Tuesday, September 24, 2019

UCR and NCIC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

UCR and NCIC - Essay Example The NCIC started out its operation by helping law enforcement in the apprehension of fugitives and helping to locate property that was stolen (â€Å"Public Safety†). Since the NCIC database consists of information about humans and property, the database includes 18 files, which contain this information. Records for articles and other properties such as vehicles, guns, boats, among others, are found in seven files, while the remaining 11 files consist of person records, including fugitives, sexual offenders, gang members, wanted persons, terrorist groups, among others. To back up the files, this database also includes images to assist law enforcement agencies in the identification of people and property (â€Å"Public Safety†). The NCIC can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, during a traffic stop, a law enforcement officer can instantly check the NCIC records to verify if a particular vehicle in the traffic stop was stolen, or if it is being driven by a criminal. The NCIC therefore, serves an important purpose of availing an electronic database, which can be accessed by various criminal justice agencies for inquiries, and information on crime and criminals from other agencies. The information in the NCIC therefore, helps law enforcement and authorized agencies to locate missing persons and stolen property, identify criminals, and protect the law enforcement personnel (â€Å"Public Safety†). The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) was established in the United States out of the need for tracking changes in the rate of crime at the state and national level. This program mainly collects data about crime instances reported by various law enforcement agencies in different states. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is responsible for the collection and publishing of this crime data annually. These publications however, vary depending on the state, type of crime, and nature of criminals. The most popular and biggest annual

Monday, September 23, 2019

Domestic Violence, alcohol and substance abuse Thesis

Domestic Violence, alcohol and substance abuse - Thesis Example Excessive use of alcohol in men increases the possibility of wife abuse (Lynetta, 2011). According to researchers, there is a relation between the 2 behaviors and its exact character remains blurred. One research worker states that, â€Å"alcohol and substance abuse are the most prominent element that leads to domestic violence. Many of the theorists found that too much use of alcohol and substance abuse are the main factor in the dynamics of spouse beating (Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, n.d.). Many statistics records show a relationship between domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse. According to recent reports of the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) assailants in more than 90% of the domestic abuse cases used alcohol or substance abuse on the day of the assault (Buddy, 2011). In addition to this, one more study shows this relation among domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse; according to this study before assaulting their partners forty-eight to eighty-seven percent of the batterers were under the influence of alcohol, among these rates substance abuse rate is thirteen to twenty percent whereas alcohol rate is sixty to seventy percent (Buddy, 2011). Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (n.d.).  Chapter 1—Effects of Domestic Violence on Substance Abuse Treatment - Substance Abuse Treatment and Domestic Violence - NCBI Bookshelf. [online] Retrieved from:

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Summary of Professional Ethics Module Essay Example for Free

Summary of Professional Ethics Module Essay Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies the difference between right and wrong. As professional accountants, you will have many opportunities to choose between right and wrong. And as you have seen in the business press, making the wrong choice can lead to serious consequences including corporate failure, loss of reputation, fines, and even jail sentences. The objective of this unit is to introduce you to different branches of ethics, in order to help you understand that people approach the topic with different points of view. You will learn about different ways of thinking through an ethical question. This will help you identify the way that you make decisions so that you can recognise your own personal ethics in any professional ethical problem that you may be faced with. In this way, you can mitigate any detrimental impact of your own personal ethics, with a view to a more objective approach. Perspectives on ethics In very broad terms, there are three ways of looking at ethics that have developed over time: rules conformance, good intentions, and competence. One way of thinking about ethics is in terms of conformity to rules. From this perspective, ethics is understood as a list of things to do and to not do. Sometimes the list gets very long and complicated and needs to be interpreted by a whole institution of people. The ethical person, from this perspective, is the one who conforms to the rules. A second way of thinking about ethics is in terms of good intentions. From this perspective, a behaviour is considered ethical if it is based on good intentions. Good behaviour then follows from good thinking. The third perspective thinks of ethics in terms of competence. From this perspective, the ethical person is one who can make decisions based on principles and then act on them. This perspective is thought of as looking at competence, because ethics is thought of in terms of an ability rather than an attitude our duty to others One way to think about ethics is to acknowledge that there are things that someone just does not do, as part of a duty to others. A limitation of this principle is that you have to decide what those things are that someone should not do. At least one philosopher (Immanuel Kant) has defined those duties by saying ‘act according to principles that everyone could follow. ’ For example, if you disobey traffic lights, you should consider what would happen if everyone did so. The point is that we should recognise everyone as equals, and not assume that the rules are any different for ourselves than they are for other people. As an accounting example, a professional accountant would not deliberately issue false or inaccurate financial statements. If everyone did so, no statements could be trusted and as a consequence not only would the profession be brought into disrepute, but all financial statements would have no value to their users. Ultimately the need for accountants and for financial reports would be called into question. Consequences Another way of thinking about ethics is based on thinking about the consequences to different people. Briefly, consequentialism encourages you to make decisions based on the consequences — both positive and negative — for those involved. This category of thinking is the branch of ethics known as utilitarianism. This states that an action is right if it leads to the most good outcomes and the least bad outcomes for the greatest number of people. One limitation of thinking about ethics in terms of consequences is that you have to agree on what sorts of consequences matter: for example, should you be trying to promote pleasure and avoid causing pain, or should you instead focus on promoting people’s actual well-being, regardless of whether doing so makes them happy? A modern application of this point of view is the cost-benefit analysis, which involves assigning monetary values to the costs and benefits of an action and seeing how they add up. This practice is often used in evaluating new projects. As an accounting example, an accountant thinking in terms of consequences would prepare ‘true and fair’ financial statements because doing so would bring the most benefit to the greatest number of people. In other words, stakeholders inside and outside the organisation would be able to make more informed decisions as a result. Virtue theory  In virtue theory, the emphasis is on deciding what sort of person one should try to be, and to define the virtues such a person would embody. You decide what makes a good person, instead of what makes a good action, and act accordingly. One limitation of this way of thinking is that what constitutes a virtue must be agreed upon, and it can vary by culture and over time. For example, the qualities of good financial reports were once considered to be completeness, historical accuracy, reliability and strict adherence to the legal form in disclosing business transactions. More recently, the qualities of good financial reports have come to be relevance for decision-making, reference to a wider conceptual framework, and presenting the economic substance of business transactions. As an accounting example of the use of virtue theory, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant would ask, ‘What would a conscientious accountant do in such a situation? What would one of my respected mentors do? ’ Social contract theory  The social contract theory of ethics advises you to think about ethics as embodying a set of rules agreed upon by reasonable people to bring order to social living. So when making an ethical decision you ask yourself, ‘What rule would reasonable, unbiased people agree to? ’ You then follow such rules, regardless of whether they benefit you in particular situations. One criticism of this theory points out that the agreement referred to by social contract theory is entirely imaginary. Why consider yourself bound by an agreement that never happened? An accounting example of social contract thinking might be seen in a situation where an accountant has to decide between loyalty to a client and candid assessment of financial statements. Both of those options involve important social values. Thinking in social contract terms, the accountant might ask, ‘What sort of rule for balancing these values would unbiased people agree to? ’ Confucian ethics Confucian ethics seeks to provide harmonious relationships within society, the family, and the individual. Looking within yourself and learning from experienced people are seen as the main roads to wisdom and self-harmony. The emphasis on experience leads to respect and reverence for the past, the aged, and for one’s ancestors. One of the criticisms of this model is that in a society where relationships are considered more important than the laws themselves, corruption and nepotism may be tolerated. As an accounting example, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant thinking in Confucian terms might consider agreeing to it because doing so would cause harmony with the client. Rules of thumb In addition to scholarly branches of philosophy, some other ways of looking at right and wrong have developed. The golden rule The classic golden rule is to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ’ In other words, ‘I will not cheat that person because I do not want them to cheat me. ’ The golden rule is a simple and useful tool, but it does have some limitations. We don’t really know how babies or animals want to be treated, for example, so the golden rule can’t tell us much about how to treat them. Also, the whole rule is based on your own feelings of how you yourself would want to be treated. But your own needs and preferences might not be typical. For example, the fact that you personally do not value privacy does not mean that you don’t owe others an obligation to respect their privacy. As an accounting example, this rule of thumb could be applied to mean that you disclose all information that may be relevant in financial reports because, if you were the reader of those financial statements, you would expect to receive all the information, and disregard any that is not relevant to you. Mirror Test Another rule of thumb is the mirror test. This is a quick way to evaluate a decision that you are about to make, and reinforces the notion that you are responsible for your own actions. Imagine you’re looking in a mirror and ask yourself: Is it legal? If it is not legal, dont do it. What will others think? Others meaning a friend, a parent, a spouse, a child, a manager, the media, or someone else whose opinion is particularly important to you. As an accounting example, in deciding whether to agree to a client’s request to use a questionable method for valuing inventory, an accountant thinking in terms of this rule of thumb would consider how a story about this action would look on the front page of the local newspaper. Justice and care based approach What this quiz actually does is help you identify whether you lean towards a justice and rule-based approach or whether you lean towards a care-based approach. The justice and rules-based approach says that the rules should be applied equally to everyone and that justice and fairness are most important. Some researchers have suggested that this is a more masculine approach to the world. The care-based approach says that care, rather than justice, is most important and that we should act responsibly to people in need. Some researchers have suggested that this is a more feminine approach to the world. You can see why this research is controversial, and why you may disagree with the results. However it is interesting to consider whether gender could influence ethical positions. It may also help you when discussing issues with colleagues from other countries. Generally, in North American and European groups, men have been found to have, on average, higher ‘justice’ scores and women have been found to have, on average, higher ‘care’ scores. The significance of these statistical findings is a topic of ongoing debate among scholars. It is important to know how you approach an ethical question, and to recognise that other people may approach it a different way, irrespective of gender.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Hidden Violence Essay Example for Free

Hidden Violence Essay The word gang-everyone knows what it means or what it stands for. Of course by the time children get to the end of their elementary years they’ve heard of know gangs such as; the Cribs, Bloods, Latin Kings, Vatos Locos, but none of those names cause as much fear and terror as the gang called La Mara Salvatrucha aka MS-13. La Mara known for their psychotic methods of killing and running their turf, no other gang comes close to causing the same fear as La Mara Salvatrucha (ms-13gang. com). Forced to abandon their home land due to the civil war in El Salvador, the adventure to the U.S. was good at the start but soon the odds turned against them. Therefore for their protection they were forced to start was today is known as the most dangerous gang of the world La Mara Salvatrucha (National Geographic). A simple face-off between El Salvador’s government and guerrilla groups began the civil war of 1980 in El Salvador. The civil war killed 75,000 people and left 8,000 missing and another million or so homeless. The war was known for the government’s massacres and its Death Squads killing of civilians, nuns and priests (bookrag.com). This led many Salvadorians to search for a better life, many of whom came to America for their fresh beginning. A group of refugees in Pico Union, California had to get used to their new home, not knowing that by escaping the war in El Salvador they had just jumped right into a new one against the LA street gangs. Immigrate parents working endless sifts providing no parental supervision; young Salvadorian children were being raised by the streets of LA. After being beaten, stabbed, and harassed by the rest of the LA street gangs, a group of refugees decided to form a strong hold or as it is called in Salvador, a Mara. They said, â€Å"If these guys want violence we’ll show them violence† keep in mind that these refugees had a good knowledge of what violence was as well as having previous military training (ms-13gang.com). Then came the day when they said enough is enough it is time to take a stand, and the infamous MS-13 was formed. Born in LA in the 1980’s, expanding to parts of Canada, Spain, England, and Germany becoming bigger and dangerous day by day. La Mara can now be found in Washington D.C, Oregon, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida just alone in the United States. In Central America they can be found in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and several other Latin countries. MS-13 is considered to be one of the most dangerous and organized in the world (altereddimensions.net).There are two ways to get into the gang. For males one is to get jumped in, which means the new recruit is surround by numerous members and beaten for at least 13 seconds. The other way is by killing either an enemy gang member or just a simple killing. For females there is a third option which is to get having sexual intercourse with several MS members or as they call it gang banged. MS-13 has many similar criminal characteristics as other gang such as: smuggling drugs, people, and weapons. The biggest difference with MS-13 is the willingness to use brutality in all their activities (keysaferschools.com). All of the MS-13 activities were kept low-profile very well. Unlike many gang which us guns, knives, and ropes to hang their victims, La Mara Salvatrucha uses machetes, which have become their weapon of choice (ms-13gang.com). From the start gang members only wore white, gray, and blue colors mostly colors token from El Salvador’s flag. Using a weapon such as the machete is pretty insane right? Well they went all out with this weapon not just slicing n dicing all their enemies but also just by smacking their brains out with the machetes. Let’s get to the gang signs they throw up when representing their hood. Using one hand where they stick out the pinky finger as well as the index finger letting the thumb cross over the other two fingers that are cured into the palm. Another gang sign is using both hands having both index fingers and thumbs out, extending the two fingers between the index and the pinky half way out still cured also on both hands which leaves the pinky h idden on the side last thing is to join the pinky knuckles together also having the ring fingers touch. This powerful symbolism a fearing sight to experiences, both representing devil horns are yet another hint why these guys are considered to be, if not the most, at least one of the top dangerous gangs in the world (mahalo.com). Representing their hood is so important to them that they use their own faces to rep their hood. MS members tattooing them-self all over the body especially on the face, with signs such as, MS-13, 666, and X III in big letters and fonts too. All their tattoos are gothic which simply means something very dark spirited, members will most commonly have 666 tatted on their body (ms-13gang.com). Stacking, some call it a type of dance to gangs it is just another type of language used to tell the other gangs they are MS-13 and that this is their turf. Not only do they claim their territory and rep their hood, but also around non-members, police, and enemy gangs stacking is used as their secret code language. The reason that some people think of stacking being a type of dance is because basically it uses the whole body moving in a redeem following behind hand motions. Starting out in California, soon after their members were being deported back to their home countries right after El Salvador’s civil war ended (altereddimensions.com). Police force in their native country not being suited to face off against MS-13’s level of brutality had no way to control or restrain them, and MS-13 began to grow extremely all over El Salvador. Not wanting to attract too much police attention they decide to move to their neighboring country, Honduras. Honduras a very significant act of the MS-13’s reign of terror along with a period filled with fear and anxiety for Hondurans. The Gang Slaughter of La Mara Salvatrucha on a bus with six children and twenty-two adults left a huge impact in the eyes of many. Suspected gang members armed with assault rifles cruelly sprayed a bus full with h oliday shoppers in the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras. One of the suspected gang members was arrested in the same area just hours after the horrific action found with two assault rifles, two pistols, and ammunition in his vehicle. Another two where found just 10 miles away from San Pedro Sula two days after (altereddimensions.net). Only these three arrested suspects were linked to MS-13. As for the rest of the sad people who joined in this satanic act are believed that they were going through inanition for La Mara Salvatrucha. Yet again MS-13 attracting much attention from the Honduran authorities, they decided to move again but this time they don’t move together they spread like crazy (ms-13gang.com). Then the world wide spread started from this point on, migrating back to the United States to rejoin their soldiers left behind, and spreading over Central America as well as in parts of Europe and Asia. Up until 2002 no police department had any solid information on La Mara Salvatrucha. That’s until a brave young lady Brenda Paz spoke out against the infamous MS-13 on a search for a new start (mahalo.com). At only 16 years of age Brenda wanted to take a stand and try to stop what today is classified as an organized crime. At the time Brenda had just got paginate by the leader in her area which he knew nothing about. For almost six months she was under protection provided by the government but due to her pregnancy she left the area to get some air and have open space. Just soon after in 2003 she was found dead in Virginia-she was six months pregnant. Her body was found under a bridge in Shenandoah County. Stabbed 13 times all over the body this is just another act of La Mara Salvatrucha to show they are for real (altereddimensions.net). Several MS-13 members have been accused of the killing, Brenda who was helping authorities from at least six states investigate the gang was a great lost for the police force as well. In most case MS-13 members feel great pride when carrying out violent actions because to them it’s the crazier, most violent, and originally that gets them more resp ect with the gang, ranking up in other words. Imagine a little snow ball, what happens to the tiny thing when rolled around a few times? It grows tremendously right, yeah exactly correct. The more and more you roll it the bigger it gets. That’s how La Mara Salvatrucha started out as a simple little snow ball and look at it now, seems to me that it hasn’t stopped rolling yet and never will. Their first enemy 18 street a Mexican gang in Cali, the LAPD, the FBI and many more couldn’t stop them, what makes you think anyone can! People just stay clear of the streets avoid crossing with gangs and If you hear of MS-13 near you just stay inside. MS-13 has no respect to anyone other than their own and will let their full fury out on anyone who crosses in their way. N.p.: n.p., 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.: SparTech Software, 1998-2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . Logan, Samuel. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. . N.p.:  © National Geographic Channel, 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

Friday, September 20, 2019

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students

Impact of Culture on Life Satisfaction of Students ABSTRACT Defining culture by reference to deeply situated societal values and beliefs, this study makes three contributions to the growing field of satisfaction research: first, it tries to uncover the relationship between international students life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction across different cultures; Second, it explores whether and to what extent a range of cultural values serve as important moderators of international students life satisfaction; Finally, it explains the Life Satisfaction differences between international students across five nations (India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey). A total of 100 international students from the University of Northampton participated in this study. Analysis of the present study is based on data from two surveys. The first is the Dieners Satisfaction with Life Survey (SWL) to measure international students overall satisfaction with life across nations. The second is the cultural satisfaction survey which includes the six d eterminants of cultural factors: satisfaction in general, job, social relationships, health services, authority services and public safety. Using both Pearson and Partial correlation coefficient, statistical analysis showed that except for the General Satisfaction section p value is more than 0.05 (p>0.05) for each of the subsections. In addition, hypothesis one showed that there is not any correlation between Life Satisfaction and Cultural Satisfaction amongst International Students. Therefore, null hypothesis is accepted. One-Way between subjects ANOVAs enables us to partially accept hypothesis 2, which states there will be a difference in CS between International Students from different countries. Statistical results of one-way ANOVAs also accepted Hypothesis 3, which states there will be a difference in LS between International Students from different nationalities as well. According to these results, Hypothesis 2 is partially accepted because four out of the six subsections of the CS (General and Job Satisfaction) showed these differences. These results show the importance of the cultural determinants of the social relationship, health, authority and public safety satisfaction play a particularly prominent role on individuals Life Satisfaction. Finally, based on the Dieners SWL (Diener et al, 1984) and cultural life satisfaction survey, the empirical results show that several cultural values are indeed very significant influences on individuals assessment of their life satisfaction. INTRODUCTION Psychological research during the past two decades has revealed cultural differences across a wide range of domains. These studies focus on several factors such as what are peoples desires, wants, and needs, and which life domains are decisive in an overall evaluation of living conditions? Does the quality of a society in which a person lives play a significant role? As a result most psychologists are now keenly aware that the way people in different cultures think, feel, and act are, in varying degrees, different. International students have in recent years come to constitute a large proportion of the world-wide student body in higher learning institutions. There are hardly any countries that are unaffected by the presence of international students in its institutions of higher learning, or the pressure to send some of its own students to study abroad (Paige, 1990). Current estimates suggest that up to 1 million students annually study in countries other than their own (Open Doors, 1996/97). One rationale behind the increasing number of international students is the assumption that students can serve both as cultural ambassadors and resources (Klineberg, 1970; Mestenhauser, 1983; Paige, 1990), and as links between cultures (Eide, 1970). It has also been assumed that these cultural links could help reduce inter-group tension, prejudice, hostility and discriminatory behaviour, and to help increase international understanding and co-operation (Amir, 1969; Baron and Bachman, 1987; Fulbright, 1976) . These assumptions, however, have not always been supported. On the contrary mental health problems such as depression, psychosomatic complaints, anxiety and paranoid reactions (Jou and Fukada, 1997a and b; Sam and Eide, 1991; Ward, 1967; Ying and Liese, 1991) have been suggested to characterise international students. These are in addition to socio-cultural problems (e.g., language difficulties, difficulties in negotiating day-to-day social activities and, racial and ethnic discrimination) (Furnham and Bochner, 1982; Kagan and Cohen, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1993) and academic problems such as failure (Aich, 1963; Barker et al., 1991) have been documented as characterising international students overseas sojourn. Life Satisfacion (LS) has been defined as a global evaluation by the person of his or her life (Pavot et al., 1991, p. 150), and has been identified as a key aspect of quality of life and Subjective Well Being (SWB) (Mannel and Dupuis 1996). SWB is a way of defining a good life, and is often referred to as happiness. People who experience abundant SWB have many pleasures and few pains, and they feel satisfied with their lives (Diener, 2000). Satisfaction also refers to the cognitive/judgemental aspects of SWB (Neto, 1995). Diener and his colleagues (1999) argued that, SWB and happiness, has both an affective (i.e., emotional) and a cognitive (i.e., judgmental) component. The affective component consists of how frequently an individual reports experiencing positive and negative effects. In addition to this, previous research (Diener et al., 1999) has found college students consider happiness and LS to be extremely important, and there is evidence that increased LS impacts upon academi c performance in college students (Rode et al., 2005). Research has shown that increased LS and happiness may be related to goal progression (Emmons, 1986), close social relationships (Myers, 2000), and being involved in flow activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Moreover, Veenhoven (1991) uses the definition of LS as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life as a whole favourably. (1991: 10). This idea emphasises satisfaction with ones life, implies contentment with or acceptance of ones life circumstances, or the fulfilment of ones wants and needs for ones life as a whole. Furthermore, the need satisfaction model (Maslow, 1970; McClelland, 1961) and the spill over (Diener, 1984;Wilensky, 1960) theories provide useful frameworks to conceptualise the processes that underlie happiness in a life domain. The basic premise of the need satisfaction model is that people have basic needs they seek to fulfil in each life domain. Individuals derive satisfaction in a particular life domain when events and experience related to that domain fulfil their needs. Therefore, this model seems to suggest that people who are successful in satisfying their needs are likely to enjoy greater SWB than those who are less successful. For example, a person reports high satisfaction of her health life domain based on positive experiences concerning health-related activities such as a healthy diet, regular exercise and attention to medical needs. Moreover, the spill over theories of quality of life are viewed as having two broad types; bottom-up and top-down theories. Firstly, bott om-up theories assume that LS is a summary evaluation of aspects of ones life. For example, one is satisfied with life because one has good social relationships, enough money, weight under control, and an interesting job (Choi et al., 2007; George and Landerman, 1984; Larsen, 1978). Secondly, top-down theories assume that LS is due to personality influences. For example, a neurotic individual is more dissatisfied in general with his or her job, social relationships, weight, and income in particular ( Shepard, 1974; Kremer and Harpaz, 1982). Although there may be some agreement about the important qualities of the good life, with considerations like health and successful relationships, each individual assigns different values to these factors (Diener et al., 1985). Each person has his or her own values, criteria, and basis for evaluation. Furthermore, considerable research effort has been devoted to the study of adults perception of the quality of their lives, including LS judgements. LS research is supported by the variety of measures appropriate for adults, such as the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot and Diener, 1993), Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch et al., 1992), Life Satisfaction Index (Neugarten et al., 1961), and the Salamon-Conte LS in the Elderly Scale (Salamon and Conte, 1984). Several studies have been carried out regarding LS and the results of these studies emphasise that LS is related to different factors. A great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. Due to variation in the characteristics of the included samples such as age, gender or culture questions which are commonly found in questionnaires as well as included indicators, different factors have been found to be associated with LS. Campbell (1981) indicates that there are at least 12 domains involved in contributing to LS. These are health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreational activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation, and education (Campbell, 1981). Specific cultural and social factors also have been found to play an important role in determining LS and happiness (Triandis, 2000). LS is used worldwide in research including adults, young people, students, older people etc. (Baiyewu and Jegede 1992; H illeras et al. 2001b,Neugarten et al. 1961; Vitterso et al. 2002; Wood et al. 1969) and is supposed to be a useful outcome variable in different countries. Cultural context is an important element that influences an individuals cognitive evaluation of ones life. Culture affects people in a variety of basic psychological domains, including self-concept, attribution and reasoning, interpersonal communication, negotiation, intergroup relations, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). Sociologists and social psychologists are interested in socio-demographic patterns that emerge when people evaluate their overall living conditions (Veenhoven 1984; Argyle 1999; Headey and Wearing 1992; Hagerty et al. 2000; Glatzer and Zapf 1984). However, socio-demographic factors account for less than 20% of the variance of SWB, a finding confirmed in several studies (Campbell et al. 1976; Andrews and Withey 1976; Diener and Suh 1997). Many efforts have been made to analyse determinants of LS and researchers from several disciplines illuminate this subject from different perspectiv es. The study revealed that the standard of living, access to employment, job satisfaction, marriage, social relationships, social networks, and health were the most decisive factors when explaining variations in LS within countries. Previous research also indicate that these factors have a positive impact on individuals LS (Diener et al. 1999) with results also showing that individuals with high LS have such benefits including physical health, mental health, good interpersonal relationships, and educational and vocational success (Frisch, 2000; Park, 2003, 2004; Veenhoven, 1989). More recently, economists have shown an interest in explaining LS outcomes with respect to reported SWB as a proxy for individual utility. They primarily focus on cross-country comparisons, the question of marginal utility of income, and the relationship between absolute and relative levels of income on SWB (Frey and Stutzer 2002a, b; Oswald 1997; Layard 2005). Moreover, LS differs a great deal between individuals and between European countries. The previous study within the enlarged European Union shows average LS in 2003, measured on a scale from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied), ranged from 8.38 in Denmark to 4.41 in Bulgaria. In every country high income goes hand in hand with higher LS scores. However, poor people in Denmark are nevertheless more satisfied than rich people in Bulgaria. The large differences in the overall level of LS between old and new member states have so far been explained with reference to the level of economic prosperity in each country (Fahey and Smyth 2004). Moreover, several studies have pointed out that poorer countries tend to possess lower LS than richer ones. To support this idea, Leelakulthanit and Day (1993) compared the LS scores of Americans and Thais. The results showed that Americans were more satisfied with their lives than Thais. Similarly, Diener et al., (1995) investigated LS among American, Korean, and Chinese college students. The results of the study illustrated that American college students scored more highly on LS, positive feelings and influential factors (e.g., income and wealth of the countries) than both Chinese and Korean college students. The results of these studies emphasized that the countries with high qualities (such as income, wealth, education) have higher LS scores than the countries who have low quality of standards . Conversely, Heady et al. (2004) instead analysed household panel data for five countries and found the happiness measure to be considerably more affected by economic fac tors than found in most of the earlier literature. The economic factors in the study include wealth and consumption expenditures and among the findings are that wealth has a stronger impact on happiness than income and that non-durable consumption expenditures are as important for happiness as income. Recent cross-country studies have therefore returned to this issue, questioning the insignificance of economic factors, which led to a heated debate in Social Science Indicators between Richard Easterlin, who defended the standard conclusion that average income does not matter, and Michael Hagerty and Ruud Veenhoven, who opposed this and argued that positive happiness trends in most nations were caused by income growth (Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003; Easterlin 2005; Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006). Moreover, a number of previous studies exposed evidence about health playing a critical role in overall LS. In fact, health has long been viewed as one of the major factors to LS as previous studies have found that health plays a crucial role on individuals LS (Linn et al., 1988; Michalos, Zumbo, Hubley, 2000; Okun et al., 1984; Parkerson, Broadhead, Tse, 1990). Additionally, a number of previous studies have examined the relationship between LS and health factors such as obesity, alcohol use, suicidal thoughts, physical activity, stress, and academic performance in different populations. For example, the study of the Moum (1996) found that people who score high on LS measures are less likely to attempt suicide. Lewinsohn et al., (1991) also pointed out that people who score high on LS are less likely to become depressed in the future . Several researches have also examined that LS is related to healthy behaviours in a number of different populations (Kelly, 2004; Rudolf Watts, 20 02; Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b). To support this idea, Statistics Canada Web Site (2009), found that Canadians LS was related to their health. The statistics showed that people who were satisfied with their lives reported that their health was excellent (62.5%) and only 8.4% of people who were satisfied with life reported poor health. Conversely, of those people who were not satisfied with their lives, 54.2% reported that their health was poor. As a result, this study found that weak levels of health are directly related to low levels of satisfaction with life, low levels of morality, and low levels of satisfaction. This study also stresses that public health provisions have an important role on the improvements of individuals quality of life. For example, Life expectancy in France or Germany has risen sharply. However, this improvement is not due to high-technology. These countries attach importance to improve the quality of health in urban sanitation. The main aim here is relatively low-cost treatment (for example; antibiotics for childrens ear infections) (Deaton, 2008). From the past to the present, a great deal of psychological research has explored the sources of peoples LS. These sources include ones overall wealth, whether one is single or married, male or female (Gold et al., 2002; Murtagh Hubert, 2004), or young or old (Diener, 1984; Mercier et al., 1998; Prenda Lachman, 2001) A few studies have investigated international undergraduate students Satisfaction with Life (SWL) in the pattern of culture associates. Definition of the SWL emphasises the individuals own Quality of Life (QoL) based on their selected standards (Shin and Johnson, 1978). Each individuals decisions about their own particular criteria of their QoL can help them to judge and establish their own SWL (Diener et al., 1985). This shows that ones SWL is not a universally determined criteria of QoL, because each individual is judging their SWL by their own evaluation of the QoL. This is one of the important reasons to focus on people of diverse ethnic background and their differ ent values and perceptions of what may characterise the good life (Diener et al., 1985). Another important reason to study SWL and Culture across different nations is based on cultural factors (such as ones quality of life) that play an important role on individuals happiness. Veenhoven (1991) found that living in an economically prosperous country where freedom and democracy are respected; political stability; being a part of a majority rather than a minority; being toward the top of the social ladder; being married and having good relationships with family and friends; being mentally and physically healthy; being active and open minded; feeling in control of ones life; having aspirations in social and moral matters rather than money-making and being politically conservative are significantly related with individuals happiness rather than unhappiness. Moreover, other researchers have established that individuals from different cultures have different levels of economic and social satisfactions with their Jobs. For example, people who have the same jobs but who live in different countries might have different levels of job satisfaction because of cultural influences (Cranny et al., 1992; Gallie Russell, 1998). This signifies that both economic (money) and social (interest) satisfaction with work, such as individuals quality of their working styles, experiences and achievements, is another very important component of individuals overall SWL (Frijters et al., 2003; Kraft 2000). Furthermore, health is a subjective phenomenon manifested as the experience of wellness/illness based on individuals evaluations of how they are feeling and doing. There are variety of factors on an individuals health satisfaction which have been related to their LS such as weight (Ball et al., 2004), alcohol use (Murphy et al., 2005), stress (Schnohr et al., 2005), and physical activity (Valois, Zullig, Huebner, Drane, 2004b) These have been shown to be related to life satisfaction in different populations. The relationship between LS and various aspects of perceived health has been investigated in different nations because in different cultures people have different health institutions and services which can affect both their QoL and SWL. Previous researchers found that there is a positive relationship between subjective health and LS (Arrindell et al., 1999; Lohr et al., 1988; Rapkin Fischer, 1992; Willits Crider, 1988). The information above supports that to study both SWL and culture have been useful in illuminating how individuals differ in their SWL from different nations and the role of culture. A Number of studies emphasize that culture affects individuals from several basic psychological domains. For example, attribution and reasoning, intergroup relations, interpersonal communication, self-concept, negotiation, and psychological well-being (Brewer Chen, 2007; Fiske et al., 1998; Lehman et al., 2004; Markus Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). From the theory and research presented in this review, it can be seen that cultural factors are the integrative parts of the LS. According to this, this study will focus on the Culture and LS amongst international students to see whether culture plays an important role on the undergraduate students LS from five different cultures. The specific aims of the study are three-fold. Firstly, it determines whether there is a relationship between international students LS and CS amongst five different countries. Secondly, it specifies whether the international students have differences in CS in general factors (i.e. quality of services/ city/life etc.), social relationships, job satisfaction, health, authority and public safety across five different countries. Thirdly, it explores whether there is an LS difference between International Students from five different countries which are China, India, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. In this study, I will focus on more cross-cultural phenomenon of the st udents satisfaction as well as its link with cross-cultural differences in the bases of LS (Schimmack et al., 2002; Suh et al., 1998) and provide tests of an empirically supported explanation for the differences. When people construct judgments about their overall LS, different cultural members place relative emphasis on different aspects of life. Therefore the hypotheses for this study are: There will be correlation between LS and CS amongst International Students from five different countries . There will be a difference in CS between International Students from five different countries There will be a difference in LS between International Students from five different countries. METHOD SECTION Participants A total of 100 students from the University of Northampton (UCN) in Northampton participated in the study. The sample for the current study comprised of 100 students, with twenty participants from each of the five nations India, Africa, China, United Kingdom and Turkey. Participants were selected from these five countries because many students from these countries came across to study in the University of Northampton. All participants were more than 18 years of age. Both males and females between the ages of 18-25 were selected. Each participant was required to complete both Questionnaire Section A of Life Satisfaction and Section B of the Cultural Satisfaction (see Appendix 2). All student participation was voluntary. Apparatus/Measurements The measures for the study were either taken directly or with modification from existing scales as described below. With the exception of the Satisfaction With Life Scale, all the items reported here were answered on a 5-point Likert Scale. Life Satisfaction : Global life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) to measure the life satisfaction of the international undergraduate students. The SWLS is a five-item inventory with a 7-point scale. The five items used to measure satisfaction with life are : (a) In most ways my life is close to ideal; (b) The conditions of my life are excellent; (c) I am satisfied with my life; (d) So far I have gotten the important things I want in life; and (e) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Participants respond to each item on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), yielding a possible total score ranging from 5 to 35 (see appendix 2). Satisfaction With Culture: Participants cultural life satisfaction was measured by questions both from Quality of Life Satisfaction Survey (2003) (QLS) (cited in Delhey, 2004) and the 2006 General User Satisfaction Survey (GUSS) (Torbay Council, 2006). Researcher also prepared some of the questions. The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction within six cultural life domains: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety were considered important influences on individuals life satisfaction. Participants respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (see appendix 2). General : The general questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of twenty-three out of the 70 items, was added to the beginning of the Cultural life satisfaction scale in order to measure general life satisfaction about the cultural factors. The researcher also prepared the questions from 1 to 19. However, questions 20 to 23 from the general section were obtained from QLS. Students were expected to respond to each item based on a five-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of items are It is a good place to live, overall quality of life in the city, water quality, noise etc. However, nine items were measured on an ordinal scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of general services (e.g. health services, public transport, education system etc.). Participants again respond to each item on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (poor) to 5 (very high). Higher values indicate higher LS. Social Relationships : To achieve a high level of joy and happiness in life, people must be socially involved with people. This involves getting along well with others, having friends and companions, and offering help to those who need it. This part evaluates international students social relationships in their home countries through sixteen items. However, five questions about the tensions between different groups were obtained from QLS. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer Very many tensions and 5 to No tension at all. Moreover, eleven questions consisted of general problems about parents, children, teenagers etc. These eleven questions were also prepared by the Researcher. Statements such as parents not taking responsibility for the behaviour of their children, noisy neighbours or loud parties and people being attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion etc. The items were also based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (a very big p roblem) to 5 (not a problem at all). Job Satisfaction: In this section questions asked students to evaluate their overall Job satisfaction and financial situation. Questions in the Job Satisfaction section were adapted from QLS. A list of seven items was constructed to measure the job satisfaction variable. Items were presented on a 5- point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Items included My work is dull and boring , I am well paid, and My job offers good prospects for career advancement etc. Health Perception : The health perception variable was measured on a Likert scale that assessed satisfaction with current state of health services in international students countries. This section consisted of eight items. Questions 1 to 4 from the health section were obtained from QLS. However, questions from 5 to 8 were obtained from GUSS. Items were presented on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very satisfied to very dissatisfied where 1 corresponds to the answer very dissatisfied and 5 to very satisfied, and included statements such as waiting time to see doctor on day of appointment, Quality of Hospitals and Deal with patients etc. Authority: The authority section consists of seven items. Question 1 and 7 from the authority section were adapted from GUSS . Also, questions 2 to 6 were prepared by the researcher . The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, and included statements such as how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with each of the following services provided or supported by your country City Council such as; Sports/leisure facilities and events, libraries, museum, galleries, theatre etc. Scoring goes from 1 to 5, where 1 corresponds to the answer strongly disagree and 5 to strongly agree. Public Safety: Public safety questions about the cultural life satisfaction, which consists of nine items. Questions in the Public Safety section were prepared by the researcher. Questions include how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood during the day? and how safe do you feel walking in your neighbourhood after dark? etc. The responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very unsafe to very safe, and 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Procedure Before the experiment participants were asked to read the standardised instructions (see appendix 3 ) and to give their consent verbally. According to the standardised instructions, participants were fully informed what the study was going to investigate. The standard instructions informed the students of the purpose of the study; that participation was voluntary and the responses were going to be treated confidentially. Also, it explained the details of what participants would have to do and were allowed to ask any questions. Experimenters informed the participants that the aim of the study was to investigate whether there is a relation between participants general life satisfaction and cultural life satisfaction. By giving their consent to taking part in the study, they were agreeing to be involved in this study and were then asked to sign the consent form (see appendix 4) and read the brief (see appendix 4). After that, participants were asked to fill in the questionnaire. The que stionnaire consisted of two sections; section A and section B. Section A was about the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) to measure life satisfaction. The scale comprises of five-items and the responses were made on a 7-point agree-disagree Likert scale (Diener et al., 1985). On the other hand, section B was about cultural life satisfaction (Questions were obtained from QoL). The Satisfaction with Culture survey is a 70-item Likert scale and was designed to measure international students cultural satisfaction. The scale provides scores for six dimensions namely for the participants satisfaction with their nations. The six sections of the cultural satisfaction are: general, social relationships, job satisfaction, health perception, authority and public safety considered important on individuals cultural life satisfaction. According to participants responses, negative scores indicate dissatisfaction, whereas positive scores indicate satisfaction of the specific domain for the individuals life satisfaction. In this experiment, participants were not timed. Therefore, all the participants had the same life satisfaction and cultural satisfaction scale. Participants were also aware that they were allowed to withdraw at anytime without giving reason. After the experiment, the experimenter gave the participants a cue sheet which consisted of a brief explanation of what the study was about and the experimenters e-mail address (see appendix 5). Also, each Life satisfaction scale had the participant number recorded on the top of the paper so, if the participants changed their minds and wanted to retract their results from the study, they could email the experimenter and give their paper number by 01-01-2010. Also, participants were allowed to ask any questions. There was no deception of the participants in this study. Finally, no personal data was requested. As a result, the participants were anonymous . Questionnaires will be kept confidential and securely kept in the locked answers cupboard. Design This study was performed to determine the relation between culture and life satisfaction. The dependent variable of the study was the life satisfaction and the independent variable was culture. In this experiment, participants were sampled around the university campus and each participant received only one questionnaire. All experime

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Motivating Sales Engineers in the Industrial Business Essay -- Busines

Introduction Salespeople are often internally driven and self-motivated (Srivastava and Rangarajan, 2008), and are increasingly becoming consultants who sell value-added services (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Nowadays more industrial companies employ sales engineers (SE) and therefore they represent an emerging class of knowledge workers on sales (Darr, 2002). I will first describe my experience in Festo, before briefly addressing some theories about motivation, related to it. Was there a mismatch between theory and business as I knew it? If so, I will try to identify it, and to explain why Festo's incentives failed with me. Finally, I will suggest how Festo should have motivated its SE, based on the theory previously discussed. What is a SE? I have mainly worked as a salesperson, although having studied engineering. Then, let me ask: what is a SE? A salesperson with a strong technical knowledge on the field he/she is selling. Furthermore, a SE could be defined as a technical-consultant salesperson or a knowledge worker (Darr, 2002). These ideas somehow extend Lidstone's definition of a technical salesperson: someone who sells industrial products, equipment or highly engineered components; put a major emphasis in his/her know-how, are often worried with technical details, and tends to forget his/her job is to sell (1995). SE at Festo Festo Argentina had around 20 SE (2007) nationwide (from a workforce of 120), half of them farther away than 400 miles from main office. Every SE had a different emotional background (psychological characteristics), engineering field (industrial, electronic, mechanical), and socioeconomic situation (some married, others young and single; well-off, working class, etc.). We were distributed geograp... .../2010]. Pritchard, R. and Ashwood, E. (2008). Managing motivation: a manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Smith, A. and Rupp, W. (2003). An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure. Marketing & Intelligence Planning, 21/3, pp.156-167. Smyth and Murphy (1969). Compensating and motivating salesmen. New York: American Management Association. Srivastava, R. and Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s â€Å"feedback-satisfaction† linkage: what role does job perceptions play?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23/3, pp. 151–160. Steers, R. and Porter, L. (1987). Motivation and work behaviour, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Stewart, G. (1994). Successful Sales Management, 3rd edition. London: Pitman Publishing. Motivating Sales Engineers in the Industrial Business Essay -- Busines Introduction Salespeople are often internally driven and self-motivated (Srivastava and Rangarajan, 2008), and are increasingly becoming consultants who sell value-added services (Smith and Rupp, 2003). Nowadays more industrial companies employ sales engineers (SE) and therefore they represent an emerging class of knowledge workers on sales (Darr, 2002). I will first describe my experience in Festo, before briefly addressing some theories about motivation, related to it. Was there a mismatch between theory and business as I knew it? If so, I will try to identify it, and to explain why Festo's incentives failed with me. Finally, I will suggest how Festo should have motivated its SE, based on the theory previously discussed. What is a SE? I have mainly worked as a salesperson, although having studied engineering. Then, let me ask: what is a SE? A salesperson with a strong technical knowledge on the field he/she is selling. Furthermore, a SE could be defined as a technical-consultant salesperson or a knowledge worker (Darr, 2002). These ideas somehow extend Lidstone's definition of a technical salesperson: someone who sells industrial products, equipment or highly engineered components; put a major emphasis in his/her know-how, are often worried with technical details, and tends to forget his/her job is to sell (1995). SE at Festo Festo Argentina had around 20 SE (2007) nationwide (from a workforce of 120), half of them farther away than 400 miles from main office. Every SE had a different emotional background (psychological characteristics), engineering field (industrial, electronic, mechanical), and socioeconomic situation (some married, others young and single; well-off, working class, etc.). We were distributed geograp... .../2010]. Pritchard, R. and Ashwood, E. (2008). Managing motivation: a manager’s guide to diagnosing and improving motivation. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Smith, A. and Rupp, W. (2003). An examination of emerging strategy and sales performance: motivation, chaotic change and organizational structure. Marketing & Intelligence Planning, 21/3, pp.156-167. Smyth and Murphy (1969). Compensating and motivating salesmen. New York: American Management Association. Srivastava, R. and Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s â€Å"feedback-satisfaction† linkage: what role does job perceptions play?. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23/3, pp. 151–160. Steers, R. and Porter, L. (1987). Motivation and work behaviour, 4th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc. Stewart, G. (1994). Successful Sales Management, 3rd edition. London: Pitman Publishing.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Gettysburg :: American America History

Gettysburg By late afternoon, on the 2nd July, 1863, after fierce hand to hand fighting, Major General John B. Hood's 3rd Division's flanking attack on Big Round Top had been successful. Meade realising the lack of troops on the Round Tops had rushed the 1st Maine to try to thwart Jackson who having let Hood bypass Sickles force in the Peach Orchard caught way out in front of the main Union lines and seize the Top (s). Sickle was outflanked and held by Laws Brigade leaving only the 1st Maine to take the brunt of the killing power of the massed Confederate infantry. Colonel Chamberlain, commanding was killed in the first volley and whatever morale the Union troops retained was soon broken. It was over in less than ten minutes, the remnants of the Federal forces streamed back to the relative safety of their main line on Cemetery Ridge. Hood sent reports of the securing of the Tops to Jackson.Thomas'Stonewall' Jackson had assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia after Robert E.Lee was wounded by a stray shell late on the afternoon of the 1st. Though not serious, General Lee had shrapnel wounds to both legs and concussion and command had passed to his deputy, Jackson. Jackson sent for Lieutenant-General Longstreet and ordered him to get his artillery onto the Tops and commence bombardment of Meade's forces. Cabell's Battalion of Artillery is despatched to Big Round Top and commences an immediate cannonade. Alexander has despatched half his cannon to assist and by 7.00pm 67 cannon are belching their deadly breath down on Cemetery Ridge. In the pitch dark lit only by the shell bursts of the Confederate fire the Union troops mill about in panic. Orders are countermandered , duplicated and totally confused as officers try to keep their various charges in check. The casualty toll is becoming horrendous and more and more troops are trying to flee the field. Unfortunately, in the dark they have little sense of direction and hundreds are going from one field of slaughter to another as Ewell has his men on battle stations on the right flank. Those fleeing forward rush into Pickett's command . At 10 pm the bombardment ceases as the Rebel artillerists realise they are running low on ready supplies of shells. Though they would not realise until morning that the battle was won, they had done the damage with their evening fusilade. Gettysburg :: American America History Gettysburg By late afternoon, on the 2nd July, 1863, after fierce hand to hand fighting, Major General John B. Hood's 3rd Division's flanking attack on Big Round Top had been successful. Meade realising the lack of troops on the Round Tops had rushed the 1st Maine to try to thwart Jackson who having let Hood bypass Sickles force in the Peach Orchard caught way out in front of the main Union lines and seize the Top (s). Sickle was outflanked and held by Laws Brigade leaving only the 1st Maine to take the brunt of the killing power of the massed Confederate infantry. Colonel Chamberlain, commanding was killed in the first volley and whatever morale the Union troops retained was soon broken. It was over in less than ten minutes, the remnants of the Federal forces streamed back to the relative safety of their main line on Cemetery Ridge. Hood sent reports of the securing of the Tops to Jackson.Thomas'Stonewall' Jackson had assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia after Robert E.Lee was wounded by a stray shell late on the afternoon of the 1st. Though not serious, General Lee had shrapnel wounds to both legs and concussion and command had passed to his deputy, Jackson. Jackson sent for Lieutenant-General Longstreet and ordered him to get his artillery onto the Tops and commence bombardment of Meade's forces. Cabell's Battalion of Artillery is despatched to Big Round Top and commences an immediate cannonade. Alexander has despatched half his cannon to assist and by 7.00pm 67 cannon are belching their deadly breath down on Cemetery Ridge. In the pitch dark lit only by the shell bursts of the Confederate fire the Union troops mill about in panic. Orders are countermandered , duplicated and totally confused as officers try to keep their various charges in check. The casualty toll is becoming horrendous and more and more troops are trying to flee the field. Unfortunately, in the dark they have little sense of direction and hundreds are going from one field of slaughter to another as Ewell has his men on battle stations on the right flank. Those fleeing forward rush into Pickett's command . At 10 pm the bombardment ceases as the Rebel artillerists realise they are running low on ready supplies of shells. Though they would not realise until morning that the battle was won, they had done the damage with their evening fusilade.