Cheque Truncation System

Lawyersclubindia Article : Cheque truncation in the Indian Scenario Page 1 of 3 Cheque truncation in the Indian Scenario During the last two decades or so the attitude and lifestyle of the consumers of banking service have been influenced by the advancement in technology. In tune with technological changes the banksaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ delivery system has to undergo tremendous transformation. The financial reforms process has enabled many competitors to enter the financial services market with a higher degree of efficiency and customer friendly behaviour. The public sector banks although reacted promptly to the new challenges, have not kept pace with the new entrants in the arena because of their inherent limitations. Under the impact of technology, the banks have been trying to innovate newer products and services to become more competitive in the ever demanding customer driven market. The technology has made it possible for the banks to come to terms with the demands of customers. The system of cheque truncation is prevalent in several foreign countries. Denmark and Belgium are the pioneers in the truncation system. They adopted complete cheque truncation system more than two decades ago. Sweden is the typical example for having achieved complete truncation where all the cheques can be presented and encashed at any branch; irrespective of the bank on which they are drawn. The process of cheque truncation is not only quick but also meets the requirements of future electronic transactions. In India the collection and payment of cheques is governed by the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 which requires that the instruments must be in writing and have to be physically presented for payment in due course (before the amendment in the Negotiable Instruments Act). In view of this requirement the time taken for the processing of cheques, etc. was long particularly for the outstation cheques. In a country like India, the time taken for collection of outstation cheques is rather tiring for the customers. With the advent of technology, the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India took initiative to improve the customer service. The working group constituted in 1982 to consider the feasibility of introduction of MICR/OCR technology for cheque processing recommended that India should join SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) Network for the transmission and reception of international financial messages as well as instil electronic forms of monetary transaction in the Indian economic transactions. The term aâ‚ ¬? hequeaâ‚ ¬ has been defined in Section 6 of the Negotiable Instruments Act as aâ‚ ¬? bill of exchange drawn on a specified banker and not expressed to be payable otherwise than on demandaâ‚ ¬ . As per definition it is essential that cheque should be presented for payment. But in truncation, the physical cheque is not presented but only its image shall be transmitted to the paying branch. ** In common parlance the word aâ‚ ¬? tru ncatedaâ‚ ¬ means deformed, disfigured, mutilated, etc. As per the Negotiable Instruments Act, the truncated cheque means a cheque which is truncated during the course of a clearing cycle. The process of truncation requires the banker to convert the cheque data into electronic form for the purpose of safe keeping or to return the cheques at the request of the banker or to provide information on cheques as and when requested. The cheque in the electronic form means a cheque which contains the exact mirror image of a paper cheque and is generated, written and signed in a secure system ensuring minimum safety standards with the use of digital signatures (with or without biometric signature) and http://www. lawyersclubindia. com/articles/print_this_page. asp? rticle_id=250 7/24/2011 Lawyersclubindia Article : Cheque truncation in the Indian Scenario Page 2 of 3 asymmetric crypto system. Features of truncated cheque system With the advent of technology and cyber era, security of the system has acquired prime importance. No doubt, the financial institutions have started providing fast services than ever before. But the technology has brought in its trail security problem als o. Under the cheque truncation system, therefore, the image of the cheque is captured at the point of deposit where it is sealed and encrypted before its transmission. This renders it tamper proof. This is done strictly as per international standards. The transmission between the presenting, paying and payee bank is authenticated by a certificate authority as part of the public key infrastructure. The process of image certification at the banks is certified by an independent auditor to ensure that it conforms to the requirements of the laws of evidence of that country. Under the cheque truncation system all cheques are transmitted electronically. The original cheques are retained by the collecting banker. Indian scenario Truncation of cheques can be done by the clearing house or the bank which collects the truncated version of the cheque. As per Section 81 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, the banker who receives the payment, is also supposed to retain the copy of the cheque even after payment has been done. Section 89 of the Negotiable Instruments Act says that any distinction between the original cheque and the truncated image should be construed as material alteration. In such cases it is obligatory on the part of the clearing house or the bank to ensure the correctness of the truncated image while transmitting the image. An explanation has been added to Section 131 of the Negotiable Instruments Act vide the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2002. It says that it shall be the duty of the banker who receives payment based on an electronic image of a truncated cheque to ensure that there is no fraud, forgery or tampering apparent on the face of the instrument. It would be seen that after the amendment the responsibility of the collecting bank has increased manifold. Earlier it was the position that if he collects any instrument in good faith and without negligence he was not liable for any fraud, etc. But after the amendment it is obligatory upon the collecting bank to verify the genuineness of the cheque with greater degree i. e. due diligence. Hence the cheque truncation system has burdened the collecting banker with a greater degree of responsibility. As per sub section (2) of Section 64 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, where an electronic image of a truncated cheque is presented for payment, the drawee bank is entitled to demand any further information regarding the truncated cheque from the bank holding the truncated cheque in case of any reasonable suspicion. Two new sub-sections have been added to Section 89. As per these sub sections any difference in apparent tenor of electronic image and the truncated cheque shall be a material alteration and it shall be the duty of the bank or the clearing ouse, as the case may be, to ensure the exactness of the apparent tenor of electronic image of the truncated cheque while truncating and transmitting the image. In spite of the advantages, the truncation system has its own drawbacks. The truncated cheques are vulnerable to fraudsters who can hack into this system and change the contents of the cheques. So the security of the system must be ensured. RBI has taken upon itself setting up of a safe, secure and http://www. lawyersclubindia. com/articles/print_this_page. asp? article_id=250 7/24/2011 Lawyersclubindia Article : Cheque truncation in the Indian Scenario Page 3 of 3 efficient communication network for the exclusive use of the banking sector known as INFINET (Indian Financial Network). This network is already being used by a large number of banks for transfer of funds. INFINET uses the latest technology and security called PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) which is within the legal requirements of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Source : – http://www. ebc-india. com/practicallawyer/index. php? option=com_content&task=view&id=8047&Itemid=54 http://www. lawyersclubindia. com/articles/print_this_page. asp? article_id=250 7/24/2011

Ethics of Starbucks Corporation Essay

Starbucks Corporation is the international coffee and the largest coffeehouse in the world based in seattle, Washington. The company has expanded rapidly with over 16,858 stores in 50 countries, including 11,000 in the united states, over 1000 in Canada and over 700 in uk. Starbucks don’t sell only coffee but there are variety in the consumer products that they offer such as hot and cold sandwiches and Panini, pastries ,snacks and other hot and cold drinks. The company’s products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks also has an entertainment division and hear music brand, the company also markets books, music and films. Starbucks brand ice-creams and coffee are also offered at grocery stores. The Mission statement of Starbucks is to † inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time†. Starbucks believe that conducting business ethically and striving to do the right thing are vital to the success of the company. However, Starbucks corporation have been a target of protests and vandalism in the previous years on issues related to sustainability. But Starbucks have always been socially responsible and made it a priority to the development of new ways of addressing diverse impacts of business in society. Like every corporation, Starbucks has its own Standard of Business Conduct which facilitates legal compliance and ethics training; investigates sensitive issues such as potential conflicts of interest; and provides additional channels for partners to voice concerns. Partners are encouraged to report all types of issues or concerns to the program through their choice of the offered communication channel. The key goal and the important aspect of Business ethics is Sustainability. Sustainability is emerged from the environmental perspective because of the effective management of physical resources that are conserved for the future. But the concept of sustainability is not only broadened to include environment but also economic and social consideration. Starbucks have made its priorities in addressing ethical issues related to the environment through formal and public relations. Starbucks is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our business. This is done by understanding the environmental issues, developing innovative and flexible solutions to bring about change, attempt to buy, sell and use environmental friendly products, instilling environmental responsibility as a corporate value, measuring and monitoring our progress for each project. However, The Three components of Sustainability actually represent in terms of goals for business ethics. a) the environmental perspectives for Starbucks Corporation In 1999, Starbucks started† grounds for coffee† where they would give away the grounds to anyone for composting. They also reduced the size of their paper napkins and garbage bags to reduce wastage and lightening their solid waste to 816.5 metric tons. In response to the excessive water consumption ,Starbucks have replaced pitcher and dipper wells with push button faucets for rinsing utensils. Starbucks are trying ways to make recycling services available for its plastic cups as the services are very limited. By 2015 it is will make these services available in every store across the country. Previously, there were issues that plastic cups were non-recyclable because of the plastic coating that prevents the cup from leaking also prevents it from being recycled so they changed the material from prolypropylene (PP) to polyethylene teraphthale (PETE) which can be recycled. Starbucks is now considering the use of biodegradable material instead of plastics to line the cups. Starbucks gives 10 cents discounts to its customers for using its own mug and it now uses corrugated cup sleeves made up of 60% post consumer recycled fiber. As a Corporate Citizen, Starbucks have taken the ethical responsibility by conserving energy and increasing efficiency to reduce contribution to climate change. Purchasing of renewable resources to avoid impact on the climate yt and investing in new lighting and improving the efficiency of HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling systems) and other equipments. Starbucks also has build greener stores which include a mix of design elements such as using recycled floor tiles, improve light efficiency, installing low flow valves throughout the stores, using paints with lower amount of volatile organic chemicals. b) the economic perspective for starbucks corporation A broader concept of economic sustainability would include the company’s attitude towards and impacts upon economic framework. Starbucks Corporation responsibly grows coffee and launching its Fair Trade Coffee has undeniably made a significant contribution to their family farmers through rapidly growing FTC coffee volume. Starbucks has established support centers for the farmers in Rwanda and Costa Rica to provide them with necessary resources and expertise to help lower the cost of production, reduce fungus infections, improve coffee quality and increase the production of premium coffee. During the growing and harvest cycles, many farmers find it difficult to cover the expenses prompting them to sell their crops for less to the local buyers. To avoid such situation, starbucks provides funding to the organization that make loans to the coffee growers which will sell their crops at the best time to get the right price. It will also help the farmers to invest in the farms and make capital improvements. Starbucks coffee and cocoa buying is designed to long-term supply of high-quality, ethically sourced cocoa and coffee while contributing positively to the environment and to cocoa-farming communities. Starbucks argues that it pays above market prices for all of its coffee. According to the company, in 2004 it paid on average $1.42 per pound ($2.64 kg) for high-quality coffee beans. This is in comparison to commodity prices which were as low as $0.50–$0.60 in 2003–04. c) the social perspective for Starbucks corporation The key issue in social perspective on sustainability is that of social justice. Starbucks Corporation is involved in communities’ services bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference in people’s lives. Engaging young people to identify and address the needs of their community. Young people also receive advocacy ,training, financial help and other resources for their efforts. This is done by providing monetary aid and establishing relationship with International Youth foundation and Youth Venture. Starbucks is also involved in combating HIV/Aids to coffee growing community in Africa. Starbucks began selling RED goods in November 2008, enabling the supply of AIDS medicine for 3800 people for a year. The Starbucks Foundation has served the society for many years providing access to clean waters to the developing countries from its brand water bottled ETHOS, fostering education in china, rebuilding the Gulf coast. Although these goals and targets are identified by the UN are essentially the responsibility of the government to achieve, some of them have direct significance for business. Finally we have identified sustainability as a crucial concept that helps to determine the goals and objectives of the business activities from ethical point of view.

Memos and Email Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Memos and Email - Essay Example We understand that this explanation will not return all the investments made to you and your family members, but in order to avoid such dramatic mistakes we are obliged to trace all such cases. Human factor was a major reason of this mistake. It blackened you rest at our hotel, and please accept my apologies for it. As the general manager of Colonnade Hotel and Resort I am responsible for all the failures of my employees and I deeply regret that professionalism absence brought such a discomfort to your family. It will be a great lesson to our hotel, and I will do my best in order to confirm that such incidents will not repeat in our hotel. In order to somehow correct our mistake I on behalf of our company invite you to return to the hotel where all necessary changes were made in order to guarantee you the most comfortable rest. We have booked one of the best rooms for you and your family in hope that this will help you to change your mind about our service. We will also provide you with a discount in 20 % for the whole period of stay. We will guarantee that your rest will be perfect till the day of check-out. I ensure you that your comfort as a priority of Colonnade Hotel and Resort will be under my close supervision this time and our staff will do its best to restore the good name of the company. We have made all necessary preparations to make sure that you holiday will be interesting and exciting, thus we have booked an additional trip for your family to the neighborhood village where you will be able to enjoy a special dinner in one of the best restaurants in the town. We hope you will accept our proposition and I assure you that you will not regret. Sometimes peoples` mistakes have unexpected but unpleasant consequences, but we value our every client and want to make sure that it will never happen again. This is to inform you that the unpleasant case with overbooking

Ethical Perspectives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Perspectives - Essay Example The analysis of Betty’s ethical dilemma’s are studied based on four different philosophical ethical perspectives. Four different types of ethical perspectives that can be applied to ethical dilemmas are utilitarian, deontology, relativism and virtue. Each of these four ethical theories visualizes the application of ethical judgment based on completely different assumptions. The deontology ethical perspective says that goodness resides in making decisions that recognize and keep moral obligations such that the actual consequences of the action are a secondary concern (Maricopa). As a bookkeeper Betty is in a profession that places a high level of importance to ethical behavior. Managers sometimes feel a lot of pressures from shareholders and executive to deliver results fast. At times unethical bookkeepers are asked to cook up the numbers by creating false entries into the accounting system. Betty ethical profile and characters traits would not allow her to perform such an action. She is a person that believes in integrity, honor and actions that demonstrate moral excellence. By applying the deo ntology perspective view to this situation Betty would not be involved in any type of cooking up the number accounting scheme because the consequences of those actions are criminal charges, civil charges and expulsion from the profession. These consequences mean the act is unethical and would never be performed by Betty. Utilitarian ethical perspective says that actions are considered right or wrong based on their consequences and the optimal solution is the one that brings the best overall outcome (Scu, 2007). Betty’s ethical profile contradicts the utilitarian ethical perspective. Betty believes that the right choice may not appear to be the most beneficial choice, in the short-run, for the organization you have agreed to support. The right

Working with and Leading People Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Working with and Leading People - Assignment Example 80) Advertisement prior the recruitment and selection process should be made on the televisions, magazines and social media networks such as Facebook. This strategy will create awareness to the unemployed population in the country that is interested in seeking application opportunities for a job in the marketing area (Chapman & Mayers, 2015: p. 32). I would filter the applicants as per the level of knowledge and experience they have acquired in the past. The filtering is based on the experience they got in working in any office of the press. Also applicants with excellent writing skills and learned to a standard degree are the need for the selection process. Recruitments process involves identifying vacancies and opportunities in departments to create a new position so that new candidates selected in the hiring process is replaced. The examination should be conducted to find out the availability of a gap in the office of the company (Newton, Chandler, Sayer & Burke, 2015:p. 27). The irrelevant tasks need to be removed from the transferred department. Developing a position description such as formulating interview questions and evaluations, identifying duties and responsibilities is necessary. The process enables the formulation of performance objectives and goals for the organization. It is also essential for career planning and training of candidates because it presents clear differences between the level of responsibilities and competencies needed for the operation of the company. The pay information needed to be outlined to enhance the improvement of the job description. Recruitment plans help in posting requirements, placements of goals and resume banks that assist in recognizing qualified candidates. Hiring manager should find the workers within the organization who have no connection with applicants in the process. The position should be dispatched to the

Benefits of Assessment Centers for Organizations Research Paper

Benefits of Assessment Centers for Organizations - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that the commonest application of assessment is in measuring management employees’ performance, especially for interpersonal competencies. The assessment centers help determine the specific competencies in an individual employee through a series of techniques and methods that include both individual and group activities. The assessors determine an individual’s performance against other employees. Many analysts affirm that assessment centers are very effective in measurement interpersonal skills. An assessment center puts employees through work-like conditions involving individual and team activities and tests that offer the best simulation of real work situations for monitoring and measurement of key competencies. Assessment centers are critical in determining the competency of employees. Competency is a broad term referring to a set of skills, knowledge, individual behaviors and how they auger with the job specification of th e employee under consideration. The interplay of factors in every employee is critical for the overall success of the organization. In addition, assessment centers help organizations to determine the most important skillsets for the organization with regard to the management. For instance, an employee’s willingness to delegate, works in a team, take risks, and take personal initiative. Assessment centers are also great in selecting employees who can provide the best performance for particular jobs. The organization can therefore choose employees for jobs that are most fitting and improve the organizational performance. An assessment center also aids in developing and identifying fresh potential for the organization’s top supervisory jobs (Boehm, 1982), particularly in cases where other methods fail, given its superior ability to reveal an employee’s interpersonal skills. Finally, an assessment center helps identify competencies needing further development and co nsequently help in appraising of employees, which can help in career development. This report analyzes assessment center as an assessment tool and examines its implementation considerations for an organization. A description of the Assessment Center Approach A number of factors, which articulate its goal, underlie the assessment center approach to measuring organizational performance. For an organization to implement an effective assessment center, it needs to identify the competencies necessary for its future employees (Rupp & Reynolds, 2009). In addition, the management has to come up with means to determine the competencies that the current employees possess. Finally, one of the most vital phases in the overall design of the assessment center is the identification of competencies gap, and the eventual process of developing means of bridging this gap. By identifying gaps in an individual’s set of competencies, the organization can help nurture these skills in employees to i mprove their performance, for instance with regard to knowledge and skills. Implementing an Assessment Center for the Organization A number of factors come into play before an organization can effectively implement an assessment center. First, the organization has to find appropriate and experienced raters to conduct the assessment. According to Coffee (2005), in the industrial settings, 3 to 6 assessors assess 6 to 12 candidates over a period of 3 days. Secondly, the organization has to identify an all-encompassing set of assessment techniques, which ensure that the assessment goes on successfully and comprehensively covers all areas of relevance in the study. Normally, the assessment methods are either written or oral. The written exercises include in-basket

Court system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Court system - Essay Example According to the article, it is even possible for Casey to be set free if Judge Belvin Perry rules that Casey could serve the years concurrently. The article also gave a brief background on the details of the trial. It also discussed the varied reactions on the verdict from the people inside and outside the courtroom. I think that the writers of the article presented the facts of the case in a fair and unbiased manner. They gave both sides of the case in an objective manner. However, there was one part of the article where I doubted their being fair, specifically in page 2. The title given to that part of the article is â€Å"Casey Anthony’s Shocking Verdict† (Hopper, Friedman and De Nies 2). I think that the word â€Å"shocking† implied that the authors expected a guilty verdict. I myself am not in agreement with the â€Å"not guilty† verdict given by the jury. I felt that there was enough evidence to convict Casey for the gruesome murder of her daughter. The question left unanswered by the article is whether an appeal could still be made by the prosecutors.

Personal Development Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Personal Development Plan - Essay Example This personal development plan is intended to help me: To become more effective, confident and independent In identifying my strengths and weaknesses To improve my skills To develop a positive attitude towards learning SELF-ANALYSIS AND CRITICS From time to time I was provided with many different opportunities to develop my skills and abilities, which I did. If I compare my past and present self, I would definitely say that with the passage of time my performances, communication skills, research skills, and reading skills have greatly improved. Moreover, I can say that I have become a more professional individual than in the past. The key to my success has been teamwork and confidence. With both these factors on my side, I have a long way to go in the future. These skills have allowed me to be more friendly and interactive with others. With the radical improvement in my communication skills, I have been able to interact effectively with my group members and teachers during seminars a nd lectures. This communication skill has also helped me in dealing with different individuals throughout my educational career and has enabled me to share my views and opinions with others and to understand other’s perspective as well.   With continuous academic reading, I have also been able to improve my reading skills. In the past, I have some serious issues in reading but with a positive attitude to learn and gain more knowledge, I have to keep on reading articles, novels, newspapers, comic books, and researches and this has certainly helped me in improving my skills. Whenever I encountered a word that I was not aware of, I did not hesitate to ask others about it. This helped me a lot to improve my particular reading skills. The same I used to do with different concepts, I have never been afraid of asking from my colleagues or even my teachers. This has really helped me in making a better learner.  

An Efficient Manner in the Organization Case Study

An Efficient Manner in the Organization - Case Study Example From this discussion it is clear that  financial data in a company is of much consequence. In order to ensure accurate financial data collection and its correct use, the company must make sure that the IT function and Finance team collaborate and use the expertise of one another for better data and analysis. Both teams must be on the same page.  This study declares that another important aspect is to make it simple and understandable to the extent that all stakeholders of a particular kind of data know what to do with it; however, it should not be broken down so much that it loses the essence of its purpose. For this reason, metrics are very important. It is extremely important to note what is measured. Off the mark measures will waste time and money, force people into performing on wrong parameters, all rendering the collected data unusable. To give meaning to any meaningless collection of data and convert it into useful and interpretable information, it is imperative that key t ools and techniques are in place which a) collect the right kind and data and b) make the conversion into useful information easy.  The very first step in this process is to assess whether the data collected is important in the first place. Was the purpose of collecting data to answer an important business question such as sales figures, costing information, employee satisfaction, etc.?  To have efficiency in the overall system, it is important that the data collected is for a reason.

Assessment of an enterprise-level business system Essay

Assessment of an enterprise-level business system - Essay Example At the end this write up would set forth the criteria for establishing the acceptability or otherwise of the business process mapping tools and suggest any improved tools. In fact all this considerations can be answered in the concept of business process reengineering. It was in the early 1990s that many US corporations, and subsequently companies all over the world, began to adopt the concept of business process reengineering (BPR) to obtain long lost competitiveness that they had lost during the previous decade. The primary feature of BPR is the sole focus on business processes, rather than functional organizational structures. Davenport (1993) defines a (business) process as "a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market. It implies a strong emphasis on how work is done within an organization, in contrast to a product focus's emphasis on what. A process is thus a specific ordering of work activities across time and space, with a beginning and an end, and clearly defined inputs and outputs: a structure for action. ... Taking a process approach implies adopting the customer's point of view. Processes are the structure by which an organization does what is necessary to produce value for its customers." 1 Hammer & Champy's (1993) definition can be considered as a subset of Davenport's. They define a process as "a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer." Whereas Johansson et. al. (1993) defines a process as, "a set of linked activities that take an input and transform it to create an output. Ideally, the transformation that occurs in the process should add value to the input and create an output that is more useful and effective to the recipient either upstream or downstream." This definitions lead us to chief feature of a business process viz. Definability, Order, Customer, Value adding, Embeddedness and Cross functionality. In order to gain an understanding of the various processes involved in the organization which completes its business system information pertaining to above features of the business processes needs to be collected. There can be essentially two approaches to collection of such data-one , the primary data collection and, two, the secondary data collection. With in these approaches primary data could be collected through face to face interviews with key personnel responsible for such processes and a broader based questionnaire approach can be used for the operative employees. Secondary data sources can be rich and can range from industry publications to in-house examination of manuals, sales and marketing registers, financial accounts, accounting vouchers to Board minutes to minutes of the various committees of the Board and other executive committees. 2 The process of business process mapping can follow two approaches. Davenport and Short (1990) have identified two basic methods for process identification, which they termed "targeted" and "comprehensive" methods. Targeted methods take their starting point in the identification of a relatively small number of processes being critical to the business, which are

Strength And Weakness Essay Example for Free

Strength And Weakness Essay Klick and Tabarrok use changes in the terror alert levels in Washington to infer a variation in police deployment, and provide an estimate of the police crime elasticity as -0.3 which is similar to the results got by Levittï ¼Ë†1997ï ¼â€°Ã¯ ¼Å' Di Tella and Schargrodsk (2004) and Draca et al.(2008). Although Di Tella and Schargrodsk is creative by using a terrorist bomb which lead to police deployment and get statistically significant result, one concern here is that a single shock does not generally allow a researcher to use critical values from standard asymptotic theory to judge the statistical significance of observing a given test statistic. However, Klick and Tabarrok use terror alert level which varies four times in the period, and it reduces the possibility of spurious correlation. Furthermore, they use the daily data and the treatment window is short, so their results are less likely to be due to changes in other factor. Comparing the earlier studies like Levitt(2002), Kovandzic and Sloan(2002), Corman and Mocan(2005) which use observational study, Klick and Tabarrok use natural experiment that usually allow firmer causal conclusions to be drawn than observational studies, so they provide better evidence for a general link between police number and crime rates. Klick and Tabarrok also find no deterrence effect for homicide while Levitt found the largest deterrence effect for homicides in earlier studies, this is notable. Read more:  Strengths and Weaknesses Essay One significant shortcoming of Klick and Tabarrok research is its reliance on single jurisdiction. Although strong designs require this and it can provide a better identification, there is a concern about external validity. For example, Klick and Tabarrok reveals a statistically significant result applying the data from one single city Washington DC, but it is unclear whether this effect observed in Washington DC could be expected in other cities. In particular, this research does not provide any evident about the actual variation in terms of the police number and it does not examine how police are allocated to reduce crime. Therefore, use of this design in other  cities and more detailed information on police allocation has the potential to increase confidence in these results substantially. This research uses IV method, so a possibly excessive faith in instrumental variable can really be a problem. Robustness of the IV used is far from proven, which means that issues of endogeneity may not have been fully dealt with as the author claim. In this case, the change in transport usage pattern and the police effort can really affect criminal rate. As Draca, Machin and Witt(2009) explain, the indirect effect from adopting IV may rely on two displacement: spatial displacement and temporal displacement. But Klick and Tabarrok does not involve it. Reference: Draca, M., Machin, S. and Witt, R. (2008) Panic on the Streets of London: Police, Crime and the July 2005 Terror Attacks. CEP Discussion Paper no. 852. Levitt, S.D. (1997) Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime, The American Economic Review 87(3): 270-290 Levitt, S.D. (2002) Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime: Reply, The American Economic Review 92(4): 1244-1250. Di Tella, R. and Schargrodsky, E. (2004) Do Police Reduce Crime? Estimates Using the Allocation of Police Forces after a Terrorist Attack, The American Economic Review 94(1): 115-133.

Shear Bond Strength of Nanocomposite Resin

Shear Bond Strength of Nanocomposite Resin ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To compare the shear bond strength of nanocomposite resin to superficial dentin and deep dentin using two different dentin bonding systems. METHOD All teeth were sectioned at various levels (Superficial Dentin: Dentin within 0.5-1 mm of DEJ; Deep Dentin: Dentin within 0.5 mm of the highest pulp horn) using a carborundum Disc and embedded in acrylic block of specific size. Selected specimens (60 premolar teeth) were grouped randomly into three groups, the groups were differentiated into superficial dentin, deep dentin and control group which were further divided into sub group a and subgroup b containing 10 teeth each, depending on the bonding agents used. In subgroup A, Tetric-n-bond, and in subgroup B Single bond universal was used. In the control group no bonding agent was used. The specimens were thermocycled for 500 cycles between 5 degree c and 55 degree c water bath for 40 seconds. Finally the specimens were subjected to shear bond strength study under INSTRON machine (UNIVERSAL TESTING MACHINE). The maximum shear bond strengths were noted at the time of fracture (de-bonding) of the restorative material. Results were analysed using ANOVA test, Bonferroni test and paired t test. RESULTS Bond strength values of fifth generation bonding system (Tetric n bond) showed higher mean shear bond strength compared to seventh generation bonding system (single bond universal). There was a significant fall in bond strength values as one reaches deeper levels of dentin from superficial to deep dentin. CONCLUSION- There was a significant difference between the bond strength of fifth generation bonding system (Tetric n bond) and seventh generation bonding system (single bond universal).Decrease in the bond strength values is seen for deeper level of dentin as compared to superficial dentin. INTRODUCTION The success of any dental restoration is based on the high adhesive property of the material. Various materials are available which utilizes this adhesive property such as, glass ionomer cement restoration, composite restorations and pit and fissure sealants. Among these composite resins have been developed since few years in order to provide the best esthetics to the anterior restorations as well as for posterior restorations. Dental adhesive systems are agents used to promote adhesion between composite resin and dental structure, and they should present similar performance on enamel and dentine. Bonding to enamel and dentin has been known to be clinically reliable with the advent of acid etching technique. It differs from enamel, as it has more organic contents, presence of fluid inside the dentinal tubules, smear layer and inherent wetness on the surface[1]. Dentin has been characterized as a biologic composite of a collagen matrix filled with sub-micron to nanometer sized calcium deficient carbonate rich apatite crystallites dispersed between hyper mineralized collagen poor hollow cylinders. It is very well understood that the density of dentinal tubules varies with dentinal depth and as well as the water content of dentin is lowest in superficial dentin and highest in deep dentin. In superficial dentin which contains fewer tubules and the permeation of resin into intertubular dentin will be responsible for most of the bond strength. In deep dentin, dentinal tubules are more in number and hence, intratubular permeability of resins will be responsible for higher bond strength. Two major simplified bonding approaches have been developed namely. Total etch technique –involves the simultaneously removal of the smear layer from both enamel and dentin surface followed by the application of one bottle agent that combines the primer and adhesive in one solution. Self-etching technique – their bonding mechanism is based upon the simultaneous etching, priming and adhesive of the dentin surface in a single bottle[2]. Bonding to enamel was achieved earlier and easier (Buonocore,1955) because enamel is mostly composed of hydroxyapatite crystals. Although it is possible to obtain predictable and reliable adhesion to enamel, adhesion to dentin, which is the largest part of the tooth, has proved to be more challenging because of its heterogeneous nature. The mechanism of dentin adhesion, enhanced by hybrid layer formation between the resin and dentin, was proposed by Nakabayashi (1982). The adequate hybrid layer formation is believed to be essential to create a strong and durable bond between resin and dentin. Adhesive restorations have been widely accepted for both anterior and posterior use in restorative dentistry. Patient’s demands for esthetic restorations have caused a recent increase in the use of tooth colored restorative materials. To achieve clinical success with such restorations, good adhesion between restorative materials and tooth substrates is of crucial importance in order to ensure good marginal sealing, reinforcement of the tooth structure, and longer life of the restoration. During the last two decades, a variety of adhesive systems have been continuously developed in order to produce good adhesion to dental substrates. These great advances in the adhesive dentistry have changed the concepts of cavity preparation based on the principals proposed by GV Black (1955) into more conservative and minimally invasive ones. The current self-etching adhesives provide monomer formulation for simultaneous conditioning and priming of both enamel and dentin. As of today less research are available to indicate the effectiveness of new generation self-etching primers against superficial and deep dentin. Shear bond strength measurements are commonly used to evaluate effectiveness of dentin bonding systems. The aim of the study was to evaluate the Shear Bond Strength of the newer bonding systems on superficial dentine and deep dentin. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The present in- vitro study was conducted in the department of conservative dentistry and endodontic, M.R.Ambedkar Dental College and Hospital, Bangalore. Sixty intact human maxillary pre molar teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons were collected from Oral and Maxillo-Facial Department at M.R.Ambedkar Dental College Hospital. The teeth were stored, disinfected and handled as per the recommendations and guidelines laid down by OSHA and CDC. Teeth selected were randomly divided into three groups of twenty teeth each. Group A, Group B and Control group. Group A and B were further subdivided into Subgroup A Subgroup B, of ten each. All teeth were sectioned at various levels using a Carborundum Disc under copious water and embedded in acrylic block of specific size. Group I: Superficial Dentin – 20 specimens Sub group A – Superficial Dentin (Tetric N Bond) 10 specimens Sub group B – Superficial Dentin (Single Bond Universal) 10 specimens Group II: Deep Dentin – 20 specimens Sub group A – Deep Dentin (Tetric N Bond) 10 specimens Sub group B – Deep Dentin (Single Bond Universal) 10 specimens Group III: Control Group – 20 specimens Sub group A – Superficial Dentin 10 specimens Sub group B – Deep Dentin 10 specimens The occlusal surfaces of teeth were ground on a water-cooled trimming wheel to prepare flat dentin surfaces. Group 1 (Superficial Dentin) Subgroup A All the specimens were etched on the prepared dentinal flat surface with (N Etch), and washed. The surface was blotted with gauze to produce a visible moist dentin surface. The total-etching adhesive (Tetric N Bond) was applied on the prepared dentinal flat surface left undisturbed for 20 seconds and the excess solvent was removed with a gentle stream of air. Light curing was done for 40 seconds with a visible light curing unit. After curing the bonding agent, nanocomposite resin (Tetric N Ceram) was placed on the prepared dentinal surface using Teflon mold and cured according to manufacturers instructions. The same procedure was carried out on the 10 specimens in this group. Subgroup B The self-etching adhesive (single bond universal) was applied on the prepared dentinal flat surface left undisturbed for 20 seconds and the excess solvent was removed with a gentle stream of air. Light curing was done for 40 seconds with a visible light curing unit. After curing the bonding agent, nanocomposite resin was placed on the prepared dentinal surface using Teflon mold and cured according to manufacturers instructions. The same procedure was carried out on the 10 specimens in this group. Group II (Deep Dentin) Subgroup A The same procedure as carried out in the group I, subgroup A is carried out on all specimens in this group. Sub group B The same procedure as carried out in the group I, subgroup B is carried out on all specimens in this group. Group III (Control Group) No bonding agent was applied. Nanocomposite resin was placed and cured according to manufacturers instructions. Specimens were then stored under room temperature for 48 hours. The specimens were then thermocycled for 500 cycles between 50 c and 550 c water bath. A dwell time of 40 seconds were used for each bath. All the sixty specimens were transferred to the Instron testing machine individually and subjected to shear bond strength test. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The statistical data derived from the four subgroups were analysed using ANOVA test, Bonferroni test and paired t test . RESULTS: For superficial dentin Higher mean shear bond strength was recorded in Fifth generation bonding system followed by seventh generation bonding system and control respectively. The difference in mean shear bond strength between the groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Deep dentin Higher mean shear bond strength was recorded in fifth generation bonding agent followed by seventh generation bonding agent and Control respectively. The difference in mean shear bond strength between the groups was found to be statistically significant (P The difference in bond strength using fifth generation bonding agent in superficial dentin and deep dentin was not statically significant. (P>0.05). The difference in bond strength using seventh generation bonding agent in superficial and deep dentin was statically significant. (P DISCUSSION Adhesion to acid etched enamel was proposed by Buonocore in 1955. Bond strength to enamel or dentin is an important indicator of an adhesive system’s effectiveness. The bonding layer must not only support composite shrinkage stress, but also occlusal loads in stress bearing area to avoid gap formation leading to micro leakage, secondary caries and post operative sensitivity[3]. Bond strength testing and measurement of marginal – sealing effectiveness are the two most commonly employed methodologies to determine bonding effectiveness in the laboratory in predicting clinical performance. Dentin is a dynamic tissue. It represents a challenge to resin based adhesives while the bond strength of enamel has been studied extensively, bonding to dentin with the generation of bonding systems has remain unsolved. The dentin substrate has been characterized as a biologic composite of collagen matrix filled with apatite crystals dispersed between parallel micrometer sized hypermineralized collagenpoor dentinal tubules containing peritubular dentin. The composition of dentin substrate is made up of 50 % minerals, 20% of water and 30% of organic matrix. But as the dentin deepens this composition may change accordingly. This is due to the fact that the superficial dentin has few tubules and is composed predominantly of intertubular dentin. Deep dentin is composed mainly of larger funnel shaped dentinal tubules with much less intertubular dentin[4]. The intertubular dentin plays an important role during hybrid layer formation in superficial dentin and the contribution to resin retention is proportional to the intertubular dentin available for bonding[5]. Adhesive dentistry is based on the development of materials which establish an effective bond with the tooth tissues. Successful adhesive bonding depends on the chemistry of adhesive, on appropriate clinical handling of the material as well as on the knowledge of the morphological changes caused on the dental tissue by different bonding procedures[6]. The rationale behind the bond strength testing is that higher the actual bonding capacity of an adhesive, the better it will withstand such stresses and longer the restorations will survive in vivo. Bond strength testing is relatively easy and fast and remains most popular methodology for measuring the bonding effectiveness of adhesive systems[7]. The results of the present study revealed that superficial dentin presented bond strength values that were statistically higher and different from values obtained in dentin at deep level. Tagami J et al (1990) attributed this either to differences in chemical composition or regional differences in wetness (dentin permeability). Thus there are several factors that may contribute to high coefficient of variation that is often reported in dentin shear bond strength studies. Several earlier reports indicate that the bond strength of resin is highest on superficial dentin and lowest in deep dentin[8]. Suzuki T et al (1988) studied the efficacy of dentin bonding systems based on the site of dentin with reference to the observation of Causton et al that bond strengths to deep dentin were considerably lower than those to superficial dentin. The present study has confirmed the observation of Causton et al that the efficacy of dentin adhesives depends upon the dentin surface from superficial to deep dentin in the tooth tested[8]. Different from etch and rinse adhesives, self-etch adhesives do not require a separate etching step as they contain acidic monomers that simultaneously condition and prime the dental substrate. Consequently, this approach has been claimed to be user friendlier and less technique sensitive, thereby resulting in a reliable clinical performance. Self-etch adhesives are user friendly because of shorter application time and less steps and less technique sensitive because of no wet bonding but simple drying. Comparatively with the self-etch adhesives there is lower incidence of post-operative sensitivity experienced by the patient. This should to a great extent be attributed to the less aggressive and thus more superficial interaction with the dentin leaving tubules largely obstructed with smear layer[9]. This study is in consensus with Suzuki et al, with regard to, higher bond strength at all levels of dentin with TETRIC N BOND which belongs to the-etch and rinse approach. Pegadu Rafeal et al (2010)[4]compared the effect of different bonding strategies on adhesion to deep and superficial dentin and concluded that bond strength obtained in superficial dentin was significantly higher than that in deep dentin for all adhesives tested. They further concluded that the bond strengths of dentin bonding agents at any depth is dependent on the area occupied by resin tags, the area of intertubular dentin that is infiltrated by the resin and the area of surface adhesion. In the present study, comparison (paired t test) among the tetric n bond group, higher mean bond strength was recorded at the superficial dentin level than deep dentin. And comparison (paired t test) among the single bond universal group higher bond strength was recorded at the superficial dentin level than deep dentin. Van Meerbeek et al (2011) [9] recommended that for further optimization of the self-etch approach, synthesis of functional monomers tailored to exhibit good chemical bonding potential following a mild self-etch approach. The approach appears to guarantee the most durable bonding performance at dentin provided that it deals adequately with the debris smeared across the surface by the bur. Micromechanical interlocking is still the best strategy to bond to enamel. Selective phosphoric acid etching of enamel cavity margins is therefore today highly recommended followed by applying a self-etch procedure to both the earlier etched enamel and un-etched dentin. Such mild self-etch adhesives should contain functional monomers with a high chemical affinity to hydroxyapatite. CONCLUSION: At superficial dentin level higher mean shear bond strength was recorded in Fifth generation bonding system followed by Seventh generation bonding system and control group respectively. The difference in mean shear bond strength between the groups was not statistically significant (P>0.05). At deep dentin level, higher mean shear bond strength was recorded in Fifth generation bonding system followed by Seventh generation bonding system and control group respectively. The difference in mean shear bond strength between the groups was found to be statistically significant (P At deep dentin level, statistically significant results were obtained with the Fifth generation (Tetric N Bond) bonding system which had higher mean shear bond strength values compared to the Seventh generation self-etch bonding system (Single Bond Universal). There was a statistically significant difference in shear bond strength values with Fifth generation bonding system and control group ( without bonding system) at deep dentin. There was a significant fall in bond strength values as one reaches deeper levels from Superficial dentin to Deep dentin.

The American Corrections System Criminology Essay

The American Corrections System Criminology Essay In the organizational structure of the American Correctional System, the Department of justice has the overall mandate of overseeing the operations of the whole system. The next in rank is the governor who supervises the correctional facilitys activities. Four directors supervise legislative affairs, quality assurance, public communications, information, and the medical docket. From the directors is the support administration that oversees matters regarding community development, field operations, correctional facilities administration and operations support administration. Under these administrators, there are officers who deal with parole, operations, research and the planning of human resources. These officers also deal with issues regarding money, security, health care and the general welfare of inmates. Correctional management has a wide range of issues and implementations in Americas criminal justice system. The initial and principal part of correctional management involves issues concerning the safety and security of offenders and its staff. In General, the management within these institutions has to declare what it deems to be safe versus what is not. Formulation of rules and policies occurs every other time an ugly incident occurs, immediately changing existing policies. Correctional administration may put into operation policies that may make the survival of inmates to be almost unbearable. Another element of correctional administration is health care, which at times can be very controversial and pose many compilations. Within a prison setting, officers have the responsibility of ensuring that all offenders receive proper medical attention. Some prisons around the country have their own medical facilities as others get charged fees to take their prisoners to a hospital. One of the most important concerns of correctional administration is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a broad subject that faces rehabilitating habitual offenders, drug users as well as other offenders with mental issues. Correctional institutions in collaboration operate these rehabilitation programs with the professional assistance of doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and other additional medical staff. Everyday, different issues arise within the correctional system, but it is how and where the correctional administration either implements new programs, makes changes to correct controversial issue s or plans to do that matters. Correctional units operate independently with their own administration, budget, committees, assets and support staff. Education and work programs are the two most widely used prison-based forms of correctional programs in American prisons for both adult and juvenile offenders (Ira J. Silverman, 1996). These programs include academic education, vocational counseling, vocational training, substance abuse counseling, organized recreation, mental health counseling, positive peer culture and sex offender treatment. Undoubtedly, the dominance of these treatment programs reveal the steadfast belief that work and educational skills-and the good behavior learned in attaining these skills-are essential to get employment opportunities and also being an industrious citizen. These programs do have a reserved impact in the reduction of post release recidivism according to research carried out Inmates also have access to other forms of education like life-skills training. Prisons maintain these educational programs in the belief that upon release to society, many offenders may not have the sort of basic understanding that is essential to functioning in the American society. Thus, these courses teach diverse skills on how to manage ones finances and property, how to apply and interview for a job, good parenting, securing a drivers license and how to live healthy lives. As a final move in preparing inmates for employment after release from correctional facilities, several prisons offer vocational education. Besides these educational programs that attempt to equip inmates with the necessary skills to live productively in society, other correctional facilities institute counseling/psychological programs aimed at changing the underlying problems that led to the offenders criminality. The most common interventions under this system are drug abuse programs, since according to the records, as many as half of all incarcerated criminals enter prison having at least done drugs a few months prior to their arrest. About half of the prison inmates in both state and federal prisons confess to being on drugs at the time of their crime, for which they were consequently jailed (Maguire, Pastore, Greenfield, 2005). Other institutions have some programs called therapeutic communities-in which they house drug-addicted inmates in separate housing units-referred to as Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, which provides drug treatment to such inmates in the separate units. While in other facilities, inmat es participate in individual or group counseling sessions, but happen to live in the general offender population. Correctional facilities normally provide individual and group counseling, aimed at luring inmates into forfeiting their criminal lifestyle. Cognitive-behavioral treatment modality, a technique of growing appeal is widely used due to its growing support for its successes (David Lester, 2009). Despite coming in different forms, these treatment plans target the criminal attitudes and unlawful ways of thinking which encourage unlawful behavior. This intervention involves counselors acting as role models in an effort to reinforce inmates who portray such conduct. Juveniles get privileges for conforming to set standards. Counselors mainly focus on the aspect of offenders thinking and reasoning by challenging rationalizations encouraging criminal conduct, offenders antisocial behavior, failure to face the mistakes they have committed and trying to externalize blame (D.A. Andrews, 2007). Other groups of inmates who get special services in prison are sex and mentally ill offenders. Commonly, sex offenders receive counseling services at both the individual and group levels. Other special services for sex offenders are diagnostic centers and use of therapeutic communities. While for the mentally ill offenders most receive therapy and counseling while in prison, some are on a prescribed medication, whereas others receive treatment in mental institutions. Another form of correctional programs in these prisons is religious volunteer groups and prison chaplains whose main role is providing counseling to inmates. This type of counseling often goes beyond religious matters and to other issues in the offenders lives. There are various types of faith-based programs found within almost every correctional institution. These support and religious programs involve prayer and meditation sessions, Bible study, worship services and peer mentors (Cullen, 2001). As a common practice, management of inmates is through unit management and direct supervision. These methods create a more secure and safer environment for the staff and inmates, by offering proactive monitoring and built-in surveillance. Unit management divides a correctional facility into smaller and easily manageable housing units. Responsibility and authority is decentralized, which provides the staff with an opportunity to solve directly problems. Correctional officers follow the Corrections Corporation of America philosophy of walking and talking, which involves the officers spending time with and among the inmates, rather than distantly monitoring them or occasionally watching their housing units listening to their needs and making a follow up on inmates concerns so as to quell incidents and disputes before they arise. Through unit management, the facilitys staff becomes aware of collective and individual inmate behavior owing to the direct contact and interaction with the in mates. The officers get to identify behavioral changes among the inmates long before they negatively affect the facilitys security. Use of unit management enables officers to get first-hand insight on inmate activities, ensuring effective monitoring of inmates. Alongside unit management, correctional facilities also use direct supervision to manage inmates with correctional officers housed within the inmate housing units. This enables them to become familiar with a units inmates and their daily operations, communication styles they use and other relevant issues regarding inmates housed there. These officers set and reinforce expectations for inmate behavior and instantly address arising issues at the forefront level. This direct interaction between inmates and officers promotes communication, reduces tension and suppresses possible conflicts between the two groups. Direct supervision Fosters staff collaboration, as unit managers, correctional officers, correctional counselors and case managers handle everyday matters concerning safety and security, inmate cases and sanitation, which helps in streamlining operations in the facilities. When used together, direct supervision and unit management offer important opportunities to create a safer, more secure inmate environment, enhancing facility operations and in providing employees with expanded operational tasks. Inmates and staff interact on a more dependable basis, which enhances effective communication between the two groups. The modern private prison business emerged when the Corrections Corporation of America got a contract to take over a facility in Tennessee. This was the first time that any government had outsourced the complete operation of a prison to a private operator. As of today, private companies in the United States run 264 correctional centres, housing almost 100,000 adult criminals. Prison privatization has several advantages, which have led to the immense growth of private prisons. Private prisons as compared to state prisons are more responsible and accountable due to fear of fines. According to a research conducted on the cost/benefit analysis, results indicated that states could save a considerable amount of cash if they used a shared system of both publicly and privately managed prisons. By using the private sector to manage or build prisons, many states believe they can reduce operational costs. Cost comparisons between government and private operation of prisons shows notable cost savings under private administration. While the average cost to hold a prisoner in a state prison is about $40 a day per inmate, many private prisons charge the government considerably lower fees for the same. By contracting out prison labor and paying the prisoners competitive wages, many private firms are reducing prison costs for the state by withholding income earned for taxes, victims compensation and family support. Such employment also provides prisoners with skills and work experience that prepares them for the job market when released from incarceration (Tewksbury, 2006). Various states consider private construction of prisons as a promising solution to the overcrowding crisis in state prisons. Normally, states finance construction of prisons by issuing general obligation bonds or through cash appropriations. The former creates problems, as it requires voters ratification and control by debt limits, while the latter completely lays the financial load of constructing on the states annual budget. The only alternative is private financing through lease agreements or lease purchasing contracts. This option does not require voter approval neither does it place the costs involved on the annual budget. Under a lease/purchase contract, private firms agree to build a prison only if the state signs a long-term lease for the prison. Prompt payments of rent by the government assist the private companies to fund the construction. When the state fully settles the payment, the debt and finance charges, it takes over control of the facility. The private firms benefit from tax waivers and cash inflow from the lease payments. The state benefits from the quick construction, as debt limit limitations do not apply and voter support is not a requirement (Tewksbury, 2006). Privatization of prisons ensures that only those service providers who offer quality products at a competitive market price will survive the operations of a free market. This aspect of privatization argues that a free market introduces efficiency and discipline through the mechanisms of demand and supply. As more criticisms towards prison privatization become evident, it is obvious that rehabilitation of prisoners is not a concern of the influential, since prisoners in private prisons act as cheap labour. The individuals who own private prisons not only make huge returns from the funds provided by the government to run these prisons, but also make great profits from selling the labour provided by their prisoners. Under the disguise of saving taxpayers money, the trend of privatising prisons has gained momentum, whereas the drawbacks of private prisons are hushed-up. Privatization of prisons is one of the countless ways in which the rich exploit people without their utter knowledge, for their own hidden motives by the public. Private prisons have brought about a huge political and sociological change that most people ignore. Living conditions in the prisons have deteriorated and it is evident that abuse of human rights is becoming rather rampant in these prisons as rising abortion rates, rape, use of psychotropic drugs and failing health care systems become known. It is obviously certain that it is in the interests of private prisons to operate for stricter legislation, so that prisoners stay incarcerated for as long as possible. In addition, it is in their interest that the number of prisoners continues to increase significantly, since the more prisoners there are within these prisons, the more profits they earn. Conversely, health care personnel are losing jobs in privately owned prisons, as the number of health care workers engaged by private prisons is considerably low. The influential individuals take advantage of the over populated state operated prisons to make profits from the privately run prisons. The health care facilities in private prisons are extremely bad, a situation which has led to a dramatic increase in the death rate of prisoners. In a number of private prisons, only basic first aid facilities and over the counter drugs are available to prisoners. Owing to the lack of proper medical attention, countless prisoners have resulted to committing suicide. It is the duty of the state to make sure that there is adequate health care offered to prisoners. In fact, the state pays private prisons for basic healthcare cost to cater for every prisoner. However, this money used by the private prisons owners for their own interests. Actually, the disadvantages of prison privatization outwe igh the advantages by far.

Intellectual Property and Copyrights Issues in China Essay -- Software

Intellectual Property and Copyrights Issues in China 1. Introduction China had made great improvement in deregulation and had complied with its obligations to follow rules and agreements such as Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as a new member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2001. TRIPS introduced intellectual property rules into the multilateral trading system. It ensures that computer programs will be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention and outlines how databases should be protected under copyright section. As the rush to riches continues to gain pace, people's legal right to own private property is protected by a law. However, Intellectual property and copyrights still remained inadequate to control over its booming internet population in China. Before we get into copyright status in China and ethical issues, clarification of terminology will help us to understand copyrights issues in software and differentiated other issues involving intellectual properties. 1) Classification of software  ·Commercial  ·Shareware  ·Freeware  ·Public Domain In terms of restrictions and limitations, each classification is different. Commercial software can be purchased from software publishers, computer stores, etc. When you buy software, you acquire a license from the company that owns the copyright to use it not own it. Although one archival copy of the software can be made, the backup copy cannot be used except when the original package fails or is destroyed. Shareware has same restriction as commercial software except that the copyright holders allows you to make copies of the software, but you must pay if you adopt it for use after testin... ...ies put effort to enhance confidence of foreign investors to protect intellectual property rights and recognizes illegal piracy actions. 5. References 1)Mark Alfino, Intellectual Property and Copyright Ethics, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, Vol.10 No.85, p 85-109 http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/dossier/Papers/COPYRIGH.htm 2)Wang Xiaodong, Editor, Strategy and Management, China and the World (Zhongguo yu shijie), November 1999 http://www.uscc.gov/researchreports/2000_2003/pdfs/itisri.pdf 3)Tech Support at University of Chicago, Using Software, February 1995 http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs3604/lib/WorldCodes/EDUCOM.software.html 4)World Trade Organization, http://www.wto.org/ 5)BBC NEWS, http://www.bbc.com/ 6)Bill Thomson, From code war to Cold War, BBC NEWS, March 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/l/hi/technology/3537165.stm

Lord of the Flies :: essays papers

Lord of the Flies Lord of the flies is an extremely psychologically involved novel that forces the reader to constantly think. It plays mind games and displays some frankly blunt ideas. It provokes thought by constantly alluding to the thematic side of the novel. Golding uses the island to show the evil in man, that society holds everyone together, and that man learns nothing from his mistakes. We are made to think about man himself. The boys that enter the island are perfectly normal, they are not evil or bad in any way. On the island all rules of society are removed and in many of the boys something starts to grow. Golding tries to portray the growth of evil within the boys and uses them to suggest that possibly this evil lies in all men. Perfectly normal boys become complete savages within weeks "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!" There is no evil influence upon the island except for a "beastie" which is used by the boys as an excuse for everything, but is shown to the reader to be little more than the evil inside all of them ..."You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?". Society holds everyone together and without these conditions, ideals, and values, the basics of right and wrong are lost. Golding creates a society by using the boys to display the different characters within it. Each of the boys adopt certain characteristics and each begin to fill different roles. The society however is weak and as soon as cracks begin to appear it falls apart. He shows that if the thin 'veneer' of law and order in society is removed then the forces of evil become all too dominant. Ralph represents a sensible leader and when his influence diminishes, along with that of Piggy who represents the intelligent aspect of society, life on the island goes downhill. Without this influence of society the boys become mere savages. The boys represent the simple fact that man learns nothing from his mistakes. The boys enter an island of complete paradise "Fruit and flower grew together on the same tree and everywhere was the scent of ripeness and the booming of a million bees at pasture." They came to be here by accident whilst fleeing a world destroyed by nuclear warfare, a world that man had destroyed.

Ulysses Essay: William Blake’s Influence on Joyce’s Ulysses

William Blake’s Influence on Joyce’s Ulysses      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stephen Dedalus is a poor schoolteacher.   Poor in the sense that he lives in a one-room tower and eats nothing all day, sure, but poor mainly in the sense that he is a rotten instructor. You, Cochrane, what city sent for him? Tarentum, sir. Very good.   Well? There was a battle, sir. Very good.   Where? The boy's blank face asked the blank window. [1]      He grills his students in much the same way his first teachers drilled him; stands before them inspiring fear and boredom.   He understands the schoolroom and its small miseries.   The form is tried and true: the catechism, call and response.   Cochrane replies automatically to Stephen's barked interrogatives but his mind is elsewhere.   The window, the unknown.   Our hero Stephen's sympathies lie that way too:    Fabled by the daughters of memory.   And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it.   A phrase, then, of impatience, thud of Blake's wings of excess, I hear the ruin of all space, shattered glass and toppling masonry, and one livid final flame.   What's left us then?   (Joyce 20).    These are not the well-measured words of a history instructor.   Actually, they're largely the words of William Blake.   The "daughters of memory" figure in "A Vision of the Last Judgment", "Fable or Allegory is Form'd by the daughters of Memory." [2]  Ã‚   Stephen muses on the figure of Pyrrhus, the Tarentenian general who won a foolish victory and died a foolish death   (Gifford 30).   Write faster.   I mean it.   Fast!   The Tarentines succumbed to the Romans in the end, overcome by their greater numbers.   The Battle of Asculum drained them financially.   Hardly romantic stuff.   But Stephen imagines ... ...thetically (and with great enthusiasm). [2] This connection was made by Frank Gifford in Ulysses Annotated.   Maybe I ought to properly cite it later   (30). [3] I will deal with this later. [4] This information is basically culled from the short editor's introduction to the piece on Blake in The Critical Writings of James Joyce.   There is no credit, however.   I'll deal with this later too.   That's the kind of thing it's ok to wait until Friday to do. [5] James Joyce. "[William Blake]".   The Critical Writings of James Joyce, ed. Ellsworth Mason, Richard Ellmann.   New York: Viking Press, 1959 (221).   Hereafter cited parenthetically. [6] Maybe this has something to do with the fact that Joyce was lecturing in Italian.   Just a possibility. [7] Joyce gets most of his information on Blake's life from The Real Blake by Edwin Ellis (London, 1907).   

If Nas Ruled The World Essay

We have all fantasized about ruling the world In our free time. Whether you ruled wit an Iron fist or gave free Ice cream to your followers, everybody has rules differently. I n the song â€Å"If I Ruled The World† by Nas featuring Lauren Hill, Nas Imagines a world that ca n only be classified as â€Å"ghetto fabulous†. Although this song ideally disagrees with everything believe in, I support Nas idea of unity.The world that NAS speaks of is a place where y o can smoke weed â€Å"in the streets without the cops harassing†, â€Å"court without trial† and people e â€Å"more conscious of the way we raise our daughters†. This may sound like anarchy for the m cost part, but Nas speaks of a place like paradise for some. Nanas, formally known as Nas, was r eased in Queens, New York. This is shown evident from the song alone. Nas speaks of problem s that you would not find many other places other than the slums of New York.In the song he peaks of â€Å"W elfare†, â€Å"weed†, cocaine, â€Å"parole†, undercover cops, and the list continues. These Ideas may seem foreign, but Queens alone feels like a different world from the close by New York City. This is why I like this song. He did not attempt to speak politics or economy values when he showed us a glimpse of his hierarchy but he spoke of a world that Queens k new nothing about. Nanas spoke of a peaceful place. This song was an effective persuasive audio essay because he clearly stated his mall Idea, supported It, and reached the targeted audience.

Fashion of Roaring Twenties and the Sixties

Fashion of the Roaring Twenties and The Sixties Fashion is the style prevalent at a given time. It usually refers to costume or clothing style. Everybody has to wear clothes, making fashion a part of everyday life. The way someone dresses says a lot about his or her personality, age, culture and experience. At times of economic or social change, fashion often changed. The 1920s and the 1960s are big eras were economic and social change were happening. They are both largely known for their fashion.The 1920s was also known as the Roaring Twenties due to the period’s social, artistic, and cultural energy. The twenties were right after the end of World War One and right before the Great Depression. The era was notable for inventions and discoveries, industrial growth, increased consumer demand and significant changes in lifestyle (â€Å"roaring twenties†). During the twenties, the economy of the United States evolved from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. The Eighte enth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol in attempt to help the social problems.Passing the nineteenth amendment gave women the political equality they had been fighting for. The twenties were also known as the Jazz Age because jazz music grew in popularity. â€Å"During the 1920s jazz music flourished, the flapper redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked, and the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ended the era, as the Great Depression set in† (â€Å"roaring twenties†). The Roaring Twenties were trying to break from traditions of the Victorian way of life. Since the 1920s was a time of celebration, there were many fads.Young women’s fashion of the 1920s was both a trend and a social statement. They were labeled ‘flappers’ by the older generations. â€Å"Flapper† was a popular slang for a very young prostitute or a lively mid-teenage girl. â€Å"The image of flappers were young women who went to jazz clubs at n ight where they danced provocatively, smoked cigarettes through long holders, and dated freely, perhaps indiscriminately. They rode bicycles, drove cars, and openly drank alcohol, a defiant act in the American period of Prohibition† (â€Å"flapper†). They were seen as rude and self-assertive for their behavior. The ‘new’ woman was less invested in social service than the Progressive generations, and in tune with the capitalistic spirit of the era, she was eager to compete and to find personal fulfillment† (â€Å"roaring twenties†). Flappers as a social group were separate from other 1920s groups; their behavior was bizarre at the time. They challenged women’s traditional public roles, supporting voting and women’s rights. Some flappers weren’t into the politics. â€Å"Older suffragettes, who fought for the right for women to vote, viewed flappers as vapid and in some ways unworthy of the enfranchisement they had worked so hard to win† (â€Å"flapper†).In addition to their strange behavior, they were known for their style. Flapper style made girls look young and boyish. They had a chin-length bob hairstyle and wore straight waist dresses with a hemline above the knee. The risen hemline allowed flashing of the legs when a girl danced. They also removed the corset from female fashion. Until the 1920s, cosmetics were not accepted in American society because of its association with prostitution but flappers made cosmetics popular. High heels also came into style, 2-3 inches high.Writers and illustrators in the United States popularized the flapper look through their works, making flappers appealing and independent. Even though the flapper look and lifestyle were popular at the time, it could not last through the Wall Street Crash or the Great Depression. Another popular era for fashion was the 1960s, more commonly called The Sixties. The sixties was a movement escaping from the conservative w ays of the fifties and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and real changes in the culture of American life (Goodwin).The Civil Rights Movement played a major role of changes in society in the 1960s, starting with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1961, John F. Kennedy was elected president, becoming the youngest president to ever hold office. The Vietnam War was a major event in the 1960s that absorbed a lot of national attention. The draft took place followed by anti-war outlook. The National Organization of Women questioned the unequal treatment of women in the society. The hippie movement arose as a result of young people not content with the generation ahead of them. The sixties was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the period† (â€Å"fashion†). The sixties were the age of youth, who wanted change. The changes they were looking for affected education, values, lifestyles, laws and entertainment (Goodwin). There were so many young people in the sixties due to the post-war baby boom. The children had grown up and were becoming teenagers and young adults. These youths changed the fashion, the fads, and the politics of the decade (Goodwin).They dressed to convey rebellion. â€Å"The sixties began a decade which may well be recorded as one of the most fashion-conscious periods in recent history, challenging the 1890s and the 1920s† (â€Å"1960s fashion†). The hippie movement arose during the mid-1960s. Hippies didn’t focus on what others thought, they believed in ‘equality for all’. Hippie characteristics comprised of listening to rock, accepting sexual revolution and the use of drugs such as marijuana and LSD to explore alternative states of consciousness (â€Å"hippie†).Hippies were pacifists, the belief that any violence is unjustifiable, under any circumstances, and that all arguments should be settled by peaceful meanings. They participated civil ri ghts marches and anti-Vietnam War protests. â€Å"The late 1960 produced a style categorized of people whom promoted sexual liberation and favored a type of politics reflecting ‘peace, love and freedom’† (â€Å"fashion†). By 1965, hippies had become an established social group in the United States. By 1968, the hippie look was in style. Hippie’s way of dress and grooming was one way of expressing their thought of independence.Both genders wore bell-bottomed jeans, tie-dyed shirts, headbands and sandals. Women often went barefoot and braless. Teenage girls often wore fringed buckskin vests, flowing long dress, Mexican peasant blouses, gypsy-style skirts, scarves, and bangles (â€Å"fashion†). Fabrics frequently consisted of animal or paisley prints. Both men and women grew their hair out long, including men’s facial hair. Further trends included love beads, peace signs, body piercing and tattoo body art. Hippies wore clothes that they f elt communicated themselves and their individualism. Hippies repelled the post war ugliness in the world and turned the attention of fashion stalwarts towards as much natural beauty as possible† (Borade). The 1920s and the 1960s style of fashion appears to be very diverse. When observing each era’s attire they portray different looks. In the twenties, they wore dark colors opposed to the sixties where they wore very bright colors and patterns. Flappers wore tight, short dresses while hippies wore loose, floor length dresses. Flappers popularized make-up, wearing very drastic blush and lipstick. Hippies wanted to be natural so they didn’t wear any make-up.Although they seemed completely different, their motives behind their eccentric fashion were the same. They were both rebelling against the norm and trying to prove their independence. Fashion is a way of expressing personality and independence. Every person has their own sense of style and they show that through the way they dress. Everyday people get dressed, choosing clothes that they like and illustrate them best. Clothes are talked about, thought about and worn daily. Each era has a different fashion that shows up in clothes, attitude, personality and behavior.

Multilateral vs bilateral diplomacy Essay

Governments need to develop international relations in different fields like security, and trade as well as to decide the option of engaging in a bilateral or multilateral basis with other countries through diplomacy. Bilateralism and multilateralism have supporters and detractors; however the multilateral approach has increased since the end of the Second World War and thanks to the globalisation that affects all the countries around the world. In this way, the international intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have become important actors in global governance, cooperating in problem-solving agreements and providing activities to face global problems. IGOs can also be independent actors. Bilateralism is considered the reflection of the distribution of powers between the parties, where the dominant country generally takes advantage, while multilateralism is viewed as relations that follow a pattern of principles. This paper will argue why countries prefer multilateral engagement through international organisations rather than bilateral one with other states. The first part of the essay will focus on the need of states to engage with others. The second part will give a broader definition of bilateralism and multilateralism, the main strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The third part will cover the different role of multilateral organisations in diplomacy. Finally, the fourth part will explain the advantages of the multilateralism that place it as the preferred engagement among countries. Some examples and case studies will be used to remark this tendency. The essay however will finish with some challenges that the multilateralism approach face in the near future. Why countries need to engage with others As the whole society, countries cannot be isolated from the world, this means that they need to develop a foreign policy of how to deal with others, negotiating their interests and solving problems that can arise with the neighbours. This process is named diplomacy (Wright 2011). Diplomacy can be on an individual basis (bilateralism) or in groups of three or more (multilateralism) where states follow principles in their relationship. Asian countries rely mainly in the first approach, meanwhile European countries prefer the second one (Wright 2011). According to the  international relations theory, states may create international law and international institutions, and may enforce the rules they codify. Nevertheless, these rules do not determine a state to act in a defined manner, but instead the underlying material interests and power relations. Institutions also may increase information about states behaviour diminishing the significant uncertainty of cooperation. Also, they can increase efficiency, reducing the transaction costs and providing a venue where states can meet as well as they provide norms, practices and decision making procedures to shape expectations and allow a quickly settle on a specific course of action. It is important to remember that states are configurations of individual and group interests that were constructed from mix of history, ideas, norms, and beliefs and that project those interests into the international system through a particular kind of government (Slaughter 2011). Bilateralism and Multilateralism ‘Bilateralism is a value-free concept, and the substance and output are likely to be driven by the relative power between the two parties and, by extension, by the interests of the stronger party’ (Wright 2011). Bilateralism could be discriminatory if the powerful state tries to get the best deal according to its interests with other states on an individual and ad hoc basis as small states depend on its markets. However, this approach could also bring benefits like the risk reduction since actions are controlled and the probability for reciprocal benefits is higher (Wright 2011). ‘Multilateralism, by contrast, organises relations between three or more states along a set of basic principles that lay out certain expectations of behaviour that all parties must agree to and abide by, including the strongest party’ (Wright 2011). The different challenges that states have faced in terms of security, peacekeeping, disease control, human rights violations, and pollu tion in the last few decades have demonstrated that these factors are complex and cannot be managed by a country or a group, no matter how powerful or effective it can be, it is a global issue (Powell 2003). Policy prescriptions of multilateral organisations seem to be intrusive in terms of state sovereignty, becoming difficult to agree and implement in most cases (Roberts 2009). Multilateralism background and International Organisations Multilateral cooperation origins can be traced a long way back through congresses and conferences, such as the Congress of Westphalia from 1644 to 1648, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Congress of Paris in 1856. In terms of committees, the first ones were set up to deal with technical matters like the Commissions to regulate the Rhine, the Danube and other rivers. In 1874, the Universal Postal Union was created after the Berne Conference to allow letters stamped and posted in one country could be transported and delivered in another. In terms of Peace, the First Hague Conference of 1899 and the Concert of Europe in from 1815 to 1914 were established. In 1919, after the First World War, the League of Nations appeared ‘to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security’. Finally, the United Nations was born in 1947 after the Second World War with wider aims open to all states (Roberts 2009, Wiseman & Basu, 2013). The international organisations can belong to universal multilateralism (United Nations – UN), regional multilateralism (European Union – EU), value-based multilateralism (North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO) or minilateralism (G20) or a mix of some approaches (Wright 2011). They have changed the representation from nation-state governments’ diplomatic to non-state diplomatic actors thank to their role of diplomacy facilitation venue (Pigman 2010). Their participation model will vary depending on their category. Universal multilateralism is open to all states without taking in account their geographic location, size or regime. The barriers of entry are relatively low but the states participation can be on one-state/one-vote basis (General Assembly of United Nations) or weighting vote in the basis of population, wealth or financial contribution (International Monetary Fund – IMF) (Wright 2011, Pigman 2010, Karns & Mingst 2013). The regional multilateralism ‘focuses on policy coordination and cooperation among states in a specific geographic region’ while the values-based multilateralism relies on their own values in terms of security, economic or human rights matters. Finally, minilateralism ‘allows a powerful state or a small group of states to convene a select group that is capable of acting in a timely manner and in a way that is proportionate to the challenge at hand’. The participation in the regional multilateralism and the minilateralism is inclusive but depending on the institution and  culture of the members can be majoritarian or consensus (Wright 2011, Pigman 2010, Karns & Mingst 2013). Multilateral engagement through international organisations International institutions (IGOs) can play a complementary role with states being the universal multilateralism ones the preferred thanks to the benefits granted to the members. States, most of the time, join the IGOs pursuing their national interests or to solve problems mainly in public goods, telecommunications, transportation among others (Karns & Mingst 2013). It is also said that IGOs can build up democracy enhancing domestic constitutional mechanisms and strengthen the principle of reciprocity among countries allowing compensations or other ameliorative actions. IGOs also concede the opportunity to diffuse general interests against special ones thanks to the public agendas, and disseminate important technical information that can be implemented and adapted according to the nations’ needs. Finally, IGOs have empowered societies protecting individual and minority rights, fostering collective deliberation or discussion and improving the participatory strands (Keohane, Macedo & Moravcsik 2009). The United Nations (UN) is the best known of the world’s universal institutions, and even when all countries are welcome, not all receive the same treatment (Wright 2011). The UN has at the moment 193 members and six principal organs: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the Secretariat, being the most important the General Assembly and the Security Council. The General Assembly allows each member state has one vote however its resolutions are non-binding in a legal sense and only motivate governments to implement them. By contrary, in the case of the Security Council, the five permanent member countries (China, France, United Kingdom, Russian Federation and United States) has the right to veto, and together the other eleven members (elected for two years from the rest of UN members) can authorise to sanction and use the force to preserve or restore peace between nations (Pigman 2010, Wiseman & Basu 2013). Even if this participatory approach could disappoint countries, the fact is that most of the members prefer the UN as their main form of Diplomacy thanks to the opportunity to present proposals, express discomfort or ask for help in specific issues. The UN, through its vast network composed by foundations, major university centres, key NGOs, UN associations, think tanks,  institutes, and prominent individuals, can seek for solutions, programs and activities (Wiseman & Basu 2013). In terms of peace negotiation and new states democracy, the UN has some successful stories as Namibia and East Timor. In the case of Namibia, in 1990, the African country of Namibia became the 160th member of the United Nations after a long process of patient and persistent efforts from the UN that could persuade South Africa to fulfil its colonial mandate in the territory. During Namibia transition, UNTAG (United Nations Transition Assistance Group); consisting of people of 124 nationalities, almost 8,000 troops, and a civilian support and local staff of almost 2,000; worked for around one year to ensure the electoral process and monitor the ceasefire between the South West Africa People’s Organization and South African forces, and the withdrawal and demobilization of all military forces in Namibia (Johnson 2010). In East Timor’s independence, the UN also played an important role to end Indonesia’s 24-year occupation. The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was established to provide an integrated, multidimensional peacekeeping operation and was fu lly responsible for the administration of East Timor until 2002 when its transition to independence was completed. The entire infrastructure required to ensure the prosperity of the new democracy was established, and it is told that the UN’s involvement in this small, remote country goes back much further – to the months after the brutal Indonesian invasion of December 1975, when a young, bearded Timorese by the name of Jose Ramos Horta pleaded at the UN Security Council for international support (Head 2012). Until now, only examples of ‘high politics’ (armed conflicts) have been given, however, the UN is also well-known for its support in ‘low politics’ (socioeconomic factors as poverty and resource scarcity) to its members (Wiseman & Basu 2013). Specialised economic agencies such as the UN Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) are in charge of much of th e work (Pigman 2010). Important proposals have been raised in these topics, and countless programmes and projects have been executed in developing countries mainly. Examples are Mongolian microfinance plans that have helped this country to pass a centrally planned  to a market-driven economy and have an average annual GDP growth rate of about 5 percent. In Bulgaria, a project named ‘Beautiful Bulgaria’ focused on vocational training for the unemployed, training to small and medium enterprises, start-up financing for small businesses, renovating tourism sites, sporting facilities and playgrounds made possible in 2007 that Bulgaria was admitted to the European Union. The Danube River flows through many Eastern European countries before reaching the Black Sea. In terms of environment, the Black Sea and the Danube River Basin programme has given measurable improvement as countries collectively identified their transboundary problem and agreed to environmental solution. For decades, the discharge of polluted water into the Danube resulted in nutrient over-enrichment in the Black Sea, affecting fish stocks, beaches and the incidence of waterborne disease. The dissolution of the Soviet Union provided an opportunity for countries in the region to launch a collaborative effort to address this issue (UNDP 2011). The UN not only gives the opportunity to deal well-known issues like the ones mentioned before, but it also provides the chance to explore new fields in Diplomacy. An example of this is the current condemnation of United States (US) espionage by Latin America and other countries that feel their sovereignty violated even when the US defends its programme as a tool to fight against terrorism (Stea, 2013). The media has played a key role in this topic pushing the US actual administration to propose changes to the National Security Agency (NSA) program as the promise that US government will no longer store the phone call information, however these ‘changes’ are not clear enough yet for the international community (Ackerman & Roberts 2014). In 2001, United States achieved the support of the UN Security Council that require d states to freeze the assets of individuals or institutions believed to be associated with terrorism (Keohne, Macedo & Moravcsik), however the panorama does not look the same for this issue. Diplomacy through UN has mainly been successful in regulating the international travel through the certification of airports by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the establishment of safety standards; ensuring that products for export meet international standards (e.g. milk, bananas, coffee, tea); ensuring that international agreements are implemented by the member states, for example, agreements relating to shared resources (i.e. animals,  rivers/lakes, logging, etc.); promoting cooperation among various countries, especially within the south (East Asia), resulting in exchange of information, scholarships, businesses, etc.; raising public awareness through international conferences, e.g. Environment (Rio), Human Settlement (Istanbul), Gender (Beijing), the plight of children (New York); promoting technical assistance in various fields to its member states in the third world; and providing shelter and relief to millions of refugees from war and persecution, as well as supporting the repatriation and resettlement of refugees and displaced persons (UNDP 2011). Finally, the UN as venue has also allowed the increase of ‘public diplomacy’ (since conferences are open to the media, therefore to an international audience), the ‘behind-the-scenes bilateral diplomacy’ (because in many cases the UN resolution approaches the parties who after bilateral negotiations solve common issues), and the ‘polylateral diplomacy’ (the relationship between the state and non-state representatives composed by NGOs working with the UN) that could be seen as a network diplomacy (Wiseman & Basu, 2013). Multilateralism Challenges Most of IGOs are labelled as ‘western’, with a strong influence of some members like United States which have unresolved historical grievances. Countries like China, that in the 2000s played a leading role in the construction of multilateral structures in Asia, concerns Washington since it considers that Beijing is using soft power to marginalise the United States. Climate change also poses a threat to all states because the major carbon emitters cannot agree to find a solution as it affects their interests. Compromise not always produces the level of cooperation required to solve a problem (Wright 2011). Nowadays, some of the challenges are referred to asymmetries in the evolving process of multiple channels and levels of diplomatic representation and interaction with the rise of such new powers as Brazil, Germany, India and South Africa. Also, the UN diplomacy is now tied to a larger and more complex diplomatic community of diplomats and non-state actors (Pigman 2010, Wiseman & Basu 2013). Another issue is related to structures. ‘The UN’s basic structure has not evolved with the changing international political climate and configurations. Most obviously, the P5 member states’ privileged status has skewed the relations  between government representatives who otherwise hold equal legal status in the international state system’ (Kerr & Wiseman 2013). To maintain the institution’s legitimacy, efficiency and its role of global governance, deep changes need to be done. Sensitive topics and decisions should be addressed in a correct way. For example, nowadays, the Syria crisis has provoked a wave of critics against the UN that have qualified the organisation as incompetent to find effective solutions to this kind of situations that harms innocent people. Another difficult topic is in terms of the nuclear weapon testing even when the nuclear non-proliferation treaty was signed by 190 nations, including five nations that admitted to owning nuclear weapons: France, England, Russia, China, and the US. The nuclear stockpiles remain high, and numerous nations continue to develop these devastating weapons, including North Korea, Israel, Pakistan, and India. These failures of compliance of the non-proliferation treaty and the inability to enforce crucial rules and regulations on offending nations have increased the criticism towards the UN effectiveness. Finally, resolutions related to sensitive topics as the human rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people may provoke the refusal of member countries that do not share this idea, and that could interpret this as an imposition from Western countries (Crary 2011) Conclusion Diplomacy through multilateral engagement represents the favourite channel of most of the countries thanks to the benefits it represents. States can get active participation in forums and raise petitions as well as to sign agreements that not only involve another state-party but even non-state actors. Technical assistance, humanitarian aid, democracy enhancement, complaints are some of the advantages of the IGO’s as venue, being the United Nations the most well-known thanks to its structure. Other IGO’s like the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO are also important as venue to deal with common issues in a universal or regional basis. However, these IGO’s, mainly the UN, also face challenges that need to be solved to continue the model in the future. The current structure of the Security Council with 5 privileged members has been pushed in the last years to change and enlarge if the UN pretends to continue be considered as ‘the centrepiece of global governanceà ¢â‚¬â„¢, effective and legitimate. The rise of the so-called BRIC  countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have made the decision making process more carefully as the shift of power in the system is undeniable. 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