Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Homo Erectus Colonization in Europe

Geoarchaeologists working on the coast of the North Sea of Britain at Pakefield in Suffolk, England have discovered artifacts suggesting that our human ancestor Homo erectus arrived in northern Europe much earlier than previously thought. Homo Erectus in England According to an article published in Nature on December 15, 2005, an international team led by Simon Parfitt of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain  (AHOB) project has discovered 32 pieces of black flint debitage, including a core and retouched flake, in alluvial sediments dated to about 700,000 years ago. These artifacts represent the debris created by flintknapping, the manufacture of a stone tool, possibly for butchering purposes. The flint chips were recovered from four separate places within the channel fill deposits of a stream bed which in-filled during the inter-glacial period of the Early Pleistocene. This means that the artifacts were what archaeologists call out of primary context. In other words, fill in stream channels comes from soils moved downstream from other places. The occupation site—the site where the flintknapping took place—may be just a little upstream, or quite a ways upstream, or may, in fact, have been completely destroyed by movements o f the stream bed. Nevertheless, the location of the artifacts in this old channel bed does mean that the artifacts must be at least as old as the channel fill; or, according to researchers, at least 700,000 years ago. The Oldest Homo Erectus The oldest known Homo erectus site outside of Africa is Dmanisi, in the Republic of Georgia, dated to approximately 1.6 million years ago. Gran Dolina in the Atapuerca valley of Spain includes evidence of Homo erectus at 780,000 years ago. But the earliest known Homo erectus site in England prior to the discoveries at Pakefield is Boxgrove, only 500,000 years old. The Artifacts The artifact assemblage, or rather assemblages since they were in four separate areas, include a core fragment with several hard-hammer percussion flakes removed from it and a retouched flake. A core fragment is the term used by archaeologists to mean the original hunk of stone from which flakes were removed. Hard hammer means the flintknappers used a rock to bang on the core to get flattish, sharp-edged chips called flakes. Flakes produced in this manner may be used as tools, and a retouched flake is a flake that shows evidence of this use. The rest of the artifacts are unretouched flakes. The tool assemblage is probably not Acheulean, which includes handaxes, but is characterized in the article as Mode 1. Mode 1 is a very old, simple technology of flakes, pebble tools, and choppers made with hard hammer percussion. Implications Since at the time England was connected to Eurasia by a land bridge, the Pakefield artifacts dont imply that Homo erectus needed boats to get to the North Sea coastline. Neither does it imply that Homo erectus originated in Europe; the oldest Homo erectus are found at Koobi Fora, in Kenya, where a long history of earlier hominin ancestors is also known. Interestingly, the artifacts from the Pakefield site also do not imply that Homo erectus adapted to a cooler, chillier climate; during the time period in which the artifacts were deposited, the climate in Suffolk was balmier, closer to the Mediterranean climate traditionally considered the climate of choice for Homo erectus. Homo erectus or heidelbergensis? The Nature article merely says early man, referring to either Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis. Basically, H. heidelbergensis is still very enigmatic, but may be a transitional stage between H. erectus and modern humans or a separate species. There are no hominid remains recovered from Pakefield as of yet, so the people who lived at Pakefield may have been either one. Resources and Further Reading Parfitt, Simon L. The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe. Nature 438, Renà © W. Barendregt, Marzia Breda, et al., Nature, December 14, 2005. Roebroeks, Wil. Life on the Costa del Cromer. Nature 438, Nature, December 14, 2005. An unsigned article in British Archaeology titled Hunting for the first humans in Britain and dated 2003 describes the work of AHOB. The December 2005 issue of British Archaeology has an article on the findings. Thanks to members of BritArch for their additions.

Monday, December 23, 2019

People Hear The Word Immigration - 1647 Words

Yasmine Sanchez English 1302 T-Th 7-8:30 Professor M.H. Andrews 06 November 2015 They are here, Embrace for impact In this day and age, when people hear the word immigration, they quickly come up with what it means to be an immigrant and make up their own conclusion about the hot topic issue. What we as Americans believe immigration is depends on a lot of different factors, such as, what we do for a living, what part of the United States we live in, and most importantly our very own personal interactions with people coming from other cultures. More times than not, if you live in one of the few states that touch the boarder of Mexico such as Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico your perspective of â€Å"immigration† is more likely very different from those people who may live in parts of the United States far from the Mexican border. As defined by dictionary.com an immigrant is any foreign-born individual, including naturalized U.S. citizens, documented immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Notice that they used the word individual. They did not specify a specific nationality, rac e, or even defined a country. If â€Å"this land is your land, and this land is my land†, why can we not share it? What is so wrong with allowing immigrants to stay and have an equal opportunity to achieve the same amount of success and through working hard, staying focused, and taking the initiative? There is a lot of misconceptions about allowing both legal and illegal immigrants to live in theShow MoreRelatedThe Attitudes Of Minority And Immigration929 Words   |  4 PagesFor my investigative assignment on the conceptions of minority and immigration, I have interviewed three people whom I interviewed separately for better and credible results. They are all Asian Americans and two of them are American born and one of them is a foreign born but has a permanent resident status. When I asked them what they think when they hear the word â€Å"minority,† all three of my interviewees answered as groups of people who are not white. Though one interviewee, whom I will address asRead MoreImmigration : Pe rceptions Of Immigration893 Words   |  4 PagesPerceptions of Immigration Many people around the world have to move to different countries for different situations. Some of them have to move because their parents were transferred by their work. Others are moving because they want to live in another country. There are other people that move because they are looking for new opportunities to succeed or because they are escaping because of violet reasons in their countries. This process of moving from one country to another is called immigration. This wordRead MoreImmigration Policies During The 9 / 11848 Words   |  4 Pages This week’s materials cover the immigration policies, and meso-social analysis of how the immigrants in certain communities adapt. Rosenblum looks at the immigration policies before and after the 9/11 tragedy in the United States, and how the incident impacted the immigration laws amended/proposed, or blocked from passing (namely comprehensive immigration reform). Martin looks at the types of immigration, history of immigration and immigrations laws, and demographic, economical and politicalRead MoreCritical Analytical Argument On Immigration1586 Words   |  7 PagesNorris Ericka Galluppi HUM 115- Critical Analytical Argument Immigration 3/26/16 Immigration CAA Paper Background Uncontrollable, problematic, and overly populated are words that come to mind when immigration is mentioned. For many years’ immigration has become a huge problem throughout the world, in several places. Immigration is the migration of non-native citizens into a country with the hopes of settling there (â€Å"immigration†). People of different ethnicities settling into another country withoutRead MoreWhy Mexico And Not Canada988 Words   |  4 PagesHow do people feel when something completely biased is not in their favor? When people are specifically targeted against for doing nothing wrong, is a horrible feeling. This is what happens every day to Mexicans. Mexicans are practically hated if they try to come in our country compared to the Canadians we enjoy having. People are shocked with the eye-opening question, â€Å"why Mexico and not Canada†. This is not because Mexicans are any worse but because there is a stereotype problem. . . . This isRead More The Rea l Issue Behind the Immigration Debate Essay example518 Words   |  3 Pages The controversy over immigration has typically overlooked the political purpose of immigration: to supply citizens who will cherish and uphold the American Founding principles of equality and liberty, of government by consent and the rule of law. Founding a new nation and then perpetuating it are the two greatest challenges of statesmen. Part of that task of perpetuation—and Abraham Lincoln reminded us that it can be a more difficult task than founding—is creating new citizens. In theRead MoreUndocumented Border By Erin Clark1592 Words   |  7 PagesUndocumented Border Movement By Erin Clark Immigration, a controversial topic of the modern world, is often associated with illegalities of the Government. The topic continues to loom over the 21st century as more and more poverty stricken countries are under financial strain. It is the national movement of people into a country in which they are not natives or where they do not possess residency and citizenship as their own country has fallen due to possibly natural disasters, war and regimeRead MoreThe Immigration Of The United States1711 Words   |  7 PagesThe vast majority of people living in the United States are descendants of immigrants, and yet majority of them are against them. It is quickly forgotten that America was built on immigrants that wanted a new life. A life free from harsh government, and the freedom from forced religion. The original settlers were immigrants that stole this land; immigrants continued to come for years. It is not a newly constructed concept that immigrants have always been a problem, as k any Native American. One usedRead MoreVisiting The Seabrook Park Mural Essay1639 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Presidential election on immigration and the building of the boarder wall. It all started with a visit to the Seabrook Park Mural for our assignment. I was enjoying all of the great artwork on the mural but continued coming back to one specific artwork. The words Umoja = Unity (Figure 1) continued to stand out to me and knowing this assignment I began thinking about what Unity actually means. I began by looking up the word Umoja and found it to be a Swahili word which means to strive for andRead MoreIllegal Immigration From Latin America Is On The News All1095 Words   |  5 PagesIllegal immigration from Latin America is on the news all the time in the United States, almost a daily basis on the main network channels. From President Trump calling for a wall on the Mexican-American border, to major cities like New York and Chicago declaring themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. Both sides seem to throw out labels without care for the truth, or opinions that differ from their own. 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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Negative and Positive Sides Free Essays

Anything that exists has both negative and positive sides of it. What we have to look at however, is if the positive side outweighs the negative side of it. Most of the time people are blind to the positive side and only look at the negative side of things. We will write a custom essay sample on Negative and Positive Sides or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is also similar when it comes to hip hop and rap music. Hip hop has it negative side and the positive sides as well. One of the main negative issues associated with hip hop and drugs is usually the issue of its influence on and the promotion of drug use. Drugs are usually the main topic that is discussed in most of the hip hop songs and rap music. Marijuana for one is one of the main things that is discussed and sung of in many hip hop and rap music. Cocaine, another drug is also one topic that has been sung of by hip hop artists and rappers. Cocaine for example has been affiliated with rap since the year 1983. Since then, there has been a ton of rap songs that have actually promoted drug use. For example the song, â€Å"Young, Wild, and Free† by Wiz Khalifa is one that promotes the use of drugs. This can be a very bad influence on its target, that is, the teenage fan base. This is also an awful way to market ones music since it make it seem okay to use drugs and alcohol. Sadly though, the most people affected by this message are the teenagers who are the largest percentage of our population that listens to this kind of music. This can influence them to join the drug abused and even start the use of alcohol. Some other drugs that are mentioned in these songs include mushrooms, hash, purple pills and heroine most of which can be very harmful to the health of a person.Another negative side of hip hop music is that it has an influence on the sex lives of the youths. Nowadays, a lot of hip hop and rap music videos have a lot of sexual scenes in them. This in turn has an influence on the sexual decision that the youths make whenever they watch these videos. They tend to think that it is okay to intimate with whoever they want to despite the number of people. This has led to an increase in the risk of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Hip hop and rap music sometimes also promotes violence especially among teenagers. Hip hop music are mostly full of lyrics that depict people who break the law as cool and classy people. Rap music also has a negative view toward the police and the authorities. Most of the time their lyrics are full of hate for the police and have praise for people who go to jail in the name of their hate towards the police. This has an influence on the teenagers who may be tempted to think that escaping from the police and breaking the law is the new â€Å"cool† in town. Most of them may end up being killed or being jailed for petty crimes they see as cool. On the other hand though, hip hop has a lot of good and positive sides as well. First of all hip hop and rap music is unifier and an education channel. Hip hop stared as a subculture among the African Americans but has now become a global culture. As a matter of fact seventy five percent of the people listening to hip hop music are non-blacks. Hip hop has been able to unify millions of youths across the world. Nowadays due to hip hop, there has been the rise of street style dressing that has been depicted form the hip hop artists. This style of dressing has been adapted by the youths who are given a sense of identity by theses fashion trends. Hip hop and rap music has also been very vital in the promotion of political and social awareness. Rap music educates people on very many diverse perspectives and has been used to raise a lot of social issues. Rap has been used as a means for people to use to freely speak concerning their opinions on social and political issues. Through this, it engages the youths into becoming aware and concerned of their opinions and issues. This is very vital in enlightening the youth on the world they live in and the challenges that they are faced with in society and how they can change the situation for the better. One issue that hip hop and rap has helped to create awareness is the issue of racial discrimination and the importance of believing in one’s dreams.Another positive side of rap is that it gives hope to the people who listen to it. Many rappers rap about poverty and the struggles they went through in their upbringing. When they become successful, they share their stories about beating obstacles and struggling to reach the top. This can give a lot of teenagers hope and can challenge them to strive to be the best. This is because if the rapper could make it, they too can. Through understanding and education, rap music has been a tool to spur social awareness in many communities. Rap music has been used to speak against violence and guns among other aspects of life. Most artists communicate a message of peace and anti-violence in their songs. Rappers like the late Tupac Shakur were most of the time criticized for painting a bleak picture of the urban America through their music. However, such lyrics usually brought awareness to the social problems faced by the country, particularly in the inner city. It is crystal clear that hip hop and rap music serves a greater purpose in society. It does more good than harm. Hip hop has been mechanism that gives a voice to the voiceless. It has become a tool to shape the youths on how to tackle the challenges and obstacles they meet in their lives. Hip hop has also been a toll to unite people from the many walks of life. Hip hop is more than just music. It is a culture that unites the world; it gives an identity to those who feel like they don’t have one. Above all, it is good entertainment. Hip hop is thus very much relevant and useful to the society of today. How to cite Negative and Positive Sides, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Analytical Review And Research On Group Assignment

Questions: 1. Assume that your team is responsible for planning the audit for both Wesfarmers (yearended 30 June 2014) and Virgin(year ended 30 June 2014) discuss your strategies inrelation the questions noted below: (a). Identify at least three (3) inherent risks that you would have considered for each companyin the audit planning phase and justify your answer (b). What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have plan to carry out in response to theinherent risks identified by you in (A) above? (c). Carry out an analytical review on the financial statements of these companies in theplanning phase and identify areas of concern (high risk or problem areas) or comfort. Justifyyour answer - identify at least three (3) points for each company. (d). What audit procedures and/or tasks would you have planned to carry out in response to thehigh risks or problem areas identified by you in (C) above? Alternatively, in relation to which areawould you have minimised your evidence gathering procedure? (e). An Independent Auditors Report to the Members has been issued for each company: (i) Identify the type of audit opinion issued by each auditor, and justify your answer. (ii) Do you agree with the type of opinion issued by the auditor? Why or why not? Pleaseindicate an alternative audit opinion if you do not agree with the one issued. (iii) Are there any other matters or events that have taken place after the issue of the audit reportthat strengthens or weakens the auditors opinion? (f). In relation to corporate governance research and justify your answer to the following questions: (i) Do the above companies have any process relating to corporate governance? (ii) Under which section of the annual report would you expect to find information on it? (iii) Do the companies have an audit committee and does it have the correct composition? (iv) In your opinion, are audit committees of benefit to the auditor, the company, the auditingprofession and/or society as a whole? 2. In your own words (as a group/team) briefly explain/answer the questions below andjustify your answer in each instance: (a) What you (as a group/team) understand by audit quality? (b) Do you think that audit quality is an important issue? Why or why not? (c) Do you think that the directors and/or the audit committee assist audit quality? If so, how? (d) The CAANZ (formerly ICAA) in a document titled The Benefit of Audit: A Guide to AuditQuality identified five drivers of audit quality. What are these five drivers? Do they have anyimpact on audit quality? (e) Do you believe that literature of the above nature will be of benefit to the auditor, theauditing profession and/or society as a whole? Why or why not? Answers: 1. (a) To develop the overall audit plan, the auditor, should evaluate the risks inherent in the Financial Statement level. To develop the audit program, the auditor must relate such evaluation of material account balances and various classes of transactions at the assertion level. In the mentioned 2 companies, 3 inherent risks that I would have considered are: i. Weak internal control system: I may have perception that internal controls of the company are good; however in actual the internal controls of the company are not so effective to identify/detect the risk of fraud or miss-happening. ii. Sample selected for auditing while planning audit may not reflect the true sample of the transactions and this is one of the biggest inherent risk of the company. iii. Misrepresentation of the financial statements: Financial Statements may be mis-presented or mis-stated; the reason for this may be lack of understanding among the accounting staff or may be due to complexity of transactions. iv. Auditor, to a limited extent in his disposal in order to minimize the inherent risks, has the following recourse. (b) Auditor should update his knowledge on latest edition of various topics such as laws, regulations, etc, complete knowledge of the customer's business, thorough understanding of the critical areas. Auditor should exercise proper care in selecting his own staff and selection of their training method. Auditor should design comprehensive audit strategy, planning, program, should be diligent in selecting the outsourcing agency such as professionals. (c) Three concern areas or comfort areas for each Wesfarmers Ltd. and Virgin Australia Ltd. are: The first concern entails that the Westfarmers debt is quite substantial which can result in the lack of productivity of their business operations because they would have to pay the cash to lessen their debt obligations. Other than this, their coal sale is also a great concern for them as it is not up to the mark. The third concern could be that within Australia, many companies use different accounting methods. If comparison is made between at least two companies, then this would result in the development of wrong assumptions. For Virgin Australia Ltd.: The first concern would include the fact that the investors and managers would rely on the financial ratios and the numbers only. While looking at this, it will not always give the whole picture for the company Virgin Australia Ltd. The second concern could be the differences in the fiscal years. Companies can have the option of utilizing a fiscal year instead of a calendar year for the purpose of accounting. And, if the fiscal year is ending at a different time for two companies during comparison, it would be tough to make an accurate comparison of such businesses. Another concern could be the problem while looking at the financial statements that one may not be getting an exact picture of what the company Virgin Australia would represent. It would be difficult for the company to fit in to any particular classification for the companies. (d) While selecting the audit procedures the auditor should consider the facts based on the risk of material contain errors. The higher the auditor's assessment of risk, the more reliable and relevant is the audit evidence sought by the auditor of the substantive procedures. This may affect both the types of audit procedures to be performed and their combination. For example, the auditor may confirm the integrity, the terms of a contract with a third party, in addition to the inspection representing the document and obtaining administration. (e) Independent Audit Report: i. Audit opinion issued by each auditor is unqualified, as there is no major concern regarding any audit issue. ii. I agree with the type of audit opinion provided by the auditors as there is true and fair representation of financial statements of the companies. iii. No there are no such issues after audit report which can strengthen or weaken the opinion. (f) Corporate Governance Research i. Yes, both the companies comply with the second edition of theASX Corporate Governance Councils Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations released in August 2007 with 2010 amendments(ASX Principles) ii. Under Operating and financial review section of the annual report you would expect to find information on it iii. Yes, the companies have an audit committee and it has the correct composition. iv. Yes, audit committees are of benefit to the auditor, the company, the auditing profession and/or society as a whole as it provides independent view, it provides the direction which is beneficial for both company and society. 2. (a) Over the past 20 years, several researchers have tried to research and define audit quality. However, there is still no consensus on what constitutes quality of the audit or how to measure it. This is due to the quality of audit is based on perceptions and those perceptions depend on whose views are taken into consideration. Considering how difficult it is to define audit quality, researchers, regulators and practitioners often refer to the quality of the audit by denial, like when it comes to defining independence, as it is "no" quality of the audit. Audit quality has been of interest to researchers for more than two decades. Much is known about audit quality as a result of that investigation, but there is still much room for future research. The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board published a consultation document for public comment in hopes of renewing some dialogue and focus on actions those auditors, regulators and others can take to achieve continuous improvement in the quality of the audit. The IAASB says he wants to present the key elements of audit quality and fostering diverse stakeholders - not just auditors - to do their part to look for ways to improve audit quality (International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2014) (b) Audit quality is an important issue because of the following reasons: i. It fulfils your fiduciary responsibility; ii. It obtains financial assurance related to the integrity of funded programs iii. It identifies all possible non-compliance issues iv. It lowers the risk of future non-compliance v. It builds goodwill among various stakeholders like taxpayers, donors, shareholders, etc vi. It strengthens the ability to secure funding in the future. Audit quality is essential for financial markets run smoothly. This paper theoretically examines how auditing standards requiring a minimum level of audit quality affect competitive public company audit market. In our environment, quality audit refers to qualitatively audit better, rather than more audit. Natural examples include independence or Competency of the audit firm; both examples are numerous rules related to designing the minimum acceptable quality levels. We model an environment in which demand audit quality is strictly driven by customer demand (i.e., there is the auditor's responsibility), top Audit quality cheaper attracts investors through improved warranties as to the truth of the client financial position; the higher the quality of the audit, the lower the risk of unpleasant surprises. (Dr. Nives Botica Redmayne, 2013) (c) Yes, the directors and/or the audit committee assist audit quality, as the insight provided by the directors and the audit committee is important to carry out an audit and if the directors and the audit committee provide right direction then quality of audit will definitely improve. (Australian Securities and Investment Commission, 2014) (d) The CAANZ (formerly ICAA) in a document titled The Benefit of Audit: A Guide to Audit Quality identified five drivers of audit quality, these five drivers are: 1) Input factors, 2) Process factors, 3) Output factors, 4) Key interactions and 5) Contextual factors. These five drivers have serious impact on the audit quality as these drivers decide the percentage of a quality audit. Based on these factors an audit is carried out and if any of the factors is neglected then the quality of the audit will suffer. Hence these 5 drivers are important for the audit quality. (e) Yes, literature of the above nature will be of benefit to the auditor, the auditing profession and/or society as a whole as it fulfils the basic purpose of auditing. Auditing is a control to check whether the activities carried out by the company are in the interest of shareholders, society, and other stakeholders or not, and this could be determined only when the auditor maintains the audit quality standards. Hence Audit quality is beneficial for whole society. References Annual Report of Wesfarmers Limited, 2014. Annual Report of Virgin Australia Limited, 2014. Virgin Australia, 2013, Productivity Commission Inquiry Access Regime. International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, 2014, A framework for Audit Quality: Key Elements that create an environment for Audit Quality; published by International Federation for Accountants. Nives Botica Redmayne, 2013, Audit Quality an academics perspective. Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), 2014 Audit Quality- the role of directors and audit committee.