intelligent, she exhibits confidence and knowledge about her job and surroundings, but thought-out the novel and as she starts to unravel more of the secret and the Holy Grail she seems to leave that confidence behind and start questioning he past and who Sauniere really was. She starts showing more emotion throughout the novel and the closer we get to the end. Sophie is a strong woman who got a bit confused because of the uncertainty of her past and not knowing that she could trust. Works Cited Brown, Dan. The De Vinci Code, NY: Anchor, 2003. Print.

Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies

Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies CHAPTER I: Violence perpetrated by Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) increased dramatically in 2006 and continued to rise dramatically through 2010.   According to the National Drug Intelligence Centers â€Å"National Drug Threat Assessment, 2010†, published in February 2010, â€Å"Mexican DTOs dominate the transportation of illicit drugs across the Southwest Border.   They typically use commercial trucks and private and rental vehicles to smuggle cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin† (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2010).   The increase in DTO activity has resulted in an increase of military involvement in counterdrug operations along the U.S. southwestern border region.   The tables in the appendices outline the statistical extent of the problem and the geographic penetration of Mexican DTOs within the United States.   Americas densely populated southern border with Mexico stretches nearly 2,000 miles in length and possesses several established crossing points.   In areas along northern Mexico, DTOs organize and equip themselves with resources that out match Mexican military forces (McCaffrey 2009).   With these developments, it is necessary to consider increased U.S. military support to drug interdiction along the southwest border, as DTOs are a national security threat that directly plays a role in destabilizing the heavily trafficked areas in both the U.S. and Mexico. Problem Statement The problem is to determine what Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies (MSCLEA) should be brought to bear against Mexican DTOs to interdict and reduce the flow of drugs across the Southwest Border. Research Objective This research aimed at answering and elucidating the following objectives: What capabilities does the U.S. military already have in the southwest border region to counter drug trafficking? What is the DTOs current capability to interdict drugs across the border (e.g. weapons, funding, resources)? What are the American laws and regulations governing the use of MSCLEA?   Is it financially feasible to increase MSCLEA? Assumptions The main premise to this research is based on the assumption that increasing the resources used to interdict the drug trafficking in the southwest border region will have a positive impact in disrupting DTOs operations, decreasing the amount of drugs trafficked and aiding in stabilizing the southwest border region.   Some groups advocate other approaches to the problem such as legalization and establishing additional treatment programs for users and abusers of illegal drugs.   Moreover, on the supply side, the assumption is diplomatic pressure on the countries that produce the drugs or assistance to their military and police organizations is necessary to increase the effectiveness.   This proposal assumes that enhanced interdiction efforts on the Southwest border will negatively impact Mexican DTOs and reduce use of illegal drugs within the United States. Additionally, the results and recommendations for this research assumed that all military assistance falls within Title 32 Duty and Article I,  § 8 of the Constitution that allows the National Guard to be used under the command and control of the governor to execute the laws of the Union, in order to suppress rebellion and deter invasions (Withers, 2010 p. 6). Definition of Terms Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies (MSCLEA):   Technical assistance rendered to civilian law enforcement agencies.   This can include military resources that are not available to civilians such as aerial surveillance, technical assistance with these resources, and tactical advice.   It does not include actual law enforcement powers (Sergienko, 2006, p. 395). Interdiction efforts:    All efforts used to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the United States on the ground (or underground) across the Southwest border.   Success equals increased levels of drug seizures. Southwest border:   The land border between the U.S. and Mexico; also called the U.S.-Mexico border. Limitations and delimitations This study is limited to ground interdiction.   Drug smuggling is an incredibly profitable enterprise.   If ground interdiction efforts are to prove effective, it presumes that DTOs would attempt to move their operations into marine and aerial operations.   However, this study will only consider the deployment of marine and aerial assets as they relate to ground operations.   This study will limit its focus of the Southwest to the three major DTO interdiction routes located in Texas, New Mexico, and California.   The strategies proposed or dismissed in this research may or may not be appropriate to compare with the interdiction efforts on other borders such as the northern border with Canada. This study will be limited to cooperation with civilian law enforcement agencies within the United States.   It will not consider support for Mexican civilian law enforcement agencies nor will it consider cooperation with the Mexican military although it will acknowledge that they are now the lead agency in struggle with DTOs within Mexico. All proposals for MSCLEA will be governed by the U.S Constitution, relevant U.S. laws and the USNORTHCOM directives on MSCLEA, â€Å"Military support to civilian law enforcement is carried out in strict compliance with the Constitution and U.S. laws and under the direction of the president and secretary of defense† (USNORTHCOM). CHAPTER II: Literature Review This chapter provides an overview of the literature examined.   It identifies the dominant literature and sources that will provide arguments addressing DTOs drug smuggling, MSCLEAs and the current situation along the Southwest border.   The academic debate concerning MSCLEA on the border focuses primarily on the issue of illegal immigration and second on drug interdiction.   There are only a few books on the topic.   Therefore, research will focus on scholarly articles, government studies, and statistical data available through the U.S. Border Patrol and Department of Enforcement Administration. Timothy Dunns 1996 book, The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home is a study that compares data collected through interviews with military doctrine, law enforcement, congressional documents, and personal observations.   Dunns intent is to illustrate that increased activity along the southwest border escalated forcing military involvement in immigration and drug enforcement to a level unintended by Congress and defense officials.   Dunn provides insight to the difficulty associated with MSCLEA along the southwest border.   This historical data requires comparison to the post 9/11 challenges. There are numerous government studies and reports related to previous and current U.S. counterdrug program.   The Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared most reports for members of Congress.   The National Drug and Control Policy also have a number of useful products.   Stephen Vina CRS report in 2006, Border Security and Military Support: Legal Authorizations and Restrictions outlines military support legal and policy limitations with in the U.S.   His study states military support to DTO is feasible however, it must be restricted to the employment of Nation Guard for border security missions vice the employment of active duty (GAO, 2003).   The 2010 report Department of Defense Needs to Improve Its Performance Measurement System to Better Manage and oversee Its Counternarcotics Activities demonstrates congressional interest in measures of effectiveness to justify MSCLEA in the early 1990s.   The 1993 Heavy Investment in Military Surveillance is Not Paying Off   report   findings suggest some military assets, such as rotary wing transport and lower-end unmanned aerial vehicles are relatively inexpensive and within the potential budget of federal law enforcement.   Other assets such as large multi-role aircraft and naval vessels, are very expensive operate and maintain.   The GAO (2009) study concluded that military surveillance is costly particularly when modern technology systems designed to detect and control highly sophisticated weapon systems in combat situations are employed against a DTO smuggling threat. Together, these two reports support content from the recent Washington Office on Latin America report that strongly suggest there must be a separation of military and police roles in America.   George Withers would agree there is a lack of measures of effectiveness justifying military support on the border. The GAO study, Secure Border Initiative: Observations on Deployment Challenges discusses the challenges of integrating sensors and obstacles along the 2000-mile Southwest border.   Conversely,   the 2007 report, U.S. Assistance Has Helped Mexican Counternarcotics Efforts, but Tons of Illicit Drugs Continue to Flow Into the United States clearly demonstrates the difficulties of combating the supply of drugs.   This study bring about discussion to identify the gaps in capability could be leveraged with unique available military resources.   The Rise of Mexican Drug Cartel and U.S. National Security hearing conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice illustrated the success of interagency cooperation against targeting DTOs.   The report provides an overview of the capability of the DTOs operating along the southwest border and describes their ability to conduct drug trafficking, kidnapping, bribery, extortion, money laundering and smuggling of profits, and trafficking and use of dangerous firearms.   The report concludes that the best strategy to combat the full spectrum of the drug cartels operations is a holistic approach that employs the full spectrum of our law enforcement agencies and its resources, expertise, and statutory authorities.   The Mexican border states have become much like a war zone with heavily armed military units on the street (since the President deemed local police too corrupt to deal with the cartels) and frequent firefights between the military and the cartels.   According to L.A. Times, as of November 29, 2010, 28,288 people have died in Mexico since January 2007 because of the drug wars.   In relative terms, that number is higher than the number of American troops that have died in Iraq in the last seven years (Mexico under Siege The Drug War on Our Doorstep, 2010). â€Å"Mexico Under Siege The Drug War on Our Doorstep†, is an L.A. Times website that includes all of their coverage of drug smuggling along the Southwest border along with interactive maps, links to television coverage and a host of other information.   This website is the principle primary source for details of recent events and media coverage of the situation.   Additionally, the website â€Å"Drug Trafficking in Mexico† maintained by latinamericanstudies.org traces the history of the drug trafficking between Mexico and the U. S. from 1998-2009.   This website provides links to hundreds of other articles on the subject as well. The Congressional Reporting Service publication â€Å"Terrorism: Some Legal Restrictions on Military Assistance to Domestic Authorities Following a Terrorist Attack† by Charles Doyle and Jennifer Elsea presents the legal definition of MSCLEAs in the wake of post 9/11 developments (Doyle and Elsea, 2005). Increased MSCLEA issues emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with regard to the interdiction of drugs.   However, since 9/11 they have largely revolved around the role of MSCLEA around terrorism related incidents.   The official policy of the United States Army on MSCLEA is contained in the Catastrophic Disaster Response Staff Officers Handbook â€Å"Appendix I: Legal Considerations/Law Enforcement† published by the United States Army Combined Arms Center in May 2006.   This document is supplemented by a paper prepared by Colonel Thomas W. McShane entitled, â€Å"United States Northern Commands Mission to Provide Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies: The Challenge to keep Homeland Security and Civil Liberty Dancing in Step with the Current Legal Music† (2004). There are varieties of publications that deal with the history of MSCLEA for Counter-drug Operations.   Most of the U.S. policy affecting domestic counterdrug MSCLEA require updates and fails to reflect the realities of the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.   Two of these stand out as having particular importance for this proposal.   The first is The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home by Timothy J Dunn, published in 1996.   The second is a Rand Corporation report entitled Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction written by Peter Reuter, Gordon Crawford, and Jonathan Cave published in 1988.   Both of the documents are dated however, they will provide a historical context to compare to current operations.   Reuter concludes that military support provided in the war on drugs in the 1980s w as costly, ineffective, and distracted military forces from preparing for interstate combat missions. Both documents are roughly twenty years old and this means that their consideration of everything from the technology of interdiction efforts to the scope and influence of DTOs is dated.   On the other hand, both documents precede the emergence of the overwhelming threat of terrorist attacks and therefore the focus is on MSCLEAs in a pre-9/11 context with the emphasis on drug interdiction, not anti-terrorism operations. Most importantly, both of these documents present a negative image of interdiction efforts.   The U.S. military interdiction efforts, although criticize provides an approach from two different perspectives.   The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home published by the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin focuses on the negative effects of the militarization of the border in terms of lost economic opportunities and threats to civil liberties. More condemning, however, is the Rand Corporation document, Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction.   It concludes that interdiction efforts in general have little impact on the flow of drugs into the United States.   Furthermore, it concludes that an increase in military involvement did not improve the interdiction effectiveness efforts and was unlikely to do so in the future.   The Rand study strongly suggests that the military cannot be the primary interdiction agency and that a major increase in military support is unlikely to reduce drug consumption significantly in the United States (Reuter, Crawford and Cave, 1988). The findings are not practical for exploring renewed efforts to employ enhanced MSCLEA in the interdiction effort in the twenty-first century.   There are numerous reservations about applying this study directly to the current situation.   This study will examine interdiction in terms of interdiction (seizure) rates, not reduced consumption, and the price of illicit drugs as examined by the Rand study. In addition, the circumstances of the drug trade across the Southwestern border have changed considerably over the past nine years, as have the military resources available to employ against interdiction effort.   The DTOs are now using RPGs and other military type weaponry consequently the military has UAVs and other surveillance equipment that was not available in the 1980s. The Rand study is incredibly important to understanding the history of military involvement in drug interdiction on the Southwest border.   However, the findings do not constitute the final word on the subject today as it is over twenty years old. It is imperative to examine literature that relates to the policies and procedures for MSCLEAs and the organization of cooperative efforts between the MSCLEAs.   Doctrine for this already exists for both the military and civilian organizations.   The Joint Task Force North, â€Å"JTF-North Operational Support Planning Guide 2010† outlines the military perspective on joint military-civilian operations.   The police understanding of the relationship is outlined in â€Å"Civilian and Military Law Enforcement Cooperation† published in The Police Chief (Awtry, 2004). The study Preach What You Practice: The Separation of Military and Police Roles in the Americas argues that military employment to assist law enforcement agencies falls the Posse Comitatus Act limits however, there is no imminent â€Å"threat of attack† on the United States.   Therefore, they question the need for a heightened militarization of the southwest border (Withers, Santos, Isacsoni, 2010 p 8).   This report suggest that instead of supporting a military response, the U.S. government re align its resources to focus on additional aid for police and law enforcement capabilities within Mexico.   They recommend this aid be in the form strengthening law enforcement training, equipment, and technology rather than merely training in counter-drug tactics.   The JTF North website lists the following capabilities as operational support the U. S. military is prepared to provide federal law enforcement agencies: aviation transportation, including both insertion and extraction of personnel; aviation reconnaissance; air and maritime surveillance radar; unmanned aircraft systems; ground surveillance radar; listening post and observation post surveillance; ground sensor operations; and ground transportation.   The consensus within NORTHCOM appears to be the military is capable of supplying resources that enhance law enforcement ability to interdict the threats along the southwest border.   Under USNORTHCOM, the military conducts a variety of domestic exercises aimed at using the military and National Guard under the presidents control in a wide range of U.S. homeland emergencies such as terrorist events and even domestic violence.   Which is the threat currently demonstrated by DTOs.   The exercises do not involve any Mexican entities, NORTHCOM suggest that an exchange of military personnel and cadets with Mexico as a means of gaining Mexican involvement in NORTHCOM, as well as regular talks about cooperation could increase the effectiveness of combating DTO activity along the border.   Jose Palafox addresses militarization of the border and the applicability of military counterdrug operations along the U.S.-Mexican border in 1990.   He closely examines the 1996 structure of JTF-6 and then concludes that a JTF consisting of only a brigade-size unit could effectively conduct sustained operations to interdict border drug trafficking along the two-thousand-mile boundary.   JTF-6 was renamed JTF North in a ceremony Sept. 28, 2004, and its mission was expanded beyond the drug war to include providing homeland security support to the nations federal law enforcement agencies. The article states the Pentagon is spent approximately $800 million a year to help enforce the drug trafficking laws alone.   The missions ranged from ground reconnaissance, training, logistics, and research.   In 1995, the Department of Defense transferred military technology equipment to Border Patrol in order to upgrade legacy Vietnam War error equipment.   Due to a joint effort by the Justice and Treasury Departments and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Border Patrol also has its own high-tech Border Research and Technology Center near San Diego. The article suggests that JTF-6 operations supporting DTO activity was a success and a necessity for future operations between military and civilian organizations.   Although, Border Patrol received significant upgrades gaps along the porous border remain specifically training and intelligence collection. Major Mark Van Dries 1990 monograph titled Drug Interdiction: Can We Stop the New Pancho Villa, addresses the feasibility of military counterdrug operations along the border in the 1990s.   The study states that drugs are a legitimate national security threat and the vulnerability of drug cartels to military operations.   Drie conclusion supports employment of military forces along the border where legal restraints are not clear and domestic opposition is less likely.   He further articulates that effectively securing the southwest border in 1990 would require a cordon force of 65,000 U.S. troops. Both the article and monograph fail to mention the 1997 tragic death of a U.S. citizen at the hands of a military service member that exposed the difficulties and inherent risks in employing combat focused forces in training missions in support of domestic counterdrug MSCLEA.   Marine Corps Corporal Manuel Banuelos shot and killed Texas high school student Esequiel Hernandez with a single shot from his service rifle.   The incident inspired a backlash against armed military patrols along the border and resulted in cease of the practice.   The current approach is indirect support to law enforcement such as intelligence, engineering, and surveillance (Dunn, 2001, p 14-17).   In summary, this chapter discusses corroborative information relating to drug cartel along US-Mexico borders and its perpetuation within the region which caused escalation of violence, increasing number of death tool and its serious implication to Mexicos politico-economy as well as its diplomatic relation with nations, specially United States. The succeeding chapters will discuss the methodology. CHAPTER III:   Methodology This chapter tackles the research methodology that will be used to assess the military resource requirements to counter drug activity along the Southwest border.   The author will conduct analysis of secondary information by using (a) timeline analysis to account the historical context about the war on drugs, (b) evaluate the laws and regulations associated with MSCLEA and current MSCLEA support in order to determine the most appropriate MSCLEA to counter drug trafficking along the Southwest border, (c) illustrate key developments in the war on drugs and military involvement in supporting the domestic counterdrug effort and (d) evaluate the significance, extent, resource capacity and feasibility of deploying MSCLEA to assist in the interdiction of DTOs across the Southwest border. Research Design This chapter will examine the issue by means of qualitative and quantitative analyses using variety of sources from media accounts, government reports, academic works, and historical documents.   To a lesser extent, opinion pieces will be used when the information is valid and appropriate opposing viewpoints are available for inclusion. Analysis of the results will provide statistical validity to the interpretation of results for the military and for the other agencies such as drug threats provided by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). Sample Sampling is irrelevant in this study. Researcher is not using survey method but will be maximizing secondary information from government reports and earlier studies conducted related to the issue on Mexican drug interdiction. Other related relevant sources will also be inclusively considered. Setting The study will be conducted within American soil although it will also make use of documents from Mexican government which will be accessed, reviewed and evaluated accordingly. Instrumentation This is a qualitative and quantitative longitudinal case study that will use a combination of timeline mapping, conflict-analysis, and triangulation to understand the complex and unending illegal drug trade within the region that has been affecting neighboring and the international communities worldwide due to increasing violence within the area despite security management measures. All historical accounts, records, testimonies and researchers from incessant intervention done by the United States of America will be reviewed, analyzed and be maximized in crafting conclusions and recommendations at the end of the study. Data Collection To address research objective number three, DTOs current ability to interdict drugs across the border, the author will review publicly available information from books, journal articles, and corroborated news media accounts.   The book, Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling, will be used to substantiate data from the perspective, motivation and experiences of DTO smugglers. This book interviews experienced smugglers who at one time successfully in defeated drug interdiction measures.   The purpose of this research objective is to identify the nature and extent of DTO exploitation of US Southwest border. Specifically, this question serves to identify DTO resources and methods that are uniquely vulnerable to US military capabilities or where the US military resources can augment civilian law enforcement agencies.   Researcher will further use all information that can be sourced from government agencies, libraries, online research institutions, magazines, journals, court documents, magazines and journals. Data Analysis The author will use historical mapping as an instrument to gather information to assess the length of period and extent of the drug trafficking problem within the region. Historical mapping will also be used to determine the MSCLEA method(s) of involvement introduced by US Southwest region, including the outcome and impact of these interdictions.   Historical mapping will also be used to outline the laws and policies governing MSCLEA that were legislated as a response to countering illegal drug trade in the region. Additionally, analysis of government documents produced by Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) will be analyzed to determine the MSCLEA ability to adequately curtail drug trafficking across the southwest border. Lastly, the author will identify and compare the relative combat power of DTOs and US law enforcement personnel operating along the Southwest border.   Determining the capability gap will exhibit the necessary MSCLEA requirement(s) to effectively reinforce the combat power of law enforcement agencies in order to adequately curtail drug trafficking in the region.   As a mixed quantitative and qualitative study, researcher will present an integrated analysis and inferences into coherent conclusions toward a comprehensive and meaningful explication of the subject studied. Validity and Reliability This research is undertaken with serious consideration of the international and professional standard. Inferences and sequential presentation of information are drawn from primary and secondary sources that are critically evaluated based on acceptable standards of sources. Some information used came from government authorities and decision-making bodies who are honored with their credibility as authorities of the state. Readers who may conduct follow-up research may triangulate information and database used here to further validate reports. Ethical Considerations Researcher observes the highest standard of professional ethics required by the institution. Matters of confidentiality are held sacred while authors, writers, and agencies whose contributions to these subjects are wisely utilized were credited and recognized in the references. The succeeding chapter will substantially discuss the theme of this study. Chapter 4- DISCUSSION Resolving the complex issues on narcotics in the south west border require in-depth reflection on historic interventions made by USA which help increase interdiction on illegal drug-related cartel; evaluate the political capacity of DTO to sustain its illegal operations; triangulate policies of USA in its decision to assist in decreasing the movements of illegal drug trade; and assess the fiscal capacity of the American government to allocate against increasing demand of budget for operations. US Military Capacity vs Drug Trafficking In mid-19th century, United States deployed US Army on its southern border and was mandated to protect the border, interdict bandits, secure lives and properties, conduct regular patrolling and support civil law enforcement against illegal drug cartel business (Matthews, 1959). More than a century have passed, USA is still deploying National Guard Soldiers to the Mexican border as post-9/11 politico-military undertakings (Matthews, 1959). To reckon, from 1846 towards this millennium, US Army sustained its security mandates at the borders hard and rugged terrain (Matthews, 1959).   Reports mentioned that amid disputes, there is also a demand to increase numbers of soldiers (Matthews, 1959).   This is further compounded with critical Mexican politics and US-Mexican diplomatic relations that is affecting Armys operations (Matthews, 1959).   Contextualized in such distinct social character, Armys role was fitted to support to local, state, and Federal civilian agencies. Such nature of intervention is already evident since 1920s (Matthews, 1959). During President George W. Bushs administration decided to deploy about 6,000 Army National Guard Soldiers in 2006 to conduct security border patrol as issues relating to potential terrorist infiltration, increase of illegal drug syndicates activity, and leveling-up of apprehension about illegal immigration to United States en route through Mexico (Matthews, 1959). Though this was regarded with disapproval, there is however recognition to improve border security works albeit controversial use of military personnel to support law enforcement (Matthews, 1959). Both America and Mexico shared ambivalent relations since the former tightened its political control in that shared border coupled with cross-border violent aggressions done by Indians and bandits which accordingly increased the level of enmity (Matthews, 1959). There was however a historic epoch when America and the Mexican governments explored revitalization of goodwill when Major General Philip H. Sheridan waged a campaign against the French.   That provided an opportunity to resolve issues relating to US Armys disposition at the border from 1870 to 1886, including its inherent weakness about lack of personnel and passive defenses against cross-border raids. It also discussed the raid in Mexico in 1873 led by Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzies   and that pre-emptive strike led by Lieutenant Colonel William â€Å"Pecos Bill† Shafters. There was subsequent reduction of attacks but this generated political conflict which grind down American and Mexican goodwill (Matthews, 1959). In 1911 to 1917, the Mexican Revolution caused insecurity in the border and US soldiers realized that static defenses and patrolling couldnt cease terrorist raiders who maintained interest to cross the border. This was also same period when Major General Frederick Funstons attempted to stop the Plan of San Diego plotters and Brigadier General John J. Pershing launched punitive action against Francisco â€Å"Pancho† Villa. The military strategies enforced hot pursuits and preemptive strikes into Mexico to restore order to the border (Matthews, 1959). US Army have also conducted responses to WETBACK Operation in 1954 until they increased their presence in 1978 in Mexican border as a response to same issue on illegal US immigration and anti-drug cartel. The military supports for law enforcement at southern border have also evolved (Matthews, 1959). The historic problem remained in these 20th centuries and the issues pertaining to militarys disposition reverberates (Matthews, 1959 ). It still re-echo the need for defensive position and the discussion on conducting cou Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies CHAPTER I: Violence perpetrated by Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) increased dramatically in 2006 and continued to rise dramatically through 2010.   According to the National Drug Intelligence Centers â€Å"National Drug Threat Assessment, 2010†, published in February 2010, â€Å"Mexican DTOs dominate the transportation of illicit drugs across the Southwest Border.   They typically use commercial trucks and private and rental vehicles to smuggle cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin† (National Drug Threat Assessment, 2010).   The increase in DTO activity has resulted in an increase of military involvement in counterdrug operations along the U.S. southwestern border region.   The tables in the appendices outline the statistical extent of the problem and the geographic penetration of Mexican DTOs within the United States.   Americas densely populated southern border with Mexico stretches nearly 2,000 miles in length and possesses several established crossing points.   In areas along northern Mexico, DTOs organize and equip themselves with resources that out match Mexican military forces (McCaffrey 2009).   With these developments, it is necessary to consider increased U.S. military support to drug interdiction along the southwest border, as DTOs are a national security threat that directly plays a role in destabilizing the heavily trafficked areas in both the U.S. and Mexico. Problem Statement The problem is to determine what Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies (MSCLEA) should be brought to bear against Mexican DTOs to interdict and reduce the flow of drugs across the Southwest Border. Research Objective This research aimed at answering and elucidating the following objectives: What capabilities does the U.S. military already have in the southwest border region to counter drug trafficking? What is the DTOs current capability to interdict drugs across the border (e.g. weapons, funding, resources)? What are the American laws and regulations governing the use of MSCLEA?   Is it financially feasible to increase MSCLEA? Assumptions The main premise to this research is based on the assumption that increasing the resources used to interdict the drug trafficking in the southwest border region will have a positive impact in disrupting DTOs operations, decreasing the amount of drugs trafficked and aiding in stabilizing the southwest border region.   Some groups advocate other approaches to the problem such as legalization and establishing additional treatment programs for users and abusers of illegal drugs.   Moreover, on the supply side, the assumption is diplomatic pressure on the countries that produce the drugs or assistance to their military and police organizations is necessary to increase the effectiveness.   This proposal assumes that enhanced interdiction efforts on the Southwest border will negatively impact Mexican DTOs and reduce use of illegal drugs within the United States. Additionally, the results and recommendations for this research assumed that all military assistance falls within Title 32 Duty and Article I,  § 8 of the Constitution that allows the National Guard to be used under the command and control of the governor to execute the laws of the Union, in order to suppress rebellion and deter invasions (Withers, 2010 p. 6). Definition of Terms Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies (MSCLEA):   Technical assistance rendered to civilian law enforcement agencies.   This can include military resources that are not available to civilians such as aerial surveillance, technical assistance with these resources, and tactical advice.   It does not include actual law enforcement powers (Sergienko, 2006, p. 395). Interdiction efforts:    All efforts used to reduce the flow of illegal drugs into the United States on the ground (or underground) across the Southwest border.   Success equals increased levels of drug seizures. Southwest border:   The land border between the U.S. and Mexico; also called the U.S.-Mexico border. Limitations and delimitations This study is limited to ground interdiction.   Drug smuggling is an incredibly profitable enterprise.   If ground interdiction efforts are to prove effective, it presumes that DTOs would attempt to move their operations into marine and aerial operations.   However, this study will only consider the deployment of marine and aerial assets as they relate to ground operations.   This study will limit its focus of the Southwest to the three major DTO interdiction routes located in Texas, New Mexico, and California.   The strategies proposed or dismissed in this research may or may not be appropriate to compare with the interdiction efforts on other borders such as the northern border with Canada. This study will be limited to cooperation with civilian law enforcement agencies within the United States.   It will not consider support for Mexican civilian law enforcement agencies nor will it consider cooperation with the Mexican military although it will acknowledge that they are now the lead agency in struggle with DTOs within Mexico. All proposals for MSCLEA will be governed by the U.S Constitution, relevant U.S. laws and the USNORTHCOM directives on MSCLEA, â€Å"Military support to civilian law enforcement is carried out in strict compliance with the Constitution and U.S. laws and under the direction of the president and secretary of defense† (USNORTHCOM). CHAPTER II: Literature Review This chapter provides an overview of the literature examined.   It identifies the dominant literature and sources that will provide arguments addressing DTOs drug smuggling, MSCLEAs and the current situation along the Southwest border.   The academic debate concerning MSCLEA on the border focuses primarily on the issue of illegal immigration and second on drug interdiction.   There are only a few books on the topic.   Therefore, research will focus on scholarly articles, government studies, and statistical data available through the U.S. Border Patrol and Department of Enforcement Administration. Timothy Dunns 1996 book, The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home is a study that compares data collected through interviews with military doctrine, law enforcement, congressional documents, and personal observations.   Dunns intent is to illustrate that increased activity along the southwest border escalated forcing military involvement in immigration and drug enforcement to a level unintended by Congress and defense officials.   Dunn provides insight to the difficulty associated with MSCLEA along the southwest border.   This historical data requires comparison to the post 9/11 challenges. There are numerous government studies and reports related to previous and current U.S. counterdrug program.   The Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared most reports for members of Congress.   The National Drug and Control Policy also have a number of useful products.   Stephen Vina CRS report in 2006, Border Security and Military Support: Legal Authorizations and Restrictions outlines military support legal and policy limitations with in the U.S.   His study states military support to DTO is feasible however, it must be restricted to the employment of Nation Guard for border security missions vice the employment of active duty (GAO, 2003).   The 2010 report Department of Defense Needs to Improve Its Performance Measurement System to Better Manage and oversee Its Counternarcotics Activities demonstrates congressional interest in measures of effectiveness to justify MSCLEA in the early 1990s.   The 1993 Heavy Investment in Military Surveillance is Not Paying Off   report   findings suggest some military assets, such as rotary wing transport and lower-end unmanned aerial vehicles are relatively inexpensive and within the potential budget of federal law enforcement.   Other assets such as large multi-role aircraft and naval vessels, are very expensive operate and maintain.   The GAO (2009) study concluded that military surveillance is costly particularly when modern technology systems designed to detect and control highly sophisticated weapon systems in combat situations are employed against a DTO smuggling threat. Together, these two reports support content from the recent Washington Office on Latin America report that strongly suggest there must be a separation of military and police roles in America.   George Withers would agree there is a lack of measures of effectiveness justifying military support on the border. The GAO study, Secure Border Initiative: Observations on Deployment Challenges discusses the challenges of integrating sensors and obstacles along the 2000-mile Southwest border.   Conversely,   the 2007 report, U.S. Assistance Has Helped Mexican Counternarcotics Efforts, but Tons of Illicit Drugs Continue to Flow Into the United States clearly demonstrates the difficulties of combating the supply of drugs.   This study bring about discussion to identify the gaps in capability could be leveraged with unique available military resources.   The Rise of Mexican Drug Cartel and U.S. National Security hearing conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice illustrated the success of interagency cooperation against targeting DTOs.   The report provides an overview of the capability of the DTOs operating along the southwest border and describes their ability to conduct drug trafficking, kidnapping, bribery, extortion, money laundering and smuggling of profits, and trafficking and use of dangerous firearms.   The report concludes that the best strategy to combat the full spectrum of the drug cartels operations is a holistic approach that employs the full spectrum of our law enforcement agencies and its resources, expertise, and statutory authorities.   The Mexican border states have become much like a war zone with heavily armed military units on the street (since the President deemed local police too corrupt to deal with the cartels) and frequent firefights between the military and the cartels.   According to L.A. Times, as of November 29, 2010, 28,288 people have died in Mexico since January 2007 because of the drug wars.   In relative terms, that number is higher than the number of American troops that have died in Iraq in the last seven years (Mexico under Siege The Drug War on Our Doorstep, 2010). â€Å"Mexico Under Siege The Drug War on Our Doorstep†, is an L.A. Times website that includes all of their coverage of drug smuggling along the Southwest border along with interactive maps, links to television coverage and a host of other information.   This website is the principle primary source for details of recent events and media coverage of the situation.   Additionally, the website â€Å"Drug Trafficking in Mexico† maintained by latinamericanstudies.org traces the history of the drug trafficking between Mexico and the U. S. from 1998-2009.   This website provides links to hundreds of other articles on the subject as well. The Congressional Reporting Service publication â€Å"Terrorism: Some Legal Restrictions on Military Assistance to Domestic Authorities Following a Terrorist Attack† by Charles Doyle and Jennifer Elsea presents the legal definition of MSCLEAs in the wake of post 9/11 developments (Doyle and Elsea, 2005). Increased MSCLEA issues emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with regard to the interdiction of drugs.   However, since 9/11 they have largely revolved around the role of MSCLEA around terrorism related incidents.   The official policy of the United States Army on MSCLEA is contained in the Catastrophic Disaster Response Staff Officers Handbook â€Å"Appendix I: Legal Considerations/Law Enforcement† published by the United States Army Combined Arms Center in May 2006.   This document is supplemented by a paper prepared by Colonel Thomas W. McShane entitled, â€Å"United States Northern Commands Mission to Provide Military Support to Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies: The Challenge to keep Homeland Security and Civil Liberty Dancing in Step with the Current Legal Music† (2004). There are varieties of publications that deal with the history of MSCLEA for Counter-drug Operations.   Most of the U.S. policy affecting domestic counterdrug MSCLEA require updates and fails to reflect the realities of the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.   Two of these stand out as having particular importance for this proposal.   The first is The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home by Timothy J Dunn, published in 1996.   The second is a Rand Corporation report entitled Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction written by Peter Reuter, Gordon Crawford, and Jonathan Cave published in 1988.   Both of the documents are dated however, they will provide a historical context to compare to current operations.   Reuter concludes that military support provided in the war on drugs in the 1980s w as costly, ineffective, and distracted military forces from preparing for interstate combat missions. Both documents are roughly twenty years old and this means that their consideration of everything from the technology of interdiction efforts to the scope and influence of DTOs is dated.   On the other hand, both documents precede the emergence of the overwhelming threat of terrorist attacks and therefore the focus is on MSCLEAs in a pre-9/11 context with the emphasis on drug interdiction, not anti-terrorism operations. Most importantly, both of these documents present a negative image of interdiction efforts.   The U.S. military interdiction efforts, although criticize provides an approach from two different perspectives.   The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978-1992: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine Comes Home published by the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin focuses on the negative effects of the militarization of the border in terms of lost economic opportunities and threats to civil liberties. More condemning, however, is the Rand Corporation document, Sealing the Borders: The Effects of Increased Military Participation in Drug Interdiction.   It concludes that interdiction efforts in general have little impact on the flow of drugs into the United States.   Furthermore, it concludes that an increase in military involvement did not improve the interdiction effectiveness efforts and was unlikely to do so in the future.   The Rand study strongly suggests that the military cannot be the primary interdiction agency and that a major increase in military support is unlikely to reduce drug consumption significantly in the United States (Reuter, Crawford and Cave, 1988). The findings are not practical for exploring renewed efforts to employ enhanced MSCLEA in the interdiction effort in the twenty-first century.   There are numerous reservations about applying this study directly to the current situation.   This study will examine interdiction in terms of interdiction (seizure) rates, not reduced consumption, and the price of illicit drugs as examined by the Rand study. In addition, the circumstances of the drug trade across the Southwestern border have changed considerably over the past nine years, as have the military resources available to employ against interdiction effort.   The DTOs are now using RPGs and other military type weaponry consequently the military has UAVs and other surveillance equipment that was not available in the 1980s. The Rand study is incredibly important to understanding the history of military involvement in drug interdiction on the Southwest border.   However, the findings do not constitute the final word on the subject today as it is over twenty years old. It is imperative to examine literature that relates to the policies and procedures for MSCLEAs and the organization of cooperative efforts between the MSCLEAs.   Doctrine for this already exists for both the military and civilian organizations.   The Joint Task Force North, â€Å"JTF-North Operational Support Planning Guide 2010† outlines the military perspective on joint military-civilian operations.   The police understanding of the relationship is outlined in â€Å"Civilian and Military Law Enforcement Cooperation† published in The Police Chief (Awtry, 2004). The study Preach What You Practice: The Separation of Military and Police Roles in the Americas argues that military employment to assist law enforcement agencies falls the Posse Comitatus Act limits however, there is no imminent â€Å"threat of attack† on the United States.   Therefore, they question the need for a heightened militarization of the southwest border (Withers, Santos, Isacsoni, 2010 p 8).   This report suggest that instead of supporting a military response, the U.S. government re align its resources to focus on additional aid for police and law enforcement capabilities within Mexico.   They recommend this aid be in the form strengthening law enforcement training, equipment, and technology rather than merely training in counter-drug tactics.   The JTF North website lists the following capabilities as operational support the U. S. military is prepared to provide federal law enforcement agencies: aviation transportation, including both insertion and extraction of personnel; aviation reconnaissance; air and maritime surveillance radar; unmanned aircraft systems; ground surveillance radar; listening post and observation post surveillance; ground sensor operations; and ground transportation.   The consensus within NORTHCOM appears to be the military is capable of supplying resources that enhance law enforcement ability to interdict the threats along the southwest border.   Under USNORTHCOM, the military conducts a variety of domestic exercises aimed at using the military and National Guard under the presidents control in a wide range of U.S. homeland emergencies such as terrorist events and even domestic violence.   Which is the threat currently demonstrated by DTOs.   The exercises do not involve any Mexican entities, NORTHCOM suggest that an exchange of military personnel and cadets with Mexico as a means of gaining Mexican involvement in NORTHCOM, as well as regular talks about cooperation could increase the effectiveness of combating DTO activity along the border.   Jose Palafox addresses militarization of the border and the applicability of military counterdrug operations along the U.S.-Mexican border in 1990.   He closely examines the 1996 structure of JTF-6 and then concludes that a JTF consisting of only a brigade-size unit could effectively conduct sustained operations to interdict border drug trafficking along the two-thousand-mile boundary.   JTF-6 was renamed JTF North in a ceremony Sept. 28, 2004, and its mission was expanded beyond the drug war to include providing homeland security support to the nations federal law enforcement agencies. The article states the Pentagon is spent approximately $800 million a year to help enforce the drug trafficking laws alone.   The missions ranged from ground reconnaissance, training, logistics, and research.   In 1995, the Department of Defense transferred military technology equipment to Border Patrol in order to upgrade legacy Vietnam War error equipment.   Due to a joint effort by the Justice and Treasury Departments and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Border Patrol also has its own high-tech Border Research and Technology Center near San Diego. The article suggests that JTF-6 operations supporting DTO activity was a success and a necessity for future operations between military and civilian organizations.   Although, Border Patrol received significant upgrades gaps along the porous border remain specifically training and intelligence collection. Major Mark Van Dries 1990 monograph titled Drug Interdiction: Can We Stop the New Pancho Villa, addresses the feasibility of military counterdrug operations along the border in the 1990s.   The study states that drugs are a legitimate national security threat and the vulnerability of drug cartels to military operations.   Drie conclusion supports employment of military forces along the border where legal restraints are not clear and domestic opposition is less likely.   He further articulates that effectively securing the southwest border in 1990 would require a cordon force of 65,000 U.S. troops. Both the article and monograph fail to mention the 1997 tragic death of a U.S. citizen at the hands of a military service member that exposed the difficulties and inherent risks in employing combat focused forces in training missions in support of domestic counterdrug MSCLEA.   Marine Corps Corporal Manuel Banuelos shot and killed Texas high school student Esequiel Hernandez with a single shot from his service rifle.   The incident inspired a backlash against armed military patrols along the border and resulted in cease of the practice.   The current approach is indirect support to law enforcement such as intelligence, engineering, and surveillance (Dunn, 2001, p 14-17).   In summary, this chapter discusses corroborative information relating to drug cartel along US-Mexico borders and its perpetuation within the region which caused escalation of violence, increasing number of death tool and its serious implication to Mexicos politico-economy as well as its diplomatic relation with nations, specially United States. The succeeding chapters will discuss the methodology. CHAPTER III:   Methodology This chapter tackles the research methodology that will be used to assess the military resource requirements to counter drug activity along the Southwest border.   The author will conduct analysis of secondary information by using (a) timeline analysis to account the historical context about the war on drugs, (b) evaluate the laws and regulations associated with MSCLEA and current MSCLEA support in order to determine the most appropriate MSCLEA to counter drug trafficking along the Southwest border, (c) illustrate key developments in the war on drugs and military involvement in supporting the domestic counterdrug effort and (d) evaluate the significance, extent, resource capacity and feasibility of deploying MSCLEA to assist in the interdiction of DTOs across the Southwest border. Research Design This chapter will examine the issue by means of qualitative and quantitative analyses using variety of sources from media accounts, government reports, academic works, and historical documents.   To a lesser extent, opinion pieces will be used when the information is valid and appropriate opposing viewpoints are available for inclusion. Analysis of the results will provide statistical validity to the interpretation of results for the military and for the other agencies such as drug threats provided by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). Sample Sampling is irrelevant in this study. Researcher is not using survey method but will be maximizing secondary information from government reports and earlier studies conducted related to the issue on Mexican drug interdiction. Other related relevant sources will also be inclusively considered. Setting The study will be conducted within American soil although it will also make use of documents from Mexican government which will be accessed, reviewed and evaluated accordingly. Instrumentation This is a qualitative and quantitative longitudinal case study that will use a combination of timeline mapping, conflict-analysis, and triangulation to understand the complex and unending illegal drug trade within the region that has been affecting neighboring and the international communities worldwide due to increasing violence within the area despite security management measures. All historical accounts, records, testimonies and researchers from incessant intervention done by the United States of America will be reviewed, analyzed and be maximized in crafting conclusions and recommendations at the end of the study. Data Collection To address research objective number three, DTOs current ability to interdict drugs across the border, the author will review publicly available information from books, journal articles, and corroborated news media accounts.   The book, Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling, will be used to substantiate data from the perspective, motivation and experiences of DTO smugglers. This book interviews experienced smugglers who at one time successfully in defeated drug interdiction measures.   The purpose of this research objective is to identify the nature and extent of DTO exploitation of US Southwest border. Specifically, this question serves to identify DTO resources and methods that are uniquely vulnerable to US military capabilities or where the US military resources can augment civilian law enforcement agencies.   Researcher will further use all information that can be sourced from government agencies, libraries, online research institutions, magazines, journals, court documents, magazines and journals. Data Analysis The author will use historical mapping as an instrument to gather information to assess the length of period and extent of the drug trafficking problem within the region. Historical mapping will also be used to determine the MSCLEA method(s) of involvement introduced by US Southwest region, including the outcome and impact of these interdictions.   Historical mapping will also be used to outline the laws and policies governing MSCLEA that were legislated as a response to countering illegal drug trade in the region. Additionally, analysis of government documents produced by Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) will be analyzed to determine the MSCLEA ability to adequately curtail drug trafficking across the southwest border. Lastly, the author will identify and compare the relative combat power of DTOs and US law enforcement personnel operating along the Southwest border.   Determining the capability gap will exhibit the necessary MSCLEA requirement(s) to effectively reinforce the combat power of law enforcement agencies in order to adequately curtail drug trafficking in the region.   As a mixed quantitative and qualitative study, researcher will present an integrated analysis and inferences into coherent conclusions toward a comprehensive and meaningful explication of the subject studied. Validity and Reliability This research is undertaken with serious consideration of the international and professional standard. Inferences and sequential presentation of information are drawn from primary and secondary sources that are critically evaluated based on acceptable standards of sources. Some information used came from government authorities and decision-making bodies who are honored with their credibility as authorities of the state. Readers who may conduct follow-up research may triangulate information and database used here to further validate reports. Ethical Considerations Researcher observes the highest standard of professional ethics required by the institution. Matters of confidentiality are held sacred while authors, writers, and agencies whose contributions to these subjects are wisely utilized were credited and recognized in the references. The succeeding chapter will substantially discuss the theme of this study. Chapter 4- DISCUSSION Resolving the complex issues on narcotics in the south west border require in-depth reflection on historic interventions made by USA which help increase interdiction on illegal drug-related cartel; evaluate the political capacity of DTO to sustain its illegal operations; triangulate policies of USA in its decision to assist in decreasing the movements of illegal drug trade; and assess the fiscal capacity of the American government to allocate against increasing demand of budget for operations. US Military Capacity vs Drug Trafficking In mid-19th century, United States deployed US Army on its southern border and was mandated to protect the border, interdict bandits, secure lives and properties, conduct regular patrolling and support civil law enforcement against illegal drug cartel business (Matthews, 1959). More than a century have passed, USA is still deploying National Guard Soldiers to the Mexican border as post-9/11 politico-military undertakings (Matthews, 1959). To reckon, from 1846 towards this millennium, US Army sustained its security mandates at the borders hard and rugged terrain (Matthews, 1959).   Reports mentioned that amid disputes, there is also a demand to increase numbers of soldiers (Matthews, 1959).   This is further compounded with critical Mexican politics and US-Mexican diplomatic relations that is affecting Armys operations (Matthews, 1959).   Contextualized in such distinct social character, Armys role was fitted to support to local, state, and Federal civilian agencies. Such nature of intervention is already evident since 1920s (Matthews, 1959). During President George W. Bushs administration decided to deploy about 6,000 Army National Guard Soldiers in 2006 to conduct security border patrol as issues relating to potential terrorist infiltration, increase of illegal drug syndicates activity, and leveling-up of apprehension about illegal immigration to United States en route through Mexico (Matthews, 1959). Though this was regarded with disapproval, there is however recognition to improve border security works albeit controversial use of military personnel to support law enforcement (Matthews, 1959). Both America and Mexico shared ambivalent relations since the former tightened its political control in that shared border coupled with cross-border violent aggressions done by Indians and bandits which accordingly increased the level of enmity (Matthews, 1959). There was however a historic epoch when America and the Mexican governments explored revitalization of goodwill when Major General Philip H. Sheridan waged a campaign against the French.   That provided an opportunity to resolve issues relating to US Armys disposition at the border from 1870 to 1886, including its inherent weakness about lack of personnel and passive defenses against cross-border raids. It also discussed the raid in Mexico in 1873 led by Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzies   and that pre-emptive strike led by Lieutenant Colonel William â€Å"Pecos Bill† Shafters. There was subsequent reduction of attacks but this generated political conflict which grind down American and Mexican goodwill (Matthews, 1959). In 1911 to 1917, the Mexican Revolution caused insecurity in the border and US soldiers realized that static defenses and patrolling couldnt cease terrorist raiders who maintained interest to cross the border. This was also same period when Major General Frederick Funstons attempted to stop the Plan of San Diego plotters and Brigadier General John J. Pershing launched punitive action against Francisco â€Å"Pancho† Villa. The military strategies enforced hot pursuits and preemptive strikes into Mexico to restore order to the border (Matthews, 1959). US Army have also conducted responses to WETBACK Operation in 1954 until they increased their presence in 1978 in Mexican border as a response to same issue on illegal US immigration and anti-drug cartel. The military supports for law enforcement at southern border have also evolved (Matthews, 1959). The historic problem remained in these 20th centuries and the issues pertaining to militarys disposition reverberates (Matthews, 1959 ). It still re-echo the need for defensive position and the discussion on conducting cou