Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy free essay sample

In the literature, several motives for takeovers have been identified. One is the desire for synergy. That is, similarities or complementarities between the acquiring and target firms are expected to result in the combined value of the enterprises exceeding their worth as separate firms (Collis and Montgomery, 1998). A second motive involves the expectation that acquirers can extract value because target companies have been managed inefficiently (Varaiya, 1987). A third motive is attributed to managerial hubris the notion that senior executives, in overestimating their own abilities, acquire companies they believe could be managed more profitably under their control. Agency theory motive is the anticipation that firm expansion will positively impact the compensation of top managers since there tends to be a direct relation between firm size and executive pay. Contemporary specialists contend that managerial ownership incentives may be expected to have divergent impacts on corporate strategy and firm value. This premise has been recognized in previous studies. We will write a custom essay sample on Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For instance, Stulz (1988) has examined the ownership of managers of target companies and has proposed that the relationship between that ownership and the value of target firms may initially be positive and then subsequently become negative with rising insider ownership. Moreover, Shivdasani (1993) empirically shows that the relationship of the ownership structure of target companies with the value of hostile bids is not uniformly positive. McConnell and Servaes (1990) have likewise analyzed the relationship of equity ownership among corporate insiders and Tobins q. Their results demonstrate a non-monotonic relation between Tobins q and insider equity stakes. Wright et al. (1996: 451) have shown a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and corporate strategy related to firm risk taking. Ownership Incentives and Changes in Company Risk Motivating Acquisitions An agency-theoretic motive for acquisitions has been used to explain managerial preferences for risk-reducing corporate strategies (Wright et al., 1996). The implication is that both principals and agents prefer acquiring target companies with higher rather than lower returns. In that, shareholders and managers have congruent interests. The interests, however, diverge in terms of risk considerations associated with acquisitions. Because shareholders possess diversified portfolios, they may only be concerned with systematic risk and be indifferent to the total variance of returns associated with a takeover. Senior managers may alternatively prefer risk-reducing corporate strategies, unless they are granted ownership incentives. That is because they can not diversify their human capital invested in the firm. In the literature, it has been argued that agency costs may be reduced as managerial ownership incentives rise. The reason is that, as ownership incentives rise, the financial interests of insiders and shareholders will begin to converge. Analysts conjecture, however, that such incentives may not consistently provide senior executives the motivation to lessen the agency costs associated with an acquisition strategy. Inherent is the presumption that the nature of executive wealth portfolios will differently influence their attitudes toward corporate strategy. The personal wealth portfolios of top managers are comprised of their ownership of shares/options in the firm, the income produced from their employment, and assets unrelated to the firm. Presumably, as senior executives increase their equity stakes in the enterprise, their personal wealth portfolios become correspondingly less diversified. Although stockholders can diversify their wealth portfolios, top executives have less flexibility if they own substantial shares in the firms they manage. Hence, if a significant portion of managers wealth is concentrated in one investment, then they may find it prudent to diversify their firms via risk-reducing acquisitions. In the related literature, however, takeovers and risk taking have been approached differently from the described approach. Amihud and Lev (1999) have contended that insiders employment income is significantly related to the firms performance. Thus, managers are confronted with risks associated with their income if the maintenance of that income is dependent on achieving predetermined performance targets. Reasonably, in the event of either corporate underperformance or firm failure, CEOs not only may lose their current employment income but also may seriously suffer in the managerial labor market, since their future earnings potential with other enterprises may be lowered. Hence, the risk of executives employment income is impacted by the firms risk. The ramification of Amihud and Levs (1999) contentions is that top managers will tend to lower firm risk, and therefore their own employment risk, by acquiring companies that contribute to stabilizing of the firms income, even if shareho lder wealth is adversely affected. Consistent with the implications of Amihud and Levs arguments, Agrawal and Mandelker (1987) have similarly suggested that managers with negligible ownership stakes may adopt risk-reducing corporate strategies because such strategies may well serve their own personal interests. With ownership incentives, however, managers may be more likely to acquire risk-enhancing target companies, in line with the requirement of wealth maximization for shareholders. The notion that at negligible managerial ownership levels, detrimental risk-reducing acquisition strategies may be emphasized, but with increasing ownership incentive levels, beneficial risk-enhancing acquisitions may be more prevalent is also suggested in other works (Grossman and Hoskisson, 1998). The conclusion of these investigations is that the relationship between insider ownership and risk enhancing, worthy corporate acquisitions is linear and positive. Some experts assert that CEOs personal wealth concentration will induce senior managers to undertake risk-reducing firm strategies. Portfolio theorys expectation suggests that investors or owner-managers may desire to diversify their personal wealth portfolios. For instance, Markowitz (1952: 89) has asserted that investors may wish to diversify across industries because firms in different industries. . . have lower covariances than firms within an industry. Moreover, as argued by Sharpe (1964: 441), diversification enables the investor to escape all but the risk resulting from swings in economic activity. Consequently, managers with substantial equity investments in the firm may diversify the firm via risk-reducing acquisitions in order to diversify their own personal wealth portfolios. Because they may be especially concerned with risk-reducing acquisitions, however, their corporate strategies may not enhance firm value through takeovers, although managerial intention may be to boos t corporate value. The above discussion is compatible with complementary arguments that suggest that insiders may acquire non-value-maximizing target companies although their intentions may be to enhance returns to shareholders. For instance, according to the synergy view, while takeovers may be motivated by an ex-ante concern for increasing corporate value, many such acquisitions are not associated with an increase in firm value. Alternatively, according to the hubris hypothesis, even though insiders may intend to acquire targets that they believe could be managed more profitably under their control, such acquisitions are not ordinarily related to higher profitability. If acquisitions which are undertaken primarily with insider expectations that they will financially benefit owners do not realize higher performance, then those acquisitions which are primarily motivated by a risk-reducing desire may likewise not be associated with beneficial outcomes for owners. Additionally, it can be argued that shareholders can more efficiently diversify their own portfolios, making it unnecessary for managers to diversify the firm in order to achieve portfolio diversification for shareholders. Risk Associated with HRM practices in International Acquisitions There are a number of reasons why the HRM policies and practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and cross-border acquisitions are likely to be different from those found in domestic firms (Dowling, Schuler and Welch, 1993). For one, the difference in geographical spread means that acquisitions must normally engage in a number of HR activities that are not needed in domestic firms such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity. Second, as Dowling (1988) points out, the personnel policies and practices of MNCs are likely to be more complex and diverse. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in acquisitions because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to many different groups of subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Finally, there are more stakeholders that influence the HRM policies and practices of international firms than those of domestic firms. The major stakeholders in private organizations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could also think of unions, consumer organizations and other pressure groups. These pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, but they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This probably means that international companies need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than domestic firms. Acquisitions and HRM Practices: Evidence from Japan, the US, and Europe In contemporary context, international human resource management faces important challenges, and this trend characterizes many Japanese, US and European acquisitions.   From the critical point of view, Japanese companies experience more problems associated with international human resource management than companies from the US and Europe (Shibuya, 2000). Lack of home-country personnel sufficient international manage ­ment skills has been widely recognized in literature as the most difficult problem facing Japanese compa ­nies and simultaneously one of the most significant of US and European acquisitions as well. The statement implies that cultivating such skills is difficult and that they are relatively rare among businessmen in any country. Japanese companies may be particularly prone to this problem due to their heavy use of home-country nationals in overseas management positions. European and Japanese acquisitions also experience the lack of home country personnel who want to work abroad, while it is less of an impediment for the US companies. In the US acquisitions expatriates often experience reentry difficulties (e.g., career disruption) when re ­turning to the home country: This problem was the one most often cited by US firms.   Today Japanese corporations report the relatively lower incidence of expatriate reentry diffi ­culties, and it is surprising given the vivid accounts of such problems at Japanese firms by White (1988) and Umezawa (1990). However, the more active role of the Japanese person ­nel department in coordinating career paths, the tradition of semi ­annual musical-chair-like personnel shuffles (jinji idoh), and the continu ­ing efforts of Japanese stationed overseas to maintain close contact with headquarters might underlie the lower level of difficulties in this area for Japanese firms (Inohara, 2001). In contrast, the decentralized structures of many US and European firms may serve to isolate expatriates from their home-country headquarters, making reentry more problematic. Also, recent downsiz ­ing at US and European firms may reduce the number of appropriate management positions for expatriates to return to, or may sever expatri ­ates relationships with colleagues and mentors at headquarters. Furthermore, within the context of the lifetime employment system, individ ­ual Japanese employees have little to gain by voicing reentry concerns to personnel managers. In turn, personnel managers need not pay a great deal of attention to reentry problems because they will usually not result in a resignation. In western firms, reentry problems need to be taken more seriously by personnel managers because they frequently result in the loss of a valued employee. A further possible explanation for the higher incidence of expatriate reentry problems in western multinationals is the greater tendency of those companies to implement a policy of transferring local nationals to headquarters or other international operations. Under such a policy, the definition of expatriate expands beyond home-country nationals to en ­compass local nationals who transfer outside their home countries. It may even be that local nationals who return to a local operation after working at headquarters or other international operations may have their own special varieties of reentry problems. Literature on international human resource practices in Japan, the US and Europe suggest that the major strategic difficulty for the MNCs is to attract high-caliber local nationals to work for the company. In general, acquisitions may face greater challenges in hiring high-caliber local employees than do domestic firms due to lack of name recognition and fewer relationships with educators or others who might recommend candidates. However, researchers suggest that this issue is significantly more difficult for Japanese than for US and European multinationals. When asked to describe problems encoun ­tered in establishing their US affiliates, 39.5% of the respondents to a Japan Society survey cited finding qualified American managers to work in the affiliate and 30.8% cited hiring a qualified workforce (Bob SRI, 2001). Similarly, a survey of Japanese companies operating in the US conducted by a human resource consulting firm found that 35% felt recruiting personnel to be very difficult or extremely difficult, and 56% felt it to be difficult (The Wyatt Company, 1999). In addition to mentioned problem, Japanese acquisition encounter high local employee turnover, which is significantly more prob ­lematic for them due to the near-total absence of turnover to which they are accustomed in Japan. The US, European and Japanese companies admit very rarely that they encounter local legal challenges to their personnel policies. However, in regard to Japanese acquisitions large   amount of press coverage has been given to lawsuits against Japanese companies in the United States and a Japanese Ministry of Labor Survey in which 57% of the 331 respondents indicated that they were facing potential equal employ ­ment opportunity-related lawsuits in the United States (Shibuya, 2000). Conclusion This research investigates whether corporate acquisitions with shared technological resources or participation in similar product markets realize superior economic returns in comparison with unrelated acquisitions. The rationale for superior economic performance in related acquisitions derives from the synergies that are expected through a combination of supplementary or complementary resources. It is clear from the results of this research that acquired firms in related acquisitions have higher returns than acquired firms in unrelated acqui ­sitions. This implies that the related acquired firm benefits more from the acquirer than the unrelated acquired firm. The higher returns for the related acquired firms suggest that the combination with the acquirer’s resources has higher value implications than the combination of two unrelated firms. This is supported by the higher total wealth gains which were observed in related acquisitions. I did however, in the case of acquiring firms, find that the abnormal returns directly attributable to the acquisition transaction are not significant. There are reasons to believe that the announcement effects of the transaction on the returns to acquirers are less easily detected than for target firms. First, an acquisition by a firm affects only part of its businesses, while affecting all the assets (in control-oriented acqui ­sitions) of the target firm. Thus the measurability of effects on acquirers is attenuated. Second, if an acquisition is one event in a series of implicit moves constituting a diversification program, its individual effect as a market signal would be mitigated. It is also likely that the theoretical argument which postulates that related acquisitions create wealth for acquirers may be underspecified. Relatedness is often multifaceted, suggesting that the resources of the target firm may be of value to many firms, thus increasing the relative bargaining power of the target vis-a-vis the potential buyers. Even in the absence of explicit competition for the target (multiple bidding), the premiums paid for control are a substantial fraction of the total gains available from the transaction. For managers, some implications from the research can be offered. First, it seems quite clear from the data that a firm seeking to be acquired will realize higher returns if it is sold to a related than an unrelated firm. This counsel is consistent with the view that the market recognizes synergistic combinations and values them accordingly. Second, managers in acquiring firms may be advised to scrutinize carefully the expected gains in related and unrelated acquisitions. For managers the issue of concern is not whether or not a given kind of acquisition creates a significant total amount of wealth, but what percentage of that wealth they can expect to accrue to their firms. Thus, although acquisitions involving related technologies or product market yield higher total gains, pricing mechanisms in the market for corporate acquisitions reflect the gains primarily on the target company. Interpreting these results conservatively, one may offer the argument that expected gains for acquiring firms are competed away in the bidding process, with stockholders of target firms obtaining high proportions of the gains. On a pragmatic level this research underscores the need to combine what may be called the theoretical with the practical. In the case of acquisitions, pragmatic issues like implicit and explicit competition for a target firm alter the theoretical expectations of gains from an acquisition transaction. Further efforts to clarify these issues theoretically and empirically will increase our understanding of these important phenomena. Bibliography Sharpe WF. 1964. Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. Journal of Finance 19: 425-442 Markowitz H. 1952. Portfolio selections. Journal of Finance 7: 77-91 Grossman W, Hoskisson R. 1998. CEO pay at the crossroads of Wall Street and Main: toward the strategic design of executive compensation. Academy of Management Executive 12: 43-57 Amihud Y, Lev B. 1999. Does corporate ownership structure affect its strategy towards diversification? Strategic Management Journal 20(11): 1063-1069 Agrawal A, Mandelker G. 1987. Managerial incentives and corporate investment and financing decisions. Journal of Finance 42: 823-837 Wright P, Ferris S, Sarin A, Awasthi V. 1996. The impact of corporate insider, blockholder, and institutional equity ownership on firm risk-taking. Academy of Management Journal 39: 441-463 McConnell JJ, Servaes H. 1990. Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value. Journal of Financial Economics 27: 595-612. Shivdasani A. 1993. Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers. Journal of Accounting and Economics 16: 167-198 Stulz RM. 1988. Managerial control of voting rights: financing policies and the market for corporate control. Journal of Financial Economics 20: 25-54 Varaiya N. 1987. Determinants of premiums in acquisition transactions. Managerial and Decision Economics 14: 175-184 Collis D, Montgomery C. 1998. Creating corporate advantage. Harvard Business Review 76(3): 71-83 White, M. 1988. The Japanese overseas: Can they go home again? New York: The Free Press. Bob, D., SRI International. 2001. Japanese companies in American communities. New York: The Japan Society.

Mtv

Mtv MTV I think first off that MTV has given teens a television show that is much better than some of the other shows out there. Instead of watching violence on television they can watch music videos on it and see competitions on it. MTV, I think shows a positive attitude on it. You never hear anyone on MTV saying to cut school or do violent acts instead they say do this and that to win prizes and it's good prizes which would keep them off the streets and out of danger. Some may say that it has sexually gotten worse but in fact that's what it is out there. Wherever you go that is what you see, so if parents have problems with that then they shouldn't be sending them to party's, beaches, or even the movies because you will see something wherever you go. I really think it's unfair how parents put down MTV.Logotipo do canal MTV Shows

Funding Sources within Upcoming Entrepreneurs Research Paper

Funding Sources within Upcoming Entrepreneurs - Research Paper Example This is the scenario where there emerge various businesspersons who are willing to start their own businesses for the purpose of providing better services to the people, which in the process results to better profit realization. Consequently, in the process of starting a new business organization, entrepreneurs should make sure they consider and meet various factors such as capital, labor and better management in order to avoid the collapse of the organization at its early stages. Moreover, the emergence of these business organizations are helpful as they results to the creation of job opportunities within the given environment, therefore, they should be encouraged. Thesis Based on the development of new businesses, this paper provides the three types of funding sources that an entrepreneur should considers during capital generation, some of the merits of the provided funding sources and their disadvantages. It also provides some of the factors that the lender should consider in the borrower and some of the ways in which the information need to be presented to the lender. The research paper also provides some of the procedures that need to be followed in future in during the process of entrepreneurial endeavor and some of the ways in which entrepreneurs may manage to start their own businesses. ... Question 1: Types of Funding Sources to Entrepreneurs During the process of coming up with a business organization, there are various factors that an entrepreneur should consider for the success of the business to be achieved. One of the main factors to be looked at is the capital for starting the proposed business. Therefore, there are three main types of funding sources that an entrepreneur should consider in the process of generating capital for starting a business. These include: Debt Financing Through the process of debt financing, an entrepreneur is required to apply for loans from various financial institutions such as banks and non-government institutions. Therefore, before an organization decide to borrow money from these institutions, the need to consider the lending process, interest provided and the period in which the organization is required to settle all their debts. If the information provided by the banks complies with the situation of the business, the entrepreneur needs to apply for the loans (Viramgami 178). On the other hand, for the bank organization to strike the deal with the organization they need to consider the cash flow of the organization and the security that the proposed organization provides against the loan provided. Grants This is the process whereby various entrepreneurs become part of some of the government agencies within their respective countries. For instance, in the United States, most of their new entrepreneurs who are willing to start small businesses become members of the Small Business Administration, which is part of the Small Business Innovation Research programs (Talloo, 78). Therefore, in the process of becoming part of these government organizations, these people are in the position of getting help

Space Elevator Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Space Elevator - Research Proposal Example It is a fixed structure as opposed to a vehicle which will be fuel hungry and will have limited capacity of locomotion between the body and the space. A typical space elevator will be a cable like structure extending from the earth's surface into the outer space. It's center of mass will coincide with the Geostationary Earth Orbit, which is at an altitude of 35,786 km. Locomotion will be facilitated by electromagnetic vehicles which will travel along the cables and will be effective in the movement of people, power and other material. (Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators) The Space Elevator has caught the fancy of the scientific fraternity all across the globe. As the race to become the builder of the world's first Space Elevator gets heated up, interesting facts emerge. Japanese scientists have gone on record proclaiming that they were in the process of researching the possibility of building a Space Elevator - capable of transporting cargo as well as tourists, for $ 11 Billion. (Ramadge and Schneider) A region off the west coast of Australia has been identified as an Earth Dock, a location perfect for building the base earth station. "The Indian Ocean off Western Australia has been identified as an ideal location for a 'space elevator'; a thin carbon nano tube connecting a barge to a space station, along which supplies could be carried up. Construction could draw on the WA oil industry's expertise in constructing offshore platforms, as well as its material resources. NASA is currently investigating the feasibility of the project." (qtd. in "Lost in Space' Setting a new direction for Australia's space science and industry sector", 27) The structural specifications of the Space Elevator include several parts like the base station, a cable, climbers, and a counterweight. Base stations, in almost all prototypes, are of two varieties - stationary and mobile. Ships and other vessels can serve as mobile base stations while buildings at higher altitudes can suffice as stationary base stations. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages - while it will be cheaper to operate a stationary base station, a mobile base station can be moved so as to avoid any natural calamity. The cables are perhaps the most important part of the setup. It is necessary to manufacture the cables out of a light yet sturdy material. To be economically viable it will be necessary to produce the material at a mass scale and at a viable price. Research has shown that Carbon nano tubes have the capacity to withstand tensile strength of 63 to 177 GPa and are pretty light, as because of the chemical structure of the carbon atoms ensure that there is free space in between the carbon atoms. Thorough research is necessary to produce carbon nano tubes which are stronger. Another point needs to be kept in mind while constructing a nano tube; it will have to bear its own weight along with the weight of the particles which will be transported. Climbers are basically the vessels which will move along the cable. Climbers again will have to be light and heat resistant - they will encounter atmospheric friction while moving up and down a cable. The most important part is the source of power for the climbers. Options like nuclear power, solar energy, laser power beaming are there to be explored. The counterweight is the object which will hold

Teaching Tweens and Teens for Optimal Learning Research Paper

Teaching Tweens and Teens for Optimal Learning - Research Paper Example The brain is growing and changing, getting rid of information that seems to have no purpose and building pathways of behavior built upon observations on how to behave in the world. Where the family was once the center of learning, during the adolescent years, the world becomes the representation of knowledge. The size of the world is the key to finding the best possible outcomes, thus through understanding the way in which the adolescent brain works, a better understanding of how to teach teens and tweens emerges in order to create better prepared adults. The teenage mind is defined by its ability to appear to work like that of an adult, but in truth it is set to work in a very different manner. Parents are always shaking their heads and wondering why their teenagers behave the way that they do, making decisions that seem to have no reason and acting impulsively. The blame is often placed upon hormones, the common terminology reflecting an idea that it is the development of the body that is placing the teenage mind in a state of erratic behavior. Advances in neuroscience have concluded that it is not a hormonal issue that makes the behavior of teenagers so radically different than that of adults, but it is a development issue, the brain still in a state of construction in which it is still only at the stage of design, the grey matter physically being built and in the process of cutting away old synapses that are no longer needed (Feinstein, 2009, p. 4). The brain is literally growing and changing, the future of the adult in the hands of the choices made by the teenager, the brain growing in response to those changes. The nature of the teenage brain is such that in order to best teach them new methods in education may be important for producing higher levels of learning. Mind-mapping is a technique that allows for a broader use of the brain in order to see how connections are being made between varieties of concepts. Colors, pictures, symbols, and words are all combined to create a picture of how they combine to form thought (Philp, 2007, p. 17). This concept allows for an educator or academic to see how the connections between concepts are being formed for the teenage mind. According to Philp (2007) each of these conceptualized maps will be different, showing how the ways in which learning are taking place are is varied between individuals. Because the mind is being deconstructed and reconstructed, the mind of each teen is different, creating a chaotic social mix of individuals all trying to conform to teaching methods through perspectives that are all over the place. Sylwester (2007) breaks down the purpose of the brain into the â€Å"planning, regulation, and prediction of movements† (p. 15). The process of thinking can be looked at as a part of the idea of movement. One of the newest developments in understanding how learning is accomplished is through the idea of mirror neurons. The mind will function to accomplish a task, each section of the task being done through sequences of impulses that control the task. Templates of a task can also be created through what is termed mirror neurons that see the task accomplished and make plan from which the individual can also repeat that task (Stamenov, 2002, p. 273). In looking at adolescence, one can see that this process has begun new and is in

Cost Of Justice In The American Criminal System Criminology Essay

Cost Of Justice In The American Criminal System Criminology Essay This paper examines defines the concept of justice in the context of the American criminal justice system. It also evaluates the costs associated with criminal justice and the benefits that citizens experience as a result of state expenditures for the justice system by performing a literature on studies that have performed cost-benefit analysis on particular aspects of criminal justice. The paper showed that the cost of crime is escalating in the United States and some criminal justice policies were proven to be cost-effective while others have not. Introduction Justice is one of the dearly-held tenets of democracy. Philosophically, justice has been associated with moral right, on the grounds of rationality, law, religious, fairness, ethics, and equity (Morrison, 1995). Another popular definition of justice is giving to each what he or she is due (Morrison, 1995, p. 306). In this day and age, knowing what is due has been left to the divisions of criminal justice law enforcement, corrections, and the judiciary to decide. Ensuring that justice is served does not come without a price. The federal government shoulders several tangible and intangible costs of meeting the objectives of criminal justice, restraining known, convicted, violent, and repeat criminals (The New Citizenship Project, 1996, p. i). This paper seeks to address how much justice costs in America in terms of the expenditures of the criminal justice system and analyzes the benefits of investment on justice. A cost-benefit analysis of criminal justice calculates tangible and intangible or social costs as well as social benefits of prisons. Social costs refer to burdens on society in addition to the resources it takes to run a prison system (Piehl, Bert, DiIulio, 1999). Aside from operational expenses of building prisons and running them, the costs of justice should also include variables such as lost labor-market productivity of inmates, the loss to families of having a member away from home, and the loss to communities of having a resident removed (Piehl, Bert, DiIulio, 1999). Benefits include a) incapacitation of offenders; and b) crime deterrence or prevention. Costs of Crime According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were approximately 7.3 million individuals incarcerated, on probation, or on parole in the federal corrections system all throughout the United States. This means that out of every 31 U.S. adults, 1 of them is committed to the prison system (Office of Justice Programs, 2010). For the year 2006, operating the three divisions of criminal justice law enforcement, corrections, and the judiciary incurred a total cost of $214 billion (Office of Justice Programs, 2010). Expenditures have steadily risen since 1986 and for year 2006 alone, the increase was 5.1 percent compared to the previous year. In terms of social costs, a report from the National Institute of Justice (as cited in Piehl, Bert, DiIulio, 1999) presents an outlook on the cost of crime with respect to victimization. The figures presented in Table 1 are based on average compensations awarded by the jury to victims of particular crimes. Rape entails the highest compesation at $98,325 in every victim while drug sales entails compensation of $5. Table 1. Estimates of Social Costs of Crime Crime Social Cost (USD) Rape 98,327 Assault 10, 624 Robbery 8,830 Motoe vehicle theft 3,429 Burglary 1,271 Fraud, forgery, petty thefy 1,271 Drug Sale 5 A more comprehensive study by Moreover, Cohen, Miller, and Rossman in 1994 (as cited in Cohen, 2000) tried to measure the costs of the criminal justice system by comparing costs of crime calculted in several studies. They approximate the cost of justice on a per-crime basis as of year 1987 to be: $5,925 (murder), $2,050 (rape), $1,125 (robbery), and $1,225 (aggravated assault). Another study conducted by Miller, Cohen, and Wiersema in 1996 (as cited in Cohen, 2000) calculated the tangible costs of crime that were derived from surveys of victims. The study showed that cost estimations of private researchers are comparatively higher than the estimates calculated by government agencies. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the average cost of a rape is $234. Miller, Cohen, and Wiersema estimated the tangible cost for rape per victim at $5,100 broken down into $2,200 for lost productivity plus $2,200 for mental health care. Cost-benefit analysis of crime prevention After estimating the costs of crime, a cost-benefit analysis proceeds by comparing cost with the benefits of criminal justice programs measured primarily in terms of the crime prevented. There have been a few studies that performed a cost-benefit analysis of several criminal justice programs. One study was made by Greenwood and his colleagues (1994) to assess what incarceration policies related to the three-strikes rule debate in California would be the most cost-effective. The study calculated that the cost per serious crime prevented amounted to $11,800 for the third violent offense committed and $16,300 for the third felony offense committed. The study concluded through the figures that focusing on the most violent offenders gives the most justice (in terms of cost per crime prevented) out of the taxpayers money. Another criminal justice policy that has been studied for cost-effectiveness is the practice of incarcerating drug offenders, whose population take up most of the space in the prison systems all over the U.S. It has been contended that the state spends too much on the prison beds, facilities, and expenditures for incarcerated drug offenders when the return in terms of compensation is only $5 per drug sale (Piehl, Bert, DiIulio, 1999). In the study conducted by Piehl, Bert, DiIulio (1999), they concluded that the policy of admitting so many drug offenders into U.S. jails is not a cost-effective means of crime prevention. The fact is, the imprisonment of a drug dealer or seller does not deter crime. That jailed seller is simply replaced by another drug seller. Ultimately, the costs shouldered by the state to incarcerate drug dealers compared to the degree of crime prevented suggests that it is not cost-effective. Experts suggest that prison beds occupied by drug offenders instead be reserved to violent and high-cost property crime offenders. Conclusion Studies have shown that crimes indeed pay. The cost of justice, as this paper has stated, is increasing in the U.S. Crime prevention entails gigantic expenses shouldered by the state through taxpayers money. Studies that have conducted cost-benefit analysis show that some criminal justice programs are cost-effective while others are not. Until now, obtaining empirical evidence to measure the cost-effectiveness of the justice system has been difficult, but the fact that such efforts are being are crucial to the development of criminal justice programs that will enhance the delivery of justice in the country.

Understanding Electric Motors :: physics motor electricity

MOTOR BASICS BASIC COMPONENTS * Armature - Sometimes called a rotor. This is the part that spins. The armature can be either a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. * Stator - This is the part that doesn't move. The rotor spins in the magnetic field contained in the stator. HOW WORKS A MOTOR? The force that that turns the armature comes from the magnetic field of the armature trying to line up with the external magnetic field of the stator. This force is called torque. This torque will cause the armature to turn until its magnetic field is aligned with the external field, but no further. How does the armature continue to spin? One of the magnetic fields must be changed so that the armature has to turn again. The armature will spin so long as there is always a torque acting on it. How this is accomplished is what sets each type of electric motor apart. DIRECT CURRENT MOTORS SIMPLE DIRECT CURRENT MOTOR In a DC motor, the armature consists of any number of windings, each one an electromagnet. The armature is immersed in a directional external magnetic field. This external field does not move, and can come from permanent magnets or electromagnets. A direct current in a set of windings creates a polar magnetic field. A torque acts on the rotor due to its relation to the external magnetic field. Just as the magnetic field of the rotor becomes fully aligned with the external magnetic field, the direction of the current in the windings on the armature reverses, thereby reversing the polarity of the rotor's electromagnetic field. A torque is once again exerted on the rotor, and it continues spinning. The change in direction of current is facilitated by the split ring commutator. The brushes remain stationary, but they are in contact with the armature at the commutator, which rotates with the armature such that at every 180Â ° of rotation, the current in the armature is reversed. BRUSHLESS DIRECT CURRENT MOTOR A brushless DC motor has a permanent magnet or magnets for the armature. The external magnetic field comes from any number of electromagnets that are turned on and off at the correct times by a timing device. The exact workings of different brushless DC motors depend on the type of timing device used. This example uses a Reed switch.